Introduction

Ports form part of economic and socio-cultural interaction spheres or zones between water and land. Such spheres interact with each other in various ways. In the case of the Southeast Asian Maritime Interaction Sphere (SAMIS), spanning the huge area from the east coast of Africa to the east coast of China and Japan, this trade has existed for over 3,500 years. The term “Southeast Asian Maritime Interaction Sphere” is crucial in understanding as well as defining interactions for which there are no written documents but for which there is enough evidence to prove that technology, products of everyday use, religious iconography, ideas, languages, and people moved around the Southeast Asian Maritime Interaction Sphere, leaving behind deep impacts some of which have been unearthed through archaeological exploration.

Trade networks between the Gujarat, Coromandel, and Bengal coasts and Southeast Asia, especially the Nusantara (Malay Peninsula and Indonesian archipelago) and Thailand (formerly known as Siam), flourished during the premodern period. This chapter will focus on the ports of Kedah and Aceh rather than much-discussed Melaka to understand their roles in intra-Asian trading networks, the intra-regional interaction of Malay polities, and Siamese royal contact with generations of Indian traders who have been active in the Indian Ocean.

This chapter examines archaeological and documentary evidence from Nusantara, where references to trade or contact with Gujarat or Coromandel can be found. The chapter focuses on Kedah (including colonial Penang) in northwest Malaysia, and Aceh in northern Sumatra during the pre-modern era and the British and Dutch colonial periods through the analysis of their transactions and modus operandi of trade and religious interaction with South Asia’s Coromandel, Bengal and Gujarati coasts in order to deepen the understanding of their cross-cultural interactions.

Jain literary sources provide ample references to trade which have been hitherto under-recognised. They are generally considered difficult to parse for historical information. Malay laws, on the other hand, have been closely examined to reflect the place Gujarati merchants and their cloths commanded in Aceh.

Discoveries of Islamic tombs in northern Sumatra and Java, the carvings of which were most likely produced in Cambay, provide greater insight into Islamic contact with Nusantara passing through Gujarat. The contribution of Gujarati Muslim scholar Nuruddin Al-Raniri to the Islamisation of Malaya will be explored. Finally, the role of Saudagiri textiles in the formation of Siamese court attire tradition will be put into wider context. The chapter concludes with a study of Gujarati textiles, commodities, and tin merchants in Penang and Singapore to extend the chronology of this study to the early 20th century and demonstrate continuity and change in pre-war transnational Asian trade and interaction spheres.

Epigraphic Evidence Related to Trade from Gujarat

Gujarat has a long tradition of donatory inscriptions commemorating contributions by royal families as well as lay and business communities to public buildings, including temples. The reference to a vanigrama on the Sanjeli copper-plate No. 3i dateable to around the 5th–6th centuries CE is synonymous with the manigrama of the Tamil merchant guilds found in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, as well as in Southeast Asia, for instance the Takuapa inscription found on the northwest coast of the Malay Peninsula (Guy 2011, 205–15). This inscription highlights local-level interactions between merchants, businessmen, and traders from the region, foreign countries, as well as from all four directions. Signatories to the copper-plate grant hailed from Ujjain, Kannauj, Mathura, and possibly Mandsaur. The tradition of donating ritual paraphernalia as a form of voluntary and customary donation by merchant guilds (devadeya) in the form of flowers, oil, lamps, frankincense, and perfumes for temple use, general maintenance, and perennial upkeep is also found in Buddhist traditions in many parts of India and Asia.

Sanjeli, located in the Zalod Taluka of Panchmahal district near Godhra in northwest Gujarat, was located on a central Indian trade route along the river Mahi connecting it with ports which pilgrims, as well as businessmen and traders, frequented. The trading goods generally referred to in the Sanjeli copper-plate inscription are salt, molasses, cotton and grain, while the measures of donations by vessel load, cart load, and donkey load are also clearly defined. All businessmen are directed to honour these conditions in perpetuity. The Sanjeli copper-plate inscription was signed by a group of businessmen whose names and native cities are given; it was signed at the residence of a witnessing businessman. Failure to honour these conditions would lead to committing the five great sins. This inscription mentions the patron of the temple as the Queen Mother Viradhyika and the ruling dynastic lineage of Maharaja Bhuta, the district governor of Shivabhagapur in the reign of the great Hun king Toramana, whose inscriptions at Eran and Gwalior are well-known. Further interpretations indicate the significance and wider implications of this inscription (personal communication from Ranabir Chakravarti, December 2015; for details see Mehta and Thakkar 1978; Ramesh 1987, 186–97).

Literary References to Kedah in Pre-Modern Sources from Gujarat

There is sufficient evidence to demonstrate the presence of Indian merchants, nakhoda (ship captains), and syahbandar (harbour masters), as well as mercenaries, monks and religious personages who would have contributed to many aspects of life in general and trade in particular in Nusantara. Kedah is located in northwest Peninsular Malaysia. It was a major trading port. Tamil, Sanskrit, Persian, Chinese, and Thai texts mention this location and goods traded from here to South, East and West Asia (for sources see Miksic 2013, 106–10, passim; Miksic and Goh 2017, esp. 285–91, 397–401).

Indigenous records from western India of Indian foreign trade during the early years of the Common Era (CE) and earlier contain few details. They mostly consist of literary sources, a few court records, grants, inscriptions, or manuals. Pallava, Gupta, and Post-Gupta records from central, southern, and western India record numerous maritime commercial expeditions and diplomatic visits to China, Sri Lanka, and Malaya, highlighting major maritime activity and material exchanges. Of particular interest are Jain literary sources, which are underexplored; sifting through their anecdotes and stories is not only entertaining but insightful.

Samaraiccakaha of Haribhadra Suri (c. 750 CE) and Kuvalayamala of Uddyotana Suri (c. 779 CE), are two Jain texts from the 8th century which have not been utilised sufficiently as records of trade links with port cities in the east (Mishra 1974). Besides exciting narratives of perils on the sea, shipwrecks, sailors swept ashore on unknown islands, piracy, and encounters with rakshasas and rakshasis, these texts frequently mention trade goods, taxation, and polities that engaged in trade directly with foreign traders.

In the context of Southeast Asia, Samaraicchakaha mentions the port cities of Tamralipti, from where a caravan of merchants set sail to Suvarnadvipa (the lands bordering the Straits of Melaka) where they arrived in two months. From there, they went to Sripura and thereafter to Singhaladvipa. They also attempted to visit Cinadvipa, Ratnadvipa, Devapura, and Vaijayanti in search of precious metals, stones, and jewels. Not only merchants, even princesses are also said to have set sail. Gold sand on Suvarnadvipa (dhau khettam) was discovered by one merchant named Dharana, who baked 10,000 bricks from it for onward trading - a trope which is echoed in local tales from Sumatra. There is also mention of barter or sale and purchase of goods by the leader of the enterprise, termed bhandasamittane (Mishra 1974, 188–90).

