History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c19.s2.t2.11

c19.s2.t2.11

A. D., therefore, Sihābuddin marched against Jayacandra with a huge force of "50,000 mounted men clad in armour and coats of mail" according to the *Tāj-ul-Maāsir*.¹ He was met on the way by his trusted general Qutbuddin, whom he ordered to proceed with the vanguard of 1,000 cavalry. The latter made an incursion into the territories of the "enemies of religion," but withdrew after having taken many prisoners and immense booty.² When Jayacandra, "the chief of idolatry and perdition," was informed of this inroad, he advanced to oppose the alien aggressors with an army "countless as the particles of sand," his force consisting of 700 elephants, besides about one million men.³ The contending parties met on the plain between Candawar and Etawah, and in the contest that followed Jayacandra sustained a signal defeat at the hands of the Moslems.⁴ The slaughter was appalling, for "none were spared except women and children; and the carnage of men went on until the earth was weary." The "Rai of Benares," who "prided himself on the number of his forces and war elephants," seated on a lofty *howdah* received a deadly wound from an arrow discharged by Qutbuddin,⁵ and "fell from his exalted seat to the earth." His head was carried on the point of a spear to the commander, and "his body was thrown to the dust of contempt."⁶ We are further told in the