On May 20, 1498, Vasco da Gama arrived off the coast of Kappad, near Kozhikode. Ten months earlier, he had set sail from the Portuguese capital of Lisbon on a small armada. He was on an ambitious mission: to change the world.
Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham (Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea), the upcoming Malayalam movie directed by Priyadarshan, is likely to kindle fresh interest in the history of the Malabar region covering a century after the arrival of the Portuguese seafarer. The movie, which stars Mohanlal in the title role, is based on the battle exploits of Kunjali Marakkar, the naval chieftain of Samoothiri (Zamorin), then ruler of Kozhikode. The movie is expected to be a mix of fact and fiction. The historical details that it does — or doesn’t — delineate may touch a raw nerve.
It is the job of professional historians to distinguish facts from fiction on any historical event or figure. Historians admit, though, that contemporary writings by the Portuguese in the sixteenth and seventeenth century portray their native opponents as corsairs and fanatics, while early Muslim writers give a patriotic and religious colour to the resistance to the Portuguese. Jornada of Dom Alexis de Menezes gives a Portuguese account of the 16th century Malabar and Tuhfat-ul-Mujahideen by Sheikh Zainuddin, 16th century Muslim scholar from Ponnani, narrates the Muslim side of the story. Perhaps, the truth lay somewhere between the two accounts.
Pioneering work
For over 300 years since the Portuguese defeated and killed Mohammed Ali Marakkar (Kunjali Marakkar IV) with the support of Samoothiri, the legendary naval chieftain lived in ballads and ‘kissa’ stories popular among the Mappila Muslims of Malabar.
For some historians, those accounts are fancifully fabricated stories. The publication of Malabar and the Portuguese in 1929 by Sardar K.M. Panikkar was the pioneering historical work that reconstructed the battles of the Marakkars against the Portuguese.
Historians trace the origin of the Marakkars to a branch of the Tamil-speaking merchants and seafaring community that came and settled in Kochi and engaged in trade and even collaborated with the Portuguese in Kochi. Tuhfat-ul-Mujahideen states that the Marakkars had turned against the Portuguese in 1524 when the latter started purchasing spices and other commodities directly from natives.
They settled at Ponnani, one of the ports of Samoothiri, and offered their service to the king to fight the Portuguese.
Here is the Kunjali Marakkar history in a nutshell. The rise of Ponnani of Pattu Marakkar, (Kunjali Marakkar III), historians say, appeared to have posed a threat to Samoothiri. The king of Kozhikode allied with the Portuguese to demolish Kunjali Marakkar’s bases. Samoothiri again sought the help of the Portuguese to suppress Kunjali Marakkar IV who is said to have overgrown his master. In 1600, the forces of Samoothiri and the Portuguese razed to the ground the Kunjali fort (Marakkar kotta) built on a strategic spot on the estuary at Kottakkal near Vadakara. He was executed by the Portuguese in Goa.
The conflictual — and at times collaborative — relationship of Muslims in Malabar with Europeans across the 16th and 17th centuries has been probed by historians. Historical accounts, though, are not without predilections of historians. As historian M.G.S. Narayanan notes, “The closer the subject of the study to our own interests and current situation, the greater are the chances of getting a defective or distorted picture of the past.” Historical narratives of Kunjali Marakkar cannot be free from this predilection.
What is undoubted is that the Malabar coast, especially the port city of Kozhikode — an important entrepot in the region from 14th century onwards — had been the hub of resistance against the Portuguese for a century ever since 29-year-old Vasco da Gama appeared off the coast in three ships with 170 men on board. His mission — commanded by King Manuel — combined religion, politics and economics. Maybe the ramifications of the Portuguese arrival five centuries ago are not yet over.
MALABAR MAIL is a weekly column by The Hindu's correspondents that will reflect Malabar's life and lifestyle
