Note 55 — The Sixteenth New Year’s Feast after the Auspicious Accession

On the 24th55 of the same month I went to see the fort of Kāngṛa, and gave an order that the Qāẓī, the Chief Justice (Mīr ʿAdl), and other learned men of Islam should accompany me and carry out in the fort whatever was customary, according to the religion of Muḥammad. Briefly, having traversed about one koss, I went up to the top of the fort, and by the grace of God, the call to prayer and the reading of the K͟hut̤ba and the slaughter of a bullock, which had not taken place from the commencement of the building of the fort till now, were carried out in my presence. I prostrated myself in thanksgiving for this great gift, which no king had hoped to receive, and ordered a lofty mosque to be built inside the fort. The fort of Kāngṛa is situated on a high hill, and is so strong that if furnished with provisions and the necessaries for a fort the hand of force cannot reach its skirt, and the noose of stratagem must fall short of it. Although there are heights (sar-kūbhā) in some places, and guns and muskets might reach (the fort) from them, yet no harm would accrue to the garrison, for they could move to another part of the fort,56 and be safe. It has 23 bastions and seven gates. Its inner circumference is 1 koss and 15 ropes, its length is ¼ koss and 2 ropes (t̤anāb), its breadth not more than 22 ropes nor less than 15. Its height is 114 cubits. There are two reservoirs inside the fort, one 2 ropes long and 1½ broad; the other is of the same length (?).57