| ID | 162786 |
| Title Proper | Merchants to the Golden City |
| Other Title Information | The Persian Farmān of King Chandrawizaya Rājā and the Elephant and Ivory Trade in the Indian Ocean, a View from 1728 |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Khazeni, Arash |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | This paper provides a translation and analysis of Sloane Mss. 3259 in the British Library, a Persian farmān from the court of King Chandrawizaya Rājā in the Arakanese Kingdom of Mrauk U (1429−1784). Written in 1728 and addressed to the Armenian merchant Khwājeh Georgin of the port of Chennaipattana across the Bay of Bengal in India, the decree is a permit for the lucrative trade in elephants and ivory from the forests of Arakan. The royal decree reveals the presence of Persian as a mutual language of encounter, exchange, diplomacy, and correspondence in eighteenth-century Southeast Asia. Through the manuscript, a view emerges of a sovereign forest kingdom of manifold rarities at the margins of the Persianate and Mughal worlds. |
| `In' analytical Note | Iranian Studies Vol. 51, No.6; Nov 2018: p.933-945 |
| Journal Source | Iranian Studies Vol: 51 No 6 |
| Key Words | Indian Ocean ; Southeast Asia ; Persian Farmān ; Elephant and Ivory Trade ; Arakan And Mrauk U ; Armenian Merchants ; Persian Manuscripts |