Geopolitics: Chola’s Blue Highway – The Forgotten Competitor to Silk Route

Bay of Bengal was a like lake in the backyard for Chola. Indian Ocean was under their hegemony. A trade war for Transhipment Harbour and Preferential Trade of Tamil. Now history repeats in different way – US China Trade War.  Covid19 is beginning of new world order.

The Asia Maritime Trade and Geopolitics in 11^th Century was simultaneous rise of powerful corporate empires in several parts of Asia: the Chola empire of South India, the Srivijaya empire of Sumatra, the Khmer empire of Cambodia, the empire of Champa in Vietnam and China under the Song dynasty.  These empires had preferential trade agreements, stationed diplomatic missions and exchange of trade delegations.  The deep-rooted commercial interests drove the political and cultural relations between these empires.

Pattinapalai (ancient poem) talks of Puhar having a big colony of foreign merchants and mentions of items of trade.  The Mahabharata mentions Thanjavur muslins whereas Kautilya’s Arthashastra describes Madurai as a prominent centre of cotton weaving. The Silappadikaram refers to growing trade which included agil, silk, candy, sandal, salt and camphor. The fabrics of the Chola traders were not merely trade objects, but carriers of culture.  The textile patterns provided decoration for temple interiors and courts of South East Asia.  

Traders from Kadaram (Kedha, Malaysia) and Srivijaya crossed the seas to the Chola country with their commodities such as iron ore and teak wood. Tamil merchants had remained in constant touch with the archipelago and China. Tamil merchant associations such as Manigramam, Nanadesi and Ainnaruvar were active and present in most of these ports. [Manigramam is located near Poompuhar] Ainnaruvar as a trade guild became more powerful in Chola Reign.  These associations maintained contact with as many countries as possible from Red Sea to South China.

By the early eleventh century, commercial activity in the Indian Ocean had become increasingly complex and contentious not only due to the Song court’s revamped tributary system, but also because of the attempts by Srivijayans to dominate commercial exchanges through the Strait of Malacca, and the Chola’s court’s interest in expanding its commercial and political spheres in the Indian Ocean.

Srivijaya Empire emerged as one of the leading transit points for ships sailing from Chinese Coast to Southern Asia and Red Sea. The rulers and traders from Srivijaya used this vital position to advance their economic and diplomatic relations with the courts in China as well as kingdoms in Southern Asia. Similar to the Srivijayans, the rulers and traders from the Chola Kingdom had keen interest in developing commercial relations with China. Like the ports in Srivijaya, the Coastal regions controlled by the Cholas had also emerged as important centres of transhipment trade.  These two kingdoms profited from taxing and supplying goods meant for markets in the Persian Gulf or Song China.  The common interest in controlling this lucrative maritime trade seems to have been a source of tension between the Cholas and Srivijayans, despite the fact that the representatives from the latter kingdom presented gifts to temples in the Chola ports (Eg. Sudamaniviharam in Nagapattinam by Srivijayans).

The status of specific foreign kingdom was usually fixed on the basis of its military strength, which then determined the type of reception the embassies received when they arrived at the Song court. Commercially, the bestowals of higher status helped merchants representing these kingdoms obtain favourable trading rights at the Song ports.  The passing of inaccurate information as a tributary kingdom (weak military) on Chola Empire by Srivijayans to Song Empire resulted in limited accessed to Song market and Trading rights compared to South East Asian counterparts. At this juncture, Srivijaya started imposing heavy taxes and strict rules on ships that sailed through Strait of Mallaca and Sunda Straits. The trading rights, restrictions on sailing (transhipment) and monopoly interests in commodities (Eg. Pepper) led towards war between Chola and Srivijayan empire.

A flourishing maritime enterprise had turned the Bay of Bengal into a Chola Lake.  Tamil seafarers had mastered the prevailing wind conditions and currents in the Bay of Bengal in addition to the sophisticated knowledge, reading and using celestial bodies (stars, sun and moon – in particular 56 stars in lower lattitudes of the northern hemisphere) to undertake east-west passage.   These seafarers had navigational instruments such as Ra-a-palagai (sighting stars), Tappu palagai (speed measurements), Flat bronze plate (depth of water), Etc. Bharat has got an extensive document called “Kappal or Navai Sastra”.  It discusses about dimensions and designs of various type ships in addition to character and type of wood, paint, cloths, metal, etc.

With the superior sailing techniques, the Chola Empire built a huge naval armada for invadaing Srivijayan empire. If such massive naval armada is built in Nagapattinam, the foreign traders could have conveyed Chola’s preparation to their kings. Hence the ships were built in and around Vedaranyam and Topputorrai, Tamil Nadu. It is an evidence for the stealth and deception in naval tactical formulations among Chola mariners. The planning of logistics was extensive in order to accommodate fresh water tankers, medical team, food, etc. The mathematical superiority of Chola could be understood from the sea voyage guiding equipment - Rappalgai (Trignometry, Distance, using astronomy). Chola navy possibly departed to towards Srivijyan Kingdom to conquer, after Arudra Darshan (sighting the star thiruvadirai), which established Tamil Hegemony in trade and earned title of Kadaramkondan for Rajendra Chola I. 

Tamils were much ahead of any other society in view of globalization and geopolitics.  Their maritime experience had established a Blue Highway, which is still used as modern day shipping route.  If a detailed study is undertaken, the Blue Highway of Tamil would have been a competitive infrastructure to Silk Route of Chinese in those days for trade.