and revisiting Dom Pedro’s exploits
We talked about the Kunhali Marakars, we discussed about the
Chinese presence in Calicut and the nearby ports, we talked about their
relationship with the Zamorin’s, but lurking in the background is an
interesting character, about whom some mentions have been made by historians of
the past and most recently Jonathan Gil Harris, in his new book on firangis.
After the Portuguese had established a settlement in Kochi
and taken over Goa, their next step was to conquer the spice islands of the
Mollucas. Some years ago, I had written about Magellan’s trip to those islands,
that article would lend good perspective to the Melaka or Malacca history.
Orang Laut a fishing village, grew into a minor port after
Parameshwara the king of Singapura fled to the region. Soon the islands
prospered and the port became an important trading destination, getting the
notice of the powerful Ming kings in China. The Yongle Emperor 1402 till 1424,
sent his envoy named Yin Qing to Malacca in 1405 and this visit paved the way to
trading relations between Malacca and China. After this Chinese merchants began
calling at the port of Malacca regularly and were among the first traders to
set up bases here. In 1411, Zheng He visited Malacca and it is said that
Parameshwara went back with him to pay homage to the Yongle emperor.
Later the administration
changed, so also their religion after Islam was incorporated by the ruler and
his subjects. The port teemed with multiple nationalities, and some 80
languages were spoken there. The rich port caught the imagination of the
Portuguese and Tome Pires wrote - Whoever is lord of Malacca shall have his
hands on the throat of Venice. As a major trading port, Malacca attracted many
Muslim traders from various part of the world, quite a few venturing there
after a stopover in Malabar. In April 1511, Albuquerque sailed from Goa to
Malacca with a force of some 1200 men and many ships. Malacca fell on 24 August
1511. Typical of the Portuguese practices of the time, many of the Muslims were
massacred or sold into slavery. Later St Xavier moved in to carry out
evangelization efforts, after his successes at Tuticorin.
But our topic is all about a young Muslim Chinese lad from
Malacca, who was perhaps picked up
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| Marakkar Kotta |
Decouto mentions Chinale and provides background circa 1599 when
Kunhali was finally captured by the Portuguese - Last of all came Kunhali with a black kerchief on his head, and a sword
in his hand with the point lowered. He was at that time a man of fifty, of
middle height, muscular and broad-shouldered. He walked between three of his
chief Moors. One of these was Chinale, a Chinese, who had been a servant at
Malacca, and said to have been the captive of a Portuguese, taken as a boy from
a fusta, and afterwards brought to Kunhali, who conceived such an affection for
him that he trusted him with everything”.
We can infer from the date that the higher likelihood was
for Chinali to have been taken from Malacca, for most of the Chinese may have
left Calicut around the 1440’s. But to get to the meat of the story, you have
to read Pyrard Laval’s notes.
Chinali was a fusta sailor (a cruising galley which operated
in shallow waters, a small boat with a sail and some 12-18 rowers), he was a
slave who was in the Portuguese employ, and that information leads us to believe
that he was a Muslim of Chinese origin working for some Arab fusta owner in Melaka.
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| Fusta |
Pyrard records thus - One of these was Chinale, a Chinese,
who had been a servant at Malacca, and said to have been the captive of a
Portuguese, taken as a boy from a fusta, and afterwards brought to Kunhili, who
conceived such an affection for him that he trusted him with everything. He was
the greatest exponent of the Moorish superstition and enemy of the Christians
in all Malabar, and for those taken captive at sea and brought thither he
invented the most exquisite kinds of torture when he martyred them. Historians
agree that Laval and Decouto were too lavish with these negative opinions of
those against the Portuguese, so the opinion that he was some barbaric torturer
may be disregarded, but we can conclude that he certainly harbored no affection
for his previous Portuguese owners.
The lad grew up in Malabar – Kottakkal area where Kunhali
operated and soon rose to become Kunhali’s trusted man, sharing many an
exploit. The battles between the Portuguese and the sailors of Kunhali have
been recorded and retold on many occasions. The battle at Chalium in 1571 forced
the Portuguese out of their main fort in Malabar.
Kunhali IV who took over in 1585 fortified their Kottakkal garrison
and waged an even determined war against the Portuguese. The peace treaty
signed by the Zamorin with the Portuguese was soon to become a major source of
trouble for this otherwise troubled balance of powers. The Portuguese pushed
the Zamorin and the Kunhali retaliated by infuriating the Zamorin further. As
the situation worsened, the Portuguese pounced and after defeat in the first foray,
triumphed in the second one during 1599. Furtado forced the Kunhali to
surrender and they were taken by the Portuguese. As Kunhali is captured, “A
tumult now arose among the Nairs, which the Samouri with difficulty suppressed.
In the midst of it, Chinale and Cotiale (Kuttiali), the pirate-chiefs nephew,
and the other captains, attempted to escape, but were seized and manacled by
the Portuguese soldiery.”
They were all taken away to Goa, put into the state prison
for a few days and interrogated with Decouto present for he mentions that they
talked about losses and that some 500 from the Portuguese forces were killed.
Kunhali was then ceremoniously hung (while one writer mentions he was hung,
others state he was beheaded with a special French style guillotine) to death
and his salted head exhibited to the public in Goa and Cannanore.
After some days Chinale was brought forth to share the fate
of his leader. As the pious historian puts it, "a better lot awaited
him," inasmuch as, before his execution, he yielded to the persuasion of
the Fathers and became a Christian, and was baptized by the name of
Bartholomew. After this ceremony, at which he "shewed pleasure and good
will, he was conveyed to the scaffold, accompanied by the Holy Misericordia,
and by the orphan children who were praying to God for him ; and his body was
buried in consecrated ground."
Kunhali's nephew, and all the rest of the forty prisoners
given over by the Samorin, some others of whom became Christians, were likewise
put to death, "and not one that was taken escaped." So did the
governor and rabble go hand in hand in murder and breach of faith," is the
final comment of Friar y Souza.
It is also interesting to note that Furtado himself had a
Chinese man as his confidential secretary. Researchers like CR Boxer have
stated that many Chinese children were picked up by native pimps and sold to
the Portuguese for 12-15 taels apiece.
Why did nephew Ali Marakkar get pardoned while Chinali got
killed? In fact all 40 were hung, and many of them had converted with the hope
of pardon. It is possible that this was due to the terror exhibited by Chinali
in the past when he butchered any Portuguese he captured.
Let us now take a look at the life of Dom Pedro Rodriguez
a.k.a. Ali Marakkar. We do know that Furtado himself captured the boy when he
was 13, during a battle off Cardiva in the Coromandel Coast looking for,
perhaps around 1590 or so. Pyrard records having seen him in 1608, then 30
years old and introducing himself as a Spaniard Dom Pedro, not a Portuguese and
married to a Portuguese orfaa or orphan. This young fella decided that he no
longer wanted to be on the Portuguese side one fine day and relocated to
Calicut.
Soon he gathered a number of followers and acquired 5 paros
and sailed back to the place where he was captured, the straits between Ceylon
and the Cape at Comorin. That he established contacts with the Dutch is rumored,
but he certainly proved a terrible thorn from then on in the Portuguese flesh,
plundering their ships.
Danvers outlines his fearless exploits - On the Malabar coast, Dom Pedro, a cousin of
the Kunhale who was executed at Goa, after having embraced the Citholic
religion, fled from that city, and taking command of five paraos, he captured
several Portuguese ships, seriously interfered with trade, and took possession
of the islands of Do las Vacas and Tristao Golayo. Dom Constantino de Sa sent
out a force from Colombo, to put a stop to this man's aggressions, consisting of
forty galliots, which joined eighteen other smaller vessels at Manar. These
proceeded, under the command of Vitorio de Abreu, to the island of Golayo,
where Abreu was informed by two blacks he found there that the five paraos had
gone to some place nearby for ammunition, and that before they returned he
might possess himself of goods to the value of 60,000 ducats that had been left
there in a house by Dom Pedro. He, however, doubting the truth of this
information, took no action in the matter, but waited for the return of the
paraos, which he engaged, but was defeated, losing twelve of the eighteen small
vessels and 300 men killed, besides several who were taken prisoners, of whom
he himself was one.
Dom Pedro shortly
afterwards attacked the Portuguese merchant fleet, which was under convoy of a
squadron, and took one of the vessels almost without opposition. The merchants
of Nagapatnam desired the captains of the convoy to recover the ship, but they
refused to make the attempt. A Spanish fly boat, however, happening to pass by
just then, these merchants made a similar request to its captain, and he
complying, retook it without difficulty.