Kuvalayamala mentions a greedy merchant from Taxila travelling on dakshinapatha and setting sail from Surparaka, the ancient Buddhist monastic centre and port city in Thane district, Maharashtra, after selling horses and making a good profit. The merchant travelled all the way from Surparaka (modern Sopara) to Ratnadvipa (identified with Sri Lanka) after visiting Mahakatah, Cina, Mahacina, Suvarnabhumi (“Golden Land”, the general area of Siam, probably the southern areas of Thailand and Myanmar) Suvarnadvipa and many other islands (Mishra 1974, 190).

This type of record shows the navigational skills of the merchant groups and religious rituals performed by them, although it is not clear whether Brahmin priests would have accompanied the vanika merchants, or the nakhodas*, navika*s, or any other ship managers. The texts demonstrate detailed knowledge of geographical locations and characteristics of resources found on various islands.

In connection with ancient trade in textiles for spices/medicinal/herbal natural resources, both these texts throw ample light not only on the existence of such trade, but also a special type of Chinese textile (netrapatta) which could be a very important source of information for the import of silk textiles from China into India (Mishra 1974, 190). Javanese inscriptions of the 9th century CE mention the use of Indian textiles in religious and social rituals (Christie 1993).

Mishra has observed references in Samaraicchakaha to ships sailing from Tamralipti to Suvarnabhumi, reaching Sri Lanka via Sripura. Sripura may refer to Palembang or Srivijaya, and Devapura may refer to Aceh; but this is still conjectural. Mishra identifies Barabarakula with Barbaria in Ethiopia, where large ivories and emeralds were exchanged for textiles in the 8th century CE.

Trade with Bujang Valley and the Hindu-Buddhist Legacy

Based on archaeological as well as inscriptional records as seen at the Bujang Valley sites and archaeological museum, one can discern that South Asia was in contact with this region during the Gupta, Pala, and Chola periods; influences may have travelled from many coastal regions ranging from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Orissa coasts to Bengal between the 4th and 13th centuries. Some ground plans of temples in the Bujang valley relate to Nagara architecture of Gujarat (Sun temple, Gop) and central India (Vishnu temple, Deogarh) of 4th–8th centuries while the sculptures of Buddhas, stupa, and bronze sculptures refer to the Pala or Chola influence of the 8th–12th centuries; statues of Dvarapala, Ganesha and female figures exemplify Chola influence of the 10th–13th centuries.

This material, when examined in totality, suggests the roles of multiple and varied influences and assimilation of these inputs; selective adaptation by the local polity, community, and travelling merchants and religious practitioners seems to be plausible. Direct influence from Western India is yet to be established; however, a strong case can be made for the Hindu-Buddhist religious knowledge system of Brahmanism and Mahayanist iconography and philosophy from the west as well as the east coast of India during the Gupta and Post-Gupta periods.

Since Sopara (ancient Shurparaka; capital of Aparanta), Chaul, and Dabhol were key ports on western Indian coast from ancient times, the evolution of Buddhist iconography as well as its transmission to Southeast Asia in ancient times through traders and religious practitioners from centres such as Sopara, which has Ashokan edicts and stupa structures, is another important subject to bear in mind. Significant topics for study include the maritime transmission of the Avalokiteshvara concept and iconography, stupa architecture, and the installation of the Buddhist creed by merchant travellers such as the Mahanavika Buddhagupta.

Evidence of direct contact between Gujarat and Kedah is yet to be discovered through epigraphic or archaeological evidence, save for the mention of Mahakatah in Kuvalayamala, a Jain text written in the 8th century discussed above. There is sufficient inscriptional information in Tamil and Sanskrit referring to Kedah (Kidaram) at Nagapattinam and other Tamil sites referring to donations made to both Hindu and Buddhist organisations by agents of the Srivijaya king during the reigns of Rajaraja and Rajendra Chola. This supports the inference that the people, traders, religious functionaries, and royal courts of these two regions were in constant contact. Thus transfer of knowledge, thoughts, beliefs, artistic conventions and philosophy would ensue.

The inscription of Mahanavika (“Great Navigator”, ship’s captain) Buddhagupta, who hailed from Raktamrittika was written around the 5th century based on the dating of the Pallava Grantha script, which is comparable to the Sungei Mas, Bukit Meriam, and Bukit Choras inscriptions. The name means “Red Earth”. This was a common placename in ancient times; places of this name are known in south Thailand, for instance (Miksic 2013, 58). This inscription refers to the Buddhist creed ye dhamma hetuprabhava and ajnana ciyate karma, which this captain and many others like him may have recited. This suggests that Buddhist traders from India, as well as other parts of Southeast Asia, regularly visited Kedah and collaborated with the locals in several sectors, including trade and other fields such as technology, science, and philosophy. It also hints at multi-layered influence coming to the Bujang Valley from many regions of the Indian Ocean world, so a diffusionist theory which posits one source of “influencer” and one region of “receiver” does not seem plausible.

When confronted with the remains of shivalingas and yoni pithas, pranals and pillar bases in the archaeological museum of Bujang Valley, including a broken head of Nandi, it is clear that Śaivite worship once thrived there. Hinduism replaced Buddhism in Kedah in the early 11th century, probably as a result of the Chola invasion of the Straits of Melaka around 1025 CE (Miksic 2013, 106–11). Discoveries of reliquary boxes along with pieces of semi-precious stone, miniature implements, and deity diagrams on flat gold sheets suggest that some form of ritualistic institutionalised procedure was followed to install a deity or consecrate temples in this region. Anna Ślączka (2007) conducted detailed research on temple consecration rituals in South and Southeast Asia; she provides detailed references from the text Kasyapasilpa. The majority of the monuments to which she refers are located in Southeast Asia, including Bujang Valley and Kedah.

Knowledge of Brahmanism and Buddhism was transferred to Southeast Asia from many regions of India during the Pallava, Gupta, Matrika, and Pratyahara dynasties. This transfer was a two-way process; much of the traffic between India and Southeast Asia would have been conducted by ships and shippers from Southeast Asia. Archaeological research carried out at Sungai Batu, Kedah (Naizatul et al 2011) unearthed brick structures and religious artefacts, an iron smelting facility, and a brick structure which some have interpreted as a jetty for boats to load and unload cargo. This site clearly shows the presence of smelting technology and trade in forest and metal products or raw material. They are quite different from brick and laterite structures unearthed in the 1930s (Quaritch Wales 1940), which resemble temples with square, rectangular, or oval cells and mandapas (pavilions with roofs supported by wooden pillars). While the earlier structures were more like ritual edifices connected with Buddhism, as underscored by the inscriptions found there, the jetty hints that the people of Bujang Valley engaged in maritime trade.

