Zamorin's Wars Abroad

Historians of Calicut have dwelt at length on the internecine wars which the Zamorin had fought with other rulers in Kerala, leading in many cases to mutually assured destruction. Some of these stories may be apocryphal such as the 48 year-war which the Nediyiruppu Eradi (who later on became the Zamorin) fought against the Porlathiri - a narrative replete more with details of marital infidelity than with martial valour!

We also have detailed accounts of the Zamorin's annexation of much of Valluvanad by propitiating the Thirumandhamkunnu Bhagawati. The wars with Cochin which occurred regularly have been well-documented. The occasional forays into Kolathiri and Palakkad territories - the last one proving fatal - are also described in considerable detail.

However, we do not find mention of the wars that the Zamorin's forces waged beyond the Indian shores or of the battles fought in territories not contiguous with the Zamorin borders.

We discuss briefly one episode of the Zamorin fighting a war abroad.

Sri Lanka was unified as one island kingdom by King Parakramabahu VI of the Kotte Kingdom in the early 15th century. But this did not last long, as the Jaffna kingdom had revolted in 1467 leading up to a break up. The threat from the Portuguese ( who had landed in the island in 1501) increased with a large fleet landing at Colombo in 1518 and their attempt to build a fort there named Santa Barbara.

Finally, a palace coup by the King's sons led to his deposition in 1521 and the break up of the kingdom into three independent units of Kotte, Sitawaka and Raigama. The powerful Kandy kingdom remained outside as an independent kingdom, as it did during most of Parakramabahu's reign.

Vijayabahu VII (1509-21) who had deposed Parakramabahu perceived that the growing power of the Portuguese would be a threat to his kingdom and, instigated by the Mappilas who shared the same threat perception, appealed to the Zamorin for help in driving away the foreign power.

But the sagacious ruler of Calicut (1513-1522) had signed a treaty in December 1513 with the Portuguese and would not like to upset the understanding which recognised the new reality of a declining influence of the Moors and the need to accept the reality of the European traders. The Zamorin refused to intervene.

Bhuvanekabahu VII who inherited the truncated Kotte kingdom was apprehensive too, this time of his brother Mayadunne who was ruling the neighbouring kingdom of Sitawaka. There is little that remains of the kingdom of Sitawaka today except the ruins of a fort and a 'kovila' in modern day Avissawella town. But when it was founded by Mayadunne, it was a land-locked territory with no access to the port of Colombo for its rich agricultural produce.

Although the Potuguese could not complete the construction of Santa Barbara fort due to local resistance, they had been permitted to station an agent at Kotte under royal protection to watch their trading interest and to counter the Mappila domination of the cinnamon trade.

In 1526, the war between the brothers broke out again and now it was the turn of Mayadunne, the ruler of Sitawaka to seek the help of the Zamorin. The wise ruler who had brought peace and prosperity to Calicut by signing the treaty with the Portuguese in 1513 had passed away in 1522. (It was a different matter that the Portuguese had reneged on the clauses of the treaty as soon as they had completed the construction of their fort at Kallayi.)

The new Zamorin was not too friendly towards the Portuguese who had annoyed everyone by their treacherous acts. The period between 1524 and 1540 (when a new treaty was signed with the Portuguese at Ponnani) was an era of turbulence in the history of Calicut - an era which witnessed the brief reappearance of Vasco da Gama only to die in Cochin and the barbarities of Viceroys like Menezes and Sampayo.

Silawaka's first foray against Kotte was in 1528 when the Zamorin's forces also fought alongside. But this and the next attack in 1537 were repulsed by the Kotte forces aided by the Portuguese. The Mahavamsa (expanded with the inclusion of the Culavamsa) which is the recorded chronicle of Sri Lankan history, describes the second war thus:

It was in 1537 AD. This time the Zamorin sent help to King Mayadunne. He sent 51 warships, 500 guns and 200 soldiers....Zamorin's armies were stationed in Vedalayi close to Rameshwaram. When Souza (the Portuguese admiral from Goa) discovered this, he began to attack them. This developed into a great sea battle. In the battle, the Zamorin armies were defeated....Whatever gifts the Zamorin had sent to King Mayadunne were also seized by the Portuguese'.

