Kerala, the land of green magic, is a narrow, fertile strip on the south-west coast of India. Sandwiched between the Lakshadweep, Arabian sea and the Western Ghats. The landscape is dominated by rice fields, mango and cashew nut trees and, above all, coconut palms. The Western Ghats, with their dense tropical forests, misty peaks, extensive ridges and ravines, have sheltered Kerala from main land invaders and encouraged maritime contact with the outside world.

The rulers welcomed all these diverse visitors and the response from the natives towards the calls for conversions belied all expectations. The lower classes, especially in the Hindu community, were oppressed for generations. They found their salvations in the Christian Missionaries. A Christian did not suffer from untouchability or other oppression and he, therefore, gained a good standing in the society. There has never been such peaceful co-existence of people of different faiths. There were incidents of clashes also. The Portuguese succeeded in banishing the Jews from Kodungallur .

With the advent of the British in the late 18th century, English language assumed importance. This brought about a tremendous impact upon the life and culture of the Keralites. In this respect, Kerala owes a great deal to the Christian Missionaries. They not only educated the people but also introduced health-care programmers. They were careful not to disturb the Hindu community and easily blended into the Kerala culture. Malayalam replaced Latin for Church services and candles were replaced for the traditional Kerala ‘Nilavilakku’. They also wholeheartedly participated in the Hindu festivities. Thus they enriched Kerala’s ethnic culture.

The Muslims of Kerala are the descendents of the Arab traders who came to Kerala and married locally and finally settled down here. They were mostly concentrated in the Malabar area and up to the 18th century, were engaged as agricultural labourers, petty traders and soldiers in the Zamorin’s army. The agricultural labourers in Malabar were oppressed under a system of land tenure in which the landlord had a stranglehold on them. They were accused of 'throwing their lot' with Hyder Ali and Tippu during their invasions. There were forced conversions and selective liquidations also. After the British restored peace, the Hindus who suffered started avenging the Muslims. Since the land mostly belonged to the Hindus, there were peasant uprisings, which gradually got a communal tinge, which was later termed as the Mopllah rebellion of 1921. Gradually it gained momentum and developed into a peasant revolt- the peasants were Muslims and the landlords were Hindus, among whom the Namboodiri’s were predominant. The British had to ruthlessly put down the revolt.

<< PREVIOUS                                MORE >>