In an Antique Land

by Amitav Ghosh

  46 Slavery … a kind of career opening: S. D. Goitein began the section on slavery in A Mediterranean Society (Vol. I) with the observation: ‘In order to be able to understand the economic role and the social position of slaves in the society reflected in the Geniza records, we must free ourselves entirely of the notions familiar to us from our readings about life on American plantations or in ancient Rome.’ (p. 130). In the extensive anthropological literature on the subject it has of course, long been recognized that it is almost impossible to distinguish formally between slavery and certain other social estates.’ (Cf. Claude Meillasoux, L’esclavage en Afrique précoloniale, Paris, 1975; and Jack Goody, ‘Slavery in Time and Space’, in James L. Watson ed. Asian and African Systems of Slavery, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1980).

  47 In the medieval world, slavery: In various languages words that are now translated as ‘slave’ actually had the sense of dependant. For a discussion of the meaning and etymology of Chinese slave-terms, see E. G. Pulleybank, ‘The Origins and Nature of Chattel Slavery in China’, pp. 193–204, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. I, pt. 2, (E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1958).

  48 In their poetry: M. Chidanandamurthy, in his account of slavery in medieval Karnataka, in Pâgaraa mattu itara samprabandhagau (‘Pagarana and other research papers’, Pustaka Chilume, Mysore, 1984) for instance, draws much of his material from the work of Basavaa and other Vachanakara saint-poets (I am grateful to Prof. B. A. Viveka Rai for translating portions of the relevant article for my benefit).

  49 Judaism … felt the influence of Sufism: Cf. Paul Fenton’s translation of ‘Obadyâh Maimonides’, (1228–1265), Treatise of the Pool, pp. 2–3 (Octagon Press, London, 1981). Fenton’s introduction provides an outline of Sufi influences on Jewish mysticism.

  50 Egypt, in particular: See for example S. D. Goitein’s ‘A Jewish Addict to Sufism in the time of the Nagid David II Maimonides’, (Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. 44, pp. 37–49 1953–54).

  51 worthier disciples’: S. D. Goitein, ‘Abraham Maimonides and the Pietist Circle’, p. 146, (in Jewish Medieval and Renaissance Studies, ed. Alexander Altmann).

  52 Their own conceptions: See Annemarie Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam, p. 141–3 (University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1975).

  53 For the Sufis … the notion of being held by bonds: Forms of the Arabic root which expresses the idea ‘to bind, tie up’, r-b-, are threaded through Sufi discourse: they range from the brotherhoods called raba to the murâbi (marabouts) of Morocco and rabita kurmak, the Turkish phrase which expresses the tie between the Sufi Shaikh and his disciples. (See Annemarie Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions, pp. 231 & 237).

  54 ‘the slave of his slave’: Ibid., p. 292; see also Franz Rosenthal’s The Muslim Concept of Freedom Prior to the Nineteenth Century, p. 93, (Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1960).

  55 Amongst the members of: A large number of documents relating to such esoteric and magical cults, as well as protective talismans etc. have survived in the Geniza. See Norman Golb, ‘Aspects of the Historical Background of Jewish Life in Medieval Egypt’, pp. 12–16. The custom of visiting saint’s graves was followed widely within the congregation of the Synagogue of Ben Ezra in Fustat (see, for example, S. D. Goitein’s article, The Sexual Mores of the Common People’, p. 58). For the use of talismans in North African Jewish communities in modern times see Yedida Stillman, The Evil Eye in Morocco’, (in Folklore Research Centre Studies, Vol. I, ed. Dov Noy, Issachar Ben-Ami, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 1970).

  56 it was … dismissed: P. Gururaja Bhatt, for example, writes: ‘devil-worship has been, for centuries, the core of the Tuuva cult among the non-Brahmins.’ (Studies, p. 356).

  57 The spot was tended by a Pujari: For the role of the Pujari in Bhûtaradhana see G. R. Krishna’s Caste and Tribes, pp. 175–8.

