Koya (Malabar)

Koya is a Muslim community, predominantly found in the city of Calicut in southern India. The powerful Koyas held the headmen position among the Mappila community in medieval Calicut. ^[1]

The Koyas are mostly concentrated in and around the Kuttichira region in Calicut. The Koya family was invited by Raja Keshavadas to Alleppey from Malabar during its formation. They were given permission to construct houses and conduct trade to various parts of Travancore Kingdom. The Koya family in Alleppey still have their Major undivided property and Tharavads like Pyngamadom, Puthen nalakam, Pulikkalakath, Puthenveedu, Vyranveedu. These Tharavads stand as historic monuments near Stone Bridge Alleppey. Koyas are also found on the Laccadive Islands as well as in other parts of the former South Malabar Taluk. ^{[2] [3]}

The Koyas followed maternal kinship system ("marumakathayam"). ^{[3] [2] [ page needed ]}

References

1. Kunhali, V. (20 June 1986). Muslim Communities in Kerala to 1798 (PDF). Semantic Scholar (PhD thesis). Aligarh Muslim University. Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 15 November 2024..
2. Rege, Sharmila (2003). Sociology of Gender: The Challenge of Feminist Sociological Thought. SAGE Publications. ISBN   978-0-76199-704-7.
3. Koya, P. M. Shiyaali (Professor of Sociology, retd, Zamorin's Guruvayurappan College). Koyas of Calicut: A Distinctive Matrilineal Social Group. Paper presented at Seminar On Matriliny Among Malabar Muslims—Continuity and Change, sponsored by the Indian Council of Social Science Research, in Calicut, 10–11 February 2007 (unpublished).

Further reading

• The Production of Cosmopolitanism among the Koyas of Kozhikode, Kerala (SOAS) Filippo Osella and Caroline Osella