Delhi That Was

Delhi That Was

Delhi, the ancient capital of India, is a city whose history, if one turns to it, offers more of interest than other places. Alas, very little attention has been paid to the history of this city. Just as Hafiz Abu'l-Qasim Ali ibn Hasan ibn Asakir wrote the history of the city of Damascus in eighty volumes, and Abu Bakr al-Khatib of Baghdad wrote the history of the city of Baghdad in ten volumes, so it was needed that some bold and well-informed scholar among the men of old in India should write a complete history of Delhi too. Those Muslim scholars completed their histories in such a way that, for the city whose history they wrote, they recorded as far as possible everything: detailed lives of its kings, nobles, men of learning and all its famous scholars, the changes of the city, its rise and its decline, its famous buildings, quarters and mosques. In the first place, no history of Delhi itself has ever been written. If anything can be learned, it is from the histories written about the general political state of India.

Only one solitary effort has indeed been made, by the Honourable Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan Bahadur, who in his book *Asar-us-Sanadid* (Monuments of the Great) wrote an account of all the buildings of Delhi, and as far as possible tried to give the history of those buildings in detail. But it is plain that no solitary effort can ever achieve complete success. The prose of *Asar-us-Sanadid* shows that what Sayyid Sahib wrote has little to do with research and inquiry; rather, he set down his ideas at the level of popular taste and gathered together what common people told him. Alas, perhaps Sayyid Sahib did not have the leisure; otherwise, if he had turned the pages of all the histories of India and, using careful inquiry and criticism, prepared a second edition of his matchless book himself, that book would have become unrivalled and unequalled. But the truth is that what he did is a blessing, indeed a great deal. Poor Delhi is so ill-fated that now it is in its decline; and if you think of the time when it was at its height, even then there was no one to take so much interest in it.

Go to Delhi today, wander round its outskirts, look at its broken buildings battered by age, and you will see a strange silent world of misfortune and helplessness. Even if we do not lend the ears of the heart to what each building is saying in the language of its state, we can, by the exercise of our own conjecture, set before us a lively sketch of the picture of that time, and see with our own eyes what splendour that building must have had in former days, and what a place of joy and delight it must have been. We wish to turn the pages of the histories, show the past splendour of Delhi, and move our countrymen by telling them an affecting tale. But alas, in this matter we can get no help of any kind from the books and histories written by the Muslim historians of India itself. Yes, if we turn to those who came from other lands, and who, having seen the spectacle of Delhi in that age, described it to their own countrymen, it will probably be more delightful. In the early and middle periods of the Mughal age some Europeans also came here, who in their travel books have shown pictures of that former society of India. The people of this country have seen such travel books in plenty. Dr Bernier's travels are today in the hands of the people of the country through the efforts of Khalifa Sayyid Muhammad Hasan Sahib, Wazir of Patiala. We turn to Ibn Battuta, who came to India even before Timur, the founder of the Mughal family. It is probably the general view, and as far as we have heard we can say that most people hold it, that the greater splendour of Delhi and the brilliance of its life came after Shah Jahan. Of the present buildings that have survived to our time as memorials of antiquity, the most valuable and astonishing were founded by Shah Jahan. But it seems to us that this supposition is wrong.

The splendour of Delhi had made great progress even before the Mughal family, and its court was thought in those days a court of great majesty and glory. Merely, as it were, to prove this claim, we set before the public the account that Ibn Battuta gave as an eyewitness after coming to Delhi.

In 736 AH Ibn Battuta was granted the sight of the city of Delhi. [TN: As printed; Ibn Battuta reached Delhi in 734 AH (1334).] He relates that, setting out from the town of Palam, which was in the fief of a very great, honoured and favourite counsellor of the Sultan, the chief Sayyid Sharif Nasir-ud-Din Mutahhari, on the second day he entered the capital itself, Delhi: It is a very great and splendid city. Its population is very large; in both strength and beauty it is matchless and unrivalled. Such a strong wall as has been built round Delhi, so fine and firm a wall, there is in no city of the world. Delhi is to be preferred not only to all the cities of India but to the cities of the whole eastern world of Islam. At present Delhi is divided into four different cities, which lie close together and adjoin one another. The part known as Delhi proper is the old city, founded by the Hindus, which the Muslims conquered in 584 AH. (From this it can be seen that only 152 years had passed since Delhi came into Muslim hands when Ibn Battuta came to India. Now we shall be able to judge what buildings the Muslim rulers had built in Delhi in this century and a half, and what splendour they had given it.) The second part of the city, called Siri, is also known as the Seat of the Caliphate; it was formerly the seat of government of Sultan Ala-ud-Din and his son Qutb-ud-Din. The present Sultan had given this city to Ghiyas-ud-Din, the grandson of the Abbasid caliph al-Mustansir Billah.

