Book Review: Mappila Muslims of Kerala: A Study in Islamic Trends by Ronald E.Miller

This book is one of the first historical narratives of Mappila community. Miller tries to trace the cultural and political hhistory of much neglected socity and he ends it in 1970s. This would be a wonderful reading to those who would like know Mappilas and their cultural legacies. Mappilas are those Muslims who are living in the coastal area of south west India. When we discuss Muslims, we usually talks about the Indian Muslims. The unknown Muslims’, Mappila, populated more than some of Arab countries. In general history Mappila got a space in ‘Malabar and Its Folks’ a book edited by TKG Panikkar in 1921. Mappila must discover them and they must critically know their own history and attitude and relationship with society around them. The traditional Islamic tenets must read in terms of contemporary situation. Mappila exploration into self discovery is a journey has just begun. The Mappilas have suddenly emerged as a new force to be contended within Indian Islam, and they emerge with their hazy image carrying the burden of past caricatures. Some place they seem a progressive society, but they can only go with the orthodoxy believes. In Kerala we may separate the idea of ‘Mappila’ and Islam in Kerala.

 The sea has been the permanent and decisive factor in the history of Kerala. Such religion as Judaism, Christianity and Islam come to Kerala by sea. The recorded history of trade between west Asia and Malabar may be traced back as Phoenician times. In the course of time malayalees developed their own culture, in the process extensively absorbing Aryan elements from the north, as well as Arab and European elements from the west. Their influences affected most noticeably the language and religion of the malayalees. 

The Kerala political history prior to the coming of the Portuguese is a mass legends and dreams and the ‘authentic’ Keralolpathi is very unrealistic. The chief characteristics of early period appear to be: dynastic struggle among the traditional Chera rulers, shifting hegemonies of external powers, and the advent of Nambutiri Brahmins, Christians and Muslims into Kerala social life. The Brahmins were able to gain effective control over the religions and social system of Hindus, while the coming of Christian and Muslims eventually resulted in the changed in the changed religious status of the 40% of the indigenous populations. Kerala political divisions surface more clearly after the abdication and possible conversion of one the ninth century rulers, Cheruman Perumal. Interreligious living in Kerala is not only a possibility but it is an everyday fact of life. The relative success of that effect has symbolic value both for the nation and the world. The idea of family has been broadly interpreted traditionally. The older system of joint families and joint owned properties the tarawad system, found especially in the Brahmin and Nayar communities, but also followed by some Muslims, reflects this tradition. The traditional expression of malayalee art, music, and architecture reflected the variegated nature of the people’s background. They were representational, and emphosized rather than briodged the cultural barriers. Kathakali could not be appreciated by the vast majority of Muslims.

The neighbourly proximity of Hindus and Muslims implies that the latter will be unaffected by what happens to the former. But the current Hindu context also presents some specific implications for Mappilas. First the latter are living amidst an active and enthusiastic polytheism. They are not surrounded by shirk which is visibly doomed, but which is rather burgeoning in some of its manifestations.

The name, Mappila, is a title of respect. The partial form of ‘pillai’ frequently found in nayars. ‘Mappila’ is an honorific for Christian in middle Kerala and Muslims in north Kerala. In earlier days, Christians were named as Nasrani Mappila and Muslims as Jonaka Mappila. It’s a combination of two terms maha (great) and pilla (son). In those days foreigners were considered as great ones, noble ones and gladly received and held in highest respect by the indigenous inhabitants. 

Mappila is a term to denote the newly wed bridegroom (son-in-law) husband or husband to be. It was applied to as a descriptive honorific to foreigners who married into indigenous families. Another interpretation of the emerging term of Mappila is with the reference of the nature of the matrilineal inheritance. According to this, Mappila is a term of combination of ma (mother) and pilla (son) as such it designed the offerings of foreign husband and indigenous wives. Both to emphasise that indigenous relationship and to correspond with the usage appropriate to the matriarchal system current among the Nayars it would not be unnatural to apply this designation. Mahfil, the Arabic term means the gathering place or meeting place. Malabar was a meeting place of Arab traders, so the people who emerged wit the relation of Arabs got the term mahfil which is corrupted into Mappila. Another interpretation of the term is, Mappila has been derived from muflih, maflih (base is falah) which means ‘to till’. The noun form is agriculturalist. The interior Mappilas were agriculturalist, so they got the term, Mappila. Another interpretation is, it derived from the term ‘muabbar’ (base: abara) which means ‘one from over the water’, mabar, mubar was the early name applied by fishermen of the Tamil Nadu area. In earlier Censes Mappilas were listed as a separate caste, but from 1931 census, they are not recorded as a separate class, but who are henceforth listed in the general category of Muslims.

