Toshakhana

Toshakhana is a word of Persian or Sanskrit origin that literally translates into "treasure-house".[1] In India, a toshakhana is a place where princes store "gifts and emblems of honor that they received for their posterity ... an archive of objects whose origin and receipt embodied his status and honor"[2]

Under British colonial rule, the officials of East India Company were not allowed to accept diplomatic gifts, often weapons or jewels[3] known as khilat, from Indian or Middle Eastern rulers and their subjects. When procedure required that the officials received such a khilat, the official would deposit it in the Company's treasury (toshakhana). The objects were later used for exchange gifts with other rulers, when it was deemed appropriate to enter an exchange of khilat.[4]

Several countries have Toshakhanas. A Sikh Toshakhana is located on the first floor of the Darshani Deorhi, the gateway to the Harimandar.[5] Bangladesh has a Toshakhana.[6]

The records of a 1930s British East India Company Toshakhana at Bushire shows that weapons and ammunition were kept in bulk for giving to the Trucial Coast sheikhs.[7]

References

  1. ↑ McKay, Alex (1997). Tibet and the British Raj: the frontier cadre, 1904-1947. Routledge. ISBN 0-7007-0627-5.
  2. ↑ Cohn, Bernard S. (1996). Colonialism and its forms of knowledge: the British in India. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-00043-5. page 199
  3. ↑ Daniel, Miller (2001). Consumption: critical concepts in the social sciences. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-24268-4. p 410
  4. ↑ Cohn:118
  5. ↑ http://www.punjabheritage.org/content/view/1218/31/%5Bpermanent+dead+link%5D
  6. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-05-14. Retrieved 2009-05-23.
  7. ↑ "'File 17/14 I Toshakhana Articles for Bushire Correspondence regarding.'". Qatar Digital Library. 2016-01-08. Retrieved 2018-03-15.
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