82 
J. Wise —Notes on Sunargaon, Eastern Bengal. [No. 1, 
said, “ The handle of Islam, that best of handles, will be broken.” Then 
they asked “ when,” and he answered, when some Moslems know not the 
state of ignorance before the Prophet, &c. For these will do shirk and yet 
believe that it is a pious, act. O God, guard us from backsliding and grant 
that our faith may not be impaired! 
This is a short account of the heads of the conversation which, as al¬ 
ready mentioned, we held with Husain ul-Airat’i. He often asked us to 
put it in writing, and as he was importunate, I have done so, but without 
referring to our religious books, as I have been busily employed in superin¬ 
tending matters connected with the Holy War. But whoever is desirous 
of knowing our belief, let him come to us at Darayah, and he will see what 
will gladden his heart, and his eyes will be pleased in reading the compilations 
on the different kinds of knowledge, especially the Tafsirs and Hadfses. He 
will see God praised in a pleasing manner; the assistance He gives in esta¬ 
blishing the true faith; the kindness, which He exerts among the weak and 
feeble, between inhabitants and travellers. 
We do not deny the doctrines of pufis, nor the purification of a per¬ 
son’s soul from the stains of sin in deed or thought, provided the person who 
holds them is firm in his religious observances, and treads the straight road 
as marked out. But we do not undertake to carry it out in all our acts 
and deeds. Nor do we turn towards, ask assistance, or beg for aid from 
other than the Lord God, to whom alone we turn in all our acts. He is 
our Agent, our Master, our Deliverer. May peace and the blessing of God 
be upon our prince Muhammad and on his family and his companions ! 
’Abdullah, son of Muhammad, son of ’Abdul-Wahhab, wrote this in 
Muharram, 1218. [April, 1803, A. D.]. 
Notes on Sunargaon , Eastern Bengal.—By Du. J. Wise, Bliakd, 
[With a plan and a plate.] 
Sunargaon, or, as the Hindus called it, Subarnagram, was the capital 
of a Hindu principality anterior to the invasion of Muhammad Bakhtyar 
Khilji, A. D. 1203. At the date of the invasion, Lakshman Sen, of the Vai- 
dya caste, was on the throne. He had made Nadia his capital. Defeated 
he fled to the residence of his ancestor Ballal Sen in Bikrampur, and either 
from there or Sunargaon he ruled over the eastern districts. The natives 
of Bikrampur still point out with pride the square moat of his palace, which 
is called “ Ballal Bari.” 
The next thing we hear of regarding this part of the country, according 
to Mr. Taylor,* is that it was governed by Muhammadan Qazis. One 
* Topography of Dacca, page 67. 
