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In this book, Malabar, Mappillas are defined from two entirely different perspectives. One is the general English tone of them having been a solace inducing effect on the downtrodden castes in the location. The other perspective is that them being utter rascals and scoundrels. The second perspective could have much to do with the Hindu (Brahmin) and Nayar experience with them. Naturally, the English side will not get to feel the realities of the terrors connected to feudal language communication.

QUOTE: How the Muhammadans came to adopt this same style for their mosques is perhaps to be accounted for by the tradition, which asserts that some at least of the nine original mosques were built on the sites of temples, and that the temple endowments in land were made over with the temples for the maintenance of the mosque. Before Muhammadanism became a power in the land it is not difficult to suppose that the temples themselves thus transferred were at first used for the new worship, and this may have set the fashion which has come down to the present day. So faithfully is the Hindu temple copied, that the Hindu trisul (or trident) is not unfrequently still placed over the open gable front of the mosque. END OF QUOTE.

No comment.

QUOTE: .—The word Mappilla is a contraction of Maha (great) and pilla (child, honorary title, as among Nayars in Travancore), and it was probably a title of honour conferred on the early Muhammadan immigrants, or possibly on the still earlier Christian immigrants, who are also down to the present day, called Mappillas. The Muhammadans are usually called Jonaka or Chonaka Mappillas to distinguish them from the Christian Mappillas, who are called Nasrani Mappillas. END OF QUOTE

This attempt to portray the word ‘Mappilla’ as some kind honourable title might have been the attempt of the Christians of Travancore. Seeing that the Nayars were the constable class, with much power over the common lower caste, this verbal association might have done some help. However, with regard to the ‘Mappillas’ of Malabar, who were the Muslims, there is no such association possible. Many of the earlier Mappillas could be off-spring of Arabic sailors who had a marital relationship on the Malabar Coast (not Travancore coast). Beyond that a vast majority of Malabar Mappillas are the converts from the lower castes, including Cherumar and above up to Makkathaya Thiyyas of south Malabar.

QUOTEs: 1. Some years after his death Malik-ibn-Dinar and his family set-out for Malabar.

2. To this they rejoined that they, foreigners, could not know his country and its extent and would have no influence therein ; whereupon, it is said, he prepared and gave them writings in the Malayalam language to all the chieftains whom he had appointed in his stead, requiring them to give land for mosques and to endow them END OF QUOTE

The above quotes are with regard to how Malik Dinar set up Islam in Malabar for the first time. It is seen mentioned that the Perumal king who had gone to Arabia and converted to Islam did give the written letter of introduction for them to show to the rulers of the various small kingdoms of Malabar.

QUOTE: The race is rapidly progressing in numbers, to some extent from natural causes, though they are apparently not so prolific as Hindus, and to a large extent from conversion from the lower (the servile) classes of Hindus END OF QUOTE.

It is seen here that the Islamic religion is expanding exponentially primarily due to the oppression the lower castes face from their Hindu overlords.

QUOTE: Regarding the increase in the Muhammadan population between 1871 and 1881, the following remarks occur in the Presidency Census (1881) Report, paragraph 151:—“Conspicuous for their degraded position and humiliating disabilities are the Cherumars. This caste numbered 99,009 in Malabar at the census of 1871, and in 1881, is returned at only 64,7251. This is a loss of 34.93 per cent, instead of the gain 5.71 per cent, observed generally in the district. There are, therefore, 40,000 fewer Cherumars than there would have been but for some disturbing cause, and the disturbing cause is very well known to the District Officer to be conversion to Muhammadanism. END OF QUOTE.

The above quote more or less stands testimony of the fact that it was the lower-caste conversion that boosted the Muslim Mappilla population in Malabar, especially in South Malabar.

QUOTE: Zamorin Rajas of Calicut, who, in order to man their navies, directed that one or more male members of the families of Hindu fishermen should be brought up as Muhammadans, and this practice has continued down to modern times. END OF QUOTE

This is a very curious information. However, it might be true. Yet, the question remains as to why the fishermen caste (lower-caste) men were not made use of in his navy? There is the larger question of what kind of a ‘navy’ this tiny kingdom had. There is nothing to suggest that the king of Calicut had any such thing. For, due to the fact that the fishermen folk and other seafarers were lower castes, and hence of a ruder and cruder type, from the perspective of the higher castes, there is no way a navy could be created using them. Then the only other option would be to form one with a Muslim team. Being Muslims, their mental attitude would be that of being on the top.

However, it is still not possible to imagine the Muslim fishermen as a group being culturally different from the lower caste fishermen.

QUOTE: In particular he (Cherman Perumal) invited a Muhammadan and his wife to come from his native land of Aryapuram and installed them at Kannanur (Cannanore). The Muhammadan was called Ali Raja, that is, lord of the deep, or of the sea END OF QUOTE

May be this information might be from the fake history book, Keralolpathi. However, there is no need to doubt the authenticity of the above statement. For, Keralolpathi seems to have been written from various hearsays prevalent at the time of writing the book. The name Ali Raja, as I had mentioned earlier, could really be Aazhi Raja, if the meaning of the name given is accurate.

QUOTE: Note.—Considering that Muhammad himself was born only in the 7th century A.D., the date mentioned is obviously incorrect, if, as stated, this Perumal organised the country against the Mappillas. END OF QUOTE

If there is any substance in the above statement, it is possible that the higher castes had tried to suppress the spread of Islam in an earlier age.

QUOTE: As regards Muhammadan progress in Malabar, writing in the middle of the ninth century A.D., a Muhammadan has left on record “I know not that there is any one of either nation” (Chinese and Indian) “that has embraced Muhammadanism or speaks Arabic.” (Renaudot’s “Ancient Accounts of India, etc” London, 1733). END OF QUOTE.

This is the effect of trying to understand huge histories from minutes information based on traveller accounts. Most traveller accounts with regard to historical incidences are based on their personal experiences. However, the landscape was astronomically larger than anything they could have imagined.

QUOTE: The traveller thereupon concluded that here at last was a trustworthy king, and so he settled down at Calicut and became the Koya (Muhammadan priest) of Calicut. END OF QUOTE.

This is with regard to a story of how an Arabian merchant tested the honesty of the then king of Calicut. The story can be correct or incorrect; however the summarisation made based on this solitary incident might be foolish. However, this might be one of the events that led to the Mappilla Muslim domination on the king of Calicut. There might be other unconnected incidents also.

QUOTE: “To the infidels he supplies this in vessels ; to the Moslems he pours it in their hands. They do not allow the Moslems to touch their vessels, or to enter into their apartments ; but if any one should happen to eat out of one of their vessels, they break it to pieces. END OF QUOTE.

That was Ibn Bututa’s words. These words might be true in the exact location and time period he visited Malabar. Beyond that, these records might not be sufficient evidence to prove anything. However, the repulsion to a low-caste convert might be the reason.

QUOTE: indeed there exists a tradition that in 1489 or 1490 a rich Muhammadan came to Malabar, ingratiated, himself with the Zamorin, and obtained leave to build additional Muhammadan mosques. The country would no doubt have soon been converted to Islam either by force or by conviction, but the nations of Europe were in the meantime busy endeavouring to find a direct road to the pepper country of the East. END OF QUOTE.

This might be true of that time. For, converting people to a religion in a feudal language social set-up is different from anything a native-English mind can conceive. It is a powerful manner to regiment people under the religious leaders. To this extent, the aims of Islam might not be in sync with the real aims of Prophet Muhammad. However, the same is true about other religions also.

It is not a surprise from this background to understand that the English Company rule did not support any kind of religious conversion to Christianity. Nor was Missionary activity allowed inside the locations where they were in rule.

QUOTE: The arrival of this Portuguese expedition aroused at once the greatest jealousy in the Moors or Muhammadans, who had the Red Sea and Persian Gulf trade with Europe in their hands, and they immediately began to intrigue with the authorities for the destruction of the expedition. END OF QUOTE.

There is a typical correctness in the above statement with regard to the subcontinent. Trade and commerce are not really as understood in native-English nations. Economic supremacy is the enslavement of the others in feudal languages. Because it can cause terrific changes in the verbal codes. It is due to this non-understanding of the real intentions of the feudal language speakers that the native-English nations are keeping the nations open to them. No other sane population would allow any competing feudal language population to enter and takeover the businesses.

QUOTE: A few Moors resided there, and possessed better houses than those of the native population, which were merely composed of mats, with mud walls and roofs thatched with leaves END OF QUOTE.

That was about Cochin. It might be true that Islam is an egalitarian religion. However, the Muslims who live in the subcontinent, do not speak any egalitarian language. They are part and parcel of the feudal language social systems, in the subcontinent. Hence, their egalitarianism would be confined to their religious brethren, who also would have to display some kind of subservience to their superiors.

QUOTE: one Kuti Ali of Tanur had the effrontery to bring a fleet of two hundred vessels to Calicut, to load eight ships with pepper, and to despatch them with a convoy of forty vessels to the Red Sea before the very eyes of the Portuguese. END OF QUOTE

Well, the fight for dominating the pepper trade is the core issue here. Pepper was an essential part of the European and British culinary traditions. And hence a very profitable business. However, it would be a very great mistake to imagine that the whole populations of Europe and Britain were involved in the competition for pepper trade. At best, the competition would be between the traders.

The local Mappilla traders, not all the Mappillas, could have been the supporters of the Egyptian traders.

QUOTE: On that day, however, the resolution was taken to begin the necessary propagations at once by enlisting Mappillas at 23 fanams per month. END OF QUOTE.

This is a record of the English Company enlisting Mappillas men as soldiers.

QUOTE: The Calli-Quiloners (Mappillas) had “blue coats faced with green perpets ” and thin bolts like those of the sepoys. END OF QUOTE.

The uniform of the Mappilla soldiers in the English Company pay.

QUOTE: He (the English Company chief) wished to dismantle it (Madakara fort) and abandon the place, but the Prince Regent fearing it would fall into the hands of the Mappillas persuaded him to keep it, END OF QUOTE.

There is obvious terror of the Mappilla dominance. It is just that it is a totally different social regimentation, into which the non-Muslims cannot find a corresponding berth. Even though inside the Muslim community there is slightly more social freedom and individual dignity, they are still part of the feudal language social communication. So, the egalitarianism that Islam promotes cannot come near to the original tenets of pristine-Islam, which actually is very near to pristine-English.

QUOTE: During this interval also the Mappillas began to give trouble. The factors in exercise of their treaty rights had established round boats to prevent the export of pepper from Kadattanad. These boats were found not to be of sufficient strength for the purpose, as they were unable to cope with the Mappilla boats rowed by eight or ten men with four or six more to assist, all of whom (even the boatmen) practised with the “sword and target” at least. In retaliation for the pressure thus brought to bear upon them by the factors, the Mappillas took to committing outrages END OF QUOTE.

There is a huge information left unmentioned here. It is that English boats would be in the hands of the English Company peon level staff. Their usages of words like ‘Inhi’, ‘eda’, ‘enthada,’ ‘Oan’, ‘Avan’ &c. mentioned in the manner to demean the ‘respected’ persons in the Mappilla boats would be the real cause for igniting the antipathy. The antipathy would ultimately fall upon the English Company, even though it is their subordinate Nayars and Thiyyas who are creating it.

QUOTE: Such outrages became frequent, and on July 9th 1765 the Chief was obliged to issue a stringent order to disarm them within factory limits. END OF QUOTE

The entry of the English Company had dismantled the age-old social hierarchies. The lower castes had received the opportunity to go up socially as well as financially. The most easy means to do this was to convert to Islam. Once a lower caste man becomes a Mappilla, his complete ire would be focused on his traditional tormentor classes, the Nayars and the higher castes.

The English Company officials got involved because they are the people who have to enforce the law and order. However, they have no means of understanding what is going on.

If fact, when there was a shooting of a Telugu Engineer in the USA by a native-US citizen, I did mention this issue. The Telugu population in the USA became very vexed and started insulting me verbally. However by the next morning, the Telugu organisation in the US had given out a proclamation that the Telugus should avoid speaking in Telugu in the US.

The actual fact is that all feudal languages should be banned in native-English nations. Otherwise, the native-English will slowly start going berserk as did the Mappillas in Malabar.

QUOTE: On the 25th the factors despatched the Achanmar of Randattara to their district, escorted by British sepoys, but the Mappillas refused them passage thither. END OF QUOTE

This was the state of the location which was slowly converted into a great nation by the English Company.

Mogul officer's report which was subsequently edited by Prince Ghulam Muhammad, Tippu’s only surviving son on the invasion of Malabar by Hyder Ali: QUOTE: The country of the Nayres was thrown into a general consternation, which was much increased by the cruelty of the Mapelets, who followed the cavalry, massacred all who had escaped, without sparing women or children : so that the army advancing under the conduct of this enraged multitude, instead of meeting with resistance, found the villages, fortresses, temples, and in general every habitable place forsaken and deserted END OF QUOTE

This was the terror let loose by the great ‘freedom fighter’, who fought against the English Company.

QUOTE: The Mappillas of this latter district undertook to assist the British to maintain their hold of the province, but when it came to the push their hearts failed them. END OF QUOTE.

It was difficult for the Mappillas to stand against Hyder Ali. For, he had appealed to their spirit of religious camaraderie.

QUOTE: Tippu’s affairs were not well managed in Malabar when he recovered possession of it. The exactions of his revenue collectors appear to have driven the people into rebellion. Ravi Varma of the Zamorin’s house received in 1784 a jaghire in order to keep him quiet, and even Tippu’s Mappilla subjects in Ernad and Walluvanad rebelled. END OF QUOTE.

That was about Sultan Tippu’s short-lived attempt at administering Malabar.

QUOTE: Shortly after this, the Bibi of Cannanore again sought protection from the company and stated positively that Tippu was shortly coming to the coast with the whole of his force. The Bibi was probably at this time playing a deep game. The Mappillas of the coast generally recognised her as their head, and the Mappillas of the south were in open rebellion against Tippu’s authority. END OF QUOTE.

