Arabu-Thamizh or Arwi

The spread of Islam to different parts of the world led to attempts in using the Arabic script for writing of vernacular languages. This led to the development of ingenious orthographic styles based on the Arabic script in many parts of the world, some of which survive to this day and some of which are extinct. There is a long list of languages from Europe to south-east Asia written using such scripts. Farsi, Urdu, Kurdish, Pashto and Uighur are some of the most important non-Semitic languages of today that use the Arabic letters.

Arabu-Thamizh or Arwi is Tamil, written using the Arabic script and is also distinguished by the use of many Arabic words instead of their Tamil equivalents. Arwi found use amongst the Tamil Muslims of Tamil Nadu and Kerala and the Moors of Sri Lanka. The use of Arwi among the Kerala Muslims has almost disappeared nowadays, however it is still used in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. There has been a shift from Arabu-Thamizhu to Arabi-Malayalam among the Tamil Muslims of Kerala who nowadays, use the latter exclusively for imparting religious education. 

The writing system of Arwi  is based on the abjad style as any other Arabic influenced writing system and is written from right to left in cursive. Almost all the languages written using the Arabic script is based on the Perso-Arabic script with the notable exceptions of  Jawi influenced scripts in the South-east and Arwi. 

In most of Perso-Arabic based languages, the voiceless bilabial stop /p/ is represented by making modifications to the Arabic letter 'ب'  . In Urdu, Farsi, Arabi- Malayalam etc. the letter 'پ' represents /p/.

However in Arwi and Jawi,  /p/ is indicated by  ڣ, by adding a diacrirtc below the letter 'ف'  of the Arabic script ( /f/ -voiceless labiodental fricative). It can be seen that in Hebrew which is a Semitic language, a similar practice is followed, where the letter פּ (/p/ ) without the diacritic (dot) represents /f/. This may be an indication that that Arwi developed independently without influences from the Perso-Arabic script.

Letters unique to Arwi (Wikipedia)

Atha- A Ravuther Kinship Term

The Ravuthers of Kerala and Tamil Nadu to this day address their fathers as Atha.  'Ata' means 'father' in Turkish and other Turkic languages.  'Ataturk' in Turkish means 'Father of the Turks', the title given to Mustafa Kemal, the first President of Turkey. However, in modern Turkish it means 'ancestor/forefather'.Nowadays, the Persian loanword 'Baba' has replaced 'Ata'. What is more interesting is that the word in Turkic/Turkish is pronounced exactly the same way as pronounced by the Ravuthers.

The Codex Cumanicus, a 13th century, linguistic manual in used by Catholic missionaries to communicate with the Cumans, an ancient Turkic people mentions the use of the word 'Ata'. Cuman language is known to be the best known of early Turkic languages. The second part of the Codex comprises of word lists, grammatical paradigms and Cuman translation of texts for use in religious services. The Lord's Prayer in the Codex begins with the word 'Atamiz' which means 'Our Father'.

It is also said that the word 'Atha' used by Tamil Ravuther Muslims  originate from the Tamil word 'Attan'. However it is not used to address one's father in Tamil.

Although the claim that the Ravuthers of Kerala and Tamil Nadu claim descent from the Turks is disputed, what they do share in common is that their following the Hanafi Madhab and using the word 'Atha/Ata' to address their fathers.

Ponnani Style of Arabic Calligraphy and Arabi-Malayalam

The Muslims of Kerala have  made their contribution in the field of Arabic calligraphy, by developing a distinct style locally known as the 'Ponnani Style'. It is also known as 'Valiya Aksharam' or 'Big Letters'.

Ponnani, a city in the present day Malappuram district, was the highest seat of Islamic learning in Kerala. The 'Ponnani style' of calligraphy has been used to print copies of the Qur'aan and other publications in Arabi-Malayalam.

Fig. 1: A Page from Qur'aan Printed in Ponnani Script

Arabi-Malayalam is Malayalam written using the Arabic script. It is believed to have been developed as the result of the cultural synthesis between the Arabs and the Keralites. Arabi-Malayalam is written right-to-left and the early Muslims preferred this over writing left-to-right.

In addition to the twenty eight letters of the Arabic alphabet, this script uses some Persian letters (گ ,ژ ,چ ,پ) and special letters to denote Malayalam phonemes. This script is heavily influenced by the Perso-Arabic writing system.

In this style the horizontal and round strokes are much thicker than the vertical ones. The two dots above/below the letters such  ق  ,ت and ي  are replaced with a 'horizontal dash'. In those letters which have three dots above it, the two lower dots are replaced with a horizontal dash retaining the third dot over it. 

Textbooks printed in Arabi-Malayalam are followed by the students in madrassas across Kerala and Lakshadweep even today.

Shafi' Muslims of Travancore

The Shafi' Muslims of Travancore are found concentrated along the areas adjacent to the coast. They follow the Shafi' madhab like majority of the Kerala muslims. They mainly reside in the districts of Trivandrum, Kollam, Alappuzha and Ernakulam. They are believed to be the descendants of the first Muslim settlers of Kodungallur and the local converts who adopted Islam. In the early days, they were mostly engaged in trade. 

The Muslims of Travancore were also called as 'Nalam Vedakkar' or 'People of the Fourth Veda'. The three other Vedas/Books according to the Qur'an/Final Testament are Thawrath (Old Testament), Zabur (Psalms) and  Injil (New Testament).

They were also called as 'Methars'. 'Methar' was a honorific title given to Muslim nobles by the Kochi Raja. But nowadays this usage is considered derogatory.

The presence of Muslims in Travancore has been recorded in the works of Ibn Battuta, Barbosa and Shaikh Zaynuddin Makhdhum.

Shaikh Zaynuddin Makhdhum of Ponnani, in his 'Tuhfath' states that Malik ibn Habib (the nephew of Malik ibn Dinar) and his wife Qamariyyah had settled at Kollam where they had constructed a mosque. This mosque is believed to have been built at the site of the present day Jonakappuram Valiyapalli.

Ibn Battuta (1304-1369 A.D.) the explorer from Maghrib, in his 'Rihla', records that there were a large number of Muslim merchants at Kawlam/ Kollam. He also mentions the presence of a Sufi hospice at Kollam, where he had stayed for months.

Duarte Barbosa has also noted that many Moors/Muslims dwelled at Caymcolan (Kayamkulam) and Coulam (Kollam).

The majority of Sufi shaikhs who had settled in this region were from Hadramawth in Yemen. As a result, the Muslims here follow the Shafi' madhab.

They used to suffix 'Kunju' to their names, but the practice has been largely abandoned now.

And Allah Knows Best......

Origins of Ravuthers/Rowthers

The most commonly held belief is that the Ravuthers/Rowthers are descendants of a warrior clan from Tamil Nadu. It is also claimed that Ravuthers have descended from Arab and Turkish, traders and missionaries who settled in Tamil Nadu. As no detailed genetic studies have been done, the exact origins of this community is not known. There are different theories suggesting the origin of Ravuthers.

The distinguishing feature of Ravuther Muslims in Kerala is that they follow the Hanafi Madhab (School of legislation in Islam). The reason that the present day Ravuthers follow the Hanafi Madhab, can be attributed to the fact that majority of the Sufi sheikhs who came to spread Islam in the Tamil country, were adherents of this Madhab. This is the predominant Madhab in North India, Central Asia and Turkey.

The Tamil word 'Irauttan' has been traditionally used to denote a warrior on horseback. The term 'Ravuth' had been a title used by horsemen serving the Hindu Rajas. 'Ravuther' is the plural form of 'Ravuth'. Rawat is also the name of a Rajput clan.  In Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, Raut or Ravuth is a subcaste of the Balija caste  It is interesting to note that different communities, all over India from Kashmir in the north to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in the south, have used the titles such as Raut/Rawat, but in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, this is exclusively used by Ravuther Muslims.

Ravuthers are also believed to be the descendents of the warriors of the Madurai Raja who later took up trading as their occupation. Many Ravuthers did serve in the cavalries of various kingdoms in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It is also said that the Ravuthers are descendants of Arab/Turkish horse traders who used to import horses to the Tamil country. In early days, the import of horses into India was the monopoly of the Arabs. But there is no evidence to suggest  that these traders followed the Hanafi Madhab. Although their names suggest Persian origin, they were considered to be Arabs. 

Amir Khusru mentions the prescence of 'Native Muslims' in his book Tarikh-i-Alai. He mentions that, during the invasion of Madurai by Malik Kafur in 1310 A. D., the Sultan's forces came across some Muslims, who had been the subjects of  Hindus at Kandur. He calls them half-Hindus who were not strict in their religious observances. He also mentions that the Sultan spared their lives as they could repeat the profession of faith (the Kalimah).

Another theory suggests that the Ravuthers are descendants of Hindus who converted to Islam. Many Hindus had converted under the influence of Sufi sheikhs like Nathar Shah (969-1039 A.D.) of Trichy.

The Madurai District Gazetteer (1906) by W. Francis mentions that the population of Muslims in the Madurai district was 4 % and the very great majority of them belonged to the community known as Ravutans, who are a commercial class.  

Ravuthers in Kerala, are also known as Turukkar/Thulukkar. Turukkan can be considered to be the Tamil equivalent of 'Saracen', a widely used term in Europe in the medieval era to describe Muslims. After raids by the Delhi Sultan's army and subsequent establishment of the Ma'bar sultanate at Madurai (around 1335 A. D.), by the Khaljis who were a Turko-Afghan clan, the word 'Thulukkar' or 'Turukkar' came to be used to denote Tamil Muslims living in the Tamil hinterland.

The Madurai District Gazetteer suggests that the Ravutans of Madurai are probably the descendants of Hindus who were converted in former times or descendants of non-native fathers and women of the country.

It may be presumed that the Ravuthers today are a mixed race comprising probably of the descendants of the native converts (mainly from the warrior tribes of Tamil Nadu and those from North India who accompanied the Sultans's army), Turkish and Arab traders and Sufi Sheikhs who came to the Tamil country. In fact, any Hanafi Masjid in Kerala can be considered as an ethnological museum. One can find Dravidian people with Semitic, North-Indid, Turanid,  or Weddoid facial features.

And Allah Knows Best......

Ravuthers of Kerala

The Ravuthers/Rowthers of Kerala are a Muslim community who migrated from Tamil Nadu and have been living in Kerala for centuries. They  speak a dialect of Tamil heavily influenced by Malayalam. They  typically follow the Hanafi madhab compared to the majority of Kerala Muslims who follow the Shafi’ madhab. The Ravuthers  are  mainly  found in the Central Travancore region and also in Palakkad.

The Ravuthers entered Kerala through different routes. The Ravuthers of Palakkad have come to Kerala by crossing the Palghat Gap. The second route is the route from Madurai via Cumbum and the third one being the Thirunnelvely –Tenkasi- Schenkottah –Pathanapuram-Pathanamthitta route.

 The Ravuthers have been mainly urban settlers. They are known to have been very active in trade and controlled the inland trade in Central Travancore during early times. They are also known as Thulukkar/Thurukkar in the Central Travancore region and Tamil Nadu which means 'Turks' in Tamil. This is however considered derogatory nowadays. 

The Ravuthers address their fathers as ‘Atha’ which means ‘father’ in Turkic languages. ('Ataturk' means 'Father of Turkey' in Turkish.) But nowadays in Modern Turkish, it means forefather/ancestor and 'Baba' and a Persian word has replaced 'Atha'. In some Turkic languages the word 'Ata' is still used.

With regard to their dressing, they tie the knot of mundu/lungi to the right as compared to the rest of Muslims who tie it to the left.  

And Allah Knows Best......