Historic Alleys

Where and when? Doubts remain.

At the tail end of the 15^th century, an event occurred which opened the Indian subcontinent to the West, and ushered a plethora of changes. Internationalism, wars, expanded trade, profiting, rivalry, monopolism, greed, subjugation, and finally, colonialism arrived. Even though there were many visitors from the west coming and going, and of course drifting towards the parts of the south in search of spices and Christians, it was the arrival of Portugal’s Vasco Da Gama in 1498 which brought about these huge changes and ended free trade. This article will dwell on just the arrival of the first fleet from Lisbon and its Admiral Vasco Da Gama at Calicut. Most people are content to record that he arrived at Calicut in 1498. Do we need to correct history books on the when and where after over 520 years? Perhaps! As they say, the devil is in the details.

Wrangling over ownership

Historically, the Andaman Islands were dreaded by the Indians, known as the Kalapani after the infamous acts of transportation and British incarceration of Indian convicts at those remote penal colonies. It was after toying with Australia, Penang and a few other remote isles that the British finally established the cellular jail in the A&N Islands. Convicts accused of various crimes were sent out there, including scores of Moplahs from Malabar after 1921, and the British operated the jail as a profit center. During the second world war, the Japanese captured and ruled the isles until it was handed over to NSC Bose and the INA. After the war, when deliberations started on Indian independence as well as the partition of Pakistan, the ownership of territories such as the Laccadive and Minicoy islands as well as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were hotly debated. It hides many stories and mysteries, and is also home to a Moplah community who were displaced from Ernad and resettled there. These were the people who elected to remain in the islands, people who still talk in that old Moplah dialect of Malayalam, living somewhat frozen in time. In a previous article, we studied the discussions as related to the Laccadives, now we can get to the tale of the contested A&N islands.

The legend of the Zamorin’s sacred anklet, a mystery

A popular legend stated that the powers of the Zamorin were attributed to the blessing he received from the goddess of Thiruvalayanad and specifically the bangle/anklet or anklet he obtained from the Devi, which the family treasured and worshipped since that event dating back to the 13th or 14th century. Since then, the Valayanad Devi has been the family deity of the Zamorin (the only female among the 12 family deities). And of course, the loss of that ornament when it happened, was considered to be the worst of omens, of terrible times ahead, and as prophesied, spelled disaster and the decline of the dynasty. The legend is the tale of a betrayal, quite an enthralling story.

As water levels rose 1585-1700

Many years ago, I wrote about the sunken ruins of Calicut, as observed by Forbes and some others, and tried to discount the myth of a sunken city. But after Nikhil’s comment, the topic did not leave my mind and I continued to search for information, mainly because more than a couple of eyewitnesses had recorded seeing underwater structures. While change could have happened gradually, it is obvious that a cataclysmic event did not swallow large tracts of the Calicut shoreline. At that time, we checked out major events and found that there were some minor earthquakes and tsunamis, but nothing of great importance. Nevertheless, it is now clear that there was a gradual rise in the coastal water levels and that major structures went underwater, affecting not only the geography of one of the most active ports of medieval times, but also its allure and popularity, resulting in alarmed traders leaving the port city. There is no doubt that there were other overriding political and economic reasons as we discussed on previous occasions, but the infrastructure issues were also an underlying reason. Let’s take a look.

The Marakkar Bell in New Zealand

Around 1836 or perhaps closer to 1840, a missionary Rev Colenso in New Zealand saw and acquired a broken bronze bell while touring a Maori village in Whangarei - New Zealand. The relatively small bell was being used for cooking as Colenso put it. The bell itself was damaged, with its top portion intact, while the lower portion and clapper tongue had been lost, over time. Colenso was told that the bell had been found among the roots of a large tree brought down by a heavy gale. Its owners believed that the bell had been in the possession of their iwi (tribe) for several generations. Colenso then went on to swap the bell for an iron pot, more eminently suited for cooking. After his death, he bequeathed the bell to the Colonial Museum, now the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. The bell produced a lot of interest when it was exhibited, and discussions and theories abounded about its origins.

The converted prince

Today it may not look curious or alien, for many a person has moved across religions to find peace and solace in life, treading different paths to those they were used to or born into, some successful, whereas others reverted after a period of confusion. But in the 19^th century, it was a rarity and when a person from the Cochin royal family did just that, it was much talked about. We get to read the details of Rama Varma’s life and times from the diaries of his contemporary Herman Gundert as well as some other musty sources, available at the Tubingen library.

