288 
H. G. Raverty— The Mihrdn of Sind and its Tributaries. [No. 4, 
Having disposed of tin's affair, on the 3rd of tlie month Rahi’-nl 
Awwal, Amir Timur with his force marched fourteen Jcuroh to a place 
styled the Hauz-i-Ab—The Reservoir of Water—and on the following 
day reached and passed the fort of Firuzah [in one copy Firuzkoh—the 
“ Feerozabad ” of the maps, not the Hisar Firuzah] and reached the town 
of Sarasti 263 now Sirsa [“ Sirsuh ” of the maps], on the Ghag-ghar. It 
was deserted by its inhabitants on his approach. Halting a day there, 
his next stage of eighteen Jcuroh took him to near the fort of Fath-abad 
[the “ Futtehabad ” of the maps]. On the 7th, having passed by the 
fort of Rajab-pur [jj* ] 259 he reached the fort of Ahroni, which, 
showing hostility, was sacked and destroyed, and nothing left to mark 
it but some heaps of ruins. He moved again on the 8th, and brought 
up in the open plain near the JcaryaJi of Tihwanah [turned into “ Toha- 
nuli ” in our maps]. There he came into contact with “ a large and 
powerful tribe called Jatan [Jats] who, for a long period of time, had 
acquired sway over that part, plundered on the high roads, and way laid 
lcarwdns and massacred their people, especially if Musalmans. 260 Some 
of these had taken shelter among the hills [low, rocky hills] and jangals, 
the last consisting chiefly of sugar-canes. 261 A party sent against them 
digest the account of the “ Invasion of Islam by the Mughals” in the “ Tabakat-i- 
b asiri, and then they would know more about these matters. Those who would 
write history should be strictly just and impartial, and also know something of it 
from the originals, and not from translations only. See Elliot’s “ Races of the 
North-West Provinces of India,” Vol. II, pp. 17—19. 
258 Sarasti is the old name of Sirsa: Sursuti, not Sarsuti, is the name of a river, 
the ancient Saraswati, described farther on. 
259 This place is called “ Rajabpur,” in the extract from the “ Malfuzat ” in 
Elliot’s work ; and a few pages farther on, in his extract from the “ Zafar Namah,” 
it is “Rajabnur” There is very little doubt that the place called “Ryepoor” in 
the maps, eleven miles and a half to the north-east of Fath-abad, is the place referred 
to, and which lies on the route from Fath-abad to Ahroni, the “Arnaunee” of the 
maps. 
260 gee Ibn Batutah, page 263. 
261 r i his tract appears to have been notable for the cultivation of sugarcane 
from early times. Sultan Mas’ud, son of Mahmud of Ghaznin, having entered Hind 
for the purpose of crushing the rebellion of his governor of the province east of the 
Indus, Ahmad-i-Nial-Tigm, in 426 H. (1031—35 A. D.), marched against the fortress 
of Sarasti [now Sirsa], said to have been, at that time, one of the most celebrated 
strongholds of Hind. It had been invested by his father, Sultan Mahmud, but he 
did not succeed in taking it. After having been before it some days, the ruler of 
that part and stronghold, finding he could not cope with the Musalman forces, 
despatched an agent to Sultan Mas’ud, offering to pay down a very large sum, and to 
afterwards pay a certain yearly amount as tribute. These offers were accepted, and 
hostilities were suspended. This Rajah, however, in order to raise the sum to be 
paid at once, seized on a number of Musalman merchants and traders, who happened 
