Indian Antiquary Vol 52

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 437

MAY, 1923]
NOTES ON PIRACY IN EASTERN WATERS
9
Sanganians.
26. The Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsiang (about 630 A.D.) describes the inhabitants of Saurashtra (i.e., Gujarat) as sea-faring (Mukherji, p. 169). At the end of the seventh century the enterprise of these Sanganian pirates of Cutch and Kathiawar, who united themselves with the Meds and Kerks of Sind, was so great that they extended their operations to the Red Sea as far as Jeddah and to the Persian Gulf and banks of the Euphrates, in which latter locality they were sometimes associated with the Jats, though the Jats were just as ready to attack the Indian coast as the Arabian (Bomb. Gaz., XIII, 433). The whole power of the Khalifs was brought against these marauders during the 8th and 9th centuries, and when conquered, the pirates were transported to Asia Minor (Bomb. Gaz., XIII, ii, 714). Ebn Hankal, writing in the 10th century, says that Abadon, on the Persian Gulf, was one of the stations where sentinels were placed on watch against pirates (Ouseley, Oriental Geography, p. 11).
27. During the 7th century Gurjjaras, chiefly of the Chapa or Chavada clan, rose to power in Dwarka and Somnath. In 740 they established themselves at Anahilvada Patan. Their kings, especially Vanaraja (720-780) and Yogaraja (806-841), made great efforts to put down piracy, and succeeded in driving the Jats from the Gujarat coast, only however to turn their attention elsewhere, for in 834-5 a Jat fleet made a descent upon the Tigris. The Chavas themselves soon succumbed to local influences and became as desperate pirates as their predecessors (Bom. Gaz., I, i, 492-6 n.). Towards the end of the 9th century the seas in this part of the world had become so dangerous to merchant vessels that the Chinese ships, which sailed to Arabia, carried crews of as many as 500 armed men and supplies of naphtha, with which to defend themselves against pirates (Bomb. Gaz., XIII, 434). Al Biladuri, in 892, ays that the pirates infesting these seas were Meds and people of Saurashtra, who were Chauras or Gurjjaras (Bom. Gaz., I, i, 492–6 n.).
28. We now first hear of Sokotra as a pirate resort. Masudi (who died at Cairo in 957) says:-" Sokotra is one of the stations frequented by the Indian corsairs called Bawarij, which chase the Arab ships bound for India and China, just as the Greek vessels chase the Mussulmans in the sea of Rum along the coasts of Syria and Egypt " (Yule, Marco Polo, II, 410 n.). Albiruni (Takhik-i-Hind., 1030 A.D.) says that the Bawarij were the Med pirates of Cutch and Somnath, and were so named from the fact that they used ships called baira [or bera] (Elliott, Hist., I, 65). Bira being the Gipsy word for a boat, some have supposed that these Cutch pirates were the forbears of the modern Gipsies (Bomb. Gaz., XIII, ii, 714 n.). In 980 Grahari the Chaudasama, known in story as Graharipu, the Ahir of Sorath and Girnar, so infested the Indian Ocean with his cruisers that no ship was safe (Bomb. Gaz., I, i, 492-6.; IX, 527).
29. In 1025 Mahmud of Ghazni captured Somnath and is said to have planned an expedition by sea against Ceylon (Bomb. Gaz., I, i, 494 n.). Such was the influence of Kathiawar on every one who in turn became its master, that he was inevitably and irresistibly led to piratical exploits.
Japanese.
30. The mention of piracy in Japan occurs at a very early date. In 862 the Inland Sea pirates pillaged the Bizen tax-rice on its way to the Capital, after killing the officer in charge. In 866 Settsu, Idzumi, Harima, Bizen, Bingo, Aki, Suwo, Nagato and all the provinces of the Nankaido were infested by swarms of freebooters (Murdoch, Japan, I, 231). Brigandage and piracy were drastically dealt with by the minister Tokihara, who died about 909. They revived under Shujaki Teimo (939-46). Fujiwara Sumitomo was sent from Kyoto to assist the Governor of Iyo to deal with the sea-rovers. On the expiration of his