Being at last tired of
slaughter, the soldiers made slaves of the survivors, and drove them
out in chains; and, as they passed, the officers were allowed to
select any they liked except the masons, whom Timur required to build
for him at Samarkand a church similar to that of Iltutmish in old
Delhi.
He now set out to take Meerut, which was at that time a fortified
town of much note. The people determined to defend themselves, and
happened to say that Tarmah Shirin, who invaded India at the head of
a similar body of Tartars a century before,[48] had been unable to
take the place. This so incensed Timur that he brought all his forces
to bear on Meerut, took the place, and having had all the Hindoo men
found in it _skinned alive_, he distributed their wives and children
among his soldiers as slaves. He now sent out a division of his army
to murder unbelievers, and collect plunder, over the cultivated
plains between the Ganges and Jumna, while he led the main body on
the same _pious duty_ along the hills from Hardwar[49] on the Ganges
to the west. Having massacred a few thousands of the hill people,
Timur read the noon prayer, and returned thanks to God for the
victories he had gained, and the numbers he had murdered through his
goodness; and told his admiring army that a religions war like this
produced two great advantages: it secured eternal happiness in
heaven, and a good store of valuable spoils on earth--that his design
in all the fatigues and labours which he had undertaken was solely to
render himself _pleasing to God_, treasure up _good works_ for his
eternal happiness, and get riches to bestow upon his soldiers and the
poor.
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