Tracing Indo-Russian Diplomatic History

Arun Mohanty

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781032654256
• eBook ISBN: 9781000730043
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Regional Studies
• Index: Politics & International Relations

The India-Russia relationship has been through a number of phases since its formal establishment in April 1947. Prime Minister Nehru's strategic vision led him to seek diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union (USSR) even before India attained Independence. The enthusiastic Soviet response launched a relationship which has had some unique features in the past seventy-two years.

The detailed history of the India-Russia relationship presented in this volume highlights the continued relevance of many of the factors that led to a close India-Russia bonding, even while identifying the slip roads into which the partnership has occasionally drifted.

Politics evolves continuously, but geography remains constant. The India-Russia relationship has a mutually-recognized geopolitical logic. They have common concerns in the shared neighbourhood of West and Central Asia. Like India, Russia has had a complex relationship with China. In the quest for a multi-polar world, in which every pole seeks to protect its core interests and promote its aspirations, Russia and India, as this comprehensive volume notes, will remain staunch partners in the foreseeable future.

Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

CHAPTER 1
The Early Russian Emissaries to India

Introduction

History of international relations shows that countries have resorted to establishing diplomatic relations primarily for strengthening bilateral trade. In fact, in most cases, the traders had been first emissaries to arrive in the host country, which was followed by establishment of official relations between the two nations. History is replete with such instances. Though, India was known as a fairytale country to Russians from twelfth century, it is only from the fifteenth century that more or less serious attempts were made to establish trade links between the two countries. Legendary Russian merchant-traveller Afanasy Nikitin, a native of Tver, arrived in India in 1467 for doing trade. It is known from Nikitin’s accounts that he had met Mikhail Borisovich, Grand Duke of Tver, and received his blessings before embarking on his arduous journey to India.¹ From his travelogue, Voyage Beyond Three Seas, it is known that he had also the support and blessings of Ivan Vasiliyevich.²

‘At a time when Vasco-da-Gama was only thinking about finding a route through Africa to Hindustan, our man from Tver was already travelling on the coast of Malabar’, wrote eminent Russian historian Nikolai Karamzin.³ It is believed that Nikitin had been to the courts of Indian kings and brought them gifts from the Russian Tsar. In a way he was the first Russian merchant as well as an emissary to reach India from Russia.

Afanasy Nikitin

Nikitin started his voyage from Astrakhan through the Caspian Sea to Hormuz, a city of luxury and global trade at that time. Nikitin’s journey from Hormuz to the Indian coast took six weeks. The first Indian city on the way from Hormuz, which Nikitin mentioned, was Cambay or Kanbat. According to his description, Cambay, at that time, was regarded as a wonderful city which had bread and fruits in plenty. Huge amount of cotton was produced here. Every year, 40 to 50 ships transported silk and cotton cloth from this place. The number of ships which arrived from different countries with other goods reached up to 300. They came from Persia, Tartary, Turkey, Syria Berbery, as well as Africa, Arabia, and Ethiopia. India exported silk and cotton cloth from Cambay to other lands.

Gujarat at the time was one of the many independent Muslim principalities, and Mohammed Shah Beghara ruled Ahmadabad (1459–1511). He was the most popular among Ahmadabad’s Muslim rulers, the hero of numerous legends and tales. (Mohamed Shah was an example of personal valour and strength, justice and generosity. He was famous for his insight and strict observance of Muslim rituals.)

Nikitin, who did not stay in Gujarat for long, wrote only about trade in Cambay. Recalling that he sailed to Gujarat from Doha, Nikitin states that paint and lac were found in Gujarat and Cambay. He notes that Cambay was a harbour from where ships sail over Indian seas, and it was rich in goods; alacha, raffeta, coarse cloth and indigo were always available there. Nikitin probably sailed further to the south. He said, ‘it took six weeks to reach Chaul by sea’.

‘Here is the land of India’, thus he starts his narrative about India, describing in the beginning only secondary details which he came across. He is surprised by many things, and does not forget to narrate that he himself became an object of strong curiosity: ‘Wherever I went, I was followed by a lot of people who wondered to see a white man.’

European travellers narrate a lot about precious ornaments that Indian kings wore. However, Nikitin did not pay much attention to this. In Chaul, he saw a king, probably not an independent ruler but a local chief, since Chaul belonged to the Bahamani empire. Describing further about the dress of ‘boyars’, queens and kings and servants of boyars, Nikitin everywhere used the word fota-dhoti. About the first ones he says that they wear a fota-dhoti round their shoulders and another round their loins. The princes too wrap a dhoti round their shoulders and another one round their loins. Nikitin also narrated the arms carried by kings and boyar servants. Some carried shield and sword in their hands, and others were armed with spears or knives or sabers or bow and arrows. Nikitin noticed other types of dresses with Indians in winter: they wear one dhoti around the loins, another one on the shoulders, and the third one on the head. Common people were dressed like this. However, the kings and the boyars put on portki (pants), shirt and dhoti.

