Throughout history, if there is one thing that unites people of different cultures, it is trade. In the case of Africa and South Asia, this is no different. Trade relations date back to as early as the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation (3300-1300 BCE) as Pearl Millet, a crop originally domesticated in West Africa, and the burial site of an African woman was found at the Indus settlement of Chanhu-Daro (Kennedy & Possehl, 2012). Trade relations would continue for centuries to come. According to the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a manuscript detailing ancient trade routes written in the first century, both South Asia and East Africa were connected via the lucrative Indian Ocean trade routes. Merchants from the Kingdom of Aksum, a trading empire in modern-day Eritrea and Northern Ethiopia, would trade gold and soft-carved ivory in exchange for cotton and other goods from South Asia. By Medieval times, Indo-African trade had grown to even greater levels, and the African presence in South Asia began to take on a more political role.
With the rise of Islam strengthening connections between different cultures in Africa and Asia, more and more Africans settled in the Indian Subcontinent permanently. The first African settlers came from various backgrounds, including merchants, sailors, indentured servants, slaves, and mercenaries, but mostly descended from the Bantu people of East Africa (Shah, et al., 2011). These African settlers and their descendants would come to be known as the “Siddi”/“Sheedi”, believed to be derived from the Arabic “Sahibi” and Urdu/Hindi “Sahib”, meaning master (Albinia, 2008).
The Siddi would go on to establish various communities and, in some cases, rule over native Indians. Siddis ruled the State of Janjira (1489-1948), located on the Konkan Coast and, in 1759, Jafarabad State (1650-1948), situated on the Kathiawar Peninsula, 320 km northwest of Janjira, became its dependency (Ali, 1996). Some Siddis would also rise to positions of power within the various royal courts of India. For example, Jamal-ud-Din Yaqut, a prominent slave-turned-nobleman, was a close confidant of the infamous Razia Sultana of the Delhi Sultanate (1206-1555) (Meri, 2006). Similarly, many Siddi served as warriors and generals in South Asian armies, such as General Hoshu Sheedi, who died fighting the British in 1843 (Soomro, 1977). However, one Siddi, in particular, would go on to distinguish themselves as a mighty military general and ruler: the legendary Malik Ambar (Ali, 2016).
Malik Ambar was born in 1548 with the birthname of “Chapu” and belonged to the Maya people of central Ethiopia. He spent his early childhood living a peaceful pastoral life until, at the age of twelve, Chapu became one of the thousands of people from non-Abrahamic communities who were enslaved by the Solomonic Christians and Adal Muslims. The young Chapu was captured by Arab traders and taken to a slave market on the coast of Yemen. Chapu would eventually end up being sold to a merchant named Mir Qasim, who took him to Baghdad, the cultural centre of the Muslim world. Qasim converted Chapu to Islam, giving him the name “Ambar”, and taught him to read, write and manage finances. Ambar would remain in Baghdad for a decade before accompanying Qasim to the Deccan Plateau in 1571, where he would be sold once again to the chief minister of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate (1490-1636), a Siddi by the name of Chengiz Khan (no, not that Chengiz, a different one).
The Deccan at the time was divided into five sultanates, comprised of Muslim elites ruling over a Marathi Hindu majority and many Indo-Turks, Persians, and European merchants. The Deccan was a land plagued by war and intrigue as rulers would have to constantly watch over their shoulders lest their own soldiers slay them. Violent coups were the norm, and it was rare for a ruler to hold power for more than a few decades. To make things worse, to the north, the rising Mughal Empire (1526-1857) was slowly becoming the most dominant force in India and had its sights set on the Deccan.
Ambar would serve as a warrior-slave but soon distinguished himself, becoming Chengiz Khan’s personal aide. However, much in the nature of Deccani politics, Khan was framed by his fellow courtiers for conspiracy against the state and subsequently executed. Following his master’s death, Ambar legally became free and travelled south to the neighbouring Bijapur Sultanate (1489-1686), where he married a fellow Siddi named Karima and enlisted in the Sultan’s army.
The Bijapur Sultanate was ruled by Sultan Ali Adil Shah I until he died in 1579. Following his death, his nine-year-old nephew, Ibrahim Adil Shah II, became his successor. After several bloody battles, Adil Shah I’s wife, Chand Bibi, came out on top as regent to the young Sultan after turning various generals against one another. As regent, Chand Bibi introduced the idea of fidelity to the salt, which espoused loyalty to the land rather than any single ruler or dynasty. During this time, Ambar slowly climbed the ranks of the Bijapur army, gaining a following of veteran cavalrymen due to his bravery in battle, earning the respect of Chand Bibi and the symbolic title of “Malik” before returning to Ahmadnagar. Chand Bibi would follow suit, and at the end of her regency, she returned to Ahmadnagar, the kingdom of her birth.
In 1595, the Mughal Empire decided to turn its full attention to the Deccan following the death of Sultan Burhan Nizam Shah II of Ahmadnagar in a border war with Bijapur. Chand Bibi laid claim to the Ahmadnagar throne, leading its chief minister to seek the Mughals for protection. With a mighty imperial army, the Mughal Emperor Akbar sent his son Murad Mirza to secure the Sultanate. Realising his mistake, the chief minister fled, and Chand Bibi became the resistance’s leader. Donning full armour, she led her men in defence of Ahmednagar Fort, and after a long unsuccessful siege, the much more powerful Mughals opted to make peace in exchange for the cessation of the Berar province to the east. Chand Bibi accepted, becoming regent of Ahmadnagar and entering an uneasy truce with the Mughal Empire. However, in 1599, in typical Deccani fashion, Chand Bibi was slain by her own soldiers on false accusations she was going to hand over Ahmadnagar to the Mughals. Without Chand Bibi to defend it, the Mughal Empire subsequently invaded the Sultanate.
Without a ruler to lead them, Malik Ambar took it upon himself to oust the Mughals from Ahmadnagar. Siddis, Indo-Turks, Persians and Marathi Hindus rallied behind the great commander as he carried out cross-border raids against the Mughals. By 1600, his forces grew from around 150 cavalrymen to 7,000, insignificant compared to the manpower the Mughals were capable of mustering. Out-gunned, out-manned, out-numbered and out-planned (a little reference for all you Hamilton fans out there), Ambar realised he couldn’t take the Mughals head-on and began to pioneer guerrilla war tactics in the Deccan. One such tactic was to use light Marathi Hindu cavalry, famous for their lightning-fast assaults, to attack Mughal supply lines. The Mughal’s heavy cannons and war elephants could not keep up with the continued harassment from Ambar’s forces. The Mughals were eventually forced to retreat from Ahmednagar city. With the Mughals temporarily out of the picture, Ambar rebuilt Ahmadnagar’s government.
Deccani politicians were unlikely to accept a Siddi as their ruler, so Ambar had to find a puppet he could proclaim as Sultan. The Mughals imprisoned almost all the royal family with claims to the throne except for a young prince named Ali, who was staying with Sultan Ibrahim Adil Shah II of Bijapur. In 1600, Ali was crowned Sultan Murtaza Nizam Shah II of Ahmadnagar. Ambar gave his daughter’s hand in marriage to the new Sultan to cement his power. He was subsequently appointed Prime Minister of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, making him the de facto ruler.
In 1603, Malik Ambar put down a rebellion launched by three of his officers while feigning a treaty with the Mughals to prevent them from taking advantage of the situation. A testament to Ambar’s skill in balancing the pressures of external and internal threats to his power. In 1605, following the death of Akbar, his successor, Emperor Jahangir, restarted incursions into Ahmadnagar territory but to no avail due to Ambar’s superior guerrilla war tactics. The Mughal Emperor was so enraged that he ordered a painting to be drawn of him shooting the decapitated head of Malik Ambar. This fantasy would remain just that, a fantasy.
In 1610, Sultan Murtaza Nizam Shah II turned against Malik Ambar and his daughter. He was swiftly assassinated and replaced by his five-year-old son, Burhan Nizam Shah III. In the same year, Ambar founded the city of Khadki, close to the Mughal border, making it his new capital. In 1612, a treaty was secured with the Mughal Empire, allowing Ambar to focus on developing his kingdom. The next decade saw Khadki become a booming economic hub: the construction of an aqueduct system to bring fresh water to the new capital, the maintenance of over forty forts to secure the Sultanate’s borders, the flourishing of Muslim and Hindu arts, and the building of masjids and palaces to increase Ahmadnagar’s prestige.
Predictably, the fragile peace with the Mughals was eventually broken, and in 1616, Ambar experienced his first major defeat, allowing the Mughals to regain a foothold in Ahmadnagar once again. By 1618, Malik Ambar’s ally to the south, Sultan Ibrahim Adil Shah II of Bijapur, believing Ambar’s time was up, began to conspire against him and collaborate with the Mughals. To force the Bijapuris onto the backfoot, Ambar began raiding the Bijapur countryside. This forced the Mughal Empire and Bijapur Sultanate to meet Ambar on his own terms. In September 1624, Ambar won a decisive victory against a joint Mughal-Bijapur army at the Battle of Bhatvadi. Thereby humiliating the Mughals once again, foiling the attempts of his Bijapuri rival, and securing his realm’s independence.
In 1626, Malik Ambar passed away peacefully at the age of 78 and was succeeded by his son Fateh Khan, who changed Khadki’s name to Fatehnagar. Unfortunately, he lacked his father’s military genius, and within ten years, the Mughals managed to conquer Ahmadnagar under the leadership of Emperor Shah Jahan. In 1653, when Prince Aurangzeb was appointed leadership over the Deccan, he made Fatehnagar his capital and renamed it Aurangabad, which it is called to this day. Prince Aurangzeb would go on to become Emperor in 1658.
Today, upwards of 50,000 Siddis live in Pakistan, mainly in Karachi and its coastal regions. Meanwhile, in India, at least 25,000 Siddis are primarily concentrated in Karnataka, Gujarat, and Hyderabad (The Sidi Project, 2020). Most Siddis practice Islam, but some Hindu and Christian Siddi communities also exist. Although Siddis have largely adopted the language and traditions of their localities, some traditional Bantu practices have been preserved. Gujarati Siddis practice the Ngoma style of dance and music. Similarly, the annual festival by the name of Sheedi Mela in Pakistan also has notable African influences. Unfortunately, Siddis still experience discrimination and prejudice from the broader South Asian community. Despite this, many Siddi have managed to rise to prominence in India and Pakistan, such as Urdu poet Noon Meem Danish, singer Younis Jani, and politicians Tanzeela Qambrani of Pakistan and Shataram Budna Siddi of India, to name a few.
The Siddi people serve as a testament to the shared global history of humanity and have undoubtedly added to the diverse fabric of the Subcontinent; their contributions to South Asian culture and society should not go unnoticed.
References
Albinia, A., 2008. Empires Of The Indus: The Story Of A River. London: John Murray Press.
Ali, O. H., 2016. Malik Ambar: Power and Slavery Across the Indian Ocean. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ali, S. S., 1996. The African Dispersal in the Deccan: From Medieval to Modern Times. Hyderabad: Orient Longman.
Kennedy, K. A. R. & Possehl, G. L., 2012. Were There Commercial Communications between Prehistoric Harappans and African Populations?. Advances in Anthropology, 2(4), pp. 169-180.
Meri, J. W., 2006. Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopaedia. London: Routledge.
Shah, A. M. et al., 2011. Indian Siddis: African Descendants with Indian Admixture. American Journal of Human Genetics, 89(1), p. 154–161.
Soomro, F. M., 1977. Cultural History Of Sind. Islamabad: National Book Foundation.
The Sidi Project, 2020. The Sidi Project: South Asia’s African Diaspora. [Online] Available at: https://thesidiproject.com [Accessed 29 July 2020].
Fascinating!