188 
THE ORIENTAL ANNUAL. 
Penkonda. The foundation was laid about a.d. 1460, 
and the building was designed to form part of a 
magnificent square, which, upon the opposite side, 
contained also the great mosque, and many other 
public buildings ; the whole having been erected by 
the same chief, and called after him the Gawan-ki- 
Chouk, but afterwards named by Aurungzebe the 
Turkt-Mahal. In the time of Ferishta, who was 
born a.d. 1570, this splendid range of buildings 
remained as perfect as'if it had only just been com- 
pleted ; and, wonderful to relate, all the edifices were 
then still applied to the purposes for which they 
were designed by their founder. This lively his- 
torian, in enlarging upon the munificence of Mahmood 
Gawan, affirms that that hero was not only possessed 
of very extensive general knowledge, but that, unas- 
sisted, by dint of great perseverance, he had made 
himself master of many abstruse branches of learn- 
ing and science. In mathematics and engineering he 
is said to have had no equal in his day ; and he also 
evinced great taste in his literary compositions, a 
few of which are still existing. The most perfect is 
the Rozub-ul-Insha ; but other poems, and fragments 
of descriptive composition, are preserved in the works 
of Moolana Jami Abdool Raiman, and of Moolla 
Abdool Kurreim Sihndi. 
The nicety and great strength with which these 
elegant buildings were constructed, w T ould doubtless 
have enabled them to have remained complete until 
