AKB
16
Until t1ie (Liya of Nawab Asif-ud-daula the rfevenue arrangements of m^.,—the the pargana were made through three different departments, Jagir, the 248 mauand mauzas 122 Aimma, the Kh£sa, 613 mauzas In the time of Saadat Ali, these distinctions were abandoned, one zas. collecting agency was adopted, and the Tappa territorial sub-division fell
into disuse.
The pargana is bisected by the river Tons, which is navigable up to the capital in the rains, and it is touched on portions of its northern borIt ders by the river Gogra, and the small stream known as the Thirwa. contains eleven jhils and twenty-three ponds which retain water throughout the year, besides other more precarious excavations. Since the overthrow of the Bhars there have been twenty-four influenwhom property in the soil has from time to time vested, of Muhammadan and twelve Hindus. Of some of these were which twelve a slight sketch will now be given.
tial families in
The Muhammadans.
—
1st. Sayyad Taj and his three companions are said to have come from Arabia in the days of the Ghori dynasty, and to have settled in Sinjhauli. He acquired property, and a tank of his construction, in which there are The living descendants of one eight stone pillars, is still pointed out.* of these men are numerous and for a time one branch was possessed of a qanungoship, but this was lost.
Of these people, Shekh Tasawwar Ali is the only man of the family who now any rights in the soil, and he is a sub-proprietor in mauza Kadanpur, They are Shias.
has
<2,nd.
—Sayyad Ahnad, Shia, of Arabia, came during the Toghlaq
period,
Two
of his line, Sayyad Phul and Piare afterwards became powerful proprietors, but after three or four generations they dwindled into insignificance and although the family can still be
and
settled in
Darwan.
traced in three villages, they hold no property
—
Sayyad Sidaimdn, a powerful and wise Shia merchant, came from 3rd. Naishapur, in the province of Khorasan, in North Persia, in 806 Hijri, or 1403 A. D., settled in mauza Atrora, and married into the family of Sayyad Phul, just mentioned. He acquired much property, and his tomb and the
- Since this was written, I have had an opportunity of visiting this picturesque spot.
There is a large tank which is annually emptied by irrigation operations. In its centre is a mound connected only by a causeway on one side, with the surrounding country. On this mound is a stone tomb, over which are eight roughly-shewn stone pillars, surmounted by a small brick dome, which has recently fallen in. The whole is over-shadowed by a fine old tamarind tree. On one of the interior cornices I found the following inscription in Persian (Arabic character) the existence of which is not generally known in the neighbour"This building was erected in 782 Hijri (1380 A. D.). Thisdome is within a hood The land is within Sinjhauli. The Qazi reservoir, which is surrounded by fruit trees. (to wit, Sayyad T^j) has assigned (waqf) these (i. e., the land and groves) for the support of the tomb, the Koran readers> the carpets, and carpet-spreaders, the lights, the mosque, and the well." This inscription shows that it was not during the Ghori dynasty that Sayyad Taj settled here, as tradition has it, but a hundred and fifty years afterwards, in the days of Kroz Toghlaq, who founded the city of Jaunpur about 1359 A. D,
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