season of the coming of the 



424 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, [Jnne, 1907. 



weakness of faith and trust, and the [false] notion of their lack of 

 ^ower. 



Routes of the Pirates. 



[107, 6.] In Jahangir's reign, [108, a] the Magh pirates used 

 to come to Dacca for plunder and abduction, by the nullah which 

 leaves the Brahmaputra, passes hy Khizrpur, and joins the nullah 

 of Dacca. Khizrpur is situated on the bank of the Brahmaputra, 

 on a narrow embankment {al). In the monsoons all the land 

 except the sites of the houses is covered with water. The Gov- 

 ernors of Dacca, therefore, at the eud of the monsoons and 

 during the winter, which was the 



pirates, used to go to Khizrpur with an army and encamp there. 

 After some years, the nullah dried up, and many places in the 

 track of the pirates in the Brahmaputra river also became fordable. 

 Thus their [water] route to Dacca was closed on this side, and 

 restricted to the side of Jatrapur ^ and Bikrampur. Recently as 

 the pirates could more easily carry out their chief design of 

 kidnapping men in the villages of Dacca and otlier jparganahs^ 

 they did not exert themselves to reach Dacca town. 



[139, a.l When the pirates came from Cbatgaon to molest 

 Beno;al, they passed by Bhalua, a part of the Imperial dominions, 

 on the right, and the island of Sondip, belonging to the zemindar 

 Dilawwar, on the left, and reached the village of Sangram-gar. 

 [139, 6]- [From this point] if they wished to plunder Jessore, 

 Hughli, and Bhusna, they moved up the Ganges ; if they wanted 

 to raid Bikrampur, Sonargaon, and Dacca, they proceeded up the 

 Brahmaputra. Sangramgarh* is the land at the extremity of the 

 island (i.e., delta) which contains Dacca and other towns and 

 villages. In front of it the Ganges and the Brahmaputra unite. 

 The mingled stream, after passing by Bhalua and Sondip, falls 

 into the sea. In ancient times, a man named Sangram had built 

 a fort here to repel the Magh raids itito Bengal, In Hindi a fort 

 is called a gar. By the combination of these two words the name 

 of the place has been formed. If a fort were built here and stored 

 with weapons, munitions, and materials of defence, and a large 

 force and well-equipped flotilla kept here, the oppression of the 

 pirates and the raids of the Maghs into Bengal could most probably 

 be prevented. 



Feringi Pirates. 



[150, b.] Many Feringis lived happily at Chatgaon^ and used 

 to come to the Imperial dominion for plunder and abduction. 

 Half their booty they gave to the Rajah of Arracan, and the other 



^ In Eennell, Sheet 1, Jattrapur is given 30 miles west of Dacca. 



2 :5^o trace of Sangramgar is found in Rennell. The 'Alamghndmah, 

 p. 9^, aaye, that its name was changed to 'AlamgirnHgar, and that it was 21 

 fcos from Sripnr (p. 944). It must have been near Eenneira Ifendz^wna^. 

 K-hafi Khan calls it Sangramnagar, ii. 1 88, 



V 1. '^^^^'^ s^tt^e^ent was called Feringi-bandar or Bandar, on the sonth 

 bank of the Karnfali, very close to ita mouth. 



