What was Lawrence of Arabia doing in Kerala,during the run upto the Mopah Rebellion of 1921? The lore is that he had been here for an ayurvedic treatment,at Trichur.It has to be remembered that Trichur was the place where the dress rehersal for the rebellion was actually held.A spy like T E Lawrence will never sit idle with Ashtavaidyan Thaikkattu Mooss,nor he is going to reveal wgatever design he has,to the Mooss,who was treating him.Lawrence then,was the guest of K Govinda Menon,Forest Conservator,who had been his classmate at Oxford.Lawrence was the person who instigated the Arabs to rebel against the Khalifa,the Turkish Sultan during the first World War;in Malabar,during the Khilafath movement,the Moplahs had risen in favour of the Sultan,whom Lawrence had toppled.Every reason for him to be here,in Kerala.
For movie buffs, who have seen David Lean’s classic Lawrence of Arabia, Thomas Edward Lawrence, immortalised by Peter O’Toole, is the dashing British leader dressed in white and gold Arab robes. But the real Lawrence was not exactly the heroic character of the 1962 film. He was certainly one of the most colourful figures of the First World War, but Lawrence was also controversial with strange fetishes.
Libraries across the world house comprehensive research and archival materials on Lawrence and much of his story is well known. What is not known and what the shelves in the libraries may not tell you is the record of a personal journey Lawrence undertook to Kerala sometime in 1920-21.
This trip was immediately after the first world War. Lawrence who played a leading role as adviser to Emir Faisal of Hejaz,(which is now Saudi Arabia ),during the Arab revolt against Turkish rule (1916–1918) was clearly torn between his British and Arab sympathies. He suffered a huge setback, 'a stinging humiliation that plunged him into a phase of depression'. To recover from this he accepted an invitation from K. Govinda Menon (Conservator of Forests, Cochin State), his classmate at Oxford, to travel to Trichur.The so called depression may have been an alibi.
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| T E Lawrence |
“He stayed for 21 days in Trichur for an elaborate Ayurveda treatment which was supervised by the famous Thaikkattu Mooss. He went on his mandatory evening walks, ate home-made food and left a cheerful man. This must have been Lawrence’s only visit to India,” says V. N. Venugopal, grandson of Govinda Menon and the inheritor of those memories, rare photographs and an autographed book. They remain the only surviving link between ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ and Kerala.Venugopal,who worked in Premier Tyres,had been Secretary of the Kerala Fine Arts Society,Kochi.
Venugopal first came to know about Lawrence when he was studying for his Intermediate at Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam. “We had an essay on ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ by Winston Churchill from his book Great Contemporaries. When I read this essay aloud at home my father (P. Narayana Menon) who was listening asked me what I was reading. He showed me a book that was autographed by the same ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ and the other memorabilia connected with the man. I was stunned because I was reading about an icon and I come to know that my father knew this man, accompanied him on his evening walks when he came to stay at our ancestral home at Trichur. It was so surreal.”
It was Venugopal’s grandmother (Ammu Amma) who told him a lot about Lawrence’s Trichur visit. “She used to narrate stories graphically. One of them was about Lawrence. About how she and my grandfather travelled by the Boat Mail train from Trichur to Dhanushkodi and took a boat to Colombo to pick up Lawrence. He had reached there and the three of them travelled back to Trichur.”
Trichur was a small village in those days. A few Europeans had settled here, most of them planters. “There were rubber plantations at Pudukkad and Amballur managed by Europeans who used to stay at Trichur. They even had an English Club. So, Lawrence was not looked upon as a stranger here.”
On his return to England, Lawrence sent Govinda Menon an autographed copy of Letters of Lawrence. The book has a photograph of Lawrence with his four brothers and on one of the pages, yellowed by time, has the words, ‘In memory of happy days.’
Venugopal treasures photographs of his grandfather and Lawrence shot during their Oxford days (1910-1913). “My grandfather was very close to the Lawrence family. He was almost like a member of the family. After Lawrence’s death his mother sent my grandfather the Bible she had probably gifted to her son, and his brother Montague sent him a copy of Lawrence’s seminal work,Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence, ( 1888 – 1935), a British archaeologist, army-officer, diplomat, and writer, became renowned for his role in the Arab Revolt (1916–1918) and the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915–1918) against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War.He was born (out of wedlock) in August 1888 to Sarah Junner (1861 - 1959), a governess, and Thomas Chapman (1846 - 1919), an Anglo-Irish nobleman. Chapman left his wife and family in Ireland to cohabit with Junner. Chapman and Junner called themselves Mr and Mrs Lawrence, using the surname of Sarah's likely father; her mother had been employed as a servant for a Lawrence family when she became pregnant with Sarah. In 1896 the Lawrences moved to Oxford, where Thomas attended the High School and then studied history at Jesus College, Oxford from 1907 to 1910. Between 1910 and 1914 he worked as an archaeologist for the British Museum, chiefly at Carchemish in Ottoman Syria.
Soon after the outbreak of war in 1914 he volunteered for the British Army and was stationed at the Arab Bureau (established in 1916) intelligence unit in Egypt. In 1916 he travelled to Mesopotamia and to Arabia on intelligence missions and quickly became involved with the Arab Revolt as a liaison to the Arab forces, along with other British officers, supporting the Arab Kingdom of Hejaz's independence war against its former overlord, the Ottoman Empire. He worked closely with Emir Faisal, a leader of the revolt, and he participated, sometimes as leader, in military actions against the Ottoman armed forces, culminating in the capture of Damascus in October 1918.
After the First World War, Lawrence joined the British Foreign Office, working with the British government and with Faisal.
Following the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, Lawrence did not immediately enlist in the British Army. He held back until October on the advice of S. F. Newcombe, when he was commissioned on the General List. Before the end of the year, he was summoned by renowned archaeologist and historian Lt. Cmdr. David Hogarth, his mentor at Carchemish, to the new Arab Bureau intelligence unit in Cairo, and he arrived in Cairo on 15 December 1914. The Bureau's chief was General Gilbert Clayton who reported to Egyptian High Commissioner Henry McMahon.
The situation was complex during 1915. There was a growing Arab-nationalist movement within the Arabic-speaking Ottoman territories, including many Arabs serving in the Ottoman armed forces. They were in contact with Sharif Hussein, Emir of Mecca, who was negotiating with the British and offering to lead an Arab uprising against the Ottomans. In exchange, he wanted a British guarantee of an independent Arab state including the Hejaz, Syria, and Mesopotamia. Such an uprising would have been very helpful to Britain in its war against the Ottomans, greatly lessening the threat against the Suez Canal. However, there was resistance from French diplomats who insisted that Syria's future was as a French colony, not an independent Arab state. There were also strong objections from the Government of India, which was nominally part of the British government but acted independently. Its vision was of Mesopotamia under British control serving as a granary for India; furthermore, it wanted to hold on to its Arabian outpost in Aden.
At the Arab Bureau, Lawrence supervised the preparation of maps, produced a daily bulletin for the British generals operating in the theatre, and interviewed prisoners.He was an advocate of a British landing at Alexandretta which never came to pass. He was also a consistent advocate of an independent Arab Syria.
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| Lawrence with Govinda Menon |
In the spring of 1916, Lawrence was dispatched to Mesopotamia to assist in relieving the Siege of Kut by some combination of starting an Arab uprising and bribing Ottoman officials. This mission produced no useful result. Meanwhile, the Sykes–Picot Agreement was being negotiated in London without the knowledge of British officials in Cairo, which awarded a large proportion of Syria to France. Further, it implied that the Arabs would have to conquer Syria's four great cities if they were to have any sort of state there: Damascus, Homs, Hama, and Aleppo. It is unclear at what point Lawrence became aware of the treaty's contents.
The Arab Revolt began in June 1916, but it bogged down after a few successes, with a real risk that the Ottoman forces would advance along the coast of the Red Sea and recapture Mecca. On 16 October 1916, Lawrence was sent to the Hejaz on an intelligence-gathering mission led by Ronald Storrs. He interviewed Sharif Hussein's sons Ali, Abdullah, and Faisal, and he concluded that Faisal was the best candidate to lead the Revolt.
In November, S. F. Newcombe was assigned to lead a permanent British liaison to Faisal's staff. Newcombe had not yet arrived in the area and the matter was of some urgency, so Lawrence was sent in his place. In late December 1916, Faisal and Lawrence worked out a plan for repositioning the Arab forces to prevent the Ottoman forces around Medina from threatening Arab positions and putting the railway from Syria under threat. Newcombe arrived and Lawrence was preparing to leave Arabia, but Faisal intervened urgently, asking that Lawrence's assignment become permanent.
Lawrence's most important contributions to the Arab Revolt were in the area of strategy and liaison with British armed forces, but he also participated personally in several military engagements.Lawrence made a 300-mile personal journey northward in June 1917, on the way to Aqaba, visiting Ras Baalbek, the outskirts of Damascus, and Azraq, Jordan. He met Arab nationalists, counselling them to avoid revolt until the arrival of Faisal's forces, and he attacked a bridge to create the impression of guerrilla activity. His findings were regarded by the British as extremely valuable and there was serious consideration of awarding him a Victoria Cross; in the end, he was invested as a Companion of the Order of the Bath and promoted to Major.
Lawrence travelled regularly between British headquarters and Faisal, co-ordinating military action. But by early 1918, Faisal's chief British liaison was Colonel Pierce Charles Joyce, and Lawrence's time was chiefly devoted to raiding and intelligence-gathering.The chief elements of the Arab strategy which Faisal and Lawrence developed were to avoid capturing Medina, and to extend northwards through Maan and Dera'a to Damascus and beyond. Faisal wanted to lead regular attacks against the Ottomans, but Lawrence persuaded him to drop that tactic. Lawrence wrote about the Bedouin as a fighting force:
The value of the tribes is defensive only and their real sphere is guerilla warfare. They are intelligent, and very lively, almost reckless, but too individualistic to endure commands, or fight in line, or to help each other. It would, I think, be possible to make an organized force out of them.… The Hejaz war is one of dervishes against regular forces—and we are on the side of the dervishes. Our text-books do not apply to its conditions at all.
Medina was an attractive target for the revolt as Islam's second holiest site, and because its Ottoman garrison was weakened by disease and isolation. It became clear that it was advantageous to leave it there rather than try to capture it, while continually attacking the Hejaz railway south from Damascus without permanently destroying it.This prevented the Ottomans from making effective use of their troops at Medina, and forced them to dedicate many resources to defending and repairing the railway line.
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| Trichur house where Lawrence stayed |
In 1917, Lawrence proposed a joint action with the Arab irregulars and forces including Auda Abu Tayi, who had previously been in the employ of the Ottomans, against the strategically located but lightly defended town of Aqaba on the Red Sea. Aqaba could have been attacked from the sea, but the narrow defiles leading through the mountains were strongly defended and would have been very difficult to assault. The expedition was led by Sharif Nasir of Medina.
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| Akbar Jehan |
I gave him a free hand. His cooperation was marked by the utmost loyalty, and I never had anything but praise for his work, which, indeed, was invaluable throughout the campaign. He was the mainspring of the Arab movement and knew their language, their manners and their mentality.
Lawrence describes an episode on 20 November 1917 while reconnoitering Dera'a in disguise, when he was captured by the Ottoman military, heavily beaten, and sexually abused by the local bey and his guardsmen, though he does not specify the nature of the sexual contact. Some scholars have stated that he exaggerated the severity of the injuries that he suffered, or alleged that the episode never actually happened. There is no independent testimony, but the multiple consistent reports and the absence of evidence for outright invention in Lawrence's works make the account believable to his biographers. Malcolm Brown, John E. Mack, and Jeremy Wilson have argued that this episode had strong psychological effects on Lawrence, which may explain some of his unconventional behaviour in later life. Lawrence ended his account of the episode in Seven Pillars of Wisdom with the statement: "In Dera'a that night the citadel of my integrity had been irrevocably lost.
Lawrence was involved in the build-up to the capture of Damascus in the final weeks of the war, but he was not present at the city's formal surrender, much to his disappointment. He arrived several hours after the city had fallen, entering Damascus around 9 am on 1 October 1918; the first to arrive was the 10th Australian Light Horse Brigade led by Major A. C. N. "Harry" Olden, who formally accepted the surrender of the city from acting Governor Emir Said. Lawrence was instrumental in establishing a provisional Arab government under Faisal in newly liberated Damascus, which he had envisioned as the capital of an Arab state. Faisal's rule as king, however, came to an abrupt end in 1920, after the battle of Maysaloun when the French Forces of General Gouraud entered Damascus under the command of General Mariano Goybet, destroying Lawrence's dream of an independent Arabia.
During the closing years of the war, Lawrence sought to convince his superiors in the British government that Arab independence was in their interests, but he met with mixed success. The secret Sykes-Picot Agreement between France and Britain contradicted the promises of independence that he had made to the Arabs and frustrated his work.
Lawrence returned to the United Kingdom a full colonel. Immediately after the war, he worked for the Foreign Office, attending the Paris Peace Conference between January and May as a member of Faisal's delegation. On 17 May 1919, a Handley Page Type O/400 taking Lawrence to Egypt crashed at the airport of Roma-Centocelle. The pilot and co-pilot were killed; Lawrence survived with a broken shoulder blade and two broken ribs.During his brief hospitalisation, he was visited by King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy.
Lawrence served as an advisor to Winston Churchill at the Colonial Office for just over a year starting in February 1920.He hated bureaucratic work, writing on 21 May 1921 to Robert Graves: "I wish I hadn't gone out there: the Arabs are like a page I have turned over; and sequels are rotten things. I'm locked up here: office every day and much of it".He travelled to the Middle East on multiple occasions during this period, at one time holding the title of "chief political officer for Trans-Jordania".
In August 1922, Lawrence enlisted in the Royal Air Force as an aircraftman, under the name John Hume Ross. At the RAF recruiting centre in Covent Garden, London, he was interviewed by recruiting officer Flying Officer W. E. Johns, later known as the author of the Biggles series of novels. Johns rejected Lawrence's application, as he suspected that "Ross" was a false name. Lawrence admitted that this was so and that he had provided false documents. He left, but returned some time later with an RAF messenger who carried a written order that Johns must accept Lawrence.
However, Lawrence was forced out of the RAF in February 1923 after his identity was exposed. He changed his name to T. E. Shaw (apparently as a consequence of his friendship with G. B. and Charlotte Shaw and joined the Royal Tank Corps later that year. He was unhappy there and repeatedly petitioned to rejoin the RAF, which finally readmitted him in August 1925.A fresh burst of publicity after the publication of Revolt in the Desert resulted in his assignment to bases at Karachi and Miramshah in British India (now Pakistan) in late 1926,where he remained until the end of 1928. At that time, he was forced to return to Britain after rumours began to circulate that he was involved in espionage activities.
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| The Note to Govinda Menon,after Trichur days |
After the discovery of oil in the middle east, the British were eager to break-up the Arab Islamic bloc. The ottomans had ruled a large area including the present Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Palestine for 400 years. Turkey sided with Germany in WW1. After its defeat the allies fell upon its carcass and divided it up between them. The British proclaimed Ibn Saud the ruler of Hejaz and by way of consolation Hussein's sons Abdullah and Faisal assumed the thrones of newly created kingdoms Jordan and Iraq in 1921.
By the mid-1920s Ibn Saud established Saudi Arabia in an orgy of murder. Numerous rebellions against the House of Saud subsequently took place, each put down in mass killings of mostly innocent victims, including women and children. The territory was divided into districts under the control of Saud’s relatives, a situation which largely prevails today.
When the British were desperate to topple King Anamullah they brought Lawrence in January 1927. He wandered around, disguised as an exiled Afghan Prince and cleric Pir Karam Shah and as TE Shaw at RAF base in Karachi. He became intimate with the tribes due to his knowledge in Arabic which tribesmen saw as divine language. During his stay, he fully naturalized with the local customs, dress and food habits. Subsequently he began to distribute money and arms among the tribes and provoked them against Amanulla.
Michael Adam Nedou was an architect from Dubrovnik (now in Croatia but was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire during 1880s). Nedou opened smart hotels in Lahore (which is now Avari) and then in the Kashmiri ski resort of Gulmarg. Nedou’s hotel was the only premier hotel in Srinagar. The visiting British dignitaries, businessmen and maharajas of different princely states were regulars at Nedou’s in Kashmir. His son, Harry Nedou, married a Gujjar woman, Mir Jan.
The black propaganda campaign with religious fervour among the more reactionary tribes provoked a civil war. In Srinagar, Lawrence started giving sermons in the Hazratbal mosque as Pir Karam Shah.
He flirted with the daughter of then famous Nedous hotel, Akbar Jehan. Her father insisted that they get married immediately; which they did.
Three months later, in January 1929, Amanulla was toppled and replaced by a pro-British ruler. Within a few days, the imperialist Civil and Military Gazette, published comparative profiles of Lawrence and Karam Shah to reinforce the impression that they were two different people. Several weeks later, the Calcutta newspaper Liberty reported that Karam Shah was indeed the British spy Lawrence and gave a detailed account of his activities in Waziristan on the Afghan frontier. Because of this information leak, Lawrence became a liability and the authorities told him to return to Britain.
Akbar Jehan (the desi version of Mata Hari) became alarmed about the secret movements of Lawrence and informed her father about the real identity of Pir Karam Shah. Henry Nedou called wrestlers Gama Pehlwan and his brother Imam Bakhsh Pehlwan from Amritsar to beat the impostor into pulp. They overpowered Lawrence of Arabia and forced him to write a Muslim talaq to Akbar Jehan.
Nedous insisted on a divorce. Lawrence obliged. Karam Shah was never seen again.Akbar Jehan married Sheikh Abdullah,who became Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
It is evident from T E Lawrence Studies,Ouline Chronology that he was in Kerala during May-June 1921,because,these two months are missing in the chronology.It is the time of Idavappathi,suitable for ayurvedic treatment in Kerala.
The judgement deporting M P Narayana Menon is emphatic that the seed for the 1921 rebellion was sown in the 28 April 1920, fifth Malabar District Political Conference held at Manjeri presided over by S. Kasturiranga Iyengar, Editor of The Hindu. Annie Besant and her followers had walked out of the meeting,protesting against Gandhi's call for no co-operation.M P Narayana Menon,Secretary of the eranad Khilafat Committee, vehemently opposed and spoke against Ms Besant.
It was the Vadakra meet of the Indian National Congress,which took the decision to hold the next meet at Manjeri.C Achutha Menon,Pleader,represented Manavedan Raja of the Nilambur Palace at the Vadakara meet and requested for a meet at Manjeri.K Madhavan Nair,Secretary of the Congress,M P Narayana Menon and Kattilasseri Muhammad Musaliyar were given the responsibility to hold the Manjeri meet.This meet was distinct by the participation of hundreds of mappilas.Only the wealty had participated in the eralier meets.It was conducted at Palliyali Paramb,the Boys' High School ground.
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| Lawrence in 1919 |
The Moplah rebellion broke out on 20 August 1921 at Manjeri.Its dress rehearsal was held in Trichur,in February.Yakoob Hassan,Khilafat leader of Madras,K Madhavan Nair,U Gopala Menon and P Moitheen Koya were arrested in Calicut on 16 February,for violating the prohibitary orders.A meeting to congratulate those leaders were held at Thekkinkad Maithan at Trichur on 20 February,organized by the Congress.This meet was attacked by the pro - British Christians.A fresh meet was held on 26 February,in which Paliath Kunjunni Achan delivered the non co-operation speech.The very next day the Christans held a loyalty procession,in which around 1500 Christians took part.This procession was blocked by the muslims,when it approched the mosque.The Muslims and Christians came to blows;some muslim houses and shops were burnt by the christians.C R Iyyunni addressed the christians,at the end of the processon.
Christians on the East and Congress Hindus and muslims on the West became two warring factions.Dr A R Menon led the Hindus.Dewan T Raghavachari reached the city.The christians attacked the hindus on 1 March,and houses and shops were destroyed.The Congress-Hindu leaders sought the halp of the Malabar mappilas-a large group of mappilas from Pokkottoor reached Trichur on 2 March and camped at the Devaswam inn.They held a procession,with loud calls of Takbir.The city was terrorized.British Resident H H Burkitt and the Dewan called the rival factions,in which both of them agreed for a cease-fire.The mappilas returned,after holding a victory procession.They rose after five months in Malabar.
There is an unconfirmed report which says T E Lawrence had been to Kerala twice;I could confirm only one.Maybe there is a lot more in classified British secret dossiers.
Later, Lawrence gave up his colonial title, joined the Royal Air Force as a messenger boy and changed his name to T.E. Shaw. It was an effort to disguise his celebrityhood, an attempt at anonymity,which all spies prefer. Still hounded by the limelight, he planned to retire to his dream home, Clouds Hill, when he died in a motorcycle accident.
That Lawrence was married to Sheikh Abdullah's wife,has been denied by Nyla Ali Khan,in her book on Akbar Jehan,The Life of a Kashmiri Woman.Akbar Jehan,incidentally,is her grand mother.But in the book,she has failed to counter certain perceptions about Akbar Jehan.Former Director of Intelligence Burau,B N Mullick,in his book,My Years with Nehru,projects Akbar Jehan as the main beneficiary of Pakistani fundsthat flowed in to support The Plebiscite Front from 1954 when she died.The xerox copies of the receipts signed by 'Zeeanatul Islam ' are part of Mullick's book and 'Zeenatul Islam' was Akbar Jehan's code name.Simmilarly,Ghulam Ahmad,a confidant of Sheikh Abdullah,in his book,My Years with Sheikh Abdullah,has accused Akbar Jehan of forcing her husband to throw open the doors for corruption,nepotism and favouritism.Nobody has discussed whether Sheikh Abdullah infact,was the son of Motilal Nehru.
© Ramachandran
