Exploring Bengal's riverine trade through the ‘Mangal Kabyas’

In 2015, I got a ring-side view to an ambitious regional infrastructure project as India and Bangladesh revived centuries-old inland waterways. This route once moved goods and people not only through both countries but to Bhutan and Nepal as well. The climate benefits and long history made this project relevant. I could feel the pull of the argument as I worked on a feasibility study of reviving the old riverine channels at Tribeni in West Bengal, including a trading port at Balagarh. It reminded me that I was tracing the shipping route of Chand Saudagar from poet Bipradas Pipilai’s Manasamangal Kabya (or Manasa Vijay) dating back to the 15th century. This is the most famous among saudagar (Bengali for merchant) characters from Bengal’s Mangal Kabyas—or narrative religious poems written between 13th-18th century—and bratakathas, sacred devotional stories recited by women during ritualistic fasts.

Chand Saudagar’s merchant ship used to sail towards the Bay of Bengal from ancient Champak Nagar, or present-day Champaknagari of Purba Bardhawan district of West Bengal, after passing through Tribeni, situated at the confluence of the Ganga, Saraswati and Jamuna. Located a little further down the river, today Balagarh’s 600-year-old wooden boat-making industry is seeking Geographical Indication tag based on its mention in the Mangal Kabyas as a boat making cluster.

Waterways have long been conduits to evolution of civilisations, bringing in not just goods but also cultural influences. The 54 trans-boundary rivers flowing through the east of the subcontinent, including the Ganga/Padma, Brahmaputra/Jamuna, Barak/Meghna, have long shaped trade and culture. It is hardly surprising, then, that post-medieval literature continues to offer insights into Bengal’s waterways. The Manasamangal Kabya mentions that Chand Saudagar loads 14 of his ships with precious stones, pomelos, coconut, betelnuts, fine cotton, bundles of jute, red and black lentils, ginger and turmeric to set sail for a place mentioned simply as the ‘southern port’. Many of the items listed by Bipradas Pipilai in the 15th century are major items that Bengal still exports.

Another significant text is the Chandimangal from the 16th century. Written by Kabikankan Mukandaram Chakrabarti, the story is set around a merchant, Dhanapati, who is ordered by the king to sail to Singhala (Sri Lanka) to build trade relations. The former bids farewell to his pregnant wife to sail down the river Ajay to the Hooghly. He eventually sails past Tribeni, where people from all over the country come for a dip in the river Bhagirathi, and sails down the Bay of Bengal to turn when Dhanapati is imprisoned by the king. Years later, his son, Sripati, sails to Singhala to save his father. His ship is loaded with brassware, jute, Ayurvedic herbs, ginger, vermillion, cloves, carom seeds, blankets, cotton, edible foil and sugar to be bartered with sapphires, ironware, elephants, precious metals, corals, cumin, camphor and nutmeg, among other things. Again, the products are mentioned in great detail, and match the items being traded even today.

The trading posts mentioned along the rivers are those that have been marked as inland water ports in recent projects as well. The poets were not imagining a trading past, but were diligently documenting the riverine economy of 15th 16th century Bengal. 200 years later, in Annada Mangal Kabya, poet Bharatchandra Ray’s focus shifts towards the riverine ports of Nadia and Burdhawan, but he doesn’t make his protagonists travel across the Bay of Bengal. He describes a European colony of sailors and traders in the third book, Mansingh, or Annapurna Mangal. The Mughal general, Raja Man Singh, during his voyage down the Bhagirathi to inspect Bengal, comes across quarters of Ingrej (English), Olondaj (Dutch), Firingi (Portuguese), Farash (French), Dinemar (Danish) and Eleman (from Germany/Alemania), who fire their cannons at his fleet. This was the first mention of the Dutch in Bengali texts, and also the European trading companies present in the region.

The bratakathas, much like the Mangal Kabyas, feature married women with rather dismissive merchant husbands, who attract the wrath of the mother goddess because of their disparaging attitudes, and are finally saved by the penance of their wives. The most recurrent of the bratakathas is the Lokkhi’r Panchali, a metered narrative in veneration of Goddess Lakshmi that is recited by women on Thursday evenings. In the story, the most prosperous merchant in the city loses all his wealth when seven of his ships sink owing to his contempt of the deity.

Besides trade, the other common thread that runs across all Mangal Kabyas and the majority of bratakathas is the punishment faced by the protagonist merchants. These are usually in the form of sinking of loaded merchant ships and imprisonment or death of sons. The resolution finally happens when the trader, goaded by his pious wife, prostrates himself in front of the goddess and accepts her power. The ultimate form of forgiveness is that of ships rising from the bottom of the oceans with all the cargo intact. One can argue that the mother goddesses in these texts are embodiments of the indigenous culture, while the saudagar community, owing to their exposure to distant lands, represent a shift in perspective. Therefore, the conflict in the texts is that of cultural shifts. The poets haven’t just penned stories of veneration but also captured social tensions owing to trade, which exposed traditional communities to different ideas.

Tanushree Bhowmik is a Delhi-based food historian and development professional.