Many families at Beypore and Chaliam are employed in this work for generations. Majority of Khalasis are Muslims and Khalasis are sometimes called Mappila Khalasis. Khalasis work under a leader called Mooppan. Khalasis are employed at Cochin and Visakhapatnam ports.
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Traditional workers at Beypore repairing an Uru Khalasis are a group of people traditionally employed at ports and dockyards. Khalasi is an Arabic word which means dockyard worker, sailor, lascar etc. Khalasis are concentrated at Beypore and nearby areas in Kozhikode district in Kerala, India. Traditional job profile of Khalasis focus on drawing the ships and boats on shore for maintenance and repair and also pushing the same back to the sea.
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The word Khalasi in Arabic means a dockyard worker, sailor or lascar. A member of the Muslim community in Kerala is generally known as Mappila. Since majority of the Khalasis are Muslims they came to be called a Mappila Khalasis. Beypore being an exclusive timber outlet of Kerala has been a fascination for many seafaring people, especially the Arabs.
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The services of Khalasis were utilized by the Railways for retrieving the bodies from the water in the Peruman Rail Accident (July 1988).
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They were mainly into ship building and slowly a ship building industry developed in Beypore. Their main constructions were the Arab trading dhows (Arabic name for Uru). As the industry flourished, the demand for skilled laborers to move these ships to and from the sea increased, which in turn resulted in the rise of the Khalasis. There are many families in Beypore and Chaliyam in the Kozhikode district of Kerala, who have been working as Khalasis for generations.
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No machinery was employed for the purpose. Dabber (daver), slenky, ropes and pulley were the only tools used. The Khalasis mainly relied on physical strength, skill and teamwork. Many of them are skilled divers.
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Khalasis have a history dating back to over 2000 years. Derived from the Arabic word Khalas meaning release, the word Khalasi is now used both in Malayalam and in Hindi, to refer to anyone who releases a ship or boat into the water. The Khalasis of Malabar engaged in boat building and boat repair use simple but cleverly designed equipment and devices put together by ancestors that leverage muscular strength quite amazingly. Though education is hardly their strength, what they have in abundance is a natural wisdom and simple commonsense.
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As the Khalasis exert pressure on the handles with the accompaniment of their traditional work songs that fill the entire atmosphere with vigour and vitality the huge mass; be it a ship or a heavy wooden plank, moves with ease to the amusement of the watching it. Not just ships, the Idukki dam, Feroke Bridge, Vadakkumbadu Bridge and the Mahanadi Bridge in Orissa; all these huge constructions stand testimony to the amazing skills and teamwork of the Khalasi people. Their skill also had been utilised for building the huge clock in the makkah royal clock tower which possesses the world record of tallest and largest clock in the world. The incredible skill of Khalasis was also used to winch out the bogies during some of the major train accidents in India.
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In all, the official inquiry established the number of people rescued from Jeddah as 18 crew members (one of whom was working his passage), one second engineer, one supercargo, and 992 passengers (778 men, 147 women, and 67 children, not counting infants in arms). In all, 18 people died during the incident, including the second mate, three Khalasis, and 14 passengers.
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According to H. E. A. Cotton Taltala was chiefly peopled by Bihari Muslim khalasis and lascars. Wellesley Street (renamed Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road) is described as a ‘fine broad thoroughfare’, along the course of which is situated Wellesley Square (renamed Haji Mohd. Mohsin Square). To the north of it is the Madrasa.Cotton, H.E.A., Calcutta Old and New, 1909/1980, p.
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The skills of the Khalasi community have amazed the sailors and merchants from European and Mediterranean countries, which brought them to Beypore to buy Urus. The native technique employed by Khalasis for their work is based on the principle of pulleys. The equipment consists of wooden rails, rollers and ropes. The wooden pole is moulded as windlass and pulleys and hawsers are used for leverage.
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Kerala had an abundant supply of wood and skilled labor which was utilized for ship building. Francis Buchanan has made a reference about the ships built at Bepore which were used for military purposes. Khalasis are a group of people traditionally involved in the construction of Urus. They are also used to draw the Urus ashore for maintenance and repair and also pushing the same back to the sea.
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