The Malabar Rebellion or the Moplah Revolt, of 1921, was a Muslimled uprising against the British rulers. It was against the idea of ahimsa and so the Indian National Congress party did not support it. There are conflicting perspectives on the revolt. Some say it is a nationalist movement, others call it an agrarian uprising against the landlords and these days, a communal colour is being given to the same incident. However, it is today officially accepted as part of our national movement since its participants now get pension. This is a story by Mammuthu, an 83-year-old, who was during the rebellion a child. She remembers how the women in her neighbourhood defended themselves against the British soldiers, after the Muslim men had fled to safety.

Mammuthu, 83 in Malapurram, recalls an incident she witnessed during the riots. She was a child then.

She and her mother hid behind a door when the soldiers came looking for the revolters. Mammuthu later heard how a Moplah woman, in the neighbourhood, defended herself.

The woman had recently delivered a baby and could not escape to safety. She and her maid were left to their own defences when the soldiers arrived

It was a big mansion and the women were trembling with fear when the soldiers wrecked everything inside -- even big containers of different kinds of oil.

The woman of the house devised an ingenious plan. She took the stools of her baby and spread it all over herself and her maid to keep the strange men away

The soldiers confused by the woman’s action left after shouting at them. Thus, they saved themselves.

Story given by Shamshad Hussain KT, Assistant Professor, Dept of Malayalam, Sree Sankarachrya University of Sanskrit, Kerala. She collected these stories as part of her research paper on the experience of Muslim women during the rebellion. Illustrations by Nasar Mohamed and Raju Ganesh