Part 2 of 2
The settlement of the Maraghat disputeThere remained the unfinished business of the Maraghat dispute. In 1816 the Deb Raja sent agents to Rangpur to explain the nature and ground of his claims to the territory.73 At the same time, the authorities in Calcutta instructed Norman McLeod, the British Commissioner in Cooch Behar to conduct an enquiry concerning his claims.
The enquiry was eventually carried out on the orders of Scott who by that time had succeeded McLeod as Commissioner. In 1817 he decided the main part of the disputed territory had -- with the exception of twenty-six isolated and very inconsiderable villages -- been in the undisturbed possession of Bhutan from 1780 to 1811. Important government documents from the 1770s, which were not taken into account in 1809, expressly stated that the territory belonged to Bhutan, and it was duly returned to the Deb Raja.74 This relatively generous attitude may in part have been a reflection of the Company's gratitude at Bhutan's neutrality during the Nepal war.
In 1818 year Krishnakanta was given the task of staking out the new Maraghat boundary with bamboos and transferring the disputed land to a Bhutanese official, thus bringing the affair to a close.75
Krishnakanta's contribution to Himalayan studiesKrishnakanta remained in the service of the East India Company until 1821, still working for Scott in his capacity as Commissioner in Coach Behar. At this point he announced his desire to resign "on account of urgent private affairs" and, as noted above, applied for a pension.76 Scott duly forwarded Krishnakanta's application to Calcutta along with two of the products of his stay in Bhutan. These were his 'Account of Bootan' , which Scott had himself translated from Bengali, and his 'Grammar and Vocabulary of the Bootan Language'. Scott's accompanying letter vouched for the facts of the case, as represented in Krishnakanta's letter.
The Governor-General in Council eventually decided that Krishnakanta's length of service did not entitle him to a pension. However, the Council nevertheless decided to present him with a "pecuniary donation" as a "recompense for his trouble" and "in consideration of the zeal and industry displayed by him in compiling the vocabulary and interesting account of Bhootan".77
The 'Account of Bhutan'Krishnakanta's report gained a wider audience in 1825, when it was published under the title "Some Account of the country of Bhutan" in Asiatic Researches, the journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. The Asiatic Society was the leading learned society in India, and played a major role in the development of Western scholarship on the region.78
The only previous published description of Bhutan in English had appeared in Turner's Account of an Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama in Tibet, which had come out in 1800. Turner's book is written with a degree of literary flourish, and represents one of the earliest examples of Western romantic travel writing on the Himalayan region. Krishnakanta's Account on the other hand is a much more workaday document, crammed with economic and political detail: it is more of a proto-gazetteer than a literary text.
The Account begins with a short summary of the arrival from Tibet of the first 'Dhurma Raja' (Zhabdrung), the foundation of the Bhutanese state, and the Zhabdrung's subsequent reincarnations. The descriptions of the court summarise the roles of the main officials, togelher with their sources of income -- information that would have been important to Krishnakanta in his official capacity. Examples include the specialists who are responsible for the court's external correspondence in Bengali and Persian, and are seen as people of high status:
Kaiti are the Bengal and Persian Secretaries. They get each 2 lbs of rice and have each two Poes [described elsewhere as 'fighting messengers' ], and receive from the Soubahs and Pillos about 1,000 Rupees, and also something for causes and liberty in the lowlands.79
Krishnakanta took a critical view of Bhutanese politics noting that:
The intestine broils, which so frequently occur in Bootan, are usually occasioned either by the Deb Raja doing something contrary to custom, or by his remaining too long in his office, in which case the Zimpens, Pillos, & c., assemble and require him to resign, and in the event of refusal a battle ensues.80
As Scot had noted, these internal disputes at the top of the government made Bhutan potentially vulnerable to Chinese intervention. The lower ranks of the administration were unstable for similar reasons:
When a person gets a good appointment he is not allowed to keep it long, but at the annual religious festivals frequent removals and arguments take place. The Deb Raja himself after a time is liable to be thrust out on some such a pretence as that of his having infringed established customs, and unless he have either Tongso or Paro Pillo on his side, he must, if required to do so, resign his place or risk the result of a civil war: on this account the Deb Raja strives, by removals and changes at the annual festivals, to fill the principal offices with persons devoted to his interest. The Booteahs are full of fraud and intrigue ... 81
In his capacity as a Company official, Krishnakanta naturally was interested in the country's imports and exports:
Bootan produces abundance of tangun horses, blankets, walnuts musk, chowries or cow tails, oranges and manjeet (madder) which the inhabitants sell at Rungpore; and thence take back woollen cloth, pattus, indigo, sandal, red sandal, asafoetida, nutmegs, cloves, nakhi and coarse cotton cloths, of which they use a part in Bootan and send the rest to Lhassa, and from the latter country they import tea, silver, gold and embroidered silk goods ... Besides the Officers of Government and their servants no person can trade with a foreign country, nor can any of the inhabitants sell tangun mares without the Deb Raja's permission.82
As discussed above, Krishnakanta felt that the Bhutanese lifestyle was incompatible with Hindu ritual requirements, but he nevertheless thought that he detected similarities with his own religion:
The religion of the Booteahs assimilates in some points with that of the Hindoos; they worship the images of the deities, count their beads at prayers, and offer clarified butter to the gods by throwing it on the fire ... The image of Laberem buche [Lama Rinpoche?) resembles that of Ram; his countenance is similar, and he holds in his hands a bow and arrow; the Bootan deity is, however, made of copper and gilt. There are also many images of deities with four arms, the manufacture of which is constantly going on in the palace, and together with the subsequent ceremonies, occasion the chief expense of the government.
Overall, the Account naturally reflects the time at which it was written, and must be read with the particular political and religious preoccupations of the author in mind. At the time, it represented a significant advance of Western knowledge of the Himalaya. In 1865, some 40 years after it was first composed, it was still considered to be of sufficient merit to justify republication under the slightly different title "Account of Bootan" in a collection of reports on Political Missions to Bootan. Clearly it needs to be balanced by additional sources from Bhutan itself,83 but it is still of value as an important historical record.
The Grammar and Vocabulary of the Bootan LanguageScott placed a high value on Krishnakanta's Grammar and Vocabulary commenting that:
The chief merit of the performance is the perfect accuracy with which the pronunciation of the Letters and words has been marked, being likely to be impaired by being transposed into the European Character by a person not conversant in such matters.84
At the time Tibetan studies was in its infancy, and Krishnakanta was studying the language entirely on his own. However, rudimentary his researches may have been, they amounted to a work of true originality.
A manuscript copy of the Grammar and Vocabulary survives in the National Library in Calcutta.85 It bears the title in Bengali, Bhot Deshiya Bhashar Vyakarana O Shabda, and consists of 216 pages, of which the first 40 are an introduction to the Tibetan alphabet and grammar. The remainder list Tibetan words in Tibetan script with their equivalent in Bengali.
A bibliographic note at the library states that this version was a copy made under the superintendence of the Baptist missionary William Carey (1761-1834) in 1821 /22. The original had been sent back to the Political Department in 1834, and may therefore still exist in the Indian National Archives.
According to Scott, an earlier copy had been sent to Rev Friedrich Christian Gotthelf Schroeter.86 Schroeter was a German Lutheran in the service of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) who studied Tibetan in Titalia from 1816 until his death in 1820, and started work on a Tibetan dictionary.87 His main source was an earlier manuscript Tibetan-Italian dictionary prepared in Lhasa by the Capuchin missionary Orazio della Penna (1680-1745). However, he supplemented della Penna's work with his own enquiries, and therefore presumably made use of Krishnakanta's vocabulary.
After Schroeter's death his unfinished manuscript came into the hands of the government, which had paid his salary while he was working on the dictionary. The Governor-general in council appointed
Carey to evaluate Schroeter's draft: he duly recommended publication, and was given the task of revising the text for the press together with his younger colleague John Clark Marshman (1794-1877). In 1826 the final version was published in Serampore with the title A Dictionary of the Bhotonta, or Boutan Language. Despite the title, the work is explicitly a dictionary of Tibetan.
The Serampore dictionary is a composite work bearing the mark of at least four contributors: della Penna, Schroeter,
Carey and Marshman. It is entirely possible that at least some of Krishnakanta's contributions may have found their way into the final text either via Schroeter or via Carey, both of whom had copies of his manuscript.
One feature of the Serampore dictionary is that it contains repeated references to the Hindu equivalents of Buddhist deities. To take a random example, page 142 contains the definitions 'Krishna' for dgra po, 'Indra' for dgra mtshing 'dzin and 'Ganesha' for dgra lta can. These definitions could scarcely have come from della Penna from his time in Lhasa. It is possible that they might have been introduced by Schroeter,
Carey or Marshman, all of whom worked in India. However, since Krishnakanta was a devout Hindu, he is perhaps the more likely candidate. A definitive answer can only come from a careful comparison of Krishnakanta's manuscript with the Serampore dictionary. At all events, it is clear that his pioneering linguistic researches deserve further study.
ConclusionsIn his 1821 pension application, Krishnakanta presented his own achievements in the self-effacing manner of a lowly supplicant seeking the munificence of his superiors. Even if we take this humility at face value, it is clear that he deserves respect for -- as he puts it -- binding himself with the 'girdle of courage" and travelling to territories that were then considered remote and inhospitable. Despite the apparent discomforts of his stay in Bhutan, he proved to be a keen and diligent observer.
He merits an honourable place in the lineage both of officials and of scholars who worked in the Himalayan region.
In placing him within this lineage, it is appropriate to look both forward and back. As a source of intelligence, Krishnakanta was in many ways a successor to the 18th and early 19th century Gosains and Kashmiri merchants who travelled between India and Tibet, and provided news and information to officials, traders and ordinary people on both sides of the Himalaya. However, he contrasts with them in that he had no previous experience or personal contacts in the region, and was a full-time government servant. In many respects, he was as much of an outsider in Bhutan as a British official would have been.
His Account, though originally written in Bengali. addressed the kinds of question that a European observer would have asked, and was readily adapted to the purposes of the Asiatic Society. Similarly, his Grammar and Vocabulary was compiled at a time when Western scholars, officials and missionaries were in the early stage of developing a more systematic understanding of other Asian languages. Like Rammohan Ray, he belonged to the first generation of Bengali intellectuals who were both influenced by and contributed to Western learning.References
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Regent's Park College, Oxford. Baptist Missionary Society papers. IN/16. Letters to the Society from Dr John Thomas.
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Notes:1 In contemporary texts his name is transliterated as Kishen Kant Bose.
2 The Deb Rajas or 'Drug sDe srids were the senior lay officials of Bhutan during this period in contrast to the Zhabs drungs, or 'Dharma Rajas' in British parlance, who were the main source of spiritual authority. The Deb Rajas typically were chosen from among the region's ruling families, and served for a defined period of years. In this paper I have chosen to stick to the term 'Deb Raja' as this was the term most used in contemporary British archival sources.
3 E.g. Pemble (1971), Lamb (1986), Singh (1988). The mission likewise appears in historical accounts of Bhutan such as Gupta (1974), Deb (1976) and Aris (1994), but again in a somewhat peripheral manner.
4 More detailed records may be available at the National Archives of India in New Delhi, but I have not to date been able to consult them. It is conceivable that still further records survive in Bhutan and in Rangpur, which is now in Bangladesh.
5 On the Gosains see in particular Cohn (1963).
6 Bogle's report of 1775-1776. Cited in Sarcar (1931).
7 On the Kashmiri network in Tibet see in particular Gaborieau (1973) and Bray (2010).
8 Bogle's journal, 29 March 1715. In Lamb (2002), p. 260. On Bogle see also Teltscher (2007)
9 Lamb (2002), p. 238.
10 Bogle to Hastings, 9 June 1715, Cooch Behar. In Lamb (2002), p. 315. On the treaty see also Deb (1971).
11 Ibid.
12 Sarcar (1931), p. 126; Lamb (2002), p. 470. On the diplomatic repercussions of the 1788 and 1792 conflicts between Nepal and Tibet, see also Engelhardt 2002.
