194 Translations from the T&rihh i Firuz Shdhi. [No. 4, 



Towards the close of the aforesaid year, Qcitlugh Khwajah, son oi 

 Dudul'ain,* invaded Hindustan with 20 " Tumam" of Mughuls. 

 Starting from Mawaru-n-nahr fully equipped and prepared for a severe 

 engagement, he crossed the river Sind, and proceeded by regular 

 stages until he reached the vicinity of Delhi. 



As the Mughuls this year had determined to attack Delhi, they 

 did not plunder and lay waste the provinces bordering on their line of 

 march, nor do any injury to the strong holds they met with. At the 

 advance of these Mughuls, therefore, with an army as numerous as a 

 multitude of ants or locusts, violent apprehensions were felt through- 

 out Dehli, more especially as the enemy had fixed on that as the main 

 object of their attack, and had abstained in consequence from laying 

 waste the provinces (they passed), and from carrying off plunder. The 

 people of the adjoining districts all flocked into the fortress of Delhi, 

 and the old fortifications had not yet been built up, so that such con- 

 sternation among men has never been witnessed, nor even heard of ; for 

 all the inhabitants of the city both great and small were completely 

 overpowered with terror. 



At last such a crowd was congregated in the city, that the people 

 could not find room in the streets, the market places, or the mosques. 

 Everything became excessively dear within the town, and the approach 

 of caravans, and merchants being stopped, the people were reduced to 

 the most pressing want. 



Sultan 'Alauddin then went from the city with great pomp and 

 magnificence, and pitched the imperial Camp at Si'ri. The Maliks, 

 Amirs, and other retainers, were next summoned from all quarters to 

 Delhi. 



The compiler's uncle, Malik 'Alaulmulk, who was one of the Sul- 

 tan's confidential advisers, in those days held the office of Kotwal at 

 the Metropolis of Delhi, and the Sultan had entrusted the town, to- 

 gether with the ladies of the royal family and the treasure, to his 

 custody. The Sultan having gone forth from the city with the in- 

 tention of engaging in a general action, Malik 'Alaulmulk came out 

 to Siri to bid him farewell, and there, at a private audience, addressed 

 him thus — 



* So Major Fuller's MS. The Ed. Bibl. Indica (p. 254) calls him ^^ ^ 

 Zaud uV ain (?) ; Badaoni (Ed. B. I.) Ddud; Badaoni (Lucknow Edition), and 

 Firishtah p. 103 (Lucknow Ed.) Bawd, in accordance with the note on p. 189. 



A twmem, or tumdn is from 10000 to 12000. 



