Historic Alleys

Kamalludin Abudur Razzak (1413-1482), son of Jalaludin Ishak of Samarkhand was a man used to fine court life, but proved to be a bad traveler and not much of an emissary. His travelogue, promised to be filled with minutest detail, is an interesting book, strewn with poetic verses, which I suppose Razaaq believed were objects of wisdom that would provide guidance to the future reader.

Born 8 years after the death of Timor in Heart, he was the son of the widely traveled Qazi, of Samarkhand, and entered court life in 1437. Here he worked for various sultans of Khurasan such as Timor’s son the great Emperor Mirza Shahrukh. Apparently by late 1430, an invitation was accorded by the Zamorin of Calicut to Emperor Sharukh for an emissary to visit Malabar in order to improve commerce.

Note here in perspective that a century earlier, Ibn Batuta had visited Calicut and certified it as safe haven for merchants.

The choice of emissary befell the young Razzak who had been in the court’s employ for four years. The travel to the southerly parts of Hindustan proved to be no fun for the reluctant emissary who would probably have expected lavish receptions and plenty of gifts befitting an emissary of his stature. During the trip, he was frequently ill and complained bitterly of having been sent into these dark lands. Sanjay Subramaniam in his book listed under references, opines that the desire of Shahrukh to create a larger web of semi formal and suzerain relations going beyond the domains of Khorasan was the reason for the deputation of an emissary. It was not as many others said, and Abdur Razzaq based his trip on the premise that the Zamorin might convert to Islam if an appropriate ambassador was sent to Calicut by the great Emperor.

And thus Abdur Razak ibn Ishaq Samarkhandi started out on a journey that lasted three years between January 1442 to January 1445. I will take it up from his arrival in Calicut.

Quoting RH Major’s translations - The port at which he arrives is Calicut, where he speaks in terms of commendation of the honesty of the people, and the facilities of commerce. He does not, however, equally admire the persons of the natives, who seem to him to resemble devils rather than men. These devils were all black and naked, having only a piece of cloth tied round their middle, and holding in one hand a shining javelin, and in the other a buckler of bullock's hide. On being presented to the Sameri or King, whom he found, in a similar state of nudity, in a hall adorned with paintings, and surrounded by two or three thousand attendants, he delivered his presents, which consisted of a horse richly caparisoned, an embroidered pelisse, and a cap of ceremony. These did not seem to excite any warm admiration from the prince, and it is not impossible that, as the ambassador looked with considerable dislike on the people in spite of his commendations of their worthiness of conduct, his own manner may not have been remarkable for amiability. His stay at Calicut he describes as extremely painful, and in the midst of his trouble he has a vision, in which he sees his sovereign Shah Rukh, who assures him of deliverance. On the very next day, a message arrives from the King of Vijayanagar, with a request that the Mohammedan ambassador might be permitted to repair to his court. The request of so powerful a prince was not refused, and Abd-er-Razzak left Calicut with feelings of great delight.

At the beginning of November that year he arrived at Calicut after an 18 day voyage from Homrouz, where he had resided till the beginning of April 1443. Abul Razzaq now takes up the event in his own words

Razzaq makes a comparison here to other ports of India which augers well with the fear that Allan Ben Hassun had when his ship was driven into the Quilon shores, for he feared plunder & death (See my earlier blog). Razzaq was also at the original Mitqual mosque in Calicut before it was burnt down by the Portuguese.
 
In other ports a strange practice is adopted. When a vessel sets sail for a certain point, and suddenly is driven by a decree of Divine Providence into another roadstead, the inhabitants, under the pretext that the wind has driven it there, plunder the ship. But at Calicut, every ship, whatever place it may come from, or wherever it may be bound, when it puts into this port is treated like other vessels, and has no trouble of any kind to put up with.

Razzaq then details the gifts that have been sent to the Zamorin. Major as you saw felt that it was too cheap coming from a great emperor like Shahrukh. Now you can imagine why the Zamorin was furious with Vasco De Gama for the miniscule gifts they had brought from Portugual.

His majesty, the happy Khakan, had sent as a present for the prince of Calicut, some horses, some pelisses, some robes of cloth of gold, and some caps, similar to those distributed at the time of the Nawroz; (New year day in Persia) and the motive which had induced him to do so was as follows.

