Muziris Seminar Xt College PAPER by GM

7/29/2019 Muziris Seminar Xt College PAPER by GM

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Paper presented by Prof. George Menachery ([email protected]

00919846033713) at the Muziris Seminar, Christ College, Irinjalakuda,

Sept. 2013: The Mari t ime Importance of Muzir is as Descr ibed by

Roman Histor ians and Poets, and o ther wri ters. in th e First Centur ies

BCE/CE as Ins pirat ion for Undertaking a Modern Day Muzir is - Red

Sea Sail Ship Voyage.

Prologue:

Allow me to put my last things first by bringing to the attention of the learned

scholars present an item from the Hindudated January 21, 2012 which more or

less summarises what I want to say here.

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Re-enact Muziris voyages, KHA tells NavyK.A. MARTIN & S. ANANDAN

Defence Ministry told to take the lead in rebuilding such a vessel atBeypore

The Kerala History Association (KHA) headed by jurist V.R. Krishna Iyer has urged

the Indian Navy to join hands with the Departments of Cultural Affairs and Tourismto re-enact the voyages of ancient trade vessels from the ancient port of Muziris tothe Red Sea around 2000 years ago.

In a key resolution, passed early this month, the association asked the Union DefenceMinistry to take the lead in rebuilding such a cargo vessel at Beypore, a historical

boatbuilding hub in northern Kerala renowned for its esoteric technology adept atbuilding urus' [cargo sail yachts] using locally available timber and coir.

The association felt that recreating a cargo vessel that plied the seas from Muziris tolink ports in the Red Sea on the Egyptian and the Yemeni coasts would highlight the

strong historical links between the two important regions of the world besidesbringing to the world's attention their cultural exchanges.

Historian K.N. Panikkar endorsed the idea when he told The Hindu on Friday that itwould be good if the Navy undertook such a mission.

He recalled that such efforts had been made in other parts of the world, including inthe recreation of journeys along the old Silk Route.

It must have taken 40 days to reach Muziris from Egypt by sea in the olden times,said George Menacherry, a historian, who piloted the resolution at the association'smeeting.
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He, however, added that the Jewel of Muscat,' a replica of the late first-millenniumtrading vessel that sailed around the world jointly created by the Sultanate of Omanand the Government of Singapore, had shown that the journey would take just 27days now.

Approached for its comments, the Navy said although it had not received theproposal yet, it would study the merits of the project before taking a call on that.

While the Navy has always taken a keen interest in understanding, conserving, andcontributing to build upon the rich maritime history that India boasts, collaborationin such ventures require decision at the highest-level, said Navy sources.

In the State, the Navy has earlier assisted the archaeological excavation team atPattanam (where vestiges of Kerala's trade with the Mediterranean countries wereexhumed) by sending its deep-sea divers to conduct underwater surveys.

It sustains a chair on maritime history at Calicut University and the local chapter ofthe Maritime History Society is headed by the Southern Naval Command's FlagOfficer Sea Training (FOST).

When the Jewel of Muscat' (Jewel of Oman), currently installed as a maritimehistory museum in Singapore after a historical sail along the ancient Middle East andthe Far East, was constructed in Oman on the lines of a shipwrecked ninth-centurycargo vessel, uru-builders of Beypore were called in to build it.

Built without nails or screws and with planks sewn together using coconut fibres, thesail yacht was made by over a dozen carpenters and rope-makers from Beypore.

There was a time when the boatbuilding industry here had its hands full, buildingabout 60 urus simultaneously. Even now, they build about six to seven urus forforeign customers who use them for tourism promotion. They recently constructedone for a French customer. Exponents of the esoteric technology of uru-making arenot many now. But still there are a few and scores of workers are employed by themto carry out the job. They can create mock-ups of ancient ships as well, said M.P.Padmanabhan, INTUC national leader and an authority on the subject.

Recreating the vessel wil l highl ight the li nks Such efforts made in other parts of the world'

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In the title of the paper the termMuzirisRed Sea Sail Ship Voyage is used as

if this writer is even today sure about the exact location of Muziris. When this writer

wrote the chapter on Kodungallur and Muziris in the work Kodungallur City of St.

Thomas (first published in 1987) there was to be found near- unanimity of opinion


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about the location of Muziris among the vast majority of 20th Century historians. This

unanimity of opinion continued more or less until the book was reprinted in 2000

and its contents published on the sitewww.indianchristianity.com. Until quite

recent times, most historians believed with many generations of people down the

centuries, that Muziris was Cranganore or Kodungallur.

Ptolemy has E. Long. 117.00 and N. Lat. 14.00 for Muciris Emporium and 117.20and 14.00 for the Azhimukham (Pseudostomas) See K.V. K Ayyar,A ShortHistory of Kerala, Ernakulam, 1966, Appendix II, pp. 193, 194, 195 for sometwo score and ten places in the area mentioned by Greek and Roman authors ofthe century between c. 50 and 150 A.D.

Here are a few other examples:

K.P.Padbanabha Menon:Pliny described Cranganore as primum emporium

Indiae(Actually Pliny says this about Muziris).And again, Situated on thewestern sea-board at a point where the river system that afforded untoldfacilities for communication with the interior opened its mouth into the sea,Cranganore formed a great emporium of trade from very early times fromwhereThe Phoenicians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans, each inturn, carried on commerce with the East." [History of Kerala, I, Ernakulam,1924, p 297]

K.M. Panikkar : "The great hoards of Roman coins discoveredin Kerala bear ample witness to the extensive character of this

trade.

"The main port in Kerala which was the centre of this trade, asPliny says, was Muziris or Cranganore. It was known in Keralaas Muyirikkodu - it is so mentioned in the so called Christianplates. The earlier Tamil poets allude to it as Mucciri. Periplusmentions that Muziris is a city at the height of prosperityfrequented as it is by ships from Arriake and by Greek shipsfrom Egypt. The exports of Kerala consisted mainly of pearl inconsiderable quantity and of superior quality; pepper in largerquantities and gems of every variety"

K.M. Panikkar,A History of Kerala, Annamalai Nagar, 1959,p.3.

Galletti,The Dutch in Malabar, Madras 1911, p.9(Introduction v)

V.Nagam Aiya,The TravancoreState Manual(in 3 volumes), Vol I,

Trivandrum,1906, pp 231-232.
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T.K Velu Pillai, The TravancoreState Manual(in 4 volumes), Vol. II,Trivandrum, 1940, p.10.

Yule-Cordier, Cathay and the Way Thither,London.

Vincent Smith quoted in T.K. Velu Pillai, op-cit., vol.II. p.10

Bjorn Landstrom ,TheQuest for India, Stockholm, 1964, (Double day

English Edition). p.48

K.V. Krishna Iyer,Keralas Relations with the Outside World, pp. 70, 71 in"The Cochin Synagogue Quatercentenary Celebrations Commemoration

Volume", Kerala History Association, Cochin, 1971.

There are many more statements by a plethora of writers taking for grantedthat Muziris is Kodungallur.

But in recent years, especially after the excavations at Pazhnam or Pattanam by

Shajan followed by others, there is a tendency among a group of scholars todoubt the location of Muziris, hence what is accepted more or less universally isthat Muziris is on the west Coast of Malabar, possibly in the vicinity ofKodungallur in the Parur-Chetwa belt. This divergence in the views of scholarsdoes not affect the position that large quantities of Kerala goods and goods thatarrived in Kerala from various points were exported from Muziris.

2.00 The writings of early writers both of the east and the west bring out

mainly three aspects of the Muziris trade, one: the products exported fromMuziris and the demand for Muziris exports at Rome and elsewhere in the

Empire, two:the extend of the Muziris trade and its economic impact, three: the

route and modus for the transportation and the duration of the trips by land and

sea.

The fl our ishing town of Mucir i where the large beautiful ships of the yavanas which bring gold

and take pepper come disturbing the white foam of the littl e fair Peri yar of theCheras.

Ahananaru (149),Tamil Sangam Poem datable to 2nd century CE.

While the journey from Muziris was easier with the north-eastern winds, the journey from

Rome that used the rough south-west winds was tough. The whole journey was relatively quick


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but risky. Lionell Casson, a well-known archaeologist working on Roman trade, thinks that the

Romans had the right kind of ships that were designed for safety than speed The vessels

usually arrived in Muziris in September and were anchored till December or early January.

Gold coins, topaz, coral, copper, glass, wine and wheat were imported from Rome, while pearl,

diamonds, sapphire, ivory, silk, pepper and precious stones were exported from the west coast.

Casson estimates that a 500-ton ship could have carried goods equivalent to the price of 2,400

acres of fertile farmlands in Egypt. While another archaeologist, Federico Romanis, estimates

that one ship carried nothing less than 68,000 gold coins worth of goods.

The trade, it appears, was seductively profitable and worth the risk. As the Vienna Papyrus, a

rare document discovered about two decades back reveals, the trade between Muziris and

Alexandria was well worked out and traders from both sides went to great lengths to secure it.

A wharf complex with a dugout canoe made from a single log of wood and several wooden

posts/bollards were found during excavations in 2007. Carbon dating fixed the date of the canoeto 1st century BCE. A large quantity of botanical remains such as pepper, rice, cardamom,

frankincense and grape seeds belonging to the same period were also discovered. It clearly

emerged that Pattanam was once a thriving link in the Indian Ocean trade. Evidences pointed

out that it was a site of continuous habitation pre-dating the Roman phase. The earliest strata

so far unearthed dates back to the Iron Age 10th to 5th century BCE.

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Muziris Seminar Xt College PAPER by GM