Book Recommendation: The Ocean of Churn by Sanjeev Sanyal

India as an ancient maritime power is a theme I was not aware of until I read the book 'The Ocean of Churn' by Sanjeev Sanyal. India has over 7000 kilometers of the maritime border that it shares with Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and the Maldives. If you look at these countries at the history of these modern countries you can see the impact of inter-trade of Southeast Asia that was connected through trade routes.

The Ocean of Churn

The book brings to light the history of India that's largely ignored by norther Indian readers. And it's not because of a made-up Aryan-Dravidian divide (by the way the whole Aryan Invasion/Migration or origination of pastoral activities from Steppes have been proven incorrect in 2019!) but because our history books never talked about Nandivarman, Kharavela, Kaundinya and others who ruled over various parts of India during different time periods and also confronted the foreign invaders from the west when the time came and some were martyred in these battles. 

One World

The book talks about the Indian Ocean that was a highly interconnected ecosystem for a very long time before the first Portuguese fleet of Vasco da Gama "discovered" the sea route to India which opened the flood-gates for the exploitation of South Asia and lead to the murdering of millions over the course next few centuries in the India subcontinent by Dutch, Portuguese, French, Danish and of course the British. But that's another story that can be explored in Shashi Tharoor's book 'Inglorious Empire: What the British did to India'. 

The book begins with the history of the Indian Ocean itself! It shows how over 270 million years ago a gigantic supercontinent, Pangea, which had India, Australia, Madagascar, and Antarctica wedged together along the eastern coast of Africa. And about 175 million years ago the supercontinent broke into Laurasia and Gondwanaland; which is the moment the Indian Ocean was born. 

Pangea with all continents clubbed together

And around 200,000 years ago humans appeared in the East African Rift Valley and began the grand migration which will eventually lead to the population of the entire modern world, across all the seven continents. It's an amazing feeling to imagine human beings walking across ancient interconnected continents in landscapes I cannot imagine but were filled with predators and plants that would have depleted the group, yet they kept moving on and on, reaching all the way to Australia! And these migrants left their handprints and paintings on the walls of the cave they dwelled (see below a picture of Bhimbekta cave paintings which are estimated to be over 10,000 year old). 

Over 10,000-year-old cave paintings in Bhimbetka

And these hunter-gatherers became the ancestors of most of the people who live in the East and South-East Asia including Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Burmese, India, etc. The book asks an interesting question on the basis of evidence of cities across the world that are more than 10,000 years old; for example Gobekili Tepe, the underwater city of the Gulf of Khambat, and other ancient sites that pre-dates the more popular tourist spots like Stone Henge by over 6000 years. We also know now that agriculture didn't originate from a single point in Steppes or the Middle East but was developed by locals separately; especially places like Mehrgarh and Lahuradewa are a testament to that. 

The Maritime Culture of India

Harappan Civilization (Indus-Saraswati civilization) is a civilization that didn't build great monuments like pyramids but they "outmatched their Egyptian and Sumerian peers in terms of population size, the sophistication of their cities and the sheer geographical reach of their civilization." They expanded their wealth by utilizing maritime trades through their port cities like Dholavira, Lothal, Dwarka, and other ancient ports we will find in future excavations.

Signboard of Dholavira

Harappan city of Dholavira, with it's grid layout

Harappans had economic links with the Middle East, with likes of Jiroft Civilization, and archaeologists have found Harappan pottery, seals and beads found as far as Iran and Oman. Sumerian texts refer to Meluhhan settlements that were exclusive enclaves in and around Sumerian towns. Imagine ships of Harappan traders carrying carnelian beads, weights, measure, wood, pots full of ghee and cotton to various ancient towns all along the Persian Gulf. Imagine these ships landing on the coast with seals that described contracts or ledgers of export materials; what a wonderful ancient adventurer they must have been. 

The cross-pollination of culture as a result of these trade routes remains a topic of further research. The question of Mittani and Hittites solemnizing the treaty in the name of Varuna, Indra, and other Vedic Gods still remains a mystery. Did these traders settled down in various port cities and mixed with the local population? Like Dr. Niraj Rai in one of his interview says that unlike modern world migration of population in the ancient world always resulted in the mixing of the populations. Perhaps skeletal remains of other Harappan sites will provide us answers from both archaeological and genetic perspective.

Other topics

• The book also discusses in detail about the possibility of the origin of iron technology in southern India as early as 1700 BC.

• It also busts the myth around Ashoka "the Great"; or rather 'Chandashoka' he was known during his time. 

• Bindusara from Mauryan Dynasty was trading with Alexander's successors in the Middle East.

• Did you know Mekong Delta witnessed the establishment of the first Indianized kingdom of South East Asia around the first century BC? The Chinese called it the kingdom of Funan. 

• Lake Chilka, in Odisha, was an important starting point for trade routes that took the mariners of Kalinga to far-off places like Sri Lanka, Sumatra, Java, Bali, and Indonesia. And so did the merchants from Tamil, Andhra and Bengal coasts.

• The impact of Cholas, Pandyas, and Cheras on India and Sri Lanka. Significant southern urban structures were discovered at Keezhadi, near Madurai, in Tamil Nadu in 2015. 

Keezhadi, Tamil Nadu

• The trade deficit with Roman was persistent due to the high demand for eastern luxury items in the Roman empire. A roman writer complained, "Not a year passed in which India did not take fifty million sesterces away from Rome."

A terracotta model of a Harappan Merchant Ship

Abruptly concluding the post but.....

It's a fascinating history and journey through ancient India and it's maritime history. I cannot possibly include the breadth and depth of topics the book covers in a single post. It's a well researched and creates a film reel in your mind as you traverse through millions of years of history of our home, India. #HappyReading #BookRecommendation