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Relates to Ramnarayan, Amir Quli Khan and events in Azimabad. In text of letter is the date 3rd (or 30?) Rajab, reg. yr 5 [8 November 1758].

A contemporary translation of the contents is CR2/11. item no. 462

Refers to negotiations between Mir Qasim and M[onsieur]. Jean Law, and to the involvement of the crown prince, Shah Alam. Text contains only a partial date: 30th inst.

One munshi and two harkarahs belonging to Shitab Rai are present in the camp of the Prince; two other men of Shitab Rai are with the French forces. Four men belonging to Rajah Ram are also in the service of the French. Two of these men were caught while sleeping; the other two are still there. A letter from Rajah Dulabha Ram addressed to Khudadad Khan was received here. A reply has been sent. Rajah Ram, Narayan Singh, Mathra Mall, etc., present news reports to the Prince which they receive from their men in Bengal. A bank draft of twelve thousand rupees addressed to the French was received at Benares from Azimabad. This was forwarded to Chatarpore but the French had left that place thirteen days ago so the bank draft was returned to Benares. -- Here no one trusts people from Bengal. We have to do everything with great care and cleverness. Two of my men are in the camp of Pihalvan Singh and another two are with Khudaddad Khan in Benares. Two other are in the Camp of Monsieur Lally. Fourteen other are present in the camp of the Prince. Thirteen, including a chef, are with me. As it all involves many expenses, I will be coming to see you in a few days to discuss this. I hope you have read my earlier petitions in this respect. At present Chatu Babu and Bhaghari Harkarah of Mathra Mall are in Benares and Himmat Singh who was with the French with four of his men has left Benares for Calcutta. A Bengali man, called Khvajah Pitrus, belonging to Tate tribe and an inhabitant of Hujrah who was employed by the messenger of Torimall, and who was sent to the French camp, will be returning soon.

You may have read the news of this area from the persons faithful to you in this area as well as from copies of letters which have come to my possession and which I had forwarded to you. Today, Thursday, 22nd inst. [22 March 1759] the army of the Prince marched from Phulwari and entered the Bagh of Jafar Khan. Madar al-Daulah is encamped near Tun Tun Khurdah[?]. Harkarahs have brought news to the Prince that Murshidabad artillery was stationed near the borders of Bhagalpore and it was protected by a company of soldiers and horsemen. After hearing this news the Prince ordered a force to travel at night and attack this post and recover the artillery from the enemy. He also ordered that another post at Monghyr should also be conquered. He has, therefore, despatched his forces for this purpose. Your letters which you had addressed to Rajah Ram Narayan and Bare [British officer] Sahib were received by Gulab Chand but he did not inform me about their presence. I came to know only after they were returned to you. Another, contemporary translation of the contents is CC2/11, item no. 435.

A contemporary translation of the contents is CC2/11, item no. 434.

Lengthy harkarah report of news relating to Shuja-ud-Daula, Nawab of Oudh, in connexion with the French, followed by mention of Kamgar Khan and `Inayat Khan.

I have already sent one report about the situation here for which I have received your reply in which you asked me to write a detailed report about the King's army. The army of the Prince is starving. He has asked Nawab Jafar Ali Khan for help but has not received any joy from his reply. Meanwhile Siraj al-Daulah arrived with a large army but it was routed by him [Nawab Jafar Ali Khan?] in the first engagement. The Prince has run away from the clutches of the Vazir al-Mumalik [Nawab of Oudh] and the Nawab Vazir has sent a letter to Nawab Jafar Ali Khan asking him either to kill the Prince or to take him as a prisoner. This letter fell into the hands of the guards of the Prince who tore it into pieces. Another, contemporary translation of the contents is CC2/11, item no.417 where Rang Lal is described as a harkarah [messenger] in the English service in the 'Shahzadah's Camp'.

Report by Gangali Harkara sent from Benares on the 15th of Rabi al-Avval and received at Azimabad on the 19th of the above month. -- The army of the Prince marched from Riwan and are encamped on the banks of [the river] Bishode?; they are stationed at Aunchi Dhaba. He has an army of one thousand and five hundred horsemen and three thousand foot soldiers with him. None of the sons of Rajah Ajit Singh is with him. Kardar Husain Baig has recently joined him. He is also accompanied by Madar al-Daulah, Buland Khan and other Jamadars have also arrived. On the advice of Kardar Husain Baig some of his men have gone to Allahabad with their banners; however, the Navab Baqa Allah went there and threw them out of the city.

