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18
blockade a city of such magnitude with less than
20,000 men. Yet so well did Mahmud com-
pensate for the lack of manpower by his
vigilance and activity that before long the
inhabitants began to suffer all the horrors of an
acute famine. At length, after repeated sallies
had been beaten back with great loss in men
and material, and all attempts of troops from
the provinces to pierce the Afghan line and force
a convoy of food into the beleagured city had
failed, the necessity of surrender became more
apparent. Finally after a siege of eight months,
the Shah, accompanied by his courtiers and
high-ranking officers, came out of the city and
surrendered himself to Mahmud at Farahabad,
the headquarters of the Afghans. The Shah
with his own hand placed the diadem on the
head of the conqueror and gave him the keys of
the city.
Shah Mahmud in the beginning of his reign
in Persia showed qualities of a good statesman.
The moment he became the master of the capital,
he tried his best to relieve the inhabitants of the
miseries of famine. His next care was to establish
Roughly two thirds of characters agree with a modern printed edition of the same text. Much of the disagreement is editorial, not misreading. Treat the transcription as a finding aid and read the page image before quoting. How this was measured.