HISTORY OF MALABAR :DISCUSSIONS.

[HeinzG]

If we go further on this, the thread will be flooded with off-topic SLn stuff.

Even though genetically proved, It is a debatable matter yet.

No it is not genetically proven. Even if take it rationally Sinhalese might have more Tamil blood than Bengali.

Anyway I was following the thread about the Sinhalese cast system. Are you related to any cast? Just curious.

 

[DarkSeid]

No it is not genetically proven. Even if take it rationally Sinhalese might have more Tamil blood than Bengali.

If Sinhalese and Tamils relate to each other, why didn't they get along with each other very well over the years?

Anyway I was following the thread about the Sinhalese cast system. Are you related to any cast? Just curious.

I found it interesting when I came across certain web sites.
Karava of Sri Lanka - Home
Caste System in Ceylon
Who would care the caste in this century. I'm off.

 

[HeinzG]

If Sinhalese and Tamils relate to each other, why didn't they get along with each other very well over the years?

There leaders got their swollen during the British era. They enjoyed vast privileges over Sinhalese and when Sinhalese governments tried to correct those Tamil leaders went nuts.

I found it interesting when I came across certain web sites.
Karava of Sri Lanka - Home
Caste System in Ceylon
Who would care the caste in this century. I'm off.

No just curios. Those sites just promotes the casts of Indian origins. This struggle between Kara-Govi go back centuries. Anyway I do not believe that the coastal casts has ancestry anywhere else than Kerala or Central India.

 

[MokshaVimukthi]

In 1347 when Ibn Battuta landed in Kerala, specifically at the port of Calicut he mentions that there were at the time, thirteen Chinese vessels disembarked. He describes these Chinese vessels as of three kinds; large ships called chunks (junks), middle sized ones called zaws (dhows) and the small ones kakams. The Dhows were ships made in India for Arabs and other. They are still made in Beypore areas of Kerala.

1572 Map of Calicut.

Ship made in kerala,

An chinese inspector of foreign trade at teh customs dept. in Quanzhou called Chau Jhu-kua has documented the knowledge heard in the port about the land. This was documented from 1211 to 1225.

This is what he has written about Malabar, specifically quilon which he calls Ku-lin. (Nan-Pi is probably TN or SL)

Ku-lin may be reached in five days from the monsoon from Nan Pi. It takes a tsuan chou ship over forty days to reach lang Li (Lan wuli) there the winter is spent and the following year, a further voyage of a month will take it to this country.

The customs of the people on the whole are not different from those of the Nan Pi people. The native products comprise cocoanuts and sandalwood, for wine they use a mixture of honey with coconuts and the juice of a flower which they ferment.

They are fond of archery; in battle they wrap their hair in silken turbans.

For the purpose of trade they use coins of gold and silver, twelve silver coins are worth one gold coin. The country is warm and has no cold season.

Every year ships come to this country from San fo Tsi, Kien-pi and Ki-to and the articles they trade are the same as in Nan pi.

Great numbers of Ta-shi live in this country. Whenever they have taken a bath they anoint their bodies with yu-kin as they like to have their bodies gilt like that of the Buddha.

Ancient Dutch Map of India which people might find interesting.

 

[SrNair]

There leaders got their swollen during the British era. They enjoyed vast privileges over Sinhalese and when Sinhalese governments tried to correct those Tamil leaders went nuts.



No just curios. Those sites just promotes the casts of Indian origins. This struggle between Kara-Govi go back centuries. Anyway I do not believe that the coastal casts has ancestry anywhere else than Kerala or Central India.

Guys please dont go off topic.

In 1347 when Ibn Battuta landed in Kerala, specifically at the port of Calicut he mentions that there were at the time, thirteen Chinese vessels disembarked. He describes these Chinese vessels as of three kinds; large ships called chunks (junks), middle sized ones called zaws (dhows) and the small ones kakams. The Dhows were ships made in India for Arabs and other. They are still made in Beypore areas of Kerala.

1572 Map of Calicut.
View attachment 71387

Ship made in kerala,
View attachment 71388

An chinese inspector of foreign trade at teh customs dept. in Quanzhou called Chau Jhu-kua has documented the knowledge heard in the port about the land. This was documented from 1211 to 1225.

This is what he has written about Malabar, specifically quilon which he calls Ku-lin. (Nan-Pi is probably TN or SL)

Ku-lin may be reached in five days from the monsoon from Nan Pi. It takes a tsuan chou ship over forty days to reach lang Li (Lan wuli) there the winter is spent and the following year, a further voyage of a month will take it to this country.

The customs of the people on the whole are not different from those of the Nan Pi people. The native products comprise cocoanuts and sandalwood, for wine they use a mixture of honey with coconuts and the juice of a flower which they ferment.

They are fond of archery; in battle they wrap their hair in silken turbans.

For the purpose of trade they use coins of gold and silver, twelve silver coins are worth one gold coin. The country is warm and has no cold season.

Every year ships come to this country from San fo Tsi, Kien-pi and Ki-to and the articles they trade are the same as in Nan pi.

Great numbers of Ta-shi live in this country. Whenever they have taken a bath they anoint their bodies with yu-kin as they like to have their bodies gilt like that of the Buddha.

View attachment 71389

Ancient Dutch Map of India which people might find interesting.

View attachment 71390

A nice map that designated almost all ports.But Chinese are always better than Europeans they dont interested in looting our nation.We know first act of Vasco Da Gama when he touched in Kappad.
A few years ago I read a book of Ibnu Battuta .
But I dont know whether Marco Polo visit our state or not?.

 

[MokshaVimukthi]

A nice map that designated almost all ports.But Chinese are always better than Europeans they dont interested in looting our nation. We know first act of Vasco Da Gama when he touched in Kappad.
A few years ago I read a book of Ibnu Battuta .
But I dont know whether Marco Polo visit our state or not?.

Marco Polo did visit India in 1292 when he was returning back from China and his ship stopped in kingdom of the Tamil Pandyas near modern day Tanjore.

This is what he says about what he say,

The king and his barons and everyone else all sit on the earth.’ He asks the king why they ‘do not seat themselves more honorably.’ The king replies, ‘To sit on the earth is honourable enough, because we were made from the earth and to the earth we must return.’ Marco Polo documented this episode in his famous book, The Travels, along with a rich social portrait of India.

The climate is so hot that all men and women wear nothing but a loincloth, including the king—except his is studded with rubies, sapphires, emeralds and other gems. Merchants and traders abound, the king takes pride in not holding himself above the law of the land, and people travel the highways safely with their valuables in the cool of the night. Marco Polo calls this ‘the richest and most splendid province in the world,’ one that, together with Ceylon, produces ‘most of the pearls and gems that are to be found in the world.’

The sole local grain produced here is rice. People use only their right hand for eating, saving the left for sundry ‘unclean’ tasks. Most do not consume any alcohol, and drink fluids ‘out of flasks, each from his own; for no one would drink out of another’s flask.’ Nor do they set the flask to their lips, preferring to ‘hold it above and pour the fluid into their mouths.’ They are addicted to chewing a leaf called tambur, sometimes mixing it with ‘camphor and other spices and lime’ and go about spitting freely, using it also to express serious offence by targeting the spittle at another’s face, which can sometimes provoke violent clan fights.

They ‘pay more attention to augury than any other people in the world and are skilled in distinguishing good omens from bad.’ They rely on the counsel of astrologers and have enchanters called Brahmans, who are ‘expert in incantations against all sorts of beasts and birds.’ For instance, they protect the oyster divers ‘against predatory fish by means of incantations’ and for this service they receive one in twenty pearls. The people ‘worship the ox,’ do not eat beef (except for a group with low social status), and daub their houses with cow-dung. In battle they use lance and shield and, according to Marco, are ‘not men of any valor.’ They say that ‘a man who goes to sea must be a man in despair.’ Marco draws attention to the fact that they ‘do not regard any form of sexual indulgence as a sin.’

