8 OLDHAM: CATALOGUE OF INDIAN EARTHQUAKES. 



A. D. 



1720. July loth, sovereign) " was being read" (between 12 and 1 o'clock 



mid-day) " and the people stood in lines ready for prayers, 

 a di'eadful earthquake took place. So people thought, 

 judging from the roar below the ground, tbe shaking of 

 the walls, and the cracking of the roofs of high buildings. 

 During the day and the following night the houses shook 

 nine or ten times, and the ground was going to and fro. 

 It is well known that the walls of the fortress and many 

 houses were destroyed, and innumerable people lost their 

 lives both at Shabjahanabad" (New Delhi) "and at Old 

 Delhi. The writer of this history, who had mounted a 

 horse, saw with his own eyes that the bazaar road from 

 theKabuli gate in the north up to the Lai Derwaza in the 

 south broke open in several places : the walls of the for. 

 tress were much injured, as also the Shahrpanah Derwaza, 

 and the battlements of the Fathpur mosque tumbled down, 

 and killed ten or twelve men, and wounded many more. 

 It is also noticeable that for one month and ten days after- 

 wards, the ground shook every day four or five times, and 

 the houses trembled and the people got so afraid, they 

 would no longer sleep in their houses. Though the shocks 

 decreased after that period, the earth shook occasionally 

 for the next four or five months." — Khafi Khan's Mun- 

 tahhab ullubdb. The exact date is thus arrived at : 

 The year 1132, A. H., commenced on Tuesday, 3rd Novem- 

 ber 1719, old style : hence the 1st January 1720 is the 

 60th day, counting from November 3rd. But the 22nd 

 Eamazan is the 257th day of the year, hence the date was 

 the 197th (257—60) day of the year 1720, i. e., 15th July. 

 This was Friday. This earthquake is noticed in Elphin- 

 stone's India, Vol. II., page 586. The month is given, but 

 no day ; hence the testimony of the eye-witness Khafi 

 Khan becomes very interesting 



1737. October 11th. — Calcutta, &c. — " In the night between the 11th and 

 Night. 12th October 1737, there happened a furious hurricane 



at the mouth of the Ganges, which reached 60 leagues 

 up the river. There was at the same time a violent 

 earthquake, which threw down a great many houses along 

 the river side; in Golgotta (Calcutta) alone, a port 

 belonging to the English, two hundred houses were 

 thrown down, and the high and magnificent steeple of 



( no ) 



