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from whom, as a mark of his appreciation, he received the honorary titles, viz., Jahangir.
last of his
The Shah wished his pupil to marry into his family, but the latter having resolved on celibacy, undertook a journey to the land of his birth for the purpose of bringing his nephew Abdur Razzdq, who was in due course married to the Shah's .daughter.
Makhdum Ashraf was after a time deputed to propagate the faith of Islam in Upper India. A spot was indicated to him, which he was to recognize from description, and there he was to dwell and erect his tomb. In the course of his search, he reached the town of Jaunpur, about the year A. D. 1388, which he found to be under the sway of Sultan Ibrahim of the " Eastern" dynasty. By this monarch he was favourably received, and offers were made to him of grants of land for his honourable support, to induce him to remain there but these he steadily declined, and in obedience to the instructions of his spiritual chief he wandered on in search of the promised land. This he soon found in the spot where his tomb still stands in Rasulpur, and the surrounding country he discovered to be in the possession of one Darpan Nath, a pandit of unlimited fame, who was then at the head of a gathering of 500 jogis or pupils.
The meeting of these men of opposing creeds is said to have been followed by a prolonged struggle for mental superiority, the aid of witchcraft and sorcery and every other black art being freely resorted to on either side and this great theological duel at last eventuated in the complete subversion of the idolatrous belief, and the conversion of the pandit to the faith of the Prophet. He then took the name of Kamal-ud-din, and his tomb is still pointed out near that of his vanquisher as that of
"Kamal
Pandit."
The spot on which Makhdum Ashraf s tonib now stands he selected for Here he ended his days his residence, giving it the name of Ruhabad. He left in the hundred and twentieth year of his age, A. D. 1390.* behind him a historical record of his acts and opinions, of which four copies only are said to be extant and which is known to the student From it. Sir of the early Muhammadan authors as the Latif-i- Ashraf Henry Elliot quotes, that " on one occasion when this sainted personage visited the town of Jais (in this province), nearly three thousand pupils
came out
to
pay their
respects."
Ashraf was succeeded by his nephew already named, Haji who changed the name of the family residence to Rasulpur, Razzaq, Abdur and added largely to the place.
Makhdum
left five sons, Shams-ud-dm, who died childless ; Hadi Ahmad, who settled in the aforesaid Jais Farid-ud-din, who settled in the Daryabad district ; andShah Hasan andShah Husen, both of whom remained inRasfil-
He
pur.
Three generations of the
haji's
descendants continued to live in
- There must be some mistake in tlie years of the advent and death of this sainted man,
for he could not have done what he did, and acquired so much fame, in the short interval of two years. Moreover, the " Eastern" dynasty only dates from A. D. 1394, and the reign of Ibrahim of that line from 1401.
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