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

During this period the H iu merchants were vey powerful. They had the favour of the English
settlers in Madras The Komatti, Beri, and Balija Telugu speaking Cheitiars were the ir~flucncial irdcrs
and shipowners in large numbers". The vast resources with them brought them close to the emerging
English power.
But the shipping south of Cuddalore was in the hands of the Muslims. To help the Muslim
shipping, the Nawab of Arcot wanted to develop some of the ports like Kovalam, Alambaram and
%thorn in their dominion. But it did not yieM the desired result.
The Cholia Muslims picked up aU the guantlets and operated their vessek with available resources
and merchandise, from PortoNovo, Cuddalore, Nagore, and Nagapattanam to Malay Peninsula and
Ceylon and Ache, from Adirampattanam, Tondi, Kilakkarai, Kayalpattanam, Kulasekarapattanam to
Ceylon and Malabar and Lackdives. There was regular traffic to Bengal from Coromandel for the
import of edible oil and food grains. Rice and textiles were exported to Ceylon and in return elephants.
areca, pepper, spices, coconut, coir products, pulmyrah timber were imported in to Coromandel.
There was a greater concentration of Choiia Muslims in Kedah. in the eighteenth centuy. They
were in the forefront of maritime commerce in Kedah ports. When the English were tying to establish
a factory at Kedah coast in 1772, the Coromandel Muslims were well knitted in trade of the coast and
also in politics. The English representative of Kedah, Monkton writing to the Fort St. George on the
22nd April 1772 statad that the Cholia Muslims were dominant merchants in the coast and influenciai ~n
the court. The king Sultan Mohamed was hesitant to contract with the English to the detriment of the
Cholia Muslims, since he was getting good income from their trade contacts. Elephant trade was
very attractive and the Cholia Muslims were engaged in this. Since the Muslim ships had their own
security measures, the English representative had requested strong guns in the vessels of the English as a
protection to the ship42. A report of 1789 says that the Cholia Muslims were well settled In the capital
of Kedah and along the stretches of the coast. The cholias had nsen to the positions of influence and
Power in the state. They were the harbour masters and Soudagar Rajas (Royal merchants) In 1770, one
Cholia Muslim called Jamal had risen to become the most influencial minister in the state and was
conferred the title DatuseriRaja. In this capacity he handled the king's negotiations with Francis Light
owr British settlement in the state of Kadahd3. The Nagore and Nagapattanam Cholia families continued
their connection with Kedah, which expanded later in the
19th century.