The Cafres of the Portuguese & the Dutch
The last months of 1662 in Cochin were proving to be a test
to the Portuguese who remained. The Portuguese Casado no longer carried the
usual armaments like the sword, gun or spear like their well protected, but
uncomfortable predecessors had, clad in mail. They were once upon a time, much
better in strategic thinking and came up with a number of new techniques of
war. Who else would think of cutting down trees on the opposite banks like
Duarte Pacheco in the battle of Cochin? As the Franks perfected their act and
got better at keeping the Zamorin’s forces in check, and getting rich off the
relative monopoly of the seas and the trade of spices, the community in Goa
declined in morality, often behind the shrouds of religion. But Cochin in
comparison was benign until the Dutch peeped around the corner.
During the period between the 1663 and somewhere after 1500
when the Vasco Da Gama decided that Calicut had no plans of welcoming him, the
Cochin Raja provided the Portuguese with a place to reside and the support to
establish trade. The Portuguese flourished as we saw in many previous articles
and soon started a regular colonial relationship not only in Goa, but also in
Cochin. They intermingled with the local populace to create a group of
Mestizo’s who spoke Portuguese and had Portuguese names. A new caste called
Topasses (dark skinned, half caste – wearing a topi - gente de chapeo or Topci
– gunner in Turkish) came into effect mainly to man the cannons and were Christians
by way of religion. Around 1662, the Portuguese lived in a larger area within
the fort and this was the Portuguese town where some 900 houses existed and
around 2,000 Topasses were resident. Most of the other Topasses lived outside
the fort, but close to 2,000 of them moved in after the Portuguese left while
many left for Goa with their masters.
Much like the Anglo Indian community, these Toepasses
classed themselves with the Portuguese. Visscher opines that the name came from
the Portuguese Tu Pai (my boy) who later learnt the Portuguese language and
became interpreters. Later, especially in Cochin they became bakers,
carpenters, tailors, shoemakers and so on or during the war as letter carriers.
He considers them exceedingly superstitious, and possess many heathen customs.
A mourning toepass wears his black coat inside out and grows his beard!
By 1565, the Jews of Cranganore fled to Cochin and erected
what we know today as the Jew town, and close to a century later, the lives of
the Portuguese and their associates were soon to be in peril, not from the 3
million or so of local forces, but from another foe from afar, the Lanthan’s or
the Dutch. The Dutch resolve was clear when Rijklof Van Goens sailed away from
Batavia to confront the Portuguese in Malabar. By 1657 he had gotten the Franks
out of Jaffna and were entrenched in their all-important base at
Jaffnapattanam. By 1658, he had taken over the pearl fisheries and Tuticorin,
the very place where Joao da Cruz and Francis Xavier had once carried out the evangelization
of the Paravas. Goens was a mature warrior and decided to leave Goa alone, but
set his sights on Cochin instead. It took all of five years and some five
expeditions for him to execute his plans. These actions were also to eventually
launch the career of a simple Jonkheer – Henderik van Rhede, the man behind the
great Hortus Malbaricus, who in 1663, was just a warrior participating in the
second siege of Cochin.
The first three Dutch forays in 1658, 1660 and 1661 aimed at
the Portuguese in Cochin were not to bring much by way of success.
Interestingly the people who ordered this were the members of the High
government of Batavia - the Dutch VOC’s Gentlemen XVII. Anyway in the winter
months of 1661, the Dutch took Quilon, and Cranganore was taken a month later.
It was then that they worked out an interesting ploy, by getting support from
Vira Kerala Varma, a claimant to the throne, and the incumbent Rama Varma was
already on the Portuguese side.
Planning from the Roman Catholic bishop’s house on Vypin,
Van Goens oversaw the construction of Fort Orange, a small fortification for the
cannons aimed at Cochin. Mattancheri, just outside the Fort Cochin walls was in
those days called Cochim de Cima or Native Cochin in Portuguese. This was where
the raja of Cochin had his seat of government and here stood the Pazhanyannur
temple. The Dutch palace as it is known today, was actually the Vira Kerala
Varma’s palace which the Portuguese had built for him. Of course he had other
palaces near Jew town and in Tripunithara.
As this was taking place, the Paliyath Achan tried to
persuade the Portuguese to have the Mutta tavazhi raja take over to avoid Dutch
slaughter and simultaneously the Zamorin’s forces moved in to Elankunnapuzha. Goda
Varma tried encouraging Vira Kerala Varma to flee, but the latter desisted.
The forces of Van Goens landed some miles south of Cochin
and advanced towards Mattanchery, while the king requested that they spare his
women. Meanwhile the Nair’s defending the palace put up a stout fight against
the well-armed Dutch, many of the Nairs being Chavers (mistaken for people influenced
by Opium in Baldaeus’s accounts) and about 400 perished. And soon Van Rhede an
ordinary soldier, made his place in history for killing Rama Raja and his
brothers and saving the aging queen rani Gangadhara Lakshmi from a hiding room
under the roof in a nearby temple. Three or four princes of the royal family
were killed while Goda Varma escaped. The main fortress of the Portuguese was
now under attack on three sides, the southern side by Goens’s forces, western
side by Isbrand Goske and the eastern side by Root bans. Simultaneously
cannonades followed from Fort Orange in Vypin.
But the siege in Oct 1662 failed, the rains came in unseasonably
and the Dutch had to retreat while Kerala Varma and his brother fled to Mannar
and later to Quilon to be covered by the Dutch safety net. However the claimant
to the throne died and his brother who went by the same name was proclaimed
king by the queen rani who had the final say in these matters. By December, the
returning Rhede took over Bolghaty Island, exiled Goda varma who sided with the
Portuguese and a decision was taken to lay siege to Cochin next. That fateful
day of liberation from the Portuguese was to be 6th Jan 1663.
Tavernier the jeweler whom we talked about in the Kohinoor story was one of the
persons who provided a graphic description of that fateful day.
Let us however get back to that fateful week in Cochin. What
followed next was interesting. The Dutch sent two captains with a white flag. These
two fellows were blindfolded by the Portuguese so that they would not see the
planned fortifications, but the clever Dutch brought along with them a small
boy, who cleverly took in minute details. In the meantime, the Dutch and the
Portuguese had signed a peace treaty in Europe on 14th Dec 1662.
The Portuguese governor Ignatio Sermento was offered a
treaty based on free commerce and religious freedom in return for Portuguese
surrender. The Frank captain refused as expected and the Dutch went back with
the little boy providing valuable details of the fortifications. The Dutch
erected cannons at various strategic points (near the churches of St Thomas and
St John as well as Calvetti). The Portuguese expected an attack from Calvetti
while at the same time the Raja of Porkkad sent his Nairs with food for the
Portuguese and were trounced by the Dutch forces landing there. Finally it was
time for the Dutch to storm the fort and they decided to do it with soldiers
coming in by a frigate from Vypeen. The boat capsized on the way killing all
but 10 soldiers who were also decimated by the Portuguese. The final attack
took place on the 6th January with 600 Dutch soldiers and finally the
team under du Pon entered the fort. Goda Varma and his family had fled, so
without much ado, Sermento delivered the keys of the fort to Van Goens in
surrender on the 7th January 1663. 360 Dutch died, 300 were
hospitalized and 500 became unfits for further duty. 900 Portuguese were
killed. According to the terms of surrender, all valuables and property
and slaves were to be handed over to the Dutch. All Toepasses and Konkanis were
to serve under the Dutch.
But the accounts of what transpired later are not clear. The
Bishop states that the town was looted for three days and many cruel actions
took place. The Portuguese complained later that the Dutch took Cochin after
the treaty was signed in Europe, whereas van Goens stated that the treaty was
ratified only in March. The Mutta tavazhi prince was crowned by Van Goens and
after 1663, the VOC considered all trade in pepper on the Malabar Coast
undertaken by any other party except itself ‘illegal’. The pepper monopoly had
to work, either through force or through contract. Three new forts were
constructed and the raja of Porkkad signed a treaty with the Dutch as though he
was an old friend. Ten years later Van Rheede himself came back to Cochin as
commander.For those who wish to read more in detail the siege, check this link.
But as you can all imagine, this story is not about the Dutch
capture of Fort Cochin, for it will now move on touch upon the Kappiri myth
associated with the Toepasses of Cochin. That these people made plenty of
wealth from trading is clear and were favored by the Portuguese masters. It is
also clear that after the attack and siege of the fort, they were not allowed
to go to Goa. From Visscher’s notes on Toepasses, we can see that they were
exceedingly superstitious, and this largely contributed to the myths which
followed. So what did the fleeing Portuguese Casados and the resident Toepasses
do to all their wealth? In order to hide it from the Portuguese, it is rumored
that they hid it underground, and also hatched a ghoulish plan to guard the
treasure. Here is where the kappiri or the cafre African slave comes in as
recounted by the old-timers of Cochin.
That the Portuguese brought in large numbers of African
slaves is clear and they mainly served them in the warfront, as fearless and
tireless warriors, but their presence in Cochin is lesser documented save for their
continued presence in our minds through the myth. Most of the Toepasses and the
Casados must have surely had a few in their midst and it can be concluded that
some of them were the reason for it. We know for certain that many Kafir
soldiers lived in Cochin and we also see from records that while 100 of them
joined Capt Almeida, another 200 stationed there were moved to Ceylon later.
They were considered very loyal, an aspect that we will come to see being
utilized by both the fleeing Portuguese as well as the Topasses who remained.
Baldaeus himself recounts presence of Negro slaves in Cochin during the first
attack by the Dutch in 1662. Bindu Malieckal establishes in her paper (India’s
luso-Africans) that they were indeed called kapiris and according to Linschoten,
they, both men and women slaves were brought to Goa from Mozambique and sold
for 2-3 ducats. Goa was also a place where the African slave got transshipped
to places like Macau and continued on till the 1800’s. A number of Abyssinian
women and men worked for Portuguese masters and even today we come across their
descendants in towns where the Portuguese settled, Cochin being one among them.
The men occupied the rank and file of the Portuguese armies.
But their connections with the gods date back to an earlier
time when a group of them were being brought to India from Africa. Quoting Dr VGeorge Mathew ,
we hear of a tale that is retold, many centuries ago a Portuguese ship laden
with slaves was enroute Malabar when it got caught in a violent storm. Soon it
became clear that the ship would capsize and the entire crew and living souls
went up to the deck for mass prayers, but the waves only kept becoming bigger.
Finally it was decided to sacrifice a human, and of course a healthy Cafre
slave was chosen. He was taken to the edge, his head was cut and the body and
head consigned to the seas. Lo and behold, the storm blew over and the sea was
calm. The Portuguese captain settled in Cochin and would always remember the sacrificed
slave every day before he ate. In fact he started the custom of making the
first offering of food to the departed slave. That was how the ‘cafre food portion’
custom came about. And as you can imagine, the Kappiri slaves were subsequently
associated with power and their spirits ever present where they died such
violent deaths.
So as the Dutch attacked, a number of wealthy Portuguese Casados
and Mesticos decided to do exactly that, as the story goes, they either walled
up a living Kaffir with the wealth in a hole in the wall and mortared it or dug
a hole in the ground , executed a slave and buried the wealth with the slave.
The spirit of the slave was supposed to guard the treasure trove and lead the
owner back to it when he came back. Well, so it seems, for we have not heard of
any wealth dug up in those regions, in the recent past.
Obviously these spirits liked to lead an interesting life.
Like the stories associated with ghost e.g. the Poole’s ghost story I wrote
about earlier, these spirits dressed well, smoked cigars, lounged against walls
in the neighborhood and drank a lot. So they had to be satiated with these
things if their support was expected. As is said, there are a few of these
spots known as ‘Kappiri Mathil’ (Negro Wall) in local parlance and some of them
were located at Chakkamadam and Parwana. Here the cigar smoking ‘Kappiri’ apparently
safeguards treasures hidden by their masters. The natives of Mattanchery,
irrespective of their religion, still believe that the ‘Kappiri Muthappan’ will
one day be their savior. And when the Kerala delicacy puttu is made in
mattanchery, the first block is given to a Kappiri spirit to ensure that the
rest following do not crumble!
