Forbes, James, 1749-1819, James Forbes letter, Dhuboy, 1775 June 30, copied between 1794 and 1800
- Call Number:
- Folio A 2023 69
- Creator:
- Forbes, James, 1749-1819
- Title(s):
- James Forbes letter, Dhuboy, 1775 June 30
- 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
- Part of Collection:
- volume 8, page 9-14
- Provenance:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- Conditions Governing Access:
- The materials are open for research.
- Conditions Governing Use:
- 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.
- Scope and Content:
- Settled in for the winter, Forbes now offers a description of the city of Dhuboy (possibly now Dhuboi). He immediately extols the city’s architectural magnificence: he has “yet seen no Asiatic sculpture to equal the Basso-relievo in a Pagoda near the East gate; nor any architecture so light and elegant as the columns and gates of the town.” The city’s splendor, however, is something consigned to the past. Forbes complements his wonder at the city’s beauty with evocations of its decay. The fortifications, for instance, are themselves formidable, but at points are filled with “mud, bricks, and stones, heterogeneously mingled, and badly cemented: many fine remains of sculpture are scattered among them, making the more conspicuous appearance from the unfavorable contrast.” Forbes then turns to the history of the city and its rulers. He narrates its transfer from Muslim to Maratha rule, noting that both Hindus and Muslims live in the city, the latter under the condition they refrain from eating beef. He expresses some surprise at the relatively few people inhabiting the city, claiming that there are “as many monkeys as men” within its walls. Animals of all sorts crowd around the tank at the center—they remain unharmed. After this idyllic description of life in Dhuboy, Forbes offers another version of his narrative of decline. Now, however, it is the ravages of war that threaten to disrupt life in the city. Forbes quotes Maccabees, saying, “‘There was a time,’ say they, ‘which a dreadful war has now deprived us of,’” as a way of evoking this utter loss. He expresses his own fears, relating both to the imposition of a tax on the population by Ragobah’s (Raghunathrao) forces, and also the rule of the Europeans, who are “eating beef in the very spot sacred to Brahma, the mild law-giver of the Hindoos.” After a brief digression on the sacredness of tulsi and pippal (sacred fig tree), Forbes makes a lengthy comparison to how the English homeland experiences war. He recalls the devastation of the Seven Years War, and how those in Germany “saw its desolation, and must have felt for the distresses of the human race.” None of this horror, however, made it to England, whose experience of the war remained limited to the contribution of funds (by the rich) and of men (by the poor). In contrast, in India war threatens to annihilate cities and totally alter the lives of the populace. Forbes concludes his letter with his fear that Dhuboy will never recover, or return to its former glory. But this may not be a total loss: Forbes claims that the city was founded by a princess many years ago, the only possible explanation for why one might find such a town on such “low, marshy soil.” Portions of this text appear in <title>Oriental Memoirs</title>, volume 2, pp. 122-125.
- Physical Description:
- 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
- Finding Aid Title:
- James Forbes archive
- Collection PDF:
- https://ead-pdfs.library.yale.edu/11734.pdf
- Archival Object:
- https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/3199741
- Metadata Cloud URL:
- https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/archival_objects/3199741?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1