286 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [July, 1913. 
have copied the account of the invasion of Bengal from 
Minhaj’s book and consequently are not worth much more. 
They gloat over the invasion and treat it as a mighty perform. 
ance and exaggerate the importance of the conqueror beyond 
all measure. Raverty has done full justice to them in his 
translation. ! 
From this point the Tabagat-i-Nasiri, instead of helping 
us, leads only to confusion. The first important blunder is 
the mention of Laksmanasena as the then king of Bengal 
and the description of his flight. Ihave already proved that 
at that time Kesavasena was on the throne of Bengal and 
clearly understood or Minhaj was not paying sufficient atten- 
tion to the narrative. Minhaj’s account of the conquest of 
Bengal consists of the following words :— 
‘The following year after that, Muhammad-i- Bukhtyar 
caused a force to be prepared, pressed on from Bihar, and 
suddenly appeared before the city of Nudiah, in such wise 
that ,no more than eighteen horsemen could keep up with 
m. 
The statement in itself looks very simple and nobody 
seems to have examined it carefully. Three different roads 
may be followed to reach Nudiah from Bihar :— 
(1) From Bihar to Bhagalpur or Mungir, then across the 
Ganges to Gaur and finally to Nudiah, after crossing the Gan- 
of 
Chota-Nagpur and Birbhum almost parallel to the modern 
(3) Through 
\ Ibid., p. 558. 
2 Tabaqat-i-Nasiri (Raverty’s Translation), p. 557. 
the pass at Sahibganj along the southern 
