Kerala Mappila

The rise of Mappila Malayalam induced the production of a compatible stream of knowledge, accessible to a community which was struggling under the tramples of landlord-colonialist nexus. Being an attempt to withstand the imperialist and feudal supremacy on native intellect, Mappila Malayalam publications provided an alternative literacy movement required for the sustenance of a society without the imperialist aids. Production of all sort of ethnic knowledge and artistic expressions in a language which is purely the representation of their voice, gave the community, courage to reject even English education. Being the representation of their identity, Mappila Malayalam grew into the shape of a social action. The anti-supremacy nature of its literature made it a poetic counter theory. Elaborate loans of words and expressions from neighbouring languages like Tamil, Kannada, Tulu etc. made it the currency of across-the-border cultural transactions.

‘Text and Context of anti- Colonial Resistance in Malabar: Gleanings from Arabic and Arabic-Malayalam Literature, ’ Kanpur Historiographers International Journal of History Archaeology and Numismatics, Vol.2, Issue 1, Autumn, 2015,pp.32-51 [ISSN-2348-3814].

The process of migration induces changes in any society as it is constantly reinventing to produce and reproduce individuals and communities. The Mappila Muslim community of Kerala is such an ethnic community, their socio-cultural inclination with Arab migrants/diasporas gave a distinct shape to develop an idiosyncratic identity and uniqueness which developed from the frequent Arab engagements with the Malabar coast of South-West India since the early days before the European colonial interventions of Portuguese, Dutch, French and British. This community has developed a distinct personality which has made them different from the other Muslim communities in India, especially Muslims in Central and Northern India.  Apart from the socio-cultural particularities, the Mappila Muslims of Malabar  (Kerala) are known for their group solidarity, resistance and struggle against the colonial powers. The Mappila Muslims of Northern Kerala exemplified a strong corporate identity, relative social egalitarianism and a high degree of group Solidarity  (Prema. A. Kurrian, 2002) Therefore, the Mappila Muslim community of Kerala had been a big threat to each colonial interventions in the region as they were the enemies of Portuguese, Dutch and British and posed a huge threat to all of them than any other rulers of the region. Due to this rebellious characteristic of Mappilas toward the colonial powers, their settlements were originally concentrated in the coastal region at the beginning from where they finally moved to the inland areas when they lost their struggle against the invaders. This was the initial stride of Mappilas on their famed tendency for migration and comprises of an internal migration for a particular reason. The extension of these migration tendencies have driven into the external migrations to Arabian and other Ottoman regions. As the ethnic and cultural inclinations of Mappila Muslims extend to the Arab interactions with the Malabar region, developed a strong bond between these two communities which was further nourished by the arrival of the religion, Islam in the Malabar region in the late 9th Century through traders and the companions of Prophet Muhammad. There have been Muslims in Kerala almost as soon as Islam had been established in Mecca since trade between West Asia and India was commonplace by the 7th Century AD . However, the first Muslim settlement in Kerala dates to the 9th C. Zayn Al-Din suggests that the first mosques were built in Kerala by preachers from Arabia, and there are inscriptional evidence from mosques in Kollam, which gives substantial evidence for the Muslim presence in the city at that period (Zayn Al-Din, 1583) . There are different interpretations and stories about the arrival of Islam in Kerala; some historians argue the presence of the religion in the region in the seventh century itself. However, Arabs kept a fruitful relation with local Rajas (rulers) in Kerala and governed the monopoly of the spice trade in the entire region until the Portuguese era. Arab traders were the major source of foreign currency for the local rulers. Therefore, they offered possible supports to Arab traders to enrich their trade relation. The Zamorin (king) of Calicut (a port city in Northern Kerala), one of the chief patron of the Arab trade, is said to have directed that in every family of fishermen in his dominion, at least one male member should be brought up as a Muslim in order that there should be enough locals to man the Arabian ships5. The Mappila Muslims confrontation against colonial powers had an altogether different connotation as this had a huge say in their cultural proclivity, religious interactions and commercial interest of the rulers. The frequent struggles against Portuguese, Dutch and British, have converted an ethnic community, the Mappilas of Malabar, as a frontier society. At the same time, they have very little in common with their other pan Indian counterparts. Following the confrontation with the colonial powers, the migration process of Mappila Muslims reinforced themselves to develop as a transnational and cosmopolitan community.  They initiated a different educational system which was different from the local and modern education system of that time and they could promulgate a separate educational trajectory which has developed to the level of university in the present times.

Based on widely cited sources both in Arabic and in Malayalam, Mappila Muslims traverses the landscapes of Malabar, throwing sharp lights on the events which shaped the identity of Mappila Muslims. The book is an introductory guide to the history of the South Indian region, with special focus on the legacy of its anti-colonial struggles right from the Portuguese invasion.