Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/482

 MAN Ráje Sayyad Abdul Wahid. Another contemporary, though not a mansabdar; Ráje Sayyad Abdul Wahid founded the villages of Abdul Wahidganj and Páhipur. Shah Abdul Karim and the religious endowments at Mánikpur.-Of the Makhdámzádas of this period, prominence must be given to Shab Abdul Karím, of the line of Shah Qasim, Hisåm-ud-dín, and Maulána Ismáít Farrukhi, worthies who have all been previously noticed. This indivi- dual passed so high in the public estimation, that a book called the Chár. Rina was written to commemorate the events of his life. He is the founder of the Salon religious brotherhood, the endowment of which is at the present time under the management of Shah Husen Atå. When Sher Shał married his daughter to Shah Qasim, he settled on her the Sasseram Jágir, before settingforth on his expedition to Bengal. This Jágir had been enjoyed by the descendants of Shah Qasim down to the time of the subject of our present notice, Shah Abdul Karim. This pain- fully pious and self-mortifying man threw up the jágir and tore up the title deed. His descendants in Mánikpur at the present day are Shah Muhammad Ashiq, the Sajjáda-nashin, Shah Muhammad Ismail, secretary and treasurer of the endowment, Shah Muhammad Mohim, Sayyad Muhammad Abdul Hasan, and Shah Abdul Qádir. This quintett forms the only members of the brotherhood. The endowment consists of 10 villages which are held by the brotherhood under a perpetual revenue-free grant from the British Government, the gross rental of which yields them an annual income of Rs. 4,000. The Rajput tribes.—The surrounding country was at this time mainly peopled by the Bisens, whose condition, with that of other Rajput tribes, may be generally described in Elphinstone's words. “The Rajputs, who at the time of Sultan Mahmud's invasion, were in possession of all the gov- ernments of India, sunk into the mass of the population as those govern, ments were overturned, and no longer appeared as rulers, except in places where the strength of the country afforded some protection against the Musalman arms. Those on the Jumna and Ganges, and in general in all the completely conquered tracts, became what they are now, and though they still retained their high spirit and military figure, had adopted their habits to agriculture, and no longer aspired to a share in the government of the country."* Aurangzeb's visit to Mánikpur.- This brings us to the reign of Aurangzeb or Alamgir. The long reign of this sovereignextended from 1068 Hijri to 1119 Hijri (A.D. 1658 to 1707). During this period he was con- stantly moving about in different portions of his empire. On one of these occasions, on his return from a tour through Oudh, necessitated by his bus- picions regarding his lieutenant at Fyzabad, who was a Káyath, and who, in the emperor's opinion, was far too tolerant of the Hindu religion and superstitions, Aurangzeb arrived at Mánikpur one evening just in time to witness the appearance of the new moon, and to celebrate the festival of the Id-ul-Fitr. His army ran up a mosque in the course of the night,
 * Elphinstone's History of India, 6th Edn, page 479.