1921.] Numismatic Supplement No. XXXV. 47 
Siirat is called S)lac jai ‘Blessed port’ on some of the 
early rupees of the ‘ Puritan’ Aurangzeb. The most prob- 
able explanation of the designation is that ‘‘it was the port 
of departure for the pilgrimage to Mecca.” (I.M.C., ITI, Introd. 
Ixxviii). This is borne out by the statement that it was 
also spoken of as the ‘ Gate of Mecca’ (Imp. Gaz. XXIII, 155).' 
There exists, however, in a history of the city written by a 
Musalman named Bakhshi Mian, a local tradition which de- 
serves mention. The epithet is there traced to the Gujarat 
Sultan Mahmid Latif, in whose reign the existing fort was 
erected by Safi [Safar] Agha, entitled Khudawand Khan, to 
check the inroads of the Portuguese (A.H. 947, A.C. 1540). 
It is said that Khudawand Khan who was a favourite Turkish 
slave of the Sultan submitted for his sanction before begin- 
ning operations, three different plans. ‘The king chose 
the one that placed the castle on the bank of the river, and 
under the plan wrote the word Mubarak or the ‘ prosperous 
hence the city up to this day is called Strat bandar Mubarak.” 
(Bombay Gazetteer, II, 72, Note 1.) The story may or may 
not be an ex post facto invention. It is certain, however, that 
the epithet is not found in any of the historians of Akbar, 
Jahangir or Shah Jahan. Nor is there any recognition of it in 
the provincial history named the Mirat-.-Stkandari. ~~ you 
is exceedingly common, but 9» Sle yo occurs only twice 
| Firishta speaks of Syla0 $m jou (Lakhnau Lithograph, II, 407, 
1. 20), « the blessed port of Jedda,’ because it was the place of disem- 
barcation for the pilgrims from Hindustan to the ‘ Holy places. 
I e excellently-compiled Biographical Dictionary called the 
Maasiru-l-Umara, the author quotes an extract from a letter addressed 
by Shah Jahan to his father in the beginning of their quarrel. In this 
the Prince begs the Emperor ‘‘ to assign to him in Jagir the Bandar- 
i-Surat which is the Gate of Mecca, that he might retire there.” 
w ‘ 
* ae wy” as dijleys wulic was! 850 S3!9)0 as wy oe yo 
Op. Cit. I, 147.16. : pe 
There is nothing cerresponding to this statement in the Tizuk ot the | 
Emperor himself, or the Iqgbalnama of his Secretary, Mu‘atamad Khan. 
We may therefore, presume that the words are borrowe from the M dasir-l 
Jahangiri of Kamgar Husaini or some other unpublished history of the 
period 
Aba Turab Wali (died C. 1005 A.H. 1596 A.C.) speaks of the ports of 
Gujarat as the Gates of Mecca. 
. Z ¥ Led 
% H's wtymS ali af ashe B5!9)° 
Tarikh-i Gujarat, Bibl. Ind. Text 90, lL, 12. 
It may be added that wygw Slye jos; occurs at least six times in 
the Ma’asiru-l-Umara (Vide I, 289, 373, 412, 578; IIT, 507, 731). 
