Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/103

 JAI 95 History. The pargana has practically no separate history. The lands were chiefly held by the Kanhpurias and Muhammadans of Jáis and Nasirabad. These latter, left in garrison at different times as the tide of Muhammadan invasion flowed over the country, gradually settled down and acquired some of the lands surrounding their headquarters. Many of the residents of these two places attained to wealth and power under the native rulers, and through them wealth flowed into their native towns; but since annexation they have fallen into decay, the service on which the resi- dents chiefly depended having been lost to them. As regards the Kanh- purias, the reader is referred to district article Rae Bareli. JAIS Town—Pargana ROKHA JAIS---Tahsil SALON—District RAE BARELI.—This old town stands on both sides of the Sultanpur and Rae Bareli road, and is 36 miles distant from Sultanpur; the tahsil town Salon, of the Rae Bareli district, lies 16 miles south-west, and Nasírabad four miles to the west. Formerly this town was called Udiánagar, and was in the possession of the Bhars. In the time of Mahmúd of Ghazni, when Sayyad Sálár, whose tomb stands in Bahraich, entered this country, he sent Sayyad Imád-ud-din Khilji to subjugate Udiánagar. He expelled the Bhars, and his followers took posses- sion of it, but he was killed with many other Moslems. Since that time the Muhammadans settled themselves in Udiánagar, and thenceforth it seems to have been called Jáis. There are three different stories about the origin of the name. The first is that "Jaish” means in Persian "camp," and as the Moslems encamped there, they called the place “Táis," as derived from "Jaish." The second is that as the Muhammadans lived in much comfort after their conquest of this place they called it "Já-e-aish” (place of happiness), which has been corrupted into "Jáis." The third is that when the Muhammadans visited this place, which was fertile and pleasant, they in Persian exclaimed “Jáest" " (this is a place !") The town is beautifully situated among mango groves. The neighbour- hood is remarkably pleasing and verdant, but the water in some wells is brackish. The rising ground on which the houses are built covers the remains of Bhar forts. This town was the station of a tahsildar during the Nawabi, and also till June, 1869, A.D., under the British Gover- ment. Among famous men of this town were Malik Muhammad "Jáisi," who compiled the Padmáwat, a Bhákha book, during the reign of Sher Shah. He was a disciple of Sayyad Mukhdúm Ashraf Jahángír. Khwajá Sultán of this town was the minister of Ibrahim Shalı of Jaunpur; and though his own immediate descendants are extinct, his nephew's descendant, Abdul Ghafúr, lambardar of Shekhána, is still here. Shekh Abdul Karim of this town was Subahdar of the Deccan, and his descendants, Abduland l'arrikh- fál, are still here. Sayyad Abdul Qadir and Azmat-ulla, descendants of Sayyad Najm-ud-din (who was appointed to attend Imám-ud-din Khilji in his expedition on Jáis), were very famous men of this town; the former was the tutor of Bahadur Shah, the son of Aurangzeb Alamgir, and the lat- ter the Sade-us-sadúr during the reign of Muhammad Shah. Maulyi Wásil