Moplah rebellion | |||||||
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Part of Khilafat Movement, Mappila riots, Tenancy movement, Non-co-operation movement | |||||||
South Malabar in 1921; areas in red show Taluks affected by the rebellion |
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Belligerents | |||||||
British Raj | Mappila | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Thomas T. S. Hitchcock, A. S. P. Amu | Ali Musliyar, Variankunnath Kunjahammad Haji, Sithi Koya Thangal, Chembrassery Thangal, K. Moiteenkutti Haji, Konnara Thangal, Abdu H Hin. | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
British forces: 43 troops killed, 126 troops wounded | 10,000 killed, 50,000 imprisoned |
The Malabar rebellion (also known as the Moplah rebellion and Māppila Lahaḷa in Malayalam) was an armed uprising in 1921 against British authority and Hindus in the Malabar region of Southern India by Mappilas and the culmination of a series of Mappila revolts that recurred throughout the 19th century and early 20th century. The 1921 rebellion began as a reaction against a heavy-handed crackdown on the Khilafat Movement, a campaign in defense of the Ottoman Caliphate, by the British authorities in the Eranad and Valluvanad taluks of Malabar. In the initial stages, a number of minor clashes took place between Khilafat volunteers and the police, but the violence soon spread across the region. The Mappilas attacked and took control of police stations, British government offices, courts and government treasuries. The Moplah rebellion that started as a fight against the British ended up as large-scale massacre and persecution of Hindus. In the later stages of the uprising, Mappilas committed several atrocities against the Hindu community, who they accused of helping the police to suppress their rebellion.Annie Besant reported that Muslim Mappilas forcibly converted many Hindus and killed or drove away all Hindus who would not apostatise. In her estimate, around 100,000 Hindus were driven away from their homes.
The British Government put down the rebellion with an iron fist, British and Gurkha regiments were sent to the area and Martial Law imposed. One of the most noteworthy events during the suppression later came to be known as the "Wagon tragedy", in which 61 out of a total of 90 Mappila prisoners destined for the Central Prison in Podanur suffocated to death in a closed railway goods wagon.