Nikitin does not write anything about the city of Chaul itself, which is present-day Chaul. He lived there for a short period. The Portuguese lived there in the beginning of the sixteenth century.

After spending some time at Chaul, Nikitin went deep into the Deccan. ‘From Chaul it took us eight days by land to get to Pali, both are Indian towns, and from Pali to Umra, another Indian town, it took ten days and from Umra to Junnar six days.’ Pali is a town in Thane district. It took Nikitin 24 days to reach Junnar from Chaul. Junnar was the main town in the northern most district of Pune collectorate. There were a huge number of Buddhist cave temples and monasteries, which were in the outskirts of the town. In the words of Nikitin, ‘the town Junnar is situated on a rocky island not built by man but by God.’ Nikitin lived for two months in Junnar. The beginning of rainy season caught him there. He says, ‘Their winter began from Trinity day, which is beginning of June according to modern calendar. The rain continued with rare intervals, it rained both day and night for four months. The roads were damaged; everywhere there was water and mud. This is the season of ploughing and sowing’; says Nikitin.

Narrating his visit to Junnar, Nikitin says that guests were accommodated in the inns in India. By inn, Russian traveller no doubt means dharmashalas, guest houses for travellers. Dharmashalas are found everywhere in India till today. There are plenty of them in places visited by pilgrims.

Nikitin had to face quite an unpleasant incident at Junnar. His religious convictions were subjected to test, from which he emerged victorious. He did not become a renegade like De-Conti, Varthema or later, those British whom Purchas narrated.

At the time when Nikitin travelled through India, Junnar was one of the eight provinces of the Bahamani kingdom. May be, Asat Khan whom Russian traveller speaks about, was the governor of Junnar or what is more probable, he was a military commander of the province.

When Nikitin arrived in India, militancy of the Muslims was the matter of a not so remote past. Those Muslims, so intolerant towards infidels, were ruling over a part of the Deccan at that time and consistently fought Hindu rulers, striving to destroy their independence and implant Islam among the hated idol-worshippers. However, Nikitin could barely do any business with one of the irreconcilable Muslim fanatics in Junnar.

Nikitin did not complain about India as harshly as other Europeans. He did not like many things in India, but he did find common language with Indians. While speaking about his impressions, he was always an unprejudiced and wise observer. In his complaints you do not find intolerable arrogance, which is often seen among the present-day rulers of India. Talking about local traditions, about the religion of natives, he gives facts, without any derogatory comments. He has no repugnance for the natives and does not talk about endless beastly qualities of Indians, as a Western traveller would do.

Nikitin from Russian town Tver was perhaps the first European who spent a long time in the present-day domains of the Nizam. He lived and travelled through the country, met several historical personalities, succeeded in making several truthful remarks and left behind very interesting notes about the domains of the Bahamanis, to whom at that time the present-day territory of the Nizam belonged.

Nikitin left Junnar on 15 August and travelled a whole month to reach Bidar, where in his words, was a throne of the Hindustani Muslims. He proceeded to Kulungir from Junnar, and then from there to Gulbarga, and finally reached Bidar. Besides, he says, there were many other towns between these two big ones, everyday he passed by three towns, and sometimes even four.

The remnants in Bidar completely confirm Nikitin’s description: the city is great and has lot of people. No doubt, the city was magnificent and populous. The bright paint and multi-coloured tiles are still seen in the ruins as a reminder of the words of the Russian traveller about the royal palace, ‘the palace is very beautiful, with fretwork and gold all over it and every stone of it is fretted and very beautifully painted in gold’.

There were a thousand guards in the palace of the great Mughals. They were called darwans. Nikitin’s testimony that the scribes were infidels, which means Hindus, is not without interest. In Maharashtra the posts of clerks had been occupied by Brahmins for quite a long time. Their duty to put down the names of those who entered and those who came out reminds one of the above-mentioned practice in the dharmashalas.

Nikitin, as a merchant, paid special attention to the bazaar. In Bidar, horses and various goods are sold; silk and all kinds of other goods. Black people too are on the sale there. Nothing else is sold, and all goods come from Hindustan. As for food, nothing is sold but vegetables. There were no goods for the land of Rus. In these notes, two types of goods are mentioned: imported and local products. The local Indian goods comprise mainly vegetables. The imported goods included horses, lac, kamka (embroidered silk cloth), silk and black slaves. Indian kamka was known in Russia. It was known to Nikitin that horses were not bred in India. Buffalos though were bred in their land. They were used for carrying people and sometimes for transporting good, they served all purposes. He himself brought a stallion, as mentioned above, and spent 100 roubles on its maintenance. Asat Khan wanted to take away the stallion from him in Junnar. Nikitin finally sold it in Bidar. There was slave trade in Bidar. After one military campaign when Bahamani troops captured twenty thousand people, according to Nikitin, the price tag on slaves was as follows: one head was sold for 10 tankas, the other one was sold for 5 tankas and the slave children for 2 tankas per head. During Ala-ud-din’s rule, the Sultan himself fixed the prices on slaves; 5 to 12 tankas for a maid servant and 20-30-40 tankas for a concubine. One working slave could be purchased for 10–15 tankas, one domestic servant for 17–18 tankas, handsome boys could be sold for 20–30 tankas. At the same time there were higher prices on some slaves, it could go up to 1,000–2,000 tankas.

There is some assumption that Khorasani narratives had influenced Nikitin’s descriptions of the religious customs of Hindus and of the Hindu divinity. Here Nikitin’s own words can give us the answer. For example, his Hindu friends avowedly told him regarding their faith that they believed in Adam and the buits (Persian word for idol) are Adam and his whole kin. They further informed him that there were eighty-four faiths in India, and everyone was a believer. Some of them suggested a visit to Parvat, which Nikitin describes as their Jerusalem or Mecca in the Muslim tongue, where stands their chief butkhanah (idol house). In the subsequent passage idolatry, cow worship, nakedness jostle for attention. All the worshippers arrive naked, with a cloth round their buttocks, though they wear jewels and go to the butkhanah.

Just as Bidar was political centre of India to Nikitin, so was Parvat a religious hub, on the same rank with Jerusalem or Mecca. In the market of the stone-built temple complex, half the size of Tver, Nikitin saw carvings of buts, as incarnations of Vishnu together with Lord Ganesh, and Hanuman, devotee of Lord Rama.

Nikitin’s description of the cultural life of the Hindus and of the Muslims is a little confused which makes it difficult to classify them. Sometimes the description is quite factual, as for example when Nikitin points out that near butkhanah ‘old wives and young maidens shave their heads. Then they go up to butkhanah, each has to pay a fee of two sheshkanis for the benefit of but, and horses are charged four fanams each.’ We learn that Hindus ‘eat no flesh at all – no beef, mutton, fowl, fish or pork’ and ‘have two meals a day’, eating nothing at night. They ‘drink neither wine nor mead’, and ‘do not eat or drink with Muslims’. They eat privately, not with friends or even wives. ‘They eat rice and khichri with ghee and various herbs with their right hand, never touching it with their left hand. They never use knife and have no spoons.’ They also hide their foods from Muslims ‘lest they should look into the pot or at the food’, which would pollute it. ‘When eating, some cover themselves with a kerchief, so that no one may see them’.

In describing some other aspects of the religious and social life of Hindus, Nikitin points out that ‘they pray facing eastwards, in the Russian manner’, and ‘raise high both hands and put them on the ground and stretch out on it’. The structure of Indian temples was a study in contrast, as was the Hindus’ custom of cremation: the butkhanahs have no doors, and face eastwards, the buts too. And when someone dies, they burn him and scatter the ashes over water. Observation of the form of social greetings among the Hindus is, however, influenced by Khorasani habits of genuflection to nobility: in coming and going, they bow after the fashion of monks, touching the ground with both hands and saying nothing.

The Khorasani influence on Nikitin’s individual impressions of Hindus cannot be called absolute. There are places in his memoirs where he finds Hindus more open and trusting than the proselytizing Muslims. At Bidar he had confided to some Hindu acquaintances ‘that I was a Christian and not a Muslim, and that my name was Afanasy, or Khoja Yusuf Khorasani in the Muslim tongue’. They also returned the trust. This contrasts substantially with his attitude to Muslims, ‘and so my Christian brothers of Rus, those of you who want to go to the land of India, must leave their faith in Rus and invoke Mohammed before setting out for the land of Hindustan.’⁴

Despite problems of authenticity and accuracy in his observations, there is something permanent, even if of limited historical value in Nikitin’s memoirs. First he notices the...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• 1. The Early Russian Emissaries to India
• 2. The Embassies from Indian Kings to Russian Tsar
• 3. From October Revolution to India’s Independence
• 4. Establishment of Diplomatic Ties 1946–1953
• 5. New Era in Bilateral Relations
• 6. The Aftermath of Soviet Disintegration
• Index