ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT
(In continuation of the Series Epigraphia Indo-Moslemica)
1975
EDITED BY DR. Z. A. DESAI Director (Epigraphy)
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA GOVERNMENT OF INDIA NEW DELHI 1983 1983 ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Price : Rs.S-.00
PRINTED AT I.H.M.M.R. PRINTING PRESS, HAMDARD NAGAR, NEW DELHI-110062 CONTENTS
PAGE
An early thirteenth century Epitaph from Delhi
By Dr. Z. A, Desai 1
An early thirteenth century inscription from West Bengal By Dr. Z. A. Desai 6
A Persian-Sanskrit inscription of Karna Deva Vaghela of Gujarat By Dr. Z. A. Desai 13
Inscription from the Jaunpur Fort Mosque By Dr. Z. A. Desai 21
Dohad Inscription of Mahmud Begda By Dr. Z. A. Desai 26
Some more new Inscriptions of Husain Shah from West Bengal
By S. S. Hussain, Sr. Epigraphical Assistant 31
A new Epigraph of Malik Qutbu'1-Mulk from Andhra Pradesh
By N. M. Ganam, Superintending Epigraphist 39
Some Mughal Inscriptions from Kannauj
By M. I. Quddusi, Epigraphical Assistant 44
Nawwabs of Ellichpur and their inscriptions Dr. By M. Y. Quddusi, Sr. Epigraphical Assistant 56 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT 1975
AN EARLY THIRTEENTH CENTURY EPITAPH FROM DELHI
BY DR. Z. A. DESXI
In May 1973, while on a short visit to Delhi, Dr. Y. D. Sharma, ex-Deputy Director General, Archaeological Survey of India, and author of Delhi and its Neighbourhood, wanted me to inspect an Arabic record which was discovered one of those days, in Mehrauli. On examination, it was found to be the epitaph of one who later on turned out to be a celebrated nobleman and a trusted lieutenant of the Mamluk Sultan Shamsu'd-DIn Iltutmist (1210- 1236). The same is being published here from the impressions subsequently prepared by the office of the Superintending Epigraphist for Arabic and Persian Inscriptions, Nagpur. The the is situated the grave bearing inscription on outskirts of the Mehrauli village, a suburb of Greater Delhi, in the area full of monumental remains and ruins, to the south-south- of west the world-famous Qutb-Minar, It lies immediately to the right of the Mehrauli by- pass to Gurgaon, on the east-west stretch thereof, before it again takes a south-west turn to the old 1 meet Delhi-Mehrauli-Gurgaon road passing through the village. The grave com- prising a casket-shaped sarcophagus of red sandstone lies on the open ground; there is no trace of or any platform plinth, nor does there appear to have been originally any building erected over it, A few graves can still be seen nearby. This interesting inscription, the second earliest epitaph to be found so far in Delhi and also one of the not many early epigraphs of this seat of political power over the centuries, bad escaped the notice of scholars and officers of the Survey till Dr. Sharma was informed about it by on of the officers of the then North-Western Circle of the Survey. In the official list of Muhammadan and Hindu monuments of the Delhi Province prepared in the main in the second decade of the present century by Maulavl gafar Hasan, then Assistant Superintendent who was specially deputed for the purpose, no mention of the epigraph studied here is made, It is indeed gratifying to note that this early record has survived. The epitaph is very brief. Its short four-line text is engraved in relief on the arch-shaped headside of the sarcophagus. The style of writing is bold Thulfh of more or less the same variety as found in contemporary records. Typical of it are vertical strokes with a pronounced in size as taper, increasing they go up and ending in a forty-five degree slant. The calligraphy, though not as exquisite as in the short epigraph on the foot-side of the same grave containing 2 only Ya-Allah, is fairly good, but its overall effect is marred by the not-so-neat execution of the text. The letters* some of which are written one above the other, have been jumbled to-
* Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy (ARIE), 1973-74, No, D, 4. * This was left inscription inadvertently out from reporting in ARIE, 1973-74; it is being listed in the Report for 1980-81. 2 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT
the suffers from at gether. Moreover, writing orthographical mistakes, least in .two places as will be seen from the text cited below and its illustration. The text merely purports to register the date of the death of *Izzu'd-Dm Bakhtyar. He had died on Monday, 19th of Jumada II 616 (1st September 1219). The text occupies a writing. space of 45 cm. from apex to bottom and 45 cm. in width and has been deciphered as follows:
TEXT
Plate I (a)
'>*> (0
t J 1* Jjj jl?*i ji oil
J (US') j>.U.P
TRANSLATION
(1) The demise of the Chief of the Sipahsalar (lit. Army) taken into the mercy of Allah, 'Izzu'd-Din 2 (2) Bakhtyar the pardoned, was (on) Monday the nineteenth of the month of (3) Jumada the Second, of the year (A.H.) sixteen and six hundred Jumada II 3 (19 616=1 September 1219).
thUS rtS that Si ahsl ar ~ PUrp P 'Izzu'd-Din Bakhtyar left this world in A.H. ( } - ThlS Would make h the second earliest * l , f epitaph, beyond any doubt and one of the few early thirteenth records century that have been so far reported from Delhi thl the reC rd Under Study is the only ePitaPh of an Offial or a nobleman off theA ^TN-r ^ , Mamluk period that seems to have survived. As is well-known, no epitaph of the Mamluk rulers or their noblemen has been known.' The one under study is the only record tmgthedeatl1 f a U0ble f r firstrank ^erShamsu'd-DIn Iltutmish
1 " " The Ul here " appears to be the engraver's error for ^ The word " meaning 'was' occurs in the | ^ next line in the text v ras 192 ' Ist September 1219 was ?', i9iSSffi2t^2!^* sr Tneeariiest epitaph known so fifromrShlis^* tbat of As ad son 15 A.D. of Susam, who had died in A.H. (ARIE, 1964-65, No. D, 22) 611/1214- V ii^^^^ Three of these are frorathe exact nature of the ^ m khla Or MehraulL laSmentioned^w JSSS^ R^S? ^ ? ^ mosque or a tomb-has not - Museum, Delhi-whether it was set up on a 7yet been deterged nor is t? detenmned, there any definite Place of find. information available about its exact K'.S;SS^^ 16 - Wahto, Prime (1316 17 A - D Minister of FirOz Shah Tu^luq SS55S" SSSi?;! -> * Maqbul Kh^- 1972-73, No,. 13 7 ^^ W E>, (wherTthe ofQI ?> " SpUri US records' See reSgs me~ - - 6ffl year^nA H 668 is an ? and Introduction. inadvertent error for A.H. 688), 22, 26 Pi \u 1 INSCRIPTION FROM DLL Hi
i-:pit.iphor*l//u'ii-Di/! BakiJ^r. dated A.H. MfMjv 2'<
J^j m, y^ ^f&^^l+^JirSB ^^
SCALE: .2 INSCRIPTION FROM \\ESTBENGAL
(b) of 'All Unique inscription Shir, dated A.H. 618 c p. 7j
SCAL t: : .18 AN EARLY THIRTEENTH CENTURY EPITAPH FROM DELHI 3 nobleman and a trusted and loyal lieutenant of Iltutmi&h. Minhaj-i-Siraj lists him among 1 the nobles of that monarch, but does not give any details about his career, In one of the manuscripts of Minhaf s work, he is called Malik Izzifd-DIn Bakhtyar Ghon,2 while accord- ing to all but one copy of that work consulted by Major H. G. Raverty, its English transla- tor, the Malik's name was *Izzu'd-Dm Bakhtyar, the Khalj. The remaining one copy calls s fc him ghori. Our inscription merely calls him !zzu*d-Din Bakhtyar, without his clan-name jChalj or the nisba Ghori indicating his connection, by origin or domicile^ with the region of Qhor in central Afghanistan, It is very likely that 'Izzifd-Din Bakhtyar belonged to the Khalji tribe of Ghor and was known as KJhdj and Qhori, as mentioned in some copies of Minhaj's work. Minhaj, as stated above, does not give any information beyond listing him among the nobles of high rank of Iltutmish. However, the earlier contemporary Hasan Nigami does provide welcome bits of information regarding him. We are informed that he was one of the ^chiefs of the Time and Champions of the Age' like Nasiru'd-DIn Marxian Shah, Hizibrifd- Din Ahmad and Iftikharu'd-Din Muhammad who had headed a large army against Sarjandar Tatar who had risen in open rebellion in A,H. 607 (1211 A.D.) when Iltutmish ascended the throne after the death of Qutbu'd-Dm Aibek. 4 "Izzu'd-DIn Bakhtyar also figures in the Sultan's expedition to and reduction of Jalor in south-west Rajasthan, some time after the rebellion just referred to or in other words, not long after his accession. The former was among such 'Chiefs of the Time, Champions of the Age, Pillars of the kingdom and the Grandees of the Time' as Ruknu'd-DInHamza.Nasiru'd- 4 Dm Mardan Shah, Naslru'd-Dm A1I and Badru'd-DIn Sunqurtigln, who were in the army 5 that reduced Jalor. This would provide a definite date, A.H. 607 (1210-11 A.D,) or A.H, 608(1211~12A,D.), in the career of 'IzzuM-Dm Bakhtyar. Dr. A.B.M. Habibu'llah is inclined to ascribe the reduction of Jalor recorded by Ilasan Nigami to 1226-27 A.D. when Ranth- ambhore and Mandor both in Rajputana were conquered, despite the fact that Hasan Nigami places it, as pointed out by Dr. Hablbu'llah himself, immediately after the accession of Iltut- 6 mish (which took place in A.H. 607). That the event could not have taken place as late as
1 Minhaj-i-Siraj, Tabaqat-i-Nofiri (Calcutta, 1864), p. 177; Ibid., vol. I (Kabul, 1342 Shamsi), p. 450; ibid. (Lahore, 1952), p. 88; S. A. A. Rizvl, Adi Turk-Kalin Bharat (Aligarh, 1956), p. 29. * Minhaj, op. eft, (Calcutta), p. 178, f.n. 3 Major H. G. Raverty, Eng. ti\ Tabaqat-i-Natfri (Calcutta, 1881, Delhi, Reprint 1970), p. 626 and f,n. 3. Major Raverty severely but unjustly criticises the author by saying, *this is a specimen of the dependence we can place on our author's names and statements' for *If he refers to the conqueror of Bihar and Lakhnawati, he was dead five years before I-yal-timish was raised to the throne* (Ibid., f.n. 3). Raverty's criticism is wholly misconceived as Minhaj, who has separately given a detailed account of the conqueror of Bihar in his notices 4 of the Mu izzl noblemen and calls him Ikhtiyaru'd-Dm Muhammad son of Bakhtyar (#&?., pp. 548-73) refers to another nobleman altogether, this time of Iltumish, in 'Izzu'd-Dm Bakhtyar. Also, there does not seem to
fc be any real contradiction between his being called ghalj in all but one copies and Ghon in one; Izzu*d-Dfn Bakhtyar, like the conqueror of Bihar, may have belonged to the {Chalji tribe of Ghor and was hence so called, * yasan Nizami, TajVl-Afa*athfr (Ms., Salar Jang Museum, Hyderabad, dated A.H. 752, Tarikh-59), if. 204, H.M. Elliot and J. 209; Dowson, History of India as told by its own Historians, vol. II (London, 1869), p. 323; cit., 275. cit. Rizvl, op. p. Minhaj, op. t p. 170, mentions the rebellion but does not give any names, Elliot and Dowson, op. cit., calls the rebel-chief 'Sarjandar Turkf but the Hyderabad manuscript has at both the places 'Sarjandar Tatar*. Dr. A. B. M. yablbu'llah, who has utilised Tajifl-Ma^athir, makes a passing mention to the incident refers it as and to the rebellion of the Turkish guards (Jandars) of Delhi' which is somewhat misleading (Foundation of Muslim Ruk in India, Allahabad, 1961, p. 92). * cit., f. 216 of the entire ff. Hasan NigSml, op. (details expedition, 214-22); Elliot and Dowson, op. c/r,, pp. 235-36; cit, 275. Rizvl, op. t p. tfasan Nigamf is the only one among the known authorities to record the Jalor expedition; Minhaj, op, c//., p. 179, merely lists Jalor among Jltutmigh's conquests.
i, op. cli. t pp. 10M02. EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT
in 1226-27 A.D. or A.M. 623-24 but much earlier is also indicated by the inscription under study. 'Izzu'd-DIn Bakhtyar who, according to it, died in A.M. 616 (1219 A.D.), could not have participated in the Jalor expedition in A.H. 623-24 and since according to Hasan Nizam! he had also, along with others, taken part in it, the expedition must have taken place before his death in A.H. 616 (1219 A.D.). Therefore, Hasan Nizamfs date of Jalor expedition must be taken as correct. Dr. Habibu'llah was perhaps led to ascribe a later date for the same because of the likelihood of only Iltutmish's having decided to reduce different forts in Rajasthan Ranthambhore, Mandor and Jalor at one time. But this could not be necessa- so. Thus the ily epigraph under study indirectly corroborates Hasan Miami's statement about the time of Jalor's reduction and the doubt cast Dr. dispels by Habibu'llah in this regard. It will have been noted that 'Izzu'd-DIn has been called in the Bakhtyar epigraph 'Sipah- salar'. It is true, the title is not written in the very clearly epigraph and only 'Sipahsa' of the word can be read with But there certainty. should be little doubt that the title intended for the deceased in the text is Sipahsalar. The writing being slightly damaged, due to flaking off of certain the letters lar of portions, remaining the word are not visible on the stone. Or as stated these have above, may been inadvertently left out by the engraver. The use of this title for 'Izzu'd-Dm shows the Bakhtyar high status he enjoyed in life. The exact connotation of Sipahsalar in terms of military rank is difficult to determine for want of specific information in this At a regard. later date, towards the end of the thirteenth century or so, the rank was military graded in descending order into Mn, Malik Amir Sipahsalar and SarkhaiU But the fact that nobles of first rank, governors and generals like and the Qutbud-DmAibek,Badru'd-DinSunqurtigin like are invested with this title in their inscriptions shows that a clearly Sipahsalar was not graded so low in the rank Mamluk military in the early period. Qutbu'd-Din Aibek, the deputy in India of Mu'izzu'd-Din Muhammad bin Sam is found to have retained this title of his pre-kingship period even after his elevation o the throne.! This shows that the title was at Sipahsalar least during this period applied to the commander of the army or a general. k otter rds ' - ' iJzzu d Di was a , c . T Bakhtyar nobleman of high status and held the rank of Sipahsalar, that a is, general. This fully well agrees with the " position accorded to him by a ' * 1 ng thC ChlefS f the Time> "the Age, Pillars of the Champions TEMrKingdom and7,thefrGrandeesT of the Time', as seen above. lS> I h 6 been able t0 trace an ? Cresting reference to Malik 'Izzu'd-Din
Bath "* which , have "?^" ^^ tT^STbeti A 6l?m^?
, 342 1911- the is 3 builder rcentioned " 683 as / 1284 A ' D ' in which a'd-D in which the builder Taju'd- Sijzl, the Mighty'). AN EARLY THIRTEENTH CENTURY EPITAPH FROM DELHI 5
The exact place where this mosque and the Hot-Bath stood is not known. That these two buildings were situated in Mehrauii, which was part of the then metropolitan city of Delhi, goes without saying, It is a reasonable guess that they were situated somewhere in the imme- diate vicinity of the inscribed grave of Malik 'Izzu'd-Dm Bakhtyar. It is even likely that the Malik was buried in the courtyard or compound of his own mosque, as was vogue in those days. In any case, no trace of any of the building of that period exists in the immediate neigh- bourhood. To conclude, the epitaph under study is quite important. Apart from furnishing the date of death of a noble of first rank under Iltutmish who finds mention only by name in two early events of Iltutmislfs reign, it pinpoints his last resting place. It also in a way testifies to the truthfulness of the relevant account of Hasan Nigami,the first historian of the Muslim rule in India and also corroborates the date given by him of Iltutmislfs conquest of Jalor. AN EARLY THIRTEENTH CENTURY INSCRIPTION FROM WEST BENGAL
BY DR. Z. A. DESSI
The impression of the inscription published here for the first time was received from the of Superintending Archaeologist, Archaeological Survey India, Eastern Circle, Calcutta, in 1973. examination it was to be January On found an extremely important record, as it was 1 duly pointed out in the epigraphical report of the Archaeological Survey. The inscription happens to be the earliest Muslim record that has come so far to our notice in eastern India. The tablet on which it is engraved has undergone some damage. The circumstances under which this are not happened known but as a result of the damage, the slab was broken into two pieces, one of them also a crack developing diagonally from the right side towards and both top left, pieces loosing some portions on one edge each. From the way the side-portions are the left in one case missing and the right in the other, leaving al- most vertical in both cases it would edges appear that the tablet might have been cut into two to be utilised for equal parts building or like purpose. These two inscribed are pieces now reported to lie in the Tomb of a local saint called Makhdum SJah at Sian (Siwan of the Survey Sheet),* situated in Police Station Bolpur of the Sadar Sub-division of Birbhum (Suri) District in West Bengal." Due to the damage to the epigraphical tablet referred to above, portion of the text in the centre is lost. The epigraph comprises a six-line text in Arabic inscribed in horizontal panels of double- lined border in fairly good calligraphy which is a mixture of Naskh and Rtop scripts. It will be noted that the writing is not in relief as the inscriptions in Arabic script of India includ- its ing eastern part but is generally are, incised or cut into the stone in the manner of Indian a feature epigraphs noted among some earliest inscriptions of India from other parts of the alS 4 Agah1 ' WhilC the h Callign* y of the record d<*s portray Nato lithwith some t 7f u artistic flourishes, it cannot be said to contain any of the features that later on k- fthehl decorative ^ and of pleasing typical f calligraphical styles 6 art f the - Indkn sub c^inent. But the of on thetewwhole I ?/ style writing even in * present and fragmentary state is of damaged a fairly good quality. t0 a Hind edifi- ^everl is entirely fthe MakinS of Bengal, Nayapala V P"bably at the Palarul's record, the inscription which arch further sugests that the ^ f *" suhma r r n regi and its ^ghbourhood of Birbhum I T* (parts f - ght against the 6di forces - This ther construction of a large number
to. 1, p. 20. Also, Indian Archaeology. 1972-73
'. 1961, p. 6. AN EARLY THIRTEENTH CENTURY INSCRIPTION FROM WEST BENGAL 7 of temples at Sian and elsewhere, of the subordinate of Nayapala who was, unlike his overlord, a devotee of Brahmanicai gods and throws welcome light on the religious life of the local people. 1 It is difficult to say when and how the original tablet found its way to the present Dargah. Firstly, it must have originally belonged to a temple but where was it situated, it is difficult to say. Also, it is not possible to say if the temple was intact when the tablet was removed or was in ruins. It was obviously utilised for the inscription under study, which as we shall presently see, was set up to commemorate the construction of a Khanqah (i.e. a saintly Hospice). Thus the tablet has nothing to do with the present Dargah about the antiquity of which or the period of the saint Makhdum Shah, nothing definite is known, though the possibility of its having stood in the vicinity, if not in the enclosure of what later on became the site of the Khanqah, cannot be ruled out. A casual observer would be led to think as Dr. Sircar did, that 'the people responsible for the construction of the Dargah in which the slabs have been found, cut the inscribed stone into two halves, in order to write two Arabic inscriptions on their reverse*, but the two Arabic inscriptions form integral and running part of the same record, and therefore, there is absol- utely no doubt that the tablet was intact when the Arabic inscription was engraved. In short, the slab broke at a later date and may have been later cut into two parts, in which process, about three to four words in each line of the Arabic text were lost. 2
The first three of the six-line text contain a Quranic verse appropriate to the object of the record itself preceded by Basmala and followed by a short Saying of the Prophet of Islam. In the next three lines, mention is made of the endowment of 'this Khanqah' for the *men of the Bench' (ahli'$-Suffa) i.e. sufis who all the while remain in the presence of the Exalted Allah and engage themselves in Recitation of His Names and Praise (Dhikr) in the time (of the helper of) Islam and the Muslims, the chief (Sadr} among the kings and Sultans, * one favoured with the lordship of the time, namely AH Shir son of 'Iwad, Proof of the Commander of the Faithful (Burhanu-Amiri'l-Mu'mimri), on the 7th (?) Jumada II 618 (29th July 1221). The name of the person who made the endowment and who must have been its builder also, is cut off, but his father's name Muhammad al-Maraghl is preserved in the extant text. The two inscribed pieces in their present state measure 36 by 53 cm. and 38 by 53 cm. and taking into consideration the loss of about 10 to 12 cm. of the slab, the text must have ori- ginally occupied a writing space of 85 by 53 cm.
The text has been read as under: TEXT
Plate I (b)
Oil I lJ 45 *J
&\ M J ^UJI ^^i [j jj, UP] JL^
1 For details and line-to-line contents of the inscription, see Dr. D. C. Sircar, 'New Light on the Reign of Nayapala (c. 1035-50 A.D.)\ Bangladesh Itihas Parishad Proceedings, Third History Congress, Dacca, 1973 (Dacca, 1975), pp. 36-43. * From the way each slab was neatly built up into a niche in the Dargah when first spotted, it would appear that original two pieces were recut to fit into the exact size of the niches. EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT
o* ,Ju (f)
[\ *l.Lfr c
U! (?) [(?) fjl ^ o 4JU-
TRANSLATION
(1) In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. *(In houses which Allah has permitted to be exalted and that) His name may be remembered in them; there glorify Him therein in the mornings and evenings, (2) men whom neither merchandise nor selling diverts from the remembrance (of Allah and the keeping up of prayer and) the giving of poor-rate; they fear a day in which shall turn about, 1 (3) 'the hearts and the eyes.' (Saying quoted) from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah's and salutations be him the 2 (peace upon in) Sahih: 'Men are in their prayer-houses (mosques) and Allah is (looking) after their needs'. This was donated the humble (4) KMnqah (built and) by creature (al-Faqir), the sinful, the one who the of his hopes (for mercy Nourisher, ) son of Muhammad 8 al-Maraghl (i.e. by origin, of for the benchers i.e. 4 Maragha ), (Ahl-i-Suffa ascetics^ sufis) who all the while abide in the presence (5) of the Exalted Allah and occupy themselves in the remembrance of the Exalted Allah in the of the of (time government? the Shelter?) of Islam and the Muslims, Chief among the monarchs and the Sultans, one who is specially favoured (6) the of the Time in the by lordship Worlds, 'AK Shir son of 'IwajJ, Burfcanu Amlri'l- Mu'minin (lit. Proof of the Commander of the on the seventh Faithful), day of (the month of) Jumada II, year eighteen and six hundred (A.K) (7 Jumada II 618=29 July 1221). This is an extremely important from the epigraph. Apart fact that as already stated, it happens to be the earliest inscription that has so far come to our notice in the eastern part of the it a subcontinent, provides very interesting piece of information. It refers to the endow- ment of a religious institution the namely Khanqah (Hospice). As the students of Indo- Muslim epigraphy are aware, we come across few very inscriptions mentioning this great insti- tution of the Sufis which has been in in different vogue parts of the country.* It is obvious that the Shanqah was first built to be made available for the lodging of the Sufis and saints, both resident and It is travelling. generally believed that many saints and'*Suf!s had made 1 Qur'w, Chapter XXIV, verses 36-37 1" dther f ^ tW C mpendiumsof Traditi <. ^mi'u'frSaW of Imam Bukhan famOUS dty in the *,.* A&arteijan province of Iran.
res Urces there in the ., v, w nupws Hence ^ * lodged mosque the term is generall r cTT
' -SSKfflffi^*^a%^^^^**pp' 51 ffl; Profts!or Sl San. .d -tavdim to a. EKiyy iwus^S'ThS^^^ft id ''-F"WSd /^./,^ MMfc E..Br A^S '' ^i^t1^,t l 7Sr' AN EARLY THIRTEENTH CENTURY INSCRIPTION FROM WEST BENGAL 9
Bengal their abode even before the Muslim conquest. After the Muslim occupation of the province, the rulers, nobles and officers strove in the propagation of their faith and growth of the Muslim Society by constructing mosques, Madrasas, Khanqahs and Dargahs. The conqueror of Bengal, Muhammad-i-Balchtyar Khaljl is reported to have built, apart from mosques and Madrasas, Khanqahs for Sufis. This trend seems to have continued, for in subsequent reigns too, reference to such activities is found. According to the celebrated Mamluk historian Mmhaj-i-Siraj, Ghiyathu'd-Din IwacJ Khaljigave great encouragement to the Ulema, the Mashgikh, the Sayyids and the like which also included the fraternity of Sufis. 1 The thirteenth and fourteenth centuries have been described to represent the heyday of the Sufi missionaries in spreading Islam in Bengal, which in fact became a Sufi stronghold during 2 the early medieval period. But so far no epigraphic evidence of the construction of a Khanqah during the early 3 medieval period was found in Bengal. The inscription under study thus may be taken to corroborate the literary sources which refer to the construction of Khanqahs immediately after the conquest of Bengal in c. 1204 and thus provide indirect evidence for the fact that among the various factors that contributed to the progress of Islam in Bengal, the Sufis played no less important part. It would also indicate that in the region comprising western part of proper Bengal, Islamic saintly establishments were already at work at this period, and probably since earlier times. The findspot of the record the tablet seems to have belonged to Sian only 4 as is also clear from the Sanskrit record also lends weight to the theory that unlike else- 5 where in the country, Islam spread mostly in the villages in this part of the country.
But far more important aspect of the inscription is what I take to be the mention of a new ruler. As the students of medieval Indian history know, the phrases used for the person in whose time the Hospice was endowed, viz. (Qhiydth) ifl-Islam wdl-Muslimln, Sadru'l-Muluk 6 w'as-SalatJn al-Makhgug biwilayati'l-*ihd jFl-*alamin preceding the name Al! Shir son of "Iw7 ac} and Burhanu Amlri'l-Mifminln following it and the like are used in inscriptions, coins and 6 historical works only for monarchs and rulers. The epigraph can be reasonably taken to refer to his reign as an independent monarch and not as a governor.
In other words, the epigraph mentions a new king of Bengal who at least ruled at the time of the record, to wit, 29th July 1221, a fact of which we were totally in dark till now.
Who is this new king then? He is "AH Shir son of 'Iwacj. By the latter is in all probabil- ity meant the RLhaljI king of Bengal Qhiyathu'd-DIn 'IwacJ.
As is wellknown, after the conquest of Bengal in circa 1204, it was more or less during c. 1204-1227 that an independent principality under the erstwhile Khaljl nobles, one of whom jFJusamu'd-Dm *Iwa 1 For details, see Dr. 'Abdu'I-Karim, Social History of the Muslims in Bengal (Dacca, 1959), pp. 40-41, 52, etc.; Dr. Jagdish Narayan Sarkar, Islam in Bengal (Calcutta, 1972), pp. 20 ff. * 'Abdu'J-Karim, op. cit., p. 85; Sarkar, op. tit., p. 24. * As a matter of fact, this is perhaps the only record specifically referring to a ghfinqah that has been found in Bengal. We have got about two dozen records of {Chanqahs from other parts of the country, bet none of them of so early a date. 4 Sircar, op. cit., p. 39. * Cf. Sarkar, op. cit. t p. 21. * Cf. Epigraphia Indo-Moslemica, 1911-1912, pp. 22, 27, 29, etc. 10 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT has been acclaimed as a of and for generosity. His reign pleasing epoch peace prosperity hi 1 kingdom. in came under the Mamluk rulers The IChalji oligarchy ended 1227 when Bengal of Delh of its individual rulers cannot be reckoned to be (1227-1287). But the chronology final, of According to the latest work on the Muslim period of the history Bengal, 'Iwad ruled fron 3 c. 1213-1227 A.D. (A.H. 610-624). Therefore, the presence of another king in A.H. 618 the date of the inscription under study would on the face of it appear improbable if not im- historians refers to possible, Moreover, none of the modern any independent successor ol 'IwacJ himself. On the other hand, they mention Malik Ikhtiyaru'd-Dm Bulka whom the) term only a 'partisan' of 'Iwad as having expelled the imperialists from Bengal bag and baggage and ruled as an independent king for about eighteen months till circa 1229 A.D. (A.H. 626). They have failed to take note of the fact, pointed out by Major H. G. Raverty, the trans- lator of the near contemporary source Tabaqat-i-Nafm, that Bulka is stated by some autho- rities to be the son of Sultan Ghiyathu'd-DIn 'I wad. According to him, another authority c distinctly states that the son of the latter was named Nasiru'd-DIn lwad and that he reigned for a short time. In one of the manuscripts consulted by Major Raverty, the list of nobles of the Mamluk Shamsu'd-Din Iltutmish's time contains the name Bulka Malik-i- 4 Husanm'd-Dm 'Iwac}, that is to say, Bulka Malik son of Ghiyathu'd-Din 'IwacJ. No doubt in the editions of the the Malik printed Tabaqdt~i-Nairlf date of the event mentioning Bulka 5 e is given as A.H. 627, but according to Raverty, "in the oldest and in the majority it is 628'. But the statements of the later authorities which must have been based on good copies of the earlier authorities including the Tabaqat-i-Na$iri cannot be brushed aside easily or summarily, particularly now that we have got some epigraphical evidence supporting the theory that "Iwad had a son who ruled over his father's territories or parts thereof for some time. As stated above, chronology of the early independent rulers of Bengal cannot be said to have been finally established. Again, no note has been taken by our historians of what out in this Major Raverty pointed regard a century ago: In fact, he says, there is some discre- with to the of pancy respect years Ghiyathu'd-Din 'IwacJ's death, which according to some accounts that of the Gaur including Ms, took place as early as A.H. 617 (1220 A.D.) after a of twelve 7 reign years, namely from A.H. 606 to A.H. 617 (1209-1220 A.D.). In view of the evidence of the this, inscription under study assumes far greater signif- icance and undoubtedly, weight. As stated above, the chronology of Ghiyathu'd-DIn Iwad's has been fixed from A.H. 610 8 reign to A.H. 624 (1213-1227 A.D.). Only two coins believed to have been issued by him after A.H. 618 one of A.H. 620 and A.H. 621 have come to our notice. But it is doubtful if these two coins have been correctly assigned to him. For the coin stated to have been example, minted in A.H. 621 and published by Hoernele, e HiSt ry fBen*al (ffi VOL H 1 For an account of the ghaljl oligarchy in see ibid, 1 Bengal, pp Ml Sarkar, op. cit. (#J3), pp. 20-29. 174), also contains the same expres- S VleWS m thls ******** Batter, see Studies in Indo-Mushm History * Raverty, op. cit, p. 617, a 5. version Me AN EARLY THIRTEENTH CENTURY INSCRIPTION FROM WEST BENGAL I! is assigned to him. But the legend on the reverse has (I) Qhiyatbu'd-Duiiya wa'd-DIn (2) Abul- fc Fath lwad bin Husain (3) Qasiinu Amiri'l-Mu'minm Sultan (4) iTs-Salalin Mulzzifd-Dunya wa'd-DIn (5) Abul-Mujaffar "All hlr "Iwad (6) Burhanu (?) Amiril-Muminln. The published version of the coin reads the last two lines thus: Abul-Misgaffar 'All yadu Nasir-i- Amirn-MiT minin. Even if this reading were correct, no explanation for the presence of the name of another person with full regal titles e.g. Mulzzu'd-Dunya wa'd-Din Abul-Mugaffar 4 1 Ali has been given by any numismatist including H. Nelson Wright. But a discerning eye k k can see that the name of the second person is not merely AIL but Ali ghir and that what has been as Yadu is Shir of which there should be no deciphered ( ^ ) ( ^ ) absolutely doubt and what has been read as Nasir is almost 'Iwad of which ( ^o ) certainly ( ^v ) are clear and to In other words, the coin in ( ^j ) quite definitely preferable ( ^ ). question mentions \\li ShTr-i-'hvad i.e. 'All Shir son of "Iwad and the reading of the year is doubtful. 2 This legend as extant on the coin at least from Its illustration does not seem to indicate any relationship between the two names and as such one may be tempted to interpret the pre- sence of two names to show that the crown-prince was allowed the prerogative of issue of coins as in the case of some later Bengal Sultans. But it is doubtful if it was so in the present case. In any case, the coin-legend gives the name 'AH Shir Iwad which appearing along with that of ChiyathiTd-Din "Iwad makes it very likely that the two had filial relationship and there- fore, "All Shir mentioned in our record as the son of Iwad is identical with him and the "Iwacf of the record is none other than GhiyathuM-Dm 'Iwacj. In short, the epigraph throws up a new name in the list of the pre-Mamluk rulers of Bengal, indirectly corroborating the accounts mentioned by Major Raverty. Also it would not be surprising if the death of "Iwad had taken place in A.H. 617 as mentioned by some authorities. In that case 'AH Shir, succeeding his father to the throne was reigning in A.H. 618 (1222 A.D.), as he is referred to have done, in the epigraph under study. As to Ikhtiyaru'd- Din Bulka who ruled for about eighteen months till he was captured and put to death by 3 Iltutmish in circa 1229 and who is mentioned, as stated above, in some accounts according 4 to Major Raverty, as a son of Qhiyathu'd-DIn Iwad, may have been another son of the latter, The other person mentioned in the record also calls for some remarks. The text refers to the endowment of a Khanqah for Sufis which means that the Khanqah must have been the constructed by person for them. The name of this builder is lost, but the extant portion, apart from naming his father, interestingly records his nixba, viz. al-Maraghi. This means that he originally belonged to or had not long ago come from Maragha, which is a town in of modern Iran. Adharba'ijan province This shows that he was one of the immigrant foreign Muslims who had come and probably settled down in Bengal. This also indirectly lends weight to the theory that one principal factor responsible for the 'swelling number of the Mus- lims in Bengal* was the immigration of Muslims from other Islamic countries. Again, the epigraph provides an early reference to an Iranian emigree. That he was a man of consequence either a trader or an officer enjoying sufficient means, goes without saying. 1 H. N. Wright, Catalogue of the Coins in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, Including the Cabinet of the Asiatic Society of Bengal vol. II (Oxford, 1907), p. 145, Part II, pi. I. No. 3. * This also the shows need of re-examination of our source-material, paricularly the coins. The inscriptions have in this regard, already, received due attention from us and almost all the inscriptions from Bengal that are known, have been correctly deciphered and listed or published in the epigraphical publications of the Archaeological Survey of India (Annual Reports on Indian Epigraphy and the Journal Epigraphia Indica Arabic and Persian Supplement), but unfortunately our scholars seem to be unaware of these publications. 1 cit. Sarkar, op. (HB) t p. 44. 12 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT whatsoever can be said about the of Unfortunately, nothing building the Khanqah for announcing the endowment of which the epigraph was set up. The saint Makhdum Shah in whose Dargah the slabs were found built up does not appear to be old. Nor is there anv 1 authentic information available about the Makhdum. It is therefore difficult to say of which saint's residence or Dargah, the {Chanqah in question formed part. *o wielded considerable influence 'Abdu'1-Kanm, <* <*.. pp. 86-123. the Daxgah or the safat village Sito at all. : as a matter of fact, it does not A PERSIAN-SANSKRIT INSCRIPTION OF KARNA DEVA VAGHELA OF GUJARAT By DR. Z. A. DnsXi 1 My attention to the bilingual epigraph that is published here for the first time was drawn by Dr. R. N. Mehta., Professor and Head of the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Indian History, M. S. University, Baroda, who had sent a photograph thereof inviting my considered view on the epigraph, in the context of the purport of the Sanskrit version which he had partially read. On examination, it was found to be of immense historical interest and therefore. Dr. Mehta, through whom it has come to light, is to be congratulated for this extremely important document throwing valuable light on and clearing up some aspects of the fc conquest of Gujarat by AJau'd~DIn Khalji of Delhi (1296-1316). The question as to whether the last Hindu ruler of Gujarat, Rai Kama Deva Vaghela, lost his kingdom in 1299 A,D, when the province was attacked by the forces of the Delhi Sultan 'Alau'd-Dm IChalji under the command of his brother Ulugh Khan and his general Nusrat Khan, or a second expedition to Gujarat was necessary before the Vaghela kingdom was annex- ed to the Delhi Sultanate has not been finally or fully answered. While the consensus of the latest writers on the subject seems to be in favour of Kama's final disappearance from the after a half a decade or so Gujarat scene only second campaign, about later, the word of finality has yet to be pronounced. The main reason for want of a definite answer to this question 1 has been the confusing accounts of historical sources, both Hindu and Muslim. Hindu sources mention only one campaign. Then again, there is no unanimity in their account. Almost all of the Muslim historians and writers including contemporary Amir IChusraw and of 2 slightly later DiyauM-Din Barani speak only one campaign. Among the early writers, a near-contemporary, 'Isami is the only one who clearly speaks of two invasions. From the 1 For a sum up of these, see Dr. A. K. Majumdar, Chaulukyas of Gujarat (Bombay, 1956), pp. 188-93; Dr. S. C. Misra, Rise of Muslim Power in Gujarat (Bombay, 1963), pp. 61-66; K.M. Munshi, Glory that was Gurjara Desa, part II (Bombay, 1955), pp. 401-09; R. C. Parikh and Dr H. G- Shastri, Gujarat-no-Rajakiya one Sans- krutik Itihas, vol. 4, Solanki-Ka! (Ahmadabad, V. S. 2032, A.D. 1976), pp. 94-98, 104-06. Dr. Majumdar's sum up is the most detailed and factually quite faithful too, except for the statement assighed to Isami that 'Kama shut himself in a fort where he was besieged for a long time after which he es- 1 caped (ibid., p. 1 88). No such statement is made by "Isami on page 242 or, for that matter elsewhere of his FutiiWs-Salatm cited by Dn Majumdar who had the relevant passages from this work translated by Mr. K. M. Maitra. 1 Amir IChusraw, Khazffmtfl-Futul} (Treasures of Victories), Calcutta, 1853, pp. 46-49; piyau'd-DIn Barani, Tarlkh-i-FiruzShahi (Calcutta, 1862), pp. 251-53. However, Amir ghusraw in his poem 'A&iqa or Dawal RM~Khidr-Kkan (Aligarh 1917), pp. 82-87, seems to refer to another expedition also. According to this metrical account, the second expedition was under- taken eight years later at the instance of Kawla Devi, captured in the first expedition and admitted to the royal harem, to get her daughter by Kama Deva. See also Majumdr, op. r/r., pp. 189-90, AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT 14 EPIGRAPHIAINDICA-ARABIC not as detailed it would that 'Isaml's account, though as one inscription under study, appear 1 would wish, is most correct. under Khan and Nusrat According to 'Isami, when the Khalji army Ulugh Khan, pro- the ruler thereof, on of de- ceeding towards Sorath, neared 'that country', Kama, hearing it, as he was in the bated with himself as to whether, he, ill-equipped and unprepared face of the a number of countries and sudden attack of such a powerful army which had taken defeated or should retire into a fortress. that many armies should give a fight right then Realising he was neither a match for the Turk hordes nor was it advisable to fall a prisoner into their hands, to he sent for and consulted his ministers who ultimately counselled him leave the country till the Turkish in view of his being far from ready for battle, lie low troops returned, then emerge and recover the kingdom and raise sufficient and well-equipped armies so that in the event of a renewed attack of the Turks, they would meet with sure defeat. Thereupon, the Rai fled the same night in utter distraction, leaving behind him his entire property parasol, 2 elephants and treasures as well as his harem. to On the third day after Kama's flight, the Khalji army came Patan, *a city abounding in valuable commodities and precious metals like gold, silver, ruby and pearls and treasures of great value, every house there having a hundred caskets of ornaments'. After plundering the city for three days, during which the soldiers ransacked every lane and every house where they found a hidden treasure in every corner, it returned to its country and city (that is, Delhi). 3 The spoils included seven majestic elephants. Then when "Alau'd-Dm was relieved of the Mongol menace, he despatched Malik Ahmad Jhltam to Gujarat. On the latter' s swift and unnoticed arrival at Patan, by daybreak, Kama, taken unawares, left everything behind and fled leaving his army and family; he went to Marhat (I e. Maratha) country, but having been refused asylum there, he went to Telangana, where Rudra Dev gave him shelter. Malik Ahmad entered Patan and took possession of Kama's entourage, estates and entire seraglio, including the young and beautiful Dewal 4 (Devi). 1 Mr. K.M. Munshi, puzzled at the absence of a reference to the return of Kama to, and occupation of, his capital by any other is inclined to authority, think that *IsamI reconstructed a more coherent story of a dis- connected age \op. cit., p. 408). The fact is that 'Isami simply mentioned a fact as was known to him. 1 *IsamI, Futubtfs-Salatin (Agra, 1938), pp. 242-43; (Madras, 1948), pp. 252-53; Eng. tr. Dr. Agha Mahdl yusain, part HI 422-23. (Bombay, 1976), pp. It will be seen from this that 'Isaml never says that Karna shut himself in a fortress where he was for besieged a long time after which he escaped, as inexplicably stated at two places by Majumdar, op. cit. t pp, 188, 190. It is unlikely that Mr. K. M. Maitra did not correctly translate the relevant passage from the Futuhu's-Salatm for Dr. Majumdar. The latter perhaps chose to distort 'Isami's" version. ' ' l CKdlt Kama with having fought throughout hard and and resisted his , t , grimly' 'successfully s (Alp ) progress in c A.D. 1306', as done Mr. K. pan by M. Munshi (op. cit., pp. 408-09) is against known histonca facts As pointed out by Dr. S. C. 'in no Misra, contemporary history, Jain, Rajput or Persian, it a suggested that Kama made a bold stand for his capital as suggested by Mr. Munshi (Misra, op. cit., p. 60, " 2 PP " (Ma4raS) ' P MaMi - cit - ^ Husab > op - PP- 423 24 - Piyau'd-Dm Barani also speakslJ'of treasures ^'' and elephants womenfolk falling into the hands of the Muslim army (op. cit., p. 251). SaCk ^ f Somnath and Eiambhat (Cambay) which both Amir Baran! - ( cit - 251 p " p > mention - H* Dimply refers to the march ' " - sra P 242: MadraS' ' " P 252) Dr Mahdi usate ' in his translation XPediti D aS SWat SOUth (in Gu*rat>' which is "explicable, as in MadrS editi n > jUSt 1Uoted the name is Pe't as Sorath, i. e. the the erstwhile Junagadh state in which Somnath lay IgSLmi, op. at.. (Agra), pp. 278-79; (Madras), pp. 286-87. A PERSIAN-SANSKRIT INSCRIPTION OF KARNA DEVA VAGHELA OF GUJARAT 15 Until recently, historians were inclined to take the first conquest of Gujarat as final For example, according to Sir Wolseley Haig, Uhigh Khan and Nusrat Khan set out for Delhi 1 after establishing a Muslim government in Gujarat. Professor M. S, Commissariat also places the introduction of Muslim domination in the province in 1298. 2 Professor Sukumar Roy also refers to the establishment of Muslim authority in Gujarat at this time. 3 Even Pro- fessor K. S. Lai who had access to 'Isami's work and later researches on the subject, speaks of the annexation of the Gujarat kingdom by 1299. According to him, the victorious generals returned towards Delhi after leaving an army of occupation and Alp Khan who was appointed governor remained there from 1300 to about 1314. 4 Dr. A. K. Majumdar was perhaps the first to suggest that within three years of Kama's accession to the throne in V. S. 1353 (1296 A. D.), his kingdom was submerged under Muslim invasion, but that disaster probably passed away, affording the unfortunate Vaghela monarch respite to return and retrieve the situation as best as he could, to be again invaded and divested 5 of his kingdom hardly within a decade. While Dr. Majumdar marshalled all available facts from Hindu and Muslim sources, he was unable to pronounce final or categorical answer to this question. However, it must be said to his credit that he was inclined to consider 'Isamfs version to be the correct one and held that Ulugh Khan's invasion did not produce any per- manent result, Kama returned to his capital and then came the second invasion under Malik Ahmad Jhitam resulting in the complete conquest of Gujarat and compelling Kama to 6 find refuge in Tilangana after having been refused asylum by Ramchandra of Deogiri. This 7 was, according to him, in 1304. Dr. S. C. Misra also, reying on the same source, subscribed to the view that the Khaljl army turned its back on what was virtually a conquered area and in consequence, Kama was 8 able to return to his capital and resume his rule, albeit for a few years, until A.H. 704 (1304-05 A.D.), the year in which Alau'd-Dm, gaining respite from Mongol attacks, ordered another 9 invasion of Gujarat under Malik Ahmad Jhaitan (sic.). In the latest work on the history of Gujarat, also, the writers of the relevant chapter, considering the question of one or two invasions as debatable, seein to agree with Dr. Majum- dar and accept 'Isamfs version of the final conquest of Gujarat after the second expedition under Malik Ahmad Jhitam and appointment of Alp Khan as the first governor of the newly 10 acquired province thereafter. 1 Sir Wolseley Haig, Ed. The Cambridge History of India, volume II (Cambridge, 1928), p. 100. 8 Professor M. S. Commissariat, History of Gujarat, vol. I (Bombay, 1938), pp. 1-5. 3 Dr. R. C. Majumdar, Ed. History and Culture of the Indian People, vol. VI, The Delhi Sultanate (Bombay, 1960), p. 19. 4 Dr. K. S. Lai, History ofthe Khaljis (Revised Edition, New Delhi, 1980), pp. 71 (and f.n. 20), 73. It is rather surprising that Professor Lai in the revised edition does not take into account or refer to the detailed analysis of the Gujarat expedition given by Dr. A. K. Majumdar who had criticised him for making this statement in the &st edition (op, cit., p, 471, f.n. 27). A. K. Majumdar, op. cit., p. 186, that 'either the left of its or it Ibid. t p. 192. Dr. A. K. Majumdar seems to think Muslim army own will, was driven out' (ibid.). The first alternative was apparently the case. Ibid., p. 189. This date is based on Merutunga's VicharairenL See note 1 on p, 1 6, infra. Misra, op. cit., pp. 64-65. 10 R. C. Parikh and Dr. H. G. Shastri, op. cit., pp. 104-06. In this work, however, it is also stated that Ulugh Khan had, after the first conquest, entrusted the admi- nistration of the province to Malik jCMn Sarwar who held charge for three years after which the Gujaratis re- belled and Alp JChan was appointed (ibid., p. 106). This statement, based on the account of Sulian *A!au'd- Din's expedition to Patan in person, as given in the Supplement of a late eighteenth century work CAli Muhammad Khan, Khatima-i-Mir'at-i-Abmadi, Baroda, 1930, p. 110), is not supported by any early authority. PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT 16 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND to round the view that after the In short, the latest consensus seems veer Khalji army after time1 returned to Delhi, Rai Kama must have regained his kingdom some and resumed or when he must have his rule. He reigned until V. S. 1360 (1303-04 A.D.) so, been again compelled to flee Gujarat by Malik Ahmad Jhltam. to settle once for all the The inscription studied in the following lines helps question as to to when Gujarat actually came under direct Delhi control. Clearly referring Rai Kama as the initial of a reigning monarch on the 1st Muharram 704 (4th August 1304) day the Hijra seen year it corroborates the account of 'Isami who, as has been above, places the final con- ' quest of Gujarat and appointment of a permanent governor after Alau'd-Dm gained respite from Mongol attacks in about A.H. 704 (1304-05 A.D.). Kama must have regained his king- dom before the Hijra year 704 set in. If 'Isami is to be believed and there is no reason why he should not be, Kama was once more on the throne of Gujarat at least in 1303 A.D. when Malik Na'ib Shahm fled to him suspicious of the evil designs on his life by his master fc Alau'd-Dm, as seen above (see f.n. 1). The inscription also supports 'Isami on another point. In the course of the return journey to Delhi, Ulugh Khan forcibly tried to take the Sultan's share from the rich booty 2 collected by the soldiers and officers in the course of the first expedition. At this, the Neo- Muslim Mongols led by intrepid chiefs, Qamizi, Muhammad shah, Gabhru, Balchaq and Barq, got enraged, rose in revolt and made an attempt to kill Ulugh Khan. But, having ultimately failed in their attempt, they fled, Muhammadshah and Gabhru having sought asylum in the fort of Ranthambhore and Balchaq, Barq and Karri having joined Kama Rai.* Yahya Sarhindl mentions some more Mongol Neo-Muslim chiefs, viz. Baigf, Tamghan, Timur Bugha, Shadi Bugha and Qutlugh Bugha. 4 Our inscription also shows that the Mongol chiefs Balchaq and hadi apparently ghadf 5 Bugha of Yahya Sarhindl had gone over to Rai Kama who seems to have granted them not but as is only asylum amply suggested by the text, also high positions. It also stands to reason to that infer just as the flight of Neo-Muslim Mongol rebels Muhammadshah and 1 It is not known exactly when Kama returned to Gujarat. That in 1303 at least, he was already ruling there once again, is a fact of which none of the modern writers on the subject has taken note of. This very significant information is Isami given by who says that whenUlu^JChan was poisoned under orders of his brother 'Alau'd- Din, Malik Shahin, a slave whom tortures inflicted on them. - -- PP * 254 55 ' Also see Profesor Muhammad 31 lSam ' Ed< A O**"*"*- CrW k History of India, vol. V, Delhi Sultanate * Yaby4iSarhindi, op, tit., p. 76 A PERSIAN-SANSKRIT INSCRIPTION OF KARNA DEVA VAGHELA OF GUJARAT T toRanthambhore and Gabhru grant of asylum to them by its Chauhan chief HammlrDev had provided a handy excuse and justification for the Khalji monarch's expedition to and subjug- ation of 1 a similar Ranthambhore, situation in Gujarat where Balchaq and others had been well received Rai Kama must have at by least expedited, if not prompted, the second invasion and final conquest of Gujarat under Malik Ahmad Jhltam. 