Page:History of India Vol 5.djvu/175

RECEPTION OF THE MOGHUL AMBASSADORS 139 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, after which their skins were all stuffed with straw, and some of them were hung over each gate of the city. The plain of Hauz- rani and the gates of Delhi remembered no punishment like this, nor had any one ever heard such a tale of horror. Ulugh Khan now represented to the Sultan that the Moghul ambassadors in Khorasan should be brought to court and granted an interview. On Wednesday, the seventh of Rabi'-al-akhir, the court accordingly proceeded to the Green Palace, and Ulugh Khan gave orders for armed men to be collected from all quarters round Delhi to the number of two hundred thousand foot and fifty thousand horse, with banners and accou- trements. Great numbers of armed men of all ranks went forth from the capital and assembled at the royal residence in the new city of Kilu-ghari, where they were drawn up shoulder to shoulder in twenty lines. When the ambassadors entered the city, they were received with the utmost honour and were conducted before the throne with the highest possible ceremony. The palace was decked out in the most splendid array, all the princes, nobles, and officers attended in gorgeous dresses, and a poem written by the author of this work was recited before the throne. After the reception the ambassadors were conducted in great state to the place appointed for their abode.