Socio-cultural Processes and Livelihood Patterns at Tirurangadi - CDS

British as the most dangerous to their interests. This was also he period when the Mappila
Revolts spread to different parts of Malabar. The British officers of Malabar mounted
pressure on the Madras Government to order the deportation of Sayyid Fasl, and the
officers finally persuaded him, along with his family to leave Malabar. His later history,
in which he became a minister in the Government at Cairo, does not interest us at present.
Memories concerning Sayyid alawi and Sayyid Fazl are interesting in this context.
Memories concentrate on Sayyid Alawi rather than sayyid Fasl. Sayyid Alawi appears in
the memories as a venerable old man with almost supernatural powers and healing
capacities. There is the story of two Muslims who tried to defy the instructions of Sayyid
Alawi and were converted into stones. There are also references to supernatural
appearances by Sayyid alawi, including an appearance as an armed soldier against the
British soldiers who went to capture the murderers of Kaprat Panikkar (although Sayyid
Alawi denied that he was ever there). Later, when Cholera began to consume lives in the
region, flags blessed at the Mamburam mosque was planted everywhere to prevent
Cholera. Whether Cholera was actually prevented is another matter, but it was a tribute to
the supernatural healing powers of the Thangal, which the mosque was supposed to
retain. Thus it is the memories of Thangal as a lawgiver, healer and defender of Islam
with supernatural powers that are retained in the memories of Sayyid Alawi.
Interestingly, Pookoya Thangal, as Sayyid Fasl was called by the people, is a more
shadowy figure, probably he was less known to the people, and he had a relatively short
tenure, and the memories indicate him as more virulently anti- British than his father.
Sayyid Fasl also apparently advocated a more purist Islamic faith. He criticized practices
like kissing the hand, prostrating before the Shaikh etc. He decreed that Mappilas should
not accept left over food from the Hindus. Mappilas should not plough on Fridays and
also should not use the honorific plural while addressing Nayars. The Dikr and rathib of