THE MUTHAYIL MOSQUE- A PRECIOUS WINDOW TO OUR COLLECTIVE HERITAGE I have written a short story in Malayalam, titled ‘ Njandan sakkara Rawther’. The settings of the story weaving together the anecdotes doing rounds in our families and the elements of history dug out were primarily laid in the precincts of the Muthayil mosque. The story line is as follows. A Rawther man in his early seventies, an un assuming, innocuous and introvert being till then, while enjoying an afternoon nap at the veranda of the Muthayil mosque snoring resonantly with the comfortful breeze from the paddy fields downhill, suddenly got awake in extreme embarrassment and despair and began to behave himself in an imposing and royal demeanor. He portrayed himself as the ‘Njandan Sakkara Rawther’, a hitherto unknown and strange term to the utter dismay of the onlookers. However, he metamorphosed in a dramatic manner in his style of attires and body language. A man who was shy and slow till then, he began to walk in an assertive mode. It was as if that he had his well-conceived plans for each and every bit of movement of his body as well as dialect, got prepared and preserved long before his own birth. His path of vision is a projectile line of command. He now wears a head gear made on long turban coiled clockwise many a times. The upper end of the turban stand steady exactly over the forehead as a symbol of authority he holds. People on their own noticed that his dark wheatish complexion and six foot structure absolutely befit to his new role. His silver white long beard and swords of mustaches are perfectly in harmony to the fierce rectangular face. He can definitely be mistaken by anyone as a Rajastani Rajput if they somehow happen to see him in a public place in North India. This new life in him was being sprouted like a regal butterfly in its inherent swiftness took off the wings from its pupa shell hidden beneath leaves. However, the grandeur of this real life episode has been enormously shrouded in mysteries. Most of the people felt a rare kind of trepidation while confronting him. They felt it impossible to have an eye ball contact with him beyond the span of one or two heart beats. How came these changes…How could he speak such a heavy slang of Tamil yet unknown to him. People were so keen or rather afraid. But he is seen sincerely believing in his inner core that he has been leading an obedient clan of people or local chiefdom of his own in this land. Rumors spread that has was possessed of certain spirit from the past. It was at this juncture that a Nanna, while sitting with people gathered for Isha prayers in lantern lit surroundings of the Muthayil mosque, revealed that the ‘Njandan Sakkara Rawther’, as being referred to by the man is none other, but the person who established the Mosque around two hundred and fifty years ago, upon reaching the place with his platoon of people from Tenkasi in Tamilnadu. I developed the story line further through the endeavors and experiences of some people who are interested in history, in their efforts to trace out their roots taking a cue from this incident. This short story is part of my collection which I had given to a publisher around one year ago. But the publication is getting delayed for completion of the illustrations by a friend of mine, to whom I entrusted the task on my own. But anyway, now I feel that perhaps the delay may be the scheme of some unknown. To my utter disbelief, the places, characters and so on in those stories made out of my imagination have been revealing in real life scenes before us as of late. For instance, I have written in this space on the traditional marriage ceremony we attended last week at the Sakkara Rawther Family at Tenkasi. This Monday, a group of people from the Sakkara Rawther family at Tenkasi came down to attend a marriage in our family at Muthayil. Some of them led by Dr; Abdul Kader who is a distinguished Scientist and Chief Manager with the Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology, Madras and a direct Member of the Sakkara family at Tenkasi, showed immense interest in visiting the Muthayil Mosque. Sri: E. Shihabudeen, a prominent member in our family at Muthayil and who after retiring from service last year as a Joint Commissioner of Excise, has been actively involved in the administration of the mosque, as if pulled out by spirit of the roots, facilitated our visit. I explained to Dr: Abdul Kader that the Sakkara Rawther from Tenkasi led his people to this land of fertile fields in the Kollam Era. 933 ( A.D.1757 or so). His wife belonged to Pottalputur and he had only one son aged seven years, Mahmood Rawther at the time of this migration. It was the Chetti merchants who used to frequent the wild trekking paths through the area enroute to Attingal from Tenkasi carrying their merchandise on top of donkeys, notified the Rawther of the scope of developing farming over here. The Sakkara Rawther, who was a versatile genius in medicines and mystic knowledge of his yore decided to have a break for certain issues at Tenkasi as well that distressed him at that time. Let me dwell in to such details in a different chapter anyway. Though the Sakkara Rawther along with his men succeeded in developing vast tracts of farmlands extending miles from Pangalkadu to Karichira and other corners, the inner urge in him had been to return the plane mindlands of Pandinadu. But the sudden demise of his wife and wedlock of his son made a permanent return impossible. Thus Muthayil became the hub of Rawther inhabitation in the eastern part of the then Kollam. The mosque at Muthayil established by the Sakkara Rawther in a prestine and sprawling campus atop the hill near paddy fields stood as the center of social and religious order of that dignified clan. The Rawther families at Neythupura, Karichira, Kanur, Kulathara, Anaputhayil etc.etc. in and around Muthayil are the offspring of the Sakkara Rawther born and spread over a period of last two and half centuries. When I told this story of migration and spread of the Sakkara Rawthers over this part of the western ghat, I could see the rays of fraternity and delicate bond of veins getting dilated in the eyes of Dr; Abdul Kader and others who belongs to the root Sakkara Rawther family still living in their ancestral home at Tenkasi, on the other side of this ghat of separation. As we stood at the ground of the Muthayil mosque, winds over the tall hey grass privilege fully occupied over the centuries old burial ground made loud pep talks in unknown words. Perhaps our forefathers in their graves who know the stories well might have been attempting to supplement us with the details. Or they were telling each other in delight of the visit of Sakkara Rawthers from Tenkasi. On way back, we all had remained mostly in a plane of silence which was necessitated by one’s own involvement in deep conversations with the inner self. In fact, I feel this eternal quietness and sense of oneness whenever I visit the Muthayil Mosque. If you are in any way connected cardinally to this place, you too will experience this recharge of spirit, I am sure…So have a habit of quite pilgrimages to your own roots..My Dear !.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 09:48:58 +0000
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