Letter from the Supreme Government to the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah I (r. 1707 – 1712), 4 October 1709

FROM: DAILY JOURNALS OF BATAVIA CASTLE, 5 OCTOBER 1709 [COMMENCING AT FOL. 518]

Translation. This respectful letter of friendship comes from Joan van Hoorn, Governor-General of the Dutch state in India, and is sent to the great King Bahadur Shah, who fame is most widely renowned, who lawfully occupies the throne of the Great Mughal Empire, whose splendour and majesty outshine the sun, so that he surpasses those of all the kings of the Earth.

Omnipotent King,

As soon as we learned that it has pleased Almighty God to raise Your Royal Majesty to succeed to the throne of that great and mighty kingdom in the place of Your Majesty’s late father King Aurangzeb, not only is our heart overcome with joy, but we have also deemed it to be our binding duty to approach [you] bringing most respectful greetings to Your Royal Majesty in this most exalted position, the which we do in this [letter] with the heartfelt wish that the Lord of Heaven and Earth will generously bestow upon Your Majesty’s person and government abundant blessing granting them all manner of prosperity, and keep them in this state for very many years, to the benefit of [fol. 519] the increase of Your Majesty’s kingdom, as well as that of Your Majesty’s good subjects.

However, to imbue these wishes a consummate appearance, we have adjudged it necessary to dispatch this letter to Your Royal Majesty [entrusted to] the hands of Commander Cornelis Bezuyen, whom we most humbly beseech that Your Majesty will grant the honour of allowing him to enjoy an audience at the foot of Your Majesty’s lordly throne, and also that in his Wide-famed Graciousness Your Majesty will be pleased to lend a benevolent ear to all that the said Commander Bezuyen will communicate to and request of Your Royal Majesty on our behalf, so that thereupon [we may] expect from Your Majesty’s most praiseworthy generosity a gracious response and benevolent reply, so that the General Dutch East India Company may continue, under the protection of Your Royal beneficence, to pursue its trade as free and untrammelled within the same boundaries and territory as it has been allowed and permitted to do now for so many years under Your Majesty’s most praiseworthy forbears, under the same greatly esteemed seal and letters or firmans, the which we most humbly beseech that Your Majesty will be pleased to bestow upon the said Commander Besuyen [sic!] in their best and most efficacious form, [in return] for this [honour] we shall never at any time neglect to show our gratitude, while we shall pray that Almighty God will be pleased to spare Your Majesty many years in health, also that everything Your Majesty might choose to do shall wax to the expansion of Your Majesty’s glory, and the prosperity of all the kingdoms of the same.

Written in Batavia Castle on the island of Great Java [Java Maior] on the 4th October 1709. [below] by the Governor-General of India (Asia)  (was signed) Joan van Hoorn (in the margin) on the orders of the said High Excellency (signed) Isaac Garsin, Secretary.

Appendix

The approval by the Supreme Government of the diplomatic mission of Ambassador J. Ketelaar to the Mughal Court.

From: NA, 1.04.02 VOC 729 (COPY RESOLUTIONS OF THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL AND COUNCILLORS 1713)

Translation.

[The Transactions of Ambassador Ketelaar, with his deputies at the Mughal Court, approved 18 July 1713]

[fol. 440] Tuesday 18 July anno 1713 extraordinary meeting in the fore-noon, absent because of indisposition the Director-General Abraham Douglas.

Being again deliberated about the affairs in Surat on the memoranda brought by Mr Christoffel van Swoll, from which it is understood that the transactions of Ambassador Josua Ketelaar and his deputies in the embassy to the Mughal Court, concerning to what extent these people have achieved and affirmed the purpose of this embassy according to the tenor of or instructions of 5th of October 1709. In the report it has submitted, not only have the requisite new firmans and other royal decrees of the Cormandel, Bengal and Surat [fol. 441] been granted to them in a more expansive form than before, but also the rest which had been asked for [has been granted]; with the exception that it has been impossible to negotiate a suitable place outside the city of Surat for a new factory, but instead [they] have had to be satisfied with the free use in perpetuity of the house of the former/late Eattabaarchan within Surat, as well as of the house in Patna of which the Honourable Company has enjoyed rental occupation for many years, and just as in the case of the residence of Ettabaarchan had fallen to the king after the decease of the owners. The such is to be affirmed by us in a letter to be sent to the said director and ambassador as well as the councillors.

However, concerning the matter of the costs of this embassy which have exceeded twelve barrels of gold, a good six barrels of which was spent on gifts, both to the late kings Bahadur Shah and Jahandar Shah as well as their children and the most prominent ministers and courtiers of that Empire, never in the service of the Company has there been such an extravagant embassy, not even all the previous dispatches to this same Mughal court and other prominent courts, which has even exceeded the expectations and calculations of the Surat ministers in their letter of 4th of April 1708, it has been decided to defer the disposition of the earlier mentioned unexpectedly [fol. 442] heavy and exorbitant expenses and gifts to our Lords and Masters [the Board of Directors] to deal with, even though in our recapitulation of the papers no egregious reason has emerged of which the aforesaid Lords and Masters should be informed. Likewise, it has been decided to leave the decision about the request of the ambassador and his deputies Berenaard and Huysinkvelt to be able to keep the native side-arms and decorative headdresses, with which these people were honoured by King Jahandar Shah as a memento upon their leave-taking, which is contrary to the Company orders and the general regulations, to these Honourable Gentlemen: nevertheless it is approved that they may retain the ceerpaauwen or robes of office given to them by various people because, according to the said report, these are of no great value, and also somewhat worn through use, so that they would not be of any use to the Honourable Company.

Concerning the annex to the embassy and the costs of the same, it has been decided not to deal with the heavy expenses and gifts, to the sum of 13,664½ Rupees (even though this was incurred on the orders and with the foreknowledge of the ambassador) paid to the Surat Governor Mameth (Muhammad) Beekchan and others in order to acquire the conveyance and furnishing of the said house of Ettabaerchan, but also to leave the decision [fol. 443] about this to our Lords and Masters; but nevertheless to declare that it has struck us as improper and untimely that people have bought the execution of a positive order from the Emperor, which benefit the ambassador had received from this ruler, and also that an order that it should be made ready had also been sent by the latter; with a further note to the Director and Councillors that both this affair and the pompous entrance and occupation of that building has seemed extremely ecessive.

In view of the fact that we foster some not unfounded suspicions about Director Ke­telaar and the other Surat servants, it would be advisable, the sooner the better, to ratify the most recently granted firmans and other beneficial documents and to send another dispatch to the present king, Farruksiyar, and this same must take place within an short while. Although the trade everywhere in the empire of the Mughals can still be carried out using the firmans of the late Jahandar Shah and those of the former kings without [requiring] the ratification of the incumbent ruling prince, this does not happen without constant impediments and quarrelling in order to procure large gifts, in view of the enormous [financial] burdens recently incurred by the Honourable Company [fol. 444], and now yet again (although this time so much) which will have to be borne, it is decided not to essay this, but to temporize with any such post dispatches and to postpone the same, until we have been strengthened by the judgement and the approbation of the Most Noble Gentlemen Principals, unless the following recommendations from Surat as well as from Bengal and Coromandel should point to the absolute necessity of doing this, all the more so because the Surat advice about the present dubious and tottery situation in the Mughal Empire, and the harsh government of the present king,  Farruksiyar, make it very inadvisable to dispatch such a future embassy for the present time.

Nevertheless, it has been decided to approve the order passed on to Resident Huysinkvelt by Ambassador Ketelaar to journey to Agra to congratulate Prince Farruksiyar on his victory over King Jahandar Shah, when he happen to come to that city, by presenting him with an impressive gift in ready money according to the custom of the country, and also with his opportune successes and his accession to the Mughal throne, although [so far] this opportunity has not presented itself.

It has been noted to write to the servants in Surat, [saying] that it will be necessary that in Agra the said Resident should not only be pleasant to Raja Tsjiewiekam, whom the ambassador has noted is a good friend of the Honourable Company, and also stands in high favour with the ruler Farruksyiar, as far as his [financial] situation will allow him, without displaying any dismay about Prince Farruksyiar’s accession, so that [we] in time might also be able to enjoy the help of the same in dealing with said ruler; but also [when] at the court with the plenipotentiary of the Company and with other acquaintances there pick up useful and secure reports, keep up a correspondence, not just to find out knowledge of the court, but also what might happen to pass in relation to the Honourable Company, so that the servants in Surat, Coromandel and in Bengal can be kept constantly supplied with fresh information.

In Batavia Castle, date as noted at the beginning (signed) Abraham van Riebeeck, Christoffel van Swoll, Cornelis Chastelein, Mattheus de Haan, Frans Castelijn, Lauren Tolling, Hendrick [fol 446] Zwaardecroon, Pieter Roselaar, Theodorus de Haek, Samuel Timmerman, Jacob Faas, Joan Cornelis d’Ableing and Joan van der Nipport, secretary.