GAUR or LAKHNAUTI, a ruined city of British India, in the Malda district of Bengal. The ruins are situated about 8 m. south of English Bazar, the civil station of the district of Malda, and on the eastern bank of an old channel of the Ganges. It is said to have been founded by Lakshman, the Sena king of Bengal, and its ancient name was Lakshmanavati, corrupted into Lakhnauti. Its known history begins with its conquest at the end of the I2th century by the Mohammedans, who retained it as their capital in Bengal for more than three centuries. The seat of government was transferred about 1340 to Pandua (q.v.), also in Malda district. When Pandua was in its turn deserted (about 1455), Gaur once more became the capital, but in 1564 owing to a change in the course of the Ganges it was abandoned for Tanda, a place some what nearer the main stream. Gaur was temporarily reoccupied by Akbar's general in 1575, when Daud Shah, the last of the Afghan dynasty, refused to submit to the Mogul emperor. This occupation was followed by a virulent epidemic, which depopu lated the city and completed its downfall. Since then it has been little better than a heap of ruins, almost overgrown with jungle.
The western side of Gaur was washed by the Ganges, and it was protected both from inundation and from attack by great embankments. Within the space enclosed by these embankments and the river stood the city proper. The city in its prime meas ured 74 m. from north to south, with a breadth of 1 to 2 m. The ramparts of the city, which was surrounded by extensive suburbs, still exist ; they were works of vast labour, and were on the average about 4o ft. high, and 18o to zoo ft. thick at the base.
Fergusson in his History of Eastern Architecture thus de scribes the general architectural style of Gaur :—"It is neither like that of Delhi nor Jaunpore, nor any other style, but one purely local and not without considerable merit in itself ; its principal characteristic being heavy short pillars of stone supporting pointed arches and vaults in brick." The ruins long served as a quarry for the builders of neighbouring towns and villages, till in 1900 steps were taken for their preservation by the government. The finest ruin in Gaur is that of the Great Golden Mosque, also called Bara Darwaza, or twelve-doored (1526). The Small Golden or Eunuch's mosque has fine carving, and is faced with stone fairly well preserved. The Tantipara mosque (1475-8o) has beautiful moulding in brick, and the Lotan mosque of the same period is unique in retaining glazed tiles. The citadel was entered through a magnificent gateway called the Dakhil Darwaza (?146o-74). At the south-east corner was a palace, surrounded by a wall of brick 66 ft. high, of which a part is standing. Near by were the royal tombs. Within the citadel is the Kadam Rasul mosque (153o), which is still used, and close outside is a tall tower called the Firoz Minar (perhaps signifying "tower of victory"). There are a num ber of Mohammedan buildings on the banks of a great reser voir called Sagar Dighi, including, notably, the tomb of the saint Makhdum Shaikh Akhi Siraj (d. 1357).