Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c60.s1: Persian
Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c60.s1
- Language
- English
Persian
v4.c60.s1.1
The news-reports, almost always in Persian, even when sent to Marātha or English employers, were written by a class of professional scribes, called *wāqia-navis* or *akhbār-navis*, who had continued to function in India since the reign of Akbar. Even the despatches written in English or Marāthi were usually accompanied by Persian news-sheets, which were translated after arrival into the recepient's language. All the Persian letters and news-sheets received by the British Government in Calcutta (with replies to them) were entered in a register in the form of abridged English translations, of which 7 volumes, covering the years 1759—1787, have been printed by the Indian Records Office under the title of *Calendar of Persian Correspondence*. From 1782 onwards we possess a series of very long news-letters from the Delhi Court or Sindhia's camp, usually giving the events of one month and sometimes running to more than 320 lines each. An extremely valuable and almost complete collection of this last class has been recently purchased by the Bombay Government from the descendant of G. R. Kālé, the Peshwa's agent at the Nizām's Court in the 18th century.
v4.c60.s1.2
The largest collection of Persian news-letters of all classes, in photostat or transcript is to be found in the Raghuvir Library of Sitāmau in Malwa. Here has been brought together everything that could be copied from every known library elsewhere in the world.