History and Culture of Malabar, Portuguese power, Anti-colonial struggle etc.

Source Name: Tuhfat al-Mujahidin
Location: Archives, Department of History, PSMO College.
Year and Date: 1583
Materials: Arabic, Scanned copy.
Documentation Date: August 20, 2021.
Document source: Dr. O P Mayinkutty.
Curator: Mohamed Haseeb N. & Ms. Saleena M
Tuhfat al-Mujahidin
‘Tuhfat al-Mujahidin fi ba‘d Akhbar al-Burtughaliyin’ (Arabic:تحفة المجاهدين في بعض اخبار البرتغاليين, often shortened as ‘Tuhfat al-Mujahidin’) is a historical work by Zainuddin Makhdoom II on the struggle between the Mappila Muslims of Malabar and South Canara and Portuguese colonial forces in the 16th century. It is the first historical work of Kerala to be authored by a keralite. The book describes
the resistance put up by the navy of Kunjali Marakkar alongside the Zamorinn of Calicutt from 1498 to 1583 against Portuguese attempts to colonize the Malabar coast. Along with chronological events of the era, the book also provides an analysis of the events, as well as the lifestyle, customs and family structure of the people of the time.
‘Tuhfat al-Mujahidin is completed in 1583, the book was dedicated to the Sultan of Bijapur Ali Adil Shah. The work is divided into four parts — the first discusses in detail about the Islamic concepts of Jihad, followed by a look into history of the Muslim community in the Malabar. It then describes the customs of the Hindu population of the Malabar at the time, and the final fourteen chapters narrate the history of the Portuguese in Malabar and the rise of the naval forces led by the KunjaliMarakkars from the arrival of the former towards the end of the fifteenth century till the Battle of Chaliyam of 1571.