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Moplah Rebellion 1841-1920

Moplah Rebellion 1841-1920

Section titled “Moplah Rebellion 1841-1920”

2020-04-27 15:10:52

1840s - 1850s

  • Mopilah descendents of Arab traders, converted lower caste Hindus, slave case.
  • Jenmi recognised as absolute owners of land, right to evict tenants.
  • Reduced Kanamdar (tenure holders) and cultivators to tenants and leaseholders.
  • Imar Qazi, Sayyid Alavi Tangal, Sayyid Fazal Pookkoya etc led.
  • Mosques became centres of mobilisation.
  • Centres were Manjeri, Kulathur, South malabar and Mattannur.

Moplah Rebellion (1921)

  • tenants rebelled against majority Hindu landlords against lack of security of tenure, renewal fees, high rents, oppressive extractions of landlords.
  • Manjheri association of the Congress supported the tenants stirred by Khilafat struggles.
  • arrest of local priest from a mosque provided the spark that was needed.
  • Hindu landlords, govt courts, police stations, treasuries etc were looted/attacked burning records.
  • Martial law was declared and Hindu landlords were pressurised to give away names of rebels.
  • The movt soon took communal overtones.
  • Jenmi landlords backed by police, law courts and revenue officials tightened their grip over Moplah peasants.
  • DN Dhanagare argues that burning the bodies of the peasant to demoralise them incited the peasants to retaliate.
  • Defiling of temples by peasants gave it an anti-Hindu turn and after 1896 it took communal orientation to what was a class struggle.

PYQs

Section titled “PYQs”

Mopla Rebellion in Malabar (1841-1920)

  1. “The roots of Moplah discontent were clearly agrarian….” Comment. [1986, 20m]
  1. The roots of the Moplah uprising (1921) were clearly agrarian. Do you agree? [1990, 60m]
  1. The 1921 Moplah rebellion was “in essence an expression of long-standing agrarian discontent which was intensified by the religious and ethnic identity.” Comment. [2000, 20m]
  1. Was the Moplah Rebellion in Malabar an expression of anti-landlord and anti-foreign discontent? Discuss. [2018, 20 Marks]