Narrative of a Visit to the Court of ... the Ameers of Sínde, at Hyderabad ... in the year 1827-28, compiled officially for the Government of Bombay, by James Burnes ... Presented by ... the Governor in Council to the Literary Society [With a table.] L.P

Front matter

A NARRATIVE OF A VISIT TO THE COURT OF SINDE; A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF CUTCH, FROM ITS FIRST CONNEXION WITH THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT IN INDIA TILL THE CONCLUSION OF THE TREATY OF 1819; AND SOME REMARKS ON THE MEDICAL TOPOGRAPHY OF BHOOJ. JAMES BURNES, SURGEON TO THE RESIDENCY AT BHOOJ. Presented ly the Honourable the Governor in Council to the Literary Society. BOMBAY: PRINTED BY PERMISSION OF GOVERNMENT FOR THE PERUSAL OF THE AUTHOR'S FRIENDS. SUMMACHAR PRESS, 1829. EDINBURGH : REPRINTED BY JOHN STAUK. 1831. CONTENTS. PAGE Preliminary Observations relative to the Map of Sinde, 3 Introductory Letter, .... 7 Narrative of the Visit to the Court of Sinde, 9 Remarks on Alexander's Route, . , . 136 .Sketch of the History of Cutch, . . . 143 Preliminary Notice, . . . . 145 Section I — Introductory Outline of the History of Cutch before the British Connexion, . . 147 Section II. — From the Commencement of the British Connexion to the Conclusion of the Treaty of 1816, 162 Section III — From the Conclusion of the Treaty of 1816 to the Conclusion of the Treaty of 1819, 194 Postscript, 1829, . . ... . 221 Addenda, ..... 228 Medical Topography of Bhooj, . . . 241 Map of Sinde, facing the Title-Page, Map of Cutch, facing . . . 145 Genealogical Table, facing . . .

A VISIT to the COURT OF SINDE. EXPLANATORY OBSERVATIONS RELATIVE to the MAP OF SINDE. 1 have carefully examined all the maps of Sinde in common circulation, but have found none so generally correct as the one from which the prefixed, as far as it relates to that country, has been partly compiled. It was sent to me while on my route to Hyderabad, by my brother, who had copied it from " A Sketch of the Indus from Shikarpoor to the Sea, by Samuel Richards, 1810," in the Quarter-Master General's Office, Bombay ; a delineation which must have been constructed, I think, from native information. I have made a few additions to it, as well as some alterations, which are, I believe, very nearly correct ; although, as I MAP OF SINDE. 4 had not even a compass with me, and could judge of distances only from doubtful information, and the time occupied in passing from one station to another, it cannot be considered entitled to the same creditas a map constructed on mathematical principles.

While I say this, however, I am free to express my conviction, from personal observation, that it is a truer delineation of Sinde, and its grand fea ture the Indus, than any which has hitherto been published in Europe. There are many serious objections to a map of a country like Sinde ever being critically correct. Some of these will be noticed in the course of my narrative ; and I may remark here, in addition, that the inconstancy of the Indus itself is an in surmountable obstacle to any thing like accuracy in the representation of that river. These observations, however, apply only to the sketch of Sinde. The delineation of Cutch, the Bunnee, the Northern Runn, Puchum Island, the Koree river, &c. will be found strictly correct ; be ing, in fact, a reduced copy of a map compiled from actual measurement and observation by my bro ther Lieutenant Alexander Burnes, assistant quar ter-master-general of the army, and intended to il lustrate that officer's memoir on the eastern moutb of the Indus and the formation of the Runn.

Section I. Introductory Outline Of The History Of Cutch Before The British

CONNEXION. About the ninth century of the Christian era, a body of supposed Moosulraans of the Summa tribe emigrated from Sinde, and, under the guidance of five brothers, settled in Cutch, of which by degrees they acquired the complete sovereignty ; having either by force or fraud expelled, or subjected to their authority, the aboriginal inhabitants, consist ing of three distinct classes, Wagellas, Katties, and Wagum Chowras. Four or five generations after their settlement, the descendants of the five brothers, assumed the name of Jharejah, * derived from a leader of the tribe named Jharrah, who set his descendants the example of female infanticide, by putting to death his seven daughters in one day. * Lieut. Holland's Account of the Jharejahs. Cutch continued tranquil under their sway for many years, until the murder of Humeerjee, the chief of the elder branch of the tribe, by ano ther Jharejah, named Jam Rawul.

Khengarjee, the son of Hameerjee, on the death of his father, fled to Ahmedabad to seek the assistance of the viceroy, who had married his sister; and this being readily granted, a force was sent into Cutch to reinstate him, as chief of the tribe, in his rights, which had been usurped by the murderer of his father. On the approach of the Viceroy's army Jam Rawul fled with his adherents to Kattiwar, and founded the town of Nawanuggur, which is possessed by his descendants at the present day ; and Khengarjee assumed the sovereignty of Cntch and Moorvee in Kattiwar, with the title of Rao or Rawul, a. D. 1549- From the time of Khengarjee until that of Rahiden, A.D. 1666, the succession continued according to the law of primogeniture. Pragjee, the third son of the latter prince, murdered his elder brother, Jewajee, and the second brother, Nongaljee, having died in the interim, Pragjee, on the death of his father in 1698, ascended the musnud, to the prejudice of his nephews, Kianjee, the son of Jewajee, and Kallajee, the son of Nongaljee.

To the former he gave the command of Moorvee in Kattiwar, which his descendants still retain ; the latter retired into the Ubrassa, and took possession of the principal towns in that district, where his descendants have ever since possessed the chief in fluence. Pragjee was succeeded, in the year 1716, by his son, Gorejee, a brave and enterprizing prince, who had distinguished himself by his courage and con duct during the lifetime of his father, but whose reign is not marked by any occurrence of note : he was succeeded by his son, Rao Daisul. Rao Daisul ascended the throne, A. D. 1719- * At no period was Cutch so respectable as during his rule. He not only repelled four armies despatch ed from Ahmedabad by the emperor's deputy, to enforce the payment of tribute, but sent his troops across the frontier, and established military posts in Sinde, Parkhur, and Okhamundel, by which steps he checked the predatory horse from the two former quarters, and piracy at the latter.

He also took possession of various towns and villages along the southern coast of the Gulf of Cutch, to which he laid claim on account of his relationship to the Rajah of Moorvee ; and, not withstanding all these expensive exertions, ex clusive of many improvements he carried on in his own territories, he died at an advanced age, leaving a treasury well stocked with money. The latter ten years of his life were embittered by the unkindness of his son, the Prince Lacca, * Lieut. -colonel Pottinger's Abstract. who threw him into confinement, and also had his celebrated minister, Sett Deokurn, assassinated. Lacca assumed the supreme authority about the year 1745. The character and forms of the durbar were entirely changed by the luxurious and extra vagant splendour that were introduced during his reign, which lasted about ten years after the decease of his father.

The advanced posts placed by Rao Daisul in Parkhur and Sinde were driven out; and his son, afterwards Rao Gore, rose in open rebellion against him. Of this period Captain Walter says, " The affairs of the state were left in the hands of a succession of incapable ministers, from whom the only qualification required was assent to every plan, however disreputable or atrocious, which could contribute to the Rao's vanity or profusion. Scenes of cruelty and oppression previously un known became frequent, &c. Either two or three ministers were put to death during this reign. Poonjah Sett, the son of the ce lebrated Deokurn Sett, minister of Rao Daisul, was disgraced and dismissed ; and the Prince Cor gee retired to, and resided at, Moondrah for the last seven years of his father's life. Forces were frequently sent against him, but were invariably unsuccessful ; and although none of the neigh bouring powers attempted to invade Cutch in Rao Lacca's time, and his whole strength was there fore disposable, yet it was in vain exerted to sub due the rebellion headed by his own son in the very heart of his dominions.

He also made an abortive attack on the town and fort of Terah in the Abbrassa, the patrimony of Soomrajee Jharejah, in which he was beaten off, and obliged to return to his capital discomfited. On the death of Rao Lacca, his only legitimate son, in 1760, Gore, was unanimously acknowledged, although his father had tried to secure the accession for one of his numerous illegitimate chil dren. Poonjah Sett, as soon as he heard of Rao Lacca's death, hastened to Bhooj, in the expectation of being made minister ; but he was treated with undisguised contempt and hostility ; and hear ing that a plot had been formed to assassinate him, he fled to Sinde, and the situation he had aspired to was filled by a distant relative of his own called Jeewun Sett. Cutch was invaded no less than four times by the Sindians during this reign ; and on each of these occasions the country was desolated and plundered, although the invaders did not succeed in forming a permanent settlement.

Two of the inroads were headed by Gholam Shah Calora in person, and two of them by his son Surufraz Khan. The former wished to compel the Rao to give him his sister in marriage ; but after a treaty had been entered into, in which this stipulation stood as an article, it was evaded, and Gholam Shah was glad, on his second invasion, to content himself with the daughter of the chief of Khauker, whose family stood next in pretensions to the throne. The inability of Cutch to withstand the power of Sinde was clearly demonstrated by these events ; for although the Rao engaged mercenaries from the Nuwab of Rahidenpoor, the Jam of Nuwanug gur, the chief of Moorvee, and others, yet even with all this foreign aid, had it not been for Poonjah Sett, (who first instigated Gholam Shah to the at tack, but afterwards repented and persuaded him to return to Hyderabad,) it seems from all accounts probable that the Cutch government would then have been subverted.

When the Sindians retired, Poonjah Sett was made minister ; but soon after the Rao presented him with his own hand with a bowl of poison, and ordered him to drink it in his presence, merely because he had recommended an adherence to the articles of the treaty. His son Deojee Sett accepted the office of minister about three years subsequent to this, and likewise met an untimely fate by poison. On quitting Cutch, Gholam Shah left a garrison of 5000 men at Luckput Bunder, which was then a petty town. He also proceeded to build an em bankment to prevent the waters of the Indus from falling into the sea through the eastern branch of that river, which passes close to Luckput ; and by this unjustifiable act he converted a fertile plain, which yielded from rice cultivation a revenue of eight lacs of cories annually to the Bhooj durbar, into a dreary salt marsh.

When Gholam Shah died, his son Surufraz Khan recalled his troops from Luckput, but, as before stated, he twice after this entered Cutcb with a con siderable force, and devastated a great part of the country before he quitted it. The garrisons on the part of Cutch in Ballumba, and other places, on the northern coast of Kattiwar, were expelled by the dependants of the Jam about this time ; and, instead of resenting these injuries, or at least attempting it, the Rao gave up his whole time and thoughts to the most unheard of cruelty and sensuality. He kept a body of negroes about his person, who allowed no one but the partakers of his disgusting and depraved orgies to approach him. At length the ladies of the durbar prevail ed on some of the principal officers to confine the Rao ; and whilst he was under this temporary re straint, the whole of the negroes were either put to death, or fled to the adjacent countries.

The Rao was so much irritated, that, on being released, he proceeded to Mandavie in disgust, and there occupied himself in building a fine palace, which, however, he never completely finished. After stating these facts, it is almost superfluous to say, that Rao Gore was a cruel and blood-thirsty tyrant. Exclusively of the revolting instances al ready detailed, he killed with his own hand his brother Mansingjee, simply because he discovered that he had obtained the favours of a female who had declined his visits ; and it is estimated that in the course of his reign, a period of nineteen years, he sacrified more than thirty ministers to his rage or rapacity. He left two sons, the prince Rahiden, and Pruthiraj, commonly called Bhyjee Bawa, the former of whom succeeded him. Rao Rahiden began to reign in 1778, at the early age of fourteen.

His mother had appointed a Lohana, by name Dewichund, minister; and it was supposed, from the intercourse they afterwards car ried on, that her connexion with him had been criminal, even during Rao Gore's lifetime. Rao Rahiden had been accustomed from his in fancy to hear of and see scenes of bloodshed and vice ; and he quickly afforded proof that he was a most apt scholar in such matters, and reeded not the dying exhortations of his father to revenge his mother's infidelity on the tribe (Lohana), to which her paramour belonged. He very soon replaced the negroes who had been turned out ordestroyed some years before ; and with their assistance he put to death in one day the minister Dewichund, together with his three brothers, and above two hundred of their followers. A Banian minister was next set up under the aus pices of a negro jemidar, named Mecraj ; but these ill-assorted authorities soon quarrelled.

Parties ar ranged themselves on each side; and whilst the Rao was indulged in the inner apartments with a few companions in deeds of abandoned lust and profligacy, the palace was daily deluged with the blood of those who were contending for his favour. Some of the most desperate of the negroes were banished, and others put out of the way by poison, which, it is even asserted, the Rao himself mixed with their food, to ridhimself of their continual importunities; but those who remained of this class had influence enough to obtain the Rao's order to destroy the Ba nian, which was done without delay in the public durbar. On hearing of these nefarious proceedings, many of the district officers affected to consider them selves freed from all allegiance to Bhooj. Manda vie, however, and some other important places, con tinued obedient to the Rao ; who, having recently adopted the Mussulman religion, resolved to force his subjects to follow his example, which he determined to do by destroying all the Hindoo temples and images.

This mad project he first tried atMan davie, whither he had gone for the express purpose; but the Brahmins and Banians, who form a large portion of the population, opposed him, and threat ened, according to their mode of enforcing their wishes, to commit " traga " on themselves. Tbe Rao, to let them clearly comprehend how careless he was of such denunciations, drew his sword and wounded five or six of them, before his attendants could seize his hand. He then gave directions that the town should be pillaged ; an outrage which was happily prevented by the rich merchants bribing the garrison to oppose the miscreants who had gladly hastened to carry the Rao's orders into execution. In the meantime, the Rao was himself in great danger from the exasperated feelings of the inhabitants, who attacked him and his escort, and obliged them to make a rapid retreat to Bhooj ; where, as a compensation for the disappointment he had met with, and the opposition offered to him at Mandavie, he adopted the plan of moving about the streets habited as a fukeer, and accompanied by a body of his negroes, who put every man whom they met to death, unless he was able and willing to repeat the Mahommedan creed.

It now became notorious that the Rao was de ranged ; and after two or three attempts to place him under restraint, in which measure his brother Bhyjee Bawa and the ladies of the palace concur red, he was seized by a body of troops which had been secretly called in from Anjar. In one of the various unsuccessful attempts made to secure his person, which he constantly baffled through the vigilance and ferocity of his negroes, the then minister Kotaree Waga, and above three hundred people, were destroyed in cold blood in one of the palace yards, by the Rao and his desperate asso ciates. From this time the Rao was lodged in confine ment ; * but his brother Bhyjee Bawa being too * Tho honourable M. Elphinstone's Minnie. young to assume the direction of affairs, the go vernment was conducted by twelve commanders of mercenary troops, who appear to have been all Mahommedans, and who were guided by the au thority of Dhosul Vain, the principal member of their own body.

Among these leaders was Futteh Mahommed, a native of Sinde. This person appears to have been endowed with capacity and courage. Finding the government of Dhosul Vain at once weak and odious, he successfully intrigued with the troops, with the ministers by whom the civil business of the government was still conducted, and with some of the Jharejahs ; until, in the year 1792, he was enabled to expel Dhosul Vain and his col leagues, and to transfer the reins of government into his own hands. He conducted the affairs of Cutch with firmness and ability for ten years, un til Bhyjee Bawa, as regent, in whose name Fut teh Mahommed appears to have administered the government, became of age, and began to feel the hardship of his exclusion from the regency. Huns raj and the other ministers who were dissatisfied with the predominance of Futteh Mahommed, avail ed themselves of this feeling ; and, seizing the op portunity of a casual absence of Futteh Mahommed from the capital, they carried off Bhyjee to Manda vie, of which Hunsraj was at that time in charge.

The wealth and respectable character of Hunsraj, the junction of the other ministers, and the popular manners of Bhyjee, joined to the goodness of his cause, soon drew the majority to his party; while Futteh Mahommed was glad to abandon Bhooj, and to compromise his claim to the administration for the possession of the fort and dependencies of Anjar. The death of Bhyjee, which happened in 1802, six months after the revolution, restored the as cendancy of Futteh Mahommed. Hunsraj was a merchant, and his wealth and popularity were in sufficient to make up for the want of knowledge and confidence in military affairs. He withdrew to Maudavie, leaving Bhooj to be captured by Fut teh Mahommed, while Luckput Bunder, Moondra, Bitta, and Seesagud, with their districts, remained in the hands of independent chiefs,* who, although three of them professed Mahommedanism, were all close confederates of Hunsraj .

These parties were supported entirely by their mercenary troops, con sisting of Arabs, Sindees, and Mussulmans of Cutch. The Jharejahs appear to have possessed but little weight, and to have taken little interest in thestrug gle ; some remained at their forts entirely neutral, others served the contending parties for pay ; and although the Rao's person was in the hands of Futteh Mahommed, and Hunsraj had not even the shadow of legitimate authority, the greater part of the Bhyaud were entertained in his ser- * Mahommed Meyan Sotah, who enacted so prominent a part afterwards, was one of these. vice, or attached to his party. Futteh Mahom med proceeded with vigour against such of these as came within his reach ; he fomented their fa mily quarrels ; he besieged their forts ; he levied contributions on various pretences, as well to fill his treasury as to gratify his revenge.

His necessities obliged him also to impose numerous and severe taxes and fines on the merchants and ryots ; but although these proceedings naturally created general discontent, there seems to have been no at tempt to form any combination against him. He continued to govern the capital and the greater part of the Rao's territories, and to carry on depredations on the possessions of his rivals until his death ; and the name of the " Jemidar" is now as much respected in Cutch as that of any of the Raos, his predecessors in authority. The death of Futteh Mahommed took place in 1813 ; — it was preceded by that of Hunsraj, and shortly followed by that of Rao Rahiden. As long as Futteh Mahommed's plans were attended with perfect success, he seems to have been as just and merciful as his situation and mo tives would allow him to be ; * but the slightest check or misfortune excited his wrath ; and the annals of those days merely exhibit a tissue of civil wars, of assassinations, of public murders, of treachery, and of the grossest tyranny.

Indeed, it * Col. Pottinger's Character of Futteh Mahommed. was impossible, with the materials Futteh Mahom med had to work upon, and the objects he had in view, that it could be otherwise ; and although we may admire his courage, his liberality, the to tal want of any sordid feeling, and the consequent poverty in which he died, yet we must abhor his cruelty, his revengeful feelings, his perfidy when it was necessary to his purpose, and the unsparing manner in which he subjected the unhappy people whom he professed to foster to the constantly renewed horrors of a civil war of the most cruel description, which he could only contrive to carry on, by inviting into the country and enlisting bodies of desperate mercenaries, whose pay always amounted to considerably more than the revenue he drew from the places subject to him.

He was, in one word, the despotic and remorseless leader of a band of plunderers ; and if he showed a different and better feeling by founding two or three towns, building Luckput fort, and establishing a port at Toonah, he did all these from his wish to rival, and perhaps eventually to ruin, the chiefs who held places independent of him in the neighbourhood of these improvements. He commanded in person four unsuccessful ex peditions against the fort of Luckput after it had turned against him, and he laid waste the defence less towns and villages ; butchering the inhabitants, who had been forced by his desertion of them, to submit to the chiefs opposed to him. They a i. in their turn retaliated on his partizans ; and I have myself been assured by some of the Potails of villages lying between Bhooj and Mandavie, that they have been pillaged and driven from their homes three times in one month by the troops of the contending parties.