Third and final assault on Kotte took place in 1539 in which the Zamorin's force supported the Sitawaka army. The attack was yet again repulsed by the Portuguese Captain-General Miguel Ferreira who dealt a body blow to the Zamorin forces by capturing his two generals - Kulhena Marikkar and Pachi Marikkar.

The Zamorin's forays beyond the shores of Calicut were confined to the brief period between 1524 and 1540 which represented a difficult period in the relationship with the Portuguese - an era which covered the expulsion of the Portuguese from Calicut in 1525, building of the Chaliyam fort in 1531 and continuous war on land and sea between 1531 and 1540 culminating the Ponnani Treaty which was signed in 1540.

(Zamorin's army had participated in other wars outside its territory - details in the forthcoming post.)

Reference:

Wikipedia article on Sitawaka

Zamorins of Calicut by KV Krishna Ayyar

Logan's Manual

http://the sundaytimes.lk dated 12 July 2009

Calicut and Foreigners

photo:courtesy The Hindu

Calicut witnessed a few days ago the curious spectacle of large number of people forming a 'human chain' against Government of India's decision to sign a Free Trade Agreement with ASEAN nations. According to the organisers, the pact is part of an international conspiracy by the globalising forces to surrender the country's sovereignty and this would destroy Kerala's agricultural economy.

The ruling coalition in Kerala has taken a consistent stand against globalisation which they interpret narrowly as allowing imports and permitting foreign capital. They are not against export of Kerala commodities nor against foreign tourists visiting Kerala and spending their dollars and Euros here. And obviously, they wholeheartedly support the export of human power from Kerala to the Gulf which sustains the economy and the intellectual activities of the leisurely class like human chains!

Economics tells us that no country can only export goods while putting barriers against imports. Similarly, no economy can export human capital (as Kerala does to the Gulf and the western hemisphere) without permitting foreign capital -financial and human - to be allowed entry.

© Casas-Rodríguez Collection, 2009

Was Calicut always like this? What does Calicut's history tell us?

The Persian envoy Abd-al-Razzaq al-Samarqandi who travelled to Malabar en route Vijayanagar in 1442 was one of the earliest chroniclers of Calicut during the Zamorin era. He describes the existence of a large settlement of foreign (pardesi) merchants - Arabs, Persian, Gujaratis, Khorasanis and Deccanis. These merchants were not itinerant traders - they were expatriates who were in Malabar for a considerable period. According to Razzaq, 'they were great merchants and possess in this place wives and children, and ships for sailing to all parts with all kinds of goods'. They were so powerful that they had their own courts which administered their laws without interference by the Zamorin. The fascinating story of a Jewish entrepreneur in the 12th century having settled down in Malabar and marrying a Nair woman had been revealed to us by Maddy (please see details at http://calicutheritageforum.googlepages.com/meeting923).

These pardesis presented a striking contrast to the locals. While the latter were pitifully clad in a single piece of 'bandage around the middle called lankotah which descended from the navel to above the knee', the Pardesis were fastidious in the matter of clothing. '...they go well-dressed and adorned with silk stuffs, scarlet cloth, camlets and cottons : their head-dress wrapped around their heads. They have large houses and many servants: they are very luxurious in eating, drinking and sleeping...' (Razzaq). Their successors in the 17th century Calicut were wealthy merchants like Issac Surgun the Jew and Hajji Yusuf the Moplah of Arab descent. It was this opulent style of the expatriate resident traders which was copied by the first generation East India Company employees like Robert Adams in Calicut and Robert Clive in Calcutta.

The Zamorin not only encouraged the Pardesi traders to settle down but even provided them secretarial and other assistance, much like the government's current policy of encouraging Special Economic Zones (SEZ) as enclaves of foreign capital operating under a different set of laws and protected from local threats. According to Duarte Barbosa, another traveller of the period, the Zamorin gave each foreign trader 'a Nair to guard and serve him, a Chetty scribe for his accounts and to take care of his property and a broker for his trade'.

