IN MEMORIAM  - MGS

Calicut Heritage Forum is deeply devastated. Not just CHF, but anyone who has taken time to understand Calicut's rich history and vibrant culture will feel the profound loss of the master historian  who vividly brought our city's past to life through his stories. Muttayil Govinda Menon Sankaranarayanan, that was the full name of MGS, passed away in the morning of 26th April 2024, after a brief period of illness. He was mentally active and would listen intently to the newspapers being read out to him till about a week before his passing away at the age of 92.

It was on the 15th December 2007 that I received a call from Father Jolly Aluvelil who was then the Director of the local Chavara Centre saying that MGS wanted me to attend a meeting at the Centre that evening. I was  a bit surprised as I had no acquaintance with him till then. My brother and sister had been his students in their Intermediate course long back in 1954. I remember their admiration for the new History lecturer who had stood first in History Honours in Madras University. I also remember that the Calicut University had opened its Research Centre  which was located at the Guruvayurappan College. The University Centre was housed next to my  Pre-Degree class and I would watch with some admiration the two shadowy figures of Prof. Raveendran and MGS stooping over some book or estampage a sight that evoked both admiration and pity for their sole student, Bharati Nair, who was my cousin! 

Anyhow, I decided to attend the meeting that day. It was an informal meeting with most of Calicut's prominent citizens attending. There was Dr. Madhavan Kutty who was a leading  culture czar those days, Prof.M R Chandrasekharan and Prof. A Achuthan were there. So were some doctors from Calicut Medical College with amateur interest in history. MGS explained the purpose of the meeting which was to form a new body to preserve and protect Calicut's heritage. 

He explained that he had taken the initiative to form a body called Calicut Heritage Society or something which had stopped after showing initial enthusiasm. He suggested the name 'Calicut Heritage Forum' and the meeting approved the name. He would be the President  so that he could give directions and the Vice Presidents shall be Dr. Madhavan Kutty, retired Principal of Medical College and Chairman of the local Board of Directors of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan; and Dr. A Achuthan, a noted environmentalist with deep interest in preserving the heritage of Calicut. He looked at me and asked me to be the Convenor and Secretary and Sri M Radhakrishnan Nair to be the Joint Secretary of CHF. He also suggested that the Zamorin Raja of Calicut and the District Collector of Kozhikode be approached for being the patron of the CHF. We approached both of them  and they readily agreed. Thus was born the Calicut Heritage Forum which was inaugurated by the then Zamorin Sri P.K.K. Raja on the 6th January 2009.

Ever since, till his passing away  on 26th April 2025, I have been interacting with MGS frequently. Beyond his fame as a historian, he was a person of extraordinary qualities.- humble, generous and egalitarian in his dealings with everyone. 

He dealt with everyone on an equal basis. There were many who came to seek his favours and many more who came to just meet him and seek his blessings. He did not disappoint anyone. He gave freely letters of recommendations to those students who sought his intervention to get admission for post-graduate and higher courses. He believed that the country required many more independent historians. When some controversy arose, like the Ayodhya excavation or the Pattanam controversy, some Hindi media like Dainik Bhaskar and Jagran called him to get his bytes. They were speaking in Hindi and I have sometimes acted as interpreter. He was bold in giving out his opinion, unflustered by the political ripples that his comments would cause. 

Then, there were those who approached him to write an introduction to their books. He has dutifully obliged all of them. At the same time, he was serialising his autobiography in Malayalam in a local daily. I once asked his wife how he found time to read and write so much amidst the crowd milling around his drawing room. She explained the secret - he wrote late into the night after dinner, occasionally sleeping in the early hours of the morning. He read every word of the book that he had agreed to write a preface for. Very often his comments were rather uncomplimentary. But he spoke his mind.

This forthrightness and intellectual honesty had got him into trouble throughout his career. When he was the Secretary (1990-92) of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), its Chairman was Prof.Irfan Habib who was a known leftist historian. MGS had a fight with Habib over principles and quit his position. Irfan had tried to brand  MGS a Hindu communalist, without knowing that  long ago, Rao Bahadur Krishnan Nair, the then President of the Board of Management of  Guruvayurappan College had wanted to oust the young lecturer MGS on the ground that he was a rabid Communist! 

Later on, this so-called Hindu communalist himself became the Chairman, ICHR (2001 - 2003). He lost no time in airing his difference of opinion with the BJP Minister, Prof. Murli Manohar Joshi and quit the post. When the Historian and self-confessed leftist Prof. Nurul Hassan became the Education Minister, he had no qualms about making MGS the author of NCERT text books. Much later, when the Congress Government in Kerala under late Oommen Chandy made him the Director General of the Government's Centre for Heritage Studies, MGS had traversed the entire spectrum of political allegiance, without surrendering his independence and the courage of his convictions.

Apart from being a historian, MGS was an artist, having learnt sketching form the one and only artist Namboodiri in Edappal. He was also a poet, having published at the age of 92, the poems of his younger days as an anthology named 'Marichu Mama Balyam' ( My Childhood is Dead).

The doors of his house were always open...!

The doors of the MGS House were always open to anyone who went to seek his help. There were many who came to borrow books from his vast collection. MGS was so generous that he would allow people to take away even books belonging to libraries. When he retired from the University of Calicut, the Library did not issue him a 'No Dues Certificate'. He could not be sanctioned his pension for many years after retirement, until a benevolent Vice Chancellor overruled the bureaucracy and sanctioned his pension.

MGS will be remembered for many things. His seminal contribution to the early history of Kerala will stand out . He toured the length and breadth of Kerala scouting for inscriptions and giving existing inscriptions a new interpretation, under the tutelage of  Sri Elamkulam Kunhan Pillai, and expanding  our knowledge of the Cheras, . His book , Perumals of Kerala represents an original contribution to the understanding of the Cheras of Mahodayapuram. Equally valuable is the Index of Chera Inscriptions, totalling 150 and classified according to the dates. Here, his genius is revealed in suggesting corrections to existing interpretations and suggesting coherent formulations where gaps exist in the script. This book is an expanded version of his Ph.D thesis. 

One of his external examiners was the reputable Indologist and the author of the classic, The Wonder that was India, A L Basham. Basham had to say this about the thesis submitted by MGS : '...one of the ablest and most thorough Indian theses that I have examined,... the thesis forms a very thorough survey of the subject... All...sections are excellent, but the candidate deserves special credit for his detailed study of the political history of the period, for which he has utilised all the available material including a great collection of inscriptions, many of them unpublished....The detailed catalogue of all the many inscriptions relevant to the period, with summaries of the contents,... in itself is a contribution to knowledge...

The... work is a really impressive one. It should be published, and I look forward to seeing it in print. I would ask that the candidate be warmly congratulated on my behalf'. - A L Basham

Basham, who passed away in 1986, did not get to see the book in a printed form. It finally saw the light of day in 2013, thanks to the untiring effort by his beloved students, Prof. T R Venugopalan and Prof. Kesavan Veluthat.

MGS attributed his interest in history to his teachers, with Sri K V Krishna Ayyar playing a leading role. He recalled once that his father, who was a doctor, wanted the son to follow his footsteps. But, after listening to Prof. K V Krishna Ayyar on Calicut History, he was converted . "If I am a historian ,it is only because of Krishna Ayyar", he said in his tribute (Please listen to his speech here from 5.00 to 20.00)So when MGS wrote about Calicut in his book, Calicut:The City of Truth Revisited, he dedicated the book to the first historian of Calicut thus: 'To the Hallowed Memory of Prof. K V Krishna Ayyar who opened the doors of History for me'.

