1873.] H. Blochmann — Inscriptions from Oenl. Cunningham. 201 



inscription with a date, but the letters were illegible or had broken away. 

 The people living at the place say that the children of Makhum Jahaniyan 

 are buried here. Near their vault is a mausoleum with a high dome and 

 four minarets, and inside are four tombs, without inscription ; but in a cor- 

 ner stood a large stone, which had formerly been attached to the doorway. 

 From the inscription on it, it is clear that in 881 A. H., or 1476 A. D. 

 during the reign of Husain Shah of Jaunpur, one Shah Hari Khan, son of 

 Fath Khan, built the mausoleum." 



Mr. Beale then gives an imperfect reading of the inscription. General 

 Cunningham took a photograph of the slab, which I read as follows : — 



t£ * M 'Jsfij J Vi) *i ** ji^t-ct^ itfij * %SMm ^j\ tj^ j\ ** g*J «< x '" c-^' 



•i.-jj.i* iJiJl+f jU.?- jt JUIS" * J^U. &l L s^\j «Xx-» (jU >_jJ0 



1. This wonderful edifice, which is higher than the heaven, and this unparalleled 

 portico, which is full of ornaments, 



2. Was built in the auspicious reign of Husain Shah, whose glory in the 

 present age is victorious. 



3. It was planned byShahHariKhan, son of Fath Khan, to whom, by the 

 grace of God, the whole world is subject. 



4. May his life be devoted for thousand years to the prosperity of the kingdom ; for 

 this kingdom rests for ever on the strength of his character. 



5. It was in the year 881 A. H., that the date of the building was written. 



6. The builder of this portico is Sayyid Raju, son of Jalal, whose perfections 

 illuminate the earth. 



7. The writer of this inscription is a poor learned man and poet, and hopes in the 

 mercy of the Supreme King. 



In the third line, the metre shews that Shah Hari Khan is the son of 

 Fath Khan. The word hicad in the 7th line, is a most extraordinary form 

 for hashcad, the well known abbreviation of hashtcad. In the Journal for 

 1872, Part 1, p. 113, I condemned this form as absurd ; but General 

 Cunningham drew my attention to this inscription from Kanauj and two 

 others from Malwah, in which hicad also occurs. There is, therefore, no 

 doubt as to its existence, although we have to remember that no dictionary 

 gives it, and that it only occurs in inscriptions written by wretched poets. 



How wretched the above inscription is in point of versification, may be 

 seen from the last line, where kdtib-huruf, and worse still hazrat akbar, are 

 used ' ob metrum' without Izafat. 



