246 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [ Nov. 
period of Bengal history held a much higher rank than it does 
now-a-days. From the rubbings which I have examined, it is 
certain that Mr. Broadley’s inscriptions will considerably add to 
our knowledge of the beginning of the Muhammadan period of 
Bengal History, and I hope that he will find leisure to publish his 
large collection, and add archeological notes on the old buildings of 
Bihar, and also collect the numerous legends, still current in the 
district, regarding the early Muhammadan invaders of Bengal. 
My object in laying a few of Mr. Broadley’s inscriptions before 
the meeting, is to direct attention to Bihar inscriptions in general, 
and to appeal to officers stationed in that province to send rub-— 
bings to our Society for publication. Every inscription with the 
name of a king and a date onit, is of value. Ata former meet- 
ing, I explained what progress had been made, up to the present 
time, in the elucidation of Bihar and Bengal history. I mentioned 
that we do not even possess a correct and complete list of the 
Muhammadan kings of Bengal and Bihar, and that no historian 
had yet attempted to fix the limits to which the kingdom, of 
Bengal, at various times, extended. ‘There exist no MNS. his- 
tories of Bengal; the first attempt at a connected history 
known to us, is the short chapter by Nizimuddin in the Tabagdt ¢ 
Akbart, which was composed so late as A. H. 1001, or A. D. 1592. 
For the ‘beginning of the Muhammadan period, we have only 
‘occasional notices in the MS. histories of the Dihli empire, and 
coins and inscriptions, The information which coins yield, will be 
found in Mr. E. Thomas’s excellent Essay on the ‘ Initial Coinage of 
Bengal’ (Journal, A. 8. Bengal, for 1867). He compiled a valu- 
able list of the early Muhammadan Governors, and assigned to 
several kings, whose names were not to be found in the existing 
histories of Bengal, their proper places. As an example, I may 
mention the king Shamsuddin Firuz, of whom Mr. Thomas found 
coins struck between 1315 and 1322, A. D. The inscriptions at 
Tribeni near Higli, which I laid last year before the Society, men- 
tion the same king as having reigned in 1818, A. D. Two of Mr. 
Broadley’s inscriptions—and this will shew the value of his dis- 
coveries, prove— i 
1. that Firdz already reigned in 1309 over (Western) Bengal, 
or Lak’hnauti. 
