(The article first appeared in Scroll on June 30, 2024)
One of the stories central to the history of Kerala is that of the king Cheraman Perumal who leaves for Mecca on a pilgrimage, meets the Prophet himself, and converts to Islam. He is given the name Thajuddin. While traveling back, he dies in Oman, but his companions travel back to Kerala leading to the establishment of Islam in Kerala in 629 Common Era. This story stands at one end of the long association of Kerala with the Indian Ocean, that brought in the Chinese from the east and the Portuguese and Dutch from the west…