Finding a Malayali Portuguese
It was a small mention that led me to search and find a Portuguese family who turned out to be my neighbor
On numerous visits to my home in Kerala over the last fifty years, I had one name, Anthraper that I remember to have heard every time. Everywhere I went, I could see my maternal or paternal grandfather or uncles or aunties pointing towards huge tracts of rubber plantation and mentions that it belonged to Anthraper. When we used to board a private bus named KMT (Must be acronym for Kerala Motor Transport or it could be Kuriakose Mathai Thankachan — well I have not figured it out) and travel around 10 kilometers towards west, the very same people could still point to the rubber plantation and repeat. This is Anthraper estate. The same applies when I travel east. I always felt at that point of time that this name could be some fictional character that is being doled out to me from a book bought at a Children literature festival — some sort of fairy tale.
This changed gradually to discussion on how portions of these estates were bought by one cousin or the other or some other acquaintances. They are selling because they have gone bankrupt — a reason given to me by various relatives during these discussions.(I believe none of them had any idea about the family business nor the fact that they were originally Portuguese. So they made their own concocted stories) There were different opinions. My grandfather is said to have worked for a very short period of time in this estate before he moved on to farming. My uncle says he has seen the patriarch so many times while he was in school. I still could not gauge anything out of all these about the family. Since I was in Kerala for not more than 15 days each time, I lost interest and gradually it faded out of my attention.
In the last decade or so, I started gaining some interest in the history of my ancestor’s place. I started my soft search and occasionally when I visit, I started visiting these places or just drive through these interior roads. I started collecting whatever I could about the place. While I was roaming entire Kerala from Wayanad to Trivandrum, I missed places closer to my home. Most of them just at a walking distance. Here is one such gem, Anchumala Para which I never knew was just five minutes from my home but yet to climb.
In the last trip to Kerala on the eve of India’s 75th Independence Day celebration and amidst a growing Covid spread, I made a detour and stayed at my business partner’s farm house in Mala — some 25 kilometers from Cochin airport.
Two of my classmates — who happened to be in Cochin — joined me. One was Louis and the other, Binoy whose home in Kerala is close to mine. Long back when he wanted to invest in land, he found a seller who was selling two acres of rubber plantation in the hills opposite to his home. It happened to be originally sold by Anthraper family. While in some discussion when we were sipping Old Monk with barbequed fish just caught from the stream downstairs at the Mala farm, he said the Anthraper is originally Portuguese descendents and that they have a place in Cherthala — a route I regularly travel through from Cochin to my home and I also make pit stops for some top quality fresh toddy. Here is one such visit.
It raised my curiosity to top notch level. Portuguese descendents were staying for so long near to my ancestral home and none among my family knew it? More so even I did not care to find it out. I still remember my neighbours saying the Anthraper family had their food from utensils made of Gold. People then had the audacity to believe such rubbish but I always differed. Back from Mala, next evening I decided to search more about this place in Cherthala and found that my original plan to visit ancient churches enroute had this palace — now converted to a home stay — next to a Church in my route plan.
Fast forward, I just barged into the home stay and asked a person at the gate whether there is any Anthraper family member residing there. To my luck and surprise I found not just one but three. And there is no end to the surprises as we began to converse. One of their daughters, they said, is settled in Ahmedabad and that too close to where I stay. Will come to that later. But first let us delve into some background and rewind my journey.
How did the name Anthraper originate? Is it a Portuguese name or is it a desi version of something. So I began to search and found a few options leading to this. One is that of Andrew Pereira whose name Andre and Per became Andreper and finally to Anthraper. Second it could be because of the high position they held during the reins of the Maharaja that a title of ‘Anthara Periyavar’ or in today’s norm high ranking official. Now you must be wondering who is Andrew Pereira.
Legend has it that Andrew Pereira accompanied Vasco de Gama to the Malabar Coast in 1502, in all probability during Gama’s second or third visit. It is said that he had his wife Catherina and son Diego Pereira with him when he set his foot in India. The intention was to trade. But when he arrived, the Arab traders were already flourishing in Malabar and they had full support of Samoothiri (Anglicised as Zamorin) of Kozhikode. The Arabs not only were buying spices from the region but also made sure that the Samoothiri is compensated enough for storage, warehousing, transportation etc. They had built an entire ecosystem in the Malabar coast that it was difficult for any entrant to make a headway. (Consider how Jio is leading the telecom and whether there is any possibility of any new entrant in that space?)
I believe the Samoothiri had no competitive spirit that today’s modern corporate employees from IIM have to negotiate with a new entrant for a better price or renegotiate the old contract. So the Portuguese were always second to Arabs in terms of the trading volumes though they were better entrepreneurs. This must be one of the reasons why some of the traders, including Andrew and his family, moved to Cochin, among many other things.
But it did not last long. A sweet revenge was in store to be served fresh to the Arabs. By the end of 16th century the Portuguese led the spice trade in Malabar coast replacing the Arabs. Luck or supremacy, The Dutch established their rule after almost 100 years dethroning the Portuguese only to be dethroned by the British later on. Ultimately Zamorin was defeated by Haider Ali of Mysore with able help from British (East India Company then) and Kozhikode was annexed. Zamorin was a pensioner of the British after that.
