The Kalikavu incident - 1915
Posted by Labels: 1915 Moplah, Innes attempt, Kalikavu, Moplah rebellion
An attempt on Collector
CA Innes’s life
Some articles ago, we studied the impact of the Turkish
Khalifa, the Khilafat movement and its effects on the Malabar populace,
culminating in the violence of 1921 and a terrible aftermath. We also studied
about the discontentment amongst the Malabar Mappilas and the attempts of
earlier British administration, especially HV Conolly in countering what was
termed as the Mappila outrages resulting in the attempt at disarming the
disaffected Mappila. As all these were progressing from phase to phase, many a foreign
cleric entered the area to whip up the emotions of the relatively illiterate
Eranad Mappilas. These have been well studied and recorded by various
historians, forming three categories of texts, one by left leaning scribes
attributing everything to land tenures and as the outburst of have nots, the
British stories calling them revolts against the crown, to be dealt with a firm hand and thirdly the events as seen by
the Hindu aristocracy of Malabar. Two lesser known events from the earlier days
are not quite well reported in any of these collections, one being an attempt
to kill a British collector and secondly the British attempt at mainstreaming
the Mappila’s desire to fight. I will detail the first now and then in a later
article provide information on the second.
If you recall, a number of armed and violent acts took place
in the early 19th century ending with the confiscation of the Mappila
war knives and ending with the murder of HV Connolly in 1855. Logan was
appointed to concentrate on the land tenure aspects, we studied his story as
well. The administration did not quite accept his report and the general
consensus was that the outbreaks were due to mixed motives, agrarian and
fanatical. It was in this situation that Charles Alexander Innes was deputed to
Malabar to enquire, as a settlement officer. He added his views to the above
stating that poverty was a third cause, but that the overriding issue was
fanaticism. He also concluded that the repressive orders of 1854 had a salutary
effect and that things had largely been brought into a semblance of control.
Actually there were larger issues still at play and the
Mahdis were seemingly at work, for in 1884 there was a major disturbance
relating to the conversion and later reversion of a Tiyya man at Chembasseri.
As the account reported by TL Strange stated, this man decided to revert back
to Hinduism and the Chembasseri Mappilas, furious at the event, wounded the
man, who complained to authorities and was compensated by the British
administration. A Sudanese Mahdi or his Hungarian representative was considered
to be the catalyst behind this and the British quickly sent in (perhaps the Dorset’s)
troops from Bangalore who in a surprise swoop, promptly disarmed the whole Ernad
taluk, taking away 9,000 firearms and 12,000 swords. Close to 8 years passed after
that without any major issues.
In 1894 a terrible tragedy occurred, known as the Pandikkad event
where some 32 Mappilas killed themselves in a fanatical outbreak and this was
followed by an even more terrible event in 1896 when some 92 Mappilas of
Chembaseri became martyrs at the Manjeri temple. Because they were mostly
wanton acts with little by way of concrete reasons the Mappilas were placed in
the backward class for educational purposes, by the British. But something
positive was now being done, strategic roads were laid into Eranad and schools
were started. The Mappilas were pulled into the mainstream with army
employment, jobs in Singapore, Colombo and the rubber estates, the Kolar gold
fields, timber depots at Kallayi and other locales. This resulted in relative
peace until 1915. Hitchcock the other player in these stories had incidentally
been deputed a few years earlier and was well placed in the Madras special
police at Malappuram and heading the intelligence acquisition team. In addition
the Pukoya Thangal had issued a pamphlet to his people, sternly denouncing
outbreaks as acts opposed to true religion.
Two events were to cause the next set of disturbances, one
being the disbandment of a Mappila army battalion (I will cover this in a later
article) and the second being the start of the first world war, with Turkey and
the Islamic Caliph on the side of the Axis powers. During the First World War,
the Mappilas came to believe that Germany had accepted Islam and, with the
entry of Turkey on its side, and that the defeat of the British and their
allies had become inevitable. They believed that the Germans and the Turks
would relieve them of the British and that all their rent, revenue demands and
debts would thus be cancelled. Since 1911 (Turco-Italian war) the Mappilas had
professed support for Turkey and a 40 day prayer was regularly conducted at the
Perinthalmanna mosque in support of the Ottomans. Pilgrims returning from Mecca
reaffirmed the rumors that the Turks and Germans were drubbing the British.
