, are threaded through Sufi discourse: they range from the brotherhoods called raba to the murâbi (marabouts) of Morocco and rabita kurmak, the Turkish phrase which expresses the tie between the Sufi Shaikh and his disciples. (See Annemarie Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions, pp. 231 & 237).
54 ‘the slave of his slave’: Ibid., p. 292; see also Franz Rosenthal’s The Muslim Concept of Freedom Prior to the Nineteenth Century, p. 93, (Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1960).
55 Amongst the members of: A large number of documents relating to such esoteric and magical cults, as well as protective talismans etc. have survived in the Geniza. See Norman Golb, ‘Aspects of the Historical Background of Jewish Life in Medieval Egypt’, pp. 12–16. The custom of visiting saint’s graves was followed widely within the congregation of the Synagogue of Ben Ezra in Fustat (see, for example, S. D. Goitein’s article, The Sexual Mores of the Common People’, p. 58). For the use of talismans in North African Jewish communities in modern times see Yedida Stillman, The Evil Eye in Morocco’, (in Folklore Research Centre Studies, Vol. I, ed. Dov Noy, Issachar Ben-Ami, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 1970).
56 it was … dismissed: P. Gururaja Bhatt, for example, writes: ‘devil-worship has been, for centuries, the core of the Tu
uva cult among the non-Brahmins.’ (Studies, p. 356).
57 The spot was tended by a Pujari: For the role of the Pujari in Bhûtaradhana see G. R. Krishna’s Caste and Tribes, pp. 175–8.
58 Over the years … Bomma’s role: See for example, S. D. Goitein, Letters, p. 191; E. Strauss, ‘Documents’, p. 149 (line 23 ‘to brother Bomma especially from me, plentiful greetings’); and T — S 18 J 4, fol. 18, recto, line 47, ‘and special greetings to Shaikh Bomma’.
59 Among the items he brought back: T — S 20.137, recto, lines 46–48, & T — S N.S. J 1, recto, lines 8–11. Coral was an important product of the medieval Muslim west. It was obtained from the coasts of Spain and North Africa (Cf. Norman Stillman, The Merchant House of Ibn ‘Awkal’, p. 63). Soap was another luxury item exported by the Muslim west. Stillman writes: ‘It was the Arabs who first discovered that soap could be made from olive oil instead of foul-smelling animal fats. The Arabs often perfumed their soap, and in Europe soap from the Arab countries was considered an article of luxury.’ (p. 66, ibid.). Ben Yiju frequently imported soap from Aden to Mangalore.
60 They wear only bandages’: R. H. Major, India in the Fifteenth Century, p. 17. ‘Abd al-Razzaq notes that this apparel was common to ‘the king and to the beggar’. See Goitein’s discussion of attitudes towards clothing as they are represented in the Geniza documents (A Mediterranean Society, Vol. IV, pp. 153–159, 1983).
61 Several … mention imported Egyptian robes: These garments were referred to as futa and maqa’. See, for example, T — S 1080 J 95, recto, lines 8–9; T — S 10 J 9, fol. 24, lines 14–15; T — S 20.137, recto, line 48; and T — S 10 J 12, fol. 5, verso, line 9, & T — S 10 J 9, fol. 24, recto, lines 14–15 (maqa’ iskandarânî). For cloths that he may have used as turbans, see T — S 8 J 7, fol. 23, recto margin.
62 ‘I have also … sent for you’: T — S 18 J 2, fol. 7, recto, lines 15–18.
63 In the Middle East … paper: For treatments of the medieval paper industry in the Middle East, see S. D. Goitein, The Main Industries of the Mediterranean Area as Reflected in the Records of the Cairo Geniza’, pp. 189–193 (Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. IV, 1961); and E. Ashtor, ‘Levantine Sugar Industry in the Later Middle Ages — An Example of Technological Decline’, pp. 266–73, (Israel Oriental Studies, VII, Tel Aviv University, 1977). For the role of paper in medieval Muslim culture, see Qazi Ahmadmian Akhtar, The Art of Waraqat’, (Islamic Culture, pp. 131–45, Jan. 1935); and ‘Bibliophilism in Medieval Islam’, (Islamic Culture, pp. 155–169, April 1938). There is of course an extensive literature on the manufacture of books in the Islamic world in the Middle Ages. See for example, T.W. Arnold & A. Grohmann, The Islamic Book, (Paris, Pegasus Press, 1929).
