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158 158 Y. Subbarayalu 9 ANJUVANNAM A Maritime Trade Guild of Medieval Times Y. Subbarayalu The term añjuvan .n .am (or añchuvan .n .am) was first noticed in the Che -ra copper-plate grants edited by Gundert (1844, pp. 115–46). In one of them, this term occurs along with man .ikkira -mam (man .igra -mam). Gundert thought that these two names stood for the Jewish and Christian principalities or corporate bodies of those two communities. V. Venkayya and T.A. Gopinatha Rao, who re-edited these records, did not concur with Gundert’s view. Venkayya took the two bodies as just semi-independent trading corporations like the Val .añjiyar (EI, IV, pp. 293–94). Hultzsch translated the term as “five castes” by splitting it as añju (five) and van .n .am (caste) while re-editing the Jewish copper-plate grant: The object of the grant was Añjuvan .n .am. This word means “the five castes” and may have been the designation of that quarter of Cranganore in which the five classes of artisans — ainkamma -l .ar, as they are called in the smaller Kottayam grant resided (EI, III, pp. 67–68). Hultzsch is cetainly mistaken in this regard, as in the said smaller Kottayam grant (EI, IV, pp. 290 ff), the ainkamma -l .ar are given as servants (ad .ima) to a merchant leader who was honoured with the title of “man .igra -mam”. On the other hand the Añjuvan .n .am and Man .igra -mam are found in the Ce -ra copper 158 09 Nagapattinam_Ch 9 11/4/09, 12:54 PM 158 159 Anjuvannam: A Maritime Trade Guild of Medieval Times 159 plates as two independent bodies of equal standing and enjoying a number of trading rights at Kollam and themselves employing (or purchasing) servile people too. A brief analysis of these copper plates may be in order here. Of the two earlier grants1 in the possession of the Syrian Christian church at Kottayam, the first one dated in the fifth regnal year of Stha -n .u Ravi (849 CE) records that the Ve -n .a -d .u chief Ayyanad .ikal . Tiruvad .i gave a charter assigning certain ı -l -avar (toddy-tappers) and van .n .a -r (washermen) tenants or cultivators (kud .i) to Tarisa --pal .l .i, obviously the Christian church built at Kurakke -n .i-Kollam by the efforts of one Maruva -n Sapı -r I so .2 These serfs were relieved of some tax encumbrances and permitted to enter the fort and market area for carrying out their duties. The pal .l .i (church) was given the right to enjoy all taxes and also the right to keep the measuring instruments, a right which had been the prerogative of the donor-chief until then. The grant was made in the assembly of some dignitaries, officials, and añjuvan .n .am. Perhaps man .igra -mam was also present then (the name is mutilated and illegible). The first portion of the second grant containing the name of the king and date is missing. From other details and the names of the donor and the donee, etc. this should be put close to the above one. Actually it purports to make some additional grant to the same Tarisa --pal .l .i. Some more tenants such as carpenters (taccar) and cultivators (vel .l .a -l .ar) were assigned to the church and some demarcated land was gifted for the supply of oil. The church was given the right to punish its erring tenants itself. The officials were warned not to interfere in those matters. The bodies called ar -unu -r -r -uvar (“the six hundred”, a military body), añjuvan .n .am, and man .igra -mam were asked to protect the pal .l .i and its landed property as per the charter. The subsequent section records details of the “72 rights and privileges” (vı -d .upe -r -u) given to both the añjuvan .n .am, and man .igra -mam3 as follows: (1) Remission of one-sixtieth part of the customs duty (that they had been paying to the government). (2) No poll tax on the slaves (ad .ima) employed (or purchased?) by them. (3) They can collect 8 kasu on both incoming and outgoing merchandise transported by carts and 4 kasu on those transported by ships and boats. (4) Only in their presence should the fixing of the customs duty and the fixing of prices for the merchandise be done. (5...

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