Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c10.23

c10.23

Early Muslim authors refer to the Muhammadan kingdom of Bengal first as Lakhnautī or Gaur, as their first settlement did not include East Bengal. The kingdom of East Bengal was sometimes referred to as Bang, Bangāl or Sonārgāon; and sometimes the whole of Bengal was mentioned as Gaur-Bangāl.² Sātgaon was often recognised as a separate political unit. But, as early as the reign of Ghiyāsuddin Tughluq Shāh (1320-25 A.D.), some Muslim authors are known to speak of Bangāl in a wide sense so as to include Lakhnautī, Sonārgāon and Sātgaon.³ In the 16th century, the name Bangāl loosely indicated a wider area. It may or may not have geographically included the Chittagong region which was included in the Mughal Subah of Bangāl only during the reign of Aurangzib in the 17th century. There is no proof at all that the Chittagong area formed part of the old kingdom of the Candras and the Pālas. It must be noted that not a single inscription of those dynasties has so far been discovered in the Chittagong District.¹