The third city is called Tughluqabad, which was founded by the late Sultan Ghiyas-ud-Din Tughluq, father of Sultan Muhammad Tughluq, in whose reign I was granted the sight of India. Ibn Battuta gives a strange reason for its founding. He says that before Ghiyas-ud-Din came to the throne, when he was among the nobles of the court of Sultan Qutb-ud-Din, Sultan Qutb-ud-Din one day happened to pass by a pleasant and suitable spot. Ghiyas-ud-Din said to the King with folded hands, "Lord of the World! It would be most fitting if a royal palace and a city were built on this spot." Qutb-ud-Din said in a mocking tone, "Very well; when you are king, do so." By the power of God, after Qutb-ud-Din the royal crown was set on the head of Ghiyas-ud-Din himself. He said in his heart, "Now that God has fulfilled my benefactor's wish, I too should fulfil his word." So he laid the foundation of this city and built it with great loftiness and splendour.

And the fourth city is named Jahanpanah, and the Sultan of the age, Sultan Muhammad Tughluq, lives in this city. He is a king of very high ambition. He had intended to build so great a wall that all four parts of the city of Delhi should come within it, and had even begun the work; but because of the excessive cost it was left unfinished. The old wall of Delhi, which has stood for a long time, is so firm and strong that there can be no wall as strong and as wonderful round any city in the world. The thickness of the wall is given as eleven yards, and the wall is as broad as that all round the city. Here and there houses are built in it, in which the guards of the city and many of the police live. Inside this wall there are granaries here and there, filled with grain, which is kept with great care; and in some places in this wall arms and the needs of war are stored. But I myself am astonished at the care with which the grain is kept in these granaries. It stays for ages and undergoes no change and no spoiling. Once rice was taken out of these granaries; I saw it with my own eyes. Its colour had grown dingy, but its taste was not in the least changed. All the grain in these granaries had been gathered by Sultan Balban, and ninety years had passed since then. Two horsemen can ride along this wall with great ease. The wall is broad at the base, and at the top, leaving room enough for horsemen to ride, a ring of wall has been raised, so that the horsemen can be seen from the city side but no one outside can see them. The lower part is built of stone, and the upper wall of brick and lime. On top there are towers at almost equal intervals, very handsome and very useful.

The wall has 28 gates. The largest gate is the Badaun Gate. Among the others are a Mandi Gate, a Gul Gate, the Shah Gate, the Ghazni Gate and the Panjabi Gate, outside which lies the graveyard of Delhi. Most of the graves have domes built over them, and if there is no dome, there is at least a niche beside each grave. In this graveyard flowering trees are planted here and there: here tuberose is in bloom, there the *rai-bel* creeper has spread; on one side is jasmine, and in another place *bela* is planted, which are always in flower, and the whole graveyard is always fragrant.

The Jama Masjid of Delhi is worth seeing. In front of it is a very large and spacious courtyard. Walls, roof and floor, whatever you look at, are of marble, which has been smoothed with wonderful skill, and the stones have been joined with molten lead, so that no stronger joint could possibly be made. There is no wood anywhere. This mosque has thirteen domes of stone. The pulpit too is of stone. There are buildings on all four sides, and in the middle a wonderful pillar, of which it has not been discovered to this day what metal it is made. Some learned men of India told me that a new metal is made by combining seven kinds of metal, which is called here, in the Persian language, *haft-josh*; this pillar is made of that metal. A small part of the pillar has been polished, which gleams and shines with great brilliance; and it is so hard that iron makes no impression on it at all. No tool can cut it. The pillar is thirty cubits long, and I measured its girth with my turban; the part that came within its fold was eight cubits. At the eastern gate of the mosque lie two great idols of copper, set fast in the stony ground.