Similarly, when MGS got his magnum opus published, he dedicated his book, Perumals of Kerala to his mentor, Prof. Elamkulam Kunhan Pillai thus : 'This book is dedicated to the memory of the saintly scholar, Professor Elamkulam P.N. Kunhan Pillai. He welcomed me, a total stranger, affectionately into his house, "Satyaniketan" like an old friend, placed his time and immense knowledge , and his entire library at my disposal, imparted instruction in Kerala's ancient scripts and languages, and tolerated my cross examination of his views for four years continuously. Without this apprenticeship in Gurukulam style, my training as historian would have remained incomplete.- M.G.S. Narayanan'

Mr.Swaminathan met MGS in Nov 2024

MGS wanted a lasting tribute to his first history teacher and suggested to me to get in touch with the family of Prof. K V Krishna Ayyar. I established a contact with Mr. Seetharaman and through him with his sister Mrs.Parvathi Swaminathan, the granddaughter of KVK. She was the only person who agreed to team up with CHF for instituting an endowment to set up an annual lecture. The first such lecture was given in 2014 by Prof. Kesavan Veluthat. CHF has continued to organise these annual lecture, except for a break in 2021 due to Covid restrictions. Mrs. Swaminathan attended many of the early lectures till she was unable to travel from Bangalore. Mr.Swaminathan attended all the including the 2024 lecture, travelling in his car from Bangalore to Calicut in company of Mrs and Mr. Akhilesh Venkitaraman. MGS was happy to preside over the meetings and did so till he was laid up after 2023 when he suffered from the after effects of Covid.

MGS was an atheist, like K V Krishna Ayyar before him. He has probably visited more temples in Kerala than even the most devout believer. But he was looking for inscriptions and other historical proof in these temples. MGS may not have believed in God, but one suspects that God had immense faith in MGS, who lived his life on his terms. No tribute can equal the one that MGS himself has recorded in the Author's Note of his work, Perumal of Kerala and reproduced below:

'Thanks to longevity ensured by modern science, and tolerably good health, I have reaped full rewards and honours for my hard work in the form of recognition within our country and outside. My work in the field of historical research has earned for me a good number of friends and enemies, even outside the circle of my students. I am thankful to all of them. They made my otherwise uneventful life full of excitement, challenge and suspense. Research has been a passion with me, but I followed it without sacrificing domestic and social life and all their attached pains and pleasures. This was possible because of the generosity of the members of family, my colleagues and students. This enabled me to withstand  the trials and tribulations imposed on me by some Calicut University authorities and some political leaders whom I had to oppose in the course of my professional activity. I do not retain any ill-will against them especially since I have been able to overcome the obstacles and recover the losses'.

Au Revoir, Sir!

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Calicut's Opium Trade ... the hidden story

                                                        Tomb of Cornwallis at Ghazipur

 As per the Malayalam calendar, Thiruvathira Njattuvela, the period of copious rains ends today. Astronomically, this is the period when the Sun transits the Thiruvathira asterism. Each of the 27 asterisms (which are star patterns outside the constellations) is transited by the Sun for a period of approximately 27 days. But, the particular nature of the Thiruvathira Njattuvela is the interplay of heavy incessant rains and bright scorching sunshine. It did not disappoint us this year as well.

This season is ideal for planting pepper vines in Kerala. This is also the season when the mature vines start flowering. This is the time when slender catkins appear on the nodes of the pepper vine. It is believed that the heavy rains falling on these catkins cause pollination as the rain drops slide down from node to node, carrying the pollen to the spikes.

In a way, pepper, as much as the monsoon, made Calicut. Traders came from all across the world to Calicut looking for just one cargo - pepper. The same monsoon which enabled profuse flowering of the pepper vines helped the Greek Mariner Hippalus to reach the destination of the black gold! 

Even Vasco da Gama who claimed to have come seeking 'Pepper and Christians' was being diplomatic when he added the Christian bit. After all, his patron, King John II of Portugal had signed a treaty mediated by the Pope (the Treaty of Tordesillas) which cast an obligation on him to look for Christians.

All this attention by middle eastern and European traders might have made the Zamorin, the ruler  of Calicut, rather self-conceited. When the Portuguese requested the Zamorin's minister for permission to carry back some live vines of pepper, the Minister was reluctant. The matter was brought to the Zamorin for a decision. The ruler was dismissive of the request: Let them take away any quantity of pepper vines. After all, they can't snatch the Thiruvathira Njattuvela from us!.

When today we find that Brazil produces over 35000 tonnes of black pepper and Kerala harvests only 30,400 tonnes, we can only mourn the short-sightedness of our rulers. To think that Brazilian black pepper emerged from the few vines planted by the Portuguese in the Para valley of the Amazon river! 

India lost its primacy in pepper production long ago. Today, Vietnam with an annual production of 163,000 tonnes produces more than 34 percent of the world's black pepper.

After the initial skirmishes and trials of strength, the Portuguese realised that peace with Calicut was in their own interest, as Cairo and Venice traders were taking advantage of the disturbance to increase their trade volumes with the support of the Muslim traders. Accordingly, a treaty was signed between the Zamorin and Albuquerque on Christmas eve of 1513. This agreement provided for the Portuguese to trade freely in pepper in Calicut and even do barter trade in exchange for pepper. The price of pepper was fixed as the same as the ruling price in Kochi market. Portuguese were also allowed to build a fort in Calicut. The relationship, and consequently the trade, between the two parties was rather bumpy with frequent skirmishes and rapprochement until 1600 when a major obstacle, Kunhali Marakkar was neutralised. 

 It was the rise of the Dutch, a new European power, on the horizon which enthused the Zamorin to consider breaking away from the stranglehold of the Portuguese. The Zamorin entered into a treaty with the Dutch in 1604 explicitly with the objective of the 'expulsion of the Portuguese from the territories of His Highness and the rest of India'. For the Dutch, it was sweet revenge for what the Portuguese had perpetrated against their emissaries in Surat. A few Dutch merchants had landed fifty years ago on the Surat coast for trading. But the Portuguese who had control over this the port, caught hold of these merchants and hanged them in Goa.

But, the Zamorin's grand design of using the Dutch to defeat the Portuguese could not be realised. The Dutch were smarter than the Portuguese and did not waste their resources in operations unconnected with trade. As K V Krishna Ayyar put it, 'As a commercial nation, their policy was maximum gain with minimum outlay. Anything that saved them money or energy was eagerly grasped at.' 

Initially, the Dutch were confined to trading much the same commodities as the Portuguese - 64% pepper, 10% rice and 6% cardamom.  But soon they realised that pepper trade was getting too competitive and there were too many players. It was then that they discovered the potential of opium as a currency. 

According to the Dutch records, it was in 1641 that they had first recorded the import of opium (they called it amphioen) into Malabar as these goods were 'appreciated by Malabarians'. This was imported  perhaps as a present to trading partners or even the rulers. The port of origin of this opium was Surat. Very soon, they succeeded in introducing opium as currency in Malabar's pepper trade. 

