History of the Parsis : including their manners, customs, religion and present position : with coloured and other illustrations : in two volumes

Io HISTORY OF THE PARSTS. [CHAP. I.

Surat, direct to the court of Aurangzeb at Delhi, when he addressed the emperor in somewhat the following terms :—

“This Englishman has come to Hindustan for trading purposes, but your Majesty's nobles are throwing many obstacles in his way. The English gentleman, now with me, is a good and noble man, and seeks your royal favour, and solicits that he may be permitted to settle at Surat and be allowed to establish a factory there for trading purposes, and that he may be protected in his business by your imperial commands.” Rastam Manak was most successful in this mission, for Aurangzeb not only forbade any impediments to the establishment of the English factory at Surat but made a free gift of land for building a factory, with strict injunctions to his officers at Surat not to molest the English in any way, and to allow their goods to be imported free of duty.

Rastam Manak was useful not only to the English at Surat, but he furthered the general interests of that city. Whenever an occasion arose he sided with the agorieved, and assisted to his utmost in obtaining redress wherever a wrong had been inflicted. As some proof of this his action may be described when a ship belonging to a Turkish merchant named Usman Chalebi was most unwarrantably seized by a Portuguese man-of-war. The Turk, being unable

to obtain redress for his wrongs, applied to Rastam