An overview of the article below
Dive
into the historical intricacies of Akbar's reign as we unravel the nuanced
Politics of Religious Dialogue between the Mughal Empire and the Portuguese.
This exploration unveils the strategic diplomacy employed by Akbar to foster
understanding and cooperation amid religious diversity, offering a compelling
narrative of cultural exchange and geopolitical dynamics.
In the annals of history, the reign of Akbar the Great stands as a testament to cultural richness and diplomatic finesse. One of the most intriguing chapters of this era is the interaction between the Mughal Empire, led by the visionary Akbar, and the Portuguese, a maritime power with a strong presence in the Indian subcontinent. At the heart of this historical narrative lies the intricate tapestry of religious dialogue and political maneuvering.
Akbar's
Visionary Rule
Akbar,
the third ruler of the Mughal Empire, ascended to the throne in 1556 at the age
of 13. His reign marked a period of prosperity and innovation, characterized by
a commitment to religious tolerance and a keen interest in cultural exchange.
Akbar envisioned a harmonious coexistence of diverse religious communities
within his empire, fostering an atmosphere cozducive to dialogue.
The
Portuguese Presence
Contemporaneously,
the Portuguese were establishing a maritime empire with a notable presence in
the Indian Ocean. Their influence extended along the western coast of India,
creating intersections with the powerful Mughal Empire. This convergence set
the stage for a complex interplay of political, economic, and religious
dynamics.
Dynamics
of Religious Dialogue
Akbar's
commitment to religious dialogue was not merely an ideological stance but a
pragmatic strategy. Recognizing the diversity within his realm, he initiated
discussions among scholars of different faiths, creating an intellectual
environment that encouraged understanding and tolerance. This approach, known
as "sulh-e-kul" or universal peace, aimed at fostering unity amid
religious diversity.
The Portuguese, primarily Catholic, navigated the complex landscape of religious diversity in India. The interactions between Mughal officials and Portuguese emissaries often involved discussions on matters of faith, trade, and political alliances. Akbar's court became a melting pot of cultures and ideas, where scholars from various backgrounds engaged in fruitful dialogues.
Diplomacy
in Action
Akbar's
diplomatic acumen was particularly evident in his dealings with the Portuguese.
The Mughal emperor sought to balance his diplomatic overtures with pragmatism,
recognizing the benefits of a stable relationship with the maritime power. The
Portuguese, in turn, navigated the intricacies of Mughal politics, leveraging
their naval strength for strategic advantage.
Legacy
and Impact
The
legacy of Akbar's commitment to religious dialogue and diplomacy is enduring.
His reign laid the foundation for a syncretic culture that thrived on
diversity, influencing art, architecture, and governance. While the Mughal-Portuguese
interactions were not without tensions, they underscored the possibilities of
coexistence in a world of diverse beliefs and practices.
In conclusion, the era of Akbar, the Portuguese, and the politics of religious dialogue remains a compelling chapter in history. It illuminates the art of diplomatic finesse, cultural exchange, and the forging of connections amid religious diversity. This historical tapestry continues to inspire discussions on tolerance, understanding, and the potential for harmony in a world marked by differences.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Akbar, the Portuguese and the Politics of Religious Dialogue[1]
Pius Malekandathil / Professor, CHS, JNU, New Delhi
(A chapter in Pius Malekandathil, The Mughals, the Portuguese and the Indian Ocean: Changing Imageries of Maritime India, Primus Books, New Delhi, 2013, pp.13-38)
The last quarter of Akbar’s reign was marked by an intense phase of multi-religious discourse, in which the dialogue between the Jesuit missionaries from the Portuguese world and Akbar stands out as a remarkable feat of civilzational encounter in medieval India. The vague beginnings of the Mughal-Portuguese contacts could be traced back to the period between 1572 and 1577, when the weight of the Mughal power was extended to the coastal borders of Bengal and Gujarat, where the bulk of the trade was carried out chiefly by the Portuguese casado traders. The Gujarat and Bengal conquests not only highlighted to the Mughals the resourcefulness of these areas but also the need to negotiate and compromise with the Portuguese for realizing the goals for which these maritime regions were annexed. On the other hand , the Portuguese, who had lost their best ally in India with the defeat of Vijayanagara ruler in the battlefield of Talikota in 1565, suddenly noticed the resource-potentials of the emerging Mughal power, that could be approached as a politico-economic partner and potential supporter for their endeavours.
By the end 1570s Akbar had undergone a radical transformation both in his political stature and in his perceptions, particularly about the various belief systems and religious practices. From the initial Shii influence of Bairam Khan he had moved over to the Sunni orthodoxy and then had reached an ideological stage of accommodating multiculturalism, which correspondingly went hand in hand with the expansion of his political stature from a regional chieftain to a Muslim ruler and finally an emperor wielding authority by welding together peoples of different faiths and cultures, besides territories of different resources and values.[2] The Portuguese had also undergone a great amount of change by this time; from the project of monopoly trade in the Indian Ocean they had moved over to the position of custom collectors against the background of increasing fiscal crisis and financial problems and the consequent handing over of actual trading activities of Asia into the hands of the Portuguese private traders and their collaborators , while the Indo-European trade was handed over to the big business houses of Germany and Italy like the Fuggers, the Welsers and Rovellascas.[3] It was against this background of declining material fortunes of the Portuguese state that the missionaries working under Portuguese Padroado system, stimulated very much by the teachings of the Trent Council (1545-63), started carrying out their conversion projects to the heartland of the great gun powder empires like the Mughals, the Safavids, the Mings and the Ottomans, which in fact caused to happen another form of Portuguese expansion in the interior of Asia.[4]
There was a convergence of multiple intentions in the religious dialogues that were initiated between the Jesuit missionaries and Akbar, even though the Portuguese missionaries came principally with a conversion project and Akbar approached it with an inquisitive mind. Often there were motives other than religious that necessitated the “religious dialogues” to continue in that format for the purpose of legitimately implementing the agenda of the directors of the drama that happened to stand different from the intentions of the actual actors of the drama. The central purpose of this chapter is to analyze and situate the dialogical process in the entire context of politico-economic developments that happened simultaneously and to see the nuanced logic that operated behind the curtain.
Historical Setting
The Portuguese, who came initially for trade, did not focus much on conversion till 1540s and the few missionaries who accompanied the Portuguese sailors and mariners confined their activities mostly to the spiritual care of the Lusitanians.[5] The conversion to Christianity that took place because of the work of these Portuguese missionaries during this period was relatively less and the most of important among them was the conversion of 1000 Arayans of Cochin in 1510,[6] conversion of a few Nairs and Panikkars[7] and some women who wanted to marry the Portuguese.[8] However after 1540s there happened mass conversions in many parts of coastal Asia, which began principally with the stimulus given by the Trent Council and also with the arrival of the Jesuits in Goa and Cochin in 1542 immediately after its very founding in Europe.[9] Eventually tens and thousands of people were converted all over Asia, particularly along the coast by zealous missionaries including St.Francis Xavier.[10] Eventually the evangelization work by the Portuguese missionaries in India was systematized and institutionalized by setting up an Archdiocese in Goa in 1558 with suffragan dioceses at Cochin as well as Malacca.[11] The major religious orders of the Franciscans(1518), Jesuits( 1542), the Dominicans (1548)and the Augustinians(1572) , who came to India as a part of the Portuguese ecclesiastical system of Padroado, established their Provincial houses for each in Goa and regional houses in Cochin, Bassein, Bengal, Nagapattinam, Mylapore etc., where they used to engage in evangelization work.[12]
Meanwhile dialogues of different nature were also initiated with power centres and prominent political actors of different resourceful regions of India through the medium of Padroado missionaries, which became intensified in 1540s. In this processes the Franciscan friars got involved in the chain of dialogues with the king of Tanur in Kerala( in1540s),which made him temporarily embrace Christianity;[13] however in Ceylon the Franciscans entered into a much more long-standing interaction with Dharmapala of Kotte( and 1550s) converting him to Christianity.[14] The Portuguese managed to get Hasan, the Muslim king of Maldives, converted to Christianity under the name Dom Manuel in 1550s;[15] however in 1552 because of popular protest, he had to flee away from Maldives to the city of Cochin, where he and his sons (Dom João and Dom Paulo and grandson Dom Filipe)had to live in exile for the rest of their life.[16] In the beginning of the seventeenth century Augustinian Friars were sent from Goa to the court of Shah Abbas of Safavid Persia both for political negotiations and evangelization work, [17] which finally led to the establishment of an Augustinian monastery in Shiraz in 1626.[18] Meanwhile there got initiated interactions with the Asian part of Ottoman empire , which was carried out principally through the Augustinian monastery erected at Basra in 1624.[19] However the most striking and the long-lasting among the negotiations that the Portuguese launched with any political houses in Asia was the one that the Jesuits had with the Mughal rulers from 1580 till 1759.[20]
After having erased the threats from Pashtun descendants and defeated Hemu,[21] Akbar launched a programme of conquering a major chunk of north India in 1560s and attempted to weld together the annexed terrains, which were politically complex and culturally different, through a process of marriage alliances followed by intense religious dialogues and the policy of sulhi kull in the post-1580 period.[22] Complex processes including multiple matrimonial alliances with the families of the defeated rulers, religious dialogues with the representatives of those belief systems, whose adherents were economically and socially powerful in the empire with their incorporation under Mughal umbrella and construction of a chain of cities in key resource-yielding locations as empire-sustaining pillars of the Mughals were resorted to by Akbar as modalities for consolidating his position and power over the newly conquered far-flung territories.[23]
It should be here specially mentioned that representatives from all the religions of the world were not invited by Akbar for religious discourses and more interestingly the representatives of Confucianism and Taoism from neighbouring China as well as Shintoism from Japan were never invited to his court for religious discussions nor were the representatives of tribal religions of India.[24] Only those religious groups, which had sizeable and significant followers in his empire or who were of some use, either economic or political, to the state at large and who would be some way helpful to promote the economic and political policies of Akbar in particular, were identified for the dialogue. Others were not even thought to be worthy of being invited. This preference towards dialogues with the representatives of those belief systems that were useful for and beneficial to his political and economic agenda is suggestive of the inner nuances embedded in the entire exercise. The establishment of Ibadat-Khana(1575),[25] and the holding of long chain of religious dialogues in the court of Akbar could be traced back to the events following his conquest of extensive regions having multicultural population. With the inclusion of vast regions with diverse belief systems and heterodox ideologies, Akbar’s task was to consolidate and integrate the multicultural population into his evolving empire without giving them a chance to fall into the camps of rebels and opponents. The multiple marriage bonds, which Akbar had established with the vanquished political families and daughters of defeated rulers on the one hand, conveyed a message to them that the emerging state of Akbar was not alien, but very much a part of theirs. On the other hand it eventually started transforming the very outlook of Akbar from an orthodox Muslim to a tolerant ruler, conferring on him the remarkable ability to accommodate and respect plural belief systems and practices keeping in tune with his policy of sulhi-kull and the ideology of wahadat-al-wujud (existential monism) fast disseminated then by the Sufis, particularly Chishti Shaikh Salim to which he was intimately attached by this time.[26] In fact Ibn Arabi’s ideology of wahadat-ul-wujud, maintaining that everything comes from one and the same Being to which everything ultimately moves towards also upheld the notion of basic existential unity of people(besides the unity of God and the realm of created world) irrespective of caste and creed, which in turn made the ruler take an accommodative and tolerant policy towards the newly absorbed subjects belonging to diverse belief systems.[27] Simultaneously dialogue with the priests and teachers of the various prominent religions practiced in his empire was developed as a pliable device for building confidence among them and for incorporating them into the mainstream Mughal political system. With the increasing invitation of the religiously important people for the discussion in the power centre, the diverse religious groups were made to feel comfortable with the new turn of events following the conquests made by Akbar and were welded together integrally as essential social components of his state structure. Though annexations were made by his weapons of war, consolidation was done remarkably by multiple phases of religious dialogues where the people of different faith were made to feel important and reckoned, silencing and minimizing the rebellious potentials of the conquered people.
