Pub Date : 2023-02-01DOI: 10.1017/S1356186322000165
A. Rashid, Nidhin Olikara
Abstract The collection of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta, preserves a manuscript titled Risala-i-Padakah which was formerly in the library of the ruler of Mysore, Tipu Sultan (d. 1799). This manuscript has descriptions of medals with drawings illustrating their forms. We investigate the design of these medals and assert that Tipu Sultan understood the importance of rewarding his loyal subordinates with medals, thus transferring his authority down to them. The ‘People's Medals’ given to non-combatants, a novel award for those times, are also covered here in detail. We show that some of these medals, reflecting Deccan jewellery traditions, were actually awarded by Tipu Sultan himself to his men, who wore them; and we draw attention to the plunder of these medals, along with other treasures, during the sack of Seringapatam. The authors also view this as a demonstration of Tipu Sultan's regard for loyalty, rank, as well as good governance in opposition to estimates of him by contemporary British biographers. This article is the first documentation of these medals, which were the earliest to be awarded by any state in pre-modern India.
{"title":"Awards of the khudadad sarkar: medals from Tipu Sultan's Mysore","authors":"A. Rashid, Nidhin Olikara","doi":"10.1017/S1356186322000165","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S1356186322000165","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The collection of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta, preserves a manuscript titled Risala-i-Padakah which was formerly in the library of the ruler of Mysore, Tipu Sultan (d. 1799). This manuscript has descriptions of medals with drawings illustrating their forms. We investigate the design of these medals and assert that Tipu Sultan understood the importance of rewarding his loyal subordinates with medals, thus transferring his authority down to them. The ‘People's Medals’ given to non-combatants, a novel award for those times, are also covered here in detail. We show that some of these medals, reflecting Deccan jewellery traditions, were actually awarded by Tipu Sultan himself to his men, who wore them; and we draw attention to the plunder of these medals, along with other treasures, during the sack of Seringapatam. The authors also view this as a demonstration of Tipu Sultan's regard for loyalty, rank, as well as good governance in opposition to estimates of him by contemporary British biographers. This article is the first documentation of these medals, which were the earliest to be awarded by any state in pre-modern India.","PeriodicalId":17566,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society","volume":"33 1","pages":"555 - 588"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42641996","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-27DOI: 10.1017/s1356186322000633
Nasser Mohajer, K. Yazdani
This article begins by surveying the commercial structure of nineteenth-century Yazd, centring on the economic activities of its Zoroastrian inhabitants. Next, we examine the house of Mehrabān, arguing that they were intermediate figures in Persia's transition from a pre-capitalist to an inchoate capitalist mode of production. Throughout the mid- to late nineteenth century, the Mehrabāns were significant socio-economic players and precursors for later generations of prosperous, worldly Iranian Zoroastrians. Ardeshir in particular epitomised the gradual emergence of an Iranian bourgeoisie in the urban centres of Persia, specifically Yazd. Concurrently, the rise of prominent members of the Mehrabān family was intimately related to their education, ‘cultural capital’, socio-economic connections, and business ventures in Bombay as well as their constantly developing political clout in Persia and India.
{"title":"From Yazd to Bombay—Ardeshir Mehrabān ‘Irani’ and the rise of Persia's nineteenth-century Zoroastrian merchants","authors":"Nasser Mohajer, K. Yazdani","doi":"10.1017/s1356186322000633","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s1356186322000633","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article begins by surveying the commercial structure of nineteenth-century Yazd, centring on the economic activities of its Zoroastrian inhabitants. Next, we examine the house of Mehrabān, arguing that they were intermediate figures in Persia's transition from a pre-capitalist to an inchoate capitalist mode of production. Throughout the mid- to late nineteenth century, the Mehrabāns were significant socio-economic players and precursors for later generations of prosperous, worldly Iranian Zoroastrians. Ardeshir in particular epitomised the gradual emergence of an Iranian bourgeoisie in the urban centres of Persia, specifically Yazd. Concurrently, the rise of prominent members of the Mehrabān family was intimately related to their education, ‘cultural capital’, socio-economic connections, and business ventures in Bombay as well as their constantly developing political clout in Persia and India.","PeriodicalId":17566,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43491974","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-11DOI: 10.1017/S1356186322000190
Neelam Khoja
Abstract This article examines how an eighteenth-century woman, Mughlani Begum, is depicted in the most informative contemporary Persian auto/biography and how the descriptions, anecdotes, and analysis of her life contained therein, including the brief period she was Punjab's governor, changed as the primary source was translated into or summarised in English. The original Persian and colonial English translations and histories are read alongside an Urdu history of the Punjab, which begs the question: why was the life of a female governor reduced to that of an ‘immodest flirt’ in English sources, while her identity is incredibly nuanced in Persian and Urdu sources? Indeed, post-colonial historians writing in English rarely reference Persian originals: hence, they reproduce what colonial-period English writers before them said, and they completely ignore Urdu histories. While it is nearly impossible to understand the reasons why historians writing in English choose to depict Mughlani Begum in such a flattened way, we can be more critical of our readings of histories written in English, especially when original accounts are available. This article argues for consideration of how transmission of knowledge, language politics, and gender biases inflect historiography and misrepresent historical events and people of the Punjab—especially women.
