A bunch of Armenians at a picnic at Ghazipur in 1885. (Supply: Armenian institute web site)
For the previous couple of weeks, Vachagan Tadevosyan has been frantically making calls to relations and associates the world over and carefully following each bit of reports streaming in from his residence city in Armenia. At 55, Tadevosyan is a music trainer by career and lives along with his spouse within the Armenian faculty positioned bang within the centre of Kolkata at Mirza Ghalib Road, which adjoins Park avenue. As he speaks to me over the cellphone, he says he has picked up a lot of Hindi and Bengali within the final 20 years spent in Kolkata and is pleased with the massive variety of Indian associates he has right here.
“Immediately Armenia is in hassle. No one desires battle. However I can’t describe how joyful it makes me really feel when my Indian associates name on a regular basis to seek out out the state of affairs again in my residence, and plenty of have even donated cash to assist these affected by the battle,” he says in a heavy East European accent, that he has been unable to shake off within the final twenty years. Tadevosyan has been studying in regards to the fashionable help that Indians are giving to Armenia within the ongoing battle with Azerbaijan over Nagaro-Karabakh, and says it’s only anticipated given the robust historic relations the 2 nations share. “Our ancestors got here right here centuries in the past and have become affluent businessmen right here. Since then, India has continued to stay a most essential nation for Armenians,” he says.
A home broken by shelling by Azerbaijan’s artillery within the city of Martuni, the separatist area of Nagorno-Karabakh. (AP photograph)
For hundreds of years, India and Armenians have shared a singular relationship. Historians agree that the Armernians at all times existed in India in small numbers. But it’s right here that the south Caucasian community-acquired important financial and cultural prosperity. “India has been extra essential to Armenians than Armenia was,” says Sebouh Aslanian, professor of contemporary Armenian historical past at College of California, Los Angeles. “India within the seventeenth and 18th centuries is the place Armenians made a ton of cash, and so they funneled that cash into cultural productions like Armenian newspapers, books and so forth. An important, clever and forward-thinking Armenians lived in India,” he provides.
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The earliest footprints
In 1699, the Court docket of Administrators of the English East India Firm (EIC), made an commentary in regards to the Armenian group of their letter to Bengal, stating that “most definitely, they’re probably the most historical retailers of the world.” “These individuals (the Armenians) are thrifty, shut, prudent kind of males that journey throughout India and know virtually each village within the Mughal’s dominions and each kind of items with such an ideal talent and judgement as exceeds the ancientest of our linen drapers,” says the letter as reproduced by historian Sushil Chaudhury in his e book, ‘Armenians in international and inter-continental trade’.
The Armenians certainly had probably the most extraordinary presence on the earth of commerce and commerce of medieval occasions. Within the fifteenth century, as Ottomans and Safavids made conquests into the Armenian highlands, the group there branched out in quest of higher financial prospects. They established small networks in Baghdad, Persia, Russia, and elements of the Mughal empire in India like Delhi and Agra. “They got here to this nation by the overland route by means of Persia, Bactria (Afghanistan) and Tibet and have been effectively established in all of the business centres lengthy earlier than the arrival of any European merchants into the nation,” writes historian Mesrovb Jacob Seth, in his e book, ‘Armenians in India, from the earliest times to the present day’. Seth explains that not like the Europeans, the merchants from Armenia shaped no everlasting settlements and constructed no colonies. “They have been merely birds of passage who got here all the best way from the land of Arahat of Biblical fame, to buy the spices and the positive muslin for which historical India was well-known.”
The earliest Armenian in India is understood to have been a service provider by the title of Thomas Cana who got here to the Malabar coast in 780 CE and was given buying and selling privileges by the ruler of Kodungallur. Nevertheless, it’s only from the sixteenth century that we discover references to Armenians buying positions of energy and privilege underneath the Mughals. Seth writes that it was Akbar who, taken by the business spirit of the group, induced the Armenians to settle in his dominions as an alternative of being mere sojourners.
Consequently, he requested the Armenians to settle at Agra, his imperial capital. Ultimately, within the subsequent few centuries, Armenians shaped settlements at Delhi, Surat, Madras (Chennai), Murshidabad and Calcutta (Kolkata), the place the remnant of their vivacious previous exist within the type of church buildings, cemeteries, in addition to inns, bridges and different infrastructural contributions.
Armenian Church in Chennai. (Specific archive photograph)
A number of essential members at Akbar’s courtroom occurred to be Armenians, together with one in all his wives, Mariam Zamani Begum. “Abdul Hai, the chief justice was, in line with the Ain-i-Akbari, an Armenian. The girl-doctor within the royal seraglio was an Armenian, Juliana by the names,” quotes Seth.
Marking their very own area in European colonial India
It’s attention-grabbing that on the peak of their presence in India, within the seventeenth and 18th centuries, the Armenians shared area with a few of the most bold colonisers from European nations. The Armenian diaspora was working within the Indian ocean a lot earlier than the European firms arrived on the scene, and so they have been additionally effectively built-in into the native society. “In some methods, the Armenian presence in India appeared like a risk, commercially chatting with a few of the firms,” says Aslanian. He explains that “the British the truth is signed a treaty with the Armenians in 1688 to dwell as much as the outdated saying of ‘should you can’t beat them, be part of them.” “The Armenians cooperated with the British, however in addition they had vested pursuits within the native societies,” he says.
Armenian chapel christian compound at kishanganj delhi. (Specific photograph by amit mehra)
The settlement of 1688 between the EIC and Khwaja Phanoos Kalantar entailed that the Armenians have been to offer items from Bengal with their very own capital and threat, at a 30 per cent revenue. Just a few years later, the Firm made an analogous settlement with Kalantar for offering items from Patna.