These wild rumors now spun into conclusions that the German
army had landed in Bombay and with that the entire Ernad area was in a state of
unrest. In Sept 1914, the German warship Emden shelled Madras and the news hit
the region like a bolt from the blue. Soon the British needing the armymen
elsewhere, replaced the regular army at the Malappuram barracks with a less
experienced reserve battalion, manned by local recruits, with the result that
the Ernad Mappilas now stepped on the gas, increasing dacoities and forced
conversions (Wood 135-137). It was one such forced conversion that triggered
the Innes event at Kalikavu.
Let’s now step back a bit and see how Charles Alexander
Innes landed in the midst of all this. Born in 1874 in Secunderabad, Innes was
educated at the Taylor Merchant School and later at St Johns College Oxford. He
passed his ICS in 1897, and secured a posting in Madras, with his surgeon dad’s
connections. Initially he worked as a
settlement officer and provided all the main inputs for the imperial gazetteer,
and the Malabar gazetteer, on Malabar and Anjengo, living in Malabar. In 1910 he
was appointed as acting collector and later in 1911 as Collector, and Chief Magistrate
of Malabar.
The conversion complaint reached Innes in Jan 1915. Innes
(Malabar gazetteer p84-85) reports that a Tiyya boy aged 10-12 was apparently,
quite willingly converted to Islam. As Innes records - His brother who had
neglected him, complained. The district magistrate (Innes) found the facts
proved and fined the Mappila responsible, Rs 50/- on a technical charge of
kidnapping. Outside the immediate area, this was magnified as an apostasy
forced by the District magistrate and a plot seems to have been formed to
murder both the magistrate and the boy, commence dacoities and to collect arms
and followers for an outbreak.
The claim that the boy was forcibly converted by one
Seythali at Kalikavu was investigated by Innes. Seythali was nabbed and he
admitted that he had directed the boy, who according him wanted to change
religion, to the Musaliyar who did the needful. Innes traced out the boy and
released him, who was stated to be underage by the examining doctor. According
to custom only somebody above 15 could be converted. Since the boy was only
10-12, the conversion as deemed invalid, and the released boy was handed over
to his brother. Seythali was fined Rs 50/- and the Musaliyar who did the
conversion was spared by Innes, in the interest of communal harmony. What
happened next was ‘the blown up reporting in the Calicut newspapers’ stating
that the boy was definitely over 15 and that Innes had insulted Islam.
Most of the finer detail which follows comes from the fine
work by Annie Jose, so with my thanks and appreciation, let me borrow some
highlights from her paper so referred at the end, under references. Additional
details come from the relevant sections of the Malappuram and Malabar Gazetteers.
These days, you would see the action which followed in a different
light. There would be screaming sirens, police cars, teams of police in pursuit
of the villains, much shooting and shouting and dramatic car chases. But what
actually happened was nothing remotely close to that, and is an interesting
study.
In his own words, Innes reports “At first I did not realize what it was, then I looked over my shoulder
and saw just above the road in the jungle, a Mappila with a smoking gun in his
hand. The Cap had exploded, but the charge had not ignited either because it
was damp or because it was not sufficiently rammed home. Thinking it was only
one Mappila, I dismounted, but no sooner had I done so than I saw the movement
of another Mappila in the bushes, and it suddenly stuck me that the outburst
had begun and the plot to murder me in a lonely spot had materialized. Being
unarmed and not knowing how many fanatics there was, I thought it would be
foolish to linger any longer in so dangerous a neighborhood and I leaped on my
cycle once again. The chain smashed immediately and leaving the useless bicycle
on the road, I made a dash for a turn in the road about 50 yards, and I made my
way as quickly as I could to Karuvarakundu police station”.
Hitchcock and his police team were notified, and they
converged to Chuliot Mala in search of the perpetrators, who had escaped. Innes
investigating the matter now discovered that some 5-8 people were involved in
the plot and that they had now moved off to Kalikavu, and were in hiding.
The initial short report read thus - Five men ambushed Innes this morning. Gun missed fire. Innes had
miraculous escape. Innes, Hitchcock and Elliot, pursued Mappillas all day in
two parties without success. Number of rioters now reported to be eight with
four guns.
