Interestingly, in the late medieval times, there used to be a
song sung by the lascars of Goa and Malabar. The song was apparently known as
the Calicut song. The first time it was documented in English was when Anna, an
ayah from Calicut mentioned it to her memsahib in 1860. I will cover Anna’s
interesting story in a separate article, but this one is about the song itself.
There is one other recorded instance when seeing the people
of Calicut, the traveler Abdul Razzak burst into song. I had written about his visit to Calicut during 1445, some time ago
He sang (not very nice though!)
Extraordinary beings, 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 have had love passages with a beauty whose face was like
the moon;
But I could never fall in love with a Negress.
But this is not like that. It is more a song of hope. The
song was originally in Portuguese and perhaps originated in a Portuguese ship,
written by a seasick and lonely bard. When it was first mentioned in the
referenced book, it was considered to be of Portuguese or Malabar Syrian
Christian origin and narrated in Malayalam. Its translation went thus
Part I
THE SONG FROM THE
SHIP.
Very far went the ship, in the dark, up and down, up and
down. There was very little sky; the sailors couldn't see anything; rain was
coming.
Now darkness, lightning, and very little rain; but big
flashes, two yards long, that looked as if they fell into the sea.
On the third day the Captain looks out for land, shading his
eyes with his hand. There may be land. The sailors say to him, "What do
you see?" He answers, "Far off is the jungle, and, swinging in a
tree, is an old monkey, with two little monkeys in her arms. We must be nearing
land."
Again the Captain looks out; the sailors say to him,
"What do you see?" He answers, "On the shore there walks a
pretty little maiden, with a chattee * on her head; she skips, and runs, and
dances as she goes. We must be nearing land."
The storm begins to rage again, and hides the land: at last
it clears a little. The sailors say to the Captain, "What do you
see?" He answers, "I see a man ploughing; two bullocks draw the
plough. We must be nearing land." It is all true, they have gained the
shore.
Part II
SONG FROM THE SHORE.
The ship's on the sea - Which way is it coming? Right home to land. What cargo has it? The ship brings the
sacrament and praying beads.
The ship's on the sea - Which way is it coming? Right home to land. What cargo has it ? The ship brings white
paper and the Twelve Apostles.
The ship comes home to land - What cargo does it bring?
Silver money, prophets, and holy people.
The ship comes home to land - What does it bring? All the
saints, and holy people, and Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
The ship comes to our doors - Who brings it home? Our
Saviour. Our Saviour bless the ship, and bring it safely home.
------
Trying to trace its origin led me to discussions about its
similarity to a Brazilian Portuguese ship song named ‘A Nau Caterineta’ or ‘The
ship Caterineta’.It is somewhat different, is relatively long and various versions can be listened to on YouTube. While certain academics maintain that
the Calicut song is similar to the A Nau Caternieta, I find it completely
different. Some opine that the origin of the Brazilian song is linked to
Calicut, apparently they feel the song was first sung by the distraught sailors
on Cabral’s ship as they floundered at sea on the west coast of Africa and
reached Brazil, instead of Calicut, in the year 1500.
But more specific studies according to Almeida Garrett, show
that the Nau Catarineta (Nau Catarineta in Brazil) is a romanticized anonymous poem,
was probably inspired by the tumultuous voyage of the ship San Antonio, which
transported Jorge de Albuquerque Coelho (son of Duarte Coelho Pereira, the
donee the hereditary captaincy of Pernambuco), from the port of Olinda, Brazil,
to the port of Lisbon, in 1565. As the song goes - The ship has been long at sea, and food has given out. Lots are drawn to see who shall be eaten, and
the captain is left with the shortest straw.
The cabin boy offers to be sacrificed in his stead, but begs first to be
allowed to keep lookout till the next day.
In the nick of time he sees land and the men are saved.
But whatever said, the reference to Calicut is certainly
curious, except for the link that the earliest lascars were from Malabar and Goa.
So who are the lascars? A lascar was a sailor or militiaman from the Indian
Subcontinent or other countries east of the Cape of Good Hope, employed on
European ships from the 16th century until the middle of the 20th century. The
word itself originates from the Persian word Lashkar loosely supposed to mean
soldier. In many ways they were ships slaves, transferred from one to another
and held under tight agreements.
Baptism records from the end of the 17th century in East
Greenwich show that a number of young Indians from the Malabar Coast were
brought to England as servants. Though it is difficult to find out exactly
where these people came from, many of them were Muslim, indicating a Malabar
origin. The earliest lascars were thus from the Calicut and Cochin ports. My
studies indicate that many of them were originally Moplahs while there were q
few of Portuguese parentage from Cochin, the Topasses. In fact the EIC captured
a few of these hapless souls from Arab or Malabar ships and put them to work in
theirs.
The prospect of a Moplah singing the Calicut song is
unlikely as the song above is quite Christian in nature, at least the second
part. It is likely that the song was popularized by the Cochin Topasses, which
makes the naming of it as the Calicut song mysterious.
However many of the later day lascars were Goan Christians
and people from Sylhet in Bengal. This regional slant came about by the
supplier’s choice (The supplier was termed a ghat serang). Bombay recruited
deck workers from the Malabar Coast, Ahmedabad and Surat; the stewards and
catering staff came from Goa and the Cochin area, and the engine room was
manned by Pathans and Oaunjabius. We come across noting’s of Moplah riveters .The
P & O Kalasis, or Seamen, come mainly from the Portuguese colony of Daman
and adjacent areas in Gujarat, from parts of Kathiawar, the Ratnagiri district
and other places in the Konkan, from Cochin and the Malabar coast generally.
Indians from the above areas sign Articles in Bombay and were thus always known
as "Bombay crews".
Assad Bughlah explains
- The birth of the port of Calicut on the West Indian coast was to a large
extent the contributions of Arab traders and sailors as well as the nascent
local community of lascars who played a critical role in the management and
policing of port activities and in building, repairing and manning of
sea-vessels. By the 15th century, the lascars had attained good reputation of
their expertise in seamanship, shipbuilding and port activities and successive
European powers, battling to hold their grip in the Indian Ocean region, relied
heavily on the services of the lascars. In 1498, Vasco da Gama, the first
European to reach India by sea, sought advice from the Arab navigator ibn Majid
and hired a lascar at Malindi (a coastal settlement in East Africa) to steer
the Portuguese ship across the Indian Ocean to Calicut on the Malabar coast of
India. Portuguese ships continued to employ lascars in large numbers throughout
the 16th and 17th centuries. The need for employing the lascars arose because
of high rates of sickness and death of European sailors on India-bound ships
and their frequent desertions in India, thus leaving the ships short of crew
for the return voyages. The Europeans preferred the lascars because of their
daring spirit, hard work, resilience, skills and geographical knowledge of the
Indian Ocean.
According to Gundert’s dictionary they were also called
Kolal’s and Khalassi’s in early Malayalam. His boss or petty lascar was a
tandal/tindell. The entire native team was headed by the Seranag. We will in
forthcoming articles cover the narrator of the Hindoo fairy tales, the Malabar lascars
and their miserable lives under the British, and finally a story of the death
of many of them in a WWII attack.
References
Old Deccan Days: Or, Hindoo Fairy Legends Current in
Southern India - Mary Frere
The Lascars: The forgotten Diaspora in the Indian Ocean PAR
ASSAD BHUGLAH
3 comments:
Interesting. Laskar is a common reference to foot soldier, although in naval terms it refers to the lowest level of crew. They could very well have been called khalasis also, as mentioned by you, quoting Gundert. However, the post of lashkar existed in Cochin Port till some time ago. Another title alluded to by you is Tandel . This designation still exists in Cochin Port and is used to refer to the head gangman. Coolies used to work in gangs of five and the head used to be called tandel/tindel. In fact, this position originated in Gujarat where it is now a tribe. The same tribe is known also as Machchi in Gujarat/Maharashtra, and refers to a seafaring tribe. It harks back to the glorious days of medieval Gujarati seafaring traders who had dominated trade in Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean to such an extent that Ian Burnet states: 'It is said that Gujaratis stretched out two arms, their right arm towards Aden and their left arm towards Calicut'.
Thanks CHF..
that was an interesting aside...
I will get into a little more detail when i do the lascar article, though it will be mostly set in the 20th century...
Can u cite other similar songs
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