SOUTHWEST SILK ROAD. ALL ROADS LEAD TO CHINA!

Water was certainly the favourite highway of the ancient world being safer, easier and more comfortable than land alternatives. Why, then, do so many assume that these ancient merchants would set off from the great trading centres of the ancient Mediterranean world on foot, to walk or ride five or six thousand miles across the hostile terrain of Central Asia? A route which not only involved seasonal horrors of snow and blistering heat, but also the customs collectors of innumerable small nations, dangerous bandits and the unpredictability of rising and falling empires.

It is no great surprise that the Romans, having lost an army to the Parthians (Caesar famously worked hard to recover the lost legionary Eagles) should seek an alternative route for trade. According to the 3^rd Century BCE traveller Megasthenes, they favoured a route that Alexander the Great once took an interest in. Half way across India, the emperor was persuaded by his army not to tackle the forces of ‘Gangaridai, a nation that possesses a vast force of the largest sized elephants’.

Strabo, the Greek geographer and historian, writing of 1^st Century CE trade comments that ‘regarding the merchants who now sail from Egypt...as far as the Ganges River, they are only private citizens’.

That the ‘People and the Senate of Rome’, the public administration, would not sponsor such trade is unsurprising. The senate enacted legislation to ban the wearing of silk because the fabric becoming a ruinous drain on the exchequer. But quite apart from Strabo’s commentary, current excavation reveals Roman artefacts at Wari Bateshwar, the ancient trading centre on the banks of the Old Brahmaputra, from which has also been recovered punched silver coinage dated from as early as the 6^th Century BCE.

Another 1^st Century writer, of the ‘Merchants handbook’, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, comments on the Ganges Delta as ‘a source of raw silk…from the great inland city of Thina’.

Ptolemaic Map of Trade Routes of the Ganges Delta

That Ptolemy’s 2^nd Century map of the Ganges Delta should be remarkably accurate is no great surprise. His source was usually Phoenician merchants from Lebanon. And it should not be wondered how such traders reached the Ganges since, in the 1^st Millennium BCE, the Egyptians constructed a canal from the Nile Delta to the Red Sea.

It was Malaysian tin, found in the Chinese bronze of the 1^st Millennium BCE which first raised suspicion that there was an ancient trading route to China; similarly the finds of Money Cowries from the Indian Ocean in 3^rd Century BCE tombs of the in Yunnan Province of China raise the same questions.   

Perhaps, above all, it is the ancient trading centres, the hundreds of Vihara and temples, the numerous palaces and forts that line the water ways of Bangladesh, as well as the greedy eyes of European nations that drew them to this remote corner of South Asia, that bear testament to the great wealth.  A wealth generated by the rich trade that unquestionably passed through this great crossroads of the world. Which was, incidentally, also the gateway to the Ganges Basin, now shared by Bangladesh and India, and the site of one of the world’s first industrialised civilizations.

Beads and stones from Archaeological Excavations

But a glance at a world map can easily explain how so many routes led, by land and by sea, to this great ‘Singapore of the ancient world’

A map of trade routes of the 1^st century reveals that, with the famous Maritime Trade Route not yet opened (by Da Gama in the early 16^th Century), there were alternatives to the Central Asian routes more conventionally associated with Von Ricthofen’s ‘Silk Road’.

By land or river, it was possible to make the way, down the famous Euphrates, or across Arabia, to cross the Arabian Sea to the ancient civilisations of the Indus. Heading north up the Indus, where there were unquestionably great opportunities for trade, there were two choices; to head North West into Afghanistan and then join the traditional Central Asian routes, or to head east. We know that, in the 3^rd Century, the original Grand Trunk Road was constructed by the first of the Mauryan Emperors to reach from the Indus to the Ganges at Patna, thus facilitating a fairly short transit to head by water to the Brahmaputra.  No doubt that this great highway was built to facilitate trade.

Traders travelled to the Delta of the Ganges and Brahmaputra, from such places as the great sources of gems in Sri Lanka, Java, Sumatra and Thailand, as well as locales specializing in spices and other commodities

From the Delta, the Brahmaputra carried merchants north. In what is now North Bangladesh, three routes divided; the Teesta River to Sikkim and thence to Tibet, via land to Cooch Behar and through to Bhutan into Tibet, or north east up the Brahmaputra to North Assam and thence by the ancient Ledo Road through Burma, passing close to fabled Mandalay, into Yunnan and Sichuan, from where the headwaters of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers were easily accessed as routes to the heart of Chinese civilisation.

In the 16^th Century, the Grand Trunk Road was extended, in the West to Kabul, and in the East to Sonargaon in Bangladesh, marking acceptance of the vital importance of the trade routes to the Mughal Empire. It was, indeed, the Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb, who famously described the land around the Ganges as ‘the Paradise of nations’, because of the wealth that trade engendered; and Robert Clive, the British victor of Plassey in 1757, explaining to the directors of the East India Company the benefit of gaining Diwani, Tax Collecting, rights to Bengal, Behar and Orissa, that the wealth they could anticipate would ‘ defray all the expenses of the investment, furnish the whole of the China treasure, answer the demands of all your other settlements in India’.

