Composite Cultural Elements in the Western Coast of India. A study on the Persian Presence in the Mappila Culture
Dr.Hussain Randathani,
The Mappila Muslims , living on the western coast of Northern Kerala follow a distinctive culture which is largely differed from their counterparts elsewhere in India. Their dialect often called as Arabic Malayalam or Mappila Malayalam, is basically that of Malayalam folk type language with loan words from Arabic, Persian, syriac, Kannada and Tamil. Some times the Grammer and styles of these languages are directly added to it. 1 However the significant feature is the abundance of archaic Dravidian derivatives in the culture of the community to denote its concepts and this cosmopolitan outlook was evolved due to the commercial contact of the community with Greek,Rome, Persia and Arabia from the time immemorial. We have the travelogues of many travelers who visited the coast from 300BC, and the name Malabar exists in almost all their descriptions.2 The Persian influence on the coast is very significant that the word ‘Malabar’ Itself is derived from Tamil word mala (mountain) and Persian word bar (coast)
The Pahlavi or Persian influence was already there in the language of the coast even before the advent of Islam and this was mainly due to the Jewish and Christian influence. According to the Jewish Records the first Jewish group entered Malabar in about 973 BC when King Solomon started trade relations with the coast. In BC605 Shalmanezzar, the Persian King defeated Assyrian empire and exiled many of the captives and many of them are said to have sailed to Malabar and settled here. When St.Thomas came to India he saw Persian Jews in Malabar and he converted many of them to Christianity.3 The father of South Indian Christianity, Marthoma Shleeha was brought up in Persian monasteries and he might have brought the Persian cultural elements to South India and particularly to Malabar region where the Christianity got a fertile soil to develop.4 In the third century AD, Bishop David from Basara visited Malabar and the Indian Christians were made a part of the Eastern Church. The copperplates of Stanu Ravi in the ninth century was written in Pahlavi and Persian scripts.5 Willium Logan maintains that in the ninth and tenth century Nestorian Christians from Persia migrated to Malabar and settled at Kodungallur and Kollam.6 The Sassanians were powerful in Arabia and Mesopotamia during third to seventh centuries and in this region Aramaic, Syrians and Arabs were in majority and they followed Persian traditions and Christian religion.
However, the early Persian influence was at its low level since the language was confined only to priestly class and it had no impact on the life culture of the people. The advent of Islam in the Persian lands paved the way for the enriching of the Persian culture and its intrusion into to the other lands. The Persian influence was evident in Arabic even before the rise of Islam when many parts of the Arab lands were ruled by Persians. When Islam dominated over Persian lands there was the profound social, political and cultural influence of the gradual Islamization of vast Iranian territories.7 When the Iranians took up the reigns of the government during the Abbasid period(750-1258) the Parso- Arabic synthesis became swift that the whole Islamic culture was dominated by Persian traditions and this composite culture was disseminated by the Muslim missionaries through out the world. It was how the Persian language and traditions spread to the different Muslim communities of the world including that of the Mappila Mulsims in Malabar.
As pointed out by Ibn Khaldun, the crafts, science and professions are cultivated only by sedentary peoples and that the ajam( non Arabs) were the most versed in those things because sedentary culture had been firmly rooted among them from the time of the Persian empire.8. In the Abbasid caliphate there were a number of people who mastered both in Persian and Arabic. They devoted themselves to the reading of Persian writings, there by becoming cultivated and refined in their minds and in their thoughts. Then they would produce works of literature, poetry and scholarship with natural blending of Arabic with Persian.9
Islamic preachers of Kerala mostly belonged to Persian and South Arabian origin. Both these regions were part of Persian empire prior to Islam. The first Muslim missionary, Malik bin Dinar(d.744) and his disciples belonged to Basara and they were responsible for the genesis of Mappila Muslim culture in Malabar. Malik bin Dinar was a famous sufi whose activities in Malabar region are seldom referred by Persian and Arabic sources. The disciples of Dinar led the missionary activities on the coast10 and later the Islamic activities were revitalized by establishing a centre of higher studies at Ponnani by the Makhdums11 who belonged to South Arabia in the early sixteenth century.
