CHAPTER 3
THE INFLUENCE OF TRADE, RELIGION AND POLITY ON THE ETHNIC DIVERSITY AND ETHNOBOTANY OF THE WESTERN PENINSULAR INDIA
K. V. KRISHNAMURTHY
Consultant, R&D, Sami Labs, Peenya Industrial Area, Bangalore–560058, Karnataka, India
CONTENTS
3.2Period Up to 5th Century CE
3.3Period Up to 15th Century CE
ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the impact of trade, religion and polity on the ethnic diversity and ethnobotany of Western peninsular India starting from third millennium BCE up to about the end of British rule in India. It explains how this region was subjected to the impacts of foreign traders, and external (as well as indigenous) religions, such as Christianity and Islam on culture, society and traditional botanical knowledge of local ethnic communities. These impacts caused the domestication of plants collected from wild and used (like pepper), introduction of exotic plants as plantation crops, changed the traditional profession of certain ethnic communities and also in the elimination of certain ancient tribes. These impacts were particularly great after the visit of Europeans in 16th century and the establishment of colonial British rule.
3.1INTRODUCTION
It was indicated in the second chapter of this volume that peopling of West Coast (W. Coast) and Western Ghats (W. Ghats) of peninsular India should have happened at the earliest only around 20,000 years BP (Sali, 1989), as it was at this time that the monsoon became distinctly weak at the height of glaciations on the northern latitudes (Gadgil and Thapar 1990). Peopling at the beginning should have been very sporadic and thin but the density and area of occupation should have increased gradually in the subsequent historical periods. However, the major human influences in this region took place during the Old Stone Age over 12,000 years BP (Subash Chandran, 1997; Misra, 1989). Stone tools and artifacts belonging to this period were discovered from the following river valleys: Bharatapuzha (in Palakkad district), Beppur (Malappuram) Netravati (South Karnataka), Kibbanahalli (Mysore), Lingadahalli, Nidahalli and Kadur (Chikmagalur) and Honnali (Shimoga). Between 12,000 and 5,000 years BP (Mesolithic period) this region witnessed a gradual transition from hunter-gatherers to cultivators. However, fishing continued to be the occupation of those living in the coastal region. Many Mesolithic sites in places like Karwar, Ankola (both in N. Karnataka), Netravati valley (S. Karnataka), Nirmalagiri (Kannur), Chevayur (Kozhikode) and Thenmalai (Kollam) have been discovered (Subash Chandran, 1997). The presence of charcoal of 5,000 years BP in the last-mentioned site indicated that the Mesolithic people (of at least this region) burnt forests to initiate the slash- and –burn Swidden cultivation. During Neolithic Age (5,000 to 3,000 years BP) this region saw primitive agriculture along with the continued pastoralism. Around 4,300 years BP there was animal domestication in Kodekal (Gulburga); in Hallur (Darwad) there was not only animal domestication (around 3,800 years BP) but also cultivation of millets and horsegram (around 3,500 years BP). The Jorwe tribe of Maharashtra cultivated rice around 3,400–2,700 years BP. The other Neolithic sites are Tambde Surla (Goa), Anmod (North Karnataka), Agumbe (Shimoga), hill slopes of Sita River (Uduppi), Kodagum and many sites in Kerala and extreme southern Tamil Nadu. Access to W. Coast from not only W. Ghats but also from the plains immediately east to the W. Ghats was also increasingly established in different parts along the entire length of western Peninsular India facilitating traffic of ethnic communities for various purposes including trade. For instance, the Nilaskal site in Agumbe gave the people easy access to the W. Coast. According to Sundara (1991) the Neolithic ethnic communities with their axes were able to descend from W. Ghats of S. Karnataka towards the coast during the end of the 4th millennium BCE in order to embark on shifting cultivation. Thus, it is suggested that shifting cultivation was likely to be older to the spread of iron tools in this region and was at the latest about 3,000 years BP. During 3,000–2000 years BP the coast and many areas in W. Ghats were intensively populated with people from different ethnic communities. This is evident from the presence of several Megalithic burial sites. Although climate change may be the reason for the beginning of cultivation (Caratini et al., 1991; Sukumar et al., 1993) man-made fire might have also been an important factor (Gadgil and Mehr-Homji, 1986).
3.2PERIOD UP TO 5th CENTURY CE
The situation described above was the one prevailing in western peninsular India at or just before the initiation of deep impact of trade, religion and polity on its ethnic diversity and ethnobotany. It is at the period between third millennium BCE and fifth century CE that this region became a vital center of historical processes that molded the identity of peninsular India, within the wider Indian Ocean world in general and the Arabian Sea in particular. In many respects the Arabian Sea served as the historic core area of the Indian Ocean (Barendse, 2002) as it connected Middle East, Africa and Central, East and South East Asia. The historical processes, mentioned above, extended beyond agrarian expansion and the development of trading networks in the interior peninsular India and were concerned with the diverse ethnic communities within the spheres of polity, trade and religion that contributed to the cultural and social identity of the entire Indian Ocean world (Ray, 2003) as well as to that of the western peninsular India. In the words of Thapar (2000) this period is “a crucial period not only because it saw the initial pattern of Indian culture take shape, but also because it can provide clues to a more analytical understanding of the subsequent periods of Indian history,” especially in peninsular India.
3.2.1TRADE
All ancient people of India, including those in the western peninsular India, collected or produced only the required amount of material needed for their subsistence as well as, more significantly, to reinforce social ties and to repay obligations, both social and ritual. Trade changed this whole approach. Local trade, according to some, started around 10,000 years ago but maritime and long- distance trade that emerged and started flourishing in the period between 3rd millennium BCE and 5th century CE was not merely an elite activity and an offshoot of agricultural expansion but also caused a shift from pastoral and hunter-gatherer economy to a village economy based on plant cultivation and animal domestication. Trade and exchange of required materials are thus social products and form an internal component of most, if not all, societies that were evolving. Once agriculture was well underway the need for a variety of plants increased. The plants that had been used in the wild were gradually brought into cultivation. People also began to move useful plants from one area to another, and, very often, trade and religion were used as instruments to effect this movement. Thus, movement of plants, in a way, was responsible for the increased trading and for the spread of religion (as well as for an increase in warfare) (Prance, 2005). This resulted in the domination of territorial and commercial interests. This is particularly true for the western peninsular India from the 3rd millennium BCE onwards and here trade in spices was a major cause of territorial and commercial domination and aggression. This desire for spices from very early dates in history had a very great impact on the ethnic people and their ethnobotanical knowledge of the W. Coast of peninsular India. Local ethnic communities were forced to actively collect spices from the wild initially and subsequently to domesticate and cultivate them in order to meet the increasing demands of trade. Trade in spices and other ethnobotanicals from this region introduced a number of social, cultural and behavioral changes in the ethnic communities and in their attitude toward their regularly used ethnobotanicals. The cultural and social values placed on plants became more and more replaced by utilitarian approaches towards them. All the local communities started trading in a small way, at least in their excessively collected/produced plant products, although some local ethnic communities concentrated only on trading and exclusively became traders. As examples we can mention the Banias of Gujarat and the Sarawat Brahmins of Konkan region. The community of traders by sea was variously called: Sagarapatoganas, Navikas, Mahanavikas, etc. However, the participation of these local trading communities in the trade network of W. Coast of peninsular India was minimal, since it was the foreign demand for luxuries that largely triggered it (Figure 3.1).
FIGURE 3.1The Indian Coast of Erythraean Sea showing major ports as in the first century CE. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periplus_of_the_Erythraean_Sea#/media/File:Periplous_of_the_Erythraean_Sea.svg).
The 5th to 4th centuries BCE provided evidence of sailing between W. Coast of India with parts of the Indian Ocean region, both towards the west and east of India. The W. Coast of India is one of the two major trading systems that emerged to connect the many regional circuits, the other being the East Coast of India. This period may be said to be the starting time for Indo-Roman, Mediterranean and Indo-African trade. In the commerce that got started, the initiative usually came from the recipient countries or from Arabs and Axumites who acted as middle men. The foreign traders included Nabataeans, Sabaeans, Homerites, and Arabs. Some of the local ethnic communities also became middlemen in this trade network; some became financiers of trade. The initiative was more likely taken largely by merchants based in Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean, especially in Alexandria. Some of the traders who were not originally from the W. Coast of peninsular India came to this region and started settling down replacing partially or fully the local ethnic communities in some areas. For example, the Pulayas, Parayans, Vedars and Nayadis of Kerala coast who were the original inhabitants before the arrival of progressive and dominant races belonging to Dravidian, Mediterranean, Polynesian and Aryan stocks invaded and settled in the W. Coast during this period, were either driven away to the W. Ghats or were enslaved to do manual work for them (Pushpangadan and Atal, 1986). Although fishing has been the traditional occupation of some ethnic communities of W. Coast (and continues to be so even today) some of them forcefully or willingly took to boat-building activity with the emerging of trading of ethnobotanicals. Some traditional fishermen had to assume the role of navigators of boats/vessels involved in local maritime trade. In the Malabar Coast these materials had to be brought to the coastal region from the hinterland/W. Ghats at least partially through small boats; some materials were brought on the back of cattles or carvans pulled by draft animals.
One system that had a tremendous influence on the trading world in the Arabian Sea was the regime of the monsoon wind about which only some W. Coast fishermen and Arab navigators had great knowledge. During summer months wind blows from southwest and at this time it is violent and strong. Hence, sailing was suspended from May until September along the Arabian Sea in the W. Coast of India. A reversal takes place around October and northeast monsoon dominates between November and April. The season for trade from Aden to Malabar is October to February. Hence sailing was seasonal and, for several months, there was no activity at ports and for those involved in maritime trade. They took to their traditional professions during these off-days. Sailing seasons determined the price and movement of commodities. In view of this, this trade between W. Coast and Mediterranean region is called Monsoon Exchange, a term coined by historian J.R. McNeill (as distinct from Columbian Exchange to denote European trade after 15th Century) (McNeill, 2000; Crosby, 1972).
The traded materials included spices, aromatics, raw drugs, dyes, food stuffs, woods, cotton and textiles, sesame seeds and oil, betel nut and many other plant (and animal) products. The Periplus Maris Erythrae (see Schroff, 1912; Casson, 1989) written in Koine Greek Language by an unknown sailor mentioned the following as the traded items during the first century CE from the ports of W. Coast of Peninsular India: frankincense, myrrh, Cassia, bdellium, a range of gum resins like duaka, kankamon and mokrotu, dates, ebony and sissoo woods, spikenard, Cinnamon leaves (malabathrium), textiles especially block-printed cotton textiles of ritual significance, food stuffs, pepper, etc. In his initial survey of 311 papers, referred to as Geniza Documents, relevant to the Indian trade, Goiten (1966) found that no trade orders were transferred directly from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean but these terminated at Cairo instead. The list of 77 items transferred from India (and Arabia and E. Africa) to Cairo included herbs (36 items), cotton (6 items), tropical fruits, such as coconut (5 items), timber (1 item) and dyes, such as Indigo. The Sindani/Sandan indigo mentioned in Geneva papers is identified with the Konkan coast. Archaeological evidences indicate trade in coconut, Job’s tears, rice, etc. Mention must also be made about the Vienna papyrus which speaks about a trade agreement made at Muziris (or Mouziris) in the Malabar coast and a Greek merchant regarding the transportation of traded goods to be imported from India and bound for Alexandria. The standard traded items were Gangetic nard (spikenard), pepper, textiles and ivory. Mention must also be made about Indo-African trade both to and fro. The African millets were evident in India during this period. The archaeological record from W. India indicated the presence of sorghum and millets between 2000 and 1200 BCE. Finger millet, cowpea, watermelon and the lablab or hyacinth bean reached India during the second millennium BCE and pigeon pea, okra, and castor followed them (see Carney and Rosomoff, 2009). The African plants made their way past the Arabian Peninsula to India along two principal trade routes: one linked Ethiopian highland to the Horn of Africa and the other connecting East African highlands of Zanj (now the Swahali Coast). Recovered artifacts suggest that East Africa and India were trading as early as 3000 BCE (Lejju et al., 2006). Notable among South Asian plants that went to Africa through India were taro (or cocoyam) and banana which became a staple food plant of people of African humid tropics.
The major ports in the West Coast involved in maritime trade ethnobotanicals and other items were (from north to south) Souppara, Bassein, Kalleina (Near Bombay) Semulla, Palaipatmai, Melizelgara, Erannoboas, Sesekreienai island, Kaineita island, Hog islands, Nauora, Tundis, Mouzris, Nelkinda, Bakare, Baltita, etc. (Figure 3.1).
Although bartering was still prevalent, at least at the inland trade circuits, several materials functioned as money: barley, pepper, cowries (mollusc shells), lead, copper, bronze, tin, silver and gold.
3.2.2RELIGION
Religion played a major role in the transformation and social change among the ethnic communities of western peninsular India. It represented a synergy as crucial as social and economic integration. It also played a major role in the attitudinal changes in the use of ethnobotanical knowledge by ethnic communities from cultural, social and utilitarian perspectives. Most traditional ethnic communities of this region practiced before the common era (CE) the basic religions of animism or its slightly advanced version of totemism (many primitive communities follow these religions even now). Village or clan gods were largely worshipped. Formal religions like Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism were beginning to be followed slowly in different parts of western peninsular India. For example, Buddhist monastic sites have been discovered in Maharashtra region during the Satavahana reign; about 80 sites with 1,200 rock-cut monastic centers are known from this region. Jain religious archaeological remnants and caves have been discovered in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The influence of religion should be seen at several levels. One facet of religion was legitimizing political authority, and rituals and ceremonies were very important factors in this. Religious functionaries often formed close links with caravans carrying ethnobotanicals and other items and trading groups whom they accompanied through forested tracts of W. Ghats and in sea voyages. This is especially true for Judaism and Christianity during this period of history in W. Coast.
An invaluable literary source for understanding of the Indian Ocean network and west coast of India is the Christian Topography written in the 6th century CE by an Egyptian monk, Cosmos, known as Indopleustes (McCrindle, 1897). In the early part of his life, he was a merchant and had traveled widely in the Arabian Sea. This work is significant in two respects: (i) it provides information on the spread of Christianity in the W. Coast and on conversion of some local ethnic people to Christianity, as well as on the settlement of Christians in this region, and (ii) it provides information on ethnobotanicals of this region, particularly that were traded and exchanged. This work especially mentions pepper and coconut, the former as the native of Malabar. It also mentions the maritime trade involving seasame and cotton clothes from Khambat, Kalyan and Chaul on the Konkan coast and pepper from the Malabar coast. Cloves, aloes, silk and sandal wood came from the east to both Malabar and Konkan coasts. In the collection, handling and trade of ethnobotanicals local ethnic community people were involved. Regarding the spread of Christianity this work particularly mentions about Apostle Thomas (St. Thomas) who traveled throughout India in the first century CE. He finally came to Malabar coast during the realm of King Mazdai. It was here that he was finally condemned to death by the king and attained martyrdom. A set of six Pahlavi inscriptions written on Christian stone crosses is found in S. India and five of these were located in Kerala in the churches of Kottayam, Murrucira, Katamaram, and Alanga. The Christian community people (i.e., non-converts) started settling down in small numbers in the Malabar coast from the beginning of CE and were speaking either Pahlavi or Persian at the beginning; their number started increasing after 6th century CE.
3.2.3POLITY
In peninsular India the earliest political dynasty was the Satavahana dynasty, which appeared around 1st century BCE in the Western Deccan. The subsequent dynasties included the Abhiras of the 3rd century CE. The Kerala coast during this period was under the Chera Tamil kings before whom Tamil chieftains ruled parts of the southernmost W. Coast of peninsular India. These chieftains and Chera kings themselves were belonging to ancient ethnic communities and the present-day Cherumas or Pulayas claim themselves to be descendants of the Cheras (see Chapter 2 of this volume). The Sangam Tamil literature and the Tamil epic Chilappathikaram speak a lot about the customs and culture of the ethnic communities of this region; they also speak in detail about the various plants used by these communities for cultural, social and utilitarian purposes (Krishnamurthy, 2006).
Thus, the ancient “ethnosphere” of the Arabian Sea involving the W. Coast of India during the period from 3rd millennium BCE to 5th century CE was a multiethnic and multipolar network of cultural and commercial exchange without any Centre or State dominating and was not a unipolar world system. “World” prices of traded commodities were still not fixed at one location, unlike the situation after 15th century CE (Barendse, 2002).
3.3PERIOD UP TO 15th CENTURY CE
From the 15th century CE onwards there is evidence for rapid transformation in all three spheres (trade, religion and polity) in western peninsular India. In the political sphere the period was marked by the emergence of large regional kingdoms, such as the Pallavas, Rastrakudas, and the Calukyas. In the context of religion, Hindu temples rose as the centers for social, cultural and economic activity. In the arena of trading networks one can see the beginnings of merchant guilds, such as the Manigrammam and the Ayyavoles. The ancient (old) world system of trade in ethnobotanicals and socio-cultural developments in the western peninsular India did not simply disintegrate in the 15th century despite heavy strains in the system, but, persisted without drastic changes.
Chaudhuri (1985, 1990) had dealt with the economy and civilization of the Indian Ocean region (including western Peninsular India) from the rise of Islam in the 7th century CE. Wink (1990) also emphasized that this Ocean presented a unified Arabic-speaking world. Here the Muslims monopolized trade in ethnobotanicals and other commodities and imposed a unified currency based on the gold Dinar and the silver Disham. The Muslims participating in the trade with W. Coast of India were either Arabs or Persians and settlements of Muslim traders grew in the Konkan and Malabar Coasts. In fact, the Arabic Sea was called the Islamic Sea. In addition to foreign Muslims, there were Banias (in S. Gujarat coast), Goans, Saraswat Brahmins (Konkan and Malabar coasts) and Tamil merchants (for S.W. coast), and Mappillas (in Malabar Coast) of India, who were involved in trade. They were all dealing with items, such as Malabar teak, many spices and condiments, Canara rice, manufactured goods, medicinal plants and raw drugs, aromatics, dyes like Indigo, etc., in which many local ethnic communities were actively participating in procuring/cultivating, handling transporting and financing. Muslim trading networks moved Asian rice, citrus and sugarcane from W. Coast of peninsular India into Middle East, Mediterranean and E. African destinations. They also transported sorghum, pearl millet and other plant products from African continent to India (Carney and Rosomoff, 2009).
In spite of the above, ethnic, national or religious labels were of a limited use during this “ecumenical” age. Thus, the Arabian Sea was an “ archipelago of towns” (or their surroundings) involved in trading on the coast, and populated by mariners, traders, middlemen, local navigators, fishermen, laborers, financiers, boat/ship builders, etc. living within various autonomous communities of ethnic peoples (Barendse, 2002).
3.4PERIOD AFTER 15th CENTURY
A lot of details are available, although highly scattered, from the prodigious quantities of European archives regarding the ethnobotany and ethnic societies of western Peninsular India after 15th century. Local records, literature, books, etc. are also available.
3.4.1TRADE
After the 16th century the Arabian Sea was being principally dominated by the Portuguese Estato da India, the Dutch Verenigde Oost- Indische Compagnie (VOC) and the English East India Company (EIC). The Danish role was small and was for a very brief period only. The most important trade ports/coastal trade centers of this period on the W. coast of peninsular India were the following: Konkan Coast—Surat, Daman, Bassein, Mumbai, Chaul, Revbandar, Dabhul, Rajapur, Vengurla, Panjim, Goa, etc.; Canara Coast—Karwar, Onore, Barcelore, etc.; Malabar coast—Calianpore, Kannur, Calicut, Ponnani, Trichur, Cochin, etc. (Figure 3.2). Some ports like Surat, Calicut or Cochin, although were trade centers too, were mainly agricultural market centers obtaining goods from their farming hinterland. The life of other ports depended entirely on the maritime trade, making them true ‘brides of the sea” (Barendse, 2002). These ports and their immediate surroundings were populated by people belonging to diverse ethnic communities, both from abroad and from local areas. Those from abroad included the Portuguese, Dutch, Mozambique (who were slaves of Portuguese), Syrians, Coptians, Jews, Italians, Armenians, Turks, Arabs, Christians, and a few from S.E. Asia. A rough statistics of their population in different parts of W. Coast during this period is given by Barendse (2002). Those who were controlling the different ports and their surroundings at different times were also mentioned by him. For example, Daman was the main port of Portuguese, Bombay was initially under Portuguese but was then transferred to the English, Dabhul was controlled by the Saraswat Brahmins, Vengurla, and Ports in Malabar coast were under the control of Dutch, some under Portuguese and a few others under the control of English (at a later period) (see details in Barendse, 2002).
