Essay

DONA JULIANA DIAS DA COSTA HER INFLUENCE IN LATER MOGUL HISTORY

Enrique Heras*

§1.

On the 10th of December 1711 a great happening took place at Sarai Khan Khanan, three kilometres from Lahore. A foreign nobleman with a big retinue of soldiers and attendants encamped there to the admiration of the villagers and of the peasants of the surroundings. On the following day, Sarai Khan Khanan was the scene of another strange event. Another gaudy party from the side of Lahore reached the place and went to pay their respects to the nobleman arrived one day earlier. They were Monsieur Martin, the French physician of the Mogul Emperor, Shah Baradur, (then in the neighbourhood of Lahore after his campaign against the Sikhs) and thirty Christians of various nationalities. The foreign nobleman, whom they had come to greet, was Johan Josua Ketelaar, the director of the Dutch East India Company at Surat, envoy of the same Company to the Mogul Emperor, to obtain from his certain concessions for the Company.

PREVIOUS PAGE: Untitled — One of the series entitled "A Collection of Chinese Paintings with Western Writings". U KUOI WANG 余国宏 (YEE KUOK WANG) 1995. Ink wash on paper. 67.0 cm x 67.0 cm.

Among the Christians who accompanied the French doctor to Sarai Khan Khanan there was a servant who brought to the Dutch Ambassador a present of fruits; pears, apples, pomegranates, etc., which reminded him of his own country. These fruits were sent by a Portuguese lady named Dona Juliana Dias da Costa, who held a position of trust in the Emperor's harem and whose authority at the Court was extraordinary. On the 14th of the same month the Ambassador met Dona Juliana.

On the eve of that day a noble of the Emperor's household, Khadim Beg Khan, at the head of five hundred infantry and five-hundred cavalry had arrived as escort at Sarai Khan Khanan. He rode on an elephant and displayed four large and many small flags of white and green silk and four green silk standards embroidered with gold. In his retinue there was an Armenian Bishop and some Jesuit Fathers, who went at once to greet the Ambassador. On the following day Ketelaar himself went in solemn procession to meet Khadim Beg Khan, The Bishop and the Jesuits drove in his suite seated in a Dutch four-wheeler which the Ambassador had brought from Surat. On their way to the camp of the Imperial lashkar, 1 they were met by a four-wheeled carriage covered with red silk curtains and occupied by Dona Juliana and the Emperor's four chief wives, who had come to view the Ambassador's procession. They had been sent out by Shah Bahadur himself to bring him an account of the procession. First came the'introducer's elephant, covered with green trappings edged with red cloth bearing his green standard and white flags and streamers. Next was a large elephant intended for presentation to the Emperor. It was covered with gold brocade. Others elephants, with green and red clothes, followed in a row, each bearing a grenadier. Behind them rode the head elephant-man on horseback. Then came four great flags of the Company and forty small ones with streamers attached to them followed by a man with kettledrums on horseback, nine horses with rich gold and silver comparisons, for presentation to the Emperor, the master of the horse and two trumpeters. Ensign Godlieb on horseback, led his grenadiers two by two on horseback. Then came the submerchant, the secretary, the first clerk and his assistant, a sergeant and a subsurgeon, all on horseback. Next were led two horses attended by four silver stick-bearers, and the envoy's footmen and fusiliers. There followed the envoy in a palki, 2 accompanied by the introducers and Monsieur Martin, also in palkis; then the first and the second assistant envoys Rogier Beerendard and Dirk Huisinkveld, in palkis, preceded each by a led horse and surrounded by footman and fusilliers. Close behind was a four-wheeled carriage of Dutch make, brought from Surat bearing the Armenian Bishop and the Jesuists. In another similar coach rode the chief surgeon, H. Eppendorf, and after it were four native carriages, covered with red and green, carrying the rest of the clerks and soldiers. The procession was closed by a corporal on horseback, a loaded camel, a camel with kettle-drums and, last of all, the master of the camels on horseback.

After this the Ambassador encamped in the neighbourhood of the Imperial camp, and in the afternoon at three o'clock received an important message from Dona Juliana. She had been entrusted with the affairs of this Embassy by the Mogul Emperor and informed him that the Emperor would admit him and all the Europeans to audience as soon as His Excellency pleased, even the next day. But as the presents were not unpacked the audience was postponed. Some days after, on the 16th, Dona Juliana invited Ketelaar to move his camp into two gardens surrounded by high walls; not far distant, "[…] were they would be free from the smell of dead carcasses." On the following day the presents for the Emperor were sent to this new camp and Ketelaar himself followed.

At once the unpacking of the presents was taken in hand and Dona Juliana with some of the Court ladies came to the garden on the 20th to inspect them and tell the Ambassador which would prove acceptable to the Emperor and Princes. They were received in great state. They alighted from a covered carriage in which they had come unseen, Dona Juliana had sent the Dutchman a costly dinner of fifty dishes. Now, after the repast, she scented them with essence of roses and honoured them in the King's name with abir and betel covered with gold and silver leaf. She remained till evening and expressed herself highly pleased, as well as her companions.

The presents were sent to the Emperor on the 26th and the audience was finally fixed for the 3rd of January 1712, Ketelaar marched to the to the Imperial camp in the same state as on the day of his entry. In the afternoon they reached the tent that had been pitched for them, where Dona Juliana entertained them. The audience took place at three o'clock in the afternoon on the 26th of the same month. Dona Juliana invited Ketelaar's three musicians to come and serenade the Emperor at night. They were first received in her own tent. The Emperor, his wives and Dona Juliana listened to them unseen. The first wife sent them through Dona Juliana the assurance of a rich present, and at Juliana's bidding, they withdraw to let the Emperor and the ladies inspect the instruments. After this they were recalled by Dona Juliana and invited to spend the rest of the night in the tent.

The demands of the Dutch envoy were finally granted towards the end of February. But while the necessary copies of the grant were being written the Emperor suddenly fell ill and died on the 28th of the same month. Dona Juliana after this said event, continued looking after her protégés, the Dutch traders; and since the four sons of Shah Baradur were already preparing themselves for the fratricidal war that was going to ensue, she warned Ketelaar to be on his guard against plunderers.

After the triumph of Shah Jahandar over his brothers, the new Emperor confirmed the privileges granted to the Dutch merchants by the deceased Sovereign, through the intercession of Dona Juliana. The diary of the Mission, as published by Francois Valentyn, mentions her name several times before the 9th of October when they bade adieu to her after taking leave from the Emperor, the Empresses and several grandees. 3

§2.

According to Valentyn, the father of Dona Juliana was one Augustinho [sic]Dias da Costa, a Portuguese merchant and citizen of Cochin (Coetsjien) at the time when the Dutch took the town. Thence he went to Goa, and later to Bengal, where Juliana was born. 4 Col. Gentil agrees with the Dutch traveller and adds that Augustinho was a fidalgo. 5 Valentyn says moreover that Augustinho went finally to Agra where he was appointed surgeon to Prince Alam Bahadur. 6 As Augustinho was a simple merchant, we cannot understand how he reached such an elevated post as surgeon to the heir apparent of the mogul Empire. On the other hand, Col. Gentil narrates that Juliana arrived at the Mogul Court after the sinking of a boat in one of her voyages. 7 Valentyn's mistake seems to be caused by the fact that Dona Juliana's husband was a surgeon. Thus the Portuguese Viceroy Dom Vasco Fernandes César de Menezes [nom. 1705, 1707-1712] in a letter to the King of Portugal dated the 14th of January 1714, says that the Viceroy Dom Francisco de Távora, Count of Alvor, sent a surgeon to the Mogul Court, to whom Dona Juliana was married. Thus she accompained her husband to Agra, where she was much liked by the courtiers and by the members of the Imperial family. 8 The term of Viceroyalty of the Count of Alvor lasted from 1681 to 1686. As this was precisely the time when Juliana's father was supposed by Valentyn to enter the service of Prince Alam it seems quite evident that her husband and not her father was the surgeon of the future Shah Bahadur.