3 On 1st Shri N. A. January 1981, Patel, the Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat of the of the of 2 Village Sampla (Sopla Survey India maps), Taluka Padra, District Vadodara, in- formed the of and Ancient Department Archaeology Indian/ History of the M.S. University Baroda about the of a marble statue of the recovery (sic.) year 1360 in the course of digging at the mound situated on the northern operations bank of the village-pond and requested them to examine it. Dr. R. N. Consequently, Mehta, Professor and Head of the Department, visited the and found it to be not a place statue but an inscribed slab, which from its appearance he mistook for a tombstone. Dr. Mehta lost no time and reported the find to me through a communication dated 13th 1981 January accompanied by a photograph of the bilingual record, details of the date in the giving Nagari version and desiring me to give him my considered view. This has in resulted the present detailed study of the epigraph. C Sampla is a village of about 1,800 souls, situated in 225' north latitude and 72 50' east longitude, at a distance of about 45 kilometres from Vadodara, about 4 kilometres off the Vadodara-Jambusar Road, opposite Gajera. It lies about 2 kilometres from the Masar Road Railway Station on the Pratapganj (Vadodara)-Jambusar Narrow Gauge section of the Western Railway. Adjacent to the village on the north-east is a large pond, on the western bank of which, near the village, a little towards west, is a mound, on one side of which are a few graves and remains of brick-construction. While digging out the earth on the north- west side of the mound from the pond-side, the top caved in disclosing three pieces of a marble below the tablet, caved-in-surface. On the Sarpanch of the village, who saw some writing on the fragments, informing his Department, Dr. Mehta lost no time to visit the place and brought the inscribed fragments to his Department Subsequently, at my behest, Shri N. M. Ganam, Superintending Epigraphist for Persian and Arabic Inscriptions, who visited Vadodara, got its inked rubbings prepared. It is from these rubbings that the inscription is being edited here. 3 I myself visited Sampla on the 26th June 1981 to see if we could gather any further in- formation. Dr. Mehta was kind enough to arrange for the visit and acompany me. We visited the original findspot of the inscription in the company of the Sarpanch. No traces of the missing fragments were reported. But the local people were of the view that excavation of the site may perhaps help in recovering them. The village has no monument of any sort, except the remains of the brick-construction with mentioned above. dwarf brick minar stands at one it graves A end ; could be part of the pair that may have flanked the entrance to the enclosure. It does not seem to have been one of the two minars of a QanatI one-wall mosque, as the ground level on its east which should be the mosque-platform, is at quite a low level. The village Sampla lies to the south-east of the railway line. It is almost on the border of Bharuch (Broach) and Vadodara districts, the Bharuch district being hardly less than a kilometre away. The village Velam (Vehelam of the Survey maps) across the border in Bharuch district is hardly two kilometres away. The land to the north of Sampla in Va$o- dara district is locally called Wakal while that to the south and east of the railway line forms 1 Lai, op. cit., p. 83 and f.n. 9. 1 Quarter Inch Map, 40 B, 225' Lat. 7250' Long. 3 The inscription is being listed in the Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy for 1980-81. INDICA-ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT 1 8 EPIGRAPHIA of called Kanam a considerable portion Bharuch and Vadodara part of the tract occupying districts. marble as stated above, is now preserved in the said The fragmentary inscribed tablet, and Ancient Indian History. The rectangular tablet Department of Archaeology measuring has been at the with a arch 85 cm. in height and 22 cm. in width engraved top cusped resting from its is a at the on ornamental jambs topped with pots, while apex suspended pot end of each side of the while a chain. A tall narrow conventional tree rises on arch-jamb from the also on each side, a tree-like motif. This of springing-point of the arch appears, huge type or inscribed headstone of a but in this tablet is found normally used as a tombstone grave, case it is not so. the is The tablet contains a bilingual record. On the top, below arch the Persian epi- below it is the Sanskrit in graph running into twelve lines and immediately inscription eight as lines. The inscriptions in Persian and Sanskrit are incomplete, two large chunks and one small bit of the inscribed slab are missing. Fortunately, this has not affected the historical in purport of both the versions which is more or less preserved entirety. The Persian text is inscribed in relief in ornamental Naskh of a high order, which was apparently designed by an expert calligrapher. The inscription states that on Tuesday, the 1st of the month of Muharram 704 (4th August 1304), through the charitable intentions of the just king Rai Kama Dev, may his Prince the kingdom increase and of Maliku'l-Akabir (lit. among Great) Balchaq and Maliku'l- Umara (lit. Prince among the nobles) ShadI, may their victory be glorified, Taju'd-Din Hasan son of Vaziru'l-Vuzara (lit. Minister of Ministers, i.e. Chief Minister) Najmu'd-Dunya wa'd- 1 Dm Mahmud Khatib made an endowment of the village Samba i.e. Sampa in the Kanam- and, with all its limits and its revenue and whatever is connected with it for the Jami* mosque of Kambayat (Khambhayat, i.e. Khambhat or Cambay). It exhorts the Muslims to abide by the terms of the trust and invokes imprecation of the curse of God and His Prophet and that of the Cursers and the angels against those who seek to misappropriate the trust or violate it in any way. The Sanskrit version is more incomplete than its Persian counterpart, but sufficient text has survived to show that it also runs to the same effect except that the name of Malik Skad! is lost. It states that on (2) Vadi of Bhadrapada (Vikrama) Samvat 1360 (18 August 1304), through Maharajadhiraj Karna, Malik Sri Badchak, Malik Sri (ghadl) and 6rf Hasan endowed the for the village Sampa mosque of Stam(bhatirtha) for religious purposes. It also asks all the Rariakas to abide by it. The text of the Persian version reads as under: TEXT Plate II (a) i (Y) Q Julys' v/ * The text has Staba. Sampa is evidently meant, as the sound, is represented in Arabic alphabet by b. Pun- 11 INSCRIPTION FROM BARODA (VADODARA) QUTB S.HAHI RECORD FROM ANDHRA PRADESH (en record of Kama Dev Bilingual Vaghela, (.6) Inscription of Malik QuibuM-Mtilk. dated A.H. 704 (p. 18) dated A.H. 935, from Rajupei.a SCALF: .15 A PERSIAN-SANSKRIT INSCRIPTION OF KARNA DEVA VAGHELA OF GUJARAT 19 ^l, piS* j^i (UL^) UUc^ (\) lJ Jju TRANSLATION the the first of (1) On date, Tuesday, (the month of) Muharram, year (A.H.) four and seven hundred (1 Muharram 704=4 August 1304), (2) through the grace of the just king Rai Karn Dev, may his kingdom increase Maliku'l-Akabir Prince (3) and (lit. among the Great) Balchaq (and) Maliku'1-Umara (lit. Prince of the nobles) hadl, may their victory be glorified, Crown of the son (4-5) Taju'd-Dm (lit. Religion) Hasan of Vaziru'l-Vuzara (lit. Minister ministers i.e. of the Chief Minister) Najmu'd-Dunya wa'd-Dm (lit. Star of the State and the for the Jami' Religion) made an endowment mosque of Kambaya (t) (i.e. Khambhat or Cam- bay), (6) of the village Samba i.e. Sampa in the land of Kanam, with all its boundaries (7) and whatever in the vicinities is related to this village and the income and.....,.,. (8) ...... the Muslims should ...... (9) ...... do so that they all, in (10) ...... should object to or pass any it seek to breach this judgement against or endowment (and) attestation, or change it, will incur the curse (12) of God and (His) Prophet and (also) the curse of the Cursers and the angels, all of them. 1 The Sanskrit version has been deciphered as under : TEXT Plate II (a) ftanr [sr] )l 5 II ^ar] MHtfl^: 1 In the decipherment of this portion, Dr. R. N. Mehta's help is gratefully acknowledged. 20 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT TRANSLATION Samvat Vadi (1) In the auspicious year 1360, Bhadrapada Ka- (2) (two, Tuesday) Maharajadhiraja Sri Malik 6ri (3) (rna Deva Ma)lik Badchak, ri and the (4) (Shadi ) and Hasana like, in for (5-7) gave the village named Sampa Kanam religious purpose for the Stam- All (bhatirtha Ja)mi* mosque. the Ranas (local chiefs) should honour and (8) execute it. That is all. * Apart from settling thus, once for all, the time of Gujarat's final conquest by Alau'd-Din the the is in Khalji and corroborating poet-historian 'Isami, epigraph important other respects that the land in as well. It will have been observed which the village Sampa is situated is called in the Persian version Kanam, a name applied to the black cotton soil 1 for which Bharuch district is famous. This appears to be the earliest early fourteenth century- mention of the term Kanam which has survived in this very form till today. Secondly, the inscription, particularly the Nagarl portion, helps to settle the pronuncia- of the of the chief tion proper name Neo-Muslim Mongol Balchaq. This name is variously written and pronounced in Persian works. For example, in the Madras edition of 'Is ami's 2 it is written as it is 3 Futuhu's-Salafm, Yalchaq, while Yalhaq in its Agra edition, though its 4 editor Dr. A. Mahdi Husain in its English translation spells it as Yalchaq only. Dr. K. S. 5 Lai also has Yalhaq, which too is preferred by Dr. Banarasi Prasad Saksena. 6 That the name is Balchaq Badchaq of the Nagarl version with initial b, followed by a sound somewhere between / r and and penultimate ch, is clear from the epigraph. the adds one Thirdly, epigraph more name to the meagre list of officials of this period in Gujarat The donor's father Najmu*d-Dm Mahmud is described as Vazirul-Vuzara or the Chief Minister. Unfortunately for want of details, it is difficult to say anything about his of sphere political activity. But it may be noted here that the merchant-princes of Cambay were vested with 7 official position in the Sultanate period. About the donor, however, we are not in a position to say anything. That he was a man of such means as to be able to donate a can be taken to indicate village his status. It is likely that he also belonged to the merchant-cz//tt-official class and held landed property. 1S ^riytilledandof reat 8 ^Pth andcontaining, as it does,afair proportion *e(M< R" MaJlumdar Cultural > Hilary of Gujarat, Bombay, 1965, p. 52). In theH JS- y*^d manuscript copy of this work, thenaine is stated ' Pl *' n whlch is nearer to the correct spelli the sound ch t ^ "* Ibid. (Agri), pp, 244, 245. MaMi tfusain, op. eft., pp. 424, 425. JLai0p.c//. f p.72. Hablb and Nfetai, op. cit., p. 335. ZakiuM-Daulat wa'd-Din 'Ur al-KazerOni of KhambhSU was one INSCRIPTION FROM THE JAUNPUR FORT MOSQUE BY DR. Z. A. DESAI The mosque of Ibrahim Na'ib Barbak inside the fort is the oldest dated extant building some time of the rulers of Jaunpur, capital Sharqi and now a district headquarters in Uttar 1 A narrow Pradesh. long building, externally measuring about 40 by 7.2 metres, its interior is divided into a central hall and two side ones. The central hall is converted by two arches into three each covered a dome. The side rooms have compartments, by each five openings in with a flat architrave on rows of Hindu of various front, supported pillars shapes and designs. columns were at a Two stone originally placed short distance from the mosque. Only one of these is now about 8.2 metres from the middle of the southern standing, wing, the position second marked a broken 2 of the being by plinth. Rising from the front of the mosque to a total of 12.2 metres, the base of the minar rises in height octagonal standing five steps to the of about 1.37 while the on its height metres, pillar standing upper face, is first square with of .5 then and then the a side metres, octagonal round, whole crowned by a capital The half of the section of this is inscribed a record of upper octagonal pillar by six lines running horizontally. General A. found 'this Major Cunningham long inscription engraved in Tughra charac- to read. sent a it ters' difficult He copy of to Mr. H. Blochmann (who published its text and translation in the the Asiatic for Proceedings of Society of Bengal the year 1875) and in his 3 quoted its contents, report. Earlier, MaulaviKhairu'd-Dm Muhammad had published its in his Nama. Dr. A. Fuhrer also its text and reading Jaunpur published translation: his reading differs at a number of places from that of Blochmann, but agrees in the main with it in his he to fill in brackets the lacunae in the with translation; sought up reading the readings given 4 by ghairu'd-Din. According to both Blochmann and Fiihrer, the construction of the in mosque took place Dhu'l-Qa'da 778 (April 1376), but the former ascribes the building to the of 5 the reign of Firuz Tughluq and 'time Ibrahim Na'ib Barbak, the king', while according to the latter, who relied on the Jaunpur Nama to fill up the lacunae in the reading, the mosque 1 For a brief history, monuments and inscriptions of Jaunpur, see A. Cunningham, Archaeological Survey of India Reports, vol. XI (Calcutta, 1880, Reprint Varanasi, 1968), pp. 102-26; A. Fuhrer, The Sharql Architecture of Jaunpur (Calcutta, 1889, Reprint Varanasi, 1971); A Fuhrer, The Monumental Antiquities and Inscriptions in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh (Allahabad, 1891, Reprint Varanasi, 1969), pp. 178-85; H.R. Nevill, District Gazetteers of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, vol. XXVIU, Jaunpur (Allahabad, 1908), pp. 231-49; JChan Bahadur Maulavi Muhammad Faslku'd-Dm, The Sharqi Monuments ofJaunpur (Allahabad, 1922); Sayyid Iqbal Ahmad, Tankh^Shiraz-i-Hind Jaunpur in Urdu (Jaunpur, 1963); Sayyid Iqbal Aljmad, Sharql Rajya Jaunpur-kd-Itihds in Hindi (Jaunpur, 1968); Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy (AR1E)> 1958-59, Nos. D, 201-10; 1963-64, Nos. D, 351-63; 1965-66, Nos. D, 581-88; 1970-71, Nos, D, 148-73; Epigraphla Indica Arabic and Persian Supplement (ElAPS), 1964, p. 12 and f,n, 1 (where a few more references will be found); 1969, pp., 68, 74. 1 For a detailed description, plan of the mosque, etc,, see Cunningham, op. dt., pp, 105-07, pi. XXXI and Fuhrer, op. cit. (Sharql Architecture), pp. 25-27. 8 cit. 15. Cunningham, op. t p. 106; Proceedings of the Asiatic Society ofBengal (PASB), 1875, p, 4 Fuhrer, op, cit. (Sharqi Architecture), p. 26. 6 PASB, 1875, p. 16. It is surprising that a scholar of Blochmann's eminence shouldl translate Nti'ib-i-Bdrbak-i- Shah thus. 22 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT that it was built in the time 'was ordered by' the king. Fuhrer also says of Ibrahim Na'ib that Muhammad Barbak, the king'. Fuhrer further says Khairu'd-Dm gives A.H. 798,* in a modern work on the but according to the latter's reading quoted history of Jaunpur is 801. 2 in all its aspects by Sayyid Iqbal Ahmad, the date A.H. Unfortunately, I have not been able to consult any good copy of the Jaunpur Nama. it a of the is Bahadur Apart from 9 complete reading epigraph given by Khan Maulavi Muhammad Fasihu'd-DIn in his work on the Sharql Monuments of Jaunpur but he does that of not specify whether the reading is his own or |Chairu'd-Dm Muhammad. However, a comparison of the readings quoted by Iqbal Ahmad and Muhammad Fasihu'd-Din shows that they are identical It is difficult to say if both of them have independently quoted JChairu'd-Din Muhammad's reading only or it is copied by Iqbal Ahmad from the Khan Bahadur's work. be the the said of Whatever case, reading Khairu'd-Din Muhammad quoted by Iqbal Ahmad and Muhammad Fasihu'd-Dm is faulty and unreliable, more so in regard to the date. the of the date Blochmann Also, reading by accepted by Cunningham and Fiihrer, is incorrect As a all these writers result, have been led into error as regard to the period of the More than mosque. Cunningham and Fuhrer who at least correctly assign it to Ibrahim the brother of 3 Barbak, Firuz Shah, Muhammad Fasihu'd-Dm and following him Ahmad criticise Dr. Iqbal severely Fuhrer and others for misreading the inscription. Ac- to cording Muhammad Fasihu'd-Dm, they 'mistakenly think that the mosque was built in 778 A.H. (1 377 one Ibrahim Naib brother of A.D.) by Barbak, Firoz Tughlaq. They have appar- misread the which in ently inscription simple language means that the mosque was built in the Fort of Sultan Firoz Tughlaq during the auspicious reign of the Sultanush-Sharq Atabak Azain his Ibrahim by brother, regent prince in the month of Zeeqad and the year 801 A.H. Khairud-Din seems to have read the main portion of the inscription correctly which he in the quotes Jaunpurnama, and so he states that the mosque was built by Prince Ibrahim in the time of It Sultanu's>harq. is, therefore, clear that the date of the mosque is foui decades later than that Dr. Fuhrer quoted by and other English writers and that it does not synchronise with the date of the construction of the 4 Fort.' Iqbal Ahmad who accepts Bhu'l-Qa'da 801 (July-August as the date of the 1399) epigraph goes a step further and says that 'the fact is that the was mosque built by Ibrahim Na'ib-i-Barbak, who was the brother of Firuz Shah, but at that the ruler was time, Sultanu'sjb-Sharq Khwaja Jahan, because he es- tablished his in independence Jaunpur in 1396 A.D. and commenced his rule in 1397 A D after assuming the title Na'ib-Atabak-i-A'gam. Dr. Fuhrer or those who say that the mosque was got built by Ibrahim Barbak in 1376 A.D. are also wrong; they have committed a mistake in reading the Tughra The script. Tugjhra text simply means that this mosque inside the fort was constructed through Prince Ibrahim, brother of Firuz Shah Tughluq in Dhul-Qa'da 801 m the of mgn It is obvious that this must Sulpnu'sJ-Sharq. be toe date ofTompletion ud we will have to take it for that granted it was commenced a or earlier.* In ' year two SinCe Mrak ^ and Ibr*him Iived wit* Jahan at^ZL M iit^S , ^ a* Khwaja and beS c efficien7y,itmayalso correct^to say that it was built in the time of Ibrahim Shah'. (Skarqf Architectur^ P. 27; * ESTir ?' Cunningham, op. cit pp 106-07 tO built ^ (* by Fttz Tu^Iuq in AH! 762 A m 1 &S Iqbal Afcmad, op. dr., p. 358 1 Ibid. INSCRIPTION FROM THE JAUNPUR FORT MOSQUE 23 Needless to these statements and assertions say, are totally wrong and need to be correct- ed, Jt is that the will an hoped present study provide authentic reading of this important Even it deserved an illustrated inscription. otherwise, notice on account of its remarkable calligraphy. As stated above, the epigraph is in relief on the engraved upper half of the octagonal shaft of the at a little distance in front of pillar standing the middle of the southern wing of the 1 The text in the main is in mosque. Persian, preceded by the Basmala, part of a Quranic verse and a Tradition of the the merits of Holy Prophet regarding the construction of a mosque. which follows The historical portion clearly states that the construction of the mosque was Firuz Shah and the ordered by Tughluq work was supervised by the emperor's brother and his Chief Usher Ibrahim Deputy (Na'ib-i-Barbak-i Sultan) who took great pains in having the The was in the work completed. mosque completed month of Dhu'l-Qa'da 761 (September- October The text bestows 1360). great encomium, through lavish epithets and phrases, on both the king as well as his Na*ib-i-Barbak. These epithets and phrases are found almost discarded in the Sultanate after the totally inscriptions, early Mamluk period. This is perhaps the out of a number of of this only one, epigraphs, monarch, in which these lofty titles are found used. It be noted that the which is otherwise may epigraph, liberal in investing the titles and does king with high-sounding epithets not quote his regal title but gives, as in the his other his case of records, only kunya Abu'l-Mugaffar and name. His coin-legends also do not contain the title. While the absence of the regal regal title from coins and inscriptions is 2 rather inexplicable, it is obvious that the monarch was not keen on its usage. is also remarkable for its artistic The epigraph calligraphy. While the script as such which is Naskh is not perfect or graceful as far as smoothness and flow of curves and strokes are concerned, the designer has sought to impart artistic forms and ornamental flourishes to some letters and has also arranged them in a decorative way, at times in utter disregard of the rules of ligature or joining of one letter to the other. It is not possible nor perhaps necessary to detail these forms and flourishes, a reproduction thereof being before the readers (pi. Ill, b), but attention in particular may be drawn to : the design and placing of the letter nun in the throughout; the letters ala words al-anam and al-ayyam (line 5, Segment 3rd from left) tor the of giving an appearance of a ana; design a's-Salam (line 2, Segment 3rd, from left) and 2nd from the reminiscent the basal (line 6, Segment left) ; arrangement of bow-and-arrow variety of Bengal inscriptions (line 5, Segment 1st from right); the arrangement of horizontal and vertical strokes intersecting at right angles (line 6, Segment 1st from right); the floral- like design of the word 'alarn (Line 3, Segment 3rd from left); the arrangement of vertical and etc. In the has taken resort oblique strokes (line 4, Segment 3rd from left) ; short, designer to a variety of intricate forms and arrangements in designing this inscription. It is perhaps this intricate and somewhat complicated Tughra-like writing, more than the fact that its letters are affected due to constant exposure to heat and rain, which is res- ponsible for the incorrect published readings of the epigraph, particularly in regard to the date as also concerning the builder, as pointed out in the preceding lines. The writing is badly damaged in Segments 3 from right, each, in lines 2 and 3. 1 ARIE. 1965-66, No, D, 581. * The only inscription of FlrQz Shah which very probably contained his regal title was found at Sirsi in Moradabad district of Uttar Pradesh. But being fragmentary, the main word in the title is lost. The extant text No. has the incomplete title nu'd-Dunya wa'd-Din preceding the king's name (ibid., 1972-73, D,277). 24 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA-ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT 1 1.56 1 metre has been read The text covering a total space of about by as under: TEXT Plate III (b) 4l ilj 4il a>-U LJI *il *~j -il J? Jjy Jli> j>y\ fjJlj ^T^* ^ju j^->^JI ^>>^l ( \) jJO |Jb^M^4 *; ail (?) C-f>j -^j*^ *J' j-^j *^* 41 jU! iAJ JiiUJl 41 ^..-.JI LWi 41 ^,WI4t ^_ oJ^UJI ^il Sj^l iJT^Ji a-Jb j>o^l jfljll oLO- 4Sl* 4! Jd>- jlkLJl li ^JI ^551. ^^U^tjjj *;ikL.j jj^J^.iliJt^l (o) u<; OUj ^yt^--. 41 -j JO oliaJL. i oU. JU aOASil^ ij.ji J,l. ^>-j^- [t] U; L ^L*j" (jjj ^Lw Oi TRANSLATION In the name of Allah the (1) Beneficent, the Merciful. 'Only he shall visit the mosques of Allah who believes in Allah and the Final e. 2 Day (i. Day of Judgment)'. And the Prophet of Allah, Allah's and may peace salutations be upon him, has said, "One who builds a mosque for the Exalted Allah, (2) the Exalted Allah in grants him, proportion to every span and cubit ...... wherefore, in accordance with the mandate of the Word of i the"omniscient Lord (i e!"tte Qur'an) and the of the of the saying Prophet created beings, may peace be on him, which have been uttered m respect of the construction of mosques and in the hope of obtaining ascendancy t0 enS 3nd m the as iration of the - P acquisition of eternal salvation and of* n-; , r? garden R^wan (the Keeper of Paradise), order was for the given construction of this lofty mosque and exalted threshold by the Sul^n of the Sultans of the world, the just and the most magni- ficent monarch master of the neck of master nations, of the princes of Arabia and Persia, r eSt W rd f Atoh ' one who holds fast a* firmest handle tfe T ?^ heu, ^ (i.e. Per of the religion of the Allah, protector of the countries of Allah, the bCStOWer f Safety on the believers > the heir to the king- oSnof Solomon,Tthe reliant, fon^'^the support of the Compassionate (Allah), r?S^ m eadll of gs words or n does not ? phrases. Maulavi MubammadFa^i'd. specify the source ofES fAs; ._ ^.uotesr a ^ "^^^ ***** Maulavi ICbairuM-Dm Mubammad's Tijwwpwr Chapter IX, part of verse 18. INSCRIPTION FROM THE JAUNPUR FORT MOSQUE 25 Father of the (5) Abu'l-Musaffar (lit. victorious) Firuz Shah the Sultan, may Allah and and perpetuate his kingdom sovereignty (his) brother, Malik-i-Muluki'sh-Sharq wa'g-Sm of the of the East and the (lit. the prince princes China), tongue (i.e. spokesman) of the Sultans, wars of the Unitarians the helper in the religious (those who believe in One Allah), the'best of the mankind, mole (on the face) of the Time, the General of the Age, the Commander of the world, the great (Ulugh), the 1 (6) the grand (A'gam), Ibrahim, Na'ib-i-Barbak-i-Sultan (the Deputy Chief Usher of the Sultan), may Allah perpetuate his eminences, was honoured with the distinction of the of this superintendence of this place worship. (And) prince of praiseworthy nature and pure in faith, extended all (possible) efforts the completion of this bountiful edifice. It was com- of in the seven hundred and pleted in the month Dhu'l-Qa'da year sixty-one from the Migration of the Prophet, may Allah's peace and salutations be upon him! (Dhu'l-Qa'da 761 = Sept- ember-October 1360). From the above contents of the epigraph, it is clear that the mosque was built in A.H. 761 (1360 A.D.) by the order of Firuz Shah through the efforts and under the superintendence of Malik Ibrahim Na'ib-i-Barbak. It has nothing to do with Khwaja Jahan Sarwar who was appointed to the governorship of Jaunpur at a much later date or with Prince Ibrahim 2 (subsequently Sultan Ibrahim) during the time of the former as has been asserted. It was Malik Ibrahim Na'ib-i-Barbak who had built the mosque under the orders of his brother Sultan Firuz Shah in A.H. 761 (1360 A.D.). The date A.H. 778 read by Blochmann and accepted by Cunningham and Fuhrer is not supported by the facsimile. It is not given in Arabic words thaman wa sab'in wa sab'amiya as read by the former, but the year is given in Persian words line 2nd from haf$ad shast-yak which are quite clear on the stone (plate III, b, 6, Segment the to in the left, upper portion following word basal-i). According Cunningham, English translation of Khairu'd-Dm Muhammad's Jaunpur Ndma 'the date of the inscription is instead of sib'm 70.* assigned to A.H. 798, the author having read tisam (sic.) 90, (sic.) Khairu'd-Dm Muhammad's reading is totally wrong and Cunningham's explanation for the wrong reading was merely prompted by Blochmann's reading of the date. Fuhrer In short, the date of the mosque is not four decades later than that quoted by and and other English writers, as strongly asserted by Maulavi Muhammad Fasihu'd-DIn the date therefore, the contention that the date of the mosque 'does not synchronise with of in the construction of the (Jaunpur) Fort' is also based on fallacy, The mosque, completed as the Fort which is A.H. 761 (1360 A.D.), must have been built about the same time generally believed to have been founded by Firuz Shah some time in A.H. 761 (1360-61 A.D.). As a furnishes evidence for matter of fact, the inscription under study indirectly important fixing the date of the foundation of the fort on one hand, and on the other it shows that the mosque first to be built at the new fort-site. was among the very first buildings, and perhaps the one, fort was in simultaneously. Very likely, the construction of the mosque and the progress 1 this as *Naib Barbak, the king*, Blochmann, op. cit. and FOhrer, op. cit. (Sharql Architecture) have translated first misread the as Naib~i-Atabak-i~ Maulavi Muhammad Fasjbu'd-Dm, op. cit., pp. 107-08, having designation Sultanush-Sharq' ascribes the Azam Sultanush-Sharq and'then translated it as 'the Lieutenant of Atabak-azam Sarwar Jahan epigraph, which according to him is dated A.H, 801, to the time of Sultanush-Sharq Khwaja (sic.). Iqbal Ahmad, op. cit., blindly follows him. 2 the of the titles Sultanush- Maulavi Muhammad Fasibu'd-DIn, op. cit., p. 23, who also places assumption Sharq and Atabak Azam (Emperor the Great)' in 796 A.H. 3 is not four decades earlier than ,A.H. Ibid., p. 24. Fuhrer and other English writers give A.H. 778 which 801 as read by Maulavi Muhammad Fasihu*d-Din, DAHOD INSCRIPTION OF MAHMUD BEGDA BY DR, Z. A, DESAI of 'considerable historical interest', was published by This fragmentary inscription 1 issue of this Series, from the estampages of an Khwaia Muhammad Ahmad in a previous to in 1926 in the course of excavations by the local imcription which had come light May at near the tank locally called Chhaba-Talav Dahod, sometimes Municipality of a mound district of wellknown in a Taluka in the Panchmahals Gujarat, spelt Dohad, headquarters of the emperor Aurangzeb.* The inscribed slab bearing history as the birth-place Mughal buried to a of about three metres from the an Arabic record of nine lines was found depth Station the western side of the road leading to the Railway and forming ground level when 5 the eastern bank of the tank was being dug up. an area of about six acres Chhaba-Talav or Basket Pond is an extensive lake covering it be seen the visitor to the left of the entrance or 2.4 hectares. Part of the old town, will by the district the west end of the town, as he enters it, coming from headquaters gateway on of the Od caste about the same time as the Godhra. The tank, said to have been dug by men the district and is surrounded Odvada lake near Godhra, is one of the finest pieces of water in In of stone with retaining end-walls and a waste-water sluice. the by" a flight steps strong were lake are two islands where towards the close of the eighteenth century, pleasure-houses town is of two the old town in the built by a Maratha official. The present parts, being it the east. the west and the new, built mostly during the last century, adjacent to on Near a line of walls south to the river. lake were reported the traces of an old gateway and running No trace of the gateway is now reported to exist/ According to the text published by Mr. Ahmad, the record referred to the completion of a fact not mentioned his- a city near Dahod (Dohad) by Mahmud Shah, by contemporary 5 as torians. However, there is a slight error in the purport as given in this published version will be pointed out in the following lines. The inscriptioaal tablet was stated to be 'much mutilated*, but the portion 'which is 6 intact' was then deciphered by Mr, Ahmad. But the published notice is silent as to where the surviving inscribed tablet was kept* When, however, in 1968-69, Dahod was visited by Shri M* F. Khan, then Epigraphical Assistant and now Deputy Superintending Epigraphist for Arabic and Persian Inscriptions, Nagpur, for copying Arabic and Persian inscriptions there, the portion of the tablet in question was found lying loose in the mosque locally called 1 Ep&raphia IwfcMoslemka (EIM\ 1925-26, pp. 20-21, pi. IX b. For the of the its history town, antiquities and inscriptions, see Bombay Gazetteer (BG), vol. Ill, Kaira and 1879), pp. 31 A. H. 893 (a) Inscription of Mahmud Shah I, dated (p. 27) SCALE: .15 TUGHLUQ INSCRIPTION FROM JAUNPUR (b) Inscription of Flrte Shah, dated A.M. 761 (p. 24) DOHAD INSCRIPTION OF MAyMUD BEGpA 27 situated in the bazar of the 1 Ghazni-Masjid, locality city. One more tiny fragment was then in addition to the of the found there, supplying, remaining portion date, interesting information the name of the city, either Dahod itself or a satellite town in its about immediate neighbour- the foundation of which forms the subject-matter of the hood, epigraph. Part of the epigraph as will be seen from the text cited is still missing below. From the illustration of the ins- on the Mr. Ahmad and cription large fragment, published by also from that of the newly found it would that the epigraphical slab was not mutilated at all: piece, appear on the contrary, the is in a state of preservation. in writing quite good Very probably, the digging operations, had broken into not less than three of which the slab pieces, two are now available, while the could not be traced. The remaining missing portion, apart from referring to the object of the contained the name of a noble. The extant construction, highly placed Arabic epigraph is being published here and attempt made to determine and identify the builder as also to estab- lish beyond reasonable doubt, the object of construction. The consisted of nine lines of Its inscription writing. calligraphy is Naskh of no parti- unlike in the of the Sultanate cular merit, majority Gujarat inscriptions. The language is with Persian thrown in between here and Arabic phrases there, particularly in the beginning. The missing portion of the text in the first line, contained very probably a reference to the object of construction preceded by a Quranic verse also lost, which, if it had survived would least a clue to it. Then followed the have at provided particulars of the nobleman, evidently his a minister: these are lost, but identity has been more or less fairly satisfactorily ascertained as will be seen later. Then follows a reference to the reign of the ruling monarch Mahmud Shah whose full title, patronym (kunya) and name along with part of the complete pedigree the extant text have survived. Fortunately, gives the exact purport of the record, referring as it does, to the 'completion of this fine city' in A.H. 893 (1487-88 A.D.). The text also contained the name of the newly founded city as is seen from the newly discovered fragment, which, however, contains only part of it as also the word indicating the century of the date of the record which is given both in words and figure. It may be recalled that this is one of the very few early Perso-Arabic epigraphs of India in which the date is given in figure. The epigraphical tablet must have originally measured 95 by 60 cm, The text as found on the two surviving fragments has been read as under : TEXT Plate III (a) JW 4l JU CJ>> j^t [ J ] OUJL* iJw*T (r) all aU ollaUl [JU>-I jil JU*] jjl Jj^t ^ull ^1 jjJlJl j '^UJLJI^U p**Jl (l) \ *lfi JU* L& JU olkLJI aliyk* ^.1 ^1 ) 8[U4JI a~W\ SJJLJI a* all u^ (A) (J ^ ^ Jl JA* OUi j J 1 more ^JWE,I968-.69,No.D,21I. Efforts were subsequently made in vain to find out if there was any fragment lying in the mosque. 8 So b. on the stone. In the new impression, it has not come out, but see EIM, 1925-26, pL EX AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT 2g EPIGRAPHIA INDICA-ARABIC TRANSLATION ...... (1) The Exalted Allah says of His the (2) manifestation of the reign Majesty king ...... 1 the Malik of ...... (3) Asaf praised by Solomon, lofty known as Malik (4) entitled from the Royal Presence (and) Maliku'sh-gharq ...... may Allah perpetuate of the master of the (5) his glories, in the reign (lit. accession) greatest Sultan, necks (of people), Lord of Arabia and the (6) other Islamic countries (*Ajam), Sultan, Nasiru'd-Dunya waM-DIn (lit. Helper of the State and the Religion) Abu'1-Fath (lit. Father of Victory) Mahmfld Shah son of (Muhammad Shah son of Ahmad) (7) Shah son of Muhammad Shah son of Mugaffar Shah the Sultan, may Allah per- petuate his kingdom and sovereignty and (8) grandeur till the Day of Judgment. This line city named Mahmud(nagar?) was completed in the months of the year three and ninety and eight hundred from the Migration. Year (A.H.) 893 (1487-88 A.D.), The important discovery of the new fragment furnishes the name by which the newly built city was intended to be known. The second part of the name which began with Mahmud is no doubt missing. It could be either Mahmudabad or Mahmudnagar, Since the Sulitan had already built the city of Mahmudabad near Ahmadabad and there was one more so named in north Gujarat, it is not unlikely that the new town was designated Mahmudnagar. As out Mr. already pointed by Ahmad, contemporary (or for that matter later) historians do not mention the fact that a was built city near (or at) Dahod either by Mahmud Shah I or in his 2 It is this that reign. only through epigraph we know for the first time that a city called Mahmud (nagar) was built there in 1487-88. Mr. Ahmad the foundation assigns of the new city to the Sultan, which it will have been observed, is not at all warranted the text by as it has come down to us. On the contrary, from the explicit reference to the of the reign Sultan, it is clear that the builder of the city was some other person. In all the new probability, city was built by the nobleman who is figura- tively referred to in the text as Asaf, the celebrated Prime Minister of Solomon. This high official or Malik who bore the prestigious title Maliku'sh-Sharq was evidently the Prime Mmister of the kingdom and therefore his exact title which is lost in the missing portion of e h e *** D - S *<*^ - study of the Sanskrit of the same t0 inscription me' * a COU *W of the Arabic under For ^ epigraph study. DOHAD INSCRIPTION OF MAtfMDD BEGpA 29 of the of India, viz. Indica. 1 But no mention graphical journal Archaeological Survey Eplgraphia of the exact of Dahod, from where the tablet the Sanskrit is made therein locality bearing The record describes in some detail the viz. the wars won and epigraph was recovered. deeds, Mahmud and his 2 and the of 'Imadala' buildings constructed by predecessors appointment of his of Pallidesa and the to govern (?) the newly acquired province Champaner, conquest of two tanks his caused a well to be at construction of a fort and excavation there, having dug Ahammadapura, construction of an excellent fort and an artificial lake at Champakapura, and construction of the beautiful fort at conquest of Bagula and Rayadurga, probable Dahod on Vaisakha su. 13, Saka 1401 and Vikrama 1545 Dadhipadra, that is modern (24th to Dr. Sankalia, it also seems to refer to its repair by Imadala April, 1488)! According of which are obliterated. 3 Malika on a particular day, the details The name of this nobleman is variously spelt in the Sanskrit record as Imadala, Imadala Dr. Sankalia was referred to one and the Malika, and Imadala Mulaka, which all, convinced, 6 held that Imadala Malaka etc., stood for Imadu'l-Mulk, a desig- same person. He correctly 4 identified him with nation for the post resembling premiership. He also Maliku'sh-gharq C a son of 'Imadu'1-Mulk Malik Badh entitled lmadu'l-Mulk, though he erred in making him 5 matter of Badh was one of the four sons of Malik Bahau'd-DIn Haji SultinL As a fact, 4 the and the fief on thelatter's imadu'l-Mulk and had succeeded his father to the title, post 6 death in about A.H. 885 (1480-81 A.D.). to Malik 'Imadu'l-Mulk's Thus, the Sanskrit record from Dahod refers (Badh) having it or a in connection thereof. It does either built the fort of that town or repaired made gift as which is mentioned in not refer to the foundation or building of a new city such, clearly constitute two versions of the same the Arabic record under study. That the two epigraphs of the record. The date of the Sanskrit epigraph tallies record is further clear from the date that the Sanskrit with that of the Arabic inscription. Dr. Sankalia even thought inscription era in the first half of its line 21 .* Then the Arabic record, perhaps bore the date in the Hijra the official whose name is lost with Asaf the Prime as pointed out above, compares high that he held the rank of a Minister of the Prophet-king Solomon, clearly implying premier Malik 'Imadu'1-Mulk of the under Mahmud Shah. He could therefore be none other than V.S. 1545, Saka 1410', Epigraphia i Dr H D. Sankalia, 'Dohad Stone Inscription of Mahamuda (Begarha): f.n. knew of the existence of the Arabic Indica vol, XXIV (1937-38), pp. 212-25. Dr. Sankalia (ibid., p. 213, 6) as he was had connection with it, very probably firstly, epigraph but he did not think the Sanskrit record any the note in H. Hargreaves Ed. Annual not aware of Mr. Ahmad's article and secondly, he was misled by where the Arabic epigraph was stated Archaeological Survey of India, 1927-28 (Calcutta, 1931), p. 146, Report. the town of Dohad were associated with the completion of to give 'the names of the Sultans of Gujarat who statement p. 214) that the genealogy p" . Dr. Sankalia's (**. the Muslim historians and accepted given in the Sanskrit record differs from that given by The of this and o India in some respects is rather misconceived. genealogy Cambridge History of not necessarily historical works represents ruling kings h^ from tions is that of the pedigree while the one gleaned strictly in hereditary order of father and son. 8 Ibid., p. 218. 4 Ibid. r p. 219. Zafan Skadar, Mir'at-i-Sikandan (Baroda, 1962), p. 126; W Dabir, 27. Dr. Sankalia was imsted by History of Gujarat), vol. I (London 1910), pp. 22, 309 Haig, Ed. Cambridge History of India, vol. Ill (London, 1928), p 1928, p. LVI), dexing in tfajji Dabir's work (ibid., vol. Ill, London, The former Mulk Bahau'd-Din have been taken to be one and the same person. Dabir himself (ibid., I, pp. 15, 17), in A.H. 870. 1 Sankalia, op. cit,, p. 212. INDICA-ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT 30 EPIGRAPHIA almost doubt that both the epigraphs are versions Sanskrit record Thus it is proved beyond Arabic refers to 'the completion of a of the same record. And since the epigraph explicitly had built a city near or at modern Dahod. It it is clear that Malik 'Imadu'1-Mulk fine city', the custom to build walled cities in medieval may have been a fortified or walled city, being the reference to the building of a fine fort, etc. in the Sanskrit period and that may explain record in the of the new of information record. A re-examination of the Sanskrit light piece is indeed called for. furnished by the Arabic inscription record the of a new but it also The Arabic epigraph does not merely building city gives was None of the Muslim his- the name given to it. The city designated Mahmud(nagar). or named at or near torians mentions either the building of a new city any city Mahmudnagar I. The record under thus us a Dahod during the reign of Mabmud Shah study gives totally 1 As has been shown me elsewhere, there are at least five more new piece of information. by three of them set in the reign of this such places which are known through epigraphs up Sultan himself to have received new names during the pre-Mughal period. These are Tan- as in karia alias Mustafabad in Bharuch (Broach) district of Gujarat designated such an epi- 2 alias Mahmudabad mentioned in an graph dated A.H. 857 (1453 A.D.), Diyadar epigraph 3 from Himmatnagar in SabarKantha district of Gujarat, dated A.H. 875 (1471 A.D.), Sanchor alias Muhammadabad, in an epigraph from Sanchor in Jalor district in Rajasthan, dated A.H. 4 912 (1506 A.D.), Malia alias Rasulabad, according to the epigraph the date of which is lost, 5 from Malia (Miana) in Rajkot district of Gujarat and Khakhrechi alias Ambiyabad, referred to as such in two epigraphs dated A.H. 930 (1524 A.D.) and A.H. 956 (1549-50 A.D.), from 6 Khakhrechi in the same district. That these names including the one given to the newly founded city mentioned in the record under study did not stick or catch the imagination of the public and fell into oblivion soon is a different matter. Eptgrapkia Indka Arabic and Persian n Supplement. 1974' P * 3 " JWfc, pp. 17-18. &&> pp. 22-23. &, pp. 35-36, /&&, pp, 32-33. ARIE, 1979-80, Nos, D, 33-34. SOME MORE NEW INSCRIPTIONS OF HUSAIN SHAH FROM WEST BENGAL BY S. S. HUSSAIN, SENIOR EPIGRAPHICAL ASSISTANT The six inscriptions of 'Alau'd-Dm Husain Shah of Bengal (1493-1519) proposed to be this article were in 1 studied in copied by me the course of official visits to my different places in West in 1 975 and 1 977 and with the Bengal are, possible exception of one, new finds. These are one each from and Suri in district Sakulipur Birbhum and one from Raikha and three Suata in Burdwan district. Of these six from records, the one from Suri has been taken to with one as as in be identical published early 1861, but the published text thereof does not to be identical with the one of the records appear wholly under study, which makes the identi- fication somewhat doubtful. The matter could have been clear if its facsimile were also pub- lished along with the text. The remaining five are new finds inscriptions and are being pub- lished here for the first time. ML INSCRIPTIONS DATED A.M. 902 FROM SUATA Both these earliest are dated A.H. 902 epigraphs (1496-97 A.D,). They are engraved on two slabs which are loose in the lying Tomb of Sayyid Shah ghahid Mahmud Bahmani at Suata, a sub-divisional in the Burdwan District of West 2 headquarters Bengal The large which does not find mention in either the district or village imperial gazetteers of India, is situated on the Guskara-Bud Bud and be road highway may approached by through a regular bus-service from either place, The tomb of the saint lies on the bank of a tank on the northern extremity of the village. There is a newly constructed mosque within the tomb enclosure. Nothing is known about the saint from written sources nor does he find mention in the even the he epigraphs; period during which lived could not be ascertained. According to Shri Siddheswar Mukherjee of the village Sreepat Muluk who had reported the existence of three inscriptions at Suata, the village was once a peaceful abode for the Buddhists and is referred to in the Jatakas as Sutaka which later on was changed first into Sutaya, then into Suyata, which ultimately became Suata. It is locally believed that when the saint Bah- mani flourished, Suata was most probably a village of the Buddhists. The saint came to the village some time before the reign of 'Alau'd-Dm Husain Shah, but the construction of the shrine as seen today took place much later. Bahmani, a person of a very kind and sympathetic nature, was a scion of the Bahmani of ruling family Deccan. He came to Bengal and converted the Buddhists of Suata^and neigh- bouring villages. The Hindu king of Amarargarh, an old village situated about three kilo- metres from Suata, could not tolerate this and in the battle between his soldiers and[the newly initiated disciples of the Muslim saint, the latter was killed. Bahmani belonged to the Qadiri 1 The tours were prompted by a communication received by the Superintending Epigraphist for Arabic and Persian Inscriptions, Archaeological Survey of India, Nagpur, from Shri Siddheshwar Mukherjee of village Sreepat Muluk nearBolepur in Birbhum District informing him about the presence of inscriptions at Sakulipur and Suata in Birbhum and Burdwan districts. We are grateful to Shri Mukherjee for the information. Editor. 1 Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy (ARIE), 1975-76, Nos, D, 263, 262, INDICA-ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT 32 EPIGRAPHIA inscribed his tomb, they found the three slabs on a order When his disciples constructed the which they set on the in the dense Sal forest of Bahmani village up dilapidated mosque of the shrine. 1 wall . of village near to Shri Muhammad Ayub Hossain, Sahitya Vmod, Rajua According and is mentioned in Sita Ram Das' Dharma Mangal MSnasa Katwa District Burdwan, the saint to Valki village situated near Suata. In the said Maneal (1699 A D.), as having belonged either scribe's error for or a corruption of Bahmani: work he is called Bambani which is Alam Banda Jahir (Pray to Valki' s Pir Sambati Bambani BandaValkirPir Badar Saqare who is the lord of the seas, etc.). According to Shri Bambani (Bahmani); pray to Badr 'Alam tablets was removed from Valki and not from Hossain, one of the three inscriptional Bahmani. 2 Suata contain that would connect them All the three epigraphs to be now seen at nothing not in situ. with the saint in any way and as such, the slabs are evidently During my subsequent which are situated three and tour in March-April 1981, 1 visited Valki and Bahmani villages Valki which is also called Bhalki I five kilometres respectively from Suata. At Khairpur, was shown a ruined mound on which two small round stone pillars are fixed in the ground. it does not that there was a From the appearance of the mound and pillars, appear likely the of a slab at that would not very likely, mosque at that place. Hence presence place appear ruins not be located due to the At Bahmani, the other village, the actual place of the could thick forest near the village. a record of The tablet bearing the first epigraph measures 45 by 23 cm. and contains two lines in Arabic, executed in Naskh script in the typical, but not the usually fine bow-and- 8 the arrow variety for which Bengal is justly famous. The epigraph contains, apart from Quranic text, the name and titles of 'Alauu'd-Dm Husain ghah, without his father's name, and the name of the scribe Qacli Mlnazi; the object of construction is not mentioned. An important aspect of the record is that it gives the name of the scribe. As is wellkno\vn, the Bengal epi- graphs in general do not mention the name of the calligraphers, whose penmanship attained as great heights, nor do written sources. The epigraph under study is of considerable value it furnishes for the first time the name of a calligrapher of the time of Jlusain Shah. It seems that Qacfi MInazi* the scribe of the record, was either a court calligrapher or working in the judiciary department on some responsible post as the word Qadi indicates. Another important aspect of the record is its date. This and the next record are the only two records known so far of Husain Shah which bear the year A,H. 902 (1496-97 A.D.)> which is the third or fourth year of his reign.* From this it is clear that the dominion of IJusain Shah had extended upto the Damodar river in the very third year of his reign. 1 Summary from a letter dated the 28th March 1976 addressed to the Superintending Epigraphist for Arabic and Persian Inscriptions, Nagpur. 1 from a letter Summary dated 14-12-1977 addressed to the Superintending Epigraphist for Arabic and Persian Inscriptions, Archaeological Survey of India, Nagpur. ABIE, 1975-76, No. B, 263, * yusain Shah's inscriptions have been listed in ARIE, 1952-53, Nos. C, 12-13, 16; ibid., 1953-54, No. C, 88; **/,, 1955-56, Nos. 54, No. D, 73,92; ibid., D, 12; ibid., 1958-59, No. D, 25; ibid., 1959-60 Nos. D, 4, 10, 11, 12, 14, 20, 24, 29, 34, 194-95; Ibid., Nos. 1960-61, D, 33-35, ibid., 1963-64, Nos. D, 404, 412. 414; ibid., 1970-71, Nos, D 7*8; JM4,Nos.D,257, 261, 267; ibid., 1977-78, No.D,197. His records have been published with detailed notes m J^&r^to lnde~Moskmica {EIM\ 1915-16, pp. 10-14, pis. IV (a) and (b); ibid., 1929-30, p. 12, pi. VIII ,1933-34, psu 2^3, 5-6, 23, pis. I II and III (b), (a) (b), (a), XI (a); Epigraphia Indica Arabic and 19*^ l V and (d); ibid 1961 42, 46, ^ ^*^^ > PP. 38, 40, 41, 43, b, c); ibid.. 1968, p. PLATE IV INSCRIPTIONS OF yUSAIN SHAH OF BENGAL from Suata 33) (d) Inscription, dated A.H. 902, (p. SCALE: .35 (/>) Inscription of the same date, same place (p. 34) SCALE: .23 SOME MORE NEW INSCRIPTIONS OF ftUSAIN SHAH FROM WEST BENGAL 33 is not in a state of The has lost The epigraph very good preservation. writing pro- Added to it is the rather longish text on a limited lithic minence of relief. surface, resulting matter in two lines. In spite of its bad shape and words one in closely-written upon another, of the of the record has not been text the decipherment major portion text and name and titles of the king, Only, comprised a Quranic some 1 name of the scribe and the date presented difficulty. ! read as follows:- ? The text of the epigraph has been ^ / - I (- ! ; [o] liSI [4-W jl TRANSLATION to Master of the Thou givest the kingdom whomsoever (1) "Say, *0 Allah, kingdom! the from whomsoever Thou pleasest, and Thou exal- Thou pleasest and takest away kingdom Thou in Thine hand is the good; surely, test whom Thou pleasest and abasest whom pleasest; makest the to into the and Thou makest Thou hast power over all things. Thou night pass day the day to pass into the forth the from the dead and Thou bringest forth the (2) night, and Thou bringest living sustenance to whom Thou pleasest without measure'."* dead from the living, and Thou givest Father of the of the Sayyids, Abu'l-Mu#iffar (lit...... The just and generous Sultan, Sayyid * of the State and the Religion) the Sultan. the victorious) Alau'd-Din Husain Shah (lit. Glory the two and nine hundred (A.E 902-1496-97 Its writer is Qatfl Mmaz(I). '(In) year (A.H.) A.D.). a of 70 by 33 cm. is dated The second inscription from Suata occupying writing space 4 Minazl. The language of this epigraph is in the same year and penned by the same Qafl The prays to Allah to grant long also Arabic and the style of writing Naskh. epigraph simply but in one titles found in his place, perhaps life to the king for whom it uses high epigraphs, of an of Bengal and perhaps of for the first time here. This is a unique feature inscription to invocation of the long life for the India as a whole that the entire text should be devoted rather monument silent about the purpose or reigning monarch. The text is otherwise totally for which it was intended. I and Dr.jV * Director (Epigraphy) I thankfully acknowledge the help received from Dr. ZA Desai, in this artxae, of all the inscriptions studied formerly Senior Epigraphical Assistant, in the decipherment for the be some word invotog favour King. There is a word here which could not be deciphered. It may * Qur'an, Chapter III, verses 25-26, 4 ARIE. 1975-76, No, D, 262. 34 EPIGRAPfflA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT The reading of the text is as follows: TEXT Plate IV (b) oUl aJla Jb^JI oL^lj JaJL oUjJl^ j^l OlkL.[J]l j^JI J> i-.jJlb 4ll jUaJLJI UU^JI j JuJ>. oU^J I I, ill iLJUl i.!l I -oil I (CUM ^> j j j^lSOj ^JUJ JP jTyuJ OlkJU ali . TRANSLATION Allah! the life of is (1) O Prolong the (one who the) king of the Time and the Age, through and one the justice bounty, propped by support of the obliging Lord, the striver in the path of the Beneficent, the Vicegerent of Allah by proof and demonstration, the Sultan, (2) the reliant on Allah, the conqueror of Kamru and Kamta by the help of Allah and of Islam and the the refuge Muslims, Sayyid of the Sayyids, source of, felicities, wa'd-Dln 'Alau'd-Dunya (lit. Glory of the State and the Religion) AbG'l-Mugaffar Father of the Husain (lit. victorious) Shah Sultan, may (Allah) perpetuate his kingdom. (In the two and nine year) hundred (A.H. 902= 1496-97 A.D.). Its writer is Qadi Minazi. The of this discovery epigraph having the prestigious title 'conqueror of Kamru and Kamta' and also the date A.H. 902 (1496-97 A.D.) supports Professor M. R. Tarafdar's view that the of expedition Kamru and Kamta started in 1494 A.D.* This record also settles the question once for all that the said war was accomplished in 1497 and not 1498 as opined by various historians. 2 HI. INSCRIPTION, DATED A.H. 908, FROM THE SAME PLACE The tablet the third bearing inscription of the present study, also from Suata, is fixed in the northern wall of the Tomb of the aforementioned Sayyid Shah Sjiahid Mahmud Bahmani.' Measuring 60 32 it by cm., contains a record in two lines and a half in Arabic inscribed in two panels in Naskh The text records the the Characters. construction of the Jami' mosque and ofty gateway by 'Alau'd-Dm Husain SJah in A.H. 908 (1502-03 A.D.). From the con- tents, it 1S obvious that the slab does not belong to the Tomb and must have been brought somewhere else and fixed in its present position. The gateway and the wall, to the con- whicn reference is made in the text, must be taken to be parts of the enclosure of osqiie tor which the epigraph was intended. It is difficult to determine in what eX1S ed ' kSS k iS the Bahmani t^3* K v *? village from which the tablet is locally and fixed in its Present P^ce. ililL^?*,. u~~ -1.^. tke umasual feature of recording, as in the cage of the two inscrjp. of ftft ^r^e of the record. Unfortunately, due to the scribe, ' last Ime may a brt appear difficult at first glance, but on minute (Dacca, 1965), pp. 46, 48. * ARIE, 1975-76, No. D, 261. PLATE V (a) Inscription, dated A.H. 908, from Suata (p. 35) SCALE: .24 (b) Inscription, dated A.H. 916, from Sakuiipur (p. 36) [SCALE: .2 SOME MORE NEW INSCRIPTIONS OF tfUSAIN SHAH FROM WEST BENGAL 35 observation the first part of the name, viz. ^ which to a casual observer may look like a decoration-motif becomes clear, while the linear form of the concluding ^ is both used for of 4-sT, the scribe having placed it after jl and v provided dotes of j as well is as . There also some scribbling above the word in the 4$ ^ last line which is unde- It looks like some Or cipherable. geometric design. very probably, it is an Arabic numeral for the date which the scribe have so sign may designed. As mentioned above, the Naskh is of a fair type. The text is accommodated in two script horizontal panels. The vertical strokes of the letters of alifs and lams in each panel have been raised to the top and arranged to one while their curves and other parallel another, words occupy about one third of the The strokes in four panel. parallel arranged and five groups in the first are further " panel the extended crossed by markaz of the letter J~ ", thus the investing design with a pic- turesque effect. The reading of the text is as under: TEXT Plate V(a) i (\) Loll j5U JiUI J*UJI olUJi \ jy wUljyi a^UJI JL (y) TRANSLATION 'O (1) "Say, Allah, Master of the Kingdom! Thou givest the kingdom to whomsoever Thou and takest pleasest away the kingdom from whomsoever Thou pleasest, and Thou exaltest whom Thou and abasest pleasest whom Thou pleasest; in Thine hand is the good; surely, Thou hast 1 power over all things'." The builder (2) of the Jami' mosque and the lofty gateway is the just and the liberal Sultan the 'Alau'd-Dunya wa'd-Dm (lit. Glory of State and the Religion) Abu'l-Mugaffar (lit. Father of the victorious) Husain Shah, the Sultan, may (Allah) perpetuate his majesty, kingdom and sovereignty. This good work was built on the date, year (A.H.) eight and nine hundred (A.H. 908=1502-03 A.D.). Written by Nasru'd-Dm. The epigraph furnishes the name of one more scribe. It is also the second inscription of Husain hah found so far of this year, his other inscription bearing this date, being from Bonhara in Bihar. 2 In the above three inscriptions, the names of the scribes have taken very little space on the stone and these are inscribed in such a manner that it is not easily legible, all the more so, if the slabs were fixed at a height as is usually done, on the facade of a mosque or on the gateway. It may perhaps be surmised from this that the name of the scribe was not allowed to be inscribed in line with maintain the name of the ruling monarch or its mention was being discouraged to his dignity or for some other reason. 1 Qu^an, Chapter III, verse 25. 8 A, H. AXIS, 1962-63, No. D, 16; Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (PASS), 1870, p. 297; I>r. Dftni, Shamsu'&Dln Bibliography of the Muslim Inscriptions of Bengal (Dacca, 1957), p. 49, No. 84; Madavi Atimad, Inscriptions of Bengal vol. IV (Rajshahl, 1960), p. 161. 36 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT IV. INSCRIPTION, DATED A.H. 916, FROM SAKULIPUR The information about this inscription was also received from Shri Siddeshwar Mukher- at a in the Suri sub-division of jee. It comes from the Jami' mosque Sakulipur, village Birbhum district of West Bengal. The inscribed slab is fixed in the projected portion of the western 1 wall near the southern doorway leading to the tank. The language of the record is Arabic. Consisting of two lines of writing executed in excellent Thulth, on a slab of black basalt measuring 73 by 39 cm., the epigraph is identical in text as well as calligraphy with the one 2 published in a previous issue of this series. It records the excavation of a water-tank carried out under the orders of 'Alau'd-Dm Husain Shah in A.H. 916 (1510-11 A.D.). I could not location the local collect any information regarding its original from people. But most pro- bably the slab belongs to this village because of the presence of a big tank there, and the record 3 refers to the construction of one. This is the fourth epigraph to come to light recording the excavation of a water-tank in this particular year, which may perhaps be taken to support the surmise made earlier in a previous issue of this Series that while this may be just a coincidence, at the same time it is possible that the building activity during this year was accentuated by 4 factors like drought. TEXT Plate V(b] olkLJl iUJl oO* AU^Jl 4)1 J* l^Jli>lyLP4ii pU ^ JU; JU (\) TRANSLATION Allah the Exalted 8 (1) says, 'Whoever brings a good deed, he shall have ten like it'. This tank was caused to be excavated by the illustrious and the honoured Sultan wa'd-Dln (2) 'Alau'd-Dunya (lit. Glory of the State and the Religion) Abu'l-Mugaffar (lit. Father of the Husain victorious) Shah, the Suljan, son of Sayyid Ashraf al-^usami, may Allah his perpetuate kingdom and sovereignty, in the year (A.H.) sixteen and nine hundred (A.H. 916= 1510-11 A.D.). V. INSCRIPTION, DATED A.H. 922, FROM SURI The fifth inscription of hah IJusain comes from Suri, headquarters of the Birbhum District, where it occurs on the southern face of the southern-most pillar 8 facing thecourtyard MaSJld - The infonnation ab this * 5 M' 1 o^. 18? * EfAPS, 1955 and 1956, pp, 20^2L 1 Qw*m, Qia^er VI, part of verse 161. 4 AJRI& 1977-78, No, D, 197. PLATE VI dated A.M. 922, from Sun (p. r> (a) Epigraph, SCALE: .33 (h) Epigraph, from Raikha (p. 38) SCALE: .42 SOME MORE NEW INSCRIPTIONS OF tfUSAIN SHAH FROM WEST BENGAL .37 in search s also to villages of inscriptions. I am nearby very much thankful to him for his telp. The inscriptional slab which measures 45 by 29 cm. contains three lines of writing in executed in Tlwlth of a Vrabic script fairly good type. The text records the construction of liusain in A.H. i tank by 'Alau'd-Dm Mh 922 (1516-17 A.D.). Its text has been read as follows: TEXT Plate VI (a) J> 4X**>Jl il *bj- ^y^U? Jli (\) iJaJij>u *^ji Jicji ebuii (Y) > 4SCl &\ j aJU^^gUM^Ji ^jJ*\ JL~# -J (y) TRANSLATION Allah the Exalted (1) says, "Whoever brings a good deed, he shall have ten like it'.* This tank was caused to be excavated by the Sultan, the learned, (2) the just, the the illustrious, respected 'Alau'd-Dunya wa'd-Dm (lit. Glory of the State and the Religion) Abu'i-Mu^affar (lit. Father of the victorious) Husain Shah, the Sultan or son of Ashraf al- (3) Sayyid Husaini, may Allah perpetuate, his kingdom and sovereignty, in the year (A.H.) two and twenty and nine hundred (A.HL 922=1516-17 A.D.). Due to almost complete similarity in text including the date, this inscription was taken to be identical 2 probably with the one published earlier, without an illustration. Its original is stated to findspot have been a ruined mosque on the old Badshahi road, which is also called 8 Gaur-Badshahi road, on the south-eastern extremity of the district While comparing our record with the reading of the published text, J found a slight difference which confirms my doubt that our record is not the same as the published one. In the latter, there occurs the phrase in the middle above the main text, while in our record the phrase is absent and the top is marked by a clear border line above the main text. 4 VL INSCRIPTION FROM RAlKHA The last inscription of flusam Sbah was discovered by me from Raikha, a village in the Katwa sub-division of Burdwan district. This large village is situated on the old Badshahi road and can be approached from Kurma^anga halt on the Ahmadpur-Katwa (Narrow Guage) section of the south. The the Eastern Railway from where it is hardly four kilometres away to 1 Qur'an, Chapter VI, part of verse 161. 8 MIE, 1977-78, No. D, 197 and Introduction. Journal of the Asiatic 389-90. See also PASB, 1890, p. 243, Society of Bengal (JASB), vol. XXX (I 861), pp. where it is and was said to have reported that 'the inscription had originally no connection with the mosque Iain for in the builder of the mosque and many years the Collectorate (at Suri) before it was made over to placed him the famous Hosain Shah of by upon it. The inscription was dated 922 A.R (1516) and related to Gaur. it 389-90*. Possibly was the same inscription as that described in our Journal, XXX, From the tablet originally found at statement of the PASB, he. ctt., it would appear that the epigraphical or near a ruined was removed at a later date, mosque on the old Badsjjahi Road passing through the district, not much at Suri, and lav there before after, perhaps, it was first noticed in JASB, he. cit., to the Collectorate it was made or before 18 over to the builder of the on which it appears now, in mosque j^^ 38 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT place seems to be quite important from the point of as archaeology carved pillars lint l are found lying scattered here and there; a huge stone carved with some figure was also found^ lying on a mound. The slab containing the inscription under is loose in study lying the courtyard of a n constructed mosque called Talabwali-Masjid. 1 Fragmentary and much damaged it do ^ appear to be in situ. It contains about five lines of in writing Arabic written 'in or? Naskh. The extant portion of the record contains the name of Abu'l-Mugaffar Husain S Sultan preceded by his titles that of the including 'conqueror of Kamru and Kamta' TK date and other particulars, like the object of the name construction, of the builder if etc., are lost. The is rather epigraph unique in that its calligraphy is unlike the typical ^a" mental of it is Tughra Bengal epigraphs ; just plain Naskh. The text of the epigraph occupies a writing of 36 20 cm. space by and reads as under:- TEXT Plate VI (b) /.\ ...... JiUl cbUJI OUaJL- gjUJi J^, (y) 1 clii .oil (r) 4 45^, ilkL-j (6) TRANSLATION (1)' ...... the servants.'2 ...... Surely, Allah sees A NEW EPIGRAPH OF MALIK QUTBUL MULK FROM ANDHRA PRADESH BY N. M. GANAM SUPERINTENDING EPIGRAPHIST 1 In March 1974, a rubbing of an interesting inscription from Rajupeta in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh was received in the office of the Superintending Epigraphist for Arabic and Persian Inscriptions, Nagpur, from the Chief Epigraphist, Mysore. It was reported the that the stone pillar bearing the record is set up on the tank-bund a little away from village which is situated about fifteen kilometres to the south-west of the district headquarters. I have selected this epigraph for study at the suggestion of Dr. Z. A. Desai, Director (Epigraphy) and editor of this journal who also made valuable suggestions in the preparation of this article. I am grateful to him. 2 44 cms. The The epigraph is incised on the entire face of the pillar measuring 130 by and a half text consists of thirty lines of writing executed in JV^W, of which the first three the bottom. are in Arabic, A Persian quatrain (Rub&i} is inscribed diagonally in four lines at the In between is the historical text. Telugu words Shri Kavi are found superscribed in the the beginning. On another pillar at the same tank-bund is inscribed Telugu epigraph, gist of which will be described later. in The Perso-Arabic epigraph records the construction of a tank in the village Yampur and Mansab-i-Ma'alf A.H. 935 (1529 A.D.) during the time of His Highness Masnad-i-'Ali the Ulugh A'#im Malik Qutbu'1-Mulk by Baba Khan, a retainer of His Excellency, greatest had assistance of the Maliks, Malik Qiwamu'1-Mulk. It further states that the builder sought to the effect that of the crop from his fellow-officials and got issued a fresh guarantee (Qaul) one share would go grown in the neighbourhood of the tank to be divided into four shares, fourth one would to to the State (Dlwan), two would be for the general public and the Accrue over it. This the builder who had taken pains in the matter and spent personal money to the Langar (Free-Kitchen) own share of his, the builder dedicated, the text further declares, had obtained on free lease of the Twelve Imams. The epigraph also states that the builder with the avowed that much land below the tank in which five kuro* seeds could be sown, of the bridge i.e. tfce intention that the produce therefrom would be utilised for the repairs or managers at me tank-bund. The ends with a request to the future possessors epigraph 01 invoke for the mercy tank to abide by and observe the terms of the agreement and prayers The God and His their descendants to the seventh degree Prophet on them and - it aroi eta on the defaulters. is followed by imprecatory phrases inviting God's curse, of his devotion on one, vokes his sins and acceptance prayers soliciting God's forgiveness for who like the striver, carries out the terms of the endowment. 1 and 7920' Long. Rajpet of the Survey of India Map, situated in 1655' Lat 8 Annual No. D, 1. Report on Indian Epigraphy (ARIE), 1973-74, Hn wilson 5 to a w* l. Kuro is a Bangui word used for a measure of land. One Kuro is equivalent Glossary ofJudicial and Revenue Terms, Delhi, 1968, p. 303). INDICA-ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT 40 EPIGRAPHIA TEXT Plate II (b) ^ -^ ^ (r) u^1 JU 01 a* \ * oU- LL ay" f y O^^P o eOUt I j ^ AT oJJ b^ L^i jU J^S (A) J* Ji t ij^ t* ( 4T b o :>:> j 61^ j^ ^A oU-jj j JLit jl^ j J j^* (YA) UIJ I Written diagonally, below (a) A NEW EPIGRAPH OF MALIK QUTBU'L-MULK FROM ANDHRA PRADESH 41 4$* i yfc (Y) TRANSLATION (1) O Opener! constructed with the of the charitable (2) The tank of the village Yampur was help Lord on the sixteenth (i.e. Allah) in the five nine (3) of the month of the magnificent Sha'ban year (and) thirty and hundred (from the) Migration of the leader Allah's and salutations (4) of the Messengers (i.e. Prophet Muhammad) may blessing be upon him and all his descendants (16 Sha'ban 935=25 April 1529), during the time of His Highness the Master, Exalted (5) Masnad-i-'Ali (lit. Lofty-Throne) and Mansab-i-Ma'ali (lit. Rank), Ulugh A'gam Malik Qutbu'1-Mulk, may remain forever the of the (6) his government, by the attached retainer of His Excellency, lord, greatest nobles, Malik his (7) Qiwamu'1-Mulk (lit. Prop of the Kingdom), may (Allah) prolong life, namely Baba Khan, having prepared himself (and) having sought help from the colleagues or fellow- officials, that in the of (8) (and) having arranged for a fresh (letter of) Guarantee (Qaul) vicinity the shares (9) said tank, whatever crop is grown, of the four (made thereof), be used for the and (10) one share will go to the State (Dlwari) and two shares will ryot who has in this matter, (1 1) the fourth share will be for (the use of) this humble (person) striven (and taken) the (12) pains (and) spent (considerable) amount from his personal money (over construction (and) this (share) of His Holiness the Twelve (13-14) he has dedicated for the Langar (Free-Kitchen) and below the Imams, may the choicest of the salutations and peace be upon them; also, that much land in which five Jtoro (15-16) said tank, having obtained on freehold lease, with of purpose seeds could be sown in every annual crop, he has made a firm resolve sincerity that for the repairs of the (17) the produce of this, whatever it be, will be spent every year bridge (i.e. the tank-bund). this to the day of Resurrection, (18) A request to men of magnanimity is that from day the said tank may be, they should (19-20) in whosoever's possession (or management) and Imams, continue it all in this fashion. The mercy of God and the Prophet And if otherwise, anybody (21) may be upon them and upon their seven generations. who in this . .* _ _ _ matter, . the curse orf the due to the deserving, m (22) misappropriates (funds) and does not give become be and he will be disgraced (lit (23) and the Prophet and the Mankind he will black-faced) in both the worlds, 42 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT and will not enjoy the fruit from the happiness of life and none of his (24) wishes will be fulfilled. the Glorious and the Exalted God shower and (25) May grace guidance on that person who will, just as this humble creature has dedicated and endowed the share and the will (26) land, also continue in the same way. (27-28) May (God) accept his devotion and pardon his sins ! (29-30) Amen! O Nourisher of the worlds! (b) Build bountiful edifices in (1) (lit. Do) every corner. This is (the real) provision for the end of the world (i.e. for the death). seed which (2) Every you sow in the perishable world, you will grow a cluster of corn that from seed in that (i.e. the other) world. The of the 1 gist Telugu record is as follows : "It states that a certain Babaja, the servant of Keman-maluka who was the son-in-law of Masanadayeli and who was Kutubana-maluka-vodaya ruling from Nallagonda, the capital of Eruva (country) got a tank excavated in accordance with the following stipulations as per- mitted by Kamana-malaka: To the king (divapam): I Share To the Kampus: 3 Shares However, since his own Babaja spent money also for excavating the tank, 1 share was given to him while the kapus' shares were reduced to two. Of the land which is the waters irrigated by of this tank yendum (i.e. 5 turners) of paddy land (va$lapolam) is converted into Inam. The annual produce of this field is to be utilised for maintaining the tank-bund. The share the of tank (i.e. probably the share of Babaja) is granted by him for (i.e. Babaja) maintaining a Choultry (anna-satmni)." This extremely interesting record is in important more than one respect : Firstly it is one of the few records so far known of Malik Qutbu'1-Mulk, the founder of the Qutb Shahi dynasty ot Lrollconda.* Like his other epigraphs known so far, it does not invest him'with regal titles, re eVtdenCe f r the fact concl ' ^ively proved by the late-lamented Professor S? oT 3 ^Kim erw*ni that Mal* ST ^ Qutbu'1-Mulk did not formally declare his kingship or eve though he ruled quite but contented himself with the titlestit 1 ^ independently, riTconferred upon him his by master Suljan Mahmud BahmanL* S inSC ly> ^ ption has Preserved the name of a We kn ^ ? nobleman namely Qiwamu'1-Mulk. g thC namCS Qiw one Senior and the oTher ,lT - ^-Mulk; Qiwamu'1-Mulk SrTT Both were Bahmani officials who roles f^'T*'amSU Mu played important *ammad HI (1463-1482) and hiMbu'd-DIn Mahmud SW U if* Mulk Seni r Was Mled in the fac the , *o^ v/ars between Afaqis and?the Dakhanls (Natives) which took place at the capital soon after :0rd WaS SUPPlled t0 me n to wt reciuest Dr- - v - SS ^ K Ramesh, Chief Epigraphist, Mysore, " - ' P > 1913 14 ibid 1915 16' (EIM) > P- 48 ' P>- XIX (New Delhi, 1974), pp. 14-17. he a), is merely designated as Bare Malik. A NEW EPIGRAPH OF MALIK QUTBU'L-MULK FROM ANDHRA PRADESH 43 3 Shah in 1482 A.D. Junior his the accession of Sultan Mahmud Qiwamu'1-Mulk had fief in had resisted from the Sultan claim over the eastern Telan- Rajahmundry. He beginning Quli's even extended his activities laying waste the northern of gana and had by parts Telangana. marched him and defeated him. Qutbul-Mulk thereupon against Qiwamu'1-Mulk fled 'Imadu'1-Mulk, 2 to Berar, where he took refuge with *Alau'd-Dm This was in 1504. We do not hear anything about him thereafter. None of these two is identical with Malik Qiwamu'1-Mulk of our record which is dated A.H. 935 (1529 A.D.) and which speaks of him in such glowing terms as His Excellency, the all our Lord, the greatest of the nobles. In probability, therefore, Qiwamu'1-Mulk is a diff- erent person. 3 But the Telugu counterpart of this epigraph which was set up in Saka 1451 Virodhi, Vaisakhba. 