Moving to Cochin helped the Pereiras where he was not only welcomed but also given a position of a quasi treasurer and went on to become a Military Commander. In today’s terms he was inducted as a Minister of state and then elevated to Cabinet rank. His son inherited the rank (no nepotism then because there was no democracy. And yes, even in democracy nothing has changed) and was made a Local Chief in 1545 and was called as Madambi in Malayalam. Sort of a Chief Minister of a small province (say Delhi CM). And this province happened to be areas near Cherthala. In the publicly available details, it is said that his inheritors always married within the community until 1786 when Kochandy, son of Mathai married Anna, a local Malayali girl, in all probability, from Arthunkal. Now this adaptation of Kerala names such as Kochandi and Mathai happened during the transition of Portuguese dominance to Dutch take over. It is said that during this battle between two western nations, the fifth generation of Anthraper, John, was humbled and most of the jewellery and possessions were taken by the Dutch. A mediation was made possible by the Maharaja (there was no UN Assembly to pass any resolution then) between the two warring sides and one of the conditions put forward during this time was to adapt to the local culture and become Indian and in particular a Malayali than carry the weight of being a Portuguese.
Four days after I landed at Cochin and after completing my official work, I decided to make a drive through the ancient churches on the coast enroute my home. First time, I was all alone driving. Under normal circumstances I would have my family or any friends with me. The original plan was to have two but both had to drop the plan because of the precarious Covid situation leading to almost all the establishments either closed or unavailable. The Innova that I hire from a common friend reached the hotel on the eve and I had very little time in planning other than to search Google Maps and figure out the route to whatever I could find. A better planning could have saved me the pain of not missing a few Churches which I could not find in my fast scrap work. I had to visit 12 to 14 churches on the way and reach home not later than midnight. So I had to start pretty early. After four churches when I reached Arthunkal, I was dying of hunger. The normally busy area was deserted and luckily a small shop was open with the basics available to eat. It was 8.30 in the morning and 10 more places to go.
St. Andrew’s Basilica in Arthunkal is huge. In 1581 the King of Cochin, Veera Kerala Varma, gave permission to build a Church in wood, according to the Basilica records. It was then renovated in stone in 1602. It was renovated again in 1870 with a new facade and a bell tower. Another renovation took sixty years to complete and was thrown open in 1967. I was standing in front of this Basilica looking at its size and history. However I did not find the mention of Anthraper in any mentions of the Basilica though the family historian has told Mathrubhumi Newspaper that the Anthraper family had a hand in construction and renovation of the church.
It is claimed in the news report that the second generation Diego Pereira settled in Arthunkal (not far from Cherthala) and because there was no Church in the area, the dome like structure he has built as his house doubled as the local parish. The Maharaja gave him 10,000 gold coins to build a house for him at the spot where a Church stands now — just behind the Basilica. He is believed to be the first foreigner to settle in India. (Being a Christian CAA and NRC not applicable even now to him). The Jesuits, it is believed, first came to the place and managed the chapel. Diego further extended it and named after Saint Andrews in memory of his father. I don’t know whether this has any documentary evidence but what I know is of two places named after the family near my home. Chevalier Anthraper Memorial High School near my home and Sisters of the Holy Cross at General Hospital Trivandrum were invited by Anthraper to start healthcare at Adoor in the year 1955.
Visiting the family at their sprawling residence in Cherthala was not in my plan. But since I had searched a lot about the staying options in the area, Google Maps gave me a passing option while I was driving through Cherthala that Anthraper Gardens is nearby. I thought I should get in and try my luck if I could meet someone. That is how I reached here.
Built by Chevalier ACM Anthraper, the grandfather of the present generation almost a century ago. Chevalier is a Papal knighthood for charitable work for the society. His son AMJ Anthraper and his wife Thankamma Anthraper continued the tradition. They had four sons and five daughters. One of them Alexander Anthraper’s entrepreneurial skills and the family’s cooking skills were passed on to the next generation. His sister Omana Thomas and her husband Commodore Thomas was at the place when I made my uninvited entry into the place. Though the place is now closed for guests due to covid restrictions, it is managed by the couple and assisted by other siblings Mary, Shantha, Leela and Rani, as per the declaration they have on their website. When I mentioned Ahmedabad, eyes of one of the sisters there, Leela, lit up. And it was this conversation that led me to one of the Anthraper descendant right next to my home in Ahmedabad, named Sonia.
While I was enquiring about the family, Commodore Thomas recommended me to read Manja Veyil Maranangal by Benyamin. I had heard of the author’s Adu Jeevitham but had not read any of his novels. It is also translated into English titled Yellow Lights of Death and is said to be one of the best translations to English. When I reached back home, I downloaded its audio version from Story Tel and started listening. It is a fiction with a mix of fictional names of places mingled with real places. It is a novel within a novel. Based out of a place called Diego Garcia (Originally it is the largest of 60 small islands comprising the Chagos Archipelago controlled by UK), the novel resembles a lot of characters in Anthraper family. Over and above, its main character is named as Christy Anthraper.
A few days after I made my way back to Ahmedabad, I contacted Sonia who is married to a family in Ahmedabad and pretty mingled in local culture. But she still pursues her passion for cooking and is a full time baker. And it so happened that I was looking for a cake for my wife’s 50th birthday. Bingo..
Gradually one incident after another started to unravel. Both of us were born in the same hospital in Kerala. Remember the farm house I mentioned owned by my business partner? His wife and Sonia’s sister in law happens to be close friends. Don’t know what more will unravel in future.
I plan to write the next part to this at later stage with more details. Stay tuned.
Note: This is not a historical piece but a personal note. It is not fact checked. So do not use this as your reference materials unless you have cross checked with authentic sources. For Kerala’s history, I strongly recommend Manu Pillai’s books and articles.
