Cutchi Memon Digest
Kerala
ﮐﮁﻲ ﻤﻴﻤﻦ ﮢ ﺍﯿﺠﺴﭧ - ﮐﻴﺮﻻ
PREVIEW
FEBRUARY 2015
REGIONAL NEWS
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EDITORIAL
Cutchi Memons are defined as an exclusive community of Muslims whose members migrated from Cutch. They do not intermingle with the local Muslims, marry only among their tribes and speak only the Cutchi language. This situation of the so called tribal purity has never existed in respect of those who married from the local Muslim communities even as early as 1910. Of course such cases were far and few to begin with. But today except for a handful of families in Bengaluru, Chennai and Ooty, no other Jamat can boast of having more than one or two families which can claim such purity. Except for a few families in Kerala, including Kerala migrants to other states, none can even speak or understand the Cutchi language as they have adopted the local language, be it Malayalam, Urdu, Gujarati or other. Thus we have already lost the qualities by which we are distinguished as an exclusive tribe : the language and marital exclusivity. .................More
EARTHQUAKES IN CUTCH
A region of abnormally high seismicity in western India appears to be caused by local convergence across the Rann of Kachchh and possibly other rift zones of India. Cutch suffe-red a series of earthquakes during the last many centuries. Kutch is, therefore, classified as a seismically active zone-V (Bureau of Indian Standards IS-1893:1984).
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OUR LEADERS
Mahboob-e-Millath
Jb. Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait
Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait was born on 3 November 1922 into a family of Mysore Cutchi Memons settled in Bangalore, as the son of Mohammed Sulaiman Sait and Zainab Bai. His mother was from Thalasseri (Tellichery) in Kerala. He completed his primary education in the Brennen High School and Madrassa Yusufiya in Tellicherry as he had stayed back with his uncle Tahir Mahmood Moosa. He could not ....................... More
KOCHI JAMAT
The first migration of Cutchi Memons to Kochi is believed to have taken place around 1815. Having learnt that Cutchi Memons were honest, hard working and trustworthy businessmen the Maharajah of Cochin gave them permission to settle down in the state. He wanted them to live permanently in his kingdom so that it would become prosperous by means of foreign trade and commerce. .......................... More
CHENNAI JAMAT
The history of Cutchi Memons of Chennai (formerly known as Madras) is more than 150 years old. There is no authentic record of the first migration of Cutchi Memons to Madras. It is, however, known that a Cutchi Memon, Mr. Abdul Rahim Patel was deputed from Karachi as the “Patel of Madras” sometime before 1870. He is known to have conducted business in Madras after his arrival. Records show that his son, Mr. Zackaria Abdul Rahim Sait “Mateen”, who became a prolific writer, was born in 1884 in Madras. Early records also show that, in 1880, the Corporation of Madras allotted land for Cutchi Memons to use as their cemetery. .............. More
DAR-ES-SALAAM JAMAT, TANZANIA
Memons, Bohras and Khojas were among the early visitors in the East African coast. In the middle of the 18th century the first Memons from Cutch and Bohras of Surat settled in Zanzibar. As they were small in number, the Bohras later mixed with the Memons to bury their relatives. The Bohras were numerous in Mombasa. Though initial settlers were from Surat and Cambay, the later arrivals were almost entirely from Kutch.
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PHASES OF THE MOON
From any location on the Earth, the Moon appears to be a circular disk which, at any specific time, is illuminated to some degree by direct sunlight. Like the Earth, the Moon is a sphere which is always half illuminated by the Sun, but as the Moon orbits the Earth we get to see more or less of the illuminated half. During each lunar orbit (a lunar month), we see the Moon's appearance change from not visibly illuminated through partially illuminated to fully illuminated, then back through partially illuminated to not illuminated again. ............. .More
BANDHINI
A well known traditional fabric of Cutch is the bandhini a meticulously designed tie and dye fabric. A Cutchi woman would feel incomplete without a bandhini oufit. It is an old tradition to make bandhini sarees, misr (head scarf) etc.
The art of Bandhani is highly skilled process. The techni-que involves dyeing a fabric which is tied tightly with a thread at several points,thus producing a variety of patterns. ............ More
KOLLAM JAMAT
Though there is no authentic information about early Cutchi Memon settlers in Quilon, it is gathered from some elders that, during their initial years of migration here, they were aware of five or six Cutchi Memon families settling in this city and neighboring areas like Nadayara (near Varkala) and Anjengo, which were then both developing ports. This was when Raja Kesava Dasa was the Dewan of Travancore State. ................................. More
NILGIRIS JAMAT
Among the early Cutchi Memon settlers in the Nilgiris were Mr. Cawdeer Sait, Moosa Sait, Aboo Sait and Gul Mohamed Sait. Moosa Sait's family donated the land for the Jumma Masjid at Ooty, and the land for the burial ground near the Ooty Lake. His family now exists in the person of Mr. Iqbal Sait who lives in Ooty. Gul Mohamed Sait had his business in Ooty on land later purchased by Hajee Fakeer Mohamed Sait's family and where the present Hajee Fakeer Mohamed Sait's Memorial Hospital now stands. Cawdeer Sait also owned property in Ooty but records are not available to substantiate this fact. ................. More
PANJO CUTCHI RASODO
In this issue we present four varieties of Kutchi Khichdis, in Kutchi language in the words of a genuine Kutchi Chef (together with an English translation).
Khichdi as such is a very generic name. The Gujarati khichdi is quite soft. The khichdi made in Bengaluru is very dry and every grain of rice is separate. We call this texture of rice as pharara. You must be able to hear every grain of rice fall in the plate. The Hyderabadi khichdi is between the two. Neither too soft nor too dry.
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SIGHTING THE CRESCENT MOON
The Islamic calendar is based on lunar months, which begin when the thin crescent Moon is actually sighted in the western sky after sunset within a day or so after New Moon. The ancient Hebrew calendar was also based on actual lunar crescent sightings, although the modern Hebrew .................................... More
CUTCHI KORI
Cutch had its own coinage from 1778, the time East India Company had a strong presence in Cutch, during the reign of Rayadhanji II S/o Gohodaji II (2nd time; 1801 - 1813). The Cutchi currency was the KORI. Its smallest fraction was a Babukiya being 1/96th part of one Kori. The coinage in between had been in multiples of 2. Thus,
1 Kori=2 Adhio=4 Payalo=8 Dhabu=16 Dhinglo=24 Dokda=48 Trambiyo=96 Babukiya.
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