Ibn al-Athir (1) relates: “Two enormous stars hurtled across the sky in flame; a mighty crash was heard, and their light outshone both the moon and the very brightness of day. This occurred after the break of dawn.

That same year Sultan Salah al-Din passed away; his reign had lasted more than twenty years.

In the year ninety [590 AH] war blazed between Shihab al-Din al-Ghuri and the Indian king Bināris. Ibn al-Athir (2) reports: They met at the River Makhun (3). The Indian commander had with him seven hundred elephants, and the army—so it is said—numbered one million souls, among whom were several Muslim amirs. Shihab al-Din was granted victory, and the idolaters were slain in such numbers that the earth was glutted with their corpses. Bināris (4) was killed—he was known for having his teeth set with gold—and Shihab al-Din captured ninety elephants, one of them white, together with one thousand four hundred loads from Bināris’s treasuries.

Al-Nasir dispatched to Khwarazm Shah, urging him to wage war against Tughril. The shah hastened to engage him, routed and killed him, plundered his treasury, scattered his army, and sent the head on to Baghdad (5).

Ibn al-Athir (6) adds: Al-Nasir sent further reinforcements to Khwarazm Shah and, through his vizier al-Muʾayyad ibn al-Qassab (7), forwarded to him the robes of sovereignty. After the battle al-Muʾayyad wrote to him: “Present yourself to me so that you may don the robe.” Envoys shuttled back and forth, but Khwarazm Shah was warned, “It is a ruse to seize you.” He therefore advanced intent on seizing Ibn al-Qassab, who fled to a mountain that sheltered him.