Malabar Rebellion, 1921
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. Additional information may please be sent as messages to the Facebook community, Indpaedia.com. All information used will be gratefully acknowledged in your name.
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
The Wagon Tragedy of Kuruvambalam, Malappuram
Rajeev.KR, Nov 19, 2021: The Times of India
From: Rajeev.KR, Nov 19, 2021: The Times of India
KOZHIKODE: The Wagon Tragedy centenary is a special moment for Kuruvambalam in Malappuram as 41 of 70 persons who died after being stuffed into an unventilated goods wagon from Tirur on November 19, 1921 belonged to the village and nearby areas.
The Wagon Tragedy Memorial Samithi in Kuruvambalam has drawn up weeklong commemorative events to mark the anniversary. "A door-to-door history-reading session will be the highlight, wherein a small leaflet about the historical event will be distributed in households and read out in the presence of family members. There have been instances of even the victims' descendants not fully aware of their ancestors' sacrifices as many of them were bachelors," samithi chairman Salim Kuruvambalam said.
The historical event is one of the gruesome events that happened under British rule. A large number of people were rounded up by the British during the peak of the 1921 Malabar Rebellion and summarily sentenced under martial law. They were taken to Tirur and transported to prisons outside the state since the Malabar jails were already crowded. On the fateful day, nearly 100 prisoners were herded into a windowless luggage wagon, bearing the number 1711, and attached to Train No 77 Calicut Madras passenger to take them to Bellary. The train left Tirur station at 7.15pm.
Seven policemen tasked to escort the prisoners were in the adjacent wagon while their head, reserve police sergeant A H Andrews, was in the second-class compartment. The policemen on escort duty and witnesses at Shoranur and Olavakkode stations could hear the agonizing cries from inside the wagon but its doors were opened only at Podanur railway station in Tamil Nadu at 12.30am on November 20, after a passenger demanded it on hearing the cries.
All prisoners had collapsed by then, with 56 of them already dead. Six prisoners died on the way to hospital and the death toll later rose to 70. The bodies were sent back in the same wagon to Tirur and received by wailing crowds. A total of 44 bodies were buried at Korongoth and other mosques in the village and bodies of three Hindu victims were buried at Muthur Kunnu.
One of the survivors, Konnola Ahammed Haji, had reminisced how he and his brother managed to live by keeping their nose on a small nail hole in the wagon. The commemorative events include a history seminar, a quiz competition and a valedictory meeting on November 27. Tirur municipality will also take out a 35-km Smrithi Yathra, as part of its year-long commemoration, from Kuruvambalam at 9.30am on Friday. The yatra, with a replica of the wagon, will conclude at the Wagon Tragedy Hall at Tirur, to be followed by a digital drama on 1921.
"The commemoration is also an attempt to keep the collective memories of the land intact, especially when attempts are being made to erase memories of the 1921 rebellion like the ICHR move to remove the martyrs' names from the list of freedom fighters," Salim said.
Head of Calicut University history department P Sivadasan said a large number of people from Kuruvambalam arrested by the British were innocent villagers who had gone to Perinthalmanna police station on hearing that a local religious leader, Kunjunnien Musaliyar, was arrested.
"Police released Musaliyar but arrested those who came asking for him as mass arrests were routinely carried out to suppress the rebellion... Though the inquiry headed by Malabar special commissioner A R Knapp was a farce, commission member Manjeri Rama Iyer had stated that it was a massacre as people were stacked into the luggage wagon fully knowing that they would not get sufficient air to breathe," Sivadasan said, adding that Iyer's statement was added as appendix to the report.
