590 Translation of Inscription on a Gun at Morshedabad. [June, 



but it is probable it had not reached so distant a province as Bengal, or 

 the Julian Koosha, a gun with which so much trouble appears to have 

 been taken, would not have been constructed on the older and ruder 

 method. 



Islam Khan, the Viceroy by whose order the gun was constructed, is 

 said, according to the author of the Siyur-ool-Mootakhureen, to have 

 been appointed to the Government of Bengal 1047 of Hijree, corre- 

 sponding to 1637 of our era, and was transferred to the Dewanee of the 

 Empire at Delhi in the month Rujub 1049, or A. D. 1639. 



The rest that is known of this Governor is succinctly mentioned by 

 Marshman in his History of Bengal. I extract the passage, as it will 

 be interesting in connection with the account of the ,gun : — 



"In 1638 Islam Khan Mushmedy, an old and experienced officer, 

 succeeded to the Viceroy alty of Bengal. In the first year of his 

 Government, Mukut Ray, who held Chittagong for the Rajah of Arra- 

 can, rebelled against his master, and delivered it up to the Moguls. 

 This port originally belonged to the independent kingdom of Tipperah : 

 it was next conquered by the Muhammadans ; but in the disputes which 

 arose between the Afghans and Moguls, it fell into the hands of the 

 king of Arracan. It was probably called Islamabad after the Governor 

 who in this year acquired possession of it. Meanwhile the Rajah of 

 Assam embarked five hundred boats on the Brumhapootra, and came 

 down like a torrent on Bengal, plundering every town and village in the 

 way. The Soobadar went out to meet him with his war boats armed 

 with cannon.* The Assamese could not withstand them. Their fleet 

 was soon in flames ; of the crew, a part fled to the shore, but four thou- 

 sand were put to death. Islam Khan pursued them to their own 

 country, and took fifteen forts and much spoil. It was also under his 

 Viceroyalty, which lasted but one year, that Cooch Behar was invaded 

 by the Muhammadans." 



It will be observed there is a slight discrepancy between Marsh man's 

 account, and that in the Siyur-ool-Mootakhureen with regard to the date 

 of the Viceroy's appointment to Bengal : but it is of little consequence, 

 as it has probably arisen in computing the corresponding years of 

 the Christian and Muhammadan eras, an error in such calculations 

 being easily occasioned by mistaking the intercalary periods of the Mu- 

 hammadan year. 