An entry in their records of 1651 very clearly describes their yacht Sperwer bringing from Bengal 20,000 pounds opium 'to buy pepper in Malabar'. The years that followed witnessed the rapid rise of the Dutch and the collapse of the Portuguese in Malabar. The Dutch had conquered Ceylon in 1658 and, in 1660 a naval fleet under Admiral Van Geons landed in Malabar, ostensibly to seek a regime change in Cochin but with the clear aim of throwing out the Portuguese from this coast. They conquered Quilon which was the chief possession of the Portuguese in Travancore and proceeded to unseat the Portuguese from Cranganore and Cochin in 1662. 

By 1664, the Dutch had entered into trade agreements with most of the rulers of Malabar. The treaty that the Dutch Captain John Nieuhoff signed on 21st February 1664 with the rulers of Travancore, Karunagapalli, Quilon, and Kottarakkara  provided that 'Nobody, after this treaty, was to import sell or exchange any opium into these countries except the Dutch East India Company. No one was permitted to export pepper or cinnamon out of the country or to sell them to anyone except to this Company'. Similar treaties were concluded with Kayankulam, Purakkad, Cannanore and Cranganore also. Cochin was already under the Dutch rule.

The sole exception was the Zamorin of Calicut. He could not be persuaded to sign such a treaty of trade monopoly. But it was not moral posturing that dissuaded the Zamorin from trading in opium. The English had already established a firm trading post in Calicut and were importing opium from their own Surat port. Smuggling by Muslim coastal traders was also rampant. In fact, Ali Raja of Kannur was one of the major importer of opium from Surat for export to the Middle East. The Zamorin found out that Surat opium was superior to the Bengal opium of questionable quality which the Dutch sought to foist on Malabaries. The Zamorin also got handsome customs from the Muslim traders, unlike with the Dutch who had a barter agreement.

It was the avarice of the Dutch that led to the collapse of their opium-for-pepper trade. They fixed the exchange rate too high so that soon smuggled opium drove the monopoly trade out of business. For instance, initially, one pound of opium was traded for 100 pounds of pepper. Because of the opium smuggling, the Dutch were forced to bring down the price to 60 pounds of pepper for one pound of opium and soon to 40 pounds. Considering that the smugglers were offering one pound of opium for 35 pounds of pepper, this climb down by the Dutch almost nullified their pretensions of monopoly over both these commodities. The Dutch lamented that, with the fall in the exchange rate of opium they were burdened with a stock of 30,000 pounds of 'unmarketable' opium in their warehouses. 

The VOC Governor General Hustaert gave desperate instructions in 1664 :'...we have to sell it (the unsold opium) against pepper even if the price has to decrease until 60 lb pepper, otherwise the amphioen (opium) will wither and be spoiled'.

There were two main sources of opium in India. In the east, Ghazipur district, adjoining Varanasi grew the best opium in India.  It was not for nothing that the British fought the battle of Buxar in 1764. By a firman 

dated 12th August 1765, the Delhi Emperor had granted the Diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to the East India Company. 

                                                Government Opium and Alkaloid Factory, Ghazipur

Cornwallis had created an opium department under the Board of Revenue. It included the Benares Opium Agency with its factory at Ghazipur and the Patna Agency at Bankipore. (In fact, the Opium Factory at Ghazipur still functions directly under the Control of the Department of Revenue, Government of India.) When Cornwallis returned to India as the Governor General for a second time, his first visit was to Benares and Ghazipur. He passed away in Ghazipur and his tomb in what is known as Gorabazar is a major attraction in Ghazipur.

East India Company copied the Dutch model of meeting their trade deficit by using opium as a currency. Their main import from China was tea. They had to create a market for opium in China in order to balance the trade. In 1793, they opened an embassy in China to represent King George III. But official China was not amused by these overtures. 

The East India Company then hit upon a sponsored smuggling of opium. They would auction the opium to private traders in Kolkata who in turn exported it to China either through Chinese traders or through smugglers. The revenue from this auction was used by the Company to buy tea from China. The Company had borrowed money to the tune of 28 million pounds. They had no working capital to trade with China. As the illicit trade in opium started flourishing, the Company was not only able to wipe off all its losses but could generate a surplus of 7 million pounds by 1806. In fact, when the British Crown took over the administration of Indian territories from the Company in 1858, opium was second only to land tax in terms of government revenue. Rudyard Kipling who had visited Ghazipur in 1888 described it as 'an opium mint...to replenish the coffers of the Indian Government'.

Cornwallis Tomb - A Brahmin and a Moulvi are shown mourning the death of a benevolent ruler!

The western sources of opium were mostly confined to Malwa region, under native rulers. The Company did not have much control over the production. But, export of contraband opium was taking place from the Company ports at Surat and Bombay. Simultaneously, Portuguese agents were exporting it to Macao from their ports at Daman and Diu. This opium would be smuggled into China from Macau.

Who consumed all the opium that came to Cochin or Calicut? We know from Dutch records that in 1685, they had '20,000 pounds of bad Bengal opium in stock, which shall not improve in quality but grows bad...' They were desperate to dispose of this stock. 

On top of this, the Dutch found that the pirate William Kydd was dumping opium. It is necessary here to refer to the story of William Kidd, as told by Maddy in his blog post https://historicalleys.blogspot.com/2012/04/  Maddy is rather sympathetic to the plight of Kidd who is described as a creature of his circumstances. But, the Dutch, who wer active in Kayamkulam and Kochi when Kidd was operating in these ports, have a different story to tell. 'Apart from all the considerations above, the Malabar coast is flooded by amphioen sold by the pirate William Kidd for next to nothing...' (memorandum of 1698 from a VOC official posted in Kochi.)

We can only conclude that much of the opium obtained in the barter trade must have been exported to the Middle East or smuggled into China. Local consumption might have been only marginal. Cannabis is used selectively in some Ayurvedic preparations also. But what is striking is that there is very little information on this. It is only now, when documents from the Dutch archives get translated, that we get a picture of the major role of opium in Malabar trade.

Reference 

1. 'Pepper for Opium Vice Versa : Hans Derks (downloaded from Brilll.com on 10-06-2024 

2. K V Krishna Ayyar : The Zamorins of Calicut

3. K K Nair : By Sweat and Swords

4. Dr. T I Poonen : Dutch Hegemony in Malabar

5. Maddy : A Pirate in Malabar https://historicalleys.blogspot.com/2012/04/pirate-in-malabar.html

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When the Gods sought refuge in Kozhikkode

The year, 1323 AD. It was the final day of the festival at the famous Srirangam Temple, known as the most important Sri Vaishnava shrine in South India. The utsava (festival) idol of the presiding deity, Lord Vishnu, known as Azhakiyamanavala Perumal, and of his two consorts, Bhudevi and Sridevi were being taken in procession to the accompaniment of loud chanting of the Vedas and the Divya Prabhandam.

 Suddenly, a person could be seen jostling through the crowd of devotees, trying to reach the head of the procession. He was stopped by an archaka before he reached there. He whispered something in the ears of the archaka and soon, the stranger was taken to the chief priests. The procession was moving slowly, but unnoticed by the crowd, the chief priests dropped out one by one, leaving the Nambis to continue the procession.

They assembled in a corner away from the din of the procession. The messenger had brought ominous news. The Muslim forces from the Delhi Sultanate had conquered Thondaimandalam ( which included Chennai, Chengalpattu, Tiruvannamalai and Arcot) and were marching towards Srirangam. The invading army was led by Ulugh Khan, the son and successor of Giyazuddin Tulgaq. This Ulugh Kahn would later ascend to the Delhi crown as Mohammed bin Tuglaq.

