With reference to Captain Hawkins, which of the following statements is/are correct?
(1) He came to India in 1611 as an envoy of James I.
(2) He was very well versed in the Turkish language.
Select th

Question

With reference to Captain Hawkins, which of the following statements is/are correct?
(1) He came to India in 1611 as an envoy of James I.
(2) He was very well versed in the Turkish language.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Per the official UPPSC key, the answer is D — Neither 1 nor 2. Statement (1) is incorrect as worded: Captain William Hawkins, commander of the ship Hector, actually reached Surat in August 1608 and arrived at Emperor Jahangir's court at Agra in 1609 carrying a letter from King James I of England — 1611 is roughly when he LEFT the court, not when he came to India, so the '1611' date makes the statement wrong. Statement (2) is the one the key marks as also incorrect; in honesty, though, standard accounts do credit Hawkins with knowing Turki — the Central-Asian Turkic tongue of the Mughal court — which is exactly why Jahangir could talk with him directly and favoured him. So statement (2) is historically defensible, and the key's 'Neither 1 nor 2' rests mainly on statement (1)'s clearly wrong date. This is a historically imperfect item on statement (2): author to the key (D) but know the underlying history.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) Statement (1)'s date is wrong — Hawkins came to India in 1608, not 1611 — so both statements cannot be correct together.  (b) On the history, 'Only 2' is the strongest reading (statement 1 false on its date, statement 2 defensible — Hawkins knew Turki). But the official UPPSC key does not mark B; it treats statement (2) as not correct and answers 'Neither 1 nor 2'. We author to the key.  (c) Statement (1) is the false one (wrong 1611 date), so 'Only 1' is incorrect regardless of how statement (2) is read.

Concept: Captain William Hawkins commanded the English ship Hector and reached Surat in August 1608. He travelled to Emperor Jahangir's court at Agra in 1609 bearing a letter from King James I of England, seeking permission to trade. Widely reported to have known Turki (the Turkic tongue of the Mughal court), he conversed directly with Jahangir, who gave him a mansab and the title 'English Khan' (Inglis Khan). Portuguese intrigue and court rivalry forced him to leave the court around 1611.

State PCS 2023 Q130 — History PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2023 Q130 — History PYQ with Answer