Rahīmī

Rahimi was built on the order on Mughal Emperor Akbar in the year 1590 at the Khizri Darwaza on river Ravi for the business venture of her Queen consort, Mariam-uz-Zamani. She was a woman of strong personality who laid the foundation of a highly astute international trade in the Mughal Empire and was a remarkable businesswoman herself. Muhammad Azam Khan in his journal states, "The most influential queen of Emperor Akbar and mother of Jahangir, was the beautiful Empress Mariam uz Zamani. She stands out as an advisor who maintained that without a strong navy, the Mughal empire would be overtaken by foreign armies. As Mughals had come from Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, both landlocked countries, the concept of a navy was not in their DNA. But then Akbar allowed his favorite and most loved wife to build ships for trade and Hajj pilgrims at the Khizri Darwaza on the river Ravi".[8] She was beautiful and regal in a tedious, overblown sense, and was a formidable woman. Described by a contemporary as “a great adventurer", she towered over phenomenal business enterprises even while sequestered in the Mughal harem. She owned ships that carried pilgrims to and from the Islamic holy city Mecca and ran an extensive trade of silk and several spices to international borders. The profits of its trading activities of one round are estimated to be around 1–2 lakhs of the currency of its time. It was known as the 'great pilgrimage ship' and in its day was the most magnificent ship sailing the seas.

In 1613, the Rahīmī was seized by Portuguese pirates along with the 600–700 passengers on board and the cargo, despite having the necessary pass issued by the Portuguese themselves that guaranteed protection to it.[1] Rahīmī was the largest Indian ship sailing in the Red Sea and was known to the Europeans as the "great pilgrimage ship". When the Portuguese officially refused to return the ship and the passengers, the outcry at the Mughal court was quite unusually severe. The outrage was compounded by the fact that the owner and the patron of the ship was the revered Dowager Empress, Wali Nimat Mariam-uz-Zamani. The whole affair was meant to gain leverage at a time when the Portuguese were threatened by competition from other European companies. But as it happened, the move backfired. As one observer noted, The Empress in retaliation ordered her son, Jahangir to seize the Portuguese town Daman, block all Portuguese trade in Surat, and “hath likewise taken order for the seizing of all Portingals (sic) and their goods within his kingdoms". Furthermore, she had her son “sealed up their church doors and hath given an order that they shall no more use the exercise of their religion in these parts". Rattled, the Portuguese made amends by offering Rs 3 lakh as compensation, but on the condition that the Mughals expel the English from Agra. Jahangir refused to blink, however, calling the Portuguese bluff, and welcoming soon afterward in 1615 Sir Thomas Roe, the famous English ambassador. “The Portuguese folly in the capture of the Rahimi, then," writes Findly, “tipped the scales in favor of the English." But it was not as if the newcomers were granted a red-carpet reception, on the contrary, the playing field was merely leveled somewhat. Mariam-uz-Zamani herself wasn’t sympathetic to the English. In 1611, after an Englishman outbid her at the indigo market in Bayana, she exerted enough pressure on her son to ensure that Roe’s unofficial predecessor, William Hawkins, the “English Khan" who till then was friendly with Jahangir, had to pack his bags and leave for good. In any case, if there was any doubt that the Emperor’s mother was a force to reckon with, the affair around the Rahimi dispelled such thinking. This episode is considered to be an example of the struggle for wealth that would later ensue and lead to colonisation of the Indian sub-continent.

After the loss of her ship Rahimi, the Dowager Empress then ordered the build of even a larger ship with 62 guns and the placement of over 400 musket men. It was named 'Ganj-I-Sawai' and in its day was the most fearsome ship in the sea with the objective of trade and taking pilgrims to Mecca and on the way back convert all the goods into gold, silver and bring back the pilgrims.[8]

• Dhow
• Ganj-i-Sawai
• White Ship