English
Indeed, Ghuldm Husain is pre-eminently the Historian of Muhammadan Bengal, because other Muhammadan historians before or aftor him dealt only with certain periods of Bengal history, whilst our author’s narrative comprises the history of Bengal from the earliest mythological period to the dawn of British rule with a more detailed account of Muhammadan Eulers of Bengal. Stewart's History of Bengal is to a great extent based on the • Riyi? ’ though Stewart very often has preferred the less accurate account of tho Dakhin historian Firishta, who flourished in the seventeenth century. The great Oriental scholar and antiquarian Professor B.ochmann, in his • Contributions to tho History and Geography of Bengal * says: "The Biyiz is much prized as being tho ful.es account m Persian of tho Muhammadan History of Bengal." }>f ofe8 sor Blochmann further observes "for the early portions. Ghulam Hu * * “ 8e<1 b °; k8 ' Tb,ch aro unknown at present; yet ho gives valuable dates which are often confirmed by collateral eridonce Salim ha • nl a fair use of the antiquities of the Gaur District." " rn “ ,, ° 1 Th<> — ,, '' bah i8 a Musalman prayer-book recited on Fridays, • Id days, and G Chapter III relates to a description of the careers of the Nazims 1 who were appointed to the Nizamat of this country by the Caghta’i 8 or Mughal Emperors. Chapter IV consists of two parts :— Part I being descriptive of the arrival of the Christians, con¬ sisting of the Portuguese and the French, <fcc., in the Dakhln and in Bengal. Part II being descriptive of the domination of the English Christians over Bengal and the Dakhin. other special days and occasions. The recital of the Kh atbah after one s Dame and the minting of coine, was regarded by Musalman sovereigns as emblems of sovereignty. 1 Nw/ime— The Nazims were functionaries created by the Mughal Government or by Sher Shah (Badaoni, Vol. I, p. 365). To each Province or $ubah, the Mughal Emperors appointed two Principal Heads of administration, one being the Nazim and the other being the Diwan. The Nijim was the Governor or Viceroy of the Province, he was the Executive and Military Head of the Province, and administered Criminal Justice; whilst the Diwan, though independent of the former and directly subordinate to the Delhi Emperor, held portfolio of the Finance, and was responsible for the revenne administra¬ tion of the Province, and also occasionally administered Civil Justice. Thus there were two independent wheels in the machinery of Provincial adminis- tration. Under the Nazims, there was a chain of subordinate officials, calie Nnib Nazims, Serlashkars, Faujdars, Kotwals and Thanadars on the execute Bide, and under Diwins on the judicial side, were Qaz.-ul-Qa^at (Chief Justice), Qnzis, Muftis, Mir Adis, Sadrs presided over by Sadr-i-Sadur and on the revenue side were Naib or local Diwins, Am.Is, Sh.qdars, Karknn., Qanungos, and Pat wans. The Judiciary, both Civil and Criminal, were often however, independent of bothNi S ims and Diwans and subordinate only U> the Imperial Sadr-i-Sadur or §adr-i-Kul or $adr-i-Jahan (or^Minister . JusD e at Delhi, who was responsible for good conduct to the Mughal Emperor himself. (See Ain, Vol. II, p. P- 37-49, and do. Vol. I, p. 268.) a Caghtai Khin was a son of Cangiz Khan. Emperor Babar the founder of the MughaTdynasty in India, was descended on the mother’s side from a nobler stock, that is, from Caghtai Khan ; hence the Mu^al Emperors o India commonly styled themselves as Caghta, Emperors in preference Jo 1 Mughal ’ Emperors, the term • Mughal ’ not being sc ance^ith an accepted usage and principle amongst Moslem to refo back their lineage to the nobler side, whether paternal or maternal. 7 INTRODUCTION: CONSISTING OF 4 SECTIONS. Section I. A Description ok the Boundaries and Environs ok the Country ok Bengal. Be it known to the way-farers of the climes of travels and histories that the Sabah 1 of Bengal is in the second climate. 8 From Islamabad, 5 otherwise known as Chittagong, to Teliagadhi,* that is, from east to west, the length is 400 Karoh, 6 and its breadth from north to south, that is, from the mountains in the north to 1 The name of Subah originated from the time of Emperor Akbnr, who designated the fiscal areas as follows from the time of the ten-years’ settle¬ ment:—A Subah was an aggregate of Sarkara, a Sarknr or Division was an aggregate of Dasturs, a Dastur (which Sir Henry Elliot in his Glossary explains as an abbreviation of Dasturu-l-Aml, corresponding to a district under a Sarkar) was an aggregate of Pargarms or Mahals (used as equivalent expressions), and a Pargana or Mahal meant a fiscal division, the fiscal unit, coinciding with the dominions of a native chief under the Mngjial dynasty. The words used before Akbar’s time to denote fiscal divisions or tracts of country larger than the Pargana, were Sliaq, Kh at tali, 'Arjah, Diyar, Vilayet, Iqta, Bilad and Mamlakat. Thus in the earlier Musalinnn histories before the end of the fourteenth century, wo come across Shaq-i-Sama, Khattnh-i-Ondh. 1 Arsali-i-Gorakpur, Diyur-i or Vilayet-i-Lakhnauti, Vilavet-i-Mean Donb, Iqta'-i-Kara, Bilad Bang, Mamlakat Lakhnanti. See Elliott Glossary, and Ain, Vol. II, p. 115, and Tabaqat-i-Nn$iri, pp. 14>i and 2(>2. 