Letters Written in a Mahratta Camp During the Year 1809
Descriptive of the Characters, Manners, Domestic Habits, and Religious Ceremonies, of the Mahrattas

This 1813 publication consists of a series of letters from India describing the culture and habits of the Mahrattas.

Thomas Duer Broughton (Author)

9781108190381, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 June 2011

400 pages, 10 b/w illus.
24.4 x 17 x 2.1 cm, 0.64 kg

The purpose of this book, published in 1813 by Thomas Duer Broughton (1778–1835), is to provide an English audience with an accurate description of 'the character, manners, domestic habits and religious ceremonies of the Mahrattas'. Broughton, an army officer in the East India Company, first arrived in India while serving as a cadet in the Bengal establishment in 1795, and eventually rose to the positions of captain in 1805, major in 1816 and colonel in 1829. The book consists of a series of thirty-two letters addressed to his brother, and most of the letters describe the events and the environment of the Rajputana region, beginning with an account of a journey from Agra to Kerowli. The letters which follow all contain fascinating descriptions of festivals and other events, and cultural encounters of all kinds, painting a vivid portrait of life for the British in early nineteenth-century India.

1. Introduction
2. Account of Kiruolee
3. Description of a Mahratta camp
4. March to Kutolee
5. March to the Chumbul
6. March to Choroo and Puchala
7. Change of ground
8. March to Issurdu
9. Orders for a march
10. Siege of Doonee continued
11. Siege of Doonee continued
12. Arrival of the Jypoor ambassador
13. Return of the messenger from Jypoor
14. March to the Bunas
15. March towards Jajgurh
16. March towards Shahpoora
17. Surjee Rao goes to Shahpoora
18. March to Roopahelee
19. March to Nimara
20. Death of Surjee Rao
21. The mourning of the Baee
22. Seendhiya's designs upon the Wukeels of Dokul Singh
23. March from Kuliawas
24. The Junum-ushtoomee
25. Increasing perplexities of the Muha Raj
26. Confinement of the Baee
27. Violent disturbances in the battalions
28. The Muha Raj's birthday
29. Anajee's agent arrives in camp
30. March from Roopahelee
31. Negotiations with the Shshpoora Wukeels not concluded
32. March to Ajmeer.

Subject Areas: Asian history [HBJF]