Know Your City: How Portuguese saved Daman from the Mughals

Interestingly, the Jesuit fathers astatine Agra brought this aggression to the emperor’s announcement and protested against the unprovoked onslaught connected the Christian rulers of Daman. Akbar could not contradict the complaint but shifted the work onto his generals. At the Jesuit fathers’ request, helium sent orders to Qutub-ud-din Khan to retreat his forces, which helium promptly obeyed. The Portuguese further strengthened their defences, gathering a onshore gross connected the southbound side, with a ample inscription slab commemorating the valour of the Portuguese nether the stewardship of their commandant, Martin de Mello.

However, hostilities did not extremity there. In the eighth twelvemonth of Jahangir’s reign, tensions flared again betwixt the Mughals and the Portuguese. During the autumn of 1613, the second incurred the wrath of the Mughal emperor by plundering a ample Mughal pilgrim ship, the Rahimi, which had a capableness of 1,500 tonnes and was carrying a affluent cargo. This enactment of defiance, aimed astatine expressing displeasure implicit the favourable reception fixed to the English astatine Surat, provoked utmost resentment among the Mughal court, peculiarly arsenic immoderate of the astir important nobles, including the emperor’s mother, had vested interests successful the cargo valued astatine Rs 10 lakh. The emperor resolved to inflict a terrible punishment connected the Portuguese.

Jahangir patched a truce with his enemy, the sultan of Ahmednagar, truthful that imperial and Deccani troops could transportation retired a associated onslaught connected the Portuguese forts successful occidental India. Muquarrab Khan, the politician who seems to person been connected a sojourn to the court, was instructed to proceed to the seashore and prehend the goods and persons of each Portuguese successful the empire. In Agra and Lahore, each their religion doors were sealed and the workout of their religion was forbidden. Father Jerome Xavier, who had been successful precocious favour astatine the court, was sent down to the politician of Surat successful disgrace and placed nether detention by the Mughal officers, though helium was soon released to sermon presumption of bid with the Portuguese viceroy.

Viceroy Dom Jerónimo de Azevedo, who played a important relation successful the Portuguese enlargement successful the Indian Ocean.

Since the Mughal naval powerfulness was insignificant, progressive steps were taken to laic siege by onshore to the Portuguese astatine Daman, Bassein and Chaul. Simultaneously, Muquarrab Khan appealed to the Dutch astatine Masulipatnam (Machilipatnam today), who had a mill astatine Surat, for help, promising them Daman erstwhile it was taken by the besieging Mughal forces. Faced with this sedate threat, the Portuguese sought reconciliation, offering to reconstruct the vessel and the goods, but their connection was rejected.

In revenge, the Portuguese sent frigates to Ghogha, burning 120 vessels, of which 10 were of ample size, arsenic good arsenic a important information of the city. They besides conducted raids on the coast, pouncing upon Broach (Bharuch) and mounting occurrence to galore houses successful the suburbs. Meanwhile, the combined Ahmednagar and Imperial forces dispatched by the Mughal emperor appeared earlier Daman aft laying discarded to the surrounding state and burning immoderate villages. Around this time, Luiz de Britto, who had captured the Mughal ship, arrived with his squadron of 14 vessels and 350 Portuguese soldiers. This force, combined with the garrison astatine Daman, attacked the besieging Mughal army, which, contempt being greatly superior successful numbers, was forced to retreat. Britto past sailed for the Bharuch port, burning portion of the municipality and each the vessels lying successful the river. He subsequently attacked and burned Bhadbhut, which was held by the Rajputs, resulting successful the deaths of 450 of them.

These incidents exemplify that though astir 70 years had passed since the clip of D Jao Castro, the Portuguese successful India had not modified their aged argumentation of terrorising the coastal towns of Gujarat to support their claims. At the aforesaid time, the smaller kings and the large Mughals had not learned immoderate lessons and not taken effectual steps to fortify their navy. The Portuguese exploited this inability of the Mughals to their afloat advantage. Their viceroy, Jeronimo Azavedo, astatine Goa, collected a large armada and personally sailed to Surat successful December 1614 to present a decisive stroke against the large city, completing the bid of reprisals made by his captains against the Gujarat ports.

The Portuguese and English clash astatine sea

A fewer weeks before, Captain Nicholas Downtown reached Surat connected October 15 with a fleet of 4 ships and 400 men sent retired by the East India Company. Muquarrab Khan was pleased to larn of this but was disappointed erstwhile Downtown flatly refused his petition for enactment connected the grounds that determination was bid betwixt the English and the Spaniards. The Portuguese, however, made a tactical mistake. Taking the English neutrality to beryllium a weakness, the Portuguese viceroy decided to usage this accidental to crush the English effort to intrude upon the Portuguese monopoly of commercialized connected the westbound seashore of India. Another large presumption was that occurrence successful the conflict with the Mughal powerfulness depended connected visibility and the quality to destruct Downtown’s tiny fleet, which stood betwixt him and the onslaught connected Surat.

In the decisive conflict that took spot connected January 20, 1615, the English, contempt their smaller numbers, carried the time owed to the sheer valour of their crew. The English flagship, Hope, was anchored immoderate region up of the others. The Portuguese viceroy sent 3 of his large ships, on with immoderate frigates, to grapple with her and to determination swarms of Portuguese soldiers connected committee the Hope. After boarding, they soon engaged successful hand-to-hand combat with the English crew. Other English ships rapidly came to the rescue, directing a dependable watercourse of occurrence into the enemy’s men of war. At the extremity of a hopeless struggle, the Portuguese soldiers were driven backmost from the Hope, suffering dense casualties. Many were killed oregon threw themselves overboard, leaving the enactment littered the adjacent time with the bodies of those who drowned.

The nonaccomplishment of the Portuguese armada was besides owed to their galleons being cumbersome and sailing slowly, portion their guns, though much numerous, were operated with overmuch little accomplishment than those of the English. When Jahangir heard the quality of the Portuguese naval disaster, helium was evidently delighted by this serendipitous crook of events and recorded it successful his autobiography. Within six months of the defeat, a pact of bid was signed betwixt the Portuguese viceroy and the Mughal politician connected 7th June 1615. One effect was the withdrawal of forces besieging Daman, which frankincense erstwhile again escaped conquest and absorption into the Mughal empire.

(Dr Amarjit Singh is simply a retired IAS serviceman from the Gujarat cadre who has held posts successful the cardinal and authorities governments.)