The Portuguese were hard pressed and due to a lack of funds,
suffered these attacks silently. By 1619 Ali Marakkar had surpassed all his
Kunhali predecessors in not only destroying ships but also hundreds of
Portuguese soldiers, with just his 5 paros, a lot of bravery and some merry
men. Records state that Dom Pedro – Ali Marakkar settled down further south in the
Maldives islands with his booty. You may recall that the Maldives was always a transshipment
point for the marakkar businessmen of Cochin and Cannanore
Pius Malekandathil explains - Mappila and Marakkar merchants of Cannanore initially under the
leadership of Mamale (Muhammad Ali) Marakkar and later under Poca Amame (Pokar
Ahamad), Pocarallee (Pokar Ali) also started diverting commodities to Red Sea
ports evading the control systems of the Portuguese. They used to transship
cargo first to Maldives, from where it was further sent along with the wares
coming from South East Asia through the straits of Karaidu and Haddumati to the
ports of Red Sea, controlled by the Ottomans. The possession of bases outside Portuguese
control in fact enabled the Muslims of Calicut and Cannanore to join hands to
evade the Portuguese control systems and to divert commodities to the
traditional Red Sea- Venice route much more effectively
Perhaps Dom Pedro’s story is even more important in context
with the Portuguese in Malabar, but is hardly known or retold, and details of
his later days in Maldives is unknown, a seed for future research….
Furtado for all his ruthlessness during the 30 years spent
in India, and a tenure in Melaka, was recommended for the position of Viceroy
at Goa, but before a decision was taken, decided to return to Lisbon as the commander
of an armada laden with pepper and spices. We note from Fr Y Souza and the French
doctor Jean Moquet who had come in some years earlier and later attached
himself to Furtado as arborist and apothecary that some time before the voyage had
started, Furtado became ill with spleen and liver ailments and soon died a
horrible death, even after attempts of revival by Moquet. It is rumored that he
was poisoned, but Souza opines that he died of jaundice.
References
The First Firangis- Jonathan Gil Harris
Essays in Goan History – Teotonio R de Souza, (Kunhalis
Naval Challenge – RRS Chauhan)
Indian Pirates: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day -
Rajaram Narayan Saletore
Da Asia de João de Barros e de Diogo de Couto, Volume 23
Criminality and Legitimization in Seawaters: A Study on the
Pirates of Malabar during the Age of European Commercial Expansion (1500-1800)
- Pius Malekandathil
Who are the Chinna Kribala of Calicut? Were they the remnants
of the Chinese at Calicut? William Taylor feels that they came by sea and were
probably of Chinese origin. But he also infers that they could be Malay. Perhaps
one of those half castes became Marakkar’s confidante – Chinali, and we could
also infer that many of them settled down at Calicut which was Muslim friendly
compared to the Melaka after its capture by the Portuguese. Perhaps they came
even earlier for trade.
5 comments:
Chinna and Chinali - no doubt, both derived from the word China; or 'Cheena' which was being used widely till the sixties.
This piece is really two stories in one - the story of Chinali who is fairly well-known, although his genealogy and final days are not yet certain. There is no doubt that he deserves more space than a footnote in the glorious history of the Marakkars.
But what is really fascinating is the story of Dom Pedro alias Ali Marakkar. Historians of Calicut have generally either ignored or were unaware of this great sailor's exploits. Perhaps it pertained to a time after the turbulent era of Kunhali Marakkar and also the theatre of Ali Marakkar's exploits was not the Malabar coast, his story is not known to the outside world. Thanks, Maddy, for highlighting this. Incidentally, your narrative also brings to the fore another important detail which has not been highlighted - for all the brutality and cruel implementation of the cartraz regime by the Portuguese, there was a parallel stream of trade centred around Maldives which continued to supply goods to the Alexandrians and Venetians. This goes against the general impression that the Venetian monopoly was broken by the Portuguese arrival in Calicut.
thanks chf..
the story of dom pedro and the Maldive angle is quite an interesting outcome of the whole affair. i am trying to get deeper on the maladive transshipment aspects, let me see.
Sir, Do you have any idea about the rivalry between Marthandavarma and thekkumcore Raja?
As VMV destroyed all the documents and evidence of the kingdom after he captured Thekkumcore as if no such empire existed ever.,
Sir, An intersting article on 'Chinese of Malabar' .
After reading the article below, I just googled to get much more information about the Chinese migration.
https://www.thenewsminute.com/kerala/documentary-traces-kerala-family-migrated-china-700-years-ago-85619
Your blog is really interesting
Continue digging our history ...
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