A Dutch Chronicle of Mughal India

About the Book A comparison of these two Manuscripts with the Fragment of the History of India gathered from Dutch sources and rendered into Latin by Joannes De Laet (Antwerp, 1631) conclusively proves that a copy of this Hindustan Chronicle formed the basis of De Let’s work. De Late besides being a voluminous writer was a Director of the Dutch East India Company. He tells us that he used a Dutch Chronicle compiled by Van Den Broecke, the Director of the Western hemisphere at Surat in the twenties of the seventeenth century. Van Den Broecke sent 'a chronicle of Hindustan since the time of the grandfather of the present king based on materials which he had been able to collect' as an enclosure with his letter dated. December 11, 1627 written on board the ship Dordrecht in the road of Sahally. It is reasonable to suppose that the Hague MS. on the Asiatic paper is the original of Van Den Broecke's chronicle. But Van Den Broecke referred to Jahangir as "the present king" and his chronicle must have closed with the events preceding Jahangir's death. Thus the additional section in a different hand in this MS. must have been added by someone else. But as this forms a part of De Laet's Latin work published in 1631, it must have been added to between the years 1628 and 1631 in Holland.

Introduction In the Dutch Record Office at Hague there are two copies of a 'Hindustan Chronicle'. One is on Asiatic paper. It gives an account of Indian events from the beginning of the reign of Humayun to the beginning of Shah Jahan's reign. The last portion beginning with 'In the year 1036' to the end is written in a different hand but the whole story is brought down to the accession of Shah Jahan.

The second copy is bound up with the Report of Pelsaert on the present condition of the trade' in India. The report as well as the Hindustan Chronicle are written in the same hand. A comparison of this MS. with the Journal of the Ship, Sardam for 1629 reveals the fact that this MS. was written by Salomon Deschamps who was an under-Factor on the ill-fated ship Batavia which sailed from Holland to the east in the fleet commanded by Pelsaert.

**Contents and Sample Pages**