TJie Remonstrantle of
I
J
Translated from the Dutch hy
Author of \' India at the Death o fAUar/
and \' From AJchar to Aurangzeh,\'
and
Prof, of Dutch Hlitory and Institutions In the Univ. of Lrondon.
\'-nHREE centuries ago Francisco Pelsaert
JL drew up tkis account of tke JVlogul
Empire for kis employers in Holland.
Tke autkor was a merckant of exceptional akility,
and a keen okserver of litej and kis Report,
kased on seven years experience, is one of tke
most vivid and convincing documents availakle on
tke period. Tke complete record kas not keen
puklisked kefore.
Ue PuUlslie rs will Le
glaJ to send particulars
of tLeir new and fortli-
coming toots to any
address on rcceipt of a
post-card.
m
■.K . ■■ t
-ocr page 3-m-
-ocr page 4- -ocr page 5-JAHANGIR\'S INDIA.
-ocr page 6-london agents:
simpkin, marshall, hamilton,
kent and co., ltd.
The Remonstrantie of Francisco Pelsaert
Translated from the Dutch
BY
Author of Indta at the Death of Akbar, and From Akbar to Aurangzeb
, AND
Professor of Dutch History ;in(l Institutions in the University of London
CAMBRIDGE
W. HEFFER & SONS LTD.
Dir^LlGTi.CZK DcR|
RUXSUr^liVïlnSiTEIT
printed in england
-ocr page 9-The Remonstrantie—Report, or Relation,—of Francisco
Pelsaert, a name which usually appears in its French form
as François Pelsart, has been quoted or referred to by
various writers on Mogul India from de Laet downwards,
but, so far as I am aware, the complete document has never
seen the light. Its contents inevitably precluded publica-
tion at the time, three centuries ago, when it was submitted
to the Dutch East India Company, for it disclosed some
important secrets of their trade. Nearly 40 years later, when
the commercial situation was very different, M. Thévenot
translated portions of it, about two-thirds of the whole, in
his Divers Voyages Curieux (Paris, 1663), and this version,
reproduced, I believe, in one or two later collections, has
hitherto been the only source of information regarding
Pelsaert\'s observations and opinions. Thévenot, who was
working for a definitely commercial object, the promotion
of French trade in the Indies, took only so much of the
original as served his purpose, or, possibly, he had access
to an incomplete manuscript, and it so happens that the
portions omitted by him are of greater interest to students
of history than those which he translated.
The translation now offered to the public has been made
from photographs of the contemporary MS. in the
Rijksarchief at The Hague. The Remonstrantie is primarily
a commercial document, but, fortunately for posterity,
Pelsaert included in it a detailed account of the social and
administrative environment in which commerce had to
be conducted. Readers who are not interested in such
topics as the production of indigo, or the trade in spice,
may be advised to pass lightly over the opening sections,
which are mainly, though not exclusively, technical, in
order to reach the subjects of more general importance which
are treated further on—the administrative system, the
standard of life, and the social and religious customs of the
people.
The translation drafted by me has been revised, sentence
by sentence, by Professor Geyl, who has had the last word
on all questions regarding the meaning of the original text,
but who is not responsible for the introduction, notes, or
index. For generous assistance in preparing the book I
have to thank, firstly, Dr. de Hullu, lately in charge of the
colonial records in the Rijksarchief, who traced the MS. in
reply to my enquiry on the subject; secondly, Mr. Bijlsma,
now in charge of the colonial records, who supplied me with
most of the references on which the introduction is based;
and, thirdly, Mr. R. Burn, C.S.I., who obtained local
information on many points dealt with in the notes. I
have also to thank various friends, whose names are given
in the notes, for information on particular matters.
W. H. MORELAND.
May, 1925.
-ocr page 11-page
preface v
introduction...... . - ix
notes on PELSAERT\'S transliteration - - xvii
The remonstrantie
2. The Trade of Agra and the East Country - 6
3. Indigo.....----10
4. Description of Gujarat Trade - - - 19
5. The Dutch Trade in Northern India - - 21
6. Account of the Provinces North and West of
8. Burhanpur and Gujarat.....37
9. The Trade in Drugs -.....44
10. The Productivity and Yield of the Land - - 47
11. The Administration of the Country - - 50
12. The Manner of Life ------ 60
13. Religious Superstitions - - - - - 69
14. The Hindu Religion......76
15. Moslem Marriages in Agra - - - - 81
Conclusion .--------85
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-ocr page 13-The brief but distinguished career of the author of the
Remonstrantie can be traced in outhne in the records of the
Dutch East India Company. Francisco Pelsaert, of Ant-
werp, sailed for the East in the year 1618 in the position of
assistant, the lowest grade but one in the Company\'s com-
mercial service. In 1620 he was re-engaged in the higher
rank of junior factor [onderkoopman], and was posted to
India. He reached Surat in December of that year, travel-
ling overland from the East coast, and was forthwith sent
to Agra, where he remained until the end of 1627, rising to
the position of senior factor. On the expiration of his en-
gagement he returned to Holland, where he arrived in June,
1628, but his stay in Europe was short, for he was promptly
re-employed, and sailed for Java on the Batavia, which
cleared in October of the same year. In those days the
command of a fleet or a ship, as distinct from the navigation.
Was ordinarily given to one of the Company\'s commercial
servants, and Pelsaert was designated Commander of the
Batavia, but he was finally appointed President of the fleet
to which the Batavia belonged.
The voyage was disastrous. The Batavia was driven too
far south, and was wrecked on an island off the west coast
of Australia. Pelsaert undertook an adventurous boat
journey to Java, reached Batavia safely, and returned on a
relief-vessel to the scene of the wreck, where a serious
mutiny had occurred. After dealing sternly with the
mutineers, he brought the crew to Batavia, which was
reached in December, 1629. The story of this shipwreck
has a literature of its own. The journal of the voyage was
published more than once in Holland, and a condensed
translation was included in Thevenot\'s Divers Voyages
Curieux, whence it passed into general circulation, until
Francisco Pelsaert, expert indigo-buyer and general mer-
chant, reappeared as \'the hard-headed Dutch sailor. Captain
Francis Pelsart,\' in tales of adventure published in the
last century.^
In a letter written in December, 1629, Pelsaert mentioned
that his health had suffered from the fatigues and hardships
he had experienced. In the following April he was appointed
second-in-command of an expedition to Jambi in Sumatra;
he returned to Batavia in June, and died in September.
In the previous year he had been selected by the Directors
of the Company as Extraordinary Member of the Council
of India, but apparently his death occurred before the ap-
pointment could receive effect, as there is no record of his
having taken his seat in Council.
The Remonstrantie, which sums up Pelsaert\'s seven years\'
experience in Agra, thus constitutes in effect the record of
his regular work in the East. It was an important time,
both for the Dutch Company and for the development of
Indian commerce. After some abortive attempts to gain
a footing in Western India, which terminated in the year
1607, the authorities at Batavia eventually found that a
supply of cotton goods from Gujarat was indispensable
to the success of their commercial operations, and they made
a fresh start at Surat in 1616, but for a few years very little
was accomplished. Then, towards the end of 1620, the
well-known Pieter van den Broecke arrived in Surat as
Director of what were called the \'Western Quarters,\'
comprising North and West India, Persia, and Arabia. In
the course of the next seven years his talents and exertions
secured for his employers a definite predominance in the
trade of these regions, largely superseding the English
merchants who had been first in the field.^
^ See Ongeluckige Voyagie van\'t Schip Batavia (revised edition),
Amsterdam, 1648; Thévenot, Relation de divers voyages curieux,
Paris, 1663; Early Voyages to Terra Australis, Hakluyt Society,
1859; Henry Kingsley, Tales of Old Travel, London, 1869.
^ The story of the Dutch establishment in Western India can be
read at length in Dr. H. Terpstra\'s Opkomst der Wester-Kwartieren
van de Oost-Indische Compagnie (The Hague, 1918). A brief sum-
mary is given in Ch. II. of my book, From Akbar to Aurangzeb
(London, 1923).
While the primary object of this extension was to obtain
a supply of cotton goods from Gujarat, the establishment of
a factory at Agra was necessitated by two important con-
siderations. In the first place, no European merchant in
India could afford to neglect the indigo-trade, and the best
indigo was grown in the vicinity of Agra. In the second
place, the Dutch at this time relied mainly on sales of spices
to finance their purchases, and Agra, or rather the Mogul
Court, was the most extensive spice-market in India.
Accordingly, we find that van den Broecke dispatched two
factors, Heuten and Pelsaert, with some assistants, to Agra
in January, 1621. The former died two years later; I have
not traced the actual appointment of a successor, but an
English letter of the period mentions that van den Broecke
Was thinking of Pelsaert as the most suitable candidate,^
and probably he was in charge of the Agra factory from that
time onwards. Of his actual experience in India, there is
no formal record, but his descriptions of various places
appear to afford sufficient indications of its range. He had,
as has been mentioned above, travelled by land from
Masulipatam to Surat, and from Surat to Agra; the latter
journey was probably made by the eastern road, because
his account of Burhanpur is clearly based on personal ob-
servation, while he does not describe any place on the
alternative route by way of Ajmer. He had not travelled
far to the eastward of Agra, certainly not so far as Allahabad,
while on the other side he had visited Kashmir, presumably
to transact some business at Court. This journey would
take him to Lahore, as he would naturally use the route
followed by the Emperor: apart from it, there are no in-
dications of his having been absent from Agra for any con-
siderable periods, except for seasonal visits to the indigo-
country in the vicinity of Bayana.
Regarding the quality of his work the facts speak for
themselves. He went up to Agra one of a small party of
pioneers: when he left it, the Dutch had secured the
leading position in the indigo-market, though there were
still difficulties to be surmounted on the financial side.
^ The English Factories in India, 1622-23, P- 281.
Mm
That Pelsaert\'s services were appreciated by his immediate
superior is shown by a letter of i6th December, 1627,
from van den Broecke to the Directors of the Company,
in which he wrote that he would gladly have retained the
services of Senior Factor Francisco Pelsaert because of his
good work, skill, and experience, and added a tribute to
his knowledge of the language spoken in Agra. His
selection as an Extraordinary Member of Council, within
eleven years of his appointment as an assistant, sufficiently
indicates the opinion formed of him by the Directors in
Holland, based presumably in part on the Remonstrantie,
and in part on the verbal reports which he furnished during
his visit home. There is no doubt, then, that Pelsaert was
an efficient and successful agent, whose work commended
itself to his employers. Regarding his Hfe, as distinguished
from his work, I have found only a single notice. Some
years after his death, an enquiry was held into irregularities
at the Dutch factory in Agra, and the report, in dealing
with the immoral life of the staff, observed incidentally that
Pelsaert\'s private life also had been open to similar
censure.^ So far as Pelsaert was concerned, this report
was ex parte, but there are various passages in the Re-
monstrantie which lend probabihty to the charge, and I
think most readers of it will agree that his attitude on such
matters was in harmony with his environment in Agra.
II.
The Remonstrantie was written, as the text shows, in
1626, when Pelsaert\'s engagement was drawing to an end.
It is essentially a commercial report, drawn up for the use
of the Company, not for a popular audience, and it is im-
possible to imagine that so much exclusive information
would have been allowed to reach the Company\'s rivals in
Europe. John de Laet was, however, permitted to use the
portion dealing with the standard of life, which is closely
summarised in his De Imperio Magni Mogolis, published in
^ The report is abstracted in the Dagh Register, under date 22nd
March, 1636; I have not traced the original document.
1631.1 Apart from this, I can trace no reference to the
Remonstrantie until Thévenot published his abbreviated
translation in 1663, and all the later references to it which
I have noticed go back to Thévenot, and not to the original.
The present translation has been made from photographs
of a manuscript preserved in the Rijksarchief, the only one
of which I have heard. The manuscript is a contemporary
^opy, and, on the evidence of handwriting, Mr. Bijlsma
concludes that it was written by a junior factor named
Salomon Deschamps, who was with Pelsaert on the
Batavia, and was subsequently sentenced to death for
complicity in the mutiny. Probably then, the copy was
made in Holland during the year 1628, while the copyist
was waiting for his ship to sail. The text is in the usual
commercial script of the period, and is as a rule very legible.
Foreign names and words are written in the Italian hand,
in the use of which the copyist was less expert, and there are
occasional blunders and corrections which suggest that he
was not familiar with Indian nomenclature; the great
majority of the foreign words are, however, perfectly plain
when once Pelsaert\'s methods of transliteration have been
grasped. There can be no question that he had an accurate
ear, while we know from van den Broecke\'s letter already
quoted that he had mastered the language of the country,
and these facts justify the inference that the comparatively
few errors and obscurities in Indian words are due to the
copyist, rather than the writer.
It is possible that the extant manuscript represents a
later recension of the Remonstrantie than that which was
used by Thévenot. The latter\'s translation bears the date
\'Agra, 15th February, 1627,\' and, if this is correct, it
Suggests that the manuscript used by him had been sent to
Holland in the spring of that year. Pelsaert remained in
India nearly a year longer, and, if the extant manuscript
Was copied in Holland in 1628, it may contain additions or
corrections which were not available to Thévenot. This
conjecture would explain some of the numerous differences
between Thévenot\'s version and the present translation,
^ Vide Journal, Royal Asiatic Society, January, 1923, p. 85.
-ocr page 18-but it rests solely on the date given by Thévenot, who
cannot be regarded as a very accurate compiler.
The aim of the translation is to reproduce Pelsaert\'s
statements of fact and expressions of opinion as nearly as
possible in his own language, but in a form which shall be
intelligible to modem readers. A word-for-word rendering
would not fulfil the latter condition, because the syntax
of the original will not bear reproduction. Pelsaert had a
gift for words, but not for putting words together. His
ordinary narrative consists of long rambling sentences,
loosely connected by conjunctions which are not always
appropriate, but, in passages where he is striving for effect,
the construction becomes so involved that it is sometimes
impossible to be certain of the precise meaning. The foot-
notes indicate the passages where it has been found necessary
to amend the text or offer a conjectural version, and also
one or two cases where condensation has been considered
desirable on other grounds. Apart from these, the departures
from the original consist in breaking up the longer sentences,
and eliminating verbal reduplications or redundancies, or in
occasional insertions, which are marked by square brackets.
Some of the titles of sections are given in the manuscript;
where a title is wanting, it has been supplied in brackets.
As regards the language used in the translation, such
Indian words as have become acclimatised in English have
been allowed to remain, with necessary explanations in the
notes, while modem equivalents have been used for ex-
pressions which are now obsolete. \'Moslems,\' for instance,
represents \'Moors,\' while \'heathens\' appear as \'Hindus.\'
Various words which originally meant linen are rendered as
\'cotton goods\' or \'calico,\' their use in this sense having
already become recognised in Eastern commerce at the
time when Pelsaert wrote. The Dutch \'coopman\' appears
as \'factor,\' the contemporary English term, while \'factory\'
represents \'comptoir.\' Indian proper names are trans-
literated in the popular style in cases where there is no doubt
as to their identity; in case of doubt, Pelsaert\'s empirical
spelling has been retained. In providing footnotes the
aim has been to give the minimum necessary to understand
the text, and I have refrained from encumbering the book
With illustrative or confirmatory quotations from con-
temporary writers.
In a few passages in the Remonstruntie, Pelsaert refers
to a history of the Mogul Empire, which he had written, or
intended to write. No such work is extant, but there are
some grounds for inferring that it may have been incorporated
in the \'Fragment of Indian History,\' which John de Laet
printed in De Imperio Magni Mogolis, and which, to quote
J^r. Vincent Smith,^ \'deserves to be used critically as one
of the early authorities for the history of Akbar.\' De Laet
mentions that he received the Dutch version of the Fragment
from van den Broecke. Now in 1627, van den Broecke
^nt home a chronicle of the Moguls from the time of
Humayun,2 containing, as he wrote, all that he had been
able to put together on the subject. It is unlikely that he
should have compiled two chronicles of the period, and it
IS more reasonable to infer that the Fragment represents
the chronicle sent home in 1627, and subsequently com-
municated to de Laet. Van den Broecke would naturally
nave sought for materials in Agra, lately the Mogul capital,
and his subordinate, Pelsaert, would have been the natural
agent to employ; but in any case we have the fact that the
two men were engaged simultaneously in compiling the
history of the Mogul Empire, and collaboration seems much
more probable than independent work in view of the
intimate relations which subsisted between them. If van
den Broecke incorporated his subordinate\'s chronicle, it
becomes easy to understand why no separate copy of it
nas survived and there is no reason for doubting Pelsaert\'s
statement that he had studied the history of the country
m which he was living.
A few words may be added regarding the orthography
of Pelsaert\'s name. He himself wrote his Christian name as
Francisco, and signed in the abbreviated form Franc®, but
^ Akhar the Great Mogul, p. 474 (2nd edition, Oxford, 1919).
Letter to the Directors, dated i6th December, 1627, in the
^i]ksarchief.
■ , popies of the Dutch original of the Fragment are preserved
autho copies only and give no clue to the
even in some Dutch works, like the Journal of the Batavia
already quoted, he appears as Francoys ; the form used by
Thévenot was François, which was Englished to Francis
in due course. The correct form of the surname, as it
appears in o£&cial records, is Pelsaert, but his extant sig-
natures are in the form Pelsartt, while van den Broecke
wrote Pelser, and Thévenot gave the name its French form
as Pelsart. The official style, Francisco Pelsaert, appears
to be the most suitable in an age which, unhke the seven-
teenth century, expects uniformity in such matters.
W. H. MORELAND.
May, 1925.
-ocr page 21-Notes on Pelsaert\'s Transliteration
The following notes, which are based on tabulation of words which
can be identified with certainty, may be of use to students interested
in some of the names which are given in the text in Pelsaert\'s
spelling.
Vowels. Pelsaert\'s \'e\' usually represents a short Indian vowel,
either \'a\' or \'i,\' while \'ae\' represents Indian \'a.\' The diphthongs
oo\' and \'ou\' may represent either \'a\' or \'13.\'
Aspirates. An Indian aspirate is sometimes omitted, e.g.
\'Mameth\' for \'Muhammad.\'
Dentals. The use of these was not systematised, and \'t,\' \'th.\'
d,\' \'dt,\' may be interchanged.
Sibilants. Pelsaert wrote \'s\' and \'z\' almost indifferently.
He evidently noticed some difference between Indian and Dutch
sibilants, because he usually represented the former by \'ts\' and \'tz,\'
or, with an apostrophe, \'t\'s,\' \'t\'z.\'
Gutturals. These also were not systematised, and \'c,\' \'ch.\'
\'g,\' \'gh,\' \'k,\' and \'q,\' are largely interchangeable. The Dutch
pronunciation of these sounds approached nearer to Arabic than
Indian usage, so that it was natural for Pelsaert to represent \'kh\'
and \'gh\' by \'c\' or \'g.\'
Palatals. Pelsaert had no signs available to represent the
Indian \'j\' or \'ch,\' and his practice varied. Initial \'j\' was usually
represented by \'z,\' but sometimes by \'zi\': iinal \'j\' usually by \'s\';
in the middle of a word we may find \'s,\' \'z,\' \'di,\' or \'dj.\' For
ch,\' we have such forms as \'tch,\' \'tschi,\' \'ts,\' \'t\'z.\'
Pelsaert\'s \'ch\' may represent a guttural, a sibilant, or, in one
instance, a palatal. When he transliterated direct into Dutch,
It is guttural, e.g. \'Chan\' stands for \'^an\'; but when he was
influenced by Portuguese usage, it represents the Indian or Enghsh
sh,\' so that \'Cha\' stands for \' shah.\' He gives the word for current
money as \'chalani,\' just as it would be written to-day, but I have
found no other instance of the use of \'ch\' to represent a palatal
sound.
The remaining letters call for no remarks, but the copyist oc-
casionally wrote \'v\' and \'r\' so nearly alike that misreading is
possible, and this is true also of his \' f\' and \' s\' when occurring in the
middle of a word.
, \\
/
-ocr page 23-On the present condition of the trade of this country, as
ascertained by me, Francisco Pelsaert, Senior Factor, by
careful enquiry and close observation in the seven years
during which I have transacted the business of the United
East India Company at the factory in Agra and elsewhere,
under the control of Commander Pieter van den Broeke;
set out briefly as follows.
[i. THE CITY OF AGRA.]
Firstly, of the City of Agra, which is situated in 28° 45\'
latitude. The city is exceedingly large, but decayed, open,
and unwalled. The streets and houses are built without
any regular plan. There are, indeed, many palaces be-
longing to great princes and lords, but they are hidden away
in alleys and corners. This is due to the sudden growth of
the city, which was a mere village, lying in the jurisdiction
of Bayana, until King Akbar chose it for his residence in
the year 1566, and built the magnificent fort on the Jumna,
which flows past the city, and is a musket-shot broad. The
luxuriance of the groves all round makes it resemble a royal
park rather than a city, and everyone acquired and pur-
chased the plot of land which suited or pleased him best.
Consequently there are no remarkable market-places, or
bazaars, as there are in Lahore, Burhanpur, Ahmadabad or
other cities, but the whole place is closely built over and
inhabited, Hindus mingled with Moslems, the rich with the
poor; and if the present King [Jahangir] had fixed his resi-
dence here as his father did, the city would have become one
of the wonders of the world, for the gates which Akbar
built for its security,\'- (Madari darwaza, Chaharsu darwaza,
^ Modern descriptions of Agra name only the gates in the forti-
fications which were constructed after Pelsaert\'s time, and I have
not found any other list of Akbar\'s gates, but my friend, Mr. R.
Burn, has kindly ascertained for me that four of the five names
survive in modern street nomenclature. The fifth is written
Poutou; the last letter may be read either as \'n\' or as \'u,\' and I
conjecture Puttu.
Nim darwaza, Puttu [?] darwaza, Nuri darwaza), now stand
in the middle of the city, and^ the area of buildings outside
them is fully three times greater in extent.
The breadth of the city is by no means so great as the
length, because everyone has tried to be close to the river
bank, and consequently the water-front is occupied by the
costly palaces of all the famous lords, which make it appear
very gay and magnificent, and extend for a distance of
6 kos^ or Holland miles. I will record the chief of these
palaces in order.
Beginning from the north,^ there is the palace of Bahadur Khan,
who was formerly king of the fortress of Asir (5 kos from Burhanpur).
