Lakshadweep: a history
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
The Times of India P Sudhakaran, TNN | Jul 25, 2013
Contents |
Briefly
Early history of Lakshadweep is unwritten. What now passes for history is based on various legends. Local traditions attribute the first settlement on these islands to the period of Cheraman Perumal, the last king of Kerala. It is believed that after his conversion to Islam, at the behest of some Arab merchants, he slipped out of his capital Cranganore, the present day Kodungallor – an old harbour town Kochi, for Mecca. When his disappearance was discovered, search parties went after him in sailing boats and left for the shores of Mecca, in search of the king from different places. It is believed that one of these sailing boats of Raja of Cannanore was struck by a fierce storm and they were shipwrecked on the island now known as Bangaram. From there they went to the nearby island of Agatti. Finally the weather improved and they returned to the mainland sighting other islands on their way. It is said that after their return another party of sailors and soldiers discovered the island of Amini and started living there. It is believed that the people sent there were Hindus. Even now unmistakable Hindu Social stratification exists in these islands despite Islam. Legends say that small settlements started in the Islands of Amini, Kavaratti, Andrott and Kalpeni first and later people from these islands moved to the other islands of Agatti, Kiltan, Chetlat and Kadmat. This legend of Cheraman Perumal is not, however, substantiated.
The advent of Islam dates back to the 7th century around the year 41 Hijra. It is universally believed that one St.Ubaidullah(r) while praying at Mecca fell asleep. He dreamt that Prophet Mohammed(s) wanted him to go to Jeddah and take a ship from there to go to distant places. Thus, he left Jeddah but after sailing for months, a storm wrecked his ship near these small Islands. Floating on a plank he was swept ashore on the island of Amini. He fell asleep there but again dreamt of the Prophet asking him to propagate Islam in that Island. Ubaidullah started doing so. But this enraged the headman of the island and he ordered his exit at once. St. Ubaidullah(r) stood firm. Meanwhile,a young woman fell in love with him. He gave her the name Hameedat Beebi and married her. This further offended the headman and he decided to kill him. It is said that the headman and his henchmen surrounded Ubaidullah(r) and his wife to kill them. At once St.Ubaidullah(r) called up on the Almighty and the people were struck blind. At this time St.Ubaidullah(r) and his wife disappeared and as soon as they left the island people regained their eye sight.From Amini St.Ubaidullah(r) arrived at Andrott where he met with similar opposition but he succeeded finally in converting the people to Islam. He next went to other islands and successfully propagated Islam and returned to Andrott where he died, and was buried. The grave of St.Ubaidullah(r) is today a sacred place. Preachers from Androttare respected deeply in far off lands like Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Burma etc. It is a marabout or Mukbara.
The Arrival of the Portuguese in India again made Laccadives an important place for seafarers. It was also the beginning of years of plunder for the islands. The finely spun coir was much sought after for ships. So the Portuguese started looting island vessels. They forcibly landed at Amini to procure coir sometime in the early 16th century, but it is said that the people killed all the invaders by poisoning, ending the Portuguese invasion.
Even after the conversion of the entire islands to Islam, sovereignty remained in the hands of the Hindu Rajah of Chirakkal for some years. From the hands of the Chirakkal Raja, the Administration of the island passed on to the Muslim house of Arakkal of Cannanore around the middle of the 16th century. The Arakkal rule was oppressive and unbearable. So sometime in the year 1783 some islanders from Amini took courage and went to Tipu Sultan at Mangalore and requested him to take over the Administration of Amini group of islands. Tipu Sultan at that time was on friendly terms with Beebi of Arakkel and after deliberations, the islands of Amini group were handed over to him. Thus the islands suzerainty came to be divided as five came under the rule of Tipu Sultan and the rest continued under Arakkal house. After the battle of Seringapattom in 1799 the islands were annexed to the British East India Company and were administered from Mangalore. In 1847, a severe cyclone hit the island of Andrott and Raja of Chirakkal decided to visit the island in order to assess the damages and for distributing relief. An officer of the East India Company Sir William Robinson volunteered to accompany him. On reaching Andrott, the Rajah found it difficult to meet all the demands of the people. Sir William then offered the Rajah help in the form ofa loan. This was accepted. This arrangement continued for about four years but when the interest started mounting, the English asked the Rajah to repay them which he could not. In 1854 all the remaining islands were handed over to the East India Company for Administration. so, came the British rule.
