1871*.] 
215 
Notes on 8hah Ismail OJiazi, with a sketch of the contents of a Version 
MS., entitled “ Risdlat ush-Shuhadaf found at Kanta Duar, Vangpdr. 
—By G. H. Damant, B. A., C. S. 
There are four Dargahs, or shrines, in Rangpur, erected to the memory 
of Shah Isma’il Ghazi. They are all situate a few miles to the north-east 
of G’horag’hat, in thanah Pirganj. The principal one is at Kanta Duar, 
a place marked in the survey maps as Chatra Hat, and as Katta Boar on 
Sheet 119 of the Indian Atlas. It is said to have been erected over his 
body. About three miles west is another at a place called Jala Maqam. 
The dargah is in a jungle on a piece of land surrounded by old ditches. 
It seems to have been originally a fort or intrenched camp. These two 
dargahs are under the care of the same faqir, who has a large jagir and 
claims to be a descendant of one of the servants of Isma’il, who came with 
him from Arabia. The head of the saint is said to be buried at Kanta 
I)uar, and his body at Madaran, in Jahanabad, west of Hugli. There is 
another dargah, about 18 miles south of Rangpur, on the Bogra road, said 
to be erected over his staff; and a fourth, or rather a sacred place (for I 
could see no building) on an island in the middle of a large jhll , called 
Borobhilla. I found the MS. from which extracts have been given, in the 
possession of the faqir of Kanta Duar. He assured me it had been in the 
possession of his family for many generations, but he was unable to read 
it and Wiis quite ignorant of the contents. The short facts as given in the 
MS. are, that in the time of Barbak Shah, Isma’il came to Gaur, where he 
gained the favour of the king by building a bridge or embankment across 
the great marsh, called elsewhere Chuttiah Pattiah. He was then sent 
against Gajpati, king of Madaran, or Orisa, whom he utterly defeated, 
and lastly, he fought two battles with Kamesar, king of Kamrup. In 
the first battle he was defeated, and the second seems to have been some¬ 
what indecisive ; but the king finally tendered his allegiance, and consented 
to pay tribute, though it does not appear that the country was regularly 
occupied by the Musalmans. The Hindu governor of G’horag’hat appears 
to have been envious of Isma’il’s fame, and falsely charged him with 
entering into an alliance with the king of Kamrup and conspiring to 
form an independent kingdom. A force was sent against Isma’il, and he was 
beheaded, the MS. says in the year 78, but I imagine a figure must have 
been omitted here, and that we must read 878, which would bring his death 
to the end of the reign of Barbak Shah. 
The account given in the MS. corresponds most strangely in many 
particulars with the legend which Mr. Bloehmann heard at Hugli ( see 
Asiatic Society’s Proceedings, April, 1870, page 117). In that legend, Isma fl 