2 The Maealman astronomers and geographers divided the world into seven parts, to each of which they gave the name of Iqlini or climate.—Sec Ain-i- Akbari Jarrett's Trans., Vol. Ill, p. 43. S Islamabad or Chittagong. The district was first conquered by the Independent Mnsalman Kings of Bengal. In 1350 A.C.. about which year Ibn Batutah was in Chittagong, it belonged to King Fakhrnddin of Su’nnr- gaon. It was re-conquered in 1665 by the Moghals under Umid Khin who changed the name of the place to IslAm.abid during the rule of Nawab Shaista Khnn, Viceroy of Bengal.—See Bloohmann’s contributions to History and Geography of Bengal and the Alarngb-Kamah, P . 0-R), and the Ain vol. II, p. 125. 1 Teliagadhi on Teliagarhi is a pass lying between Rajmahal on the south, and the Ganges on the north; formerly of strategic importance as commanding the approaches to Bengal Proper. The ruins of a largo s.ono fort still exist, through which the E.I. Railway passes. See Unnt. Imp Gazetteer, Vol. XIII, p. 236 and Ain, Vol. II, p. 116. P ‘ * Karoh or Kos-Ain 16 says :-The Kos'was fixed at 100 tanabs, each consisting of 50 Ilabi gaz or 4°° poles (hou,). each pole of 121 Sher Shah fixed the at 60 >•*.. each of 60 Sikandri A is c-,nul to three hos .—See Ain-i*Akbari t Vol. II, p. 414 . 8 Sarkiir Mftdamn, 1 which is the southern limit of this Subah, is 200 Karoh. And since in the period of Jalal-uddin Muhammad Akbar Padshah Ghazi, the Subah of Orissa was conquered by Kalapahar 8 and annexed to the Empire of the Sovereigns of Delhi, and made a part of the Subah of Bengal, the extent of the latter Subah became extended by 43 karoh in length and by 20 karoh in breadth. In the southern limits of this Subah is the sea, and towards its north and east, are high mountains, and on the west, it adjoins the Subah of Behar. During the rule of Emperor Akbar, ‘Isa Khan s Afghan conquering the eastern provinces struck coin and recited Khiitba in the name of Akbar, and annexed it to the Subah of Bengal. There* are twenty-eight I Sarkiir Madaran extended “ in a Bemi-circle from Nagor in western Birbhumover Raniganj along the Damudar to above Bardwao, and from there over Khandghosh, Jahanabad, Chandrakooa (western Hnghli district; to Mandalghat, at the mouth of the Rupnarayau river, and consisted of 16 nmhals with a revenue of Rs. 235,085.”—See Blochmann’e Contributions to the History and Geography of Bengal and the Ain-i-Akbari, Vol. II, p. 141. 8 Kalapahar is the famous general of the Afghan King of Bengal, Sulai- jnan Kararani, and the renowned conqueror of the temple of Jagannath in Puri in south Orissa. Kalapahar was killed by a gun-ehot in one of the fights between Masum and Qutlu of Orissa and ‘Aziz Kokah, which in 990 A.H., took place between Colgong and Gadhi. A detailed description of Kalapahar’s conquest of Orissa is given in the Makhzan-i-Afghani .—See Ain, Vol. I, p- 370 and Vol. II, p. 128. 8 ‘Isa Khiin Afghan flourished in ‘ Bhati’ in the reign of Daud, the last Afghan King of Bengal, and continued as ' over-lord ’ or ' Marzban-i-Bhati,’ as Abnl Fazl in the Ain styles him, with twelve great Zemindars or prince¬ lings (known in those days as Bara Bhuiyus) under him, after annexation of Bongal by Emperor Akbar to the Mughal Empire. ' Isa's gadx was known as Masnad-i-Ali, the existing Diwhn families of Haibatnagar and Jangalban in Mymensingh district claim descent from ‘Isa. “Bhati” according to Abul Fazl extended 400 Kos from east to west, and 300 Kos from north to the ocean to the south ; it thus included the Sundarban and the tracts along the Megna. Grant defines “Bhati” as including the Sundarban and all the neighbouring lowlands (even Hijely) overflooded by the tides. The Musalman historians never use the term Sundarban, but give the sea-board from Hijely to the Megna one name of ‘ Bhati,' which signifies lowlands overflooded bv tides.—See Ain-i-Akbari, Vol. I, p. 342, and J.A.S. No. 3, 1874, and No. 2, 1875 and Ain. Vol II. p. 117- . . . Q ♦ In the Ain. the S-ibah of Bengal is stated to have consisted of 24 Sar- kars including 787 inahals, and the revenue is stated to have been 69 KrorB 84 lakhs 59 thousand and 19 dims, equivalent to Rs. 14,961,482-15-7. Its. standing army, according to the Ain, consisted of 23,330 cavalry, 801,loO 9 Sarkars with eighty-seven mahals in this Subali 1 .