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KUNJALI MARAKKARS: Myth and Reality
Author(s): K.J. John
Source: Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 58 (1997), pp. 264-272
Published by: Indian History Congress
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44143915
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KUNJALI MARAKKARS: Myth and Reality K.J. John Kunjali Marakkars are generally described as the naval chieftains and traditional admirals of the Zamorins of Calicut in the 16th century.1 It is also recorded that the so-called "Marakkar dynasty" fought a hun- dred years of relentless war against the Portuguese and their colonial rule.2 Thus in Kerala history the role of Marakkars is viewed as that of pioneer freedom fighters who unleashed "an epic struggle" against colonialism in the sixteenth century.3 These mythical heroes of Marakkar Dynasty are treated in historical treatises as Kunjali I, Kunjali II, Kunjali III and Kunjali IV in succession who served under the pow- erful Calicut Zamorins, until they became overgrown subjects of their nominal master and were wiped out by the Portuguese through his connivance.4 In a recent publication, Prof. K.M. Bahauddin, an emi- nent educationist, states: "Kottakkal Kunjali Marakkars were the symbol of uncompromising resistance of the Indian people against threat of Portuguese domina- tion. It is their patriotic fervour, courage and navigational skill that kept the torch of freedom alight when it had been extinguished else- where on the west coast as well as in other parts of Asia".5 An attempt is made in this short paper to trace the truth about the origins, growth and struggles of the Marakkar family. In the historical context we hear of Marakkars in Malabar from Portuguese and Arab sources in the 16th centuryģ6 Most of the Portu- guese sources treat the Marakkars as enemies during the second half of the 16th Century7 while Shayk Zaynuddin, an Arab scholar of Ponnani, in his Tuhfat-ul Mujahidin states that the Marakkars had turned against the Portuguese by about 1524. 8 In the historiographical literature, there is a big gap about Kunjali Marakkar from 16th cen- tury to the present one. Till the publication of Malabar and the Portu- guese, in 1929 by Sardar K.M. Panikkar, there was no serious writing on Kunjali Marakkars except a few ballads, folk-songs and Kissa sto- ries prevalent among the Mappila Muslims.9 In the course of three hundred years since the annihilation of Mohammed Kunjali Marakkar10 by the Portuguese with the whole hearted support of the Zamorin, the fanciful and fabricated story of Marakkars became crystallized in the household of Mappila Muslims of Malabar, and Marakkar became a ♦ AM 16679, Calicut, KeralaThis content downloaded from 137.111.162.20 on Mon, 27 Jan 2020 16:08:36 UTCAll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Medieval Indie 265 cult figure. Sardar K.M. Panikkar with a definite bias against the Portuguese, to have researched Portuguese sources, to reconstruct the 'heroic struggle' Portuguese imperialism.11 His conclusions succession were the prajas of Zamorin, and waged hundred years of war conclusions made by Panikkar were and O.K. Nambiar with slight elaborations.the left-oriented historians in their lonialism and some of the right wing anti-Portuguese and hence anti-Christian Kunjali Marakkar as defender of 16th century.13 The primary sources claimed to K.M. Panikkar at the India Office positories in Lisbon, were checked sion.14 We could not find any supporting Kunjali Marakkars made by Sardar Portuguese . In the Portuguese sources were neither referred to as traditional I, Kunjali II, Kunjali III, or Kunjali Marakkars that they were Mappila Mappilas are, by definition, the children women just as parungees (franks) tuguese fathers married to Indian that the Marakkar family hailed gests that when Henriques de Menezes settlement at Pantalayini, the family to Kottakal, the last of their headquarters. by Innes and Evans.17 We could support of these statements. The Maloney take us to Coromandel Coast Marakkars.18 The available evidence of Tamil origin and were Parathava tially they were a seafaring community chant caste of Marakkalarayar, after to Cochin and settled at Mattanchery of Parathava community, along with close of the 15th century. They continued business was their profession. At the arrival of the Portuguese content downloaded from 137.111.162.20 on Mon, 27 Jan 2020 16:08:36 UTCAll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
