In an Antique Land: History in the Guise of a Traveler's Tale

NOTES

Prologue

1 The slave’s first appearance: E. Strauss (now Ashtor), ‘Documents for the Economic and Social History of the Near East’ (Zion, n.s. VII, Jerusalem, 1942).

2 Khalif ibn Iaq: The and the in the name Iaq are distinct consonants. The system of notation used here for transcriptions from Arabic is broadly similar to that of the Encyclopaedia of Islam. In general, I have tried to keep transcriptions to a minimum, usually indicating the spelling of a word or name only upon its first occurrence. As a rule I have included the symbol for the Arabic consonant ‘ain (‘) wherever it occurs, except in place names, where I have kept to standard usage. Specialists ought to be forewarned that if, in these pages, they seek consistency in the matter of transcription, they shall find only confusion — a result in part of the many different registers of Arabic that are invoked here. On the whole where the alternative presented itself, I have favoured the dialectical usage over the literary or the classical, a preference which may seem misleading to some since the rural dialects of the Delta differ markedly in certain respects from the urban dialect that is generally taken to represent colloquial Egyptian Arabic.

3 A German army had arrived: Ibn al-Qalânisî, The Damascus Chronicle of the Crusades, pp. 280, (ed. and trans. H. A. R. Gibb, Luzac & Co. Ltd., London, 1967).

4 ‘That year the German Franks’: The historian was the famous Ibn al-Athîr (quoted by Amin Maalouf in The Crusades through Arab Eyes, tr. Jon Rothschild, Al Saqi Books, London, 1984).

5 Among the nobles: See Steven Runciman, History of the Crusades, Vol. II, pp. 279–80, (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1952).

6 ‘There was a divergence’: Ibn al-Qalanisi, Damascus Chronicle, p. 282.

7 ‘the German Franks returned’: Ibn al-Athir, quoted by Amin Maalouf in The Crusades through Arab Eyes. Ibn al-Qalanisi wrote a vivid description of this engagement in The Damascus Chronicle, pp. 281–4. See also Steven Runciman, History of the Crusades, Vol II, pp. 281–4; and Virginia G. Berry, ‘The Second Crusade’, in A History of the Crusades, Vol. I, pp. 508–10 (ed. K. M. Setton, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1969). Hans Eberhard Mayer discusses the Crusaders’ decision to attack Damascus in The Crusades, p. 103, (tr. John Gillingham, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1988).

8 They were … quick to relay news: One of the services that merchants rendered each other in this period was the supplying of information (see Norman Stillman’s article, ‘The Eleventh Century Merchant House of Ibn ‘Awkal (A Geniza Study)’, p. 24 (in Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, XVI, pt. 1, 1973). Not long after Khalaf ibn Ishaq’s lifetime an Arab scholar was to tell Sultan Salâ al-Dîn’s (Saladin’s) son, al-Malik al-âhir, that merchants were ‘the scouts of the world’. (Cf. S. D. Goitein, ‘Changes in the Middle East (950–1150), as illustrated by the documents of the Cairo Geniza’, p. 19, in Islamic Civilisation, ed. P. Richards, Cassirer, Oxford, 1973).

9 ‘things which have no price’: My translation is based on Strauss’s transcription in ‘Documents for Economic and Social History of the Middle East’. The line quoted here is line 17.

10 ‘two jars of sugar’: Ibid., line 18.

11 ‘plentiful greetings’: Ibid., line 23.

12 The Slave’s second appearance: S. D. Goitein, Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1973 (henceforth Letters). The quotations from Khalaf ibn Ishaq’s letter in the next four paragraphs are all taken from Goitein’s translation in this volume (pp. 187–92).

13 This is another eventful year: Cf. Steven Runciman, History of the Crusades, Vol. II, p. 226. See also, H. A. R. Gibb, ‘Zengi and the Fall of Edessa’, in A History of the Crusades, Vol. I.

14 I had … won a scholarship: The body in question is the Inlaks Foundation, of London, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them. I am grateful, in particular, to the foundation’s director Count Nicoló Sella di Monteluce for his encouragement and support.

15 At that moment, I … expected to do research: I would like to add a tribute here to the late Dr Peter Lienhardt of the Institute of Social Anthropology, who supervised my D. Phil. at Oxford. I consider myself singularly fortunate in having had him as my supervisor: he was endlessly generous with encouragement, fearsome in his debunking of pretension, and tireless in the orchestration of logistical support. Yet if I think of him today as the best of supervisors, it is not for all those virtues, inestimable as they are, but one yet more valuable still, being the rarest of all in academics: that he did everything he could to make sure that I was left to myself to follow my interests as I chose. My gratitude to him is inexpressible.

16 Laaîfa: Neither this nor the names of any of the settlements around it are their actual names; nor are the names of those of their inhabitants who are referred to in the following pages.

Laaîfa

1 Being the kindest … of men: I would like to acknowledge here my enormous debt to the late Professor Aly Issa of the Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Arts, Alexandria. Professor Issa cleared a path for me through all the official hurdles that surround the enterprise of ‘fieldwork’ and because of him I was able to move into Lataifa within a few weeks of arriving in Egypt. I remember him with the deepest respect and affection and it is a matter of profound regret to me that he is not alive today to see this book in print.

My thanks arc due to many others in the Faculty of Arts, a place of which I have the warmest memories. Amongst others, Hisham Nofal, Mohammad Ghoneim, Moustafa Omar, Merwat al-Ashmawi Osman, Taysser Hassan Aly Gomaa and Moustafa Awad Ibrahim, who were research students in the Department of Anthropology at the time, did a great deal to make me feel welcome when I first arrived in Alexandria. I would like to thank them all for the hospitality and friendship which they showed me then, and with which they have enriched all my subsequent visits. I would also like to thank in particular Professor Ahmed Abu-Zeid of the Faculty of Arts.

3 They are both … Mar: The name is Mir, properly speaking.

4 Like English, every major European language: Albanian, which uses ‘Misir’ as well as ‘Egjypt’, is an exception — probably because of its large Muslim population.

5 The fort has other names: See Stanley Lane-Poole’s The Story of Cairo, pp. 34–5 (J. M. Dent & Co., London, 1902); and Desmond Stewart’s Cairo, 5,500 years, p. 28 (Thomas Y. Creswell & Co., New York, 1968). A. J. Butler also discusses the name of the fortress briefly in his monumental Arab Conquest of Egypt (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1902), pp. 244–6.

6 Babylon’s principal embankment: W. Kubiak points this out in his excellent monograph Al-Fustat, Its Foundation and Early Urban Development, pp. 43–7 & 117–8 (American University in Cairo Press, Cairo, 1987). See also Oleg V. Volkoffs Le Caire, 969–1969, p. 7 (L’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale du Caire, 1971); and Janet L. Abu-Lughod’s Cairo, 1001Years of the City Victorious, pp. 4–5 (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1971).

7 In Ben Yiju’s time: See Nâîr-e-Khosraw’s Safarnama (Book of Travels), p. 55, (trans. W. M. Thackston Jr, Persian Heritage Series, ed. Ehsan Yarshater, No. 36, Persian Heritage Foundation, New York, 1986).

8 ‘fossaton’: Cf. W. Kubiak, Al-Fustat, p. 11; Janet L. Abu-Lughod, Cairo 1001 Years, p. 13; and Desmond Stewart, Cairo, pp. 42–3.

9 Their army routed the Egyptians: Cf. Stanley Lane-Poole’s A History of Egypt in the Middle Ages, p. 102 (Frank Cass & Co. Ltd, London, new impression, 1968); and Oleg V. Volkoff’s Le Caire, p. 44.

10 In its original conception al-Qahira: Volkoff, pointing out that it was not for nothing that the city was called al-Qâhira al-Marûsa, ‘the Guarded’, compares it to Peking and Moscow (Le Caire, p. 49).

11 Archæological excavations have shown: The various different kinds of mud and earth that were used as building materials in medieval Fustat are discussed at length in Moshe Gil’s article, ‘Maintenance, Building Operations, and Repairs in the Houses of the Qodesh in Fusâ’, p. 147–52 (Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, XIV, part II, 1971). The terms used in Lataifa and Nashawy for the kinds of earth that serve as building materials are in many instances the same as those current in medieval Fustat (e.g. in aswad, în afar, turâb).

12 Possibly Fustat even had … look of an Egyptian village: My speculations about the appearance of medieval Fustat are founded largely on Wladyslaw Kubiak’s description of the archaeological findings at the site (in his monograph Al-Fustat). I hasten to add that Kubiak does not himself suggest that the medieval city had a rustic appearance: however, the findings described in the monograph seem to me definitely to indicate that likelihood. See in particular the section on ‘Streets’, pp. 112–117. Some medieval travellers reported Fustat to be provincial in aspect but crowded and busy, while others spoke with admiration of large multi-storeyed buildings, suggesting that houses in some parts of Fustat were of imposing dimensions (Cf. Oleg V. Volkoff, Le Caire, p. 22; and S. D. Goitein, ‘Urban Housing in Fatimid and Ayyubid Times’, p. 14, Studia, Islamica, 46–7, 1978). In all likelihood the township had a few wealthy neighbourhoods which were built on a very different scale from the dwellings inhabited by the vast majority of the population. In many details the domestic architecture of medieval Fustat appears remarkably similar to that of rural (Lower) Egypt today. Indeed there was clearly a direct continuity between the living patterns of the surrounding countryside and those of the city of Fustat. Dwellings in medieval Fustat even made provision for cattle pens or zarîbas within the house (Cf. S. D. Goitein, ‘A Mansion in Fustat: A twelfth-century Description of a Domestic compound in the Ancient Capital of Egypt’, in The Medieval City, ed. H. A. Miskimin et. al., Yale University Press, New Haven, 1977). The word zariba has of course passed into the English language as ‘zareba’. A contemporary zariba is soon to play a part in this narrative.

13 The ‘Palestinian’ congregation: The principal doctrinal division within the Jewish community of medieval Fustat lay between the Karaites and the other two groups, known collectively as the Rabbanites; the Karaites took the Bible as their sole sacred text while the others invested the Talmud and other later Rabbinical writings with the authority of Scripture as well, as do the majority of Jews today. Of the two Rabbanite groups, the ‘Iraqis’ consisted of Jews from the area of Mesopotamia, who followed the rites prescribed by the schools of that region, while the ‘Palestinians’ of course followed the rites of the school of Jerusalem. See S. D. Goitein’s A Mediterranean Society, Vol. I, p. 18 (Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, 1967); and Norman Golb’s article, ‘Aspects of the Historical Background of Jewish Life in Medieval Egypt’ (in Jewish Medieval and Renaissance Studies, ed. Alexander Altmann, Harvard University Press, Cambridge Mass., 1967).

14 Incredible as it may seem, excavations: See G. T. Scanlon’s ‘Egypt and China: Trade and Imitation’, p. 88 (in Islam and the Trade of Asia, ed. D. S. Richards, Oxford and Philadelphia, 1971); and Ruth Barnes’s article ‘Indian Trade Cloth in Egypt: The Newberry Collection’ (in the Proceedings of the Textile Society of America, 1990).