Next is the palace of Raja Bhoj [?], father of the present Rai Ratan
[?], Governor of Burhanpur^ (rank 5000 horse). Then come Ibrahim
Khan (3000 horse); Rustam Kandahari (5000 horse); Raja Kishan
Das (3000 horse) ; Itiqad Khan, the youngest brother of Asaf Khan
(5000 horse); Shahzada Khanam, sister of the present king, who
was married to MuzafEar Khan (formerly King of Gujarat) ; Goulziaer
Begam,5 this king\'s mother; Khwaja Muhammad Thakaar® [?]
(2000 horse); Khwaja Bansi, formerly steward of Sultan Khurram
1 In the MS. this clause begins with a negative particle which
makes it unintelligible; the rendering given assumes that the particle
is a copyist\'s mistake.
2 The "Holland mile" was nearly 3 English miles, making the
kos equal to about if of the latter. Further on the Holland mile
is equated to ij kos, making the kos about two English miles.
3 This list of palaces relates, it will be seen, to the western, or
right bank, of the river, now occupied largely by modern buildings;
possibly local antiquaries could still trace some of the sites recorded
by Pelsaert. To annotate the passage which follows would take
too much space; students of the period will recognise most of the
names, and I refer only to those of which the reading is doubtful.
The names should be taken as those in popular use, not as showing
the actual occupants; some of them were dead when Pelsaert
wrote. The number of horse after each name indicates the officer\'s
rank in the Mogul system of administration.
4 Text has Bohos . . . roatan. Thévenot gives Botios . . .
Rottang. For Bhoj and Ratan (Sarbuland Rai), see Rogers and
Beveridge, Memoirs of Jahangir, II., 140.
® This should represent Guljar Begam, but the name of Jahangir\'s
mother is not elsewhere recorded (Beni Prasad, History of Jahangir,
6n.) ; her ofi&cial title was Maryam-uz-Zamani, which Pelsaert gives
below as "Maryam Makani."
® Thakaar (or perhaps Thahaar) seems to be corrupt, and I
cannot identify the name.
(1000 horse); Wazir Khan (5000 horse); Tzoaeghpoera,i a large
enclosure, inhabited by the widows of the late King Akbar; the
palaces of Ehtibar Khan the eunuch, who was Governor^ of Agra
city at his death; Baqar Khan (3000 horse); Mirza Aboussagiet [?]
(1500 horse) the exceedingly handsome and costly palace of Asaf
Khan (8000 horse); Itimad-ud Daula (5000 horse); Khwaja Abdul
Hasan^ (5000 horse); Rochia Sultan Begam,^ the present King\'s
sister, but unmarried.
Then begins the Shahburj, or royal bastion, of the Fort,
the walls of which are built of red cut stone, 25 ells® high,
and 2 kos in perimeter; in appearance, as well as in cost,
it surpasses many of the most famous structures in the
world. It is situated on a moderate elevation with a
pleasing prospect on all sides, but especially towards the
river, where it is magnificently adorned with stone lattice
work and gilded windows, and here the King was accustomed
to sit when he made his elephants fight. A short distance
within stands his Ghusalkhana, which is very richly decked
with alabaster, and has four angles and raised seats, the
domes over which are plated on the outside with gold, so
that the look of it is not only royal on a close view, but
Imperial from a distance. Beyond this is a palace of
Nurjahan Begam, the present Queen. There is little or no
room within the Fort, it being occupied by various princely
edifices and residences, as well as mahals, or palaces for
ladies. Among these is the palace of Mary am Makani,
wife of Akbar and mother of Jahangir, as well as three other
mahals, named respectively Itwar (Sunday), Mangal (Tues-
day), and Sanichar (Saturday), in which the King used to
sleep on the day denoted by the name, and a fifth, the
^ Possibly Shaiklipura, or some such name as Sokhpura.
^ The Dutch \'Gouverneur\' and English \'Governor\' of this
period represent the • Portuguese \'governador.\' All three are
usually applied, not to the Viceroy of a Mogul province, but to his
subordinate, the Amil of a sarkar or district. \'Governors\' in the
plural is occasionally used loosely to denote high officials in general.
^ Probably Mirza Abu Said, the g being a copying error for y.
^ Probably Abul Hasan.
® Probably Ruqqaiya Sultan Begam, but if so the description
is wrong, as that lady was married to Akbar. I cannot find that
any of Akbar\'s daughters bore any name resembling that in the text.
® The Dutch ell was about f yard.
-ocr page 26-Bengali Mahal, occupied by ladies of various nations.
Internally then the Fort is built over like a city with streets
and shops, and has very little resemblance to a fortress,
but from the outside anyone would regard it as impregnable.
After passing the Fort, there is the Nakhas, a great market,
where in the morning horses, camels, oxen, tents, cotton
goods, and many other things are sold. Beyond it lie the
houses of some great lords, such as Mirza Abdulla, son of
Khan Azam (3000 horse) ; Aga Nur, provost of the King\'s
army (3000 horse) ; Jahan Khan (2000 horse) ; Mirza Khurram
son of Khan Azam (2000 horse); Mahabat Khan (8000
horse); Khan Alam (5000 horse); Raja Bet [?] Singy
(3000 horse); the late Raja Man Singh (5000 horse); Raja
Madho Singh (2000 horse).
On the other side of the river is a city named Sikandra,^
well built and populated, but chiefly by banian^ merchants,
for through it must pass all the merchandise brought from
Porop, and Bengalen puvop\'^ and the Bhutan mountains,
namely, cotton goods from Bengal, raw silk from Patna,
spikenard, borax, verdigris, ginger, fennel, and thousands
of sorts of drugs, too numerous to detail in this place.
Here the officers of Nur Jahan Begam, who built their
sarai there, collect duties on all these goods before they can
be shipped across the river; and also on innumerable kinds
of grain, butter, and other provisions, which are produced in
the Eastern provinces, and imported thence. Without
^ Thévenot has Bart Singh. The reference may possibly be to
Bhao Singh, but he held the rank of 5000 horse at his death.
2 Distinguish from Sikandra, the place where Akbar\'s tomb
stands, and which lies some distance west of the river.
® The text has \'Bayaenen,\' i.e. of Bayana; the copyist\'s con-
fusion between \'Bayana\' and \'banian\' reappears in other passages,
and apparently he had heard of Bayana indigo, but not of banians.
^ \'Porop\' (i.e. Purab, \'the East\') appears with various spellings
in some European records of the period as the name of a Mogul
province, but I have not found it so used in any contemporary
administrative documents, and I suspect its current use was vague
rather than definite. From a later paragraph it will be seen that
Pelsaert used the term to include the Mogul provinces of AUahabad,
Bihar, and Orissa, but not Bengal. \' Bengalen-purop \' is apparently
corrupt. Thévenot has \'de Bengale, de Purles, et de Boutom,\'
while the text has an erasure after \'purop\': the general meaning
is however clear, \'goods from the East-country.\'
these supplies this country could not be provided with food,
and would almost die of hunger, so that this is a place of
great traffic; it is fully two kos long, but not so broad, and
contains many very handsome gardens, with buildings as
delightful as the groves, among them those of Sultan Parviz,
Nurjahan Begam, and the late Itimad-ud Daula, father of
Asaf Khan and of the Queen. He was buried here, and his
tomb has already cost fully 350,000 rupees, and will cost
1,000,000 more before it is finished. There are also two
gardens belonging to the King, one named Charbagh,i the
other Moti Mahal, and very many more, with handsome
Walls and great gateways, more like forts than gardens, so
that the city is most pleasantly adorned. Here the great
lords far surpass ours in magnificence, for their gardens
serve for their enjoyment while they are alive, and after death
for their tombs, which during their lifetime they build with
great magnificence in the middle of the garden. The number
of these is consequently so great that I shall abandon the
attempt to describe them in detail, and turn to the trade of
the country and the city.
1 This word is not clear in the text, but I read it as \'Tsiarbaegh\'
the first three letters would represent ch.
[2. THE TRADE OF AGRA AND THE EAST
COUNTRY.]
Commerce flourished here in the time of Akbar, and also
in the beginning of the present reign, while he [Jahangir]
still possessed a vigorous intellect, but since this King
devoted his hfe to enjoyment, violence has taken the place
of justice. Whereas each governor ought to protect the
people under him, they have in fact by subtle means drained
the people dry, because they know very well that poor
supphants cannot get a hearing at the King\'s Court; and
consequently the country is impoverished, and the citizens
have lost heart, for, as the old people say, the city has now
nothing left of the glory of colour and splendour which
formerly shone throughout the whole world. The survival
of a certain amount of commerce is due to the situation of
the city at the junction of all the roads from distant
countries. All goodsVmust pass this way, as from Gujarat,
Tatta (or Sind); from Kabul, Kandahar, or Multan, to the
Deccan; from the Deccan or Burhanpur to those places,
or to Lahore; and from Bengal and the whole East country;
there are no practicable alternative routes, and the roads
carry indescribable quantities of merchandise, especially
cotton goods.
The East country {PouropY extends to Jagannath, a
distance reckoned as Goo kos, and contains many large cities,
among them the following.
Allahabad (150 kos), produces no commodities, and has
very little trade, but is rather a pleasure-resort. King
^ The text has treckende ende gevende war en, which is unintelligible.
We should perhaps read gaende for gevende, the two participles
together signifying \' in course of movement.\'
^ The rest of this section must be read as hearsay. The Dutch
had not yet begun to trade in the country east of Agra, and the
topographical details must represent the statements of Indian
merchants in Agra, which naturally would not be precise in regard
to distances or direction, and would increase in vagueness with in-
creasing distance.
Akbar built a very fine fort here, because it is the meeting-
place of the three famous rivers, the Gange», the Jumna,
andi [blank in MS.].
Jaunpur (25 kos further), produces and exports large
quantities of cotton goods, such as turbans, girdles, white
chelas^, zelal, t\'sey, and coarse carpets.
Benares (5 kos further), also produces girdles, turbans,
clothes for Hindu women, t\'soekhamber, gangazil (a white
cloth); also copper pots, dishes, basins, and other articles
for use in Hindu houses.
Oudh (3 kos further), furnishes rather coarse cloth in
pieces of 16 gaz [\'yards\' of about 32 inches].
Lakhawar (15 kos further), produces ambertees,® a superior
grade of white cloth, 14 gaz long and of different widths.
Worth from four to ten rupees the piece.
Patna (300 kos from Agra), yields annually 1000 to 2000
maunds of silk,^ the best of which sells at 16 or 17 mohurs
per maund (of 50 lb.); taking the mohur at seven rupees,
the price is 110 to 120 rupees. Most, or all, of it is con-
sumed in Gujarat, the rest here in Agra. Formerly the
English had a factory at Patna for the purchase of raw silk,
but, owing to heavy losses, the trade has been discontinued
for six or seven years, and does not appear likely to be
The missing name is Saraswati, the river which in legend, if
not in fact, joins the Ganges at Allahabad. \'Pleasure-resort\'
doubtless refers to the pilgrimage.
^ Much remains to be done before the nomenclature of Indian
cotton goods is satisfactorily explained. Pelsaert is not of great
help, because he had not been actively engaged in this market, and
probably gives only such names as he had picked up from Indian
merchants. Chela is used of goods from various places: in Jaunpur,
it was probably a plain calico. Zelal probably refers to the plain
calico of Jalalpur (now in Fyzabad district). T\'sey is a name I
have not found elsewhere; it may possibly contain a reference to
the river Sai. T\'soekhamber is probably for \'chaukhamba,\' which
Would indicate a four-line pattern; gangazil represents \'Gangajali,\'
or \' Ganges-water,\' a fanciful description.
® Lakhawar is really South of Patna; for its \'ambertee\' calipo,
see The English Factories in India, 1618-21, p. 192, and passim.
^ The English letters from Patna (vide preceding note) show that
the silk obtained there came from Bengal; the muslin (cassa) came
from the same region. The gold mohur is described in a later
paragraph. The maund of 50 Holland pounds is the Akbari maund
(about 55 lb. avoirdupois).
resumed; besides, they are now getting Persian silk at a
more reasonable price. Patna produces also much muslin
{cassa), but it is coarse, worth four or five rupees the piece;
also shields, which sell well in Agra.
Chahaspur and Sonargaon with the surrounding villages,^
and indeed as far as Jagannath, all live by the weaving
industry, and the produce has the highest reputation and
quality, especially the fine muslin {cassa and malmal),
which is also much longer and wider than elsewhere. An
ordinary cassa is only 21-22 gaz by but these are usually
24-25 gaz by ij, equivalent to 30 Holland ells long, by
ells broad.2
Jagannath (600 kos from here), is where the East country
{Poorop) ends and Bengal begins. It produces fine muslin
{cassa and malmal), also hamaium, and tsehen,^ a superior
wide cloth suitable for bed-sheets, but little of it is brought
[here] owing to the high quality and cost. Further on,
Dacca, Tsettagham, Bipil bander orixa,^ are all under this
King\'s rule; in these places the Portuguese used to have an
extensive trade, for they have here cities inhabited by their
own people, but they are now subject to the Moguls, because
this King has built forts everywhere to keep them in sub-
jection. Many of their trading vessels used to come annually
from Malacca and Macao; they brought spices, [woollen]
cloth,s lead, tin, quicksilver, and vermilion; and for the
return voyage purchased many kinds of white cotton cloth
1 The topography becomes very vague here. Chabaspur may re-
present Shahbazpur in Backergunge district; Sonargaon was close to
Dacca; Jagannath is on the Orissa coast. Cassa and malmal are
the usual names for Bengal muslins.
2 This equation gives approximately 32 inches for the gaz, showing
that Akbar\'s Ilahi gaz is intended, and not the Bengalof 27 inches.
3 Hamaium may be identified with hammam, a well-known
Bengal calico of superior quality; tsehen, with sahan, also a high-
grade calico.
^ \'Tsettagham\' might represent either Satgaon or Chittagong;
probably the former is intended, as the latter was outside the Mogul
Empire. The next expression has obviously puzzled the copyist,
but I take it to represent Pipli-bandar in Orissa, the port for
those vessels which were not taken up the Hooghly river.
® The text has taken, a general word for cloth, but in the East
at this time it denoted the woollen cloth imported from Europe,
as distinct from the cotton cloth of India.
as well as Bengal muslin, or loaded their frigates with
butter, rice, gingelly seed, and such goods, making large
profits. The local muslins are not woven smoothly, because
the yarn is rough and harsh, and consequently the cloth is
not soft or pleasant to handle.
All these countries are very fertile, and yield immense
quantities of grain, such as wheat or rice, sugar, and butter,
large quantities of which are brought up the river Jumna,
or carried by oxen overland, to provision this country
[that is, Agra] and the King\'s army. In the other
direction shallow-draught vessels carry from here much
Sambhar salt (as there is little or no local salt), also opium,
assafcetida, \'painted\' cloth^ called chits [chintz], red salu
from Burhanpur, ormesines from Lahore, horses, and large
quantities of cotton, which is grown largely between Surat
and Burhanpur, and supports an extensive trade to Agra.
In Agra, and in Fathpur [Sikri], 12 kos from here, carpets
are woven in moderate quantities, and can be obtained to
order, fine or coarse as required, but the quality usually
made sells at the rate of 2J to 3 rupees the square gaz.
There is no other noteworthy local produce, since every-
thing is brought from a distance; but the city contains all
sorts of artisans in great numbers, who can imitate neatly
whatever they see, but design nothing by themselves.
We will therefore describe at some length the cultivation,
manufacture, and sale of the indigo [of] Koil, Mewat, and
the most distant villages of Agra and Bayana, which is
an important article of commerce throughout the whole
world.2
^ \'Painted cloth,\' i.e. Portuguese pintado, a description apphed
commercially both to the patterned goods of the East Coast, and to
the chintz or prints of Northern and Western India.
^ The grammar of this sentence is obscure; it may possibly be
intended to mean that the indigo-villages in Mewat are more distant
from Agra and Bayana than those of the Koil (i.e. Aligarh) tract.
[3- INDIGO.]
Indigo is sown in June, when the first rain has fallen, at
the rate of 14 or 15 lb. of seed to the higha, or square of
60 Holland ells. If the rains are moderate, the crop grows
an ell high in the course of four months, and is usually cut
at the end of September or early in October, when it is
fully ripe.^ The leaves of indigo are round, not unlike the
rue of our country. The cold weather sometimes sets in so
suddenly that, if the cutting is postponed too long, the
indigo loses its colour in the course of manufacture, and
comes out brown without gloss, for it cannot stand cold.
It is a good sign of a heavy yield if in the nauti [first crop]
grass comes up plentifully, though expensive weeding is
then required to prevent injury to the indigo roots, or delay
in growth. At harvest the plants are cut a handbreadth
from the ground, and next year the ziarie [second, or ratoon,
crop] grows from the stumps. The yield of one higha is
usually put into each put, and allowed to steep for 16 or
17 hours, the put being about 38 ft. in perimeter, and its
depth the height of an ordinary man; the water is then run
off into a round put, constructed at a somewhat lower level,
32 ft. in circumference and 6 ft. deep. Two or three men
standing in the put work the indigo back and forward with
their arms, and owing to the continuous motion the water
absorbs the dark-blue colour. It is then allowed to stand
1 In order to follow this description, it is necessary to remember
that in Pelsaert\'s time the indigo crop was commonly ratooned.
The first year\'s cutting was called nauti] the cuttings in the second
year were known as jafhi (or \'ziarie\' as Pelsaert wrote); while a
final cutting called katel was occasionally made, instead of leaving
the last growth for seed. Akbar\'s higha was a square of 60 gaz-,
Pelsaert may have written ells by mistake for gaz, but more probably
the local higha at Bayana was smaller than the Imperial standard.
The word put, by which he designates the receptacles used in the
manufacture, has such a wide range of meaning—hole, pool, pit,
well—^that it has seemed best to retain it in the translation, rather
than risk introducing a wrong idea along with a particular equivalent.
The description which follows points to receptacles not very different
from the modern vats.
again for i6 hours, during which the matter, or substance,
settles in a bowl-shaped receptacle at the bottom of the
round put. The water is then run off through an outlet
at the level of the bottom; the indigo which has sunk down
IS taken out, and laid on cotton cloths until it becomes as
firm as soap, when it is made into balls. The bottom of the
put [or, the ground under it] is spread with ashes,^ so that a
crust may be formed. The contents of each put is then
placed in an earthen vessel, which is closed tightly to
exclude light and wind, so that it may not become too dry,
for if the indigo is exposed to wind even for an hour, it will
become drier than if it were left exposed to the sun for the
same time. The contents of each put (known as dadera)
is usually from 12 to 20 ser according to the yield of the
plant, that is to say, when the peasants or other dealers
sell to us; it dries further by quite 5 ser in the maund in
the course of handling, and in the bales. This nauti indigo
is brown in colour and coarse in quality, and can easily
be recognised by the eye or by touch.^ It is more useful
for dyeing woollens and other heavy goods, because it goes
further than the ziarie.
The stalks, which are left a handbreadth high in October,
grow again, and in the beginning of the following August,
when the crop is fully half an ell high, it is cut in the manner
already described for the nauti. Sometimes when the rains
are, or have been, favourable, the ziarie plants are so
luxuriant that three cuttings are made—once in the begin-
ning of August, once in the beginning of September, and
again when the nauti is cut, this last crop being called katel.
When this happens, it is a sure sign that indigo will be cheap.
The ziarie indigo is superior in quality to the nauti,
giving a violet infusion. Its quality can be easily judged,
even without examining the inside of it, for it is much lighter
in the hand than the nauti. In order to judge indigo with
certainty, it should be looked at before midday in the
sunshine; if it is pure, it will glisten and show various
colours, like a rainbow, so that owing to the variations no
^ The text is ambiguous, and it is not clear from it where Pelsaert
says the ashes were placed.
^ Two words are omitted here as unintelligible.
-ocr page 34-opinion of the colour can be formed. If it contains sand or
dirt, the adulterations cannot be overlooked in sunlight.
Such impurities are common; sometimes they are added
intentionally to increase the weight, or they may be caused
by the wind, if the balls, while still fresh and not hardened,
are left to dry on sandy soil.
Katel is of extremely bad quality, hard, dull, without
gloss or colour, almost like charcoal. It is bought from the
sellers at half price, and beaten into powder with sticks.
In order to prevent its detection, it is mixed with ziarie
and nauti and made into bales, which must be carefully
watched for, both in opening the sacks and in the pots.
The man who buys in sacks or made-up bales must be on
the look out for katel or inferior nauti, which, as I have said,
is powdered and added. The man who buys or receives
indigo still in pots must personally see that the top and the
bottom are uniform, for sometimes ziarie is put on top and
nauti under, and sometimes the top is fully dry and light,
while the bottom is wet and heavy stuff like earth. This
may serve as an earnest warning to anyone who has to re-
ceive indigo. Also, if circumstances permit, one should
always open indigo in the sun in order to weigh it, for then
the good or bad quality will become obvious as the balls
are broken, but this operation must be carried on steadily.
It is also advantageous, because the indigo dries very
greatly while being handled and weighed in the sun. At
the present time, however, many makers do not cut the
katel, because, while the cost of manufacture is equal for
all qualities, the yield of katel is barely half that of ziarie
(that is, 15 to 20 ser for each put), the leaves containing
little substance; the katel crop is therefore left on the ground
to yield seed for the nauti of the following year.
The best comparison I can give to illustrate these three
kinds of indigo is that the nauti is like a growing lad who has
still to come to his prime and vigour; the ziarie is like a man
in his vigorous prime; the katel is like an old, decrepit man,
who in the course of his journey has had to cross many
valleys of sadness and many mountains of misery, not only
changed and wrinkled in the face, but falling gradually
into helpless senility. I will add that the nauti far sur-
passes the katel in substance and quality, for while only a
rupee a maund separates the ziarie from the nauti, they are
Worth fully double the katel.
The standing indigo is liable to many more accidents or
misfortunes than other crops or products. If scanty rains
follow the sowing of the nauti, the seed withers in the ground,
While excessive rain and lack of sunshine quickly cause the
plants to rot or to be washed one over another. Sometimes
after a successful nauti, excessive cold in December, January,
or February, so injures the roots which should give the
Ziarie, that no crop can be expected; and, if this has not
liappened, but the rains are late, with no fall in June or
the first half of July, then the roots dry up, and obtain
no nourishment for the crop. Further, for the last three
years in succession, locusts have appeared in such numbers
during June, July and August, as sometimes to obscure
the sun, and wherever they settled, they cleared the land
so completely that not a blade was left. They dominated
the neighbourhood of Bayana to such an extent that they
ate up entire fields of indigo as far as the eye could reach,
leaving nothing but the bare stalks, and this has kept the
price of indigo very high. Again, in September of 1621,
the rainfall was so excessive and continuous that the whole
country was flooded; the indigo crop, which was so promising
that the peasants were afraid there would not be merchants
enough to buy it, was so thoroughly washed away that
What survived would not yield 400 bales; and consequently
many men who were rich and had been concerned in sowing
mdigo all their lives, were reduced to such poverty, that
even now nothing like so much indigo is sown as formerly,
fhe yield of the indigo in the adjacent region known as
J^ayana used to be 4000 bales, but at present it is, at the
outside, very little more than half that quantity.