Abdul Razzaq recounts another instance of how far the Zamorin would go to please foreign powers and invite them to trade in his kingdom. Upon hearing of the power of the Persian King Shah Rukh, the Zamorin sent him some costly presents and a message, which read : 'In this port, on every Friday and every solemn feast day, the Khotbah is celebrated according to the prescribed rules of Islamism. With your majesty's permission, these prayers shall be adorned and honoured by the addition of your name and your illustrious titles'. It's ok to be a toady if it promotes the trade of the realm!

The grand reception which Vasco da Gama received in Calicut ( 'With pomp unwonted India’s nobles greet/The fearless heroes of the warlike fleet.',according to Lusiad) has been well documented. Similarly, William Keeling. Esq. was passing down the western coast in his ship 'The Dragon' when a 'Tony' (the Malayalam word for a boat, Thony was very popular) approached the ship with a message from the Zamorin. Keeling was requested to go to Cranganore where the Zamorin was camping, and soon a treaty was signed in haste on 10th March 1616, permitting the English East India Company to establish a post.

But the rivalry among the European powers and the greed of native rulers and their eagerness to use the foreign powers to settle their own little scores led to the decline of an empire which was built on sound principles of free trade and open economy. The decline started with the Portuguese demanding monopoly status in spice trade and grew worse with the Dutch cruelties. By 1720, the Zamorin had become so weak that he was seen pleading with the French to save him from the Dutch. The days of commercial treaties are over - it is now a desperate effort to save political sovereignty. Writing to the King of France on the 16th April 1720, the Zamorin pleaded: '...I write to your Majesty to request that it helps me, in order that I take revenge on the insults which the said Dutch are doing to me. I hope your Majesty will order to help me'

The French did make a gesture of helping the Zamorin, but that is another story!

Yawning Gaps in Calicut History

What was Calicut like before the Zamorins established thier rule in the 12^th century? We have only folklore masquerading as history to rely upon. Keralolpatti and Keralamahatmyam are thinly disguised attempts to portray Brahmin supremacy over the ruling classes founded on the adventures of the ubiquitous Parashurama.

Sifting history from folklore is a formidable task. Prof. MGS Narayanan is categorical that ‘There was no city of Calicut (Kalikooth of the Arabs, Kallikkottai of the Tamils and Kozhikkode of the Malayalees) before the 12^th century of the Christian era. There was no harbour or trade centre.’ (page 58, Calicut: The City of Truth Revisited, 2006) If we accept this proposition, we have to assume that either Porlathiris, the rulers of these parts before Zamorin annexed Calicut, during their last days or Zamorins themselves after their conquest of Calicut must have developed Calicut as a port and trading centre.

When did Calicut develop as a major trading centre, visited by merchants from faraway places? From the above statement, it must have been during the 12^th century. But, we find references to Malabar in general and Calicut in particular during the same period suggesting that it must have already been a developed port. For instance, Marco Polo visited Kerala in 1293-94 and refers to Calicut as the ‘Kingdom of Melibar’, second only to the Kingdom of Eli (Ezhimala). ‘There is in this Kingdom a great quantity of pepper and ginger and cinnamon and turbit (the pigeon rearing of Kundungal and Kuttichira must have been quite an ancient hobby!) and nuts of India. They also manufacture very delicate and beautiful buckrams. (Buckram during Polo’s days was not the stiff cloth known today but fine cotton cloth – what was Calico called before Calicut was founded??) The ships that come from the east bring copper as ballast. They also have cloves and spikenard and other fine spices, for which there is a demand here for the products of these countries.’ There is no mention of Zamorin yet. The first such recorded mention is in the travel accounts of the Moroccan traveller, Ibn Batuta (1342-45) who stated unequivocally: ‘The Sultan of Calicut is an idolator known as the Samuri’.