266 IHC: Proceedings , 58th Session , 1997 were the prosperous merchants in the domain of the local ruler. Ac- cording to Ludovico di Varthema, Marnale Marakkar was well-estab- lished in Cochin and was "the richest man in the country".19 With the establishment of the Portuguese factory at Cochin, the growth of Cochin was triggered off - inviting more merchants, financiers and agents from far and wide. Chinna (Cheriya) Marakkar and Marnale Marakkar received an order in 1504 from the Portuguese officials for the supply of 4,9,89,000 kgs. of pepper to the factory at Cochin.20 The Portuguese officials concluded several contracts with the Marakkars to purchase and sell commodities. Sanjay Subramaniam points out that the coastal trade to Srilanka and to Coromandel via the Gulf of Mannar was in the hands of Tamil-speaking Marakkar Muslims of the Pearl Fishery Coast.21 According to K.S. Mathew these merchants also had their factories on the Coromandel coast and helped the Portuguese in their attempts to get spices form Malacca and other parts of South East Asian countries before the Portuguese occupation of Malacca.22 Genevieve Bouchon and other noted historians describe the Marakkars as the chief agents of the Portuguese in the first quarter of the 16th century.23 These merchants were so powerful and in league with the Portuguese that one of the Marakkars managed to send 1500 local Muslims (Mouros da terra) to fight against the Zamorin and his paradesi Muslim traders (Mouros de Mecca) settled at Calicut for safe- guarding the interest of the Portuguese.24 Nino Marakkar and Mitos Marakkar were two other prominent members of the Marakkar family who promoted Portuguese colonial interests in coastal Malabar. By and by, the Marakkars of Cochin under the leadership of Chinna (Cheriya) Marakkar began to command great respect and friendship from the Portuguese officials, and the King of Portugal was requested to grant them special privileges and protection.25 The growing influence of the Marakkar merchants of Cochin and their close alliance with Mappila Muslims like Kutty Ali and Koya Pakki. who were traditional subjects of the Zamorins of Calicut, was an alarming factor to the King of Cochin. He persuaded the Portu- guese officials to select Hindu and Christian merchants over Muslims for procuring commodities for export. But the Christians and Hindus did not have sufficient funds to invest in trade. However, in a letter26 written in 1523 by Mar Jacob, the Metropolitan of the Christians of St. Thomas, to the king of Portugal it is stated that his people were instructed not to sell pepper to Muslims anymore in future. He la- ments that the Christians were afraid of the Portuguese because of the fearful stories about the Portuguese instilled in them by the Muslims. However, the Persian bishop had visited all the villages of pepper grow-This content downloaded from 137.111.162.20 on Mon, 27 Jan 2020 16:08:36 UTCAll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Medieval India 267 ing Thomas Christians and conv'nced ceived cordially in the Portuguese should sell the pepper directly to Christians. This order from the Metropolitan the relationship between the Marakkars the good offices of the Metropolitan lished between the Portuguese and tians. This sudden development cut Marakkars and other Muslim merchants, sufficient commodities anymore to tories of Cochin and Quilon. Moreover, against the Muslim merchants of water-logged pepper mixed with sand.in 1524, as mentioned in Tuhfat-lims of Calicut, Pandalayini, Chaliyam, Ponnani, Veliyamkod embarked on to Kodungallore and attacked Jewish, and their religious centres, killing fire to Synagogues and Christian the beginning of a long-standing lims, Mappila Muslims and West 4,000. Marakkars and other Muslim pelled to leave the territory of Cochin guese settlements to ensure safety. read: 1524 A.D.