mysterious powers of the great saint of Ajmer,
to whom probably repeated supplications had
been made by him for the birth of a son and heir.
But the boy was ill-fated and did not choose to
follow the ways of * his father; nor did he reveal
any qualities that could entitle him to be thought
a worthy son. After the Maharaja's death, His
Exalted Highness was pleased to issue a Firman
in 1943, naming him successor to the estate, but
on that very day he left for Bombay—to meet his
doom. Thus was another great family of Hyder-
abad nobles, which had had a long and distinguish-
ed career in the State, brought to its end.
Of the other great nobles of Hyderabad,
below the Prime Ministers, who held high official
positions and remained long at their posts as
_grand figure-heads, ornamental as well as useful,
I should like to mention some of those whom
I knew personally and under whom I served as
a judicial officer.
Nawab Fakhr-ul-Mulk
Nawab Fakhr-ul-Mulk was Assistant Minister
for the Judicial Department for over 30 years.
He belonged to a side branch of the Salar Jung
family, became Moin-ul-Moham under Salar Jung
II and continued in that office till his retirement in
1918. He was a man who liked to live like an
aristocrat. He built for himself a palace on one
of the hills beyond Khairatabad and furnished it
gorgeously and lived in it surrounded by his large
family with something of baronial pomp and