4 October 1709 Ndonesian and a CONTENT 1 Introduction 2 2 Transcription of the Dutch Text 7 3 English Translation 11 4 Colophon 15 5 Folio Images 16 Harta Karun
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ASIAN EUROPEAN INTERACTION III.5 CO-OPERATION, RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY DOC 15 ARTA K ES IN JA V I CH C AR O E V H Illustration 1. The emperor Bahadur Shah (reign 1707-1712) mounted on an elephant. UROPEAN HISTORY T FROM E SIAN- A Letter from the Supreme Government to the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah I (r. 1707 – 1712), 4 October 1709 NDONESIAN AND I CONTENT 1 Introduction 2 2 Transcription of the Dutch text 7 REASURES ON 3 English translation 11 T 4 Colophon 15 5 Folio images 16 HIDDEN HARTA KARUN. HARTA www.sejarah-nusantara.anri.go.id ASIAN EUROPEAN INTERACTION 2 DOC 15 III.5 CO-OPERATION, RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY 1 Introduction ARTA K Maarten Manse, “A Letter for the Great Mughal with leading an embassy to the Mughal court Emperor Bahadur Shah I (r. 1707 – 1712): Cour- in Delhi, 1711- 1713 (see the Resolution of 18 July tesy and Coalition forming at an Islamic Court, 1713), to obtain the favor of the new emperor. ES IN JA V I 4 October 1709”, in : Harta Karun. Hidden Trea- The VOC had maintained a factory at the Guje- CH sures on Indonesian and Asian-European Histo- rati port of Surat since 1618. After falling under C AR ry from the VOC-archives in Jakarta, document Mughal influence in 1573, it had become the chief O 15. Jakarta: Arsip Nasional Republik Indonesia, commercial city of the entire west coast of India. E V H 2014. Not only was it a port of embarkation for Mecca, but also a key entrepot for overseas trade in the BY MAARTEN MANSE Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf linking the The death of Emperor Aurangzeb (r. 1685-1709) Ottoman and Safavid empires.1 By establishing marked the end of an era for the Mughal empire, a factory in Surat and outposts in neighboring after a reign of 49 years. It also initiated a renewed Ahmadabad and Agra, the VOC had secured its attempt of the VOC to reestablish their trade in access to Gujarati textiles and indigo. But main- India after it had suffered a major setback fol- taining such commercial relations with the local UROPEAN HISTORY T FROM lowing Aurangzeb’s death when the trade rights, Gujerati authorities proved difficult. Company E which he had personally approved, were with- servants constantly had to deal with corrupt and SIAN- drawn by his successor, Bahadur Shah I (r. 1707- malign officials, while the local Indian merchants A 1712). In this letter of 4 October 1709, Gover- themselves were often irritated by intermittent nor-General Joan van Hoorn (in office 1704-1709) European support for piracy and illegal trade.2 requests new firmans or trading letters signed In 1699, a so-called muchalka or obligation to by the new emperor carrying his personal seal of pay for collateral damage caused by piracy on the approval. Such firmans were essential in guar- high seas was imposed on the Europeans. After NDONESIAN AND I anteeing safe passage for trade in and around the yet another incidence of piracy in 1702, a quarrel Mughal empire and they solicited immediate erupted between the Europeans and a prominent respect from local officials and merchants. Indian merchant by the name of Mulla ‘Abdul Ghafur about compensation for damage caused REASURES ON On 5 October 1709, two ships, the Jerusalem and by piracy. Ghafur appealed to the Mughal imperial T the Noordbeek sailed for Surat from Batavia. They authorities, who ordered the VOC to pay compen- carried Van Hoorn’s letter and detailed instruc- sation but they refused to do so. In 1703, the Indi- HIDDEN tions for Cornelis Bezuyen, the recently appoint- an authorities reacted by imprisoning all European ed director of the Dutch trading post at Surat (in personnel, including director Hendrik Zwaarde- office 1707-1709) who was subsequently tasked croon (director of Surat, 1699-1703). The Dutch HARTA KARUN. HARTA 1 A. Das Gupta, Indian Merchants and the Decline of Surat, c. 1700-1750 (Wiesbaden: Steiner Verlag, 1979), pp. 3-4. 2 Das Gupta, Indian Merchants and the Decline of Surat, pp. 85-94. ASIAN EUROPEAN INTERACTION 3 DOC 15 III.5 CO-OPERATION, RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY INTRODUCTION ARTA K ES IN JA V I CH C AR O E V H UROPEAN HISTORY T FROM E SIAN- A Illustration 2. A view of Agra by Zacharie Chatelain, Amsterdam, 1732 (first ed. 1705-20). responded by sending a powerful squadron and ed authority on the Indian subcontinent. In 1662, NDONESIAN AND I hijacking a ship with a ‘Moorish priest’ on board.3 an embassy had already been sent to the Mughal It took two years for the impasse to be resolved by court under Dircq van Adrichem (director of the withdrawal of all VOC-personnel from Surat. Surat, 1662-1665), to gain the favor of Emperor The VOC factory was then closed. However, the Aurangzeb, and obtain firmans.5 The dispatch of 4 REASURES ON Dutch blockade of Surat was not lifted until 1707. such embassies to obtain imperial favor was com- T In order to escape from the clutches of these mon practice: in the seventeenth century both local merchants and governors as well as guaran- Aurangzeb and his predecessors had received HIDDEN teeing safe access to the Mughal trading network, missions from a number of European trading VOC servants actively sought support of the companies including the French and the Brit- Mughal emperor, the highest and most respect- ish. Such missions were especially ubiquitous HARTA KARUN. HARTA 3 J.Ph. Vogel (ed.), Journaal van J. J. Ketelaar’s hofreis naar den groot mogol te Lahore, 1711-1713 (Werken uitgegeven door de Linschoten-vereeniging 41, ’s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1937), p. 11. 4 Om Prakash, ‘The Mughal Empire and the Dutch East Indies Company in the Seventeenth Century’, in: E. Locher-Scholten and P. Rietbergen (eds.), Hof en Handel. Aziatische vorsten en de VOC, 1620-1720 (Leiden: KITLV Press 2004), pp. 181-200, 197. 5 See: A.J. Bernet Kempers (ed.), Journaal van Dircq van Adrichem’s hofreis naar den Groot-Mogol Aurangze-b, 1662. (Werken uitge- geven door de Linschoten-Vereeniging 45, ’s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1941). ASIAN EUROPEAN INTERACTION 4 DOC 15 III.5 CO-OPERATION, RELATIONS AND DIPLOMACY INTRODUCTION after the in the aftermath of a royal succession. after a long illness, and he was succeeded by Kete- Van Adrichem’s embassy was highly successful laar, the latter’s appointment already having been and received firmans that were declared valid for envisaged in the embassy’s original procedures. Dutch trade in Surat, Patna (Bengal) and Oris- Ketelaar’s embassy to the Mughal court of the new ARTA 6 K sa. In 1689, a second embassy under Johannes emperor, Bahadur Shah I, provides an insight into Bacherus focused on Dutch trade in Coromandel, the encounter of late seventeenth-century Dutch for which new firmans were needed. Although merchants with the world of high diplomacy and ES IN JA V I issued by the Mughal court, these firmans were Mughal court culture. It was both an exotic and CH not, acknowledged by the Mughal emperor’s bewildering encounter. After an exceptionally C AR officers in Masulipatam whence the Dutch ambas- tough and difficult journey overland via Agra and O sador had returned, and they were eventually Delhi, the embassy finally arrived at Lahore in E V H declared invalid. December 1711, where the Emperor, had recently The installment of the new emperor thus moved to visit his botanical gardens. The Dutch opened the door for new negotiations, hence the ambassadorial caravan contained sizeable amounts embassy lead by Bezuyen.7 He was assisted by of high value goods, including gold bars, Europe- two deputies: Koopman Rogier de Beerenaard, an art and curiosities, firearms, elephants, hors- who spoke Persian (the official language of the es and other gifts. Upon his arrival, Ketelaar was Mughal court), and Opperkoopman Joan Josua warmly welcomed by two people he had been in Ketelaar, renowned for his long experience in contact with before and whom he knew he could UROPEAN HISTORY T FROM India and Batavia and known for his expertise in rely on. One of them was Donna Juliana Dias da E ‘Moorish’ languages and customs.8 Ketelaar was Costa, a Portuguese lady born in India, who had SIAN- fluent in Hindi, about which he wrote a grammar ended up in the harem of Bahadur Shah as one A during his time as company servant in Surat in the of his favorite and most devoted wives. She had 1680s. The immediate aim of the Bezuyen embas- become the mainstay for European envoys at the sy was to obtain the favor of the new emperor and Mughal court. The other was a very powerful and acquire new firmans, granting the VOC permis- high-ranking noble named Zulfikar Khan. Kete- sion to build a new factory or logie in Surat. The laar carefully picked these people, as he was all too NDONESIAN AND I cost of the embassy was projected to be high by well aware of the dangers posed by the factional VOC standards, but this was deemed acceptable as politics between the various Mughal princes and handing out valuable gifts to the court was essen- their supporters. These would often erupt into tial in order to gain the favor of the emperor. open violence at the death of an emperor such as REASURES ON Bezuyen’s first concern in Surat was thus to com- had happened after Aurangzeb’s death in 1707. T pile and collect the necessary schenkagie goederen The embassy was officially received by an Amīr or gifts.