Some ambassadors deputed by this monarch, returning from Bengal in company with ambassadors of the latter country, having been obliged to put into Calicut, the description which they gave of the greatness and power of the Khakan reached the ears of the sovereign of that city. He learned from authentic testimony, that the kings of all the habitable globe, of the East as well as of the West, of the land and of the sea, had sent rival ambassadors and messages, showing that they regarded the august court of that monarch as the Kiblah, to which they should pay their homage, — as the Kabah, the object to which they should direct their aspirations.

Then Razzaq mentions about the power and influence of the Emperor Sharukh and his involvement of the emperor in ensuring that the King of Bengal and Jounpur did not go to war. It appears that the Zamorin had heard about this and so wanted to pay obeisance to the Emperor Shahrukh (A bit fanciful here, but let us leave it as such)

Razzaq states - As soon as the sovereign of Calicut was informed of these occurrences, he prepared some presents, consisting of objects of value of different kinds, and sent an ambassador charged with a despatch, in which he said : " In this port, on every Friday and every solemn feast day, the Khotbah is celebrated, according to the prescribed rule of Islamism. With your majesty's permission, these prayers shall be adorned and honoured by the addition of your name and of your illustrious titles.
 
These deputies, setting out in company with the ambassadors from Bengal, reached the noble court of the emperor, and the Emirs laid before that monarch the letter and the presents by which it was accompanied. The messenger was a Mussulmaun, distinguished for his eloquence ; in the course of his address he said to the prince, " If your majesty will be pleased to favour my master, by despatching an ambassador sent especially to him, and who, in literal pursuance of the precept expressed in that verse, ' By thy wisdom and by thy good counsels engage men to enter on the ways of thy Lord, shall invite that prince to embrace the religion of Islamism, and draw from his beclouded heart the bolt of darkness and error, and cause the flame of the light of faith, and the brightness of the sun of knowledge to shine into the window of his heart, it will be, beyond all doubt, a perfectly righteous and meritorious deed."

The emperor acceded to this request, and gave instructions to the Emirs that the ambassador should make his preparations for setting out on his journey. The choice fell upon the humble author of this work. Certain individuals, however, hazarded their denunciations against his success, imagining in their own minds that it was likely he would never return from so long a voyage. He arrived, nevertheless, in good health after three years of absence, and by that time his calumniators were no longer in the land of the living.

We also know that Razzaq was used to high life and proved to be a terrible racist. Here he continues thus..

As soon as I landed at Calicut I saw beings such as my imagination had never depicted the like of. Extraordinary beings, who are neither men nor devils, At sight of whom the mind takes alarm; If I were to see such in my dreams , My heart would be in a tremble for many years.

I assume he saw a Velichappad , the oracle, divine dancer or light revealer

I have had love passages with a beauty, whose face was like the moon; but I could never fall in love with a negress (ill proportioned black thing in certain other translations).

Describing the indigenous population, probably not meeting or seeing not the fairer people, he states
The blacks of this country have the body nearly naked; they wear only bandages round the middle, called lankoutahy which descend from the navel to above the knee. In one hand they hold an Indian poignard (Actually written as Katarah or dagger), which has the brilliance of a drop of water, and in the other a buckler of ox-hide (Leather shield), which might be taken for a piece of mist. This costume is common to the king and to the beggar. As to the Mussulmauns, they dress themselves in magnificent apparel after the manner of the Arabs, and manifest luxury in every particular.

Here I assume he means the Pardesi Arabs, not the Moplah’s

After I had had an opportunity of seeing a considerable number of Mussulmauns and Infidels, I had a comfortable lodging assigned to me, and after the lapse of three days was conducted to an audience with the king. I saw a man with his body naked, like the rest of the Hindus. The sovereign of this city bears the title of Sameri. When he dies it is his sister's son who succeeds him, and his inheritance does not belong to his son, or his brother, or any other of his relations. No one reaches the throne by means of the strong hand.

The Infidels are divided into a great number of classes, such as the Brahmins, the Djoghis, and others. Although they are all agreed upon the fundamental principles of polytheism and idolatry, each sect has its peculiar customs.

