“Armenians are everywhere”– this common saying comes to mind when we talk about countries with Armenian communities. Indeed, they are scattered all over the world, but only a few can boast of their ancient history. One such community is in India.
According to some sources, Armenians may have first come to India around 2000 BCE, along with Semiramis of Assyria, who invaded India. In 327 BCE, Armenians arrived in India as part of the troops of Alexander the Great, who crossed Armenia on his way to India.
The earliest documentary references to the relationship between Armenians and Indians can be found in Xenophon’s Cyropaedia (430 BCE – 355 BCE). The documents indicate that Armenians traveled to India and were well-informed about the routes to reach India, as well as about the political, socio-cultural environment, and economic life of the Indian subcontinent.
In the 7th century, several Armenian settlements appeared in Kerala, a territory on the Malabar Coast. Armenians controlled much of the international trade in the region, especially in precious stones and textiles.
An archive published in 1956 in Delhi claims that in 780, an Armenian merchant-diplomat named Thomas Cana reached the Malabar Coast by land. Only seven centuries later, in 1498, Vasco da Gama reached the Malabar Coast by sea. Thomas mainly traded in spices and muslin.
He also played an important role in the issuance by the rulers of Malabar of a decree granting commercial, social, and religious privileges to Christians in the region. Today, Thomas Cana is also known as “Knayi Thomman” or “Kanaj Tomma,” meaning ‘Thomas the Merchant.’
It was in India that the world’s first Armenian periodical, “Azdarar,” was published in Madras between 1794 and 1796, edited by Archpriest Harutyun Shmavonyan. In 1772, the first printed work by the Artsakh priest Movses Bagramyan, “A New Book, called Admonition,” was published at the press of Shamir Shamirian.
In 1773, in the same press, members of the “Madras Circle,” Ovsep Emin, Ter Movses, Grigor Khodjajanyan, and Shamirians, issued the first constitution for a future Armenian state called “The Snare of Ambition.”
Armenians in India can rightly be proud of their glorious past, but their present and future are not as bright. Their numbers have significantly dwindled. Currently, there are about 100 Armenians in India, mainly in Kolkata, where the Armenian College still operates.
The earliest discovered Armenian monument in India is a khachkar from 1611, preserved in an Armenian cemetery in Agra. Akbar the Great I invited Armenians to settle in Agra in the 16th century, and by the mid-19th century, Agra had a significant Armenian population.
By royal decree, Armenian merchants were exempted from paying taxes on goods they imported and exported. They were also allowed to move freely throughout the Mughal Empire, at a time when the entry of other foreigners was prohibited. In 1562, an Armenian church was built in Agra.
In the 16th century, Armenians, primarily from Persia, were an important part of the trading community in Surat, the most active Indian port of that period, located on the west coast of India. The port city of Surat had regular trading voyages to Basra and Bandar Abbas.
The Armenians of Surat built two churches and a cemetery. The construction of the first church dates back to 1579. The second church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was built in 1772. A census of Armenians in Surat, written in Armenian in 1678, is currently stored in the Saltykov-Shchedrin Library in St. Petersburg.
Armenians settled in Chinsurah, near Kolkata in West Bengal, where they built a church in 1697. This is the second oldest church in Bengal. The church has been well-maintained thanks to the care of the Kolkata Armenian Church Committee.
During the era of the Mughal Empire, Aurangzeb issued a decree allowing Armenians to establish settlements in Saidabad, a suburb of Murshidabad, which was then the capital of Bengal.
The imperial decree also reduced the tax from 5% to 3.5% on two main Armenian trading items, namely piece goods and raw silk. The decree stipulated that the property of deceased Armenians would be transferred to the Armenian community. By the mid-18th century, Armenians had become an active part of the trading community in Bengal. In 1758, Armenians built the Church of the Virgin Mary in Saidabad.
At present, the most well-known Armenian institution in India is the “Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy” (founded in 1821). Currently, about 125 children from the local Armenian population, the Republic of Armenia, Iran, and Iraq attend the College.
There is also an Armenian sports club, founded in 1890. Several Armenian churches have been preserved in India: the Church of St. Nazareth in Kolkata, the Church of the Virgin Mary in Chennai (Madras), the Church of St. Gregory the Illuminator in Kolkata, the Church of St. Peter in Mumbai, the Church of St. John in Chinsurah, the Church of the Holy Mother in Saidabad, the Church of the Virgin Mary (Saidabad), and the Chapel of the Holy Trinity (Tangra Church). In February 2007, the Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II, visited India. In Delhi, he met with the President of India. His Holiness also visited Chennai, Mumbai, and Kolkata.
