Samoothiri Kovilakam, descendants of the erstwhile royal house of Calicut, has sought the government’s help to preserve the rare artefacts in their possession, which may shed more light on the medieval history as it unfolded in the southern tip of the subcontinent.
The rare palm leaf manuscripts, photos, swords, shields and other valuables are now kept at the P.K.S. Raja Centenary Hall Museum near the Tali Temple.
The reign of the Zamorins was epochal as the princely State had excellent trade relations with the Arabs, Chinese and Europeans and a syncretic culture involving various religious communities evolved here.
Maya Govind, daughter of K.C.U. Raja, the current head of the Zamorin family, and also the manager of Zamorin’s Guruvayurappan College, Kozhikode, and Zamorin’s Higher Secondary School, told The Hindu that they had many constraints.
“We don’t have the required funds for their upkeep. Space is another constraint. If the government gives us land to keep them, it will be of great help,” she said.
The artefacts were collected and kept at a building adjacent to Zamorin’s High School when the late P.K.S. Raja was the head of the family. Most of them were in the possession of P.K.S. Raja and collected from various other royal families and individuals, Ms. Govind said.
P.K.S. Raja’s dream
P.K. Krishnanunni Raja, the son-in-law of P.K.S. Raja, said it was his uncle’s dream to have a proper museum showcasing the cultural and historical legacy of the Zamorins.
There is a manuscript describing ‘ariyittu vazhcha’ or the coronation of the Zamorin, and one of the portraits is of P.K. Kuttiyettan Raja, who was the titular head of the family between 1868 and 1892 and who set up the Zamorin’s College.
According to historians, the swords and shields have Islamic influence, an example of the Hindu-Muslim unity at that time, a hallmark of the Zamorin era.
Earlier, there was a proposal to preserve them in association with the History Department of Calicut University and the Zamorin’s College. The university too has some rare object belonging to the era. However, it seemed to have not made much of a headway.
“When District Collector U.V. Jose met my father after he assumed charge, we had brought to his attention the need for a mechanism to preserve them. As he was earlier associated with the Tourism Department, Mr. Jose is also aware of its tourism potential. He has promised to seek the cooperation of other departments and government agencies to conserve them and to showcase them for posterity,” Ms. Govind added.
