According
to oral tradition, in the fourteenth century, in the reign
of Sultan Osman (reigned 1388), there lived on the island
of Hululé, a poor man of, presumably, Yemeni descent
and his domineering wife. They were Hilaaly Kalo and Golaavahi
Kambulo. Golaavahi Kambulo was reputedly an astrologer of
some distinction.
When
she became pregnant, she decided to emigrate and settle down
in Malé some two kilometres to the Southwest. They
came to Malé on a borrowed coconut raft and asked Sultan
Osman permission to build their huts in the woods off the
eastern strand.
Nisf
Handeygirin, Prime Minister to Sultan Osman was also a well-known
astrologer. Evidently, he knew from his calculations that if
Golaavahi Kambulo and Hilaaly Kalo were allowed to settle down
in Malé , their children would depose Sultan Osman from
his throne.
The
Prime Minister presented himself before the Sultan to announce
the grim tidings and supposedly exclaimed: "a pregnant
toad has beached on Malé, Your Majesty!" In spite
of the objections of his Prime Minister, Sultan Osman insisted
that it was mean to deprive the poor newcomers of living space
in his capital. Accordingly he granted the couple from Hululé,
permission to clear a patch and build their hut as they wished.
At
length, Golaavahi Kambulo went into labour and gave birth to
twins, whom she named Hassan and Hussain. As the twins grew
up, Nisf Handeygirin kept a watchful eye on them, and persuaded
the Sultan to take Hussain into his service and to send Hassan
away to the provinces on government business.
One
night, while in the provinces, Hassan went to the beach
to answer the call of nature when he saw a large ship heading
for the reef. He swam to the ship and went aboard to
find that the ship had no crew. He cast anchor and went down
below to find that the hold was laden with treasures. The following
day he gathered a crew in the island and set sail for Malé
.
As
he weighed anchor off Malé, the Commander of the Sea
(Meerubahuru) sailed alongside Hassan’s ship and yelled out
in the traditional fashion: "to
what prince, courtier, minister or merchant does that ship belong?"
Hassan shouted back in reply that ship did not belong to any
prince, courtier, minister or merchant and that it belonged
to Hilaaly Hassan who had come with a shipload of treasures
as a present for Sultan Osman.
The
Commander of the Sea then returned ashore with Hassan and presented
himself before the Sultan. Sultan Osman was pleased and ordered
Hassan to arrange a fishing expedition on the ship for the following
day. Royal fishing trips were important occasions in those days,
much the same as royal hunts were in the countries of the neighbouring
continent. The next morning, Hassan excused himself from the
fishing trip and the Sultan took Hussain with him instead.
As
foretold by Nisf Handeygirin, Hassan took this opportunity to
depose Sultan Osman and ascend the throne himself. This took
place in AD 1388. The old sultan was banished to his native
Fehendu where he lived until his death. Hussain followed Sultan
Hassan to the throne and so began the Hilaaly Dynasty.
According
to the Tarikh, Sultan Osman was Prime Minister to Sultana
Daainu (reigned 1384 - 88) and Sultana Fatima (reigned 1379
-81 and better known as Raadafati Kambaadi Kilege. Raadafati
literally meant head of state). Raadafati Kambaadi Kilege was
the sister of the formidable queen, Sultana Khadija who reigned
three times beginning 1337 after deposing her half brother Sultan
Ahmed Shihabuddine and assassinating two of her husbands in
turn, who had usurped the throne subsequently. Sultana Fatima
was the last of the Lunar Dynasty sovereigns.
She
was deposed by a Moslem cleric by the name of Fagi Mohamed son
of Kaeumani Kaulhannaa Kilege of Maakuratu. His daughter Daainu
Kambaa succeeded him. She was deposed by her husband who ascended
the throne as Sultan Abdulla II and reigned a month and a half
before being assassinated by Osman of Fehendu.
The
interesting question was why the chief courtier to the sultan
of the Maldives was so interested in the domestic arrangements
and movements of a pair of nondescript peasants.
According
to the Tarikh, this chief courtier, Nisf Handeygirin
was a son of Muslim Abbas of Hilaal and was also called Maabandeyri
Yoosuf Handeygirin. (Nisf was probaly the result of misreading
the word Yoosuf, written in the Arabic script. Perhaps
the writing was not clear).
This
would have made him Hilaaly Kalo's brother. Hilaaly Kalo was
also known as Kulhiveri Hilaal Kaiulhanna Kaloge son of Muslim
Abbas of Hilaal. The term "Golaavahi" is a corruption
of the term "Kalavehi". This meant "noble household"
or "noble residence". "Golaavahi Kambulo"
literally meant "woman of noble household".
