The Pindari raids, too, were occurring far and wide, as they infamously plundered
Masulipatam on the east coast, Gujarat on the west coast and Mirzapur in Utter Pradesh.
He explained how to use chay roots "in the manner of the painters of chintz of the region of
Masulipatam".
A network of locally based VOC agents, advised by Indian merchants, quickly identified a convenient source of saltpeter on the central Coromandel Coast between Masulipatam and the Pulicat lagoon.
Political difficulties at Masulipatam forced the English to establish a new base at Fort Saint George, or Madras, where the nitrate market was already dominated by the Dutch factory at nearby Pulicat, and by the Portuguese of San Thorme.
Founded in 1600, the English East India Company shared its early years with the Scientific Revolution, and by 1662, when the Royal Society of London was founded, the Company had trading bases at a number of strategic places in India, including Surat, Madras and
Masulipatam. It was then poised for a major territorial expansion that would lead to the subjugation of the vast subcontinent.
William Methwold, who served as an agent for the English East India Company at Masulipatam (Masulipatnam) between 1618 and 1622, explained that this superiority derived from: "a plant which growth only in this country (Golconda), called by them Chay, which dyeth and stayeth a perfect red, with them in as great account as scarlet with us...", (11) and "...no other place affords the like colour".
(12.) Letter from Masulipatam Factors dated October 25, 1634, in William Foster (ed.), English Factories in India, Vol.