Dragons in Malabar: The Story of a Ming Protectorate in Kerala

Cheena vala (Chinese nets), Cheena chatti (Chinese wok), Cheena bharani (Chinese pots), Cheeni mulaku (Green chillies)... 

The handshakes between the Keralites and the Chinese have a history spanning no less than two thousand years. A bustling trade hub even during the Sangam period, the Malabar coast used to boast about some of the important Sea ports on the ancient and mediaeval world maps. However, although a truly cosmopolitan series of coastal trade pockets in the beginning, the split and eventual weakening of the Roman Empire would cause these locations to be under the influence of only two major groups. The Chinese and the Arabs. This shift in character transformed the chaotic bustling of Kollam, Kozhikode (Calicut) and Kochi (Cochin) into an economic AND political theatre of trade wars, well into the period of the European reemergence. 

And bustle they did. From horses and spices to silk, jewellery, precious stones and even exotic animals, there was barely anything these ships failed to host. As mentioned in another post, this complex interplay of the trade networks and the sharing of cultures and ideologies would later prove to be monumental in defining the identity of Kerala. However, there is an interesting and important point to note. While the Arabs seldom traded with Kerala as agents of their kings, the Chinese almost always traded with court blessings. This is evident in the coins unearthed from different coastal areas in Kerala and Southern Karnataka. Kollam (Ku lin, as it was known to the Chinese) alone used to hide under its muddy landscapes the coins of various Chinese dynasties. Ranging from the Tang, to the Song, the Jin and the Yuan (there are records of the Mongolian plans to subdue Kollam, but the Yuan-Kerala interactions are so intriguing that they deserve to be discussed in a seperate post), they give us a near contiguous representation of the Chinese dynastic history between 7th - 13th century CE. 

It is through the branches of this vivid history, one of the most wondrous maritime endeavours of the medieval world entered the Malabar coast. 

The Treasure Fleet of Ming China! 

From 1405 to 1433, under the shadow of the Forbidden City and the audacious vision of the Yongle Emperor, the Ming dynasty launched a series of expeditions that would shatter the illusion that only the West could sail into the unknown with power and purpose. At the helm of these armadas was a man like no other. Zheng He, a Muslim eunuch from Yunnan, commanding ships the size of floating cities, crewed by tens of thousands, and backed not by merchants or private syndicates, but by the full might of the Chinese imperial court.

These voyages were not mere displays of pomp or cartographic curiosity. They were calculated assertions of Ming hegemony across the Indian Ocean world. They brought with them not just Chinese goods, but Chinese diplomacy, rituals, soldiers, scholars, and imperial proclamations. Zheng He arrived with tributes, tablets, and the subtle, suffocating weight of imperial prestige.

A Chinese stamp depicting the treasure fleet of explorer Zheng He.

And when these dragon-prowed ships dropped anchor on Malabar, Kerala opened its gates wide open. 

Calicut (Guli or Kuli to the Chinese), was the first to receive them. A thriving port under the rule of the Zamorin (Samoothiri), Calicut was the beating heart of the spice trade, a place where Muslim merchants held not only economic power but political sway. Unlike other places in India, the Chinese didn't describe Calicut as a "barbarian" land (this is a period where the largest empire in India at the time, the Delhi Sultanate, was piecing itself together after the Timurid invasion). What the Chinese saw was a peer. Ma Huan, a chronicler who accompanied Zheng He, wrote of the people as honest, the city as orderly, the ruler as just. The Chinese respected the sophisticated bureaucracy of the Zamorin's court, marveled at its legal system, and treated Calicut as a sovereign equal. In fact, Ma Huan went out of his way to glorify the eminence of Calicut. He was amazed by their attires (which reminded him of an ethnic group in China), their language and their traditions. Although the price-setting rituals would sometimes take over a month, Ma Huan talks about the Malayali's versatility in using fingers to make "perfect" calculations, while the Chinese relied on the Abacus. 

Another interesting description talks about a so-called "local legend." The story of a man called "Mauxes" who established a religious cult and "went away" to another place with his people because of a divine commandment. While he was busy, he asked his brother to guide his followers in his absence, but the brother built a golden cow and asked them to venerate it as their God according to "local" customs. Mauxes returned, furious, and the brother ran away on an "elephant."

This is clearly the Biblical myth of Moses and the Exodus, condensed, transformed and confused as a regional story from Kerala. Surely, as mentioned in another post, the established Christian and Jewish communities in the region had long become an inevitable part of Kerala's social fabric, so it was only natural for the Chinese to look at those stories through their Malayali experience. 

Yet beneath the surface of ceremonial politeness and commercial efficiency, a different calculation was underway.

Zheng He and his patrons in Nanjing soon became aware of the growing rivalry between Calicut and its quieter southern neighbor, Cochin. It wasn't a fair fight to begin with. The Zamorin had already become the most powerful ruler in Kerala by this time, threatening and subjugating the borders of both his Northern (Kolathunadu/Kola Swaroopam) and Southern (Perumpadappu Swaroopam) rivals. He had even conquered Thirunavaya, the famed location of the duodecennial Mamankam festival, and transformed himself into its patron and protector. 

