Forbes, James, 1749-1819, James Forbes letter, Baroche, 1775 June 5, copied between 1794 and 1800
- CallNumber:
- Folio A 2023 69
- Creator:
- Forbes, James, 1749-1819
- Title(s):
- James Forbes letter, Baroche, 1775 June 5
- Date:
- copied between 1794 and 1800
- Classification:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Series:
- Series I: A voyage from England to Bombay with descriptions in Asia, Africa, and South America
- ContainerGrouping:
- volume 7, page 271-276
- Provenance:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- AccessRestrict:
- The materials are open for research.
- UseRestrict:
- The collection is the physical property of the Yale Center for British Art. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts.
- ScopeContent:
- Forbes begins his continued description of the military campaign with a note of disappointment: writing about Baroche (now Bharuch), he explains, “this city has not afforded me so much scope for the descriptive as I expected from its size and population.” Nevertheless, he gives a brief description of the city, its economy, and its construction, with particular attention to the sacred sites within the town’s borders. Forbes points out numerous mosques, but observes that most are now in ruins, and the largest has been converted into a barracks. One remains “taken great care of,” a complex which includes the tombs of the nawabs of the city, alongside a space for worship. The tomb of a General Wedderburne, killed in the siege of the city—presumably when then Company took possession of it from its earlier rulers—is also nearby. Forbes also spends time discussing the religious importance of the Nerbudda (Narmada) River, held sacred by Hindu practitioners and a site, according to Forbes, of ritual bathing. Here Forbes’s remarks turn to Indian women, and he claims that, while watching them bathe, he saw many who approached the Grecian ideal of beauty. Yet “as to their mental accomplishments, they are so infinitely inferior to my fair country-women, that I draw no comparison.” Their beauty, too, quickly decays. The closing passages offer a few more comments on religious practice and the state of Ragobah’s (Raghunathrao) forces—Forbes is particularly concerned with the defection (or impending defection) of major portions of Ragobah’s forces, for want of payment. There is, it seems, “great appearance of discontent among Ragobah’s followers.” Forbes is also taken by several instances of astrology: he connects the pilgrimage practices around the Nerbudda to astrological reasoning, and notes that the English had to move camp to “indulge the superstition of Ragobah, as this is a lucky day,” according to brahmanical astrologers. In closing, Forbes remarks on the position of the enemy and their looting of some Company towns. Portions of this text appear in <title>Oriental Memoirs</title>, volume 2, chapter 19.
- PhysicalDescription:
- 6 pages
- Genre:
- Correspondence , Botanical illustrations, Ornithological illustrations, Travel sketches, Maps, Watercolors (paintings), Drawings (visual works), Engravings (prints), and Portraits
- Subject Terms:
- Forbes, James, 1749-1819. Descriptive letters and drawingsForbes, James, 1749-1819. Oriental memoirs
- Associated Places:
- EnglandItalyScotlandWales
- Associated People/Groups:
- East India CompanyForbes, James, 1749-1819
- FindingAidTitle:
- James Forbes archive
- Archival Object:
- https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/3199733
- Metadata Cloud URL:
- https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/archival_objects/3199733?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1