ABSTRACT
LUDOVICO DI VARTHEMA. 211 which is distant from Tamassari seven hundred miles, at which we arrived in eleven days by sea. This city was one of the best that I had hitherto seen, and has a very great realm. The sultan of this place is a Moor, and maintains two hundred thousand men for battle on foot and on horse; and they are all Mohammedans ; and he is constantly at war
by Moors, which is called Bengala." ( R a m u s io , vol. i. p. 330.) In 1537, during the viceroyalty o f Nunno de Cunna, when the Portuguese first attempted to establish a fort in Bengal, “ Gowro, the capital city, ex tended three leagues in length along the Ganges, and contained 1 ,2 0 0 ,0 0 0 families.” (G r e e n e , vol. i. p. 84.) In Ralph Fitch’s time, 1583-1591, Tanda appears to have succeeded Gour as the capital o f the kingdom, which had then become tributary to the Moghul Emperor :— “ From Patanau [Patna] I went to Tanda, which is in the land o f Gouren. It hath in times past been a kingdom, but is now subdued by Zelabdim Echebar [Jal&l ed-Din, Akbar.] Great trade and traffic is here of cotton and cloth of cotton...It standeth in the country of Ben gala...Tanda standeth from the Ganges a league, because in times past the river flowing over the banks in time o f rain drowned the country and many villages, and so they remain. And the old way which the river Ganges was wont to run remaineth dry, which is the occasion that the city standeth so far from the water.” ( P in k e r t o n , ix. p. 414.) I conclude, therefore, that Mandelslo errs in enumerating Bengal as a city o f that province distinct from Gour and Tanda. He says: “ En tirant vers le septentrional on trouve le royaume de Bengala, qui donne le nom au golfe que les anciens appellentSinus Gangeticus...On trouve plusieurs bellesvilles dans ce royaume, comme sont celles de Gouro, d’Ougely, de Chatigan, de Bengala, de Tanda, de Daca, de Patana, de Banares, d ’Elabas, et de Ragmehela.” ( Voyages, p. 290.) The following is from Major Rennell on this subject:— “ Gour, called also Lucknouti, the an cient capital o f Bengal, and supposed to be the Gangia regia o f Ptolemy, stood on the left bank o f the Ganges, about twenty-five miles below Rajemal. It was the capital o f Bengal 730 years B.C., and was repaired and beautified by Homayoon, who gave it the name o f Jennuteabad, which name a part o f the drear, in which it was situated, still bears. Accord ing to Ferishta’s account, the unwholesomeness o f its air occasioned it to be deserted soon after, and the seat o f government was removed to Tandah or Tanrah, a few miles higher up the river. No part of the site o f ancient Gour is nearer to the present bank o f the Ganges than four miles and a half, and some parts o f it which were regularly washed by that river are now twelve miles from it.” Mem. o f a Map o f Hindostan, quoted in S t e w a r t ’ s Hist, o f Bengal, p. 44.
