Item CR9/27/9 - Letter from Muin al-Daulah Bahadur

Date(s) from item: July 9 received 1766
Envelope numbered A No. 85
I am sending Mirza Zain al-Abidin, a sober, intelligent and experienced diplomat as our envoy to Raja Januji Bhonslah. He is taking with him letters of the late Nawab Najm al-Daulah as well as gifts of an elephant, horses and clothes. I have also given him two letters, one addressed to Maharajah Januji and the other to his Peshkar, Pandit Divaji. I am enclosing copies of these letters as well as details of the gifts for your information.
Enclosure 1: Letter from Muin al-Daulah to Pandit Devji, Peshkar of Januji Bhonslah. We have been following the news of your state and are pleased to know about the excellent qualities of your administration. We are anxious to meet you so that we could promote brotherly and friendly relations between the two states. In order to do so we are sending our envoy, Zain al-Abidin Khan, with our presents and a letter from our Governor General Lord Clive explaining our intentions. As you are the Prime Minister of the state and the ruler has great faith in your excellent and wise council we hope that you will be able to exchange views with our envoy in an open manner and then pass on your advice to the Rajah Sahib. Meanwhile, we are sending an elephant, four pedigree horses and some good quality clothes as presents.
Enclosure 2: Letter from Muin al-Daulah to Maharajah Januji Bhonslah. Although we did not get an opportunity to meet you personally I have always carried feelings of sincerity and goodwill towards you and have always tried to promote friendship and understanding between you and the leader of the East India Company, Lord Clive. It is for this purpose that I am sending Mir Zain al-Abidin Khan to you with letters from the Nawab Sahib and Lord Clive so that we could come to an agreement regarding the administration of the province of Orissa and thus establish friendship between our states. It will give you an opportunity to consider the proposals brought to you by our envoy and negotiate with him any conditions you would like to offer to safeguard this agreement and to establish peace. I hope you will consider me your well-wisher and honour me with your reply regarding the above matters.
Enclosure 3: Letter from Navab Najm al-Daulah to Maharajah Januji Bhonslah. Thank you very much for your letter informing about your welfare. My predecessor used to enjoy very cordial and friendly relations with your government but since his demise the administration of the relevant provinces has considerably weakened and our long-standing relations have also been jeopardised. In order to put our relations back on the path of friendship and understanding we are sending Mir Zain al-Abidin Khan to you so that he can negotiate with you any problems regarding the administration of the Province of Orissa. After dividing the income of the aforesaid province into three parts and taking care of the expenses of administration, etc., there is hardly any amount left. If you will agree to the suggestion brought to you by my envoy we are willing to forego our claim on this Province and you could settle the claim of the East India Company’s share in the income of the Province with the leaders of their Council. In this way we would be able to avoid any further enmity between us. For this purpose we are enclosing a letter from their Governor Lord Clive that will reveal to you details of this proposal. God willing, we all will be able to enjoy each other’s friendship in future. Meanwhile, Mir Zain al-Abidin will be presenting you with a gift of cloths, etc., which are a speciality of our land. I hope you will be able to accept these as a token of our friendship.
Enclosure 4: List of Muslin and dresses for Deviji Pandit.
Enclosure 5: List of gifts for Raja Januji Bhonslah, including elephants and horses.
Enclosure 6: List of cloths, etc., for Raja Januji Bhonsalah. Enclosure 7: List of elephants and horses for Devji Pandit