The messenger had come running from Kannanur ( now known as Samayapuram) which was one of the cities under Hoysala occupation and was close to Srirangam. This Hoysala provincial capital had already been overrun by the Muslim force. He had escaped the enemy's notice and had rushed to warn the temple authorities at Srirangam.

The head priest and other senior Sri Vaishnavas were in a quandary. Many of the senior priests recalled with horror the earlier Muslim attack of 1311 AD which was led by Malik Kafur, the slave general of the Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khilji. They had then plundered the Srirangam temple and taken away not only the hoard of gold and precious stones, but even the utsava idol of Lord Ranganatha. 

It had taken a great deal of effort and some trickery on the part of the Sri Vaishnavas to bring back the idol from Delhi. The Delhi Sultan's daughter, who had fallen in love with the idol, followed the Sri Vaishnavas all the way to the temple and she ultimately died of grief there. This incident is commemorated in the small shrine inside the temple complex - in the northwestern corner of the Rajamahendran enclosure, in the path of the procession - with a painting of the Sultani, named Tulukka Nachiyar (the Muslim wife). Every day, a special offering of wheat bread, sweet dal and khichdi is offered to the Nachiyar. 

For the last 12 years since the idol was brought back, when Lord Ranganatha proceeded in a procession, He visited her as part of the ritual, attired in a lungi such as is worn by Muslim men in South India. The special offering on such visits consists of chapatis, mung dal and milk.

The acharyas decided that something must be done urgently to prevent a repeat of the events of 1311. They knew that the Muslim soldiers would have instructions to recover the idol, as it was believed in Delhi that it had some magical powers. Otherwise, how could their princess fall in love with a lifeless idol and travel all the way to Srirangam in Tamil country only to give up her life?

It was, therefore, decided that Pillai Lokacharya, the presiding priest of the Koyil and a few other archakas would escape with the utsava idol of Lord Ranganatha and the two consorts, Sridevi and Bhudevi. Other Sri Vaishnavas would erect a wall in front of the main idol in the sanctum sanctorum, known as Periya Perumal, and conceal it from the marauders.

The small procession carrying the idols moved stealthily in the dark, avoiding the main roads. They wanted to halt at Tiruppathur but when they reached there, they learnt that the Delhi army was already camping at the local temple. The group carrying the precious idols then diverted to Tirukkoshtiyur and from there, crossed the dense forest to reach Jyotishkudi.

Pillai Lokacharya, the elderly priest passed away at Jyotishkudi. After cremating the acharya there, the group travelled to Tirumalirunjolai ( very close to Madurai) where they stayed for a year.

Madurai had recently come under Muslim rule. The Governor of Madurai, Ahsan Khan was a ruthless fanatic from Kaithal (modern Haryana). He was, incidentally, the father-in-law of Ibn Battuta. Battuta has recounted the cruelty of Madurai forces on innocent villagers, in his Rihla. They would round up Hindus and after impaling them on sharpened wooden spikes, leave them to die. 

The journey of the Srirangam idols is described in detail in the temple's chronicle, Koyil Olugu (KO). According to one version of KO (published by Tirumalai-Tirupati Devasthanam in 1954), 'The icon was then worshipped at Tirumalirunjolai for a year and was later taken to Kozhikode, to which refuge many icons from important shrines including that of Nammalvar , had been removed during the troublous period.After a year's stay at Kozhikode, the icons of Manavala and Nammalvar were taken by the sea route to the Mysore coast and from there the latter alone was conveyed to Tiru-narayana-puram and finally to Tirupati.'

'Going from temple to temple of the Vaishnava holy places on the west coast they reached at last Calicut', writes historian S Krishna Swamy Ayyangar in his classic work, South India and Her Muhammedan Invaders'. 

Calicut was by no means a Vaishnava holy place. It is also not true that the Srirangam team went 'from temple to temple of the Vaishnava holy places', at least after deciding to get out of Madurai. From Madurai, the easiest route would be the Kambam trade route which was an established trade route from Madurai to Kottayam and the hinterland. 

Out of the 108 Divya Desams sacred to Sri Vaishnavas, 13 are in Kerala, known collectively as 'Malainadu Divyadesams'. Assuming that the Srirangam team had crossed over to Kottayam or further north, they must have passed at least a half dozen Divya Desams - including Trikkakkara, Moozhikkalam, Tirumittakkode and Tirunavaya - before reaching Calicut. Thus, if they were looking for 'Vaishnava holy places' there were several on the way.

Nor was Calicut a peaceful haven where one could hide from enemies. It was a bustling port city with merchants from several nationalities crowding the shores and market places looking for quality spices and textiles. Ibn Battuta who was in Calicut around this time (1342-1347) has left a graphic description of the number of Chinese and Arab vessels which crowded the port of Calicut.

UNLESS, there was a strong magnet in Calicut that was drawing the fugitives here on the assurance that they would be safe here. What could this be?

We had, in an earlier post, indicated the possibility of the spread of Vaishnavism in Malabar in the wake of the Hoysala conquest of the area in the 11th and 12th Century. Vaishnava communities from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka likely migrated to serve the newly built temples of Lord Vishnu. The original inhabitants of the small Goshala Krishna temple could be one such community. This probably explains the cryptic statement about the fugitives being 'protected by various persons in the various places' in Koyil Olugu. 

This also explains the statement that when the Srirangam team reached Kozhikode, they were surprised to see 'Nammalvar and other Emberumans from various sacred shrines'. Nammalvar shrine is in Alwar Tirunagari in Southern Tamilnadu. The entire area remained disturbed during this period, first by the antics of the Venad Kind Ravi Varman Kulasekhara who claimed the title 'Tribhuvana Chakravarthi' (one who has defeated all the three powers viz.; Chera, Chola and Pandya) and then by the Muslim invasion of the nearby Madurai. It was in this context that the idols of Alwar Tirunagari and nearby temples were shifted to Calicut. Perhaps, the Calicut Vaishnavas had intelligence that the Srirangam idols would be brought here. The more elaborate West-facing Temple was constructed to receive Azhakiya Perumal and his two consorts. 

At present, the Azha Trikkovil Temple complex consists of two distinct temples : a smaller (perhaps older) shrine of Goshala Krishnan facing east, a lump of butter in either hand; and the west-facing main shrine of Chaturbhuja Maha Vishnu with Shankha, Chakra, Gadha (mace) and Lotus. By either side of the Vishnu idol are two mounds representing Sridevi and Bhudevi. The Goshala Krishna idol was once vandalised and it was re-installed based on the evidence obtained from the damaged idol. 

According to the Tantri of Azha Trikkovil Temple, Patirisseri Sankaran namboodiripad, initially there was a Krishnan Koil belonging to the Tamil Brahmin community living in the area. Subsequently, another group of Tamil Brahmins built the MahaVishnu Temple. He was not aware of the the Srirangam connection nor about the Koyil Olugu.

A 1977 document states that as per the land records of Nellikkode amsom (where the temple is situated), the temple's name is recorded in the land records of Nellikkode desam as 'Azhwar Trikkovil'. This could be a reference to the idol of Nammalvar which was the first to be shifted here. The land records also show sizeable land grants in the name of the temple.

