...hands to sell...

Mughal influence has to be taken into account again with regard to international trading. Global economics, as we said, were changing. The scepter of power was in the hands of Asia. European commerce depended on Asia. It was not about wars and conquest - not entirely, at least.

It almost seems as if our singha is drowning in this ocean of events. But is it? Or is it changing, being reshaped?

Mughal encounters with Western powers (Portuguese, French, Dutch and English) stimulated a faster, more efficient and more demanding economy, interested in materiality. Material goods, not only spices.

Preexisting or even ancient commercial routes (between Africa and India, but also between India and the South East) were reinforced and “rebuilt” through Western intervention with new maritime commercial routes.Immense ports surged: Surat, for example, but also the state of Cambay in modern Gujarat, Goa, and Ceylon, with is strategic position in the hearth of the Indian ocean, see: Chaiklin, M., “Surat and Bombay Ivory and commercial networks in Western India” The Dutch and English East India Companies, Amsterdam University Press, pp. 101-124.; Chaiklin, M., “Ivory in Early Modern Ceylon: A Case in What Documents Don’t Reveal”, International Journal of Asian Studies 6, Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 37-63. Feinberg, H.M. and Johnson, M. “The West African Ivory Trade during the Eighteenth Century: The “… and Ivory” Complex”, The Internation Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 15, No.3, Boston University African Studies Center, 1982, pp. 435-453; Alpers, E. A., “Gujarat and the Trade of East Africa, c. 1500-1800”, The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1 (1976), pp. 22-44.

The singha was soon forced to learn how to swim in these busy seas made of coins of silver and gold, of wooden ships and salt.

The influence of Western powers and the rising demand for goods in Europe, gave rise to economic processes that asked for a rapid production en masse, but also strengthened the centrality of kārakhānās-like structures. Higher demand meant more productivity. India was receiving as much as it was giving away. Ships were approaching the coasts, reaching the center of India. The singha is now leaving, floating away like a sailor.

As time went on, the colonial presence reinforced its grip on the subcontinent and preannounced the fall of the Mughal empire. Archives about ivory trading became scarce and lost in time, left to merchants and mercenaries. With no controls in place, the singha was left in the hands of the best dealer.

Thank God it hasn’t been lost. Or better yet, should we thank some enthusiast of skilled objects? Most of the goods had begun to be taken to Europe without precise records. This is not odd, if we think about it. We said before that a higher demand means a higher productivity in return. What happened? Well, the more things were produced, the more they got lost in the strains of European society. You cannot possibly control an entire market meant only for the aristocracy. Other wishes came into play. Fake and low quality objects started to appear. Obtaining precious artifacts like the singha became a real struggle. Who could have determined the value of it? An expert? Or a mercenary? Singha knows.

In this whole confusion and inaccuracy, the journey of the singha statue went dark, only to reappear some centuries later in the Netherlands. What a troubled rebirth! The singha transformed again in the human realm, among centuries of great innovations, discoveries and conflicting powers. It found itself traveling from artisan mastery to hands used to business, a small treasure that bounced between human forces and impulses as a pebble dragged by the stream. Or in this case, ocean currents. But what did it take with him?