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III.-Inscription of 'Alawal'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 poet Alawal Khān and that the inscription was originally fixed over the entrance of the old mosque. The inscription itself does not mention 'Alawal Khan, but records the erection of a mosque by the Mājlis Alā Rāstī Khan on the 5th day of Ramzan 878 A.H.= 1473 A.D. during the reign of Rukn-ud-din Barbak Shah, son of Mahmud Shah. 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 Jalāl-ud-din Muhammad Shah struck at Chittagong in A.II. 831-1430 A.D. Therefore this inscription is the oldest Muhammadan inscription from the Chittagong Division.

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ريخ

يا مفتح الابواب انه

و سبعين و

و پنجم ماه مبارک رمضان سنه ثمان دست ثمانماية في عهد السلطان ركن الدنیا والدین ابوال ( مظفر با ) ریک

شاه السلطان

سلطانه * هذ المسجد مجلس اعلی ابی محمود شاه السلطان خاد الله ملکه عليه الرحمة والغفران بنا کرده را ستخان

IV-Inscription of the time of Saif-ud-din Firōz Shah
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 Ghiyath-ud-din Bahadur Shah of A.H. 967 and that of 'Alaud-din Firōz Shah, A.H. 939. There they remained till their removal to the Indian Museum in 1914 at the request of the late Dr. Th. Bloch, PH. D., then Archæological Surveyor

1

1 Annual Report of the Archæological Survey, Bengal Circle, 1902-3, p. 3. Ibid, 1903-4, p. 4.

2

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 Shah, 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 Shah. 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 inscripcentre of Western Bengal was included Saif-ud-din Firuz Shah. Another inscripbeen discovered at Maldah (No. 998 of The stone measures 1'10" x 9" x 5′′ and the

tion proves that the in the possession of tion of this king has Horowitz's list).

inscribed surface measures 1'" × 71⁄2”.

TEXT.

قال النبي عليه السلا ( م من بنى اله ( مسجد ا ) فى الدنيا نبي الله له سبعين قصرا

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في الجنة بنى فى عهد ( السلطان فیروز ) شاه ( السلطان خلد الله ملكه

الغ عالي ظفر خان

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خمس و تسعين وثمانما يكة

V.-Inscription of 'Ala-ud-din Husain Shāh from some

unknown place A. H. 909.

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 Ludi, on the entrance
doorway of the first story of the Qutb Minár
(No. 464 of Horowitz's List), recording repairs to
the Minar,1
1

(2) The inscription of the time of 'Ala-ud-din Husain Shah,
from Gaur, recording the erection of a gateway
(No. 686 of Horowitz's List). 2

Asiatic Researches, Vol. XIV, p. 847.

• Ravenshaw's Gaur, its Ruins ană Inscriptions, p. 23.

(3) Inscription of the time of the same king, from Cheran or Cherand, in the Saran District, recording the erection of a mosque (No. 1161 of Horowitz's List).1

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 object 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:

is written after fan in the Saran record while in the Indian Muscum record it is written

before that word.

(1) The word

(2) The phrase

(3) The word

record.

is omitted in the Saran record.

is omitted in the Indian Museum

(4) In the Indian Museum;inscription the king's adjectives are al-'alam and al-'ādel instead of al-mu'azzam and al-mukarram of the Saran record.

The inscribed surface measu res 2' 10" x 1'3" x 4". The purpose of the record was to commemorate the erection of a mosque by the learned and just Sultan 'Ala-ud-din Husain Shah in the year A. H. 909=1503 A. D.

TEXT.

قال النبي صلي الله عليه وسلم من بنى اله مجسداً و يبتغي به وجه الله بنى الله له بيتاً مثله في الجنة بني هذا المسجد السلطان العالم العادل علا والدنيا والدین ابو المظفر حسن شاه السلطان بن سيد اشرف الحسيني خلد الله ملكه وسلطانه في سنة تسع و تسعمائة

V1.-Inscription on the Sarcophagus of Bābā Adam

Kashmiri, Atia, Mymensingh District.

The following inscription is to be found at the head end of the Sarcophagus of Shahanshah Bābā Ādam 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-säni in the year 913 (14th October 1507 A.D.).

1 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Eengai, 1870, p. 112.

TEXT.

هوا الكافي

وفات نامه بابا کشمیر از دار فنا بدار بقا رحلت نمودند

تاریخ هفتم ماه جمادی الثاني ( الاخر) سن ثلث عشر و تسعماية

VII & VIII.--Two inscriptions of the time of Alā-ud-dīn
Husain 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 Archæological 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 inscribed surface measures 1' 7" x 93". It records the erection of a well during the reign of Sultan Ala-ud-din Husain Shah in the year 916.

No. VII-TEXT.

قال الله تعالى من جاء بالحسنة فله عشر ا مثالها بنى هذه السقاية السلطان المعظم المكرم علاؤ الدنيا والدین ابوالمظفر حسین شاه السلطان ابن سید اشرف الحسيني خلد الله ملكه وسلطانه في سنة ست عشر وتسعماية ة

In No. VIII the inscribed surface measures 1'10" × 10". 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-Ilusainī. "

No. VIII-TEXT.

قال الله تعالى من جاء بالحسنة فله عشر امثالها بني هذه السقاية السلطان المعظم المكرم علاؤ الدنیا والدین ابوالمظفر حسین شاه السلطان خلد الله ملكه وسلطانه في سنه ست عشر و تسعما ية

IX.-Inscription of the time of 'Alä-ud-din Husain Shah 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

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