Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057352).pdf/50

 42 PAC besieged by the rebels, and had actually to be relieved by a force under Sit H. Grant. On the return of peace, the title of Mahárája was conferred on Mán Singh. The estate he possessed at annexation was restored to him, and the confiscated property of the Rája of Gonda was made over to him in proprie- tary title for his services. In tlie great Oudh controversies that have for several years engaged so large a share of the public attention, Mahárája Man Singh was the mouth- piece, as he undoubtedly also represented the intellect of the taluqdars ; and it was for the assistance rendered in bringing these controversies to a satisfactory close, that he had so recently been decorated by command of Her Majesty with the Star of India. The words of the Viceroy on pre- senting this decoration were these "Mahárája Mán Singh, Her Majesty the Queen of England and India, having heard of your good services in various important matters connected with the adıninistration of the pro- vince of Oudh, has thought fit to appoint you a Knight Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India." It will thus be seen that the Shahganj family is but of yesterday. It was created by a daring soldier of fortune, and it was enkobled by another, who to courage of an adınittedly high order, added an intellect than which there were few more able or more subtle. Since this biography was sketched, the subject of it has been gathered to his fathers. He died in his 50th year after a protracted illness of eighteen months, contracted in the over-zealous performance of onerous duties connected with the final settlement and consolidation of the taluq- dari system of Oudh. It is a remarkable circumstance that the year 1870 bas proved fatal to all the three sons of Rája Darshan Singh. Raja Raghubardayal, the second son, died on the second May, 1870 ; Mahárája Sir Man Singh, K.C.S.I., the youngest, on the 11th October, 1870, and Rája Rámádhín, the eldest, on the 13th November, 1870. Of these the first mentioned will ever be remembered with a shudder by the readers of Sleeman's Journal, as the cruel official devastator of the Trans-Gogra districts. The latter long devoted himself with credit to the management of the family property, but in con- sequence of a petty zanana dispute he relinquished the charge and betook hisclf for several years to a life of devotion at Benares. He, however, returned to Oudh shortly before the province was annexed, and since then the brothers have made Sháhganj a fortified town, founded by the uncle and father, and which is situated 14 miles south of Fyzabad, their general residence. Mahárája Mán Singh has left a daughter who has a son, Kunwar Partáb Naráin Singh, to whom it was his intention that his fine estate, which at present yields a revenue of Rs. 4,32,128 per annum to Government (not including the Gonda property) should eventually descend, but the will leaves the property to the widow who is not the lad's grandmother, and to her is assigued the duty of finally naming the heir,