Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c10.257

c10.257

about 90 kos from Fīrūzābād. When the Sulṭān saw it, he resolved to remove and erect it as a memorial that should perpetuate his own memory and excite the admiration of future generations. Orders were issued to the people in the neighbourhood and also to the soldiers to bring implements and materials suitable for the work. Quantities of silk-cotton were placed round it; so that, when the surrounding earth was removed, it fell gently on the bed prepared for it. It was encased in reeds and raw skins from top to bottom. A carriage with 42 wheels was constructed and ropes were attached to each wheel. The pillar was raised on the carriage, which was then hauled up to the banks of the Yamunā by thousands of people. A number of large boats, some of which could carry 7000 *mans* of grain, and the smallest of them 2000 *mans*, had been kept there to receive the column, which was now ingeniously transferred to its new vehicles and conducted to Fīrūzābād. It was set up with great skill in a building made for its reception, and many Brāhmaṇas and Hindu devotees were invited to decipher the characters on the monument, but were not successful.¹