Historic Alleys

The Achans of Tarur Swaroopam, the Edams of Palghat, and the events which prompted Hyder’s intervention

Some months ago we touched upon the topic related to the ancient royalty of Palghat. We covered the Palghat Achans and the Kollengode nambis briefly. As a number of requests came in for more detail on the history of the Palghat Achans, I decided to delve a little deeper, armed with details that I had collected from a few sources.

We start by covering some recorded descriptions. The following description of the Palghat royal family was given in Mr. Warden's report to the Board of Revenue dated 19th March, 1801 :-

"It originally consisted of eight Edams or houses equally divided from each other by the appellation of the northern and southern branch The members of these Edams are called Atchimars, five of whom, the eldest in age, bear the title of Rajahs, under the denomination of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Rajahs, ranked according to their age, the senior being the first. On the death of the 1st Rajah, the 2nd succeeds and becomes the senior, the 3rd becomes 2nd, and so on to the 5th, the vacation of which rank is filled by the oldest of the Atchimars. By this mode of succession, the eldest Rajah is very far advanced in years before he accedes to the seniority, in consequence of which it used to be customary to entrust the ministry of the country to one of the Atchimars chosen by the Rajah.

The eight Edams of Atchimars above mentioned multiplied so numerously in their members that they afterwards divided and formed themselves at pleasure into separate Edams, which they distinguished by their own names. The number now in existence consists of twenty-seven, of which twenty belong to the northern and seven to the southern branch. The number of Atchimars they contain including minors is about one hundred and thirty ".

You will now need to note that by the 18^th century, there were 35 Principalities (Naads) in Malabar which are listed as: Kottayam (Malabar), Kadathanad, Kurumbranad, Tamarasseri-Wynad, North Parappanad, South Parappanad, Valluvanad, Vadamalapuram, Tenmalapuram, Kolathunad (All ruled by Samanta Kshatriyas); Polanad, Payyanad, Ramanad, Cheranad, Nedunganad, Naduvattam, Kuttanad, Chavakkad, Chetwai, Eranad, Neeleswaram, Konad, Kodikkunninad, Vettattnad, Kakkad, Beypore, Talapilli, Chirakkal, Kollamkode, Punnathur (All ruled by Samantan Nairs); Kavalapara, Kurangott, Payyurmala, Pulavai (All ruled by Moopil Nairs). We will be talking about the overlordship of three of them, in the Palghat region.

But let us get to some basics first. Some 10 km away from Alathur is the place called Tarur. How did the Swaroopam or royal family of Palghat get its seat rightly or wrongly connected to this place? Taru, Taravayur, Taravur and Tharoor are synonyms for the Swaroopam that can be seen mentioned in various sources. Looking at the Oriental library Granthas 263 & 266, we see the following - The name of the land was mentioned as Nedumpuraiyur and earlier as Taravayur – or Devalokesharajya in the times of the Cherman Perumal who is so deeply connected to mediaeval Kerala History. It was only much later that the location Tarur which was just one of the edoms intermingled with the old name of the region and the family and was considered a seat of the family (wrongly). The region is even considered to have been part of the Chera kingdom in ancient times and a part of the Perumal’s territory.

The rulers of Palghat it seems originated from the Athavanaad Amsam in Ponnani.  For some obscure reason they traded their original lands with the Azvancheri thampurans who gave them Palghat in return, a very strategic location due to the importance of the Palghat gap among the trade routes to the western ports. They are mentioned in the Rabban plates and at that time, Palghat also included the Talapilly taluk. There are also other rumors that they originated from Madurai but we also note that they were closely related by marriage to the Perumbadappu Swaroopam or the Cochin royals. The family did not really gain any sort of overriding importance in the Malabar events until the 18^th century and when they did enter into it, it was to pave the way for the destruction of the old fabric, the ways and the practices of the land.  We will get to all that a little later.

As times went by, the splits in the family occurred owing to the kings relations with a non-Kshatriya woman resulted (read the earlier article). Two of the Kshatritya women from the family marrying Namboothiris went on to start the Vadamalappuram and Thenmalapuram family lines. The resulting families, many hundreds of them were aligned either to the northern or the southern factions. The various resulting Edoms were

Vadakke eleyachan edom
Thekke eleyachan edom

Vadake Paruvakkal edom
Thekke Paruvakkal edom
Akkare Paruvakkal edom



Vadakke Pulikkel edom
Thekke Pulikkel edom
Maruthingal Pulikkel edom
Puthal pulikkel edom

Malikamel edom
Kolamkulangurmel edom
Kizhakkemel edom
Tatchadmel edom
Vellambalaikkalmel edom
Vadakkmel edom
Valiyamel edom
Chitlanjerimel edom


Valiya konikkal edom
Kizhakke konikkal edom
Tharoor konikkal edom
Kavasseri konikkal edom


As is evident, only the Tharoor Konikkal edom maintained the original family name for some unknown reason. By the 19th century the northern branch had 20 families and the south seven. By 1879, the royal family count was roughly 519. They were also called the Shekhari varams or Shekari rajas.

Every Swaroopam maintained the structure and control with their Nair numbers. More the Nairs available for a fight, the more powerful they were. In that old principality, the chieftains exercised control over 8,000 Nair soldiers in the following fashion. Tenmalapuram contributed 3,000, Naduvattom 3,000 and Vadamalapuram with 2,000. You may of course recall the name Naduvattom which is towards the South eastern periphery of Palghat, and this was the area that was to become a bone of contention between the Paghat Raja and the Zamorin of Calicut.

With this background, let us join Francis Hamilton Buchanan who made some of the earliest accounts of Palghat.

I went a long stage to Pali ghat. The country through which I passed is the most beautiful that I have ever seen. It resembles the finest parts of Bengal; but its trees are loftier, and its palms more numerous. In many places the rice grounds are interspersed with high swells, that are crowded with houses, while the view to the north is bounded by naked rocky mountains, and that to the south by the lofty forests of the Travancore hills. The cultivation of the high grounds is much neglected.

Pali-ghat-shery, on the division of Malayala, fell to the lot of Shekhury Raja, of the Kshatriya cast; but as this family invited Hyder into the country, they are considered by all the people of Malabar as having lost cast, and none of the Rajas of Kshatriya descent will admit them into their company.

To a European the succession in this family appears very extraordinary; but it is similar to that which prevails in the families of all the chiefs of Malayala. The males of the Shekhury family are called Achuns, and never marry. The ladies are called Naitears, and live in the houses of their brothers, whose families they manage. They have no husbands; but are not expected to observe celibacy, and may grant their favours to any person of the Kshatriya cast, who is not an Achun. All the male children of these ladies are Achuns, all the females are Naitears, and all are of equal rank according to seniority; but they are divided into two houses, descended from the two sisters of the first Shekhury Raja.

