Qissat Shakarwati Farmad

[1][2] It is argued that the qissat is the oldest, most detailed, and comprehensive recorded version of the Cheraman Perumal legend (of south India).

All muslim sources from 1500 CE tell the story of a traditional Hindu spice trader from Kerala, called the Cheraman Perumal[4] divided his spice trade among his family and business partners[2] and sailed for Jeddah for the annual pilgrimage to the Syrian city of Petra and to the Kaaba in Mecca, the shrine of the Quraysh, in a pre-islamic predecessor to the Islamic hajj.

[2] Shakarwati Farmad is an Arabic version of the medieval Indian royal title "Chakravarti Cheraman Perumal".

[3] The qissat is currently preserved in British Library (India Office Records, MS. Islamic 2807d, fols.

[2] Unlike some of the other versions of the legend, large portions of the qissat takes place after the king's death on Arabian coast.

Y. Friedmann conducted pioneering studies on the Qissat in the mid-1970s.