Aśu the convert: a slave girl or a Nāyar land owner?

Gamliel, O. (2018) Aśu the convert: a slave girl or a Nāyar land owner? Entangled Religions, 6, pp. 201-246. (doi: 10.13154/er.v6.2018.201-246)

Abstract

Aśu was a twelfth-century woman from the West Coast of South India. She is mentioned as a Tuḷuva “slave girl” (šifḥa) in a deed of manumission authored by Abraham Ben Yijū, a Jewish merchant who lived with her for nearly eighteen years and had children with her. It is thus accepted that Aśu was a manumitted slave. However, there is evidence to the contrary suggesting that Aśu was a member of a matrilineal household of the Nāyar caste of landlords, and that by allying with her, Ben Yijū was establishing a transregional network in collaboration with hinterland Indian merchants. In what follows, I examine the textual evidence from the Cairo Geniza related to the couple and reevaluate it against the anthropological history of Nāyars, especially in relation to their matrilineal inheritance customs and intercaste matrimonial alliances. Arguably, familial alliances such as those of Aśu and Ben Yijū matured into full-fledged communities of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the region. A better understanding of the relations between these two individuals, Aśu and Ben Yijū, can shed light on the history of the transregional maritime networks and, consequently, on the history of interreligious relations in the Malayalam-speaking region.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: I am greatly indebted to the European Research Council (ERC) and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement n° 647467 — JewsEast), under whose auspices the research incorporated in this paper was conducted.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Gamliel, Dr Ophira
• Authors: Gamliel, O.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > Theology and Religious Studies
• Journal Name: Entangled Religions
• Publisher: Kaete Hamburger Kolleg Dynamiken der Religionsgeschichte Zwischen Asien und Europa
• ISSN: 2363-6696
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 Ophira Gamliel
• First Published: First published in Entangled Religions 6: 201-246
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License