Why Ethiopia Part Two

India and Ethiopia share a very old relationship. Richard Pankhurst an academician with Addis Ababa University has written an interesting article on relationship between India and Ethiopia. It is an absolutely wonderful read…and tells a lot about cross cultural synthesis that kept on happening between countries in the past…I am yet to come across such a simple and thought provoking work between interaction of India with other countries …

The link for the article is

Ethiopia across Red Sea & Indian Ocean

Ethiop call India as Hind, same as the Arabs do….there was a vibrant trade between the two countries since ancient times … (incidentally tobacco is called 'surat' in Ethiopia…referring to the port in India, where it came from)…then there is a very strong semblance between Ethiopian food, which is largely vegetarian and flavored, and Indian food; Also Sari is used in both the cultures as a women wear(though the way of draping is different), incidentally even in Sudan and Upper Egypt some indigenous population use a Sari like cloth for draping themselves. On its part, Ethiopia used to be a source of ivory to India… and against the popular belief that Ivory used to come from Indian elephants; actually it came from African Elephants that have much bigger tusks than their Indian or Thai counterpart…Ivory carving is an age-old tradition in India…and therefore it can be easily deduced that Ethiopia and India had a roaring trade relations…in ancient period.

Some 8 years ago, in Jamnagar I met two brothers Joseph and Paul…from Palghar near Bombay… they were blacks and yet were speaking fluent Marathi and Hindi….it perplexed me; they were Roman Catholics…- and though with time I became a very good friend of Joseph, I just couldn’t muster enough courage to query them about their ancestry… …. It happened so, that one day, while having a hearty dinner with them in a local restaurant- I asked them about their ancestry… and found out that they had an Ethiopian Ancestry…

In Medieval periods, Ethiopia was a source of slave-guards in India… there was a regular flow of these well built people who used to work as personal body guards of the Nawabs and Kings…and were much in demand… slowly but surely some of them rose in ranks, becoming soldiers, commanders and then usurped power to become Kings…they started what is known as Siddhi Dynasty…this was a powerful dynasty and used to rule the Arabian seas for about 2-3 centuries, till they were decisively defeated by the Maratha and the Portuguese Naval forces… One must definitely go to the Janjira fort in Raigad district to gauge what they must have been like, in their primacy….

There descendents still continue living in India, in Gujarat and the Coastal North Maharashtra… most of them have converted to Christianity, for they were treated as the lowliest of caste among Hindus and Muslims… Joseph and Paul were from the same descent… their forefathers used to work as tillers of the land but today they are accessing good education and slowly moving to Western countries, especially US- in order to benefit from affirmative action…

Two Zebras were brought in a Mughal court during the days of Siddhis and everybody was dumbfounded to see them….many opined that, perhaps, they were painted that way….and days and days, went in efforts to get the paint removed….after weeks of trials…the court realized that Allah has made them so…funny but true... Therefore, India and Ethiopia are related in more ways than one had ever realized or imagined.

The relations between India and Ethiopia are not limited to ancient or medieval periods… In modern times too, we have shared a very intense relationship… the modern Ethiopian generation was taught by Indian teachers….hordes and hordes of Indian teachers went to Ethiopia to train the Ethiopian students during its formative years… therefore even today Indians are respected a lot in Ethiopia…as a country from where their teachers came… also, Gandhiji is a much venerated figure…

This unseen thread of relations is perhaps one big reason that entices me to visit this country; the other being the Ethiopian girls… I have heard many a praises from my acquaintances that have been to Ethiopia- according to them- Ethiopian girls are stunners…one of the most beautiful women in the world… and minus the cosmetic of it all.

One look at Liya Kebede and you realize as to why Ethiopian women are called stunners. Often, Liya is considered as one of the most beautiful women in the world. She is a mother of two, a top super model (in fact dubbed as the top 50 super models, ever).

One of my friend, who had been to Ethiopia last year, told me that though an average girl in Addis Ababa or even the hinterlands is black and rustic but she is very beautiful….she has a perfect jaw line, beautiful eyes and chiseled face… and is different from the rest of Africans, somehow.

I, therefore just want to be there and see the land … the people and the culture and the history and the monuments… Contrary to popular perception about Africa...Ethiopia is one country which gives you the best of nature and history… it is perhaps, an Egypt and Uganda found in the same country…