{"title":"Immodest flirt or competent governor: translating gender in colonial and post-colonial South Asian historiography","authors":"Neelam Khoja","doi":"10.1017/S1356186322000190","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S1356186322000190","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article examines how an eighteenth-century woman, Mughlani Begum, is depicted in the most informative contemporary Persian auto/biography and how the descriptions, anecdotes, and analysis of her life contained therein, including the brief period she was Punjab's governor, changed as the primary source was translated into or summarised in English. The original Persian and colonial English translations and histories are read alongside an Urdu history of the Punjab, which begs the question: why was the life of a female governor reduced to that of an ‘immodest flirt’ in English sources, while her identity is incredibly nuanced in Persian and Urdu sources? Indeed, post-colonial historians writing in English rarely reference Persian originals: hence, they reproduce what colonial-period English writers before them said, and they completely ignore Urdu histories. While it is nearly impossible to understand the reasons why historians writing in English choose to depict Mughlani Begum in such a flattened way, we can be more critical of our readings of histories written in English, especially when original accounts are available. This article argues for consideration of how transmission of knowledge, language politics, and gender biases inflect historiography and misrepresent historical events and people of the Punjab—especially women.","PeriodicalId":17566,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society","volume":"33 1","pages":"369 - 387"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43767330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-06DOI: 10.1017/S1356186322000219
Leor Halevi
Abstract Historical explanations of the rise and expansion of the first Saudi state have given Wahhabism pride of place. Principally, they have dwelt on religion and ideology, emphasising the role of the eighteenth-century theologian Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb and arguing that his charisma, puritanical zeal, exclusivist approach to monotheistic worship, or neo-orthodox reform programme inspired a series of consequential political and military actions, beginning with the foundation of a theocratic emirate in Dirʿiyya and culminating in the conquest of much of Arabia. However much Wahhabi doctrines might have motivated warfare and state expansion, this article contends that the rise of the Saudi state depended on the spread of a new weapon—the matchlock gun. It considers the significance of firearms in regional warfare and, after making the case that they were likely to have been imported, builds up the revisionist argument that Najd had significant connections to world trade.