3 Monday (1529 A.D., April), a gist of which has been given above, furnishes an additional piece of information, namely that Qiwamu'1-Mulk was the son-in-law of Masnad-i- *AH Qutbu'1-Mulk and was stationed at Nalgonda. This is quite an interesting information, The epigraph is thus an important document in the sense that it has preserved the name of a Qutb Shahi official not otherwise known and also furnishes an information about his rela- is rather that tionship with the progenitor of the Qutb ghahi dynasty. It surprising though he was so closely related to Qutbu'1-Mulk, he does not find mention in historical works of the held fief in the period. That he held a high post at the Qutb Shahi court and Nalagonda region is evident. As regards Baba Khan, the builder of the tank, he is not traceable from available records. The epigraph refers to him as an employee of Qiwamu'1-Mulk which means that he was an official appointed by Qiwamu'1-Mulk and was connected with the local administration. that the ancient name The epigraph also furnishes an interesting piece of information it is that the of Rajupeta was Yampur. The epigraphical tablet is in situ and therefore clear is now known as was village Yampur where the tank was constructed and which Rajupeta originally known by the name Yampur. available in those The record under study also throws light on the irrigational facilities of the land cultivated days. Not less interesting is the pattern of distribution of the proceeds the on one hand and the through this irrigation. The produce was equally shared by ryot and the State and the builder on the other. The ryot claimed half the produce remaining The version half was equally shared by the government and the builder. Telugu specifies to be divided between the this division of shares. It states that the proceeds are allowed three but since Baba government and the subjects in the proportion of one to respectively; the tank, one share Khan, the builder of the tank, had spent his own money for excavating was reduced to two. The was given to him consequent upon which, the share of the subjects of he used for the benefit of builder on his part dedicated his own share, the income which, or Choultry (anna- public by establishing charitable institution like Free-Kitchen (Langar) the and repair of the satram) of the Telugu version. He had also provided for regular upkeep below the tank and endowing the tank-bund, by obtaining on freehold lease, some land the Persian text literary means bridge income from it for the purpose. The term *PuV used in stated in the Telugu version. but here it is obviously used for the Hank-bund' as is explicitly Turks two Qiwtou'l-Mulks being i^pr^ted vol. I (Kanpur 1884), p. 363. The the in the court. Afaq! Group . iM n OT * Amraoti District (Bombay, 1911), PP* Sherwani, op. cit., p. 24; C. P. District Gazetteers, * ARIE, 1973-74, No. B, 17. SOME MUGHAL INSCRIPTIONS FROM KANNAUJ BY M. I. QUDDUSI EPIGRAPHICAL ASSISTANT In this article I to ten from propose study Mughal inscriptions Kannauj, District Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh. 1 These in their dates from epigraphs range A.H. 1054 (1644 to A.H. 1088 texts A.D.) (1677-78 A.D.). The of these inscriptions were first published more than a and later on 2 but their century ago too, readings are faulty and in some cases even and confused. A of these it is incomplete proper study epigraphs, hoped, will be quite useful for the scholars and students interested in the history of the region. is an ancient situated in 27 3' North Latitude Kannauj city and 79 59' East Longitude, on the old three kilometres cliff, from the Grand Trunk road, at a distance of about 52 kilometres to the south-east of Fathgarh. The boundaries of the modern town, a mere northern fraction of the ancient 3 city, may be roughly described as triangular. in the Christian about Early era, 140, Ptolemy refers to the town as Kanogiza. It be- came and of the part parcel Gupta empire in the time of Samudra Gupta, in circa 326-36. The Chinese Fa-Hian and Pilgrims Hu Hiuen Tsiang who visited India during the 5th and the 7th century respectively, have described the town and its neighbourhood. Under Harshavardhana (606-647), Kannauj grew into the foremost city of India. Regularly mentioned the Arab travellers of by the 10th century, Kannauj remained in the forefront of power till 950, and continued to be the most influential centre of culture till 1018, when it was destroyed by Mahmud of Qhazna. Almost two centuries later in 1194 Muhammad bin Sam defeated Jai the Raja Chand, last Gahadvala king, putting to an end the great kingdom of Kannauj. Under the Muslims, though Kannauj became the seat of a governor, it lost its old importance. For some years in the 15th century, it was under the SJiarqls of Jaunpur. A PtKmS m fr m here l dynaSty have been noticed -* WM near here that the emperor Humayun was defeated by SJer Shah Sur in 1540. Under Akbar, it was the ' the 18th During century i4 some time Belonged to the Nawwabs in to the Nawwabs of Oudh and at times to the Marathas.' fiS^^^sa 1 i*^-- which form the ^^ ^^ ^^^ hfa s < Shaikh Muljamrnad Mahdi sabnfJ ttCr f thC Present artlc1 N 1926), p. 151. ^ ^" Badaytini, Qamusu'l-Mashahir, vol. II (Badayun, ees (KDG), vol. IX, Farrukhabad (Allahabad, 191 1), p. 217, where also * tbe mental foundation of the town will be found. The Mom- Antiquities and Inscription'^ , A FUhrer, tem Prov es and Oudh Varanasi, 1969), pp 73,79. The T ir (Allahabad, 1891, Reprint * Q zetteer / '<&* v l l c/Y.UlX}, Farrukhabad' Reports (Simlfl, 1871), pp. 279-80; pn 119 ?i iT"? ' Bu 71; Hrisita, ihist Recor^' vol. I 370- Tankh-i-FirisJita (KanDW 188^ (1969), p. XLII; IG, pp. and ^,' f Culture of the Indian MaJumdar Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's History PeopleP e, vol.vol TViv, Then ?' L Age of Imperial Kannauj (Bombay, 1955), p. 38. SOME MUGHAL INSCRIPTIONS FROM KANNAUJ 45 seems to have come However, Kannauj under the spiritual influence of Islam, even invasion. Baba is prior to the Muslim Haji Sharif believed to have been the first Muslim saint who came to Kannauj and died there. His tomb is traditionally believed to be the oldest 1 which include the among the Muslim monuments, tombs of Shaikh Kabir Balaplr and his son Shaikh Muhammad Mahdl who flourished during the reigns of hah Jahan and Aurangzeb respectively. Among contemporary historians, onlyKhwaja Ni'matu'llah Hirawi the author Jahdnl of the Tarikh-i-Khan wa Makhzan-i-Afghani supplies sufficient details not only about also their 2 these two saints but about ancestors and their progeny. Shaikh Qasim Qadirl, father of Shaikh Kabir, was an important figure during the reigns of Mughal emperor, Akbar and Jahangir. The earliest inscription of the present group is fixed above the doorway of the Tomb 3 of Shaikh Kabir Balaplr, There are in all five inscriptions on this door, three above the 4 entrance and two on the sides. The inscription being studied below is the middle of the upper epigraphs. The Tomb of the saint, built during the reign of Shah Jahan, stands on a raised Chabu- tara inside a spacious walled enclosure. It is constructed of red sandstone. On the same Chabutara stands the Tomb of the saint's son Shaikh Muhammad Mahdl. It is similar in 5 design to the former's tomb and was constructed during the reign of Aurangzeb. Both the Tombs are almost identical structures except for the size, the one on the western side being larger. Both are square halls surmounted by flattish domes rising from octagonal bases* Each has at its four corners light cupolas supported by slender pillars. Despite their plainness, 6 the tombs present a striking view on account of their graceful proportions. Shaikh Kabir popularly known as Balapir was born on 4th Shawwal 994 (8th September 7 1586) at Budni, He was the son of Shaikh Qasim Qadiri (d. 1607) who lies buried at Chunar, in Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh. 8 Shaikh Qasim himself was born in A.H. 956 (1549 9 A,D.). Of his four wives were born eight sons and nine daughters. He led a pious life and was revered as a saintly person. He was also the tutor of Dilair Khan and Bahadur 10 Khan, sons of the Afghan chief Darya ^han Rohila. He expired in A.H. 1016 (1607 A.D.). lines in Persian The inscriptional tablet measuring 92 by 54 cm. is inscribed with five result the prose and verse executed in Nasta'lfq characters of a fairly good type. As a of the weathering of the slab, letters have flaked off in a few places. Referring to the reign of Holiness Shaikh Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, the epigraph eulogises the saint, namely His 1 Sa'id Ansarl, op. cit. f p. 46. 2 844-70. ghwaja Ni'matu'llah, Tarikh-i-Khan Jahanl wa Makhzan-i-Afghanl, vol. II (Dacca, 1962), pp. 8 ARIE, 1963^64, No. D, 335. 4 Ibid., Nos. D, 335-39. 5 For a brief description of the Tombs and their illustration, see Annual Report, Archaeological Survey of India,, 1929-30,, p.. 7,, pi.. II.. 8 UDG, Farrukhabad, p. 222; Fiihrer, op. cit., p. 80. 7 Ni'matu'llah, op. cit., p. 852. * corner of the it is reported to be The Tomb of Shah Qasim is at Chunar. Situated in the south-west town, a In T. W. Beale, op. 'cit. p. 204 building of considerable architectural pretensions (Fiihrer, op. cit., p. 259). It seems that both the authors and PASS, 1873, p. 202, the last resting place of the saint is called Chandalgarh. Oriental Dic- have confused Chandalgarh with Chunargarh. It may be noted that Beale in his Biographical c/t, p. 150. tionary (Calcutta, 1881), p. 137, has Chunar only. See also Nizami BadayOni, op. c#. pp. 851-53: For a detailed account of his life and that of his descendants, see Ni'matu'Iiah, op. 1911), pp. 309-11; etc, Fuhrer, op. cit., p. 259; IG, p. 334; UDG, vol. XXVH, Mirzapur (Allahabad, 9 Ni'matu'llah, op, cit., p. 851, f.n. 3. 10 For details, see Ni'matu'llah, op. cit., pp, 851-53. 46 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT son of His Holiness Shaikh Qadiri and states that he died Kablr Balapir Qasim on the 12th 1 Ramadan 1054 (2nd November 1644). The text of the epigraph is deciphered as follows: TEXT Plate VII (a) tf ^l -1 Jjili ^li CJj~- ^^ ^ O^ [ol]ij ^Jj]:" (y) ~i j-j-S" AJUj uJai I a j yf J-* ,Jp U4- u[l] jj t, TRANSLATION (1) He is (Allah)! (2) The date of the death of His Holiness Shaikh Kablr (alias) Balapir son of His Holi- ness Qasim Qadiri, may their secrets be sanctified. (3) One thousand and and fifty four (years) had passed from the Migration of the Pro- phet it was (and) Monday the twelfth of the month of Ramadan, <4) w en the j P^fect spiritual guide and the Pole-star of" the Time, Shaikh Kabir the Sphere of and Knowledge Action, Ocean of Wisdom and Gnosticism (5 responded to the call of the beckoner of Truth by saying 'I come' and despatched his soul to the garden of Ridwan (the Keeper of Paradise). Brttal^dfcWn P. 204, wrongly has 4th 1 * PASB' 1873 > * 202' Wron uotes the HiJra date 10th Radan pi v f* 8'y 1 " year A - - H - ^ io76 ^ 665 A D ->- nS?5 ; ' 250 S P ' AnwarA^r^usaui this word. .''P.^.,p.ll2!andNizamIBadayum, op. eft., p. 151, omit and Nigimi BadayOni, op. dt., read d Ni^ru Badaytol, *H read JL . cz/. has ^ * PLATE VJI MUGHAL RECORDS FROM KANNAUJ (a) Epitaph, dated A.H. 1054 (p. 46) SCALE: .16 A.H. 1057 (p. 47) Inscription, dated 1057 47) (b) Epigraph, dated A.H. (p. The second inscription occurs on the same to the doorway, right of the one just studied 1 It records the construction of the lofty tomb of Shailch Kabir Balapir during the reign of Shah 3 Jahan in the year A.H. 1057 (1647-48 A.D.). Its is Persian and language the style of writing excellent Nasta'tiq* six lines of Comprising writing inscribed on a slab measuring 32 by 50 cm., the text reads as under: TEXT Plate VII (b) (0 (Y) (y) (p) (A) (n) TRANSLATION This (1) lofty tomb (lit. dome) in the year (one) thousand and (2) fifty and seven Hijr! (A.H. 1057=1647 A.D.), in the period of (3) the of reign Abu'l-Mugaffar (lit. Father of the victorious) Shihabu'd-Dm (lit. Shining Star of the Religion) Muhammad (4) Sabib-i-Qiran~i-Thdni (Second Lord of Happy Conjunction) Shah Jahan (5) Badshah Ghazi, may Allah perpetuate his kingdom (6) and sovereignty, received completion. The third epigraph is to be found on the extreme left of the same doorway of the Tomb of 5 Shaikh Kabir. It records the construction of the tomb by Shaikh Mahdi who is described as the of Truth 6 sphere and Certainty (i. e. saintliness), in A.H. 1057 (1647-48 A.D.). The date is given in a chronogram, in words and in figure. The epigraph comprises three Persian couplets inscribed in six lines preceded and followed one by more containing respectively a mention of the Almighty and the date in figure. The first and the last three lines are written slantingly. The style of writing is fairly good Nastcfliq. The epigraphical tablet measures 51 by 31 cm. and the text reads as follows; TEXT Plate VII (c) ;> (f) of this ARIE, 1963-64, No. D, 336. Anwar ghisain, op. cit., does not give the reading inscription. UDG, Farrukhabad, p. 222, gives 1666 as the date of construction. is not to be found on the stone. Nigami Badayum, op. cit., p. 151, gives figure of the date as well, which Ibid, omits. ARIE, 1963-64, No. D, 337. of it was the gate leading to UDG, Farrukhabad, p. 222, wrongly mentions the year 1666. As a matter fact, the on the entrance of the Tomb which was built in 1665-66 A.D. (A.H. 1076), as recorded in the epigraph Tomb-enclosure (p. 50, infra). 7 Anwar 251 an Nizami Husain, op. cit. f p. 112, Beale, op. cit. (MT), p. ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT 4g EPIGRAPHIA INDICA &!l 1 (A) TRANSLATION (1) He is (Allah)! of Kabir (2) The bounty-imparting tomb Shaikh (3) is in reality the highest Paradise. e. (4-5) The firmament of Truth and Certainty (L the saintly) Shaikh Mahdi received divine guidance for (the construction of) this pleasant structure. (6) Its date is (contained) in the word Naghz* (lit. excellent). (7) Without doubt (it is) thousand and seven and fifty. (8) (A.H.) 1057 (1665-66 A.D.). Shaikh Mahdi, we know, was the son of the saint Shaikh Kabir. The fourth inscription, fixed to the right of the door of the Tomb of Shaikh Kabir, 8 is to the studied It the complementary epigraph just (No. 3). assigns construction of the lofty of tomb to the time the great Nawwab Bahadur JMn son of Darya Khan Afghan Qhoriya Khail Da'udza'i. This would mean that the tomb was built by Shaikh Mahdi during the time of Nawwab Bahadur Khan in the year A.H. 1057 (1647-48 A.D.). The epigraphical tablet measuring 35 by 50 cm. contains five lines of writing in Persian executed in fair Nasta'liq calligraphy. The writing is slightly damaged. 4 The text has been read as under : TEXT Plate VIII (a) 4JJJP TRANSLATION This (1) lofty tomb, during the time of (2) the government of the Nawwab of exalted titles .(3) Bahadur Khan son of Darya Khan PlATLVW (a] Undated record (p. 48) SCALE: .24 dated A.M. 1076 (p. 50) (/,) Epigraph, SCALE: .22 SOME MUGHAL INSCRIPTIONS FROM KANNAUJ 49 Khail (4) Afghan Ghoriya received outward form. (5) Da'udza'i, the tomb of Shaikh Kabir is stated Nawwab Bahadur Khan during whose governorship was historical figure of his time. His father Darya Khan to have been built is a well-known to the Da'udza'i clan. He started his career under Shaikh Rohila Afghan and belonged later on the service directly under Jahangir. In the Farid entitled~Murtad.a Khan but joined whereupon Prince Khurram rewarded him battle of Dholpur, he displayed great bravery, over Later on leaving the Prince's service, he went with a lakh of rupees and an elephant. of the Deccan, but remained disloyal to emperor to Khan Jahan Lodi, the governor in 1628, Darya Khan, succeeded in regaining Jahangir When the Prince became emperor rank of and 3,000 horse and appointment in Bengal. his confidence and received the 4,000 In A.H. 1039 (1629-30 A.D.), his rank was Later on he was given a fief in Khandesl, and horse. raised to 4,000 4,000 i_ j .u * trouble in Khandesh, Darya Khan rushed there to When SJjahu Bhonsla stirred up of arrived at Burhanpur to suppress the rebellion chastise him. "in 1630, when Shah Jahan but soon hands with the rebellious governor. Khan Jahan Lodi, Darya Khan met him joined Khan m Chalisgaon m Khan- latter was defeated by Khan, Darya appeared When the A>m A.H. to death Bikramajit son of Jhujar Singh m desh and caused great havoc. He was put by 1 1040 (1630-31 A.D.). . , ,_,.,. of theA and Dilair Khan Dunng the life-time Darya Khan left two sons, Bahadur Khan had found favour with Prince Khurram father, Bahadur Khan and he was a ^fM^****reward of Darya Khan had rebelled. Under Shah Jahan, g,ven of toK^*^deal wth the re- in the Sarkar Kalpi rank ofToOO and 2,000 horse and was appointed assist A'zam Khan belus elements there. Later on, he was sent to of han Jahan Lodi. In view of his great to suppress the rebellion " of and 3,000 horse, but was only promoted to the rank 4,000 ^ sent to environs in fief. In 1639-40, he was with ?heir Islamabad^ was further raised to from there. In 1640-41, his rank In of 5 MO *Dd xx *' of Balkh and}^rank ' 2 lakhs of from the treasury received rupees g^^^ Prince Aurangzeb's campaign 1648, he was sent to Multan. During that Bahadur^gams since Shah Jahan bought he showed great valour. But nor had te neither chased Nagar Muhammad Khan whole-heartedly J^ was relieved of the Khan against the Uzbeks, he P*^<*^*^ In 30 lakhs of hdd onfy for a year or so. Besides, ^^%?$^p. * in the 1649, he accompanied Aurangzeb expedition which he His ^Q^'^S^ died of asthma on 19th of August 1649. seen in Jahan m :wm * after the name of his lordW^^***Shah had founded and named so called after his name. the quarter called Bahadurganj, evidently ^ the entrance The fifth inscription is fixed above of J^aoir%^MW*** of the tomb of SfiaiKli assigns the construction of the gate H Cal , 483 Shah Nawaz Mtfathiru l-Umara,vo\. and p^^ g^ 338-39, ; Khan, ^^^^ the estatesmau This was a Sa/*r in Bundelkhand. Among ^^ f>n 6 1 ' vol. vol. II Bainl Prashad's English Translation of Ma'athiru'l-Umara, V*? d j^orf, ^. dr., 1888), pp. 415-^, 'Shah Nawaz ghan, op. cit., vol. I (Calcutta, 719. (Calcutta, 1868), pp. 195, 548, 554, 692, 708, * ARIE, 1963-64, No. D, 334. 50 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT Salim Tarin in A.M. 1076 the of Khan (1665-66 A.D.) during reign Aurangazeb. Its three- line text two verses in Persian is by Mahdl, whom comprising composed by evidently the saint's son and successor, Shaikh Muhammad Mahdl, is meant. The tablet measures 65 28 cm. The of is fair epigraphical by style writing Nasta'liq. The text has been read as under: TEXT Plate VIII (b) j* (0 TRANSLATION (1) He is (Allah)! The most truthful (2) Mahmud Khan son of Salim Khan Tarin built the entrance of the tomb of Shaikh Kabir, the (spiritual) leader. (3) Mahdi indicated the of its (time construction), during the reign of king Aurangzeb; it was seventy and six with one after the thousand, Migration of the Best of the Creation (i.e. Prophet Muhammad) (A.M. 1076=1665-66 A.D.). is known about Nothing Mahmud Khan, the builder. He is untraceable in historical or literary works. That he was an Afghan is indicated by his clan-name Tarin. Also, he seems to have been an ardent disciple of the saint Shaikh Kabir or his successor Shaikh Muhammad Mahdi who appears to have composed the metrical text commemorating the construction. Needless to say, the quality of verse is mediocre. The above five inscriptions are related to Shaikh Kabir and his mausoleum. The next SOQ Sh8ikb Muhammad lies 1 i'v Mahdl, who buried close by. Another son of iki Kabir was Shaikh Qadir who had predeceased his father two Shaikh Mahdl was by years." also a saint of repute of his time. He finds mention in quite a few from Kannauj. From the epigraphs contents of these and on the epigraphs basis of his forefather's historical and religious background, it can be rightly said that like his forefathers, Shaikh Mahdi also led a pious and c nu'"ded sufficient nwnber of followers and admirers including important ntofficialsRfeM S had built a mosque near his own Tomb in 1657-58. One of 1 Anwar Susain, op. cit., p. 114, reads 1 Ibid, has &j. * Ibid, read ^[p * Ibid, reads <$# f * Ibid, omits these words. 18 ' of whom were born twelve PLATE IX (a) Inscription, dated A.M. 1068 (p. 51) SCALE: .26 dated Inscription, A,H, 1081 (p. 52} SCALE: ,14 SOME MUGHAL INSCRIPTIONS FROM KANNAUJ 51 Shu'aib son of Bahar his disciples Qadiri (or Pahar) Khan Kakar Qharghashti had built two mosques, one to the west of the Tomb of his master and the other to the west of the Tomb of * Shaikh Kabir in 1 663-64. The sixth inscription is from the mosque situated near the Tomb of Shaikh Muhammad 2 Mahdi. It is in the main in Persian verse consisting of two couplets, preceded by *a$mala a line in Persian and followed by prose, recording the date in the regnal year of Aurangzeb. four line text records the construction of the The mosque by Shaikh Mahdi during that part of the first of that which fell in A.H. 1068 e. regnal year emperor (i. Rama$an-Du'l-pijja 1068= May-September 1658). The Hijra year is given both in figure and in a chronogram. The style of writing is good Nasttfliq. The text, occupying a writing space of 38 by 31 cm., reads as under: TEXT Plate IX (a) 1 "-* (0 TRANSLATION (1) In the name of Allah the Beneficent, the Merciful. built a of aus- (2) Shaikh Mahdi who was a generous Pir (i.e. Spiritual Guide) mosque picious foundation. know it be con- (3) If you wish (to know) the figure (of the date) of its foundation, (to tained 1068 (1657-58 A.D.), in) the letters of (the word) Khujista (lit. auspicious) (A.H.) 'Alamgir, (4) to the One of the lofty accession of king Aurangzeb corresponding year * extinct fort of the town. The seventh epigraph is fixed onthefacad^of thegate of thenow in A.H. 1081 It states that the gate was constructed by the saint Muhammad Mahdi (1670-71 A.D.), the and assistance of Nawwab Dilair Mn son of Darya IQ?an Qhoriya through help c AIamgfr, the Khail Da'iidza'I during the reign of Mutyfu'd-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb a and in figure, mason or architect being Chhinka. The date is given both in chronogram 1 ARIE, Nos. 345-46. ~ D, Ibid., No. D, 343. have omitted the first line. Beale, op. cit. (MD, p. 268 and Anwar Busain, op. eft. p. 113, Anwar FJusain, op. cit., reads 4^1* Ibid, reads *\& , < .,.* after the same of the cit. places it Anwir Husain, op. cit.. omits the Hijra date. Beale, op. (MT), Anwar tfusain, op. cit., omits the entire last line. cit.(MT), This is so inscribed on the stone. It should be -U. Beale, dp. comment. * ARIE, 1963-64, No. D, 348. ARABIC AND PERSIAN 52 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA SUPPLEMENT of Jalal a brother of Dilair KMn was the title KMn, younger Bahadur Khan. When from the of and in the latter was dismissed Faujdarl Kannuaj KalpI 1648, Jalal Khan was been the rank of 1 ,000 and 1 ,000 horse and the title appointed to it, having given Dilair Khan. of the and in the 30th Gradually he rose high in the eyes emperor, regnal year (1656-57 A,D.)'3 toDeccan with Khan Mir Jumla, to assist Prince he was assigned along Mu'a^am Aurangzeb In the following year, he was elevated to the rank of 3,000 and against Bijapur. 3,000 horse, successful services in the Deccan. in recognition of his Dilair received the rank of Under Aurangzeb, in 1666, Khan 5,000 and 5,000 horse, In the of Multan. Next he was sent to 1675, he was appointed as Subedar year the Deccan which asked to look after in the year on the removal of Khan Jahan he was following from there, of a Subedar, In in the of pending the appointment new 1678, siege Golkonda, he was or so he was instrumental in wounded by a musket-ball. A year later, the capture of the fort from the Marathas. In 1682-83, he was sent, with Mangalvedha along many others, those he fell ill against the forces of Bijapur; during days, seriously and died in A.H. 1094 (1683 A.D.), Dilair Khan was physically very strong and sturdy. Strange stones are narrated 1 about his physical strength and diet. The under is in Persian verse and in and is epigraph study partly partly prose the only one of the which is in Naskh of which is group engraved style writing, fairly good. The quality of verse is mediocre. of four lines on the side and six on the Consisting right left, respectively in verse and prose, and occupying a total space of 1 10 by 42 cm., the text has been read as follows:- TEXT Plate IX (b) (a) Right side* cX i U ju ^ j (r) (b) Left Side - s*&\ (Y) u j^ (r) j cJUi (v) n- PP- 42^, 53, 55-56; Muhammad fa (Q > ' 15 5 18?1) PP 59 ' 140 150 182 228 237 n ^ ^ ^ > ' 1. ' ^ "4 ^^ P- PLATE X (a) Epigraph, dated A.H. 1087 (p. 53) SCALE; .17 (/>) Record of Aurangzeb (p. 54) (c) Epigraph, dated A.H, 1088 (p. 55) -, i v*' f SCALH: .24 SOME MUGHAL INSCRIPTIONS FROM KANNAUJ 53 TRANSLATION In the name of the the Merciful. (a) (1) Allah, Beneficent, the PIr (2) By Muhammad Mahdl, (i.e. Spiritual Guide) of the Time was built (this) in a beautiful gate of the heavens manner. (3) I sought the year of the date from Wisdom. It said, 'And enter the fortified citadel in security'. 1081 (4) (A.H.) (1670-71 A.D.). The mason (or architect) of this lofty edifice (is) Chhinka. In of the Sultan of (ft) (1) the reign time, Abu- (2) Z'-Zafar (lit. Father ofVictory) Muhyiu'd-DIn (Lit. Reviver of Religion) Muhammad Aurangzeb (3) Bahadur 'Alamglr Badshah GhazL, (4) with the help and assistance of the Nawwab of exalted titles, (5) Nawwab Dilair Khan son of Darya Khan (6) Ghoriya Khail Da'udza'i, (this) was erected. The eighth epigraph is from the tomb of Shaikh Muhammad Mahdi himself and is fixed 1 above the door, in the centre. It registers the death of the saint Shaikh Muhammad Mahdl son of Shaikh Kablr-i-Balapir and grandson of Shaikh Qasim, on 16th Muharrain 1087 (21st March 1676). The four-line text is in Persian prose and verse. The style of writing is Nas- ttfllq of a fairly high quality and the epigraphical tablet measures 85 by 34 cm. The epigraph has been read as follows: TEXT Plate X [a] 1 ARIE, 1963-64, No. D, 340. 1 omit this word. Anwar IJusain, op. cit. and Beale, op. cit. (MT\ p. 280, * of the epigraph. Anwar IJusain, op. c//., omits the entire prose portion 4 1 Beale, op. cit. (M7 ), omits these words. 1 Ibid, and Anwar Ifusain, op. cit., read *# * Beale, op. cit. (MT), reads TRANSLATION (1) He is (Allah)! The date of the death of His Holiness Shaikh Muhammad (2) Mahdi son of Shaikh Kabir-i-Balapir son of Shaikh Qasim Qadiri, may their secrets be hallowed! It was a thousand and eighty and seven (years) after the the (3) Migration (of Prophet), sixteenth day of the month of Muharram had passed, it of and the (4) (and), was the night Tuesday early morn-time when that Muhammad Mahdi made over his soul to God (16 Muharram 1087=21 March 1676). Thomas William Beale the death of Shaikh Mahdi in A.H. 1 1 places 1088, A.D. 1677 . He error. a of 1088 is the date is obviously in As matter fact, A.H. of the erection of his tomb as stated in the inscription to be studied later (p. 55 infra). 2 The nineth inscription is also from the same Tomb of Shaikh Muhammad Mahdi. The square epigraphical tablet measuring 32 cm. a side, is fixed to the right of the previous one, It places the construction of the tomb in the reign of emperor Aurangzeb. Inscribed in five lines of Persian prose, executed in Nastctllq of quite a good quality, the text reads as 8 follows : TEXT Plate X [b] TRANSLATION (1) Allah. (2) This tomb and lofty magnificent dome, in the period of the reign of Muhammad Aurangzeb, (3) the monarch (who the Shelter is) of Religion, AbuVZafar (lit. Father of Victory) Muhylu'd-Din (lit. Reviver of Religion) (4) Badshah Gljazi, may (Allah) perpetuate his kingdom and sovereignty, (5) was built. B a/ Dictiomry __S^ T^ (London, 1894, Delhi Reprint, 1971), p. 204. Anwar Beale, ciL op. (MT) f omitsV tKcn as tne initial part of line 4 of the i Ibid* reads J&ujl I Ibid, omits. SOME MUGHAL INSCRIPTIONS FROM KANNAUJ 55 The last or tenth epigraph of the present study is also from the Tomb of Shaikh 1 Muhammad Mahdi. The epigraphical tablet measuring 35 cm. a side is fixed above the door studied in the to the left of the inscription preceding line (No. 8, p. 53, supra). As in the case of the previous inscription, it also refers to the construction of the tomb of Shaikh is further Muhammad Mahdi who called Sulaimani Qadiri, in A.H. 1088 (1677-78 A.D.). The language is Persian prose and style of writing, fairly good Nasta'liq. The text of the epigraph runs into six lines and reads as follows; TEXT2 Plate X(c) j>f (Y) ' 7 TRANSLATION (1) Allah the Exalted! (2) Shaikh Muhammad Mahdi. the manifestation of Mount (3) This illuminated dome and the tomb (invested) with Sanai, which on the (lit. the Qutb of (4) the holy resting-place and perfumed grave of Qujb-i-Rabbanl the Nourisher) in (5) Sulaimani Qadirl, may his grave be hallowed! (6) 1088 Hijri (1677-78 A.D.) was erected. The It will be observed that Shaikh Muhammad Mahdi is called Sulaimani Qadiri. order of the Sufis. As to last epithet evidently makes him a follower of the famous Qadiri the term m this case Sulaimani, it is difficult to determine its exact significance. Very likely, would mean that the term is associated with Sulaiman mountains in Afghanistan, which In the alternative, the term Sulaimani indicates the saint's ancestral home or place of origin. Deen of a saint named Sulaiman. It has may indicate the saint's association or discipleship _ also as Sulmmani. w seen above that Fuhrer calls his grandfather Shah Qasim Qadiri f>er to for neither does Rjtoer he is so designated in the inscription on his tomb it is difficult say, record or listed anywhere. who mentions the epigraph quote its purport, nor is the published 1 ARIE, 1963-64, No. D, 342. 2 text. Anwar IJusain, op. cit. f omits the entire 3 cit. Beale, op. (MT), omits. . . . 4 before Sulaimani, Ibid, omits. The saint's name belongs to line 5 of the text, 5 Ibid, omits. This word is no doubt redundant here. 6 Ibid, omits. 7 Ibid, reads BY DR. M. Y. QuooOsi SENIOR EPIGRAPHICAL ASSISTANT as it has been rechristened, is a place of sufficient Ellichpur or Achalpur recently antiquity 1 and of one of the five and historical importance. Once a flourishing city capital independent of it Bahmam-succession kingdoms, namely that of the 'Irnad S_hahis Berar, remained for and cultural activities. It had also centuries an important centre of social, political developed of architecture. its own style in the realm of the Panni chiefs I have selected for study in this article thirteen inscriptions Afghan or These in their the Nawwabs of Ellichpur as they are popularly known. epigraphs range Before with the dates from A.H. 1184 (1171 A.D.) to A.H. 1256 (1840 A.D.). dealing epi- of to have a into the of Berar which is in graphs, it may not be out place peep past history since this would be a way the history of its capital city Ellichpur, particularly survey helpful chiefs rose to in the in understanding how and under what circumstances these prominence regional history of central India. fort formed Berar with Ellichpur and the nearby mighty stronghold of the Gawilgarh Fathu'llah 'Imadu'1-Mulk a province of the Bahmani kingdom (1347-1538). Its governor founded a small independent kingdom in 1490. By 1574, however, it was annexed by the it to the powerful neighbouring kingdom of Ahmadnagar, which in turn had to surrender and Mughals under the treaty of 1596 executed by Chand Bibi Sultan. For the next century a half, the province was ruled over by the Mughals through governors. But when Nigamu'l- of in that Mulk Asaf Jah I (Ni^am I) laid the foundation~of an independent state Hyderabad year, Berar also formed part thereof and continued as such till 1853. the Achalpur possesses a number of old monuments or buildings which speak of heyday of its prosperity under different rulers. Amongst them are the 'Idgah of Sultan 'Imadu'l- Jami' and Mulk, Mosque, Haud. Katora, Dar'us>SJhifa Mosque, Dilkus_ha Mahal, City-Wall Gates, Mandal Shah's Bath, Chauk ki-Masjid, Imambaras, Tomb of SJah GhulamHusain, Namdar Bagh., BI-Baha Bagh, A'ina Mahal, Tomb of Fad.lu Miyan, Tomb of Shah 'Abdu'r- Rahman Ghazi, etc. Most "of the buildings are now out-dated and in ruins. Under the Nigams of Hyderabad, their local governors in Berar, the Panni Afghans of a The Ellichpur played major role in various spheres of the local history of the region. in the inscriptions present study, for example, provide information about their building activities. In the of later Mughal period, as the province passed into the hands of the rulers no work of Hyderabad, architectural merit was done except by the Panni chiefs who through their own limited When financial resources tried to enhance the importance of Ellichpur. in the of study regional development in the field of art and architecture, the work done by these chiefs in the form of palaces, wells, Imambai;as and gardens is taken into consideration, 1 For the history, monuments and Provinces, inscriptions of the town, see District Gazetteers of the Central Distact tS (Bombay, 1911), pp. 394-403; Maharashtra State Gazetteers (MS), Amravati District (Bombay, " n Indian - - - 99 115; - 65 Nos> D> Epigra^y (ARI > I959 60> Nos D > 62 83 ; 1964 > NAWWABS OF ELLICHPUR AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS 57 that the local chiefs tried to it would be easily recognised make Ellichpur one of the beautiful cities of the region. chiefs trace their to the late The Panni origin, according Sayyid Amjad Ilusain ighatib, to one Bandal after a local historian, Khan Afghan who leaving his country of birth first came to Delhi and then moved into the Marwar region of Rajasthan. Later on, he settled down at Alipur, a suburb of Nagpur. Here the family served under the famous Gond chief the Bakht Baland Shah (1 668-1706). Ultimately, family shifted in 1696-97 to Ellichpur, where the two brothers Sarmast Khan and Sultan Khan entered service as Arms-bearers of 'AH Mardan Khan, the governor of Berar under Aurangzeb. When Iwac} Khan governed Berar under Farrukh Siyar, the two brothers became Head Arms-bearers. 1 They seem to have taken keen interest in enlarging and beautifying the city; two localities there, viz. Sarmastpura 2 and Sultanpura, are named after them. Isma'il Khan Panni son of Sultan Khan was the most famous of these Nawwabs (1765- his sons Salabat and received 75). After his death, Khan BuhlulKhan mansabs and fiefs. Isma'll Khan was appointed deputy governor in 1765. Earlier, he had proved his prowess - in a battle which was fought in 1 763 at Rakshashbhawan between the Nigam and the Marat as. He was made governor in 1766. However, later on, his relations with Zafaru'd-Daula, the Nigam's minister, became strained. The latter lost no chance to dislodge him from his post in Berar. Ultimately in 1775, the Nigam issued orders, appointing his eldest son as governor of Berar in his place and confining the Panni chief to the fief of Balapur only. Isma'il Khan felt disgraced and refused to obey. Zafar'ud-Daula who was waiting for such an oppor- in In the action which tunity was sent to Ellichpur and the Nigam also reached there person. took place about forty kilometres from Ellichpur in the middle of May 1775, Isma'il Khan was beheaded. 3 In 1790, Salabat Khan was appointed governor of Berar. Two years later, Buhlul Khan was brought in as the governor of Berar and Aurangabad. But he proved to be he a failure and Salabat Khan was reappointed in the post. During his governorship, enlarged water-channels of the 4 He the place, laid out gardens for public and repaired the old city. at Kharda in 1795. He died fought on the side of the Nizam's forces against the Marathas The latter was also after a long rule in 1824 and was succeeded by his son Namdar :gMn. laid out built a great builder. He has many works in the city to his credit. He gardens, a of the famous Hall-of-Mirrors, Baradari and Imambara mosque. He followed policy nick- retrenchment to increase the revenue of his fief and levied new taxes. Hence he was none of them named Banya-Nawwab. 5 Three sons and three daughters were born to him, but of one Shaikh survived. He had therefore adopted Muhammad Sardar Khan son Da'ud, The but after his death in 1845, he was succeeded by his nephew Ibrahim Khan (1845-49). 6 the town in 1849. Shams latter succumbed to the epidemic of cholera which broke out in the fief confirmed. Her Khatun, the widow of Ibrahim Khan, was the last in the line to get as nazrana to the father Ghulam Hasan Khan the Regent, in lieu of seven lakhs of rupees paid the East India Company Nizam inherited the estate. In 1853, Berar was assigned to of the Nawwabs of ElUchpur. by the Ni^am and thus came to an end the line and the rule 1 433. Amjad Busain FJjatib, Tarikh-i-Amjadiya (Hyderabad, 1876), p. 2 jVf^ p 644 W 1954), p. 32; P. MS, p. 108; The Chronology of Modern Hyderabad (Hyderabad, Ma'athiru'l-Ur^a ^W&**I (Calcutta, 1888), Marathe-wa-Nizam p. 193; Shah Nawaz Khan, (Bombay, 1961), jol. JDU. vol. H 1930) p. pp. 370-71; Najmu'l-Ghani, Tartkh-i-Kiyasat-i-Ifydarmd-Dakan, d^know, p. at. 4 India (IG), vol. XII (Oxford, 1WS), Kbatfb, op. cit., pp. 457-58; The Imperial Gazetteer of ' MS, p. 114. ' Ibid., p. 115; JCha.tib, op. cit., p. 517. ' MS, p. 114. 58 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT The town owes its fortification walls to Nawwab Ismail 1 present Khan. The const in 1766-67 was don of the city-walls which began completed seven years later. The w 11 slabs taken from the ruined tombs and c is built of sandstone buildings of the lmad ShV 2 rulers and others situated near the 'Idgah. Rising to a height of about many 10.80 metres metres its five are bedecked with and being 3.60 wide, gates beautiful canopies. Broadly speaking, of the thirteen inscriptions studied here, six are from the city gates two from the two from the one each from the gardens, Imambaras, Palace, a Well and a Tomb' These information activities and epigraphs provide regarding building contain names of the Asaf Jahi rulers of the chiefs Sultan Hyderabad, Khanjsma'il Khan, Salabat Khan and Muhammad officials, like Path Khan and Namdarglian Jang Khushkhabar Kha"nand the famous saint 'Abdu'r-Rahman Gttazi Shahld mythical popularly known as Shah Dulha Rahman. These names are associated with the closely political, social, cultural, religious and activities of the In these literary region. short, epigraphs have their own importance as a for the later of source history Berar. Last but not the least, Berar chiefs professed Mahdawl tenets as is clearly stated in inscription Nos. IX, X, XII and XIII. I. INSCRIPTION DATED A.H. 1184 (1771 A.D.) The towa of is entered five Ellichpur through gates named Dulha, Hirapura, Malipura, and named Balandpura Jiwanpura (also Nagpur) gates- Inscriptions from the Hirapura gate have already been in a issue of this Series. 3 published previous The slab (57 by 65 cm,) the under bearing epigraph study is built up on the left side of the Malipura gate of the town,4 The of the record is Persian. language There seems to be an orthographical mistake in line five of the text, where the word Nagfrn before the word Suba is inadvertently left out. Executed in of Nasta'hq style writing interspersed with floral designs,the epigraph records the construction of the also gate called in the text Malipura, which was carried out under the orders of Nawwab 'All Nigam Khan Bahadur Asaf Jah (the Second), at the suggestion of Nawwab Isma'll Khan Bahadur, the NSglm of the province of Berar. It also states that the work was completed under the supervision of Khushkbabar Khan, the Revenue-collector of the ( AmtT) Pargana of Ellichpur. The was epigraph earlier noticed by Rai Bahadur Hiralal According to him, 'the date ot its (i.e. the gate's) construction is given as A.H. 1 1 83 (Fasli 1 1 80= 1 769 A.D,) during the of Nawab governoship Nizam All Khan with the advice of Nawab Ismail Khan, and com- pleted by Kushkhabar Khan Amil of Ellichpur Pargana.* This purport is wrong and mis* guiding, except the Fasli year which he has correctly quoted but its Gregorian equivalent is glVenaS A ' Dt 1769 instead of A - - 1771 a is for x D *d the Hijra 1183 a mistake Moreover, Nawwab Nigam 'AH Khan was not a governor, but more or less an It was ^^^J^^lM. Nawwab Isma'Ii Khan who was the Nagim or gover- of Berar under him. District was also built Imcriptions from Vidarbha', Epigraphia Indica Arabic & Persian Supplement ARIE, 1964-65,'No. D, 105. . ^ a o .2 a NAWWABS OF ELLICHPUR AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS 59 The text has been read as under: TEXT Plate XI (a) ijS jus. JIP (r) TRANSLATION (1) In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. (2-3) The construction of the edifice of the Mallpura gate (took place) under the lofty and exalted orders of Nawwab Nigam 'AH |CMn Bahadur (4) Nigamu'1-Mulk Asaf Jah (II), at the suggestion of Nawwab (5) Isma'il Khan Bahadur (N&gini) of the province (Subd) of Berar under the superin- tendence of Khushkhabar Khan, (6) the Revenue-collector (fAmil) of the Pargana of Ellichpu(r). It was constructed in the year A.H. 1184 corresponding to Fasli year 1180 (1771 A.D.). I have not been able to gather any information about Khushkhabar Khan under whose superintendence the construction of the gate took place. The inscription on the Hjra gate 1 of the town also refers to the construction of that gate under his superintendence. This means that Khushklxabar Khan was connected with the construction work of the fort of Ellich- pur; he might have been placed in charge of the job. It also shows that giushkiiabar Khan to hold who held the post in 1766-67, the date of the inscription under reference, continued it till 1771, the year in which the Malipura gate was built. II. INSCRIPTION DATED A.M. 1184 (1771 A.D.) the wall on the side The slab bearing the second record of the group is built up in right 2 lines of in Arabic and Persian* of the same gate. Measuring 57 by 65 cm., it contains six writing verse the of Allah The text contains religious text comprising part of a Quranic promising help of the of Islam Muhammad's and impending victory, the famous Arabic verse in praise Prophet Companion and son-in-law 'All and his sword Dhu'l-Faqar, a Tradition of the Holy Prophet fi as its and the name of Pasjah (i.e, describing himself as the city of Knowledge and 'AH gate' of the town who is closely Mh) 'Abdu'r-Rahman Ghazi, the martyr, the patron-saint buried in tie town. His death associated with the traditionary history of the province and lies hosts the 10th of Rabf I, attended by anniversary is celebrated with great pomp on largely 3 * theme of the which might of people from far and near. The All forms the central epigraph a creed. have been set up by some one following the hf 1 XIX ARIE> 1964-65, No. D, 103; EIAPS, 1967, pp. 73-74, pL (a), 2 No. 106. ARIE, 1964-65, D, , , ,. *,r* .- A w isw i A* 3 Barakatu't-AMitya&tl^ A.H. 3322X 4, For an account of the saint, see Sayyid This was also noticed by Rai Bahadur Hiralal, the gist given epigraph by whom is in- of the date 1 complete and the Gregorian equivalent wrong. of of the epigraph is Nasta'llq. The writing suffers The style writing from a number of text reads as under : orthographical errors. The TEXT Plate XI (b) TRANSLATION (1) O forgiving Opener! 2 (2) 'Help is from Allah and victory near'. (3) There is no magnanimous youth except 'All and no sword except Dftu'l-Faqar. (4) (The Prophet has said:) 'I am the city of Knowledge and "All is its gate'. (5) Pashah 'Abdu'r-Rahman GhazI the martyr. the 4 (6) Written on fourteenth of (the month of) DhI-Qa d year A.M. 1184 (1st March 1771). The exact purport of the record is not clear from the above text. The sayings on different themes put together by the author of the inscription have no relevance to the object of the At the epigraph. most, the Tradition of the Prophet which refers to 'Ail as the gate of the of city Knowledge personified by himself may perhaps be taken to indicate that the inscription pertained to the gate. HI-IV. INSCRIPTIONS DATED FASLl 1182, A,H. 1186 (1772-73 A.D.) There are three 3 inscriptions fixed on the Jiwanpura gate, two on the right side and one on the left One of the two inscriptions on the right side contains only Quranic 'text. The remaining one epigraph on the right and the one on the left constitute one record as can be seen from the text as also easily the size of the tablets and the style of writing. The two inscribed tablets in question measure 60 by 12 cm. and contain one-line text each. The text on these tablets taken together refers to the construction of the gate designated therein as Nagpur Darwaza in the Fasli 1182 year (1772-73 A.D.) and in A.HL 1 186 (1772-73 A.D.), during the time Carnal) of Nawwab Ismail Khan Bahadur. These two were also inscriptions noticed by R. B. Hiralal, the purport given by whom is, however, as usual, not correct. He places the construction of the gate in A.H. 1 182 and Fasli 1 179 to corresponding 1768 A.D. As will be seen from the text quoted below, the construction took place m A.R 1186 and Fasli 1182 which corresponded to 1772-73 A.D. Also, strictly speaking, the does epigraph not name the Nawwab as the builder as stated by Hiralal, but refers to his time the only, though funds for the job must have been provided by him. 1 Hiralal, Op. ciL * Qur'an. Chapter of 1 LXJ, part verse 31 ARIE, 1964-65, No. D, 107. PLATE XII (c> Inscription, dated A.M. I I 86 (p. 61 | Epigraph, dated A.M. 1187 (p. 61) SCALE: . 19 (c) Epigraph, dated A.H, 1226 (p. 62) " ' ' " ' > ' - - ";".., T;* -, >*&/: { v^^^iy^r^^ , ^ Wt&A^^ v**V^v1^3SSn^^ " SCALE: .3 NAWWABS OF ELLICHPUR AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS 61 The style of writing in both the tablets is identical and in the same hand; it is fairly good Nastcfliq. The text has been read as follows: TEXT Plate XI (c) (a) J^i UAY Plate XII (a) TRANSLATION (a) The construction of the Nagpur gate (took place) in the FaslI year 1182 (1772-73 A.D.), (b) during the time of Nawwab Isma'il Khan Bahadur in the year A.H. 1186 (1772-73 A.D.). V. INSCRIPTION DATED A.H. 1187 (1773-74 A.D.) The tablet bearing this epigraph is fixed over the Balandpura gate of the town1 and measures 46 by 44 cm. It comprises five lines of writing in Persian executed in Nastcfliq cha- racters of no particular merit. Here too, there is a curious spelling mistake in the writing of the clan-name Pathan, which is written as Fathan, as will be pointed out presently. The text starts with Basmala and records the construction of Babu'r-Rahman i.e. Rahman Gate inA.H. 1187 (1773-74 A.D.) during the time Carnal) of Nawwab Isma'11 Khan Fatlian, recte Pathan. The epigraph is further stated to have been composed by one Mu'a^gam. The text reads as under: TEXT Plate XII (b) J-^ti (f) TRANSLATION the Merciful. (1) In the name of Allah, the Beneficent i.e. the Rahman Gate (was built) by the (2-3) The gate of the Rahman (lit. Beneficent) 4 of grace of the obliging Creator, during the time ( owa/) (4) Nawwab Ismail Khan Fathan (recte, Pathan). 1187 (1773- (5) Composed (by) Mu'aggam, year (A.H.) 1 ARIE, 1964-65, No. D, 110. 62 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT The gate, called the Rahman Gate in the text, is thus actually named after the saint ^ -k 'Abdu'r-Rahman already mentioned in the previous lines. It is surprising that the n^ if not stuck. The is now called gate Balandpura gate, after the locality of that name It is interesting to note the spelling of the clan-name Pathan. It is indeed not the A v form of the name the sound p being represented by/in that as language one would b 1 !5 to believe at first, in view of the initial /engraved on the stone. The sound th in the nam P i been, perhaps through the engraver's mistake, made th. Likewise, somewhat intriguing is the mention of Mu'aggam as the author of the t^t For there is nothing poetic in or about the text nor is there anything chronogrammatic or tS like which is normally followed by the name of the author or composer. However it is lik 1 that who mentions himself Mu'a^am as the author of the text, was a poef' the 'na> 1 represent his nom-de-plume. y VI. INSCRIPTION DATED A.M. 1226 (1811 A.D.) The slightly damaged epigraphical tablet 36 20 measuring by cm. is fixed over entrance of the famous Zan-ka-Imambara.! It contains a record of two verses in Persian the assign^ construction of a lofty building or mansion in the name of Imam (i.e. Husain, the granZ of the Holy Prophet) m A.H. 1226 (1811 A.D.) by Muhammad Path Jang Khan, fne sMe of is writing refreshingly beautiful Nasta'liq. The record reads as under:-" TEXT Plate Xll (c) L fUl jj ^^^5 i^ (\) jy*a ^Jula ib IOJ ^IjTj (t) TRANSLATION ^ COn r Uction)' the invisible Angel gave a call regarding (this) ^a f ; great holy precinct and a place of pilgrimage. (A.H) 1226(1811 the 1 Z ^* question was the father-in-law is Prime Minister - The i him> T at y T Wards the end of his career he was osted Aurangabad wheTe A t, ' P ht? '*' 5 ~ laid to (m9 2Q A'^' His dead * and refarEmiur a ^ Bought the time f Naw-b Ntadir Khan. A - great ! t game-huntin He is said to have huDted of tigers out of g' whose Snskin, heh,77had ^ i got a tent prepared for his use.* He maintained 1 ^___^ ^ a Imambara, place dedicated to th f ' where, ^ H Iy Pr Phet s particularly in the month of MShZZ grandsons Imam Hasan and Imam Husain vp NAWWABS OF ELLICHPUR AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS 63 close relations with British officials and also with the then Viceroy Lord Wellesley under whose he is said to have been his father. special protection placed by He took active part in the annual *Urs of Shah 'Abdu'r-Rahman Ghazi for ceremony whom he had great respect and love. He was a too of Urdu and poet adopted Jarnail, which is a vernacular adaptation of the as his was the designation General, pen-name. He only Nawwab of his line to compose verses and leave a Diwan. 1 Baiza When Ba'i, the Ram of Gwalior passed through Berar on her to Nasik and other way religious places, Namdar Khan extended all possible help for 2 her safe and comfortable jounrey. VII-VHI. INSCRIPTION DATED A.H, 1229 (1813-14 A.D.) The next two inscriptions are from Namdar Bagh. One epigraphical tablet measuring 44 30 cm. is fixed 3 by on the right side of the main gate. The short four-line text engraved thereon in relief commences with Basmala and merely refers to the laying out of the garden of His Excellency General Muhammad Namdar Khan Bahadur Panm" in the year A.H, 1229 (1813-14 A.D.). The language is Persian and style of writing beautiful Nasta'Itq. The Namdar Bagh is now desolate. When I visited Ellichpur more than a decade ago, before joining the Archaeological Survey of India, Namdar Bagh wore a deserted look and only its walls and the well were then traceable. The epigraph has been read as follows I- TEXT Plate XIII (c) - * *9V* J yl^ (f) \w s> ^J^IH (r) TRANSLATION (1) In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. (2) The laying out of the garden of His Excellency (3) General Muhammad Namdar Khan 1229 (4) Bahadur Panni (took place in) the year A.H. (1813-14 A.D.), the same measures 40 by 20 cm. The tablet bearing the other inscription from garden 4 a in Urdu, composed and is fixed to the left side of the gate, It contains Quatrain (Rubffl) out of the described in the text as by Janbaz, affording a chronogram for the laying garden 6 out the i.e. Nawwab bringing shame to Kashmir and Iram, which was laid by general is also in Namdar Khan, in A.H. 1229 (1813-14 A.D.)- The date given figure, fa* 1 available in For an account of Qaflb, op. c/r.,p.504. The copy of his Diwin is Ellichpur. Basil, Wtofrk+Oa* G** achievements in this field, see Professor Dr. SayyidaWasimDurdana (Akola, 1980), pp. 160-86, 1 Ibid., op. cit,, pp. 497-98. 8 ARIE, 1959-60, No. D, 82. 4 B>tt f No. 83. . , D, t . , , + A .. 4 Shaddad bin 'Adin OH*** <* Aft m*a Iram is the fabulous garden said to have been devised by Paradise. 64 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT The text is inscribed in beautiful Nasta'liq and reads as under: TEXT Plate XIII (a} " J J fjl j UU- TRANSLATION When the General (1) laid the foundation of the garden, a new creation (2) putting Kashmir and (even) Iram to 'shame, when Janbaz (3) (and) desired (to know) its date, the invisible (4) Angel said, '(it is) a garden of everlasting spring.' (A.H.) 1229 (1813-14 jri..D.). The last three words in the concluding hemistich of the Quatrain yield according to the Abjad system the year A.H. 1229 which is also inscribed in figure. e rd eneral occurrin in the S above two inscriptions was the NawwabXT ^u NamdarxT- , nom-de-plume of Shan Panni. This is the earliest Urdu inscription discovered ?om the Muns-~ 5asjmat * wh had IX. INSCRIPTION DATED A.H. 1236 (1 820-21 A D ) r- The style of writing is of Nasta'ltq no particular merit The text reads as under: TEXT Plate XIII (b) JL (Y) ^u (r) jUJI (r) jUil il' OUM^ JU.* (i PLVTF \HI PLATE XV 00 ci Sw1 (N bO 9 00 en cs T3 s 5 NAWWABS OF ELLICHPUR AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS 65 t_MJl Ha f t~)l_jJ (<) (A) TRANSLATION the the Merciful. (1) In the name of Allah, Beneficent, a of (2) The founder of this paradise-indicating edifice, place pilgrimage of to Imam be on (3) for the high and the low, by way offering (Husain), may peace him, (is) the weakest of han Bahadur son of (4) creatures Muhammad Namdar Panm. (5) Muhammad Salabat han Bahadur Afghan a devoted servant of (6) Sulaiman-Za'i 'Mahdavi, (Fidwf) Jah Bahadur (7) Nawwab Nigamu'1-Mulk Asaf (III). construction in the A.M. 1236, (8) The commencement of the (was) year 1230 (9) corresponding to the FaslI year (1820-21 A.D.). the clan-name of the chiefs and sect to which This epigraph gives full details of religious they belonged. X. INSCRIPTION DATED A.H. 1238 (1822 A.D.) slab now loose in the Palace of Namdar This inscription occurs on a marble lying of a 63 49 the text assigns the construction Khan.* Occupying a writing space of by cm., in the A.H. 1238, FaslI 1232 (1822 A.D.) mansion called A'ina-Mahal (Hall of Mirrors) year Muhammad Salabat Bahadur son of to Muhammad Namdar Ehan Bahadur son of Shan Mahdavi. Nawwab Muhammad Ismail han Bahadur Panni Afghan Sulaiman-Za'i houses the Rahmania Urdu High The A'ina-Mahal referred to in the epigraph now roof and walls were studded a number of buidings. Its School. It originally consisted of so called. What now remains of this palatial with mirrors and hence the building came to be stones and with beautiful carvings. mansion are solid wooden pillars, gates of a The of writing:s Nasta llq fairly good The language of the epigraph is Persian. style of the other epigraphs under relief as is the case with most type. The text is not inscribed in to the device of ma the has resorted kmg study but is incised on stone. Here too, calligrapher bt and instead of inde- the horizontal strokes of letters ya the horizontal panels by extending the is pleasing. overall visual effect of design quite pendent straight lines. The The text reads as under: TEXT Plate XV (d) ARIE, 1959-60, No. D, 81. 