Malabr had maintained commercial relationship with South Arabia long before the advent of Islam. For long this area was under the Persian monarchs- the Achmenids, the Arsacids and the Sassanians. The Lakhmid kings of Arabia guarded the interests of Sassanians in the peninsula and kept the spice route to the east safe and watched over the Persian mercantile interest and helped to maintain the Persian influence in Arabia.12.Besides, the Sassanians took direct control of Yemen in the sixth century. When Prophet Muhammed sent his envoys to Yemen it was ruled by Badhan, a Sassanian governer. We find ample chances of transmitting the Persian culture to the east and to the Arab regions as well through the Sassanian hegemony.13Some writers have gone to the extant that even the notions of resurrection, Messianic beliefs and the bridge between heaven and hell in Islam are connected with the Persian beliefs and not that of the semitic religions.14. It is also to be noted that Prophet Muhammad had included the Zoroastrians(Majusi) along with Jews, Sabeans,and the Christians in contrast to idolaters.15
A second wave of Persian influence came to Malabar from Tamil land. Early commercial contact of Malabar with the Tamils and the relationship of Tamil rulers to Malabar coast had played an important role in the evolution of Mappila culture. The Arabs who migrated to Coromandal coast in early times had brought the Persian elements to the Tamil land. There were Arab centres in Tamil Nadu and with the rise of Islam these centers developed into that of Muslim activities.16 The chief protagonists of Islam in this area were Soth Arabian Muslims. They established Islamic academies in the model of Nizamiyya in Baghdad and the scholars of this tradition upheld the Perso Arabian Islamic traditions that followed in South Arabia. Kayalpatanam an ancient port of Tamil coast developed into the main centre of Islamic activities and it was from here the renowned Muslim scholar family, the Makhdums migrated to Malabar.
Abdul Wassaf of Shiraz records that, ‘’the wealth of the isles of Persian Gulf in particular and in the part of the beauty and adornment of other countries in Iraq and Khurasan as far as Rome and Euriope, are derived from Ma’bar (Coromandal coast) which is so situated as to be the key of Hind’’17.Commodities such as silk, aromatic roots and pearls were exported from here to Syria, Iraq and Khurasan. This port was so pprominent that it figures in the travelogues of Marco Polo(1293), in the writings of Wassaf(1328), and Rasiduddin(1300)18. The Tamil coast also had another chance of getting the Persian smell through the annexation of the region by Alauddin Khalji in the early 14th century.19 Malik Kafur, the geneal of AlaudddinKhalji had conqured the whole kingdom of Madura kings as far as Rameswaram where a mosque was built. For thirty years the area was ruled by the Delhi Sultans. Kayalpatanam was the chief port of the region. Dr.Shukri of Sri Lanka in his book mentions that The Commercial relationship between South Eastern (Ma’bar) and South Western (Malabar) India and the Muslim world appears to have grown considerabily during the late fourteenth and the early fifteenth centuries’’20. Thus the settlement of the Arabs and the Persians in Ma’bar and the existence of the sultanate in the region had produced an Arab Tamil race and they were responsible for spreading the Arab culture in the area as did by the Mappilas in Malabar. These people in Ma’bar coast came to be called as Lebbai or tulukkar or Jonagar.21 Their ordinary title is Maraikan or Marakan, a word which means steersman or sailors. At the same time the North Indian Muslims who settled in the area were called Patansand of Pattani who spoke Urdu or Hindustani which is a language enriched with Persian. The intermixing of the Lebbais with the Pattanis might have caused the flow of Persian and Hindustani culture to the area.
