Random thoughts 25072017

Mumbai previously known was Bombay under Portugese rule from 1534 to 1661 A.D. It was given away to the English under the Marriage treaty of 1661 when king Charles II of England married Catherine of Braganza, the daughter of king John IV of Portugal. To keep the historical context in mind , the first battle of Panipat which heralded the Mughal rule in India was fought in 1531 . Which means that Bombay was almost never a part of the Hindosthan as ruled by the Mughals . The British occupation of Mumbai also as contemporary as  Taj Mahal which was completed in 1654.

Aurangzeb was the only Mughal ruler who realised the threat of the English .After the death of Shivaji in 1680,  the Mughal rule spread to the Konkan area too. This brought them in conflict with the English and Portugese who tried to blockade the sea routes to Arabia and beyond.  Between 1686 and 1690  the British East India Company and the Mughal empire fought a war commonly known as Child's war . Emperor Aurangzeb issued orders for the extirpation of the English, and the confiscation of their property. The English possessions were reduced to the fortified towns of Madras and Bombay.

In 1689 the strong Mughal fleet from Janjira commanded by the Sidi Yaqub and manned by Mappila (Moplas , Muslims from Kerala) and Abyssinians (Habshis) firmly blockaded Bombay. After a year of resistance, the English surrendered, and in 1690 the company sent envoys to Aurangzeb's camp to plead for a pardon. The company's envoys had to prostrate themselves before the emperor, pay a large indemnity, and promise better behavior in the future. The emperor withdrew his troops and the company subsequently re-established itself in Bombay and set up a new base in Calcutta.

In 1686, the English East India Company, which had unsuccessfully tried to obtain a firman, an imperial directive that would grant England regular trading privileges throughout the Mughal empire, initiated the so-called Child's War. This hostility against the empire ended in disaster for the English, particularly when Aurangzeb dispatched a strong fleet from Janjira commanded by the Sidi Yaqub and manned by Mappila loyal to Ali Raja Ali II and Abyssinian sailors firmly blockaded Bombay in 1689.  In 1690, the company sent envoys to Aurangzeb's camp to plead for a pardon. The company's envoys had to prostrate themselves before the emperor, pay a large indemnity, and promise better behaviour in the future.

Siraj ud daullah , Nawab of Bengal who fought the East India company in the battle of Plassey was born after four decades of this English defeat and magnanimity of Aurangzeb . In fact his maternal grandfather Alivardi Khan , whom he succeeded was born in 1671 .