The Kunhali Marakkar’s
Posted by Labels: Kunhali Marakkar, Malabar - Portuguese, Marakkars of Malabar
A number of publications cover available information on the
Kunjali’s of Malabar and many other books allude to them, some with more detail
than the other. However, the versions vary greatly, some picturing the
Kunjali’s as brave soldiers who led the uprising against the Portuguese. Some
others picture them as pirates and corsairs, going about unjustly attacking the
Portuguese who had valid agreements to do what they did with respect to Malabar
trade. Then again there are many myths and ballads about their times and some
depict them, especially Kunjali IV as an arrogant or even cruel person, who
wrongly believed in his own supremacy without any merit, and this led to his
downfall.
However, I will try here to combine a bit of both and
present here a summary of events and the eventual basis for the deterioration
of the relationship between the Marakkars and Moplahs with the Zamorin and the
Nairs of Malabar. This sadly culminated in the capture and execution of the
Kunjali IV and many an author wrote that the relationship between the Moplahs
and the rest of the populace of Malabar was at best strained till it deteriorated
during the Mysore Sultans reign and finally erupted with the rebellions of the
19th and early 20th century. In order to keep the article
reasonably compact, I have no choice to gloss over some of the events. It is a
summary of a period that declined from the motto of ‘let us profit jointly from
all this trade’ to ‘to each unto his own’ situation where there were no
winners. The dog as the proverb goes, ran away with the bone.
Before you start going off into different directions, take a
minute to figure out where the marakkars came from. I had previously written
about the marakkars (somebody who calls himself Tippu Sulthan has copied all of
it, word to word, into a Wikipedia article on Marakkars, without any
attribution to my efforts) To summarize, the Marakkars are originally Moplas of
Malabar, though probably differing in exact origin and sub sect. They were
always conductors of trade and migrated also to Tuticorin, Ceylon, Indonesia,
Philippines & Malaysia. Perhaps they originated from the Konkan region who
drifted southwards, and went about conducting business, mainly rice and other
grains as well as silk and some of those families moved back to Malabar, and we
see this in the case of the Kunjali’s.
The Portuguese as you will recall had been trying hard to
find a foothold in Zamorin’s Malabar. They did establish a base in Cochin, but knowing
that their needs would be better served from some port near Calicut (it would
also help them exert much military pressure on the Zamorin and the Muslim
traders who still controlled the Red Sea trade) or around the Nila river mouth,
went about trying to find a foothold there. No entreaty with the Zamorin would
yield any result, and their relations were always on a downhill route due to
their demands for monopoly and expulsion of the Muslim traders from Malabar.
With this short background, let us start with the first
major Marakkars. They were the two trading families of repute, namely Cherian
Marakkar and Mamally marakkar. Cherian was an agent of Malik Ayaz of Gujarat,
whereas Mamally (a.k.a Mamally Mappila) excelled in trade originating from
Cannanore.
Move out of Cochin
As the Portuguese tightened trade controls, some of these
Muslim traders moved to take residence near Calicut. Historians opines that
this is when Ahmed Marakkar, his uncle Mohammad and brother Ibrahim moved up
towards Ponnani. Pius Malekandathil explains that all this started when a trade
deal between Kutti Ali (Mohammed) and Diogo Lopes failed. It seems that Kutti
Ali loaded the ship of Lopez and others as per an agreement in 1522 and after
his part was completed, the very same Lopes confiscated the whole ship as
contraband and appropriated the same. This was what enraged the Marakkar trader
and turned him against the Portuguese. By 1524, they had moved to Malabar.
Pius M in his superb paper Criminality and Legitimization in Seawaters adds – The developments of 1513, when paradesi and
al-Karimi merchants fled en masse from Calicut to the ports of Gujarat,
Vijayanagara, Hormuz and the Red Sea, following the establishment of a Portuguese
base in that city after having poisoned the reigning Zamorin and installed in Calicut
a pro-Lusitanian ruler in his stead, favored the commercial activities of the
Marakkars who eventually started appropriating the trade of the al-Karimis and began
to transship spices from Kerala to the ports of the Red Sea. The Ottomans, who
occupied Egypt in 1516/7 displacing Mamluks and their commercial allies, the
al-Karimis, began to increasingly bank upon Marakkar traders for obtaining
Indian spices.
Soon they approached the Zamorin for trading rights and
permissions, thus obtaining the title Kunjali, cementing the Marakkar family’s seven
decade long relationship with the Zamorin’s until the reign of the 4th Kunjali.
That was when a wedge was driven into this relationship by spite, jealousy and
clever manipulation of the Zamorin by the Portuguese. So we see that during the
period between the first decade of the 16th century (Sreedhara Menon
states that Mohammed was titled Kunjali in 1507) and 1600 the Zamorin’s naval
operations against the Portuguese were overseen by the Kunjalis. The Zamorin
also gave permission to the Kunhali’s to defend themselves on the seas and
fight any aggressors such as the Portuguese. Starting with the first Kunjali,
there was no dearth of defensive and sometimes offensive tactics against larger
Portuguese war ships and merchant ships, from their manned fleet of paros.
Kunjali 1
The Kunjali I was the first to use subversive tactics
against the Portuguese, supervising a fleet of some hundred swift paros or
pattermars, each manned by 30-40 rowers. These small boats which could operate
in shallow or deep water could be swiftly deployed upon sight of a larger Portuguese
ship and then the attack was on once near the target with small guns sling
shots, javelins and bows & arrows, and sometimes fire. This hit and run tactic
proved very successful and the Portuguese losses were heavy, not only to trade
but also the Portuguese prestige as self-proclaimed lords of the western seas.
Now the Zamorin not very happy with the Portuguese relations, decided to sever
his ties with the Portuguese in 1525 and began to depend upon the newly arrived
Marakkar merchants for reviving the trade of Calicut.
Chaliyam fort
It was around this time that the Raja of Vettathunad/Tanur
(Parappanad had already become a vassal of the Zamorin but also supported the
Portuguese) due to friction with the reigning Zamorin decided to break away and
ally with the Portuguese. History books go on to say the Parappanad raja eventually
sold an area near Chaliyam – Beypore ( where the Beypore railway station is
located) to the Portuguese for around 400 pounds. With great haste (26 days) and
secrecy the Portuguese started construction of a fort there, much to the
Zamorin’s consternation for it was a strategic location at the mouth of the
Nila River. KM Mathew (History of Portuguese navigation) writes that it took a
year to complete the fort. This resulted in a peace treaty between the
Portuguese and the Zamorin. It was 1531. But that was not to last and arguments
about the income from the fort and trade and duties owed to the Zamorin’s became
a bone of contention.
With the scene in some semblance of tranquility at Calicut,
the Marakkars led by Kunjali shifted their focus to Ceylon and the eastern
shores, working with other Cochin Moplah commodity traders in the Gulf of Mannar
and the Coromandel as well as the pearl traders in Tuticorn. So much so that
many a Cochin Casado sided with the now wealthy Marakkars and even made arms
and ammunition for them. But there was a purpose behind it which was to bypass
the Portuguese controls as Pius explains – The
marakkars used to transship cargo first to Maldives, from where it was further
sent along with the wares coming from South East Asia through the straits of
Karaidu and Haddumati to the ports of Red Sea, controlled by the Ottomans.
They soon got embroiled in the succession issues between the
contesting lords Bhuvaneka Vijaya bahu and Mayadunne at Ceylon, with Kunjali
supporting the latter’s cause, for close to 7 years. In the wars between the Marakkars
and the Portuguese in the waters around Ceylon, the Portuguese lost close to 50
ships. Attacks at Nagapatnam later resulted in even higher problems for the
strong Portuguese, aided by the Paravas. Mohammed Kunjali I and his ally Pattu Marakakr
were killed/beheaded in 1534 at Kanyimedu by Antonio da Silva during a
Portuguese attack
Kunjali II
His successor, also inheriting the title of Kunjali Marakkar
took over, and later known as Kunjali II. The Zamorin tried to dislodge the
Portuguese from Chaliyam in 1537, but failed. In the meantime the Tanur king
had been converted and was renamed Dom Joao. The Vettathu raja was also to
convert soon, together with his wife (and revert back soon after). In wars
around Cochin also, losses followed the Zamorin even though they were supported
by the Marakkars who had come back from Ceylon. At the same time, expected
support from Egypt did not materialize. Eventually a disappointed and defeated
Zamorin sued for peace with the Portuguese and a peace treaty was signed with
the Portuguese, at Ponnani. This was to last all but 10 years and many a war
followed.
However, in 1550 the Portuguese attacked and plundered
Ponnani, and with an aim to irritate the Zamorin even further the Portuguese
decided to construct a fort on the left bank of the Vaikkal river mouth in
Ponnani. The Zamorin’s alliance with Portuguese as we saw, was an alliance
borne out of desperation. Hostilities were resumed. The Kunjali II with his
famed supporters such as Patu marakker continued the hit and run naval strategy
inflicting much damage on the Portuguese trade in spite of the Cartaz system in
force. But he was to pass away in 1569 and the Patu marakkar then took over as
Kunhali III who according to Grey and Bell hailed from Kurichi, close to
Thikkodi.
Kunjali III
The struggles against the Portuguese continued, now led by
Pattu Marakkar and Kutti pokker. The war-paroe force would as usual come out
and attack the Portuguese ships at will, inflicting heavy damage and causalities
before returning to the safety of shallow waters. But Patu marakkar brought
more order to the counterattacks. It was during his period that light signaling
by lookouts from higher vantage points, to signal Portuguese ships, came into
vogue. He foreseeing a long struggle, convinced the Zamorin’s that dependence on
foreign powers was not and answer, but to build his own naval forces. Calicut
also became the location where ships and cannons were made under the marakkar
supervision.
This went on for many years until in 1571 when Kunjali III
attained a famous victory as he crushed the Portuguese at Chaliyam and demolished
the Portuguese fort there after encircling it and starving the inmates. With
this the Portuguese efforts to maintain a base in Malabar failed again and they
decided to move to Goa. A number of gifts were given to this Kunjali and one of
them apparently was land near the Angalapuzha renamed Puthpattanam (the area
was thence known as Kottakkal – across the famous Velliyam kallu). He was also allowed
to build his own fort in that location in 1573, and that came to be known and
the Kunjali fort (Marakkar Kota) from then on. The naval strength of the
Zamorin was greatly increased following this and but naturally the Portuguese
were under even higher pressure. They had no choice but to again approach the
Zamorin for a peace treaty. Just around this time, the Kunjali III died and was
succeeded by his nephew, the 40 year old Mohammed Marakkar or Kunjali IV (Some
confusion abounds – some say this death happened only in 1595 after a
protracted bout of disability following a fall)
Kunjali IV
Kunjali IV continued in the same vein and many a skirmish between
his forces and the Portuguese have been reported, some won by the Portuguese,
some by the Kunjali’s forces now called Malabar pirates or Malabar Corsairs. The
Portuguese Calicut treaty then came into force in 1582-1587 and a new factory
was allowed to be constructed in Ponnani (this was in 1585). It was here that
the estrangement between the Zamorin and the Kunjali IV started. Kunjali was in
the meantime, in the process of fortifying his location even further with more
cannons and trees.
The fortress, as
described by De Couto, was square, each side being of 500 paces, ending with
the usual bastions at the corners. The walls were four paces thick. In the
middle was the citadel, with its dungeon, where Portuguese captives were
immured, and which, as De Couto sadly adds, "for our sins was seldom
vacant." The fort walls had their parapets, port-holes, and loop-holes, with
much good artillery; but the strongest bastion was that which guarded the bar
of the river on the north-west of the town.
What followed is not substantiated and are mentions of many
a cause for estrangement between him and a young Zamorin. The first of which
was the case of the Iringal Nair girl who lost her caste after Kunjali’s
soldiers seized her. Apparently Kunjali then converted her, adopted her as his
sister and got her married off, but other accounts (eagerly promoted by the
Portuguese and other local detractors) mention that she became his own partner
of sorts (her progeny are the present Marakkar family name holders). The second
was Kunjali’s cutting off the tail of an elephant belonging to the Zamorin in
contempt. The third was his cutting off the hair (some say the Nair was
castrated) of a Nair nobleman who went to enquire these issues, the fourth was his
cutting off the hair and breasts of another Nair woman and finally the fifth
his announcement as the defender of Islam and the Lord of the seas.