[Report on events at Delhi and Lahore]. -- The King Emperor and the Wazir al-Mumalik with their courtiers were encamped near Davari and were planning to march to Sirhind to admonish the zamindars of this district. They managed to collect four Lac rupees and five hundred horses from twelve groups of this area and Indar[?] Singh has given them four hundred camels. -- Adinah Beg, Subahdar of Lahore, passed away recently and his assistant has been appointed as the subahdar of Lahore, Multan, etc. After appointing him on a mansab of seven thousand, with seven thousand horsemen the Nawab Wazir has sent Sayyid Jamil al-Din Khan as the Governor of Lahore, Multan, etc. He, along with his companions Balabash Khan and Baqi Beg Khan Balkhi, etc., left here after receiving their khillats. Abd Allah Khan has also left with us five thousand horsemen to safeguard the property of Adinah Beg. -- Prince Ali Gohar had left towards the state of Barah Sayyids to gather his army and Bakht Khan was accompanying him with his Rohila army but Nawab Wazir wrote to Bakht Khan and as a result he crossed the river Ganges and withdrew his support from the Prince. After some negotiations Wazir al-Mumalik has now agreed to give the Prince Chaklah of Sikandarabad with its income of five Lac rupees as his income. -- At the request of Wazir al-Mumalik, Maharajah Apaji has sent two of his sons, Raghunath Rao and Malhar Rao, with a force of twenty thousand horsemen to him. They have reached near Jaipur. The Marhatta Sardars from Rajputana are planning to go to Deccan.

Diya Ram Harakara reports that in the districts of Bundelkhand Ram Pandit and Ghanish[?] Pandit, along with one thousand-horse cavalry has gone to see Rajah Ajit Singh at Bandhu and to ask him for one fourth of his wealth. Ajit Singh was preparing himself to defend his wealth but his Diwan, Puran Mall, resolved the matter by agreeing to hand over one fourth of the wealth to the Marhattas and Ram Pandit and Ghanish[?] Pandit returned with this wealth When Lala Babu, one of the brothers of Ajit Singh who had became independent, saw Ganesh Pandit coming he attacked his forces. And Rajah Bikrmajit had at that time gone to see Gannet Pundit and Ram Pandit to establish a police post in that district of Marar and to ask money for the protection of this station. But the Pandit was not prepared to agree to this and preferred to resolve the issue by force. Bikrmajit was engaged in these affairs when Gopal Pandit Marhatta, with is ship arrived with one thousand cavalry at Amethi near ? by crossing the river from Kudhi port at Bankipore. They have brought with them reporters and messengers. One of the reporters has informed that Madhu Singh, son of Raghu Singh Khoslah, has gone towards Bengal with there other Sardars. And from there he wants to take a ship to go to Khad.

Rajah Ram Narayan arrived at Azimabad yesterday, Sunday, 25 Muharram [i.e. October 9 1757]. He had ordered that he should be welcomed to the fort by firing guns at the time of his arrival. It appears that the cavalry of Shaikh Hamid al-Din Jamadar came to see Mir Kazim but were stopped by the soldiers guarding the check post. Mir Kazim told the Raja that they were coming to offer their nuzr and may be allowed in but the Raja refused to let them in. He however allowed the brother of Shaikh Hamid al-Din to come in. The Shaikh again appealed to the Raja against his decision but he refused to listen. Later he enquired from his vakil whether Major Sahib had left towards Calcutta. The Vakil replied that he had received no news of that. The Raja asked him to keep the Shaikh under surveillance and to find out his true intentions. If he had received any orders from the Nawab sahib why does he not show them to him? He does not want to arrest him as he fears it will create disturbances in the city. He asked me to go and see Mir Kazim but he refuses to see or receive any one from the Raja Sahib. -- Pihalwan Singh, a zamindar of Bhojpur who, with his force of four thousand men, had helped Raja Ram Narayn during his battle with Kamgar Khan is also staying in the city. When he heard what was going on between the Raja Sahib and Mir Kazim he left at night for Bhojpur and Nawab Ahmad Khan asked the Raja that if he wanted to stay in the city he will have to explain to him what was going on otherwise the army will leave the city. Thereafter the Raja decided to come out of the city with his army so that he could teach a lesson to the troublemakers.

Mentions that two messengers sent by Sadr al-Haqq Khan arrived in Deccan where Sahu Raja was. At the same time, Ramnarayan was on a ship bound for Murshidabad, when news came of the killing of Nawab Siraj al-Dawlah [on 2 July 1757]. Sahu Raja set out for Bengal with 30/40 thousand men just as Ramnarayan was nearing to go to Murshidabad.

