Tatcholi Othenan – As narrated in the Ballads of the
North
The Northern ballads (Vadakkan pattukal) are a series of folk
songs sung by working women in the paddy fields, to fend away boredom and drudgery,
composed mainly in colloquial North Malabar Malayalam dialects, without complex
Sanskrit infusions. Typically, these are songs about the heroes of the
Kadathanad region, especially their armed
Othenan – The Supreme Warrior of Kadathanad
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Mangat Achan – The Zamorin’s Commander in Chief
An important dignitary in the Zamorin’s court
Even though most people familiar with the Zamorins know of
the Manghatachan, very few know of any details other than some hazy mentions
and a few myths. It is still not clear, but drawing from various sources, we
can get a general picture. Recall also that while the Zamorin was a titular
position provided to the senior-most Thamburan in the various
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Diego Garcia – Indian connections
Diego Garcia - A remote island, in the middle of nowhereSouth of the Maldives, some 1,000 miles below Trivandrum, located
at the center of the Indian Ocean, lies the small archipelago comprising the
Chagos islands, and among it, the Island cloaked in mystery, Diego Garcia. It is
of strategic importance these days and occasionally there is talk about its
displaced islanders and the island’s
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Battle of Calicut - 1502
A Turning PointThe people who sailed and commanded the battleships for the
Zamorin, used for fighting the Portuguese were a misunderstood lot. While the
Portuguese and other Western scribes collectively grouped them under the
heading Moors, current writers tended to group them under the Moplahs or
Mappila community. The reality is far from the truth. The original seamen who
commanded the small
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Wither goeth the Porlathiri?
The Bayanor of Cartinaad, or the Ballanore Burgarie…
In a previous article, we covered the highlights of the
Zamorin’s tussle with the Porlathiri and the annexation of Polanad, which locale
by the way, is more or less today’s Calicut. We also mentioned that the
Porlathiri fled to the Kadathanad region. Many questions continue to be asked
about the Kadathanad raja, and so I thought it best to add
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The Pamban Channel at Rameswaram
The Portuguese at Pamban and connections to Malabar
Some years ago, I mentioned the Pamban bridge, while writing
about the Ceylon boat mail, a bridge that was an engineering marvel when it
was constructed in 1914, over 108 years ago. The Pamban bridge was planned as
the first phase of the linkage between India and Ceylon. However, the second
part of the link, connecting Dhanushkodi to
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The Panniyur Sukapuram conflict– The Kurmatsaram
A backdrop to the Zamorin’s Tirunavaya conquest The Zamorin annexed Tirunavaya, followed by the Valluvanad and Vettam territories, and with this the chasm between the two feuding dynasties of Perumbadappu and Nediyirippu, widened, fracturing the peaceful life in medieval Central and South Malabar, as well as the territories between Cochin and S Malabar. The catalyst to the move by the Zamorin
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Hiranyagarbha – Elevation of the Royal caste
When royals were reborn from the golden womb
The sacrifices like Hiranyagarbha which had lost relevance
in Northern India, remained in vogue for a longer time in the South, if only
to Brahmaṇize the political powers of the area. Some royal families of the
south are known to have continued with the Hiranyagarbha sacrifice to claim origin
from the Hiranya Yoni. It was quite common in Venad and one
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Ibn Battuta, the Tangerine
Ibn Battuta’s Rihala – A product of oral history
I have realized along the way, after some 35 years of global
travel that – you can never understand an Arab sitting and studying books and
power points in Stuttgart, nor can you understand an Afghan by sitting in Zurich.
Ibn Battuta’s accomplishments can never be surpassed by any other, for such was
the period and the difficulties he faced, going
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The Devil of Calicut - A Misconception
Varthema in Calicut
In Christian evangelical discussions concerning the advent
of the devil, there is frequent mention of the so-called ‘Calicut Devil’, and
when I recently came across it, I decided to check a little deeper into what
the discussion was all about. As one could imagine, it was something that came
out due to a complete lack of understanding of the alien culture which the
Portuguese
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The Konkani’s of Cochin
A look at the community’s history (with particular
reference to the GSB)
All of us have had some interaction with a GSB (Goud
Saraswat Brahmin) Konkani, be it in college or at the workplace, and for people
in Cochin, the community which lives there and their slightly different customs
and their singsong intonation of the Malayalam language. You will remember a
Pai, a Bhat, a Rao, a Kamath, a
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The Zamorin’s seat at Ponnani
At the Thrikkavil KovilakomWhile most people associate the Zamorin mainly with Calicut,
avid historians opine that Ponnani was a temporary military capital of the
Zamorin during the medieval years, as Calicut remained his political and
business capital. Ponnani was the location where he marshaled his cavalry
resources (the 50-60,000 Nair pada or foot soldiers as and when required and the
armory)
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Mackenzie Manuscripts – Malabar and Travancore collections – Part 1
Colin Mackenzie’s assistants involved with Malabar &
Travancore In the previous article about Montrose’s heart
and its connection to Napierian logarithms, we read that Colin Mackenzie had
succeeded in getting a commission with the EIC and had proceeded to Madurai.
With Ms. Hester Johnston’s help, we understood that he had established contact
with the learned Brahmins of Madurai. But did he find
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The heart of Montrose
Madurai’s peculiar connection to Scotland, Logarithms, Colin Mackenzie, and a hero’s heartMadurai has a great cultural history, and for a long time was Tamil Nadu’s cultural capital, and the ‘Toonga Nagaram, the city that never slept’. It was one of those cities which endured so many rulers and changes, notably by the Kalabhras, the Pandyas, the Cholas, the Tughlaq Sultanate, the Vijayanagar
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The Kalpathi furor
Untouchability, caste rigors, and a turbulent period at
Palghat, Knapp & Sir CP
Villages in Palghat followed caste-based rules as well as
the prescribed segregation strictly during the pre-independence period, and the
caste rigors felt across the whole region exasperated reformists within and
outside the state, especially after Vivekananda termed the state akin to a
lunatic asylum. It is a vast
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Conceição – Our new book
The Sad Story of the Conceição – Published by the Chagos Conservation Trust (CCT)
Sometimes I wonder at the surprising turns that life takes. I was researching for material to add meat to the article that I was preparing on Deigo Garcia and chanced upon a site related to the Chagos Archipelago, where I found an old copy of ‘Chagos News’. In there, I did not find much on Diego Garcia as such, but I chanced on an article by Nigel Wenban-Smith, on the sinking of an India-bound Portuguese Nau called Conceição (Conception) in 1555. Intrigued, I read it up and when I saw that it was about a shipwreck among those islands, I became very interested, desiring to get to the bottom of the story. This was in my wheelhouse, so to say, and melded with the many Portuguese studies I had made, while at the same time being on the fringes of the Diego Garcia research. I obtained a copy of the survivor Rangel’s account of the shipwreck in Portuguese, but an online translation did not prove to be very helpful.
As I had worked on a couple of shipwreck stories before this, I had a vague idea of the sailing routines and how complex it was in those days. Remember there was no GPS, no good maps (it was just 7 years after Vasco Da Gama had made it to Malabar), or dependable sailing instructions to Cochin. Sailing was still done using celestial navigation, with astrolabes, and assisted by clues provided by mother nature (color of water, flight of birds, etc.). I decided to contact the author of the article in the Chagos News and was pleasantly surprised to receive a detailed and quick reply from him, stating that his research into the wreck was incomplete and wondering if we could make something out of it, together. Preying on his mind was a question - did the ship get wrecked in the Chagos or further North?
Without hesitation, I agreed, and this was amid the Pandemic years, July 2021, to be precise. The subsequent long-distance collaboration across the Atlantic, over 120 emails, resulted in our ending up as coauthors of the newly published book – The Sad Story of The Conceição.
A bit about Nigel my coauthor - Nigel Wenban-Smith’s career in the British Diplomatic Service (Ireland, Belgium, Canada, East Africa, Malawi) included a spell as Commissioner for the British Indian Ocean Territory in the early 1980s. This sparked his interest in the conservation of the Chagos Archipelago, which led to his involvement, after retirement, in the Friends of the Chagos (now the Chagos Conservation Trust), including six years as its chairman. Over the past decade, he has turned his attention increasingly to the archipelago's little-known history.
While Nigel concentrated on a proper translation of Rangel’s account and the arrangement of the book itself, I provided the background to the voyage, the portions connected to the Portuguese trade with Calicut & Cochin, the India run, the establishment of Estado da India, etc. Careful checking of the account of Rangel and the maps of that period, to zoom in on potential locations where the ship was wrecked, became our final task.
However, as in all good detective stories, his clues point in different directions, while learned commentators disagree with one another on practically every point. To thicken the plot, modern experts, deeply familiar with the seas concerned, pounce on each solution the authors propose. As if this were not enough, Rangel’s numbers challenge Manmadhan and Wenban-Smith’s attempt to provide an accurate body count.
I am sure readers will share our excitement as we follow the course of the ill-fated ship and the travails of its hapless passengers.
The book will soon be available for purchase in the UK, please visit the Chagos Conservation Trust website below. Presumably, it will be available in India and the US, sometime in the future. Check for ordering at – Link
We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it.
A note about the Chagos Archipelago - Chagos, about 315 miles south of Maldives, was forgotten for a while, after the Cold War. But its importance is growing due to changing geopolitical balances, while at the same time, the actions of the British in the past are being questioned, especially the fate of the native Chagossians who were expelled and relocated to Mauritius. Britain was gradually dismantling its empire in the 60s and during discussions over the independence of Mauritius, they acquired 58 remote islands comprising the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius. This then came to be known as the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). Between 1968 and 1973 the island population was expelled, and the area was leased to the US. The Chagos Islands were a strategic spot from which they maintained a strategic presence in the Indian Ocean. Diego Garcia, the largest, is now an American military base. While the UK represents the territory internationally, Mauritius is emphatic over their claims on the islands as well as compensation for the expelled Chagossians. These matters continue to be discussed, disputed, and contested.
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Volkart Brothers – The Swiss connection
Cochin & Tellicherry, through the eyes of AF Ammann
Kayalinarike…goes the old Mehaboob song written by Meppalli Balan, brought to life a decade ago by the sonorous Shahbaz Aman. The song takes you through the Kochi of the 50s and tells you about the many companies that had set up shop at the bustling Cochin (Fort Kochi) port and the travails of a jobless man. Calicut had lost its sheen as the medieval port many a decade ago, and Cochin had taken over. A new harbor had been constructed and had become home to liners, cargo ships, and other marine craft. Mehaboob goes on to mention Pierce Leslie, Aspinwall, AV Thomas.…and of course Volkart. We had discussed Perce Leslie in the past, so now it is time to study the checkered story of Volkart in Cochin, Calicut, and Tellicherry. I was a bit unsure when I started the research, wondering if it could be interesting, but trust me, it is.
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The Cholas, the Zamorin, and the Perumal’s
The Chola interregnum 1036-54 – A discussion
One of the popular sources referred to when it comes to the
history of the Zamorins of Calicut is the seminal work by KV Krishna Ayyar
titled - Zamorins of Calicut (From the earliest times down to AD 1806). The version available to peruse is the 1938
publication. This was preceded by a concise version - A history of the Zamorins
of Calicut Part 1 - (
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Calicut’s SM Street – and its everlasting allure
Its influence on the city’s inhabitants, writers, and
a new book by Nadeem Naushad
This little, but busy street in Calicut still has a
tremendous influence on the inhabitants of Calicut. A street which came into
being just over two centuries ago, has as people of Malabar will agree, an
everlasting allure on those living in Calicut or visiting the city center.
Let’s take a look, see how SK
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Parsee families of Calicut
Some of the prominent families
In the 19th century and until the 21st,
there were several Parsi merchant families resident in Calicut. I had written
about them briefly some years ago, but it needed some revisions and
improvement. Raghu Karnad covered them
briefly in his lovely book, ‘Farthest Field’, but details the Mugaseth’s, to
some extent. So, let’s go back and check on some of the families
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Brown of Mahe -The Rascally Adventurer
Murdoch Brown – The Valia Saheb of Anjarakandy
History enthusiasts and the inhabitants of North Malabar though
familiar with this name, may not know much about this Scotsman. Many myths and
legends have been connected to his name, and he has been routinely derided as an
avaricious colonialist. A detailed study (a first) reveals that he was a
hardcore capitalist, the first British landlord of
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T. H. Baber and the Cochin Jews
The White and the Black Jews of Cochin
Several books and papers feature the white and the Black
Jewish community which lived in Cochin. Many of the descendants have since taken
up their Aliyah and moved to Israel and there is hardly a family or two left in
Cochin. Interestingly, though early accounts from the East India Company
officials do mention the community and provide copies of some of
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Situating Histories
Calicut and the two battles of 1503 and 1790, Dr
Noone’s new book
Some years ago, I wrote about the famous sea battle of
Calicut fought during the early months of 1503, preparations having been made for
it by Vasco Da Gama of Portugal, as he sailed into Malabar during 1502. A showdown was expected and as the Zamorin was
preparing his flotilla, the Portuguese armada of 5 light caravels and
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Kodaikanal – Amidst the Palani Hills
The princess among hill stations and the many stories
it hides.
I will always remember the hill station and the few times I
have visited the place. At that time, I did not know any of these stories, and
other than visiting the few important tourist spots and wandering around the
lake, we just lazed it out. It was while researching the story of the so-called
escape road from Kodai to Munnar that
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Power brokers and Saints – The case of Sayyid Fadl – The Mambram Pookoya Thangal
Malabar & Istanbul – Late 19th Century
Two things made me pick up this topic for study. One - the fact
that Sayyid Fadl spent his last years in Istanbul, a city I love, and two -the
remark made by his recent biographer WC Jacob. Jacob was kind in mentioning a
couple of my earlier articles on the Cherman Perumal in his book and remarked -
That the myth is still relevant today, even in
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More Pages to Explore .....
