11-4 Bloehmann — on Inscriptions from Kashmir and Agrali. [June, 



2. Hasan S h a h, who belongs to his pme offspring, became, through God's 

 grace, the second builder of the mosque. 



3. But it had on both sides neither pillars nor a roof, which you know were only 

 erected by [Sultan] Ibrahim Ahmad, of the Makar tribe, 



4. In the year 909, [A. D. 1503] up to the reign of Muhammad Shah, when 

 this paradisiac dwelling became the ornament of the Musalman religion. 



5. In 1029 [A. D. 1620] of the year of the Prophet's flight, on the day of the 

 Great Feast, it was burnt down a second time, by day time, 



6. And Malik Haidar, ' chief of the kingdom,' during the reign of Jahan- 

 gir, built it up again on the day of the Feast of Sacrifice [9th Zil Hajjah]. 



7. When he [the poet] looked for the tdriJch of its erection, a voice from heaven 

 said — ' Its foundation was again laid on the day of the Feast of Sacrifice.' A. H. 



1029 [A. D. 1620]. 



% 



A postscript to Capt. Marsh's reading states that the mosque was 

 burnt down a third time during the reign of Aurangzib, in a great fire 

 which laid half the town of Srinagar in ashes ; hut Aurangzib had it built 

 up again, and his edifice still stands up to the present day. 



From the WaqVat i Kashmir it is clear that religious quarrels between 

 the Sunni, Shi'ah, and other sects, were the cause of the several conflagra- 

 tions. Abul Fazl says in the A'in (my test edition, I, p. 563) — " There 

 are bigoted Sunnis in Kashmir, and some Shi'ahs and Nurbakhshis, and 

 enmity and strife exists among them." A well known proverb says — 



There are two sects in the world without guide, the Sunnis of Balkh and the Shi'ahs 

 of Kashmir. 



and another (vide Ai'n Translation I, 399) — ' The Afghans are the first 

 the Kambus the second, the Kashmiris the third set of scoundrels in the 

 world.' - 



The Malik Haidar, whose name occurs in the inscription, is men- 

 tioned several times in Jahangir's Memoirs and the histories of Kashmir. 

 According to my MSS., he was zamindar of Chadura h,* which must lie in 

 the neighbourhood of Punch, S. W. of Srinagar. At his request, the name 

 of the place was changed by Jahangir to ' N u r p u r '. Malik Haidar was a 

 protege of Nur Jahan ; she procured him a mancab, and the emperor be- 

 stowed upon him the title of ' Pais ul Mulk i Chaghtaiyah'. His brother, 

 'Ali Malik, cleared in the winter of A. H. 1029 the Punch road for Jahan- 

 gir. Haidar Malik was also a historian ; but Muhammad A'zam does not 

 attach much value to his hi&tory of Kashmir, because " he speaks more of 

 his father and grandfather than of political events." He also says — " Malik 

 Haidar of Chadurah, at the request of Nur Jahan, always accompanied the 



* Called in MSS. tyj^ or »J^. S. Ahmad's edition of the Tuzuk (p. 301) 

 has aj^l^- 