We, at Calicut Heritage Forum, tried to look for further evidence of the Srirangam connections. We were thrilled to find several stone pillars with marks like inscriptions. These pillars had been dislodged from their original location and used as paving stones in the pradakshinam and near the tirtha well. We brought in the expert epigraphist, Dr. Rajendu (a freshly returned Fulbright scholar). His team worked for half a day trying to make estampages of what looked like inscriptions. These were indeed inscriptions but during a 'renovation' of the temple in 1984 or so, these stones were used for paving and as a protection for the well. As the pavements needed to be skid-free, workers sharpened the stones. In the process, they had totally disfigured the inscriptions. All that Dr. Rajendu could read was : 'vi ta'! We have requested the management committee of the Temple and the Managing Trustee to consider overturning some of the paved stones. Hopefully, the other side is left undisturbed and has some inscriptions!

The Hindu newspaper had carried a report on the temple and its Sreerangam connection. It is reproduced here.

The Hindu, Calicut Edition, 25th May 2024

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The Zamorins' Life in Exile (1766 - 1795). Manorama Thampuratti and Dharma Raja

 Although we conventionally adopt 1766 as the year in which the Zamorin era eclipsed, the seeds of the decline and fall of this power started as early as the 1720s when the Dutch defeated the Calicut forces and enforced a humiliating treaty surrendering Chettuwa and Pappinivattam in 1718. The loss of Chettuwa was rankling, as it was vital for Calicut's communication with the South. 

But the gradual enervation of the pillars of governance which began with the dismissal of Thamme Panicker from the Calicut court continued in later years with the defection and later withdrawal from the Calicut court of Mangattachan and the open rebellion of his two commandants, Alipparamban and Mapranam and culminating in the unfair dismissal and execution of Tharakkal Warrier, the chief of armory of the Zamorin.

The new Zamorin who ascended the throne in 1741 was the first of the adoptees from Neeleswaram to ascend to the throne. The young Zamorin was, however, distracted by petty disputes like the appointment of managers for the Trippayar temple and ceremonial duties like the conduct of Mamankam (1743) while war clouds were forming on the horizon. Before he could attend to more serious issues, the young Zamorin passed away in 1746. 

He was followed by the impetuous Eralpad who opened up several fronts of conflict with the Moplas of Eranad, the Vazhunnavar of Kadathanad, and the Dutch trying to retrieve the land that his predecessor had ceded in the 1718 surrender. The climax was when the Zamorin forces reached Arookkutty 'which commanded the only passage leading to Travancore from Cochin. When the Zamorin's army arrived there , they found the enemy prepared to oppose their landing. Led by Rama Ayyan, the Travancoreans successfully resisted every attempt made by the Calicut Nayars, and finally compelled them to retire'. (KV Krishna Ayyar, The Zamorins of Calicut, page 221).

This senseless adventurism culminated in the Zamorin being forced to sign another humiliating treaty with the Dutch on 6th March 1758, surrendering Mathilakam, Puthenchira, Chettuwa, and Pappinivattam and paying Rs.65,000 as war indemnity. Within a couple of months after signing this treaty, the Zamorin died, leaving a whole range of unfinished business to the new Zamorin who was clearly unequal to the task. His accession coincided with the desertion of Mangattachan and his trusted lieutenants, Alipparamban and Mapranam. When the combined forces of Cochin invaded the Zamorin territory in 1762, the only option with the incompetent Zamorin was to surrender Alangad, Parur and Trichur. As this coincided with the invasion from the east by the forces sent by Hyder Ali, the Zamorin accompanied by the Valiya Thampuran of Patinhare Kovilakam travelled to Padmanabhapuram and concluded a treaty with the Travancore maharaja agreeing to pay a sum of Rs.16,000 as reparations and also submitting all his disputes with Cochin to the mediation by Travancore. 

Meanwhile, the Mysore ruler was knocking on his doors, seeking implementation of the treaty of 1756 which was the outcome of another foolhardy venture, this time against the Palghat Raja. When Hyder realised that the Zamorin did not have the resources to pay any amount towards the promised reparation of Rs.12 lakhs, he marched towards Calicut. When cornered on all sides, the helpless Zamorin commits suicide, after sending his family first to Ponnani and then to Paravur which was Travancore territory.

We have very little knowledge of how the Zamorin family fared in Travancore where they spent close to three decades. How were they treated by their erstwhile foes but now treaty partners, albeit unwilling. How did the family members who had hurriedly shifted to the Travancore territory fare?

 Calicut Heritage Forum has been scouting around for a scholar who would be able to fill this gap in the Zamorin's history. We were fortunate to identify Dr. M G Sasibhooshan, archeologist, iconologist, historian, and the foremost expert on temple murals to speak to us on the above subject. 

Dr. Sasibhooshan's speech can be listened to here: For those who may not fully follow his speech in Malayalam, we give a summary below: 

When the ruling Zamorin set fire to his palace and self-immolated in 1766, it was a rare occurrence in Kerala’s history. While it was a sacrifice on his part, it was to some extent thoughtless on the part of the Zamorin to have betrayed the trust and loyalty of his soldiers who were thrown at the mercy of the enemy. The particular Zamorin who committed this unthinkable act was an adoptee from the Nileswaram Kovilakam. He probably did not understand the history of the Zamorins. He committed many other blunders also. He dismissed Tharakkal Warrier (who was the head of the artillery of his force) and executed him through his soldiers. Another huge blunder was to plan and celebrate a Mamankam when the whole world knew that Haider Ali was on the verge of attacking Calicut.

The Zamorin family sought refuge in Travancore and was welcomed by the Maharaja of Travancore. They were housed in a peaceful palace in Kunnathur, near Quilon. 

The Zamorin family adjusted to the new circumstances very well without complaining. They accepted the changed life. The men in the Zamorin family had first reached Trivandrum, most probably by sea. It is conjectured that Chovvakkaran Moosa who was a leading trader of Calicut had helped the male members to reach Trivandrum by sea. The family had stayed in Thampanoor in Trivandrum before they shifted to Kunnathur.

 Karthika Thirunal Maharaja was a romantic and led the life of a libertine. He fell in love with Manorama Thampuratti, a princess of the Zamorin family. She was already around 30 years old then and had been married to a Namboodiri from Beypore. She also had two issues in that marriage. But the romance between Karthika Thirunal and Manorama Thampuratti flourished. At first Manorama Thampuratti (along with other women of the Zamorin household) was housed in Karimpinpuzha Palace. Later, Manorama Thampuratti was shifted by Karthika Thirunal to the Ennakkat Palace so that he could be closer to her. The romance was not just physical. The Maharaja was bowled over by the intellectual prowess of the lady who had written a commentary on Proudha Manorama at the age of 19.

When the Zamorin family shifted back to Calicut after the defeat of Tipu in 1790, Karthika Thirunal advised Manorama Thampuratti that Calicut was not fit for her stay. He financed the purchase of an abandoned palace at Venkitakotta in Kottakkal and housed her and her children in Kottakkal. Thus was the Kizhakke Kovilakam re-located to Kottakkal. The son of Manorama Thampuratti became an Eralpad. He was responsible for the revival of the mural tradition in Malabar. Painters like Sankaran Nair and Bharatha Pisharoti decorated the Siva temple of Kottakkal.