Now a question crops up as to why did Akbar want to have religious dialogue with the Portuguese, or why did he want the Portuguese Jesuits from Goa to be there in the delegation for religious discussions. Had his intentions been restricted merely to knowing the tenets and details of Christianity, there were many Armenian Christians in the imperial cities of Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and Lahore. We hear about one Dominic Peres, who was an Armenian Christian in the court of Akbar serving as the chief interpreter at the durbar of the emperor with fluency in Persian.[28] Moreover Christians of varying origin were also living in the city as traders, as is evident from the letter of Rudolf Acquaviva sent to the Jesuit provincial of Goa in 1580.[29] It trigs off the question, why Akbar opted for the Portuguese instead of the Asian Christians to have dialogue on Christianity?. Was the desire really to know the truth about Christianity or was it used as a pretext for dialoguing with the power domains of the Portuguese and for securing immunities for the Mughal ventures? As is obvious, a conclusive and exhaustive answer cannot be given to it. However the rationale, objectives and the nuances of the entire process of the initial dialogues between Akbar and the Jesuits are to be seen against the timing and the sequence of historical developments that took place concomitantly. [30]
The farman of Akbar sent in 1578 to Goa through his ambassador Dominic Peres and now available in Portuguese language says that he wanted “two learned priests, books of law and Bible” to be sent to him. [31] Now the question is if it was to get learned priests, then why Akbar invited the Jesuits from Goa, and why not from Cochin ? In fact Fr. Gil Eanes Pereira , whom Akbar invited from Bengal in 1579 for initial talks on Christian religion was a priest (canonist) from Cochin and he was then working in Satgaon in Bengal, which actually came under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Cochin diocese.[32] There were many highly learned and scholarly Jesuit priests then residing at the Jesuit college of Madre de Deus of Cochin, with at least some of whom Fr. Gile Eanes Pereira must also have been familiar as a priest belonging to the diocese of Cochin. Towards the end of the sixteenth century out of total 48 Jesuits in India 23 were in Cochin, suggesting that Cochin had almost half of the Jesuits members.[33] In fact the Mughal court did not then come under the jurisdictional boundaries of either the diocese of Cochin and the Jesuit house of Cochin or the Archdiocese of Goa and the Jesuit house of Goa, as there was no reason till then for the extension of the dividing boundary lines between the two up to the court of the Mughals. The preference shown to the Jesuit priests from Goa is evidently suggestive of Akbar’s desire for linkage with the Portuguese power centre of Goa. The accompanying letter of Peter Tavares to the farman of Akbar of 1578 conscientiously depicts the weight of Akbar’s power in a fascinating way with the purpose of impressing upon the Portuguese authorities of Goa as to get a positive response to Akbar. This letter says that the king (Akbar) ‘is so powerful that there are 70 tributaries under him, with 300,000 men of horses and 20, 000 elephants, besides 16,000 horses in the stable. He has 14, 000 deers out of which 4000 are brought up in the house and 700 domesticated panthers and 10, 000 oxen to draw the cart, 500, 000 birds. Each day for preparing food about 1500 birds are killed in his house. He has a postal system to carry letters, 20, 000 men on horses for guarding him and 500 brave elephants to guard the palace in the night.’ [34] These details evidently suggest that along with the dispatch of the farman of Akbar to Goa there was a concomitant attempt to project to the authorities in Goa about the weight and nature of the power and might that Akbar actually wielded. Fr.Gil Eanes Pereira, who visited Akbar in 1579 on his invitation wrote a letter from Fatehpur Sikri to the Archbishop of Goa, probably as persuaded by the emperor, in which he speaks of the promise of Akbar to build a grand church almost similar to the St.Paul’s Church of Goa and to protect the priests and the Portuguese.’[35] The Portuguese version of the story gives the impression that Akbar was earnestly trying to get connected with Goa by showering promises to the Jesuit priests in return for their participation in the religious dialogues, besides offering assistance to the Portuguese at a time, when they were increasingly attacked by the Deccani forces in 1570s following the defeat of Vijayanagara in the battle of Talikotta (1565).[36]
Conquest of Bengal and Gujarat and the Exigencies for a Luso-Mughal Dialogue
Akbar’s encounter with the Portuguese started with the conquest of Bengal and Gujarat, through whose ports the land-locked Mughals secured exposure and outlets to the maritime space of Indian Ocean. The conquest of Muzaffrid Gujarat (1572-3) made Akbar the master of the vibrant Portuguese ports of Surat, Broach and Cambay, while the occupation of Bengal( 1574-6) facilitated him to have the market systems of the Mughal territories linked with the Lusitanian trade centres of Chittagong, Satgaon and Buttor (Betor–Howrah).[37] Obviously the move for conquering Gujarat and Bengal was motivated by the desire of Akbar to get linked with the maritime trade of these regions, around which the entire circulation and distribution networks of north India revolved. The ports of Bengal and Gujarat were virtually the doors through which gold, silver and other necessary goods for the empire from overseas markets entered Mughal territory, besides being the outlets for the finished products to the wider circuit of commerce in the Indian Ocean. The estimate of about 82.80 tons of silver being minted in Gujarat(at Ahmedabad mint) in the period between 1586-95[38] shows the large inflow of silver to the ports of Gujarat during this period which in fact made Akbar conquer this highly priced geography from the Muzaffarids and incorporate it as a part of Mughal empire.
