April 12, 1999

Recording India's fitful history of naval warfare.

By Rahul Roy-Chaudhury

MEDIEVAL SEAFARERS
BY LAKSHMI SUBRAMANIAN
LOTUS
PRICE: RS 195
PAGES: 152

India's most important naval battle was fought in February 1509 off Diu between the Portuguese and the rulers of Calicut, with devastating consequences. Superior Portuguese firepower led to the defeat of the combined Gujarati-Egyptian-Calicut fleet and the beginning of European colonialism over the subcontinent. This book examines the triumphs and travails as well as the successes and failures of the Indian seafaring community under successive European rulers till the 19th century.

Notwithstanding Brahminical taboos, seaborne traffic was well-entrenched in medieval Indian society. Muslim mercantile groups dominated overseas and coastal shipping from Gujarat to Malabar and beyond to Bengal, while Hindu communities were actively involved in shore-based mercantile activities. The notable exception was Hindu shipping in the Coromandel, where seafaring activities formed an important part of ancient Tamil tradition.

The neglect of the sea by the Mughals is well-analysed. Although they organised a naval department and admiralty in Surat to supervise the annual seaborne Haj pilgrimage to Mecca and keep riverine traffic free from piratical incursions, there was no understanding of the importance or utility of sea power. The Mughal navy neither patrolled the seas nor engaged in combat, content to serve as an auxiliary force to assist fighting on land. Indeed, it often sought the assistance of the European convoy service to export goods.

The Indian naval heroes of the medieval period included the Zamorin's Kunjali, Mammale of Cannanore, the Sidis of Janjira and Kanhoji Angre of the Marathas. They were invariably referred to as "pirates" as a result of their refusal to accept the European monopoly on seaborne trade. It is a pity that Lakshmi Subramanian does not discuss in depth the naval activities of these great warriors.

An uneasy relationship existed among the Mughals, the Europeans and the Indian seafaring community till the 18th century. While the Mughals did not press for an advantage at sea, the Europeans understood their growing investments in India lay at the mercy of the Mughals. Indian seafarers, meanwhile, worked within the confines of the European system of permits and passes to expand their overseas trade. The new trading structure of the English East India Company and the advent of steam shipping, however, completely devastated Indian seafaring activities.

This is a well-written book which successfully explores the much neglected dimensions of Indian seafaring activity in a critical period of our history. The absence of an index is surprising, as is that of a glossary. It would also have benefited from a series of maps.

HISTORY OF THE PAKISTAN ARMY
Soldiering On

A smooth account that is more subjective than solid.

By Manoj Joshi

HISTORY OF THE PAKISTAN ARMY
BY BRIAN CLOUGHLEY
OXFORD
PRICE: PAK RS 500
PAGES: 384

Those who are looking for a reasonably balanced book on the Pakistan Army would do well to read this one. The operative word frequently used in describing individuals and institutions, including this magazine, is "sensible". But any discussion on the Pakistan Army cannot be without the context of India and when that happens some biases creep in.

Brian Cloughley belongs to that genre of Anglo-Americans which is exasperated by India and does not hide it easily. It's not difficult to see why. He has served in the British and Australian armies in Cold War fronts like Vietnam. Those were the years in which India was perceived to be in the "enemy" (read: Soviet) camp. He was deputy head of the United Nations Military Observers Group for India and Pakistan in 1980-82 and returned on Zia-ul-Haq's invitation in 1985. Next he served as the Australian military adviser in 1989-1994.

Despite this, the author's views on India are reasonably fair. But the lack of Indian works on the Indo-Pakistani war are an omission difficult to account for in any book published with the Oxford imprint. He has ignored, for example, Lt-General Harbaksh Singh's authoritative War Despatches and chosen to cite even D.R. Mankekar's (spelt wrongly as Manekar) work through an unpublished thesis on the 1965 war as well as accounts of the 1971 campaign such as that of Lt-General J.F.R. Jacob. Had he done so the work would have certainly been enriched.

Perhaps the author can be excused since what he has provided is a personal rather than a scholarly account of the Pakistan Army. As a result, he is able to provide several insights into its functioning as well as a useful assessment of its cultural and political ethos in the late '80s and early '90s, the years in which Zia's Islamisation campaign was at its zenith.

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