The last line is well substantiated by Pius M- These titles were woven not out of void but
out of substance of power, which Kunjali accumulated by way of maritime trade
and corsair activities. With increasing statelyp owers being added to the
person of Kunjali, ‘ambassadors from the Mecca and from the powerful Muslim
royal houses of India including that of the Mughals’ were sent to his court and
these wider diplomatic and political tie-ups were used by Kunjali for securing
for himself the legitimacy and sanction needed for his political claims and for
erasing the stigma of piracy being inscribed into his identity. He
continues - The Zamorin suspected that
the Kunjali’s incipient state-building ventures with a pan-Islamic connections
would in course of time dwarf the actual ruler, as it happened in Cannanore, where
a full-fledged state was eventually created by the trader-cum-ruler Ali Raja at
the expense of the Kolathiris.
Decouto continues – On
the death of the elder Kunhali he was succeeded by his nephew, Mahomet Kunhali
Marakkar, who proved himself the most active and enterprising enemy the
Portuguese had yet met with in India. "All these great defences",
says De Couto, "served not only to make him secure, but also to make him
so proud as to forget that he was but a vassal, and to hold himself out for a
king. He created offices agreeable to that dignity, with pageantry of arms, and
rode upon a white elephant, which is part of the insignia of the chief
sovereigns of Asia. He also bore himself toward the Portuguese as his uncle
had, only with far greater success, for besides taking many of our fustas and
other small craft, he also seized a ship on her way from China, and afterwards
a galeot. He also assisted with captains and soldiers the Queen of Olala (Ullal),
when she rebelled against us, and also the Melique at Chanl. And not only
against us, but against the Malabars he acted in like manner, in such wise
that, by reason of the great wealth which he thus accumulated, he deemed
himself invincible."
Luiz da Gama (Vasco’s
grandson) did not leave Goa till the 13th November 1597, and then with a fleet
diminished to the extent of the above-mentioned squadrons. He proceeded to
Calicut, and there held a conference with the Samorin. The raja had to decide
between supporting the Portuguese arms against his own vassels and race, a
course which would probably lead to his own subjection to Portugal, or to
witness the further growth of Kunhali's power, which along the whole coast was
already overshadowing his own. He accordingly tried to better the terms
previously made; in consideration of his assistance he demanded of Luiz da Gama
a sum of 30,000 patagoes, some companies of Portuguese soldiers, and half the
spoil.
As this was going on, the Zamorin signed a treaty with the
Portuguese in 1597 and allowed them to build churches in Calicut and Ponnani,
infuriating the Kunjali even further.
But there was yet another reason not mentioned by earlier historians
and this was perhaps the real reason, so far mentioned only in a foot note by
Pius, in his book on Portuguese Cochin. Citing Dutch sources he records that
the merchants of Cochin who had been allied to Kunjali IV now asked the Cochin
king Keshava Rama Varma to support the Kunjali IV against the Zamorin. Correspondence
followed between the Cochin king and the Kunjali and perhaps the Portuguese
used this information also to make the new Zamporin nervous. The events at
Puthupattanam coupled with a potential for the Cochin king on one side and the Kunjali
on the other side sandwiching him in a war, unsettled the Zamorin and made it
clear that he had to uproot one of the problems once and for all.
As it appears, this Zamorin was befriended by a Portuguese
padre Antonio (or was it Francis costa) in the meantime and Antonio was
apparently behind many of the rumor mongering. After discussions with the
Portuguese a plan was made by the Zamorin to capture the Kunhali fort and an
attack was formulated in 1598, which failed miserably resulting in a lot of
losses for the Portuguese. Kunhali tried to escape for the Nayak of Madurai had
promised him asylum and a fort near Rameswaram, but he could not manage an
escape. The next was carried out in 1599 under the leadership of Furtado and per
the agreement, half of the loot was to be handed over to the Zamorin.
