28G H. Blochmann —Geography and History of Bengal. —No. II. [No. 3, 
Narayan, as lie is often called), who succeeded his brother, the well known 
Parichhat of Koch Hajo, in 1022 A. H., or A. D. 1613, and reigned till 
the beginning of 1638. Baldeo was succeeded by Mahindra Narayan, # “ a 
pacific prince, who employed his time in improving the condition of his 
subjects, and among other good deeds, conferred large grants on Brahmans.” 
He died, “ after a reign of nineteen years,” in 1657. 
Isfandiyar Beg—later he was permitted to call himself Isfandiyar 
Khan—is the son of Allah Yar Khan, son of Iftikhar Khan Turkman. 
Iftikhar had served in the beginning of Jahangir’s reign in Eastern Bengal, 
and was killed in the last fight with the Pathans under ’Usman Lohani.f 
Allah Yar Khan received a niangab from Jahangir in Eastern Bengal, reach¬ 
ed the high rank of Commander of Three Thousand under Shahjahan, and 
distinguished himself in the sack of Hugh and the defeat of the Portuguese 
and in the war with Baldeo Narayan. It is no wonder, therefore, that the 
family called themselves ‘ Ghazis.’ Allah Yar died in Bengal in 1650. His 
son, Isfandiyar Khan received a mangab from Jahangir and served with 
his father in Koch Hajo. He accompanied, in 1661, Mir Jumlah on his 
march to Koch Bihar, of which he was appointed Faujdar, and is specially 
mentioned in the ’A'lamgirnamahJ for his topographical knowledge of 
Eastern Bengal and Bhutan. 
Shah Kamal, therefore, must have died about the middle of the 17th 
century. 
The twenty inscriptions given below are followed by several unpublish¬ 
ed coins which throw new light on several points connected with Bengal 
History and Geography. 
In my former essay (Journal, 1873, Pt. I, p. 250), I mentioned that 
our Society contains a dated silver coin of Shihabuddin Bughra Shah, son 
of Firuz Shah (I) of Bengal. The coin, which bears the year 718 A. H, 
(A. H. 1318), has now been figured {vide PI. XIII, No. 1), and is one of 
the most valuable Bengal coins of the Society’s cabinet. It has led me to 
examine the history of the Balbani kings, who ruled over Bengal from 681 
to 731 A. H. (1282 to 1331 A. D.) 
The only historical authority that we possess for this period is Ibn 
Batutali, whose account, meagre as it is, agrees with the evidence of coins 
* Pari cl ill at succumbed to Jahangir, and Baldeo to Sliahjalian; hence Mahindra 
Narayan had every reason not to renew opposition ; vide the account of the conquest of 
Koch Hajo (zil’ah Goalpara) in Journal, A. S. B., 1872, pp. 54, 62, and Ain Translation, 
Yol. I, 493. These passages adjust the chronology followed by Robinson in his ‘ Assam,’ 
p. 156. Baldeo is the ancestor of the present Rajas of Bijm. 
f Vide the account of his death given by the Dutch traveller DeLaet in Ain Trans* 
lation, Yol. I, p. 521. J Page 688. 
