



1917.] Madaran and M ubarak- M anzil . 13") 



intended, and fixed on the wall of the little building. Tombs 

 of Shah Ismail Ghazi are numerous. Besides those mentioned 

 by Blochmann, there is one at Madina, only two miles north- 

 west of Madaran itself. There are four such shrines at Kanta 

 Duar and its neighbourhood, in Ghoraghat, described by Mr. 

 G. H. Damant, C.S. 1 According to the legend which Mr. 

 Damant has published, Shah Ismail Ghazl's head lies buried at 

 Kanta Duar, and his body at Madaran. While I am in favour 

 of collecting legendary and traditionary information, I am at 

 the same time against relying too implicitly on them, without 

 corroborative evidence from other sources. 



D 



Thev say that the tank near Goghat is called Farrmn- 

 gAi, because Shah Ismail Ghazi, who was superintending 

 b digging of it, received a farman recalling him to court. 1 

 This is, in my opinion, against the spirit of the Persian or 

 Hindustani language. It is so called, I opine, because it was 

 excavated under a Royal farman, or by one bearing that name. 



Madaran being a frontier post, well suited for the purpose 

 of defence, it was colonised by a large number of fighting 

 Musalmans. whose descendants are still to be seen there. 

 Stewart writes that in 1589-90 Raja Man Singh directed can- 

 tonments to be built for the army at Jahanabad on the 

 Dwarkeswar ; and in order to put a stop to the ravages of the 

 Afghans, a number of forts had been constructed in different 

 parts of the country. 3 I believe that Madaran, being so close 

 to Jahanabad, was one of the places where cantonments were 

 built. Dr. Crawford found that there was no trace of any defi- 

 nite building, even in ruins, at Madaran. If there were any 

 fortification, it was dismantled by the forces of the rival claim- 

 ants to the throne. 



II. MUBARAK-M^NZIL. 



About two miles south-east of Madaran, there is a place 

 popularly called Shanbandi (Persian : §ahn, courtyard or plat- 

 form, built of mortar, bricks or stones) which Professor Bloch- 

 mann noticed in the Proceedings and Journal of the Asiatic 

 Societv of Bengal for 1870 (Vol. XXXIX, Part I)- Here, by 

 order of Nawab SJiuja'u'd-Daula Mu'taminu'1-Mulk Asad Jang, 

 two huge gatewavs were constructed in 1142 and 114J H , 

 respectively. The Rivazu's-Salatin briefly mentions that 

 ShujaVd-Daula was in "Orissa as Naib-i-Diwan, when his 

 father-in-law, the celebrated Murshid Qull Ja'far Khan, died in 

 Murshidabad. The Emperor Muhammad Shah, on the death 



„ > Notes on Shah IsmS'il Ghazi with a sketch of the Contents of a 

 Persian Manuscript, entitled ~ Risalatush-Shuhada ' found at RBnta 

 Duar, Rangpur, by G. H. Damant, GS.-J.A.S.B., Vol. XLIII (1874), 

 Part I, pp. 215-239. 



3 Vide also Proceedings, A.S.B., 1870, p. 118. 

 ! Stewart's History of Bengal, pp. 182-183. 