The rebels then acquired another gun from one Kantodiyil
Kuttan and were planning the next step when they were accosted by Sub Inspector
Amoo who tried to get them to surrender. They shouted back at him that they
would not, they had ‘taken care of the boy’, had shot the collector and that
they were proceeding to the Ayyappankavu at Alanallur. They also told Amoo that
he was welcome to bring in the white men (Vellaikar) or company (kompanikkar) i.e.
MSP police to catch them. On the way they slashed at a Tiyyan with their sword
(It is not clear however, if the converted boy was murdered by them). After
reaching the temple, they barricaded themselves and planned their own death, to
die as shahids.
SI Amoo informed Hitchcock, who proceeded to Alanallur with
his RSP forces. Innes wanting to avoid bloodshed contacted the local Thangal
and asked him to talk to the men barricaded in the temple. The Thangal tried
telling them that they would be shot and that their bodies would be burnt.
Meanwhile Hitchcock and his men had arrived and they took positions, cordoning
off the temple, planning an assault for the morning hours. At dawn they charged
and the Mappilas fired their guns from within, starting a brisk fusillade. It
was as you can imagine, of little use and the British entered the temple soon
after to see four of the plotters dead and one injured. The dead were Seythali
(who had fired on Innes), Moideen Kutty, Kunjalan and Moideen. The injured person
was the Tangayathil Alavi. To ensure no further issues, the dead were buried
and not burnt as would have been the practice following police action.
Alavi and 7 others implicated in the plot were jailed or
transported to other districts. Later on it was concluded that Pottayil Kunju
Ahamed Musalliyar had initiated the whole thing during the Kappil nercha after
stating that the boy was 15 years old. This musaliyar is believed to have
nursed a grudge because his uncle had been deported during the 1880 outbreaks.
For the record, Innes summarized thus: As early as January 1915 there were signs of unrest in the
"fanatical zone" manifested by an outbreak of both petty and grave
crime. A Tiyya boy aged 10 or 12, apparently quite willingly, was taken into
Islam. His brother who seems to have neglected him complained. The District
Magistrate found ' the facts proved and fined the Mappilla responsible Rs. 50
on a technical charge of kidnapping. Outside the immediate area this was
magnified into an apostasy forced by the District Magistrate and a plot seems
to have been formed to murder both the Magistrate and the boy, commence
dacoities and to collect arms and followers for an outbreak. The plot was
discovered and the District Magistrate and District Superintendent of Police
with a small force of police promptly went after the conspirators who
"went out" in approved Sahid fashion. The District Magistrate (Mr.
Innes) was ambushed on his way from Karuvarakundu to Pandikkad and narrowly
escaped with his life. This was on 27th February. The reserve police special
force and troops from Malappuram were brought into the threatened area (Manjeri-Pandalur-Pandikkad)
and the five outlaws were eventually tracked down by a small party of police on
1st March and forced to take refuge in the Ayyappankavu temple at Alanallur.
Police reinforcements with the District Magistrate and District Superintendent
of Police arrived late that night. The necessary dispositions were made to
prevent escape and the following morning the place was attacked. Four of the
fanatics died fighting and one was captured severely wounded. Eight Mappillas
including the wounded man were deported and kept either in jail or in other
districts under Regulation II of 1819. Four Mappillas who had been arrested as
a precautionary measure among them being the afterwards notorious Variankunnath
Kunhamad HaJi and Potayil Ahamad Kutti Musaliyar were released, their apparent
implication in the outbreak being, it was decided, an elaborate concoction of
evidence by their enemies. The local Mappillas seem on the whole to have
behaved well and gave substantial assistance in tracking down the outlaws.
Hitchcock was awarded the Kings Police Medal in 1916 ‘for
heading off an uprising by the Mapillas’ which incidentally was this Kalikavu
incident.