{"title":"Arabians for guns: Wahhabi matchlocks, world trade, and the rise of the first Saudi state","authors":"Leor Halevi","doi":"10.1017/S1356186322000219","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S1356186322000219","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Historical explanations of the rise and expansion of the first Saudi state have given Wahhabism pride of place. Principally, they have dwelt on religion and ideology, emphasising the role of the eighteenth-century theologian Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb and arguing that his charisma, puritanical zeal, exclusivist approach to monotheistic worship, or neo-orthodox reform programme inspired a series of consequential political and military actions, beginning with the foundation of a theocratic emirate in Dirʿiyya and culminating in the conquest of much of Arabia. However much Wahhabi doctrines might have motivated warfare and state expansion, this article contends that the rise of the Saudi state depended on the spread of a new weapon—the matchlock gun. It considers the significance of firearms in regional warfare and, after making the case that they were likely to have been imported, builds up the revisionist argument that Najd had significant connections to world trade.","PeriodicalId":17566,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society","volume":"33 1","pages":"401 - 442"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42926833","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-05DOI: 10.1017/S1356186322000438
Hümeyra Bostan-Berber
In Rivers of the Sultan: The Tigris and Euphrates in the Ottoman Empire
苏丹河：奥斯曼帝国的底格里斯河和幼发拉底河
{"title":"Rivers of the Sultan: The Tigris and Euphrates in the Ottoman Empire By Faisal H. Husain. x, 264 pp. New York, Oxford University Press, 2021.","authors":"Hümeyra Bostan-Berber","doi":"10.1017/S1356186322000438","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S1356186322000438","url":null,"abstract":"In Rivers of the Sultan: The Tigris and Euphrates in the Ottoman Empire","PeriodicalId":17566,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society","volume":"33 1","pages":"550 - 552"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45418298","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-05DOI: 10.1017/s1356186322000426
A. Sabra
{"title":"A Physician on the Nile: A Description of Egypt and Journal of the Famine Years By ʿAbd al-Laṭīf al-Baghdādī. Edited and translated by Tim Mackintosh-Smith. xliv, 256 pp. New York, Library of Arabic Literature, New York University Press, 2021.","authors":"A. Sabra","doi":"10.1017/s1356186322000426","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s1356186322000426","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":17566,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society","volume":"33 1","pages":"789 - 791"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44505857","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.1017/s1356186323000020
{"title":"JRA volume 33 issue 1 Cover and Back matter","authors":"","doi":"10.1017/s1356186323000020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s1356186323000020","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":17566,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society","volume":"33 1","pages":"b1 - b4"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43939971","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-01-01DOI: 10.1017/s1356186323000019
{"title":"JRA volume 33 issue 1 Cover and Front matter","authors":"","doi":"10.1017/s1356186323000019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s1356186323000019","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":17566,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society","volume":" ","pages":"f1 - f3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48287697","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-09DOI: 10.1017/S1356186322000323
Maryam Nourzaei
Abstract This article investigates the use and frequency of what I refer to as the K-suffixes -ō/-ū/-o in the Shirazi dialects, namely, Old and Modern Shirazi. It shows that the use of K-suffixes as definiteness markers is more highly developed in Modern Shirazi than in Old Shirazi. In Old Shirazi, the K-suffix, with its original evaluative meaning, demonstrated some degree of multi-functionality. This has mostly been lost in Modern Shirazi, and the suffix is now used to express definiteness. The high frequency of use of the K-suffix appears to be independent of genre, speaker, and speech setting. Data from a corpus of written texts in Old Shirazi, mainly comprised of poems, are quantitatively analysed, along with data from a corpus of spoken Shirazi narratives and data from a questionnaire answered by ten speakers. The results show that an evaluative suffix can develop into a definiteness marker by passing through a stage of combination with deictic markers, which paves the way for extending the use of the K-suffix to include non-deictic anaphoric tracking. This article concludes that the development of definiteness marking can proceed down a pathway that is distinct from the one normally assumed for demonstrative-based definiteness marking, even if the endpoint may be similar. The detailed documentation of this process presented here is a further contribution to Iranian studies, and augments the small group of well-documented cases of a non-demonstrative origin of definiteness marking cross-linguistically.