We cannot admit either the identification put forward by Fr. H. Hosten, S. J., (St. Joseph's College, Darjeeling) between Augustinho Dias, Juliana's father, and the anonymous citizen of Cochin who became a renegade at the Court of Agra, according to Fr. Botelho's letter, dated 1670. 9

The appointement of Dona Juliana's husband as the surgeon of the heir apparent was the cause of her introduction to the Court. "She was so much liked by all the princes [says the letter of Viceroy Menezes] that she was always in favour with Shah Aurangzebo (Aranseb) and Prince Alam (the future Shah Bahadur.)" Her influence at the Court dates from the time of the imprisonment of Prince Alam. "The vigilance and help bestowed on the said Prince during the nine years of his captivity [says the Dutch traveller Valentyn] won for her great influence; after his release was ordered by his father Aurangzebo, and from that time she obtained the title of "Khana" ("Cahannem"), or "Lady", with a monthly income of twenty-five-thousand rupees, and a large number of male and female servants."10 At this time also "[…] she was appointed Governess of the Emperor's seraglio."11 Her husband must have been already dead by this time for he is not mentioned any more in the contemporary sources. Both during her husband's life-time and after his death, she ever maintained her honour beyond the least shadow of reproach.

At the time of Aurangzebo's demise in 1707, Prince Alam was at Lahore. He, as the eldest son, was the succesor to the throne, but the brothers of the Prince took up arms against him and the usual fraticidal war followed. 12 Juliana went to meet Prince Alam (now, Shah Bahadur) at Lahore and was well received by him. She accompained him to the Deccan, where his younger brother, Prince Azam, had proclaimed himself Emperor of Hindushan. Shah Bahadur had written to him proposing to keep to the last will of their father, by virtue of which the Empire had to be divided, but Azam refused and preferred to trust his fate to a contest with his brother. 13 And precisely in this campaign the fame and prestige of Dona Juliana was to be enormously increased.

It was on the 18th of June 1707, when Shah Bahadur and his three sons set out in the morning from their camp intending to pass the day in hunting. In the meantime, by order of the Emperor, the advance-tents were sent forward and pitched in a grove four miles north to Jajau, under Rustam Dil Khan's supervision. Prince Mohammed Azim was close by protecting the new camp. An advance detachment of the army of Prince Azam under Prince Bidar Bakht, happened to see the flag upon Shah Bahadur's tents which were being erected in the spot selected by the Emperor. Bidar Bakht's soldiers made a sudden descent upon the Imperial tents. They were only two to three-thousand men. In spite of this, such was the confusion created by that sudden attack among the twenty to thirty-thousand horse of Mohammed Azim, that only four to five-hundred stood fast round his elephant. The Imperial tents were set on fire, the camp was plundered by both the Jats and the soldiers of both sides, and Rustam Dil Khan himself, being cut off, presented himself to Prince Azam who admitted him in his retinue.

All this was a terrible loss for the cause of Shah Bahadur. Prince Mohammed Azim continued to face the enemy so far as he was able, sending at the same time messengers to his father announcing the disaster which had befallen them. Great discouragement filled the new Emperor on receiving this news. A retreat to Delhi with the rest of his army seemed safer than to risk his crown that first defeat. Shah Bahadur was actually on the point of flight when Dona Juliana who had accompanied the Sovereign and his sons to the hunting expedition, and was seated by his side on a towering elephant, calmed the fears of the Emperor and encouraged him not only to make a stand but even to attack the troops of Prince Azam. She assured him that she and all the Christians had prayed and were still praying for him and he would win the final victory. This appeal of Dona Juliana produced its effect on the Emperor. He took courage and placing his confidence in the prayers of the Christians, went straight to the battlefield, made a surprise attack upon Prince Azam, whose drums were beating in honour of his supposed victory. Shortly afterwards the enemy's army was thoroughly routed and Prince Azam himself, struck by a musket ball on his forehead, died in the battlefield. 14

Shah Baradur's gratitude towards Dona Juliana knew no limits. In view of Juliana's trust in prayer, he gave her this title: "Juliana Fiddawie", or "Juliana devoted to prayer". Moreover he sent her presents valued about ninetythousand rupees and made over to her four villages yielding a yearly income of fifty-thousand rupees. He also set apart the palace which once belonged to his unfortunate uncle Prince Dara Shukoh, for her place of residence. Many other titles were conferred upon her, but the one she herself appears to have cherished most was "Fiddawie Badahur Shah Juliana", or "Juliana devoted to Shah Baradur". Whenever Dona Juliana went out her long retinue included two elephants richly caparisoned and on them were borne aloft two gorgeous vermillion standards with white crosses. Finally, out of regard for her the Emperor created a new dignity, known as "the Juliana", i. e., the dignity of crowning the Emperor, a position which became hereditary in her family after her death. 15

§3.

The great favour of Dona Juliana Dias da Costa at the Mogul Court was used by her to help the Portuguese interests and to protect the Christians in the Mogul Empire. 16 Her name is often mentioned in the letters of the Portuguese Viceroys and of the Kings of Portugal to be found in the Government Archives at Panjin. Both the King and his Viceroys bestowed honours and privileges on Dona Juliana, as rewards for her conduct in the Mogul Court. Among the letters of the Viceroys there is a copy of one of Dona Juliana herself addressed to the King of Portugal. It is dated the 19th of January 1711. In it she calls herself "[...] the servant of the servants of Your Majesty [... while she styles the King...] the owner of the greatest throne and greatest estate, the one whose fame is spread all over the world full of divine grace."17

There are four letters of the Viceroy Dom Vasco Fernandes César de Menezes to Dona Juliana in the short period of December 1714 to December 1716. In the first the Viceroy tells her that the title of Don [sic] has been given to all her relatives as a reward for her good services at the Court. 18 In another dated 26th of September 1716 he announces that the Portuguese Sovereign had graciously bestowed the habit of the Order of Christ on Dom Diogo Mendes, her niece's husband, and on Dom Joseph [sic]Dias da Costa, her grandson. 19

Finally in another letter of the same Viceroy dated 5th of January 1717, we are told that the King [of Portugal] himself had written to Dona Juliana. 20 Unfortunately no copy of this letter has so far been found in the Panjin Archives. The original was sent to her as the same Viceroy assured the King in the said letter. In two other letters of the Viceroy to the King we read that Dona Juliana is a very virtuous lady fulfilling the office of Ambassador of the State of Portuguese India at the Mogul Court. 21

§4.

After the death of Shah Baradur and proclamation of Shah Jahandar, his eldest son, as his successor, Dona Juliana wished to leave the Court and to retire to Goa. But the Emperor himself and the chief Christians prevailed upon her to continue some time, at least, in her office. 22 Valentyn referring to her at this time says that "[…] she was fifty-five years old and an authority and influence at Court was that of another Madame de Maintenon."23 In his diary he mentions a hunting expedition on the 26th of April 1712 to which Dona Juliana went, accompanying the Emperor and his chief wife. 24This authority and this influence nevertheless suddenly fell to the ground with the position and death of Shah Jahandar towards the close of that same year. The two Sayyid brothers, Abdullah Kahn and Hussain Ali Kahn, jealous of the influence Dona Juliana had commanded during the last two reigns, resolved upon the her destruction and that of her relations. Accordingly she was imprisoned and her proprety confiscated. It seems however that this imprisonment did not last long. The said Portuguese Viceroy in a letter dated 14th of January 1714 informs us that "[…] everything has been given back to her, even the Imperial favour."25This was no doubt the effect of the new Emperor, Shah Farrukshiar's wish to free himself from the tutelage of the Sayyids.

This new favour, which lasted till the end of Shah Farrukshiar's reign, as may be seen in the letters of the Portuguese Viceroys, was most likely eclipsed during the turbulent period of his successors Rafi-ud-darjat and Rafi-ud-daulah, in which the power of the Sayyids was at its highest. Nothing was heard of Dona Juliana during these two short reigns. But the after the death of Rafi-ud-daulah and proclamation of the young Roshan Akhtar with the name of Shah Mohammed she appears again in the Court at the most solemn occasion.

The young monarch had been first enthroned on the 28th of September 1719, in the camp of Bidyapur, three kilometres to the north of Fathepur Sikri, where his predecessor had died. But after reaching Delhi a new solemn enthronment took place. The ceremony was of indescribable splendour. Dona Juliana by virtue of her office was the guardian of the crown. Early in the morning of the day the whole household of the Emperor and all the nobles of the Court accompanied by music went to her place to lead her to the Emperor's palace. It was a little before dawn. She set out in a coach of extraordinary pomp, holding the crown in her hands. All the streets of Delhi were illuminated and along the route there were displays of fireworks. When she reached the Imperial palace she was received by the women of the harem, the eunuchs and the music of the Court. She straightaway went to the durbar26 hall and placed the crown on a throne placed for this purpose near the Peacock Throne. Soon after the Emperor arrived in great state and sat on his throne. He was a handsome, fairly intelligent looking young man of eighteen years old. Dona Juliana took the crown from the throne were she had left it and placed it on the head of the young sovereign. 27

