Maritime Tradition of Andhra

Dr. K. SUNDARAM
Andhra University, Waltair

It is generally thought that ancient Indians have no maritime tradition. It is also commonly held that traditional law-givers prohibited Hindus from crossing the seas. These are only misnomers. Ancient Indians took to sea at a very early date in their history. The Jataka stories, the Kathasaritsagaraand the epics refer to the knowledge of far-off places by ancient Indians. Starting from the early centuries of the Christian era, the Indians not only crossed the seas, but established kingdoms in South-east Asia.

In this process of colonisation and cultural expansion, the Andhras had a role to play. The Satavahanas, the earliest power in Andhra, encouraged maritime trade and trading contracts were established with the Roman world as well as South-east Asia. In this process, Buddhism also played its role from the cultural centre of Amaravati. Buddhism travelled to South-east Asia in the early centuries of the Christian era. The images of Buddha of the Amaravati school were found in all parts of South-east Asia as a mark of the earliest influence of India. More notable is the commercial contact. In fact the entire eastern seaboard had trading contacts with Rome. These became marked particularly after the consolidation of the Roman Empire under Augustus. During his reign and subsequently Roman trading settlements were establish on eastern coast. As an evidence to this, hoards of Roman coins were discovered in several parts of South India. The Romans had a trading emporium at Arikamedu, near Pondicherry. The pottery introduced by the Romans, known as the Rouletted Ware, can be seen in a number of excavations conducted in the Deccan and the eastern seaboard. In the sculptures of Nagarjunakonda can be seen this influence of the Roman cultural contact. As observed by Rowland, there is a figure of a youth which might have been copied from a Roman model.

Apart from the commercial activity of the eastern seaboard during the Satavahana period the western seaboard was humming with busy commercial trade with distant lands. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea and Ptolemy's Geography throw considerable light on the commercial activity of the Deccan. According to the Peripluswagons of merchandize was brought to Barygaza (Bharukachchha Broach) from Paithan, Tagara and Ujjain. South of Barygaza were Sopara and Kalyana. Ptolemy mentions several ports in the region of Maisolia which, according to the Periplus, stretched a great way along the coast in front of the inland country. The Maisolia region corresponds to the area near the mouths of the river Krishna.

The ports of the Deccan were the principal market-places wherefrom the Romans obtained jewels and other precious articles. In this trade, initially Arabs and Egyptians acted as middle-men. In the early centuries of the Christian era, however, there was a direct contact between the Roman world and the Deccan with the discovery by Hippalus of the regular monsoon. The imports and exports of Barygaza, described graphically in the Periplus, were many and included several metals, cloth, spices and wines. According to Pliny, the Indian commodities were sold in Rome hundred times the original price. As mentioned earlier, the Roman coins discovered at Vinukonda, Nellore and Cuddapah are an evidence for this brisk trade.

The eastern Deccan, in a similar manner, entered into active commerce with the Golden Chryse, viz., the Malay Peninsula and the Archipelago. During the reign of Pulumavi II, this activity reached great proportions. The ship-marked coins of Pulumavi II and Yajna Satakarni commemorate this maritime tradition. The Andhra Colonisation of South-east Asia is led by place-names in South-east Asia. Triling, Kakula and Amaravati were places named after the regions of Andhra.

The extensive commercial contacts which were established under the supremacy of the Satavahanas were continued in a lesser degree in the subsequent period. The reason for the diminution of the trading contacts can be explained by the political set-up and dynastic conflict. The successors of the Satavahanas were only local powers and Andhra did not witness the rise of an empire till the advent of the Eastern Chalukyas. Even this dynasty had to engage itself in internal dissensions, with the result that not much of attention was paid to foreign commerce. However, the coins of Saktivarman-I, later ruler of the Eastern Chalukya dynasty, were found in Burma. During the Kakatiya period, the earlier traditions of maritime trade were revived. Kakatiya Ganapati encouraged foreign commerce by granting a charter of security for foreign merchants trading with coastal Andhra. The Venitian traveller Marco Polo attested to the brisk trading activity of the emporium at Motupalli during the reign of Rudramadevi. Particularly the Andhra region was exporting fine muslins. This policy was continued by the Reddis and the Rayas of Vijayanagara Kings Anapota Reddi and Devaraya-I issued similar charters to foreign merchants at Motupalli.

In the 16th century, the Portuguese were the first to establish trading centres in coastal Andhra. At Narsapuram, they established their own factory which remained as a trading centre for a few years. In the course of this century, other Europeans settled themselves in different parts of Andhra. During the British period, Masulipatnam became an important port. From this port, ships sailed to Arakan, Pegu and Tennassarim. The articles exported included cotton goods, iron and tobacco. The principal item, however, was the cotton fabric of a special variety produced in this region. The foreign travellers Thomas Bowrie and Tavernier who visited India in the 17th century remarked that for the export of cotton fabrics, the coastal Andhra was pre-eminent. In the 18th century Narsapuram became an important trading port. From this port, the forest-produce like teak was exported to other regions. There were also small ports like Kakinada and Korangi, from which rice was exported. Visakhapatnam and Bheemunipatnam became important ports in the 18th century. From these ports cotton fabrics and jute were exported. It is estimated that the Europeans traded to the tune of thirty lakh rupees in the ports of coastal Andhra.

James Grant, in his survey of the Northern Circars, remarked that two varieties of cloth were produced in the coastal Andhra. The first was the plain cloth, and the second the printed cloth. In the technique of printing and dyeing, the Andhra weavers developed a special technique which could not be imitated by others. This cloth was exported to different regions in the country and outside it. The weavers imported silk yarn from China and exported the finish product. The ports at Kakinada and Narsapuram became famous for manufacturing ships which carried merchandize from coastal Andhra to distant lands. In the 18th and 19th centuries, several Andhras migrated to Burma, Mauritius and South-east Asia in order to take advantage of the trading possibilities in those areas. It is fitting that, in tune with the maritime tradition of Andhra, Visakhapatnam in the modern period became a sea-port and a centre for ship-building.