Socio-cultural Processes and Livelihood Patterns at Tirurangadi - CDS

shops being brought down within a few minutes and everyone rushing to the nearby
mosque. Thus the mosque is being brought near the workplace and the house, with very
important implications for the lifestyle of an ordinary Muslim.
Another tendency is also obvious, the growth of sectarianism among the Muslims. The
growth of the Sunni and Mujahid groups and their subsequent splits has resulted in each
group trying to assert itself through the construction of mosques. The sectarianism has
been another reason for the exponential growth of mosques. For example, Chiramukku
West in Nannambra has three mosques adjacent to each other in a small junction, two
belonging to two Sunni groups and one belonging to the Mujahid group. The Sunni
factions have built two mosques close to each other in the same area in alunchodu,
Munniyur. The rivalry between two factions has resulted in many acrimonious situations
and open conflicts. When we walked through the area, one faction was conducting a
meeting in which invectives were being flung at the other faction. Such rivalry has
resulted in increasing the ostentation of the mosques being built, a feature whose social
and economic implications require careful consideration.
Corresponding to the spread of the mosques is the spread of the Madrasas. Madrasa
education for children has become an unavoidable compulsive act, and there are
madrasas adjoining every mosque and there are independent madrasas also. Early
Madrasas were conducted in sheds or old dilapidated halls, but such madrasas have
become rare, although some of the old halls remain. Many madrasas have shifted to
double-storied buildings, with the same facilities as the modern school. Te factionalism
among the Sunnis is more clearly demonstrated in the case of the Madrasas, as the rival
factions have their own Madrasa education Boards, and once a Madrasa is established or
even planned, there is race to affiliate then to one of the education boards, a process that
would ensure their commitment to one of the factions.