The Zamorins led a leisurely life in Travancore and even invited artistes of Ottanthullal and Kathakali and staged performances. As many of the rulers of Travancore claimed lineage from Kolathiri dynasty through their women, the Zamorins, Kolathiri dynasty and even Kadathanad rulers did not feel that they were in an alien land. Kadathanad dynasty sought refuge in Changanassery palace.

Much of what Dr. Sasibhooshan spoke was news to many of us who knew very little of this period in the history of the Zamorins. However, some of our members raised a few issues about some statements. 

Firstly, the statement that Karthika Thirunal financed the acquisition of the Venkitakotta land and the construction of the Kizhakke kovilakam for Manorama Thampuratti requires documentary support. Apart from this, it is highly unlikely that Travancore treasury, struggling to meet the demands of war reparations and compensation from the East India Company would have spared money to build a kovilakam for the Calicut princess. Raja Kesava Das who had an iron hold of the treasury (and of Dharma Raja) would not have allowed such extravagance. 

Secondly, our presumption that no records exist for the period of Zamorin's exile is being questioned. N M Namboodiri in his book Samoothiri Charithrathile Kanappurangal (page 15) records that there is an entire volume in the Kozhikkodan Granthavari dealing with the events during the period the Zamorins were living in exile in Kunnathur kovilakam. We hope someone will access this little treasure to unravel the missing decades in the Zamorin story.

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Zamorin’s old Palace – Tangible evidence of the French testimony

Last fortnight, a team of amateur archaeologists led by CHF Vice President and veteran archaeologist, Sri K K Muhammed stumbled on a valuable piece of evidence which may be one more piece in the jigsaw puzzle that is Calicut’s history. It was a huge granite piece of the gate of a structure presumed to be of the Zamorin’s fort.

It was recovered from the premises of a restaurant (1980s: A Nostalgic Restaurant) on the Dawood Bhai Kapasi Road, close to the beach. We are grateful to them for preserving the most nostalgic item – the stone structure of the Fort which goes back more than 500 years before 1980!

 According to Sri. Muhammed, this could be a part of the western gate of the Zamorin’s fort during the period 1400-1500 AD. If so, this was probably the gate through which Vasco da Gama and his entourage entered the palace. This could well have been the palace which his successors Cabral and Albuquerque had blasted with cannons from the sea. 

CHF member and intrepid blogger Maddy had speculated about the ruins of Zamorin’s fort in his post on the decline of Calicut as an entrepot. He concluded by saying: ‘What of these Calicut ruins now? Not much would have been left since there were very few buildings built of stone, and any mud housing would have been washed away, or covered by mud banks.’ 

We are sure Maddy must be happy to have been proved wrong. This is the second structure of what could be reasonably presumed to be part of Zamorin’s fort. Earlier, another bigger piece was found while excavating for a subway. This has been shifted to the local museum. 

This leads us to wonder that the present Calicut is literally sitting on its predecessor city, the actual City of Truth, the fabled metropolitan entrepot where goods from the far west and the far east were traded, and where traders from Venice, Genoa, Lisbon, Malacca and Zaiton (present-day Quanzhou) converged.

Zamorin’s Fort

Traditionally, the Zamorin (or, Poonthurakkon, to be more precise) was believed to have had his first palace in Velapuram. It was presumed to be somewhere on the beach. M N Namboodiri, in his Malabar Padhanangal: Samoothirinad (page 154) mentions that Velapuram was in Moonnalingal, according to property documents which he had examined. Moonnalingal is the junction in front of the east gate of Government Beach Hospital. The latest find corresponds to this location.

As mentioned by Maddy in his post quoted above, we get valuable clues about the old fort from the writings of French private merchants who had been visiting Calicut to scout for opportunities for profitable trade.

The French were the last to set up a company for trading with the East.  Although they had made earlier efforts to set up a company, it was only when Colbert, who came to power in 1661, that the need for competing with the English and the Dutch became compulsive. For, the French were then paying 12 per cent more for Indian goods obtained through the Dutch than if they had procured the same goods directly. 

By the 1630s, a regular route for Indian textiles (called palempores, akin to kalamkari craft) was open from India to France via the Levant and Persia. However, after the founding of the French Company, these goods started flowing directly, and that too much cheaper. Not only women but men also were robed in the ’banyan’, an Indian printed robe. 

France had to ban the import of Indian cottons in 1686 to protect the interests of French silk weavers. In 1691, import of even white cotton cloth from India was banned.

The French Company was established in 1664 and had founded its first settlement at Surat in 1666. However, it was only towards the early eighteenth century that the French Company got interested in Calicut and its pepper. It soon abandoned its Calicut location and shifted to the more congenial Mahe.

Thus the official French did not consider Calicut an attractive destination for trade. But what is of greater interest is how the ordinary French traveller -cum-trader looked at Calicut. 

 Calicut had its share of curious French visitors who came for various purposes, including procuring spices. Soon after setting up the establishment at Surat in 1666, the Director, Francois Caron started sending out envoys to different parts of the country. 

Caron himself was an interesting character. He was a French Huguenot refugee in the Netherlands and had served the Dutch East India Company (VOC) for over three decades. Starting off as a cook’s mate, he rose to be the Director General of VOC at Batavia (Jakarta), a position that was only one grade below that of the Governor General. When he retired from VOC, he was lapped up by the French East India Company in 1665 and was posted as its Director General in Surat where he served until he died in 1673. 

It seems this was a period of a scramble for dominating the ports of western India. In 1663, the Dutch had driven out the English from Cochin which they had grabbed. In the next year (1664), the English East India Company concluded its first extant agreement with the Zamorin. The English perception of the Zamorin, as quoted by Logan, is a little less than flattering. His palace was built of stone and he kept up “some faint resemblance of grandeur” about it. His supremacy over the Malayali chiefs was ‘little more than formal, and his position among the country powers appears to have deteriorated greatly from what it was in 1498 when the Portuguese appeared upon the scene’. (p388, Malabar Manual)

The first set of French merchants to visit Calicut for the purchase of pepper was Fees and Bourreau. Interestingly, they met two French dignitaries who were already in Calicut -  Souchou de Rennefort, the Secretary of the French East India Company and Francois Martin, a French merchant. The two groups met one another in Calicut on the 16th of December 1644. 

Martin and Rennefort stayed in Calicut for a couple of months. They have left behind interesting vignettes of what they saw in Calicut. 

They found that Calicut had very few houses made of bricks and stone. Most houses were made of straw and mud. But, even the smallest house had a garden surrounding it. In fact, they were impressed by these unbroken gardens which extended from one end of the city to the other.

They could easily spot the palace of the Zamorin. Surprisingly, they found the entrance to the palace adorned with forty to fifty pieces of cannon along with three arms of Portugal with three globes, the motto of King Emanuel. It is possible that they mistook the Portuguese fort for the Palace of Zamorin. But, they mention elsewhere that the Portuguese fort was a mile inside the sea, as the sea had advanced and swallowed huge parts of the shore.

Martin noticed that the city was inhabited by both Hindus and Muslims, both carrying out spices trade. There were some Jews also who engaged in the trading of pearls.

His companion, Rennefort gives us a more detailed account. He too found the city to be nestled inside coconut gardens, much like the suburbs of Marseille where the houses were hidden among vineyards and fig trees. The Zamorin was not living in his palace, as he spent most of his time in Cranganore. 

