1872 .] 
337 
H. Blochmann — On a new Icing of Bengal. 
Chatgaon Muhammadan rites, so that it booame a Parte? fcldm. From rains and 
legends it would appear that this N nf rat Shah Padishah, who was a king or a prinoa 
of Bengal, wont after the destruction of Gaur, with a large number of Musalmau and 
Hindu emigrants, to Eastern Bengal, and attacked the Mugs, took their town, and 
made it a domicile for his mon. The reason for his emigration to these parts was 
this. Ono Alfa Hu saint of Baghdad, a descendant of Fatimah [the daughter of 
the prophet], a great merchant, who possessed much wealth and many slaves and 
owned fourteen ships, had repeatedly been to Chatgaon, and housed afterwards to go 
to Bengal, where he urged the king to conquer the district. He also assisted him with 
ships and material, and thus raised tho standard of victory (mifrat) in that country. 
Husaini, for this reason, became the king’s son-in-law, and lived honored and dis- 
tinguished. In fact up to tho beginning of the present time, his descendants were 
the aristocracy here, and the late Mir Yahya Islamabad!, founder of the well-known 
Madrasah, MullaMu’inddm Soudipi, and others, traced their descent from Husaini.***# 
Of the antiquities which point to this religions king, I may mention Mauza’ 
Fathabad, which was so called in remombranoo of tho conquest (fath), and also tho 
great tank in Fathabad, and the mosque there, which was built of enamelled bricks. 
I have myself seen Nuqrat's mosque with its coloured bricks ; but it is now broken 
and ruined and filled with rubbish. His great tank, the length of which is 700 paces, 
more or less, still exists, but the water has become bad. On account of the wicked- 
ness of the neighbouring people, the. trade of the place has declined. People also say 
that apucca houso stood near it, which decayed and got covered with jungle and 
was full of snakes. Hence people set it on fire, and burned it down with the serpents 
and all. But prior to Anrangzib’s conquest, no Muhammadan king besidos Nuqrat 
Shah is said to have come here. 
Of the antiquities from the time before tho Mughul conquest, but after that o £ 
Nuqrat Shah, I must mention the old mosque near F a t h a b a d, in Hat Hazari 
[12 miles north of Chatgaon], A very strong pillar is said to stand in it, from 
which water constantly trickles. The foundation of the town of Bhaluah, and 
the digging of the Bhaluah tank, are generally referred to tho time of Nucrat 
Shah. 
Of the inscriptions belonging to the reign of Nuqrat Shah the earliest 
is one found by General Cunningham on a mound near Sa’ dipur, Sunnargaon 
I read it as follows : 
alj| jlj' j ip.a.1 aJU| ^ l^-co.3 ill all j jjlbo alii jlj' 
I aUaj a! aIJ i^ij a1J| sj all lo.qz"'' 0 j able 
LjpJly-cti ^tlnJ — f ( j- .x+J ( x+Jl jylk-L* !| Ail o.ur~~.l| ! Ait xj 
ulJ| olA. ^Itl-J) jjt jy*~a. jy : 1 jytkL-Ji y£Ja«.f| jy.jO.Jl j 
*lj.sij| ijjiki tljjjJl J L*Il/0 Ajlia~J| on £« <dJ| Aoj.1 gUj j Ailklw y 
fxx* jyj l _ r lj=*' , | lilU jUj vjjya.ll jyjC.il yjt jyJl jyJ O J f | } 
|| AjU*~J j jyyy.-t.e_j £_J An- jyJjIbil , ji jIjiGi aL/| ^jI 
God Almighty says, ‘ Surely tho Mosques belong to God j worship no one else be- 
sides God. The prophet says, ‘ He who builds a mosque for God, seeking thereby the 
reward of God, will have one like it built for him by God in Paradise ° 
43 
n h 
