Mughal Administration c16: Chapter XII. Official Letters and Seals
Mughal Administration c16
- Language
- English
Contents
- c16.s1 § 1. How Secretaries made Collections of Letters. — 3 parts
- c16.s2 § 2. The Hindu Munshis and their Work. — 3 parts
- c16.s3 § 3. The Style and Sealing of Official Letters. — 41 parts
Chapter XII. Official Letters and Seals
§ 1. How Secretaries made Collections of Letters.
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The Mughal Emperors had a very elaborate Secretariat or department of letters (*dār-ul-inshā*), and the papers of this department that have survived are of inestimable service to the modern student of Mughal history. The *ākhbārs* or news-bulletins of the Court or camp of the Emperor, which were sent to feudatory princes and provincial viceroys by their retained agents in his Court, and many of which have been preserved for the reigns of Aurangzib and some of his successors,—are of first-rate value to the historian, no doubt. But the main wealth of historical information regarding Aurangzib lies in the contemporary *letters*, which together with the above *ākhbārs* form the very raw materials or most authentic source for the history of his reign. The preservation of these letters we owe not to any action on the part of the Emperor, nor to the practice of any secretariat archive, but to a private source, namely, the literary vanity of the secretaries (*munshis*) who drafted them. Each of them kept with himself copies of the letters which he wrote for his master, afterwards collected them together in one volume, with a formal preface and colophon, and sent them forth into the world; I mean, he allowed others to read and take copies of them, as printing was unknown in India in those days. Sometimes this "publication" of the letter-book was the result of the pious care of the late secretary's son or devoted friend, as the best literary monument to the learning of the deceased. Once the volume got into publication, its contents were picked out and included in miscellaneous collections of letters and in text-books on the art of letter-writing (as examples). In this way some letters have been saved, though the "volumes" of which they originally formed parts have disappeared. Many isolated letters of historical importance which were never included in any collection (because not written by the same man, or because not numerous enough to form a volume) have escaped destruction by being incorporated in such general collections of select letters.
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These letter-books were put together and "published" for literary and not historical purposes. The *munshis* had not the future historian of the Mughal empire before their mind's eye, but the polished society of their own days. Their aim was not to leave historical records for posterity, but to show their own mastery of style and to set models of composition before students of rhetoric and epistolary prose. Some of the clerks even preserved and collected together the official and private letters of their own composition for the instruction of their sons and grandsons in the hereditary profession. Practically every one of the *munshis* could also write Persian verses and epigrams in which the date of an event was yielded by the total numerical value of the Arabic letters contained in the significant phrase or sentence, as calculated by the rules of *abjad*.
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Some of the later collections are professed textbooks illustrating the art of the writer. They begin with an eulogy of the pen or of the art of letter-writing (*inshā*) in verse and florid prose, followed by a discourse on the mythical origin and development of the alphabet, the various known styles of penmanship and their founders; then come the letters forming the body of illustrations. Such letter-books, however, belonged to a decadent age, when the Court had ceased to make history.
§ 2. The Hindu Munshis and their Work.
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From the middle of the 17th century onwards most of the *munshis* were Hindus, and their proportion rapidly increased. The Hindus had made a monopoly of the lower ranks of the revenue department (*diwāni*) from long before the time of Todar Mal (Akbar’s revenue minister), probably from the very dawn of Muslim rule in India. Todar Mal’s order to have all their papers written in Persian, (instead of one set in Persian and a duplicate set in Hindi, as under Sher Shah), compelled all the Hindu officials of State to master the Persian language, and the effect of this change became manifest in the next century, when the Hindus filled the accounts department (*hisāb*) of the State and even rose to be deputies and personal assistants (*nāibs* and *pesh-dasts*) to the heads of many departments. Most of the nobles and even princes in the late 17th century engaged Hindu *munshis* to write their Persian letters. The docile abstemious hardworking and clever Hindu did the work well and cheaply. A Persia-born or Persia-trained Muslim clerk would have been cleverer and would have written a purer idiom, but he was too costly a luxury in India, and the supply of such men from the Persian home-land was dried up at its source by the political disorders in that country at the close of the 17th century. Indian Muhammadans, as a rule, were unsatisfactory for clerical work.
