130 E. A. Giiit— Carved Conch Shell. [July, 



the Khazana-i-Amirah (Lith. Ed. p. 425) says that Ananda-rara, Mukhlis 

 the poet and ra?s, was an inhabitant of Hjib^j^ Sudahrah or SUdnlirah 

 within the jurisdiction of Lahor. He suggests that this niaj possibly 

 be the same place as Sadhauia. 



The Honorary Philological Secretary exhibited a remarkable 

 carved conch shell, forwarded by Mr. Gait, and read the following letter 

 from that gentleman which accompanied it. The Inscription reads 



Dear Sir, 



I am sending for exhibition a shell with the ten avatars carved 

 on it, which has been found in the possession of a native of the Cacha,r 

 District, and forwarded to me for inspection by Babu Krishna Kumar 

 Do, Assistant Settlement Officer. The shell is interesting on account 

 of the inscription, which is to the effect that it was carved in the 

 reign of Vira-darpa-narayana, in the month of Agrahayana, 1593 

 paka (1671 A,D.)* No written records of the Kachari raj have hitherto 

 come to light, and the traditions of the people give little more than a 

 long list of kings. Any items of definite information such as that 

 contained in this inscription, are, therefore, most useful. 



The same King is referred to in an Ahom buranji, which was 

 translated into Assamese and published in the Arunodai of J 851 A.D., 

 in which it is stated that in 1567 faka (1645 A.D.), he sent messengers 

 to the Ahom King, Naria raja, asking for his daughter in marriage. 

 In this buranji he is called also Hidimbe9vara and Yira-bhadra. 



The same buranji speaks of a Kachari invasion in 1410 ^aka (1488 

 A.D.), in the course of which the Ahoras were defeated on the bank of 

 the Dikhu river. Thirty-seven years afterwards an Ahom force ascended 

 the Dhansiri river to attack the Kacharis, and a few years later, in 

 another war, the Kachari King, Khunkhara, was killed, and one 

 Neochung was set up in his place. In 1457 p'ka (1535 A.D.), Neochung 

 was in his turn attacked, and his brick city at Duimapur was sacked ; 

 Neochung himself escaped at the time, but was subsequently captured 

 and beheaded. About 1525 p^^ka (1603 A.D.) there were hostilities 

 between the Kacharis and the Jaintia rajfi, in which the latter managed 

 to embroil the Ahom King, by offering him his daughter in marriage 

 on condition that he should fetch her by a route which lay through the 

 Kachari country. 



» The peculiar symbol used to represent the figure 5 which occurs on coins 

 of the Ahom, Koch, Tippera, and Jaintia Kings, is found again in this inscription. 



