Anjuvannam (in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

and

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

, from Persian anjuman, and hanjama or hanjamana in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode ...

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

or hamyamana) typically refers to a medieval merchant guild, consisting of non-Indian traders (ethnic Persians and Arabs), primarily active in south India.Noburu Karashmia (ed.), ''A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations.'' New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2014. 136. Along with manigramam and ainurruvar (the Ayyavole Five Hundred), the anjuvannam merchant guild played a major role in the commercial activities of the region. Unlike manigiramam, which was also operating in Indian hinterland, the presence of anjuvannam is found only in coastal towns. The guild of anjuvannam was organised by West Asian traders that included

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, Syrian Christian,

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

and Zoroastrian Parsi merchants operating in south India (mostly Indian Ocean trade). Historian Y. Subbarayalu had defined the anjuvannam guild as a "body of West Asian traders". The merchants generally operated in the trading ports of Konkan,

Malabar Coast The Malabar Coast is the southwestern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing ...

and

Coromandel Coast The Coromandel Coast is the southeastern coastal region of the Indian subcontinent, bounded by the Utkal Plains to the north, the Bay of Bengal to the east, the Kaveri delta to the south, and the Eastern Ghats to the west, extending over an ...

of south India (and even in South East Asia including

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

). In some ports this guild obtained royal charters, which permitted the special immunities and privileges within those cities. Anjuvannam finds mention in number of south Indian inscriptions, most notably in

Quilon Syrian copper plates Kollam/Quilon Syrian copper plates, also known as Kollam Tarisappalli copper plates, or Kottayam inscription of Sthanu Ravi, or Tabula Quilonensis record a royal grant issued by the chieftain of Kollam (Ayyan Adikal) to a Syrian Christian mer ...

(c. 849 CE) and in Jewish copper plates of Cochin (c. 1000 CE).Narayanan, M. G. S. ''Perumāḷs of Kerala.'' Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 278, 437 and 451. The increased association of the guild with the Jewish traders of Malabar Coast is visible in the latter inscription. The earliest concrete epigraphical evidence of anjuvannam is the

(c. 849 CE). The guild was active on the Kerala coast in the 9th century CE. From the early 10th century, ainurruvar (the Ayyavole Five Hundred) guild spread throughout south India bringing under its umbrella most of the pre-existing guilds. Both anjuvannam and manigiramam were incorporated into the Five Hundred. In and after 12th century, the Five Hundred acted as an umbrella organisation to cover all the other smaller merchant guilds. During the 11th - 13th centuries anjuvannam was mostly composed of Muslim traders on both the west and east coasts of India. A person in the Anjuvannam community is known as an "anjuvannan".

Etymology

* One explanation traces the origin of the name ''anjuvannam'' to the ae, hanjumana, italic=yes and Persian ''anjuman'' or that refers to an organisation or association of people. *The term or is found in

and

records. is the title used in inscription from the

Konkan The Konkan ( kok, कोंकण) or Kokan () is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, running from Damaon in the north to Karwar in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau in the east. The hinterland ...

coast. *According to an earlier explanation, the title Anjuvannam derives from the

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

varna system as any person not belonging to one of the four varnas was referred to as an .

References

{{reflist

External links

Historian Y. Subbarayalu on Anjuvannam
Cochin Jews Judaism in Kerala Social groups of Kerala Guilds in India Indian merchants Economic history of India

Etymology

See also

References

External links