Islam in India in all probably began in Kerala and the Mappilas are the descendants of the first Indian Muslims. The arrival of Muhammad bin Qasim who is the first Muslims reached in the northern part of India came only in 711. In earlier days Muzirin port was very important which connects the east and west traders. It is in the context of, this great traffic of people, goods, and ideas that we find the origin of the Mappilas. Arabs had a leading role in the commerce in Arabian Sea. As Indian and maritime activities decreased after the forth century, Arabs took the position and filled the vacuum encaging in a steadily growing inter costal trade. Arabs settled in Sumatra and Ceylon by the first century AD and they had a virtual monopoly on all the commercial activities. Malabar was their halting point and local Hindus accepted Arabs with a non-aggression policy. The Arabs were mostly businessmen from Yemen and Hadramouth. 

Arabs were the progenitors of the Mappilas and Islam reached within after years of the proclamation of the prophet of his mission. There is a great historical gap till the 14^th century. There is no Mappila manuscript presently known that predate the 14^th century. The earliest attempt to note down the life Mappila was from Zainudheen Maqdoom (1498-1581) of Ponnani. His book Tuffathul Majaahideen (An offering to Jihad warriors against Portuguese) is a reliable source to the lives of Mappilas. 

There is a story of Cheramal Perumal connected with Mappilas. He was a Chera king. It’s believed that he converted to Islam after seeing the miracle of parting the moon into two by the prophet. He raided to Arabia after distributing his suzerainty to the adjacent rajas and he accepted the name ‘Tajudheen’ (Star of the religion) and died in Mecca in 624. Historians opine that ‘there is a good reason for believing that this account of the introduction of Muhammedanism into Malabar is reliable and to the other extreme which maintain that ‘it is a pious invention of the Mohammedans. Sri Sankara, the great proponents of Advaita Philosopy had been influenced by the Muslims of that time. His monotheistic philosophy was a product of this influence. Sankara’s philosophy is wrapped in legend and direct testimony of any kond is completely lacking to establish a connecting him and Islam. There is no doubt of his influence on Hindus. It is therefore possible to surmise that on Hindu leader, influenced by Sankara and involved with Muslims, and perhaps at the end of his political career, may have ended his search for ultimate unity with the acceptance of the Islamic revelation of God’s unity. 

Islam reached in Malabar as a steady, peaceful and calm movement which is contrasted the arrival of Islam in north India. It was a mutual economic interest between the Arab traders and the Zamorin, so the Arab kept a very religious tolerance. The main reasons fro spreading of Islam in Malabar Coast are immigration, intermarriage, missionary activities, the support of Zamorin and personal advantage. Though there are some Sufis associated with Mappila history, like al-Jilani and al-RIfa, the excessive Sufi missionary is not evident in south India, but a minor element. The relationship of Arabs and Zamorin were very much strong. Zamorin could get the custom duty from the Arab traders and for Arab the land was famous for spices especially for pepper and ginger. It was a very honestly flourished relationship. A traveller opined that ‘loaded goods could be left on the street for any length of time without guard and without threat of theft’. Calicut became a new meeting point, and the fame of the city went everywhere through the Arabs. Zamorin did not oppose the conversion but he supported it. He understood the presence of Muslims was an added advantage to his navy so ordered to the fishermen community to convert. By converting they could find out a job in Zamorin’s army. By the influence of Arab, others also converted to Islam for personal advantages.