Charles did put in quite an attempt to study underlying
causes. For example, he rightly states - “Tipu's
brutal methods of obtaining converts to Islam, which drove the Rajas and
thousands of their principal adherents out of their country broke up the social
organism, and engendered a fierce and abiding hatred between Hindu and
Muhammadan; and in 1792, when the British took over Malabar, this animosity had
reached a dangerous height, and the foundations of law and order had been
undermined”. He continued - The Mappila outbreak may be attributed to 3 main
causes: poverty, agrarian discontent and fanaticism, of which the last is
probably chief. Poverty is still extreme in the fanatic zone, and is no doubt still
to some extent accentuated by the Mappila practice in the south of dividing up
the property of the father among his wives, sons and daughters."
Charles Innes went on to submit an interesting study of
various causes of agrarian discontent and suggest fixed terms for land tenure,
but the government and his successor Evans disagreed. He was, I presume, on account of all this, moved
out to serve as director of industries and the controller of munitions and
later as the foodstuffs commissioner, in Madras. He then served as a member in
the (got knighted in 1924) Governor General’s council. Innes left India in 1927
to take the position of Governor of Burma until 1932 where his Mappila
experience was to bear fruit. More on all that, another day.
Kalikavu was to figure prominently during the Aug 1921
revolt too, when some of the rioters burned forty houses belonging to other
Mappilas who did not associate with the revolt. It was also Chembasseri
Thangal’s headquarters for a while. Later
Stanley. P. Eaton, a planter of Pulleugude Estate, was murdered, when a large
number of rioters entered Pullengode Estate, pursued Mr. Eaton, who was in his
bungalow, and beheaded him. His bungalow was looted. His body was not recovered,
but a bone which was found and believed to be that of Mr. Eaton was buried near
the bridge. On Mr. Lescher's suggestion and with his help the Mappilas of
Kalikavu seemingly erected a memorial to Mr. Eaton as their duty. During this
revolt, the Chin-Kachin battalion from Burma was used to subdue the Mappilas of
Kalikavu.
Later on in life and after Burma, CA Innes joined the board
of the Mercantile Bank of India in 1933 and served as chairman of the bank from
1938 to 1952. The Mercantile Bank of Bombay, later Mercantile Bank of India
went on to become part of the Hong Kong and Shanghai bank or HSBC in 1959, the
same year CA Innes died. Innes was also the chairman of Mysore Gold Mining
Company and was on the board of the Oriental Telephone and Electricity Company.
He passed away on 28 June 1959. An interesting man, indeed.
References
The Kalikavu riot of 1915 (JOKS Vol8, 1981) – Annie Jose
Peasant revolt in Malabar – RH Hitchcock
The Mappila rebellion and its genesis – Conrad wood
Malabar Gazetteer Vol 1 – CA Innes
8 comments:
I am amazed at your a ability to collecf so much rare information and distill in to a concise extremely readable form .
Sir I want to know what action was taken by the kingdoms of Cochin and Travancore during the 1921 Malabar riots , I believe large numbers of refugees would have fled to Trichur district . Did the rioters cross the border and enter Trichur district which was part of Cochin state ? Did Cochin and Travancore send armed forces to help the British contain the violence .
Thanks Soorya Narayan
I do not have any specific answers to the questions in the second para, I have not seen any linkages between the 1921 or earlier events and the Cochin, Travancore kingdoms. It was contained within Malabar, as far as I know. Of course some landlords would have moved out to Palghat/Trichur etc, but would have returned later.
Thank you Sir, this is really wonderful. May be you will someday publish a book. I have gone to all these places associated with this incident and I am amazed that so much history was buried in this green zone- since this area is in the foothills of western ghats it's very beautiful with forests and plantations. Pullenkode estate is still prominent among rubber plantations. Thanks.
The inputs available in Historical Alleys is most interesting and apparently the result of stupendous referencing. I have avidly read the information offered on the Moplah Rebellion and its main actors, both Indian and European. Having worked first as Sub Collector and then as Collector of Malappuram District in the 1980’s, I am familiar with many of the theatres where action took place in 1921-22. I had also seen some of the case files in the retributive proceedings instituted against the rebels. I can safely say that your analysis of the events and why they took place is spot on. While the true reasons were both fanaticism and economic deprivation, the effort on the part of the popular Govt. since 1970 to paint the rebellion as a heroic struggle for the national cause is myopic and condemnable
I retired after serving for two years as the Chief Secretary of Kerala in 2015. I do visit Malappuram often when I have an opportunity. Beautiful land with honest, straight dealing people but at times vulnerable to manipulation by religious bigots.
