18G9.] Translations from the TariJch i Fzruz Slid/d. 183 



weeks the news spread, throughout the whole of the distriets \lcliitaf\ 

 and towns of Hindustan, that Saltan 'Alauddin was on his way to 

 take possession of Delhi, and was scattering gold profusely among the 

 populace, and was entertaining countless levies of horse and foot. On 

 this, the population, whether military or non-military, all hurried to- 

 wards the Sultan's camp ; so that V>y the time 'Alauddin reached 

 Badaon, fifty or sixty thousand horse and foot had congregated in this 

 royal camp during a rainy season like this, and had formed a vast mul- 

 titude. When Sultan 'Alauddin arrived at Bar an, [in the open space of 

 the Masjid of the town] Nucrat Khan began taking the inhabitants of 

 the place into service whether they were nobles, men of note, or com- 

 mon soldiers, and paid no heed to fixing the amount of their wages, 

 or taking security from them. In a loud tone he proclaimed : " If 

 Delhi fall into my hands, I shall be able to acquire on the first year a 

 hundred times as much wealth as what I now disburse ; and should 

 the kingdom not come into my possession, it is better that the wealth 

 which I have brought away from Deogir with such infinite trouble, 

 should fall into the hands of the people rather than into those of my 

 foes and adversaries. 



On Sultan 'Alauddin's arrival at Baran, as he had made over a 

 force to Zafar Khan, he directed him to proceed by way of Kol, and 

 march along that road at a rate corresponding to that at which he 

 himself (the Sultan) marched along the Badaon and Baran roads. The 

 Maliks and Amirs of Jalaluddin's party who had been nominated 

 to oppose the advance of Sultan 'Alauddin and Zafar Khan, such 

 as Malik Tajuddin Kuchi, Malik Abaji Akhurbak, Malik Amir 

 'All Diwauak, Malik 'Usman Amir A'khur, Malik Amiri Kalan, 

 Malik 'Ilmar Sarkhah, and Malik Hiran-mar, all came into Baran, 

 and joined the Sultan. They each received 20 or 30, and some even 

 50 maunds of gold ; and to every one of the force which accom- 

 panied those Maliks and Amirs, a present of 300 tankahs was 

 distributed. The Jalali army being thus totally broken up, the 

 Amirs that had stayed behind at Delhi began to waver in their alle- 

 giance and the maliks who had gone over to Sultan 'Alauddin used 

 to say publicly, " The inhabitants of the city certainly find fault with 

 us, and declare that we have been guilty of base ingratitude in 

 turning our backs on our master's son and going over to the 



