A view of 19-century Bombay and its Parsis through the eyes of a Russian poet
On a trip to India with Nicholas II, Esper Ukhtomsky expressed disdain for British colonialism and how anglicised the elite of Bombay had become.
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In November 1890, when Crown Prince Nicholas II set off from St Petersburg on an epic 290-day, 51,000-kilometre journey to Vladivostok and back via southern Europe and Asia, he was accompanied by Prince Esper Ukhtomsky, a poet and close confidant who was passionate about India.
Ukhtomsky knew more about India than most other Russians. His book Travels in the East of Nicholas II When Cesarewitch, 1890-91 is a document of Nicholas II’s “Grand Tour to the East”, including the assassination attempt on the crown prince in Japan. But it also serves as a peek into 19th-century India through the eyes of an outsider.
After crossing the Suez Canal and Aden, Ukhtomsky and Nicholas II landed in India at Bombay on board the Russian naval cruiser named Pamiat Azova. As they approached the harbour, Ukhtomsky could not contain his excitement.
“India lies before us,” he wrote in his book. “Here holiness and peace appeared in visions unto men contemptuous of pleasure; since their age the people live their self-same life, yearning for the Divinity, for freedom and atonement. Here, where the earthly realm of sorrow borders on the heavens, and when the soul is crushed by unceasing torments, this magic land calls us into a world of wonders, into...