15 For Ben Yiju the centre of Cairo: It was once thought that the synagogue of Ben Ezra was originally a Coptic church, but that theory has long been discredited by S. D. Goitein, although it continues to be widely propagated. A church was indeed converted into a synagogue in Fustat, in the ninth century, but it probably belonged to a different congregation and stood upon another site. (Cf. A Mediterranean Society, Vol. I, p. 18; and Vol. II, p. 149, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1971). Goitein has persuasively argued that the church which changed hands in the ninth century was bought by the ‘Iraqi’ congregation, which, being composed mainly of immigrants, probably needed a site for its synagogue. The site of the Synagogue of Ben Ezra on the other hand had probably belonged to the ‘Palestinians’ since antiquity.

16 It is known to have had two entrances: See S. D. Goitein’s ‘The Sexual Mores of the Common People’, p. 47 (in Society and the Sexes in Medieval Islam, ed. A. L. al-Sayyid Marsot, Udena Publications, Malibu, 1979); and Vol. II of his Mediterranean Society, pp. 143–52.

17 For the Synagogue … the influx of migrants: Cf. S. D. Goitein, ‘Changes in the Middle East (950–1150)’, p. 25; and ‘Mediterranean Trade in the Eleventh Century: Some Facts and Problems’, p. 61, (in Studies in the Economic History of the Middle East, ed. M. A. Cook, Oxford University Press, London, 1970).

18 The North Africans … affinity for the flourishing trade: Jews and Muslims in North Africa and the Middle East may have turned increasingly to the India Trade after the tenth century because they had been squeezed out of the Mediterranean trade by the Christian states of the northern coast. (See, for example, S. D. Goitein’s article ‘Portrait of a Medieval India Trader; Three Letters from the Cairo Geniza’, p. 449, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 50, part 3, 1987). After the twelfth century Jewish merchants appear to have been gradually pushed out of the eastern trade by the Muslim association of Kârimî merchants. (Cf. W. J. Fischel, ‘The Spice Trade in Mamluk Egypt’, pp. 166–7, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. I, part 2, E. J. Brill, London, 1958.)

19 The vast majority … were traders: See S. D. Goitein, Studies in Islamic History and Institutions, pp. 277–8 (Leiden, Brill, 1966). As Goitein points out elsewhere, the upper crust of the Jewish community in Fustat was formed largely by the members of the ‘Iraqi’ and Karaite congregations, not by the ‘Palestinians’: ‘as a rule it was the middle and lower middle classes and not the economically and socially highest layer of Jewish society which have left us their day to day writings in the Geniza.’ (‘Changes in the Middle East [950–1150]’ p. 18.) See also Goitein’s article ‘The Sexual Mores of the Common People’, p. 50.

20 Their doctors … studied Hippocrates: Cf. S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, Vol. II, p. 249

21 The chambers … known by the term ‘Geniza’: Cf. S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, Vol. I, p. 1.

22 The Geniza … was added: For the date of the construction of the Ben Ezra Geniza see S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, Vol. I, p. 18. On 31 December 1011, a Jewish funeral procession was attacked by Muslims, and twenty-three people were taken captive and threatened with death. They were saved at the last moment by the personal intervention of the Caliph. Goitein has suggested that this incident may have had a direct connection with the addition of the Geniza at the time of the synagogue’s reconstruction in 1025. ‘Recalling the terrifying events of December 1011, they must have mused: Corpses must be removed from the city notwithstanding the constant menace by the rabble. But why take the same risk with papers? Let’s have a place in the synagogue roomy enough for storing discarded writings now and for ever. The idea was materialized and the result was the Cairo Geniza.’ (‘Urban Housing in Fatimid and Ayyubid Times’, p. 6.) The Geniza does however contain several documents that predate the rebuilding of the Synagogue of Ben Ezra in the eleventh century. (See Simon Hopkins’s article ‘The Oldest Dated Document in the Geniza’, in Studies in Judaism and Islam, ed. Shelomo Morag et al., Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1981.)

23 for some reason … was never cleared out: The recent research of Mark R. Cohen and Yedida K. Stillman suggests that the practice of discarding manuscripts in a chamber within a synagogue and leaving them there permanently was common among Middle Eastern Jews well into this century. See their article ‘The Cairo Geniza and the Custom of Geniza among Oriental Jewry: An Historical and Ethnographic Study’, in the Hebrew journal Pe’amin (No. 24, 1985).

24 The document … thought to be the last: See S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, Vol. I, p. 9.

25 From the late seventeenth century … Egyptomania: See Erik Iversen’s The Myth of Egypt and its Hieroglyphs in European Tradition, pp 88–123, (Geo Gad Publishers, Copenhagen, 1961).

26 Concurrent with this … travellers undertook journeys: Cf. Eric Iversen, The Myth of Egypt, pp 108–110.

27 It was … the first report: The Italian traveller, Obadiah of Be(a)artinoro had described the Synagogue of Ben Ezra in a letter to his father in 1488, but the Geniza does not figure in his account (Cf. Simon Hopkins, ‘The Discovery of the Cairo Geniza’, pp 144–6, Bibliophilia Africana IV, ed. C. Pama, Cape Town, 1981).

28 The visit appears … unremarkable: Cf. Norman Bentwich, Solomon Schechter; A Biography, p. 139, (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1938), and Simon Hopkins, ‘The Discovery …’, p. 147.

29 In fact … Karl Leibniz: See Erik Iversen’s The Myth of Egypt, p. 125.

30 ‘Can a man risk’: Simon Hopkins, ‘The Discovery …’, p. 149.

31 ‘But who knows’: ibid., p. 150.

32 The German scholar: Paul Kahle, The Cairo Geniza, pp. 2–3, (Oxford University Press, London, 1947).

33 He had obtained … documents: Paul Kahle, for example, met Samaritan priests in Palestine who complained bitterly of how Firkowitch had swindled them of their manuscripts, paying them next to nothing (The Cairo Geniza, p. 4).

34 ‘It is not often’: Elkan N. Adler, ‘Notes of a Journey to the East’, p. 6 (Jewish Chronicle, 7 December 1888).

35 The Cattaouis: See Gudrun Krämer’s account of the history of the Cattaouis in The Jews in Modern Egypt, 1914–1952, pp. 88–98 (University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1989).

36 By this time the indigenous Jews of Cairo: Marion Woolfson, Prophets in Babylon; Jews in the Arab World, p. 102 (Faber and Faber, London 1980); and Gudrun Krämer and Alfred Morabia: ‘Face à la Modernité: Les Juifs d’Egypte aux XIXe et XXe siècles’, pp. 84–5, (in Jacques Hassoun ed. Juifs du Nil, Le Sycomore, Paris, 1981).

37 Soon afterwards the British ambassador: The Earl of Cromer, Modern Egypt, Vol. I, p. 336–41, (Macmillan, London, 1908).

38 The Cattaouis … mansion: Elkan N. Adler, ‘Notes’, p. 6.

39 The Bodleian Library … two members of its staff: They were A. Cowley and A. Neubauer. Both Cowley and Neubauer were greatly excited by the newly discovered fragments and were desperately eager to lay their hands on more, but curiously enough, even as late as 1896 they do not appear to have had any idea of where the documents were coming from. (See A. Neubauer’s article, ‘Egyptian Fragments’, Jewish Quarterly Review, pp. 541–561, Vol. VIII, 1895–6; and A. Cowley’s article in the same issue, ‘Some Remarks on Samaritan Literature and Religion’, pp. 562–575. See also Mark R. Cohen’s Jewish Self-Government in Medieval Egypt, p. 11, Princeton, 1980).

40 He took with him letters … the Cattaoui family E. N. Adler, ‘An Eleventh Century Introduction to the Hebrew Bible’ (Jewish Quarterly Review, p. 673, Vol. IX, pp. 669–716, Macmillan, London, 1896–7).

41 Between them, they granted: Ibid., p. 673.

42 ‘Dear Mrs Lewis,’: A copy of the note is reprinted in Norman Bentwich’s Solomon Schechter, opp. p. 111.

43 ‘All students of the Bible’: The Academy, p. 405, No. 1254, 16 May 1896.

44 ‘If it could be proved’: S. Schechter, ‘A fragment of the Original Text of Ecclesiasticus’, p. 1 (Expositor, Fifth Series, Vol. IV, London, 1896).

45 So little did he think A. Lutfi al-Sayyid, Egypt and Cromer: A Study in Anglo-Egyptian Relations, p. 64 (John Murray, London, 1968).

46 ‘We need not … inquire too closely’: Quoted in A. Lutfi al-Sayyid, Egypt and Cromer, p. 62.

47 Schechter was fortunate … that Cromer: See, for example, N. Bentwich’s Introduction to Solomon Schechter: Selected Writings, (ed. N. Bentwich, East and West Library, Oxford, 1946). Bentwich writes: ‘Lord Cromer, then the British Agent in Egypt, was interested in Schechter’s exploration, and helped him to secure the removal of the treasure to Cambridge.’ (p. 15).

48 They decided to make … a present: See S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, Vol. I, p. 5; and Paul Kahle, The Cairo Geniza, p. 7.

49 It has sometimes been suggested: Bentwich, for example, writes: ‘It was fortunate that the Egyptian Jewish community regarded their archives at that time as little more than a rubbish heap, and were prepared to let him carry away the greater part of their collection to Cambridge …’ (Introduction to Solomon Schechter: Selected Writings).

50 In fact … lucrative trade: Schechter himself was to comment later that the beadles of the Synagogue had ‘some experience’ in dealing with the documents. (S. Schechter, ‘The Cairo Geniza’, p. 102, in Solomon Schechter: Selected Writings).

51 ‘I flirted with him’: Bentwich quotes these letters in his biography, Solomon Schechter, p. 129.

52 ‘For weeks and weeks’: Ibid., p. 128.

53 ‘The whole population’: Solomon Schechter: Selected Writings, pp. 102–3.

54 ‘with the spoils’: E. N. Adler, ‘An Eleventh Century Introduction’, p. 673.

55 So it happened: My first explorations of Masr owed a great deal to the enthusiasm of Sudhir Vyas. I would like to thank him, and his colleague at the Indian Embassy Shri A. Gopinathan, for their hospitality. I would also like to thank Shri K. P. S. Menon and Sm. Lalitha Menon for their interest in, and support of my work during their stay in Egypt. Later Laurent Ham’s knowledge of the city was to prove invaluable to me: I am deeply grateful to him for his help and for innumerable kindnesses.

56 Goitein … published in India: Cf. S. D. Goitein, ‘Letters and Documents on the India Trade in Medieval Times’, (Islamic Culture, Vol. 37, pp. 188–205, 1963).

57 The complete bibliography: Robert Attal, A Bibliography of the Writings of Professor Shelomo Dov Goitein, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1975 (Supplement 1987).

58 His interest in the Geniza: See Mark R. Cohen’s obituary ‘Shelomo Dov Goitein (3 April 1900–6 February 1985)’ in the American Philosophy Society Year Book, 1987.

59 His monumental study: The five volumes of S. D. Goitein’s A Mediterranean Society were published in the following years, by the University of California Press: Vol. I, 1967; Vol. II, 1971; Vol. III, 1978; Vol. IV, 1983; Vol. V, 1988. The fifth volume appeared posthumously.

60 Scanning Goitein’s … oeuvre: Goitein did however occasionally write biographical sketches. His posthumously published article ‘Portrait of a Medieval India Trader: Three Letters from the Cairo Geniza’ (Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 50, part 3, pp. 449–64, 1987), for example, deals with the life of the trader ‘Allân b. assûn.

