and started shouting, “Envoys! Envoys!” The defenders thereupon ceased their shooting, and we were ushered into the king’s presence. He was a handsome young man seated upon a silver throne. Following court protocol I clapped my hands, bowed over them, and said, “Jo.” He replied, “Bah.” He seated me next to him, drew me close, and began to lament the ruin that had befallen the land. After some hesitation he donned the robe of honour, and a Turk wound the turban around his head. I then pressed him to swear the required oath. “We swear by the idols and by fire,” he said, “but that will not satisfy you people.” I answered, “It must be done,” yet I refrained from mentioning the finger. He thereupon produced an iron blade, calmly cut off his little finger, applied camphor to his hand, handed the finger to me, and said, “Tell your master to spare the populace from harm.”
The Sultan returned to Khurasan. Ibn Marwān, ruler of Diyarbakr, sent him a gift, but he sent it back with the message: “I have not rejected it out of disdain; rather, I realised that your aim is intimacy and friendship, and it ill befits me to befriend someone whom I am unable to assist. An enemy may fall upon you while I am a thousand farsakhs away, and I would be powerless to help you.”
News then reached the Sultan that the Indians were saying, “He has ruined most of India because the great idol Sūmanāt is enraged with the lesser idols and those around them.” He therefore resolved to attack that idol and marched with his army across the deserts toward it. The Indians claimed that the idol provided sustenance, gave life and death, heard and understood; they made pilgrimage to it, presented it with precious gifts, and were extreme in their veneration, so that a fortune beyond description had accumulated there. Every day they washed the idol with water, honey, and milk, bringing the water from the river Hayl, a month’s journey away. Three hundred men shaved the heads and beards of its pilgrims, and another three hundred sang.
The army set out from Ghazna and crossed a harsh desert. It comprised 30,000 cavalry along with foot-soldiers and volunteer fighters. He reinforced the volunteers with 50,000 dinars and spent on the army more than was necessary. He departed from al-Muliyā on the second day of Eid al-Fiṭr in the year 416 AH. They endured severe hardships, at times going three days without finding water, and on one day a thick fog enveloped them, whereupon they said—