Masula boats and the fishermen who kept Madras afloat
This piece details the historical role of fishermen and native boatmen in the maritime economy of Madras. It explains how local boat technology, such as masula boats and catamarans, facilitated trade before modern port infrastructure.
Why it matters
It highlights the essential role of indigenous labor and technology in the colonial-era maritime trade of India.
Among the earliest documented areas of the city is Maquaskuppam – an identity that does not exist anymore. It denoted a settlement of fishermen, and over time, fragmented into what we recognise as the fishing settlements along and just south of the Marina.
Maqua itself seems to be a corruption of machua , Hindi for fisherfolk. Strangely, another loanword marker for the people who manned boats are the two streets named after Narayan and Jaffer Sairangs. These are in George Town and the surnames, a corruption of the Persian sarhang , indicating they were second-in-command on native vessels, responsible for docking and unloading. For that matter, the frequently used Tamil word for sailor, malumi , is a corruption of the Persian mua’allimun .
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