The Moplah Rebellion 1921 - A British Soldier's Viewpoint

Historic Alleys: The Moplah Rebellion 1921 – A British Soldier's viewpoint 18/03/18, 8(24 PM
The Moplah Rebellion 1921 – A

British Soldier's viewpoint
Donald Sinderby in Malabar
There are so many books with deal with the revolt in Malabar, or what the
British Raj termed a rebellion (i.e. waging war against the crown) with a
purpose to clamp down the area under martial law. Some of these were
written by Malayali congressmen and survivors, some others by the British
administrators who were in the thick of things. There are very few
firsthand accounts from the British side perhaps because such reporting
was not encouraged. There is one, a work of historical fiction which gained
a certain amount of popularity but vanished from the shelves after a while.
Having obtained a dog eared 1927 copy of that book, I decide to peruse it
carefully without tearing those ancient pages, with an intention of finding
out what a common soldier thought about the whole thing. What you will
read on is not a review but a summary of Sinderby’s opinion of Malabar,
the Nairs, the administrators and the revolting Moplah, not about the love
story which he wrote. In a way this book is unique since it is one of its kind,
though the contents are not summarily of great value.
Steve at bearalley provides biographical material on Sinderby as follows.

Donald Ryder Stephens was born in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, on 11
September 1898, the son of Martin Frank Stephens, a publisher's manager,
and his wife Mary Ann (Annie) Beney. Stephens grew up in St Albans and
Wimbledon. His parents subsequently moved to 2 Nevill Park, Tonbridge
Wells, and, later still, to Bexhill. Stephens was an Old Tonbridgian, having
attended Tonbridge School, and was a well-known member of the
Tonbridge Rugby F.C. After attending R. M. C. Sandhurst, he served in the
Dorsetshire Regiment during the Great War achieving the rank of
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Lieutenant and, after the Armistice, is believed to have served in India.

After five years in the Army he began working in the Central Editorial
Department of the Amalgamated Press in 1923-26. He also began writing
for their children's papers, producing serials and short stories and was a
staff writer on the Children's Newspaper. He also began publishing stories
in Hutchinson's Magazine and The Regent Magazine in 1924 using the
pen-name Donald Sinderby, derived from a family name which was borne
by his great-grandmother, who died in 1861.His occupation was given as
author when, in 1927, he married Audrey Margaret Elmslie (1901-1991),
only daughter of Major and Mrs. Stuart Elmslie. Stephens served for four
years in Malta during World War Two. He died in Tunbridge Wells, Kent,
on 30 November 1983. He used an alias of Donald Ryder Stephens in his
early works, choosing to remain behind the curtain.
The Jewel of Malabar was described as "An exciting love story of unusual
interest" as it portrayed the love, devotion and self-sacrifice of a beautiful
native girl and her lover, British officer Sir John Bennville, who is
infatuated with her. Its background is the Moplah Rebellion of 1921 in
South-West India. The book was well-reviewed as a convincing and vivid
account of the fierce fighting with many hair-breadth escapes which
characterized the campaign in which the author was personally engaged
from first to last.
The heroine of this story is Kamayla, a beautiful Hindu girl with whom Sir
John Bennville, a young English officer, involved in fighting in South-West
India, falls desperately in love. Kamayla is so devoted to him that she
becomes a Christian. After her conversion, however, she comes under
Roman Catholic influence, and, being told that her marrying Sir John
would ruin his prestige and prospects, she proves her love by renunciation
and enters a convent. In its simple way the story is pleasing enough. But
the romantic element in it is the thread upon which the author has strung
his own vivid and stirring memories of the Moplah Rebellion of 1921; and
it is these first-hand scenes that give special interest to his book.
Before taking Sinderby to Malabar, I should set the scene, which I will now
proceed to do. In writing this, you the reader should humor me, for I may
seem to be looking at the sordid period from a slanted British viewpoint, it
is on purpose, for this is Sinderby’s tale.
1919 proved to be a disaster for the British what with the aftermath of the
massacre at Jalianwala. The Simla administration was careful in
employing any kind of military involvement to suppress rebellions and
revolts. It took a lot of debating before a decision was taken, and as it
turned out in the case of Malabar, decisions were late and taken after
matters had crossed the boiling point. Local administrations struggled to
get their voices heard, especially requests for armed forces. Down south in
Malabar, the Khilafat movement was heating up and it was not clear how
Turkey would rise in support. Gandhiji had thrown his weight behind it
and the wary British were watching developments very carefully and were
quite worried that Hindu Muslim rapport would become a huge problem
for the crown.
It was in 1921 July that the British Army first got involved in these matters
starting with a case of a stolen pistol in an area called Pookottur in the
Ernad Taluk. The police attempted to arrest Vadakkeveettil Muhammad
(an ex-employee of the Thirumalpad), the Secretary of the local Khilaphat
Committee, on the pretext that he had stolen a gun from the palace of the
Nilambur Tirumalpad. They searched the house of Muhammad but found
nothing. Later, thousands of enraged Mappilas of the locality, who were
summoned by the beat of drums in the mosques of the neighborhood went
up in arms and the mob marched to the kovilakom. The family members in
the palace fled and the mob plundered the palace and distributed the
booty.
The events at Pukkottur, Hitchcock wrote, 'have created an entirely new