64 ‘the best available’: T — S K 25. 252, verso, lines 14–15.
65 ‘no one has its like’: T — S 18 J 2, fol. 7, recto, lines 19–20. For some other references to paper (waraq) in Ben Yiju’s correspondence see T — S 8 J 7, fol. 23, verso, line 1 (waraq Ma
rî); T — S 18 J 4, fol. 18, recto, line 42; T — S Misc. Box 25, fragm. 103, recto, line 48; & T — S N.S. J 1, recto, line 9.
66 Much of his kitchenware: For mention of ‘iron frying-pans’ (maqlâ hadîd) see T — S 20.137, recto, line 47; for glasses (zajjâj), 20.137, recto, line 45; T — S MS Or. 1081 J 3, recto, lines 7; and for soap (âbûn), T — S 10 J 9, fol. 24, recto, line 16; T — S 8 J 7, fol. 23, recto margin, and T — S 20.137, recto, line 48.
67 For his mats: For references to mats from Berbera (
uar barbarî) see T — S 18 J 2, fol. 7, recto, line 12; T — S 20.137, recto, line 46; and T — S K 25.252, recto, line 21. For mention of a ‘Barûjî anfasa’ see T — S K 25.252, recto, line 23.
68 His friends … sent him raisins’: For references to sugar (sukkar in Ben Yiju’s correspondence) see, T — S 10 J 12, fol. 5, recto, line 22; T — S 10 J 9, fol. 24, recto, line 16; T — S K 25.252, verso, line 13; T — S 18 J 2, fol. 7, recto, line 22; T — S Misc. Box 25. 103, recto, line 43; T — S N.S. J 1, recto, line 9; and (National and University Library, Jerusalem) Geniza MS H.6, line 18 (E. Strauss, ‘Documents …’). For raisins (zabîb) see T — S 18 J 5, fol. 1, recto, line 23; T — S N.S. J 1, recto, line 9; T — S K 25.252, verso, line 13; T — S 10 J 9, fol. 24, recto, line 16; T — S 18 J 2, fol. 7, recto, line 22; T — S Misc. Box 25, fragm. 103, recto, line 43; T — S 8 J 7, fol. 23, recto margin; and (National and University Library, Jerusalem) Geniza MS H.6, line 19 (E. Strauss, ‘Documents …’).
69 The various kinds of palm-sugar: Failing to find sugar in Aden once, Khalaf ibn Ishaq commented ‘Your servant looked for sugar, but there is none to be had this year,’ as though in apology for the deprivation he was inflicting on his friend (T — S 18 J 5, fol. 1, recto, margin).
70 If it seems curious: Ben Yiju’s imports of sugar offer a sidelight on the history of that commodity in India. Sugar cane is, of course, native to India and is even mentioned in the Vedas. In his article, ‘Sugar-Making in Ancient India’ (Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, VII, pt. 1, 1964, pp. 57–72) Lallanji Gopal points out that processes for the manufacturing of refined sugar are mentioned in the Jatakas and were evidently well-known in India since antiquity. Yet, the travellers who visited the Malabar in the later Middle Ages (such as Marco Polo), generally refer to sugar made from palm products, not cane-sugar (p. 68, fn.). This must mean either that cane-sugar was not manufactured in India on a commercial scale or that the process was not widely in use on the Malabar coast. At any rate, the fact that Ben Yiju imported sugar from the Middle East indicates clearly that refined sugar was not generally available in the Malabar coast, and was probably not commercially produced in India at the time. By the sixteenth century, however, sugar had become a major export in Bengal (cf. Archibald Lewis, ‘Maritime Skills in the Indian Ocean’, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, XVI, pts. II–III, 1973). This means that processes of sugar manufacturing had been widely adopted in India in the intervening centuries — possibly from the Middle East. This may be the reason why the names of certain sugar products in India still invoke Middle Eastern origins.