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Here he was reinforced from Ghazni and the city fell into his hands. Remaining there six months, he proceeded to Meerut, which he occupied with resistance, and passed on to Kanauj, the Rae of which place received him as a friend, but passed him on to his neighbours. After ten days' march the invader reached Satrikh, which is said at that time to have been the most flourishing of all e reao es a n ^j^^ towns and cities of India. It was moreover a sacred shrine of the Hindus and abounded in good hunting grounds. This place has been identified with Satrikh in the Bara Banki district, but its description tallies better with Ajodhya, the old name of which is Vesakh.* Here Salar Masaud fixed his head-quarters, sending out his lieutenants on every side to proselytize and conquer the country. .
Sayyad Saif-ud-din and Mian Eajjab, the kotwal of the army, were despatched against Bahraich, Mir Sayyad Aziz-ud-din ^A detachment sent -^q^ celebrated as the Lai Pir, against Gopamau, and Malik Fazl against Benares, Bahraich at this time seems to have been a desolate country, for supplies had to be procured by Salar Masaud from Saddahur (now Siddhaur) and Amethi, two towns between Satrikh and Karra Manikpur, and conveyed to the division of the army in Bahraich.
A
confederation of the Raes of Bahraich and the other northern districts The north and south and of the Princes of Karra Manikpur in the south confederacy. now threatened Masaud, but Salar Sahu, his father,, who had joined him at Satrikh, marched against the latter chiefs and overthrew them. In Bahraich, however, the pagans were pressing the army of Islam very hard, and Masaud determined to go and retrieve the day.
The date
of arrival in Bahraich
is fixed as the I7th of Shaban in the year 423 H. 1033 A. D. In the neighbourhood in Bahraich. of Bahraich there was a tank with an image of the sun on its banks, a shrine sacred in the eyes of all the unbelievers, and Masaud, whenever he passed by it, was wont to say that he would like to have the spot for a dwelling place, when he would, if it pleased God, through the power of the spiritual sun, destroy the worship of the
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Sayyad Salstr arrives
material.
who were at first daunted by the presence of joung warrior gradually took heart and assem*^® The battles on the bled in force on the banks of the river Kosala. This Koaala and final defeat of Sayyad Salar. -^^as probably tbe Kauriala, in the direction of which stream the Hindus would naturally retire before a foe advancing from Ajodhya. Masaud defeated them there, time after time, until the arrival of Sohar-Deo or Suhel-Deo in the unbelievers' camp turned the tide of battle in their favour. They now closed in on Masaud's quarters at Bahraich, and on the 18th day of the month Rajjab1034 A. D., the Pnnce of Martyrs fell ul-Murajjab in the year 424 H. The
E.aes of the country
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- Satrikh in the Bara Banki district is undoubtedly the correct locality ; there is a shrine in
of the martyr and his father who died here, and a great annual gathering still celft' brates the event.
honour
