Travels in India

by Tavernier, Jean-baptiste; Ball, Valentine

• ISBN13: 9781108046022
• ISBN10: 1108046029
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-05-15
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

In 1676, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605-89), French merchant, traveller and pioneer of trade with India, published an account of his journey through India. This two-volume translation, published in 1889 by Irish geologist Valentine Ball (1843-94), includes a biographical sketch of the author, notes and appendices. Tavernier begins his tale with the declaration that 'I came into this world to travel.' As well as most of Europe, he visited large areas of Turkey, Persia and India (where he acquired the great gem, now known as the Hope Diamond, which he sold to Louis XIV), and sailed to Java. In Volume 1, Tavernier sets out from Isfahan to Agra and Delhi; he then supplies a historical and political description of the empire of Shah Jahan and his successors. An appendix provides details about the values of coins, weights and measures mentioned by Tavernier in the original work.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction - life of J. B. Tavernier

Bibliography

Title page of original edition

Dedication to the King

Design of the author

Table of the books and chapters

'Avis' to the reader

Travels in India: Book I. Concerning Routes Which One May Take to Go from Ispahan to Agra, and from Agra to Delhi and JahÃínÃírÃíd, Where the Court of the Great Mogul Is at Present; as Also to the Court of the King of Golconda and to that of the King of Bijapur, and to Several Other Places in India

Route from Ispahan to Agra by (way of) Gombroon (Bandar AbbÃís), where particular mention is made of the navigation from Hormuz to Surat

Concerning the customs, the money, the exchange, the weights, and the measures of India

Concerning carriages and the manner of travelling in India

Route from Surat to Agra by BurhÃínpur and Sironj

Route from Surat to Agra by AhmadÃíbÃíd

Route from Ispahan to Agra by KandahÃír

Sequence of the same route from Delhi up to Agra

Route from Agra to Patna and Dacca, towns of the Province of Bengal; and the quarrel which the author had with ShÃíistÃí KhÃín, uncle of the King

Route from Surat to Golconda

Of the Kingdom of Golconda, and the wars which it has carried on during the last few years

Route from Golconda to Masulipatam

Route from Surat to Goa, and from Goa to Golconda by Bijapur

Remarks upon the present condition of the town of Goa

Concerning what the author did during his sojourn at Goa on his last journey in 1648

History of Father Ephraim, Capuchin, and how he was cast into the Inquisition at Goa

Route from Goa to Masulipatam by Cochin, described in the history of the capture of that town by the Dutch

Route by sea from Hormuz to Masulipatam

Route from Masulipatam to Gandikot, a town and fortress in the Province of Carnatic, and the author's transactions with Mir Jumla, who commanded the army of the King of Golconda; in which also there is a full description of elephants

Route from Gandikot to Golconda

Return from Surat to Hormuz, and how the author found himself engaged in a very rough and dangerous naval combat, from which he escaped without accident

Historical and Political Description of the Empire of the Great Mogul

Account of the last wars in Hindustan, in which is set forth the present condition of the Empire and the Court of the Great Mogul

Concerning the sickness and supposed death of ShÃíh JahÃín, King of India, and the rebellion of the Princes, his sons

Concerning ShÃíh JahÃín's prison, and how he was punished by Aurangzer, his third son, for the injustice he had done to Prince BolÃíki his nephew, grandson of JahÃíngir, to whom, since he was the son of the firstborn, the Empire of the Moguls belonged

Concerning the flight of DÃírÃí ShÃíh to the Kingdoms of Sind and GujarÃít; his second battle with Aurangzeb; his capture and death

How Aurangzer seated himself upon the throne and had himself declared King; and concerning the flight of Sultan ShujÃí

Concerning the prison of Sultan Muhammad, son of Aurangzer, and of Sultan Suliman Sheko, eldest son of DÃírÃí ShÃíh

Concerning the beginning of Aurangzeb's reign, and the death of ShÃíh JahÃín, his father

Concerning the preparations which are made for the festival of the Great Mogul, when he is solemnly weighed every year; of the splendour of his thrones and the magnificence of his Court

Concerning other details of the Great Mogul's Court

The Great Mogul orders all his jewels to be shown to the author

Terms of the passport which the NawÃíb ShÃíistÃí KhÃín sent to the author, with some letters which he wrote to him and the replies to them, in which the style of these countries manifests itself

Appendix

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