The Mappilas as a Muslim community originated shortly after the beginning of Islam itself as part of the ongoing process of peaceful communication and economic relationship between Arabia and Kerala, that Islam found a receptive soil in the circumstances of exciting Arab, colonies and the religious toleration go the natives dn that the growth of Islam may have received an added encouragement through the conversation of a malayalee ruler. The direct relations of Mappilas with the Arabian Islam is as significant as its isolation from indo- Persian Islam,. Not only the political hegemony and traditions of the latter, but also its emotional tenor, theological developments, and cultural heritage passed the Mappilas by. The original relationship with Arabia, on the other hand, continued and grew and that intercourse has gone into modern times. Culturally the, malayalees were as far removed from the Arabs as the lush tropical scenery of Kerala it removed from the austere landscape of Arabia. But once wedded, the offspring of that union,. Tjhe Mappila, have remained loyal to both parents. The Arab affinity has affected and continues to affect the language, religion, and culture of the Mappilas more profoundly than those of any other Indian Muslims. In the span of time from their origin to the advent of the western powers the Mappilas took on an identifiable form as Mappilas in contradictions to the appearance of temporary expatriate Arab residences. 

They increased in the coastal areas. The increase was partly due to conversion, but of continuing importance was the process of Arab settlement and intermarriage. The developing culture of the Mappilas naturally included elements of both Kerala and Arabia. Social distinction between Hindus and Muslims remained. But within the embrace of Hindu receptivity and neighbourliness the Mappilas lived in apparent peace and co-operation for eight centuries. They continued to thrive until the Portuguese came to India. The arrival of Portuguese dismantled every thing and it caused a great imbalance in Malabar. 

There were three stages in the history of Malabar after Britain came for commerce purpose. Britain shifted their object from a purely commercial intention to territorial aggrandizement, the rise and flourish of strong Mysorian kings, Hyder Ali and Tipu sultan and thirdly the rise of Britain and a dominant power. The Mysore kings had a great time in Malabar. Apart from geographical proximity, they had other reasons also to attack Malabar. It was politically very weak and the Europeans were only in a certain pockets. Zamorin was very weak that time. Malabar was very wealth at that time, Malabar’s proximity to the sea and value of its port facilities for the land attracted the Mysore rulers in 1766 with 12000 men. Ali Raja and Mappilas went for helping him. Around 8000 Mappilas jointed in the army. The coming of Mysore kings was a psychological boast to Mappilas to forget all the atrocities done by Portuguese to Mappilas. But still Tipu could not do anything to give a solace to poor farmers. General sense of Mappila triumph was mixed with some discontent over the rule of Mysorean bribing to the executive of administration is a common sight. Ruthless destruction resulting from the scorched earth policy carried on by the conqueror done a lot to the peasants. Mappilas under Kurikkal of Manjeri rebelled in 1786 and 1788 against Tipu. They had their problems with the Muslims rulers. 

Later Bibi of Arakkal dynasty supported Britain against Tipu. Tipu sultan is traditionally pictured as a religious begot, but in recent years efforts have been made to rehabilitate that image. It is pointed out that he followed a more religious policy in Malabar than he did elsewhere, emulating his father. Reports are noted that Tipu gave gifts to temples at Guruvayur and Kollenkode. It is said that ‘he forced conversion only on those recalcitrant Hindus on whose allegiance he could not rely. The major results of Mysorian rule could be summarized. One of these was regard for Hindus as the natural enemies of the Muslims. This feeling, characteristic elsewhere in Indian but not a mark of Kerala Islam was now imported and became a strong element in Mappila psychology. The other was acceptance of the use of force in religious matters. The climate created by the Portuguese had fanned to life this principle, but tipu turned it into a fire that is going out only in contemporary time. The loss of confidence and friendship with Hindus was the most serous loss in Mappila history. The new attitude was to continue for the next one and one half centuries , producing a serous of incidents that would finally culminate in the Mappila rebellion of 1921.  The second major implication of the Mysorian period was the effect that it had on Mappila attitude toward land rights.

It has been noted that the Mappilas were prevented from becoming land owners by the system of land tenure that uniquely prevailed in Malabar. The events of the Mysorian era resulted in a temporary release from the shackles of that feudalistic system for the Mappilas. The release was later to be revoked by the action of the British regime. But the Mappila had tasted a new freedom and hope, whose effect lingered on in the coming years. Not only was the ownership of the land vested in the hands of a few jenmis, but also their control over its use was maintained by customary law heavily weighted ion their favour. The land tenure system worked, and some jemis maintained good relationship with their tenants, but the built in injustices and the possibilities for severely oppressive actions, frequently exercised, made the system a continually festering sore in Malabar society. It was inevitable that some day it would be entirely overthrown.

Book Review: In those days there was no coffee Writing in Cultural History by A.R Venkatachalapthy

 ‘History is not yet what it aught to be’ – Marc Bloch

This book narrates the day to day life of Tamil Nadu in colonial time and their cultural artifacts in those days. AR Venkatachalapathy explains how coffee, tea, tobacco and other cultural signs had significant meanings in the colonial time. Instead of going to the stereotypical, elite and traditional historical narratives, Venkitachalapathy, a disciple of KN Panikkar, searches what roles coffee, tea and tobacco engaged in the making of modern Tamil Nadu. The book is divided in two parts and in the first part both material (coffee, tea and tobacco) and cultural (the cartoon, the city and modern literature) artefacts are elucidated and further the books related how they were consumed in colonial Tamil Nadu. And in the second part, it engages with the politics of language and identity in colonial Tamil Nadu. In the first part, the discussion is about the coffee. Coffee is not a simple word in those days. It is something very important sign, a cultural symbol which differentiates a range of cultures which transform through various trajectories. Drinking coffee was considered as a habit of middle class/ upper class/ caste of Tamil Nadu. Coffee has been accepted in the cultural domain of Tamil Nadu after years’ long negotiations with the tradition and practices. It was also considered as the symbol of acceptance of modernity of Tamil Brahmins and the reluctance of lower class/ caste people. It is not as easy as saying ‘drinking coffee’ but some opine that ‘One can write a whole puranam on coffee’; and ‘to go without my morning cup of coffee is like the world as crucial economic crises.

The story of coffee is a very recent one. According to the archives, the morning cup of coffee was unknown to people in those days. Coffee was first cultivated in Ethiopia; but soon it reached in India with it’s its cultural other, tea. But when it was introduced in India, it represented the colonial Europe; soon the debate was centred on the replacing of morning drink –neerajaram- of Indians with an alien drink -coffee-. So the general opinion was that coffee drinking is not required in our nation. Our ancestors never ever consumed it. Coffee is a kind of liquor. Stri Dharma, a radical woman organisation claims: ‘coffee here seems to stimulate cheerful for a little while  after drinking, but gradually subvert the vitality of the digestive organs that’s why the body is weak, this creates all sort of unknown diseases. People in Tamil Nadu used to drink the cold rice in those days, but coffee created a threat to that habit. So the debate soon diverted to the English coffee Vs Indian cold rice (payachoru) and cold rice personifies coffee as an immoral woman, who has led people astray and disturbed the (fasting) austerities connected with amavasi, ekadasi and karthigai. The patriarchal way of life taught that women are addicted coffee and consumed to western culture.

But the upper caste Brahmin used coffee as an evidence of their earlier acceptance of colonial modernity and they utilized it to dominate others, soon Tamil Nadu faced the discrimination in drinking coffee. For cultural reasons both coffee and tea were understood as the specific symbols of upper and lower castes. For Brahmins, coffee was a touchstone of hospitality, even if they were not providing coffee to their hosts, a mere invitation would do more in that days, the question ‘let’s have some coffee, was more symbolic than the act of providing coffee. If they did not invite for a coffee, it was understood as an insult to the host. The most insulting word in those days was to say, ‘their coffee is awful’. When coffee was a cultural symbol and more coffee hotels were open, Brahmin of Tamil Nadu found a new method to keep their notion of pollution up. They introduced the metal tumbler with rims. It served the role of hospitality to their co-casters and also a tool to keep untouchability. 

When coffee was somehow accepted in day to day life of Tamilans, the Tamil literature started to reflect the new habit. A lot of short stories, articles, puzzles, and riddles were written on coffee. There was an interesting passage in Tamil short story in which Siva descended and offered Kandasami Pillai a cup of coffee with Him. The story goes on like that:

‘As god sipped the coffee, a divine demeanour of having drunk some suffered his face.

This is my leela, said god.

‘This is not your leela, but the hoteliers’. Mixing Chicory with coffee is his handiwork. Show your mettle when you pay for the bill’, whispered Kandaswami Pillai, with his ears, content that he had sorted out the issue of paying for the coffee.

Chicory... what’s that? God looked up quizzingly.

Chicory powder resembles coffee, but it is not coffee. Like those who defraud people in the name of god’, replied Kandasami Pillai.

The issue of good/bad coffee rose soon. Making coffee with buffalo milk was a sign of cultural and moral degradation. It countered with the ‘Pasumpal Kapi Klub’ of Brahmin and Beef biriyani of lower caste/ middle class people. The Coffee hotel which was started every nook and corner of Brahmin populated streets soon became specific cultural symbols. Every third house is either a hair dressing saloon or a coffee hotel. This coffee hotel played the role of a place of congregation, for traders to clinch dealings with others, for families a meeting point in week days. The general addressing of coffee maker was, ‘Iyer, bring me a cup of coffee’ which says, that only the upper caste Brahmin had run hotel in those days. To overcome caste pollution, each hotel facilitated separate corner for Brahmins, and to question this was interpreted as the interfering of the personal matters. Later Periyar Ramaswami sharpene3d his knife against this inhuman practice and called for forcefully destroying the board which showed a sign of Brahmin.

Tea acted as the other of coffee. It was considered as the drink of middle class, lower caste people. The advertisements of tea have always been shown with the working class people. All most all the offices served with tea. Unlike coffee which was served mainly in Brahmin’s coffee hotel, Muslims were famous for strong and best tea. The common notion about the best tea was, ‘the best tea can be had only at Muslim house hold and non- vegetarian restaurant run often by Muslims. In colonial Tamil Nadu, both coffee and tea understood in a very different ways. Both produced and reproduced very different connotations, meaning. Though reluctant at first when coffee was introduced, but later it became a habit of most of Tamilians, there is story in Tamil literature, and it can be read as:

When a husband and wife quarrelled each other, wisdom appears and advises them that,

‘I tell you seriously, and after bitter experience, whatever you do, don’t cut out coffee. You may cut out food, you may go out in rages, or walk three miles to your office, but don’t meddle with coffee.

The story of tobacco was very different from that of coffee and tea. Tobacco was readily accepted by Indians. But later, after the colonial medicine and education introduced in India, tobacco lost its earlier charm and was considered as an intoxicants and dangerous substance as ganja and other drugs. If lend the words of Ashis Nandi, Tobacco was an Indian crop accidently discovered by the European! It was in its earlier days considered as a sign of good life, relaxation, cultural attainment and so on. Without any resistance, the Indian farmers accepted it as a domestic crop. It was not for exportation for two reasons. Europeans considered the Indian tobacco as coarse, rank, ill-flavoured. And Indians felt all these accusation as positive and they liked it, so the exportation held in a very low rate. 

The Tamil word for Tobacco is Pugai-ilai which means smoking leaf. Soon tobacco was explained with divinity. Divine origin of tobacco as explained in Tamil literature is: once three gods Siva, Vishnu and Brahman had a quarrel each other over the supreme power. Each claimed they were the most powerful. To find out a solution it was suggested that let three of them keep a leaf with them and give it without losing. Siva was given a vilvam leaf and Vishnu a basil leaf and Brahma was given a tobacco leaf. Both Siva and Vishnu lost their leaves, but Brahma could keep his leaf with him, and he relaxed: ‘em pathram pogalai’ (my leaf is not lost), the tobacco got that name, pogalai from this word. The rest of the book deals with other cultural and literary issues like cartoons in colonial Tamil Nadu, Imagination of a city, literature, culture and Identity.

Tamil Nadu from time immemorial tried to stand alone and agitated the cultural domination of non-Dravidian forces. So it stood up against the imported Indian nationalism over Tamil nationalism. Whenever a call for English/ Hindi/ Sanskrit education, then they counter-argued for a Tamil Nationalism.  Non Brahmin Vellalar elite challenged the notions of a monolithic Sanskrit based Hindu vision of India. Jadunath Sarkar’s book, ‘Confession of a History Teacher’ deals the importance of English in history writing. To him, for a better history work, English (language) is a necessary thing, a historian without linguistics skill and literary abilities and sensibilities would be no historian at all. According to Partha Chatterjee, all the historical works written in colonial time expressed the duality of material/ spiritual, outer/ inner, man/ women, world / home. The book seeks to negotiate the hierarchy of knowledge. Literature aspiration to occupy the space between the best of professional social science writing in English and the culturally sensitising centre in Tamil Nadu addressing for the most part of literary audience.

