Note 34 — INDEX

Áhmedábád (a.d. 1583) by Muzaffar Sháh the last king of Gujarát; Cambay (a.d. 1573) by Muhammad Husain Mirza; and Surat (a.d. 1609) by Malik Ambar the famous general of the king of Amednagar. In such unsettled times it is not surprising that the European travellers of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, between Áhmedábád and Cambay found native merchants marching in large weekly caravans which rested at night within a space barricaded by carts. (Kerr, IX. 127 and 201.) The English merchants, on their way from one factory to another, were accompanied by an escort, and, in spite of their guard, were on more than one occasion attacked by large bands of Rájputs. (Kerr, IX. 127, 187, 201, 203.) As regards the state of the different parts of the province, Nicholas Ufflet, who went from Agra to Surat about 1610, describes the north, from Jhálor to Áhmedábád, as throughout the whole way a sandy and woody country, full of thievish beastly men, and savage beasts such as lions and tigers; from Áhmedábád to Cambay the road was through sands and woods much infested by thieves; from Cambay to Broach it was a woody and dangerous journey; but from Broach to Surat the country was goodly, fertile, and full of villages, abounding in wild date trees. (Kerr, VIII. 303.) Passing from the mouth of the Tápti to Surat Mr. Copland (24th Dec. 1613) was delighted to see at the same time the goodliest spring and harvest he had ever seen. ‘Often of two adjoining fields, one was as green as a fine meadow, and the other waving yellow like gold and ready to be cut down, and all along the roads were many goodly villages.’ (Kerr, IX. 119.) At that time the state of north-east Gujarát was very different. Terry, 1617 (Voyage, 404), describes the passage of nineteen days from Mándu near Dhár to Áhmedábád as short journeys in a wilderness where a way had to be cut and made even and the great space required for the Mughal’s camp rid and made plain by grubbing up trees and bushes. And between Cambay and Áhmedábád De la Valle, a.d. 1623 (Travels, Hakluyt Ed. I. 92), resolved to go with the káfila since the insecurity of the ways did not allow him to go alone. Still at that time Gujarát as a whole (see above page 220 note 2) was an exceeding rich province, a description which twenty years later (1638) is borne out by Mandelslo (Travels, French Edition, 56): No province in India is more fertile; none yields more fruit or victuals. With the boast of the author of the Mirăt-i-Áhmedi (a.d. 1756) that Gujarát was the richest province in India compare Kháfi Khan’s (a.d. 1719) remark (Elliot, VII. 530): This rich province which no other province in India can equal. ↑