A Greek sailor’s trip
to Malabar circa 355-363 AD
Deeply buried in the many layers of ancient history
connected to the Malabar West Coast is the story of the Theban lawyer, one that
has not been studied in detail as yet by Indian historians. It is an
interesting story, but one which has so many contradictions within it that it
is quite difficult to dredge out the bits of fact from a good amount of
fiction. The problems arise when orally told tales are retold many times over
and finally committed to text. Animals become dragons, men become ogres, women
become mermaids and unimaginable acts are attributed to barbarian civilizations
living far away. To pick up fragments of useful facts from such texts are, as
one can imagine, quite tedious. Nevertheless, let us take a look at this adventurous
tale which dates back to the beginnings of the Anno Domini era, but for that we
have to start with a location in Roman Egypt, named Thebes.
Thebes known to the ancient Egyptians as Waset, was an
ancient Egyptian city located east of the Nile about 400 miles south of Cairo,
lying within the present day Egyptian city of Luxor on both the banks of the
Nile, where the temples of Karnak and Luxor stand. The Assyrians were the first
to pillage and plunder the wealthy city of Thebes around 667BC. The Greeks
followed with Alexander in the lead but after a relatively peaceful period,
successive revolts lay its population open to invasion by Rome. During the
Roman occupation, Thebes became part of the Roman province of Thebais. The legend
of the Theban legion, some 6000 Romans who converted enmasse to Christianity, if
you recall, figures prominently in history. Following this there is indication
of the presence of Diocletian’s Roman army in Luxor. Rome’s governance of Egypt
was orderly, based on prefects, justice administrators, revenue officers and so
on. The metropolis and their local officials shared in the burden of provincial
government, especially as related to the transportation of supplies and
collection of revenue. And importantly, the main produce of Egypt, that of
prime importance to Rome was grain cultivation. More than all that, the Red Sea
ports close by were the ones who conducted all the trade with erstwhile India,
mainly the trade emporia on her western coast. It is also apparent that the
author was not from Greek Thebes for it had lost all importance by then.
Roman legal practices were laborious and the classic law
practices demanding and exact. One not keen on such a trade is prone to getting
bored with that kind of thing and would but naturally not be able to scale its
career ladder. Our hero was one such person, and he was getting tired of being
a lawyer and as is evident, he was from the Scholasticus breed, a special class
of trained civil servant and lawyers, created after the Emperor Diocletian’s
time. Maybe he heard tales of wonder from the world yonder from sailors
disembarking after perilous voyages to Malabar, braving the Hippalus monsoon
winds. He heard stories of immense
wealth, practices of a land with strange people where spices were grown.
Perhaps his imagination was stoked just enough, for he soon decided to forsake
his tedious desk job and plan a trip to the land of spices.
We cannot yet be sure that his destination was a port in
Malabar. That Rome conducted its trade mainly with Muziris south of Malabar is
clear, we have discussed this at length, we discussed the famous Muziris Papyri
some years ago. We also noted that winds did change course for long periods now
and then and thus a number of Arabian sea ports appeared on India’s West Coast,
each going on to become a favorite of a type of trader, all of which we
discussed in a previous paper (Hubs of medieval trade) I had written.
The Greeks described Muziris in Periplus thus - Then come
Naura and Tyndis, the first markets of Damirica (Limyrike), and then Muziris and
Nelcynda, which are now of leading importance. Tyndis is of the Kingdom of
Cerobothra; it is a village in plain sight by the sea. Muziris, of the same
Kingdom, abounds in ships sent there with cargoes from Arabia, and by the
Greeks; it is located on a river, distant from Tyndis by river and sea five
hundred stadia, and up the river from the shore twenty stadia. Trade continued
to peak with the Romans who followed Greeks though it declined from the mid-3rd
century during a crisis period in the Roman Empire, but only to recover in the
4th century.
It was at this juncture that our man Thebes Scholasticus decided
to take a trip to India. But before we get to his story let us see how his
account comes to light. It appears that he narrated his story to an Egyptian
Greek scribe named Palladius who added parts of it to his account of the
Brahmins of India. I will not get into the details of why Palladius wrote about
Brahmins, needless to say that their (i.e. the ancient chaste Brahmins) lives
and methods were a source of immense curiosity since Alexander met some and
took one home with him (see my article on Calanus).
What Palladius did was collect a lot of matter from here and
there, which included narration from our lawyer and made a booklet titled
‘Palladius on the races of India and the Brahmans’. This booklet if perused in
all seriousness would be an ‘avial’ of varying tales (mishmash of various
vegetables cooked with coconut – a Kerala delicacy) and second hand information
available from disembarking sailors and traders.
