In an Antique Land

by Amitav Ghosh

  22 ‘Concerning what he’: T–S MS Or. 1080 J 263, recto, lines 16–22. The meaning of the second part of the last sentence is doubtful, and my reading of it must be taken as provisional at best. The reference to the ‘court’ may be to the council of foreign merchants (cf. M. N. Pearson, Merchants and Rulers in Gujarat, p. 17, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1976).

  23 ‘His servant spoke to [the king]’: It is not quite clear who the reference is to. Aden in this period was controlled by the Zuray’ids, a dynasty of the Isma’îli sect, nominally linked to the Fatimids of Egypt. The dates and lines of succession within the dynasty are rather obscure, but it would appear that none of the Zuray’id rulers of this period bore the name Sa’id (cf. g. R. Smith, The Ayyûbids and Early Rasûlids in the Yemen, Vol. II, pp. 63–7, Luzac & Co. Ltd, London, 1978). However, the name could have been the popularly current name of the Zuray’î ruler of that time.

  24 The word is dhimma: In Islamic law, members of tolerated religious groups are known as the dhimmi.

  25 In the twelfth century … Qus: Cf. J-C. Garcin, ‘Un centre musulman de la Haute-Égypte médiévale: Qû’ (Cairo, IFAO, 1976) and W. J. Fischel’s ‘The Spice Trade in Mamluk Egypt’, pp. 162–4. The twelfth-century Arab geographer, Al-Idrisi wrote of Qus that it was a big mercantile city with many resources, but its air was unhealthy and few strangers escaped the insalubriousness of the climate (Kitâb, p. 127).

  26 ‘a station for the traveller’: The quotation is from R. J. C. Broadhurst’s translation of the Rala of Abu al-asan ibn Jubair (published as The Travels of Ibn Jubair, Jonathan Cape, London, 1952).

  27 Over the next seventeen days: The crossing took Ibn Jubair only seventeen days, but Al-Idrisi asserts that it generally took at least twenty days (Kitâb, p. 132).

  28 Ibn Jubair remarked … ‘whoso deems it lawful’: R. J. C. Broadhurst, Travels, p. 60.

  29 The area … inhabited by a tribe: This was one of the Beja tribes of Sudan and southern Egypt who are referred to frequently by medieval Arab geographers and travellers (e.g. Al-Idrisi, Kitâb, p. 133). See also Paul Wheatley’s article, ‘Analecta Sino-Africana Recensa’, p. 82 (in East Africa and the Orient, ed. H. Neville Chittick and R. I. Rotberg, Africana Publishing Co., New York and London, 1975).

  30 ‘Their men and’: R. J. C. Broadhurst, Travels, p. 66.

  31 ‘A sojourn in’: Ibid., p. 67.

  32 ‘It is one’: Ibid., p. 63. for the maritime routes of the Red Sea, see G. R. Tibbetts, ‘Arab Navigation in the Red Sea’, pp. 322–4 (Geographical Journal, 127, 1961).

  33 For about five hundred years Aidhab functioned: See, for example, H. A. R. Gibb’s article on ‘Aydhâb (in the Encyclopaedia of Islam), and G. W. Murray’s article ‘Aidhab’ (in The Geographical Journal, 68, pp. 235–40, 1926).

  34 In any case, all that remains: Cf. J-C. Garcin, ‘Jean-Léon l’Africain et ‘Aydab’, p. 190 (Annales Iskmologiques, XI, 1972).

  35 ‘The carrier of this letter’: T–S N.S. J 1, recto, lines 13–16.

  36 But the writing … is clear: Cf. Shaul Shaked, Tentative Bibliography, p. 134.

  37 ‘Shaikh Abraham Ibn Yijû bespoke’: T–S 13 J 24, fol. 2, recto, lines 9–22 and margins.

  38 ‘For the affair of Shaikh Makhluf’: T–S MS Ov. 1081 J 3, recto, margin.

  39 The first … a legally attested deed: Cf. S. D. Goitein, Letters, p. 202.

  40 The second … is a rough draft: T–S 12.458 verso, lines 5–13. I would like to thank Dr Geoffrey Khan for translating the Aramaic words in this document for me.

