The Kakaagé are one of the most prominent aristocratic families in the Maldives and the Indian-held island of Minicoy. They are descended from the Princess Kalhu Goma Aisha Rani Kilegefan, daughter of the King Mohamed Muizzuddine Iskander the thrid king of the Huraagey branch of the Hilaaly Dynasty. The Kakaagé were among the most powerful political families in the Maldives in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They produced outstanding prime ministers and courtiers and have remained prominent even during the current republican period.

The Kakaagé have a reputation of being totally honest and loyal with a pathological aversion to corruption. Most recently the trademark Kakaage integrity was displayed by Arif Hilmy who served the current Maldive regime as its minister of finance until resigning in order to choose integrity over position.

This writer's paternal grandfather who died in 1944 had an uncanny knack for analysing socio-political developments and making rather accurate extrapolations into the future. When he died, a diary was found containing his views on how the Maldives would develop into the future. Two of his predictions are worthy of note.

"This Velaanaagey Kuda Ibrahim Didi will one day lead this kingdom", he had written of an insignificant, semi-orphaned, adolescent boy who used to visit his home. The boy was his wife's great nephew who, years later, became well-known as Ibrahim Nasir Rannabandeyri Kilegefan, the architect of Maldive independence and first president of the second republic.

Only one of my grandfather's predictions still remains to be realised. "Once more" he had written, "a Kakaagé will lead this kingdom".

Kakaagey Ismail Didi

Mainly ladies of the immediate family of Kakaagey Ismail Didi

From left: Tuttu Amina Didi daughter of Henveyrugey Ali Kuda Rannabandeyri Kilegefan and Fatuma Didi (girl standing); Serikkal Donmanika the matriarch of the family and wife of Ismail Didi (seated); Ahmed Hilmy Didi later Faarhana Kilegefan on his mother Donmanika's lap; Fatuma Didi daughter of Ismail Didi and Donmanika (seated) Hassan Didi son of Henveyrugey Ali Kuda Rannabandeyri Kilegefan on his mother Fatuma Didi's lap;Tuttu Aisha Didi daughter of Henveyrugey Ali Kuda Rannabandeyri Kilegefan and Fatuma Didi (girl standing)

Standing at the back from left: Khadeeja Didi daughter of Ismail Didi and Donmanika; Maarandhoogey Aisha Didi wife of Hussain Hilmy Didi son of Ismail Didi and Donmanika; Rugiyya Hilmy Didi daughter of Ismail Didi and Donmanika and Aisha Didi daughter of Ismail Didi and Donmanika.

Serikkal Donmanika was a member of the prominent Minicoy Island family of Serikkal. This photo was taken late in 1923 or early in 1924.

The little girls are wearing an upper body unisex garment called kalhurumaa-kolhu, which was exclusively worn by senior members of the royalty and aristocracy and their immediate families. The two girls were entitled to wear it because their father was a peer of the realm. The dress code now enforced in the Maldives by mullahs would not tolerate the kalhurumaa-kolhu as it reveals the shoulders and the midriff. The traditional Maldive heritage is under threat of complete annihilation by the mullahs who are funded by colonialist Islamic states.


Kakaagey Abdulla Faarhana Kilagefan

A peer of the realm, Faarhana Kilegafan was the son of the Prince Kakaagey Ali Rannabandeyri Kilegafan son of Ibrahim Rannabandeyri and the Princess Aisha Rani Kilegefan (also known as Kakaagey Kalhu Goma) daughter of the Sultan Mohamed Muizzuddine Iskander and Donbeenaagey Amina Didi. Faarhana Kilegefan was the elder brother of Kakaagey Ismail Didi

Kakaagey Abdulla Faarhana Kilagefan with his grandson Ali Didi

Ali Didi's mother was Aisha Didi daughter of Kakaagey Ismail Didi and Serikkal Donmanika. Ali Didi's father was Kakaagey Hussain Didi. Ali Didi's elder daughter Kakaagey Amina Didi is the wife of the editor of this website

Kakaagey Abdulla Faarhana Kilegefan's wife, daughters and granddaughter

From left: Divehi Ganduvaru Khadeeja Manika (Faarhana Kilegefan's daughter) and her sister Amina Manika standing at the back. The older lady seated is their mother Divehi Ganduvaru Aysha Manika. The child on her lap is Khadeeja Manika's daughter Fatima Manika. Circa mid 1920s. These ladies were born lived and died in Minicoy.

Kakaagey Mohamed Rannabandeyri Kilagefan

A peer of the realm, Rannabandeyri Kilegefan was the eldest brother of Faarhanaa Kilegafan and Ismail Didi. Mohamed Rannabandeyri Kilegafan was several times Prime Minister of the Maldives in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

Kakaagey group in Minicoy Island

From left: Hilihilaagey Moosa Didi husband of Tuttu Amina Didi, the girl standing on the left in the photo at the top; Kakaagey Hussain Didi known in Minicoy as Divehi Ganduvaru Hussain Manikfan son of Abdullah Faarhana Kilegafan and Divehi Ganduvaru Aysha Manika; Olhudhugothi Khadeeja Manika daughter of Hussain Didi and Kakaagey Ali Didi son of Hussain Didi and Kakaagey Aisha Didi. Circa late 1950s

Kakaagey Hussain Didi and his son Ali Didi

In Minicoy circa late 1950s

Kakaagey Aisha Didi in hospital

Kakaagey Ali Didi's mother Kakaagey Aisha Didi (recovering from an operation in the 1970s in Colombo) and her brother Kakaagey Ahmed Hilmy Faarhanaa Kilegefan, at that time Maldive ambassador to Sri Lanka