The coast of Gujarat had been the base for many Ottoman adventurers and traders connected with Ottoman markets, who had moved towards the kingdom of Muzaffarid seeking a better livelihood. Malik Ayaz, a Muslim slave convert from Russian orthodox Christianity, had already been in the service of the Muzaffarids from 1484 onwards, [39] who later liberated him from his slave status and made him the governor of Junagadh
(Sorath) and Diu.[1] With a fighting force , consisting of one lakh horses , one hundred elephants, a number of cannons, cannoneers, musketeers and archers,[2] and a number of Turkish soldiers in his side [3] Malik Ayaz was in fact the merchant governor of Diu till 1521, when he fell out of the good books of the sultan. Meanwhile Khwaja Safar, who was originally an Albanian Catholic and later entered the service of the Mamluks of Egypt[4] moved to Gujarat with his harem, wealth of 300,000 cruzados, besides lot of jewellery, and a fighting force of 600 Turkish soldiers as well as a few pieces of artillery.[5] By 1537 he was one of the leading merchants of Diu[6] and it was because of his long-term links with the Ottomans that the Turkish forces were repeatedly invited to Gujarat to fight against the Portuguese in 1538 and 1546.[7] By 1538 he was appointed as the governor of Surat,[8] from which capacity he extended his commerce to the chief ports of the Ottomans in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. Under his governorship Surat was made to evolve as the principal trading centre of Gujarat competing with Diu, whose commercial links were principally linked with the Portuguese trading zones, while those of Surat were connected with the Ottoman world. With the conquest of Gujarat, Akbar wanted to appropriate the various social groups and traders of Gujarat linked with Ottoman commerce and their far flung markets for the purpose expanding the trade of the Mughals and for getting linked with the Ottoman world of coommerce. It must be here mentioned that even after Akbar’s occupation of Surat, the post of captain of Surat was given for some time to people of Turkish origin as in the case of Qilij Khan Andijani(1580), who was originally a Turk and started sending ships to the Ottoman ports of Red Sea without the Portuguese cartaz or licence , which led to a chain of conflicts between the Portuguese and the Mughals during the period between 1581 and 1585.[9]
On the Mughal conquest of Gujarat, the Portuguese merchants visited Akbar in 1573 and paid obeisance to him as a part of the strategy to survive and conduct trade in the changed situation. Akbar also did not want to enter into direct conflict with the Portuguese, either. Hence, he spared the Portuguese of Daman even when he occupied Surat located in its vicinity.[49] Moreover he tried to take the Portuguese private traders into confidence and ensure their trading activities in the ports of Bengal by appointing Peter Tavares, the Portuguese captain of Satgaon, as one of his officers.[50] It was at this juncture of having conquered the maritime zones of Bengal and Gujarat, where the Portuguese maintained a dominant position in trade, navigation and military affairs that Akbar invited Gil Eanes Pereira, a priest from Cochin working then as parish priest in Bengal to visit him at Fatehpur Sikri in March 1579.[51] Though the letter of Fr.Gil Eanes Pereira gives us the impression that it was on his advice that the Jesuits were invited for the dialogue, the truth seems to have been something quite different. As early as December 1578 , much before Fr.Gil Eanes Pereira being invited by Akbar and his subsequent arrival in Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar had issued a farman to the Jesuit Fathers of Goa for the purpose of obtaining Jesuits from Goa.[52]
The re-reading of the sources makes us situate the process of Akbar- Jesuit dialogue in the larger politico-economic developments that took place concomitantly. In fact the timing of the dialogue corresponds to a period of heightened tension between Akbar and the Portuguese, which eventually moved to the verge of almost turning the entire Mughal forces against the Portuguese. The conflicts actually revolved around the vessels going for Haj pilgrimage and bringing back huge cargo in return, without paying customs duty to the revenue farmers of Diu. Haj, as we have argued elsewhere, besides being a religious exercise of pilgrimage, was the largest moving market in the medieval and early modern times and was also the important economic channel for obtaining precious cargo including bullions from Jiddah, Mocha and other markets of Red Sea.[53] As early as 1573 Akbar had made agreement with the Portuguese, adhering to which the latter started issuing every year free cartaz to a Mughal imperial ship going for Haj pilgrimage from Surat and granted exemption of customs duty on the cargo that it brought back [54] We know that Akbar later appointed an officer called Mir Haj for organizing Haj pilgrimage, who took the first group of Mughal pilgrims consisting of Akbar’a aunt Gulbadan Begam, the empress Salima Sultan Begam and a few high born women in 1576 from Surat to Jiddah in the ship Ilahi.[55] Eventually when the pilgrim vessels returning from Jiddah took large bulk of cargo from Arabia, the farmers of revenue at Diu started capturing these vessels demanding customs duty. In August 1577 about five vessels returning from Jiddah but loaded with different types of cargo and the imperial ship with gold and silver worth the value of 600,000 cruzados were captured by the revenue-farmers at Diu, which created intense tension between Akbar and the Portuguese.[56] The Mughal governor of Gujarat had to plead before the Portuguese Viceroy to return the vessels to Akbar. Though finally things were sorted out and the vessel of Akbar was given back, it created a lot of tension and heat, which got aggravated with the spread of rumour that the Portuguese would henceforth impede the movement of ships from Surat to Jiddah. On hearing about it Akbar got disturbed and asked Quli Khan, one of the most powerful Mughal administrators of Gujarat to go to the seashore and do the needful for facilitating the Haj pilgrims to make their onward voyage to Jiddah.[57] Akbar seems to have realized by this time that his encouragement to Haj pilgrimage would satisfy a great segment of the orthodox elements of the Mughal society including the royal family members, which in turn would minimize their hostility towards his religious dialogues carried out with different belief systems, as a device to cement the mosaic structure of the empire. Over and above, there was an economic reason as well: The vessels going for Haj pilgrimage formed one of the main channels for the import of goods, particularly bullions for the minting of coins in the Mughal empire. At this juncture what Akbar wanted to have was a solution to ease the accumulated tension, that would facilitate the regular movement of Haj pilgrims from the port of Surat and regular flow of bullions in return.. It is against this background of efforts to ease the heightened tension of 1577 that one has to historically locate Akbar’s dispatching of an official deputation to Goa in 1578 inviting the Jesuit priests to Fatehpur Sikri for dialogue. Though the invitation was sent to initiate ‘religious dialogue’, the context shows that the motive was actually political and economic. He seems to have understood that the religious dialogue would be the best way to get into the process of negotiations with the Portuguese authorities, who had the habit of ostentatiously manifesting their leniency towards those expressed willingness to hear about Christianity.
The Portuguese also did not want to prolong the crisis any further. This is indicated in the haste with which the Jesuit missionaries rushed to the court of Akbar. On 28th February 1580 Fr. Rudolf Acquavia and Fr. Francis Henriques reached Fatehpur Sikri.[58] The third Jesuit missionary Fr. Antonio de Monserrate fell ill on the way at Narwar. But the other two did not wait for him to come; instead they hastened to the court of Akbar.[59] A great amount of hastiness and speed is visible in their rushing to the court without even waiting for their companion to join them. This was not mainly because of their religious enthusiasm alone, as one might suspect, but also because of the order of Akbar issued to Qutbu-d-din Khan in the very same month of February 1580 to mobilize Mughal forces from Malwa as well as Gujarat and to seek the help of Deccan rulers to fight against the Portuguese and to oust them from India.[60] This order in fact was the manifestation of the peak point of the tensions that had started in 1577, following the capture of Mughal vessels by the Portuguese and their impediment of Mughal vessels going from Surat to Jiddah. The Portuguese authorities did not want to get into such a political imbroglio at this juncture of time, when they were least prepared for it. The religious embassy of the Jesuit priests appeared as a mechanism that would repair the damages and normalize the relations between the two.
Personalities and Meanings of First
Jesuit Mission
When the farman from Akbar inviting Jesuits for religious dialogue reached Goa, there was a great amount of suspicion among the Portuguese authorities including the viceroy as to whether it was a part of the political game played at the Portuguese by Akbar against the background of intensified tension following the Portuguese capturing of Mughal vessels. Finally the decision to send the Jesuits to the court of Akbar was taken in November 1579 in a council attended by the Archbishop Henry de Tavora of Goa, the Jesuit Bishop Mathew de Medina of Cochin, Bishop John Ribeiro Gomes of Malacca and the Jesuit Bishop Leonard de Sa of Macao, who were then in Goa.[61] In the farman of 1578 Akbar had asked for only two Jesuit priests; however the Jesuit Provincial of Goa somehow wanted to send three priests for the purpose. Initially he identified two Jesuits from Goa viz.,Fr. Rudolf Acquaviva and Fr. Francis Henriques. His attempt to find the third one from Goa did not succeed, as Fr. Manoel Teixeira, the third priest earmarked for the mission from Goa was sick and the doctors cautioned that he might die on his way because of his sickness and Fr. João de Mesquita, who was later selected for the purpose was not finally included in the group for some reasons, when the first two departed.[62] The Provincial of the Jesuits led the group of two Jesuits along with the ambassador to Daman, from where he selected Fr. Antonio Monserrate to become the third member in the mission.[63] It was from Daman that the three members of the mission finally started their journey towards Fatehpur Sikri carrying the Plantine Bible brought from Goa.[64]
Though Akbar wanted to have Portuguese Jesuit priests from Goa, the three Jesuits, who formed the members of the first mission , were not ethnically Portuguese, but came from three different cultural worlds and were unified only by the political and ecclesiastical umbrella of the Portuguese. Fr. Rudolf Acquaviva , who was a younger son of the Duke of Atri in Naples, Italy was also the direct brother of two cardinals and nephew of Fr.Claudius Acquaviva, the future Superior General of the Jesuits in Rome. As a member of the powerful noble family of Italy, Fr. Rudolf Acquaviva carried along with him the spirit and seeds of Italian renaissance and elitist culture. He reached India in 1578, when he was only twenty eight years old, and was made the superior of the first Jesuit mission, immediately one year after his arrival in Goa[65] Akbar is said to have loved Rudolf Acquaviva more than his children[66] with keen interest to converse with him and was very reluctant to permit him to leave Fatehpur Sikri. His love for Rudolf Acquaviva was probably because of his training in Italian renaissance and elitist culture but later on his return from Mughal court in 1583 he went to Cuncolim in Goa for evangelization work, where he was martyred at the age of 33 along with three other Jesuits on 25th July 1583.[67] The contemporary letters and narratives of the first Jesuit dialogue revolve mostly around Fr. Rudolf Acquaviva , giving the impression that he was the key personality in the entire process. His skills, acumen and acceptability before Akbar are laudably narrated particularly in the accounts prepared after Acquaviva’s martyrdom at a very young age at Cuncolim and his subsequent beatification.[68]
Fr.Francis Henriques, the second Jesuit priest to join the mission from Goa, was in fact a Muslim convert from Ormuz and was made a part of the mission for reasons of his fluency in Persian language.[69] He was born in Ormuz around 1538; but later entered Jesuit Order and worked as a priest initially in Bassein and Thana.[70] He was a robust person and was 42 years old when he reached Akbar’s court in 1580. He was the first to return from Akbar’s court and on reaching Goa he worked at St.Paul’s College of Goa both as a minister and procurator of the institution.[71] It is quite interesting to note that Fr. Francis Henriques was mentioned as “a man”,[72] or at times as “another of the priests”[73] without mentioning his name, when reference to him was made in several parts of the commentary of Father Monserrate. However in several of the Jesuit letters sent both by the participants of the dialogue and the various officials of the Jesuits in Asia, his role in the first phase of dialogue is well highlighted.[74]
Fr. Antonio Monserrate was from Catalonia in Spain and was about 44 years old when he reached Akbar’s court in 1580.[75] Joining Jesuit Order in 1556[76] he is said to have reached Goa from Portugal in 1574.[77] On reaching Goa , he initially served as Pai dos Christãos, a post that was instituted to look after the affairs of the new converts to Christianity. [78] At Fatehpur Sikri, it was Fr. Antonius Monserrate who taught prince Murad ( Pahari) the Portuguese language and matters related to Christian faith.[79] He accompanied Akbar in 1581 in his march against his half brother, Mirza Muhammad Hakim, king of Kabul, when he attacked Punjab.[80] Probably because of his Catalonian origin, Monserrate was asked by Akbar in 1582 to accompany his embassy to Europe,[81] particularly to Pope and Philip II of Spain, who had by this time brought under his control not only Portugal but also the Portuguese possessions in Asia. [82] However Antonio Monserrate stopped at Goa. In 1588 the Jesuit provincial entrusted him with another mission to go to Ethiopia and on his way he was arrested and imprisoned at Dhafar.[83]
Fr. Rudolf Acquaviva and Fr. Francis Henriques reached the court of Akbar on 28th February 1580, without waiting for Fr. Monserrate who had fallen sick on the way to join them. They took almost 43 days for their travel from Daman to Fatehpur Sikri, where they were warmly received by Akbar.[84] The beginnings of the dialogue happened with the presentation on 4th March 1580 of the seven volume-Plantine polyglot Bible printed at Antwerp during the period between 1569 and 1572. However, it was only on 4th August 1580 that Fr. Monserrate joined his companions at Fatehpur Sikri, after having regained good health.[85]
Aini Akbari speaks synoptically of the nature of the dialogue that happened between the Jesuit priests and Akbar in the first mission and the religious meanings derived therefrom:
“Learned
monks came from Europe, who go by the name Padre. They have an infallible head,
called Papa. He can change any religious ordinances as he may think advisable ,
and kings have to submit to his authority. These monks brought the gospel, and
mentioned to their emperor their proofs for the Trinity. His Majesty firmly
believed in the truth of the Christian religion, and wishing to spread the
doctrines of Jesus ordered Prince
Murad to take a few lessons in Christianity by way of auspiciousness , and
charged Abu l-Fazl to translate the gospel. Instead of the usual Bism’ Ilah r-rahman ‘r-rahim the
following lines were used: Ay nam-i tu
Jesus o Kristu( O thou those names are Jesus and Christ), which means , “O
thou whose name is gracious and blessed”, and shaykh Fayzi added another half,
in order to complete the verse Subhana-k
la siwa-k Yahu(We praise Thee, there is no one besides Thee, O God!)”[86]
Though in the religious debates, issues related to Holy Scriptures,
divinity of Jesus, revealed status of Christianity and meanings of the notion
of Trinity came up frequently,[87]
the Jesuit priests often drifted towards attacking vigorously Islam and prophet
Muhammed in a manner unfit for the people engaged in dialogue, following which
Akbar himself had to advise them to be less vigorous in their words.[88]
Though they learned Persian very soon, Akbar was not interested in listening to
what the missionaries told, either. Fr. Rudolf Acqaviva depicts the
characteristic feature of Akbar during the process of dialogue: “He was a bad
listener and never heard an explanation till the end and started a new subject
of discussion before listening to the explanations given to the earlier
queries”.[89]
Eventually the missionaries realized that Akbar could hardly be convinced to
get converted to Christianity. Seeing the futility of the dialogical process
the missionaries wanted earnestly to return to Goa, which Akbar did not allow
immediately. Giving the impression that he is still interested in hearing about
Christianity, Akbar prolonged the stay of the Jesuits at Fatehpur Sikri till a
point of time when the heat and tensions about the vessels going to Jidda for Haj pilgrimage and trade, got relatively
subsided and when Haj vessels started
moving up and down without being harassed by the Portuguese.[90]
As we have seen even when the first Jesuits wanted to return to Goa because of the frustration and disappointment that they felt about their initial dialogical endeavours in the Mughal court, Akbar was reluctant to let them go. Even when he permitted them to go, he selectively decided as to who should go first and who should leave his court last, which suggests that the utility of the missionaries for his plans decided the course of the entire thing. Fr.Francis Henriques, who was included in the mission because of his knowledge in Persian, was the first to be allowed by Akbar to leave his court and he reached Goa on 6th November 1581. This indicates the fact that he was not at all interested in listening to a Christian with fluency in Persian, which further is suggestive of his motive behind the entire exercise. Fr. Antonio de Monserrate was the second to get permission to go out of Akbar’s capital (1582); but he was given a responsibility to accompany the Mughal embassy, which was sent to Spain to felicitate Philip II on becoming the king of Portugal, a job that fell on his shoulder because of his Catalan origin. Fr. Rudolf Acquaviva was the last to leave Fatehpur Sikri, who was sent to Goa with a farman issued by Akbar to the provincial of Jesuits in February 1583. [91]
The missionaries seem to have acted in good faith and interacted with Akbar with the genuine hope of converting him to Christianity, probably not knowing the larger political frames within which they were made to play their earmarked roles by the two power exercising entities, who really did the dialogue behind the curtains. However the style of language used by them in the course of discussion shows that perhaps the Jesuit missionaries of the first mission, with great amount of militant spirit, might not have been the right type of people to do this kind of work in a royal court. They came with the ardent desire to convert the emperor in the way the king of Tanur(1548-1552) and the king of Maldives(1552) were earlier converted to Christianity. It was a time when missionaries in general believed that by converting the ruler the entire subjects could be brought to Christianity.
However, some Jesuit priests eventually seem to have got a partial sense of the larger drama happening in the name of religious dialogue. Fr. Francis Henriques , who despite his knowledge in Persian language was sent soon back from Fatehpur Sikri to Goa, passed on information explicitly to the Jesuit authorities that there was no hope for the conversion of Akbar. Fr. Mathaeus Ricci, the famous Italian Jesuit priest who introduced cultural adaptations in Christianity in Ming China, refers to the probable intention of Akbar for inviting Jesuits. He evidently says that ‘it was for the purpose of establishing peace with the Portuguese at a time, when …….Akbar was in war with his half-brother Muhammad Hakim Mirza.’ [92]
The observation of Fr.Mathaeus Ricci seems to have had significant
elements of truth, which will be clear only if the nature of ideologies that
sustained the opposing groups of Akbar and Hakim are analyzed. During the reign
of the Mughals different forms of ideologies were formulated out of different
versions of Islam and were used as mechanisms and “tools” to mobilize support for
grabbing power as well as for retaining position and authority. When Akbar’s
half-brother Muhammad Hakim Mirza consolidated all orthodox and conservative
elements and mobilized support of ulemas to fight against Akbar in 1580-81,
making his civil war a fight for religious reasons,[93]
Akbar resorting to multiculturalism and the ideology of wahadat-al-wujud tolerating pluralism used Jesuit priests as
visible symbols of his ideology. That must have been the reason why Fr. Antonio
Monserrate was made to accompany Akbar in his campaign against his half brother,
Muhammad Hakim Mirza.[94] In
fact this rebellion ultimately ended up in alienating Akbar from Islamic
orthodoxy [95] and
move more and more towards an accommodative fluvial religion. Moreover the
presence of Jesuit missionaries at the court also served to give a magnified
picture of Akbar’s power to his rebel brother and others,[96] silently
giving the message that there was the backing of the Portuguese world behind him.
Religious Dialogue on the Stage and Trade behind the Curtains
Now a set of questions come to our mind: Why did Akbar want to have the stay of Jesuit priests prolonged, despite their eagerness to return to Goa? Why did he further want to get missionaries to his court, which made the Portuguese authorities to send Jesuits in 1591 and in 1595?[97] Though the second Jesuit mission reached the court of Akbar in 1591, it returned to Goa very soon.[98] On receiving a message from Akbar in 1594 to send another mission to Akbar’s court in Lahore, the provincial was bit reluctant. Finally he chose Fr. Jerome Xavier, Fr. Emmanuel Pinheiro and Bro.Benedict de Gões as members for the third mission that reached Lahore in 1595.[99] Why did the Goan authorities still continue to send missionaries in spite of the disappointing report from the court of Akbar by the early missionaries? What was happening behind the curtains of the stage on which religious dialogue was acted ?
Tentative answers to these questions are to be sought also in the economic developments that took place meanwhile in the Mughal territory and particularly in the diverse steps taken by Akbar to promote and activate trade through the ports of Bengal and Gujarat, which were ably protected from probable Portuguese attacks through the process of ‘dialogues’ with the Jesuits. After the occupation of the ports of Gujarat and Bengal, we find Akbar increasingly focusing on trade, not only on the import of bullions for minting coins, but also on the export of manufactured goods from the Mughal territories. Dialogue with the Jesuits was used as a means for realizing the commercial rapport with the Portuguese and for the consequent integration of Mughal economy with the circuits in the maritime space of Indian Ocean.
The diverse economic programmes and mechanisms developed by Akbar for promoting trade stretched over a long span of time from 1570s till his death. The long chain of towns that he founded or re-founded like Agra( which became the capital of the Mughals 1565-1571; 1598-) Fatehpur Sikri (1571-. 1585) Allahabad(1583) Lahore(1585-1598), [100] and the creation of nobility, who turned out to be strong consumption class, with remarkably high abilities of spending activated the economy both in the manufacturing of finished products as well as in their exchange processes. Towns turned out to be the major habitat for the nobles and the jagirs which the nobles used to receive under mansabdari system introduced by Akbar, provided immense wealth for their spending, stimulating the economic activities of craft production and distribution of finished products both in forward and backward directions. With a salary of Rs. 25 per month for a Muslim cavalry man having three horses and Rs.30,000 per mensem as zat salary of a noble of 5000 of the first rank,[101] there was a great amount of wealth being pumped into the market, augmenting the numerical strength and purchasing power of consumption class and consequently accelerating demand for textiles, silken clothes, carpets of silk, tapestry etc. Abul Fazl says that Akbar had ordered that people of certain rank should wear only certain articles, evidently with a view to augmenting their demand and consequently their production.[102] The lavish spending and the ostentatious consumerial behaviour of the nobles as well as the moneyed groups were increasingly viewed as indexes for their social standing and manufacturing activities of different nature that catered to the needs of the emerging consumption class, got widely disseminated in towns and in their vicinities, followed by intensification of secondary sector production and acceleration of trade oriented towards overseas markets.
Concomitant to the process of dialogues with the Jesuits there was a technological innovation that Akbar aimed at for the purpose of accelerating the process of craft production and subsequently trade. Akbar introduced new technologies for improving the process of textile- manufacturing. Akbar got craftsmen trained in the manufacturing of silken clothes, brocade, tapestry and carpets of silk and brocade in India with a view to making Indian pieces excel the Persian and European ones.[103] Efficient masters and experts brought to India by Akbar gave instructions in textile production, at times mixing the Iranian, European and Chinese patterns with Indian. Very often the cities of Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Lahore and Ahamedabad became the laboratories where these technological experiments were frequently done and these cities eventually became the major pockets for craft-production. [104] The intensified production of silk and textiles and their trade in Mughal terrain is attested to by Aini Akbari, which gives a long list of cotton clothes, like khasa(whose price varied between 3 rupees and 15 mohur, per piece ), chautar (three rupees to 9 mohur), malmal( 4 rupees),tansukh, gangajal( four rupee to five mohur) and bhiraun( four rupee to four mohur). A wide variety of other cotton clothes like salu mihrkul, siri saf, sahan, jhona, atan, asawali, bafta, mahmudi, panchtoliya, jhola etc., were also taken to the Mughal urban markets for trade..[105] With the increase in production of textiles over and above the local demand, they were increasingly taken for exchange through the sea ports of Bengal and Gujarat. It used to take forty-three days for the commodities from Fatehpur Sikri to reach Surat and other ports of Gujarat via Narwar and Mandu, as is evident from the travel time needed for the first Jesuit missionaries to reach the capital of Akbar. [106] Surat-Burhanpur-Agra route[107] was the most frequented channel for commodity movements to coastal Gujarat, while the Surat-Ahmedabad-Agra route was also equally active and vibrant during this period.[108]
From Agra commodities were taken to the ports of Bengal with the help of barges[109], as well . However the Grant Trunk road , built by Sher Shah initially from Attock to Delhi[110] and later extended as to form a route from Agra to Sonargaon in east Bengal[111] was the major channel for commodity movement from the Mughal hinterland to the eastern maritime borders of the empire, wherefrom the Portuguese carried the cargo to wider trading world of Asia and Europe. Though Sher Shah constructed the road, it was Akbar who made maximum use out of it, by introducing new technologies and promoting craft production activities in the junctional points of this trade route and consequent linking of these centres with the maritime trading posts controlled by the Portuguese. Through the ongoing dialogues with the Jesuits, Akbar ensured an economic rapport with the Portuguese, whereby good relationship with the latter was maintained and goods produced in the Mughal hinterland were absorbed by either the Portuguese or their collaborators in Bengal or Gujarat for further trade in Asia and Europe.
Obviously commodities reaching the ports of Bengal and Gujarat from the Mughal hinterland were purchased and taken to larger market systems by merchants having trans-regional networks, which in most cases could only be then done by the Portuguese, who were the only European traders in the Indian Ocean at that point of time. Moreover the Portuguese help was very much essential to procure spices needed for the consumption class in Mughal India, besides bullions needed for minting the Mughal currencies of rupees and mohurs. We have innumerable evidences for the large scale diversion of pepper and other spices from Cochin to Bengal by the Portuguese casados from 1540s onwards, which got intensified after 1570s through the licence systems and the Mughal markets formed one of the final destinations for the spices thus diverted through Bengal.[112] Pepper, cardamom , ginger and cloves became essential ingredients of the cuisine of the Mughal nobility, as a result of which the price of cloves rose to 60 dam per ser, cardamom 52 dam, pepper 17 dam and dried ginger 4 dam respectively. [113]
The nuanced background against which the Akbar-Jesuit dialogue was carried out shows that the exercise was greatly motivated by Akbar’s desire to promote the trading activities in the ports of Gujarat and Bengal with the help of the Portuguese. The activation that Akbar had given to production process by setting up new technology and textile designs would not have got the desired result unless and until it was linked with trade, which could not be carried out without the help of the Portuguese. The Portuguese authorities on the other hand were also equally enthusiastic about entertaining the request of Akbar to continue the dialogue in his court through the medium of Jesuits, despite the initial disillusionment, as they found in him a commercial and political partner, which they seriously missed after the fall of the Vijayanagara in the battle field of Talikotta.
Thus the analysis of the politico-economic processes within which Akbar-Jesuit dialogues were held at three different time phases, evidently suggests that it was more than a religious dialogue, though the vocabularies used and very often the personalities involved were religious. Behind the process of religious discussions, another dialogue was going on, which was more political in nature and economic in effect , where there were intense engagements and negotiations with the different spheres and domains of power exercise between Akbar, the ruler of inland India and the Portuguese, the rulers of the coastal India. As Christian religion provided the conduit for this multi-faceted interaction process, Christian religious articles, paintings, literature, subscribers to the new faith started appearing in the Mughal court and among the elite segments of the society in differing degrees, adding a new thread to the mosaic fabric of the society. The three phases of dialogues that Akbar had with the Jesuits turned out to be the fulcrum around which the commercial and political dimensions Luso-Mughal relations took concrete shape. Finally the Portuguese got access to the wide variety of commodity streams coming from Mughal territory, besides being carriers for the goods destined for the Mughal markets. Concomitant to this process of dialogue between Akbar and the Jesuits were frequent commodity movements from the Mughal production centres to the Portuguese maritime trade posts in Bengal and Gujarat and to the Mughal port of Surat.
[1] This is a revised version of the
paper presented in the International Seminar on Akbar and his Milieu, organized at Tellicherry by IRISH, 8-10
February, 2007
[2] Sanjay Subrahmanyam , “Turning the
Stones over: Sixteenth Century Millenarianism from the Tagus to the Ganges”, in
Indian Economic and Social History Review,
40, 2, 2003, p. 149
[3] Pius Malekandathil , The Germans, the Portuguese and India,
Münster, 1999, pp.75-96
[4] For details see Antonio da Silva Rego (ed.), Documentação para a Historia das Missões do Padroado Portugues do
Oriente, vol. XI, Lisboa, 1955, pp.202-222; Pius Malekandathil, Jornada of Dom Alexis de Menezes: A
Portuguese Account of the sixteenth Century Malabar, Kochi, 2003,
pp.517-591;Arnulf Hartmann, Historia das
Missões dos Padres Augustinianos na India nos Principios do 18 seculo, escrita
pelo P.Fr. Jorge da Presentação Missionario, p.198; Antonio de Gouveia, Relações da Persia e do Oriente, Lisboa,
1609
[5] From 1514 onwards, the spiritual care of all the Portuguese in
India was brought under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the diocese of
Funchal located in the Atlantic. João de Barros, Asia. Dos
feitos que os Portugueses fizeram no Descobrimento e Conquista dos Mares e
Terras do Oriente, Decada I, livro
1, Lisboa, 1973, capitulo, 3; Maria Levy
Jordão(ed.),Bullaruium Patronatus
Portugaliae Regum in Ecclesiis Africae, Asiae atque Oceaniae, tom.I,
Olisipone, 1868, p.170. Till the erection of Funchal diocese all the Christians
in the newly discovered territories were directly catered to by the Order of
Christ
[6] Antonio da Silva Rego (ed.), Documentação para a Historia das Missões do Padroado Portugues do
Oriente, vol. I, Lisboa, 1948, doc.75, pp.202-222
[7] Ibid., vol.I, doc. 108, p.225
[8] Ibid., vol.I, doc. 10, p.44;
doc.110, pp.232-9
[9] Fortunato de Almeida, Historia da Igreja em Portugal, vol.II,
Porto, 1968, p.169; Gervasis J.Mulakara, History
of the Diocese of Cochin: European Missionaries in Cochin, 1292-1558,
vol.I, Rome, 1986,pp.90-1; Josef Wicki, “The Portuguese Padroado in India in
the Sixteenth Century and Francis Xavier” in Hambye E.R and H.C.Perumalil(eds.), Christianity in India, Alleppey,
1972, pp.62-3; Pius Malekandathil, Portuguese Cochin and the Maritime Trade
of India, 1500-1663(A Volume in the South Asian Study Series of Heidelberg
University, Germany), New Delhi, 2001, pp.94-5. Diogo de Gouveia, the Rector of
the college of Saint Barbara of Paris communicated in 1539 to king John III
that his institute was training a group of youngsters who would be highly
suitable for converting the gentiles. He also pointed out that this new order
was quite different from other mendicant orders. Accordingly the Portuguese
crown contacted Dom Pedro de Mascarenhas , the ambassador in Rome to get some
Jesuit missionaries for evangelization works in India and the first batch that
thus came was led by St.Francis Xavier. Fortunato de Almeida, Historia da Igreja em Portugal, vol.II,
p.169
[10] For more details see Georg
Schurhammer, Francis Xavier: His Life and
Times, translated by M.Joseph Costelloe, 4 vols., Rome, 1973. For a general
reading see Dauril Alden, The Making of
an Enterprise: The Society of Jesus in Portugal, its Empuire and Beyond,
1540-1750, Stanford, 1996.
[11] BNL, Fundo Geral , Cod. 737l,
Erecção da villa em cidade (de Cochim), creação do bispado a pedido de
d. Sebastião1557, fols.271-4; Fortunato de Almeida, Historia da Igreja em Portugal, vol.II, p.25; Maria Levy Jordão(ed.),Bullaruium Patronatus Portugaliae,
tom.I, pp.191, 193 and 196 . The diocese of Goa was already established in
1533. See Casimiro Christovão de Nazareth, Mitras
Lusitanas no Oriente, Lisboa, 1894, pp.16-8; Maria Levy Jordão(ed.),Bullaruium Patronatus Portugaliae , tom.I,
p.148. Angra in Azores, Santiago in Cape
Verde , São Tome in Africa and Goa in India were created almost
simultaneously(1533-4) as to cater spiritually to the growing Christian
communities in the continents of Africa and Asia. Later to this category of suffragan diocese was elevated Mylapore in 1606.
Maria Levy Jordão(ed.),Bullaruium
Patronatus Portugaliae, tom.II, p.4; Casimiro Christovão de Nazareth, Mitras Lusitanas no Oriente, p.95
[12] Casimiro Christovão de Nazareth, Mitras Lusitanas no Oriente, pp.20-144
[13] ANTT, Corpo Cronologico, I, Maço 87, doc. 50; Gavetas, 15-21-65; Antonio Silva Rego, Documentação para a
Historia das Missões do Padroado Portugues do Oriente, vol. IV,Lisboa,
1948, pp.349-50; 567-8; D.Ferroli, The
Jesuits in Malabar, vol.I, Bangalore, 1939, pp.130-7. However the king of
Tanur abandoned Christianity in 1552
after having got estranged from the Portuguese following his participation in
the Vaduthala war (1548-1552) against the Portuguese and the king of Cochin. ANTT,
Corpo Cronologico, I, Maço 242, doc. 44;
ANTT,Gavetas, 15-20-8
[14] P.
E Pieris, Ceylon:The Portuguese Era, Vol
I, Colombo, 1913, pp 120-123 ; Fernão
de Qeyroz, The Temporal and Spiritual
Conquest of Ceylon, tran.by Fr. S. G. Perera, Colombo, 1930, Vol. I pp.
299-305;
Georg. Schurhammer and F. A Voretzch,
Ceylon, Leipzig, 1928, Vol. I, pp.
583-584; P.E. Pieris and M. A. H. Fitzler, Ceylon
and Portugal, Lepizig, 1927, Part I, pp. 257-258. On embracing
Christianity, Dharmapala (1551-1597) confiscated the temple property and gifted
them to the Franciscans in 1557. Fernão de Queyroz, Temporal and Spiritual Conquest of Ceylon, Vol. I, pp. 339-331.
[15] Albert Gray(ed.), The Voyage of François Pyrard of Laval to
the East Indies , the Maldives , the Moluccas and Brazil,vol.II Part II,
New Delhi, 2000, pp.493-508
[16] For
details see Ibid., pp. 494-508; João Manuel de Almeida Teles e Cunha, Economia de um Imperio: Economia politica do
Estado da India em torno do Mar Arabico e golfo Persico:Elementos conjunturais,
1595–1635,Mestrado Dissertation submitted to the Faculdade de Ciências
Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisboa, 1995, pp.398-400; R.A.
Bulhão Pato, Documentos Remetidos da
India ou Livro das Monções , vol.I, Lisboa, 1884, pp.262-3; AHU, Caixas da India, Caixa 17 A, doc. 167,
dated 5th July 1645
[17] For details see Pius Malekandathil
(ed.), Jornada of D.Alexis Menezes: A Portuguese Account of the Sixteenth
Century Malabar, Cochin, 2003, pp. 553-91; Casimiro Christovão de Nazareth,
Mitras Lusitanas no Oriente,
p.95; Antonio de Gouveia, Relações da Persia e do Oriente, Lisboa,
1609; Antonio de Gouvea, Relações da
Persia e do Oriente, Lisboa, 1609; Antonio de Gouvea, Relação em que se tratam as guerras e grandes vitorias que
alcançou o grande Rei de Persia Xa Abbas,Lisboa,
1611
[18] Antonio Silva Rego, Documentação
para a Historia das Missões do Padroado Portugues do Oriente, vol. XI,
Lisboa, 1954, p.222
[19] Ibid., pp.216-9
[20] Edward
MacLagan, The Jesuits and the Great Mogul,
London, 1932; See also Sanjay Subrahmanyam, “A Matter of Alignment: Mughal
Gujarat and the Iberian World in the Transition of 1580-81”, Mare Liberum,
n.º 9, Lisboa, 1995, p. 467; John Correia –Afonso, Jesuit Letters and Indian History, 1542-1773, Bombay, 1969
[21] H.Beveridge(ed.),
The Akbarnama of Abu-l-Fazl, vol.II,
Delhi, 2007, pp.46-53;75; Satish Chandra, History
of Medieval India, New Delhi, 2007, pp.226-7
[22] The policy of sulhi kull was aimed at total reconciliation. For details see M.
Athar Ali, Mughal India: Studies in
Polity, Ideas, Society and Culture, New Delhi, 2010, pp.158-172 ; See also
Iqtidar Alam Khan, “ Akbar’s Personality Traits and World Outlook-A Critical
Reappraisal”, in Irfan Habib(ed.), Akbar
and his India, New Delhi, 2005, p.79
[23] Akbar founded or re-founded or
modified several towns, including the imperial cities of Agra (1558-74;
1598-1605), Fatehpur Sikri(1574-86) and Lahore(1586-1598), to which he shifted
his power base at different time points.
Allahabad( former Prayag) which was developed as a massive fortress city
in the eastern Gangetic valley, mobilized resources from the eastern part,
while the capital city of Agra mobilized resources from central India and
Lahore from the Punjab terrains. For related readings see Iqtidar Alam Khan,
“The Nobility under Akbar and the Development of His Religious Policy,
1560-1580” , Journal of the Royal Asiatic
Society, 1968, pp.29-36; S.A.A. Rizvi, Religious
and Intellectual History of the Muslims in Akbar’s Reign. With Special
Reference to Abu‘l Fazl, 1556-1605 , New Delhi, 1975:J.F.Richards, “The
Formulation of Imperial Authority under Akbar and Jahangir”, in Muzaffar Alam
and Sanjay Subrahmanyam, The Mughal
State, 1526-1750, New Delhi, 2010, pp. 126-167; Ahsan Raza Khan, “ Abul
Fazl’s Account of Akbar’s Expansionism: Ambit of Reason and Tolerance”, in
Meena Bhargava(ed.), Exploring Medieval
India, Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries II: Culture, .Gender, Regional Patterns, New Delhi,
2010, pp.486-508
[24] For details on Ibadat Khana and the
various participants in Ibadat Khana, see.S.M.Azizuddin Husain, “Ibadat Khana ,
Mahazar and Sulh-i-kul: An Examination”, in Mansura Haidar(ed.), Sufis, Sultans and Feudal Orders: Professor
Nurul Hasan Commemoration Volume,New Delhi, 2004, pp.189-209. 5
[25] Ibid., pp.189-92
[26] The gratitude and respect to Shaikh
Salim, who foretold the birth of a son to Akbar (later the emperor Jahangir),
was manifested by naming the very son Salim and by constructing a capital city
at Sikri( which he renamed as Fatehpur Sikri-place of victory) and by erecting a marble tomb for his burial in 1571 which as a dargah
eventually became a pilgrim site. Abdul Qadir Badauni, Muntakhab ut-Tawarikh, trans.by W.H.Lowe, vol.I, Delhi, 1973, p.140
[27] For a related argument see S.A.A.
Rizvi, “ Dimensions of ‘Sulh-i Kul’ (Universal Peace) in Akbar’s Reign and the
Sufi Theory of Perfect Man”, in Iqtidar Alam Khan, Akbar and His Age, New Delhi, 1999, pp.3-22
[28] J.S.Hoyland and S.N. Banerjee(ed.), The commentary of Father Monserrate, on his
Journey to the Court of Akbar, 1580-1582, New Delhi, 2003, p. 2; Antonio
Silva Rego, Documentação Ultramarina Portuguesa, vol.III, Lisboa, 1963, pp.3-4.
“Carta do padre Rodolfo para o Padre Rui Vicente , Provincial da Companhia de
Jesus na India, Fatehpur, 27th September 1582.”
[29] Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol.XII, Lisboa, 1972, p.46. “Letter of Padre
Rodolfus Acquaviva to Padre E. Mercuriano, from Fatehpur Sikri, dated 18th
July 1580”; See also Antonio Silva Rego,
Documentação Ultramarina Portuguesa, vol.III, pp.3-5 .”Carta do
Padre Rodolfo para o Padre Rui Vicente , Provincial da Companhia de Jesus na
India, Fatehpur, 27th September 1582.”
[30] Though the Jesuit mission continued
to stay in Agra till their expulsion from Portugal and its colonies including
India by the Portuguese king in 1759, it later lost its initial meanings and
remained there almost like a “ritual”.
[31] Josef Wicki, Documenta
Indica, vol.XI, Lisboa, 1969, pp.428-9. “Letter of Petrus Tavares ,
Praefectus Major Lusitanorum et (Farman of) Imperator Akbar to Padre Roderico
Vicente S.J., Provincial of Goa, Fatehpur Sikri, 1578”
[32] Ibid., p.595. “Letter of Aedigius Eanes
Pereira to Dom Henrico de Tavora , Archbishop of Goa, Fatehpur Sikri, 5th June 1579”. Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol. XIII, Lisboa, 1975, pp.508-14. “Letter of
Canonicus Aegidius Eanes Pereira to Padre Claudio Acquaviva, General of the
Jesuit Society sent from Cochin dated 15th
February, 1584”
[33] Pius Malekandathil, Portuguese Cochin and the Maritime Trade of
India, 1500-1663( A volume in the south Asian study Series of Heidelberg
University, Germany), New Delhi, 2001, p.95
[34] Josef Wicki, Documenta
Indica, vol.XI, p.429. “Letter of Petrus Tavares , Praefectus Major
Lusitanorum et (Farman of) Imperator Akbar to Padre Roderico Vicente S.J.,
Provincial of Goa, Fatehpur Sikri, 1578(Addita Goae, fortasse Novembri 1579).
For details on postal system see Irfan Habib, “Postal Communications in Mughal
India’ , Indian History Congress, 46th
Session, Amritsar, 1985
[35] Josef Wicki, Documenta
Indica, vol.XI, p.597.”Letter of Aedigius Eanes Pereira to Dom Henrico de
Tavora, Archbishop of Goa, Fatehpur Sikri, 5th June, 1579.”
[36] In fact the extensive and massive
fortification around the city of Goa started immediately after the fall of the
Vijayanagara kingdom in 1565 to protect
the city from the attack of the Deccani kingdoms. J.H. da Cunha Rivara(ed.), Archivo Portuguez Oriental, Fasc.I, New
Delhi , Nova Goa, 1858, doc. 1 8, p.72;
Fasc. III, doc. 35. 76, 141, 209, 243, 311
[37] Chittagong and Satgaon had the
principal trading establishments of the Portuguese; however there were many
other minor Portuguese enclaves in Bengal, which developed at different phases
of history. For details about these minor Portuguese enclaves See J.J.A.Campos,
History of the Portuguese in Bengal,
Patna, 1979, pp.66-99. The Portuguese had established a chain of huts and
bamboo structures at Buttor (Betor–Howrah) along the river as temporary
residences and commercial establishments, which they used to set fire on their
departure, as is attested to by Caesar Frederick in 1565. See Frederick Caesar
in Richard Hakluyt, The Principal Navigations,
Voyages,Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation made by Sea or
Overland to the Remote and Farthest Distant Quarters of the Earth at anytime
within the Compasse of these 1600 Yeeres,
vol.V, New York, 1969, pp.411; 439. For Portuguese accounts of Akbar’s
expansion to these maritime frontiers see Josef
Wicki, Documenta Indica,
vol.XI, p.429.
[38] Shireen Moosvi, People, Taxation and Trade in Mughal India, New Delhi, 2008,p.46.
Shireen Moosvi views that the Ahmedabad mint seems to have minted coins worth
Rs.40, 000 per day during this period. Ibid., p.,46, no.24
[39] Tome Pires , The Suma Oriental of
Tomé Pires: An Account of the East, from the Red Sea to Japan
written in Malacca and India in 1512-1515, Nendeln, 1967, p.34; João de
Barros, Asia. Dos feitos que os Portugueses fizeram no Descobrimento e
Conquista dos Mares e Terras do Oriente,
Lisboa, 1973, tomo II, part I, pp. 210-4; Mahomed Kisim Ferishta, History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power
in India, A Persian History translated
by John Briggs, vol.IV, New Delhi, 1981,
pp.39-41
[40] João de Barros Asia. Dos feitos
que os Portugueses fizeram no Descobrimento, tomo II, part I, pp.212-4; Gaspar
Correa, Lendas da India, tomo I, Coimbra, 1922, pp.746-7
[41] This was the size of the fighting
force that he mobilized for the wars against Abdullah Muhammad al-Malikki al-Asafi al Ulughkhani Hajji Ad, Zafar ul Walih bi Muzaffar wa Alihi,
trans. by M.F.Lokhandwala, vol.I, Baroda, 1970, pp.102-3
[42] The Turks were included in the
battle against the Portuguese in 1508. Damião
de Gois, Chronica do Felicissimo
Rei D.Emmnauel de glorioso memoria, Coimbra, 1933, Part II, p.132; Gaspar
Correa, Lendas da India, tomo I, p.927-8
[43] João de Barros, Asia. Dos feitos
que os Portugueses fizeram no Descobrimento, tomo III, part I, p.33;
Jacinto Freire de Andrade , Vida de Dom
João de Castro, Lisboa, 1968, pp.79-80.; Jacinto Freire de Andrade , Vida de Dom João de Castro, pp.80-2;
Diogo do Couto, Da Asia dos feitos
que os Portuguezes fizeram na Conquista e Descobrimento das Terras e Mares do
Oriente, Decada IV, Lisboa, 1973, p.211
[44] Jacinto Freire de Andrade , Vida de Dom João de Castro, p. 82;
Fernão Lopes Castanheda, Historia do Descobrimento e Conquista da India
pelos Portugueses, liv. viii, Coimbra, 1924, p.248.
[45] K.S.Mathew, Khwaja Saffar, the
Merchant Governor of Surat and the Indo-Portuguese Trade in the Early Sixteenth
Century” in Vice-Almirante A.Teixeira da
Mota: In Memoriam, vol.I, Lisboa, 1987, p.323
[46] Ibid., pp.324-8
[47] Gaspar Correa, Lendas da India, tomo IV,
pp.143; 159; Diogo do Couto, Da Asia
dos feitos que os Portuguezes fizeram na Conquista e Descobrimento das Terras ,
Decada V, parti, pp.205-6
[48] Diogo do Couto, Da Asia dos feitos que os Portuguezes fizeram
na Conquista e Descobrimento das Terras, Decada X, Parte i.pp. pp. 80-85; M.N.Pearson, Merchants and Rulers in Gujarat: The
Response to the Portuguese in the Sixteenth Century, Los-Angeles, 1976,
pp.57-60
[49] Diogo do Couto, Da Asia dos feitos que os
Portuguezes fizeram na Conquista e Descobrimento das Terras e Mares do Oriente,
Decada IX, Lisboa, 1786, , pp.64-85; Decada X, pp. 80-85
[50] Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol.XI, p.428. “Letter of Petrus Tavares ,
Praefectus Major Lusitanorum et (Farman of) Imperator Akbar sent to Padre
Roderico Vicente S.J., Provincial of Goa, from Fatehpur Sikri dated 1578.”
[51] Padre Gil Eanes Pereira remained in
Fatehpur Sikri for almost one year till the Jesuits had settled down in the
capital city. See the letter of Aedigius Eanes Pereira sent to Henrico de
Tavora, Archbishop of Goa from Fatehpur Sikri, dated 5th June,
1579”. Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica,
vol. XI, pp.593-8
[52] Josef Wicki, Documenta
Indica, vol.XI, pp.428-9. “Letter of Petrus Tavares , Praefectus Major
Lusitanorum et (Farman of) Imperator Akbar to Padre Roderico Vicente S.J.,
Provincial of Goa, Fatehpur Sikri, 1578.
[53] Pius Malekandathil, Maritime India: Trade, Religion and Polity
in the Indian Ocean, New Delhi, 2010,p. 152
[54] Diogo do Couto, Da Asia dos feitos que os
Portuguezes fizeram na Conquista e Descobrimento das Terras e Mares do Oriente,
Decada X, pp.82-4;287-88; Decada IX, pp.
86-7; K. S. Mathew, “Akbar and the Portuguese” in Irfan Habib(ed.), Akbar and His India, New Delhi, 2005,
pp.260; 262
[55] John F. Richards, The Mughal Empire, New Delhi, 1993,
p.31; Shireen Moosvi, People, Taxation
and Trade in Mughal India, p.246
[56] Diogo do Couto, Da Asia dos feitos que os
Portuguezes fizeram na Conquista e Descobrimento das Terras e Mares do Oriente,
Decada X, pp.300-4
[57] The
Akbarnama of Abu-l-Fazl, translated and edited by H.Beveridge, vol.III,
Delhi, 2007,pp.275-6, p.275
[58] Edward MacLagan, The Jesuits and the Great Mogul,
pp.23-45
[59] Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol.XI, p.841.” Letter of Fr. Mathaeus Ricci to
Padre Emmanueli de Gois, Cochin, 18th January 1580
[60] K.S.Mathew, “Akbar and Portuguese
Maritime Dominance”, p.263
[61] J.S.Hoyland and S.N.Banerjee(ed.), The Commentary of Father Monserrate,
p.3. Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica,
vol.XI, pp.679-681. “Praelatorum Orientis Lusitani Votum de Suscipienda a
Jesuitis Missione ab Imperatore Akbar Petita, Goa, 10th November
1579” ; Ibid., vol. XI, p.699. Letter of Padre Rodericus Vicente S.J, the
Provincial to Padre E . Mercuriano, the General, Goa, 13th November
1579”
[62] Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol.XI, p.841.” Letter of Fr. Mathaeus Ricci to
Padre Emmanueli de Gois, Cochin, 18th January 1580”
[63] Ibid.
[64] Ibid
[65] Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol.XII, pp.985-6. . “Padre Sebastiani Gonçalves
S.J. Historici , Relato de Marytribus Salsetans, Goa December 1609”.
[66] Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol.XIII, p.511. ““Letter of Canonicus Aegidius
Eanes Pereira to Padre Claudio Acquaviva, General of the Jesuit Society sent
from Cochin dated 15th
February, 1584”.
[67] Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol.XII,pp.916-933. “P.A.Valignani S.J
Provincialis Relatio de Martyribus Salsetanis, Goa, 8 de December 1583”; pp. 974-94
.Padre Sebastiani Gonçalves S.J. Historici , Relato de Marytribus Salsetans,
Goa December 1609”. Later stories were circulated that Rudolf Acquaviva
appeared to a woman in 1586. Josef Wicki, Documenta
Indica, vol.XIV, Lisboa, 1979, p.782.
[68] For details the see J.S.Hoyland and
S.N.Banerjee(ed.), The Commentary of
Father Monserrate ; and also the various letters analyzed above.
[69] J.S.Hoyland and S.N.Banerjee(ed.), The Commentary of Father Monserrate,
p.4, note 14. Josef Wicki, Documenta
Indica, vol. XI,p.711. “Letter of Rodericus Vicente Provincial to Padre
E.Mercuriano, Goa, 13th November 1579”; p.767 “Letter of Padre Petrus Gomez to Padre
Emmanuel Rodrigues , Provincial of Portugal, Goa, dated 17th
November, 1579; p.841.”Letter of Matthaeus Ricci to Padre Emmanueli de Gois,
Cochin , 18th January, 1580”.
