3895.] Sayyad Ildhi Bu khsh al Husainl AngrBzahddi. 229 
is sufficient to show that the place was in Eastern Bengal. We know, too 
that the kings of Bengal, from the days of Laksmana Sena, used, like 
the Egyptians of old, to retreat to the marshes whenever they were in 
difficulty, and for this purpose they went to Eastern Bengal. 
The question about the site of Ekdala might be definitively settled 
by finding the tomb of Makhdum Shaikh Raja Biyabani, for it was 
probably very near Ekdala, seeing that Haji Ilyas came out of the fort 
in disguise and attended the funeral, while he was besieged by Flroz 
Shah. It is even said that he appeared before the Emperor, disguised 
as a faqir, and saluted him, and returned, without being recognised. If, 
as Dr. Taylor suggests, the saint was connected with Ran! Bhabani, his 
tomb may perhaps be found near the Dacca Ekdala, or near Durduria, 
if it has not been washed away by the river. If he was a noted saint? 
it is curious that we hear nothing of his tomb being in Dinajpur or 
Maldah. Evidently Ilalri Bakhsli did not know the site of this tomb, for 
lie has left blanks in his MS. for the direction and distance. It would 
also be of importance to find out if there is any place in Dacca or 
Dinajpur known as Azadpur, which is said 1 to have been the name 
substituted by Flroz Shah for Ekdala. Mr. Westmacott could not hear 
of this name in Dinajpur, 8 nor have I met with it in the list of parganas 
in Dacca, though there is a place there called A‘zampur. 3 
The only objection to the Dacca Ekdala is that Ziyahu-d-dm 
Barani, Bib. Ind., Ed. p. 588, speaks of Ekdala as being near Pandua. 
But he wrote in his old age, at Delhi, and apparently he had never 
visited Bengal and had no local knowledge. The vague expression 
“ near Pandua ” is hardly appropriate to the Dinajpur village,, for that 
is about twenty-three miles away. Husain Shah is said to have every 
year gone on foot from Ekdala to Pandua, to visit the shrine of Nur 
Qutb. This is quite consistent with his residence having been the Dacca 
Ekdala, for Husain Shah was a good deal in Eastern Bengal. He built 
a mosque at Sonarga5, J. A. S. B., XLII, 295, and Dr. Taylor tells us, 
1. c. 115, that there are the remains of a mosque at Durduria which goes 
by his name. 
1 Shams Siraj ‘Aflf’s Tarikh FIroz-Shahi. Bib. Ind., Ed., p. 122. 
2 The Dinajpur Ekdala is in pargana Dhanjar. The Dacca Ekdala is in Kapasia, 
but I do not know the pargana. 
3 See Grant’s Analysis, Fifth Report, 368. 