13 The one exception was Thomas Manning who managed to visit Lhasa in 1811.
14 Turner 1800, p. 422.
15 Thomas to the Society. 25 April 1796. Baptist Missionary Society Papers. IN/16. Regent's Park College Archives, Oxford. On the Baptists in early 19th century Bengal, see in particular Potts (1967).
16 The Duars were lowland tracts analogous to the Nepali terai that were then under Bhutanese control. They were annexed by the British after the 1865 war with Bhutan. On the boundary disputes, see in particular Gupta (1974), pp. 57-69.
17 On David Scott (1786-1830) see in particular White (1832) and Barooah (1970). Scott came from Dunninald, near Montrose in the north-east of Scotland. His connection with India came via his uncle, another David Scott (1746-1805) who had served in the East India Company and eventually became its Chairman. The younger David came to India in 1802 and served first in Gorakhpur and Purnea. By the time he reached Rangpur he was still only 28.
18 The Petition of Kishun Kunt Bose inhabitant of Baluakoudee purgannah Kassinnuggar in Zillah Idalopore. OIOC. F/4/810/21274, p, 17.
19 Robertson 1995. p. 20
20 Digby to Board of Revenue, 5 November 1809. In Chanda & Majumdar 1938, p. 41.
21 Board of Revenue to Digby, 8 February 1810. In Chanda & Majumdar 1938, p. 44
22 Letter from tile Deb Raja, received 18 August 1812, in Sen (1942), p. 50; letter from the Raja of Cooch Behar to the Commissioner, received 9 May 1814, in Sen ( 1942) pp. 55-56.
23 Gupta (1974), p. 63.
24 Letter from 'Penlow Sahib', received 26 November 1811. In Sen (1942). pp. 48-49.
25 Letter from Deb Raja, received 18 August 1812. In Sen (1942). p. 50.
26 Raja of Cooch Behar to McLeod, received May 1814. In Sen ( 1942), p. 58.
27 This argument was in fact made by Henry Prinsep, one of Moira's senior officials. See his account of the Nepal war in Prinsep (1825). On the events leading so the war, see also Pemble (1971), Stiller (199S) and Michael (1999).
28 For Sikkim's role in the war, and the eventual success of Moira's strategy, see Bray (forthcoming).
29 Nepal's quinquennial tribute missions to China continued until the early 20th century. See Mandhar (2004).
30 For a far-ranging analysis of the Company's intelligence limitations see Bayly (1996). On Ahmed Ali, see Bray (2010).
31 See Papers Respecting the Nepaul War (hereafter PRNW), pp. 410-412.
32 Latter to MacLeod, Tilalia. 19th November 1814, PRNW. pp. 411-412. See Bray (forthcoming) for an account of Latter's part in the Nepal war and his alliance with Sikkim.
33 Ibid.
34 Scott to J. Monckton, Acting Secretary to Government in the Political Department, Rangpur, 28th November 1814, PRNW, pp. 411-412.
35 Ibid.
36 Scott to Moncklon, Rangpur, 30th November 1814, PRNW, p. 412.
37 Monckton to Scott, Fort William, 6 December 1814. PRNW, p. 413.
33 Adam to Scott, 26 November 1814, Papers relating to the Nepaul War (hereafter 'PRNW') , p. 266.
39 Ibid.
40 Persian was still the main language of diplomatic exchange in South Asia, although it seems -- as will be seen below -- that the Deb Raja's response was in Bengali.
41 To the Deb Raja, from his Excellency the Vice-President, 29th November 1814. PRNW, p. 414.
42 Ibid.
43 Scott to Adam, Rangpur, 10 January 1815, PRNW, pp. 430-431.
44 Ibid.
45 On the status of Bijni see Deb (1912), pp. 49-51.
46 Scott to Adam, Rangpur, 10 January 1815, PRNW, pp. 430-431.
47 Sen 1942. pp. 60-61.
48 The Petition of Kishun Kunt Bose inhabitant of Baluakoudee purgannah Kassinnuggur in Zillah Idalopore. OIOC. F/4/810/21274, p, 17.
49 Ibid., p. 8. The Gosains evidently did not share these ritual concerns. However, it is interesting to note an echo of similar preoccupations in the case of early 20th century Newar traders returning from Tibet to Nepal.
According to Taladhar (2004, p. 18), returnees were kept in 'ritual quarantine' for two weeks. He adds: "The family kitchen and chapel were off-limits to them. They had only one meal a day and washed the dirty dishes themselves. They had to gel a note from the royal priest detailing the procedure they had to follow to cleanse themselves. At the end of the period, they performed a purification ceremony and invited their relatives and friends to a feast."
50 Ibid, pp. 18-19.
51 Ibid, pp, 12-13.
52 for a discussion of Rammohan's status during this period see also pp. 39-41 of the 'supplementary notes' by Biswas and Ganguly in Collet (1962).
53 Kishen Kant Bose [Krishnakanta Basu], 'Account of Bootan', 1865 edition, p. 203.
54 Deb Raja to Scott, received 12 November 1815. In Sen (1942), pp. 64-65.
55 There is of course an extensive literature on Rammohan's subsequent career. Classic texts include Collet (1962), and Chanda & Majumdar (1938). For a more recent study, see Robertson (1995).
56 OIOC. F/4/810/21274, pp. 19-20.
57 Scott to Adam, Rangpur 24 Sept 1816. OIOC. F/4/552, p. 112.
58 Ibid.
59 Scott to Adam, Rangpur 24 Sept 1816. OIOC. F/4/552, p. 110.
60 For a detailed account of military developments in the war see Pemble 1971.
61 Scott to Adam, Rangpur, 10 June 1816. OIOC. F/4/551 13382, p. 110.
62 Adam to Scott, 22 June 1816. OIOC. F/4/551 13382. p. 115.
63 Scott to Adamm Rangpur 24 Sept 1816. OIOC. F/4/552, p. 111.
64 Fu (1966). pp. 401-402 and pp. 618-619. This episode is also discussed in Rose (1971), pp. 75·95; Lamb (1986), pp. 34-38; Richardson (1973) and Manandhar (2004), p. 196 ff. British archival sources refer to Sai-Chung'a variously as 'Shea Chanchoon', 'Teo Chang Chan' and 'Thee Chanchan'.
65 Translation of Enclosure in a letter from the Magistrate of Rungpore to the Political Department, dated 24th September. OIOC. F/4/552, pp.121-123.
66 Ibid.
67 Ibid., pp. 123-124
68 Ibid., p. 128.
69 Ibid, p. 110.
70 Ibid. pp. 114-115.
71 Latter to Adam, Titalia, J3 September 1816. OIOC F/4 552.
72 Latter to John Adam, Titalia, 30 October 1816. OIOC, F/4/552, p. 175.
73 OIOC F/4/771/20906.
74 Ibid.
75 Gupta (t974), pp. 67-70.
76 Scott to George Swinton, Cooch Behar, 21 September 1821. OlOC. F/4/810/21274, pp. 15-16.
77 Swinton to Scott, Calcutta, 24 November 1821. Ibid, pp, 130-131. Scott was invited to state his opinion "as to the extent of the remuneration which it might be proper to grant him". I have not been able to find Scott's answer in the British Library archives but Gupta (1974, p. 68), perhaps drawing on records available in India, says that the figure was Rs 2,000.
78 On the scholarly contributions of the Asiatic Society see Kejariwal (1988).
79 'Account' (1865), p. 192.
80 'Account' (1865), p. 196.
81 'Account' (1865), pp. 201-203.
82 'Account' (1865), p. 198.
83 For a study making use of such sources see Aris (1994).
84 Scott to Swinton, Cooch Behar, 21 September 1821. OIOC. F/4/810/21274, pp. 13-14.
85 Chattopadhyaya 1984, p. iii. I am grateful to Geza Bethlenfalvy for drawing this reference to my attention. I have not myself been able to examine the manuscript, and the details that follow come from the same reference.
86 Swinton to Captain Lockett, Secretary to the Council of the College of Fort William, 24 November 1821. OIOC. F/4/810/21274, pp. 132-133.
87 On Schroeter and the Serampore dictionary, see Bray 2008. Titalia is now known as Tetulia, and is in northern Bangladesh.