1903.] Annual. Address. 25 



work. On the outside only work which is absolutely necessary to prevent a 

 wall from falling, and the repairing of cracks in the domes, will be under- 

 taken. Of the other remains of Gaur some may possibly receive 

 repairs hereafter. Perhaps the most notable, however, the Bais Gaji 

 wall, seems to be beyond any material help. Its crest is so thickly 

 covered by trees and jungles, whose roots descend far into the brick- 

 work, that the removal of these might lead to an early collapse of great 

 portions of the ruin. This remarkable wall, which surrounded the 

 palace enclosure, is of great thickness, and 22 yards (Bais Gaj), or 

 66 feet, in height. 



Pandua lies, in an opposite direction, at much the same distance 

 from Malda as Gaur. It was a smaller city, but the kings resided there 

 at some periods, and the present remains include the Adina Mosque, to 

 which Gaur had no equal, and which must have been among the largest 

 mosques in India. This mosque, which was erected by Sikandar Shah 

 about 1369 A.D., is a quadrangular building, with an inner court, 500 

 feet in length from north to south and 300 feet in width. Four rows of 

 pillars in blackstone on the western, and two on the northern, eastern 

 and southern, sides supported domes, resting on every set of four pil- 

 lars, and open arches led into the inner court. The walls were faced 

 outside with black hornblende, and ornamented within by trellis work 

 on three sides, while one side contains prayer niches of hornblende ela- 

 borately sculptured. The mosque was entered on the west side by a 

 small door, through a transept eighty feet high, on one side of which 

 stands the Badshah ka Takht, or King's Throne, a stone platform sup- 

 ported by three rows of massive hornblende pillars, twenty-one in num- 

 ber, and on the other the pulpit, of beautiful carved stone, ascended by 

 .several steps. Of the domes only a number of those which covered the 

 north-western portion of the mosque remain. The Badshah ka Takht 

 survives in fair preservation, as also the greater part of the western walls. 

 Most of the pillars have fallen, but their bases are in position. The full 

 extent to which the repairs of the mosque will be carried has not been 

 finally settled, but much will be undertaken, especially for the restoration 

 of the Badshah ka Takht and the Pulpit, and the repair of the domes. 

 The north wall, the south transept wall, several arches and some domes 

 have been repaired. Pandua also had its Golden Mosque, built in 1585, 

 a beautiful work in hornblende, the walls of which survive, the interior 

 containing a fine pulpit. Repairs have been done to the walls and 

 arches, the pulpit and the minars. Another mosque, the Eklakhi, lies 

 at a short distance. It is a building of embossed bricks and hornblende, 

 eighty feet square, covered by a single dome, and contains the tombs 

 of Giyasuddin Shah, his wife, and his daughter-in-law. It was pro* 

 4 



