So much for Dilawar.... The people have no
traditions. But there are the remains; and there is the name, borne by the
existing village on part of the old site." I had come to the conclusion
that this was almost certainly Polo's Dalivar, and had mapped it as such,
before I read certain passages in the History of Ziyauddin Barni, which
have been translated by Professor Dowson for the third volume of Elliot's
India. When the comrades of Ghaiassuddin Balban urged him to conquests,
the Sultan pointed to the constant danger from the Mongols,[2] saying:
"These accursed wretches have heard of the wealth and condition of
Hindustan, and have set their hearts upon conquering and plundering it.
They have taken and plundered Lahor within my territories, and no year
passes that they do not come here and plunder the villages.... They even
talk about the conquest and sack of Delhi." And under a later date the
historian says: "The Sultan... marched to Lahor, and ordered the
rebuilding of the fort which the Mughals had destroyed in the reigns of
the sons of Shamsuddin. The towns and villages of Lahor which the Mughals
had devastated and laid waste he repeopled." Considering these passages,
and the fact that Polo had no personal knowledge of Upper India, I now
think it probable that Marsden was right, and that Dilivar is really a
misunderstanding of "Citta di Livar" for Lahawar or Lahore.
The Magical darkness which Marco ascribes to the evil arts of the
Karaunas is explained by Khanikoff from the phenomenon of Dry Fog, which
he has often experienced in Khorasan, combined with the Dust Storm with
which we are familiar in Upper India. In Sind these phenomena often
produce a great degree of darkness. During a battle fought between the
armies of Sindh and Kachh in 1762, such a fog came on, obscuring the light
of day for some six hours, during which the armies were intermixed with
one another and fighting desperately. When the darkness dispersed they
separated, and the consternation of both parties was so great at the
events of the day that both made a precipitate retreat. In 1844 this
battle was still spoken of with wonder. (J. Bomb. Br. R. A. S. I. 423.)
Major St. John has given a note on his own experience of these curious
Kerman fogs (see Ocean Highways, 1872, p. 286): "Not a breath of air was
stirring, and the whole effect was most curious, and utterly unlike any
other fog I have seen. No deposit of dust followed, and the feeling of the
air was decidedly damp. I unfortunately could not get my hygrometer till
the fog had cleared away."
[General Houtum-Schindler, l.c. p. 493, writes:
