A Pepys of Mongul India (1653-1708)

by Niccolao Manucci

  MANUCCI ENTERS SERVICE OF SHAH 'ALAM 165

  enough to have caused the Fathers to be burnt alive; and, seeing themselves in such danger, they collected as an alms the sum of five hundred rupees (for him), and were thus delivered from a great peril. For, being a man of little understanding, he was capable of doing such a silly thing. He wandered hither and thither, and then quitted Mogul territory, I giving him his expenses to take him as far as Surat.

  On my reaching Dihlt several nobles took notice of my arrival, and called me in. The chief of these was the Master of the Ceremonies to Prince Shah 'Alam, whose wife was very ill, and given up by the other doctors. My treatment of her renewed my reputation, which during my absence of a year had somewhat diminished. But the Persian doctors in the household of Shah 'Alam did not approve of my continuing at court after having cured the said woman whose case they had given up. This caused me to decide on a return to Lahor, for I saw that the court was not for me.

  With this intention 1 left secretly, but the princess, wife of Shah 'Alam, who had learnt of the benefit I had effected in the case of the wife of the Master of the Ceremonies, brought to mind the cases I had cured at Lahor, when her parents were there. I had also treated her in secret for a small abscess she had in her ear. Accordingly she besought the prince one night to take me into his service, allotting to me noble's pay. Not to discontent the princess, whom he loved much, the prince fixed for me three hundred rupees a month, and gave me in addition the title of mansabdar —that is to say, of a noble. This was a singular favour, the Mahomedans not being accustomed to grant such honours to Christians; furthermore, such physicians and surgeons remain subordinate to, and under the orders of, the head physician. But I was a privileged person, for I agreed to serve on no other condition than that I must be left free, nor must anyone give me orders.

  Thus I took service with Shah 'Alam, although my Christian enemies did all they knew to prevent the prince's accepting me. And thus, unwilling as I was to serve Aurangzeb, I was the servant of his son, beginning my service in the year one thousand six hundred and seventy-eight. (See further pp. 199-213, 277 and following.)

  It was at this time (some years later) that out of disgust I resolved to live no longer among Mahomedans, now that I had put together a sufficient sum. Nor did Shah 'Alam pay me at all punctually. I therefore decided to return to Goa, where I had some money in the hands of the Theatine Fathers, meaning to leave eventually for Europe. For this reason I asked several times for my discharge, which he (Shah 'Alam) always refused me, till at length I told him that my private affairs needed my presence at Surat, and he must give me leave for at least two months. He consented to do this, and I went to Surat; there Senhor Francisco Martin, at this day General of the Royal Company of France, gave me an armed sloop to carry me as far as Daman in Portuguese territory. Thence I went to Goa, and lived in the gardens. When Aurangzeb's letter reached the viceroy he had me sent for to translate it into Portuguese. On hearing the proposals, I gave him advice as to what he should do. For this war could not be of any benefit to the Portuguese, seeing that the Mogul would never be content to leave the Portuguese to themselves, after he had destroyed Sambha Ji. In spite of this the viceroy engaged in the war against that prince, and thereby all but lost Goa.

  Sambha Ji learnt the above news, and Akbar, who was living in that prince's territory, not far from Goa, was anxious to show his gratitude for the honour Sambha Ji had shown him. He also sought occasion to prepare for the flight which he designed to make into Persia, and wanted to ask the viceroy to provide him with a ship for that purpose. He sent an envoy

  SAMBHA jl LAYS PLANS TO SEIZE GOA 167

  to the viceroy, forwarding at the same time some rubies and diamonds for sale. He prayed as a favour that permission might be granted him to build a ship on the river of Goa, for his flight into Persia, he being persecuted by his father Aurangzeb.

  He really wanted to build the ship, but also hoped to land, a few at a time, a large number of men, and then all of a sudden to seize Goa. Knowing as I did the tricks of the Mahomedans, I advised the viceroy to take great care, and find out how many men were disembarked, for they might cause damage to Goa before his Excellency could prevent them; and truly Sambha Ji's intention was to get a number of men into the island. Then he meant to come in person to attack, after the men already landed in the island had occupied the best positions. Thus would he manage to accomplish his purpose. The viceroy gave heed to my words, and he noticed that the next day a great number of men came from Sambha Ji's territory for work at the ship, but not so many withdrew at night. Orders were therefore given that all must withdraw, and that the next day as many as came in the morning must go back at night.

  Nor did the viceroy content himself with giving Akbar leave to build his ship; he also made ready some presents to be sent to him. I held my tongue till I saw that these things were already prepared, when, out of the affection I bore to my fellow-Christians, I went to the viceroy. I said to him that to me it seemed that His Excellency was not acting with sufficient caution. He intended to write to the Mogul (Aurangzeb), agreeing at his request to make war on Sambha Ji; while by these presents he acted as if he thought that great king to be of small account; for, not content with allowing Akbar to build a ship, he was sending him presents. By this the Mogul would be angered, and would seek an opening for some attempt against Goa, because of the favour shown to his rebellious son. The viceroy was pleased

  to listen, and came to a stop, and did not send the presents. Meanwhile the ship was finished, and Akbar had it removed to the port of Vingorla, twelve leagues distant from Goa, and in the territory of Sambha Ji.

  Finding that by using the chance afforded by the matter of the ship he could not carry out his design, Sambha Ji sent to the viceroy tutored spies, who told him that in the fortress of Ponda were great treasures. His object was to get the viceroy to leave Goa with a large force for the conquest of that fortress. Then he meant to cut off the Portuguese retreat and prevent their return, in this way making himself master of Goa. The facts became known to a French trader, then in Rajapur, and he wrote to me to warn the viceroy of Sambha Jl's purpose. He was coming down with his army.

  I told His Excellency, but he would not heed my words. He issued forth with eight hundred white soldiers and eight thousand Canarese. He crossed with them to the other side of the river, and began his campaign. With him went five pieces of heavy artillery. The men inside Ponda defended themselves until the arrival of Sambha Ji along with Akbar's men. They attacked with great fury the viceroy's army, and gave him as much to do as he could manage. His best troops were killed, and if he had not used wooden obstructions with which to impede the onset of the cavalry, he would never have been able to get back to Goa, nor could he have made any defence. The rainy weather impeded the discharge of his matchlocks; thus coming on still closer, a trooper among the Rajputs dealt His Excellency a sword-blow on the ribs. Retreating slowly, he reached the river bank with great difficulty, and once more entered Goa. He recognised, although too late, that he had been misled. Great grief was caused in the city by the fruitless loss of so many lives.

  In the interval Goa was governed by the archbishop Dom Manoel de Souza de Menezes. There came a

  MANUCCI TREATED AS A TRAITOR 169

  boat sent by the general of Aurangzeb's fleet, which was on the watch to prevent Akbar leaving Vingorla in the ship he had built. It brought a message for the viceroy, urging him to make a valiant fight of it, and before very long he (Aurangzeb) would arrive to his assistance. But the archbishop would not listen to the envoy, and gave the answer that he must go and deal direct with the viceroy. I knew this because I translated the letters, and I did not wish to forsake the viceroy at such a time, so that he might have no cause of complaint against me. I therefore demanded permission of his lordship, and with great difficulty he granted me a boat to travel in. We in Goa did not then know the miserable plight of the viceroy.

  I left, but the archbish
op, I know not why, sent an order to the guards posted on the river to seize me. Thus, while I disbursed my coin to aid and serve the Christians against the power of the Mogul, they made me out to be a traitor. They persuaded the archbishop that I was taking with me five hundred Shivajis (i.e. Mahrattahs) to cut off the viceroy's retreat and prevent him returning to Goa. For this reason he directed my arrest. The captains of the guard knew quite well 1 was innocent, for when I reached them I had no one with me but a servant. In spite of this, as the orders were absolute, they civilly made me a prisoner without communicating to me their orders. I made pretence of not recognising that the way they were treating me betrayed suspicion of my acts. At this time I saw the arrival of several boat-loads of dead and wounded, a proof that Sambha Jt had defeated the viceroy.

  But if I took as a joke this treatment of me by the archbishop, it was not really such. Nor did the envoy look upon the manner in which he had been received as any joke; for, wishing to make him out greater than he was, they placed him in danger of losing his head. They began to spread a rumour

  that he was not an envoy, but the very Sambha Ji himself. This story was so much accepted that men were already in search of him to slay him. Such is the power of fear when it enters into people who are otherwise of good sense! When I saw what their purpose was, I did my very best that they should not kill him, but only arrest him. I assured them that he was not Sambha Ji, but a Mogul, as he really was. For, if they had killed him, I, too, ran a very great risk of losing my life, and that for nothing else than trying to help his Excellency at the time the said envoy arrived.

  It pleased God that at last the viceroy should arrive, and he, too, was at first persuaded that the man was Sambha Ji in person. But after I had spoken with him, I assured him that, even if he were really Sambha Ji in person, no violence could be done by him, for I would keep close to him when the letters were presented. Thus I conducted the envoy into the presence of the viceroy, who was already in a fright.

  Then, taking myself the letters from the envoy's hands, I presented them to His Excellency. Thereupon he recognised the great mistake which had held the whole island in perturbation. He (the envoy) had with him only two servants.

  But let us now return to Sambha Ji. He had missed his blow when he had fought the viceroy, for if he had only occupied the river bank it would have been easy for him to slaughter everybody, and equally easy to take Goa. All the same, he did not despair of success in his attempt; for, after the defeat of the viceroy, he took possession of the lands of Salseite (Salsette) and Bardes, Between which lies the island of Goa, and, after stiff fighting, tried to disembark men on the island (of Goa). But the Portuguese resisted valiantly, above all, the Augustinian Fathers, who were at a crossing against which Sambha Ji made his principal efforts.

  Thus, finding he had not carried out what he

  MANUCCFS EMBASSY TO SAMBHA jf 171

  wanted to do, and seeing that by force of arms he should not conquer, he adopted the way customary in Hindustan—that of deceit. He therefore made Akbar act as mediator and send in a letter to the viceroy. In it he said that, being on the point of leaving for Persia, as a friend of both sides, he wanted to restore peace and amity between Sambha Jf and the Portuguese. With this object would they send a trusty person capable of dealing with such a negotiation ? He would bring it to a conclusion to the satisfaction of both parties.

  The viceroy selected me for this business. On my side I recognised that I was a foreigner, so I took along with me one priest and one layman, both Portuguese, to bear testimony to my acts and words. I made declaration to the viceroy that they would never conduct me to Akbar, but to Sambha J! instead. I questioned the viceroy as to what I should do in that case. He said to me that under no circumstances did he wish me to approach Sambha Jf. With this point determined on, I quitted Goa.

  Hardly had I arrived in Sambha Jt's territory when they wanted to carry me to him and not to Akbar. Thereupon I declared 1 would not go, that I would sooner lose my head than act against the orders I had received. Akbar learnt this, and dispatched Durga Das, as representing his person during the negotiations with Sambha Jf. On these conditions I, too, attended, or else they would have carried me there by force.

  We reached the presence of Sambha Jt, who received me with great politeness. During the conversation he made bitter complaint of the viceroy's declaring war against him in spite of the King of Portugal's orders. The king had ordered him to maintain peace with his neighbours. Many other things against the viceroy did he say to me during this talk. It was on this occasion that he told me that with his own sword he had decapitated his chief

  captains, owing to their disaffection. He showed me the sword.

  Finally, he gave me my leave to go, adding that, seeing the viceroy would not send him an envoy, he meant to be the first and send one to him and so let him see how much he desired to uphold peace between the Portuguese.

  Taking one of his officers by the hand, he said to me: " This is the man I mean to send; he is the key of my treasure-house." Then, laying hold of my hand also, he made the man over to me, and said he was doing him (the viceroy) much honour, for the man was his chief favourite. He sent me away, handing me two handkerchiefs of gold thread, and in the evening the envoy came to visit me. He set forth his pretensions, which were that he should land in the isle with one thousand, or at least five hundred men as his guard, taking also seven horses (as he said) to show his rank. We hammered away for a long time at this subject, he beseeching me earnestly to secure this honourable treatment for him from the viceroy. But I displayed total indifference, saying it lay with the viceroy to concede to him or not what he asked, at the same time I would lay his requests before His Excellency. But horses were not necessary, the fortress being quite near, nor could the horses climb to it.

  The reader must be made aware here of what the envoy's intentions were. The first was to get with this large number of men into Goa, where there was not a large enough garrison to defend all the posts. Coming, thus attended, to pay his court to the viceroy, it would be very easy to carry out their object. For they would enter with the fixed intention of assassinating the viceroy, and consequently would come wearing concealed chain-mail. Having succeeded, some of them would jump on the horses, and, careering about, would strike terror into the inhabitants, and throw everything into disorder. Thus Sambha Ji would

  THE ENVOY'S DESIGNS FRUSTRATED 173

  have time to land his force without any difficulty and capture defenceless Goa.

  I returned to Goa and reported to the viceroy what was going on, and of the probable intentions of Sambha Ji. For the time being he should not, I thought, give audience in the royal hall, but in the fortress of Dangf (Dangim), which was quite close to the sea. Strong guards should be posted so as to hinder the envoy from carrying out his plans. Although there was some difficulty in doing what I said, nevertheless, acknowledging that I had some acquaintance with the tricks of people in Hindustan, the viceroy did as I advised. Thus I went back to tell the ambassador that he might come. I took with me no more than three boats, so that too many people might not come. But so many crowded in that our boat was in great danger of going to the bottom. I complained to the envoy of this carelessness, and he grew angry, for he saw that with so small a number he would not be able to carry out his project. He wanted to give up coming. But, encouraging him, I brought him to the above-mentioned fortress. Matters were disposed in such a way that not more than seven persons were able to enter with him. These were received by the viceroy with great pomp.

  The envoy's design was unmasked during the audience, for he made no statement about terms of peace, stating that his coming was for nothing more than to know if the Portuguese gentlemen really desired to make peace or not, and whether they would pay tribute to his prince. The viceroy replied that he wanted peace, but would not pay any tribute. The envoy answered that he would take this reply to his prince, and then took his leave far from well contented, not having been
able to make himself a name by a piece of treachery (i.e. assassination), for amongst them this mode of going to work is a proof of great valour.

  Although peace negotiations were going on, there

  174 MANUCCI'S EMBASSY TO THE MOGUL FLEET

  was no suspension of arms, for continuously Sambha Jf went on fighting at Goa with great vigour. In the course of these contests, as there were not many troops in the island, there was reason to fear that Sambha Ji might land his soldiers there. The viceroy therefore sought someone who would go to the Mogul fleet, then off Vingorla, to request the admiral to sail with his ships till he was within sight of Goa. Thus some fear would be instilled into Sambha Jt's men then in Salsette and Bardes. For all they could do, they could not find any person willing to take upon himself to risk his life for the public benefit. Then, knowing the heartiness with which I had laboured to the utmost of my power, he asked me if I would perform this benefit on behalf of a city which found itself in such a sorry plight.

  I gave a favourable reply, and, as I was leaving Goa, Dom Rodrigo da Costa, in command of the fleet, declared that 1 was on my way to destruction. God was pleased to show the care He had over my person, for one morning in the dark I found myself with my boat in the midst of thirty-seven galliots belonging to Sambha Jf. As soon as we discovered that the fleet was not that of the Moguls, but of Sambha Jf, we were very apprehensive, and already the master of the vessel and several seamen wanted to jump into the sea. But I laid hold of my matchlock and frightened them, saying that the first who moved was a dead man. If they set to work to row with all their strength, I would give them five hundred xerafins (ashraf, a gold coin) on arrival in Goa. This was in addition to several pieces of gold that I distributed among them on the spot. As the man who guided the helm was very skilful, we feigned to be part of that fleet until we forged ahead of all the galliots. Then putting on a spurt we drew away from our enemies, who began a chase in the hope of capturing us.