Duplicity, double-talk, back-stabbing, lies, pretended affableness &c. were and are the norms.

QUOTE: It was also now becoming evident to the factors that causes of discord between Hindu and Mappilla were likely to cause the latter to favour Tippu rather than the British, because they were afraid of letting the “Malabars” have authority over them” after what had happened, and particularly after the forcible conversion to Islam of so many Hindus, and after the fearful retribution which had been wreaked by the Hindus in many places on their oppressors, when the tide of victory turned in favour of the English. END OF QUOTE.

Even though the fight and enmity were between the Nayars and the Mappillas, the feeling that if the English come to power, the Nayars would get the opportunity to seek revenge must have been a fear among the Mappillas. In fact, the English administration was being taken for a ride by the Nayar officials. Whatever verbal atrocities they place on the Mappillas, the fury will be focused back on the English administration.

QUOTE: The chief condition of surrender was effective protection against the Nayars, who had joined Colonel Stuart and were employed in the blockade ; but on the fire of the place being silenced, crowded the trenches and batteries, anxious for sanguinary retaliation, which it required very exact arrangements to prevent. END OF QUOTE.

That was with regard to the surrender of Palghat fort. There is huge hatred that has been triggered by the verbal codes over the years. There is no way that any agreement of terms of surrender would be followed. The moment the Nayars get their hands on the surrendered Mappillas, they would exact terrible revenge. Again it is for the English Company’s officials to seek to protect the Mappillas.

QUOTE: On September 24th, Mr. Taylor found it necessary to take another step, for the misunderstanding between Hindu and Mappilla was becoming very apparent, and the Chief to quiet the fears of the latter, had to issue a proclamation that he would secure both parties on their ancient footing. END OF QUOTE.

This is connected to the unsteady and wobbly Bibi of Cannanore.

QUOTE: “From the repeated treachery and notorious infidelity of the whole Mappilla race, rigid and terrifying measures are become indispensably necessary to draw from them the execution of their promises and stipulations. Lenity has been found ineffectual.” END OF QUOTE.

That is from the Factory records of the English Factory, immediately after the departure of Sultan Tippu. One cannot say for sure what provoked the writing of these words. The lower financial class Mappillas were mostly the converts from the lower-castes. However, there are words that are very appreciative of the rich Mappilla merchants who are mentioned as quite decent, honest and dependable. So, the above writing can be taken as the personal experience of the person who wrote it.

See this QUOTE:

Affairs in Chirakkal next claimed attention. The Raja died and the Government recognised the succession of Ravi Varma, the eldest of the two princes in Travancore. His nomination to the raj was opposed by the Kavinisseri branch of the family supported by the senior or Kolattiri Raja. To ensure peace and harmony in the family the Linguist, M. A. Rodrigues, and the influential Mappilla merchant Chovakkaran Makki, were deputed to Chirakkal. They succeeded in establishing peace. END OF QUOTE.

Yet, it must also be admitted that the English side had no means of understanding what the provocations were in the social system.

QUOTE: Vellatiri or Valluvakon Rajas were, as the foregoing pages sufficiently indicate, the hereditary enemies of the Zamorins. The reigning chief had endeavoured, by favouring the Mappillas, to counterbalance the influence gained by the Zamorin through his Muhammadan subjects. END OF QUOTE.

The king of Calicut is competing with the kings of Palghat and of Valluvanad. All of them are trying to manipulate the Mappilla /Muhammadan support to their own side.

QUOTE: Mappillas consequently abounded in this chief’s territory, but as Muhammadan immigrants were few in his inland tracts he had perforce to recruit his Mappilja retainers from the lowest classes of all—the slaves of the soil or Cherumar. Having tasted the sweets of liberty under the Mysorean rule, these Mappillas did not readily yield submission to the ancient order of things when the Mysoreans were driven out. Although., therefore, the Vellatiri Raja’s districts were restored “to the Raja for management, it was soon discovered that he was powerless to repress the disturbance which speedily arose between Nayar and Mappilla, and it was in consequence of this that so early as May 1793 the Joint Commissioners had to resume his districts and manage them directly. END OF QUOTE.

The very brief Mysorean occupation of south Malabar had given the lower caste converts to Islam a very powerful experience. They had tasted the sweetness of liberty from their oppressor Nayars and the Hindus (Brahmins). It would be very difficult to get them back to don their age-old attire of bound-to-the-soil-slaves. Indeed the very unidirectional addressing of them as Inhi / Ijj (lowest you) and referring to them as Oan/ Avan, would provoke a retort in the same verbal manner. It would be like an Indian army officer addressing the Indian soldier with a Thoo and the soldier retorting back with a similar Thoo. The provocation would be of the highest order. However, there is nothing in the English records to suggest that they had even the slightest hint of these provocations.

QUOTE: Moreover, on the outskirts of this lawless tract of country there dwelt a tribe of what were in those days called “jungle” Mappillas, who were banded together under chiefs and who subsisted on the depredations committed on their neighbours. END OF QUOTE.

This statement can be rewritten to mention that a population that subsisted on depredations had converted into Islam, but still continued their traditional means of subsistence.

QUOTE: On the representation of Said Ali, the Quilandy Tangal or Muhammadan high priest, that a jaghire had been conferred on him by Tippu, a grant exempting his house and property from taxation during his lifetime was given him. END OF QUOTE.

That was the English Company administration working to set things in order.

QUOTE: The ryots, on the other hand, viewed the government as the inheritors in succession to Tippu and Hyder Ali of the pattam or land revenue assessment, and this was explicitly stated to the Commissioners by a deputation of influential Mappillas whom the Commissioners called together to consult on the subject. If the Commissioners had followed out the rule laid down in the fourth paragraph of the agreement with the Iruvalinad Nambiars which has already been commented on, the status of the ryots of Malabar would have been very different at the present day. END OF QUOTE.

The claim at the end of the above quote is a sly attempt by some native-of-the-subcontinent writer in this book, Malabar. It is a very silly and very simplistic understanding of the social scene. The provocations and the social relationships are connected to the verbal codes. There has been cataclysmic changes in it in recent days. First the entry of the English Company, which more or less showed that the traditional oppressor classes are no more in control. The second item is the brief attempts at administration by the Mysorean Muslims. They literally dismantled the traditional social set up. In fact, if the Mysorean rule had continued, the Nayars would have been converted into the lower castes.

QUOTE: An attempt was made by two of the Rajas of the Padinyaru Kovilakam (western palace) of the Zamorin’s house to assassinate him because he failed to procure them their restoration to Nedunganad. These Rajas then proceeded to the southward to raise disturbances, and were joined by Unni Mutta Muppan, the Mappilla bandit chief, and some Gowndan Poligar chiefs from Coimbatore who had rebelled against Tippu. Subsequently, too, they were joined by Kunhi Achehan of the Palghat family, who fled to them after having murdered a Nayar. This Kunhi Achchan’s claims to the management of the Palghat District had been rejected by the Joint Commissioners END OF QUOTE.

In the tiny geopolitical location of Malabar, there were so many claims and counterclaims. In this soiled water, everyone were trying to fish, using all kinds of permutations and combinations.

QUOTE: He (Pazhassiraja) further in his reply expressed surprise at his not being “allowed to follow and be guided by our ancient customs” in the slaughter of erring Mappillas END OF QUOTE.

There is a number of events connected to Pazhassiraja, wherein he is seen as a tormentor of the Mappillas. Check the Section on Pazhassiraja.

QUOTE: Just before the Joint Commission was dissolved, the Supravisor made a grant exempting the lands of the Kundotti Tangal (a high priest of one section of the Mappillas) from payment of the revenue, as had been the custom in Tippu’s time, on the condition that the Tangal and his people would prove loyal to the Honourable Company a promise which they have ever since very faithfully fulfilled. END OF QUOTE.

Here it is seen mentioned that the Kundotti Tangal household had stood in loyalty to the English rule. In this connection there is another incident to be mentioned here. When the Malabar District Collector Connolly was hacked to death, QUOTE: They (the killers) had not gone far from this place when they were seen, and, being followed up by the people of Kondotti (another sect of Mappillas), were driven at length to take refuge in the house, where they were shot the same evening by a detachment of Major Haly’s Police Corps and a part of No. 5 Company of H.M’s 74th Highlanders under Captain Davies END OF QUOTE.

There is this below quote also to be noted in another context:

QUOTE: The feud between Nayar and Mappiila in consequence of the complete subversion of the ancient friendly relations subsisting between these classes broke out afresh about this time, and Major Dow was deputed to the Mappilla districts, and a cowl of protection was issued in favour of the Kundotti section of the Mappiila class, who had been oppressed by the Nayar landholders. END OF QUOTE.

QUOTE: In the interim an agreement was on 8th May 1794 entered into with the Mappilla bandit chief Unni Mutta Muppan by Major Murray and with a view, if possible, to secure peace to the country his small district of Elampulasseri was to be restored to him and a money allowance of Rs. 1,000 per annum granted. But he renewed his pretensions to a share of the revenue and began levying blackmail END OF QUOTE.

The problem with this kind of magnanimity is that it would collide with the verbal codes at other locations. It is like this: when this Unni Mutta Muppan is mentioning the English magnanimity, there would be other around him who would speak using verbal codes that would make the whole item look quite ludicrous buffoonery. These kind of verbal codes are not there in English. So, the native-English side will not really understand what had gone wrong.

QUOTE: The petty robber chief Haidros was captured by the Ponnani Mappillas, was put on his trial and sentenced to death but the sentence was commuted into one of transportation to Botany Bay. END OF QUOTE.

It might be possible that these kinds of persons can very easily be identified as ‘freedom fighters’ who fought for ‘India’ against the British! In fact, if this logic can be taken to the northern parts of the subcontinent, it might be possible to mention that the Thuggees (highway robbers who conducted the killing of merchants in a ritualistic manner) who were crushed by Henry Sleeman were actually ‘freedom fighters’ against the British rule!!

QUOTE: The notorious Mappilla bandit chief, Unni Mutta Muppan, was pardoned and restored to his estate of Elampuinsseri, while Attan Gurikkal, a relation of his and no less noted for turbulence of character, was appointed from motives of policy as head of a police establishment in Ernad. END OF QUOTE.

All these endeavours do have a great chance to collide with the verbal codes of the native feudal languages, which would dismantle magnanimous gesture of the English Company.

QUOTE: Nearly all the Rajas were backward in the regular discharge of their kists and were obliged to procure the suretyship of Mappilla merchants for the payment of arrears. Although members of this sect living in the coast towns were active traders and well-behaved, in the interior their fellow religionists were incessantly engaged in marauding expeditions. END OF QUOTE.

It is a very enlightening information. That the local rajas had to get the suretyship of Mappilla merchants for the payment of their arrears to the English Company. And also the description of the different versions of Mappillas. The Mappilla traders were not of the same genre as the Mappilla lower caste converts. However, the deeper fact is that that lower caste converts were existing on the lower planes of the verbal codes, while the rich merchants were on the upper parts of the verbal codes. This difference in location in the virtual codes creates entirely different human personality and disposition. This is an information about which the native-English side has no information on.

QUOTE: The mistaken notions prevalent in regard to ownership in the land appear to have been to a large extent at the bottom of these disturbances, which assumed the aspect of faction fights for supremacy between Hindus and Muhammadan END OF QUOTE.

This is again an insidious insertion of the Nayar vested interests who have tried their best to subvert the magnanimous actions of the English Company. The fight for supremacy has nothing to do with any doings of the English Company. It simply broke out because of two different historical experiences that came upon the land. First the advent of English supremacy, which more or less broke the backbone of the age-old social hierarchy. The second was the total disruption of the social order created by the brief Mysorean rule. The lower castes were literally informed that they can relocate to the top, and the upper castes were on the verge of being pushed to the bottom.

There is a tone in the quote above that the writer of the above lines knows better than the English Company as to what is good of the land. Actually these native upper classes were not able to bring any bit of goodness in this land for centuries.

QUOTE: The pensioned Rajas of Kumbla and Vittul Agra or Higgada did not also fail to harass Tippu's possessions during the war and on this account the pension of the former was in 1801 increased to Rs. 400. But the latter having after the proclamation of peace plundered the Manasserum temple, he was declared a rebel and death anticipated the orders issued for his seizure END OF QUOTE.

These are hidden facts of history. The modern Indian academic fake history might mention that the British robbed the temples and such with no qualms. Actually it was the opposite. The English rule was totally focused on protecting and preserving the wealth and heritage of the land. In fact, no one seems to mention that had Sultan Tipu managed to enter Travancore kingdom, the fabulous treasures mentioned to be in the possession of the Sree Padmanabhapuram Temple would have been looted then and there.

QUOTE : The Malabar Commissioners deputed Major Walker to the southern districts, and upon his report condemning the spirited action of Messrs. Baber and Waddell with reference to the Mappilla banditti, Chemban Pokar was pardoned on his giving security of good behaviour, and Gurikkal was allowed the option of either living on the coast near Calicut, or standing his trial for having caused the late troubles. END OF QUOTE.

The English administration was quite accommodating and magnanimous to all kinds of persons. The fact would come out if one were to compare these actions with how the modern Indian police /army would act if they were catch similarly disposed persons. They would have been thrashed to a pulp in the various police stations or in the army barracks. The moment the words of address changes to Inhi / Nee / Thoo, every kind of protective shields will vanish.

QUOTE: This success encouraged Chemban Pokar to make a daring attempt on the life of Mr. G. Waddell the Southern Superintendent, while he was proceeding from Angadipuram to Orampuram, in which attempt Chemban Pokar was secretly abetted by Gurikkal, who had been in Company’s service since 1790 as head of police in Ernad END OF QUOTE.

In spite of the magnanimous attitude of the English Company, what was given in return was again deeply troubling physical offense. However, there are deeper issues involved. The other side of the equation, that is the anti-Mappilla groups would make all kinds of taunts upon them the Mappillas, wherein it is quite candidly understood that the blame would be placed upon the English Company officials. The cunningness deeply entrenched within the local feudal language social system is of an unbelievable kind.

