Who were the Kunjali Marakkars?

Express Research

EXPRESS RESEARCH

Dear reader,   A recent Malayalam film directed by Priyadarshan titled ‘Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea’ is celebrating once again the Kunjali Marakkars, the 16th century historic fighters of the Malabar Coast, known to have fought the Portuguese for about 100 years. The Marakkars have a significant role to play in the popular history of early modern Kerala, as they feature in a large number of ballads and folk songs of the Mappila Muslims, championed as the face of resistance against Portuguese domination. Some also believe the Kunjali Marakkars were the early nationalists, while others claim they were no more than an ambitious merchant clan with their own private interests.    Our story this week dissects who the Marakkars were and how to best read their resistance against the Portuguese. The emergence of the Marakkars in the Malabar Coast needs to be contextualised against the fact that this was a time when large groups of pirates operated in the Indian Ocean. For the Portuguese traders, the Marakkars were nothing more than criminal elements, bent on undermining their authority and trade monopoly. However, the Marakkars were also hired by the Zamorin of Calicut for their seafaring skills, thereby giving their acts of piracy a sort of political legitimacy that marks them out from other pirates in the region.    Read the story: Kunjali Marakkars: An ambitious merchant clan of Kerala or early nationalists?   Sincerely,   Adrija Roychowdhury

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