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149
JUNE, 1899.]
HISTORY OF THE BAHMANI DYNASTY.
When the royal army passed the river Kistnâ the country of the base infidels became turned topsy-turvy, and the cultivated lands changed into desolation: all the inhabitants took refuge in the four strongest fortresses in that part of the country.
The rebel Nârâyana seeing that it was useless for him to use his claws against a furious lion, being himself a fox, he wished by fox-play to avoid contending with lions; so he sent an eloquent man to the Sultan with the following memorial:
"I am a slave of the ancient servants of the royal threshold, but owing to my many crimes and the awfulness of the wrath of the Sultan of the World I cannot have the presumption to kiss the ground before him. If the King of the World would order one of the slaves of the court to come over in this direction in order that this slave may explain his circumstances to him, and if he will briefly bring them to the notice of your Majesty, it will not be far from the perfection of kindness to servants and the application of a remedy."
The Sultan, agreeing to the proposal of that accursed, vile one, sent Kâzî Bahâ-i-Hajib to say to him: "Your crimes are notorious, and on account of them you are deserving of exemplary punishment; but if you repent and obey the laws of government in future, your former faults will be overlooked, and your life and the lives of your sons and family several thousand persons - may be spared; otherwise your fortress will be razed to the ground, your dwelling-places will be sacked, and your irreligious body with all your followers will become as a fable."
When the infidel Narayana heard these awful words the fear which had settled in his heart was increased; but fortune having turned agains thim and plunged him in misery he could not agree to serve the Sultan, but set his heart on opposing him, and took refuge in the fort of Jamkhandi, which was considered one of the greatest of his forts. He sent three of his chief nobles to hold three other forts; and of these men he sent one vile one named Gopal to hold the fort of Mudhôl, and two other infidels to Terdal and Bagalkot.
When the Sultan knew that the impure and fearless Nârâyana had no desire to yield submission, he determined first of all to take the fort of Mudhol, which was the strongest of the forts of that contemptible one, who owing to the strength of that place was beyond the reach of everyone. This fort he determined to take, in order that fear being established in the hearts of the accursed people of that district they would no longer desire to offer any opposition nor engage in war with the Muḥammadan army.
When the Sultan, with the intention of attacking the fort of Mudhol, crossed the river and turned in that direction, the traitor Narayana deemed it advisable to send a number of his troops to make a night attack on the royal camp, hoping by this manoeuvre to avert the fate which threatened them: but destiny was against them. The cursed Narayana sent nearly two hundred horse and a thousand infantry on a dark night to attack the royal army; but he was not aware that he who throws a stone at the sky inevitably wounds his own head. This doomed band of infidels reached the corner of the Sultan's camp, but only to shut the door of safety in the face of their own fortune. The vile infidels in the fort of Mudhol also, when they heard the tumult of that powerless handful, a number of them rashly came out of the fort and joined that rabble. But since the royal troops, like their own fortune, were awake and on the alert, they suddenly intercepted those worthless infidels and almost annihilated them. Most of them were killed, but some escaped: a few crept like mice into the holes of the fortress, and about twenty of them fled towards Jamkhandi, and with a thousand troubles and perplexities reached that place.
Next morning the Saltân sat on his throne and held a public audience; and the nobles and leaders of the army brought before him the prisoners and boot ywhich, they had acquired. Some of the prisoners were put to death, and the brave men who on that dark night had shown special bravery were distinguished by royal favours, and the booty which had been gained was
