The Ocean of Churn
Author- Sanjeev Sanyal
Publisher- Penguin Random House, Rs599
This is a history of the Indian Ocean, around which much of the earliest human activities happened. Author Sanjeev Sanyal tells ANANYA BORGOHAIN about the evolution of human civilisations amidst geopolitical wars, global trade, and cultural exchange
Bestselling author Sanjeev Sanyal, who is also an economist, returns with an important book, The Ocean of Churn, to narrate the history of the Indian Ocean. He shares vital information about the earliest human migrations from Africa; narrates about medieval Arab empires; the evolution of trade among nations; ancient geopolitical wars; cultural exchange; and so on. In an interaction, he reveals further about his findings.
How did you research for this bookIJ
I am not a historian but I love reading and I felt that investigating our past would be a pursuit worth following. I was working at the Deutsche Bank and quit my job in 2012 to write it. However, it almost took a decade to finish the work right from the time I had conceived the idea. Historical narratives seen from the Western perspective make it sound like the Indian Ocean existed only after the Portuguese arrived on the scene. They also give the impression there was nothing significant about it after the withdrawal of the colonial powers. The Indian mariners, Arab merchants and Indonesian maritime empires from ancient times need more space and discussion.
Human history and culture have been shaped around the Indian Ocean. I visited archaeological sites, explored maritime trading networks, collected oral histories, read ancient inscriptions, to present a reader friendly narrative without jargons.
Why does the Pallava dynasty matterIJ
In the sixth and seventh centuries, the Pallava dynasty formed much of present day much Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and southern Karnataka. The dynasty started with the wedding of a princess from a Naga (or Serpent) clan from across the seas. The term Naga meaning serpent is associated with the South East Asian region. For example, the multi-headed cobra is a symbol of royalty in Cambodia. There is a fascinating story about intense geo-politics involved around it mentioned in the book. The rivalry between the Pandyas and Cholas, and both allying with Southeast Asia and the Sinhalese respectively make for intriguing and stunning information. All of it define the core of human history.
How has geopolitics shaped human civilisationIJ
The wars between the Byzantines and their rivals, the Sasanian empire, expanded Arabia; the Chinese fleet cleared the Indian Ocean of European powers. Columbus’s discovery of America was correlated to locating a trading route to the Indian Ocean. As I write in my book, history is full of such unintended consequences.
You also connect the matrilieneal societies in Northeast India to ancient India.
Yes, in the Mahabharata Arjuna visits the kingdom of Manipur when he is exile. He marries princess Chitrangada in Manipur in the explicit condition that Chitrangada would not be compelled to leave her kingdom and go with Arjuna to his home when his exile is completed. On the other hand, a Naga tribe queen Ulupi kidnaps Arjun after she falls in love with him though eventually Chitrangada wins him back. But you see how far matrilineal histories go. Khasis in Meghalaya are still matrilineal.
How old are matrilineal lineagesIJ
In the Mekong delta the first Indianised kingdom of South East Asia could be traced ( first century BC). It was called Funan by the Chinese. legends suggest that when an Indian merchant ship was attacked by pirates led by the local Naga clan’s chieftain’s daughter Soma, a young Brahmin boy Kaundinya led the Indian kingdom in defence. Interestingly, both the rivals — Soman and Kaundinya — fell in love and got married! Kaundinya became the king after marrying the naga princess. So, matrilineal genealogies have been prominent.
It’s also fascinating to read that we all came from Africa.
Modern humans came into existence about 200,000 years ago in the East African Rift Valley. In Europe and the Middle East, the Neanderthals were well established. On the other hand, the closely related Denisovans roamed across many parts of Asia. It has been now found out that a small number of people, around 70,000 years back, crossed over from Africa to the Arabian Peninsula near Yemen. All non-Africans are said to be descendants of this tiny tribe.
Besides politics, what kind of trade and cultural exchange existed between countries at that timeIJ
Cultural exchange was immensely involved here. For instance, by 1 AD, Indian merchants bought Mediterranean and West Asian products from the Romans, Greeks and Arabs. An Indo-Roman port near Puducherry called Arikamedu had ties with Bali as proven by the artefacts there. Camphor from Sumatra were exported to India and Chinese silks came in through Vietnam. And these are only a few examples. I believe that the Indian Ocean was an ecosystem and it faciliated nature and human beings alike.
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