I had sent three pairs of letters to the Bara Sahib through our messenger but have received acknowledgement of only one pair. I had received a letter from one of our agent working in the Prince's camp. This is enclosed with this letter. It is learnt that some French officers have arrived here from Benares and a large number of people in patna are corresponding with them. – Enclosure 1: Seal of Harkarah Rang La'l Konpani-yi Angrez. -- On the 4th of this month the Prince woke up in the morning and had his breakfast. After one ghari had passed, Rajah Ram Nath came to see the Prince [?] Later Bahadur Ali Khan also came to see the Prince. Bahadur Ali Khan presented a petition of Murad al-Daulah Bahadur to the Prince. He signed the petition and ordered an official document to be prepared. Later he went into Tasbih Khanah/prayer room and remained there for one ghari. Later he came and sat in the Diwan-i Khas. He ordered the army to get ready to march. Bahadur Ali Khan informed the Prince that four French artillery officers had arrived. The Prince ordered that they should be sent to operate the guns on the front. When four ghari of the day had passed Rajah Ram Nath, Bahadur Ali Khan, Murad al-Daulah Bahadur, Naubat Khan and Aithiya Khan assembled at one place to discuss future strategy. The meeting was presided by the Prince who sat on an English chair. At the same time a petition from Muhammad Quli Khan was presented. The Prince signed the document and ordered a reply to be prepared. The meeting continued for one ghari and after it was over the Prince ordered the food to be served. Bahadur Ali Khan, Murad al-Daulah Bahadur, Naubat Khan and Aithiya Khan also joined in. After one ghari the Prince went into his Tasbih Khanah/prayer room and came out from there after one ghari and again sat on his chair. He ordered his horse to be made ready. The name of the horse is Barqandaz. He went around visiting on his horse for one ghari. Later he transferred himself on to an elephant and ordered Murad al-Daulah to lead the procession and in this way reached the house of Mir Begum. At this time four cannons were fired. From the Kothi to Alipore, which is a distance of one Koh, the whole area was full of morchals and banners. At this time a number of guns were fired. Maharajah Sahib had meanwhile arranged for ammunition to be sent. He also sent a number of people to find out the location where Sahib [probably an English General on the payroll of the Prince] had arrived. Maharaja Sahib has also been asked to write to Sahib and inform him as soon as he arrives. It is rumoured that the Sahib is coming to join the forces of the Prince and for this reason the Prince has travelled to reach the south gate of the city and has erected morchals there. It is also rumoured that the French forces have also reached the frontiers. In addition, a messenger named Ram Dahn and another named Sital? Chand are employed by Gulab Chand in the court of Bahadur Ali Khan. Gulab Chand receives a salary of 12 rupees per month and he pays seven rupees a month to Sital Chand. His job is to receive news reported from harkarahs of Gulab Chand and then write them down. For this purpose the aforesaid messenger writes to Sital Chand and then Sital Chand reveals them to Bahadur Ali Khan and Bahadur Ali Khan, in turn, informs Huzur about the details of the Prince's army. Sital Chand writes to Ram Dahn and Ram Dahn writes to Gulab Chand and Gulab Chand, after verifying all details reports to Huzur. -- Enclosure 2: I have already sent four letters by post. Please do let me know if you have received all these letters as the people here have arrested Ram Dahn, the messenger of Gulab Chand when he was on his way to you.

Diyabarn? Harakara reports that in the districts of Bundelkhand Ram Pandit and Ghanish? Pandit along with one thousand-horse cavalry had gone to see Rajah Ajit Singh at Bandhu and to ask him for one fourth of his wealth. Ajit Singh was preparing himself to defend his wealth but his Diwan, Puran Mall, resolved the matter by agreeing to hand over one fourth of the wealth to the Marhattas and Ram Pandit and Ghanish? Pandit, with this, returned with this wealth. When Lala Babu, one of the brothers of Ajit Singh, who had became independent saw Ganesh Pandit coming he attacked his forces. Rajah Bikrmajit had at that time gone to see Gannet Pundit and Ram Pandit to establish a police post in that district of Marar and to ask money for the protection of this station.. But the Pandit was not prepared to agree to this and preferred to resolve the issue by force. Bikrmajit was engaged in these affairs when Gopal Pandit Marhatta with his ship arrived with one thousand cavalry at Amethi, near??? by crossing the river from Kudhi port at Bankipore. They have brought with them reporters and messengers. One of the reporters has informed me that Madhu Singh, the son of Raghu Singh Khoslah, has gone towards Bengal with three other Sardars and that from there he wants to take a ship to go to Khad.

Accounts for Shukrabad during the presumably Bangla years of 1158-1162, corresponding to 1751-1756 CE.

Accounts for Babat `Azim Ganj during the presumably Bangla years of 1158-1162, corresponding to 1751-1756 CE.

Document detailing accounts of French receipts and for port of Hughli during the presumably Bangla years of 1158-1162, corresponding to 1751-1756 CE.

Relates to Peter Amyatt at Azimabad and the sum of 10,000 rupees, later stating that the fawjdar, Fazl Ali Khan, has gone to Lucknow at the request of Shuja-ud-Daula, Nawab of Oudh.

I have appointed Baha Allah as the officer in charge of the district of Hugli which is attached to the sarkar of Salgam. He has reported to me that the residents and inhabitants of Calcutta, Bhakar and Mitya Garh, etc,. are obstructing him in the execution of his duties and the Naibs of these districts are resisting in the payments of their dues. As they come under your jurisdiction it will be appreciated if you could help in remedying this situation.