We know that the last Perumal was Rama Kulashekhara (1089-1102). Therefore, the partition or dismemberment of the country must have happened after 1102. But, did the Eradis of Nediyiruppu re-invent themselves as Zamorin soon after becoming independent? Evidence does not support this contention. For, in the stone inscription dated 1102 discovered in Quilon (deciphered by MGS) there is a reference to Manavikrama, the Governor of Eranad. Again, in the grant of the Veera Raghava Chakravarti ( 1225 AD), the Chief of Eranad is referred to as Eranad Udayavar. We may, therefore, presume that the movement of the Eranad

Prince north to Calicut and his conquest (by deceit?) of the Porlathiri must have taken place much later, perhaps in the second half of the 13^th century.

How do we reconcile this with the tradition that before Manichan and Vikkiran inherited the land, the present day Calicut was a marshy patch with possibly some salt pans? And the statement quoted above that there was no Calicut before the 12^th century? Although Marco Polo did not refer to the buckram cloth as Calico, it is known that the 11^th Century Jain scholar from Gujarat, Hemchandra had referred to Calico in his writings. Could there be Calico without Calicut? If Calicut was unknown before the 12^th century, why did all the Arab travellers make a bee-line for this place, if all it had was some salt pans and thorny bushes. How did the 9^th Century Persian geographer Ibn Khordadbeh (820-912 AD) who was working as the Director of Posts and Police, know of this place and why did he write about it? What about the Arab traders who had settled here and had fathered children by local women?

We are yet to find out answers to these and many more questions. Recently a new window was opened to Malabar’s history during this period by the erudite presentation before a select audience of Calicut Heritage Forum (full report and the presentation may be seen at the CHF site http://calicutheritageforum.googlepages.com/meeting923 ) by Ullattil Manmadhan, known to history buffs as Maddy (http://historicalleys.blogspot.com) . In short, Maddy spoke of the story of a Jewish entrepreneur, Abraham Yiju who had not only set up an industry in the Malabar coast in 1120 AD but had even married a local girl. The new findings came from deciphering the Geniza fragments(http://www.genizah.org) are still being studied by historians in Cambridge and Princeton. The industry was utensil manufacture and the market was Egypt and from there to Rome. Calicut and surrounding areas must have been a vibrant manufacturing and trading centre even much earlier than now thought of. The testimony of Marco Polo that copper was being used as ballast in the ships arriving from the east corroborates the fact that metal forging and smithy must have been a major industrial activity in and around Calicut.

There is urgent need for the academic community to take the lead opened up by the Geniza documents and research on the antiquity of Calicut and its status as an industrial and trading centre before the 12^th Century. It is time we moved on beyond pseudo history like Keralolppaththi!

Did Marco Polo Visit Calicut?

This was the question posed by an avid commentator, Premnath T Murkoth, on an earlier post (http://calicutheritage.blogspot.com/2009/06/locating-calic

ut-port-where-exactly-was.html ) Maddy, quoting the historian Ashin Das Gupta chipped in that Marco Polo did not mention Calicut by name, though he had visited Malabar. 'It appears that Yule added the 'unwarranted' comment about Calicut in the translation, according to Das Gupta', added Maddy.

We set out to explore this question a little further – a journey that took us all the way to Venice and back! But, first, let us look at some ofthe available evidence.

The picture given above is from the U.S. Library of Congress website. (http://www.loc.gov/wiseguide/jun06/polo.html ) The two portraits are those of Marco Polo and the Florentine humanist historian Poggio (1380-1459). What is striking about the picture is the inset which shows a busy port with lush greenery.The trees are supposed to be 'firs' meant for ship-building – Marco did not know then that the raw material for Malabar ships was Teak.

Above the scene of the harbour is written the word “Calicu” which, the site thinks, is a reference to Calicut, India. The illustration appears to be the front cover of a copy of the Travels of Marco Polo, of which several versions were available. In fact, the US Library of Congress itself has 125 different versions of the Travels in their collection.

There is, however, not much difference in the details of Polo's sojourn in South India. He gives detailed description of Andamans, Coromandel coast, Mylapore and San Thome (in what came to be called Madras later), Masulipatnam, Tirunelveli, Kollam (Travancore), Cape Comorin, and Ezhimala (Deli). Then he launches into a general description of Malabar and the perils of piracy on this coast and we find him next on the Gujarat coast.

