48 Dr. Hamilton's Account of the Frontier between 



Art. VII. — An Account of the Frontier between Part of Ben- 

 gal and the Kingdom of Ava. By Francis Hamilton, 

 M.D. F.R.S. and F.A.S. Lond. & Ed. Communicated 

 by the Author. 



Between Bengal and the kingdom of Ava there are three 

 principal routes by land : 1st, through Asam ; 9,d, through 

 Kashar and Munipura ; and 3d, by Arakan, passing the 

 boundary at the river Naaf. In the second part of The An- 

 nals of Oriental Literature, while treating of Asam, I have 

 given some account of the first two routes, and of the coun- 

 tries situated between the northern parts of Bengal and the 

 dominions of the king of Ava. It is now my intention to 

 mention some particulars concerning the countries which are 

 situated between this kingdom and the southern parts of 

 Bengal, including the districts of Tiperah (Tripura) and 

 Chatigang. 



Both these districts at one time seem to have belonged to 

 the Rajas of Tripura, who are celebrated in the ancient 

 Hindu traditions for their luxury ; and on the Minamati 

 hills, called Lolmi by Rennel, the situation of their ancient 

 abode may be traced for a great extent, about six miles west 

 from Komila. I travelled there, through the remains of brick 

 buildings, for about a mile and a half. At the northern end 

 of this ruin are the remains of a fort about 200 yards square ; 

 and a mile south from thence are four or five steep hills 

 composed almost entirely of brick, and connected and sur- 

 rounded by ditches, which seem to point out the royal resi- 

 dence. 



These princes seem to have been early attacked by the 

 kings of Bengal, whose Mohammedan subjects then seized a 

 large part of the country, leaving, however, the Tripura 

 princes in possession of large estates as tributaries, while the 

 more inaccessible parts of the country continued independ- 

 ent, and occupied by the aboriginal inhabitants, who use 

 languages totally different from the Bengalese. The Mo- 

 hammedans of Bengal were, in their turn, worsted by the 

 kings of Arakan, (Rakhain,) who conquered the whole 

 country near the sea, and were not driven out until after the 



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