{"title":"The history of the K-suffix -ū in Shirazi","authors":"Maryam Nourzaei","doi":"10.1017/S1356186322000323","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S1356186322000323","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article investigates the use and frequency of what I refer to as the K-suffixes -ō/-ū/-o in the Shirazi dialects, namely, Old and Modern Shirazi. It shows that the use of K-suffixes as definiteness markers is more highly developed in Modern Shirazi than in Old Shirazi. In Old Shirazi, the K-suffix, with its original evaluative meaning, demonstrated some degree of multi-functionality. This has mostly been lost in Modern Shirazi, and the suffix is now used to express definiteness. The high frequency of use of the K-suffix appears to be independent of genre, speaker, and speech setting. Data from a corpus of written texts in Old Shirazi, mainly comprised of poems, are quantitatively analysed, along with data from a corpus of spoken Shirazi narratives and data from a questionnaire answered by ten speakers. The results show that an evaluative suffix can develop into a definiteness marker by passing through a stage of combination with deictic markers, which paves the way for extending the use of the K-suffix to include non-deictic anaphoric tracking. This article concludes that the development of definiteness marking can proceed down a pathway that is distinct from the one normally assumed for demonstrative-based definiteness marking, even if the endpoint may be similar. The detailed documentation of this process presented here is a further contribution to Iranian studies, and augments the small group of well-documented cases of a non-demonstrative origin of definiteness marking cross-linguistically.","PeriodicalId":17566,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society","volume":"33 1","pages":"589 - 626"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46592929","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-25DOI: 10.1017/s135618632200030x
Stephen Martin
Abstract This article considers the evidence for the business practices, goods traded, and accounts of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) upper merchant, Wilhelm Buschman, on Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf during the 1760s. Previous scholarship indicates that his widow, Anna Maria Pack, had a large inheritance, acquired on her death by her second husband, the VOC surgeon Ferdinand Dejean, who commissioned most of Mozart's flute works. A historical audit of Buschman's reports in this article reveals that the existence and source of most of that wealth was hidden from the official diaries which Buschman sent to the VOC headquarters in Batavia, on Java. The dwindling profits of the VOC, at a time of military turbulence involving Mir Mohanna, do not support Buschman's money originating from bribes even factoring in rake-offs. There is, however, evidence for a private, ring-fenced pearl trade on Kharg, which provides a good explanation. Pearls were not just jewels, but an ideal cryptocurrency for concealing, storing, selling, or shifting private wealth. The findings substantiate that it was possible for the VOC to lose out hugely to private enterprise, which was part of the culture among senior merchants. That wealth could do intercontinental economic damage. Occasionally, it was put to lasting good use.
本文考虑了1760年代荷兰东印度公司(VOC)上层商人威廉·布施曼(Wilhelm Buschman)在波斯湾哈尔克岛(Kharg Island)的商业实践、货物交易和账户的证据。以前的研究表明，他的遗孀安娜·玛丽亚·帕克(Anna Maria Pack)继承了一大笔遗产，这是她的第二任丈夫——VOC外科医生费迪南德·德让(Ferdinand Dejean)——在她死后获得的，莫扎特的大部分长笛作品都是由他创作的。对布施曼在本文中报告的历史审计显示，布施曼寄给爪哇巴达维亚VOC总部的官方日记中隐藏了大部分财富的存在和来源。在牵涉到米尔·莫哈纳的军事动荡时期，VOC的利润不断减少，即使考虑到回扣，也不支持布希曼的贿赂资金来源。然而，有证据表明哈尔岛上有私人的、有围栏的珍珠贸易，这提供了一个很好的解释。珍珠不仅是珠宝，而且是隐藏、存储、销售或转移私人财富的理想加密货币。研究结果证实，东印度公司有可能输给私营企业，这是高级商人文化的一部分。这些财富可能会造成洲际经济损失。偶尔，它也会得到长久的利用。
{"title":"Was the VOC funding Mozart? The diaries of Wilhelm Buschman on Kharg Island","authors":"Stephen Martin","doi":"10.1017/s135618632200030x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s135618632200030x","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article considers the evidence for the business practices, goods traded, and accounts of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) upper merchant, Wilhelm Buschman, on Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf during the 1760s. Previous scholarship indicates that his widow, Anna Maria Pack, had a large inheritance, acquired on her death by her second husband, the VOC surgeon Ferdinand Dejean, who commissioned most of Mozart's flute works. A historical audit of Buschman's reports in this article reveals that the existence and source of most of that wealth was hidden from the official diaries which Buschman sent to the VOC headquarters in Batavia, on Java. The dwindling profits of the VOC, at a time of military turbulence involving Mir Mohanna, do not support Buschman's money originating from bribes even factoring in rake-offs. There is, however, evidence for a private, ring-fenced pearl trade on Kharg, which provides a good explanation. Pearls were not just jewels, but an ideal cryptocurrency for concealing, storing, selling, or shifting private wealth. The findings substantiate that it was possible for the VOC to lose out hugely to private enterprise, which was part of the culture among senior merchants. That wealth could do intercontinental economic damage. Occasionally, it was put to lasting good use.","PeriodicalId":17566,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society","volume":"33 1","pages":"489 - 511"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43008747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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