Othupallis: Preserving a Community Tradition

By Wafa A. Razak

Valluvambram is a bustling town on the National Highway 966 that connects the districts of Kozhikode and Malappuram in Kerala, India. Behind the busy highway lies a field that is frequently used by local folk to grow vegetables like tapioca, ladies finger, and bitter gourd. Behind that field, we can see Prof. Moideenkutty’s house. Prof. Moideenkutty is the current caretaker and owner of the Othupalli in front of his house.

Valluvambaram Othupalli, Photo by Wafa A. Razak

Othupallis were the primary religious education centers of the Mappilas or Muslims of the district of Malabar, an erstwhile district in British India, which now includes a few districts of present day Kerala. The term Othupalli comes from the Malayalam words ‘othu’ meaning recitation/repeating and ‘palli’ meaning a place of worship. 

The History of the Valluvambaram Othupalli

The Valluvambram Othupalli , currently under the custody of Moideenkutty has been existent for decades, well before the professor’s birth in the 1930s. Although there exists no written record about the exact year the Othupalli was constructed, there is an oral history passed on by Moideenkutty’s family. Moideenkutty’s father had narrated to him that the first jumuah, the congregational Friday prayer, in Valluvambram was held in this Othupalli in the 1880s. Moideenkutty speculates that it must have been constructed at least 30 years prior to that first jumuah. 

PHOSA speaks to Moideenkutty who narrates the events which led to this jumuah with much enthusiasm, “Sheikh Mohammed Shah was a Sufi saint who came from Bombay and settled in Kondotty in the then district of Malabar in the 1770s. His teachings gained a strong local following. But later on, his disciples were accused by the traditional Muslim leaders of the nearby Ponnani region for following un-Islamic practices, like prostrating in front of their Sheikh. This was seen as shirk, or against the monotheistic principles of Islam. Such ideological differences and debates lasted for years and resulted in the creation of two sides - the Kondotty Thangals, after Sheikh Mohammad Shah who was locally called ‘the Kondotty Thangal’, and the Ponnani congregation. 

At that time, in the whole region around Valluvambram, only one mosque existed then in a nearby village called Pullara. Both the Kondotty Thangals and the Ponnani folks wanted to claim the mosque as their own. Around the 1880s, the Kondotty Thangals had already begun building their own mosque in Valluvambram. But before it could be completed, the already existing differences grew big enough for the Kondotty Thangals group to leave the Pullara mosque. To establish their presence, they performed their jumuah in this Valluvambram Othupalli. So, according to oral history, the first jumuah in the village of Valluvambram was held in this Othupalli!”

In the early days of this Othupalli, there were doors and windows on all sides. This was because a stream flows next to the Othupalli and people from all faiths - both Muslims and  non-Muslims, especially the oppressed caste peasants -  came here to wash and bathe themselves and their animals. The Othupalli was open to them all to pray, chat, or even just to take a rest. In this way, this Othupalli served as a community gathering center and a well-loved cultural place of learning and worship.

In more contemporary times, the landscape around the region changed. People were finding new occupations and seeking other facilities. The Valluvambram Othupalli lost its busy significance. By the 1960s, Moideenkutty eventually closed all doors except one. But, how did Othupallis in Malabar come to lose its common importance?

Inside the Othupalli, Photo by Wafa A. Razak

The Malabar coast has played a significant role in the history and development of Kerala. For centuries, the coast was the hub for the trade of goods and ideas. A long and vibrant history of trade between the Arabs and the coastal people of Malabar made cordial relationships between them. This interaction resulted in many conversions to Islam, especially among the oppressed-caste peoples who were seeking ways out of the slavery of the caste system. The Mappilas, Muslims of Malabar, trace their origins to these conversions and intermingling and are now considered to be the oldest, settled native Muslim community in South Asia.

After these intial interactions between natives and Arabs, a period of Western colonization began with Vasco da Gama’s arrival on the coast of Calicut in 1497. Fresh off the crusade mentality, the Portuguese were initially singularly focused on destroying Muslims and the Muslim trade in the Malabar coast. Violence, trade losses, attacks and repercussions forced the Muslims of the coast to flee into inner, more uninhabited areas of the state where they settled and focused on agriculture. Along with them, they carried their faith into the interiors of the land.

Needless to say, this inward migration demanded new facilities for worship and religious activities. A structure known as Srambia began to pop up around the agricultural lands of Mappilas. They were simple structures built so that they could pray the daily 5 times prayer in between their work in the field. But, as the communities grew, they needed larger spaces and facilities that could serve other functions - including education. From these needs, Othupallis first sprung up in the interiors of Kerala.