Where this mosque has been built there was an ancient idol-temple. After the conquest the Muslims made it a mosque. In the northern part of the mosque's courtyard is a minaret so great that all the lands of Islam have none to equal it. This wonderful minaret (which people now call the Qutb Sahib ki Lat) is built, unlike the rest of the mosque, of red stone. In all other parts of the mosque marble has been used. Besides this, a further delight has been given to the stone of the minaret, in that patterns and designs have been carved in its stone. Its height is very great. The top is of marble, and its borders and edges are gilded. The way up to its top has been made so wide that an elephant can climb it easily; indeed a trustworthy and reliable person told me that in the days when this minaret was being built he saw with his own eyes elephants carrying loads of stone climbing up it. This minaret was built by Sultan Mu'izz-ud-Din, son of Nasir-ud-Din, son of Sultan Ghiyas-ud-Din Balban. After him Sultan Qutb-ud-Din intended to build in the western part of the courtyard too a minaret higher and greater than this one. Work on it was begun; a third of the minaret had even been built, but Sultan Qutb-ud-Din's life did not last and he died before it was finished. Then Sultan Muhammad intended to complete that minaret, but then, God knows why, thought it ill-omened and abandoned it. Its breadth had been made such that three elephants could climb it side by side; and this third, as far as it has been built, equals the first minaret in height; that is, if it had been finished it would have been three times as high. Once I climbed to its top. From there I could see all the great houses of the city, and the walls of the city, for all their height and loftiness, looked very low and tiny from there; and quite strong, healthy, giant-built men looked to me like little children from there. No one even thinks how high this minaret is, because its spread and girth are so great that no one seeing it can imagine it to be so high.

Sultan Qutb-ud-Din had intended to build in Siri, the part of the city called the Seat of the Caliphate, another Jama Masjid that should surpass all earlier buildings in loftiness and splendour. But nothing could be built except the front wall and the arches. Four kinds of stone were used in it: marble, *sang-e-musa* (black stone), red stone and green stone. If this mosque had been completed, there is no doubt that there would have been no building equal to it in the whole world. Sultan Muhammad intended to complete this too; but when he called all the craftsmen and reckoned the cost of the labour alone, it was found that thirty-five lakhs of rupees would be spent on wages alone. Judging from this that the whole cost would be very great, Sultan Muhammad gave up his intention. But some of the Sultan's own favourites told me that he cancelled the plan for fear of ill omen, the ill omen being that Sultan Qutb-ud-Din, its original founder, had been killed before it was finished.

Outside the city of Delhi there is a very large tank, which is ascribed to Sultan Shams-ud-Din Iltutmish. The people of the city drink its water. This tank is near the Eidgah. No water comes into this tank from anywhere else; only rainwater collects in it. The tank is two miles long and one mile wide, and on its western bank, where the Eidgah is, stone steps have been built, and here and there there are shops too, built one above another; and below each shop steps have been built that go down into the water. Beside each shop a tower has been built, with very fine room in it for those who come to stroll or for pleasure. Exactly in the middle of the tank, at an equal distance from every side, a large tower has been built, in whose structure carved stone has been used, and it has been made in two storeys. Besides this, there is also a path to reach it. When the water is high the path is closed, and people can go only by boat. Inside this tower there is a mosque, and fakirs and those who live on trust in God often dwell in the tower and the mosque. When the water dries up and the bed of the tank is laid bare in places, sugar cane, cucumbers, gourds, watermelons and melons are often grown in it.

Besides this tank there is another tank between the Seat of the Caliphate and old Delhi, larger than the one described, and round it forty towers have been built with great beauty, grandeur and splendour. Round this tank are the houses of the people of pleasure. Here they have a very large bazaar, in which there is a Jama Masjid and many small mosques. I heard from trustworthy people there that the courtesans and dancing girls who live in this quarter gather in these mosques in the blessed month of Ramazan and say the *tarawih* prayers, and many imams are appointed who lead them. In the same way the Dom and Dhari musicians, who are related to them, show great zeal in saying the *tarawih*. Indeed, once at a gathering at the house of Amir Saif-ud-Din I saw with my own eyes that each of these people was given a prayer mat, which he put under his knee, and as soon as the sound of the call to prayer came, he got up, made his ablutions and was absorbed in prayer.

In Delhi there are the tombs of many saints, which are visited with great faith and zeal, especially that of Khwaja Qutb-ud-Din Bakhtiyar Kaki. The tombs of the jurist Nur-ud-Din Karlani and the jurist Ala-ud-Din Kirmani are places of general resort.

There are also great, trustworthy and reliable scholars, one of whom is Shaikh Mahmud Kubba. People believe of him that he has a 'hidden hand' from Providence, because outwardly he has no income, and yet such is his generosity that he gives thousands of rupees in the way of God. His days and nights pass in hospitality and the service of fakirs. And another scholar is Shaikh Ala-ud-Din Nili, who preaches every Friday. His preaching has such effect that not a Friday passes without people coming and repenting of unbelief and idolatry at his hands; and some, hearing the moving words from his lips, fall into ecstasy and lose themselves.

Having given this much account, Ibn Battuta relates the history of Delhi, and tells how and in what age Islam came to this city, and how many kings have passed from that time to this; and at the end he says that the present ruler, in whose reign he had the honour of coming, is Sultan Muhammad Shah. After the death of his father, Sultan Ghiyas-ud-Din Tughluq, he succeeded to the crown and throne without any quarrel or trouble, and without anyone opposing him. In the days when he was heir the prince was called Juna; on sitting on the throne he made himself known by the name of Sultan Muhammad and the title Abu'l-Mujahid.

He is a king of a strange nature, combining opposites. Whenever you pass his gate you will never find it without two things: some fakir or needy man will surely be blessing him for the granting of his wish, and some offender will surely be being put to death. As merciful as the Sultan is, so stern is he. These two qualities have become famous with his name; and for this reason, just as the needy and the fakirs set out for Delhi in hope from far and wide, so, however far from Delhi it may be, wherever you mention the name of Sultan Muhammad Tughluq before some villain and oppressor, he trembles at once. But people will be astonished to hear that the Sultan of India, for all his great sternness and love of vengeance, is a most selfless, courteous and humble man, especially in matters of religion. He shows great respect for religion; he is very strict and insistent about prayer, and he certainly punishes the man who neglects prayer for his religious offence. But in spite of these severities my judgment is that mercy and generosity are greater in his nature than the passion for vengeance. Concerning his acts and doings I shall relate such incidents as historians, for all their searching, will not have found in any of the kings of the past, nor in any present crowned head.

After this, to win belief for his words and to stress his truthfulness, Ibn Battuta writes: "I swear by God, glorious is His majesty, by the angels near to Him and by the sinless prophets, that all I have related of the generosities of Sultan Muhammad Tughluq, which reach the degree of the miraculous, I have written after inquiring into them most thoroughly and being fully sure of their truth. Though I know that some people will think these things impossible, I tell the truth when I say that I wrote all of them as though I had seen them with my own eyes, and after careful inquiry; and all these things are so famous in all the lands of the East in these days that every child knows them."

Delhi and Its Former Court

The King's gate (which in the later age of India is called the *dar-e-daulat*, and in Constantinople the Sublime Porte) is called the *Dar-e-Sara*. The royal enclosure has many gates. At the first gate many men are posted who keep watch at all hours, and among them are musicians too, players of the *shahnai* and of the kettledrum and the trumpet. The rule is that whenever some great noble and man of rank, some powerful chief, arrives, they all begin to play, and at once the music of congratulation and of prayers for his fortune begins, and the chief is welcomed in the very rhythm of the instruments; and the instruments say plainly, 'So-and-so has come, so-and-so has come.' At the second and third gates there is the same provision, and there too the chiefs are welcomed with music and song in the same way.

Next to the first gate a kind of shops have been built, in which executioners, the angels of death who take the lives of criminals, sit at all hours. And, as I have said before, the custom is that whenever you go there you will find these men busy killing someone; they only wait for the King's command. As soon as a sentence of death is passed on anyone, they are ready to kill. Criminals are put to death right at the royal gate. From the first gate to the second there is a very large passage, with rooms built all along it. In these rooms the watchmen and guards, that is, the soldiers of the guard, are present by turns and keep watch very vigilantly. Inside the second gate too there are these same guards. Then, in the rooms up to the third gate, the chief of all the heralds, who is honoured with the office of *arz-begi* (master of petitions), sits in great state and pomp. Before him lies a staff of gold, and this staff is often seen in his hand. On his head is a very fine jewelled cap of gold, on which a plume is always set. On either side of him many heralds stand respectfully with folded hands. Their caps too are similarly gilded and heavy. All have sashes tied round their waists and in their hands whips whose handles are of gold or silver. And passing out of this second gate one comes into a very large hall, in which great numbers of people sit.

