The Marakkar Family
I am sure that any enthusiastic individual would be curious to know his past. I am also not an exception to that. From the very childhood, from the time when I learnt that the human race originated from Adam and Ha'wwa, I was curious to know in which routes of generations does the string of my ancestors reach Adam and Ha'wwa. I do not know how far I can understand this route. But I still remember I had asked these questions to my father and he told a few names only. Rest he did not know a that time.
I want to research the history of my family in a scientific way. The history of my ancestors is known up to some extend. Earlier, there was a serious attempt to study the the past of our family by certain individuals. Some people did that appreciably and they published their version of the history in the form of a booklet. No account of past incidents were written in that booklet. Only the names and places of people were written and very few additional things in their angle of view. Still I agree that that was a very good step forward.
I will start from my full name Muhammed Kutty PV. This PV stands for Paravancheri Valiyakath. Valiyakath is the name of an old house in Chaliyam from where my ancestors came. I have visited this house where still people are living.Chaliyam is the place where the river Chaliyar meets the Arabian Sea. I don't know where the word Paravancheri came from.
Earlier, it was a tradition in our family to add the name 'Marakkar' at the end of their names. Now a days we do not use that name, I don't know why. 3-4 days back, ( today is 27/12/2011), my father showed me an old stamp paper dated 04-March-1887 (if what I remember is right, otherwise I will confirm that next time insha allah). At the top, the stamp read "10 Anna" written both in English and in Urudu. From the photo of a lady in the middle of this stamp, I assumed it is the stamp paper of the British government in the then India. The stamp paper contained some memorandum between one of my ancestors (Bichikkoya Marakkar S/o Paravancheri Valiyakath Kunji Moideen Kutty Marakkar as written in the document). After seeing this document only I confirmed that ours is the well known Marakkar family.
Now I would give the names of my ancestors below; starting from present to the past. My father's name is Abdurrahman ( and my grand father is Muhammed Kutty that is how I became Muhammed Kutty :) as it was a tradition in our family to put the name of grandfather to the eldest son ).
The generation goes as:
[1] Muhammed Kutty [Kottappuram]
[2] Abdurrahman [Kottappuram]
[3] Muhammed Kutty [Kottappuram]
[4] Kunjikkoya Marakkar [Kottappuram]
[5] Bichikkoya Marakkar [From Chaliyam came to Kottappuram]
[6] Kunji Moideenkutty Marakkar [Chaliyam]
I have to go beyond this, and I believe that it is possible to go more.
[1] I have given enough description about me here in this site itself.
[2] My father was a primary school teacher, retired from service in 2002. The most notable feature of my father is his courage. He dared to question anyone whenever and whereever needed, even if he was alone. He used to stress to his children the importance of justice. I do not know what are the factors that shaped his mind to be too particular about justice. He even put the name meaning 'Justice' to my third sister. His only sister used to tell us some childhood stories about him. He was very naughty, rebellious and a man of high self respect.
One day, my aunt told me, when they were children, my father was sleeping on the cot. Aunt was there nearby. Their youngest brother Yusuf came crying to the house. Aunt asked what happened and he replied that Aymedakka beat him and told who is there to question if he beat him? Aunt was excited to say how my sleeping father heard that! Father jumped out of the cot and ran to the street. He attacked the other fellow sufficiently and came back. I understood from her expression that aunt was proud of that incidence!
There is another incidence to say. When I was studying in Madrasa, my father was a teacher there. There was not even a trace of partiality among the students. Each morning he asked questions to all and if someone do not know the answer well, he swinged the stick equally over all small hands. I have got many beats from him and I felt ashamed for that.
[3] My grand father did not have a job to say. What my father said to me is that grandpa was a farmer. He looked after all the land propetry of the family. Even though it was not too big a property, they got their daily bread and all from that. Granpa married Fathima, my grandma from Pulikkal, a town two kilometer away from Kottappuram. I had very close aquiantance with her. She was very loving and intelligent too. I understood that my father loved her much. She died when I was in my eighth standard. I have not heard her talking about her husband. She used to begin her depiction of some past incidences by "at the times of bappa......". But those things was not about bappa. Note here that bappa is my grandpa. Father had told me that his father was sick mentally and in the last years, he was too unhealthy mentally. Grandpa died when I was at the age of two. I do not remember his face.
[4] Father of my grandpa died in his twenties, during his pilgrimage to Mecca and was buried there, when grandpa was an child. Hence not much details are available about him. There are some points to note here. At that time, in the Muslim society of Malabar, girls were married to at the begning of their teenage. It means that the mother of my grandpa was widowed in her teenage with a baby in hand. She had only a very few years of married life with her husband. I guess that that may be the reason why my grandpa did not have sufficient information about his own father to pass to th coming generations. She lived long and she loved her son as well as her grand children very much, which is evident from my father's several accounts of her. He was very talkative while talking of his grandma. He talks very little about his father.
Our family did not get paternal legacy since Kunjikkoya Marakkar died when his father was alive. In Islam, there is no right for grand children on the property of their grand father. So all the paternal legacies were blocked and what my grandpa got was the maternal legacies.
[5] Bichikkoya was originally from Chaliyam. He came to Kottappurm, married the girl of his uncle and settled down there. Her name I forgot. I will soon refer the earlier booklet and tell you insha allah.
[6] Kunji Moideenkutty was a magistrate. Much details about him are not available to me. I want to find the details of it also. The son of Kunji Moideenkutty, Bichikkoya came to Kottappuram, a village near Kondotty in Malappuram District and married the daughter of his uncle Moothedath Kunjikkoya. This Moothedath Kunjikkoya had already came to Kottappuram from Chaliyam and married a girl from Payambrot family there and settled down there.