A bit of history. Several Armenians in India held high positions at different times and under various rulers. Abdul Hai was the Chief Justice of the Mughal Empire during Akbar’s time, Domingo Pires was a Portuguese translator at Akbar’s court, and Lady Juliana, believed to be the sister of one of Akbar’s Armenian wives, was a physician in Akbar’s harem. Lady Juliana built the first church in Agra.
She later married Jean Philippe Bourbon de Navarre, a descendant of the French royal family. Mirza Zul Qarnain, Akbar’s foster son, was a polyglot and was particularly fluent in Portuguese.
After his father’s death in 1613, Mirza excelled as a tax collector on salt production in Sambhar (Rajputana). His rise was rapid, and he held various positions, successively, as the governor of Sambhar, Mogor, Babraich, Lahore, and Bengal.
Emperor Jahangir conferred upon him the title of Amir. He also maintained very warm relations with the Jesuits. Mirza was also a poet, singer, and playwright, composing verses in Urdu and Persian.
Armenians in India have also contributed to medicine.
Stefan Manuk, the son of a renowned businessman, Ovsep Manuk, received an honorary certificate from the British government for his services during a cholera epidemic. Sarkis Avetum, a doctor in the Indian Army, served in the British army campaigns in Afghanistan, Egypt, and Burma and was honored with awards from the British government, Egypt, and Burma.
He discovered a remedy for dysentery and was fluent in multiple languages, including Russian. Stephen Owen Moses, a Ph.D., was the creator of the first Red Cross ambulance service in Kolkata during World War I. Mari Hachatur, a Ph.D., was the first woman in India appointed as the chief surgeon of West Bengal. She worked until the early 1980s. Frederick Joseph Satur was a colonel in the Indian Army Medical Corps.
He graduated from medical college in Madras in 1938. He served active military duty in North Africa and during the Indo-Chinese war of 1962. As part of the UN peacekeeping forces, he worked in a hospital in Congo in 1960. He retired in 1969.
One of the active members of the East India Company, Francois Marten, who settled in Malabar in the second half of the 17th century and extensively researched the region, wrote that “Armenians were actively operating in St. Thomas (now New Malabar), who had long settled here and were engaged in trade… Here were Armenian families whose fortunes were worth millions.”
Evidence of the populous and wealthy life of Armenian communities on the Malabar coast of India in the 16th—18th centuries is also provided by architectural monuments, some of which have survived to this day. In 1707, 1712, and 1729, three churches were built here, not far from each other.
The inscription on the wall of St. Thomas’ church, dated 1547, also testifies to the extensive construction work carried out by Armenians. The names of Armenian builders of that time—Mahtesi Zakaria Safarian and Petros Voskanyan—are known.
The famous multi-tiered bridge built in 1725 is noteworthy. With the rise of Madras, almost all Armenians moved there, leaving their previous places of residence on the Malabar coast.
In Madras, and subsequently in Bombay and Calcutta, the largest Armenian communities in India were formed, playing a significant role in the cultural life and the formation of national liberation ideas of the Armenian people.
Archival documents, manuscripts, memorial records, and inscriptions on tombstones indicate that in the 16th—18th centuries, Armenian communities existed in Agra, Adoni, Arcot, Bangalore, Bihar, Dhaka, Delhi, Kandahar, Cochin, Orissa, Murshidabad, Pondicherry, Seringapatam, Surat, Tanjore, Hyderabad, Hugli, Munker, and Chittagong.
Armenian communities in India were primarily formed by Jugha and Persian Armenians. In the 17th century, when Iran started to decline, New Jugha remained a source of income for the Persian court.
In the late 17th century, the fanatical and inept Shah Hussein tried to force Armenians to convert to Islam. Horrible persecutions, prosecutions, and massacres began. Jugha Armenians sought a way out of this earthly hell. They left everything—homes, property, gardens, shops, workshops—and moved to India, Russia, and other countries.
There are no exact figures on the size of the Armenian communities in India. Delure estimates that 25,000 Armenians lived in India and Indonesia. G. Alishan gives a figure of 5,000, K. Shahnazaryan—15,006. One of the documents from Matenadaran states two thousand.
