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The Office of Akhbār Nawīs: The Transition from Mughal to British Forms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Michael H. Fisher
Michael H. Fisher
Affiliation:
Oberlin College, Oberlin
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Extract

The persistence and yet transformation of the office of akhbār nawīs (‘newswriter’) reflected fundamental aspects of the transition from the Mughal to the British Empires. The Mughals appointed akhbār nawīs to collect and transmit specific kinds of information. This office continued, albeit with new functions, through the decentralizing of political power that characterized eighteenth-century South Asia. The expansion fo hte English East India Company meant constant change in the essential nature of political relations, changes mirrored in this office. Indeed, the Company, and its political Residents, subordinated and redefined this office. Under the British Raj, the concept ‘akhbār nawīs’ stood transformed, like the nature of the information it conveyed.

Type
Articles
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , February 1993 , pp. 45 - 82
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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References

1 Steingass, F., A Comprehensive Persian–English Dictionary (New Delhi, 1973), p. 446a.Google Scholar

2 Ibid., p. 28a.

3 In this article, I will follow Cohn's point that ‘knowledge’ had to be processed and coded into ‘information.’ Cohn, Bernard S., ‘The Command of Language and the Language of Command’, in Ranajit, Guha (ed.), Subaltern Studies IV (New Delhi, 1985), pp. 276–329.Google Scholar

4 I will use the more common form, nawīs, as both a singular and plural noun throughout this article.

5 This process largely reflected how the Mughals worked in general: building a distinctive patrimonial-bureaucratic empire by synthesizing elements from pan-Islamic institutions, imperial Persian models (especially from the Safawid court, established 1501), their own dynastic traditions from Central Asia, and the administrative forms they found in India. See Blake, Stephen P., ‘The Patrimonial- Bureaucratic Empire of the Mughals,’ Journal of Asian Studies 39, 1 (11. 1979): 77–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6 It is indicative of the continued respect shown by the many regional rulers in India to the Mughal Emperor, virtually to the end of that dynasty, that only the Mughal Emperor's official court diary held the title siyāha-i huzūr and his imperial diarists the title wāqi 'a nawīs. Many regional rulers used the terms akhbār and akhbār nawīs for the diary and diarists in their courts. I thank Professor Irfan Habib for highlighting this point. Personal communication, 11 (July. 1991.

7 Ā'in 10 of Book Two. We cannot know if Akbar's court diary functioned in exactly this way (since the Mughal archives have apparently not survived before the seventeenth century). Here I follow Blockmann's, H. translation of Abū'l-Fazll'Allāmī, The A'in-i Akbari, 3 vols (New Delhi, 1988), vol. 1, pp. 268–9.Google Scholar

8 For a physical description and examples of these imperial daily diaries see Ahmed, Muhammad Ziauddin ‘Shakeb’ (ed.), Mughal Archives: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Documents Pertaining to the Reign of Shah Jehan (1628–1658), vol. 1, Durbar Papers and a Miscellany of Singular Documents (Hyderabad, 1977), pp. 125–234.Google Scholar

9 Later descriptions of the Mughal court confirm this recognition; Manucci states the ‘Vaquia-navis, who is the Chief Secretary of State’ sat in the inner circle observing the Emperor during his meals. Manucci, Niccolao, Mogul india 1653–1708 or Storia do Mogor, tr. William, Irvine, 4 vols (London, 1907–1909), vol. 1, p. 23.Google Scholar

10 Additionally, these official regnal chroniclers used other sources preserved in the archives including earlier histories, imperial orders, and the multitude of other documents preserved by this highly literate empire. Other scholars were apparently allowed access to these archives as well. See Sanial, S. C., ‘The Newspapers of the Later Mogul Period,’ Islamic Culture 2 (01. 1928): 122–40; (07. 1928): 453–63.Google Scholar See also Sarkar, Jagdish Narayan, History of History Writing in Medieval India (Calcutta, 1977), p. 37;Google ScholarSarkar, Jadunath, History of Aurangzeb, 5 vols (Calcutta, 1912), vol. 1, pp. xv–xviGoogle Scholar, and Mukhia, Harbans, Historians and Historiography During the Reign of Akbar (New Delhi, 1976), p. 67.Google Scholar

11 Among the best collections of early Mughal akhbārāt are: the Rajasthan State Archives, Bikaner; National Archives of India, New Delhi (especially the Inayat Jang Collection); National Library, Calcutta (especially the Sarkar Collection); Raghubir Library, Sitamau; and Salar Jang Museum and Andhra Pradesh State Archives, Hyderabad. See Rajasthan State Archives, Descriptive List of the Vakil Reports addressed to the Rulers of Jaipur (Persian), 2 vols (Bikaner, 1967, 1972);Google ScholarSinh, Raghubir, A Hand-list of Important Historical Manuscripts in the Raghubir Library, Sitamau (Sitamau, 1949);Google ScholarSinh, Raghubir, ‘The Persian Akhbarat of 1779–1818 A.D.,’ Proceedings of the Indian Historical Records Commission 16 (12. 1939): 140–9;Google ScholarSingh, Sardar Ganda, ‘The Punjab News in the Akhbar-i-Darbar-i-Mualla (Preserved in the Jaipur Archives),’ Proceedings of the Indian Historical Records Commission (02. 1948): 61–6;Google ScholarSingh, Sardar Ganda, ‘Persian akhbars in the Alienation Office,’ Proceedings of the Indian Historical Records Commission 16 (12. 1939): 123–8;Google ScholarNayeem, M. A. (ed.), Mughal Documents: Catalogue of Aurangzeb's Reign, vol. 1 (Hyderabad, 1980);Google ScholarTirmizi, S. A. I. (ed.), Calendar of Acquired Documents (1402–1719) (New Delhi, 1982);Google ScholarTirmizi, S. A. I., Indian Historical Vistas (Delhi, 1980); and Muhammad Ziauddin Ahmed, Mughal Archives.Google Scholar For the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, I have examined the following important collections of akhbārāt: IO 2371, IO 2945–9, IO 2991, IO 2993, IO 4087, IO 4340–5, IO 4368, IO 4530, IO 4643, IO 4776, India Office Library [hereinafter cited as IOL]; OR 4608–9, Eur Add 16721, Eur Add 22624, Eur Add 23148–9, Eur Add 24036–8, Eur Add 25020–1, British Museum [hereinafter cited as BM]; ‘Akhbār-i Darbār-i Mu'alla,’ Ellis 38, Royal Asiatic Society; Persia D.15, D.22, MS Hertford College 38, Ousley Add 162, Bodleian Library, Oxford; OR MS 198, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University; Persian MS 129, Persian Miscellaneous, no. 40, OR 45, OR 369, National Archives of India [hereinafter cited as NAI]; Farsiya Akhbar 93, Aligarh Muslim University; Persian MSS Add 197, U.P. Record Office, Allahabad; Farsī Tarikh MS 702, Andhra Pradesh State Archives, Hyderabad; various Akhbārāt, Lucknow University Library, Lucknow.

12 Sanial, , ‘Newspapers,’ p. 123.Google Scholar

13 Jahangir, , Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, or Memoirs of Jahangir, From the First to the Twelfth Year of his Reign tr. Rogers, Alexander, ed. Henry, Beveridge (London, 1909), pp. 247–8. Yusuf Husain Khan says Akbar established a wāqi 'a nawīs in each province from 1586, ‘Seventeenth Century Waqaie in the Central Records Office, Hyderabad,’Google ScholarIslamic Culture 28, 3 (07 1954): 460.Google Scholar For an excellent survey of the Mughal information systems see Narayan Sarkar, Jagdish, ‘Newswriters of Mughal India,’ in Sen, S. P. (ed.), The Indian Press (A Collection of Papers Presented at the 4th Annual Conference of the Institute) (Calcutta, 1967), pp. 110–45.Google Scholar

14 For collections of wāqi ea of Hyderabad see Husain, Yusuf, Newsletters (1767–1799) (Hyderabad, 1955);Google ScholarKhan, Yusuf Husain, Selected Documents of Aurangzeb's Reign (Hyderabad, 1958);Google ScholarHusain, Yusuf, Selected Documents of Shah Jaha's Reign (Hyderabad, 1950);Google ScholarHusain, Yusuf, Selected Waqai of the Deccan (1660–1671 A.D.) (Hyderabad, 1953);Google ScholarKhan, Yusuf Husain, ‘Seventeenth Century Waqaie,’ pp. 460–71.Google Scholar

15 Manucci, refers to Emperor, Aurangzeb (1659–1707), Mogul India, vol. 2, p. 309. This role of the imperial wives—assuming the pattern to have been accurately recorded by Manucci and an established practice—indicates the significance given to these newsletters: part of the ‘private’ world of the imperial harem yet recording the ‘public’ events of the Emperor, the Empire, and the world at large.Google Scholar

16 Bernier, Francois, Travels in the Mogul Empire AD 1656–1668, tr. Constable, Archibald, rev. Smith, Vincent A. (New Delhi, 1990), p. 231.Google Scholar

17 Siddiqi, Muhammad Zameeruddin, ‘The Intelligence Services under the Mughals,’ Medieval India: A Miscellany, vol. 2 (London, 1972), p. 54.Google Scholar

18 See Khan, Ali Muhammad, Mirat-i-Ahmedi, Supplement tr. Syed, Nawab Ali and Charles, Norman Siddon (Baroda, 1924), p. 171.Google Scholar

19 The harkārahs worked under the Dārogha-i Harkārah-i Kul or the Dārogha-i Dāk Chaukī, i.e. Superintendent of Posts and Intelligence, who handed their reports unopened to the imperial chief Minister for submission to the Emperor. Other messengers were entitled barīd or qāsid. Further, occasionally military spies and scouts also reported to the Imperial center.

20 Among those who have used this material recently are Ali, M. Athar, Apparatus of Empire (Delhi, 1985)Google Scholar, and Alam, Muzaffar, The Crisis of Empire in Mughal North India: Awadh and the Punjab 1707–1748 (Delhi, 1986).Google Scholar

21 Richards, J. F., Mughal Administration in Golconda (Oxford, 1975), p. 233;Google ScholarAlam, , Crisis, pp. 33ff; C. A. Bayly, article this journal.Google Scholar

22 Habib, Irfan, Agrarian System of Mughal India (New York, 1963); personal communication, 12 Aug. 1991.Google Scholar

23 Thus, in 1763 Sher Shākir Khān received an imperial appointment as Waqā'ie Nigār and Bakhshī (paymaster, personnel officer) of Bengal and Bihar, with a salary of Rupees 2,000 per month and a jāgīr of 8,000,000 dams. Since both provinces were nominally governed by the Nawāb of Bengal, but militarily controlled by the East India Company, Sher Shākir Khān was really dependent on the Governor and the Company, rather than the Emperor for his position and salary. He carefully reported himself to the Nawāb and to various officials of the Company, explaining his personal history and seeking their cooperation and support. Persian Correspondence, Translation of Persian Letters Received 1763–1764, no. 9, pp. 14–15, NAI [hereinafter Persian Corr., Trans. Ltrs Recd].

24 Bayly, C. A. among others have made this argument. See his Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire, vol. 2. 1 of The New Cambridge Histoiy of India (Cambridge, 1988).Google Scholar

25 The Peshwā's official wakīl (or ‘trusted agent’), an office hereditary to the Maratha family of Hingané, sent back dispatches in Marathi. This wakīl officially represented the Maratha cause before the Mughal Emperor and, more practically, before the many would-be kingmakers who sought to manipulate the still potent symbol of the Emperor for their own purposes. The wakīl reports often referred the Peshwā's administration to the relevant akhbārāt for details of events. A collection of akhbārāt for the 1756–1788 period has remained for us, due to its preservation by the family of hereditary Persian language secretaries to Peshwā. Although this family supervised the Persian language and Islamic conventions of diplomacy, they were themselves Deshastha (Rigvedi) Brahmins (of Vishvamitra Gotra).Google Scholar Much of the information presented below about the Peshwā's news letters comes from Sarkar, Jadunath (ed. and tr.), Persian Records of Maratha History, vol. I Delhi Affairs (1761–1788) (Newsletters from Parasnis Collection) (Bombay, 1953).Google Scholar

26 Since the distance from Delhi to Poona was some 1,300 kilometers, this works out to a modest 60 kilometers per day, an indication that the Marathas did not have a dāk or pre-placed string of messengers but rather relied on an individual messenger or party of messengers to carry the message the whole way. The unsafe traveling conditions of the day would also have delayed the transit of such messengers. To Peshwa, 5 October. 1773, Sarkar, Jadunath, Persian Records, p. 72. The postal system is discussed in Irfan Habib, ‘Postal Communications in Mughal India,’ Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 46th Session, pp. 236–52.Google Scholar

27 Circa 30 March 1771, Sarkar, Persian Records, p. 32. He appealed repeatedly for funds, including 3 November. 1769 and 19 August. 1788, ibid., pp. 19, 202.

28 Circa 13 December. 1773, ibid., pp. 80–1.

29 19 Aug. 1788, Ibid., p. 202. Later, however, another shift in imperial politics (temporarily) restored Maratha power (under Sindhia) in Delhi.

30 Circa September. 1775, Ibid., p. 88.

31 For a similar process in terms of military recruitment during this period see Kolff, Dirk H. A., Naukar, Rajput and Sepoy: The Ethnohistory of the Military Labour Market in Hindustan, 1450–1850 (Cambridge, 1990).Google Scholar

32 Ram's, Sewak letter from Calcutta 26 March 1779, Sarkar, Persian Records, pp. 96–8.Google Scholar

33 5 Feb. 1787, ibid., p. 154.

34 The Persian akhbārāt may have been more formulaic, the Marathi akhbārāt tend toward the more interpretative type. A collection of the Hindwi akhbārāt by a family of Maratha jātī akhbār nawīs for the Jan. 1776–July. 1794 period (with gaps) is publishedGoogle Scholar: Joshi, R.M. (ed.), Poona Akhbars, 3 vols Hyderabad, 1953–1956).Google Scholar See also Joshi, R. M., ‘Two Unpublished akhbars from Poona,’ The indian Archives 10, 1–2 (Jan.– Dec. 1956): 17–19 which presents akhbārāt from 1794–96.Google Scholar

35 Khare, G. H., ‘News-letters of the Medieval Period,’ in Sen, The Indian Press, pp. 146–50.Google Scholar

36 From the Nawab of Arcot, 15 June 1778, Persian Corr., Original Ltrs Recd, vol. 44. The next year, the Marathas again sought to block the flow of newsletters about their movements. Raoji to Nawab of Arcot, 25 February. 1779, Persian Corr., Originals Recd, vol. 31.Google Scholar

37 To Sahab, Nana, circa 20 (June 1783, Sarkar, Persian Records, p. 127.Google Scholar

38 From the Nawab of Arcot, 26 July 1780, Persian Corr., Trans. of Ltrs Recd, vol. 16. no. 60, pp. 480–511.Google Scholar

39 News of Poona, 13 Jan. 1780, Persian Corr., Trans. of Ltrs Recd, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 1–2.Google Scholar

40 For instance, eleven out of twelve messengers from Chimnājī Bhonsle to his father Mahārājā Madhojī Bhonsle were killed and the messages lost into unknown hands. Intelligence of Nagpur, Recd 21 June 1780, Persian Corr., Trans. of Ltrs Recd., vol. 16, no. 53, pp. 417–33.Google Scholar

41 From the Vizier, 10 March 1768, Persian Corr., Trans. of Ltrs Recd, 1767–1768, no. 84, pp. 321–2.Google Scholar

42 This instance concerned Nānā Farnavis and his correspondence with Sindhia. News of Poona, 13 Jan. 1780, Persian Corr., Trans of Ltrs Recd, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 1–2.Google Scholar

43 Browne to Warren Hastings, Governor General 19 August. 1783, no. Browne to James Anderson (Resident Sindia) 26 10. 1784, enclosure in no. 1070Google Scholar, in Bhargava, Dayal (ed.), Indian Records Series: Browne Correspondence (Delhi, 1960), pp. 89, 212.Google Scholar

44 See Marshall, Peter James, ‘Indian Officials under the East India Company in Eighteenth-Century Bengal,’ Bengal Past and Present 84 (07–12. 1965): 95–120.Google Scholar

45 ‘These are dated ii 76 of the Bengali calendar. ‘Persian Department, Newswriter's Report, 1769–1772 [sic],’ NAI.Google Scholar

46 Corr, Persian., Trans. of Persian Ltrs Issued 1763–1764, no. 104, pp. 100–1.Google Scholar

47 For example, one of the more extensive reports of an akhbārāt from the Mughal imperial court, dated 30 Jamadi 1 1180, 7 Julus (the 7th regnal year of Shah Alam, 3 November. 1766) is available in the Persian original in Persian Letters Receipt 1764–69, Serial no. 1, Supplement no. 3, NAI.Google Scholar

48 For example, a letter to Mir Qasim Nawab dated 21 March 1761. Trans. of Persian Ltrs Issued 1761, no. 186, pp. 61–2.

49 To Murli Dhar Raja, Persian Corr., Trans. Recd, and Issued 1770, no. 21, p. 173.

50 To Dhar, Murli, Corr, Persian., Trans. Recd and Issued 1770, no. 48, p. 183.Google Scholar

51 Corr, Persian., Trans. of Recd and Issued 1770, no. 48, pp. 15–16.Google Scholar

52 Corr, Persian., Trans. of Recd, and Issued 1770, no. 52, pp. 184–5.Google Scholar

53 From Mubarakuddaula, , 28 08. 1773, in Calendar of Persian Correspondence, vol. 4, no. 447, pp. 82–3.Google Scholar

54 The next year, the Nawāb and guardian repeated their complaints. From Nawab Mubarakuddaula, Persian Corr., Trans. of Ltrs Recd, vol. 11, no. 186, p. 356; From Munni Begum, ibid., vol. 11, no. 185, p. 356.

55 E.g. To Vizier, , November. 1767, Persian Corr., Copy of Ltrs Issued 1766–1767, no. 70, p. 30.Google Scholar

56 Among those whom the Company first requested to send news were Rāy, Shitāb (Nā'ib Nāim of Bihar, who was asked ‘as a friend’), Rājā Balwānt Singh of Banaras, and the imperial courtier Najaf Khān. 9 December. 1767, Persian Corr., Trans. of Issues 1766–67, no. 222, pp. 109–10; 21 April 1770, Persian Corr., Copy of Issues 1770, no. 66, p. 48; to Najaf Khan, 13 February. 1772, Persian Corr., Copies of Issues 1770–72, no. 213, p. 84.Google Scholar

57 Persian Corr., Ltrs Recd, passim.

58 E.g. From the Nawab of Arcot 28 December. 1775, Persian Corr., Copies of Ltrs Recd, vol. 4, no. 16, pp. 21–3. In sending such news reports to Calcutta, the Nawāb may have been trying to ingratiate himself with the Governor General so as to overrule the Governor of Madras, an explicit opponent of the Nawāb.Google Scholar

59 From the Nawab of Arcot, 3 September. 1777, Persian Corr., Copies of Ltrs Recd, vol. 9, no. 21, pp. 30–2.Google Scholar

60 From the Nawab, of Arcot, 28 March 1779 in Calendar of Persian Correspondence, vol. 5, no. 1414.Google Scholar

61 To the Vizier, , 12 November. 1784, Persian Corr., Trans. of Issues, vol. 30, no. 72, pp. 151–5.Google Scholar

62 Harper to Smith, 20 September. 1767, in Foreign Department Select Committee Proceedings, 3 August. 1768, IOL.Google Scholar

63 Minute of Richard Smith and Minute of H. Verelst 3 August. 1768, Foreign Department Select Committee Proceedings, 3 August. 1768, IOL.Google Scholar

64 Nevertheless, the maintenance of a dāk remained a symbol of authority, as well as a communications network for regional rulers. In this instance, the Awadh ruler fought against the termination of his dāk. As late as , the Awadh dāk linked Awadh with Agra, Allahabad, Banaras, Bareilly, Baroda, Cawnpur, Delhi, Etawah, Farukhabad, Jaipur, Jaunpur, Moradabad, Muttra, and Rampur. Resident Lucknow to [?] 2 Aug. 1839, IPC 20 July 1840, no. 183. Thereafter, the Company ordered this dāk abolished but, in return, allowed the Awadh ruler to send his letters postage-free.Google Scholar

65 To the Vizier, , 28 or 30 March 1767, Persian Corr., Trans. of Issues, 1766–1767, no. 106, p. 42.Google Scholar

66 E.g. See Askari, Syed Hasan, ‘Fragments of a newly discovered Persian manuscript by a Hindu Newswriter,’ Proceedings of the Indian History Congress (Cuttock) 1949: 270–3.Google ScholarThis article describes what was apparently an account for the Company by an akhbār nawīs in Shikohabad, Etawah, Akbarabad, and elsewhere (1784–1794).Google Scholar

67 For example, Lāl, Lāla Jawāhar reported to the Company from Rohilkhand from before the Rohilla war (1774) and then for the next dozen years from the Rohilla capital, Rampur. Resident [Rsdt] Lucknow to Governor General [Gov. Gen.] 21 February. 1795, Foreign Political Consultations, 6 March 1795, IOL [hereinafter, FPC]; Rsdt Lucknow to Chief Secretary to Government [Secy to Govt] 28 May 1809, FPC 13 June 1809, no. 46.Google Scholar

68 This was his second ‘petition’ to the Governor General, the first having elicited no response. From Khan, Ghulam Muhammad, 24 May 1782, Persian Corr., Trans. of Ltrs Recd, vol. 19, no. 25, pp. 55–7.Google Scholar

69 From Abdullah, Qazi Muhammad, 27 May 1773, Persian Corr., Trans. of Ltrs Recd, vol. 11, no. 116, p. 87.Google Scholar

70 Letter of Mr William Watts, Chief of Cossimbazar, 10 October. 1752, Proceedings 16 October. 1752, no. 9 in Public Proceedings, September. to December. 1752, pp. 391–4, NAI.Google Scholar

71 Coote, Eyre to Governor General in Council 16 January. 1781, Foreign Secret Consultations, 23 February. 1782, no. 7, IOL [hereinafter FSC].Google Scholar

72 Sulivan, Richard Joseph, An Analysis of the Political History of India: In Which is Considered the Present Situation of the East and the Connection of Its Several Powers with the Empire of Great Britain, 2nd enlarged edn (London, 1784), pp. 307–8.Google Scholar

73 Rsdt Delhi to Secy to Govt, 13 Oct. 1813, FPC, 1 June 1816, no. 13. These views are repeated in Minuf Sir C. T. Metcalfe, 14 December. 1829, FPC 19 December. 1829, no. 22.Google Scholar

74 For an extensive history of the Residency system see Fisher, Michael H., Indirect Rule in India: Residents and the Residency System, 1764–1857 (New Delhi, 1991).Google Scholar

75 Gov. Gen. in Council to Court of Directors 22 Feb. 1785, Fort William-India House Correspondence, vol. 15, ed. Philips, C. H. and Misra, B. B. (Delhi, 1963), p. 375.Google Scholar

76 These instructions were to the political Resident in Awadh. Bengal Secret Consultation 4 Oct. 1773, in Personnel Records, 12: 401, IOL.Google Scholar

77 Gov. Gen. to Commercial Resident Poona 13 Oct. 1773, Bengal Secret Consultation 13 Oct. 1773, no. 9, IOL.Google Scholar

78 Soon after Richard Sulivan wrote this, he himself began a brief and controversial career as a Resident at Arcot and then Hyderabad. Sulivan, An Analysis, p. 31.Google Scholar

79 Gov. Gen. to Rsdt Lucknow, 23 Oct. 1782, FSC 21 April 1783, no. 14; Gov. Gen. to Rsdt Lucknow 1 Sep. 1795, Eur MS Addl 13522, BM.Google Scholar

80 For an example of the Gov. Gen.'s instructions for the Resident to gather such information, see Gov. Gen. to Rsdt Lucknow, 23 (October 1782, FSC 21 April 1783, no. 14. Residents continued to fulfill this function. One of the last such tours during the period covered in this article came in 1849–1850 as the Resident in Awadh surveyed that state extensively, preliminary to the Company's decision to annex it.Google Scholar See Sleeman, William Henry, A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, 2 vols (London, 1858).Google Scholar See also Rsdt (Lucknow) to Secy to Govt, 21 June 1849, India Political and Foreign Consultations 1 Sept. 1849, no. 78, IOL.

81 These dāks covered nearly 200 kilometers per day. E.g. Gov. Gen. to Porcher, Messrs, Redhead and Gardiner, 4 September. 1789, Malet Collection, F.149, IOL; Gov. Gen. to Rsdt (Hyderabad) 26 January. 1797, Political Consultations 27 January. 1797, no. 77, Eur MS Addl 13583, Correspondence with Kennaway and Kirkpatrick, 1793–1798, BM.Google Scholar

82 E.g. From Vizier, 21 October. 1767, Persian Corr., Trans. of Ltrs Recd, 1767–1768, no. 390, pp. 209–11.Google Scholar

83 Browne, James, Rsdt Delhi to Gov. Gen. 5 February. 1784, no. 58 in Bhargava, Browne Correspondence, pp. 118–19.Google Scholar

84 From Delhi to the Peshwa 17 March 1784 in Sarkar, Persian Records, p. 140.Google Scholar

85 LtDavidson, James to Department Persian Translation, 16 August. 1791, Foreign Miscellaneous Series, vol. 52, Nagpore Residency, 19 April 1792, IOL.Google Scholar

86 Rsd Poona to Gov. Gen. 21 Feb. 1795, FPC 23 March 1795, no. 11.Google Scholar

87 Rsdt Nagpore to Chief Secy to Govt, 8 May 1812, FPC 29 May 1812, no. 3; Envoy Goa to Rsdt Poona, 11 April 1816, FPC 11 May 1816, no. 41.Google Scholar

88 Humble Petition of Loll, Motee, 4 January. 1833, FPC 12 April 1833, no. 12.Google Scholar

89 E.g. Rsdt Mysore to Secy to Gov. Gen., 5 June 1834, FPC 19 July 1834, no. 83; Mooftee Kulleem to Gov. Bombay, 7 Jan. 1843, FPC 25 April 1845, no. 5.Google Scholar

90 Rsdt Delhi to Secy to Govt, 9 July 1815, FPC 26 July 1815, no. 62.Google Scholar

91 Rsdt Delhi to Secy to Govt, 13 Aug. 1813, FPC 3 Sep. 1813, no. 28.Google Scholar

92 Office of Persian Translator to Newswriter Hyderabad, 19 May 1790, FPC 21 May 1790, no. 5; Petition of Fyz Ali, Newswriter, n.d., FPC 30 December. 1800, no. 64.Google Scholar

93 Rsdt Lucknow to Gov. Gen., 21 Feb. 1795, FPC 6 March 1795.Google Scholar

94 Rsdt Nagpore to Chief Secy to Govt, 8 May1812, FPC 29 May 1812, no. 3.Google Scholar

95 For a discussion of this bureaucratizing process see Fisher, Indirect Rule, ch. 8.Google Scholar

96 These were in Alwar, Amritsar, Bhurtpur, Bokhara, Candahar, Herat, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kabul, Khoollum, Kishngarh, Kurauli, Lucknow, Machere, Multan, Nadown, Patiaia, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, and at the encampments of six rulers. FPC, passim.Google Scholar

97 Rsdt Lucknow to Chief Secy to Govt, 28 May 1809, FPC 13 June 1809, no. 46; Rsdt Delhi to Chief Secy to Govt, 5 Aug. 1809, FPC 22 Aug. 1809, no. 22; Envoy Cabul to Chief Secy to Govt, 18 May 1810, FPC 9 June 1810, no. 13.Google Scholar

98 Lee-Warner, William, The Native States of India (London, 1910), p. 220.Google Scholar

99 Aitchison, C. U., A Collection of Treaties, Engagements, and Sanads, 14 vols (Calcutta, 1909), passim.Google Scholar

100 Eur MS Addl 13585, Secy to Govt to Resident Hyderabad (Kirkpatrick) 25 Aug. 1803, BM.Google Scholar

101 Secy to Govt to Acting Rsdt Nagpur, 15 Oct. 1813, FPC 15 Oct. 1813, nos 3, 4; Aitchison, , A Collection, 2: 519–27.Google Scholar

102 See Singh, Sardar Ganda, ‘akhbarat-i-Lahaur-o-Multan,’ Proceedings of the Indian Historical Records Commission 21 (12. 1944): 43–6.Google Scholar Singh surmises from internal evidence that these akhbārāt from Aug. 1848 to Jan. 1849 for Ahmadpur, Bahawalpur, Lahore, Multan, and elsewhere were written for the Mahārājā of Patiala. They were found among other discarded papers from a collection of a Munshī in Multan. Their language is sympathetic to the English and hostile to the Sikhs opposing the English.

103 Envoy to King of Oude to Secy to Govt of India, Foreign Department, 31 Aug. 1844, FPC 5 Oct. 1844, no. 155.Google Scholar

104 Sleeman, , Journey, vol. 1, pp. 67–70.Google Scholar

105 Indeed, many of the collections of akhbārāt which survive today were sponsored and preserved by Residents (see note 11 above). For example, in 1828, Captain James Tod (Political Agent for the Western Rajput States) presented the Royal Asiatic Society with a magnificent collection of copies of Mughal imperial akhbār for the courts of Aurangzeb and Bahadur Shah. Although it is clear that Tod did not fully understand exactly what he was presenting, it illustrated the British interest in the Mughal heritage.Google ScholarAsiatic Journal and Monthly Register 26 (1828): 335 reports the gift and Tod's appraisal of it.Google ScholarSome collections reflect British efforts to process these akhbārāt into information useable to them. For example Eur Add 22624, BM are selections from akhbārāt for 1830 written for the Resident Delhi by Jāwlānāth, Munshī. There are occasional English notes in the margins which may reflect British efforts to understand them.Google Scholar

106 Singh describes a large collection of Persian akhbārs of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries from many dozen courts sent to the Resident at Poona which apparently remained unread until Singh first unsealed them in 1939. Singh, ‘The Persian akhbars.’Google Scholar

107 Fayrer, Joseph, Recollections of My Life (Edinburgh, 1900), p. 87. He gives an akhbār in translation, pp. 94–6.Google Scholar

108 I have analyzed 943 akhbārāt from the 1787–1836 period for the Awadh court;Google Scholar see my A Clash of Cultures: Awadh, the British, and the Mughals (Delhi, 1987), Appendix 3 for a partial translation of the akhbār of 20 June 1839. For sources, see note 11 above.Google Scholar

109 Minute of Macaulay, T. B., 2 September. 1836 quoted in Sanial, ‘The Newspapers,’ p. 454.Google Scholar

110 The Gov. Gen.'s Minute (8 Aug. 1836) stated: ‘The circulation of news continues to take place amongst the Natives as it always did. Princes and others who can afford it have their news-writers, or employ people established in that line where they think it sufficient importance to seek intelligence.’ Quoted in Sanial, ‘The Newspapers,’ pp. 453–4.Google Scholar

111 Karkaria, R. P., ‘Beginnings of the Newspaper Press in India,’ East and West 1, 1 (11. 1901–05 1902): 546–62.Google Scholar

112 The first was Hickey's Bengal Gazette, available at the National Library, Calcutta, British Museum Newspaper Library, Colindale, or on microfilm, Nehru Memorial Library, New Delhi. By 1857Google Scholar, over 200 English language newspapers and journals had come into existence (most only briefly). The Company's Government discussed issues of control over these newspapers (including censorship, the regulation of presses, the distribution of newspapers, and private versus Government ownership of newspapers) in Home Public Consultations, passim, NAI. Excellent studies of the early printed newspapers in India include: Barns, Margarita, The Indian Press (London, 1940);Google ScholarBarns, Chanda Mrinal, History of the English Press in Bengal, 1780 to 1857 (Calcutta, 1987);Google ScholarKesavan, B. S., History of Printing and Publishing in India, 2 vols (New Delhi, 1985, 1988);Google ScholarNair, P. Thankappan, A History of the Calcutta Press: The Beginnings (Calcutta, 1987);Google ScholarNatarajan, Swaminath, A History of the Press in India (Bombay, 1962);Google ScholarPriolkar, Anant Kakba, The Printing Press in India (Bombay, 1958);Google ScholarSankhdher, B. M., Press, Politics and Public Opinion (New Delhi, 1984); S. P. Sen, The Indian Press.Google Scholar

113 In an 1843 survey, for example, the Reverend James Long found only 125 Indian subscribers for the 5 leading English language newspapers of the day. Friend of India, 19 April 1851, cited in Chanda, History, p. xxi. Mookerjee Hurish, Hurish Chunder, a leading Bengali journalist of this period wrote in the Hindoo Patriot (3 May 1855) confirming this lack of Indian interest: ‘The English newspapers represent neither the opinions nor the interests of the vast mass of the Indian population.… Hence they are totally devoid of any influence over any section of the [Indian] community.’ Cited in Chanda, History, p. xxii. Nevertheless, some English language papers republished extracts from the Persian or Indian language printed newspapers, in order to provide their readers with a selected sample of ‘native opinion,’ not to disseminate information or opinion among ‘natives.’Google Scholar

114 The Bengal Herald, begun in 1829, was one of the first of these. Chanda, English Press, pp. 490–1 lists all 30 from Calcutta, between 1829 and 1855.Google Scholar

115 The Company's Government had far less authority over newspapers published by Indians, by people of mixed ancestry, or even by Europeans born in India, than over newspapers published by the European-born, since only the latter could be deported for violating Government regulations. Minute of Gov. Gen., 7 Oct. 1822 and Minute of Bayley, 10 October. 1822, Home Public Consultations, 17 Oct. 1822, no. 6.Google Scholar See also Boyce, Merill Tilghman, British Policy and the Evolution of the Vernacular Press in India, 1835–1878 (Delhi, 1988).Google Scholar

116 Baptist missionaries in Serampore (a Danish enclave outside the English East India Company's jurisdiction) published a Bengali language newspaper, first entitled Dig-Durshan, then Samachar Durpan. See Chanda, English Press, pp. 292–4 for a list of 19 such newspapers.Google Scholar

117 Barns asserts that in 1816 Gangadhar Bhattacharya began the brief-lived Bengal Gazette but this newspaper is not mentioned in Nair or Chanda. Barns, Indian Press, p. 87. The 1820s saw the birth of a number of Indian language newspapers including Sambad Kaumudi, in Calcutta, and Bombay Samachar, in Bombay. See Natarajan, A History, p. 27.Google Scholar

118 An English merchant house in Calcutta published this Persian newspaper. Minute of Bayley 10 October. 1822, Home Public Consultation 7 October. 1822, NAI. See a partial collection in NAI.Google Scholar See also Sanial, S. C., ‘The First Persian Newspapers in India,’ Islamic Culture 8 (01. 1934): 105–14. Barns asserts that printed Persian newspapers existed at the end of the eighteenth century but that no specimens survive. Barns, Indian Press, p. 111.Google Scholar

119 For a survey of Urdu printed newspapers see Sabri, Imdad, Urdu ke Akhbār nawīs, 2 vols (Delhi, 1973).Google Scholar

120 This paper (and others), however, were very critical of other Indian courts, especially Awadh. I, along with other scholars, have analyzed the printed Delhi Urdu akhbar. See Lal, K. Sajan, ‘The Delhi Urdu akhbar and Its Importance,’ Islamic Culture 24, 1 (01. 1950): 16–44;Google ScholarFaruqi, Khwaja Ahmad, Delhi Urdu Akhbār (Delhi, 1972);Google ScholarQureshi, Ishtiaq Husain, ‘A Year in Pre-Mutiny Delhi (1837 A.C.),’ Islamic Culture 17 (1943): 282–97. See Delhi Urdu akhbar, partial collection in NAI.Google Scholar

121 E.g. Jam-i Jehan Nama, no. 133, 29 December. 1824, NAI. The Delhi Urdu akhbar refers to ‘akhbar’ as sources from dozens of cities and courts in India and elsewhere. Delhi Urdu akhbar, 1840, passim, NAI.Google Scholar

122 For further studies of Persian, Urdu, and Hindi printed newspapers see Barrier, N. Gerald and Wallace, Paul, The Punjab Press, 1880–1905 (South Asia Series Occasional Paper No. 14) (East Lansing, 1970);Google ScholarLal, K. Sajan, ‘A few news-papers of the pre-Mutiny period,’ Proceedings of the Indian Historical Records Commission 19 (12. 1942): 128–32;Google ScholarLal, Kasim Ali Sajan, ‘Two Urdu Newspapers of Madras in Pre-Mutiny Days,’ Islamic Culture 18 (07 1944): 313–22;Google ScholarQureshi, I. H., ‘Two newspapers of pre-Mutiny Delhi,’ Proceedings of the Indian Historical Records Commission 18 (1942): 258–60;Google ScholarSankhdher, B. M., ‘Oodunt Martund: The First Hindi Newspaper of India,’ Modern Review 118, 3 (09. 1965): 231–4;Google ScholarAslam, Siddiqi, ‘The First Urdu Newspaper,’ Islamic Culture 21, 2 (04 1947): 160–6.Google Scholar

123 See ‘Persian Newspaper and Translation,’ Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 5 (1839): 355–71 for a Persian newspaper lithographed in Tehran for Muharram 1253 (April–6 May 1837). This had much the same format as a court akhbār and was even headed ‘Akhbār wa Waqā'i”.Google Scholar

124 See Raja Ram Mohun Roy: His Life, Writings and Speeches (Madras, 1925);Google ScholarBanerji, Brajendra Nath, ‘Rammohun Roy as Journalist,’ Modern Review 96, 4 (04 1931): 408–15, 507–15 (August. 1931): 138–9.Google Scholar

125 ‘Appeal to the King in Council against Press Regulations’ cited in Barns, Indian Press, pp. 124–5.Google Scholar