situation in Malabar; Khilafat was completely swallowed up by the old
fanatical spirit on this occasion’. EF Thomas the collector was
understandably very nervous as his summons to those who were
implicated at Pookottor went unheeded. His superiors in Madras finally
decided to allow a deputation of military to support the beleaguered police
in Eranad and to take action at Tirurangadi where in their opinion Ali
Musaliar was fomenting a rebellion and igniting fanaticism. Led to believe
that the Khilafat movement would lead to the downfall of the British the
Eranad Moplahs had decided to take law into their own hands and
gathered at Tirur on 20th August.
A force comprising 79 from the Leinster regiment of Gurkhas headed by PC

McEnroy in the company of some 170 Malabar police arrived in
Tirurangadi just before dawn on the morning of August 20, and
immediately set out to arrest 24 persons, 6 of whom had been involved in
the Pukkottur incident and to search suspected houses in Tirurangadi,
Chembrasseri, and Pukkottur. It did not go very well and only three were
arrested. Rumors went around that the Mambram (Tirurangadi
Kizhakkepalli) mosque had been desecrated by the British and the mobs
gathered and started wanton destruction of public property, and went on

to sabotage and remove railway lines and cut the telegraph lines. Firing
was resorted to and in addition to a number of rioters, Second Lieutenant
W. R. M. Johnson and the Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mr Rowley
were killed. Within days widespread revolt spread across Malabar,
particularly Ernad and Valluvanad in south Malabar, which had the
highest concentration of Moplas. The treasury at Manjeri was looted and
torched.
This was when reinforcements in the form of the Dorsetshire regiment

were rushed out in the HMS Camus to Calicut, from Bangalore under John
Burnett-Stuart (GOC Madras District) who was appointed Military
Commander of the troubled areas. Before they were formally deployed, the
marching Leinsters were ambushed by a large band of rebels and in the
attack a large number of Moplas were killed, many wildly rushing onto
machine gun fire. Seeing that this did not work, the Moplah rebels decided
to change tactics and from then on it was mainly guerrilla style warfare in
the dense jungles of the area. The marching Dorsets (as railway lines were
cut) took a few days to reach the area, and were later split out as two
columns and then sending small detachments to affected villages. They
found the going very difficult, with heavy monsoon rains, mud and difficult
jungle terrains, all eminently suited for the local Moplah rebel gangs. In
simple words, they were bogged for a while, but were gaining an upper
hand slowly, since they possessed good firearms and howitzers compared
to the Moplahs who had sticks swords and antiquated rifles (Martini-
Henry breech loading rifles stolen from the police, shotguns and even
muzzle-loading smoothbore guns). Some of the Moplahs did have military
training for they had returned after serving in the First World War, but
they were too few to hurt. In September, some of the affected areas (Ernad,
Walluvanad and Ponnani) were put under Martial law but with functioning
civil courts. They were now on unsound terrain, they could kill a rebel in an
encounter, but if they captured some, they had to be handed over to a civil
court. The so called effective methods used in Punjab (Dwyer’s and Dyer’s
tough methods) were not to be used. Through the month of September,
Stuart’s forces conducted many operations to capture rebel leaders and
restore order, but was unable to make real headway.
Later Stuart requested Gurkhas and Burmese reinforcements to conduct

proper jungle warfare as the insurrection continued to spread, now
alarmingly towards Calicut where British planters also started raising a
hue and cry. Large scale sweeps took place in November and by December,
the situation was under better control. Stuart commented that surrenders
were beginning to increase rapidly, and intelligence became much easier to
get. On 19 December, the Chembrasseri Thangal, a key Moplah leader,
surrendered. It was also becoming clear that no support was coming from
anywhere, that Turkey was not interested in any Khalifa (see my article)
Stuart stated - The surrendered Moplah’s are outwardly cheerful and

respectful, and I could detect few signs of resentment or sulkiness. The
Moplah is a simple minded stout-hearted ruffian, and embarked on
rebellion in the genuine belief that the British Empire was retiring from
business, having now discovered that he has been misinformed; I think
that he is quite prepared to admit his error and accept things as they are.
The revolt petered out in 1922 and martial law was withdrawn. An
unfortunate event which occurred was the Train tragedy (see article) and
another at Melmuri where the Dorsets dropped grenades down chimneys.
Donald Sinderby served with the Dorsets and his book covers many of the
events during the months of September to November 1921, in Ernad. Let’s
now get to the book and see what he had to say. In some ways it is
interesting to note that Sinderby foresaw a split of the country into two, a
Muslim and a Hindu India even in those early days. But all that is distilled
out in his last book Mother in Law, which is another topic by itself (dealing
with a Muslim half ruled by the Nizam with Malabar, Cochin and
Travancore under him), the development of an atom bomb, the arrival of
Americans and finally India getting divided amongst other world powers!
Sinderby enters the book in the character of John Bennville, a rich Baronet
in the military service and a Lieutenant in the regiment of the Royal
Musketeers. His first impressions of Malabar are eloquent – This country,
which is so like and yet so strangely unlike England! Malabar that
emerald gem of sad beauty in the south west of India! Small brown
houses again fantastically reminiscent of England, nestled in the shade of
coconut palms. He observes the first Moplahs clad in their best waist
clothes (dhoti) the stately moplahs their peculiar caps perched on the back
of their heads, strode silently along on their way from the Friday
mosques.
At a locale named Calipuram, we are introduced to a beautiful high caste

