Surat, India

“ Surat (109) , a city of India, Bombay Presidency, on the Tapti, 14 m. from its entrance into the Gulf of Bombay; stretches along the S. bank of the river, presenting no architectural features of interest save some Mohammedan, Parsee, and Hindu temples, and an old castle or fortress; chief exports are cotton and grain; the English erected here their first factory on the Indian continent in 1612, and with Portuguese and Dutch traders added, it became one of the principal commercial centres of India ”

“ You will also, from the letter of the Lady’s father, found eight or ten years after it was written among my father’s papers, see the impropriety and hazard of committing your thoughts incautiously to paper. I have known it frequently, as in this instance, end in mortification and regret.
Before quitting entirely the Malabar coast, I took a trip to Surat, which amply repaid me for my trouble. It surpasses any part of India for extent and variety of commerce, for populous streets and suburbs, and for a continually moving scene of opulence. ”

“ To destroy life, even unintentionally, is the inexpiable sin, and a Jain will not drink any water until he has strained it, nor will he take any meal or drink of any kind after sunset, lest he should happen to devour some living thing. The Jains have some fine temples in this city.
Surat was long in the possession of the Mohgul emperors. In 1842 the last nawab died, and it passed into the hands of the East India Company. It is still a great trading city; the surtee rassum, or manufactured silk of Surat, is very beautiful ”

“ A favorite plan of raising money in Surat is for the members of the trade to keep a certain day as a holiday, and to shut up all their shops except one. The right to keep open this one shop is put up to auction, and the amount bid is expended on a feast. The trade-guild or caste allows none of its members to starve. It thus acts as a mutual assurance society and takes the place of a poor-law in India. The severest social penalty which can be inflicted upon a Hindu is to be put out of his caste. ”

“ The news of battle and the roar of cannon brought the Nawab, the merchants, and half the population of Surat to the sea-shore. The British sunk or burnt several Portuguese ships until the residue of the fleet steered back to Goa. The Moguls were fascinated by the victory. They saw that the British had not only superior strength on their side, but Allah and kismet. The Nawab of Surat feasted the conquerors in his tents on the sands, and the Surat merchants eagerly bought British cargoes and supplied Indian commodities to the brave men who had beaten the Portuguese. ”

“ The son fled into India, and finally settled at [Pg 72] Surat, a city or considerable commercial importance, about twelve coss from the sea. Being of an enterprising turn of mind, he assumed the business of a merchant, and, in the course of a few years of successful traffic, became a man of great wealth.
Although he found few Mahomedans at Surat, there were a number of old Parsee families, who had fixed their abode in a certain quarter of the city. ”

“ Fire-temples and towers of silence are numerous here, as Surat has a large Parsee community, who have been established in this region ever since the eighth century. The most curious and interesting people in this part of the world are the Borahs, the Jains, and Buniahs.
The Borahs are divided into two classes, the traders and the cultivators. They are Hindoos converted to Mohammedanism; they form the most active and industrious cultivators of the soil, as well as cotton- and cloth-merchants. Their dress, manners, and language are the same as those of the Hindoos. Cotton is the chief staple. ”

“ The last-mentioned factory, together with Fort St George in Madras, Hooghly in Bengal, and those establishments in Persia were all made subservient to Surat. A far-sighted person could have foreseen that all these scattered strongholds of trade might not improbably develop eventually into something very much more important politically. But it was Sir Josiah Child, the principal manager of the Company’s affairs at home, who was one of the first to project the forming of a territorial Empire in India. ”

“ To the Fire-worshipper this first temple on Indian soil seemed a resurrection of hope, of reality, striking deep into their fervent hearts and binding them to one another by a subtler and diviner fire. From this time the Parsees rose to importance in India. They greatly aided the Portuguese and Dutch settlers in the establishment of mills and factories all along the coast of Guzerat. Owing to their enterprising spirit, Surat, Cambay, and Baroda grew into large and influential cities and attracted all the extensive commerce of the East. ”

“ SURAT, a city and district of British India in the northern division of Bombay. The city is on the site where the English first established a factory on the mainland, and so planted the seed of the British Empire in India. Local traditions fix the establishment of the modern city in the last year of the fifteenth century, and in 1514 the Portuguese traveller Barbosa described it as an important seaport, frequented by many ships from Malabar and all parts. During the reigns of Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan it rose to be the chief commercial city of India. ”

“ Spencer (the chief of Surat) to Delhi; from whence he obtained sunnuds [81] , or deeds, appointing the English Company governors of Surat Castle, and admirals of the Emperor's fleet, and granting them an assignment upon the revenues of the city for two lacs of rupees per annum.
These events added both to the strength and the fame of the settlement of Bombay, and rendered it better able to cope with its predatory neighbours the Mahrattas. The principal chiefs of that nation, however, were at this period more occupied with the affairs of the northern than of the western parts of India. ”

“ The most noted city on the coast is Surat, a place of great trade, where the English have a factory. India on this side the Ganges contains many petty kingdoms. On the coast are Goa, belonging to the Portuguese, which is their staple for East-India goods; and Bombay, a little island and town belonging to the English. On this coast are Pondicherry, Fort St. David, and Fort St. George, which belong to the English, who in fact possess the supreme dominion of the country, most of the native princes being either dependent on them, or happy to enter into alliance with them. ”

“ The trade at Surat is conducted by brokers, who are very subtle, and deceive both buyer and seller, if not carefully looked after. In weights, each city of India differs from another. The commodities are infinite, indigos being the chief, those of Lahore the best, and those from Sarkess inferior. Great quantities of cloths made of cotton, as white and coloured calicoes, containing fourteen yards the book or piece, from 100 to 200 mahmoodies each. ”

