Against Lord and State

In this reassessment of the causes of the Mappila uprisings in Malabar, Professor Panikkar argues that their complex nature can be correctly viewed only by understanding the interplay between economic discontent and religious ideology in which they were rooted. The negative class consciousness which evolved among the rural mappilas during the years of British rule in the 19th century, when it was aided by a series of conflicts and a strong oral tradition, was expressed finally and powerfully in the rebellion of 1921 against the lord and the state.