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The Times of India P Sudhakaran, TNN | Jul 25, 2013

IndianExpress

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.

2013Arakkal 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.