  41 ‘concubinage is permitted’: Al-Idrisi, Kitâb p. 179.

  42 ‘Let us thank God,’: Cf. G. Ferrand, Voyage du Marchand Arabe Sulayman en Inde et en Chine, p. 124 (Paris, 1922).

  43 ‘Public women are everywhere’: ‘The Travels of Nicolo Conti in the East in the Early Part of the Fifteenth Century’, p. 23 (translated from the original of Poggio Bracciolini by J. Winter Jones, in India in the Fifteenth Century; Being a Collection of Narratives of Voyages to India, ed. R. H. Major, Hakluyt Society, London, 1857).

  44 ‘Immediately after midday’: ‘Narrative of the Voyage of Abd-er-Razzak, Ambassador from Shah Rukh, A.H. 845, A.D. 1442’, p. 29 (translated by R. H. Major from the French translation of the Persian by M. Quatremère, in India in the Fifteenth Century, ed. R. H. Major).

  45 ‘I have also sent’: T–S N.S. J 1 recto, line 11.

  46 The connection seems so obvious: S. D. Goitein, Letters, p. 202.

  47 In a set of accounts … the name Naîr: T–S 20.137, verso, line 19 (account no.2). The word of Ben Yiju used was sahrî, ‘brother-in-law’ or male affine. It is worth noting that in Ben Yiju’s circle this term was generally used in a specific sense, and not as a portmanteau kinship term (for a case to point see p. 178 of S. D. Goitein’s article ‘The Beginnings of the Kârim Merchants’).

  48 The lucky accident … links her … to the Nairs: This squares well with what is known of the social composition of Mangalore at the time, for it is recorded in contemporary inscriptions that a community of Nairs was indeed resident in the area around that time. Accounts left by later travellers suggest that the Nairs of that region had developed particularly close links with foreign traders. See P. Gururaja Bhatt’s Studies in Tuuva History and Culture, pp. 234–5 (Manipal, Karnataka, 1970).

  49 ‘And throughout the [land]’: Benjamin of Tudela, The Itinerary, pp. 120–1 (ed. Michael A. Signer, 1983).

  Mangalore

  1 When Ben Yiju arrived: See Neville Chittick, ‘East Africa and the Orient: Ports and Trade before the arrival of the Portuguese’ (in Historical Relations Across the Indian Ocean, UNESCO, Paris, 1980).

  2 ‘living in a suburb’: See Ibn Battúta Travels in Asia and Africa, 1325–1354, p. 233 (trans. and selected by H. A. R. Gibb, Routledge & Sons, London, 1939).

  3 ‘China, Sumatra, Ceylon,’: Ibid, p. 234.

  4 ‘Arabs, Persians, Guzarates’: Duarte Barbosa, A Description of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar in the beginning of the sixteenth century, p. 202 (trans. H. E. J. Stanley, The Hakluyt Society, London, 1856).

  5 ‘[They] possess … wives’: Ibid., p. 202.

  6 ‘They dress themselves’: ‘Narrative of the Voyage of Abd-er-Razzak’, p. 17 (in India in the Fifteenth Century, ed. R. H. Major).

  7 .… the Arabic name ‘Malabâr’: The name is spelt variously as Malabar and Malîbâr in the Geniza documents. It also sometimes occurs in plural forms, such as Malîbârât.

  8 The language of Mangalore: See K. V. Ramesh, A History of South Kanara, xxiv-xxvi (Karnatak University Research Publications, Series 12, Dharwar, 1970); ‘Geographical Factors in Tuluva History’, p. 7 (Academy Silver Jubilee Lecture, Academy of General Education, Manipal, Karnataka, 1981); U. P. Upadhyaya & S. P. Upadhyaya (ed.), Bhuta Worship: Aspects of a Ritualistic Theatre, p. 1 (Regional Resources Centre for Folk Performing Arts, M.G.M.College, Udupi, Karnataka, 1984); P. Claus, ‘Mayndaa: A Legend and Possession Cult of Tuunâ’, p. 96 (Asian Folklore Studies, Vol. 38:2, 1979); and G. R. Krishna, Caste and Tribes of Fishermen, pp. 103–11 (Discovery Publishing House, New Delhi, 1990).

