22 G 
H. Blochmann —Geography and History oj Bengal. [No. 3, 
to Bagherhat in southern Jessore and to the Haring’hata (Horingotta), or 
‘ Deer-shore River i. e. along the southern mahalls of Sirkars Satgaon and 
Khalifatabad. Beyond the Haring’hata and its northern portion, called the 
Madhumati or ‘ honey-flowing,’ the frontier comprised Sirkars Bakla and 
Fathabad, the modern districts of Faridpur and Baqirganj (north). Sirkar 
Fathabad included the islands of Dak’hin Shahbazpur and Sondip, at the 
mouth of the Megna. Tiparali, Bhaluah, Noak’hali, and District Chatgaon, 
were contested ground, of which the Rajahs of Tiparah and Arakan were, 
at least before the 17th century, oftener masters than the Muhammadans. 
It was only after the transfer of the capital from Rajmahall to Dhaka, that 
the south-east frontier of Bengal was extended to the Phani River, which 
was the imperial frontier till the beginning of Aurangzib’s reign, when 
Chatgaon was permanently conquered, assessed, and annexed to ‘ pubah 
Bangalah.’ 
Various etymologies have been proposed in explanation of the word 
‘Sundarban.’ It has been derived from sundar and ban , ‘ the beautiful 
forest;’ or from sundart , a small timber tree (Heretiera litoralis), which is 
exported as fuel in vast quantities from the coast and is supposed to 
have been so called from its red wood. Others again have derived the 
word from Chandradip-ban, or Chandradip forest, from the large zamindari 
of Chandradip, which occupies the south and south-east of Baqirganj District. 
Or, the name has been connected with the Chandabhandas,* an old Sundarban 
tribe. Grant derives it from Chandraband, ‘ the embankment of the moon,’ 
which seems to have been the etymology that obtained at his time, and which 
has led to the spelling ‘ Soonderbund’ adopted by Europeans. 
The application of the name to the whole seacoast of southern Bengal 
is modern. Muhammadan historians call the coast strip from the Hugli 
to the Megna ‘ B h a t i,’ or * low land subject to the influx of the tide,’ and 
even now-a-days this name is very generally used. The sovereignty of this 
district, according to the Akbarnamah and the Rajah Pratapaditya 
legend, was divided among twelve chiefs ; and Col. Wilford, whatever may 
have been the source of his information, says that “ the kings of Arakan and 
Comilla were constantly striving for the mastery, and assumed the title of 
lords of the twelve Bhuniyas.”+ 
The sea coast itself is marked on Van den Broueke’s map in Valentyn’s 
work as ‘ onbekent,’ or ‘ unknown,’ consisting of numerous islands and 
* A copperplate grant in the possessionof the Society,found at ’Adilpur (Edilpore), 
mentions that the villages of Baguli, Bittogada, and Udayamuna, were given, in the 
third year of the reign of Keshab Sen, i. e. in 1136 A. D , to one Jovaradeb Sarnia. 
The grant mentions the tribe of the Chandabhandas. The reading Cliandabhanda, as 
Babu Pratapachandra Ghosh informs me, is an improved reading for Cliattabhatta, 
as the name was read by Gobind Ram; vide Journal, 1838, Vol. VII, p. 40. 
f As. Researches, XIV, p. 451. 