The true Bayana indigo, which is made near that town,
does not amount to more than about 300 bales, but it is
much superior to the produce of other neighbouring villages.
This superiority is due to the brackish water in the wells
near the town, for the use of sweet water makes the indigo
hard and coarse. There may be two wells nearly close
together, one brackish and the other sweet; and in that
case plant worked with the brackish water will give indigo
worth at least one rupee per maund more than plant cut
from the same field, and worked with the sweet water.
The villages where indigo is made are the following,
grouped under the five principal places: ^
1. Bayana. Ebrahemedebat (one kos), Serco (4 k.), Otschien
[Ujjain] (6 k.), Patehiouna [? Pachauna] (5 k.), T\'sonoua [Sanowa]
(4 k.), Pinijora (6 k.), Maunana (6 k.), Birampoer (4 k.), Melecqpoer
[Malikpur] (4 k.), Berettha (5 k.), Azenaulie (4 k.), Batziora [Bachora]
(4 k.), Pedaurle (4 k.), Gordaha (5 k.), Helleck (7 k.), Nade Beij
(10 k.), Pehekertsie (7 k.), Koreka (5 k.), Khondier (5 k.), Rodauwl-
kera (4 k.), Nimbera (7 k.), Berouwa (5 k.), Ratsiona (7 k.), Indiara
(4 k.), Tseneorpana (5 k.), Lathehora (4 k.).
2. Ghanowa, 10 kos west of Bayana. Mahal (2 k.), Roubas
(2 k.), Tsertsonda [? Sirsaunda] (ij k.), Daber (2 k.), Mahalpoer
(i k.), Gorassa (i k.), Danagham (2 k.), Bockolie [Bakhauli] (i k.).
Barrawa (i^ k.), Ordela (| k.), Ziasewolie [? Jajawali] k.),
Phetapoer (5 k.).
3. Bassouwer, 10 k. east of Bayana. Weyer (3 k.), Ratsoulpoer
[Rasulpur] (4 k.), Hissounla (4 k.), Tserres (2 k.), Borolie (ij k.),
Ziarathara (3 k.), Pantla (2^ k.), T\'zetzolie [? Chachauli] (3 k.),
T\'sonoher (6 k.), T\'sonkeri (6 k.).
4. Hindaun, 10 k. from Bayana. Khera (2 k.), Ziamaelpoer
[Jamalpur] (2 k.), Kottopoer (2 k.), Paricanepoer (3 k.), Osierpoer
[Wazirpur] (6 k.), T\'serroot (5 k.), Siltoioah (6 k.), Nardouhe (6 k.).
5. Tora, 18 kos from Bayana, with several villages under it,
yields only about 200 bales annually; the indigo is brown rather
than violet^ in colour, and the balls are made much smaller than
elsewhere.
1 The list of villages which follows must be left to students of
local topography, with the warning that some of the names have
probably been corrupted in copying. I have indicated in brackets
some probable equivalents, where Pelsaert\'s methods of translitera-
tion might mislead English readers. Of the larger centres, Bayana
appears on modern maps as Biana, S.W. of Agra, on the railway to
Kotah, and Hindaun is on the same line, further south. Bassouwer
may be Baseri, 20 miles east by south from Biana; Tora must be
Toda Bhim, 35 miles due west. I have not found any name like
Ghanowa or Chanowa west of Biana, but, if we read east for west,
we find Khanua, 18 miles N.E. The distances given in the text
are presumbably measured from the town under which the village
appears.
2 The text has uyt den violetten. The meaning of these words is
doubtful, and the rendering \'rather than violet\' is a guess.
Other places also yield large quantities of indigo, such as
Koil or Gorsa,^ which lies 30 kos from Agra on the other side
of the river. Most of its produce is bought up by Armenian,
Lahore, and Kabuli merchants; it is good indigo, but has
not such a reputation as that of Bayana, and consequently
is not bought by us or by the English. A few bales ought
to be purchased for a trial, so that our employers may be
able to judge of the difference in the market and in dyeing,
hut it could not be done this year owing to lack of funds;
if it should prove satisfactory, we should not be so closely
restricted to the produce of Bayana. Taking one year with
another, the yield is 1000 bales.
Mewat is a tract 30 kos from Agra, but, owing to the hills
and forests, it is mostly in rebellion against the King.^
Indigo is made in many of the villages of this tract, and the
annual yield is 1000 bales or more, but it is inferior and of
low quality, and usually sandy. The method of manu-
facture is that of Sarkhej rather than Bayana; the steeping
of the plant, and the working back and forward to extract
the dye from the leaves, are done in a single put, whereas
m Bayana or Gorsa two are used as already explained.
The price is consequently much lower, 20 rupees for a maund
in Mewat when Bayana is selling for 30 rupees; very little
is exported, but it is distributed all over Hindustan to places
where indigo is not produced. This year, however, we have
bought some bales for a trial.
Opinions may differ as to the course to be followed in
buying indigo,^ but my own view, based on several years\'
experience, is this. When the yield is plentiful, that is to
^ Koil is the modern Aligarh. Gorsa is presumably the indigo-
pen tre mentioned frequently in English records as Coria or Corja,
identified by Sir W. Foster {The English Factories in India, 1646-50,
P- 56), with Khurja (now in Bulandshahr district). Pelsaert would
have written either Gorsa or Chorsa for Khurja.
^ Cf. below (§ 11): Jahangir \'is to be regarded as king of the
plains or the open roads only.\'
® The discussion which follows deals with the important com-
mercial question whether foreign buyers should purchase direct
from small producers, or should rely on the existing organisation of
the market. There were evidently disputes among the Dutch on
this topic, and Pelsaert gives his views in some detail.
say, when the ziarie has suffered no injury, and the rains
have been tinaely for the nauti, one or two experienced men
should be sent in the end of August or the beginning of
September to Chanowa^ or the adjoining villages, and should
buy whatever is really good; but if the crop promises to be
short, it is better to remain quietly in Ghanowa,\'^ and buy
only from the substantial Hindu or Moslem merchants,
who live there and have been many years in the trade, and
who have made advances against indigo some months before-
hand, binding the debtors to sell to no one else. These
merchants would rather deal with us at a small profit than
with other buyers; also, in Ghanowa there is much indigo,
half of it made in the village. The question may be asked
whether, if they get the indigo, we could not obtain it there,
and at the same price. We might do so, on a single occasion,
or in a single village, but the very next day the price will
have risen at least a rupee per maund, [and] we shall be
told by the merchants that their stock is not for sale. From
repeated personal experience then, my opinion is that at
such times it is more profitable for the Honourable Company
that buyers should keep quiet, than that they should run
about the country from one village to another. Goodness
knows, the Armenians do quite enough of that, running
and racing about like hungry folk, whose greedy eyes show
that they are dissatisfied with the meal provided, who take
a taste of every dish, [and] make the other guests hurry to
secure their own portions, but directly they have tasted
each course, they are satisfied, and can hold no more. In
the indigo market they behave just like that, making as if
they would buy up the whole stock, raising prices, losing
a little themselves, and causing great injury to us and to
other buyers who have to purchase large quantities. Now
the Hindus have first of all the advantage of the profit they
make in buying, and they get it through generous weighing,
to which they persuade the peasants by wrangling and
cajolery. There used to be a custom that in weighing
indigo a bag of doubled cloth containing 152 pice was
reckoned as 5 ser, giving an excess of quite one ser in the
^ Chanowa and Ghanowa refer, I think, to the same place;
Pelsaert interchanges ch and gh.
maund.^ Again, when the indigo was moist, they kept from
20 to 30 balls ready behind each balance, which dried quite 5
ser in the maund; while by an old custom the maund was
reckoned at 41 ser, so that altogether there was over-
weight of 7 ser or more in the maund, which greatly reduced
the cost of buying; for in those days indigo was so plentiful
that the peasants were sometimes confounded, and the
middlemen might have to hold over perhaps 100 bales for
want of buyers. Since, however, the crop was washed
away in 1621, the whole of the produce is marketed
promptly, and there is little or no surplus. They have
nearly brought it to this that the balls are made smaller
by one-half, the weighing is done with tens^ instead of with
pice or 5-sers, in order to give less excess, and in places®
only 10 or 15 balls are kept ready, so that there is very
little overweight, and this can be of little advantage in
buying. I may add that the loss by drying is incredible,
for I estimate that a bale which here weighs 4 maunds will
yield only 3J maunds in Holland, an experience which has
probably already surprised our honourable employers.
It is also necessary to have a buyer in Bayana, where the
market opens much later than elsewhere, so that it is amply
sufficient to go there in the beginning of October. The
reason is that some rich and substantial merchants live in
the town; the chief of them are named Mirza Sadiq and
Ghazi Fazil, who sow most of the indigo, and who in some
seasons have sold to nobody but us. The price is settled
at his [5«c] house, usually a rupee per maund more than the
rate at Ghanowa or in other villages, because, as has been
said, the quality is superior; and when the price has been
fixed, but not before, anyone can sell to anyone he chooses.
This subservience, or respect, is shown to Mirza Sadiq
because he is the oldest [merchant] in Bayana.
^ Akbar\'s ser weighed 30 dam, and in Agra the word \'pice\'
often meant a dam; thus the buyers got more than 5 ser by the
weight of two dam plus the bag.
^ I take \' tens\' to mean weights of ten sers in place of bags of pice
representing 5 sers.
® Text has \'in plaets &\': I read \'in plaetsen.\' The phrase \'are
kept ready,\' which follows, is a guess at the probable meaning,
rather than a precise equivalent; the original does not make sense.
I have now written at length of the indigo bearing the
name of Bayana, which for the last four years has been
very closely bought up, both by us, by Armenians, and by
Moguls; the latter classes export it to Ispahan, whence some
of it goes to Aleppo. In six years the English have not
bought more than 600 bales, because, owing to bad luck,
adversity, and mismanagement, their commercial position
has greatly deteriorated; but if they begin to buy against
us, as they would like to do if they had the money, indigo
is likely to rise in price.
[4. DESCRIPTION OF GUJARAT TRADE.]
Ahmadabad is the capital of Gujarat, and receives annually
from here [Agra] large quantities of goods, for example,
much Patna silk, to be manufactured there into ormesines,
satins, velvets, and various kinds of curious stuffs, so that
there is here little trade in Chinese silk manufactures.
Carpets are also woven there with an intermixture of silk
and gold thread; while the imports include spikenard,
tzierila^ asafoetida, pipel and numerous such drugs, besides
Bengal cassas [musUns], mais [malmal], and clothing for
Hindu women from Bengal and the Eastern provinces,
pamris^ from Kashmir and Lahore, and Bengal kand or
white sugar. In the other direction are brought hither
turbans, girdles, orhnis or women\'s head-coverings, worked
very cleverly and ingeniously with gold thread; also velvets,
satin of various kinds, striped, flowered, or plain; coconuts
from Malabar; European woollen goods; lead, tin, quick-
silver, vermihon; large quantities of spice, viz. cloves,
nutmeg, and mace, and sandalwood. These goods are now
bought from us at Surat, and forwarded in this direction,
but formerly they were obtained in even greater quantities
from the Portuguese in Cambay, who had a busy trade
there, and who brought them to exchange for kannekens,
tirkandis,^ and striped cloths for Mozambique and the
Coasts.
The [Cambay] trade is however, nearly, or almost wholly
at an end. Formerly, three caravans, or kafilas, used to
come every year.^ (A kafila consists of a large number of
1 I do not know what is meant by izierila or pipel. Thévenot
prints the first as tziorela, and omits the second.
2 Kashmir shawls: see Hobson-Jobson (s.v. Pambre). They are
described below in section 7.
3 Kannekens (or candikens) were small pieces of cheap cahco,
usually dyed blue or black. Tirkandis were similar, but usually
dyed red. Both were in demand in most Asiatic markets.
^ The kafilas, or coasting fleets of small craft (frigates, or foists,
i.e. fustas), are familiar to all students of the period. \'Armado de
remas \' means the fighting fleet of rowing vessels, employed by the
Portuguese for escort and police work on the coast. \' India \' should
be read here in the restricted Portuguese sense, denoting merely the
West Coast.
fustas, which the merchants of Goa, Cochin, Bassein,
Daman and all the coasts of India -get ready, from the
beginning of October onwards, to be escorted by the armado
de remas of the Portuguese or their own kings, owing to
the danger from the Malabars, who with their small boats
cause great injury to the Portuguese, for they have been
bitter enemies for many years past.) Now the trade is so
much decayed that this year, 1626, only 40 merchants\'
fustas arrived, carrying goods of small value; and this is
y the cause of the decline of Cambay, and indeed of all Guj arat,
for the Portuguese brought all their goods, both the spices
and Chinese silk carried in frigates from the South,i and the
European merchandise distributed in all directions from the
carracks at Goa, and sold them for a small profit, so that the
[Cambay] merchants gained largely on their purchases, as
well as on sales of cotton goods. Because of this decay, we
are cursed not only by the Portuguese, but by the Hindus
and Moslems, who put the whole blame on us, saying that
we are the scourge of their prosperity; for, even though the
Dutch and English business were worth a million rupees
annually, it could not be compared to the former trade
which was many times greater, not merely in India, but with
Arabia and Persia also.^
1 \'The South\' means Malacca, Java, and Sumatra.
2 The extent of the temporary injury to the Gujarat shipping
industry at this period is too large a topic to be discussed in a note
but It may be pointed out that Pelsaert is giving not his own view\'
allegations of the shippers; the rate at which their complaints
should be discounted is uncertain. This remark applies also to the
complaints which he reproduces in § 8 below.
[5. THE DUTCH TRADE IN NORTHERN INDIA.]
Our trade in this country can be conducted with great
profit, honour, and reputation to the Honourable Company,
if our employers will place reliance on the proposals put
forward as a matter of duty by their servants, whether
based on credible testimony, intrinsically sound arguments,
or personal experience.^ The spice trade in particular can
be adequately maintained if our employers will believe us,
because they control the whole produce of the trees, produce
which is yielded in sufficient quantities nowhere in the world
except in the Moluccas and Banda. What I want to urge
is that our employers should send to the Coromandel Coast
only so much spice as is consumed locally in the Carnatic,
Golconda, and the vicinity, an amount which I conjecture to
be less than 200 maunds, or 10,000 [lb.] of cloves, and as
much nutmeg, with six sockels^ of mace. This is probably
an over-estimate rather than too little, for the whole
[population] of the Carnatic consists of KHngs^ or Hindus,
1 The argument of this section requires a little explanation.
At this time India spent little on European commodities, and most
of the exports were paid for in gold and silver. Europeans were,
however, unable to provide the precious metals in sufhcient quantities
to finance the trade they wished to do, and it was essential for them
to make the most of all possible imports. The principal resource
of the Dutch at this time (i.e. before the development of their
lucrative trade with China and Japan), was their monopoly of
cloves, mace and nutmegs. The chief Indian market for these
spices lay in the north, and Pelsaert\'s point was that they should
make the best of it by sending adequate supplies direct to their own
factories in that region, instead of selling large quantities on the
East Coast, which were brought to Agra by Indian merchants. His
views were apparently accepted by the Directors, for not long after-
wards orders were issued to regulate supplies very much on the
lines indicated by him.
2 Sockel (suckle, etc.) was the name applied to the packages in
which mace was handled; they varied greatly in weight at this period.
The pounds mentioned in this passage, and throughout, are Holland
pounds, and the numbers given should be raised by g per cent., to
convert them to avoirdupois.
® For Kling, see Hobson-Jobson, s.v.
-ocr page 44-who use Httle or no spice, while in Golconda, and also in
Malik Ambar\'s camp,^ the people are as poor as they are
haughty-—almost hke Spaniards in the street, but thrifty
and mean in their kitchens. The Mogul soldiers on the
other hand differ little from Europeans, who eat spiced
food very readily, and consequently their consumption
is proportionately greater. I know by experience that
some wealthy banians of Agra maintain agents in Golconda
with two objects in particular, to buy diamonds and spices,
which their people in Masulipatam send to us [i.e. to Agra];
and this year they bought 300 maunds (15,000 lb.) of cloves
at II pagodas per maund (of 25 lb.), and transported them
to Agra, as well as proportionate quantities of nutmeg,
mace, tin, and other goods.^ The result is not merely to
bring down a good market by 10 to 20 per cent., but to
stop our sales altogether, because we have no agents in
Golconda or Burhanpur to warn us of the despatch of such
quantities of goods, and to make arrangements accordingly.
We cannot rely on such news as we occasionally get from the
letters of Hindus or Moslems, because of the risk that they
might deliberately cheat us by such devices, and cause us
to sell too cheap; a single merchant has much difficulty in
dealing with such emergencies, and often neglects such
warnings, to the Honourable Company\'s serious loss. Now
it may be the case that our Chiefs at Masulipatam have
given no warning to the Honourable General® that not
even a quarter of the spices and other goods are consumed
locally; otherwise His Honour\'s zeal to secure the utmost
profit for our foster-mother, the Company, would have
prevented this loss; or, if this proposal should be doubted
or criticised, the certain profit might be proved with un-
certain loss for the Company by experiment within two years
in the following way. Surat used to be supplied with
^ That is, the army of Ahmadnagar, which was still holding out
against the Moguls.
^ Two different maunds are referred to in this passage, the Akbari
of 55 lb., and the East Coast of about 27 lb., avoirdupois. The
pagoda, the gold coin of the Coast, may be taken as worth something
over three rupees at this time.
® That is, the Governor-General at Batavia, who controlled the
supplies of merchandise to Masulipatam and Surat.
25,000 lb. of cloves annually; raise that quantity to 50,000 lb.,
with a proportionate increase of nutmeg and mace;
reduce the supplies to the Coromandel Coast by the same
amount; then in the first or second year the books at head-
quarters will show His Honour whether the profits have
increased or not. The following calculation will show the
result according to the best estimate I can make.
Agra requires
700 mds. or 35,000 lb. cloves at Rs. 200 per maund of 50 lb.
(HoUand)
600 ,, 30,000 lb. nutmeg at Rs. 100 ,,
30 sockels mace at Rs. 300 ,,
At these approximate prices, the proceeds should be as
follows:
700 mds. cloves at Rs. 200........Rs. 140,000
600 ,, nutmeg at Rs. 100................60,000
30 sockels mace, estimated as 50 mds., at Rs. 300 .. 15.000
Rs. 215,000
From this total must be deducted the heavy loss, or
dry age, of spices, which is here 8 per cent, for cloves, and
3 to 4 per cent, for mace and nutmeg, as well as the cost of
bringing the goods up, which however would not be so much
felt on so large a capital as it is now. If we were provided
with such a stock, we should be able to meet whatever
indents our employers might make on Agra for Holland or
Batavia, say, 1000 to 1200 bales of Bayana indigo; large
supplies of saltpetre, borax and lac; and some cotton goods
(viz. Bengal cassas, chouters, semianos, ambertees, and
various other white cloths), if required from here^; or else
the surplus cash could be remitted by exchange on Surat.
Contrast this with the business we now do, which brings no
respect or credit to our nation. The heads of our factory are
utterly discouraged, and the interests of the Honourable
Company suffer seriously, for we are constantly burdened
^ Cassas (muslin) and ambertees (calico) have been explained
in previous notes. \'Semianos\' were calico from Samana (now in
Patiala state). \' Chouter\' has rather a wide range of meaning, but,
as used by the Dutch at this period, it seems to cover the calicoes
of Oudh and Benares.
with debts, because our Chief at Surat can spare us no
money; owing to the fact that everything is so strictly
employed in despatching the ships for the South [i.e. Java],
when a caravan of spices is sent up there is not left for Agra
at the best more than 20,000 lb. cloves, 15,000 lb. nutmeg,
and 15 or 20 sockels of mace. We have to do what we can
with such supplies, while these cunning and crafty Hindu
merchants now realise how we stand; they know how much
we have to sell in the year, and they beat down our prices
even to the point of extortion, because they can calctdate,
just as well as we can, our need for cash to buy saltpetre,
cotton goods, and other merchandise, procurable only for
ready money. They postpone then buying our goods,
and they can wait longer than we, eking out their supplies
in the meantime with cloves brought by Hindu and Moslem
merchants from Golconda, though the quality is much
inferior to ours, because they have certain methods of wetting
them while in transit to counteract the great dryage. Then
when the indigo season opens in September, we must sell,
however unwillingly, though it is perfectly notorious that,
even before the goods leave our warehouse, they are re-sold
sometimes at an advance of 10 or 15 rupees the maund.
There are only two possible remedies or improvements.
One is to send up 20,000 rupees in cash in addition to the
caravan (for bills dravm on the arrival of the ships come too
late, when the loss has already been incurred by the Com-
pany) ; the other is, as has been said above, to confine the
spice trade to this side of India, and leave the Coromandel
Coast alone. Or perhaps our employers may consider that,
since their supply of cloves is large, the consumption should
be encouraged; a reduction of price to 100 or 80 rupees the
maund might eventually produce a marked increase in
consumption at Agra, for I have heard old residents and
brokers say that, when cloves were imported in incredible
quantities in the time of the Portuguese, even three times
as much as we now supply, and the price was 60 to 80 rupees
the maund,1 the whole quantity was easily consumed, be-
cause the low price induced everyone to buy, and in the
^ The price quoted as \'usual\' in the Ain-i-Akbari (about i-iqa a d )
works out to Rs.6o per maund. \'
villages the women and children wore necklaces made of
cloves.
Sandalwood is brought to Agra in moderate quantity
from the Portuguese, who obtain it in Timor, and transport
it to Malacca, whence it is carried to Goa and Cambay.
No great trade can be done; 80 maunds, or 4000 lb., may sell
at not more than 50 rupees the maund.
