Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057352).pdf/170

 162 PIH from Islám, Mírán Sadr and Hakim Humáun were selected as ambassadors. The answer which they took to Abdullah contained a few Arabic verses which Abdullah could construe into a denial of the alleged apostacy have said that he was a sorcerer. Neither God nor the prophet has escaped the slander of men. Then how should I ? Mírán returned in the 34th year and was made Sadr. Up to the 40th year he had risen to the diginity of a commander of 700; but later he was made an amil, and got a mansah of 2,000. During the reign of Jahángír, who was very fond of him, he was promoted to a command of 4,000, and received Kanauj as tuyal. As Sadr under Jahángír he is said to have given away more lands in five years than under Akbar in fifty. He died in 1020 at the age, it is believed, of 120 years. His faculties remained unimpaired to the last. There is no doubt that he temporized, and few people got more for it than he. He also composed poems, though in the end of his life, like Budaoni, he repented and gave up poetry, as against the spirit of the Muhammadan law. He had two sons : (1.) Mír Badr-i-Alam. He lived a retired life. (2.) Sayyid Nizám Murtaza Khan. His mother was a Brahman woman, of whom his father had been so enamoured that he married her; hence Nizim was his favourite son. He was early introduced at court, and at the death of his father was made a commander of 2,500, 2,000 horse. In the first year of Shah Jahan's reign he was promoted to command of 3,000, and received on the death of Murtaza Khản Sujá the title of Murtaza Khan. He served a long time in the Dakhin. His tuyal was the par- gana of Dalmau, where he on several occasions successfully quelled disturbances. He was also Faujdar of Lucknow. In the 24th year of Shah Jahan's reign he was pensioned off, and received twenty lacs of dams per annum out of the revenue of Piliáni, which was one kror. He enjoyed Inis pension for a long time. His sons died before him. On his death his grandsons, Abdul Muqtadi and Abdullah, were appointed to mansabs, and received as tuyál the remaining portion of the revenue of Piháni. Abdul Muqtadi rose to a command of 1,000, 600 horse, and was Faujdar of Khairabad." (Translation of Kín-i-Akbari, Vol. I., Farci V., p. 468.) In the Kheri liistory will be found a detailed account (by Mr. McMinn) of the steps by which, in the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Sombansi pervert rája, Ibádulla Khan, possessed himself of the jágír of these Piháni Sayyads. The decay of Píháni is attributed to Ibádulla Khan's encroachment, to the resumption of the jágír by Saádat Ali Khan, and the loss of service since annexation, The oldest portion of the town is called Bari Piháni; dirt and decay abound in it. Its chief ward or muhalla is Mír-ki-Saráe. The oldest building in it is the tomb of Abdul Ghafúr. The date stone has been removed from it. It stands close to the Khera or deserted site, which marks the residence of the early founders of chak Pihani, the Dubes from Kanauj, and the first Sayyad settlement during the reign of Akbar. The
 * Of God, people have said that he had a son; of the prophet, some