The well of death at Thuvur ( Sep 25, 1921 )

  On 25^th Morning nearly 100 houses with the sleeping inhabitants of Tuvvur were surrounded by Mappilla rebels. The residents were ordered out and some escaped.  The men had their legs and hands tied.  The women and children were unharmed.  All the houses were burnt  The prisoners were taken to Cherikamalkunnu and from there to Pangodu. On the eastern side of the land called Palurkuzhi parambu there is a  rock which stands below a small hillock. The trial of the prisoners took place here. Some versions attribute the atrocities to V.K. Haji, some to Chembrasseri Thangal.  The latter was given credit by a large section for this deed. K. Madhavan Nair, the leader of the Congress, says that he was told by certain Mappilas of Tuvvur that the culprit was a relative of Chembrasseri Kunhikoya Thangal called Imbichikoya Thangal.

                        The well which attained, notoriety is situated midway between Tuvvur and Karuvarakundu on the slope of the bare hillock.  The meeting of about 4,000 followers of Chembrasseri Thangal from the neighboring amsoms was presided by the Tangal sitting in the shadow of the small tree.  More than 40 Hindus were taken to the Tangal with their hands tied behind their back. Three people were shot dead; 34 Hindus and 2 Mappilas ( who were living with the Hindus ) were taken one by one to the well 15 feet away from the rock.  Just at the brink there is a small tree. The executioner stood here and after cutting on the neck with his sword pushed the body into the well.  Many of the people who were thus thrown in were not dead, but escape was impossible.  The sides of the well are cut in hard laterite rock and there are no steps.  It is said that some people were crying out from the well even on the 2^nd  day of the massacre.  They must have died a particularly horrible death. ( There is another story associated with the Thuvvur well. It is said that after two days a nearby Mappila named 'Kandarmadi' climbed down the well using a ladder and hacked the remaining Hindus to death using a machete ) At the time when this massacre was perpetrated it was the rainy season, and there was some water in the well.  E. Rama Menon, B.A. visited the spot along with Pandit Rishi Ram the Arya Samaj Missionary. At this time the well was dry. The visitors had a look at the gruesome sight.  The bottom was entirely filled with human bones and 30 skulls were counted.  One skull was particularly noticeable as it was neatly divided into two halves by means of a saw. This was the skull of an old man pensioned head constable Kumara Panikker. K. Madhavan Nair visited the spot with Srinivasa Sastri a few months after the rebellion and he counted 20 skulls.

                        In the Zamorin's  records is a letter which states – In Tuvvur most houses were looted and burnt, men with hands tied  behind were taken, some flayed alive, some hacked all over, some hacked half to death and thrown into a well.  Two were killed  mid way to the well. An 80 year old man bedridden for 10 months was killed there. In all 36 were killed, 33 killed were put in a well of which 3 were Embrandiris. The Tuvvur case was tried in the Court of the Special Judge Malabar E. Pakenham Walsh and the accused Achuthodi Kunhappi sentenced to death on 25^th Jan. 1923.

                        The leaders of the Tuvvur massacre were identified. The witnesses included the widow of the head constable Kumara Panikker who was stripped, her husband was tied up and their and house set on fire. Her husband and another man who were sleeping were taken away.  She was informed of the murder of her husband by a local man who had managed to escape the massacre. Achuthodi Kunhappi and Amakundan Mammad were two of the rebels who came to her house.  The former had came earlier demanding a gun and he was armed with a gun when he came to their house on that day.  The latter tied her husband’s hands.

                        There were three other witness to the crime who had been seized by the rebels but let off. One by promising Rs.100/- and to help to capture his brother the Amsam Menon. Another was let off because be surrendered some jewels.  All the relatives of these people who were seized with them were killed.  The information about the crime had reached the Sub Inspector at Pandikkad within 3 days.

                        All the witnesses were consistent about the horrible massacre.  There are 4 leaders Chembrasseri Thangal, Imbichikoya Thangal, Amakundan Mammad and Achuthodi Kunhappi.  It was Imbichikoya Thangal who ordered Kumara Panikker to be put to death for rendering assistance to the Military.  It was Achuthodi Kunhappi with Amakundan Mammad’s assistance who sawed through the skull with a saw and finally the latter finished the work by cutting his neck with a sword and throwing the body into the well.  One Murthi Embrandiri, priest of a temple was killed by Chembrasseri Tangal. There was a gruesome competition among the Mappilas as to who should have the pleasure of killing the captives.  The ‘cases were tried under Section 121(waging war), Section 110 (abetment) and Section 302 (Murder) and accused was found guilty.

                         - Madhavan Nair P 207/ Gopalan Nair P 56 / Hitchcock P 287          

The Khilafat movement and the lessons of History

The Malabar rebellion, as it is popularly known, was part and parcel of the Khilafat movement started by Gandhiji along with the Muslim league. The Khilafat movement, as its name clearly states, was aimed at restoring the Khilafa of Turkey to his throne. Thus the moment sought to tap into the pan Islamic identity of the Indian Muslim. 

The Khilafat moment led to the empowerment of the Muslim League, not as part of the nationalist political mosaic, but as a sectarian outfit. Ultimately this led to the the creation of Muslim enclaves within and without India.

In the Malabar region of Kerala, the movement morphed into a frightening form. From the womb of the Khilafat emerged a monster which murdered, burned and raped its way through wide swathes of this land. It left behind a dazed Hindu population, which never expected, much less deserved, the atrocities committed by its 'muslim brothers'. The holocaust left behind refugees, desecrated temples, homes looted and burned. And… women, women ravaged through unspeakable atrocities.

Many have tried to sweep the incidents of 1921under the carpet. Some have made a 'secular' statement out of it with politically correct movies and plays. Others have gone a step further and justified the atrocities as isolated incidents in course of a freedom struggle for which the Communist government had allotted pension ! Isolated incidents? Evidence points to the contrary. Overwhelming evidence.

Some may ask: why go into the past? Let bygones be bygones. And I ask: does the past go away? Are we free from history?

History is taught and studied with great care so that its lessons are not forgotten. We study it with the belief that its truth will set us free. We know that history has a funny habit of biting us in the behind if it is ignored. 

It cannot be said that the history of the events of 1921 has been ignored by the successive governments of state and nation. But it can be undoubtedly stated that the teaching of history has been selective. 

You have learned about the 'wagon tragedy' at school.

But what about the events of Tuvvur? Have you heard about the well at Tuvvur? 

Have you come across the events at Muthumana Illam in any textbook? Are these not tragedies in the same scale of the ‘wagon tragedy’? Is it that the innocents who perished inside the wells at Tuvvur and Muthumana were less innocent than the Mappila agitators who died inside the wagon? Were they less human?

This document is not a comprehensive compilation of the incidents of 1921-22. The happenings associated with the Mappila riot are too voluminous to be included in any single document. 

           Our effort here is to shed light on a few incidents and give a better understanding of the Holocaust in Malabar.