Trace: A Strong Messege to the society

“I read about eight newspapers in a day. When I'm in a town with only one newspaper, I read it eight times.” - -Will Rogers

 

The assassination of T.P Rama Chandran has wounded the psyche of Kerala profoundly. Kerala has already eyewitnessed a number of political murders, but the killing of TP Rama Chnadran must be read in a diverse angle. More over a conflict between two different ideologies, TP’s murder actually tells us the bigotry of a mainstream political party to its faction which was formed in very particular political circumstances. The people of Kerala have carried the burden of the incident of the assassination for a long and they woke up anticipating an odious event each day. The people were frightened of someone who was honing a knife for him/her. 

(to watch the film on youtube kindly click here)

 

                                     (The film: Trace)

 

The sequence in which TP was viciously killed with more than fifty stabs in his body has made a strong ripple in the society. Even the cultural leaders who were believed the bed-shares of Communist party broke their silence against this brute killing. The young film director Mufeed Muthanoor has developed his new short film ‘TRACE’ from this point.  Each murder is a very well planned one. When the foes set off for killing a targeted person, the plan which is already conceived gets practiced. We are afraid even the single word, ‘murdering’ ‘killing’, because the word itself generates complicated and many-sided meanings which injure the psyche of the society. A murder is very perilous and dodgy to the cultural paradigm of the society and it needs a lot of time to heal the society from the blow of such an incident.  How the repeated political killings trim the society down into permanent panic condition, is the starting point of this film.

Ayyappa Panikkar

Ayyappa Panikkar, a Malayalam poet, might be the first writer who analysed the process of meaning-making of a trouble-free word like ‘murder’. In the word ‘Kolapaathakam’ (murder), even it’s each letter can produce different connotation. It seems at the first look, that these separated letters and syllables of ‘kolapaathakam’ are very innocent, above suspicion and without any meaning, but the tone of each words actually manufactures some meaningful symbols, Ayyappa Panikkar observes in his poem, Kolapaathkam’.

The media which push the boat out each news on political killing by manoeuvring, colouring and embellishing, are not actually aware about the injuries they are causing to the minds of the people. This news on killing are actually affecting to the young people of any society. 

Mufeed starts the film, Trace in the milieu of a newspapers reading room.  The everyday readings of the newspaper, according to Charse Baudelaire, actually negatively affect to the people. He says, ‘any newspaper, from the first line to the last, is nothing but a web of horrors, I cannot understand how an innocent hand can touch a newspaper without convulsing in disgust’. It is right in a sense, if we analyse how different media establishments handle the news items such as killing, rape and others which damage the positive attitudes of the society, then we can understand the intensity and depth, these news cause to the society. Each reader internalizes what he/she gets from the newspapers and he/she develops the same view point whenever gets a possibility to harangue about the incident. 

Mufeed Muthanur (Director)

After visualizing the manner of how different media handled the news of the heinous killing of TP, the director portrays some youngsters who have internalized the reporting of their own politically biased newspapers look the issue in different angles. The story starts when the reading room which is supposed to be a platform for creative discussion, turns to the political debates and discussion, then a silent reader sitting beside them, starts off his bike and rides it very swiftly. 

The background music and the political symbols which are repeatedly shown in the film produce a feeling of dread and insecurity in the viewers’ minds. The quickening bike, knife, the broken words from mobile phones, airport and others intensify the terror in the viewers. After repeatedly shown all these panic-producing symbols and the bike ride which terminates in a very isolated house. The film ends when the protagonist after a high drama and long-time-suspense slashes a water melon. 

Punnodi MA Rahman

Political killings, as any other crimes should be punished strictly. And in some cases the assassin may be punished, but the injuries and pains a society suffers from such killings are seldom healed. This is the message of the film. The body language of such murdering is in a conspiracy, this clandestine nature of such action, in fact making even a daft job like cutting a fruit in suspect. The basic function of a knife is to use for cutting vegetable and fruits, but even such acts are made in doubt in the changed and charged atmosphere. All the characters are youths in the film. Even the youths who are thought to be very audacious and courageous are actually living in the fog of trepidation, and then pondering over the mental trauma of weaker section of the society is more panic.

This is the third project made by KPB Production. MA Rahman Punnodi performs the leading role. K.P Sadarudheen, Munavvir Alingachaal, Suresh and Muhsin are the other actors of the film.