Kedah was an important part of a network of collection and distribution points for local and foreign goods and confirms the role of the Bujang Valley as an entrepot for Chinese, Indian and Arab merchants in maritime trade in the Indian Ocean. Based on the chronometric dating of the bricks and the radiocarbon dating of the metal finds, the earliest activities here may have begun as early as the 2nd-3rd century CE. It does not establish any connection with western India per se; however, the references to the Buddhist creed and Kadaram in the Tamil text Pattinappalai, as well as Kaṭahadvīpa in Samaraccakaha of Haribhadra in the mid-8th century point to the possible presence of western Indian merchants in the Bujang Valley (Haribhadra 1929, IV, 197–210; Sastri 1949, 90).

Trade with Barus and Tapanuli on the Western Coast of Sumatra

Excavations conducted in Padang Lawas, mainly focused in and around the site of the brick temple complex of Si Pamutung at the confluence of the Barumun and Batang Panei rivers in northern Sumatra, have yielded thousands of ceramic sherds, glass, beads, and metal objects which reveal the former existence of some type of settlement there. This “proto-urban” settlement was believed to have been active until the 14th century (Perret and Surachman 2011, 161–75). Referring to an important inscription in Tamil found at Lubok Tua deciphered by Subbarayalu (1998), Perret and Surachman (2011) confirm that “its content deals with the payment of taxes by the ships calling at Barus to the local representative of the merchant guild Ayyavole. Therefore, it is clear that a community of traders from south India was living in Barus at that time”. The inscription refers to marakkala-nayan, which might refer to Maricar, a term designating Kerala Muslim traders which was still in use in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Arab Muslim traders belonging to trade guilds called anjuvannam or hanjamana, were settled all along the west and east coasts of India and were possibly of various origins (Perret and Surachman 2011).

A second inscription dating between 1213 and 1265 found on the Barumun riverbank, using old Javanese and Tamil scripts, refers to kings’ names such as “Paduka sri Maharaja” in Old Malay and “Peritu sri Maharaja” in Tamil. This shows that Tamils frequented the Tapanuli area and visited the hinterland as well, and were possibly also involved in gold sourcing (Guillot et al. 2003, 49, 68).

Tombstones from Gresik and Pasai with Cambay Connection

Gujarat’s trade with the east and west expanded greatly during the reigns of Ahmed Shah and Muhammad Begda during the 14th and 15th centuries, when many craftsmen and industries were set up around the port cities, and port facilities were improved greatly (Janaki 1980).

The role of Cambay in Indian Ocean trade and its connections with major production centres from Burhanpur, Agra, and Multan to its hinterland in Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Malwa are significant. Its role as a centre for the redistribution of goods from the Mediterranean to the South China Sea is well documented (Janaki 1980). In 1573, when Mughal Emperor Akbar annexed Gujarat, the region yielded an annual revenue of Rs 400,000. Many European travellers between the 16th and 17th centuries reported on the trade of Cambay, among them Caesar Frederici, a Venetian who travelled to India in 1563 and lived there for 12 years (Frederici 1971). François Pyrard (1887) noted that 200 to 300 ships left Cambay for Goa loaded with indigo, precious stones, iron, copper, alum, pepper, wax, white and printed cloth, among many other exotic commodities. Cloth from Cambay was exported to all countries from the Cape of Good Hope to China. It was also a better port for bargain hunting as the prices at Broach and Surat were higher (Janaki 1980).

European sources often mention ports of Melaka and Aceh (Achin) in the Malay Archipelago in the context of trade with Cambay, facilitated by the Malabari merchants who came to Cambay, Gandhar, Diu, Ghogha, Rander, Dinni and Surat. Besides trade goods produced at Gujarat’s coastal centres and the hinterland, such as many different types of cotton and silk textiles, indigo, myrobalam, paper, leather, lacquer work, agate and other bead industries were also developed. In early years of the 20th century, important and rare religious markers have come to light through archaeological discoveries at cemeteries of Samudera-Pasai (north coastal Sumatra) and Gresik (northeast coastal Java), where very beautiful cream marble graves bear calligraphy and floral decorative motifs. Their headstones were decorated with a standardised text, bismillah in Kufic, bands, and cartouches containing the surah al-Ikhlas inscribed in nask and thuluth scripts, floral foot stones and ornate lids. Twelve such graves scattered in different locations commemorate deaths spanning the 13th to 15th centuries (Lambourn 2003).

Lambourn’s detailed research and previous scholarship on the Cambay tombstones in Pasai and Gresik (Damais 1968; Moquette 1913) noted that these examples were the most accomplished production of this type anywhere around the Indian Ocean littoral at this period. This raises the possibility that carved tombstones of a particular style, inscriptions, and detailing from Cambay were shipped all the way to Trincomalee (Sri Lanka), Samudera Pasai (Sumatra) and Gresik (Java) besides western Asian ports of Aden, Dhofar (Oman), Malindi, Mogadishu, Kilwa (Africa), Juban (Yemen) etc (see map, Lambourn 2003, 289). The carving as well as the design of these tombs are similar: the marble is identified as originating from western India; and decorative patterns relate to the tomb at al-Kazaruni’s grave in Cambay Lambourn (2003) has identified some motifs on footstones: plantain, mango tree and purna ghata, arched footstones with lotus, and chain with a hanging lamp, and calligraphic verses, which closely resemble Jain miniature paintings from Gujarat and western India as well as decorations on textiles exported to West Asia such as those in the Newberry Collection of the Ashmolean Museum. She has suggested that these motifs share a common heritage and may have passed between the stone carvers and the wood block carvers and printers who may have shared their decorative vocabulary at this thriving production centre for export markets in the early to mid-15th century.

Of considerable interest is the group of footstones which have a tree of life or a floral vase from which a tall flowering plant emerges, with two smaller trees beside it. Four footstones illustrated by Lambourn (2003) from the tombs of Na’ina Husam al-Din (d. 823/1420) at Uleeblang, Pasai; Said Syarif, grave II (d. 833/1429), Pasai, (Fig. 20); Teungku Sareh, grave VI, Pasai (Fig. 22); and Kuta Kareueng, grave IX, c. 1430s CE, Pasai, (Fig. 26) call attention to the cross-pollination of decorative motifs from the Coromandel Coast to Gujarat or between Pasai, Gresik, and Cambay through intermediaries. Na’ina Hussam al-Din ibn Na’ina Amin, mentioned above, is identified as a Kling merchant from Tamil Nadu; Kling merchant communities living in Samudera-Pasai are mentioned in the Hikayat Raja-Raja Pasai in 1355 CE (Lambourn 2003, 244–8). Some of the designs and motifs can be traced to Coromandel Coast textiles, such as the “Tree of Life” motif printed or painted on wall hangings, from where design ideas may have travelled to the Cambay craftsmen. There is another possibility that the tomb carving was commissioned specifically from Cambay craftsmen by relatives of the deceased Kling merchant from the Coromandel Coast. The close resemblance between “Tree of Life” wall hangings produced so profusely at Coromandel Coast textile centres with some of the footstones suggests that textiles may have served as a reference for the Cambay carvers. Also worthy of note is the repeating floral/creeper motif on the borders, which is a popular design element associated with textiles.

The Cambay, Pasai, and Gresik tombstones present archaeological, economic, religious, and epigraphic as well as stylistic references to exchange across the Indian Ocean between the Gujarat, Malabar and Coromandel coasts and Sumatra and Java. The key players in this exchange may have been Gujarati traders—Bohra as well as Hindu “Kling” merchants—Chetty or Chulia, Malabari Mapillas, as well as various members of the local ruling class, religious officials and nobles of northern Sumatra and Java. The construction of the tombs suggests that craftsmen were sent along with the cargo to complete the installation at the grave site itself. The use of imported marble for a funerary commemoration at such an early stage of Islamic practice in northern Sumatra suggests two things: either the deceased were affluent merchants from the Indian subcontinent, or locals who were new to the faith and were imbibing extant traditions from people of regions they were familiar with such as south and west India.

Islamic cross-cultural interaction in northern Sumatra is also visible through excavations at sites such as Ujung Batee Kapal, excavated in 1996 and yet to be fully surveyed, and Lamri, where a number of tombstones are found. This fact lends support to the contention of some scholars that Islam did not arrive from Gujarat as generally believed, but from south India or Sri Lanka through different groups of Muslim merchants, including Malabar Muslim traders (Lambourn 2003, 144–9).

References to Aceh in Colonial Sources

Aceh under Sultan Iskandar Muda (r. 1607–d. 1636) laid great emphasis on imperial inclinations demonstrated through the effort to monopolise the Sumatran pepper trade to the Red Sea. The other commodity Aceh controlled was gold in the form of dust that reached Melaka via Minangkabau merchants as early as the second half of the 16th century. Aceh’s most important trade link was with the Levant, through which vast quantities of pepper were channelled (Pinto 2012, 19).

Aceh also established contact with Masulipatnam, which had been controlled by the Muslim kingdom of Golkonda ever since the Battle of Talikota in 1565. Here, Aceh acquired armaments and textiles in exchange for pepper. Aceh also had contact with Nagapattinam in exchanging rice for pepper. China was supplied with pepper through Palembang, which controlled production centres in southern Sumatra and Sunda (west Java).

By the early decades of the 17th century, the Dutch consolidated their position in both the spice-producing areas in Nusantara as well as the textile-producing areas of the Coromandel Coast, such as Teganapattam and Pulicat. Their network of factories stretched from the Moluccas to Aceh and encompassed Jambi, Borneo, Makassar, Java, Solor, Timor, Banda, and Ambon among others (Pinto 2012, 21–5).

After the fall of Melaka to the Portuguese, rich and powerful Gujarati Muslim merchants fled from there to Aceh. Aceh played a key role as the “nerve centre” of the Islamic faith, as well as aspiring to become the model for Malay identity (Andaya 2008). Aceh also established contact with Cambay through Gujaratis who came to Aceh, as well as expanding their business with the Coromandel Coast, Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf while reinforcing Aceh’s ties with the Ottoman Empire (Pinto 2012). Due to its economic power, its political power grew as well.

The Malacca-Aceh-Johor triangle is a very important interaction sphere involving trade, economic, religious and political affairs which calls for a detailed study which cannot be achieved within the limits of this chapter, but as this short discussion makes clear, it grew in importance as Nusantara and other regions of Southeast Asia maintained their ancient position as strong players in the Indian Ocean trade between the 16th and 19th centuries. It is also important to note that many Chulia merchants, especially from Nagore and Porto Novo, turned up in Sumatra every year; during the 18th and 19th centuries, some settled at the capital in Aceh as well as along the Pedir coast at such locations as Burung, Telok Samoy and Samalanga. In the first three of these, the Sultans appointed Chulias as their syahbandar (Lee 1995, 45, 46, 162). Chulias played a role as intermediaries and engaged in retail trade as well. Desvoeux, who visited Aceh in 1772, observed that one Malabar Muslim named Kassim was influential in the Acehnese court and held the position of syahbandar. When the British developed Penang in the early 19th century, Aceh-Penang trade received a great fillip. Mostly pepper and betel nuts were traded in large volumes. Sir Stamford Raffles devoted much effort to the attempt to develop British diplomacy with Aceh; he incorporated the Acehnese keris, which he was awarded into his personal coat of arms when he was knighted.

Religious Contact between Aceh and Gujarat

Aceh’s designation as the oldest centre of Islam in Southeast Asia is supported by written records of Marco Polo in 1292, and the Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta on his way to China during 1345–46 when he noted that the ruler of Samudera was a follower of the Shafi’i school of Islam. Tomé Pires in 1515 mentioned in his Suma Oriental that kings of Sumatra from Aceh to Palembang were Muslims, due to the cunning of the Muslim merchants; however, they could not convert the people of the interior (Cortesao 1944).

Contribution of a Gujarati Scholar to the Spread of Islamic faith in Southeast Asia

Nuruddin ibn Ali ar-Raniri (d. 1658) was an outstanding theologian, mystic, and scholar from possibly Rander, near Surat, born into a Hadhrami lineage that descended from a Quraysh family of Arabian nobility. Nuruddin studied Islamic traditions at Surat and jurisprudence at Tarim, Hadramaut in South Yemen before going to Aceh. He performed the Haj in 1621. He arrived in Aceh during the reign of Iskandar Muda. Sheikh Hamza Shamsuddin Fansuri As-Sumatrani from Pasai of the Wujudiyyah tradition was the Mufti. When Iskandar Thani (r. 1636–41), came to power, he made Nuruddin the Mufti. Iskandar Thani showed little tolerance for the Wujudiyyah followers, denouncing their writings and teachings. Nuruddin ordered earlier books and other Malay literary works to be burned and wrote numerous works setting more orthodox Islamic standards. Daudy (1978, 14, 17; 1983, 242) regarded Nuruddin as an influential figure able to understand the root problem faced by Muslims in the Nusantara, which he thought was due to the dominance of Wujuddiyah beliefs, which Nuruddin condemned as pantheistic and wayward. He is also said to have brought a new understanding of mysticism into the region.

