Dr.R.Nagaswamy #A0522D A large collection of documents and antiquities including GOLDEN letter written by Vijaya Raghunatha Nayak, the king of Tanjore, addressed to Christian I, the king of Denmark in 1620 A.D., the original trade treaty between the above two rulers in which the Nayak ruler had attested his signature in Telugu, several bundles of transactions conducted in Tranquebar in 18th and 19th cent several hundred coins issued by the Danish East Indian Company and the archival collections in the Royal Danish Archives at Copenhagen, besides the Danesborg Castle built by the Ambassador of the King of Denmark at Tarangampadi in Tanjore Christ in 1620, the Zion Church, the New Jerusalem Church built by the Christian missionary, Zeigenbalg in 1718, stand as monumental witness to the cordial relationship that existed between India and Denmark for over two hundred years from the 17th to the first half of the 19th century. At the beginning of the 17th century, many Europeans like the British, the French, the Dutch and the Danes, vied with each other in establishing maritime trade with Indi and formed East India Companies for this purpose. When these countries came to India, the Portuguese had already been here for nearly hundred years. The Danish East India Company was established in Denmark in 1616. A Danish Admiral Ove Gedde was sent by the king of Denmark as his Ambassador to India with two warships and two merchant ships. He also had the help of a Captain of Holland, Roeland Crape. They reached the kingdom of Kandy in Sri Lanka where they stayed for sometime. Roeland Crape had spent his early days in the Nayak court at Tanjore and was sent to negotiate with the Nayak ruler. He was able to impress the King of Tanjore, who wrote a fine letter to Ove Gedde, while in Sri Lanka. Raghunatha Nayak later sent this letter to the King of Denmark extending his friendship. The letter was written on a golden leaf resembling a palm leaf in Tamil. Raghunatha's signature is however in Telugu. This golden letter of friendship is also preserved in the Royal Archives, Copenhagen and reads: "We, the Royal Highness Srimad Raghunatha Nayak: send this message to the ambassador of the King of Denmark, on the 22nd day of Chitrai in the year Raudri. We are prospering here. Kindly despatch the news about Your Highness prosperity. We are pleased to learn the news of that place brought to us by Captain Roeland Crape and the Holland General. Since we have agreed that we should not draw a distinction between Your Highness and ours and have agreed to live as one, we have honoured the Holland General and Captain Roeland Crape with palanquins and permitted the subjects of that country to come and settle here. We order the creation of a port named Tarangampadi here and allow the export of pepper to that country as it is not available there. We have given appropriate warning to the Portuguese against the trouble they caused to Roeland Crape, fined them 12,000 pon and have issued orders to them not to interfere with your ships. We have sent back the general. Since we have ordered that this place should be made suitable for the residence of Captain Roeland Crape, he is now residing there. As it has been resolved that we should not entertain distinction between our country and yours, we order that the people from your country could came and settle in this place. Please arrange frequently to send us rare objects from that country. We are sending with this garments two big pitambarams (silk garments) a hanging carpet, two upper garments, four painted carpets, two jamutad swords, a dagger with lion-handle, another dagger and four Singaram bows." Later on Gedde himself went to Tanjore and negotiated the treaty. The Portugese language was used then by the South Indian rulers in their transactions with foreign powers. A treaty was dawn up in Portugese and singed by Ove Gedde and the king of Tanjore. The treaty with the Tanjore king's signature signed in 1620 is preserved in the Royal Archives, Copenhagen. There is a graphic account of how Ove Gedde met the Tanjore King, Vijaya Raghunatha Nayak, and negotiated the treaty. On October 21, Gedde got a letter from the Tanjore king, demanding that he should come to Tanjore. The king sent him horses for his transport. On the 30th Gedde reached the suburb of Tanjore, where he was received, but was told that he should first visit the high Brahmins before coming to the Nayak ruler. Obviously he was asked to meet the king's minister