Othupalli, by Hamna Naseer, Wafa Razak, Haseeb Razak, Ameen Ahsen, The Gulshambification, Youtube.com

Education at the Othupalli

At the age of five or six when a child is deemed fit to start reading, their parent sends the child to the nearest Othupalli, to be guided under a Mollakka, or an Othupalli teacher, to learn to read the Holy Quran. The child goes to the Othupalli with a homemade wooden board called an “Othu Palaka”. Students learnt only to read the Arabic alphabets and to recite the Holy Quran. They were not taught to write. The student does not have any particular age to graduate, they graduate only whenever he/she is fully capable of reading the Quran and praying. 

The Mollakka did not have any fixed form of payment. His only payments were the Vyaazhaycha Ari/Paisa or Thursday rice/money. On every Thursday, parents who were capable of giving, would donate to the Mollakka a handful of rice or half/one anna. There was no obligation on the parents' side to pay the Mollakka, but rather it was considered to be a good social etiquette or a sadaqah, an act of charity.  

There were stages of graduation. After each stage, the parent might reward the Mollakka accordingly. One major stage was learning to read the Surah Yaseen, known as ‘the heart of the Holy Quran’. The Mollakka hosts an event in his own house, inviting all the graduating students and their parents. The Mollakka cooks for all of them, meanwhile the parent might reward the Mollakka accordingly. The final stage of study in an Othupalli consisted of studying the procedure of the five times mandatory prayer of Muslims. A text in the traditional Mappila language of Arabi-Malayalam that would explain the procedures in detail would be used as a textbook. Only after graduating from an Othupalli does a Mappila student join schools that taught modern secular education, if at all those were available. Therefore, Mappila Girls and boys, both attended the Othupalli and completed their primary education, while it was rare initially for Mappila girls to continue secondary and higher education in schools. 

Advent of British Colonization and the Decline of Othuppallis

Othupallis first begin to decline upon the arrival of British colonization. The British were constantly troubled by the sturdy and violent Mappila uprisings. Mappilas were also defiant enough to even cooperate with anything that was British, even with British schools. To counter, the colonizers began setting up serious repressive policies including heavy fines, confiscating land, and special police forces to curb Mappila activities.

In addition to the aggressive approach, they adopted methods that they thought would soothe the Mappilas into a liking for European culture. They understood that the Mappilas' emphasis for education in their own institutions over modern schools was standing in the way of ‘modernizing’ the community into British needs. Along with this, there were Muslim reformers, who emerged later in the community, who advised that the community should not limit themselves to religious education, but engage in secular schools to keep up with the rest of the population. 

The British government introduced various measures to attract Muslim kids into their schools. For instance, in the year 1926, after the notable Malabar rebellion of 1921, a special education officer was appointed. Twelve deputy inspectors by 1929. To strengthen such efforts, the Mollakkas were recruited in government schools in a newly created post called “Molla teachers”, after giving them two years of teacher training. The Mollakkas were given regular government salaries and they were assigned to teach whatever they taught earlier in the Othupallis, but now in the government schools, in the morning hours before school subjects begin. Naturally, Muslim students went to where their Mollakkas taught. Several institutions were set up by the British government and all these Muslim specific schools followed a different academic calendar to fit the priorities of the Mappilas - like, the whole month of fasting or Ramadan was given off as vacation and Fridays were made holiday instead of Saturdays. Mappilas were recognized as an Educationally Backward Community and an Education Reforms Committee decided to grant fee concessions and stipends for Muslim students. In further concerted efforts, Arabic teachers were recruited to make the community more at ease in such institutions. 

All of this had the effect of moving education from the Othupallis to schools. Ultimately, Othupallis lost their key component of their function and relevance.

A Commitment to Preserving the Othupalli Culture

Othupallis eventually began to cease to exist in the Mappila landscape. In the present day, few such structures remain, almost forgotten of the rich heritage it once used to carry. And a few like Prof. Moideenkutty remain, who struggle to keep the memories of it alive. 

The Valluvambram Othupalli now remains closed for most of the day, only to be opened occasionally when any member of the household feels like praying there. However, Prof. Moideenkutty takes extra care even in his old age that the electric bulb that he hung outside the Othupalli is lighted by every dusk.  He demands nothing from his successors, but hopes his future generation would develop this Othupalli as needed. And as the population in this region grows, he prays that the Othupalli also become a cultural center of theirs, just like the old times. And every time it rains, the Professor comes out and sits on the porch of his house, watching the Othupalli, the rain flooding him into a reverie of memories of an era long gone.

Wafa A. Razak is a researcher in Sociology, working on Mappila culture, at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.