Gauḍa (city)

Gaur ( Bengali: গৌড়, Gaur, nor Gour, Gaud or Goud ) is a ruined city in West Bengal's Malda district. It belonged for descriptions of Portuguese traders to the largest cities in the Indian subcontinent and was the capital of Bengal from 1453 to 1565.

Gaur lies between the rivers Ganges and Mahanada at 24 ° 52 'N and 88 ° 10' O south of Malda. The calculated for the city ruins extend over a length of about 30 and a width of 6 kilometers.

Gaur is ( with the onset of Islam later Lakhnauti ) also held for the place of the older city Lakshmanvati, but Alexander Cunningham, the founder of the Archaeological Survey of India, localized Lakshmanvati north of Gaur.

The oldest inscription found in Gaur dated from the year 1457, during the reign of Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud I ( 1435-1459 ). To him, the transfer of the capital of Bengal from Pandua is attributed by Gaur. Gaur remained until 1565 the political center of Bengal, which was then published by Sulaiman Karrani west to Tanda. One reason for this is the shift of the river of the Ganges to the west have been, as a further reason for the decline of the city political instability is assumed. After the conquest and plundering Gaurs by Sher Shah from the end of 1538 began a period of invasions from outside. 1575 Gaur was finally abandoned after the outbreak of a plague epidemic.

Some Pashtun tribes in their tribal names the title Gaur today, representative of their ancestors, who plundered Bengal and what many of them are also very proud.