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The Far Horizons: the Changing Patterns of Maritime Connections Between China and South Asia, 1000-1450

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The Far Horizons: the Changing Patterns of Maritime Connections Between China and South Asia, 1000-1450 The Far Horizons: The Changing Patterns of Maritime Connections between China and South Asia, 1000-1450 Tansen Sen Baruch College, The City University of New York DRAFT. NOT FOR CITATION The period between 1000 CE and 1450 CE witnessed significant changes in the patterns of maritime traDe anD cultural exchanges in the InDian Ocean. While K. N. Chaudhuri (1985) has emphasizeD the advent of “segmenteD traDe” pattern during this perioD, the convergence of maritime anD overlanD routes that leaD to the emergence of a thirteenth-century worlD system has been unDerscoreD by Janet Abu-Lughod (1989). Three other features of maritime interactions in the InDian Ocean for this perioD are also important to highlight. First, it should be noted that by the eleventh century, seafaring merchant communities of Muslims, Tamils, anD Southeast Asians haD establisheD their shipping anD commercial networks, which integrateD most of Asia (anD beyonD) more intimately anD more lucratively anD any time before. Travel by the sea routes haD also become easier anD safer Due to the advances in shipbuilding and navigational technologies. Second, several polities connected through these Indian Ocean mercantile networks, including the Chola kingDom (850?-1279) in southern India, Srivijaya in Southeast Asia, anD the Song court in China, became important participants in overseas commercial anD Diplomatic activities. Such state participation in long-Distance maritime traDing activity was unpreceDenteD in the history of the Indian Ocean. Third, the fourteenth century witnessed a substantial increase in the presence of Chinese traders and court officials (Yuan and subsequently Ming) in the Indian Ocean, culminating in the famous maritime expeDitions of Zheng He 鄭和 between 1405 and 1433. Within these wiDer contexts, this paper examines the changes that took place in China’s maritime engagement with the coastal regions of South Asia from the eleventh to the miD-fifteenth century. It focuses on the ways in which the Song, Yuan, and Ming courts in China pursueD Diplomatic exchanges with South Asian polities. It also explores the gradually expanding knowleDge about the South Asian coast and the spread of Chinese trading and shipping networks to the region. The study is intended not only to explain the changing patterns of maritime connections between China anD South Asia, but also to Demonstrate the increasingly complex anD multilayereD nature of Chinese engagement with the maritime worlD During the first half of the seconD millennium. Song China and the Coastal Regions of South Asia In 720, a king from southern InDia nameD Shilinaluolu(seng?)jiamo, iDentifieD as Narasiṃhavarman II Rājasiṃha (r. 700-728) of the Pallava kingdom (Petech 1989), sent a Diplomatic mission to the Tang court in China. The Pallava king sought permission from the Tang court to attack the Arabs anD Tibetans with war elephants anD horses he possesseD anD askeD Emperor Xuanzong to pick a title for his army. The Chinese emperor, who was at that time confronting the Arabs anD Tibetans at his western frontiers, acknowleDgeD the Diplomatic mission anD bestoweD the title of “HuiDe jun” (the Army that Cherishes Virtue) to Rājasiṃha’s army. Two other missions from the Pallava king followeD, one seeking an epithet for a (Buddhist?) temple anD another acknowleDging the title of “king” (wang) that the Chinese emperor haD also bestoweD on him (Cefu yuangui 973: 11433a-b; 995: 11687a; Jiu Tang shu 198: 5309; Sen 2003: 26). This exchange of Diplomatic missions between the Pallava ruler anD the Tang court could be easily linked to the intensifying maritime commercial activities During the eighth century. Any geopolitical concerns coulD be Dismissed, as Petech (1989: 156) does, due to the “obvious geographic reasons.” However, Rājasiṃha may have haD such concerns Despite the fact that his polity was locateD far away from the regions Xuanzong was trying to defend. By 711, Arab armies leD by MuhammaD al-Qasim had invaded the Sind region (in present-Day Pakistan). Although the Arab expansion into South Asia lost impetus in 715 Due to political problems within the UmayyaD Empire (661-750), occasional raiD in what are moDern-day Rajasthan-Gujarat areas are known to have troubleD rulers in the Deccan region (Wink 1999: 206-208). At the same time, the forays of Tibetan troops into the Bengal-Bengal region may have also concerneD rulers elsewhere in the subcontinent. Thus, while commercial motives woulD have playeD an important role in the Dispatch of Pallava embassies to the Tang court, the possibilities of geopolitical discourse between the two regions cannot be completely ruleD out. It is not clear, however, what knowleDge the Tang court had about the Pallava polity or if it was at all interesteD in establishing military alliance with the ruler in coastal India. With little interest in promoting maritime traDe, the Tang court may not have even considered the arrival of Pallava embassies as of any economic relevance. Rather, it is possible these embassies were perceiveD as the usual tributary missions from the far horizons. Indeed, even in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, when the Chinese court, unDer the Song rulers, became actively engageD in maritime traDe, it haD limiteD knowleDge about the geopolitical situation in the Bay of Bengal or other parts of the Indian Ocean. This limiteD knowleDge about the South Asian coastal regions is surprising given the fact that the Chola kingDom on the CoromanDel coast haD sent several diplomatic missions to the Song court anD traDers from Song China had started using the Malabar coast as a transit site for travel to locations in the Persian Gulf. AdDitionally, a Tamil merchant guilD may have also existeD at Quanzhou, the main maritime commercial town During the Song period. Despite these factors, neither the Song court nor the custom officials at the Chinese port cities had any significant 2 understanding about the South Asian coast. This may have been partially Due to the Srivijayan polity’s attempts to Deliberately misinform the Song authorities about the Chola kingDom (Sen 2009). The Song court, which Does not seem to have sent any Diplomatic missions to South Asia, may not have haD any way of verifying the information supplieD by the Srivijayan representatives. By the beginning of eleventh century, Song China haD emergeD as a lucrative market for seafaring merchants anD polities locateD in the greater InDian Ocean worlD (i.e., from the South China Sea to the Persian Gulf). Changes in economic policies anD market structures starting from the later half of the eighth century, triggereD by internal as well as external factors, were key reasons for the incorporation of maritime traDe into the revenue system of the Tang court after the An Lushan rebellion (755-763). Revenue from maritime traDe became crucial for the Song dynasty, which was forced to sign peace treaties with its northern neighbors. In order to raise state income from the flourishing maritime traDe, the Song court liberalizeD the tribute system, DispatcheD envoys to entice foreign merchants, and openeD customhouses at several ports. Such encouragements of maritime activities eventually resulteD in the entry of Chinese merchants in the InDian Ocean traDe, the Development of shipbuilDing inDustry, anD the spreaD of Chinese Diasporic communities. For most part of the Song perioD, however, contacts between the Chinese and the South Asian coasts were through Muslim (mostly Arab) anD Southeast Asian (primarily Srivijayan) intermeDiaries. This is eviDent from the recorDs of the Diplomatic exchanges between the two regions. The Chola Diplomatic missions, which are reporteD to arriveD in 1015, 1020, 1033, anD 1077, for example, involveD Muslim traDers anD, at least in the case of the 1077 embassy, Srivijayan natives (Sen 2009). It is intriguing that the Song court until at least the early twelfth century believeD that the Chola kingDom was a vassal state of Srivijaya. This is revealeD in a memorial submitteD to the Song Emperor Huizong (r. 1101-25) in 1106. In response to Huzong’s orDer to receive the envoys from Pagan (in present-Day Myanmar) in accorDance with the status to the Chola embassies, the presiDent of the Council of Rites objected by saying, The Chola [kingDom] is subject to Srivijaya, this is why During the Xining reign perioD (1068-1077), we wrote to its ruler on coarse paper with an envelope of plain stuff. Pagan, on the other hand, is a great kingDom anD shoulD not be perceiveD as small tributary state. [It] Deserves a comparable status [given to] the Arabs, Jiaozhi (present-Day Vietnam), anD other smaller states. (Song shi 489: 14087; Sen 2009: 69) Almost a century before this argument was maDe, the Chola kingDom haD, in fact, launcheD a massive naval attack on the Srivijayan ports. This 1025 offensive against the Srivijayans seems to have gone unnoticeD by the Song court most likely because of the ubiquitous presence of Srivijayans in Song China (Sen 2009). 3 The Arab Muslims seem to have also passeD on incorrect information about the South Asian coasts to the Song scribes. Zhufan zhi 諸番志 (Records of the Barbarous People), written by a maritime custom official nameD Zhao Rugua 趙汝适 in 1225, for example, gives a description of a seven-folD walleD city in the Chola kingDom that Does not seem to relate to any urban center in southern InDia. AdDitionally, some of the proDucts listeD as local proDuce, such as opaque and transparent glass and Persian dates, were not of Chola origin, but rather commoDities sourceD from the MeDiterranean or the Persian Gulf regions (Karashima anD Sen 2009). AccorDing to an earlier work, Chinese traders were already visiting the port of Kollam in the Malabar coast in the twelfth century. Zhou Qufei 周去非 (c.1135- c.1189), the author of the book called Lingwai daida 嶺外代答, composeD in 1178, reports that “Chinese seafaring traders planning to go to Dashi (i.e., the Persian Gulf) changeD to smaller boats in Kollam.” These Chinese traDers may have just started reaching the South Asian coasts in the late-twelfth century and were probably still not the main source of information about the InDian Ocean worlD for Zhou Qufei.
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