This has prompted John Masefield who edited Marco's travels (1908) to comment: '...it is just possible that the description of these places were taken from the tales of pilots, and that his fleet put boldly out to avoid the coast pirates' ( of the western coast).

Most probably Marco and company landed on the Coromandel shore and took the land route to Kollam. This conjecture might explain the vagueness of details about Calicut in a near-contemporary Chinese account highlighted recently by Maddy ( http://historicalleys.blogspot.com/ ) The Chinese account gives a lot of details about Kollam which must have been a flourishing port, exporting pepper, hemp, cloth, indigo etc. Coromandel coast was reputed to be the favourite landing place for horses and if the King of Kollam had been using horses, these must have landed on the eastern coast. The Kollam – Aryankavu- Shenkotta route to Tamil territory and Vijayanagar empire must have been the main land route. We repeat, all these are conjectures intended to provoke academic discussion by more knowledgeable persons!

Our visit to Venice looking for traces of Marco Polo was a dampner. We looked in vain for more local information on the intrepid traveller from Venice. The great Venetian museum in San Marco extolled the glories of the Doges and the city state. Museo Correr was another ego trip for the Serenissima Republic. We even drew a blank in the cemetery outside the Church of San Lorenzo where Marco Polo was believed to have been laid to rest. No, the City seemed to have forgotten its eminent son who spent his life trying to convince his people that what he was narrating about the glorious Cathay was the truth.

It would appear that Venice has not forgiven Marco for all the details provided by him which prompted a later generation of European adventurers to use his material and find a route to the east. Both Columbus and Vasco da Gama had used information from Marco Polo's travels. Their success led to the fall of Venice from the hub of European trade to a tourist spot touting gondola trips for the romantically inclined! Reason enough for the city to turn against the guy who caused it all!

There was one place which preserved the memories of Marco in Venice – its swanky airport called The Marco Polo Airport -the only place in the world where you get down from an aircraft and step in straight to a boat! (see pics above the title)

Locating Calicut Port

Where exactly was the medieval port of Calicut located? The Portuguese illustration of the Port of Calicut (above) from the 16th Century suggests a location between the Korappuzha River in the north and the Kallayi River in the south. The vessels anchored to the south of Kallayi River might even suggest a port extending from Korappuzha to Chaliyam (Beypore). The boat building activities would suggest Beypore, in which case the river has to be Chaliyar and not Kallayi. (Please click on the picture for an enlargement.)

The most prominent landmark in

the sketch is, obviously, the Portuguese Church which was built in 1598 and which later on was completed by the Zamorin in 1725. This church, now known as the Madre De Deus Cathedral appears to be right on the beach, according to the painting. The same church is today quite inland (see picture – the white turret is the top of the Cathedral under renovation).

Writing in 1883, William Logan (Malabar) observed: '...the sea encroaches one year it recedes again speedily, a fact which is perhaps to be accounted for by the rocky (laterite) nature of the bottom opposite the lighthouse, and for a considerable distance further north'. During Logan's time, 'The best anchorage for large vessels is marked by a buoy and is with the following bearings:-Lighthouse E to E by N in five to six fathoms, and from two to three miles offshore. Small craft, of which large numbers frequent this port, lie close in shore, but they should not anchor further south than with the light bearing E.N.E as the ground then becomes foul'.

Thus, the famous mud banks off the coast of Calicut, while beneficial for small crafts as these break the waves and make the waters placid, can be quite treacherous for larger vessels. In any case, larger vessels were anchored a few miles away from the port and goods and persons were transported in smaller boats. Thus, Calicut provided open anchorage and was no natural harbour. When Abdul Razzak, who visited Calicut in 1442, was speaking of Calicut as a 'perfectly safe harbour', he was obviously not referring to protection from the elements of nature which an open road stead port like Calicut did not provide, but to the rule of law which prevailed in the administration of the port.

