1878.] H. Beveridge —The Antiquities of Bagura. 91 
The most widely-known antiquity in Bagura is Mahasthan, or the Great 
Place, which is situated seven miles north of the Civil Station. Mahasthan 
probably originally owed its importance to its being near a sacred bathing- 
place, and hence some have with a perverse ingenuity suggested that the 
true name is Mahasnan. Afterwards it became the habitation of a 
Kshatriya prince named Parasuram. Some traditions identify him with 
Parasurama the destroyer of the Kshatriyas, though to do this, it is 
necessary to change his caste and make him a Brahman. He was defeated 
and slain by a Muhammadan, named Muhammad Shah Sultan, and probably it 
is this circumstance which has done most to perpetuate his fame. Muham¬ 
mad Shah Sultan is buried at Mahasthan, and his tomb is annually visited 
by thousands of pilgrims. There is no inscription on the tomb, and no one 
seems to know exactly who he was or where he came from. He bears the 
title of Mahi-suwar or fish-rider, and Hindus who swallow their own tradi¬ 
tions wholesale, think they must rationalize this epithet by referring it to 
the figure head of the ship which brought the faqir. It is hardly worth 
while to do this when there are so many more marvels connected with him. 
The name Mahi-suwar probably has its origin in invention, pure and 
simple. 
The only genuine inference which we can make, I think, from Muham¬ 
mad Shah’s history is, that he was the hero of a popular rising. He was 
not a fighting man apparently, and is never called a Gliazi, like the famous 
Isma’il of Rangpur. Parasuram was probably a bigoted tyrant, and 
was killed by those of his subjects who had turned Muhammadans. This 
view is supported by the local tradition that Parasuram could not bear 
the sight of a Musalman. It seems also certain that Muhammad Shah was 
helped by Parasuram’s own subjects ; for the tradition is, that one Harpal, 
the Raja’s sweeper, used to convey information to Muhammad Shah of what 
was going on inside the palace. The sweeper’s tomb is still pointed out 
on the mound of Mahasthan, and until Muhammadans got more puritanical, 
they used to make offerings at it of sharab and fcabab, i. e., meat and wine. 
Muhammad Shah’s tomb is in good preservation and is lighted up every 
night. It is surrounded by a wall, and close to the doorway there is a large 
stone Gauripat (not a lingam) lying on the ground. Mr. O’Donnell has 
described Mahasthan in the Asiatic Society’s Journal for 1875, Part I, 
No. 2, but there are some errors in his account. As far as I can learn, 
the legend of the beautiful Sila Devi has its origin in a mispronunciation. 
The original name of the place is Siladwip, i. e., the mound of stones, 
‘ dwif in Bagura being used to mean any high place and the epithet Stla 
being applied to this one on account of the large stones lying about on it. 
The populace, however, have lost sight of this meaning, and so started the 
tradition of Sila Devi. There is no flight of stairs at Sila Devi’s Ghat, only 
