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name is dBur-rdo-rNgas, or Burdonas. He has translated it as “Smooth stone cushion” which is nearly correct. ‘Burdo’ and ‘Snias’ in Balti mean ‘mill-stone’ and ‘pillow’ respectively. The Fakir must have used the stone as his pillow and as such it came to be called so. When the heir apparent became of age, he was seated on the same stone amidst great rejoicing. The reigning Gialfo (Raja) saluted him after which the inhabitants of village Shigari paid their homage. Army commanders then offered their congratulations and presents. Cunningham is of the view that Fakir and Bokha were one and thee same person. As regards Cunningham’s identification of the Fakir with Maqpon ABukha, it can be safely stated that his conclusion is not correct. The story of the Fakir being the ancestors of the Maqpon has also been related in the imperial gazetteer of India.

On this topic Biddulph says that at the same time that Azor established himself in Gilgit, which according to Cunningham’s computation must have been in the early of the thirteenth century, a Mohammedan adventurer named Ibrahim Shah who is said to have come from Egypt by way of undivided India usurped the sovereignty of Baltistan and founded the Maqpon family. According to him the term Maqpon meant in Tibetan ‘Commander-in-Chief’.

Hashmatullah’s remarks about the emergence of the Maqpon family of Skardu and Trakhane family of Gilgit are that the last king of the dynasty of Shakar Gialfo died leaving behind only a daughter called Shakari about whose hand four influential Wazirs of the realm quarreled. At that time (about 1190-1220 A.D.) a stranger by the name of Ibrahim arrived in Skardu from the Kashmir side. The Wazirs, in view of the good reputation of the young man decided to marry the princess to him. On his accession to the throne of Skardu he was called ‘Maqpon’ or the ‘Head of the Nation’.

Strictly speaking the word ‘Maqpon’ means, as pointed out by Biddulph, ‘Commander-in-Chief’ and not ‘the head of the masses or nation’. As stated by Hashmatullah. It can safely be said that Ibrahim Shah whether he was a ‘Fakir’ or an ‘adventurer from Egypt’ founded the family. Ibrahim Shah most probably started his career as the Commander-in-Chief of an army, a fact common to all founders of ruling dynasties. The contention of Biddulph that word ‘Maqpon’ was not applied to the family till the reign of Bukha is a disputable point for the genealogical table given by Hashmatullah in respect of the ‘Maqpons’ shows that Ibrahim Shah bore the term ‘Maqpon’.