146 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal [N.S. XIII, 



a in Shah's reign is rather a curious one and is current at 

 Aurangabad, Nimtita and other villages near Suti Thanah. 

 At old Mangalpur which is only about a couple of miles from 

 Nimtita and 3 or 4 miles from Suti P. S. are to be found some 

 big earthen mounds and traces of masonry with fair indications 

 of what was once a castle moat These mounds, popularly 

 called the gadh, form as it were a circular embankment round a 

 small tank known as Jiat Kur which is apparently a corrupted 

 form of the words Jivat Kunda or Well of Life. That these 

 ruins are of Hindu origin does not admit of doubt ' as on the 

 bank of Jiat Kur is still to be found a piece of stone sculptured 

 in relief — which appears to have been the lintel of a massive 

 door frame. It is not difficult to make out that the figures in 

 these sculptures are Hindu deities although they have been 

 overlaid through the piety of village dames with more than 

 one coating of vermillion and turned into what can only be 

 described as a sort of minor shrine. 1 According to local opinion 

 these ruins mark the remains of a fortress held by a powerful 

 Rajbanshi chieftain. It is said that on one occasion when 

 the mother of the redoubtable Husain Shah was being conveyed 

 in a palanquin along the old Badshahi road escorted by a 

 retinue of followers, some retainers of the Rajbansi Raja began 

 to jeer at her in allusion to what they believed to have been 

 her former profession. 



" Gauda bddshara ma ekavara nacan dekhiye ja.*' 



" Mother of the King of Gaur 



Show us for once 

 Your skill in dance. 



9 > 



The lady on reaching the capital reported the incident to 

 her son who at once sent a strong detachment of troops to 

 avenge the wrong. At the approacli of Sultan's forces the 

 chieftain with all his people took shelter in the fortress, which 

 he believed to be impregnable, and he successfully resisted the 

 onslaught of the Pathans for a iong time as a mere sprinkling 

 of Jibat Kunda water was sufficient to bring the dead soldiers 



~* ~„, w Mwnwu. wai/oi was sumcient to Dring tne aeau »vi«— *- 

 back to life. At last the leader of Sultan's forces came to know 

 of this secret and deprived the water of its miraculous property 



It may be stated here that not old Mangalpur alone but also Aranga- 

 naa and its neighbourhood contain relics of past Hindu greatness. A» 

 f~, '***** P lace I <ame across a piece of enamelled brick like those to be 

 tound at Gaur which bore on one aid* th* K^L-rit. l««-.t,P,r ■ Ah.' probabl} 



a mason 

 Rovd. Y 



I found 



a v*.<- 



ture. 



Gana 



Chhapghatti, the river-side mart ot »'» 

 e likely to fit in with the lintel at J* 



rp, - --—««• «» «ouu lute ngure sitting in a i;i"»- ° * * 



lne sculpture appears to be of a conventional design as an exact 

 of this is to found T belie™ m ♦.»,« ,ww«»»inn nf Varenda K«- 



s 



earch Society. 



possession 



