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Ratna Raman
IDRIS: KEEPER OF THE LIGHT Anita Nair Fourth Estate, New Delhi, 2014, 380 pp., 599
April 2014, volume 38, No 4

Anita Nair locates Idris: Keeper of the Light in the seventeenth century and draws our attention to a period of time chronicled by the better known Gregorian calendar between 1625 AD to 1661 AD. (AH 1034- AH1071 according to the Islamic or Hijri calendar.). Examining life in Malabar in the 17th century, Nair draws the reader’s attention to the fact that the State records (Gandhavari) mention the Mamangams of 1647 and 1671.

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