610 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [December, 1910 



part of the district, as it contains the towns of Hughli, 

 Chinsura, Serampur and other towns along the right bank of 

 the river, though between the 12th and 16th centuries some 

 of these towns were not in existence, and others did not acquire 

 sufficient celebrity. The entire district therefore did not fully and 

 finally come under the Mahommedan rule till Triveni was 

 annexed to Bengal by Akbar in the middle of the 16th century, 

 notwithstanding that Saptagrama had been conquered by 

 Zaffar Khan in the 14th century and Triveni formed a part 

 of Saptagrama. The king of Orissa or Kalinga in Pliny's 

 time was a powerful monarch : he could bring into the 

 field 100,000 foot. 1 Was not the district of Hughli at least 

 the region of the c 4 Gangarides-Calingge " of Pliny? The 

 subject requires investigation, as the Macco-Calingse and the 

 Gangarides-Calingse are mentioned as separate people from the 

 Calingae. Mac co- Call ngae were evidently the people of Majjho 

 or Madhya- Kalinga or Orissa, and Gangarides-Calingae (or the 

 Ganga-Radis) appear to have been a powerful nation who lived 

 on the north of Orissa in a tract which according to Megasthenes 

 was bounded on the east by the Ganges or rather the Saraswati, 

 whereas Calingae were the people of Kalir 



The district of Hughli, which before its separation as a 

 magisterial charge in 1795 , 9 was included in the district of Burd- 

 wan ; and along with Burdwan, Birbhum, Bankura, Midnapur 

 and Howra, it has always formed a part of Rada. Its history, 

 therefore, is essentially the history of Rada or West Bengal, 

 which was anciently called Sumha. 



CHAPTER II. 

 Ancient Places in the District of Hughli. 



We have already stated that Singur is the ancient Siri- 

 Singur. hapura, the birth-place of Bijaya, and 



that it was founded in the 5th century 

 B.C. In the mediaeval period it was the captial of Sumha, 

 which was governed by Sinhabahu's son Sumitta and his des- 

 cendants, and Bhurisreshtha or modern Bhursut was its last 

 capital. 



It is Pandit Raghunandana of Nadia who has invested 

 Pandua. Pandua with the dignified name of 



Pradyumnanagara. In his Prayas- 

 chitta-tattwa 3 he places Dakshina-Prayaga or Triveni to the 



1 The Banks of the Bhagirathi. * Regulation xxxvi of 1795. 