  58 Over the years … Bomma’s role: See for example, S. D. Goitein, Letters, p. 191; E. Strauss, ‘Documents’, p. 149 (line 23 ‘to brother Bomma especially from me, plentiful greetings’); and T–S 18 J 4, fol. 18, recto, line 47, ‘and special greetings to Shaikh Bomma’.

  59 Among the items he brought back: T–S 20.137, recto, lines 46–48, & T–S N.S. J 1, recto, lines 8–11. Coral was an important product of the medieval Muslim west. It was obtained from the coasts of Spain and North Africa (Cf. Norman Stillman, The Merchant House of Ibn ‘Awkal’, p. 63). Soap was another luxury item exported by the Muslim west. Stillman writes: ‘It was the Arabs who first discovered that soap could be made from olive oil instead of foul-smelling animal fats. The Arabs often perfumed their soap, and in Europe soap from the Arab countries was considered an article of luxury.’ (p. 66, ibid.). Ben Yiju frequently imported soap from Aden to Mangalore.

  60 They wear only bandages’: R. H. Major, India in the Fifteenth Century, p. 17. ‘Abd al-Razzaq notes that this apparel was common to ‘the king and to the beggar’. See Goitein’s discussion of attitudes towards clothing as they are represented in the Geniza documents (A Mediterranean Society, Vol. IV, pp. 153–159, 1983).

  61 Several … mention imported Egyptian robes: These garments were referred to as futa and maqa’. See, for example, T–S 1080 J 95, recto, lines 8–9; T–S 10 J 9, fol. 24, lines 14–15; T–S 20.137, recto, line 48; and T–S 10 J 12, fol. 5, verso, line 9, & T–S 10 J 9, fol. 24, recto, lines 14–15 (maqa’ iskandarânî). For cloths that he may have used as turbans, see T–S 8 J 7, fol. 23, recto margin.

  62 ‘I have also … sent for you’: T–S 18 J 2, fol. 7, recto, lines 15–18.

  63 In the Middle East … paper: For treatments of the medieval paper industry in the Middle East, see S. D. Goitein, The Main Industries of the Mediterranean Area as Reflected in the Records of the Cairo Geniza’, pp. 189–193 (Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. IV, 1961); and E. Ashtor, ‘Levantine Sugar Industry in the Later Middle Ages—An Example of Technological Decline’, pp. 266–73, (Israel Oriental Studies, VII, Tel Aviv University, 1977). For the role of paper in medieval Muslim culture, see Qazi Ahmadmian Akhtar, The Art of Waraqat’, (Islamic Culture, pp. 131–45, Jan. 1935); and ‘Bibliophilism in Medieval Islam’, (Islamic Culture, pp. 155–169, April 1938). There is of course an extensive literature on the manufacture of books in the Islamic world in the Middle Ages. See for example, T.W. Arnold & A. Grohmann, The Islamic Book, (Paris, Pegasus Press, 1929).

  64 ‘the best available’: T–S K 25. 252, verso, lines 14–15.

  65 ‘no one has its like’: T–S 18 J 2, fol. 7, recto, lines 19–20. For some other references to paper (waraq) in Ben Yiju’s correspondence see T–S 8 J 7, fol. 23, verso, line 1 (waraq Marî); T–S 18 J 4, fol. 18, recto, line 42; T–S Misc. Box 25, fragm. 103, recto, line 48; & T–S N.S. J 1, recto, line 9.

  66 Much of his kitchenware: For mention of ‘iron frying-pans’ (maqlâ hadîd) see T–S 20.137, recto, line 47; for glasses (zajjâj), 20.137, recto, line 45; T–S MS Or. 1081 J 3, recto, lines 7; and for soap (âbûn), T–S 10 J 9, fol. 24, recto, line 16; T–S 8 J 7, fol. 23, recto margin, and T–S 20.137, recto, line 48.

  67 For his mats: For references to mats from Berbera (uar barbarî) see T–S 18 J 2, fol. 7, recto, line 12; T–S 20.137, recto, line 46; and T–S K 25.252, recto, line 21. For mention of a ‘Barûjî anfasa’ see T–S K 25.252, recto, line 23.

