Cutchi Memon Digest
Kerala
ﮐﮁﻲ ﻤﻴﻤﻦ ﮢ ﺍﯿﺠﺴﭧ - ﮐﻴﺮﻻ
HISTORY OF CUTCHI MEMONS IN KERALA
Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma, the Prince Royal of Venad, a land mass between Kanyakumari on the Indian Ocean in the south and the hillock of Varkala in the north extend-ing to the coast of Arabian sea in the west and Sahya mountain terrain in the east, had anne-xed the principalities upto the north boundary of Aluva, excluding the territory of Cochin and the British occupied land piece of Fort Kochi to form a wider state of Thiruvit-hamkoor (Travancore). After his death Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma ascended the throne. Being keen on developing the trade and industry in the state he decided to invite people already in the field from various other states. Raja Kesava Dasan, his prime minister, accordingly invited four families from Bombay to establ-ish supply centres in and around the capital city of Thiruvananthapuram (a.k.a.Trivandrum) and export units for coir ropes at Arattupuzha.
The four businessmen who arrived here at the recomm-endation of the British Resident and on the invitation of Raja Kesava Dasan were: (1) Amu Korai, (2) Habeeb Peediya, (3) Mammu Selat and (4) Omar Hashmani. Amu Korai had establishments at Arattupuzha on the coast of Kayamkulam Kayal in Alappuzha District as well as at Thiruvananthapuram, while others established themselves in Thiruvananthapuram.
The Peediyas were entrusted with the import of rice from Burma and other essential goods from Mumbai. Abdul Raheem Peediya went all the way by sea to Rangoon to buy rice, which became a boon for the famine stricken people of Thiruvithamkoor. For this courageous and timely act he was awarded a Veerach-angala (a gold ornament worn by men on the upper arm) and a pair of porcelain elephants superscribed with the State Court of Arms, a Shanghu and two Tuskers, by the Maharaja.
The Selat family was engaged in procurement and supply of material for the construction of palaces and houses for the royal family and the rulers’ concubines. This business was shared with the Peediyas. A large piece of land, approximately 20 hectares, was given them (Selats and Peediyas) free of cost and taxes to put up their houses and warehouses. The extent of the land, in terms of present land marks, comprised of the area between Chalai mosque and Putharikandam Maidanam (now city bus station) reaching upto Attakul-angara junction and then down upto the Attakulangara Mosque on the NH Bypass.
The Hashmanis were more specifically required to organize the local people in the large scale manufacture of accessories like bamboo reed and creaper baskets, bamboo and palmyrah leaf mats required for constru-ction work and supply them to the work sites.
The Korai family had wider contacts in Mumbai especially in the shipping sector. This sector was depending on imported sisal and other ropes and steel wires for various uses on the ships. The Korais suggested manufacture of coir ropes for export to Mumbai and Kolkata. They were, therefore, engaged to train the coir spinners in and around Arattupuzha in making heavy ropes (Vadam) and to carry out export.
They were allotted about 500 acres of land adjoining Arattupuzha Boat Jetty The business flourished with Arattupuzha becoming a prosp-erous export zone. The Korais constructed a beautiful mosque in that area. Unfortunately, there occurred a strong Sunami which swallo-wed more than half the land together with the mosque and the rope making equipment.
By then a large number of Memon families had migrated, following the four invited families, into Travancore, most of them to Arattupuzha. After the Sunami most of the Cutchi Memons in Arattupuzha moved to Kayamkulam and later to Kollam and Alappuzha when the Alappuzha port was established. Until the advent of Cochin Port and the decline of Alappuzha they lived there in high prosperity and then migrated to Kochi. A further movement occurred thereafter towards Chennai (Madras), Ooty and Bengaluru mostly for business purposes and by way of marriages. However, assimilation with the Cutchi Memons already in those new destinations has not taken place even though this immigration process has started almost 60 years ago.
The Arattupuzha village which was one of the worst hit by the December 26, 2004 "Tsunami" waves disaster, has lost almost half of its land due to sea erosion in the last 100 years. It had earlier lost half of its original land mass in the previous century. In all probability the earthqua-kes that occurred in the nearby Karukachal-Changanasserry belt on March 2, 1823, Septe-mber 15, 1841, November 23, 1849 and Septe-mber 1, 1856 might have trigerred the various tsunamis. The geographical shape of the 14-kilometre long village is itself a proof of the havoc wreaked by the sea waves here -Tsunamis and otherwise. Rabia Bai recalled that the submerged mosque was visible under waters mid sea during low tides.
The breadth of the village which is a narrow strip of land lying between the Kayamkulam lake and the Arabian sea is only 50 metres at some places. Several residents of the village sold their land and migrated to the neighbouring villages of Muthukulam and Kandaloor. in the last few decades. It is mainly fishermen who reside on the land who never want to leave this place and have had to bear the brunt of the fury of the sea.
The two the last Cutchi Memon families to dispose off their land pieces in the area, including the coconut gardens in the nearby village of Mahadevikad, were of Haji Moosa Haji Abdul Rahman Sait and Haji Abdul Karim Abdul Latheef Sait, the Bachus, after having held them for over a century. Haji Moosa Abdul Rahman Sait had a thengakoodu, a depot for the gathered coconuts, at the rear of the Arattupuzha boat jetty (Left), which once belonged to the family, until given away by his father for public use.
[This article provides only part of the story known to the editor. Readers may have more extensive and intensive knowledge about the migration and settlement of their families and fore fathers which will be an asset worth preserving. Please send to me any available details for updating and correcting this article.- The Editor]
Arattupuzha Boat Jetty Post Tsunami 2004