E K Bharat Bhushan
Trichur
24 June, 2020
Thanks Bharat Bhushan.
Nice to hear from you. Yes, much of the Moplah rebellion British archives are not easily accessible and quite a bit of the information bandied about in the media is based on myths and lore. I have tried to cover it in bits and pieces and some of them can be accessed clicking the link below.
https://historicalleys.blogspot.com/search?q=moplah+rebellion
thanks again..
wonder why scholarly articles like this not published in our mathrubhumi or manorama or any medias, mostly we can only hear endless biased debates between leftists, islamists, right wing hindu organisations
I have seen some of the land marks associated with events, Old british court (hajur kechery) is still existing in tirurangadi, there was a hourse stable of british officers and tomb of british officer killed in during 1921 events in premises, and the old mamburam mosque(power centre for mamburam thangals) existed in its original magnificent kerala architectural style till early 2000 s which was then demolished and renovated with minarets etc as a concrete building,there was bullet marks existing in its walls that occured as part of british attack
except for MGS narayan sirs input true authentic historian perspective from deep studies are not available to public in newschannel debates
Onebthing that strike me was mappilas of malabar coast were inherently different from their north indian or even hyderabadi or arcot states in outlook, their clerics(thangals) were migrated from from yemen etc (part of ottomon empire) and they were very much inspired by international developments, but for common muslims from bihar or bengal may not even aware ottomon empire existed.
Another thing is muslim-hindu relationship started deteriorated after
16 th century after execution of kunjali marikkar in erst while calicut kingdom,and some felt they got a chance for revenge during tippoos invasion also muslim peasant masses of ernad, tirurangadi etc were primarily converted by yemeni origin missionaries mamburam thangals starting before tippoos arrival and continued there after with kondotty thangals etc(the oldest mosques in ernad or valluvanade were built in 17 th centuries like mamburam mosque etc where in calicut n ponnanis mosques were bulit in 14 th centuries), unlike early arab missionaries in calicut coast, they didnt had much loyalty or affection to zamorin of calicut(early muslims of calicut even held zamorin as their protector and despised mughals etc as unlike mugals zamorin protected calicut muslims from portugese attacks) so while muslims from calicut city or kannur etc were still didnt take khilafat cause seriously partly because for aristocratic rich muslims of calicut, hindu landlords and debits were not a concern like ernad, valluvanade thaluks and partly because their outlook though anti european but not that much anti british,but for ernat muslims they were thought it was injustice to work as slaves to landlords and also ive read some where about a incident in which nearby tirurangadi i guess, a hindu peasant women converted to islam started wearing proper dresses (which was prohibited for hindu lowclass) this instigated nair landlords who forcefully removed her dress in public, for avenging this act some muslim youth murdered men behind this, later those were executed, (while for the christian missionaries in travancore had open british support, situation in malabar was some thing like 'naadanillakalari')
while the low cast peasant masses in travancore found some sort of educational upliftment, and economical support with christian missionaries, christian missionaries could influence british resident if any injustice done to christian peasants and take action against janmis, while in malabar this was not the case, this also partly was reason communist movement in kannur etc, mopla peasant movement got so intense in malabar,and for the relegious attrocities was not unpredictable in 18 th or 19 th century peasant uprising, a close match will be sikh warrior baba banda singh who abolished zamindari system and established a short sikh state during 1710-1711 as lots of zamindars were muslim sayeds in those times lots of muslims zamindar initially and later common muslims were massacred during that reign including women and children.
Also ive notted the uppercaste hindus are few in number in southern malabar as compared to thiyyas,and harijansetc except in valluvanade ottapalam, shoranur, pattambi etc), may be as nairs fought mappilas during 'battle of tirurangadi' during tiploos invasion, they suffered in later mappila uprisings.
I believe der was no chance for migration except for uppersaste aristocratic families, the public movement was impossible due to curfews either by british or khilafat govt, and military forces in travancore and cochin were abolished during veluthambis uprisals, so they had only nair forces for ceremony purposes only, also unlike 1857 the british crown was incharge of british india including malabar state, and mighty empire was not in a need of vassals support for suppressing a small scale riot in malabar district.
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