234 H. Blochmann— Geography and History of Bengal. [No. 3, 
his alliance. About 1407, again, the king Meng-tsau-mwun fled to Bengal, 
and witnessed the war between .Rajah Kans and Jaunpur. He was 
ultimately restored to his throne with the help of Bengal troops ; but he 
became “ tributary to the king of Thu-ra-tan, and from this time the coins 
of the Arakan kings bore on the reverse their names and titles in the 
Persian character. This custom was probably first made obligatory upon 
them as vassals ; but they afterwards continued it when they had recovered 
their independence , and ruled the country as far as the Brahmaputra Biver. 
Meng-tsau-mwun, having got rid of his allies , meditated a change of 
capital.” 
In 1512, Chatgaon was conquered, according to the Raj Mala, # by the 
Rajah of Tiparah, who drove away Husain Shah’s garrison. Whether the 
Rajah of Tiparah kept it for any time is doubtful; for in 1517, “ John 
de Sylvera was invited by the king of Arakan, and he appears to have gone 
to Chatigam, then a port of that king’s dominions.!” Anyhow, we can now 
understand why Nucrat Shall, Husain Shah’s son, should have invaded Chat¬ 
gaon ;! but although popular belief ascribes to his invasion the first 
Muhammadan settlements in the District, it is clear from the preceding that 
his invasion cannot have been the first. 
It is not known how the District was again lost; but during the troubles 
of Slier Shah’s revolution, the Mughul invasion, the aggressions of the Portu¬ 
guese, and the Bengal Military Revolt, Chatgaon did not belong to Bengal. 
If, therefore, Todar Mall in 1582 included it in his rent-roll, he did so on 
the principle on which he included Kalinga Dan dp at and Sirkar Raj ah - 
mandri in the rent-roll of Orisa.§ 
The Eastern Frontier. 
The eastern frontier of Muhammadan Bengal extended from Sunnar- 
gaon and the Megna (but in Shahjahan’s reign, from the Phani River 
over southern and western Tiparah) northward, and then passed to the east 
including the District of Silliat. The boundary passed along the southern 
slopes of the Jaintiali, Khasiah, and Garo Hills to Mahall Sherpur in northern 
* Journal, A, S. Bengal, Vol. XIX, for 1850, pp. 545, 546. 
f Vide Sir A. Phayre’s History of Pegu, J. A. S. B., 1873, pt. I, 127. 
X For particulars vide my extract from the TdrtJch i Hamuli in Journal, 1872, 
Part I, p. 336. 
§ “ From Satagam [Satgaon-Hugli] I travelled by the country of the king of Tipara, 
with whom the Mogen [Mags] have almost continual warres. The Mogen which be of 
the kingdom of Recon [ Rakhaing , Arakan] and Rame [Ramu], be stronger than the 
king of Tipara, so that Cliatigan, or Porto Grando, is often times under the king of 
Recon.” Ralph Fitch. 
Muhammadan historians spell the word ‘ Rakhaing’ Rakhang , or give the 
still shorter form Rulch, whence De Laet’s “ Roch, on the borders of Bengala.” 