FIGURE 3.2Indian West Coast as of 16th century, showing the major ports and trading centers (map reconstructed based on historical data. Cartographic limits are not accurate.)
Daman under Portuguese was handling trade in rice, coconut and sugar/sugarcane, the chief botanical items produced by local ethnic communities. The Saraswath Brahmins around the year 1600, were trading with Hormuz, Suqutra (Socotra) and Yemen from Dabhul, mainly on textiles, such as sail cloth and cheap piece cloth woven in Belgaum and Kolhapur. From Vengurla the VOC mainly exported cotton yarn to Holland. Russia imported Indian textiles, indigo, and pepper. Indian textiles were significantly traded in Russia and many Indian textile merchants got settled in 17th century CE in parts of Russia, like Narva. The Indian merchants had special knowledge about piece cloth, which others lacked (Dale, 1994). As to the employment and quantities, but not to the investment, involved pepper trade played but a minor role in the commerce of Arabian Sea. Like other spices pepper was a luxury good. However, clearly trade from Malabar coast was dominated by pepper and as the VOC puts it: “it was the bride around whom everybody dances” (see Barendse, 2002). But to most ethnic inhabitants of Malabar coast the trade in several other products was at least as important as pepper. For example, rice was exported in substantial quantities from Cannanore and Calicut to Muscat; this rice was invariably brought to the coast from interior regions; arrack was another product of voluminous trade from Canara coast and this was mainly brought to the coast through women peddlers. There was also trade in coconut and coir to Gulf countries. Thus, rice, arrack and coir export far surpassed pepper trade.
The intensity of marine trade from W. Coast after the 15th century is evident not only from the number of ships that visited/left from various ports of this coast but also from the number of ship-wrecks so far reported from the Arabian Sea. In 1600 CE Lisbon received 3 or 4 ships annually, in 1700 received 2 ships annually, France 2 or 3, London 4 or 5 and Amsterdam 6 to 8. The number of ships entering ports of Aden and Mocha during the period 1616–1705 from different W. Coast ports is as follows: Vengurla-6; Dabhul-9; Chaul-7; Rajapur-7; Konkan-15; Calicut-8 and Malabar-31. Similarly, the number of ships arriving at Muscat in 1672, from Karwar was 1, from Konkan 14 and from Malabar coast 27 (Barendse 2002).
In the 17th century small towns, such as Karhad, Modul, Malwan and Kolhapur of Konkan coast were the major suppliers of the “Bhaleghatte cloth” to the Portuguese: cheap cotton dhotis and dobradas destined for the African market. They also produced dogeri, which was taken by Khatri merchants to Muscat and Persia. The involved people were engaged in weaving during monsoon and in agriculture during other seasons.
In the 17th and 18th centuries there was extension of trade linkages with the expanding modern world-system or the world economic order from the W. Coast of peninsular India: there was trade in ethnobotanicals and finished/ harvested plant products, such as medicine, raw drugs, textiles, coffee, cotton, sugar, black pepper, indigo, tobacco, rice and other grains: some of these were exports and some were imports. Unlike the previous periods, trade came almost under the control of Europeans. The collaboration and support of indigenous people of this region in this trade was vital for production/collection, transport and handling and supplying them to the European traders. However, the period between 1690 and 1720 was very critical as there was a collapse of the “bubble of companies” controlled by Dutch (VOC) and to a large extent by the Portuguese, and the EIC took a stronger hold from then onwards. The collapse started around 1690 and was almost complete by 1720 (Barendse, 2002).
After 15th century CE trade overland was dominated by the seasonal movements of the migratory banjaras (traders) and these movements were often linked to the migration of cattle in summer from pastures in Deccan to those in the Konkan coast. It was incidentally also related to a trade in draft cattle between the fringes of forests and the village communities, thus making inland trade an adjunct to such movements of nomadic ethnic communities and the cattle trade. For instance, the inhabitants of Bardes (in Goa) who owned 2,000 oxen plus 2,000 oxen of others monopolized the trade in arrack and coir ropes. The oxen drivers made four trips to and across the W. Ghats annually not only for allowing oxen to graze in summer and partly to procure merchandise (Barendse, 2002). Thus, the caravan merchants were mostly typical peddlers. Since the fortunes of Konkan ports were linked to these merchants who passed across W. Ghats and since most Konkan towns were surrounded by extensive grazing meadows for the cattle, overland trade was greatly promoted. A similar situation prevailed in Malabar coast, where tradable goods from inland were carried on pack animals, particularly near Alur. Cotton cloth export from Travancore, although minimal, had a large internal market; there were more than 4,200 looms between Thengapattinam to Cape Camorin catering to this need.
