Yaadhum oore yaavarum kelir meaning3/13/2023 The name, Anwar says, could come from the Arab word for boat, markab. The Marakkayars on the west coast once headed the naval forces of the Zamorins of Calicut against the Portuguese. Even today, there are traditional fishing communities along the coast called the Marakkayars who are Muslim. The Arabs are well-known as seafarers but the Muslims of South India were no landlubbers. Did you know there is a tradition of singing Tamil Islamic songs in the Carnatic style, or that the quintessential Tamil instrument, the nadaswaram (a wind instrument), is played at the start of Muslim festivals? Or that there is something called Arabic Tamil which is Tamil written in the Arab script and, similarly, Arabic Malayalam? The film also looks at the Muslim community’s contribution to literature and music. In Tamil Nadu stone and granite were used while in Kerala, one can see typical wooden storied structures. Anwar says that in Islam there are no specific rules on mosque construction and hence local styles were adapted. Many of the older ones were built in local architectural styles. Records indicate donations by local kings for the construction of mosques and of Muslim gentry donating land or money for construction of Buddhist viharas and so on.Īs the film travels across Tamil Nadu and Kerala, one is introduced to various mosques. Yaadhum talks of copper plates and other inscriptions that indicate how Muslims were an integral part of the social fabric since their arrival in the subcontinent some 2,000 years ago. Islam drifted across the Arabian Sea with the monsoon winds that carried Arab traders to peninsular India in their search for spices. From there it meanders to many a place - Ramnad district, Kochi, Muziris (modern-day Kondungallur) and more, tracing the history of Islam in southern India. Yaadhum takes us to Kombai, Anwar’s hometown in Theni district of Tamil Nadu, in the foothills of the Western Ghats. Stereotyping and the growing polarisation of communities along racial and religious lines got Anwar thinking about his roots. They then ask him how he reads the Koran, as if it has not been translated into other languages (including Tamil). They are always taken aback when he says he doesn’t. He mentioned how people assume that, because he is Muslim, he must know Urdu. When I first saw the film, it was preceded by a talk by Anwar. This year, it won the bronze Remi Award in the Cultural/Ethnic category at the 48th Annual World Fest at the Houston Film Festival. The film traces the rich heritage shared by Muslims, Christians and Hindus in southern India and underlines the significance of that poetic line from ‘Purananooru’, a Sangam-era poem: The world is mine and all are my kin. Anwar takes us on a journey in search of his roots and identity as a Tamil Muslim. In Yaadhum (meaning ‘all’ in Tamil), filmmaker K.S. A write up I did on the film, Yaadhum, for Civil Society magazine ( ) that was published in the July 2015 issue.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |