TheTirurangadi Taluk Office, also known asHajur Kacheri, is a historic building located inTirurangadi Talk ofMalappuram District in theIndian state ofKerala. It houses the TirurangadiTaluk Office since the post-independenceMalabar District or British-eraMadras Presidency. The Taluk office, which was once theHajur Kacheri (Huzur Office) under the British, was one of the major administrative centers of theBritish government inMalabar region. The building also functioned as the headquarters of a short-livedKhilafat government during the rebellion.[1]
Tirurangadi was the capital of Cheranad taluk under theBritish Raj, which was the epicenter of the Khilafat movement andMalabar Rebellion (Moplah revolt) in 1921.[2][3] The building was known as the Hajur Kacheri (Huzur Office) under the British, and was one of the major administrative centers of the post-independence British-eraMadras Presidency. The building also functioned as the headquarters of a short-lived Khilafat government during the rebellion.
According to historians, there was a fort ofTipu Sultan situated opposite the Hajur Kacheri. The land described in the records as 'Kottapparamba' does not have any trace of a fort today.[4] In the 1780s and 1790s, the British defeated theMysore Army at Tirurangadi and after thetreaty of Srirangapatnam in 1791,[5] and took control of Tirurangadi and demolished the fort. It is said that the bricks and stones from the demolished fort were used for building Hajur Kacheri. The police station, offices of deputytehsildar and sub registrar, post office and travelers’ bungalow functioned at this building.
During theKhilafat Movement, theMappila warriors, under the leadership of clericAli Musliyar and Variyam Kunnath Kunjahammed Haji (V K Haji), captured the taluks ofEranadu andValluvanadu from the British and established their own rule and turned the building into their administrative headquarters where they had the court, administrative section and even the office for the issuance of passports.[1]
The building premises has the graves of British officers who had laid down their lives in the 1921Moplah Revolt[4] This includes that of Lt. William Rutherfoord Johnstone, Private F. M. Eley, Private H. C. Hutchings and William John Duncan Rowley who was the Assistant Superintendent of Police from Palghat who was killed at the outbreak of the Rebellion on 20 August 1921 at the age of 28. Though the building is under theArchaeological department, the Taluk office is still functioning. The Sub Registrar Office, Tirurangadi also works in the same compound. The state government is planning to declare it as a districtheritage site and to convert it into a museum.
Tirurangadi Taluk | |
|---|---|
Taluk | |
.svg) Location in Malappuram district, Kerala, India | |
| Coordinates:11°09′09″N75°57′24″E / 11.152610°N 75.956678°E /11.152610; 75.956678 | |
| Country |  India |
| State | Kerala |
| District | Malappuram |
| Headquarters | Tirurangadi |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Malayalam,English |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
| Vehicle registration | KL-65 |
Tirurangadi Taluk comes underTirur revenue division inMalappuram district ofKerala,India. Itsheadquarters is the town ofTirurangadi. Tirurangadi Taluk contains two municipalities -Tirurangadi, andParappanangadi. Most of the administrative offices are located in the Mini-Civil Station atTirurangadi. The position of the Tirurangadi Taluk inMalappuram district is given below:
The Tirurangadi Taluk is composed of 17 villages. They are:
