Copyright by Sundara Sreenivasa Rao Vadlamudi 2016
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Copyright by Sundara Sreenivasa Rao Vadlamudi 2016 The Dissertation Committee for Sundara Sreenivasa Rao Vadlamudi Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Merchants in Transition: Maritime Trade and Society of Tamil Muslims in the Indian Ocean World, c. 1780-1840. Committee: Cynthia Talbot, Supervisor Gail Minault, Co-Supervisor Sumit Guha Wm. Roger Louis Mark Metzler Dennis McGilvray Merchants in Transition: Maritime Trade and Society of Tamil Muslims in the Indian Ocean World, c. 1780-1840. by Sundara Sreenivasa Rao Vadlamudi, B.E.; M.A. Intl. Policy Stds.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2016 Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to my family. Acknowledgements Just like the merchants who are the subjects of this study, I have accumulated debts over the course of graduate study and the writing of this dissertation at the University of Texas at Austin (UT). Unlike the merchants’ debts that were usually repaid, mine, on the other hand, will last a lifetime. Professor Gail Minault has been a steadfast source of support ever since I began graduate study at UT. Her unstinting faith in my abilities and enthusiasm for learning about the history of Tamil Muslims inspired me to continue working on this topic even when I had initial doubts about the feasibility of the project. Professor Cynthia Talbot generously became the Supervisor of this dissertation in the final stages and provided much needed support at a critical period. Her insistence on perfection helped me to sharpen my argumets, improved my writing, and most importantly, allowed me to complete this dissertation. Professor Sumit Guha joined UT when I had just started writing the dissertation. I am grateful to him for reading drafts of several chapters. His pointed questions and useful suggestions greatly helped me to revise the chapters. I am thankful to Professor Roger Louis for awarding me a Churchill Scholarship that enabled me to conduct research in Penang and Singapore and for introducing me to the community of Churchill Scholars. Professor Mark Metzler expressed early interest in this project and always gave me time to discuss aspects of Asian economic history. His highly detailed comments have provided me with a road map to prepare my book manuscript. Professor Dennis McGilvray has generously shared his vast expertise on the Tamil Muslim community. He showed keen interest in the project and sought out my panels at academic conferences. His comments on my dissertation have provided me with fresh v approaches to explore the issue of maritime trade in the book manuscript. I want to thank Marilyn Lehman for all the help on innumerable occasions during the entire course of my graduate career. The research for this project would not have been possible without the generous financial assistance from several institutions and I am very grateful for their support. The American Institute of Indian Studies awarded me a Junior Research Fellowship for conducting research in India. The staff in the AIIS-Delhi office provided excellent support during my stay in India. The John Anson Kittredge Fund, the Forum on European Expansion and Global Interaction (FEEGI), and the Department of History (UT) awarded me research travel grants that enabled me to carry out research in London. My research in Singapore and Penang was supported by the following sources at UT: Churchill Scholarship, Department of Asian Studies Dravidian Studies Award, and Department of History Research Travel Grant. At UT, I received a David L. Miller and Mary H. Miller Graduate Fellowship that allowed me to devote time fully for writing. I would like to thank the staff at the Tamil Nadu State Archives, the British Library, the National Archives of India, the National Archives of Singapore, and West Bengal State Archives who helped me to navigate the world of archives and cheerfuly delivered large numbers of bulky volumes. In Chennai, Mr. Abdul Qadir Buhari helped me to get access to the library maintained by the Seethakathi Trust. The library is housed in B.S. Abdur Rahman University and Moulavi Dr.P.S.Syed Masood Jamali, facilitated my access to the library. In Keelakarai, Mr. M.K.E. Omar was a gracious host and provided extremely useful assistance for my research. In Keelakarai, Mr. Sultan provided a guided tour of the mosques and temples and was a storehouse of information on the local history of the town. I want to thank Mrs. Mumtaz Alam for sharing her knowledge vi about the Tamil Muslim community and for inviting me to her ancestral home in Koothanallur, Tamil Nadu. My research took me to several countries and I am eternally grateful for all my friends and family members who supported me in more ways than I can count. In London, Dr. Amit Banerjee and Dr. Rina Banerjee provided a place to stay and looked after me with much care. Dr. Anita Banerjee and Dr. Soumen Saha provided good cheer. Richard Bingle provided not just a room but also access to his vast collection