Nakhudas and Nauvittakas: Ship-owning Merchants In The West Coast of India (c. AD 1000-1500)

Trade, Institutions, and Ethnic Tolerance: Evidence from South Asia

“…Yet, an inscription exists that shows that in 1262, the authorities of the rebuilt Somnath temple made a large-scale land grant of temple lands to a Muslim trader, Nur-ud-din Firuz of Hormuz to settle in the adjacent trading port of Veraval, aware of the commercial taxation and prosperity that a colony of Muslims could bring (Sircar 1962; Thapar 2004, 84–85). Similar inscriptions substantiating mosque endowments by Hindu elites and rulers have been found throughout Gujarat and the west coast (Chakravarti 2000; Thapar 2004), as well as on the eastern coast (Bayly 1989; Dasgupta 2004). Tolerance towards Muslim traders operating beyond Islam's political frontiers was not unique to India but appears to have been a common feature of oceanic trade extending beyond the Indian Ocean to Indonesia and even China 17…”

“…In this dataset, a religious riot was defined as a violent confrontation by two communally identified groups. I then drew on the accounts of contemporary Muslim, Christian, and Chinese observers, including Chau Jukua (1225), Ibn Battuta (1355), Ludovico di Verthema (1503), Duarte Barbosa (1519), and Zayn al-Din al Malibari (1528), economic historians of the region (Chakravarti 2000;Chaudhuri 1995;Subrahmanyam 1990), as well as examining every town listed in the Imperial gazetteers (1907) for evidence of contemporary and medieval trade. The Periplus Maris Erythraei (Casson 1989) provided the locations of a number of pre-Muslim and early Muslim ports.…”

“…The Periplus Maris Erythraei (Casson 1989) provided the locations of a number of pre-Muslim and early Muslim ports. I then drew on the accounts of contemporary Muslim, Christian, and Chinese observers, including Chau Jukua (1225), Ibn Battuta (1355), Ludovico di Verthema (1503), Duarte Barbosa (1519), and Zayn al-Din al Malibari (1528), economic historians of the region (Chakravarti 2000; Chaudhuri 1995; Subrahmanyam 1990), as well as examining every town listed in the Imperial gazetteers (1907) for evidence of contemporary and medieval trade.…”

"Unfinished Business": Ethnic Complementarities and the Political Contagion of Peace and Conflict in Gujarat

“…The Periplus Maris Erythraei (Casson, ed, 1989), an ancient Greek navigator's handbook (ca 1-4th century) provided the locations of a number of pre-Muslim and early Muslim ports which were then supplemented by moving forward in time, examining the records of contemporary Muslim, Christian and Chinese observers, including Chau Jukua (1225), Ibn Ibn Battuta (1355), Ludovico di Verthema (1503), Duarte Barbosa (1519) and Zayn al-Din al Malibari (1528). These contemporary accounts were augmented by secondary sources (Yule, ed, 1866, Subrahmanyam, 1990, Chaudhuri, 1995, Chakravarti, 2000. Finally, every town listed in the Imperial gazetteers of India from 1907 was examined for evidence of contemporary and medieval trade and to trace its foundation and historic role as an administrative, as well as a trade, center.…”