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The earliest Hindu *munshi* of note (after Harkarn Itibarkhani, *c.* 1624), known to me was Chandrabhan (poetical name *Brahman*), a protege of Shah Jahan’s wazir Sadullah Khan, who has left works in elegant prose and conventional verse besides some letters of little historical value. But from the middle of the 17th century onwards, Hindu clerks rapidly multiplied under most nobles, till at last in the 18th century a Hindu rose to be Secretary (Mir Munshi) to the Emperor Muhammad Shah,—I mean Anand Ram (pen-name *Mukhlis*.)
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The clerks and other office subordinates of the Mughal empire, both Hindu and Muhammadan, formed a brotherhood and lived on terms of the greatest intimacy and mutual aid, giving feasts and dances to each other, as we learn from the memoirs of Bhimsen. In addition to the tie of service in the same department, they were also united in a brotherhood by their love of Sufi philosophy, which formed the common meeting-ground for the Persian-cultured official classes of India in the 17th and more especially in the 18th century. Their letter-books often end with a collection of Sufistic verses of the munshi’s own composition or his favourite author’s.
§ 3. The Style and Sealing of Official Letters.
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As regards the style of official correspondence, namely letters from the Emperor and despatches and petitions to him, it was highly ornate, prolix, redundant like a legal deed, and superlatively superlative as regards the use of epithets. They all felt bound to follow the vicious style used by Abul Fazl in his letters written on behalf of Akbar. In addition to having this bad model, the *munshis* were also fettered by official convention which fixed the epithets for the princes and high officers beforehand,—sometimes running to six lines of foolscap folio in the case of a ruling sovereign, aud three lines for a minister. All official letters had to follow a set form, like the ‘‘I beg most respectfully to state’’ and ‘‘I have the honour to be your most obedient servant’’ of our own days,—at the beginning and the end, and also in introducing particular topics or communicating orders of a particular kind. Thus, making a transcript of a fully drafted letter (other than the fair copy actually sent to the addressee) was a wearisome labour, to shorten which the ‘‘editor’’ or copyist has, in some MSS., dropped all the long-drawn-out and flowery nonsense at the beginning and started with *mi-rasānad ke*, or ‘submits that—.’
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The official entitlature was a very formal thing in the 17th century. The different epithets to be used in addressing or referring to different people, from the Emperor down to ordinary captains and petty civil officers were all fixed beforehand and entered in the office manual (*dastur-ul-aml*). They were from time to time changed by superior order, due notice being given to the clerks. It would have been the height of impropriety to mention the "Shadow of God" or his sons* by name, (and in a more decadent age even the grand wazir). They were each designated in life as the Khalifa and the Shadow of God, and after death by a distinct title, which required interpretation for later ages. Thus Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, Aurangzib and Bahadur Shah I. were respectively remembered only as *Firdaus-makāni*, *Jinnat-āshyāni*, *Arsh-āshyāni*, *Jinnat-makāni*, *Ala Hazrat Firdaus-āshyāni*, *Khuld-makān* and *Khuld-manzil*,—all these phrases meaning "Seated in heaven." Living princes were similarly designated by conventional but special titles, such as *Shāh-i-buland-iqbāl* for Dara Shukoh, *Mihir-pur-i-khilāfat* for Shah Alam, *Shāh-i-Alijāh* for Muhammad Azam, &c. Jahanara, after her death, was to be mentioned only under the title of "The Spiritual Mistress of
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* As for the Emperor's daughters and wives, they were ethereal beings and could be referred to only very vaguely as "the concealed one under the veil of chastity", "the Rabia of the age", "one of those behind the screen of pomp and majesty" &c.
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The news-letters (*Akhbārāt*) of Aurangzib's Court contain frequent orders as to how certain officials should be addressed in official correspondence. The *Adāb-i-Alamgiri* gives, for the early part of his reign, a long list of entitlatures (*f. 209b-213a* of the O.P.L. MS.)
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the Age”. Prince Muhammad Akbar, after his rebellion and flight to the enemies of the empire, was ordered to be referred to at Court and in all official papers as ‘the Rebel’ (Baghi), and sometimes as *Akbar-i-ābtar*, (Akbar meaning ‘the greatest’ and *Abtar* ‘the worst’)!
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No official letter either to or from the Emperor or a prince was ever signed; all were sealed,—even a letter written by a humble official.
