Mosques and bazaars
This refers to "Moored to the Region" (December 17). The article pointed out that most mosques in Kerala are laid along the street or aligned with the sides of the street. This is due to some important reasons. The Muslims were wealthy and powerful merchants during the medieval period in Kerala. Most of them lived in concentrated urban bazaars where day-to-day personal contact was reinforced by worship in the mosques. The relationship between mosques and bazaars is clearly seen in places like the Misqal mosque in Kozhikode and Agathe Palli in Ponnani. The mosques became a meeting point for religion and commerce. It is because of the commercial activities attached to the mosques that, when the Portuguese had unleashed violence to wrest control of trade from the Muslims, they first attacked and burned some parts of Misqal mosque in the 16th century.
Santhosh Abraham,
Hyderabad
A. Srivathsan says, "The history of Kerala dramatically changed with the advent of Portuguese in the 17th century." Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese explorer touched the shores of Calicut (Kozhikode) on May 20, 1498.Therefore the Portuguese arrival in Kerala should be dated to the late 15th century.
Surendra Gopal,
Patna
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