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The Raja in Ravi Varma
Raja Ravi Varma - The painter’s ancestry and Calicut, a brief studySome years ago, Calicut Heritage Forum wrote about theinvolvement of Raja Ravi Varma in the Calicut soap factory. CHF stated - Calicut...
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Arnos Pathiri (Fr. John Earnest Hanxleden) in Malabar
I started out on this subject some months ago, but drifted away into other topics. In the meantime, I got some great research material on the subject from my friend Bernard and finally after months of...
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1258 and Calicut
Most people will veer off in different directions seeing this title. In fact one of the possible linkages that I will introduce is somewhat new and requires to be studied in depth by those interested....
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A horse, a carriage and the French Loge at Calicut
The complete account of the little ‘French Loge’ at Calicut and its impact on the mighty British establishment is a lengthy topic which I will not cover in detail here. Nevertheless, one can conclude...
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The Kunhali Marakkar’s
A number of publications cover available information on the Kunjali’s of Malabar and many other books allude to them, some with more detail than the other. However, the versions vary greatly, some...
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Abhirami’s tale
The Ilaya Thampi’s and Marthanda Varma– Part 1I was led to this topic some months ago when Calicut heritage forum posted an interesting article on the Black hole of Attingal . In the discussions that...
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The Moplah Resettlement at Andaman
The Malabaris of the KalapaniThe TSS Maharaja, a ship built in 1879 was on a slightly different route this time. It went south to Madras, with it usual load of Bengali and Punjabi convicts, together...
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Ettuveetil Pillamar
The eight barons or the EttuveetarIn the previous article, we talked about Abhirami and her children. We read very briefly about the succession struggles between her sons and Marthanda Varma. This one...
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Ramayyan Dalawa
That crafty ministerIf you were to study the successful reign of Marthanda Varma, you will quickly notice that there was one person who faithfully tended to him and guided him through those hectic...
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The Economics of Portuguese trade
Portuguese and Malabar PepperTwo things triggered this article. One was a recipe for picked eggs from Sharaboji 2’s Tanjore kitchen, dating back to the 18thcentury which I tried recently. A very...
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The Gujaratis of Calicut
Those of you who have lived in Calicut will always remember a Guajarati or two from their days in school or college or daily life. It is simply so, that they have always been around, though they have...
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The story of Maj Gen WH Blachford, and the hole in his head
The final act at Calicut – 1790 - Hussein Ali’s defeat at British handsNot much is written about the events that transpired in Calicut in 1790. Much misery afflicted the people of Calicut and Malabar...
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The Selden Map and Calicut
There is a lot of furor about the rediscovered Selden map. Academicians are discussing it with gusto and laboring on the minute aspects, innumerable news articles introduce it and two great books have...
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The Tragedy in Wagon 1711 - A complete picture
My previous jottings on this subject were, upon looking back, quite unsatisfactory in my own opinion and only served to whet one’s appetite, for more. The various accounts that have been published so...
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RH Hitchcock, the individual
In the 20’s, after a troubled period with cries of Khilafat, freedom, Gandhi and so on, a large number of misguided attacks took place on both (religious) sides of a divided Malabar. During this phase,...
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The Palghat Achans or Shekhari Varmas of Nedumpuraiyur
The Achans of Taru Swaroopam, the Edams of Palghat, and the events which prompted Hyder’s interventionSome months ago we touched upon the topic related to the ancient royalty of Palghat. We covered the...
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The tale of Palora Jamen
Pallur Emmen Nair or [Muppainad Pallur Eman, Yemen, Yeman, Yemmin, Emman] Nayar 1809 Pulo Penang – Kampong Malabar - The stooping man who walked about the Georgetown - Fort Cornwallis area, looked...
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Calicut Salt fields of Yore
Kozhikodinte UppupadangalNot many today would be aware that once upon a time, there existed a number of salt pans or salt fields around Calicut. Historians past and present have alluded to it and...
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The Kollam Calendar Mystery – A discussion
Kolla varsham- that is what we call the Malayalam calendar. The interesting aspect is that here again we have two versions, the Malabar version and the Travancore version, the former centered on...
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Electrifying the Calicut City
As some of you may know, my life is quite entwined with electricity and as an electrical engineer, I have been involved with power transmission, distribution and power system protection for so many...
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