Later Mughals v1.c9.s18.34

v1.c9.s18.34

The triumphal entry with the prisoners took place on the 17th Rabi I. 1128 (10th March 1716). The road from Agharabad to the Lahori Gate of the palace, a distance of several miles, was lined on both sides with troops. Banda sat in an iron cage placed on the back of an elephant. He wore a long, heavy-skirted Court dress (jama) of gold brocade, the pattern on it being of pomegranate flowers, and a gold-embroidered turban of fine red cotton cloth. Behind him stood, clad in chain mail, with drawn sword in hand, one of the principal Mughal officers. In front of the elephant were carried, raised on bamboo poles, the heads of the Sikh prisoners who had been executed, the long hair streaming over them like a veil. Along with these, the body of a cat was exposed at the end of a pole, meaning that, even down to four-footed animals, everything in Gurdaspur had been destroyed. Behind the Guru's elephant followed the rest of the prisoners, seven hundred and forty in number. They were seated, two and two, on camels without saddles. One hand of each man was attached to his neck by two pieces of wood, which were held together by iron pins. On their heads were high caps of a ridiculous shape made of sheep's skin and adorned with glass beads. A few of the principal men, who rode nearest to the elephant, had been clothed in sheep's skins with the woolly side outwards, so that the common people compared them to bears. When the prisoners had passed, they were followed by the Nawab Mhd. Amin Khan Chin, accompanied by his son, Qamr-ud-din Khan and his son-in-law, Zakariya Khan. In this order the procession passed on through the streets to the palace.*