SOUTHERN MILESTONES: MILE #4 THE SULTANA OF MALABAR

-by bisni lidiya

The Arakkal Kingdom was the dynasty that ruled over pre-independent Kannur and Lakshadweep (Agatti, Kavaratti, Androth, Kalpeni, and Minicoy islands). the ruling king and queen were addressed as Ali Raja and Arakkal Beevi. The royal family was originally a branch of Kolathiri dynasty. The Arakkal family mainly consisted of the members of the Kolathiri family who later converted into Muslim. Their functions of the kingdom were in allegiance with the Kolathiri family. One of the main tradition followed was that the ruling power was handed over to the female offsprings only. As the only Muslim rulers of Malabar, they sought to defeat the Chirakkal royal family to claim Malabar under its rule. for which they had pledged alliance with Hyder Ali and later Tippu Sultan.

Arakkal Aysha Aliraja

Credits: google photos

But after the Sreerangapattanam treaty, the position of the Beevi lost much of its glory. The settlement in 1796 ensured that the Beevi had possession of both Kannur and Lakshadweep. But the Beevi no longer had sovereignty. However, in the 1864 list of sovereigns in the locality, the Beevi was able to enter her name. Although many of the settlements were broken during the wars that followed the areas under the Arakkal rule remained ignored thus under Beevi's sole rule.

The last female Beevi of the Arakkal family was Sultana Aysha Aliraja who retained the position till her death on 27th September 2006. The Beevi's character was played in the 2011 Malayalam movie Urumi by Genelia D'Souza. however, the fictional aspects were far from reality.