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lesser degree* guardeth the bindingst thereof; therefore it behoveth him that learneth knowledge to propitiate the angels both of the higher and lower degree, for they love him that doth this.

14. According as the ox cherisheth man and bringeth him wealth, so let him love him as a parent and respect him.

15. Whosoever eateth of the flesh of the ox the same is called the devourer of his own mother's flesh if an ox die it is meet that he be given to the birds of the air§ or unto the waters.||

:

16. He that learneth on the fifth day of the week will be complete in knowledge: he that learneth on the first or sixth day will leave undone a part thereof: he that learneth on the second or fourth day will obtain none of it¶: and he that learneth on the third or last day of the week will die.

17. There is that sayeth that he that learneth knowledge on the eighth day of the waxing or the waning moon killeth the teacher, and that he that teacheth knowledge on the fourteenth day of the waxing or the waning moon killeth the scholar: also there is that sayeth that if knowledge be taught on the tenth day of the waxing or the waning moon it will be destroyed, and that if it be taught to any at the full moon his parents will be slain.

18. In the world he that learneth knowledge eateth not of the cocoanut on the seventh day of the waxing and the waning moon: on the ninth day also he eateth not of the gourd, neither of the kenbeng on the twelfth day, nor on the third day of the divers kinds of curries: if he eat of these his knowledge will be lost.

19. In the world a man is renounced for the profit of his family: a family for the profit of the village: a village for the profit of the city: and the whole world for the profit of a man. **

20. In the world the lion, the good man and the elephant, these leave the place that is not for their advantage and go their way; but the crow, the bad man, and the deer, these come to destruction in the place where they find delight.

21.

In whatsoever place there is none to love and none to desire, there is no friend and none to teach: tarry thou not there.

22. The wise man goeth to the new place with a watchful mind as one that goeth forward, and remaineth in the old place with a constant

*Or a Pisana.

+ Or bag.

Or both the Brahmas and the Pisanas.

§ Or the Vultures.

Or that he float on the water.

¶ Or be of a calm mind.

** Or self.

mind as one that standeth still wherefore leave not quickly the old place without trying the new.

23. A woman when she eateth eateth twice as much as a man, but her wisdom is four times greater than his, and her lust eight times greater. 24. In the world the taste of the sugarcane becometh sweeter according as the joint is further from the top; so the excellent man that is a good husband becometh sweeter from the beginning even unto the end, as doth the sugarcane: likewise also the evil friend by degrees loseth his sweetness, as doth the sugarcane when thou eatest thereof from the bottom to the top.

25. If the country be filled full of husbandmen and of merchants and of noblemen and of priests of good repute, then shall the borders be increased. 26. The wisdom of him that prayeth not fadeth away, as the house of him that is idle becometh foul: even so also is idleness as rust to him that is beautiful, and sloth as dirt to the sober priest.

27. In the world the riches of them that do little labour become the riches of them that work much. They that are come to a low estate teach, saying, Our fortune is the reason thereof: but they that are wise teach not so, saying, It is because they do not their work with all their might. If the work be not finished, and he profiteth not according to his desire; Is the fault with it? Nay, the fault lieth not with it.

28. Whosoever is of low estate, neither can work with his lips nor with his hands, whose form is not fair, who lacketh strength: though he be blamed by reason of these, yet is this age a lesser age and maketh his wealth only to be of any worth. Here endeth the book concerning divers

matters.

29. The book concerning the wise; the book concerning the good; the book concerning the evil; the book concerning friends; the book concerning women; the book concerning kings; the book concerning divers matters. He who put in order these seven books is called Chakkindabi the true teacher of the law,* the great High Priest, Master of the Law, that dwelleth in the building that is built of brick in the Sacred Ground. § He made clear the interpretation of the writings of the Book of the Proverbs of Common Life in the second fifth-month on the first day of the week¶ and the seventh of the waning moon, in the eleven hundred and ninetysixth year.

*Or Saddhamma Dhaja.

† Or Maha Dhammaraja Guru.

Or in the Ok Kyoung.

§ Or Maha Oung myê bôngtsàn.

| Or intercalary month.

¶ Or Sunday.

JOURNAL

OF THE

ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL.

Part I.-HISTORY, LITERATURE, &c.

