One night in the year 641 (1243A.D.) he halted at a place between Deo-kot and Bangawan, and stayed as a guest in the house of Muatamadu-d daula, who … - Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji

" "

One night in the year 641 (1243A.D.) he halted at a place between Deo-kot and Bangawan, and stayed as a guest in the house of Muatamadu-d daula, who had formerly been an equerry in the service of Muhammad Bakhtiyar and had lived in the town of Lakhnauti. From this man he heard that after passing over the bridge, the road lay for fifteen stages through the defiles and passes of the mountains, and at the sixteenth stage level land was reached. The whole of that land was well populated, and the villages were flourishing. The village which was first reached had a fort, and when the Muhammadan army made an attack upon it, the people in the fort and the surrounding places came to oppose them, and a battle ensued. The fight raged from morning till the time of afternoon prayer, and large numbers of the Muhammadans were slain and wounded. The only weapons of the enemy were bamboo spears; and their armour, shields and helmets, consisted only of raw silk strongly fastened and sewed together. They all carried long bows and arrows. When night came on, the prisoners who had been taken were brought forward and questioned, and it was then ascertained that at five parasangs from that place there was a city called Karam-batan, and in it there was about three hundred and fifty thousand brave Turks armed with bows. The moment the horsemen of the Muhammadans arrived, messengers went to report their approach, and these messengers would reach their destination next morning. When the author was at Lakhnauti, he made enquiries about that place, and learnt that it was a pretty large city. The ramparts of it are built of stone. The inhabitants of it are Brahmans and Nunis, and the city is under the sway of the chief of these people. They profess the Buddhist religion. Every morning in the market of that city, about fifteen hundred horses are sold. All the saddle horses which come into the territory of Lakhnauti are brought from that country. Their roads pass through the ravines of the mountains, as is quite common in that part of the country. Between Kamrup and Tibet there are thirty-five mountain passes through which horses are brought to Lakhnauti.