QUOTE: The cause assigned for the murder of the peon was that the peon dragged one of the Mappillas out of the mosque, END OF QUOTE.

The very act of allowing a lowly peon to touch another person as an act of domination can be an erroneous act. In fact, I find that in Malabar the English administration did understand this issue later on.

The next item that is missed is the content of the conversation that led to the event. In all probability, the peon would have used lower indicant words of the most despicable kind. For, he is the bearer of authority. In the initial period of the English administration, the English officials did not really understand that a person with any kind of official power in the subcontinent can become a satanic entity due to the existence of the varying codes for verbal conversation.

QUOTE: It is very sad to look round us from where we are and see the vast extent of forest that has been destroyed by the Mappillas all round for coffee END OF QUOTE.

Though it might be true that the Mappilla Timber businessmen would have had a hand in this, there is a wider truth that needs to be placed on record. A vast percent of the forest lands had been wiped out by the converted to Christian settlers from Travancore. However, presumably that event gathered strength in the years after this book was written.

QUOTE: Genuine Arabs, of whom many families of pure blood are settled on the coast, despise the learning thus imparted and are themselves highly educated in the Arab sense. Their knowledge of their own books of science and of history is very often profound, and to a sympathetic listener who knows Malayalam they love to discourse on such subjects. They have a great regard for the truth, and in their finer feelings they approach nearer to the standard of English gentlemen than any other class of persons in Malabar. END OF QUOTE

This might be Logan’s own words. It more or less reflect a particular similarity between pristine-English and pristine-Arabic. That pristine-Arabic is also more or less a planar language to a great extent. However, as to whether anyone anymore speaks pristine-Arabic might be a debatable point.

QUOTE: Shortly after the close of the war with Coorg the district administration entered upon a period of disturbance, which unhappily continues down to the present time. The origin and causes of this are of so much importance that it has been considered best to treat the subject at considerable length with a view not only to exhibit the difficulties with which the district officers have had to deal, but to elucidate the causes from which such difficulties have sprung. END OF QUOTE.

It is not possible for the English officials to really understand the various provocations that exist in feudal languages. A number of incidences are mentioned here. In all them, the attackers are seen as Mappillas and the attacked are the Hindus (Brahmins) and the Nayars. A few individuals of the subordinated populations have also been attacked at times. From the administrative side, representing the English administration, are the native Tahsildars, and the peons, most of them from the Nayar caste and Thiyyas.

If one were to look beyond the confines of purported religious animosities, the reality is that the Hindus and the Nayars, and even the Thiyyas, would use highly provocative degrading verbal forms such as Inhi (lowest You), Oan (lowest he / him), etc. on the Mappilla individuals who might not be of the lower order in various ways.

There is a wider issue here. In that the Mappillas would have a penchant for using these very words to all and sundry who are not exactly persons they personally revere. They use it in a more egalitarian sense than can be understood by the Hindus and the lower castes. The Hindus would get to feel the degrading when the Mappillas use it on them. The lower castes may not get this feeling, however, used as they are to it daily from their own Hindu oppressors and Nayars.

When the native-officials get the Mappillas (mostly the lower caste converts) in their hands, they would use the same words in a more brutal manner, which is not in an egalitarian sense. These are all very delicately slender issues to understand. Unless the reader has profound information on the verbal codes of Malabari (Malayalam of yore), the higher provocative switches inside the language will not be visible.

The lower castes who converted into Islam are similar to a native of the subcontinent individual who has learned English. He has moved into a social system wherein he has no senior caste. However, this is a very narrow reality. For, just beyond the confines of his new religion, he is still a lower caste man. The language is not Arabic or English. The languages are feudal. They contain not only powerful codes for ennobling, but also very powerful words which can literally turn a human soul to feel like excrement.

The fact is that if the native-Englishman also were to understand or feel this forced-turning-into-excrement experience, he will also go berserk. That is actually the reason behind the violence in native-English nations, which have been callously defined as ‘racist’. Native-English nations have no idea on the dangerous inputs that are slowly entering into their placid social system.

However, here the Hindus and the Nayars see the Mappillas as a very dangerous population who do not extend the requisite formal respects. It can be slightly compared to a soldier in the Indian army who does not salute his officers or use the App (highest you) / Unn (highest he / him) word to them or about them.

QUOTE: On the 2nd October 1850 information was received that the sons of one Periambath Attan the Mappilla adhikari of Puliakod amsam in Ernad taluk had, with others, concerted to kill one Mungamdambalatt Narayana Mussat and to devote themselves to death in arms. Security was required of nine individuals on this account. The District Magistrate, Mr. Conolly, in reporting on the outrage and wholesale murders of January 4th-8th, suggested that a commission should be appointed “to report1 on the question of Mappilla disturbances generally. I wish. ” he stated, “for the utmost publicity. If any want of, or mistake in, management on my part has led in the slightest degree to these fearful evils (far more fearful in my time than they have ever been before), I am most desirous that a remedy be applied, whatever be the effect as regards my personal interests END OF QUOTE.

The actual fact is that the English administration was guilty of being quite gullible. The fight was between the Hindus and Nayars on one side, and the Mappillas on the other. There were grievances on both sides. And the culprit was the highly degrading and provocative local vernaculars Malayalam and Malabari. There is no solution to be found without a total removal of these evil languages. Not only Malayalam and Malabari, but most of the feudal languages of the subcontinent have to be removed from their current-day status of statutory languages. If this is not possible, the social system will continue to have all the problems connected to social hierarchy and human degrading.

QUOTE: The individual here referred to is the notorious Saiyid Fazl of Arab extraction, otherwise known as the Pukoya or the Tirurangadi or Mambram Tangal. He had succeeded at an early age to the position vacated by the Taramal Tangal (already alluded to), and it is certain that fanaticism was focussed at the time at and about the head-quarters of Saiyid Fazl at Mambram. Fanatics then, as now, considered it almost essential to success in their enterprise that they should have visited and prayed at the Taramal Tangal’s tomb at Mambram and kissed the hand of the Tangal living in the house close by. END OF QUOTE.

The adjective ‘notorious’ need not be from Logan, but from some others who had doctored the manuscript or actually written the text.

QUOTE: Information of this was given by the principal Mappillas of the former amsam at about ten o’clock that night. They and their adherents remained on guard during the whole of the night at the houses of Pilatodi Panchu Menon and Purmekad Pisharodi, the principal Hindu janmis in the amsam, and respecting the former of whom there were on several occasions rumours that Mappilla fanatics were seeking to kill him. END OF QUOTE

The above-statement should stand testimony to the fact that at least the higher class Mappillas stood apart from the aspiration of the lower class Mappillas.

QUOTE: On the night of the 28th April 1852 the house of Kannambat Tangal in Kottayam taluk was fired into and the out-buildings of the Kallur temple were set on fire. The tahsildar (a Hindu) was of opinion that it was done by Hindus wishing to profit by the absence of the Tangal, the great janmi of the locality. The Sri Kovil (shrine) and the grain rooms were left uninjured, and this fact was urged in support of the tahsildar’s opinion. END OF QUOTE.

