For the British, the Andaman islands may have been the safest place to deport the Moplahs who rebelled against them in Malabar in 1921. But for the Moplah deportees, the far-flung islands had turned out to be a place to register the love of their native land.
Those who survived the cellular jails and the uncongenial terrains of the islands called the place they settled in by the name of their village in Malabar. Surprisingly, Andaman has places such as Nilambur, Mannarghat, Wandoor, Calicut, Tirur, Manjeri, Malappuram and Pandikkad. And all those places were named by the Moplas who were deported by the British from Malabar.
As a mark of affiliation to and love of their motherland, they christened the places with the names of their native land.
Only village names
“This attitude has made them different from the other Indians deported by the British. Only the people of Malabar brought in their village names to the island,” said P. P. Mohammed, a forest technical staffer at Wimberlygunj, Andaman.
His great-grandfather had been deported from Edathanattukara, near Mannarkkad. “He found a settlement at a place named Pandikkad,” said Mr. Mohammed, who was born and brought up in Andaman.
Like Mr. Mohammed, many others in Andaman still carry their family names and place names. Kottakkal Ashraf is a police constable in Andaman. “We are still using the family name Kottakkal. Similarly, there are many others,” said Mr. Ashraf.
When Calicut is closest to Port Blair, the capital town of Andaman, Nilambur remains the farthest. By road, Calicut is about 15 km from the town and Nilambur is about 90 km. However, by boat they are much closer.
From Port Blair by road, it takes about 50 km to Mannarkkad, 35 km to Wandoor, 30 km to Tirur, 20 km to Manjeri, 50 km to Malappuram, and 45 km to Pandikkad. Buses heading for Calicut and Tirur are a regular sight at Port Blair.
“I had one of the biggest surprises of my life when I saw a bus heading towards Tirur the moment I landed at Port Blair a few years ago,” said Abdussamad Pookkottur, Islamic scholar and orator from Pookkottur. “What we should appreciate is that the Moplas did not use any religious symbol or Arabic name to christen the place they settled in. Rather they used the name of their native village. It’s a matter of patriotic pride that none can negate,” he said.
Sahaduddin Saqafi, who has been the Imam of Masjidu Taqwa at Stewartgun for five years, said places such as Malappuram, Mannarkkad and Calicut had a predominant Malayali population. “However, tourist places such as Wandoor, Tirur, Nilambur, and Manjeri have a large number of non-Malayalis.”