The oldest male of the family is called the Shekhury, or first raja; the second is called Ellea Raja, the third Cavashery Raja, the fourth Talan Tamburan Raja, and the fifth Tariputamura Raja. On the death of the Shekhury, the Ellea Raja succeeds to the highest dignity, each inferior Raja gets a step, and the oldest Achun becomes Tariputamura. There are at present between one and two hundred Achuns, and each of them receives a certain proportion of the fifth of the revenue that has been granted for their support, and which amounts in all to 66,000 Viraraya Fanams a year, but one sixth part of this has been appropriated for the support of the temples. Formerly the whole was given to the head of the family; but, it having been found that he defrauded his juniors, a division was made for each, according to his rank; and every one receives his own share from the collector. (Note that this was written in 1807 and Thomas Warden then was district collector)

Every branch of the family is possessed of private estates, that are called Chericul lands; and several of them have the administration of lands belonging to temples; but in this they are too closely watched by the Namburis, to be able to make any profit. The present Skekhury Raja is a poor looking, stupid old man, and his abode and attendance are the most wretched of any thing that I have seen, belonging to a. person who claimed sovereignty. His principal house, or Coilgum, is called Hatay Toray, and stands about three miles north from the fort.

We note that during the 13th century, the Palakkad royal family had no male heir to succeed to the throne and only two Tampurattis or princesses of the royal blood remained. These princesses therefore cohabited with the chosen two of the Perumpadoppu Swarupam at the Vadakknathan temple at Trichur after some serious praying. Progeny were created and the line continued. The succession of Tarur Swarupam was thus maintained through these alliances. As compensation, the region around Kunisseri became part of Cochin, together with the Nair’s of the region. But as the tale goes on to state, this land was retaken by the Palghat rajas later.During this period the relation between the Raja of Perumpadappu and Tarur Swarupam was maintained in a cordial fashion and in the war between Zamorin of Kozhikode and the Raja of Cochin, we see that the Palakkad rajas sided with the Cochin kings.

KVK Iyer explains that the original family seat and shrine was near the Victoria College location. The formal accession of a new head takes place here and then they proceed to the banks of the Bharatapuzha termed Tirunilakkadavu for standing in state.

One other matter of interest is the battle between the combined forces of Malabar (which included the troops of the Zamorin) against the Vijayanagar forces led by Ramappayyar and Devapayyar at Palghat and I had detailed it separately in an earlier article. During this and after this event many forts of Palghat were destroyed including the old Tarur Kovilakom. The ancient forts at Akathethara were built following this event. Readers must  not confuse these mentions with the massive granite fort you can even now see in Palghat, but they were small mud fortifications at strategic locations. In later days many lakkidi kotta’s or wooden forts were constructed by the Mysore forces.

With this brief introduction, I will now continue with the 18^th century situations that prompted the invasion of Naduvattom by the Zamorin and the arrival of Hyder. We will get to that story in greater detail, for there was not much detail mentioned in the popular history books other than the invitation of Hyder by the Kombi Achan of Palghat after the Zamorin invaded Naduvattom. Well, there is more to it than meets the eye!! And so we now traverse down to the year 1756-57.

In 1755-56, after the demise of the raja from the Cherukotha Edam, the raja from the Elayachan edam named Raman Kombi took over. It was during his reign that the Zamorin sent out his forces headed by the Chencheri Namboothiri ( Aiyers accounts mention the Zamorin’s son – the Kuthiravattom Chief as the head of this operation) to take over Naduvattom in 1757. Some geographical knowledge is a must and interestingly this is where my maternal family had settled down. Vadavannur, Palassena, Erimayur, Koduvayur, Manjalur, Kozhal mannam, Pallasena etc…, formed part of the Naduvatton area which the Zamorin forces eventually captured to trigger panic among the Palghat Achans. Aiyar mentions that they came through Pattikad and descended on vadakancheri and Trippalur and detoured to Kollangode. The Kollengode nampi submitted to the Zamorin quickly. The Kuthiravattom Nair then built a fort at Koduvayoor (the present town was formed after this event).

But let us continue with what we see in the Grantha - The Namboothiri was vicious in his execution of the order. He raided the area – comprising the Kavasseri and Pulikkel Edams as well as the Vadakachery Puzhakkal Edam and took them over. Bereft of leadership, the Tenmalapuram 3000 nairs decided to put closure to the situation by paying a reparation fee to the Zamorin amounting to a fifth of the total claim and suing for peace. The Chencheri namboothiri next trained his guns at Palghat and marched to the Yakkara banks, while Ittikombi atchan, nephew of the Elayachan Edam raja prepared for the attack with the Vadamalapuram 2000 nairs. A terrible fight took place where over 5000 were killed and the Chokanatha puram fort was taken over. As a result, the various remaining members in the Palghat Edams fled to Coimbatore and decided to approach the Coimbatore king Shankar raja for assistance. Peace was negotiated in the meantime by the Tiruvalathur Koikkatiri for another fifth of the reparation war expense claim. This amounted to 1/4^th viraraya fanam per para of paddy during the harvest.

The Zamorin now paused and instead of moving northwards to Palghat saw a golden opportunity in Cochin where an opportunity presented itself due to other struggles. It appears that the Zamorin was victorious there and succeeded in obtaining large reparations from the Cochin kings in this effort. Not only did the overtures against the Palghat rajas grant him access to the rice lands of Palghat, but also the Kuttanad regions after the success at Cochin.

As it is stated in the grantha, the Pangi Achan (nephew of elayachan edam thampuran), Kelu achan of Pulikkel edam and a few of the important regional heads travelled to Coimbatore to meet the Sankara Raja who gave them known emissaries to accompany them to Srirangam (Mysore – Srirangapatanam) to meet the Dalawa there. From there they were redirected to meet Hyder Ali who was the Faujedar or commander in chief of the infantry at Dindigul, nearer to Palghat. Hyder then deputed his brother-in-law Muquadam Ali with his forces to Palghat. This resulted in a severe war with the Zamorin’s forces in Feb 1758 where the Mysore forces were victorious.  Muqadam Ali’s forces withdrew after collecting their compensation by way of gold melted out of the ornaments worn by the Emoor bhagavathi (the tutelary deity of the Palghat Achans), as rakshabhogam (equivalent of 12,000 old Viraraya fanams). The Zamorin it is said (not in this grantha though, but in British records) apparently sued for peace by promising to pay 12,00,000 fanams as reparation.

After the Mysore forces had left with their booty, the Zamorin’s forces visited Palghat to collect their previously agreed war reparation costs from the Palghat edoms. As negotiations were going (this was in 1760) on at Vaidyanathapuram, some 2,000 people surrounded the area and many of the elders of the Palghat edoms were massacred. Interestingly none of the records identify the perpetrators of the treachery or lay it at the doors of the Zamorin. The rest of the Palghat royals including the women fled to Coimbatore again through the dense forests. Sankara raja provided them asylum and Panki Achan and Kelu Achan went to Mysore to meet Hyder who had by then worked his way to take over the Mysore throne. However in all this the Mysore sultan profited greatly, not only getting reparations from the Palghat Raja, but also a promise from the Zamorin. The Zamorin’s reparation expenses as previously agreed was never met by the Paghat raja.

