TH"; DUTCH EAS1' INDIA. COMP...tNI' ...tNO MI'SOSI<; VERHANDELINGEN VAN HET KONINKLIJK INSTITUUT VOOR TAAL-, LAND- EN VOLKENKUNDE DEEL XXXI THE DUTCH E~ST INDIA. COMP~NY .tfND MYSORE 1762·1790 DY JAN VAN LOHUIZEN, Ph. D. 'S·GRAVENHAGE - MARTINUS NUHOFF -1961 CONTENTS Page NOTE ON ABBREVIATIONS, CURRENCY AND WEIGHTS • VI PREFACE • VII INTRODUCTION 1 I THE DUTCH AND HAIDAR AU, 1762-1766 22 IJ FROM ONE EMBASSY TO ANOTHER, 1766-1775 52 III YEARS OF GROWING ESTRANGEMENT AND HOSTILITIES,1775-1781 88 IV WAR WITH THE BRITISH, 1781-1783 • 115 V THE DUTCH AND TIPU SULTAN, 1784-1790 • 135 m~wu~ lM APPENDIX I: THE ORIGIN OF THE NAIR REBELLION OF 1766. 171 APPENDIX Il: THE CONQUEST OF COORG AND CAUCUT IN 1773-1774 177 APPENDIX 111 : THE MYSOREAN-DUTCH AGREEMENT OF 1781 • 180 BIBLIOGRAPHY 183 INDEX 202 MAPS NOTE ON ABBREVIATlONS, CURRENCY AND WEIGH'lS L.f.B. Letters from Batavia (Overgekomen brieven van Batavia) L.f.C. Letters from Ceylon (Overgekomen brieven van Ceylon) L.f.Cor. Letters from Coromande1 (Overgekomen brieven van Coromandel) L.f.M. Letters from Malahar (Overgekomen brieven van Malabar) Set. Dutch Records Madras Selections from the Records of the Madras Government, Dutch Records sJ. secret letter Although rupees and pagodas of different values were in use it will be sufficient for tbe purpose of this study to reckon as follows: 1 pagoda is approximately equivalent to 4 rupees or 8 shillings or 5 guilders. 1 lakh is 100.000. 1 candy is 500 Ibs Dutch or 550 Ibs avoirdupois approximately. PREFACE Only very few Dutch historians have been working in the field of the activities of the Dutch East India Company in India, and their main interest was of ten directed to the period in the 17th century during which Dutch settlements were founded in different parts of the subcontinent. Detailed studies by Dutch authors on the develop­ ment of these settlements during the 18th century are lacking almost completely. As far as Malabar is concerned, the works of the English authors Day and Logan, published during the second half of the last century, have contributed to a wider knowledge of the Dutch in the later period. In more recent years Indian scholars have consulted Dutch documents either for the study of Dutch activities in Malabar (e.g. Panikkar and Alexander), or within the context of Indian history in the 18th century (Hayavadana Rao, Sinha and Khan). But the work of none of these writers seems to Die entirely satisfactory, either because unfamiliarity with the Dutch language has resuited in errors, or, and more important, hecause these authors have consulted only a fraction of the Dutch sources available. They have restrÎcted themselves to comparatively few letters or some of the volumes of Dutch records published at Madras in the beginning of this century. The greater part of these published records are Memoirs written by the heads of the adminis­ tration at the time of their departure in order to give their successors some idea of their duties. They are of value, and sometimes even indispensabie, but their importance should not be overestimated in view of the abundant mass of other contemporary material. Another point in connection with the available sources is that although Malabar ranks as the most important area of contact between the Dutch and Mysore, there were others as weIl, Coromande1 and, indirectly, Ceylon and Batavia, which should not he neglected. Several episodes could not have been dealt with in this study if I had depended only on the sources which are concerned with Malabar. The chief material which I have used consists of the manuscript records kept in the General State Archives at the Hague. These contain letters, proceedings, resolutions and other papers, which were regularly sent from the different settlements to Batavia, to Holland, and to one VIn another. Most of these may be found in the hundreds of volumes of the "Overgekomen brieven", i.e. Letters sent from Batavia, Malabar, Ceylon, and so on. In addition, use has been made of some unpublished English records kept in the Commonwealth Relations Office and the Bodleian Library. I cannot claim to have stringently followed the Hunterian system in the spelling of geographical and personal names. In some cases I have preferred a spelling which, while being familiar to English eyes, stands nearer to the Dutch spelling of the name (e.g. Cranganore instead of Kranganur or Kodungalur), in a few others I have even kept to the Dutch spelling because the English equivalent, as far as I know, does not exist (e.g. the name of Cochin's chief minister). On the whoie, however, the spelling of names is in accordance with Hunter's system, and I do not anticipate that the exceptions will lead to misunder­ standings. I should like to express a word of thanks to Dr. T. G. P. Spear, Fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge, who acted as supervisor during my period of research for the Ph. D.-degree at Cambridge University. Although 1 am afraid that the subject of my thesis lay somewhat outside the field of his main interest in Indian history, his guidance and kindness have meant a great deal to me. lamalso grateful to the staffs of the General State Archives at the Hague, the University Libraries at Cambridge and Leyden, the Bod­ leian Library, and to Mr. Stanley C. Sutton, Librarian of the India Office Library and his staff. The atmosphere of extreme friendliness and helpfulness in this treasure-house of orientalism is most stimul­ ating to research. I further wish to thank Mrs. Th.H.J.deJosselin de Jong at Leyden who was so kind as to look through the manuscript at an earlier stage and to suggest valuable corrections in the English. In this respect I also owe words of thanks to my wife who, besides, has always been a source of encouragement during the period in which this study was prepared. The mistakes which critical eyes are bound to find in the English are mine, but I take comfort in the hope that these errors will not prevent the reader {rom grasping what is really meant. Finally, my respectful thanks are due to the Board of the Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde for its decision to publish this work in its series of Monographs. Amsterdam, May 1960. JAN VAN LOHUIZEN. INTRODUCTION In the early sixties of the 18th century the political scene in India was thoroughly unsettled. Dissolving forces in the Mogul empire had finally created a void in Delhi and while the emperor had taken refuge in the east, Afghans and Marathas struggled for the heritage of im­ perial power. The first repelled the latter at Panipat in 1761 but they lacked the strength to reap the fruits of their victory and withdrew westwards. At the same time the emperor's attempt to regain his power in the east was checked by a British force. Shortly afterwards he became an English stipendiary in return for his confirmation of the new Nawab of Bengal who like his deposed predecessor owed his status to the Council at Calcutta'! Although there was an undeniable growth in English influence in the north, the ultimate outcome of the various opposite trends must have been anybody's guess at the time. In the south the situation was not essentially different. Here too, the British had been gaining prestige as a result of the Seven Years' War which ended dreams of a French India. There still were, howèver, several uncertain factors. W ould the British be able to follow up their military victory by extending their political control, or would they be content with concentrating on their trading activities ? What would be the reaction of the Marathas to their defeat in the north? Intensification of their interference in South India? And how would the new rulers of Hyderabad and Mysore, the usurpers Nizam Ali and Haidar Ali, fit into the general picture? These were among the many questions to which nobody could give a weIl founded reply at the beginning of 1762. One thing, however, stood out c1early. Among the Europeans in India the English had reached the stage of pre-eminence. More than a century earl ier the Portuguese had been surpassed by the Dutch and English, and in the early 18th century the Dutch had started falling behind the English and French. There was no indication that the political situation in Europe would halt or even reverse the process of development in India in the near 1 See K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, Ristory of India, III (Madras, 1952), pp. 72 and 91. V.KJ. 31 2 THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY AND MYSORE future. The Dutch Republic had long ceased to be one of the great powers. lts military strength had declined to such an ex tent that at the outbreak of the Seven Years' War neutrality was the only possible policy. This meant renunciation of the old alliance with England. By the end of the war England stood practically isolated among the European powers but this seemed irrelevant to the Indian situation as long as she remained the chief naval power. In 1762 her command of the seas was underlined by successes against the Spanish colonies in the West Indies and the Philippines. Moreover, the isolation in Europe might be called an advantage in that it fortified a tendency to concen­ trate on affairs in the overseas territories. France, on the other hand, might weIl be longing to build up strength in order to re verse the disgraceful outcome of the war, but she would always be handicapped by the fact that because of her position on the Continent she could never focus her policy on overseas affairs to the same extent as England.