Forbes, James, 1749–1819, James Forbes letter, Brodera, 1775 August 10, copied between 1794 and 1800
- Call Number:
- Folio A 2023 69
- Holdings:
- Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
- Creator:
- Forbes, James, 1749–1819
- Title(s):
- James Forbes letter, Brodera, 1775 August 10
- 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 159-161
- 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:
- Forbes writes from Brodera (then Baroda, now Vadodara), on a “secret embassy to our new ally,” Fully-Sihng (Fateh Singh Rao Gaekwad). Whether due to secrecy or lack of interest, however, he offers, not another lesson on politics, but a quick overview of the city itself, the capital of Fully-Sihng’s territory. He is not impressed. The buildings appear in bad repair, and the center of government, while unfinished, does not promise to be anything spectacular. Forbes moves on to a discussion of mausoleums. He is astonished, he says, by “the sums expended by the Mahomedans on these structures.” He mentions the Taj Mahal, though not by name, citing Alexander Dow (c. 1735-1779) as his source. He then introduces more local monuments, such as those built by the “Gosannees,” a “particular Cast of Devotees, who in the full enjoyment of health and vigour, in the meridian of their days, bury themselves alive, in hopes of pleasing their Creator, by this voluntary sacrifice.” He offers no comment on this practice, but transitions to a discussion of sati, which he, as before, praises as a supreme act of renunciation. He suggests we ought to “honor” those who perform it, and provides similar examples of love and fortitude from European and Christian history. He closes with a suggestion that “the purest conjugal love in the life of Lady Russell, and the recent death of the amiable Marchioness of Tavistock” might serve a similar function. This text does not appear in <title>Oriental Memoirs</title>.
- Physical Description:
- 3 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/3199766
- Metadata Cloud URL:
- https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/archival_objects/3199766?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1