[70] Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol.XII, pp. 3-7 note 1. “Letter of Padre
Franciscus Henriques to Padre Laurentio Peres, Fatehpur, 6th April
1580”; pp.11-24 “ Excerpta 25 Epistolarum Patrum Rudolf Acquaviva, Superioris ,
Monserrate, Francisci Henriques, Fatehpur Sikri, 29th April 1580”;
p.107. “Letter of Padre R.Vicente , Provincial to General Goa, 20th
October 1580”
[71] Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol.XIII, p.609. “Catalogus Patrum et Fratrum
S.J. Provinciae Indiae Orientalis”; Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol. XIV, p.790. “The Annual Letter of the
Province of Goa for the Years 1586-87 by Fr. Franciscus Bencius”
[72] Ibid., 4
[73] Ibid., 49
[74] For details see the letters analyzed
in Supra nos. 59, 60, 61
[75] There is a difference of opinion
about his age. A document of 1574 says that he was 32 in that year , while
another document is quoted by Josef Wicki to show that he must have been 38 in
1574. For details see Josef Wicki, Documenta
Indica, vol.IX, pp.238-9, see also note 9.” Elenchus Sociorum a 1574 in
Indiam Missorum Auctoritate P.Valignani S.J. Conscriptus, Ulyssipone, Medio
Martio 1574”
[76] Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol.IX, pp.199-202. “ Letter of Padre Antonius
Monserrate to Padre Everardo Mercuriano, Superior General, Coimbra, 28th
February 1574
[77] Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol.IX , p.136. “Letter of Padre A. Valignanus
S.J Visitator to Padre Everardo Mercuriano, Superior General Ulyssipone, 6th
February, 1574”
[78] Ibid., p.475. “ Catalogus Patrum et
Fratrum Provinciae Indicae, Goa, December 1574”
[79] Ibid., vol.XII, p.584. “ Letter of
Padre Rudolf Acquaviva , superior to Padre Claudio Acquaviva , the Superior
General, Fatehpur Sikri, 25th April, 1582” ; Ibid., p.293
“Letter of Padre.Rudolf Acquaviva to
Padre E. Mercuriano, Fatehpur Sikri, 30 July , 1581”.
[80] Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol.XII, pp.292-.293; Letter of Padre.Rudolf Acquaviva to Padre E.
Mercuriano, Fatehpur Sikri, 30 July , 1581”. See also J.S.Hoyland and
S.N.Banerjee(ed.), The Commentary of
Father Monserrate, p.xii
[81] Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol.XII, pp.583, 585“Letter of Padre Rudolf Acquaviva to Padre Claudio Acquavia, Fatehpur
Sikri, 25th April 1582”
[82] Upon the death of the childless Cardinal Henry in 1580, Philip’s army entered
Portugal and in 1581 , he was proclaimed the king of Portugal and its colonies.
Joaquim Verissimo Serrão, Historia de
Portugal, vol.III, Lisboa, 1978, pp.85-90
[83] J.S.Hoyland and S.N.Banerjee(ed.), The Commentary of Father Monserrate,
p.xii. Later he was ransomed (1596) and returned to Goa, where he died in 1600
[84] Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol.XII , p.4 “Letter of Padre Franciscus
Henriques to Padre Laurentio Peres, Fatehpur, 6th April 1580”; Edward
MacLagan, The Jesuits and the Great Mogul,
pp.23-45;
[85] J.S.Hoyland and S.N.Banerjee(ed.), The Commentary of Father Monserrate ,
pp.36-7; Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol.XII , p.65 “Letter
of Padre Antonius Monserrate to Padre
Roderico Vicente , Provincial of India , Fatehpur Sikri, 9th
September, 1580.”
[86]
The Aini Akbari, translated by
H.Blochmann vol.I, New Delhi,2006, pp.191-2
[87] J.S.Hoyland and S.N.Banerjee(ed.), The Commentary of Father Monserrate,
pp.37-40; 50-1; 118-20; 126-134; 136-8; 171-84
[88] Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol.XII ,pp.36-7. “Letter of Padre Rudolfus
Acquaviva , Antonio de Monserrate and Franciscus Henriques to Padre Roderico
Vicente, Provincial, Agra, 13th July 1580”
[89] Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol.XII ,pp.37; 42-3. “Letter of Padre Rudolfus
Acquaviva , Antonio de Monserrate and Franciscus Henriques to Padre Roderico
Vicente, Provincial, Agra, 13th July 1580”; pp. 49-50. “Letter of Rudolfus
Acquavia to Padre E. Mercuriano, Superior General, Fatehpur Sikri, 18th
July 1580”
[90] Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol.XII, pp. 293; 583; 591-7; 732-3.However the
conflict did not subside soon. Fr. Antonio Monserrate gives a detailed account
of the mounting conflicts between the Portuguese and the Mughals during this
initial phase of religious dialogue between the two. J.S.Hoyland and
S.N.Banerjee(ed.), The Commentary of
Father Monserrate, 166-171
[91]
See the farman of Akbar
February 1583 in Antonio Silva Rego (ed.), Documentação
Ultramarina Portuguesa, vol.III, p.6; Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol.XII, p.83. J.S.Hoyland and S.N.Banerjee(ed.),
The Commentary of Father Monserrate,
pp.154ff. However Antonio Monserrate did
not reach Spain; After a short stay in Goa, he was sent to Ethiopia and on his
way thither he was taken a prisoner by Arab pirates.
[92] Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol.XII ,p. 475. “ Letter of Padre Matthaeus
Ricci to Padre Joanni Petro Maffeio, Goa, 1st December, 1582” .The
other reason given was to calm down the
Portuguese on the question of capturing of Bengal, which was a major trade
centre of the Portuguese.
[93] Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol.XII ,p. 475. J.S.Hoyland and
S.N.Banerjee(ed.), The Commentary of
Father Monserrate , pp.36-7
[94] Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol.XII, pp.292-.293; Letter of Padre.Rudolf Acquaviva to Padre E.
Mercuriano, Fatehpur Sikri, 30 July , 1581”. See also J.S.Hoyland and
S.N.Banerjee(ed.), The Commentary of
Father Monserrate, p.xii
[95] M.Athar Ali, Mughal India, Studies in Polity, Ideas, Society and Culture, p.160
[96] In Gujarat after being deposed
Muzaffar Shah resisted the Mughals for about 20 years with the help of
Zamindars and local chiefs . See The Akbarnama of Abu-l-Fazl, vol.III,
pp.197-8, 593-7, 627-9 . In 1580s during the middle of his campaign against
Gujarat rumours were being spread in the empire that Akbar was killed in
Gujarat. Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica,
vol.XIII, p.383. “ Letter of Padre Antonius Monserrate to Padre Claudio Acquaviva,
Superior General, Goa, 10th December 1583”
[97] Edward MacLagan, The Jesuits and the Great Mogul ,
pp.50-65
[98] Ibid., pp.46-9. Probably
the return of second Jesuit mission must have been because of their displeasure
on the intense Mahdawi ( Akbar as the millenarian figure to restore the
religious order) claims that many scholars see in Akbar by this time. To them
the formulation of his own religious
doctrine, and a group of disciples
around him , his order to write a history symbolically titled Tarikh-i-Alfi(literally meaning “the
Thousand Year History”) to commemorate the Islamic Millennium (1592) and his wish
to get himself portrayed in Akbarnnama
as the perfect individual (insan-i-kamil)
are all indications of Akbar’s effort to equate himself with the Islamic
Millenarian figure. See Sanjay Subrahmanyam “Turning the Stones over: Sixteenth Century
Millenarianism from the Tagus to the Ganges”, in Indian Economic and Social History Review, pp.147-58; Taymiya R. Zaman,Inscribing Empire: Sovereignty and Subjectivity in Mughal Memoirs,
Ph.D.thesis submitted to Michigan University, 2007, p.110; JF Richards, “Formulation of Imperial Authority
under Akbar and Jahangir”, in Muzzafar Alam and Sanjay Subrahmanyam, The Mughal
State, 1526-17, New Delhi, 1998, pp.126-67.
[99] “Letter of Fr. Jerome Xavier , Agra,
dated 6th September 1604, in Antonio Silva Rego (ed.), Documentação Ultramarina Portuguesa,
vol.III, p.6; Josef Wicki, Documenta
Indica, vol.XII, pp.7-27
[100] S.Nurul Hasan, Religion, State and Society in Medieval India, edited by Satish
Chadra, New Delhi, 2008,pp.225-31; John F. Richards, The Mughalempire,
pp.27-30; 62
[101] Satish Chandra, Medieval India, Part II, New Delhi, 2006,pp.160-1
[102] The
Aini Akbari , vol. I, p.94
[103] Irfan Habib, “Akbar and Technology”
, in Irfan Habib(ed.), Akbar and His
India, New Delhi, 2005, p.132
[104] See Ibid., pp.132-3
[105] The
Aini Akbari, vol.I, pp.100-1
[106] Josef Wicki, Documenta Indica, vol.XII, p.4. “Letter of Padre Franciscus
Henriques to Padre Laurentio Peres, Fatehpur, 6th April 1580”
[107] Jean Baptiste Tavernier, Travels in India, translated by V.Ball,
vol.I, London, 1925, pp.40-53; Peter Mundy, The
Travels of Peter Mundy in Europe and Asia, 1608-67, edited by R.Temple,
vol.II, London, 1914, pp.39-65; Antonio Monserrate, The Commentary on his Journey to the Court of Akbar, pp.5-27
[108] Jean Baptiste Tavernier, Travels in India , vol.I, pp.54-72;
Peter Mundy, The Travels of Peter Mundy
in Europe and Asia, 1608-67, vol.II, pp.231-72
[109] Irfan Habib, Agrarian System of Mughal India, 1556-1707, p.70
[110] A.K.M. Farooque, Roads and Communications in Mughal India,
Delhi, 1977, p.11
[111] K.Qanungo, Life and Times of Sher Shah , Bombay, 1965, pp.315-6.
[112] Pius Malekandathil, Maritime India: Trade ,Religion and Polity
in the Indian Ocean, pp.166-178.
[113] The
Aini Akbari, vol.I, p.67
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