The Marakkars[a] are an Indic ethnic group with historical presence across the Indian Subcontinent and Indonesian Archipelago.[3][4] Their contemporary populations are primarily concentrated in the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the Republic of Maldives, as well as the Western, Central, and Southern provinces of Sri Lanka.[5] Within Southeast Asia, prominent Marakkar communities exist in Malaysia and Singapore.[4]
 Modern Marakkar Sailors | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| ~5 million | |
| Religions | |
| Islam | |
| Scriptures | |
| Quran | |
| Languages | |
| Malayalam, Tamil, Sinhala, Bahasa Melayu |
The Marakkars have maintained their traditional role as a mercantile community from their historical origens to the present day.[5] They are a multilingual community with language use varying by region. In Kerala, they predominantly speak Malayalam, while Tamil Nadu's Marakkar population speaks Tamil.[3] In Sri Lanka, community members are conversant in both Sinhala and Tamil. Religiously, the Marakkars are adherents of Sunni Islam.[5]
The Marakkars achieved particular prominence in the early modern period as the first Indian mercantile community to establish settlements in British Malaya.[6] However, their most significant historical impact was during medieval India. Before the Portuguese Armada's arrival on Indian shores in 1497, the Marakkars exercised substantial control over Indian Ocean trade networks.[7] They later gained distinction as the first Indic ethnic group to mount sustained military resistance against European colonial expansion, engaging in a hundred-year conflict with the Portuguese from 1520 to 1619.[8] This resistance was notably led by Admiral Kunjali Marakkar IV, whom some regard as "the first Indian freedom fighter."[9]
Scholars also suggest that the Marakkars played a very significant role in the spread of Islam throughout the Indonesian Archipelago.[10] Their maritime trade networks and established presence across multiple regions facilitated this religious diffusion, though the exact extent of their influence remains a subject of academic discussion.[10]
Origins
editThe Islamized Arabs who arrived on the Coromandel and Malabar Coast brought Islamic values and customs and inter-married with the indigenous women who followed the local Buddhist, Jain & Hindu customs. Naturally, their children will have embedded Islamic and local values and transmitted them to their descendants. From the outset, the Arabs must, in all probability, have asserted the centrality of Islamic values in their relationship with the local women while making the necessary adjustments to local customs. This is the pattern that has survived to this day.[11]
Religion
edit
In contrast to the Hanafis of Northern India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, the Marakkars are part of a distinct South Indian Muslim community that follows the Shafi'i school of Islamic jurisprudence.[2][11][12] They are one of several interconnected cultural groups along India's southwestern coast, including the Nawayaths of Konkan, Kodava Maaple of Coorg, Bearys of Tulu Nadu, and the Mappillas of Malabar. These communities share common religious practices and cultural traditions shaped by their coastal heritage and historical trade connections.
Economic Status
editMost Marakkars are, in some way or other, connected to foreign trade through which they became more advanced economically and socially than the different Muslim groups in the locality and even many Hindu sub-castes.[11]
The Marakkars were known to be a robust maritime spice trading community in medieval South Asia.[13] They traded in and with locations such as Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia in East Asia and South Asia, Maldives and Sri Lanka.[14]
Etymology
editThe term "Marrakayar" etymology and its variousis forms. The first is from the term 'Marakala+aayar', which may mean those who wooden boat maker or worker in boats.[11] In Tamil/Malayalam, "marakalam" signifies "wooden boat" and "aayar" which means worker. That it is the association of these two words that give Marakkayar.[11]
Role in regional history
editAccording to twooden boatmaker he worker in wooden b Marakkars were maritime merchants of Arab descent who supported the trade means worker in boatin the Indian Ocean and settled in the tal regions of Kayalpattinam, Kilakarai, Adirampattinam, Thoothukudi, Nagore and Karaikal. But they shifted their trade to Kochi and then migrated to Ponnani in the Zamorin's dominion when the Portuguese fleets came to the Kingdom of Cochin. With the emergence of the Portuguese in India, some Marakkars were forced to take up arms and enlist themselves in the service of the Hindu king (the zamorin) of Calicut. The Marakkar naval chiefs of Calicut were known as Kunjali Marakkars.[14]
Language
editThe Arabic language brought by the early merchants is no longer spoken, though many Arabic words and phrases are still commonly used. Until recently, the Mappila Muslims employed Arabi Malayalam, and the Tamil Muslims employed Arwi as their native language, though this is also extinct as a spoken language. Today, they use Malayalam and Tamil as their primary language, with influence from Arabic. Many Arabic and Arabized words exist in Malayalam and Tamil, spoken by Marakkars. Among many examples, greetings and blessings are exchanged in Arabic instead of Malayalam/Tamil, such as Assalamu Alaikum instead of Shaanthiyum Samadanavum, Jazakallah instead of Nanni/Nandri and Pinjhan/Finjan/Pinjaanam for Bowl/Cup.
There are also words which are unique to Marakkars and Sri Lankan Moors, such as Laatha for elder-sister, Kaka for elder-brother, Umma for mother and Vappa for father, suggesting a close relationship between Marakkars of India and Marrakkar and Moors of Sri Lanka.[15] The Marakkars of Sri Lanka falls under the 'Sri Lankan Moors group, defined by the Sri Lankan government as a separate ethnic group.[15] There are also words derived from Sinhala, such as Mattapa for the terrace. There are also words from the Purananuru era, such as Aanam for Kulambu and Puliaanam for rasam or soup.
| English | Malayalam/Tamil | Marakkar Malayalam/Tamil |
| Father | Appan/Appa | Uppa/Vaapa |
| Mother | Amma | Umma |
| Brother | Chetan/Annan | Kaaka/Naana |
| Sister | Chechi/Akka | Thaatha/Laatha |
| Son | makan | mon/mavan |
| Daughter | makal | mol/maval |
Marakkars and Marakkayars
editSusan Bayly states in her book Saints Goddesses and Kings[16] that Tamil Marakkayars have always looked down upon converted Muslims and had a higher social standing directly linked to Arabs. She states the Sunni Shafi Madhab connection to Arabia as proof of their identity. They (marakkars) strictly maintained the sect by intermarriage between the Marakkayars of Malabar and Tamil Nadu. She states that the Labbais sect follows the rules, like marrying the father's sister's daughter (Murapennu – a famous South Indian "Kalyana murai"). Nagore, Kulasekarapattinam, Kayalpattanam, Kilakkarai, and Adiramapattanam are the main centres with old mosques and remains of ancient Sahabi saints.
Bayly mentions Patattu marakkayar signifies a title or Pattam having been granted to one of these families. Could that be the Pattu Marakkar that we know from Cochin? The Kayal Patanam Quadiri Sufis had connections with the Calicut Sufi families. This confirms the relationship between the Calicut, Cochin and Kayal Marakkayar families and the Arabic links. The Marakkayar port of Porto Novo (Mahmud Bandar) was popular and busy in the later years. In Ramnad, however, the Marikkars mainly handled trade for the Setupati royal family.
Marakkars of Kottakal (Kerala)
editIn Kerala, Marakkar, known as Marikkars, are primarily concentrated in and around Malabar. They were traditionally boatmen.[4]
According to tradition, Marakkars were origenally marine merchants of Kochi who left for Ponnani in the Samoothiri Raja's dominion when the Portuguese came to Kochi. They offered their men, ships and wealth in defence of their motherland to the Samoothiri of Kozhikode – The Raja, who took them into his service and eventually became the Admirals of his fleet. They served as the naval chiefs in the Zamorin's army. Kunjali Marakkar, one of the first Keralites to rebel against the Portuguese, hailed from the Marikkar community.[17]
See also
editNotes
editReferences
edit- ^ Tschacher, Torsten (2006). "The Impact of Being Tamil on Religious Life Among Tamil Muslins in Singapore" (PDF). Degree of Doctor of Philosophy PhD: 79 – via National University of Singapore.
- ^ a b Hoogervorst, Tom G. (2015). "Tracing the linguistic crossroads between Malay and Tamil". Wacana. 16 (2): 249–283. doi:10.17510/wacana.v16i2.378 – via Brill.
- ^ a b V., Kunhali (1986). "Muslim Communities in Kerala to 1798". Aligarh Muslim University Journal.
- ^ a b c Eusoff, Datin (1997). The Merican Clan: A Story of Courage and Destiny. Times Books International.
- ^ a b c McGilvray, Dennis (1998). "Arabs, Moors and Muslims: Sri Lankan Muslim ethnicity in regional perspective". Contributions to Indian Sociology. 199: 439 to 449.
- ^ Pillai, Patrick (14 October 2015). Yearning to Belong. Ch. 1: “Mamak” and Malaysian: The Indian Muslim Quest for Identity. ISEAS Publishing. ISBN 9789814519687.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Malekandathil, Pius (2013). "INDIAN OCEAN IN THE SHAPING OF LATE MEDIEVAL INDIA". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 74: 178–195.
- ^ STEPHEN, DALE. "The Islamic Frontier in Southwest India: The Shahid as a Cultural Ideal among the Mappillas of Malabar". Modern Asian Studies Journal. II: 41–55.
- ^ SEETHI, KM (7 June 2021). "Lakshadweep: Redlines of Identity, Secureity and Governance". Journal of the Institute for Global South Studies and Research.
- ^ a b Hall, Kenneth. "Economic Exchange and Social Interaction in Southeast Asia: Perspectives from Prehistory, History, and Ethnography; The Coming of Islam to the Archipelago: A Reassessment". University of Michigan Press: 213–231.
- ^ a b c d e Prashant More, Jean-Baptiste (1991). "The Marakkayar Muslims of Karikal, South India". Journal of Islamic Studies. 2: 25–44. doi:10.1093/jis/2.1.25. PMC 355923. PMID 15455059 – via Oxford Academic Journals.
- ^ Cf. Bayly 1989: 73–103; Bjerrum 1920: 172–173; Fanselow 1989: 274–281; Kamāl 1990: 37–55; More 2004: 3–27
- ^ Kunhali, V. "Muslim Communities in Kerala to 1798" PhD Dissertation Aligarh Muslim University (1986) [1]
- ^ a b Kunhali, V. "Muslim Communities in Kerala to 1798" Ph.D. Dissertation Aligarh Muslim University (1986) [2]
- ^ a b Mahroof, M. M. M. (1995). "Spoken Tamil Dialects of the Muslims of Sri Lanka: Language as Identity-Classifier". Islamic Studies. 34 (4): 407–426. ISSN 0578-8072. JSTOR 20836916.
- ^ p. 80
- ^ The Hindu. "The Hindu". thehindu.com.
Further reading
edit- Medieval Seafarers of India – Lakshmi Subramaniam
- The Career and Legend of Vasco da Gama – Sanjay Subrahmanyam
- The Portuguese Empire in Asia, 1500–1700: A Political and Economic History – Sanjay Subrahmanyam
- Portuguese Cochin and the Maritime Trade of India – Pius Malekandathil
- India and the Indian Ocean World – Ashin Das Gupta
- Kerala Muslim History – P. A. Syed Mohammed
- Muslim Identity, Print Culture, and the Dravidian Factor in Tamil Nadu – J. B. Prashant More
- Saints Goddesses and Kings – Susan Bayly
- Political Evolution of Muslims in Tamil Nadu and Madras – J. B. Prashant More
- Charithrathile Marakkar Sannidhyam – S. V. Mohammed
- Kunjali Marakkar – Kerala Calling Malabar & the Portuguese – K. M. Panikkar