In 1688 CE it was an Armenian who had introduced a then unknown ‘Company of the Merchants of London trading to the East Indies’ to the Mughal court, as part of an agreement between the company and the Armenian, Khojah Phanoos Kalandar, duly signed by both parties on the 28th of June 1688 CE. Kalandar happens to be an ancestor of this article’s author, and the company he acted as an agent for was the East India Company! The first declaration alone spells out what would later prove to be a highly profitable venture

‘First – That the Armenian nation shall now, and at all times hereafter, have equal share and benefit of all indulgences this Company have or shall at any time hereafter grant to any of their own Adventurers or other English merchants whatsoever.’

It was also an Armenian in the court of Farrukh Sayar who helped the East India Company get their ‘Grand Firman’ in 1715 CE, Khojah Israel Sarhad.

Sadly, Armenians were not very good chroniclers and so there are hardly any first-hand accounts from within the community. The only exception seems to be the Armenian historian of Bengal, Thomas Khojamall. Writing about the East India Company’s rise in eastern India, he provides us with the first clues about Armenians away from the Mughal court in Delhi. Khojamall lived during the reign of Shah Alam at Allahabad and wrote his accounts in 1768 CE. His manuscript was lost for decades, having being passed around the Armenian community until finally Colonel Jacob, the Armenian Brigadier General in the Maharaja of Scindia’s army, got hold of it and gave it to an Armenian Bishop, who again sat on it until it was finally published in 1849 CE.

In Bengal, Armenians played both sides of the fence with the Indians and the East India Company. Clive refers to his confidant “...the Armenian Petrus”, Petrus Arathoon. Meanwhile, his brother Gregory Arathoon had become the Commander in Chief of Mir Jaffar’s army, having adopted a name that would blend in better – Gorgin Khan!