Nair girl Kamalya (Kamala?), and her betrothed – Nahran a Nair police
officer on a motorcycle. They are talking about the Moplah rebels on the
move and the arch villain of the tale, the old Abdul Ahmed Hajee (perhaps
V K Haji) who desires the girl, the destruction of the treasury at Manjeri
(magahdee) and the arrival of Shaukat Ali (Shankat Ali). He mentions how
the British raj is powerless and just going about the motions, not doing
much to suppress the rebels. Kamalya’s house is a standard two storied
nalukettu with wooden parquet flooring (??) and teak paneled walls (!!), a
pooja room and a grandfather clock, but no chairs and tables. They are a
relatively well-off family but somewhat isolated in the jungle area and the
mother is named Lukshmi. The family is scared and worried about
potential trouble and violence. Nahran the police officer states that the
telegraph lines have been cut and the reserves have been given arms, but is
worried that their outpost has just 6 officers who are doomed unless the
British army arrives quickly. They believe that the forces will take another
month to come, so this is obviously August.
Pandikkad 1921
As expected Abdul Hajee storms the police station, kills the Adhikari and
Kamalya and her family flee to the forests abandoning their home. After a
while they return to see that their home is untouched, but notice a letter
from Abdul Hajee who has proclaimed himself governor of the country (Ali
Musaliyar proclaiming himself Khilafat king) stating that he will spare
them if Kamalya becomes his wife. The next morning, a single column of
the Royal musketeers with Capt West in command, redeployed from
Chahnipet arrive in Calipuarm. His men are looking forward to some
action after boring barracks life. Benneville a young officer in the marching
column, rightly observes that the rice in the paddy fields are ready for
harvest, and wonders where all the people have gone for the road is
deserted. Soon they team up with Naharan the police officer who is their
main informant, and get ambushed by Moplahs on the trees above firing
their antique firearms. Many die in the battle that ensues and Benneville is
saved from death by Nahran who explains that the rebel Moplah is worked
up to such a pitch of madness that they feel no pain, and simply want to kill
or be killed. Victorious, they reach Calipuram where they drink tea at a
couple of tea shops run by local non rebel Moplahs. Benneville comes up
with an interesting observation, all the Moplahs wear a Dhoti which has a
dark blue border and he mentions now and then of picking up the smell
associated with the Moplahs compared to the cleanliness of the Nairs.
The story picks up speed as Abdul Hajee abducts Kamalya, and Nahran
explains why the Moplah is rebelling. He explains – The Moplahs are
nearly all poor people sir, and that is because of a law in their religion
which orders that a man’s property, when he dies, be divided up amongst
his relations and not left to any one or two people. So they never
accumulate property, but are mostly small holders. They become
discontented with this state of affairs, but blame their Hindu landlords
instead of their own religious custom, and state that they are charged too
much rent. ..They are fanatical and do what their religious teachers tell
them…Then Gandhi’s agents have been here for many months preaching
rebellion against the government and this caused the outbreak. Many
Moplahs think that the British were defeated in the Great War….
What is interesting in this is the fact that the British officer does not
believe the outbreak had anything to do with religion, but is due to
agrarian causes and goading by politicians and revolutionaries. In fact
there is quite a bit of firsthand information that will be useful for those
interested, if you do not focus on the love story that unfolds and stick to the
story behind the story. A person who has lived in a Malabar village can
easily get immersed into the scenes and visualize it as it all unfolds, but for
others it would be drab fiction.
We can see that the entire operation proceeds on, based on information
gathered from trusted informers, as skirmish after skirmish takes place. As
we saw, Kamalya is abducted and in an attempt to rescue her Nahran is
injured and dies soon after. Benneville but naturally falls head over heels
in love with the distressed maiden, and stops one of his men from stealing
a brooch off a Moplah kid stating that their objective is to protect the
natives, not to rob them. Benneville wrestles with thoughts of marrying
Kamalya, and worries of practical issues in having a native wife and losing
his army job, if that were to happen. In between he hears that the
Krembassery (Chembrassery Thangal) has now been proclaimed chief and
has started issuing edicts and also that Abdul Hajee is in consultations
with him.
During a lull in fighting, he starts to learn some Malayalam, and digs up