Amongst them there is a class of men, with whom it is the practice for one woman to have a great number of husbands, each of whom undertakes a special duty and fulfils it. The hours of the day and of the night are divided between them; each of them for a certain period takes up his abode in the house, and while he remains there no other is allowed to enter. The Sameri belongs to this sect.

When I obtained my audience of this prince, the hall was filled with two or three thousand Hindus, who wore the costume above described; the principal personages amongst the Mussulmauns were also present. After they had made me take a seat, the letter of his majesty, the happy Khakan, was read, and they caused to pass in procession before the throne, the horse, the pelisse, the garment of cloth of gold, and the cap to be worn at the ceremony of Nauruz. The Sameri showed me but little consideration. On leaving the audience I returned to my house. Several individuals, who brought with them a certain number of horses, and all sorts of things beside, had been shipped on board another vessel by order of the king of Ormuz ; but being captured on the road by some cruel pirates, they were plundered of all their wealth, and narrowly escaped with their lives. Meeting them at Calicut, we had the honour to see some distinguished friends.

By no means did Razzq enjoy his stay at Calicut, he explains....

From the close of the month of the second Djoumada [beginning of November 1442], to the first days of Zou'lhidjah [middle of April 1443], I remained in this disagreeable place, where everything became a source of trouble and weariness. During this period, on a certain night of profound darkness and unusual length, in which sleep, like an imperious tyrant, had imprisoned my senses and closed the door of my eyelids, after every sort of disquietude, I was at length asleep upon my bed of rest, and in a dream I saw his majesty, the happy Khakan, who came towards me with all the pomp of sovereignty, and when he came up to me said : "Afflict thyself no longer." The following morning, at the hour of prayer, this dream recurred to my mind and filled me with joy. Although, in general, dreams are but the simple wanderings of the imagination, which are seldom realized in our waking hours, yet it docs sometimes occur that the facts which arc shown in sleep arc afterwards accomplished ; and such dreams have been regarded by the most distinguished men as intimations from God. Every one has heard of the dream of Joseph, and that of the minister of Egypt.

As you read between the lines, you start to understand the reasons, which have also been explained in detail in Sanjay Subramaniam’s book. The conversion of the Zamorin was pretty much a chimeara, an illusion, an impossibility. Soon the noble king is reduced to a ‘Wali’ a keeper in Razaak’s travelogue.


A very interesting observation here, and we hear about the relationship between the Vijayanagara kings and the Zamorin, though one must take razaak's words with a pinch of salt.

The inhabitants of Calicut are adventurous sailors: they are known by the name of Tchini-betchegan (son of the Chinese), and pirates do not dare to attack the vessels of Calicut. In this harbour one may find everything that can be desired. One thing alone is forbidden, namely, to kill a cow, or to eat its flesh: whosoever should be discovered slaughtering or eating one of these animals, would be immediately punished with death. So respected is the cow in these parts, that the inhabitants take its dung when dry and rub their foreheads with it. The humble author of this narrative having received his audience of dismissal, departed from Calicut by sea. After having passed the port of Bendinaneh, situated on the coast of Malibar, we reached the port of Mangalor, which forms the frontier of the kingdom of Bidjanagar.

But why should Sons of the Chinese be feared? Did they all leave after the tiff with the Zamorin, as we discussed in a previous blog? Were they in anyway related to the marakkars?Food for thought.

The place Bandinaneh is probably Balipatanam in Cannanore.

Abdur Razzaq also wrote about betel chewing which he witnessed everywhere, thus - "The virility of the king is attributed to his habit of chewing the betel leaf, as it lightens up the countenance and excites an intoxication like that caused by wine. It relieves hunger, stimulates the organs of digestion, disinfect the breath and strengthen the teeth. It is impossible to describe and delicacy forbids me to expatiate on its invigorating and aphrodisiac qualities."

By the time Abdur Razzaq returned home, his master Shah Rukh was dead and Abu Said Mirza was fighting for the throne. Quickly he recognized the new Sultan and was accepted after which he settled down to write his memoirs. He died in 1482. His memoirs of Calicut went on to set a great perspective before the arrival of the Portuguese.