It is stated in other records that a Zamorin emissary met Devaraja of Mysore in the meantime and agreed to pay a reduced reparation of 3 lakhs instead of the 12 lakhs claimed by Hyder, This was agreed by Devaraja, but he was soon usurped by Hyder who refused to accept Devaraja’s agreements with the Zamorin. It was with this backdrop that Hyder proceeded to Mangalore with 12,000 troops and invaded Kolathunaad and later Calicut with a stated aim of collecting the 12 lakhs from the Zamorin. This quickly degenerated into the suicide of the Zamoirn in 1766 which we detailed earlier.

Following this, the Palghat ruler Kelu Achan was removed from his position and Ittikombi Achan was appointed ruler by Hyder and after an agreement to pay him 4 lakhs per annum. Hyder Ali moved to Coimbatore, displaced the Coimbatore raja and took over his palace. That was what Coimbatore raja got for supporting the Palghat raja. Following this the now famous fort was constructed at Palghat, we mentioned it briefly in another article.

The situation never improved for the Ittikombi achan’s descendants. A number of succession struggles took place, and we see the attempts of Kelu Achan in trying to wrest the power out of the Ittikombi Achan’s hands. More wars took place involving the British at Palghat. Hyder passed on and gave the reins to Tipu, who continued with warring efforts. It seems that when Haider took a stronghold over Palghat later, the Kallekulangara family moved to Kallekulangara. During Tipu’s arrival the dietey was saved in a pond and the family apparently took to the hills. During the British occupation, the diety was reinstalled in the shrine.

By 1790 the victors were the British and the Mysore Sultans gave way to another new order in Malabar and Palghat. By 1792, the Palghat Achan had to bargain with the British to maintain his title and signed a treaty with the EIC where he ended up paying 80,000 per annum to them instead! We see then that by 1794 that titular position was also lost and the Achan became a pensioner with just an annual malikhana. The roughly 1000 year old family thus slowly descended to pensioner staus like most of Malabar’s other royals, after leading lives sandwiched between the Zamorin and the Cochin king. Their choice of treacherous allies ultimately paved the way for the Mysore Sultans victorious march into Malabar.

In the next article we will dwell upon the British attempts at taking strong control over Palghat and study the role of Unni Moosa Moopan.

References

Oriental Manuscripts – Madras Library – D266, 263 – Malayalam transcript by KN Ezhuthachan

Kerala District gazetteers - Palghat – Dr CK Kareem

Malabar Law and custom – Lewis Moore

A journey from Madras through the countries of Mysore, Canara and Malabar Vol 2 – Francis Hamilton Buchanan

History of Kerala – KV Krishna Ayyar

Historic alleys articles – Palghat gap ( 1 and 2 ), Royaltyof Palghat, Rayar invasion through Palghat, Kavalappara, The Zamorin’s demise, Palghat fort

I decided to pick up this individual today because I read the other day that the medals and effects of Hitchcock were under auction (asking price £1400-£1800) in England, though it is not clear if somebody picked them up. Anyway, it is close to a hundred years since Richard came to Malabar. He may have been iron fisted; he may have been cruel, he may have been following orders from the Military who were in control, so as to maintain law and order. Whatever said and done, he ended up as part of Malabar history and did add his own thread, good or bad to the fabric of Malabar. Interestingly, nobody has covered his character so far, I wondered why, when a number of Englishmen of his period, good, bad and terrible have been talked about and analyzed at will! So without further ado, let’s see what we can unearth about him from those musty old archives. I do not promise an extensive study, but just a brief caricature based on little data that I could unearth.

We see that he had been around in Malabar since the first days of the revolt, for in 1916 he was awarded the Kings Police Medal for heading off an uprising by the Mapillas. What was that about? We know that in 1915, KP Kesava Menon returned from England to take up the INC leadership and lead the home rule movement. We know also that the Malabar Tenancy association was formed and the tenant leaders took control of the INC. So that was the start of the organized agitation and Annie Besant had participated in the Palghat conference. But what did Hitchcock do to get a medal? The Moplah’s at that time apparently believed a rumor that the British were losing the war and that Turks and Germans were coming to liberate them. Also at that point of time a Tiya boy who was converted, got reconverted to Hinduism though that was not the cause for what happened next.  Well as it transpired, CA Innes the collector was attacked by five people. It failed and they took refuge in a temple near Alanellur only to be shot dead in a Special Police Force Police retaliation. Hitchcock was involved in the quick suppression and resolution (The special police force MSP1 was originally formed under HV Conolly in 1884). In addition two youths committed arson, pillage and murder at Pandalur and they were quickly hanged, but all this resulted in loss of public support for the British. So it is clear that he was in Malabar from the second decade of the 20th century and as Intelligence chief, had collected much information on the trouble makers.

By 1919 the war had ended, there was a usual amount of robbery and unrest in South Malabar, Ernad and Valluvanad areas. The Zamorin, my great grandpa had passed on, and the new Zamorin was in place. My grandfather on my mother’s side had returned from the war…Jobs were scarce, timber prices had fallen, the Moplah population had risen, and life was not looking too rosy.

At the end of April came the two Conferences, at Calicut and Ottapalam. A lot of talk resulted from the latter about the collision between the Police and some Khilafat volunteers at Ottapalam which led up to the filing of a civil libel suit by Mr. Hitchcock against the five authors of the non-official report and the Hindu. The sub-Judge, Calicut, decided it in favour of Mr. Hitchcock, the defendants being ordered to pay Rs 30,000 damages to him. The Judge recorded a finding that the assault was committed by the men of the Special Force and that, to that extent the facts stated in the report are true," but the charge of conspiracy was groundless.

Khilafat-Non-cooperation meetings were held with increasing frequency, and these were sometimes accompanied by incidents of violence. Some incidents were resulting from the picketing of toddy-shops, a part of the non-cooperation campaign that particularly appealed to Muslim sentiment. There were stories, too, that in anticipation of Swaraj, Khilafat leaders had already parceled out the land among poor Mappillas and were only awaiting the movement to take actual possession.

He was a sharp guy indeed for he quickly identified the methods used by the Moplah’s for communication. He said - Perhaps far more important than the network of the Khilafat movement, however, was the traditional system of communications among the Mappillas, something which constituted a major difference between the Hindu and Mappilla. The few bazaars that exist are entirely Mappilla and most Mappillas do congregate at least once a week for Friday prayers and often at other times in Mosques. They can therefore form some kind of a public opinion of their own and combine but the fact that this is done under the cover of religion makes it difficult for Hindu or European even to become aware of it. Except at very occasional festivals the Hindus have no such opportunity of meeting.

In the autumn of 1921, the revolt boiled over. Late July, I92I, in the village of Pukkottur north of Malappuram in Ernad taluk, a dispute arose between the Nilambur Raja and a Mappilla active in the Khilafat movement. Tension grew in the village, and on August 1, drums began to beat in the mosques of the area, and in the course of the day, several thousand Mappillas shouting war cries, had gathered in Pukkottur before the palace gates. The district collector EF Thomas said - 'the crowd was heard to express a desire or determination to add the heads of Mr. Hitchcock and myself to the bag.' As you can see, Hitchcock was by now already identified as the face of the British retaliation, for he had provided information and local police support to precipitate the actions and was always at the head of the physical force that confronted them, fielding European and Malyali constables to beat them up.