information on the Nairs of Malabar, and plans to go ahead and profess his
love to Kamalaya. We also note that old copies of Madras Mail are the only
ways a Brit could get some news. Kamalya rejects Benny’s advances,
stating that white does not mix well with brown and only unhappiness
results. Another abduction attempt follows, Kamalya is kidnapped again
and Benny rescues her a second time. During a third attack, Benny is
injured and he is repatriated to the HQ on a little hill overlooking
Tammanorum (perhaps Malappuram barracks). We also note that he
spends some time in Bannore (maybe Tanur).
He now notifies his superiors of his plans to marry the Nair girl and they
are aghast, and soon enough Benny takes matters into his own hands and
decides to challenge Abdul Hajee. He is captured by the warlord who offers
to spare his life if he would spit on the cross, which he refuses to do in a
sudden surge of religiousness. Kamalya now rescues him and upon his
return to the barracks is arrested by his superiors for taking matters into
his own hands. Fortuitously an attack by the Moplahs allows him to show
his excellent skills in fighting with the enemy and in this encounter
bayonets Abdul Hajee to death, thus finishing off his beloved’s nemesis,
once and for all.
After the event Benny is packed off to Belladroog (Bangalore?) where he
slowly settles down to barrack life and a prospective match up with one
Miss Catesby Jones, when he receives a letter stating that Kamalya is being
victimized and is in a bad shape at Calipuaram, now branded as Benny’s
ex-mistress. He takes the train bound for Tarantore (station close to
Calipuram), then gets a hold of a car and speeds off to Calipuram, where he
is reunited with Kamalya again. They then proceed to Manningtown (Some
suburb of Bangalore- probably Cook’s town or Fraser town) where Benny
has rented a house. In the meanwhile Kamalya has decided to convert and
Benny is glad that this would reduce his problems somewhat. Now he
decides to resign from his position and the couple decide to move on to
Adayar in Madras. Meanwhile Kamalya meets an old friend who is now a
sister in the Church. Upon hearing Kamalya’s story, the nun asks if she
wants to convert because she is marrying a Christian. Kamlya answers that
she wanted to convert no matter, after which the nun asks if Kamalya
wants to see Benny happy or sad. She explains that a marriage between
them will be no good and that Benny would be ridiculed by his people,
because of their mixed marriage. A lot of discussions take place between
them and Kamlaya decides to become a nun and drift away. In the last
paragraph of the book, Benny is seen desperately searching for his love,
while Kamalya is starting her new life of religion, mercy and self-
sacrifice…..
Even though the tale itself is quite contrived, it brings to the fore the
problems faced by the mixing of races, but deviates towards evangelization
towards the end (perhaps due to influence of Sinderby’s mother). The
marches, the attacks, the assessments of the rebels and so on are quite
interesting when looked at as first hand opinions and provide a basis for
somebody who would want to make a movie, perhaps.
The book ‘Guns and its development’ by Greener narrates an earlier event,
which I am quoting below to illustrate typical attacks - The enormous
consumption of ammunition with even a comparatively slow-firing arm,
as the Lee-Speed-Metford, may be appreciated from the following fact. In
the Mopla rising in Malabar, in 1894, fewer than thirty fanatics charged
a force of fifty men of the Dorset regiment, armed with the Lee-Metford
magazine rifle, and about a hundred native police with Sniders. They had
less than fifty yards to run, yet a few of them actually reached the line
and fell upon the bayonets, although there were fired at them over seven
hundred shots from the Metford rifles and three hundred from the
Sniders.
Baillie Ki Paltan by Lt Col Murland is another book which provides limited

graphic records of the actual field situation in Eranad and you can easily
see that these are quite believable and matter of fact, devoid of politics and
any kind of spin. Interestingly this account an officer calls it a Khilafatist
agitation. The 64th Pioneers (later renamed as Madras Pioneers) took a
while to reach the location since rebels had removed rail keys and damaged
bridges enroute. By 27th august, the rail line until Tirur had been repaired
and the arriving party found looting of houses underway. It also states that
the 9 rebels arrested in Tanur were taken without incident and the mob
had already dispersed by the time troops reinforced by the Leinsters, got
there. During the first week of Sept, they rounded up many rioters in the
area. During the second week a group a rumor was heard that 1000
Moplahs had proceeded south to sack Palghat, but no such thing took
place, in fact they were marching to Angadipuram.
Since then three platoons (actually A, B & C) were formed, #1 located at