The above information could be very vital to showcase the ways and manners of the society. There is a continuing urge in the language codes to use Agent Provocateurs.

QUOTE: Five were induced to crime “because of relatives having wrongs, fancied or real, to redress ; and the remaining 144 were without any personal provocations whatsoever.” END OF QUOTE.

What is indeed admirable in the English administration is their urge to find out a cause; even though, they did not detect the cause. However, in the case of the current-day Indian officialdom, there is no urge to find the real cause or provocation.

QUOTE: He then went on to review the next ground for committing them dwelt upon by the Mappillas, namely, that the criminals were forced into them by destitution, but he passed this by with the remark that most of the criminals were mere youths, and he could not believe that they “should be ready thus to throw life away from more despair as to the means of supporting it. END OF QUOTE.

The native higher-castes know that destitution does not make anyone revolt, unless there is someone to organise them into a fighting unit. In fact, destitution only makes a person more respectful.

QUOTE: The natural result was that “the Hindus, in the parts where outbreaks have been most frequent, stand in such fear of the Mappillas as mostly not to dare to press for their rights against them, and there is many a Mappilla tenant who does not pay his rent, and cannot, so imminent are the risks, be evicted. Other injuries are also put up with uncomplained of. END OF QUOTE.

There might be much truth in this. However, the terror is not just about physical violence. It can even be the attitude to not concede ‘respect’. A simple ‘Inhi podo’ to a higher caste landlord by the tenant can be a most mentally establishing experience. The actual terror is the ‘Inhi’ (Nee) (lowest you). Not the podo (go off).

QUOTE: But Mr. Strange went beyond this and proposed that the force should be exclusively composed of Hindus, a measure which it is needless to say was not approved by the Government. The Government also, on similar grounds, refused to entertain his proposals for putting restrictions on the erection of mosques as being a departure from the policy of a wise and just neutrality in all matters of religion. END OF QUOTE.

Even though many persons in the current-day would say that Mr. Strange’s ideas were sound, the fact is that his information on what he was dealing with was not that profound. As to the English administrators, they took a very enlightened policy of not allowing any discrimination based on religion. But then, the problem in all these kinds of endeavours, there was and is no one of quality or calibre enough to appreciate these higher levels of thoughts and principles.

There was and are very grave coding errors in the local feudal languages. In fact, most languages have these issues. Only languages like pristine-English are devoid of the evilness present in feudal languages. Yet, there is nothing on record to suggest that anyone really thought about checking the verbal codes in the languages.

QUOTE: “First, as to the essential nature of Malabar Mappilla outrages, I am perfectly satisfied that they are agrarian. Fanaticism is merely the instrument through which the terrorism of the landed classes is aimed at.” END OF QUOTE.

It is a foolish assessment. For, it was the Mappillas who were in a better financial location and also exponentially improving. The exact cause was the gaining of more personal stature and social liberty than was allowed by the language codes.

QUOTE: The common kanam tenure has degenerated into an outrageous system of forehand renting, favourable only to the money-lender. END OF QUOTE.

If this was true, then the revolt would not be confined into a communal clash. And the revolutionaries would not attack the lower castes who stood in subordination to the higher castes.

QUOTE: Most of them do not know where much of their property lies, having never even seen it.

They do not know the persons who cultivate it, and do not concern themselves as to whether their tenants sublet or not. Most of them care nothing for the welfare of their tenants. END OF QUOTE.

This is an actual assessment of the traditional hierarchical social system, based on the feudal languages of the subcontinent. However, this is not the reason for the Mappilla outrages on the higher castes. For, these things do not trigger terrible mental animosities.

QUOTE: This granting of receipts places large power for evil in the hands of these low-paid and ignorant agents, and they have to be bribed by the ryots in order that they may be allowed to remain in the good graces of the janmis, who in regard to local details are completely in their agents’ hands. END OF QUOTE.

This again is the traditional system under which the officialdom as well as the feudal social system subsists. However, this again is the not the reason for the Mappillas outrages. If this had been the reason, more terrible Mappilla outrages should have happened in these days. For, the Indian officialdom is absolutely feudal and abusive to the ‘Indians’.

QUOTES: Moidin Kutti was merely a tool in the hands of Kutti Mammu END OF QUOTE.

The fact is that in a feudal language system, the person in subordination becomes a willing tool of those who hold him in subordination. However, these things do not explain what triggers the terrible animosity. If the Brahmin landlords are very oppressive, well then, it is the lower castes who had not converted who should have gone in for a bloody revolt. This did not happen, and will not happen, until the lower castes changes their leadership from that of their traditional feudal upper castes to someone from a revolutionary party.

QUOTE:

With settled homesteads and an assured income to all who are thrifty and industrious—and in these respects the Mappillas surpass all other classes—it is certain that fanaticism would die a natural death. END OF QUOTE.

This is a very good thing to happen. However, this may not shut down the religious animosities. For, when the Mappillas improve financially, in the verbal codes, the higher castes would be replaced by them. The lower levels of the verbal codes would be placed on the Hindus (Brahmins) and the Nayars. This again would make way for violent antipathy from the them.

QUOTE:

1. They attacked the Mappillas on the morning of the 24th, but upon the latter rushing out, the sepoys were panic struck and took to flight

2. The military detachment who had misbehaved were called into Calicut the next day and their place taken by a fresh body of 35 men, whom I thought it essential to keep in the disturbed locality until tranquillity was more secured.”

3. Ensign Wyse’s party, with the exception of 4 men who were all killed, refused to advance to receive the charge of only a few of the fanatics who came down hill at them, and notwithstanding the gallant example set by the Ensign himself in killing the first man who charged, the party broke and fled after some ineffectual filing. END OF QUOTE

The above words are not mentionable descriptions of the Nayar and others who populated the sepoys of the English Company. However, the foolish English administration is trying to protect the Hindus (Brahmins) and the Nayars, who actually do not deserve it. For, they are the first to run off, from the scene, when danger looms large.

QUOTE: But the real fact was that the man slain was what would have been called in Ireland a “landgrabber,” and the persons (Mappillas) for whose lands he was intriguing set up Unni Mammad to commit the murder. END OF QUOTE.

I am just taking up the above quote due to one interesting insight. It is that the Irish social scene has been mentioned to be quite similar to that of Malabar in another book of those times. I have even mentioned that the Celtic language of Ireland would be feudal. If the feudal elements are there in the native language of Ireland, the social errors can be erased only by superimposing the society with pristine-English.

Whether this has happened in Ireland is not known to me. If this is how the social trauma was removed from Ireland, then it might good to check if the same treatment can be done on the societies of the subcontinent.

QUOTE: No persuasion could induce him to surrender himself. END OF QUOTE.

Only a total idiot would surrender to a feudal-language speaking population. The moment he surrenders, he is an ‘Inhi’/ ‘Nee’ to the others, even if he a respect personage on his own side. There ends all his rights to human dignity.

QUOTE: held a close conclave with the Tangal on rumours being spread that he was at once to be made a prisoner and disgraced. END OF QUOTE.

