15. When looking broadly at the Mappila Rebellion

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In India, historical writing today is centred on the nation-state of India as it exists now. In this way, anything can be written relatively.

For example, with the notion that we are sitting at the centre of the universe, we can measure and interpret the movements, speeds, and other attributes of all other objects in the universe relatively. However, all the information we obtain may only be true within the frame of reference of Earth. If we move away from Earth, all the measurements, directions, speeds, and so forth that we have obtained may become meaningless.

Similarly, the study of history in India today is much the same. A nation merely a few decades old has taken possession of the entire past of South Asia. It is highly unlikely that those who lived in the diverse regions of ancient South Asia would have proudly declared themselves as Indians.

If, in the future, several new countries emerge in this region that do not exist today, all the historical studies constructed by India today would become meaningless.

This raises a question in my mind: is this the way history should be written and studied?

I won’t delve further into this topic.

However, the inspiration to write this came from the emotional response I felt upon reading about Sayyid Fazal in certain places. There seems to be an attempt to re-establish him as an Indian freedom fighter or a philosophical leader of the freedom struggle, or something of that sort—a futile endeavour, in my view.

During the time Sayyid Fazal lived, India as a nation did not exist. Moreover, it seems that even British India had not fully taken shape. The English Company, and later the English administration, was gradually building a nation here at that time.

Although scholars repeatedly claim that Sayyid Fazal fought against English colonial rule, in reality, his focus was on the traditional ruling class that had existed in South Malabar for generations.

Mappila farmers and other tenants had no direct means or pathway to convey their grievances to English officials. Any information about them or their concerns reached the English officials only through the traditional authorities—prominent officials in their administrative system or members of landlord families.

Replacing these authorities with lower-class individuals as officials would disrupt the entire social order without yielding any benefit. This is because, in feudal linguistic regions, governance must be conducted through individuals capable of controlling society. For this, a person must be invested with some form of elite status or title.

Even today, this remains a reality. In many instances in Malabar, the government uses individuals with the title “Mash” (teacher) behind their names to mobilise and control people for various purposes in certain regions. If individuals with common names like Kanaran or Kittan were placed in such informal leadership roles, no one would pay attention to them.

For English officials, directly engaging with the intricacies of society was indeed challenging. This is because local individuals are interconnected through terms like inhi, ningal, onu, olu, oru, olu, eda, edi, chettan, chechi, aniyan, aniyathi, chekan, and pennu. If English officials were to get entangled in this complex web of personal relationships, they too would end up using these terms and getting caught in their dynamics. This would tarnish their English image entirely.

Even today, this is a social reality. Those at the top stand above and apart from the lower-level personal relationship networks. If they were to behave without boundaries towards those at the lower levels, as is possible in English, they would lose respect without gaining any benefit.

It appears that many English officials recognised that South Asian societies have a certain impermeable nature.

Not only Mappila tenants but also non-Muhammadan tenants, farmers, and others had grievances they wished to convey to the English administration. However, they had to bypass the traditional ruling families and landlord families, who held them down like a heavy woollen blanket, to reach the English officials. I have come across indications of two distinct incidents where they attempted to do so.

I will discuss those incidents later.

Now, let’s turn to Sayyid Fazal.

He was a person of pure Arab lineage. Therefore, the local feudal linguistic terms could not harm him beyond a certain extent. However, it was generally understood among the lower-class Mappilas that such terms should not be used towards individuals of the Thangal status among Muhammadans.

I had previously mentioned that Sayyid Fazal instructed lower-class Mappilas not to address Nairs as ningal. This matter, when written in English, loses its explosive impact.

Furthermore, it is said that during a sermon or similar occasion, he stated that killing landlords who unjustly evicted tenants was a virtuous act. It was reportedly C. Kanaran, the Deputy Collector of Malabar, who informed the English officials of this statement by Sayyid Fazal.

This C. Kanaran, possibly known as Churayil Kanaran or something similar, seems to have been a member of the Thiyya community. When this individual joined the English administrative system, higher-caste officials in the administration provided him with the facility to sit on the floor in the office.

Once, when Henry Conolly, the Malabar District Collector, visited the Tellicherry Sub-Divisional Office for official purposes, he found this officer sitting on the floor while working. Immediately, Conolly ordered that a chair and a desk be provided for him to work.

Various forms of personal animosities existed within the local society. The English administration had to rise above all of this.

Although C. Kanaran experienced such derogatory treatment from higher-caste groups, it is likely that he developed personal relationships with socially elite Brahmin groups, landlords, and authorities.

Whether Sayyid Fazal actually said that landlords who evicted tenants should be killed is a matter that requires some scrutiny. It is possible that such a story was fabricated by lower-class Mappilas or, alternatively, by Brahmin factions.

The reason is that Sayyid Fazal gave lower-class Mappilas an instruction far more dangerous than planning a killing. That is, he told them not to address Nairs as ningal. In other words, he created a social pit into which Nairs and their families, including women, could fall to the level of inhi or ijji.

A plan to kill can be thwarted with armed force. However, there is no effective defence against being socially lowered through verbal codes, except perhaps a counterattack with weapons.

Sayyid Fazal also gave Mappilas instructions for other bold attack strategies, which were entirely non-violent in nature. Yet, these non-violent strategies were of a kind that could provoke even someone hailed by the media as the father of modern India to become violent.

The Nairs had no choice but to drive him out. They cannot be blamed either, for they too needed to live with their heads held high in the land.

However, it was the English administration that had the power to expel Sayyid Fazal.

The Brahmin faction had to set both sides ablaze while holding the middle ground to get things done. If the English were invaders, Sayyid Fazal was an invader too.

Among the Mappilas, Makkathayam Thiyyas, Marumakkathayam Thiyyas, and many other communities, there are bloodlines tied to invaders.

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When reflecting on the violent acts of Mappila or Muhammadan lower-class individuals, it becomes necessary to consider social and political revolutions.

Let’s think about the freedom struggle of Palestinians today. It seems their language is Arabic.

It appears there are hardly any Indians or other speakers of feudal languages in Palestine.

The point about the presence of feudal language speakers is this:

If feudal language speakers are present, they would influence the Arabic language as well. Moreover, they might, to some extent, distort that language. This is merely a conjecture, as I do not know Arabic.

Nevertheless, when Arabic encounters individuals who are mentally elevated or trapped in a social hierarchy within its linguistic codes, the natural word codes of that language might experience a certain inadequacy. Furthermore, these individuals might also define the Arabic people, potentially causing subtle emotional shifts among them. This, in turn, could alter the linguistic word codes.

Now, regarding the Palestinians: if their language were like feudal languages such as Malayalam, Tamil, or Hindi, their people would not be able to stand united in resistance. Even if they could, their efforts would quickly fragment into various groups.

Moreover, if their homes were destroyed in Israeli attacks, individuals would face difficulties even communicating with one another. This is because, in the feudal linguistic communication mentioned earlier, the prestige of a house is a significant factor. If a house is reduced to rubble, the individual’s status in verbal codes also crumbles.

While it is true that Islam fosters a sense of unity among the people there, keeping Arabic linguistic codes intact, it must also be noted that most other Islamic nations have responded with indifference to the Palestinian issue.

When Clement Attlee handed over British India to the Nehru faction, and that group attempted to establish a Hindi imperialism in this subcontinent, socially elite individuals across British India scrambled and rushed to secure positions in the new administrative system, leaving others in their regions behind.

To put it more clearly, it should have been evident to anyone with some discernment in British Malabar that this region had never, in its history, been under Hindi rule. Furthermore, even Sanskrit words were scarcely present in the Malabari language.

At the same time, it is worth mentioning that Sanskrit words in most South Asian languages were only recently incorporated. If these Sanskrit words were removed from the languages of this subcontinent, the very concept of India as it exists today would lose its potency.

The local language is not one that enables Malabaris to organise or cooperate with one another. However, aligning under the leadership of political figures from the northern regions of the subcontinent could create an artificial sense of unity. This is what brought British Malabar under the fold of Hindi imperialism.

I won’t delve into a deeper analysis of this topic here. However, I will draw some points from this to the issue of Mappila violence in Malabar, though they may not be entirely applicable to Malabar.

Consider this:

The Mysorean invasions provided many lower-class individuals an opportunity to escape their cattle-like enslaved conditions. Many of them converted to Islam.

With this, significant social and personal elevation began to emerge among many of them. The infusion of fair-skinned Arab lineage also started to take hold. Since the English administration was established, the Brahmin-aligned Nair overlords could not suppress them.

Although the administration was English, English individuals were hardly visible in society. In other words, society continued to function under Brahmin dominance and Nair oversight.

The enslaved people, who had been treated as cattle for generations, could not organise themselves. The most significant reason for this was the feudal language prevalent in the region.

The feudal language, spoken by all, constantly encourages respecting those above, insulting and degrading those alongside, belittling them, viewing them with envy, and backstabbing them.

It must be understood that, to a large extent, Islam succeeded in countering the destructive mechanism of this local feudal language, which, despite its capacity to create great beauty through songs, is highly damaging.

In other words, without Islam, if these lower-class individuals tried to rise socially, they would clash among themselves from the outset. They would view each other with suspicion, fear, and envy, engage in slander, fight over seducing each other’s women, and ultimately collapse socially.

In their folk songs, they would sing and revel in the heroic tales of their Nair overlords. If anyone among them spoke disparagingly about Brahmin overlords or their women, many would eagerly rush to inform their Nair overlords about it.

It was Islam that brought a profound sense of brotherhood, cooperative mindset, and unity to such a people.

This is indeed a remarkable achievement. For instance, imagine if the Brahmin religion had acted similarly.

Suppose they taught their enslaved people their cherished spiritual traditions, allowed them to use the names of elite Brahmin individuals, and so forth. Consider what would happen if Brahmins gave opportunities to communities that sat and slept on the ground in filthy places like garbage heaps to enter homes, sit on chairs, discuss profound philosophical matters, and address or refer to people in their own households. Do not forget that the language is feudal in nature.

Even today, in most Indian households, no one would allow their kitchen maid to sit on a chair.

If such permission were granted, everyone knows that some form of impurity would enter the household.

At the same time, English officials in the English Company likely did not fully grasp the significance of this. They wouldn’t understand why someone who sweeps should not be given a seat. Moreover, in their own homeland, they themselves engage in all kinds of work.

However, even they could not seat Malabar’s lower-class individuals on chairs. If they did, the elite individuals of Malabar would not enter their establishments.

If the Brahmin faction allowed lower-class individuals into their traditional spiritual movement, the Brahmin movement would become tainted. Furthermore, Brahmins would lose all their traditional privileges. The lower-class individuals who entered would drive them out and degrade them in verbal codes.

Moreover, the Brahmin religion itself would become corrupted, potentially turning into a rogue religion of brawlers and troublemakers.

This is indeed a plausible reality.

From this perspective, Islam’s effort to uplift the lower classes is a monumental achievement. Upon reflection, it might even cause trepidation in many.

For a long time, Islam among Malabar’s Mappilas may have taken on a fearsome form, beyond its inherent qualities. It is easy to define this as the terror of Islam. However, the reality is as mentioned above.

The mere acquisition of fair-skinned Arab lineage and Islamic spiritual training among the uplifted lower classes did not bring peace to society.

On the contrary, it only intensified the terror unleashed by the feudal language in society.

Mappilas are not the only ones living in this society. There also exists a traditional hierarchical social structure.

The organised lower-class Mappilas harbour various grievances and animosities. If they begin to live and work in society without adhering to its traditional customs, it would indeed cause significant unrest among other communities.

The non-Muslim lower classes, who did not convert to Islam, would view these new Mappilas with great resentment and fear. This is because, with each passing generation, a significant transformation would be evident among the lower-class Mappilas. The awareness that they belong to the old lower-class lineage would begin to fade.

This is a problem for Nairs as well. They hold certain social oversight privileges, which they carry as part of their dignity. However, these new Mappilas are a group that disregards them.

The local language is not like English. Every word inevitably carries either subservience or its opposite, arrogance. Subservience is perceived as respect, while arrogance is seen as aggression.

This cannot be ignored or unheard. Those with eyes and ears will react and respond to the codes of these words.

The English faction has also uplifted lower-class individuals in various parts of the world, but in a different way. By teaching and encouraging the use of the English language, individuals naturally become liberated from the enslavement of local feudal languages. English words typically do not evoke pain, opposition, or provocation in others. (However, there is more to say on this, perhaps at a later time.)

Islam could not achieve this. However, what it did achieve is monumental. Yet, it created another fearsome situation in society, and the root cause of this must be identified.

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It seems the last piece was posted in May 2021. Today is 18ᵗʰ November.

The topic being written about then was the historical event known as the Mappila Rebellion in South Malabar. At that time, ideas flowed into my mind like a stream. But now, looking within, I see no trace of that stream.

I’ve even forgotten what I intended to write about back then.

Still, I’m trying to climb back into the flow of writing.

I do not know how local Islamic scholars understood the Mappila Rebellion. However, I have before me some writings submitted as doctoral theses.

One major flaw in these writings seems to be that the thesis scholars have failed to recognise the most brilliant idea of Islam—or, if not Islam, then of Muhammad—which is the vision of granting individuals, both socially and personally, an elevated and egalitarian personality and dignity.

Another is the complete lack of awareness about the existence of the monstrous entity that is the feudal language within the local social environment.

Moreover, there appears to be a general shortcoming in the inability to understand or approach the magnificent historical phenomenon of the English administration in Malabar and across South Asia from a higher perspective.

Many seem intent on evaluating the English administration from some lower social standpoint.

There’s also a sense that thesis scholars are unaware that the India of today did not exist then, nor did the Kerala of today. In South and North Malabar, there were some 29 tiny kingdoms or similar regions. The English administration amalgamated these into a single district under the Madras Presidency and later introduced a democratic system of governance there.

When such a profoundly transformative historical event occurred, various communities experienced upheavals, rewritings of social structures, and more. Many traditional elite groups were thrown into great turmoil.

This turmoil was not about the English entering their homes or seizing their wealth or women. Rather, it was the fear that communities traditionally below them would rise socially, take over their social positions and properties, and displace them from their esteemed verbal status.

It must be understood that, while it is true many lower-class individuals converted to Islam, there were also Islamic families in Malabar at that time who lived with traditional social prestige.

An accusation was made by Mr. Strange, a judge appointed by the English administration to study the Mappila conflicts, that H.V. Conolly, the English Malabar District Collector, was sympathetic towards Mappilas in general and lower-class Mappilas in particular.

However, the fact that H.V. Conolly was hacked to death by a few rogue individuals is portrayed by thesis writers as a grand, celebratory event tied to Islamic activism. It seems unlikely that individuals with even a basic understanding of fundamental Islam would attempt to conflate such foolish acts with Islam.

It is unclear whether the English Company officials’ observation—that elite Islamic individuals in South Asia possessed an unparalleled personal charisma—is reflected in thesis writings. It seems unlikely.

The historical accounts in these theses often appear to take the approach of relentlessly condemning the English administration.

This was not the reality. It seems likely that the influence of reading modern Indian academic history and watching fabricated historical films produced in Travancore or Bombay has impacted the mental framework of those writing these theses.



It feels like much of what is written above has already been mentioned earlier in this piece. Additionally, I recall noting the painful mental state of lower-class Mappilas, who had no direct pathway in society to communicate with senior English or British officials in the English administrative system.

In Malabar District, there was an English or British District Collector. Below him was a Deputy Collector, and below that, numerous Tahsildars. Both of these latter positions were held by local individuals.

It took the English Company decades to appoint officials (even Thiyyas from Tellicherry) with strong English language proficiency and other personal qualities to these positions through a public examination.

Until the Madras Presidency Public Service Commission began appointing senior officials, governance across Malabar was conducted by local traditional ruling families.

The Malabar Manual records that these individuals were outright thieves, backstabbers, corrupt, and utterly unscrupulous.

Amidst them, the English administration established legal codes and courts to enforce them. It seems that the judges in these courts were either English or other British individuals.

Land ownership remained in the hands of landlords, as it was then and still is in England. Thus, no issues were perceived there.