66 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT TRANSLATION (1) In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. (2) (Became) ready the mansion of A'ina-Mahal of His Excellency, the bountiful (3) Nawwab Muhammad Namdar Khan Bahadur son of Nawwab (4) Muhammad Salabat KMn Bahadur son of Nawwab Muhammad (4) Isma'Il Jb&n Bahadur Panni Afghan Sulaiman-Za'I (6) Mahdavi, on the date, eleventh of the month of Rabi' the Second of the A.H. to the Fasli (7) year 1238, corresponding year 1235(11 Rabf II, 1238=26 December 1822). XL INSCRIPTION DATED A.H. 1240 (1824-25 A.D.) This inscribed slab measuring 47 by 70 cm. is fixed into the north wall of a well called 1 Sadhulal's well situated in Mahalla Ashrafpura. The record begins with Basmala followed by a four-line Persian text assigning the construction of the well to Nawwab Muhammad, Namdar Khan Panni son of Muhammad Salabat Khan Bahadur PannL The work was in A.H. 1240 to completed corresponding Fasli 1234 (1824-25 A.D.). The text, inscribed in Nastcfhq script, reads asunder: TEXT Plate XIV (6) (0 LJ (Y) TRANSLATION In the (1) name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful The well of water was (2) got ready by His Excellency the bountiful (3) Nawwab Muhammad Namdar Khan Bahadur Panni (4) son of Nawwab Muhammad Salabat Khan Bahadur Panni (5) in the year A.H. 1240, corresponding to Fasli year 1234 (1824-25 A.D.). XIL EPITAPH DATED A.H. 1240 (1824 A.D.) This inscription is from the Tomb of Namdar han in the garden called Bi-Baha-Bagh. It is engraved on a tablet 66 measuring by 98 cm. which is built up in the north wall of the It is an bmldmg^ epitaph of Nawwab Muhammad Salabat Khan son of Muhammad Isma 12th RaW 1 1240 (4th Novem- ^ detail !824). Tbs is not known from any other known source. 1 ARIE, 1966-67, No. D, 141. 9 AR1E. 1959-60, No. D, 77. -1 o INSCRIPTIONS NAWWABS OF ELUCHPUR AND THEIR Sa^at Oan was H.^: in reciting "* of totime '* &*1 m th= affairs ottn g he ^^^^^0^.fully , KMrda in March same time, part.c,pated ^ Msa ?rr^^ta " ^^^'"^ The U fair *. The style of writing teLcriptioois Persian. as under: record has been read XIV (a) ' r- ua ., TRANSLATION * - - 8 itrs J." ssri' to the Fasb year corresponding (6) from tt. minutes) departed) and tliry-fonr w of the mgru ^ (7) had remained world. he .he eternal world, joined A . DJ DATED A.H. ( xm INSCRIPT.ON ^^ ^ ^^ somewhat unusual A conspicuous and No. D, 161. , 1965-66, 68 EPIGRAPHIA INDICAARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT of Figures comprising squares of nine houses which would total when twenty added in any direction or The of or horizontally vertically. significance motive for placing such Tables is not clear to me. it was intended to serve as a Very probably Naqsh (Charm) against Evil- Eye or so. It also gives the full genealogy of the Ellichpur chiefs. The of is beautiful the effect of which is style writing Nasta'tiq, enhanced by the artistic in which the double-lined way horizontal panels with dotted borders containing the text have been designed. The text of the epigraph is quoted below; TEXT Plate XV (b] (a) In the first panel flanking the Basmala \ (b) Main Epigraph. 4$^;. ^ J (Y) t V ^ (r) JU^ (f ) Jjj (6) ol>- OlkL- oU- (V) J^ 1^ ^) IjA (A) ^ (V) TRANSLATION < NAWWABS OF ELLICHPUR AND THEIR INSCRIPTIONS the Merciful. of Allah, the Beneficent, th\ m In the name tomb of ( } and the enclosure-wall of the blessed construction of the gate (2) The Sultan Khan. Muhammad' Bahadur ..of Muhaad rf Muha^ad Salaba, Qfe INDEX Amir Hasan Sijzi, see Hasan Sijzi Amir ghusraw, poet and author 13 (& f n.2), 'Abdu'l-Balim, official , , 36 'Abdu'l-Samid Lahori, historian 49 (f.n.1,3) Amjad Susain ghatib, Sayyid, *Abdu'l-Karim, Dr, s author 9 (f.n. 1,2), historian .. 57(&f.n. 1) 12, (f.n. 1) Anwar Husain, author 44 (f.n. 1), 46 'Abdu'r-Rahman (f.n. 2,3,7, Ghazi, Shah, Pasha, 47 8,9,10,11,12), (f.n. 1,7), 48 (f.n.1,4), saint 63 mythical 56, 58, 59, 60, 61, 50 (f.n. 1,2, 3,4,5), 51 (f.n. 3,4,5,6), 52 Abu'i-Fath, 28 kunya 11, 53 (f.n.2), (f.n. 2,3,5,8), 54 (f. n. 3), 55 Abu'l-Muzaffar, ktmya .. 11, 23, 25, 33, 35, (f.n. 2) 37, 38, 47 As'ad, son of of #usain, epitaph 2 (f,n.4) Abu'z-Zafar, kunya . . 53, 54 Asaf, Prime Minister of Solomon 28 (& f.n. 1), Achalpur, Ellichpur renamed, in 29 Maharashtra . . 56 Asaf Jah (I), of Hyderabad 55 Adgaon, in Maharashtra 67 AsafJah(ffl) .. 67 Afaqi, term 42, 43 (& f.n. 1) Asaf Jahi, dynasty, of Hyderabad 58 Agha Mahdl tJusain, Dr., historian 14 (f.n,2), Ashraf al-IJusaini, Sayyid, father of 20 (& f.n. 4) BusainShah .. 36, 37 Ahammadapura, place-name 29 Atabak titles A'zam, .. 22, 25 (f.n. Ahi-i-Suffa, meaning of . . . . 7, 8 (& f.n. 4) 1,2) Ahmad, Hizibru'd-Dm, Mamluk in Aurangabad, Maharashtra . . 57, 62 nobleman 3 Aurangzeb,Mughal emperor 45, 49, 50, 51, 52, Aftmad Jhitam, Malik, ghajjl 53,54,57 general .. 14,15,16,17 A zam han, governor of Deccan 49 Aljmad Shah, of Gujarat . . 28 Ahmadnagar, kingdom of 55 B Aibek, see Qutbu'd-Din, Aibek Akbar, Mughal . . Baba emperor 44, 45 IJajI Sharif, saint . . 45 *Alamgir, see Baba Aurangzeb JChan, official and builder.. 39, 41, 43 of 'AlauM-Din, IChalji king Delhi 13, 14, 15 Babaja, Telugu form of Baba han 42 (&f.n.ll),16(& Badchak, Malik, Neo-Muslim Mongol f.n. chief 1), 20 .. 16, 18, 19, 20 , spurious of . . epitaph 2 (f,n. 6) Badh, Malik, 'Imadu'1-Mulk, Guj- *Alau*d-D!n Pusain Shah see arat ftusain nobleman . . 29 Shah Badr 'Alam, saint . . 32 'Alau'd-Din 'Imadu'1-Mulk . . 43 Badru'd-DIn Sunqurtigm, see Sun- 'Alau'd-Dunya title . . wa'd-Din, 34, 35^ 36, qurtigin Bagula, place-name . . 29 "All fourth y Caliph.. .. 59 60 Bahadur JOian, Rohila Nawwab, 'All, MamlQk Naslru'd-Dln, noble- Mughal nobleman man 45 ,48,49,52 t ^ 3 Bahau'd-Din, 'Imadu'1-Mulk, Malik 29 (f.n. 6) *Ali Mardan Berar ghan, governor 57 in Bahmam, West Bengal 31, 32, 34 'All Muhammad historian gMn, 15 (f.n. 11) , kingdom and dynasty 42,56 *AH son of 'Iwad Shir, .. 7 8 9 11 -, Sayyid Shah saint 31 a Shahid, Alipur, suburb of Nagpur ., 57 ^, Neo-Muslim Mongol chief 16 Alp Kian, Gujarat . . governor 14 n . (f. 2), 1 5 Bairn Prasad, historian 49 in (f.n.2) Amarargarh, Bengal . . '31 Baiza Ba'i, Rani of Gwalior 63 Amfaiyabad, Khakhrechi, so named 30 Bakht Baland Shah, Gond chief 57 term */lm//, ^ Bakhtyar, father of the conqueror of Aimr,rank \\ 4 (& f.n. 2) Bihar 3(f.n.3) INDEX 71 , 'Izzu'd-DIn, Mamluk general 2, 3, 4 (& Cedi, country 6 f.n. 3), 5 Chalisgaon, in Khandesh 49 Balapir,ato of Shaikh Kabir 44(f.n.2), 45,47,53,54 Champakapura, place-name 29 Balapur, in Maharashtra 57 58 (f.n.l) Champaner, in Gujarat 29 Balchaq, variant of Badchaq . . 16, 18, 19, 20 Chand Bibi Sulan, of Ahmadnagar 56 Baljag, variant of Balchaq . . 20 (f.n.2) Chandalgarh, for Chunar 45 (f.n. 8) Bambani, variant of Bahmam . . 32 Chhmka, mason 51,53 Banarsi Prasad Saksena, Dr., his- Chitor, in Rajasthan 16 (f.n. 1) torian . . 20 Chunar, in Uttar Pradesh 45 (f.n. 8) Bandal JChan, ancestor of Ellichpur Chunargarh, i. e. Chunar 45 (f.n. 8} Nawwab . . 57 Commissariat, Professor M.S., Banya Nawwab, nickname of Nam- historian 15 (& f.n. 3) General A. 21 dar Khan of Ellichpur . . 57 Cunningham, Major (f.n. 1, 2, 22 Barani, Diyau'd-Dm, historian 13 (&f. n. 2), 14 (f. 3), (f.n. n. 3), 16 (f.n.2) 1, 2, 3), 25, Bare Malik, sobriquet of Malik 44 (f.n. 5) Qujtbu'1-Mulk . . 42 (f. n. 3) Barq, Neo-Muslim Mongol chief 16 Beal, S., author . . 44 (f.n. 5) Dadhipadra, place-name . . 29 author 44 Beale, Thomas William, (f.n. 2), Dahod, in Gujarat .. 26, 27, 28 46 45 (f.n.8), (f.n.l,2,4,5,6,10, (f.n. 2),29,30 47 48 11, 12), (f.n. 7), (f.n.5), Dakhams, i.e. natives of Deccan 42 51 52 53 (f.n. 3,6,8), (f.n. 2), Dani, Dr. A.H., historian . . 35 (f. n. 2) (f.n. 2,4,6,7), 54 (f.n. 1, 4), Darya Khan, Rohila, chief 45,48,49,51 ,53 55 (f.n. 3, 4,5,6,7,8,9) Da'udza'i, clan 48,49,51,53 Begda, epithet of Mahmud Shah of Deccan, region 49, 52 26 Gujarat Delhi, epitaph from . . 1 Bengal 9 (& f.n.3), 10 (& f. Deogiri, old name of Daulatabd 15 n.2), 11 (& f.n.2), Desai, Dr. Z. A., author . . 1, 6, 26, 33 12 (f. n. 1), 38,49 (f.n.1). 39 14 Bengal, conquest of 9 Dewal (Devi), daughter of Kama Dev 7 Berar, erstwhile kingdom 43,56,57,58,63 Dhikr, term 49 Bhalki Khairpur, variant of Valki, Dholpur, in Rajasthan .... place-name 32 Dilairghan,Nawwab,Rohila chief 45,49,51,52,53 41 financier, in Uttar Pradesh 49 (f.n.2) Diwan, term 39, 30 Bharuch, district, in Gujarat 30 Diyadar, place-name .... Bhonslas, of Nagpur 67 Dohad, variant of Dahod . . 26, 29 (f.n. 1) . . - 3 (f.n. 4) Blgha, term of land-measure 39 (f. n. 3) Dowson, J., author 3 Bijapur, kingdom 52 Dowson and Elliot .. - (f.n. 5) Bikramajit, Darya Khan killed by 49 E Birbhum, district, in West Bengal 6, 31(&f.n.l), 36 in Maharashtra 56,57,58,59,62,63,67,68 Blochmann, H., author 21 (&f.n.5),22, 25 Ellichpur, H. author .. 3 (f. n. 4) (&f. n. 1) Elliot, M., 3 G - 5' 30 Elliot & Dowson ff* Broach, anglicised form of Bharuch Buhlul ]gMn, SOn of Isma'Il gian 57 Bulka, Malik Ikhtiyaru'd-Din . . 10,11 49 Bundelkhand, sarkar and region (f.n.2) Fa Hian, Chinese traveller and 44 Burdwan, district in West Bengal 6, 31 (& f.n. pilgrim 56 1X37 FadlQ Miyan, of Achalpur 49 57 Burhanpur, in Madhya Pradesh Fairukh Siyar, Mughal emperor 9 * Burhanu AmirVlMu'minin, title 7, 8, Famikhabad, district, Pradesh 44,45{f.G.6) Fatb ^ang Sfe^ official anglicised form of Cambay, in Uttar Practesb Khambhat - J8 19 Fatfcgarh, 72 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT ' Fathu'Hah, 'Imadu'1-Muik, Berar Hashmat Rai, Munshi, poet . . 54 . in . governor . 56 Hirnmatnagar, Gujarat . 30 historian 43 44 5) Hiralal, Rai author 58 Firishta, (f,n. 1), (f.n. Bahadur, (& f.n. 5), 60 (& FirQz Shah, Tughluq king . . 2 (f.n.6), Hizibru'd-Dm see 21, 22 (& f.n. 4), Ahmad, Ahmad, Hizibru'd-DIn 23 (& f.n. 2), 25 Hodiwala, Prof. S. H., historian Fiihrer, Dr. A, author . . . . 21 (& f.n. 1, and numismatist . . 2, 3), 22 (& f.n. 1, . . 10 (f Uf ^ Hoeraele, numismatist . . . . 3), 25 (& f.n. 1, 3), JQ Hosain Shah, variant of Husain 44 (f.n. 3,5), 45 (f.n. 6,8), Shah 37 (f.n. 2) Hu Hiuen Chinese 46 (f.n, 1), 55 Tsiang, traveller 44 Humayun, Mughal emperor . . 44 father of . . Husain, 'Iwad . . u flusain Shah, of . . 32 Bengal 31, (& f.n. 1), 34, Gabhru, Neo-Muslim Mongol chief 16 35, 36, 37, 38 'Iwad ...... 44 IJusamu'd-Din . . Gahadvala, dynasty 9 * JQ . . . S, S. author Ganarn, N.M., author , 17 Sussain, 3^ Garmaba (Hot-bath), of Malik 'Izzu'd- I Na'ib Barbak .. . . DmBakhtyar 4 Ibrahim, 21, 22, 23 Ibrahim Gaur, capital of Bengal . . . . 37 (f.n. 2) JChan, nephew of Namdar Gawilgarh, fort, in Maharashtra 56, 67 iClian 57 Ibrahim of of . General, pen-name Nawwab Shah, Jaunpur . 22 Ibrahim of Namdar gMn 63,64 Suljtan, Jaunpur . . 22 25 Gharghashti, nisba .... 51 Iftikharu'd-DIn Muhammad, see Ghiyatiu'd-Dm Iwad, see 'Iwad Muhammad Ghiyatbu'd-Dunya wa'd-DIn, title 11 Ikhtiyaru'd-Din see Bulka Bulka, '. \ Ghiyatbu'l-Islam wa'1-Muslimin, title 9 Ikhtiyaru'd-Din Muhammad, see Ghor, in Afghanistan .... 3 Muhammad nisba Ghori, 3 (& f.n. 3) Iltutmish, Shamsu'd-Din, Mamluk Ghoriya |Chail, clan . . 51 53 ruler 48, 49, , 1, 2, 3 (f.n. 3, 5), Ghulam of $asan iChan, Nawwab, 5, 10, 11 4 Imad Ellichpur 57 Shahis, of Berar . . . . 56,' 58 Ghulam ftusain, Shah, saint . . 56 Imadala, variant of 'Imadu'1-Mulk 29 Golkonda, Qutb Shahi capital . . 42, 52 Imadala Malaka, variant of 'Imadu'l- Mulk , , Gujarat 14 , . . . 13, 9 15 . . 29 (& f.n. 5), 16 (f.n. 1), 17, 20 Imadala Malika, variant of'Imadu'l- Gupta empire 44 Mulk 29 t Gwalior, Rani of 53 title Imadu'l-Mulk, 28, 29 (&f.n. 6), 56 term Imam, 42,62,64,65 H Imam IJasan, Prophet's grandson 62 (f.n. 2) Imam IJusain, ftabibu'llah, Dr. A.B.M., his- Prophet's grandson 62(f. n. 2) torian Imamu'd-Din Abmad, author 59 - . Sayyid, (f. n.3) 3 ( & f.n. 4,6) Iqbal Ahimad, author 21 IJadrat Nizamu'd-Din Auliya, celebr- Sayyid, (f.n.l), 22 (& ated saint 4 f.n.2,5, 6),24(f.n. I), Haig, Sir author 25 (f.n. 1) Wolseley, 14, 29 (f. n. 6) Iram, fabulous garden . . . . 63 f.n. tfaji Sul.tanl, 'Imadul-Mulk, Guja- (& 5), 64 rat nobleman 29 (& f.n.6) in sarkar Irij, Islamabad 49 (f.n. 2) $ajjl Dabir, historian .. .. 29 (f.n. 6) 'Isami, historian . . 13, 14 (f.n.l, 2, 3), Hammir Dev, Ranthambhore king \j 15 (& f.n.l), 16 (& Hamza, Ruknu'd-Dln, MamlQk f.n.l, 2), 20 (& f.n.2) grandee . . . . 3 Isfahsalar, variant of Sipahsalar, Harshavardhane, ruler .... 44 Post 4(f.n . 2) fltesan, Taju 'd-Dm, donor . . ] 8, 1 9 Islamabad, sarkar .... 49 Hasan Ni:zami, historian 3 fn . 5 (& 4^ ) 4 Ismail Khan, Nawwab, of EIHch- (f,n. 5 3},' pur 57,58,59,60,61,65,66,67,69 JJasan Sijzi, Amir, poet and author 4 'Iwad, Ghiyatbu'd-Din of Bengal 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 73 INDEX 3 (& f.n.3), 9, 10 ghalji, tribe . . 14 'Iwad Khan, Berar governor (& f.n.2), . 3 (f.n. 3) variant of Iltutmish. 14 16 (f.n.l), lyal-timish, ghambhat, in Gujarat (f.n.3), see Bakhtyar Izzu'd-Din Bakhtyar, 18, 19, 20 (f.n. 4) 1 8 variant of Khambhat Khambhayat, .... ghan, military rank 26 official .. - 1 3 {Chan, M.F., historian 10 C^- ' 49,52 Jadu Nath Sarkar, ^ ghan Jahan Lodi, Mughal grandee ^ f- n - .. ^ < "> Khan Sarwar, Malik Sarkar, Dr., his- 49 Jagdish Narayan Khandesh, region .... " ' ^ - Prime torian 49 Khan-i-Jahan, Maqbul, . . 2 Mughal emperor . . (f.n. 6) Jahangir, ^ Minister of Firuz Tughluq .. of Kannauj . . 9 3), JaiChand, Raja saintly Hospice 7, (f.n. *, > Khanqah, saint .. 11,1- Jalal, Makhdum Shah, Dilair Khan Jalal ghan, entitled ^ Kharda, battle of .. . . J67 saint - - 58,59 Jalalu'd-Dm Tabriz!, 3 (f.n. 3) Lakhnawati, in West Bengal historian 15(&f.n.5), Kabir.Shai^saint Lai, Professor K.S., (f.n.l) 39,41,43 ^C*^^. - Kadiri, Dr. A.A., author Langar, Free-Kitchen g20 ^-n ' ) Kahnam, variant of Kanam - - Lord Wellesley, see Wellesley Mamluk ruler, spunous Kaiqubad, ^ of " ' ^^ M epitaph 51 surname . . 29 1) Kakar, 49 52 of Mafemud (f.n. . variant wrfc5r, in Uttar Pradesh . Mahamuda, 18 Kalpi, .. Telugu form oi Maharajadhiraj, title Kamana-Malaka, sect 58M65,586465 ^ follower of a religious . . - - Mahdawi, Qiwamu'1-Mulk of Kambaya, Arabicised form _ 50 Kharn^ ^ ^ - " Mahdi, poet ; bhat .. .- '"34,38 see Mahdi oi Mahdi Husain, Agha conquest ' Kamru, " ' of pusain 44 Kamta, conquest of Ghazna region, in MabmQd, Sul.tan, _. Kanam, black-soil Shah, A-' |n*r v Sayyid _ . J.U, J* Bahmani, . . MahmOd " ^ 44,46,49,5 ' ^ in Uttar Pradesh saint 1 42,43 Kannauj, SulXan Kannauj so called by MahmQd Bahmani, Kanogiza, ^ .. _ - j m_rtrt "Knilnftr v/Rai, Maharaj 26, 27, 28, ^ Shah, of Gujartt MabmQd 29, 30 Gujarat.. 19 ' J& Yn.I), ^ Mongol Chief 42 Karri, Neo-Muslim " * king Bahmani t 30 Devi, queen of W* 28, Kawla ^ in Gujarat Mufeammad, MW Matouabad, 2S, 30 Qairu'd-Din J ft ^ foundation of '* 9 ^ 1) ** Mahmudnagar, 13 (to. author ,!-, : n scholar Ambiyabad, in ,DnK,M., Khakhrechi, named 13 15 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT 20 Mir title . . . . , , Majumdar, Professor M.R., author (f.n. 1) Jumla, 52 Mir-i-Mlran Makhduni Shah Jalal, see Jalal Salari, Mamluk official 4 (f.n, 2) in 30 Dr. historian . . 13 Malia, named Rasulabad, Gujarat Misra, S.C., (f n 1) 14 (f.n. 2), 15 Malia (Miana), see Malia (f.n. 10) Mongol, menace and attacks .. 14, 15, 16 Malik, military rank Moradabad, district, in Uttar Malik Ahmad Jhltam, see Alimad Pradesh 23 Jhitam (f.n. 2) Mu'azzam, poet 61, 62 Malik Badchak, see Badchak . . see Mu'azzam Khan, Mir Jumla, official 52 Malik Badh, Maliku'sh-Sharq, Mubarak Shah, of Jaunpur . . 22 Badh Mughal inscriptions .... 44 Malik Bahau'd-DIn *Imadu'l-MuIk, Muhammad, al-Maraghi, father of a see Bahau'd-DIn builder ...... 7, 8 Malik Ibrahim Na'ib-1-Barbak, see Muhammad, bin Sam, Ghori Sul.tan 44 Ibrahim Muhammad, Iftikharu*d~Dln, Mamluk Malik Ikhtiyaru'd-DIn Bulka, see grandee 3 Bulka 4 30 Muhammad, Ikhtiyaru'd-DIn, con- Malik Imadu'l-Mutk queror of Bihar ...... 3 (f.n. Malik *Izzu'd-DIn Bakhtyar, see 3) Muhammad, son of Bakhtyar, con- Bakhtyar queror of Bihar .. .. .-. 9 Malik Khan Sarwar, see Khan '* Muhammad Aurangzeb, see Sarwar 16 f.n. 1) Aurangzeb Malik Na'ib, title (& Muhammad Ayub official . . 32 Malik Qiwarnu'1-Mulk, see Qiwamu'l- Muhammad Fasihu'd-Dm, Khan Mulk Bahadur Maulvl, author . . 21 (f.n.l), Malik QuJtbu'1-Mulk, see Qutbu'l- 22 (& f.n. 2, 4), Mulk 24 (f.n. 1), 25 (& Malik Shadi, see Shadi fjn. Malik Shahm, see Shahin 1, 2, 3) Muhammad Path Jang IChan, see Malik-i-Muluki'sh-Sharq wa's-m, 25 Fatli Jang Khan title Q 19 MuJiammad IJabib, Professor . . 4 (f.n. 1), Maliku'l-Akabir, title .... 18 16 (f.n. 3), 20 (f.n. 2) Maliku'l-Kabir, title .... 18 Ismail Khan see Maliku'l-Umara, title .... Muhammad 29 Isma'il Maliku'sh-Sharq, title . , . . 28, gMn 3 Muhammad Mahdi, Shaikh, saint 44 (f.n. 2), 45, Mandor, in Rajasthan .... 52 47,48,50,51,53,54,55 Mangalvedha, fort .... 41 Namdar IChan, see Mansab-i-Ma'ali, title .. .. 39, Muhammad Namdarghan Maqbul, |Chan-i-Jahan, see ghan-i- see Jahan Muhammad galabat Khan, Salabat - . . 8 f.n. Maragha, in Iran . (& 3) ,11 |Chan 11 Muhammad Musta'id ghan, Maraghi, nisba 7, 8, Saqi historian 52 (f.n. 1) Maratha, country and community 14,26,44,52,57,67 Sardar see MardanShah, Nasiru'd-Dm, Muhammad ghan, MamlOk noble 3 Sardar ghan Neo Muslim Marhat, variant of Maratha . . 14 Muhammad Shah, Mongol chief 16 Marwai, region, in Rajasthan . . 57 . . 28 Muhammad hah I, of Gujarat Masanadyeli, Telugu variant of Mubammad Shah II, of Gujarat 28 Masnad-i-^AlI 42 Muhammad Shah III, Bahmam king 42 Masnad-KAll, title ,. .. 39,41,43 Muhammad Suljan KMn, see Suljtan Mehrauli, suburb of Delhi . . 1,2 (f.n. 5), 4, 5 IChan 30 Mehta, Dr. R,K, archaeologist , . 13, 17, 19 Muliammadabad, Sanchor so named (f.n. 1) Mubyiu'd-Din, title .... 51 Merutunga* author of Vicharairenl 15 (f. n. 8) Mu'izzi, nisba 3 (f.n. 3) MfnazI Qagl, scribe ., .. 32, 33, 34 Mu'izzu'd-Dm, title .... 4 Minhaj-i-Siraj, historian . . 3 (& f.n, 1, Mu*izzu'd-DIn Kaiqubad, see Kaiqubad 2, 3, 4, 5), 9, 10 Mu*izzu'd-Dunya wa'd-DIn, title .. 11 36 (f.n. 1,4, 5) Mukherjee, Shri Siddeshwar . . 31 (f.n. 1), INDEX 75 . . 59 HyderlbSd TT . . 58, now in Pakistan 49,52 Multan, Nizami Badayuni, author 44 (f.n. 2), 45 (f.n.8), historian.. 13 (f.n. 1), Munshi, K.M., 46 (f.n. 2,3,5,6,10, 11,12), 14 (f.n. 1) 47 (f.n. 3,7), 48 (f.n. 1,5) Hashmat Rai, see Hashmat Munshi Nizamu'1-Muik Asaf Jfihl, of Rai 56 49 Hyderabad Murtada title 58,59 IChan, ,11 8 (f.n. 2) Muslim, Traditionist .. >m 64,65,67 so designated 30 Mustafabad, Jankaria . . 13, 14 28 Nusrat ghan, ghalji general of Gujarat Muzaffar Shah, O N Okhla suburb of Delhi .. .- 2 (f.n, 5) 57 Nagpur f.n. 23, 25 Na'ib Barbak, post 21 (& 5), f.n. 1) * (& Pala, rulers, of Bengal .... 25 . 1) Na'ib-i-Atabak-i-A'zam title . 22, (f.n. Pallidesa, country ^ of 26 Najm'ud-Dm Mahmud gha.tib, Panchmahals, district, Gujarat .. of Ellichpur 56,57,63,64,65,67,69 father of Hasan, donor fO Panni Afghans, . 49 i sarkar Islamabad . (f.n. 2) Najmu'd-Dunya wa'd-Dm Mahmud Panwar, in * 5 f- n - n > 57 62 . . Nasiru'd-Din Mardan Shah, see Qadi Minazi, see Minazi son of Shaikh Kabir Mardan Shah . . Qadir, Shaikh , 28 title . . order. . Nasiru'd-Dunya wa'd-DIn, Qadiri, Sufi 35 Mongol chief Nasru'd-Dm, scribe Qamizi,"Neo-Muslim New Delhi, spu- in Afghanistan - National Museum, Qandahar, 45 2 (f.n. 6) father of Shaikh Kabir rious epigraphs from Qasim, Shah, Nawwab Bahadur ghan, see Baha- dur Khan .. .- Ismail Nawwab Isma'Il ghan, see Bahman Muhammad Isma'Il ghan, QTwLu'l-Mulk Nawwab Junior;^ * see Isma'il Khan Bahmanl Nawwab Muhammad Namdar Q 'l-Mulk 'Senior, ' ^ .. - see Namdar Khan official 56 M.Y., author .. Nawwab Muliammad Salabat i QuddQsl, Dr. ^ author .- Quddflsl, M.I., see alabat ghan ^ ' ^ . 'Ail han, see Outb Shah!, dynasty 4 Nawwab Nizam ruler 3,4 Aibek, ManalQk AsafJahll QutbuM-DIn cde- 56 Balclltyar Urifc . . Quibu'd-Dln ^ Nawwabs of Ellichpur 44 Nawwabs of Farrukhabad 44 Nawwabs of Oudh 6 of Bengal . Qutlugh Bugha, Nayapala, Pala king 49 Nazar Muhammad IChan chief 58, 59 Nazim, post H., numismatist 6 Nelson Wright, 21 country . Nevill, H.R., author Radha, 58 his- author Ni'matu'llah Hirawl _ Rat.im,S.A., 1) see (f.n. R5i Kama Deva, 37 torian45,(&f-n.2,7,8,9,10), - 31. Nizam, of Hyderabad .. Nawwab, of Nizam 'All ghan, 76 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA ARABIC AND PERSIAN SUPPLEMENT 43 Neo-Muslim Rajahmundry, fief Shad!, Malikul-Umara, 30 chief Rajkot, district of Gujarat Mongol 18,19,20 Shadi Neo-Muslim Rajpet, variant of Rajupeta 39 (f.n. 1) Bugha, Mongol see also Shadi . . . . Rajput, race 14 (f.n. 2) chief, 16 Shah Dulha see'Abdu'r- Rajputana, region 3 Rahman, Rahman Rajupeta, in Andhra Pradesh . . 39,43 Rakshashbhawan, battle of 57 Shah Ghulam ^usain, see Ghulam Ramchandra, of Deogiri 15 IJusain Shah . . Ramesh, Dr. K.V., official 42 (f.n. 1) Jahan, Mughal emperor 47,49 see Jalal Ranas, petty chiefs 20 Shah Jalal, Makhdum, Shah Nawaz historian Ranthambhore, in Rajasthan . . 3, 16, 17 |Chan, 49(f.n. 1,3),52 Rasulabad, Malia so named 30 (f.n.l),57(f.n.3) see . . Raverty, Major H.G., translator 3 (& f.n. 3), 10 Shah Qasim, Qasim (& f.n. 4, 6, 7) Shahm, Malik Na 'ib . . . . 1 6 (& f.n. 1 ) Rayadurga, in Andhra Pradesh 29 Shahjahanpur, in Uttar Pradesh 49 Red Fort, inscription from 2 (f.n. 5) Shahu Bhonsla, Maratha chief . . 49 Rizvi, S.A.A., author 3(f.n.l,4,5) Shaikh Da'ud, father of Muhammad Rohila, clan 49 Sardar gha.n 57 Rudra Dev, of Telangana 14 Shaikh Farid, saint .... 49 Ruknu'd-Dm IJamza, see Hamza Shaikh Kabir, see Kabir Shaikh Mahdi, see Muhammad Mahdl Shaikh Muhammad Mahdl, see Muhammad Mahdl Sabar Kantha, district, of Gujarat 30 Shaikh Qadir, see Qadir Sadr, title 7 Shaikh Qasim, see Qasim Sadru'J-Muluk wa's Salatm title. . 9 Shams ghatun, widow of Ibrahim ahib-i-Qiran-i-Tham, title 47 ghan 57 Sahih, compendium of Traditions 8 (& f.n. 2) Shamsu'd-DIn Ahmad, Maulvi, Said Ansari, Maulvi, author 44(f.n.2),45(f.n.l) 4 epigraphist 35 (f.n. 2), Sa id Jvhan, nobleman . . 49 36 (f.n. 1) Sakulipur, in West Bengal .. 31(&f.n. 1),36 Shamsu'd-Dm Iltutmish, see Iltutmish alabat ghan 57,58,64,65,66.67,69 Shamsu'd-DIn Muhammad III, see Salari, see Mir-i-MIran . . Muhammad III . . Salim Khan Tann 50 Sharrna, Dr. Y.D., official . . l Sam, father of Muhammad 4 Sharqi, dynasty 44 variant of 21, Samba, Sampa 18(&f.n. 1), Dr. . . Shastn, H.G., author 15 (f.n. 11) 19 Sher Shah, Sur ruler .... 44 Sampa, place-name, modern Sampla 18 (f.n. 1), Sherwani, Prof. HarOn ghan, historian 42 (& f.n. 19,20 3), . e . 43,(f.n. 2) Sampla, in Vadodara district . . Ck 17 Shi creed. . a, . . 59 Samudra Gupta, ruler . . 44 Shihabu'd-Dm, governor of Cambay 16 (f.n. 1) Sanchor, named Muftammadabad in Shihabu'd-Dm Mahmud Shah, see Rajasthan 30 Mahimud Shah Dr. Saakalia, H.D., : archaeologist (f.n. 2), Shu*aib Qadiri 51 (& f.n. in Sian, West Bengal .. 6, 9, 12, (f.n. 1) 1,2,3,4,5,6) Sikandar, author 29 (f.n,6, 7) Sardar ghan, Muhammad 57 Simon Digby, Professor, author . . 8 (f,n. 5) Sarjandar Tatar, see Tatar Sipahsalar, post 2,4 Sarkary term 44 Dr. Sircar, D,C., historian 6, 9 (f.n. 4) rank 7(f.n.l), Sarkhail, military 4 in Sirsi, Muradabad district . . 23 (f.n, 2} Sarmast ghan, brother of Suljfan Siwan, variant of Sian .... 6 Shan 57 Solomon, Prophet . . . .28 29 see King (& f.n.l), Sarwar, ghwaja Jahan Sanvar Somnath 14 (f. n . 3) Sayyid Shah Shahid in Sorath, Gujarat . . . . 14 (& f.n. 3) Bahmani, saint ', 31, 34 in Setu Sreepat Muluk, West Bengal . . 31 (f.n. 1) Madhav Rao, author 57 in West . Suata, Bengal 31(&f.rul), Telangana, region . . , . 14,15,43 33,34 Thomas Drew, British Officer . . 67 Stiba, i.e. province 59 Timur Bugha, Neo-Muslim, Mongol 52 ubcddr t post chief .. 16 . . 6 Suhma, country Tipu Sulj.an, of Mysore , . 67 Sukumar Roy, historian 15 Sulaiman, saint . . 55 Sulaiman mountains, in Afghanistan 55 Ulugh, Turkish term . . 25 Sulaimanl, nisba 55 (& f.n.4) Ulugh ghan, brother of 'Alau'd-Dm Sultan "Alau'd-Dln, see "Alau'd-DIn 14 15 Sultan FIrDz Shah, see FirOz Shah ghaljl ]3, (f.n. 11), 16 (& f,n. Sultan Ghiyatbu'd-DIn Twad, see 'Iwad J, 2; *Umar al-Kazerunl, 20 (f.n. 3} Sultan Khan, brother of Sarmast Maliku't-Tujjar UrdQ inscription 64 han 57,58,67,69 Urdu Poet 63 Sul.t.an Mahmud Bahmani, see Urdu 63 Mahmud BahmanI Quatrain Uzbek 49 Sultan Qull, QuJ.bu'1-Mulk of Golkonda 43 . . . , 29 1 Sultans of Gujarat (f.n. , 2) . . . . n. district in . 17 Sultanifsh-Sharq, title . 22, 25 (f. Vadodara, Gujarat 1,2) Vaghela, dynasty 13, 1 5 . 11 .. 20 Suljt.anuVSala.Un, title . . . Vaziru'l-Vuzara, designation Professor Sunqurtigln, Badru'd-DIn, Mamluk grandee 3,4 Wasim Durdana BasiJt, Dr., ,. 63 (f.n, Surat in Gujarat 14 (f.n. 3) author 1) Lord . . 63,67 Suri, in West Bengal .. . . 31,36 Wellesley, General, author . . . . 39 (f.n. 3) Sutaka, variant of Suata . . 31 Wilson, H. R, 31 Sutaya, earlier form of Suata . . - 31 Suyata, for Suata . Yahya Sarhindl, historian 16 (& f,n. 2,4> . . 20 Taju'd-Daulat wa'd-DIn, title . . 4 (f.n. 2) Yalchaq, variant of Balchaq 20 Taju'd-DIn Hasan, see Kfasan, Yalfeaq, variant of Balchaq Taju'd-Dm Yampur, old name of RSjupeta. . 39,41,43 16 Tamghan, Neo-Muslim Mongol chief Tankaria, named Mustafabad, in 30 Gujarat J official . . f.n. Zafar ^asan, Maulvi, Tarafdar, Dr. M.R., historian . . 34 (& Nizam's minister 57 1,2) ZafaruM-Daula, Zakltf d-DauIat wa'd-Din, title of clan.. 50 Tarln, - 20 'Umar al^Kazerum .. (f,n.J> Tatar, Sarjandar, rebel chief . 3(&f.n.4)_ Epigraphical Publications of the Archaeological Survey of Indie Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum EpigrapMalndica Epigraphia Indo-Moslemica (discontinued) Epigraphia Indica-Arabic and Persian Supplement Annual Reports on South Indian Epigraphy (discontinued) Annual Reports on Indian Epigraphy South Indian Inscriptions