Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Roots - the Marikar connection - 1


Yesterday i received the updated geneology of my maternal side of the family. The geneology is hosted at the following url: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lkawgw/gen251.html


We come from a family group called the Marikars who have moorish ancestry. Our particular line comes from Ceylon and Morocco. Here's an excerpt of our family history describing my great-grandfather, TCH Marikar (my grandmother, Safar Marikar was the youngest child of TCH Marikar).
TCH Marikar
Herewith a short sketch of our esteemed, illustrious and colourful grandfather. Adventurous and romantic, perhaps, would describe him better.

He was born in Kandy, Ceylon in 1852. He belonged to an aristocratic family of ancestral landlords. In a family of eight, he was the second son of Thambi Cannu Marikar. He took his initials from his father’s name and was known as T.C.H.Marikar.
TCH's First Wife
He was a sportsman and an athlete, his favourite game being football. Once while he was playing, the ball went into the school ground next door. It was when he went to pick it up that he met his future wife who was a teacher there. * She was a padre’s daughter. They got married with much opposition from the powerful Marikars and the Christian community. Her married name was Ayesha. She was said to be of attractive features, gentle, soft-spoken and very intelligent. She was well versed in the Bible and in the Quran. She bore him six children.

Trade and the spirit of adventure brought appa (T.C.H.) to India. With his business acumen, he successfully built up his trade between India and Ceylon. He came to South India and established himself in the then States of Travancore and Cochin (Kerala) and parts of Madras Presidency (Tamil Nadu). Travelling between India and Ceylon could not have been easy sailing in the eighties. He owned 26 dhows and did regular trips. In Travancore, he was attracted to Mundakayam and Peermadu. Perhaps, it was the scenic beauty and climate of these places and their similarity to Ceylon that attracted him.
TCH's Second Wife
He started his business in Kottayam where he had a supermarket of sorts. He used to go to the mosque on horseback and that is when he fell in love with the Syrian Christian lady, who was renowned for her beauty and specially her long & flowing tresses. She used to watch him from the threshold of her house. One day, he carried her away on his horse. This lady, Kunjamma, was already married and had a child too, but nothing prevented the progress and fulfillment of their great romance. They married to the utter dismay, anger and embarrassment of the Syrian Christian, ‘Chowkaparambil family’, to which she belonged. Kunjamma’s married name became Mariambi. They stayed in Kottayam for some time and later settled down in Rich Grove estate in Mundakkayam.

6 comments:

Kat said...

Akbar your great granpa's history is really colourful! Yes very adventurous type - like his great grand son?

akbar khan haneefa said...

I wish!!. Really like the idea of the white horse .... maybe motorbike??

Unknown said...

i to have relations in india ur story is also similar to my grand mothers fathers story her fathers name is noordeen he was a estate suprinton. my uncle was born in turnalweli estate cn i know more details about you because my grand mother wanted to meet her family but unfortunatly she passed away last year. my grand fathers brothers name is haniffa and bider and shaa also are brothers of my grand father. we heard that one of our relations from india has come to srilanka in surch of us. my grand mothers name is binthi mazahira noordeen.once my grand father had been working in hanthana estat in kandy. if u are a family member of us can u please inform us about it

akbar khan haneefa said...

I am not sure. How can I contact you? My email is akbarhaneefa@gmail.com

akbar khan haneefa said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Zulaiha said...

No Akbar, it was a horse (not sure about the color), not a bike