114 E. E. Oliver —Decline of the Samdnis and the Rise of the [No. 
turns they became subordinate, were the semi-independent governors 
of Sijistan or Nimroz, who succeeded, and were allied to, the dynasty 
of the Saffaris. The following short summary may help to make their 
connection with the period clearer. 
According to the Tabakat, Ya’kiib, ’Amru, ’Ali and Mu’addil, 
were four brothers the sons of Lais, the Saffar or worker in brass, who 
was the head of the braziers of Sijistan in the days when Ibrahim was 
the governor and Salih the deputy governor on the part of Muhammad 
Tahii', the last of the Tahiris, then Amir of Khurasan. Lais is described 
as a restless refractory fellow with a large following, and his character 
seems to have descended to his son Ya’kiib, who caused Salih to be 
put to death, armed his followers, seized the deputy governor’s palace, 
declared himself Amir, and raised an army that in a brief space not 
only made him master of the situation, but enabled him to start a career 
of conquest of his own. Having raised his army he led it towards 
Bust, and Zawulistan, Zamin-i-Dawar and Ghaznin, subduing the whole 
of them, thence advanced into Tukharistan an ancient district of 
Balkh; Balkh itself, and on to Kabul, with uniform success. In 
256 he returned to Sijistan and subsequently advanced to HirM which 
cost him much fighting before he obtained possession of it. After this 
he took Badghais, Bushanj, Jam, Bakhurz, and in 259 Nishapur, where 
he seized Muhammad-i-Tahir with his treasure and followers, and hav¬ 
ing visited Gurzau and Tabaristan, and extorted tribute, again returned 
to Sijistan, setting free Muhammad-i Tahir who found a refuge at the 
court of the Khalifah in 261. His brother ’Amru he made governor 
of Hirat, and after one more excursion into ’Irak he died at lOiandah- 
i-Shapur a town of Ahwaz in 265 H. 
The Ilnd was ’AMRti, the brother, who on succeeding withdrew 
his forces from ’Irak and the year following (266) moved to Hirat 
and thence to Nishapur before the gates of which he was defeated by 
one of the Tahiri Amirs and fell back on Hirat. In 271 the Khalifah 
deposed him, and declared the government of Khurasan given back 
to Muhammad-i-Tahir, sending one Rafi’ bin Harsamah as his deputy, 
who joined his forces with the Tahir Amir’s. But in 284 ’Amru 
defeated them and sent Rail’s head to the Khalifah at Ba gh dad with a 
request that he, ’Amru, might now be recognised as the governor of 
Mawara-un-Nahr, Khurasan, Nimroz, Ears, Kirmau, Ahwaz, and the 
guardian of the entrance of the Palace of the Khalifahs ; moreover that 
the name of ’Amru should be mentioned in the lOiutbah and inserted 
on the coins of Makkah, Madinah, and Hijaz. All of which demands 
