Lakshadweep lies about 220 to 440 Km from the coastal city of Cochin in Kerala. These islands and Cochin are linked by ship which takes about 18 to 20 hours and by air. The islands which were administered at various places were grouped into a Union Territory in 1956 and the name of this Union Territory was changed to Lakshadweep with effect from November 1, 1973. In 1964 the administration had shifted to Kavaratti island.

Though smallest in area, the Union Territory of Lakshadweep has extensive lagoon area of about 4,200Sq.Km, 20000Sq Km of territorial waters and about four lakh Sq Km of economic zone. The territory has tremendous economic potentialities because of extensive economic zone.

Malayalam is the language spoken in all islands except Minicoy where people speak Mahl written in Divehi which is spoken in Maldives also. The entire local population because of their economic and social condition have been classified as scheduled Tribes. Scheduled Castes exist in Lakshadweep group of islands.

HISTORY

It is believed that people from Kerala were the settlers in the Laccadive and Amini groups of Islands. A legend said that Cheraman Perumal who was the ruler of Kerala in the 9th century for about 36 years was attracted towards Islam in his old age. He divided the country among his kinsmen and one night secretly sailed for Mecca in a ship belonging to one Arab merchant. when his departure came to be known, one of his followers, the Raja of Kolathiri (chirakkal) sent some brave soldiers to bring him back. The party started from Cannanore capital of the Raja of Chirakal but faced a fierce storm in the sea and could not catch the Arab ship in which the Perumal had left. The ship sent by the Raja of Chirakkal struck at an uninhabited island which is now known as Bangaram. At the end of the storm the party returned home. Way back they sighted some other small islands. After returning to Cannanore, they reported about the existence of these islands to the Raja who announced that all who settled in these islands would have the right of ownership of the lands cultivated by them. Many brave and hardy people were attracted by the terms offered by the Raja and settled in the islands. It is believed that Amini was the first island to be colonised. Later, people from Amini went to Chetlat and colonised it.

Another legend said that these islands are known to have been inhabited since unknown past. There existed in Amini a council of four principal families. This council had some authority over chetlat and other islands also but in many matters all islands enjoyed certain amount of autonomy.

Historically the first reference is from the periplus of the Erythrarean Sea (A.D.90). Describing the trade of the Malabar coast, the author mentions "tortoise shell from the islands off Limurike", the latter being the name given to Malabar or part of it in ancient times. The other classical reference is found in Ptolemy's Geography (Circa A.D.150). He refers to a multitude of islands in the Indian Ocean lying around Taprobane (Sri Lanka) and numbering about 1378. He gives a long list of islands, out of which a few belonging to Lakshadweep.

The travelers like Al Biruni in A.D.1030, Abu Zayad in A.D.950 and Marco Polo in A.D.1254-1324 mentioned about the islands in the coast of Kerala. Marco Polo gives a fantastic account of their marriage custom, fish trade and collection of ambergris.

The earliest reference about these islands is in the Vaylur inscription which indirectly mentions the conquest of the islands by Rajasimha (Narasimha Varman II-AD. 680-720). The other inscription referring to these islands is the inscription in Rajarajeswara Temple Tanjore which mentions about the "many ancient islands" conquered by Rajarajendra Chola (A.D.1018-1019). From Arab accounts, it is gathered that people from the west coast went to these islands to collect cowries and tortoise shells which were items of commerce. They also probably planted coconuts which they sold to the Arab sailors. The 'mooshakavamsa' which is a Sanskrit work composed towards the end of the 11th century A.D. by Atula who is the court poet of the Mooshaka King Sreekantha of Kolathunad mentions while narrating the history of that kingdom, the annexation of several islands of the Arabian Sea by Valabha , the immediate predecessor of Sreekantha . These islands may be identified with the modern Lakshadweep.

During the16th century the island have to suffered greatly at the hands of the Portuguese. A major part of the inhabitants were put to death and many were taken prisoners. The Portuguese built a fort at Amini. Because of their cruelty and harshness the islanders were driven to seem assistance of Raja of Chriakkal. As a result of his intervention in this matter the Raja could eventually establish his authority over all the islands. He held them for many years and later transferred them in Jaghir, with the title of Raja upon the Ali Raja, the head of the Moplah community in Cannanore.

The Raja of Cannanore first managed the islands through the chiefs of the islanders themselves called 'Muthalals'. Later on the Rajas used to send their own agents known as 'Kariakars'. Chetlat was administered by the 'Kariakar' stationed at Amini. In A.D.1764-65, the Cannanore Raja levied an export duty on coir and later imposed duty on rice imported from mainland for home consumption. In 1783 as a result of the compulsory introduction of monopoly an export of coir, the people of Aminidivi group of islands including Chetlat rose in revolt and extended allegiance to Tipu Sultan attached the Aminidivi Islands in 1779 since then, the islands were under the British, till India's Independence in 1947.