Manjeri, assisted by the Dorsets which reported nothing of great
consequence. #2 was located at Wandur and Mambad, and here it is
recorded that Hindu agitators supported the Moplah rebels, in some cases.
A serious ambush occurred (and detailed by Sinderby). By Oct the Chin
Kachin battalion arrived to support this platoon and small skirmishes
occurred. This group covered Kottakkal and Malappuram areas and were
involved in many attacks and ambushes. #3 platoon was based at
Pandikkad and was involved in a few skirmishes. What is clear is that the
many books we read out there deal mainly with the politics, the mind of
the politicians involved and the general fallout, but hardly mention the day
to day events during the rebellion. John T Burnett-Stuart the GOC of
Madras who masterminded the British counter insurgency measures at
Malabar, went back to England to direct many an operation during the
WWII and masterminded many military strategies and reforms in place
today. Various records mention that about 10,000 guerrillas were involved
and the counter attacks led to some 2,300 executions, 1,650 injured, 5,700
captured and 39,000 surrenders. 137 soldiers died in the campaign
A quick study shows that Sinderby was perhaps serving under Lt Col
Herbert of Platoon 3(C) above and was camped at Wandur. Stephen Dale
explains the background - Thus, while V. K. Haji might say after his
capture that Khilafat was a Turkish matter, he met with the
Chembrasseri Tangal at Pandikkad on the 21st to form a Khilafat
government and took charge of the area between Pandikkad and
Manjeri, while the Tangal was to administer the eastern section between
Karavarakundu and Mellatur. The attacks which followed and
masterminded by V K Haji and Chembrasseri Thangal.
During this posting, Sinderby was a subaltern, a 2nd Lieutenant posted in

Malabar and narrowly missed death after “one of the Moplars fired point
blank at him, and missed.” Sinderby's next novel ‘Mother in law’, set
twenty years into the future, depicts various states falling under the control
of two factions; in the north control is held by the Confederation of Princes
and Landowners; and the south is seized by the Nizam of Hyderabad.
Trouble develops between north and south threatening the country with a
civil war which turns into an inter-caste conflict between Hindus and
Mohammedans. The desolate and ravaged country is restored to order by
the intervention of America, France and Portugal.
What all this tells us was succinctly expressed by Calicut heritage Forum’s
CK Ramachandran when we met in Calicut a couple of months ago, that a
factual work devoid of spin, covering the Moplah Revolt in its entirety, is
yet to be written.
References
The British Empire as a Superpower - Anthony Clayton
Colonial Counter-insurgency in Southern India: The Malabar Rebellion,

1921–1922 - Nick Lloyd
Peasant revolt in Malabar – RH Hitchcock
Islam and Nationalism in India, South Indian Contexts – MT Ansari
Baillie-Ki-Paltan: Being a History of the 2nd Battalion, Madras Pioneers

1759-1930 -Lieutenant-Colonel H. F. Murland
Pandikkad pic Courtesy- E.Chambre Hardman Collection, Military on the
move (The educationist)

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Historic Alleys: The Moplah Rebellion 1921 – A British Soldier's viewpoint 18/03/18, 8(24 PM

The Moplah Rebellion 1921 – A

Steve at bearalley provides biographical material on Sinderby as follows.

Lieutenant and, after the Armistice, is believed to have served in India.

The events at Pukkottur, Hitchcock wrote, 'have created an entirely new

A force comprising 79 from the Leinster regiment of Gurkhas headed by PC

gathered and started wanton destruction of public property, and went on

This was when reinforcements in the form of the Dorsetshire regiment

Later Stuart requested Gurkhas and Burmese reinforcements to conduct

Stuart stated - The surrendered Moplah’s are outwardly cheerful and

At a locale named Calipuram, we are introduced to a beautiful high caste

During a lull in fighting, he starts to learn some Malayalam, and digs up

After the event Benny is packed off to Belladroog (Bangalore?) where he

Baillie Ki Paltan by Lt Col Murland is another book which provides limited

Since then three platoons (actually A, B & C) were formed, #1 located at

masterminded by V K Haji and Chembrasseri Thangal.

During this posting, Sinderby was a subaltern, a 2nd Lieutenant posted in

The British Empire as a Superpower - Anthony Clayton

Colonial Counter-insurgency in Southern India: The Malabar Rebellion,

Peasant revolt in Malabar – RH Hitchcock

Islam and Nationalism in India, South Indian Contexts – MT Ansari

Baillie-Ki-Paltan: Being a History of the 2nd Battalion, Madras Pioneers

Pandikkad pic Courtesy- E.Chambre Hardman Collection, Military on the

move (The educationist)

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