  9 It is this language: Tuu is spoken by 47 per cent of the population of South Kanara District—the area that was once known as Tuanâ (Karnataka State Gazetteer [South Kanara District], p. 94, Govt. of Karnataka, Bangalore, 1973).

  10 Writing in Alexandria … Ptolemy: The name of this dynasty is also spelt, in various inscriptions, as Ava, Auka, Aupa and Aapa (Cf. K. V. Ramesh, A History of South Kanara, p. 30; and P. Gururaja Bhatt, Studies, p. 18).

  11 For several hundreds of years: For detailed accounts of the history of the Aupas see K. V. Ramesh’s History of South Kanara; P. Gururaja Bhatt’s Studies, pp. 18–41; and B. A. Saletore’s Ancient Karnataka, (History of Tuluva, Vol. I, Oriental Book Agency, Poona, 1936).

  12 it was in the reign of…: Cf. K. V. Ramesh, History of South Kanara, p. 115. P.Gururaja Bhatt dates Kavi Aupendra’s reign from 1115 to 1155 (Studies p. 23).
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  13 I had been told: I am indebted to a great many people for offering help, advice and criticism while I was working in Karnataka. I would particularly like to thank Dr C. Veeranna, Dr G. S. Sivarudrappa, Dr M. N. Srinivas, Sm. Tara N. Chandravarkar and Dr Vivek Dhareshwar of Bangalore; Dr Vijaya Dabbe of Mysore; and Dr K. S. Haridas Bhatt, Shri S. A. Krishnaiah, Dr Alphonsus D’Souza and Sm. L. Lobo-Prabhu of Mangalore. The late Shri K. S. Niranjana and Sm. Anupama Nivanjana were also very generous with their time and advice while I was in Bangalore; I would like to record my gratitude to them here.

  14 In the translated version of the letter: S. D. Goitein, Letters, p. 191.

  15 Indeed … an accepted way of spelling the word: The tenth-century Arab traveller and geographer Masûdî, for example, uses the word brâhma and various cognates frequently in his encyclopaedic compendium, Murûj al-Dhahab (Les Prairies dor), Vol. I, pp. 149, 154, & 157–8 (Arabic text and French Translation, C. Barbier de Meynard & Pavet de Courteille, Société Asiatique, Paris, 1861). The geographer Al-Idrisi, who happened to be a contemporary of Ben Yiju’s, was perfectly familiar with the word although he never went anywhere near the Indian Ocean. Al-Idrisi uses the word frequently but he sometimes uses it to mean Brahmin (as indeed does Mas’udi often).

  16 The slave-trade in Ben Yiju’s time: A Persian chronicler of the ninth century describes travelling merchants who took ‘eunuchs, female slaves (and) boys’ from ‘the country of the Franks’, in Europe, and traded them, in India and China, for ‘musk, aloes, camphor and cinnamon’, (Ibn Khurdâdhbih, quoted in Reinaud’s introduction to Abû al-Fidâ’s Kitâb taqwîm al-buldân (Géographie d’Aboulfélda), p. 58, Arabic text, ed. M. Reinaud & Baron MacGuckin de Slane, Paris, 1860). A century later, a geographer, Ibn auqâl, noted that Byzantine, Slavonic and Berber slaves were regularly traded in the cities of the east. (Cf. H. Z. Hirschberg, Jews in North Africa, p. 252). Edward H. Schafer deals briefly with the import of foreign slaves into China in The Golden Peaches of Samarkand, pp. 43–7 (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1963).

  17 Indeed, an obscure reference: In one of his letters, Madmun, writing to Ben Yiju, remarks: ‘This year the “traders” (jallâb) have not come here yet from Zabîd’ (T–S 20.130, recto, lines 45–46). The word jallâb has the connotation of ‘slave-traders’. The implication of the passage is that Ben Yiju had been expecting the arrival of a party of slave-traders in Mangalore. Al-Idrisi observes that Zabid was a major destination for Abyssinian slave-traders (Kitâb, Vol. I, p. 49).

