289 
1892.] H. G. Raverty —The Mihrdn of Sind and its Tributaries. 
slew about 200, and returned with a number of captives, and many bead 
of cattle. On the 9tli of the month, Amir Timur started from Tihwanah, 
and the families and followers, heavy materials, and booty, were sent off 
towards Samanah under the Amir, Suliman Shah; and he, having that 
same day, passed the Kala’ of Mung [Miing A'la—turned into “ Moonuk ” 
in our maps] halted. Amir Timur, in the mean time, made a forced 
march in order to beat up the quarters of those Jats who had concealed 
themselves in the jangals in the neighbourhood of Tihwanah. Some 
2,000 of them were put to the sword the same day, and many captives, 
and much cattle, were taken. In the part entered there was a village 
to be in the place when the investment commenced, and were unable to get away, 
and sought to extort this money from them. The merchants managed to acquaint 
Sultan Mas’ad with their helpless state and the Rajah’s tyranny ; and also informed 
him of the weakness of the Hindus and their inability to oppose him, and stating, 
that, if he remained before the place for five or six days more, the enemy would 
have to come out and surrender at discretion. The Sultan was not inclined to wait; 
and when he became acquainted with the Rajah’s tyranny, he resolved to attack the 
fortress at once. The country round was remarkable for the extensive growth of 
suo’ar-cane; so “ he directed that they should fill the ditch with sugar-cane ,” and assault 
the place. This was done, and the stronghold of Sarasti was stormed and captured. 
The drowning of Ahmad-i-Nial-Tigin—not “ Binal-Tagin,” as some have written 
the name—near Mansuriyah on the Mihran of Sind, has been already recorded. See 
note 105, on Bahman-no, page 196. 
In the following year Sultan Mas’ud captured Hansi, after which he moved 
against the fort of Soni-pat, belonging to Deobal or Debal of Harianah, as he is 
called. Several other strongholds are said to have fallen into the hands of the 
Sultan during this expedition, which had never been assailed by the Musalmans 
before. His father had despatched an army against one of these, the name of which 
is written Narsi—in three MSS. and <^ 5 ^—Tarsi in one-but was stopped on 
hearing of that Sultan’s decease. Sultan Mas’ud attacked and captured it. He sub¬ 
sequently, just before his return towards Ghaznin, compelled the ruler of another 
part, whose name was Ram, to submit to his supremacy. 
Ibn A sir, the Shami, has a wonderful account of the capture of this place— 
Narsi— which, he says, is related by “ the most trustworthy chroniclers.” Among 
other wonders, “ the city was,” he asserts, “a day’s” journey in length”; that it 
took the whole army of 100,000 horse,” a night and a day to sack the bazar of the 
’attars and jewellers ; that no other part of the city was molested”; and that, “ in 
that hdzdr alone, such a vast amount of gold, silver, and jewels fell into the hands 
of the captors, that it was found impossible to compute it, and therefore the shares 
among the soldiery had to be dealt out by measure ! 
It is strange, with his “ trustworthy chroniclers” not named, that the only two 
chroniclers who were contemporary with Sultan Mas’ud, and were in the government 
employ, Abu-l-Fazl-i-Baihaki, who was his biographer, so to say, and the Gardaizi, 
should ’not mention anything of this wondrous place and its booty ; while Ibn Asir 
should have it at his fingers ends, who wrote more than a century and a half after— 
about thirty years before the “ Tabakat-i-Nasiri ” was finished—and who was never 
in Hind or near it in his life. 
