1901.] Maulavi ‘Abdul Wall— Jdmi 1 Masjid at Sailkupa . -19 
of twisted ropes) but none ever had seen him eating it. The King 
hearing of his sanctity went to see him. The saint being told that the 
King was coming to meet him, said to the wall upon which he was,— 
“ Badshali jab ate hai, diwar tu bhi kuch age barh.” The wall moved 
on. The King being convinced of his sanctity, became a disciple of 
the saint, who spoke to the King that he wished to go to a Mauza‘ called 
Sailkupa. After a long search, they came to Sailkupa and landed. 
Having carefully examined the place, the Maulana Sahib said, “ this is 
my destination, I will not stir from here.” After his arrival, many 
Muhammadan families came to, and settled in, the village. 
Historically I kuow nothing who the saint “ Muhammad ‘Arab ” 
was, but it is very probable that h6 came with Nasir Shah, at whose 
command the Cathedral mosque—the silent spectator of a by-gone age 
—was built. Nasir Shah (as stated above) was the son and successor 
of Husain Shah ; but in history, he is called Nusrat Shah or Na§ib 
Shah, who reigned after his father. I had, therefore, some doubt, 
at first, as to the authenticity of the contents of the aforemen¬ 
tioned dastdviz , but recent researches based on numismatic and 
epigraphical evidences have established the fact that the son and 
successor of the great Husain Shah was called Nasiruddin Nusrat Shah 
(who may briefly be called Nasir Shah, as I have done in this paper). 1 
Another oral tradition, which I heard from an old man—descended 
from a very ancient family of Sailkupa—says that the Masjid is the 
work of Husain Sbah, who was a powerful monarch, and renowned 
throughout Bengal for his charities, and benevolent acts. The Ta‘dads 
of the rent-free lands granted—in recognition of their former claims— 
to the descendants of Shah ‘Abdu-l-Q.adir-i-Ba gh dadi, by the British 
Court, also bear the name of Husain Shah as the donor. It is, therefore, 
very probable that Nasir Shah came to Sailkupa with his spiritual 
guide, while Husain Shah was reigning. 
The brick-built tombs of the Maulana Sahib, and the Wazir Shall 
‘Ali, are at a distance of about 35 feet, east of the mosque. The big 
tank on the north of the Masjid and the llauza, which, it is said, had 
l Sultan ‘A la’uddin Husain Shah reigned from A.H. 899 — 925 = A.D. 14 93- 1518. 
His sou who calls himself on all his coins and inscriptions hitherto discovered, 
^UaLJl I y\ fj Lj^Jf ^j| 
«• 
i.c., ‘ the Sultan son of the Sultan Nasirud-Dnnyii wad-DIn Abu-1.Muzaffar Nusrat 
Shah, sou of Husain Shah the Sultan, Al-Husaini,’ reigned from A.H. 925 — 
939 = A.D. 1518 — 1532. The dates given in the Riyazus-Salatln, and other Histories, 
are generally incorrect. . 