Town planning and architecture

 Both the Frenchmen found fault with the order or symmetry of the city’s layout. They lamented that there were no regular streets. And most of the houses were made of branches of coconut trees in the form of big pavilions but very low. Nevertheless, these were clean inside. 

There was a big complex of stone buildings and next to these, there was a big well in which one could descend slowly. (stepwell in Calicut?) Around the complex, galleries were built in Portuguese style. The nature of this building is not indicated. However, it might just be possible that the recently excavated part belonged to this building complex.

They then crossed a field to come to the King’s house within the complex, far more beautiful than that of the earlier one. They witnessed the King and the courtiers worshipping a golden elephant (Ganesa idol?) Another idol of a black woman breast-feeding two infants (Kali?) was also in the room. Rennefort found the temples and mosques of Calicut built beautifully. 

Markets

The markets started at two in the afternoon and continued till seven in the evening.  Shops were lined up on both sides of the street. Behind the row of shops were rooms to keep the goods. The main items of trade included cotton in large quantities, and of different types including white, painted and muslin; pepper; coco oil; sapan wood for colouring (large quantities of sappan wood were being exported in the 17th-18th Centuries  to Japan via South East Asia; the wood is still used in Kerala for colouring boiled drinking water; its local name is chappangam or pathimugham); ropes of coco trees, and all sorts of provisions. Gold and silver jewellery was also a major item of trade, particularly gold earrings.

Social life

 There were a large number of merchants and banias in Calicut. The people were scantily dressed but were wearing gold and silver earrings. The Nairs carried knives in the gold belt with scabbard sculptured in silver and sapan wood. Pirates roamed around the west coast in their galleys, collecting slaves, an important trade commodity during the time.

Flooding of Calicut

The French visitors had observed that the beach of Calicut was not fit for landing, as it was very low and receding. The sea was advancing each year. Already the Portuguese factory had gone two miles into the sea. Only the top of the towers could be seen, although at one time it was not far from the port. According to a letter from that period, the continuing inundation of Calicut port has caused a decline in its commerce. This has caused foreign merchants to shift their residence from the port area to the interior.

One of the casualties of the sea erosion was the English factory which was right on the beach when Abbe Carre visited Calicut and had dinner with the English factors in 1672. When Dellon visited Calicut six years later in 1678, the English factory had been engulfed by the advancing sea and they had constructed a new factory at a high place. 

The flooding of Calicut started around 1645 and continued till the end of the 17th Century. As a result of this flooding, many rich merchants abandoned Calicut and shifted to Goa, according to Dellon. This had virtually ruined the trade of Calicut.

Description of the Zamorin

The reputation of Calicut as a friendly port was well-founded. The rulers invited any foreign visitor to set up trade in this free port. When Captain William Keeling was sailing on Calicut roads, the Zamorin had sent an envoy inviting the English captain to come ashore. He promptly landed in Calicut and signed a treaty of trade. 

Similarly, when the itinerant French visitors wanted to meet the ruler, they were promptly invited into the palace. We have two descriptions of two different Zamorins who had met the French visitors. 

The French physician, C Dellon had stayed in and around Calicut in 1677. He stated that the Zamorin had welcomed the French merchants, Flacourt and Coche at Calicut. He even offered them a port called Alicote (Azhikode, near Kodungalloor) ‘with its dependencies and even ceded its sovereignty to them’. 

L’Espinay who visited Calicut in 1672 also had a meeting with the Zamorin. Before their audience, two princes from the palace came on board their ship and confirmed to the French the cession of Alicode. The designation of the princes is recorded as Herampatte (Eralpad) and Mevanxonre ( Moonnalpad?). It was made clear to the French that the Eralpad was scheduled to succeed his maternal uncle.

The next day, L’Espinay went to call on the Zamorin, accompanied by Caron and La Haye. They were taken to Ponnani where the Zamorin was staying. La Haye, a French aristocrat, thought poorly of the palace. The carpet on which the king sat looked shabby. The French were asked to sit on another carpet. Caron found it difficult to sit on the ground. A box was brought for him to sit on. 

According to La Haye, the king was sixty years of age. He was short in stature. The two nephews who had met them earlier were de facto rulers. The ceding of Azhikode was indeed ratified at the meeting. But the French had difficulty in dislodging the Dutch who were already in possession of the port, having built a fort there. 

L’Estra who had also accompanied La Haye, however, found the Zamorin an old man of nearly seventy years with a white beard. He was only three and a half feet tall. He was wearing diamond rings on all his fingers, set with precious stones and even gifted a pearl necklace to Caron.

The French continued to trade with Calicut, despite civil unrest during the early decades of the 18th Century and financial difficulties which the French company faced frequently. In the meanwhile, they were scouting for a more convenient and lucrative spot. They zeroed in on Mahe at the mouth of a river. Ultimately, in 1727, the Council of Mahe was created and Calicut was abandoned as a trade centre.

Next Steps

 

It is more or less certain that floods brought ruin to Calicut during the second half of the 17th Century, a fact not fully factored in while discussing the fortunes of the Zamorin history. As suggested by Maddy, floods leading to the shifting of the centre of power and governance could have impacted the reputation of Calicut port during this period. This was probably aggravated by the foolish decision of the rulers to annoy neighbouring rulers like that of Palakkad, inviting the attention of Mysore powers. Such self-destructive steps culminated in the suicide of a desperate ruler and the virtual end of the Zamorin dynasty.

CHF had earlier tried to enlist the ISRO to conduct a satellite mapping of the Calicut coast. We had also requested the National Institute of Oceanography to explore the coast for the sunken city. However, we have not been able to arouse their interest. Now that no less a person than the former Regional Director of ASI is involved in the ‘accidental excavation’ of tangible evidence of the Zamorin’s legacy, let us hope Sri Muhammed will use his influence with the ASI to take up some investigation of the Calicut coast like he had done in the case of Tipu’s fort in Feroke.

Reference:

1. B Krishnamurthy: Some Aspects of the French Trade with India (1664-1771), Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol.40 (1979) pp.962-972

2. Aniruddha Ray: The French Presence at Calicut from the mid-Seventeenth century to the early decades of the Eighteenth Century; Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol.60, Diamond Jubilee (1999), pp. 372-384

3. Historicalleys.blogspot.com The decline of an entrepot -Calicut (26 May 2021)

4. Samoothirinad – Malabar Pathanangal, M N Namboodiri, (2008), State Institute of Languages, Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram

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Pandit P Gopalan Nair and Captain Braithwaite : Story of a Strange Friendship

Pandit P Gopalan Nair (1869 - 1968)

Pandit P Gopalan Nair is a household name today, as the scholar who introduced Srimad Bhagavatham to Malayalee Hindu households. Apart from the 8-volumes Bhagavatham, he had annotated and translated several holy books of Hinduism like the Ramayana, Brahmasutra and Bhagavad Geetha.

Gopalan Nair was born into a family of very limited means in Kollengode, Palakkad district, Kerala. His father, a Brahmin priest of a few temples, was hardly able to support his family. The elder son of the couple was mentally challenged and died at the age of 15. Naturally, the couple was worried about the younger son, Gopalan and did not send him to school till he was 8 years of age. He was then sent to the ezhuthupally where he learnt the basics of Sanskrit language and literature. 

He spent four years at the ezhuthupally when  it was taken over by an English school. Automatically, Gopalan Nair became a student of the second standard in the English school. As he was the senior most student in the school, his teacher used to assign him to teach the lower classes. 

