Hundi for Payment of a Ransom

A hundi used by the English explorer William Moorcroft (1767-1825), to pay for a ransom. Source: World Digital Library  via Wikimedia Commons

Hundis were used for a variety of purposes, including payment of ransoms. It is not clear what ransom was being paid here. This hundi, to the value of Rs 11,000, was written in both Persian and English and signed by the English explorer and William Moorcroft on December 20, 1824, possibly in Central Asia or within the borders of what is now known as Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Moorcroft (1767-1825) was a surgeon and the first Englishman to qualify as a veterinary surgeon. His skill with animals, and in particular horses, led to his recruitment by the British East India Company, and he left for Bengal in 1808. His quest to find ideal breeding horses whetted his appetite for exploration in the Himalayas, Hindu Kush and Central Asia. He eventually encountered Bukhara, an important trading city located on the Silk Road   (now in in modern day Uzbekistan).

This hundi is believed to provide important documentation of the political events leading up to the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-1842).