Malabar Rebellion

Subject: History

Context:

A report submitted to the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) in 2016 had recommended the de-listing of Wagon Tragedy victims and Malabar Rebellion leaders from a book on martyrs of India’s freedom struggle.

Concept:

• It was part of the Khilafat Movement, which demanded that the British preserve the Ottoman sultan as the Caliph of Islam, the revolt took place in Kerala’s Malabar and involved the Moplah or Mappila Muslims of the region
• The violence began and the Moplahs attacked the police stations and took control of them. They also seized the courts, and the government treasuries.
• It became a communal riot when the kudiyaan or tenant Moplahs attacked their Hindu jenmis or landlords and killed many of them. Thus, the Hindu Landlords became the victims of the atrocities of the Moplahs.
• The leaders of this rebellion were:
  • Variyankunnath Kunjahammed Haji
  • SeethiKoyaThangal of Kumaranpathor
  • Ali Musliyar.
• For two some two months the administration remained in the hands of the rebels. The military as well as Police needed to withdraw from the burning areas.
• Finally the British forces suppressed the movement with greater difficulty. The situation was under control by the end of the 1921.

Background:

• Malabar fell under British rule in 1792.
• By then, the Moplahs, once a prosperous trading community, had been reduced to penury as the English and the Portuguese wrested control of maritime commerce.
• Further, Malabar’s landlords under the British were almost exclusively Hindu.
• Throughout the 19th century, the Moplahs would revolt against this order, attacking either the Hindu landlords or European bureaucrats.
• Between 1836 and 1919, there were 29 such “outrages”, as British chronicles from the time describe these uprisings.
• Whether the uprisings were a reaction to Malabar’s oppressive land system or driven by religious fanaticism was debated even at the time by British officials.