However, in Ireland, within Britain itself, such a social environment was indeed problematic. There, landlords leased agricultural land, but it was common for them to seize it back from tenants. These landlords were even labelled as land grabbers. The Irish blamed England for this predicament then, and that blame persists today.

Yet, the social flaw lay elsewhere. It must be understood that the presence of landlords was not the issue.

This piece has been written as a sort of warming up to resume writing. In the next piece, I will discuss a specific social barrier faced not only by lower-class Mappilas but also by other lower-class individuals and others.

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From around the 1830s, there seems to have been a persistent state of confrontation in South Malabar between certain groups of Mappilas and some members of the Brahmin faction.

Before delving deeper into this matter, it is necessary to clearly define the communities involved on both sides. Otherwise, the terms “Hindu” and “Muslim” might get conflated with the individuals defined by these terms today.

The so-called Hindus were the Brahmins.

On their side at the time were temple priests and Nairs. Below them were the Makkathayam Thiyyas of South Malabar, and beneath them, numerous lower-class individuals who were merely dependents of the Brahmin (Hindu) faction. Groups like the Cherumas were, in reality, fully enslaved and semi-human in status at that time.

It must be clearly understood that today, a significant percentage of those in Malabar who display a Hindu identity are the Marumakkathayam Thiyyas of North Malabar and the Makkathayam Thiyyas of South Malabar. However, it was not with these two groups that Mappilas were clashing in the 1830s.

Generally speaking, Brahmins may have been vegetarians and refrained from using weapons. However, they were indeed the ones who socially suppressed other communities from the top of the local feudal language hierarchy. Their foot soldiers were the Nair overlords.

In an era when lower classes infiltrated Brahmin Hinduism, the Hindu religion began to reflect the characteristics of these new Hindus.

Now, regarding the Mappilas of that time.

In both North and South Malabar, Islamic followers had existed for several centuries prior. Among them, one section belonged to elite families. Many Islamic families, firmly rooted in Arab lineage, existed as highly distinguished individuals.

Moreover, during the Mysorean invasions, many Brahmin, temple priest, and Nair families converted to Islam. Several of them continued to maintain their elite status.

Above them, it seems there were also Islamic families in the Cannanore region with pure Yavana lineage, who likely preserved their bloodline with great purity.

In reality, none of these groups viewed the Brahmin faction in South Malabar with significant resentment. Furthermore, it appears that the Thangal families of Kundotti and their supporters also stood apart.

The Brahmin faction’s realization that Islam in South Malabar had a fearsome aspect came only when lower-caste communities began converting to Islam en masse.

The Hindu faction, both then and now, generally portrays this fearsome aspect as a natural psychological principle inherent to Islam and to Muhammad, who is understood as its spiritual leader.

However, the personal and social resentment among these lower-class Mappilas may merely be a reflection of their social condition.

This is because, until this social confrontation began, Brahmin factions, elite Islamic families, Arab trading groups, and others had lived together in harmony. Their common goal was likely to prevent lower-class individuals from rising above their socially constrained conditions.

Individuals have little chance of gaining knowledge beyond what they see and hear in society from birth.

In South Malabar, there were Brahmin landlord families. Their overseers were Nairs. Landlords leased land to Nairs and occasionally to Makkathayam Thiyya individuals. These tenants would purchase or lease enslaved individuals to work their farmlands.

These enslaved individuals had no revolutionary spirit. What they possessed was loyalty to their masters.

During the English administration, many lower-class individuals converted to Islam. They began leasing land. Many started engaging in trade, becoming owners of bullock carts and cargo boats.

These individuals experienced significant personal and psychological advancement.

This posed the greatest problem for Nair overlords. The local language codes could not accommodate such a transformation. It would be akin to an autorickshaw driver in Thiruvananthapuram addressing a police constable as nee, creating a linguistic coding issue.

Nairs desired to continue viewing lower-class Mappila individuals as their enslaved subjects. Traditionally, Nairs controlled their slaves by hacking and subduing them. Such actions fostered immense respect for them among the enslaved. This is similar to the attitude people today have toward the police.

If these Nairs became officials in the English administration, even the sole District Collector could not effectively control them. This is because everyone in the administration was local, and their psychological, social attitudes, thoughts, and conspiracies would spread like wildfire within the administrative machinery.

Neither side can be fully blamed. Both had their own anxieties. The local feudal language, invisibly orchestrating beautiful songs and festive celebrations, fuels these anxieties.

This language constantly reminds elite individuals that social leadership is an essential personality trait, silently urging them to fight to maintain their social eminence.

Blaming everything on the English administration, which plans social transformation from a distant, elevated position, is a highly practical approach. This is because there were likely no individuals in society capable or interested in explaining the English faction’s perspective to the people.

It seems most of what is written above has already been mentioned earlier in this piece.

It appears that Indian formal historians and thesis writers, without giving due consideration to many of these aspects, describe the attacks carried out by Mappila individuals in the 1830s as a freedom struggle against the English administration, thereby misleading readers and students of history.

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It is often said that Islam views kafirs as enemies. In ancient times, there may have been a general understanding among people that enemies should be killed. If the Quran records an opposition to kafirs, I am unaware of the context or circumstances in which this was stated.

It appears that such notions were quite prevalent in various societies in the past.

For example, English Company officials in Malabar received information that, according to the Sastra, it was a king’s duty to attack and plunder foreign lands.

The Sastra says the peculiar duty of a king is conquest.

— Malabar Manual

This statement could be cited as evidence that a form of “science” existed in this land long before the English Company began teaching it here.

I recall reading that the Old Testament of the Bible contains various aggressive intentions. The essence of this sacred text, which also applies to Muslims, may reinforce the idea that Islam has an aggressive nature.

However, among Christians, there is a term similar to “kafir” called “heretic.” In European countries (likely including Spain), heretics were brutally killed. This practice contradicts the Christian concept of human love.

In the Brahmin religion’s Bhagavad Gita, it seems that, amidst a battlefield, Arjuna is advised at length on the moral basis for using his martial strength to kill his relatives and teachers on the enemy side.

If this advice is taken out of the battlefield context, it might be understood as guidance on how individuals should act in life within this feudal language region. As I have not read the Bhagavad Gita, I cannot say more definitively.

The decision to apply such teachings in one’s life or society may depend on the type of people who receive them.

Many have used various methods to rally individuals as their followers.

One such method is the ideology of communism. The concept of bringing everyone to the same social level is indeed a spiritually uplifting idea. There is even an argument that those who believe in this spirituality need no other.

This spiritual thought is appealing on one hand, but reality lies elsewhere. These believers cannot even eliminate the rigid hierarchy in their verbal interactions, let alone eradicate social hierarchies and inequalities in society.

Many have tried to rally people for their conquests. The Maratha leader Shivaji successfully used Hindu ideals for this purpose. However, no one has ever said that Shivaji attempted to liberate the enslaved people of his land.

It seems that Mughal emperors and other Islamic kings or leaders in South Asia did not, beyond a certain extent, use Islamic religious fervour for their conquests. This is likely because most of the people they needed to rally were not Muslims.

However, Islam may be the most effective spiritual movement for rallying people. From the day an individual is born, they grow up adhering to various disciplines, almost like in a military framework. If a leader can rally such individuals under their leadership, they become a formidable leader. If the language is feudal, that person becomes akin to a military commander.

Nevertheless, people often unite only when a common enemy is pointed out.

The reason for discussing this is the notion that Mappilas in South Malabar may have considered killing kafirs a divine duty. Before this social attitude developed in South Malabar, it does not appear that elite Islamic families living in Malabar harboured such a notion of eliminating kafirs.

At the same time, the Brahmin faction viewed lower-class Muslim individuals with a degree of disdain.

This disdainful view was also directed by the Brahmin faction toward other lower-class communities in their region, which is a fact. However, the fact that lower-class Muslims did not submit as followers likely posed a significant problem.

There is another point to mention here, as noted in the Malabar Manual:

It may be safely concluded that, after the retirement of the Chinese, the power and influence of the Muhammadans were on the increase, and indeed there exists a tradition that in 1489 or 1490 a rich Muhammadan came to Malabar, ingratiated himself with the Zamorin, and obtained leave to build additional Muhammadan mosques. The country would no doubt have soon been converted to Islam either by force or by conviction, but the nations of Europe were in the meantime busy endeavouring to find a direct road to the pepper country of the East.

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In a certain region, there are a number of small-scale workers. They perform household tasks in the homes of many wealthy individuals, earning meager wages. The homeowners view them as filth, not allowing them to sit on chairs and requiring them to eat on the floor.

The homeowners give these workers their old, worn-out clothes, which the workers, their wives, and children wear. These workers hold great admiration and devotion toward their employers.

One of these workers gets a job in a new household, where they receive a good wage. The homeowners in this household treat them with greater respect, providing a chair to sit on and new clothes. They also create opportunities for the worker’s children to advance socially. However, it remains clear that this person is merely a servant in that household.

With each passing year, this worker, their children, and their family move toward higher social strata.

Does this development bring great joy to the other workers in their community?

Would they say, “Look, one of us is rising socially!” and rejoice?

Wouldn’t the families of other wealthy individuals in the region also become alarmed?

In reality, an explosive change occurs within the small community of these workers. The issue is not that the worker, their wife, and children begin using better clothes and amenities. The real problem is that this worker starts gaining greater verbal freedom socially. Physically, they sit closer to the elevated status of their employers at the workplace.

When the families of other workers refer to or address this worker and their family, subtle and significant changes in verbal codes begin to emerge unconsciously.

When this worker, their wife, and children refer to other workers and their relatives, a form of verbal degradation becomes inevitable. Remember, the language is feudal.

As the next generation grows, this worker’s children move into better jobs. They might even start businesses or industries. They may form marital alliances with elite families.

A rift and tearing apart unknowingly emerge within the workers’ community. Other workers and their families feel mentally shattered. They experience alienation and degradation in verbal codes from this worker’s family.

Many who attempt social engineering in feudal language regions without substantial knowledge, discernment, or wisdom often bring about such harmful consequences.

It seems that many of the caste-based reservations in place today stem from such initiatives.

The purpose of discussing this here is to point to a consequence of the social changes brought about by Islam in South Malabar.

By uplifting a small percentage of people who were socially defined and chained as lower-class, Islam did not bring joy to those around them. Instead, it caused alarm.

Groups like the Cherumas and similar communities were chained like cattle on landlords’ farmlands throughout their lives. Their understanding of the world was confined to the fields they worked in. They lived without any sanitation facilities.

Many among them converted to Islam. Ordinarily, this would not have been possible, as social norms would not permit it. Nairs would view such lower-class individuals breaking free as akin to a buffalo escaping its tether today—chasing them down and slaughtering them.

However, the administration changed. Clear laws were established. Courts were set up. A police system was introduced. Nairs lost their traditional authority. Although the District Collector was a solitary British citizen of the English Company, the legal system operated along a clear path.

If the English administration were to arrive in Malabar today and establish new legal systems, it would be akin to saying that today’s police could no longer arrest, beat, or kick people.

As Islamic mosques and madrasas were established in small locales, the community’s communication began to fill with rifts and explosive elements.

For the lower classes who lived with loyalty and affection toward landlords, the Makkathayam Thiyya community who viewed them with disdain, the Nairs who had enforced law and order in the region for generations, the temple priests working in Brahmin temples, and the Brahmin landlord families existing on various tiers, the question of how to handle this new Islamic persona within linguistic codes became perplexing.

These new groups were not the elite Islamic families.

With each passing generation, these Islamic groups began exhibiting significant social, economic, and lineage-based improvements in quality. Moreover, the daily call to prayer from their mosques and the Friday congregational prayers became a persistent nightmare for others.

It’s akin to a scenario in the Indian army where some sepoys band together and live in barracks without showing significant subservience to their officers. Previously, officers could keep each sepoy separate, transfer, or restrain them. Imagine the situation when that authority is lost.

If addressed as nee, they respond with nee in return. These defiant individuals also hold guns and other weapons. Furthermore, they have significant political and social connections. What can be done?

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In South Malabar, many lower-class individuals converted to Islam and progressed significantly, both socially and personally.

The political environment enabling this transformation was provided by the English administration in Malabar. However, it does not seem that the hallmark of the English administration—namely, the English language and the social equality it could introduce through communication—spread widely in South Malabar.

There is mention of a Sayyid Abdulla Koya Thangal, reportedly a follower and successor of Sayyid Fazal Thangal. It is said that he urged social upliftment with the support of the English administration.

This information holds particular significance.

It supports a record in the Malabar Manual stating that Henry Conolly, the Malabar District Collector, believed Sayyid Fazal Thangal harbored no personal animosity toward the English administration.

Similarly, there is mention of a Sayyid Sanah-uUa-Makti Thangal from Veliyankode, who reportedly exposed flaws and superstitions in Christianity.

However, there is also a statement: He criticised the then prevailing reluctance to learn Malayalam and English.

It is unclear what is meant by the Mappilas’ reluctance to learn Malayalam. At the same time, Malayalam and English are, in reality, languages with entirely opposite characteristics.

This Thangal reportedly referred to English as a “hellish language,” stating that learning it would be useful when people reached hell.

It is uncertain whether this response reflects his opinion of people or something else.

When viewed in the light of social equality, it is Malayalam that is the true “hellish language.”

This Thangal was knowledgeable in English and even worked for some time as an Excise Inspector under the English administration.

It is noted that he gave speeches urging Mappilas to support the English administration and live in accordance with its laws, even citing Quranic verses for this purpose.

He also emphasized the need to address the educational backwardness of the Mappila community.

From these contradictory pieces of information, it can be inferred that elite Islamic figures, with advanced social and English knowledge, likely had to say many things to make the lower-class Mappilas understand their circumstances.

While lower-class Mappilas were formally Muslims, their agitation and violence in daily life were directed toward local social realities. Islam could not erase these social realities.

Social realities are shaped by the design of the local language. It does not seem that local Islam had the capacity to dismantle these realities, as the Mappilas were themselves ensnared by the local feudal language.

Moreover, formal education could elevate some individuals to high positions but could not alter or eliminate the explosive elements embedded in societal communication.

The ability to undertake such social reconstruction and cleanse societal communication lies with the English language. However, the environment in South Malabar lacked open support for the English language within Islam.

Why Islam could not support the English language is worth considering. I lack the information to provide a detailed answer to this.

However, a thought that comes to mind is that the method used to propagate Islam in South Malabar, and among other backward communities, may have relied on its miraculous stories.

Not all miraculous stories are necessarily foolish, ignorant, or superstitious; some may be true.

It’s akin to talking about mobile phones. Forty years ago, discussing such technology would have made listeners laugh, as they were educated in scientific knowledge and would not accept ideas contrary to human reason.

Similarly, the idea of the angel Gabriel appearing before Muhammad might seem impossible. Learned scholars of physics would know that individuals or entities cannot appear from a distance in this manner.

However, with today’s software technology, such as holographic projection, this could be achieved quite easily.

While this may be true, Islam in South Malabar had to nurture, educate, and sustain the lower classes there. No one had previously attempted to uplift and liberate them in this way.

Islam pursued this through spirituality, while the English administration did so without spirituality.

However, those who had to participate in Islam’s efforts were the local community members themselves. They needed to convey ideas that the lower classes could quickly understand and that would inspire great respect and admiration. Explaining complex intellectual ideas would likely have been challenging.

Moreover, there were elite individuals within local Islam. They, too, would not have favored teaching English to those who revered them, as it might erode their subservience.

Local landlords were not necessarily bad individuals. They, too, were fighting invisible forces to maintain their position in the feudal language region. They showed subservience to those they respected and either harshness or sweetened harshness to those they deemed inferior.

When Mappilas confronted them, they complained to the English administration, which was obligated to maintain peace in the region.

Not only the Mappilas but many lower-class individuals had grievances to convey to English officials. However, no direct channel for this existed. Moreover, they may not have clearly understood the root causes of their issues.

Similarly, the English administration was not entirely clear about what was happening in the region.

In England, too, there are landlords, and many engage in agriculture. However, there is no stifling social atmosphere for those at the bottom, unlike here.

[VED]

There is a tendency among some thesis writers and formal historians to use terms like "colonial administration" or "British colonial rule" when referring to the English administration in South Asia, unnecessarily misleading readers.

(It should be noted that in some old texts, certain communities, including Brahmins who migrated to Malabar, are also described as colonialists. This fact is often overlooked in the modern state of Kerala.)

These terms have also been used to create confusion about the reasons why some lower-class Mappilas in South Malabar acted violently in the 1800s.

Another related issue exists.

A question may arise: why couldn’t the English administration maintain the high social standards of continental Europe or England in British India?

There is a clear answer to this.

First, it must be noted that many who raise such foolish questions are college professors earning monthly salaries ranging from one to three lakh rupees for 13 months a year. Despite their income, a vast majority of India’s population still earns less than 4,000 rupees per month.

Thus, it can be said that the standard of living in India today remains far below that of England.

Yet, these scholars teach that this is because the English plundered wealth from here in the past.

In reality, the standard of living of the general populace in continental European countries like France, Germany, Italy, and Spain was likely far below that of England’s general populace. This disparity cannot be understood by measuring GDP.

The standard of a populace is embedded in their language. The standard offered by the English language differs from that of feudal languages and cannot be compared in any way.

Reading Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf revealed that the social standard of the general populace in Germany during Hitler’s time was similar to that of India’s general populace today.

Judging the personality of India’s common people by observing its soldiers is as foolish as judging the common populace of colonial European countries by their maritime traders.

Furthermore, the reality is not that the English came and conquered a country called India.

Instead, they amalgamated around 2,000 minor regions into British India, with the cooperation of local people and, to some extent, local royal families.

However, this act alone could not elevate the social standard of this country to that of England.

The social standard of England’s populace was not created or designed by its ruling royal family. Rather, it aligns with the codes inherent in the language of that land.

From this perspective, the mere presence of English rulers at the top of British India’s administration could not spontaneously alter the linguistic codes, behaviors, relationships, or animosities among the local populace. This is the precise reality.

All the social issues that existed here for ages continued to persist.

The claim by formal scholars that the English administration was a colonial, oppressive rule is incorrect. The reality is that the English populace lacked such an oppressive disposition.

Even today in Kerala, police and other government officials treat people harshly and violently. Blaming the Kerala Chief Minister for this behavior is as absurd as blaming the English colonial administration for the harsh conduct of local officials during their rule.

Another point to mention: when Tipu Sultan was defeated in war, the authority of Malabar fell into the hands of the English Company. However, in each region of Malabar, local kings, rulers, and chieftains continued to govern. It seems they cooperated with Tipu’s officials.

The English Company did not remove these local rulers. Instead, they were required to pay a portion of their revenue to the Company, which managed law and governance.

When this social change occurred, local rulers turned into outright plunderers. They began amassing wealth without any sense of responsibility, as opportunities for fighting and waging wars were eliminated.

QUOTE

“They (the Rajas) have (stimulated perhaps in some degree by the uncertainty as to their future situations) acted in their avidity to amass wealth, more as the scourges and plunderers than as the protectors of their respective little states.”

It was in this context that the English administration began paying pensions to local rulers and took over direct governance.

With this, for the first time in Malabar’s known history, the concept of a welfare state began to emerge.

[VED]

From approximately 1836 to 1854, I have gathered from the Malabar Manual that around 29 Mappila attacks occurred in Malabar, primarily in South Malabar. Some incidents also took place after 1854.

It does not appear that any of the 29 attacks I have listed were directed against the English administration. I am unsure if this is entirely accurate, but it seems no record in the Malabar Manual mentions a direct attack on the English side.

The reality is that the English administration was compelled to legally confront the perpetrators of these attacks and maintain law and order in those regions. Consequently, the English administration’s police, and occasionally its military units, had to directly deal with the aggressors.

What surprised the English side during these confrontations was that the aggressors were, under no circumstances, willing to surrender.

I intend to describe some of these attacks in this piece, perhaps in one or two subsequent writings. At that time, I will also analyze the courage of the Mappila attackers.

A point I wish to briefly mention here, as noted earlier, is that some lower-class Mappilas attacked the Hindus of that time, namely the Brahmins, as well as their servants and loyalists, such as temple priests and Nairs. Occasionally, some enslaved individuals who maintained affection and loyalty toward them also became victims of these attacks.

Of the 82 Hindu victims, the caste status of 78 is determinable. Of these, 63 were members of high castes (23 Nambudiri Brahmins, six non-Malayali Brahmins, and 34 others, very largely Nairs) and the other 15 of castes ranking below Nairs in the hierarchy, eleven being Cherumars, traditionally field slaves in Malayali society.

The point is that the lower-class Mappilas targeted the Hindus of that time. It should be inferred that they had no clear enmity toward those who are today known as Hindus, take great pride in Hindu traditions, and became Hindus after 1900.

Some Cherumars and Thiyyas who were attacked likely suffered because they were aligned with their landlords. There is another point to mention, which I will address later.

I recall CPS mentioning that, during their time studying in Tellicherry, they neither observed nor heard of any clear hostility toward Mappilas within their family or the surrounding Tellicherry community.

However, the reality is that significant social changes were occurring under the Hindu identity in the Indian nation.

When I was living in Alleppey, Travancore, in 1970, a major communal riot broke out in Tellicherry. It seems this event even led to Tellicherry being mockingly referred to as “Talachchedi” (head-chopper).

It appears that the nature of communal riots may have changed during this riot. Hindus from lower classes who had adopted the Hindu identity might have targeted even elite Mappilas in this communal clash.

If this is true, the communal riot turned nearly 180 degrees. I am unsure if this is accurate, but it is plausible—meaning traditional lower-class individuals attacked elite Islamic families.

(I have some points to discuss related to this, but I lack the scope to delve into them now.)

It seems that in some parts of Malabar today, communal attitudes have taken this altered form: lower-class Hindu groups attacking economically prosperous Islamic individuals. If this is happening, a clear explanation can be found in the local feudal language.

Regarding the riots in South Malabar, William Logan states:

The people have been driven to desperation and forced to take the law into their own hands by some intolerable tyranny.

The English officials, despite much deliberation, could not identify what this tyrannical rule was.

If someone had pointed out that it was the feudal language of the region, it is unlikely anyone would have believed it. After all, isn’t Malayalam often described as the mother tongue, maternal love, and motherhood itself?

Another point to highlight is that, in such communal conflicts, while both sides may cite their spiritual texts, quote passages, and reach a state of mental frenzy, the hostility is not primarily provoked by these spiritual sources.

Though both sides may claim that the Quran or other texts say this or that, the elements fueling communal hostility reside in the social language itself.

The clear cause of the communal attacks in South Malabar in the 1830s was the presence of lower-class individuals liberated through Islam. They gained significant mental freedom in a feudal language region. If they exhibited a mental personality akin to that of the English, it would indeed be problematic, as they were not English speakers. That’s the crux of it.

At the same time, they had no direct channel to interact with senior English administration officials.

In 1843, a violent incident occurred near Manjeri at Pandikkad. The perpetrators, who resisted the police, left behind an anonymous note (Warrola Chit). Addressed to the Valluvanad Tahsildar, a Shahid reportedly wrote:

“It is impossible for people to live quietly while the Atheekarees (adhigaris) and Jenmies... treat us in this way.”

That Shahid had no means to directly address English officials.

The English administration had no regard for local officials or landlords. However, they had no alternative but to rely on them to govern.

This situation persists in this country today. Officials treat people harshly and plunder the nation’s wealth. Yet, how can the country function without these officials?

In 1849, Syed Assan, Manjery Athan, and others who gathered at the Manjeri temple left a note stating that the behavior of landlords colluding with government officials was intolerable.

In England at that time, there were landlords and those working under them, but it does not seem that anyone harbored intense resentment or banded together to attack their landlords. If such incidents occurred, Malabar’s social conditions might have emerged there.

The lower-class Mappilas may have felt they were Muslims, but even that feeling came with various shortcomings.

[VED]

I am currently reading The Moplah Rebellion and Its Genesis, a research thesis written by Conrad Wood, a left-leaning social scientist from England, published in 1987.

While Wood appears to blame "British colonialism" when discussing the Mappila Rebellion, I have gleaned several insightful details from his study.

I have a habit of examining events in South Asia through the lens of feudal language codes. I have attempted to understand the developments mentioned in the above book in this manner.

In South Malabar, the English administration persistently tried to understand why some lower-class Mappilas resorted to social violence in certain areas.

It is unclear whether the aforementioned researcher grasped the significance of the local feudal language. Nor is it clear how much British officials in the English administration understood this. However, there are some indications.

To elaborate further on the advice given by Syed Fazl, the Mampuram Thangal, to lower-class Mappilas: he advised that if Mappilas addressed Nairs as ningal or ingal, Nairs should reciprocate by addressing them in the same manner.

It is uncertain whether words like ningal and ingal existed in South Malabar. I am using terms from North Malabar to explain this advice in this piece.

Note that ningal and ingal are words associated with different levels of social standing.

Syed Fazl Thangal likely gave this advice to enhance the social dignity of lower-class Mappilas. However, feudal languages are not suitable for such social engineering efforts.

It is unknown whether Syed Fazl Thangal used such elevated terms when addressing lower-class Mappilas. It seems unlikely that he did, suggesting a flaw in his advice.

Moreover, the lower-class Mappilas were not far removed from their harsh enslavement. They were distinct from elite Mappila families.

As Conolly noted:

The low Moplah, never over-courteous in his manner, is pleased at an order which brings (as he thinks) his superiors in rank and education to his own low level.

It can be inferred that lower-class Mappilas exceeded the boundaries of Syed Fazl Thangal’s advice.

Another of the Tangal’s orders, that every Moplah should use the polite form of the second person when conversing with Nairs only when the latter used the same, was similarly exceeded.

In other words, even if addressed as ningal, they might have responded with inji or ijj.

For enslaved groups like the Cherumars, under the English administration, no amount of labor under their landlords offered any path to personal, economic, or social advancement. They received meager wages.

In contrast, Mappila laborers often received better wages.

Using the social opportunities provided by the English administration, many of these individuals converted to Islam, shedding much of their social subservience.

Of course it was open to any Hindu wishing to mitigate the formidable array of sanctions he was subject to at the hands of the jenmi to do so by becoming a Muslim. In fact it was commonly observed by British administrators that considerable numbers of low-caste Hindus were exploiting this opportunity.

However, Nairs were often unwilling to acknowledge the dignity of these liberated lower-class individuals.

Even if a lower-caste person converted to Islam, Nairs would not hesitate to treat them with disdain and caste-based alienation. Consequently, verbal confrontations between lower-class Mappilas and Nairs arose in all social interactions.

It should be understood that children and women from Nambudiri, temple priest, and Nair families addressed lower-class individuals with degrading terms. Conversely, lower-class Mappilas began degrading the men, women, and children of these groups in their speech.

This does not indicate society moving toward a higher standard. Instead, it results in unrest and hostility spreading like a poisonous gas throughout society.

This is not to say that high-caste Hindus always readily accepted the relaxation of caste restrictions the conversion of, say, a Cheruman to Islam was supposed to entail, and collisions between low-caste converts and Nairs were sometimes the result.

However, William Logan noted in 1887:

As Logan stated in 1887, in the event of a Cheruman convert being ‘bullied or beaten the influence of the whole Muhammadan community comes to his aid’ and that ‘with fanaticism still rampant the most powerful of landlords dares not to disregard the possible consequences of making a martyr of his slave.’

At first glance, it may seem like a conflict between Hindus and Muslims. However, the issue is not Brahmin religious texts or Quranic verses. Rather, it is the mental unrest of various human communities trapped within the constraints of the local feudal language.

While lower-class Mappilas may have felt they were Muslims, in reality, they were not truly Muslims. I plan to discuss more related points in the next piece.

[VED]

In South Malabar, the Mappila attacks on the Brahmin side were distinctly confined to two specific taluks: Ernad and Valluvanad.

To be more precise, these attacks occurred within a 15-mile radius of Pandalur Hill. Only one or two incidents took place outside this area.

“I have puzzled for twenty-five years why outbreaks occur within fifteen miles of Pandalur Hill and cannot profess to solve it,” - H. M. Winterbotham, Member, Madras Board of Revenue.

This was another fact that perplexed English administration officials.

These officials lacked access to various information. Today, one might collect data on a computer or search the internet, though even this can lead to inaccuracies.

Back then, English and other British officials were heavily influenced and limited by what they directly observed and what their subordinates reported.

For instance, English officials might encounter some continental Europeans in South Asia and converse with them. Due to their fair skin and English speech, they might initially seem similar. However, living in Europe would make it clear that continental Europeans were quite different from the English.

English Company officials held great respect for elite, fair-skinned Malabar Muslims of pure Arab descent, viewing them as honest, knowledgeable, and trustworthy.

However, understanding the South Malabar Mappilas, who exhibited contrasting social behaviors and personal traits, posed a challenge for these officials.

Both Company officials and subsequent British administrators were guided by a sense of obligation to govern impartially.

Another point needs to be addressed here.

By 1800, many lower-class individuals in South Malabar had converted to Islam and built mosques in their localities. They had various social leaders, including several Thangals. However, these Thangals often struggled to effectively control them.

Many of these Thangals had limited personal wealth or assets, relying on the voluntary contributions of their followers. They were likely known as Fakirs. Dependent on their followers’ donations for sustenance, issuing commands contrary to their followers’ desires or attempting to overly control them would have been difficult.

Instead of restraining violent lower-class Mappilas, these Thangals may have delivered speeches that incited them. However, there were instances where Thangals urged violent Mappilas to surrender, though these efforts were largely unsuccessful, with one exception, which I will discuss later.

In 1880, in Ernad, Mappilas clashed with a local landlord over building a mosque. When they consulted various Thangals, the response, based on their spiritual knowledge, was:

If the ruler orders the mosque to be relocated, that order must be obeyed.

Enraged by this advice, the gathered Mappilas publicly tore up the written directive in the streets.

It cannot be said that Mappilas in Ernad and Valluvanad had clear leadership. Each mosque and its surrounding community operated in near isolation, largely independent of external control.

However, the Makhdum Thangal of Ponnani was seen as the overarching spiritual leader. This Thangal’s direct authority was limited to a small group of Mappilas around Ponnani. There was no formal or recognized authority over other mosques or their operators elsewhere.

Unlike Christian churches, there was no clear organizational structure among Mappila mosques.

Meanwhile, the Kundotti Thangal was a different phenomenon. This Thangal belonged to a family from western Ernad. During Tipu Sultan’s brief control of Malabar, this family was exempted from land taxes, amounting to roughly 2,700 rupees annually.

When the English administration took over Malabar, this privilege was not revoked. Instead, the English Company provided various forms of support to this Thangal family.

It appears that throughout the English administration, this family consistently supported the English rule. What happened to this relationship in 1921 is unknown to me at this point. If I find relevant information, I will include it in a later piece.

Not only the Kundotti Thangal but also his followers demonstrated clear loyalty to the English administration.

Recall that the culprits who brutally murdered Malabar District Collector Henry Conolly were chased down and captured in Kundotti by the Kundotti Thangal’s men.

The Kundotti Thangal had a distinct group of followers, but they likely constituted only 20-25% of the total emerging Mappila population in South Malabar, roughly 30,000 people.

It is understood that most economically prosperous Mappilas were aligned with the Kundotti Thangal.

There is no historical record of any of the Kundotti Thangal’s followers being implicated as accused in the Mappila attack cases of the 1800s. Furthermore, when collective fines were imposed on certain areas as punishment for Mappila attacks, the Kundotti Thangal’s followers were exempted.

It seems that peace-loving Mappilas in Ernad tended to align with the Kundotti Thangal.

The Ponnani Thangal was believed to hold social leadership over the vast majority. However, his direct command authority was limited to a small group of Mappilas around Ponnani.

There was also evident enmity between the Kundotti Thangal’s faction and the Ponnani Thangal’s faction. The Ponnani faction reportedly attempted to label the Kundotti faction as Shia.

However, the Kundotti faction did not accept this characterization.

[VED]

The backdrop of today’s Hindu-Mappila communal tensions is as follows:

From those who were entirely enslaved under the old Hindu (Brahmin) order to both makkathayam (patrilineal) and marumakkathayam (matrilineal) Thiyyas, many began shifting away from their traditional social identities just before the 1800s.