3.4.2RELIGION
Religion played a very important role in the changes noticed in the ethnic diversity (and consequently on ethnobotany) of western peninsular India. Although the effect of Christianity was noticed from the first century onwards, the effect was substantial after the visits of Europeans to this region after 15th century CE. Special mention must be made about the conversion of local inhabitants to Catholicism promoted by agents of Real Padroado Portugues do Oriente. Writing in 1550 from Quilon in the Malabar coast, the Jesuit missionary Nicolao Lancilotto reported as follows: “since the inhabitants of these countries are very miserable, poor and cowardly, some were baptized through fear, others through worldly gains and others for filthy and disgusting reasons which I need not mention” (quoted in Boxer, 1963). It is not wrong to assume that this Christianization process “created local populations of ‘Portuguese’ cultural orientation” (Baxter, 1996). The effect of Islam started after 7th century CE, although Arabian traders came to this region much earlier than Christians. For instance, the Arabian merchants who got settled in Calianpore (the historic border between Kerala and Karnataka) since the 7th century got mixed with indigenous population, who then got converted to Islam. Their descendants differ from North Indian Muslims (often the descendants of Moghuls), both as to their language (former people speak Malayalam) and to their customs. These people were called Mappillas. They are also different from Arab and Persian Muslims, who controlled trade in Malabar Coast before the arrival of Portuguese and Dutch (Miller, 1976). In Cannanore there was a predominance of Muslims, both deshi (local) and paradeshi (outsiders), with more than 20,000 inhabitants even around 1660s. Ponnani, located south of Calicut, was also Muslims-dominated; in fact, Ponnani was the religious town of Muslims. Muslim Kunjalis dominated this town. Cochin was unique in that it had about 7,000 Indian Christian families, a larger number of Hindus and a substantial number of Jews. Among Christians there were orthodox Thomas Christians and Catholic Christians. Jews, who started coming there in large numbers from 4th century CE onwards, were around 6,000 families in the 17th century; they mainly lived in Matancheri area. Many Jews held powerful positions including heading ministries under the King of Cochin. By the 18th century there was a rise in Jewish merchants in Cochin and of Thomas Christians in Travancore resulting in significant changes in ethnic diversity. It should also be mentioned that there was great rivalry between the Christian fractions both in Kerala and in Goa, especially during 17th and 18th centuries.
Religion (as also trade) promoted creolization, a process by which new “languages” arise from intense contact between two or more languages in a reasonably small area. Linguistic admixture as evidenced in creolization is, in fact, a product of cultural (and religious) admixture in specific circumstances. When Portuguese dominated Malabar and Goa Portuguese-lexified creoles were formed in Malabar (Portuguese–Malayalam interaction) and in Goa (Portuguese–Konkani interaction) with a pidgin stage in between. There are evidences of creoles being spoken respectively in Cannanore, Tellicherry, Waynad, Matre, Calicut, Cranganore, Vypeen, Cochin, Alleppey (in Kerala) and Konkani coast and Goa. This creolization entailed inequality, social hierarchization, issues of domination and subalternity, mastery, and servitude, control and resistance, power and entanglement, etc. Such creoles declined rapidly by the 20th century, although there are pockets where it is still in existence (Cardoso, 2015).
A possible contribution of Africans is also relevant for these creoles in both Malabar and Konkani coasts, as there is historical evidence for the import of a significant number of Africans into the Estado da India as slaves, especially from S. E. Africa. A number of African words are formed in Indo-Portuguese texts, such as Garcia da Orta’s book. Creolization made distinct cultural and social changes in the local ethnic communities of Malabar, Canara and Konkari coasts.
3.4.3POLITY
Even by the late 16th century, lands throughout the western peninsular India were under the control of kings/empires, although no single State in the Arabian Sea area politically controlled maritime trade from the coastal ports. In the late 17th century, at Surat, the Omani trade flottillas has their own well-armed and manned customs. Oman had, in fact, created a system of fortified warehouses throughout the W. Coast, like the ones at Surat, Janjira on the Konkan coast and at Cannanore. The Omanis administered all these. Daman was given to Portuguese by the Sultan of Gujarat in 1578 on lease. Bombay was initially under Portuguese control but was again gained by the English. Revander port was under Portuguese control but the uptown Chaul was under the domination of Ahmadnagar king and later under Bijapur and Maratha rulers. Dabhul port was under Saraswat Brahmins, while Vengurla was under Dutch control although the former had control over it earlier. Goa and adjacent regions were under the Portuguese and gain control extended to south up to Cape Rama. The W. Ghats near Cape Rama was the historic border between Islamic and Hindu kingdoms, e.g., the Vijayanagar empire. After the defeat of the Vijayanagar king at the battle of Talkotta by the united armies of the Deccan Sultanate in 1565, generals of Vijayanagar established their own small kingdoms, the most important of which were the Wodaiyar dynasty in S. Karnataka and the Nayakas of Ikkeri/Bednur in N. Karnataka. Thus, Karwar, located in the mountainous forests of the small State of Sunda, a split-away chieftaincy of Vijayanagar, was possessed in the 17th century by Adil Shah and later by the Marathas. Onore port was initially under Portuguese control, but had lost it to Ikkeri kings in 1653; similar was the case with Barcelore port. Cannanore was initially under Arab/Persian Muslims, subsequently under Portuguese up to 1663, later under Dutch and finally under the English. Calicut was the seat of the powerful Zamorin, while Ponnani was dominated by Muslims who defied Portuguese and later the Dutch. Trichur was under Cochin king, while Cranganore was under Portuguese initially and subsequently under the Dutch after the VOC conquered the Cochin castle in 1663 and the port around 1674.
