Fyzabad

“ Were the road from Fyzabad to Lucknow good and safe, a good deal of land produce would, in ordinary seasons, come over it from the Goruckpoor district, and those intervening between Lucknow and Fyzabad. It would, however, be useless to make the road till the gangs which infest it are put down. A good and secure road from Lucknow through Sultanpoor to Benares, would be of still greater advantage.
February 25, 1850.—Halted at Dureeabad. I here saw the draft-bullocks attached to the guns, with Captain Orr's companies of Frontier Police. They are of the best kind, and in excellent condition. ”

“ Hastings's agents, to the Nabob, who was so immediately interested in this matter? Was any notice given to the Begums that any such charge was entertained against them? Not a word. Was it notified to the eunuchs? Was it to Saadut Ali Khân? Not a word. They were all within their power. The eunuchs were a year in irons, and they were subjected to the want of food and water for a part of that year. They were dragged from Fyzabad to Lucknow, and from Lucknow to Fyzabad. ”

“ On the second day, the danger to sheltered Europeans becoming apparent, Colonel Lennox, his wife, and daughter, put on native dresses, and remained nine days concealed in a reed-hut behind the zenana, treated very kindly and considerately by their protector. Meer Mohammed went once or twice to Fyzabad, to learn if possible the plans of the mutineers; he was told that they meant to attack Lucknow, and then depart for Delhi. ”

“ There was a native of Fyzabad known as Moulvie Ahmed-ollah Shah, who always had a drum beaten before him whereever he went, and was consequently called " Dunka Shah ;" he made the Khoorshaid Munzil his Head Quarters, and the Moulvie being of high reputation amongst the Mahomedans, the house soon became a sort of Baradurree for parliamentary meetings : however, after the mutiny, finding the country too hot to hold him, he disappeared, and the house became a rebel stronghold ”

“ There is a tradition that Fyzabad or Ajoodia, and Lucknow, the distance between the two being some seventy odd miles, were once united by a series of small towns, formming one continuous and gigantic city ; another tradition asserts that the two cities were formerly connected by a secret subterranean passage, known only to the Kings of Oudh. These traditions are only worth mentioning, as showing the singular credulity for which the natives of Oudh are remarkable. The stories are of course thoroughly fabulous. ”

“ While these barbarities were perpetrated at Lucknow, the Princesses were still under duress at Fyzabad. Food was allowed to enter their apartments only in such scanty quantities that their female attendants were in danger of perishing with hunger. Month after month this cruelty continued, till at length, after twelve hundred thousand pounds had been wrung out of the Princesses, Hastings began to think that he had really got to the bottom of their coffers, and that no rigor could extort more. Then at length the wretched men who were detained at Lucknow regained their liberty. ”

“ They are 180 in all, and average 540 acres each. Government schools are established in Ujariáon, Juggaur, Chinhat, Kánkrabad, Rahimnagar, and Máhnagar, and others in the city of Luck- now itself. The capital communicates with every part of the province. There are metalled roads to Sitapur, which from there communicates with Shahja- "hánpur to Fyzabad, which at Bara Banki sends out a branch to Bahram- ghat on the Gogra, and to Cawnpore. The great stream of traffic passes sonth from Bahramghat and Fyzabad through Lucknow to Cawnpore. ”

“ In the Punjaub we find Peshawur, Attock, Rawul Pindee, Jelum, Ramnugur, Chillianwalla, Wuzeerabad, Umritsir, Lahore, Jullundur, Ghoorka, Ferozpore, Ferozshah, Moodkee; in the once independent but now British province or kingdom of Oude will be found the names of Lucknow, Oude, Fyzabad, Sultanpore, Khyrabad; in the territory of Nagpoor is the town of the same name, but other towns of any note are scarce. In Pegu and Tenasserim, both ultra-Gangetic or eastward of the Ganges, we find Rangoon, Bassein, Prome, Moulmein, and Martaban. ”

“ It appears, however, that in the last years of his reign, when Rohilkhand had been subjugated and most of it annexed to Oudh, he fixed his residence at Lucknow as being more central. He was a ruler of great ability and energy, and was, for a great part of his reign, engaged in wars. Shuja-ud-daula died suddenly on 26th January 1775, at Fyzabad, of which city his tomb, the Gulab Bari (rose garden) , is one of the chief ornaments. He is described as being extremely handsome and endowed with great strength. ”