The Kunjali IV was finally cornered by the Zamorin and his
troops attacking from land and the Portuguese led by Furtado from the seaside.
Decouto explains - In
his extremity of want Kunhali sent envoys to the Samorin, heartily beseechiug
him to have mercy upon him, and inquiring whether, if he should deliver himself
up, the Samorin would promise to spare the lives of him and his followers :
this the Samorin conceded, and the agreement was ratified by the olas of the
parties. This negotiation the Samorin communicated to the chief captain
(Furtado), begging him to confirm it, in which case he (the Samorin) would
promise to give over to him Kunhali and some of his captains. Furtado made
answer that His Highness should act as he proposed, and that he was quite
satisfied." Some days now elapsed during which the Samorin seems to have
been seeking means of avoiding the emeute of his own troops which he expected
would accompany the surrender of the brave man to whom he had made a worthless
promise of life. At length, Furtado having threatened an assault, the Samorin and
Kunhali arranged for the surrender to take place on the 16th of March.
The events are explained in great detail in many a book and
as it appears the Kunjali who surrendered to the Zamorin was seized, clapped in
irons and taken away by the Portuguese.
"First came 400
Moors, many of them wounded, with their children and wives, in such an
impoverished condition that they seemed as dead. These the Samorin bade go
where they pleased. Last of all came Kunhali with a black kerchief on his head,
and a sword in his hand with the point lowered. He was at that time a man of
fifty, of middle height, muscular and broad-shouldered. He walked between three
of his chief Moors. One of these was Chinale, a Chinese, who had been a servant
at Malacca, and said to have been the captive of a Portuguese, taken as a boy
from a fusta, and afterwards brought to Kunhali, who conceived such an
affection for him that he trusted him with everything”.
Furtado's last act was
to utterly destroy the fort, not leaving one stone upon another, and to burn
the town, bazaars, and mosques to ashes. mob tearing down all the decorations
and erections that had been set up.
Kunhali was taken to Goa, sentenced without trial and not in
line with his surrender conditions. A last ditch attempt to convert him was
also attempted, but it failed and he was executed in a French style guillotine,
his limbs quartered and his salted head paraded around Cannanore.
The captives remained
some time in Goa prison. The delay in the proceedings against them was caused
by a sudden illness of the viceroy. His first act on his convalescence was to
send word to the judges to sentence Kunhali off-hand, but though a fair trial
was never contemplated, the judges preferred to mask the perfidy of the State
with the semblance of a legal process. A formal indictment was prepared, upon
which Kunhali was sentenced to be beheaded, his body to be quartered and
exhibited on the beach at Bardes and Pangim, and his head to be salted and
conveyed to Cannanor, there to be stuck on a standard for a terror to the
Moors. Before his end, he "was many times invited and entreated to seek
entrance within the fold of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by many of the Religious of
all the Orders, who laboured heartily to gain that soul, and add it to the
flock of the Lord. Kunhali, however, refused to yield." At the execution,
which was carried out on a scaffold raised in the large square in front of the
viceregal palace, and in view of an immense crowd of citizens, Kunhali bore
himself with a dignity and courage which won the respect of his pitiless foes.
After some days
Chinale was brought forth to share the fate of his leader. As the pious
historian puts it, "a better lot awaited him," inasmuch as, before
his execution, he yielded to the persuasion of the Fathers and became a
Christian, and was baptised by the name of Bartholomew. After this ceremony, at
which he "shewed pleasure and good will, he was conveyed to the scaffold,
accompanied by the Holy Misericordia, and by the orphan children who were
praying to God for him; and his body was buried in consecrated ground."
Kunhali's nephew, and all the rest of the forty prisoners given over by the
Samorin, some others of whom became Christians, were likewise put to death,
"and not one that was taken escaped."
Kunjali IV’s place was taken by his nephew as we recounted
earlier, that was the story of the erstwhile Dom
With that ended the organized and well reported Kunjali Marakkar
counter attacks, but if you assume like many other historians, that the anti-Portuguese
attacks started and ended with the Kunjali’s, you are wrong. The so called Zamorin
sponsored corsair activities continued without any interruption with other
smaller leaders and this resulted in reported Portuguese trade losses of a
million xerafins or more every year. Even armada assisted or convoy based fleet
travel did not help and the attacks on Portuguese ships continued till 1650.
This shows that the enmity between the Kunjali and the Zamorin was personal and
not communal as previously felt.
Grey and Bell conclude
- Kotta river long continued to be the principal nest of the corsairs, who,
friendly to the Dutch and English, continued to work havoc upon the waning
commerce of Goa. The Malabar pirates were not finally extirpated until far on
in the British period, when they had become pests indeed; but in their long
struggle with the Portuguese it is impossible not to regard them as, to some
extent, fighting the battle of free trade against monopoly, the battle of the
whole coast against the Portuguese marts, and from this point of view to deny a
certain measure of consideration, and even of sympathy. This sympathy may more
freely be extended to Kunhali himself, notwithstanding his cruelties, which are
probably much exaggerated by the Portuguese, as to one who, after a prolonged
siege, the first stage of which closed with his conspicuous victory, was, at
length, treacherously murdered in defiance of a well-understood capitulation.
Pyrard laval visiting the location seven years later, has
something interesting to add and again this concerns the Nair woman. P Laval
stayed with this Marakkar family for over 12 days and states that the Marakkar Kotta
still existed, but in ruins. Their cordial relationship was due to the fact
that the Marakkar wanted to visit the Maladives and since Pyrard had
information about the Maladives, wanted to get educated about the place. He
says “This Kunjali has left a son, also
called a marakkar. I have often seen him, and have eaten and drunk in his
house. He resides mostly at coste (Kotta) and Chombaye with one or two of his
wives and although since the death of his father, the king has not appointed no
one in his stead, and has not recognized the son as his successor, yet he is treated
with great respect than anyone else and the title is preserved to him for his father’s
sake only”.
The Kunjali IV is mentioned as a contemporary of the famous
Tatcholi othenan and a ballad apparently (I have not heard it – it is mentioned
so in the natotipattu section of the encyclopedia of Puranas) explains how
Othenan made Kunjali (a philanderer) wear female clothes to teach him a good
lesson in life.
Sanjay Subramaniyam and G Bouchon analyze the relations
between the Zamorins and the popular Kunjalis during these hundred years and
mention that the Zamorin alignment with the Portuguese was perhaps to counter balance
the situation.
So did the dog really run away with the bone? I am not so
sure. It was of course an account of the times and how fortunes oscillated
between the various stake holders. Some rose to fame and profited, some
perished, but trade went on under different managers. We see the same even
today, and instead of kings and corsairs, it is a story of the corporations and
the wars they launch, against each other with an intent to profit.
And of course, there is the story of Dom Pedro Rodriguez,
which I wrote many years earlier and needs some augmentation. It is actually a continuationof the Kunhali story.
References
The history of Kunhali – Grey & Ball (Pyrad Laval
voyages)
Pyrad Laval – Voyages
India’s naval traditions – Ed KKN Kurup
The Kunjalis, Admirals of Calicut – OK Nambiar
Charithratile Marakkar Sannidhyam – SV Mohammed
Essays in Goan History – Teotonio R de Souza
Portuguese Cochin and the Maritime trade of India – Pius Malekandathil
Kerala Charitra shilpikal – A Sreedhara Menon
Kerala Muslim history – PK Syed Muhammed
Kozhikode – Charithrathil ninnu chila edu – MGS Narayanan
Zamorins of Calicut – KV Krishna Iyer
Criminality and Legitimization in Seawaters: A Study on the
Pirates of Malabar during the Age of European Commercial Expansion (1500-1800)
- Pius Malekandathil
Note- When the Kunhali II was slain at Ceylon a ‘Christian
Nair’ Francisco de Sequiera was involved, whose story I will recount another
day.
Photos – Google images, with
due acknowledgments to any owners/uploaders
13 comments:
Interesting to know there were not one Kunhali Marikar but many .greed of both Zamorin and Portuguese seems to have played an important role in the betrayal of Markar
thanks premnath
the complete story of the issues between the Kunjali & the Zamorin is still not known and I was expecting to receive the copy of a paper by NM Nampoothiri on this aspect - when I get it, I will update if required..
I enjoyed reading this story. Excellent research. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Ramu..
we did have some colorful characters in malabar history..The Kunjali's added the spice to the Portuguese soup, i suppose
Thanks a lot for elucidating a confused historical period with such clarity.
one doubt, were marakkars involved in the siege of cochin where a small band of 140 parankis defended cochin successfully against zamorin army of over 50000.
zamorin had numerous naval fleets too. Who were leading it?
I guess it would have been great if you had narrated those scenes in another post. (not sure if you ha e already)
thanks ajay..
i did not get into the pacheo heroics as it had been narrated with lot of color in many books, perhaps i will narrate the factual story one day..
I read this topic about 'Kunjali Marakkars' very interesting. I think you don't Use contemporary writers of kunjali Marakkar's like Thuhfathul Mujahidheen by Shaik Zainudheen Makhdum, Fath hul Mubeen by Qazi Muhammad.
I read this topic about 'Kunjali Marakkars' very interesting. I think you don't Use contemporary writers of kunjali Marakkar's like Thuhfathul Mujahidheen by Shaik Zainudheen Makhdum, Fath hul Mubeen by Qazi Muhammad.
The Zamorin of Calicut had no forethought. He was guided by the Kunjalis and Arab traders. The Kunjalis were in close and intimate contact with the Sultan of Gujarat.The Sultan of Gujarat had a grandiose plan to bring many Hindu kingdoms under his sultanate and finlly to make it a part of the pan-Islamic caliphae of the Ottomon Empire. When the Zamorin wanted to get rid of the Portuguese, he sought the advice of the Kunjalis.The Moplahs approached the Sultan of Gujarat to get his assistance to defeat the Portuguese. He immediately contacted the Sultan of Ottoman and the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt. The Ottoman Empire was expanding in Europe and Asia. Ottomon expansion reached its peak in the 16th century under Selim I. The Asian borders of the empire were pushed deep into Persia and Arabia. The Zamorin was ignorant of the political developments in the Middle East. He agreed to the suggestion of the Moplahs to join the forces of the Sultan of Gujarat. The Sultan of Gujarat had previously contacted the Ottomans, recommending that a sufficient naval force could help tip the balance of power and allow large portions of India to be added to the Ottomon Empire. The Zamorin sought the help of the Sultan of Gujarat and it was to assist him a coalition was formed. The Zamorin gladly joined the coalition without the slightest idea that the defeat of the Portuguese would ultimately lead to the annexation of Malabar by the Sultan of Gujarat. According to the original plan chalked out by the Ottomon sultan, Gujarat Sultanate including Malabar would become a part of the expanding Ottoman Empire after defeating the Portuguese. Quite surrisingly, it was the spectacular victory of the Portuguese in routing the coalition forces of the Ottomans, Egyptian Mamluks, the Sultan of Gujarat and the Zamorin of Calicut at the Battle of Diu that finally saved Malabar from being annexed by the Sultan of Gujarat to be incorporated later as a part of the far flung Ottoman Empire.
I ANY ONE KNWS MARAKKARS WHERE WAS COMPOSED
Dear sir
Thank you for your post. I am doing my Masters thesis on the subject and your post is very helpful to my research.
Could you please provide me with the following details so that I can cite your work appropriately? Your name and the year of posting of the article.
Thank you very much
Ramita
After the death of Kunjaly Marakkar 4,some of the the remaining Marakkar families escaped in two ships to south. One group settled near kochi. (Their descendants are now the marakkaparambil family). The other group went to kayalpattanam in Tamil nadu and settled down there. Is there any evidence in this story?
As always, great writeup!
you may please also check this on JSTOR (pages 264-270): KUNJALI MARAKKARS: Myth and Reality
https://www.jstor.org/stable/44143915?seq=7#metadata_info_tab_contents
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