8. Madaran and Mubarak-Manzil, in the District 



of Hugli. 



Bv MaulavI 'Abdu'l WalI. 



I. Madaran. 



The word Madar is an up-country form of what is called 

 in Bengal ' Mandar ' with a nasal n at the end of the first syl- 

 lable ; but the form Madaran is entirely up-country and Hin- 

 dustani, and as such, it is to be found in Emperor Akbar's 

 rent-roll included in the Ain-i-Akbari. To spell therefore the 

 word as ' Mandaran,' as has recently been done in the :< Hooghlv 

 Gazetteer" (1912) and other publications, is not, in my opinion, 

 philologically permissible. Madaran was the name of a Sarkar, 

 and Haveli-Madaran a Mahal or Pargana, and is noted in the 

 Ain-i-Akbari and the Fifth Report of the Parliamentary Select 

 Committee, on the affairs of the East India Company (Madras 

 Reprint, 1884). The place was of great strategical importance, 

 being situated on the Badshahl road from Bengal to Orissa. 

 Madaran is situated in the Jahanabad (now Arambagh) sub- 

 division of the Hugli District. Blochmann has noted in detail 

 the legends connected with Madaran and its patron Saint, 



Shah Isma'll Ghazl. 1 



I visited Madaran from Goghat on the afternoon ot the 



11th June 1915. examined the tomb of Shah Ismail Ghazi in 

 Bhitargarh or " Inner fort," and the inscribed basalt which, 

 according to tradition, contains the history of warfare between 

 the Rajas of Burdwan and Bardah, and other places, lne 

 following tradition about the origin of Madaran was narrated 

 to me, which, I believe, contains some substratum of tenth. 

 According to this the fort of Madaran was built by Qutlu 

 Khan to check the invasion of Orissa Madaran being the 

 southern boundarv of Bengal Proper There is a large gate on 

 the south of Madaran. known as « Um-Mardana °r Orissa 

 Gate, which divides Bengal from Onssa.* It was Qutlu Man 

 who, as a ruler of Orissa, constructed the parapet m Madaran 

 as a temporary measure to check an attack on Onssa. Shah 

 Isma'il (lhazi, a general of Husayn Shah lung of ^ ; f oug h t 

 a blood v battle with Qutlu Khan, was def eated a nd beheaded 

 at Madaran. and buried there. To avenge his death, Hnaayn 



J i i i i ■ 



Proceedings 

 For a consid 



Kingd 



Damod 



ween the Kingdoms ot Bengal anu Y*r™^~ + u« f rnn tip r of the latter 

 subdivision of the Hooghly District forming ^,^^,7 ™% 

 Kingdom-Gazetteer of the Midnapur District : Calcutta, l.H I, p. 



