334 INDIAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEYS. 



very interesting, the Jatter more especially on account of its peculiar 

 style, which differs widely from the highly decorated shrines 

 of the medieval period. The Muhammaclan buildings at Gaur and 

 Hazrat Pandua, the two western capitals of Bengal, were carefully 

 studied.* 



Gaur lies about 150 miles north of Calcutta. In former days 

 when the Ganges flowed past the city, Gaur was the great 

 mart where all the sugar of the northern districts was collected 

 for exportation. But since the city was deserted by the Ganges, 

 the sugar is brought to Rahanpur. Gaur was the capital of Balal 

 Sen and his descendants and their successors, the Muhammadan 

 governors and kings of Bengal. General Cunningham thinks that 

 the old Hindu city must have been about 4 miles in length, with a 

 mean breadth of about 1^ miles, while the ruins of the Muham- 

 madan city extend for a length of 11 miles along the Bhagirathi 

 river. When this river dwindled to a mere rivulet, and the refuse 

 of the city was no longer swept away, a deadly pestilence broke out 

 in 1575, and carried off fourteen of Akbar's principal officers and 

 the governor of the province. Since then, Gaur became gradually 

 deserted, and at the end of the last century had become an uninhabited 

 waste, covered with great forest trees and thick jungle, swarming with 

 tigers, leopards, and wild boars, and full of swamps teeming with 

 mosquitoes and crocodiles. But about 15 years ago Government 

 offered the lands almost rent free, and the offer being eagerly taken 

 up by the people, much of the jungle was cleared away. The ruins 

 are very extensive, and are found scattered about the citadel, the 

 city, and the suburbs. They include massive gateways, ramparts, 

 mosques, and other structures illustrative of the prosperous period 

 of the Muhammadan occupation. General Cunningham claimed also 

 to have discovered the site of the ancient capital called Paundra 

 Varddhana by Hwen Thsang in Mahasthan on the Karatoya river.f 



* Graur has been described by Ike late Mr. J. H. Ravcnshaw in a costly volume, 

 excellently illustrated by forty-four of his own photographs, and twenty-five plates of 

 inscriptions. The untimely death of the author in 1874 delayed the publication of the 

 hook until 1878. 



t Mr. E. A'. Westmacolt, B.C.S., in January 1874 had identified Paundra 

 Varddhana with Panjara-Borddhonkuti, or Ponrowa and Borddhonknti (Indian 

 Antiquary, Vol. III., p. 62, and Beal's Hwen Tsiang, Vol. II., p. 194). General 

 Cunningham's tour in Behar and Bengal in 1879-80, is described in Vol. XV. of the Series 

 of Reports of the A_rcha;ological Survey of India. The Report contains also some 

 interesting notes on the history of Bengal from the earliest known times down to the 

 16lh Century. 