61 The India Book: The catalogue numbers of the India Book documents were published in Shaul Shaked’s A Tentative Bibliography of Geniza Documents (Mouton, Paris, 1964), which was published under the joint direction of D. H. Baneth and S. D. Goitein.

62 Judæo-Arabic evolved: This brief account is based largely upon the ‘Introduction’ in Joshua Blau’s Judæo-Arabic, (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1965), the standard work on the subject. Those who wish to learn more about this extraordinary and wonderful language are strongly recommended to consult Blau’s excellent study.

63 Mark Cohen’s encouragement: In case my debt to Mark Cohen is not apparent already, I would like to add a line of acknowledgement here. It was Mark Cohen who convinced me that I could indeed learn Judaeo-Arabic, and he has been very generous with constructive criticism as well as advice and encouragement ever since. My debt to him is incalculable.

64 Over the next couple of years: My Geniza research would not have been possible without the support of a great many people. To begin with, I would like to thank Dr A. Udovitch of the Department of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton and Dr Stefan C. Reif of the Taylor-Schechter Geniza Research Unit of the Cambridge University Library. To Dr Geoffrey Khan, also of the Taylor-Schechter Geniza Research Unit, Cambridge, I owe a very special debt — for guiding my first faltering steps in the field of Geniza studies, for giving me the benefit of his understanding of the material, and for his patience in answering my innumerable queries. Dr Menahem Ben Sasson also helped me a great deal in the early stages of my research and I would like to thank him for his advice, for many valuable suggestions and for checking several of my transcriptions. I need hardly add that neither he nor anyone else is in any way responsible for any of the views expressed here. Finally a tribute is due to the staff of the Manuscripts Reading Room of the Cambridge University Library for their efficiency and unfailing helpfulness.

Nashâwy

1 Since his friends … referred to him as al-Mahdawî: Khalaf Ibn Ishaq for instance, addresses Ben Yiju as al-Mahdawî in his 1148 letter (National and University Library Jerusalem Geniza MS H.6, in Strauss, ‘Documents’).

2 Mahdia … a major centre of Jewish culture: See H. Z. Hirschberg’s A History of the Jews in North Africa, Vol. I, pp. 339–41 (E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1974).

3 ‘altogether Mahdia offered’: Al-Sharîf al-Idrîsî, Kitâb tazha al-mushtâq fi itirâq al-afâq, p. 257 (Geographie d’Edrisi, ed. and trans. P. A. Jaubert, Vol. I, Paris, 1836).

4 Of Ben Yiju’s immediate family: S. D. Goitein believed that Ben Yiju may have had another sister, Yumn (cf. Letters, pp. 204 fn).

5 He was called Perayâ: The Jewish naming system in the medieval Arabic-speaking world was enormously complex being compounded out of two languages, Arabic and Hebrew. Most people had several names, each context-specific — tekonyms, nicknames, (both individual and collective), tides that were the equivalent of surnames, and so on. To simplify matters I have tried to refer to each individual by a single name throughout this narrative. As a rule (if a principle founded on indeterminacy can be called a rule) I have tried to use the name that is most commonly used for them in the documents themselves. I have also generally tried to transcribe the names as they occur in the documents, in the expectation that those spellings provide the nearest available approximation to the manner in which the names were actually pronounced, at the time, by the people who used them. But in such instances when those spellings produce results that are meaningless or absurd I have substituted the etymologically appropriate Hebrew equivalents. Thus I have generally used the Arabic ‘Farhîa’ instead of the Hebrew ‘Perayâ’, taking at face value the following statement by Goitein: ‘No such Heb. name (Perayâ) exists in the Bible. This is one of the pseudo-biblical names invented during the Geniza period and I suspect that the verb contained in it was understood as Ar. fara (“Joy in God”) rather than Heb. pera (“flower”) which makes no sense.’ (Letters, pp. 327). The relationship between the name and the Arabic root was evidently apparent to those who used it, since Farhia is usually twinned with the diminutive Surûr, which has a similar semantic value in Arabic. I have however used ‘Berâkhâ’ rather than ‘Barkha’ for example, (which is how the name is spelt by Ben Yiju, in his letter), since it has no Arabic equivalent or referent. I can only beg the indulgence of those who consider this method haphazard, or otherwise objectionable, while pointing out that when a naming system is intended to create multiple levels of identity, any procedure for privileging one name (or even one spelling) is bound to be arbitrary.

6 and he was a Rabbi: Khalaf ibn Ishaq once addressed Ben Yiju as the son of the ‘R(abbi) Perayâ, son of Yijû’ (S. D. Goitein, Letters, pp. 192).

7 Madmun ibn Bundar: See S. D. Goitein, Letters, pp. 177; 181–82; and ‘From Aden to India: Specimens of the Correspondence of India Traders of the Twelfth Century’, p. 45, (in Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. XXXIII, pts I and II, 1980). For the institution of the nagîd, see Goitein’s articles, ‘The Title and Office of the Nagid; a Re-examination’ (Jewish Quarterly Review, pp. 93–119, LIII, 1962–3), and ‘Mediterranean Trade in the Eleventh Century: Some Facts and Problems’, p. 61 (in Studies in the Economic History of the Middle East ed. M. A. Cook, Oxford University Press, London, 1970). The Nagîdate and the interesting historiographical controversies surrounding it are also extensively discussed in Mark Cohen’s Jewish Self Government in Medieval Egypt

8 Madmun’s earliest extant letters: T — S 20.130. My assumption that this is the first item in Madmun’s correspondence with Ben Yiju is based on a comment in the text (recto, lines 4–5) which seems to suggest that Ben Yiju had only recently made the journey to India.

9 From the tone and content of those … letters: Their business relations were patterned on a model of informal co-operation, widespread amongst Middle Eastern merchants, in which traders in different countries rendered each other mutual service. For more on the subject of co-operation amongst merchants see S. D. Goitein’s article ‘Mediterranean Trade in the Eleventh Century: Some Facts and Problems’, p. 59; and Abraham L. Udovitch’s ‘Commercial Techniques in Early Medieval Islamic Trade’, (in Islam and the Trade of Asia, ed. D. S. Richards).

10 The letters are full of detailed instructions: for example, one passage in a letter from Madmun to Ben Yiju in India reads: ‘… collect yourself all the letters for the people of Mangalore … and be careful with them because they contain things that I need urgently … deliver each one to the person to whom it is addressed, by hand, personally, for God’s sake.’ (T — S N.S. J 1, verso, lines 6–10). In a departure from the epistolary conventions of the time, Madmun used the second person pronoun, inta, a relatively familiar form, to address Ben Yiju: I have translated it as ‘yourself’ in this passage. It is a clear indication that there was a certain asymmetry in their relationship.

11 The other was Khalaf ibn Ishaq: Khalaf was a fine calligraphier and a prolific correspondent; many of his letters to various different correspondents have been preserved in the Geniza. See S. D. Goitein, ‘Portrait of a Medieval India Trader’, p. 453–54.

12 Judah ha-Levi … composed poems in his honour: See S. D. Goitein’s article, ‘The Biography of Rabbi Judah Ha-Levi in the Light of the Cairo Geniza Documents’ (in Essays in Medieval Jewish and Islamic Philosophy, ed. Arthur Hyman, Ktav Publishing House, Inc., New York, 1977).

13 Abû Sa’id alfon: In a letter to Ben Yiju in Mangalore, Madmun refers to a certain ‘Nâkhudha Abu Sa’îd’ who might be Abu Sa’id Halfon (T — S MS Or 1081, J3, recto, line 3). Although to the best of my knowledge, no letters addressed directly from Ben Yiju to Abu Sa’id Halfon (or vice versa) have been preserved, several letters between others in the circle have survived (e.g. T — S MS Or. 1080 J 211 and T — S Box J 1 fol. 53 [Khalaf to Halfon]. Cf. Shaul Shaked, Tentative Bibliography, pp. 47, 150).

14 The second of the great travellers: Abû-Zikrî Sijilmasi and Abu Sa’id Halfon were in fact partners in the Indian Trade, and several documents relating to their joint business dealings have been preserved in the Geniza (e.g. T — S 13 J 22, fol. 33, ‘Memorandum to alfen b. Nethaneel, while on his way to India, from his partner Abû Zikrî’ and T — S N.S. J 22, ‘Deed of acquittance by Abû Zikrî to alfon b. Nathaneel in connection with their India business’ (Shaul Shaked, Tentative Bibliography, pp. 132, 160).

15 Chief Representative of Merchants: See S. D. Goitein, Letters, p. 62; ‘The Beginnings of the Kârim Merchants’, pp. 176–7 (Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. I, part 2, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1958); and ‘Bankers Accounts from the Eleventh Century AD’, pp. 62–3 (Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, IX, pt. I–II, 1966).

16 References … a shipowner called Marûz: See T — S 8 J 7, fol. 23, recto, line 3; T — S N.S. J 10, verso 1st Account, line 9; and 2nd Account, line 1.

17 So close were the … three: See S. D. Goitein, Letters, pp. 62–5.

18 At the time … gifted Hebrew poets: Cf. Yosef Tobi, ‘Poetry and Society in the works of Abraham ben Halfen (Yemen, twelfth century)’ (in Biblical and Other Studies in Memory of S. D. Goetein, ed. Reuben Ahroni, Hebrew Annual Review, Vol. IX, Dept. of Judaic and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures, Ohio State University, 1985).

19 instances of Geniza traders living abroad: See, for example, S. D. Goitein, ‘Abraham Maimonides and his Pietist Circle’, p. 157 (in Jewish Medieval and Renaissance Studies, ed. A. Altmann).

20 The second reason … lies in a cryptic letter: T — S MS Or. 1080 J 2 63, verso.

21 Fortunately the scrap: Ben Yiju was clearly the recipient of his letter, because the back of the letter is scribbled on in a handwriting which is unmistakably his. Professor Goitein included the catalogue number of this letter in Shaked’s catalogue of Geniza documents, and he must have known of its contents for he described it there as the ‘first part of a letter sent by Mamûn … of Aden to Ben Yijû in India,’ (Shaul Shaked, Tentative Bibliography, p. 47). But he did not quote it in any of his published references to Ben Yiju and probably did not fully appreciate the implications it has for the story of Ben Yiju’s life.

22 ‘Concerning what he’: T — S MS Or. 1080 J 263, recto, lines 16–22. The meaning of the second part of the last sentence is doubtful, and my reading of it must be taken as provisional at best. The reference to the ‘court’ may be to the council of foreign merchants (cf. M. N. Pearson, Merchants and Rulers in Gujarat, p. 17, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1976).

23 ‘His servant spoke to [the king]’: It is not quite clear who the reference is to. Aden in this period was controlled by the Zuray’ids, a dynasty of the Isma’îli sect, nominally linked to the Fatimids of Egypt. The dates and lines of succession within the dynasty are rather obscure, but it would appear that none of the Zuray’id rulers of this period bore the name Sa’id (cf. g. R. Smith, The Ayyûbids and Early Rasûlids in the Yemen, Vol. II, pp. 63–7, Luzac & Co. Ltd, London, 1978). However, the name could have been the popularly current name of the Zuray’î ruler of that time.

