Studies in Indian Ocean Islam: Caste and matriliny in the Laccadive Islands

Abstract

Surrounded by the warm waters of the Arabian Sea, between 127 and 240 miles off the coast of the South Indian state of Kerala, lie the widely-scattered coral reefs and atolls which together make up the Indian Union Territory of Lakshadweep (1) ; formerly the Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands, the group is more commonly known in the West as the Laccadive Islands . The Laccadives, which extend between 8' and 12'30 North, and between 71' and 74' East, are made up of ten inhabited islands and a further seventeen uninhabited islets and banks . The overall land area of the archipelago is 12 .50 square miles, and in 1971 the population totalled 31,180 (2) . The people of the Laccadives have always relied on coconut products notably coir and copra (3) for their livelihoods . Fishing is also of major importance, and the islands remain dependent on trade with the mainland for their survival . The ten inhabited islands, from north to south, are : Chetlat, Bitra, Kiltan, Kadmat, Amini, Agathi, Androth, Kavrathi, Kalpeni and Maliku . This study is concerned exclusively with religion and society in the first nine of these islands, that is in the group which can, with reasonable accuracy, be described as 'The Laccadives Proper' . The tenth inhabited island, Maliku, which is attached politically to the Laccadives but belongs ethnically and culturally with the neighbouring Republic of Maldives, is excluded from the present article (Maliku will be the subject of a separate study in the future) .