ADVENT OF ISLAM

The most significant even in the early history of the territory was the complete religious conversion brought over by the adoption of the entire population to Islamic faith. The current tradition in all the islands say that it was brought about by an Arab Saint named Ubadidullah who reached Amini in Hejira 41 (AD.663). Ubaidullah, the grand son of Siddique-ul-Akbar, had a dream while praying at a mosque in Medina to proceed to Jiddan and from there by ocean to distant lands to spread the message of Islam. He proceeded from Jiddah but his vessel capsized due to a storm. Saint Ubaidullah drifted on a plank and reached Amini. The Saint started preaching there but met with general opposition. He could get a female covert from the Pondambelli family with whom he proceeded to Andrott and converted the inhabitants there. Then he went to Kavaratti and Agatti and returned once again to Amini in A.H-44 (A.D. 666). He succeed this time in converting entire population to Islam. He then proceeded to Kalpeni converting the inhabitants there and finally returned to Andrott where he remained till the end of his life. He died at Andrott and his grave is enshrined there in a mosque at Andrott with deep veneration. All the Juma Mosques in the Islands of Amini, Kalpeni, Agatti and Kavaratti are believed to have been founded by the saint. As the group lies directly in the path of Arab trade between the Red Sea and Malabar, the ultimate conversion of the inhabitants to Islam was a probability and saint Ubaidullah must have been instrumental for such a conversion.

The conversion of the king of Maldives, Siri Bavanditta who assumed the name of Sultan Muhammad took place in the year AD.1153, when Ibn Batuta visited the area in AD.1346, he found that all the inhabitants in Mulook (Minicoy) were devout Muslims. It can be assumed that the people of Minicoy had embraced Islam sometime between 12th and 13th century AD. According to Sir.W.Robinson, the conversion to the new faith in other islands took place sometime in the 16th century.

Melacheris
The Melacheris were the original labour class of the islands and formed the major part of the population of Amini of the Laccadive Group of islands. The people of Kadmat, Kiltan, Chetlat and Bitra are all Melacheris who have migrated from Amini and from the coast. Their traditional occupation is to collect coconut tree nuts and tap neerah, the sweet toddy. It appears that the name has its origin in their traditional place of residence on the western side of the island. Mala means West, Cheri denotes a village.

Among the class system of Minicoy, the Manikfans are considered to be of the highest class. They alone owned private property and were the leisured class. The Thakrufans were the sailors who mainly piloted sailing vessels. Takrus worked in the boats during voyages while the Raveris were the Labourers. Women of the four classes are known as Manikka, Beefan, Beebee and Kambilo respectively. In between Thakrufan and Thakru , there is a sub-caste known as Bebe.

In Amini, the class groupism appears to have been based on property. The tarwad class comprised a few families which alone had tenants in the days of early settlement. The Tanakampranavar were those possessing property of their own but with no tenants under them. The Kudiyatis were the tenant class. The Melacheris were originally the landless Labourers.

Religion

There were Hindus, Christians and Muslims in Lakshadweep. Majority of the people in Lakshadweep are Muslims.

The Muslims in Lakshadweep believe that there is no other God but Allah and that Muhammad is his Prophet. But Pir (saint) worship has become a common feature with them. The Urs of Ubaidullah (at Andrott) and Syed Muhammed Kasim (at Kavaratti) are celebrated every year. Devout Muslims keep awake for the whole night and recite the maulood during the ceremony. The majority of the Muslims belong to the Shufi School of the Sunni sect and acknowledge besides the Koran the authority of the Sunnet. Other sects among the Muslims are Wahabis and Ahamadiyas who are in a microscopic minority. The Wahabis have separate mosques in Agatti and Kavaratti and the Ahamadiyas are found only in Kalpeni. Wahabis are Muslim purists who reflect all traditional teachings except that of the Prophet, prohibit pilgrimage to shrines or tombs and try to restore Islam to be condition of its ancient purity.

There is no differences in the religious beliefs, manners and customs of the different classes in Lakshadweep but they have been separated by social barriers.

In some islands Melacheris are not allowed to perform the religious ceremony of Ratheb in certain mosques. Other social disabilities which existed in the past like prohibition against the use of chappals, holding umbrellas and singing are now a thing of the past.

Language

According to the 1681 census, eleven languages specified in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution are spoken as mother tongue. Of these Malayalam is predominant and the mother tongue of the local people except those in Minicoy who speak the Mahl language. Bengali, Gujrati, Hindu, Kannada, Oriya, Tamil, Telegu, Konkoni, Urdu and English are also spoken by the migrants who are employed in the Union Territory.

The script that is in use in Islands other than Minicoy is the modern Malayalam script Grandha. The oldest script that was current in the islands was vattezhuthu. With the advent of Islam the Arabic script became popular among the people, especially for the study of Koran.

Mahl is the language spoken by the people of Minicoy. It is the language of Maldives also and has a script of its own written from right to left as in the case of Arabic. The alphabet of the language has 24 letters which exactly sound like the letters of the Arabic alphabet, though the method of writing is different. To the ancient local alphabet of Maldives, they have added certain diacritical marks adopted from Arabic language to make the modern Mahl.

ECONOMY

Agriculture

Coconut is the only major crop with a production of 27.7 million nuts per year. Area under cultivation is about 27.50 sq.km

Fisheries

Fishing is another major activity. The sea around the island is highly productive. The islands stand first in the country in per capita availability of fish.

Industry

Coconut fibre extraction and conversion of its fibre products is the main industry in the islands. Under government sector there are seven coir fibre factories, seven coir production-cum-demonstration centres and four fibre curling units, functioning under the coir sector. These units produced coir fibre and coir yarn in addition to other coir products like curled fibre, corridor mat, mat and matting. Small coir units are also functioning under private sector in different islands..