of books and engaged in delightful breakfast conversations. In Penang, Khoo Salma Nasution and Abdur-Razzaq Lubis helped me to conduct my research and were a great source of information on Penang’s local history. I am greatly indebted to my numerous friends in Chennai, Singapore, and the United States who have helped me over the course of my graduate career in ways that can only be done by true friends. My family has been a great source of strength throughout this long period of graduate study. My parents, Jaya Kumari Vadlamudi and Jayadharalal Vadlamudi, encouraged me to follow my dreams and stood by me as I moved across academic disciplines. My large family of three sisters, nephews, nieces, and brothers-in-law always supported me even if they did not fully understand my decision to study History. My parents-in-law, Manojkumar Chatterjee and Anubha Chatterjee, and brother-in-law always reminded me to take care my health and delighted in my successes. Anindita Chatterjee, an academic herself, witnessed firsthand and experienced with me all the ups and downs of life in graduate school. We spent as much time together as we were apart. But her comforting presence was always there for me when I needed it. Her perseverance in pursuing a Ph.D., despite all the hardships and injustice she experienced, remains a source of inspiration for me. vii Merchants in Transition: Maritime Trade and Society of Tamil Muslims in the Indian Ocean World, c. 1780-1840. Sundara Sreenivasa Rao Vadlamudi, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2016 Supervisor: Cynthia Talbot Co-Supervisor: Gail Minault This dissertation examines the maritime trade and society of South Indian Tamil- speaking Muslim merchants in the Indian Ocean during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It examines how these merchants, in a period marked by transition to colonial rule in India under the English East India Company (EIC), not only continued to trade along India’s southern and eastern coasts but also expanded their sphere of operations to include the newly established EIC entrepotŝ of Penang (1786) and Singapore (1819). This project accounts for this historical development by emphasizing two interrelated processes: the adoption of a specific set of trading practices by Tamil Muslim merchants and the creation of new opportunities by the expansion of EIC rule in South and Southeast Asia. In the Indian Ocean littoral region, governed by competing sovereignties, these merchants adopted diverse subjecthoods that guaranteed protection of their ships on sea. The merchants actively participated in new opportunities to transport salt from South India to Bengal, managed pearl and chank (conch shell) fisheries along the coasts of South India and Sri Lanka, and transported Indian textiles to Southeast Asia. viii The merchants entered into partnerships with English merchants to raise capital for their trade voyages. In short, this study challenges the dominant narrative of decline of Indian maritime merchants by 1800 and offers instead, in a revisionist vein, an account of continuity of operation well into the early decades of the nineteenth century. In doing so, my dissertation accomplishes three objectives: expand our understanding of maritime aspects of India’s colonial economy, demonstrate a resurgence in the intra-Asian trade in the early nineteenth century, and explain the evolving relationship between merchants, the EIC state, and indigenous rulers. ix Table of Contents A Note on Currencies ……………………………………………………………. xii Chapter 1 Introduction ………………………………………………………… 1 I. Introduction …………………………………………………………… 1 II. Narrative of Decline of Indian Maritime Merchants …………………. 9 III. Age of Transitions …………………………………………………… 17 IV. Plan of Study and Sources …………………………………………... 19 V. Typology of Maritime Merchants ……………………………………. 24 VI. Indian Merchants and Indian Ocean Trade: An Overview ………….. 30 VII. Maritime World of Tamil Muslims: An Overview ………………… 35 Chapter 2 A Tale of Two Acquisitions: Nagore, Penang, and the Maritime Trade of Tamil Muslims, 1778-1800 ………………………………... 47 I. Introduction …………………………………………………………… 47 II. Nagore Acquisition …………………………………………………… 52 III. Settling Nagore ……………………………………………………… 56 IV. Acquisitions Beyond Nagore ……………………………………....... 69 V. Trade at EIC-controlled Ports ………………………………………... 72 VI. Establishment of Penang ……………………………………………. 78 VII. The Dutch Factor …………………………………………………… 81 VIII. Penang and the Eastward Trade ………………………………….… 84 IX. Conclusion …………………………………………………………… 94 Appendix I …………………………………………………………….… 98 Chapter 3 Ocean’s Treasures: Tamil Muslims and the Trade in Salt, Conch Shells, and Pearls, c. 1800-40 ……………………………………….. 100 I. Introduction …………………………………………………………… 100 II. Generating Revenue ……………………………………………….…. 102 III. Salt Transport from Coromandel to Bengal …………………………. 104 IV. Conch Shell (Chank) and Pearl Fisheries …………………………… 115 IV(a). Pearl Fishing in Historical Sources ………………………. 116 IV(b). Chanks: Locations and Uses ……………………………... 118 IV(c). Pearls and Chanks: Fishing Procedure …………………… 121 IV(d).