HERITAGE
Moored to the region
A. SRIVATHSAN
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The story of Islam in Kerala is a story of organic assimilation, best exemplified by the older mosques.
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PHOTOS: A. SRIVATHSAN
STRIKING STRUCTURES: The Jama Masjid.
THE small jetty looks like a downgraded bus stop. People sit on stone benches, lean against the wall and some simply stand as they wait. Their eyes do not restlessly gaze at the other bank of the river nor do they seem to eagerly anticipate the arrival of the boat. There is no sense of hurry or impatience. When you scan around, you see mundu, bedi umbrella, boats, verdant green and the red flags. This dot of a space seems like a fractal version of the larger State, Kerala. The wide Bharathapuzha, which meets the sea a few hundred metres away, fixes the place geographically. The history that has accrued gives it specificity. The name of the town is Ponnani and the place is Palli Kadavu. Palli refers to the mosque and kadavu is the jetty.
Palli Kadavu is the beginning (or end?) of a fairly long street. The mosque that gives the name to the place is something special and could be the reason, apart from the river, to bring you here. This mosque is known as Thottungal Palli and considered the oldest in Ponnani. At first glance, the mosque appears like a large house and a less-informed traveller could even mistake it to be a temple. The pitched roof, clay tiles, the decorative mogapu or front and the finials on the ridge are very regional in their character. There are no minarets and no domes. The call for prayers can be heard from the loudspeakers that are loosely tied to the mogapu.
Blending in
A row of old and beautiful houses lines the street. Down the road, there is another mosque known as the Agathe Palli, built in the 15th century. One may miss this mosque unless one is looking for it. This is partly due to the smaller scale of the building and the way it sits on the street. The mosques, including the one at the kadavu, are not viewed head on. They are aligned with the sides of the street and are like any other building that front the street. Their architecture, too, does not stand out but rather weave with other buildings. But the Valia Juma Masjid in Ponnani is an exception in terms of scale. This mosque is little larger than the other two, but the architectural language is similar. William Logan, the historian, thinks that the structure was built in 1519 A.D. In this mosque, near the Mihrab — arched niche facing the direction of Mecca — one can find a brass lamp as in a temple. Similar to the temple tanks, the mosque also has a large tank outside and is open to people.
The Miskal mosque, Kozhikode, with its pond.
Kerala has been a gateway, a place where many cultures and ideas arrived and flourished. Active trade existed between Arabia and Kerala and the Muslims dominated the trade. The kings of Kerala welcomed people to stay and granted them economic and religious security. Traders from Baghdad, Yemen and Bahrain had settled in many ports of Kerala and traded in spices and wood. By the end of the Seventh century, Islam reached the shores of Kerala through its traders. Christianity and Judaism had reached the place before Islam and enjoyed peaceful co-existence. For long, different religions spread in a non-aggressive manner. Local communities, both the lower and upper castes, took to the new ideas and converted to the new religion for various reasons. In turn, Islam that spread in Kerala assimilated the local culture.
Cultural negotiations
At one level, the Mapillas, Muslims of north Kerala, had invented Arabic Malayalam and engaged the local language through Arabic. At another level, they followed social customs like Marumakkathayam or the matrilineal system prevalent among communities like the Nairs. Customs like tying thali or mangal sutra, dowry system and other rituals were assimilated into Muslim culture. The architecture of the mosques was embedded in this negotiation and assimilation.
The many-pillared prayer hall resembles the earlier typology of hypostyle mosques that are known for their rows of columns. It is certainly related to the pillared halls of temple and palaces and grew out of the local methods of construction. The forms, architectural details and the material used are very much local.
Nowhere is this notion of assimilation more exhibited than in the Jama Masjid, Kozhikode. In the Thekkepuram area of Kozhikode are centuries-old mosques — Miskal , Jama Masjid and Muchendi. Unlike Ponnani, the Jama Masjid in Kozhikode does not appear prominent. It is larger in size but it is laid along the street and only the two-storied porch engages the street prominently.
The entrance porch of Jama Masjid is warm and welcoming with platforms on either side. For a moment you think you have stepped inside a house. The wooden plank on the platform is many inches thick and the columns are solid wood sculpted in geometrical forms. The ceilings are ornate with floral motifs. Above the ornate relief, the verses of Koran are etched. Mohammad Koya, the Valia Qazi of Kozhikode, reads aloud the inscription on the wooden panel above the entrance. The inscription refers to the later addition and expansion of the mosque. The addition and the original core are seamlessly stitched.
The ornate wooden motifs of the Jama Masjid.
As the Kazi fondly wraps the wooden column with his hand and recalls the contribution of the Muslims of Kerala, diffused light from the wooden trellis washes his small office in the first floor. The first floor is used for classes and short stays. The space is spartan but the wood is sumptuously used. It is the rich details of the wooden construction that are revealed as an ornament. There are no religious symbols and representations in this floor. The spatial quality resembles the large wooden houses of Kerala.
The history of Kerala dramatically changed with the advent of Portuguese in the 17th century. The Portuguese unleashed violence to wrest control of trade from the Muslims. The amicable relationship and the alliance between the Mappilla Muslims and the Zamorins changed. The story of the Mapillas in the colonial period and after is a different story to be told elsewhere.
Beginnings and continuities
The history of Kerala mosques, for that matter the history of mosques in India, is believed to start with the Kodungallur mosque. It is associated with the legend of King Cheraman Perumal, his pilgrimage to Mecca and meeting with the prophet and conversion to Islam. If this legend is about beginnings, the story of Mossakaka, the influential trader at Tellicherry and his deft handling of the colonisers, is about continuity. Mossakaka was intelligent and wealthy enough to convince the East India Company to sell their sugarcane garden within the city so that he could build the Odathil mosque. Between these two legends passed thousand years, but the traditions and the architecture that sprang from them exhibit a spirit of continuity and assimilation.
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The clear blue of the Arabian Sea, the lush green of the trees and the brown earth shift up and down like three broad and streaming lines of brush strokes within the frame of my moving window. At the corner of the frame, now and then appear large minarets and big domes.
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