Though the police went into a secondary role as soon as the military took over, their conduct was not exemplary. As later enquires revealed, many of them took advantage and TK Madhava Menon the police inspector was dismissed. Neelakantan Nair was found to be extorting people as well and thrown out. As they all reported to Hitchcock, he was culpable.

Hitchcock had during the revolt spearhead the formation of the regular MSP and clarified the reasoning - the extent of the rebellion and the spirit of the rebels soon made it obvious that a force would be required to maintain peace after the rebellion and the value of such a force would depend on the experience it might have in the present rebellion.

Underlying the development of the MSP as a striking force was the belief prevalent in government and army circles that the Malayalis of the west coast were the finest fighting material in the presidency and were in great demand to stiffen Tamil and Telugu forces.

A British report explains - It has already been noted that the special police working under the Martial Law commander gave a very good account of themselves. Its company commanders were C.G.Tottenham, l.M.Farser, King Colebrook, Charsley and Bayzand. Elliot and Bishop also worked with the troops during the martial law period, but the services of Mr Hitchcock stood apart as altogether exceptional. With his unique local knowledge and splendid devotion to duty, he might be truly said to have been the mainspring of the suppression of the rebellion both as the Chief Intelligence officer of the martial Law Commander and as the superintendent of Police after the abrogation of the martial law. The magnitude of the devastation caused by the rebellion can be seen from the fact that, during its progress, 19 Police stations had been sacked, 8 revenue officers including sub treasuries looted, 10 sub registrar’s offices destroyed and 16 post-offices pillaged. The destruction of village office, travelers’ bungalows and bridges was terrific. Railway lines and stations also did not escape the hands of rebels.

In November 1921 Hitchcock was involved in the 'Moplah Train Tragedy'. Hitchcock was the police officer who ordered the transportation of Moplah prisoners in an enclosed wagon, during which 70 prisoners died in a terrible fashion. The subsequent enquiry found that the deaths were due to a defect of the van (painted mesh which prevented air from coming in) but also that that Hitchcock and Evans (the civilian in joint charge of the operation) failed to exercise proper supervision of the vans containing the prisoners. Police and railway officials of lesser rank were found guilty of culpable negligence.  

Mr.  Hitchcock's Responsibility as concluded by the Knapp report.

After he left, a Hitchcock Memorial was erected at Mongam – Evans outlived him and oversaw the inauguration of the memorial. The police training college was named the Hitchcock Police School, Malappuram.  The memorial statue in Malappuram was removed after popular protest after 1936. See note below

In June 1922 he was awarded the C.l.E and was also made a Member of the British Empire. Hitchcock eventually died of a perforated ulcer on 31 August 1926, aged 42 years, whilst on home leave in Tunbridge Wells. A memorial was erected to his memory at Vizagapatum.

References

A large number of prisoners had been collected at Malappuram and summarily sentenced under martial law and were ready for transportation. As Malabar jails were overcrowded and it was virtually impossible to house the convicted in Tirur, they were consigned to Coimbatore, Vellore and Bellary. The personnel tasked at the highest level with the transportation of this lot were Col Humphreys, Mr. Hitchcock (Police Supdt) and; Mr FB Evans.

The wagon was to be escorted by police, but it was not done this time. Such methods were regularly used in transporting all kinds of prisoners from Calicut to Cannnore (Stated by K Kelappan - Fortunately when he and others were transported, the door was kept open and a policeman kept as guard). Moyarath in his memoirs indicates that transportation deaths were common in the past and that people looked at these trains and wagons with a terrible fear as they passed the Malabar stations.

Reserve Police Sergeant A. H. Andrews, Head Constable, O Gopalan Nair and five other constables were put in charge to escort the prisoners to Bellary. The five Police Constables were P. Narayana Nayar, K. Raman Nambiar, I. Ryru. N.T. Kunhambu and P. Korodunni Nayar. The Head constable and the constables occupied the rear of the adjacent wagon. The Sergeant traveled in a second class compartment nearer the engine. The soldiers who escorted the prisoners herded the one hundred prisoners into the wagon, bolted the doors and fastened the hasp with a wire.

During the enquiry, the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Criminal investigation Department, Madras clarified, "We have to take into consideration that providing prisoners with water is not enjoined by law though it may be considered as a strong moral obligation. If the Sergeant had taken pity and opened the doors of the van either at Shoranur or Olavakkot, the prisoners would, in all probability, have rushed to the railway station,' looted it and massacred innocent persons. If this had taken place I am sure that the Policemen would not escape punishment for their gross neglect of duty.''

The wagon with the dead was quickly sent back to the agony of wailing throngs at Tirur. The next morning they took the remaining forty four prisoners to Coimbatore by another train. When the train reached Coimbatore, six of them died at the railway platform. At Coimbatore they sent twenty five to the central jail hospital. Before reaching the civil hospital two of the prisoners expired. Four of the remaining died in the afternoon. The death of two more persons on 26th November 1921raised the total number of causalities to seventy.

A survivor narrated the sad events that transpired ‘we were perspiring profusely and we realized that air was insufficient and we could not breathe. We were so thirsty that some of us drank perspiration from our clothes. I saw something like gauze over the door with very small holes so that no air could come in. Some of us tried to put it away but we were not strong enough’. Brahmadattan Nambudiri in his book adds that every two prisoners were handcuffed together in this wagon. They scratched, bit and clawed each other in their death throes, and the wounds were evident on the dead bodies.

Was the railways in the know?  B. C. Scott, Agent of South Indian Railway investigated on whether luggage vans were sent to Tirur with the knowledge of the Railway authorities. It was concluded that the District Traffic Superintendent at Cannanore was aware of the use of luggage vans for carrying prisoners.

The first sitting of the enquiry committee was held at Coimbatore on 28^th November 1921. This group relied on the sole evidence of the surviving prisoners and tried thirty four witnesses. The committee, after its enquiry agreed that the prisoners in the goods wagon did make a huge amount of noise to raise an alarm.

Hardgrave explains - The investigation found asphyxiation the cause of death, with heat exhaustion as a contributing cause. Examination of the van revealed that the fixed venetians on the upper part of the doors had been covered inside by a lining of fine wire gauze, which had been painted over and was clogged with paint and dust-with the result that the van was 'practically airtight.' The use of such vans had been normal for transporting prisoners but the gauze had turned this van into a death trap.

The. Government of Madras appointed a Committee of Enquiry and on the result being reported, the Government of India passed orders on 30th August 1922.

They agree also with the Committee that practice of using vehicles of this exceptional type which were never intended for the conveyance of human beings, should not have been left to the unregulated discretion of subordinates but should have been brought under proper regulation. They concur also in the view of the Committee that for the omission to take this precaution, the Military Commander cannot be held responsible.

As between Mr. Hitchcock and Mr. Evans, the Government of India think the larger share of the responsibility attaches to Mr Evans who was constantly at  Tirur and had therefore greater opportunities for looking into the arrangements at that place for the transport of prisoners and was the Superior Officer.