  68 His friends … sent him raisins’: For references to sugar (sukkar in Ben Yiju’s correspondence) see, T–S 10 J 12, fol. 5, recto, line 22; T–S 10 J 9, fol. 24, recto, line 16; T–S K 25.252, verso, line 13; T–S 18 J 2, fol. 7, recto, line 22; T–S Misc. Box 25. 103, recto, line 43; T–S N.S. J 1, recto, line 9; and (National and University Library, Jerusalem) Geniza MS H.6, line 18 (E. Strauss, ‘Documents …’). For raisins (zabîb) see T–S 18 J 5, fol. 1, recto, line 23; T–S N.S. J 1, recto, line 9; T–S K 25.252, verso, line 13; T–S 10 J 9, fol. 24, recto, line 16; T–S 18 J 2, fol. 7, recto, line 22; T–S Misc. Box 25, fragm. 103, recto, line 43; T–S 8 J 7, fol. 23, recto margin; and (Nation
al and University Library, Jerusalem) Geniza MS H.6, line 19 (E. Strauss, ‘Documents …’).

  69 The various kinds of palm-sugar: Failing to find sugar in Aden once, Khalaf ibn Ishaq commented ‘Your servant looked for sugar, but there is none to be had this year,’ as though in apology for the deprivation he was inflicting on his friend (T–S 18 J 5, fol. 1, recto, margin).

  70 If it seems curious: Ben Yiju’s imports of sugar offer a sidelight on the history of that commodity in India. Sugar cane is, of course, native to India and is even mentioned in the Vedas. In his article, ‘Sugar-Making in Ancient India’ (Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, VII, pt. 1, 1964, pp. 57–72) Lallanji Gopal points out that processes for the manufacturing of refined sugar are mentioned in the Jatakas and were evidently well-known in India since antiquity. Yet, the travellers who visited the Malabar in the later Middle Ages (such as Marco Polo), generally refer to sugar made from palm products, not cane-sugar (p. 68, fn.). This must mean either that cane-sugar was not manufactured in India on a commercial scale or that the process was not widely in use on the Malabar coast. At any rate, the fact that Ben Yiju imported sugar from the Middle East indicates clearly that refined sugar was not generally available in the Malabar coast, and was probably not commercially produced in India at the time. By the sixteenth century, however, sugar had become a major export in Bengal (cf. Archibald Lewis, ‘Maritime Skills in the Indian Ocean’, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, XVI, pts. II—III, 1973). This means that processes of sugar manufacturing had been widely adopted in India in the intervening centuries—possibly from the Middle East. This may be the reason why the names of certain sugar products in India still invoke Middle Eastern origins.

  71 In the Middle Ages, it was Egypt: The reader is referred to E. Ashtor’s excellent article ‘The Levantine Sugar Industry in the Later Middle Ages—An Example of Technological Decline’, (Israel Oriental Studies, VII, Tel Aviv Univ., 1977). See also Norman Stillman’s ‘The Merchant House of Ibn ‘Awkal’, p. 47.

  72 As fishermen … free of restrictions: However, it is worth noting that the origins and nature of the prohibition on sea travel for Hindus (‘crossing the black water’) of which so much was made in the nineteenth century, are extremely obscure. The indications are that the privileging of restrictions on sea-travel amongst Hindus was a relatively late, possibly post-colonial development. For a useful discussion of this question the reader is referred to M. N. Pearson’s excellent article ‘Indian Seafarers in the Sixteenth Century’, p. 132, (in M. N. Pearson, Coastal Western India, Studies from the Portuguese Records, Concept Publishing Co., New Delhi, 1981).

  73 Soon after I reached Mangalore … Bobbariya-bhuta: See U. P. Upadhyaya & S. P. Upadhyaya, Bhuta Worship, p. 60; B. A. Saletore, Ancient Karnataka, p. 461, (Oriental Book Agency, Poona, 1936); and K. Sanjiva Prabhu, Special Study Report on Bhuta Cult in South Kanara District, pp. 143–4, (Census of India, Series 14, Mysore, 1971). The legends and rituals associated with the Bobbariya-Bhuta are discussed at some length in G. R. Krishna’s Caste and Tribes, (pp. 180–5), which is a detailed study of the Magavira caste.

  74 No Magavira settlement … without its Bobbariya shrine: U. P. Upadhyaya & S. P. Upadhyaya, Bhuta Worship, p. 60.

  75 ‘With a whole temple’: Allama Prabhu, trans. A. K. Ramanujan, Speaking of Siva, p. 153 (Penguin Books, London, 1987).

  76 The kâ[r]dâr’: T–S 20.137, verso, 2–4. In this account Ben Yiju misspells the word ‘kârdâr’ as kâdâr.

  77 ‘You my master’: S. D. Goitein, Letters, p. 193. I have substituted the words ‘disgrace’ and ‘censure’ for the words ‘excommunicate’ and ‘excommunication’. The words used in the manuscript (T–S 12.320 recto) are two forms of the Arabic root ‘sh-m-t’. I am informed by Dr Geoffrey Khan that this is not the root that is normally used to designate excommunication in the Geniza documents; it should be read instead as ‘the metathesized form of sh-t-m (to insult, defame), which is used in Maghrebî Arabic …’ The letter would, therefore, be referring to some form of public defamation, or ‘rogues gallery’ (personal communication). Prof. Goitein probably used the term ‘excommunicate’ on the assumption that the ‘kârdâl’ was Jewish. The evidence, as we shall see, suggests otherwise.

  78 kârdâl: The word must have been unfamiliar to Yûsuf ibn Abraham for he misspelled it as ‘kârdâl’.

  79 ‘As for the delay: T–S 18 J 4, fol. 18, recto, lines 25–28. It is worth noting that among Khalaf and his friends ‘reminding a person of a debt was almost an insult’, (S. D. Goitein, ‘Portrait of a Medieval India Trader’, p. 452).

  80 He and Yusuf continued: For a somewhat fuller version of the affair of the kârdâr’s cardamom see my article, ‘The Slave of MS H.6’, (in Subaltern Studies, Vol. VII, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1992). I would like to take this opportunity to thank the faculty of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (where this book was mainly written) for their comments and criticisms of an earlier version of that article. I also wish to thank Professor Asok Sen, Ranabir Samaddar, Tapati Guha Thakurta, Anjan Ghosh, Pradip Bose and Tapti Roy for the many discussions and arguments with which they have enriched my thinking. Partha Chatterjee has been a constant (if laconic) source of support and encouragement for many years and his comments and suggestions on this manuscript have been invaluable to me. To thank him would be an impertinence.

  81 The clue lies … in a throwaway scrap: The sentence goes thus: ‘Remaining (with me) for Nâîr, the brother of the kârdâr, 3 fîlî dirham-s.’ T–S N.S. J 10, verso, margin.

  82 Long active … Gujarati merchants: Cf. K. N. Pearson, Merchants and Rulers in Gujarat, pp. 7–12 (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1976). The Vanias were usually referred to as a single group in Ben Yiju’s papers—Baniyân—but they were actually composed of many different sub-castes (see Pearson’s Merchants and Rulers, p. 26). For the transoceanic dispersal of Gujarati traders in the Middle Ages, see Paul Wheatley’s The Golden Khersonese, p. 312 (University of Malaya Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1961). Wheatley quotes an observation by Tomé Pires, the sixteenth-century Portuguese chronicler, that of the 4,000 foreign merchants resident in Malacca in 1509, 1,000 were Gujaratis. See also R. B. Serjeant, The Portuguese off the South Arabian Coast, p. 10 (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1963); M. N. Pearson’s article, ‘Indian Seafarers in the Sixteenth Century’, p. 132; and Archibald Lewis’s article, ‘Maritime Skills in the Indian Ocean’, pp. 243–4.

