"While the Muslims claim he went to Arabia and became a Muslim, the Buddhists, Jains, Hindus, and Christians equally hold the last Perumal to have been an adherent of their faith. And whether Perumal’s conversion took place in the ninth century or not, it is a tradition which is very popular among the Malabar Muslims and which probably developed in Malabar itself, even though similar stories of ‘Shakarwati’ can be found in Islamic literature outside of India.42 According to the Qissat ShakarwatT the conversion of the Mappillas was effected by some of the Prophet’s com­panions who established mosques with waqf endowments in Malabar in the third decade of Islamic history.43 Most likely the tradition was in­ tended to support the ancient rights of the Muslim families who held juridical positions in Malabar and was then used to prove the antiquity and respectable origin of the Mappilla community in contrast to the North-Indian immigrant and convert Muslims.44 Historically the con­version of Ceruman Perumal is not attested, whether to Islam or any other faith. The story o f the conversion of the king and the partition of Malabar probably evolved from his having given important privileges to the Muslim trading communities."