24 The word is dhimma: In Islamic law, members of tolerated religious groups are known as the dhimmi.

25 In the twelfth century … Qus: Cf. J-C. Garcin, ‘Un centre musulman de la Haute-Égypte médiévale: Qû’ (Cairo, IFAO, 1976) and W. J. Fischel’s ‘The Spice Trade in Mamluk Egypt’, pp. 162–4. The twelfth-century Arab geographer, Al-Idrisi wrote of Qus that it was a big mercantile city with many resources, but its air was unhealthy and few strangers escaped the insalubriousness of the climate (Kitâb, p. 127).

26 ‘a station for the traveller’: The quotation is from R. J. C. Broadhurst’s translation of the Rala of Abu al-asan ibn Jubair (published as The Travels of Ibn Jubair, Jonathan Cape, London, 1952).

27 Over the next seventeen days: The crossing took Ibn Jubair only seventeen days, but Al-Idrisi asserts that it generally took at least twenty days (Kitâb, p. 132).

28 Ibn Jubair remarked … ‘whoso deems it lawful’: R. J. C. Broadhurst, Travels, p. 60.

29 The area … inhabited by a tribe: This was one of the Beja tribes of Sudan and southern Egypt who are referred to frequently by medieval Arab geographers and travellers (e.g. Al-Idrisi, Kitâb, p. 133). See also Paul Wheatley’s article, ‘Analecta Sino-Africana Recensa’, p. 82 (in East Africa and the Orient, ed. H. Neville Chittick and R. I. Rotberg, Africana Publishing Co., New York and London, 1975).

30 ‘Their men and’: R. J. C. Broadhurst, Travels, p. 66.

31 ‘A sojourn in’: Ibid., p. 67.

32 ‘It is one’: Ibid., p. 63. for the maritime routes of the Red Sea, see G. R. Tibbetts, ‘Arab Navigation in the Red Sea’, pp. 322–4 (Geographical Journal, 127, 1961).

33 For about five hundred years Aidhab functioned: See, for example, H. A. R. Gibb’s article on ‘Aydhâb (in the Encyclopaedia of Islam), and G. W. Murray’s article ‘Aidhab’ (in The Geographical Journal, 68, pp. 235–40, 1926).

34 In any case, all that remains: Cf. J-C. Garcin, ‘Jean-Léon l’Africain et ‘Aydab’, p. 190 (Annales Iskmologiques, XI, 1972).

35 ‘The carrier of this letter’: T — S N.S. J 1, recto, lines 13–16.

36 But the writing … is clear: Cf. Shaul Shaked, Tentative Bibliography, p. 134.

37 ‘Shaikh Abraham Ibn Yijû bespoke’: T — S 13 J 24, fol. 2, recto, lines 9–22 and margins.

38 ‘For the affair of Shaikh Makhluf’: T — S MS Ov. 1081 J 3, recto, margin.

39 The first … a legally attested deed: Cf. S. D. Goitein, Letters, p. 202.

40 The second … is a rough draft: T — S 12.458 verso, lines 5–13. I would like to thank Dr Geoffrey Khan for translating the Aramaic words in this document for me.

41 ‘concubinage is permitted’: Al-Idrisi, Kitâb p. 179.

42 ‘Let us thank God,’: Cf. G. Ferrand, Voyage du Marchand Arabe Sulayman en Inde et en Chine, p. 124 (Paris, 1922).

43 ‘Public women are everywhere’: ‘The Travels of Nicolo Conti in the East in the Early Part of the Fifteenth Century’, p. 23 (translated from the original of Poggio Bracciolini by J. Winter Jones, in India in the Fifteenth Century; Being a Collection of Narratives of Voyages to India, ed. R. H. Major, Hakluyt Society, London, 1857).

44 ‘Immediately after midday’: ‘Narrative of the Voyage of Abd-er-Razzak, Ambassador from Shah Rukh, A.H. 845, A.D. 1442’, p. 29 (translated by R. H. Major from the French translation of the Persian by M. Quatremère, in India in the Fifteenth Century, ed. R. H. Major).

45 ‘I have also sent’: T — S N.S. J 1 recto, line 11.

46 The connection seems so obvious: S. D. Goitein, Letters, p. 202.

47 In a set of accounts … the name Naîr: T — S 20.137, verso, line 19 (account no.2). The word of Ben Yiju used was sahrî, ‘brother-in-law’ or male affine. It is worth noting that in Ben Yiju’s circle this term was generally used in a specific sense, and not as a portmanteau kinship term (for a case to point see p. 178 of S. D. Goitein’s article ‘The Beginnings of the Kârim Merchants’).

48 The lucky accident … links her … to the Nairs: This squares well with what is known of the social composition of Mangalore at the time, for it is recorded in contemporary inscriptions that a community of Nairs was indeed resident in the area around that time. Accounts left by later travellers suggest that the Nairs of that region had developed particularly close links with foreign traders. See P. Gururaja Bhatt’s Studies in Tuuva History and Culture, pp. 234–5 (Manipal, Karnataka, 1970).

49 ‘And throughout the [land]’: Benjamin of Tudela, The Itinerary, pp. 120–1 (ed. Michael A. Signer, 1983).

Mangalore

1 When Ben Yiju arrived: See Neville Chittick, ‘East Africa and the Orient: Ports and Trade before the arrival of the Portuguese’ (in Historical Relations Across the Indian Ocean, UNESCO, Paris, 1980).

2 ‘living in a suburb’: See Ibn Battúta Travels in Asia and Africa, 1325–1354, p. 233 (trans. and selected by H. A. R. Gibb, Routledge & Sons, London, 1939).

3 ‘China, Sumatra, Ceylon,’: Ibid, p. 234.

4 ‘Arabs, Persians, Guzarates’: Duarte Barbosa, A Description of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar in the beginning of the sixteenth century, p. 202 (trans. H. E. J. Stanley, The Hakluyt Society, London, 1856).

5 ‘[They] possess … wives’: Ibid., p. 202.

6 ‘They dress themselves’: ‘Narrative of the Voyage of Abd-er-Razzak’, p. 17 (in India in the Fifteenth Century, ed. R. H. Major).

7 .… the Arabic name ‘Malabâr’: The name is spelt variously as Malabar and Malîbâr in the Geniza documents. It also sometimes occurs in plural forms, such as Malîbârât.

8 The language of Mangalore: See K. V. Ramesh, A History of South Kanara, xxiv-xxvi (Karnatak University Research Publications, Series 12, Dharwar, 1970); ‘Geographical Factors in Tuluva History’, p. 7 (Academy Silver Jubilee Lecture, Academy of General Education, Manipal, Karnataka, 1981); U. P. Upadhyaya & S. P. Upadhyaya (ed.), Bhuta Worship: Aspects of a Ritualistic Theatre, p. 1 (Regional Resources Centre for Folk Performing Arts, M.G.M.College, Udupi, Karnataka, 1984); P. Claus, ‘Mayndaa: A Legend and Possession Cult of Tuunâ’, p. 96 (Asian Folklore Studies, Vol. 38:2, 1979); and G. R. Krishna, Caste and Tribes of Fishermen, pp. 103–11 (Discovery Publishing House, New Delhi, 1990).

9 It is this language: Tuu is spoken by 47 per cent of the population of South Kanara District — the area that was once known as Tuanâ (Karnataka State Gazetteer [South Kanara District], p. 94, Govt. of Karnataka, Bangalore, 1973).

10 Writing in Alexandria … Ptolemy: The name of this dynasty is also spelt, in various inscriptions, as Ava, Auka, Aupa and Aapa (Cf. K. V. Ramesh, A History of South Kanara, p. 30; and P. Gururaja Bhatt, Studies, p. 18).

11 For several hundreds of years: For detailed accounts of the history of the Aupas see K. V. Ramesh’s History of South Kanara; P. Gururaja Bhatt’s Studies, pp. 18–41; and B. A. Saletore’s Ancient Karnataka, (History of Tuluva, Vol. I, Oriental Book Agency, Poona, 1936).

12 it was in the reign of…: Cf. K. V. Ramesh, History of South Kanara, p. 115. P.Gururaja Bhatt dates Kavi Aupendra’s reign from 1115 to 1155 (Studies p. 23).

13 I had been told: I am indebted to a great many people for offering help, advice and criticism while I was working in Karnataka. I would particularly like to thank Dr C. Veeranna, Dr G. S. Sivarudrappa, Dr M. N. Srinivas, Sm. Tara N. Chandravarkar and Dr Vivek Dhareshwar of Bangalore; Dr Vijaya Dabbe of Mysore; and Dr K. S. Haridas Bhatt, Shri S. A. Krishnaiah, Dr Alphonsus D’Souza and Sm. L. Lobo-Prabhu of Mangalore. The late Shri K. S. Niranjana and Sm. Anupama Nivanjana were also very generous with their time and advice while I was in Bangalore; I would like to record my gratitude to them here.

14 In the translated version of the letter: S. D. Goitein, Letters, p. 191.

15 Indeed … an accepted way of spelling the word: The tenth-century Arab traveller and geographer Masûdî, for example, uses the word brâhma and various cognates frequently in his encyclopaedic compendium, Murûj al-Dhahab (Les Prairies dor), Vol. I, pp. 149, 154, & 157–8 (Arabic text and French Translation, C. Barbier de Meynard & Pavet de Courteille, Société Asiatique, Paris, 1861). The geographer Al-Idrisi, who happened to be a contemporary of Ben Yiju’s, was perfectly familiar with the word although he never went anywhere near the Indian Ocean. Al-Idrisi uses the word frequently but he sometimes uses it to mean Brahmin (as indeed does Mas’udi often).

16 The slave-trade in Ben Yiju’s time: A Persian chronicler of the ninth century describes travelling merchants who took ‘eunuchs, female slaves (and) boys’ from ‘the country of the Franks’, in Europe, and traded them, in India and China, for ‘musk, aloes, camphor and cinnamon’, (Ibn Khurdâdhbih, quoted in Reinaud’s introduction to Abû al-Fidâ’s Kitâb taqwîm al-buldân (Géographie d’Aboulfélda), p. 58, Arabic text, ed. M. Reinaud & Baron MacGuckin de Slane, Paris, 1860). A century later, a geographer, Ibn auqâl, noted that Byzantine, Slavonic and Berber slaves were regularly traded in the cities of the east. (Cf. H. Z. Hirschberg, Jews in North Africa, p. 252). Edward H. Schafer deals briefly with the import of foreign slaves into China in The Golden Peaches of Samarkand, pp. 43–7 (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1963).

17 Indeed, an obscure reference: In one of his letters, Madmun, writing to Ben Yiju, remarks: ‘This year the “traders” (jallâb) have not come here yet from Zabîd’ (T — S 20.130, recto, lines 45–46). The word jallâb has the connotation of ‘slave-traders’. The implication of the passage is that Ben Yiju had been expecting the arrival of a party of slave-traders in Mangalore. Al-Idrisi observes that Zabid was a major destination for Abyssinian slave-traders (Kitâb, Vol. I, p. 49).

18 The slaves … traded in … Egypt: See S. D. Goitein, ‘Slaves and Slavegirls in the Cairo Geniza Records’, (Arabica, Vol.9, 1–20, 1962); and A Mediterranean Society, Vol. I, pp. 130–147.

19 But the slave’s name: Dr Geoffrey Khan has found the name Bâmah in a third-century AH Arabic papyrus, and he interprets it as a rendering of the Coptic name Pamei/Pame (personal communication). It is extremely unlikely however that the B-M-H of MS H.6 is intended to represent the same name, since it is spelt differently, not just once, but consistently through the whole range of Ben Yiju’s correspondence.

20 I discovered … Mâsaleya Bamma: R. S. Panchamukhi (ed.), Karnataka Inscriptions, Vol. II., pp. 71–2 (Kannada Research Institute, Dharwar, 1951).

21 Another … Sei Bamma: Ibid., pp. 72–73.

22 Over … but still preserved: For example, one of the principal matrilineal clans of Tulunad bears the name ‘Bommiya-bai’. There is also a Bommi-eiya-bai among the many matriiineal bais mentioned in medieval inscriptions. See P. Gururaja Bhatt, Studies, pp. 243 & 250–1.

23 But divided … the Tuluva: Cf. P. Claus, ‘Spirit Possession and Spirit Mediumship from the Perspective of Tulu Oral Traditions’, (in Culture, Medicine & Psychiatry, 3:94–129, 1979). The distinctively Tuluva matrilineal system of law is known as Aiya-santâna law. By the rules of this system, men transmit their immoveable property, not to their own children, but matrilineally, to their sister’s children. But it is important to note that among the Tuluva, as with most groups that are characterized as ‘matrilineal’, these rules apply only to certain categories of property. P. Claus in his article ‘Terminological Aspects of Tuu Kinship: Kin Terms, Kin Sets, and Kin Groups of the Matrilineal Castes’ (in American Studies in the Anthropology of India, 1981) has very rightly questioned the usefulness of labels such as ‘matrilineal’ and ‘patrilineal’ in these circumstances (p. 213). In his view some Tuluva institutions are suggestive of double unilineal descent (p. 234). Where I have used the term ‘matrilineal’ without qualification it is purely for convenience; these qualifications must be taken for granted.

24 Equally, they shared in the worship of … Bhûtas: See, for instance, the following articles: Heidrun Brückner, ‘Bhûta-Worship in Coastal Karnâaka: An Oral Tuu myth and festival ritual of Jumâdi’, p. 18 (Studien zur Indologie und Iranistik, 13/14, Reinbek, 1987); P. Claus, ‘Possession, Protection and Punishment as Attributes of the Deities in a South Indian Village’, p. 235 (Man in India, 53:231–242, 1973); and Mark Nichter, ‘The Joga and Maya of Tuluva Buta’, p. 140, (Eastern Anthropologist, 30:2).

25 By tradition, each of the Tuluva castes: Mark Nichter, ‘The Joga and Maya of Tuluva Buta’, p. 143.

26 The cult was tied to the land: Mark Nichter, ‘Joga and Maya of Tuluva Buta’, p. 139. It is also worth noting that Tuluva Brahmins follow patrilineal rules of succession. (See P. Claus, ‘Terminological Aspects of Tulu Kinship: Kin Terms, Kin Sets, and Kin Groups of the Matrilineal Castes’, p. 214).

27 There was no contradiction: See Mark Nichter’s ‘Joga and Maya’ for a detailed account of the workings of this process.

28 Koti and Chennaya: Cf. G. R. Krishna, Caste and Tribes, p. 109.

29 Later, he explained … Berme: I am deeply grateful to Prof. B. A. Viveka Rai for this and many other comments and suggestions, for his unstinting generosity with his time and erudition, and for a great many other kindnesses. On the subject of Berme see H. Brückner, ‘Bhûta-Worship in Coastal Karnâtaka’, p. 29; and P. Claus, ‘Spirit Possession and Spirit Mediumship from the Perspective of Tulu Oral Traditions’, p. 40. Bermeru, or the Tulu Brahma is always depicted as a figure seated on a horse with a sword in hand. Cf. plates 437–8 in P. Gururaja Bhatt, Studies; and U. P. Upadhyaya & S. P. Upadhyaya (ed.), Bhuta Worship: Aspects of a Ritualistic Theatre, plate 4.

30 The letter in question: T — S 20.137 recto. Ben Yiju used the reverse side of this fragment for jotting down certain invaluable notes and accounts.

31 It is worth adding … this sum of money: These figures are computed on the basis of E. Ashtor’s statistics, pp. 200–201, (A Social and Economic History of the Near East in the Middle Ages, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1976.). The figures for mutton and olive oil are based on prices prevalent at the beginning of the eleventh century. There were however considerable differences in value between the Malikî dinars of Aden and Fatimid dinars, at various points in time. The reader is cautioned therefore, that these figures are, at best, very rough approximations.

32 Alternatively, … three adult Spaniards: Cf. S. D. Goitein, ‘Changes in the Middle East (950–1150)’. The ransom for an adult person in Spain at that time was 33⅓ dinars (p. 21).

33 .… the wage of any artisan: E. Ashtor, Social and Economic History, p. 200. Standard earnings were remarkably stable throughout the eleventh and twelfth centuries (cf. S. D. Goitein, ‘Urban Housing in Fatimid Times’, p. 9).

34 Madmun’s accounts show: T — S 20.137, recto, line 36–7; T — S N.S. J 1, recto, line 5–6.

35 enough to buy a … mansion in Fustat: See E. Ashtor, Histoire des prix et des salaires dans l’Orient médiéval, p. 184, Paris, 1969.

36 The expedition: S. D. Goitein, ‘Two Eye-Witness reports on an Expedition of the King of Kish (Qais) against Aden’, (Bulletin of the School of African and Oriental Studies, XVI/2, pp. 247–57, London, 1956).

37 The Amîrs of Kish … their depredations: Cf. Al-Idrisi, Kitâb, pp. 59, 153 & 171.

38 But … the pirates tried not to invite: For the attempts of the Sung government to control piracy in Chinese waters see Jung-Pang Lo’s article, ‘Maritime Commerce and its relation to the Sung Navy’, pp. 57–101 (Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, XI, pt. III, 1968). Lo points out: ‘the problem of piracy suppression was not just a simple matter of police action. Beside the unscrupulous merchants who were in league with the outlaws, there were respectable merchants who started out their career as pirates’, (p.74).

39 .… ever tried to gain control of the seas: The historian K. N. Chaudhuri, for instance remarks: ‘Before the arrival of the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean in 1498 there had been no organised attempt by any political power to control the sea-lanes and the long distance trade of Asia … The Indian Ocean as a whole and its different seas were not dominated by any particular nations or empires.’ (Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean, p. 14, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1985).

40 Sirâf: Sirâf was one of the most important ports of the Persian Gulf in the Middle Ages. See K. N. Chaudhuri’s Trade and Civilisation, p. 48; and Rita Rose Di Meglio’s article, ‘Arab Trade with Indonesia and the Malay Peninsula from the eighth to the sixteenth century’, p. 106 (in Islam and the Trade of Asia, ed. D. S. Richards).

41 Ramisht of Siraf: See S. M. Stern, ‘Râmisht of Sîrâf, a Merchant Millionaire of the Twelfth Century’, p. 10, (Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, pp. 10–14, 1967).

42 Ramisht’s trading empire: Cf. S. D. Goitein, Letters, p. 193.

43 ‘Thus God did not’: S. D. Goitein, ‘Two Eye-Witness Reports …’, p. 256.

44 ‘And after that’: T — S 20.137, recto, lines 1–5.

45 entirely different from … ‘slavery’: M. I. Finley, Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology, pp. 58–62, (Chatto and Windus, London, 1990).

46 Slavery … a kind of career opening: S. D. Goitein began the section on slavery in A Mediterranean Society (Vol. I) with the observation: ‘In order to be able to understand the economic role and the social position of slaves in the society reflected in the Geniza records, we must free ourselves entirely of the notions familiar to us from our readings about life on American plantations or in ancient Rome.’ (p. 130). In the extensive anthropological literature on the subject it has of course, long been recognized that it is almost impossible to distinguish formally between slavery and certain other social estates.’ (Cf. Claude Meillasoux, L’esclavage en Afrique précoloniale, Paris, 1975; and Jack Goody, ‘Slavery in Time and Space’, in James L. Watson ed. Asian and African Systems of Slavery, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1980).

47 In the medieval world, slavery: In various languages words that are now translated as ‘slave’ actually had the sense of dependant. For a discussion of the meaning and etymology of Chinese slave-terms, see E. G. Pulleybank, ‘The Origins and Nature of Chattel Slavery in China’, pp. 193–204, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. I, pt. 2, (E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1958).

48 In their poetry: M. Chidanandamurthy, in his account of slavery in medieval Karnataka, in Pâgaraa mattu itara samprabandhagau (‘Pagarana and other research papers’, Pustaka Chilume, Mysore, 1984) for instance, draws much of his material from the work of Basavaa and other Vachanakara saint-poets (I am grateful to Prof. B. A. Viveka Rai for translating portions of the relevant article for my benefit).

49 Judaism … felt the influence of Sufism: Cf. Paul Fenton’s translation of ‘Obadyâh Maimonides’, (1228–1265), Treatise of the Pool, pp. 2–3 (Octagon Press, London, 1981). Fenton’s introduction provides an outline of Sufi influences on Jewish mysticism.

50 Egypt, in particular: See for example S. D. Goitein’s ‘A Jewish Addict to Sufism in the time of the Nagid David II Maimonides’, (Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. 44, pp. 37–49 1953–54).

51 worthier disciples’: S. D. Goitein, ‘Abraham Maimonides and the Pietist Circle’, p. 146, (in Jewish Medieval and Renaissance Studies, ed. Alexander Altmann).

52 Their own conceptions: See Annemarie Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam, p. 141–3 (University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1975).

53 For the Sufis … the notion of being held by bonds: Forms of the Arabic root which expresses the idea ‘to bind, tie up’, r-b-, are threaded through Sufi discourse: they range from the brotherhoods called raba to the murâbi (marabouts) of Morocco and rabita kurmak, the Turkish phrase which expresses the tie between the Sufi Shaikh and his disciples. (See Annemarie Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions, pp. 231 & 237).

54 ‘the slave of his slave’: Ibid., p. 292; see also Franz Rosenthal’s The Muslim Concept of Freedom Prior to the Nineteenth Century, p. 93, (Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1960).

55 Amongst the members of: A large number of documents relating to such esoteric and magical cults, as well as protective talismans etc. have survived in the Geniza. See Norman Golb, ‘Aspects of the Historical Background of Jewish Life in Medieval Egypt’, pp. 12–16. The custom of visiting saint’s graves was followed widely within the congregation of the Synagogue of Ben Ezra in Fustat (see, for example, S. D. Goitein’s article, The Sexual Mores of the Common People’, p. 58). For the use of talismans in North African Jewish communities in modern times see Yedida Stillman, The Evil Eye in Morocco’, (in Folklore Research Centre Studies, Vol. I, ed. Dov Noy, Issachar Ben-Ami, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 1970).

56 it was … dismissed: P. Gururaja Bhatt, for example, writes: ‘devil-worship has been, for centuries, the core of the Tuuva cult among the non-Brahmins.’ (Studies, p. 356).

57 The spot was tended by a Pujari: For the role of the Pujari in Bhûtaradhana see G. R. Krishna’s Caste and Tribes, pp. 175–8.

58 Over the years … Bomma’s role: See for example, S. D. Goitein, Letters, p. 191; E. Strauss, ‘Documents’, p. 149 (line 23 ‘to brother Bomma especially from me, plentiful greetings’); and T — S 18 J 4, fol. 18, recto, line 47, ‘and special greetings to Shaikh Bomma’.

59 Among the items he brought back: T — S 20.137, recto, lines 46–48, & T — S N.S. J 1, recto, lines 8–11. Coral was an important product of the medieval Muslim west. It was obtained from the coasts of Spain and North Africa (Cf. Norman Stillman, The Merchant House of Ibn ‘Awkal’, p. 63). Soap was another luxury item exported by the Muslim west. Stillman writes: ‘It was the Arabs who first discovered that soap could be made from olive oil instead of foul-smelling animal fats. The Arabs often perfumed their soap, and in Europe soap from the Arab countries was considered an article of luxury.’ (p. 66, ibid.). Ben Yiju frequently imported soap from Aden to Mangalore.

60 They wear only bandages’: R. H. Major, India in the Fifteenth Century, p. 17. ‘Abd al-Razzaq notes that this apparel was common to ‘the king and to the beggar’. See Goitein’s discussion of attitudes towards clothing as they are represented in the Geniza documents (A Mediterranean Society, Vol. IV, pp. 153–159, 1983).

61 Several … mention imported Egyptian robes: These garments were referred to as futa and maqa’. See, for example, T — S 1080 J 95, recto, lines 8–9; T — S 10 J 9, fol. 24, lines 14–15; T — S 20.137, recto, line 48; and T — S 10 J 12, fol. 5, verso, line 9, & T — S 10 J 9, fol. 24, recto, lines 14–15 (maqa’ iskandarânî). For cloths that he may have used as turbans, see T — S 8 J 7, fol. 23, recto margin.

62 ‘I have also … sent for you’: T — S 18 J 2, fol. 7, recto, lines 15–18.

63 In the Middle East … paper: For treatments of the medieval paper industry in the Middle East, see S. D. Goitein, The Main Industries of the Mediterranean Area as Reflected in the Records of the Cairo Geniza’, pp. 189–193 (Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. IV, 1961); and E. Ashtor, ‘Levantine Sugar Industry in the Later Middle Ages — An Example of Technological Decline’, pp. 266–73, (Israel Oriental Studies, VII, Tel Aviv University, 1977). For the role of paper in medieval Muslim culture, see Qazi Ahmadmian Akhtar, The Art of Waraqat’, (Islamic Culture, pp. 131–45, Jan. 1935); and ‘Bibliophilism in Medieval Islam’, (Islamic Culture, pp. 155–169, April 1938). There is of course an extensive literature on the manufacture of books in the Islamic world in the Middle Ages. See for example, T.W. Arnold & A. Grohmann, The Islamic Book, (Paris, Pegasus Press, 1929).

64 ‘the best available’: T — S K 25. 252, verso, lines 14–15.

65 ‘no one has its like’: T — S 18 J 2, fol. 7, recto, lines 19–20. For some other references to paper (waraq) in Ben Yiju’s correspondence see T — S 8 J 7, fol. 23, verso, line 1 (waraq Marî); T — S 18 J 4, fol. 18, recto, line 42; T — S Misc. Box 25, fragm. 103, recto, line 48; & T — S N.S. J 1, recto, line 9.

66 Much of his kitchenware: For mention of ‘iron frying-pans’ (maqlâ hadîd) see T — S 20.137, recto, line 47; for glasses (zajjâj), 20.137, recto, line 45; T — S MS Or. 1081 J 3, recto, lines 7; and for soap (âbûn), T — S 10 J 9, fol. 24, recto, line 16; T — S 8 J 7, fol. 23, recto margin, and T — S 20.137, recto, line 48.

67 For his mats: For references to mats from Berbera (uar barbarî) see T — S 18 J 2, fol. 7, recto, line 12; T — S 20.137, recto, line 46; and T — S K 25.252, recto, line 21. For mention of a ‘Barûjî anfasa’ see T — S K 25.252, recto, line 23.

68 His friends … sent him raisins’: For references to sugar (sukkar in Ben Yiju’s correspondence) see, T — S 10 J 12, fol. 5, recto, line 22; T — S 10 J 9, fol. 24, recto, line 16; T — S K 25.252, verso, line 13; T — S 18 J 2, fol. 7, recto, line 22; T — S Misc. Box 25. 103, recto, line 43; T — S N.S. J 1, recto, line 9; and (National and University Library, Jerusalem) Geniza MS H.6, line 18 (E. Strauss, ‘Documents …’). For raisins (zabîb) see T — S 18 J 5, fol. 1, recto, line 23; T — S N.S. J 1, recto, line 9; T — S K 25.252, verso, line 13; T — S 10 J 9, fol. 24, recto, line 16; T — S 18 J 2, fol. 7, recto, line 22; T — S Misc. Box 25, fragm. 103, recto, line 43; T — S 8 J 7, fol. 23, recto margin; and (National and University Library, Jerusalem) Geniza MS H.6, line 19 (E. Strauss, ‘Documents …’).

69 The various kinds of palm-sugar: Failing to find sugar in Aden once, Khalaf ibn Ishaq commented ‘Your servant looked for sugar, but there is none to be had this year,’ as though in apology for the deprivation he was inflicting on his friend (T — S 18 J 5, fol. 1, recto, margin).

70 If it seems curious: Ben Yiju’s imports of sugar offer a sidelight on the history of that commodity in India. Sugar cane is, of course, native to India and is even mentioned in the Vedas. In his article, ‘Sugar-Making in Ancient India’ (Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, VII, pt. 1, 1964, pp. 57–72) Lallanji Gopal points out that processes for the manufacturing of refined sugar are mentioned in the Jatakas and were evidently well-known in India since antiquity. Yet, the travellers who visited the Malabar in the later Middle Ages (such as Marco Polo), generally refer to sugar made from palm products, not cane-sugar (p. 68, fn.). This must mean either that cane-sugar was not manufactured in India on a commercial scale or that the process was not widely in use on the Malabar coast. At any rate, the fact that Ben Yiju imported sugar from the Middle East indicates clearly that refined sugar was not generally available in the Malabar coast, and was probably not commercially produced in India at the time. By the sixteenth century, however, sugar had become a major export in Bengal (cf. Archibald Lewis, ‘Maritime Skills in the Indian Ocean’, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, XVI, pts. II–III, 1973). This means that processes of sugar manufacturing had been widely adopted in India in the intervening centuries — possibly from the Middle East. This may be the reason why the names of certain sugar products in India still invoke Middle Eastern origins.

71 In the Middle Ages, it was Egypt: The reader is referred to E. Ashtor’s excellent article ‘The Levantine Sugar Industry in the Later Middle Ages — An Example of Technological Decline’, (Israel Oriental Studies, VII, Tel Aviv Univ., 1977). See also Norman Stillman’s ‘The Merchant House of Ibn ‘Awkal’, p. 47.

72 As fishermen … free of restrictions: However, it is worth noting that the origins and nature of the prohibition on sea travel for Hindus (‘crossing the black water’) of which so much was made in the nineteenth century, are extremely obscure. The indications are that the privileging of restrictions on sea-travel amongst Hindus was a relatively late, possibly post-colonial development. For a useful discussion of this question the reader is referred to M. N. Pearson’s excellent article ‘Indian Seafarers in the Sixteenth Century’, p. 132, (in M. N. Pearson, Coastal Western India, Studies from the Portuguese Records, Concept Publishing Co., New Delhi, 1981).

73 Soon after I reached Mangalore … Bobbariya-bhuta: See U. P. Upadhyaya & S. P. Upadhyaya, Bhuta Worship, p. 60; B. A. Saletore, Ancient Karnataka, p. 461, (Oriental Book Agency, Poona, 1936); and K. Sanjiva Prabhu, Special Study Report on Bhuta Cult in South Kanara District, pp. 143–4, (Census of India, Series 14, Mysore, 1971). The legends and rituals associated with the Bobbariya-Bhuta are discussed at some length in G. R. Krishna’s Caste and Tribes, (pp. 180–5), which is a detailed study of the Magavira caste.

74 No Magavira settlement … without its Bobbariya shrine: U. P. Upadhyaya & S. P. Upadhyaya, Bhuta Worship, p. 60.

75 ‘With a whole temple’: Allama Prabhu, trans. A. K. Ramanujan, Speaking of Siva, p. 153 (Penguin Books, London, 1987).

76 The kâ[r]dâr’: T — S 20.137, verso, 2–4. In this account Ben Yiju misspells the word ‘kârdâr’ as kâdâr.

77 ‘You my master’: S. D. Goitein, Letters, p. 193. I have substituted the words ‘disgrace’ and ‘censure’ for the words ‘excommunicate’ and ‘excommunication’. The words used in the manuscript (T — S 12.320 recto) are two forms of the Arabic root ‘sh-m-t’. I am informed by Dr Geoffrey Khan that this is not the root that is normally used to designate excommunication in the Geniza documents; it should be read instead as ‘the metathesized form of sh-t-m (to insult, defame), which is used in Maghrebî Arabic …’ The letter would, therefore, be referring to some form of public defamation, or ‘rogues gallery’ (personal communication). Prof. Goitein probably used the term ‘excommunicate’ on the assumption that the ‘kârdâl’ was Jewish. The evidence, as we shall see, suggests otherwise.

78 kârdâl: The word must have been unfamiliar to Yûsuf ibn Abraham for he misspelled it as ‘kârdâl’.

79 ‘As for the delay: T — S 18 J 4, fol. 18, recto, lines 25–28. It is worth noting that among Khalaf and his friends ‘reminding a person of a debt was almost an insult’, (S. D. Goitein, ‘Portrait of a Medieval India Trader’, p. 452).

80 He and Yusuf continued: For a somewhat fuller version of the affair of the kârdâr’s cardamom see my article, ‘The Slave of MS H.6’, (in Subaltern Studies, Vol. VII, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1992). I would like to take this opportunity to thank the faculty of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (where this book was mainly written) for their comments and criticisms of an earlier version of that article. I also wish to thank Professor Asok Sen, Ranabir Samaddar, Tapati Guha Thakurta, Anjan Ghosh, Pradip Bose and Tapti Roy for the many discussions and arguments with which they have enriched my thinking. Partha Chatterjee has been a constant (if laconic) source of support and encouragement for many years and his comments and suggestions on this manuscript have been invaluable to me. To thank him would be an impertinence.

81 The clue lies … in a throwaway scrap: The sentence goes thus: ‘Remaining (with me) for Nâîr, the brother of the kârdâr, 3 fîlî dirham-s.’ T — S N.S. J 10, verso, margin.

82 Long active … Gujarati merchants: Cf. K. N. Pearson, Merchants and Rulers in Gujarat, pp. 7–12 (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1976). The Vanias were usually referred to as a single group in Ben Yiju’s papers — Baniyân — but they were actually composed of many different sub-castes (see Pearson’s Merchants and Rulers, p. 26). For the transoceanic dispersal of Gujarati traders in the Middle Ages, see Paul Wheatley’s The Golden Khersonese, p. 312 (University of Malaya Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1961). Wheatley quotes an observation by Tomé Pires, the sixteenth-century Portuguese chronicler, that of the 4,000 foreign merchants resident in Malacca in 1509, 1,000 were Gujaratis. See also R. B. Serjeant, The Portuguese off the South Arabian Coast, p. 10 (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1963); M. N. Pearson’s article, ‘Indian Seafarers in the Sixteenth Century’, p. 132; and Archibald Lewis’s article, ‘Maritime Skills in the Indian Ocean’, pp. 243–4.