I want to research the history of my family in a scientific way. The history of my ancestors is known up to some extend. Earlier, there was a serious attempt to study the the past of our family by certain individuals. Some people did that appreciably and they published their version of the history in the form of a booklet. No account of past incidents were written in that booklet. Only the names and places of people were written and very few additional things in their angle of view. Still I agree that that was a very good step forward.
I will start from my full name Muhammed Kutty PV. This PV stands for Paravancheri Valiyakath. Valiyakath is the name of an old house in Chaliyam from where my ancestors came. I have visited this house where still people are living.Chaliyam is the place where the river Chaliyar meets the Arabian Sea. I don't know where the word Paravancheri came from.
Earlier, it was a tradition in our family to add the name 'Marakkar' at the end of their names. Now a days we do not use that name, I don't know why. 3-4 days back, ( today is 27/12/2011), my father showed me an old stamp paper dated 04-March-1887 (if what I remember is right, otherwise I will confirm that next time insha allah). At the top, the stamp read "10 Anna" written both in English and in Urudu. From the photo of a lady in the middle of this stamp, I assumed it is the stamp paper of the British government in the then India. The stamp paper contained some memorandum between one of my ancestors (Bichikkoya Marakkar S/o Paravancheri Valiyakath Kunji Moideen Kutty Marakkar as written in the document). After seeing this document only I confirmed that ours is the well known Marakkar family.
Now I would give the names of my ancestors below; starting from present to the past. My father's name is Abdurrahman ( and my grand father is Muhammed Kutty that is how I became Muhammed Kutty :) as it was a tradition in our family to put the name of grandfather to the eldest son ).
The generation goes as:
[1] Muhammed Kutty [Kottappuram]
[2] Abdurrahman [Kottappuram]
[3] Muhammed Kutty [Kottappuram]
[4] Kunjikkoya Marakkar [Kottappuram]
[5] Bichikkoya Marakkar [From Chaliyam came to Kottappuram]
[6] Kunji Moideenkutty Marakkar [Chaliyam]
I have to go beyond this, and I believe that it is possible to go more.
[1] I have given enough description about me here in this site itself.
[2] My father was a primary school teacher, retired from service in 2002. The most notable feature of my father is his courage. He dared to question anyone whenever and whereever needed, even if he was alone. He used to stress to his children the importance of justice. I do not know what are the factors that shaped his mind to be too particular about justice. He even put the name meaning 'Justice' to my third sister. His only sister used to tell us some childhood stories about him. He was very naughty, rebellious and a man of high self respect.
One day, my aunt told me, when they were children, my father was sleeping on the cot. Aunt was there nearby. Their youngest brother Yusuf came crying to the house. Aunt asked what happened and he replied that Aymedakka beat him and told who is there to question if he beat him? Aunt was excited to say how my sleeping father heard that! Father jumped out of the cot and ran to the street. He attacked the other fellow sufficiently and came back. I understood from her expression that aunt was proud of that incidence!
There is another incidence to say. When I was studying in Madrasa, my father was a teacher there. There was not even a trace of partiality among the students. Each morning he asked questions to all and if someone do not know the answer well, he swinged the stick equally over all small hands. I have got many beats from him and I felt ashamed for that.
[3] My grand father did not have a job to say. What my father said to me is that grandpa was a farmer. He looked after all the land propetry of the family. Even though it was not too big a property, they got their daily bread and all from that. Granpa married Fathima, my grandma from Pulikkal, a town two kilometer away from Kottappuram. I had very close aquiantance with her. She was very loving and intelligent too. I understood that my father loved her much. She died when I was in my eighth standard. I have not heard her talking about her husband. She used to begin her depiction of some past incidences by "at the times of bappa......". But those things was not about bappa. Note here that bappa is my grandpa. Father had told me that his father was sick mentally and in the last years, he was too unhealthy mentally. Grandpa died when I was at the age of two. I do not remember his face.
[4] Father of my grandpa died in his twenties, during his pilgrimage to Mecca and was buried there, when grandpa was an child. Hence not much details are available about him. There are some points to note here. At that time, in the Muslim society of Malabar, girls were married to at the begning of their teenage. It means that the mother of my grandpa was widowed in her teenage with a baby in hand. She had only a very few years of married life with her husband. I guess that that may be the reason why my grandpa did not have sufficient information about his own father to pass to th coming generations. She lived long and she loved her son as well as her grand children very much, which is evident from my father's several accounts of her. He was very talkative while talking of his grandma. He talks very little about his father.
Our family did not get paternal legacy since Kunjikkoya Marakkar died when his father was alive. In Islam, there is no right for grand children on the property of their grand father. So all the paternal legacies were blocked and what my grandpa got was the maternal legacies.
[5] Bichikkoya was originally from Chaliyam. He came to Kottappurm, married the girl of his uncle and settled down there. Her name I forgot. I will soon refer the earlier booklet and tell you insha allah.
[6] Kunji Moideenkutty was a magistrate. Much details about him are not available to me. I want to find the details of it also. The son of Kunji Moideenkutty, Bichikkoya came to Kottappuram, a village near Kondotty in Malappuram District and married the daughter of his uncle Moothedath Kunjikkoya. This Moothedath Kunjikkoya had already came to Kottappuram from Chaliyam and married a girl from Payambrot family there and settled down there.