Page:History of India Vol 5.djvu/221

181 and settlement of this kingdom, I turned my thoughts toward the acquisition of some of the provinces of Hin- dustan. I inquired concerning the condition of that country and received the following account: that the city of Delhi is the capital of the sovereigns of India, and that after the death of Sultan Firoz Shah, two brothers among his nobility, one of whom was named Mallu and the other Sarang, became very powerful and established their in- dependence; so that, though they gave the nominal sovereignty to one of the sons of Sultan Firoz Shah, Sultan Mahmud by name, they kept the real power in their own hands and virtually governed the empire. Mallu, the elder brother, lives at Delhi, at the court of Sultan Mahmud, while Sarang is established in the city of Multan for the protection of that country. " When I became acquainted with these matters, I acted according to the practice of the great king, and wrote a letter which I sent to Sarang by an ambassador, declaring that since the fame of the victories and con- quests and of the extensive empire of the great king SHAH TIMUB. (From an old Persian print.)