- Joined
- Nov 10, 2020
- Messages
- 12,207
- Likes
- 73,694
![India Country flag](https://defenceforumindia.com/misc/flags/shiny/32/India.png)
Indian traders in Zanzibar and trade with africans.
Adapted from Vriitrahan the author..
The following are some excerpts from Daṇḍin-s (7-8th century CE) work (daśakumaracarita) which contains some references to kāla-yavana and kāla-yavana-dvīpa, as in black-people and island of black people with names of Indian traders living there. Some historians like Motichandra identified this with the island of Zanzibar, an island off the coast of modern day Tanzania.
मुनिवर! कालयवननाम्नि द्वीपे कालगुप्तो नाम धनाढ्यो वैश्यवरः कश्चिदस्ति
तन्नन्दिनीं नयनानन्दकारिणीं सुवृत्तां नामैतस्माद् द्वीपादागतो मगधनाथमन्त्रिसंभवो रत्नोद्भवो नाम रमणीयगुणालयो भ्रान्तभूवलयो मनोहारी व्यवहार्युपयम्य सुवस्तुसंपदा श्वशुरेण संमानितो ऽभूत्
कालक्रमेण नताङ्गी गर्भिणी जाता (1.1.67)
“O Best of Sages, In an island by the name of kāla-yavana a [merchant] vaiśya by the name of kāla-gupta lived. That vaiśya had a daughter who gave him happiness, named suvṛttā. From this land* came Ratnodbhava, the son of a magadha minister of the king. This ratnodbhava was the shelter of qualities of charm and delightfulness. He was very well traveled and an astute businessman. He was wedded [to Suvritta]. He became bestowed with excellent property by his father in law. With the passing of time, the slender waisted suvṛtta became pregnant.
“सौम्य, मगधाधिनाथामात्यस्य पद्मोद्भवस्यात्मसंभवो रत्नोद्भवो नामाहम् /
वाणिज्यरूपेण कालयवनद्वीपमुपेत्य कामपि वणिक्कन्यकां परिणीय तया सह प्रत्यागच्छन्नम्बुधौ तीरस्यानतिदूर एव प्रवहणस्य भग्नतया सर्वेषु निमग्नेषु कथङ्कथमपि दैवानुकूल्येन तीरभूमिमभिगम्य (1.4.3)
“O Good Sir, I am the son of the minister to the King of Magadha. My name is Ratnodbhava. As a trader, I had set out for the kāla-yavana island and married some daughter of another merchant [there]. With her I was returning, in the ocean, not far from the bank indeed our ship was wrecked. Because of that, everyone drowned. Somehow, wandering, by the favor of the Gods, I came to the banks of this shore.”
पुत्र, कालयवनद्वीपे कालगुप्तनाम्नो वणिजः कस्यचिदेषा सुता सुवृत्ता नाम रत्नोद्भवेन निजकान्तेनागच्छन्ती जलधौ मग्ने प्रवहणे निजधात्र्या मया सह फलकमेकमवलम्ब्य दैवयोगेन (1.4.7)
“Son, In the kāla-yavana island there was a trader by the name of kāla-gupta. This woman by the name of Suvṛttā is the daughter [of that merchant]. She was coming with Ratnodbhava, her husband but their ship sank in the water. I am here nurse, with me with the favor of the Gods, we reached shore holding on to one log of wood…”
I won’t go into the details of the story.. (it is an interesting one though).. But we can see here how a merchant named Ratnodbhava went for trade to the island of the black-yavanas. Yavana being a generic epithet for foreigner. So essentially, an island of black people. Here, a merchant named Kāla-Gupta with vaishya epithet “Gupta” was already living here. He married his daughter.
Now, we also have more evidence from Jain merchant manuals which shows more mentions of kalayavanadvīpa and describe this land as having stripped horses (zebras) and a lot of gold. Motichandra talks about this and identifies this island as Zanzibar, off the coast of modern day Tanzania. Taking all this into account and considering the time period, it’s fair to say Indian merchants in classical India frequently traded with Africans in ivory, gold and even ended up settling there.
