1S75.] J. Beames — The Rhapsodies of Qanibhir Rai. 193 



introduction to the poem itself, and the allusions therein will be easily 

 understood by reference to the historical narrative. 



The Ra'ja's of Nu'rpu'r. 



Nurpur lies N. W. of Kangrah, on the Jabbarkhad, a small tributary 

 of the Chakki river, which flows into the Biah. Its old name Dhameri 

 iiSj^ii), the " Tammery" of De Laet and other old travellers, was changed to 

 Nurpur by Raja Basu in honor of Nuruddin Muhammad Jahangir. Mu- 

 hammadan Historians generally call the Rajas of Nurpur " zamindars of 

 Mau and Pathan". Mau was one of their strongholds, and was destroyed 

 by Shahjahan ; and Pathan, or Paithan, is the same as Pathankot, west 

 of Nurpur. Pathan is mentioned in the A'in as a parganah of the Bari Diiab, 

 containing 199,872 big'hahs, yielding a revenue of 7,297,015 dams (40 dams 

 = 1 Akbarshahi Rupee), and furnishing 250 horse and 2000 foot ; and 

 Dhameri is quoted as yielding 1,600,000 dams, and furnishing 60 horse, 

 and 1300 foot. 



The zamindars of Mau and Pathan are first noticed in the very be- 

 ginning of Akbar's reign, when Raja Bakht Mall is mentioned as a sup- 

 porter of Sikandar Sur, whom Akbar, in 965 A. H., besieged in Mankot. 

 "When Bakht Mall saw that Sikandar's cause was hopeless, he paid his re- 

 spects in the Imperial camp, and accompanied, after the surrender of Mankot, 

 the army to Lahor, where Bairam Khan had him executed on the ground 

 that he had supported Sikandar Sur. As successor Bairam appointed his 

 brother Takht Mall. I am not sure whether the names of these two Rajas 

 are correct, or whether the first should be called Takht Mall and the second 

 Bakht Mall ; for in every MS. of the Akbarnamah that I have seen, the 

 two names (which differ only in the diacritical points) are continually 

 interchanged. 



Nearly thirty years later, we hear of Raja. Basil as reigning Zamindar 

 of Mau and Pathan. It is not stated how he was related to Bakht Mall 

 and Takht Mall ; but the historians of the reigns of Shahjahan and Aurang- 

 zib look upon him as the founder of a new line, and give the following 

 genealogical tree — 



Raja Basfi of Nurpur (dies 1022). 



(1.) Suraj Mall. (2.) Madhu Singh. (3.) Jagat Singh (dies 1055). 



t \ 



1. Rajrup (dies 1077). 



2. Bhao Singh (Murid Khan). 

 The last, Bhao Singh, in the beginning of Aurangzib's reign, turned 



Muhammadan, and received the name of Murid Khan. His descendants, 

 according to the Haasir ul- JJmara still hold Shahpur, N. W. of Nurpur, 



