111.- Inscription of 'Alawai's Masjid, Chittagong. The inscription is stuck in the walls of a masjid with masonry walls and a thatched roof which is said to have been built on the site of an ancient masjid at Hathazari in the Chittagong District of Bengal. It is stated by the attendants that the masjid was built by the well-known Bengali ipoet Alāwal Khān and that the inscription was originally fixed over the entrance of the old mosque. The inscription itself does not mention 'Alawal Khān, but records the erection of a mosque by the Mājlis Alā Rāsti Khän on the 5th day of Ramzan 878 A II.= A.H.= 1173 A.D. during the reign of Rukn-ud-din Bärbak Shāli, son of Mahmud Shāh. So far as is known, this is the second authentic record of the Muhammadan conquest or occupation of Chittagong, the earliest being the silver coin of Jalal-ud-din Muhammal Shāh struck at Chittagong in A.II. 83)=1430 A.D. Therefore this inscription is the oldest Muhamma lan inscription from the Chittagong Division. پنجم یا مفتح الابواب انه وسبعين ( ماه مبارک رمضان سخه ثمان ! بتا ریخ بست شما نها ية في عهد السلطان رکن الدنيا والدین ابو ال ( مظفر با ) ربی شاه السلطان ابی محمود شاه السلطان خاد الله صلته رسالا نه * هذ المسجد مجلس اعلیے عليه الرحمة والغفران بنا کرده را ستان 11- Inscription of the time of Saif-ud-din Firoz Shak from Kalna-A.H. 895. This inscription was discovered in some ruined mosque in Kalna in the Burdwan District of Bengal. It was removed from the site to the Court-house at Kalna with the inscription of Ghiyāth-ud-din Bahadur Shāh of A.H. 967 and that of 'Alaud-din Firoz Shāh, A.H. 939. There they remained till their removal to the Indian Museum in 1911 ? at the request of the late Dr. Th. Bloch, Ph. D., then Archäological Surveyor 1 1 Annual Report of the Archeological Survey, Bengal Circle, 1902-3, p. 3 2 Ibid, 1903-4, p. 4. of the Bengal Circle, The record has suffered very much from corrosion and nothing can be read besides the proper name of the king, the date and portions of the name of the builder. The date is distinctly A.H. 895=1489 A.D. and as the name of the king is Firuz Shāh, it is quite certain that the inscription is of the time of Abyssinian Eunuch Malik Andil, who assumed the title of Saif-ud-din Firuz Shāh. Not even a portion of the Kunya can be read. The builder was an Ulugh, who was probably the son of one Ulugh 'Ali Zafar Khān. The inscription proves that the centre of Western Bengal was included in the possession of Saif-ud-din Firūz Shah. Another inscription of this king has been discovered at Maldah (No. 998 of Horowitz's list). The stone measures 1'10" x 9" x 5" and the inscribed surface measures l'}" x 7}". TEXT. قال النبي عليه السلا ( مر من بني اله ) مسجدا ( في الدنيا نبي الله له سبعين قصرا فيالعة بني في عهد السلطان فیروز ( شاه ) السلطان خلد الله ملکه ر ساطانه ... ... خمس وتسعين وثمانما يتة الغ ... خان ... الغ عالي ظفر خان ... 1.- Inscription of 'Ala-ud-din Husain Shāh from some H. The slab bearing this inscription has been lying in the Indian Museum for years. As there is no register number on the stone, no information about its findspot or the date of its removal to the Museum can be gathered from the scanty records of the earlier years of the existence of the Indian Museum. It is certain that it has not been published. The only records of the year 909, published up to date, are: (1) The Inscription of Sikandar Lūdi, on the entrance doorway of the first story of the Qutb Minár (No. 464 of Horowitz's List), recording repairs to the Minár, 1 (2) The inscription of the time of 'Ala-ud-din Husain Shāh, from Gaur, recording the erection of a gateway (No. 686 of Horowitz's List). ? I Asiatic Researches, Vol. XIV, p. 847. · Ravenshaw's Gaur, its Ruins ană Inscriptions, p. 23. 2 1 (3) Inscription of the time of the same king, from Cheran or Cherand, in the Saran District, recording the erection of a mogque (No. 1161 of Horowitz's List). The second one cannot be the same as this inscription as it records the erection of a gateway (Bab) while in the third one there is a similarity in the objoct of the record, the date and the name of the king but there is a good deal of difference between the wording of these two records :(1) The word "W is written after luşund in the Saran record while in the Indian Muscum record it is written before that word. (2) The phrase we is omitted in the Saran record. (3) The word gelol is omitted in the Indian Museum record. (4) In the Indian Museum inscription the king's adjectives are al-'alam and al-'adul instead of al-mu'azzam and al-mukarram of the Saran record. The inscribed surface measu res 2' 104" x 1'31" x 43". The purpose of the record was to commemorate the erection of a mosque by the learned and just Sultan ’Ala-ud-din Husain Shāh in the year A. H. 809 = 1503 A. D. Text. ريبتغي به وجه الله بنى الله له بيتا قال النبي صلي الله عليه وسلم من بني اله مجسدا مثله في الجنة بني هذا المسجد السلطان العالم العادل علا رالدنیا والدین ابر المظفرد شاه السلطان بن سید اشرف العسيني خلد الله علیه وسلطانه في سنة تسع و تسعمايئة ملکه , Kashmiri, Atia, Mymensingh District. The following inscription is to be found at the head end of the Sarcophagus of Shāhanshāh Babă Adam Kashmiri, who is called Bābā Kashmiri in the inscription. According to this record the saint breathed his last on the 7th day of the month of Jumada-us-sāni in the year 913 (14th October 1507 A.D.). 1 Proceedings of the Asiatic Sccidy of Eiergai, 1870, p. 112. VII&: 1111.-- Two inscriptions of the time of Ala-ud-din Ilusain Shah.916. The slab bearing these two inscriptions were most probably presented to the Asiatic Society of Bengal during the earlier days of its existence. There is no record in the Archeological Section about them and as the register numbers on them have disappeared there is no chance of determining their findspot. Most probably they were brought from the ruins of Gaur. In No. VII the insuribed surface measures 1' " x 9f". It records the erection of a well during the reign of Sulbān 'Ala-ud-din Husain Shāh in the year 916. No. VII-TEXT. قال الله تعالى من جاء بالحسنة فله عشر أمثالها بني هذه السقا ية السلطان المعظم المکرم علا في الدنيا والدیں ابوالمظفر حسین شاه السلطان ابن سید اشرف الحسيني خلدالله ملکه رسلطانه في سنة ست عشر وتسعماية ة In No. VIII the inscribed surface measures 1'101" x 101". The object of the record and the wording being the same as No. VII, the only difference being the omission of the words ibn-Sayyid Ashraf-ul-llusainī. No. VIII-TEXT. قال الله تعالى من جاء بالحسنة فله عشر أمثالها بني هذه السقاية السلطان المعظم المکرم علاؤالدنيا والدین ابوالمظفر حسین شاه السلطان خلد الله ملکه و سلطانه في سنه ست ر عشر وتسعما ية 18.-Inscription of the time of 'Alā-ud-din Husain Shāh from Mangalkot, District Burdwan. This inscription was found by me, lying in front of a modern masjid at Mangalkot. Local people differed in opinion about |
