1858.] Public Inscriptions at Lahore. 309 



No. 1. — MOTEE MlTNDUIt. 



(Persian Inscrip Hon .) 



Translation. — Completed in the twelfth year of the reign of 

 the emperor, (the shadow of God, a Solomon in equity) Noor-ood- 

 deen, Jehangeer Padshah, son of Jelal-ood-deen Akbar Padshah 

 Ghazee, A. H. 1020, under the superintendence of the least of his 

 lowest slaves, Soondur Khan. 



The palace, or fort of Lahore, was commenced by the magnificent 

 Akbar, and many elegant fragments of the style, peculiar to his age, 

 were to be seen before the barbarous improvements of an executive 

 engineer demolished or defaced what the Sikhs had left when they 

 became masters of Lahore. The design of Akbar was carried out 

 by his son, and we may reasonably consider the date of the comple- 

 tion of the Motee Mundur, formerly Motee Musjeed, as the date 

 of the completion of the palace. It corresponds with the year of 

 our Lord 1614. Jehangeer made Lahore his capital for many years. 

 He died in the Beembur hills ; his remains were conveyed by Noor 

 Jehan to Lahore, opposite to which at Shadera on the right bank of 

 the Ravee, she raised the splendid mausoleum that still attracts 

 numerous admiring visitors. (I have not given the inscription on 

 Jehangeer's tomb, as it is recorded in the Asiatic Eegister by an 

 English officer, name not given, who visited Lahore in 1808, and 

 wrote a most interesting account of the town and of the Court of 

 Eunjeet Singh. He travelled from Hurdwar in the train of one of 

 the Maharaja's wives). 



The Motee Mundur was the "private chapel" of the palace, and 

 used as such, till Eunjeet Singh began to grow rich, when he selected 

 it as a suitable place for the storing of his wealth in gold, silver 

 and jewels. It is believed at one time to have contained treasure 

 to the amount of two millions sterling. It is small, lias been, since 

 it was converted into a Treasury, surrounded by a strong wall, and 

 has continued to do the duty imposed on it by the Sikh sovereign, 

 ever since annexation. It boasts of the most beautifully chaste 

 marble dome on any Muhammedan building I have ever seen, 

 deeply scored with the marks of balls fired during the Sikh troubles, 

 after the Maharajah's death, from the Minars of the imperial 

 mosque. 



2 s 