His most important work, Bustan as-Salatin (“The Garden of Kings”) begun in 1638 was written in Malay. It is a seven-volume encyclopedic work which covers many topics from creation to prophets of Islam and the history of Muslim kings of the Middle East and the Malay region. It also has scientific information. He was quite influential in the Islamisation of the Malay world. When Nuruddin fell out of favour with Iskandar Thani’s successor, his widow Taj ul-Alam, Nuruddin left Aceh in 1644 and died in India in 1658.

Nuruddin wrote about 29 books, some of which are still used in Islamic teaching, such as Al-sirat at mustaqim, which is read in Malaysian schools, while an undergraduate module on Al-Raniri is taught at the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation (ISTAC) in Malaysia. Universitas Islam Negeri Ar-Raniry (Ar-Raniry State Islamic University) in Aceh is named after him.

Malay Trade Laws and Textile Trade

Even though there are few references to the types of cloths that were traded to Southeast Asia in the law books of Melaka or Kedah, one cannot but notice the fact that many of them mention different types of cloths that functioned as fee or levy or gift for services rendered. In many Asian cultures, offering gifts of exotic objects in the form of colourful textiles as “in-kind” gift to a customs officer or as a gesture of goodwill to a ruler or harbourmaster was widespread. In the case of Southeast Asia, trade in textiles was integrated with port laws that were formalised by Malay, Thai, and Indonesian royalty. The usage of different types of textiles as well as the manner of draping them followed a strict social order which could not be violated. Many of these textiles were venerated as heirlooms due to their rarity and cultural significance once they entered a family or community collection.

Riello (2009, 309–47), among others, has identified a number of typologies for textiles that spread across the Indian Ocean from Gujarat, Coromandel, and Bengal which show that this trade was well established before the arrival of the Europeans in Asia. The control and dissemination of the technique of manufacture by Europeans only deepened the demand for them. This “Indian Apprenticeship” of gathering knowledge to spin, weave or print cottons led to a highly competitive market in textiles, driving technology and taste. This finally crippled the traditional industry in India and gave rise to major industrialised European textile production and independent Asian production centers as well.

Undang-Undang Melaka (“Laws of Melaka”)

Undang-Undang Melaka or Hukum Kanun Malaka is a compilation of the Maritime Laws of the Melaka Sultanate. This text contains a number of Bugis terms and was placed for ratification before Sultan Muhammed, most likely between 1488 and 1510 (Winstedt and De Josselin De Jong 1956). The text covers social, moral, economic, and tax matters, including the roles and duties of various officials. Authority to enforce the Undang-Undang Melaka was placed in the hands of the Laksamana, the admiral of the fleet, who bore great responsibility as well as rights equal to a Caliph. The text comprises six parts covering marriage, proper conduct, maritime and economic affairs. These laws were influenced by the Shafi’i school and influenced other Malay states including Johor, Perak, Aceh, Brunei and Pattani.

The text does not discuss details of taxation or officials involved in the trade of textiles or any other commodity with Gujarat or the Coromandel coast and levies/fees or gifts “in kind”, hence let us turn our attention to another legal code, this one from the ancient state of Kedah.

Undang-Undang Pelabuhan Kedah (“Laws of the Port of Kedah”) Manuscript (ML 25)

This Law Canon of Kedah, recorded in 1650, took seven years to complete. Business activities focused around Sungai Mas and Lembah Bujang in the southern part of Kedah ceased around 1100 CE. Kedah was conquered and largely depopulated by Aceh in the early 17th century, but Kuala Kedah became an important port after the death of Aceh’s Sultan Iskander Thani in 1641. The government of Kedah began to codify laws for the management of ports and society, as well as how subjects should interact with royalty. Many customary laws of the Malay Sultanates were influenced by Islamic law at this time. This manuscript contains references to merchants from Kalinga, Gujarat, and Bengal, types of cloths and how they were accorded significance as “in kind” gifts or tribute to the warden of the port, the harbour master, as well as the Raja. Baruch (Bharuch) cloth of Gujarat, serampore, bafta and puadam cloth of Kalinga were highly prized there.

Many versions of this manuscript exist in libraries in England and the Netherlands. Reference is made here to the version in the library of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, translated by R.O. Winstedt in 1928. It consists of five sections, of which “Port Laws" and the “Method of Making Golden Flower” (payment of tribute) are the most relevant to this essay. Specifically regarding the Port Laws, those governing cloth imports are particularly noteworthy. The relevant sections of the Maritime or Port Laws pertaining to textiles also play a key role in the list of 37 Port Laws.

As recorded in the beginning of the text of the Port Laws (Winstedt 1928, 2), in the year 1060 AH (1650 CE) in the year Zai, on Friday, 17th day of Jumadal’-Akhir, His Highness the Shah of the World asked Paduka Raja to record the laws of the Dato’ Besar of old. This suggests that the laws existed in practice prior to the mid-17th century, but their enactment in written form dates to this period. The laws were designed by Shah Alam and Yang Dipertuan to determine the customs of the port and duties of the harbourmaster and enacted in the reign of Raja Stia Bijaya when Raja Jalil Putra was the harbourmaster (syahbandar) and Dato’ Laksmana Che’ Shahdin was the warden of the port (Panglima Bandar).

A selection of sections of the first chapter of the Kedah Laws translated by Winstedt (1928, 3) reads thus:

6…Captains of ships from Kalinga will present the warden of the port with a long puadam cloth of the value of one paha of gold; captains from Gujerat with a roll of cloth from Baruch. Bales of merchandise shall be listed and valued by a merchant of the port, and the customary presents made to the Raja: by ships from Kalinga 400 as Patani, by ships from Gujerat 600 mas, the amount varying according to the size and cargo.

8……For counting 1000 bales two rolls of cloth are taken, of Bafta from Kalinga ships, of Serampore cloth from Gujerati ships.

9. For opening his bales, a captain must have permission from the warden of the port, paying further presents of cloth. An inventory of all cloths is taken and submitted to the Raja who can buy what he wants at a valuation.

