Historic Alleys

 Taking charge at Kallayi…

It has been said that in the distant past, a new Zamorin taking charge of his kingdom would make a ceremonial procession from one of his residential kovilakoms (usually at Ponnani) to Calicut, stooping at Kallayi. At Kallayi, he would receive a betel nut wrapped in a betel leaf from a Moplah woman or a Moplah boy dressed as a woman, as part of an elaborate reception ceremony. Many writers who alluded to this as well as the ceremonial presence of Moplah chiefs at the Mamankam in Tirunavaya, cited these as an example of the religious harmony which existed in Calicut at that time.

While we studied the stories of Kunhali IV, the conversion of the King of Tanur and so on, we came across the fact that the reigning Zamorin during those years had allowed building of churches in Calicut and other parts of Malabar, that he had a good relation with some of the Padres and even that he was somewhat influenced by them, especially so in the case of the capture of Kunhali IV. It is also mentioned that the Portuguese tried hard to ensure that this Zamorin did not get any ideas of alignment with the new entrants in the Malabar trade, the Dutch. Were their work purely missionary of was it a combination of commerce, politics and administration? A study of a couple of works throws much light on these questions and so let’s head to the Calicut during the last decades of the 16th century. As we go on, we will come across some very interesting ministers of Christ, a Zamorin who became more inclined towards the Portuguese, perhaps seeking peace on earth, his nephew who went on to convert to Christianity and as we already saw, a Raja of Tanur who converted. So let’s hasten to that Malabar which had just witnessed much turmoil what with the likes of Furtado and the naval warlord Kunhali IV.