described by him! There is a shrine of a Muhammadan saint

. named Mahisarar Sultan here, but no Arabic inscription seems to have been discovered at this place before this. The inscription is one of the oldest records that has been found in Bengal proper. It was incised in A.H. 700=1300 A.D., i.e. during the reign of Sultan Shams-ud-din Firūz Shah, son of Sultan Nasir-ud-din Mahmud Shah (Baghda Khan), the youngest son of Sultan Ghiyâs-ud-din Balban of Delhi. It records the erection of a tomb of the exalted and benevolent Nămwar Kbāns in the month of Shawwal in 700 A.H.= 1300 A.D.

a

Text.

الله الرحمن الرحيم بس" قال النبي صلي الله عليه وسلم ۳ مې قراء اية الكرسي ( لم يمنع ) به من دخول الجنة الا الموت * و الله لا اله الا هو الحي القيوم

لا تا خذه سنة ولا نوم له ما في / السموات وما في الارض من في

الذي يشفع عنده إلا باذنه يعام و ما بين ايديهم وما خلفهم ولا يعيطر

و سع كرسيه ۱۰ بشيء من علمه إلا بما شاء او السموات والارض ولا يؤده حفظهما ۱۲ رهر العلي العظيم - بني هذا اندر خان کررضا ۱۳ خان معظم مکرم میر نا مرر خان ۱۴ شهر شوال سنه سبعما ية

۸

II.- Inscription from the Salik Masjid, Basirhat. This inscription was found in the interior of a Masjid in the town of Basirhat, District 24-Parganas of Bengal. The Masjid is situated at a distance of about one mile from the railway station and is in good preservation. It appears that a Masjid was built in the year 871=1466-67 A.D. from materials taken from a stonebuilt Hindu temple ; later on this ancient masjid was surrounded by a brick wall with modern doors and windows. A facsimile of the inscription, taken by me, was published by Rai Monomohan Chakravarti Bahadur in his article on " Pre-Mughal Mosques of Bengal”.!

? The inscription is stuck in the interior of the mosque between two stone pillars, taken from some Hindu temple, close to the roof, The pillars are in good preservation with figures of ganas or dwarfs on the bracket capitals over it. Only these two pillars and the inscription have escaped modernization and white-wash. The inscribed surface measures l'1" by 673". It records the erection of a mosque by a person with the title "the benevolent and exalted Majlis, the great Mijlis" in the year 871 A-H.=1466 A.D. In this year Sultan Rukn-ud-din Bārbak Shāh, son of Nāsir-ud-din Mahmūd Shāh was reigning in Bengal. It was during his reign that the Hindu kingdoms on the Southern coast, which were so long protected from conquest by the impenetrable barrier of forests, were overthrown. Two records of this prince has been discovered in Southern Bengal; the first one is the Mirzāgunj inscription of the year 8703 and the second record is the present one from Basirhat, of the year 871 A.D. The builder of this mosque appears to be the same person as that of the Bais-darwaza masjid at Pandua. In the Pandua inscription of SS2 A.H. more elaborate titles are given but the proper name has been omitted.3

TEXT.

لار له الله منکمد رسول الله بن هذ المسدد عهدلس المعظم و المكرم عباس اعظم داهمت عظمته منه احدى وسبعين رثها نماية

1

Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, New Series, T'ol. VI, p. 29 and note 1, plate,

Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, old Series, Pol. XXIX,

2

II. Inscription from Salik Masjid, Basirhat, 24 Parganas. - 871 A. H.

III. Inscription of the time of Rukn-uddin Barbak, A. H. 878, from Alawal's Masjid, Chittagoog.

IV. Inscription of the time of Sait-uddin Firoz Shah, A. H. 895, Kalna, Dist. Bardwan.