Vol. V, No. 7.] Notes on Gaur and other old Placés. 229 
[N.S.] 
figures of flowers and animals. In the throne-room there is a 
raised dais, inlaid with every kind of precious stone, on which 
the ane sits cross-legged with his sword lying across his 
knees 
OLp Mapa. 
This town, seven a south of Pandua, had a fine 
tion at the confluence of the Mahananda 
aid the KaAalindi. The riparian changes 
that necessitated the retransfer of the 
capital to Gaur tended to make Malda the trading suburbs of 
both Pandua and Gaur. It was fortified with gates and had 
inside a high-walled katra or fortified caravanserai 4 the better 
protection of valuable goods. It had risen into importance 
during the Huseni rule, the Phuti rermsmid) mosque Hort of the 
Kaira having been built in the reign of Husen Shah, according 
to its inscription, dated 11th Shawal, 200 H. (5th July 1495 ALD. } 
It might have begun to flourish still earlier, if the loose inscription 
kept in a tomb near the Kaira really were to the place ; for 
this inscription records the erection of a moscue by one e Hilal 
in the reign of Mahmid Shah (I), and is dated 19th Sha’ban, 
ve H. ters August 1455 A.D.). In Akbar’s time it continued 
to be a town of importance, having been mentioned in the 
Akbarnama; while in the Ain it od oe among the 11 mahals 
forming a tract of sarkar Lakhnaut 
Old Malda had not only a iat trade, but had been also a 
large centre 3 silk and cotton manufac- 
ures tyson a pretty early time. In a 
work sib weiss after 987 H. (1579 A.D.), it is said :— 
‘Sher Khan gave to Shaikh Khalil money, rich clothes, and 
278 
Old hegghe centre 
Manufactures. 
Waiitfdotiness of Maids and Bengal in enormous quantities. 
The —— of the English Agents at Patna in 1620 and 1621 
D. mention ‘‘ doupattas of Maldah f sei ‘a few Malda 
wares Ps patterns for Persia.’’* 
TANDA. 
The word means high grounds, and it was naturally selected 
being just above the point where the 
Tanda as Capital, Ganges then separated into two branches.® 
972—1004 H. Sulaiman Kararani is said to have trans- 
S ferred the capital from Gaur to Tanda, 
ulaimin, 977—980 H. the exact year of transfer being unknown. 
No coins of ‘Salaméa | have been found. 
1 J.R.A.S., 189 
2 Akb. , Elliot, vi, ae ab: q7; mr Jarrett, ii, p. 132. 
8 Tarikh-i Sher-shahi of Abbas Kh n Sarwani, Elliot, iv, p. 372. 
: Tis Bn nglish Factories in. Inika, a, 1618-21, Foster, pp. 195, 270. 
ts position, Akbarnama, vi, p. : Badaoni, ii, p. 187; and 
the bia ein attached to this article. 