At the third gate there are men who write down names, and it is their duty to let no one in except those who have permission by special royal order. They have written down the names of all the chiefs who have leave to enter; indeed it is also written how many men and companions each entitled person may bring. So they do not let him bring more companions than that number; and when anyone passes this gate, they at once write down that such a one went into the presence at such a time. And after the night prayer the Sultan himself inspects the list daily with his own eyes. Besides the comings and goings, the clerks here keep writing down, by way of report, the other events that happen at the royal gate during the day. The princes whose charge it is to present these reports take the reports from the clerks and bring them before the King; indeed this service is entrusted to the princes in turn.

It is also a custom of the royal gate that whoever is absent from the King's gate for three days or more may not come in again without royal leave; and when he wishes to attend again, it is his duty to present his excuse at the royal court, that he was absent because of such a need or such an illness. And it is also the custom that when he presents his excuse, after it is accepted he is granted some gift from the King according to custom and his station; and the same custom is fixed for travellers and those who come to the King's court from outside. These presents and gifts have been fixed to suit every station. For example, jurists are presented with a copy of the Holy Quran; fakirs are given a prayer mat, a rosary, a tooth-stick and so on; chiefs and nobles are given horses, camels and arms.

Passing out of the third gate one comes to the great and magnificent palace called the Hazar Sutun (Thousand Pillars). Its pillars are of wood, painted with varnish, and the roof too is of wood; but foliage, flowers and designs have been made on it with such wonderful craftsmanship that a man is amazed. In this palace people come and sit respectfully, and the Sultan himself also appears in it. This palace is also called the Diwan-e-Am (hall of public audience). The Sultan generally comes and sits in this Diwan-e-Am after the afternoon prayer. For the Sultan's own seat the arrangement there is this: on a level platform there is a very fine, gleaming carpet, and on the carpet a handsome throne. At the back of the throne a large bolster is placed, and on both sides, right and left, there is a cushion as well. The manner of sitting is as a man sits in prayer to recite the *tashahhud* (kneeling), and this is the manner of sitting on the throne of all the kings of India. And when the King sits, the Grand Wazir stands before him with folded hands, and behind him the men of the pen and the officers of the royal secretariat stand in rows. Behind the men of the pen stand the chamberlains of the royal court, that is, those who bring each newcomer forward with due consideration and place him standing in the spot that befits his rank. The supreme chief of these chamberlains is always an honoured and trusted officer of the King at the court of Delhi. In the reign of Sultan Muhammad Tughluq this office is held by the Sultan's own nephew, Firoz Malik. He stands in front of all the chamberlains under him and close to the Sultan himself; after him stands his subordinate chamberlain, called the *hajib-e-khas* (private chamberlain), then the deputy private chamberlain, who is also appointed steward of the palace. In this band of chamberlains and heralds there are about a hundred men, who are present at all hours.

When the Sultan sits down, all of them cry out together, '*Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim*' (In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate), and the Malik-ul-Kabir, that is, the chief of the chamberlains and heralds, holds a fly-whisk of peacock feathers in his hand and keeps waving it. After these people, a hundred armed young men stand in a row on the right of the throne and a hundred on the left; in their hands are whips, swords and bows and arrows. On the right and the left, along the length of the Diwan-e-Am, stands the Chief Qazi, and near him the chief of all preachers. Then all the qazis, then the great jurists, and after them the great notables of the city and the shaikhs, and the King's kinsmen, relations and sons-in-law stand. Then comes the row of those called the *kibar-e-a'izza* (great honoured guests); by these are meant poor and needy men of good family. Then come the men of the army. Behind all these people, on both sides, thirty led horses are brought and stood, decked with the finest saddles and trappings; some of these horses are memorials of the Abbasid caliphate of Islam, that is, they wear housings of black satin and the like, worked in gold, and some have trappings of white satin worked in gold. These horses are reserved for the Sultan's own riding, and no one but His Majesty would dare ever to ride them. At court these horses are placed where the Sultan's eye can reach them, so that they are before the eyes of the Emperor of India at every moment. Behind these horses fifty elephants are stood, with silken housings worked in gold, and with points of steel fitted on their tusks, so that these elephants may easily kill criminals. On the neck of each elephant sits the elephant driver with a goad in his hand, and on their backs very large *howdahs* are fastened, each so spacious that twenty armed soldiers can easily sit in it. According to the elephant's size, this number is sometimes less or more. On the four corners of the *howdah* four banners are also set. These elephants have been trained with great skill and pains, so that whenever it is wished they bow before the King, kiss the threshold and bow their heads most respectfully. Of these too, thirty elephants are placed on the right of the throne and thirty on the left. Whenever one of these elephants steps forward and bows its head in homage before the Sultan, the cry '*Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim*' rises from the band of chamberlains and heralds.