Kakaagey Hussain Hilmy Didi

Kakaagey Ismail Didi and Serikkal Donmanika's son Hussain Hilmy Didi was a well-known amateur photographer and senior diplomat who had his work exhibited with much accolade in Colombo in what was then Ceylon. It was Hussain Hilmy Didi who took the photograph at the top of this page

King Kula Sundhura Katthiribavana (reigned 1892 and 1903-1933)

King of Twelve Thousand Isles and Sultan of the Maldives, also known as Mohamed Shamsuddine III Iskander. He was the son of the King Ibrahim Nooreddine Iskander (reigned 1882-1886 and 1888 - 1892) and Kakaagey Goma daughter of Veyogey Manippulu and Kakaagey Khadeeja Kambaadhi Kilegefan, sister of Kakaagey Ismail Didi. Henveyrugey Ali Kuda Rannnabandeyri Kilegafan, son-in-law of Ismail Didi was the son of Kakaagey Khadeeja Kambaadhi Kilegefan and Henveyrugey Don Hassan Didi (Hakuraa Manikfan)

Veyogey Don Goma

The Princess Don Goma daughter of the King Ibrahim Nooreddine and Kakagey Goma daughter of Veyogey Manippulu and Kakaagey Khadeeja Kambaadhi Kilegefan, sister of Kakaagey Ismail Didi. This photograph was taken while she was receiving medical treatment at a hospital abroad- hence the most unusual attire. Her eldest son became the final monarch of our dynasty and that of the Maldives.

Kakaagey Ismail Didi and Serikkal Donmanika's family in 1953

Seated on the ground from left; Arifa daughter of Tuttu Amina Didi and Hilihilaagey Moosa Didi; Zubaida younger sister of Arifa; Raziyya daughter of Tuttu Aisha Didi and Hilihilaagey Mohamed Didi brother of Moosa Didi; Anvarie daughter of Tuttu Ahmed Didi and Habeeba daughter of the Prince Ibrahim Habeeb Manippulu son of the Princess Don Goma daughter of the King Ibrahim Nooreddine Iskander and Kakaagey Goma; Shamsudheen Hilmy Didi son of Hussain Hilmy Didi and the Princess Titti Gomafulu daughter of the King Siri Kula Sundhura Katthiribavana and Medu Ganduvaru Dorhy Goma; Husna youngest daughter of Tuttu Amina Didi and Hilihilaagey Moosa Didi; Fathmath Hilmy Didi daughter of Hussain Hilmy Didi and Giniraahigey Amina Didi; Habeeba Hilmy daughter of Ibrahim Hilmy Didi and Badialibeygey Sitti daughter of Sayyid-Moosa Maafaiy Kilegefanuge Dorhy Seedi and Malin Manippulhuge Aisha Didi (Habeeba later married her first cousin Shamsuddine Hilmy Didi); Hafsa Hilmy elder sister of Habeeba.

Seated from left: Hassan Didi son of Fatuma Didi and Henveyrugey Ali Kudarannabandeyri Kilegefan; Ali Didi son of Aisha Didi and her first cousin Kakaagey Hussain Didi; Aisha Didi daughter of Ismail Didi and Donmanika; Ibrahim Hilmy Didi son of Ismail Didi and Donmanika; Abdullah Hilmy Didi son of Ismail Didi and Donmanika; Rugiyya Hilmy Didi daughter of Ismail Didi and Donmanika; Ahmed Hilmy Didi later Faarhana Kilagefan son of Ismail Didi and Donmanika; Anwar Hilmy Didi son of Hussain Hilmy Didi and Maarandoogey Aisha Didi. Hussain Hilmy Didi was the eldest son of Ismail Didi and Donmanika.

Standing from left: Tuttu Fatuma Didi daughter of Aisha Didi and her first cousin Kakaagey Hussain Didi; Tuttu Aisha Didi daughter of Fatuma Didi and Henveyrugey Ali Kuda Rannabandeyri Kilegafan; Hussain Didi son of of Fatuma Didi and Henveyrugey Ali Kuda Rannabandeyri Kilegafan; Serikkal Ibrahim Manikfan nephew of Donmanika and husband of her daughter Rugiyya Hilmy Didi; Tuttu Ahmed Didi son of Fatuma Didi and Henveyrugey Ali Kuda Rannabandeyri Kilegafan; Tuttu Amina Didi daughter of Fatuma Didi and Henveyrugey Ali Kuda Rannabandeyri Kilegafan; Moomina Didi daughter of Fatuma Didi and Henveyrugey Ali Kuda Rannabandeyri Kilegafan. Fatuma Didi was the eldest daughter of Ismail Didi and Donmanika. Photo taken very early in January 1953.

Note that "Tuttu", in the context that it was used prefixed to names, was a kinship term denoting one's place in the extended family. Someone called Ahmed Didi, for example, would be Tuttu Ahmed Didi if there were another elder Ahmed Didi still alive and without a peerage title, in the extended family. If there were three Ahmed Didis then the second would become Don Ahmed Didi; if there were four, the youngest would be Kuda Ahmed Didi. Where there were more name-clashes, combinations of these prefixes were used, eg: Tuttudon etc. One prolific family ran out of known kinship terms and prefixed the last one with "Aneh" ("Other")! The lower classes had slightly different arrangements even if they used the same prefixes.

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