A significant portion of these groups aligned with the Hindu identity, while another joined the Mappila identity. Today, it may be individuals from these two groups who express the most hostility and animosity toward each other in a communal context.

It seems likely that these two groups now represent the face of Hinduism and Islam in Malabar.

Both groups interact through local feudal language codes, navigating personal hierarchies that bind them to their respective communities. These feudal language codes lack pathways or mechanisms to accommodate individuals from one hierarchical group into another.

The English administration’s policy across South Asia was to classify everyone who was not Muslim, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, or Parsi as Hindu. This was utterly foolish.

It appears that English officials often conflated Brahmin temple rituals and practices with the shamanistic traditions of other communities in their records. This misunderstanding likely contributed to the birth of modern Hinduism.

The attacks by lower-class Mappilas on the Hindu side in the 1800s are often misattributed by today’s Hindus, particularly those from former lower-class backgrounds, as seen in this flawed narrative.

The term “lower-class” itself refers to two distinct groups.

One group consists of tenants who leased agricultural land from Brahmin landlords for cultivation, including some Nairs and many Thiyyas. Among them, makkathayam Thiyyas were treated with slight social distance, while marumakkathayam Thiyyas faced no such distance.

These tenants were laborers, overseen by Nairs.

Below these laborers were enslaved communities tied to the agricultural land.

English Company officials noted that landlords and Nair overseers treated both laborers and slaves harshly. In the early days, local kings retained authority even under Company rule.

English officials frequently deliberated on how to address this harsh social condition but lacked any understanding of the invisible feudal language codes sustaining it.

Lower-class individuals expressed respect and deference, both verbally and through body language, toward landlords and Nair overseers who treated them harshly and abusively. For the English, it was difficult to comprehend why someone would show respect to an impolite individual.

Traces of this behavior are still visible in Malayalam today.

For example, when referring to a police officer who assaulted them, a person does not say, “He hit me,” but rather, “Addeham (he, respectfully) hit me.”

If addeham hits, isn’t that a good thing?

Indeed, during British rule, at least as late as the end of the outbreak period, should a jenmi have any important project in hand, his adian was expected to assist “with his money if need be, with his testimony true or false, and on occasions with his strong right arm.”

If a lower-class individual expressed an unfavorable opinion or word about a Hindu superior, it would lead to trouble.

The “smallest show of independence” was “resented as a personal affront.”

English administrative laws offered no protection for the lower classes, primarily because their officials were often local elites.

Moreover, the Hindu side could crush a lower-class individual within the bounds of the law.

A lower-class person labeled as troublesome could be declared a traitor to the land and community. This would make survival in the region impossible, barring them from spiritual gatherings, social spaces, village wells, riverbanks, and other public areas. Access to rural services would cease, and their household would lose social protection.

Such practices persist today. When police or government institutions target an individual, others align with these authorities, viewing it as loyalty to the land and patriotism.

Even the orders of local kings often required the consent of local landlords to be enforced. Additionally, many landlords operated private courts, dispensing their own justice and punishments.

In the early days, English administrative laws held little value in many areas.

Even so, there seems little doubt that this vassal relationship weakened under British rule which offered alternative means of protection to the adian ...

If the English administration were to return to Malabar today, establishing a legal and police system rooted in unadulterated English, the fear and subservience people feel toward the current police and officials would begin to fade. This is the essence of the matter.

Of course it was open to any Hindu wishing to mitigate the formidable array of sanctions he was subject to at the hands of the jenmi to do so by becoming a Muslim.

Over the decades, this evolved into enmity between lower-class individuals who converted to Islam and those who did not, shaping the face of local communal religious fanaticism.

Elite Muslim and traditional Brahmin families began to lose prominence.

The shadow of the local feudal language continues to operate in the background.

[VED]

With the end of Mysore rule, for some time, the English Company and local kings jointly governed both North and South Malabar as partners.

As mentioned earlier, the English Company officials faced a significant challenge in two taluks of South Malabar. During the Mysore rule, many landlords had fled to Travancore to save their lives. Upon their return, they found their lands occupied and cultivated by Mappila farmers, who treated the land as their own.

Perhaps because these Mappila farmers were clearly lower-class individuals, the traditional landlords could not negotiate or reach compromises to resolve the issue amicably.

Feudal languages create numerous barriers to resolving disputes through dialogue between individuals of different social strata, especially when lower-class individuals attempt to assert a higher sense of dignity.

English officials were also perplexed about what to do. Mr. Stevens, the English superintendent in the region, recommended that the land remain with the Mappila farmers.

However, this recommendation was difficult for senior English Company officials to accept, as the Company’s governing principle was based on justice and true policy (fairness and honesty).

The Company decided that land occupied by Mappilas before September 11, 1787, could remain in their possession, but land taken after that date must be returned to the landlords.

It is worth noting that the Zamorin of Calicut, who is today said to have had close ties with the Kunjali Marakkar family, was among those who returned from Travancore. The Zamorin aligned with the Brahmin-side landlords.

The Zamorin of Calicut, it was noted that his feelings were “for the Nairs, Namburis, and Brahmins, who returned with him from banishment in Travancore.”

The English Company officials faced another issue. Direct interaction with actual farmers and their enslaved laborers was nearly impossible due to the presence of local kings and their officials as intermediaries.

Even so, the earliest years of British rule in Malabar saw the influence of the Company’s European servants undermined by that of the Rajas whom they had placed between themselves and the people.

The act of reclaiming land from Mappila farmers and returning it to traditional Brahmin-side landlords in Ernad and Valluvanad likely fostered a perception among Mappilas that the English administration favored the Hindu side. Simultaneously, local kings’ officials may have attempted to shift the blame for their harsh behavior onto the English administration.

However, this alone may not have driven some Mappilas to attack Brahmin-side individuals. Many attacks likely stemmed from personal provocations in small, localized settings, with the local feudal language playing a significant role.

Now, let me address another point.

In 1799, Tipu Sultan’s defeat and death in battle sparked great joy among the Brahmin side in South Malabar. The existence of an Islamic rule in a neighboring foreign state had previously restrained Brahmin landlords from treating Mappila lower classes too harshly.

In reality, it does not seem that the Mysore ruler or his officials were staunchly pro-Islamic. Brahmins reportedly participated in their administration. However, in South Malabar, the Brahmin side likely perceived Tipu Sultan as an Islamic partisan, as his attacks in Malabar targeted the Brahmin side.

The news of Tipu Sultan’s death in 1799 was naturally celebrated by English officials. When the Brahmin side celebrated this event loudly and joyously, it may have reinforced the perception among Mappilas in South Malabar that the Brahmin side and the English Company were aligned.

In 1799, a group of Mappila leaders, collectively referred to as “Jungle Moplahs,” organized to attack English administrative systems.

Among their prominent leaders were Manjeri Athan Gurikal, Unni Mutta, and Chemban Poker.

I do not intend to delve into details about them in this piece, as it would make the writing too lengthy. However, I will quote a sentence that caught my attention:

Quite apart from the obstacle to centralized rebel organization constituted by the jealousies of the Moplah Muppans, each with his own local power-base.

This group’s organization began in 1799, but by around 1802, it seems to have disintegrated.

Even Islam could not counter the destabilizing power of the local feudal language beyond a certain limit. A single trivial word spoken—or reported as spoken—could ignite hostility among individuals who were otherwise united and organized.

It does not appear that this group had the support of elite Muslim families in Malabar. There also seems to have been a perception that these individuals were akin to bandits.

It is worth noting that such small groups confronted the English side not only in various parts of South Asia but also worldwide. In South Malabar, this group likely lacked significant strength or influence.

In contrast, English Company officials did not exhibit a mindset of backstabbing or building personal factions. If any among them attempted to establish their own banner or movement, it would have been a feeble effort.

However, in this subcontinent, this issue persisted like a disease within any collective effort.

[VED]

The English administration could not overhaul the social fabric of South Malabar and move forward.

Land was held by landlords, much of which was leased out. Among those who leased this land were not only Nairs and Thiyyas but also wealthy Mappila individuals, it seems.

Some affluent Mappilas in Ernad may have harbored mental animosity and a competitive spirit toward Hindu-side landlords.

The details of land ownership and lease agreements cannot be discussed here, as they might seem tedious to readers.

When the English administration closely examined the Mappila attacks in Ernad and Valluvanad, they observed that those who willingly came forward to become Shahids (martyrs) in these attacks were individuals who were socially and economically marginalized.

Typically, in global patterns of violence, those in leadership roles orchestrate attacks while followers bear the brunt of death. Here, however, the question arose: who was instigating these marginalized Shahids?

It is likely that local affluent Mappilas, who viewed the Brahmin side with rivalry, were the ones inciting intense aggression in these marginalized individuals. Additionally, in areas of unrest, Mappila farmers and others reportedly refused to pay their land taxes.

These Shahids carried the mindset that they were the protectors of Islam. However, it does not seem that the broader Islamic community endorsed this one-sided claim.

Outside the two mentioned taluks, other Muslim families do not appear to have supported these lower-class Mappila social attacks, either through words or actions.

Thus in 1894, in a fatwa (judgement) condemning that year’s outbreak, a kazi of Calicut laid emphasis on the fact that the urban areas of the coast were free from these disturbances, which occurred only in the rural interior where the Muslims were less “respectable.”

This raises the question of how to view these “less respectable” Muslim individuals in terms of what constitutes Islam or non-Islam.

When some Mappilas in Ernad and Valluvanad carried out attacks while chanting Islamic slogans, it risked defining the entire Muslim community by this barbaric and low-standard behavior.

In reality, what occurred in these two taluks was neither a spiritual revival nor any form of Islamic religious activity. Furthermore, there is no evidence that these volatile individuals received guidance or orders from elite Islamic authorities.

It is likely that only local Mappila leaders orchestrated these violent spectacles. Even so, most attacks lacked clear social leadership.

The situation is akin to communism. Many view this ideology as a panacea for societal flaws, yet most local Marxists or communists lack a clear understanding of it. Many regional-language communists cannot even pronounce Karl Marx’s name correctly.

With a red bandana on the head, a sickle-and-star emblem in hand, revolutionary slogans on the lips, and a Lal Salaam to top it off, one becomes a communist.

In Malabar and Travancore, many individuals, believing such symbols and slogans suffice to uplift the suffering masses, have brandished revolutionary flags and committed violent acts. However, it is unclear if this aligns with true communism.

This is mere folly, serving as a means for individuals to display heroic bravado or assume leadership roles. Beyond that, it seems unlikely they could address any societal flaws.

It is also true that most of these communists have not read Karl Marx’s seminal work, Das Kapital. Many have not even seen it. Even if read, it is doubtful that anything useful or accurate could be gleaned from it. I won’t delve into that now.

The situation of lower-class Mappilas in Ernad and Valluvanad seems somewhat similar. They were members of Islam, having embraced it in defiance of Brahmin dominance. This was not driven by spiritual motivation.

Nambudiris traditionally grew their hair long and tied it in a kuduma (topknot). Whether in opposition to this or not, Mappilas shaved their heads. This may have served as a marker of Mappila identity. Elite Mappila families likely did not adopt this practice.

On Fridays, groups with shaved heads and urumals (headscarves) would gather at Mappila mosques. Covering the head may have also become a Mappila identifier.

Local Ossans (Mappila barbers) likely performed haircuts and circumcisions. Reciting the Shahada (Islamic declaration of faith) completed the process, making one a Muslim.

However, when the English administration closely examined the situation, they realized these new Muslims had scant knowledge of Islam.

The unanimous opinion of those who commented on the question was that the Ernad Moplah’s ignorance of Islam was abject.

Even in 1921, around 88% of Mappilas in this region were illiterate in their local language. They also held the view that the Quran should only be read in Arabic.

(This may be a valid perspective, as translating the Quran into a feudal language like Malayalam could diminish its value. It is surprising that this realization existed among them.)

However, in 1921, only 321 individuals in the region reportedly knew Arabic. One can imagine the situation in the 1800s.

There seems to have been little interest or opportunity among these Mappilas to study or read the Quran or other Islamic spiritual texts.

It is also observed that the Ulema (Islamic scholars) teaching Islamic knowledge to Mappilas in this region had limited understanding of Islam themselves. Moreover, these Mappilas were ready to defy the Ulema’s directives if they conflicted with their interests, as illustrated in a previously mentioned incident.

The Islamic fervor that ignited among many Mappilas in this region burned as a confrontational stance against local landlordism. This set it apart from Islamic sentiments in other regions.

Often, the most effective means of fostering revolutionary zeal and fervor in this group was through songs and collective chants about Shahids and martyrdom. These could overshadow the Quran’s verses advocating moderation.

Some among this group may have perceived Islam as a revolutionary movement. Other Muslim communities elsewhere could not rein in their impulsive actions.

[VED]

The Mappila attacks in the 1830s exhibited distinct characteristics. One notable trait was that these attackers were unwilling to be captured alive or to surrender. Several reasons may account for this behaviour.

However, what stands out here is the historical context: globally, surrendering without compromising one’s dignity or physical safety was most feasible when facing the old English military. There are multiple reasons for this, but I won’t delve into them now.

The police and soldiers deployed to subdue Mappila attackers were often locals, predominantly Nairs, and occasionally Thiyyas or individuals from other parts of South Asia. Surrendering to them meant an immediate degradation in status. Regardless of one’s personal standing, the use of derogatory terms like nee, eda, or avan would reduce the individual to a state of utter humiliation. Once captured, the individual would be treated as mere filth—kicked, beaten, and tortured with limbs twisted and bones broken. For the captors, this was a source of great amusement, a way to vent their frustrations.

Mappilas who attacked under their communal identity came prepared to die. To avoid capture, they often retreated to sturdy buildings, sometimes Brahmin temples or the residences of the landlords they targeted, as their final refuge.

From within these structures, they fought to the death against the encircling police and soldiers. They rarely ventured out to engage in open combat.

The reason for this was clear: if they stepped outside, the police would aim to shoot them in the legs, immobilising them. This allowed for capture alive, leading to treatment akin to that meted out by modern Indian thugs, military, or police—relentless torture and degradation.

English officials often struggled to restrain the brutal tendencies of their local police forces. These local policemen saw their captives as their traditional subordinates, treating them with ruthless violence.

Many of these attackers were from socially marginalised backgrounds. The emotions blazing within them likely resembled those of today’s communist revolutionaries or martyrs. Islam had liberated them, curbing interpersonal rivalries and fostering a sense of unity. Yet, their burning animosity was fuelled by local social realities and the feudal language. Their fearlessness in the face of death stemmed from an Islamic belief:

Fighting and dying in battle against their oppressors would make them Shahids (martyrs), granting them entry to paradise as a reward. Numerous stories about this circulated, often sung as songs, which inflamed their bodies and minds with zeal and aggression.

It’s worth noting that this same motivation did not drive elite Muslim families in neighbouring regions to pursue this path for paradise. They remained peace-loving, unburdened by the local feudal language and social realities.

However, in Ernad and Valluvanad, this mindset among lower-class Mappilas created widespread panic among Brahmin-side landlords, their Nair overseers, and other aligned lower classes.

Traditionally, Nairs were highly skilled in martial arts. In earlier times, they could have eradicated these Mappila attackers, their families, and entire Mappila communities from Ernad and Valluvanad.

Yet, the arrival of English rule likely weakened their collective strength and the authority they once held.

For nothing was more chilling to the local Hindus than the thought of frenzied fanatics for whom death not only held no fears but was eagerly sought.

It appears that when one of their own died, rather than mourning, they celebrated—a trait that posed a significant challenge to their adversaries.

While the fearsomeness of Tamil Tiger fighters in northern Sri Lanka stemmed from their lack of fear of death, the Mappilas’ pursuit of death was an even more terrifying phenomenon.

Perhaps it was partly because “the Moplah [was] only formidable when under the effects of fanaticism that the despised coolie and abused tenant was attracted to such a suicidal form of action in which even war-like Nairs in possession of arms ‘rushed into the jungle, climbed trees, and ... descended into wells leaving their wives and children and their property at the mercy of (a) gang’ of outbreak participants.”

