Astonishing as it may sound but East Africans were once a part of India.
Though slavery is what comes to mind, given the ancient social milieu, it comes as refreshing news that many East Africans wrote an unparalleled story by taking high rank positions in military and political authority in India.
Throwing light on their extensive role in Indian history, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) is holding an exhibition ‘Africans in India – A Rediscovery’.
The exhibition of photographs, retracing the life and achievements of prominent Afro-Indians, comes from the Schomburg Centre for Research in Black Studies, New York. It includes photographic reproductions of paintings from private collections and museums as well as contemporary photographs.
The African men and women, who were brought to India through the early slave trade, were known as Habshi (Abyssinian) and Sidi (captive or prisoner of war). They came mostly from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and adjoining areas. Trained as soldiers, they were highly prized for their military skills.
Even rulers considered Africans reliable, because they were outsiders with no connection to the indigenous populations and did not possess any traditional authority. As a result they made them court officials, administrators and army commanders.
The exhibition highlights in detail the history of the two African dynasties that were established in Western India. One ruled the state of Janjira, also known as Habsan (for Abyssinia) and the other ruled the Sachin state in Gujarat from 1971. Like Janjira, Sachin had its own cavalry and state band that included Africans, a coat of arms, currency and stamped paper. The nawabs of the two dynasties were Muslims and ruled over the majority Hindu population.
Also, from 1400, Africans held high positions in India including generals, admirals and ministers in Hindu and Muslim states. The ‘Abyssinian Party’, as it is called, dominated the Bijapur Sultanate starting in 1580 and one of its most famous African governors was Ikhlas Khan. He was in charge of administration, commander-in-chief and minister of finances under two sultans.
Another powerful leader was Malik Ambar (1548-1626). An Ethopian, Ambar arrived in India in the early 1570s and became a slave of Chengiz Khan, the prime minister of the sultanate of Ahmadnagar. He was freed upon Khan’s death in 1575. He then ruled as a regent and prime minister.
Interestingly, African women became queens in India. An Ethopian and a former slave, Mehr Lakha Begum Sahiba was the third wife of Sayyid Mansur Ali Khan, the nawab of Bengal from 1838 to 1880. Yasmin Mahal was one of the wives of Wajid Ali Shah, the last king of Oudh in Uttar Pradesh. Bamba Muller (1848- 1887), an Ethopian, was Maharani Bamba Duleep Singh when she married the last ruler of the Sikh Empire in northern India.
Africans were architects too, who built some of the forts, mosques and mausoleums and other edifices of historical and architectural legacy.