Textiles from Gujarat and Kalinga, salt and currency as “in kind” currencies or gifts, tax or other administrative payments are mentioned in detail in the Port Laws of Kedah, which is quite distinct from other forms of payment in gold coins and other currencies. There is also reference to what Indian merchants generally obtained in return from the Kedah merchants as trade goods for import to India. So far, there is mention of tin, gold, dammar, gutta perca, buffalos, and elephants as the most coveted goods for trade with Indian merchants. While there is no mention of any merchants from China in this text, merchant ships from the intra-regional trade, such as ships carrying tin from Perak, are mentioned, attesting to their frequency and regularity. Regulations for trade and interaction with the Company, referring to the British East Indian Company (EIC), are much more relaxed than those concerning Indian and Malay merchants. For example, letters received from the Company based in Gujarat or Kalinga were offered the same honour as letters received from Melaka. As per law no 35 (Winstedt 1928, 6), letters from the Company are received and placed on an elephant on a cushion with seroja (lotus) flowers, with 12 standards, drums, and flutes in what seems like a procession. Upon reaching the station, a five-gun salute is also given. This would also apply to some important merchants. However, law no. 16 (Winstedt 1928, 4) particularly refers to the Company letters and bales of cloth, which are to be exempted from formalities and tax provided customary presents are offered to the chiefs and the Rajahs. Letters of Melaka, Patani or Perak were received with the same honour of 16 standards, two white fringed Chinese umbrellas, gongs, drums, trumpets and flutes. Even betel casket and napkins were included.

Law no. 12 (Winstedt 1928, 3) states that Indian merchants could purchase slaves and craftsmen, with the buyer taxed one mas and the seller two kupang. Law no. 21 refers to the tax on the sale of foreign slaves, in which the warden of the port will charge four kupang from the seller and two from the buyer (Winstedt 1928, 4). The laws also imply the existence of a long-term relationship of debt and pre-orders for long-term commercial relationships with pre-identified important merchants or “business partners”. The Kedah sultanate deemed communication with the outside world important; hence, procedures for receiving embassies and letter carriers were given special significance. There is a special mention of how to receive Letters from the Company at Gujarat and Kalinga, following the same procedure as for those from the Company at Melaka, thus bestowing equal importance to the British Company at Melaka.

Thus, familiarity with Indian textiles as well as their significance as currency is clearly underscored here, suggesting ‘brand recognition’ of Gujarati and Kalinga (possibly all Coromandel Coast cloths) at Malay ports such as Kedah and later on at possibly Penang as well.

Kain Sarasah and Tjindai Tapih in Hikayat Banjar

All over Southeast Asian port cities, Indian textiles were in great demand between the 16th and mid-19th centuries and were treated as heirlooms and luxury goods. After this period, many weaving centres developed in the port cities or the hinterland near them, where indigenous weaving was practised. Malay people had “very discriminatory preferences for the cloth that they demanded” (Maznah Mohamed 1995). In fact, textiles were specially made for the Malayan market, such as chador pintados (painted cotton chadars or sheets), chauters (plain white calico), patolas, pitcharies (colored calicos), tapi chindaes (painted or printed skirts) and tapseels (Maznah Mohamed 1995, 100).

Hikayat Banjar, a chronicle of the history of the kings of Banjar and Kota Waringin in southern Borneo refers to many historical episodes in which royal gift-giving traditions developed at Banjarmasin from the first half of the 17th century (the last section of the text is believed to have been written around 1663). Many other Malay texts such as the Sejarah Melayu and Hikayat Hang Tuah documented the practice of giving “robes of honor” which were carried by emissaries on foreign visits and given to foreign visitors to the court, and to loyal courtiers, nobles and family members along with many natural and forest products, precious stones, metals, and textiles. The text is full of long descriptions of many instances of gift giving, which included a tjindai sash (referring to patola textile from Gujarat) and a sarasah kain (painted and printed textile from Coromandel Coast) jacket of scarlet cloth and a Kris with golden handle” besides diamonds, pearls, emeralds, red corals, rubies, opals, beeswax, bags of dammar, coils of rattan, honey and orang utans. In 1635, the post of syahbandar, “harbourmaster” was held by a Gujarati at Banjarmasin while the king of Banjar sent his envoy to get craftsmen from China to make bell metal statues for his ancestral temple (Ras 1968, 183, 255). The origin myth of the kings of Banjar links them to Keling (Kalinga), the region of the Coromandel Coast from Cuttack to Cuddalore, suggesting that economic and cultural links with Gujarat and South India were very active in southern Borneo for many centuries at the same time as Islamisation was introduced through the same route.

Saudagiri and Other Indian Textiles Traded to Thailand

Thais had access to a great variety of Indian trade cloths, such as cotton and silk, from Gujarat and the Coromandel Coast. When European traders entered the textile trade in Southeast Asia, the trade that was once monopolised by Gujarati and Tamil Muslim traders was further divided, and Europeans began to gain greater control. It is recorded that they traded cloth for elephants. A French source in 1771 described the exchange of elephants from south Thailand (Mergui and Tenasserim) at Ayutthaya for textiles. “After the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767, when the capital shifted at (sic) Bangkok, a group of Gujarati Bohra Muslim merchants established their business and continued to supply printed cotton textiles known as pa lai from Ahmedabad” (Turpin 1997, 332, 335; P. Posrithong 2013).

The textiles traded to Thailand, commonly known in Gujarat as saudagiri textiles, were printed with wooden blocks carved at Pethapur by Hindu Gajjar community craftsmen and printed and washed in the waters of Sabarmati in Ahmedabad by Muslim craftsmen. They were finished with paper-thin starch and shipped to Bombay for the onward journey to Bangkok.

One well-known textile merchant, Nakhoda Abdultyeb Esmailji, founded the Maskati Company in 1856, and others such as Malbari, Vasi, and Baghwall continued until local competitors took over the production in the post-World War period (Posrithong 2013, 343–45). For the saudagiri textiles, designs were received from the Thais and sent through the Bohra Muslim agents to block carvers in Pethapur, as could be seen in the sample block design pattern books of award-winning wood block carver, Shilpaguru Maneklal T. Gajjar, who along with his extended family had been active in the business of textile block carving since the mid-19th century. A pa lai textile sample was commissioned in 2010–11 by the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore from Mr. Damodar Gajjar of Baroda to demonstrate five colour block printing of a traditional pa lai, which Pethapur block carvers continue to produce. This form of textile printing has been revived by Thai textile scholar Prapassorn Posrithong of Bangkok, who has conducted detailed research on Indian textile trade with Thailand in printed cotton and brocade textiles.

Fig.6. Maneklal T. Gajjar and Damodar Gajjar in discussion with the author at Pethapur, 2010. Courtesy of the Asian Civilisations Museum.

