Amitav Ghosh - In an Antique Land - History in the Guise of a Traveler's Tale

24 Equally, they shared in the worship of … Bhûtas:See, for instance, the following articles: Heidrun Brückner, ‘Bhûta-Worship in Coastal Karnâ aka: An Oral Tu u myth and festival ritual of Jumâdi’, p. 18 ( Studien zur Indologie und Iranistik , 13/14, Reinbek, 1987); P. Claus, ‘Possession, Protection and Punishment as Attributes of the Deities in a South Indian Village’, p. 235 ( Man in India , 53:231–242, 1973); and Mark Nichter, ‘The Joga and Maya of Tuluva Buta’, p. 140, ( Eastern Anthropologist , 30:2).

25 By tradition, each of the Tuluva castes:Mark Nichter, ‘The Joga and Maya of Tuluva Buta’, p. 143.

26 The cult was tied to the land:Mark Nichter, ‘Joga and Maya of Tuluva Buta’, p. 139. It is also worth noting that Tuluva Brahmins follow patrilineal rules of succession. (See P. Claus, ‘Terminological Aspects of Tulu Kinship: Kin Terms, Kin Sets, and Kin Groups of the Matrilineal Castes’, p. 214).

27 There was no contradiction:See Mark Nichter’s ‘Joga and Maya’ for a detailed account of the workings of this process.

28 Koti and Chennaya:Cf. G. R. Krishna, Caste and Tribes , p. 109.

29 Later, he explained … Berme:I am deeply grateful to Prof. B. A. Viveka Rai for this and many other comments and suggestions, for his unstinting generosity with his time and erudition, and for a great many other kindnesses. On the subject of Berme see H. Brückner, ‘Bhûta-Worship in Coastal Karnâtaka’, p. 29; and P. Claus, ‘Spirit Possession and Spirit Mediumship from the Perspective of Tulu Oral Traditions’, p. 40. Bermeru, or the Tulu Brahma is always depicted as a figure seated on a horse with a sword in hand. Cf. plates 437–8 in P. Gururaja Bhatt, Studies; and U. P. Upadhyaya & S. P. Upadhyaya (ed.), Bhuta Worship: Aspects of a Ritualistic Theatre , plate 4.

30 The letter in question:T — S 20.137 recto. Ben Yiju used the reverse side of this fragment for jotting down certain invaluable notes and accounts.

31 It is worth adding … this sum of money:These figures are computed on the basis of E. Ashtor’s statistics, pp. 200–201, ( A Social and Economic History of the Near East in the Middle Ages , University of California Press, Berkeley, 1976.). The figures for mutton and olive oil are based on prices prevalent at the beginning of the eleventh century. There were however considerable differences in value between the Malikî dinars of Aden and Fatimid dinars, at various points in time. The reader is cautioned therefore, that these figures are, at best, very rough approximations.

32 Alternatively, … three adult Spaniards:Cf. S. D. Goitein, ‘Changes in the Middle East (950–1150)’. The ransom for an adult person in Spain at that time was 33⅓ dinars (p. 21).

33 .… the wage of any artisan:E. Ashtor, Social and Economic History , p. 200. Standard earnings were remarkably stable throughout the eleventh and twelfth centuries (cf. S. D. Goitein, ‘Urban Housing in Fatimid Times’, p. 9).

34 Madmun’s accounts show:T — S 20.137, recto, line 36–7; T — S N.S. J 1, recto, line 5–6.

35 enough to buy a … mansion in Fustat:See E. Ashtor, Histoire des prix et des salaires dans l’Orient médiéval , p. 184, Paris, 1969.

36 The expedition:S. D. Goitein, ‘Two Eye-Witness reports on an Expedition of the King of Kish (Qais) against Aden’, ( Bulletin of the School of African and Oriental Studies , XVI/2, pp. 247–57, London, 1956).

37 The Amîrs of Kish … their depredations:Cf. Al-Idrisi, Kitâb , pp. 59, 153 & 171.

38 But … the pirates tried not to invite:For the attempts of the Sung government to control piracy in Chinese waters see Jung-Pang Lo’s article, ‘Maritime Commerce and its relation to the Sung Navy’, pp. 57–101 ( Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient , XI, pt. III, 1968). Lo points out: ‘the problem of piracy suppression was not just a simple matter of police action. Beside the unscrupulous merchants who were in league with the outlaws, there were respectable merchants who started out their career as pirates’, (p.74).

39 .… ever tried to gain control of the seas:The historian K. N. Chaudhuri, for instance remarks: ‘Before the arrival of the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean in 1498 there had been no organised attempt by any political power to control the sea-lanes and the long distance trade of Asia … The Indian Ocean as a whole and its different seas were not dominated by any particular nations or empires.’ ( Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean , p. 14, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1985).

40 Sirâf:Sirâf was one of the most important ports of the Persian Gulf in the Middle Ages. See K. N. Chaudhuri’s Trade and Civilisation , p. 48; and Rita Rose Di Meglio’s article, ‘Arab Trade with Indonesia and the Malay Peninsula from the eighth to the sixteenth century’, p. 106 (in Islam and the Trade of Asia , ed. D. S. Richards).

41 Ramisht of Siraf:See S. M. Stern, ‘Râmisht of Sîrâf, a Merchant Millionaire of the Twelfth Century’, p. 10, ( Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , pp. 10–14, 1967).

42 Ramisht’s trading empire:Cf. S. D. Goitein, Letters , p. 193.

43 ‘Thus God did not’:S. D. Goitein, ‘Two Eye-Witness Reports …’, p. 256.

44 ‘And after that’:T — S 20.137, recto, lines 1–5.

45 entirely different from … ‘slavery’:M. I. Finley, Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology , pp. 58–62, (Chatto and Windus, London, 1990).

46 Slavery … a kind of career opening:S. D. Goitein began the section on slavery in A Mediterranean Society (Vol. I) with the observation: ‘In order to be able to understand the economic role and the social position of slaves in the society reflected in the Geniza records, we must free ourselves entirely of the notions familiar to us from our readings about life on American plantations or in ancient Rome.’ (p. 130). In the extensive anthropological literature on the subject it has of course, long been recognized that it is almost impossible to distinguish formally between slavery and certain other social estates.’ (Cf. Claude Meillasoux, L’esclavage en Afrique précoloniale , Paris, 1975; and Jack Goody, ‘Slavery in Time and Space’, in James L. Watson ed. Asian and African Systems of Slavery , University of California Press, Berkeley, 1980).

47 In the medieval world, slavery:In various languages words that are now translated as ‘slave’ actually had the sense of dependant. For a discussion of the meaning and etymology of Chinese slave-terms, see E. G. Pulleybank, ‘The Origins and Nature of Chattel Slavery in China’, pp. 193–204, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient , Vol. I, pt. 2, (E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1958).

48 In their poetry:M. Chidanandamurthy, in his account of slavery in medieval Karnataka, in Pâgara a mattu itara samprabandhaga u (‘Pagarana and other research papers’, Pustaka Chilume, Mysore, 1984) for instance, draws much of his material from the work of Basava a and other Vachanakara saint-poets (I am grateful to Prof. B. A. Viveka Rai for translating portions of the relevant article for my benefit).