Forbes, James, 1749-1819, James Forbes letter, Dhuboy, 1781 January 15, copied between 1794 and 1800
- Call Number:
- Folio A 2023 69
- Creator:
- Forbes, James, 1749-1819
- Title(s):
- James Forbes letter, Dhuboy, 1781 January 15
- 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 11, page 145-156
- 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 begins his next letter with an account of his role administering justice in the city of Dhuboy (Dabhoi). He first describes the process in general, including the process by which he assembles local notables and joins them in coming to a collective decision. He proceeds to relate sever of the “very singular” cases which have recently come before him: the first tells the story of a blind man skilled at finding hidden treasure who, after finding the jewels of a silversmith’s deceased wife (suicide), was cheated out of payment; the second is an account of a prosperous couples attempt to have a son, in which they provided a number of jewels to a local diviner, who promptly disappeared; and the third is a tale about a local merchant who, unable to pay his debts, attempted suicide rather than lose his good reputation. In each case, Forbes is confident in his ability to achieve justice. “Curious Adventure” Forbes then relates a “curious adventure” he had on the way to Dhuboy, omitted in his earlier letters. He describes a passage through a town ransacked by Maratha forces. At one point, he and his companions suspect there is treasure hidden in a certain place. Forbes orders his Indian attendants to retrieve the treasure; they demur, claiming that the treasure will surely be guarded by a genii in the form of a snake. Forbes insists. The attendants descend into the area where they suspect the treasure to lie, and cry out that they have indeed encountered a giant snake. Forbes does not relent: “still I did not believe them, and desired the ropes for facilitating their escape might be withheld, until I had seen it.” At last, he sees a massive serpent, and helps his attendants escape unharmed. They burn the snake, but find no treasure. As an afterthought, Forbes quickly tells the tale of another European who, finding a treasure in his house guarded by a cobra, gave the cobra milk to appease it. He then took the treasure, and “since this adventure he has been esteemed a very lucky man, and prosperous in all his undertakings.” “Ordeal Trials” As part of Forbes administrative responsibilities, he is occasionally called on to oversee ordeals. These are instances in which an accused person opts to go through a trial so to prove their innocence. Forbes describes the process via a particular example: one man, accused of stealing a child, dipped his hand into a pot of boiling oil to retrieve a coin. He did not appear to hurt, and so the parents of the child were satisfied. Forbes briefly discusses varying types of ordeals, as well as the necessary ritual preparations performed by brahmins. “Voluntary Death” From ordeals, Forbes shifts his focus to voluntary death. In this instance, however, he does not mean sati, or the immolation of widows, but rather, the suicide of men for religious reasons. He writes, “that men, in the full vigor of life, and surrounded by every blessing, should voluntary desire to buried alive, is a more extraordinary sacrifice [than sati], but far from uncommon among the tribe of Gosannees.” The Company does not permit these suicides, and so they take place outside Company territory, near sacred sites. Forbes offers some details on the process, before using the practice as a platform for discussing the conversion of Indians to Christianity. He notes his previous, somewhat positive appraisals of some aspects of Hindu thought, but insists that these practices are “melancholy proofs that a change in their religious tenets is necessary.” He admits, however, that English behavior in India does not offer a particularly good example of Christian practice. He says, “our religious character in general cannot impress them with any sublime ideas of the Gospel, from the lukewarmness and indifference with which we are too apt to treat all religious duties.” He writes an imagined dialogue between himself and a Hindu practitioner, in which the Hindu individual asks him about the lack of practice of the English, in comparison to the observance of Muslims, Hindus, Catholics, and other religious groups in the subcontinent. Forbes can only respond that he hopes England will avoid the condemnation Montesquieu leveled at Spain—that they had the opportunity to free the inhabitants of Latin America, and that they instead enslaved them. Forbes nonetheless concludes with a wish for the eventual conversion of India to Christianity, and that Christianity might replace their own doctrines, such as reincarnation. Portions of this text appear in <title>Oriental Memoirs</title>, volume 3, chapter 29.
- Physical Description:
- 12 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
- Archival Object:
- https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/3199966
- Metadata Cloud URL:
- https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/archival_objects/3199966?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1