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XXII. Memoir on the Diplomatic Relations betiveen the Courts of Dehli and 

 Constantinople in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. — Bij the Chevalier 

 Joseph be Hammer, F.M.R.A.S., Oriental Translator to the Emperor of 

 Austria, <§c &;c. 



Read January 2, 1830. 



The first intimation of any intercourse by embassies between the courts 

 of Dehli and Constantinople occurs in the reign of Suliman the Lawgiver, 

 in tlie year 1536 ; when Burhan, the son of Sikandar, the king of Dehli, 

 sought refuge at the Ottoman Porte from the displeasure of Humayun. 

 In Ferdi's excellent history of Sultan Suliman's reign is the following 

 account of this event : 



" BuiuiAN Beg, the son of Sikandar, king of Hindustan, ruined by the 

 " invasions of tlie Jagatai'an armies, fled to the Sublime Porte ; where he 

 " was honoured by being allowed to kiss the imperial hand, and was pro- 

 " vided with a daily pension of three hundred aspers." 



At the same time, an embassy from the prince of Guzerat appeared at 

 the court of Suliman, soliciting aid against the increasing power of Hu- 

 mayun Shah. The same Turkish historian mentions it in the following 

 words : " The Tartar armies of Humayun, with which he had conquered 

 " the greatest part of Hindustan, having also taken possession of the 

 " countries of Bahadar Shah, Sultan of Guzerat, this prince sent away 

 " his principal ministers, his harem, and his treasure to Medina ; and at the 

 " same time despatched an ambassador to Constantinople with presents, who 

 " arrived there while the sultan was absent at Adrianople. Besides other 

 " precious gifts, he brought a girdle valued at sixty crores of ducats, the 

 " crore being an hundred thousand ; or taking the ducat at fifty aspers 

 " 30,000,000 aspers. Bahadar Sliah having been killed soon after by 

 " the Portuguese,* Suliman, pasha of Egypt, sent to the imperial trea- 

 " sury three hundred iron chests, deposited at Mecca, and full of ducats 



* Manuel de Faiia y Sousa's Portuguese Asia, vol. i., chap. 8, where Bahadar is clianged 

 into Badiio, and Humayun into Omnun. 



