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GAUR, or LAKHNAUTI

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 535 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GAUR, or LAKHNAUTI , a ruined See also:city of See also:British See also:India, in See also:Malda See also:district of Eastern See also:Bengal and See also:Assam. The ruins are situated about 8 m. to the See also:south of See also:English Bazar, the See also:civil station of the district of Malda, and on the eastern See also:bank of the Bhagirathi, an old channel of the See also:Ganges. It is said to have been founded by Lakshman, and its most See also:ancient name was Lakshmanavati, corrupted into Lakhnauti. Its known See also:history begins with its See also:conquest in A.D. 1198 by the Mahommedans, who retained it as the See also:chief seat of their See also:power in Bengal for more than three centuries. When the Afghan See also:kings of Bengal established their See also:independence, they transferred their seat of See also:government (about 1350) to See also:Pandua (q.v.), also in Malda district, and to build their new See also:capital they plundered Gaur of every See also:monument that could be removed. When Pandua was in its turn deserted (A.D. 1453), Gaur once more became the capital under the name of Jannatabad; it remained so as See also:long as the See also:Mahommedan kings retained their independence. In A.D. 1564 Sulaiman Kirani, a See also:Pathan adventurer, abandoned it for Tanda, a See also:place somewhat nearer the Ganges. Gaur was sacked by Sher Shah in 1539, and was occupied by See also:Akbar's See also:general in 1575, when Daud Shah, the last of the Afghan See also:dynasty, refused to pay See also:homage to the See also:Mogul See also:emperor. This occupation was followed by an outbreak of the See also:plague, which completed the downfall of the city, and since then it has been little better than a heap of ruins, almost overgrown with See also:jungle.

The city in its See also:

prime measured 71 M. from See also:north to south, with a breadth of r to 2 M. With suburbs it covered an See also:area of 20 to 30 sq. m., and in the 16th See also:century the Portuguese historian Faria y See also:Sousa described it as containing 1,200,000 inhabitants. The ramparts of this walled city, which was surrounded by extensive suburbs, still exist; they were See also:works of vast labour, and were on the See also:average about 40 ft. high, and ,8o to 200 ft. thick at the See also:base. The facing of See also:masonry and the buildings with which they were covered have now disappeared, and the embankments themselves are overgrown with dense jungle. The western See also:side of the city was washed by the Ganges, and within the space enclosed by these embankments and the See also:river stood the city of Gaur proper, with the fort containing the See also:palace in its south-See also:west corner. Radiating north, south and See also:east from the city, other embankments are to be traced See also:running through the suburbs and extending in certain directions for 30 or 40 M. Surrounding the palace is an inner See also:embankment of similar construction to that which surrounds the city, and even more overgrown with jungle. A deep See also:moat protects it on the outside. To the north of the See also:outer enbankment lies the See also:Sagar Dighi, a See also:great See also:reservoir, 1600 yds. by Boo yds., dating from A.D. II26. See also:Fergusson in his History of Eastern See also:Architecture thus describes the general architectural See also:style of Gaur:—" It is neither like that of See also:Delhi nor Jaunpore, nor any other style, but one purely See also:local and not without considerable merit in itself; its See also:principal characteristic being heavy See also:short pillars of See also:stone supporting pointed See also:arches and vaults in brick—whereas at Jaunpore, for instance, See also:light pillars carried See also:horizontal architraves and See also:flat ceilings." Owing to the lightness of the small, thin bricks, which were chiefly used in the making of Gaur, its buildings have not well withstood the ravages of See also:time and the See also:weather; while much of its enamelled See also:work has been removed for the ornamentation of the surrounding cities of more See also:modern origin. Moreover, the ruins long served as a See also:quarry for the builders of neighbouring towns and villages, till in I90o steps were taken for their preserva-' tion by the government.

The finest ruin in Gaur is that of the Great See also:

Golden See also:Mosque, also called Bara Darwaza, or twelvedoored (1526). An arched See also:corridor running along the whole front of the See also:original See also:building is the principal portion now See also:standing. There are eleven arches on either side of the corridor and one at each end of it, from which the mosque probably obtained its name. These arches are surmounted by eleven domes in See also:fair preservation; the mosque had originally See also:thirty-three. The Small Golden or See also:Eunuch's mosque, in the ancient suburb of Firozpur, has See also:fine See also:carving, and is faced with stone fairly well preserved. The Tantipara mosque (1475-1480) has beautiful moulding in See also:brick, and the Lotan mosque of the same See also:period is unique in retaining its glazed tiles. The citadel, of the Mahommedan period, was strongly fortified with a rampart and entered through a magnificent gateway called the Dakhil Darwaza (?1459-1474). At the south-east corner was a palace, surrounded by a See also:wall of brick 66 ft. high, .of which a See also:part is standing. Near by were the royal tombs. Within the citadel is the Kadam Rasut mosque (1530), which is still used, and See also:close outside is a tall See also:tower called the Firoz Minar (perhaps signifying " tower of victory "). There are a number of Mahommedan buildings on the See also:banks of the Sagar Dighi, including, notably, the See also:tomb of the See also:saint Makhdum Shaikh Akhi Siraj (d. 1357), and in the neighbourhood is a burning See also:ghat, traditionally the only one allowed to the use of the See also:Hindus by their Mahommedan conquerors, and still greatly venerated and frequented by them.

Many See also:

inscriptions of See also:historical importance have been found in the ruins. See M. See also:Martin (See also:Buchanan See also:Hamilton), Eastern India, vol. iii. (1831) ; G. H. Ravenshaw, Gaur (1878) ; See also:James Fergusson, History of See also:Indian and Eastern Architecture (1876); Reports of the Archaeological Surveyor, Bengal Circle (1900-1904).

End of Article: GAUR, or LAKHNAUTI

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