Page:History of India Vol 3.djvu/51

 THE IDOL OF SOMNATH DESTROYED 27 black men." Flight did not save Chand Rai; the enemy tracked him through the forest, and coming up with him at midnight, attacked in the dark, routed, plun- dered, and revelled for three days, and carried home such booty and mobs of prisoners that the slave markets of Persia were glutted, and a servant could be bought for a couple of shillings. Two years later the Sultan met the evasive raja of Kanauj. It was at the " Rahib " (probably the Ramaganga), a deep river with a black bituminous bot- tom, "fit to scald a scabby sheep." Fording was out of the question, and Mahmud ordered his advance-guard to swim the river on air-skins, plying their bows as they swam. The men plunged in, the Hindus fled, and once more victory declared for the men of the north. In the next two campaigns Lahore, G-walior, and Kalin- jar surrendered to a conqueror who would take no denial, and in the winter of 1025-6 the Sultan made his final invasion of Gujarat, crowning his victories by the capture of the city of Somnath, with its costly temple and its wondrous god. There a hundred thou- sand pilgrims were wont to assemble, a thousand Brah- mans served the temple and guarded its treasures, and hundreds of dancers and singers played before its gates. Within stood the famous linga, a rude pillar-stone adorned with gems and lighted by jewelled candelabra, which were reflected in the rich hangings, embroidered with precious stones like stars, that decked the shrine. So long as this worshipful emblem stood inviolate, Mahmud could not rest from his idol-breaking, nor