The Mamluk – Calicut - Jeddah Equations
And an event which happened ‘out there’ – at Calicut For the Arab merchants, traders and rulers, Calicut was the place in Al Hind where they had established a lucrative trade, where they had families...
View ArticleQuilon and its trade links with China
That Quilon was well known to seafarers is not surprising, for it is well situated in the South West of the Indian coast. It was well known not only to Greek and Roman seafarers going back in time...
View ArticleThe Eminent Gundert Sayip
Hermann Gundert (1814-1893) - His life in Malabar I am getting back to this topic after 13 years, and without doubt, the persona of Hermann Gundert deserves that and more. My previous article covering...
View ArticleThe Silent Valley Movement
Eons ago, the slopes and plains adjoining the Sahyadri mountains separating Malayalam from Tamilakam, were home to many dense forests. Most of it is gone now, but some remain in Wynad and Nilambur as...
View ArticleHydaru Charitra – Yet another source
Additional insights - 1766 attacks, Malabar There are many books, passages, and secondary sources covering the life and times of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, and there are many books compiled by their...
View ArticleThe Shahbandar Koya – or the Kozhikottu Koya
And his importance in Medieval Calicut As we peruse the many accounts of foreigners trading at or visiting Calicut, we come across the mention of a Kozhikottu Koya who became a very close ally of the...
View ArticleRev Jacob Rama Varma
The converted prince Today it may not look curious or alien, for many a person has moved across religions to find peace and solace in life, treading different paths to those they were used to or born...
View ArticleThe many mysteries behind a Tamil Bell
The Marakkar Bell in New ZealandAround 1836 or perhaps closer to 1840, a missionary Rev Colenso in New Zealand saw and acquired a broken bronze bell while touring a Maori village in Whangarei - New...
View ArticleThe decline of an entrepot - Calicut
As water levels rose 1585-1700Many years ago, I wrote about the sunken ruins of Calicut, as observed by Forbes and some others, and tried to discount the myth of a sunken city. But after Nikhil’s...
View ArticleThiruvalayam
The legend of the Zamorin’s sacred anklet, a mystery A popular legend stated that the powers of the Zamorin were attributed to the blessing he received from the goddess of Thiruvalayanad and...
View ArticleThe Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the British and Jinnah
Wrangling over ownership Historically, the Andaman Islands were dreaded by the Indians, known as the Kalapani after the infamous acts of transportation and British incarceration of Indian convicts at...
View ArticleVasco Da Gama - Voyage to Calicut - 1498
Where and when? Doubts remain. At the tail end of the 15th century, an event occurred which opened the Indian subcontinent to the West, and ushered a plethora of changes. Internationalism, wars,...
View ArticleThe Zamorin – VOC treaties of 1691, 1710
A most famous document, and a turning point in the history of the Zamorins As treaties go, the content of the two treaties signed between two reigning Zamorins of Calicut and the Dutch VOC...
View ArticleLegends of the Sacrifice Rock
Velliyankallu – The Sacrifice Rock at Malabar Velliyankallu is a two or three-acre rocky island in the Arabian Sea, about 20 miles from Calicut, or 10 miles from Payyoli and Tikkodi, placed between...
View ArticleThe Arakkal Swaroopam
Its Checkered History In the medieval history of Malabar, there existed but one Muslim kingdom, and that was known as the house of the Arakkals. Legends about the way it came into its being can be...
View ArticleArthur Rowland Knapp – An unpopular ICS bureaucrat
The Knappan of Malabar Knapp is well known in Kerala, not as the person, but more from the connotation 'Knappan' which in colloquial Malayalam slang, means an incompetent man, prone to erroneous or...
View ArticleThe Kalaris of Malabar
Kalari, Kalari Vidya and Kalari payattu – their origins Most who chance on this would be wondering if there is more to the Kalari than the historic martial arts form practiced in Malabar and some other...
View ArticleThe Habshis and Siddi communities of India
Africans in India, over the ages During the medieval period, affluent rulers fighting their many wars provided employment to able-bodied mercenaries, and their kingdoms provided job placement for many...
View ArticleThe Moothan Community in Kerala
The Moothan, Guptan, Mannadiar and Tharakan communities The Moothans are a trading or Vaishya community, migrants from the Tamilakam of yore, comprising broadly, the Moothan, Mannadiyars, Guptans, and...
View ArticleOthenan – The Supreme Warrior of Kadathanad
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...
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