By then, of course, the draw of the Spice Islands of the East, had opened the Maritime Silk Road, that by the middle of the 19^th Century had become the main route of trade between East and West. But for, perhaps, as much as 2,000 years or more, there is little doubt that the Southwest Silk Road was one of the main, if not the main, route of trade between the great trading centres, and Empires of East and West.

THE PERILS OF POSSESSION

Possessing foreign lands in the way that Britain colonised much of the world for so many generations is often facilitated by disunity amongst those colonised. The Scots and Welsh certainly found this to be true in their efforts to resist English advances in earlier times, as did India from the mid-17^th century.

However, although even in India regular attempts were made to loosen the British grip, it is often the efforts of outsiders that can sometimes prove most troubling. As the British found out for themselves in India.

The incident of 18^th November, 1809 is perhaps a vivid example. In the spring of 1809 the beleaguered French managed to get a small squadron of two Frigates and a Corvette past the British blockade of French ports. They were destined for the Bay of Bengal, where they intended to inflict the maximum possible economic damage on Britain’s valuable trade which was substantially financing the war between Britain and France. Arriving a few months later they wrought some carnage on the commercial and smaller naval vessels that were part of the British operations in India.

On November 18^th they encountered a small convoy of ‘East Indiamen’, as the lightly armed cargo vessels of the east India Company were known, outward bound to Bengal.  The ships were under the command of Captain John Stewart; their cargo 200 passengers, mostly newly recruited officers for the all important East India Company army.

On sighting the French ships, Captain Stewart signalled for the two other members of his convoy, the Charlton and United Kingdom, to close with his ship, the Windham, in order to jointly pick off the French ships one by one.

Ship for ship, the French frigates outgunned the British; and worse, the British crews were mostly ‘lascars’, many of them Bangladeshis from Sylhet, excellent sailors, but untrained with guns.

They might have still had a chance, if they had worked together, however the captains of the other British vessels declined to close, with the result that the French were able to capture the English ships one by one.

Putting prize crews aboard the captured ships, captain Hamelin began the journey back to France with his captives, surviving a hurricane along the way.  However the captured ships were not all destined for France, blockading British naval ships were able to recapture The Windham and release the imprisoned British soldiers aboard.

The history of the British in India is far from one dimensional. It was indeed a rich and colourful history, and the affair of November 18^th was but one of countless such reversals of fortune over the two hundred years of British occupation of the sub continent.

Lalbagh Fort

Lalbagh Fort

Also known as Fort Aurangabad after the Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb, in whose reign the construction commenced, the fort was probably designed to fulfil the same defensive, protective and residential role as the more famous Red Fort in Delhi.

Walls of Lalbagh Fort

Within the huge walls, substantial sections of which remain intact, and the three gateways there are only three standing structures.  However, excavations have revealed the foundations of as many as 27 structures as well as complex water and sewage systems and decorative gardens and fountains. 

These recent discoveries point towards not only an earlier history for the site, but also a remarkable complex of administration, residential and leisure facilities.

Gate, Lalbagh Fort

Construction was commenced in 1678, by the then Viceroy of Bengal Prince Muhammad Azam.  Azam’s immediate successor was Shaista Khan whose daughter Pari Bibi died at the fort; her mausoleum is one of the three buildings in the complex. After the death of his daughter, Khan felt the location to be ominous and construction was never completed.

Mausoleum of Pari Bibi

He may well have been right. In 1857 the fort garrison joined the ‘Sepoy Mutiny’ but were defeated by the army of the East India Company and those who were captured were publicly hanged in nearby Victoria Park (now known as Bahadur Shah Park after the leader of the failed rebellion).

Dewan-i-Aam

The visible buildings within the fort walls are the Dewan-i-Aam, a mosque, and the tomb of Bibi Para.  The Dewan-i-Aam is essentially the citadel and headquarters, including guest accommodations for VIPs. 

Quilla Mosque

The mosque, known as the Quilla Mosque is a three domed structure in the same Mughal style as the rest of the buildings.  The tomb of Pari Bibi is rare in its interior decoration made of black basalt, white marble and coloured tile. Further structures including arrangements for water supply and fountain courts, sewerage, gardens, stables, barracks, and residential accommodation have been identified by the Archaeology department.

Excavations have also revealed strata of earlier occupation of the site, including terracotta plaques and heads from a pre Muslim period, probably from the time of Buddhist occupation after 7^th Century. 

THE SOUTHWEST SILK ROAD

The Ganges/Brahmaputra Delta has been the subject of international interest for over two millennia.

Megasthenes, the Greek traveller, wrote, in about 300BCE of the people of ‘Gangarida’, that it was ‘a nation that possesses a vast force of the largest size elephants’.

His interest was presumably stirred by Alexander the Great’s decision not to advance and come into conflict with the legendary strength of these people!

Strabo, the 1^st Century Roman writer, mentions the deltaic lands: ‘Regarding merchants who now sail from Egypt…as far as the Ganges, they are only private citizens...’

Beads from Wari Bateshwar

His comments are unsurprising, too, since finding Roman beads and other materials at Wari Bateshwar, the ancient city with roots from before the Bronze Age presently being slowly excavated beside the Old Brahmaputra in Bangladesh.

The 1^st Century ‘Periplus of the Erythraean Sea’ makes an interesting joint reference that more or less supports other contentions that the great trading centre that was the Ganges/Brahmaputra Delta had early connections to China trade, referring to the accuracy of the description of the Ganges delta, but mentioning China as ‘the great inland city, Thina, that is the source of raw silk’

Such reference, of course, implies that traders to the delta assumed the silk they were acquiring came from China, but without any real idea of where, or even what, China was.

Ptolemaic Map of the Ganges Delta 

A hundred years later, Ptolemy’s map of the Ganges Delta, a remarkably accurate piece of mapping, to which we have referred before in this blog, showed quite clearly that his informants knew all about the course of the Brahmaputra River, crossing through the Himalayas, then bending westward to its source in Tibet.

No one seriously doubts that this delta was a major international trading centre, almost certainly from much earlier than the Common Era. The industrialisation of the Ganges basin, which commenced, perhaps, as early as 1,000 years before the Common Era found its most convenient shipping outlet down the Ganges itself, although the Grand Trunk Road was probably built between Patna, in the basin, and the Indus River, to facilitate trade.

Coin excavated from Wari Bateshwar

The Malaysian Tin identified in Chinese Bronze of the ancient times, and Money Cowrie shells from the Indian Ocean found in tombs in Yunnan of 3^rd Century BCE support the belief that trade with China also commenced at an early period. We also know that gemstones and other merchandise from such as Thailand and Java were traded in the delta and through it.

Clearly, this history of such rich trade goes a long way to explaining some of the more improbable aspects of the archaeology of a country more commonly associated with poverty.

Paharpur

With over 250 identifiable remains of Buddhist universities/monasteries and a vast and rich trove of both Buddhist and Hindu sculpture and architectural pieces dating back to before the Common Era, indeed, from the time of the Buddha himself, it clearly required considerable wealth to build and maintain such treasures. Equally, some of the architectural gems and sculpture of a great Hindu tradition from both the early times and more recent, especially the 17^th and 18^th Centuries, and the countless great Mughal and pre-Mughal mosques, together with over 150 palaces, in various states of repair, forts, infrastructure and public buildings all speak of considerable riches which are, at present, scarcely imaginable.

Ahsan Manzil, The Pink Palace

But it is perhaps the recent work of the Chinese archaeological writer Bin Yang whose work, ‘Between Winds and Clouds; The Making of Yunnan’, published in 2004 by the University of Colombia, that confirms, most powerfully, the work of earlier writers and archaeologists, such as D.P. Singhal and Janice Stargardt, in identifying this much neglected route of international trade.

He identifies a number of sub routes of the of the road: Sichuan-Yunnan-Burma-Assam-Bangladesh.

Much of his consideration of the route is of its most recent uses, especially from 12^th Century CE, when, for example, he believes it was used to ship bullion from Yunnan (Gold and Silver being amongst the minerals in which Yunnan is rich), through Upper Burma, into Bengal, making use of the ancient route, known as the Ledo road, through Burma, which also passed through famous Mandalay, and from there, the Brahmaputra valley through Assam and modern Bangladesh.

Well, we might think, did Robert Clive of India the victor of Plassey, writing in 1765 to the Directors of the East India Company, explaining the importance of buying the Diwani rights (tax collection) to Bengal, Behar and Orissa, speak of ‘the whole of the China treasure’; and the great Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb describe Bengal as ‘the Paradise of the Nations’.

Even Robinson Crusoe, in Daniel Defoe’s famous novel, written in 1719, commented on his last adventure, ‘on our return to Bengal I was very satisfied with my adventure...but it is little matter for wonder when we consider the innumerable ports and places where they have free commerce’.

Curzon Hall, Dhaka

Or Ralph Fitch, the London merchant who explored the commercial possibilities in 1586, producing the report that resulted in the East India Company being formed, describing Sripur in Bangladesh as ‘a flourishing centre of trade and shipbuilding’.

Indeed, one wonders why so many of the pieces published about Silk Roads, a description of the trade routes between the great Empires of the world invented by Baron von Richthofen in the late 19^th Century, which has acquired a gestalt all of its own, have consistently failed to identify this Road through the Delta.

Hemnagor Palace

The answer may lie in the interests of Chinese traders who wanted to keep it secret, and merchants in Bangladesh and India, especially Armenian traders. And of course, in today’s classic ignoring of Bangladesh as a remote corner of India, steeped in poverty and corruption, and disaster prone. Not a place one would normally associate with being an historic centre of world trade!

However, the emerging evidence of the ancient cities of Bangladesh, in particular Wari Bateshwar, Mahathangarh, Bhitagarh, Vikrampur, Egarasindhur and Sonargaon will, surely, eventually help the world to recognise what may be one of Global trade’s last great secrets .

Please remember, you heard it here, first!