maritime activities economy and social customs of the muslims of ...

found it extremely difficult to compete with their Muslim colleagues and were compelled to sell or rent
their remaining shipping or othenuise port to port conveyance of goods in Muslim vessels and confined
themselves to the transactions on money lending and brokarage. The same sort of changeover took
place among the Tamil Hindu merchants of Coromandel Coast alsoz3.
Textlles constituted the major portion of exports during fifteenth to seventeenth cerlturies Cotton
piece goodswith gold thread were exported from Pulicat, Mylapore, PortoNovo, Nagapattanam and
Nagore, to Malacca, Sumatra, Borneo, Slam, Tennaserim. Pegu. Persia, South Arabia and other Red
Sea ports. Animal skins were sent to Batavia for being sent to Japan. Indigo was exported from
PortoNovo. Slaves were exported to Ceylon and other Eastern countries from Pulicat. PortoNovo,
Nagapattanam and Tutlcorln. The Muslim traders vigorously took part in these trading activities.
The major category of import was pepper and spices. They were imported into Coromandel
from Malabar both by land and sea, and also from the Southeast Asian ports, particularly Ache. This
shows pepper was cheap in Sumatra and tmnsport cost was not wy high. Nutmeg, cloves and cardamom
came from Southeast Asian portsand cinnamon came from Ceylon. Elephants, horses, tin, copper and
dyes were other items of import. Ti, a commodity of demand in Coromandel was imported from Ache,
Malacca, Perak. Kedah. Ayuthya, Tennaserim and Ujang-Salang, Copper came from Ayuthaya and
Tennaserim and kad from Burma. Camphor and incense, the major items in South Indian rituals came
from Japan and Southeast Asia.
The neighbowing island of Ceylon supplied avariety of goods lie pepper, cinnamon, cardamom,
pulmyrah, coconut, coir products and areca to Coromandel. An ~mportant item of import was the
elephants, the speciality, of the merchants of Coromandel Coast. The elephants came from Ache,
Kedah. Perk, Tennaserim, Pegu, Thailand and Ceylon to the ports of PortoNovo and Nagapattanam.
Muslim rules and Nay& purchased them for their army. Palayakkars and chieftains of the region
plrd.lased them to keep up theIrdignlty d presdge. Horse tmde was not so amadiw in the Corornandel
from seventeenth centuly. A few imports only were reported from Persla and later from Ache. The
merchants brought silver and precious stones from various centres to Coromandel in return for their
goods. The Corornandel M ush utili the patronage of the Sultans of the Southeast Asian countries
and also worked together with the traders of those countries and carried on a flourishing trade2'