army was forced to retreat from Pukkotur. Rioting spread to neighbouring villages. The rail road traffic was cut off. Eranad and Walluvanad were isolated from the rest of Malabar. Government offices were attacked and records were burnt. The administration was paralysed and anarchy reigned supreme. The Government had prevented the Congress and Khilafat leaders from visiting the riot-hit areas. The rioters adopted guerilla warfare and the hilly tracts of South Malabar were suitable for adopting such a strategy. At this stage the rebellion became anti-British in character and no harm was done either to the jenmis or to the Hindus. Martial law was declared on 29 August 1921. Eranad, Ponnani Calicut, Walluvanad and Wayanad were brought under this law. More forces, including the Gurkha regiment was rushed to Malappuram and Tirurangadi. On the early morning of 31 August, Tirurangadi mosque was seized by the forces after a fierce battle. When the ammunitions were exhausted, the Muslims came out from their hiding places and fought with knives and spears. Such a resistance with crude weapons lasted only for a few hours. The Khilafat volunteers and their leader Ali Musalian surrendered. The rebellion subsided for the time being. The ruthless oppression of the Government again sowed the seeds of disgust and resulted in the organization of riots by local leaders in isolated regions. Instead of direct confrontation the rebel gangs adopted the technique of 'hit and run.' Soldiers of the Gurkha rifles were brought to combat the guerilla warfare and they were ordered to move to the interior regions. The rebel attack on the Gurkha rifles stationed at Pandikkad on 14 November, ended in the death of about two hundred people. They were led by Chembrasseni Thangal and Kunjahammad Haji. At this stage the mutineers clashed with the landlords. The informants to the Police both Hindus and Muslims, were attacked and killed. Their properties were looted. This wanton act of the rebels alienated them from the people who were sympathetic to their cause. The police search for the rebels continued and the rebels were cruelly punished. Their houses were burnt, women were molested and even children were not spared. Realising the futility of their hostility, the number of rebels surrendering to the police increased day by day. By the beginning of the year 1922 about 45,000 rebels were taken into police custody and about 10,000 were killed in the police action. Poverty and the desire to live prompted the Muslims of Malabar so resist the alien rule and its stooges, the jenmis. As members of the minority community and tenant farmers, they had joined the national movement to get their grievances redressed through collective bargaining and negotiated settlements. They saw in the non cooperation and Khilafat movement an opportunity to end the oppressive British rule and to attain swaraj, by practising non-violent methods of agitation. The Government policy was to terrorise and emasculate the Muslim rebels. In the 1921 movement when the atrocities of the police and district administration exceeded all limits, the Muslims gave up non-violence and resorted to the practice of becoming chaver and threw up their lives. The district administration had succeeded in twisting the movement of 1921, a movement against the alien rule, into HinduMuslim riot and kept records to establish the view