Adapted from Vriitrahan the author..
The following are some excerpts from Daṇḍin-s (7-8th century CE) work (daśakumaracarita) which contains some references to kāla-yavana and kāla-yavana-dvīpa, as in black-people and island of black people with names of Indian traders living there. Some historians like Motichandra identified this with the island of Zanzibar, an island off the coast of modern day Tanzania.
मुनिवर! कालयवननाम्नि द्वीपे कालगुप्तो नाम धनाढ्यो वैश्यवरः कश्चिदस्ति
तन्नन्दिनीं नयनानन्दकारिणीं सुवृत्तां नामैतस्माद् द्वीपादागतो मगधनाथमन्त्रिसंभवो रत्नोद्भवो नाम रमणीयगुणालयो भ्रान्तभूवलयो मनोहारी व्यवहार्युपयम्य सुवस्तुसंपदा श्वशुरेण संमानितो ऽभूत्
कालक्रमेण नताङ्गी गर्भिणी जाता (1.1.67)
“O Best of Sages, In an island by the name of kāla-yavana a [merchant] vaiśya by the name of kāla-gupta lived. That vaiśya had a daughter who gave him happiness, named suvṛttā. From this land* came Ratnodbhava, the son of a magadha minister of the king. This ratnodbhava was the shelter of qualities of charm and delightfulness. He was very well traveled and an astute businessman. He was wedded [to Suvritta]. He became bestowed with excellent property by his father in law. With the passing of time, the slender waisted suvṛtta became pregnant.
“सौम्य, मगधाधिनाथामात्यस्य पद्मोद्भवस्यात्मसंभवो रत्नोद्भवो नामाहम् /
वाणिज्यरूपेण कालयवनद्वीपमुपेत्य कामपि वणिक्कन्यकां परिणीय तया सह प्रत्यागच्छन्नम्बुधौ तीरस्यानतिदूर एव प्रवहणस्य भग्नतया सर्वेषु निमग्नेषु कथङ्कथमपि दैवानुकूल्येन तीरभूमिमभिगम्य (1.4.3)
“O Good Sir, I am the son of the minister to the King of Magadha. My name is Ratnodbhava. As a trader, I had set out for the kāla-yavana island and married some daughter of another merchant [there]. With her I was returning, in the ocean, not far from the bank indeed our ship was wrecked. Because of that, everyone drowned. Somehow, wandering, by the favor of the Gods, I came to the banks of this shore.”
पुत्र, कालयवनद्वीपे कालगुप्तनाम्नो वणिजः कस्यचिदेषा सुता सुवृत्ता नाम रत्नोद्भवेन निजकान्तेनागच्छन्ती जलधौ मग्ने प्रवहणे निजधात्र्या मया सह फलकमेकमवलम्ब्य दैवयोगेन (1.4.7)
“Son, In the kāla-yavana island there was a trader by the name of kāla-gupta. This woman by the name of Suvṛttā is the daughter [of that merchant]. She was coming with Ratnodbhava, her husband but their ship sank in the water. I am here nurse, with me with the favor of the Gods, we reached shore holding on to one log of wood…”
I won’t go into the details of the story.. (it is an interesting one though).. But we can see here how a merchant named Ratnodbhava went for trade to the island of the black-yavanas. Yavana being a generic epithet for foreigner. So essentially, an island of black people. Here, a merchant named Kāla-Gupta with vaishya epithet “Gupta” was already living here. He married his daughter.
Now, we also have more evidence from Jain merchant manuals which shows more mentions of kalayavanadvīpa and describe this land as having stripped horses (zebras) and a lot of gold. Motichandra talks about this and identifies this island as Zanzibar, off the coast of modern day Tanzania. Taking all this into account and considering the time period, it’s fair to say Indian merchants in classical India frequently traded with Africans in ivory, gold and even ended up settling there.
Last edited: