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

351 passengers, and also merchandise of different descriptions, was penahsed Brig. Shree Jaganath
Rasathi, commanded by Chinnathambi Marakkayar was on regular passenger service to Malaya from
Nagapattanam. Brig. Mohamedd Buc of Nagore took passengers from Nagore and Karaikkal to
Southeast Asian countries. There was a large scale migration to Burma also during the second quarter
of the nineteenth centuy. About twelve ships owned by the Marakkayars manned by Muslim Nagudhas
were on this activity from Coromandel. The passengers mostly Musl~ms, were taken from the ports of
Thanjawr coast and PortoNovo. Musllm women also emigrated along with the~r menn4
Similarly there was a large scale emigration to Penag and Malaya also. Ships owned by
Mnrakkayar tradersol Karaikkal, Nngorc and Nagalmttal~a~t~, were in this route. In 1848 alone about
23 ships freighted passengers from Nagapattanam, Nagore, Karaikkal, and PortoNovo. Many of the
migrants from Kariakkal went to France. But the ships on these voyages could not full~ll the norms
prescribed by the English authorities and they were penalised on many occasionsR~ost of the
migrants to Ceylon were from
Ramanathapuram and Thirunelveli coasts Along with the
regular trade r& passenger=- wasabenco~ to ~ eylon~. The migmt cmk
returrurg from
Ceybn were given concessions to bring certain goods without duties, which fetched them good
profit in Coromandels7.
The emigrants to Ceylon were from the ports of Tut~cor~n. Kayalpattanam,
Kulasekarapattanam, Vaipur, Kilakkarai and Pamban Majority of them were Muslim Marakkayar
and Labbai traders. When compared with other nothern ports of the coast the shipp~ng activities
in the above ports were less. We find only few names of vessels in passenger traffic to Ceylon
from these ports such as Mohideen Bw. Rahmaniya. Allasamy Hameed, Hameed Latchumi, Abusali
Harneed etc.. The ships which carried passengers were always overcrowded and the authorit~es an
both the coasts were worried about taking suitable actlon on the erring vessels8'. But apart from
the licenced ships, many small dhoneys are said to have engaged in taking passengets clandestinely
to Ceylon through the shallow waters.