Three scholars took to studying the travails of our Theban
lawyer in right earnest, the first being the English scholar Duncan Derrett.
The second was the French historian Jehan Desanges and the third who studied
the above papers and came up with a more detailed analysis was the eminent Sri
Lankan Academic, the late Prof DPM Weerakkody. As for me, I am just the lucky
person who laid hands on these carefully worked papers and am presently trying
to make some sense of all that with a Malabar point of view.
That said, Derrett documenting his findings in 1962, lays
his theory on why this Theban lawyers voyage could be dated to the 4th
century, and goes on to narrow the travel dates down to 355-363AD. He then
establishes that since there is a mention of the land where pepper grows in the
text, the destination was Malabar. But there were a number of contradictions
too, and these aspects will be looked into a bit later (Note: The main
translation of the Greek Palladius text used here, is the one provided by
Berghoff).
To get to Malabar in his days, it appears that he had to go
to a Red Sea port called Adulis. Covering parts of what is now northern
Ethiopia and southern and eastern Eritrea, Aksum was deeply involved in the
trade network between India and the Mediterranean (Rome, later Byzantium),
exporting ivory, tortoise shell, gold and emeralds, and importing silk and
spices. Starting around 100 BC a route from Egypt to India was established,
making use of the Red Sea and using monsoon winds to cross the Arabian Sea
directly to southern India. The Kingdom of Aksum was ideally located to take
advantage of the new trading situation. Adulis soon became the main port for
the export of local goods, such as ivory, incense, gold, slaves, and exotic
animals. From Adulis, a caravan route to Egypt was established which bypassed
the Nile corridor entirely and allowed for goods to reach North Egypt and Alexandria
for further movement to consumer centers in Europe. Adulis incidentally, lies 40
miles to the south of the modern day port city of Massawa and near the village
of Foro, a sub-zone of Zula in Eritrea. It lies south of Bernice which was also
famous for its Indian connections.
And so our man decided to go to Malabar and went to Adulis
where there existed a trading Indian community which had its own chieftain. He
learned a bit of their language and next decided to sail on to Taprobane or
Ceylon. One could of course wonder why he chose Ceylon, though it was well
known, it was not yet on the trading map of that era, perhaps he thought he
could make a killing, become famous and rich as a pioneer with Ceylon trade.
That decision it appears and we shall soon see, was to become a reason for his
downfall.
Anyway he found passage in an Indian vessel. An extract from
a translation of his original account in Greek, tells us the following. In the company of a "Presbyter" he
sailed along and touched in first at Adulis (on the Abyssinian coast), and then
at Axume, "where there was even a minor kinglet of the Indians in
residence there. There he spent some time and gained a deep acquaintance with
them and he wanted to go to the island of Taprobane also where the so-called
Macrobioi live.
Let’s stop here for a while since the Theban goes on to
explain that the Macrobioi have a long life span of upto 150 years. Was he
planning on establishing contact with the Macrobioi to learn their longevity
secrets? I can only assume he did not, as a typical lawyer, believe that longevity
was due to the oft mentioned reason of the islands salubrious climate and gods
will.
The account goes on to mention the 1,000 odd magnetic
islands enroute which prevents boats with iron nails from passing and allows
only boats using wooden pegs or nails for fastening. He details the island of
Taprobane which he has heard about, which had coconut trees, arecanut trees, that
they lived on rice, fruit and milk, and had goats. They wear skins round their
middles. The island has no pigs and has
five large rivers. All stuff he had heard and most seem right from what we can
imagine. But how come he never reached there? Let us continue to pick the
threads of the Theban tale for here is where hell breaks loose and the
descriptions falls apart…
Continuing on - He
found some Indians going by ship from Axume for the purpose of trade, and he
tried to get further east. He reached the neighborhood of the people called
"Bisadae", the pepper gatherers. That people is very small and weak, they
live in caves and the rock and are capable of making their way on precipices
because of their acquaintance with the locality, and that is how they gather
pepper from the bushes, for the bushes are also stunted as that scholasticus
said. The Bisadaes too are stunted little fellows with big hands, unshaven and
lank-haired. The rest of the Ethiopians and Indians are black, upstanding
fellows and bristly-haired.
Now let’s stop and think. He has sailed with the Indians to
reach a pepper gathering locale where tribals deliver the pepper grown in the
highlands. Derrett believes it could have been Porkkad or Baccare (Vaikkarai)
but the latter could be ruled out since we are talking about pepper which was
cultivated only on the west of the Western Ghats. It could also have been any
other port but not Muziris, a train of reasoning which we will soon come to
terms with.
We see that the Theban lawyer is arrested as soon as he
lands. Perhaps the companions of the lawyer explained to the local chieftain
that this fellow was planning to move on to Ceylon and had other ulterior
motives such as establishing a parallel trading outpost, perhaps it was to
usurp their secret to longevity. Anyway he is arrested.
Then, he said, “I was
arrested by the local ruler and was tried for daring to enter their country. They
did not accept my defense since they did not know the language of our country,
nor did I understand the charges they brought against me, for I did not know
their language either, but simply by the twisting of the eyes we communicated with
each other in recognizable gestures. I came to recognize their accusing remarks
from the bloodshot color of their eyes and the savage grinding of their teeth,
and guessed the meaning of what they said from their movements. On the other
hand, from my trembling and anguish and the paleness of my face, they clearly
realized my pitiable state of mind through my physical trepidation."
So I was arrested and
was a slave among them for six years, handed over to work in the bake-house.
The amount spent by their king was one modius of corn for his whole palace, and
I don’t know where it came from. And so, in these six years I was able to
interpret a great deal from their language and hence I have got to know the
neighboring tribes besides.
I was released from
there in the following way: Another king made war on the one who kept me
captive, and accused him before the great king who resides in the island of Taprobane,
of taking prisoner an important Roman and keeping him in the basest servitude.
The king sent a judge, and upon learning the truth of the matter, ordered him
to be flayed alive, for doing injury to a Roman, for they respect and fear the
Roman Empire very much, thinking that it could even invade their country
because of its supreme courage and inventive skill.
With this the Theban bows out from the Palladius text,
leaving behind intriguing questions. Where did the ship take the Theban to? Who
are the stunted tribal people? Would a Roman be put on kitchen duty for six
years, even after he is said to have learnt the local language? Who is the
great king of Taprobane and what relations did Ceylon kings have with Malabar
or other nearby states? Who are the Besadae? Why is corn mentioned as a meal
component in a Malabar palace? Is public flaying a method of punishment in
Malabar and thereabouts? What was the local norm of justice considering the
Theban was arrested straightaway? Why were the locals or for that matter the
great king at Taprobane fearful of the Romans? Why did the Theban not sail on
to Taprobane after release? How did he return to Thebes? Was the location on
the Eastern side perhaps a place like Puhar where Romans were often destined? Or
further up the Bay of Bengal? Let’s now get to the answers.
While Desanges believes the location where the Theban lawyer
ended up was close to Assam, mainly due to the mention of the location Bisadae
(and the Mekong valley dwarfs), it is more probable that he was captured by one
of the hill or forest tribes of ancient Malabar and imprisoned by them. Perhaps
he strayed too deep inland to discover the secrets of pepper growing and was
picked up by this tribe. Larger principalities had more organized legal
structures, were more hospitable to foreigners and punishment such as flaying
of the king himself is unlikely. The use of corn is very strange, and there is
no mention of rice. This also indicates that he was imprisoned in a remote tribe
where they probably used root flour, that too on occasions. The modium measure is
approximately a bushel or 15kg, not very much for a large palace kitchen, so it
must have been a smaller principality.
There is another aspect to be kept in mind. The train of the
Theban lawyer’s discourse is actually interrupted by Palladius and it is Palladius
who brings up a description of the Bissadae. The Theban lawyer himself does not
mention that he was with the Bissadae, it was an inference by Palladius.
The great king in Taprobane is another misnomer and does not
connect up to any event in Cheranaad or Tamilakam. Desanges connects it to the
Gupta era from the time of Samudragupta who he believes, was sovereign of both
Assam and of the Sinhala people. Though Ceylon was a tributary of sorts, Samudragupta
was certainly not resident in Ceylon. Derrett believes it was a Pandyan emperor
who was temporarily resident in Ceylon. Weerakkody explains that a ruler named
Pandu did indeed attack Lanka in the 5th century (not the 4th)
and he slayed the king of Sri Lanka to assume sovereignty. He adds - The
Mahavamsa calls him a Tamil (Damila), and later Sinhala traditions call him a
Cola. But his name suggests Pandyan nationality.
But then again, there was another connection between a king of
Lanka and Malabar, during the Chera rule dating to a couple of centuries
earlier. We have knowledge of a certain king called Gajabahu, often identified
with Gajabahu, king of Sri Lanka (2nd century CE), who was present at the
Pattini festival at Vanchi. But for one of them to get involved in the release
of a Roman Egyptian lawyer confined in a hill tribe is very strange. Nevertheless
it is not an easy connection for one to come up with, so should have been a real
happening. But what if a Chera King was temporarily resident in Lanka at that
time? It could be so, though there is only an obtuse possibility reinforced by
the use of the ancient term Cherantivu for Lanka (Lanka was known as
"Cerantivu' - island of the Cera kings).
That the lawyer strayed into remote territory is clear for
there was a presence of Romans not only in the Muziris region, but also near
Puhar on the East coast, if at all it was on the other side. His release after
six years thus becomes somewhat of a mystery and we have no record of his
return home. What could have happened is that a local king sent his emissary to
check and had the tribal leader flayed, and the prisoner released.
The lawyer was obviously distraught, and dropped his plans to
travel to Taprobane. While one could question in retrospect if such a travel did
indeed take place or if such a character existed, most accademics are clear
that the language and wording of the original text signify that they did. Perhaps
the connection to Taprobane could have been added by Palladius since he must
have had some vested interest in suggesting prospective trade links to
Taprobane. This story alludes to a potential Roman friendly king who lived
there, or for that matter a king who feared Romans and would submit to them.
I should also add here that the entire work of Palladius was
actually a submission to somebody much higher up, so Palladius must have been
trying to point out that Taparobane is a place to consider for future trade! It
is also to be recalled that the Romans were spending a lot of bullion on the
India trade and any possibility of cost reduction would have been of interest.
Then again, the entire work of Palladius is in two parts
with the first part detailing the Theban lawyer’s voyage was actually setting the
stage – explaining the voyage, the risks and the terrain etc and leading on to the
second part which covers the Brahmans of India, their ways and philosophy.
A keen reader might ask – How come the Romans, who had dared
to endure the rigors and perils of a long voyage to South India, never
continued their ventures to Ceylon? The obvious explanation has always been
that the South Indian kingdoms effectually prevented and prohibited western
merchants from trading directly with the island. But it is also possible that
the Romans did not feel the need to go all the way to Sri Lanka as long as its
products could be obtained easily and abundantly in the marts of India.
Weerakkody actually comes up with a plausible explanation and
points to the 5th century Pandu period - The rise of the Sassanids in Persia and the revival of trade under the
Byzantine emperors was matched by the growth in prosperity of Southern China,
which now began to increasingly demand the luxury articles that came from the
West by sea. Meanwhile, the Western Roman Empire became increasingly harassed
by the barbarian invasions. There grew a fresh demand for pearls, spices, and
precious stones. The South Indian merchants, who traditionally supplied these commodities
to the western merchants, or rather their Axumite middlemen, must have been
pressed increasingly for supplies; and it is natural that they should have
taken to exploring and exploiting fresh sources. It is probably here that one should
look for the background and the purpose of the occupation of Sri Lanka by Pandu
and his successors in the mid fifth century A. D. The invaders ruled from
Anuradhapura, but their interests penetrated far beyond the northern kingdom.
Derrett’s conclusion is that this was a commercial reconnaissance
venture which went wrong. He suggests that the Theban's mission, a commercial
reconnaissance, met with reactions on the
part of the Axumites amounting to non-cooperation, and on the part of Malabar
to downright hostility, preventing his entry into Sri Lanka, which was now
becoming a rich entrepot for spices, and resulting in his six year captivity.
The king in control of Malabar and Sri Lanka (whom Dérrett assumes to be a
Pandya, despite his fourth-century dating of the episode) ordered the Theban's
release and the severe punishment of his captor, a local sub-king, from a
desire not to disturb relations with Rome and the commercial advantages that
had accrued therefrom.
Or it could all be as Beverly Berg muses - No Greek traveler to India came back without
a few tall tales, and the Theban scholasticus is no exception. The story of his
capture and six years of slavery, working for the local king, is charming and
sounds genuine in its simplicity, but captivity was a common romantic motif of
the period. The scholasticus may have twisted his experiences a good deal to
give his story a romantic plot somewhat like that of Iamboulos islands of the
Sun story….
All of this took us back to a time when travel was risky and
hugely adventurous. Today the world is at your fingertip, virtually on the
computer screen. More developments will come by to make it all even more
realistic, but I can assure you that it will be nowhere near what these
pioneers experienced. No knowing what was to come, not knowing where you were going,
not knowing what to expect and then at the end coming back to narrate that tale
to wild eyed listeners. And that is why I love travel and travel a lot….
References
The Theban Scholasticus and Malabar in c. 355-60: J. Duncan
M. Derrett, Journal of the American Oriental Society.
D'axoum à l'assam, aux portes de la chine: le voyage du scholasticus
de thèbes (entre 360et 500 après j.c.). Jehan Desanges
Adventures of a Theban lawyer on his way to Sri Lanka: D. P.
M. Weerakkody
The letter of Palladius on India: Beverly Berg
Taprobane - D. P. M. Weerakkody
Sri Lanka and the Roman Empire - D. P. M. Weerakkody
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