This
would lead one to believe that Golaavahi
Kambulo was a member of the nobility, whose offspring may have
had a claim on the throne. It
was very likely that she was a member of the then recently displaced
Lunar Dynasty, married to the
Prime Minister’s brother and forced to live in exile in Hululé.
That was why Nisf Handeygirin was so adamant that his brother
and sister-in-law were not allowed to return to Malé.
Nisf
Handeygirin also had designs on the throne for himself or his
son. According to oral tradition as related by Buraara Koi,
when Hilaaly Hassan deposed Osman of Fehendu, Nisf Handeygirin,
himself bound for exile with the deposed sultan, called out
to Hassan, "after Hassan will be Mohamed". Mohamed
was the Handeygirin’s son and he was asking Hassan to nominate
Mohamed as his successor. Hassan called out in reply, "after
Hassan will be Hussain and after Hussain will be Mohamed".
Hussain was Hassan’s twin brother. Hassan reigned for ten years.
Hassan’s son Ibrahim succeeded him, but was soon deposed by
the latter’s uncle Hussain who reigned for twelve years.
Nasiruddine
succeeded Hilaaly Hussain. According to oral tradition, Nasiruddine
was one of two brothers (named Nasrat and Salihat) from Chittagong
in Bengal who jumped ship and wormed their way into the favour
of the then prime minister. The Raadavali records Nasiruddine
as Golaavahi Nasiruddine. This would probably make the latter
a relative of the mother of the Hilaaly twins – a more likely
scenario.
Two
brothers succeeded Nasiruddine in turn, Hassan II and Isa,
who were seemingly unrelated to the Hilaalys. Ibrahim, son of
Hilaaly Hassan who ascended the throne for a second time and
reigned for nine years, deposed Isa. His brother Osman II
succeeded him and reigned three months
before he died. Nisf Handeygirin’s Mohamed succeeded
Osman II and reigned for just over a year.
Hilaaly
Hassan’s son Yoosuf II succeeded Mohamed and reigned for twenty-one
years before dying and being succeeded by his half brother
Abubakur I.
According
to Buraara Koi, as sultans did from time to time, Abubakur decided
to build a royal barge. He assembled all the reputable shipwrights
from the north and the south of his realm to Malé and
appointed as their head, the son of the chief shipwright of
the island of Himithi in Nilande Atoll. His name was not recorded
in the Raadavali.
Several
months later, the barge was finished and all the shipwrights
were handsomely paid off and sent off to their respective islands.
Himithy shipwright's son (or Himithy Maavadikoi, as Buraara
Koi called him or Mohamed Farhana Kalo according to the Raadavali)
stayed on to finish the final decorations on the barge. While
this was being carried out, Sultan Abubakur took the ladies
of the court on board to inspect the vessel. His daughter, the
Princess Recca (also known as Bulaa Maava Kilege or Cat Maava
Kilege) took one look at the handsome chief shipwright and fell
hopelessly in love with him. The feeling became mutual and the
Sultan finally gave his blessings to the marriage. The couple
were wed and moved into a house not far from the royal palace.
Princess
Recca’s mother Reccy had died several years earlier and Sultan
Abubakur had since remarried. Recca’s stepmother had always
been extremely jealous of the Sultan’s affection to his only
daughter. Now the prospect of grandchildren and a successor
other than her own children drove her to the desperate length
of poisoning Recca who fell very ill. All the physicians and
spiritual healers in Malé were unable to bring the princess
back to health. In desperation, Himithy Maavadikoi sent a message
home to his uncle in Himithi, who was the leading physician
south of Malé.
But
alas, before the old man could arrive the princess had died
late one afternoon. It was not the custom in those days to bury
the dead at night, as may be done now. So Recca was dressed
in a burial shroud and laid in her coffin to be buried soon
after daybreak. Overnight, a group of men sat reading the Koran
as they kept vigil over the coffin, when someone was heard clearing
his throat outside the house. Himithy Maavadikoi went out to
find his uncle at the door. The old man said that he would like
to examine the princess even if she were dead.
Now
it was taboo to un-shroud a dead body once it had been laid
in the coffin. However, Himithy Maavadikoi was able to persuade
the Koran readers to go home, saying that he and his uncle would
do the reading until daybreak. When they left the house, the
old physician pulled back the princess’ shroud and found her
to be in a coma. He was unable to revive her that night so they
removed her to an adjoining room.
They
knew, however, that if the Sultan arrived in the morning to
find his daughter’s lifeless body out of the coffin, they would
be severely punished. They, therefore, stuffed the shroud with
rocks and pillows and put it back into the coffin. The Sultan
and his household arrived in the morning and took the coffin
away for burial.
