Books by Pius Malekandathil
St. Thomas Christians and the Indian Ocean Trade, 800-1800, Pius Malekandathil, 2024
Pius Malekandathil, "St.Thomas Christians and the Indian Ocean Trade, 800-1800 " in Klaus Koschorke, Ciprian Burlacioiu and Philip Kuster(ed.), Early South-South Links in the History of World Christianity (16th -Early 19th Century), Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2024, pp. 165-187 , 2024
Christians who trace back their origen to the apostolic preaching of St. Thomas in Kerala, form a... more Christians who trace back their origen to the apostolic preaching of St. Thomas in Kerala, form an important entrepreneurial Indian community involved in the economic pursuits of spice production and trade. Because of their specialized skill in spice cultivation along with their closeness to the ruling figures of Kerala and their linkages with the major ecclesiastical and mercantile centres of Afro-Asia, they played a decisive role in the Indian Ocean trade of medieval and early modern periods. The success of various international merchants to conduct Indian Ocean trade in pepper and other spices depended on their ability to incorporate the spice-producing community of St. Thomas Christians and their expertise in local and interregional trade within the orbits of their larger system of commerce. By the 9 th century AD, the mercantile segment among them had already organized themselves into a trade guild known as manigramam, and with the arrival of Mar Sapor and Mar Prodh in 823 their trade began to revolve around their church known as Tharisappally of Quilon and its port. With the market mechanism of angadis around their churches, the St. Thomas Christians mobilized pepper and other spices from the distant hinterland, from where it was further taken to Quilon and other ports for trans-oceanic trade.
Apostolate of St.Thomas in India, 2024
Indian Ocean in the Making of Early Modern India, 2016
According to Karl Marx ' history represented progression of modes of production', initially from ... more According to Karl Marx ' history represented progression of modes of production', initially from slave to feudal and then to capitalist. However, in each stage one could see the emergence of a particular class as the dominant one. The passage and transition from one stage to another is marked by 'violent expropriation' through war or revolution.
Cities in Medieval India /Unit 3 Urbanization in India-IGNOU, 2014
APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF MEDIEVAL URBANISATION
Pius Malekandathil, “Agrarian Production and Procurement Strategies in Malabar under the Portuguese,1500-1663,” in Pius Malekandathil, Maritime Malabar : Trade, Culture and Power, Primus Books, New Delhi, 2022, pp.323-340, 2022
All through its history, Kerala concentrated more on spice-production than on food-crops, which m... more All through its history, Kerala concentrated more on spice-production than on food-crops, which made maritime trade and agrarian activities dual dimensions of one and the same economic operation. The high external demand from West Asia and Mediterranean world as well as China led to the emergence of some specialized pockets of spice-production adjacent to the major centres of maritime exchange in Kerala. As spice-production ensured rice and other food materials from Canara, Coromandel and Bengal in exchange, besides foreign capital, there was an increasing incentive for the primary producers to bring more land under spice cultivation. With the entry of the Portuguese in Kerala for commerce, there was a great rise in external demand, whereby the process of clearance of forest and extension of cultivation received great momentum. During the period of first hundred years from 1500 to 1600, a period which also witnessed the relative incorporation of Kerala into an Atlantic-centered wider World system 2 , the volume of spice production increased unprecedentedly. Agrarian activities of medieval Kerala is a theme of great interest among the academicians and several scholars like M.G.S. Narayanan, Kesavan Veluthat and K.N.Ganesh had already discussed in details the different aspects of ownership as well as land control in this region 3. Quite a succinct survey of the economic changes and agrarian production accompanying the establishment of Portuguese rule in Kerala was done by Jan 1 This was published earlier in Yogesh Sharma (ed.
Pius Malekandathil,"Islandness and Urbanity: A Study on the Changing Meanings of the Urbanscape of Cochin," in Pius Malekandathil, Maritime Malabar: Trade, Culture and Power,New Delhi,2022,pp. 341-361, 2022
Pius Malekandathil, "The Jews of Kerala and the Indian Ocean Commerce, 800-1800" in Pius Malekandathil, Maritime Malabar: Trade, Culture and Power, New Delhi, 2022, pp.168-200, 2022
Pius Malekandathil, Maritime Malabar:Trade, Religion and Power, Primus Books, 2022
Pius Malekandathil,”Maritime Histories, Indian Ocean and Port-towns: Changing Dynamics of Urban Spaces in Pre-Modern India” in Atna Journal of Tourism Studies, Vol.15,No.2, 2020
Maritime histories is a very important tool in the study of the development of Port towns in Pre-... more Maritime histories is a very important tool in the study of the development of Port towns in Pre-modern India -as it enables researchers to come closer to the crucial dynamics of the urban historical process, embracing aspects such as international politics, navigation, oceanic currents, oceanic society, maritime transportation, sea-borne trade and commerce, port-hinterland relations and heritage aligned with it. The changing social character of these port towns are also indicative of the changing roles that were ascribed to them and the type of meanings that the new power wielders inscribed onto their urban spaces. In the transition phase of eighteenth century, the English towns of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta, which had a large number of Indo-Portuguese population and were relatively lying on the commercial periphery in the second half of seventeenth century, emerged as principal maritime exchange centres and towns in maritime India attracting traders, artisans, and financiers from other economic enclaves of India. This paper is an attempt to explore the dynamics of change and evolution of these port towns, not only as a conduit for providing trade and commerce, but also as a space for communication and the development of tangible and intangible heritage.
It was Sapor Iso who brought elements of advanced urban culture to Kollam from Persia. The Sthanu... more It was Sapor Iso who brought elements of advanced urban culture to Kollam from Persia. The Sthanu Ravi Varma Copper plate given to the church of Tharisa in 849 AD clearly refers to Sapor Iso as the founder of the town of Kollam in the following lines: Innakaram Kanda Neeretta Maruvan Saporiso(Sapor Iso who has founded this town). See T. A Gopinatha Rao, Travancore Archaeological Series, vol.II, Madras, 1916,pp. 66-80.Kollam, which was known differently as Kurakkeni Kollam in local language, Koulam Male in Jewish Genizza papers and in Arabic sources as well as Gu-lin(in the Song period)/Ju-lan (in the Yuan period)in Chinese documents , does not appear in any source prior to 823 AD, which also suggests that the founding of the city must have taken place only after the arrival of Sapor Iso. For details see Haraprasad Ray, " Historical Contacts between Quilon and China", in Pius Malekandathil and Jamal Mohammed(ed.
Pius Malekandathil, “State and Entrepreneurs: An Analysis of the Trading Scenario of Kerala, 1500-1650”, in Charles Dias (ed.), Kerala Spectrum: Aspects of Cultural Inheritance. K.J.John Felicitation Volume, Indo-Portuguese Cultural Institute, Cochin, 2006, pp.113-157
From time immemorial, the movement of commodities, ideas and people in the Indian Ocean regions w... more From time immemorial, the movement of commodities, ideas and people in the Indian Ocean regions was realized with a great amount of tranquility and accommodativeness, making seaborne activities part and parcel of the culture and ethos of the people living around this maritime space, particularly of Kerala. Entrepreneurial skills and diplomatic acumen of the merchants had made the wheels of the maritime trade move uninterruptedly in this region. However by sixteenth century, with the coming of the Portuguese there appeared a radical change in the very conduct of maritime commerce, wherein establishment of a strong mercantilist state with satellite power centres and display of power turned out to be the major ingredients in the organization of the sea-borne trade in Asia in general and in Kerala in particular. In the evolving process the Portuguese state presented itself as a trader, causing a wide variety of responses from the different merchant communities of the region. The ability of the Portuguese to link themselves with the various exchange centers of the four continents of the world and their frequent dependence on the various "devices and instruments of power exercise" for the purpose of structuring and organizing their trade made the Lusitanians appear different from the other merchant groups, who had earlier been operating in Kerala. Generally speaking the Portuguese crown viewed the west coast of India as an area of major concern because of its being the sources of spices and other commodities dear in Europe and because of its closeness to the ports of the Red Sea and Persian Gulf through which commodities were diverted to the eastern Mediterranean, undermining the monopoly claims of the Portuguese. A network of fortresses, reinforced by a regular patrolling fleet, was introduced to prevent the diversion of spices and other commodities(reserved to the Portuguese crown as per monopoly regulations), from the diverse production centers to the traditional Red Sea-Venice trade-route and to get them re-directed to Lisbon. Different politico-military institutions were introduced in this region with a view to strengthening the crown trade, the expansion of which eventually led to the expansion of Portuguese power to wider areas on the western sea-board. Though the weight of Portuguese power was not so intensively felt in Kerala as in Goa, which was the power center of the Lusitanians in India, diverse instruments of the Portuguese mercantile state were actively utilized for the purpose of resource-mobilization and monopoly-implementation. A wide variety of controlling devices including the chain of fortresses erected at the junctional points of land and water routes of trade and the patrolling fleet instituted to control the movement of vessels turned out to be the most visible and tangible symbols of Portuguese state in Kerala. All these arrangements were made to protect the monopoly nature of the crown trade, countering which the indigenous merchant groups developed alternative channels and devices for movement of commodities to the destinations of their choice. The central purpose of this paper is to see how the Portuguese state conducted business as a trader and how the diverse merchant entrepreneurs of the region responded to the multiple challenges emerging from stately interference. This is done, on the one hand, by analyzing the different steps and controlling measures taken by the Portuguese state for mobilizing resources and for organizing its official trade and, on the other hand, by examining the mechanisms and processes with the help of which the indigenous traders tried to circumvent the controlling mechanisms of the Lusitanians for the purpose of ventilating their private initiatives.
Pius Malekandathil, , The Mughals, the Portuguese and the Indian Ocean: Changing Imageries of Maritime India, Primus Books, New Delhi, 2012
Pius Malekandathil, Maritime India: Trade, Polity and Religion in the Indian Ocean, Primus, New Delhi, 2015( Revised edition), pp. 169-192, 2010
Pius Malekandathil, Maritime India: Trade, Religion and Polity in the Indian Ocean , Primus Books, New Delhi.2010 , pp.1- 18 , 2010
Francis Elavathunkal(ed.), Christians of St.Thomas Tradition, Bombay, 2014
Jews of Goa, edited by Shalva Weil, 2020
Uploads
Books by Pius Malekandathil