“ In the following year came news to Surat of two vessels, under Danish colours, that had stopped English ships and seized native ones between Surat and Bombay. The Phoenix, a British man-of-war, was at Surat at the time, so, together with the Kent, East Indiaman, it was despatched to look after the marauders, taking with them also two small boys, sent to represent the French and the Dutch. In due time Captain Tyrrell returned, and reported that he had found a squadron of four vessels ”

“ Likewise I had with me my servant Loll Duss, [52] a most excellent good fellow, that had served me from my first arriving in Surat, and might put to shame many of our English lacqueys. ’Tis the custom in East India for persons of any consideration to carry about with them a great following of servants (though the cost of this is not so great as with us, these men being habited in white calicut, and eating only rice and a little fish) ”

“ Oxenden's skilful hand is to be discovered in all the devious negotiations which led up to this consummation of the long cherished hope of founding a settlement on the Western Coast of India. At Surat in the years which succeeded his arrival he had completely restored the tarnished English prestige by a bold and judicious policy. Fortune put in his way a happy opportunity of bringing the English once more into favour at the Mogul Court. ”

“ It connects Surat with Ránder on the opposite bank. The bridge is a fine strong structure, and is no doubt a great convenience to the people. It cost over seven lakhs. There are many larger bridges in India; but to the stick-at-home Surtis, their bridge is a marvel of human ingenuity. I am not surprised to be told that some of them worship it and offer sacrifices to the presiding genius.
The Hospital is an admirable building, due to the liberality of the late Sir Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney, the well-known Parsee benefactor of Bombay. ”

“ Prior to the visit of the fleet, to which we are about to refer, the Directors, writing out from home, had urged upon their representatives at Surat the advisability of establishing a fortified settlement on the island of Bombay or some other suitable spot in its vicinity. Mr. William Foster, in his introduction to one of the volumes of his transcripts of the Indian Records, suggests that the Court were prompted to make this proposal by Jeronimo de Pavia, a converted Portuguese Jesuit, who was taken to England in one of the Company's ships in 1625. ”

“ I left letters with the king, which he promised to deliver to the first English ship that came there. Having finished all my business, I had much ado to get a simple fellow from the ship of Diu to pilot me on the coast of India, who pretended to be a good coaster. We set sail from Delisha on the 3d September, with a favourable wind, which brought us by the 26th into the road of Surat, where we came to anchor in seven fathoms near three India ships. A mile from us rode at anchor seven sail of Portuguese frigates or men of war, there being thirteen more of them within the river of Surat. ”

“ A number of Cutchis in Surat are adherents of the sect, and usually visit the temple at Panna on the full-moon day of Kārtik (October) . Curiously enough the sect has also found a home in Nepāl, having been preached there, it is said, by missionary Dhāmis in the time of Rāja Rām Bahādur Shāh of Nepāl, about 150 years ago. Its members there are known as Pranāmi or Parnāmi, a corruption of Prannāthi and they often come to Panna to study the sacred book. ”

“ Next he served Sir George Clerk, the Governor, as private secretary, and then was given charge of the Ahmedabad district, where he pursued his archæological hobbies, and when he came home on long leave in 1865-66 he published three large works of the architectural monuments of Ahmedabad, Bijapur, and Dharwar. Returning to India, he spent eight years as Collector of Surat, and in 1871 he was called to Bombay, to preside over a committee appointed to deal with the unsatisfactory sate of municipal finance. ”

“ In honour done to patriots so long conspicuous and so tenacious against contempt and failure, it seemed as though the day might yet pass without a rupture. The platform was reached. Mr. Tribhovandas Malvi, Chairman of the Reception Committee, rose to welcome the Congress in the name of his native Surat, and there was silence. He told the history of Surat, and passed on to the history of the Congress. People do not want to hear history when they are making it. Moghuls, Mahrattas, French Factories that stood on their very ground where now the Pandal stood—what did all of them matter? ”

“ Surat was taken by Akbar in 1573, having till then remained a part of the falling Mahommedan kingdom of Guzerat. An English factory was first established in 1608-9, which was for more than half a century the chief settlement of the English Company in Continental India. The transfer of the Chiefs to Bombay took place in 1687. ”

“ The people themselves are loyal to the core, though much puzzled by sudden and trying administrative changes; but the number of the educated high-born who feel they are neglected or despised, is on the increase. Let our Collectors and Judges see to this. I do not wish to meddle with politics here; but this particular complaint is so universal in Gujarat, and indeed throughout British India, that a mention of it could not well be avoided. A word to the wise.
Local Celebrities.
I made a very brief stay at Surat, and saw only a few of the local magnates. ”

“ A supplementary agreement made with Prince Khurrum stipulated (1) that the governor of Surat should lend ships to the English in the event of an attack by the Portuguese; (2) that resident English merchants might wear arms; (3) that the English might be allowed to build a house in Surat; (4) that they should have free exercise of their religion; (5) that they should be allowed to settle disputes amongst themselves.
Such, in brief, were the terms of this concordat, which thoroughly regularized the position of the English in India for the first time. ”

“ Instigated by Abdul Guffoor, the populace of Surat flew to arms to wreak vengeance on the factory. The Governor, Itimad Khan, was well disposed to the English, but popular excitement ran so high that he found it difficult to protect them. Guards were placed on the factory to save it from plunder. A mufti urged that the English should be put to death in revenge for the death of so many true believers, and quoted an appropriate text from the Koran. Soon came an order from Aurungzeeb directing the Seedee to march on Bombay, and for all the English in Surat and Broach to be made prisoners. ”