In the Historical Museum of Yerevan, a number of works by Armenian jewelers from Calcutta are stored, testifying to their superb craftsmanship. The majority of gifts from Jugha and Indian Armenians to the Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich were made by Armenian masters, among which was the famous throne, now housed in the Armoury Chamber.
As pointed out by “Azgaser,” many Armenian carpenters, blacksmiths, jewelers, tailors, locksmiths, and masons lived in Calcutta. In addition, Armenian artisans produced various dyes for coloring fabrics, leather, etc. However, the bulk of the Armenian communities consisted of smaller merchants, shopkeepers, clerks, caravan escorts, laborers, and so on.
Long before the arrival of Europeans in India, Armenians played a significant role in the life of the country, conducting extensive trade with almost all major countries of Europe and Asia. Therefore, Europeans who settled in India in the first half of the 17th century took advantage of Armenian connections to obtain permission from Indian rulers for the construction of factories and trade in India.
An Armenian was one of the members of the French delegation sent to Aurangzeb from Ethiopia. François Bernier reports with displeasure that the Great Mogul first received the Armenian, spoke with him, and gifted him presents.
It was precisely thanks to the friendly relations of the Armenian Moyurata that the French were able to obtain permission for safe trade along the entire Golconda coast. A prominent role in the English delegation sent to Shah Jahan in 1651 was played by the well-known Hovhannes Saharat in India.
During this period, Armenians in India played not only a commercial but also a political role. This contradicted the interests of Europeans who had penetrated India, particularly the English.
They had to somehow restrict the activities of Armenians in India, but this was not so simple since there were too few of them—a mere handful of merchants without military power. There remained only one way—to win over the Indian Armenians and gradually bring their actions under observation and control.
For this purpose, the English offered Indian Armenians a contract with the East India Company, under which Armenians received all the privileges and rights of British citizenship in India. Large privileges were granted to them for transporting goods to Europe and from Europe to India on company ships.
Armenians were also allowed to settle and trade freely in the towns and garrisons of the company, where they could occupy all civil posts and positions on par with the English.
Further, Armenians were allowed the free practice of their religion. As further encouragement, the English allocated land for churches to the Armenians, which initially were to be built at the company’s expense—everywhere, where forty or more Armenians would become residents of any city within the company’s territory. This treaty was accepted by a portion of the Indian Armenians and was signed by Khwaja Phanos Kalantar on June 28, 1668.
After the penetration and then conquest of India by Europeans, the situation for nearly all segments of Armenian communities in India drastically changed.
Armenian merchants, artisans, or small trading companies could not withstand the might of the European East India Company, which by that time had a formidable armed force and often conducted its trade and economic operations through bloody expeditions and invasions.
The impoverishment of Armenian communities also played a critical role, along with the decline in the economic well-being of the Indian people. Despite the 1668 treaty between the Armenians and the English East India Company, which granted Armenians in the territories of the East India Company all the rights of English citizens, the situation dramatically changed starting from the mid-18th century; now the English no longer needed “allies”—Armenians.
In 1765, Simeon Erevantsi compiled a list of the world’s cities where Armenian colonies exist.
From Indian cities, he mentions only Saidabad, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Surat, Patna, and Shahjahanabad. G. Indjigian, analyzing the situation of Indian Armenians, especially those layers that were closely tied to the economic life of India during the period 1750—1757, writes:
“When the English extended their rule in India, all the main trade routes, previously in the hands of Jugha Armenians, they took into their own hands, although the Armenians managed it with great skill. Now, few Armenians in India are involved in trade, and that too minor.”
Agontz reports that when Europeans entered India, “many battles were fought between them and Indian troops, as well as Armenian troops, who fought against the English on the side of the Hindus.”
Armenians actively participated in the rebellion of 1662 in Melanbore, where, after the rebellion, an Armenian named Marcos Hogas (Rogaz) was appointed governor. There are many such examples in Indian history. But the most striking among them is the participation of Armenians in the fight against the English in 1760—1764 in Bengal, as T. Khodjamalyan elaborately and interestingly reports in “The History of India.”
However, the history of Indian Armenians continues to this day. We are talking about the legacy of Maseha Babadjan, who bequeathed part of his enormous fortune to the Armenians of Nor-Nakhichevan.