There is an issue about which the English administration had no information on at that time. If the Tangal is arrested by the native police, they will naturally make use of the opportunity to address him with a Inhi / Nee word. Other words like Eda, Enthada &c. and even terrific profanities would be showered upon him. The profanities can be borne, but the lower-indicant words would be not bearable. This is the essential information that stands withheld from the native-English.

QUOTE: The Tangal (Saiyid Fazl) avowed that he had done nothing “to deserve the displeasure of the Government ; that he repudiated the deeds of the fanatics ; and that it was his misfortune that a general blessing, intended to convey spiritual benefits to those alone who acted in accordance with the Muhammadan faith, should be misinterpreted by a few parties who acted in contradiction to its precepts.” END OF QUOTE.

Actually this is the curse that has befallen the Islamic faith. A religion that should actually be in the possession of the highest quality persons has been literally dispersed into the hands of populations which carry highly provocative verbal and cultural codes. They are also involved in a daily battle with similar quality populations.

QUOTE: Sayyid Fazl usually known as Pukkoya who was banished with his relatives beyond India on the 19th March 1852. END OF QUOTE

The above quote stand in direct opposition to the words in the quote above it. This can very easily lend support to the idea that the text in the book has had different and mutually opposite direction codes attached to it. It is very clearly mentioned in the earlier section that Sayyid Fazl Thangal left the place on his own will to see that his name is not misused in the forthcoming communal frenzy between the converted to Islam lower castes and the Hindus (Brahmins) and the Nayars. He cooperated with the English administration to the utmost.

QUOTE: It must have been at this time that the parties interested began to realise the enormous changes wrought by European ideas of property in their relative positions, and it is a very significant and ominous fact pointing in this direction that on the 26th November 1830 - at a time when, looking at the high prices obtained for their produce, the cultivators one would have thought had every reason to be satisfied—there occurred the first of the Mappila outrages reported on by Special Commissioner Strange in 1852 END OF QUOTE.

The above words, quite obviously are not the words of William Logan. The word ‘European’ is a cunning insertion. Even inside Britain, there were different ideas on property. This was not the issue here. The issue here was the cataclysmic social liberation that set in without the populations getting any kind of quality enhancement, which necessarily involves the learning of the egalitarian language English.

And the arguments in the above statement is an utter mixing up of contradictory ideas. Mappillas outrage commenced when the agrarian situation actually improved. So, the agrarian disputes are not the reason. The reason is the verbal issues which has not kept pace with the changes in the social system. And it is not possible for feudal languages to accommodate such social liberties.

QUOTE: 1. that it was a religious merit to kill landlords who might eject tenants,”

2. the fact of a jamni or landlord having, IN DUE COURESE OF LAW, ejected from his lands a mortgagee or other substantial tenant, is a sufficient pretext to murder him, become sahid (or saint), END OF QUOTE.

It is just a mere claim to seek some spiritual support to one’s own anger. This is not the cause of the Mappila outrages.

Beyond that very few of the outrages against the Nayar and Hindus (Brahmins) and also their slave castes were due to them ousting the Mappilla tenents.

QUOTE: The spirit prevailing against the landlords I have remarked, as found by me, to be very strong, and greed of land unquestionably inflames it END OF QUOTE.

This would be true to the extent that the landlords can suppress the tenants verbally. When the tenants get used to more social interaction and liberty, they would resent this, even if they are not Mappillas. So, this is not the cause of the Mappilla outrages.

QUOTE: Finally it is well known that the favourite text of the banished Arab Priest or Tangal —Saiyid Fazl—in his Friday orations at the mosque in Tirurangadi was :— It is no sin, but a merit, to kill a janmi who evicts.” END OF QUOTE.

It is possible that the above quote by Mr. Strange could very well be mere hearsay. People do make up stories and quotes. Even the higher caste officials under the English administration would add spicy and juicy stories.

Other than that, the above quote is strikingly similar to the contentions of the Naxalbari (Communist) revolutionaries of the 1960s in the Wynad district of Kerala. Actually they did commit certain outrages based on this slogan.

QUOTE: a number of influential Mappillas, the latter told Mr. Duncan that since Hyder's time the rights of the jenmkaars had been taken or absorbed by Government,” and consequently the Mappilla jenmkaars were at the time paying nothing to the janmis except what they gave them out of charity, and they specifically asserted that nothing had been reserved for the janmis in making the Mysorean land revenue settlement, and they denied that the janmis were “of right” entitled to anything. END OF QUOTE.

In the above quote, the influential Mappillas are sort of making fun of the higher caste Janmis and their right to collect a rent from the tenants. However, this issue might not be of any worth in studying the cause of the Mappilla outrage, which was primarily caused by the breakdown of the feudal social hierarchies due to the advent of the English Company administration as well as the action of the Mysorian raiders. The local feudal languages were not capable of adjusting to the sudden and cataclysmic enhancement of the lower caste levels when they converted into Islam.

Since the cataclysmic changes had been actually triggered by the Mysorean invasion, and not really a controlled change induced by the English rule, there were limits to how much the English administration could understand the social explosions that had set in. It was not really an English language based change, but simply the pulling down of the social hierarchies suddenly by an external entity.

QUOTE: Socially the cultivators are subjected (particularly if they are Hindus) to many humiliations and much tyrannical usage by their landlords. END OF QUOTE.

Actually the whole issue of social discontent can be seen summed up in the above one sentence. All it requires is a bit more elaboration on the meaning of the words: ‘tyrannical usage’. Here the feudal language codes can come out and very candidly show the satanic errors in the social landscape.

QUOTE: Mr. Logan finally formed the opinion that the Mappilla outrages were designed “to counteract the overwhelming influence, when backed by the British courts, of the janmis in the exercise of the novel powers of ouster and of rent raising conferred upon them. A janmi who, through the courts, evicted, whether fraudulently or otherwise, a substantial tenant, was doomed to have merited death, and it was considered a religious virtue, not a fault, to have killed such a man, and to have afterwards died in arms fighting against an infidel Government which sanctioned ouch injustice.” END OF QUOTE.

The above was a very superficial assessment of the situation and totally a misguide one. The misguiding would have been done by the Hindus (Brahmins) and the Nayar officials.

QUOTE: “The land is with the Hindus, the money with the Mappillas," observed Mr. Strange END OF QUOTE.

Even though Mr. Strange has made a lot of observation about the social realities of South Malabar and to some slight extent about North Malabar, whether they are all of any level of profundity has to be examined separately. As to this above-mentioned observation, there is the question of how the Muslims are able to gather money when they have no land with them remains. And the observation is in sharp opposition to the other observation that the cause of the Mappilla outrages is the economic feebleness of the Mappillas. It does give a feeling that his observations are based on flimsy bit of evidences, which might not be compatible with each other.

The above observation can be correct in some areas. However, it is all observations in bits and pieces.

QUOTE: The Mappillas, who had been peacefully in possession of the lands since the time of Hyder Ali’s conquest, felt it no doubt as a bitter grievance that the janmis should have obtained power to evict them END OF QUOTE.

The Mappillas did not come into possession of the lands in any peaceful manner. But then, it is true that they were in peaceful possession for a very brief period. The whole social order tumbled down during the ravaging times of the Mysorian raid and rule. As to the Mappillas being in possession, again this contention might go against the words of ‘The land is with the Hindus’ mentioned in the previous Quote.

QUOTE: The policy of repression failed to fulfil its objects, and outrages or attempts at outrage have, notwithstanding the enormous penalties of the repressive Act, unfortunately occurred... END OF QUOTE

This statement very obviously cannot be the words of Logan. The words ‘the policy of repression’ is not the way an administrator would define his own side’s actions.

QUOTE: This exaltation of the Mappilla caste enables them to make better terms with their janmis. The janmis do not fear the Hindus as a caste. Therefore Hindu tenants have to submit to terms which Mappilla tenants would not endure. And finally the result is that there is a steady movement whereby in all the Mappilla tracts the land in passing slowly but surely into the possession of the Mappillas and the Hindus are going to the wall. END OF QUOTE.

All these are quite funny findings. On making an enquiry on why the Mappillas are aggrieved, the enquiry is seen to be coming up with findings that shows that the Mappillas are not the aggrieved party, but rather the Hindus (Brahmins) and Nayars are the aggrieved! And this is made to explain why the Mappillas are going berserk!!

However, actually in the verbal codes, the Hindus (Brahmins) and the Nayars might have gone berserk many times. However, there is not even a minor hint of these things in this book of historical records.

QUOTE: The insecurity to the ryots thus occasioned has resulted in fanatical outrages by Mappillas and in a great increase of crime. The remedies to be applied are still (1886) under the consideration of the Government of Madras. END OF QUOTE.

The above statements are talking in cross-purposes. The Mappillas have money, the land is not with the Mappillas, the land is moving towards the Mappillas, the ryotes are insecure, the Mappillas are committing outrages!!! What all foolish ideas are being promoted by the natives of the subcontinent writers who have written into this book! There is an understated or even overstated input in these writings giving a sly message that the English administration is a kind of imbecile and that the traditional overlords of the land know how to administrate the land in a better manner!!

Yes, it is true. If the English administration had not been there, the Mappillas would have been slaughtered by the local kings and the Nayars. Or maybe the Mappillas will not lift their head, sensing what would happen to them, if they did.

QUOTE: 1. In 1765-66 Hyder Ali paid a visit to these Nads, and his agents and his tributary, the Coimbatore Raja (Maha Deo Raj, usually styled Madavan in Malabar), afterwards till 1767-68 managed the country and levied irregular and violent contributions both on the personal and on the real property of the inhabitants.

2. In 1773 Chunder Row and Sreenivas Row came with troops and wrested the country from the Zamorin. By their orders the Nads were rented to Mohidin Muppan and Haidros Kutti, who collected 100 per cent, of the pattam (rent), but finding that insufficient to enable them to meet their engagements, they imposed further contributions and seized personal property. Finding this means also fail, they carried some of the inhabitants to Seringapatain with whatever accounts of the pattam (rent) were extent. END OF QUOTE.

This is the way the Mysorean ‘freedom fighters against the British rule’ administered Malabar. It may be noted that the agents of Hyder Ali are not having Muslim names.

QUOTE: but the Mappillas being now in the habit of turning out the original tenant as soon as the trees come to maturity and paying off the Kulikkanam money, END OF QUOTE.

It does seem that the lower castes after becoming Mappillas were taking up a position of consolidating the land in their own hands as the higher castes had done for ages. The location does not have the feel of one single nation, but rather a land which competing populations were trying to takeover. It is a great wonder that the English administration could make a great nation out of all these mutually competing entities.

QUOTE: The Mappilla proprietors along the coast frequently, however, take their pattam in kind and dispose of it to the best advantage END OF QUOTE.

Being part of a much more interacting social group and that too on the coast must have been a great advantage to them. For, they get to converse with a wider section of people with more worldly experience. This advantage, the Hindus (Brahmins) and the Nayars may not have. Even to interact with the lower caste seafaring folks will not be liked by them. If a deeper look is done, it may be seen that the Hindus (Brahmins) and the Nayars are placed in a location in the verbal codes where they are under compulsion to get pre-set ‘respect’. In the case of the lower castes converts to Islam, they are under no such compulsion. So, in a free-for-all situation, the Mappillas are at an advantage.

QUOTE: 1. In the town of Quilandi there is an old mosque 130 by 70 feet. It is very high, having three storeys. The Government have granted lands yielding annually Rs. 1,800 for the support of this mosque.

2. In Edakkad amsam is a small Mappilla village known as Putiyangadi (new bazaar), about three miles from Calicut town. Here lives the Mappilla priest, called Putiyangadi Tangal of pure Arab extraction.

3. The Tangals have been loyal to the British Government and their loyalty has been rewarded by the grant of a personal inam to the extent of Rs. 2,734 per year (vide G.O., dated 12th October 1865, No. 2474), and by permission to keep seven pieces of cannon (vide licence granted by the Government of India, under date the 15th September 1885, No 43, forwarded with Madras Government G.O., dated 29th September 1885, No. 2617, Mis.). END OF QUOTE.

QUOTE: It is curious that the only two pitched battles fought in Malabar between the Mysoreans and the British took place on the same battlefield. END OF QUOTE.

The location is near a dismantled fort in Tirurangadi. Colonel Humberstone defeated and slew Mukhdam Ali, one of Hyder Ali’s Generals on 8th April 1782. General Hartley defeated Tippu’s troops in 1790.

QUOTE: Notwithstanding their form of religion, monogamy is universal, and the women appear in public freely with their heads uncovered, and in Minicoy take the lead in almost everything, except navigation. END OF QUOTE.

This is about the Muslims of certain Laccadive Islands. Muslim women here do seem to have a different custom and culture.

QUOTE: At Seuheli there is a mosque of rude construction and the tomb of a pious Tangal held in much veneration by the islanders. Many miracles are ascribed to him, and it is especially common to invoke his aid in storms or when distressed by adverse winds. The islanders say that when in a storm they make a vow to visit the shrine of this saint the sea at once goes down and the winds become favourable. END OF QUOTE.

No comment.

QUOTE: The people are, as a rule, quiet in their disposition, but the complexities of the Muhammadan rules of inheritance and marriage and the existence, side by side, of the Makkatayam and Marumakkatayam rules give rise to frequent litigation END OF QUOTE.

This is about the Muslims of certain Laccadive Islands .There seems to be three mutually incompatible family and inheritance systems. The Muhammadan, the Makkathayam (patriarchal) and the Marumakkathayam (matriarchal).

QUOTE: The customs of the islanders are in many respects remarkable and bear no trace of having been introduced from Cannanore. One which is without parallel amongst any society of Mussalmans is that the men are monogamous. END OF QUOTE.

This is about the Minicoy Island of the Laccadive Islands. Even though the miniscule kingdom of Cannanore (Ali rajas) has claimed the sovereignty of these islands, the above statements seems to place a doubt over the foundation of such claims.

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