This sudden reappearance of Dona Juliana in the Court exercising her right on that memorable occasion is almost inexplicable at first sight. Her enemies, the two Sayyids, were still in full power and practically the only rulers of the Empire. No other explanation on this fact can be given than that the young monarch was the grandson of Shah Baradur, Juliana's great protector, and that it was done at the instigation of the Dowager Queen, who thus showed for the first time the great resources of her power and influence at Court which were to be the cause of the final downfall of Abdullah Kahn and Hussain Ali Kahn, not very long afterwards.

§5.

Dona Juliana's pre-eminence at Court was never afterwards disturbed. It seems she died in the year 1732 at the ripe age of seventy-five, and buried in the Christian cemetery of Agra, called Padre Santos' Cemetery. 28 Unfortunately no inscription marks the place of her final repose.

Six years after Dona Juliana's death the city of Delhi was sacked by Shah Nadir. Among the buildings destroyed by the invader was the old palace of Dona Juliana Dias da Costa. The Jesuit Fr. Saignes wrote on the 10th of February 1740 as follows: "Our Society had two churches at Delhi which were burnt at this conflagration. The palace of a Christian lady, celebrated for her piety and much esteemed by the Emperor and the Court suffered the same fate as our churches."29 **

NOTES

**Revised reprint from: HERAS, H., Dona Juliana Dias da Costa: Her Influence in Later Mogul History, in "The Bandra Review", Brandra, The Bandra Goan Institute, August 1929, pp.7-17.

1Lashkar = Indian soldier.

2Palki = Palanquin.

3VALENTYN, François, Oud en Niew Oost-Indien, Amsterdam, 1726, vol.4, pp.280-296.

4Ibidem., p.296.

5GENTIL, Mémoires sur l'Indoustan, p.367.

See: "Journal of the Bombay Historical Society", Bombay, I, pp. 13-97 — About the authority of Gentil.

6VALENTYN, François, op. cit.

7GENTIL, op. cit.

8GRACIAS, Uma Dona Portugueza na Corte do GrãoMogol, p.127 — From a letter from the Viceroy of the Portuguese State of India to the King of Portugal, dated the 14th of January 1714.

9HOSTEN, The Family of Lady Juliana Dias da Costa, p.1.

10VALENTYN, François, op. cit., p.280.

11Ibidem., p.282.

12GRACIAS, op. cit., p.125 — For the same letter above mentioned.

13IRVINE, Later Moguls, vol. 1, pp.21-22.

14GENTIL, op. cit., pp.369-372.

15VALENTYN, François, op. cit., p.297, GENTIL, op. cit., pp.373 and 375

16Idem.

17GRACIAS, op. cit., p. 119.

18Ibidem., pp.130-131.

19Ibidem., pp.158-159.

20Ibidem., p.165.

21Ibidem., pp.113, 120 and 135.

22VALENTYN, François, op. cit., p.297.

23Idem.

24Idem.

25See: Note 6.

26Durbar hall = Reception chamber.

27GENTIL, op. cit., pp.377-378.

28Ibidem., p.378.

29Lettres Edificantes et Curieuses, Paris, 1780, vol.4, p.260 — For a letter from Fr. Saignes to an Ursuline Sister, dated from Attipakam, the 10th of February 1740.

*Historian an archeologist. Born on the 11th of September 1888, in Barcelona; deceased on the 14th of December 1955, in Bombay. Joined the Society of Jesus in 1904, becoming a priest of the Order in 1920. Went to India in 1922. In 1926, founded the Indian Historical Research Institute, later retitled the Heras Institute of Indian History and Culture. Founder of the Bombay Historical Society. Member of the Indian Historical Records Commission, the Indian History Congress, and the International Congress of Historical Sciences. Author of numerous articles and publications, including The Aravidu Dinasty of Vijayanagara, 1927, The Conversion Policy of the Jesuits in India, 1933, Studies in Pallava History, 1933 and Studies in Proto-Indo-Mediterranean Culture, 19531.

start p. 29
end p.