1874.] 
87 
J. Wise —Notes on Sunargaon , Eastern Bengal. 
signed by Shah Jahan, bears the date A. II. 1033 (A. D. 1623). As Jahan¬ 
gir was then reigning, his son Shah Jahan probably signed for his father. 
This supposition is confirmed by the words “ A’la Hazrat,” which are used 
to distinguish the monarch. 
From that date until the present, nothing is recorded of Sunargaon. Tn 
Major Fennells “ Memoir,” published in 1785, he describes the city as 
having “ dwindled to a village.” In 1809, Dr. Buchanan came to this part 
of the country with the intention of visiting Sunargaon. The parganah # 
he found was called Sunargaon ; but he was told that its proper name was 
Udhabganj.f He was also informed that Subarnagram, or Sunargaon, 
had been swept entirely away by the Brahmaputra, and had been situated a 
little south from where the custom house of Kalagachln now stands. This 
information was very incorrect. The city that tradition places south of 
Kalagachln' was Sripur, and is nearly fifteen miles south-west of Sunargaon. 
Sunargaon is often mentioned by Muhammadan historians ; but Mr. 
Blochmann informs me that it is not described by any of them. By Ibn 
Batutah it is designated as “ impregnable,” or, as the word may be also 
rendered, “ inaccessible.” On his arrival at Sunargaon, Ibn Batutah found a 
junk preparing to sail for Java, which proves that even in the 14tli century 
it must have been a mart of some importance. 
It is to Mr. Balph Fitch, “ Merchant of London,” that we are indebted 
for the only extant account of the city. He writes : “ Sunargaon is a town 
five leagues from Sripore, where there is the best and finest cloth made of 
cotton that is in all India. The chief king of all these countries is called 
Isacan, and he is chief of all the other kings, and he is a great friend to all 
Christians. The houses here, as they lie in most part of India, are very lit¬ 
tle, and covered with straw, and have a few mats round about the walls and 
the door, to keep out the tigers and the foxes ; many of the people are very 
rich. Here they will eat no flesh, nor kill no beast; they live on rice, milk, 
and fruits. They go with a little cloth before them, and all the rest of their 
body is naked. Great store of cotton cloth goeth from hence, and much 
rice, wherewith they serve all India, Ceylon, Pegu, Malacca, Sumatra, and 
many other places.” 
About the same period, according to the Am-i-Akbarf, sirkar Sunar¬ 
gaon was renowned for the very beautiful cloth called khagah, fabricated 
there, and also for a large reservoir of water in the town of Kayarah Sundar, 
which gave a peculiar whiteness to the cloth washed in it. 
Modern Sunargaon .—The following account of the old buildings of 
Sunargaon was the result of a visit made in January, 1872. It includes a 
description of all that are known to the residents. 
# 
t 
Montgomery Martin’s Eastern Bengal, vol. III., page 43. 
Udliabganj is a village, about a mile east of Sunargaon on the Mmakhali River. 
