Mappila Songs - History - 19th Century and Early 20th Century - Padappattu

Padappattu

The first dated work in this genre was the Zaqqoom Padappattu dated 1836. This song was actually an Arabi-Malayalam translation of the Tamil work Zakkoon Padayppor composed by Varishay Mukiyudheen Poolavar of Madurai in 1686. Alim Umar Labba, a Mappila religious scholar from Kayalpattanam translated it into Arabi-Malayalam. Many of the tunes (Ishals)of Zakoon Padayppor have been largely utilized by famous Arabi Malayalam poet, Moin Kutty Vaidyar, especially in his master piece work, Badre Padappattu.

The songs of the Padapattu genre can be classified into four different types:

• Islamic folk tales : These songs have no relation to actual historic events but either from a folk tale, a legend or simply an imaginary story related to Islamic traditions. Songs of this category include the Zaqqum Padappattu and the Jinn Padappattu. The former is a story about an imaginary confrontation of King Zaqqum of Iraq and Prophet Muhammed of Arabia while the latter is story about the Jinns, the other creation parallel to human beings as taught by the Qur'an.
• Islamic history : These songs narrated events from the early years of Islam, and in particular the early battles of Islam. The Badar padappattu, the Hunayn Padappattu and the Karbala padappattu are characteristic of this category.
• Mappila history : Songs of this type typically narrated the heroic deeds of the Muslims of Kerala and eulogize the martyrs among them, especially in their battles against the Portuguese and British colonial powers and local Jenmi landlords.Typical among these are the Kotturpalli Mala, Moyinkutty Vaidyar's Malappuram Padappattu(1883) etc. and the Cherur Padappattu. The first depicts the heroism of Veliyankode Kunhi Marakkar, a warrior who saves a 17-year old Mappila girl from the hands of Portuguese kidnappers but is martyred at the end of the battle. The eulogy here is enhanced with the simultaneity of the character's death with his hour of marriage. The other two narrate stories of Mappila attacks on the British and the Jenmi landlords during the 19th century. The Cherur Padappattu, composed by two poets named Mammad Kutti and Muhyidheen in 1841, refers to a battle between Mappila rebels and the army of the East India Company. The rebels had assassinated Kaprat Krishna Panikkar, the adhikari of Tirurangadi and sought refuge in a deserted house. The soldiers later surround them and in the ensuing battle, seven Mappilas and 20 of the Company army lost their lives. The Cherur Padappattu narrates this story praising the "martyrs" amongst the Mappillas in this battle.
• Fictional songs: These songs were about purely imaginary subjects. The elippada which narrates a 3-day imaginary battle between rats and cats based on a Panchatantra story falls under this category.

The common feature of all these songs were their pattern of narration of the bravery of the heroes depicted.

While the battle songs roused the feelings of the community against the authorities, this era also witnessed the popularization of romantic ballads like Moyinkutty Vaidyar's Badarul Muneer Husnul Jamal and Chettuvayi Pareekkutty's Soubhagya Sundari. One of the notable aspects of both these works were the age of the authors at the time of the composition; Vaidyar was said to have been 17 or (by some reports) 20 at the time and so was Pareekkutty.