There is independent testimony that the noise from the van was such as to suggest that the prisoners were in distress. The Committee observe that it is not possible to define with complete certainty, the nature of the clamour made by the prisoners, but they cannot avoid the conclusion, that the shouting and the meaning and calling for water and air must have been so exceptional and so striking that they ought to have attracted the special attention of the Sergeant and his escort. The Government of India concur in this conclusion.

The Government of India have instructed the Government of Madras that a prosecution should be instituted against Sergeant Andrews. It will rest with that Government to decide what action, in view of the findings above recorded, should be taken in regard to the Head constable and the constables

Robert Hardgrave in his paper (introduction to the Hitchcock papers) wrote - That the British were engaged in a policy of virtual genocide seemed evident to many Indians when it became known that in the transfer of prisoners in a closed railway van, 70 died of asphyxiation.

What started as the Khilafat movement had soon spread into an agrarian and religious revolt. The revolt and the atrocities resulted in high handed actions like the above. The heavy actions brought down the British from their moral high ground and the resulting sympathy waves amongst Indians were one of the precursors for the mass uprisings against the British colonial rule.

In a forthcoming article, we will study RH Hitchock, the person. 2^nd secretary Evans continued to administer the region and was subsequently involved in the tussles over the tenancy bill. Perhaps he always had a grudge against the Koya brothers, owners of the East Hill Collectors Bungalow, never kept it in good condition and haggled till it was finally acquired by the British using the land Acquisition act,  in 1921 for Rs 36, 357. And another day we will talk about Manjeri Rama Iyer.

References

The Wagon Tragedy of 1921 (S Indian History congress annual conference 1981) G. Hudson Retnaraj

Notes

There is a lot of furor about the rediscovered Selden map. Academicians are discussing it with gusto and laboring on the minute aspects, innumerable news articles introduce it and two great books have been written about the map and its story. The map itself is all about the South China seas or what we know today as parts of South East Asia and the land borders as seen from it. It is quite important for many people studying such aspects as territorial waters, the Spratly islands issues, the Fujian of Fukian trade networks and so on, but what connection could it have with Calicut?

Well this relatively big and somewhat nontraditional multicolor map, now restored to its full beauty, is available for study at the Oxford - Bodleian library in England, to whom it was bequeathed by a relatively staid lawyer named John Selden in 1659. Dating from the late Ming period, it shows shipping routes with compass bearings from the port of Quanzhou to nearby lands we know today as Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia. As the experts put it, this is the earliest Chinese map not only to show shipping routes, but also to depict China as part of a greater East and Southeast Asia, and not as the center of the known world, was largely unseen and forgotten since the eighteenth century, but rediscovered in 2008 by the historian Robert Batchelor. Since then there has been numerous theories and discussions about how John Selden who never sailed got the map, about who the cartographer could have been, for whom it was perhaps made, why and when it was made and so on. Those interested may peruse the fine books of the two academics involved, Batchelor and Brook.

My interest is the left extremity of the map where a peculiar aspect can be noticed, just like it was by these eminent people. What you will see is a small panel of text with a location listed as ‘Gu Li’ or Calicut, and the box provides in three bullets directions of the routes to Aden, Oman, and the Strait of Hormuz. I will get to the specifics shortly. However the location of Calicut in an otherwise well-constructed map at least as far as geography is concerned, is a total anomaly. It somewhat corresponds to Rangoon as shown and has no relation to the Calicut or Gu li of the Chinese. At the same time, the distances to the other locations are correct considering Calicut as the sailing origin. Why so? Was it just shown is the extremity of the Chinese and Fujian trade networks and a window to the Indian Ocean world with Calicut continuing to be the key trading partner from the West? Let’s take a look.

For that you need a little perspective. The map itself was constructed towards the end of the Ming period, i.e. early 1600’s. Calicut though still important had slipped out of the early prominence and the Arabian seas were mostly in the control of first the Portuguese and later the Dutch. The English were waiting to slip in at an opportune time. The Moplah, Marakkar and Arab sailors still plied the waters of the Arabian Sea and the Western powers i.e. Dutch, English and Portuguese ran their own shipping vessels through these waters carrying tons of spices and other goods back and forth to red sea ports. The Ming Chinese voyages had ceased in the 15^th century, a full 100 years or more before the Selden map was created. The junk trade was mostly restricted to the SE Asian areas (the area depicted in the map). So why place Gu Li at the corner or even mention it? It is not possible to discuss this topic without covering the Chinese trade with Malabar through the ages, albeit briefly.

The winds of trade were the monsoon winds which blows south in the winter and north in the
summer and the ships went where the winds took them to start with. Sailing techniques then took them where they wanted to go and as we know, the ports of Malabar and Quilon became important and friendly stopover points for the Chinese and Arab sailors plying the routes. The consumption centers were the two extremities, them being China and Europe. The Suez Canal being nonexistent meant that goods landed on red sea or gulf ports and were transported over land and then again by sea to, multiplying the costs of goods many times by the time it reached the European customer. The route to China was initially controlled by royalty and so the prices were fully regulated by a single party, with of course costs coming in by way of a complex sailing route and large costs to fend off piracy while sailing from Malabar to various Chinese ports, most importantly Quanzhou or Canton. If you look the timing, Chinese merchants would leave southern China in Jan or Feb for Southeast Asia and make the return journey no later than late July.

Most ships crossing the Gulf ports left the east coast of Arabia during the second half of November and the first half of December. Ships leaving the Red Sea would start out the middle of October, as they could then catch the winds directly to the Malabar cost, reaching the Malabar ports during December. If they were journeying to China they would have to lie low so that the cyclones of the Azyab died down in the Bay of Bengal and they could continue on in January, crossing southern tip of India and head to the Kalah Bar in the Malay Peninsula.

Arab ships usually did not venture farther than this as they had to venture back to their shores laden with stuff to trade, as soon as the kaws winds started to blow the other way. In any case, the Chinese junks brought their trade goods to the Malay Peninsula and sometimes as far as Calicut itself. Calicut or Gu Li went onto become the stop over point where either the same ship continued on or the ships exchanged wares at Calicut. In this way trade continued unabated for centuries between the traders and as an ancillary, Calicut not only supplied the spices, but also strong wood for ships, repair facilities and even dhow building facilities, while at the same time remaining a secure port with just trade facilities and local markets. We dealt with all this in the Pragati article. As we mentioned previously, Calicut was on the way to anywhere (remember the Abu Hasan fart story?) in those days, west or east!

The Catalan Atlas is the most important Catalan map of the medieval period (drawn and written in 1375. It was produced by the Majorcan cartographic school and is attributed to Cresques Abraham, a Jewish book illuminator who was self-described as being a master of the maps of the world as well as compasses. You can for example see a Chinese ship on the Indian west coast near Calicut signifying the importance of the port with respect to Chinese trade. The connections between China and Malabar were thus strong even before the arrival of Zheng He and his entourage and a vibrant junk trade was witnessed and recorded by travelers such as Ibn Batuta.

In previous articles covering Chinese trade withMalabar, we traversed the 12th through 15th centuries. In the Chu Fan Chi article we covered the early days, in the Shamiti and Zheng he articles we covered the 15th century trade and then as we saw, it all ended abruptly as testified by Joseph.