The aesthetics of Coromandel painted textiles were adapted by woodblock carvers for a quick production turnaround in Pethapur and Ahmedabad. Textiles printed at the Maskati factory in the Astodia area of Ahmedabad, after starching and finishing, were shipped from Mumbai to ports like Singapore, Penang, and Melaka, and to the hinterlands of Thailand, Cambodia, and Burma. They were even re-exported to Japan as well as China. How this textile design evolved is not known, but one can be certain that the designs were sent by Thai royal agents through shippers such as Maskati who had contacts in the Thai royal palace (Posrithong 2013, 343). Leafing through hundreds of design patterns of the tumpal borders and center fields in the sample books with wood block carvers at Pethapur especially the late Maneklal T. Gajjar, one could detect the distinct Thai flavour as well as the role of commissioning agents or printers whose names were written in Gujarati under each pattern with a serial number. As per the order placed by a commission agent, for whom the block carvers worked, the supply of blocks was prepared by the generations of the Gajjar community block makers. The size of the trade and the range of designs commissioned by Maskati alone, whose name in Thai and English was carved into the blocks, can be ascertained from looking at the sample books. Even today, Pethapur is well-known for its production of wood block carving.According to P. Posrithong, “The imported textiles had been gradually replacing the local textile production of the farmer communities in the areas and finally caused the decline of the local textile production. The trade report in Bangkok mentioned that 68,361 culies worth 549,380 baht of Indian painted and printed cotton were imported to Thailand in 1887. (Bangkokpasittikan, 1889, p. 19)”

There seems to be a possibility that brocades and silks from Ahmedabad and Benares, including many different types of Gujarati textiles, may have reached the Thai courts and been assimilated into the courtly culture. From the early 19th century when the Thai royal court decreed that commoners could also wear the pa lai, it became a rage and even Miss Thailand pageant winners were draped in the Maskati textiles’ pa lai for their product advertisement as seen in a photograph from 1938 on their website*. (*Posrithong 2013, 339; HTTPS://ATEMS.COM/COMPANY History, accessed December 27, 2022)

Gujarati Traders and Trading Firms in the Late Nineteenth–Early Twentieth Centuries in Malaya and Singapore

Due to Dutch domination over Aceh in the late 19th century, the expansion of British power in Malaya, and the access to travel on steamships, commercial navigation became accessible to a larger population in their colonies. Many more people ventured to Southeast Asia which was no longer dominated by the Coromandel Coast inhabitants. Gujaratis came to Malaya and Singapore from the interiors of Saurashtra and south Gujarat via Surat or Bombay ports and invested heavily in trade in commodities, spice, and textiles. Singapore was an important node in an early modern version of AMIS with Hong Kong, Indochina, the Dutch East Indies, Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka, India, the Persian Gulf, and East Africa.

Besides the Muslim, Parsee and Sindhi networks, Gujaratis (largely Muslims) also entered the Malayan business arena when the British colonial administration set up the Straits Settlements in Penang, Melaka and Singapore (1826–1942) (Rai 2014). Parsees were already deeply engaged in the opium trade and were also based in Hong Kong in the late 19th century, while Framroz and Mistri went into the aerated bottled water business when they found the opportunity in the early 20th century in Singapore. In 1873 Sindhi business Wasiamull Assomull was set up in Singapore, followed by K.A.J. Chottirmall and J.T. Chanrai. They catered to European interest and demands (Posritang 2013, 108). Prominent Gujarati Hindu businessman Harakhchand Kooerjee Shah before settling in Penang in 1936 had travelled to Singapore by a steamship from Mumbai and returned by a Japanese ship Hiroshima Maru according to his handwritten Gujarati travelogue xxxiv and recorded his journey and stay in Singapore from 1894–99.

This is probably the first handwritten Gujarati travelogue from the late 19th century to be discovered. It describes in detail the journey, stay and condition of life and business in the Straits Settlements at the time. It was brought to the attention of the Indian Heritage Centre in Singapore by Girish Chandra Kothari and Kalyani Meta (Harakhchand’s granddaughter) and translated by the author.

Singapore was a key distribution port for textiles, yarn and plain cotton, curios and articles of consumption in demand by the growing European population and other migrant communities. In oral records as well as handwritten documents of the Surti Kshatriya merchants’ association, Mss. Maganlal Nagindas & Co. frequently recurs as a major donor to community causes and prominent business in Singapore in the first quarter of the 20th century (based on oral narrative and documents shared by Ramesh Chandra Uttamram with the author on 11 March 2016).

The main raw materials sourced from Melaka and Indonesia, comprising sago flour, betel nuts, tapioca seeds, and rattan, were sent to India, while chilies and turmeric from India were sent to Sri Lanka. Products were graded in Singapore before re-exporting. The key imports from India included textiles, cotton, yarn, and jute, which were sold to Chinese merchants in Singapore (Rai 2014).

Gujarati merchants were generally Sunni Vohras and Dawoodi Bohras; their pioneers included Karimbhai Ibrahim, Wasim Bawa, Maskati, and Mohammed Salleh Eusoof Angulia who arrived in the mid-19th century with wide business networks (Rai 2014, 109). They were followed by Ismaili Khojas, Memons, Hindus, and Jains who arrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Two important Gujarati businessmen from Saurashtra and Surat not only established successful businesses, but also contributed monetarily to their community and national development in Malaysia and Singapore. Their donations to private and government institutions ranged from war funds to health, education, and marginalised sections of the society.

Uttamram Ghelabhai of Singapore

Oral history interviews about the pioneer Surati Gujarati businessman Uttamram Ghelabhai, his youngest son Ramesh Chandra Uttamram, and nephew Devendra and documents in Singapore’s Indian Heritage Centre indicate that many Surati Gujarati merchants were in the textile import business while the Bohras were involved with the import and export of spices and coffee beans at the turn of the 20th century. Uttamram was not only a successful businessman; he was also a great philanthropist and a community leader whose continuous contribution to social welfare is well recorded and was acknowledged even by the Queen of England, Elizabeth II with the “Singapore Certificate of Honour” issued in 1953. President Yusuf Ishak appointed him Justice of Peace on 9 August 1966 for Uttamram’s community leadership and all-round philanthropy. He donated 6.75 acres of land along Upper Changi Road to build the headquarters of the Singapore Anti Tuberculosis Association (SATA) where it still stands. He believed that private individuals must support government efforts to eradicate tuberculosis from Singapore. The donation was declared by Uttamram himself in August 1954 at a dinner during the visit of Madam Vijayalakshmi Pundit then the president of the United Nations General Assembly.

