SOCIO-RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS IN KERALA 29 cemeteries*. Between 1836 and 1898 there was a succession of peasant revolts, the first of which broke out in the taluk of Ernad. These revolts often involved the murder of Hindu jenmis, which—from the religious point of view—might be regarded as a meritorious action against injustice/ On the religious plane., the Muslims of Kerala were either Sunnis or Shias in function of two lineages both of whom claimed to be related to the Prophet. Their religious customs had been influenced by their environment, but they observed the classical Muslim rites and celebrated their own festivals. Certain groups had adopted the marumak allay am matrimonial system (those in north of Malabar) but most them, as is normal in the Koran, kept to the patriarchal., or makattayam, system. Both polygamy and divorce were accepted practices. There were a great many of these Moplah peasant revolts, but one in particular—that of 1921—had especially deep repercussions on the group. This revolt broke out after certain emancipation movements (of which we shall speak later) had already developed. The immediate circumstance of the outbreak were connected with the Khalifat movement although these in fact merely served as the catalyst in a situation in which social relations between the landowners and the small tenant farmers had deteriorated to an almost unbelievable extent. The wretchedness of the Moplahs had reached such a point that it had become practically impossible for them to survive. Though they had revolted several times, they failed to better their lot, for the British authorities generally supported the landowners. While it is true that a law passed in 1887, at the instigation of Logan had improved their situation, another law—the repressive Moplah Outrage Act of 1854—had led to a number of atrocities committed by British police agents. The Khalifat Movement and its Impact The Khalifat movement was the reaction of the Indian Muslim world to the results of the First World War. During this struggle, Indian troops had been engaged in fighting, in Mesopotamia and in Palestine, against Turkey, whose Sultan was also the Caliph, one of the most powerful leaders of Islam. The defeat of the Turks by the Allies, the occupation of Constantinople, and above all the Treaty of Sevres in 1920, appeared to the Indian Muslims, who had been fighting with the British, to constitute a betrayal of their loyalty. This led to the agitation, which in Kerala was led by the brothers Mohammed and Shaukat Ali, against the Government of the Viceroy and in favour of the Caliph. Gandhi allied himself with this agitation in the hope of uniting the Islamic and Hindu groups in the national movement. The Khalifat movement itself was led by elements of the middle class and preached non-violence. When the Turkish revolution occurred in 1922, its objective ceased to exist and it died out of itself.