BOOK quelled an insurrection of a representative of Sofa V. His first expedition to India. A.D. 1001, A.H. 391. rides, who had been tolerated in a sort of independence in Sístán, and whom, on a subsequent rebellion*, he seized and imprisoned, he proceeded on his first invasion of India. Three centuries and a half had elapsed since the conquest of Persia by the Mussulmans when he set out on this expedition. He left Ghazni with 10,000 chosen horse, and was met by his father's old antagonist, Jeipál of Láhor, in the neighbourhood of Pésháwer. He totally defeated him, took him prisoner, and pursued his march to Batinda, beyond the Satlaj. He stormed and plundered that placet; and then returned with the rich spoils of the camp and country to Ghazni. He released the Hindú prisoners for a ransom, on the rája's renewing his promises of tribute; but put some Afgháns who had joined them to death. Jeipál, on returning from his captivity, worn out by repeated disasters, and perhaps constrained by some superstition of his subjects, made over his crown to his son Anangpál; and mounting a pyre which he had ordered to be * A.D. 1002. + Batinda seems formerly to have been a place of more consequence than its situation, in a sort of desert, would promise. It is said by Colonel Tod to have been the residence of the rája of Láhór alternately with the capital from which he took his title. As the battle at Pésháwer was on the 27th of November, Mahmud would reach Batinda towards the end of the cold season, when the rivers of the Panjáb, though not all fordable, would offer little obstruction to cavalry. constructed, set it on fire with his own hands, and perished in the flames. CHAP. III. pedition. Anang Pál was true to his father's engagements; Second exbut the rája of Bhatía, a dependency of Láhór, on the southern side of Multán, refused to pay his share of the tribute, and resolutely opposed the Sultan, who went against him in person. He was driven, first from a well-defended intrenchment, then from his principal fortress, and at last destroyed himself in the thickets of the Indus, where he had fled for concealment, and where many of his followers fell in endeavouring to revenge his A.D. 1004, death. A. H. 395. pedition. Mahmud's next expedition was to reduce his Third exdependent, the Afghán chief of Multán*, who, though a Mussulman, had renounced his allegiance, and had formed a close alliance with Anang Pál. The tribes of the mountains being, probably, not sufficiently subdued to allow of a direct march from Ghazní to Multán, the rája was able to interpose between Mahmúd and his ally. The armies met somewhere near Pésháwer, when the rája was routed, pursued to Sódra (near Vizírábád), on the Acesines, and compelled to take refuge in Cashmír. Mahmud then laid siege to Multán: at the end of seven days he accepted the submission of * His name was Abul Fatteh Lódi, and he was grandson of Hamíd Khán Lódi, who had joined the enemies of his faith for a cession of the provinces of Multán and Laghmán, and who submitted to Sebektegín after his victory over the Hindús. BOOK A.D. 1005, A.H. 369. the Tartars under E'lik Khán. the chief, together with a contribution; and returned to Ghazni. He was led to grant these favourable terms in Invasion of consequence of intelligence that had reached him of a formidable invasion of his dominions by the armies of E'lik Khán. Though so closely connected with him, the Tartar prince had been tempted, by observing his exclusive attention to India, to hope for an easy conquest of Khorásán, and had sent one army to Herát and another to Balkh, to take possession. But he had formed a wrong estimate of the vigour of his opponent, who committed the charge of his territories on the Indus to Séwuk (or Súk) Pal, a converted Hindú, and turning, by rapid marches, towards Khorásán, soon forced E'lik Khan's generals to retire to their own side of the Oxus. E'lik Khán was now threatened in his turn, and applied for assistance to Kadr Khán of Khóten, who marched to join him with 50,000 men. Thus strengthened, E'lik Khán did not hesitate to cross the Oxus, and was met by Mahmúd, near Balkh. On this occasion he brought 500 elephants into the field, and contrived, by his judicious arrangements, that they should not be liable to derange his own line, while they should produce their full effect on the men and horses of the enemy, unaccustomed to their huge bulk and strange appearance. Accordingly the mere sight of them checked the impetuosity of the Tartar charge; on which the ; III. elephants advanced, and at once pushed into the CHAP. midst of the enemy, dispersing, overthrowing, and trampling under foot whatever was opposed to them it is said that Mahmúd's own elephant caught up the standard bearer of E'lik Khán, and tossed him aloft with his trunk, in sight of the Tartar king and his terrified fellow soldiers. Before this disorder could be recovered, the armies closed; and so rapid and courageous was the onset of the Ghaznevites, that the Tartars gave way on all sides, and were driven, with a prodigious slaughter, from A.D. 1006, the field of battle. * E'lik Khán escaped across the Oxus with a few attendants, and never again attempted to make head against Mahmúd. The Sultan was at first disposed to pursue the enemy; but the advance of winter compelled him to abandon this design; and he did not regain his capital without the loss of some hundreds of men and horses by the inclemency of the season. Meanwhile Súk Pál had revolted and relapsed into idolatry. Mahmúd came unexpectedly upon him, and, making him prisoner, confined him in a fort for life. A. H. 397. Mahmud had been prevented, by the invasion of E'lik Khán, from resenting the opposition which he had met with from Anang Pál. As he was now at leisure to attend to Indian affairs, he assembled a large army, and set out, in the spring of A. D. Fourth ex1008, to resume his operations against the rája. Ferishta. De Guignes. D'Herbelot. pedition. A.D. 1008, A. H. 399. BOOK V. Decisive battle. But Anang Pál had not been insensible to the risk to which he was exposed. He had sent ambassadors to the Hindú princes far and near, pointing out to them the danger with which all were threatened by the progress of the Mahometans, and the necessity of an immediate combination to prevent the total destruction of their religion and independence. His arguments, which were probably in accordance with their own previous feelings, made an impression on those to whom they were addressed: the rájas of Ujén, Guáliór, Cálinjer, Canouj, Delhi, and Ajmír entered into a confederacy; and, uniting their forces, advanced into the Panjab, with the largest army that had ever yet taken the field. Mahmúd was alarmed at this unexpected display of force; and, instead of meeting the danger with his usual alacrity, he halted in the presence of the enemy, and took up a position near Pésháwer, in which he remained on the defensive. During his inaction, the hostile army daily increased: the Hindú women sold their jewels, melted down their golden ornaments, and sent their contributions from a distance, to furnish resources for this holy war and the Gakkars and other warlike tribes joining their army, they surrounded the Mahometans, who were obliged to intrench their camp. But Mahmúd, though somewhat disconcerted, was far from having lost his courage; and, wishing to profit by the strength of his position, he sent out a strong body of archers to provoke an attack on his intrenchments. The |