* In the same year some of the faquis in Kashi [Cochi] like Ahmed Marakkar, his brother Kunj Ali Marakkar, their uncle Muhammed Ali Marakkar and other dependents felt the desire to wage war against the Portuguese. They left Kashi [Cochin] for Kalikut.28 They settled at Ponnani, one of the ports belonging to the Zamorin, and offered their swords, ships and services to Zamorin.29 The Zamorin, who had vainly counted on help from West-Asian Muslim merchants of Calicut, now took the Marakkars on his side to defend his interests against Cochin and the Portuguese who were prompting, protecting and defending the King of Cochin who had once been his vassal and traditional enemy. The Marakkars were entrusted with the responsibility of main- taining vigil in the Port-towns of Zamorin in the wake of enemy op- erations, and were referred to as thura Marakkars in traditional lore. Zamorin encouraged the conversion of two members of every sea- faring family of which one had to join the fleet of "thura Marakkars"This content downloaded from 137.111.162.20 on Mon, 27 Jan 2020 16:08:36 UTCAll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
268 IHC : Proceedings , 58ih Session, 1997 and became known as Pooislans (literally new recruits to Islam) in local parlance.30 The guerilla attack and pitched battles unleashed by them on Indian waters can well be traced from Portuguese sources,31 and Francois Pyrard describes the war between them "as very cruel and merciless, for the Malabars are so courageous that they never sur- render, and prefer death".32 During the sixteenth century, the Portu- guese fighting captains like Ander Furtado or, earlier, Miguel Ferreira, who cut their teeth in such battles, ensured that the Portuguese tactics were no less forceful. The rise of Pate Kunjali Marakkar in Ponnani appeared to have signalled a real threat to such Hindu rulers as Kolathiri and Zamorin, as much as to the Portuguese. The publication of Tuhfat ul Mujahidin (Gift to the Holy Warriors) in the late 1570's by Shayk Zaynuddin of Ponnani whose origins, as those of Marakkars, can be traced from Fishery Coast of Coromandel,33 the Mappilas got an emo- tional thrill from these united efforts against the unbelievers. In the first chapter of Tuhfat we read: "It is well known that the Muslims of Malabar have no Amir who possesses power and can exercise authority over them and be mind- ful of their warfare. On the contrary, all of them are subjects of rul- ers who are unbelievers".34 Shayk Zaynuddin instigated his followers for a Jihad (Religious War) against the unbelievers and cross-bearing Portuguese.35 He in- sisted on a military expedition for promoting the word of Allah. The inspiring ideology of the Shayk prompted the believers to wage a Holy War, and Kunjali Marakkar naturally took up the lead and declared himself the "Lord of the Seas", "King of Muslims" and "defender of Islam",36 and with the objective of establishing an Islamic Principality he established the Marakkar kotta or the Fort of Kunjale on the banks of Agalappuzha and on the borders of the territories of Zamorin and Kolathiri. The organised militancy and the growing power of Marakkars were taken as a threat to his soverignity by Zamorin, and on seeing that Kunjali Marakkar was harassing him and his Nayar subjects in all possible ways, decided to eliminate him and his 'dy- nasty' from the scene, and gathered fifty thousand Nayar soldiers for the purpose.37 He concluded a treaty of friendship38 with the Portu- guese and sought the help of the Portuguese Commander by sending an olla 39 through Antonio Matos who was a native Portuguese from Cannanore. The olla states: We have already written several ollas to you requesting your grace to come with the whole armada to destroy our enemy.. .we request you to come in the beginning of October, and during October-No- vember we can attach the enemy and possibly annihilate him forThis content downloaded from 137.111.162.20 on Mon, 27 Jan 2020 16:08:36 UTCAll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Medieval India 269 ever. And we hope to go for Mamankam, struction of the enemy.40 The Portuguese Naval commander his armada 37 sails finally arrived joined the forces of Zamorin who end of December 1599. 