Hindi, his voice ringing toward Abul Hassan's Muslim troops.
"Tonight we are many." Jadar paused deliberately. "But in battle the
many are nothing. In battle there is only the one. Each of you is that
one." Again a pause. Then he shouted in a voice that carried to the far
hills. "Is there a Believer among us tonight who would fight to the
death for our victory?"
A roar of assent sounded from the men.
"Will you swear it? On the Holy Quran?"
This time the roar shook the tent poles of the bazaar.
"Is there one who would not?"
Silence.
Suddenly Jadar turned to the troops of Moghul lineage and
switched his language to exquisite Persian.
"Some here tonight swear to embrace death itself for our
victory. But I know not the will of all. Is there among you a man who
would give his life for us?"
Again a roar of assent.
"What man will swear it?"
The roar seemed to envelop the camp.
Without pausing, Jadar turned to the Rajput contingent,
addressing them easily in their native Rajasthani.
"Does any among you know how to fight?"
Cheers.
"Does any know how to die?"
More cheers. And then the Rajputs began banging their swords
on their bucklers. Jadar bellowed above the sudden dim.
"I know Hindus cannot take an oath. But if you could, would it
be to fight to the death for our victory?"
Bedlam seized the camp. And the chant "Jadar-o-Akbar," Jadar
is Great, swept through the ranks. Jadar let the chant continue for a
time, and as he listened, he saw that Mumtaz and her women had appeared
at the gateway of the gulal bar, as he had instructed them. All
activity had ceased in the camp, and even in the far background the
women had gathered in the shadows of the tents, listening intently.
Then Jadar motioned for silence and continued.
"Tonight we each will make a pledge. I to you. You to me. First my
pledge to you."
Jadar commanded his elephant to kneel, and he dismounted and walked
directly to the waiting wagons containing his wine barrels. He was
handed a silver-handled battle axe, and with a powerful overhand swing
he shattered the first barrel. Then he signaled his waiting guard, and
in moments every barrel had been axed. The center of the bazaar ran
red, and the air was filled with the wine's sweet Persian perfume.
Then he motioned toward the entry of the _gulal bar _and his women
emerged, followed by an elephant whose _howdah_, the livery on its
back, was filled with silver utensils. When the procession reached the
clearing where Jadar stood, the elephant's mahout commanded it to
kneel.
Without a word Jadar walked directly to the _howdah_. As though meeting
an enemy in ambush, he suddenly drew his long sword and swung it
through the livery, leaving a wide gash in its embroidered side. A
glittering array of silver and gold plate, goblets, jewelry poured onto
the ground. With a single motion he sheathed the sword and again took
the axe.
While the assembled camp watched spellbound, he quickly, methodically,
smashed each of the silver and gold objects into small shreds. Then he
broke the silver handle of the axe and again mounted the elephant.
"My pledge to you." His voice pierced the stunned silence of the camp
as he repeated each sentence in three languages. "My pledge to you is
not to touch wine, not to lie with women, not to look on silver or gold
until we have taken Ahmadnagar."
The camp seemed to come apart with the cheer that followed, and again
came the chant "Jadar-o-Akbar," "Jadar-o-Akbar." The sound was as one
voice, and now even the distant hills echoed back the sound. Again
Jadar stopped them.
"Your pledge to me must be the same. And together we will take
Ahmadnagar in a hundred days. By the head of the Prophet I swear it to
you."
Again the chant. And again Jadar stopped them.
"Tonight I offer to fight for you. You must be ready to fight for me.
And each must hold the other to his pledge."
More cheers.
"I have spilled my wine. I will stay apart from my women. I have
smashed my gold and silver. I will give it to you. Each tent will have
a shard. But my eyes must never see it again."
The roar of approval was deafening.
"That is my pledge. You must also give me yours. Leave your women in
their tents and lie beside me under the stars. Empty your wine flasks
into the Narbada River as we cross. As your oath to fight to the death.
And all your silver, that of your vessels, that on your saddles, that
on your women, must be brought here tonight. Mark it with your seal,
and leave it under guard in my own wagons, away from all eyes, until
the day we reach Ahmadnagar. Then we will drink wine, we will have
women, we will wear our finest in victory."
Jadar paused dramatically. "Tonight we are many. Tomorrow we are one.
We march at sunrise!"
The cheers began again, and immediately the pile of silver started to
grow. Muslim nobles began bringing silver-trimmed saddles, plates, even
jewelry. But the most silver came from the Hindu infantry, as their
women were stripped of the silver bracelets and massive silver anklets
that had been their dowries.
Jadar sat unmoving on his elephant as the men began to come forward
with items of silver. Soon there was a line stretching into the dark of
the tents. He watched the pile growing, and his calculations began.
Will it be enough? The weight must be enough or the Shahbandar,
motherless thief that he is, will never agree. But I think we will have
it.
He thought back over the plan. It had required almost the entire
afternoon to refine. But when he had convinced himself that it would
succeed, he had posted the pigeons to Surat.
Where, he had asked himself, can I find fifty lakhs of silver, five
million rupees, within a month, and have them at Burhanpur when we
arrive? I'll not squeeze a copper _pice_, penny, from Agra.
If not Agra, where?