The sequestration of the islands is a clear example of the political manipulations and methods adopted by the British for establishing their supremacy in India. Its traditional system of administration was treated by the English as something of misgovernment. But they were more interested in their own political and economic interests than the good government of the islands. Their policy was to exploit the profits from the islands through the Beebi without taking responsibility of its administration. the British later brought the Lakshadweep Regulation 1912,which confers limited power of judicial and magisterial status to Amins/Karanis of the islands. A reasonable restriction of outsiders were also brought into force by the above regulation. Nine Primary Schools and few dispensaries were started during the colonial rule in the islands.
The Union Territory was formed in 1956 and it was named Lakshadweep in 1973.
Ancient times
The Cheras and the Pallavas
The Laccadive Islands have a history that goes back to the 3rd century BC.
The earliest reference of the island can be found in the Puranuru, an ancient Tamil literature. Sangam literature, Pathitruppaththu, refers to the land as the home of Cheras.
The Pallavas annexed it in the 7th century. According to a few historians, the Pallava inscription of 7th century AD that refers to the island as Dveepa Laksham gives away enough cues on the strong hold of the Pallava dynasty in the region during that time.
The Chola kings
In the 11th century, the place came under the supremacy of the Chola kings and remained under them till around the 14th century.
With its early history predominately referring to Hindu rulers, it is assumed that the local inhabitants of the place were mostly Hindus. However, recent archeological verification has affirmed that the island was also home to many Buddhist settlers in the past.
Muslim rule
By the 14th century, Lakshadweep was ruled by the Muslims. The Muslim rulers not only governed the place but also left a lasting impression on the culture of the land.
By the beginning of the 14th century, the archipelago saw the upsurge of Islamic merchants, who arrived by sea to the island. Apart from the grave of an Arab mercantile named Ubaidulla in Andrott, which dates back to 661 AD, there have also been a few other Muslim tombstones that confirm the existence of Islamism in the island.
During the 17th century, rich Muslim families dominated Lakshadweep. According to a local fable, Chirakkal Raja of the Kolathiri family extended their rule to Lakshadweep islands.
The Arakkal family
It is believed that one of Raja's generals Arakkal, who was married to his daughter, secretly practised Islam. Another legend states that the Chirakkal Raja's daughter was rescued from drowning by a young Muslim boy who gave her his 'mundu' (a long piece of fabric) to cover herself and so she had to marry him. According to the local traditions, when a single boy gives away his 'mundu' to an unmarried girl, the couple is pronounced as husband and wife.
The king was very unhappy as his daughter was married to a poor boy belonging to a lower-caste and made him the ruler of the area, which in turn led to the advent of Muslim rule in the province. In the following years, the Arakkal family became one of the most affluent and influential families in the Malabar Coast and the Lakshadweep islands. The Arakkal family followed the matriarchal system, which meant that the first-born, whether male or female, would rule the province.
The supremacy of the Arakkal family continued even after the invasion of the Portuguese and the Dutch rulers in the 17th century. Once the British East Indian Company completely took over the region in the 18th century, the Arakkal clan was forced to cede its power to the colonial rulers.
From 1545 to 1819, the islands of Androth, Kavaratti, Agathi, Minicoy and Kalpeni were in the possession of the Arakkal family, which ruled the North Kerala coast and is based in Kannur.
Portuguese Rule
Meanwhile, the islet saw the growing influences of the Portuguese. The descriptions given by Marco Polo about the islands attracted many Portuguese merchants to the place who profited from the coir trade in the region.
Dutch interlude
Soon the Dutch also followed but there control in the region was short lived as the local inhabitants drove them out.
British Raj
Just when the Arakkal kings began to monopolize the place, the islands of Amini, Kadmat, Kiltan, Chetlat and Bitra were captured by Tipu [Sultan] in 1787. However, soon the land fell into the hands of the British after the third Anglo-Mysore War. During that period, the islands were a part of South Karnataka. Soon the British seized the remaining islands from the Lakshadweep archipelago from the Arakkal family. The Arakkal clan was given an annual sum in return and all the islands that came to be govern by the colonial officials.
Five islands of Lakshadweep, which were under Arakkal rule, were given to the British on December 15, 1908, after a prolonged battle. In return, it was decided that Rs 23,000 would be given annually in 12 monthly instalments to the ruler of the family. Besides, a one-time compensation of Rs 70,000 was also given.
Post-Independence
Like the rest of India, the islands also went through some changes with respect to its territories, post independence. In 1956, the state reorganization act detached the islands from the Malabar Coast. Despite the place being dominated by Malayalis, the Indian government segregated its administrative head from the main sub-continent, making it a separate Union Territory by grouping the isles together and declaring Kavaratti the capital of Lakshadweep islands.
How India retained Lakshadweep in 1947
Sardar Patel, Mudaliar brothers, Collector, Kerala Police
Sardar Patel managed to Retain Lakshadweep | Dr. Hari Desai | Tuesday 13th November 2018
• Mudaliar brothers were prompt to take over before Pak ship reaches • 4200 sq.kms. of lagoon, rich in marine wealth, spread over 36 islands
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the then Deputy Prime Minister of independent India in charge of Home as well as States Ministry, had sent an SOS message to Mudaliar brothers to convey the collector of Travancore to instruct the police officials and the employees to go to Lakshadweep with whatever arms were with them. His instruction was to take possession of the islands closer to the border and hoist the national flag there. “If the police forces no firearms with them, they can take lathis with them but somehow take possession of the area.”
Sardar Patel was farsighted. When the people from Travancore Police reached Lakshadweep and hoisted the Triranga, they found a ship with Pakistan flag sailing towards Lakshadweep with the intention to take over the Muslim majority area in the Arabian Sea. The Pak dream to capture Lakshadweep was shattered after they watch the Indian National Flag and preferred to take U-turn. But for promptness in the action on Indian side, the strategic area of Lakshadweep must have been part of Pakistan forever. The incident took place immediately after India got independence in August 1947 when British left and Pakistan took a shape of a Muslim State.
Mudaliar brothers contributed a lot to take over Lakshadweep in time under the instruction of Sardar Patel. Mudaliar brothers, as T. Ramkrishnan prefers to call them, “the twin stars of Arcot”. They were born as twins brothers becoming leaders in their chosen field, vying with each other in accomplishments and contributing enormously to public policies in a variety of areas. “This summarises the life history of Arcot Ramaswami (A.R.) Mudaliar (1887-1976) and Arcot Lakshmanaswami (A.L.) Mudaliar (1887-1974). Famously called the twin stars of Arcot, the brothers had long innings in public life, spanning over 50 years. Both were educationists and vice-chancellors, one still holding the record of having the longest tenure of 27 years as V- C in any Indian university. Both occupied several positions at the national level, before and after Independence and were seasoned parliamentarians. They received honours both from the British Government and the post-freedom Indian regime. They protected and promoted the interests of the nation. Even in death, they were pretty close: A.R. Mudaliar lived about two more years after his brother A.L. Mudaliar died. And they were institution-builders and visionaries.”
It is the right time to pay tribute to not only the Sardar, but also to the Mudaliar brothers, the then Collector and police personnel of the Travancore ( now Kerala) thanks to their timely efforts India could save Lakshadweep, the heaven on the earth.
(The writer is a Socio-political Historian.]
A Pakistani account
How Pakistan may have Lost an Island Paradise
Fateh-ul-Mulk Ali Nasir writes about a fascinating but little-known episode of Partition – the scramble for the Laccadives
The Laccadive Islands lie in the Arabian Sea just North of the Maldives. They are now known as Lakshadweep and are a Union Territory of India. Other than Indian Administered Jammu & Kashmir, Lakshadweep is the only Muslim-majority constituent unit in India. This gives the Islands a unique character and one which was overlooked by the All India Muslim League and later the newly formed Government of Pakistan although an unconfirmed incident shows that the Liaquat Ali Khan Administration did try to make this remote and tropical archipelago a southern extension of Pakistan in the Indian Ocean.
Let us delve into the realm of alternate history and imagine a scenario wherein the Pakistani ship beat the Travancore Police to it and reached the Laccadives before the Indian flag was hoisted
If the islands had been a separate entity perhaps the Pakistani leadership would have paid more attention to the archipelago in the days leading up to the 1947 Partition, but like the rest of South India the Madras Muslim League never really had any aspirations to extend partition to the South and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was adamant that the principle of non-contiguity must be adhered to, i.e. any part of India with a Muslim majority that did not directly border either the Western or Eastern wings of Pakistan could not be a part of the new dominion. In any case, it seems that Pakistan simply overlooked the Laccadives.
But unconfirmed reports on both sides show that Pakistan did eventually realize this and tried to take control of the islands in August 1947.
The exact dates are not confirmed but sometime in the end of August, 1947, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, realized that a Muslim majority region had been excluded from Pakistan and that he had a chance to take control of it. At around the same time the Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India, Vallabhbhai Patel, also started to think about those very islands. There is not much information about how both came around to thinking about this archipelago of coral atolls in the Arabian Sea.
From the Pakistani side this would not seem odd as there was a large Malabari Muslim community in Karachi itself, mostly involved in the spice trade, and they might have been able to convey the message to those in power about annexing the Laccadives. However it came about, the Royal Pakistan Navy sent a warship south from Karachi. Meanwhile in India Patel somehow came to the conclusion that the islands may be at risk. It is not entirely unfeasible that he got wind of the developments in Karachi. He immediately sent instructions to the Collector of Revenue in Travancore to get to the main Island, Kavaratti, with a police escort and raise the Indian Tricolour. This went as planned and after a brief flag raising ceremony the archipelago was cemented in the Indian Union. Soon afterwards the Pakistani ships reached the Island and saw the Indian flag flying.
2013 Arakkal family's demands
Pay more or return Lakshadweep: Arakkal family demands
In 2013 the Arakkal family raised an apparently bizarre demand after the row over the disputed KeyiRubath property in Saudi Arabia. The only Muslim family to have ruled a kingdom in the state has asked the Union government to either return the Lakshadweep Islands to it or revise the malikhana (compensation) being given to it.
In 1908, when the family signed the final deal with the British, the price of gold was Rs 3.30 per sovereign, says the current generation. "If you look at the present gold prices, we are entitled to Rs 13 crore a year as compensation,” claimed Adi Raja Muhammed Rafi, son of the then [2013] ‘royal’ head Sainaba Aysha Beevi.
"The demand might sound weird but we have justification for the same," said Rafi, a trustee of the Arakkal royal trust that raised the demand. Rafi said the family of 150 was struggling to finance its royal rituals and maintain its infrastructure, which includes four mosques.
"At that time [Rs 23,000 a year] was a huge amount, but even after over 100 years, we are being given the same amount. We feel humiliated to take the beevi every month to the treasury to collect the monthly instalment of Rs 1,916.12," Rafi said. "The beevi is now bedridden. While all the royal families are given various benefits, including pension, we are denied the respect we deserve."
[A month before Rafi’s demand, in June 2013 the Kerala government decided to give a monthly pension of Rs 2,500 each to 826 members of the Kozhikode-based Zamorin royal family. The Zamorins had ruled the Malabar coast for several centuries.]
He said the palace of the family, Arakkal kettu, was declared a protected monument by the archaeological department but it was facing neglect. "If we calculate the present value of the amount settled with the company for the islands, it would run into crores. We are not demanding a huge amount but a reasonably good sum required for a respectable living for the royal family that gave its assets to the state."
Mohammed Koyamma Adiraja, another trust member, said the issue was brought to the attention of the state and the central governments in 2010 as well.
The family had [around 2012] entered into a dispute over the Rs 5,000-crore compensation from the Saudi government for demolishing Keyi Rubath, a bungalow built in Mecca for Haj pilgrims from Kerala, with the Keyi family.
2021: unrest on tranquil islands
The new administrator of Muslim-majority Lakshadweep has been accused of moving to ban beef-eating and cattle transport, cracking down on protests and destroying the fishing infrastructure.
Patel is the first politician since Independence to be appointed administrator — the islands’ topmost official authority — with all his predecessors having been civil servants.
Polticians pointed to several of his actions: the expulsion of non-vegetarian food from school midday meals and hostel dining halls; a two-child norm for panchayat poll contestants that mirrors a parivar prejudice against Muslims; the dismissal of 2,000 temporary government workers.
“His (amendment of the 1994 panchayati raj rules) to not allow people with more than two children into local bodies itself,” Balram, [politician], told this correspondent.
Of the 36 islands that make up the Union Territory, only 10 have a human presence. The overwhelming majority of Lakshadweep’s 65,000-odd people are Muslim.
Gag on dissent
Lakshadweep MP and Nationalist Congress Party leader Muhammed Faizal said that Patel had enforced the “Control of Goonda Act on the islands, where crime is rare, only to make people insecure so they don’t protest against his dictatorial regime”.
“All the posters and boards erected here against the National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship Amendment Act have been removed,” Faizal said.
The Control of Goonda Act allows arrests without warrants and facilitates long detentions.
Fishing blow
Apart from moving to stop the sale, consumption, storage and transport of beef in a Union Territory where meat and fish are staple diets, Patel has cracked down on the fishing community that makes up more than 80 per cent of the local population.
His administration has removed their temporary huts, sheds, boats, net-drying facilities and storage spaces from the shores citing violation of coastal zone norms.
Liquor licences
With Muslims making up “over 96 per cent of the population” of Lakshadweep, “in accordance with the religious and cultural beliefs of the community, the consumption of alcohol was banned on the islands”, Viswam has written to Kovind.
“However, in a recent decision, the administration has begun issuing liquor licences under the guise of promoting tourism and individual freedom, thereby completely ignoring the socio-cultural context of the area,” Viswam’s letter says.
“The islands had effectively kept away Covid till last December through social distancing and adherence to the protocols. But they are now witnessing many positive cases after the administrator lifted all Covid regulatory norms,” Faizal said.
He said that people arriving from outside were earlier required to quarantine themselves but Patel relaxed those norms in the name of promoting tourism.
As a result, Lakshadweep has seen “over 4,000 cases with over 20 deaths already”, Viswam has written to Kovind. “Further, the pressure on the health infrastructure of the islands has increased manifold leaving the population vulnerable and worried.”
Kerala snub
CPM Rajya Sabha member Elamarom Kareem, who has written to Kovind seeking Patel’s recall, said the administrator had instructed ship and boat operators to ignore the ancient port of Beypore in north Kerala and prefer Mangalore port in south Karnataka when they sail to the mainland.
“The islanders speak Malayalam and are culturally connected to Kerala. Beypore port has been the link between the mainland and the islands for generations. Now the administrator is trying to sever the link between the island natives and Kerala,” Kareem said.
Sacking spree
Viswam said over 2,000 temporary government servants had been sacked in the past six months even before completing their tenures and suggested the motive was sectarian.
“The administrator has also sealed off 38 Anganwadi centres, meant to provide nutritious food to children and pregnant or lactating women. The tourism department has fired 109 employees under the administrator’s orders,” he said.
All this was done on the plea that these Anganwadis and posts were redundant. But many islanders fear the agenda is to fill the posts later with non-Muslims from Kerala and Karnataka.
Environment
A Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation, 2021, has been drafted to facilitate the “progressive development of land in both urban and rural areas” and to confer additional powers for acquisition. The islanders fear this will hurt the archipelago’s fragile and diverse ecosystem.
Patel became Gujarat home minister in 2010 after Amit Shah had to vacate the post following the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. Patel stayed in the job till 2012.
Lakshadweep MP and Nationalist Congress Party leader Muhammed Faizal said: “The island is being surrendered to big corporates. A 15 metre wide road is being planned for tourism on an island of 3.5sqkm. This is being done after evacuating the people from their land. Such steps are being taken to serve whose interests?”
The administrator unilaterally implements his agenda without adequate consultation with the people, Faisal claimed and called for protests against the “anti-people” measures.
Court setback
The Lakshadweep administration suffered a setback as Kerala High Court on Tuesday stayed its order directing the Assistant Public Prosecutor (APP) to attend pending legal works of various government departments, instead of carrying out his duties in the courts there.
The court granted the stay on a PIL by an islander Mohammed Saleem challenging the administration’s directive to the APP posted in Andrott and Amini islands, to attend to legal works of several departments, including preparation of chargesheet to help the police.
Lakshadweep is under the jurisdiction of Kerala High Court.
8 quit BJP in Lakshadweep over new laws The Times of India 27 May 2021
The chorus within BJP for Lakshadweep administrator Praful Patel’s recall has grown louder, with eight members of the party’s Yuva Morcha resigning in the past two days and several more indicating they might do likewise in protest against “plain autocratic governance”.
Former Yuva Morcha general secretary P P Mohammed Hashim said others still in the organisation were just as frustrated over the administrator’s decisions and proposals, including a blanket beef ban and a new draft regulation for prevention of anti-social activities. “We joined BJP with the intention of bringing development to the islands. But the administrator doesn’t listen to anyone and foists his orders on us,” he said.
‘Patel’s rule is disrupting the life of islanders’
Hashim said they decided to quit as the administrator’s rule is disrupting the life of the islanders..
Hashim said the statements of BJP functionaries in Kerala against Lakshadweep amid the crisis had been hurtful, too. “A senior member from Kerala said before the media that terrorist activities and drug trafficking were going on in Lakshadweep. If you have ever been to Lakshadweep, you would know how peaceful this place is. They are planning to put the blame on the islanders even for seizure of contraband from boats in the sea, several nautical miles away from the islands.”
Lakshadweep is among the country's least crime-prone regions, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The 2019 NCRB report shows the archipelago reported no case of murder, kidnapping, rape, robbery and dacoity.
The islanders are suspicious of the draft prevention of anti-social activities regulation because it proposes to vest immense powers on the administrator, including clauses allowing detention of a person for six months to a year just to “prevent him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order”.
“Does Lakshadweep have history of such serious crime or terrorism? So, basically what they are intending to do is to scare the people,” said Mohammed Faizal PP, the MP representing the archipelago.