References

Indo-Persian travels in the age of discoveries, 1400-1800 - Muzaffar Alam, Sanjay Subrahmanyam
Album prefaces and other documents on the history of calligraphers and painters - Wheeler McIntosh Thackston
India in the 15th Century –RH Major

Part 1

The Genizah scrolls have provided us with valuable insight into the lives and times of ordinary people straddling the edges of the Indian Ocean, the mainly Tunisian origin Jews of Fustat and their agents in India. Some time back I told you the story of Abraham Bin Yiju. Today it is the story of Allan. The Genizah scrolls cover stories of many more people, but the Indian angle is relatively low in this case compared to Yiju. If you recall, Yiju lived for decades in India and had a Malayali wife Ashu. But this trader Allan visited the Malabar shores often for trade, though not living in any parts.

Looking back at the Genizah scrolls, the Egyptians were understandably upset when around the turn of the 20th century; various Jewish scholars walked away with all the Genizah papers and distributed them to collectors and libraries in the US, UK and USSR. I wonder what the great problem was with that, for until then the best bits were quietly being sold by Egyptians to private collectors instead of making any attempt to secure and catalog the vast collection. In fact, the synagogue & the Genizah were nearly bulldozed before being discovered and in a way we are all lucky that people like Solomon Schechter cataloged many of the bits found and another luminary, none other than the late Shlom Deo Goitein took up the study of the India traders. I cannot help but think of the unseen private collections and what it contains, but it is sad that they will remain hidden from the view of those who are thirsting for this kind of historical knowledge.

Eventually, I hope that the events that befell the scrolls of Ancona (if those scrolls were indeed genuine) do not happen to these privately held Genizah scrolls, for people may start to disbelieve these fabulous bits of information, when they eventually turn up for public scrutiny. Regarding the scrolls of Ancona, I will get back to them another day, for I am still reading the hotly disputed book.

As for now let us get back to Allah Bin Hassun. Now Goitein in the referred paper covers a transcript of the three letters from Hassun, written around the early quarter on the 12th century, but if you try to analyze this from an Indian perspective, you can work out some very interesting observations.

Prof Goitein asks a question in his paper- The Jews of the Mediterranean area, unlike their brethren in Iraq, were latecomers to the India trade. Why should they have taken upon themselves the physical dangers and material risks of those far-flung travels, when the blessed shores of the Mediterranean offered enough opportunities for gaining a livelihood? His complete reply spans over 6 volumes of brilliant studies -A Mediterranean society and teh India book.

As you read letters like those written by Allan Hassun, you see the immense short term gain related to opportunistic pricing of spices and other items. And typically, fortune favored the brave. It is also very interesting to note that these Jewish traders stuck to certain ports, not major ports like Muziris, but Northern ports like Sindbaur (Goa), Bakanur or Faknur, Manjarur and the lone southern port Kulam (Quilon). They would start with the Northern port, collecting Iron and travel down south to pick up Pepper & other goods before the return to Aden. All this becomes clear in the letters of Allan. So let us first try to get to know this enterprising character.

An individual who was well set in Mediterranean trade was ‘Arus b. Joseph al- Arjawani al-Mahdawi. Arus was a manufacturer and trader of purple cloth, delivering his material to N Africa & Spain. He was a renowned member of his society, a helpful generous man, and quite successful. However he had no sons, a very important desire for traders to further the family trade lines. So he married off his daughter to his brother’s son Allan Hassun. The boy addresses Arus as father and himself as the son of Arus. Allan was initially apprenticed by Arus in the Mediterranean trade between Egypt and Aden in Yemen. Allan’s family also originated from Al Mahdiyya in Tunisia (where Ben Yiju also lived once). The equipment traded was typically fine clothing made in the region.


Youngsters are always seeking adventure, and young Allan decided that he must venture farther, to India. Arus and his partner Siba were not so happy about that, but it appears that they eventually agreed to the venture. Allan was initially provided with some goods meant for trade like Coral and Storax. His cousin Joseph was dispatched to tell him that he should not cross the oceans, but then the boy did just that and went on to become a very famous & renowned India trader, continuing to do so till late in life. As in the case of Yiju, we follow his story from letters he wrote in Hebrew while at Sindabur (Goa) on the Malabar coast and later from Kulam and Ayadhab, letters which then found their way to the Genizah (New readers may refer my notes on Yiju if you have not been initiated to the Genizah scrolls as yet).

We can see here that Allan was bringing back iron and pepper from India, much like the goods exported by Yiju. As we read through the mundane writings in the Genizah letters about debts, goods sold and purchased, relationships with other traders, business meetings and so on, some regional aspects come to light (Incidentally Ben Yiju also features in these trade documents!!).

Goitein reports after extensive studies that one thing you did not do in those days was writing voluminously about ones own misfortune or other personal matters. Paper was dear, I presume. In some letters written to his family, Allan expresses regret for being on the road all the time (but it turns out that his son Zayn Al Dar also got into the same trade). He then tells his three sons to form a partnership in trade, for their own good. But well, Allan did write about one such voyage and his misfortune and also about special circumstances in Quilon, where he traded, during one voyage. This is a valuable insight to the methods of that port.

Goitein summarizes - By that time, people at home had become familiar with conditions in India and were interested in the happenings there. Moreover, the report about legal procedures and other government care for the foreigners in Kulam (Quilon), the southernmost port on the Malabar Coast (from which one returned to Aden), were reassuring. The feeling of safety at sea while running before a steady monsoon is also implicit in the letters.


So why did Allan venture out to Sindbaur and into the India trade? The first letter explains

Having sought God’s guidance, I decided to travel to Sindabur with the corals and Storax, for I did not find a market for it [meaning the corals]; all they offered me for it [in Aden] was 18 [dinars] per selling unit.(Storax, ‘may’a’, an aromatic resin obtained from trees in Asia Minor, used in perfume and medicine, a common commodity exported via Alexandria, Cairo, and Aden to India, as proved by the Geniza letters – It is for a layman the resin Benzoin or our Sambrani the aromatic resin that is smoked for poojas, on coals)

The trader’s modus operandi was as follows - The merchants traveled from Sindabur, the northern port leading to the pepper country via Faknur or Baknur(North of Manjarur), to a place called Manibar– presumably Manjarur or Pantalayani or another capital city in the Malabar country, and from there to Kuilam-Kawlam, the popular southern port on the Malabar Coast, from where they planned to return to Aden.

Now we note from the letters that Manibar or Malabar is mentioned. Was it a port, a city or a region? From Allan’s letters the name is not clear though Goitein supposes it is Malibar. It is also becoming apparent that this could have been synonymous with a port, not only a region. Recall that Al Beruni was the first to mention Malabar as a region (Beruni wrote about Malabar circa 1000AD). I will venture to analyze this further in the next part.

Let us now take a detailed look at one of Allan’s letters from the 12th century. I believe Allan lived and traded around 1115-1150AD, continuing on to a ripe old age. It deals with travel to Sindabur and other places in India. Because of riots and bloodshed in Malabar the ship could not sail to Kulam and changed course to faknur. In Faknur the captain (Ali Nawak a prominent Indian shipmaster or Nakhuda who had a number of business deals with the Jews) disappeared, but the ship continued to Kulam, where it stayed for some time.

So let’s look at the words in more detail, and they are quite perplexing to say the least. I finally arrived in Al-M .. r and bought what God, the exalted, made available, to the extent reported in my previous letters. We intended, on our way home, to travel to Aden, but riots and bloodshed occurred, and whoever was in the town fled.

Now which place could that be? Allans letters only mention the letters Al-Ma….r. Goitein states as follows - Only Al-m . . r is visible. Something like Munaybar-Manibar-Malibar (Malabar, the pepper country on the southern section of the west coast of India) must have been written. The use of the article is strange, but perhaps it was meant to express the idea of both city and region. The plural Malibarat in other Letters, might be understood similarly. Or was it Al Manjarur? Anyway if you look a little southwards, to Cannanore & Calicut, and presume that this was indeed one such town, I cannot think of any riot or bloodshed in Zamorin or Kolathiri country where the inhabitants fled a town. The major event that took place in the 1100-1120 timeframe was the annexation of Calicut by the Manavikrama Raja’s or the Zamorin clan from the Vellatiri. That war however may not have resulted in people fleeing the area. So what could have been the traumatizing event?

Anyway the ship master Ali Nawak wanted to flee as well at Malabar. But Allan convinced him not to and they quickly sailed off to Fakkanur in the North after leaving the pepper & some smaller items with a local Jewish trader Jacob Ibn Thabit in Malabar. At Fakkanur, Ali Nawak disembarked or disappeared (Why did a captain leave ship? Was he that traumatized? What happened in al – a…r?) and the ship proceeded on to Kualam – Quilon. We read from his letter that it took some days sailing from this Malabar port to Quilon. So was it Pantalayani? You may recall that early voyagers including Ibn Batuta did mention an exact period of 10 days sailing from Pantalayani to Quilon and we do know that Pantalayani had a smattering of Jewish traders settled there. So is that a reasonable guess? But why were they fearful about docking in Kulam? More on that follows in the next part.

Allan continues thus………

We loaded the textiles and the iron during the night, for he (Nawak) had the power to keep us back [by refusing to sail]. Finally, we all fled to Faknur. I had left some of the pepper and many of the smaller items with Jacob Ibn Thabit. We arrived in Faknur, where ‘Ali Nawak disembarked and remained, while we went on in the same ship to Kulam and stayed there for some time


Ten days after leaving Kulam the ship encountered a dangerous sea, the captain died, and a vociferous crowd on board forced the ship back to Kulam, where it arrived after another twenty days. When the night of... arrived, we loaded and set sail, 35 days before ‘New Year’. The (new?)captain had been ill while still in town, but we sailed for ten days. When we encountered a large pusht (a reef, or another underwater obstacle), water being five fathoms high, and did not know whether this was the Fal (the northern end of the Laccadive Islands) or not, God granted us safety, but the captain had a stroke and died. We threw his body overboard into the sea. So the boat remained without a commander and a . . ., and we had no charts. A crowd in the ship was afraid the ship would be lost, if it landed in an Arab country. However, if we returned to India, there too the same might happen. They got the upper hand and returned us to Kulam. We gave up hope of saving our goods. After twenty days we arrived in Kulam, the place we feared. But God granted us delivery immediately. In Kulam the ship was returned to its proprietor. Another one was provided with water and wood, and its two captains signed documents specifying their obligations towards the passengers. The .. ., the .. ., and the manager came on board and took the ship from us, confirming its rights to its proprietor, being afraid of ‘Ali Nawak. They provided us with water and wood. Two captains traveled with us, after they had signed documents (confirming their obligations) towards us, and we set sail.

Goitein concludes - Having set sail earlier than usual, the ship arrived in Aden prior to all others with the result that Allan sold his goods for excellent prices. Learning that pepper in Aden cost 35 dinars a sack, a price far too high for the town, Allan decided to return immediately to India on the same ship and rented storage space for 150 sacks of pepper and other spices for the voyage back.

In Allan’s words - We arrived in Aden in the shortest possible time, prior to all others. I sold the iron for a good price, 20 dinars a bahar. I had with me 72 bahars and 50 separate pieces, 30 mann saqat, and 40 mann clove. After customs I had obtained 1,500 dinars [and] a lot in other currencies. I had planned to travel home, but learned that a bahar of pepper cost 35 dinars (in Aden). I could not tarry so long until I could buy pepper in Aden (for a reasonable price). Having sought God’s guidance, I decided to travel to Faknur in the same boat in which we had arrived, for it had been blessed for me. I rented from them storage space for 150 bahirs, 100 for pepper and 50 for various other goods. For the 100 bahirs for pepper, I paid 90 mithqals of Adenese coinage. Sheikh ‘AlI Ibn al-Kufi and Sheikh Bundar had stipulated with them (the captains) for me that I would not pay them a dirhem until I had bought the pepper myself.

The last line kind of signifies that the word of mouth of suppliers was not entirely trustworthy. . Allan had intended to pay the shipmaster in advance; expecting that a part of the pepper would be purchased by the latter, but had been dissuaded from this by the two experienced overseas traders. But does this mean that they got the pepper at Fakkanur? If so why go to Kulam?


References
Three Letters from the Cairo Geniza - S. D. Goitein
A Mediterranean society – SD Goitein
Aden & the Indian Ocean trade – Roxani Elleni Margariti
Southern India as known to Arab Geographers – Nainar

Pics
Arab traders – from Herotod’s blog & SARAMCO world