In mid-15th century, a Muslim colony was founded in the inhospitable mangrove forest of the Sundarbans near the sea coast in the Bagerhat district by an obscure saint-General, named Ulugh Khan Jahan. He was the earliest torch bearer of islam in the South who laid the nucleus of an affluent city during the reign of Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah (1442-59), then known as 'khalifatabad' (present Bagerhat). Khan Jahan adorned his city with numberous mosques, tanks, roads and other public buildings, the spectacular ruins of which are focused around...