Niyamatullah Khan is widely considered to be the founder of Lucknow/Bulandshahar branch of the Gharana. He became a disciple of Basat Khan Seniyā, a direct descendant of Miyan Tansen from the male line. The history of modern sarod begins with the innovative experiments of Niyamatullah Khan who replaced the wooden board of Afghan rubab with a metal finger board and gut strings with metal strings and removed four gut-frets from the pre-sarod model making it an instrument capable of executing all ornaments required to perform Raag music. Niyamatullah Khan served in the court of Wajid Ali Shah of Lucknow, who himself was a disciple of Basat Khan. When Lucknow was anexxed by the british East India Company in 1856 and the Nawab was exiled to Garden Reach in Metiabruz -then a suburb of Calcutta- his entourage including Basat Khan and Niyamatullah Khan followed. Niyamatullah Khan further moved to Kathmandu/Nepal to serve at the court of Rana Bir Shyamsher Jung/Maharaja Jang Bahadur for thirty years. He trained both his sons Keramatullah and Asadullah Khan. In 1903 Niyamatullah Khan visited Delhi to attend the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra as emperor and empress of India. He expired in Delhi sometime thereafter.

More about the man and his time in part I and part II of Markus Schlaffkes beautiful documentary „Soundtracks“: