Forbes, James, 1749–1819, James Forbes letter, Cubbeer-Burr, 1782 March 3, 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, Cubbeer-Burr, 1782 March 3
- 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 12, page 169-177
- 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 his next letter as he sits by the Nerbudda (Narmada) river, under a massive banyan tree. He begins with a description of the river’s sacred qualities, noting that it and “many other rivers are also esteemed sacred; or at least, their waters are supposed to have a religious virtue in the various oblutions of the Hindoos, superior to other streams.” He spends the remainder of the letter describing the wonders of this particular banyan tree, Cubber-Burr, which, he says, grew up after an Indian saint invoked the blessings of Brahma over a small sapling. The tree is likely Kabirvad, a massive banyan tree on an island in the Narmada—still extant today—which is associated with the poet and saint Kabir (c. 1398-1448). Forbes writes that, though floods have washed away many sections of the tree, its circumference remains almost a thousand feet. He quotes Alexander Pope to describe the travelers and holy persons who visit the spot. Forbes then observes the wildlife that inhabit “this magnificent pavilion.” He describes the various ways in which locals care for the site, such as killing the snakes that live throughout the tree, often by grabbing them and grinding the heads against rocks until the fangs have worn away. The creatures are then given to children as playthings. He also relates a story in which one of his friends made the mistake killing a monkey who lived at the tree. Immediately up to fifty monkeys approached and threatened him. The head monkey, “finding that his threatenings were of no avail, he began a lamentable moaning, and by every token of grief and supplication, seemed to beg the body of the deceased: after viewing his destress for some time, it was given to him; he looked at it with a tender sorrow, and taking it up in his arms, embraced it with conjugal affection, and carried it off to his expecting comrades.” He friend sworn never to kill a monkey again. The tree offers, Forbes says, a large amount of wild game for European hunters, yet he also cautions against the large number of alligators, and other strange fish, in the river. The bats rich enormous size, and the snakes are ever-present. He asks his reader to forgive him if he includes one more story about a snake, and proceeds to tell the story of a man renown for curing the bites of the most venomous serpents without so much as touching the patient. Forbes claims that this man is “guilty of those oppressions too common in the higher class of Hindoos,” but nonetheless gives alms regularly and to all in need. Forbes closes his letter with another rumination on the pleasures of this tree—that it provides ample shade, and air that smells of honey. Portions of this text appear in <title>Oriental Memoirs</title>, volume 3, chapter 33.
- Physical Description:
- 9 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/3200039
- Metadata Cloud URL:
- https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/archival_objects/3200039?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1