D.R. Patil mentions “If this tradition at all represents a historical fact, the Muslim conquest of Maner must be treated as an isolated event; since the territory all around was then held by the Gahadvalas and the general conquest of the region by the Muslims under Bakhtiyar Khilji had taken place only after 1193 A.D.”  It is stated that after establishment of Muslim rule in Maner, Hazrat Taj Faqih left his sons and grandsons to rule over it and himself went back to Madina. 

Hazrat Makhdum Yahya was one of his grandsons, and came to rule Maner in his turn. But he was very much given to Sufistic devotion, and when Bakhtiyar Khilji arrived at Maner, he made over the kingdom to him and retired into a private life of devotion and mystical practices. Hafiz S. Ahmad, says that the country was handed over to Bakhtiyar Khilji by the saint Yahya Maneri, grandson of Taj Faqih. Bukhari, however, quotes another local tradition that Hazrat Makhdum Israil, oldest son of the Imam (i.e. Taj Faqih) handed over the country to Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1193 since Israil died in 1196 and thus would have been in charge of the territory.

Since then, his whole family adopted the life of religious devotees and produced a large number of well known saints. His son was the celebrated saint Hazrat Makhdum Sharfuddin Ahmad of Bihar who is regarded almost as great as Khwaja Moinuddin of Ajmere.

His father-in-law was Shaikh Shahabuddin, also known as Pir Jag Jot, the famous saint buried in Kachi Dargah, east of Patna; and one of his sisters-in-law was Bibi Kamalo, the well-known female saint, who rests in the village Kako, Dist Jehanabad. Hazrat Makhdum Shah Daulat, whose remains lie in the beautiful mausoleum, called Chhoti Dargah in Maner, was one of his descendants in the eighth degree. In fact all the holy orders of saints in Bihar whether at Phulwari-sharif, Bihar-sharif or elsewhere, trace their descent, lineal or spiritual, to this one great source of spiritualism.

To be continued........