Recall that by decree of Catherine II in 1779, the Armenian population of Ani was relocated from Crimea to the Don region. The settlers gathered on the land allocated to them, and at the site of the future central square of the new city, they announced the founding of Nakhichevan. The city on the Don was named in memory of the ancient Nakhichevan, which was taken away from the Armenians by the Persians.
In the first half of the 19th century, Nakhichevan-on-the-Don was one of the significant cities in Novorossiya in terms of urban development and trade-industrial opportunities. Subsequently, its closest neighbor, the city of Rostov, began to develop on an even larger scale.
In the early years of Soviet rule, Nakhichevan became part of Rostov-on-Don. Today it is the Proletarian district of the city, home to 17,000 Armenians. The Armenian community of Rostov considers itself the legal successor to Nakhichevan, as confirmed by their legal documents.
In the early years of their settlement on the Don, the residents of Nakhichevan appealed to other Armenian colonies for assistance in setting up their lives, establishing schools, and promoting education. The Armenians of India, who led the Armenian liberation movement at the end of the 18th century, warmly responded to this appeal.
Among them was Maseh Babadzhan (Abdul Maseh Martiros). Only a few details about him have survived, left in his will dated May 30, 1794: “A Christian, an Armenian by birth from the city of Amadan, a merchant, currently residing in India in the city of Calcutta, which is under British rule.
Considering all my estate to consist of sixteen shares, I bequeath eight entirely for the benefit of the Armenians of the city of Nakhichevan in the Azov district. Two of these eight shares go to the school, two to the hospital, two to the house for the poor, and another two to the orphanage, for the redemption of my sins and the consolation of my people, so that my memory may remain among them.
Six of the remaining eight shares I leave in the city of Calcutta. The remaining two shares I leave to wanderers who will arrive in Calcutta from Armenia, to Armenians and to people who are wandering and in need, who find themselves here.”
Maseh Babadzhan’s “estate” amounted to 100,000 rupees. Appointed executors were obligated to send a specific amount every January to the charitable institutions in Nakhichevan.
The will of Maseh Babadzhan was only discovered in Nakhichevan in 1818. In 1828, the Armenians of Nakhichevan wrote an official letter to India concerning the money bequeathed to them. However, no response followed.
Thanks to the efforts of Mikael Nalbandyan, the money was eventually returned to its rightful owners. Payments from Babadzhan’s will continued to arrive in Nakhichevan-on-the-Don for a long time.
Funds sent from India were allocated by a public fund for the construction and maintenance of hospitals, schools, and shelters. Several generations of Armenians in Nakhichevan received an education in Russia’s best educational institutions and abroad.
Significant sums were used for urban development. The money was sent to the mayor of Nakhichevan, as specified in the will, who then passed it on to the Board of Trustees.
However, by the early 20th century, the funds started arriving irregularly. Therefore, at the end of 1912, the Nakhichevan Board of Trustees authorized biologist Dr. Bedelyan to travel to India to investigate the delay.
“On January 17, 1913. Bedelyan sent a telegram from Calcutta yesterday to the Chairman of the Trusteeship stating that the investigative commission has granted the petition of the church trusteeship to recognize their legal rights to the bequeathed property of the late Maseh Babadzhan.”
“On February 27, 1913. The High Court of Calcutta acknowledged the property of the late Babadzhan, located in Calcutta, to belong to the Nakhichevan church trusteeship and issued documents confirming their inheritance rights.”
The accumulated funds of 10,000 rubles for the past five years were received by Bedelyan and transferred to the Russo-Asian Bank in Rostov. Subsequent amounts were received annually through this bank until the October Revolution.
Everything came to an end with the establishment of Soviet power in southern Russia. Over the years of Soviet rule, the Armenians of the Don faced numerous problems. The community itself is unable to solve them. Establishing the legal succession of the Nakhichevan Armenian community to the inheritance of Maseh Babadzhan is not difficult.
However, the path of Dr. Bedelyan, who managed to resolve the issue of receiving the inheritance money in 1913, must be retraced. This is because Mikael Nalbandyan had once proven in a British court that part of the income from the property bequeathed by Babadzhan belonged to the Armenian community of Nakhichevan.
According to British legal canons, a case that has once passed through a court automatically has legal force, even after 100 years have elapsed. Members of the Nakhichevan Armenian community firmly believe that the inheritance money from Babadzhan has been accumulating for them in far-off India for over 80 years. But how to retrieve it remains a complex question.
by Karine Ter-Saakyan
Translated Vigen Avetisyan
