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Muhammad ibn Da'ud Shadiyabadi: Miftah al-Fuzala (15th century) A glossary of rare words and proper names occurring in Persian poetry found in Mandu (Shadiabad), India.
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Muhammad ibn Da’ud ibn Muhammad ibn Mahmud Shadiyabadi finished the Miftah al-Fuzala in 1468; the present MS is from 1500.
Taken from : www.imagesonline.bl.uk
He describes the Zarafar (a giraffe) and the 'Kurkadan' (Rhinoceros) among many others, and gives drawings.
The Zarafar as found in the manuscript.
The Kurkadan (Rhinoceros) is to much damaged to show.
Painting (modern)(baobab in ruins of Mandu) from Patel Virendra
Shadiyabadi means from the city of joy (Mandu)
It comes as no surprise that the book was written in Mandu. In the second half of the 15th century Mandu was a big trading partner for east Africa, the trade had off course started much
earlier.
I searched the manuscripts made or copied in the city during that period for any, even faint traces of East Africa. This is one of the two faint traces I found.
Other proofs of the Africa connection of Mandu are :
-During the reign of Mahamud Khilaji, 1436-1469 AD the Adansonia Digitata (baobab) a tree of the
East Coast of Africa was introduced at Mandu and is still doing well there, they can grow several thousand year old.
-In the mid-15th century emissaries from the Khalifa of Egypt and Timur's grandson arrived in the court of Mahmud Khilji.
-Mandu, whose sultan, Shah Khalji (Ghiyas al-Din) (1469-1500) reportedly had "five hundred Abyssinian slave girls dressed in male attire". Known as the Habiwash band, they were
armed with swords and shields. (the source of this information is however outside the time-span we are investigating)
The website of the
British Library formerly allowed us a rare glimpse into the every day live at Mandu. Also the life of the black people living there. Several of the miniatures show black people. Strange
fact to notice is that none are employed as domestic servants, all are lower range professionals.
Mandu: or Mandavgad is an ancient city in the present-day Mandav area of the Dhar district. It is located in the Malwa and Nimar region of western Madhya Pradesh, India, at 35 km from Dhar city.
-'Karra' or 'garra' (a cupper or blood-letter).
-Hunters in 'Para' (game brought up in a circle Mongol style as in a jarga).
-Crew member in :'Nakhuda' (captain on a ship). 'Allah' on ship's flag.
-Call to Prayer 'Naqus'(a long wooden tube used in the time of the fire-worshippers to call Christians to prayer)
-Field worker :'Chubakin' or 'chublin' (a wooden instrument for separating cotton from the pod).
-Musicians playing a tune (nava).
-To churn.
-Farmer
Taken from: Elusive Traces: Baobabs and the African Diaspora in South Asia by HARIPRIYA RANGAN, KAREN L. BELL in Environment and History, Vol. 21, No. 1 pp. 103-133.
The genetic analyses (of the Baobab= Adansonia digitata samples) provided important insights.
– the South Asian baobabs showed lower genetic diversity than those from Africa, confirming that they had been introduced from that continent. But, although they shared substantial similarities with the African samples, they also contained different alleles not found in the latter. This could point to ancient introduction of baobabs from Africa that produced in situ mutations over several generations; this suggests that the oldest trees may not have been the first introductions despite possibly being over a thousand years.
– the baobab clusters in the East African coastal areas between Mombasa and Sofala were closely related to the western and central Indian clusters, and probably the main source for baobabs brought to these areas. The baobab samples from West Africa, the Mascarenes, south-east India and Malaysia shared genetic structure and formed a single cluster, the West African populations were the likely source for introductions to these places.
– there was genetic admixture in west and central India indicating repeated introductions over time.
Within East Africa, similar admixtures of genetic clusters in varying proportions were found in samples from Kilwa, Mombasa and Dar es Salaam on the Swahili coast, and from the Tete area in inland Mozambique, indicating significant long-distance gene-flow, most likely by fruit dispersal, through these places.
– these introductions could have occurred well beyond a few thousand years. The pre-Islamic introduction of baobabs is also compatible with archaeobotanical evidence of the arrival of African food crops in South Asia roughly 4,000 years ago.
– the genetic cluster formed by baobab individuals from West Africa, Mascarene Islands, Chennai and Malaysia can be explained by the history of Dutch, English and French colonial activities in the Indian Ocean region.