During the attack, the catapults were busily plied on both sides… ‘Praise be to God for his exaltation of the religion of Muhammad. It is not to be d… - Amir Khusrau

The Conquest of Ma’bar. The tongue of the sword of the Khalifa of the time, which is the tongue of the flame of Islam, has imparted light to the entire darkness of Hindustan by the illumination of its guidance; and on one side an iron wall of royal swords has been raised before the infidel Magog-like Tatars, so that all the God-deserted tribe drew their feet within their skirts amongst the hills of Ghazni, and even their advance-arrows had not strength enough to reach into Sind. On the other side so, much dust arose from the battered temple of Somnat that even the sea was not able to lay it, and on the right hand and on the left hand the army has conquered from sea to sea, and several capitals of the gods of the Hindus, in which Satanism has prevailed since the time of the Jinns, have been demolished. All these impurities of infidelity have been cleansed by the Sultan’s destruction of idol-temples, beginning with his first holy expedition against Deogir, so that the flames of the light of the law illumine all these unholy countries, and places for the criers to prayer are exalted on high, and prayers are read in mosques. God be praised!

But the country of Ma’bar, which is so distant from the city of Dehli that a man travelling with all expedition could only reach it after a journey of twelve months, there the arrow of any holy warrior had not yet reached; but this world-conquering king determined to carry his [p. 91] army to that distant country, and spread the light of the Muhammadan religion there. Malik Naib Barbak was appointed to command the army for this expedition, and a royal canopy was sent with him. The Malik represented that on the coast of Ma’bar were five hundred elephants, larger than those which had been presented to the Sultan from Arangal, and that when he was engaged in the conquest of that place he had thought of possessing himself of them, and that now, as the wise determination of the king had combined the extirpation of idolaters with this object, he was more than ever rejoiced to enter on this grand enterprise....

After five days, the royal canopy moved from Birdhul on Thursday, the 17th of Zi-l Ka'da, and arrived at Kham, and five days afterwards they arrived at the city of Mathra (Madura), the dwelling place of the brother of the Rai Sundar Pandya. They found the city empty, for the Rai had fled with the Ranis, but had left two or three elephants in the temple of Jagnar (Jagganath). The elephants were captured and the temple burnt.