Himithy
Maavadikoi’s uncle stayed on in order to nurse the comatose
princess back to life and to complete recovery. Her husband
was still too scared to let anyone know of what had happened.
So he did not let her go out of the house. Over three years
they had as many children. The two older children were girls
whom they named Burecca and Reccy. The youngest was a boy whom
they named Ali.
Princess
Recca kept trying to persuade her husband to let her see her
father. Finally he agreed and asked her to prepare a luncheon
for the following Friday. He then invited Sultan Abubakur who
came to their house after the noon prayers on Friday. Since
the lady who served him water bore a remarkable resemblance
to his late daughter, the Sultan asked Himithy Maavadikoi when
he remarried and who his new wife was. Himithy Maavadikoi replied
that he never remarried and that the lady who served him water
was the Sultans own daughter Recca.
They
then explained to the dumb-founded Sultan all that had happened.
Sultan Abubakur embraced his daughter and grandchildren. He
became particularly fond of young Ali whom he nicknamed Yellow
Cat (could also mean "Fair Cat") and elevated him
to the title of Faarhanaa Kilege. The Raadavali Chronicle
refers to Ali as Don Bulaa Faarhanaa or the Yellow Cat Faarhanaa.
The
graves of Don Bulaa Faarhanaa and Abubakur remained in a common
enclosure within the cemetery of Malé 's Bodugalu Miskit
(Big Boulder Mosque) until the 1970's. There was a massive spherical
boulder about 60% of which was buried right next to the tombs.
The boulder had a very slight depression on top of it, stood
about 2 metres above ground, and was about 5 metres in diameter.
It served no known purpose and was probably connected with sun
worship prior to the introduction of Buddhism. My maternal grandmother's
house was next to this cemetery. Her grave and that of my brother
Abdul Majeed was also next to this boulder opposite the enclosure
of the two Sultans' tombs. The mosque, the cemetery and my grandmother's
(later my Uncle Abdul Hadi's) house was taken by the government
to extend the grounds of an adjacent primary school. The big
boulder may have marked the middle of the island of Malé,
although the traditional site marking the middle of the island
lay about 150 metres slightly south of east along Rahdebai Magu
(Town-halving Street). It's dimensions probably meant that it
had some connection with the ancient solar cult. I saw this
boulder with my own eyes.
Sultan
Abubakur returned to his palace that Friday afternoon and wasted
no time in divorcing his wife and banishing her to a remote
island. He then moved Recca and her family into the palace and
appointed the well-known teacher and martial arts expert, Ullavakkaaru
Eduru Umbraham Thakurufan to teach the three young children.
In
those days young princesses were educated in the martial arts
as much as young princes, a custom that prevailed to some extent,
right down to the early part of the twentieth century. It was
the Princess Burecca who out-shone her younger brother and sister
out on the field and in the schoolroom. She had always thought
that it would be she who would succeed her grandfather to the
throne. However several years after Abubakur I died, it was
the Yellow Cat Faarhanaa Kilege who came to the throne as Sultan
Ali V (reigned 1512 - 13).
Very
soon Burecca quarrelled with her brother, fled the Maldives,
and travelled east to the Kingdom of Aceh (known to the Maldivians
as Asey Cara) on the island of Sumatra, now part of Indonesia.
There she completed her education and perfected her martial
arts before returning home to depose her brother.
Her
fleet entered Malé harbour in the
dead of night. A vagrant boy by the name of Dathijahaa Hassansoru
raised the alarm. He alerted two military officials by the name
of Fahaafarhavaalu Koi and Dottadafi Eduru Ali Manikfan, both
of whom Burecca managed to bribe off. Young Hassansoru realised
what was happening and alerted old Ullavakkaaru Eduru Umbraham
Thakurufan who rushed to the waterfront with sword and shield
thinking that Malé was being attacked by Indians.
Burecca
presented him with a golden plate filled with treasures. He
kicked the plate with his sword, but went home without interfering
in a quarrel between his old pupils, the Sultan and his sister.
Burecca fought a duel with her brother on the square inside
the royal palace complex, several hours before dawn that morning.
She slew her brother and ascended the throne to rule jointly
with her husband Sultan Mohamed the Black. It was Mohamed the
Black's third accession to the throne. This
took place in 1513.
Burecca,
in spite of her ambitions, unlike several other ladies who occupied
the throne, did not take the title of Rehendi or Sultana. Instead
she took the title of Ranin or Queen Escort. Buraara Koi refers
to her as Buraki Ranin.
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