Ajay Kumar at 22:09, 29 August 2023

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{{Short description|Russian merchant}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Afanasy Nikitin
| image = Tver. Monument to Afanasy Nikitin P7221267 2350.jpg
| caption = Monument to Afanasy Nikitin in city of [[Tver]], Russia
| native_name = {{nobold|Афанасий Никитин}}
| death_date = 1472
| monuments = Statue erected in Feodosia, [[Crimea]] <br />
Statue erected in Tver, [[Russia]] <br />
1997 commemorative coin of [[Bank of Russia]] <br />
1997 commemorative coin of Bank of Russia. Nikitin in [[India]]
| known_for = First [[Europe|European]] to travel to [[India]] (after [[Niccolò de' Conti]])
}}

'''Afanasy Nikitin''' ({{lang-ru|Афана́сий Ники́тин}}; died 1472) was a Russian<ref>M. J. Maxwell. Afanasii Nikitin: An Orthodox Russian's Spiritual Voyage in the Dar al-Islam, 1468-1475. Journal of World History. Vol. 17, No. 3 (Sep., 2006), p. 243; D. P. M. Weerakkody. Sri Lanka, p. 1126; A. A. Postnikov. Nikitin, Afanasii (fl. Fifteenth Century), pp. 859-861; K. Karttunen, Indian Subcontinent, Pre-1500, p. 615 // J. Speake (ed.) Literature of Travel and Exploration: An Encyclopedia. Volume 1, A to F. Routledge. 2013; C. H. Whittaker. Russia engages the world, 1453-1825. Harvard University Press, 2003. P. 141; R. M. Eaton. A Social History of the Deccan, 1300-1761: Eight Indian Lives, Volume 1. Cambridge University Press, 2005. P. 72; The new encyclopaedia Britannica: in 32 vol. Macropaedia, India - Ireland, Volume 21. 1992. P. 183; Afanasy Nikitin's Voyage Beyond Three Seas: 1466-1472. Raduga, 1985. P. 65;J. Burbank, M. Von Hagen, A. V. Remnev. Russian Empire: Space, People, Power, 1700-1930. Indiana University Press. 2007. P. 240; A. V. Riasanovsky. Afanasii Nikitin's Journal. Journal of the American Oriental Society, Volume 81. 1961. P. 126; J. R. Millar. Encyclopedia of Russian History, Volume 1. Macmillan Reference, 2003. P. 93</ref> merchant from [[Principality of Tver|Tver]] and one of the first [[Europe]]ans (after [[Niccolò de' Conti]]) to travel to and document his visit to [[India]]. He described his trip in a narrative known as ''[[A Journey Beyond the Three Seas|The Journey Beyond Three Seas]]'' ({{lang-ru|Хождение за три моря|Khozhdeniye za tri morya}}).

==The voyage==
In 1466 Nikitin left his hometown of [[Tver]] on a [[commerce|commercial]] trip to India. He travelled down the [[Volga River]], and although [[Tatars]] attacked and robbed him near [[Astrakhan]], he succeeded in reaching [[Derbent]], where he joined Vasili Papin, the envoy of [[Ivan III of Russia|Ivan the Great]] (the Grand Prince of All Rus') to the shah of [[Shirvan]]. At Derbent, Nikitin vainly endeavoured to find means of returning to Russia; failing in this, he went on to [[Baku]] and later to [[Safavid dynasty |Persia]] proper by crossing the [[Caspian Sea]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline= y|wstitle= Nikitin, Athanasius|volume= 19|last= Beazley |first= Charles Raymond |author-link= Charles Raymond Beazley|page= 690}} This provides a more detailed itinerary of his outward and return journeys.</ref> He lived in Persia for one year. In the spring of 1469, Nikitin arrived at the city of [[Ormus]] and then, crossing the [[Arabian Sea]], and making several prolonged stays along the way,<ref name="EB1911"/> reached the sultanate of [[Bahmani]], where he would live for three years. From what he tells us, he appears to have made his living by horse-dealing. During that time he visited the Hindu sanctuary of Perwattum, which he called "the Jerusalem of the Hindus".{{sfn|Major|1857|p= lxxviii}}<ref name="EB1911"/>

On his way back, Nikitin visited [[Muscat, Oman| Muscat]], the [[Arabian Peninsula |Arabian]] sultanate of [[Somalia]], and [[Trabzon]]. In 1472 he arrived at [[Feodosiya]] by crossing the [[Black Sea]]. On his way to Tver, Nikitin died not far from [[Smolensk]] in the autumn of that year.