  83 Madmun, for one: In one of his letters Madmun asked Ben Yiju to inform his Gujarati contacts about the probable behaviour of the prices of pepper and iron in the Middle East in the coming year (T–S 18 J 2, fol. 7, verso, lines 3–6). See also S. D. Goitein’s article, ‘From Aden to India’, p.53.

  84 Ben Yiju … served as a courier: Cf. T–S N.S. J 1, verso, line 4–10.

  85 Madmun … proposed a joint venture: T–S 18 J 2, fol. 7, verso, lines 1–2. Curiously Ishaq is referred to as ‘the Bâniyân’. The names of the others are spelt: Kanâbtî and Sûs Sîtî respectively. I am grateful to Prof. B. A. Viveka Rai for the suggestion that the latter could be ‘Sesu Shetty’. Cf. also Goitein, ibid.

  86 Equally, the ships: S. D. Goitein thought it possible that the name of the powerful Kârimî merchants association was derived from the Tamil word kâryam, ‘which, among other things, means “business, affairs” ’ (‘The Beginnings of the Kârim Merchants’, p. 183).

  87 Among the … nâkhudas: For ‘Pattani-svâmi’ see Goitein, Letters, p. 188, fn. One NMBRNI is mentioned as a shipowner by Madmun (T–S N 25.252 recto, line 13). For a discussion of the meaning of the term nâkhuda (which is spelt in various different ways in Ben Yiju’s documents), see M. N. Pearson’s ‘Indian Seafarers in the 16th. century’, p. 118.

  88 ‘between him and me’: Goitein, Letters, p. 64. The letter was addressed to Abu Zikri Sijilmasi, who was in Gujarat.

  89 In addition, Ben Yiju … connected with … metalworkers: Bronze objects and
utensils that Ben Yiju shipped to his friends are referred to repeatedly in the documents. See, for example, T–S K 25.252, verso, line 11; T–S Misc. Box 24, fragm. 103, recto, line 34;; T–S 18 J 5, fol. 1, line 13; T–S 18 J 4, fol. 18, recto, line 35; & T–S 8 J 7, fol. 23 recto, line 4. Locks are referred to it the following documents, T–S K 25.252, verso, line 11 & T–S 18 J 2, fol. 7, recto, line 7. See also S. D. Goitein, Letters, p. 192–5.

  90 The names of these craftsmen: The workmen’s names, spelt ‘Iyârî and LNGY appear to be variants of the Tamil Brahmin name Ayyar and the name-element Linga. Imports of copper, lead and bronze for the workshop are frequently alluded to in his papers. See for example, T–S K 25.252, recto, lines 6 & 28; & T–S 8 J 7, fol. 23, verso, line 6. See also S. D. Goitein, Letters, pp. 192–194.

  91 Membership … involved binding understandings: The economy of Fatimid Egypt was, to use Goitein’s words, largely a ‘paper economy’—that is payments were generally made not in cash, but by debt transfers, letters of credit and orders of payment. Cf. S. D. Goitein, ‘Changes in the Middle East (950–1150)’, p. 19; ‘Bankers Accounts from the Eleventh Century AD’, pp. 28–68; and A Mediterranean Society, Vol. I, pp. 241–62. See also W. J. Fischel, ‘The Spice Trade in Mamluk Egypt’, p. 170; and A. L. Udovitch, ‘Commercial Techniques’, p.53–61. Ben Yiju’s papers and accounts suggest that this paper economy was not localized in Egypt or the Middle East. There are several references in Ben Yiu’s papers to credit arrangements between himself, his friends in Aden and Indian merchants.

  92 Common sense suggests … the language: The cultural and linguistic diversity of the regions surrounding the Indian Ocean were represented in microcosm in all its major ports. A Portuguese observer, Tomé Pires, who spent two and a half years in Malacca at the beginning of the sixteenth century, reported that eighty-four languages could be heard in the streets of that city—Babel realized! (Cf. Paul Wheatley, The Golden Khersonese, p. 312). Taken at face value, that figure would suggest that communication had effectively ceased in Malacca—or that it was possible only within tiny speech communities.