ગુજરાતી
English
Thanks to Dr. Jai Narayan Vyas – BBC Gujarati
India’s foreign trade flourished during the time of Muhammad Begada. To suppress it, the Portuguese created a cruel pirate empire in the Indian Ocean from the beginning of the 15th century.
The life story of Malik Ayaz, who protected the merchants of Gujarat, was no less than a thriller.
Appreciating his skills and natural qualities, Muhammad Begada appointed him governor of Diu port and admiral of Gujarat in 1478.
Under his responsibility, Ayaz created a powerful navy with a new identity. By securing the coast of Gujarat, the merchants of Gujarat became fearless and started plowing the sea.
With the help of the navy, the Indian Ocean was secured by eliminating the threat of Arabs in the Indian Ocean.
In the 16th century, the Firangis (Portuguese) invaded the sea, looted the goods of wealthy merchants in the Mediterranean and burned the ships.
A boy who protected Gujarat and its maritime trade in that era. Born in Georgia in 1451. This boy was the son of a ‘Eurasian’ race with mixed blood of European and Asian cultures. His name was Malik Ayaz (1451-1522).
The Georgia region surrounded by Russia, Turkistan, Armenia and Azerbaijan eventually became a part of the Soviet Union.
The Turks captured Malik Ayaz, enslaved him and he was presented before the emperor in the court of Sultan Muhammad Begada along with other slaves.
Muhammad Begada was inspired by seeing this boy and ordered to free him from slavery. Fate took a turn once again.
Mohammad Begada’s test was correct. As this Eurasian Malik Ayaz grew up, he developed the qualities of a powerful strategist and a skilled ruler.
Malik Ayaz’s understanding of the situation and overcoming it was amazing.
Earlier in the Solanki period, Gujarat’s Jain, Hindu and Muslim merchants carried on uninterrupted trade with Russia and Africa and Gujarat prospered from the wealth of those countries.
Ayaz was not only a Eurasian warrior but also a skilled merchant himself, trading with Indonesia, China, Iran, Arabia and Egypt besides the coasts of Chaul, Malabar and Coromandel.
Four ships of 500 to 800 tons were his personal property.
Ayaz Malik was the admiral of Gujarat as well as a diplomatic man.
Ayaz gained the confidence of first Muhammad Begdo and then his successor Sultan Muzaffar Shah (1511-1526).
All these kings and sultans had weapons capable of waging fierce battles on land but had neither the intelligence nor the strength to wage war in the sea waters adjoining their land borders.
Could this have been beyond the observation of Ayaz Malik? Ayaz equipped his navy with cannons and artillery with the support of the then rulers.
Thus, the armed navy began to venture into the Indian Ocean. Ayaz himself became a businessman.
The customs duties of Diu were reduced with the aim of attracting local and foreign merchants to Diu due to its commercial prowess.
Also, the Diu Port has improved infrastructure for safe anchoring of ships and loading and unloading of goods.
As a result, the Portuguese traveller Durat Barbesa, who visited Gujarat in 1515, hailed Malik Ayaz as an able administrator, competent merchant, diplomat, statesman, naval commander and the creator of the port of Diu.
In the words of Durat Barbosa: “This Muslim merchant and admiral from Georgia is tolerant without a trace of fanaticism, so that some Bhatias, Lohanas and Rajputs besides the Vaishyas of Gujarat can travel the seas fearlessly.”
“Muslims have different identities like Turks, Arabs, Turanis, Iranians, Egyptian Mamluks, Khursanis etc.”
“Malik Ayaz does not discriminate between them and the pagans… Malik Ayaz’s ships are equipped with advanced cannons and cannons. All the gunners are ‘Moors’ (Muslims).”
“When the Moors and Gentoo (Jain and Hindu) traders of Gujarat sailed with their ships, Malik Ayaz’s navy protected them. Malik developed Diu as an international port.”
Time was changing. Gradually the dominance of the Portuguese on the sea started increasing. In 1512 AD, the Portuguese established their dominance over the Indian Ocean.
If they want to bring their goods safely by sea, Gujarati traders have to accept the offer of the Portuguese and buy a license from them. Whose ships are not looted or burnt in the middle of the night.
In this case, the mould was like ‘Haathna Kare Hain Akhiyan’. The job of showing the home diya to the Portuguese ship Vasco da Gama was done by Kanji Malam of Kutch.
Vasco da Gama came to Calicut from Lisbon port in 1948. At that time, it was Kanji Malam of Kachimandu who had sailed his ship from Malindi port of East Africa to Calicut.
At the same time, Malik Ayaz made the Indian Ocean a fear-free zone for Gujaratis by making his navy more aggressive.
Now the Portuguese started pressuring Muhammad Begada to allow the Portuguese to build a fort in Diu.
The fear of the Portuguese was so much that it was decided that Gujarati ships should first come to Goa and go anywhere else only after paying customs duty there.
If Gujaratis wanted to save their ships from Portuguese pirates, then Goa’s Goan ships should be made to pay customs duty.
It was compulsory to buy a pass from Werner.
A contemporary of Ayaz, the Sultan of Surat city Malik Gopi
suggested that a compromise should be reached if Gujarat’s trade was to be retained.
Malik Gopi’s Musaddigiri allowed the Firangis to build forts at Khambhat and Ghogha ports and allowed traders to buy passes for their protection.
It was wiser to reach a compromise rather than get into a tussle with the Portuguese on this issue.
Perhaps Malik Ayaz’s childhood experiences of slavery were deeply etched in his mind, which is why he did not find any ability in draftsmanship like Malik Gopi.
Gopi used to give examples of Rander and Surat to Malik Mohammad Begada and Muzaffar Shah. Even after the truce, the Portuguese looted and burnt both these places.
According to Ayaz, doing so would remove the pieces of centuries-old shipwrecks. Once the Firangis built fortifications, they would enslave Gujarat, which was not acceptable to them.
“Give me liberty or give me death” was Patrick Henry’s slogan during the American War of Independence in 1776, and centuries earlier Ayaz Malik had put it before the Sultan.
At times he may have compromised but Ayaz remained invincible.
From 1508 to 1521 he plundered Portuguese ships with the support of Egyptian shipowners. They fought to the death.
Originally a Eurasian slave, he entered the court of Muhammad Begada and was freed from slavery by the discerning eye of the emperor.
Thereafter, he always kept the firangis under his control by directly attacking their ability to establish bases in Gujarat and plunder Gujarati merchants.
Image caption A painting of the Battle of Diu (November-1546) in Lisbon (1764)
Finally, in 1521, the 70-year-old admiral, with the help of his vice admiral Agha Mahomed, foiled Diogo Lozo’s attack on Jafarabad by continuously bombarding the ships.
The very next year, in 1522, Malik Ayaz died on the Una Island near Diu, where his solitary grave remains even today.
Born on the land of Parki, Ayaz became a Gujarati for life and till the last breath of his life, he neither allowed the Firangis to settle on the land of Gujarat nor did he allow the Portuguese pirates to establish their rule in the Indian Ocean.
Draftsmanship was in Gopi Malik’s blood. Malik Ayaz, on the other hand, was a Eurasian. He lived like a slave.
The compulsions and tortures of slavery were stored in the vault of his childhood memories and so he fought till the end.
He performed the responsibility entrusted to him as the captain of the ship poorly.
If he had adopted a compromising path like Malik Gopi, perhaps the history of India’s slavery would have been written differently. That is why Malik Ayaz was not a Eurasian, but a regular Gujarati.
After the death of Malik Ayaz, there was no one to protect Diu, this important port of the Gujarat Sultanate, from the Portuguese.
Forced, the Emperor of Gujarat Bahadur Shah allowed the Portuguese to build a fort in Diu under peace.
Once these people invited the Emperor for a feast and discussion on the sea. When the Emperor honored the invitation of the Portuguese and went to the sea, he was murdered and later his body was thrown into the sea.
Now Diu started being attacked by the Portuguese and till 1961 the Portuguese flag fluttered over Diu, Daman and Goa. Malik Ayaz’s fears came true. (Google translation from Gujarati)