It is also part of royal etiquette that all the officers entitled to stand here, when they come to court, must first go to a particular spot, the place of salutation, and salute the King, and then go and stand in their own place. When these people salute, the cry of '*Bismillah*' rises from the row of chamberlains as well. But when one of the Hindus, some raja or royal officer, salutes, the heralds address him in a loud voice and say, '*Hadaka-llah*' (God guide you). And the Sultan's slaves stand behind everyone, dressed as soldiers, each with a shield and sword in his hand. The result of this arrangement is that whoever wishes to reach the King must first pass among them, and then among the chamberlains.

When some governor from outside wishes to come to the royal court bringing presents and gifts, the chamberlains who perform the office of master of petitions, in the order I have described, that is, the Amir Hajib in front of all, behind him his deputy, then the private chamberlain, then his deputy, then the steward of the palace, then his deputy, in short all the men of this band, keeping their order one behind another, advance towards the royal throne, and, halting at three places and performing the royal salutation, say: 'So-and-so is present at the royal gate and desires to kiss the threshold.' If the King gives leave, they bring him into court in this manner: men carrying the gift or present he has brought walk in front, so that the Sultan's eye may fall on it. Before he comes near the Sultan, the man performs the royal salutation three times from a distance. After that he reaches the place where the chamberlains stand. If he is a very great noble and honoured man he stands beside the Amir Hajib, and if not, he stops just behind him. When he has taken his place, the Sultan himself turns to him and speaks to him in words of great courtesy, affection and attention. He says 'Welcome' to him on his arrival; and if it seems fitting to his honour, he calls him near and shakes his hand, and sometimes embraces him as well, and has his presents brought and placed before him. If there is something in the way of arms or cloth, he takes it in his hand and turns it over to look at it, and praises the gifts whether or not, only so that the heart of the giver may be gladdened. After this he is granted a robe of honour, and a sum befitting his station is given him in cash under the name of 'washing the head'. It is the custom of India that the sum the King grants to those who gain the honour of his presence is known as 'washing of the head'.

That was about the presents offered by those who come from outside or who first gain the honour of the presence. But the gifts and presents offered by the King's notables, or by his own governors and district officers or landholders, have another custom. The nobles and governors make it their practice to gather goods and wealth for a long time for presentation to the King: elephants, horses, vessels of gold and silver, and whole bricks of gold and silver too. When all such things are presented, the royal slaves take them and advance. If there are elephants, first the elephants, then the horses with their saddles and trappings, then the camels laden with goods, pass one after another before the King's eyes and are taken into the royal treasury.

When Sultan Muhammad Tughluq was returning from Daulatabad, the Grand Wazir Khwaja Jahan one day presented his gifts for the King's inspection. The King had ordered that these gifts be passed before him at a spot outside the town of Bayana. I too was present on that occasion, and I saw with my own eyes that the Wazir's gifts were presented in the very order I have described. Among other signs of wealth I saw on that occasion that a tray of fine, priceless rubies, a tray of matchless emeralds and a tray of great pearls were offered to the King. I was astonished to see these samples of wealth, especially since Haji Ka'un, the nephew of Sultan Abu Sa'id, king of Iraq, was also present there. The King gave him a little of each of those jewels.

At the two Eids there is a great spectacle in Delhi, and certainly on that day the majesty of the wealth and grandeur of this place is to be seen, and it appears how far the grandeur of the kings of Delhi exceeds that of the rulers of other lands. On the night before the morning of Eid, robes of honour are sent from the King to all the great men of the state, the favourites of the court, the wealthy, the honoured, the deputies, chamberlains, heralds, commanders of the armies, slaves, and those who present reports and messages, according to their ranks and degrees. Morning comes, and the elephants begin to be decked with fine jewelled and gilded housings and *howdahs*. These elephants are drowned from head to foot in jewels, gold and silk. Sixteen elephants are reserved for the Emperor's own riding, and no one would dare ride them. On the *howdah* of every royal elephant a jewelled parasol is also set, held up on a jewelled pole of gold. The Sultan rides one of these elephants, and the procession sets out for the Eidgah with great pomp and splendour. In front of the royal elephant slaves walk in ranks, with gold caps on their heads and gold sashes round their waists; the caps and sashes of some of them are jewelled too. After them comes a throng of *chaushes* (ushers) and heralds, who keep crying, 'Here rides the Emperor of India!' These heralds number three hundred, and on that day they all attend the procession. They too wear Indian caps on their heads and golden belts round their waists, and in their hands gilded maces.

After the King comes the elephant of the Chief Qazi, Sadr-e-Jahan Nasir-ud-Din Khwarazmi, and in his train all the qazis and the distressed gentlemen of Khurasan, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and the Maghrib, who are looked after by the state. Each of them rides a separate elephant. But the needy and destitute of Khurasan have come and keep coming to India in such numbers that all the needy here are thought to be Khurasanis. After this band the muezzins also ride along on elephants, and all along the way they keep loudly crying '*La ilaha illa-llah*' and '*Allahu akbar*'.

Outside the royal gate all the armies and all the notables of the city stand with their own troops awaiting the royal procession, so arranged that with each noble there are separate bands, torch-bearers, kettledrums and banners according to his honour and rank. When the King comes out of the royal gate in the manner described above, all these people salute in due form. And now the procession sets out for the Eidgah in such pomp and splendour that in front of all is the royal elephant, in the manner we have described, that is, with the slaves and ushers ahead, keeping order and announcing the royal grandeur and majesty to the common public. Right after the King's elephant come the Chief Qazi, the honoured guests and the rest, and the muezzins too go out along with them, seated on elephants in the same way, crying '*Allahu akbar*' and '*La ilaha illa-llah*'. Then, after all these people, the processions of the nobles and chiefs move in their splendour, playing their bands. The kettledrum is beaten and the trumpet blown. First the Sultan's brother Mubarak Khan goes with his full procession and all his equipment. Then the King's cousin Malik Firoz advances with his procession. Then His Majesty's nephew Bahram Khan goes with his retinue. Then the Grand Wazir with his servants and followers. Then Malik Mujir ibn Abi'r-Raja sets out with his troops and his procession. Then a very great and powerful chief of Delhi, known as Malik-ul-Kabir Qabula, moves his procession forward. He is a very wealthy and powerful man. The chief secretary of his office, Malik Ala-ud-Din Ali Misri, known as Ibn ash-Sharabishi, whom I know to be a very trustworthy man, himself told me that he receives thirty-six lakhs of rupees a year from the royal treasury for his household expenses. After Malik Qabula, Malik Nakbiya sets out with his procession. Then Izz-ul-Mulk moves his men forward; then Mukhlis-ul-Mulk; then Qutb-ul-Mulk. In short, all the nobles go with their processions. They are all very great chiefs of Delhi, such as never leave the Sultan. On the day of Eid they are ordered to go to the Eidgah in the Sultan's train with pomp and grandeur, with all their equipment and making full display of the ranks bestowed on them. Besides all these there are hundreds of lesser chiefs, who go to the Eidgah one after another in this line of procession. And on this day all who are there are armed, and their horses and elephants too appear richly decked. The King halts on reaching the gate of the Eidgah and asks the Chief Qazi to go in; then he orders the great nobles and the distressed great guests from abroad to enter. When they have gone in, he himself alights from his elephant and goes into the Eidgah. As soon as the King arrives the imam rises and leads the prayer and recites the sermon. And if it is Eid al-Adha, a camel is brought for the sacrifice, and the Sultan slays it with his own hand by striking it with a spear. When he slays it, the King wraps a cloth round his body so that the royal dress is kept from stains of blood.

The court held on the day of Eid is also most elaborate and splendid. Great preparations are made for it; but we shall describe it another time. For this essay has now grown very long, and if it grows longer people will lose interest.