Ancient Maritime Connections of Tamizhagam in South India and

their Historical Implications

V. SelvakumarDepartment of Epigraphy and Archaeology

Tamil UniversityThanjavur 613010

selvakumarodi@gmail.com

Perspectives on the Past• History and Culture are often viewed from National or

Regional perspectives

• Inward looking “in the well” approach

• Socio-cultural context of the archaeologists/historians makes great impact on history writing

• External factors are significant in historical developments

• Looking beyond the “self” is very important

• Historical processes operate beyond the modern national boundaries

• Thus the perspective of “Indian Ocean region” is important

Indian Ocean Connections in the Early Historic period

• India perhaps reached out more in the Early Historic period than any other period

• Spread of ideas, knowledge and material culture

• Colonial perceptions focused on “Indo=Roman” trade.

• Shift from site-Oriented (“Arikamedu Centric”) to Landscape Oriented perception

• Current perception: “Indian Ocean exchange”

Perceptions of the connections

• Five blind persons and an elephant - parts and the whole

• I. Meta-level perspectives – Indian Ocean Region

• II. Sub-regions : Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea, Red Sea, Persian Gulf

• III. Views from micro cultural regions

• Tamil Nadu -Kerala- Orissa- Andhra –Karnataka-Bengal-Gujarat : interlinked regions

Focus of My paper

• Early Historic period

• Ca. 300 BCE to 500 BCE

• The Region of Tamil Nadu and Kerala in South India

Early Historic Indian Ocean Exchanges

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Indian Ocean Region

8

Iron Age Developments

• Iron Age : 1000 BCE to 300 BCE

• Megalithic Burials

• Maritime Connections perhaps developed in this period

Courtesy: Dr. K.Rajan

Double Dolmens with porthole

Dolmen Marayur

Early Historic Developments

• Ports and markets on the coast

• Introduction of script

• Coins

• Brick Architecture

• Evidence for overseas contacts

Ancient port sites of Extreme South

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Indian Ocean Exchanges - Major Sources

Sources Period Content

Greek Historian Strabo’s ‘Geography’ 1BC/AD Geographical encyclopedia in Greek

Periplus Maris Erythraei by an unknown

author

AD 40 -70AD Navigational guide of the trade route

from Red Sea to India

Pliny’s ‘Natural History’ Mid 1st AD published

after 77.

Encyclopedic work on the ancient

Roman world

Ptolemy’s Geography 150 AD Geographical knowledge of the

ancient Greco-Roman world

Muziris Papyrus 2nd C AD Trade contract between a merchant

from Muziris and a banker/agent from

Alexandria.

Charition 2nd C AD Comedy play/mime with Indian

characters & references on Indian

trade

Peutinger table 4th C AD Map depicting 2nd AD trade routes

Cosmas Indicopleustus 6th C AD Indian voyager reports on the Syrian

Xians and pepper trade of Malabar17

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Peutinger Table Map showing Malabar Coast and 2nd C AD trade routes. (derived from a 4th C AD original)

Arikamedu

Excavation by Wheeler and his team

Southern Sector

Arikamedu Southern Sector

Drainage Structure

Views of Arikamedu(1989-1992) Photos By Steven

Sidebotham

Trenches at

Arikamedu

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Pattanam in Kerala

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Section showing Iron Age& Early Historic layers, storage jar, and brick wall. [2007]

Ferruginous sandy layer

Iron age layer

Early Historic Layers

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Bollards

? 9 Teak bollards (2007)The 14C Cal. age -1100 BC to 1300 AD, [i.e.100±1200 cal. ad,]

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A View of the Brick Platform

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Brick structure [2008]

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Brick complex near wharf [2008]

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Structural orientation (SE-NW)

Terracotta Ring well

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A close-up view of the triple grooved tiles, bricks etc …

Fragments of triple grooved tiles[2008]

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Pattanam

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Toilets/Soakage Jars – Pattanam 2008

Kaveripoompattinam

Wharf excavated by State Archaeology Department

Wharf excavated by State Archaeology Department

Kaveripoompattinam

Kaveropoompattinam

Azhakankulam

Sangam Tamil Literature

• Yavana ships visiting Muziris with gold and leaving with Pepper

• Reference to Yavana guards and wine

• Reference to “Kalingam” as a type of fine clothe and “Vangam” as a type of boat

• Reference to Kaazhagam = Burma?

• Goods and clothes from southeast Asia

Material Culture

• Amphora

• Beads

• Ceramics

• Indian Rouletted ware

• Torpedo Jars and TGP of West Asian Origin

1st AD

2nd AD

3rd AD +

Roman coins in South Asia

Theodosius I (379-395 AD)

Dressel 2-4 amphora

Amphorae

Roberta Tomber

Turquoise Glazed Pottery [2009]

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Sherds of West Asian Torpedo Jars(50+186+142= 378) Durham University UK

Torpedo Jar sherds with interior lined with bitumen

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Torpedo Jars (2009)

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Amphora Sherds 20081035 sherds (177+286+572 ) ; British Museum, London

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AMPHORA JAR HANDLES

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Indian Material Evidence from the Western World

• Teak wood and textile from Berenike, Egypt

• Egypt to Vietnam – Indian Rouletted ware

• Rouletted ware was considered a Roman ware

• Now it is considered an Indian ware produced in the Bengal delta

Rouletted ware

Berenike

Sherd with Tamil Brahmi script & Indianpottery from Berenike

Pot with 7.5kg of Malabar black pepper at Berenike

Quseir al Qadhim, Egypt

Khor Rori, Oman

Southeast Asia

• Rouletted ware and other ceramics from Sembiran, Bali and many other sites

• High tin Bronze and beads

• Phu Khao Thong – Tamil-Brahmi

Khuan Luk Pat Museum –Touch stone –Tamil Brahmi 3-4th Century CE

Cultural Evidence from Interior Tamil Nadu

Rockshelters with Brahmi inscriptions and Carved beds

Rock Beds

Pottery with short Tamil-Brahmiinscriptions

Tamil Brahmi Inscriptions

• More than 50 on rock shelters

• More than 500 on potsherds

• 50 percent of them have words of Prakritorigin (I Mahadevan and Y.Subbarayalu)

• Mention about donation of merchants.

Ancient port sites of South India

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Maritime Connections in the historical Developments

• Internal Developments and Maritime connections were important for the development

• The maritime connections :“icing on the cake”

• External connections were important and gave momentum to the developments

• They were important for the developments in the coastal region (Tolkappiyam-Neytal)

Implications of the Maritime Connections

• Humans have short memories

• The recent theories on migrations of humans have helped to reinforce the idea that ancient humans were connected. In this interconnected world, keeping the connections is important.

• The maritime connections have a complementary role in development

• Movement of ideas, material culture and people and fusion of cultures have created new developments

Contemporary Context

• Modern nations have local compulsions

• While at one level looking inward is important,

Continuing the cultural connections is important considering the current world scenario

Relevance of Research on Social Sciences and Humanities

• The single most important historical lesson of the twentieth century was “Science and Technology” alone is not going to change the world

• Social Science education and research are very important

Indian Ocean Rim Initiative

• Cooperation in Cultural Heritage Management and especially coastal and underwater heritage

• Development of Heritage Tourism

• Joint Academic Research Projects

• Academic exchange and training programmes

Thank You

• The organisers