Maharaja.Ranjit.Sing.. - Gurmat Veechar

With the Muslim Rulers 25
The rulers of Malwa had collected jewels, gold,
diamonds, rubies and other precious articles of every
description worth crores of rupees. All the
accumulated wealth of theirs thus fell to the
conqueror. Alauddin was overjoyed to see himself
the master. of such fortunes, including some precious
stones of rare qualities. Amongst th,em was this
diamond of great repute. Amir Khusro gives a graphiC
account of how these valuable jewels were
surrendered to Alauddin. He writes thus: "Rai Ladhar
Deo shut himself inside the fort, like a snake over
buried treasure, and called his people around him.
He had fastened his hopes on a plan to place before
the invaders an obstacle which would cause them to
stumble and retrace their steps, but the Emperor's
prestige overawed him. All his courage melted away
and he was left a broken man. In his helplessness, he
first collected in heaps, the treasure he had buried
under stones, more heavy than can be dragged from
the hills, in order to provide for his ransom. Next he
constructed a golden image of himself and in
acknowledgement of having become a tribute-payer,
he placed a golden chain round its neck and sent it
through ambassadors whose honest word was more
unchanging than the purest gold, to the commander
of the Imperial Army.
"In his petition the Rai submitted that 'If precious
stones, gems and pearls are demanded, I have a stock
of them such as the eyes of the mountains have not
seen and the ears of the fish have not heard. All of