This quote likely reflects an overview of the Mappila rebellions up to 1921.

It must be understood that the English administration was not aligned with either side. It was merely caught in the crossfire of this conflict.

Moreover, had the English administration withdrawn and restored Ernad and Valluvanad to traditional royal families, the Nair community would likely have regained strength, potentially annihilating the lower-class Mappila communities in these taluks.

It’s also important to recall that Kundotti Mappilas did not participate in these attacks. Their landlord was reportedly the Kundotti Thangal family.

If you have further questions or wish for me to continue using British English, please let me know! I can also explore specific aspects of this topic, analyse related sources, or provide additional context if desired.

[VED]

The English Company officials seriously contemplated how to eradicate the communal animosity that persisted like an enigma in South Malabar.

This issue must be understood differently from how modern Indian officials might approach a social calamity in India.

Thinking in English versus thinking in feudal languages is akin to standing at opposite ends of a 180° angle. While feudal languages can also carry weighty considerations, they are entangled with invisible mental conflicts, like a web of moss. Thinking in English may involve some mental conflicts to a limited extent, but these are far milder compared to feudal languages. I won’t delve deeper into this now.

Society functions with people living in layered hierarchies. Individuals and their families are trapped within this invisible framework, unable to move freely.

Lower-class individuals who embraced Islam escaped this invisible framework to varying degrees. However, they lacked the inherent mental freedom or individuality found in English-speaking individuals. Instead, what they exhibited was a form of social defiance.

When lower-class individuals joined Islam, it often led to social tensions in the region rather than fostering harmony.

Meanwhile, lower-caste individuals under Hindu landlords faced severe hardships and exploitation. The English administration provided avenues for them to file complaints against their landlords through police or government systems. Yet, hardly anyone dared to lodge complaints against the elite Hindu families of their region.

In 1822 it had been noted by H. S. Graeme, then commissioner in Malabar, that the low-caste Hindu generally refrained from ‘appealing to a superior tribunal against the authority’ of his jenmi.

Fear was likely one reason for this.

However, a more significant factor was the intricate social bond encompassing Nambudiri landlords, temple-dwelling Ambalavasis, Nairs, and the lower classes beneath them, forming a vast hierarchical structure.

The landlord often resolved various grievances of those beneath them. In return, the subordinates offered unwavering loyalty and resources whenever the landlord (thampuran) required.

No one in this society could oppose this social reality. In its early years, the English administration could not disrupt this robust structure.

However, the English noted that Mappila lower classes were absent from the social chain linking the thampuran to the enslaved individuals at the bottom.

Many landlords perceived this as a significant issue and a social malaise. Mappilas existed outside these social bonds, viewed by thampurans, their Nair overseers, and others as a societal wound.

Many landlords refused to provide land or facilities for Mappilas to build mosques in their areas.

“What is the loss to the Nairs and Nambudiris if a piece of ground capable of sowing five parrahs of seed be allotted for the construction of a Mosque? Let those hogs (the soldiers) come here, we are resolved to die.”

English officials found this question straightforward.

However, feudal languages harbour complex issues incomprehensible in English.

Here, the lower-class Mappilas’ intent was akin to creating a platform for a lowly sepoy to ascend to IPS ranks—an ambition they may not have fully grasped. Yet, Hindu landlords and Nairs possessed the foresight to anticipate this.

Thus in 1852, H. V. Conolly noted that Hindu jenmis were at times “very averse to the introduction of settlers of the Moplah persuasion in their vicinity.”

English officials learned early in their rule that animosity toward lower-class Mappilas existed from the outset.

In the 1790s, the Nilambur Thirumulpad, who faced issues with Ernad Mappilas, was seen by the English Company as uncompromising. He preferred to leave his vast, wild territory to nature and malaria rather than allocate even a small portion to Mappila lower-class settlers. The English Company failed to sway him from this stance.

Many landlords in parts of Valluvanad adopted similar policies. Mappila attacks were unlikely in these areas, as Mappilas were sparse in number there.

In the domain of the Kavalappara Nair family in southern Valluvanad, a rule prohibited lower-class Mappilas from staying overnight.

In areas near Pandalur Hill, such as Moothedath Madampa, Sreekrishnapuram, and Vellanazhi, there were reportedly no lower-class Mappilas, as they were effectively banned.

All land in these areas reportedly belonged to the temples of the prominent Nambudiri landlord, even as late as 1902.

Readers should note that these Brahmin temples permitted entry only to Hindus and temple-dwelling Ambalavasis. Even Nairs were barred. Most people identifying as Hindus today would have been excluded from these temples then.

In 1902, out of approximately 17,000 people in the mentioned areas, only 28 were Mappilas.

Recognising that local Nambudiri landlords disapproved of lower-class Mappila workers spreading into their regions, some early English officials supported this policy.

Thomas Warden, the Palghat taluk collector, discouraged the influx of lower-class Mappila workers in Palghat and southern Valluvanad.

However, the interiors around Pandalur Hill were teeming with lower-class Mappilas, excluding Kundotti Mappilas. This was where Mappila attacks occurred.

If you have further questions or prefer I continue using British English, please let me know! I can explore specific details, analyse sources, or provide additional context as needed.

[VED]

Let us now briefly examine matters through the perspective of the elite in that society.

The Brahmin community, or rather the Namboodiris, were akin to today’s IAS and IPS officers. Some among them, it is noted, had long ago converted from the Mukkava community. However, these Namboodiris, as a whole, were equivalent to modern IAS and IPS officers.

Far below them were the Nairs of that time. These Nairs, long ago, were appointed from the Shudra community. Granted significant authority, they were given roles akin to police constables or military soldiers, gradually becoming like today’s police constables in society.

Over time, Namboodiri blood mingled with theirs, and in this manner, they too developed a highly elevated mindset.

Just as the general public today is said to be under police constables, the lower classes of that time were under the Nair community.

When viewed by IAS and IPS officers, the general public is seen as descending step-by-step below the lowest police constables under their command.

Similarly, when viewed by the Namboodiris, the lower classes were groups existing step-by-step under the supervision of the lowest-ranking Nair overseers.

At the very bottom were the enslaved people, who endured terms like Nee, Eda, Edi, or being addressed merely by name. These were the lowest of the low, exhibiting significant degradation in their expressions and mental quality. Their gaze, thoughts, touch, presence, and participation were to be strictly controlled, as the language was a feudal one.

The elite stood at +90° heights in transcendental software codes.

The enslaved stood at -90° humility in transcendental software codes.

The gaze, thoughts, touch, presence, and participation of those at the bottom would cause significant value erosion in the software codes of the elite’s life force.

Seeing them, or having their faces and words enter one’s thoughts, would distinctly add distress and other negativities.

The reality is that no elite individual with even a modicum of discernment would be willing to unleash such a dangerous group from societal chains or nurture them.

Empowering a venomous creature lying on the ground to rise and stare directly into one’s face is what the plan of uplifting a lower-class individual entails.

As long as the local language remains a feudal language, this +90° to -90° difference will persist in the transcendental software codes underlying society.

There is an English saying:

Give an inch and he will take a mile.

If you give an inch, he will seize a mile.

In America, when Negro slaves were freed and allowed to live and work alongside others in society, some expressed this view about certain individuals from that group.

In other words, granting even a small concession, freedom, or permission would lead this group to overstep boundaries and encroach excessively. They would lack any mental training to restrain themselves, finding encroachment all too easy.

The elite, over centuries, cultivated various customs, behavioural controls, personal relationship rules, and notions of propriety and impropriety in accordance with the local feudal language’s norms.

Islam’s unleashing of lower-class individuals would not be bound by such matters. Moreover, Islam could not entirely erase the lower-class personality in them overnight. Often, the elite would perceive it as a venomous creature raising its head and staring into their eyes.

It seems that both the English administration and Islam attempted something in South Asia that no one else was willing to undertake. Neither the Brahmins, Buddhists, Jains, Jews, nor Syrian Christians here were prepared for such a societal upheaval.

The English Company’s rule, through the English language, elevated the lower classes to some extent in certain areas. While this may have caused mild mental discomfort among the elite, it did not create severe distress.

This is because a person speaking refined English takes on the personality of the English people.

In Malabar, the English administration is returning. Policemen speak English. Auto-rickshaw drivers also speak to them in English. A significant elevation is observed in the personality of these auto-rickshaw drivers. This does not cause distress to the English-speaking policemen.

However, when Islam unleashes lower-class individuals, the aggressive codes embedded in the local language gain strength in those individuals.

The attitude that emerges in an auto-rickshaw driver is:

I have read the Indian Constitution. Even IAS and IPS officers here are merely salaried servants of the public.

If a police constable addresses them as Ningal (Stature neutral You), the auto-rickshaw driver responds with Ningal (Stature neutral You). If addressed as Nee, they retort with Nee.

If desired, when addressed as Ningal (Stature neutral You), they might respond with Nee, because that is what the Constitution prescribes.

This kind of mental transformation is what Islam has instilled in the lower-class individuals of South Malabar.

The Brahmins were not willing to include lower-class individuals in their religion, as doing so would require them to relinquish their position.

It seems that, to some extent, this has now occurred.

In Travancore, when missionaries from the London Missionary Society included lower-class individuals in Christianity, Ezhava Christians did not allow Pulaya Christians into their churches. Such an incident occurred.

However, the London Missionary Society had a clear organisational structure and attempted to address these issues. Even so, to secure social freedom for the new Christians there, the English administration in Madras had to exert daily pressure on the Travancore royal family.

Even then, many of those people migrated to British Malabar.

The resolve of Islam in Malabar to unleash the lower classes is indeed remarkable. However, Islamic movements had no plans to eradicate the local feudal language.

Even their elite were entangled in the constraints of the local language. They, too, lacked a direct path to embrace the profound benefits of the English administration, as those paths were dominated by local elite castes.

[VED]

Individuals within the English Company’s administration held differing opinions about the Mappilas of Malabar. The reason for this variation lies in the fact that Malabar was home to distinct types of Muslims.

The Mappilas of Valluvanad and Eranad in South Malabar were notably different. They were traditional lower-class individuals gradually influenced by Islamic changes and the slow infusion of Arab lineage. It seems that even their personal names were often not Islamic.

Among these Mappilas, there may have existed some degree of social resentment, occasionally manifesting in aggressive tendencies. It does not appear that this group was part of a broader Islamic brotherhood, whether global, South Asian, within the Madras Presidency, or even within Malabar district. They were likely isolated from other Islamic movements, finding refuge within their own community.

Though it may seem hard to believe today, I observed a social reality in Kuttiyadi, an inland area of North Malabar, a few decades ago. Regarding a well-known Muslim landlord in Kuttiyadi, most Mappila labourers would not dare to stand upright in his presence, let alone consider sitting before him.

These backward Mappila communities, living in thatched huts, have descendants today who possess significant wealth and live in palatial homes. It is unclear whether they are aware of this history.

Inferior castes, however, cannot thus speak of their houses in the presence of the autocratic Namboodiri. In lowliness and self-abasement they have, when talking to such an one, to style their houses “dungheaps,” and they and their doings can only be alluded to in phrases every one of which is an abasement and an insult.

This observation illustrates how lower-class Mappilas in South Malabar might have been perceived by elite Muslim families from other regions.

It seems that the lower-class Mappilas of South Malabar and other areas became acceptable to elite Muslims only after the English administration introduced democratic principles in British India, as briefly mentioned earlier.

The Nair individuals within the lower ranks of the English Company’s administrative machinery likely interacted directly with these Mappilas. Generally, they treated the lower classes with disrespect.

The lower classes would not dare to retaliate, as their greatest perceived enemy was someone of their own level. Mentally, the most satisfying act for them would be to incite Nair superiors to subdue their peers.

However, a contrasting mindset may have developed among lower-class Mappilas, making them appear highly dangerous to others.

Consider the scenario today where ordinary people in Malabar stand in solidarity and collectively resist the degrading tendencies of government institutions. They would be depicted as the greatest rogues and thugs in the region. The most intolerable aspect for others would be that these are mere commoners.

It is understood that H. V. Conolly, the English district collector of Malabar, was perceived by the English Company’s leadership as having sympathy, leniency, and bias toward these Mappila individuals.

This may be because Conolly understood, to some extent, the social issues faced by these individuals. Additionally, he may have been aware of the harsh attitudes displayed by local elite families toward them.

However, Mr. Thomas Lumsden Strange, a Judge of the Sadar Adalat appointed to study the Mappila rebellions and suggest solutions, seems to have had no sympathy for these Mappilas.

The English Company faced a broader issue: it lacked the time and resources to build an organized administrative machinery from scratch in British India. Consequently, it had to retain individuals from local elite families in all administrative positions.

Replacing them with local labourers or enslaved individuals to create an administrative system would lead to internal conflicts and corruption, much like today’s administrative machinery.

It appears that Mr. Strange was convinced by the explanations of local landlords. Their refined behaviour and arguments likely persuaded him. He may not have understood that the local language could produce contrasting behaviours and personalities within the same individual.

Mr. Strange recommended forming an armed unit consisting solely of Hindu (Nair) individuals to counter Mappila violence.

However, District Collector Conolly did not approve this. He preferred forming an armed force with European members. Conolly had no trust in local constables, who were known to flee rather than confront Mappila counterattacks, though this may not have been the primary reason.

It is unclear who Conolly referred to as Europeans. They were likely British citizens from England or other parts of Britain, possibly including Italians or French, though this is less likely.

It should be noted that Tipu Sultan had an army unit comprising Italians and French, yet they were defeated by the English Company’s forces in battle.

While serving as Malabar’s district collector, Conolly likely observed the arrogant and humiliating behaviour of local officials and policemen toward the lower classes. Intervening to correct such behaviour each time would have been impractical, as such conduct was pervasive in social interactions.

It seems that local elite families advised Mr. Strange to apprehend Saiyid Fazl Tangal, and he likely passed this recommendation to the English Company’s leadership.

The Nair community would have eagerly sought to capture this Tangal, who advised addressing Nairs and their families as Inhi, Inhi, or Nee.

While the English Company’s administration would carry out the arrest, its execution and subsequent imprisonment would be in the hands of local policemen. Consider the plight of an elite individual who insulted today’s Indian policemen and fell into their hands.

There is little doubt that Nair policemen would question Saiyid Fazl Tangal with terms like Nee, Enthada, or Ninu perekada. There would be no communal element in this, only intense personal animosity.

If Saiyid Fazl Tangal responded defiantly, holding his head high without subservience, it would create a significant issue. Even if not physically assaulted, he would be in great danger.

The core issue here is humiliation. The advice Saiyid Fazl Tangal gave to lower-class Mappilas was itself humiliating. It is akin to advising an ordinary person today to address a policeman as Nee—a veritable bomb, as Indians would understand.

Such provocation could incite a policeman to break the spine of the offender. The local language itself is a bomb.

Saiyid Fazl Tangal and his father before him wielded significant social influence among the lower-class Mappilas of Valluvanad and Eranad. Their words carried immense weight. Compared to other Tangals, whose influence was limited to their audiences at preaching platforms, these figures stood out.

On the very day (17ᵗʰ February 1852) that the Government appointed Mr. Strange as Special Commissioner, a rumour spread in Valluvanad and Eranad that the police were about to arrest Saiyid Fazl Tangal and disgrace him.

Approximately 10,000 to 12,000 Mappilas gathered at Tirurangadi. The issue was the potential humiliation of Tangal. In the local language, terms like Nee or Avan could cause a mutation in the body and mind of an elite individual, a fact well-known to those familiar with the language.

Representatives of the gathered crowd met Saiyid Fazl Tangal in a secret meeting to inquire if this rumour was true.

On the very day (17ᵗʰ February) that the Government appointed Mr. Strange as Special Commissioner, Mr. Conolly reported that 10,000 to 12,000 Mappilas, “great numbers of whom were armed” met at Tirurangadi and held a close conclave with the Tangal on rumours being spread that he was at once to be made a prisoner and disgraced.

[VED]

When between 10,000 and 12,000 lower-class Mappilas gathered at Tirurangadi, one can imagine the alarm, anxiety, intense fear, and confusion that must have arisen among other groups present. It should also be noted that a significant percentage of those gathered were armed.

Traditionally, the Brahmin faction had Nair soldiers as their protectors. However, by that time, the concept of the Nair army had begun to fade in Malabar.

Yet, these same Brahmin faction protectors existed as policemen and soldiers under the English Company’s administration.

District Collector Conolly was strongly opposed to the idea of the police arresting Saiyid Fazl Tangal. However, encouragement for this action likely came from all sides.

The administrative machinery assessed Saiyid Fazl Tangal as a great rogue who, through highly provocative speeches, sought to drag the traditional police force of Valluvanad and Eranad—Nairs—and the traditional IAS/IPS equivalents—Namboodiris—down to the level of Nee, Avan, Aval, and mere name-calling by lower-class Mappilas.

Even today, the police faction would define someone making such statements as a great rogue.

It is worth recalling that an Islamic leader who, in the 1990s, dared to address police officers as Ningal (Stature neutral You) has been in jail for nearly 20 years without any court verdict.

Instead of ordering the arrest of Saiyid Fazl Tangal, Conolly engaged in a conversation with him. The information Conolly received aligned with his assessment.

As an individual, Saiyid Fazl Tangal was a very good person. Many of his words were reactions to the social issues he witnessed firsthand.

It is the local language itself that keeps individuals and groups in slavery and degraded personalities. Tangal provided advice to lower-class individuals to retaliate through the language against this linguistic suppression.

Saiyid Fazl Tangal’s name and words were often used by many lower-class Mappila aggressors. However, he was neither like them nor one of them.

The Brahmin faction could live with their traditional glory only if the lower-class Mappilas were reduced to dust.

The English Company’s administration could withdraw from Valluvanad and Eranad. Doing so would allow the traditional Nair faction to crush the lower-class Mappilas. Mappila groups from other regions would do nothing to save them, as they live harmoniously with Hindu elite families in their own areas.

By setting the stage for the destruction of lower-class Mappilas and withdrawing, the English Company would remain historically accountable for the resulting social catastrophe.

The best solution was for Saiyid Fazl Tangal to leave South Malabar. He was willing to do so, as the violence committed in his name caused him distress.

This also seemed the best solution to Conolly. There was no doubt that if the police arrested Saiyid Fazl Tangal, they would humiliate him with words. Even today, Indian policemen address citizens with terms like Nee, Eda, Edi, Avan, Aval, or mere names, especially those they view with great resentment.

It seems this was mentioned earlier. An IP officer (predecessor to today’s IPS) during the English administration recorded:

No matter how much they were warned not to harm arrested individuals brought to the police station, in the absence of English officers, policemen would slap them in the face and sometimes kick them on the ground.

Addressing an individual as Nee naturally leads to slaps and kicks.

In the administrative machinery and police, 99.9999% are local individuals. Changing their behaviour would require appointing individuals with exceptional English education as officers and policemen. Additionally, the general public would need to acquire the same level of English proficiency.

The reality is that the English administration lacked the time to achieve this.

Mr. Strange was directed to report whether the Tangal should be brought to a formal trial, or treated as a State prisoner, or be induced to quit the district, quietly.

But meanwhile Mr. Conolly had been successful in his negotiations to induce Saiyid Fazl to depart peaceably. The Tangal avowed that he had done nothing “to deserve the displeasure of the Government; that he repudiated the deeds of the fanatics; and that it was his misfortune that a general blessing, intended to convey spiritual benefits to those alone who acted in accordance with the Muhammadan faith, should be misinterpreted by a few parties who acted in contradiction to its precepts.”

But he added “as his blessing was sometimes misunderstood and his presence in the country unfortunately had led to deeds of horror, he was willing, if the Government chose it, to end further embarrassment by leaving Malabar and taking up his permanent abode among his people in Arabia.”

Mr. Conolly on his own responsibility then acted upon this proposal, a measure which the Government afterwards approved, and on the 19ᵗʰ March 1852 the Tangal, with his family, companions and servants (fifty-seven persons in all), set sail for Arabia.

It must be understood that an official rivalry existed between Mr. Strange and Mr. Conolly. The former’s moves were aimed at arresting Saiyid Fazl Tangal, while Conolly’s were to prevent this.

Conolly privately arranged for Saiyid Fazl Tangal to travel to his native Arabia with his family. Even this confidential information leaked. The public understood that the administration was punishing and deporting Saiyid Fazl Tangal.

Tangal informed that he and his family would reach Calicut at night to board a ship.

However, when he and his family reached Parappanangadi, a crowd of 7,000 to 8,000 lower-class Mappilas had gathered. To them, their only connection to an elite family was being lost.

Despite Saiyid Fazl Tangal’s pleas for the crowd to disperse, they refused. If Tangal proceeded to Calicut, the crowd would only grow, and any violence or aggression from them would create problems.

Thus, Saiyid Fazl Tangal sent a message to Mr. Conolly that he would board a boat from Parappanangadi to reach the ship.

Accordingly, Saiyid Fazl Tangal traveled 12 miles by boat and boarded the ship, which departed immediately.

Today, Indian official history and other accounts record this as the British administration punishing and deporting Saiyid Fazl Tangal. However, I understand this event as one where he was saved from the hands of local policemen.

[VED]

To address and control the lower-class Mappila violence in South Malabar, District Collector Conolly, an Englishman, likely preferred deploying a force of British citizen soldiers.

Several reasons may have contributed to this preference.

One could be the brutality displayed by local soldiers and policemen toward prisoners and those who surrendered.

Another might be the experience of local military constables fleeing in fear from the resistance of lower-class Mappilas.

However, other reasons could also be identified.

One such reason is that in a feudal language, individuals may feel a mental urge to "shine" or stand out in front of others. This can often manifest as excessive behaviour.

There is another side to this. If someone is seen behaving differently, others may feel, "He is trying to shine." This triggers a mental urge to suppress or humiliate that individual.

The four behavioural issues mentioned above were likely distinct from the mindset of the English administration and unacceptable to them.

However, it seems unlikely that a force of British citizens could be stationed in South Malabar, as it would entail significant costs.

Yet, Mr. Strange’s recommendation to establish an army composed solely of Hindu faction members would not align with the English Company’s general policy.

In 1851, the Brahmin faction exerted significant pressure on the English Company’s administration. They demanded the confiscation of property from those involved in Mappila violence and the seizure of all weapons from lower-class Mappilas.

However, the Madras government believed that such actions would exacerbate the problem rather than resolve it.

The following year, a Mappila attack occurred in Kottayam taluk in North Malabar. Reluctantly, the English administration appointed Mr. T. L. Strange’s Special Commission to suppress the Mappila rebellions.

In consequence, the Madras government reluctantly decided on the appointment of T. L. Strange’s Special Commission.

Mr. Strange almost fully aligned with the demands made by the Brahmin faction in their 1851 petition.

It must be noted that British citizens from England or other parts of Britain, upon arriving in Malabar, could not immediately grasp the complex social realities of the region.

Understanding the various distinct communities—Namboodiris, Ambalavasis, Nairs, Tiyyas, and Mappilas—was not something they could quickly achieve.

Additionally, migrants from the Travancore kingdom made various claims. It was difficult to discern which were true and which were false.

When seeking explanations from someone, the individual would provide information aligned with their own and their community’s interests.

High-ranking British citizens in the English Company’s administration often received conflicting and contradictory advice.

In its early days, the Company’s administration was prepared to protect the general social interests of lower-class Mappilas. However, a brutal incident in 1855 significantly altered perceptions of them. That incident will be discussed later.

District Collector Conolly was focused on identifying societal flaws and finding solutions for them.

To the Brahmin faction, Saiyid Fazl Tangal became a rogue, a loudmouth, and a troublemaker because he called for a linguistic revolution, not because he led an armed rebellion.

It should not be assumed that Henry Valentine Conolly failed to understand the core of this issue.

Early English administration records indicate that the primary landlords in Malabar were “Namboodiri Brahmins and Nairs.” Decades later, in 1915, of the 86 major landlords owning thousands of acres, 82 were from the Brahmin faction, two were Mappilas, one was a Tiyya, and one was a Gowda.

In 1881–82, a similar survey found that among 829 large landlords with 100 kandams of land in one share, there were 370 Namboodiris, 339 Nairs, 61 royal family members, 9 non-local Brahmins, 8 Tiyyas, 4 other castes, 1 European, and 37 Mappilas in Malabar.

The situation in Valluvanad and Eranad likely seemed more serious to Conolly. Among the 292 major landlords there, none were Tiyyas, and only two were Mappilas.

Conolly may have considered whether adjusting the number of landlords could naturally resolve the Mappila rebellions.

[VED]

English officers in the English East India Company likely perceived the local elites working at high levels within the Company’s administration in various ways.

Two distinct perspectives can be mentioned here. The first might be that these high-ranking individuals were seen as a sort of riffraff. However, the English officers likely lacked a clear understanding of how exactly they were riffraff.

The second perspective could be the opposite: these individuals were seen as possessing great personality, commanding authority, earning immense societal respect, and embodying ancient local traditions, including Vedic literature. The English officers might have been astonished by the rhythmic recitation of Vedic mantras.

(However, the first group may have observed that such recitations of Sanskrit Vedic verses did nothing to uplift the personal worth of degraded individuals in the local society.)

Often, different English officers might view the same group of individuals in these contrasting ways.

This mention is made to closely examine the differing social perspectives and insights of Mr. Conolly and Mr. Strange, English Company officers in Malabar.

To illustrate this further, let us look at Tellicherry. During the English administration, many families there were influenced by the English language and culture. Tellicherry seems to have been significantly different from other parts of Malabar in this regard.

Among the matrilineal Tiyya families in Tellicherry, significant social advancement had occurred. Many became high-ranking government officials, accomplished lawyers, industrialists, and traders.

Observing these individuals, one could see great personality, commanding abilities, immense talent, and proficiency in English. From this perspective, they were indeed accomplished.

However, consider an example of a lawyer from that time. This lawyer had a clerk, whom he addressed as Inhi and referred to as Onu. The clerk behaved subserviently toward the lawyer.

When ordinary people approached the lawyer for services, the clerk would address and refer to them in a degrading manner. These ordinary people, in turn, referred to the clerk by adding the respectful term “clerk” after his name.

The lawyer, too, addressed ordinary people as Inhi.

From the perspective of English behavioural norms, there is a significant flaw in this conduct. However, English officers would not have had a clear understanding of this issue.

Although the English administration in Malabar strove for social equality and significant enhancement of individual worth, it could not eliminate such riffraff behaviour.

Now, let us discuss the next point.

An English individual arriving as a collector in Malabar district would be positioned above a group of local elites.

This district collector had to work almost alone in their professional domain.

Information, opinions, advice, behind-the-scenes insights, investigative details, and instructions about actions to take—such as whether to meet a visiting individual and how to receive them—were provided daily by the local individuals at the top of the administrative machinery.

These individuals were at the helm of local society. They could tell the district collector anything about the people, and the people anything about the district collector.

Those evaluating the English administration should keep these points in mind.

The next point is an extension of this.

Whether a young English individual could see beyond the perspectives of the accomplished individuals around them or take a stance contrary to theirs depended on their opinion of these elites.

If the collector believed these elites possessed great mental and personal abilities, their advice and opinions would shape the collector’s administrative policies and strategies.

However, if the English officer perceived these elites as mere riffraff, the district collector was more likely to develop their own perspective, insight, and policies.

When Mr. Conolly, as a sub-divisional official in Malabar’s administration, visited Tellicherry, he observed a Tiyya officer named Churayi Kanaran working while seated on a mat on the floor.

The local elite castes would not permit a Tiyya individual to work at a desk and chair. It would have been akin to allowing a household servant to sit on a chair in their home.

This occurred in the 1850s, likely the early phase of the English administration’s efforts to gradually remove local elite families from the administrative machinery.

Conolly immediately instructed that Churayi Kanaran be provided with a table and chair for work. However, this alone would not eliminate riffraff behaviour in the administration or society. Such behaviour persisted through Churayi Kanaran as well. He later retired as a Deputy Collector in Malabar district.

This account is provided to understand the mindset Conolly likely developed to formulate his own administrative policy regarding the sporadic lower-class Mappila attacks in South Malabar.

Conolly likely received advice from all sides to suppress the lower-class Mappilas. It seems he operated by controlling such advice, ignoring their warnings, and seeking alternative solutions beyond them.

[VED]

It is understood that English Company officers living in South Asia with their wives and children faced the same linguistic issues as elite Arab families from Arabia residing in Malabar’s coastal regions.

However, English officers often did not grasp the core of this problem. The reality is that if their wives and children interacted closely with locals without any social shield, they would linguistically decay.

This is because local women and children, in the feudal language, would often be defined by terms like Nee, Avan, or Aval. If English women and children interacted on equal terms with them, they would also fall into the same linguistic definitions.

Moreover, these local terms—Nee, Avan, Aval, Eda, Edi—carry the weight of a boulder.

Tangals of Arabian lineage had warned lower-class Mappilas against this. However, English officers likely lacked clear information about this issue. Even if they had some awareness, they probably had no understanding of how to build a defense or shield against it.

If their children were placed under the care of local household maids, these maids could handle the children in two distinct ways.

One way would be to treat the children like high-caste individuals, refraining from using terms like Nee, Avan, or Aval.

The second way would be the opposite: addressing them as Nee, Avan, Aval, Eda, Edi, Enthada, or Enthadi.

The personality of an English child would undergo a subtle change depending on which of these approaches was used. Much could be said about this, but we cannot delve into it now.

This point is raised to provide insight into the mental dilemma of English officers who viewed society and its individuals as equal. The society of South Malabar, to them, was structured in a hierarchical, step-by-step manner.

Even if ten thousand Englishmen tried to pull it apart, this hierarchical structure would not change. However, if the high-quality English language were allowed to flow through these steps and spread freely, the hierarchy would vanish, replaced by a level social environment.

Returning to the case of Malabar District Collector Conolly, it seems likely that he closely observed the Mappila attacks in South Malabar.

A new group of lower-class Mappilas was emerging in South Malabar. Their social behaviours were likely distinct from those of elite Mappila families.

Islam could only gradually alter their traditional subservience. Moreover, if their elites began emerging from within their own ranks, significant limitations would arise in the changes Islam could bring. The Islam observed in them would likely incorporate many of their traditional mental attitudes.

This is akin to the difference between an Englishman teaching a Malayali the English language and a Malayali who learned English in Malayalam teaching it.

In 1849 Conolly remarked that seldom did “a Moplah of the lower order” pass the grave of any participant in earlier outbreaks “but in silence and with an attitude of devotion, such as is usual in this district in passing a mosque.”

Though these lower-class Mappilas may have lacked a deep understanding of Islam, they likely found great mental inspiration in nerchas and moyluds. They may have developed an excessive zeal for Islam as a movement that socially liberated them.

This is one aspect.

Another observation Conolly made was that no significant communal tendencies were found among the Mappila traders in South Malabar. While they may have held spiritual Islamic beliefs, they did not seem to use their faith to foster social animosity in their worldly activities.

However, in Eranad and Valluvanad, there were likely fewer Mappila traders. Yet, wholesale traders—both Mappilas and non-Mappilas—from coastal areas would come to the interiors to purchase grains, coconuts, areca nuts, and pepper. These traders had neither the time nor space for communal thoughts.

In rural markets, small-scale traders sold dried fish, vegetables, curry ingredients, glass bangles, and more. They, too, were engrossed in their trade.

None of them experienced the slavery under local landlords.

When Henry V. Conolly took charge as Malabar District Collector in 1840, there were 81 officials in the three taluks of Sheranad, Eranad, and Valluvanad, of whom only two were Muslims. Additionally, eight Muslims held temporary positions.

(Note: Sheranad later merged with Eranad.)

Moreover, most rural accountants were Menons. The presence of Mappilas among their subordinate constables was negligible.

From an English language perspective, this poses no issue. However, in a feudal language, the situation is different. Those with government jobs hold significant linguistic dominance—a heavy advantage.

To address this disproportionate representation and prevent social unrest in Malabar, particularly in the two religiously charged taluks of South Malabar, District Collector Henry V. Conolly initiated efforts.

He began appointing more Muslims to government positions.

Still, in 1851, only 22 of the 81 officials in Sheranad, Eranad, and Valluvanad were Muslims. In the police force there, 72% were from the Brahmin faction.

It is a fact that 81% of the population in these areas were Mappilas, most of whom were lower-class Mappilas.

Looking at Malabar district as a whole, only seven of the 330 high-ranking positions were held by Mappilas. Most judges in the courts were from the Hindu faction.

However, across Malabar, there was no significant communal conflict between the Brahmin faction and Muslims.

In Eranad and Valluvanad, there were a few landlords and many lower-class Mappilas.

The fact that officials were often from landlord families posed a significant problem in the feudal language. Their aim was likely to suppress lower-class Mappilas who dared to rise. In feudal languages, a lower-class individual who rises is inherently dangerous, regardless of their religion.

The English administration could have brought societal reform by eradicating the toxic local language.

[VED]

To understand how perspectives shifted, consider this: in the 1970s, if India attacked Pakistan, the U.S. would deploy its navy and other forces at its own expense to protect Pakistan. Today, if India attacked Pakistan, many in the U.S. would rejoice. This mental transformation likely involved sophisticated planning and behind-the-scenes efforts.

However, it seems that in the 1970s and beyond, many Muslims in Kerala were unaware of this shift. Some harbored a vague hostility toward what they perceived as the “white race,” likely directed at the U.S., possibly due to a cultivated notion that whites were inherently opposed to Islam.

They may not have realized that “whites” encompassed diverse ethnic groups.

Some elite Muslims may have unwittingly participated in this orchestrated narrative.

This topic will not be explored further here.

In the 1850s, a similar mindset appears to have been instilled among lower-class Mappilas in South Malabar, possibly through deliberate maneuvers by the Brahmin faction. Local Mappila ulemas and others may have unknowingly contributed to this agenda.

Through impassioned speeches at markets and gatherings, often targeting the English administration, they instilled resentment among lower-class Mappilas. This aligned with the Brahmin faction’s clear motives, manipulating these speakers without their awareness.

Meanwhile, young English and British officers arriving from Britain likely received varied information about Malabar’s Mappilas, akin to blind men describing an elephant by touching different parts—tail, leg, trunk, tusk, belly, ear, or back—each forming a different impression.

Malabar had diverse Muslim communities. The perception of “Mappila” among British officers depended on which group they encountered.

In 1822 Madras Governor General Sir Thomas Munro ascribed Mappilas as the “worst race in Malabar” and the “most hostile” to the British administration.

Though lacking precision, it seems the Arakkal Beevi family, ruling a small area within Cannanore town, often played both sides to fish in troubled waters. They may have attempted to position Beevi as a leader of all Mappilas in Malabar, though other elite Muslim families likely did not endorse this.

The English East India Company reluctantly appointed Judge Mr. Strange to address lower-class Mappila communal tendencies in South Malabar following a January 4, 1852, attack by lower-class Mappilas on the home of Kallattil Keshava Tangal, a Brahmin landlord in North Malabar.

The Malabar Manual records this event neutrally, and other texts from the period also describe it. Curiously, a pro-Mappila account omits the “Tangal” title from the attacked Brahmin landlord’s name, raising questions, but this cannot be explored now.

The Malabar Manual details:

On November 9, 1851, local officials received information that Choriott Mayan and eight others planned to kill Kallattil Keshava Tangal, a landlord in Mattannur, Kottayam taluk. Lacking clear evidence, the Tahsildar dismissed the report and did not escalate it.

On the night of January 4, 1852, these nine, joined by six others and a mob, stormed Keshava Tangal’s home, brutally murdering 18 residents, wiping out the family. Two others were injured. The next morning, the house was burned down.

The fifteen attackers then burned four more houses, killed four people, and desecrated and damaged a Brahmin-faction temple. They occupied a local royal palace and later desecrated and damaged two more Brahmin-faction temples.

In subsequent days, they attacked the home of Kalliyad Nambiar, a wealthy and influential landlord in Chirakkal taluk.

Upon receiving news, two local sepoy units and a European force, led by Major Hodgson from Cannanore, moved to the site. However, Nambiar’s men had already killed the fifteen attackers before their arrival. END.

Keshava Tangal and Kalliyad Nambiar, both local elites, likely suppressed their subordinates harshly. Lower-class Mappilas may have found this intolerable, unlike other lower-class groups who endured it with loyalty.

Landlords may have misused property laws to oppress their subordinates. However, only lower-class Mappilas responded with violence, raising questions about why they, unlike others, could not tolerate such oppression.

It also appears that wealthy Mappila families covertly controlled and encouraged these lower-class Mappilas.

The Kottala Mappila family and other wealthy Mappilas were trying to increase their land possessions in the village.

This attack likely spread the perception that lower-class Mappila violence had reached North Malabar.

Ominous rumours of an intended Mappilla outbreak in the Kottayam taluk in April 1852 drove many of the Hindu inhabitants into the jungles.

This intensified pressure on the English Company to strictly control lower-class Mappila attacks. The term “lower-class Mappila” is used deliberately here.

The attacks were driven by provocations rooted in local feudal language codes, a fact often ignored by Indian historians and social reformers, who focus on property-related issues.

Consider this:

For a brief period in 1852 the issue in fact seems to have reached something of a climax with Syed Fazl, the Mambram Tangal, using his influence to uphold the Moplah’s insistence that all his caste-fellows should receive less contemptuous treatment than the Nair was accustomed to mete out to low castes. The campaign seems to have centred on the demand that the high-caste Hindu should not fail to make use of the respectful form of the second person when addressing Moplahs.

Note the year: 1852!

It is unclear if anyone in South Asia before this attempted such a clear social correction of the demonic nature of feudal language. It seems unlikely.

However, Syed Fazl Tangal’s efforts only upended society. Everyone spoke the same demonic language, including lower-class Mappilas, who perpetuated the same linguistic malevolence in their communication.

Correcting this malevolence in feudal language is not a matter of changing a single word for Nairs or their superiors. The shadow of this word-code permeates most other words in the language. Attempting to correct it everywhere would make a Nair elite a laughingstock, achieving no social progress.

Let’s contextualize the lower-class Mappila mindset in today’s terms.

Imagine ordinary people in Kerala, considered lower-class, organizing and demanding that police constables not address them as Nee, refer to them as Avan or Aval, or use Eda or Edi.

Police would dismiss this. They would verbally degrade anyone in their custody, and if met with strong resistance, resort to physical force.

One point was overlooked:

Ordinary people cannot organize for such a demand because they speak the same language. Without a leader to whom they show subservience, they cannot sustain organization.

Subservient to their leader, they would prefer showing the same subservience to police, as their rivalry is with their peers, not the police. The organization would collapse.

However, if these organizers spoke English, the dynamics would be different. No subservient leader would be needed, and the organization would not collapse.

[VED]

Before proceeding, let us detail a lower-class Mappila attack from 1851.

Readers should keep two points in mind before reading this account.

First, though it may seem like an Islamic attack, in reality, it was a societal explosion caused by a mental uplift among the lower classes that could not align with the social realities of the region. This was not an act provoked by Islam’s holy book.

In regions with feudal languages worldwide, such issues may naturally arise when lower classes convert to Islam.

However, those acting in such provoked ways cannot truly be called Islamic individuals. Islam merely unleashed those socially bound. The names of individuals involved in 1800s Mappila attacks were often not Islamic but lower-class names.

As mentioned earlier, feudal languages act like a pivot, placing two distinct individuals or groups at opposite ends of a seesaw, alternately raising and lowering them.

The Brahmin faction likely manipulated both the English administration and lower-class Mappilas in this manner.

Alternatively, it could be imagined as setting both ends ablaze while reveling in the middle. But this is playing with fire, and burns are inevitable.

The language is the culprit, not the individuals.

The events beginning on April 15, 1851, are described here, the year before Saiyid Fazl Tangal left South Malabar for Arabia.

Local authorities received information that Illikkott Kunjunni and five others planned to kill Kottuparambath Komu Menon and another person. They were apprehended and questioned, but no evidence of such a plan was found, and they were released.

Without evidence, a court cannot convict. This legal system was likely the first of its kind in South Malabar’s recorded history.

The Brahmin faction may later have portrayed the folly of releasing them as the English administration’s incompetence.

Even today, Indian police know that to enforce law in this land, a suspect must be thoroughly “dealt with,” breaking their body and mind.

On August 22 of the same year, six lower-class Mappilas killed Kottuparambath Komu Menon and his employee on the Manjeri-Angadipuram road while Menon was returning from the Valluvanad Raja’s Mankada Kovilakam.

In a region under English rule for nearly 50 years without significant conflicts, such incidents would cause immense shock.

Three more joined the killers and moved toward Komu Menon’s house.

There, they saw Menon’s brother armed with a gun and a sword, ready to confront them. Instead of engaging, they went to the house of Komu Menon’s brother, Ittiunni Rama Menon, who was bathing in a pond.

They spotted Kadakkottil Namboodiri sitting on the veranda and killed him.

A side note: this is akin to an IPS officer being seen at a constable’s house today. Back then, it was a socially accepted courtesy, but today it would be deemed improper.

Hearing the commotion and screams from Namboodiri’s killing, the household fled in fear.

The attackers chased and surrounded Rama Menon as he tried to escape from the pond, hacking him to death. They then set the house ablaze.

Next, they went to Mudangara Rarichan Nair’s house, wounding him. Nair later died from his injuries.

The attackers then set fire to Chengara Variar’s house.

The next morning, they were spotted in Kurava amsam, about eight miles from Rama Menon’s house, heading to Kulathur Variar’s house. This Variar, a powerful landlord, was likely mentioned earlier for refusing land for a mosque.

Upon entering, the attackers reportedly shouted, “Where is that pig who opposed the mosque’s construction?”:

“Where are the Ameen sent by District Munsif to attach the land on which the mosque was being erected and the Kolkars and the pig who oppose the erection of the mosque?”

By then, five more had joined the attackers.

Kulathur Variar’s household and workers fled. The attackers told women and children to leave. They killed two of Variar’s workers. Two younger Variars escaped, but the 79-year-old elder Variar locked himself in a room.

Variar’s household informed local Mappila elites. About fifty local Mappilas arrived, but two joined the attackers, shouting, “The big pig is inside!”

The elite Mappilas could do little.

The elder Variar was dragged from the room to a field 60 varas from the gatehouse, where one or two attackers hacked him, severing his head. Onlookers could only watch.

Records of this event do not capture the elder Variar’s screams, pleas for mercy, or the anguish of his family and friends, as such details are absent from such documents.

Writing “hacked to death” may not convey the excruciating pain and panic. The experience of a blade cutting through flesh, marrow, muscles, and bones is harrowing.

This vivid description aims to illuminate social realities.

Assuming such an attack reflects Islam’s nature may be foolish. Before English rule, the lower classes endured such violence. Moreover, Nairs frequently engaged in mutual bloodshed.

In truth, without a heavily armed police force in today’s India, the 70% of the population languishing in poverty would likely attack the homes of affluent citizens, hacking many to death.

Those elevated in India today are the face of the nation, standing atop millions crushed by feudal language codes, unable even to writhe.

Naxal movements have committed acts strikingly similar to those of lower-class Mappilas.

Yet, these offer no lasting solutions. Most such violence stems from social personal grievances. Ideologies and spiritual doctrines are merely platforms for organizing these grievances.

The English administration had to intervene, as citizens needed peace under their rule. They likely did not realize a demonic software code operated in the background of society.

The tragic reality is that no one gave lower-class Mappilas a revolutionary idea to surpass the Brahmin faction.

Had lower-class Mappilas, their Tangals, and ulemas declared clear support for the English Company, demanding English education for their people, English attire for their children, and the abolition of degrading feudal language education, their mental greatness might have transformed society.

Today, many Muslims raise their children with such a mindset, not viewing English as an enemy language.

If Muhammad, revered as Islam’s prophet, shone brilliantly in distant Arabia with a towering personality, lower-class Mappilas and their leaders lived at trivial mental levels, grappling with petty heights.

They cannot be seen as Muhammad’s reflection or representatives. Yet, Islam socially unleashed them.

So, what was the outcome?

[VED]

When studying the Mappila attacks in South Malabar during the 1800s, it is necessary to examine other social issues faced by the English Company administration in the Malabar region. The English Company sought to implement significant reforms to address many social flaws in both Malabar regions, particularly in South Malabar.

A major social reality in Malabar, especially South Malabar, was slavery. In South Asia, many social practices lack clear, documented legal foundations, as they are rooted in local customs.

There seems to be no written law mandating that teachers address students as Nee, Eda, or Edi, yet this is the local norm. Students cannot resist this practice, and parents may struggle to find grounds to complain.

The slavery system in Malabar was similar. Slaves lived in small, rudimentary huts on agricultural estates, without basic sanitation facilities. They existed at the lowest, most degraded level of linguistic word codes.

They could not leave these estates, much like chickens raised indoors today, unfamiliar with the outside world.

England had no slavery. It is unclear if slavery ever existed in England’s history. However, in continental Europe, slavery persisted in certain sectors, and social oppression, with feudal language characteristics, existed in places like France.

As English rule spread globally, the English public gained experiential knowledge of slavery. A major social debate emerged in England to abolish slavery in areas under English rule. For an Englishman in England, enslaving a human was incomprehensible.

In societies with hierarchical language structures, however, slavery is commonplace, with no social communication mechanisms to curb it. The only recourse is legislative action.

Delving deeper into Malabar’s slavery would divert this narrative from the Mappila attacks’ trajectory. Thus, a brief overview will suffice before returning to the main thread.

As early as 1702, when British rule began, the English Company issued a proclamation against slave trading:

So early as 1702, the year in which British rule commenced, a proclamation was issued by the Commissioners against dealing in slaves. A person offering a slave for sale was to be considered as a thief. Vessels used in trade (except fisher-boats) were to be confiscated. But the proclamation was not to prevent the privileged superior castes from purchasing the children of famine-stricken parents, as had been customary, on condition that the parents might repurchase their children, as had also been customary, on the advent of better times.

The Company could not intervene in every societal practice, as its personnel were few and mostly local. Their interactions—with traders, farmers, and others—were with locals, making it impossible to dictate every action. The only option was to overlook many painful societal practices.

Though selling slaves to coastal traders was banned in English-ruled areas, such sales continued covertly in French-controlled Mahe and Dutch trading hubs like Cochin. Mappila traders reportedly participated in this secret trade, selling slaves to French islands for labor, and possibly later to South Africa.

There is a possibility that Malabar slaves found better lives on French islands or in South Africa, though they remained enslaved.

The Company noticed that traders and landowners sold slaves to pay government dues, treating them like livestock. In 1819, the Company banned using slave sale proceeds to settle government payments.

The English East India Company’s Director Board in England could not comprehend South Asia’s social realities. In 1821, they wrote sternly to Malabar’s Company administration:

They had received information that agriculture in Malabar under Company rule relied on enslaved labor. Why was the Company allowing slavery to persist? What measures were being taken to emancipate slaves?

Explaining South Asia’s social environment to England was nearly impossible, as was conveying the limitations of Company actions.

When a detailed explanation was sought, Tellicherry’s Company center responded to the Director Board, stating that slaves were under legal protection:

A report was called for, and Mr. Vaughan in his letter of 24th August 1822 merely said that the slaves were under the protection of the laws. The general question of slavery was not, however, allowed to drop—as, indeed, at that time it was not likely to be—for the British public mind was in great excitement on a question of the kind nearer home.

In November 1836, the Company ordered the return of funds from slave sales on government-owned estates and recommended steps to free government-owned slaves.

However, such emancipation required time.

Freeing slaves from government estates raised the question of their protection. Like caged birds released suddenly, they might perish from hunger or attacks, gaining no life benefits.

Moreover, freeing government estate slaves would cause alarm and resentment among other societal groups, who would find the daily sight of these formerly despised individuals intolerable.

Simultaneously, freeing government slaves would inspire private estate slaves to expect imminent emancipation, leading to labor issues and indiscipline. Legally freeing private slaves was not feasible, as they were valuable trade commodities.

It would be akin to a government ordering a butcher to release cattle, goats, and chickens slated for slaughter.

Amid this, under the legal protections provided by English rule, many slaves converted to Islam, beginning to socially challenge elites. With each generation, significant changes and personal growth emerged among them.

More needs to be said about Malabar’s slavery. Describing the 1800s Mappila attacks in South Malabar without this context would be incomplete.

[VED]

Searching online for slavery might frequently bring up the words British or Britain in the results. Phrases like Slavery in British India, Abolishing of Slavery in the British Empire, Slavery in British West Africa, and Slavery in the USA are scattered across search results.

School textbooks, through sheer manipulation, have instilled in many students the notion that England or Britain was responsible for perpetuating slavery worldwide. As a result, seeing such phrases in online searches might reinforce the idea that England was a nation of slave traders.

However, the reality is quite the opposite. England worked to abolish slavery worldwide. Relevant search terms include Slavery Abolition Act, British West African Squadron, and Emancipation of Slaves in West Indies.

Yet, a common phenomenon today is the writing of history that implies slavery was a free labour programme run by the English. No one seems interested in telling the truth. Even in England, there is a noticeable lack of interest in their own history.

Online, one mostly finds writings by prominent figures blaming English colonialism.

In many parts of the world where English rule spread, it was common to employ slaves traditionally. The newly established English administration could not overturn local systems. However, as the English language spread in these regions, the notion that slaves were mere animals began to fade among the people themselves.

When information about slavery reached England, various organisations began working against it. Their efforts led to the Slavery Abolition Act being proclaimed in Britain in 1833. This resulted in the liberation of 800,000 slaves from African regions under British rule alone. For the first time, traditional slaves in many parts of the world began to see the light of freedom.

When reading such information, many assume that British people freed millions of slaves they themselves had enslaved.

The truth, however, is different. It was the slaves of traditional local rulers who were freed. Some slaves under European-run plantations in those regions may also have been liberated.

One detail often overlooked is that even in Malabar, enslaved people escaped their masters to work in plantations run by Europeans in some areas. Though socially considered part of the slave class, they received better wages and facilities in European plantations.

Freeing slaves in the British West Indies became a massive headache for Britain. Slaves were considered property, bought by the wealthy just like livestock. The idea of freeing them was unthinkable to local populations.

Slave owners demanded compensation for the value of the slaves they were to free. Moreover, local authorities and elected assemblies in those regions opposed the emancipation.

This led to heated debates and legal battles. Ultimately, Britain paid a total of 20 million pounds to around 45,000 slave owners. In today’s currency, this amounts to roughly 76 billion pounds. To facilitate this compensation, a Slave Compensation Commission was established in London in 1834.

When England took over governance in various parts of the world, this was one of the significant financial burdens it faced—a massive economic setback.

Yet, even today, vile historians seek to find fault in this. Their new argument is as follows:

Slave owners were compensated, but the slaves received nothing for their labour. Isn’t that a travesty?

It’s akin to accusing someone who paid a butcher a fortune to free a buffalo from slaughter, saying the buffalo itself received nothing.

There is a point to highlighting this historical event.

When the English East India Company learned of measures to free slaves on its own agricultural lands, the company’s Director Board expressed great satisfaction. They also urged consideration of freeing slaves on private estates.

However, they cautioned that this must be done with extreme care. The reason was the fear that landowners in Malabar might sue in England. If a court ruled that compensation must be paid for their slaves, it could bankrupt the English East India Company.

The Directors on learning what had been done “entirely approved” of the measures adopted, and requested the Government to consider how to extend similar measures to the slaves of private owners, and urged the necessity of carrying out the measures with “extreme caution”. This was contained in the Directors’ despatch of 17ᵗʰ August 1838, and in penning it they evidently had before their eyes the fear of being heavily mulcted after the West Indian fashion in compensation to owners if any overt act was taken towards publicly recognising a general emancipation of slaves.

[VED]

On 7 January 1839, the Malabar District Collector sent a letter in response to the instructions given in a letter dated 17 August 1838 from the Director Board of the English East India Company.

(Details of the Director Board’s letter were provided in the previous chapter.)

The essence of the Collector’s letter was that there were no slaves in North Malabar, or if any existed, they were very few in number. Furthermore, it stated that, overall, since 1822, there had been significant improvements in the condition of slaves.

While this may have been true, it is also a fact that to someone arriving from England, the condition of the lower classes in Malabar would seem intolerable. However, to the local people of Malabar, this was merely an ordinary social reality.

According to the Malabar Manual, no significant further action was taken immediately regarding slavery in Malabar. However, a government order was issued on 12 March 1839 for government officials to follow:

to watch the subject of the improvement of the condition of the Cherumar with that interest which it evidently merits, and leave no available means untried for effecting that object.

This firm decision at the top levels of the English Company likely brought significant protection and freedom to the social conditions of the lower classes, particularly in South Malabar.

The awareness that harming them was legally punishable in many ways would have reached the socially elite in the region. As a result, traditional ruling families would have softened their historically harsh behaviour.

For the lower classes, this would have translated into the ability to behave more freely and, to some extent, even defiantly.

The painful consequences of this would have been felt by the local elite families, their women, children, and others. The senior officials of the English Company likely did not fully grasp the extent of this.

Mr. E. B. Thomas, the Judge at Calicut, wrote in strong terms on 24ᵗʰ November 1841 a letter to the Sadr Adalat, in which he pointed out a number of facts which had come judicially under his notice. Women in some taluks fetched higher prices in order to breed slaves.

Such slavery and sales were occurring on the agricultural estates of large landowners in the interior regions of South Malabar. It is highly unlikely that the English or British individuals at the top of the English Company administration were aware of these matters.

The average cost of a young male under ten years was about Rs. 3-8-0, of a female somewhat less. An infant ten months old was sold in a court auction on 10ᵗʰ August 1841 for Rs. 1-10-6 independent of the price of its mother.

When the English administration implemented written laws and courts in Malabar, these systems inadvertently allowed local traditional cruelties to persist.

And in a recent suit, the right to twenty-seven slaves was the sole matter of litigation, and it was disposed of on its merits.

In a second letter, dated 24ᵗʰ August 1842, Mr. E. B. Thomas pointed out that the slaves had increased in numbers from 144,000 in census 1835 to 159,000 in census 1842, and he observed that “no gradual extinction of slavery is really going”.

Reading such accounts today, many may not feel clear sympathy for such slave emancipation. The reason could be that allowing socially lower classes to rise might create various social and familial problems for others, as many would understand.

The reality is that even granting a servant in one’s home the right to sit on a chair and engage in discussion can cause significant distress for many. Behind this reality lie deeper truths.

However, English individuals, standing above society due to their language and thus detached from its intricacies, would not comprehend the gravity of the horrors they were enabling.

Upon reading the letter from Mr. E. B. Thomas, the Director Board of the English East India Company in England was truly shaken. The realisation that their administration was facilitating such horrors and providing legal frameworks for them became a profound awakening for their minds and thoughts.

The Director Board sent orders to the Malabar administration to enact laws to completely abolish slavery.

It was apparently these letters of Mr. E. B. Thomas which eventually decided the Board of Directors to send out orders to legislate in the matter, for in their despatch of 27ᵗʰ July 1842 they first sent orders “for the entire abolition of slavery”.

On 15 March 1843, the Director Board reiterated this matter in another letter.

Consequently, the English East India Company passed a law (Indian Slavery Act) prohibiting slavery in India.

(Note: It is important to clarify that the national name India referred to British India at the time. Today, this name has been adopted by another country, causing significant confusion in historical studies. This topic cannot be explored further here.)

Every step taken by the English East India Company granted significant social freedoms to the enslaved people of Malabar. The bitter consequences of this were likely experienced daily by the Brahmin religious communities of Malabar and other groups aligned with them.

At the same time, the lower classes began to gain increasing social opportunities. Small and large advancements in their mental, physical, and social conditions continued to emerge.

It was then that they began to develop a deeper understanding of the dire state of their social condition.

They would ponder who was maintaining such a harsh and exploitative social system. It was none other than the English Company, which had come from foreign lands to rule, sustaining their enslavement and providing extensive legal frameworks to their owners.

[VED]

When the Indian Slavery Act of 1843 was passed as a legal framework in British India, it likely caused immense anxiety, distress, and panic among the social elite.

In Malabar, such a move was, in reality, not something that could be easily accomplished by anyone, considering the traditional context. The reason being that what the English administration was unleashing was something far more terrifying than a social upheaval, akin to allowing an ordinary person in today’s India to casually address IAS or IPS officers by their first names or as equals.

Under normal circumstances, Hindus (Brahmins) would have organised the Nairs to take up arms to counter this upheaval. However, due to several decades of administrative actions by the English Company, the authority of Brahmins over their Nairs had begun to wane in Malabar. Moreover, without clear leadership, the Nairs lacked the ability to organise themselves, as the prevailing language did not facilitate such unity. The only leadership they had was from English Company officials.

All they could do was watch the drastic changes unfolding in society. They likely experienced and recognised that learning the English language could flatten the entire social structure.

The English Company could not place a formerly enslaved person, even one educated in English, into high-ranking positions, as it would dismantle the entire system.

From the Brahmin perspective, those they traditionally regarded as mere livestock were now entering society and using social structures meant for humans.

Imagine cattle or poultry being taken for slaughter today. It is conceivable that, in a few centuries, some of these creatures might engage in human intellectual domains. Through technologies like the Metaverse, seen as the next step in software technology, humans might even communicate with certain animals.

This is because the initial form of the Metaverse may be a space where minds alone interact.

It feels pertinent to mention a couple of points about this technology.

When missionaries from the London Missionary Society worked to uplift the enslaved in Travancore, the local elite reportedly described them as half-human, half-animal.

Had those missionaries spent years trying to elevate cats or chickens instead of educating and training these so-called half-humans, it would seem unbelievable today.

Yet, when these individuals, perceived as half-human, were trained in human knowledge, they proved to possess immense intellect and capabilities. Today, descendants of such individuals can be found in roles like doctors and other technical fields in many English countries.

Though the Metaverse technology is not fully understood, some thoughts come to mind that seem worth noting here.

Until the 1980s, many things seen in India today seemed impossible. Countries like England and America were perceived as unattainable paradises. There was even a belief that Indian individuals could not master computer technology.

However, when IT company leaders in the US made efforts to teach such technologies to people in countries like India, a significant portion of ownership in these technologies shifted to those who acquired this knowledge.

From 2002, I engaged daily in writing, discussing, and participating in debates on several British online forums.

In these interactions, my physical appearance, facial expressions, or presence were absent.

However, the definition of an Indian was known in the context of human classification. Moreover, my thoughts and words were steeped in South Asian realities.

The experience back then, for the English and other British participants in those forum discussions, was akin to encountering a presence of intellect or thoughts from another world.

From 2004 to 2007, it was a remarkable experience of minds and thoughts connecting.

The writings I produced during that time are available today on the VICTORIA INSTITUTIONS website under the title My Online Writings - 2004 - '07. They can also be found on Google Books, archive.org, academia.edu, and similar platforms.

Thinking along these lines, it seems almost certain that in a few centuries, some creatures currently considered animals will communicate with humans through various advanced technologies.

At that point, they might view the chaining, caging, and slaughter of their ancestors as significant issues.

I recall that the current topic of this writing is slavery in South Malabar. When words were let loose without restraint, the writing veered slightly off course. I hope to return to the main path in the next chapter.

[VED]

Before the Indian Slavery Act of 1843 was passed as a legal framework in British India, a law prohibiting slavery had already been enacted in Britain in 1833, known as the Slavery Abolition Act (1833), applicable across the far-flung English empire.

It can be understood that the English East India Company abolished slavery in the regions of South Asia under its control with the backing of this law.

In today’s formal school education, Abraham Lincoln is often highlighted in connection with the abolition of slavery. However, what he did was merely a political manoeuvre, enacted on 1 January 1863—approximately 27 years after the English empire had abolished slavery. Lincoln likely saw an opportunity to gain significant support from voters.

However, it must be understood that England endeavoured to eradicate slavery from the English empire without any profit motive. In fact, England incurred significant losses.

Abolishing slavery in Malabar was a major event, particularly in South Malabar. However, the English government lacked the manpower to enforce this law as if it were imposed by decree. This was because a significant portion of those employed in the government were either slave owners or their relatives.

If slaves were simply expelled from agricultural estates, the question remained: how would they survive in society? They lived like caged birds with no exposure to the world. Moreover, they had unkempt bodies and minds.

The District Collector, Mr. Conolly, widely publicised the provisions of the slavery abolition law. However, when explaining the law to the Cherumar, he advised them that if their masters treated them with kindness, it was in their best interest, as well as their duty, to remain with them.

On the passing of the Act, its provisions were widely published throughout Malabar by Mr. Conolly, the Collector, and he explained to the Cherumar that it was their interest as well as their duty to remain with their masters if treated kindly.

It can be understood that the Cherumar were kept as diminished individuals through two clear mechanisms.

The first, which is not documented in scholarly writings, was the infliction of degrading feudal language terms, which crushed their minds and bodies.

The second was providing them with meagre food. Typically, their diet consisted of rice and salt, sometimes accompanied by a little chilli or similar items. They would also catch and eat whatever creatures they could find. Such practices may not be seen today.

The Cherumar are supposed to be so styled because of their low stature (Cheru = small), but low feeding produces low stature.

Their filthy living conditions, malodorous bodies, grotesque facial expressions and physical appearance, and tattered, foul-smelling clothing fostered intense self-loathing and disinterest among them.

At the same time, they held great respect and subservience toward the Nairs and Ambalavasis, who wore fine clothes, lived in clean environments, and maintained striking physical beauty, and even more so toward the Hindus (Brahmins) above them.

The social dynamic then was similar to the respect and subservience shown by the public toward government officials today. Outside Kerala, traces of this atmosphere persist in many Indian states.

Implementing the abolition of slavery in Malabar as mandated was indeed challenging for the English East India Company.

He proclaimed “The Government will not order a slave who is in the employ of an individual to forsake him and go to the service of another claimant; nor will the Government interfere with the slave’s inclination as to where he wishes to work.”

This can be compared to two laws in present-day India: the compulsory education law and the law prohibiting minors from working.

Although both laws are said to aim at freeing children, the first gives no value to a child’s reluctance to attend school or live under teachers’ authority. The second prohibits minors from participating in commercial activities.

In short, both laws treat children as utterly incompetent and mentally debilitate a significant portion of them. This topic cannot be explored further here.

Mr. Conolly could not pretend to be unaware of the social realities in South Malabar. Slaves were the property of their owners, purchased as tools of labour. They were not the enlightened individuals imagined in England but were raised almost like animals.

Any person claiming a slave as janmam, kanam, or panayam, the right of such claim or claims will not be investigated into at any of the public offices or courts.

Conolly had to state that if someone claimed a slave as their property under janmam, kanam, or panayam, such claims would not be investigated by government offices or courts.

The English Company could not simply eradicate entrenched local customs overnight, as everyone in society lived in cooperation with these customs in various ways.

When the Company administration banned the practice of burning women alive on their husbands’ funeral pyres in northern parts of South Asia, it sparked significant social unrest. Society’s deeply ingrained customs cannot be changed abruptly, as people would protest.

This is because there would be little support for such social reforms. Individuals live and survive in society bound by feudal language ties stronger than steel chains, interconnected and cooperative with others.

Many cannot think or express opinions freely, and often, such thoughts do not even arise.

Conolly’s reluctance to fully comply with the new law’s provisions likely stemmed from heeding and understanding the explicit warnings and explanations from local elite families working at and below the top levels of the Malabar district administration.

In the other portions of the proclamation, he closely adhered to the language of the Act.

However, in general, Conolly adhered closely to the wording of the new legal provisions in other matters.

These measures in due course received the cordial approval of the Court of Directors, who, in their despatch of 30ᵗʰ July 1845, wrote as follows: “It would defeat the very object in view to create any estrangement between them and their masters, and, moreover, would be an act of injustice and bad faith of which the masters would be entitled to complain.”

Conolly’s measures later received the approval and endorsement of the Company’s Director Board. In their letter dated 30 July 1845, they stated that creating discord between slaves and their masters would contradict the law’s objective and would be an act of injustice and bad faith, giving masters grounds to complain.