1S73.] J. Wise— The Bdrah BMyas of Bengal. 181 



of the past tense and the interrogative forms. I fancy the Manipuris them- 

 selves often confuse these forms, and it is extremely difficult in a practically 

 unwritten language like Manipuri, to obtain accurate information on minute 

 points of grammar. 



The Bdrah Bliuyas of Bengal. No. II. — By Dk. James Wise. 



It was remarked in a former paper* that the European and Muhammadan 

 historians are strangely silent regarding the government of Bengal between 

 1576 and 1593. That the country was ruled by twelve governors, called 

 Bhiiyas, the facts embodied in that paper satisfactorily proved, and on 

 examining the writings of early European travellers and missionaries further 

 particulars regarding these governors are obtained. 



Jarric,f who derived his information from the Jesuit fathers, sent to 

 Bengal in 1599 by the Archbishop of Goa, mentions that the " prefects" of 

 the twelve kingdoms, governed by the king of the Pathans, united their 

 forces, drove out the Mughuls, " et suum quisque tyrannice regnum invasit ; 

 u adeo ut nulli hodie pareant r aut tributum pendant. Non se tamen dixere 

 " reges, etsi regium splendorem praeferant, sed Boiones, quasi forsan Prin- 

 " cipes. Hisce turn Patanii, turn Bengalani indigenae parent : quorum 

 " tres ethnicas superstitiones servant, Chandecanius, Siripuranus, et Baca- 

 " lanus ; reliqui novem Mahometanes : etsi et rex Arracanus, quern Mogo- 

 " siorum regem dicunt, partem Bengalae occupet. 



D'AvityJ copies this description of Bengal, but gives a few additional 

 particulars of these twelve sovereigns, as he calls them. The most power- 

 ful, he informs us, were those of" Siripur et Chandecan, mais le Masandolin 

 ou Maasudalin," is the chief. This is evidently the primitive way of spell- 

 ing Masnad-i-'A'li, the title of Tsa Khan of Khizrpur. 



One of the earliest travellers and writers on Bengal was Sebastien 

 Manrique, a Spanish monk of the order of St. Augustin, who resided in 

 India from 1628 to 1641. On his return he published his Itinerary ,§ in 

 which he states that the kingdoms of Bengal are divided into twelve pro- 

 vinces, to wit, "Bengal, Angelim, Ourixa, Jagarnatte, Chandekan, Medi- 

 nipur, Catrabo, Bacala, Solimanvas, Bulua, Daca, Ragamol." The king 

 of Bengal, he goes on to say, resided at Graur. He maintained as vassals 

 twelve chiefs in as many districts (en la doce provincias doce regulos sus 



* Journal, Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. XLITI, for 1874, Part I, p. 197. 



t R. P. Petri Jarrici " Thesaurus rerum Indicarum", Col. Agrippinae, Anno 1615. 



X La Monde ou la description generale de ses quatres parties, &c, compose par 

 Pierre D'Avity, Seigneur de Montmartin, a Paris, 1643, fol. 



§ "Itinerario de las Missiones que hizo el Padre F. Sebastien Manrique," on 

 Ptoma, 1649. 