Their temple monasteries have both male and female deities, prone to being cross with each other. And since estranged deities spell nothing but trouble in the human realm, bevies of spinsters gather there several times each month with ‘tasty dishes of meat and other food’ and ‘sing and dance and afford the merriest sport in the world,’ leaping and tumbling and raising their legs to their necks and pirouetting to delight the deities. After the ‘spirit of the idols has eaten the substance of the food,’ they ‘eat together with great mirth and jollity.’ Pleasantly disposed by the evening entertainment, the gods and goddesses descend from the temple walls at night and ‘consort’ with each other—or so the priest announces the next morning—bringing great joy and relief to all. ‘The flesh of these maidens,’ adds Messer Marco, ‘is so hard that no one could grasp or pinch them in any place. ... their breasts do not hang down, but remain upstanding and erect.’ For a penny, however, ‘they will allow a man to pinch [their bodies] as hard as he can.’

Dark skin is highly esteemed among these people. ‘When a child is born they anoint him once a week with oil of sesame, and this makes him grow much darker’ (replaced since by ‘Fair & Lovely’ creams!). No wonder their gods are all black ‘and their devils white as snow.’ A group of their holy men, the Yogis, eat frugally and live longer than most, some as much as 200 years. In one religious order, men even go stark naked and ‘lead a harsh and austere life’—these men believe that all living beings have a soul and take pains to avoid hurting even the tiniest creatures. They take their food over large dried leaves. When asked why they do not cover their private parts, they say, ‘It is because you employ this member in sin and lechery that you cover it and are ashamed of it. But we are no more ashamed of it than of our fingers.’ Among them, only those who conquer sexual desire become monks. ‘So strict are these idolaters and so stubborn in their misbelief,’ opines Marco. (Jains in TN)

Though the king here has 500 wives, he covets a beautiful wife of his brother—who rules another kingdom nearby, and as kings are wont to, also keeps many wives—and one day succeeds in ‘ravishing her from him and keeping her for himself.’ When war looms, as it has many times before, their mother intervenes, knife in hand and pointing at her breasts, ‘If you fight with each other, I will cut off these breasts which gave you both milk.’ Her emotional blackmail succeeds once again; the brother who has lost his woman swallows his pride and war is averted. But it is only a matter of time, thinks Marco, that the mother is dead and the brothers destroy each other.

The region breeds no horses but imports them from Aden and beyond. Over 2,000 steeds arrive on ship.

 

[SrNair]

Marco Polo did visit India in 1292 when he was returning back from China and his ship stopped in kingdom of the Tamil Pandyas near modern day Tanjore.

This is what he says about what he say,

The king and his barons and everyone else all sit on the earth.’ He asks the king why they ‘do not seat themselves more honorably.’ The king replies, ‘To sit on the earth is honourable enough, because we were made from the earth and to the earth we must return.’ Marco Polo documented this episode in his famous book, The Travels, along with a rich social portrait of India.

The climate is so hot that all men and women wear nothing but a loincloth, including the king—except his is studded with rubies, sapphires, emeralds and other gems. Merchants and traders abound, the king takes pride in not holding himself above the law of the land, and people travel the highways safely with their valuables in the cool of the night. Marco Polo calls this ‘the richest and most splendid province in the world,’ one that, together with Ceylon, produces ‘most of the pearls and gems that are to be found in the world.’

The sole local grain produced here is rice. People use only their right hand for eating, saving the left for sundry ‘unclean’ tasks. Most do not consume any alcohol, and drink fluids ‘out of flasks, each from his own; for no one would drink out of another’s flask.’ Nor do they set the flask to their lips, preferring to ‘hold it above and pour the fluid into their mouths.’ They are addicted to chewing a leaf called tambur, sometimes mixing it with ‘camphor and other spices and lime’ and go about spitting freely, using it also to express serious offence by targeting the spittle at another’s face, which can sometimes provoke violent clan fights.

They ‘pay more attention to augury than any other people in the world and are skilled in distinguishing good omens from bad.’ They rely on the counsel of astrologers and have enchanters called Brahmans, who are ‘expert in incantations against all sorts of beasts and birds.’ For instance, they protect the oyster divers ‘against predatory fish by means of incantations’ and for this service they receive one in twenty pearls. The people ‘worship the ox,’ do not eat beef (except for a group with low social status), and daub their houses with cow-dung. In battle they use lance and shield and, according to Marco, are ‘not men of any valor.’ They say that ‘a man who goes to sea must be a man in despair.’ Marco draws attention to the fact that they ‘do not regard any form of sexual indulgence as a sin.’

Their temple monasteries have both male and female deities, prone to being cross with each other. And since estranged deities spell nothing but trouble in the human realm, bevies of spinsters gather there several times each month with ‘tasty dishes of meat and other food’ and ‘sing and dance and afford the merriest sport in the world,’ leaping and tumbling and raising their legs to their necks and pirouetting to delight the deities. After the ‘spirit of the idols has eaten the substance of the food,’ they ‘eat together with great mirth and jollity.’ Pleasantly disposed by the evening entertainment, the gods and goddesses descend from the temple walls at night and ‘consort’ with each other—or so the priest announces the next morning—bringing great joy and relief to all. ‘The flesh of these maidens,’ adds Messer Marco, ‘is so hard that no one could grasp or pinch them in any place. ... their breasts do not hang down, but remain upstanding and erect.’ For a penny, however, ‘they will allow a man to pinch [their bodies] as hard as he can.’

Dark skin is highly esteemed among these people. ‘When a child is born they anoint him once a week with oil of sesame, and this makes him grow much darker’ (replaced since by ‘Fair & Lovely’ creams!). No wonder their gods are all black ‘and their devils white as snow.’ A group of their holy men, the Yogis, eat frugally and live longer than most, some as much as 200 years. In one religious order, men even go stark naked and ‘lead a harsh and austere life’—these men believe that all living beings have a soul and take pains to avoid hurting even the tiniest creatures. They take their food over large dried leaves. When asked why they do not cover their private parts, they say, ‘It is because you employ this member in sin and lechery that you cover it and are ashamed of it. But we are no more ashamed of it than of our fingers.’ Among them, only those who conquer sexual desire become monks. ‘So strict are these idolaters and so stubborn in their misbelief,’ opines Marco. (Jains in TN)

Though the king here has 500 wives, he covets a beautiful wife of his brother—who rules another kingdom nearby, and as kings are wont to, also keeps many wives—and one day succeeds in ‘ravishing her from him and keeping her for himself.’ When war looms, as it has many times before, their mother intervenes, knife in hand and pointing at her breasts, ‘If you fight with each other, I will cut off these breasts which gave you both milk.’ Her emotional blackmail succeeds once again; the brother who has lost his woman swallows his pride and war is averted. But it is only a matter of time, thinks Marco, that the mother is dead and the brothers destroy each other.

The region breeds no horses but imports them from Aden and beyond. Over 2,000 steeds arrive on ship.

In ancient time people in kerala and other places of India consider white peoples are lower ,they known as Yavanas .But now it is just reversed.

 

[MokshaVimukthi]

Here is a little know fact, which I feel must be told to make people aware of their history.

The SLAVES from MALABAR. (From the book "From cane fields to freedom")

Read this characterization of a Slave from Malabar (Walks & Sketches – Robert Semple) – He is in all respects the best of the household slaves. Without the inactivity or the dullness of the Mozambique slave, or the penetrative genius of the Malay, he forms an excellent medium between the two. More intelligent, more industrious and more active than the former, more docile and more affectionate than the latter, he unites steadiness with vivacity, and capability of instructing to wining manners.

Between 1626 and 1662, the Dutch exported with reasonable regularity 150–400 slaves annually from the Arakan-Bengal coast. Slave raids into the Bengal estuaries were conducted by Magh pirates using armed vessels (galias), joining hands with unscrupulous Portuguese traders (chatins) and operating from Chittagong outside the jurisdiction and patronage of the Estado da India. Until the Dutch seizure of the Portuguese settlements on the Malabar coast (1658–63), large numbers of slaves were also captured and sent from India's west coast to Batavia, Ceylon, and elsewhere. After 1663, however, the stream of forced labor from Cochin dried up to a trickle of about 50–100 and 80–120 slaves per year to Batavia and Ceylon, respectively

Modus Operandi (Reference Van Rensburg papers) –

Starting around 1652, the VOC started active slave trading, sourcing the slaves from Indonesia, Bengal and Malabar. Innocent children were kidnapped by the Mohammedans and sold at Cochin to the Dutch, then they were send to Batavia or the Cape, reference Adoor KK Ramachandran Nair in his book Slavery in Kerala, p 16. The VOC sent custom built ships (Fly boats or Fluyt boats) and brought back these slaves to Cape Town under miserable conditions where many died during the voyage due to sickness.