As pointed out by Jeyaseela Stephens, the unsettled political situation that prevailed in the Tamil country after the decline of the Cholas, the merchants began to move from the Tamil coast to the Malabar coast. The migration became increased during fifteenth century.22 The Marakkayars now moved to Kollam, Kochi and Kozhikode to strengthen their trade. Marakkayars, being religious in nature brought with them scholars and mystics to Malabar. Shaikh Zainuddin Makhdum, the spiritual peer of Marakkayars thus settled at Ponnani and actively propagated religion by establishing an Academy in which Arabic, Persian and Tamil literature was given due importance. Many Persian life system and culture came to the Mappila culture through the Makhdums and Marakkayars. Besides, many of the Malabar scholars and poets used to visit Tamil Muslim centres for their studies and came into contact with the Persian traditions prevalent among the Tamil Muslims. 23
It was the practice of travellers from Persian and Arab lands visiting the Malabar coast and recording their experiences in the coast. Among them there are the names of Sulyman, Ibn Qurdadbih, Abu Zaid, Al Mas’di, Al Biruni, Al Idrisi, Abul Fida, Ibn Battuta and Abdu Razak. All the travellers agree that the People of Malabr knew foreign languages because of their trade relations and this may have helped the foreign words including Persian into the Mappila dialect.24 Zamorin, the ruler of Malabar had sent Khwaja Masud as his Ambassador to Shah Rukh of Persia to invite him for a commercial contact with the region. Shah Rukh sent Abdu Razak, the son of his qazi, to Malabar with the idea of establishing commercial contact and also to convert the Zamorin to the fold f Islam. Abdu Razak records his experience in his book Matla’ al Saadain.25
Spread of Sufism in the region also added Persian the Persian traditions to the indigenous culture as Islam is indebted to Persian culture for its development of Sufism. When Islam reached Khurasan and transoxiana, the religious atmosphere was saturated with Buddhist and Hindu ideas. In all the important genres of poetry-ghazal, mathnawi, qasidah-the success of a poet in South Asia was measured by the extent of its approximation to the standards set by the Iranian poets.26
Ghazals apart, Sa`adi's Gulistân and Bűstân were read by princes and plebeians alike and were prescribed in the syllabus of medieval Indian madrasahs. The Gulistân became a manual of guidance for the ethical and moral training of young minds. Not only its verses, but prose sentences also passed into proverbial literature and set the norms of good behavior. The technical words of sufis and many of their practices were often erived from the Persian and when the sufis spread their misssion in South India as elsewhere, this traditions were added to the indigenous culture.27
When Muhammed Shah of Kardan settled at Kondotty , in South Malabar and spread his shiite sufism there was swift flow of Persian elements to Malabar. He brought with him the life culture of the Persian people. When all the mosques and shrines of Kerala were modelled after Jain traditons, the only Persian dome structure existed in Malabar was the shrine and monastry of of Muhammed Shah.28 The sunni ulama dubbed him as a Shia of Rawafiz sect though Muhammed Shah and his sucessors claimed to be sunnis. However the Shah and his successors adopted many of the Shia practices. The practices connected with urs, the festivals in the name of sufis, goes back to Persian practices. The spreading of flowers on the grave, lighting of the lamps, distribution of nazr(prasadam) placing the flags(alam), the sandal pracices, the processions(pettivaravu), the art forms, decorating the tombs, the green colour- all had thir origin in Persian lands. Tazia, tabut, qubba, panja, jawus and jukiya were the shiite rites practiced in the shrine of Muhammed Shah. In connection with Muharram festival the devotees of the shrine used to perform jukiya. Jukia is a fire pit with eleven to nine cubits in diameter and a low wall is built around it The fire is lit in the pit in every evening and the people ,young and old fence actoss it with shields and swords or they run around it calling Ya Ali, Ya Husain. For performing the vows some leap to the burning embers in and out while others leap through the flames. This practice resembled the the Zoroastrian practice in Persia29.
