1873.] H. Bloehma nn —Geography and History of Bengal. 225 
together in Todar Mali’s rent-roll as one of the 5 Sirkars of the province of 
Orisa. Subsequently, Orisa had separate governors; but under Prince 
Shuja’ their power was lessened, and the portion from Mandalg’hat to 
Bales war (Balasore) was separated from Orisa and permanently attached to 
Bengal.* 
Hijli ( Hidgelee , Hedjelee , Grant ; Hingeli, Van den Broucke; 
Ingellee , Rennell; Injelee , Stewart, Marshman ; Angeli , Purchas, Be Laet, 
&c.) appears in the Ain under the name of Maljhatta. According to the 
legends preserved in the District, the Muhammadans first attempted a 
settlement during the reign of Husain Shah of Bengal, about A. D. 
1505, when one Taj Khan Masnad i ’All and his brother Sikandar 
Pahlawan established themselves at the mouth of the Rasulpur River ,f 
opposite Sagar Island. They conquered the whole of Hijli, which is said to 
have remained in the family for nearly eighty years, when it passed into the 
possession of a Hindu. As late as 1630 we hear of the conquest of Hijli. 
“ Hingeli, which had for many years a chief of its own, was conquered about 
1630 by the Great Mogul; but in 1660, the lawful chief of Hingeli, who 
from a child had been kept a prisoner, found means to escape, and with the 
help of his own to re-conquer his country. But he did not long enjoy it: 
he was in 1661 brought into Aurangzeb’s power with the help of the E. I. 
Company [the Dutch Company], and was again imprisoned and better 
looked after than at first.”]; 
The Southern Frontier. 
The southern frontier of Muhammadan Bengal was the northern outskirt 
of the Sundarban, which extended, generally speaking, in the same manner 
almost as it now does, from Hatiagarh,south of DiamondHarbour on the Hugli, 
* “ Sjah Sousa liad already during his time divided Hingeli from Orisa, and had 
put there a separate governor, and it is for this reason alone that Hingeli, which by 
position belongs to Orisa, has been attached to Bengal. So it is also with the gover¬ 
nors of Ballasour and Pipeli [P i p 1 x or Shahbandar, now deserted, on the Subar- 
narekha River], which the Great Mogul ordered once to be under the governor of 
Orisa and then again under the governor of Bengal, because the two places are close to 
the sea.” F. Yalentyn, Vol V. 
Yan den Broucke’s map of Bengal in 1660, given by Valontyn, still shews 
north-west of the town of Medinipur the “ Gedenkteeken,” or memorial stone, 
(corresponding to the £ Old Tower’ of modern maps) that marked the frontier 
between Bengal and Orisa. Grant says that the coast of Hijli and Medinipur 
as far as Balasore (Buleswar) was attached to Bengal on account of the Mags and 
the Portuguese privateers, who were to some extent controlled by the Imperial 
fleet stationed at Dhaka. 
f Few rivers in India have Muhammadan names. Due south of Contai the maps 
give a village of the name of Masnad ’Alipur. Taj Khan’s tomb is on the Rasulpur 
River. 
I From Yalentyn’s work, Vol. V. The ’Alanigirnamah says nothing about it. 
29 G 
