IBN BATUTAH IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 
51 
forest ; every one, great and small, was provided with an 
axe to cut down obstacles, and the work of clearing a road 
continued from sunrise to sunset with a halt at midday for 
food and rest. All the idolaters caught in the woods 
were made prisoners, and, accompanied by their wives and 
children, made to carry pointed stakes on their shoulders to 
the camp. These camps were constructed as follows : In 
the centre was the sultan's quarters, surrounding which was 
a palisade furnished with four doorways and called a katkar ; 
outside this enclosure was a second " katkar." An estrade 
was raised round the principal palisade, and here fires were 
kept burning and slaves and sentries were posted, each carry- 
ing a little bundle of twigs. As soon as an alarm of night 
attack was given, these torches were ignited, giving a bright 
light, by the help of which the cavalry were enabled to make 
a sortie and repulse the enemy. 
As soon as morning came, the Hindu prisoners, who 
had been taken the previous day, were divided into four 
batches and each led up to one of the four entrances of 
the katkar." Here the posts they had carried were made 
secure in the ground and the unfortunates impaled thereon. 
Their wives and children had their throats cut and were left 
fastened to the posts. 
The camp was then struck and the troops busied them- 
selves in clearing the jungle as before. 
Ibn Batutah stigmatises this barbarous cruelty as shame- 
ful conduct on the sultan's part and adds : " It was for this 
that God hastened the death of Grhiyas-ad-dln.'' He also 
gives an account of some executions of which he was an 
eye-witness, which it is best to transcribe in his own words : 
"One day," he writes, "the kazi was on the right hand 
of this prince and I found myself on his left ; as he took his 
repast with us, I saw that an idolater had been brought in, 
together with his wife and his son aged seven years. The 
sultan made a sign with his hand to the executioners to decapi- 