The alphabets of Mappila language known as Arabic Malayalam are modelled after Persian styles. The alphabet is created after giving Arabic letters to the spoken dialect. When there was no corresponding Arabic letters for Arabic Malayalam, either new letters were created or letters were taken from other languages written in Arabic script. Thus there are at least four Persian letters in Arabic Malayalam (ﭗ, ﭺ,ﮋ, گ). While describing the origin of Persian Language Sayyid Sanaullah Makti says that the language was introduced by Pars, son of Phahilu, son of Sam, son of Noah, the Prophet30Sayyid sanaullah Makti and Chalilakath Kunhahammed Haji brought reforms in the language by bringing it close to Malayalam and avoiding many of the Persian and Arabic words.31
The Early Muslim missionaries who came to Malabar were mostly from Basara and Hadhramaut region. Malik Dinar and his party, the first preachers belonged to Basara and Maqdums, who came in 16th century, and the Ba Alavi sufis who settled here in eighteenth century belonged to Hadhramaut. The traders also belonged to the same area. The Persian religious terms like vanku (call for prayer), paigambar(prophet), darvesh(sufi), qalandar(sufi desisciple) and the food items like achar(pickles), chappati, surka, shirva, pulavu, biriyani, kabab, masala, maida thus beacame part of the Mappila culture. The dress items such as rumal(towel), kaki, toppi(cap), dawaal(belt), pardha, pappas(chappal), mallu (a cloth), salwar, duppatta (shawl), khamees, kurta, kachi(women dhoti), kinnari etc found their way to Mappila culture from Persian. 32
The Occultic practices among the Mappila community resembles Persian and Arabian practices in many respects. The Arabic Malayalam works ,Upakara Saram and Paropakaram reveals this fact and the Mappilas follow the same practices existed in Muslim countries with slight variations.33 According to Islamic sources, the art of magic had come from Babylonia, through the angels Harut and Marut. They taught the people, the secret of the art with the warning that it should not be used for evil purpose. The Hellenistic, Indian and Sassanian practices had also crept into the Muslim society. Arabic translations from the Greek and the Syriac represented the Hellenstic science, from Sanskrit the Indian version, and from Pahlavi the Sassanian combination of the two. The belief in jinns and the cure methods for witch crafts are more or less same among the Mappilas and the Arabs who had taken the methods from ancient Persia.34 The theoretical basis of Mappila astrology also lies historically in Hellenistic philosophy and it was first categorized and catalogued in ancient Mesopotamia. It entered Islamic civilization in the eighth and ninth centuries through Greek. Indian and Persian streams.
The Mappila songs comprises an important section in the Mappila culture. Though the songs are basically derived from Tamil they have originated from Arab Persian influence in Tamil region. How ever it was with the arrival of Muhammad Shah and his descendants at Kondotty, the Persian influence became evident in Mappila Literature. Many Persian works were brought to Kondotty Takiyya and many of them were translated into Mappila language. The Persian stories Chahar Darvesh, Gulsanobar, Alauddin, Qamar Zaman and Shamsuzzaman were translated and published by the Mappilas.35 Moyin Kutty Vaidyar, the court poet of the Shah was well versed in Persian and his poems contains Iranian milieu-its smiling meadows, murmuring brooks, twittering bulbuls, melting glow of the twilight and moving moon up the sky. His master piece Badarul Muneer Husnul Jamal is taken from a Persian Story, written by Khaja Nizamuddin Shah Shirazi.36 His poem called Salathil is taken from the fables of Persia. It deals with the tricks played by the cat and and the dog and the story of jins disguized as rats and mangoes. The story took place in Khurasan37
Except the Ali Rajas Cannanore and a short interlude of thirty five years of Mysorean Rule the Mappila land never had a Muslim administration. The Arakkal dynasty, though existed about five centuries, never effected any Persian or Muslim type of administration, but followed the local traditions. However, the rulers maintained affinity with the Deccani culture to some extant but this was never extended beyond keeping some Persian works in the Personal Library of the sultnas. The correspondence were done mostly in local dialect or in Arabic if it is connected with trade relations with the Arabs. But the Mysoreans introduced a permanent administration which was very close to that existed in North India. It is how the Persian terms of revenue administration introduced to Malabar. The English adopted the same terms and it is continued to this day.38
The relation of Malabar with outside world and the give and take of the different cultures had paved the way in formatting the Mappila culture and identity. The Persian language and culture which existed from time immemorial had a profound impact up on the peiople of Asian and African frontier societies and when the Persian lands were Islamized the culture and language spread more easily with the development of Islam in varioud regions as in Malabar.
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