G. Uttamram came to Singapore as a British subject from Gandevi near Surat in Gujarat in the early 1910s and worked for an established Gujarati firm (Maganlal Nagindas). When he started his own import business, he struggled at first but gradually rose to such a level that when he would arrive in Mumbai (Bombay then) to purchase his stock of textiles, the entire stock market would respond to his presence as he was well-known to be a big buyer who would usually buy a shipload of cargo, according to his son Ramesh. He and other Gujaratis traded from shop houses in North Bridge Road and Arab Street. He set up Uttamram & Co. (Singapore) at 69 Arab Street in 1931. The company had offices in Japan, Hong Kong, Jakarta, and Penang; it was involved in import, export, and as commission agents mainly for textile trade but later it diversified into other commodities. Most of the businessmen lived on the first floors of their shops; a large number of Gujarati textile businesses thrived on Arab Street up until 1980s. At this time, Gujaratis traded in Banarasi brocades, all types of saris, as well as plain cotton cloth from textile mills in Ahmedabad, Surat, and Bombay. Plain cotton was further exported to Indonesian batik sarong factories. In the post-Second World War period, even synthetic textiles from Japan became a rage. Indonesian batik kain (hip wrappers) were also imported into Singapore from Indonesia from the 1960s onwards, from production centres such as Pekalongan, Solo, Yogyakarta, and Surabaya. First, they were block printed and naturally dyed. Later on, screen-printed textiles were also imported. Uttamram (Singapore) & Co. and many other Gujaratis also traded in these cloths, including kain pulikat which were also produced by the Indonesians as well as the original Coromandel Coast weavers and mills. Soon after the Second World War, the High Street Sindhi merchants entered this market by importing Japanese and Indonesian mill textiles including saris.

G. Uttamram was a founder member (1934) and Deputy Chairman of the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce (1939); Council Member of SATA (1949–1979); and Member of Singapore Hindu Advisory Board (1958–1965) and Singapore Harbour Board (1960–1963) (Our First 25 Years against TB, 16). A man of few words but deep wisdom, G. Uttamram supported the British government, the Malayan Federation as well as the Republic of Singapore.

Himatlal Hariram Bhatt of Penang

From the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries, a few significant Gujarati Hindu, Jain, Khoja, Bohra and Parsee businesses and pioneering businessmen in Penang need to be properly researched. Based on Himanshu Bhatt’s research and oral history records (Posritthong 2013, 108), little information is available about Gujaratis who lived or had business links with Penang in the early to mid-1800s. One of these was the stalwart Himatlal Hariram Bhatt (1899–1985) from the village of Jhanjhmer in Saurashtra. He was the founder of the Gujarati Seva Samaj in 1950, co-founder of the Penang Indian Chamber of Commerce c. 1924, and a keen supporter of the Sri Kunj Bihari temple in George Town including serving as its chairman from 1970 to 1984 (Sumana 1986). The Penang Chamber of Commerce was the first ever chamber to be set up for Indian businesses in British Malaya. The other co-founders of the chamber were Huseini A. Tyebkhan, Purshottamdas Patel and Shivshankar Joshi. After a short hiatus post-Second World War, more Gujaratis such as Hyder Esmail Tyebkhan, P.V. Parekh, and Ratilal Narechania revived the chamber with the support of prominent lawyers Sir Hussein Hasanally Abdoolcader and N. Raghavan who helped to draft the constitution.

Bhatt also spearheaded the purchase of land and building of the Ramakrishna Ashram where thousands of orphans have studied and lived. Bhatt came to Penang in 1918 at the age of 18 and worked for a Parsi couple. He did well as a businessman and established a business partnership as an importer of onions, potatoes, and spices from India, and exported betel nut to India. He returned to India during the Japanese Occupation, engaging in large-scale charitable work. He is well-known for his success in the trade of tin, a rare Indian to enter this Chinese-dominated business, and was the founder member of the Kuala Lumpur Tin Market (KLTM).

The Gujarati Muslim Dawoodi Bohra community was engaged in the export and import of textiles. Their pioneer firm in Penang was A.M. Essabhoy & Company. Sir Hussein Hasanally Abdoolcader (1890–1974) was the first Gujarati to be knighted by the Queen of England in 1948, prior to which he was conferred the title of CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in 1938.

Conclusion

Traders from Gujarat to Bengal, and Arab, Persian and all other Mediterranean merchants were trading in the Indian Ocean world during the precolonial era through trading networks or associations of the AMIS. This system of organisation changed to ruler-based monopolies and family-based networks when the Europeans entered the Asian market. This shift was marked by a complete disappearance of Asian traders from ancient ports such as Barus, Kota Cina, and Kedah. New centres focused on pepper production. Malacca, Pasai and later Banten arose as entrepots for trading networks managed by the Sultans and their agents set into motion the disintegration of old guilds and associations of merchants. Gujarati merchants may have played a key role in the 15th century at Samudera Pasai and Gresik; they supplied ornate marble tombstones to the Muslim rulers of Pasai. They were key advisers to the Sultan of Melaka and had their own syahbandar; a thousand of them were reported by Tome Pires in 1512–15 to have inhabited Melaka when the Portuguese arrived in 1509.

During the 16th century onwards, there was an efflorescence of the exchange of textiles for spice in the Indian Ocean which by the 17th century reached all the way to British, Dutch and French territories along with spices and other precious articles. Merchants from Gujarat, Coromandel and Bengal coasts were given stiff competition and brought under the control of the European colonial trading firms’ monopolies such as the Dutch VOC and the English EIC. Centres such as Aceh, Melaka, Banten and Batavia flourished until the early 19th century when the mechanisation of textile production induced local enterprises to meet new market demands. Changing traditional societal values due to modernisation and westernisation ensured the crippling of not only the long-distance Asian trade, but the barter trade as well as the indigenous production methods. Very little is known so far about Gujarati merchants that were active in the Thai and the Nusantara region prior to the late 19th century. However, numerous attempts have been made in recent years to document the contribution of Gujarati merchants since there is a surge in awareness and energy to document community history, family business and philanthropic work of the pioneering generation in the early modern period. Through sifting Malay literature related to trading laws we have gained some insight as to how Gujarati textiles commanded high esteem and acknowledgement in some of these polities and how merchants from this region conducted business in collaboration with their Malay counterparts.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Denisonde Simbol (Senior Library Officer) and Soh Gek Han (former Assistant Manager, Research and Publications Unit) of the Asian Civilisations Museum and Siti Asmah Abdul Karim (former Manager, Fellowship & Research, Culture Academy) of the National Heritage Board, for their research support in writing this paper. Dr. Maziar Falarti, (Convener, Global Development Forum, International Relations and Asian Studies of Bond University) has been most helpful in sharing sources and views. Thanks also to Khoo Salma of the Penang Heritage Trust for getting me to think about the Indian Ocean trading communities in the first place. Oral histories and documents from the families of Himanshu Bhatt, Rameshchandra Uttamram and the Bohra traders in Southeast Asia added a new dimension to this paper.

Bibliography