Large profits could be made here on the goods which are,
or might be, brought by our ships from Holland, if the
English did not bring such large annual supplies; but they
still hanker after the great profits they made in the times
when they had a monopoly of the trade, and consequently
they fill the markets with large quantities of rav/ or branched
coral; some thousand ells of heavy woollen cloth, red,
yellow, and green (costing 4-4I shillings the yard in England,
and sold here for 4-7 rupees the yard); much quicksilver,
vermilion, and ivory; and also swords and knives. These
latter goods at first gave large profits on small consignments,
and they were tempted to send whole cargoes of sabres and
assorted cutlery, but as many rusted as sold. For the royal
Camp or Court they bring tapestries, both silken and woollen,
worked with stories from the Old Testament; great and fine
pearls; rubies, and balas-rubies; art-ware inlaid with gold
and gems; and new inventions or curiosities such as have
never been seen before, which have a great attraction for
the present King. In this way the English have secured
much esteem at Court among the nobles, and sell their goods
at the highest prices they can ask, under pretence of doing
a great favour; and at the same time they escape many
needless expenses in the way of presents, which we must
constantly incur, though they bring very little in the way of
thanks or reputation.
Formerly the English maintained an ambassador at the
Camp, an arrangement which was very expensive to their
Company; but it has now been abandoned, because a factor
who sells their goods at Court can also look after all their
incidental business, and obtain farmans, or rescripts, from
the King. Frequently one hears many of the great lords
asking (though it may be through the suggestions of our
w
English friends)/ if precious stones are known in our
country, or if there are any skilled craftsmen there, who can
make toff as [tuhfa, rarities], as there are in England, Venice,
and other European lands. It is essential therefore, both
for the profit of the Honourable Company, and to increase
the reputation of our own nation, that we should make it
clear that our little country is not merely on a level with
England, but surpasses the whole world in skill; and in
order to do this, we should send to Agra every year rarities
to the value of 100,000 guilders,^ consisting of large pearls;
large and fine emeralds (old and new); sapphires, rubies,
and balas-rubies of rich colour; and gold art-ware of kinds
which can be described better verbally than in writing, for
instance, an antique box or casket, with various ingenious
locks, in which different articles can be secured (for it is
considered here a sign of skill, that the inside of a thing
should be different from the outside). I will now specify
various rarities which have been recommended to me by
different nobles or great men, and which should be sent
here by our ships, but the quantity supphed of each should
be small:
10 small gold chains, of the most ingenious work.
20 sabres, costing 10 to 15 guilders each, embellished with some gold-
work, slightly curved, of which I can show a sample.
20 handsome musket barrels, wrought with gold and set with agates
of various colours, in which heads are carved, of the kind brought
here overland by the Venetians.
Some sea-horse teeth, marbled on the inside with black stripes,
much esteemed.
2 or 3 good battle-pictures, painted by an artist with a pleasing style,
for the Moslems want to see everything from close by; also one
or two maps of the entire world; also some decorative pictures
showing comic incidents, or nude figures.
10 large cases, in which to keep scissors, mirrors, razors, and other
implements locked up.
^ \' Friends\' was the term regularly applied to the English in the
Dutch commercial correspondence. The word carries a suggestion
of irony in cases where the two Companies were competing actively
for a market.
^ The Dutch guilder (of 20 stivers) was accounted for in India
at this time as 5/6 rupee, the rupee being taken at 24 stivers.
10 to 20 gilt mirrors, costing 8 to 10 guilders each, but no large
ones with ebony frames,^ such as were sent on the Golden Lion
by advice.
I case red woollen cloth, costing 15 to 16 guilders the ell. Also
10 to 20 pieces tapestry, both silken and woollen, from 3J to
8 ells long, and to 4 ells broad, but no sad colours, all bright,
must be sent.
5 to 10 pieces Cassa,^ of bright colours, green, red, or variegated.
No cloth of gold should be sent, as it is supplied from Persia, of
good quality and much cheaper.
Many of the great men express surprise that we do not
have the gold and silver (coined and uncoined), which we
import in large quantities, manufactured by us into articles
which are here in common use. Provided the workmanship
is good, half the silver might be paid for manufacture, which
would give ample payment for Dutch work; or in any case
manufactured goods would yield quite as much profit as
reals or Holland dollars, and could meet the taste of the
nobles everywhere without loss to us. It would be well,
therefore, for the first trial, to manufacture such goods as
the following to the value of 8000 to 10,000 reals-of-eight,^
and to the same amount in gold:
Feet for katels,*\' or bedsteads, hollow, and as light as possible, but
artistically wrought.
Aftabas, or ewers used by Moslems for ^
If necessary, the style
or fashion of these
could be shown or
explained.
washing the hands.
Betel boxes.
Fan handles.
Handles for fly-switches.
Dishes and cups with covers.
Most, of these goods could be sold in the Palace or the
Camp, to the good profit, honour, and reputation of the
Company, by an agent famihar with the language and
customs of the country, who could at the same time prevent
1 The objection was apparently to the frames, black being an
unpopular colour at the Mogul Court. The meaning of \'by advice\'
is obscure.
2 Cassa usually means Bengal muslin, as noted above, but here it
must denote some textile made in Europe. Thévenot has velvet
and satin, but his list differs considerably from the text. Probably
the word should be car sien or \'kerseys,\' a woollen fabric which sold
well in India about this period.
3 The real was worth about two rupees in India.
^ For katel, see Hobson-Jobson, s.v. \'Cot.\'
-ocr page 50-all the occasional difficulties which arise, wherever trade is
attempted, from the improper procedure due to the in-
satiable greed of the Governors; and this could be done
without mcurring expenditure. At present these matters
often cannot be prevented in spite of great trouble and cost.
The annual offtake of our commodities in Agra may be
estimated as follows:
Quicksilver: 50 maunds or 2500 lb.; price is conjectural, but Rs. 160-
180 the maund may be looked for.
Vermihon: 50 maunds, at Rs. 180-200 the maund.
Tm: 30 maunds, at Rs. 38 or 40 the maund.
Ivory: 50 maunds; but it must not be split, otherwise it makes a
difference of more than half the price. The tusks must there-
fore be sawed at Surat in this way, to wit, into pieces a hand
broad, and then coated or smeared with wax, so as not to split
with the heat. Whole pieces sell at Rs. 70-80 the maund, and
split pieces at Rs. 20-30. Arm-rings are made from the ivory
for Hindu women, and are worn as ornaments in Multan and
the Eastern provinces.
Red woollen cloth. Little or none of such as is now sent at 8 to
10 guilders the ell; or unless it were the kind brought by the
Enghsh, which must be sold in competition with them.
Our honourable employers will be surprised that no larger
quantities of goods can be sold in so extensive a country
as this, but I will explain that satisfactory profits could be
made but for the amount of the Enghsh and Portuguese
mports. For example, I observed that in 1626, when the
Portuguese galleons chased the Enghsh ships from Surat,
and they had to winter in the Mayottes,i quicksilver rose to
Rs. 250 the maund, vermihon to Rs. 320, and coral and
other goods proportionately. Small consignments sold at
a profit are therefore better than large supplies sold at a
loss, or held over for years; for the local merchants are
naturally timorous, and dare not take any great risks, but
think only of a small but certain profit. To some extent
this is due to want of enterprise, and besides, if goods he
unsold, the interest of 10 to 12 per cent, annually consumes
the merchants hke a canker. In Agra the men who are
richest live mainly by money-lending, a practice which is
not discreditable to Hindus, but only to Moslems (though
1 For this affair, see The English Factories in India 1624-20
pp. xiv.-xvi. \' ^
indeed they do it commonly enough); and that certain
profit comes before the gain of the enterprising merchant.
. All weights and measures in use here are two-fold, Akbari
and Jahangiri, for the present King has raised weights,
measures, and coins 20 per cent, above his father\'s standards.
Thus an Akbari ser weighs 30 pice, or ij lb., and the Jahangiri
ser is 36 pice, or lb.; the former maund is 50, and the
latter, 60 Ib.^ The gaz [Indian yard] varies in the same way;
100 Akbari gaz make 120 of our ells, the other in proportion.
The coins used are rupees, but there are different kinds,
viz. khazana [treasury] or Akbar\'s old coins, and chalani
[current], which are the rupees struck during Jahangir\'s
reign in Agra, Lahore, Patna, Kandahar, or Gujarat; the
shroffs [money-dealers] value the chalani rupee at from i to
2 per cent, above the khazana, though the coins are identical
in weight. Then there are the siwai, which are equivalent
to ij rupees; and the Jahangiri, which weigh 20 per cent,
more than the khazana. All bargains are done in terms of
the same series of units, either Akhari or Jahangiri. No
goods are sold by measure as we sell grain, etc., but every-
thing is weighed by the maund.
There are gold coins, but only cf one series, named
mohur. The double coin weighs a tola, or 12 mashas, and
is equivalent to 14 rupees, the half-coin in proportion. The
inscriptions are similar to those of the rupees, except those
which have been coined by the Queen; her coins, both
rupees and mohurs, bear the twelve signs of the Zodiac,
one sign on each coin. Very little trade, however, is done
with these gold coins, seeing that most of them must come
from the King\'s treasures, and furthei the great men hoard
them, and search for them for their khazana [treasuries].
Copper coins also are in use. They are called pice, and at
present 58 or more go to the rupee.^ For still smaller sums
tor the use of the poor there are cowries, or white sea-shells,
which pass at 80 to the pice.
1 Here as elsewhere the pounds are Holland weight, not avoirdupois.
2 Pelsaert, like other writers of the period, uses the word pice to
-denote both the dam and the half-dam (or adhela). In Akbar\'s
time about 40 dam, or 80 adhela, went to the rupee, but the price
of copper rose sharply early in the 17th century, and at this time a
rupee exchanged for 30 dam or less; in this passage the reference
must be to the adhela.
[6. ACCOUNT OF THE PROVINCES NORTH AND
WEST OF AGRA.]
Lahore is situated in 32° latitude, 300 kos north-west of
Agra. It was a great centre of trade in the days before the
English came to Agra,i and the Armenian and Aleppo
merchants did a large and very profitable business. In
those days the chief market for indigo was Lahore rather
than Agra, because it was more convenient for the merchants,
who travelled in caravans at fixed seasons by way of
Kandahar and Ispahan to Aleppo; and this is why the
mdigo which reached Europe from Aleppo or the Levant
was known as Lauri, or more properly Lahori. A brisk
business is still done in the fine cotton goods of Masulipatam,
or Golconda and Mongapatnam,^ but nothing like what was
formerly transacted. The trade of Lahore may in fact
be called dead, for exports are limited to the-requirements
of Persia and Turkey, because the profits cannot stand the
great costs of overland transit compared to those of our sea-
carnage. Lahore thus lost practically all its trade, and the
substantial Hindus, or Khattris, whose reputation still
survives, lived on what was left of their old profits. For
some years however the present King has spent five or six
of the cool months of each year in Lahore (the rest, or hot
weather, being spent in Kashmir or Kabul), and the city
has now recovered, but more in splendour, royal buildings
palaces, and gardens, than in point of wealth. The river
Ravi flows past the city. It rises in the mountains of
Kashmir, and flows by Multan and on to Tatta and Bakkar,
1 Much of this section must be read as hearsay. Pelsaert probably
passed through Lahore on his way to Kashmir, but it is practicallv
certain that he never was in Multan or Sind.
2 Text has \'in Mongapatnam,\' but the sense requires \'en\' fie
and). The form of the name shows that this place was in Southern
India, and it is linked with Golconda in a later passage as a source
of turban-cloth. Presumably the reference is to ManffaDatnaTn
now a village in the Cuddapah district; superior turbans are sti l
made m the neighbourhood. {Cuddapah District Gazetteer sv
Jammalamadugu; I am indebted to Sir W. Foster for the identifié \'
tion and reference). c lueutmca-
PROVINCES NORTH AND WEST OF AGRA 31
carrying a large trade in shallow-draught vessels. Agra
imports from Lahore ormesines and carpets, which are
woven there, and also many goods from more distant places,
such as fruit from Kabul, asafcetida from Kandahar, and
other commodities obtained in Multan. Agra exports to
Lahore most of the spices which we sell here (for the local
consumption is very small when the King is not here, or
there is no Camp); also all kinds of white cotton goods, both
Bengals and Golcondas; ivory (most of which is wrought
in the neighbourhood of Multan); quicksilver, vermilion,
coral; turbans, girdles, and all sorts of silk goods from
Ahmadabad, where they are woven; silk from Patna; lac,
pepper, and drugs too numerous to be named.
Multan is the capital of the province of that name, and
lies 140 kos north [really, south-west] of Lahore.^ The
province is exceedingly productive, and commands the
route to Persia, which runs by way of Kandahar. The
Persian trade is extensive, because the city is conveniently
served by three great rivers, the Ravi (which serves Bakkar
in Sind, and also Lahore), the Behat [Jhelum] and the
Sind [Indus]. The latter also rise in the mountains of
Kashmir, so that near Multan the water flows with an
astonishing current, but all the same they are largely used
by shallow-draught vessels. Very much sugar is produced,
which is carried by water to Tatta in large quantities, and
also to Lahore; gallnuts and opium are also produced;
sulphur is obtained in large quantities, as well as the best
camels in India; the finest and most famous bows are made
here, also large quantities of white cotton goods and napkins,
which are exported to Kandahar. All these goods come by
way of Lahore to Agra, and are thence distributed in all
directions. From Agra or Lahore, Multan receives large
quantities of cotton, coarse yarn, Bengal cotton goods,
turbans, prints, red salu from Burhanpur, and small
quantities of spices.
Tatta, the capital of Sind, is 80 kos distant from the sea.
The port is named Lahari Bandar, where all large vessels
1 Presumably Pelsaert was thinking of Multan as lying beyond
Lahore, which is to the north of Agra. The next paragraph shows
that he knew it to lie between Lahore and Tatta.
anchor; the goods are brought up in boats, and, owing to
the strength of the current, they usually take from 8 to lo
days on the way. This country was conquered by the
Khan Khanan under Akbar in the year [blank in MS.].
The city lies southwards from Agra, 400 kos distant by way
of Jaisalmer, and 700 kos from Lahore by way of Multan.
It prospered greatly owing to the trade of the Portuguese,
while Ormuz remained in their hands. There are large
supplies of white cotton goods, which in my opinion are
far superior to haflas [Gujarat calico] at the same pricei;
also much striped cloth, taffetas of yarn and silk, and other
cotton goods. Ornamental desks, draught-boards, writing-
cases, and similar goods are manufactured locally in large
quantities; they are very prettily inlaid with ivory and
ebony, and used to be exported in large quantities to Goa
and the coast-towns. This business has however now
come to an end,^ and since the trade of Ormuz was lost,
merchants from Ispahan have to come to Tatta, though
with great difficulty and expense. They bring silk for
sale, but clandestinely, because export from Persia is pro-
hibited; they also import large quantities oi fouwne^ (called
by the Moslems massiedt), which grows there, and is used
for dyeing red, hke chay-root on the Coromandel Coast;
also almonds, raisins, prunes, and other dried fruit. In
addition, they bring large sums in gold ducats, because
the heavy cost of transit reduces the profit to be made on
merchandise. In return they take white cotton goods,
yarn and silk taffacils,^ turbans, girdles, loin-cloths, Bengal
cloth, Lahore indigo, \'painted\' cloth, and much sugar,
both candy and powder, which is brought by water from
Lahore and Multan.
1 Not long after this was written, the English began to export
Sind calico to Europe.
2 The Portuguese had acquired a practical monopoly of the sea-
trade of Sind, which was directed mainly to the Persian Gulf. After
the fall of Ormuz, this trade naturally declined, and must have been
nearly at its lowest when Pelsaert wrote. The English restored the
trade partially in the next decade.
® Presumably intended for the Arabic word fuwwat, a synonym
for runas, or Indian madder, which was an alternative to chay-root.
For the latter, see Hobson-Jobson (s.v. Choya).
^ Taffacils (tapseels, etc.) were striped goods, woven in both silk
and cotton.
[7. KASHMIR.]
Kashmir is situated in 35° N. latitude. On the East the
country extends to Great and Little Tibet, a ten days\'
journey.^ On the South it is bounded by Cashaer and
Lamoe, as far as the border of Kabul, being 30 days\' march.
On the West, it is bounded by territories belonging to this
King [Jahangir], such as Poncie and Peshawar, 13 marches,
but Bangissa, 10 marches further, belongs to Raja Golatia,
who is continually at war with Hindustan. On the North
it adjoins Pampoer, Bessiebrara, Amiets and Watibra,
20 days\' journey. The most delightful pleasure-resort is
Wirnagie, where the King has the best hunting-grounds in
the whole of India. Many villages and handsome towns
exist in all parts of the country, but they are too numerous
to be recorded here, and we turn to the famous city of
Kashmir, which extends over a strongly defended plain,
circular, and ringed with terrible mountains, some of them
lying at a distance of 15 or even 10 kos. One mountain,
however, known to Moslems as Solomon\'s Throne, hes only
one kos north of the city; they regard it as miraculous, and
say that they have very old writings and proofs showing
that Solomon himself built this throne. The city itself is
planted with very pleasant fruit-bearing and other trees,
while two great rivers flow past it. The larger of these
comes from Wirnagie, Achiauwel, and Matiaro; the other
rises from the ground Hke a well or spring, three kos from
the city, having its source at Saluara from an inland lake;
but the water of neither of them appears to be sweet or
healthy, and the inhabitants boil it before they drink it,
while the King and the chief nobles have their water carried
3 or 4 kos from Swindesseway, where the water is clear
and snow-white. King Jahangir began the construction of
1 Most of the topographical details given in this section must be
left to students familiar with the historical geography of the Hima-
layan area. Wirnagie represents VIr-nag, {Memoirs of Jahangir,
II., 142). The \' city of Kashmir\' is still the popular name of Srinagar.
Solomon\'s Throne is the Takht-i-Sulaiman.
a wooden aqueduct, to bring good water from a distance of
10 or 12 kos into the fort, but, reahsing that it could be
easily poisoned by enemies or malcontents, he abandoned
it after having spent fully io,ooo rupees. In Kashmir
foreigners usually suffer from the flux, and many die of it;
the cause must be the water, and also the quantity of fruit
which is available.
On the East side of the city hes a great stronghold, with
a wall of grey stone, fully g or lo feet thick, which joins it
to a high, rocky hill, with a large palace on the summit,
and another somewhat lower, or half way up, towards the
North, as well as two or three residences with separate
approaches, but the principal ones lie on the South towards
the East. In the centre of this fort is the King\'s palace,
which is noteworthy rather for its elevation and extent than
its magnificence. The Queen lives next the King, on the
North side; next to her, her brother Asaf Khan, and, a
little further on, Mukarrib Khan. On the other, or southern,
side, hves Sultan Shahriyar, the King\'s youngest son,\'
who is married to the Queen\'s daughter by her first husband.\'
On the south-west live Khwaja Abdul [? Abul] Hasan,
and also other great nobles, all of whom reside within thé
fortress and round the hill, in a circle of about a kos in
circumference. The city is very extensive, and contains
many mosques, as their churches are called. The houses
are built of pine-wood, the interstices being filled with clay,
and their style is by no means contemptible; they look
elegant, and fit for citizens rather than peasants, and they
are ventilated with handsome and artistic open-work,
instead of windows or glass. They have fiat roofs, entirely
covered with earth, on which the inhabitants often grow
onions, or which are covered with grass, so that during
the rains the green roofs and groves make the city most
beautiful on a distant view.
The inhabitants of the country and the city are for the
most part poor, but they are physically strong, especially
the men, who can carry quite twice the load of a Hindustani;
this is remarkable in view of the fact that men and women
get so httle food. Their children are very handsome and
fair, while they are young and small, but when they grow
up, they become yellow and ugly, owing to their mode of
life, which is that of beasts rather than men. The women
are small in build, filthy, lousy and not handsome. They
wear a coarse gray woollen garment, open from the neck
to the waist. On the forehead they have a sort of red band,
and above it an ugly, black, dirty clout, which falls from the
head over the shoulders to the legs; cotton cloth is very
dear, and their inborn poverty prevents them from possessing
a change of raiment.
They are fanatical Moslems. It was their twelfth king
who observed this creed,^ before King Akbar\'s General,
Raja Bhagwan Das, overcame the country by craft and
subtlety, the lofty mountains and difficult roads rendering
forcible conquest impossible.
Kashmir produces many kinds of fruit, such as apples,
pears, walnuts,, etc., but the flavour is inferior to those of
Persia or Kabul. In December, January, and February
the cold is very great, with constant rain and snow; the
mountains remain white with snow, except in places where
the sun shines in the warm weather, causing heavy floods
in the rivers.
The reason of the King\'s special preference for this country
is that, when the heat in India increases, his body burns
like a furnace, owing to his consumption of excessively
strong drink and opium, excesses which were still greater
in his youth. He usually leaves Lahore in March or April,
and reaches Kashmir in May. The journey is very difficult
and dangerous, besides being expensive, for pack-animals
cannot cross the mountains, and practically everything
must be carried on men\'s heads. All the nobles curse the
place, for it makes the rich poor, and the poor cannot fill
their stomachs there, because everything is excessively
dear; but apparently the King prefers his own comfort or
pleasure to the welfare of his people.
Kashmir yields nothing for export to Agra except saffron,
of which there are two kinds. That which grows near the
city sells in Agra at 20 to 24 rupees the ser; the other kind,
which grows at Casstuwary, 10 kos distant, is the best, and
^ This sentence is obscure. The meaning seems to be that the
King who submitted to Akbar was the twelfth Moslem king.
usually fetches 28 to 32 rupees the ser (of 30 pice weight).
Many pamris are also woven; these are cloths 3 ells long and
2 broad, woven from the wool (it is more like hair), which
grows on the hindquarters of the sheep, very fine, and as
soft as silk. They are worn here [i.e. in Agra] as wraps in
the winter because of the cold, and look very well and fine,
having a surface like borates.^ Walnuts, which are plentiful,
are also exported to Agra.
The goods sent from Agra to Kashmir are coarse, un-
bleached, cotton-cloth, yarn for local consumption, and
also pepper and opium. Nutmeg, cloves and mace are too
dear, and their use is unknown; but all of them are, as
might be expected, brought there when the King is in
residence.
^ \'Borate\' was the name of a thin woollen cloth fashionable in
Europe at this period. The word rendered \'surface\' is keper,
which appears to indicate a twill or something of the kind.
[8. BURHANPUR AND GUJARAT.]
