From the Face book page of Dr Swapna Liddle, shared with permission
Vaccination in the Mughal royal family in 1808.
Archibald Seton, the Resident in Delhi wrote to the Governor General in Calcutta in early 1808, of what the British Surgeon, Dr Reid was doing to popularise smallpox vaccination:
“After explaining to the King (Akbar II) the principle of that mode of inoculation and shewing him how to perform the operation, he lately made His Majesty a present of some lancets properly prepared, by means of which the King vaccinated, with his own hand, many of the the Royal grandchildren. This is likely to contribute more, perhaps, than anything else, to the diffusion of this salutory practice among the natives of every rank and description, however distant from Delhi, since the circumstance has found its way into all the Persian newspapers.”
The painting, by an unknown painter shows Akbar II with three sons (on the far right is Abuzafar, later Bahadur Shah II) and a young boy, probably a grandson. Courtesy the Royal Collection Trust.
