[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Travellers (1500–1858)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel) › [Storia do Mogor](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci) › [Storia do Mogor (Irvine)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine) › 211.1 # Storia do Mogor 211.1 Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 211.1 - **Language:** English ### [211.1.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.211.1.1) N. Manucci is wrong in the name of the envoy; it should be Bacherus, and not Bald. The only Balde or Baldaeus known is Philip Baldaeus, a Dutch chaplain, who died in 1672, the year his book appeared, being a description of the island of Ceylon, of Malabar, and Choromandel. There is abundant evidence of the mission of Johannes Bacherus in 1688. Let us take first the English records. Porto Novo reports to Fort St. George on November 27, 1687 (Factory Records, No. 30), that the Dutch are keeping high festival for four days on account of a qaul (written order) freeing them from customs duty for four years, and thenceforth to pay only half duties throughout the Gulkandah kingdom. We must remember that Gulkandah had just been absorbed into the Mogul empire. Fort St. George rejoins, December 9, 1687, that it understands not the festival, as the Dutch were already free of customs in Gulkandah; there must be something else behind. On January 17, 1688 (letter to Surat), the English say they heard that the Mogul had ordered the Dutch to send up an ambassador, and was demanding sums of money for the confirmation of their former privileges. Again, on September 13, 1688, they write that the Dutch Commissary-General (? Van Reede) at Pulicat (close to Madras) was preparing a great ' Pishkas ' for the Mogul, said to be worth 40,000 pagodas — elephants, horses, palkis, plate, jewels, etc. ' Heer John Vakeerus ' (Bacherus), the second in council, was to deliver it. ### [211.1.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.211.1.2) Daniel Chardin, brother of the traveller, wrote from Bhagnagar (Haidarabad) on February 11-21, 1687-8, saying that the Mogul had gone on to Bijapur, and that the Dutch had interviewed Ruhullah Khan, the new governor. D. Chardin on February 22 wrote again that the Dutch had not obtained their farman. On August 28, 1688, the Fort St. George authorities again speak of Hendrik van Reede, Dutch Commissary-General, proposing to send Johannes Bacherus to the Mogul from Pulicat with a very large present. It was said the Dutch were trying to get the English excluded from the Mogul's dominions by offering a payment of 8 lakhs of rupees a year. In a letter to the Court of Directors (Original Correspondence 5658) of January, 1689, it is stated that the Dutch envoy had started. On July 12 and 20, 1689, they speak of the ' late ' embassy, and assert that it met with no success, their ' present ' being plundered by the Mahrattahs. Pulicat Fort, held by the Dutch, was to be reduced to a mere factory (Fort St. George to Court, February 1, 1690, Original Correspondence No. 5698). ### [211.1.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.211.1.3) Thus far from the India Office records ; we will now turn to the Dutch records at the Hague. The instructions, forty-three pages in extent, were issued by Hendrik van Reede to Johannes Bacherus from Pulicat on September 22, 1688. Bacherus is described as the second on the Commission, then on a visit to the northern factories of Coromandel. On December 24, 1688, the envoy started from Masulipatam, and on January 26, 1689, van Reede reports to the Seventeen at Middleburg to that effect. We have a letter from the wazir, Asad Khan, of the 7th Zu,l Hijjah (September 20, 1689), the wdqi'ah entry in the Court official diary, 10th Zu,l Hijjah (September 23), and a second letter from Asad Khan of the 26th Zu,l Hijjah (October 9) ; then comes the farman, dated the 12th Muharram of the thirty-third year — i.e., 1101 H. (October 24, 1689). There is the subsidiary order or Hasb-nl-hukm of the wazir, 27th Muharram, 1101 H. (November 8, 1689), another order of November 11, and the diwan's (Bisharat Khan's) vise or executive order of the same date. The provisions of the farman are as follows : After reciting the petition of the envoy for a confirmation of the grant and privileges accorded in writing by 'Abdullah and Abu,l Hasan, the former rulers of Gulkandah, a renewed grant is made in the following detail. A gift is made of five villages, three at Pulicat (Ergam, Mansiewarom, Awieriwaka) and two at Masulipatam (Pallicol, Contera). ### [211.1.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.211.1.4) At Pulicat the following concessions are made in respect to the Dutch share in customs and their right to coin. On goods over a candy in weight, liable to 4 1/8 pagodas of duty, the county officials are to take 2 1/4, and the Dutch Company 1 7/8 pagodas; but goods liable to less than that amount, according to the Mutasaddis' (native officials') weights, shall be divided, half to the emperor and half to the Dutch. At Eragam and Mansiewarom the division was to be : Customs of 4 1/8 pagodas and over to pay three-fourths to the Mogul, one-fourth to the Dutch. Customs of 4 pagodas to pay 1 1/2 pagodas to Dutch. Customs of less than 4 pagodas to pay half to Mogul, half to Dutch. On cloth brought in from villages, when the bale contains 20 pieces of 72 cobidos (cubits) each, 3 1/8 pagodas are to be paid, the king taking half and the Dutch half. If the goods are afterwards sold, the same tax shall be paid and divided as before. If goods so bought are liable to over 4 pagodas, the division shall be three-fourths to the king and one-fourth to the Dutch. Ground-rents on inhabited land to be equally divided. All dues on goods brought in ships from abroad to be equally divided. When the Dutch bring their own money to be coined, the mint tax, which is 1/2 per cent., shall be equally divided ; if the money is not theirs, the Dutch will only receive one-third of the dues. ### [211.1.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.211.1.5) Masulipatam. — The Dutch Company are freed from certain dues : (1) Cabaratn, a sort of ground-rent ; (2) Baatpoelerij, an imposition on exported goods ; and (3) Molliwidaal, road dues. Formerly, on every two ox-loads to Haidarabad the freight was 4 pagodas (2 of which went to the governor) ; now 5 are demanded. A return to the old rate is asked. The emperor ordered that the Company must make the best terms it could with the carriers, but the governor's 2 pagodas were remitted. Fort Palliacatta. — For a long time this had been the sole property of the Company, and no other Europeans had any share. Petty disputes were decided by the king's officers and the employes of the Company; those of more importance were referred to 'Abdullah and Abu,l Hasan. The emperor orders the same practice to continue, but great and weighty causes must be sent to Haidarabad to be there decided by the emperor's representative. For the villages of Gollepalem and Gondewarom close to Daatcherom the Company paid yearly, by way of lease, the sum of 150 pagodas. This was allowed to remain on the old footing. ### [211.1.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.211.1.6) Narsapur. — Here there was a piece of land used for storing timber, and a smith's shop, where various things required for ships were stored, and the workpeople who resorted there had been free of dues for a long time; nor was anyone allowed to hinder others from settling there, the said people being, like the Narsapur dwellers, in the service of the Company. Yearly from each household 3 pagodas were collected. The demand is conceded by the emperor to the Dutch on the old footing. In the village Mansiewarom (subordinate to Masulipatam) forty households of washermen used to pay each 3 pagodas a year. There are now six families left. When the water rises they go to wash in Suguram (or Sury) village, and ought not to be hindered. The request is granted. Certain taxes or dues were remitted, viz. : 1. A tax on coolies whose wages are paid by the merchants, provided they are permanently in the Company's service. 2. The tax of Callagads, or writers' fees. 3. Rahdari, or road tax, inland in going from Bimlipatnam to Siccacol. 4. Rahdari on travellers from Eloer, Ragiemandree, Daatcheram, Palicol, and Nagelwance. 5. Rahdari from Masulipatam and Paliacatta, going and coming. 6. Tolls or other imposts upon any victuals for the Company's own use, coming either by water or land. 7. Tolls on all merchandise or wares sent out by the Company and brought in by it from abroad and here sold. ### [211.1.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.211.1.7) 8. Mint. — The charges of the Taksāl, or Mint, on the coining, whether of gold or silver, together with the exchange on Palliacat and Chinapatnam (? Madras) pagodas, are remitted. 9. On ghaza-am \[ghiza-i-'am\] — that is, grain and all such wares — the dealers had to pay the king, causing prices to rise. From all such dues the Company and their servants are exempted. The farman bears the titles and attestations of Asad Khan, the wazir. The correspondence is continued in twenty-four more letters, beginning with Laurens Pit and Council at Pulicat to the Seventeen at Middelburg (a long letter), dated January 6, 1690, and ending with the Governor-General's letter from Batavia to the same body, dated March 26, 1691. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.211.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.travel.manucci~en-irvine.211.1) · Pramāṇa