The Norris Embassy to Aurangzib (1699-1702) (An Old and Rare Book)

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In producing this work, the author has been animated by a desire to illumine that obscure page of Indian history which concerns the embassy of Sir William Norris towards the end of the reign of Aurangzib, the last of the Great Mughals. Norris was sent to India as the representative both of King William III and also of the New or English East India Company. His mission covered over three years (1699-1702), a period which was pregnant with future consequences. It saw the beginning of the decline of the Mughal Empire and the union of the two rival Companies, which ultimately led to the establishment of British suzerainty in India. The history of those years forms a stirring period in the annals of the two Companies. Sir Thomas Roe's embassy to the Court of Jahangir, the first diplomatic mission sent under Royal authority to India, occurred at a time when the interests of English trade were as yet embryonic. The Mughal Empire was then rapidly growing and extending its supremacy in all directions. The English had then no settlement of importance, whereas the possessions of the Portuguese were numerous and considerable. The subject has been exhaustively treated, notably in the work of Sir William Foster, late Historiographer to the Secretary of State for India. But the mission, over eighty years later, of Sir William Norris to the Court of Aurangzib has not hitherto received from historical writers on India that attention which its importance demands.

John Bruce incorporated in his Annals of the East India Company a lengthy narrative of the embassy, compiled from the dormant mass of material then accessible amongst the Company's records at the East India House. He obviously devoted great care to the work, but appears nevertheless to have omitted to consult certain of those records, and particularly Sir William Norris' Journals, which contain a vivid account of the embassy.

The story of the origins of the British Empire in India must always be a subject of unfailing interest to students of that amazing world phenomenon which Seeley summarized as the 'Expansion of England'. But, as Mr. Harihar Das points out in his Introduction, it is no less important a subject for every Indian scholar or statesman who wishes, not only to study the rich tapestry of all the centuries of India's history, but to find in that history both guidance and warning for the future. To that study his detailed, well-documented and erudite account of the Embassy of Sir William Norris to the Court of Aurangzib is a valuable contribution.

It is significant that the pioneers of research in the field of ancient Indian history, antiquities and philology were distinguished English, German and French Orientalists. They began their work about a century and a half ago, and their labours laid the foundation for the scientific study of that history as we know it today. In more recent years and particularly since the beginning of the present century, the output by Indian scholars in this domain as in all other departments of learning has been considerable, both in intrinsic merit and in quantity. The intellectual cooperation between the scholars of Europe and India has indeed been one of sympathy and good friendship. It is also interesting to note that some of the best contributions to the history of the Mughal period are again by British and Indian scholars.