The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c25.53

v3.c25.53

The operations lasted for a year and nine months, throughout which period Mahmūd, besides besieging the fortress, continued to plunder the country, so that there remained no town, no village, no house, of which the money was not taken into the royal treasury, the cloths and stuffs into the royal storehouses, the beasts into the royal stables, the corn into the royal granaries and kitchens. At the end of this time the Rājputs were reduced to extremities, and resolved to perform the dreadful rite of *jauhar*. The women were burnt, and the men, arrayed in yellow garments, went forth to die. On November 21, 1484, the Muslims forced the gate and met their desperate opponents. Of the seven hundred Rājputs who performed the rite nearly all were slain, but Raja Patāī and a minister named Dungarsī were wounded and captured. Mahmūd called upon them to accept Islam, but they refused and remained steadfast in their refusal during an imprisonment of five months, at the end of which time they were executed, together with the minister Sūrī. Patāī's son accepted Islam and in the next reign became *Amīr* of Īdar, receiving the title of Nizām-ul-Mulk.