Burhanpur is situated 300 kos south of Agra, and 150 kos
north^ of Surat. It is a very large, open city, and was
formerly unfortified, but recently, when the Deccan^ forces
besieged it in order to assist Sultan Khurram [Shahjahan],
Raja Ratan defended it with a wall of earth and fortified
posts at various points. This year, 1626, when Khan
Jahan, the Governor of the country, led a force of 40,000
horse against the Deccan, he ordered Lashkar Khan, who
governed during his absence, to encircle the whole city with
a wall, and owing to the number of people this has been
accomplished very rapidly in a short time. Its length is
12 kos or more, but it is not a circle\'\'; there are many bastions,
and all is correct and exact, but constructed only of earth.
The river Tapti, which flows past Surat, and passes this
city also, is so full of rocks and stones as to be unfit for
navigation; otherwise it would be very convenient for the
trade of the city, which is still extensive, but was formerly
much greater. The offtake of goods was incredible at the
time when the city was governed by Khan Khanan or by
Sultan Khurram, for Khurram was an active and powerful
prince; he maintained a large standing army here against
the Deccan, as it lies on the frontier; and he was always
surrounded by an extensive Court. He was a patron of all
craftsmen, to whom he paid such high wages that he attracted
all the splendour of his father\'s Court, for he was as greedy
for novelties, costly jewels, and other rarities as Jahangir
himself, and he paid more liberally, being sensible, and
1 \'North\' should be \'East.\' Burhanpur was a stage on one of
the two routes leading from Surat to the north, and Pelsaert may
have located it from this point of view.
2 Text has \'de Ganders\': I read \'de Decanders.\' The copyist
has made a similar slip a little further on, \'de Can\' standing for
\'de Decan.\'
® So in the text, but the negative may be a copyist\'s error; if so,
the meaning would be simply that the wall was 12 kos or more in
circuit.
refusing to be guided, like his father, by his avaricious
subordinates. He rebelled, however, because he thought
his father had lived too long, and, besides, he wished to
displace his eldest brother. Sultan Parwiz; but the rebeUion
failed, as can be read at length in the account I have written
^ of the history of the country,^ and after his flight some of
, " his territories, including Burhanpur, were assigned to
Parwiz. The latter\'s period of rule was very dull, for he
was a man of poor spirit, aspiring to no state or display,
and he was satisfied if he could get drunk every day, pre-
ferring to sleep by day and drink by night. Consequently
^ he pays no attention to the administration of the country,
j his troops are left unpaid, their numbers diminished, and
their pay reduced, while the farms of the revenue of the
villages and neighbouring country are increased. It is
this which impoverishes the country and enriches the
courtiers.
The English used to have a regular factory at Burhanpur
for the sale of various goods, such as heavy woollen cloth,
lead, tin, quicksilver, vermilion, satins, and velvets, for the
Army. All the money obtained by these sales was remitted
by exchange on Agra or Surat, because there is nothing to
be had locally which is suitable for their trade, or for ours.
In case some improvement in administration should follow
the death of the present King, it would be necessary to have
a factory there for the sale of such goods, or others; though
the English have agents there at present, it is only in order
to dispose of large quantities of old stock, either profitably
or at a loss.
Surat (latitude 2ii degrees), is, owing to its situation,
the chief seaport belonging to the King, though the city is
7 kos, or about 4 [Holland] miles, up the river, and all
goods, both imports and exports, must be shipped and
landed by boat. Three kos, or two miles, further east-
wards, the English have found a convenient anchorage
named Swally, where there is a sandbank, which is exposed
at low water, and gives shelter at high tide, so that it is a
desirable place for loading and unloading goods. From
1 For this account, see the Introduction.
-ocr page 61-Swally goods can be brought by land on carts; this is much
more expensive than sending them by boat, but the latter
course is exceedingly dangerous, because the Malabar
pirates can keep their small craft lying off the river\'s mouth
without being observed, and capture whatever there is.
The city is fairly well built, and is about two [Holland]
miles in circumference. It has no walls, but ditches have
been dug round it, provided with four gates on the land
side. On the water front is a castle built of white coral
rock,i small in circuit, but well provided with guns and
equipment; it is considered locally to be practically im-
pregnable, but it could not withstand a determined siege
for long. In order to strengthen it further, or to increase
the artillery, they have constructed a platform on an inner
high wall running round the fort, and covered it with beams
and planks; here, on the upper tier, are placed more than
30 guns, but as a matter of fact this arrangement would
make them like a mouse in a trap, for if the upper works
were shot away, or breached, the whole platform must
collapse, and put the lower tier of guns also out of action.
Formerly, when the coast was still unknown to the
English, a very extensive trade was carried on in Surat by
the Moslems, but it has now fallen off greatly, and indeed
is nothing compared to what it was, because all the chief
seaports, which were recently so flourishing, have collapsed,
some through war, others owing to other causes; Ormuz,
Mocha, Aden, Dabhol, and also the whole Goa coast, are
idle, and do not know where to voyage; each is almost
smothered in its own produce, and there are no signs that
any other place, country, or seaport, has benefited, though
usually one country profits by the decay of another. All
merchants, from whatever country they come, complain
most bitterly. Portuguese, Moslems and Hindus all concur
^ The word corael-steen, Hterally coral-stone, seems to have
acquired a rather wider meaning in the East, for I have found it
applied to building-stone in localities where the occurrence of a
coral-formation is most unhkely. Mr. A. M. Macmillan, Collector
of Surat, has kindly supplied me with information regarding the
stone actually used in the Castle at Surat; Dr. H. H. Mann describes
it as a highly fossiliferous limestone, yellow in colour, of a kind which
is found in the Surat district.
in putting the blame for this state of things entirely on the
English and on us, saying that we are the scourges of the
sea and of their prosperity. Often enough, if we notice any
shortcoming, and blame them, or threaten them, for it, the
leading merchants tell us they heartily wish we had never
come to their country. They point to the number of ships
that used to sail from Surat alone—every year four or five
of the King\'s great ships, each of 400 or 500 last^ (two for
Achin, two for Ormuz, two for Bantam, Macassar and those
parts), besides smaller ships owned by individual merchants,
coming and going in large numbers. Nowadays the total
is very small. Two of the King\'s ships usually clear in
February, and sail from the river in March, carrying goods
on freight for anyone who offers; they reach Mocha at
the end of April, where their goods may have to lie over
for a year for want of buyers, but the ships start on their
return voyage in August, unless one is destined for Suez or
Mecca [Jidda], in which case it winters at Mocha, and the
goods are sold at leisure. The ships bring back chiefly
ducats, and small quantities of merchandise. A small
vessel, or tauri, sails every year in September for Achin,
carrying black baftas, candekins, tricandis, chelas,^ and other
cotton goods for that coast, and returns about March with
tin, pepper, and a certain amount of other spices brought
there by the people of Macassar.® There remains no other
regular voyage worth mentioning.
For the last four or five years, since the Portugese have
lost Ormuz, the trade of the Surat merchants with Persia
has been carried as freight by the EngUsh ships, or by
ours; they consign chiefly cotton goods, turbans, and
girdles from Golconda and Mangapatnam, which are sent
1 A last represented two tons (measurement), or about 120 cubic
feet at this period.
2 Baftas were Gujarat calico: candekins and tricandis were short
dyed pieces of calico; the Gujarat chelas were small, coarse pieces
of calico, woven in coloured checks, and frequently supplied to
slaves.
® Macassar, in Celebes, was the centre of what the Dutch regarded
as a smuggling-trade in spices. The local boats used to visit the
Spice Islands, and buy cloves, mace, or nutmegs, when thev could
elude the Dutch, who claimed the monopoly of these products.
to Ispahan. Practically none of the goods which we carry
on freight compete with what we ourselves send to Persia,
so that this traffic is a great benefit to them without causing
any injury to us, and the freight covers the expenses of the
Company\'s ships. Some merchants who own tauris, or
small vessels, send them along with our ships, laden with
cotton, rice, or other goods of low grade, but no one dares
to sail from any port to Ormuz unaccompanied, because
(when our ships have left) the Portuguese frigates keep
guard, and make prize of whatever they capture, so that
Ormuz is now nothing but a deserted nest.^
The reason why the chief English factory, as well as ours,
is located in Surat is not to be found in the extent of the
market or of the sale of goods, but in the fact that the
ships must be unloaded and left there, and the goods
forwarded thence to the places where they are wanted.
If an adequate supply of cash were sent there in addition
to the goods, it would be unnecessary, or at any rate it
would be a serious loss to the Company, to sell anything
worth mentioning in Surat, for the banian merchants who
buy from us there despatch the goods promptly to Ahma-
dabad, Burhanpur, or Agra, where we have factories, and
have to pay the cost of the staff which we employ. Profits
should be credited in the place where they are made, unless
the empty distinction were coveted to show the gains
arising from our sales in the general accounts of the Surat
factory, instead of in those of Agra, Ahmadabad, or Bur-
hanpur (if a factory is to be estabhshed there). Further,
there is nothing to be bought in Surat (except at a loss to
the Company), apart from a few haftas which are woven at
Navsari and also at Ränder.^ Absolutely no other mer-
chandise is to be had in Surat, but much is brought there
when the ships arrive, and we may be forced to purchase
1 After the loss of Ormuz, the Portuguese at Muscat endeavoured
to maintain the collection of customs on all goods entering the
Persian Gulf. Their frigates employed for this purpose were not
in a position to interfere with the Dutch or English ships, or with
boats convoyed by them, but they could, and probably did, seize
Indian boats when unaccompanied.
2 Navsari is a short distance south of Surat. Ränder, formerly
an important place, lies on the Tapti between Surat and the sea.
haftas, candekins, chelas, etc., retail, because we have not
the money to buy these in Broach or Ahmadabad during the
rains, unless in order to do so we should have to be con-
stantly involved in debt for loans carrying interest. The
banians are now beginning to make a large profit in this
way, and have raised the monthly rate of interest from
I to IJ per cent.; if loans are taken yearly, they will raise
it much higher, and the amount of interest, or loss, is a
matter of great importance.
Customs duties are here per cent, on all imports and
exports of goods, and 2 per cent, on money, either gold or
silver. At present these duties are collected for the King
by the Governor, Mir Jahan Kuh Beg, but formerly they
were assigned to various lords as salary; the arrangement
has been altered as often as twice or thrice in the year.
Weights and measures are smaller here than in Hindustan.
The Gujarat gaz^ is eight per cent, shorter than a Holland
ell, and a ser weighs only 18 pice or f lb. (Holland), 24 pice
weighing i pound; these units are used in Surat, and
practically throughout Gujarat. Formerly mahmudis, and
not rupees, were current here; the mahmudi is smaller,
and worth only 10 stivers by our reckoning. Rupees have
come into circulation during the last five or six years;
the mahmudi is still the nominal unit for sales and purchases,
but the actual payment is generally made in rupees, which
we take as 24 stivers. The King has now a mint in Surat,
as in Ahmadabad and all other capital cities.
Broach, 20 kos landward from Surat, is a small town,
but it is splendidly situated on moderately high ground.
The town is surrounded by a wall of white stone, and looks
more like a fort than a city; it is a kos in circuit, and from
a distance is very picturesque. It enjoys a much better and
more agreeable climate than other towns, chiefly because
1 The Gujarat measure for cotton cloth is usually called \'covad\'
in the literature of the period; it was rather less than f yard. The
figure given, 8 per cent., seems somewhat too high. A contemporary
report from Gujarat equates 15 ells to 15-16 covads, and the writer
is to be trusted because he was then buying Gujarat cloth in large
quantities, while Pelsaert had not been in Gujarat for some years,
and may have made a shght miscalculation. The difference between
an ell and a covad was, I think, nearer one inch than two.
of its elevation, owing to which it escapes all dangerous
vapours; and further the well-known river Narbada, here
a fine and broad stream, runs under the walls. This river
flows past the fort of Handia,i beyond Burhanpur, and
separates Hindustan from the Deccan. The town depends
on the weaving industry, and produces the best-known
fine haflas ; all other sorts of cloth, for Mocha, Mozambique,
and the South [Java, etc.], are also woven there, as well
as in Baroda, and other neighbouring places. Consequently
a factory is badly required there for purchases for the South,
but nothing can be sold, for the people are mostly poor,
or artisans. Tolls are levied here on goods, whether brought
here for consumption, or merely in transit; the rate is
11 per cent., but it is calculated for all kinds of goods on
a valuation made by the Kazi, or lawyer, of the town,
and is in fact merely a knavish method of draining poor
merchants dry. If for instance cloves are brought there on
the way to Ahmadabad or Agra, the toll will be charged
on the retail price which a local shop-keeper would charge
for a pice-weight or ounce, without allowing for the heavy
expense required to bring the goods into the shop, or for
the seller\'s profit. It is the same for all kinds of goods
in proportion, and, if this toll did not exist to stop us,
we could bring all our goods from and to Agra much more
conveniently than by way of Burhanpur, and at half the
cost. It would therefore be an excellent thing if we could
contract for this toll, or obtain an exemption from the King;
the advantage and profit of this course can be readily
inferred from what has been said above.
^ Handia, or Hindiah, was headquarters of a sarkar (district)
of Malwa, and had a fort commanding a passage of tlie Narbada.
[9. THE TRADE IN DRUGS.7
In describing these important places, I have omitted mention
of many flourishing cities, partly because of their number,
and partly because they have no trade which would interest
the Company. Further, I have not attempted to specify
the quantity of goods imported, transported, or sold in
the country, because no accurate statement can be made,
for in this country conditions differ greatly from year to
year; a good harvest will create a demand from every
village, while these civil wars are ruinous to trade, and
everybody is afraid to employ his capital. I hope therefore
that our employers will be so kind as to overlook this
shortcoming, considering how reasonable it is, and also
the omission to describe the methods of producing many
drugs which are obtained in Agra, as well as in the mountains
of Parbet^ and Bhutan, and in Kashmir. I have collected
many samples of these drugs, but it will be best to have
them identified, more certainly than I could do it, by
druggists, herbahsts, apothecaries, etc. I shall however
record the following observations on borax, spikenard,
and sal ammoniac, which are items of the Company\'s
regular trade.
Borax is found in the Eastern mountains, ^ in the dominions
of a very powerful king, named Raja Bikram, the extent
1 As the text shows, the word \'Drugs\' had a wider meaning in
Pelsaert\'s time than now.
2 I take \'Parbet\' here to be a generic term for \'the mountains \'
i.e. the eastern Himalayas.
3 This account of Tibet must be taken as a reproduction of the
vague, second-hand information obtainable in Agra. I have not
identified the frontier mart Donga, but I am told the word means
a level area in the hills, and possibly Pelsaert was mistaken in using
it as a proper name. Mr. R. Burn suggests that it may stand for
Dogam, once an important market in what is now the Bahraich
district, but the details given in the text are too scanty for certainty
The distance may be read either as 150, or as 450, kos ; the former
reading is more probable on geographical grounds. Tachelachan
may possibly represent the modern Taklakot, which lies on the route
to Agra of the supplies of borax from the sources near the Mana-
sarowar lakes.
of whose kingdom may be judged from the fact that it
stretches to the frontiers of the White Tartars. Men of
that nation carry on an extensive trade in it, because it
yields many commodities in much demand, such as musk,
civet, borax, spikenard, quicksilver, brass and copper, and
a dye named meynsel which gives a handsome red-and-
yellow colour. The inhabitants bring all these goods to
Donga, 150 [?] kos from Agra and a great market; it is
in Jahangir\'s territory, but is administered by Raja Bichha.
The place where borax is found is named Tachelachan;
it occurs in a river which flows through the eastern moun-
tains and falls into a great lake called Masseroer [Manasa-
rowar]. This lake must be very far away, for few or none
of them [? my informants] have seen it, but they assert
on the strength of their old books that in reality it can only
be the sea, and not a lake. Owing to the peculiar quality
of the water, the borax settles hke coral in the bed of the
river, and is dug out twice a year, and sold without any
further treatment such as reWng or evaporating. The
supply is very large, sufficient to satisfy the whole world,
and it usually sells at the low price of 4 or 5 rupees for a
maund of 60 lb. It is brought to Agra in bales packed in
sheepskin, each weighing 4 maunds; here we pack it in
bladders, which are filled with bitter oil, to prevent
deterioration from long keeping or from its natural
qualities.
Spikenaid grows wild in the mountains and is not sown.
The plants grow a handbreadth high, and are closely
intertwined; they are called koilte kie} Spikenard is here
considered to be a valuable medicine or drug, particularly
for stiffened hmbs; it is rubbed down with oil, smeared on
the limb, and allowed to dry; it produces warmth, and
expels the cold. The spikenard is the flower or upper shoots
of the kuitekie [5«c]. It is tawny in colour, and of the
length of hair; the best sells in Agra at from 6 to 7 rupees
the maund. In this country it is Httle valued or used, but
it is exported to other places—Tatta, Multan, Persia, the
Deccan, or I may say the whole world.
^ I have failed to trace this name, which is not to be found in the
botanical records at Kew.
Sal ammoniac is found at Thanesar or Sirhind, on the
road to Lahore. It is a sort of scum which forms on the
site of very old brick-kilns; it is dug and purified by evapora-
tion, like saltpetre. The usual price is 7 to 7|- rupees per
maund, but under instructions from our employers we have
now ceased to purchase it.
Saltpetre is found in many places near Agra, at distances
of from 10 to 40 kos; it occurs usually in villages which
have formerly been inhabited, and have been for some years
abandoned. It is prepared from three kinds of earth,
black, yellow, and white, but the black earth gives the best
quality, being free from salt or brackishness. The method
of manufacture is as follows. Two shallow reservoirs like
salt-pans are made on the ground, one much larger than the
other. The larger is filled with the salt earth and flooded
with water from a channel in the ground; the earth is then
thoroughly trodden out by numbers of labourers till it is
pulverised and forms a thin paste; then it is allowed to
stand for two days, so that the water may absorb all the
substance. The water is then run off by a large outlet
into the other reservoir, where a deposit settles, which is
crude saltpetre. This is evaporated in iron pans once or
twice, according to the degree of whiteness and purity
desired, being skimmed continually until scarcely any
impurities rise. It is then placed in large earthen jars,
holding 25 to 30 lb.; a crust forms in the dew during the
night, and if any impurities are still left, they sink to the
bottom; the pots are then broken, and the saltpetre dried
in the sun. From 5000 to 6000 maunds should be obtainable
yearly in Agra alone, without reckoning the produce of
places at a distance. The peasants, however, have now
recognised that the produce, which was formerly cheap
and in small demand, is wanted by us as well as by the
English, who are also beginning to buy, and, like monkeys,
are eager to imitate whatever they see done by others.
The result is that, instead of the old price of rupees for
a maund of 64 lb., it is now up to 2 or rupees, and likely
to rise steadily. The industry is of little importance, and
known to everybody, so I shall bring this description to
an end, and turn to—
[10.] THE PRODUCTIVITY AND YIELD OF
THE LAND.
The land would give a plentiful, or even an extraordinary
yield, if the peasants were not so cruelly and pitilessly
oppressed; for villages which, owing to some small shortage
of produce, are unable to pay the full amount of the
revenue-farm, are made prize, so to speak, by their
masters or governors, and wives and children sold, on the
pretext of a charge of rebellion.^ Some peasants abscond
to escape their tyranny, and take refuge with rajas who
are in rebellion, and consequently the fields lie empty and
unsown, and grow into wildernesses. Such oppression is
exceedingly prevalent in this country.
The year is here divided into three seasons. In April,
May and June the heat is intolerable, and men can scarcely
breathe. More than that, hot winds blow continuously,
as stifling as if they came straight from the furnace of hell.
The air is filled with the dust raised by violent whirlwinds
from the sandy soil, making day like the darkest night
that human eyes have seen or that can be grasped by the
imagination. Thus, in the afternoon of 15th June, 1624,
I watched a travado of dust^ coming up gradually, which
so hid the sky and the sun that for two hours people could
not tell if the world was at an end, for the darkness and the
fury of the wind could not have been exceeded. Then the
storm disappeared gradually, as it had come, and the sun
shone again. The months of June, July, August, September,
and October are reckoned as the rainy season, during which
it sometimes rains steadily. The days are still very hot,
but the rain brings a pleasant and refreshing coolness.
In November, December, January, February and March
it is tolerably cool, and the climate is pleasant.
^ The syntax is here very obscure, but the rendering given is the
most probable. The identification of non-payment of revenue
with rebellion is, of course, a familiar idea in India.
2 Tmvado is Portuguese for a hurricane.
-ocr page 70-From April to June the fields he hard and dry, unfit for
ploughing or sowing owing to the heat. When the ground
has been moistened by a few days\' rain, they begin to sow
indigo, rice, various kinds of food-grains eaten by the poor,
such as jowar, hajra, kangni, various pulses for cattle-food,
such as moth, mung, orb, urd, and a seed from which oil is
extracted. 1 When all these are off the land, they plough
and sow again, for there are two harvests; that is to say,
in December and January, they sow wheat and barley,
various pulses such as chana, masur, matar, and sar son
and alsi (from which oil is extracted). Large numbers
of wells have to be dug in order to irrigate the soil, for at
this time it is beginning to lose its productive power.
Provided the rains are seasonable, and the cold is not
excessive, there is a year of plenty, not merely of food,
but in the trade in all sorts of commodities. Such vegetables
as the thin, sandy soil can produce—turnips, various beans,
beetroot, salads, potherbs—^grow here in abundance,
as in Holland. Trees are plentiful round the city, but very
scarce in the open country; even four or five trees usually
mark the site of a village. Firewood is consequently
very dear, and is sold by weight, 60 lb. for from 12 to 18
pice (or 5 stivers), making a serious annual expense for a
large household. The poor burn cow-dung, mixed with
straw and dried in the sun, which is also sold, as peat is
sold in Holland. Fruit trees are still scarcer because the
ground is salty, and all fruit comes from Kandahar or
Kabul—no apples,^ pears, quinces, pomegranates, melons,
almonds, dates, raisins, filberts, pistachios, and many
other kinds. Great and wealthy amateurs have planted
in their gardens Persian vines which bear seedless grapes,
but the fruit does not ripen properly in one year out of
three. Oranges are plentiful in December, January and
February, and are obtainable also in June and July; they
1 The names of the rains crops, which are greatly mutilated in
Thévenot, are quite clear in the text, with the exception of orb,
which may be a copyist\'s error for arhar. The oilseed must be tü
(sesamum). The names of the winter crops are perfectly clear,
though the seed-time is put too late.
2 The grammar is at fault: the meaning is that apples, etc., are
imported from Kandahar and Kabul, not produced locally.
are very large, especially in the neighbourhood of Bayana.
Lemons can be had in large quantities. The other fruits
have too little taste, and are thought too little of, to be
worth mentioning.
The supply of meat, such as we have in Holland, is ample,
but it is cheaper than with us. There are sheep, goats,
fowls, geese, ducks, deer and other game; and the supply
is so large that it is little valued, and prices are low. Oxen
and cows are not slaughtered, as they have to work while
they are young, doing everything that is done by horses
in Holland; and besides, their slaughter is strictly forbidden
by the King on pain of death, though buffaloes may be
freely killed. The King maintains this rule to please the
Hindu rajas and banians, who regard the cow as one of the
most veritable gods or sacred things. They also occasionally
obtain by bribery a general order from the King, or from
the Governor of a particular city, that no one shall catch
any fish for several days, or for as long a period as they
can secure; and, occasionally, that for some days no meat
of any description, whether goat, sheep, or buffalo, shall be
sold in the market. Such orders are extremely inconvenient
for ordinary people, but the rich slaughter daily in their
own houses. This would be a desirable country if men
might indulge their hunger or appetite as they do in our
cold lands; but the excessive heat makes a man powerless,
takes away his desire for food, and limits him to water-
drinking, which weakens or debihtates his body. But as
this discussion is irrelevant, I shall close it, and tum to—
[II.] THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE COUNTRY.
[My description cannot be complete], because a full account
of the pecuHar rule of this King could not easily be given,
or would require first of all a delineation of its origin, which
would be too discursive for this report, and which I intend
to write separatelyThe chief reason [of its distinctive
features] is that Jahangir, disregarding his own person
and position, has surrendered himself to a crafty wife of
humble lineage, as the result either of her arts or of her
persuasive tongue. She has taken, and still continues
increasingly to take, such advantage of this opportunity,
that she has gradually enriched herself with superabundant
treasures, and has secured a more than royal position.
Her former and present supporters have been well rewarded,
so that now most of the men who are near the King owe
their promotion to her, and are consequently under such
obligations to her, that he [Jahangir] is King in name only,
while she and her brother Asaf Khan hold the kingdom
firmly in their hands. Many misunderstandings result,
for the King\'s orders or grants of appointments, etc., are
not certainties, being of no value until they have been
approved by the Queen. They^ are impelled by a high
and spirited temper, and although they have attained to
the highest honour and rank, they still strive for an im-
possible advancement, for the world cannot sustain their
eminence. Meanwhile she erects very expensive buildings
in all directions—sarais, or halting-places for travellers
and merchants, and pleasure-gardens and palaces such
as no one has ever made before—intending thereby to
establish an enduring reputation.
The King does not trouble himself with public affairs,
but behaves as if they were no concern of his. If anyone
1 For this account, see the Introduction.
2 The text alternates between singular and plural, apparently
referring sometimes to Nurjahan alone, and sometimes to Nurjahan
and Asaf Khan jointly.
with a request to make at Court obtains an audience or is
allowed to speak, the King hears him indeed, but will
give no definite answer of Yes or No, referring him promptly
to Asaf Khan, who in the same way will dispose of no
important matter without communicating with his sister,
the Queen, and who regulates his attitude in such a way
that the authority of neither of them may be diminished.
Anyone then who obtains a favour must thank them for
it, and not the King. The chief business that interests
the King, and about which he asks questions, is in what
places there is good hunting, sport being his greatest delight.
He rides out to hunt in the afternoon when the sun\'s heat
has diminished, or when he wakes up; then he dresses and
mounts a horse, or takes his seat on an elephant, not con-
sidering whether there are many or few attendants, or
none at all, disregarding rain or wind, and he will not
return till he has caught something, whether with falcons,
or with leopards. Hunting with leopards is a remarkable
form of sport.^ These brutes are so accustomed to men that
they are as tame as cats, whether they are reared from
cubs or tamed when full grown. They are very carefully
fed, and each has two men to look after him, as well as a
cart, in which they sit, or are driven out, daily. When
they come to a place where they sight buck, the leopard
is released from the cart, his keepers show him the direction,
and he creeps on his four feet until he gets a view, taking
cover behind trees, plants or thickets, until he sees that
his first quick rash and spring will be successful, for that
is his only chance. Most of the leopards are so well trained
that they never, or very seldom, miss. Sometimes also,
but very rarely, the King hunts buck with buck. For this
form of sport, buck are so thoroughly tamed that when
they have been set free, they will come back when called
by their masters or keepers. When there is to be a hunt,
a running noose, made of twisted sinews, is fastened on the
^ The prominence of sport in an account of the administration
seems to be adequately explained by the fact that it was the King\'s
chief interest. Hunting with leopards is a familiar form of sport;
for hunting with tame buck see Ain-i-Akbari (I. 291 of Blochmann\'s
translation).
tame buck\'s horns, and Hes on his neck. When he sights
a wild buck, he at once presents his horns to fight, and they
push and struggle with their horns, until the tame buck
feels that the noose has caught. Then he springs back
and pulls so that they hold each other fast by the horns
until the men, who are standing or lying near, run up and
capture the wild buck ahve. These hunting pleasures
surpass those of our country. The fanciers of buck derive
great enjoyment or pastime from them, for they set them
constantly to fight for stakes; but some of the animals
are so funous that they will not yield, though they struggle
till they fall dead, and they understand how to attack
with their horns as weU as if they had learned the art of
fencing.
When the King was a young man, he preferred shooting
to all other forms of sport, and he was a splendid shot
When forests or jungles which contained pig, Hons tigers
and other dangerous beasts were pointed out to him he
went to the place, and kilHng lions and tigers was prohibited
un^less information had previously been given to the King\'
who risked his life in such sport. A remarkable instance 5
this occurred in my time.i The King was out hon-shooting
at Kupbas near Agra. For some time a lion had been
doing great harm, killing men and cattle, and the King
went there for this special purpose, surrounding his lair
with large numbers of men; but no one, even if he was
attacked, was allowed to kill the lion with any weapon
except a dagger, even though he might be wounded. The
King was inside the circle with his gun, accompanied only
by one soldier, all his lords being scattered to drive the Hon
towards him, when suddenly the Hon jumped out of a
thicket and sprang at him. His companion, a Hindu or
Rajput horseman named Anira, seeing that he could not
safely use his gun, and that the King was in imminent
danger of injury, caught the Hon by the neck, and held
Q-\' account of the courage of Anira (properly Anirai
Singhdalan), is in The Memoirs of Jahangir. I. 185. The differences
m the text are such as might natumlly o^cur in tL case of a p^S
tale. The correct date is i6ic>-ii, or before Pelsaert\'s time* perhaps
the story had been told to him as having occurred \'quite recentty!\'
on as if dead, and wrestled with him. Sometimes one was
on top and sometimes the other, and in the struggle the
hon tore all the flesh of his arms and legs, indeed nearly
his whole body, so that the bare bones showed everywhere,
although the King had wounded the lion several times with
his sword. At last men ran up, attracted by the shouting,
and rescued Anira still living. The King showed the
greatest sohcitude for his cure, and appointed him imme-
diately to the rank of 500 horse, from which he has won
promotion by his courage until he is now a noble of 3000
horse. There have doubtless been many similar stories
or occurrences in other countries, but I want to emphasise
the devotion displayed by such subordinates, who are ready
to give their life for their master as if they were actuated
by a passion of love. But matters such as these are irrel-
evant, and we must return to the task we have undertaken.
When the King comes home in the evening from hunting,
he takes his seat in his Ghusalkhana,^ where all the lords
come to present themselves, and where strangers who have
requests to make are received in audience. He sits here
till a quarter of the night or more has passed, and during
this time he drinks his three piyala, or cups, of wine, taking
them successively at regular intervals; and when he drinks,
all the bystanders shout or cry out wishes that it may do
him good, just as in our country when "the King drinks"
is played.^ Everyone leaves when the last cup has been
drunk, and the King goes to bed. As soon as all the men
have left, the Queen comes with the female slaves, and they
undress him, chafing and fondling him as if he were a little
child; for his three cups have made him so "happy
that he is more disposed to rest than to keep awake. This
is the time when his wife, who knows so well how to manage
him that she obtains whatever she asks for or desires,
gets always \'yes,\' and hardly ever \'no,\' in reply.
1 Ghusalkhana was the contemporary name of the apartment
where the Emperor gave audience.
2 This is an incident of the festivities of Twelfth Night in Holland.
The moment when \'De Koning drinkt\' is illustrated by many
paintings of the Flemish school,
3 Literally \'blessed,\' a colloquial term for a stage a little short of
intoxication.
The King\'s territories, cities, and villages, with the
annual yield of each, are all entered in a register which is
in charge of the Diwan, at present Khwaja Abdul Hasan.i
Everyone, whether prince, amir, or mansahdar, is granted,
in accordance with his rank (be it loo, or looo, or 10,000
horse), the appropriate income, to be derived from the
administration of certain chief places. Some of the grantees,
who are in attendance on the King, send some of their
employees to represent them, or else hand over their grants
to farmers, or karoris [sub-collectors], who have to take the
risk of good or bad harvests; but the provinces are so
impoverished that a jagir [assignment of revenue] which is
reckoned to be worth 50,000 rupees, may sometimes not
yield even 25, [000], although so much is wrung from the
peasants, that even dry bread is scarcely left to fill their
stomachs. For that reason, many of the lords who hold the
rank of 5000 horse, do not keep even 1000 in their employ,
but they spend great sums on an extravagant display of
elephants, horses, and servants, so that they ride out more
like kings than subjects, everyone shouting Phoos,\'^ that is to
say,\' Out of the way!\' or \' Make room!\' People who do not
make way are beaten, and the servants pay very httle
regard to whom they hit.
The most astonishing thing is that the avarice of the
\' nobles has no sohd basis, though they devote themselves
entirely to gathering their treasures, without a thought of
the cruelty or injustice involved. Immediately on the
death of a lord who has enjoyed the King\'s jagir, be he
great or small, without any exception—even before the
breath is out of his body—the King\'s officers are ready on
the spot, and make an inventory of the entire estate,
recording everything down to the value of a single pice,\'
even to the dresses and jewels of the ladies, provided they
1 Khwaja Abul (not Abdul) Hasan was appointed chief Diwan,
or revenue administrator, in 1621-22. Mansahdar denotes a
possessor of military rank below a certain grade, while officers of
superior rank were entitled amir.
2 Mr. R. Burn tells me that the correct form of this exclamation
is probably poh-sha, the imperative of a Pashtu verb signifying \'to
understand\'; it may be rendered \'Take care!\'
have not concealed them. The King takes back the whole
estate absolutely for himself, except in a case where the
deceased has done good service in his lifetime, when the
women and children are given enough to live on, but no
more.i It might be supposed that wife, or children, or
friends, could conceal during his [the lord\'s] lifetime enough
for the family to live on, but this would be very difficult.
As a rule all the possessions of the lords, and their trans-
actions, are not secret, but perfectly well-known, for each
has his diwan [steward], through whose hands everything
passes; he has many subordinates, and for work that
could be done by one man they have ten here; and each
of them has some definite charge, for which he must account.
[When the lord dies,] all these subordinates are arrested,
and compelled to show from their books and papers where
aU the cash or property is deposited, and how their master\'s
income has been disposed of; and if there is any suspicion
about their disclosures, they are tortured until they tell
the truth. And so you may see a man whom you knew
with his turban cocked on one side, and nearly as un-
approachable as his master, now running about with a
torn coat and a pinched face; for it is rarely that such
men can obtain similar employment from other masters,
and they go about like pictures of death in life, as I have
known many of them to do.
I have often ventured to ask great lords what is their
true object in being so eager to amass their treasures,
when what they have gathered is of no use to them or to
their family. Their answers have been based on the
emptiest worldly vanity, for they say that it is a very great
and imperishable reputation if it is generally known, or
the official records show, that such a man has left an estate
worth so much. In reply I have urged that it would be
possible to win a greater reputation for time and eternity,
if, seeing that their friends and relations could expect
no enjoyment from their wealth, they would share it with
1 The syntax is obscure, and the sentence may possibly be intended
to mean that the women and children are left with only the bare
necessaries of life, except in a case where the deceased has done
good service (when presumably they would get more).
the poor, who in this country are in hundreds of thousands,
or indeed innumerable, and would banish outside their
doors aU oppression, injustice, excessive pomp, chicanery,
and similar practices, whereby they have nothing to hope
for in the future, but very much to fear. [When I have
urged such arguments], they have closed the discussion by
saying that it is just the custom of the country.
It is the practice of the King, or rather of his wife, to
give rapid advancement and promotion to any soldier,
however low his rank, who has carried out orders with
credit, or has displayed courage in the field. On the other
hand, a very smaU fault, or a trifling mistake, may bring
a man to the depths of misery or to the scaffold, and con-
sequently everything in the kingdom is uncertain. Wealth,
position, love, friendship, confidence, everything hangs
by a thread. Nothing is permanent,^ yea, even the noble
buildings—gardens, tombs, or palaces,—which, in and near
every city, one cannot contemplate without pity or distress
because of their ruined state. For in this they are to be
despised above aU the laziest nations of the world, because
they build them with so many hundreds of thousands,
and yet keep them in repair only so long as the owners
live and have the means. Once the builder is dead, no
one will care for the buildings; the son will neglect\' his
father\'s work, the mother her son\'s, brothers and friends
wiU take no care for each other\'s buildings; everyone
tries, as far as possible, to erect a new building of his own,
and establish his own reputation alongside that of his
ancestors. Consequently, it may be said that if all these
buildings and erections were attended to and repaired for
a century, the lands of every city, and even village, would
be adorned with monuments; but as a matter of fact the
roads leading to the cities are strewn with fallen columns
of stone.
1 The passage which follows is untranslatable as it stands The
rendering given involves three small emendations of the text
proposed by Professor Geyl, and is preferable to that which I offered
m From Akbar to Aurangzeb, p. 197. The main point, that the
buildmgs are allowed to go to ruin, is clear enough- the difficulty
il™ the reference to other nations. The words \'hundreds of
thousands may be taken as referring to either money or labourers
As regards the laws, they are scarcely observed at all,
for the administration is absolutely autocratic, but there
are books of law, which are in charge of their lawyers, the
Kazis. Their laws contain such provisions as hand for
hand, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; but who will excom-
municate the Pope ? And who would dare to ask a Governor
\'Why do you rule us this way or that way? Our Law
orders thus.\' The facts are very different, although in
every city there is a kachhahri, or royal court of justice,
where the Governor, the Diwan, the Bakhshi, the Kotwal,
the Kazi, and other officers sit together daily, or four days
in the week.^ Here ail disputes are disposed of, but not
until avarice has had its share. All capital cases, such as
thefts, murders, or crimes are finally disposed of by the
Governor, if the criminals are poor and unable to pay,
and the sweepers drag them out to execution vnth very
little ceremony. In the case of other offences the criminals
are seldom or never executed; their property is merely
confiscated for the Governor and Kotwal. Ordinary
questions of divorce, quarrels, fights, threats, and the like,
are in the hands of the Kotwal and the Kazi. One must
indeed be sorry for the man who has to come to judgment
before these godless \'un-judges\'; their eyes are bleared
with greed, their mouths gape hke wolves for covetousness,
and their beUies hunger for the bread of the poor; everyone
stands with hands open to receive, for no mercy or com-
passion can be had except on payment of cash. This fault
should not be attributed to judges or officers alone, for the
evil is a universal plague; from the least to the greatest,
right up to the King himself, everyone is infected with
insatiable greed, so that if one has any business to transact
with Governors or in palaces, he must not set about it
without \'the vision of angels,for without presents he
^ The titles of the local administrative hierarchy will be familiar
to students of the period. \'Governor\' is the Amil, as explained
above (§1): \'Diwan,\' the representative of the Imperial revenue
department; \'Kotwal,\' the city-governor; Kazi, the judge.
\'Bakhshi\' here denotes, I suspect, the Faujdar, or military com-
mandant, who ranked with the Amil.
2 This phrase seems to be a biblical, or literary, allusion, but I
have failed to trace it.
need expect very little answer to\' his petitions. Our
honourable employers need not deign to be surprised at
this, for it is the custom of the country.
The King\'s letters or farmans to the chief lords or princes
are transmitted with incredible speed, because royal runners
are posted in the viUages 4 or 5 kos apart, taking their
turns of duty throughout the day and the night, and they
take over a letter immediately on its arrival, run with it
to the next village in a breath, and hand it over to another
messenger. So the letter goes steadily on, and will travel
80 kos between night and day. Further the King has
pigeons kept everywhere, to carry letters in time of need
or great urgency. No doubt this is done at home also in
the case of sieges, but only for short distances, whereas
this King possesses the largest area of all the kingdoms of
the world. The length of it from Surat northwards to
Kashmir is iioo kos, or 800 [Holland] miles, taking kos
to the mile. The stages are: Surat to Burhanpur, 150 kos;
thence to Agra, 350 k.; Agra to Lahore, 300 k.; and from
Lahore to Kashmir 300 k. The route by Ahmadabad is
50 kos nearer. Towards the North-West, the distance
from Lahore, by Multan, to Kandahar is 600 k. On the
East, it is 1000 k. from Agra to the sea coast through
Purop, Bengal, and Orissa. In the West, Kabul is 300 k.
from Lahore; and in the South West, the kingdom extends
to Tatta, Sind and Bakkar. If all these countries were
justly or rationally governed, they would not only yield
an incalculable income, but would enable him [Jahangir]
to conquer all the neighbouring kingdoms. But is is im-
portant to recognise also that he is to be regarded as King
of the plains or the open roads only; for in many places
you can travel only with a strong body of men, or on
payment of heavy tolls to rebels. The whole country is
enclosed and broken up by many mountains, and the people
who live in, on, or beyond, the mountains know nothing
of any king, or of Jahangir; they recognise only their
Rajas, who are very numerous, and to whom the country
is apportioned in many small fragments by old tradition,
Jahangir, whose name impUes that he grasps the whole
world, must therefore be regarded as ruling no more than
half the dominions which he claims, since there are nearly
as many rebels as subjects. Taking the chief cities
for example, at Surat the forces of Raja PiepeP come
pillaging up to, or inside, the city, murdering the people,
and burning the villages; and in the same way, near
Ahmadabad, Burhanpur, Agra, Delhi, Lahore, and many
other cities, thieves, and robbers come in force by night
or day like open enemies. The Governors are usually
bribed by the thieves to remain inactive, for avarice
dominates manly honour, and, instead of maintaining troops,
they fill and adorn their mahals with beautiful women,
and seem to have the pleasure-house of the whole world
within their walls. I shall now try to describe them as
far as is possible, as well as the poverty of the people at
large.
1 I have not traced this particular Raja.
-ocr page 82-[12.] THE MANNER OF LIFE
of the rich in their great superfluity and absolute power
and the utter subjection and poverty of the common people-
poverty so great and miserable that the hfe of the people
can be depicted or accurately described only as the home of
stark want and the dwelling-place of bitter woe. Never-
theless, the people endure patiently, professing that they
do not deserve anything better; and scarcely anyone will
make an effort, for a ladder by which to cUmb higher is
hard to find, because a workman\'s children can follow no
occupation other than that of their father, nor can they
inter-marry with any other caste.
There are three classes of the people who are indeed
nominally free, but whose status differs very httle from
voluntary slavery—workmen, peons or servants, and
shopkeepers. For the workman there are two scourges,
the first of which is low wages. Goldsmiths, painters, ^
embroiderers, carpet-makers, cotton or silk-weavers, black-
smiths, coppersmiths, tailors, masons, builders, stone-
cutters, a hundred crafts in all, for a job which one man
would do in HoUand here passes through four men\'s hands
before it is finished,—any of these by working from morning
to night can earn only 5 or 6 tackas^ that is, 4 or 5 stivers
in wages. The second [scourge] is [the oppression of]
the Governor, the nobles, the Diwan, the Kotwal, the
Bakhshi, and other royal ofiicers. If any of these wants a
workman, the man is not asked if he is willing to come, but
is seized in the house or in the street, well beaten if he should
dare to raise any objection, and in the evening paid half
his wages, or nothing at all. From these facts the nature
of their food can be easily inferred. They know Kttle of
the taste of meat. For their monotonous daily food they
1 \'Painters\' denotes the men who made \'painted\' cloth, or chintz.
2 The word \'tacka\' is sometimes hard to interpret, but the equa-
tion here given shows that Pelsaert used it for the dam. The word
is presumably tanka.
have nothing but a httle khichri} made of \'green pulse\'
mixed vi^ith rice, which is cooked with water over a little fire
until the moisture has evaporated, and eaten hot with butter
in the evening; in the day time they munch a httle parched
pulse or other grain,^ which they say suf&ces for their lean
stomachs.
Their houses are built of mud with thatched roofs.
Furniture there is little or none, except some earthenware
pots to hold water and for cooking, and two beds, one for
the man, the other for his wife ; for here man and wife do
not sleep together, but the man calls his wife when he wants
her in the night, and when he has finished she goes back
to her own place or bed. Their bedclothes are scanty,
merely a sheet, or perhaps two, serving both as under-
and over-sheet; this is sufficient in the hot weather, but the
bitter cold nights are miserable indeed, and they try to
keep warm over little cowdung fires which are lit outside
the doors, because the houses have no fire-places or chimneys;
the smoke from these fires all over the city is so great
that the eyes run, and the throat seems to be choked.
Peons or servants are exceedingly numerous in this
country, for everyone—be he mounted soldier, merchant,
or king\'s official—keeps as many as his position and cir-
cumstances permit. Outside the house, they serve for
display, running continually before their master\'s horse;
inside, they do the work of the house, each knowing his
own duties. The tziurewardar\\}]® attends only to his horse,
the bailwan, or carter, to his cart and oxen; the farrash,
^ In the text, hitchevy. The original of \'green pulse\' is \'groene
ertjens\'; the phrase probably indicates mofh, the cheapest of the
pulses. In the Agra Account-book of 1637-9, preserved in MS. at
The Hague, a similar phrase is used to explain the word moth, which
appears frequently in the accounts.
^ By a curious perversion of this passage, Thévenot has \'cofiee
and vegetables.\' His kahue (coffee) seems to come from a mis-
reading of the Dutch verb kauw&n, which I render \'munch.\'
^ This word is not clear in the MS. Thévenot has selwiday.
perhaps silahdar is intended. The remaining names of servants are
familiar, except tzantel, which may represent either chandal or
santal.
or tent-pitcher, attends to his tent on the way, spreads
carpets, both on the march and in the house, and looks
after the diwan-khana or sitting room; the masalchi, or
torch-bearer, looks to his torch, and lights lamps and
candles in the evening; the sarwan, or camel-driver, looks
to his camel; and there are two or three mahawats or
attendants to each elephant according to its size. The
tsanfel, or messenger, a plume on his head and two bells
at his belt, runs at a steady pace, ringing the bells; they
carry their master\'s letters a long distance in a short time,
covering 25 to 30 kos in a day; but they eat much postihangh?-
or opium regularly, so that they do not feel the continuous
work or fatigue. They run on with dizzy head; they
will not as a rule answer anyone who asks where they come
from or where they are going, but hurry straight on. These
messengers may bring their masters, who hold official
positions as governors, into great credit, or disgrace, with
the King, because letters on important official business
are sometimes delayed, and if the news they contain should
reach the King first from some other place, whether nearer
or more distant, the officer will be blamed for neghgence,
and dismissed from his post. There are many more ser-
vants in the crowd, whom it would take too long to enumer-
ate; in the houses of the great lords each servant confines
himself strictly to his own duties, and it is hke life on the
Portuguese ships, where the chief boatswain, if he saw the
foremast fall overboard, would not disgrace himself by
going forward or on to the forecastle, though he could save
the mast by doing so.
For this slack and lazy service the wages are paid by
the Moguls only after large deductions, for most of the
great lords reckon 40 days to the month, and pay from
3 to 4 rupees for that period; while wages are often left
several months in arrears, and then paid in worn-out
clothes or other things. If, however, the master holds
office or power, the servants are arrogant, oppressing the
innocent, and sinning on the strength of their master\'s
greatness. Very few of them serve their master honestly;
^ Post, opium, and bhang, infusion of hemp.
-ocr page 85-they steal whatever they can; if they buy only a pice-worth
of food, they will take their share or dasturi [commission].
The masters sometimes know this very well, but they suppose
it is paid by the poor, and not out of their pockets; in
this, however, they are mistaken, because the commission
is always taken into account in the sale. Otherwise it
would be impossible for the servants to feed themselves
and their families on such low wages; and accordingly
their position and manner of hfe differs very httle from that
of the workman in the wealth of their poverty. ^
Whatever he may deal in—spices, drugs, fruit, cotton
goods, cloth, or anything else—-the shopkeeper is held in
greater respect than the workman, and some of them are
even well-to-do; but they must not let the fact be seen,
or they will be the victims of a trumped-up charge, and
whatever they have will be confiscated in legal form, because
informers swarm like flies round the governors, and make
no difference between friends and enemies, perjuring them-
selves when necessary in order to remain in favour. Further,
they are subject to a rule that if the King\'s nobles, or
governors, should require any of their goods, they must sell
for very little—less than half price; for to begin with,
they must give great weight for small coins,^ the difference
being 20 per cent; then 9 per cent is deducted for dasturi
[commission]; then clerks, overseers, cashiers,® and others
all know very well how to get their share; so that in such
circumstances the unfortunate shopkeeper may be robbed
in a single hour of the profits of a whole month, although
they bear the general cost.^
^ Literally, \'in their rich poverty,\' apparently a fanciful phrase.
^ Vide § 5, above, where Pelsaert explains that ordinary tran-
sactions were carried out either in Akbari or Jahangiri units: the
meaning is that in these forced sales tradesmen had to give Jahangiri
weight for Akbari money.
® Text has \'schryvers, droges mosseroufs.\' \'Dröges\' I take to
be daroghas; the last word is probably a corruption of some such
form as mutasarnf.
^ The rneaning of the last six words is obscure. Perhaps the
reference is to the overhead costs of the business, which have still
to be met though the particular transaction yields no profit.
This is a short sketch of the life of these poor wretches,
who, in their submissive bondage, may be compared to
poor, contemptible earthworms, or to little fishes, which,
however closely they may conceal themselves, are swallowed
up by the great monsters of a wild sea. Now we shall
write a httle of the manner of life of the great and rich,
but, in order to do so, we must entirely change our tune;
for the pen which has described bitter poverty, clothed
with the woeful garment of sighs, the foe of love, friendship
and happiness, but the friend of loneliness wet with the
daily dew of tears,—^that pen must entirely change its
style, and tell that in the palaces of these lords dwells all the
wealth there is, wealth which glitters indeed, but is borrowed,
wrung from the sweat of the poor. Consequently their
position is as unstable as the wind, resting on no firm
foundation, but rather on pillars of glass, resplendent
in the eyes of the world, but collapsing under the stress of
even a slight storm.
Their mahals are adorned internally with lascivious
sensuality, wanton and reckless festivity, superfluous pomp,
inflated pride, and ornamental daintiness, while the servants
of the lords may justly be described as a generation of
iniquity, greed and oppression, for, Hke their masters, they
make hay while the sun shines. Sometimes while they
[the nobles] think they are exalted to a seat in heaven, an
envious report to the King may cast them down to the
depths of woe. Very few of them, however, think of the
future, but they enjoy themselves to the uttermost while
they can. As a rule they have three or four wives, the
daughters of worthy men, but the senior wife commands
most respect. All Hve together in the enclosure surrounded
by high waUs, which is called the mahal, having tanks
and gardens inside. Each wife has separate apartments
for herself and her slaves, of whom there may be lo, or 20,
or 100, according to her fortune. Each has a regular monthly
allowance for her gastos^ [expenditure]. Jewels and clothes
are provided by the husband according to the extent of
his affection. Their food comes from one kitchen, but each
1 The Portuguese word gastos is used in other contemporary-
Dutch records in the sense of housekeeping or travelling expenses.
wife takes it in her own apartments; for they hate each
other secretly, though they seldom or never allow it to be
seen, because of their desire to retain the favour of their
husband, whom they fear, honour, and worship, as a god
rather than a man. Each night he visits a particular
wife, or mahal, and receives a very warm welcome from
her and from the slaves, who, dressed specially for the
occasion, seem to fly, rather than run, about their duties.
If it is the hot weather, they undress the husband as soon
as he comes in, and rub his body with pounded sandalwood
and rosewater, or some other scented and coohng oil.
Fans are kept going steadily in the room, or in the open
air, where they usually sit. Some of the slaves chafe the
master\'s hands and feet, some sit and sing, or play music
and dance, or provide other recreation, the wife sitting near
him all the time. They study night and day how to make
exciting perfumes and efficacious preserves, such as mosseri
or falonj} containing amber, pearls, gold, opium, and
other stimulants; but these are mostly for their own use,
for they eat them occasionally in the day-time, because
they produce a pleasant elevation of the spirit. In the
cool of the evening they drink a great deal of wine, for the
women learn the habit quickly from their husbands, and
drinking has become very fashionable in the last few years.
The husband sits like a golden cock among the gilded hens
until midnight, or until passion, or drink, sends him to bed.
Then if one of the pretty slave girls takes his fancy, he calls
her to him and enjoys her, his wife not daring to show any
signs of displeasure, but dissembhng, though she will take
it out of the slave-girl later on.
Two or three eunuchs, or more, who are merely purchased
Bengali slaves, but are usually faithful to their master, are
appointed for each wife, to ensure that she is seen by no
man except her husband; and, if a eunuch fails in this
duty, he, with everyone else to blame for the stranger\'s
presence, is in danger of losing his life. They are thus held
1 \' Falonj \' is presumably named from the seed falanja, which
is used as a perfume. \'Mosseri\' suggests elevation of spirit; but
I have not attempted to investigate the precise nature of these
stimulants.
in high esteem by their master, but the women pay them
still greater regard, for the whole management of the
mahal is in their hands, and they can give or refuse whatever
is wanted. Thus they can get whatever they desire—
fine horses to ride, servants to attend them outside, and
female slaves inside the house, clothes as fine and smart
as those of their master himself. The wives feel themselves
bound to do aU this, in order that what happens in the
house may be concealed from their husband\'s knowledge;
for many, or perhaps most of them, so far forget themselves,
that, when their husband has gone away, either to Court,
or to some place where he takes only his favourite wife,
and leaves the rest at home, they allow the eunuch to
enjoy them according to his ability, and thus gratify their
burning passions when they have no opportunity of going
out; but otherwise they spare no craft or trouble to enable
them to enjoy themselves outside. These wretched women
wear, indeed, the most expensive clothes, eat the daintiest
food, and enjoy all worldly pleasures except one, and for
that one they grieve, saying they would willingly give
everything in exchange for a beggar\'s poverty.
The ladies of our country should be able to reahse from
this description the good fortune of their birth, and the
extent of their freedom when compared with the position
of ladies hke them in other lands; but this topic lies outside
the scope of my task, and I shall now speak of the houses
which are built here. They are noble and pleasant, with
many apartments, but there is not much in the way of an
upper story except a flat roof, on which to enjoy the evening
air. There are usually gardens and tanks inside the house;
and in the hot weather the tanks are filled daily with fresh
water, drawn by oxen from wells. The water is drawn,
or sometimes raised by a wheel, in such quantity that it
flows through a leaden pipe and rises like a fountain; in
this climate water and plants are a refreshment and recrea-
tion unknown in our cold country. These houses last for
a few years only, because the walls are built with mud
instead of mortar, but the white plaster of the walls is
very noteworthy, and far superior to anything in our
country. They use unslaked lime, which is mixed with
milk, gum, and sugar into a thin paste. When the walls
have been plastered with lime, they apply this paste,
rubbing it with weU-designed trowels until it is smooth;
then they polish it steadily with agates, perhaps for a whole
day, until it is dry and hard, and shines Hke alabaster,
or can even be used as a looking-glass.
They have no furniture of the kind we dehght in, such
as tables, stools, benches, cupboards, bedsteads, etc.;
but their cots, or sleeping places, and other furniture of
kinds unknown in our country, are lavishly ornamented
with gold or silver, and they use more gold and silver in
serving food than we do, though nearly all of it is used in
the mahal, and is seen by scarcely anybody except women.
Outside the mahal, there is only the diwan-khana, or sitting-
place, which is spread with handsome carpets, and kept
very clean and neat. Here the lord takes his seat in the
morning to attend to his business, whatever it is, and here
all his subordinates come to salaam him. This is a very
humble salute, in which the body is bent forward, and the
right hand is placed on the head; but persons of equal rank
or position merely bend the body. If strangers desire
admittance, their names are first announced, and they are
then introduced. After saluting, they take seats appro-
priate to their position in a row on each side of their host,
and that so humbly that they seem unlike themselves,
for it is more like a school of wise and virtuous philosophers
than a gathering of false infidels; and no one will move
from his place, though they should sit the whole day.
There is a certain gravity in their mode of speaking; they
make no loud noise, and do not shout or use gestures.
If they talk secrets, which they do not wish to be heard
by everybody, they hold a handkerchief, or their girdle,
before their mouths, so that neither speaker shall be touched
by the other\'s breath. Everyone leaves as soon as he has
obtained an answer to his request, but friends, acquaintances,
and persons of position remain until the lord retires into
the house, or unless the audience is prolonged until meal-
time, though there are no fixed hours for meals. Before
eating they first wash their hands; then the tablecloth
is brought and spread on the floor. The food^ consists of
lirinj, aeshalia, pollaeh, (yellow, red, green, or black),
zueyla, dupiaza; also roast meats, and various other good
courses, served on very large dishes, with too little butter,
and too much spice for our taste.^ The tsaftergir^, or
head servant, sits in the middle, and serves each guest
according to his rank, the senior first. In eating, they
use little in the way of spoons or knives except their five
fingers, which they besmear up to the knuckles soldier-
fashion, for napkins are not used, and it is very bad manners
to lick the fingers. Each guest confines himself to the
portion served before him; no food is touched with the
left hand; and httle or nothing is drunk while eating,
whether water or wine, until they have said their prayer
and washed their hands. Ahke at midday and in the evening
the guests rise and take their leave with scanty compliments,
saying merely, God grant a lasting blessing on the house!
and the host then goes into his mahal to sleep until the
evening, when he usually comes out again to the sitting-
place. Such are the usual customs, but detailed descriptions
such as this must show some discrepancies. Some rich
people, and many who are economical, take their meals in
the mahal in order to save the heavy cost of the outside
service; and again they cannot hold their reception when
they are in the King\'s camp, because they are on duty
continuously from morning to night. Some of the nobles,
again, have chaste wives, but they are too few to be worth
mentioning; most of the ladies are tarred with the same
brush, and when the husband is away, though he may think
they are guarded quite safely by his eunuchs, they are too
clever for Argus himself with his hundred eyes, and get
all the pleasure they can, though not so much as they desire.
1 Birinj (dressed rice) and dupiaza (meat with onions, etc.) are
described in the account of Akbar\'s kitchen in the Ain-i-Akbari (I.
59, in Blochmann\'s translation). Pollaeb may be a perversion of
pulao. ^\'Aeshalia\' should perhaps be al-shalla (spiced meat).
\' Zueyla\' is altered in the text, and may possibly be a corruption of
t\'huli (spiced wheaten cakes).
2 This clause is obscure, and the text is probably corrupt. The
statement that there was too little butter is clear, but the words
regarding spices are meaningless as they stand, and the rendering
is conjectural.
® Perhaps safrachi (table-servant) is meant; the word is altered
in the text.
[13.] RELIGIOUS SUPERSTITIONS.
An account of the rehgion of Muhammad, taken from the
Koran, has been published in our language, but it makes
no reference to a large number of superstitions which are
prevalent in this country. ^ I shall therefore say a little
about some which are common here, and which seem not
unlike the views of the papists; for when Muhammad
compiled his Koran, he picked various opinions from aU
religions—and there were a good many, owing to the dis-
union and schisms in the church—particularly those which
were false and pleasing to worldly eyes. Thus they have
among them as many pirs, or prophets, as the papists have
saints; they do not make images of them, and that practice
is absolutely forbidden by their law; but all the same they
put forward their siUy mundane fables about them. They
say that every earthly king has his regular court of princes
and lords, each employed according to his merits in the
administration with great care and supervision, and that
no one can approach the king unless he has one of them for
a friend; and they argue from this example that even in
heaven a man must have a spokesman or advocate with
God, who vi^ill put forward his request or his prayer, and
obtain an order to grant his petition according to his deserts.
Thus these mistaken men clearly agree with the papists,
for they do not understand that God is the Knower of all
hearts, but obscure the incomprehensible illumination of
the beams of His almighty compassion, and bestow it on
poor earthworms and false hypocrites. Through the
subtlety of the devil these men in their hfetime bhnd the
eyes of the poor; and sometimes the deception is continued
after their death by crafty mendicants or disciples, who,
by posing as their successors, batten on the innocent poor.
These men know how to estabhsh their position by means
1 Readers, whether Hindu, Moslem, or Roman Catholic, will
make the necessary allowances for the vigorous language in which
Pelsaert\'s Protestant zeal is occasionally manifested in this section
and the next.
of sorcery, or perhaps it is that the popular imagination is
led to accept their pretensions by the strange and ridiculous
fables they tell of what has already been achieved by their
companions.
For example, there is Pir Ghazi Muinuddin, who is buried
in a very costly tomb at Ajmer, whither pilgrims journey
annually from distant places, and most of those who are
childless travel there barefooted. King Akbar also, who
had no children in his youth, made a vow to this saint,
and went there from Agra on foot with his wife Miryam
Makani, travelling four kos a day.i As a memorial, he
erected a minar, or milestone, at every kos of the whole road,
with a well beside it for the convenience of travellers, and
also mahals or women\'s houses, 8 kos apart. It so happened
that his wife became pregnant, giving birth to the present
king, Jahangir or Shah Sahm, and consequently the people
now believe confidently that the Pir was the giver of this
child, and are all the more confirmed in their error. There
are immense numbers of such pirs, each with his own skill
and power of granting requests. In Makanpur, 70 kos
from Agra on the eastern road, is buried Pir Shah Madar,
who is said to possess many gifts and wield many powers.^
The pilgrimage to his tomb is in February, when immense
numbers of people from all quarters gather near Sikandra,
beyond Agra, and march thither Hke an army, accompanied
by even greater numbers of mendicants than the devotees,
who there take various parties under their standards for
protection.
There are many such festivals, but to write of them all
would be interminable, and I think it will be better to
describe only the chief feast-days. I should not, however,
willingly pass over some of their holy men whom I have
seen in their Hfetime, particularly Sultan Khusra, the
eldest son of the present King. He was murdered in the
^ This incident is of course familiar: the details given by Pelsaert
should be read as reproducing the story as it was told in his time,
not as a first-hand account of facts which occurred half a century
before.
2 The cult of Shah Madar survives at Makanpur (vide Im-berial
Gazetteer, XVII. 43). v
fort at Burhanpur, in February, 1621,^ at the instance of
his younger brother Sultan Khurram, because he was
thought to be next in succession to the throne; the murder
was committed by a slave named Raza, who during the
night strangled him with a lungi, or cloth, so as to raise the
less suspicion of violence, and suggest a natural death.
His body was brought to Agra, and taken thence to Alla-
habad, to be buried beside his mother. In the excitement
or mourning which followed his death, for he was much
beloved by the common people, although he was held a
prisoner by his brother under the King\'s orders, some
mendicants presumed to make a representation of a grave
at a spot where the bier or corpse had rested for a night on
the journey, and announced to the common people that
their God had in their sleep ordered them to do so, because
Khusru was an innocent martyr; and consequently that
everyone should come to make offerings at similar shrines
every Thursday, and their prayers would certainly be
granted, because Khusru occupied as great a position in
heaven as he had held on earth. This devihsh folly made
such headway in various towns, such as Burhanpur, Sironj,
Agra, and Allahabad, that both Hindus and Moslems in
vast numbers went in procession every Thursday with
flags, pipes, and drums to his worship; he was accepted
as a true pir, or saint; and they carried matters so far
that they were fooUsh enough never to take an oath except
by \'the head of the Sultan,\' which was regarded as more
binding than if they had sworn by God Himself. His
father the King prohibited this practice, saying that Khusru
was in his lifetime a sinful, nay, a rebellious son, and if
he was really murdered by his brother, the guilt attached
to the murderer, but did not operate to absolve Khusru,
or to justify his being regarded as a saint. On this, Kasim
Khan, the Governor of Agra, destroyed and obhterated the
shrine, which had been built at great cost; the attendants
1 Really 1622. The complicity of Sultan Khurram (Shahjahan)
in the murder of Khusru has been questioned, but the evidence
brought together by Mr. Beni Madho [Life of Jahangir, p. 336),
shows at any rate that the charge was generally believed in India
at the time.
or receivers of offerings were driven away; and everj^thing
that was found was confiscated for the King.
Three classes of the people are affected in consequence.
First there are the mendicants, who on the day of worship
used to gather on the road in thousands and swarm like
flies, so that no one could walk a yard without molestation,
and, calling on no name but that of \'the head of the Sultan,\'
earned enough in that day to provide them with food for
the week. Next there are the confectioners, who used to
line the whole road in great numbers with stalls of sweet-
stuffs, and sold great quantities, together with the hawkers
of toys (like pedlars at our fairs), for no one would return
without having bought something for the children. The
roads and open places were full, too, of jugglers, dancers,
players, and such rabble, the noise was deafening, and
the crowd made it even more impossible to see, or find
room to move. Lastly, and the greatest sufferers of all,
comes the class of secluded ladies. Under pretext of a
pilgrimage, they used to come without reproach to see,
and perhaps even speak to their lovers. Assignations
were made in the gardens, which are numerous in the neigh-
bourhood, and there passion was given the food for which
it hungered, and for which, in the case of many, no oppor-
tunity could be found on any other day. On such occasions
new passions were aroused by the sight of a handsome youth,
who took the lady\'s fancy, and while she saw him, he might
not be able to see her. Thus nobody more regrets these
gardens, or is more grieved, than these pitiable little creatures
of Agra; for the festival still continues in Burhanpur,
Sironj and other places on the road.^
All their saints have origins of the kind which I have
described, and they have dabbled largely in magic. The
Moslems count their Muhammad superior to aU the
prophets who have been sent by God, with the exception
1 The feature of social life referred to in this paragraph was not
a novelty. More than two centuries before, Firoz Shah had noticed
the improprieties resulting from visits to tombs on holy days, and
he \'commanded that no woman should go out to the tombs under
pain of exemplary punishment\' (Elliot and Dowson, History of
India, III. 380).
of Christ; but they hold that on his advent the Christian
faith was killed or annihilated, just as Judaism was by
the coming of Christ. The only title they give to Muhammad
is the Messenger of God. They attribute to him super-
human or fabulous gifts during his life on earth, for instance
that a cloud or shadow always rested above his head;
that his body cast no shadow; that flies never settled on
it; that a long journey was shortened for him, and the
road contracted; and that no one ever saw his excrement,
which the earth opened and absorbed. There are many
similar absurdities, which I will omit, and come to the
two great festivals, called Id, which they keep very strictly.
The dates depend upon the moon; I remember when the
fast came in August, but this year it began in June. This
fast is kept very strictly for a whole lunar month; they
neither eat nor drink throughout the whole day, or until
the stars appear or have become visible in the evening,
and in the intolerable heat the prolonged abstinence from
water is very trying; but food, be it fish or meat, is not
prohibited at night. They sleep apart from their wives
for the whole month, and they drink no wine, which, though
it is described as unclean in their scriptures, they learn to
drink in large quantities, neglecting the prohibition, and
explaining it away after our fashion.
At the end of this month of fasting comes the great Id
of which I have spoken, and which they keep as devoutly
as we do Easter. In the morning they go to the great
mosques named Idgah, which are usually outside the city,
where the Kazis, who are their lawyers, offer prayers;
people of all classes gather there, and return home in great
joy, the great men in full state, the poor in clean white
clothes. Friends send each other food accompanied by
good wishes, and everyone is very gay because the heavy
burden of fasting or abstinence is past, and nobody is bound
or compelled to fast for longer than he chooses or wishes,^
nor is it any shame [not to do so].
The other Id comes 70 days later, and during the interval
few or no marriages are allowed to take place. This feast
^ This sentence is ambiguous, and may also be read in the sense
that it was not compulsory to observe the fast.
commemorates God\'s mercy to Abraham, when he was
about to sacrifice his only son Isaac, who was obedient
to him, relying on his compassion. He prepared to make
a worthy burnt-offering, even to slay his son; but an angel
held back the knife, and the sacrifice was remitted, and
he offered instead a goat which was standing behind a hedge.
On that day therefore everyone who is able will sacrifice
a goat in his house, and keep the day as a great festival.
