Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924024153987).pdf/90

 ;

U

AJO

pretend that they are the tombs of Seth and Job, and they relate wonderful stories of them.' This account shows that since the time of Akbar the tomb of Seth must have increased in length, from seven cubits, or ten and a half feet, to seventeen feet, through the frequent repairs These "tombs are also mentioned at a later date, of pious Musalmans." To these tombs Colonel Wilford adds that of in the Araish-i-Mahfil. Noah, which is still pointed out near the police station. The Colonel's " Close to Ajodhya or Oudh, on the banks of the account is as follows Gogra, they show the tomb of Noah, and those of Ayub, and Shis or Shish, (Job and Seth). According to the account of the venerable Darvesh who watches over the tomb of Nuh, it was built by Alexander the Great, or Sikandar Rumi. I sent lately (A. D. 1799) a learned Hindu to make enquiries about this holy place from the Musalmans he could get no further light but the Brahmans informed him that where Nuh's tomb stands now, there was formerly a place of worship dedicated to Ganesha, and close to it are the remains of a bdoli, or walled well, which is called in the Puranas Ganapat Kund. The tombs of Job and Seth are near to each other, and about one bow-shot and a half from Ntih's tomb between them are two small hillocks, called Soma-giri, or the mountains of the moon according to them these tombs are not above four hundred







and owe their origin

to three men, called N"uh, Ayub, and Shis, there fighting against the Hindus. These were, of course, considered as shahids, or martyrs but the priests who officiate there, in order to increase the veneration of the superstitious and unthinking crowd, gave out that these tombs were really those of Noah, Job, and Seth, of old. The tomb of Nuh is not mentioned in the Ain-i-akbari, only those of Job and Seth."

years old

who



fell



On

these quotations I have only to add that the distance between the is greater than stated, being nearly a mile as the crow flies while it is not the tomb of Nuh, but those of the other two men mentioned, that are close to the Ganesha Kund.

tombs

Darshan Singh's Temple.



—

This temple, now more generally known as Singh's was built twenty-five years ago by the former raja, and there is nothing more artistic in that line in modern Oudh. ,It is dedicated to Mahadeo, and is of finely-cut Chunar stone, most of the figures and orna-

Man

ments having been prepared at and brought from Mirzapur. The idol is a fine bloodstone from the Narbada, which cost Es. 250 there. The marble images are from Jaipur. The splendidly toned large bell was cast here, from a model which was injured on its way from Nepal it is a

credit to local art.

—

The Bah'u, Begam's Mausoleum. It was arranged by treaty between the British Government, the Bahu Begam, and the Nawab of Oudh, that three lacs of sikka rupees of her riches were to be set apart for the erection by her confidential servant, Darab Ali Khan, of her tomb, and that the revenue of villages to the aggregate amount of Sikka Rs. 10,000 per annum were to be assigned for its support.

The Begam died on the 27th

of January 1816.

Darab Ali

laid the