|
A special feature of the social set up of the territory is the division into
various classes, viz. Koyas, Malmis and Malacheris in Laccadive group of Islands;
Manikfans, Thakurs and Raveries in Minicoy and Tarwad, Tanakam-pranaver,
Kudiatis and Melacheris in Amini..jpg)
Koyas
The Koyas were the chief land owning class of the society. Formerly they were
known as Tarawadis or the Karnavar class. Originally, the class consisted of the
Principal families of Tarwads known as Karnavans who sat as jurors in the
community Panchayats. They regarded themselves superior to others and hated
alliance with others. In earlier days, the Karnavans were the real masters of
the land.
Malmis
The Malmis are the sailors. The word Malmi is connected with the signs of
ways. In the past the Malmis were the tenants of the Koyas and they served as
sailors under them and exported their produce in the odam. Piloting of vessels
is not the only privilege of this class and anybody who acquired mastery over
the nautical table is as competent as a successful Malmi.
Melacheris
The Melacheris were the original labour class of the islands and formed the
major part of the population of Amini of the Laccadive Group of islands. The
people of Kadmat, Kiltan, Chetlat and Bitra are all Melacheris who have migrated
from Amini and from the coast. Their traditional occupation is to collect
coconut tree nuts and tap neerah, the sweet toddy. It appears that the name has
its origin in their traditional place of residence on the western side of the
island. Mala means West, Cheri denotes a village.
Among the class system of Minicoy, the Manikfans are considered to be of the
highest class. They alone owned private property and were the leisured class.
The Thakrufans were the sailors who mainly piloted sailing vessels. Takrus
worked in the boats during voyages while the Raveris were the Labourers. Women
of the four classes are known as Manikka, Beefan, Beebee and Kambilo
respectively. In between Thakrufan and Thakru , there is a sub-caste known as
Bebe.
In Amini, the class groupism appears to have been based on property. The
tarwad class comprised a few families which alone had tenants in the days of
early settlement. The Tanakampranavar were those possessing property of their
own but with no tenants under them. The Kudiyatis were the tenant class. The
Melacheris were originally the landless Labourers.
Religion
There were Hindus, Christians and Muslims in Lakshadweep. Majority of the
people in Lakshadweep are Muslims.
The Muslims in Lakshadweep believe that there is no other God but Allah and that
Muhammad is his Prophet. But Pir (saint) worship has become a common feature
with them. The Urs of Ubaidullah (at Andrott) and Syed Muhammed Kasim (at
Kavaratti) are celebrated every year. Devout Muslims keep awake for the whole
night and recite the maulood during the ceremony. The majority of the Muslims
belong to the Shufi School of the Sunni sect and acknowledge besides the Koran
the authority of the Sunnet. Other sects among the Muslims are Wahabis and
Ahamadiyas who are in a microscopic minority. The Wahabis have separate mosques
in Agatti and Kavaratti and the Ahamadiyas are found only in Kalpeni.
Wahabis are Muslim purists who reflect all traditional teachings except that of
the Prophet, prohibit pilgrimage to shrines or tombs and try to restore Islam
to be condition of its ancient purity.
There is no differences in the religious beliefs, manners and
customs of the different classes in Lakshadweep but they have been separated by
social barriers.
In some islands Melacheris are not allowed to perform
the religious ceremony of Ratheb in certain mosques. Other social disabilities
which existed in the past like prohibition against the use of chappals, holding
umbrellas and singing are now a thing of the past.
Language
According to the 1681 census, eleven languages specified in the Eighth
Schedule of the Constitution are spoken as mother tongue. Of these Malayalam is
predominant and the mother tongue of the local people except those in Minicoy
who speak the Mahl language. Bengali, Gujrati, Hindu, Kannada, Oriya, Tamil,
Telegu, Konkoni, Urdu and English are also spoken by the migrants who are
employed in the Union Territory.
The script that is in use in Islands other than Minicoy is the modern
Malayalam script Grandha. The oldest script that was current in the islands was
vattezhuthu. With the advent of Islam the Arabic script became popular among the
people, especially for the study of Koran.
Mahl is the language spoken by the people of Minicoy. It is the
language of Maldives also and has a script of its own written from right
to left as in the case of Arabic. The alphabet of the language has 24 letters
which exactly sound like the letters of the Arabic alphabet, though the method
of writing is different. To the ancient local alphabet of Maldives, they have
added certain diacritical marks adopted from Arabic language to make the
modern Mahl.
|