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A *farmān*, in addition to bearing the imperial seal on the top, bore the wazir’s seal below, and, in the case of a land-grant treaty or special favour, had the Emperor’s palm (*panjah*) dipped in vermilion impressed on it. (A rubber representation of the palm used to be carried about in a bag suspended from the coat under his right armpit.) The princes, when serving as provincial governors, acted in the same way. When the fair copy of a letter or order was approved by the Emperor (or prince), he wrote after the last word of the last line (or a little below it) the letter *sad** (abbreviation for *sahih* or ‘correct’), as a written token of his approval. Often the Emperor (or prince) added a few lines *in his own* hand at the top of the letter as a proof of the genuineness of the letter or as a special mark of honour to the person addressed; these contained some commonplace statement or an injunction to obey the order promptly, but the material communication was embodied only in the letter drafted by the munshi and copied by a beautiful writer (khushnavis) of the secretariat. Such imperial additions are separately given in the Adāb-i-Alamgiri.
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∗ In some farmans that I have seen the *sad* is very thick, but is not usually completed, because only the ellipse forming the first part of the letter is given, but not the semi-circle forming its tail. The technical official expression for the Emperor’s final approval was “the letter or order reached the *sad*.” Even present day Bengal zamindars write on their letters to their agents and tenants not their names but only the word *Shri-Sahih* followed by an ornate flourish of the pen like the tail of a snake. This practice is a legacy of the Mughal empire
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In official letters the name (i.e., the conventional title) of the Emperor (or prince) was taken out of its context in the body of the letter and written at the top of the sheet as a mark of honour, exactly as Hindus do with the name of a god or goddess to whose pujā they are issuing invitations. The exact position of the "elevated" word in the sentence was indicated by leaving a blank space in the body of the letter!
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When an official letter reached the addressee, his secretary wrote the date of arrival and reading of it on the back with the words "arz dida shud." Farmāns granting lands or favours were always issued as the result of suit paid to a minister or other favourite at Court for influencing the Emperor, and the name of such 'intermediary' was entered on the back of the farmān by means of the word rasālatun ('through the medium of'). In this connection, I must cite the parallel practice of ancient Hindu inscriptions of land-grants giving the name of the intermediary (dutak) at the conclusion.
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The grand ceremony which the addressee had to hold to receive an imperial farmān, advancing many miles to welcome it, and then placing it on his head and rubbing it against his eyes, need not be described here.*
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§ 4. Classes of Letters and Their Names.
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The official letters of the Mughal empire fell into several classes, each with its distinctive name. They were—
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(i) *Farmān*, *shukka*, *āhkām* (plural noun wrongly used for the singular ; or was it a case of pluralis majestatis?), and, in the case of only one later collection of Aurangzib’s letters, *ramz-wa-ishāra*. These names meant any letter written by the Emperor directly or in his own person, to any other person, whether prince of the blood, subject, or foreign sovereign. (*Ruqa* is a vulgar modern name, which was never officially used.)
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(ii) *Nishān* or a letter from a prince of the blood imperial to any one except the Emperor.
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(iii) *Arzdāsht* (contraction *arzi*), a letter from any subject to the Emperor or a prince and also from a prince to the Emperor. A despatch of victory was technically called *Fath-nāmah*.
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(iv) *Hasb-ul-hukm*, (i.e., "By Order"), a letter written by a minister in his own person but under the Emperor’s directions and conveying his orders.
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∗ Some vassal kings of the Mughal empire (especially in the Deccan) built a mansion called *Farman-bari*, six or eight miles outside their capital, where they went to receive all farmans the coming of which was always intimated to them beforehand.
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(v) *Ahkām* and *ramz* (plural, *rumuz*). These terms should be confined to the notes of points and poetical and scriptural quotations dictated by the Emperor to his Secretary as materials for the official letters to be drafted in full in the conventional form afterwards. For Aurangzib’s closing years these notes have been preserved but not the full letters.
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(vi) *Sanad*, a letter of appointment. But the term *farman* was used in appointing viceroys.
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(vii) *Parwānah*, an administrative order or ruling to a subordinate official, usually the result of a suit at Court.
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(viii) *Dastak*, a short official pass or permit, mostly for the transit of goods or the admission of a person to the camp or Court.
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(ix) *Ruqa*, a private letter, or one between friend and friend.
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[*Mahzar-namah* is not included here, as it was merely a ‘law report,’ giving the result of a local investigation into a land dispute or criminal charge, with the names of the persons present (as jurors and witnesses to fact) and a summary of the evidence. Numerous examples of it from Maharashtra are given by Rajwade.]
