1874.] H. Blochmann— Geography and History of Bengal. —No. II. 303 
No. 10. # The Inscription of Husain Shah's Madrasah at Gaur . 
A. H. 907. 
Mr. Westmacott found this interesting inscription on a little mosque 
near the Thanah at English Bazar. The stone is, therefore, not in situ , 
and may have belonged to the Madrasah, the ruins of which he states to 
exist in Gaur.f 
The beginning of this inscription, ‘ Search after knowledge even as far 
as China,’ is a well known saying of the Prophet, and is often in modem 
times quoted by Muhammadans in connexion with the spread of English 
education in the East. 
The inscription is free from grammatical mistakes. 
'J'* sjj \JJ 
>EJ) JjAILJ ^ <!uic <X.U) ^ ^ JS 
' ' H H 
I ^ ' 4 UJ ^ . 
j 2 {aJ] (jtWI aJJ) (JsAxui L | 
V M 
. VW gJ 
A^b'O aO) Jklsb* ^^XXa*\s J iL-Xi ) txijJI 
)) ^ AAcw XXsC ItA/W 
The Prophet (God’s blessings on him !) has said, ‘ Search after knowledge, and if it 
were in China.’ This excellent Madrasah was ordered to be built by the great and generous 
king, the Sayyid of the Sayyids, the source of auspiciousness, who exerts himself on the 
road of God the All-giver, the conqueror of Kamru and Kamtah with the help of 
the Merciful, ’Ala uddunya waddin Abul Muzaffar Husain Shah, the 
king, the Husaini—may God perpetuate his kingdom !—for the teaching of the sciences of 
religion and instruction in those orders which alone are true, because he hopes to 
obtain from God the great reward and asks Him for His everlasting mercy, on the 1st 
Ramazan, 907 [10th March, 1502]. 
# Mr. Westmacott also sent me rubbings of several inscriptions from Hemtabad, 
Western Dinajpur. Among them was an incomplete Husain Sliahi of A. H. 906 ; a large 
circular inscription, containing Qor. 48, 27 ; and a tomb inscription of one Shaikh Jamal- 
uddin bin Makhdum Shaikh. 
f The removal of inscriptions from Gaur may have been the cause of their preserva¬ 
tion. We know from Grant’s Essay (Vth Report, p. 285) that the Nizamat Duf tar contained 
an entry of Rs. 8000 under the head of qtmat khisht/cdr, which was annually levied from 
a few landholders in the neighbourhood of Gaur, who had the exclusive right of “ dis¬ 
mantling the venerable remains of the ancient city of Gaur or Lak’lmautf, and conveying 
from thence a particular species of enamelled bricks, surpassing in composition the imita¬ 
tive skill of the present race of native inhabitants.” 
