And the King of Bisnaga,seeing his great power and how many troops he had brought with him,determined to abandon the city,which was very difficult to enter;close to which was,and now is,a river which is called Nagundy,whence the city is called Nagundy,and they say the city had its name because of it.And he fled for shelter to a fortress called Crynamata,[480]which was by the bank of the river,and which contained much provision and water;but not enough for the sustenance of so many people as he had with him,as many as fifty thousand men.Therefore the King chose five thousand men with their property and took refuge in the fortress;and for the rest he bade them betake themselves to another fortress of his in another part of his kingdom.
And being sheltered in the fortress,after he had taken order about his provisions,he was beset on all sides by the King of the people of Dely,who had already up to this time been at war with him[481]for twelve years;over which siege little time was spent,because the people that were inside the fortress were numerous,and in a little space had consumed their provisions.
Then the King of Bisnaga,seeing the determination of the soldiers of the King of Delly that they would never leave the place without ****** an end of those whom he had with him in the fortress,made a speech to them all,laying before them the destruction that the King of the troops of Dely had caused in his own kingdoms;[482]and how,not content with that,he had besieged this fortress,so that now there was nothing for them to look to but death,since already there was no water in the fortress nor anything left to eat.And (he said)that of the fifty thousand men who had been in the city of Nagundy he had chosen them alone as his companions and true friends,and he begged of them that they would hold fast in death to the loyalty which they had borne him in their lives;for he hoped that day to give battle to the King of Delly.Then he said that already there remained to him of his kingdom and lordship nothing but that fortress and the people that were in it,and so he asked them to arm themselves and die with him in battle,giving their lives to the enemy who had deprived them of all their lands.
All of them were very content and glad at this,and in a short space were all armed;and after they were so the King made them another speech,saying,"Before we join battle we have to wage another war with our sons and daughters and wives,for it will not be good that we should allow them to be taken for the use of our enemies."And the King said,"I will be the first to deal with my wife and sons."At this time they were all standing in a large open space which was before the citadel,and there by the hand of the King were slain over fifty of his wives and some sons and little daughters;and the same was done with their own hands by all who had wives and sons that could not fight.
When these nuptial feasts,so abhorred of all,were fulfilled,they opened the gates of the fortress,and their enemies forthwith entered,and slew all of them except six old men who withdrew to a house.These were made captive and were taken before the King (of Delhi),and the King asked them who they were and how they had escaped,and they told them who they were;at which the King greatly rejoiced,because one of them was the minister of the kingdom and another the treasurer,and the others were leading officers in it.They were questioned by the King concerning the treasures of the King of Bisnaga,and such riches as were buried in the vaults of the fortress were delivered up to him,they also gave him an account of the revenues of the kingdom of Bisnaga at that time.When all was known to the King he delivered them to one of his captains,and commanded to make over the bodies of the dead to another captain,and gave orders that the bodies should be burned;and the body of the King,at the request of those six men,was conveyed very honourably to the city of Nagundy.From that time forward that place became a burying-place of the kings.Amongst themselves they still worship this King as a saint.
