Abstract
The Malabar ‘rebellion’, also called the ‘Moplah’ or ‘Mapilla’ revolt of 1921, has had a series of works written about it, especially since 1947, largely to contest the picture of it promoted by the British as being basically fanatical in nature and so not only anti-British but also anti-Hindu. The present reviewer remembers reading in E.M.S. Namboodiripad’s The National Question in Kerala, 1950, a book not found in Panakkal’s bibliography, an early reappraisal of the ‘Moplah’ revolt as a peasant uprising. Yet, even if the case that Panakkal presents is no longer original or unique, the evidence he presents by itself is quite voluminous and convincing. One wishes, however, that the references were better organised, page-to-page, rather than set in mass at the end (pp. 231–63). There may be other queries too. What is the rationale for Part I, devoted to the Revolt, running to over 100 pages, followed by an 80-page portion seemingly devoted to relations between the Portuguese and the British, under which, in fact, the various stages and paths to freedom (along with one incident, ‘Connolly’s death’) are treated.