But for the Chinese, while Calicut boasted a well-oiled, centralized trade monopoly, Cochin offered something more appealing.

Opportunity. 

The Zamorin not only had exclusive deals with the Arab traders, he also had Muslim guilds and warriors from Malayali Muslim families to aid his imperial ambitions. On the other hand, Cochin was not a port dominated by Muslim elites or Arab merchants. The trade was more direct, and loyalty could be secured through timely patronage. This was not a unique perspective applied to Kerala alone. With an outstanding army, menacingly beautiful fleets, and blank papers with imperial seals to be used at his discretion, Zheng He always sought potent, smaller allies across South and Southeast Asia. There had even been instances of him ousting rulers and establishing new dynasties in certain regions. 

However, in 1416, during Zheng He’s fifth voyage, the Ming emperor extended a gesture as rare as it was political. Cochin’s ruler (Keyili in Chinese records) was given a seal of legitimacy and a mountain in his realm was enfeoffed as the “Mountain Which Protects the Country.” Although now lost to time, a stone tablet with the Emperor's decree was erected at Cochin to signify the importance of that moment (Note: Calicut had received a similar stone tablet during the second expedition, but only to commemorate the friendly ties between the two).

This act was the first instance in Kerala's millennia long history with the Chinese where an Empire actively involved in the regional politics. It was not just a statement of allegiance. It was a protective embrace by a behemoth that had no use for colonies but every intent to reorder the world in its own image. Only three other places on the entire planet (Malacca, Brunei, and Japan) received similar honors from the Ming Empire.

In other words, for a brief moment in history, Cochin was not just a rival to Calicut. It was a Chinese client state, guarded not by fortresses, but by imperial recognition and the unspoken threat of maritime reprisal.

And the implications were immediate. With Chinese support, Cochin flourished. Pepper flowed from private warehouses instead of state-run storehouses. Merchants arrived not with caution but with enthusiasm. The Chetty traders of Cochin, unburdened by regulation, became crucial middlemen for the Ming fleets, sourcing gemstones, pearls, and aromatics from across the Indian Ocean. And though the Ming did not station troops or build forts, their very presence kept the Zamorin's ambitions in check. He dared not to touch Cochin as long as the Chinese protected them.

Calicut (Kozhikode) on the Malabar coast of India, Civitates orbis terrarum, 1572

This doesn't mean that the Chinese actively challenged Calicut. They still continued to trade with the Zamorin. Ma Huan wrote about thriving Arab trade in Calicut and the exotic goods they traded with the Chinese. There are records of the rulers of Calicut, Cochin and Kollam visiting Nanjing (Ming Capital) along with the dignitaries from other nations. Perhaps the most vivid example of this interaction is the story of Sha Ban (沙班), a man from Calicut who migrated to Ming China. He accompanied Zheng He on his final voyage and rose to the rank of vice-commander in the imperial bodyguard in Nanjing. The Malayali's descendants served the Ming government for seven generations, underscoring the human and cultural exchanges catalyzed by these expeditions. However, the array of huge Chinese ships at Calicut, as described by Ibn Battuta a few decades prior, must've become a thing of the past because of the changing political realities. If anything, it was the Zamorin's uneasiness that caused further deterioration of their relationship, as it led to a minor (armed) skirmish between the two. The Ming ships seem to have refused to anchor at Calicut after this incident, although they continued to trade with Cochin.

On the other hand, this arrangement with Cochin, like all things in history, was fragile. The eventual withdrawal of Ming voyages after 1433 left a void. The armadas no longer patrolled the coasts, and the banners of the dragon no longer fluttered in Kerala’s harbors. With no more seals, no more emissaries, and no more ships, Cochin was exposed. The Zamorin pounced. He overran Cochin, installed his own man on the throne, and punished those who had once hosted the Chinese. By the early sixteenth century, the Christian traveler Joseph of Cranganore noted a chilling reality. The Chinese merchants were practically banned from the Malabar coast, at least for the time being. 

While the story of the Cheena-Malayali world is not as cinematic as the journey of a Tang monk who crossed the Himalayas, it sure is a story worth telling and protecting. In the rhythm of waves against the Malabar coast, in the rise and fall of nets cast like ancient gestures, and in the fading inscriptions that speak two tongues, it is the story of a quiet longing for that brief era when distant strangers became respectful guests. And though centuries have passed and the winds that once filled Zheng He’s sails no longer bring the essence of the past, Kerala still welcome her visitors with open hands.

Further reading:

1. A Survey of Kerala History; A. Sreedhara Menon 

2. When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne; Louis Levathes

3. Zheng He’s Maritime Voyages (1405–1433) and China’s Relations with the Indian Ocean World; Tansen Sen

4. The Formation of Chinese Maritime networks to Southern Asia, 1200-1450; Tansen Sen

5. Calicut: The City of Truth Revisited; M. G. S. Narayanan

6. The Chola, Chinese, and Venad Coins from Thankasseri, Kollam: A Preliminary Study;

Hari Sankar B. and Sarath Chandra Babu

7. Chinese Coins from Thangassery: A Medieval Port in Kollam District, Kerala; Vinuraj B, Ajit Kumar, Rajesh S. V and Abhayan G. S