  18 The slaves … traded in … Egypt: See S. D. Goitein, ‘Slaves and Slavegirls in the Cairo Geniza Records’, (Arabica, Vol.9, 1–20, 1962); and A Mediterranean Society, Vol. I, pp. 130–147.

  19 But the slave’s name: Dr Geoffrey Khan has found the name Bâmah in a third-century AH Arabic papyrus, and he interprets it as a rendering of the Coptic name Pamei/Pame (personal communication). It is extremely unlikely however that the B-M-H of MS H.6 is intended to represent the same name, since it is spelt differently, not just once, but consistently through the whole range of Ben Yiju’s correspondence.

  20 I discovered … Mâsaleya Bamma: R. S. Panchamukhi (ed.), Karnataka Inscriptions, Vol. II., pp. 71–2 (Kannada Research Institute, Dharwar, 1951).

  21 Another … Sei Bamma: Ibid., pp. 72–73.

  22 Over … but still preserved: For example, one of the principal matrilineal clans of Tulunad bears the name ‘Bommiya-bai’. There is also a Bommi-eiya-bai among the many matriiineal bais mentioned in medieval inscriptions. See P. Gururaja Bhatt, Studies, pp. 243 & 250–1.

  23 But divided … the Tuluva: Cf. P. Claus, ‘Spirit Possession and Spirit Mediumship from the Perspective of Tulu Oral Traditions’, (in Culture, Medicine & Psychiatry, 3:94–129, 1979). The distinctively Tuluva matrilineal system of law is known as Aiya-santâna law. By the rules of this system, men transmit their immoveable property, not to their own children, but matrilineally, to their sister’s children. But it is important to note that among the Tuluva, as with most groups that are characterized as ‘matrilineal’, these rules apply only to certain categories of property. P. Claus in his article ‘Terminological Aspects of Tuu Kinship: Kin Terms, Kin Sets, and Kin Groups of the Matrilineal Castes’ (in American Studies in the Anthropology of India, 1981) has very rightly questioned the usefulness of labels such as ‘matrilineal’ and ‘patrilineal’ in these circumstances (p. 213). In his view some Tuluva institutions are suggestive of double unilineal descent (p. 234). Where I have used the term ‘matrilineal’ without qualification it is purely for convenience; these qualifications must be taken for granted.

  24 Equally, they shared in the worship of … Bhûtas: See, for instance, the following articles: Heidrun Brückner, ‘Bhûta-Worship in Coastal Karnâaka: An Oral Tuu myth and festival ritual of Jumâdi’, p. 18 (Studien zur Indologie und Iranistik, 13/14, Reinbek, 1987); P. Claus, ‘Possession, Protection and Punishment as Attributes of the Deities in a South Indian Village’, p. 235 (Man in India, 53:231–242, 1973); and Mark Nichter, ‘The Joga and Maya of Tuluva Buta’, p. 140, (Eastern Anthropologist, 30:2).

  25 By tradition, each of the Tuluva castes: Mark Nichter, ‘The Joga and Maya of Tuluva Buta’, p. 143.

  26 The cult was tied to the land: Mark Nichter, ‘Joga and Maya of Tuluva Buta’, p. 139. It is also worth noting that Tuluva Brahmins follow patrilineal rules of succession. (See P. Claus, ‘Terminological Aspects of Tulu Kinship: Kin Terms, Kin Sets, and Kin Groups of the Matrilineal Castes’, p. 214).

  27 There was no contradiction: See Mark Nichter’s ‘Joga and Maya’ for a detailed account of the workings of this process.

  28 Koti and Chennaya: Cf. G. R. Krishna, Caste and Tribes, p. 109.

  29 Later, he explained … Berme: I am deeply grateful to Prof. B. A. Viveka Rai for this and many other comments and suggestions, for his unstinting generosity with his time and erudition, and for a great many other kindnesses. On the subject of Berme see H. Brückner, ‘Bhûta-Worship in Coastal Karnâtaka’, p. 29; and P. Claus, ‘Spirit Possession and Spirit Mediumship from the Perspective of Tulu Oral Traditions’, p. 40. Bermeru, or the Tulu Brahma is always depicted as a figure seated on a horse with a sword in hand. Cf. plates 437–8 in P. Gururaja Bhatt, Studies; and U. P. Upadhyaya & S. P. Upadhyaya (ed.), Bhuta Worship: Aspects of a Ritualistic Theatre, plate 4.

  30 The letter in question: T–S 20.137 recto. Ben Yiju used the reverse side of this fragment for jotting down certain invaluable notes and accounts.

  31 It is worth adding … this sum of money: These figures are computed on the basis of E. Ashtor’s statistics, pp. 200–201, (A Social and Economic History of the Near East in the Middle Ages, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1976.). The figures for mutton and olive oil are based on prices prevalent at the beginning of the eleventh century. There were however considerable differences in value between the Malikî dinars of Aden and Fatimid dinars, at various points in time. The reader is cautioned therefore, that these figures are, at best, very rough approximations.

  32 Alternatively, … three adult Spaniards: Cf. S. D. Goitein, ‘Changes in the Middle East (950–1150)’. The ransom for an adult person in Spain at that time was 33⅓ dinars (p. 21).

  33 .… the wage of any artisan: E. Ashtor, Social and Economic History, p. 200. Standard earnings were remarkably stable throughout the eleventh and twelfth centuries (cf. S. D. Goitein, ‘Urban Housing in Fatimid Times’, p. 9).

  34 Madmun’s accounts show: T–S 20.137, recto, line 36–7; T–S N.S. J 1, recto, line 5–6.

  35 enough to buy a … mansion in Fustat: See E. Ashtor, Histoire des prix et des salaires dans l’Orient médiéval, p. 184, Paris, 1969.

  36 The expedition: S. D. Goitein, ‘Two Eye-Witness reports on an Expedition of the King of Kish (Qais) against Aden’, (Bulletin of the School of African and Oriental Studies, XVI/2, pp. 247–57, London, 1956).

  37 The Amîrs of Kish … their depredations: Cf. Al-Idrisi, Kitâb, pp. 59, 153 & 171.

  38 But
… the pirates tried not to invite: For the attempts of the Sung government to control piracy in Chinese waters see Jung-Pang Lo’s article, ‘Maritime Commerce and its relation to the Sung Navy’, pp. 57–101 (Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, XI, pt. III, 1968). Lo points out: ‘the problem of piracy suppression was not just a simple matter of police action. Beside the unscrupulous merchants who were in league with the outlaws, there were respectable merchants who started out their career as pirates’, (p.74).

  39 .… ever tried to gain control of the seas: The historian K. N. Chaudhuri, for instance remarks: ‘Before the arrival of the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean in 1498 there had been no organised attempt by any political power to control the sea-lanes and the long distance trade of Asia … The Indian Ocean as a whole and its different seas were not dominated by any particular nations or empires.’ (Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean, p. 14, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1985).

  40 Sirâf: Sirâf was one of the most important ports of the Persian Gulf in the Middle Ages. See K. N. Chaudhuri’s Trade and Civilisation, p. 48; and Rita Rose Di Meglio’s article, ‘Arab Trade with Indonesia and the Malay Peninsula from the eighth to the sixteenth century’, p. 106 (in Islam and the Trade of Asia, ed. D. S. Richards).

  41 Ramisht of Siraf: See S. M. Stern, ‘Râmisht of Sîrâf, a Merchant Millionaire of the Twelfth Century’, p. 10, (Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, pp. 10–14, 1967).

  42 Ramisht’s trading empire: Cf. S. D. Goitein, Letters, p. 193.

  43 ‘Thus God did not’: S. D. Goitein, ‘Two Eye-Witness Reports …’, p. 256.

  44 ‘And after that’: T–S 20.137, recto, lines 1–5.

  45 entirely different from … ‘slavery’: M. I. Finley, Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology, pp. 58–62, (Chatto and Windus, London, 1990).