Nugget of information on Malabar rebellion

An exhibition of historical documents organised by the State Archives Department at the Moidu Moulavi Museum is a one-stop destination for information on the Malabar rebellion of the early 20{+t}{+h}century.

The exhibition features copies of documents in the form of correspondence between British officers about major events that are considered part of the rebellion. The exhibition has documents on the murder of the then Collector of Malabar Lord Connolly in 1856, another citing the role of Syed Fazal Pookkoya Thangal in the murder, a list of people exiled to Arabia in connection with the murder, a letter confirming the Thangal's presence in Arabia and another directing a representative of the British government in Arabia to ensure that Thangal did not leave Arabia. A list of the names of people who accompanied Thangal to Arabia is also exhibited.

Other documents include a proposal to levy a fine Rs.15,000 from Kilimuri Amsam (region) on account of the Mappila outbreak, the Act of 1854 prohibiting Mappila Rebellion, the Malabar War-Knives Act 1852 and the Khazi's request to the Collector to excuse him from the law, a correspondence on the Mappilas of Eranad who were killed fighting the British. There is a photo showing areas affected by the rebellion in 1896 and a statement showing the Amsoms and Desoms from which the rebels joined the outbreak. There is a report on the arrest of Varikkunnath Kunhahammed Haji and other rebels in 1915 and another map showing the areas affected by the rebellion in 1921. A notification regarding forfeiture of the properties of the Mappilas who were convicted during the outbreak in 1921 is also displayed. A document shows a summary of the important events of the 1921 rebellion and another on the role of M.P. Narayana Menon.

Finally, there is the judgment relating to the 1921 rebellion that states that a large number of Muslims rose in open rebellion against the British Government in different places of Malabar under the leadership of Ali Musliyar, a prominent member of the Khilafat and Non-Cooperation Movement. There are also documents on the Khilafat movement in general and the trial of Kattingal Attakkoya Thangal, a popular Khilafat leader in 1922. The exhibition also showcases some papers on the Wagon tragedy of 1921 and a shocking statement of Parakkal Ismail of Walluvanand Taluk, the only person who survived the tragedy.

Other than documents on the Mappila rebellion, the exhibition also features documents on the fall of Pazhassi Raja and various social reformations of the time.

The exhibition was inaugurated by Minister for Social Welfare and Panchayats M.K.Muneer on June 8 to commemorate the death anniversary of E. Moidu Moulavi. The show, jointly organised by the Department of Culture and the Department of Information and Public Relations, concluded on Sunday.

Aabha Anoop
News @ The Hindu

Another look at Malabar Mappilas

The Mappilas of Malabar have attracted the attention of historians, ethnographers, sociologists and political scientists ever since the gaze of these disciplines was cast on the southwestern part of the Indian peninsula in recent times. Of particular interest to all has been the “Malabar Rebellion” of 1921, variously interpreted by contemporaries and historians as communal violence, peasant agitation and struggle for freedom. L.R.S. Lakshmi's book is a new addition to the corpus where, getting out of the obsession with the Rebellion of 1921 or the “revolts” or “outrages” of the nineteenth century, the attempt is made to understand aspects such as their Hadhrami roots, continuity and change in their family and inheritance laws, the religious space they occupied and the disputes (among themselves and with people of other religions) in which they got involved, trends in the social reforms and so on. She also takes up questions such as education and social mobility as well as leadership and political mobilisation among the Mappilas. She closes the study with a “standing applause” to the Muslims of Malabar in the twentieth century.

Distorted picture

Lakshmi's is a lucidly written book. However, there are many gaps in it. Although she says that she is concerned with the whole of what was formerly British Malabar, the bulk of the evidence comes from the northern parts, and that too the towns of Kozhikode, Thalasseri and Kannur. This distorts the picture heavily. For instance, while her finding that the “Islamisation” — a questionable idea in itself — of Malabar was through the Arabs who came to the Malabar coast as seamen, etc. who got into marital relations with the local women may be defended for the coastal region, it does not explain the bulk of the Muslim population in the interior. The heavy Muslim presence in the interior regions, such as the Valluvanad and Eranad Taluks of old South Malabar, will have to be explained in a different way — the migration of Mappilas, particularly following Portuguese atrocities, along the rivers and their settling there with agriculture as livelihood. So, the life-world and even social structure of the Mappila peasant of Eranad and Vallivanad differed considerably from those of the Mappilas of Kozhikode or Thalasseri or Kannur. The reader will not be able to appreciate this difference from the book, not to speak of finding an explanation for it. This will stand in the way of a correct understanding of the Muslim peasants of Malabar.

Another difficulty is in the historical understanding of the Muslim settlements and their growth. A considerable source, the Tuhfat-ul-Mujahiddin, could have been used with profit by the author. This failure is all the more striking as she is not unaware of this source, as a misquotation on p. xix shows: the Tuhafat does not use the word “Hindu” to denote the Nairs and others of Malabar. This failure limits the perspective of the author and therefore the book is less valuable than it could have been.

The author's understanding is marred also by a lack of familiarity with the places and men she is dealing with: for an example, Vakkom Maulavi is represented as from Vaikkom, perhaps because she does not know that the Maulavi did not hail from the same place where the major satyagraha had taken place. So also, a failure to place the “social reform” movements within the perspective of the over-all context of “renaissance” in Kerala makes it appear as something unique among the Muslims. It is not without significance that the leaders of this movement were largely from the south while the bulk of the population was in the north — a point missed by the author.

There are many errors of details, again arising from a lack of familiarity with the subject and the literature. When, for instance, it is stated that the “Jews arrived in Cochin as early as 68 AD”, the author shows her ignorance of the fact that Cochin itself came into existence only in the 14 century! And, the last chapter, which ends with a “standing applause” is less than academic in nature. A serious subject like this can do very well without such paeans


KESAVAN VELUTHAT
The hindu