2CI H. Blochmann— Geography and History of Bengal. [No. 3, 
bhaba its tributary, in the south by the left bank of the Ganges, in the 
east by the Karataya, and in the north by Dinajpur and G’horag’hat. Bhatu- 
riah, therefore, is the district to both sides of the Atrai River. 
The Tabaqat i Akbari merely states the fact of Kans’s usurpation, and 
assigns him a reign of seven years. Firishtah, who has been followed by 
Stewart, says that, “ though no Muhammadan, he mixed with them and 
loved them, so much so that some Muhammadans testified to his conversion, 
and claimed for him a Muhammadan burial. After a vigorous reign of 
seven years, he went to the world of annihilation, and was succeeded by his 
son, who had the honor of being converted to Islam.” 
The Riyaz represents the views of the opponents of the Rajah, and 
gives the following :— 
£ When Sultan Sliamsuddm died, Rajah Kans, a Hindu zamindar, 
seized the whole kingdom of Bengal, and sat proudly on the throne. 
Oppression and bloodshed followed; he tried to kill all Muhammadans, and 
had many learned men murdered. In fact, his object was to drive Islam from 
his kingdom. One day, people say, Shaikh Badr ul Islam, son of Shaikh 
Mu’muddm ’Abbas, went to the wicked tyrant, but did not greet him. 
When the Rajah asked him why he had not saluted him, he replied, “ Learned 
men are not supposed to greet infidels, especially an infidel tyrant, who like 
thee sheds the blood of Muhammadans.” The unclean heretic was silenced, 
he winced under the reply, and thought of nothing else but to kill the 
Shaikh. He, therefore, called him one day to a room, the door of which 
was very low and narrow. But the Shaikh saw through the plan, # and put 
his foot first over the threshold, and then entered without bending his head. 
This annoyed the Rajah so much, that he gave orders to take him to the 
path of his brethren. The Shaikh was at once executed. All the remaining 
learned men, on the same day, were put on board a ship and were drowned 
in the middle of the river. 
4 The usurpation of this infidel and the slaughter of Muhammadans 
drove at last the Saint Nur Qutb ul ’Alam to despair, and he wrote a letter 
to Sultan Ibrahim i Sliarqi (of Jaunpur), who at that time had extended his 
kingdom to the [Eastern] frontier of Bihar f complaining of the injustice done 
to Islam and the Muslims, and asking the king to march against the infidel. 
Ibrahim received the letter with due humility, and consulted with Qazl 
* The Rajah evidently wished the Shaikh to come to him in a stooping position, 
which might he looked upon as a ‘ salam’. 
f The Jaunpur kingdom was founded in 796, and Ibrahim Sharqi, the first titular 
Sultan, reigned from 804 to 844. The faulty chronology of the Tabaqat, Firishtah, 
and Stewart, makes Rajah Kans die in 794. The story of the Riyaz, therefore, 
agrees very well with the testimony of coins ; but it is strange that the author of the 
Riyaz did not see the anachronism. 