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§ 5. The Official procedure for composing and signing farmans.
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Shah Jahan’s procedure is thus described by his official annalist, Abdul Hamid Lahori (I. A. 148) :— “In the *Diwān-i-khās* the Emperor wrote with his own hand replies to certain important letters. In reply to other letters which had been submitted to him by the Court agents (wakils) of the nobles, the wazir, or the officers appointed to read the despatches of the subahdars (ariza-khwān),—the Emperor expressed his pleasure orally and the Secretaries wrote out the farmans accordingly. Their drafts were then submitted to him and he corrected and improved their language and sense.
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"The prince who was given the power of risāla (mediatorship) used to write his rasālatun on the back of the farman and seal it with his own seal. Below the risala the diwan wrote his mārafat or a note of the fact that the farman was being transmitted through his hands. [Without this note the farmān was inoperative, as the English traders of Surat found to their disappointment, late in Aurangzib’s reign.] Then the farmans were sent to the harem to be sealed with the Auzak seal, of which the Empress had the keeping."
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Aurangzib’s procedure was the same, as we find in his Court-history, Alamgir-nāmah, p. 1101, which adds, "The beginnings of certain letters, addressed to the great nobles, were written by the Emperor with his own hand, in order to exalt and gratify the persons addressed, or to emphasise the urgency of the order and the importance of the matter written about, . . . . or to remove all doubt about their genuineness."
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The fair copy of the farman, written in a large and beautiful hand, on paper sprinkled with gold dust, was sealed, rolled up, and put in a long narrow bag of cloth of gold, the mouth of which was tied with coloured strings and sealed on wax with the seals of the wazir. Such bags were called kharitas, [Ain, i. 264 ; Purchas, ix. 50.] Many of these are still preserved in the Jaipur Palace.
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Now for the seals. The round small seal, containing only the Emperor's name, was called Auzak and was used for farmān-i-sibti, [i.e., letters-patent appointing to high offices, granting jagirs sayurghals and daily allowances. Ain, i. 260.] The large round seal, containing the Emperor's name in a circle in the centre, with the names of his ancestors up to Timur enclosed in rings round the centre,—was at first only used for letters to foreign kings, but later on affixed to all kinds of farmans. [Ain, i. 52.] Urgent or confidential orders were sealed with the imperial seal only and were called farmān-i-bayāzi. All other farmāns, parwānahs, and barāts were sealed by a host of officials from the wazir downwards. [Ibid, 263-264.]
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§ 6. The contents of the letter-book of a prince's or noble's secretary.
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A typical letter-book of the munshi of a prince or noble contained letters arranged as follows:—
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From his master to the Emperor* (with his replies in some cases).
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,, ,, ,, princes.
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,, ,, ,, ministers and other high officials and his own official subordinates.
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∗ Some of the letters were written in cypher (called murmuz in Persian and anka-pallavi in Hindi.) Examples of them (decoded) are given in the Adāb-i-Alamgiri and the Haft Anjuman.
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From his master to his friends, relatives and estate agents and wakil at Court.
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From the *munshi* to the above four classes (*a*) on his master's behalf, *i.e.*, letters of the type (but not style) of *Hasb-ul-hukms*, and (*b*) on his (*munshi's*) own behalf.
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From the *munshi* to his own relatives. [These are mostly worthless.]
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From the *munshi* to other *munshis* and poets,—in florid prose or verse, with a minimum of thought or fact and a maximum of words,—meant simply to show off his mastery of style and rhetoric (*munshi-ana*)!
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In the decadent 18th century, many letter-collections contain towards the end "model letters" and "blank forms" of letters appropriate to particular occasions, such as congratulating an Emperor or Nawab on his accession, birthday, victory, birth of a son, or the *Id* festivity,—or to be addressed to a person on his appointment to an office or promotion, victory, the birth or marriage of his son, *Id* congratulations, condolence in bereavement (interspersed with familiar quotations in verse, and with the name and relation of the bridegroom or the deceased person to be inserted in the blank spaces at the time of use). Also, blank forms of letters of appointment to various posts with charges as to their duties, are given. *Nigārnāmah-i-Munshi* and *Inshā-i-Harkarn* are examples of this kind. There is often a list of entitlature and of correct forms of address for different ranks and offices, at the end.