Joseph the Indian was in Lisbon around 1501, having gone there with Cabral. I had written about all that earlier, so those interested in his story may refer that. At 40, he was of sound mind and considered a very honest person by his interlocutors. His accounts (though modified here and there by his interlocutors) were published around 1510-1520. He is clear in stating that there are many types of traders in Calicut amongst the countless moors, and makes it amply clear that the trade had declined somewhat from the times when the White Chinese with long hair, fez and head ornaments were present in Calicut. He also mentions that around 1410-1420 AD the Chinese had a factory at Calicut. He states – having been outraged by the King of Calicut, they rebelled and gathering a large army came to the city of Calicut and destroyed it. From that time and upto the present day they have never come to trade in the said place and they go to a city of a King Naisindo which is called Mailapet. We discussed this and the aftermath in the Chinese settlement article,where it is clear that the Chinese descendants and remnants moved to the South sea ports, Madras and Coromandel ports. So was there some kind of Chinese trade with Malabar after Joseph’s oft stated Chinese skirmish with the Zamorin? It was not since the pepper trade and much more continued to remain at Calicut and the Indian as well as Portuguese and Dutch ships brought in their wares to these ports initially. The Casado traders were ensconced in Cochin and Goa by then.  And we see these junks back in the Arabian seas, for there is a comment in history books that the Kunjali Maraikkar (KM III) captured a Chinese treasure Junk laden with goods somewhere near Goa in 1592. Is that why Gu Li is still mentioned in the 17^th century Selden map? Let’s take a look at the Chinese trade during the Portuguese and Dutch periods. But in general the reader must also note that the largish Junks were not really suitable for shallow waters to the south of India and the winds that lashed ports frequently in those months. Furthermore they generally avoided the pirates that abounded the region as well as the western ships with guns.

While the Indian embassies wound down by mid 15^thcentury, we find that some other Asian embassies such as those of Homruz and Ceylon maintained connections with Ming China even as late as 1459. Malacca, Java and Champa dispatched envoys upto the beginning of the 16th century, so the connections remained. But the important thing to note is that while China was a large producer of Silk and Porcelain much wonted in the west, they hardly needed to import anything from the west. The question then asked is did they continue to get spices and if so from where? Well, the answer to that is that the coastal towns in the SE Asia by then had established networks with the Indian especially Malabar spice traders and the Portuguese, Dutch and English operating out of Goa, Cochin, Malacca and Java. With austerity setting in, the consumption perhaps reduced and with the trade outflow vastly exceeding imports presented no real problem for China.

Blusse in his fine paper provides great detail of the Fukien trade with Batavia- The Fukienese were without doubt the greatest Chinese seafarers. Living on a string of rather infertile coast plains, and cut off from the hinterland by high mountains and swift rivers, the Fukienese have been forced from early times to import rice from the neighbouring provinces and to export industrial products like crude porcelain, iron ware and textiles. During the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, coastal and overseas trade suffered from the raids of Japanese and Chinese pirates, and private overseas trade which could hardly be distinguished from piracy was strictly forbidden. Only tributary trade was allowed to continue. The gradual suppression of the pirate raids and mounting pressure from Fukienese merchants who wanted to resume legal private trade to Southeast Asia led to a new orientation in the government policy. Beginning in 1567, 50 licenses per year were handed out to private traders for overseas trade with Southeast Asia. In his informative article on Chinese overseas trade in the late Ming period Ts'ao Yung-ho speaks of a hundred licenses being issued in 1575, a number which was restricted to 88 by 1589.

That the many problems with the Portuguese embargo resulted in privateering outside the reach of Goa is discussed briefly by scholars such as Roderich Ptak. Initial power holders were the rich local chieftains in Malabar such as the Zamorin who was assisted at sea by the Marakkars forming a network with bases in Ceylon and Malacca. But in general it must be kept in mind that the 15^th and 16^th century Chinese materialistic trader was officially illegal considering that China had closed its borders to shipping whereas Portugal encouraged it in its own terms, both with state owned ships and through private Casado traders. As time went by, the ‘illegal’ Fukien trade in the South Seas strengthened. The later parts of the 15^th century led to the rise of Ryukyu merchants as there was a good amount of emigration from mainland Fukien areas to various SE Asian ports resulting in Chinese merchant communities. But these were not those the Chinese termed Wo-k’ou or pirates. The Fukien trade thus included Portuguese Casados and the Ming government collaborated with the Portuguese or vice versa (even though mainland Chinese referred to the Portuguese sometimes as Fo-lang-chi or Portuguese robber merchants). Even after the Portuguese decided to take Macao, they could not obtain an upper hand. The Red barbarians or red hairs, the covetous and cunning Dutch who came later with their double planked ships with spider web sails, also attacked the Fukien ships often. But by then, the Chinese had created their own community stronghold at Batavia and intermingled well with Indonesian women. Nevertheless, these Chinese as we saw before were not well regarded in China for abandoning their homeland and when they were massacred by the Dutch in 1740 at Batavia, Canton raised no eyebrows.

And then of course were various mafia organizations, as well as the Chinese Muslim network. The Chinese expat living in Philippines or other places such as Indonesia or Malaya was very much like an Indian today in the Middle East, nurturing ways and dreams of going back to settle down and retire with some money. At the same time, they were not welcomed back in the homeland and they had left their homes and left without taking care of their ancestral tombs. Lost in limbo, they stuck to their little coastal communities and made small forays upto the borders of SE Asia, perhaps as far as Coromandel ports. Sometimes a stray junk run was commissioned at the behest of a wealthy Gujarati trader to Cambay or Malabar, but in general they did not stray too many times into the western seas.

So even though large Chinese armadas were no longer sailing by the early 17^th century, the trade had become distributed and though irregular, attained a sort of permanency. The Dutch were of course the masters of the sea by then but less radical compared to the Portuguese. And so we come to the early parts of the 17^th century, to Fukian Guanzhou and SE Asia, where the Selden map was made by somebody for somebody from whom it went to Selden (Parts of that tale can be pieced together reading Brook’s book).

An early 1607 Ming encyclopedia map also came upto Burma but did not include Calicut in their map, though the Zheng ho maps on which these were based had many details of all the places along the route. Why was Calicut taken out? Was it because China broke off its links after the fallout with the Zamorin? Or was it because of the potential problems the Chinese faced from the Portuguese?

My contention therefore is that the Selden map depict the Eastern seas of the Chinese while the Calicut cartouche was just a box providing the next set of coordinates to yet another planned map of the Western seas (perhaps it was not even planned, as the network did not go beyond Burma) with other locales like Ormus, Dhofar and Aden. The placement of Calicut on this map does not signify a location.

The person who sanctioned the making of the map is discussed in detail by both Batchelor and Brook who believes it to be Li Dan or Andrea Dittis, the Captain China of the Formosa trade. Li operated out of Manila for a time before moving to Hirado, in Japan and becoming a part of the Shuinsen trade, with a formal vermillion seal license from the Tokugawa shogunate. He served as the head of the Chinese community in Hirado, and maintained a residence in the English sector of the city to run the red seal ships. As Richard Cocks said – ‘This Andrea Dittis is now chosen capten and cheefe comander of all the Chinas in Japon, both at Nangasaque, Firando and else wheare.’