41 In fierce Marakkar and his associates were 1 600 and Marakkar Kotta was grounded.called Marakkar dynasty in Malabars.It is high time that the conventional relations with Portugal be re-examined. in search of 'Christians and spices'. in Malabar which was under the tians who were under the Patriarch Diamper. In a way they have destroyed Malabar in the field of trade and colony in Malabar. They did not Cochin to transform it into a colony the traditional rivalry of the Portuguese Moors surfaced in the waters of Malabar mitted. When the Arabs lost their gated Mappila Muslims and Cochin tuguese. so long as we do not have the position and status of Kunjali for rejecting the widely held view and anti-Portuguese fighters. Available they were in the service of the Portuguese and his Arab merchants of Calicut. the Portuguese because they began modities directly from the native ceased to be the agents of the Portuguese, tory of Zamorin, and with the and tried their best to oust the Thus in the subsequent situation the power equation in Malabar. thing to deserve the appellation The traditional view of Kunjalis like Zamorin needs to be corrected. own actions and Shayk Zaynuddin's wanted an Islamic Principality when the Kunjalis were almost extirpated political operation with the help This content downloaded from 137.111.162.20 on Mon, 27 Jan 2020 16:08:36 UTCAll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
270 ÍHC : Proceedings, 58th Session , Ì997 gious leaders in Malabar elevated Kunjali Marakkar as a cult figure for having attempted to unite the Muslims belonging to different eth- nic groups and establish their identity on the basis of an Islamic dream as visualized by Shayk Zaynuddin. This is the starting point of Mus- lim fundamentalism and communalism in south Malabar, later de- scribed by Innes and Evans as "Fanatic Zone". Since the time of Kunjali Marakkar and Shayk Zaynuddin, we find in Malabar tendency of Mus- lims to establish a separate identity for which they found the infidels, the Hindu and "the cross-bearing Christians" to be a hindrance. The emotional flame of the Muslims was kept alive by the religious lead- ers who promptly composed songs and ballads like Kottuppalli Mala and several fanciful Kissa stories on the life and deeds of Kunjali Marakkar. They were sung and told in every Muslim household and market place, igniting the emotions of all and sundry. At a century later found that they had an opportunity to realise their dream with Mysorean invasions. Shayk Zaynuddin's ideology of a Muslim Prin- cipality of their own became a factor in Malabar's political and social situation, and Kottakkal Kunjali Marakkar remains a living symbol of that dream. NOTES AND REFERENCES 1. O.K. Nambiar, The Kunjalis: Admirals of Calicut . Bombay 1963. 2. K.M. Panikkar, Malabar and the Portuguese , Bombay, 1929, pp. Ill, 136-3. A. Sreedhara Menon, Kerala and Freedom Struggle , Kottayam, 1997. 4. K.M. Panikkar, op.cit., pp. 136-146; See also O.K. Nambiar, op.cit., pp. 14-5. K.M. Bahauddin, Kerala Muslims: the Long Struggle , Kottayam, 1992, p. 48. 6. Portuguese Chronicles of 16th century like Castanheda, Couto, Barros, Correa, Fariya e Sousa etc., refer to Marakkars as pirates in their well-known Most of them were keen to provide the details of Kunhali marakkars last battle death. Tuhfat-ul-Mujahidin of Shayk Zaynuddin is an important Arabic work the activities of Kunjali Marakkar and his associates. The full translation Arabic work appeared in Portuguese with a detailed introduction in the year See David Lopes, ed., Historia dos Portuguese no Malabar por Z'nadimy 1899. For the English translation see S. Muhammad Husayn Nainar, Tuhfat-Mujahidin , Madras, 1942. 7. See F.C. Danvers, The Portuguese in India , I, London, 1966, pp.51, 112, see also the MSS in Archivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, Manuscriptos do Convento da Graca, Tomo III, Caixa 2, fls.267, 291-2, 297-9, 319 and 335. 8. S. Mohammad Husayn Nainar, op.cit p.66. 9. See India 's Naval Traditions , ed., K.K.N. Kurup, New Delhi, p. 1997, pp.10. K.M. Panikkar, op.cit ., pp. 142-43; See also K.J. John, "A note on Zamorin's to the Portuguese Naval chief in Indian Ocean during 1599" in India 's Naval ditions , pp.80.This content downloaded from 137.111.162.20 on Mon, 27 Jan 2020 16:08:36 UTCAll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Medieval India 27 1 11. See the introduction in K.M. Panikkar, 12 K.V. Krishna Ayyar, The Zamorins of Calicut, 13. See the introduction by K.K.N. Kurup to Mujahidin by C. Hamsa, Calicut, 1995, pp. Gangadharan to the Malayalam translation Azeez, Calicut, 1996, pp. 9-26. 