Four hundred and twenty years after its founding, the story of the East India Company has never been more current.
Glossary
Aftab
the Sun
Akhbars
Indian court newsletters
Alam
the world. It also means a standards used by Shias as focuses for their Muharram venerations. Usually tear-shaped or fashioned into the shape of a hand, they are stylised representations of the standards carried by Imam Hussain at the Battle of Kerbala in AD 680
Amir
nobleman
Arrack
Indian absinthe
Arzee
Persian petition
Atashak
gonorrhea
Bagh
a formal Mughal garden, often a char bagh, named after its division into four (char) squares by a cross of runnels and fountains
Banjara
nomadic trading community
Bazgasht
return or homecoming
Begum
Indian Muslim noblewoman. A title of rank and respect: ‘Madam’
Betel
nut used as a mild narcotic in India, and eaten as paan
Bhadralok
the prosperous and well-educated upper middle class of Bengal
Bhang
cannabis preparation
Bhet
an offering
Bhisti
water carrier
Bibi
an Indian wife or mistress
Bibi ghar
‘Women’s House’ or zenana
Brahmin
the Hindu priestly caste and the top rung of the caste pyramid
Charpoy
Rope-strung bed (literally, ‘four feet’)
Chattri
a domed kiosk supported on pillars, often used as a decorative feature to top turrets and minarets (literally, ‘umbrella’)
Chaupar
a cross-shaped board game very similar to pachisi
Chhatrapati
royal title – literally, ‘Lord of the Umbrella’. Equivalent of Emperor
Choli
short (and at this period often transparent) Indian bodice
Chowkidar
guard, gatekeeper
Coss
Mughal measurement of distance amounting to just over three miles
Crore
10 million (or 100 lakh)
Cuirassier
armoured cavalry officer armed with a musket
Dacoit
outlaw; a member of a robber gang
Daftar
office, or in the Nizam’s palace, chancellery
Dak
post (sometimes spelled ‘dawke’ in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries)
Dargah
Sufi shrine, usually built over the grave of a saint
Dar ul-Islam
the lands or house of Islam
Dastak
a pass
Dastan
story, epic or oral history
Deorhi
courtyard house or haveli
Derzi
tailor
Dharamasala
resthouse
Dharma
duty
Dhobi
laundryman
Dhoolie
covered litter
Dhoti
loincloth
Divan
book of collected poetry
Diwan
Prime Minister, or the vizier in charge of administrative finance
an interpreter
Dupatta
shawl or scarf, usually worn with a salvar kemise (literally, ‘two leaves or widths’). Also known as a chunni
Durbar
court
Fakir
literally, ‘poor’. Sufi holy man, dervish or wandering Muslim ascetic
Faujdar
fort keeper or garrison commander
Firangi
foreigner
Firman
an order of the Emperor in a written document
Gagra Choli
Indian bodice and skirt
Ghat
steps leading to a bathing place or river
Ghazal
Urdu or Persian love lyric
Godhulibela
‘cow-dust time’ – the golden hour before sunset
Golumdauze
artillery gunners
Gomasta
agent or manager
Goonjus
bridge
Hakim
physician
Hamam
Turkish-style steam bath
Haveli
courtyard house or traditional mansion
Harkarra
literally, ‘all-doo-er’. Runner, messenger, newswriter or spy. In eighteenth-century sources the word is sometimes spelled hircarrah
Havildar
a sepoy non-commissioned officer corresponding to a sergeant
Holi
the Hindu spring festival in which participants sprinkle red and yellow powder on one another
Hookah
waterpipe or hubble-bubble
Id
the two greatest Muslim festivals: Id ul-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, while Id ul-Zuha commemorates the delivery of Isaac. To celebrate the latter a ram or goat is slaughtered, as on the original occasion recorded in both the Old Testament and Koran
Iftar
the evening meal to break the Ramadan fast
Ijara
rental contract
Jagatguru
guru of the Universe
Jagir
landed estate, granted for service rendered to the state and whose revenues could be treated as income by the jagirdar
Jali
a latticed stone or wooden screen
Jazair
swivel gun, usually mounted on camelback
Jharoka
projecting balcony
Jizya
Islamic tax on non-believers
Kalawant
singer or chanter
Kar-khana
workshop or factory
Khanazad
palace-born princes
Khansaman
in the eighteenth century the word meant butler. Today it more usually means cook
Kharita
sealed Mughal brocade bag used to send letters as an alternative to an envelope
Khilat
symbolic court dress
Khutba
the sermon during which the Islamic prayer for the ruler is said at Friday prayers
Kotla
fortress or citadel
Kotwal
the Police Chief, Chief Magistrate or City Administrator in a Mughal town
Lakh
a hundred thousand
Langar
free distribution of food during a religious festival
Lathi
truncheon or strick
Lota
water pot
Lingam
the phallic symbol associated with Lord Shiva in his role as Creator
Lungi
Indian-type sarong; longer version of the dhoti (QV)
literally, ‘palace’ but often used to refer to sleeping apartments or the zenana wing of a palace or residence
Mahi maratib
the Order of the Fish; a Mughal standard
Majlis
assembly (especially the gatherings during Muharram – QV)
Mandapa
the gateway of a temple
Mansabadar
a Mughal nobleman and office holder, whose rank was decided by the number of cavalry he would supply for battle, for example a mansabdar of 2,500 would be expected to provide 2,500 horsemen when the Nizam went to war
Masnavi
Persian or Urdu love lyric
Mehfil
an evening of courtly Mughal entertainment, norma
lly including dancing, the recitation of poetry and the singing of ghazals (QV)
Mihrab
the niche in a mosque pointing in the direction of Mecca
Mir
the title ‘Mir’ given before a name usually signifies that the holder is a Sayyed (QV)
Mirza
a prince or gentleman
Mohalla
a distinct quarter of a Mughal city, i.e. a group of residential lanes, usually entered through a single gate
Muharram
the great Shia Muslim festival commemorating the defeat and death of Imam Hussain, the Prophet’s grandson. Celebrated with particular gusto in Hyderabad and Lucknow.
Munshi
Indian private secretary or language teacher
Mushairas
poetic symposia
Marqanas
stalactite-type decoration over mosque or palace gateways
Musnud
the low arrangement of cushions and bolsters that forms the throne of Indian rulers at this period
Nabob
English corruption of the Hindustani Nawab, literally ‘deputy’, which was the title given by the Mughal Emperors to their regional governors and viceroys. In England it became a term of abuse directed at returned ‘Old Indian hands’, especially after Samuel Foote’s 1768 play The Nabob brought the term into general circulation and in England was soon reduced to ‘nob’
Nagara
Indian ceremonial kettledrum
Nageshwaram
long Tamil oboe-like wind instrument
Namak-haram
traitor, literally ‘bad to your salt’
Naqqar Khana
ceremonial drum house
Naubat
drum used for welcoming dignitaries and festivities
Naubat Khana
drum house above the gateway of a fort
Nautch
an Indian dance display
Nazr/Nazar
symbolic gift given in Indian courts to a feudal superior
Nizam
title of the hereditary ruler of Hyderabad
Omrah
nobleman
Padshahnama
the history of the Emperor
Palanquin
Indian litter
Peshkash
an offering or present given by a subordinate to a superior. The term was used more specifically by the Marathas as the money paid to them by ‘subordinate’ powers such as the Nizam
Peshwaz
a long high-waisted gown
Pir
Sufi holy man
Pikdan
spittoon
Prasad
temple sweets given to devotees in exchange for offerings; a tradition transferred from Hindu to Islamic practice at the Sufi shrines of the Deccan
Puja
prayer
Pukhur
pond
Pukka
proper, correct
Purdah
literally, ‘a curtain’; used to signify the concealment of women within the zenana
Qanat
portable shelter of canvas or tenting
Qawal
a singer of Qawalis
Qawalis
rousing hymns sung at Sufi shrines
Qiladar
fort keeper
Qizilbash
literally, ‘redheads’. Name given to Safavid soldiers (and later traders) due to the tall red cap worn under their turbans
Raja
king
Ryott
peasant or tenant farmer
Sahukara
moneylender
Salatin
palace-born princes
Sanad
charter or warrant
Sanyasi
a Hindu ascetic
Sarir-e khas
the Privy Seat
Sarpeche
turban jewel or ornament
Sati
the practice of widow burning, or the burned widow herself
Sawaree
elephant stables (and the whole establishment and paraphernalia related to the keeping of elephants)
Sayyed
(or f. Sayyida) a lineal descendant of the Prophet Mohammed. Sayyeds often have the title ‘Mir’
Sepoy
Indian soldier
Seth
trader, merchant, banker or moneylender
Shadi
marriage feast or party
Shamiana
Indian marquee, or the screen formed around the perimeter of a tented area
Shia
one of the two principal divisions of Islam, dating back to a split immediately after the death of the Prophet, between those who recognised the authority of the Medinian Caliphs and those who followed the Prophet’s son-in-law Ali (Shiat Ali means ‘the Party of Ali’ in Arabic). Though most Shiites live in Iran, there have always been a large number in the Indian Deccan, and Hyderabad was for much of its history a centre of Shi’ite culture
Shikar
hunting
Shroff
trader, merchant, banker or moneylender
Sirdar
nobleman
Sloka
Sanskrit couplet
Strappado
Portuguese form of torture involving dropping the victim from a height while bound with a rope
Subadhar
governor
Takhta
wooden frame for keeping shawls
Tawaif
the cultivated and urbane dancing girls and courtesans who were such a feature of late Mughal society and culture
Thali
tray
Ubnah
gay male sex
Ulama
Muslim clerics
Unani
Ionian (or Byzantine Greek) medicine, originally passed to the Islamic world through Byzantine exiles in Persia and still practiced in India today
‘Urs
festival day
Ustad
master, teacher or expert
Vakil
ambassador or representative (though in modern usage the word means merely lawyer)
Vilayat
province, homeland
Zenana
harem, or women’s quarters
Zamindar
landholder or local ruler
Notes
ABBREVIATIONS
BL
British Library
CPC
Calendar of Persian Correspondence
IOR
India Office Records
NAI
National Archives of India
OIOC
Oriental and India Office Collections
INTRODUCTION
1
Philip Stern has shown brilliantly how much earlier than was previously understood the Company acquired real and tangible political power. See Philip J. Stern., The Company State: Corporate Sovereignty & the Early Modern Foundations of the British Empire in India. Cambridge, 2011.
2
‘The Muzaffarnama of Karam Ali’, in Bengal Nawabs, translated into English by Jadunath Sarkar, Calcutta, 1952, p. 63.
3
Ghulam Hussain Khan, Seir Mutaqherin, Calcutta, 1790– 94, vol. 3, pp. 9–10.
4
Quoted by Emma Rothschild in her unpublished essay, ‘The East India Company and the American Revolution’.
5
More recent research is represented by historians like Richard Barnett’s pioneering North India Between Empires: Awadh, the Mughals and the British, 1720–1801, Berkeley, 1980 and Christopher Bayly’s Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars, and Alam, who, in his The Crisis of Empire in Mughal North India, demonstrates economic growth in north India during the first half of the eighteenth century. There has been a considerable literature devoted to this new understanding. For collections of essays espousing these ‘revisionist’ views see Seema Alavi (ed.), The Eighteenth Century in India, New Delhi, 2002; P. J. Marshall (e
d.), The Eighteenth Century in Indian History. Evolution or Revolution, New Delhi, 2003. See also; Stewart Gordon, Marathas, Marauders and State Formation in Eighteenth-Century India, Delhi, 1998; Rajat Datta, The Making of the Eighteenth Century in India: Some Reflections on Its Political and Economic Processes. Jadunath Sarkar Memorial Lecture, Bangiya Itihas Samiti, Kolkatta, April 2019; Karen Leonard, ‘The Hyderabad Political System and Its Participants’, Journal of Asian Studies, 30(3) (1971); Tilottama Mukherjee, Political Culture and Economy in Eighteenth-Century Bengal. Networks of Exchange, Consumption and Communication, New Delhi, 2013; John F. Richards, The Seventeenth-Century Crisis in South Asia in Modern Asian Studies, 24, 4,(1990), pp625-638; M. Athar Ali, The Passing of an Empire: The Mughal Case, Modern Asian Studies, Vol 9. No.13 (1975), pp385-396; Stewart Gordon, Legitimacy and Loyalty in some Successor States of the Eighteenth Century. In John F Richards, Kingship and Authority in South Asia, [New Delhi, 1998], pp327-347 Madhu Trivedi, The Making of the Awadh Culture, New Delhi, 2010; Stephano Pelò, ‘Drowned in the Sea of Mercy. The Textual Identification of Hindu Persian Poets from Shi’i Lucknow in the Tazkira of Bhagwan Das ‘Hindi’, in Vasudha Dalmia and Munis D. Faruqui (eds), Religious Interactions in Mughal India, New Delhi, 2014; Sanjay Subrahmanyam, ‘Connected Histories: Notes Towards a Reconfiguration of Early Modern Eurasia’, Modern Asian Studies, 31(3) (1997); J. F. Richards, ‘Early Modern India and World History’, Journal of World History, 8(2) (1997), C. A. Bayly, ‘Indian Merchants in a ‘Traditional’ Setting. Banaras, 1780–1830’, in Clive Dewey and A. J. Hopkins (eds), The Imperial Impact. Studies in the Economic History of India and Africa, London, 1978; Philip Calkins, ‘The Formation of Regionally Oriented Ruling Group in Bengal, 1700–1740’, Journal of Asian Studies, 29(4) (1970).