184/.] Account of the Town and Palace of Feerozabad. 979 



Of these two hundred towns many of which, in all probability, still 

 exist in various parts of the country, under the several denominations 

 of Feerozabad, Feerozpoor, Feerozghur (and possibly Feerozshuhur or 

 Feerozshah, the name of which is immortalized by the contest on the 

 memorable 31st of December, 1845), probably the largest, and certainly 

 the one deserving the greatest consideration, from the Archaeologist, is 

 the town of Feerozabad, of which some remains are still in existence 

 close outside the Dehli and Toorkman gates of the modern city : and 

 of the reputed twenty Palaces are first, the celebrated one of which the 

 vast ruins are still visible on the banks of the former stream of the 

 Jumna, immediately south of the extreme point of the present town- 

 wall, and commonly known by the name of Feeroz Shah-ka-Kotlah ; 

 and secondly, the Palace of Jehannamah, of which there are few rem- 

 nants, one of them, however, most prominent, in existence on the hill 

 N. W. of the town of Dehli, on the site of which Mr. W. Fraser, the 

 murdered Agent and Commissioner, built a house that now belongs to 



are ample materials, with illustrations of the almost inumerable works of utility he con- 

 structed not only in and around Dehli, but in every part of his extensive dominions. 

 In the vicinity of Dehli alone there are said to be, and close investigation would probably 

 add to the number, 25 bunds, some of them in a state of excellent preservation, which 

 owe their existence to this benefactor of his people, and which must have made the culti- 

 vation of the land independent of well irrigation, and have removed all fear as to the 

 cold weather crops.— H. C. and H. L. 



Since the above was written we have been favoured with the following interesting note 

 from Major E. M. Loftie, a distinguished orientalist, and member of our Society. 



" It may, perhaps, be as well to mention, with reference to the supposition, regarding 

 the great musjid, on which Firuz Shah inscribed a copy of his auto-biography and insti- 

 tutes, that the mosque in question was that budt by him in Firuzabad— as will be found 

 stated by Briggs, vol. 1. p. 462, who says, ' He caused his regulation, to be carved on the 

 musjid of 'Feerozabad.' The original of Firishta is very clear on this point, his words 

 being ' burgoombuz i alee kidur musjidi jamiu i Feerozabad bum nihadu, o moo-sum- 

 mun ust' ' on the lofty dome (or tower) which he had constructed in the great mosque 

 of Firuzabad and which is an octagon. 5 Nizamuddin Ahmad, the author of the Taba- 

 katAkbari, also confirms this. He says, in almost the same words, -' bur goombuz, 

 alee ki din musjid i Feerozabad bina nihadee o moosummun ust,' « on the lofty dome 

 (or tower) which he had constructed in the mosque of Firuzabad, and which is an octa- 

 gon.' From this tower or dome having had eight faces— and the work having been 

 divided into eight books (which latter fact both Firishta and the Tabakat mention) we 

 may with considerable probability, conclude that one boyk was inscribed on each face.— 

 What a pity so truly interesting a budding should have been destroyed! Are there no 

 hopes of our being able to obtain a fragment even of these inscriptions .'" 



G L 