And his importance in Medieval Calicut

As we peruse the many accounts of foreigners trading at or visiting Calicut, we come across the mention of a Kozhikottu Koya who became a very close ally of the ruling Zamorins. In fact, he had a very special relationship with the ruling elite of Calicut over time. But the accounts, like they did on many an occasion, tend to conflict with each other. In early accounts, the title was held by an Arab and some later accounts place the title on a Moplah of non-Arabic extract. Perhaps it would be a good idea to do a little digging to see what this bloke and title was all about. Was it just one person or one of many, was it a harbormaster, a port officer, or a consul? Let’s find out.

Additional insights - 1766 attacks, Malabar

There are many books, passages, and secondary sources covering the life and times of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, and there are many books compiled by their detractors as well as supporters. While the supporters paint them as freedom fighters of enviable moral character and secular outlook, their detractors emphasize on the violent methods wrought by these individuals, driven by their Arab background and upbringing, their fighting spirit, treachery and cruel proselytization of subjugated masses. Added to all that, there was a large amount of misinformation and tainted writing by English writers who wanted to slant the Mysore rulers as the vilest of all, in order to obtain support for wars fought against them. As you can all imagine, the truth lies somewhere in between and I had been struggling for years to reconstruct the Hyder-Tipu Padayaottam in Malabar, a venture which I guess will continue for more time.

Eons ago, the slopes and plains adjoining the Sahyadri mountains separating Malayalam from Tamilakam, were home to many dense forests. Most of it is gone now, but some remain in Wynad and Nilambur as well as a region between Nilambur and Mannarghat in Palghat, near the northern rim of the Palghat Gap, the so-called Attapadi, and Silent Valley areas. That is where we are headed.

Hermann Gundert (1814-1893) - His life in Malabar

I am getting back to this topic after 13 years, and without doubt, the persona of Hermann Gundert deserves that and more. My previous article covering Gundert & Logan only served to provide a brief introduction to these two great men and though there are a couple of books that provide Gundert’s life history in some detail, they are not easy to get a hold of, so I thought that I could cover Gundert’s profile here. Gundert for those who do not know, was a German national, a tutor and a missionary who came to Madras in 1836, moved to North Malabar, and left back home in 1859. In those 23 years, he achieved a lot, most notably in the field of Malayalam literature. His pioneering works helped develop and formalize the language and his transcriptions of the Keralolpathi and Keralapazhama have withstood the passage of time providing a fascinating look into the history of the land.

That Quilon was well known to seafarers is not surprising, for it is well situated in the South West of the Indian coast. It was well known not only to Greek and Roman seafarers going back in time before Christ but also to later entrants such as the Arabs, Persians and Chinese into the Indian Ocean. If we dig deep into historic accounts left behind by some of the sailors or visitors, we can come up with a decent silhouette of the entrepot Quilon once was, as well as the preeminent position it held among the trading ports of Malayala, as Kerala was then known. Its name got attached to the Malayalam Calendar Kolla Varsham and for a time was reason enough to associate with a popular proverb in the Malayalam language which meant 'one who has seen Kollam, forgets his house’.

And an event which happened ‘out there’ – at Calicut

For the Arab merchants, traders and rulers, Calicut was the place in Al Hind where they had established a lucrative trade, where they had families and representations, and a relationship with the benevolent king, the Ox-worshipper Al-Samiri. For most others who benefited from the trade in Europe, it was just a place out there. For the crusaders, it was perhaps the general region where a potential supporter, the Prestor John came from. Later authors, who never even set a foot there, equated it to Utopia. From the inimical Arabian nights story of Abu Hasan’s fart, you know that Calicut was a place where you went to in order to start afresh and make a new life. In a way it was akin to the Dubai of Malayali’s today, it was the Dubai for the Arabs those days.

We will now get into the story of two interesting individuals, one who daringly transferred trade from Aden to Jeddah and the other, a senior official of the Mamluk establishment who severely tested the diplomatic abilities of the Zamorin. And along the way, we will talk about the interesting relations between the Mamluk administration in Arabia and Calicut, while dwelling upon the interesting event which occurred some decades prior to the arrival of the Portuguese at Calicut.