286 
H. Blochmann —Geography and History of Bengal. [No. 3, 
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God Almighty says, &c., (as before). And the Prophet says, &c., (as before). 
This mosque was built during the reign of the great and exalted king, J a 1 a 1- 
uddunya waddin Abnl Muzaffar Path Shah, the king, son of M a h- 
mud Shah, the king,—may God perpetuate his kingdom and rule ! The builder of 
the mosque is Muqarrab uddaulah, Malik.uddxn, the Royal, keeper of the ward¬ 
robe outside the Palace, the commander and wazir of the territory of M u ’a z z a m- 
a b a d, also known as Mahmudaba d, and commander of Thanah Lawud. 
This took place during Muharram, 889. (A. D. 1484.) 
The geographical names occurring in this inscription have been discuss¬ 
ed above. 
The IIaeshT Kings. 
The pretorian hand of Abyssinians, which Barbak Shah had introduced 
into Bengal, became from the protectors of the dynasty the masters of the 
kingdom, and eunuchs were the actual rulers of the country. The very 
names of the actors during the interregnum between the end of the Ilyas 
Shall dynasty and the commencement of the house of Husain Shah, proclaim 
them to have been Abyssinian eunuchs and what royalty at that time 
was in Bengal is well described by Abul Fazl, who says that, after the 
murder of Bath Shah, low hirelings flourished ;f and Firishtah sarcastically 
remarks that the people would only obey him who had killed a king and 
usurped the throne. Faria y Souza also says of the kings of that time:— 
“ They observe no rule of inheritance from father to son, but even slaves 
sometimes obtain it by killing their master, and whoever holds it three days 
they look upon as established by divine providence. Thus it fell out that 
in 40 years’ space they had 13 kings successively.” 
* Names as Kafur (camphor), Qaranful (clove), Firuz and Ffruzah (turquoise), 
Almas (diamond), Yaqut. (cornelian), Habsbi Khan, Indil, Sidi Badr, &c. Camphor 
was looked upon as an anti-aplirodisiac (vide my Am translation, p. 385) ; hence the 
name was appropriate. The Fath Shah inscription No. 20 mentions a Malik Kafur; 
and we are reminded of the Kafur Hazardinan of ’Alauddm’s reign. 
f ‘The kings of Bengala, in times past, were chosen of the Abassine or ^Ethio¬ 
pian slaves, as the Soldans of Cairo were some time of the Circassian Mamalukes.’ 
Purchas, 