14. In 1991-92 and 1996 we have consulted London. 15. In Malabar Parangees are synonymous with the Portuguese but in Cochin Parangees means the Portuguese descendants, the modern Anglo-Indians. 16. William Logan, Malabar , I, Madras, 1951, p. 330. 1 7. Innes and Evans, Malabar and Anjengo , Madras, 1 908. 1 8. See Clarence Maloney, 'The Paratavar: 2000 years of Culture Dynamics' in Man in India , Vol.49, No.3, 1969, pp.224-240. 19. Ludovico di Varthema, The Travels of Ludovica di Varthema.... A.D.I 503-1 508, London, 1863, p. 106. 20. K.S. Mathew, Emergence «./ Cochin in the pre-Industrial Era , Pondichery, 1990, p.x. 21. Sanjay Subrahmanyam, The Portuguese Empire in Asia 1500-1700, London, 1993, p.91. 22. K.S. Mathew, op. cit. 23. See Genevieve Bouchon, 'Lees Musulmans du Kerala a l'epoque de la docouverte Portugaise', in Mare Luso-lndicum , Vol.11, 1973, pp. 3-59; see also her 'Sixteenth Century Malabar and the Indian Ocean' in Ashin Das Gupta and M.N. Pearson, eds., India and the Indian Ocean 1500-1800, Calcutta, 1987, pp. 162-184. 24. Raymundo Antonio de Bulhão Pato, ed., Cartas de Affonso de Albuquerque..., Tomo, II, Lisboa 1963, p.378. 25. K.S. Mathew, op. cit., p. XI. 26. George Schurhammer, Three Letters of Mar Jacob , Bishop of Malabar, 1503-1550, Rome, 1934, p. 10-17. 27. Ibid., p.11-13. 28. S. Mohammad Husayn Nainar, op. cit., p. 66. 29. K.M. Bahauddin, op. cit., p. 48. 30. See K.K. Muhammad Abdul Kareem, trans and ed., Fath-ul Mubeen (Mai), Trichur, 1982, p. 47-48; see also C. Gopalan Nair, Mappilas of Malbar (Mai). 3 1 . The Killing of a kinsman of Mammali Marrakar and Abubakkar Ali quazi of Kannur by the Portuguese ignited the ire of the Mappila in the late 1530s. Bloody wars became the pleasure of the time, see the letter from Miguel Ferreira to the King of Portugal dated 26 November 1539, MSS, in Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, Lisbon, CC, 1/66/41. For a general discussion see Stephen F. Dales, Islamic Soci- ety on the South Asian Frontiers, Oxford, 1980. 32. See The Voyage of Francois Pyrard of Laval, I. ed. Albert Gray, London, 1887, p. 444. 33. The full name of the Shayk Zaynuddin, son of Abdul Aziz, son of Zaynuddin, son of Ali, son of Ahmad al-Ma'bari. The term al-Ma bari indicates his ancestoral ori- gins in Ma'bar which is generally identified as Coromandal Coast.This content downloaded from 137.111.162.20 on Mon, 27 Jan 2020 16:08:36 UTCAll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
272 IHC : Proceedings , 58th Session, 1997 34. See Mohammad Husayn Nainar, op. cit., p. 21. 35. The battles fought by Marakkars and his associates w ere a part of the Jihad or Holy war motivated by religious feelings of Shayk Zaynuddin who wished to glorify the deeds of Muslims provides a theoretical argument justifying the attacks against cross-bearing Christians and unbelievers. See Muhammad Husayn Nainar, op. cit., pp. 19-33. 36. K.V. Krishna Ayýar, op. cit., p. 2 12; see also the letter of Francis Roz written from the camp of the Zamorin on 9 March 1 599 [English Translation] in D. Ferroli, The Jesuits in Malabar , I, Bangalore, 1939, p. 235; K.M. Panikkar, op. cit., p. 145. 37. D. Ferroli, op. cit., p. 217. 38. Michael Geddes, The History of the Church of Malabar, London, 1964, p. 77; For the text of the agreement see Judice Biker, ed., Coleccao de Tratados e Concertos de Pazes-, Vol.XIV, pp.28-31. 39. C.R. Boxer, łA note on the Portuguese translation of Francisco Ros S.J. of an Ola from the Zamorin of Calicut to ndre Furtado Mendonca (1599)' Mare Luso-lndicum, IV, 1980; but also see Arquvo Nacional da Torre de Tombo, Manuscriptos do Convento da Graca, Tomo III, Caixa 2, As., 267, 291-2, 297-9, 319 and 335. 40. K.J. John, op. cit., p.80-81. 41. Ibid., also see D. FerrolĻ op. cit., pp.224-28. 42. Ibid., pp.234-36. 43. O.K. Nambiar, op. cit., pp. 129-134; Diogo do Couto, Da Asia Decada, XII, Livro 4, Cap. I, Lisbon 1783.This content downloaded from 137.111.162.20 on Mon, 27 Jan 2020 16:08:36 UTCAll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms