How A Pilgrimage Ship Disrupted Mughal-Portuguese Relationship During the Early Seventeenth Century

During medieval India, Muslims who wanted to embark on a pilgrimage may choose between two routes. One option was to travel by caravan overland through Iran, or by sailing ship from Gujarat over the Arabian Sea. Both routes were not without peril. If the overland path was chosen, there was a risk of encountering robbers and unbelievers, whilst the maritime route required a Portuguese-issued cartaz permit as well as the vicissitudes of the monsoon. Ships carrying pilgrims also transported products from Europe, Africa, Arabia, and Asia to Mecca, Umm al Qurrah ('Mother of Cities'), which served as a central market. The majority of trade from India to Mecca went through the Red Sea port of Mocha (Al-Makha), which served as the primary distribution center for Indian goods that had crossed the sea. Due to the monsoon and the challenges of sea travel, the trip to Mocha was normally conducted only once a year, and for Mughal trade, these voyages commenced largely from the seaport of Surat. It is to be noted that Mocha which is now a major port of Yemen was historically renowned for its coffee trade. The global dissemination of Mocha coffee has been attributed to this port city. In India, coffee travelled from the port of Mocha of Yemen to the modern-day Karnataka by Baba Budan, a 17th century Sufi. He went on a pilgrimage (haj) to Mecca and while returning he smuggled 7 coffee beans from Mocha in 1670 and planted them in the hills of Chikamagalur district (now known as the Baba Budan Giri Hills in Karnataka in the Western Ghats). Chikamagalur is described as "The Land of Coffee".    

Speaking of Surat, it was one of India's major ports and a center of trade with the Red Sea during Jahangir's reign, and it became even more significant as its more northerly counterpart on the Gulf of Cambay, Cambay itself, began to silt up with sand and gravel. In March 1616, Surat was formally designated as the English East India Company's primary factory in India. However, it was the Portuguese who first arrived in the Indian subcontinent as traders and were successful in establishing their trading factories. In 1510, the Portuguese captured Goa and it became their headquarters in India. They were powerful in the Indian Ocean and had introduced the cartaz system in 1502 by which they enjoyed the Portuguese monopoly over the Indian Ocean trade. As per the system, the Portuguese East India Company would ensure a ship which had obtained the permit after paying customs in order to navigate in the sea without any pirate or rival state's attacks on the ship. The pass listed all of the ports the ship was permitted to visit, as well as the specific commodities of commerce that the ship was permitted to carry on board. If a ship did not carry the pass or violated any of the conditions specified, it might be taken by any Portuguese patrol agent. Especially offensive was the fact that each pass bore embossed images of the Virgin Mary and Jesus, and for faithful Muslims to travel under such conditions, especially on pilgrimage, would be to condone idolatry and as per rigid interpretations of sharia or Islamic law, this entailed the occasional postponement of the obligation of pilgrimage. For Muslims, Mekka or Makkah, 'the blessed' is the holiest city in the world and it is towards the direction of Mecca every faithful faces five times a day in namaz or prayer. It is the goal of their lifetime to go to Mecca for haj which beings in Dhu al-Qida, the 11th month of the hegira calendar and ends during Dhu al-Hijah, the 12th month. No Muslims can enter the Masjid al-Haram without first entering the miqat i.e. the boundary and no Muslims are permitted to cross the miqat unless he or she enters in the state of ihram when certain permissible things in Islam becomes impermissible (haram) such as cutting hair, trimming nails, shaving beards, wearing perfumes or garments with seams, having sexual intercourse and having any direct contact between men and women, etc. The city of Mecca is out of bounds for non-Muslims and if anyone tries to enter, he/she faces fines, deportation and a permanent ban from Saudi Arabia.    

These religious issues were of utmost importance to the Muslims back in the olden days too. But, given the more liberal religious context of the reigns of Akbar and Jahangir, pilgrimage to Mecca continued at a healthy pace despite the religious difficulties of the sea route. The Mughal Emperors were known to have European paintings dealing with Christian subject-matters such as the images of Mother Mary, Jesus, among others. Although the Mughals were not keen to suffer any economic loss. Accordingly, when in September 1613, Rahimi, an incredibly huge and renowned Mughal pilgrimage ship owned by the Emperor's mother was seized by the Portuguese despite the fact that it had the required Portuguese cartaz and then it was taken to their base, Goa with all of its goods and 7,00 people on board. In response to this direct provocation, the Mughal Emperor went to great lengths to end Portuguese privileges in the Mughal Empire. He ordered Muqarrab Khan, the governor of Surat, to invade the Portuguese town of Daman. The Jesuit church at Agra was shut down and the Jesuit Fathers were no longer getting the allowance they had previously received. This conflict between the Mughals and the Portuguese had harmed the Portuguese trading interests in India. This conflict also allowed the English at the Mughal court to safeguard their trading interests, while the Portuguese began to fall out of favour with the imperial court in terms of commercial privilege.