Upon arrival the slaves were sold to ‘burghers’ from Netherlands working in Cape Town. Then started the ordeal without an end where they were sold and resold. Punishment was severe for escaping, typically mutilation, whipping, death and long term incarceration wearing heavy chains. Yet many escaped to remote parts of Africa to live short periods of freedom in dense jungles, only to be caught again.

The women slaves and their daughters had no choice; they mostly became lovers of the burghers. Later, burghers as Rensburg explains, preferred marriages to women from these mixed unions, in other words these women were then classified as 'van de Kaap' (note this term did not only refer to people of black or mix ancestry). Curiously at the Cape the legal line of descent for both slaves and free citizens were matrilineal, following the Malabar practice, which is by virtue of who their mother was. If the father was free, but the mother a slave, then the child was a slave. If the mother was free, but the father was a slave, then the child was free. These Malabar slaves were also called Maroon slaves for their tawny color.

 

[MokshaVimukthi]

The story of Damon - Let us look at the incredible story of the slave from Kerala who is otherwise titled the ‘Damon slave’ in history (extracted from the book).

In the early 1800s, while exploring the areas of Van Plettenburg and the dense forests to the East, three high ranking officials (Col Collins, Dr Dowdray and Andries Stockenstrom stumbled on the dwelling of an escaped Kerala slave who had lived in the forests for six years before he was recaptured. This extraordinary man as the travellers described him was brought to them heavy with chains, so that they might acquire some information respecting the country. He was named Damon from Kerala for he was found near the Damon fountain. As the name suggests, he originated from Kerala.

Here is a more detailed story extracted from Col John Sutherland’s notes & other books,

Damon the slave had a friend with him when he first came to the Zitzakamma woods (now Southern George - Storms River). However he died soon after and Damon lived in a small but hidden cave (or hut) in the woods. Later on, after over five years of solitude and after developing more confidence, he started to build a better and bigger one with his own hands. Damon had concluded that he would spend his lonely days in it in relative peace. It was while he was midway into construction (I am sure that was what kept him sane – the building work) of his humble abode that he got caught by the Kaffers (African natives or Hottentots – they were termed Kaffers by early Portuguese voyagers). (Gandhi also refers to them as Kaffers in his Autobiography)

Damon was in ingenious man; for he used the skins of all the animals he caught (using pits and snares) to make fashionable ‘western style’ clothes. The bones were all carefully heaped in a spot. He had cleared at least two acres which he had planted with vegetables, tobacco and fruit trees using the dung of the numerous elephants and buffalo in the area, as manure. Our friend even made baked earthenware for cooking his food. The stream that supplied him with water lies about 16km west of the Storms River (or Doll or Kaeman River near the Outinuqua mountains) and is now called the Damon’s fountain. This man had committed no crime prior to his flight; his only desire was to be a free man, wishing trouble for no one. Collins originally decided to keep him, but fearing that Damon would inform others of the location or help them, sent him off to Cape Town

Further study revealed that the man was probably from Cochin and knew about farming & agriculture. He must have been toiling in some wealthy landowner’s lands in Kerala before he was caught and shipped to Africa. The Kaffers caught him and turned him over to Col Collins only for the purpose of a reward. At their direction he was sent to the cape ‘there to be charged or otherwise disposed of.

He was considered very interesting and energetic by Collins, 40 years, dark and muscular, very animated, and he informed Collins that he had a fearful life, pursued often by buffaloes, which charged & destroyed his hut many times. When he ran away from enslavement, he had only a handful of seeds and the vegetable garden that Collins saw was a result of his planting and nurturing them (imagine his thought process before his flight!).

At least he was not ‘hung in chains in the open on gibbets to be eaten by birds’ as many other slaves were sentenced. Henry Rikes (Brenton memoirs) states that he was (probably on Collin’s recommendation) released from his owner Petrus Terblans in 1809 by the Colonial government who directed that this land be purchased for him and thus he became a resident of George (a place 240 km away from Cape Town). Col Sutherland later heard that Damon was building a house there & that he had offspring. So that was a good end to the arduous life & travel of this 45 year old slave.

There is a story of another Damon from Kerala was banished to Robben Island 12km away from Cape Town to work in chains for 15 years more without wages (1793 Cape records). Nelson Mandela incidentally, was also interred in Robben Island for 27 years. Today Robben Island, thanks to Nelson Mandela is a tourist attraction, but many would never have heard the story of this Damon from Kerala.

A thought - Compare this slave’s life to the life led by Tom Hanks in the film Castaway and try to imagine the hardships Damon endured.

Summary of numbers -ES Reddy in his collection of Indo African papers states that some 1300 plus Indian slaves (a full 37% of the total slaves from Africa India, Indonesia and Ceylon) were brought in between 1658 and 1760 and out of this Indian total, 500 came from the Bengal area and 400 plus from Kerala !! The slaves were invariably given Christian Dutch names but their places of origin were indicated in the records of sales and other documents. Worden however concludes that between 1697 and 1750, a higher number 48% (673) of the sample of 1,401 slaves came from the Indian subcontinent (mostly Bengal and Kerala),

Read through Cape town records - There are so many slaves from Kerala mentioned in that turbulent period; slaves like Cupido, Catherine, Helena, Peter, Jan, Joaun, and most of them met violent death by hanging for trying to escape. These people lost their identity, their very names, their religion and their culture. The women got integrated into the Dutch community and some genealogy is available as in the case of Catherine.

Reddy adds - Most slaves however, dispersed and lost their identity in the course of time. The Indians became part of the "Malay" community - so called as Malayo-Portuguese was the lingua franca in the Asian ports at that time - and their descendants later came to be identified as "Cape Malays" (Cape Muslims) as the Muslim community expanded.

 

[abjktu]

The story of Damon - Let us look at the incredible story of the slave from Kerala who is otherwise titled the ‘Damon slave’ in history (extracted from the book).

In the early 1800s, while exploring the areas of Van Plettenburg and the dense forests to the East, three high ranking officials (Col Collins, Dr Dowdray and Andries Stockenstrom stumbled on the dwelling of an escaped Kerala slave who had lived in the forests for six years before he was recaptured. This extraordinary man as the travellers described him was brought to them heavy with chains, so that they might acquire some information respecting the country. He was named Damon from Kerala for he was found near the Damon fountain. As the name suggests, he originated from Kerala.

Here is a more detailed story extracted from Col John Sutherland’s notes & other books,

Damon the slave had a friend with him when he first came to the Zitzakamma woods (now Southern George - Storms River). However he died soon after and Damon lived in a small but hidden cave (or hut) in the woods. Later on, after over five years of solitude and after developing more confidence, he started to build a better and bigger one with his own hands. Damon had concluded that he would spend his lonely days in it in relative peace. It was while he was midway into construction (I am sure that was what kept him sane – the building work) of his humble abode that he got caught by the Kaffers (African natives or Hottentots – they were termed Kaffers by early Portuguese voyagers). (Gandhi also refers to them as Kaffers in his Autobiography)

Damon was in ingenious man; for he used the skins of all the animals he caught (using pits and snares) to make fashionable ‘western style’ clothes. The bones were all carefully heaped in a spot. He had cleared at least two acres which he had planted with vegetables, tobacco and fruit trees using the dung of the numerous elephants and buffalo in the area, as manure. Our friend even made baked earthenware for cooking his food. The stream that supplied him with water lies about 16km west of the Storms River (or Doll or Kaeman River near the Outinuqua mountains) and is now called the Damon’s fountain. This man had committed no crime prior to his flight; his only desire was to be a free man, wishing trouble for no one. Collins originally decided to keep him, but fearing that Damon would inform others of the location or help them, sent him off to Cape Town

Further study revealed that the man was probably from Cochin and knew about farming & agriculture. He must have been toiling in some wealthy landowner’s lands in Kerala before he was caught and shipped to Africa. The Kaffers caught him and turned him over to Col Collins only for the purpose of a reward. At their direction he was sent to the cape ‘there to be charged or otherwise disposed of.

He was considered very interesting and energetic by Collins, 40 years, dark and muscular, very animated, and he informed Collins that he had a fearful life, pursued often by buffaloes, which charged & destroyed his hut many times. When he ran away from enslavement, he had only a handful of seeds and the vegetable garden that Collins saw was a result of his planting and nurturing them (imagine his thought process before his flight!).

At least he was not ‘hung in chains in the open on gibbets to be eaten by birds’ as many other slaves were sentenced. Henry Rikes (Brenton memoirs) states that he was (probably on Collin’s recommendation) released from his owner Petrus Terblans in 1809 by the Colonial government who directed that this land be purchased for him and thus he became a resident of George (a place 240 km away from Cape Town). Col Sutherland later heard that Damon was building a house there & that he had offspring. So that was a good end to the arduous life & travel of this 45 year old slave.

There is a story of another Damon from Kerala was banished to Robben Island 12km away from Cape Town to work in chains for 15 years more without wages (1793 Cape records). Nelson Mandela incidentally, was also interred in Robben Island for 27 years. Today Robben Island, thanks to Nelson Mandela is a tourist attraction, but many would never have heard the story of this Damon from Kerala.

A thought - Compare this slave’s life to the life led by Tom Hanks in the film Castaway and try to imagine the hardships Damon endured.

Summary of numbers -ES Reddy in his collection of Indo African papers states that some 1300 plus Indian slaves (a full 37% of the total slaves from Africa India, Indonesia and Ceylon) were brought in between 1658 and 1760 and out of this Indian total, 500 came from the Bengal area and 400 plus from Kerala !! The slaves were invariably given Christian Dutch names but their places of origin were indicated in the records of sales and other documents. Worden however concludes that between 1697 and 1750, a higher number 48% (673) of the sample of 1,401 slaves came from the Indian subcontinent (mostly Bengal and Kerala),

Read through Cape town records - There are so many slaves from Kerala mentioned in that turbulent period; slaves like Cupido, Catherine, Helena, Peter, Jan, Joaun, and most of them met violent death by hanging for trying to escape. These people lost their identity, their very names, their religion and their culture. The women got integrated into the Dutch community and some genealogy is available as in the case of Catherine.

Reddy adds - Most slaves however, dispersed and lost their identity in the course of time. The Indians became part of the "Malay" community - so called as Malayo-Portuguese was the lingua franca in the Asian ports at that time - and their descendants later came to be identified as "Cape Malays" (Cape Muslims) as the Muslim community expanded.

SO NOW THIS SHIVA SENA SNAKE IS TRYING TO POTRAY MALAYALIS AND BENGALIS AS SLAVES..
Frank R. Bradlow put together available information from various scholarly studies on the places of origin of the slaves and free
blacks between 1658 and early nineteenth century. The information is very incomplete after 1700 and covers only a little over three thousand persons. The figures were as follows:
Place of origin Number Percent
Africa 875 26.65
India 1195 36.40
Indonesia 1033 31.47
Sri Lanka 102 3.10
Malaya 16 0.49
Mauritius 6 0.18
Other and unidentified 56 1.71
Total 3283 100.00
(Note: The number from India includes those
from Bangladesh)
Source: Frank R. Bradlow and Margaret Cairns,
The Early Cape Muslims, page 102
If these figures are representative, over 70
percent of the foreign-born slaves in the Cape came from Asia, and more than a third from India.
Of those from India, the following is a more detailed breakdown:
Bengal (including Bihar and Orissa) 498
Coromandel Coast (especially Trancquebar,
Tuticorin, Nagapatnam, Pulicat and
Masulipatnam) 271
Malabar Coast (including Goa Bombay and Surat) 378
Other 36

Manvan-Malabar coast doesn't means Kerala alone,it includes Karnataka and south of goa..The article clearly mentioned that the slaves were from Malabar coast including MAHARASTRA and GUJARAT,coramandal coast that including Tamilnadu and Bengal including bihar and orrisa..but you Shiva sena snake cleverly omitted those and potrayed Malayalis and Bengalis as slaves..

 

[SrNair]

SO NOW THIS SHIVA SENA SNAKE IS TRYING TO POTRAY MALAYALIS AND BENGALIS AS SLAVES..
Frank R. Bradlow put together available information from various scholarly studies on the places of origin of the slaves and free
blacks between 1658 and early nineteenth century. The information is very incomplete after 1700 and covers only a little over three thousand persons. The figures were as follows:
Place of origin Number Percent
Africa 875 26.65
India 1195 36.40
Indonesia 1033 31.47
Sri Lanka 102 3.10
Malaya 16 0.49
Mauritius 6 0.18
Other and unidentified 56 1.71
Total 3283 100.00
(Note: The number from India includes those
from Bangladesh)
Source: Frank R. Bradlow and Margaret Cairns,
The Early Cape Muslims, page 102
If these figures are representative, over 70
percent of the foreign-born slaves in the Cape came from Asia, and more than a third from India.
Of those from India, the following is a more detailed breakdown:
Bengal (including Bihar and Orissa) 498
Coromandel Coast (especially Trancquebar,
Tuticorin, Nagapatnam, Pulicat and
Masulipatnam) 271
Malabar Coast (including Goa Bombay and Surat) 378
Other 36

Manvan-Malabar coast doesn't means Kerala alone,it includes Karnataka and south of goa..The article clearly mentioned that the slaves were from Malabar coast including MAHARASTRA and GUJARAT,coramandal coast that including Tamilnadu and Bengal including bihar and orrisa..but you Shiva sena snake cleverly omitted those and potrayed Malayalis and Bengalis as slaves..

There was a practice at that time catching low caste people and make them slave .But that rampant in entire India not confined to Kerala and Bengal.

 

[abjktu]

There was a practice at that time catching low caste people and make them slave .But that rampant in entire India not confined to Kerala and Bengal.

There are 2 Malayalam films based on it...
one starring Prem Nazir-ithikara pakki?;
another Prem Nazir,Madhu,i forgot its name...

 

[MokshaVimukthi]

SO NOW THIS SHIVA SENA SNAKE IS TRYING TO POTRAY MALAYALIS AND BENGALIS AS SLAVES..
Frank R. Bradlow put together available information from various scholarly studies on the places of origin of the slaves and free
blacks between 1658 and early nineteenth century. The information is very incomplete after 1700 and covers only a little over three thousand persons. The figures were as follows:
Place of origin Number Percent
Africa 875 26.65
India 1195 36.40
Indonesia 1033 31.47
Sri Lanka 102 3.10
Malaya 16 0.49
Mauritius 6 0.18
Other and unidentified 56 1.71
Total 3283 100.00
(Note: The number from India includes those
from Bangladesh)
Source: Frank R. Bradlow and Margaret Cairns,
The Early Cape Muslims, page 102
If these figures are representative, over 70
percent of the foreign-born slaves in the Cape came from Asia, and more than a third from India.
Of those from India, the following is a more detailed breakdown:
Bengal (including Bihar and Orissa) 498
Coromandel Coast (especially Trancquebar,
Tuticorin, Nagapatnam, Pulicat and
Masulipatnam) 271
Malabar Coast (including Goa Bombay and Surat) 378
Other 36

Manvan-Malabar coast doesn't means Kerala alone,it includes Karnataka and south of goa..The article clearly mentioned that the slaves were from Malabar coast including MAHARASTRA and GUJARAT,coramandal coast that including Tamilnadu and Bengal including bihar and orrisa..but you Shiva sena snake cleverly omitted those and potrayed Malayalis and Bengalis as slaves..

You love for the Christian dutch slave traders is touching Your attempts to deny history, not so much.

British rule covered all over India, but this thread is about kerala and focuses on british activity in kerala you sick MoFu. Similarly this is about Malayalee captured and made slaves by the christian dutch traders .

 

[abjktu]

You love for the Christian dutch slave traders is touching Your attempts to deny history, not so much.

British rule covered all over India, but this thread is about kerala and focuses on british activity in kerala you sick MoFu. Similarly this is about Malayalee captured and made slaves by the christian dutch traders .

what???
Your love for bal thakarey's a%&& seems disgusting...
anyway..I have no objections,if you have posted that article completely...
Do you have selective amnesia??

 

[SrNair]

Hey guys calm down .Be friendly.