Later Mughals v1.c6.s19.14

v1.c6.s19.14

The Guru's head-quarters were not at Sadhaura, but farther on, within the first hills, in a region called by the native writers both Mukhlispur and the Dabar. Their use of the first name raises some difficulties of identification. They confound the site of the Guru's fort with Mukhlispur, the name for the hunting lodge, now called Badshahi Mahal, built by Shah Jahan close to the left bank of the Jamuna, and a few miles below the heads of what are now called the Eastern and Western Jamuna Canals. Some lands, which had been detached from pargana Muzaffarbad, of sarkar Saharanpur, were assigned to it and called Faizabad.* This is, at the very least, twelve miles too far to the east for the Mukhlispur that we want, for which we must make search somewhere between Sadhaura on the west, Nahan on the north, and the Jamuna river on the east. That there was such a place, is shown by our finding Moklespore (Mukhlispur) on J. Rennell's map† of 1792, exactly where we want it, namely, half-way between Nahan and Sadhaura. Dabar (with the Hindi, or cerebral d) must have been the name of the region round Mukhlispur. It is described as "a place seven or eight kos from Sadhaura, near the northern hills, and on the edge of it is a small hill, difficult of access, on which Islam Khan, son of Sher Khan Sur, in his day of brief authority, began to build a strong fortress, under the name of Pawagarh. It was left unfinished at his death, and fell into ruins, parts of which still remain. Banda restored and extended these ruins."‡