An interesting factlet regarding the port was the change in the direction of trade during the middle ages. When Marco Polo visited Malabar, the trade was predominantly with the East, dominated by Chinese traders. Zheng He, the great voyager and admiral of the Chinese fleet died in Calicut in 1433 and Abdul Razzak who came only 9 years after the event noticed already a shift in the trade from east to west.

The limits of the port of Calicut today are as follows:

To the north.- The boundary pillar erected three quarters of a mile north of the new custom house.

To the south.- The boundary pillar two miles south of the custom house; the seashore between them to within fifty yards of high-water mark spring-tides

For an interesting presentation on Calicut Port – Past and Present please visit http://calicutheritageforum.googlepages.com/meeting92

A Hilarious History of Calicut

Around the time William Logan was writing Malabar Manual (1887), an American scholar, diplomat and lawyer was describing Calicut and its inhabitants to his young readers almost as if he were describing some little known tribe deep in the jungles of the 'dark continent'. His book, Adventures of Vasco da Gama (1878) was the first of a series called Young Folks' Heroes of History which included the biographies of other famous explorers like Francis Drake, Magellan and Marco Polo.

Towle, who did not have any experience of India, appears to have embellished his story in order, as he admits in his preface, to '...attract and hold the absorbing 

attention of the young reader from beginning to end'. How far he has permitted his imagination to run wild can be seen by his description of Calicut traders who, while trading with Vasco da Gama, ' ...were delighted to receive some silver coins (which they took care to test by biting them with their teeth) in exchange for their wares'. !

George Makepeace Towle (1841-1893) is best known for introducing Jules Verne to the English-speaking world by translating from French his book, Around the World in 80 Days. He followed this up by translating many other works of Verne into English. A prolific writer, he also wrote an outline history of America, The Nation in a Nutshell.

The first view of Calicut, as seen by Vasco da Gama, is itself a figment of Towle's imagination:

Its domes and minarets glittered in the sunlight; its broad quays seemed full of life; and in the bay (!) upon which Calicut was was situated floated many ships from all parts of the east.

de Gama did not approach Calicut from the sea; he had first anchored off Kappad and then was piloted to Panthalayani Kollam from where he travelled to Calicut overland in a palanquin!

Before de Gama came, according to Towle, Arabs had been trading with Calicut and 'while they traded with the natives, who were a race very inferior to them in energy and intelligence, they took advantage of their opportunities to make converts to the Mohammedan religion.

Calicut was then ruled by a prince named Permaloo who was 'worked upon by the Arabs until they converted him to the Mohammedan faith. This caused his nobles to revolt; and, Permaloo, tired of the cares of sovereignty, divided up his dominion among various kinsmen and chieftains. The city and the neighbourhood of Calicut he awarded to a low-born favourite, a cowherd, who had behaved very valiantly in the wars against the Rajah and who, assuming the government, was awarded the title of Zamorin.'

Permaloo retired for the rest of his days to Mecca.

The city, according to Towle, was large enough to occupy a space several miles square. Its trade was so prosperous that many of the Arab and Moorish merchants who resided there owned as many as fifty ships; and it was not rare for five or six hundred ships to visit its harbour in the course of a winter.

Some other gems from Towle:

• '...it was an ancient law of Calicut that the Zamorin must die in the pagoda or temple of the Hindoo gods'.

• 'The Zamorin never married, but had a concubine, whom they could put away at pleasure, and take another. Their children did not succeed them, but brother succeeded brother; and there being none of these, the sons of the Zamorin's sister succeeded him'.

• ' If a Zamorin was killed, on the third day after death his body was taken to a field and placed on a pyre of sandal and other precious wood, his relatives and nobles all standing by. The body was burned amid the lamentations of the multitude, and the ashes were gathered and buried. Then all the relatives, even the children, set to shaving every part of their bodies; this being a token of great mourning. (saving only their eyelashes and eyebrows, according to Castanehda who was presumably the source of this story, but Towle was not inclined to give this concession!)

  In the ensuing fortnight (after the cremation) they were forbidden to chew betel, a favourite practice in that region; and, if any of them broke this rule, his lips were cut with a sharp knife.

