270 W. Irvine —The Bang ash Naiedhs of Farr ukhdbdd. [No. 4, 
district under the generic name of Mau Pathans. They are to be found in 
numbers in our native cavalry, where they appear to bear a high character 
as soldiers. 
Mau Rashidabad, the former name of which was Mau-Thoriya, was 
re-founded in the reign of Jahangir about 1607, A. D. (1016, H.) by Nawab 
Rashid Ivhan, jagirdar of Shamshabad. A few of his descendants, known as 
Khanzadahs, still exist though reduced to poverty .* The myth so common in 
the East is told to account for the selection of the site. Jackals drove oft 
the Nawab’s dogs, and in his astonishment, he inferred that such a soil 
would produce men more brave and strong than found elsewhere. 
Muhammad Khan’s early years . 
’Ain Khan married in Mau, and when he died left two sons, Himmat 
Khan, aged thirteen, and Muhammad Khan, aged eleven. Since Muhammad 
Khan died in December, 1746, at about the age of eighty lunar years, his 
birth must have taken place about the year 1665. One day, the story goes, 
Muhammad Khan had ridden out on his elder brother’s horse along the 
edge of the river, and he brought it back in a profuse sweat. Himmat 
Khan fearing that he would some day throw the horse down and get injured 
himself, gave Muhammad Khan a slight reproof. Angry at being spoken 
to, Muhammad Khan took refuge at a fakir’s hut. The fakir, to cheer 
him, prophesied that he would one day be a Bdivan-TTazdri or Commander 
of Fifty-two thousand. Himmat Khan, the elder brother, in time left 
home and took seivice in the Dakhin, where he died. His body is interred 
in Sher Muhammad Khan’s bagh in Mau, a grove which had been planted 
in the days of Nawab Rashid Khan. He left one daughter, Bibi Fatima, 
who became the wife of ’Inayat ’Ali Khan, Bangash Kaghzai. 
When Muhammad Khan reached the age of twenty years (i. e. about 
1685, A. D.), he took service with Yasin Khan Bangash, then a leader of 
renown among the Pathans of Mau. In the month of October of every 
year, he started from Mau with four or five thousand men, horse and foot, 
and went across the Jamna. In those days the Rajahs of Bundelkhand 
were at incessant war with each other, and the trade of the soldier flourished. 
When any Rajah, who had a rebellious vassal to deal with, heard of Yasin 
Khan’s arrival, an agent would be sent to engage him to punish the 
rebel. The ordinary terms were one-fourth of the plunder or of the 
money obtained. When the agreement had been reduced to writing, pay¬ 
ment of one half beforehand was demanded as Ajauri or money in 
advance. This sum was divided among the troops, so much to each 
horseman and so much to each footman. A march was then made against 
the place designated, and it was surrounded. If the inhabitants fought, 
force was met by force ; if they asked for terms, a settlement was made. 
* On Rashid Khan and the Khanzadahs. Note A. 
