1871 .] 
A History of the GaWliars. 
77 
enquired of tlie captive, “ If I were to turn a Muhammadan, what 
reward would I receive from the Sultan ?” The captive replied 
that after exacting the dues and rights which appertained to royalty, 
the Sultan would undoubtedly give back the country to him. 
Accordingly, the chief petitioned the Sultan on behalf of himself 
and his people, to be numbered among the faithful. The Sultan 
sent a handsome present to the chief, and invited him to Court. 
The chief went and became a follower of Islam. The sovereignty 
of the country was then conferred upon the chief who afterwards 
was instrumental in the conversion of the whole of the Gakk’hars 
to the Muhammadan faith/* 
X. 
Fida'i' Kha'n. 
(A. D. 1206, A. H 603.) 
Sultan Shihabuddiu having ordered his army to Dihlf under 
the command of Qutbuddm Aibag, left Lahor to return to 
Ghazni. On the 2nd Sha’ban, A. H. 602, he approached the Indus, 
and encamped at Rathak (Damhak).f Then twenty Gakk’hars 
whose relations were killed during the late war, formed a conspiracy 
to assassinate the Sultan. Accordingly having previously ascer¬ 
tained and made sure of the particular tent in which the Sultan 
resided, they entered the camp, stole up to the door of the 
tent, and stabbed the sentinel who was pacing up and down before 
it. An alarm was at once sounded, and all the people of the camp 
immediately rushed to the spot, and gathered round the wounded 
sentinel. The Gakk’hars getting an opportunity by finding the 
Sultan’s tent momentarily unguarded, cut the qanats of the tent, and 
went inside. Two or three slaves who were near the Sultan in the 
tent were struck dumb and powerless from fear, and the Gakk’hars 
approached the Sultan, who was about to undress and retire to his 
bed for the night, and at once killed^ him. They inflicted twenty-two 
* Firishtah, page 104. 
f The Rauzat-ut-Tahirin distinctly states that the place was Damhak, an en¬ 
camping ground on the old road not far fi’om Sultanpur, the stronghold of 
the Gakk’hars. The Khulagatut-Tawarikh says the place was under the 
government of Ghazni. 
J In the Siyar-ulmutaakhkhirin of Ghulam Husain Khan it is stated that 
Fidai Khan Gakk’har was the man who inflicted the wounds. 
