ગુજરાતી
English
12 March 2020
As mentioned in the Gujarat State Gazetteer (page no. 81-83) about Surat district, during the medieval era, Qutbuddin Aibak, a general of Mohammed Ghori, defeated Bhimdev, the ruler of present-day North Gujarat. After the fall of Anahilwada (present-day Patan), Aibak advanced towards Rander and Surat.
Around 1225 A.D. the Arabs of Kufa came to Rander and subjugated the Jains of the city and became its rulers.
According to the Gujarat State Gazetteer (Surat District, page no. 82-83), Surat is not mentioned in the accounts of Arab and Persian writers until the 12th century.
The existence of ‘Suryapur’ around present-day Surat is mentioned during the Lat expedition of the Anahilwada army.
Besides this, names like ‘Subara’ (meaning good bay or harbour), ‘Surabaya’, ‘Sufara’ (Fara means beautiful) are mentioned in different accounts. This place is believed to have been located in or around present-day Surat.
All historians agree (Gujarat State Gazetteer, Surat District, pp. 83-84) that the foundation of Surat’s present prosperity was laid in the late 15th century by a wealthy merchant named Gopi Malik. Originally a Brahmin from Vadnagar, he was given the title of ‘Malik’ by the emperor and hence the term stuck to his name.
According to Portuguese references, Gopi Malik was the Subedar of Surat and Bharuch during the reign of Sultan Muzaffar Shah II. However, he had dominated the court since the time of Muhammad Begada. Gopi’s house in Surat was very spacious, with a garden. Apart from this, he encouraged many merchants to come to this new place.
This new city had no name and was known only as ‘New Place’. For the name of the new city, Gopi Malik consulted astrologers, who suggested the name ‘Suraj’. Gopi Malik approached the Sultan with a new name. But the Sultan did not like the idea of a completely Hindu name for the new city under him, so he slightly changed the name of the new city to ‘Surat’.
Gopi Malik founded a colony named after him, which is today known as ‘Gopipura’. He also designed the present Gopi Lake, which was completed in 1516.
Firangi tourists wrote in their descriptions that ‘this lake is very large and its water does not dry up even in summer.’
The new name was given in AD 520, although the name may have been in use for years, such as Barbosa’s writings of c. 1514 also mention ‘Surat’.
The famous Gujarat historian Ratnamani Rao Jote (Gujarat Ka Sanskrutik Itihas, Vol. 3, pp. 688-689) says that Gopi Malik had houses in Champaner, Vadodara and Ahmedabad also, admitting the possibility of Gopi being a Nagar Brahmin of Vadnagar, but calling Gopinath a ‘Nayak’ and making him an Anavil Brahmin absolutely negates the possibility.
At that time the city of Surat had no name and he proposed the name Suraj, which was later changed to Surat by the Mughal emperor. The city that developed was named Suraj or Suryapur by astrologers. But the king did not like this name due to its association with Hinduism and he renamed the city as ‘Surat’. Gopi is also mentioned in Portuguese literature as “Sheth of Surat and Bharuch”.
Local poets have written poems and Portuguese historians have also written extensively about Malik Gopi as a prominent royalist and merchant of Surat. The people of Surat continue to sing the praises of Gopi even after his death.
It is notable in history that the then political and social situation must have played an important role in Gop choosing Suryapur Surat for his business activities and residence. After the establishment of the Muslim Sultanate in Gujarat, Ahmedabad, Khambhat, Bharuch, Rander etc. became important business centers for Muslim traders. Just as the Jain traders of Rander moved to Suryapur Surat to escape their business competition, Gopi also came. Gopi settled in Surat during the reign of Sultan Mahmud Begada (1459-1511) in the last years of the fifteenth century. After about 20 years of business activity, he became a leading businessman of Surat. In 1509 he was appointed as the political and commercial expert of the Sultanate of Gujarat. In 1510 he was made the Hakim of Surat Rander and Bharuch.
The port of Surat emerged during the 16th century. Shah merchants like Malik Gopi are the product of this time. Malik Gopi became the governor of Surat and the chief wazir of Gujarat. This Nagar Brahmin from Vadnagar had a significant contribution in the economic development of Surat. In 1510, Malik Gopi, while having influence as the wazir of Surat, wrote to the Portuguese governor Alphonso-de-Albuquerque from Champaner. During the Sultanate period, Malik Gopi (1456-1515) was a minister as well as the highest official of Rander and Surat ports.
Apart from Sultan Muhammad Begada, his son Muzaffar Shah appointed Gopi as the Nazim (administrator) of Rander and Surat as well as Bharuch port.
In the late 15th century, Gopi Malik settled in the city of Surat and later gained a good reputation as a trader and administrator.
After conquering the port of Diu in 1507, the Portuguese built a fort there before appointing Malik Ayaz as the governor of the port of Diu.
Around 1516, they built the famous Gopi Lake. In those days, Gopi Lake provided water supply to the entire city of Surat.
The 16th century was a time of gradual rise of Surat. The Muslim merchants of Surat led the city to prosperity by promoting foreign trade.
It was during this time that the fear of Portuguese pirates at sea arose. In the Mediterranean Sea, they looted and burned the ships of Muslim and Hindu merchants.
A treaty was signed with the Portuguese during the reign of Sultan Bahadur Shah (1526-1537). According to this treaty, no Gujarati ship could enter or leave the Gujarat coast without the permission of the Portuguese.
During the Sultanate period as well as the Mughal period, the rulers were very weak in terms of power. Amidst all this, Surat was developing as a port city at a very slow but steady pace.
Political stability plays an important role in the process of economic development. After the establishment of Mughal rule in Gujarat in 1573 A.D., the Mughal rulers created an atmosphere of political stability and peace in Gujarat and the country.
How farsighted the Mughal rulers were. They believed that Gujarat was the cornerstone of the economic prosperity of the Mughal Empire and adopted such economic policies that led to flourishing trade in cities like Ahmedabad and Surat and Surat became a major port for international trade.
The 17th century brought Jahojlali to Surat and the saying ‘Surat is your golden statue’ became true.
At this time Surat became millionaire traders like Virji Vora, Hari Vaishya, Haji Zahir Beg, Mirza Masoom and Bhimji Parekh. Institutions like Mahajan and Nagarsheth emerged.
Just as Parikh Uddhavji and later Shri Shantilal Jhaveri became Nagarsheth in Ahmedabad, similarly Bhimji Parekh (1610-1686) was the Nagarsheth in Surat at that time. Uddhavji and Shantidas Jhaveri were Jains, while Bhimji Parekh was a Vaishnav.
‘The merchant prince is an influential merchant who acquired political power through capital.’
Like the merchant prince Ishtapal (1185-1240) of the Solanki period was the Maha Amatya as well as the ruler of the Khambhat port.
Gopi Paru still keeps the memory of Malik Gopi immortal.
Malik Gopi was not only a successful businessman and efficient administrator, but the ancestors of Narasimharao Bholanath Divetia were also well versed and learned, and had a good command over Persian as well as Portuguese language.
The English travellers Dr. John Fryer (1672) and J. Olingan (1679) has described the merchant Gopi in detail and hailed him as a talented ‘merchant statesman’.
The time of Malik Gopi was one of complete Portuguese dominance over the Indian Ocean and thus the history of Malik Gopi and his career is an important chapter in the commercial history of Gujarat and the history of the development of Surat. Malik Gopi witnessed the maritime empire of the Portuguese.
The Sultans were like tigers on land, but at sea they were invincible. The rulers of that time made a grave mistake by increasing only land power and not developing a strong navy for their empire having such a vast coastline.
If he had developed a navy, he would have defeated the Portuguese and the Europeans. The maritime power and the technology based sea ploughing developed by them as well as the readiness for naval warfare made India bow down.
King Rama VI of Thailand, impressed by Jahojalali of Surat, named one of his cities Surat Thani. This failure led to the failure of first the Portuguese and then the British.
Gopi Malik was a scholar and diplomat.
Surat is situated on the banks of the Tapi River in Thailand!
Malik Ayaz was the heir of the Georgian-Russian dynasty. Combative nature and rashness were the dominant aspects of his personality.
From 1518 to 1521 this Narabanka fought bravely against the Portuguese under Malik Gopi.
Wounded by a bullet during the Portuguese naval attack on Jafarabad in 1521, he moved to Diu and died in 1522 in the nearby Una village.
Gopi was not a war admiral like Malik Ayaz, he was a messenger and diplomat with a shrewd intellect.
He saw that the Portuguese pirates were getting assistance by their rulers but it was not possible to defeat them in a sea battle, so he negotiated with the Portuguese sailors and joined hands with them against the Dutch pirates and traders and sent ships to the coastal countries for secret trade.
do trade.
Gopi acted as a friend of the Portuguese power to advance the commercial interests of Gujarat. Sultan Muzaffar Shah and his officers were annoyed with Gopi. Though they were weak, they were still in a mood to fight against the Portuguese.
In contrast, Malik Gopi’s attitude was conciliatory and aimed to earn wealth by trading on a large scale with the cooperation of the Portuguese.
In his book ‘Mirate Sikandar’ published in 1611, Sikandar Ibne Mohammed Manju criticized Malik Gopi and wrote that ‘he was a trusted man of the Portuguese who had distrust towards Muslims.’
On one occasion, Malik Gopi organized a Naachgaan programme in the Haveli of Surat and beat Sardar Ahmed Khan, a confidant of Sultan Muzaffar Shah, to death. So Muzaffar Shah looted Malik Gopi’s Haveli, plundered his wealth and hanged him after tying his hands.
However, Albuquerque wrote in his ‘Notes’, “It was difficult for Sultan Muzaffar Shah to live up to Gopi’s fame and fortune and because of that Gopi became an ‘enemy in the court of the Sultanate’. Thus Malik Gopi’s life came to a tragic end in 1515.”
Instead of building a temple and an inn, he built a large reservoir in Hindu Chalukya style in 1511, using its resources for the benefit of man and animals.
About this lake, spread over an area of 58 square acres with a circumference of one mile, German traveller Albert-de-Mendelsso wrote in 1938, ‘This lake does not dry up even in summer and supplies water to the entire city of Surat. Suratis come here to enjoy the cool and clean air in summer.’
The pond is sixteen angled and each side is about 100 steps long. The water looks clear, brown and cool to the eyes with smooth brown stones at the bottom.
One such shrewd businessman, wealthy man, diplomat and administrator, Gopi’s life ended in 1515. When its sun was at noon, not only the Sultanate but also the Portuguese and merchants and traders from far-off countries were under its influence.
Seeing the jahojlali of Surat, Shivaji attacked it. Twice looted. Once burnt. Surat kept burning for many days. Since then Surat had declined. From Surat a convoy of Englishmen moved towards Mumbai port. Merchants from Surat came to Mumbai and made Mumbai prosperous. Thus Shivaji ruined Gujarat economically. Ransoms were extracted from the kings.
With the development of Gujarat as a port with a vast hinterland and the opportunities created for the development of areas up to Ahmedabad and even beyond that to Marwar, Gopi Malik, the creator of Gopi Malik, was perhaps forgotten for a long period of five hundred years. , but even today Gopiparu and Gopi Lake keep his memory alive. (Google translation from Gujarati)
