00 J. Wise —Notes on Sunargaon, Eastern Bengal. [No. 1, 
property, lie has only to put a coating of lime on this stone and he will infalli¬ 
bly get the property back. It was covered with an inch and three quarters 
of lime at the date it was examined. On scraping off the plaster a beautiful 
Tughra inscription was found, with the name Jalaluddin Fath Shah, A. H. 
S89 (A. D. 1484). # This is the oldest inscription discovered in the Dhaka 
district, with the exception of the one on A'dam Shahid’s tomb in Bikrampur, 
which bears the same king’s name and the date, A. H. 888. 
On the roadside near Magrapara are two other inscribed stones. The 
writing on both is continuous. It includes the name and title of ’Ala-ud- 
din Husain Shah, A. H. 919 (A. D. 15l3).f 
Close to the tomb above mentioned is a ruined gateway called the 
u Naubatkhanah,” where musical instruments were sounded morning and 
evening to announce to travellers and faqirs that a place of shelter was at hand. 
At the back of the mosque are the ruins of a house called the “ Taliwil,” or 
treasury, where, within the memory of many living, feasts were given by the 
superintendent, or mutawalli, of the mosque. The present holder of this post 
is too poor to entertain anybody. Still further to the north-west are the ruins 
of the dwellings of the Khundkars. It is only within late years that this 
building, which had an upper room at each end, has become uninhabitable. 
The last residents taught boys to recite the Qoran. Now-a-days no educa¬ 
tion is given in any part of Sunargaon to Muhammadans. 
In the Mahallali north of Magrapara, called G-ohatta, is the tomb of a 
very celebrated Pir, known as Shah ’Abdul ’Ala, alias Ponkai Diwan. It is 
narrated that he retired to the forest, where he sat for twelve years so 
absorbed in his devotions that he was unconscious of the lapse of time. 
When found, he had to be dug out of the mound the white-ants (ponka) had 
raised around him, and which reached to his neck. The same story is told 
of Valmiki the sage, and of others. This Pir must have died near the end of 
the last century, as his son Shah Imam Bakhsh alias Chulu Miyan came, 
within the recollection of many living, from Silhat to die at Sunargaon. 
Father and son lie buried close together. At the head of the former is 
placed the lattice-stone on which he spent his memorable twelve years. The 
tombs are otherwise of no interest. They are merely mud heaps kept 
carefully clean and covered over with a grass thatch. 
In this same quarter a very large mosque formerly stood which was 
believed to have been built by the kings. It fell into ruins, and the proprie¬ 
tor sold the bricks to Hindus of Narayanganj. Muhammadans extenuate 
tliis offence by asserting that the proprietor, who was a pensioned deputy- 
magistrate, was insane when he did it. The foundations even are being 
dug up. The walls had been eight feet thick. The remains of one of the 
* Vide J. A. S. B., 1873, Part I, p. 285. 
f Vide J. A. S. B., 1872, Part I, p. 333. 