Among the many Armenians in Bengal, it was Khwaja Wajid who performed a really highly effective function within the business and political lifetime of the area within the mid-18th century. As an astute businessman, he was actively engaged within the inland commerce of Bengal and acted as a provider for European firms. Chaudhury notes the in depth enterprise transactions that he had with the Dutch, the French and the English.
One of the crucial telling examples of the distinctive methods wherein the Armenians have been working the panorama of colonial India is the case of Khojah Peterus Arathoon, a service provider in Murshidabad, and his brother Khojah Gregory. “Khojah Petrus was afterwards employed by (Robert) Clive as a confidential agent in negotiating with Mir Jafar for the overthrow of Siraj us-Dualah, the creator of the ‘black gap’ tragedy,” writes Seth.
“And in 1760 when it was discovered expedient to take away the imbecile Mir Jafar and place his son-in-law Mir Qasim on the Masnad of Murshidabad, Khojah Petrus’ companies have been requisitioned as he was recognized to be very pleasant with Mir Qasim,” he notes.
Apparently, in 1764, when the British have been preventing in opposition to Mir Qasim at Buxar, the latter’s military occurred to be underneath the command of Gorghin Khan (initially Khojah Gregory), who was the youngest brother of Khojah Petrus. “This exhibits that the Armenians have been stepping stones for the enlargement of colonialism in some circumstances. On the identical time, within the 1760s for instance, the Bengali military had Armenian contingents preventing for Bengal,” says Aslanian.
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Their land of cultural prosperity
A majority of the Armenians in India started leaving the nation after its Independence in 1947, and extra so after Armenia acquired unbiased statehood following the disintegration of USSR in 1991. But, among the many Armenians, the diaspora continues to play a most vital function.
As per a 2008 report within the New York Instances written by Leonard M. Apcar, “of the 9 million Armenians on the earth, solely a couple of third are in Armenia. The majority are in Russia, the USA and France, with a smattering alongside the buying and selling routes of Asia.”
Amongst this broadly unfold out Armenian inhabitants, India is held up with a unprecedented diploma of reverence. Other than the truth that the community-acquired monumental quantities of wealth and energy within the nation, in addition they made the primary most vital cultural productions on Indian soil. The primary-ever Armenian language newspaper on the earth, as an example, was printed in Madras (now Chennai) in 1794. The Azdarar (Intelligencer), because the paper was referred to as, was established by Father Harutyun Shmavonyan, and contained essential business particulars for the mercantile group in Madras, information about varied Armenian communities in India, in addition to world information. It was quickly adopted by Armenian language publications in different cities together with these in Bombay and Calcutta.
Azdarar, the primary ever Armenian language newspaper on the earth. (Wikimedia Commons)Aslanian explains that no more than 200 Armenians lived in Madras within the 18th century, and but aside from the newspaper, “in addition they wrote the very first structure for the Republic of Armenia that didn’t exist on a map anyplace on the earth, at Madras. Additionally they opened a printing press in Madras. The town turned one of the vital essential beacons of Armenian tradition within the seventeenth and 18th centuries.”
Equally, in Calcutta, the Armenians are believed to have written one of many very first novels within the Armenian language. “In Calcutta too, the Armenians have been in small numbers, however made large accomplishments. Within the lodge business of the twentieth century, as an example, that they had a significant function to play, together with the Grand Oberoi, which was initially operated by an Armenian,” explains Aslanian.
At current about 100 Armenians proceed to dwell in India, a majority of whom are in Kolkata. Other than the church buildings, an important dwelling residue of early fashionable Armenian historical past in India is the ‘Armenian School and Philanthropic Academy (ACPA)’ the place Tadevosyan at present lives. It was established within the 18th century by the group, primarily to coach their very own youngsters, and continues to play an important function within the preservation of Armenian tradition. “Within the nineteenth century, it was one among the many three best locations for studying amongst Armenians the world over, the opposite two being in Venice and St. Petersburg,” says Aslanian.
Rev Father Zaven Yazichyan pastor of Armenians, supervisor of ACPA at Armenian School and Philanthropic Academy. (Specific Picture by Partha Paul)
Tadevosyan explains that youngsters from Armenia and Armenian college students from the world over proceed to come back to the varsity every year for his or her schooling. At current, the varsity hosts some 70-90 college students and has lessons until the twelfth grade. “Since it is a philanthropic faculty, it’s open and free for Armenians from anyplace on the earth. The college takes care of the youngsters from their schooling, lodging, meals, medicines and all the things else,” he says.
Other than schooling, Armenians additionally come right down to India for his or her annual cultural occasions like Christmas on January 6 and Easter. “It’s a approach of connecting with their roots,” explains Rangan Dutta, a contract author who has been documenting the Armenian group in Calcutta for the final a number of years. “The Armenian school will rejoice 200 years subsequent 12 months. Many aged college students will come right down to attend the celebration,” he provides.
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Because the battle continues to rage on between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Tadevozyan is crammed with hope from his nation of residence for the final twenty years, and one the place his ancestors made large accomplishments. In the meantime, on the web, hashtags like #IndiasupportArmenia and #IndiastandswithArmenia has been trending, although the Indian authorities is exercising warning in its stance on the battle.
After we hung up following a 40 minutes lengthy dialog over the cellphone, Tadevozyan referred to as me again hurriedly to make an addition to his feedback. “I can be very joyful if these highly effective nations like India, Russia, America, the place Armenians have made a mark, come collectively and recognise Karabakh as a separate, sovereign nation. Then peace will come routinely.”
Additional studying:
Armenians in international and inter-continental trade by Sushil Chaudhury
‘Armenians in India, from the earliest times to the present day by Mesrovb Jacob Seth
From the Indian ocean to the Mediterranean: The global trade networks of Armenian merchants from New Julfa by Sebouh Aslanian