Today, you can see a small temple near Manghatmukku, which
is the benign grandpa kappiri’s abode, and even today people offer small
offerings to appease the Negro god. In some of the spots such as Mangattumukku
and Panayapally, the days for offerings are Tuesdays and Fridays when candles
and arrack are offered, with the hope that someday the ghost will lead them to
a treasure and obviate their day to day miseries.
In the early 1900’s there lived a very interesting lady, in
the confines of Jew town, named Ruby. Her story provides so many insights into
the daily lives and happenings of Mattanchery. Let us now peek into the pages
of her reminiscences to see what see has to say about the ones she calls ‘mischievous
spirits’. She lends them a physical structure too and one which surprised me (I
though these warrior slaves were tall and hefty), she says they were considered
to be short, black and with curly black hair, with small white teeth and quite
harmless unless they were harmed. Interestingly in those times, slaves had to
be blacker than the blackest, women had to have breasts which were not
pendulous and anyone with a lighter color or straight hair would be shunned!
But they, the ‘indigenas’ of Mozambique, were also considered to have a sort of
a devil in them and had scars on their faces. But Ruby points out that they
also enjoyed playing tricks on people, living invisibly in home corners and
sometimes inside of a cupboard. In some cases they were whole families, not
just one and were particular about cleanliness. In case their area gets
polluted and you pass by, they even threw excrement at you. There were all
kinds of beliefs - if the master of the house (in those days) has forgotten to
take the mug of water to the toilet, and calls out for water, it is sometimes the
kappiri of the house who brings him the water, scaring the X&^% out of the
master. She also mentions many other pranks played by the spirits, and narrates
stories of the kappiri leaving small rewards for good deeds, especially with
respect to keeping areas around their abode clean, but only as long as they
kept it a secret. She had personal experiences too, like the time a cloth was lost
in the neighbors well and the sprit brought it back when she started cribbing
about it.
Another astounding story is when a resident Jew decided to
dig his backyard for buried treasure. They dug and dug, and saw a large pot,
but just could not get to it. First, some obstacles were observed by the
workers, then an elephant was bought to pull the pot out but curiously the
handle broke and simultaneously the pot was pulled underground by some force
and moved under the terrain, to another location. It is said that the broken
handle was pure gold and the crown for the Sefer Torah of the Tekkumbagam
synagogue was actually made from this piece of gold! She makes a poignant
statement that just like the Jews who came to Cochin and never ‘really’ wanted
to leave, the spirits also will never leave Mattanchery.
Some others mention that people who got lost were shown the
way by these spirits inhabiting trees bearing sour mangoes, and that people also
faced misfortune if one of those trees got hacked down. We also hear stories of
Hindus moving into such houses and feeding the ghosts vegetarian food instead
of meat. And so, many of the locals are firm believers in the ghostly powers of
the Kappiri, the cigar smoking
benevolent negro, sometimes propped on the wall, drinking arrack or toddy and
humming some soft African tunes. A graphic description of the Dutch
looting, the helplessness of the
defeated Portuguese and the human sacrifice of a willing servant Ambrose in
order to secure his masters (Asvares) Portuguese treasure, (Ambrose was a kappiri) can all be read in Raphy’s Malayalam novel O Rapro
Nobis.
As a newspaper titled the story, this is the story of the
kappiri, now consigned to newspaper reports, tourists, and the minds of the
people of Cochin and a temple or two….
The Kappiri - Once a slave, now a deity.
References
Fort Cochin in Kerala 1750-1830 - Anjana Singh
The Rajas of Cochin 1663-1720 - Hugo K s’ Jacob
Ruby of Cochin – Ruby Daniels
O Rapro Nobis- P Raphy
The Dutch power in Kerala – MO Koshy
The Dutch in Malabar – PC Alexander
The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade:
1440-1870 - Hugh Thomas
Letters from Malabar by Jacob Canter Visscher
A True and Exact Description of the Most Celebrated East-India
Coasts of Malabar and Coromandel - Philippus Baldaeus
For those interested in an interesting deeper analysis of
the myth, please read Dr Edward A Edezhath’s paper Kappiri Myth: a living remnant of Luso–Dutch encounter in Cochin
Van Rhede in Cochin http://historicalleys.blogspot.com/2009/04/rani-of-cochin-van-reede-and-hortus.html