But misfortune followed him there as well. He had to terminate his English education in the third standard, as his widowed mother could not afford to send him to school. He had just about started to grasp the English language which fascinated him no end. 

Gopalan Nair went back to his Sanskrit studies for the next two years under a local Sanskrit scholar. However, the financial position of his household had become so precarious that he had to look out for a job. Thus, at the age of 16, he joined the timber depot of his uncle in Vallangi as an accountant. 

But, misfortune did not leave him there as well, as  his uncle passed away the next year in 1885 and he was saddled with the responsibility of managing the timber depot on his own. Soon he had to give up the enterprise and return to Kollengode where he was offered a teacher's job. After undergoing teacher's training, he became the Sanskrit and Malayalam Pandit at the High School run by the Kollengode Raja, Sri Vasudeva Raja.

The Young Inspector of Schools

Philip Pipon Braithwaite
 (1880 - 1918)

Philip Pipon Braithwaite was a young Inspector of School covering the area of Malabar and Mangalore, headquartered in Cannanore. He had come to India with outstanding credentials. He graduated in History from Caius College, Cambridge where he was known as a keen debater, a great footballer and a champion boxer. In 1905, he was appointed the Vice Principal of the prestigious Teachers College, Saidapet, Chennai. This College, established in 1856 is today known for its illustrious alumni, including two former Presidents of India, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and R Venkataraman, as well as  Anantasayanam Ayyangar, the first Deputy Speaker and later the second Speaker of Lok Sabha.

After spending a year and a half at the Saidapet College, Braithwaite was promoted as Inspector of Schools in Malabar. During this posting, he had to visit the entire Malabar province including the Canara districts and inspect the English schools. 

As soon as he had decided to serve in South India, Braithwaite had joined the Southern Provinces Mounted Rifles, a volunteer force formed in 1904. It had blue uniform with white facings and the insignia was a strung bungle with the initials S P M R. 

Malayalam tutor

Braithwaite made friends among the teaching and management staff with ease. One such friend was Vasudeva Raja, the owner and manager of Kollengode Raja’s High School. Braithwaite asked the Raja, during one of his visits to Kollengode, to look for a teacher to coach him in Malayalam, as he was required to pass a departmental test in the language of the region. Raja had no hesitation in recommending Pandit Gopalan Nair who was teaching Malayalam and Sanskrit in his school. 

Thus began an unlikely friendship between the saintly Pandit and the dashing Cambridge don who was half his age, but was his supervising officer. Nair left his job in 1910 and proceeded to Kannur where he stayed for the next 19 months as the resident tutor of young Braithwaite. The Malayalam test for which Braithwaite had engaged Nair was over in 10 months. Expectedly, Braithwaite did splendidly in the test. But, by then, his interest had shifted to learning Sanskrit and Vedanta. For the next 9 months Nair taught him Sanskrit and Bhagavad Gita which he found fascinating. 

Pandit Gopalan Nair had started his Bhagavatham annotation in 1909. It was his good fortune that Braithwaite’s offer came in 1910. For the next almost two years, he could continue the work of translating the massive work of 18,000 verses. Braithwaite engaged him only for one hour in the morning and another hour in the evening. Pandit was free to pursue his passion for the rest of the day unhindered by the boring routine of classroom teaching and disciplining students. 

Another advantage during this period was that his pupil took him along wherever he toured on duty. This took him to many places in Kerala and Coorg. It was on one such trip to the Nilgiris – where Braithwaite was vacationing during summer holidays - that Gopalan Nair learnt that he had become a father. All he could do was to write to his wife assuring that the boy’s choroon (ceremonial rice giving) would be held in Guruvayur temple. He could fulfil this promise only after four years. So engrossed was he in the Bhagavatham translation.

Meanwhile, the spectacular Delhi Durbar was being planned for 1911. The Durbar, a pageantry of pomp and splendour, was significant on two counts: unlike in the previous Durbars of 1877 and 1903, the Emperor, King George V, himself would be attending the Delhi Durbar. Secondly, the shifting of the Imperial Capital from Calcutta to Delhi would be announced in this Durbar. The ceremonial procession included forces from all over the country including British and native forces. Braithwaite was selected to represent the Southern Provinces Mounted Rifles. The roll of honour of the Delhi Durbar lists the name of 2nd Lieutenant Braithwaite PP, Southern Provinces Mounted Rifles, of the Education Department, Cannanore, as a recipient of the 1911 Delhi Durbar Medal.

Mayo College, Ajmer

Mayo College Magazine of December 1912, notifying the appointment of Braithwaite

Soon after, Braithwaite got a posting as a member of the faculty of the prestigious Mayo College, which was founded in Ajmer, Rajasthan by the Viceroy to provide modern education exclusively to the sons of maharajas. The Viceroy had described it as the Eton of the East. Braithwaite was delighted to go there, as it was a rare honour and a welcome change from inspecting native schools. But, he was reluctant to let go of his teacher, Gopalan Nair. He offered to take him to Ajmer as a language teacher. But Gopalan Nair had to decline the offer as his family circumstances did not permit him to leave Kollengode for long periods. He bid farewell to his favourite student and returned to Kollengode.

 

The World War and the Battle of Palestine

Braithwaite had been working at Ajmer only for a couple of years when the World War broke out in 1914. He immediately applied for a commission in the Indian Army Reserve of Officers. He underwent a year’s training at Meerut as a Second Lieutenant with the 21st Cavalry. Then he was sent to join the 36th Cavalry (Jacob’s Horse) which was deployed in France. Until he left the shores of India, he used to send regular letters to Gopalan Nair about his welfare. He got promoted as Lieutenant and saw action in various battles in France.

He was promoted as Captain in 1917 when his regiment moved to Palestine. The 11th Cavalry Brigade to which the 36th (Jacob’s) Horse was attached, was pursuing the Turks who were attempting to escape across River Jordan. The troops under Captain Braithwaite had gone too far in pursuit of the enemy and were almost surrounded by Germans. Only four or five of his men made it back that afternoon. The Captain was among those killed on 28th September 1918, a few weeks before the Germans signed the armistice agreement on 11th November 1918.

Grave No.A 37, Haifa War Cemetery

Braithwaite’s father, Canon Philip Braithwaite wrote: ‘It is a great comfort to feel that all who knew him admired his noble character. He crowned as it were his beautiful life by dying in a holy cause in the Holy Land’. 

It was his sister who broke the news to Gopalan Nair in a letter. According to the biography of Pandit Gopalan Nair written by Sri P Rajagopalan, Gopalan Nair used to describe Braithwaite as ‘a perfect friend, model disciple and the embodiment of gratitude’. Gopalan Nair had invited his distinguished pupil to preside over the annual day function of his school. In his speech in Malayalam, Braithwaite described himself thus: ‘While I am second to none in my respect towards my guru, I have been a worthless disciple’.  

The guru, in his turn, would reminisce about  the warmth of his disciple’s friendship for the rest of his long life.

Reference: 

P Rajagopalan : Pandit P Gopalan Nair (1990) Department of Cultural Publications, Government of Kerala

Facebook page : Paul's Medals and Documents Collection

Acknowledgement:

- Photos of Braithwaite reproduced with permission from Paul's Medals and Documents Collection Facebook page

-  Mayo College Ajmer photos courtesy Mr. Brijeswar Singh, IAS, Mayo alumnus.

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