1S38.] History of Cooch Behdr. 9 



also was received as a mark of polite attention, and a number of covered 

 litters were admitted into the women's apartments within the citadel. In 

 place of Moslem ladies these litters contained arms, and the bearers 

 were soldiers, who immediately on gaining admission seized their wea- 

 pons, and secured the person of the raja, who was put into an iron cage 

 in order to afford amusement for the sultan and populace of Gaur ; 

 on the way he contrived to escape, and has ever since remained con- 

 cealed. 



The Muhammadans of Ghoraghat attribute the destruction of Nilam- 

 bor to their favorable saint Ismael G'azi of whom I have given an 

 account in the report concerning Dinajpur. By the Moslems of this 

 district he is considered as a chief of saints, and several places of wor- 

 ship are erected to his memory, or over precious relics that belonged to 

 his person. But this reverence has probably induced them to magnify 

 the conquests of Ismael who governed Ghoraghat in the reign o^ 

 Nasrat Shah ; a prince whose reign commenced about the year of our 

 era 1523, which seems to be somewhat too late for the destruction of 

 Komotapur. 



In the manuscript account of Bengal, which I procured at Maldeh, it 

 is said, that the sultan Hoseyn, immediate predecessor of Nasrat, 

 conquered Kamrup, and killed its king Karup Narain, son of Mal- 

 kongyar, son of Sada Lukhymon, and I have no doubt, that these 

 are the same persons with the three princes of Komotapur ; for the Hin- 

 du rajas have so many titles, that one person may choose to call them by 

 a name totally different from that which another person may choose to 

 employ ; and the time of the events will not admit of our supposing 

 that a dynasty intervened between that destroyed by Hoseyn, and the 

 one which now governs the small portion of Kamrup that retains some 

 degree of independence. 



In the short account of Assam published in the 2nd volume of the 

 Asiatic Researches, which seems to me more accurate than the commen- 

 tator is willing to admit, it is stated, that Huseyn Shah, a king of 

 Bengal, undertook an expedition against Assam, in which he had at first 

 considerable success. The raja retired to the mountains, and the son of 

 the king was left with a large army to keep possession of the country. 

 In the rainy season the raja descended into the plains, and destroyed the 

 whole invading army, who were all either killed or made prisoners (A. 

 R. II. p. 180). It was probably this rash expedition, which frustrated 

 the conquest of Komotapur, and rendered it necessary for the Moslems 

 to retire, after a possession of one or two years. Indeed the traditions of 

 the Hindus state, that they made no stay at Komotapur, but retreated 

 c 



