130 
E. A. Gait —Carved Conch Shell. 
[July, 
the KJiazdna-i-Amirah (Lith. Ed. p. 425) says that Ananda-ram, MuTchlis 
the poet and rals, was an inhabitant of Sudahrah or Snduhrah 
within the jurisdiction of Labor. He suggests that this may possibly 
be the same place as Sadhaura. 
The Honorary Philological Secretary exhibited a remarkable 
carved conch shell, forwarded by Mr. Gait, and read the following letter 
from that gentleman which accompanied it. The Inscription reads 
Dear Sir, 
I am sending for exhibition a shell with the ten avatars carved 
on it, which has been found in the possession of a native of the Cachar 
District, and forwarded to me for inspection by Babu Krishna Kumar 
De, Assistant Settlement Officer. The shell is interesting on account 
of the inscription, which is to the effect that it was carved in the 
reign of Vira-darpa-nArayana, in the month of Agrahayana, 1593 
paka (1671 A,D.) # No written records of the Kachari raj have hitherto 
come to light, and the traditions of the people give little more than a 
long list of kings. Any items of definite information such as that 
contained in this inscription, are, therefore, most useful. 
The same King is referred to in an Ahom buranji, which was 
translated into Assamese and published in the Arunodai of 1851 A.D., 
in which it is stated that in 1567 paka (1645 A.D.), he sent messengers 
to the Ahom King, Naria raja, asking for his daughter in marriage. 
In this buranji he is called also Hidimbe 9 vara and Vira-bhadra. 
The same buranji speaks of a Kachari invasion in 1410 paka (1488 
A.D.), in the course of which the Ahoms were defeated on the bank of 
the Dikliu river. Thirty-seven years afterwards an Ahom force ascended 
the Dhansiri river to attack the Kacharis, and a few years later, in 
another war, the Kachari King, Khunkhara, was killed, and one 
Neochung was set up in his place. In 1457 paka (1535 A.D.), Neochung 
was in his turn attacked, and his brick city at Duimapur was sacked ; 
Neochung himself escaped at the time, but was subsequently captured 
and beheaded. About 1525 paka (1603 A.D.) there were hostilities 
between the Kacharis and the Jaintia raja, in which the latter managed 
to embroil the Ahom King, by offering him his daughter in marriage 
on condition that he should fetch her by a route which lay through the 
Kachari country. 
* The peculiar symbol used to represent the figure 5 which occurs on coins 
of the Ahom, Koch, Tippera, and Jaintia Kings, is found again in this inscription. 