A month later comes the commemoration of Hasan and
Husain, two brothers, sons of Ah, who was married to
Bibi Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad. From these
two, namely Muhammad and AU, arose after their death a
schism in the new faith; for Persians, Usbegs, and Tartars
hold by Ah rather than Muhammad, while Turks, Arabs,
and Hindustanis, or the whole of this kingdom, hold only
by Muhammad, and not at all by Ah; and thus there is
a great distinction, the sects calling each other kafirs or
infidels, and hating each other as bitterly as the papists
hate our religion. Those who follow Muhammad are called
sunnis, and those who follow Ah rawafiz [i.e. shias\\. At
first, the new-found faith was introduced in a deceitfully
attractive form, and men were given remarkable latitude,
and a broad ladder by which they could climb to heaven
without difficulty, thus ofEering pleasant allurements for
the innocent. When however they became powerful, and
found their wings strong enough for flight, they adopted
forcible methods to spread their creed, and waged war
against those who did not accept it; and in a battle against
a heathen king. Raja Bickhanhaar, Hasan and Husain
were killed. In commemoration of this slaughter they
make a great noise all night for a period of ten days; the
men keep apart from their wives, and fast by day; the
women sing lamentations, and make a display of mourning;
in the chief streets of the city the men make two coffins,
adorn them as richly as they can, and carry them round in
the evening with many hghts and large crowds attending,
with great cries of mourning and noise. The chief celebra-
tion is on the last night, when it seems from the great
mourning as if God had plagued the whole country as in the
time of Pharaoh\'s obstinacy, when all the first-born were
slain in one day. The outcry lasts till the first quarter of
the day; the coffins are brought to the river, and if two
parties meet carrying their biers (it is worst on that day),
and one will not give place to the other, then, if they are
evenly matched, they may kill each other as if they were
enemies at open war, for they run with naked swords
like madmen. No Hindus can venture into the streets
before midday, for even if they should escape with their
hfe, at the least their arms and legs would be broken to
pieces. This continues till at last they have thrown them
[the coffins] into the river; then they bathe, return home
finely dressed, and each goes to the graves of his deceased
parents or friends, which have been newly whitewashed
and decorated for the occasion, bringing food and
flowers, and, after due mourning, giving the food to
the poor. They believe that aU good deeds or charities
performed on that day on behalf of the dead, will benefit
them whether they are in heaven or in heU, a fable which
resembles the papist doctrine of purgatory; and the festival
may fairly be compared to All Sords\' Day, when they read
the seven psalms in the churches, or pay a penny to have
them read, in order that the souls in purgatory may be
given some respite or relief from the prescribed period,
or occasionally may even be released and taken to heaven.
[14- THE HINDU RELIGION.]
It has been my wish to make a thorough study of the Hindu
faith and its origin, in order that I might be able to describe
it; but the fact that it has no foundation beyond elaborate
poetic fables, the great number of their gods and their
marvellous transformations, and the extraordinary variety
of their beliefs—^these considerations have deterred me, or
indeed prevented me from reaching the truth; and if one
sect only is dealt with, the account wiU differ totally from
those given by others, and wiU be contradicted by writers
who have probably taken their matter from some different
school. Among the banians of Gujarat, for example,
there are innumerable sects, one of which will not eat or
drink with another, apart from the class of brahmans,
who are respected and accounted sacred by all of them.
In India or Hindustan again, there are just as many [sects
of] khattris, but they are somewhat bolder, or less strict,
in their beliefs; they can eat goat\'s or sheep\'s flesh, and
indeed they also drink wine in private; but many, whom
I pass over, will not eat of anything that has been ahve,
not even green plants, but only rice, wheat, and butter,
which make up the whole of their diet. It is of common
occurrence that there are as many opinions as there are
families, and since the members of a family intermarry,
its extinction would mean the extinction of the whole creed.^
The Hindus are more punctiUous and much stricter than
the Moslems in their ceremonies. No one, man or woman,
wiU omit to wash the body in the morning, however cold it
may be. The common people go to a river or running water,
while the rich bathe at home; and they will not touch
food till they have washed. They sit down to eat, naked
and with bare head, inside a weU-marked enclosure, which
no one enters while they are eating; if they are disturbed,
they will give up that meal. They will not omit to go and
1 This sentence gives the probable meaning of a very obscure
passage.
bathe in the Ganges once a year; those who can manage it
will travel 500 or 600 kos for the purpose. They bathe in
October, and they are convinced that by doing so they
are purified of aU their sins. They bring back a little of
the water of the Ganges and keep it in their house, which,
so they think, will protect them from sorcery or witchcraft.
The water certainly has one remarkable quahty, in that it
never stinks, and no worms appear in it, even if it is kept
for 100 years, and consequently they regard the river as
sacred. The bathing-place^ hes about 40 kos from Agra.
Some of the brahmans are very ingenious, good astrono-
mers, famihar with the course of the stars, and usually
prepared to foretell the weather. They reckon eclipses very
clearly, and they also do a great deal of fortune-telling.
There are usually one or two such men with a great reputation
in the city; indeed the present King generally kept one at
Court, whose prophecies, or most of them, proved quite
accurate. The brahmans have consequently secured a
great reputation, and they have now acquired such influence
over the great men, and then over all the Moslems, that they
will not undertake a journey until they have enquired
what day or hour is auspicious for the start; and when
they return from a journey, or come to take up an appoint-
ment, they will not enter the city until the suitable day or
hour has been predicted, and then they wait until the exact
moment has arrived. The result is that many of this
rabble now frequent the streets, book in hand, to tell men
their fortune, and, though their predictions have little
value, they are believed by the poor, for they always get
excellent measure, and their questions are met with ambi-
guous replies.
The Hindus, to whom I have referred, have three ordinary
sources of livelihood. First there are the leading merchants
and jewellers, and they are most able and expert in their
business. Next there are the workmen, for practically
aU work is done by Hindus, the Moslems practising scarcely
any crafts but dyeing and weaving, which are followed by
Hindus in some places, but by Moslems everjrwhere.
1 Presumably Soron on the Ganges, where large bathing festivals
take place in the autumn.
Thirdly there are the clerks and brokers: all the business of
the lords\' palaces and of the Moslem merchants is done by
Hindus—book-keeping, buying, and selling. They are
particularly clever brokers, and are consequently generally
employed as such throughout all these countries, except
for the sale of horses, oxen, camels, elephants, or any Hving
creatures, which they will not handle as the Moslems do.
Another class of Hindus is named Rajput. These men
hve in the hill-country, and are excellent soldiers, but many
of them have nevertheless been brought into subjection
by this King and his father, owing to the fact that the land
is divided into small portions, and each Raja or King has
only a small territory, so that continuous hard fighting
went on among themselves. Each Raja had only a single
fort or city, which protected the open country belonging
to him. They are bold and courageous people, determined
and loyal. The men are short in stature and ugly. Mounted
or on foot, they have no weapon other than a short spear,
with shield, sword, and dagger, but they are slow to retreat
in a fight, and are obstinate in attack, because the quantity
of opium they eat excites them, and causes them to care
Httle for their lives. They eat aU kinds of meat except
beef, and drink wine. In war time the race is much esteemed,
and is feared by the other classes of soldiers, but during
peace they get the cold shoulder, because in palaces or
camps they make less show or display than the Moguls or
Hindustanis.
When a Rajput dies, his wives {or rather his wife, for they
marry only one if there is genuine love) allow themselves
to be burnt aHve, as is the practice among the banians or
khattris, and in Agra this commonly occurs two or three
times a week. It is not a very pleasant spectacle, but I
witnessed it out of curiosity, when a woman who Hved
near our house declared to her friends, immediately on her
husband\'s death, that she would be sati, which means that
she would accompany him where he had gone,i makmg
1 This bit of popular etymology seems to have prevailed widely
in India at this period. It appears in several of the quotations in
Hobson-Jobson (s.v.), and also in some other Dutch narratives of
the 17th century.
the announcement with httle lamentation, and as if her
heart was sealed with grief. They imagine or beheve that,
if they have lived well in this world, the soul, directly the
breath has left the body, flies to another man or child of equal
or higher rank, and is bom again; but if a man has not lived
well, the soul passes to a beast—^bird, worm, fish, evil or good
animal—according to the appointed punishment. This is
the reason why they will kiU no animal, so as not to trouble
or disturb the sovd within, which would have to journey
to some other animal, for they say: Who knows but the
soul of my father, mother, sister, or children who may
have died, may for their sins be in that animal? To return
however to what we were saying, when a woman has made
up her mind, it is impossible for her friends or for anyone
in the world to dissuade her, strive as they may, but if
she persists, she must be left in peace. So she goes and
bathes, according to the daily custom, puts on her finest
clothes, her jewels, and the best ornaments she has, adorning
herself as if it was her wedding day. The woman I have
mentioned then went, with music and songs, to the Governor
to obtain his permission. The Governor urged many sound
arguments to show that what she proposed to do was a
sin, and merely the inspiration of the devil to secure her
voluntary death; and, because she was a handsome young
woman of about 18 years of age, he pressed her strongly
to dissuade her if possible from her undertaking, and even
offered her 500 rupees yearly as long as she should live.
He could, however, produce no effect, but she answered
with resolute firmness that her motive was not [the fear of]
poverty, but love for her husband, and even if she could
have all the King\'s treasures in this world, they would be
of no use to her, for she meant to hve with her husband.
This was her first and last word throughout, she seemed to be
out of her senses, and she was taking up far too much time;
so the Governor, since governors are not allowed by the
King\'s orders to refuse these requests, gave his consent.
Then she hurried off with a light step, as if she might be
too late, till she reached the place, a little outside the city,
where was a small hut, built of wood, roofed with straw,
and decorated with flowers. There she took off aU her
jewels and distributed them among her friends, and also her
clothes, which she disposed of in the same way, keeping
only an undergarment. Then she took a handful of rice,
and distributed it to all the bystanders; this being done,
she embraced her friends and said her last farewells; took
her baby, which was only a year old, kissed it, and handed
it to her nearest friends; then ran to the hut where her
dead husband lay, and kissed and embraced him eagerly.
Then she [or they] took the fire and applied the brand,
and the friends piled wood before the door; everyone shouted
out Ram! Ram! (the name of their god), the shouts con-
tinuing till they supposed she was dead. When the burning
was over, everyone took a little of the ash of the bones,
which they regard as sacred, and preserve. Surely this
is as great a love as the women of our country bear to their
husbands, for the deed was done not under compulsion but
out of sheer love. At the same time there are hundreds,
or even thousands, who do not do it, and there is no such
reproach as is asserted by many, who write that those
who neglect it incur the reproach of their caste.
[15.] MOSLEM MARRIAGES IN AGRA.
In arranging a marriage, the bridegroom has no share in
the choice, still less has the bride, for the selection is made
by the parents, or, if they are dead, by other friends.\'-
When a youth is from 15 to 18 years old, his friends seek
for the daughter of a man within the circle of friendship;
but this apphes to the rich rather than the poor, because as
a rule soldier marries soldier, merchant marries merchant,
and so on according to occupation. If they know of no
suitable match, there are female marriage-brokers, who
know of all eligible parties; the parents will call these in,
and ask if there is no rich young lady for their son. The
brokers understand their business, and instead of one will
suggest perhaps twenty-five. When the proposals have
been thoroughly examined in regard to birth and present
position, the parents choose the one which seems to be
most suitable. Then the mother, or the nearest friends,
go with the youth to the friends of the young lady they have
chosen, even if they have no previous acquaintance, and,
after compliments, ask if they will give the lady in marriage
to the youth. After full discussion on both sides, there is
usually an interval of some days, or, if they get an im-
mediate assent, the youth, or bridegroom, sends a ring to
the bride, with his compliments. She sends in return some
betel, with a handkerchief or something of the kind, though
the unfortunate bridegroom is not allowed to meet the
ladies, still less to see if his future bride is white or black,
straight or crooked, pretty or ugly; he must trust to his
mother and friends. From this time on begins much merrj^-
making in the house, with music and singing, and the con-
gratulations of friends on both sides. When the bridegroom
1 Readers who are not famihar with the ceremonies described in
this section will find it interesting to compare with it the description
given two centuries later by Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali {Observations on
the Mussulmauns of India, Letters XIII., XIV.). The lady was
behind the scenes, and in a position to explain some things which
Pelsaert, among the male guests, might overlook or misunderstand.
goes home with his friends, similar music begins there also,
and this goes on continuously, night and day, with drums,
pipes and other noise, provided by both parties, so that
the whole neighbourhood is drowned in noise. At last the
wedding-day comes. This is fixed for 15 or 20 days after
the engagement, in order to give time for preparing the
feast. Three or four days before it, the bridegroom and
his parents go to the bride\'s house, with a great company
of the whole tribe, and taking with them a large number
of gondas, or large ornamented wooden dishes, full of con-
fectionery, sugar, almonds, raisins and other fruits, and
also a sum of money, 100 or 1000 rupees, according to
their position. The money goes towards the expenses of
the bride\'s relatives, most of which must be paid by the
bridegroom, who also provides the bride\'s jewellery.
The procession comes to the bride\'s house with much music
and drumming, and the visitors stay for the evening meal,
returning home at night. The next evening the friends
of the bride come with similar noise and pomp, and hundreds
of lights; they bring to the bridegroom a representation,
made of cotton, satin, and paper, in the form of ships
or boats, ornamented with tinsel, and various colours and
flowers. This is placed on the roof of the house till it falls
to pieces. Then the women employed for the purpose
anoint the bridegroom, and rub his hands and feet with
mehndi {a powder made into a paste), till they are quite
red; this is supposed to have been sent by the bride, and
the occasion is called Mehndi day in consequence. The
guests remain to sup with the bridegroom, and go home at
night. The next day is the marriage-day. The bridegroom
is dressed in red, and so garlanded with flowers that his
face cannot be seen, and towards evening all the friends
and invited guests gather, and accompany the bride-
groom to the bride\'s house with the greatest possible display
of lighted fireworks, drums, trumpets, music, and singers,
so that everything may pass off without adverse comment.
The bridegroom goes on horseback, with the male friends
and a great cavalcade: the women follow in palanquins
and carts, covered with the finest cloth that can be provided.
The bridegroom goes to the place where the male guests
are gathered, but he may not speak till the marriage is
complete, but sits as if he were dumb. The ladies go into
the female apartments, where there is music, singing, and
dancing, as there is before the men, where the dancers sing
and dance as skilfully as they can. It is the custom at all
weddings and feasts to call in these people for the guests\'
entertainment. There are many classes of dancers^, among
them lolonis, who are descended from courtesans who have
come from Persia to India, and sing only in Persian; and
a second class, domnis, who sing in Hindustani, and whose
songs are considered more beautiful, more amorous, and
more profound, than those of the Persians, while their
tunes are superior; they dance, too, to the rhythm of the
songs with a kind of swaying of the body which is not
lascivious, but rather modest. Other classes are named
horckenis and hentsinis, who have various styles of singing
and dancing, but who are all alike accommodating people.
[The music] lasts till a quarter of the night has gone, when
the Kazi\'s clerk and moslena [? maulana] comes, and he
makes a prayer, and then joins them in marriage without
the bride being present. The ceremony consists merely
in the registration in the Kazi\'s book, showing that such
and such a person has acknowledged taking such and such
a woman as his wife. When this is over, the meal is served,
and they go to eat, after which there is music, singing,
and dancing as before, lasting the whole night tiU the
morning. Then they pack up the bride\'s belongings,
that is to say, whatever she brings to the marriage is dis-
played and carried away. The bridegroom follows with
the same pomp as when he arrived in the evening, except
the hghts and fireworks; then his bride, sitting in a palanquin;
and then follow the lady friends of bride and bridegroom.^
In this way he takes his bride home. His house is ready;
he goes in, and his wife is brought to him, whom he now
1 Of the classes of dancers mentioned in the text, Lolonis points
to the Persian loli, public singer. Domnis are recorded in Crooke\'s
Tribes and Castes of the N.W. Provinces as a sub-caste under the
group Tawaif. Horckenis may represent the sub-caste Harakiya.
Hentsinis is presumably formed from hansna (to laugh), and may be
a recognised description, or merely a nickname.
2 This clause gives the probable sense of a very involved passage.
-ocr page 106-sees for the first time, and he may congratulate himself
if she happens to be pretty, or to suit his taste. The
marriage must be consummated at once, while the ladies
sit and sing at no great distance otherwise the bridegroom
would be deeply disgraced, and the married ladies would
send him the spinning-wheel. When the marriage has
been consummated, the mother and an old woman enter,
and, after their investigation, they begin to scream or sing
\'Mubarak!\' or Good Luck! as if a great victory had been
won. Then the bridegroom goes to his apartments for the
day, and the bride to hers; and the friends take their leave
and depart, after each has received the gift of a piece of
cloth, the men from the bridegroom and the women from
the bride.
What I have described is the Hindustani custom, but
Moguls, and also Hindus, have different ceremonies. The
Hindus join their children in marriage at the age of only
four or five years; and if the boy dies, the girl or bride
cannot marry again, but must die a virgin, unless she
employs clandestine means. The men on the other hand
may marry as often as they choose, if their wives die; and
old men have to marry children, because there are no
grown-up maidens to be found.
» The translation of this paragraph is slightly condensed.
-ocr page 107-CONCLUSION.
This is a sketch of the ordinary course of manners, ad-
ministration, and customs, so far as appeared to me to be
possible, but it is not a system of law that I have been
describing, because in this country there is a great diversity
of tastes, among both the upper and the lower classes;
a description cannot be so complete but that some one may
say that he has on one occasion seen or learned something
contrary to it; and, consequently, when such chatterers
talk, my employers will recognise that absolute concordance
is impossible of attainment. Further, I have deliberately
passed over in haste certain matters, such as the origin
of the inhabitants, their nature or disposition, their dress,
their methods in war, etc.; but since the object of my
report is merely to furnish information to my honourable
employers regarding the actual or potential trade of the
country, I have been constrained by zeal to fulfil my duty,
to show and make it clear that while in India I have not
been hke the main-mast, which also travels to India,i
but rather their servant, who is, and always will be, bound
to render them such services as etc., etc. I close by wishing
my employers continual expansion and development of
their trade, all good fortune, and prosperity to themselves.
From
Your most obedient servant,
Franc° Pelsartt.
11 have not come across this phrase elsewhere, but presumably it
was a jocular way of saying that a man had learned nothing by
travel.
-"IF*»» .--\'.S^--
-ocr page 109-Agra
Character of the merchants, 28
City described, i ff.
Climate and agriculture, 47
Dutch business in, 21
European goods for, 25
Fort, 3
Production, 9
Spice trade, 21 ff.
Supplies, 48
Trade, 6
Agriculture, 47-49
Ahmadabad, 19
Ajmer, 70
Akbar, i, 7, 70
Allahabad, 6
Anirai, 52
Armenian buyers, 16, 18
Asaf Khan, 50, 51
Bayana, 13, 17
Benares, 7
Borax, 44, 45
Broacli, 42, 43
Brokers, 78
Burhanpur, 37, 38, 71
Coinage
Gujarat, 42
Mogul, 29
Cotton Goods
Benares, 7
Bengal, 8
Deccan, 40
Gujarat, 40-43
Jagannath, 8
Jaunpur, 7
Lakhawar, 7
Oudh, 7
Patna, 7
Sind, 32
Cow-killing, 49
Customs duties, 42
Drugs, 44 ff.
English merchants
at Agra, 18, 25, 28, 46
at Burhanpur, 38
at Patna, 7
at Surat, 39, 41
Eunuchs, 65 ff.
Fathpur Sikri, 9
Festivals and Fasts
Cult of Khusru, 70 ff.
Id, 73
Muharram, 74
Ramzan, 73
Food
the poor, 60
the nobles, 68
Fruit
in Agra, 48
in Kashmir, 35
Fuel, 48, 61, 130, 165
Furniture
the nobles, 67
the poor, 61
Ganges, bathing in, 77
Gujarat
Chief cities described, 38-43
Trade described, 19, 20
Hindu religion, 76
Housing
the nobles, 66
the poor, 61
Indigo
Adulteration, 12
Cultivation, 10
Injuries, 13
Lahore market, 30, 78
Manufacture, 10
Quality, 11
Trade, 15-18 - ,
Informers, 63
Interest
in Agra, 28
in Gujarat, 42
Itimad-ud Daula, tomb of, 5
Jagannath, 8
Jagirs, 54
Jahangir
His administration, 6, 50 fï.
Habits, 52, 53
Residence at Lahore, 30
In Kashmir, 30 ff.
Taste for novelties, 25
Taste for sport, 51
Jaunpur, 7
Kashmir, 33 ft.
Khusru (Sultan), 70, 71
Koil, Indigo of, 15
Lahore, 30
Lakhawar, 7
Law and justice, 57
Luxury, 64 fï.
Marriage customs
Hindu, 84
Moslem, 81 ff.
Masulipatam, 22
Mewat, Indigo of, 15
Mogul Administration
General description, 50 ff.
in Agra, 6, 28
in Burhanpur, 38
Insecurity, 58, 59
Law and justice, 57, 79
Meat-supply and slaughter of
cows, 49
Oppression of peasants, 47
Official intelligence, 59
Prevalence of rebels, 58
Promotion and punishment, 56,
64
Rule of inheritance, 54
Moslem Religion, 69 ff.
Muinuddin (Saint), 70
Multan, 31
Nobles
Avarice, 54
Extravagance, 54, 64
Inheritance, 55
Instability, 56, 64
Life described, 64 fi.
Nurjahan
Her character, 50
Her coinage, 21
In Kashmir, 34
Relations with Jahangir, 50, 53
88 INDEX
Ormuz, 39-41
Oudh, 7
Pamris, 36
Parwiz (Sultan), 38
Patna, 7
Pelsaert (F)
His position in Agra, i
Life, ix.-xvi.
Motives in writing, 85
Portuguese, 8, 19, 32
Pourop, 42
Poverty, 47, 48, 54, 56, 60 ft.
Rajputs, 78
Saffron, 35
Sal ammoniac, 46
Saltpetre, 46
Sandalwood, 25,
Servants, 61 ff.
Shahjahan (Sultan Khurram), 37
Shah Madar (Saint), 70
Shopkeepers, 63
Sikandra, 4, 5
Sind, 31. 32
Soothsayers, 77
Spice Trade
At Agra, 21 ff.
At Masulipatam, 22
In Kashmir, 36
Spikenard, 45
Standard of life, 60 ff.
Surat, 38 ff.
Swally, 38
Transit duties, 43
Wages, 60, 62
Weights and Measures, 29, 42
Widow-burning, 78 ff.
Workmen, 60, 77
printed by
w. heffer and sons ltd.,
cambridge, england.
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