Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c51.s5.2

v4.c51.s5.2

Pierre Cuillier, better known as Perron, was the son of a weaver of Sarthe (S. France) and could write a few lines with difficulty. Starting his career in the Indian princes’ service as a common gunner, he spent the first nine years as a rolling stone, and was next taken by De Boigne into Sindhia’s service as the Captain of a battalion (1790). Here he rose to the command of a brigade in 1796, and the headship of Sindhia’s campoo in 1801, retiring in September 1803. The fortune that he could pile up in these thirteen years amounted to 135 lakhs of Rupees.* But only one-fourth of this (about 34 lakhs of Rupees) he could carry away to France, having had to give up the remainder to the English to ensure his safe retreat from India. Eight lakhs of Rupees he carried with himself in cash, jewels and indigo for sale, and the remaining 26 lakhs he recovered from the English bankers of Calcutta, with whom he had prudently deposited the amount while still in Sindhia’s service. His fortune at his death (in 1834) was valued at 15 millions of francs or 40 lakhs of Rupees.