Kunjali Marakkar is widely credited for organizing the first naval defense of the Indian coast. His valor and bravery have been lost in the pages of history and today only a handful of people recognizes his efforts.
The Zamorins was the most wealthy and hereditary monarch of the kingdom of Kozhikode in Calicut, southern India. Calicut was the most important trading port of the Arabian sea and the coast of India. Traders from Arab, China, and Rome had a cordial relationship with the Monarch. Though Zamorins followed Hinduism they were very tolerant of other religions as well and prefer a cordial and peaceful environment.
To achieve this, Gama started with restricting the trade with the Arabs by establishing a protocol that any ship carrying goods even if it is of Indian origin, must pass through the Portuguese coast to mandate itself or all the goods will be confiscated. This didn’t go well with the Zamorins. To counter the growing enmity with the Zamorins and to destabilize their monarch, the Portuguese befriended Rama Varma XV, the Rajarshi of Cochin. This led to a war between the Zamorins of Kozhikode and the Kochi Raja and for the first time in the history of the Zamorins, the people witnessed bloodshed and violence.
To retaliate, the Zamorins appointed a Muslim merchant called Kutti Ahmed Ali as the naval admiral of his fleet and gave him the title ‘Kunjali Marakkar’ and so began the heroic journey of the Marakkar’s.
Kunjali Marakkar genealogy:
To understand the genealogy of Kunjali Marakkar, it is important to know that the title belonged to the four generations of the Marakkar family. There were a total of four Kunjali Marakkars whose war tactics helped Zamorins defend against the Portuguese invasion from 1520 to 1600. They were, Kunjali Marakkar I (1520 – 1531), Kunjali Marakkar II (1531 – 1571), Kunjali Marakkar III (1571 – 1595) and Kunjali Marakkar IV (1595 – 1600), who fought eighty years of war against the Portuguese.
This was the major turning point of Marakkar’s history. If not by force, Portuguese played a dirty trick to pull down the sea merchants. In 1598, they managed to convince the Zamorins that Kunjali Marakkar IV intended to take over the kingdom to establish a Muslim empire. They planted their allies among the Zamorins and sowed the seed of betrayal. The Zamorins in turn joined hands with the Portuguese and revolted against Kunjali Marakkar IV. He was brutally killed in combat.
To honor the heroics of the Kunjali Marakkar, the navy had a Naval Air Station by the name of INS Kunjali, which is now known as INS Shikra. The Marakkar’s legacy can be recounted in several folklores, songs, and poems of Malabar and every house of the place still remembers the bravery of Kunjali Marakkar.
Kunjali Marakkar temple
The Marakkars seem to have fought for their people and earned the love and respect of the people of the region. So much so, that there is a temple dedicated to Kunjali Marakkar in Madhavan Kurichi village in the Thoothukudi district of distant Tamil Nadu. The village is situated in what used to be Portuguese territory in the 16th century, and the temple was probably constructed after the admiral rescued it from some danger. While the exact origins of the temple is unknown, Kunjali Marakkar is worshipped as a deity and is venerated through annual festivals and prominence in local Villu Pattu.
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