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Circumcision rites in Lakshadweep Islands

 Based on " Growing up in an Arabian Sea Island : an Anthropological Enquiry in Lakshadweep'  by Dr. B.G. Banerjee & Dr. A.K. Sinha

The tiniest Union Territory of India, Lakshadweep is an archipelago consisting of 12 atolls, three reefs and five submerged banks. It is a uni-district Union Territory with an area of 32 Sq.Kms and is comprised of  ten inhabited islands, 17 uninhabited islands attached islets, four newly formed islets and 5 submerged reefs. It is located between 8 º- 12 º 13" North latitude and  71º -74º   East longitude, 220 to 440 Kms. away from the coastal city of Kochi in Kerala, in the emerald Arabian sea.

The indigenous population of the islands consists of Muslims. They are indistinguishable in appearance and dress from the Moplahs of Malabar (or Malabaris as we call them in Malaysia). The islanders originally belonged to the mainland and migrated from there in stages a few centuries ago. The Hindus and the Christians were the mainlanders who were staying in the islands in connection with their service.

The most important aspect of the social organisation of the islands is that they are matrilineal in descent and matrilocal in residence. Each household had its separate household name. The islanders speak, as their mother tongue, Malayalam which is very much mixed with Arabic, Urdu, Tamil and Kannada. Many islanders are acquainted with Arabic as a subsidiary language. English, Hindi and Kannada are known to one, two and two persons respectively as subsidiary languages.

Circumcision for male and boring of ears for female constitute the initiation rites. Circumcision (Markham Kalyanam) takes place at about the age of six or seven when the boys reach a crucial phase of their life become conscious of the difference between males and females. Though there is no rigid age of circumcision and it can be performed between six and 16 years of age; generally it is done at the age of six. As there is no barber (ossas) in the island, usually the boys are taken to Mangalore for circumcision. In some cases barbers are brought from Kiltan for performing circumcision.

In all the cases, the days are fixed by the fathers of the boys concerned. The operations take place during low tide in the sea, because that is considered to be auspicious time for such a purpose. Generally the father, and the maternal uncle also sometimes, accompany the child In each case of circumcision at Mangalore the child is dressed in clean clothes and is taken to a mosque, where special prayer is offered. After that the child is brought back to the odam by which he had travelled to Mangalore from the island. In the odam the circumcision is done by a barber. At the time the dress of the boy is removed and he is made to sit either on stool or bench in the open. In the midst of singing of devotional songs like mohiddin mala (songs in praise of Sheik Mohiddin) the ossas cut away with a razor the tip of the penis for about 1/5th of an inch length. Immediately after that a kind of herbal medicine, the name and preparation of which are known to the ossas alone, is applied to stop the bleeding. Then the boy is made to lie on a specially prepared bed with an enclosure of cloth or mosquito curtain around it. The persons who accompany the child are served with tea by the father or the maternal uncle of the child. The boy remains in bed for about four or five days before he is in a position to move about. As circumcision is a very important rite of the Muslims, folk songs and merry making continue for about eight days. Beaten rice mixed with sugar is served among all those present. By this time the persons who are travelling with the boy return to the island. On the eighth day a sumptuous feast is given to the friends and relatives. Goasts and cows are slaughtered on the occasion of the feast. Maulood songs and folk dances (parichaali) are also performed on the day of the feast. The expenditure connected with circumcision varies according to the economic status of the households.

The basic purpose of circumcision is to keep the individual away from venereal and other skin diseases. It was first performed on Ibrahim Nabi on his own request and he recommended this to his followers as an unavoidable religious rite or sunnat. Since then the entire Muslim world has been performing it.

 

 

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