Shaping Muslim Literary Heritage in Kerala: Mappilapatt in Malayalam Literary Culture
Muslim communities of Malabar, popularly known as Mappilas have long been considered notorious for their violence and ignorance, a reputation they gained through several centuries of resistance that they put up against the Portuguese and British colonial regimes. Negative stereotypes about them were...
| Published in: | Nidān |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Univ.
2022
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| In: |
Nidān
Year: 2022, Volume: 7, Issue: 1, Pages: 17-34 |
| Further subjects: | B
Malayalam language
B Literature B Folk-songs B Devotional-Poetries B Mappilas B Arabic-Malayalam |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | Muslim communities of Malabar, popularly known as Mappilas have long been considered notorious for their violence and ignorance, a reputation they gained through several centuries of resistance that they put up against the Portuguese and British colonial regimes. Negative stereotypes about them were also extended to their literature that was evaluated as unimportant. While the colonial regime reprimanded Mappila traditions for their blind adoration, expressed in devotional poetry and songs composed in Arabic-Malayalam (Malayalam written in Arabic script), popularly known as mappilapatt, they also accused this literature of inciting 'fanatical feelings.' This colonial suspicion reaffirmed Mappilas as agents of fanaticism who derived their religion chiefly from devotional songs and stories about Muslim heroes. Their 'dangerous sympathy' for 'vulgar ballads' was perceived as a rejection of liberal values, and of rational thought. The recitation of their poetry at religious or domestic gatherings was denounced as detrimental, and as evidence of how Muslims disturbed the peace. Such colonial assumptions are reflected in postcolonial scholarship (Dale 1975) that neglected, dismissed, and even scorned Arabic-Malayalam print culture. Arabic-Malayalam print culture burgeoned during the colonial period, and was perceived as an instigator of intense emotions like martyrdom that triggered outbreaks and suicidal mentalities (Fawcett 1901). Postcolonial scholarship, thus, largely accepted the colonial antipathy to Mappila literary tradition that marginalized Arabic-Malayalam, Mappila songs. This in turn denied the idiom and literature from gaining state patronage, and branded it as a ‘vulgar’ dialect that was at best limited to oral literature, folklore, and fairy tales. |
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| ISSN: | 2414-8636 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Nidān
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.58125/nidan.2022.1 |