18G7.] The Initial Coinage of Bengal. 61 



cultivated).* This progressively less appropriate name may be sup- 

 posed to have merged into the official Jannatabad, which follows in 

 Mint sequence. 



5. Sandrgaon, as a rule, retains its ancient discriminative designa- 

 tion of d^» J*/^=>", a title which it eventually had to cede to its rival 

 Muazamabad. 



6. Muazamabad. There is no definite authority for the determi- 

 nation of the site of this city, which, however, seems to have been 

 founded by Sikandar about 758-759 a. ii., when his own coins record 

 that he himself assumed the title of f&-*+J\, without trenching upon 

 the superlative *&-£$] usually reserved for the reigning monarch. 



1 1 conclude that there was a gradual migration from the ancient Sonar- 

 gaon to the new city, which grew in importance from the govern- 

 mental centre implied in the &b\fjLxjOpA2\ (No. 19) of 7G0 a. ii., to 

 the *bUoMJaxJ\ sjJb, " the great city of Muazamabad" (No. 18) of 

 about 780 a. u., till, on the disappearance of the name of Sonargaon 



century is recorded to have said that " ho entered the month of the river Ganges, 

 and, sailing up it, at the end of fifteen days he came to a large and wealthy 



city called Cernovo On both banks of the stream there arc most charming 



villas and plantations and gardens Having departed hence, he sailed up 



the river Ganges for the spaco of three months, leaving behind him four 

 very famous cities, and landed at an extremely powerful city called Maarazia . 

 ... . having spent thirteen days ' on an expedition to some mountains to the 

 eastward, in search of carbuncles' . . he , returned to the city of Cernove, 

 and thence proceeded to BufFetania." — The travels of Nicolo Conti, Hakluyt 

 Society, London, pp. 10, 11. 



See also Purchas, vol. v. p. 508; and Murray's Travels in Asia, ii. 11. 



There are also many interesting details regarding the geography of Bengal, 

 and a very full and lucid summary of the history of the period, to be found in 

 li Da Asia de Joao de Barros" (Lisbon, 1777, vol. iv. [viii.], p. 4G5 et seg.). At 

 the period of the treaty of Alfonso de Mcllo with, " El Rey Maraud de Bcngala" 

 (the king whom Shir Shah eventually overcame) the name of Shahr Nau had 

 merged into the old provincial designation of Gaur, which is described as " a 

 principal Cidade deste Reino he chamada Gouro, situada nas correntes do Gau- 

 ge, e dizem ter de comprido tres leguas, das nossas, e duzentos mil vizinhos," 

 (p. 458). Satigam makes a prominent figure on the map, and Sornagam is 

 located on a large island within the Delta, the main stream dividing it from 

 Daca, which is placed on the opposite or left bank of the estuary. 



More modern accounts of the old city may be found in Purchas, i. 579 ; 

 Churchill, viii. 54 ; also Rennell, Memoir of a Map of Hindoostan, London, 

 1788, p. 55 ; Stewart, p. 44, and in a special work entitled " The Buins of 

 Gour," illustrated with maps, plans, and engravings of the numerous Muham- 

 madan edifices extant in 1817, by H. Creighton, 4to„ London, Black, Parbury 

 and Allen. See also Elliot's Glossary of Indian Terms, sub voce, Gour Brahmin. 



* The adjective (derived from «-*»£, Coluit) will admit of other meanings, and 

 if understood as applying to a town, might signify " well built, " locally Palika. 