In the 17th century India, war was a major industry and the involved armies created demand for horses, bullocks, arms, cloth, grains and food as well as for the funds involved for the above. For example Shivaji’s army required more than 4,000 to 5,000 pack oxen and 7,000 to 8,000 porters. Moving armies were often followed by hosts of marauders, beggaries or forced laborers, banjara caravans grazing on the village fields and “coolie and Bhil robbers” who severed as porters and supplemented their low pay with plunder and looting. All these people/cattle needed food/ feed. Fighting in Deccan and the Konkan in 1680’s and 1690’s resulted in the plundering of Vengurla (at least 5 times), Candal and Punda. This resulted in dramatic reduction in trade in these regions, although Canara was prospering (Barendse, 2002). The kingdom of Ikkeri in Canara was prospering from the booming demand for Canara rice and other food stuff (Swaminathan, 1957)
British colonial rule “marked an important watershed in the ecological history of India” (Guha and Gadgil, 1989). Sophisticated arms and advanced communication facilities made it possible for the British to penetrate the dense forests, the abode of many tribals, in order to exploit the various forest resources. The technologically advanced and the dynamic and perseverant British culture produced profound dislocations at various levels in different ethnic societies of western peninsular India. The influence of the British was high on social relations around land, on conflicts over the distribution of agricultural produce, on fishing, on forests, on grazing land and on irrigation thus seriously affecting the local ethnic communities involved in all the above, since social relations and changes of local ethnic societies were dependent on the utilization of natural resources. The political dominance of the British made it possible to resort to novel modes of resource extraction, and this seriously affected resource utilization and extraction by local communities who were enjoying it all along. There were also equally dramatic changes in the forms of management and control of these various natural resources, particularly from the W. Ghats. State control on forests and forest resources was introduced leading to a State monopoly and to a curtailing of the legitimate rights of forest dwelling native ethnic communities. Thus, the imperatives of British colonial forestry were essentially commercial (Guha and Gadgil, 1989) and were at the expense of ethnic social interests, environmental homeostasis and traditional forest conservancy. The first forest product to suffer from this colonial exploitation in W. Ghats was the Malabar teak, which was used by the British to build ships, make furniture and to produce railway sleepers and which were largely shipped to UK. Around 1874 the Criminal Tribes Act was promulgated by the Britishers to keep under constant surveillance the tribals under the pretext of controlling “recalcitrant” elements. To the dismay of tribals, they introduced the doctrine of res nullius (rights in respect of land and land-based resources which were not conferred by the sovereign were claimed to vest with the sovereign) putting an end to the traditional legal epistemology in India, which was lex loci ri sitae (system by which the local people define their relation with land is the source of law) (Roy Burman, 2003). The Indian Forest Act of 1878 was essentially “designed to maintain strict control over forest utilization from the perspective of strategic imperial needs” (Guha and Gadgil, 1989). This Act imposed sharp restrictions on traditional ethnic use of forest products, denied claims of “rights-holders” on forest produce, and undermined the ecological basis of subsistence cultivation and sustainable hunting and gathering (of kadars, for example) from the wild. Commercial forestry also introduced monoculture of plantation species in W. Ghats to the detriment of biodiversity of mixed species. This again reduced the area of shifting cultivation so dear to some of the ethnic communities of the forest; this also affected the structured social life of shifting cultivators and their tribal cosmology.
British Forest Regulations affected the coastal ethnic communities also. For example, in the extreme southern Malabar coast, Forestry Act of 1878 restricted the local ethnic people of villages. Here the commercialization of forests and the sale of forest lands at extremely low prices to European planters, as well as the laying of roads for transportation of forest products to the coastal ports caused acute distress to local agriculturalists as they lost green manure and other forest produce. They were also denied access to pasture for their cattle. Similarly in coastal Maharashtra, British forest policies affected some tribals. For instance, an important source of income for tribals of Thane district was the sale of firewoods to Koli fishermen. This was greatly affected in late 19th century leading to strong protests by the tribal people. In addition to the above, British Forest Laws greatly affected the lives of traditional artisans who were dependent on specific plants, such as bamboo, rattans and woody trees, such as teak, sandal, ebony, etc. which were used to produce craft articles.
Thus, the British State’s monopoly on forests of W. Ghats and mangroves of the W. Coast and its commercial exploitation ran contrary to the subsistence ethics of local ethnic communities, as in other regions of India. If we borrow the usage of Thompson (1971; see also Guha and Gadgil, 1989) we can aptly summarize this situation as follows: If the traditional use of the forest by the local ethnic communities rested on a moral economy of provision, the so-called “scientific forestry” claimed by British Forest Act of 1878 rested squarely on political economy of profit.
3.5CONCLUSIONS
It is evident from the above discussion that the western peninsular India was in a great flux ever since 3rd millennium BCE, and particularly after 5th century CE, as a result of the deep impacts of trade (both maritime and land), religion and polity. It is one region in India from where maritime trade was very active. Trade brought into this region several human communities from diverse places, cultures and customs of the world and belonging to different religions and speaking different languages. There were also frequent changes in political control over the various trading ports and market towns of W. Coast. All the above changes had a very great impact on the historically older ethnic communities of this region. Their customs, cultures, worldviews and rituals changed significantly, as also their traditional professions; their original life-styles and mode of subsistence were affected. They were also subjected to religious conversions, intentionally or forcefully, especially into various brands of Christianity and into Islam with or without a change in their mother tongue. These changes caused a substantial shift in the ethnic diversity of this region.
These changes also brought a number of changes on the traditional ethnobotanical resources. Hunting and gathering of useful plants and animals changed into a sedentary agricultural mode of food production. Only a few communities that live deep in the W. Ghats forests still remain as hunter-gathers. Similar is the case with pastoral nomads. A number of plants/ plant products, which were once collected from wild were forced to be brought under cultivation. Pepper, banana varieties, cardamom, Garcinia, Cinnamomum species, etc. are some of the good examples for this. Ethnic communities were also made to cultivate a number of exotic crops, such as coffee, tea, rubber, eucalyptus, cashew nut, clove, nutmeg, etc.
KEYWORDS
•East India Company
•Ethnic Diversity
•Ethnobotanical
•Maritime Time
•Periplus
•Ports of West Coast
•Portuguese Trade
•VOC
REFERENCES
Barendse, R.J. (2002). The Arabian Seas. Vision Books, New Delhi.
Baxter, A.N. (1996). Portuguese and Creole Portuguese in the Pacific and the Western Pacific Rim. pp. 299–338. In: Wurm, S.A., Mühlhäusler, P. & Tryon, D.T. (Eds.). Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific, Asia and the Americas. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Boxer, C.R. (1963). Two pioneers of tropical medicine: Garcia d’Orta and Nicolas Monardes. Diamante XIV: 1–33.
Buchanan, F.D. (1870). A Journey from Madras through countries of Mysore, Canara and Malabar. 2 Vols. Higginbothams, Madras.
Caratini, M., Fontugne, M., Pascal, J.P., Tissot, C. & Bentelab, I. (1991). A major change at ca. 3500 years BP in thee vegetation of the Western Ghats in North Kanara, Karnataka. Curr. Sci. 61, 669–672.
Cardoso, H. (2015). The Indo-Portuguese creoles of the Malabar: historical cues and questions. http://www.academia.edu/3188426, downloaded on 20/7/2015.
Carney, J.A. & Rosomoff, R.N. (2009). In the Shadow of Slavery. University California Press, Berkeley, USA.
Casson, L. (1989). The Periplus Maris Erythrali. Princeton University Press, Princeton, USA.
Chaudhuri, K.A.N. (1985). Trade and Civilization in the Indian Ocean. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
Chaudhuri, K.A.N. (1990). Asia before Europe. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
Crosby, A.W. (1972). The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492. Greenworld Press, Westpost, Ct, USA.
Dale, S. (1994). Indian Merchants and Eurasian Trade. 1600–1750. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Gadgil, M. & Mehr-Homji, V.M. (1986). Localities of great significance to conservation of India’s biological diversity. Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. Suppl. 1986, 165–180.
Gadgil, M. & Thapar, R. (1990). Human Ecology in India. Some Historical perspectives. Interdisciplinary Sci. Rev. 15, 209–223.
Guha, R. & Gadgil, M. (1989). State Forestry and Social Conflict in British India. Past & Present. J. Hist. Studies 123, 141–177.
Krishnamurthy, K.V. (2006). The Tamils and Plants (in Tamil). Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, India.
Lejju, B.J., Robershaw, R. & Taylor, D. (2006). Africa’s earliest bananas. J. Arachaeol. Sci. 33, 102–113.
McCrindle, J, W. (1897). The Christian Topography of Cosmos. London.
McNeill, J.R. (2000). Biological Exchange and Biological Invasion in World History. Paper presented at the 19th International congress of the historical Sciences. Oslo, Aug. 6–13.
Miller, E.J. (1976). Mappila Muslims of Kerala: A Study of Islamic Trends. Bombay.
Misra, V.N. (1989). Stone Age India: an ecological perspective. Man and Environment 14, 17–64.
Prance, G. (2005). The seeds of Time. In: Prance, G., Nesbitt, M. (Eds.). The Cultural History of Plants. Routledge, New York and London, pp. 1–11.
Pushpangadan, P. & Atal, C.K. (1986). Ethnomedical and ethnobotanical investigations among some scheduled caste communities of Travancore, Kerala, India. J. Ethnopharmacol. 16, 175–190.
Ray, H.P. (2003). The archaeology of seafaring in ancient South Asia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
Roy Burman, B.K. (2003). Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in World System perspective. Stud. Tribes Tribals 1, 7–27.
Sali, S.A. (1989). The Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Cultures of Maharashtra. Pune.
Schroff, S.D. (1966). Letters and documents on the India trade. Islamic Culture 37, 188–205.
Subash Chandran, M.D. (1997). On the ecological history of the Western Ghats. Curr. Sci. 73, 146–155.
Sukumar, R., Ramesh, R., Pant, R.K. & Rajagopalan, G. (1993). A δ 13C record of late Quaternary climate change from tropical peats in southern India. Nature 364, 703–706.
Sundara, A. (1991). In: Perspectives in Dakshina Kannada and Kodager. Mangalore University Decennial Volume. Mangalore: Mangalore University, pp. 4–63.
Swaminathan, K.D. (1957). The Nayakas of Ikkeri. Madras.
Thapar, R. (2000). Cultural Pasts: Essays in Early Indian History. Oxford Univ. Press, New Delhi.
Thompson, E.P. (1971). The morol Economy of the English Crowd in the Eighteenth Century. Past & Present. J. Hist. Studies. 50, 76–136.
Wink, A. (1990). Al-Hind, the Making of the indo-Islamic World. Vol. I. Oxford University Press, New Delhi.