Nakhudas and nauvittakas: ship-owning merchants in the west coast of india (c. ad 1000-1500)
01 Jan 2000-Journal of The Economic and Social History of The Orient (Brill)-Vol. 43, Iss: 1, pp 34-64
TL;DR: The role and position of India in the maritime affairs of the Indian Ocean prior to the arrival of the Portuguese is discussed in this paper, where the authors pay tribute to the memory of Professor Ashin Das Gupta who immensely enlightened us on the ship-owners of coastal western India between 1500-1800.
Abstract: Among the diverse types of merchants active in India during the first half of the second millennium, the ship-owning merchants occupy a prominent position in the coastal areas of western India (especially at ports). These merchants are given distinct epithets nakhuda and nauvittaka, the two terms being occasionally used as interchangeable ones and also in their abbreviated forms in official documents. Known from the medieval Jewish letters of 'India Traders', copper plates, a bilingual inscription, Arabic accounts and epitaphs and Jaina carita (biographical) texts, nakudas and nauvittkas of different religious leanings (Jewish, Muslim and Hindu) illustrate remarkable co-operation and social amity and religious toleration, which underline their importance in the Indian Ocean maritime network prior to AD 1500. Possessing considerable wealth, these ship-owning merchants can be considered as elites in the ports of coastal western India and were also known for their patronage to religious and cultural activities. The paper is presented as a tribute to the memory of Professor Ashin Das Gupta who immensely enlightened us on the ship-owners of coastal western India between 1500-1800. The present paper is an attempt to appreciate the role and position of India in the maritime affairs of the Indian Ocean prior to the arrival of the Portuguese. The emergence of new nations in the 'Third World', following decolonisation in Asia, Africa and Latin America, has immensely encouraged scholars to appreciate the role of non-Europeans in the historical developments of these countries. An evident impact of this perspective can be seen in the growing importance of studies of the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean dominates the sea-face of Asia and provides vital linkages between Asians and numerous African communities along the eastern sea-board of Africa. The geographical area of the maritime space called the Indian Ocean should be defined at this juncture. The map of the Indian Ocean, published by the National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organization, places it up to the Cape of Good Hope in the west and Antartica in the south, and includes the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, but leaves out the Java and the
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TL;DR: A map of the Indian Ocean can be found in this paper, where the authors discuss the history of the ocean and its history in the early modern Indian Ocean world and discuss the role of Islam in this history.
Abstract: List of illustrations. Series editor's preface. Preface. Map of the Indian Ocean. Introduction. 1. Deep structure 2. Humans and the sea 3. The beginning of the ocean 4. Muslims in the Indian Ocean 5. Europeans in an Indian Ocean world 6. The early modern Indian Ocean world 7. Britain and the ocean 8. History in the ocean Notes. Select bibliography. Index.
345 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that the degree to which medieval Hindus and Muslims could provide complementary, non-replicable services and a mechanism to share the gains from exchange has resulted in a sustained legacy of ethnic tolerance in South Asian towns.
Abstract: I provide evidence that the degree to which medieval Hindus and Muslims could provide complementary, non-replicable services and a mechanism to share the gains from exchange has resulted in a sustained legacy of ethnic tolerance in South Asian towns. Due to Muslim-specific advantages in Indian Ocean shipping, inter-ethnic complementarities were strongest in medieval trading ports, leading to the development of institutional mechanisms that further supported inter-ethnic exchange. Using novel town-level data spanning South Asia's medieval and colonial history, I find that medieval ports, despite being more ethnically mixed, were five times less prone to Hindu-Muslim riots between 1850-1950, two centuries after Europeans disrupted Muslim overseas trade dominance, and remained half as prone between 1950-1995. Household-level evidence suggests that these differences reflect local institutions that emerged to support inter-ethnic medieval trade, continue to influence modern occupational choices and organizations, and substitute for State political incentives in supporting inter-ethnic trust.
154 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that medieval trading ports, despite being more ethnically mixed, were five times less prone to Hindu-Muslim riots between 1850-1950, two centuries after Europeans disrupted Muslim overseas trade dominance.
Abstract: I provide evidence that the degree to which medieval Hindus and Muslims could provide complementary, non-replicable services and a mechanism to share the gains from exchange has resulted in a sustained legacy of ethnic tolerance in South Asian towns. Due to Muslimspecific advantages in Indian Ocean shipping, inter-ethnic complementarities were strongest in medieval trading ports, leading to the development of institutional mechanisms that further supported inter-ethnic exchange. Using novel town-level data spanning South Asia’s medieval and colonial history, I find that medieval trading ports, despite being more ethnically mixed, were five times less prone to Hindu-Muslim riots between 1850-1950, two centuries after Europeans disrupted Muslim overseas trade dominance. I provide case and representative household survey evidence that these differences were transmitted via the persistence of institutions that emerged to support inter-ethnic medieval trade and continue to influence contemporary occupational choices, trust and organizations.
131 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyze the incentives that shaped Hindu and Muslim interaction in India's towns from the rise of Islam to the rise in European intervention in the 17th century; they argue that difierences in the degree to which medieval Hindus and Muslims could provide complementary, non-replicable services and a mechanism to share the gains from trade has resulted in a sustained legacy of religious tolerance.
Abstract: This paper analyses the incentives that shaped Hindu and Muslim interaction in India’s towns from the rise of Islam to the rise of European intervention in the 17th century; it argues that difierences in the degree to which medieval Hindus and Muslims could provide complementary, non-replicable services and a mechanism to share the gains from trade has resulted in a sustained legacy of religious tolerance. Due to Muslim-speciflc advantages in Indian Ocean shipping, incentives to trade across ethnic lines were strongest in medieval trading ports, leading to the development of institutions to support inter-religious exchange. Using new town-level data spanning India’s medieval and colonial history, this paper flnds that medieval trading ports were 25 percent less likely to experience a religious riot between 1850-1950, two centuries after Europeans eliminated Muslim advantages in overseas shipping. Medieval trading ports continued to exhibit fewer and less widespread religious violence during the Gujarat riots in 2002. The paper shows that these difierences are not the result of variation in geography, political histories, wealth, religious composition or of medieval port selection, and interprets these difierences as being transmitted via the persistence of institutions that emerged to support inter-religious medieval trade. The paper further characterises these institutions and the lessons they yield for reducing contemporary ethnic con∞ict.
97 citations
Cites background from "Nakhudas and nauvittakas: ship-owni..."
...ondary sources, including Yule (1866), Subrahmanyam (1990), Dasgupta (1994), Chaudhuri (1995) and Chakravarti (2000) ....
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...These contemporary accounts were augmented by secondary sources, including Yule (1866), Subrahmanyam (1990), Dasgupta (1994), Chaudhuri (1995) and Chakravarti (2000)....
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03 May 2018TL;DR: Sebastian R. Prange as mentioned in this paper argues that this "Monsoon Islam" was shaped by merchants not sultans, forged by commercial imperatives rather than in battle, and defined by the reality of Muslims living within non-Muslim societies.
Abstract: Between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, a distinct form of Islamic thought and practice developed among Muslim trading communities of the Indian Ocean. Sebastian R. Prange argues that this 'Monsoon Islam' was shaped by merchants not sultans, forged by commercial imperatives rather than in battle, and defined by the reality of Muslims living within non-Muslim societies. Focusing on India's Malabar Coast, the much-fabled 'land of pepper', Prange provides a case study of how Monsoon Islam developed in response to concrete economic, socio-religious, and political challenges. Because communities of Muslim merchants across the Indian Ocean were part of shared commercial, scholarly, and political networks, developments on the Malabar Coast illustrate a broader, trans-oceanic history of the evolution of Islam across monsoon Asia. This history is told through four spaces that are examined in their physical manifestations as well as symbolic meanings: the Port, the Mosque, the Palace, and the Sea.
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TL;DR: In this paper, a collection of essays by eminent historians in the field, seeks to present a history of Indian Ocean as seen from maritime India and built around the commerce of the Indian Ocean.
Abstract: This collection of essays by eminent historians in the field, seeks to present a history of the Indian Ocean as seen from maritime India and built around the commerce of the Indian Ocean.
60 citations
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