who was the famous Govinda Dikshitar. Gedde did not understand this protocol and refused to talk to the Brahmins. He also turned down the suggestion that he should take some present to the king. Gedde neither understood the Indian customs, nor was prudent in this episode. However the King of Tanjore, a great master ruler that he was, gave him audience, after making him wait for two days and directed him to meet the high Brahmin and his son. Gedde this time met the Brahmin Minister and Vijaya Raghava Nayak, the son of the King. On November 7, he met the ruler and started negotiations. There arose a dispute between Ove Gedde and Roeland Crape which was later settled. The negotiation with the Nayak ruler went on for a number of days. On November 16, 1620, Raghunatha Nayak, demanded two copies of the negotiated clauses. Gedde wanted the Tanjore king to give exclusive right of trade to the Danes and turn out the Portuguese from his territory. On November 17, the Tanjore king rejected this request. He told Gedde in no uncertain terms that the Portuguese had been in his country for long and paying 1,00,000 Rgstald (old Dutch currency) as tribute. He sternly told the Danes to be on friendly relation with the Portuguese. The Portuguese were also fined and warned to be careful in further dealing. Vijaya Raghunatha, agreed to give the town of Tranquebar on the same terms as he gave Nagapattinam to the Portuguese. Gedde also agreed to treat the treaty written in Portuguese language as the original and signed it on November 19, 1620. Raghunatha Nayak attested his signature in Telugu. As a result of this treaty, the coastal village of Tranquebar in Tanjore district was leased to the King of Denmark for a period of two years, the king of Tanjore reserving the right to extend the lease or collect duties and other incomes. The King of Denmark was also permitted to build fortresses in Tranquebar and carry out trade in Tanjore territories without any form of custom duties. The Danes were permitted to use the money of the King of Denmark which is called Danish silver corwns. The Tanjore king promised to punish severely those dealing in counterfeit coins. The ruler of Tanjore also undertook to give adequate protection to the Danish traders and permitted them to profess their own religion called the 'Augsburg confession." In the case of wreckage of ships belonging to the King of Denmark, the Tanjore ruler ordered that such shattered ships together with all merchandise, therein should belong solely to the King of Denmark and to his subjects. The above treaty of friendship and trade was signed in the royal city of Tanjore. The original document, signed in Telugu by Raghunatha Nayak, king of Tanjore, is still preserved in the Royal Archives, Copenhagen. In the history of Tranquebar two Christian missionaries namely, Bartholomaus Zeigenbalg and Father Schwartz, deserve special mention. Zeigenbalg was sent to Tranquebar on July 9, 1706, by Frederick IV, the King of Denmark and Norway. He propagated the Christian faith, converted many to Christianity, translated the New Testament into Tamil, introduced the first printing press and built the New Jerusalem church at Tanquebar in October 1718 and died at Tranquebar. Zeigenbal was the first to preach in the New Jerusalem church, and the first to be buried there. Zeigenbalg paid great attention to the study of Tamil, collected a good number of Tamil books and sent them to Halle, in Germany where they are preserved till date. He prepared the Malabar dictionary consisting of more than 40,000 Tamil words. However, this great missionary had a difference of opinion with the Governor of tranquebar Fort and as a consequence, was imprisoned in the fort for a few months. Later King Frederick VI, issued directions to the commandant and council in Tranquebar not to use force or severity towards the missionaries but were to help them in every way. In 1711, the King decreed that 2000 Rix Dollars, should be set aside from the treasury for the mission. 'The Society for promoting Christian knowledge" from England send to the Tranquebar mission, a printing press, with which they first printed books in Portuguese. A soldier of the company, who understood printing helped the missionaries in printing. Soon the German friends sent a Tamil printing press. First Tamil letters were made at Halle in Germany and sent to Tranquebar with three men--Johan Berlin, Johan Adler and his brother. The first part of the New Testament was printed with these types, but they were found to be too big: So smaller types were designed and cast at Tranquebar. As it was very expensive to import paper from Europe, a paper mill was set up at Poralyar by Adler, but it was later given up. When the Tamil press was sent to Tranquebar the King of Denmark, Frederick IV, gave the missionaries "permission to print in Tranquebar without being subject to censor." Father Schwartz, the mentor of King Serfoji II, of Tanjore arrived at Tranquebar from Denmark in 1750 and served for eleven years before he moved to Tanjore where he died in 1798 at the age of 72. He was mainly responsible for making Serfoji the King of Tanjore by influencing the British at Madras. Serfoji erected a marble monumebt to Schwartz in the church at Tanjore. The monument depicts the King of Tanjore paying his last visit to Schwartz. The Danish settlements in India were transferred to the British East India Company under a treaty signed on February 22, 1845. As per the agreement the Danish settlements with all the public buildings and crown property were handed over to the British, for a sum of 1,25,000 company Rupees. Further the British were to pay an annual sum of 2,500 gold pagodas (equal to 4,000 company Rupees) to the Mahratta ruler of Tanjore as "yearly payment for the soil." The Dansborg Fort, together with 13 brass guns mounted on the ramparts and other stores, became the British property. A copy of this treaty prepared on January 12, 1887 by one S. David and given to M. N. Chinnaswami Chetti, a cloth merchant is now preserved in the Dansborg Museum, Tarangampadi. The 2500 gold pagodas as annual payment to be paid to the Raja of Tanjore, was fixed on September 22, 1788 by King Amarsimha, the Mahratta ruler of Tanjore. The original letter written in Tamil (No. 2186) is now preserved in the Copenhagen archives. There is another letter also written on the same day by Amarsimha to Peter Anker for a loan of one lakh star pagodas as against 60,000 star pagodas promised by Anker. The Danish East India Company minted several issues of lead, copper and gold coins for their use in India. They bore the crescent--C 4, C 5, F3, etc. standing for the names of the then kings of Denmark, as Christian IV, V, Frederick III etc. Some of the early issues bore the name 'Danesborg' to commemorate the Danish castle at Tranquebar. The castle, the gate and the Fort also figured on the coins. The name T.R. standing for Tranquebar was also inscribed on some of the coins. The earliest Indo-Danish coin was minted in 1637 and the last appeared in 1845 A.D. Except for very minor skirmishes, stay of the Danes in India remained friendly throughout. Even the administration of Hindu temple lands in the adjoining area were looked after by them. The articles of trade were mainly pepper and textiles. A particular type of ceramic, probably made in Canton in China, however seems to have been popular in Denmark by the name Tranquebar porcelain. In the 18th century the Mahratta rulers of Tanjore continued the patronage to the Danish settlement in Tranquebar which saw all round prosperity and building activities. The Danes also took great interest in the religion of the locality. A few of the painted illustrations of Hindu mythology, are preserved in Copenhagen. In accordance with the spirit of the time, the interest in the life of the common people in seen in the paintings on mica now preserved in Kronborg Castle, Denmark. A few bronzes said to have been unearthed while digging a foundation at Tranquebar in the 18th century are now housed in the National Museum, Copenhagen. The Danes' interest in Tranquebar waned with their acquisitions of Serampore near Calcutta in 1755 and also their trade with China. In the beginning of the 19th century, the Danish settlement in India, were lost to the British, as a result of war in Europe and eventualy sold to the British in 1845 for 12 1/2 lakhs of rupees (£20,000). Recently the Tamil Nadu Government declared the Dansborg Castle as protected monument and organised a museum, depicting Indo-eanish contact, which symbolises the cultural and peaceful contact between the two countries. A treaty of friendship between Raghunatha Nayak of Tanjore and the King of Denmark in 1620 marked the beginning of the Danes' presence in India. Some of the documents, records and gifts from the Tanjore ruler to the Danish King are preserved in the Royal Danish Archives in Copenhagen. The article traces the Danish link with the Tanjore Rajahs.