Hamzanama - Hamza is brought to prison
Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna
Inv. No. BI 08770-35r
...At court Zumurrud Shah ordered the Amir to be killed but Malik Arghush managed to convince the King of the East to have the Amir taken to prison instead of killing him.
By chance the road leading to prison ran past the caravanserai where Amir’s champions were staying. Suddenly an uproar was heard and Tul Mast, one of Amir’s champions, opened the window to see Shahrashob holding the Amir in chains...
Around the Amir – whose appearance resembles an enraged lion or perhaps a furious elephant – one sees three or four thousand men brandishing their swords ready to prevent Amir’s champions from starting a rescue attempt.
...When the champions realised they were outnumbered by the infidels and unable to help, they sighed in despair. In the end the Amir was indeed taken to a prison, a majestic construction in the form of a mountain of God’s power with a dome above. The circumference of the dome measured a hundred and eighty cubits and the thickness of the walls measured forty cubits. Inside a pit had been dug and on top of that pit was a stone requiring four hundred men to lift it by the handles which had been attached to it. Besides it took forty men to move the door and when it was closed it made such a noise that it could be heard by everyone in the city...