No. IV.-1878.

The Bangash Nawabs of Farrukhábád A Chronicle, (1713-1857).—By WILLIAM IRVINE, C. S., Fatehgarh, N. W. P.—PART I.

From the time of Farrukhsiyar's accession in 1713, the imposing fabric of the Mughul Empire began to fall asunder. In the hands of weak. and dissolute princes, surrounded by self-seeking and incompetent courtiers, the central power rapidly withered and decayed. As control relaxed, the provincial governors usurped more and more, in fact if not in name, the attributes of sovereignty, and transmitted their authority to their heirs with little more than the nominal concurrence of the fainéant descendants of Bábar and Akbar. To this period of disintegration can be traced the origin of nearly all the great Muhammadan principalities which the English From 'Ali Wardí found, when they first intervened in Indian politics. Khán, a subahdar who died in 1744, descend the Nawáb-Názims of Bengal ; the Nizám of Haidarábád represents the family founded by Nizám-ul Mulk, Asaf Jáh, Subahdár of the Dakhin from 1713 to 1748; the kings of Audh sprang from Sa'dat Khán, Burhán-ul Mulk, appointed Subahdár of Audh in 1713; the Rohelas achieved their independence in the early part of Muhammad Shah's reign; and the Játs of Bhartpur first rose into importance at the time when Churáman became the ally of 'Abdullah Khán, Kutb-ul Mulk, the rebellious Wazir of Muhammad Shah. The Bangash house, which founded Farrukhábád and acquired a considerable territory in the middle Duáb, arose at the same time and in the same way as its more famous rivals; and although in the end it fell upon evil days, there was a time when its prospects of future greatness were little, if at all, inferior to

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those of its competitors. At the death of Muhammad Khán in 1743, no one would have foretold that his successors would so soon be distanced in the race for power. The rashness of one successor and the weak unam bitious nature of another, aided by the exposed position of their country, placed in the highway of all hostile forces from east or west or south, soon reduced Farrukhábád to comparative insignificance. Still, it is impossible. to deny that the Bangash Nawabs have received but scant justice at the hand of the general historian. Nowhere has their history been told in any connected form, and many of the events in which they played a prominent part have been passed over or incorrectly narrated. To remedy, so far as possible, this defect, is the object of this paper. It is, I believe, the first attempt in English to tell, from the local point of view, the story of the Nawabs of Farrukhábád.

Account of the sources from which this history is derived.

Since many of the books I have used are MSS. not known beyond the limits of the district, it is desirable to begin with some account of them and their authors.

The oldest and most valuable of these is a collection of letters from and to Muhammad Khán, Ghazanfar Jang, made in 1159 H. (Jan. 1746– Jan. 1747) by Munshi Sáhib Ráe under the name of Khujistah Kalám, which denotes the date. There are 206 letters from, and 89 to Muhammad Khán His correspondents included all the great men of that time, but letters are most numerous to the Emperor, to the Wazír Kamr-ud-din Khán, to Nizám-ul Mulk, to Khán Daurán Khán, Amír-ul Umrá, and to Roshanud-daula. The letters belong mostly to the period from 1140 H. to 1156 H. The MS. measures 10 in. × 6 in. and contains 251 leaves of fifteen lines to a page, but there are two or three leaves wanting at the end. The book, which was obtained from the heir of Sáhib Ráe's greatgrandson Bhawáni Parshád, lay in a heap of other papers, which had been reduced to dust by damp and insects, in a long-disused room. copy appears to be in existence.

No other

The family history of Sáhib Ráe, so far it can be pieced together from the fragments left at the end of his book, is as follows: His grandfather, Manohar Dás, filled the office of peshkár of Bahat, Sahind and Antri with other districts of Sarkár Gwáliár. He lived in Gwáliár where he had a masonry house. After his death, his son Dwárka Dás went to Sháhjahánábád in search of employment, and lived in the Paharganj ward. Through his friend Lála Gaj Singh, peshkar of the Khálsa Sharifa, he was appointed to some office. He left two sons Dál Chand and Sáhib Ráe. The former was letter-copier and keeper of private accounts to Nawáb Sá’dat Khán. Sáhib Ráe was educated by his brother, and in the time of Far

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