1870.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. Hi 



these towns the titles of Bulghdkpur and Bulghdk Khdnah* or 

 House of Rebellion. 



The Western frontier of Bengal, at the time of Todar Mall's set- 

 tlement, coincided almost exactly with a straight line drawn from 

 Gadhi to Chittud. The former was a fort, the name of which often 

 occurs in the History of Bengal, and was situated a little north of 

 Rajmahall, or i^gmahall, as it was then called. Muhammadan 

 historians generally call it the ' door' ( bdb) of Bengal, and compare it 

 to Baramulah, the ' door' of Kashmir, and to Fort Lak'hf, south of 

 Sahwan (Siwistan), the ' door' of Sindh. The latter, the Parganah 

 of Chittua, lies N. E. of Mednfpur (Midnapore), and formed then the 

 south west boundary of Bengal and Orissa. The districts west of 

 this line, as Bancoorah, Pachit, Singhbum, Palamau,f Chuttia Nag- 

 pur, and Hazaribagh, &c.,were not considered as belonging to Bengal. 

 They were comprehended under the general name of Jharkand, 

 or Jhark'hand (Jungle Districts), which, according to the Akbarna- 

 mah, reached in the north as high as the Parganah of Muhair in 

 south Bihar, S. E. of Gaya, and in the west, as far as Ratanpiir in 

 Central India. 



The districts, or Sirkars, which formed the western boundary of 

 Bengal, were five — 1 . Tdndah, which extended to the south of Murshid- 

 abad ; 2. Sharif dbdd, from the south of Murshidabad to Bardwan ; 

 3. Sulaimdndbdd, which consisted of portions of the present districts of 

 Naddia, Bardwan and Hiigli ; 4. Sdtgdnw, which extended from the 

 Parganah of Arsa, in which Hiigli lies, southwards along the river, 

 to below Habrah (Howrah) and over the territories of Calcutta, the 

 24-Parganahs, and the south of Naddia ; and 5. Maddran, which 

 formed the south western and southern boundary of these dis- 

 tricts, extending, in a broken semicircle, from Shergarh or Ranee- 



* Akbamdmah. 



f Palamau was annexed during the reign of Shahjahan (March, 1614), and 

 re-annexed under Aurangzib (1661), Fide the interesting chapters regarding 

 Palamau in the Pddishdhndmah (II, p. 356), and ' Alamgimdmah (pp. 648, 

 660). The former work has the spelling <Jy^J Paldmatm, the latfcer.'cJjib 

 Paldaun. Regarding the meaning of A'gmahall, vide Pddishdhn., I, p. 433, a 

 very readable page containing a few new facts regarding Hugli and Satganw. 



Pachit was attached to Bihar ; its zamindar, Bir Narain, held under Shahja- 

 han a command of Seven Hundred. 



