338 



laid aside her pilgrimage, and vowed revenge. She immediately 

 returned to her own country, and sued to her sovereign to redress 

 this disgrace and cruelty to her family; he immediately ordered 

 a large army to march under the command of his vizier against 

 Dhuboy. The siege continued for several years; at length famine 

 raging in the city, the garrison having no hopes of foreign assist- 

 ance, made a sally, and fought with enthusiasm : a dreadful slaughter 

 ensued, but the besiegers were at length victorious; the principal 

 Hindoos fled to a distant country, and the Mahomedans entered 

 the city. On viewing the strength of the works, the vizier deter- 

 mined to destroy them: three sides of the fortress were imme- 

 diately razed to the ground; the beauty and elegance of the west 

 face, and the magnificence of the four double gates preserved 

 them from his fury; they remain to this day splendid monuments 

 of the architectural taste of the ancient Hindoos. 



After the destruction of Dhuboy, the Mahomedans returned 

 to their own country, and the city remained for many years in a 

 state of desolation. Mahma Doocree, the lady on whose account 

 the expedition had been undertaken, came with the army against 

 Dhuboy, and dying during the siege, was revered as a saint, and 

 buried in a grove near the gate of diamonds, where her tomb still 

 remains. Near it a perforated stone, already mentioned, is used for 

 ordeal trials, and I was often obliged to consent to this experiment 

 in favour of injured innocence, from the faith which the present 

 inhabitants of Dhuboy, both Hindoos and Mahomedans, place in 

 the sanctity of this heroine. The monument of Sciad Ballah is 

 near that of his mother. 



When the Moguls finally conquered Guzerat, Dhuboy once 