Let us look at Brook and his analysis around Calicut. One of the first things he hovers on is the role played by Thomas Hayden an oriental scholar in annotating the map together with a Chinese associate Michael Shun Fo Chung. Hayden over time, also had his portrait made and in the portrait, he holds a scroll with some Chinese characters. These Chinese characters are Gu Li or Calicut. Why did this orientalist who otherwise did no research on India choose to mention Calicut on the scroll held by him, that too in a portrait left behind for posterity? Interestingly it is also conjectured that Hayden who did not know Chinese, laboriously painted these characters himself into the scroll. Why of all the other places, did he pick on Gu Li? Brook leaves that tantalizing question for readers to answer. I would venture to state that by 1700 Calicut was of course very important for the English and they were trying hard to find a foothold there. The English Captain William Keeling, as we know had reached Calicut in 1615 and concluded a treaty with Zamorin under which, among others, the English were to assist Calicut in expelling the Portuguese from Cochin and Cranganore. Later on, around 1664, Zamorin gave the English permission to build a "factory" in Calicut but did not extend any other favors. Was Hayden by virtue of this bluff trying to get a commission to Calicut from the EIC?

Well, let’s get back to Calicut on the Selden map. The westward exit on the left near Johor on the Malay Peninsula and suddenly shows Calicut on the map as a destination. But as we said before Calicut is much more to the left and to get there, another sea the Bay of Bengal has to be crossed, the southern tip has to be circumnavigated and the ship has to sail upwards to get to the port town of Calicut, a lot of sailing still to do (as though a panel of the map has been cut off). Well the map in my opinion provides commentary on the next friendly (?) port of call and what other possibilities are possible for ships choosing to take that venture. Strangely the important  port of Cambay and Surat is missing, but the gulf ports are mentioned clearly with Aden 185 watches NW, Djofar (Oman) 150 watches NW, and with more detail the directions to Hormuz. But these were no longer important ports at that time, much like Calicut. So why mention these Zheng He period ports complete with compass bearings? Brooks assumes that the cartographer used a Ming map as a source and transcribed what was in there with no special purpose other than to show Calicut as a boundary before the Eastern mysteries.

That a current sailing map shows a bit of irrelevant information across the borders is still a bit of a surprise. But then I remembered an interesting article by Calicut Heritage forum. It concludes thus - In 2007, Liu Yinghua had, while working with the manuscript section of Calicut University under the guidance of Dr. C. Rajendran, Professor of Sanskrit, discovered 15 Chinese coins being used to tie together the palm leaves manuscripts. These coins belonged to much later period.  Liu identified these as belonging to the periods of Emperors Qianlong (1736-1795), Jiaqing (1796-1820) and Daoguang (1821-1850). This probably showed that trade relations between Calicut and China continued well into the second half of the 19th Century when the Opium Wars soured the Sino-British relations.

So is there is more to this story??

References

Hubs of medieval trade – Pragati article 

Mr Seldens map of China – Timothy Brook

The Selden Map Rediscovered: A Chinese Map of East Asian Shipping Routes, c.1619 - Robert Batchelor

Chinese Trade to Batavia during the days of the VOC- Leonard BLUSSÉ

Merchants and maximization – Roderich Ptak

Piracy along the coasts of Southern India and Ming China – Roderich Ptak

China and Portugal at Sea The early Ming trading system and the Estado Da India Compared – Roderich Ptak

The Dutch seaborne empire 1600-1800 Charles Boxer

The map site 

Leminhkhai’sblog provided the Calicut box map image

Some other day, I will tell you the story of the VOC- Chinese Junk trade, the tale of Li Dan or Andrea Dittis and another person called Tenjiku Tokubei, a famous Japanese adventurer a.k.a. the Marco Polo of Japan as well as of the Red seal ships.

Those of you who have lived in Calicut will always remember a Guajarati or two from their days in school or college or daily life. It is simply so, that they have always been around, though they have kept somewhat to themselves and the Gujarati area of Calicut (or lately Mavoor) since so many centuries. We will always remember them fondly and they have always made our lives easier and colorful. In the old days their shops were the ones that brought in fashion from Bombay and it was their attire that people looked at when a fashion change was planned. There was a time when mimics mimed their funny Malayalam accents and many a Malayali lad pined after a comely Gujju lass with no results. Anyway let’s take a look at that community which enriched Malabar.

In the very early times, Brahmins from the North had embarked on a southerly sojourn for some reason or the other, and some perhaps even settled at Cellur near Taliparamba. It is even said that Parasurama himself was born in Anarta in Gujarat (though others say he was from MP Maheswar) and his legend or myth were supposedly propagated by the migrants from Gujarat. Nevertheless, as to when they came in large numbers is not exactly clear though there are some indications that it happened after the Afghan lord Mahmud of Ghazni attacked Gujarat (1025- 11^th century) and quite a few Vanias or Banias (Lohanas, Bhatias and Patels) and Brahmins moved southwards to the land Parasurama had established (I will not use the term created – and all that axe throwing bunkum) for the Brahmins between Gokarna and Kanyakumari. As time went by the Muslim traders (Memons, Bohras and Khojas) also moved to Malabar when it acquired importance in the Indian Ocean trade. One must also keep in mind that these Guajarati traders had already been trading with the Red Sea and Gulf traders for a very long time. Recent Geniza fragments with Gujarati text in those scrolls testify to the vibrant trade relationships, and in a recently uncovered scrap, it is clear that the parchment is addressed to one of the earlier nonresident Gujaratis living across the oceans, perhaps Aden where they always had a vibrant community. But we will talk about the Geniza Gujarati scraps some another day and for now concentrate on their presence in Calicut.

According to another source - It is also said that 'Akananuru', a collection of records, refers to people from the North West having settled in Malabar during 4th century AD. The collection speaks a lot about earlier relationship between Kerala and Gujarat. Migration of Gujarati community to Kerala and other places occurred at different stages in different centuries (PS Zaid – rediff article).

Gujaratis of course kept their account books till they were closed and eventually destroyed them in flames, but never made an account of their times or their history, so quite a bit of their hoary past is gleaned from oral accounts and of course, the one and only book of their past in Kerala, written by Dr Jamal Mohammed, which I was thankful to lay my hands on recently. So with many thanks to Dr Mohammed, let me carry on.

It is not that Gujarati’s were only involved in trade of Malabar goods, but one must note that they were also conduits to many other commodities sourced from the Gujarati interiors like cotton, poppy, opium, honey, wax, sugarcane, betelnut, woods and bamboo. Finished textiles and indigo were also staple in addition to leather and tanned goods.

As time went by, it was also a Gujarati who guided Vasco da Gama to Calicut, for more details see my article on the subject. But one of their main reasons for frequent visits to the South was because Malabar in the 6^th and 7^th centuries was a center for Jainism. In fact it is said that the Calicut Jain temple, supposedly 2,500 years old was an abode for Kalikunt Parasunath, and that is how Calicut gets its name (we will get to some more details in a separate article about how Calicut got its name). During the early Portuguese times, the Zamorin deputed a few Gujaratis to help get the Portuguese settled. According to Pearson, the house where the first Portuguese factory of Calicut was started belonged to a Gujarati. While they were very much in support of the Portuguese in furthering their trade relations, once the Portuguese started restrictions with Cartazes, the Gujaratis went on the offensive with the Moplahs and even joined hands in attacking Portuguese ships. Their (Gujarati merchants – not the ones in Malabar though) fortunes are well documented by Pearson in his book for those interested. In fact many of the Gujaratis then moved to the SE Asian ports like Malacca and that was how the famous though ancient saying came about – Je java jaye pariya pariya khaye…those who visit java would become commercially successful for many generations.

The later day trading Gujarati community of Calicut were primarily comprised of Banias and Muslims and the Banias were mainly Kaira Patels, Bhatias and Jains. Sometimes I wonder how strangely these matters turn out. The Kaira Patels came to Calicut and Cochin in Kerala seeking prosperity. A Malayali named V Kurien from Calicut went to Anand in Kaira district of Gujarat and created Amul and later prosperity for the same lot!! See how fate works. The Patels quickly cornered and monopolized the tobacco business in Malabar. The Bhatia’s on the other hand, established trade with far off lands such as Arabia and Persia and one of the pioneers in Calicut was the Kutchi Hitenda Bhatia. He created the first shipping agency in Calicut around the turn of the 19^thcentury, living near the Beach road. He was the main British port agent in Calicut and monopolized later day spice business. The fashionable Hathis and Bhimji’s of Calicut were also Bhatia’s. Another group of 52 Kutchi Lohana’s came to Calicut in 1865 and soon cornered the money lending business of Calicut and Cochin. Famous among them are Jamnadas and Mathurdas. The later day Jains headed by Rameshlal on the other hand were officially granted a plot of land by the Zamorin in 1872 and they established 5 Jain temples in the beach area Jain colony, the most famous being the Kalikund Parasnath temple in the Trikovil lane. Perhaps this was in the general area I mentioned in an earlier comment, about a mosque in Kuttichira.

Let us now look at the Muslim Gujaratis of Calicut. While the Cutchi memons or mumins, an offshoot of the Hindu Lohanas flourished in Travancore (kayamkulam) and Ismail Sait even went on to produce the famous film Chemmeen, Abbas Sait was a famous shop keeper in Calicut dealing in imported goods and among them they had as many as 120 shops in Calicut. But most of them closed down when exchange rates fell after the world war. Many went to Pakistan after the partition. Then there were the Dawoodi Bohras, of which some 25 families lived in Calicut. Among them Ibrahimji was well connected with the Zamorin’s family during his time and helped the declining family tide over many a bad situation.

But they came into much infamy when a Bohra boy named Powderwallah Bohra married Mappila girl Suhra in Calicut. The Bohra community excommunicated Powderwallah who then settled down in the house of Suhra. The powderwallh bohra then became known as Mappila Bohra. Finally to arrive were the Khojas (not to be confused with the Koyas though many still do) and we see Mohiuddin Khoja, another Zamorin associate. These Sufi Chisti khojas came during the reign of Tipu Sultan and started off in Kondotty and continued to produce a number of Thangals of Kondotty according to Jamal Mohammed. In fact there were instances where Manjukutty and Inayat represented the Zamorin at the Madras presidency meetings.

Interestingly, looking at history books, they were termed the betrosians (Portuguese terms for Gujarati) or bedrosians of Calicut, and considered to have moved into the area some 400 years ago. Trisha in her paper however believes it started much earlier in the 6th – 7th century.  Trisha explains – The Gujarati Street is in the vicinity of other commercial streets like Halwa Bazaar, Valiyangadi, Gunny Street, Copra Bazaar, etc. which were olden day Arab Bazaars and Dutch markets. In the 1800s and 1900s, the port city and the Zamorin’s welcoming nature provided several opportunities to agro- based merchants who readily invested in the infrastructure required to carry out their business. - The settlement grew around the already existing Arab Bazaars and Dutch markets, 50-100m from the sea. The Gujarati businessmen lived in Pandikasalas which are typical warehouse– cum- office– cum residential buildings having its own form of architecture, social relations and culture. She concludes - With the closing of the port and the monopoly of government in agro based industry, and because of the supermarket and brand culture, both wholesale and retail options have been closed for many of these small merchants. The very large infrastructure required to carry out those activities have become obsolete spaces.

The opportunity which the Gujaratis seized with open hands came when the American civil war broke out and cotton exports to England ceased. The Gujaratis using their contacts with the British in Calicut and Cochin provided large amounts of raw and finished material. One such firm which rose to the front was the Asghar group dealing with silver, gold and spices. And of course we know from the various historic sources that they were brokers of great skill. With their command over Arabic, Gujarati and local languages as well as a smattering of western languages like Portuguese and English, they managed to be great port agents certifying the delivery quality and quantities as per any given agreement. The ability to credit sales for 6 months allowed them to play decisive roles in the business of Malabar. Manekji, Indulal, Sunderji, Velji and Haribhai were well known names in Calicut. Nagalbhai from Navasari and his son Nagal Parekh were prominent brokers representing Harrison and Crossfield. Ratansai was also a well-known broker representing H and C.

Nagji Saitji rose to fame with cloth sales to Japan and his umbrella assembly company in Calicut, and of course there was Ibrahim Currim.. Most of the saw mills were Gujarati owned, like Devesh’s. But in the years after Independence, when communism took hold of Kerala and labor unrests became commonplace, the Gujarati industrialists moved on to other states.

Sundardas Shamji of Calicut was for example the host of Mahatma Gandhi when he visited Calicut in 1921. He later went on to create the Charka Sangh of Calicut. The creator of the Indian Muslim league of Kerala was Calicut’s Abdul Sattar Sait, who then rose to high levels in that organization. Sattar Sait later moved on to Pakistan after the partition and became the Pakistan ambassador in Egypt. And of course do not forget Mandakini from Bhavnagar who went on to became an activist in Kerala. Moving to Calicut with Kunnickal Narayanan, she became a teacher at the Gujarati school, but again veered away into activism. Ajitha her daughter followed her footsteps in activism.

 There was a time when the Azakodi kavu was also called the Bhavani temple since the Bali pooja was performed there by Gujarati’s during the dasara festivals. Eventually the Gujarati school and the Haveli temple were established.

Today we still have the Pankaj variety hall of Calicut, and the small community continues to do well, though the families are scattered. Their festivals especially during Navarathri and merry lives go on as usual, the school does well, and in fact it has gone ultra-modern with AV facilities in classrooms, according to a recent newspaper report. They still keep to themselves, with hardly any case of inter community marriages reported and otherwise live a harmonious existence with other communities, though the younger generation quickly moves to other metropolises in search of fame, fortune and other luxuries...

References

The Gujaratis, a study of socio-economic interactions, 1850-1950 – T Jamal Mohammed

The Study of a hundred year old Gujarati settlement in Calicut – Trisha Parekh

Calicut city centenary celebration – 1966 souvenir – article by Ramaniklal Jamnadas