The Moplah Rebellion 1921

Title: The Moplah Rebellion 1921
Author: C. Gopalan Nair
Publisher: Voice of India, 2020 (First published 1923)
ISBN: 9789385485220
Pages: 196

Several books on Moplah Rebellion have been reviewed earlier here. Now, why should I add one more to that fold so that we are yet again reminded of a brutal episode of Hindu genocide which occurred in 1921 in areas that constitute the present-day Malappuram district of Kerala? Unlike others, this was written by a well-known civil servant who had grass-roots knowledge of the society as well as how the government functioned. Diwan Bahadur C. Gopalan Nair served as a Deputy Collector in Kozhikode. This book was published in 1923 and remains a highly cited reference material on account of its accurate representation of facts and figures compiled from government records such as official communiques and also from newspaper reports from reputed publications. The communal riots in 1921 erupted in support of saving the Sultan of Turkey against the imperial ambitions of the British at the end of World War I, but it was the Hindus of Malabar who faced the worst. Every conceivable form of inhuman treatment, indignities and humiliation were meted out to them. This book is not lauded for its literary merit, but the exactness of the picture it presents as compared to the true nature of things compels the readers to appreciate the sincerity in the narrative and shudder at the thought of how a group of religiously fanatical people could commit such brutal atrocities on their neighbours.

Students of Indian history know that the 1857 war was the one and the only struggle Hindus and Muslims waged together against the British before 1920. But that was for the reinstatement of the Mughal emperor to his former glory and was really a Muslim cause. The 1920 unity was for the restoration of the Khilafat, which was again a Muslim cause. In fact, the Khilafat was conjured up by Gandhi to make the two communities paddle together towards 'Swaraj'. But, being nurtured on a separatist-communal and intolerant worldview and carried and strengthened by Wahhabi-Farazi movements, the Muslim community was aloof and sometimes hostile to the Congress. If we examine the case of Malabar, the author lists out 51 outbreaks from 1836 to 1919 in which Muslims committed atrocities on Hindus in Malabar in which the British interests were rarely harmed. The violence against Hindus, which was called 'Hal Ilakkam' (loosely translated as religious frenzy), consisted of murder, rape, destruction of temples and forcible conversion of Hindus to the Muslim faith. Was agrarian issues involved in this violence, as is claimed by modern Marxist historians? The facts prove otherwise. T. L. Strange, who studied the outrages deeply in 1852, ruled out agrarian grievances. He noted that the general character of the dealings of the landlords towards their tenants, whether Muslim or Hindu, was 'mild, equitable and forbearing'. He also
noted that the Moplah tenants were very open to evade their obligations and to resort to false and litigious pleas. Hindus lived in such fear of the Moplahs that the landlords were afraid of enforcing their legal rights such as evicting them even if the rent is not paid. Fanaticism is identified as the real cause of Moplah outrage. Today, we call it 'terrorism'.

Gopalan Nair remarks about the religious unity perceived at a reception of Khilafat leaders at
Kozhikode immediately prior to the outbreak and the contrasting picture of one community trying to exterminate the other only a few days later. He contends that the Hindus believed in
Hindu-Muslim unity and never dreamed of a day when the Muslim would turn against him while the other was ready for a general rising and patiently bided his time (p. 23). The display of affection on the part of Moplahs towards Hindus was artificial (p. 27). Their religious frenzy impelled them to convert and their plundering propensities impelled them to loot. There were isolated instances of Muslims helping the Hindus to escape, but these were exceptions. The book then refers to some of the prominent episodes of the outbreak. Ali Musaliar was installed as Ali Raja on Aug 22, 1921, but nine days later, he surrendered to the police. If he had dreamed of saving his skin, it was in vain. He was tried, sentenced and promptly hanged to death in Coimbatore prison six months later. Another such incident was the Pookkottur battle on 26 Aug which was the salvation of Hindus in Ernad and a bright spot for them. It had been arranged that after the Juma prayer, all the Hindus of Manjeri and the neighbouring villages were to be brought to the mosque and converted. Caps, dresses and jackets were all ready for distribution among the converts. As the Muslim side lost the battle with 400 dead while on the British only four were killed, the program had to be given up. The author gives the details of military operations from Aug 1921 to Jan 1922. By December, the riots were effectively crushed and reporting changes from a daily to a weekly basis. Almost all the top leaders of the Moplahs surrendered, who were either summarily shot or hanged after trial. In total, 2266 Moplahs were killed, 5688 were captured alive and 38,256 surrendered. Gopalan Nair also notes that after the backbone of the revolt was broken, there were instances of Hindus and Muslims combining to resist looting and to help in the capture of rebels still refusing to surrender.

There were accusations against the civil administration at the hasty nature in which they summoned the military and the declaration of martial law in the district. The author refutes these arguments as baseless. The cutting of telegraph lines, blocking of roads, destruction of railways and the murders, looting and rioting which took place at Tirurangadi and elsewhere constituted a situation which the civil authorities were powerless to control even with the help of available military force. Martial law was declared on Aug 29, 1921 and withdrawn on Feb 25, 1922. Damages inflicted on government buildings and properties are listed. 44 bridges and 27 culverts were destroyed to hinder troop movement. The number of temples destroyed were not ascertained because the government purposely refrained from attempting to collect accurate figures. The number is estimated to be above 100. The infamous wagon tragedy is referred to as ‘train tragedy’ in this book, in which 70 out of the 100 prisoners sent from Tirur to Coimbatore prison died due to overcrowding and asphyxiation. The dead included three Hindus also. The book includes a short history of the development of the police force in Malabar. It was systematically organised only after the assassination of district collector Connolly in 1855. Earlier, revenue officials like the Tahsildar and his deputies maintained law and order quite inefficiently. The ease with which Connolly was killed and how the murderers moved about without any fear even when the nominal police were on their look out persuaded the authorities to constitute a regular and professional police force. An interesting penal measure in place was collective fines in which a group of people or a village itself was fined if there was reason to believe that they abetted the crime by inaction or silence and thereby helping the culprits who were their co-religionists or neighbours. A sum of Rs. 38,331 was collected from villages implicated in the murder of Connolly and of this sum, Rs. 30,936 was paid to his widow.

The atrocities suffered by the Hindu community is summed up in the book in a matter of fact style. A sanitized version of the heinous acts is summarized in the petition submitted to Lady Reading by the Hindu women of Malabar. They tell about the many wells and tanks filled up with the mutilated who refused to convert, of pregnant women cut to pieces with the unborn babe protruding from the mangled corpse, of their children hacked to death before their eyes, of their husbands and fathers tortured, flayed and burnt alive, of women who were carried away and raped or taken as concubines, of destroyed homes and temples and of how the idols were desecrated by putting the entrails of slaughtered cows where flower garlands used to lie and of the formerly rich and prosperous who had to beg on the streets of Kozhikode for food (p. 64). The author remarks that the way to resist the evil consequences of Muslim fanaticism is for the Hindus to become assertive and present a united front against Moplah aggression (p.114). The book also points to a few pockets of Malabar where the riots did not take place. Kavalappara Nayar and Nambudiris of Pathinalu Desam had made a rule that no land would be given to Moplahs for farming or to settle. There was security for Hindus in these villages. The book also examines the things which motivated the rioters to go on an orgy of demonic violence. A war song composed in memory of the 47 martyrs of Malappuram is given. The song tells of the houris (celestial nymphs) the fighters could possess in heaven upon attaining martyrdom. There are distinct erotic undertones in the song. A comparatively decent allusion is that if the houris spit in the sea, the salt water would become as sweet as honey (p. 121). So it seems that the Moplahs were excited not by religious devotion alone!

Unlike other works of this genre, this book also focuses on the relief and reconversion measures undertaken for the benefit of the victims. Central relief camps were organized by associations like the Servants of India Society which provided shelter and food to Hindus who lost everything. 22 camps were organized, which housed 26,000 people who belonged to all castes. Reconversion efforts were also in place. People who were circumcised or cohabitated were to be returned to their old faith after taking Panchagavya for three days at a temple and repeating the chant 'Narayana' or 'Shiva' at least 12,000 times a day, for 12 days! These rules were not applicable to Brahmin converts who apparently lost their caste permanently. Arya Samaj stepped in at this moment and performed reconversion in a much simpler way. About 2500 people were reconverted. In spite of this, there was another threat from the Muslims for the reconverted. Of the 51 violent outbreaks that took place in Malabar, many were related to converts to Islam reverting to their old faith and usually involved the murder of the reconverted people and those who helped them do so. Such people were summarily hacked by Moplahs along with their families. But the author does not comment on any crimes of this nature in the years after 1921. Temple desecration was a regular feature in the outbreaks. The jihadis took shelter in a temple as the last stand and fought the troops from there. This led to the temples being destroyed in the crossfire as well as despoiled by the fanatics, who were anyhow besieged, answering to nature's calls and emptying their bowels inside the premises. The book includes an appendix on the atrocities heaped on Hindu victims which are classified into seven categories: a) brutally dishonouring women b) flaying people alive c) wholesale slaughter of men, women and children d) forcibly converting and murdering those who refused to be converted e) throwing half-dead people into wells and leaving the victims to die a slow and painful death f) burning and looting practically all Hindu and Christian houses in which Moplah women and children also took part in robbing the women of even the garments on their body and g) insulting the religious sentiments of Hindus and destroying or desecrating temples. An account of the inhuman cruelties carried out on Hindus, especially women, are chronicled along with the statements of victims. One person committed suicide after giving the statement.

The book is graced with an excellent foreword by Saradindu Mukherjee which should never be missed. He boils with moral outrage at the injustice done to the Hindu community by Gandhi and Nehru and puts them in the dock by arraying several well-argued charges against them. The author has compiled several macabre photos of the victims. I have not seen these in any other books on the subject, which includes one of a young man who received eighteen sword cuts but still managed to escape with his life, by jumping into a river; of a group of reconverted people staring into an uncertain future; of a group of forced converts in Muslim dress and of the rail wagon in which seventy rioters were killed. The book is a stark warning against tolerating religious intolerance and allowing the intolerant to prosper. It also indicates harsh punishments such as collective fines that can be used nowadays too, to fight fanaticism.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 4 Star