History of India

Edited by A. V. Williams Jackson, Ph.D., LL.D., Professor of Indo-Iranian Languages in Columbia University

Volume 6 – From the first European Settlements to the Founding of the English East India Company

By Sir William Wilson Hunter, K.C.S.I., M.A., LL.D.

1906

Hindu Fair at Ramnagar, near Benares

The Mela, or religious fair, is an institution of great antiquity in India, and vast multitudes of people. mostly pilgrims, flock from various parts of Hindustan to the various places where such fairs happen to be held. Many a city owes much of its financial prosperity to the attendance at the Mela. At Allahabad, for example, it is estimated that a million pilgrims annually attend the fair in the springtime; the same is true of the sacred city of Benares, where opportunities for purchase and sale in the emporium combine with the sanctity of the holy temples to swell the number of the pilgrim throng bent on their pious mission. .

Table of Contents

Editor Introduction

Author Preface

Chapter 1 – The Closing of the Old trade Paths

Chapter 2 – The Quest for India by Sea

Chapter 3 – The Struggle between Christendom and Islam for the Indian Seas

Chapter 4 – The Portuguese Policy in the East

Chapter 5 – England’s Attempts to Reach India in the Sixteenth Century

Chapter 6 – The Constitution of the First English East India Company

Appendix – Allusions by Mohammedan Historians to Europeans in India

List of Illustrations

Hindu Fair at Ramnagar, near Benares – Wood and Ivory Mosaic in the Golden Temple at Amritsar – An Old Picture of Aden on the Gulf of Suez – Ruins of the Temple of Neptune at Palmyra – The River Kura at Tiflis – A Caravan near Merv in Central Asia – Bridge of Boats over the Tigris at Baghdad – The Great Temple, Tanjore – A Shop on the Kandy Road, Ceylon – The City of Baghdad – A Temple at Bangalore in Southern India – Trading in an Indian Market – Old Portuguese Cathedral at Bassein, near Bombay – Trade Routes to India – A Modern Port of India – The Astrolabe of Sir Francis Drake – An Old Picture of the Cape of Good Hope – A Palm Grove in Bombay – Columbus propounding his Theory of a Route to India – A Caravel – The Fleet of Vasco da Gama . – Vasco da Gama – Coconut Palms near Bombay – A Brahman of Bombay – The Temple at Seringapatam – Vasco da Gama and the Zamorin of Calicut – Calicut on the Coast of Malabar, in 1775 – View of Calicut in 1574 – Portrait of Affonso de Albuquerque – Ormuz on the Persian Gulf, in 1574 – A Street in Hyderabad – Cape Comorin, the Southernmost Point of India – The Town of Muscat – Moslem Women – Cannanore in 1574 – The Zamorin of Calicut giving an audience – Affonso de Albuquerque – The Present Palace at Baroda in Gujarat – A Mohammedan Mosque at Bijapur – The Italian Traveller Pietro della Valle – A Goanese Woman – An Old Picture of the Governor of Bantam and his Attendants – A Hindu Silversmith – A Java Junk – Malacca – Vasco da Gama – A Palace in the Gwalior State – A View of Lisbon in 1574 – A Scene in India – Ferdinand Magellan – Native Boatmen landing on the Southern Coast of India – Gateway of Itmad-ad-daulah’s Tomb at Agra – A Spanish Ship of the Fifteenth Century – Sebastian Cabot – Traders from India at Bokhara – Palace of the Great Khan – Sir Francis Drake – Greenwich in 1662 – The Beach at Madras – A Scene in India, near Bombay – The Jain Temple at Girnar in Gujarat, Western India – Jaipur, a Modern Centre of Indian Trade – Indian Carpenters at Work in their Shop – The Harbour of Goa in 1772 – A Burmese Street Band – A Street in Ahmadabad – The Gateway at Sikandra – An Indian Prince and Princess – The Jasmine Tower at Agra – An Elizabethan Galleon – Cotton for Export from India – House of the Old East India Company – Trichinopoli and the Golden Rock – A Palatial Indian Residence – Natives in the Bazaar at Jaipur – An Indian Bayadere – A Dyer’s Shop at Lucknow – The Fort of Surat – Tomb of Salim Chisti, a Holy Man at Akbar’s Court – A Christian Church in India – The Jasmine Tower at Agra – A Group of Hindu Child Widows – Modern Shipping on the Hugli River at Calcutta – The Style of Vessel called Ghrab – Europeans in India – The Sabarmati River at Ahmadabad in Gujarat – The Moti Masjid at Agra – Kolaba Point, Bombay – Bathing at the Kali Ghat in Calcutta – The Post Office at Calcutta – Chandarnagar

This collection transcribed by Chris Gage
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