FORSTER, George. 1752 — Nagpur 5.1.1792. British Civil Servant and Traveller in India. Served in Madras as early as 1776. In 1782 he travelled from India using the unusual route through Kashmir, Afghanistan, Herat, by the Caspian Sea to Baku, then to Astrakhan and Moscow and by ship from St.Petersburg to London, arriving in July 1784. He was the first British to use this route and wrote a well-known account of this travel. Returned to India in 1785, he died of fever during an embassy to the Marathas. He knew well Marāṭhī.
Publications: Sketches of the Mythology and Customs of the Hindus. 8+84 p. L. 1785.
– A Journey from Bengal to England, through the Northern Part of India, Kashmir, Afghanistan, and Persia, and into Russia by the Caspian Sea. 1-2. L. 1798 (vol. 1 first Calcutta 1790, vol. 2 completed from his papers by an unknown editor), French transl. X [1802], also in German.
Sources: M.J. Franklin, Encyclop. Iranica 2017 (online); J.L.L[aughton], D.N.B. 20, 1889, 14, Buckland, Dictionary and Wikipedia – all briefly.
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