"At the beginning of 658 H. (December, 1259), Ulugh Khan resolved upon a campaign in the hills near the capital. These hills were inhabited by a turbulent people, who committed depredations on the roads, plundered the goods of Musulmans, drove away the cultivators, and ravaged the villages in the districts of Harriana, the Siwalik hills, and Bayana. Three years before they had carried off from Hansi a drove of camels and a number of the people of Ulugh Khan. Their chief was a Hindu named Malka, a fierce and desperate fellow. It was he who carried off the camels, and he fomented disturbances among the Hindus from the hills to Rantambhor. But when he did these things the army was otherwise engaged…in repelling the Mughal forces, which had attacked the frontiers of Islam in Sindh, at Lahore, and in the vicinity of the river Biyah…. Ulugh Khan and other nobles...resolved upon a campaign in the hills, and made the first march in advance on Monday, 4th Safar, 658. In their first forced march (kashish) they accomplished nearly fifty kos, and fell unexpectedly upon the rebels. These retreated to the summits of the mountains, to the defiles, to deep gorges and narrow valleys, but they were all taken and put to the sword. For twenty days the troops traversed the hills in all directions. The villages and habitations of the mountaineers were on the summits of the loftiest hills and rocks, and were of great strength, but they were all taken and ravaged by order of Ulugh Khan…A silver tanka was offered for every head, and two tankas for every man brought in alive. Eager for these rewards the soldiers climbed the highest hills, and penetrated the ravines and deepest gorges, and brought in heads and captives…Fortune now so favoured Ulugh Khan that he was able to penetrate to a fastness which no Musulman army had ever reached… In the course of twenty days this great work was accomplished, and the army returned to the capital on the 24th Rabi’u-l, 658. His Majesty, with a great retinue of chiefs and nobles, came forth to the plain of Hauz-rani to meet him, and a grand Court was held in which many honours and rewards were bestowed. After a stay of two days in the capital the Court went forth again to Hauz-rani on a mission of revenge. The elephants were prepared, and the Turks made ready their trenchant swords. By royal command many of the rebels were cast under the feet of elephants, and the fierce Turks cut the bodies of the Hindus in two. About a hundred met their death at the hands of the flayers, being skinned from head to foot; their skins were all stuffed with straw, and some of them were hung over every gate of the city. The plain of Hauz-rani and the gates of Delhi remembered no punishment like this, nor had any one heard such a tale of horror… The last event which I have to record is this. When Ulugh Khan carried war into the hills, and punished the rebels in the way we have related, a number of them escaped by flight. They now again took to plundering on the highways, and murdering Musulmans, so that the roads became dangerous. This being reported to the Khan, he sent emissaries and spies to find out the places where the rebels had taken refuge, and to make a full report of their state and condition. On Monday, 24th Rajab, 658 (July, 1260), he marched from Delhi with his own forces, the main army, and the forces of several chiefs. He hastened towards the hills, and, accomplishing more than fifty kos in one day’s journey (!), he fell upon the insurgents unawares, and captured them all, to the number of twelve thousand – men, women, and children – whom he put to the sword. All their valleys and strongholds were overrun and cleared, and great booty captured. Thanks be to God for this victory of Islam."
January 1, 1970