The Peacock Throne and the Grosvenor

A Mughal throne in Pondoland?

Many years ago, I wrote about the peacock throne and touched upon this very topic at the tail end of that article. The story has not died despite the musicologist, historian and Grosvenor investigator Percevial Kirby’s empathic statement that the ship never really contained the kind of treasure it seemingly sailed with. Revisiting that story was a thought which had slipped in and out of my mind for some time now. The other day, I was staring absently at some of the books in my steadily growing home library over the years, and I saw the title ‘Caliban’s shore’ which I had purchased during my Peacock Throne research days. I then got hold of both of Kirby’s books on the Grosvenor and got to work unearthing the hoax behind this whole thing. So read on….

The Grosvenor an East Indiaman which sailed out of Madras in March 1782 destined for English shores, stopped for a few weeks at Trincomalee in Ceylon and on its home run to England, ran aground into rocks at the ‘bay of muscles’ on the uninhabited Pondoland coast of South Africa. The ship had a crew of 132 and 18 passengers (12 adults and 6 children) and substantial cargo. Of the 123 survivors, only 18 reached Cape Town. A 1783 report on British newspapers pointed out that the ship’s cargo was valued at around £300,000 signifying the size of its salvage value. But neither the British Crown nor the EIC did anything to locate or salvage the ship or track down the survivors. How come? 

Numerous stories on the fate of the survivors and the treasure being carried in the wrecked ship whirled around for many decades without satisfactory explanations. Many salvage attempts headed by treasure hunters to get to the sunken ship with a hope of recovering the purported treasure-trove failed. Was it all a legend, a hoax? Let’s check.

Interestingly, the indomitable Mrs Fay who once wrote about her confinement by Hyder Ali at Calicut, too had considered sailing on this trip in the Grosvenor, but could not afford the fare demanded.  

Anyway, the ship eventually left a nervous Madras (which had been waiting for an attack by Hyder Ali any time), with some £60,000 worth coast goods, passenger’s personal wealth worth £65,000 and diamonds worth £10,000, destined for a 2 month stopover at Trincomalee in Ceylon and from there to England. The voyage was eventful, the Grosvenor narrowly avoided a sea battle between the French and British near Ceylon. Two months later, at the break of dawn on 4^th August 1782, the ship stuck an undersea rock off the Pondoland coastline (some 135 miles north  South of Durban) and ended up as a marooned wreck. The survivors with little food and sustenance decided to trek some 250 miles towards Cape of Good hope, but it did not quite work out as some died and the remaining survivors drifted into the tribal regions of Pondoland. No real account of their travails are available, but it is presumed that the surviving women were taken by the Zulu and the men merged with various tribes in the region. Three of the surviving white women passengers of the Grosvenor were perhaps taken as wives by Zulu chiefs. While reports surfaced now and then of seeing white persons and half castes in black tribes, there was no concerted effort barring one in tracking them down. It is said that the Abelungu pale faced Pondoland clan points out that during the 200 or so years some of these survivors blended with the Zulus.

It was in 1880 or thereabouts, that a man named Sidney Turner stumbled upon some wreckage and chanced on some gold mohurs and star pagodas. The press came up with a sensational news to report ‘that the Grosvenor had much gold bullion on board” which started the stream of treasure hunts. The next was one Alfred Raleigh who using a medium (a child named Andy) and hypnosis to divine the wreck, declared that the ship was full of gold and silver. In 1896, one Alexander Lindsay found some 340 coins. Local kaffirs fanned the blaze of rumors with their belief that a box of treasure had been buried close to the wreck when it beached ashore near the mouth of the Tezani River.

In 1905 Lindsay formed a company called ‘the Grosvenor recovery syndicate’ which brought in a steam winch and a dredger. The story floated was that the crew departing the wreck had dragged and buried much of the treasure (some £1,000,000 worth) on land and had drawn the map which this syndicate had a copy of. Equipment was brought in to bring up the sunken treasure and the shipwreck which was supposedly covered by mounds of sand. Other than news of the rusting away of the winch and the dredger Duiker (and a sailor perishing in the attempt) running aground, nothing was obtained by way of treasure. There was a lull after this event due to the tragic outbreak of WW1.

It was in 1921 that Martin and David Webster established the Grosvenor Bullion syndicate floating 700,000 shares, after publishing copies of the captain’s log and a bill of lading, listing the treasure. The treasure according to them comprised 19 boxes of precious stones worth £517,000, 720 gold bars worth £420,000, 1450 silver bars, and coins worth £717,000.The value of the wreck was pegged at £1,714,710 and it was stated that the wreck was just under 18’ of water with 10’ of sand over it. The promoters claimed that they had a solid plan of boring through the sea bed to the hull of the submerged ship.

A full 1,000 (or 2,000) shares were purchased by Arthur Conan Doyle and a letter from him was added part of the company’s prospectus. He said – ‘Distance prevents me from taking a more active part in your enterprise, but it seems to me to be approached in a very workmanlike manner and to offer every prospect of success. . . . There are obvious risks, but the stake is a large one, and it seems to be a good speculative venture’.  

The scams continued milking greedy investors off their money. A spurious letter purportedly issues by a port Captain Bowden about the wreck and unsuccessful attempts of getting to the bullion, lent further credence. Two years later, perhaps seeing no return or wreck, another share holder even suggested that Conan Doyle being a spiritualist be asked to divine the location of the ship. After 8 years of no activity other than digging a hole in the ground, the company wound up.

It was around this time that a newspaper article came out stating that the ship had been carrying the two peacocks from the Mughal peacock throne worth £5,000,000, embedded in concrete and placed in brass chests. One CBAC Chase mentioned it for the first time in the periodical ‘overseas’ titled ‘the world’s biggest treasure hunt’ in Sept 1921. He stated ‘It is said that in addition to the treasure actually known to have been in the Grosvenor, were two wonderful golden peacocks, encrusted with gems, that were parts of the famous golden peacock throne of Delhi, India.’

The western Argus 13 Mar 1923 declared - Stored in its stronghold were boxes of emeralds and rubies, bars of gold- specie to the value of considerably, over half a million, bars of-silver, and other treasure. It was an open secret that a large portion of the looted Crown jewels of India was on board, chief of which were the two Golden Peacocks which were valued at an enormous figure. There is (or -was) over 11 tons of gold aboard, and; today the value of the treasure is something like £2,000,000.

In Sept 1923 the story was rereleased by the Daily representative and Free Press to revive interest in the Syndicate. The story went on to say that the pieces of the throne valued at £5,000,000 finally ended up in Calcutta and added further mystery by stating that it had in fact been smuggled onto the ships hold in secret! That was when the story went viral. From a £60,000 manifest, the treasure had ballooned to millions of pounds!!

What about these peacocks? Bernier had previously described them - The construction and workmanship of the throne are not worthy of the materials; but two peacocks, covered with jewels and pearls, are well conceived and executed. They were made by a workman of astonishing powers, a Frenchman by birth, named..... who, after defrauding several of the Princes of Europe, by means of false gems, which he fabricated with peculiar skill, sought refuge in the Great Mogul's court, where he made his fortune. Tavernier stated - The underside of the canopy is covered with diamonds and pearls, with a fringe of pearls all round, and above the canopy, which is a quadrangular-shaped dome, there is to be seen a peacock with elevated tail made of blue sapphires and other coloured stones, the body being of gold inlaid with precious stones, having a large ruby in front of the breast, from whence hangs a pear-shaped pearl of 50 carats or thereabouts, and of a somewhat yellow water. On both sides of the peacock there is a large bouquet of the same height as the bird, and consisting of many kinds of flowers made of gold inlaid with precious stones.

How about Conan Doyle’s involvement in all this? We do know he was a shareholder and promoter of the syndicate. Well, as it occurred during the Boer war at the turn of the 20th century, Arthur Conan Doyle serving for England in S Africa as a doctor came to hear about the potential treasure. He added fuel to the fire by remarking in his memories and adventures published in 1924 that the Grosvenor carried the old crown regalia from Delhi! That is how Delhi got connected to the Grosvenor and now news reports grandly stated that the Grosvenor treasure included the loot from the sack of Delhi.

He wrote thus, attaching a cryptic picture - Buried treasures are naturally among the problems which have come to Mr. Holmes. One genuine case was accompanied by a diagram here reproduced. It refers to an Indiaman which was wrecked upon the South African coast in the year 1782. If I were a younger man, I should be seriously inclined to go personally and look into the matter.

The ship contained a remarkable treasure, including, I believe, the old crown regalia of Delhi. It is surmised that they buried these near the coast, and that this chart is a note of the spot. Each Indiaman in those days had its own semaphore code, and it is conjectured that the three marks upon the left are signals from a three-armed semaphore. Some record of their meaning might perhaps even now be found in the old papers of the India Office. The circle upon the right gives the compass bearings. The larger semi-circle may be the curved edge of a reef or of a rock. The figures above are the indications how to reach the X which marks the treasure. Possibly they may give the bearings as 186 feet from the 4 upon the semi-circle. The scene of the wreck is a lonely part of the country, but I shall be surprised if sooner or later, someone does not seriously set to work to solve the mystery—indeed at the present moment (1923) there is a small company working to that end.

But the syndicate collapsed and ceased operation in 1924 after spending some £12,500 leaving behind an incomplete tunnel to what was believed to be the hull of the Grosvenor.

The legend died down for a while but it was in 1927 that American millionaire Pitcarin, primarily interested in restoring the peacocks to their rightful owners (??) acquired the syndicate. He spent £25,000 in efforts but stopped thereafter for religious reasons! In 1938 the Grosvenor treasure recovery company was formed and a new story crept in, that Hyder Ali’s treasure worth £3,000,000 was also on board. WWII intervened and interest sagged. It was at this point that Prof Percival Kirby a renowned musicologist and authority on African music and races, published his first Grosvenor book which revealed that this was all fantastic nonsense.

After more hunts and attempts, the throne came back to news in 1950, 1954 and again in 1957. Prof Kirby published his second book (True story of the Grosvenor) in 1960 which emphatically rubbished the treasure stories. Kirby also wrote – I also hope that in future the rather juvenile legend will be allowed to die, but I fear that this may not happen. The treasure hunts were finally called off, with the public no longer believing in the treasure, but well, as you can imagine such myths and legends do not die.

Percival R. Kirby who passed away in 1970, stated: `undoubtedly the Grosvenor was a richly laden vessel, but the visions of bullion (if by that is meant hundreds of bars of gold and silver), and of scores of chests of diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and the like … are but idle dreams’. Tony Carnie reporting in 2000 concludes succinctly   ‘But that's all it was, a legend. An extravagant falsehood invented to tantalize fortune-seekers to invest in the Grosvenor Bullion Syndicate Ltd in 1923, along with several other syndicates and salvage companies formed over the past several decades’. 

Interestingly there was one unfortunate soul who did find some treasure from the Grosvenor. In 1927, a small time prospector named John Bock found a bunch of 1038 diamonds. The rightful man reported the find, but was charged under the Diamond trade act for having found locally mined stones and placed them elsewhere near the Grosvenor wreck (to salt the find). Even though expert’s stated that these were not South African, pointing to an Indian origin (and thus the Grosvenor), the diamonds were confiscated and Bock instead of enjoying his days, counted prison bars for 3 years.  What an unlucky man!

It is time to go back to Delhi and check what happened to the Peacock throne. As we know the real peacock throne was part of Nadir Shah’s loot which he took back to Persia. On the way back, he had to battle Afghan and Kurdish tribes and the throne was ransacked with only a portion of it reaching Persia eventually. After some years, succeeding Moghul kings built another throne and even Bahadur Shah used it until he was deposed.

After the Sepoy mutiny and the sacking of Delhi by the English, this peacock throne was the target and Captain Tytler, the officer left in charge of the palace, managed to save two of the four pedestals which supported this platform. Some years after his death, his widow sold one to the South Kensington Museum. This lady died early in 1908, when Sir Purdon Clarke purchased the remaining marble pedestal from her estate, for the New York Metropolitan Museum. The picture shows what can be seen at the museum, but Lord Curzon who spent years tracing the story of the throne testified that this was not part of the original peacock throne, but belonged to the later throne.

Back to Port Grosvenor, we see that in 1982 Steve Valentine a diver in Cape Town discovered a lot remains from the wreck at a location some 600 yards north of where hunters had originally concentrated. A few buckles, coins and cutlery came up. Archeological excavations on the Grosvenor wreck site continued since 1999. Small number of rupees, silver coins, gold mohurs, various artifacts and personal belongings were collected over time. No treasure, at least not yet!

The legend and the myth of the peacock throne did not die. Sheelagh Mccay Antrobus takes us back to the legend with a 2010 article mentioning that the peacocks may have lain hidden in the heart of the Hella Hella Valley near Richmond. She narrates that before the loot of Delhi by the British, the Shah tried to avert war by offering the peacock throne to King George III of England.

As the story goes, tribesmen from a remote Xhosa clan found a big wooden box in the days following the Grosvenor’s sinking and on breaking it open, found themselves staring at the glittering glory of the Peacock Throne. It took 25 men to carry it to their chief, who thence sat on it grandly for many decades.

The neighboring Chaka Zulu chief heard about it and sent 300 men to retrieve it for himself. They defeated the Xhosa in a bloody battle and sped away with the Peacock Throne through the Hella Hella Valley. As some of them rested on a hilltop, guarding the Peacock Throne, they saw that their comrades were being set upon by the remnants of the Bhaca tribe whom they had previously attacked. The eight Zulus fled with the Peacock Throne, hiding it in a deep pool on a river before fleeing back to Zululand to request support from the chief Chaka. But in the intervening period Chaka had been killed and his position taken by his brother Dingaan. The eight men kept silent about the throne for they had no allegiance with the new chief. They died and the story should have died with them, but it did not for one of them had told his great grandson about the throne. He narrated the story to a farmer named Stone and came to an agreement that he would show him the location of the throne the next day in return for 11 cows. But in a twist of fate, the Zulu simply vanished the next day, never to be seen again. Nevertheless, , it seems that a wood carving of the peacock throne dating back to Zulu times can be seen in a museum somewhere in Zululand, made perhaps by one of the 8 who buried it.

Another version of this story (50 years of Umko 1966-2016) goes on to state that Pondo tribesmen found the shipwrecked “Peacock Throne” and transported it to the local chief’s residence where it was used by him and his descendants. Around 1828 the Zulu raided the village and found the Peacock Throne. When the return party reached the vicinity of Hella Hella they left the heavy throne hidden in a cave. The story goes on like the previous one and now the grandson of the Zulu is on an expedition back to Hella Hella to find the treasure. He found the throne stowed away in a large cave, secured to the roof. But while attempting to take it down the weakened ropes gave way, the heavy throne fell crushing them to death. So it is still there or somewhere, as the Zulu surmise, hidden in a cave.

Legends never die, as Kirby concluded…..

If you recall I mentioned about the 25 Indian lascars and maids on the ship. A Dutch rescue team found 10 of them, 8 lascars and 2 maids and they were shipped back to India. Unfortunately five of the lascars and one of the maids drowned on their return voyage when, in a cruel twist of fate, the ship they were traveling in, the Nicobar, sank, East of Cape Agulhas. The remaining maid and 3 Lascars arrived at Calcutta, never to tell their tale, in fact nobody asked them. So there you go, of the 140 who left on the Grosvenor, only eight Europeans, three lascars and 1 maid made it back home.

What about the Calcutta barrister and emissary of Warren Hastings, the eminent Charles Newman who was a passenger of the ship and the secret documents which he was carrying to London? Hastings deputed Charles Newman to Madras to conduct the inquiry into the alleged corruption of the Company's servants and Newman collected a lot of information which the EIC did not want exposed. Newman wanted to deliver these secrets only to superiors in London and that is why he was sailing back on the Grosvenor. His secrets also died with the Grosvenor mishap for he never made it out of the Pondoland forests. What could he have found about the 1776 revolution attempt by the Nawab of Arcot? Was he the reason why the EIC did not bother to track down the ship and its survivors? Was that why the Indians were never interrogated? That my friends is another mystery waiting to be unearthed. We’ll see..

References

The Story of the Peacock Throne – Maddy's Ramblings 

The true story of the Grosvenor - Percevial R Kirby

 Source book of the wreck of the Grosvenor - Percevial R Kirby

The Great treasure hunts – Rupert Furneaux

Caliban’s shore – Stephen Taylor

Zulu Journey –Carel Birkby

The doctor and the detective – Martin Booth

The Wide World Magazine Vol 50 -The search for the Grosvenor treasure – EB Dawson

The peacock throne legend -The Witness, 5 Apr 2010 - Sheelagh McKay Antrobus

Memories and Adventures – Arthur Conan Doyle

Pics: Peacock throne, Grosvenor wreck – Wikimedia, Signs – Conan Doyle M&A, Throne base (The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Vol. 3, No. 10, Oct 1908)

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The beautiful wife of Abdul Wasi

The assassination attempt on Akbar which followed and her purported European connections

I had initially planned to spend time studying the so called European connections of the mystery wife of Akbar, the famous and powerful Maryam uz Zamani, the purported mother of Salim Khan more famously known as Jahangir. Fresh from a trip to Fathepur Sikhri, I assumed that things would become clear as to whether she had Hindu or Muslim origins or if she was of Portuguese or Armenian extract as some historians had alluded. After a study which proved tiresome and inconclusive, I decided to allow all that information swirling in my head to settle down for a while and get back to it later. Instead I decided to dwell a bit on another wife that Akbar had acquired a little later.  There was a lot of intrigue in this story, sufficient for me to jot it all down, and for you to peruse.

Akbar married his first cousin Ruqaiya, in 1552 (there were a couple of other marriages earlier). Even though he married the daughter of Jamal Khan next in 1556 and the daughter of Abdu’llah Khan Mughal in 1561, his second main consort was Salima Sultan whom he married in 1561. The third was supposedly his favorite, the famous Maryam Zamani whom he married in 1562. He also married Nathibai Sahiba in the same year. In total he had about 35 listed consorts and many more in his harem, rumored to be in total somewhere close to 300.

But the fourth listed consort (his 6^th or 7^th alliance actually) was the mysterious ‘beautiful wife of Abdul Wassi’. It is an interesting story which ended up with a failed assassination attempt on Akbar. Some call her a secondary wife, but the Ain al Akbari lists her as the 4^th (many have incorrectly confused her with Bibi Daulat Shad the mother of two of Akbar’s daughters) wife, which she was. Note here that none of Akbar’s wives are named by the scribes of that time, and we know the real names of only a very few of them.

Let’s first get to know a character who was a noble in Akbar’s court, named Sheikh Badah. Now if you peruse the same source, i.e. Al Badaoni’s notes, in more detail, we can see that Badah had two sons, Sadullah and Abdul Fathah. The fourth wife of Akbar is described to be the wife of Abdul Wasi, and she is the daughter in law of Sheikh Badah. What is further confusing is that Abdul Wasi (a Shia) is from Bidar near Hyderabad in the Deccan while Shiekh Badah or Buddh (perhaps originally a Sufi from Bihar) is from Agra and a Sunni, so he cannot possibly be the third son of Sheikh Badaha. Let’s leave it there for now.

We do know that Al Badaoni was scornful of Akbar, but is still considered a serious scribe of the period, even though he entered Akbar’s employment as a translator only in 1574, ten years later than the occurrence of these events and so must have therefore written some of this based on heresy. His work Muntak̲hab_Ut_Tawārik̲h in three volumes is a general History of the Muslims of India. The second volume is the one that deals with Akbar's reign up to 1595 and is a text which when compared to Akbarnama (a work of praise), a frank and critical account of Akbar's administrative measures, particularly those connected to his conduct and religious leanings. This volume was apparently hidden till Akbar's death and was published only after Jahangir's accession. It is this Volume 2 which mentions the story of Wasi’s wife and the assassination attempt which followed. Let’s see what he has to say, but before that we should also see the intrigues in the Moghul palace and the attempts being made by Akbar to consolidate his powers and move away from the proxy rule of his guardian (not quite the wet nurse as popularly felt) Mahum Anga and his mentor Bairam Khan.

Initially Akbar did wise in appointing the Bairam Khan as his own Vakil (He was Humayun’s trusted aide earlier and was titled Khan Khanam during Humayun’s exile at Iran) or regent. It is believed that Bairam helped Akbar rule firmly and wisely under his regency but as time went by, became more and more authoritarian without consulting Akbar. After a couple of issues concerning elephants their relationship started to get strained, but Akbar then tried to strengthen their ties by getting his cousin Salima Sultan married to Bairam Khan as had been decided by Humayun years back. Soon after this, Akbar decided that things had come to a head and declared himself that he had broken off from Bairam Khan and assumed full power of the throne. Bairam Khan was asked to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca and settle there. After a brief revolt, he formally begged Akbar’s pardon and proceeded to Gujarat in order to sail off to Mecca as ordained by the emperor. He was waylaid by a band of Afghans headed by Mubarak Khan and murdered. Anyway some time later, Akbar then married Salima, his cousin and Bayram Khan’s widow in 1561.

Some of you may recall that Mahum or Maham Anga was the de facto regent of the Mughal state after the exclusion of Bairam Khan in 1560 and until Akbar's assumption of full power in 1562, shortly before her death. Maham Anga was a daughter of Mubrika Begum, wife of Babur. The next two years saw the scheming of this grand old lady, in trying to attain control over the Mughal throne.

Sharafudin Mirza, a man of noble descent with the blood of Timur in his veins, did not get along well with his father Khwajah Mu'in and so went to seek his fortunes in the court of Akbar. Through the powerful influence of Mahum, Akbar's nurse, and Adham Khan, her son (No. 19), Mirza Sharaf was appointed Panjhazdri. Akbar gave him his sister Bukhski Bibi Begum in marriage, and made him governor of Ajmer and Nagor. Soon he was involved in intrigues of the Agra courts and in 970H or 1562, was in a rebellious mode.

In the spring of 1562 Sharafuddin Mirza conquered the fort of Mirtha (in Jodhpur state) from a Rajput princeling after a bitter contest. As it appears, Sharafuddin Mirza a jagirdhar of Mewat and related to the Akbar line through Baber decided to intervene in the affairs of Amber in Ajmer, but in timely fashion (and to make sure his nephew Shuja did not lay further claim on the throne), Bihari Mall, the raja of Amber appealed to Akbar and offered the hand of his daughter Harkhabai or Hira Kunwari in marriage.

It was during Ramzan 969 that Adam khan, Mahum’s son was put to death by Akbar for killing his foster father Atgah Khan, following which Mahum died of grief. Perhaps Sharafudin was involved in some scheming with Mahum and Atgah and had to flee. Anyway to sum up, he teamed up with Abul Maali who returned from mecca and started a revolt against Akbar.

Akbar who was hunting near Mathura, hastened to Delhi to quell the disturbance and also with a plan to bring more local chiefs to his side. Some time back, the lords of Agra suggested to Akbar that marriages with girls from noble families would be a good idea to cement their support.

Quoting Al Badaoni,

This was the cause of the circumstances which lead to the suggestions of Shaikh Badah, and Lahrah, lords of Agra. The circumstances are as follows. A widowed daughter-in-law of Shaikh Badah, Fatimah by name (though, unworthy of such an honorable appellation), through evil passions and pride of life, which bear the fruits of wantonness, by the intervention of a tire-women lived in adultery with Baqi Khan, brother of Buzurg Adham Khan, whose house was near hers. And this adultery was afterwards dragged into a marriage.

She used to bring with her to festive gatherings, another daughter-in-law of Shaikh Badah, who had a husband living, whose name was 'Abd-ul-Wasi'. And the story of the devotee's cat', which is told in the beginning of the Anwar-i-Sohaili, came true. Now this woman, whose husband was still living, was wonderfully beautiful, and altogether a charming wife without a peer. One day it chanced that the eyes of the Emperor fell upon her, and so he sent to the Shaikh a proposal of union, and held out hopes to the husband.

For it is a law of the Moghul Emperors' that, if the Emperor cast his eye with desire on any woman, the husband is bound to divorce her, as is shown in the story of Sultan Abu Sa'fd and Mir Choban and his son Damashq Kliwajah. Then 'Abdul-Wasi', reading the verse: "God's earth is wide, to a master of the world the world is not narrow'" bound three divorces in the corner of the skirt of his wife, and went to the city of Bidar in the kingdom of the Dakkan, and so was lost sight of; and that virtuous lady entered the Imperial Haram.

Then Fatimah, at the instigation of her own father-in-law urged that the Emperor should become connected in marriage with other nobles also of Agra and Delhi, that the relation of equality [between the different' families] being manifested, any necessity for unreasonable preference might be avoided.

And a great terror fell upon the city.

At this time, when one day the Emperor was walking and came near the Madrasah-e Begum, a slave named Fulad, whom Mirza Sharaf-ud-din Husain, when he fled and went to Makka, had set free, shot an arrow at him from the top to the balcony of the Madrasah, which happily did no more than graze his skin. When the full significance of this incident was made known to the Emperor by supernatural admonition and the miracles of the Pir’s of Delhi, he gave up his intention. The Emperor ordered the wretched man to be brought to his deserts at once, although some of the Amir’s wished to delay a little until the affairs should be investigated, with a view to discovering what persons were implicated in the conspiracy. His Majesty went on horseback to the fortress, and there the physicians applied themselves to his cure, so that in a short time he was healed of his wound, and mounting his royal litter went to Agra.

The Akbarnama expectedly mentions only this part - Though H.M. the Shahinshah from his farsightedness and reticence did not give time for the examination of the circumstances of that evildoer, yet so much was ascertained as that this presumptuous iron-hearted one was a slave of Sharafu-d-din Husain Mirza's father, and that his name was Qatlaq Faulad. That rebel (Sharafu-d-din) had sent him from Jalaur with evil designs to be a companion of Shah Abu-l-ma'ali. When the latter fled from India and went towards Kabul he sent this inauspicious one upon this business. In order to [cause] his own destruction he (Faulad) placed the arrow of strife on the bow of fate and prepared the materials of eternal ignominy, and did not perceive how impossible it is for evil thoughts of wretches to enter the protected sanctuary of him who is befriended by God. On the contrary, whatever evil thought they have entertained recoils upon themselves in ruin and destruction.

The assassination attempt

Anyway, Faulad was dealt with and Akbar took the girl to his harem. Neither her name nor her future days or actions are mentioned in any chronicles, but she remained in the annals of history as his 4^th wife, or the beautiful ex-wife of Abdul Wasi. Akbar attributed his miraculous escape to the blessings and visit to Sufi Hazrat Nizamuddin’s dargah at Delhi, just before the event.

Sharafudin fled again, this time to Gujarat where he took asylum in the court of one Chengiz Khan. But after Akbar conquered Gujarat, he had to flee again and this time he fled to the Deccan plains, presumably Bidar where Abdul Wasi had previously gone. But he was captured on the way at Baglanah and handed over to Akbar. To scare him, Akbar made a show of trampling him under the foot of his tame elephant and then put him behind bars. He later sent him to Muzaffar Khan in Bengal and asked him to keep an eye on him and planned a return of his jagir should he show signs of repentance. If not, he was to be sent to Makkah.

So you can now conclude with some surety that Abdul Wasi and Sharaffudin were in cahoots and Bidar was where Sharaffudin was headed. Anyway it is felt by historians that Akbar forced Wasi to divorce his wife and cede her to him because of Wasi’s tie up with the rebel Sharaffudin. That is how the beautiful wife of Abdul Wasim became the beautiful 4^th wife of Akbar, all in all, a scandalous alliance.

The story did not end there because of the storm raised over the identity of Akbar’s principal wife and later the Queen mother during Jahangir’s reign, the much talked about Mariam uz Zamani. A farman of Maryam is believed to establish that she was indeed the mother of Jahangir. It is also widely believed that Maryam was the Rajput wife of Akbar, the daughter of Bihari Mall of Amber. However even now though by conjecture most have accepted that such is the case, it is not an irrefutable fact. Portuguese clergy of the period stated that Maryam was of Portuguese origin and an Armenian writer assured his readers that she was indeed an Armenian Christian. Further intrigue was brought in with the discovery of a painting showing Akbar with Maryam and Maryam wearing a pearl necklace depicting a cross (then came to light a fine painting depicting the European wife). Adding fuel to the fire, yet another writer went to great lengths to assume that Abdul Wassi was actually Abdul Massi, a Christian and that his wife was Mary, thus giving this 4^th wife a Christian identity. Let’s check on this last aspect and see if we can cast any new light.

F Fanthome states - There is a tradition which I am inclined to believe, that Mary, who had a sister Juliana by name, was the daughter, by an Armenian mother, of one Dr. Martindell or Martingell (in the imperial service), and that she was married to Akbar, while Juliana who practiced as a doctress in the seraglio was married to Prince Bourbon. In the list of the Emperor's wives given above, there is one who is mentioned (No. 4) as "the beautiful wife of Abdul Wassi," or, as I believe, Abdul Massi (Massi signifies Messiah). Now it is a fact established by inscriptions on graves in the Catholic cemetery at Agra, that during the Moghul reign Christians bore Mahomedan names and Mahomedan titles, and I conceive Abdul Wassi or Massi was a Christian. Under the circumstance, I should not be surprised if "the beautiful wife of Abdul Wassi" was no other than Mary herself. The way in which his (Abdul Wassi's) name is mentioned in the Ain shows that the man possessed no high social status, and a plebeian's widow, under ordinary circumstances, Akbar was not likely to marry. He could not have an opportunity of seeing such a woman. Probably on account of her sister, Mary had been to the imperial palace, and when she became a widow Akbar made her his spouse.

We can see that Fanthome was not in possession of real facts when he wrote the above, and it was just an assumption. So it can safely be discarded and the beautiful wife of Wasi again withdraws into the shadows. It is a pity that we can’t get a look at her or get to know details of her later life. Did she rot away in the harem where these wine guzzling and opium-consuming monarchs spent their evening hours consorting with a bevy of beautiful women? Historians state that Akbar turned a new leaf after the rumblings in Delhi and the assassination attempt, not coveting another’s wife thereafter!

But well, was there a Christian wife as alluded? Perhaps there was, unless there is a better explanation to the painting exhibited even today in Delhi. Who is then the lady, titled ‘Akbar’s European wife’ and shown the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), New Delhi? Was she the Maria Masceranhas, Juliana’s sister and connected to the Bourbons of Bhopal or was she the Turkish sultana? As you can imagine, this brings us to another vexing subject, the Turkish Sultana (she as you know had her own palace hall in the Fathepur Sikhri), which I will get to on a later date.

In the next article, we will discuss the question of who Jahangir's mother was and if it was indeed the one entitled Maryam uz-Zamani. Was Maryam, as popularly believed, the daughter of Raja Bhara Mal of Amber, having been married to Akbar at Sambhar in 1562, or was she somebody else, as suggested by some historians? It is indeed a stimulating topic where various historians had made rapid conclusions suiting their respective ends, but not really tying all the loose ends.

References

The Ain i Akbari, Volume 1 - Abū al-Faz̤l ibn Mubārak

Muntak̲hab_Ut_tawārik̲h – Abdul Khadir bin Maluk Shah Al Badaoni

A Genealogical Table of the Mughal Family - Ellen S. Smart

Akbar the greatest Moghul – SM Burke

Reminiscences of Agra – Frederic Fanthome

Women in Mughal India – Rekha Misra

Maryam Zamani - Still an enigma (Jahangir's mother and guardian)

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The Story of the Peacock Throne

Shah Jehan’s Takht e Murassa

As stories start - Once upon a time, there lived a king in North India and he had a very long name – Zille-i-ilahi A'la Azad Abul Muzaffar Shahab ud-Din Mohammad Khurram. I guess people found it very difficult to call him thus and in any case it was not very wise to call him so, for it was considered not so respectful to call a king by his name, so they hit upon a simpler name, that being Shah Jahan or the king of the world (actually a smaller world forming parts of North India). As you may have read, he was also the son of the illustrious Jodabhai or Princes Manmathi and ruled over the Mughal Empire during 1628-1658, those three decades being a period of opulence in the Mughal domain. Kindred souls have called it the golden age and a period of excellence for Mughal architecture during which buildings like the Red fort, Juma Masjid, Taj Mahal as well as many splendid gardens were built. Shah Jahan as you can imagine, intended his capitals to rival both Istanbul and Isfahan (old Persian capital 200 miles south of Tehran) in all its wealth and cultural opulence. By 1631, Mumtaz, his beloved wife had passed on and when Shah Jahan became ill in 1658, Aurangzeb claimed the throne, moving the 66 year old Shah to house arrest under care of his daughter Jehan Ara. The story by now was a repeat of what Khurram or Shah Jahan himself had done to his father Jahangir in trying to usurp his throne.

Anyway during his time of glory, Shah Jahan, the shadow of god on earth (Zille –i-ilahi) decided to recreate a Solomonic throne, and spend the large fortune amassed in the treasury from the exploits of his forefathers. His argument was that such treasures must be exhibited in style and not locked up. Thus was manufactured an object which would as history would prove, never be listed under a humble title, called the Jeweled throne or Takht e Murassa, to rest his posterior and look even more regal (I would with hindsight feel that a normal sized man like Shahjahan would have looked puny sitting in such a 6’x4’ huge bedstead like elevated throne) and magnificent. He had to do that after climbing two feet of silver steps to sit upon it. The seat according to some historians even had some artificial birds which uttered the word Allah as the emperor took the throne. Interestingly it cost even more than the Taj Mahal, reputedly twice the cost (probably over a billion dollars today), to build! So to answer all those poets who said that he spent all his time and money building the world’s most expensive mausoleum for his wife can rethink taking in the fact that his personal vanity was easily worth twice that in his mind! The Taj Mahal took 16 years to complete and cost 50 lakh and remains to be seen. The Peacock Throne that Shah Jahan wanted was ordered on the very first day of his reign. It took a talented band of architects and craftsmen seven years and cost one crore!

So let us find out what this object was all about and what happened to it. Where is it now? England, under the African waters, spread about in bits and pieces around the Kurdish or Afghan areas or exhibited at the Topkapi palace in Istanbul? This is yet another story which takes us places, like that of the Kohinoor. But before all that we have to get back to the last days of the Mughal reign and also the days when the throne was first made, understanding what it was like.

As we find out, it was commissioned in 1628 and completed around 1634-1635. Shah Jehan sat on it for all of 23 years and got himself painted doing so by Govardhan, as we see below. The painting is one of the true pictorial descriptions we have and to corroborate it we have accounts visitors to the Mughal court, like the jeweler Tavernier. Let us look at what Tavernier visiting Aurangzeb, had to say in 1665 and imagine how the throne looked like. Note also that it was not called the peacock throne but was then called the Takht-i-murassa or the jeweled throne. The name peacock throne got stuck to it sometime in the 18^th century and was actually built under the supervision of Bebadal Khan Saidi Gilani, the Daroba or superintendent of the goldsmiths. His payment or reward for the work was his weight in gold. Austin of Boudreaux is also listed as one of the other persons involved in the grand effort.

It should be stated that the Great Mogul has seven magnificent thrones, one wholly covered with diamonds, the others with rubies, emeralds, and pearls.

'The principal throne, which is placed in the hall of the first court, is nearly of the form and size of our camp beds; that is to say, it is about 6 feet long and 4 wide. Upon the four feet, which are very massive, and from 20 to 25 inches high, are fixed the four bars which support the base of the throne, and upon these bars are ranged twelve columns, which sustain the canopy on three sides, there not being any on that which faces the court. Both the feet and the bars, which are more than 18 inches long, are covered with gold inlaid and enriched with numerous diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. In the middle of each bar there is a large balass ruby, cut en cabuchon, with four emeralds round it, which form a square cross. Next in succession, from one side to the other along the length of the bars, there are similar crosses, arranged so that in one the ruby is in the middle of four emeralds, and in another the emerald is in the middle, and four balass rubies surround it. The emeralds are table-cut, and the intervals between the rubies and emeralds are covered with diamonds, the largest of which do not exceed 10 or 12 carats in weight, all being showy stones, but very flat. There are also in some parts pearls set in gold, and upon one of the longer sides of the throne there are four steps to ascend it.

Of the three cushions or pillows, which are upon the throne, that which is placed behind the King's back is large and round like one of our bolsters, and the two others that are placed at his sides are flat. There is to be seen, moreover, a sword suspended from this throne, a mace, a round Bhield, a bow and quiver with arrows; and all these weapons, as also the cushions and steps, both of this throne and the other six, are covered over with stones which match those with which each of the thrones is respectively enriched.

I counted the large balass rubies on the great throne, and there were about 108, all cabuchons, the least of which weighs 100 carats, but there are some which weigh apparently 200 or more. As for the emeralds, there are plenty of good colour, but they have many flaws; the largest may weigh 60 carats, and the least 30 carats. I counted about one hundred and sixteen (116); thus there are more emeralds than rubies.

The underside of the canopy is covered with diamonds and pearls, with a fringe of pearls all round, and above the canopy, which is a quadrangular-shaped dome, there is to be seen a peacock with elevated tail made of blue sapphires and other coloured stones, the body being of gold inlaid with precious stones, having a large ruby in front of the breast, from whence hangs a pear-shaped pearl of 50 carats or thereabouts, and of a somewhat yellow water. On both sides of the peacock there is a large bouquet of the same height as the bird, and consisting of many kinds of flowers made of gold inlaid with precious stones. On the side of the throne which is opposite the court there is to be seen a jewel consisting of a diamond of from 80 to 90 carats weight, with rubies and emeralds round it, and when the King is seated he has this jewel in full view. But that which in my opinion is the most costly thing about this magnificent throne is that the twelve columns supporting the canopy are surrounded with beautiful rows of pearls, which are round and of fine water, and weigh from 6 to 10 carats each. At 4 feet distance from the throne there are fixed, on either side, two umbrellas, the sticks of which, for 7 or 8 feet in height, are covered with diamonds, rubies, and pearls. These umbrellas are of red velvet, and are embroidered and fringed all around with pearls.

 This is what I have been able to observe regarding this famous throne, commenced by Tamerlane and completed by Shah Jahan; and those who keep the accounts of the King's jewels, and of what this great work has cost, have assured me that it amounts to one hundred and seven thousand lakhs of rupees [sic] (i.e. 10,700,000,000) which amount to one hundred and sixty millions five hundred thousand livres of our money (i.e. 160,500,000).

Thevenot who also wrote about the throne discounts Tavernier’s comment about the building of the throne starting with Tamerlane. And enthusiasts will recall that there was considerable argument about the number of pillars the canopy had, 4, 8 or 12, the height of the throne and the number of peacocks.

KRN Swamy who spent a considerable time studying the throne explains better, quoting mainly the words of Abdul Hamid, Shah Jehan’s Annalist writing in 1634 - It was, accordingly, ordered that, in addition to the jewels in the imperial jewel house, rubies, garnets, diamonds, rich pearls and emeralds in all weighing 230 kg should be brought for the inspection of the Emperor and they should be handed over to Bebadal Khan, the superintendent of the goldsmith’s department. There was also to be given to him 1150 kg of pure gold... The throne was to be three yards in length, two-and-a-half in breadth and five in height and was to be set with the above mentioned jewels. The outside of the canopy was to be of enamel work with occasional gems, the inside was to be thickly set with rubies, garnets and other jewels, and it was to be supported by 12 emerald columns. On the top of each pillar there were to be two peacocks, thick-set with gems and between each two peacocks a tree set with rubies and diamonds, emeralds and pearls. The ascent was to consist of three steps set with jewels of fine water". Of the 11 jeweled recesses formed around it for cushions, the middle one was intended for the seat it for Emperor. Among the historical diamonds decorating it were the famous Kohinoor (186 carats), the Akbar Shah (95 carats), the Shah (88.77 carats), the Jehangir (83 carats) and the second largest spinel ruby in the world — the Timur ruby (283 carats). A-20 couplet poem by the Mughal poet-laureate Qudsi, praising the Emperor in emerald letters was embedded in the throne.

And so the throne remained in Delhi, a sign of the riches and power of the Mughals. Shahjehan would grace meetings sitting on it, not always but only when recommended by his astrologers. Mughal chronicler’s also mention that the throne was used only for ceremonial occasions like the Navroz-New Year and some other days. It also moved on such events between Delhi and Agra.

Shahjehan was soon toppled by his son Aurangzeb who labored on with the empire till 1707. The transfer of the throne to Aurangzeb was not without controversy for Shah Jahan took out two of the panels which contained the best diamonds and gave them to Aurangzeb only much later (As the stories go, Shah Jahan finally passed away while trying to perform better in the harem, on an overdose of aphrodisiacs). Aurangzeb’s son Bahadur Shah took over and was soon followed by Jahandar Shah and Azim us Shah. Farrukhsiyar came next, only to be acceded rapidly by Rafi ud Darjat and Nekusiyar. Then came Muhammad Ibrahim and finally a king with an even longer name, Shahanshah Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad Shah, Abu Al-Fatah Nasir-ud-Din Roshan Akhtar Muhammad Shah or Roshan Akhtar who took over in 1719. The year of our interest is 1739, after a period of calm in Delhi, turned out to be a year when the light or Roshni in Delhi was snuffed out by one Nadir Shah.

Nadir Shah aka the Napoleon of Persia or the second Alexander, a leader who wanted to be like the

Genghis Khan, rose to the Afsharid throne and proclaimed himself the Shah in 1736. His disagreement with Roshan Akhtar came after Nadir’s request for support in his wars against the Afghans was not acted upon to his satisfaction by Roshan. When Muhammed Shah Roshan demurred, Nader decided to attack Delhi, after subduing the Afghans. He defeated Roshan Shah at the Battle of Karnal on 13 February 1739 and later occupied Delhi. A rumor that Nadir Shah was murdered, destroyed the short period of peace as it infuriated the conqueror and in the resulting Persian carnage, thousands were massacred in Delhi and Agra. Roshan begged for mercy and as compensation handed over the keys to the Mughal treasury. Nadir's soldiers ransacked Delhi and left in May (59 days later) taking with them the Jewelled throne, the Kohinoor, the Darya ye Noor, thousands of elephants, horses and camels, all loaded with the booty they had collected (interestingly the long Persian column’s rear was frequently looted by others during the march). The plunder carted out from India was so rich and it is said that Nadir stopped taxation in Iran for a period of three years following his return.

The Mughals were battered, never to recover again and the fabulous throne went the way of the Kohinoor, to Persia. That was how the throne landed up in Tehran, as booty from Nader’s loot of Delhi. The marble base or the platform on which the throne stood remained in Delhi, where one can still see it.

The Mughal chronicler recorded otherwise - Muhammad Mushin Sadiki, In his Jauhar i Samsam (1789), stated that the throne was instead, presented to the Persian conqueror: 'His Majesty bestowed on Nadir Shah, with his own munificent hand, as a parting present, the Peacock Throne, in which was set a ruby upwards of a glrik: (three finger’s breadth) in width, and nearly two in length, which was commonly called Khiraj i alam or "tribute of the world."

Whatever happened to it in Persia? The cushions that warmed Shajehan’s bottom warmed those of Nadir for the next nine years. In fact using some of the looted jewels, he made a second throne, the Takht-i-naderi Let me now use the fine accounts of AVW Jackson who visited the Shah’s palace and look at the picture of the throne below, comparing it with the original.

The throne itself, which now graces the audience hall of the Persian ShahanShah, or 'King of Kings,' is a magnificent work of art, sumptuous in the extreme. It is a jeweled platform, sometimes compared to a 'field bed,' about four feet high and five by eight feet in area, resting on six massive legs with four additional supports, and mounted by a double step. A heavy railing, decorated with metal knobs and finials, emboxes the rug-bedecked seat, and rises at the rear to form an elevated back against which the Shah sits in Oriental fashion, supported by a bolster cushion and surrounded by pillows. The rich incrustation of jewels, the highly ornate character of the lacquer work, and the delicacy of the traceries and arabesque designs impart to the throne an exquisiteness of finish and beauty that is quite its own.

Lord Curzon has brought forward strong arguments to show that this seat of sovereignty in the

palace at Teheran is not the original throne of the Moghul emperor, but was built for Fath Ali Shah, early in the nineteenth century, when he married a lady of a noble house of Isfahan, this information being received through correspondence with a former Grand Vizir and the Minister for Foreign Affairs.Curzon  adds, moreover, on the authority of Malcolm, that Nadir was so fond of the real Peacock Throne of India as to have an exact duplicate made of it, ornamented with gems from his own treasury, thus leaving two 'Peacock Thrones' to dispose of.

Curzon made a few errors in his statement, that of the number of legs. He had mentioned seven. Also by the time he saw it, the canopy was gone, but Jackson a Persian teacher himself, made sure that it was possible to remove such legs from the throne. The version he saw, original or duplicate had sockets where such legs, 12 of them may have been or could be inserted. Jackson also studied the inscriptions on the Tehran throne and found nothing that would match it to a Mughal inscription (his analysis is pretty detailed, but done during a second visit to Tehran). So the throne at the Tehran palace and Istanbul have little to do with the original but perhaps were modeled based on the original or even have parts of it. It is in this period that the name peacock throne stuck.

As fate would have it, Nadir Shah who spent the rest of his time battling Turks, his own family led by his nephew Ali Quili and other perceived enemies, was butchered in cold blood by his own guards in June 1747 at Fathabad near Khorasan located North East of Iran following a period of intense mental illness and cruelty. He was there to battle some Afghans and Kurds and had set up a military camp in Mashhad and headed to Khabhushan. Meanwhile his Qizlbash Azeri guards were planning to topple him (as Nadir started trusting the Afghan Afridi’s) and Salah Bey Khan their leader, also his main bodyguard, delivered the death blow while Nadir was sleeping in his tent at Fathabad. Ahmad Khan and his Afghan mercenaries as well as the Kurds plundered the camp at this opportune diversion, making away with the jewels including the Kohinoor to Khandahar. Ahmad khan became Ahmad Shah Durrani, the Afghan leader later (remember our discussion about the rice man, a descendant of his?).

According to Mortimer Durand’s biographical novel on Nadir, the only person who came to Nadir’s help at the end and remained faithful to him till death was Meera bai or Sitara, his Rajput wife or consort picked up during his carnage in Delhi….but then, that is another story.

Fraser provides more details - An old Koord, speaking to me (1822) of the change which in his memory had taken place in the habits of his nation, observed……….“Money and jewels were unknown among us until the days of Nadir: when that king was murdered, and his camp plundered, the peacock throne and the tent of pearls fell into our hands, and were torn in pieces and divided on the spot, although our chiefs themselves little knew their value; many of us threw away the pearls as useless, and our soldiers, ignorant of the value of gold, offered their yellow money in exchange for a lesser quantity of silver or copper. ”

Jackson continues - In this way, if we can trust the Kurd, Lord Curzon believes that 'the real Peacock Throne, or one of the two,' in Nadir Shah's possession disappeared from the scene. The other (as Curzon was informed by his correspondents), whether the facsimile or 'the original throne of Nadir Shah (i.e. the survivor of the two facsimiles), was discovered in a broken-down and piecemeal condition by Agha Mohammed Shah, who extracted it along with many other of the conqueror's jewels by brutal torture from Nadir’s blind grandson, Shah Rukh, at Meshed, and then had the recovered portions of it made up into the throne of modem shape and style, which now stands at the end of the new museum in the palace at Teheran. In this chair, therefore, are to be found the sole surviving remnants of the Great Moghul's Peacock Throne."

But researchers also opine that it is unlikely that Nadir Shah would have carried the enormous throne to a military camp where he had spent a few days before he died. That it was present at the military camp where his main bodyguard Salah Bey killed him while Nadir was sleeping is clear from the testimony of the old Kurdish villager. That the Kurds looted the military camp is also clear since the villager mentions ripping off the pearls from the canopy (tent of pearls). But it is also known that the Afghans and perhaps even the Kurds ransacked the Mashhad home of Nadir later, so they probably found the thrones there..

Many of the stones and pearls, including the Koh-i-noor travelled on to various other harems and palaces, to lay on the crowns or bosoms of future kings and queens. As for the Mughal peacock throne, only the legend remains as well as the painting by Govardhan, done immediately after the throne was delivered (in fact he embedded some real miniature jewels in the painting to depict Shajehan’s jewelry ) which you see in this page. Many of the pearls remain in Iran in the Tehran central bank vaults as part of the Crown jewel collections.

Swami concludes - It was also unlikely to have been destroyed immediately and there are evidences to suggest that it was there at the time of Shahrokh Shah, a descendent of Nadir. There is also an account of how Behbud Khan, also known as Sayed Mohammad, "gleefully ascended the Peacock Throne while kettle drums sounded out enchanting omen". ...Although some Persian historians make a mention of the Peacock Throne even two decades later, it is known that only a few pieces could be rescued of this fabulous seat of state, later to be incorporated in the Persian Nadiri Peacock Throne kept in the Gulestan Palace in Teheran (1995).

Mysteries never cease – In the 20^th century, first rumors and later, newspaper reports came out that the peacock throne was part of the  1782 shipwreck of the 800 ton British ship ‘Grosvenor’ off the South African coast. The ship had sailed out of Madras, and then Ceylon, later bound for Britain and as events would have it, ran into rocks on the Pondoland coast. The 42 meter East Indiaman sailed aground on the Wild Coast near Port St Johns mainly because of miscalculation. Most of the 123 survivors got ashore, but in the long and arduous trek only a handful survived to tell the story of the riches in the ship, including the Mughal peacock throne. Recovery of such riches had been difficult and among various ideas, they even came up with a plan to bore a hole from under the wreck. Money ran out 40’ before they could reach the wreck.

Was it a legend? Tony Carnie reporting in 2000 agrees – ‘But that's all it was, a legend. An extravagant falsehood invented to tantalize fortune-seekers to invest in the Grosvenor Bullion Syndicate Ltd in 1923, along with several other syndicates and salvage companies formed over the past several decades’.  Percival R. Kirby, who produced the most authoritative work on the Grosvenor, was very skeptical about the existence of the suspected treasure. In his book:  The true story of the Grosvenor East Indianian ” (1960) he states: `Undoubtedly the Grosvenor was a richly laden vessel, but the visions of bullion (if by that is meant hundreds of bars of gold and silver), and of scores of chests of diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and the like … are but idle dreams’. Many books and novels were written around the Grosvenor mystery, and many more will be, but it was one big hoax. In 1923 Arthur Conan Doyle hinted that Sherlock Holmes or he himself would not mind taking up the Grosvenor case, if he had the time and even mentioned about it in his memoirs.

In 1919, a times London headline proclaimed a rumor that the Peacock throne of Delhi exhibited in the Topkapi palace in Istanbul, was up for sale as the Turkish government was near bankruptcy. Lord Curzon immediately wrote a rejoinder to the press that this throne had nothing to do with the original.

Nevertheless inconsistencies in the various accounts about what actually happened to the peacock throne during the last days of the Moghuls, keep people guessing and researching. Perhaps someday some more of those jewels as listed and detailed by Tavernier will be found in NE Iran, or perhaps in Tehran or Afghanistan. Still it will be difficult to find out what actually happened to the throne that cost twice the Taj Mahal. As for the people who sat on it, the curse of the throne ensured that almost all of them died violent or horrible deaths. It is like someone said, vanity kills!!

References

The Peacock Thrones of the world – KRN Swamy, Meera Ravi

From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam - Abraham Valentine Williams Jackson

India: art and culture, 1300-1900 edited by Stuart Cary Welch

The Wars of Afghanistan: Peter Tomsen

Persia and the Persian question, Volume 1 - George Nathaniel Curzon Curzon

History of Persia – John Malcom

Narrative of a journey to Khorasan – JB Fraser

Check out Part 2 - The Peacock throne and the Grosvenor (Click on title)

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An Emperor, an Indian and an Englishman

The story of Mariam Shah - first Indian to visit and live in England


I covered the story of the Portuguese and English tussles with the Mughals and the hijacking of the Queen (Begum Maryam uz Zammani) mother’s ship Rahimi in a more serious tone earlier. As I was studying that topic, I got sidetracked by this interesting account related to a protagonist in the Rahimi story, one of the early Englishmen came to India to set up a trading post for the EIC.

His story is certainly interesting, pioneering, and partly tragic but his wife’s story is even more adventurous. While one came and settled briefly in Agra to understand life in India and to get closer to the emperor to achieve his means, the other accompanied Hawkins all the way back to England. It is the story of both these people; especially the latter who incidentally was our very first NRI, the first Indian to visit and live in the Blighty or the Island of Britain.

I do not want to write too much about the Mughals, their rule from Agra, the splendid Mughal courts and their intrigues, their luscious harems and the lovely gardens, for many know about them, after regular doses during school. But a quick rejoinder- The Mughals ruled over a wide swath of land and established control with, military conquests, inter marriage with local leaders and by establishing a line of suzerainty with the regional leaders. In the west coast, the Portuguese controlled the Arabian seas and frequently had tussles with the Mughals. A quick whiff of the times can be had if you read the previously mentioned rahimi story. But then, there were other interested people, namely the Dutch and the English, who had been sniffing around for a while, trying to find places where they could establish themseves o n the West coast of India and take part in the prosperous trade with the Indies.

One person who ventured out for the east India Company in this search was a young lad named William Hawkins. William was born Bet. 1565 - 1585 in Tavistock at Devon. He duly married Agnes Edgcombe in Sep 1590 in St. Stephens. She died around 1607 (some say 1608 which would be after Hawkins left for India) and just after that Hawkins decided to man the EIC sails of the ship Hector and set out on voyage to the Indies. There is some controversy around this point, for some experts opine that he was asked to join the Hector only because he spoke Turkish which was understood in the Mughal courts and that he was just a bluff sailor. He carried with him a letter addressed to the Governor of Gujarat (Actually emperor Akbar Who was by then dead) from King James. Assisted by Reave and Marlow, he set sail to the Surat area of Cambay. Though a second to William Keeling who commanded the fleet of ships, he was provided clothing meant to signify power and dignity once he landed in India. Scarlet and violet gowns, taffeta and silver lace to top an image of the then not so powerful English – and not as the Portuguse later explained to the Mughals that Britain was just a island of no import with just some fishermen…. The vessels set out from Plymouth around April 1607. After a difficult voyage, where they spent time playing Shakespeare plays on boars for entertainment….they reached the mouth of Tapti river in Cambay and anchored at Suvalli or Swally during Aug 1608.

Hawkings was a different type, liking pomp and swagger, as soon as he landed, he announced himself as a British Ambassador. The governor did not meet him straight away (as Hawkins put it -an old man under the influence of opium) and referred him to the Shabandar. Later he was pushed to (you can see how the bureaucracy in India worked even then) Mukkarrab khan, inspector of the ports. The next day he met the governor who however again sent him back to Khan who eventually granted trading permission for that particular landing. Hawkins proceeded to load his ship with the exports, but the Portuguese who controlled the seas arrived and took the laden boats over with his people and sent them to Goa. Finch and Hawkins remained in Surat. In the meantime, Mukarrab khan seized the pricey goods Hawkins had offloaded from his ship and offered to pay only a price he thought was right. No compromise was reached and the Portuguese it appears tried to assassinate him on a couple of occasions when they heard he was planning a trip to meet Jahangir..Hawkins though one is not sure how much exaggeration he put into his texts, escaped and had to wait.

By Feb 1609, Hawkins had slunk out to Delhi, leaving a sick Finch in charge of the remaining goods in Surat. He was in Agra by April and kept a low profile for a few days. Jehangir, sent out a summons for him to attend this court, after hearing that a British ambassador was in town. Hawkins, who had only courage and bluster, went in, presented the James letter and asked for trading rights. Jahangir was willing to give it right away but was stopped by some Portuguese friars in attendance who impressed Jahangir with the argument about England being an island of fishermen with nothing of importance to give to the great Mughal. Hawkins promised many presents when other ships would land in Surat.

Seeing that Hawkins spoke Turkish, the two soon retired to Jehangir’s Diwani Khas or private quarters where the emperor offered to sort out all of Hawkins difficulties. It appears that Mukkarab Khan’s enemies had already updated Jahangir of the man coming to Delhi. Soon the emperor sent a letter to Mukarrab khan castigating him and asking him to be courteous with the English. Impressed with his visitor, temporary lodgings were provided by the emperor and Hawkins was asked to attend court daily. The jealous Portuguese continuously tried to warn the emperor that he should not listen too much to the young English man’s stories of pomp.

Jahangir now wanted Hawkins to stay in Delhi as resident ambassador till another ambassador was sent from England. To further entice the young single Englishman, Jahangir offered him a ‘mansab of 400 horses’ rank. He was also allowed to stand ‘within the prestigious red rails’ i.e. closer to the throne where only great nobles usually stood. He was also titled the Engriz or Ingliz Khan.

And so Hawkins took his place among the gentry, dressed in Mohammedan cloaks and turban, an Ingliz khan in the Mughal court. But his stay was far from joyous for the Portuguese and Mukkarrab khan tried hard to poison the ears of the emperor as well as his food. When he complained to the emperor, he scolded the Portuguese, then laughed and suggested that Hawkins get married to a girl from his palace so that his food and comforts would be the women’s responsibility. Hawkins, as some accounts state was initially taken aback and tried to counter it with what he thought was an impossible demand. He stated that he would marry, not a recently converted Christian or a moor, but only a regular Christian.

The emperor thought for some time, working his royal brain, and after clapping his hands grandly announced that there was one such. It was none other than the daughter of Mubarak Shah (Some say Khan, not Shah), a deceased captain of Akbar. The young maiden’s name was Mariam.

In the meantime another ship named Ascension was nearing Surat. Based on Hawkins’s assurance that many gifts were on the way for Jahangir, a new firman to trade was granted to the English by Jahangir. But the ship ran aground and much was lost. To top that Hawkins had too many enemies in the court who kept on telling Jahangir that Hawkins was nothing but a bluff. When a bunch of disorderly survivors reached Agra, Jahangir knew that Hawkins was making a fool of him, a belief abetted by his courtiers who were regularly bribed by the Portuguese and Mukarab khan.

Soon Hawkins was moved out of the red rail position by Jahangir’s chief Wazir Abdul Hassan. Hawkins entreated Jahangir to either reinstall him with his previous privileges or allow him to depart. Jahangir accepted his resignation. Hawkins tried once again when news of another three ships at Surat was received, but the palace politics was not something he could counter and he had to leave.

So in Nov 1611, Hawkins and his wife Mariam left Delhi and boarded Middleton’s ships that were returning to England. Hawkins biggest problem was his arrogance and his lack of diplomacy , he did not know how to be a diplomat, instead he instigated the Emperor often against Mukarab khan who by the way had many friends in the court. Mukkarab khan had in the meantime offered to compromise, but the Hawkins arrogantly declined it and pissed Khan off even further. Mukarrab khan on the other hand was well regarded by Jahangir and knew him since childhood, earning his place with bravery, being a good fighter and with his skill with surgery. Khan eventually prevailed. Then there was the Finch Indigo case and the rahimi ransom that I mentioned in the Rahimi story where Finch outbid the emperors mother. The courtiers and the queen mother used all of that against Hawkins. Abdul Hassan further informed Jahangir that all English were drunkards and Jahangir promptly warned Hawkins not to come after drinking. The problem was that Hawkins indeed drank a lot as testified by Jourdain and smelt of drink if anybody approached him. Jahangir soon found this out himself and that went against Hawkins.

Now we get to Mariam the other person in the story. But before that let us figure out what Armenians were doing in the Mughal terrains. Akbar the previous emperor had invited Armenian traders to settle in Agra in the 16th century, and by the middle of the 19th century, Agra had a sizeable Armenian population. By an imperial decree, Armenian merchants were exempted from paying taxes on the merchandise imported and exported by them, and they were also allowed to move around in the areas of the Mughal Empire where entry of foreigners was otherwise prohibited. In 1562, an Armenian Church was constructed in Agra. Later they settled down in Surat as well where much trade with Basra was conducted. Armenian Churches were built in Surat as well. Mubarrak Shah or Khan as the case may be, served Akbar and had a rank higher than that of our friend Hawkins. Some books say that after his death, Mariam was adopted by Jahangir, or perhaps she was a member of the royal harem. Anyway she was offered to Hawkins.

Of the event Hawkins says thus - This past, the King was very earnest with me to take a white Mayden out of his Palace, who would give her all things necessary with slaves, and he would promise mee shee should turne Christian : and by this meanes my meates and drinkes should be looked unto by them, and I should live without feare. In regard she was a Moore, I refused, but if so bee there could bee a Christian found, I would accept it : At which my speech, I little thought a Christians Daughter could bee found. So the King called to memorie one Mubarique Sha his Daughter, who was a Christian Armenian, and of the Race of the most ancient Christians, who was a Captaine, and in great favour with Ekber Padasha, this Kings Father. This Captaine died suddenly, and without will, worth a Masse of Money, and all robbed by his Brothers and Kindred, and Debts that cannot be recovered: leaving the Child but only a few Jewels. I seeing shee was of so honest a Descent, having passed my word to the King, could not withstand my fortunes. Wherefore I tooke her, and for want of a Minister, before Christian Witnesses, I marryed her : the priest was my man Nicholas, which I thought had beene came over with lawfull, till I met with a Preacher that came with Sir Henry Middleton, and hee shewing me the error, I was marryed againe : so ever after I lived content and without feare, she being willing to goe where I went, and live as I lived.

According to writer Du Jarric, Hawkins applied to the Jesuit Father to perform the ceremony, but was told that this could only be done if he would acknowledge that the Pope was the head of the Church; whereupon he got his servant Nicholas Ufflet to officiate.

But well, they were soon out of favour with Jahangir and had to leave. But there was a problem. How would he leave? He did not want to leave overland via Persia and put Mariam in troubles way. Sea was the only course, and for that he had to reach a port where west bound ships plied. He asked the Portuguese who were glad to help get rid of the Englishman who was against their interests. But Mariam’s brothers and mother would not allow it. Eventually Hawkins bluffed them that he was going to settle in Goa and that he would take her no further than Goa. But he secretly got two passports from the Portuguese, one that allowed him to settle in Goa and the other that would allow them to travel to Lisbon and onto London. This does signify that his wife was by now very dear to him, for him to go to all these lengths. Meanwhile the Nurjahan faction came to the fore and Hawkins remained in Agra for awhile.

Soon came the news (1611) that British bound ships were reaching Surat and Hawkins decided to take the chance. To hoodwink the Mariam family, they went first to Goa and then went north to Surat to catch the ships. After touching bantam, the ships returned to London via South Africa, but tragedy was awaiting the eloping couple. Sickness hit the ships during this return voyage and Hawkins died enroute, onboard the Thomas. The ships finally reached Waterford in Ireland where Hawkins was buried.

The Pyer family maintains a very fine website with a lot of information on such matters. In fact they have a good amount of data on the Hawkins voyage – From there, we read about the trip as follows - Having finished his business in the Red Sea, Middleton departed in August 1612 for Sumatra and Java. Hawkins [S. 69] and his household were on board the Trade's Increase, which, after running aground near Tiku (in Sumatra), reached Bantam four days before Christmas. There they found the Hector, the Solomon, and the Thomas, all preparing to start for England. Hawkins and his wife embarked on the last-named, and the vessels sailed in January 1613. The Hector and Thomas reached the Cape of Good Hope in April, and after a month's respite the voyage was resumed on the 21st of May, Next day the two ships lost company, and of the rest of the voyage we know but little. Sickness broke out on board the Thomas, with the result that most of the crew died ; while at one time the vessel was in danger of being plundered by 'certain Newfoundland men'—probably rough traders tempted by the sight of a richly laden ship weakly manned. Fortunately, this danger was averted by the appearance of the Pearl, an interloping vessel homeward bound from the East. Her captain not only rescued the Thomas from the danger that threatened her, but also supplied her with much needed provisions. With this assistance she staggered home, arriving sometime in the autumn of 1613 ; but Hawkins did not see his native land, for it was his fate to 'dye on the Irish shoare in his returne homewards' (Purchas His Pilgrimage, p. 521). When and exactly where, this happened we are not told.

Mariam was alone when she reached England in 1614. She had no money, friends or any form of support, but she had over 6,000 pounds worth fine diamonds with her. And by then a suitor had appeared, none other than an opportunist trader who was with them during the voyage named Gabriel Towerson. By 1614, Mariam had married Towerson in Britain and went on to live there for the next 3 years, the first Indian NRI in Britain.

Peyer explains - His widow came on to London in the Thomas. Besides her claim to her late husband's property, she was reputed to have many valuable jewels ; and these considerations probably had a share in leading to her second marriage, early in 1614, to Gabriel Towerson, who had been captain of the Hector in the recent voyage. There was some haggling with the East India Company over the settlement of Hawkins's accounts. The 'Committees' who examined these reported that they included heavy charges for housekeeping, presents, 'goeinge to the campe with 60 horse,' and so on ; and that, after allowing his full salary of £200 a year up to the day of his death, with £300 for the expense of bringing his household down to the coast, there still remained a balance due from his estate of £600. However, the Company, considering that the widow was 'a straunger', and that liberal treatment of her might have a good effect in India, agreed to forgo all claims ; while in addition they presented her with a wedding gift of 200 jacobuses (about £240) as a 'token of there love'.

In 1617, the two of them returned to India and Mariam lived with her family. I am sure they must have been shocked to hear of all the events that transpired in the life of their dear Mariam and to see a brand new husband in tow, who was less interested in his wife and more interested in how he could get special treatment at the Mughal court and advance his business interests. This time, they had an English Ayah Frances Webb, a female companion Mrs Hudson and many more servants. However Towerson was not like Hawkins, for he treated Indians very badly, so much so that Towerson’s staff complained to the English factor in Surat. Not only that, Towerson found to his dismay that Hawkins’s investments in India had diminished in value by the time they returned. When Towerson left back for England, Mariam had only one English servant, a small boy. All Towerson left for her was 200 rupees.

As Peyer explains about their final days, In 1617 Mr. and Mrs. Towerson obtained permission from the Company to proceed to India in a private capacity, hoping to improve their fortunes by the aid of her relatives. From the journal of Sir Thomas Roe (who was much vexed by their vagaries) we learn that these hopes were disappointed. Towerson himself returned to England with the ambassador in 1619, leaving his wife with her friends at Agra, where, a couple of years later, we find her pestering the Company's factors for maintenance. Her second husband had evidently no intention of rejoining her, for in 1620 he obtained employment from the Company as a principal factor for the Moluccas. Three years later, while holding this post, he was put to death in 1623 by the Dutch in what is termed 'the Massacre of Amboyna'.

With the death of Towerson, the final English connection, no further information is available about Mariam. Perhaps she lived her final days in Agra with her family, coming to terms with the difficult 10 years of her life, the two husbands who died violently, the long voyage across the continents to the dark and dank Britain, new customs and languages, the politics of trade and the days when intrigue and scheming took much part of the living days. But it appears that her family continued to have connections with the English even later. John Dryden made Mariam his heroine in his play Amboyna, naming the character Ysabinda though the story line was changed considerably.

Hawkins was a pioneer in many ways, but sometimes more vain than practical, arrogant when diplomacy was required and not surprisingly, Thomas Roe the next ‘accredited’ ambassador to the Mughal court called him a ‘vayne foole’.

References
Armenians in India: from the earliest times to the present day: By Mesrovb Jacob Seth
Early English travellers in India: By Ram Chandra Prasad
Counterflows to colonialism: Indian travellers and settlers in Britain By Michael H. Fisher
Purchas his pilgrimes – Samuel Purchas
Early travels in India 1583-1619 William Foster
Payer’s pages
Visions of Mughal India: an anthology of European travel writing By Michael Herbert Fisher
Europe observed: multiple gazes in early modern encounters By Kumkum Chatterjee, Clement Hawes

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