Evidently, most of Towle's sources are from accounts by Portuguese traders and travellers. Castanehda's fantastic tales of Malabar in his Historia appear to have been a primary source. One of Castanehda's stories is about the Zamorin, who after defeat by the Portuguese in 1504, was crestfallen and despairing and took up religious seclusion in a turcol (thrikkovil ?) after yielding up the government to his successor and courted death by propitiating the gods.

Interestingly, this myth of ritual suicide by the Zamorin was quite popular among Portuguese travellers of that period. F.de Magalhaes (A Description of the Coast of Africa and Malabar) describes about a king of Malabar who would, after reigning for twelve years, offer a grand feast to the Brahmans and, in their presence, commit ritual suicide by cutting his own throat.

Instead of relying on the fantastic yarns of Portuguese travellers, the learned French translator could have followed the authentic travel experience of the Frenchman Pyrard de Laval who visited Calicut during 1608-09 and documented what he saw with the dispassionate approach of a historian. He observed that the Brahmins of Calicut put on brown slippers ' much pointed in front, the point raised high with the knot of the same leather in winter', and used wooden sandals in summer. Towle, on the other hand, describes the royal messenger sent by Zamorin to the Portuguese as 'naked, except that he wore a white cloth about his loins'!

Towle's series about the Young Folks' Heroes of History had a good audience, although the publisher ended up in bankruptcy. But the damage had been done – generations of Americans grew up with the stereotyped image of India as the land of snakes, elephants and naked fakirs. No wonder, another distinguished American, Katherine Mayo, who was a teenager when Towle's book was published (and might well have been fed on such 'heroes of history' stuff), wrote the scurrilous Mother India, which among other things described Ayurveda as 'voodoo doctoring of the West Indian negro'!!

Pirates in the History of Calicut

Calicut pops up in the most unlikely stories. Business Standard reports that many of the victims of the Somalian piracy now raging in the Gulf of Aden are seamen from Calicut!

 Incredibly, India is reportedly the biggest trading partner of the lawless Somalia, supplying it with essential commodities like rice, pulses, wheat, flour and sugar and helping transport the country's only significant export - goats. The trade is undertaken in large dhows, many of them made in Beypore. And the brave seamen who undertake the trade come from Mumbai, Kutch, Mangalore and - Calicut. 

And while high profile attacks on Russian and US ships and tankers get world attention and swift naval action, these anonymous victims are often at the mercy of the dhow owners and small time traders of Dubai who would rather cut their losses than spend more money as ransom.

Calicut's association with piracy on the high seas is as old as piracy itself. Piracy was recognised as one of the occupational hazards of seafaring. As Biddulph explained, 'There was no peace in the ocean. The sea was a vast No Man's domain where every man might take his prey'. 

As trade flourished so did piracy. The Indian trade with the Red Sea was paid for in gold and silver and, therefore, ships sailing from Jeddah - which carried pilgrims from Mecca, apart from the treasure - were prime targets. Many of these vessels were bound for Calicut.

British government took several measures to contain piracy on the Indian seas. Countries were required to issue passes and East India Company Commissioners were authorised to seize pirate ships and hold them till the King's pleasure.

But all these measures did not diminish the threat from pirates, and ships bound for the Malabar coast -extending from bet Dwarka in Gujarat to Anjengo in Travancore - were  plagued by frequent  and violent attacks by buccaneers. A specimen of the viciousness of such attacks is provided in the following narration of what happened off the coast of Calicut during such a raid:

 23rd november 1696

On this morning a ship under English colours stood into Calicut, and when alongside ship struck the English and hoisted Danish colours, fired a broadside, boarded and took her. Her boats then took three other ships. The Governor then came to us with threats and ordered us forthwith to send off to her and ask who they were, whereupon we sent Captain Mason, who returned saying that they were soldiers of fortune and that if the ships were not ransomed for Pounds 10,000 they and the rest of the shipping should be burned. We were well guarded all that night by the Governor's people.

24th November 1696

This morning the pirate was found to have moved her prizes to deeper water. The Governor ordered us to send off to know if they could lessen their demands. Captain Mason was accordingly sent off with a flag of truce and remonstrated civilly but to no purpose. They said he was no countryman of theirs, that they would not abate of 40,000 dollars ransom, and that unless it was sent off by noon one of the ships would be fired. Captain Mason again went off and offered 20,000 dollars, but they were deaf to it, and at four o'clock set one ship on fire. 

 It was clear by now that the local Governor (presumably representing the Zamorin) was buying time with the English pirates while arranging for an assault by 'Malabar pirates'. The assault started in the night of 25th November.  By the evening of 26th November the English pirates had been driven away and the Malabar pirates also managed to rescue Captain Mason, who had been held hostage by the pirates. 

27th November 1696

Captain Mason returned, having been put in a boat by the English pirate which was captured by the Malabar pirates, whereby he was obliged to jump overboard and swim ashore. He brought news that the pirate would cruise for Persia and Bussors ships. He reported her to be of about 300 tons, 20 guns and 100 men, her captain a Dutchman of New York, and that she daily expected a consort of about the same strength under one Hore. They offered him command of the ship if he would join them. He gathered that most of the pirates were fitted out from New York and returned thither to share the plunder with the Governor's connivance. One pirate had presented the Governor with his ship.

War with France was raging and there was no way the English naval force could come to the rescue of its merchant fleet. It was thus that some influential persons in London including the Chancellor, Lord Somers, Lord Orford and Lord Bellomont (who had been designated the Governor of New York)formed a syndicate and obtained a letter of marque for privateering to tackle the menace of piracy. It was rumoured that King William himself had a ten per cent share in the syndicate.

They obtained a commission for Captain William Kidd to act against the pirates with a reward of 50 pounds for every captured pirate. But soon it was revealed that Kidd had other ideas. From a tormentor of pirates he turned out to be the biggest pirate of them all, attacking English, French, Dutch and native ships without discrimination. His activities on the Malabar coast hurt English trade interests most and soon the entire 'syndicate' episode turned into a stinking political scandal.

Captain Kidd had visited Calicut in October 1697, apparently to seek replenishment of 'wood and water', but his reputation had preceded him and the Company authorities politely refused him, although he tried to browbeat them with authority of the King's Commission. Turned away from Calicut, Kidd sailed on towards the Laccadives. His last daring act was the capture of the ship Queddah Merchant.

Fate caught up with Kidd and he was arrested at the behest of his own mentor, Lord Bellomont who had by then taken over as the Governor of New York. The good Lord who had shared of Kidd's booty tried to distance himself from the pirate, claiming that 'I secured Captain Kidd last Thursday in the Gaol of this Town (Boston) with five or six of his men... It was true the King had allowed me a power to pardon pirates. But that I was so tender of using it (because I would bring no stain on my reputation) that I had set myself a rule never to pardon piracy without the King's express leave and command'.  This pompous statement came after Bellomont snatched from Kidd the only piece of evidence  (the French pass issued to Queddah Merchant) which could have saved Kidd's life! 

Perhaps Bellomont was hinting to the King that he could bail out his former business partner. But this did not happen and Kidd was tried, convicted and hanged at Execution Dock (on the Thames, at Wapping) on 23rd May 1701. If there was honour among thieves, it was only Kidd who demonstrated it - he did not disclose the names of his powerful patrons, despite close questioning!

While all this was happening, the Zamorin was the powerful Bharani Thirunal (1684-1705) who has been described as 'the terror of the Dutch'. He was perhaps still stationed in Ponnani and even found time to conduct two Mamankams in 1694 and again in 1695. 

The Governor mentioned in the narration of pirate attack must have been the Kozhikkode Thalachannavar who must have been the de facto Governor of Calicut. But, who were the 'Malabar pirates'? Is it a reference to some local naval force which must have been restructured after the cruel betrayal of Kunhali Marakkar? Or did the Shahbandar Koya have his own rapid action force?

Reference:

1. Business Standard, 15 November 2008

2. Dictionary of Pirates - Jan Rogozinski

3. The Pirates of Malabar etc. - John Biddulph

4. The Zamorins of Calicut - K.V. Krishna Ayyar