During his trip, Nikitin studied the population of India, its [[social system]], [[government]], military (he witnessed war-games featuring [[war elephant]]s), its [[Economic system| economy]], [[religion]], lifestyles, and natural resources. The abundance and trustworthiness of Nikitin's factual material provide a valuable source of information about India at that time, and his remarks on the trade of [[Hormuz Island| Hormuz]], [[Cambay State| Cambay]], [[Kozhikode |Calicut]], [[Dabhol]], [[Sri Lanka| Ceylon]], [[Bago, Myanmar |Pegu]] and [[China]]; on [[Royal Entry| royal progresses]] and other functions, both ecclesiastical and civil, at [[Bahmani]], and on the wonders of the great fair at [[Perwattum]]{{mdash}}as well as his comparisons of things Russian and Indian{{mdash}}deserve special notice.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Religion==
[[File:RR5110-0018R 525 лет путешествию Афанасия Никитина в Индию.gif|160px|right|thumb|1997 commemorative coin of [[Bank of Russia]]. Nikitin in Rus']]
[[File:RR5110-0019R 525 лет путешествию Афанасия Никитина в Индию.gif|160px|right|thumb|1997 commemorative coin of [[Bank of Russia]]. Nikitin in India]]
After studying Nikitin's account, and especially his references to [[Islam]] (much of India was ruled by Muslim sultans, and many Muslim merchants lived along the coast), particularly the prayers he transliterates from Arabic and Turkic into Cyrillic letters, Gail Lenhoff and Janet Martin speculated that Nikitin might have converted to Islam in India.<ref>Gail Lenhoffand Janet Martin "The Commercial and Cultural Context of Afanasij Nikitin's Journey Beyond Three Seas." ''Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas'' 37, No. 3 (1989):321–344; See also Janet Martin, "Muscovite Travelling Merchants: The Trade with the Muslim East (Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries)." ''Central Asian Studies'' 4, No. 3 (1985):21–38.</ref>

His loss of contact with Christianity and his life among Muslims (and apparent lapse from Christianity and conversion to Islam) bothered him, as he mentioned several times in his account. Indeed, he began his account calling it his "sinful voyage beyond three seas." He went on to explain that he continued to date events by Christian religious holidays and invoked the Mother of God and the saints ("the Holy Fathers"), he could not remember when Christian holidays were and so he could not celebrate [[Easter]] and other movable feast days or keep the Christian fasts ([[Lent]], the [[St. Peters' Fast]], the fast during [[Advent]], etc.). Thus, he kept the fasts of the Muslims and broke fast when they did so. He also wrote that at [[Bindar]] in the third year of his journey he "shed many tears for the Christian faith". Very near the end of his account, he wrote of his wish to return home and to the Christian faith: "I, Afanasy, a damned servant of Almighty God, Maker of heaven and earth, pondered over the Christian faith, the [[Baptism of Christ]], the fasts established by the Holy Fathers, and the apostolic commandments, and I longed to go [back] to Rus!"<ref>For a translation of Nikitin's account, see {{harvnb|Major|1857}}. See also the online English translation at: {{cite web|url=http://www.russian-centre-mumbai.org/history.htm |title=History |access-date=2007-07-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070712154226/http://www.russian-centre-mumbai.org/history.htm |archive-date=2007-07-12 }}</ref>

[[Yakov Lurye]], an editor of Nikitin's ''Journey'', sees his conversion as doubtful, pointing out that a [[Religious male circumcision|circumcised]] convert should be persecuted or even put to death in Rus', so if Nikitin had indeed become a Muslim, he would have avoided returning to his country, while in fact he died on his way back in [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania|Lithuania]] not far from the Muscovite border.{{Citation needed|date=December 2015}}

==Nikitin in modern memory==
[[File:Afansiy Nikitin memorial theodosia.JPG|thumb|Monument to Afanasy Nikitin in [[Feodosia]], Crimea]]
In 1955, the local authorities of Tver erected a [[bronze]] monument to Afanasy Nikitin on the bank of the Volga River. The sculptor was [[Sergei Orlov (sculptor)|Sergei Orlov]]. There is a folk legend that this statue was raised because [[Nikita Khrushchev]], upon visiting India, told Prime Minister [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] that there was a statue of Nikitin in Russia when in fact there was not (Nehru had asked if the Russians had honored the first Russian to visit India). So as not to be proven a liar, Khrushchev phoned back to Russia demanding that a statue of Nikitin be built immediately, before Nehru's state visit to Russia. The statue was featured on a Russian postage stamp in 2005 commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the establishment of the Tver region (oblast).<ref>See ''Stamp News International'' at: http://www.stampnews.com/stamps/stamps_2005/stamp_1173967252_581033.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928200112/http://www.stampnews.com/stamps/stamps_2005/stamp_1173967252_581033.html |date=2007-09-28 }}</ref>

Nikitin was also featured on a coin commemorating the 525th anniversary of his journey.{{cn|date=July 2023}}

In 1958, the Russian state-owned [[Mosfilm]] Studio and Indian director [[Khwaja Ahmad Abbas]]' "Naya Sansar International" production house co-produced a film entitled ''[[Pardesi (1957 film)|The Journey Beyond Three Seas]]'' with [[Oleg Strizhenov]] cast as Nikitin.

The 1962-built [[Project 97 icebreaker|Project 97A]] [[icebreaker]] ''Ledokol-2'' was renamed [[Afanasy Nikitin (icebreaker)|''Afanasy Nikitin'']] in 1966.

In 2000, a black obelisk was erected in Nikitin's honor at [[Revdanda]], 120 km south of [[Mumbai]], the probable location where he first set foot in India.

In 2006, the Indian organization Adventures & Explorers, with the support of the Embassy of India in Moscow and the Tver Regional Administration sponsored a Nikitin Expedition, in which 14 travelers set out from Tver to retrace Nikitin's journey through Russia, the Middle East, and Central Asia to India.<ref>See the online press report from the Embassy of India in Moscow at: [https://archive.today/20071223181820/http://www.indianembassy.ru/en/en_05_04_t0311_2006.html]</ref> The expedition lasted from 12 November 2006 to 16 January 2007. The Indian newspaper ''[[The Hindu]]'' filed several reports on the expedition's progress.<ref>See the online versions of the articles at: http://www.hindu.com/2006/12/10/stories/2006121000542000.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024122353/http://www.hindu.com/2006/12/10/stories/2006121000542000.htm |date=2012-10-24 }} and http://www.hindu.com/2006/11/26/stories/2006112602291000.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019041811/http://www.hindu.com/2006/11/26/stories/2006112602291000.htm |date=2012-10-19 }}</ref> After reaching India, two members of the expedition set out in March 2007 from Mumbai in SUVs to retrace Nikitin's travels around India itself.<ref>See the online version of the article at: [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930055606/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070322/asp/nation/story_7550104.asp]</ref>

The Afanasy Nikitin Seamount in the Indian Ocean is named in his honor.

On 17 April 2022,The Kozhikode Corporation paid tribute to Afanasy Nikitin, commemorating the 550th anniversary of his visit to Kozhikode. Moreover, Customs Road in the city was renamed after Nikitin, also establishing a ‘twin city’ status with Tver, the birth place of Nikitin.{{cn|date=July 2023}}

==In culture==
Rock band [[Aquarium (band)|Aquarium]] composed a song "Afanasy Nikitin Boogie". Power metal band [[Epidemia]] composed a song "Хождение за три моря" (Khozhdeniye za tri morya – "Walking the Three Seas") about Nikitin's writings. A brand of Tver beer, "Afanasy", is named after Afanasy Nikitin.<ref>[http://www.propivo.com/rus/brands/217/ Торговая марка пива "Афанасий"]</ref>

==See also==
*[[Daniel Kievsky]]
*[[Chronology of European exploration of Asia]]
*[[Niccolò de' Conti]] (1385–1469) - another European who traveled to India a few decades before Nikitin
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=MzzEhDxmKcwC&dq=wilhelm%20halbfass%20india%20and%20europe%20reviews&pg=PA81 some marginal notes on india:sergei d serebriany]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book | last=Major | first=Richard | title=India in the Fifteenth Century : Being a Collection of Narratives of Voyages to India in the Century Preceding the Portuguese Discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, from Latin, Persian, Russian, and Italian Sources | publisher=Cambridge University Press | publication-place=Cambridge | year=1857 | isbn=978-1-108-00816-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V6DLwU1xKUsC}}
* M. J. Maxwell. Afanasii Nikitin: An Orthodox Russian's Spiritual Voyage in the Dar al-Islam, 1468-1475. Journal of World History. Vol. 17, No. 3 (Sep., 2006)
* J. Speake (ed.) Literature of Travel and Exploration: An Encyclopedia. Volume 1, A to F. Routledge. 2013
* C. H. Whittaker. Russia engages the world, 1453-1825. Harvard University Press, 2003. P. 141
* The new Encyclopædia Britannica: in 32 vol. Macropaedia, India - Ireland, Volume 21. 1992. P. 183
* Afanasy Nikitin's Voyage Beyond Three Seas: 1466-1472. Raduga, 1985
* J. Burbank, M. Von Hagen, A. V. Remnev. Russian Empire: Space, People, Power, 1700-1930. Indiana University Press. 2007. P. 240
* A. V. Riasanovsky. Afanasii Nikitin's Journal. Journal of the American Oriental Society, Volume 81. 1961.
* J. R. Millar. Encyclopedia of Russian History, Volume 1. Macmillan Reference, 2003. P. 93

{{commons category|Afanasy Nikitin}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikitin, Afanasiy}}
[[Category:Explorers of Asia]]
[[Category:Russian explorers]]
[[Category:Russian travel writers]]
[[Category:1472 deaths]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:People from Tver]]
[[Category:15th-century Russian people]]
[[Category:15th-century Russian writers]]
[[Category:15th-century merchants]]
[[Category:Russian merchants]]
[[Category:Explorers of India]]
[[Category:Russian expatriates in India]]

Afanasy Nikitin - Revision history

Ajay Kumar at 22:09, 29 August 2023