83 Madmun, for one: In one of his letters Madmun asked Ben Yiju to inform his Gujarati contacts about the probable behaviour of the prices of pepper and iron in the Middle East in the coming year (T — S 18 J 2, fol. 7, verso, lines 3–6). See also S. D. Goitein’s article, ‘From Aden to India’, p.53.

84 Ben Yiju … served as a courier: Cf. T — S N.S. J 1, verso, line 4–10.

85 Madmun … proposed a joint venture: T — S 18 J 2, fol. 7, verso, lines 1–2. Curiously Ishaq is referred to as ‘the Bâniyân’. The names of the others are spelt: Kanâbtî and Sûs Sîtî respectively. I am grateful to Prof. B. A. Viveka Rai for the suggestion that the latter could be ‘Sesu Shetty’. Cf. also Goitein, ibid.

86 Equally, the ships: S. D. Goitein thought it possible that the name of the powerful Kârimî merchants association was derived from the Tamil word kâryam, ‘which, among other things, means “business, affairs” ’ (‘The Beginnings of the Kârim Merchants’, p. 183).

87 Among the … nâkhudas: For ‘Pattani-svâmi’ see Goitein, Letters, p. 188, fn. One NMBRNI is mentioned as a shipowner by Madmun (T — S N 25.252 recto, line 13). For a discussion of the meaning of the term nâkhuda (which is spelt in various different ways in Ben Yiju’s documents), see M. N. Pearson’s ‘Indian Seafarers in the 16th. century’, p. 118.

88 ‘between him and me’: Goitein, Letters, p. 64. The letter was addressed to Abu Zikri Sijilmasi, who was in Gujarat.

89 In addition, Ben Yiju … connected with … metalworkers: Bronze objects and utensils that Ben Yiju shipped to his friends are referred to repeatedly in the documents. See, for example, T — S K 25.252, verso, line 11; T — S Misc. Box 24, fragm. 103, recto, line 34;; T — S 18 J 5, fol. 1, line 13; T — S 18 J 4, fol. 18, recto, line 35; & T — S 8 J 7, fol. 23 recto, line 4. Locks are referred to it the following documents, T — S K 25.252, verso, line 11 & T — S 18 J 2, fol. 7, recto, line 7. See also S. D. Goitein, Letters, p. 192–5.

90 The names of these craftsmen: The workmen’s names, spelt ‘Iyârî and LNGY appear to be variants of the Tamil Brahmin name Ayyar and the name-element Linga. Imports of copper, lead and bronze for the workshop are frequently alluded to in his papers. See for example, T — S K 25.252, recto, lines 6 & 28; & T — S 8 J 7, fol. 23, verso, line 6. See also S. D. Goitein, Letters, pp. 192–194.

91 Membership … involved binding understandings: The economy of Fatimid Egypt was, to use Goitein’s words, largely a ‘paper economy’—that is payments were generally made not in cash, but by debt transfers, letters of credit and orders of payment. Cf. S. D. Goitein, ‘Changes in the Middle East (950–1150)’, p. 19; ‘Bankers Accounts from the Eleventh Century AD’, pp. 28–68; and A Mediterranean Society, Vol. I, pp. 241–62. See also W. J. Fischel, ‘The Spice Trade in Mamluk Egypt’, p. 170; and A. L. Udovitch, ‘Commercial Techniques’, p.53–61. Ben Yiju’s papers and accounts suggest that this paper economy was not localized in Egypt or the Middle East. There are several references in Ben Yiu’s papers to credit arrangements between himself, his friends in Aden and Indian merchants.

92 Common sense suggests … the language: The cultural and linguistic diversity of the regions surrounding the Indian Ocean were represented in microcosm in all its major ports. A Portuguese observer, Tomé Pires, who spent two and a half years in Malacca at the beginning of the sixteenth century, reported that eighty-four languages could be heard in the streets of that city — Babel realized! (Cf. Paul Wheatley, The Golden Khersonese, p. 312). Taken at face value, that figure would suggest that communication had effectively ceased in Malacca — or that it was possible only within tiny speech communities.

93 Given what we know: See Kees Versteegh, Pidginization and Creolization: The Case of Arabic, p. 114 (Current Issues in Linguistic Theory: 33, Amsterdam, 1984); and Keith Whinnom, ‘Lingue France: Historical Problems’, p. 296 (in A.Valdman (ed.) Pidgin and Creole Linguistics, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1977).

94 The Arab geographer Mas’udi: S. Muhammad Husayn Nainar, The Knowledge of India Possessed by Arab Geographers down to the 14th. century AD with special reference to Southern India, p. 95 (Madras University Islamic Series, University of Madras, 1942).

95 Ben Yiju’s usage: See for example, Mas’udi, Murûj, Vol. I, p. 163, and Al-Idrisi, Kitâb, Vol. I, pp. 162–183. The names ‘în’ and ‘China’ may of course derive from Sanskrit and Prakrit words (see the article ‘The Name China’ by Berthold Laufer in T’oung Pao, II/13, pp. 719–26, 1912, and Paul Pelliot’s article ‘L’Origine du nom de ’, in the same issue (pp. 727–742).

96 India, … as the Arab geographers well knew: G. Ferrand, Voyage du Marchand Arabe Sulayman, p. 48; and Mas’udi, Murûj, p. 162.

97 For several centuries … a king called the Ballahrâ: Several medieval Arab geographers and travel writers asserted that the ‘Ballahrâ’ was India’s ‘king of kings’, the pre-eminent ruler in the land. Thus, Ibn Khurda-dhbih, writing in the ninth century remarked ‘the greatest king of India is the Ballahrâ or king of kings,’ while one of his contemporaries noted: “The Ballahrâ is the most noble of the princes of India; the Indians recognise his superiority.’ (Gabriel Ferrand, Relations de Voyages et Textes Géographiques, Arabes, Persanes et Turks, Relatifs à l’Extrème-Orient du VIIIe au XVIIIe Siècles, Vol. I, pp. 22 & 42, Ernest Leroux, Paris, 1913). Mas’udi, writing in the tenth century, observed: ‘The most powerful of the kings of India is the Ballahra, the lord of the city of Mankir. Most Indian chiefs turn towards him when they say their prayers.’ (Murûj, Vol. I, p. 177). Al-Idrisi was to add his considerable authority to these statements a couple of centuries later (see Kitâb, p. 47, and G. Ferrand, Relations, p. 196). See also André Miquel, La Géographie humaine du Monde Musulman jusqu’au milieu du 11e siècle, Vol. II, p. 84 (Mouton, Paris, 1975).

98 An eminent scholar: S. M. H. Nainar, The Knowledge of India, pp. 138–140.

99 .… small kingdoms and principalities: As Ibn Battuta put it: ‘In (the Malabar) there are twelve infidel sultans, some of them strong with armies numbering fifty thousand men, and others weak with armies of three thousand. Yet there is no discord whatever between them, and the strong does not desire to seize the possessions of the weak.’ (Travels, p. 232).

100 The place … known as ‘Jurbattan’: S. M. H. Nainar, The Knowledge of India, p. 41.

101 After about two days … ‘Budfattan’: S. M. H. Nainar, The Knowledge of India, pp. 29–30. The town is also known as Valarapattanam.

102 For much of the distance: Ibn Battuta, Travels, p. 232.

103 ‘Dahfattan’ … lies: S. M. H. Nainar, The Knowledge of India, p. 32. The town is also known as Dharmapattanam.

104 A little further … Pantalayini Kollam: S. M. H. Nainar, The Knowledge of India, p. 35.

105 Cabrai delivered a letter: Cf. K. N. Chaudhuri, Trade and Civilisation, p. 68.

106 The Portuguese fleet sailed: Cf. R. S. Whiteway, The Rise of Portuguese Power in India 1497–1550, pp. 86–7.

107 A year … later … da Gama returned: Cf. George D. Winius, ‘From Discovery to Conquest’, p. 224, (in Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415–1580, by Bailey W. Diffie and George D. Winius, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1977).

108 ‘The heathen [of Gujarat]’: Quoted by M. N. Pearson, in ‘Indian Seafarers in the Sixteenth Century’, p. 121.

109 ‘between resistance and submission’: M. N. Pearson, Merchants and Rulers, p. 69. See also C. R. Boxer, The Portuguese Seaborne Empire, 1415–1825, p. 46 (A. A. Knopf, New York, 1969).

110 As far as the Portuguese were concerned: In 1595 Philip II of Spain took matters a step farther and ‘decreed that no non-Christian resident in Western India could trade, either directly or through an intermediary, to places other than those on the Western India coast.’ (M. N. Pearson, Merchants and Rulers, p. 53).

111 In 1509AD: See M. N. Pearson, Merchants and Rulers, p. 31; George D. Winius, p. 240–1 (in Foundations of the Portuguese Empire) and S. A. I. Tirmizi, ‘Portuguese problems under the Muzaffarids’ (in Some Aspects of Medieval Gujarat, Munshiram Manoharlal, Delhi, 1968).

Going Back

1 The news … from Ifriqiya: H. Wieruszowski, ‘The Norman Kingdom of Sicily and the Crusades’, p. 22.

2 ‘Shaikh Abû Isâq: T — S 18 J 4, fol. 18, recto, lines 33–5.

3 ‘Concerning the news’: T — S Misc. Box 25, fragm. 103, recto, lines 27–9.

4 ‘My master [Ben Yiju]’: T — S 13 J 7, fol. 27, recto, lines 15–18. Altogether, five of Ben Yiju’s letters, three from Khalaf ibn Ishaq and two from Yusuf ibn Abraham, refer to Mubashshir. These letters appear to have been written over a relatively short period of time. The last in the sequence is probably the letter of MS H.6 (from Khalaf ibn Ishaq) which has been dated by Strauss as having been written in 1148AD. Another letter from Khalaf, (T — S Misc. Box 24, fragm. 103) has been dated to 1147 by S. D. Goitein (cf. S. Shaked, Tentative Bibliography, pp. 147). Since Mubashshir’s stay in Egypt was probably not a very long one, it seems likely that the others were written in the couple of years immediately preceding 1147. The five letters are: T — S 12.235 (from Yusuf ibn Abraham); T — S 13 J 7, fol. 27 (from Yusuf ibn Abraham); T — S 18 J 4, fol. 18, (from Khalaf ibn Ishaq); T — S Misc. Box 25, fragm. 103, (from Khalaf ibn Ishaq); MS H.6, E. Strauss, ‘Documents’, (from Khalaf ibn Ishaq).

5 ‘As for the news’: T — S 13 J 7, fol. 27, recto, lines 18–19;

6 Disease and famine had followed: Cf. H. Wieruszowski, ‘The Norman Kingdom of Sicily and the Crusades’, p. 23.

7 In western Europe: Cf. Virginia G. Berry, ‘The Second Crusade’, p. 463–512, in K. M. Setton (Gen. ed.) A History of the Crusades, Vol. I, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1969.

8 ‘Behold the days of reckoning’: The Jews and the Crusaders (The Hebrew Chronicles of the First and Second Crusades), p. 123, (translated and edited by Shlomo Eidelberg, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1977).

9 They were relatively lucky: H, Z. Hirschberg, History of the Jews in North Africa, p. 128, and ‘The Almohade Persecutions and the India Trade’, in Yitzhak F. Baer Jubilee Volume (ed. S. W. Baeon et. al., History Society of Israel, Jerusalem, 1960).

10 The letter … by Abu Zikri’s son: H. Z. Hirschberg, The Almohade Persecutions and the India Trade’. This letter contains an extraordinary usage: the writer uses the Arabic word fata (victory, lit. ‘opening’), which has the sense of ‘liberated’, to describe the Almohad entry into Tlemcen — an event that he clearly regarded as a disaster. It is a striking instance of the ironies that Judæo-Arabic sometimes imposed on its users (line 41, p. 142).

11 Not long before: Cf. S. D. Goitein, Letters, pp. 62–65.

12 On that occasion, Ben Yiju: The nakhuda Mahruz frequently acted as a courier for Ben Yiju and his friends and is mentioned several times in their letters (Cf. T — S 8 J 7, fol. 23, recto, line 3; T — S N.S. J 10, verso, 1st. Account, line 9, 2nd. Account, line 1. See also S. D. Goitein, Letters, pp. 62–5. Goitein notes there that Mahruz’s sister was married to Judah b. Joseph ha-Kohen (Abu Zikri Sijilmasi).

13 ‘I asked [some people]’: Cf. E. Strauss, ‘Documents’, p. 149 (lines 10–14, MS H.6).

14 ‘Every year you speak’: Cf. E. Strauss, ‘Documents’ p. 149 (lines 23–4, MS H.6).

15 ‘I do not know’: The catalogue number of this document is T — S 10 J 10, fol. 15. This letter was first transcribed and published by J. Braslawsky in Zion, (7, pp. 135–139) in 1942. Goitein also published an English translation of it in 1973 (Letters, pp. 201–6). All except one of the following quotations from this document are taken from Goitein’s translation.

16 ‘[Therefore], I ask you’: I have made the word ‘brother’ plural here to preserve the implied sense of the passage.

17 ‘I heard of what happened’: I have translated this passage directly from Braslawsky’s transcription (Cf. Zion, 7, p. 138), (T — S 10 J 10, fol. 15, lines 41–44 [verso 5–8]).

18 ‘I wished to ask’: Bod. Lib. Ox. MS Hebr., d. 66, fol. 139, recto, lines 6–12.

19 Such were the misfortunes: The chronology of this period of Ben Yiju’s life is not easy to establish. The document T — S 12.337 appears to have been written some three years or so after T — S 10 J 10, fol. 15, which Goitein has dated as being written on 11 September 1149 (Letters, p. 201). This plus the sequence of documents and events that follow upon it, suggest that T — S 12.337 was written in 1152–3 or thereabouts.

20 ‘I wrote a letter to you’: T — S 12.337, recto, lines 4–6.)

21 ‘I did all … in my power’: T — S 12.337, recto, lines 6–8.)

22 ‘As for Mubashir’: T — S 12.337, recto margin.

23 .… the joyful name Surûr: ‘Surur’ was of course, the diminutive for Faria (Perayâ), and both names derive from roots that have the connotation of ‘joyfulness’ (cf. Goitein, Letters, p. 327, fn.). Farhia was also Ben Yiju’s father’s name which was why both he and his brother Yusuf named their first-born sons Farhia (Surur). Ben Yiju was in fact sometimes addressed by the tekonym ‘Abû Surûr’ or ‘father of Surur’

24 ‘two children like sprigs’: T — S 12.337, recto, line 13.

25 ‘And the elder’: T — S 12.337, recto, lines 14–16.,

26 Dhû Jibîa: G. R. Smith, Ayyûbids and Early Rasûlids, p. 66.

27 ‘The news reached your … slave: T — S 10 J 13, fol. 6, lines 13–17. The second part of the quotation (lines 14–17) are in Hebrew, and were kindly translated for me by Dr Geoffrey Khan. See also S. Shaked’s Tentative Bibliography, p. 102.

28 Ben Yiju … a Hebrew poem: T — S 8 J 16, fol. 23. Cf. S. Shaked’s Tentative Bibliography, p. 86.

29 Such documentation as there is: Such was his position that one of his correspondents of that time used phrases such as ‘the gracious sage’, ‘the head of the community’ and other such honorifics to address him. Cf. T — S 10 J 13, fol. 6, lines 5 and 7 (I am grateful to Dr Geoffrey Khan for translating these honorifics for me). A document containing parts of three legal opinions written by Ben Yiju, suggest that he had some judicial functions within the community. They are written on the reverse side of a letter that Yusuf ibn Abraham had sent to him in Mangalore (T — S 10 J 9, fol. 24), but Goitein was of the opinion that the drafts were written after Ben Yiju’s departure from India, ‘probably in Yemen’ (S. Shaked, Tentative Bibliography, p. 100).

30 Yet there must … have been anxieties: The letter in question is Bod. Lib. Ox. MS Hebr. d. 66 (Catalogue n. 2878), fol. 61. Lines 10–15 deal with the safety of the roads and were evidently written in answer to a query from Ben Yiju. The Yemen in this period was riven by struggles between the Mahdids and the Najâids (see G. R. Smith, Ayyûbids and Early Rasûlids, p. 58).

31 .… such marriages were commonplace: Khalaf’s relative Madmun for example, was married to the sister of Abu Zikri Sijilmasi, who was, of course, originally from the Maghreb (see S. D. Goitein, Letters, p. 62).

32 Instead, he began to dream: For a brief review of the literature on cousin marriage in the Middle East see J. M. B. Keyser’s article, ‘The Middle Eastern Case: Is There a Marriage Rule?’, (Ethnology, 13, pp. 293–309).

33 ‘Shaikh Khalaf [ibn Ishaq]’: T — S 12.337, recto, lines 20–25.

34 ‘and we will rejoice’: T — S 12.337, recto, line 19.

35 ‘Address your letters to me’: T — S 12.337, recto, lines 30–32.

36 ‘Suliman and Abraham’: T — S 12.337, recto, line 34 & margin.

37 But it had other compensations: At this time, and until well afterwards, the Jews of Sicily looked to North Africa in matters of liturgy and religion (see David S. H. Abulafia, ‘The End of Muslim Sicily’, in Muslims Under Latin Rule, ed. James M. Boswell, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1990).

38 The young Surur: My description of Surur’s voyage to Messina is based on S. D. Goitein’s translation of the letter he wrote home after reaching that city (Letters, pp. 327–330).

39 Sulîmân ibn arûn: Mentioned in Ben Yiju’s second letter to Yusuf (T — S 12.337, recto, lines 25–6)

40 In this instance, … in a letter: In his letter home Surur evidently spelt this name as ‘Ben Silûn’. Goitein points out in his translation of this letter, that the name is identical with ‘Ibn arûn’ and it seems almost certain the individual in question was the same person that Ben Yiju referred to in his letter to his brother Yusuf (T — S 12.337, lines 25–26.)

41 The letter … was a short one: The letter contains a reference to one ‘Abû’l Fakhr al-Amshâî’ who was a family friend, and Surur’s contact in Fustat.

42 But Surur had … another reason: T — S 8 J 36, fol. 3, recto, lines 4–6.

43 Their parents, already prostrate: Surur’s letter home has not survived, but the letter his brother Shamwal wrote back in reply has. Its catalogue number is Bod. Lib. Ox. MS Hebr., b. 11 (Cat. no. 2874), fol. 15 (S. Shaked, Tentative Bibliography, p. 207).

44 ‘We were seized with grief: Bod. Lib. Ox. MS Hebr., b. 11 (Cat. no. 2874), fol. 15, recto, lines 8–9. I would like to thank Dr Geofrrey Khan for translating the Hebrew phrase in this passage (in italics).

45 ‘well and in good cheer’: T — S 13 J 20, fol. 7, recto, lines 22–23.

46 Food was short: Bod. Lib. Ox. MS Hebr., b. 11 (Cat. no. 2874), fol. 15, recto, lines 34–35 & 36–37.

47 ‘If you saw [our] father’: Bod. Lib. Ox. MS Hebr., b. 11 (Cat. no. 2874), fol. 15, lines (recto) 45—(verso) 4 & (verso) 8–13.

48 ‘Come quickly home’: T — S 16.288, recto, lines 10–11.

49 The marriage did indeed take place: S. D. Goitein, Letters, pp. 202.

50 Both Surur and Moshe: Ibid., pp. 186 & 328.

51 I discovered that the name Abu-Hasira: The most important scholarly work on the cult of saints amongst North African Jews is that of the eminent Israeli folklorist, Issachar Ben-Ami. See, for example, his article ‘Folk Veneration of Saints among Moroccan Jews’, (in Studies in Judaism and Islam, ed. Shelomo Morag et al., Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1981). In the course of their fieldwork amongst Moroccan Jews Ben Ami and his associates compiled a list of 571 saints, twenty-one of whom were women. The French scholar, L. Voinot, estimated in 1948 that forty-five Jewish saints in Morocco were revered by Muslims and Jews alike while thirty-one were claimed by both Jews and Muslims as their own (quoted by Ben-Ami in ‘Folk Veneration of Saints’, p. 283).

52 ‘The tomb of Rabbi’: See Alex Weingrod’s article, ‘Saints and Shrines, politics and culture: a Morocco-Israel comparison’, pp. 228 (in Muslim Travellers, ed. Dale F. Eickelman and James Piscatori, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1990); Gudrun Krämer, The Jews in Modern Egypt, 1914–1952, pp. 114. University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1989; Issachar Ben-Ami, ‘Folk Veneration of Saints’, pp. 324–328; and Baba Sali, His Life, Piety, Teachings and Miracles (Rav Yisrael Abuchatzeirah), by Rav Eliyahu Alfasi & Rav Yechiel Torgeman, written and edited by C. T. Bari, trans. Leah Doniger (Judaica Press Inc., New York, 1986).

Epilogue

1 The document is one of Ben Yiju’s sets of accounts: Dropsie 472. The following are the other Geniza documents I have used in reconstructing Bomma and Ben Yiju’s lives. This list includes only those documents with which I have worked principally or in part from my own transcriptions, made directly from the manuscripts (in such instances where I have worked with published transcriptions or translations, the references are provided in the endnotes). I would like to thank the Syndics of the University Library, Cambridge, for giving me permission to use and quote from these documents. I would also like to thank the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and the Annenberg Research Centre, Philadelphia, for allowing me to consult their Geniza collections.

l. T — S 12.235

2. T — S 12.337

3. T — S 16.288

4. T — S 20.130

5. T — S 20.137

6. T — S N.S. J 1

7. T — S N.S. J 5

8. T — S N.S. J 10

9. T — S K 25.252

10. T — S MS Or. 1080 J 95

11. T — S MS Or. 1080 J 263

12. T — S MS Or. 1081 J 3

13. T — S Misc. Box. 25, fragm. 103

14. T — S 6 J 4, fol. 14

15. T — S 8 J 7, fol. 23

16. T — S 8 J 36, fol. 3

17. T — S 10 J 9, fol. 24

18. T — S 10 J 10, fol. 15

19. T — S 10 J 12, fol. 5

20. T — S 10 J 13, fol. 6

21. T — S 13 J 7, fol. 13

22. T — S 13 J 7, fol. 27

23. T — S 13 J 20, fol. 7

24. T — S 13 J 24, fol. 2

25. T — S 18 J 2, fol. 7

26. T — S 18 J 4, fol. 18

27. T — S 18 J 5, fol. 1

28. Bod. Lib. Ox. MS Hebr., b. 11, fol. 15

29. Bod. Lib. Ox. MS Hebr., d. 66, fol. 61

30. Bod. Lib. Ox. MS Hebr., d. 66, fol. 139