1 226 THE LORDS OF THE HILLS : —
2 Sooruj Dehu, the fiftieth in succession, lived about the year 1009
3 of Vikramadita, and was but a lad of about ten years old when
4 his father died, and a young* man of about twenty when, as
5 tradition says, on the second day of the month of Ramjaun in
6 the year 271 of the Hejira, Sultan Mahomed (commonly called
7 the Ghuzneewalla) foug'ht a bloody engagement, close to
8 the walls of Ghuznee, thereby deciding the fate of that
9 fortress, wrhich in a few days after fell into his hands. Mun
10 Bown, Envoy from the Sirhind court, was then (with about forty
11 followers, mostly Rajpoots) on a mission to different Hindoo
12 Rajahs (Authush and Pruth and Prest) then reigning in that
13 quarter ; and actually Mun Bown and one of his followers were
14 all that returned to Sirhind alive, the rest having been cut up
15 or made prisoners in the general massacre at Ghuznee, being
16 then and there present.
17 The capture of this famed fortress struck terror into all the
18 chiefs and people around, as it was from days immemorial
19 considered impregnable. It was believed (as tradition had it)
20 to have been originally built by a great Deuh (giant) called
21 Nahor or Nauhour who was said to have come there from
22 the far west, some thousands of years before, and who is
23 perhaps the same as Chedorlaomer,* supposed first prince
24 of Persia, and cotemporary of Abraham, B.C. 1915. But in
25 after ages the walls being greatly shaken and partly demo-
26 lished by an earthquake, it is said to have been rebuilt (about
27 2000 years before the time of Sultan Mahomed) by Rajah Kuss,
28 Kash Kishna, or Kussna, but commonly afterwards called
29 Kizu or Guzu, and from whom the place ultimately took its pre-
30 sent name of Ghuznee. This prince was an Autushprest or fire
31 worshipper, and his territory extended from the sea in the south,
32 to a month's march beyond the great snow ranges of the present
33 More probably Nahor the brother of Abraham.— Ed.