Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/123

Rh GAUR unusual in Bengal proper. After some occasional oscilla- tion the residence was again (c. 1446) transferred to Gaur, by which name the city is generally known thenceforward, that of Lakhnaoti disappearing from history. The 24th and last of those whom history recognizes as independent kings of Bengal was Mahmud Shah (1533-4 to 1538-9). In his time the city more than once changed hands, during the struggles between the Afghan Sher Shah and the (so-called) “ Great Moghul” Humayun, son of Baber ; a11d on one occa- sion (l537—8), when Sher Shah was operating against Gaur, we ﬁrst hear of the Portuguese in the inner waters of Bengal. A party of that nation, who had been sent with presents to the court of Gaur, had been detained as prisoners by the suspicious Mahmud. But in the straits arising during his resistance to Sher Shah, the Frank prisoners were able to render him good service. lIal1nu’1d was followed by several Pathan adventurers. who temporarily held the provinces of the delta with more or less asst-1‘tio11 of royal authority. One of these, Suleiman Kirani (l564——5), abandoned Gaur for Tauda, a place some- what nearer the Ganges. It is mentioned by Ralph Fitch, the earliest of English travellers in India, who calls it “ '1‘anda in the land of Gouren,” standing a league from the Ganges. Mu’nim Khan, Khankhanan, a general of Akbar’s, when reducing these provinces in 1575, was attracted by the old site, a11d resolved to re—adopt it as the seat of local government. But a great pestilence (probably cholera) broke out at Gaur, and swept away thousands, the general- in-chief being himself among the victims. On his death the deprived Pathan prince, Da1'1d, set up his standard again. But he was defeated by the forces of Akbar in a battle at Rajmahl, and taken prisoner. After him no other assumed the style of king of Bengal. Tanda continued for a short time to be the residence of the governors under the “ Great Moghuls,” but this was transferred successively to R-ajmahl and Dacca, in repeated alternation, and ﬁnally to Moorshedabad. Gaur cannot have been entirely deserted, for the Nawab Sh1’1ja—uddin, who governed Bengal 1725- 1739, built a new gate to the citadel. But in history Gaur is no longer heard of, till its extensive remains attracted the curiosity of the English,——the more readily as the northern end of the site approaches within 4 miles of the important factory that was known as English Bazar (among the natives as Angrezabad), which is said to have been built of bricks from the ruins, and which is now the nucleus of the civil station of Malda. The ﬁrst speciﬁc notice of the city of Gaur, from actual knowledge, is contained in the Persian history called Tftbflqtit-i-1VdSi7‘i, which has been partially translated in Elliot's Ilistory of India (ed. by Dowson), and is in course of complete translation by lIajor H. G. Raverty. The author, Minhaj-i-Saraj, visited Lakhnaoti in 1243, but the only particular regarding the city that he mentions is that Ghiyas-uddin ’Iwaz, the fourth Mahometan ruler of Lakhnaoti (who called himself sultan, and according to this writer, struck coin in his own name), besides found- ing mosques, &c., carried embanked roads across the low country east and west of the city for a space of ten days’ journey. These works in part still exist. “ Radiating north, south, and east of the city, ,. . . . embankments are to be traced running through the suburbs, and extending in certain directions for 30 or 40 miles” (Ravenshaw, p. 3). The extent of ground over which the remains of Gaur are spread is astonishing; and a large part of it would appear to be still, as when described a century ago, covered with dense wood or with rank jungle of grass and reeds, though in later years cultivation has somewhat extended over the site. VVhat may be called the site of Gaur proper is a space of an oblong form, extending from north to south 7,1,; miles, with a breadth varying from 1% to 2 miles. This 113 area is washed on one of its long sides (the western) by a stream called the Bhagirathi, which undoubtedly occupies a former bed of the Ganges (not to be confounded with the Bhagirathi further south, contributing to form the Hoogly on which Calcutta stands). Roughly parallel to the eastern side, but at a distance varying from 2 to 6 miles, runs the at ' /t/anal Fa/ace qfscnas ,3’ /éngrezhégéd i-._Suburbs ' E’.ll§il§lo.oT:l:{£Ih)w Sugar V E _ - 9' Gnamall In. 7- i 1' i ‘ . O‘ ,. -_ ' ; ‘I, 2 " ' ' 1 13 u:-4' GAUR._  -E“ gakh” C I, olqen ‘Yo;-7. ‘ roar - In . ,_' Hppraxflnala 51!: Pal: "1. R‘.'"’/'”°‘9- g ‘ * '7’. I./. J _ I __  lI$a8arD18ﬁ/ 7  ‘ ‘'//O M 0  " '7’ ""7§;7/ii/757' ‘kw I-Act./' R t 1 {ow “M” A ._S‘bUrb of ‘- "I "._  - ‘Shall Ca/den /I/asy. -Fer-ozabad _ scALI: or_MIu§ _ n 5 Chart of Gaur and its Environs. river Mahananda, whilst extensive swamps and sheets of water are interposed between this river and the city. The extensive a1ea of which we speak has been defended on north, west,1 and south, by a rampart and ditch, vhilst on the east side there is a double embankment of great size, with two ditches of immense width, and in some parts three. It is not quite clear from the descriptions i11 what degree these latter great works were intended respectively for defence or for protection from ﬂoods ; but the latter must have been the main purpose. The Ain-i-Akbari (c. 1590) alludes to the fact that “ if the earthen embankment broke, the town was under water.” The position of the city, midway between two rivers of deltaic character, is low, and any rise in those rivers would raise the level of the marshes. Still the mass of these banks, as much as 200 feet thick at base, and 40 feet in height, is greater than any present exposure to ﬂood seems sufficient to explain. It has sometimes been supposed that the Ganges, since the foundation of Gaur, has ﬂowed to the eastward, in what is now the bed of the Mahananda. If this were so, the massive character of the embankments would be more intelligible. It would appear, however, that the positive testimony to this circumstance, which was at one time sup- posed to exist, depended on a mistaken reading of the pass- age, referred to above, of the T abagcit-1'-Ncisz'7'i. 1 This was so according to Buchanan; but Mr Ravenshaw says “ the western face is now open, and probably always was so, having been well protected by the Ganges. . . . which ran under its walls. The plans all show an embcmlcment on this side, and (‘rerghton gives 8. section of it, 30 feet high. X. — I5
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