GAUR, gour, or DOUR. The mediaeval cap ital of Bengal, situated on the arm of the Ganges called the Bhagirathi, in latitude 24° 52' N. and longitude 88° 10' E. According to tradition, the city was founded in the twelfth century by Lakshmanasena of the Vaidya Dynasty of Ben gal, who called it, after his own name, Laksh manavati, or, in the vernacular, Lakhnauti. Lakhnauti continued for the most part to be the seat of rulers who governed Bengal and Behar, sometimes as confessed delegates to the Delhi sovereigns, sometimes as practically independent kings. From the year 1338, with the waning power of the Delhi dynasties, the Kingdom of Bengal acquired a substantial independence which it retained for more than two centuries. One of the earliest of the kings during this period, by name llyas Shah, transferred the seat of government (c.1350) to Panduah, a place about 16 miles north by east of Gaur. After some oc casional oscillation, the residence was again (c.
1446) transferred to Gaur by Nasrud-Din Mah mud Shah I., by which name the city is generally known thenceforward, that of Lakhnauti disap pearing from history. On account of its some what unhealthful situation, Suliman Kirani (1564-65) abandoned Gaur for Tandah, a place somewhat nearer the Ganges. Mu'umin Khan, a general of Akbar, when reducing these pro vinces in 1575, was attracted by the old site, and resolved to readopt it as the seat of local government. But a great pestilence (probably cholera) broke out at Gaur, and swept away thousands, the general-in-chief being himself among the victims. Gaur cannot have been en tirely deserted, for the Nawab Shujaud-Din, who governed Bengal 1725-39, built a new gate to the citadel. The city is now in ruins, its remains being scattered over a vast area. Consult Raven shaw, Occur: Its Ruins and Inscriptions (Lon don, 1878).