displayed to the people his wealth
in golden thrones, and in other rich receptacles, in a great plain
without the city of Ghazni; and after the feast every individual
received a princely gift.

In the following year Mahmud led his army toward Ghor. The native prince
of that country, Mahomet of the Sur tribe of Afghans, with ten thousand
troops, opposed him. The King, finding that the troops of Ghor defended
themselves in their intrenchments with such obstinacy, commanded his
army to make a feint of retreating, to lure the enemy out of their
fortified camp, which manoeuvre proved successful. The Ghorians, being
deceived, pursued the army of Ghazni to the plain, where the King,
facing round with his troops, attacked them with great impetuosity.
Mahomet was taken prisoner and brought to the King; but in his despair
he had taken poison, which he always kept under his ring, and died in a
few hours. His country was annexed to the dominion of Ghazni. Some
historians affirm that neither the sovereigns of Ghor nor its
inhabitants were Mussulmans till after this victory; while others of
good credit assure us that they were converted many years before, even
so early as the time of the famous Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet.

Mahmud, in the same year, was under the necessity of marching again to
Multan, which had revolted; but having soon reduced it, and cut off a
great number of the chiefs, he brought Daud, the son of Nazir, the
rebellious governor, prisoner to Ghazni, and imprisoned him in the fort
of Gorci for life.

In the year A.H. 402, the passion of war fermenting in the mind of
Mahmud, he resolved upon the conquest of Tannasar, in the kingdom of
Hindustan. It had reached the ears of the King that Tannasar was held in
the same veneration by idolaters as Mecca was by the Mahometans; that
there they had set up a great number of idols, the chief of which they
called Jug Sum. This Jug Sum, they pretended to say, existed when as yet
the world existed not. When the King reached the country about the five
branches of the Indus, he desired that--according to the treaty that
existed between himself and Annandpal--he should not be disturbed by his
march through that country. He accordingly sent an embassy to Annandpal,
advising him of his intentions, and desiring him to send guards for the
protection of his towns and villages, which he, the King, would take
care should not be molested by the followers of his camp.

Annandpal ag