“ The old cantonments have disappeared, with the exception of a gateway or two, and the gable end of the church which stands out amongst the crops. The population is 3,155, of which 731 are Musalmans, and the rest Hin- dus. There is a Government school attended by 41 pupils. MANGALSI Pargana* -Tahsil FYZABAD.-District FYZABAD.---The pargana of Mangalsi occupies the north-west corner of the district. Its northern boundary is the river Gogra, its southern is for the most part the Madha. ”

“ No mosques, mausoleums, temples, seraees, colleges, courts of justice, or prisons to be seen in any of the towns or villages. There are a few Hindoo shrines at the half-dozen places which popular legends have rendered places of pilgrimage, and a few small tanks and bridges made in olden times by public officers, when they were more secure in their tenure of office than they are now. All the fine buildings raised by former rulers and their officers at the old capital of Fyzabad are going fast to ruin. ”

“ On the west its boundary is the district boundary, in part there is a chain of marshes, in part a ravine, at the bottom of which in the rains runs a considerable stream. On the east the boundary line runs down from the cantonments of Fyzabad in a south-westerly direction to the Madha. It is perhaps the most fertile jand the best cultivated pargana of the district. It is further wellwooded, and the scenery though as a rule monotonous and tame, is often pretty. In shape it is long and narrow. Near its western ond a broad belt of sandy soil runs nearly across the pargana. ”

“ Wilford, in the end of the 18th century, speaks of Faizabad as “the new capital of Badakhshan, built near the site of the old one.” The Chinese map (vide J. R. G. S. vol. xlii.) represents the city of Badakhshan to the east of Faizabad. Faiz Bakhsh, in an unpublished paper, mentions a tradition that the Lady Zobeidah, dear to English children, the daughter of Al-Mansúr and wife of Ar-Rashid, delighted to pass the spring at Jaúzgún, and built a palace there, “the ruins of which are still visible.” ”

“ It possesses pleasant gardens, far-reaching streams, excellent markets, fine streets, and a numerous population. The town is constructed with taste and admirably arranged; each trade has its own bazaar. The inhabitants are a fine race and well clad. Shiraz lies in a plain; gardens surround it on every side; and five rivers flow through it, amongst them one called Ruknabad, a stream of which the water is excellent to drink, very cold in summer and warm in winter. The principal mosque is called the Old Mosque; it is as spacious and as well built as any one could wish to see. ”

“ Its position was to the east of the town, opposite to the fields and to the ruined mosque of Mosalla. Between Jafrabad and Mosalla runs the highroad to Isfahan, traversing, at the distance of a mile from Shiraz, the pass of Allahu Akbar.
The angel Gabriel, the Holy Spirit, is the highest of all the angels. It is his duty to write down the decrees of God; 144through him the Koran was revealed to Mahommad, and it is he who, hovering above the throne of God, shelters it with his wings. Hafiz therefore claims for Shiraz the protection of him who is guardian of the highest place in heaven. ”

“ Firuz returned after this to his capital and sent for the lovely Pertal, and on her arrival, finding that her beauty surpassed all report, he gave her in marriage to his eldest son, Hasan Khan, when "the knot was tied amid great rejoicings and princely magnificence." The lady's husband is described by Firishtah as being "a weak and dissipated prince." He was heir to the throne, but was easily ousted by the valiant Ahmad "Khankhanan," and lived privately at Firuzabad, "entirely devoted to redolence and pleasure." ”

“ On the plateau east of the pass, we found six small villages, the most eastern—Eshratawat (Ishratabad) —being the largest (altitude 6,800 ft.) . When the sun was about to rise we more clearly distinguished a grey, sombre, mountainous mass to the east, sharply indented at its summit, like the teeth of a gigantic saw, and ending abruptly on the northern terminus.
We had come between mountains, and some twelve miles from Fezahbad we reached Kudarz (altitude 6,580 ft.) , a village situated at the foot of the range we had crossed. ”

“ About the time of the birth of Hafiz, that is to say in the beginning of the fourteenth century, a certain Mahmud Shah Inju was governing the province of Fars, of which Shiraz is the capital, in the name of Abu Said, the last of the direct descendants of Hulagu. On the death of Mahmud Shah, Abu Said appointed Sheikh Hussein ibn Juban to the 9governorship of Fars, a lucrative and much-coveted post. ”

“ Further on to the outside of the town on the south-east are two other dargábs raised to Makhdúm Shah, Muhammad Kázim, and Makhdúm Shah Turáb, Kandharia faqirs, in whose memory the annual urs festivals are celebrated, and a great fair held, at which great numbers from Lucknow and the neighbouring villages attend. On the west is the mosque of Azinat-ulla, built in the reign of Shah Jahan, to whose daughter Azmat-ulla was tutor, and who, his descendants say, also gave instruction to Aurangzeb himself. ”

“ Now Faizabad is about 70 miles from Talekan, and about 160 at least from Andarab. From Andarab the route strikes east at first, but after crossing the Nawak Pass, over a spur of the Hindu Kush (which is itself crossed near this point by the Khawak) , it turns and passes down the valley of Anjuman to Jirm and Faizabad. Jirm is on the left bank of the Kokcha or Khariab—Faizabad being on the right,—and its altitude (4800 feet) would certainly admit of vine-growing and may be suitable for horse-breeding ”

“ Perhaps we shall have to abandon the mine; but then, you see, we shall form one large party, with plenty of provisions and cartridges; and you will have a much better chance of reaching your homes than if you go as you are, hungry, with no food, and little hope of defending yourselves if attacked by enemies in the hills."
The Pathan puffed away gravely.
"There is truth in what the sahib says. He has a very big mind, and sees very far. We Pathans are not cowards, as the sahib knows; Fyz Ali is a good man, and the chota sahib will be a great man when his beard is grown. ”

“ Bruce in the Chahar Bagh, we visited the Medresseh, a combined mosque and college, and the armoury, where we were joined by two generals and were afterwards entertained at tea in the Standard Room, while a military band played outside. The Amir had ordered some artificers skilled in the brass-work for which Isfahan is famous to exhibit their wares in one of the rooms at the armoury, and in every way tried to make the visit more agreeable than an inspection of the jail! He advises me not to wear a veil in the Bakhtiari country, and to be "as European as possible." ”

“ He lies in the garden of Mosalla outside Shiraz, a garden the praises of which he was never tired of singing, and on the banks of the Ruknabad, where he had so often rested under the shade of cypress-trees. When, some sixty years after the poet’s death, Sultan Baber conquered Shiraz, he erected a monument over the tomb of Hafiz. An oblong block of stone on which are carved two songs from the Divan, marks the grave. At the head of it is inscribed a sentence in Arabic: “God is the enduring, and all else passes away.” ”

“ Ibn Batuta, the Arab traveller who visited Shiraz about the year 1340, has left a charming description of the native town of Hafiz and of the manners of his contemporaries. “Shiraz,” he says, “is a well-built town of a great size, a wide celebrity, and a high place among cities. ”

“ Throughout the mutiny Ferozepur remained in the hands of the English.
Ferozepur has rapidly advanced in material prosperity of late years, and is now a very important seat of commerce, trade being mainly in grain. The main streets of the city are wide and well paved, and the whole is enclosed by a low brick wall. Great improvements have been made in the surroundings of the city. The cantonment lies 2 m. to the south of the city, and is connected with it by a good metalled road.
The District of Ferozepur comprises an area of 4302 sq. ”

“ The other important towns and seats of commerce are Fazilka (pop. 8505) , Dharmkot (6731) , Moga (6725) , and Muktsar (6389) . Owing principally to the dryness of its climate, Ferozepur has the reputation of being an exceptionally healthy district. In September and October, however, after the annual rains, the people suffer a good deal from remittent fever. In 1901 the population was 958,072. Distributaries of the Sirhind canal water the whole district.
FEROZESHAH, a village in the Punjab, India, notable as the scene of one of the chief battles in the first Sikh War. ”

“ Shamsabad is a most wretched mud village without supplies, standing bare on a gravelly slope, above a clear quiet stream, an affluent of the Karun. This country has not reached that stage of civilisation in which a river bears the same name from mouth to source, and as these streams usually take as many names as there are villages on their course, I do not burden my memory with them. ”