About this time, Hydur Sáhib the elder, sent for his cousins from Chitore, it being a period of prosperity with his family; and, by chance it hap­pened that, about this period, Shahbaz Sáhib receiv­ing some slight affront from Abdul Wahab Khan, and, being offended, with difficulty obtained his discharge from his service, and having no employ, he, at the invitation of his relative, (Hydur the elder), joined him with his brother, their family, followers, and property.

Seeing the style and respectability of the two fortunate brothers, Hydur Sáhib was highly pleased with them, and presented them to Nundi Raj, the chief minister of Mysore, and obtained service for them, with three hundred foot and fifty horse.— As after this, during the attack on Dewun Hulli, depending on Chuk Balapoor,* in which fort* Hydur Sáhib the elder had a detachment, he having besieged the fort, and reduced it to extremity, was accidentally wounded in one of the assaults, and afterwards died, the minister before mentioned, (Nundi Raj,) delivered over to Shahbaz Sáhib the company which Hydur the elder had commanded, and also gave him the charge of the fort and dependencies, which had been newly conquered; he then returned to Seringaputtun. Shahbaz dis­patched his horse, under the command of his brother Hydur Alí, with the minister’s troops; and, sending for his family from Kolar, he remained at Balapoor. As, about this time, his wife had died after giving birth to a daughter, he demanded in marriage, and married, a young lady of his tribe, and when his daughter,* born under the star of good fortune, had arrived at a proper age, he affi­anced her to Lala Mean. His new wife brought him two daughters, and one son, whom he named Kádir Sáhib.

At this period, Hydur Alí had conducted himself with such prudence and discretion in Seringaput­tun, that all the Chiefs of the Government, the Raja himself, but chiefly his minister Nundi Raj, (who was the father-in-law of Jug Kishen Raj Ooderi, the Raja of that period,) were so fascinated by the goodness of his disposition and his bravery, that they distinguished him above all his com­peers, the Jamadárs, Náíkwars, and other officers of older standing; and the latter (Nundi Raj) favored and desired his promotion, as he considered him the leader of his troops, or the bravest man in the army. Hydur having also been permitted to farm the Jumabundi, or land revenue,* for the pay­ment of his horse and regular foot, was now digni­fied with the title of Hydur Alí Khan; and neither in business nor pleasure did Nundi Raj ever separate himself from him.

When Hydur Alí Khan had arrived at the age of nineteen or twenty years, Shahbaz Sáhib, his elder brother who with his family resided at Dewun Hulli, determined to seek a wife for his brother; and, after much search, the family of a certain Syud Shahbaz, commonly called Shah Mean Sáhib, was selected, he being a Peer Zadeh* of the Souba Sura, who had six children, viz. three sons and three daughters, the eldest son being Syud Kumal, otherwise called Kumtoo Sáhib, the second Syud Mukhdoom, and the third Syud Ismáíl.

This man was sent for with his family to Seringa­puttun, and his eldest daughter was married to Hydur Alí in Seringaputtun, after the manner of the Dukkanees. This young lady had a daughter; but, unfortunately, while she was in child-bed, either from neglect of regimen or some other cause, she was seized with the dropsy, which took away the use of the lower part of her body,* and he was on the point of marrying again, when Nundi Raj found it necessary to proceed with his whole force, to reduce* the country of the Payan Ghaut, which is south of Mysore, and consists of Calicut, Koim­batore, Dindigul and Palighat, &c., some of the Naimars of which had rebelled, and deserted their villages, after laying waste the country.

He, therefore, marched, with the whole of his troops, and a year and a half were expended in reducing the country to order, and punishing the disaffected Naimars. The bravery of Hydur Alí Khan in this service was so conspicuous, that it became the theme of praise on the tongues of all ranks of people; and in reward for his labours and services he had an elephant, a flag, nagaras, or kettle drums, and the palankin of the Dulwai or Minister of State, presented to him, and he was honoured with permission to enlist horse and regu­lar foot, that is musketeers; he accordingly enlisted about four thousand foot, to be disciplined after the European mode; he likewise enlisted fif­teen hundred horse separately: and these he termed his own troops.

When, therefore, Hydur returned with so much credit from his successful expedition, his wife, of her own free will, gave him permission to take another wife.

In this delicate matter, the Khan acted according to the advice of his elder brother, Shahbaz Sáhib, and sent for Meer Alí Ruza Khan, the late Killadár of Kurm Goonda, who, being then unengaged in any service, was residing with his family in the Barh Mahl. He supplied him with the necessary expenses and carriage for the journey; and, when Meer Alí arrived, took his sister-in-law to wife. He, however, still considered his first wife as holding the principal sway in the house,* continued all her privileges and honours, and moreover regarded her as the ornament of his family, and placed all his family and household under her authority. The second sister of his first wife he gave in marriage to a learned man, named Syud Búrhán, and her third sister not being engaged, he, about this time, gave her to Meer Alí Ruza Khan, and the marriage was celebrated with the usual ceremonies. All his brothers and connexions remained with him con­stantly, he giving to the whole of them some kind of service or employment.

For three or four years after this marriage the Khan (Hydur) had no children. At length, how­ever, by the mediation of the transcendant merits* of Tippoo Mustan Oulia, (may God enlighten his tomb and those of his brethren,— and whose miracles are celebrated both in Hind and in the Duk­kun,) he obtained his wish, and in the hope of obtaining children, having taken refuge in the favour of the Almighty, and having offered up prayers and vows for the accomplishment of his desires, when the time arrived for the acceptation of his petition and the increase of his greatness* and power, the arrow of his prayer reached the butt of accordance, and the tree of his hope blossomed and fructified.—

Tippoo Mustan was the elder brother of Humeed Sáhib, who lies in the centre of the city of Gunjee or Kunjun Nuggur, and who himself sleeps in the market or Chowk of Arkat. The third brother also of that saint is buried at Hunoor, Talooka Rai Droog.*