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

He had business connection in Singapore. Mammana Pillai Marakkayar was the owner of many ships.
He had factories at Kakinada and Karaikkal. tiis ships plied to Andaman and N~colrar Irla~ids ~ I I C I
Ceylon. This Marakkayar had a sound knowledge of astronomy who could predict motwan and cyclon~c
effects which won the appreciation of the English.
There were also many small traders engaged in coastal trade and in the transport of salt, timber.
grain and fish from one minor port to another in Thanjavur coast. Many of the Marakkayars were
engaged in various other maritime activities like f~shing, chank, diving and dyfish trade'"
There were a
number of Marakkayar traders with small capital operating the~r dhoneys and boats between the minor
ports in the coast of the district such as Topputhurai. Point Calimere, Muthupet, Krishnajipattanam,
Kattunlavadi. Ammapattanam. Kottaipattanam. Pasipattanam. Gopalapattanam and
Soundarapandianpattanam and they supplied the commod~ties to the big traders
Islamic Tamil literature is one of the pr~me sources for the study of the prosperous
merchants of ~a~ai~attanam'~~. But most of them were dealing only in precious stones
They had business connections in various overseas countries. They also imported uncut new precious
stons into oro om and el'^
A reference to the available records on shipping in Ramanathapuram and Thirunelveli districts in
the third and last quarter of nineteenth century give occasional reference about the trading activities of
Muslims of the region. Tuticorine was the major port. Kayalpattanam. Kulasekarapattanam, Vaipar anrl
Kilakkarai were tne other minor ports of importance. Many of the ships from these ports during this
period bear Muslim names such as Mohideen Hydroos Bux, Mohideen Baghyalakshmi Bux, Mohideen
Bw, Mohamed Sulairnan Bw, War Bw etc., The captains (Nagudha) of these vessels were also Muslim.
Ships from these ports canied on interportal trade and foreign trade with Ceylon. No bigger vessels plied
from these ports. All vessels that operated from these ports were xwners, brigantines, bats, vallam and
dhoneys and were lesser than 90 tons burthen. Kayalpattanam and Kulasekaranpattanam were very
busy ports. Large number of vessels operated only from these ports during this period. Along with the
cargoes, passengers were also taken to ceylon and Cochin from Kilakkarai, Kayalpattanam and
Kuksekampattanam107. While three-fourth of the crafts which plied from these ports belonged to the