MALABAR MANUAL by William Logan Along Wi PDF

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MALABAR Vol 2
MALABAR
MALABAR
by
William Logan
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by
William Logan
Along with a Commentary by
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COMMENTARY Go back! MALABAR Vol 1 Find! MALABAR Vol 2
CORRECTED VERSION: 30th Oct 2019

This is a new version of the book released on Oct 30th 2019. A few numbers of
typos have been corrected, including a grievous one found on page no. 852.
It should be noted that this digital book version can have various kinds of errors in
spelling, grammar etc. These errors would be continuously corrected as and when
convenient for us.
Published by
VICTORIA INSTITUTIONS
Aaradhana, DEVERKOVIL 673508 India
www.victoriainstitutions.com
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Date of publishing: January 3rd 2018
Date of updated version: 30th Oct 2019
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Commentary Commentary Contents
on
William Logan’s
‘Malabar’
Written by
William Logan's Malabar is popularly known as ‘Malabar Manual’. It is a huge book

of more than 500,000 words. It might not be possible for a casual reader to imbibe all
the minute bits of information from this book.
However, in this commentary of mine, I have tried to insert a lot of such bits and
pieces of information, by directly quoting the lines from ‘Malabar’. On these quoted
lines, I have built up a lot of arguments, and also added a lot of explanations and
interpretations. I do think that it is much easy to go through my Commentary than to
read the whole of William Logan's book 'Malabar'. However, the book, Malabar,
contains much more items, than what this Commentary can aspire to contain.
This book, Malabar, will give very detailed information on how a small group of
native-Englishmen built up a great nation, by joining up extremely minute bits of
barbarian and semi-barbarian geopolitical areas in the South Asian Subcontinent.
This Commentary of mine is of more than 240,000 words. I have changed the
erroneous US-English spelling seen in the text, into Englander-English (English-UK).
It seemed quite incongruous that an English book should have such an erroneous
spelling. Maybe it is part of the doctoring done around 1950.
At the end of each chapter, if there is space, a picture depicting the real looks of the
ordinary peoples of this subcontinent is placed. Most of them do not represent the
social leaders of the place of those times. Just the oppressed peoples of the land.
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“We can only say, stupidity is an illness for which there is no cure. They
(the peoples of south-Asia) believe that there is no country as great as theirs, no
nation like theirs, no kings like theirs, no religion like theirs, no science like theirs.
They are arrogant, foolish and vain, self-conceited, and indifferent. They are by
nature miserly in sharing their knowledge, and they take the greatest of efforts to
hide it from men of another caste among their own people, and also, of course,
from foreigners. According to their firm belief, there is no other country on earth
but theirs, no other race of man but theirs, and no human being besides them
have any knowledge or science and such other things. Their conceit is such that, if
you inform them of any science or scholar in Khurasan and Persia, they will
define you as an idiot and a liar. If they travel and mix with other people in other
nations, they would change their mind fast. ....” Al-Biruni (Circa: 4 September 973
– 9 December 1048)
... and even in genuinely ancient deeds it is frequently found that the facts
to be gathered from them are unreliable owing to the deeds themselves having
been forged at periods long subsequent to the facts which they pretend to state.
Quote from Malabar by William Logan, on the quality of historical records
of the South Asian Subcontinent.
"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls
before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend
you." –Matthew 7:6 Bible - King James Version
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Malabar Manual
CONTENTS
1. My aim
2. The information divide
3. The layout of the book
4. My own insertions
5. The first impressions about the contents
6. India and Indians
7. An acute sense of not understanding
8. Entering a terrible social system
9. The doctoring and the manipulations
10. What was missed or unmentioned, or even fallaciously defined
11. NONSENSE
12. Nairs / Nayars
13. A digression to Thiyyas
14. Designing the background
15. Content of current-day populations
16. Nairs / Nayars
17. The Thiyya quandary
18. The terror that perched upon the Nayars
19. The entry of the Ezhavas
20. Exertions of the converted Christian Church
21. Ezhava-side interests
22. The takeover of Malabar
23. Keralolpathi
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24. About the language Malayalam
25. Superstitions
26. Misconnecting with English
27. Feudal language
28. Claims to great antiquity
29. Piracy
30. CASTE SYSTEM
31. Slavery
32. The Portuguese
33. The DUTCH
34. The French
35. The ENGLISH
36. Kottayam
37. Mappillas
38. Mappilla outrages against the Nayars and the Hindus
39. Mappilla outrage list
40. What is repulsive about the Muslims?
41. Hyder Ali
42. Sultan Tippu
43. Women
44. Laccadive Islands
45. Ali Raja
46. Kolathiri
47. Kadathanad
48. The Zamorin and other apparitions
49. The Jews
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50. SOCIAL CUSTOMS
51. Hinduism
52. Christianity
53. Pestilence, famine etc.
54. British Malabar versus Travancore kingdom
55. Judicial
56. Revenue and administrative changes
57. Rajas
58. Forests
59. Henry Valentine Conolly
60. Miscellaneous notes
61. Culture of the land
62. The English efforts in developing the subcontinent
63. Famines
64. Oft-mentioned objections
65. Photos and picture of the Colonial times
66. Payment for the Colonial deeds
67. Calculating the compensation

a. Bringing in peace and civility to the location
b. Emancipation of slaves
c. Educating the peoples
d. Creating a huge egalitarian administrative system
e. Postal Department
f. Railways
g. Hospitals and public healthcare
h. Judiciary
i. Land Registration Department
j. Police department
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k. Public Service Commissions

l. Free trade routes
m. Sanitation
n. Public Conveniences
o. Forest Department.
p. Indian army
q. Miscellaneous
r. Various statutory councils, civil aviation, rules, decorum &c.
s. Now, let us speak about concepts.
t. Roadside trees
u. Freedom of press
v. Overrunning independent kingdoms
w. People quality enhancement
68. Complete list of Compensation dues
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My aim
First of all, I would like to place on record what my interest in this book is. I
do not have any great interest in the minor details of Malabar or Travancore. Nor
about the various castes and their aspirations, claims and counterclaims.
My interest is basically connected to my interest in the English colonial rule in

the South Asian Subcontinent and elsewhere. I would quite categorically mention that
it is ‘English colonialism’ and not British Colonialism (which has a slight connection to
Irish, Gaelic and Welsh (Celtic language) populations).
Even though I am not sure about this, I think the book Malabar was made as
part of the Madras Presidency government’s endeavour to create a district manual for
each of the districts of Madras Presidency. William Logan was a District Collector of
the Malabar district of Madras Presidency. The time period of his work in the district is
given in this book as:
6th June 1875 to 20th March 1876 (around 9 months) as Ag. Collector. From
9th May 1878 to 21st April 1879 (around 11 months) as Collector. From 23rd
November 1880 to 3rd February 1881 (around 2 months) as Collector. Then from 23rd
January 1883 to 17th April 1883 (around 3 months) as Collector. After all this, he is
again posted as the Collector from 22nd November 1884.
In this book, the termination date of his appointment is not given. Moreover,
I have no idea as to why he had a number of breaks within his tenure as the district
Collector of Malabar district.
Since this book is seen as published on the 7th of January 1887, it can safely be
assumed that he was working on this book during his last appointment as Collector on
the 22nd of November 1884.
From this book no personal information about William Logan, Esq. can be
found out or arrived at.
It is seen mentioned in a low-quality content website that he is a ‘Scottish

officer’ working for the British government. Even though this categorisation of him as
being different from British subjects / citizens has its own deficiencies, there are some
positive points that can be attached to it also.
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He has claimed the authorship of this book. There are locations where other
persons are attributed as the authors of those specific locations. Also, there is this
statement: QUOTE: The foot-notes to Mr. Græmo’s text are by an experienced Native Revenue
Officer, Mr. P. Karunakara Menon. END OF QUOTE.
The tidy fact is that the whole book has been tampered with or doctored by
many others who were the natives of this subcontinent. Their mood and mental
inclinations are found in various locations of the book. The only exception might be
the location where Logan himself has dealt with the history writing. More or less
connected to the part where the written records from the English Factory at
Tellicherry are dealt with.
His claim, asserted or hinted at, of being the author of the text wherein he is
mentioned as the author is in many parts possibly a lie. In that sense, his being a
‘Scottish officer’, and not an ‘English officer’ might have some value.
The book Malabar ostensibly written by William Logan does not seem to have
been written by him. It is true that there is a very specific location where it is evident
that it is Logan who has written the text. However, in the vast locations of the textual
matter, there are locations where it can be felt that he is not the author at all.
There are many other issues with this book. I will come to them presently. Let
me first take up my own background with regard to this kind of books and scholarly
writings.
I need to mention very categorically that I am not a historian or any other kind
of person with any sort of academic scholarship or profundity. My own interest in this
theme is basically connected to my interest in the English colonial administration and
the various incidences connected to it.
I have made a similar kind of work with regard to a few other famous books. I
am giving the list of them here:
1. TRAVANCORE STATE MANUAL by V Nagam Aiya
2. NATIVE LIFE IN TRAVANCORE by Rev. Samuel Mateer F.L.S
3. Castes & Tribes Of Southern India Vol 1 by Edgar Thurston
4. OMENS AND SUPERSTITIONS OF SOUTHERN INDIA by EDGAR
THURSTON
5. MEIN KAMPF by Adolf Hitler - demystification!
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Of the above books, the first four I have recreated into much readable digital
books. After that I added a commentary on the contents of each book.
For the fifth book, I have only written a commentary. No attempt was made
to recreate it into a more readable digital book. For, the book is available elsewhere in
many formats in very highly readable forms. Both digital as well as print version.
Why I have mentioned this much about the way I work on these books is to
convey the idea that when I work on a book to create a readable digital version, I get to
read the text, invariably.
In the case of this book, Malabar, I have gone through each line and
paragraph. It is possible that I have missed a lot of errors in my edited version. For, I
did not get ample time to proofread. For, taking out the text from very faint, scanned
versions of the original book was a very time-taking work. The work was tedious. And
apart from that, getting to reformat the text is an extremely slow-paced work.
But the word-by-word working on the text gave me the opportunity to go

through the text in a manner which no casual reader might do. I could enter in almost
every nook and corner of the textual matter. And many minor, and yet significant
information have come into my notice.
Since I have done a similar work on Travancore State Manual by V Nagam

Aiya and on Native Life in Travancore by Rev. Samuel Mateer, I have had the
opportunity to understand the contemporary happenings of those times in the next
door native-king ruled kingdom of Travancore.
Apart from all that, I do personally have a lot of information on this landscape
and how it experienced and reacted to the English rule. It goes without saying that the
current-day formal history assertions about the English colonial rule are totally
misleading and more or less absolute lies. Even the geographical frame on which this
history has been built upon is wrong and erroneous.
I have been hearing the words to the effect: Logan said this or that in his
Malabar Manual, on many things concerning the history and culture of Malabar.
However, it was only in this year, that is, 2017, that I got a full page copy of his Two
volume book.
Even though this book is named Malabar, it is generally known as the Malabar
Manual in common parlance. I think this is due to the fact that this book must have been a
part of the District Manuals of Madras (circa 1880), which were written about the
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various districts, which were part of the Madras Presidency of the English-rule period
in the Subcontinent. In fact, this is the understanding one gets from reading a
reference to this book in Travancore State Manual written by V Nagam Aiya. In fact,
Nagam Aiya says thus about his own book: ‘I was appointed to it with the simple instruction
that the book was to be after the model of the District Manuals of Madras’.
I initiated my work on this book without having any idea as to what it

contained, other than a general idea that it was a book about the Malabar district of
Madras Presidency.
However, as I progressed with the work and the reading, a very ferocious
feeling entered into me that this is a very contrived and doctored version of events and
social realities. In the various sections of the book, wherein there is no written
indication that it is not written by Logan, I have very clearly found inclinations and
directions of leanings shifting. In certain areas, they are totally opposite to what had been
the direction of leaning in a previous writing area.
It is very easily understood that words do have direction codes not only in
their code area, but also in the real world location. A slight change of adjective can
shift the direction of loyalty, fidelity and fealty from one entity to another. A hue of a hint or
suggestion can shift this direction. With a single word or adjective or usage, placed in an
appropriate location with meticulous precision, an individual’s bearing and aspirations
can be differently defined. An explanation for an action can be changed from a grand
action to a gratuitous deed.
Only a very minor part of this book could be the exact textual input of
William Logan. Other parts of the book which are not mentioned as of others can
actually be the writings of a few others.
This book has been written for the English administrators. From that
perspective, there would be no attempt on the part of William Logan to fool or deceive
the English administrators, with regard to the realities of the inputs of English
administration. This is the only location in this book, where everything is honest.
In all the other parts, half-truths, partial truths, partial lies, total lies and total
suppression of information are very rampant. Moreover, there might even be total
misrepresentation of events and populations. The natives of the subcontinent who
have very obviously participated in the creation of this book have made use of the
opportunity presented to them to insert their own native-land mutual jealousies, repulsions,
antipathies etc. in a most subtle manner. This very understated and very fine and slender
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manner of inserting errors into the textual content has been resorted to, just to be in
sync with the general gentleness of all English colonial stances.
That was the first attempt at doctoring the contents of this book.
There was again a second attempt at doctoring the contents of this book. That
was in 1951. On reading the text itself I had a terrific feeling that some terrible
manipulation and doctoring had been accomplished on this book much after it had
been first published in 1887. For, this book was actually an official publication of the
British colonial administration in the Madras Presidency. However, the flavour of a
British / English colonial book was not there in the digital copy of the book which I
had in my hands. This copy had been a re-edited and reprinted work, published in
1951.
Some very fine aura of an English colonial book was seen to have been wiped
out. Even though it could be quite intriguing as to why an original book had to be
edited and various minor but quite critical changes had been inserted into this book,
there are very many reason that why such malicious actions have been done. In fact,
after the formation of three nations inside the South Asian Subcontinent, there have
been many kinds of manipulations on the recorded history of the location. This has
been done to suit the policy aims of the low-class nations that have sprung up in the
region.
On checking the beginning part of the book, I found this writing:
QUOTE: In the year 1948, in view of the importance of the book,

the Government ordered that it should be reprinted. The work of reprinting
was however delayed, to some extent, owing to the pressure of work in the
Government Press. While reprinting the spelling of the place names have, in
some cases, been modernized.
Egmore, B. S. BALIGA,
17th September 1951 Curator, Madras Record Office
END OF QUOTE
So, that much admission from a government employee is there.
A few decades back, I was staying in a metropolitan city of India. This city had
been the headquarters of one of the Presidencies of British-India. I need to explain
what a Presidency is. For there might be readers who do not understand this word.
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The English colonial rule in the South Asian Subcontinent actually was
centred on three major cities. Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. Even though the colonial
rule is generally known as British-rule and the location as British-India, there are
certain basic truths to be understood. The so-called British-rule was more or less an
English-rule, centred on a rule by England. It was not a Celtic language or Celtic
population rule.
William Logan, who purports to be the author of this book, is not an

Englishman. So to that extent, he is removed from the actual fabulous content of the
English-rule in the subcontinent.
The second point to mention is that even though there is a general

misunderstanding that the whole of the subcontinent was part of British-India and
British-Indian administration, the rough truth is that most of the locations outside the
afore-mentioned three Presidencies were not part of British-India or British-Indian
administration.
However, due to the extremely fabulous content quality of the British-Indian

administration, as well as the quaint refined quality, dignified way of behaviour,
honourableness, sense of commitment and dependability of the English
administration, all the other native-kingdoms which existed in the near proximity of
the Presidencies inside the subcontinent, more or less adhered intimately to British-
India without any qualms. For, there are no self-depreciating verbal usages of servitude
in English. In the native feudal-languages of the location, such a connection would
have affected their stature very adversely in the verbal codes. [Please read the chapter
on Feudal Languages in this Commentary)
In the local culture, the exact traditional history is that of backstabbing, treachery,
usurping of power, going back on word, double-crossing &c. When a very powerful political
entity appeared on the scene, which was seen quite bereft of all these sinister qualities,
everyone understood that it was best to connect to this entity.
However, this was to lead these kingdoms to their disaster and doom later on.
For, a general feeling spread that all these kingdoms were part of British-India. Even in
England this was the general feeling. An extremely disparaging usages such as ‘Princely
state’ and ‘Indian Prince’ came to be used in English language to define them, due to
this misunderstanding.
Actually the independent kingdoms were not ‘Princely states’. Nor were their
kings mere ‘Indian princes’. They were kings. For instance, Travancore was not a
Princely State. It was an independent kingdom. It was true that it was in alliance with
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British-India. To use this term ‘alliance’ to mention Travancore as bereft of its own
sovereignty, is utter nonsense.
For, it is like saying that Kuwait is part of USA just because it is under the US
protection. Or Japan, and many other similar low-class nations, which have made use
of a close contact with the US to bolster up their own nations.
Travancore did mention its own stature as an independent kingdom very

forcefully in a legal dispute with the Madras government.
Dewan Madava Row wrote thus to the government of the Madras Presidency
in 1867: QUOTE:
(1 The jurisdiction in question is an inherent right of sovereignty
(2 The Travancore State being one ruled by its own Ruler possesses that right
(3 It has not been shown on behalf of the British Government that the
Travancore State ever ceded this right because it was never ceded, and
END OF QUOTE
However, for the independent kingdoms in the subcontinent, this close

connection with British-India later turned out to be a suicidal stranglehold. For, in the
immediate aftermath of World War 2, a total madman and insane criminal became the
Prime Minister of Britain. In his totally reckless administration that lasted around five
years, he tumbled down the English Empire, all over the world.
In the South Asian subcontinent, the British-Indian army was divided into two
and handed over to two politicians who had very good connection to the British
Labour Party leaders.
These two leaders used the might of the British-Indian army which had come
into their own hands to more or less run roughshod over all the native-kingdoms of
the subcontinent. They were all forcefully added to the two newly-created nations,
Pakistan and India. This action might need to be discussed from a very variety of
perspectives. However, this book does not aim to go into that detail.
However, the dismantling of the English-rule was disastrous to the people. In

the northern parts of the subcontinent, which is mainly the Hindi hinterland, a
communal confrontation took place between the Muslims and the non-Muslim
populations. Around 10 lakh (1 million) people were slaughtered. Burned, and hacked.
Towns and villages which had lived in total peace and prosperity under the English-
rule became battlegrounds. No house or household was safe. People had the
heartbreaking experience of seeing their youngsters broken down physically.
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This was how the two nations of Pakistan and India were founded. Compared
to the other parts of the subcontinent, the average social-quality of Hindi-speakers is
low. This itself is a very fabulous illustrative point. For, on seeing Hindi films one
might get a feeling that the Hindi-speakers are of a very resounding quality. Even
native-English nations are being befooled by the Bombay (Hindi) film world, with the
cunning use of fabulous Hindi films.
However, the truth remains that all over the subcontinent, including Pakistan,
India and Bangladesh, the lower-placed sections of the feudal-language speaking
sections of the populations do suffer from a mental and social suppression that cannot
be seen or understood in English.
Now coming back to the madman who dismantled the English-Empire in the
subcontinent and elsewhere, I personally do not know what retribution he received
from providence. However, for the terrible suffering he let loose all around the world
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in general and in the South Asian Subcontinent in particular, he deserves to rot in hell
till eternity. Not only him, but all those who support his evil deed also deserve just
retribution from Nemesis.
Let me go back to the point I left. I was staying in a Metropolitan city in India
which had been a headquarters city of one British-Indian Presidency, a few decades
back. I was quite young. I had a casual conversation with an old man who had been a
contemporary of the English-rule period in the city.
I asked him about the general quality of the Englishmen who had been
officers in the administration. He said, they were all quite nice. But then, they were cut-
off from the people. They had around them a coterie of natives of the subcontinent.
These persons were generally the Hindus (Brahmins &c.) and other higher castes.
There were lower castes also. However, all of them kept the native-English officers
inside a social corridor which they controlled. They acted quite nice and coy to the
native-English officers. But actually they were very cunning, and self-centred and had very
obvious selfish interests.
This much this man told me. However, the vast amplitude of the information
is like this:
The gullible native-English officers acted as per the advice of this cunning
coterie. These cunning local vested-interest groups literally fed the native-English
officials with their own native-land repulsions, caste hatred, antipathies and religious
hatred. And also colluded with the native business interests to influence policy
decisions in the sphere of economic and fiscal matters.
Even though, it is true that the native-English officers did in many instances
see through their cunning intentions, it is not easy to detach completely from its snares.
For, the most powerful weapon of luring and snaring an unwary adversary used in all
feudal languages nations, is the weapon of hospitality, and effusive and quite overt
friendliness.
In many cases, the native-English officials understood that a native of the

subcontinent is at his most dangerous stance, when he acts most friendly and helpful.
This is actually a part of the code-work inside feudal languages. I will deal with that
later.
Now, why did I mention this idea here?
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On reading the ‘Malabar’ written by William Logan, the impression that can
spring spontaneously to my mind is of a very gullible native-English administration
doing its best and giving its best to a population group which they cannot understand.
Actually it is not one population group that they are dealing with. They are actually
dealing with a series of population groups, each one them having its own aims and
ambitions, which are totally different and antagonistic to various other groups. Even
though the native-English go on insisting and try to define the native populations as
belonging to one nation, there is no such an idea of a Nation-state in the minds of the
populace.
In fact, the very idea of a nation-state is a mad insertion by the native-English.
William Logan was authorised to write this book. He had at his command a lot
of native-officials up to the level of the Deputy District Collector to help him. He
allowed them to write many notes and articles, which even though he must have
edited, have all messed-up the quality of the information.
Logan has the feel of having been taken for a ride. But then, it can be
understood that a lot of persons have worked on this book. For, there are a lot of
tables and lists. All these can be understood to have been done by other persons. The
book is quite huge. It has more than five hundred thousand words (more than 5 lakh
words).
It contains a number of footnotes. Many of these foot-notes alludes to or

point to or quotes from many ancient or scholarly books. Some of these books are the
works of other language writers or travellers.
It is practically impossible for William Logan to have taken up these various

books for reading and referring. Travelling in those days was quite a cumbersome
action. There were many places where one could go only in a bullock cart.
Beyond all this, this book was written in a manuscript form in those days.
There were no computers or any other digital gadgets available. Writing with a quill
pen in itself is a very tedious work compared to current-day computer typing. Then
comes the need to read and edit and correct. These are all huge labours. A few other
people are necessary to do all this.
In addition to all this, William Logan was the District Collector in a district
which was incessantly disturbed by communal confrontations between the Hindus and
their subordinated populations on one side and Mappillas on the other.
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Beyond all this, proper roadways, means of communications, waterway and

boating services, administrative set-ups, policing, education, healthcare, drinking water
facilities, sanitation, railways, postal services, written codes of laws and judiciary and
much else were being set up for the first time in the known history of the location and
population. It is only natural to bear in mind that Logan’s mind and time would be
required to go into all this also.
So, from all this also it can be presumed that William Logan is not the only
person who has written into the text which purports to be his writings. There is very
ample indication that even the ‘PREFACE TO VOLUME I’ which purports to be his
personal writing was actually some other person’s words. This ‘some other person’ is
very clearly a native of the subcontinent.
But then, this action of someone else writing a Foreword or Preface is a

common occurrence in the world of book publishing. However, what makes this issue
mentionable here is that even in this specific Preface, the same sinister insertion of the
vested-interest ideas of a particular section of the population has entered as a sort of an
eerie apparition. Actually this ghostly apparition is a ubiquitous presence in almost the
entirety of the book, with only one particular section alone being secluded from its
presence.
Now, let me mention the words I found on the low-quality content website, to
which I had alluded to earlier.
QUOTE: He was conversant in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu. He is remembered for

his 1887 guide to the Malabar District, popularly known as the Malabar Manual. Logan had a
special liking for Kerala and its people. END OF QUOTE
It is quite possible that he did know Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu. However,
there is no indication in this book that does substantiate this, other than a slight
mention of a few Malayalam words. (The location where this is written does not seem
to be Logan’s writing). That point does not matter. However, the claim that he was
conversant in Malayalam has a major issue. I will take it up later.
The next point is: QUOTE: special liking for Kerala and its people END OF
QUOTE
There is nothing in this book that can support a claim of his ‘special liking for the
Kerala and its people’. Again, the word ‘Kerala’ has a major issue.
In fact, both the words ‘Malayalam’ and ‘Kerala’ are also part of the sinister
doctoring I had mentioned earlier.
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The information divide

There is a huge information divide between native-English speakers and
feudal-language speakers. It is possible for feudal-language speakers to understand the
very simple social logic of native-English speakers. However, the reverse is not true.
Feudal-language social systems are quite complicated. What is seen on the

surface has no connection with reality. Why this is so has to be explained in detail.
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The layout of the book

The original book was published in two volumes. Volume One contains the
following Chapters: The District, The people, History and This Land.
The first chapter, The District deals with the physical features, rivers,
mountains, the Fauna and Flora, Road, passes, railway, Port facilities etc. The Fauna
and Flora section has been written by Rhodes Morgan, F.Z.S., Member of the British
Ornithologists Union, District Forest Officer, Malabar.
The second chapter is about the people, population, villages, towns,

habitation, rural organisation, language, literature and state of awareness of the people,
caste issue and occupation, manners and customs, religions, famines, diseases and
treatment.
The third chapter is about History of the location. Commencing from the
traditions that gives a hint of the antiquity of the place, it moves on to time when
Portuguese traders tried to set up a trading centre here. Then came the Dutch and after
them the arrival of the English traders.
The fourth chapter is This Land. In this location, the attempts to understand
the land tenures and land revenue systems are seen. The focus is on the English
Factory at Tellicherry. The writing moves through the various minor historical
incidences that slowly lead to the establishment of an English administrative system in
Malabar.
With the exception of the Flora and Fauna section, I think that whole book
has ostensibly been written by William Logan. That is the impression that comes out.
The contents of Volume Two are different. It is basically a book of

Appendices. Most of them are in the form of tables and lists. However, there are a
number of detailed writings also, wherein it is seen that some natives-of-the-
subcontinent officials have written narratives, under their own names. The tabular lists
include information about Statistics, Animals, Fishes, Birds, Butterflies, Timbre trees,
Roads, Port rules, Malayalam proverbs, Mahl vocabulary, and a Collection of deeds.
Next is a Glossary with notes and etymological headings attributed to Mr. Græme who
was one of the English East India Company officials in Malabar.
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After this comes a list of names of the Chief Officers, Residents and Principal
Collectors and Collectors who served in Malabar.
Next there are a lot of writings and chapters connected to agriculture and
governmental income.
After this there is a List of Malikhana Recipients in Malabar. This more or less
means that persons or families or religious institutions that received a sort of monthly
or annual pension or some similar kind of monetary support from the English
administration. The amount given to each entity is also given.
At the far end of all this comes a number of writings on the various Taluks in
Malabar district. It includes the details of some of the Laccadive Islands also. These
writings are reasonably descriptive enough.
From the perspective of pure statistical and chronological details, this book
could be of very good contents. However, when seen from the underlying spirit that
moves throughout the book, there are issues.
The book is clearly not the work or viewpoint one single person. As such to
quote from this book, saying William Logan said this or that in his Malabar Manual,
might not convey an honest information on what was Logan’s own version of
understanding on any particular location.
The only location wherein he (or whoever has written this part) has written in
a style, pose and gesture which is quite very steady and not much influenced by the
native-land vested interests, in the location where he writes about the history by
focusing on the dairy or logbook of the English East India Company Factory at
Tellicherry.
If this book is taken up for reading, it would be quite candidly seen that the
history of modern Malabar that existed as social mood till around 1975, is connected to
Tellicherry. And not to Calicut.
As for Trivandrum having any historical or social connections to Malabar is a

theme fit for the understanding of the birdbrains.
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My own insertions
I did get to have a very rudimentary reading when I was placing the text on the
MS Word document file. After that I went to place around 180 or more images. These
images were mostly taken from online sources. Their image usage licence has been
given along with them. This time also I got to read the text.
After these two readings the general layout of the book and its contents are in
my head now. However, the details have vanished from my head. But then, I am aware
of the various and varying mentalities, spirit and urges that have done their work in this
book.
So I will have to take the items one by one. It is definitely going to be a long
haul. However, I am used to slow-paced work.
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The first impressions about

the contents
The contents of this book (Malabar by William Logan) are about a very
miniscule geographical location inside the South Asian Subcontinent. The current-day
geopolitical location of this place is the northern parts of the State of Kerala in South
India. Even though the place was made into a single district by the English East India
Company administration, as of now, the location has been divided into a number of
small districts.
Beyond that, till around 1957, this location was a part of the Madras
Presidency and then later on after the formation of India, a district of the Madras
State. This location had only very minimal connection
with the southern parts of current-day Kerala.
However, on reading this book, one may not feel so.
This book seems to have attempted to create a Kerala-
feeling right from the middle of the 1800s. How this
could come about should remain a mystery. However,
on reading the book with some insights, one might be
able to smell a rat. Actually there is more than one item
in this book that gives a feeling that there is indeed
something fishy about this book, and it’s very aspirations.
The digital copy of this book that came into

my possession is the government of India printed
version of 1951. It does claim to have made changes
into place names to make them to be in sync with the
modern names of the places. It seems a silly logic to
doctor critical elements in a book of historical
importance. Names are like the DNA codes in a genetic
code string. A change in them can create so many
changes in what the names stands for and what they
signify. Connections and directions change.
It would be extremely silly to rename ancient

cities with their modern names in history books.
However, generally there is an attitude among formal
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academic historians to do as they please to please the modern political leaders of India.
In fact, one can find words like India, Indians etc. cropping up in ancient and medieval
histories of the subcontinent. Instead of saying the Moguls or the Rajputs had a fight
with some other population group, words like: ‘Then the Indians attacked the
Europeans’ &c. are frequently seen.
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India and Indians

Since I have mentioned the words ‘India’ and ‘Indians’, I think I will say a few
things about these words:
There was indeed a mention of a land which was commonly identified by the
maritime traders and others from other locations as Indic, Inder, Indus, Indies etc. May be
more.
Even in the works of Herodotus the word Inder (Indus) is seen to come. It
was some kind of remote location in the east from where certain merchandise like
Pepper, spices, and many other things were bartered by the traders.
There was no
historically known nation as
'India' inside the subcontinent.
Even the joining up of the
various kingdoms (some 2000 of
them, small and big) as
subordinates of the Hindi-
speaking populations took place
only in 1947. Pakistan also took
a part of the Indus area and
captured the various locations to
form Pakistan.
In fact, Indus is in Pakistan and has not much to do with the south, east, or
north-eastern parts of the subcontinent.
I do not know if the word 'India' is used in the Puranas, or epics such as
Mahabharatha or Ramayana, or if either Sri Rama or Yudhishtar have claimed to be
Indian kings. Also, whether such kings as Marthanda Varma, Akbar, Krishna Deva
Raya, Karikala or Ashoka have claimed to the Indian kings.
The word 'India' and the location 'India' could be a creation mainly of
Continental Europeans. May be the Arab traders, and the Phoenicians also must have
used it to denote a trade location.
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I feel that Continental Europeans did create four ‘Indias’.
But actually it is Indies; not Indias.
QUOTE: India, however, in those days and long afterwards meant a very large
portion of the globe, and which of the Indies it was that Pantænus visited it is
impossible to say with certainty ; for, about the fourth century, there were two Indias,
Major and Minor. India Minor adjoined Persia. Sometime later there were three Indies
— Major, Minor and Tertia. The first, India Major extended from Malabar indefinitely
eastward. The second, India Minor embraced the Western Coast of India as far as, but
not including, Malabar, and probably Sind, and possibly the Mekran Coast, India Tertia
was Zanzibar in Africa. END OF QUOTE.
I think the author is actually talking about ‘Indies’ and not about ‘India’.
‘Major’, ‘Minor’ and ‘Tertia’ Indies had some connection to the subcontinent
in parts. As to the fourth one they created, it was in the American continent. In the US,
till around 1990, the word 'Indian' was found to connected to the native Red Indians.
The word ‘India’ I feel is like the Jana Gana Mana. Not pointing or focusing on
to native-subcontinent origin. [Jana Gana Mana actually points to the Monarch of
England in the sense that it had been first used to felicitate the King and Queen of
England by none other than the Congress party, when it had been a party of England
lovers.]
However, the historical nation connected to the word India is 'British-India'

(not any of the ‘Indias’ mentioned above), and is a creation of England and not of
Continental Europeans.
However, it did not contain the whole subcontinent. At best only the three
Presidencies (Madras, Bombay and Calcutta) and a few other locations were inside it.
The rest of the locations which are currently inside India, such as Kashmir, Travancore
&c. were taken over under military intimidation or occupation.
As to the word Bharat, Hindustan &c. I am not aware of it being mentioned

in world history. Even if they are, well, they are what others use. The pertinent point is,
did anyone inside the subcontinent, which includes current-day Pakistan, India and
Bangladesh claim that they are Indians, Bharatiyans or Hindustanis in historic days?
I do not have any quarrel with anyone using such words.
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However, the joining of the immense kingdoms into a quality nation was the
deed of the English East India Company. Before that, there was no India, Pakistan or
Bangladesh.
QUOTE: Rufinus, who went to Syria in 371 A.D. and lived at Edessa for 25
years, attested that St. Thomas’ body was brought from India to Edessa and there
interred ; but from which of the “Indies” was the body brought, presuming that the
relics were still in existence ? END OF QUOTE.
So here there is an admission that word used was actually ‘Indies’ and not
‘India’.
QUOTE: It seems doubtful whether he himself ever visited “Hind” which,

among Arabs, was the name applied to Southern India exclusively END OF QUOTE.
Oh, this seems to make a mess of the contention that the word ‘Hind’ was
connected to River Indus which was called Sindhu and is currently in Pakistan. It does
really look odd that the etymological origin of ‘Hind’ is ‘Sindhu’. But then, scholars
know more, and should not be disputed.
QUOTE: About 600 B.C. Scylax, a Greek sent by Darius, had voyaged home
by sea from the mouth of the Indus END OF QUOTE.
There would have been others.
QUOTE: Herodotus mentions that the Red Sea trade in frankincense and
myrrh, and cinnamon and cassia (the two latter being Malabar products), was in the
hands of the Egyptians and Phoenicians, but these traders do not appear to have
proceeded beyond the port in Arabia Felix (Aden probably) where these goods were
procurable. END OF QUOTE.
The problem in these kinds of understandings is the visualisation of maritime
and other trade as one would visualise the English East India Company trade. In most
cases, the traders who took goods from Malabar coast would be small traders who did
the trader without maintaining any records. It is like the fact that the forest products of
Wynad were available in far-off markets, many years ago. The forest dwellers collect
them and come down the mountains and sell their wares in crowed oriental market
places in Palghat and such other places. These presence of Malabar products in far-off
locations should not used to make an understanding that Malabar was a place of high
class living standards.
QUOTE: Of India proper Herodotus’ information is scanty, END OF

QUOTE.
It should not be acceptable to the Indian academic history. For, there is
resounding information in the sterile academic textbooks of ‘India’ being one of the
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greatest civilisations the world has ever seen. In fact, the students in the Indian schools
know that when the people of Britain were monkeys, there were great cities in ‘India’!
QUOTE: In the end of the fourth century B.C. the Greek writer Ktesias
probably alluded to cinnamon, a common product of Malabar, as karpion, a name
which seems to have been derived from the Tam. Mai. karuppu or karppu END OF
QUOTE.
Actually, this should not prove anything other than that some people did
collect these things from their own forest dwelling areas and sell them to maritime
traders. And they traders need not have the looks of the characters in the English
movie ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’. They can even have the looks of the local fishermen
of South Asia. However, if the looks of the local fishermen are promoted, as the
traditional looks of the ‘great’ maritime traders of ‘India’, the jingoist of India will not
like it.
They have even changed the very looks of

Ramanujam, the mathematical genius to something more
comparable with the native-Englishman.
QUOTE: It was not till about 120 B.C. that an

attempt was made to go direct from Egypt to India. A
Hindu said to have been, wrecked in the Red Sea
volunteered to take a ship to India. END OF QUOTE.
The above is a highly cantankerous writing. A
Hindu? That means a ‘Brahmin’? But then, it is said that
the Brahmins did not venture out into the sea, probably being afraid of having to
converse with a lower caste person.
The non-Muslim and non-Christian fishermen of the coastal areas of the

subcontinent are categorised as Hindus as of now. However, they were actually not
Hindus, if Brahmins are ‘Hindus’. Then who could it be?
The errors commences from a jingoistic error. The subcontinent is a huge

place with a lot of different populations. A very accurate way of mentioning the event
would be as a Tamilians, a Malabari, a Gujarati, or any other word of more substance. I
am not sure what the populations were, then living in the subcontinent. And much
more precise record would be the name of the specific population, which currently is
mentioned as ‘caste’. The name of hundreds of castes in the southern parts of the
subcontinent are mentioned in Castes and Tribes of Southern India by Edgar
Thurston.
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QUOTE: Aden was probably the port in which the Arabian and Indian
merchants met the Greeks and exchanged their goods END OF QUOTE.
There are so many statements of the same kind. It is like mentioning a Mayan
ship as an American Ship, or a South American ship. There was no ‘India’ in the
mentioned period. And the term ‘Indian merchant’ definitely has to be rephrased into
something more meaningful.
There are a lot of passages in the book aiming to prove that there was indeed a
Malabar or ‘Kerala’ and ‘India’ by mentioning the proof seen in the various trades.
I can only say that the existence of even the remote forest areas of Wynad can be thus
proved by mentioning that a lot of trade in the forest commodities of Wynad were in
vogue in an old time. However, the fact still remains that despite the huge trade, the
place still remained a forest region with a huge percent of the population dwelling as
forest people, more or less the slaves of the landlords.
This was also the state of Malabar

as well as in Travancore, and also in the
whole of the subcontinent, till the advent
of the English colonialisms.
QUOTE: the first Hindu embassy

from King Porus, or, as others say, from
the King of Pandya, proceeded to Europe
and followed the Roman Emperor
Augustus to Spain END OF QUOTE.
This is another nonsensical statement. King Porus was not the king ruling the
subcontinent at any time in history. He was a king of some kingdom in the north-
western parts of the subcontinent. What is his relevance in a book on Malabar might
be a moot point. The populations were different, the languages were different and
everything was different.
As to naming the embassy as a Hindu embassy, well this also seems some kind
of cheap writing. Any man from the subcontinent going out can be defined as a Hindu
(Brahmin) traveller. It might be true or may be not true. However, that is not the way
to define a traveller.
QUOTE: As regards Muhammadan progress in Malabar, writing in the middle

of the ninth century A.D., a Muhammadan has left on record “I know not that there is
any one of either nation” (Chinese and Indian) “that has embraced Muhammadanism
or speaks Arabic.” (Renaudot’s “Ancient Accounts of India, etc” London, 1733). END
OF QUOTE.
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The point here is that one might be able to find quotes from other travellers of
yore, who give a different assertion. It is all at best the individual impressions of
travellers. The subcontinent was too huge a place for solitary travellers to give an all-
encompassing description.
See this description by Mis’ar bin Muhalhil about ‘Kulam’ or Quilon: QUOTE:
When their king dies the people of the place choose another from China. There is no
physician in India except in this city. The buildings are curious, for the pillars are
(covered with) shells from the backs of fishes. The inhabitants do not eat fish, nor do
they slaughter animals, but they eat carrion”, END OF QUOTE.
These types of traveller’s impressions are limited by time and space to very
narrow perspectives.
See Ibn Bututa description of the location:

QUOTE: No one travels in these parts upon beasts of burden ; nor is there
any horse found, except with the king, who is therefore the only person who rides.
END OF QUOTE .
This could give the impression of a very poor locality.
However, it might be quite unwise to gather a lot interpretations from

unconnected information. The most fundamental thing to understanding a population
is information on the codes in their language.
QUOTE: The true ancient history of Southern India, almost unrecorded by its
own people in anything worthy of the name of history, appears as yet only as a faint
outline on canvas. END OF QUOTE.
Well, everything has a history. Even ants will have a history. It is like the
Chinese. China has a history. But outside world did not know. It was a very primitive
nation till around 1990. Then the fools in England gave up Hong Kong to China, more
or less giving the society there a platform to converse as equal to the English nations.
Then the Chinese government used cunning and shrewd and organised a Tiananmen
Square shooting. This event was used by the Chinese government to send Chinese
students directly into the world of US technological secrets.
As of now, the varied components of Chinese history are emerging out.

Likewise, a time will come when the ants and many other animals will get to learn
English and to use modern gadgetry. Then their histories will come out.
QUOTE: In 500-504 A.D. it is recorded by Chinese writers that a king of

India sent an ambassador as far as China, taking with him presents consisting of
pepper, ginger, sugar, sandalwood, tortoise-shell, etc., and it was said that this Indian
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nation traded to the West with the Romans and

Parthians, and to the east as far as Siam and Tonquin.
END OF QUOTE.
The wording has an error. It is not a king of
‘India’. It should have been a ‘king from India’. The
former is like saying ‘King of Britain’. There was no
‘king of India’. And no ‘India’. As to the record, there
would be rulers inside the Wynad forests who might
have sent ‘ambassadors’ to the various kingdoms with
presents.
What is the contention trying to prove? That this subcontinent was in

existence? That is not a point that require a historical proof. But then interjecting the
words ‘India’, ‘king of India’, ‘ambassador’ etc. might need more scrutiny.
QUOTE: The
produce sent as presents, the
trade to East and West, and
the manner of wearing the
hair, are all so essentially
Malayali, that it is difficult to
resist the conclusion that the
ambassador must have been
sent from some place on the
Malabar Coast. END OF
QUOTE.
The word ‘Malayali’
is a problem, for it is an insertion that might have an aim to mislead. Then comes the
issue of having to depend upon the certification of others to prove one’s own worth. It
is a terrible way to prove one’s worth. As to persons going to China, where only the
English traders refused to do the kowtow, the fact of the matter would be that the
‘ambassador’ would be acting like a mere servant to the Chinese king. The modern
dignity of stature assigned to persons holding diplomatic assignments is something that
came from English systems. It cannot be envisaged in the case of any Malabari or
Chinese.
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An acute sense of not

understanding
The very first item that comes to notice is that the native-English side does
not understand the peoples of Malabar or of the south-Asia. They see a lot of social
and personal behaviours. They see people and individuals acting bizarrely, reacting to
un-understandable triggers, and oscillating between totally opposite character features.
Persons, who can be defined as gentlemen and quite refined and well-mannered,
suddenly turning into brutes of the highest order.
A lot of similar behaviour attributes can be mentioned and listed here.

However, I hope to mention them contextually in this writing.
Now, what is this un-see-able and non-tangible item that seems to be infecting
everything and everyone here?
What is the real logic behind the so-called caste-based repulsions that literally
makes a very good quality person cringe from the presence of individuals who are
defined as of the base standards?
There are a huge number of English-colonial writings about the various facets
of the subcontinent and its peoples. However, none of them seems to have even
focused on this issue with the importance it deserves. Even though I would like to say
that no native-Englishman or native-Brit of those times have detected the real cause of
this social negativity, I cannot do so.
For, I have seen Lord Macaulay, in his Minutes on Indian Education, make a
very solitary word allusion to this issue. He has detected the visible features of this
issue. But did not go deeper.
In this book, Malabar, there is a very significant mention of William Logan

also detecting the issue, but more or less leaving it at that point. And not taking any
effort to go beyond and find the inner contents of this information.
The hidden issue is a simple item. The languages of the sub-continent are
feudal languages. The term ‘feudal language’ I have used over the years since around
1990, to define languages which do not have planar codes. However this verbal usage
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(feudal language) can be outdated.

For, I have as of now, come to
have a deeper information on this
item.
Pristine-English is a planar
language. I stress the word
‘pristine’.
In pristine-English, in
common communication, there is
only one You, Your, Yours. Only
one He, His, Him, She, Her, Hers
&c.
In languages which I
mention as ‘feudal languages’, there
are an array of words for these basic words of addressing and referring. These array of
words are not synonyms as understood in English. The array of words stands in a
vertical hierarchy. Each level connects to a lot of other words and hierarchies, routes
and direction of command, and also to levels of positional or social honour or
nondescript-ness.
Each form of word is terrifically important. For, language is the software that
designs a social system. An individual can get terrifically pulled and pushed apart when
word forms are changed.
In fact, the whole content of acrimonious behaviour inside feudal language

nations is due to the terrific competition to acquire a comfortable word-code in the
social sphere.
This is an information that native-English nations do not have. In fact, when

immigrants from other social systems arrive, the event should actually be treated more
seriously than when an astronaut returns from a space journey. The astronauts used to
be kept in a quarantine for a few days to check if they had come back infected by any
extraterrestrial disease.
In the same manner, the immigrants to native-English nations have to be

studied for dangerous language codes inside their mind. For, mind is a very powerful
machine. And if the brain-software runs on a feudal language software, then it would
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infect the native-English nation. The native-English can go berserk and become
homicidal.
I have personally tried to inform the terrors connected to feudal languages

both inside India as well as in the native-English nations. However in both locations,
there have been terrific efforts to block my efforts.
Inside India, the effort has been to block all attempts at anyone discussing this
issue. As to native-English nations, since the IT world is literally filled up by persons
from the feudal language social systems, they simply delete my words or block me
from writing. If at all I do make a comment, it is deleted in such a manner that I get to
see my comment, but it is invisible to others.
Moreover, my writings have been generally defined as ‘hate-speech’ in my

online locations inside the US, GB and Australia. For it seems to bring out an
information that is least liked by the population groups who claim to be the victims of
native-English racism. I have had incidences wherein even the Continental Europeans
do not want to have this item mentioned.
A couple of days back, I made the following comment from another

UserName of mine in a Youtube comment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG7a7h5fmUg&t=3s
It was about a lady film makeup artist mentioning that she had been abused
verbally in a resort in a hill-station in the local state. The exact trigger point was not
abusive words as understood in English. It was words such as Nee, Edi, Ninthe, Aval,
Avalude etc. Nee is the lowest level of You. Using that word to a customer who is
residing in the resort by the resort staff can be of the highest order of abuse. But then,
in an English translation of the dialogue, the astronomically dangerous levels of abuse
will not get translated.
My comment was this:
ഇവിെട പേത കമായി കാണു കാര ം തരംതാ വാ ് പേയാഗ ളാ .
നീ, എടീ, അവൾ, അവൻ തുട ിയ വാ ുകൾ.
ഈ വിധ കാര ൾ ഫ ൂഡൽ ഭാഷകള െട സവിേശഷതകളാ എ ് വായി ്

കാണു ു. വളെര പേകാപനം നൽകു വാ ുകളാ ഇവ. പറ ്
തുട ിയാൽ പിെ എ ും പറയാം.
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archive dot orgൽ ഫ ൂഡൽ ഭാഷെയ ി ഉ ഒരു മലയാളം എഴു ് ശ യിൽ

െപ ിരു ു.
മാ തവുമല, േപാലീസുകാെര വിളിേ ണം എെ ലാം പറയു തനി

വ ഢി മാ . േപാലീസുകാരുെട െപരുമാ വും വാ ുകള ം
തറനിലവാല ിലു തായിരി ും.
വനിതാ േപാലീസുകാർ നീ, എടീ എെ ാെ വിളി ാൽ യാേതാരു രീതിയിലും

പതികരി ാൻ ആവില. പതികരി ാൽ, മഖ ് അടിവീഴും.
Translation:
Here what is very clearly seen is the use of lower grade word-forms: Nee, Edi, Aval,
Avan etc.
These kinds of words are seen mentioned as the special features of the language. These
are words which can create terrific provocations. Once these words are assigned to an
individual, then literally any abusive words can be used about the individual.
A specific writing in Malayalam about this issue is seen on archive dot org.
Beyond that the lady is seen here as mentioning that she had asked to call the police.
This can be a totally stupid and dangerous action. The verbal codes used by the police
can be more terrible and abusive.
If the female constables come, they would most naturally use the words 'Nee', 'Edi'
etc.
There would be no scope to react to this in a decent manner. If she tries to react or
retort to this abusive words from the Indian police, she will be given solid slaps. End
of translation
The comment section of the Youtube video was literally littered with totally
abusive words in Malayalam. Some commenters addressed her as Nee and Edi. There
are persons referring to her as Aval and some do even mention her as some kind of
loose and wanton woman.
Some persons focus on the black colour of her skin and mention abusive
words. The issue here is that she understands Malayalam. If the black-skinned former
president of the US’ daughters can understand Malayalam, there is no doubt that they
will also be defined in similar mean words and definitions. Literally calling her a
monster because of her black skin colour.
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There are comments that have posted links to other videos and sites. All these
things are there.
However, my comment was seen deleted almost immediately that I had posted
it. These kinds of experiences are there in plenty in India.
Now before moving ahead I would like to mention a small part of the huge
verbal machinery that actually has worked.
Since it is a huge framework, I cannot go into the very beginning of the

machine work.
This woman artist has been abused verbally, that is lower-grade You, She etc.
used upon her, because her film world seniors would have given the go-ahead to the
hotel staff in most subtle manner. They would not have to go and tell them to be
disrespectful to her. All that they have to do is to mention her and refer to her as Aval
(lowest grade She/Her/Hers), along with a body-language and facial expression to
emphasis her lower stature, to the hotel staff. They will pick up from there.
Now, why should her film world staff want her to be snubbed? That is the
exact crucial focal point that has to be understood. For, on this stands a huge
understanding on why the local native kings and other rulers of this subcontinent loved
to be under the English rule, and not under any other native-rulers. I will explain that
point later in a more clear manner.
In the context of this female mentioned above, there would be always tugs of
war between others in the verbal codes in Malayalam. As to who is ‘Nee’ and who is
‘Ningal’ and who is ‘Maadam’. These are the various levels of You in Malayalam for a
female. In almost all communication, one side can get snubbed. However, many
persons take this in their stride if it is from an acknowledged senior or someone who
can help.
In the case of others, they carry a grudge. They moment they get a chance to
snub or degrade the other, they will use it. The social system is literally strewn with
such boiling grudges.
I had experienced a lot of acrimonious and quite sly blocks when my writings
mention ‘feudal languages’ in British, US and Australian media websites. Many have
blocked me forever.
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In the last thirty years or so, the entry of feudal-language speakers from
Continental Europe, South America, Asia and Africa into native-English nations have
become a sort of torrent. People who experience native-English social systems find
their own social systems quite abhorrent. However, their entry into native-English
social systems has brought in the problems inherent in feudal languages.
However no one mentions what this is. Instead these cunning immigrants who
speak feudal languages write huge articles on what is wrong with their new nations of
domicile and mention so many corrective measures. However, the fact remains that it
they themselves who are problem inside the native-English nation.
A couple of weeks or so back, I found one such article. There were so many
ravishing comments literally applauding the contents, which gave so many corrective
measures.
I simply posted this comment:
QUOTE: The nation is dealing with an unknown and un-understood item.
And that is the entry and spread of feudal languages, in the soft planar
language (English) social system.
Even though inside feudal language nations, there are well-understood social
and mental barriers and corridors to protect oneself from the sharp poking effects of
feudal language word codes, inside GB, USA, Australia etc. there are practically no
such protective shields. People, especially the younger aged and the persons who are
defined as doing lower jobs, will be terribly affected.
People can go berserk or mentally ill.
Actually this issue had been observed by Edgar Thurston way back in the
1800s. However, he did not understand the machinery that created the inclination to
insanity. END OF QUOTE
After some time, when I checked, I found that the comment was visible to me,
when I log into the website. However, when I enter the website from any other
location, my comment is invisible.
This much for the great inputs of these immigrant folks into native-English
nations. They, who cannot bear to live in their own nations as a ordinary citizen, are
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giving great ideas to improve native-English nations, which by their very presence and
speech, they are atrophying.
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Entering a terrible social

system
The social system in South Asia, as in all other feudal language locations, was
and is a most cantankerous one. Into this terrible feudal language social system, the
English East India Company entered. For the sake of merely buying pepper and other
locally available goods, and selling them in Europe. There was enough profit in it. I
will have to mention the various events.
However, before moving to the events, let me first list out the fabulous
sinister capacities of feudal languages. I cannot explain each of the items mentioned in
the list here. For it is a long route to that. However, persons who are interested in
knowing them can open this digital book titled: An impressionistic history of the South
Asian Subcontinent. Part 1 & 2. This is in Malayalam. The English translation is also
given for the Part 1. The English translation of Part 2 and the rest can be had from
VICTORIA INSTITUTIONS’ Website, when it is ready.
Since I have been mentioning the term ‘feudal languages’, it is befitting that I
give a brief enumeration of its varied features.
I have been writing a daily text broadcast in Whatsapp under the heading: An
impressionistic history of the South Asian Subcontinent.
The below given points are from around the 200th post in that broadcast. So it
may be understood that there has been a huge built up to reach this point.
I am trying to give an insight on the interiors of many non-English social

systems, which have a specific coding inside their languages. This might not be true for
all feudal languages or for all non-English languages.
Pristine-English is a planar language, in that there are only one You, Your,
Yours, He, His, Him, She, Her, Hers &c. If human languages can be understood as
some kind of software application with varied features, it would be quite easy to
understand that a change in the coding can bring about very many changes in so many
items.
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I do not really think that many of the readers would get to understand the
points given below much. And I must admit that there is indeed a real Code-View as
well as Design-view background to the features given below. For knowing more about
this concept, the reader may need to check: PRISTINE-English; What is different
about it?
It goes without saying that modern mental sciences such as psychiatry as well
as psychology might not have any understanding of these things.
Languages do contain the design structure of human relationships,

communication and even that of the design features of the society.
The main feature of a feudal language is the dichotomy or trichotomy that it

has for words mentioned above. That is, two or three or more word forms for You,
Your, Yours, He, His, Him, She, Her, Hers &c. Each form connecting to a series of
word forms that define a lot of things about a particular person. His rights, abilities,
and much else are defined in these word codes.
They connect to hundreds of other words, and bring about huge variations,
and pull and push in all kinds of communication links.
Now, see the enumerated things that feudal language can do without seeming
to be doing anything specifically malicious.
Feudal languages can:
1. act like a wedge between human beings.
2. can literally throw human beings apart in different angles and directions, from
their planar position that is there in English.
3. can view and position different persons with various kinds of discriminations.
4. can sort of bite human beings in a manner akin to how carnivorous animals do.
Not in a physical manner, but in a way that can be felt emotionally. People get
frightened and are wary of others who might bite verbally.
5. can hold individuals in a manner akin to how carnivorous animals hold their
prey with their claws. The prey is stuck immobile socially and position-wise, and totally
inarticulate with regard to his or her pain.
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6. can pierce and deliver pain deep inside a human being as if with sharp needles.
7. can very easily bring in mutual antipathy and hatred between persons who had
been quite united and affectionate. Verbal codes can be disruptive.
8. can create a very evil phenomenon of when one persons goes up, the other
man has to necessarily go down. That is, it can act like a See-saw.
9. can create a mental experience of being on a carousal or merry-go-round placed

on a pivot, and made to revolve in an up and down spin. That is, verbal codes can act
like a pivot.
10. can flip a person on top to the bottom and the person in the bottom to the
top, with a single word. That is verbal codes can flip vertically.
11. by allowing a person to be ‘respected’ by some persons, and made bereft of

‘respect’ by others in words of addressing or referring, in the same location, the person
can be made to feel as if he is being twisted and squeezed.
12. by continually or intermittingly changing the verbal levels of ‘respect’, a feeling

of vibrating or bouncing, or of going up and down can be induced in an individual.
13. can create a feeling of slanting, relocating, being pulled or pushed, inside a
human relationship by the mere using of verbal codes. Verbal codes have a vector
(direction) component. So, it can create a shift in the focus of many things by a mere
change of verbal codes.
14. When feudal languages spread into the interiors of planar-language nations,
social disruption will spread throughout the society, many kinds of individual
relationships will get damaged, deeply held social conventions will go into atrophy, and
an invisible and non-tangible evilness would be felt to be slowly spreading throughout
the nation / society. [for God’s sake, Check the Adam Purinton shooting incident]
15. In the case of human relationships which are understood as Guru-shikya

(teacher-disciple in feudal languages), leader-follower &c., verbal codes can be used as
one would use the two different poles of a magnet. One position leading to sticking
together, and the other positioning leading to repulsion.
16. Verbal codes can replicate or slash the same physical scene into two or three
from a mental perspective.
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17. Verbal codes can act like a prism on a group of human beings, in that they can
be splintered as one would see white light getting splintered into varying colours.
18. Beyond all this, the persons who speak feudal languages can use verbal codes
as a sort of Concave or Convex lens or mirrors. That is bringing in the concept of
magnification. They can use verbal codes as many other kinds of visual items like
Prism etc.
19. Feudal languages can deliver hammer blows to a person’s individuality. The
power of the impact increases dramatically as his social goes relatively lower.
20. Compared to English ambiance, the work area becomes repulsive to the lower
positioned persons, and attractive to the higher positioned persons. So that the more
wages are given to the lower-positioned persons, the more lazy and less dependable
they become. Native-English individuals working in jobs defined as ‘lower’ in feudal
languages would find the work area sort of stifling.
There are other features also. The above is just a bare-frame enumeration. The
descriptive explanation would require a lot of words. For that, the reader needs to
check the An Impressionistic History of the South Asian Subcontinent.
Trying to understand feudal language nations, understanding such things as

‘slavery’, immigrants’ reasons for running out of their home nations, etc. without any
information on the above can be a futile effort. Moreover, entering into warfare
between such nations can be a dangerous item. For, there is no way for a native-
Englishman to really understand what the exact provocations are or were.
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The doctoring and the

manipulations
It is quite evident that this book, Malabar, does represent the thoughts, ideas
and knowledge of William Logon only to a very specific percent, which is definitely
less than 50 percent.
At the time this book was first written, three very powerful groups did exert
their influence, access and power to make this book, a book that suits their future aims
and purposes.
Before mentioning who these three entities are, I need to place on record here
that I do not personally have any kind of affiliation or partiality or inclination to any
caste or religion or political philosophy. My total inclination and affection slants
towards the English East India Company rule and to the pristine-England that existed
till the end of the 2nd World War.
However, I do understand things which the native-English cannot understand

or imagine existing in this world. This is because they do not have any idea about the
existence of feudal-languages and of the incredible force and power feudal language
codes can exert on the physical world and on the human and animal thought processes.
I personally find the native-English of yore to be extremely soft, refined, fair, naive and
gullible.
These are all extremely power-erasing personality features. They could reduce
any human population to positions of extreme vulnerability, when facing the onslaught
of barbarian populations. However, instead of caving in, the native-English created a
most formidable global nation. There is indeed a secret as to why historical events look
quite paradoxical. I will explain this very clearly in this book.
Since I have placed on record my affiliation and affection, I need to mention

that I do not have any rancour or malice towards any caste or religion of this
subcontinent. So when I take up each item for meticulous examination, even if it seems
that I am being inimical towards that entity that is not really the case. I am merely
looking at the reaction of the local populations towards each other. How each one of
them strove to manipulate each other in their desperation to come on top, or to
establish a detachment or to claim an association.
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All these mental reflexes are the handiwork of the sinister codes inside feudal
languages. I will need to explain this point in great detail. Let me see how much I can
do this.
Now, I am going to mention the three entities that had very specific interest in
adding manipulations in the general layout and inputs in this book.
The very first entity is the Nair caste population. Their efforts in this regard
are quite obvious, if one can understand that that has done this.
The second is the Christian Church representing the converted into

Christianity from lower castes, who arrived into Malabar from the Travancore kingdom
area. The individual known as Gundert could also be a participant on their side, either
knowingly or even inadvertently.
The direct power-exertion of these two groups is more or less quite overt in
this book, and detectable without much effort, if one does look for them.
The third entity is the leadership of the Ezhava caste of Travancore kingdom.
They had their fifth columnists inside Malabar; particularly north Malabar, who acted
like some kind of fools to arrange a platform for a population group which was
desperately on the lookout for a place to raise their socially submerged heads.
From this perspective, both the above-mentioned Christian church as well as

the Ezhava leadership had more or less concurrent aims.
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What was missed or

unmentioned, or even
fallaciously defined
There are very many population groups who came below the Nair caste which
were more or less given a go-by. As per this book, the human populations of any
significance or worth are from the Brahmins to the Nairs. Below the Nairs, all others
are mere nonentities.
There might be some level of correctness in this. Especially if a Travancore

kingdom perspective is made to be borne upon the Malabar location. For in
Travancore, almost all castes below the Nairs were maintained at varying subhuman
levels. Even the Ezhavas were terribly subordinated.
It is true that there is mention of the Ezhavas having their own deities such as
Madan, Marutha &c. in the Native Life in Travancore written by Rev. Samuel Mateers.
I do not personally have much information about this caste which is actually native to
the Travancore kingdom. I do not know if they had a spiritual religion of their own in
their own antiquity.
Beyond that I am not sure as to whether the Ezhavas did affix their loyalty to
their traditional gods. Or whether they, in their desperation to get connected to the
Brahmanical spiritual religions, ditched their traditional gods, and deities; and jumped
the fence.
The actual fact that get diluted when reading this book, the Malabar, is that
there was not much of a traditional connection between Malabar and Travancore,
before the conjoining of the locations after the formation of India. The political
connection that the English rule in Madras established with the Travancore kingdom
also helped. But then, north of Cochin, socially there was not much of a connection or
intermingling with Travancore. This much had been my personal observation from
about 1975, when I first moved to Alleppy from Malabar.
I will speak more about the disconnection later.
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Before moving ahead, let me make one more quite categorical statement. It is
about the languages of Malabar and Travancore. Both were different. The language of
Malabar was more different from the language of Travancore that current-day
Malayalam is from Tamil.
This is also a theme that would have to be taken up for inspection in close
proximity with the discussion on at least the latter two entities. That is, the Christian
Church representing the lower castes from Travancore and the Ezhava leadership, also
from Travancore.
The language issue could be quite confusing. The term ‘Malayalam’ has some
issues. It is about which language this usage represented earlier, and what it represents
now. Also there are items to be mentioned about the real traditional language of
Travancore.
There is one specific item that has been oft taken up for substantiating very
many curious assertion. That is the book, Keralolpathi. This book is suspect in many
ways, in what it aims to assert. Who wrote it is not clearly known, I think. But then the
reason why such a book has been written might be taken up for inspection, in close
connection with the other items being discussed.
I will now take up each of the issues. Before commencing, I need to remind
the reader that the social system functioned in terrible feudal languages. Every man
was quite terrorised of being associated with an individual or institution, who or which,
was a lower entity. Generally the whole idea is casually mentioned in a most wayward
manner as ‘Caste system’. This is a very shallow way to see the issue. In fact, this
wanton verbal usage, ‘caste system’ does not explain anything. It literally skims over the
real tumultuous depth of the whirling social twirls.
Caste system is not actually based on social or mental indoctrination. There is

indeed real positive and negative, non-tangible forces at work that creates the forces of
repulsion and attraction. Attachment, association and proximity to lower-positioned
man can induce powerful negative forces inside a human being. These forces can exert
their power not only at an emotional level, but even at a physical level.
At the same time, the opposite is also true. Attachment, association and
proximity to a higher positioned person or entity can induce positive forces.
In this book, I will try to explain this quite cantankerous issue which literally
can move the discussion beyond the very periphery of the realm of physical sciences.
However, readers can also read the earlier mentioned book, An Impressionistic History of
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the South Asian Subcontinent. Quite candid information on this issue has been delineated
in that book.
It is this terror of the pull and push of an all encompassing and overpowering
negativity that has literally defined the history and historical events of this location,
which is positioned at the south-western edge of the South Asian Subcontinent; north
of Travancore.
The English East India Company’s aims and urges and attitude were of the
sublime levels. However, they did not really understand the society into which they
were inducing powerful corrections. In fact, they were correcting errors without
understanding what actually created the errors in the first place. They had literally no
idea about feudal languages. In fact, way back in England, there was a feeling that all
nations and populations were innately similar to English populations in human
emotions. It was an
understanding bereft of a very
powerful knowledge. That of the
existence of feudal languages.
There is another general

idea which I would like place
here. It is about the general
quality of formal history on India.
Most of the various inputs about
the quality of the populations,
peoples and social system which
existed in this subcontinent are
more or less half-truth, or carefully cherry-picked items. The total aim is to give an
impression of very resoundingly high-quality population groups who were allegedly
pushed into destitution by the English rulers. This idea is not only half-truth or half-lie,
but total lies and fabricated information.
What is usually compared in these kinds of comparisons is imageries of

fabulous looking native-Englishmen and women living in good quality houses in the
midst of totally destitute lower-castes. The immediate impression that springs into the
minds of easily deluded persons is that it is the Englishmen who have brought in this
destitution and desultory looks in the lower castes of the subcontinent.
The actual fact would be the exact opposite. The lower castes and
subordinated classes of the subcontinent were held in tight hold by their own upper
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classes and castes. It was the English rulers who brought in the light of liberty to
these desolate human beings who had lived for centuries in miserable surroundings.
However, it is not easy to save or improve or pull out the lower classes from
their subordinated stature. For, the situation is like a multi-storey building that has
collapsed in an earthquake. The human beings are alive in the lowest floor. But how to
pull them out? Above them is the mountainous weight of several floors of the building,
crushing down on their collapsed floor.
This was the exact issue in pulling up the lower castes and classes. They were
tied to their upper classes in very tights knots of subordination in verbal and dress
codes. Even their body postures cannot be changed into an English body posture. For,
if they do such a thing, it would amount to the greatest of impertinence. Their upper
classes would quite casually impale them with iron nails or do something worse.
In formal history writing of this subcontinent, carefully filtered items are

arranged to give a very false impression of this subcontinent.
South Asia, which is currently occupied by Pakistan, India and Bangladesh,

was never a single nation or a single population. It was never a nation. There was
actually no sense of a nation even inside a miniscule kingdom here. Even inside a
miniscule kingdom, it was a feverish struggle between competing populations to
subdue others. And among the hundreds of kingdoms, it was a messy time of continual
fights and overrunning and molesting and raiding into each other’s locality.
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The major issue that I find in formal history writing currently going on in
India is that it is being done with a very specific aim. The aim is not write a correct
version of history, but to write a contrived version which proposes the antiquity of a
nation here which was astoundingly rich, technologically high, with high levels of
scientific knowledge etc.
The writers of these kinds of silly history most probably do not know what the
actualities were just fifty years back. In spite of this terrific shallowness of information,
they propose to know what the state of the subcontinent was some 2000 to 7000 years
back. The continuously mention an ‘India’ which most probably did not exist inside
the subcontinent, but literally was a purposefully distorted version of a ‘Inder’, ‘Indus’,
‘Indies’, ‘Hind’ etc. words, which were known in the global maritime commercial
centres. However, how much these words can be connected to the current-day India is
a confusing point. River Indus itself is not in current-day India.
Such historians take quotes from ancient travellers who give brief descriptions
about isolated locations and incidences with some kind of superlative exclamations and
adjectives. But then they also give more detailed descriptions about other realities,
which are more mundane and terrible. These items are quite cunningly avoided. The
other superlative expressions of taken up as authentic descriptions of the state of the
land.
Travellers make great comparisons and mention great things about cities and
kings and certain isolated issues. However, the great fact that most of the people were
enslaved and they were a generally not given much importance. They express great
appreciation for the great hospitality they received from the rich merchants and the
royal personages. Some of the writers do also mention the other reality of the tragic
conditions of the people. However, formal Indian historian would not be eager to
focus on them.
They focus on quite ridiculous sentences such as ‘this city had the most
famous harbour in the world’. ‘Merchants from all over the world came here’. ‘This
was a great commercial centre’ etc.
Merchants come to all locations where they understand that there is some
commodity that can be sold elsewhere for a profit. However, that does not transpire
that that particular location is fabulous. For instance, some decades back I used to
frequent a literally forest-like district in south India, for buying agricultural produces,
fruits and bananas and plantains. Actually so many other merchants did frequent that
locality for similar purposes. Lorries used to come even from north Indian locations.
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QUOTE: To the kingdom under the sway of Keprobotras, Tundis is subject, a

village of great note situate near the sea. Mouziris, which pertains to the same realm, is
a city at the height of prosperity frequented as it is by ships from Ariake and Greek
ships from Egypt. END OF QUOTE
However all this cannot be mentioned to convey an understanding that the

people in the location were socially high-class. In fact, the reality was that most the
people were crude and lower class, in the forest location I had frequented. There were
a few higher class financially rich persons and families. They were generally soft and
well-mannered to visitors like me. However, to their own subordinated populations,
they were nice but quite suppressing. But then, the lower classes were quite well-
mannered to their superior classes, who they understood to have some kind of social
power over them. However to visitors and other nonentities in the location, they had
no qualms in being rude and ill-mannered, if they measure them to be of not of high
financial stature.
These are the issues that need to be understood when cherry-picking from the
writings of ancient travellers. Traveller writings can rarely be correct unless that
particular writer knows what to look for.
QUOTE: For everybody has here a garden and his house is placed in the
middle of it ; and round the whole of this them is a fence of wood, up to which the
ground of each inhabitant comes.” END OF QUOTE
The above is a quote from Shaikh Ibn Batuta’s travelogue. However, that is
only from a very slender perspective of a solitary traveller.
See these QUOTEs from this book, Malabar:

QUOTE: 1. The walls are generally of latorite to bricks set in mud, for lime is
expensive and scarce, and till recent years the roof was invariably of thatch.
2. and it was not till after the Honourable East India Company had had
settlements on the coast for nearly a century that they were at last permitted, as a
special favour, in 1759 fill to put tiles on their factory at Calicut. Palaces and temples
alone were tiled in former days.
3. The house itself is called by different names according to the occupant’s
caste. The house of a Pariah is a cheri, while the agrestic slave—the Cheraman— lives
in a chala. The blacksmith, the goldsmith, the carpenter, the weaver, etc., and the
toddy-drawer (Tiyan) inhabit houses styled pura or kudi ; the temple servant resides in
a variyan or pisharam or pumatham, the ordinary Nayar in a vidu or bhavanam, while
the man in authority of this caste dwells in an idam ; the Raja lives in a kovilakam or
kottaram, the indigenous Brahman (Nambutiri) in an illam, while his fellow of higher
rank calls his house a mana or manakhal.
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4. The Nambutiri’s character for Hospitality stands high, but only among those of his
own caste.
END OF QUOTEs.
This is the reality as different from the miniscule impression of solitary travellers.
Social communication is very powerfully designed by the language codes.

Without this knowledge, no traveller or sociologist can claim to understand a people or
population or society or nation.
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NONSENSE
It must be admitted that the book does have lot of nonsensical claims which
are very evidently not the ideas or writings of William Logan. These insertion are the
writing of the various native-officials who worked under William Logan, or of some
other native scholars who collaborated and helped him in this work.
The nonsensical claims are basically spurred by some kind of inferiority

complex in the writers in that they can understand that they have much more
information about the social system than the native-Englishman has. Many of them are
quite well-read. And almost all of them would posses much more leadership qualities
than the average native-Englishman, when the various sections of populations who
arrange themselves under them are counted. For the native languages are feudal. If
properly enforced, they offer a leadership to the native-official, over the subordinated
human beings, which the native-Englishman cannot dream of or even contemplate.
Yet, in spite of all this, the native-English side is to be more refined and
attractive. It is basically not an individual deposition. For, as mentioned just now, the
local native higher caste official might be able to compete with an Englishman at an
individual level. However, when the native-Englishman is connected to his own native-
Englishmen group, and the native of the subcontinent higher caste man is connected
to his own native group, a very powerful difference will emerge. This is basically
connected to the feudal content in the languages of the subcontinent.
Even though the skin-colour is different, that is not really the issue here. For if
a single native-English white-skin colour man is born and bred in the subcontinent in
the subordinate section of the local feudal language, he would not have any superior
mien at all. At the same time, a native of the subcontinent born and bred in England
would very definitely have personality and physical features shifting towards the native-
English. However, it might take time and generations to display the huge difference
that are in the offing in both cases.
See this quote from my own Commentary to the Travancore State Manual:
QUOTE: The tragedy that befell the life of the next king Rama Varma
otherwise known as Swati Tirunal is there in these lines written by Col. Welsh who
made it a point to observe the educational development of the young prince, who was
being tutored by a Maharashtra Brahmin:
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He then took up a book of mathematics, and selecting the 47th proposition of

Euclid, sketched the figure on a country slate but what astonished me most, was his
telling us in English, that Geometry was derived from the Sanscrit, which was Ja**
***ter to measure the earth, and that many of our mathematical terms, were also
derived from the same source, such as hexagon, heptagon, octagon, decagon, duo-
decagon, &c. END OF QUOTE.
It is possible that there are so many knowledge and information in the ancient
cultures, including that of Egypt, Mayan, Inca, Hellenistic &c. However, even the
Vedic culture has not much to do with the subcontinent, other than that some of the
books have been found in certain households in the land. I am not sure if any evidence
of any direct route to the ancient scripture is there in the populations here. Most of
them come from various locations in the world.
The afore-mentioned Swathi Tirunal’s personal life seems to have been a

failure due to some kind of personal inferiority complex. The Maharshtran Brahman
teacher must have induced the idea in him that every knowledge in the world came
from ‘India’. The basic information that there was no such ‘India’ as a nation or even
as an interconnected geographical area was not mentioned to him. And that the
Travancore kingdom had not much to do with these ancient information was also not
much mentioned. This statement can be true with regard to all the castes including the
Nayars, the Ezhavas, the Shanars, the Pulayas, the Pariahs &c.
As has been mentioned by certain travellers who came to the subcontinent,

the ‘scholars’ of the land seems to have had the habit of forging old books to present
totally fabricated idea. Even now such things are going on.
QOUTE: and even in genuinely ancient deeds it is frequently found that the
facts to be gathered from them are unreliable owing to the deeds themselves having
been forged at periods long subsequent to the facts which they pretend to state. END
OF QUOTE.
For instance, it is known in

current-day India that the British rule
was literally driven out by Gandhi & co.
However, the fact is that Gandhi had
nothing to with this. It was just a foolish
policy implementation of the British
Labour Party.
There are claims that the Indian
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Navy is a continuation of the ancient Navies of old time kingdoms of the

subcontinent, such as the Chola, Shivaji etc. These are all total lies. The Indian Navy is
just a continuation of the Royal Indian Navy of British-India.
QUOTE: It is certain that Indian ideas and practices contributed largely to the
form which orthodox Christianity in the West finally adopted. END OF QUOTE.
The above quote is certainly not the writing of William Logan. For, in the
locations where it is certain that he has written the text there is no such emotion
evident. Western Orthodox Christianity would have been affected and designed by the
language of each nation where it spread. In England, the planar codes of the English
language would have created a Christianity which is starkly different from that in
Continental Europe. Even though the blame or the praise for disconnecting the
English Christian Church from the Continental controls would be placed on King
Henry the VIII, the underlying factor which led to it would be there in the English
language itself.
Even the Kerala Christianity is totally against the system of human interactions
as could be visualised in an English Christian area. However, that is a different area of
discussion and cannot be taken up here. Readers who are interested in pursuing that
logic can read the An Impressionistic History of the South Asian Subcontinent.
The above-quote seems to claim of a well-developed ‘India’ from where all

kinds of information and culture, diffused to other nations or geographical locations.
These kinds of claims are mere imaginations without any basis. Very few of the social,
familial or public cultures of the subcontinent are worthy of being emulated by anyone.
Culture is not what one read about in books. It is how people interact with each other
and maintain quality relationships. There is no evidence in this book itself of any such
thing in the subcontinent.
Even many of the family systems mentioned in this book, Malabar, are totally
devoid of supporting a good family life. The relationships are more or less controlled
by the feudal language of the place. Many things are quite contrary to what might
appear through low-class logic.
For instance, the claim that the Marumakkathaya women had more liberty and
social rights. This is not true. Most of them of the higher castes could not come out of
their houses unless they had someone with them to display or disseminate their higher
caste attributes. The profane glances and the profane words of the lower castes males
and females would literally have the effect of a carnivorous animal bite.
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QUOTE: And in return, the West seems to have given to the East arts and
sciences, architecture, the art of coining money, and in particular the high ideal of
religion contained in Christianity, as St. Chrysostom (who died A.D. 407) wrote: “The
Syrians too, and Egyptians, and Indians, and Persians, and Ethiopians, and
innumerable other nations, translating into their own tongues the doctrines derived
from this man, barbarians though they were, learnt to philosophise.” END OF
QUOTE.
The use of the word ‘Indian’ in the above quote is a misuse. There was no
such a thing as an ‘Indian’. I am not sure if any other ancient books such as the
Ramayana or Mahabharatha does mention that they are ‘Indians’. However, the
probability that someone might insert this word in newly printed books is quite strong.
The word West also has many problems. If it is meant to mean Continental
Europe, it might be good to say that it does not include England. For, the most
powerful human designing tool, that is the language, in England was planar.
As to anyone giving anything to anyone is also a very much debatable point.

None of the things mentioned, ‘sciences, architecture, the art of coining money’ seems
to have come to the possession of the huge content of lower castes in the
subcontinent. As to the others having all that, well, these things get diffused from
various locations to various locations.
For instance, if one were go to the Amazon forests, one might see the forest-
dwelling populations using bow and arrow. It would be quite a ludicrous claim that they
got the art of archery from ‘Indians’ of the South Asian Subcontinent.
Another instance is the fact of people all over the world using dairy products,
such as milk, buttermilk, curd, butter, yogurt, cheese &c. In a terrific fit of jingoistic
fervour a current-day Indian can claim that these ideas all came from India. However,
the fact remains that to the majority populations of the subcontinent, such things as
yogurt, cheese etc. came into their purview only in very recent times.
There is a general tendency to be absolutely astounded by anything that is seen

in the antiquity of the subcontinent. For instance, there is the martial arts known as
Kalari which was part of the antiquity of north Malabar. I think that Travancore did
not have the tradition of this very same martial arts, even though there was something
known as Thekkan Kalari (southern Kalari) there.
In the neighbouring Tamilnadu, there are another martial arts known as

Adithada and Silambam. Adithada was seen mentioned in Travancore area some thirty
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to forty years back. However, the Kalaripayattu of north Malabar was not generally
known to the local people in Travancore.
Now, the northern Kalaripayattu is generally mentioned as the martial arts of

Kerala, which itself is very cunning distortion of tradition.
Here what can be mentioned is that the northern Kalaripayattu is a very

sophisticated martial arts form. However, this art form is in the stranglehold of the
local feudal vernacular. This is its main defect. If this art form can be plucked out from
the possession of the local feudal vernacular and relocated into English, it will be a
very sophisticated martial arts form.
The problem when dealing with this martial arts from a historical perspective
is that the moment anything is mentioned about this arts, the local people including its
own exponents would start making tall claims. The very first claim would be that this
martial arts originated here in Malabar. This is a very curious claim.
Being an expert in the arts and being the founder of the arts are entirely two
different propositions. It is not known who brought this art into Malabar. This
information is lost to antiquity in the same manner the arrival of Nayars and the two
different castes of Thiyyas have been lost. If the locations from where the various
different populations came to Malabar can be traced out, the location from where it
came here might also come out. However, that alone would not reveal who founded
this art system.
However, the general tendency in the subcontinent, as elsewhere in all feudal

language social systems is to lay claims upon anything and everything that can add to
one’s verbal code value.
In Keralolpathi, there is a mention, I understand, that Parasurama brought

Kalari system to this geo-location. Keralolpathi can be a fake history book, written
with some malicious interests. However, it might have picked up the tradition of
Kalaripayattu from some place. If Parasurama had brought it, he must have come from
some location where it was practised. It is not clear if it would be right to claim that he
came and founded the martial arts system on his own.
QUOTE: 1. These quarrels arose from private feuds and were meant to wipe
off stains cast upon an individual's honour.
2. Women were the chief origin of the quarrels which occasioned these
combats. They were confined to the Nayars. END OF QUOTE
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The true working area of the Kalari exponents. They remained the henchmen
of the local landlords. They would not be the great ‘maharajas’, but merely the Inhi -
ഇ ി (lowest grade you) and oan ഓൻ (lowest grade he/him).
QUOTE: The subdivision and re-subdivision of the authority of government

were perfectly marvellous and probably unparalleled in the history of any country in
the world. The great families—the Zamorin, Kolattiri, Walluvanad, Palghat, Kottayam,
Kadattanad, Kurumbranad, etc.—were petty suzerains, each with numbers of vassals,
more or less independent, and more or less fluctuating in numbers, who again were
suzerains to still pettier chiefs, also more or less independent and more or less
fluctuating in numbers. The subdivisions of authority did not cease till the lowest
stratum of agricultural society was reached END OF QUOTE.
The above-statement is some kind of extreme jingoism gone berserk. The
utter nonsensical claims of a super low-quality land. The whole content of oppressive
regimentation can be explained as the handiwork of the local feudal languages. If the
reader has any doubt about the oppressiveness of the subcontinent, check the book:
Slavery in the Indian subcontinent.
QUOTE: The society thus constituted was on a thoroughly sound basis, for
the strongest men had opportunities of coming to the front (so to speak). END OF
QUOTE.
And the mention is about the Nayars. However in the actual factual history
part in this book, Malabar, there is no evidence that substantiate the Nayars as the
strongest, bravest or intellectually the best. The best thing about them was they were
subservient to their overlords and oppressive to the subordinate populations.
The above quote can be nonsense in Malabar.
QUOTE: In this way numberless petty chieftains arose, and the great families
waxed or waned END OF QUOTE.
It is the shallow claims of a very minute landscape with practically nothing
great to offer other than a history of various shackled populations. What ‘great
families’ are being mentioned, other than the higher castes? Their greatness should be
evident in their action of improving the other populations. There is no such evidence.
Other than their right to use rude and outright impolite verbal usages such as Inhi /
Nee, Ane, Ale, Eda, Edi etc. It is the English rule that saved the lower populations
from the hammering of these verbal codes.
QUOTE: But with these material objects it will be observed were conveyed
such things as “authority in the Desam,” “Battle wager” and “Rank” and “Customs”
which are clearly outside the idea of dominium as understood by Roman lawyers. END
OF QUOTE.
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A very vain attempt to connect to Rome, in the mistaken belief that it was
Rome that brought in greatness to human populations. It is a very wrong notion. The
greatness in human beings was brought out by the native-English nation, and not by
the Romans. Even animals got the relatively best deal in native-English systems.
Actually the very use of English words like Admiral, Commander, General,
Officer, Soldier, King, Queen, County, Baron, Customs duties and such other words
used with regard to seemingly corresponding items in the subcontinent stand on the
very periphery of nonsense. None of these things in the feudal-language speaking
subcontinent comes near to what is visualised or imagined in English. It is the like the
fake Gandhi movie made by one irresponsible British film director. The Gandhi in that
movie has English body features of those times, and English body-language. However,
Gandhi really was a feudal language speaker, who was not liked inside the Congress.
Take the word ‘officer’ for instance. An officer is a Gentleman. However, in

the feudal language ambience, what is translated as an ‘officer’ is literally a brute who
uses terrible degrading lower indicant words to many others, with a solid feeling of
right.
QUOTE: The chief things conveyed were the different kinds of authority
attaching to a Desam, a Temple and a Tara, and not merely the lands and slaves END
OF QUOTE.
It is just because English is a planar language this concept was not clearly
understood. All authority is connected to verbal codes that encode honour and
‘respect’ on the person who has authority. All those who have to bear the thraldom of
the persons in authority are necessarily assigned degrading verbal code definitions. This
is the core issue. It cannot be understood in English, for there is such a concept of
‘indicant words’ in English.
QUOTE: The system was admirably conceived for binding the two classes
together in harmonious interdependence. This excellent arrangement necessarily fell to
pieces at once when the Civil Courts began to recognise the force of contract—the
Western or European law— as superior to the force of custom—the Eastern or Indian
law. END OF QUOTE
This is a theme I have oft heard in my childhood from those who saw the
breaking down of age-old dominating-class – subordinate-class relationship. It is true
that if this relationship is not replaced by quality English social relationship, the society
does not have the exact feel of a culturally developed society. Yet, from the perspective
of the traditionally lower classes, they have come out of their subordination.
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These themes are highly complicated. For instance, I have seen students who
have studied in reasonably good quality English schools moving into the government
vernacular schools / colleges after completing their tenth class. The first feeling they
get is that they are along with a more liberated students. For, they generally get to
experience boisterous shouting, moving around in clusters, roaming around etc.
However, it takes time to understand that they are literally like a cattle-class
gone under a more subordinating teacher-class. However, the oppressiveness will not
be felt, even when they are addressed in the pejorative forms of You, and referred to in
the pejorative forms of He, Him, His, She, Her, Hers etc. For, this is an experience that
is commonly felt by all students.
It is like this: A common man in England goes to the police station on his own
and sits down and narratives his problems to the concerned police official without any
demur or subservience.
At the same time, a common in India goes to the police station along with
some of his relatives or even with the support of his local political leaders, stands in a
pose of subservience and gets addressed and referred in the pejorative. He has on
complaints, for that is how every common man he knows are dealt with by the police.
However, to a person who has seen both the English systems as well as the
Indian system, the latter would be seen as quite satanic and degrading.
QUOTE: This system—another necessary result of the Hindu social

organisation— was evidently conceived in much wisdom for protecting the interests of
the cultivating castes. Here again however ideas borrowed from the European law of
property in the soil have come in to upset the well-conceived customary law of
Malabar. END OF QUOTE.
The above statement is very obviously not the words of Logan. And the words
‘Hindu social organisation’ is highly mischievous. There is no such thing as a ‘Hindu
social organisation’ if the Hindu religion is the context. The Hindu religion is actually
the Brahmin religion. As to the social set-up in which the Brahmins are on top in a
state of perpetual dominance, then there is nothing to praise in it. It is not like saying
that the Lords of the England are perpetually on top. The difference is that the English
language is planar, while the languages of the subcontinent are more or less terribly
feudal. Without understanding what that is, it is more or less a waste of time to discuss
this point.
Again, the words ‘European law of property in the soil’ is also a very foolish
statement. The native-English administration was not trying to bring in the property
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system of England, let alone that of Continental Europe. There is indeed difference
between the feudal systems of Continental Europe and that of England. Why such a
difference is there can be understood only by understanding the basic coding
difference between that of the Continental European languages and that of pristine-
English.
For instance, the French feudal system was quite a tragic item, while the feudal
system of England was not tragic for the social system, if that feudalism is compared
with that of Asian, African and Continental European feudal systems.
The feudal systems of South Asia might not have any corresponding items
with that of English or Continental European feudal systems.
As to the local customary laws going into disarray, well it was a good thing.
However, what was bad was that English administration suddenly dropped everything
and vanished, before a perfectly
egalitarian social and
communication systems had been
enforced. That was due to the
handiwork of the satan Clement
Alee.
I can only say that each

member of the British Labour
Party who endeavoured to destroy
the English Empire should suffer
till eternity for the great sufferings they brought all around the world. In the
subcontinent alone, in the northern parts, around 1million persons were killed in the
immediate aftermath of the stopping of the English rule, and handing over the location
to stark selfish low-class politicians.
QUOTE: The insecurity to the ryots thus occasioned has resulted in fanatical
outrages by Mappillas and in a great increase of crime END OF QUOTE.
The writer of the above statement is trying to place the blame of the Mappilla
outrages on the higher castes, on the English administration. All this fool has to do is
to check the communication codes between the traditional higher castes and the newly
socially improved Mappillas to find out the root cause of these outrages. Even in the
US, at times native-Englishmen have gone berserk when these kinds of Satanic verbal
codes are inflicted on them. Check what Adam Purinton did!
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QUOTE: thinking that the idea hitherto generally received that in ancient
times there was no such thing as a land assessment in Malabar is, after all, a mistaken
one. Knowledge on this subject is at present extremely limited, and it is now doubtful
whether the point, if it is eventually cleared up, will hereafter be of any other than
antiquarian interest END OF QUOTE.
This is part of the tall claims that every modern items conceived and brought
into the subcontinent was already there in the subcontinent. Even the current-day
Indian navy is now being taught as being the development of the ancient naives of
Cholas and other small-time kingdoms of South Asia. If this be so, what will Pakistan
and Bangladesh teach in their schools could be a item for pondering.
It is possible that in some remote historical period, there might have been
some kind of land assessment in the location currently mentioned as Malabar at some
time or other. History does date backwards to millions of year. However, that kind of
historical events do not have any connection with what was seen in Malabar by the
English Company officials.
QUOTE: It will be seen from the paper on Tenures that custom - and not, as
in these modern days, competition—ruled everything END OF QUOTE.
This is a very cunning complicated statement. There is no competition
possible in a feudal-language based feudal social system. That is true. For, the slave
cannot compete with his next higher caste. He will be crushed down, and even hacked
into pieces, if he were to do something like that. And his demeanour will be terrible,
due to the fact that he exists in a lower code area. His words will be of terrible
degrading quality, if he is allowed any leeway to address the higher castes without
‘respect’.
However, when we look upon native-English systems, there is a totally

different ambience that cannot be compared with the native systems of the
subcontinent. The basic difference is that English entrepreneurship does not have any
satanic aim of arriving at a higher verbal code location above the workers or labourers.
This very concept is unknown in English. So, there is no way to compare an English
entrepreneurship with that of an entrepreneurship of India, Pakistan or Bangladesh.
Because this factor is there in the subcontinent, everything has a satanic quality
in them. When I say Satanic, I mean it. The people arrive at various levels of human
degradation or ennoblement, just by the work they do. There is no such thing in
English. The native-Englishman cannot understand how by doing any work, a human
being can get differently defined as a dirty or gold, in every communication code.
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QUOTE: From that date forward the land disputes and troubles began, and
the views above described of the Joint Commissioners were not the only causes
contributing to the anarchy which ensued. END OF QUOTE.
The rascality of the above statement is that this is being mentioned about a
land in which almost all throughout history there was incessant fighting, killing,
hacking and demonization of human beings. Just before the period in context here,
Muslim raider came from Mysore and all the higher castes ran off for their lives. If the
English administration was not there in Tellicherry, all the higher castes would have
been made the lowest of the castes and made the servants of the lowest castes. The
higher castes females would have been taken up by the lowest castes as their
concubines or literally shared by the lowest caste males.
The anarchy that the fool has mentioned above was felt because of the relative
serenity that had arrived in the social scene. Otherwise, there would be no time to
think of these things. Every week there would be plans for attacking others, or for
resisting the attacks of the others.
See this QUOTE from Travancore State Manual:

The Sivarathri was not good day for a Hindu to die in and the Maharajah, it is
said, told his doctor and attendants on his death-bed: “Yes I know that to-day is
Chuturdasi, but it is unavoidable considering the sins of war I have committed with
Rama Iyan when we both conquered and annexed several petty States to Travancore.
Going to hell is unavoidable under the circumstances. I can never forget the horrors to
which we have been parties during those wars. How then do you expect me to die on a
better day than Chaturdasi? May God forgive me all my sins” END OF QUOTES.
This quote is from a book which was an

official document of the Travancore kingdom’s
government. Just imagine what happened in all the
small kingdoms around Travancore. Changacherry,
Chengannur, Kayamkulam, Ambalapuzha, Attingal,
Quilon, Kottayam and many more minute kingdoms?
QUOTE: But the Civil Courts, acting on the

idea that the janmi was a dominus and as such
entitled to take what he could get out of the land,
viewed his pledges as pledges of the soil itself, and in
this way they have almost completely upset the native
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system of customary sharing of the produce. END OF QUOTE.
This again is the words of some higher caste writer. That the bringing in of
written codes of law in civil and property disputes was retrograde step! In a land where
there was no conventions or systems worth mentioning, other than that of ‘might is
right’, actually the coming in of the written laws were a great step forward. However,
the whole thing was still in a mess due to the fact that all these things had to be filled
into a feudal language ambience. Where every communication and human relationship
was in varying routes and strings.
Nothing was straight forward.
QUOTE: This excellent arrangement necessarily fell to pieces at once when

the Civil Courts began to recognise the force of contract—the Western or European
law— as superior to the force of custom—the Eastern or Indian law. END OF
QUOTE.
These are all very malicious lies. For, at hand is not a confrontation between
Western or European and ‘Indian’ systems. It was a confrontation between what the
native-English (not Western or European as is mentioned here) officials try to bring in
and the attitude of the higher castes (Hindus and Nayars) to resist it. The force of
custom in the subcontinent (not ‘India’. India was not yet born) was that of hierarchy
in all relationship, which, if everyone in the hierarchy concedes to it, becomes a
regimentation that accepts what the higher castes said or demanded. With the coming
of the native-English rule, this oppressive hold on everyone was broken. However, it
would take time to build up an egalitarian social system based on English. However,
this route was stopped in 1947 by the crooks in the British Labour Party.
QUOTE: Under the native customary law the cultivator could not be ousted
except by a decree of the tara, for the janmi was powerless unless be acted in strict
accordance with the Nayar guild whose function was “to prevent the rights from being
curtailed or suffered to fall into disuse” as the Keralolpatti expressly says. END OF
QUOTE.
What a foolish writing! Nayar guilds are there to protect Hindu and Nayar
interests from the competition of the lower castes. As to quoting from Keralolpathi, it
is another foolish idea. It has been more or less proved in this very book, Malabar, that
Keralolpathi is a forged document written with some sinister interests.
QUOTE: Mr. Graeme's proposals in regard to wet lands and diverted his
attention away from points in regard to the position of subtenants, to which the Court
of Directors had turned their earnest attention, but precipitated the collision between
the parties interested in the land, and indirectly led to the Mappilla fanatical outrages
and other evils END OF QUOTE.
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It is true that the English administration was misled many times by their own
native-officialdom, which was dominated by the Hindus (Brahmins) and Nayars.
However to place the blame of the Mappilla outrages on the English administration is
a deed of the devil. The Mappilla outrages were caused by various factors, and the land
reforms of the English could be the least of the causes.
Check this QUOTE: There is no doubt whatever that Oodhut Roy, a

Mysorean Mahratta Revenue officer, misled the Joint Commissioners END OF
QUOTE.
This is one thing that the native-English could not understand. That people
will look into the face and tell lies with total nonchalance.
QUOTE: Egypt then became not only the centre of literary cultivation and
learning for the Hellenic world, but an emporium of trade and the centre of great
commercial enterprises END OF QUOTE.
The above is just the kind of nonsense that was written by some native of the
subcontinent scholar. He must be totally blind to the reality of what was happening all
around him. The social system was changing for the better. But then, the higher castes
did have much to grieve about it.
For in Tellicherry area, it was the lower caste Marumakkathaya Thiyyas who
improved much due to English education. It had its tragic sides.
Now, with all this great changes in knowledge, dressing standards, social
mobility, education, human rights etc. happening right in front of him, the writer is
extolling some nonsense connecting to the Hellenic world and Egypt. The very
profound mistake in these kinds of scholarly writings is the sterile understanding about
trade and commerce. Trade and commerce are actually very dangerous things. In fact,
they can bring in various problems to the people.
As a person who has had enough and more varied experiences in business, I
can categorically mention that in a commercial location in a feudal language social
ambience, only the bosses and their companions enjoy all the benefits. The others
literally suffer.
Even for England and the US, unbridled entry of outsider businessmen can do
damage to their own native citizens. Only in the case of English colonialism, did the
entry of outsiders bring in goodness to the social environment. And again this was not
due to trade, but due to the entry of various other social goodness. Including the
egalitarian English language.
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The positive benefits of English colonialisms cannot be replicated by any

feudal language systems.
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Nairs / Nayars
Now, that I have created the framework on which to work on, let me first start
with the population group mentioned in the book as Nairs or Nayars.
I will be mentioning items about this population which might seem quite
mean. However there is no antipathy that I bear upon this population. In fact, I can
understand their urges and their terrors and claims and their aspirations. And also their
desperation to create a corridor of distance, when a new entity called the English East
India Company was slowly diffusing into the social system and literally erasing a lot of
carefully placed social-fences. Beyond all this I am aware of a very resounding quality-
feature expression from their side. Something not many other populations groups in
this irascible nation would dare to do. What that is, I will mention later.
However as of now, I will go through items which definitely will sound dreary
to the Nairs. But before commencing on this, I will make another quite drastic
mention.
In a feudal language social ambience, the lower placed persons and

populations naturally acquire a demeaning quality. Their very presence, touch, stare,
seeing, commenting, association etc. convey a most debasing emotion. Why this is so,
can be made clear only by explaining the whereabouts and the ways and manners of
feudal language verbal codes. I cannot go into them here.
First let me give a description of the Nair caste as understood locally and from
the various books such as the Travancore State Manual, Native Life in Travancore,
Castes and Tribes of Southern India etc.
Nair caste in its pristine form was the Sudra caste. The word Sudra connects
to the Aryan four Caste (Chaturvarnya system of division). It is the lower-most caste in
that system. In which case, they should be of Sanskrit ancestry and antiquity. It is quite
doubtful if they have any known Sanskrit ancestry of antiquity.
I have found this quote in Travancore State Manual: QUOTE: These Nagas
became the Kiriathu Nayars of later Malabar claiming superiority in rank and status over the rest of
the Malayali Sudras of the west coast. END OF QUOTE
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I do not know how to understand this statement. It is presumably taken from

Keralolpathi, which is a book with a lot unmentioned issues.
In the Malabar region, the dominating religious group was the Brahmin
religion. This is what actually can be mentioned as the local version of the Hindu
religion. But then, how much content of the Sanskrit antiquity and ancestry is there in
the Brahmins of Malabar is not known to me. I presume it to be quite feeble. But
then, they do have a religious heritage which is different from that of the others.
Then there are populations known as the Ambalavasis. They are an array of
population groups who can be defined as those allowed entry into Brahmin places of
worship, like the temples. They, by vocation, are those who can do the various kinds of
work inside a temple. Such as sweeping, gathering flowers, cleaning, cooking etc. How
much they belong to the Brahmin religion is not known to me. However, Brahmin
religion is the religion of the Brahmins. This is what should be known as Hinduism.
Then comes the population group known as the Nairs or Sudras. Looking at
the words Nairs and Sudras, it should be felt that there is some dichotomy in the sense
they convey. For ‘Nair’ is a word that is understood to mean the ‘higher caste’, by the
population groups who identify themselves as lower to them.
At the same time, the word ‘Sudra’ can mean that they themselves are the
lowest population group among another set of population. Now, this is a point that
has to be very clearly and delicately discussed with a razor sharp precision.
If the old caste-hierarchy of Malabar region is compared with the modern

police hierarchy in Kerala, the corresponding layers are thus:
The various layers inside the Brahmin group can be compared to the IPS
officers’ cadre (Indian Police Service cadre). This is the royalty of the police
administration in India.
Below them come the Ambalavasi (Temple worker) population groups. They
can be compared to the below-IPS officer cadre. This would include the DySp., Circle
Inspectors and Sub Inspectors.
Below them would come the Nairs / Nayars. They would correspond with the
Head Constables and the Constables.
This is one point for more inspection with regard to claims in the book.
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It is quite easily understandable that the Nairs were quite comfortable with the
extremely low-level populations of the social order. That is the lower castes such as the
Pulaya, Pariah, Malayan, Kurichiyan, Kurumban, Cherumar etc. For, they were so lowly
in every aspect that they would not pose any kind of immediate threat to the Nair layer.
However, the Thiyya group of population was a different proposition

altogether. They came just below the Nair layer. They had to display a verbal and body
posture subordination to the Nairs and above. However, they themselves acted
superior and touch-me-not to the various population groups below them.
In a feudal-language social set-up, having some layers of people below is a

great personality-enhancing experience. This was one querulous plus-point that the
Thiyyas experienced in north Malabar.
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A digression to Thiyyas
Before going ahead with the information on Thiyyas, there is something more
to be mentioned about them. When the English administration set up its legal and
judicial process in Malabar, they were confronted with one confusing issue. The word
Thiyyas was seen to define two entirely different population groups.
One was the Thiyyas of north Malabar. That is north of Korapuzha. Then
there was the Thiyyas of south Malabar. These two population groups were mutually
different and distant. The former was following Matriarchal family system. That is, the
family property moved to the heirs through the female children. The children of the
male members did not inherit the family property.
These children received their ancestral property from
their mother’s family.
The Thiyyas of south Malabar followed the

Patriarchal family system. That is, the children of the
male members inherited the family property.
Between these two castes with the same name,

there existed some kind of caste-based repulsion. The
north Malabar Thiyyas, especially the socially higher
class Thiyyas of Malabar, did not allow any matriarchal
relationship with the Thiyyas of south Malabar.
Why this was so, is not known to me. However, it is possible that this might
point to two different origins for these two different population groups.
Generally there was a tendency among non-Thiyya castes, especially the

Ezhavas, when they reside in Malabar to identify themselves as Thiyyas.
Moreover, it has been observed by such writers as Rev. Samuel Mateers and I
think by Thurston also, that there was a tendency to jump into a higher caste when any
family relocate to a different location. This automatically places them at a greater social
advantage.
It is like head constable in one state in India, when he moves to another state
for a temporary residence, informing others that he is a police Circle Inspector in his
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own state. Off course, nowadays this is not much possible, due to technology making
all such distances quite near. However, in a situation wherein there is no means to
check the antecedents of a person, it is quite easy to jump up.
However, Rev. Samuel Mateers does mention the following: QUOTE:

Pretences are sometimes made by individuals to higher than their real caste. During a festival at
Trivandrum, several goldsmiths putting on the dress and ornaments of a superior caste, walked boldly
into the temple. We have known one or two apostates from Christianity, well-educated in English, who
assumed Sudra names, and passed in distant parts of the country as such. But impostors are detected
by very simple means. A Shanar youth who took the high-caste seat at a public cook-shop was
discovered by his mode of eating rice, picking it up with the fingers, while a Brahman scoops it up
gently with the side of the hand lest he should tear with his nails the leaves which they are accustomed
to use as plates. Strangers at feasts are therefore closely scrutinised and watched. Still, changes in caste
do, in odd instances, succeed. END OF QUOTE
It is possible that the two different populations having the common name
‘Thiyya’ are of two different origins. There is some claim in the northern version
Thiyyas, that is, the Marumakkathaya Thiyyas, that they are from the Tian-Sang
Mountain-range regions of north-central Asia. If this be so, what could be the origin of
the southern-version Thiyyas, I am not sure.
However, it is possible that the Marumakkathaya Thiyya arrived on the

Malabar shore in some century in the distant past. Since they did not know the hidden
treachery in the language codes, some of them took up the extremely terrifying and
daring occupation of coconut-tree climbing. The physical capacity to do this is an
accomplishment, which few people have.
In the feudal-language codes of the local language, this action acts like a
switch. The person, his associates, his family members and even his complete group
can get placed very forcefully in a degraded verbal slot. Once placed inside this slot, the
doors shut and the population literally gets subordinated to the level assigned for them.
This subordination is not something that can be understood in English. Everything
that can give any sense of dignity and self-confidence is erased out. This becomes so
powerful an emotion that the affected person/s would not even sit in the presence of
their superior. They will be addressed and referred to in the most degrading forms of
the word-forms for You ഇ ി, ഇന ്, Your ഇ െറ, Yours ഇ േറ , He ഓൻ, His
ഓ െറ, Him ഓ , She ഓ , Her ഓെട, Hers ഓൾേട , They ഐ ി ൾ, Their
ഐ ി െട, Theirs ഐ ി ട , Them ഐ ി ് etc.
The working of the social machine is a bit complicated. Nairs are also
addressed by similar verbal usages by the Brahmins. However, they do not feel the
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terrorising degradation. Instead they feel the placing of them into their supervisor slot,
when thus addressed and referred to by the Brahmins.
However, in the case of the Thiyyas who went in for the degrading physical
labour, the cunning technique used to place them down powerfully is to use similar
level and also lower-level populations groups to address them by these degrading
words. Then it is a powerful pushing-down and pulling-down effect.
Incidentally, I may mention here that this is now an ongoing social

phenomenon in England. The native-English speaking population of England are
slowly being placed in a like-manner into a hideous slot by the immigrant crowds who
speak feudal-languages. Once a sizable number of native-English speakers are thus
defined and confined in the slots, all that the immigrant groups need to do is to
forcefully shift the spoken-language to their native language. The trap-door shuts and
then there is no escape. At that point the native-English future generations will
become the repulsive lower-castes.
Not all of the north Malabar Thiyyas who arrived on the north Malabar coast
went in for these coconut-tree connected professions. That much is evident from the
population’s social demeanour. Many must have remained as land owners and some as
land lessees. However there is a total blackout on them inside this book, Malabar,
purported to have been written by William Logan.
Then there are certain families who are by hereditary, practitioners of a local
herbal medical system. This is in some ways connected to the herbal treatment systems
found all over India, and also in the other geographical locations including Continental
Europe. So, it does seem that the original immigrants in all nations did include various
kinds of professionals. In the South Asian peninsular region, they might have
rearranged themselves as per the designs in the language codes.
Among the north Malabar Thiyyas, there is indeed a group who calls
themselves as Vaishyar, more or less connecting to Vaidyas (professional herbalists).
They are the practitioners of the herbal treatment system. As of now, this is locally
known as Ayurvaidyam. I do not know what the root source of this treatment is. It
does seem to have global connections in the ancient world. These Vaishyars in the
interior location of north Malabar did try to mention a distance from the local labour
class Thiyyan/Thiyyathi. That they are from a different and higher population group.
However, it is true that among the land-owning rich Thiyyas, there is an innate
tendency to declare a distance from the labour class Thiyyas. This again is powerfully
connected to the feudal codes in the local language.
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Designing the background

Now coming back to the Nairs, if the Nairs are accepted to be from the Sudra
caste antiquity, then there comes the issue of how they acquired a higher-caste
physical-demeanour and social status.
Here again the feudal language-codes act in a very peculiar manner in the
social machinery, in more than one way. The Brahmins are in social command. How
they acquired it is not known. There are some quotes from the Keralolpathi, given in
this book (Malabar), whereby it seems to promote the idea that the Brahmins were
handed over the social power by Parasurama. However, Keralolpathi is a book with
serious credibility problems, apart from certain other more terrific issues. I will deal
with those items later.
From whatever is quoted from Keralolpathi, there is nothing to suggest how

the Brahmins continued to hold on to the social heights. However, if one does know
the codes inside the local feudal languages, one can very easily identify the codes that
assign divine aura to certain groups of people. Along with this, certain other codes
deny dignity to other sections of the population. This can also be known.
In a feudal-language social ambience, it is not the higher-calibre persons who

are assigned positions of responsibility and power by those on the heights. Instead,
they give the power and position to persons who cringe and obey and exhibit
obeisance and servitude. Those who are ready to offer almost anything that is asked for
by the higher-placed persons, get the posts. Those who stand out in a pose of dignity
are very cunningly denied any social status. They slowly go down in the social set up.
Look at the stature of the Indian police constables, both male and female. It
may be seen that in India, where extremely high-quality persons are available, those
who get posted as police constables are quite obviously the totally low-quality persons.
In feudal languages, the officers would find most it most convenient to have extremely
low-class subordinates. If the police constables are generally of a very high intellectual
and personal quality, the officers would find it quite difficult to have them as
handymen and women.
It is seen mentioned that the Sudra households of the distant past, set up a
tradition of allowing entry into their houses for certain higher-class Brahmins. They
could have temporary alliance with the women-folk therein. From a planar social set-
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up, if this procedure is viewed, it might seem quite an irregular and immoral system.
However, from a feudal-language social ambience, wherein verbal codes are strictly
enforced, no one would find any fault in this. For, a close contact with a Brahmin
would only convey a divine aura to the household and to the female.
However, if the same female were to be viewed or mentioned or addressed in

a profane manner or even called by name by a lower-caste male or female, that woman
would feel the degradation. These are things that cannot be understood in English.
There is a huge difference in associating with a lower individual from that with
a higher individual. The whole verbal codes change. This is a phenomenon that cannot
be understood in English.
From a low-population perspective, the whole affair would be described as

despicable. However, that is very much connected to the envy and hatred to
populations who act superior. The lower castes see a breach in the cloak of superiority
of the Nayars which they take up for sneering comments.
See this QUOTE from Sultan Tipu’s when he had over-run Malabar
command:
QUOTE: and since it is a practice with you for one woman to associate with
ten men, and you leave your mothers and sisters unconstrained in their obscene
practices, and are thence all born in adultery, and are more shameless in your
connexions than the beasts of the field : I hereby inquire you to forsake those sinful
practices, and live like the rest of mankind. END OF QUOTE.
Females with social stature, offering themselves to the Brahmin, was a very
wonderful experience for the Brahmins. Such a level of devotedness and servitude
would naturally be rewarded. This could be one of the main items which promoted
the Brahmins to uphold the Sudras up.
It is like a low-class man being appointed as a police constable. There would

be other population groups who are of higher quality than this constable. But then
what is the use? They all have to cringe and bow and exhibit servitude to the constable.
Otherwise, they would get to feel the terrible wrath and fury of the whole police force.
Now, this is slightly what could have happened to the Thiyyas. Their first
mistake was in doing a work which in the feudal languages would very powerfully
assign them a lower slot in the social order. The second item that could have made
them go down is the issue of body language which might not be that of obeisance. An
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English-type of body-language is seen to be the body-language of impertinence. In

current-day India, when the police force is slowly changing into that of total feudal
language communication, a pose of dignity would get the person end-up first in an
hospital and then in the jail.
However, in the case of the Thiyyas of north Malabar, they were slowly
swindled into a social location wherein they were dirt. However, the more intransigent
castes and populations were totally degraded into subhuman levels. They remained as
the Paraiah, Pulaya, Vedan, Malayan etc. in the varying locations at the bottom dirt
levels.
However, Edgar Thurston does mention that the Thiyyas of north Malabar,
especially those of Tellicherry and nearby places were quite fair in skin-complexion to
the extent that some of them could quite easily pass off as Europeans. This was also
true. I have personally seen such persons in my own childhood in Tellicherry area.
However, I have also seen that in the case of many of them, their next generation went
into total loss of this feature. Why this happened also can be very easily explained.
However, I am leaving that issue.
I had found the following quote in Castes and Tribes of Southern India,
Volume I, written by Edgar Thurston.
QUOTE: Concerning the Dikshitars, Mr. W. Francis writes as follows* :—

"...............is the property of a class of Brahmans peculiar to the town, who are held in
far more respect than the generality of the temple-priest Brahmans, are called
Dikshitars (those who make oblations), marry only among themselves, and in
appearance somewhat resemble the Nayars or Tiyans of Malabar, bringing their top-
knot round to the front of their foreheads. END OF QUOTE.
I mentioned the above quote to pick out a very casual observation by a

disinterested third party. That, there is some kind of physical resemblance between the
Nayars and Thiyyas of Malabar in physical stature. And the words ‘of Malabar’ may also
be noted.
However, the disinterested party, that is a native-Brit made an observation

based on some isolated social scene he had seen. Nayar and Thiyyas did not have the
same physical stature in many locations of north Malabar. However, in certain
locations where the Thiyyas were not totally suppressed into a physical labour class,
some of the Thiyya families did have looks which was as mentioned by Edgar
Thurston. Quite fair and tall.
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At the same time, it might be mentionable that there are Nayars who do not
have the same physical features mentioned above.
The reader may notice the specific mention of ‘north’ Malabar in my words. It
is because ‘south’ Malabar was different with a different population group. The higher
classes of the Marumakkathaya Thiyyas of north Malabar exhibited a disdain for the
south Malabar Makkathaya Thiyyas. However, this is not the end of the issue. The
Nairs of north Malabar also had a similar kind of repulsion for the Nairs of South
Malabar.
See this quote from this book, Malabar: QUOTE: but this is rendered doubtful by
the fact that down to the present day Nayar women from North Malabar may not pass to the south of
the Ellattur river END OF QUOTE
I do not have much information about south Malabar. If I am to refer to some

book and write, it would take a lot of time to filter out a lot of false information in this.
For, almost all current-day writings in India on these kinds of things are full of lies and
slanted versions of events. Almost everyone suppresses information that is not
supportive of their side. And glorifies their population side. Or anything or anyone
who does the same thing. Words like ‘greatest in the world’ is a very commonly found
adjective.
The social repulsion exhibited by both the Nayars as well as the Thiyyas of
north Malabar to the corresponding castes in south Malabar, seems to be too much to
be casually mentioned off as a coincidence. There was indeed something specifically in
the history of the various populations that encoded these kinds of things. However, the
book Malabar, does not mention these things. In fact, many of the information given
in the book, which most probably is the inputs of the native-officials, are barren in this
regard. Almost all these writings purposefully aim at glorifying their own caste
populations; and degrading the others. All other finer details are simply wiped off.
This attitude is in sync with what Rev. Samuel Mateer has mentioned in his
book Native Life in Travancore: QUOTE:— the amount of research bestowed by each to
discover local traditions, verbal derivations, analogies in ceremonies or usages, or anything whatever that
might enable them to out-vie rival castes — the contempt felt for the boasting of others — and the age-
long memories of reported or imagined honours once enjoyed by them. END OF QUOTE
There is this quite curious bit of information that came to my notice in this
book:
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1. “I cannot offer even a plausible conjecture how, or at what time, a

connection existed between Nepal and Tibet, and Canara, but I cannot
doubt that such was the case.”
2. Mr. Forgusson has the following suggestive remarks in his work on the
“History of Indian and Eastern Architecture” : ‘that it is remarkable
enough that the Newar women, like those among the Nayars, may, in fact,
have as many husbands as they please, being at liberty to divorce them
continually on the slightest pretence.’
3. In fact, there are no two tribes in India, except the Nayars and Newars,
who are known to have the same strange notions as to female chastity,
and that coupled with the architecture and other peculiarities, seems to
point to a similarity of race which is both curious and interesting.
The point here seems to indicate that Nayars have some ancestral connection
with some population known as Newars in the Nepal area. How farfetched this idea is
not known to me.
One possibility might be that one or the other Nairs (north or south Malabar)
and the north Malabar Thiyyas might be of the same origin. They separated after
becoming connected to the native feudal languages, which have the capacity to splinter
up human populations into one-sided repulsion and one-sided attraction population
groups. There are two points of correspondence between the Nayars and north
Malabar Thiyyas. That is, both are following Marumakkathaya family traditions.
Yet, still it is also plausible that the Marumakkathaya Thiyyas are from the
north-central Asian region as mentioned earlier.
As to there being any kind of cultural commonness between the Nayars and
the Marumakkathaya Thiyyas, well, this is actually designed over the years by the level
in the feudal languages. Persons and populations assigned a lower grade in the verbal
codes are different from those assigned a higher stature. Genetic designs can be over-
written by language codes. That is a fact.
It is the same level of stature in the language codes that actually creates a
common population group. Caste is only a solidification of this levelling. Once this
verbal levelling is changed, the caste-based grouping would also change over the years.
For instance, if one brother becomes a small-time coolie and the other brother
becomes an IAS / IPS officer, in such a way that both of them do not have any
connection with each other, the language codes would change their physical and
mental demeanour very much. Within a generation or two, there would be little visible
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signs to show that there was some kind of commonness, other than some facial feature
similarity.
Now, if the two brothers knew each other, there would be a certain amount of
repulsion towards the coolie brother for the IPS brother. He would in most probability
not even like to mention his coolie brother. However, the Coolie brother, in spite of
feeling bad that his IPS brother is giving him a wide berth, would be quite attracted to
his IPS brother, and would most probably mention his relationship to him.
It is possible that the Nayar and Thiyyas of north Malabar could be one
population group that got separated by the language codes. However, this contention
cannot hold much water. For, the Nayars do have a Sudra ancestry, which the Thiyyas
do not have. So, it is more probable that the Nayars emerged to higher stature through
a Brahmin link, while the Thiyyas went down through a verbal degrading route.
What is the situation between the Nayars of South Malabar and Makkathaya
Thiyyas of South Malabar is not known to me.
However, there is a lot of purported information mentioned as from

Keralolpathi. That book seems to promote the idea of a single Kerala in the days of
antiquity, and that the whole of the geography was under one single dynasty. This may
or may not be true. Most probably, if true, only for a very brief period. History of the
world does not commence from the period mentioned in Keralolpathi.
If there is such a population-repulsion between those in North Malabar and

South Malabar, how could a single kingdom be there which is supposed to encompass
even the Travancore region? Keralolpathi is a useless book of historical records,
possibly. Since I have not read it, I cannot say anything for sure.
The common points among the common people of north Malabar of

yesteryears is the general fair complexion of their skin. This has slightly gone down in
recent years, I feel. Second is the Matriarchal family system seen among both the
Nayars as well as the Thiyyas there. Some Muslims groups also did have this, I think.
Third is the general repulsion for the populations of South Malabar.

Travancore did not actually come into the picture at all, maybe till Gundert and party
appeared on the Malabar scene and came out with a Keralolpathi.
It is curious that there is no reasonable information on why this population-

repulsion came about.
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There is another fanciful commonness found among the Nairs and the
Thiyyas of North Malabar. Both of them have their own hereditary deities which are
more or less Shamanistic in form. They may not have any real antique connection with
the Brahmanical religion of the Vedic culture. However, the Shamanistic deities of the
Nairs seems to be different from the Shamanistic deities of the Marumakkathaya
Thiyyas.
The most mentioned deity of the Thiyyas is the Muthappan. There are others
also. As for the Nairs, one deity named Mavan is seen mentioned in the footnotes, in
the book Malabar, as a deity of the Nairs. There are others such as: Kuttichathan,
Paradevatha, Asuraputhran, Gulikan, Chamundi &c. However, I am not sure if these
deities are solely Nayar deities, or deities common with other lower castes such as
Marumakkathaya Thiyyas, Makkathaya Thiyyas, Malayans &c.
There is some sameness. And yet, in the earlier days at least, the Nair common
folks used to keep a distance from the Thiyya deities and worship systems. For the
Thiyya deities were the gods of the populations they saw as low-grade.
Now, this idea would more or less disconnect to the Sudra ancestry of the
Nayars. However, there is a lot of confusion. It is only to be understood that in a single
generation of people, with an average life-span of around 45 to 60 years, so many
things happen. So many mixings happen. So many warfare, fights, relocation etc.
The people of Travancore are mentioned to have a Tamil heritage. While the
north Malabar region has had a language which had not much content of either
Sanskrit or Tamil. Now, how do one go about with this information?
With regard to the Travancore history this is seen mentioned: QUOTE: were
in turn brought under subjection by an irruption of the Tamil race (Nayars) under
Kshatriya leaders from the East Coast. END OF QUOTE.
Here it seems that the Nayars of Travancore were Tamilians. Then how come
there is a single Nayar caste? Well, that is not a error-free question. For there is a
hierarchy of castes inside the Nayars itself.
But then, are the Nayars all the same in some way? The only sameness must be
similar to the sameness one would see in the immigrants to England from various
nations. After all of them live under the English systems for a few generations, there
would not be any difference left in them, other than skin-colour, and certain traces of
facial features.
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Like that those populations who were

placed in the rank of the Nayars, as supervisors
by the Brahmin populations would slowly seem to
be one population. The population groups who
placed their women-folks at the beck and call of
the Brahman folks are those who come to the
fore.
What is the reason for allowing such

terrific rights to the Brahmins? It needs to be
understood that to arrive at a higher language-
code level above the so-many terrible populations
who would want to crush them down, the general
attitude would be to concede to this. For, it is
much better to go up above the lower-placed
populations, who would be more crude, rough, ill-mannered and totally uncouth. Their
very eye-language would be Inhi / Nee /Thoo to those who they have no ‘respect’.
Over the centuries, all the different population groups who got placed in the
Nayar level would slowly evolve out of their own ancestral bloodline and would reflect
both the Brahmanical bloodline as well as the higher-position they have in the language
codes.
South Asia is a land in which in many locations, a fair skin-complexion is seen

as quite attractive and of a superior social mien. This is a point to be noted. For, it does
give an impetus to dark-skinned populations groups to get connected to fair-skinned
population groups.
Now, speaking about the Thiyyas, there is

something more to be mentioned. It is that among the
Thiyyas themselves, there is severe grading depending
on the stature of the household and also connected to
the occupation. Many Thiyyas were by ancestry
connected to the job of plucking coconuts. This
naturally connects them to the other allied profession.
That is of Toddy-tapping on the coconut trees.
From an English perspective, there is nothing

wrong in these professions. However, in the local feudal
vernacular, this profession has been assigned the low-
grade stature words. Words for He, Him, His, and You,
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Your and Yours would be that of the dirt level, from their own caste higher persons.
This dirt-level-ing of words is in itself a complicated social machine process. I cannot
explain it here. Interested readers can peruse the book I mentioned earlier.
The association to this low-graded professional did give a pull and tug towards
the bottom levels of the social order. It affects the communication codes to a
disadvantage. Especially when viewed from the perspective of the higher classes.
So among the Marumakkathaya Thiyyas themselves, there came into being a

sort of caste-divide inside their own caste. There were the Thiyyan and Thiyyathi, who
were literally treated as dirt in the verbal codes. They were the labour class of people.
Devoid of all rights to dignified verbal codes from the higher castes and from their
own caste land-owners. The other more prominent Thiyyas owned lands and also had
administration over their own centres of worship. This information I am more or less
writing from an impressionistic understanding of history.
This higher-level Thiyyas were the Thiyyars. Not the Thiyyan or Thiyyathi.
This difference in verbal designation is what is derived from the feudal codes of the
local language. The Thiyyar individuals would address the Thiyyan and Thiyyathi as
Inhi ഇ ി, and refer to them as Oan ഓൻ and Oal ഓ . They in reverse would
address and refer to the Thiyyars as Ingal ഇ and Oar ഓ .
In effect the local feudal language has created very powerful disintegration and
split inside the same population group. The higher-class Thiyyars would quite frankly
show their distance and repulsion to the Thiyyans and Thiyyathi. This information I
am adding from my own observations. It may not be possible to find any written
records or evidence for this.
In between I should mention that this kind of terrific splintering in the social
fabric is happening right now in England, as the feudal-language speakers slowly
spread out inside the soft belly of the native-English society over there.
The newly-arrived-in-Malabar native-English administrators were more or less

impervious to these issues. This was the first danger that the Nairs noted. That they
can be quite easily dislodged by the Thiyyas. For, in English, there is not much of a
premium value in displaying extreme servitude and obeisance. In fact, if they tried to
offer or exhibit any of the kind of obeisance they practised towards the native-English
officials, at best they would go down in stature.
The larger issue can be seen in the fact that many Englishmen who went in for
long-stay here took Thiyya lower-class females as their woman / wife here. This is
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something no native higher-class man would dare to do. It would simply pull his
stature down into the gutters. It would reflect in everyone’s verbal codes, even in his
own wife’s family members’. However, the English to a long extent remain aloof from
all this, even though it might be true that a slight quality degradation would set in, the
moment they get defined by their local family connections, in the native languages.
This highly explosive information never seems to have entered into the heads of the
native-English. Even now, they do not know anything about this.
The commencement of an Anglo-Thiyya blood population groups in

Tellicherry and surrounding areas must have created terrific dins of dissonance in the
higher caste social web. It would be most keenly felt by the Nairs. For they stood on
the location which shared its boundary with the Marumakkathaya Thiyyas.
Being on the lower-grade of the language-codes does bring in terrific quality

deficiency. Not only does the intellectual quality in ordinary conversation go down,
but even their words of referring can be terrible demeaning for others. Entry of one
single Thiyya into the officer cadre of the English administration would go a long way
to spray the codes of degradation on to all other higher castes in the work area of the
same officer.
This degradation is caused by the bridge that this single individual has created
to all his lower-social grade companions and relatives to converse about the higher
caste individuals with the least of ‘respect’ and ‘reverence’. In fact, all Nairs in the
officer cadre can easily do down to the levels of the labour class Thiyya relatives of the
officer Thiyya. They would very easily get converted into Oan ഓൻ and Oal ഓ , in
the conversations of the low-grade populations. Their rightful position is actually that
of Oar ഓ .
Before going ahead with the book commentary, I would like to insert this
much here. Allowing the lower-grade people to address a higher standard population
with such words as Inhi/ Nee ഇ ി/നീ, Oan/Avan ഓൻ/അവൻ, Oal/Aval
ഓ /അവൾ etc. (all lowest grade verbal codes for You, he, she etc.) is a very
demeaning work. The person or the persons who get addressed, if they are of higher
personality quality will get degraded into a level of stinking excrement. Others of
quality will try to keep away from their proximity.
Affected persons may go into mental agony, paranoia and even epileptic
seizures. I mention this much to denote that they are all very powerful language codes.
Now, this is a common experience in India. The lower-grade police constables

are allowed the freedom to use these words on any individual who are accosted by
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them, and appear to them as socially vulnerable. This idea may be understood in a
further manner. That, in the newly-formed nation of India, a small percentage of the
population is of golden standards. They possess the right to higher grade verbal codes.
The main group who have come to hold this right in a sort of hereditary manner is the
Indian government officials.
That does not mean that all the other Indians are stinking excrement. Most of
the higher social classes are also in the higher bracket. But a huge section of the
population are stinking dirt, who can be addressed in the most meanest of verbal
usages by the police constables. From this information, the reason why the people who
live in India are generally defined as some kind of dirt by the Indians who have
relocated to the English west and to Continental Europe, can be understood.
There is some truth in their assertion. The degraded populations of India

cannot even address a government office worker as an equal or subordinate. If the
requisite ‘respect’ is not given to the government office worker, he or she is done for.
This is the real fact about the so-called independent nation of India. When the
English administration ditched the people of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and
handed them over to the government employees, the people quality went into decay.
However, the real training of the people into a excrement mentality is done in
the vernacular schools of the nation. The teachers, most of them totally of the very low
intellectual class, use the lower indicant word form of You, Your, Yours, He, His, Him,
She, Her, Hers etc. to the students. And also differentiate the parents into Adhehams
അേ ഹം (gold) and Avans അവൻ (dirt). The former consists of the government
officials, doctor, and big business owners etc. The latter consists of ordinary workers
and such.
This is a huge topic. I do not want to go into that. Interested readers are again
requested to read the ‘An Impressionistic History of South Asian Subcontinent’.
It is quite curious that two individuals from the subcontinent got Noble Prize
for supporting ‘education’. One escaped to England. The tragedy of England! I will
leave that topic here.
Now, I am going to take up the ‘Nair’ mention in this book, Malabar

purported to have been written by William Logan. The reader must bear in mind that I
am giving frank impressions. If the Nairs or Thiyyars or any other population group
feels insulted, it had not been my aim to do so. Moreover, people react to the language
codes. When they feel that any association with anyone else can degrade their defining
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verbal codes, they will make all desperate attempts to negate it. If they feel that another
person or groups of persons are going to outwit them or to go above them, they will
get terrorised. Because all such events can create cataclysmic changes in the language
codes.
In a feudal language system, language codes are everything. Just like codes are
very powerful inside a software.
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Content of current-day
populations
Each individual has two parents. Father and mother. Each of these individuals
have their own parents. If we go backward like this, it is easily seen that each person
currently living would be connected to 1024 individuals some ten generations back.
And to 32,768 individuals some 15 generations back. And to 1,048,576 individuals
living some 20 generations back. From this point backwards, the numbers simply
expand exponentially astronomically. For instance, at the time of the 21st generation
back, a man currently alive would be would be connected to around 21 lakhs
individuals (i.e. around 2,097,152).
So it is easily seen that any individual of any caste currently alive would more
or less have a bloodline connecting him to almost all castes and populations groups
that had come to the South Asian subcontinent at anytime in the past.
So there is no need for any individual to feel elated or disgraced when any
particular detail is mentioned about any caste or population group of yore. And a
twenty-generation back is not such a far-off time. There are individuals alive now who
have seen their ancestors to around four to five generations back.
The book, Malabar, is about people and population groups some 100 to 400
years back.
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Nairs / Nayars
It was the establishment of the English rule that brought in peace in the
subcontinent. Even inside this miniscule Malabar region, there were many small-time
and relatively bigger kingdoms. Each and every one of them was incessantly in a state
of perpetual warfare. And inside each of the ruling families, individual members staked
their claims based on various connections, to the kingship. No one experienced any
length of time of peace.
Nagam Aiya has mentioned this point very frankly in his Travancore State
Manual.
QUOTE: “It is the power of the British sword, “as has been well observed,” which secures
to the people of India the great blessings of peace and order which were unknown through many weary
centuries of turmoil, bloodshed and pillage before the advent of the Briton in India”. END OF
QUOTE
About the Malabar location and nearby areas he mentions this much also:
QUOTE: It is quite possible that in the never-ending wars of those days between
neighbouring powers, Chera, Chola and Pandya Kings might have by turns appointed Viceroys of their
own to rule over the different divisions of Chera, one of whom might have stuck to the southernmost
portion, called differently at different times, by the names of Mushika- Khandom, Kupa-Khandom,
Venad, Tiruppapur, Tiru-adi-desam or Tiruvitancode, at first as an ally or tributary of the senior
Cheraman Perumal — titular emperor of the whole of Chera — but subsequently as an independent
ruler himself. This is the history of the whole of India during the time of the early Hindu kings or
under the Moghul Empire. The history of every district in Southern India bears testimony to a
similar state of affairs.
QUOTE: The Nawab of Tinnevelly was nominally the agent of the Nawab of Arcot, who
was himself ruling the Carnatic in the name of the Delhi Padisha; but beyond a mere name there was
nothing in the relationship showing real obedience to a graded or central Imperial authority.
QUOTE: The Nawab of Tinnevelly himself co-existed with scores of independent Poligai’s
all over the District, collecting their own taxes, building their own forts, levying and drilling their own
troops of war, their chief recreation consisting in the plundering of innocent ryots all over the country
or molesting their neighbouring Poligars.
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QUOTE: The same story was repeated throughout all the States under the Great Moghul.
In fact never before in the history of India has there been one dominion for the whole of the Indian
continent from the Himalayas to the Cape, guided by one policy, owing allegiance to one sovereign-
power and animated by one feeling of patriotism to a common country, as has been seen since the
consolidation of the British power in India a hundred years ago. END OF QUOTE
This was a fact of life in the subcontinent since times immemorial. Beyond all
this was the fact that people were simply caught and taken as slaves or sold off as
slaves. There were many problems with the life of women.
Then, English rule came. There was peace. However, in the settled social life,
another danger started poking its head. It was the imminent rise of the lower castes
and classes. For the Nairs, the most dangerous content was the Thiyyas.
It is like a team of police constables in a police station. The local taxi-drivers

are their subordinate lower-castes. They can address them as any kind of dirt. They are
the Nee / Inhi and Avan / Oan.
Suddenly all of a sudden, there comes a change of scene. On the social front,
there emerges a small group of taxi-drivers who come with a higher demeanour than
the others. They do not accept the lower-grading assigned to them by the constables
and the government. Due to the fact that these taxi-drivers are of a superior mien, the
constables somehow bear the terribleness of an equality and dignity in the taxi-drivers.
Now, comes the next issue. Seeing the higher demeanour and rights of these
superior class taxi-drivers, the other taxi-drivers also start acting in a pose beyond their
traditional stance of inferiority. This is too much for the constables. For, they are used
to seeing the taxi-drivers as a cringing lot. (In fact, I have seen commercial lorry drivers
being made to beg holding on the legs of peon-level officials of the sales tax in a
border check-post in a middle-Indian state).
But then what can the constables do? In the new system, they can’t beat or
slap the taxi-drivers into submission. So what do they do? The go around writing their
superior stance wherever they get a chance. They see to it that the taxi-drivers are not
mentioned at all. Or if at all mentioned, connect them to some other taxi-drivers in
another state where the taxi-drivers are treated as dirt.
Whenever a mention of the local village taxi-drivers is made, simply add a

reference to the taxi-drivers of the other state where they still are treated as obnoxious
objects.
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Beyond that in places where they would not be disputed they would claim to
be officers. The bare fact the Indian policemen were traditionally termed as ‘shipai’
would be given the go-by. Why? Because it is nowadays heard by them that in the US,
the police constable is called an ‘officer’. So by going that roundabout route, they arrive
at the officer grade.
However, it might also be mentioned that this issue will crop up only when the
taxi-drivers get a feeling that the constables are their equals. Other-wise they do not
think about these things and are perfectly happy with what they have, if they are
otherwise happy.
Now, let us look into what has been the claims of the Nair folks in this book.
Even though these things are ostensibly written by William Logan, they are not.
One of the very evident points is that in the location where William Logan has
directly written, that is the location of history writing, especially where the records of
the English Factory in Tellicherry is taken up, the Nairs are quite differently defined
and mentioned. There is not anything spectacular or courageous in the Nair quality. In
fact, even the word ‘peon’ is mentioned about them. The word ‘Kolkar’ is also
mentioned as a peon.
In the Travancore areas, which is far south of Malabar, I had noticed a very
frantic desperation on the part of the Nairs there to mention and define themselves as
Kshatriyas. Various kinds of logic and historical incidences are mentioned by them to
define themselves as Kshatriyas, far removed from the Ezhavas who exist just below
them; and who try their level best to equate them downwards. The Nairs used to
assign verbal comparisons on Ezhavas, which the latter find derogatory.
The Ezhavas take pain to mention them as Sudras. Thereby giving a hint that
the Nairs are actually low-castes. However, the truth remains that the Nairs are not low-
caste, if one were to go by the route of bloodline. And by mental demeanour also, they
refuse to be low-caste. I will leave that there. My interest here is to illuminate the
terrors that the feudal language codes have inspired in the people.
It is not easy to very categorically mention which all parts of the book are the
direct writings of William Logan, which are more or less the inputs of the natives of
the subcontinent. Some of the names of the native individuals who have made writing
contributions are given in the book. Two names are mentioned by him in the Preface
to Volume 1. They are: Messrs. O. Cannan, ex-Deputy Collector and Kunju Menon,
Subordinate Judge.
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The reader may note that in the 1800, these officials were not native-Brits, but
more or less the natives of the subcontinent. Even though this might seem a very
powerful plus point, in actual fact, the quality of the native-English administration goes
down at the locations where the relatively senior officials are from the cantankerous
native-population groups. However, that is another point, not of context here.
The descriptive notes on the various Taluks are seen to have been done by
Messrs. Chappu Menon, B.A., C. Kunhi Kannan and P. Karunakara Menon. Of these
three, both the Menons are obviously from the Nayar caste. As to the previously
mentioned O. Cannan, ex-Deputy Collector and C Kunhi Kannan, there is nothing to
denote their caste. Both the names are seen to be used by both the Nayars as well as by
the Thiyyas, in the 1900s.
Why this pointed seeking of caste is done is that in a feudal language social
ambience, persons are not actually individual entities. They are simply part and parcel
of huge strings and webs of associations and hierarchies. It is quite difficult to be a
free-thinker in the way an Englishman can be. Most or many words in the native
feudal-language have a direction code of affiliation, loyalty, hierarchical position,
command and obedience. More detailed examination of this point has been done in
the afore-mentioned An Impressionistic History of the South Asian Subcontinent.
I think this might be the right occasion to mention a few words about
individual names in the Malabar region (especially the north Malabar region, for south
Malabar antiquity is relatively more obscure for me). Thiyya individual names
traditionally are like this: Pokkan, Nanu, Koman, Chathu, Kittan &c. for males. For
females, it is Chirutha, Chirutheyi, Pokki, Pirukku, Cheeru, Mathu etc.
It is possible that some of these names were used by the Nairs also. What that
is supposed to hint at is not known to me. However, speaking about names, there is
this bit to be mentioned. On a very casual reading of the various Deeds given in this
book, a lot of individual names of the Nairs and the castes above them were seen. It
was quite obvious that very few of them had any deep connection with the Sanskrit or
Brahmanical names, that are currently used in great abundance by everyone.
I am giving a few of the names* I found in the various deeds. Quite obviously
none of them are of the castes below the Nairs:
Achatt അ ്, Appunni അ ി, Candan ക ൻ, Chadayan ചടയൻ,

Chakkan ച ൻ, Chandu ച ു, Chattan ച ൻ, Chatta Raman ച രാമൻ,
Chattu ചാ ു, Chekkunni േച ു ി, Chennan േചനൻ, Cherunni െചറു ി,
Chingan ചി ൻ, Chiraman ചിരമൻ, Chokkanathan െചാ നാധൻ, Chumaran
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ചുമരൻ, Cotei േകാ ായി, Ellappa ഇ , Iluvan ഇലുവൻ, Iravi Corttan

ഇരവിേകാർ ൻ, Itti ഇ ി, Ittikombi ഇ ിെ ാ ി, Kammal ക ൾ, Kammaran
ക രൻ, Kanakkam കന ം, Kannan ക ൻ, Kandan ക ൻ, Kandu ക ു,
Karunnukki കരുനു ി, Kelan േകളൻ, Kelappa േകള , Kelu േകള , Kittanan
കി ണൻ, Kokka െകാ , Kondu െകാ ു, Kora േകാര, Koran െകാരൻ,
Korappen േകാര ൻ, Korissan െകാരിസൻ, Kunchiamma കു ിയ , Kunhan
കു ൻ, Kunka കു , Manichan മണി ൻ, Makkachar മ ാർ, Murkhan
മൂർഖൻ, Mutta മു / മൂ , Muttatu മൂ , Nakan നകൻ, Nambi** ന ി,
Nanganeli ന നലി, Nangayya ന , Nangeli നേ ലി, Nantiyarvalli
നാ ിയാർവ ി, Okki ഒ ി, Pachchi പ ി, Paman പമൻ, Panku പ ു, Pangi
പ ി, Pappu പ , Patteri പേ രി (ഭ തിരി), Raru രാരു, Rayaran രയരൻ,
Rayiru രയിരു, Teyyan െത ൻ, Thoppu െതാ , Valli വ ി, Velu േവലു,
Viyatan വിതയൻ, Yamma യ .
* In the Malayalam transliteration given of the names, there can be errors.

** Nambi is a caste title also, commonly seen in Travancore. However, in Malabar, it seems to
have been used as a name also.
Some of these names are seen suffixed with such names as Nair, Menon,
Kurup, Nambiyar etc. in the case of the Nayar-level people. Some of the higher castes
above them were seen to have family names and other titles added either as suffixes or
prefixes. Some the Nair level individuals also might have them.
Inside the historical section also, the names of the Nairs are found to be of
similar content. For instance, there is the name one Yemen Nair mentioned in the
history of the minute Kottayam kingdom. Yemen literally means the God of Death. I
do not know if there is any error in the name’s meaning given, that entered through a
erroneous transliteration of the word ‘Yemen’.
Now, it may be mentioned here that Nairs / Nayars are not actually one single
caste. There is a hierarchy among them also. It is more or less a hierarchy of
population groups holding on to a solid frame, that holds them all above the swirling
waters in which the lower castes are submerged. They have to hold tightly to the frame,
in such a way the each layers does not kick the lower down into the water. For this,
they should not try to fight for a higher step among the various Nair layers. For, if they
lose their grip, the lower castes would immediately pull them down among them or
even push them down below them.
This action of pulling down is a physical action. It simply consists of changing

the words of addressing and referring to a lower indicant word. Simply put, if the lower
caste man or woman or child changes the higher He/Him (i.e. Oar ഓ ) to a lower
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level he / him (i.e. Oan ഓൻ), the person would come crashing down into the lower
caste swirling waters.
Since I have mentioned the various Deeds, there is one thing that comes to my
mind now. It is that Deeds can actually be a rich source of social communication and
feudal language hierarchy information. However William Logan does not seem to be
very keenly interested in pursuing this idea, even though there are hints in this book
that he did feel its presence, without understanding what it is.
It is like this: To around the 1970s, in Malabar land registration documents,

there was a very specific communication direction found to be enforced. It is that in
sale deed between a Nair and a Thiyya man, for instance, the Thiyya man is invariably
addressed as a Nee (lowest You) while the Nair man is addressed as a Ningal / Ingal
(Ingal ഇ ൾ is the highest You in Malabari – not in Malayalam).
It goes without saying that the words for He and Him and also for She and
Her would also be likewise arranged as per caste hierarchy. This topic is quite a huge
one and I do not propose to pursue it here. However, even though in this book a lot of
Deeds of yore have been placed for inspection, the book writers do seem to have only
a very shallow information on what all things need to be looked for. In fact, they are
totally unaware of the deeper content that designs the social structure and human
relationships.
From this perspective, this book has a lot of shallowness. However, it must
also be said that there is a lot of very good information also in this book. The only
thing is that the reader needs to know what to look for; and to be aware of what all
things might be totally missed, or laid bare without explanations.
A lot of information is lying in a scattered manner all around the book. If

possible, I will try to assemble the information in very logical groupings.
It is quite possible that the main persons who interfered and influenced the
writings in this book were from the Nair caste. It is only natural that they would be
quite apprehensive about what inputs are there about the Nairs. In this book, almost
everywhere, the Nairs are described in the superlative. Only in the specific areas where
Logan himself more or less wrote the text, they are differently described. In fact, in this
particular location, the descriptions about the Nairs are of the negative kind.
One thing that might be noticed in this book is that there are certain very
specific ideas or information that is tried to be emphasised as true. To this end, almost
all historical information are filtered out. Moreover many words from antiquity are
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mentioned as having changed to certain other words, which then seems to help prove
the contentions. I can mention a few. However, let me focus on the word ‘Nair’ here.
See these quotes:

1. The Nayars (so styled from a Sanskrit word signifying leader, in the
honorific plural lord, and in ordinary sense soldier) were the “protectors”
of the country, and, as such, crystallised readily into the existing caste of
Nayars, with numerous branches.
2. Aryans ................... had perforce to acknowledge as “protectors” the

aboriginal ruling race,- the Nayars — whom they designated as “Sudras”
but in reality treated as Kshatriyas. END OF QUOTES
There is the word ‘Chera’, which is mentioned many times in connection with
a ruling family of this land. This word has been mentioned in many ways. One is that it
is another pronunciation of Kera. Which more or less, then authenticates the name
Kerala. This is the way the argument goes.
However, the very elemental idea that could be picked up from this word is
that Chera in the native languages of the area, means the Rat Snake. Why this very first
impression is avoided is not known.
However, there is the mention of this land being full of serpents. See these
quotes from Malabar State Manual written by Nagam Aiya.
It is actually based on the Keralolpathi, I think:
QUOTE:.....the land newly reclaimed from the sea was a most inhospitable
region to live in, being already occupied by fearful Nagas, a race of hill-tribes who
drove the Brahmins back to their own lands. Parasurama persevered again and again
bringing hosts of Brahmins more from every part of India to settle in and colonise his
new land; the Nagas were propitiated under his orders by a portion of the land being
given to them and thus his own Brahmin colonists and the Nagas lived side by side
without molesting each other. And by way of conciliation and concession to the old
settlers (Nagas who were serpent-worshippers), Parasurama ordered his own colonists
to adopt their form of worship, and thus serpent-worship on this coast early received
Parasurama’s sanction. These Nagas became the Kiriathu Nayars of later Malabar
claiming superiority in rank and status over the rest of the Malayali Sudras of the west
coast.
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Parasurama also brought other Sudras, to whom he assigned the duty of

cultivating the land and otherwise serving the Brahmin colonists. These Sudras were in
addition to the Nayars, the early settlers, who had been conciliated and won over as
servants and tenants as shown above. He also brought cattle and other animals for
agricultural purposes. END OF QUOTE
This is one point. So for the sake for an intellectual point, it might be
mentioned that the word Nayar actually originates from Naganmar. That is, the Naga
people. The word Naga means Serpents, which actually is connected to Cobra. The
word ‘nayar’ then might not have the celestial standard meaning of social leadership
and control and patrolling and protection of the people that is simply mentioned all
over the book, Malabar, purportedly written by William Logan.
Beyond that, there is also the mention of them being Sudras and also not
Sudras. For they were Nagas. However, they were the serving classes of the Brahmins.
Similar to the police shipais of Kerala police. This was the designation of the police
constables in the state. Shipai means peon. However, as of now, they have been
redefined as the ‘officers’. Then, who are the ‘officers’ of the police department might
become a debatable point in the near future.
Not many persons would dare to stake up such a point. For, mentioning such
a think about the police constables can be very, very dangerous.
There is this information which I saw in Native Life in Travancore: QUOTE:

The last-named place (Nagpore) is said by Sir W. Elliott to be called after the Nags, a
race of Scythian lineage, who invaded India about 600 B.C., and had the figure of a
snake as their national emblem and standard. END OF QUOTE
Whether the Nagas of Malabar had anything to do with the above people, also
is not debated here.
Connecting back to the Nayars, there is enough and more mention that they
are the Barons of the land! That is another nonsensical claim. The nonsense is in the
idea that the entities in the subcontinent can be compared to anything in a native-
English land.
There is again this quote from Travancore State Manual:

QUOTE: The serpent figures are most common in Travancore and the ‘Kavu’
or abode of serpents, where images of serpents are set up and worshipped, is to be
invariably seen in the garden of every Nayar house. END OF QUOTE.
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Now, going ahead on the Serpent worship route, there is this quote again from
the Travancore State Manual:
QUOTE:
But these Dravidians themselves had already come under the influence of the
serpent-worshippers of the north. END OF QUOTE.
There is some discrepancy in this statement. First of all the Serpent worship is
earlier mentioned as native to this land. Then why an influence from the northern parts
of the subcontinent?
Then this statement does seem to hint that the Hindu religion, the
Brahmanical religion or the Vedic religion does have an antiquity of Serpent worship. I
am not sure if this claim, if it is there, is true. Or could it be mentioning the Naga
worshippers who not really from the Brahmanical religion?
Lord Siva is seen to have a Serpent or a Cobra on his head. But then, I think
Lord Siva is not a major God of the Vedic religion. The major gods of the Vedic
religion seems to be Indra, Varuna, Agni &c. I am not an expert in these things. It does
however, seem to delineate an idea that Vedic Hinduism is different from popular
Hinduism, in which the divine Trinity consists of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. I will
leave it at this point.
It is true that in the Nair / Nayar households, serpent worship or rather Cobra
worship was quite rampant. In fact, it is seen mentioned in such book as Native-life in
Travancore that the various land or house-sale deeds do include the mention of the
cobra family living inside the household or in the compound or Sarpakkavu (Serpent
shrine) in the transfer.
In some of the Deeds copies given in this book, there is mention of Cobras
being transferred.
QUOTE from Deed no.13 in this book, Malabar: In this way (ഇ ാർ െമ) the
good and bad stones (കല ം കരടു), stump of nux vomica (കാ ിരകു ി) the front
side and back side (മു ുംപി ും) ? thorns (മു ), cobras (മൂർ ൻപാ ു്), hidden
treasure and the vessel in which it is secured (െവ ം െച ), and water included in
the four boundaries of the said house (വീടു്) are granted as Attipper and water by
settling the price. END OF QUOTE
Beyond that Rev. Samuel Mateer mentions that the Cobras are quite tame in
the households and do not attack anyone other than when trodden upon.
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It may be noted that in the traditional names of Nayars, there is a name

Murkhan. I find it in the first Deed given in this book. The Deed is connected to the
assigning of many liberties to the Jews, by Bhaskara Ravi Varman, (wielding the sceptre
and ruling for many 100,000 years). The name is Murkhan Chattan. The line is thus:
Thus do I know Murkhan Chattan, commanding the Eastern Army.
It is quite inconceivable that anyone would assume the name of Murkhan

(Cobra) nowadays, other than as some fancy tile. However, there is indeed a great
tradition of reverence to the Cobras in the Nayar family antiquity.
Moving on the name issue route, I just remembered a curious film in

Malayalam. It is a story on the prisoners kept in Andaman & Nicobar Island’s Cellular
jail. The main character of the film is a doctor by name Govardhan Menon. It is a
Malayalam Superstar who acts as this protagonist. The people in the film including the
hero do not have the real looks and personality of the people of Malabar or
Travancore of those times.
The name of the hero itself is terrific. Dr. Govardan Menon. Not any of the
names I have placed above. The film depicts the British as terrible rulers. Every terrible
torture methods that are used by the Indian police and other uniformed forces
nowadays are placed on the British.
The next point is the Cellular Jail’s terrible administer is an Irishman. Not an
Englishman. The problem in this is that when speaking about the British cruelty all
over the world, one of the most invariable contentions is about the British cruelty to
the Irish. The shooting done by the British army commander in Amritsar, the
Jallianwalabagh shooting was the handiwork of an Irish officer. Not an Englishman.
However, it must be admitted that he saved the lives of at least one million people by
his pre-emptive shooting. For more on this, check Shrouded Satanism in feudal
languages – Chapter Seventy Four.
Then there is the issue of the doctor being from the Menon caste. There was
actually a huge rebellion going on in Travancore against the Nairs and higher castes.
Actually the lower castes and the Nairs literally took to streetfighting which had to be
brought into control by the Travancore police by crushing down the lower castes.
Menons come under the Nair caste.
QUOTE from Travancore State Manual: During the administration of Col.

Munro, a Circular order was issued permitting the women referred to, to cover their
bodies with jackets (kuppayam) like the women of Syrian Christians, Moplas, and such
others, but the Native (lower-caste converted) Christian females would not have
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anything less than the apparel of the highest castes. So they took the liberty of
appearing in public not only with the kuppayam already sanctioned, but with an
additional cloth or scarf over the shoulders as worn by the women of the higher castes.
These pretensions of the Shanar convert women were resented by the high-caste
Nayars and other Sudras who took the law into their own hands and used violence to
those who infringed long-standing custom and caste distinctions. END OF QUOTE
Actually around 1820, something quite similar to the Mappilla revolt against
the Hindus (Brahmins) and the Nayars in South Malabar, took place in Travancore. It
is generally called the Channar Lahala or Channar revolt. The lower castes including
their women took to the streets demanding more freedom. This sense of freedom was
due to the entry of the English Missionaries in the kingdom.
This mood for demanding more rights continued in a forked manner. The
converted-to-Christian lower-castes more or less had the Christian Church to lead
them to a more placid living condition. The non-converted lower castes remained
under the Hindus, who were not very keen that their slave castes and semi-slave castes
should improve. Their fury ultimately boiled over at Punnapra and Vayalar villages,
where they beat to death a Travancore kingdom police Inspector who had gone to
mediate with them. The feudal language codes literally triggered the homicidal mania.
This killing more or less created a mood for vengeance among the policemen and they
went berserk. They came and shot dead whoever they could find in those areas, who
was a lower caste.
The next point that comes into my mind is a terrific scene in the film. One
local slave-man of the native feudal lords being commanded by the local landlord to
bend and show this back for an English official to step on. I am yet know about this
kind of customs among the Englishmen.
The last point is the doctor’s assertion that an ‘Indian’s back is not for an
English / British man to step on. Giving the ample hint that the slaves of the
subcontinent, since times immemorial, for the local feudal classes to manhandle and
kick.
Persons with some understanding of what really took place during the English
rule will not believe such nonsense stories brought out in Indian films.
However, a few hours back one of my readers sent me a Whatsapp message

with a quote from someone in some online chat:
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QUOTE: ... don't u see the movie, Kala pani ,about the life of people who lived at the time
of British India. Please see and do react.it has a fantastic story line and has been made amazingly
which reveals the atrocities being faced during the reign of british END OF QUOTE. No attempt
has been made to correct the erroneous spelling and grammar in the English text in the
comment.
I am placing an pixelated image of the Doctor and his companions in that

movie. For, it might not be good to use the original picture of the film stars in a book
that mention their story as false.
Now, look at the lower castes who were escaping hundreds of years of terror
under these higher castes. The Doctor? Who gave him the infrastructure to become a
doctor? In Travancore, a Ezhava man was given the opportunity to learn Medicine by
the London Missionary Society members. He even lived in England. However, when
he came back and tried to get a government job as a doctor, he was hounded out. He
had to get a job in British-India as a doctor.
Then what nonsense was this fake ‘Dr. Govardan Menon’ whining about?
That he could no longer use pejoratives on his slaves?
Now coming back to the stream of the

writing:
There is another thing to be mentioned about

the Nair / Nayar connection. The caste is generally
connected to the word Malayali in this book. Actually
the word Malayali has a number of problems. For,
there are actually three different locations in the
subcontinent that has been mixed up to mean this
word Malayali. I will have to take up that later.
Look at this QUOTE:

The Hindu Malayali is not a lover of towns
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and villages. His austere habits of caste purity and impurity made him in former days
flee from places where pollution in the shape of men and women of low caste met him
at every corner ; and even now the feeling is strong upon him and he loves not to dwell
in cities. END OF QUOTE.
By context, the word ‘Malayali’ is used here in this book, Malabar, in the sense
of Nayar. The deeper intent is to promote the idea that they are a very superior caste.
However, that is true of the police constables also. They derive a lot of terror and fear
and ‘respect’ from the people. They constables do not like the common people to be
on a terms of equality with them. However, the constables are sill low-down in the
police hierarchy.
There is over-statement in the various texts in the book that the Nayars were a
sort of political (tara) organisation, with some kind of democratic features. Moreover,
that they were the sort of guardians of the various freedoms of the people which they
protected from being encroached by the rulers.
QUOTES:
1. And probably the frantic fanatical rush of the Mappillas on British
bayonets, which is not even yet a thing of the past, is the latest
development of this ancient custom of the Nayars The influence of
the tara organisation cannot be overrated in a political system tending
always to despotism.
[My notes: Here the Mappilla daring is being connected to a
purported valorous attitude of the Nayars in the Mahamakkam festival
at Tirunavaya. The problem with this comparison is that the Nayar
behaviour in that festival more or less display a lack of individuality.
In that, the persons are prodded on to suicide as part of a senseless
push of social codes. In the case of the Mappillas, it is something
more personal. The triggers are switched on by some personal
animosity. Beyond all that, the very mention of the British bayonets is
a very cunning misleading statement. It would give an impression that
the Mappilla anger was towards the English administration. It was
not. It was directed towards the Nayars and the higher castes above
them. The English administration was the scene as mere law and
order enforcers.
The claim that the fanatical courage generally seen displayed by
Islamic fighters in an attempt to achieve ‘martydom’ has been learned
from Nayar ‘antiquity of valour’, is a foolish one.
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2. when necessity existed, set at naught the authority of the Raja and
punished his ministers when they did “unwarrantable acts.”
3. Each amsam or parish has now besides the Adhikari or man of

authority, headman, an accountant or writer styled a Menon (literally,
superior man), and two or more Kolkars (club men or peons), who
between them manage the public affairs of the parish and are the local
representatives of the Government. [
[My notes: The quote no. 3 will look fine in English. However, when the
essential content of the local feudal languages is understood, the above quote could
very easily be seen as of some kind of terrific Satanic content. There is a huge
number of suppressed populations who literarily are confined to the levels of cattle
under these ‘administrators’.]
4. The Jews and Syrians were by other deeds incorporated in the
Malayali nation, and in the second of the Syrians’ deeds it is clear that
the position assigned to them was that of equality with the Six
Hundred” of the nad (that is, of the county).
[My notes: This is obviously another cunning statement of a different
sort. The constable class has a very lot of power over the ‘cattle-class’
people under them. The Jews being a population from another
location in Asia, were quite well aware about the dangers inherent in
the local languages. They took very pre-emptive steps to see that they
were not subordinated to the various lower placed populations here.
Jews, I presume were quite cunning and intelligent everywhere)
I personally feel that both the Thiyyas immigrants to north Malabar and
also the native-English officials from England who arrived in the
subcontinent did not have any information about this very dangerous
item. The Thiyyas simply tried to assimilate into a social system, which
very cunningly assigned them the lower positions. The higher castes
alerted the other population groups, especially the lower-positions groups
about this. This did them (the Thiyyas) in.
As to the native-English, they had no information on this. They went
around trying to ‘improve’ the populations without any information that
in the local languages, there is no slot of equal dignity. When the lower-
placed man goes up, the higher-placed man goes down. This terror is
slowly getting enacted in England as of now. The gullible native-English
are surely done for, unless all the feudal language speakers are send out.
5. They had no sufficient body of "protectors” of their own race to fall

back upon, so they had perforce to acknowledge as “protectors” the
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aboriginal ruling race,- the Nayars — whom they designated as

“Sudras” but in reality treated as Kshatriyas.
[My notes: This is in lieu with the constant anguish of the Nayars’
they are Kshatriyas. Actually, this ‘Kshatriyas’ designation might not
really mean much. If it is royal blood, they are alluding to, it might be
a false hope. For, there cannot be a lot of ‘kings’ and royalty. In this
book there are many locations where the Nair / Nayar numbers are
mentioned in thousands and tens of thousands. See these quote:
1. A force of fifty thousand Nayars, joined by many Cochin malcontents,

marched to Repelim (Eddapalli in Cochin State) on the 31st March
6. The evidence of the Honourable East India Company’s linguist
(interpreter, agent) at Calicut, which appears in the Diary of the
Tellicherry Factory under date 28th May 1746, and which has already
boon quoted (ante p. 80), deserves to be here reproduced. He wrote
as follows :
“These Nayars, being heads of the Calicut people, resemble the
parliament, and do not obey the king’s dictates in all things, but chastise
his ministers when they do unwarrantable acts.”
In so far as Malabar itself was concerned the system seems to have
remained in an efficient state down to the time of the British occupation,
and the power of the Rajas was strictly limited. END OF QUOTE
[My notes: The above-words have too many problems. The first issue is
that the English East India Company did face a numbers of problems, due
to their linguist (interpreter, agent) not giving them the real or intended
translation what the natives of Malabar said. Much of the translation
would contain a lot of personal interests and that of the so-many local
vested interests. This issue actually became a very big problem for the
English East India Company. And it may even be mentioned that some of
the bitter feelings that some of the native small-time ruler had for the
Company was due to this deliberate mistranslations.
This was actually a huge issue. I will deal with that later.
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The second issue is that the claim that Nayars are the head of the Calicut
people. The Nayars were a caste of people, in the levels comparable with
the modern-day constables. However, even the various kings of Malabar,
even though they claim to be Kshatriya, seem to have been from the Nair
/ Nayar caste with some ancestral difference.
The kings of Malabar seem to have a lot of connection with the Tamil
country as per the various quotes from the history section. Moreover,
when Vasco da Gama came to Calicut, the king of Calicut was seen thus:
he was a very dark man, half-naked, and clothed with white cloths from the middle to
the knees. From a general viewpoint, the people of Malabar, are fair in
complexion. So, it might be true that this king had a Tamil land ancestry
to some extent. The average Tamilian is dark. And seeing that the king of
Calicut was quite close to the seafaring people, could it be possible that his
family had some ancestral connection with the fishermen folks? They are
also generally seen as dark in complexion.
Then about the Nayars not obeying their king, well, to some extent this
would be true. For, the king had to depend upon them for various things.
He had no department of his own. In fact, he had no social welfare aim in
his kingdom, like providing for the education of the children, hospitals for
the public, arranging for proper policing, or judiciary or anything. His soul
duty was to act in concert with the various higher castes to see that the
lower castes were strictly kept in their subordinated position.
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Beyond that the king of Calicut was very much dependent on the Mappilla
maritime businessmen. Some of the Mappilla maritime households were
literally the agents and supporters of Arabian trade interests. To a great
extent they provided for his security. That is the impression that one gets
when one comes to read that part of the history which deals with the
Muslim / Arab traders.]
7. From the earliest times therefore down to the end of the eighteenth
century the Nayar tara and nad organisation kept the country from
oppression and tyranny on the part of the rulers, and to this fact more
than to any other is due the comparative prosperity which the Malayali
country so long enjoyed, and which made of Calicut at one time the
great emporium of trade between the East and the West.
[My notes: The above quote is total nonsense. For, nowhere in the book
can one find the Malabar area in a state of peace and prosperity at any
time. The history of the place is constant backstabbing, treachery and
warfare between the higher castes. As to the lower castes, they had to bear
the periodic molesting that happen when huge number of people move
around with arms for the fight. They will molest the lower castes on any
side of the fight. The men, they will catch for adding to their slaves. The
women would be caught for fornication and for various menial work.
As to the Calicut being a great trade emporium of the East and West, it is
just pipe-dream talk. International maritime traders would assemble in
various locations in the world, Asia and Africa to take goods to Europe. It
does not mean that the places where the traders came to are great centres
of human living.
For instance, I used to frequent a very under-developed forest-like area in

the local state. This was for collecting various kinds of fruits and
vegetables in bulk quantity. Many other traders from various vegetable and
fruits wholesale markets from the neighbouring states also would come
there. There was one big-time trader in the locality itself who
monopolised the ginger trade. His lorries would collect the raw ginger
from the farmers and take it to far-off vegetable markets in the far north,
some three thousand kilometres away. However, all this activity could not
be translated to mean that the people or the place was highly sophisticated
or that the common people were rich or that there existed a high quality
civilised social living. Everything over there was then in the exact
opposite.
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See this QUOTE from Abdu-r-Razzak: —“Although the Samuri (king of

Calicut) is not under his (Raja of Vijayanagar) authority, nevertheless he is
in great alarm and apprehension from him, for it is said that the king of
Bijanagar has 300 sea-ports, every one of which is equal to Kalikot, and
that inland his cities and provinces extend over a journey of three
months.” END OF QUOTE
There is bluff and counterbluff of the lowly rulers. However, the modern
readers need not fall for them.]
8. Parasu Raman (so the tradition preserved in the Keralolpatti runs)

“separated the Nayars into Taras and ordered that to them belonged
the duty of supervision (lit. kan = the eye), the executive power (lit.
kei = the hand, as the emblem of power), and the giving of orders (lit.
kalpana — order, command) so as to prevent the rights from being
curtailed or suffered to fall into disuse.”
[My notes: Here the Keralolpathi seems to be a book trying to
promote Nair interests. However, Keralolpathi had much more
cunning aim. I will try to hint what it was later.]
9. Menon or Menavan (mel — above, and avan — third personal

pronoun ; superior N., generally writers, accountants).
Ore (for plural third personal pronoun avar, honorific title of N.).
[My notes: There is very obvious aim to assert a Superior mien for the
Menons. However, the fact remains that in Travancore, the word Menon
was designated as a Sudra when it came for appointing a Menon man for
the post of a Dewan. And it was not allowed. So again that superiority is
relative. The constable’s superiority is only at the local village or street
corner level or above the menial workers. There are higher beings in the
social setup who have a wider ambit and a higher stature.
See this QUOTE from Travancore State Manual: There was Raman
Menon, the Senior Dewan Peishcar, a man of considerable revenue
experience and energy, and there was T. Madava Row, a young officer of
character and ability and possessed of high educational
qualifications,........................................ but the Senior one Raman Menoven
was in the north of Travancore and being a Soodra could not have
conducted the great religious festival then celebrating at Trivandrum
................. . His Highness has since proposed to me that Madava Row
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should for the present be placed in chair of the administration as Acting

Dewan END OF QUOTE]
10. by custom the Nayar women go uncovered from the waist; upper
garments indicate lower caste, or sometimes, by a strange reversal of
western notions, immodesty.
[My notes: This is another stark nonsense, written in the general free-
for-all freedom to write anything that can be used to mention one
more point of Nair superiority. Lower castes are identified by their
nude upper part. Nairs also had this issue when they moved in front
of the higher castes, the Brahmins. However, every point is simply
used and misused to promote the idea that the Nairs are a superior
caste. There is desperation in all these attempts. The Nairs were about
to face a terrible calamity. ]
11. Both men and women are extremely neat, and scrupulously particular
as to their cleanliness and personal appearance. The women in
particular enjoy a large measure of liberty, and mix freely in public
assemblies.
[My notes: The words on cleanliness might be true only in the case of
a few well-placed higher stature females in a joint household. Others
would literally have many problems of their own stature in the feudal
languages.
As to the issue of these females having a lot of social freedom and right to
mix in public assemblies, there are hidden parameters to this. Only the
females who get to be addressed with a suffix of ‘respect’ and words of
‘respect’ denoting the words She, Her, Hers &c. will find the freedom to
move around. Others would not find any physical
shackles. That is true. But, the word-codes would hold
them in terrific terror. In fact, the Ola kuda, the palm-
leave umbrella is a very necessity item for them to have
with them when they go out. For, otherwise the lower
castes both male and females would use profane
glances and lower-indicant words about them. They will
shrivel away.
It is like one particular IPS lady officer going around

where the male constables can see her. This particular
lady has nothing in her dress to denote that she is an
IPS officer (very senior police officer). The police
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constables would use only the most profane and lower-indicant words
about her. If she chances to hear them, it would give her a terrific
emotional shock.
It may be mentioned that all these kinds of issues are slowly spreading
around England. It is tragic.
There is a Proverbs section in this book. Among the proverbs given there,
there is one that states: QUOTE: A god will be recognised only if clad accordingly.
END OF QUOTE. There is a book in Malayalam purported to have been
written by Gundert. The proverbs mentioned in Malabar, might have been
taken from that book. The above quote is stated thus in that book:
അണിയലംെക ിെയ ൈദവമാവു. (Corrected translation: A divinity can be
identified only if attired in the right stature costume.) The unyielding
power of the word-codes is very amply seen here. The attire can decide
the word-codes.
Even though some persons might say that these things are there in
English also, the truth is that they are not there in English. Only in certain
locations like the armed forced &c. the insignia of an officer is an essential
item to identify his rank. However, the verbal codes for You, He, She &c.
will not change, even if the rank is not clear or misidentified.
Incidentally it may be mentioned here that many of the proverbs in the

book are total sync with the verbal code of the location. That of each
individual having a stature in the language-code. That there is no gain in
giving a wrong status to any person.
QUOTE: അ ് െപാ ുളം. END OF QUOTE The translation given

in this book is: A miry pit suits a leech. However a better translation would
be: A dirty pond for the leech. These kinds of proverbs are actually used to
categorise human being. The animals very rarely come into the picture.
Look at this one: അ െയപിടി ് െമ യിൽ കിട ിയാേലാ. The
translation given in the book is: Would you catch a leech and put it abed? A
more apt translation would be: What if the leech/bug is allowed to sleep on a bed?
Now, this is what actually the English administration did. They picked up
the population groups which had been placed in the dirt, and had been
made to stink over the centuries, and they improved them beyond
recognition. It was a glorious deed. Never before seen anywhere in
recorded history. Yet, it is very difficult to hear one word of appreciation
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from even the population groups who benefitted. There are specific
reasons for this stark ingratitude. ]
12. He said that each woman had two or four men who cohabited with
her, and the men, he said “seldom” quarrelled, the woman distributing
her time among her husbands just as a Muhammadan distributes his
time among his women.
[My notes: Even though this statement might seem that the Nair
women were having freedom of a kind not even seen in the most
modern societies, there are hidden truths behind all these kinds of
nonsensical dialogue.
The reader may note that nowhere in the history section are women seen
to be coming out into the open for policymaking or discussions, anything
like that. There is ample mention of a Beebi of Cannanore. In fact, a
number of females would have been in this position over the years
mentioned in the history section. Yet, it is also seen that her name is only
of namesake status. Actually there are men who decide. Even there seems
to be some fancy in mentioning the Beebi among small population around
a miniscule part of Cannanore.
It is seen from other writings wherein this issue of Nair females having a
lot of sexual rights, the fact is that they have literally no say in these
matters. A Nair woman’s ‘husband’ remain as ‘husband’ only on the
pleasure of her bothers’ wish. If they have any issue with her ‘husband’, he
is very frankly informed that she has another husband now, and that his
services are no longer required.
See this quote from Native Life in Travancore. Even though the Nairs of
Travancore might be different from the Nairs of Malabar in some ways,
including language, they both have the same matriarchal family system:
QUOTE: Rev. J. Abbs, in his “Twenty-two Years in Travancore,” gives
the following narrative, related to him by a Sudran, which well illustrates
the subject in hand : — “Being a tall, handsome man of respectable family,
although poor, I was engaged several years ago by two rich men of my own caste to be the
husband of their sister. As they did not wish to give me a dowry, or to let their sister
leave them, it was agreed that I should have a monthly allowance, go whenever I pleased
to see my wife, and when at the house of her brothers, eat in common with the males of
the family. This I expected would be permanent. But a few days ago, when I went to the
house, I was told by the elder brother that I could not be admitted, as another husband
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had been chosen for his sister. Her brothers have taken the two children to train them
up as the heirs of the family property.” END OF QUOTE]
13. In Johnston’s “Relations of the most famous Kingdom in the world”

(1611 Edition) there occurs the following quaintly written account of
this protector guild : “It is strange to see how ready the Souldiour of
this Country is at his Weapons : they are all gentile men, and tearmed
Naires. At seven Years of Age they are put to School to learn the Use
of their Weapons, where, to make them nimble and active, their
Sinnewes and Joints are stretched by skilful Fellows, and annointed
with the Oyle Sesamus : By this annointing they become so light and
nimble that they will winde and turn their Bodies as if they had no
Bones, casting them forward, backward, high and low, even to the
Astonishment of the Beholders. Their continual Delight is in their
Weapon, persuading themselves that no Nation goeth beyond them in
Skill and Dexterity.”
[My notes: The problem with these kinds of quotes is that the reality
behind this quote would be limited to some specific location, in a
specific time. The mention of the martial activity is more or less that
of the local martial arts, Kalari. A lot of people being exponents in
Kalari is not a necessary proof of the high quality content in the
population. It just shows that they are incessantly in a mood for fight.
Words like: 'put to School' do not mean much in a location where
public education is more or less zero.
There is this quote from Native Life in Travancore: QUOTE “To-day, when
passing by your schoolroom, I heard the children sing their sweet and instructive lyrics
with great delight. We Sudras, regarded as of high caste, are now becoming
comparatively lower; while you, who were once so low, are being exalted through
Christianity. I fear,” he added, “Sudra children in the rural districts will soon be fit for
nothing better than feeding cattle.” END of QUOTE]
In the above quote, the contention that the Sudras considered themselves
as high caste is similar to an Indian police constable considering himself or
herself as a high ‘officer’. There are millions of Indians who are placed
below peon-level ‘officers’.
As to the general use the Nairs make use of with their weapons, and who
they ‘protect’ can be seen from this information given in the Native Life
in Travancore: QUOTE: If the Pulayar did not speedily move out of the way,
instant death was the penalty : the low-caste man in former times would be at once cut
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down by the sword of the Nair. END OF QUOTE. Actually, on reading the
real history part in this book, the Nayar valour seems to confined to
cutting down insubordinate lower castes. When the Mysorean invasion
came, they literally scooted. But then not only the Nayars, almost
everyone ran for their lives. Only the English Company stood its ground.]
Beyond that there is this also: 'persuading themselves that no Nation

goeth beyond them in Skill and Dexterity.' This quote more or less
identifies the population. It is as what Al Biruni has mentioned. The
shallow feeling that they are the 'greatest' people in the world. This
kind of mood is there in most school textbooks of current-day India.
May be all low-class nations do have this boasting emotion. There is a
proverb in English to define this character: 'Empty vessels make the most
sound'. Curiously in Malayalam also, there is an exact translation of
this: നിറകുടം തുള ില.
There is a curious information that I found in Travancore State Manual,

with regard to the time Col. Munro had official authority over there. It is
this from Travancore State Manual: QUOTE: The restriction put on the Sudras
and others regarding the wearing of gold and silver ornaments was removed. END OF
QUOTE. In spite of all contentions to the contrary, the Nairs also did face
many restrictions due to the relative lower status in relation to the
Ambalavasis and the Brahmans].
14. Finally the only British General of any note—Sir Hector Munro who
had ever to face the Nayars in the field thus wrote of their modes of
fighting :- “One may as well look for a needle in a Bottle of Hay as
any of them in the daytime, they being lurking behind sand-banks and
bushes, except when we are marching towards the fort, and then they
appear like bees out in the month of June.” “Besides which,” he
continued, “they point their guns well and fire them well also.”
(Tellicherry Factory Diary, March, 1701.) They were, in short, brave
light troops, excelling in skirmishing, but their organisation into small
bodies with discordant interests unfitted them to repel any serious
invasion by all enemy even moderately well organised.”
[My notes: Look at these words: QUOTE: the only British General of any
note END OF QUOTE. They do not seem to be the words of a British
writer. There are many quotes and hints and writings in various locations
inside this book, where Nair fighting qualities have been mentioned in
highly exalted words. However, in the location where William Logan has
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clearly done the writing, that is, in the history part, the exact opposite
features of the Nair population is given. They are mentioned as quite
cowardly, brutish and without any commitment to their own words of
promise.
Even though, as I mentioned earlier that the Nairs / Nayars of Malabar

and that of Travancore need not be one and the same people, in current-
day newly-formed state of Kerala, both are treated as one. So it might be
illuminative to know what was the exact state of courage and valour of the
Travancore Nayars. For the above quote by Col Munro is about the
Nayars of Travancore.
The following are some of the quotes from Travancore State Manual:
1. The armies of the chieftains consisted of Madampis (big landlords)
and Nayars who were more a rabble of the cowardly proletariat than
well-disciplined fighting men.
2. But Rodriguez not minding raised one wall and apprehending a fight
the next day mounted two of his big guns. The sight of these guns
frightened the Nayars and they retreated;
3. Meanwhile the subsidiary force at Quilon was engaged in several
actions with the Nayar troops. But as soon as they heard of the fall of
the Aramboly lines, the Nayars losing all hopes of success dispersed in
various directions.
Why I am illuminating such incidences is just to show the real quality of

certain sections of this book, which certainly are not the words of William
Logan. These kinds of self-praise words are a common feature in most of
the writings and words of the people/s of this subcontinent. As such
these words need not be given much value. The various quotes of other
persons that these people mention to show the grand antiquity of their
own ancestors are actually very carefully cherry-picked items. For instance,
one might see a lot of quotes from Ibn Batuta’s writings, that seem to
mention the subcontinent as a great place. The fact is that these quotes are
taken from the midst of writings in which various terrible attributes of the
subcontinent have already been mentioned.
There is this mention in his writing about his viewing of a Sati. That is the
live burning up of a woman whose husband had died. She is first shielded
from fire by others blocking the view. She seems to have some belief that
her faith would protect her from pain. She jumps inside the fire with her
hands clasped in a pose of prayer. The moment she jumps in, the men and
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women around push down upon her heavy wood to crush her inside and
she has no scope for escape. There is terrific drumming and loud clamour.
So the wailing of the burning woman is drowned in the sound. Ibn Batuta,
on seeing this incident, loses his sense of equilibrium and would have
fallen off his horse, had not his companions caught him and poured water
upon his face.
In the Delhi Sultan's kingdom, he found the king extremely cruel. He

mentions of : Every day hundreds of people, chained, pinioned and
fettered, are brought to his hall and those who are for execution are
executed, those for torture tortured, and those for beating beaten.
In another location, he mentions about women and little children being

butchered and the women being tied to the pales by their hair.
The fact of the matter is that Col.Munro had very poor opinion of the
officials of Travancore. The officials were more or less the Nairs. This is
what he speaks about them: QUOTE: “No description can produce an adequate
impression of the tyranny, corruption and abuses of the system, full of activity and energy
in everything mischievous, oppressive and infamous, but slow and dilatory to effect any
purpose of humanity, mercy and justice. This body of public officers, united with each
other on fixed principles of combination and mutual support, resented a complaint
against one of their number, as an attack upon the whole. Their pay was very small,
and never issued from the treasury, but supplied from several authorised exactions made
by themselves. END OF QUOTE
In passing, I may also mention that the above description more or less is
the perfect description of the Indian officialdom. The only difference is
that the pay of the Indian official is of astronomical content. Clement
Atlee will definitely have to answer to providence for the most terrible
deed he did. That of handing over a huge set of populations to the Indian
officialdom.
15. “By eating of this rice they all engage to burn themselves on the day
the king dies, or is slain, and they punctually fulfil their promise.”
[My notes: This is another dubious quote taken from some solitary
location. It is true that at times people can be made indoctrinated to
be quite insane. However, it is quite intelligent to understand that
these things do not last. Also, the claim that they will burn themselves
to death. Well, people are known to do that. However, even in the
case of Sati, the women have to be restrained by ropes or heavy logs
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of wood or by pushing them down back into the fire with bamboo
poles, when they come realise the pain of the burning.]
16. ... for the Nayar militia were very fickle, and flocked to the standard of
the man who was fittest to command and who treated them the most
considerately.
[My notes: This quote is from the location dealing with insane fighting
tradition connected to the Mamangam festival at Tirunavaya. Actually
this undependability and fickleness and tendency to ditch one side and
jump to a seemingly better side is part of the population character of
the subcontinent. It is not a Nayar alone feature. It has its roots in the
verbal codes in the local language. This character will be seen in other
locations which have same or similar verbal codes in their native
languages.]
17. Two spears’ length apart the palisades are placed, and the armed
crowd on either hand, consisting on this occasion of the thirty
thousand Ernad Nayars, it is seen, are all carrying spears.
[My notes: This is again from Mamangam festival at Tirunavaya. What
is mentionable here is the number ‘thirty thousand’. It is true that in
days when there is nothing else to do by way of entertainment, people
would flocks to such locations. For they practically have nothing
much to do. For their slaves and other lower castes would do the daily
work. Yet, the contention that all these thirty thousand people are
going there with a military ambition might be farfetched. For, an
assemblage of thirty thousand human beings brings in the issues of
food preparation, drinking water, toileting etc. The whole place would
literally stink. These kinds of huge numbers are seen mentioned in
various places. However, in the locations where it is quite sure that
the writer is Logan the numbers of individuals involved in any war or
fight are more or less mentioned in more believable numbers. I will
mention them when I reach those lines in the book.]
18. On this occasion, however, a large portion of the body-guard seems

to have been displeased, for they left without fulfilling this duty, and
this story corroborates in a marked way the fact already set forth (p.
132) regarding the independence and important political influence
possessed by the Nayars as a body.
[This is an example of how any incident or event can be mentioned in
whatever manner one wants to present it. The above incident is
connected to one of the Mamamgam festival at Tirunavaya. The
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sudden mood of discordance that come up and a sizable number of

people breaking of, is just that they are the followers of one or a few
individuals. They do not have any independent mental stature. When
their leaders breakout from an association, they also do likewise.
Again, this need not be understood as some kind of great fidelity and
loyalty. It is just that in feudal languages, there is a hugging hold on
individuals who are connected upwards.
Beyond all this, the above kinds of incidences of leaders suddenly breaking
off were and are quite common in the subcontinent. The feudal language
codes are quite terrific in their power for creating discordance. A simple
change of the indicant level for the words You, Your, Yours, He, His,
Him, She, Her, Hers &c. can literally create cataclysmic mood changes in
an individual.
The fact is that it is this issue that is really spreading civil gun and other
violence in traditionally peaceful native-English social systems. However,
there is no way to inform them of this issue. For, it is an issue that cannot
be detected in English.
19. The martial spirit of the Nayars was in former days kept alive by such
desperate enterprises as the above, but in every day life the Nayar
used to be prepared and ready to take vengeance on any who
affronted him, for he invariably carried his weapons,
[The martial spirit that is alluded to is this: QUOTE:...current
tradition says that the corpses of the slain were customarily kicked by
elephants as far as the brink of the fine well, of which mention has
been made, and into which they were tumbled promiscuously. END
OF QUOTE.
What has to be understood is that these things do not display any kind
of quality civilised behaviour. Moreover the spirit of vengeances
towards anyone and everyone who has affronted ‘him’, is directly
connected to the feudal language trigger-codes. A single unacceptable
indicant word form for You, He, She etc. is enough to make a human
mind to go into a very brooding mood of anguish and craving for
vengeance. Only persons who do not understand these things would
find anything worthwhile in these emotions and culture.]
20. A preparation and training (it is said) for twelve years preceded the
battle in order to qualify the combatants in the use of their weapons.
The men who fought were not necessarily the principals in the
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quarrel—they were generally their champions. It was essential that

one should fall,
[My notes: Even though this information is given in the form of some
kind of great tradition, the actual fact reflected is the tragic situation
of this people. They are simply trained to be the henchmen of the
ruling classes and the affluent landlords. The disputes among the
higher classes with regard to so many things including that of the
ubiquitous issue of conceding rightful ‘respect’ and not conceding
rightful ‘respect’, is ultimately settled through the death or maiming of
these individuals. Only totally insane persons would find anything of
quality in this tradition. ]
21. from the fact that the Tamil and Malayalam languages were in those
days practically identical, it may be inferred that the ruling caste of
Nayar were already settled in Malabar in the early centuries A.D.
[My notes: The fact is that there is a huge content of lies in the above
lines. It is about the languages of Malabar and Travancore. I will have
to discuss this issue later. However, there is some hint to be derived
from the above that the Nayars of Travancore were Tamil speakers,
who were slowly changing over the centuries, through their constant
proximity with the Brahmans and the lower castes.]
22. The nad (country) was the territorial organisation of the ruling caste
(Nayars), and, in two instances at least (Venad and Cheranad), it was
the territory of the “Six hundred.”
[My notes: This Six hundred is another curious item that is seen
repeated all around the book. The feeling that is be radiated is that
there was a sort of parliament or assembly-like structure with Nayar
families from all the four corners of the geographical location that
consisted of North Malabar, South Malabar and Travancore. It
might be indeed a very tall claim, when the geography and the time
period is taken into account. Since I am person who has more or less
frequently travelled to most of the locations inside this geographical
area, it is my conviction that such an organisation is very difficult to
maintain in a time-period when means of travel were quite
cumbersome and time-taking. Moreover, travelling beyond one’s own
location was quite difficult and dangerous.
It is true that travel by sea would be easier when trying to come to coastal
areas. However, sea-travel was dominated more or less by the fishermen
folks. Their companionship without them conceding due ‘respect’ and
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‘reverence’ in words and body postures would be quite terrible to bear.

This issue itself would make sea-travel quite a prohibited item for the
higher castes.
The next cunning entry is the statement: QUOTE: of the ruling caste
(Nayars) END OF QUOTE. It is true that the police constables are quite
powerful in their own local areas. But then, they are not the IPS officers.
Above the police constables, there are head-constables, Assistant Sub
Inspectors, Circle Inspectors, DySp, Sp, DIG, IG and DGP. Similarly
above the Nairs there were the various levels of Ambalavasis, and then the
layers of Brahmins.
Nayars were not the ruling caste in this sense, other than in the sense that
in their local areas, they held terrific powers for even maiming and killing a
lower-caste individual. There could be slight confusion as to who were the
ruling classes. If the Brahmins could be compared to the IAS (civil
administration royalty of current-day India), then the Raja families could
be compared to the IPS (police administration royalty of current-day
India). The raja families seem to have stood apart from the Nayar / Sudras
castes to a great extent.
It is true that some Nayars individually were of great status. Same is true
about some police constable/head-constables. However, still they are not
IPS. It is seen in this book, Malabar that some Nair peons / Kolkars at
least were rich landlords in South Malabar.
See this QUOTE from Travancore State Manual

QUOTE: ‘Besides the village associations already noticed, Venad, it would
appear, had an important public body under the name of the ‘Six
Hundred’ to supervise the working of temples and
charities connected therewith. What other powers and privileges this
remarkable corporation of “Six Hundred” was in possession of, future
investigation can alone determine. But a number so large, nearly as large as
the British House of Commons, could not have been meant, in so small a
state as Venad was in the 12th Century, for the single function of temple
supervision END OF QUOTE
This Six hundred is connected to the miniscule kingdom of Venad. When
the population of Travancore spread out in the world, this miniscule ‘Six
hundred’ will also expand to great heights, as has been seen in the case of
China. See the reference to the ‘Six hundred’ is in Tamil, and not in
Malayalam or Malabari (then possibly known as Malayalam).
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23. The curved sword or dagger, that is, probably, the right to make war
armed with the distinctive Nayar weapon, the ayudha katti (war-knife),
or as it is sometimes called, the kodunga katti (curved knife).
[My notes: This contention does not make the Nayars look a cultured
group. It is more or less the verbal claims of all low-quality ruffians in
the subcontinent. In fact, the English administration had to prohibit
the use of the ayudha katti by the Act XXXV of 1854, due to it being
used in the Mappilla attack on the Nayars and Brahmins.
1. In this connection, there is this QUOTE from Travancore State

Manual about the Nairs of Travancore: Moreover the habits and character
of these people have undergone a complete change within the last twenty years. That
warlike, refractory and turbulent temper for which the Nairs of Travancore were
once so remarkable has totally disappeared, and they must now be regarded as a
population of pacific habits placing the most implicit confidence in our protection
and well convinced that their safety entirely depends on the stability, support and
friendship of the British Government. END OF QUOTE.
The notable issue here is that even when the Nairs went soft, the
lower castes did not. The latter became more ferocious and this led to
the Nair / Sudra street-fights in the 1800s, and this later culminated in
the Travancore kingdom’s police firing on the lower castes in
Punnapra and Vayalar villages around the year 1946. However, the
larger context of this incident was the unfettering of the lower castes
in Travancore, the Pulaya, Pariah, Ezhava, Shanar etc. by the
Missionaries of the London Missionary Society.
2. The Soodra (Sudra) or Nair (Nayar) part, of the community were

more to be depended upon ; there was an honest frankness about
them which you could not but admire, and which is a surety that in
proportion to our increasing influence, these people will prove
themselves worthy of the confidence of Government.
[My Notes: This quote is from this book, Malabar. The point to be
stressed here is the very naivety and gullibility of the English folks. In
feudal languages, a very affable manner, pleasant smile, friendliness
are all weapons of conquest. They are used to subdue an unwary and
wary prey. The above quote is seen mentioned in connection with the
Pazhassi raja insurgency. Actually, in this very episode, a Yemen
Nayar did use this very same technique to trick the English side. The
point here is that all these kinds of good and bad description found in
book are similar to the story of the four blind persons touching an
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elephant and trying to describe what it is. These persons seem to

believe what they experienced is the total experience. None of the
feudal-language speaking persons has a demeanour or character or
behaviour feature that is stable and can describe a person’s innate
attribute. Everything changes as per the verbal codes used in any
particular context.]
24. One tradition says that for forty-eight years he warred with the chief
of Polanad, the Porlattiri Raja, and in the end succeeded by winning
over his opponent’s troops, the Ten Thousand, and by bribing his
opponent’s minister and mistress.
[My notes: In feudal languages, bluffing is an essential component of
social living and stature. So, the words Ten Thousands can be
accepted with this due understanding. However, beyond this there is
hint of the ancient culture of this location. This is: bribing his opponent’s
minister and mistress. Well, truth is that natives of this land are used to
bribing as a very effective form of defence, offence, overtaking and
getting things done. There are other equally effective weapons in use
here. It is quite good to understand that these weapons are used by
the businessmen of this location when they want to take over the
economy of native-English nations like England, USA, Australia,
Canada &c.
25. After this, it is said, “the men of the port began to make voyages to
Mecca in ships, and Calicut became the most famous (port) in the
world for its extensive commerce, wealth, country, town, and king.”
[My notes: This incident relates to an incident of testing the king of
Calicut for honesty by a Chetty maritime merchant. That particular
king happened to be quite honest. So, the merchant decided that this
port was the safest port around. However, the next contention of
Calicut being the most famous port in the world has a taste of the
academic writing of current-day India. Calicut was just a port a in a
semi-barbarian land, where a honest king was found. This information
does not transpire to mean the people of Calicut were in any way
great. Incidentally, it may be mentioned that the people living inland
at some distance from the sea-coast simply do not connect with the
seafaring populations. They feel that they are different, rough,
uncouth and low-class. The roughness is connected to the issue of
how to mix without losing one’s ‘respect’.
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26. “Being apprehensive lest their enemies the Moors might attempt to
massacre them, the Raja had even lodged them in his own palace and
had provided them with a guard of Nayars to protect them when they
went into the town
[My notes: This is a quote about the Portuguese experience in Cochin.
Why the sentence has been taken is to focus on the words ‘a guard of
Nayars’. It simply corresponds to a modern sentence: a guard by a team
of constables. It does not give the impression that the guards were a
team of IPS officers.
27. “These Nayars are gentlemen by lineage, and by their law they are
bound to die for whoever gives them pay, they and all their lineage.”
“And even if they are of the same lineage and serving different masters,
they are bound all the same to kill each other if need be, “and when the
struggle is finished, they will speak and communicate with one another as
if they had never fought.”
[My notes: The above two-quotes are actually quite fanciful statements.
Nowhere in the history section of this book does the Nayars appear to be
especially brave or committed to their word of honour. Like everyone else
in this land, they are also quite opportunistic. The feudal languages design
the human personality features.
The following quotes are from the Travancore State Manual. Even though
the Nairs of Travancore could have been different from the Nairs of both
North as well as South Malabar, the following quotes can be illuminating:
1. Kayangulam Rajah had anticipated the fate of his army. He knew that his
ill-trained Nayars were no match to the Travancore forces which had the
advantage of European discipline and superior arms.
2. The armies of the chieftains consisted of Madampis (big landlords) and

Nayars who were more a rabble of the cowardly proletariat than well-
disciplined fighting men.
3. But Rodriguez not minding raised one wall and apprehending a fight the
next day mounted two of his big guns. The sight of these guns frightened
the Nayars and they retreated; the Moplahs too lost courage and looked
on.
4. Meanwhile the subsidiary force at Quilon was engaged in several actions

with the Nayar troops. But as soon as they heard of the fall of the
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Aramboly lines, the Nayars losing all hopes of success dispersed in various
directions.
5. In 1817 the Rani represented to the Resident Col. Munro her desire to
increase the strength and efficiency of the army and to have it
commanded by a European officer, as the existing force was of little use
being undisciplined and un-provided with arms.
28. But the Portuguese artillery again proved completely effective, and the
enemy was driven back with heavy loss notwithstanding that the
Cochin Nayers(five hundred men) had fled at the first alarm.
29. it was with the utmost difficulty repulsed, the Cochin Nayars having
again proved faithless.
30. The fort was accordingly abandoned and it is said that the last man to
leave it set fire to a train of gunpowder which killed many of the
Nayars and Moors, who in hopes of plunder flocked into the fort
directly it was abandoned.
[My notes: This is not an unbelievable incident. See the next quote:]
31. The Nayars and other Malayalis suffered in their eagerness for
plunder, for a magazine blew up and killed 100 of them
32. Such family quarrels were not infrequent in the Kolattiri Chief’s
house, and the reasons therefore are in operation in all Malayali
families down to the present day and more especially in North
Malabar.
[My notes: This continual mood for mutiny and mutual fights and quarrels
are caused by the feudal language codes in the native languages. ]
33. The result was that the two settlements began to interchange friendly
visits, and much gunpowder was spent in salutes, much to the chagrin
of the Kurangoth Nayar, who tried various plans to prevent the
respective factors from coming to an amicable understanding.
1. If attempts were made to sow dissensions by showing forged letters,
etc. (as had already happened), inter-communication between the
factories was to be free in order to get rid of the distrust thereby
caused. The Nayars in the pay of the respective companies were to be
kept quiet, and the factories were to take joint action in case of
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dissensions among them and also in protecting them against other

people.
[My notes: The above two items are illustrative of what the local
vested interests continually did. The Nairs had their own vested
interest in seeing that the English and French trading groups fought
against each-other. There is indeed a saying in Malayalam: കല ്
െവ ിൽ മീൻപിടി ുക. It means the art of catching fish in
muddied waters. (Fish in troubled waters).They would strive to create a
state of uneasy distrust between two higher placed groups. The lower-
placed groups would make use of this scenario to make the best profit
for themselves.
34. From the position of his Nad, the Nayar was early brought into
relations with both the English and French Companies, and he tried
his best, to play off one against the other, not without loss to himself.
35. The English force secured an eminence with the Nayars on their right,
but the latter fled when attacked by the Canarese.
[My notes: The following are illustrative of the Nayar courage or fright]:
1. Then a crisis occurred. The Nayars and Tiyars at Ponolla Malta
deserted, and the sepoys refused to sacrifice themselves.
2. Fullarton applied for and received four battalions of Travancore
sepoys, which he despatched to the place to help the Zamorin to hold
it till further assistance could arrive, but before the succour arrived,
the Zamorin’s force despairing of support had abandoned the place
and retired into the mountains. Tippu’s forces, thereupon, speedily re-
occupied all the south of Malabar as far as the Kota river,
3. Nayres were busied in attempting to oppose the infantry, who
pretended to be on the point of passing over. They were frightened at
the sudden appearance of the cavalry and fled with the utmost
precipitation and disorder without making any other defence but that
of discharging a few cannon which they were too much intimidated to
point properly.
[My notes: This incident is connected to the attempts to block Hyder
Ali’s troops. The Nair soldiery in Malabar were simply next to nothing
in organising a strong defence. In the ultimate reckoning, it was the
timely intervention of the English that saved the Nairs. Otherwise the
Nairs would currently be at the state of the lowest castes of Malabar
and Travancore.]
4. The whole army in consequence moved to attack the retrenchment ;
but the enemy perceiving that Hyder’s troops had stormed their
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outpost, and catching the affright of the fugitives, fled from their camp
with disorder and precipitation.
5. The Travancore commander had arranged that the Raja’s force should
reassemble upon the Vypeen Island, but the extreme consternation
caused by the loss of their vaunted lines had upset this arrangement,
and the whole of the force had dispersed for refuge into the jungles or had retreated
to the south.
6. The consternation of the (Travancore) Raja's people was so great that

they could not be trusted to procure supplies.
7. On this application Hyder Ali sent a force under his brother-in-law,

Muckh doom Sahib, who drove back the Zamorin’s Nayars
36. The Nayars, in their despair, defended such small posts as they
possessed most bravely.
1. The Nayars defended themselves until they were tired of the
confinement, and then leaping over the abbatis and cutting through
the three lines with astonishing rapidity, they gained the woods before
the enemy had recovered from their surprise.” (Wilks’ History, I, 201.)
[My notes: However, the above two quote do show that the Nairs
were capable of bravery when there was no other option.]
37. Captain Lane reported, “cruelly—shamefully— and in violation of all

laws divine and humane, most barbarously butchered” by the Nayars,
notwithstanding the exertions of the English officers to save them.
[My notes: These incidence lend light on the barbarous culture of the
people/s in the subcontinent. See the next quote also:]
38. A large body (300) of the enemy, after giving up their arms and while
proceeding to Cannanore, were barbarously massacred by the Nayars.
[My notes: These kind of incidences were common in the location.
Once an enemy surrenders, the other side would give two-pence value
to them. They would be beaten-up into pulp. In the above incident,
they are slaughtered.
In fact, a similar thing happened at the end of the 2nd World War.
When the Japanese side surrendered in Singapore, a small number of
British-Indian soldiers who had shifted loyalty to the Japanese side
were among those who had surrendered. Many of them did this to
avoid the terrors of a Japanese prison-camp, where many of them
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were simply bayoneted to death.

(Subash Chandran was standing
with the Japanese side at the time).
When these soldiers were being
kept under the British-Indian
troops, the latter started
butchering them. They called
them ‘blacklegs’ and traitors. Then
the British side had to take off the
British-Indian troops. The
surrendered troops were then kept
under the direct supervision of the
British troops. This kind of lingering mood for vengeance is also
connected to the feudal languages.]
39. This arrangement did not much disconcert the Tellicherry factors,
who shrewdly recorded in their diary that even if the Dutch did their
part, the prince would not do his because of his avarice, which
prevented him from paying even for the few Nayars the Company
had entertained at Ayconny fort (Alikkunuu opposite Kavayi), and
which would certainly, they concluded, prevent him from paying the
market price for pepper and selling it at a loss to the Dutch.
[My notes: This is an information that sheds light on the real social
status of the majority Nairs. They were the serving class of the royalty
and the Brahmins. Many of them depended on the salary given out to
them by their employers. However, the employers were not that
liberal in paying the wages.]
40. “Before he quitted the country, Hyder by a solemn edict, declared the
Nayars deprived of all their privileges ; and ordained that their caste,
which was the first after the Brahmans, should thereafter be the
lowest of all the castes, subjecting them to salute the Parias and others
of the lowest castes by ranging themselves before them as the other
Mallabars had been obliged to do before the Nayars ; permitting all
the other caste to bear arms and forbidding them to the Nayars, who
till then had enjoyed the sole right of carrying them; at the same time
allowing and commanding all persons to kill such Nayars as were
found bearing arms. By this rigorous edict, Hyder expected to make
all the other castes enemies of the Nayars, and that they would rejoice
in the occasion of revenging themselves for the tyrannic oppression
this nobility had till then exerted over them.
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[My notes: This is the apt answer to a native-of-the-subcontinent

person who is at the moment standing on the pedestal of native-
English nations and trying to fix up an idea that if the English rule
had not come to the Subcontinent, the place would have been great.
What would have happened if the native-English force was not there
in Malabar? The above paragraph gives one answer. Now, look at the
following quotes: ]
1. Hyder Ali dictates: Hereafter you must proceed in an opposite

manner ; dwell quietly, and pay your dues like good subjects : and
since it is a practice with you for one woman to associate with ten
men, and you leave your mothers and sisters unconstrained in their
obscene practices, and are thence all born in adultery, and are more
shameless in your connexions than the beasts of the field : I hereby
inquire you to forsake those sinful practices, and live like the rest of
mankind.
2. The unhappy captives gave a forced assent, and
on the next day the rite of circumcision was performed on all the
males, every individual of both sexes being compelled to close the
ceremony by eating beef.”
3. Parappanad, also "Tichera Terupar, a principal
Nayar of Nelemboor” and many other persons, who had been
carried off to Coimbatore, were circumcised and forced to eat
beef.
4. Another conquering race had appeared on the
scene, and there is not the slightest doubt that, but for the intervention
of a still stronger foreign race, the Nayars would now be denizens of
the jungles like the Kurumbar and other jungle races whom they
themselves had supplanted in similar fashion.
[My notes: The problem with the above paragraph is the word:
‘conquering race’. The English East India Company was not a
‘conquering race’. In fact, it was only a protecting force for all kinds
of people here. In fact, in many locations where the English force
vacated the location, people went into terror. See this quote:]
5. The news of his (Colonel Hartley's) force being on its way had greatly
quieted the inhabitants, and “the consternation which had seized all
ranks of the people ’’ had considerably abated.
6. “Colonel Stuart arrived before Palghaut, with two day’s provisions,
and without a shilling in his military chest ; the sympathy which he
evinced for the sufferings of the Nayars and the rigid enforcement of a
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protecting discipline had caused his bazaar to assume the appearance

of a provincial granary ;
41. The district had been in a disturbed state owing to the mutual
animosities and jealousies of the Nambiars themselves and to the
confused method in which they conducted the administration. It was
very necessary to protect the lower classes of the people from the
exactions of the Nambiars, who now freed by the strong arm of the
Company from dependence on those beneath them, would have taken
the opportunity, if it had been afforded them, of enriching themselves
at the expense of their poorer neighbours and subjects.
[My notes: This item is the above the mutual animosities among the
various layers of the Nairs and also inside each layer and also with the
kings. See these quotes:]
1. His demand for the restoration of Pulavayi was left in suspense to be
settled by the Supravisor as its Nayar chiefs were openly resisting the
attempts of the Zamorin to interfere in the concerns of their country.
2. Subsequently, too, they were joined by Kunhi Achehan of the Palghat
family, who fled to them after having murdered a Nayar
42. Moreover in Darogha Sahib's time (paragraph 175) Itti Kombi Achan
established a Parbutti Menon (Accountant) and two or three Kolkars
(Peons) in each Desam to collect the revenue,
[My notes: Here, I am mentioning the so-called Kolkars, who have
been mentioned as Nairs / Nayars in some other writings. It is more
or less sure that they are Nayars. If they were some lower castes, it
would have been very carefully mentioned. Even though, there are
Nayar caste persons in higher posts like the Accountant, by and large,
the Nayar posts were of the peon-kind. Actually this issue had a great
bearing upon how the Mappilla rebels were dealt with in South
Malabar. That I will deal with later. However, see the quotes given
below:]
1. Moreover, in addition to the regular troops, Captain Watson had by

this time thoroughly organised his famous “Kolkars” or police, a body
of 1,200 men,
2. The rebels were dispersed by the Kolkars, supported by the regular

troops under Colonel Montresor.
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3. The effect of this, coupled with the vigilance of the Kolkars, was to
drive the rebels from the low country into the woods and fastnesses
of Wynad, and
4. Mr. Warden returned to Calicut and Colonel Macleod to Cannanore

in May for the rains, leaving 2,1523 non-commissioned rank and file
and Captain Watson with 800 of his Kolkars in the district, all under
the orders of Lieutenant-Colonel Innes of the 2nd battalion 1st
Regiment
5. On June 11th Mr. Baber reported (with much satisfaction at the good
results of his policy) the arrest of three rebel leaders and eight of their
followers, by the Kolkars and people of Chirakkal acting in concert.
6. And the Palassi (Pychy) Raja himself narrowly escaped on 6th

September from falling into the hands of a party of Kolkars
despatched from below the ghats
7. The Kolkaras marched all night through the ghats amid rain and
leeches, and at 7 a.m. completely surprised the rebel party.
8. Out of 1,500 Kolkars who had been in Wynad only five weeks before,
only 170 were on the roll for duty on October 18th
43. The Nayars were no doubt spread over the whole face of the country
(as they still are) protecting all rights, suffering none to fall into disuse,
and at the same time supervising the cultivation of the land and
collecting the kon or king’s share of the produce - the public land
revenue in fact.
[My notes: These are self-eulogising descriptions made by the Nayar
writers. It cannot be by Logan, for Logan does make at times very
distasteful comments about their behaviour. See the following self-
praising words:]
1. but to the great bulk of the people—the Nayars, the Six Hundreds — with
whom, in their corporate capacities all power rested.
2. The Nayar protector guild was distributed over the length and breadth of
the land exercising their State functions of ....
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3. unless he acted in strict accordance with the Nayar guild whose function
was “to prevent the rights from being curtailed or suffered to fall into
disuse” as the Keralolpatti expressly says.
4. The duty of the Kanakkars (Nayar headmen) was protection.
5. The number of Nayars or fighting men attached to a Desavali was from

25 to 100 ; if it exceeded the latter number, he ranked as Naduvali.
6. He was the military chief, not the civil chief of the Desam
[My notes: It is possible that ‘He’ is in fighting man in the small village or town
or town and villages around it, and has some kind of subordinates, and that he
and his subordinates are Nayars. However, the word ‘military chief’ would give
out a feel of an English army chief, which would be quite a ridiculous
imagination. After all, the whole of Malabar, north and south was quite a small
place. Inside this small place, there are very many desams. The subordinates
are Nayars, meaning that they are like the ordinary constables and soldiers of
India. Rough, rude and totally impolite to those who are suppressed by them.
They are still not ‘officers’, for can one can mention the rude and crude type
of dominating people in the subcontinent as ‘officers’?]
7. ...the share of produce due to him did not pass to those (the present Rajas)
who supplied in some measures his place, but to the great bulk of the
people—the Nayars, the Six Hundreds — with whom, in their corporate
capacities all power rested.
8. SUDRAN, plural SUDRANMAR. (Sanskrit) = the fourth caste in the

Hindu system. Who according, to the Sastram, are the fourth class of
Hindus, are a particular caste of Nayars in Malabar, whose duty it is to
perform ceremonies or Karmam in Brahman families on the birth of a
child, etc.
Note.—Nayars generally do now style themselves as Sudras.
9. MENAVAN or Menon: From Dravidian mel (= above), and Dravidian

avan (= he).
10. NAYAN, plural Nayar. (Sanskrit) = leader, in honorific plural, lord ; in

ordinary sense, soldiers, militia.
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11. The word Nayar has much resemblance to the Gentoo word Nayadu, to
the Canarese and Tamil Nayakkan, and to the Hindustani Naig ; all titles
of respect, applied in the manner that Sahib is at the end of a name.
44. At the time of Parasurama’s gift of the country to the Brahmans, 64

Gramams were established from Goa to Cape Comorin, 32 from
Kanyirote (or Cassergode north to Comorin south) ; to these were
attached all the Sudra villages.
[My notes: These are quotes that mention the state of servitude to the
Brahman folks. However, it may be re-mentioned here again, the
Parasurama story itself has to be imbibed with a spoon of free-flowing
salt.
45. CHANGNGATAM: Is also a kind of vassalage, and is applied

particularly to Nayars who have placed themselves in a state of
dependency upon some Desavali, Naduvali or Raja. The word Adiyan
would, with respect to them, be degrading and improperly used.
Nayars have often agreed to give Changngatam or protection money
to some chief of authority, and to make yearly presents in
consequence from 4 to 34 fanams to individual patrons, and as high
as 120 to the church.
Now, I would like to move into the location of why the Nairs were so
desperate to show themselves to be high and above, to the English administrators. The
English administrators were in most cases, quite naive, gullible and good-hearted. In
most occasions, they strived to see the better side of things, when actually there was no
better side worthy of praise.
The most dangerous content in the subcontinent was the language. When I say
that it is feudal, a native-Englishman will not understand it. For, if he is to take up
imageries from the feudal system of England, nothing terrible or monstrous will
appears in his mind.
For, the English feudal system has nothing in it, which can be compared with
the gruesome beastly quality of the feudal systems of Asia and possibly Africa. In my
ancient book titled March of the Evil Empires; English versus the feudal languages, I had
mentioned that languages are software or software applications or software codes that
do contain the design-codes of a social system.
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The codes of beastliness in the social system of the South Asian Subcontinent
lie encoded in the feudal language of the location. There is no corresponding items in
English by which I can convey this idea to an Englishman.
If the reader is interested in knowing more in detail about this, I have

mentioned that he or she can read my daily broadcast text. The first two parts have
come out as books named: An impressionistic history of the South Asian
Subcontinent. Part 1 & 2.
See the words in Malayalam, for You. Nee, Thaan, Ningal, Saar. (There are
others also). These words if translated into English means just ‘You’. However, they
are not actually synonyms. There are powerful coding inside each of these words,
which inflict or convey very powerful placing of individuals in certain slots.
I will leave the theme here, for it has been very clearly described in the book I
have mentioned. As of now, the book is
in Malayalam. The English translation of
the Part One is available.
When the English rule stabilised

in the Malabar region, the caste or
population group or even religion that got
terrorised was the Nayars. Actually, the
Nayars should be quite grateful to the
English rule For, if the English rule had
not appeared in the location, Hyder Ali or
his son Sultan Tipu (Tipu Sulthaan) would have re-installed them as the lowest of the
castes. All that takes to inflict the hammering blow on their physical and mental
demeanour would be just an addressing of them by a Pulaya or Pariah (lowest castes)
as a Inhi/Nee, and referring to them as Oan/Avan. They are literally finished. In a
generation or two, they will look like the lowest castes.
Moreover the Pulayas and Pariah will fornicate all their women folks with no
qualms. For, even without any statutory permission, these lower caste males used to
pouch on solitary women folks of the higher castes in Travancore area. This is
mentioned in the Native Life in Travancore.
QUOTE 1: A curious custom also existed, which is said to have added to the
number of the enslaved. The various castes met at fighting grounds at Pallam, Ochira,
&c.; and at this season it was supposed that low-caste men were at liberty to seize high-
caste women if they could manage it, and to retain them. Perhaps this practice took its
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origin in some kind of faction fights. A certain woman at Mundakayam, with fair Syrian
features, is said to have been carried off thus. Hence arose a popular terror that during
the months of Kumbha and Meena (February and March), if a Pulayan meets a Sudra
woman alone he may seize her, Unless she is accompanied by a Shanar boy. This time
of year was called Pula pidi kalam, Gundert says that this time of terror was in “the
month Karkadam (15th July to 15th August), during which high caste women may lose
caste if a slave happen to throw a stone at them after sunset.” So the slave owners had
their own troubles to bear from this institution.
QUOTE 2: The Pariahs in North Travancore formerly kidnapped females of

high caste, whom they were said to treat afterwards in a brutal manner.
QUOTE 3: Their custom was to turn robbers in the month of February, just
after the ingathering of the harvest, when they were free from field work, and at the
same time excited by demon worship, dancing, and drink. They broke into the houses
of Brahmans and Nayars, carrying away their children and property, in excuse for
which they pretended motives of revenge rather than interest, urging a tradition that
they were once a division of the Brahmans, but entrapped into a breach of caste rules
by their enemies making them eat beef. These crimes were once committed almost
with impunity in some parts, but have now disappeared. Once having lost caste, even
by no fault of their own, restoration to home and friends is impossible to Hindus.
QUOTE 4: Barbosa, writing about A.D. 1516, refers to this strange custom as
practised by the polcas (Pulayars). “These low people during certain months of the year
try as hard as they can to touch some of the Nayr women, as best they may be able to
manage it, and secretly by night, to do them harm. So they go by night amongst the
houses of the Nayrs to touch women; and these take many precautions against this
injury during this season. And if they touch any woman, even though no one see it, and
though there should be no witnesses, she, the Nayr woman herself, publishes it
immediately, crying out, and leaves her house without choosing to enter it again to
damage her lineage. And what she most thinks of doing is to run to the house of some
low people to hide herself, that her relations may not kill her as a remedy for what has
happened, or sell her to some strangers, as they are accustomed to do. END OF
QUOTE.
Even though the above-mentioned items might seem quite unbelievable, they
are mostly true. The terror associated with being accosted by or being touched by a
lower caste man, is actually encoded in the feudal language. It is not possible to deal
with the issue here.
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If an incident of the following kind can be imagined, the idea might be

understandable to a person from the subcontinent:
A female IPS officer is taken into hands by a group of male or female

constables. They address her as Nee, and Edi and refer to her as Aval. And make her
live with them. The mentioned words are quite heavy. It has a hammering effect when
delivered by the lowly constables on an IPS officer.
This is a scenario that is not imaginable in India, Pakistan or Bangladesh.

However it is now more or less enacted everyday in native-English nations. Some of
the native-Englishmen or women might go berserk. The idiots who claims to be
psychologists and psychiatrist would then give out some utterly idiotic logic as to why
the person went berserk. They speak without the barest of information on what has
taken place. Any normal person in the Sub-continent would go homicidal if such a
thing happens over here. But these things do not happen here. For, all social
communications are generally done along very carefully built-up pathways. When some
persons do not follow the pathways, other simply avoids him or her. They sort of
practise apartheid on the person. However, in native-English nations, the foolish
natives there cannot do this. For, they will end up in prisons for practising ‘racism’.
That is the truth.
When the English Company was protecting them in times of acute danger, it
was okay. However, when the English Company took over the administration of the
various small-time kingdoms, there was a new understanding that things are going to
be quite dangerous. It was not that the English administration was dangerous or that
they were knaves or that they would loot their temples, or molest their women. No.
Actually the English administration did none of these things.
What was the greatest danger that arose on the horizon was another thing
totally. It was that the English administration was good, honest, efficient, humane and
stood for the common welfare of all human beings here. This was a most terrible item.
For the social structure would collapse. And the English officials had no idea
about the terrible anguish they were going to give the Nayar caste or Nayar population
or Nayar religious group. For, it was the Nayar who stood on the borderline as a sort
of wall between the higher castes (Brahmins and the Ambalavasis) and the lower
castes.
The lower castes which stood just below them were the Marumakkathaya
Thiyyas of North Malabar and the Makkathaya Thiyyas of South Malabar. I personally
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think that it was the Marumakkathaya Thiyyas of North Malabar who intimidated them
most in the newly emerging social scenario. One of the main reasons for this was that
the English East India Company Factory was located in Tellicherry, which was in north
Malabar.
The second item was that in South Malabar, the major fear that caught them
was the rising of the Mappilla population. However, the Mappilla populations there
were actually the lower castes, mainly the Cherumar (very low caste) and the
Makkathaya Thiyyas who had converted into Islam. This Mappilla outrages against the
Nayars and the Brahmins have to be taken up separately.
The terrorising factor from the Marumakkathaya Thiyyas of North Malabar

was mainly connected to a few common features of Malabar.
One was that the lower castes did not have dark-skin complexion in Malabar.
In fact, many of them had very fair skin features.
Another connected factor was that there were at least a few Englishmen taking
lower-class Thiyya women as their wife. Even though, many of the others of the local
society, including the higher class Thiyyas would object to the use of the word ‘wife’
for them, the truth stands that these people to a great extent lived a family life raising
good quality households and children. No one, not even the Thiyyas would like to see
higher quality individuals sprouting up from amongst themselves. For, the language is
totally hierarchical. It would be like in a modern Indian administration set up, finding a
small percent of the peons have IAS level qualities, contacts and capacity for
communication. This issue had sad side to it. However, that is not in context here.
The third utterly incorrigible item was the stark madness displayed by the
English administration to spread ‘education’ and English skills in the newer generation
of youngsters. From all perspectives, this was an utter foolish activity. From their own
national interest point of view, it was an act of utter treachery towards their own
country and countrymen. It was a rascal act of sponging out all the traditional
knowledges, sciences, mathematics, skills, technical knowhow, technical terminologies,
all kinds of experiences including that of maritime skills and trade-secrets and much
else of England, and scattering it out into a number of population groups, whose real
and innate mental disposition was not fully known or understood. The heights of these
foolish were that of giving away their national language English to populations, which
the moment they get the upper hand would show not even one iota of gratitude or
remembrance of what had been given to them.
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Here there is need for some information to be mentioned. Learning English is

not like learning any feudal language. Learning English will liberate a person from
various kinds of shackles, confinements and controls.
However, learning a language like Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, Telugu etc. would
be equivalent to allowing others to tie up oneself and hand over rights of control and
command to them, if one is in a lower position. This is a terrific information that is
currently being withheld from all native-English nations. If this information is not
discussed in native-English nations, the native populations of those nations will be in
enslavement before long.
Fourth point is that the moment any Thiyya man or woman rises up in stature,
above their own Thiyya others, there is no way to keep them down. The Nairs would
find that they have to accept the risen-up Thiyya man as an equal first, and then later
on as a superior. The terror in this total up-side-downing of roles cannot be
understood in English.
When this happens, there is a terrible change of words, which connect to so

many other verbal usages inside the feudal language. Since words are actually software
code buttons or switches, this change can effect almost everyone in the connected
social system. At every nook and corner, the relative stature and status of an immense
number of persons will get affected.
The innumerable family relatives of the Thiyya man who has risen up would
very quietly mention their connection to this man. The moment they mention this, the
relative verbal codes for You, Your, Yours, He, His, Him, She, Her, Hers will change.
The commander can very fast change into the commanded. And vice versa.
It is like this. Two young men are accosted by an Indian police constable, on
the roadside. The latter asks one of them a few questions. It is quite possible that he
would use the lower indicant words for You, Your, Yours etc. And he would refer to
his company with the lower indicant words for He, His, Him etc. (Eda, Inhi/Nee,
Oan/Avan &c.)
Instead of answering the questions, one of the young men simply mentions
that his father’s brother is the Police SP (District head of police) of the district. It is a
very powerful input. Immediately the constable would have no other go other than to
shift the verbal codes for You &c. and He &c. to a higher indicant word stature. (Ingal
/ Ningal / Saar).
In fact, he might even act a bit subservient and ‘respectful’.
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Now, this is the kind of horrendous

social restructuring that was in the offing. A
single Thiyya man entering into the
administrative positions as an officer could
literally strew the social scene with an array of
disorder and disorderly disconnections and
connections.
The fifth issue was actually of more terror in content. It was the opening up of
English schools in the Tellicherry area, and in some other locations in Malabar. In
these places, some of the Thiyyas were able to admit their children. That more or less
foreclosed the entry of Nair children in these schools. It might be true that some Nair
children did join them. However, many kept away. The Nayar families which could
afford it, sent their children to Calicut, to attend the school run by the erstwhile king of
Calicut, meant only Hindu (Brahmin), Ambalavasi and Nayar children.
The issue that faced the Nayars would not be clearly understood by the
English officials, who were under the foolish understanding that they knew everything
better. That they understood the real calibre of the lower castes &c. The fact is that the
higher castes were also quite aware that the lower castes had enough and more brains
and skills for everything. And that exactly was the reason that the lower castes were put
down terribly.
For instance, there is ample proof that the carpenters of the subcontinent were
brilliant. However, to allow them any leeway to rise up in the social order to the extent
that they can address the Nayar by name and by Inhi/Nee (lower or intimate level of
You) would be suicidal. These kinds of freedoms are given to others only in foolish
native-English nations. And that is why the native-English nations are heading for
mass suicides.
It is good to improve lowly-placed populations and individuals. However,

before doing that there is need to understand why these populations have been placed
in lowly positions by their own native-land upper classes. Social Engineering has to be
attempted only by those who know what is what.
Others like Abe Lincoln etc. enter like a fool into a location where only
persons with extreme levels of information have the right to enter. And they create
issues which the posterity will have to bear in terrible anguish.
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There was an array of problems in allowing the lower-caste Thiyya children

with the relatively higher-caste Nayar children. First and foremost was that a good
percent of the Thiyyas were from the lower professional groups, like coconut climbers,
agricultural workers, household servants etc. Even though their children would not be
able to afford English education, the Thiyyas who could afford it would be connected
to them.
A lower stature in caste hierarchy naturally has its affect on various human
quality, including that of the quality of conversation, quality of words, quality of the
human connections that frequently gets mentioned in conversations, the way other
persons see the lower-caste children etc. The terror of the Nayars would be that
everything that they can imagine as negative would be loaded on to their children if
their children were to study in the same class and school as the Thiyya children.
Actually this is not a Hindu (Brahmin), upper-caste and Nayar caste mentality
alone. In fact, the Muslims also did not want to send their children to school, where
they would be forced to imbibe non-Islamic cultural items from their school-mates.
See this QUOTE: The scruples of the parents prevent them from permitting
their children to attend the vernacular schools of the Hindus. A fairly successful
attempt has however been made to reach them by giving grants to their own teachers
on condition that they must show results END OF QUOTE
If one were to go into the interiors of this emotion, it would be seen that this
terror is not connected actually to caste. For even now, parents who can afford a more
expensive education for their children would strive to keep their children away from
children whom they perceive as lower to them. The reader is requested not to
immediately try to think that similar emotions are there in native-English nations. The
reality in English nations cannot be taken up for any kind of comparison here.
However, I will not go into the details of that here.
There is another emotional issue. The moment the Thiyyas get to feel a sort of
equality with their immediate upper caste, the emotion that would spring forth from
them would not be any kind of gratitude. Instead, the emotion would be for terrific
vengeance and antipathy and competition and a desperation to show that they are
better than the Nayars in everything.
At the same time, these Thiyyas would also try to keep the undeveloped
Thiyyas at a distance as some kind of despicable beings. Nothing would be done in
quite obvious ways. Everything would be by sly verbal codes, for which the local feudal
language could give much facility.
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The English-educated Thiyyas (high quality English education was dispensed

at that time) would be of a softer mien. But then, as they improve, they would naturally
and inadvertently be pulling up the other educated-in-vernacular Thiyyas. For even an
uncle in the government service as an officer would give a huge social boost to a
lower-level Thiyya. For even land-owner Nayars were working as Peons in the
government sector.
And there is the fact mentioned by Edgar Thurston that there were many
Marumakkathaya Thiyyas families in North Malabar and Makkathaya Thiyya families in
South Malabar who were of sound social standing. I cannot mention more about this.
However, he has mentioned something like Eight illams of the Thiyyas. What this is
supposed to actually mean, I am unable to gather. However, in the Native Life in
Travancore, it is seen that there is mention of the Ezhavas also claiming some kind of
Illams. However, Pulayars and the Mukkuvars also are mentioned as having this verbal
usage, ‘Illam’ (Source: Native Life in Travancore). At best, all this might be a desperate
attempt to connect to the Brahmins, which is an emotion generally seen in many lower
castes in the subcontinent.
See this quote from Native Life in Travancore: QUOTE: They broke into the
houses of Brahmans and Nayars, carrying away their children and property, in excuse
for which they pretended motives of revenge rather than interest, urging a tradition
that they were once a division of the Brahmans, but entrapped into a breach of caste
rules by their enemies making them eat beef. END OF QUOTE
With the setting up a reasonably stable social living, good quality

administration, security to individuals, everyone getting the right to do business and to
move goods to distant place, and judiciary to adjudicate civil disputes without giving
any extra premium to any caste status, the social system was simply changing. As seen
in this book itself, and very clearly mentioned in such books as Travancore State
Manual etc., the period of continual warfare, battles, raiding, molesting, looting,
plundering, enslaving and such other things had come to an end.
In the earlier periods, all towns and villages would turn into battlefield or areas
through which totally uncontrolled fighters of some side would walk through. It goes
without saying when such things happen, the peoples of the various castes tries to run
off. However, many are caught and butchered. Many are taken as slaves to push the
carts and make food and wash clothes etc. for the fighting persons. Women are
generally forcibly fornicated in their houses. Some of them are taken as slaves or as
woman to be kept as concubines by the individuals who are the leaders of the soldiers.
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There was no one to appeal to.
However, as of now, everything had changed.

There was quietude and time to ponder on a new terror for
the Nayars. The higher castes like the Ambalavasis and the
Brahmins would also be perturbed. But then, they were not
the castes which were on direct competition with the
Marumakkathaya Thiyyas.
The book, Malabar, is not a book written with an

aim at misguiding the natives of the subcontinent. Such
books are now published by the Indian and Pakistani
governments. This book was written as a guide book for
the English administrators to understand the land they
were administering. It was here that the Nayars had to
work strenuously to give an erroneous idea about the land.
For, they had much interests to protect and may populations to keep down.
All over the book, they have mentioned that they are some kind of genteel
people, yet, courageous fighters, whose families had the antiquity of great traditions,
and that they were the protectors of the land and that they were in charge of some kind
of law and order machinery.
Even though there might be some element of truth in some of these

assertions, it would be quite a lie to say that they stood for any kind of social welfare
activity. Their best intentions would be to see that the subordinated castes and classes
remained suppressed.
However, they could not simply continue this system. For, the English rule
had prospered. The only thing that they could do in North Malabar was to insist that
the Thiyyas were more low-class than they actually were.
In fact, as seen in a quote from Travancore State Manual, with the

establishment of the English rule in Travancore, the mental and cultural quality of the
Nayars had improved from that of a rowdy population. They had become more softer
and cultured.
The same thing must have been experienced by the Nayars of Malabar also.
Especially those in North Malabar. In fact, it is a very obvious thing that people who
live in close proximity with the native-English improve in quality and culture. [The
reader should be very careful to note that the native-English are totally different from
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Continental Europeans. Please do not mix up these two totally different people groups
into one group. Moreover, pristine-English population of yore was a totally different
population from the current-day Multi-culture English.]
However, in Malabar this quality enhancement was not confined to the Nayars
alone. It arrived into the households of a few Thiyyas also. Especially those around
Tellicherry areas.
In fact, there would not be much to differentiate a Thiyya and a Nayar who
are both well-educated in the high quality English schools of Tellicherry of those times.
The difference would be felt only if the Nayar’s and Thiyya person’s traditional family
relatives are brought into the comparison.
Even though, a Thiyya individual who had developed culturally via means of
the English education he had received would not personally appear to be an
intimidating entity, on the social horizon, this man’s existence would be giving a total
uplift-ment to all the crass low-class Thiyya families who were from the labourer
classes. The main content of this ‘crass low-class’ quality would be the lower indicant
verbal definitions meant for them. However, the moment they rise up relatively, they
would very forcefully assault and harass the Nayars with a simple flipping of the verbal
codes. The Nayars who do feel or experience this flipping action would feel himself or
herself or their own family members going for vertical flip-flop.
What the English administration was giving was equivalent to giving a gun to a
team of mice, to accost the cats.
Till date the Thiyyas were like the herbivorous animals like the deer, wild-
buffalos etc. They can be pounced upon by the carnivorous animals like the cheetah,
tiger etc. Their horns which point in more or less useless directions were of no use
against the wild beasts. However one fine morning they find that they have been given
a very suitable weapon of offense. It goes without saying that they would become more
or less trigger-happy when they see a wild beast, even if the beast has no inimical
intentions.
Actually the wildest beastliness are in the language codes of the local
languages. It is not an individual quality. All persons who get the ability to inflict harm
on another competing entity or human will inflict the harm. That is the way the
language codes of feudal language are designed.
Gullible native-Englishmen had no way to understand this inglorious secret,

which is currently turning their own native-nations into wastelands.
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This book, Malabar, is full of cunning verbal attacks on the Thiyyas. Nothing
direct. And that is the wonderful part of it. Where these sly attacks have been done,
even Logan would have simply shrugged his shoulders. However, in the areas where he
has directly made the inputs, that is, in the history part connected to the records from
the English East India Company’s Factory at Tellicherry, the hue and tone is different.
The perspective is different. If one knows that there is something wrong with the
book, then one would put one’s mind on noting these things. Then they would appear
very clearly.
Others, who read this book as some kind of old history, will simply gulp down
the sterile facts as if they are of resounding quality.
When speaking about knowing history or what took place, there are immense
information that do not come inside formal textbooks. For one thing, academic history
that comes out from 3rd world historians who reside inside their home nations are
literally the mouthpieces of their national police indoctrinations. As to those from
these nations who have relocated themselves into native-English nations, a good
percentage of them simply retell the lies that they have been taught at home.
I can give several instances of information that might not appear in formal
histories of India.
Take this instance: When speaking about the modern state of Kerala, there is
not enough importance given to the ideas that Malabar and Travancore were totally
disconnected political entities. English-ruled-Malabar had a bureaucratic apparatus
which was run by officials who were quite good in English. The officialdom at the level
of the officers were honest to a fault. This information I know personally, because one
of my own family members was an officer in this Service. This Service was part of the
Madras Presidency Civil Service and later of the Madras State Civil Service. In the
earlier period of this Service, Travancore was a foreign kingdom. And later a
neighbouring state called Travancore-Cochin State.
The Travancore officialdom was not run on English systems, even though at
the top-levels English might have been used. The officials including the ‘officers’ were
literally thieves. Beyond that they were most ruffians and rogues in all ways. The
standard definition that they gave for the common man was ‘a donkey’.
In Malabar officialdom, everything was different. For instance, the members

of the public were not to approach the peons and clerks for any office dealing. They
had to approach the officers, who would assign their papers to the various clerks. The
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clerks would process the files and hand it over to the officer. The finished file/paper
would be handed over back to the individual on the appointed day.
If a particular clerk is absent on any day, the officer would hand-over the file
to another clerk. Or if that is not possible, the officer himself or herself would go
through the file and have it ready for giving to the member of the public who had
submitted the application.
Even in Malabar officialdom, the clerks and peons were not very good in
English communication. If and when the member of the public approaches the clerk
or the peon, they would most naturally try to dominate or distress the individual. For,
that is the way the language codes are designed.
It was most probably for this very reason that the officers were made duty-
bound to deal with the members of the public. The clerks and peons were merely
workers inside the office, and had no power to take any decisions or to harass the
public.
These kind of information do not usually come in formal histories, currently

written by feebly-informed formal academicians.
The system of conducting a Civil Service exam by which youngsters, who were
good in English but not necessarily from the high social-status families, could become
officers was a novel idea in Malabar. However, there was a great pitfall in this. But
then, the English officials foresaw the pitfall and took evasive action in a very
intelligent manner, even though it is doubtful if they fully understood the pitfall.
One of the major issues of this kind of recruiting of individuals to position of

officiating public offices is that the languages are feudal. The content of verbal ‘respect’
is required for that person to be able to manage the office and the subordinate clerks
and peons. And to make the members of public feel that the government is of quality
standards and has power and authority.
The respect in the local vernacular is connected to two basic items. One is
‘age’. The relatively younger individual has no right to claim ‘respect’ unless he or she
is a higher-caste person. That means his words and actions are seen as of no
consequence. Such an individual cannot run an office.
The reader has to bear in mind that the English rule was creating a new system
of administration based on written codes of law. If the officers were seen as totally
useless people, the administration would collapse.
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The second item that was connected to

spontaneous ‘respect’ was family status. Naturally this
would mean that the highest posts should go to the
Brahmins and then the next to the Ambalavasis and then to
the Nayars.
The English-rule was trying to create something

that had no likeness or sync to this system which had been
the standards for centuries.
It must be mentioned here that the second item

would override the first item, when both these items come
to compete with each other. That is, if a higher-aged lower-
caste man were to come in front of a lower-aged higher-caste man, the ‘respect’ is for
the higher-caste younger-aged individual. The higher-aged lower-caste person would be
addressed and also mentioned in the lower indicant words by the younger higher-caste
person.
For instance, a higher caste 12 year old boy or girl would address a forty years
old Thiyya man with a Inhi (Nee in Malayalam), and refer to him as an Oan (Avan in
Malayalam).
A tumbling down of this system would not improve the situation. It would
only change the individual positions. The higher-aged lower-caste man would address
the younger-aged higher-caste boy with an ‘Inhi and refer to him as an Oan. This is not
actually an improvement in the social order. Only a reversal of roles.
That is, the young-aged Nayar female in the image here would move from
Ingal to Inhi, to a lower caste man, when the social structure tumbles. This is a
terrifying event, for it connects to an immensity of other locations. Persons who thus
find their ‘respect’ withdrawn will not come out of their residence.
However, what the English-rule attempted was the total abrogation and
nullification of these satanic language systems. The satanic language in the location
was something I would like to mention as Malabari. However, another satanic language
called Malayalam was also entering into the location, desperately trying to replace
Malabari and takeover. I will go into the competition between languages later.
When creating an administrative apparatus with youngsters getting recruited

via means of an government recruitment Civil Service exam, the English
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administration did take quite efficient steps to see that only quality persons became
Officers. This content of ‘Officers’ is something that has come to be missed in current-
day India. No one seems to know the basic ideas of what it is to recruit ‘Officers’.
The major item is that Officers are Gentlemen. The word Gentlemen is not
what it means in the native languages of the subcontinent. The word Gentlemen as
understood in English is connected to a lot of sublime human qualities as seen in
pristine-English. His behaviour to others should be gentlemanly and he should be
chivalrous. A person who uses lower indicant words to the common man is not a
gentleman. Nor can he be mentioned as an ‘Officer’. From this perspective, not many
of the current-day ‘officers’ of India are actually ‘officers’. They are mere brutes in the
attire of ‘officers’.
Good quality companies recruit their staff, based on individual quality. So that
inside their office and working areas, the individuals in a particular work-location
would have similar or same individual dispositions.
However, in current-day India, the ‘officer’ exam is simply like a marathon

race. Anyone with some stamina can get in. There is no need for any ‘Officer’ quality.
Even an individual fit for rowdy-work can get in, if he or she has the stamina.
However, the system is quite rude within itself and individuals cannot be blamed.
When a youngster of around 23 years, with no outstanding family background

is positioned as an Officer, with a number of subordinates under him or her, who
could be from higher status families or castes, and possibly of more age, the system will
not work in the feudal language and the prevalent social system. The subordinates
would very spontaneously use the word ‘Oan’ (Avan in Malayalam – lowest ‘he’) or
‘Oal’ (Aval in Malayalam – lowest ‘she’) when referring to their officer. That itself will
spell doom to the system.
Beyond this, the members of the public will also look down at the young man
or woman from a feeble family status sitting at the officer’s table. They too would not
get to feel any hallowed feeling with regard to government functioning. In a feudal
language system this is an essential item for the machinery to work. The way then to
gather respect is to terrorise and create hurdles of the person who comes to the office.
However that would not be an English administration then.
However, the English administration did understand the issue. The solution
they found out was this. The officers would be quite good in English. The
administration and the office functioning would be in English.
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I have personally seen in my childhood young Officers of the erstwhile

Madras State Civil Service, after opting for Kerala Service with the formation of
Kerala, functioning in an English communication mode. They would address their
senior-in-age subordinate clerks with a Mr. or Mrs. prefixed to their names. So that the
local language issue of senior-in-age becoming a Chettan or Chechi to the officers was
circumvented. If this had been allowed, a sort of double, mutually opposite hierarchy
in communication would exist inside the office.
The second thing that the English administration did was to keep a pedestal-
like platform for the chief officer in an office to place his or her seat. This more or less
lifted them up above the others. Yet, this was not to add to the feudalism in
communication. For, it was pristine-English in its most stern form that was upholding
the government office functioning.
This wooden stage for the young officers to sit could be seen in such places as
Sub Registrars office, Tahsildar’s office etc. As of now, in Malabar, this stage like
seating arrangement was adding to the feudal hierarchy of feudal language officialdom
that is now in vogue in Malabar.
I am not sure how it was in the government offices in Travancore Kingdom. I

do not think this kind of physical lifting was necessary. For, the ‘officers’ there were
recruited on the basis of their family stature. So a government office was just a mere
reflection of the various terrible hierarchies already there in the kingdom.
In English-ruled Malabar, the offices were locations where the social feudalism
and hierarchies went into disarray. This was one major difference between English
ruled-Malabar and Travancore. It may be correct to say that this would have been the
correct difference between the English-ruled locations everywhere in the subcontinent
and where the local rajas ruled.
Formal history writers may not know much about these slender and yet quite
powerful items.
Actually in the book, Malabar, there is not much information on the various
Civil Service exams that had been initiated by the English rule. As to what it consisted
of, I can base on only from my own family member’s exam.
I had found that the officer classes of the Malabar district of those days were
extremely well-read in English Classics, good in English speaking, and stood as a
group which was incorruptible. Moreover, they were not ready to use lower indicant
words about or to a member of the public. However, when I came to interact with the
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members of the Travancore officials way back in 1970s onwards, I saw that the
‘officers’ there were low-class individuals who used totally bad indicant words about
the common man. Most of them used words like Avan (lowest he/ him), Aval (lowest
she/her) about them, with no qualms at all.
These words do contain the power of hammering, and the sharpness of a

poking spear.
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The Thiyya quandary

Let me now take up a very intriguing feature seen all around the book,
Malabar, where the text has been evidently written or edited or doctored by the Nayars
and certain others.
This feature element is this: In almost all locations, where the Thiyyas are
mentioned, very evident interest has been shown to mix them up with the Ezhavas of
Travancore, and also with many of the very low-castes of Malabar.
Before moving ahead on this route, I would like to mention a few things about
Ezhavas. The fact is that until around 1975, when my family moved to Travancore
area, I do not think anyone in our family had any information on a caste known as
Ezhava. This does not mean that no one in Malabar was ignorant of them. For, there is
an Ezhava temple at Tellicherry known as the Jagadnath Temple. Beyond that there are
several SN Colleges and other institutions run by the SNDP, which is the leadership
organisation of the Ezhavas of Travancore.
The first impression of the Ezhavas of Alleppy was the terrific darkness of
their skin complexion. I think it was a very conspicuous item for the individuals who
came from Malabar then. As of now, this skin complexion difference has vanished
much due to the mixing of populations.
Later on, on getting to know more about the Travancore, it was found that the
Ezhavas were in themselves a mixed population, with many individuals fair, some of
mixed complexion and some quite dark
complexioned. However, they were not at all
similar to the Thiyyas of Malabar, especially of
north Malabar.
The north Malabar Thiyyas were

generally fair, if they were not from the labour
class. Labour class persons generally had a darker
skin complexion that they had acquired due to
constant exposure to the sun. However, it would
be clearly noticeable that skin-colour did not have
much connection to intellectual and cultural
content.
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A mental quality known as ‘inferiority complex’ or a mood to retract from it

using powerful props, was seen in the Thiyyas of the lower classes in north Malabar. I
cannot say much about the Thiyyas of South Malabar, who actually were a different
population group different from the North Malabar Thiyyas. I do not have much
personal experience with them. The higher class north Malabar Thiyyas were quite
developed and fashionable. However they also had the same repulsive feelings for the
lower-class Thiyyas, as had the higher castes. These repulsions are encoded in the
word-codes.
Thiyyas themselves used derogatory words about other Thiyyas. That is, words
like Chekkan (lower grade male), Pennu (lower grade female), etc. The point here is that
there had been occasions when the Thiyya working class had mentioned objection to
the use of these words about them by the richer classes /castes or by the Mappilla rich.
From the inferiority complex sense, the Ezhavas did have more reason for
that. For, till 1947, they were more or less kept out of so many statutory rights and
functions which were then available to the Thiyyas of Malabar. However, that was due
to the English rule in Malabar.
As to the skin complexion issue, it is true that in the Subcontinent, in many

locations, a dark skin colour is seen as a negative attribute. However, in Tamilnadu, the
people are mostly quite dark. They do not seem to have any inferiority complex due to
this, unless they are purposefully compared with a fair-complexioned person. Yet,
there also, film starts and successful political leaders have tried to don a fair-skin
complexion.
Maybe if the Englishmen had been dark-complexioned, there would have been
more appreciation for this skin-colour. For, then, higher quality human attributes like
fair-play, honesty, rectitude, sense of commitment, chivalrous mental attribute, English
Classics &c. which are generally seen as associated with native-English common
standards would have been connected to dark-skin.
However, as of now, in most themes connected to all kinds of heritage and

antiquity of the land, the dark-skin complexion is seen mentioned as connected to
diabolic and wicked entities. Even in the puranas (epics) of the northern parts of the
subcontinent, the heroes (such as Sri Rama) are seen shown as fair in colour. There is
another divinity Sri Krishna. By various descriptions, this divine personage should be
of dark skin-complexion. However, in almost all pictorial depictions, Sri Krishna is
seen as of blue-skin colour. The dark-skin element is avoided.
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Speaking about the Thiyyas, there is this thing also to be mentioned. In the
Tellicherry location, due to the close connection with English administration and also
due to the terrific sense of freedom and social eminence that perched upon the Thiyyas
there, corresponding higher features appeared on their personality.
It is simply a matter of a person who had been in the lower indicant word
definition suddenly rising up to the higher indicant word definition. It is a social
machinery work. That of an ‘Oan ഓൻ’ (Avan അവൻ in Malayalam) population rising
to a ‘Oar ഓ ’ (Avar അവ / Adheham അേ ഹം in Malayalam) population.
Persons who rise higher in the verbal codes generally display a more softer
demeanour and a fairer (or less dark) skin complexion. Learning English also makes a
person much softer. It gets reflected in the next generation.
However, this is a comparison of two different population groups, for which

actually there is no need for any kind of comparison. For, historically there is no
connection between them. There would be practically no family connection other than
those achieved by the means of caste-jumping. Caste-jumping is done by any lower
caste to a higher or more attractive caste, the moment they relocated to a new location.
I have mention about this earlier.
For instance, I have found Ezhavas in Malabar who go about mentioning that
they are Thiyyas. However, generally their dark-skin complexion will lend a clue that
they have simply changed their caste.
Now, how the Ezhavas came to get connected to the Thiyyas and vice versa
might be a very interesting bit of information.
This book, Malabar, in all its positions, other than in the history part written
directly by Logan (connected to the written Log book records of the English Factory at
Tellicherry), has tried to establish a total connection between the Ezhavas and Thiyyas.
However, there is no evidence of any direct intervention by the Ezhava vested-
interests in this regard. In fact, there is ample feeling that the Nayars did the work,
which the Ezhava leadership sort of desired, on their own.
Since I do not have any historical records with me regarding the origin of the
Ezhavas population in Travancore, I will have to take as much as possible from such
books as Travancore State Manual, Native Life in Travancore, Castes and Tribes of
Southern India, Omens and Superstitions of Southern India etc.
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The general talk is that the Ezhava came from

the Ceylon Island (current-day Sri Lanka). If that is true,
then their ancestors are Sinhalese. Traces of Sinhalese
language might be found in the Ezhava ancestry.
However, the general feeling of Travancore way back in
1970s onward that I personally felt was that the place
had a linguistic antiquity of Tamil. The discussion on
the languages of the three components of current-day
Kerala has to be taken up separately. I will leave that
here.
However, it must be mentioned that the Thiyyas of north Malabar did have a
language right from the ancient times. This is seen reflected in the Thottam chollal
(ritualistic chanting) (േതാ ം െചാലൽ) of the Muthappan Theyyams, Vellattaam and
Thiruvappana.
Now, if the ancestry mentioned above is correct, Ezhavas are not connected
to the Brahmanical religion. They are
not any kind of Hindus, as
understood by the Brahmanical
spiritual belief systems.
QUOTE: The residents about

the Guruvayur temple are chiefly the
higher classes of Hindus, viz.. Brahmans and Nayars END OF QUOTE.
The reality of Hindu religion is that it is basically the religion of the Brahmans.
In Native Life in Travancore, there is mention of two of their deities or entities

to whom they do worship. That is the Madan and Marutha. And also of Bhadrakali,
Shastavu and Veerabhadran. There might be others also. There is no mention of any
Thiyya deity in their worship system mentioned anywhere.
In the Castes and Tribes of Southern India by E Thurston, I have found it

mentioned or hinted at that many of the subordinated castes did try their level best to
claim some kind of connection to the Brahmans. This is not a surprising thing. In fact,
even now all persons try to mention some connection to a higher-placed government
official or doctor or political leader. If there are nondescript persons in their
relationships, they conveniently forget or refuse to mention them. Word codes would
get pulled to the heights or lowliness, depending on who it is that one mentions as a
relative.
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The same is the case with mentioning antiquity. No caste or population would
mention any hint of a connection to a lower-placed population. For, a mere mention is
enough to degrade the individual in the verbal codes. This is the location where the
Ezhavas admits their lowliness compared to the Thiyyas. It might not be real.
However, position-wise the Thiyyas were under the English in the 1800s. While the
Ezhavas were still under the Nayars.
The Ezhavas were not directly under the Brahmins. They were under the
Nayars who were themselves under a number of levels of Ambalavasis, who were
under a number of levels of Brahmins.
Being under the English was like standing on the mountain-top. Being under
the Nayars, defined by them as Nee, Avan, Aval, Cherukkan, Pennu, Chovvan, Kotti
etc. was like standing under some abominable dirt. This was the desperation that
possibly made the Ezhavas to claim that they are Thiyyas in north Malabar.
A claim to sameness and similarity between the Ezhavas and the Thiyyas was
done due to the fact that both were under the same name caste; that is ‘Nayars’.
However the former was under the Travancore Nayars, and the Marumakkathaya
Thiyyas were under the North Malabar Nayars. I have no idea about the social
standing between the Nayars and the Thiyyas of North Malabar, traditionally.
However, it is seen mentioned that in the Panappayatt (പണ യ ്) programmes, there
was interaction between the Nayars and the Thiyyas in North Malabar. I have no
information about this in South Malabar.
This is the way this Panappayatt has been mentioned in this book, Malabar:
QUOTE: CHANGHGATIKKURI KALYANAM - It is not, it appears, confined to people
of the same caste, but the association was often composed of Nayers, Tiyars and Mappilas END OF
QUOTE
I do not know what the standing between the Ezhavas of Travancore and the
Nayars there, was. It is seen mentioned in Native Life in Travancore that: QUOTE: In
some temples and ceremonies, as at Paroor, Sarkarei, &c., they closely associate with the Sudras
(Nayars). END OF QUOTE
In North Malabar also, in the various interior Nair household temple, their
dependent Thiyyas and other castes like the Malayans are known to have collaborated
in the temple rituals. However, I feel these Thiyyas and Malayans would be those who
stood as the dependents of those households.
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One of the main differences between the North Malabar Thiyyas and the
Ezhavas of Travancore mentioned very much is that the former was following
Marumakkathaya (matriarchal) family system, while the latter was following
Makkathaya (patriarchal) family system. However, in the case of the Ezhavas, it is
found that this has not always been the case. There was some kind of influence of
matriarchal system among a few of their families also.
It might be possible that some kind of matriarchal influence has entered into
the social stream of certain populations. There is no historical record seen mentioned
in any other books I have mentioned as to how this entered.
As to there being similarities and differences between any particular caste or

population group, well, if one were to go through the Castes and Tribes of Southern
India by E. Thurston, it is seen that there are a lot of similarities and common
heritages among so many different
population groups who lived in the
various locations of the Subcontinent.
The most powerful common string
that connected all of them was the
more or less similar kind of feudal
content or hierarchy in most of the
local languages of the subcontinent.
Language is a powerful
society designing factor. It has the
power to design both human
behaviour pattern as well as human
relationship strings.
However, the issue remains that the Thiyya of north Malabar had no social or
traditional connections with the Ezhavas of Travancore. It is the Ezhavas who insists
on this connection. Why they should insist this during the English rule time might have
been a desperation to place themselves at a higher plane. For in the English-ruled
Malabar, the Thiyyas were higher placed. But then, that is not the reason why the
Ezhava insists on such a connection now.
As of now, it is a big political leadership issue. The Ezhava leadership has

spread its tentacles all throughout the Malabar region. A disconnection from the
Thiyya population would mean the erasing up of this leadership and the loss of
followers.
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Otherwise, there is no conceivable reason to claim an attachment. For

currently the Ezhavas do not have any need for any kind of inferiority vis-a-vis the
Thiyyas. In fact, in many locations in Malabar, it is the Thiyya populations who are
desperately in need of social enhancement. This is slightly connected to the fact that
with the formation of Kerala, there was a complete shift of focus to Travancore. The
Malabar systems created by the English-rule went into disarray and oblivion. However,
that is another theme which would need a lot of words to describe.
Now, coming back to the English-rule period in Malabar, and to the period of
the Travancore kingdom, it is true that the Ezhava populations of Travancore were
quite a suppressed lot.
Now, let me look at the Thiyya population of Malabar. The English

administration had a tough time to understand the Thiyya populations, when the two
Malabars, north and south, were amalgamated to form a single district. The young
English / British officials, who came to work in the judiciary as judicial officers, or as
administrators, were at first quite confused about this Thiyya content.
It took them some time to understand the issue. With the setting-up of a
formal judiciary, all kinds of populations who had been traditionally dependent on the
thraldom of their village / panchayat headmen or higher castes were suddenly
liberated. A terrific feeling came about that everyone were equal in the eyes of the law.
It is true that the novelty soon wore off. For, the succeeding generations did
not quite appreciate the fact that just one generation back, their parents were mere
nonentities with bare right to any kind of social or personal dignity.
The social changes as well as the connection between two distinct geographical
regions which had totally different family systems as well as population groups led to
so many new enterprises and relationships, as well as to financial connections between
individuals.
In many of the administrative and judicial codes, the English rule did not want
to upset any applecart. Actually, they more or less only codified the social codes of
inheritance and such things already in existence in the land. However, when judicial
cases went into adjudication, there was terrific confusion, in the case of the Thiyyas. It
was seen that the Thiyyas had two mutually opposite customs with regard to
inheritance and to family relationship. And then a more profound information arrived
that the two Thiyyas were different from each other. One of them, actually declaring
some sort of a repulsion for the other.
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Now, it may seem that the Marumakkathaya Thiyyas were presuming some
kind of superiority over the Makkathaya Thiyyas. However, in a deeper analysis, the
Makkathaya family system was a more stable and sensible kind of family system. Then
why the Marumakkathaya Thiyyas acted superior is not known. Or is it possible that
the Makkathaya Thiyyas also had a superiority complex, but were not bothered much
about the Marumakkathaya aversion to them?
Whatever it is, the English officials were soon forced to understand the term
‘Thiyya’ represented two different castes or population groups.
Now, there was another complication in the social system. That was the entry
of Ezhavas into many locations in Malabar via various routes.
It is quite obvious that the Nayars were totally unnerved by the possibility that
the Thiyyas would soon occupy much of their positions, in the newly emerging English
rule. Even the Calicut king’s family members must have been terrified. For, they had
been reduced to mere pensioners of the English East India Company. Actually the
English Company came to take-over the power of the king due to the fact that the
different members of the king’s family were continually in a mood for fights against
each other and mutiny against the king.
It is seen mentioned that even the Calicut king’s officials (must be Nayars)
used to designate the Thiyyas as Ezhavas in their official record. Even though Calicut
was in south Malabar, with the unification of both North Malabar and South Malabar,
the official records of Calicut seems to have had its bearing upon North Malabar.
Edgar Thurston does mention that whatever way the Thiyyas object to being
defined as Ezhavas, the king’s officials would not change the description. This was
their way to sort of control an emerging population. That is, by identifying them with a
population which was seen as outcastes in Travancore Kingdom.
However, I have to mention that Edgar Thurston’s writings have been

doctored then and there itself. I could feel this same issue with the Thiyya identity in
the different parts of his huge 7-volume book. There is sharp difference in the way the
Thiyya identity is mentioned in different parts of the book. So as to give a feel that the
different parts of the books have been filled by information from different and
mutually antagonistic sources.
In some locations, for instance, the Volume 7 of Castes and Tribes of

Southern India, the plight of the Thiyyas of north Malabar is mentioned in that they do
not accept that they are Ezhavas or that the Ezhavas are Thiyyas. However, the
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officials of the king of Calicut, which is in South Malabar would go on insisting that
they are Ezhavas. And they have no way out of this quandary. May be the king’s
officials are focusing on the Makkathaya Thiyyas of South Malabar, but in the newly
emerging confusion, there is no way out of this false identification.
But then, from my personal instinct, I feel that the South Malabar Thiyyas are
also not Ezhavas. Who they are I do not know.
There is a book of ‘history’ that is seen

quoted all over this book, Malabar. That is
Keralolpathi. It is a book written with certain
meticulously planned aims. The history it
provides could be false, but then a lot of
historical incidences have been placed inside
the book to give it a feel of authenticity.
The history of this subcontinent till the

advent of the English is similar to a history of a
colony of ants. This leader fought with that.
Then another leader fought from the west.
Then the south and east joined together and
entered the location and massacred the ants
therein, and took many as slaves. Then a
religious leader came and converted some to
his religion. Then communal fights. There is
nothing more to record or write.
Actually in those times, events

practically repeated. But then there are slow
changes in the population groups. Yet,
everything changed totally with the advent of
the English rule. It is from here that actually
the history of Malabar starts. But this is also the
part of formal history that is simply dismissed
by dismal words like English colonialism, English looting, Freedom fights etc.
There is enough content in the English rule period to write volumes. On how
innumerable populations groups living in mutual terror, antipathy and frequent fights
and massacres were rearranged into a decent social system and nation. And how a
bloody idiot in England again handed the whole location to a group of low-quality self-
serving politicians, who literally overran the subcontinent and occupied all the
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independent kingdoms. 10 lakh (1 million) people died almost within weeks or months
of this monstrous treachery).
I have seen young people speak in great admiration for the so-called great
freedom fighters who killed the Englishmen. The truth of the matter is that these
youngsters like the looks of the ‘freedom fighters’ in the books and films. However,
they would not go anywhere near a group of common people in their own nation.
They detest the common Indians, who appear on the roads in real life. However, in the
virtual world of fake story films, the great fighters look quite a splendid group.
These young persons, who have great admiration for their own nation and
nationals, would all love to run off to native-English nations.
Now, I think I have given enough background to take quotes from the book,
Malabar from which one can sense out the antipathy the Nayars seems to have had
towards the Thiyyas, especially of North Malabar.
But before going into that there are certain things that have to be mentioned
about what has been deliberately missed out in this book.
As an keen observer on human reactions to feudal language codes, I have sort

of developed an idea as to what to look for in all descriptions on human interactions
and social links. The moment a social system speaks a particular language, there are
certain very clearly predictable manners in which the individuals behave. For, they are
all infected with certain specific terrors or relief from terrors.
The setting up of a very placid state of social system under an egalitarian

language, under the English administration would create a lot of heartburns, in many
layers of the social system. If the society was in a condition of continual fights and
killings and hacking and such things, there would not be much time to ponder on these
things. People simply endure the terror and the time passes on.
However, when the society becomes quite peaceful, and an egalitarian

language is slowly changing the landscape of the social system into a planar form, there
is time for everyone in every layer to ponder on what would be the outcome. Their
most terrible terror is the possibility of individuals who had been considered as their
inferiors coming up on top. Even though the egalitarian language English is what
makes this happen, the social system and social communication is still in the feudal
language.
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When the relative stature of each individual changes, the words form for You,
Your, Yours, He, His, Her, She, Her, Hers, They, Their, Theirs &c. will change in the
case of each individual human-link. Persons who cannot be addressed by name by
someone may arrive at a location where he can be very casual called by name by this
very person. There are terrors, which cannot be imagined by a native-English person,
in feudal languages.
This is the information that makes me look deeper into descriptions. I had an
overwhelming hunch that something of this sort would be there in this book, as I
slowly started moving through the book.
I did find many things. I will deal with them one by one. However, here I
would like to mention what was missing.
In this whole book, there is a complete blackout of the Thiyya population. It

need not be that curious in that the Thiyyas come below the Nayars, and were more or
less a lower caste.
However, Edgar Thurston does give some very glorifying words about at least
a section of the Thiyyas of north Malabar. One is that some of them were extremely
fair in skin complexion. This is a high premium statement in a land that prizes fair
skin-complexion.
There is another quote of William Logan, which I found in Edgar Thurston’s

Castes and Tribes of Southern India:
QUOTE: There are, in North Malabar, many individuals, whose fathers were
European. Writing, in 1887, concerning the Tiyan (Thiyya) community, Mr. Logan
states * that ** the women are not as a rule excommunicated if they live with Europeans, and the
consequence is that there has been among them a large admixture of European blood, and the caste
itself has been materially raised in the social scale. In appearance some of the women are almost as fair
as Europeans.” On this point, the Report of the Malabar Marriage Commission, 1894,
states that “ in the early days of British rule, the Tiyan women incurred no social disgrace by
consorting with Europeans, and, up to the last generation, if the Sudra girl could boast of her Brahmin
lover, the Tiyan girl could show more substantial benefits from her alliance with a white man
of the ruling race. END OF QUOTE.
The above is also another terror looming ahead on the social horizon for the
Nayars. For, they are the caste just above the Thiyyas. The Brahmins were on top and
more or less the landed gentry. The Nayars were the supervisor castes for the higher
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castes. It goes without saying that if the Thiyyas rise up, they would most probably
replace them in many official positions.
As to the English officials, they were going ahead with a social egalitarian
policy without any keen understanding of how it is going to hurt the Nayar caste
individuals. For, the language is terribly feudal. It is so terrible a thing, that in the
native-English nations, many local citizens who can barely understand these languages
have gone berserk and committed Gun Violence crimes in a mood of unexplainable
insanity, when effected by the negative codes of feudal languages.
What the Nayars feared did happen. From the latter part of the 1800s, the
Thiyyas started appearing inside the administrative set up, with some of them
becoming sub-magistrates and Deputy District Collectors inside Madras Presidency.
English education was lifting up a small percentage of the Thiyyas.
There is a wider information that can be mentioned about this eventuality.

However, it is out of context here.
But then, there is another bit of information that can be mentioned here. That
is, this social enhancement of a small section of the Thiyya caste was not a welcome
event for at least some of the Thiyya caste leadership. This contention I am mentioning
without any record or evidence in my possession. I simply rely here on my
impressionistic approach to history, based on my understanding as to how individuals
react to social changes in a feudal language social system.
This is a theme I will take up later.
It may be true that in the subcontinent, many of the lower castes are not
actually Hindus, even though they all are categorised as such. This does not matter for
most persons. For, everyone is more or less totally engrossed in keeping the various
terrors of living in India at bay. Every individual is now totally focused on his or her
own social or political leadership or in his or her job. Losing out to others can be
dangerous.
There was and is an understated spiritual culture of Shamanism in this

subcontinent. However, all these shamanistic spiritual system may not be from the
same route or focus. Nayars have their own traditional temples wherein Shamanistic
practises are going on. Their Shamanistic deities might include Kuttichathan, Gulikan,
Paradevatha, Asuraputra and Chamundi.
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The Thiyyas have Muthappan and some other deities. The lower castes like the
Pulaya, Pariah etc. also might have had them. However, the lowest castes were literally
kept like cattle as slaves in the households of the landlords till the advent of the
English rule. So, in most cases of such populations, their ancient traditions have been
wiped out.
Still, Edgar Thurston has made very detailed study about most of these castes.
In Rev. Samuel Mateer’s Native Life in Travancore, the deities and worship systems of
the Ezhavas are mentioned in detail.
None of them, if examined detail are actually from the Brahmanical spiritual
systems. However, over the centuries there have been very ferocious attempts to attach
their spiritual system to the Brahmanical religion. This is mainly due to the feudal
content in the local languages. A proximity to the Brahmanical religion would add
‘respect’ to their gods. A detachment would make their deities have a feel of a semi-
barbarian god. The words would change.
In fact, I have heard directly from

some Nayar individuals that in their childhood,
they would not go near a Muthappan
Shamanistic ritual. They looked upon the
Muthappan ritualistic dance as some ritual of a
lower class population. However, from a very
local vested-interest perspective, there would
have been Thiyya higher classes who would
have wanted a closer connection with their
higher castes. If that had been allowed, the
Muthappan worship would have been very quietly mentioned as some kind of lower
form of the Hindu Trinities.
Due to a very particular aspect inside the local feudal languages, people
generally get trained to lean on something. The physical posture of standing without
leaning on something like a doorframe, tree, another person’s shoulder &c. are
connected to a deeper need aroused by the language codes. I cannot go into it here.
However, it may be noted that in pristine-English social system, individuals are trained
to stand erect without leaning on anything.
The mental craving for something to lean on is there in almost everything.

People would need to have some support. It can be a higher placed man, a connection
to a higher status family, a link to a more respected religion and thus. These are basic
things that are totally different from what is natural in pristine-English.
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This book, Malabar, seems to simply allow the Thiyyas of those times to
vanish into a nonentity. There was indeed a huge population of Thiyyas in north
Malabar. The Muthappan temple at Parashinikadavu and the hilltop shrine at
Kunnathurpadi are not at all found mentioned in this book. This is quite a curious
item. For even the small-time Brahmanical temples in the various locations are
mentioned. Mappilla mosques are mentioned. The various Christian religious sects are
also given detailed writing.
However, the fact is that the Thiyyas of north Malabar had a spiritual worship
system which was quite wide-spread throughout North Malabar. (I am not mentioning
the south Malabar Thiyyas, because I do not have much information on them and I
think that they are another population totally.) This string of worship system was none
other than the Muthappan shrines. I did not find one single mention of Muthappan in
this book of records on Malabar,
purportedly written by a Collector of the
Malabar District. It should be quite
curious.
This item become more curious

and intriguing when it is seen that there is
some kind of a historical association
between the English-rule built Railway
Stations in North Malabar and
Muthappan worship. In fact, there seems
to be a Muthappan temple in close
proximity to many a railway station in
north Malabar stretching up to Mangalore in the erstwhile Mysore State. The most
famous in this regard is the Railway Muthappan Shrine at Thavakkara in Cannanore,
which I think was the first to be built in close connection with the railway stations.
The more curious issue is that some rogue has mentioned Muthappan worship
as a Hindu worship system in one internationally known low content-quality web-
portal. It is totally curious in that a temple and worship system that had been totally
avoided by those persons connected to the traditional Hindu and Brahmanical worship
systems is now being connected to it. However, I do not have enough knowledge to
say more about this. It might be possible that some higher caste links might be
mentioned in the Muthappan tradition also. That is how the local languages generally
tend to gather power and admiration.
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There is a much-mentioned story of how the Muthappan shrines came to be

connected to the Railway stations of north Malabar. However, I am not taking that up
here. For, I am not sure how authentic the popular version is. But then, in the North
Malabar Railway Archives, the real history of this connection might still be there on the
records. If it was English rule here, I could have approached the officials to make an
enquiry about this. However, since the administration has changed into feudal language
systems, it would be quite difficult to go an make an enquiry in a government office,
unless one goes there with some official supremacy. The ordinary man in India can
literally get shooed out of an Indian government office.
There are traditions and folklore and other stories connected to the
Muthappan heritage. However, the stories are quite insipid when compared to the
Shamanistic phenomenon that gets enacted during the ritualistic procedures. The
person who gets possessed by the Muthappan entity or supernatural software or some
indefinable being or entity, literally become a different persona. In bearing, tone,
faculty and competence, the individual is different.
Actually the Muthappan phenomenon could very well go beyond the current
parameters of physical knowledge, in that it is like Muthappan can look into some kind
of a software application of life and reality, and see the past, the present and future. My
most formidable experiences with this phenomenon had been with the Muthappan
phenomenon at the Railway Muthappan Shrine at Thavakkara, Cannanore.
Interested readers can check my book: Software codes of mantra, tantra,

witchcraft, black magic, evil eye, evil tongue &c
The phenomenon seems to be a Shamanistic spiritual phenomenon connected

the Marumakkathaya Thiyyas of North Malabar. However, some other castes are also
seen mentioned in close association with this religion. I have no idea if a similar
Shamanistic spiritual religion was there among the Makkathaya Thiyyas of South
Malabar. However, it is true that some kind of Shamanistic spiritual religion was there
in practise in various locations of the subcontinent. However, it is also a reality in so
many other locations all around the world. I have no idea as to whether they all have
any mutual connections and if they all do focus on the same central point of focus.
But then there is zero mention of this in this book, Malabar. As to the
Keralolpathi, which has been mentioned with a sort of clockwork periodicity in this
book, I wonder if this religion has been mentioned.
It is quite curious that the English and European historical researchers in this
location of those period simply skips all historical enquiry on the origin of the north
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Malabar Thiyyas. It is possible that all of them had native helpers from the higher
castes, who must have led them away from this topic. Actually there is evidence that
this kind of fooling by the native section had been practised on the officials of the
English Company. I will mention that later.
These researchers mention Jain, Buddhist, Tamil, Arabic, Phoenician, Roman,

Ceylonese, Far-eastern, Chinese &c. population entry. However, what was patently
visible right in front of them, they seemed to have missed seeing. It is quite curious.
But then, if one knows the mentality of the populations of the location, one can
understand how the native-Englishmen had been made to go blind. In the feudal
languages, a single mention and a single glorifying adjective will work wonders on the
verbal codes. These are things unknown to the native-English mind. No mention is
the way to kill a competing entity.
However, the Thottam chollal or the ritualistic chanting that leads to the
conversion of an individual to a supernatural entity is in a language which seems to be
part of the heritage of this phenomenon. If this be so, then there is an error
somewhere in mentioning that the Travancore part and the Malabar part of the
geography had a common or same heritage. For the antiquity of Travancore is Tamil.
While the actual traditional language of North Malabar was a language quite different
from modern Malayalam, in that it might not have any influence of both Tamil and
Sanskrit. These words of mine are not a studied one. However, it might be good to
look at this information from a disinterested perspective.
The traditional language of North Malabar was Malayalam, but that Malayalam
is not the Malayalam that was seen promoted by the Christian evangelical groups and
Gundert. However, that is another issue. I will deal with it later.
There is this quote from this book: QUOTE: The only exception to this rule is that
which forms the most characteristic feature of Malayalam—a language which appears to have been
originally identical with Tamil, but which, in so far as its conjugational system is concerned, has fallen
back from the inflexional development reached by both tongues whilst they were still one, to what
appears to have been the primitive condition of both—a condition nearly resembling the
Mongolian, the Manchu, and the other rude primitive tongue of High Asia. END OF
QUOTE
See the words: nearly resembling the Mongolian, the Manchu, and the other
rude primitive tongue of High Asia. It is quite curious. Does the original language of
Malabar have features or similarities in any kind with the Mongolian, Manchu and
other rude primitive tongues of High Asia? It is quite curious in that both
Marumakkathaya Thiyyas and the Nayars have been mentioned as possibly having
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some connection to the northern parts of Asia. May be they are from different
locations.
See the words of Mr. F. W. Ellis’ essay mentioned in this book QUOTE: —
“.................. and establish etymology on the firm basis of truth and reason, will suggest to the
philosopher new and important speculations on mankind, and open to the historian views of the origin
and connection of nations which he can derive from no other source.” END OF QUOTE
NOTEs: etymology: a chronological account of the birth and development of a particular word
or element of a word, often delineating its spread from one language to another and its evolving changes
in form and meaning. END OF NOTEs
The word rude is also quite a surprise. The word ‘rude’ is an adjective that
Lord Macaulay had used to describe the languages of the subcontinent. Why they are
rude, he did not explain. However, they are rude due to the feudal content in them.
These languages are extremely impolite to the subordinated classes and to the
vanquished.
Now, there are two things to be mentioned with regard to the Thiyya caste-
mention in this book. The first item is about the various insertions that tend to
connect the Thiyyas to other castes with a sort of meticulous maliciousness.
The second is about the successful attempts by the Ezhava leadership in

Travancore to encroach into north Malabar and assert the claims that the
Marumakkathaya Thiyyas are actually Ezhavas. As to the Makkathaya Thiyyas, I am not
sure. For, that location and that caste seemed to have gone into another terrific
historical experience. That of the so-called Mappilla lahala, the Mappilla (Malabar
Muslim) revolt. In which the Mappillas attacked the Brahmins and associates, and the
Nayars with a vehemence that cannot be understood in English.
Makkathaya Thiyyas will have to be studied on their own. It is a different

population, I think. Where they came from is not seen mentioned in the books.
However, I have to place on record here that I personally feel that the
Makkathaya Thiyya family system was more modern, sensible and stable. But then, they
were the caste, from which a lot of persons converted into Islam, to escape some
terrible kind of social enslavement. There will be quite profound explanations for that.
However I will not take up that issue in this book, because I fear that the book will
become too lengthy, and I will have to put in more time to study that population
group.
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It is true that Dr. Gundert does have the feel of an active agent of certain
extra-national interests in Malabar. That is a different issue. However, what is quite
intriguing is that he is also quite active in connecting the Thiyyas of Malabar to the
Ezhavas of Travancore.
However of more interest is the interest shown by the authors of this book,
Malabar, to bring in his words to assert the claim that the Thiyyas of Malabar are
Ezhavas of Travancore. There is this quote in which he mentions the castes in Malabar
and Travancore which follow the Marumakkathayam family system. He says: QUOTE:
..... (26) Tiyan in north, and in Travancore. (Marumakkathayam) END OF QUOTE.
Thiyyas are not the natives of Travancore. Ezhavas of Travancore are given a Thiyya
identity here.
Look at a similar quote about the communities that followed the Makkathaya
Family system: QUOTE: (26) Tiyar in Kadattunad and Travancore (Makkathayam).
END OF QUOTE.
In both the full text of the quotes, the word ‘Ezhava’ is not mentioned.
Instead, the word Thiyyan is used for Ezhavas. This type of mixing-up actually follows
a very well-planned pattern in this book. Also, there is a slight issue of the word ‘Tiyan’
being used in the first quote, and ‘Tiyar’ used in the second quote. There are actually
quite powerful differences in the two words, when seen through the querulous codes
of the local feudal languages. Whether this difference is an inadvertent entry or
something denoting some other more malicious intent is not known.
In most locations of the book, where it is more or less certain that native
vested interests have written the text or added insertions, there is a continuing pattern.
It is that whenever the words Tiyar is mentioned, a very consistent insertion is also
given therein. That is ‘Islander’, ‘Ilavar’, ‘Islander’ etc. Actually all these words are for
defining the Ezhavas. But then, there is a very malicious intention felt all over the book
in these kinds of sections, to connect the word ‘Tiyar’ with ‘Illavar’ (Ezhavar).
See the following:

1. and fully described by Cosmas Indicopleustes, the islanders [Tiyar) must
have been settled in the country before the middle of the sixth century
A.D.
[My note: The context could be about Ezhavas, and the word ‘Tiyar’
should be an extra entry by the persons who inserted text into this book.]
2. another of them may have been the Islanders or Cingalese (Dvipar, Divar,
Tiyar, and Simhalar, Sihalar, Ilavar) ;
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[My note: Again similar kind of entry inside brackets]
3. Tiyar or Islanders who, it is said, came from the south (Ceylon),

[My note: Here these is very obvious mixing up of populations]
4. one-third for the expenses of the Tiyars, Cherumars or other cultivators

attached to the soil,
[My note: Here the Tiyars are connected to the Cherumars and other
indentured slaves attached to the soil. However, it is quite doubtful if this
definition could be applicable to the Thiyyas. There is desperation in the
minds of the upper castes to inform the English officialdom that the
Thiyyas are mere slaves attached to the soil. Do not give any higher
official rank to them. The administration will stink!]
5. The Tiyar or Ilavar caste is the numerically strongest section of the Hindu
population, numbering in all 559,717.
[My note: See the way the Ilavar caste of Travancore is mixed up with the
Tiyar caste of Malabar. Moreover the mentioning of them as Hindus can
also be part of a wider conspiracy.]
6. One of their caste names (Tiyan) denotes that they came originally from
an *island, while the other caste name (Ilavan) denotes that that island was
Ceylon. Tiyan is a corruption of the Sanskrit Dvipan passing through
Tivan, a name which is even now sometimes applied to the caste. In the
records of the Tellicherry Factory the caste is generally alluded to “Tivee.”
Simhala was the ancient name for Ceylon, and the other caste name of the
planters must have passed through Simhalam to Sihalan and Ihalan and
finally to Ilavan.
[My note: It is quite obvious that the words Tiyan and Illavan have
nothing in common. However, a connection is built up through a
roundabout manner, by going through Sanskrit. The main problem here is
that Malabar location does not have much Sanskrit influence in its antique
communication system.
As to the Tellicherry Factor using the word ‘Tivee’, it could be just
because it was the way the word was understood by the native-English
officials, or it must be the cunning way it was introduced to them by the
higher castes starting from Nayar upwards. Actually, there is no context in
the text to even mention Ilavan or Simhalan or Ceylon. But no
opportunity to buttress this totally fabricated idea is missed. ]
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7. And I also (one of the above lords of Maruwan Sapir Iso or the
church, vide n), who formerly had the possession of the share staff
(வாரகெகா ,, feudal tenure ?) of the four families of Ilawar (Simhalese,
also Tiyar, Dwipar, Islanders,” now palm-tree cultivators),
[My note: This quote is from one of the Deeds connected to the
Travancore kingdom. What is the meaning of adding Tiyar, Dwipar,
Islander &c. into a translation of an ancient deed? And at the end adding
palm-tree cultivators. This palm-tree cultivator usage is also a deliberate
attempt to added the adjective Toddy-tapper, which in the local language
could have connected the individuals to a lower verbal status. It is very
clear that there was some terrific meticulously planned idea to demark the
Thiyyas of north Malabar to destruction through ignominy and
connection to a population in another country with which actually
Malabar had very little connection, linguistically, population-wise and
history.]
8. p. Those Ilawar are permitted to follow out their occupations (?) in

the bazar and on the wall.
q. Nor have the Island ruler (or Tiyar headman) and the Wall office or
whoever it be, any power to stop them on any charges whatsoever.
NOTEs: 1. See Glossary under Tiyan, &c.
[My note: The above three sentences have one basic problem. The
Ilawar has permission. And the Island ruler has no power to stop them.
But then what is the words in bracket ‘or Tiyar headman’ doing here. The
point is that these are insertions into the original text translation done by
someone with some malicious intentions.]
9. ILAVAN. From ilam, from Chingngalam, Simhala, Sihala = Ceylon. The

name of the Tiyan in the Palghat and Temmalapuram Districts in
parlance, who are aborigines of Malabar ; in other places they are only so
named in writings. Note—The Tiyar or Tivar (from tivu, corruption of
Sanskrit divpu = an island) are believed not to have been the aborigines of
Malabar, but to have come from an island (Ceylon), bringing with them
the southern tree (tengngkay), the cocoanut. See Tiyan, Shanar, Mukkuvar.
[My note: The above is a glossary listing on Ilavan. However, instead of
focusing on Ezhavas, the writing more or less puts it full force to connect
to Thiyyas. Actually there is much that can be written about Ezhavas
without any mention of Thiyyas.
And the Note given above is also taking full strain to emphasis the point,
‘don’t you know Tivu means Island, and that island, don’t you know is
Ceylon, and don’t you know Tiyan, Shanar, Mukkuvar &c. all came from
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that island. It is a most rascal act in which there is no one to put a restrain.
Simply connecting a population who themselves proclaim that they have
no connection, to a population in another country. The basic aim is clearly
to connect the Thiyya population to a population group that was then
clearly seen as menial in their native country. The Thiyyas were showing
all abilities to move up with the advent of the English rule in north
Malabar. However, the fact remains that a huge percent of them would
bring up their lower social qualities to disturb the Nayars.
The reader should not understand that the Thiyyas or any other lower
castes are soft and polite. The fact remains that every lower population
given a upper hand would be like the much mentioned behaviour of the
Negro slave population that was let loose in the USA. The attitude would
be that of ‘taking a mile when an inch is offered’. A bit of leeway would
only add to a feeling of supremacy and an urge to overtake. There would
be no sense of gratitude on being allowed the chance to improve. See the
quote below:]
10. A caste of Vellalars or cultivating Sudras residing in certain Hobalis of the

Palghat Taluk, who are said to have come from Kangayam in the
Coimbatore province, and who are now so intermixed with the Nayars as
not to be distinguished from them except when a Tiyan addresses them
and gives them this appellation instead of Nayar. In Kangayam they are
called Mannadi.
[My note: There is a bit of a problem here, in that the so-called Thiyars of
Palghat seems mentioned as a Ezhava population donning the name of
Thiyyas. This is a general attitude seen in Malabar in earlier days. That of
Ezhavas mentioning themselves as Thiyyas. And in Travancore the
Ezhavas do have a tradition of mentioning the Nayars as Sudras, to give a
pierce. ]
11. Tiyar or Islanders who, it is said, came from the south (Ceylon), [where
was it said that the Thiyyas are Islanders and that they came from the
south (Ceylon).
12. MUKKUVAR. From Dravidian mukkuka

Note.—“Said to be immigrants from Ceylon with Ilavar” (q.v.) —
Gundert.
[My note: Attempts are there in this book to identify the Thiyyas as
Mukkuvars. The point here is that in the subcontinent, despite all its high-
sounding historical claims of seafaring &c., the fact remains that the toilers
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of the seas are considered as a lowly group by the people living in the
interiors. ]
13. The Melacheris are apparently the descendants of Tiyyars and Mukkuvars
(fishermen) of the coast.
[My note: Even though this might seem to be quite an innocuous
statement of facts, actually there is more to it when viewed from the
feudal language perspective. In feudal languages, a verbal link mentioned
to anyone has a very powerful meaning and content. For instance,
suppose an individual has a distant uncle who is an IPS officer and
another distant uncle who is a menial worker. Depending on whose link
is mentioned, the word codes for ‘You’, ‘Your’, ‘Yours’, ‘He’, ‘His’, ‘Him’,
‘She’, ‘Her’, ‘Hers’, ‘They’, ‘Their’, ‘Them’ &c. would change powerfully. It
would be like flinging a person from the heights to the ditch or from the
ditch to the heights.
There is a wider issue here. There are many other populations also in the
subcontinent. For instance, there are immense incidences of higher caste
Brahmin, Ambalavasi as well as Nayar females being taken over or sold to
lower castes. This has really created a mixed blood people among the
lower castes. However, the higher castes literally forget them and no
mention about them is made anymore. For a simple mention of a family
relationship to a lower caste person can pull down a person’s complete
social attributes.
The cunningness here is that the Thiyyas are very quietly connected to a
population that in those days were considered as the seafarers, who were
looked down. It is quite a funny scene. There is fabulous claims about
‘Indians’ being great maritime traders. However, the nearest seafarer is still
kept at a distance by their great ‘patriots. In Trivandrum, I have very
plainly heard the local people, both Nayars as well as the Ehavas making
verbal usages that try to distance themselves from the fishermen folks. As
for the fishermen folk, there are indeed a different group with a lot of
rough verbal usages and facial demeanour. However, this does not mean
that they are bad or good.
I think generally even the Indian navy tries to keep a distance from them.
Even though it is quite possible that the British navy would not.]
14. SHANAR. The name by which Tiyars or toddy-drawers are called in the
Temmalapuram and Palghat Districts, who are not aborigines of Malabar,
but come from the districts to the east of the ghats. Note.—See Iluvar and
Tiyar.
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[My note: There is terrible malice in the above writing. Actually the
Shanars are not mentioned in Malabar. They are generally mentioned in
Travancore. They might be toddy-tappers. Ezhavas do have Toddy-
tappers among them. So do the Thiyyas. That does not mean that all of
them are the same people. They are actually different people who
traditionally spoke different languages and looked different. Moreover, the
text seems to give an idea that all the people in these castes are toddy-
tappers, which is not true. Among the Thiyyas only a few were doing that.
Others were agricultural workers. Still others were traditional medicine
men, practising herbal medicine. There would also have been land owner
and rich persons. However, in the above text, there is absolute
callousness in the way the populations are clubbed together and given the
status connected to a particular profession.
Apart from that Toddy-tapping actually does require a lot of physical and
mental abilities. ]
15. TIYAN: Formerly written Tivan, that is islander (from Sanskrit dvipam).
[My note: In this book, Malabar, for so many cunning fallacious, false,
inaccurate, inappropriate, malapropos, unacceptable, unseemly and
defective connections given to so many words, many quotes from various
books are given. However, some of the very obvious ones are simply
ignored. All quotes and connections are filtered out from books and
traditions to propose what the authors want to present. Dipu means
Island in Sanskrit. What is that to do with Marumakkathaya Thiyyas?]
16. The most probable view is that the Vedic Brahman immigration into
Malabar put a stop to the development of Malayalam as a language just at
the time when the literary activity of the Jains in the Tamil country was
commencing.
[My note: This is supposed to present a part of the history of Malabar.
Where is the entry of the Thiyyas mentioned in this or anywhere else? Is
there any Sanskrit book that mentions with clear citations that the Thiyyas
are from Ceylon and are Ezhavas? There is obviously no mention about
the entry of Thiyyas in the fake history writing in Keralolpathi. For no
such thing is seen quoted.
In fact, the so-called histories of the location do not mention the majority
population/s of the place. They mention only the castes who could insert
their own presence in the writings that were created during the English
rule. Before the English rule, there was no history writing other than
certain forgeries like the Keralolpathi, which itself seems to have been
written quite recently.]
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17. If, as tradition says, the islanders brought with them the coconut tree-—
the “southern tree” as it is still called — then, judging from the facts
stated in the footnote to page 79, this must have happened some time
after the beginning of the Christian era ; and, judging from the fact that
the tree was well known to, and fully described by Cosmas Indicopleustes,
the islanders (Tiyar) must have been settled in the country before the
middle of the sixth century A.D.
[My note: This is actually a historical description of the Ezhavas, which
has been simply superimposed upon the Thiyyas. First of all using the
word ‘Islander’ itself is a suspicious item. Second, adding ‘Tiyar’ in
brackets in most indiscriminate manner. The problem is much connected
to the local feudal languages, which assign very specific lower indicant
verbal codes for physical labour. So, mentioning a connection to a
profession that is considered menial in the local languages is a very
powerful way to introduce the population to the new people who had
arrived in the subcontinent from England.]
In almost all the areas where the writings have been doctored or done
directly by others, there is no mention of Thiyyas in any English
endeavour. In those locations, Nayars are presented as great people,
valorous, brave, intelligent, genteel etc. However, in the location where the
writings are very clearly done possibly by W. Logan himself, the whole
tone changes. Nayars are presented or hinted as cowards, undependable,
traitorous, selfish, and oppressive.
Moreover, in the locations where the others have written the text, the
Nayars are presented as both great ‘barons’ of the lands as well as the
foot-soldiers. However, there is no mention of Thiyyas also being part of
the English native-army. See the below quote.
18. Captains Slaughter and Mendonza and Ensign Adams with 120 soldiers,
140 Nayars and 60 Tiyars, and others, mustering altogether 400 men,
accordingly took possession of the fortress that same forenoon, and the
Canarese general received notice to quit, with which he feigned
compliance ; but he did not actually go.
[My note: Thiyya soldiery is seen very clearly mentioned. However, the
terror this eventually must have created for the Nayar folks might not
have been understood by the English. For, it is like appointing a master
class and their servant class in the same professional position. For, the
feudal language verbal codes would wreak havoc on the Nayar people,
when they have to treat the Thiyya folks on par with them. The issue would
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be that both the Nayars as well as the Thiyyas who joined as the soldiery
would be from the financially lower social positions. It is inconceivable
that the financially and land-owning Thiyyas would join this job. However,
for the Nayars, their caste would have given them a detachment from the
Thiyya labour classes. However, the amalgamation of both these groups
would be a terrible imposition on the Nayars, and the social enhancement
for the Thiyya labour classes.
Even though one might see social reformation and such high-sounding
ideas in such events, the real truth is that in feudal language ambience,
what has occurred is a very painful occurrences to the higher side. For, it
is the language codes that have created the level differences. The English
endeavours of removing the detachment without erasing the local
languages, was at best a foolish endeavour.]
19. On the 27th the native levies from Tellicherry—all Narangapuratta Nayar’s
men, the corps of Tiyar, and 231 Mappillas, 450 men in all—proceeded to
join the Prince’s and Kottayam Raja's forces at Edakkad.
[My note: Here we see that the Thiyya population did work in the same
location that the Nayars had worked. As ‘protectors’, if that word is
supposed to mean anything. Actually foot-soldiers (cooliepada) do not mean
much in the subcontinent, other than that they can induce terror in the
people if they are let loose in an area.]
20. Then a crisis occurred. The Nayars and Tiyars at Ponolla Malta deserted,
and the sepoys refused to sacrifice themselves.
[My note: Both Nayars as well as Thiyyas do not seem much different
when it comes to courage, valour and commitment. After-all both of them
are designed by the same language codes, even though at different levels.]
21. After this the Mappilla picked a quarrel with a Nayar and was
subsequently shot by the Tiyar guard.
[My note: Here it is seen that there was an official Thiyya Guard. Beyond
that they did come to the help of a Nayar. Quite interesting stuff. What is
their enmity to the Mappilla who after all was not their traditional
oppressor? Well, it is here a very powerful social content comes out. In
feudal languages, when one is oppressed, there is love and ‘respect’ for the
oppressor. However, if one is liberated and allowed equality by a superior,
one does not have love or ‘respect’ for the liberator. Instead, envy and
jealousy is what comes out for the liberator. This is a very powerful
information that the native-English did not get. Almost all the populations
whom they improved are envious of them and speak only bad things
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about them. However, to those who suppress them by means of verbal

codes, they show respect. They address and refer to them as ‘Mahatma’,
‘Ji’, ‘Bhai’, ‘Chettan’, ‘Chechi’, ‘Akka’, ‘Ikka’ etc.
22. ADIYAN. Is literally slave both in Tamil and Malayalam, and in the
Northern Division of Malabar it is applied to the real slaves, but in South
Malabar it means generally vassals. Under the old system, where every
Tiyan was under a kind of vassalage to some superior, to some patron, to
a Tamburan as he is commonly called, the patron was bound to protect
him and to redress any petty wrongs he might sustain, and the client or
vassal acknowledged his dependent state by yearly presents, and was to be
ready with his personal services upon any private quarrel of his patron.
This kind of dependency gave the patron no right of disposal of the
person of his vassal as a slave, nor did it acquit the dependent individual
of a superior obligation to the Raja or his representatives, the Desavali,
and Neduvali, upon a public emergency.
[My note: To a limited extent, the above might state the social status of
the labour class Thiyyas in Malabar. Here, again there is difference in the
social status of the Marumakkathaya Thiyyas from that of Makkathaya
Thiyyas. It may be connected to the different kind of Nayars above them.
Being under a lower quality Nayar is worse than being under a higher
quality Nayar.
But then again, this might not be the actual picture. For, it is a known
thing to me that there were Thiyya families which were not traditionally
from the labour class. For, among the Thiyyas themselves, there is great
repulsion for the labour class Thiyyas. This mental repulsion for the
labour class is encoded in the local languages. ]
23. There is a celebrated pagoda known as Totikalam (െതാടി ളം) temple

about one mile northwest of Kannoth, where, in the month of
Vrischigam, Tiyyars bring tender coconuts as offerings to the deity.
[My note: I simply quote this to mention something. I do not know
anything about this temple. However, it is a fact that the Thiyyas were not
allowed into Hindu Temples till around some time in the early part of the
1900s. They had their own shrines for worship to their traditional gods.
Yet, there was still an innate attraction for the Brahmin temples. I have
been told that in the Tiruvangad temple at Tellicherry, the Thiyyas used to
stand outside, with tender coconut offerings. This tendency to get
attracted to a seeming superior, who keeps one at a distance is also part of
the feudal language codes. It more or less reflects the mental standard of
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low self-esteem. This low self-esteem is again a creation of the feudal

language codes.
This mental mood can be equated to the craving in such places as South
Africa among the blacks to encroach Whites-only beaches. There are
hundreds of places where the blacks can go. But their total mental focus is
on occupying Whites-only beaches. The simple fact they can create blacks-
only beaches seems quite insulting and nonsense to them. Therein lies the
issue of innate quality in a population. If the black populations had quality,
then there is no need to get attracted to the Whites-only beaches. Native-
black languages of South Africa would need to be examined in detail to
understand the core codes that induces a feeling of inferiority in them.
When inferior people are given a chance to dominate, they become
oppressive. Their attitude would be to encroach upon everyone who they
feel are soft. They don’t want a distance. They want a stranglehold.]
24. Upon asking a number of Brahmans and Nayars assembled at Calicut

whether Tiyars were included among the Sudras of the Sastra they
professed ignorance, and said they must refer to the Sastra.
[My note: This again seems to suggest that at least a section of the Thiyyas
did improve very fast in personality features, with the advent of the
English rule. It is like a lower-class family from the subcontinent going to
England and living there for some time. They all will show remarkable
positive personality changes.
The Brahmins and the Nayar would have been in a quandary to mention
very fabulous looking Thiyyas as some kind of lower castes. Yet, there is
some confusion with regard to this. There were two different populations
that went with the name Thiyya.
The second point is that the lower section of the Thiyya population,
which lived at places distant from the English education systems still
retained their lower caste demeanour. See this quote about what still
lingered on in attire:
QUOTE: The Tiyan woman (Tiyatti) wears no cholee, or any cloth thrown
over her shoulders and neck. Her body down to the waist is entirely
exposed END OF QUOTE.
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However the fact remains that the Nayar females also were
more or less in the same attire when they moved in the
proximity of their senior castes. As to the Brahmin and
other similar higher caste females, their plight was more
terrible. They could not come out of their residential areas.
Due to the fear of the lower indicant verbal codes and
profane glances of the lower castes. They were like the
people who lived at a distance from the sea. These persons
would not venture much into the sea. For the seashore was
in the hands of the fishermen (Mukkuva people). They
were the lower castes, but were actually living a life of full
freedom in the seas. The Brahmins cannot even think of being addressed
by them. A fisherman coming and addressing Brahmin or Nayar as an
equal would be worse than being taken hostage by the Somali pirates of
current-days.
Therein lies the great lie of the great mercantile history of the
subcontinent. The people who dominated the seashores and the ports and
harbour were slightly or greatly different from the high-class people/s of
the subcontinent. However, the only population that had not much of a
concern in this were the Mappillas in Malabar and other Muslims in other
countries in the subcontinent.
Why the Mappillas were different has to dealt separately. ]
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The terror that perched upon

the Nayars
Now about the terror that the Nayars had with regard to mentioning the
Marumakkathaya Thiyyas of north Malabar.
The language of the land is feudal. That means, the lower-placed persons are
differently defined in the verbal codes. They then exist as different kind of human
beings. Their very words can cause harm. They do not have to even touch. If they
look at a ‘respected’ persons with a disdainful eye, then that person will be negatively
affected.
It is like this: An IPS women officer. She suddenly understands that the
police constables are referring to her as Aval അവൾ (Oal ഓ in Malabari). This
information is enough to make her confined to her cabin. When the constables view
her as an Aval, literally she is molested by them by means of profane usages.
This is a terrific information. But then how to convey this to a native-

Englishman?
This is more or less the same terrifying issue before the Nayars. The moment
the Marumakkathaya Thiyyas develop socially, their far-distant links in the social
system (their relatives) would also go up. They are the persons whose profane words
and looks can wither up a upper-caste individual’s personality features.
Historically this kind of scenarios would not happen. It is like saying that
constables would never address an IPS officer as a Nee or refer to him or her as an
Avan or Aval. But then, the entry of the English Company rule made this totally
impossible situation to happen. It was like a new administration taking over the
country and ordering the constables to address the IPS officers as Nee and refer to
them as Avan and Aval.
Even though the Nayars generally collaborated with the English rule, the
above-mentioned topsy-turvying of the social equations was one thing that still hurts
some of them. There is one person from this caste, who literally received an
immensity of glorious content from English. He is on a campaign to make England
pay a compensation for improving the subcontinent. Even though he does not
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mention this in so many words, it is quite evident that many of his household
members cannot still forgive the English for giving the Thiyyas and other lower
castes, an escape route from their subordinated positions.
If a calculation is done on the hundreds of years of slavery his household

must have inflicted on the various lower castes here, it is possible that all his wealth
would not be enough to pay the rightful compensation that the erstwhile slave
families have a right to.
Before concluding this chapter on Nayars, I think that it would be correct on

my part to mention a very positive input about them. It is simply their attitude that
they are not ‘low-class’ or ‘low-caste’. This is actually a wonderful mental stamina,
which most of the populations in the subcontinent does not seem to have.
This being a low-caste is a big business in India as of now. Once a low-caste

tag has been taken possession of, all kinds of shady reserved seats become available
for these ‘low-castes’. There is reservation for all professional college seats, including
the much-desired Medical colleges. There is reservation for the much-dreamed of
government jobs.
In fact, when Kerala was formed by amalgamating Malabar with Travancore-

Cochin state, a section of the Thiyyas took up the stance that they were low-caste like
the Ezhavas, who had already been given reservation in such things. A particular
percentage of the Thiyyas took up the stance that the Thiyyas are not low-castes.
However, the ‘we are low-caste’ lobby won the day, and the Thiyyas were given the
same reservation that had already been given to Ezhavas.
With this, the standard demeanour of the Thiyya officer class of Malabar
went in for drastic change. From a personality of extreme standards, it changed to an
personality of the exact opposite. The change was so powerful that if anyone had
taken the care to observe it, it would have felt that a golden goose was changing into
a dry rat.
The daring of the Nayar folks to take a stand that they are not low-caste, but
would demand reservation on the basis of being precluded out by the rabid
imposition of reservations on everything was most exemplary.
However, it is tragic that the birdbrain who is campaigning in England for

‘reparations for English colonial rule’ happens to be from this caste. It is most tragic
that his ancestors escaped the notice of the Mysorean invaders. Possibly they must
have run to the English Company for protection.
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I need to say that the third quote given in beginning of this book is apt to
connect with them.
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The entry of the Ezhavas

Now we come to the entry of Ezhava leadership from Travancore. Some
very indelible facts need to be mentioned here. There is a very strong indoctrination
being promoted that it is Sree Narayana Guru or an association connected to him,
the SNDP that is responsible for the social reformation in Travancore kingdom. This
claims does not seem to have much basis. For, the social reformation in Travancore
was connected to entirely different two items.
The first was the Missionaries of the London Missionary Society who literally
entered into the social system, interacting and living with lower castes such as the
Ezhavas, Shanar, Pulayas, Pariah &c. They gave them education, and made them
learn many trades and skills by which they could eke a livelihood.
The second terrific influence was the English rule in the neighbouring
Madras Presidency. This administration went on forcing the Travancore king’s family
to give more social rights to the lower castes. Due to this, a lot of proclamations that
led to more freedom to the lower castes came up.
Slavery was banned and the slaves liberated. When Col Munro was
appointed as the Diwan of Travancore, the lower castes were given right to wear
certain dresses which had been prohibited to them till then. However they went
beyond what was allowed. This created terrible social issues that the Sudras (Nayars)
tried to block them on the streets. There were literally street fights between the
Sudras and the lower castes.
What actually happened in the Travancore kingdom can be taken from the
Travancore kingdom’s own Manual, the Travancore State Manual, written by V
Nagam Aiya.
QUOTEs:
1. In 1833 A.D., there was a disturbance raised by the Shanars of South
Travancore, but the riot was easily put down without military aid.
2. Shanar converts and Hindus — Disturbances in South Travancore.

Reference has already been made to the establishment of the London Mission Society
in South Travancore and the great toleration afforded to the Christian Missions by
the Travancore Government that led to the rapid spread of Christianity in Nanjanad.
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3. The result was that the Shanar converts (it may be observed here that the
Mission work of conversion was mostly if not exclusively confined to the Shanars,
Pariahs and other lowcaste people), who were looked down upon by the high-caste
Hindus, relying on the support of the missionaries, caused great annoyance to them.
4. The casus belli in this case arose from the Shanar Christian females
assuming the costume of high-caste women. By longstanding custom, the inferior
classes of the population were forbidden to wear an upper cloth of the kind used by
the higher classes.
5. During the administration of Col. Munro, a Circular order was issued

permitting the women referred to, to cover their bodies with jackets (kuppayam) like
the women of Syrian Christians, Moplas, and such others, but the Native Christian
females would not have anything less than the apparel of the highest castes. So they
took the liberty of appearing in public not only with the kuppayam already
sanctioned, but with an additional cloth or scarf over the shoulders as worn by the
women of the higher castes. These pretensions of the Shanar-convert women were
resented by the high-caste Nayars and other Sudras who took the law into their own
hands and used violence to those who infringed long-standing custom and caste
distinctions.
6. The women of the Shanars or toddy-drawers who abound in South

Travancore and from among whom the Protestant Missionaries have for the last sixty
years reaped the richest harvest, had been prevented from covering the upper part of
their person.
7. The mutual jealousies between the Sahanars and the Sudras were dormant
for some time, but the Queen’s Proclamation of November 1858 on the assumption
of the direct Government of India renovated these feelings. The Shanars imagined
that it permitted them to infringe existing rules while the Sudras equally considered it
as sanctioning their taking the law into their own hands to repress what they took as
an aggression into their caste domains. Serious affrays ensued, and these were
aggravated by the gratuitous interference of petty Sirkar officials whose general
standard of capacity and moral worth we have already alluded to. Public peace was
imperilled.
8. In December 1858 A.D., the two communities had assumed hostile

positions against each other and troubles of a serious nature broke out. The Sudras
openly attacked the Shanar women who dared to appear in public in high-caste
costume and the Shanars duly retaliated.
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9. Sir Charles Trevelyan, as Governor of Madras wrote to the Resident in

these strong terms: “I have seldom met with a case, in which not only truth and
justice, but every feeling of our common humanity are so entirely on one side. The
whole civilised world would cry shame upon us, if we did not make a firm stand on
such an occasion.
[My note: The English administration in Madras did not really understand
the issue of the dress-codes. It was essentially connected to the feudal language codes
of Malayalam and Tamil, which were the local languages. Dress-codes are essential to
understand the social level of an individual. It is like an Indian police constable and
his family members desiring to wear a clothing usually seen dressed on by an IPS
officer and his family members. In the local society of Travancore, the hierarchy in
verbal codes on who has the right to use the Nee word on whom and the Avan /
Aval word on whom; and who has the duty to use the ‘respectful’ words for You,
He/She etc. can be very readily understood by the dress-codes. It is similar to the
police hierarchy. By seeing the uniform, the various ranks in the hierarchy arrange
their words of addressing and referring as per proper protocol.]
10. Dewan’s reply to English Governor in Madras: As the Shanars took it

upon themselves to infringe the Proclamation of 1004 M.E., so the Soodras took it
upon themselves to punish such infringement. The Shanar women were attacked
when they openly appeared with what was considered the high caste costume. The
Shanars on the other hand did not confine themselves to a bare defence. They too
retaliated the outrages on Soodra women.
11. “The decree of interference which for many years past has been
exercised by the representative of the British Government in the Affairs greatly rests
with the British Government and it has thereby become their duty to insist upon the
observance of a system of toleration, in a more decided manner, than they would be
at liberty to adopt, if they had merely to bring their influence to bear on an
independent State.”
12. A Royal Proclamation was accordingly issued on the 26th July 1859
abolishing all restrictions in the matter of the covering of the upper parts of Shanar
women and granting them perfect liberty to meet the requirements of decency any
way they might deem proper with the simple reservation, however, that they should
not imitate the dress of the women of high castes.
END OF QUOTEs.
A very detailed information on the way in which the missionaries of the

London Missionary Society worked to improve the lower castes can be seen in the
book Native Life in Travancore by Rev. Samuel Mateer. However, their
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improvement was focused on those who converted to Christianity. Actually this was
a deed that literally created havoc and nightmare in the upper crust of the social
system.
It was like giving the menial house servants to sit with the householders at
the eating table in current-day India. Not only the Nayars, but even the traditional
Christians were terrified. The Syrian Christians very categorically disallowed these
converted Christians from entering their places of worship.
And among the converted Christians, the Ezhava converts refused to pray in
the same church were the Paraiah, Pulaya &c. converts came for worship. Even
though all this looks like pure madness, they were not insane human reactions. Very
powerful verbal codes can be seen in the native feudal languages that can more or
less ratify the reactions. The native-English do not have any means to understand
these things. That is why they have allowed their nations to be overrun by outsiders
who speak feudal languages.
The Ezhavas were quite perturbed to

be on a platform of equality with the Pulayas
and Pariahs inside the newly built churches.
For, an equality thus created would get encoded
as a Nee-Nee, Avan-Avan, Aval-Aval &c.
communication code relationship. Once this is
established, the Ezhavas would find it quite
difficult to maintain their social connection with
the Nayars. The Nayars would definitely get
perturbed to find themselves at close proximity with persons who are addressed as
Nee or referred to as Avan/Aval by a Pulaya or Pariah.
However, the converted-into-Christian lower castes were very much

controlled and developed by the evangelists of the London Missionary Society.
However, the other lower castes who also received the benefits of the social reforms
literally had no one to control them. This is one of the reasons that the lower castes
who remained in their own castes under the Hindus had a terrible fight with the
Travancore police at Punnapra and Vayalar. The lower castes killed a police inspector
who had come for a compromise talk.
Even the reason for the killing of the police inspector might be traceable to
the feudal language codes. In a feudal language social ambience, if the lower side
refuses to be treated as lower, then the very talks would inflame into an outburst. The
police inspector would find it quite difficult to address the lower castes leaders with
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‘respect’. In most probability, he would have used the words ‘Nee’ (lowest You) and
‘Avan’ (lowest he) to and about the lower caste leaders.
The lower castes who had assembled in strength would find it most
distressing to see their leaders whom they addressed as ‘Chettan’, ‘Annan’, etc. being
thus addressed and referred to. As if they are abominable dirt. They would react with
profanities like ‘Pundachimone’, ‘Poorimone’, ‘Thayoli’ etc. which are terrible
profanities, with a very jarring verbal sounds. (As of now, most of these profanities
have been exported into English by the immigrant crowds from all over the globe).
The lower castes would have used the Nee word also on the police inspector.
In this book, Malabar, there is this quote about the English effect on
Travancore society: QUOTE: ... the presence of the English in Travancore was
gradually leading to a revolution in that State. END OF QUOTE.
However, it is quite curious that Logan and the others who inserted their
own ideas into this book, missed seeing what was happening under their own nose.
The Mappilla attacks on the Nayars in Malappuram was also kindled by the English
rule in south Malabar. The lower castes, especially the Cherumars were converting
into Islam in large numbers in the general social freedom that had arrived in the
location. Makkathaya Thiyyas also converted into Islam. Once converted to Islam,
almost all social restraints got erased.
However, there was a difference here. Here the administration was run by
the English Company and later on by the British government. They were under
compulsion to support the maintenance of status co. The Nayars were attacked by the
Muslims for issues which the English officials could not understand. This is a very
deep verbal code issue. It might not be good if I skipped explaining the issue.
However, I will do that in the location where I take up the Mappilla attacks on the
Nayars and higher castes like the Brahmins.
Now, coming back to the Ezhava issue, it is true that though just under the
Nairs, the Travancore government did not allow them to enter into government
service at any level other than as a menial worker. I do not have any information on
how Sree Narayana Guru improved them, beyond what was on offer from the
English side and from the Travancore Government.
It is possible that his biography would also contain bits of connection to

Brahmins and such other higher castes. This is how the ‘respect’ codes of yore
worked. If he has a Brahmin disciple, then it would be a point to be mentioned in a
hundred locations. However, I do not know anything about him.
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He is said to have build Hindu temples. I am not sure why he went around
building Hindu temples. He could have very well created places of worship which are
connected to the traditional deities of Ezhavas.
It is true that the SNDP, which is the organisation that is connected to him
has created a lot of educational institutions all over the state. However, the quality of
education in these institutions, I understand, were in sharp contrast to the high-
quality English educational systems that had prospered in the Tellicherry location
under the auspicious of the English rule. Generally the SNDP educational
institutions were of a very Malayalam (extreme feudal language) version of
education. However, it might be true that their anti group, the NSS (the Nayars’
organisation) would also be of a similar kind. However, I do not have any records to
substantiate these claims. They are mere feelings.
Talking about Sree Narayana Guru himself, there is something quite curious
about his name. This is a point that is quite easily noticed by me because of my
constant observations on language codes. It is possible that his name is Narayanan or
something like that. I do not know exactly what it is. Usually in the feudal languages
of the subcontinent, a mere ‘name’ is a very uninspiring entity. Usually a suffix is
required that stands as a sort of bulwark to hold up a person’s ‘respect’.
Usually in the local feudal languages like Tamil, Malabari, Malayalam etc.,
words like ‘Chettan, Chetti, Akka, Ikka, Saar, Maadam, Mash, Teacher, Avarkal or
anything else that comes handy is used. In the English-rule time in Malabar, words
like ‘Butler’ were used as ‘respect’ suffix for persons working inside English
households. Working inside an English household was a great social status inducing
item. It is not like what is now being promoted. That the Englishmen were exploiting
or enslaving them. Working in an English establishment would give that man a
chance to converse in English with the English individuals. It more or less removes a
lot of socially degrading content that had been placed upon the individual by the local
languages.
In fact, any work that connected a person with the native-English was not an
experience of enslavement, but a personality enhancing item. Only total birdbrains
would go around saying that working under the English was a degrading item.
Actually working under the local bosses who speak feudal languages was the real
degrading item and experience.
Now coming back to Sree Narayana Guru, his name Narayanan was kept
inside two words of ‘respect’. Birdbrain academicians have used a term, ‘honorific’
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for such usages. However, it is a much more complicated item than is understood or
delineated by birdbrains.
However, there is something more intriguing. Many persons feel that even
enwrapping his name with two words of ‘respect’ on both sides is not enough to
prop him up. It is seen that in many locations they add one more word of ‘respect’.
That is, his name is then mentioned as Sree Narayana Guru Devan.
When seen from an English perspective, it is a very singular situation.

Native English individuals who are connected perfectly to pristine-English do not
want any suffixes or prefixes of respect. For instance, Robert Clive, if mentioned as a
mere Clive still does retain his stature in his native language. However, in the case of
most ‘great’ personages of the subcontinent, some suffix or prefix is required. If it is
removed, then it becomes a terrible issue. The ‘greatness’ of the personage will go
into oblivion.
There was on incidence with regard to the so-called ‘father of the nation’
(actually there is no such father of nation in any statutory records). When he was
once, mentioned with as a Mr. by a political leader of those times, the followers of
the ‘great’ personage ran on to the podium and started attacking him physically. The
‘great’ personage, who was present there at that time, did nothing to stop it. For, it
was quite clear that his followers were trying to protect his ‘respect’.
This incident went on to the creation of a communal party, and this in turn
led to the creation of Pakistan, when India was created.
This adding of ‘respect’ to hold up the stature of a personage is a deed that

should seem to suggest that without these words of ‘respect’, the personage would
not have any stature. In fact, if the various ‘Ji’, ‘Mahatma’, ‘Swami’, ‘Amma’,
‘Chettan’, ‘Anna’, ‘Saar’, ‘Maadam’ etc. words are removed from the names of various
‘great’ Indians, they would immediately appear in their stark human quality, as mere
nondescript persons.
Usually, in the local areas, people who cannot find any such props, usually
use their place name behind their name. It acts as a barricade that holds them up
from tumbling down the gorge of ‘no-respect’. It acts in the verbal code area. It is a
way to hold a person as an ‘Adheham’ / ‘Avar’ (Highest He/ Him) from falling down
to the ‘Avan’ (lowest he / him) level.
Now, the next question would as to why the Sree Narayana Guru and his
team tried to extend their influence to the Malabar region. Actually none of the
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problems that the Ezhavas were facing in Travancore was faced by the Thiyyas in
locations like Tellicherry. There was no block to the Thiyyas joining the Civil Service
even at the highest levels. In fact, they were eligible for competing for the ICS
(Imperial Civil Service) officer cadre posts and for the highest officers’ posts in the
British-Indian Railways.
The Marumakkathaya Thiyyas had their own traditional worship systems

which had not gone into oblivion. Many of them were in the government service
with some of them appointed as Tahsildars, Sub-Magistrates and a few even as
Deputy Collectors. They were part of the Madras Presidency Civil Service.
There is one more thing to ponder upon. In the Travancore kingdom, it was
the members of the London Missionary Society who inspired a lot of social reforms.
The English East India Company and later the British administration both did exert
their pressure to speed up this process.
However, the Christian Missionaries were not really interested in promoting

pristine-English. They were more interested in developing a native language, for
which they used the name ‘Malayalam’, thus more or less giving it a mixed up and
confusing identity. The issue here is the local degrading and subordinating lower
indicant words of ‘Nee’, ‘Avan’, ‘Aval’ etc. from Tamil could be retained and used
effectively as a regimenting tool.
In the case of Sree Narayana Guru also, there would be no difference in the
use of these verbal tools. The SNDP, the organisation which was to promote him
and spread his name would also use the same things for regimentation and
promotion of ‘respect’.
The promotion is like this: Our leader is the Swami, Avarkal, Adheham, Avar
etc. (all highest He/ Him). You are Nee (lowest you), Avan (lowest he / him), Aval
(lowest she / her). This kind of population stature improvement is directly opposite
to the population stature enhancement done by the native-English administrators.
The very interesting item about the use of these verbal regimenting tools is
that the more a person is suppressed, the more that individual becomes ‘respectful’
and obsequious. The mentionable items about these kinds of sinister languages is
that if the lower person is extended any kind of ‘respect’ or consideration, the more
he or she will become disrespectful and disobedient. Things do not work as they do
in pristine-English.
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The wider idea in this is

that persons who fall in line to
the regimentation induced by
their verbal codes incessantly try
to bring other persons under
them using the same verbal
codes. This creates a sort of
satanic brotherhood of persons,
all of them focused on to a single
command centre, connected
upwards and downwards with the same satanic verbal codes.
The still wider issue is that a lot of similar mutually competing brotherhoods
form in the social system. Each would find the other one intolerable. For, the
command codes downwards and ‘respect’ codes upwards in one brotherhood would
have no relevance or acceptability in the other.
At the same time, for the people of North Malabar near to places like
Tellicherry (about South Malabar I have no information), the English administration
did support the spread of English. In a way, this was a direction away from the grip
of the feudal languages. That is, persons who worked with them or associated with
them naturally escaped from the thraldom of these sinister verbal codes.
Now, we arrive at the location for enquiring on how the Marumakkathaya

Thiyyas became connected to the Ezhavas of Travancore. In the present-day times,
North Malabar and Travancore are quite nearby due to the advances in technology,
roads, railways and air travel. However, way back in the 1960s, when I was born in
Malabar, the interior locations had very few roads. The travel time would take hours,
days and weeks. I have heard from old people that a travel from Wynad to Tellicherry
would take a few days by bullock carts. As of now, this is a distance easily traversed
in a few hours.
In such a situation, Travancore was literally a very far-off location. It is quite

possible that many persons who lived in the interiors from the seacoasts would have
heard of Travancore only very briefly. However, it is true that the fishermen and
other seafaring populations would be quite familiar with the seacoasts of Cochin,
Alleppy, Quilon, Trivandrum etc. For that was the way they saw the land. However,
the seafaring populations were seen as despicable by the people who lived in the
interiors.
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The above idea itself is a very curious bit of information. For instance, there
are many highly jingoist persons who write about the ‘great’ Indian maritime-traders
and other sea travellers. However, even now, these great jingoists would not find it
interesting to be connected with the fishermen folks and populations who
traditionally are associated with the sea in the subcontinent.
Off course, they would be quite happy to be connected to the Indian Navy
officers. However, they are not the traditional people here. They are the part of the
population who imbibed the English systems, and not the traditional systems. Even
the uniform of the Indian Navy is what has been designed and copied from the
English heritage. The native seafaring heritage looks are as given below:
The culprits who worked to connect the Marumakkathaya Thiyyas with the
Ezhavas need not be Ezhavas or Ezhava leaders. It is here that one needs to
understand the terrific aspirations for social leadership that grips everyone the
moment they get a feeble right to
leadership.
I can view the Thiyya condition

of those times only from an
impressionistic perspective. For, I was
not the present at that time. As to trying
to understand or gather information
from local writings, it is for most parts a
waste of time. Most persons who write
such things write from a Fan-version
mode. Words like ‘great’, ‘world-famous’, ‘it is in Roman records’ etc. are seen used
to prop up a person or institution.
I remember many years ago sitting in the Kerala House in Delhi. This is the
official office of the Kerala government in Delhi. A group of people had come from
an interior village in Kerala. They were speaking about the coconuts of their area.
They mentioned the coconut name, which was connected to their village. Their query
was: ‘Don’t you know the ....Coconuts?’ and ‘Haven’t you heard of the ...Coconuts?’.
The official had obviously not heard of them.
The other side continued: ‘They are world famous!’
The curious item in this was that if it was ‘world famous’, how come this
information officer of the Kerala state government had not heard of it before?
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In many ways, this is the condition of many items in current-day Indian

history writings. “ ‘India’ is mentioned in Roman history. The word ‘India’ is there in
that famous travellers’ writings. It is seen mentioned on that rock inscription. &c. ‘
The same is the case with Kerala also. “ ‘Kerala’ is mentioned in this and
that, and in the rock inscription of Asoka’ etc.
The foolishness of all these claims would come out if a similar history studies
are done in England. To prove the greatness of England, if the English were go
searching other lands and their literature and rock inscriptions, it would be a very
foolish level of greatness.
The larger truth never comes out from these kinds of wild-goose chase with
regard to both ‘India’ as well as ‘Kerala’. There was no India before British-India and
there was no ‘Kerala’, as understood now, before 1956.
As to the word ‘Kerala’, mentioned as seen mentioned on the Asoka rock

inscription at Gaya, in this book, Malabar, it is seen mentioned that actually the
transliteration of the original word is Ketala and not Kerala.
The presence of the English population in Tellicherry and in Cannanore did

give a huge boost to certain Thiyya individuals and families. Some of them served in
the English houses as butlers. Some became lawyers in the local courts. Many got
government employment even as officers. Some of them learned the art of baking
confectionary and pastry items from English households and went on to build up
huge bakery businesses. Even though I am not sure about the case of the fabled
Circus companies of Tellicherry, it is quite sure that these all improved fabulously
due to the presence of the English population in near proximity.
For the Thiyyas who connected with the English households, it was simply a
location where their traditional subordination in the local feudal languages stood
erased. Those who had been Inhi (lowest ‘you’), Oan (lowest ‘he’ /’him’), Oal (lowest
‘she’ / ‘her’), Iyttingal (lowest ‘them’), Chekkan (degrading word for young man but
generally used on all-age lower castes male labourers), Pennu (degrading word for
young woman but generally used on all-age lower castes female labourers), etc. could
simply jump above all these personality slicing social codes when they entered into
the native-English locations.
It would be quite unwise to think that those who emerged out of the
strangling holds of the social system would be interested in their own ancestry or in
improving others who had not yet escaped.
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It is a totally different social scene that is emerging. The individuals who

improved would go on to set up businesses, hotels, bakeries, circus companies, join
the higher cadres of the British-Indian railways, and of the British-Indian Civil
Service (ICS – Imperial Civil Service), and of the British-Indian Army.
The more they improved, the more cut-off they would become from their
traditional systems. They would have more disgust with their higher castes, especially
the Nayars, who they would like to treat with disdain. They would have more
complaints about the native-English also, who in the ultimate count would not treat
them as one among them.
Even though these suddenly-improved Thiyya individuals would like to

distance themselves from their own, lower-level, caste populations, their ire would be
on the native-English also to a limited extent due to the above-mentioned fact.
I need to quote from Castes and Tribes of Southern India Vol 7 by Edgar
Thurston:
QUOTE: In the pre- British days, a few of the well-to-do families of Tiyans
lived in houses of the kind called nalapura (four houses), having an open quadrangle
in the centre.
QUOTE: But, for the most part, the Tiyans — slaves of the Nayars and
Nambutiris — lived in a one-roomed thatched hut. Nowadays, the kala pura usually
consists of two rooms, east and west. Toddy-drawing, and every thing connected
with the manufacture and sale of arrack (country liquor) and unrefined sugar, form
the orthodox occupation of the Tiyan.
QUOTE: But members of the community are to be found in all classes of

society, and in practically all professions and walks of life. It is interesting to find that
the head of a Tiyan family in North Malabar bears the title Cherayi Panikar,
conferred on the family in the old days by a former Zamorin. A title of this kind was
given only to one specially proficient in arms. Even in those days there were Tiyan
physicians, bone-setters, astrologers, diviners, and sorcerers. END OF QUOTE.
From the above quote, one can take a little bit of information, without being
too enthusiastic about any claims. It is seen that there were Thiyyas who were land
owners. It is seen that there were Thiyyas who were in all kinds of professions
including that of martial arts. As to the mention of the Zamorin, one need not become
too spirited. For Zamorin was the king of a small kingdom called Calicut. This king’s
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authority was not too widespread and in his own household, there was constant
rebellion and mutiny against the person who occupied the title of king.
As to the claim that the Thiyyas were some kind of slaves of the Nayars, it can
be a very partial view. It might be true that in some locations, the Thiyya families
would be sort of totally suppressed servants of the Nayars. However, there were other
castes which were much below the Thiyyas and some were acknowledged as slaves. But
then the more a Thiyya family is suppressed by the Nayars, the more they would have
to display disdain and suppression to populations and individuals lower than them. In
fact, they would have to use verbal hammering to display that they are above them and
not connected to them.
This display of disconnection to a lower positioned individual/s is a very

important requirement in the feudal languages.
The newly-developed Thiyyas in the wake of the English rule need not be the
traditional Thiyyas who were traditional land-owners and who may have been from the
households which continued the ancient traditions of the Thiyya traditional worships,
like that of the Muthappan.
In fact, I have heard directly from persons who had lived in the early 1900s
that some of the newly-empowered Thiyyas were quite disdainful of Muthappan
worship.
There might have been a competition between various social groups within the
Thiyya community. However, the Thiyyas who had official positions and such persons
as lawyers (vakil), lawyer clerks (gumasthans), English household staff (butlers),
Nouveau riche Thiyya businessmen etc. would be yearning to convert their money and
official power into a social leadership.
This could be the real inspiration for inviting Sree Narayana Guru and his
team to North Malabar. It is possible that these persons did not have any information
on what was the state of affairs in Travancore then (Readers who are interested in that
information can check Travancore State Manual by V. Nagam Aiya; and Native Life in
Travancore by Rev. Samuel Mateer).
Connecting to a totally unconnected population group was not going to do

any kind of positive inputs to the Thiyyas actually. For, the amount of liberation that
the English rule had bestowed on them was of a most supernatural level when
compared to what the Ezhavas of those times were enduring.
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However, a good percentage of the Thiyyas population was still disconnected

to the English systems. They would be burning with anger and ire at their Thiyya
brethrens who had improved.
The other tumultuous emotions among some of the Thiyya social leaders
would be to somehow get-back the social leadership in the emerging situation wherein
many lower-class Thiyyas were simply escaping their verbal stranglehold by learning
English.
Even today, the non-English populations in India cannot bear to see the
freedom of movement and articulation that the English-speaking populations get.
If an scrutiny is done of who all took part in bringing in Sree Narayana Guru
and his team to North Malabar, it might be seen that it was a group that mostly
consisted of the newly emerged Nouveau riche and newly become officials from the
Thiyya Community.
It is seen that there were certain traditional households among the Thiyyas
who were continuing the Muthappan worship over the centuries. It is not known if
they participated in connecting the Thiyya worship systems with the Hindu
(Brahmanical) gods and temples. As it is, only the Brahmins had the right to their own
worship systems and to build their temples. No other castes, not Pulaya, Pariah,
Malayan, Ezhava, Thiyya or any other caste in the subcontinent or elsewhere had the
right to build temples for Brahmanical gods.
Doing such an action would be an irascible act and not a social reformation.
However, the Nouveau riche and the persons holding the official positions might
not have any leadership over the Muthappan worship systems.
Now about the Nayars contribution in this act. It is possible that the Nayars
also would have greatly supported the idea. For, it is seen in this book, written around
this period that the Nayars are simply promoting the idea that the Thiyyas are Ezhavas,
and toddy-tappers, toddy-tappers, toddy-tappers .......... .
So it is possible that the Nair side would have whole-heartedly given the
support to connect the Marumakkathaya Thiyyas to Ezhavas.
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Exertions of the converted

Christian Church
However, beyond all the above groups there was another totally encompassing
and overwhelming group which would have stood behind some veil and more or less
promoted the connecting of Marumakkathaya Thiyyas to Ezhavas, to happen. This
group who stood behind without showing its face or connection to this event would be
the Christian Church of the converted to Christian populations in Travancore.
I have not read anything about them in this regard or about certain other
claims I am going to make about this entity. This entity was not an evil one. Instead it
was a most altruistic one. However, it represented the interests of a huge number of
people who were its members.
The total of my impressionistic perspectives on why the Christian Church of

the converted to Christians from Travancore supported the Ezhava entry into North
Malabar will be mentioned later. However, it may be stated here itself that they were
also from Travancore and more or less connected to the Ezhava populations.
I will have to make some quite daring statements with regard to Travancore.
However it has to wait.
So the entry of the Ezhava leadership to hoodwink the Marumakkathaya

Thiyya population was supported by one section of the Marumakkathaya Thiyya
population, who had their own vested interests.
Second welcome support came from the Nayars who must have watched the
proceeding with sly and drooling delight.
The third support must have come from the Christian Church of the
converted to Christians from Travancore.
As to the ordinary Marumakkathaya Thiyyas, most would be quite lowly in

social stature that they would be in a mood of showing total subservience to the newly
emerged Thiyya - Tahsildars, Deputy Tahsildars, Deputy Collectors, Vakils, Sub
magistrates, Gumasthans, Compounders, Butlers, Masters, Gurukkals, Bhagavathars,
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Mesthiris, Adhikaris, Royal Indian Air Force officers and all others who had somehow
scrambled high on the social ladder in the newly emerging scenario.
The unmentioned issue is that all these wise guys would attach the above-
mentioned professional titles behind their names. These professional titles become
some sort of a social title like that of the Nayars, Nambhoodhiris etc. However, the
lowly-positioned Thiyyas would be mere name and Inhi and Oan and Oal and Thiyyan
and Thiyyathi to their clever Thiyya brethrens who had jumped to the higher platform.
These higher-class Thiyyas’ main aim would be to see that the lower-positioned Thiyya
remained struck there in their lowly positions.
If a historical examination of the persons who sponsored the Sree Narayana

Guru and team entry into North Malabar is done, it would be seen that it was not the
Thiyyas who were under the caste suppression who did it. Instead it was the higher
social class Thiyyas who did this. Actually these people who sponsored this entry were
not suffering from any kind of social suppression, during the English rule. If temple
entry was what they wanted, the traditional Muthappan temples were their own places
of worship. It is quite interesting to note they who had such temples and shrines were
not happy with what they had. They wanted only the Brahmanical temple. It is quite
curious.
The whole verbal-code scenario of the subcontinent is one of sly cunning

using the feudal language codes. A slight addition or removal of an information or title
is enough to change the total social stature of an individual. These are things that the
gullible and naive native-English never got to understand. As to the cunning folks of
the subcontinent, they are too cunning to reveal it. They simply would not even
promote a discussion on these things.
In fact, when a Writ petition was filed in the Hon’ble High Court of Kerala
against the compulsory imposition of a feudal language (Malayalam) in the schools,
there was a very concerted effort on the part of the ‘cultural leaders’ to see that this
event was not discussed in the news media. When I personally tried to get it posted in
the Wikinews through the efforts of one person, a very funny reply came. It said
something to the effect that the evidence produced (copy of the High Courts’ order)
had the looks of some nondescript old document.
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Ezhava-side interests
Now, let me take up the Ezhava-side interests.
Even though there seems to be no documentary evidence mentioned in the

book, Malabar, it is seen mentioned that the Ezhavas came from Ceylon. It is again
seen asserted that they brought in the coconut tree from Ceylon. Since Ceylon and
Travancore are quite nearby locations, it is possible that it was a common tree in both
the locations. In fact, Ceylon is much nearer to Travancore than is Cannanore. As to
anyone bringing the coconut tree to Travancore and from there to Malabar, there
might not be any specific need to identify it with any one particular caste or population
unless there is some documentary evidence to that effect. For, history literally goes
backward indefinitely.
Since the traditional language of Travancore is seen being mentioned as being

Tamil, it is quite possible that the Ezhavas also had some close Tamil links. However,
as of now, there might be different populations who might be identified as Ezhavas. I
do not personally have much information on Ezhavas, other than what is seen written
in such books as Travancore State Manual, Native Life in Travancore, Castes and
tribes of Southern India etc.
In the last two mentioned books, there are locations where some attempt to
identify the Ezhavas with the Thiyyas is seen. In the Native Life in Travancore, there is
this line:
QUOTE: In the far south on both coasts they are known as Shanars; in
Central Travancore as Ilavars; from Quilon to Paravoor, Chogans; in Malabar, as far as
Calicut, they are called Teers, or Tiyars; and still farther north Billavars, which appears
to be a slightly altered form of Ilavar. END OF QUOTE
What was Rev. Samuel Mateer’s source of information that made him mention
the Makkathaya Thiyyas of South Malabar as Ezhavas is not known. However, as I had
mentioned earlier, the Converted Christian Church had its own self-centred aim in
promoting an idea that the Travancore and Malabar were one single geo-political unit.
However, it is again curious that Mateer has not mentioned the Marumakkathaya
Thiyyas of North Malabar.
As mentioned earlier, the Ezhavas of Travancore had their own deities. Not
necessarily that of the Brahmanical religion. However, being under the Nayars, as the
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both the two Thiyyas were in Malabar, there would naturally be a lot of worship
systems wherein they collaborated with the Nayars.
It is similar to any kind of hierarchical systems. For instance, see the case of
the Kerala police now. The DySp (deputy district police officer) is conducting a
function. In that function, the Circle Inspector, the Sub Inspector, the Head Constable
and the Constables would have different and certain definite roles to play. In a similar
manner, in any sacramental function conducted by a Nair household, there would be
many lower-placed populations who would willingly and joyously participate.
In a manner similar to the police constable being placed at the down-below fag
end of the hierarchy, the lowest class populations would stand at the lowest levels.
However, they would also participate. There would not be any antipathy towards the
Nair household. For, this is the social system everyone is accustomed to.
[Incidentally the antipathy arises only when the lower-placed populations are
allowed to rise up in social standing. Then they would start having terrible and
vexatious memories of how they had been low-level servants of persons who they now
perceive as equals. Generally in feudal language social systems, the lower-placed
populations are never allowed to improve. Only utterly foolish English social systems
allow the slave populations from elsewhere to rise up in social standing to their own
levels. These populations later carry a lot of grudge towards the same people who
helped them improve. As to the lower-placed populations in feudal language systems,
they have a lot of gratitude and affection towards the higher castes who throw a few
crumbs to them.]
The second item is that the Ezhavas are generally dark-skinned. As mentioned
earlier, there were many Ezhavas who were fair-complexioned also. So, it is evident
that there has been a lot of mixing up of population among the Ezhavas.
At the same time, it must also be admitted that in those days, the total
population of Travancore had a darker hue to their skin. In Malabar, in those days, the
dark-skin was more or less confined to the labourers who worked in the sun.
In Travancore, it was possible to find Nayars and even some Brahmin folks
with dark-skin complexion. All this generally point to a genetically different population
mix in Travancore.
The wider theme with regard to the skin-complexion is that dark-skin

complexion is less liked by many people in the subcontinent. It is not that the dark-
skinned persons are inferior or something like that. It is simply that dark-skin is seen as
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less lovely. However, beyond that, dark-skinned is slightly connected to lower-placed

population groups in Travancore. However, in Malabar, since the lower-castes are also
fair in skin complexion, this identification is not absolute. But then again in Malabar
also, dark-skin is mentally connected to a lower class population.
The problem with the dark-skin complexion is that the dark-skinned

populations themselves do not appreciate their skin colour. It is at this point that the
dark-skin goes down. However, from a personal experience, it is generally seen that the
dark-skinned people are capable of bearing the sun-heat much more than the fair-
skinned.
There is some other observation that I have had that seems to connect the
skin-colour with certain language-code effects. However, I cannot go into that here.
The second terrific problem that confronted the Ezhavas and all the lower
castes in Travancore was them being kept out of all kinds of government jobs in the
kingdom, other than menial jobs. Ezhavas would naturally try to stick close to the
Nayar community, and at the same time try to keep all the castes below them at a
distance. This more or less proves that they were willing collaborators of the social
system. Their only complaint being that they are not allowed to move up. They were
not keen that the castes below them should come up.
The social system and the various kinds of repulsions and attractions were
designed by the feudal languages of the location. The language is seen mentioned as
Tamil. How it became Malayalam might be a very curious story.
The Ezhavas in Travancore were under the Nayars as were both the two
different populations known as Thiyyas in Malabar. However, it is quite doubtful if the
common Ezhava in Travancore or common Thiyya in Malabar would be aware of each
other. In fact, way back in 1970s, I did understand that not many common persons in
Malabar had heard of a caste called Ezhava. At the same time, in 1982, when I
mentioned Thiyya in my college in Trivandrum, not even one person could understand
what that caste was. In fact, it was a very curious incident that one of my college-mates
understood it as some kind of Brahmin caste (something like Elayathu), seeing the
casual manner in which I had mentioned the word Thiyya.
With the establishment of the English-rule in Malabar and the establishment

of a close relationship between the Travancore kingdom’s government and the English
administrators in Madras, the detachment and disconnection that Malabar and
Travancore had between each other broke down at the official levels. It is possible that
the Malabar district higher officials would have immense chance to meet and interact
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with the Travancore government higher officials in some common meeting place in
Madras meant for the senior civil servants.
It might be true that at among the seafaring and fishermen folks from Malabar
and Travancore, there would be much contact. However, it is seen that generally the
fishermen folks and such other traditional seafaring populations seem to be from a
common population group. Even though they were good at their work, they were
generally kept at a distance by the people who live and work in the land areas. As of
now, all these distance and disconnections are melting down.
Even though these kinds of melting-downs of social barriers are very easily
understood as some kind of great social reformation, the fact remains that unless these
kinds of changes are forcefully directed by some higher-quality people like the native-
English, what ultimately comes out is a highly profanity-filled communication group.
In fact, the worst qualities of the mixing groups get diffused into everyone. The good
qualities simply fade out.
The knowledge of Malabar and its people and location would be slowly
filtering into the Travancore region by way of the Christian Church also. When
mentioning the Christian Church, it must be very carefully mentioned that a huge
majority of the traditional Christian populations in Travancore and Malabar had
nothing to do with the establishment of the English rule in the subcontinent. I will take
up that point later.
When the English administration in Madras exerted pressure upon the

Travancore government, the lower castes were given a lot of liberties for the first time
in centuries. It is sure that it is this freedom that gave the social condition for persons
like Sree Narayana Guru etc. to come up. Otherwise it is quite conceivable that if any
Ezhava man were to set up a Brahmanical temple and make a totally cantankerous
statement that it was an Ezhava Sivan that he was consecrating, he would have been
beaten to a pulp then and there, along with huge stream of profanities to add insult to
injury.
Generally there was a punishment used by most ruling kings and other small-
time and big-time royals in the Subcontinent. That is impalement. If the higher classes
feel that they had been slighted, they would complain to their rulers who would catch
the miscreant and impale him. In fact, there is the incident of the so-called Pazhassi
raja (he was not actually a raja, but just a family member of the ruler of Kottayam, who
had the chance to occupy the title of raja during the melee caused by Sultan Tippu’s
rumpus in Malabar.) of Kottayam near Tellicherry, impaling certain Mappillas because
of some ‘respect’ issue. This was the first cause of consternation for the English
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administration with regard to him. Impaling means, hammering iron nails through the
body to sort of fix it to a wooden pole or board.
Velu Tampi who occupied the post of Dalawa of Travancore for quite short
period had this habit. He would also impale persons as a sort of quick punishment. In
many cases, it was seen as quite effective. The Muslims in Travancore also had this
experience from him. There might be need to study why there is so much antipathy for
the Muslims in the subcontinent. It is due to a range of issue. Each different in
different locations. I will try to take that up later.
Even though the Ezhavas were experiencing a lot more freedom, still they
were a lower-placed population who could not get a government job. The issue of a
government job in the subcontinent is that it is not at all like a government job in
England. A government job in the subcontinent is not really a job, but a social
position. All the lower grade words will get deleted with regard to the person who gets
a government job. An ‘avan’ will become an ‘Adheham’ in Malayalam. An ‘aval’ will
become an ‘Avar’ in Malayalam. This is something not understood or known in
English. Naturally no sane individual from the higher caste would allow such a
change to come upon a lower caste man.
It would be like household servant in the subcontinent being allowed to sit on

the dining table and eat along with the members of the household. It would be a
terrible infliction on the householders. The language codes insist that the servant maid
has to sit on the floor and eat. She has to be addressed as a ‘Nee’ and she has to use
‘respectful’ words to the householders. If she is allowed more freedom and allowed to
sit on the dining table, she would start addressing the householders with a Nee. And
she would refer to the landlady as an ‘Aval’.
Without understanding all this, it would be quite unwise to define the terror
that the Nayars felt in allowing the Ezhavas and other lower castes to come up. It was
this perfectly mischievous deed that the Christian missionaries from the London
Missionary Society were doing in Travancore kingdom. They were interfering into a
social system they did not understand. And the more terrible part of their deed in
Travancore was that they were developing a new language called Malayalam. This new
language was to contain all the local feudal codes. So, in that sense the Christian
Church was doing a social interference in Travancore, which was totally opposite to
what the English administration was doing in Malabar. In Malabar, as elsewhere in the
subcontinent, the English administration was trying hard to crush down the native
feudal languages. More so, after the Minutes on Indian education was ratified by the
English East India Company administration. Macaulay had clearly mentioned that the
native languages here were ‘rude’.
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The fact that the Thiyyas of Malabar, who by caste hierarchy were on the same
pedestal as the Ezhavas, as being just below the Nayars, were in a social system where
there was no statutory restrains on them would have been a most painful information
to the Ezhava leadership and other Ezhavas who knew about this. There is no doubt
that these people who came to know about this would be discussing this most ‘terrible’
information. That, over there in Malabar, ‘we’ are able to get high ranking government
jobs.
It is like a menial servant finding that his friend’s son is an IAS or IPS officer.
It goes without saying that for the Ezhavas, it was just a matter of moving into
Malabar, and they become a ‘forward caste’ population. This would be a great
information. For, the path to salvation was a ‘relocation to Malabar’. Or to somehow
connect with the Thiyyas of Malabar, especially of North Malabar.
This point would be quite clearly understood by the Ezhava leadership also.
For, over there in Travancore, they are mere dirt to the officialdom. At the same time,
in Malabar, they become the leaders of the officialdom!
It might be true that there would be a lot Ezhava families which were not poor
or of the labour class. In fact, there might be herbal medical men, astrologers and many
other professionals among them.
Financially, in the newer social situation, they would be not poor. All they
wanted would be political and social freedom.
There was one Ezhava person who had become a medical doctor. He had
studied in England. I am not sure as to who sponsored his studies. It is possible that it
was the English Missionaries. Whatever it is, when he came back, he was not allowed
to join the Travancore kingdom’s Health Service. For, he was an Ezhava. He then got
a job in the British-Indian health service at Mysore.
It is possible that persons like him could also coax or influence event in
Tellicherry and Cannanore. For, he was an England-returned person. The very address
of an ‘England-returned’ would do wonders in the subcontinent. For, it was sure that
such persons could talk in good English and address the English officials as equals.
The other native leaders here had to go step-by-step towards the higher positions of
the local officialdom. In most cases, they would have to stop at the level of the deputy
tahsildar or deputy Collector. It is not that that the English officials will not deal with
them. It is more due to the fact that the native officials will not allow them to deal with
a level higher to them.
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This England-connection was made use of many others like Nehru,

SubashChandran, Gandhi etc. Even now, so many persons who get to stay in native-
English nations like England, USA, Australia, Canada etc. make use of this verbal code
liberty when they come back home. This more or less could make the local man seem
like an imbecile compared to them. At the same time, the fact remains that if the
Indians who is currently domiciled in native-English nations, are brought back to
India, they will get to know the reality of their native land, which they had been
praising in the English land. They would go into a bout of social paranoia, if they were
to find themselves addressed as Thoo / Nee, and referred to as USS / Avan/Aval.
They will not come out of their houses.
When the Thiyya delegation from North Malabar came to meet Sree Narayana
Guru, it is possible that the others in the Ezhava leadership must have been already
apprised of the idea. It was too good an idea to go waste. For, there was the whole
landmass of Malabar to be occupied. And that too an escape to an English rule
location from their traditional social system, wherein they had ‘deep love and respect’
of their higher classes. From this level of ‘deep love and respect’, they would be
moving to a level of ‘equality and disdain’.
I did get one message in my Whatsapp on what happened in Malabar as the

next part of the events. I do not know the source or correctness of this information. I
am posting it here (no corrections are added):
QUOTE: How Thiyya's associated with Ezhava's ? --- A glance in to History.

For centuries, Thiyyars used to worship in their own "Kavu's". Most of the Kavu's
were not in organised way. For making an organised way of community rituals, some
prominent Thiyyas of Thalassery formed a committee. It was decided by the
committee to start an organised Temple with annual feast like Sri Rama Temple of
Thiruvangad. Unfortunately, nobody could be identified within the community to do
the planning / establishing & sanctifying the Project, as they did not want to involve
Brahmins. Suggestion came that a person named Sree Narayana Guru from South
Kerala established couple of temples for non-Brahmins.
As the committee did not want to involve Brahmins for establishing the
Temple, they entrusted Sri. Varadur Kaniyil Kunhi Kannan to visit Sree Narayana
Guru at Varkala and submitted the idea that Thiyya Community should have a Temple
at Thalassery, in the year 1904. Narayana Guru permitted the celebrated poet Kumaran
Asan, as his representative and to convene meetings to ascertain the reaction of the
people about the feasibility of a Temple for the community.
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Kumaranaasan who was staying with Dr. Palpu in Bangalore accepted the
invitation and consequent on his arrival the first meeting was convened at ‘Parambath
House’ of Sri. Cheruvari Govindan Shirastadar on 9th July 1905.
The report given by Kumaranaasan to Narayana Guru was - "Thiyyars are

Socially and Economically forward community but they lack sound leadership". As
Sree Narayana Guru was busy in awakening Ezhavas in South Kerala, he was not much
keen into going Thalassery. So the committee again visited Narayana Guru and invited
him to Thalassery.
Subsequently, Sri Narayana Guru arrived at Thalassery on 17th March 1906.

The instruction of Narayana Guru was "his arrival would be kept secret" was strictly
adhered to. On 23rd March Sri Narayana Guru drove the pile for the temple
construction at an auspicious moment.
The foundation stone was laid on 21st April 1906 by Sri. Kottiyath Ramunni
Vakil in the presence of the great poet Kumaran Asan. It was on 13 February 1908 that
Narayana Guru consecrated the Temple and named it Sri Jagannath Temple and the
administrating committee was named as "Gnanodaya Yogam". (Though Narayana
Guru was the President and Kumaranaasan was the Secretary of SNDP, they were not
interested to add the temple or Thiyya community in the clutches of SNDP !!! )
After this function, Thiyyas became followers of Sri Narayana Guru. This was
the first relation between Thiyya and Ezhava. After independence, during compiling
the constituency the then Government clubbed Thiyya and Ezhava together. END OF
QUOTE
Actually, the deed done by some of members of the Thiyya community was
not something asked for by the majority members of the community. A few persons
who had the financial acumen and official power and status, joined together to
organise the community under their leadership. That was all.
Now, let me check the above quote: QUOTE: Most of the Kavu's were not in
organised way. END OF QUOTE. I think this is true. Due to the feudal nature of the
language, it could be very difficult to arrange different worship centres to arrange
themselves under any specific organisation with a specific leadership. It is like the
Indian administrative system. It is totally inconceivable that the native population of
the subcontinent would be able to organise such a thing on their own. However, once
such a thing is organised, the various hierarchies would arrange into something like a
caste system and would endure on.
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QUOTE: For making an organised way of community rituals, some prominent

Thiyyas of Thalassery formed a committee. END OF QUOTE. Even though the idea
can seem innocuous, the aim was not so. The aim was to completely delete the
traditional rituals and worship systems of the Thiyyas and commit them en masse to
Brahmanical deities and temples as worshippers.
QUOTE: It was decided by the committee to start an organised Temple with

annual feast like Sri Rama Temple of Thiruvangad. END OF QUOTE. I have heard
it said that even though a Ezhava temple was built at Temple Gate Tellicherry, the
common Thiyya person had more faith and devotedness towards Sri Rama Temple
of Thiruvangad. However, it was again a location where they traditionally had no
right to enter. The issue was something akin to the adage: ‘distance lends
enchantment’.
QUOTE: Unfortunately, nobody could be identified within the community

to do the planning / establishing & sanctifying the Project END OF QUOTE. It is
partially the traditional attitude of not finding anything great in a local man. The
greatness was seen in an individual from afar. It was actually a totally foolish
situation. The native-English rulers have given all kinds of liberties and
improvements for the Thiyyas. And yet, they could not find anyone amongst
themselves who they could mention as having quality.
In fact, the social improvement in the Marumakkathaya Thiyyas has only

spurred the mutual jealousies in them.
QUOTE: Suggestion came that a person named Sree Narayana Guru from
South Kerala established couple of temples for non-Brahmins. END OF QUOTE.
There is a problem here. Sree Narayana Guru was not from South Kerala. He was
from the Travancore kingdom. The newly formed Thiyya leadership was trying to
bring in an individual from a foreign nation. When I use the term ‘foreign’, the reader
might find it quite cantankerous. However, in Travancore State Manual, the words
‘foreign’ and ‘foreign country’ has been repeatedly used to denote people from outside
Travancore kingdom. From that perspective, it would be correct to mention that Sree
Narayana Guru was from another country. For, the events happened in the same
period that the Travancore State Manual was written.
Second thing was, under what sacramental authority was Sree Narayana Guru
establishing Brahmanical temples for non-Brahmans? Simply hearing such a thing and
inviting him to do the same thing in North Malabar, has some kind of social error that
can be smelt out. The issue was: were the newly self-appointed Marumakkathaya
Thiyya leaders given the go-ahead by the households that had till then continued the
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traditional Marumakkathaya worship systems over the centuries, right from the hoary
days of the hazy past?
If such a traditional worship system was in vogue, who were these newly
formed busybodies to bring in something that would override those traditional
systems?
QUOTE: Kumaranaasan who was staying with Dr. Palpu in Bangalore

accepted the invitation END OF QUOTE.
It is a very revealing statement. Both of them had taken up residence in

Bangalore, where it is possible that they would enjoy the egalitarian social ambience
that the English administration had showered. And yet, it is these persons who are
mentioned as the reformers of the social system. Is it very difficult to see that the
egalitarian and liberal social reforms were the handiwork of the English
administration? And that all these so-called ‘great’ social liberators were merely
basking in its shining halo?
The English administration sort of removed the feudal content in the native
languages. The Nee, Avan, Aval, Avattakal, Avarkal, Adheham, Avar forms of human
personality was removed by the English language? Could these ‘great’ social
reformers do anything like that? Or did they ever even attempt to do anything like
that?
QUOTE: The report given by Kumaranaasan to Narayana Guru was -

"Thiyyars are Socially and Economically forward community but they lack sound
leadership". END OF QUOTE. It is an extremely interesting report. The Thiyyas are
socially and economically forward? That was only in the areas where they existed in
close proximity to the English administration. Elsewhere in the distant villages, they
were still at the beck and call of the Nayars. As to the Ezhava leadership providing a
social leadership for the ‘socially and economically forward’ Thiyyas, it was a sort of
nonsensical claim and ambition. The Ezhavas were in terrible situations. To invite a
group that claimed leadership over them to come and take over the leadership of
Marumakkathaya Thiyyas has all the contents of some kind of unbelievable nonsense.
As to Sree Narayana Guru being the accepted leader of all the Ezhavas also
might be a debatable point. It could be like the various rich folks from the South Asian
subcontinent, both from inside British-India as well as from the independent kingdoms
near it, going to Europe or England, and then organising Indian freedom movement
conventions and debates. The moot question was who gave them the authority to act
as the leaders or representative of the people/s of the Subcontinent?
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QUOTE: After this function, Thiyyas became followers of Sri Narayana Guru.
END OF QUOTE. Marumakkathaya Thiyyas who were the traditional devotees of
Muthappan and other shamanistic deities then became the followers of Sree Narayana
Guru? Could be true to a certain extent.
Now before moving off from this location, it must be mentioned that Sree
Narayana Guru has been mentioned as a great Vedic scholar. It is seen said that his
writings are of great scholarship and profundity. These claims might be true. And as a
person, he would have many charms. However, making his name and individuality
mixed up in a different location where he and his ideas did not have much relevance,
can be the issue. There has been no greater social reforming force in the subcontinent
other than the English rule. All other ‘great’ social reform movements have been mere
minor ingredients that survived due to the superb protection and security provided by
the English administration.
In no way could the SN Colleges run by the SNDP be compared to the

colleges of the English rule time in Tellicherry. Institutions like the Brennen College of
those times, in Tellicherry were repositories of great English atmosphere. Out of which
student came out who were extremely good in English and English systems. The
officer class of the Madras Presidency Civil Service and later of the Madras State Civil
Service were many populated by students from such institutions. They were to create
an incorruptible and high elegant officer class. The students who came out of SN
Colleges and NSS colleges were rarely of this mental stamina. In fact, there has been
mention that these colleges taught the students the tougher and rougher sides of social
living, including that of the calibre to use Malayalam profanities with rare equanimity.
Even though, this is a very formidable training that is received by the students, the
issue is that there is no need to go into a college to get trained in such rough and
uncouth social standards.
Beyond all this, it was rank nonsense to attempt to replace the Muthappan
worship with an idol of Sree Narayana Guru.
QUOTE: Though Narayana Guru was the President and Kumaranaasan was
the Secretary of SNDP, they were not interested to add the temple or Thiyya
community in the clutches of SNDP !! END OF QUOTE.
It might correct to state that it was not really the interest of either Sree
Narayana Guru or of Kumaranashan to connect the Thiyyas with the Ezhavas. It
might be the subversive elements in the Thiyya community who might have wished to
establish this connection.
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When speaking of the Muthappan and such other Shamanistic deity worships,
which include such entities such as Kuttichathan, Gulikan, Paradevatha, Asuraputra,
Chamundi, Vettakkorumakan &c., the fact is that there is something as yet un-
deciphered in these phenomena. Even though the traditional stories connected to
these spiritual entities seem quite stale and insipid, the phenomenon in itself is superb
and well-worthy of preserving. May be a time might come when more information on
such things can be had. Interested readers are requested to read this book of mine:
Software codes of mantra, tantra, witchcraft, black magic, evil eye, evil tongue &c.
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The takeover of Malabar

Now coming back to the book, Malabar, it can be mentioned that the
following groups of persons were hell-bent on connecting the Marumakkathaya
Thiyyas of north Malabar as well as the Makkathaya Thiyyas of south Malabar to the
Ezhavas of Travancore kingdom:
1. Nayars of Malabar
2. Subversive elements in the Thiyya Community
3. The Christian Church of the converted Christians of Travancore,
operating in Malabar.
To understand the aspirations of the Christian Church of the converted

Christians of Travancore, there are basic ideas that have to be understood. It requires
some bit of foundation building. For, it would require the visualisation of the local
history from new framework.
As of now, everyone speaks of ‘Kerala’ as if it was the original

conceptualisation of all ‘Malayalis’ who lived in a location commencing from
Manjeshwar in the northern tip of Kerala to somewhere around Balaramapuram, at the
southern tip of Trivandrum district. However, the fact is that this visualisation of a
geopolitical area is just the creation of a concerted education and indoctrination.
Actually when I first moved to Alleppy in the year 1975 from Malabar, it was literally
like going to a neighbouring state. The people looked totally different. They spoke a
different language. And for the same words in Malabar language, there was a totally
different meaning in Malayalam.
In fact, I remember having a very heated argument with one person with
regard to the word ‘Mappilla’. He very categorically said that it meant ‘Christian’.
However, to me this mention seemed quite unacceptable. For, in Malabar, a ‘Mappilla’
was a Muslim (of Malabar).
As of now, the population has mixed and the newspapers, the cinemas and the
radio broadcast etc. have established a Malayalam state called Kerala.
When the book Malabar was being written, there was no Kerala. However in
the various textual wordings, one can see someone’s hand inserting ‘Kerala’ all over the
location. It was as if someone wanted to change everything and create a state called
Kerala. There is no historical evidence that can categorically state that such a kingdom
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had existed in any time in history, that was

positioned right from Manjeshwar to
Balaramapuram.
It is historically a impossibility. For,

the Travancore antiquity is Tamil. While
that in Malabar, it was a language that I
would like to call as Malabari now. For,
actually the name of that language could
have been Malayalam. And it might have
had a script, which is currently taken over
by the new language of Malayalam. These
inputs of mine are mere impressionistic
ideas, for which I do not have any
documentary evidences. However, from my
acute understanding of how the people of
this location manipulate history to accommodate their own interests, I think there
might be some veracity in what I mention.
Just to understand what I am trying to convey, look at this map of the States of India,
just after the nation was created.
The brown location at the south-

western end is the Travancore-Cochin State. All
around it is the Madras State. Just north of the
Travancore-Cochin state was the Malabar
district of the Madras state.
To come up with a fake history that the

Travancore kingdom was close to the Malabar
location is some sort of nonsense. In those
days, travel was quite difficult. Malabar was
thick jungle in most places. Even in the place
where I am currently residing, that is
Deverkovil, way back in 1966, when we first
came there, there was no proper road. The place
was sparsely populated. The terrain was not
plain. It was totally uneven landscape with all
kinds of blocks to travel; thorns, huge stones,
varying levels of land &c. See these image here. The place was somewhat like this.
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However as of now, everywhere good roads have come. The place is filled
with people and houses.
In the Native Life in Travancore, Rev. Samuel Mateer does very graphically
mention the problems faced by the lower castes like the Pariahs, Pulayas, Shanar,
Ezhavas etc. who had converted into Christianity. It would be quite an erroneous idea
that they converted due to any love or understanding of Christ or Christianity. The
most fundamental attraction was that the evangelists were speakers of English. That
itself was a very powerful allurement. For, when speaking with persons who speak
English, it is a very commonly felt issue that the issue of degrading of human
personality is not there in the verbal content.
This point is not known to native-Englishmen. However, on the contrary, they

would get to feel the tremulous splintering and degrading of human personality that
the feudal language speakers convey in words, facial demeanour and eye-language. If
they, the native-English, are not properly shielded from its negative effects, they would
literally try to keep a distance from the speakers of such satanic languages. However,
this is again a problem. For, the satanic language speakers can quite easily define their
action as ‘racist’. The whole scenario is quite curious and funny. The villains appear in
the attire of great humanists! And the people of innate refinement appear as villains.
The local Sudra / Nayar people had given proper warning to the evangelistic
that the lower castes, especially the slave castes were not fully human being, and more
or less only semi-humans or half animals, or human beings with their mental facilities
not fully developed. However, the evangelistic went ahead with their work. Actually in
certain totally interior areas like that of Kottayam (north of Trivandrum), persons like
Henry Baker and his wife, I am told, did stay there and set up schools for the despised
classes.
The missionaries improved the status of the individuals who had converted to
Christianity. They were made to learn to read and write the local language. I think, it
was then that the missionaries started improving the local language or creating a new
language. From Native Life in Travancore, it is understood that there were many
languages which the lower castes used. Some of them were not understood by the
higher castes. However, the slave populations had been maintained over the centuries
as sort of cattle.
These lower castes soon improved in their personality aspect quite remarkably.
However, due to the severe feudal content in the language/s, it was not quite easy to
erase the various non-tangible social communication boundaries. The Ezhava converts
absolutely refused entry to the pulaya, pariah &c. lower caste converts into their
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churches. They were frightened that if they went down to the levels of the lower castes,
their social equation with the Nayars would be dismantled.
This is not a very difficult issue to understand. Look at this illustration:
Among the clerks in an office, there is much fellowship. The menial workers
in the office address the clerks as Saar and refer to them as Saar. One of the clerks
starts moving with the menial workers to the extent that they start calling him by his
name, and he starts addressing the senior-aged persons of the menial workers as
Chettan (respected elder-brother). They start treating him as one among them and
address him with Nee and refers to him as Avan. It goes without saying that the other
clerks would soon like to distance themselves from him.
Some of the converts soon became teachers amongst themselves, in the

schools started by the Missionaries. This is a very great social elevation. For, they
become some kind of Saar or Chettan (both titles of ‘respect’). It is a very curious
situation. Persons who would have been treated like dirt are now in charge of
establishments which were qualitatively better than most establishments run by the
higher classes. For what was reflected in these lower caste establishments were a minor
reflection of the England, in its native-Travancore form.
Here again, there is nothing for others to rejoice. For, these ‘teachers’ would
set-up feudal hierarchical set-ups, in which they were the ‘Saars’ and ‘Ichayans’. And
the others would arrange themselves below them in a ladder-step manner as Saar
(highest You) – Nee (lowest you) arrangement. If any outsider tried to up-set this
hierarchy, they would be treated with an immensity of rudeness. This rudeness would
be of terrific content, because the population was innately lower caste.
A lower caste man using the word Nee word would have a terrific hammering
effect, much more powerful than when a higher caste man uses it.
If the protective umbrella of the English administration from Madras

Presidency was not there over them, it is quite easy to understand that all these great
‘teachers’ and ‘Ichayans’ would have been caught by their collars, addressed as Poorimone,
Pundachyimone etc. (or some other profanity that would be effective on the lower castes
– for many of the profanities that could hurt a higher class man might not have any
effect on a lower caste man), tied up in bullock cart and taken to the public square.
They would be nailed to the trees in the location. That was a usual practice done to the
lower castes who tried to be too smart. In fact, Velu Tampi, who had been a Dalawa
for a short period of time used to practise this art quite frequently during his tenure.
Pazhassiraja in Malabar also was a practioner of this art.
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The next point is that the lower castes were still the slave populations of the
upper classes. They were not allowed to walk on the public roads. See this quote from
Native Life in Travancore:
QOUTE:
The children of slaves do not belong to the father’s master, but are the property of
the mother’s owner. In some places, however, the father is allowed a right to one child,
which, of course, is the property of his master. This succession is by the female line, in
accordance with the custom of the Nayars, the principal slaveholders of the country.
“A great landlord in a village near Mallapally has nearly 200 of them daily employed
on his farm, while three times that number are let out on rent to inferior farmers. The
slaves are chiefly composed of two races — the Pariahs and the Puliahs— of whom
the latter form the more numerous class.”
Further interesting details are supplied in the same periodical for February, 1854, in
the form, of questions and answers, as follows : —
“Why do you not learn?”
“We have no time — must attend to work by day, and watch at night, — but our
children teach us some prayers and lessons.”
“What are your wages ?”
“Three-quarters of an edungaly of paddy for adults over fifteen years of age, men
and women alike.”
“What are the wages of slaves in other districts ?”
“Half an edungaly, with a trifling present once a year at Onam.”
“In sickness, is relief given by the masters ?”
“At first a little medicine, but this is soon discontinued. No food is supplied.”
“What is your usual food ?”
“Besides rice when able to work, often only the leaves of a plant called tagara
(Cassia tora) boiled; and for six months the roots of wild yams are dug from the jungle.”
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“How do you get salt?”
“We exchange one-sixth of our daily wages in paddy for a day’s supply of salt”
“And for tobacco ?”
“We give the same quantity for tobacco.”
“How do you do for extra expenses as weddings, &c. ?”
“We borrow, and re-pay at harvest time, when we get extra gleanings.”
“Are slaves sold and transferred to other countries, or to distant districts?”
“Four days ago we saw a man and woman and two children brought for sale.”
“In your neighbourhood, are wives and children separated from the father by these
sales?”
“This sometimes occurs — the Wattacherry Syrian Christian family have four slave
women, who had been married, but were compelled to separate from their husbands
and to take others chosen for them by their masters.”
“Are slave children brought for sale?”
“About six months ago two children were brought and sold to T. Narayanan : the
relatives afterwards came to take them away, but the master would not suffer it.”
“Are slaves sometimes chained and beaten?”
“Not now chained, but sometimes beaten and disabled for work for months.”
“In old age when disabled for work what support is given?”
“No pension or support of any kind.”
“How are children paid?”
“Not having proper food, the children are weak and unable to do hard work,
therefore they are not paid any wages until they are fifteen years of age; they are not
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even allowed to attend the mission school, if their masters can hinder it.” END OF
QUOTE.
There is something that is missed out in the above quote. A slave cannot
answer such queries at this level of intelligence usually. The word Nee (lowest you), will
erase much of his or her human qualities; because at his or her level of existence, this
word Nee has the power of a terrific hammer.
The above scenario is not actually connected to the caste system. It is part and
parcel of the feudal language social design.
Now, the question is when the lower castes are given education and made to
improve, what is to be done with them? This was the actual crucial point that led to the
takeover of Malabar by Travancore population.
The Christian Church of the converted

Christians does seem to have a number of
representative establishments or supporting
establishment in the English-ruled Malabar.
The English East India Company had
prohibited all kinds of Christian evangelical
missionary work inside the locations under its
administration. Due to this, there was no
conversion work anywhere in British-India.
However, in Travancore, London Mission
Society was able to conduct its work, with
proper authorisation from the king’s / queen’s family.
However, the traditional Christians, the Syrian Christians, who had their own
versions of claims to fabulous social status in yesteryears, were not quite happy with
this new development which could really test the fundamental tenets of the Christian
faith in them. In the feudal language situation, it is inconceivable that they would allow
the lower castes to come on par with them socially. The solid fact is that no sane
person from the subcontinent would dare to uplift a downtrodden population or
person. For, the moment he or she gets a upper hand, the word codes would change.
It is a matter of ‘Avan’ (lowest he /him) becoming ‘Adheham’ (highest He /

Him) and the traditional ‘Adheham’ turning into an ‘Avan’. This terrible information is
not known to any native-Englishman even now. That is why England is slowly rotting.
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With the establishment of Christian schools and other things there under the
auspices of the various Christian churches in Malabar, it is possible that at least some
of the converted Christians relocated to Malabar. Some could have become pleaders in
the courts of Malabar. In fact, they would have sort of become included in the
‘educated’ folks of Malabar. I have no direct information on this. The issue is that a
solitary converted Christian in Malabar was not actually alone. He had behind him a
huge framework of the Christian establishment where he was at home.
This would have given a real personality enhancing experience for populations
which were treated as despicable dirt in Travancore. Just cross over to Malabar and
then they are in formidable positions.
However, there is this information from my own ancestral family in

Tellicherry way back in the 1950s. A midget-sized, dark and grotesque looking young
Christian from Travancore got connected to the household. He managed to infatuate
one of the young females who was quite fair and of discernible beauty. From a very
solitary perspective of human looks, it is quite inconceivable how he could manage
this.
However, from a wider perspective, there are certain information that comes
into my mind. The female was an educated Marumakkathaya Thiyya individual. What
can an educated Thiyya female do in the social set-up? She cannot work in any of the
local native establishment without losing the quality she had acquired via the English
education. For, if she ventured for that, she would be quite easily addressed as Inhi and
referred to as an Oal.
This is a very vital information. If the right codes of verbal respect are not
forthcoming, individuals will refuse to come out of their houses, if they feel that they
are of some kind of refinement. In fact, this information could explain the
phenomenon mentioned as White Flight in areas in England occupied by feudal
language speakers. The very eyes of feudal language speakers, if devoid of ‘respect’
have a very atrophying affect on the ‘not respected’ person.
Now, coming back to the Christian man, even though he was known as
Christian, there was no information that his ancestral links could be to some Pulaya or
Pariah population in Travancore. This was a wonderful blackout. Actually even now,
not many people in Malabar are aware of this. I should mention that this looks quite
mean on my part to reveal it.
However, there is another much wider meanness that can be discerned on the
Christian Church side of this group. They have kept this as a seal-secret, thereby more
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or less pushing the English endeavours to oblivion. Even when a birdbrain is currently
creating a ruckus online claiming that Britain owes a huge reparation to India for
‘looting India’, this group keeps silence. This is a kind of unforgivable unkindness and
ingratitude.
As to my own ancestral family, they did not seem to have much information
on the ‘Nasrani’ from Travancore. In fact, they do not seem to have any information
that there are various kinds of Christians in Malabar and Travancore. And the
converted Christians are not very keen on mentioning their ancestry. There is no pride
in their development from utter miserable conditions.
To know the real state of the misery, I need to quote from Native Life in
Travancore:
QUOTE 1: The low-caste people who wish to present petitions are thus kept
away from the court, and are made to stand day after day in the hot sun, their heads
not being permitted to be covered, or they
are exposed to merciless rain until by some
chance they come to be discovered, or the
Tahsildar is pleased to call for the petition.
QUOTE 2: At Karundgapally there

is a new cutcherry; but the officials are
mostly Brahmans, so that low castes, and
even Chogan Christians, must stand at a
distance. The Cottayam cutcherry is an old building and very inconvenient, Chogans
being unable to enter, or Pulayans to approach very near. The distance required is
about sixty yards. Changanacherry standing close to a temple, is worst of all, as
Pulayars are not allowed to approach within about 200 yards, and cannot give their
evidence with convenience.
QUOTE 3: and that the most oppressive and degrading of caste rules should
still be in force, the lower orders being compelled to leave the public roads and retire
to the jungle to allow high caste men to pass unmolested.
QUOTE 4: While some masters treated their slaves with consideration, others
greatly oppressed them. If a cow gave them milk they must take it to the house of the
master. When bought and sold, the agreement specified “tie and beat, but do not
destroy either legs or eyes.” For faults or crimes they were cruelly confined in stocks or
cages, and beaten. For not attending work very early in the morning, they were tied up
and flogged severely. Awful cruelties were sometimes perpetrated. Cases are known in
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which slaves have been blinded by lime cast into their eyes. The teeth of one were
extracted by his master as a punishment for eating his sugar cane. A poor woman has
been known, after severe torture and beating, to kill her own child in order to accuse
her master of the murder and get revenge. Even the Syrian Christians were sometimes
most cruel in their treatment of their slaves. Rev. H. Baker, fils was acquainted with a
case in which a slave ran away from his master, but afterwards returned with presents,
begging forgiveness. He was beaten severely, covered with hot ashes, and starved till he
died.
QUOTE 5: The social circumstances and daily life of the poor low-caste or
slave women, who are obliged to labour for their daily support, and sometimes have
nothing to eat on any day on which they remain idle, present a direct contrast to the
comfort of these just described, as might be expected from the condition of extreme
and enforced degradation in which they have been so long kept, and the contempt and
abhorrence with which they are universally regarded. Yet they are human as well as
their superiors. They work hard, suffer much from sickness and often from want of
food, and generally, like all slaves, also form evil habits of thieving, sensuality,
drunkenness, and vice, which increase or produce disease and suffering.
QUOTE: 6: A Zemindar was endeavouring to build up a bund, which the

waters carried away as often as he made the attempt. Some Brahmans told him he
would never succeed till he had offered up on the bund three young girls. Three, of the
age of fourteen or fifteen were selected; the dreadful sacrifice was made, and the
ground was stained by the blood of these innocent victims. Mr. Chapman showed me a
place where some very large earthen vases have been recently discovered buried in a
hollow in the laterite. All the natives without hesitation declare that they must have
been the receptacles of human victims when this awful practice prevailed. Near each
was another and minor vase, in which, it is said, the knife used in the sacrifice was
buried.”
QUOTE 7: Slaves were so little valued by the higher classes, that in cases of
repeated and destructive breaches in banks of rivers and tanks they ascribed the
catastrophe to the displeasure of some deity or devil; and propitiated his anger by
throwing a slave into the breach and quickly heaping earth on him.
QUOTE 8: Rajah Vurmah Kulaskhara barbarously buried alive fifteen infants

to ensure success in his wars with his neighbours.
If the reader in interested in getting more details of the slavery in Travancore,

he can simply search for the word ‘Slave’ in the PDF digital book : Native Life in
Travancore. (published by VICTORIA INSTITUTIONS).
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When these persons improved tremendously due to the English protection

and security given to them, and through the concerted efforts of the London
Missionary Society, many moved to Malabar. What they saw in Malabar was a huge
stretch of land that could provide the much required solace for the totally
dismembered lower-castes of Travancore.
Once they arrive here, their traditional names as well as caste connections get
erased. They are entirely new individuals. Since they have had many centuries of
experience in real hardships (not the hardships faked on Hindi films by rich actors
acting as poor individuals), they had the mental and physical stamina to withstand the
ordeal. However, compared to what they traditionally experienced, it was not any kind
of ordeal. They were literally in a blissful location, even when they were in a forest land
in Malabar.
However, it must be admitted that the English administration in Madras did

not give them any leeway to occupy the Malabar forests, which were under quite
effective forest administration.
But then the information was with the Christian church that there was land
ready for occupation. This would be the ultimate solution for their followers. It might
seem quite surprising that an ecclesiastical organisation would stoop to cunning. The
answer is that in this subcontinent, everyone are cunning. This is an information that
the English officials in the subcontinent took a lot of time to imbibe. And way back in
England, this information has not entered into the thick-skulls of the native-English
politicians.
There is one historical event that seems to point to a cunning endeavour of

this Christian Church. When I say ‘this Christian Church’, what is being conveyed is
that there are actually a number of different Christian Churches in the location. I am
not sure how they fare with each other.
And I must admit that I do not know much about any of the Christian
Churches other than things which are quite positive about them. However, in this
book, I am not taking that route. Instead I am going through the impressionistic path
of understanding what took place.
Many years ago, that is around 1975, when we first moved to Alleppy from
Calicut district in Malabar, a very quirky anomaly was noticed by me. I was then just
around 10 years of age. The peculiar anomaly was in the railway route. There was no
direct rail link to Travancore areas. The trains from Malabar went to Mattancherry
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Railway Terminus. From there another Railway engine was attached to rear of the train
and it was pulled by that engine into another route to Trivandrum.
This itself should have look curious in a small state. However, I was too young
to understand the issue. The real reason was that two entirely different geopolitical
locations had been conjoined. Hence this anomaly.
However, the quirky anomaly that I have mentioned above was not this. It was
that the train did not go through Alleppy. From some other station we got down and
went by bus to Alleppy. In those days, the coastal areas of Alleppy were full of closed-
down huge warehouses. I used to wonder how such huge business concerns could
have closed down.
After a few years, on looking at the map of Kerala, I found that a very devious
deviation has been designed on the rail route. From
Ernakulum, the railway route turned inwards towards
the East and moved through Kottayam. And then
after touching Kottayam, the route moved back to
the coast and reached Quilon. It is a wonder that
even to this day no one in the state has even noticed
this anomaly.
With this event, the commercial prominence
of Alleppy went into oblivion.
Looking back from an impressionistic

perspective, the events are very simple to behold.
The Kottayam area has a lot of converted Christians.
I am not sure if they are the only Christians there. Whether their exact antagonists the
Syrian Christians are also there, I am not sure. However, there should have been very
meticulously planned endeavour to make the newly planned railway route to wind
eastward to touch Kottayam.
Even though these kinds of manipulations look quite difficult to accomplish,

the actual fact is different. The railway planning would be done in some office in Delhi.
The officials are generally the usual low-class Indian officials. They are ‘Saar’,
‘Adheham’, ‘Avar’ (all great level He / Him) to the common man. Yet, to their own
political or religious or social leaders they are just cringing low-guys. A simple mention
of this request to the planning office’s clerk, or section officer, or his higher boss
would actually be enough to get the manipulation in action. However, it is quite sure
that the Church would have higher officials also in its pocket.
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In fact, the Church does sponsor political leaders from its own community. It
is not the grand and great quality persons who are sponsored. Instead, cringing
sycophants and such persons who are willing to offer their great subordination and
subservience to the higher echelons of the religious hierarchy are selected for political
leadership. The Church would then spend huge amount for concerted people
indoctrination via various media including that of the newspapers and radio, and later
the TV and films &c. This much I mentioned without any real evidence. However, I
have heard occasional private talks from persons who seem to know these things
directly. It is from certain inadvertent chance remarks that such information spurts out.
If the above visualisation of what had happened is true, then it can be said that
the Church had very cunningly manipulated the whole planning of the newly-created
state of Kerala to accommodate the interests of its members. And no one seems to be
the wiser.
Even though the members of the Converted Christian Church are the lower
castes, it is a foolish information that they were devoid of intelligence. Actually, in
most probably, they were kept in social shackles due to the fact they were too
intelligent to be let loose. It is like the issue of the immigrant populations from the
subcontinent in England not liking to allow native-English men as their lower
employees. The Englishmen and women have too much of an individuality to extend
subservience to the feudal-language speakers of the subcontinent. So naturally, they
will have to be crushed down.
If these immigrant populations are allowed to grow in economic power, in a

century or two, they will have the native Englishmen and women treated like dirt and
repulsive beings. If all goes well, in a five or six centuries, the descendents of the
native-English populations would have the same looks and physical features of the
most lower castes of the subcontinent.
It is the population group that extends the most obvious subservience that will
be given a position of power and authority. The one which does not do this will be
kept on the floor. It is like the case of the Nayars. They, who offered their everything
to the Brahmins, were accorded the supervisory ranks. Those who did not make such
offers were kept down. This is how the social hierarchy works in feudal languages.
The Converted Christian Church seems to have promoted an idea that the
whole of Malabar was actually a continuation of the Travancore geopolitical location.
It had a sort of agent in Gundert who, I am told, stayed at Tellicherry. He and many
others with him must have served as its willing agents.
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As to the native-English folks, they were more or less gullible in everything

they did. For one thing, Gundert was not an Englishman or even a Briton. He was a
German. Germans are the exact antithesis of Englishmen. They and many other (not
all) Continental Europeans have piggy-back ridden on the England address all over the
world during the colonial times. It is seen mentioned that many Germans when they
travelled in the African continent in the colonial times, used to carry a Union Jack with
them. This was so due to the formidable reputation that the Union Jack had in the
continent.
From various sources, including the Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler, I have come
to understand that the German language is feudal. If Mein Kampf is read, the German
society that it pictures of those times looks quite similar to the Indian societies of
current-day times. Please check my book: MEIN KAMPF by Adolf Hitler A
demystification!
There is a lot of mix-up in almost all the colonial times writings. The word
European is seen used many times. It sort of confuses the information. When this
word is used to include the native people of England and Britain, the word becomes
quite mischievous. For this inclusion of the native-English into this word only
enhances the quality of the word ‘European’ and atrophies the words ‘Britain’ and
‘English’.
I think Gundert was given some official authority by the English East India
Company / British administration in British-India. This was off course a very foolish
item to do. That of diluting English refinement content by inserting others, whose only
right to be inside this system seems to be their skin colour. Gullible England took a
long time to get a hint that White skin colour does not make anyone an Englishman.
The Converted Christian Church in Malabar had to contend with the local
languages. The first was the languages of Travancore. It is seen mentioned that certain
lower-caste spoken-languages which were not comprehensible to the others. This issue
was there in many locations of the subcontinent. Moreover, their level of competence
in Malayalam was also quite low. The above two bits of information has been
mentioned in Native Life in Travancore.
However, as of now, it is seen that the best Malayalam is available in the

locations where the majority populations might be the descendents of these lower
castes. Some kind of inconsistency should be noted in this. The location of the
populations which had the worst quality of language competence displaying the best
language quality.
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Here we should come to a location for enquiring about the language history. It
would be quite foolish to take up most of the ‘scholarly’ writings of the current-day
academic geniuses. For, many of their writings are in the style of ‘We were the
greatest’; ‘We were the highest’; ‘We were the best’; ‘We were the most ancient’; etc.,
just like Al Biruni had mentioned.
Way back in 1977, when I moved to Quilon, and in 1982 when I moved to
Trivandrum, I found that the local language had a lot of Tamil influence, which was
not there in the academic textbooks. I did come across families where the ‘respect’
word for ‘respected elder’ brother was the Tamil ‘Annan’ and not the Malayalam
‘Chettan’. With regard to this word, I have found two different Christian groups using
two different words for this. The Converted Christians were known to use the word
‘Chettan’ / ‘Chettayi’. While certain others were found to use ‘Ichayan’. In fact, I have
found that the Converted Christians who relocated to Malabar area being referred to as
‘Chettans / Chettammaar’.
It is my conviction that words in a language can be studied to trace the routes

of ancestral movement of a relocated population. I had mentioned this in some of my
earlier writings. However, I have found the same idea having been already mentioned a
couple of centuries earlier. I think I have mentioned this somewhere in this
commentary.
My first query would be how did the lower castes of Travancore come to
possess a language called Malayalam, which was actually not the traditional language of
Travancore? How did this language become of so huge verbal content in their hands
that it is their locations in Travancore that is known to have the correct quality
Malayalam.
However, this question would go into a lot of other confusing elements. For
instance, there is the word Mappilla. This word in Malayalam means ‘Syrian Christians’.
While in Malabari / Malabar, it means Malabari Muslims.
The Malayalam from Kottayam was strongly promoted by a Christian

Newsmedia group. However, this group does not seem to be from the Converted
Christian group. For the word Mappilla is there in their family name.
Even though I do not have any information, I feel that English evangelists
who lived in the Kottayam areas worked hard to create a content-rich language for the
lower caste converts. They had their agent in Gundert. He was there in Malabar, more
or less transferring whatever could be had from Malabar to this endeavour.
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This issue of language has to be dealt in a slightly more detail, depending soley
on the books I have mentioned earlier and on this book, Malabar.
That there had been a traditional language in north Malabar quite different
from Malayalam is known to me. Even the words mentioned as Malayalam of Malabar
are not the traditional words of Malabar.
The traditional language of north Malabar can be detected in the Tottam

chollal (sacramental chanting) done in Muthappan and other connected ancient
Shamanistic worships. However, it is mentioned in Travancore State Manual that the
traditional language of Travancore was Tamil. Almost all the stone inscriptions in
Travancore are mentioned as in Tamil and some in Sanskrit. Even the information on
ancient Onam celebration was found in a Tamil inscription. Travancore people did
have a slightly darker hue to their skin complexion. This might denote a Tamil
population link.
Now, comes the issue of the script used in Malayalam. It does not look like it
is a new creation, other than the fact that there have been recent changes inserted into
it to suit the conveniences of the typography of the letter-press times. Could this script
have been taken from Malabar and inserted in the language which they developed and
then named it as Malayalam? Actually the word Malayalam seems to have been the
name of the language of Malabar.
It is a very curious suggestion. That the name ‘Malayalam’ was actually the
name of the language of Malabar. However, could this name have been taken away to
Travancore and made the name of the language that was developed with the active
support and endeavour of the Christian church.
The actual Malayalam that was spoken in Trivandrum streets in the 1980s was
a very crude one with a lot of Tamil words interspersed inside it. However, these
words were not seen in the filtered-out written Malayalam language of Travancore.
The next point that comes to my mind is that there is absolutely no mention
of the fact that the language of north Malabar (I do not know about south Malabar)
was absolutely different. This sounds quite curious. For, even now, when Travancore
people come to interior Malabar areas, they find that there are many spoken words
which they do not understand. These things can be brushed off as dialect difference.
However, that would simply be sidestepping the issue.
For, there is much more in common between Malayalam and Tamil than there
is between Malabari and Malayalam. However, as of now, pure Malabari has vanished.
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Almost everywhere, the traditional Malabari language has been pushed out by
Malayalam, through the daily onslaught of TV, Newspapers, Cinema, school education
etc. In fact, when people speak Malabari, others seem to guess that they are uneducated
low-class people.
This is a very curious turn of events. For, the language of Malayalam is seen to
have been developed for the lower castes of Travancore. How this language seems to
have become the language of Malayali higher cultural quality seeks many answers.
However, since I am not an expert in any scholarly academic studies, I have to

confine my thoughts to what I have seen in the books mentioned before.
But then it is like the case of the dark-skinned, short-statured, a bit English-
knowing, Converted Christian man coming to a household in Tellicherry and
infatuating a beautiful female. The framework of a powerful church that had its
tentacles all over the land, and beyond was a very powerful platform. He stood on that
platform. It is a like a Gandhi standing on a stage / platform and promoting himself in
newspapers. It makes even a midget look like a giant.
If all the Sanskrit words that have been inserted artificially or inadvertently
into Malayalam are removed, the language of Malayalam would look quite slender. And
if Tamil words are also removed from Malayalam, what would remain remains to be
checked.
However, if Sanskrit and Tamil words are removed from Malabari language
(the original language that must have represented the word Malayalam), it is possible
that there would not be much content loss in it. But then, there are Arabic words in
Malabari. If these are removed, then the original language that subsisted right from the
hoary past would remain. If this language can be studied, then the location from where
some of the population groups of North Malabar, i.e., the Marumakkathaya Thiyyas,
north Malabar Nayars etc. might be arrived at.
There is another curious item that might be mentioned here. It is about the
tribal populations of Wynad. In the year around 1982, when I visited a settler-house in
Wynad, I found that the tribal females working there as domestic servants there. When
seen from a native-English perspective, the profession of a domestic servant might not
seem terrible. However, in the ambience of the local feudal languages, they are
addressed as the Nee (lowest level you), and referred to as the Aval (lowest level she).
The domestic servant has to consistently address the householder with ‘respectful’ You
and He, and She. The problem is that if this oppression is not practised by the
householders, the servant-maid might use the degrading words to and about them.
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This leads to a social climate wherein the servants

are to sit on the floor and eat; Sleep on the floor; and use
all the untidy parts of the household and attire.
The wider issue about this kind of social pattern is

that this is how the Indian officialdom sees the people.
They do not like to offer a seat to the common Indian. As
to the common Indian, he is innately trained to accept this
kind of behaviour from his government and vernacular
school classrooms. If such persons are offered a seat, they
would literally be uncontrollable. That is the common
understanding.
Now, coming back to the tribals of Wynad, I noticed that they had a language
of their own which I could not understand. I think that language has withered away
and Malayalam has replaced it. Here the issue is that Malayalam is a very feudal and
personality-atrophying language, for the lower-placed persons. The government
officials who were sent to ‘develop’ the tribals, invariably used the lower-indicant
words of You, He, She etc. to the tribal people. This invariably led to the loss of
stature among them. Their male populations literally were treated like animals by the
officials.
One official of those times mentioned that they used the method of
‘hybridisation’ to improve them. He was laughing out boisterously. Here again there is
a problem. The officials of the state government are not fully higher caste persons.
There are many of them from the erstwhile lower caste populations who had
converted into Christians. There is nothing to prove that these persons were nicer to
the tribal populations, who actually were quite similar to their own ancestors
(converted Christians).
There are a lot of simplistic ideas on class and class affinity. The truth is that
there is no such thing. Every organised
group, which speaks feudal languages,
are dangerous to other un-united
populations. For instance, I was told by
an old Converted Christian settler in
Malabar forest areas (it was by then
filled with grand plantations) that in the
early years of the mass migration to the
Malabar forests (just after the departure
of the English rule from the
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subcontinent), youths among them would organise in the night hours to converge on
isolated tribal hamlets. They would poke their hands through the thatched walls of the
huts, catch hold of the female legs and pull the females out.
The issue that these kinds of information brings out is that no political
philosophy can explain these things in the light of grand ideas of socialism or
revolution or class conflict. For, the settler populations were literally the same tribal
kind of populations in Travancore who were improved by the London Missionary
Society. However, the wider fact is that with the departure of the English rule in the
subcontinent, the administration and concepts of rule of law were a mess in Malabar.
In the Madras State, the incorruptible officialdom (officer-level) collapsed and

withered away into desolation. The newer officialdoms were what diffused into the
English-ruled areas from the various independent kingdoms. This collapse of a grand
and efficient administration led to a state of free for all. The Malabar forests were
literally taken over by the Converted Christian populations from Travancore State. The
newly formed Kerala administration was more or less designed by the fully corrupt to
the core barbarian officialdom of Travancore kingdom. The incorruptible Malabar
officialdom literally was pushed into oblivion when British-Malabar became Indian-
Malabar. It was some kind of satanic alchemy at work. Gold turning into stinking dirt.
However, the converted Christian’s Church had been quite far-sighted. It had
been patiently working on a very detailed manipulation of history.
They had to be ready for an eventuality wherein the forest lands had to be
taken-over with impunity. For this, a few fake historical settings had to be
indoctrinated in a very casual manner.
That Travancore and Malabar historically were one single geopolitical location.
That the languages of both Malabar as well as Travancore were one, and that it was
Malayalam.
That the corresponding castes above the Nayar levels and those below the Nayar
levels were one and the same.
It is possible that the takeover of the forest lands of Malabar could have been
accomplished without the formation or creation of India. For, even before the creation
of India, this occupation of forest lands was taking places in a quite manner in certain
locations.
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Malabar Manual
Keralolpathi
Now, we come to the book known as Keralolpathi. I do not know much
about this other than what has been mentioned in the various books I had mentioned.
Viz. Travancore State Manual, Native Life in Travancore and this book, Malabar &c.
Various claims are there that it is a fraudulent book. However, who could have
taken so much trouble to write such a book which seems to mention many authentic
historical items?
There is a story of Parasurama creating the land of Kerala in this book.

However, it is seen mentioned elsewhere that there is no mention of this story in the
ancient Hindu writings of the northern parts of the subcontinent. Then who could
have conjured up such a story from thin air and for what purpose? What is the wider
aim of this story?
The aim is simple. That the land mass of Kerala was one, and that Malabar and
Travancore were one.
However, it might be true that a lot of local realities and traditions usually
mentioned in higher caste households could have been collected and inserted into this
story.
It does seem that the story has been written with serious deliberation. A lot of
places have been mentioned. Only a person or groups of persons who have wide and
far-reaching links to the various nook and corner of the landscape could have known
about these wide-spread and not at all easy-to-travel-to locations. The only organised
group which had the resource, man-power and literally acumen to accomplish this deed
would be the trained members of the Converted Christian Church.
However, this would lead us to a very perilous location. For, it is said that it
was Gundert, the German, who found and transcribed this book. I am not sure what
this is supposed to mean. Could it be that he himself personally wrote the manuscript
of this book? Or that he had the trained lower-caste Converted Christian members of
the church to do the writing for him, which he dictated? If he had done either of this,
then it is possible that the original palm-leaf book could have been in the possession of
the Church at Tellicherry. If the original is with the Church, then it would be a good
idea to make a thorough study of the same.
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If there is no original,
then it could mean that the book
is the handiwork of the members
of the mentioned Church. They
in their desperation would
literally do anything to escape
from the hell on earth in which
they were living in Travancore,
till the advent of the evangelists
from England.
I have a pdf copy of two

books purported to have been
written in manuscript by
Gundert. I do not know why
they are in the manuscript form. For, they must have been printed.
One of the books is the Keralolpathi. The other is a book titled ഒരആയിരം
പഴെ ാൽ (A thousand proverbs). I have noticed that at least some of the proverbs
found in Malabar by William Logan have been taken from this book. See the Chapter
on Proverbs.
On a casual observation, I find that the hand writing of Gundert in the two
books seem different from each other. Whether this has any significant meaning I do
not know.
There are a lot of unmentioned problems with regard to Keralolpathi. It is

kind of promoting a ‘Kerala’. Even though a word ‘Kerala’ is a mentioned in some
historical records, there is no scope to believe that it included the whole of current-day
Kerala. There is no way to know if the word ‘Kerala’ has been used in various period
of history to denote absolutely different and unconnected geographical locations in
South Asia.
As to finding out the historical

existence of Kerala from various other
places all around the world, there is an
item of silliness in it. It is, as I had
mentioned earlier, like trying to prove
the existence of England by studying the
various inscriptions, rock-pillar writings,
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maritime writings etc. The height of absurdity is that in spite of all this striving to find
the ‘Kerala’ word recorded elsewhere, there seems to be no such record anywhere in
the location that claims to be Kerala. Even in the various stone-inscriptions in stone
mentioned in Travancore State Manual, there seems to be no mention of a ‘Kerala’
which extended from Trivandrum to Manjeshwar.
However, in Keralolpathi, the word ‘Kerala’ seems to have been used an

umpteen times. The stories of the kings and kingdoms of the various locations, I think
are splattered with little regard for any chronological order or historical logic. Whatever
had been heard must have been inserted. All to prove that there was a single country
called Kerala.
A lot of credibility has been inserted into the book, by mentioning the
Brahmin supremacy in a very contorted manner. However, I think, the history of the
location does not give much mention of them. It simply moves into the location of
various kings. It might be true that the writers of this book had taken pain to collect as
much traditional information as possible from various sources. There must have been
very concerted efforts in this regard with at least a small group of persons participating
in the endeavour.
There are a number of things that could be gathered from Keralolpathi. One
is that a lot of gramams of Malabar, Cochin and Travancore are mentioned. It is
obvious that some of the place names have been written from inaccurate hearing. For,
the names cannot be made to correspond with any known location. Moreover, even
though there might have been some attempt to arrange the names in a north to south
manner, the writers obviously did not have enough knowledge about the exact
geographical continuity of the locations.
There is a mention of an Anakundi Krishna Rayar. As per this book, Malabar,

this name is mentioned in an absolutely wrong historical period.
Keralolpathi is seen mentioned as being written in modern Malayalam. This is

a very curious bit of information. The so-called modern Malayalam was then in a
evolving form in the hands of the Christian converts of Travancore. Such a thing was
not there in Malabar.
However, see this QUOTE: The Kerala Brahmans are said to use Malayalam.
END OF QUOTE.
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Where did this ‘Kerala’ come from? And what language is this ‘Malayalam’
referring to? The traditional language of Malabar or the newly designed language of
Central Travancore?
Mahamakham festival in Tirunavaya Temple is mentioned. However, it is a

very well-known function. However, it is seen mentioned that Parasurama had
performed the Hiranyagarbham and Tulapurushadanam ceremonies before he
celebrated the Mahamakham.
There are various locations in the book Malabar, wherein even when seeming
to question the veracity of Keralolpathi, it takes points from it to emphasise the point
that there was indeed a country called Kerala which occupied the geopolitical location
from north to south.
There is also a continuing jarring note in certain words like: ‘country inhabited
by the Malayalam-speaking race of Dravidians’ which is sort of emphasised by this
book Malabar in the locations wherein it is very clear that the writings are not the
original writings of Logan, or are doctored version of the same. For, the word
Malayalam-speaking is mischievous. Travancore was Tamil-speaking area. However, if
it was ‘Malayalam’, the original name of Malabari that is being mentioned, then the
Travancore part does not come into the picture at all.
There are locations where in Chera or Cheram or Keram are tried to be from
the same source. And then the Keram is connected to coconut tree. It is some kind
verbal jumbling. The very clear connection of the word Chera has been mentioned
earlier. It is an unmentionable connection.
There is a mention of a king called Keralan. And then there is a still more
fabulous claim. QUOTE: on account of his good qualities, it is said, the land received
the name of Kerala. END OF QUOTE
It does seem that Keralolpathi did influence the thinking pattern of all the
people who came to know of it after Gundert made it famous. The three different
geopolitical locations, Malabar, Cochin and Travancore seemed to be emerging from a
single focal point. For, the natural question and assertion would be, “isn’t it what
Keralolpathi says?” This tone is there in many locations in the book, Malabar.
It was one of the greatest kinds of deceptions made possible in the three
minuscule geographical locations. Knowledge of this book might have seemed the
singular essence of profundity and scholarship. It is clear that the object of the writers
had been accomplished.
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As to the claim that the land received the name Kerala, it is just fanciful
writing. There was no consciousness of a Kerala, in any of the locations, unless this
idea was inserted into the mind via education and indoctrination.
The tradition of one Perumal king converting into Islam is there in

Keralolpathi. What does it prove? It simply proves that the writers copied the
information from the local traditions that must have remained in the upper class
households in Malabar.
In one location, there is this QUOTE: This Muhammadan Perumal must have
lived subsequently to the seventh century A.D. when the Muhammadan religion was
founded, and if, as the text says, Cheraman Perumal was the fifth of his successors, it
follows that Cheraman Perumal must have lived after the seventh century A.D.,
whereas further on it will be seen, the text says, he went to heaven in the fourth or fifth
century A.D. All the specific dates mentioned in the text are worthless. END OF
QUOTE.
And again, QUOTE: Considering that Muhammad himself was born only in
the 7thcentury A.D., the date mentioned is obviously incorrect, if, as stated, this
Perumal organised the country against the Mappillas. END OF QUOTE.
Now does this above assertion stand to uproot the Keralolpathi? No, it simply
tries to avoid the pitfalls of the book. By keeping this distance, the fraudulent book can
still be made mentioned in a manner that the idea of a single Kerala can still be
promoted into the mind of the readers. And through them to the immensity of people.
It is a known thing that even a very brief mention can promote a book, an idea
and a person. There is no need to categorically praise a book, an idea or a person in
very candid terms. A mere mention at an appropriate location will add to its grandeur.
Look at these QUOTEs: 1. The Brahmans, it is said, next sent for Valabhan Perumal
“from the eastern country” and made him king of Kerala. He is said to have
consecrated gods and built a fort on the banks of the Neytara river (Valarpattanam
river). The fort received the name of Valarbhattu Kotta, and he appointed this as the
hereditary residence of the future kings of Kerala.
2. Kerala, it will be noted, had now, according to the text, the restricted
meaning of the territory lying between the Perumpula river and Putuppatlanam, that is,
the dominion of the Northern Kolatiiris, North Malabar in fact. END OF QUOTEs
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The second quote above declares the ‘Kerala’ as being confined to north
Malabar. Second point is that, the whole textual description is like reading the doings
of the ‘great freedom fighters’ of ‘India’ in the nonsensical pages of the Wikipedia
India pages. Every one of them seems to be more or less doing things on which the
whole nation seems to be hinging. However, the fact remains that not even a miniscule
percentage of the people/s of the subcontinent were aware of their doings or had
ratified or given them the due authorisation to represent them anywhere.
In the same way, when this great book is mentioning these great semi-
barbarian kings, the fact that goes unmentioned is that there were many other locations
which were populated by populations which had nothing to do with them. No mention
seems to be there in Keralolpathi about the entry of the Marumakkathaya Thiyyas in
north Malabar, the Makkathaya Thiyyas in south Malabar, the reason for them having
the same name, the reason why the Marumakkathaya Thiyyas had a disdain for another
population bearing their same caste name.
There is no mention about why two different sects of Nayars appeared, one in
north Malabar and one in south Malabar. Why there was a repulsion for the south
Malabar Nayars among the north Malabar Nayars. There is no mention as to why the
Travancore side had a Tamil heritage. There is no mention of the various Shamanistic
spiritual worship systems in the north Malabar region. There is no mention of similar
shamanistic spiritual worships elsewhere in the subcontinent. There is no mention of
the existence of a separate language in north Malabar, quite different from the Tamil
traditions and modern Malayalam.
There is no way to understand why the Travancore people had a darker skin
complexion, while the northern people/s including many lower castes had a fairer
complexion.
As to proving that there was a landmass in the location of current-day Kerala,

from times immemorial, there is no need for any such historical studies for that. It is
most probable that the at least the north Malabar location had existed from very long
past. The oft mentioned history of sea-moving-out and land-forming, could be more
about Travancore coastal areas, than about north Malabar.
South Malabar could be of either geological histories. However, I do not have

the information to mention anything categorically about these things.
As to Onam and Vishu etc., no mention about them seems to be quoted from
Keralolpathi about them in this book Malabar. I do not know more about this.
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QUOTE: It is a noteworthy circumstance in this connection that even now-a-

days the Travancore Maharajas on receiving the sword at their coronations have still to
declare;—“I will keep this sword until the uncle who has gone to Mecca returns.”
END OF QUOTE.
It is quite funny that the above claim in this book Malabar has been denied by
Nagam Aiya in his book Travancore State Manual:
QUOTE: This statement, founded as it is on Mateer’s Native life in
Travancore, is clearly incorrect. The Travancore Maharajahs have never made any such
declaration at their coronations, when they received the sword of State from God Sri
Padmanabha. The Valia Koil Tampuran (M. R. Ry. Kerala Varma Avl., C. S. I). writing
to His Highness the present Maharajah some years ago received the following reply
dated 10th April 1891: — “I do not know where Mr. Logan got this information; but
no such declaration as mentioned in the Malabar Manual was made by me when I
received the State Sword at Sri Padmanabha Swamy’s Pagoda. I have not heard of any
such declaration having been made by former Maharajahs.” END OF QUOTE.
Then there is the issue of a Perumal king converting to Islam. It is given in this
book, as understood from Keralolpathi, with very powerful supporting evidences. It is
quite possible the persons who had compiled the Keralolpathi did collect a lot of local
traditions in the upper class households of Malabar. However, there were other sides
to the story which they did not hear:
I quote from Travancore State Manual:
QUOTE: Mr. K. P. Padmanabha Menon in a recent article in the Malabar

Quarterly Review, denies the statement that the last of the Cheraman Perumals became
a convert to Islam or undertook a pilgrimage to Mecca, but believes that he lived and
died a devout Hindu. The legend is evidently the result of the mixing up of the early
Buddhistic conversion of Bana, one of the Perumals, and of the much later
Mahomedan conversion of one of the Zamorin Rajahs of Calicut, who claimed to have
derived his authority from the last Perumal. The Hindu account simply states that
Cheraman Perumal after the distribution of the Empire among his friends, vassals and
dependants, went to Mecca on a pilgrimage and died there a Mahomedan saint. The
Mahomedan account embodied in the Keralolpatti narrates that after the distribution
of his kingdom, the Perumal secretly embarked on board a Moorish vessel from
Cranganore, and cleverly eluding his pursuers landed at Sahar Mukhal in the Arabian
coast, that he had an interview with the Prophet then in his 57th year, and was ordained
by him under the name of Thia-uj-uddien — ‘the crown of the faith’, that he married
Regiat the sister of the Arabian king and after having lived happily for five years,
undertook a journey to Malabar for the spread of Islam, but died of ague at Sahar
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Mukhal where his remains were interred in a mosque he had himself erected. END OF
QUOTE.
However, in Travancore State Manual, there is more about this:
QUOTE: Sheikh Zinuddin, the author of the Tahafat-ul-Mujahidin, says that

there is but little truth in the account of the Perumal’s conversion to Islam. The Arab
merchant, Suliman (851 A.D), ‘who wrote with knowledge as he evidently visited the
countries he wrote about’, says expressly that in Malabar he did not know any one of
either nation (Chinese or Indian) that had embraced Mahomadanism or spoken Arabic.
None of the early travellers or geographers whether Mahomadan, Christian or Jew
have left us any record of the legend. Abdur Kazzak who was sent in 1442 A.D. by the
Shah of Persia failed in his mission of converting the Zamorin. He too does not
mention the legend at all. END OF QUOTE
QUOTE: The Muhammadan was called Ali Raja, that is, lord of the deep, or
of the sea. END OF QUOTE.
The above quote seems to contain a terrific error. It sure seems that the
information was taken from a European / English version of events and inserted into
the Keralolpathi. The word Ali is a Muslim name. However, does it mean the ‘sea’ or
‘deep’ or ‘ocean’?
The original Arabic meaning of Ali is seen mentioned as ‘high’ or ‘exalted’.

How then did this ‘sea’ and ‘ocean’ and ‘deep’ come into the picture to an extent that
even the persons who very fraudulently writing the Keralolpathi fell for this wrong
meaning?
There is transliteration error seen all over this book. The verbal sound ‘zha’ ‘ഴ’
cannot be written in English. Even the ‘zha’ cannot mention this sound. So, wherever
this sound comes, it is seen that ‘l’ is used. In the case of the above Ali word, the actual
word might be Aazhi (ആഴി) if one has to accept the meaning as ‘lord of the deep, or
of the sea’. Aazhi (ആഴി) does mean sea, deep sea, ocean etc. Since I have not read the
Keralolpathi, I cannot say what the exact name is that is given in that book. However,
if the word is Aazhi, then it might mean that the writers of Keralolpathi depended on
some English or European text.
If one presumes that one can check up with Arakkal kings of Cannanore (Ali
rajas), the fact is that usually no family member really knows anything about their
ancestors other than after the English administration arrived and started keeping
written records. In my own parental families, paternal as well as maternal, there is no
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information among the current generation about who their ancestors were beyond
their great grand families. (It has to be mentioned here that the Arakkal kings were not
the rulers of the whole extent of Cannanore district. They held power only in small
segment of the Cannanore town. Actually at best they were small feudal lords, who
somehow got authority over certain Laccadive Islands. As to the word Raja etc., the
fact is that everyone who gets some authority immediately takes up some form of royal
title. It is a very effective tool for spreading a feel of dominance over the populace.)
I have even enquired with a certain Nayar family who has a family run temple,
which conducts an annual shamanistic festival (Thira and Vellattam). The current-day
members of the family have no information about the ancestors who had conducted
the temple festivals. There are various complications which more or less makes
everything quite hazy.
This ഴ, ഴി being written as ‘la’ and ‘li’ is there almost all over this book,
Malabar. This more or less puts all ‘la’ and ‘li’ words suspect. Even the Kolathiri, could
very well be Kozhathiri (േകാഴ ിരി). There is the instance of Ezhimala being named
as Mount Deli. And there is a discussion in this book with connecting the name of the
place to rats. ‘Eli’ means ‘rat’ in Malabari.
See this QUOTE: which the people of the country in their language call the
Mountain Delielly, and they call it of the rat, and they call it Mount Dely, because in
this mountain them were so many rats that they never could make a village there.”
END OF QUOTE.
And then there is this QUOTE: like that which conferred on it likewise the
sounding title of sapta-shaila or seven hills, because elu means in Malayalam seven, and
elu mala means the seven hills, of which sapta-shaila is the Sanskrit equivalent. END
OF QUOTE.
The local word for Seven is Ezhu, and the Tamil word is Elu. The reader can
make his or her own understandings of the above ambivalent information.
QUOTE: So the expedition was organised and despatched under the Puntura
youths. It is unnecessary to relate the events of the campaign, as they are all more or
less of a mythical character and include the mention of the use of fire-arms and
cartridges ! ! END OF QUOTE.
It does seem that the persons who wrote the fake history in the Keralolpathi
had no information on when fire-arms and cartridges had come to the subcontinent.
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QUOTE: This account of

Samkaracharyar, which makes him a
contemporary of the last of the Purumals, is
interesting, because, as a matter of fact, the
tradition on the point is probably correct. END
OF QUOTE.
It could point to the fact that the writers

did get certain things in sync with other historical
beliefs.
QUOTE: it is probably an interpolation to

suit subsequently existing facts END OF
QUOTE. This is actually a very pertinent point.
That a fake history book that purports to know
ancient history was written by very cunningly
drafting the event to arrive at certain later day
actualities so as to make the writing seem authentic.
See the effect of this book. See this QUOTE: It cannot be doubted that the
first half of the ninth century A.D, was an important epoch in the history of Malabar
and of the Malayalis. END OF QUOTE
Even when the book is mentioned as of a dubious nature, it has been able to
very quaintly insert the idea of a Malayali population. The word Malabar also is of very
confusing content. There is a general tendency to extend the boundaries of Malabar to
include Travancore. The cunningness of this idea is then to go back and make Malabar
a part of Travancore. The reality that the location of Malabar (north Malabar and
south Malabar) was not populated by Malayalis (Travancore people), but by different
populations which are connected to each other by various kinds of antipathies,
subservience or respect, is not mentioned.
QUOTE: The chief event was the termination of the reign of the last of the
Kerala or Chera Perumals or Emperors END OF QUOTE. There is a very definite
misuse of the word ‘Emperor’.
Actually the use of the word ‘Emperor’ with regard to many kings of the
subcontinent is a misuse of the word. There seems to be not even one king who
deserves to be mentioned as an Emperor. Simply overrunning and then handing over
the power over the people in many locations to their henchmen is not the quality of an
entity that can be called an Emperor.
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There are many things a king can do. Like setting up a great administrative set
up based on public service exams. A police system with written parameters of
authority. A judicial system based on written codes of law. A public healthcare system
for the common man. A basic educational system for the common children. A
department of roads. A postal system which can be utilised by the common man. Like
that there are so many things a monarchy can build. None of the kings in the
subcontinent seems to have had any sense about these things. All they had was the
terrible duty to enforce the hierarchies. Well, that is true. The languages enforce the
hierarchies.
How does one compare a native king of the subcontinent with a monarch of
England? Well, there it is not the capacity of the monarch, that really runs the systems.
The language is so smooth that all systems run smoothly. Over here, the moment
anyone speaks, various kinds of terrors, anxieties, reflexes, urge to backstab etc. get
provoked.
When this is the condition of the kings in the subcontinent, what can one say
about the Emperors? That they are worse than kings?
It is curious that the monarch of England who literally ruled a global empire
was only a Queen of England. However, when her name got associated with the
subcontinent, nothing less than the title of an Empress would do. That was the training
the subcontinent gave to the native-Englishmen. That a mere ‘Queen’ will not do.
There should be an Empress. Otherwise no one would listen to her.
This brings us to another most interesting thing about the history of location
here. It is seen that persons who came to acquire some royal power immediately
changed their name to some Varma or Veera or something similar. So, it does seem
that the title Varma is not actually a hereditary title in many cases, but simply a title
artificially adopted by the person to add to his right to rule some small location.
QUOTE: The Brahmans are notoriously careless of history and of the lessons
which it teaches. Their lives are bound hard and fast by rigid chains of customs. The
long line of Chera kings, dating back to the “Son of Kerala”, mentioned in the third
century B.C., in King Asoka’s rock-out inscriptions, had for them no interest and no
instruction ; and it is not to be wondered, at that the mention of them finds in the
Keralolpatti no place. END OF QUOTE.
The above is a quote with more than one concern. Even though the
Keralolpathi has been mentioned somewhere in book as promoting Brahmans, the
truth seems to be elsewhere. There is no promotion of Brahmins seen other than in
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the very beginning of the fake history. The whole history is a silly listing of various
rulers, who had nothing to do other than to ‘rule’. This is what I gather from the other
books which I have mentioned and from this book, Malabar.
The next point is the use of the words ‘Son of Kerala’. It has been mentioned
in another location in this book that the transliteration of the word found in the
Ashoka edict is Ketalaputra and not Keralaputra. It is curious that the word Chera’s
real meaning ‘rat snake’ is not detected by the writers of this book. But in the case of
Ketalaputra, they can detect a ‘Kerala’ inside it.
The reason why Keralolpathi moves into a location where no Brahmins are
mentioned could be due to the fact that the writers did not have any information about
the Brahmin traditions. After all, the Brahmin caste was quite high for the lower-caste
converted Christians, who presumably did the writing.
QUOTE: What is substituted for the real history of this period in these
traditions is a farrago of legendary nonsense, having for definite aim the securing to the
Brahman caste of unbounded power and influence in the country. END OF QUOTE.
Here again, there is an ambivalent stance. For here the statement is contrary to
what has been said before. Here the contention is that Keralolpathi was written with
the aim of securing unbounded power and influence for the Brahman caste. There is
no hint that the book could have been a totally different invention with a totally
different aim.
QUOTE: Parashurama is not found in Vedic literature, and the earliest

mention of his character is found in the Mahabharata but with different names. There
he is represented as an accomplished warrior-Brahmin, a sage and teacher of martial
arts, but there is no mention of him being an avatar of Vishnu. He evolves into an
avatar in the Puranas. According to Adalbert Gail, the word Parasurama is also missing
in the Indian epics and Kalidasa's works, and appears for the first time in Indian
literature around 500 CE. Before then, he is known by other names such as Rama
Jamadagnya END OF QUOTE.
No comments.
QUOTE: The state of Kerala and nearby regions of the Indian peninsula
(Malabar Coast, in some versions including Konkan) are considered as Parashurama
Kshetra. END OF QUOTE
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This is a most curious statement. I really wonder who inserted the words ‘state
of Kerala’. For there was no ‘state of Kerala’ when this book was written and
published. Could this be an insertion done around 1951, when the government of
India republished it? It is seen that this book was in great demand in the years around
1950. What could be the reason for that?
There is only one single reason. This is the book that must have been heavily
used by the Converted Christian Church to force the creation of Kerala by
amalgamating the Malabar District of Madras State with the Travancore-Cochin State.
Why should they do that? The reason is quite simple. The forest lands of the
Malabar District of the Madras State had been encroached by the hordes of Converted
Christian Settlers from the neighbouring state. It is only a matter of little time before
the Madras government would take stringent action for their removal. It was a matter
of life and death for these settlers that a new state is formed in which they had greater
political say. Once this new state is formed, there is no issue of an encroachment from
another state.
QUOTE: The Mahratta account states that Parasu Raman turned the Boyijati
(fisherman caste) into Brahmans in order to people Keralam. END OF QUOTE
The Mahratta accounts and such other accounts traditional elsewhere seem to
corroborate some of the things in the Keralolpathi. However the above contention is
mentioned as not seen in Keralolpathi. Apart from that, the fact that many traditions
of elsewhere do corroborate what is there in Keralolpathi does not prove its
authenticity. It simply would prove that the writers of Keralolpathi were depending on
various contemporary traditions and stories.
The contention that the Brahmins of Malabar and Travancore are the
fishermen folks of elsewhere is a contention that cannot be acceptable to many. For, in
which case, many peoples in Malabar and Travancore go under the fishermen folks!
QUOTE: They summoned him unnecessarily and he cursed them and

“condemned them to lose the power of assembling together in council, and to become
servile. They accordingly mingle with Sudra females and became a degraded race.”
END OF QUOTE.
I am not going to pick anything out of this tradition, with regard to Brahmins
or Sudras. However, the contention of becoming a degraded race by mixing with Sudra
families is a very vital point about certain other things. It is related to the social and
human design that language codes can arrange. A wrong connection or being placed in
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a wrong location in a link, would create havoc, if the language is feudal. This is an idea
that no one seems in a hurry to deal with. The native-English populations have no
information about this.
As to the feudal language speakers, they are aware of this issue in at least a
vague manner. But no one is happy to mention this. For everyone are part and parcel
of these evil codes. There is no escape visible in sight.
QUOTE: this, it is said, “the men of the port began to make voyages to Mecca
in ships, and Calicut became the most famous (port) in the world for its extensive
commerce, wealth, country, town, and king.” END OF QUOTE.
This is mentioned in the Keralolpathi with regard to the honesty of the king of
Calicut. It is a most insipid statement. There is honesty in many locations in the
subcontinent. Many things design it. One is the general attitude of a person not to
cheat, whatever be the outcome. That is not very much possible to adopt if the honesty
can lead a person to penury. For, along with penury, come the lower indicant verbal
code definitions on the person.
However, the king of Calicut has no such concern.
Generally in a feudal language system, people are generally very honest to

those who they treat as superior and respected. To those whom they do not feel this
emotion, they are dishonest and they do cheat and go back on their word.
Beyond this, there is the general ‘frog-in-the-well’ tone in this claim. That ‘Calicut
became the most famous (port) in the world for its extensive commerce, wealth,
country, town, and king’.
A small king more or less a dependant on the Arabic seafaring populations.

What kind of fame did this port have that the Continental Europeans and the English
traders had to search hard to find it? They came not for its fame, but due to the fact
that this was where pepper could be bought from. Pepper was an important food
ingredient in England and Europe. For, it is the best preservative for keeping meat in
an unspoiled condition during the winter months.
The adjective of ‘most famous’ famous is in sync with the words of Al Biruni,
quoted in the beginning of this book.
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Now, there a few brief queries in my mind. From where did Gundert get
Keralolpathi from? Is the copy with the Church or with anyone else? If so, can the date
of its creation be found out using scientific methods?
Then about the language of Keralolpathi. Is it the Malabari language (the

original Malayalam) or is it in a language that was developed by the Christian
evangelists in Central Travancore?
Then again about who actually did the writing? Was it written directly by
Gundert himself, or did he get some scribe to do it?
What about the book of proverbs in Malayalam? Did he write it himself or did
he use some scribes? Both the books do not seem to be written by the same person,
even though the author names are given as Gundert.
Or could it be that the manuscript copies (in PDF) which I downloaded from
archive.org are later day copies?
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About the language

Malayalam
See this QUOTE: The name by which the district is known to Europeans is
not in general use in the district itself, except among foreigners and English-speaking’
natives. The ordinary name is Malayalam, or, in its shorter form, Malayam (the hill
country). END OF QUOTE
As per this statement, the name Malabar was not known to the natives of the
land. It is similar to the word ‘India’. There is nothing to suggest that the word ‘India’
was known to the natives of the subcontinent.
The words ‘Malayalam’ and ‘Malayam’ are mentioned as the name known to
the people of Malabar about their own land.
The question then comes about Travancore and Cochin. Cochin being a small
location does not matter much. However, what about Travancore? There might be
some confusion about in the minds of the traders from afar about these locations. For,
pepper could be procured from all the three locations. However, in the case of
Malabar, there were two prominent locations. One was Cannanore in north Malabar,
and Calicut in south Malabar.
But then the whole of the coastal areas that included north Malabar, south
Malabar, Cochin and Travancore, there were a number of small ports from where
pepper could be procured. If the nationality of a location can be fixed by the
availability of pepper, then all these locations are quite easily mentioned as one and the
same, from afar.
However, this is not way to fix a nationality. And seafaring traders’ opinion is
not what creates a nation.
Now, look at this QUOTE: ....Malayalam uses in these and all similar cases the verbal
participle adichu, having beaten, with the prefixed pronouns I, thou, he, etc. (e.g., nyan adichu, I
beat ; ni adichu, thou didst beat ; avan adichu he beat). END OF QUOTE
From a very casual perspective, nothing amiss would be noticed in the above
statement. But then, there are actually a few errors in what the statement purports to
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state. In fact, the statement points in a wrong direction. And the very attempt to
connect the hidden verbal codes into the planar language English is also very
questionable efficiency. In this regard, it might be mentioned that the writer of the
statement is actually groping in the dark.
The first error is that the word adichu is not the word of have beaten or did
beat in the native language of Malabar. It is true that in those contemporary periods,
the language of Malabar was known as Malayalam. In that Malayalam, the word for
have beaten or did beat might be thachu /thach . This is a claim which I cannot confirm
with regard to the whole areas of north Malabar or of south Malabar.
Next is the word: thou. Actually there is no equivalent of thou in either newly-
created Malayalam or Malabari (earlier name: Malayalam). This claim is a huge content
to explain. I can mention it simply here that the word thou does not affect other words
like he, him, his, she, her, hers etc. In this sense, it is a sort of standalone word. Any
word form in feudal languages, if mentioned as equal to thou will look erroneous in that
the change of indicant levels for ‘You’ will affect all other indicant word forms and
much more.
There are other unmentioned items.

Like Avan അവൻ (he) in newly-created Malayalam is Oan ഓൻ in Malabari.
Aval അവൾ (she) in newly-created Malayalam is Olu ഓ in Malabari.
Njangal ഞ ൾ (we) in newly-created Malayalam is Njaalu ഞാ in Malabari.
Avattakal അവ കൾ (They) in newly-created Malayalam is Ittingal ഐ ി
in Malabari.
It is true that some kind of similarity can be found in the words. However,
since the Malabari language seems to have been more traditional, how come a newly-
created language can claim to be more right and correct? But then, there is the other
side also. That the newly-created language of Malayalam did absorb words from Tamil.
In fact, all these words mentioned in the newly created Malayalam are from Tamil.
Here the incredible bit of information is that the lowest castes of Travancore
become the repositories and propagators of the newly-created Malayalam, which
obviously is much more refined than the traditional language of Malabar.
In all the books, which I have mentioned, including Travancore State Manual,
Native Life in Travancore, Malabar (this book) &c. there is no mention of how this
creation of a new language was accomplished. It remains a fact that the lower castes
who converted into Christianity did possess the newly created Malayalam.
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And it remained their dedicated purpose to promote and propagate this

language into Malabar. It gave rise to a very curious social mood. The traditional
Malabari speakers of Malabar slowly were made to understand that they were an un-
educated low-quality population group. While the people of Travancore were much
developed because they spoke the ‘educated-version of Malayalam’. The people of
Malabar were understood to speak the ‘uneducated version of Malayalam’.
The Malabari language of Malabar was quite rude and crude, especially to
those positioned lower. In Malabari, there was a tendency that I had noticed in around
1970s. It was that any youngsters of any age would invariably be addressed as an Inhi
ഇ ി (lowest you in Malabari), and referred to as Oan ഓൻ (lowest he/him) or Oalu
ഓ (lowest she / her), even if the person is a stranger or unknown person.
It may be due to the influence of the English evangelists who might have
helped develop the newly-created Malayalam, that this kind of crudeness was not there
in the newly created Malayalam. The more acceptable Ningal നി ൾ (middle-level
You ) and Ayaal അയാൾ (middle level he/she) was more in usage in Malayalam.
However, at the higher levels of communication, Malabari had comfortable

word. That of Ningal നി ൾ or Ingal ഇ ൾ (there is a slight code difference
between them). There is no other higher word in Malabari. However, in the newly-
created Malayalam, the Ningal നി ൾ word is highly objectionable, if used to a senior
person.
I will leave all this now. For it is leading to another location. Readers interested
in this subject can pursue it in my writing : An Impressionistic History of South Asian
Subcontinent.
In this book, Malabar, there is a general tendency to impose the language

name Malayalam and the population name Malayali. However the urge behind this
endeavour is connected to the vested interests of the groups I had mentioned earlier.
QUOTE: Kollam .—This is the Northern Quilon, as distinguished from

Quilon proper in Travancore, which is styled Southern Kollam by Malayalis. END OF
QUOTE.
What is this ‘Malayalis’? People of Travancore or the people of Malabar? Both

did not have much information on the other, other than those who had official powers
and travelled here and there beyond the boundaries of the locations.
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QUOTE: The Hindu Malayali is not a lover of towns and villages. END OF
QUOTE
Here again, the word Malayali is a very cunning insertion. The actual people
mentioned in the context is mainly Nayars of Malabar and to some extent the
Brahmins and such. However, using this word can again enforce the idea of a Malayali
population that existed in Malabar, Cochin and Travancore, in a time when Malabar
was part of another country. In fact, in Travancore State Manual, people who came
from the Madras Presidency areas are mentioned as from ‘foreign country’.
See the character of this Malayali: QUOTE: His austere habits of caste purity
and impurity made him in former days flee from places where pollution in the shape of
men and women of low caste met him at every corner ; and even now the feeling is
strong upon him and he loves not to dwell in cities. END OF QUOTE.
QUOTE: The chief difference between them, and indeed between Malayalam
and all the other Dravidian tongues, lies in the absence in Malayalam of the personal
terminations of the verbs. END OF QUOTE.
It is more or less obvious that the Malayalam that is mentioned in this book
‘Malabar’ is not the language of Malabar, but the language of the Converted Christian
populations who were slowly entering into the Malabar location. They would have
created a feeling that they were creating education by setting up vernacular schools
wherein this new language was taught. This would give an enormous boost to their
social image. For, they would exist as the ‘educated’ persons in a land filled with
persons who did not know their own language.
QUOTE: both—a condition nearly resembling the Mongolian, the Manchu,

and the other rude primitive tongue of High Asia. END OF QUOTE.
Could this statement be about Malabari? Or is it a reference of the general

rudeness in almost all the established languages of the subcontinent?
QUOTE: it being admitted that verbs in all Dravidian languages were

originally uninflected—is derived from ancient poetry and ancient inscriptions, and
these did not necessarily correspond with the spoken language. END OF QUOTE
This statement is a very fabulous information about the language of the

subcontinent. The poetry and the film songs are of wonderful content and beauty.
However, there is no such beauty or content in everyday spoken language.
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This is a grand issue. I have discussed this in my book An Impressionistic

History of South Asian Subcontinent Part 1 – Chapter 83. The mystical beauty in feudal
languages
I will give a very brief idea about this. The everyday spoken language is feudal
and degrading to the lower positioned persons. The words do have a jarring effect as
they rub on a human being’s psyche to intimidate and crush him down to a midget
personality.
However, in poetry, the words are in a filtered form. The presence of the
varying indicant word codes does give a lot of words to create a 3-dimensional virtual-
world effect in the human mind. Such an effect cannot be created easily by planar-
coded English words.
Beyond this the very presence of higher indicant words can induce a sort of
Brahmanical effect. That of inducing a kind of divine aura on emotions, words,
feelings, persons, and incidences. Actually, a very studied mixing up of the varying
levels of indicant words can create an effect that cannot be contemplated in pristine-
English.
QUOTE: The most probable view is that the Vedic Brahman immigration into
Malabar put a stop to the development of Malayalam as a language just at the time
when the literary activity of the Jains in the Tamil country was commencing. END OF
NOTES.
This could be some kind of nonsensical contention to confuse the issues. That
there was no Malayalam of Travancore (current-day Malayalam) in existence in the
ancient world. What existed then in Malabar could be the Malabari languages (which is
seen to have been actually called Malayalam in those days. The ancient language of
Malabar was the real Malayalam). In Travancore, the traditional language is seen
mentioned as Tamil.
QUOTE: It was no less than a revolution when in the seventeenth century one
Tunjatta Eluttachchan, a man of the Sudra (Nayar) caste, boldly made an alphabet—
the existing Malayalam one—-derived chiefly from the Grantha— END OF QUOTE
This is a location I have no information about. However, could

Ezhuthchachan be from Malabar? Could he have simply picked up the script from
what was already there in Malabar? But then there is the issue of how he came to be
well-versed in the newly-created language of Malayalam of Central Travancore. Or
could he have contributed to the commencement of this language by importing certain
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contents of Malabari languages, and mixed it with Sanskrit and Tamil I do not have
specific arguments with regard to all this, other than the fact the there was a language
in Malabar, which seems to have escaped the attention of almost all writers who had
some connection to the Christian Church. If the Nayar officials of Malabar also missed
mentioning it, it might that they also felt the local language of lower castes was some
kind of barbarian tongue, while the language promoted by the converted Christians
was a more noble one. For, the newly created Malayalam simply brims with Sanskrit
words, if used for poetic and other literary compositions.
As to studying about Ezhuthachchan from writings in Wikipedia and such

other sources is simply a waste of time, if deeper contents are aimed for. For, all these
kind of ‘scholarly’ writing have the tone mentioned by Al Biruni. That, the protagonist
is a superhuman.
The next point in the above-quote to be noted is the rabid caste claim. It more
or less lends credence to the idea that the Nayar writers who must have written many
of the text parts in this book were actually not seeing a nation-state, but a mix of
populations, each one of which had its own claims and repulsions.
QUOTE: Mr. F. W. Ellis : "The language of Malayalam poetry is in fact a

mixture of Sanskrit, generally pure, with Sen and Kodun Tamil ; END OF QUOTE.
I think this quote actually is relevant only about the newly created language of
Malayalam. It might be totally wrong when it is mentioned about Malabari (the original
language of Malabar).
QUOTE: This remark, however, applies more to Keralam proper than to

Mushikam or Travancore END OF QUOTE.
I do not know what to make of the above statement. In an age when the
conceptualisation of a land called Kerala is basically the vested interest of people from
Travancore, what is this ‘Keralam proper’, and how come Mushikam and Travancore
are not inside it? The writings inside this book seems to go into different directions,
depending on who wrote the specific text. May be Logan did not get time to go
through the immense pages of manuscripts and correct the incongruities.
QUOTE: Mr. Ellis: “There exists in Malayalam, as far as my information

extends, no work or language, no grammar, no dictionary, commentaries on the
Sanskrit Amarakosha excepted. The principal work in prose is the Keralutpati, which is
also said to be translated from the Sanskrit, though the original is now nowhere to be
found.”
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NOTEs: This was written some time before 1819, the year in which Mr. Ellis
died. These complaints exist no longer, thanks to the research of Dr. Gundert. END
OF NOTES.
It seems that the Sanskrit original of Keralolpathi is available. If so, it might be

interesting to know more about its antiquity. For, Parasurama’s creation of Kerala is
mentioned elsewhere as not mentioned in the Sanskrit works of the northern parts of
the peninsula.
QUOTE: Dr. Burnell styles the Vatteluttu “the original Tamil alphabet which
was once used in all that part of the peninsula south of Tanjore, and also in South
Malabar and Travancore.”
The Vattelultu alphabet “remained in use” in Malabar, Dr. Burnell wrote, “up
to the end of the seventeenth century among the Hindus, END OF QUOTE.
The above again is quite an interesting observation. In that, South Malabar and
Travancore are clubbed together as being of Tamil linguistic heritage. This seems to
keep north Malabar separate.
There is another hint that might be missed. See this: “among the Hindus”.
What is this supposed to mean? Who were the Hindus? Naturally the lower castes did
not most probably have any writing experience or learning. The ‘Hindus’ might mean
the Nayars and higher castes possibly. Then what about the others like the Syrian
Christians, and Jews and Muslims of Travancore? What was their script?
QUOTE: It will be seen from the above account that there is but little of
interest or of importance in Malayalam literature, and the scholars who have of late
years studied the language have been attracted to it rather by the philological interest
attached to it than by anything else. END OF QUOTE.
The quote is ostensibly about the newly-created language of Malayalam. And

not about the Malabari. But then, it is a quite a curious assertion. For, a few years back,
the Malayalam lobby in the state of Kerala has very successfully claimed and acquired a
Classical Language status for Malayalam. It would be most interesting to know what
the great classical literary creations that could be attributed to a newly created language,
were.
Or it be that Malayalam would try to simply jump upon the ancient heritage of
Malabari to assert its claims to Classical Status. For, it is very much possible that
Malabari had a history dating far back, at least, to the times when the Shamanistic
spiritual worship systems arrived in north Malabar.
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QUOTE: There is hardly a page in this present work which in one way or
other does not derive authority or enlightenment from Dr. Gundert’s labours and
scholarship. END OF QUOTE.
The above-quote is quite curious. In that, it more or less substantiate the

doubt that I had. That this book had been influenced by the Converted Christian
interests. I have not much information on Dr. Gundert, as to how he collected the
various word and verbal information about Malayalam. It is an intuitive feeling that he
was very vigorously helped by the converted Christians of Travancore, who had arrived
in Malabar. For staying on in Travancore after acquiring good intellectual abilities
would be experiencing the heights of abomination for the lower castes. In Travancore,
they cannot walk on the road. In Malabar, these very persons can hold responsible and
respectable positions as heads of institutions, be teachers, be doctors, be judicial
pleaders, be lawyer’s clerks, be government officials &c.
Due to this very issue, the fact that there was another language in Malabar
would have been quite conveniently kept aside. Many of the Malabari words could be
very casually taken into Malayalam as it went on grabbing words to become a language.
Even now, the people of Travancore find that Malabari words as some kind of
barbarian sounds.
However the wider fact is that each feudal language creates a very powerful
web of hierarchical connections. Outsiders to these links would find an entry into it
irksome and a pain. Only in planar languages like English can anyone enter at any point
and link to anyone they want. In feudal languages, all links and relationships have a
vector component and there are direction valves in all communication. It is like this: A
particular person can speak to another man with a lot of freedom. However, the other
man cannot do it back. There are codes of ‘respect’ and ‘degradation’ that decides all
kinds of links and directions.
QUOTE: Besides Malayalam there is one other territorial language in

Malabar—Mahl to wit—the language of the Minicoy Islanders END OF QUOTE.
The above statement is a very cunning dialogue. Even now many

Travancoreans when they come to interior parts of north Malabar, find it quite difficult
to understand the language. As of now, there is no perfect Malabari even in north
Malabar. Almost all persons know Malayalam. For, it is the language of education,
newspapers, Cinemas, TV shows, and public speeches. Even this Malabari-Malayalam
mixed language, the Travancoreans find it difficult to understand. If this be the case,
just imagine the cunningness in simply refusing to mention the local language of the
population by a group of people who had entered from outside.
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QUOTE: The Jews and Syrians were by other deeds incorporated in the
Malayali nation END OF QUOTE.
This ‘Malayali-nation’ mention is again a deliberate attempt at creating a

confusion. It is an event not connected to North Malabar or even to South Malabar. It
is simply superimposing a historical event in another country on Malabar antiquity.
QUOTE: It will be noted in the historical chapter that a more or less

successful resistance, probably with Brahman aid, was made by the Malayalis against
the aggressions of the Western Chalukya dynasty, END OF QUOTE.
What is the context of using the word ‘Malayalis’ here? It is like the writings in
Wikipedia and elsewhere about ‘Indians’ fighting against the outsiders in the medieval
ages. The simple fact there was no ‘Indians’ at the time is simply kept un-understood,
in the deliberate attempt to insert an ‘India’ word across the historical ages.
A similar kind of insertion of the ‘Malayali’ word in all sort of ancient

incidences is there in this book; suggesting a very concerted effort at promoting a
‘Malayali’ heritage, where there is none.
QUOTE: the idea of an exclusive personal right to hunting privileges in certain

limits is entirely foreign to the Malayali customary law. END OF QUOTE.
Here again a misuse of the ‘Malayali’ word. In a land where the place is a
continual attempt to keep various populations subordinated, there was presumably no
such thing as a ‘Malayali customary law’. As to the Malayali, if a Malabari man is a
Malayali, then the Travancore man would be something else, possibly some kind of
Tamilian. If a Travancore man is a Malayali, then the Malabari man is something else.
In this book, both these different individuals are being desperately clubbed together.
And as the reader can sense in the history section of this book, there was no
long period of peace for any steady customary law to get practised. What could have
existed is merely very local village customs of rights and privileges, which varies from
place to place.
Peace is not an endurable thing in a social system which runs on feudal

languages. Unless the various hierarchical levels are very clearly understood and
maintained.
QUOTE: Kerala was probably stripped of its northern province by the power
and influence of the Western Chalukyas, END OF QUOTE.
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The use of the word ‘Kerala’ here is some kind of deliberate doctoring. I can
even think that this was inserted in 1951 when the book was reprinted. For, it is quite
possible that this was the book that was pushed forward to claim that the Malabar
district of Madras State had to be amalgamated with the Travancore-Cochin state. May
be if anyone can make an enquiry, it would be found that in all discussions on State
reorganisation, this book must have been very prominently used by the Christian
Church as well as the SNDP or some other Ezhava leadership. Both stood to gain
when Malabar is connected with Travancore.
QUOTE: Here Keralaputra, or as sometimes transliterated Ketalaputra, refers

undoubtedly to the king of ancient Chera, END OF QUOTE.
How can a word which is transliterated as something different be corrected to

another word to prove something?
QUOTE: The thirty-two Tulu gramams (north of the Perumpula) were it is

said, “cut off from all connection (or perhaps intermarriage)” with the thirty-two pure
Malayali gramams lying to the south of that river, and a fresh distribution of the
Malayali gramams themselves took place. END OF QUOTE
Why should the term Malayali gramams be used in an age when there was no
Malayalam or Malayali? Could it not be a very obvious attempt at inserting historical
inaccuracies?
QUOTE: Kerala, from Perumpula to Puluppalanam END OF QUOTE
Again a Kerala, before Kerala is born!
QUOTE: This Province was in the previous distribution called Kerala. END
OF QUOTE.
It is quite funny. In this book itself, the writer/s had to wander into various
locations in the globe to prove the existence of Kerala in the ancient days. The above
are all categorical statements meant to stamp into the reader’s mind of a place called
Kerala, which had to be recreated.
QUOTE: The name “Kerala" even undergo a change, and instead of meaning
the whole of the land between Gokarnam and Cape Comorin it comes at this time to
signify merely North Malabar, i.e., Kolattunad, the kingdom of the Northern Kolattiris.
END OF QUOTE.
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These are all quite funny statements. It is quite doubtful if the word ‘Kerala’ is
there in any of the historical record connected to these events. Kolathunad does not
mean Kerala. It means Cannanore and beyond to the north, I guess. It is a curious
situation that Cannanore and thereabouts had been called Kerala. Even if at any single
or more time in history, a place has been named anything does not really mean
anything beyond that.
QUOTE: The state of Kerala and nearby regions of the Indian peninsula
(Malabar Coast, in some versions including Konkan) are considered as Parashurama
Kshetra. END OF QUOTE.
What ‘state of Kerala’?
QUOTE: From thence they sail with the wind called Hippalos in forty days to
the first commercial station of India named Muziris END OF QUOTE.
Here two different items have to be noticed. One is the use of the word
‘India’. The question would be this: Did Pliny (A.D. 23-79) actually use the word
‘India’? Or some other similar sounding word like ‘Inder’?
The second is the other item. That the first commercial station of ‘India’ was
Muziris. These kind of writings are obviously from a very small perspective. There is
actually such a tendency all over the subcontinent, even now, to mention local great
things as the ‘greatest’ in Asia or ‘greatest’ in the world. After all Al Biruni had noticed
this centuries ago. May this Pliny was informed via this kind of reporting.
QUOTE: In one manuscript it is written Celobotras. It is clearly intended for

Keraputran or Cheraputran ~ king of Chera. END OF QUOTE
Whether there is an clarity about this not the only issue. The wider issue would
be that there would be so many rulers in the location, extending all over the south-
western coast. For instance, in the 1700s there were rulers in Trivandrum, Attingal,
Quilon, Kayamkulam, Chengannur, Changanasherri, Kottayam (near Quilon), Cochin,
Palghat, Beypore, Badagara, Kottayam (near Tellicherry), Cannanore &c. Each one of
them could have ancestors with all kinds of names.
If the reader can simply ponder for a few seconds, he or she will be able to
know (if it is not already known) that if a person’s parents and ancestors are counted
backwards, within a matter of 300 years backwards, this person would be connected to
around 20 lakh (2 Million) and more person alive then. The numbers would simply
grow exponentially as one goes backwards.
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The wider point here is that it would be quite difficult for a current-day person
living in Kerala to connect himself or herself to any particular bloodline. For, each
person would be connected to an immensity of bloodlines, extending to all parts of the
world.
QUOTE: wrote the title of the Chera king as Kerobothros and stated the fact
that the capital of the kingdom was at Karoura, which name has been very generally
accepted as identical with that of the modern town of Karur in the Coimbatore district
END OF QUOTE.
This quote messes up everything again. The mythical ‘Kerala’ is here seen as
outside current-day Kerala. It is in Tamilnadu.
QUOTE: Malayalis themselves call the country east of the Palghat gap the
Kongunad or country of the Kongus. The Kongu language seems to have been
Canarese, and not Tamil or Malayalam, END OF QUOTE.
The mischievous insertion of the word ‘Malayalis’ is again found. Beyond

that, there is a sort of mention of Malayalam. Which Malayalam, is again the question.
The idea here is simply to mention Malayalam. That is enough. A mere mention has its
definite power in indoctrination and publicity.
QUOTE: .... but it is clear in the light of the writings of Pliny and Ptolemy and
of the Periplus that the Tenkasi eastern boundary, which describes pretty accurately the
Malayali limits now, is of later date than the first to third centuries A.D. The Malayalis
have since those dates encroached considerably to the south on the ancient Pandya
dominions. END OF NOTES
See the way a local kingdom boundary over here is found out. From some
records in some far away locations. And see the mischievous insertion of the
‘Malayalis’ word. There is no basic consistency in the claims. In this book, first the
Nayars and possibly the Brahmins are identified as the ‘Malayalis’. Then there is a lot of
debate on from where the Nayars might have arrived. Even Nepal location is
mentioned.
However, at the same time, when the historical location around 2000 years
back of the kingdom here is mentioned, the word ‘Malayalis’ is mentioned. The
terribleness of this kind of writing is that at this time Travancore definitely had no
‘Malayalis’. As to Malabar having ‘Malayalis’, the local language of Maabar is not the
same as the Malayalam as understood currently.
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The wider question is, why is the word ‘Malayalis’ inappropriately used? There
is definitely an agenda to promote the idea of a kingdom of Kerala existing from times
immemorial. Whatever gimmickry has been done in this book, such a claim has no
basis.
QUOTE: After the Ceylon embassy to Claudius in A.D. 44, further embassies
from India continued at long intervals to reach the Roman world. END OF QUOTE.
The ‘India’ word is another similar insertion. The subcontinent was never a
single nation. Being conquered by various rulers from hither and thither does not
make various clusters of populations a single nation or kingdom. The people are
different. The languages are different. There was never a single focus of sovereignty,
until the English rule came and established a single nation. Even this single nation did
not comprise the whole of the subcontinent, even though all the local independent
kingdoms wanted to have a close connection with this nation.
QUOTE: The true ancient history of Southern India, almost unrecorded by its
own people in anything worthy of the name of history, appears as yet only as a faint
outline on canvas. Thanks to the untiring labours of European scholars and of one or
two native scholars these faint outlines are gradually assuming more distinct lines, but
it is impossible as yet to offer anything even approaching to a picture in full detail of
any period or of any state, for the sources of information contained in inscriptions and
deeds are extremely scanty, and even in genuinely ancient deeds it is frequently found
that the facts to be gathered from them are unreliable owing to the deeds themselves
having been forged at periods long subsequent to the facts which they pretend to state.
END OF QUOTE.
The above quote is quite interesting. First see the last line. Whatever historical
records are in existence, have been ‘forged at periods long subsequent to the facts’.
Indeed, this very book is an example of this.
See the words: ‘ancient history of Southern India’. The word Southern India is
mentioned in a very casual manner, without taking into account the confusion it ought
to create in later days. The southern India mentioned here are the southern parts of the
South Asian subcontinent. It can also be mentioned as the southern parts of the South
Asian peninsula. How this ‘India’ word came in has to be checked. There is a slight
possibility that it is an insertion done in 1951.
But then, it is true that there was a foolish manner of understanding in Great
Britain that the whole of the subcontinent was British-India, which it was not.
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Now look at the words: ‘untiring labours of European scholars’. This is

another total foolishness committed by the native-English and also by the native-
British in the subcontinent. The word ‘European’ and the word ‘British’ are not
synonyms. They are actually antonyms; especially if the word ‘British’ is taken as
‘native-English’.
Pristine-English is a planar language. And hence pristine-England is a planar

language nation. While many nations in Continental Europe, including France,
Germany, Spain, Portugal etc. could be slightly or terribly feudal language nations. This
is a very crucial point. The way the people react and act in certain crucial situations
differ in total opposite manners, in a planar versus feudal language comparison.
In this very book, there are powerful instances that show this difference. And
indeed why the English side always prospered while the Continental side withered away
when they could actually have won the day, can be connected to this information. I will
deal with that later.
QUOTE: from the fact that the Tamil and Malayalam languages were in those
days practically identical, it may be inferred that the ruling caste of Nayar were already
settled in Malabar in the early centuries A.D. END OF NOTES
There is more than one problem in the above lines. If Tamil and Malayalam
were a single language, then it simply means that there was no Malayalam here. And
the word to define the population is not ‘Malayalis’, but ‘Tamilians’. However, the
basic issue in this cantankerous writing is that there is a basic erroneous foundation
that is simply taken as true. That the Travancore and Malabar regions were one and the
same. It was not.
That Travancorean heritage in Tamil is okay. However, whether the antiquity

of Malabar was Tamil is not established anywhere other than in these kinds of writing
with ulterior motives. Two different regions and totally different populations are very
cunning being packaged as one and the same.
The second cunning insertion is the words: ‘ruling caste of Nayar’. The Nayars
are not seen as the ‘ruling caste’ anywhere in this book itself other than in such baseless
assertions. It might be true that some of the kings were from this caste; even though
this might be a point of dispute. However, the vast majority might be sort of village
level supervisors of the Brahmanical landlords and the henchmen of the ruling families.
QUOTE: It will be seen presently that in the ancient deeds a dear distinction is
drawn between the Keralas and the Pallavas. END OF QUOTE.
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Was there any ‘Keralas’ in the history of Malabar? Or in the history of

Travancore? It might be true that some of the kings might have borne such a name.
However, the insertion of this ‘word’ in this book is quite clearly with a definite aim.
That is to promote a unification of two unconnected geopolitical locations. The fact is
that when the English rule appeared on the subcontinent, a lot of unconnected people
and populations found it quite easy to establish a connection. For in the language
English, it is very easy for populations of different levels of stature to communicate
without any feelings of rancour being aroused.
QUOTE: The Tamil race seems to have spread over the whole of the
peninsula and to have split up into three kingdoms — Chera, Chola and Pandya—
corresponding to those very ancient and well-known divisions of the Peninsula. END
OF QUOTE.
The writing seems to go in circles. It does give the impression that the
different pages have been at times written by different persons. Here, in the above
quote, the Cheras are Tamilians. Then how come the word ‘Malayalis’ and ‘Malayali
kingdom’ is being used for those periods in history in this very book?
QUOTE: it was said that this Indian nation traded to the West with the
Romans and Parthians, and to the east as far as Siam and Tonquin. Their sovereign
was said to wear a small lock of hair dressed spirally on the crown of his head, and to
wear the rest of his hair very short. The people, it is also said, wrote on palm leaves and
were excellent astronomers. The produce sent as presents, the trade to East and West,
and the manner of wearing the hair, are all so essentially Malayali, that it is difficult to
resist the conclusion that the ambassador must have been sent from some place on the
Malabar Coast. END OF QUOTE.
‘Indian nation?’ There was no Indian nation at that time. It could have been
any of the mutually competing kingdoms consisting of mutually different populations;
and inside each kingdom, mutually antagonistic populations.
‘small lock of hair’ is the Kudumi of which Rev. Samuel Mateer had done a
detailed chapter in his book Native Life in Travancore. The Kudumi was a mark of
caste distinction. Higher caste symbol. So again the word ‘Malayali’ can be mentioned
as being used to denote the higher castes.
As to writing on palm leaves, well, that was a general norm in many locations
in the subcontinent and may be elsewhere also. For there was no paper available then.
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‘conclusion that the ambassador must have been sent from some place on the
Malabar Coast’. This is literally the signature glow of self-importance being sort in any
and every incident. That, it is us who were the people! The actual fact is that there
could have been many similar persons from various locations in the subcontinent. Or it
might be true that only one single person managed to do this in the whole of the
history of the subcontinent!
The quirkiness will be better understood if a similar type of sentence-making is

done by the native-English. ‘Oh, that was us, this was us, only we the English could
have done it, &c.’
QUOTE: Contemporary grants do not record that Kerala became at this time
tributary to the Western Chalukya king, but in a forged grant of about the tenth
century it is recorded END OF QUOTE.
The word ‘Kerala’ is the mischievous insertion, done quite obviously with
malicious planning. As to the word ‘forged’, it is like the kettle calling the pot black. This
book ostensibly written by William Logan is a classic example of such a record. The
only location where it has some elevated standards are the locations where Logan
himself did the writing. However, why he did not mention that fact very frankly might
be due to him being not a native-English gentleman. He was a Scottish gentleman. May
be if one were to study the verbal codes inside Gaelic, more information in this regard
might be forthcoming.
QUOTE: It is not improbable that the Chalukyas entered into separate

tributary relations with the Kerala ruler at this time. END OF QUOTE
QUOTE: And the isolated position of the Keralas behind their mountains
would render it easier to detach them than any of the other combined powers. END
OF QUOTE.
QUOTE: The Gangas or Kongus (as Malayalis call them) must have followed
their suzerain in his southern raid, and not improbably drove the Keralas inside their
mountain limits at this time (c . A.D. 680-96). END OF QUOTE.
QUOTE: It is doubtful whether after this time (early part of the ninth century
A.D.) the Rashtrakuta dynasty had any dealings directly with Kerala. The invaders were
probably driven back, as Malayali tradition indeed asserts. END OF QUOTE.
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QUOTE: There are three ancient Malayali deeds which have excited much
interest, not only because of their antiquity, but because of the interesting fact that by
them the ancient kings of Kerala conferred on the Jewish and Christian colonies certain
privileges which those colonies, to a certain extent, do still possess. END OF QUOTE.
At the time of writing this book, the words ‘Malayali deeds’ and ‘ancient kings
of Kerala’ are more or less the version of history that was being superimposed upon
Malabar from the Travancore side. And that side had a wonderful agent right inside
Malabar: QUOTE: most erudite of Malayalam scholars, Dr. H. Gundert. END OF
QUOTE.
Dr. H. Gundert was so erudite a Malayalam scholar that he simply could not
sense that there was a language in Malabar which did not need any artificial creation or
the inputs from Sanskrit and Tamil.
Indeed it is possible that the ancient
script of the Malabari language was slyly
relocated to Central Travancore with the
help of people like him. Otherwise, the
Malayalam script must have been created
by the Central Travancore Converted
Christians, which seems more
impossible.
QUOTE: Chera, or to use its

better known Canarese equivalent
Kerala, was at this time (end of seventh
to first quarter of ninth century) a petty
empire extending in a southerly direction
at least as far as Quilon, and in a northerly direction at least as far as Calicut. END OF
QUOTE.
It is an interesting contention that the word Chera was mentioned as Kerala by

the Canarese. Could it be true?
And the next item is more perplexing. That the Canarese had no geographical
connection with Kerala. For, this Chera kingdom is mentioned as from Calicut to
Quilon. That means, it did not include north Malabar.
The wider issue with all these minute histories is that there is practically
nothing worth studying in these histories, other than periodic battles and takeovers,
and the names of a number of minute rulers. There is no instance of any real
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administrative set ups, or welfare or education or infrastructural developments

mentioned. Similar histories in millions would come out when technology makes a
breakthrough and human beings become able to communicate with ants.
For instance, see what all things are coming out of Chinese history nowadays.
Some thirty years back, China was like an unknown land. Now that it is connected to
native-English nations, (Hong Kong was handed over to China in a bout of absolute
idiotism by England, for one), hundreds of minutes information are coming out. Just
like in the case of the ants, I just mentioned. If BPO work can then be assigned to ants,
they will for sure take away a huge percentage of human wealth.
QUOTE: These three names are, so far as investigations have yet proceeded,
the only really authentic names known of the kings or Perumals of ancient Chera or
Kerala. And the last named of them is probably identical with the Cheraman Perumal
(a title meaning literally the bigman of the Cheras), whose name is in the mouth of
every child on the coast. END OF QUOTE.
It takes a lot of verbal power to mention ‘Chera or Kerala’. However, the

individuals who conspired to doctor the writings in this book were not persons with
mean mental capability. They were literally experts in this art.
Then about the claim: ‘whose name is in the mouth of every child on the
coast’. Does not this claim seem to be quite insipid?
QUOTE: Under such circumstances it becomes easy to understand how

institutions existed unchanged for centuries, and how some of the influential families
(continued when necessary by adoptions from allied families) who ruled the nads in the
eighth and ninth centimes A.D. still continued to rule them when the British acquired
the country in 1792. END OF QUOTE
This assertion actually points to an ignorance. In a feudal language social

ambience, people try to connect to family names and verbal titles that connect them to
powerful locations. It helps in dominating others in a feudal language communication.
Apart from that, the various incidences in the history as mentioned in this
book itself stands as testimony that in each generation and even inside each family,
feuds, mutinies, backstabbing, treachery, usurping of power, forming antagonistic
groups etc. are the norm than the exception. However, with the arrival of the English
rule, all traditional royal families more or less went into oblivion and the rest of the
populations came to the fore, in a very slow and steady pace. This pace turned into a
rumble only when the location was handed over to Hindi-India.
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QUOTE: Lord William Bentinck wrote in 1804 that there was one point in
regard to the character of the inhabitants of Malabar, on which all authorities, however
diametrically opposed to each other on other points, agreed, and that was with regard
to the “independence of mind” of the inhabitants., This “independence of mind” was
“generally diffused through the minds of the people. They are described as being
extremely sensible of good treatment, and impatient of oppression; to entertain a high
respect for courts of judicature, and to be extremely attached to their customs END
OF QUOTE.
This so-called independence of mind is not actually an independence of mind

as understood in English. It is simply that people who do not fall in line as obsequious
followers, display this tendency. Generally when people learn English they fall out of
line. That is only one part of them. The other part is that where the language is very
feudal to a particular section of the society, those affected persons are seen as quite
reliable, honest, dependable and ‘respecting’ towards those who suppress them. To
those who do not suppress them, they do not concede ‘respect’. To such persons, they
are not reliable, honest, dependable or ‘respecting’.
There is also a more complicated code work in this. I cannot go into that here.
As to Lord William Bentinck mentioning anything, it is quite possible that

many similar wordings can be influenced by their subordinates who are natives of this
subcontinent. Some of the writings even may be written by these official subordinates
of theirs.
QUOTE: The Kerala Brahmans are said to use Malayalam. END OF QUOTE.
What was that? Malabar Brahmans or Travancore Brahmans? How could the
Travancore Brahmans have used Malayalam in the days of yore when the native-
language therein was Tamil? If it is Malabar Brahmans, then they might be using what
can now be called Malabari.
QUOTE: There can be little doubt that it was at this time (first half of the
ninth century A.D.) that the Malayalam-speaking races became consolidated within the
limits which they occupy down to the present day. At the time mentioned, as these
deeds show, Malayalam and Tamil were practically one language, at least in their
written form. From that time forward Malayalam and the Malayalam races began to
draw apart from Tamil and the races east of the ghats. Shut in by their mountain walls
except at the Palghat gap, the Malayalis became in time a distinct race, and, owing to
their excellent political constitution, which on the one hand kept them free from the
aggressions of their neighbours, and on the other hand maintained steadfastly among
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themselves the ancient order of things, there is little wonder that they presented
through many succeeding centuries the example of a Hindu community of the purest
and most characteristic type. END OF QUOTE.
The term ‘Malayalam-speaking races’ is a very cunning insertion. Which more

or less strives to erase the existence of Malabari people.
Again, the assertion that ‘Malayalam and Tamil were practically one language’
actually is about Travancore. There is no evidence that the Shamanistic spiritual
chanting of north Malabar that moved across the centuries was in Tamil language.
The sentence that ‘they presented through many succeeding centuries the
example of a Hindu community of the purest and most characteristic type’ could be
utter nonsense. For inside north Malabar, there was the Marumakkathaya Thiyyas who
were at loggerheads with the Makkathaya Thiyyas of south Malabar.
Furthermore there was the north Malabar Nayars who could not bear the
Nayars of south Malabar.
Then there were the Brahmins and the Ambalavasis above them, who had
their own reason to keep the others at definite social distances.
There were the lower castes who came under both the Thiyyas who the
Thiyyas could not bear. This much is about Malabar.
About Travancore there would be corresponding items with regard to the

populations therein. This much is a standard attitude all over the subcontinent and in
all locations which have feudal languages.
QUOTE: Both Pandyans and Cholas apparently struggled for the mastery, and
the latter appear to have driven back the Kongus or Gangas and so freed Kerala, END
OF QUOTE
So it appears that the Cholas were to appear as a sort of freedom fighters of

‘Kerala’. What all wonderful claims about a nation or state or kingdom that was yet to
be created!
QUOTE: an expedition (probably of Kongus or Gangas) from Mysore was

driven back when attempting an invasion of Kerala via the Palghat gap. END OF
QUOTE.
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The idea of the silliness of this ‘Kerala’ word can be understood if the national
attitude of renaming historical place names can be seen being done even now.
For instance, in this book, the places names are like this: Calicut, Cannanore,
Trivandrum, Cochin, Quilon, Tellicherry, Badagara, Sultan’s Battery, Manantody etc.
If one were to view the insipid India pages on Wikipedia, it would be seen that
all these names are fast vanishing. For instance, Logan is seen connected to
Thalasherry, and not Tellicherry. In the case of other names, local vernacular names
such as Kozhikode, Kannur, Tiruvanandapuram, Kochi, Kollam, Thalasherry,
Vadakara, Sulthaan Batheri, Mananthavady etc. are being seen.
There is always the question as to who gave these modern ‘geniuses’ the right
to make changes into words and names that have existed for almost a thousand years,
and more, in use all over the world?
It is like the trees in the forests of Wynad district in Kerala. Every day, lorry
loads of trees are being felled and stolen. Till the place came into the hands of the
‘Indians’, the trees and the forest have survived. The moment the place was in the
hands of the ‘Indian geniuses’, the trees and forests have been ‘changed’. Who gave
them the right to make these changes on forest lands that have existed for thousands
of years is the moot point.
QUOTE: although the Ballalas took Canara which they called Kerala it does
not yet appear that they had anything to do with Kerala proper, that is, Malabar. END
OF QUOTE.
Look at the issues here: Canara location is mentioned as Kerala. Then the
connecting of the word ‘Kerala proper’ with Malabar. As if it is a foregone conclusion
that there was a Kerala, and it was Malabar. And if so, what about Travancore?
QUOTE: Somesekhara Nayakha, the thirteenth of this line of Bednur Rajas,

pushed his forces across the Malayali frontier END OF QUOTE
What kind of frontier was that, in an age when the new language of Malayalam
was yet to be born? Or could it simply mean the other Malayalam, which can now only
be mentioned as Malabari?
QUOTE: The European looks to the soil, and nothing but the soil. The
Malayali on the contrary looks chiefly to the people located on the soil. END OF
QUOTE.
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There are evident attempts to mix up the English with Continental Europeans
of whom Gundert was one. And the Malayali of Malabar was the Nayar of Malabar. Or
it can be the Brahman and the Ambalavasis. Coule the above statement mean that the
Nayar of Malabar were egalitarian? For these people are looking at the people.
It is all quite laughable content. If the comparison is between the native-

English and the Brahmans and their supervisor castes, the fact is that the latter were
terrible oppressors of human beings. Their very language could hammer down a lower
caste person. However, there is also the other side to it. If the lower castes are allowed
the upper hand, they would hammer down the upper castes.
In this scenario, the above-quoted statement is just a very insidious attempt to

cast some kind of halo on a very sinister social system and claim it to be in some ways
superior. The statement has no meaning beyond a very limited context.
QUOTE: This essential difference between a Roman dominus and a Malayali

janmi was unfortunately not perceived or not, understood at the commencement of the
British administration. END OF QUOTE.
What a perfectly cunning idea to insert a Roman link into the discussion. The
issue at stake is the entry of a planar-language social system and it taking command of
the social system. This was inserting changes in whole social communication. The old
system of human suppression was slowly getting erased. There is no need to compare a
Roman dominus and a feudal-language-speaking janmi. However, the native-English side did
not understand this point. Their official subordinates were quite cunning. They
misrepresent almost all the items which they were asked to explain.
The basic idea that the administration was run by native-English speakers does
not seem to have entered the thick skull of the cunning person who wrote the above
quote. It was not a Roman colony that was being built.
QUOTE: First, as to the Malayali mode of determining, or rather of stating,

the extent of grain-crop lands END OF QUOTE.
The word Malayali and the impression that there was some great system of
determining the grain-crop lands. It is most possible that in the centuries of continual
strife no great system was evolved other than the quite easy item of keeping a great
part of the population as slaves.
QUOTE: It is suggested in the text that Keralam was at this time more or less
under the Western Chalukya kings END OF QUOTE.
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The word ‘Keralam’ has thus been used everywhere, without any trace of this
kingdom Keralam in existence. However, the desperation to promote a ‘Keralam’ is
felt all throughout.
QUOTE: In the year that runs for the Kolavalan (or Keralavalan ?) END OF
QUOTE
There is haste to connect anything to Kerala.
See these three QUOTEs:

In Malayalam the tree = pilavu ; its fruit == chakka, whence Jack.
after it has been dug by the mamutty or spade
( == custody, protection) and Sanskrit phalam (? Dravidian palam). END OF
QUOTES.
Pilavu is the Malabari words for Jacktree. The Malayalam word is Plavu. It is
possible that Malayalam picked up this word from Malabari, or some other language
and made a change in it. Or vice versa.
Mamutty might be the Mannuvetty മ െവ ി in Malayalam. In Malabari, it is

generally Padanna പട and Kaikkottu ൈകേ ാ ്.
QUOTE: There is still extant a poem entitled the Payyannur Pattola, described
by Doctor Gundert as "certainly the oldest specimen of Malayalam composition which
I have seen” END OF QUOTE.
Since Gundert cannot be a disinterested person in promoting Malayalam, it is

good to consider this information from this perspective.
For it is QUOTE: replete with obscure terms free from any anachronisms
END OF QUOTE
Obscure from the perspective of Travancore Malayalam.
And there is this also: QUOTE: The son grows up and is instructed by his
father in all the arts of trade and shipbuilding (given in interesting detail, full of
obsolete words) END OF QUOTE.
Obsolete words from the Travancore Malayalam perspective, possibly. Even

now, many Malabari words are totally incomprehensible in Travancore Malayalam.
Even though, vested interests might try to use the term ‘dialect’ to explain away this,
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the fact is that if the word ‘dialect’ is justifiable, then Tamil can be claimed as a lower
quality dialect of Travancore Malayalam. However, that might not be the exact truth.
I am posting here a few quotes from this book, Malabar. It is about the
various locations where un-deciphered language / scripts had been located. It may be
mentioned that nothing of an extremely grand quality is seen mentioned. Almost all are
of very low technological standards from a physical point of view.
Beyond that, the items mentioned here as un-deciphered or un-understood in

this book might have changed from that definition over the years. However, the rough
idea here is to insert a thought that the history of this location is not so simple as
mentioned in Keralolpathi. What is complicated is Keralolpathi itself. As to who wrote
it, for what sinister purpose, is an item worthy of intelligent pondering.
QUOTEs:
1. Kunhimangalam - Ramathali narayam Kannur temple - Contains
Vatteluttu inscriptions which have not yet been deciphered
2. Kuttiyattur temple - In the gate of the temple is a stone bearing an

inscription not as yet read—in characters stated to be unknown
3. Their language is Malayalam, which is usually written in the Arabic

character, except in Minicoy where Mahl with a mixture of corrupt
Malayalam is spoken.
[My note: There might be more to it. The Malayalam which is mentioned to
use Arabic script might be the Malabari language mixed up with Arabic. It is
quite curious that the writers of this book are ready to acknowledge the
existence of Mahl. However, they act blind to the existence of a language in
Malabar which was quite distinct from both the newly created Malayalam of
Central Travancore as well as Tamil.]
4. In Edacheri, 5 miles from Badagara, Bhagavati temple called Kaliyampalli

temple - There is an inscription on a slab in unknown characters.
5. In Muttungal amsam, Vellikulangara desam, 4 miles north of Badagara,

there is a Siva temple. Outside the temple, there is a slab with inscription
in an unknown language
6. In Karayad amsam, Tiruvangur desam, 6 miles from Quilandi, there is a

Siva temple called Tiruvangur - on a granite rock at the temple there is an
inscription in unknown characters
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7. Panangod. A ruined and deserted temple, on the eastern wall of the porch
of which is an inscription in unknown characters.
8. Ponmeri. In the Siva temple is an ancient inscription on a broken slab in

unknown characters.
9. There is a temple said to exist in the Brahmagiri mountains. There are

some old copper plate grants in this temple in the Vatteluthu (വെ ഴു ു)
character which have not yet been deciphered.
10. At Putati is a temple known as Arimula Ayyappan temple, on the east wall
of the mandapam of which is an inscription, dated K.A. 922 (A.D. 1746),
in a mixture of four languages.
11. On the hill known as Nalapat chala kunnu is a stone having an inscription
in old Tamil on two sides. It has not yet been read.
12. In Nagaram amsam, in Machchinde mosque, is a slab let into the wall,
having an inscription in Arabic, Canarese and an unknown language.
13. Two miles above the Mammalli ferry on the Ernad or south bank of the
river lies Chattamparamba. There are many tombs here. The pottery,
which is found in abundance in these tombs, is of a very varied character
and quite different to anything manufactured in recent times.
14. Walluvanad: The language spoken is Malayalam, except in the case of

foreigners. In the Attappadi valley, however, the inhabitants, who are quite
ignorant and without any education, speak a form, of Canarese.
[My note: Which Malayalam? Malabari or the newly created Malayalam
from Central Travancore?]
15. Pudiyangadi jamath mosque at Tanur: A granite slab on one of the steps
of the northern gate bears an inscription. The writing has not yet been
read.
16. Deed no. 27 (AD. 1723) -The original is in Vatteluttu character. The copy
from which this translation was made was obtained from Kilepatt Teyyan
Menon of Walluvanad Taluk, Malabar.
17. Edappal: In front of the temple there are some granite sculptures and also
a slab of the same material bearing an inscription in Vattezuthu characters,
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some of which having now become indistinct, the writing has not been
deciphered.
18. Kodakkal: The Triprangod temple - The raised stone foundation of a

pillar of the building consecrated to Krishna here bears a long inscription.
The writing cannot be deciphered locally.
It may be mentioned that the Keralolpathi might be a fake history book

written with some much focused ulterior aims. That of creating a false history, which
promotes a ‘Kerala’ image in the minds of the peoples in Travancore and Malabar.
There are other things that come to the mind. One is the fact that there were
actually two different astrology versions. One for Malabar and the other for
Travancore. Then there is the issue of the KollaVarsham calendars. The name of the
Calendar is seen attributed to the Quilon Kollam (south of Travancore) by some.
However, it could very well have been connected to the Kollam, north of Calicut.
Beyond all this, there is another anomaly. The Kollavarsham calendar year commences
from the first of Chingam in the Travancore version. In the Malabar version, it
commences from the first of Kanni.
The effect of the imposition of ‘Kerala’ on Malabar had been so effective, that
the Malabar Calendar has been pushed into oblivion.
As to the astrological calendar, it would only be intelligent to understand that

the signs of the zodiac are actually all mere translation version of some global
astrological repository. The names of the Zodiac as seen in both the Malabari as well
as the Travancore versions might be the same. It would be interesting to know what is
the year-commencing months in the Canara and Tamil astrological systems.
Whether the Keralolpathi does give any explanations for this commencing
month dichotomy, between the Malabar Calendar and the Travancore Calendar, is not
known to me.
I have not read the Keralolpathi, even though I do have a pdf version with me.
I have not had the time to go through it. However, from the general comments I have
seen about it, it would not surprise me if it is found that it is the handiwork of the
converted to Christian groups. Most probably managed by some Church authorities.
Gundert himself might be a collaborator. After all, his aim was to enrich and promote
the newly-created language of Malayalam of Travancore. And it would have been a
very satisfying event for him to see that the newly converted to Christians from
Travancore at last got their richly deserved private lands; after so many centuries of
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terror, starvation and enslavement under the higher castes of Travancore. They who
had been treated as cattle ultimately came to posses land.
However, only the gods can save those they suppressed under them! After all,
in a feudal language system, everyone tries to suppress others.
As is evident from what came forth from this book, it may safely be
mentioned that this book, Malabar, did not augur good for Malabar. It was indeed this
very book that might have been used for the ultimate destruction and demise of
Malabar. William Logan was at best quite gullible and also a bit egoistic. For, he has
not anywhere categorically mentioned the amount of inputs others had inserted into
the book, for which he has taken the credit. However, there is one location where he
had great misgiving about the contents. But then, he stops short of admitting the
reality, and tries to hide behind another statement:
QUOTE: These views are not to be taken as an authoritative exposition of this

most difficult subject, which requires further study and a more detailed elucidation
than the author has been able to give to it. END OF QUOTE.
The contents in that chapter are quite obviously belittling the English
endeavours. There are statements which categorically mention that the ‘ancient systems
of the Malayalis’ were better than what the English administration bestowed.
QUOTE: Mahe was at first a place of considerable importance and trade, but
after wards, having fallen so frequently into the hands of the English, the settlement
and its trade suffered ; END OF QUOTE
This is a nonsensical writing. Falling into the English hands was much better
than falling into the hands of any of the other contenders for power, both native as
well as outsiders. It is stated that the town was burnt and the fortification razed to the
ground. Actually, this kind of understatements that give a totally anti-English mood is
there in this book. It is not a book which William Logan seems to have had much
control on. It might be true to say that he was literally taken for a ride by his native
officials, who inserted their own insidious agenda into the book.
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Malabar Manual
Superstitions
As a book on Malabar, there should be some information on the superstitions
and belief systems of Malabar. Moreover, there should be some information on the
widely practised Shamanistic spiritual worship systems in vogue. However, only very
little is mentioned on these lines. It again points to the stranglehold the Nayar caste
officials had on this book. There seems to be an aims to simply avoid items in which
they had not much leadership on.
The evil-eye is mentioned, off course. The wider side of this phenomenon is
that it might not be a simple superstition at all. For, the evil-eye can actually be a fact.
For, the language is feudal. There is either dichotomy or trichotomy in the verbal
codes. These verbal codes do act and react with the codes of reality in manners which
are quite different from how the English
verbal codes act with it. For more
information on this, the reader is requested
to check this book: Software codes of
mantra, tantra, witchcraft, black magic, evil
eye, evil tongue &c.
Talking about superstitions of

Malabar, there was a very striking wizardry
ritual in practise in the land. It is the
phenomenon of Odiyan.
I am quoting from Edgar Thurston’s Omens and Superstitions of Southern

India.
QUOTE:
A detailed account of the odi cult, from which the following information was
obtained, is given by Mr Anantha Krishna Iyer. The disciple is taught how to
procure pilla thilum (foetus oil) from the six or seven months foetus of a
young woman in her first pregnancy.
He (the Paraiyan magician) sets out at midnight from his hut to the house of
the woman he has selected, round which he walks several times, shaking a
cocoanut containing gurasi (a compound of water, lime, and turmeric), and
muttering some mantrams to invoke the aid of his deity. He also draws a
yantram (cabalistic figure) on the earth, taking special care to observe the
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omens as he starts. Should they be unfavourable, he puts it off for a more

favourable opportunity.
By the potency of his cult, the woman is made to come out. Even if the door
of the room in which she might sleep be under lock and key, she would
knock her head against it until she found her way out. She thus comes out,
and yields herself to the influence of the magician, who leads her to a retired
spot either in the compound (grounds), or elsewhere in the neighbourhood,
strips her naked, and tells her to lie fiat. She does so, and a chora kindi (gourd,
Lagenaria) is placed close to the uterus. The foetus comes out in a moment. A
few leaves of some plant are applied, and the uterus contracts.
Sometimes the womb is filled with rubbish, and the woman instantly dies.
Care is taken that the foetus does not touch the ground, lest the purpose be
defeated, and the efficacy of the medicine completely lost. It is cut into
pieces, dried, and afterwards exposed to the smoke above a fireplace. It is
then placed in a vessel provided with a hole or two, below which there is
another vessel. The two together are placed in a larger vessel filled with
water, and heated over a bright fire. The heat must be so intense as to affect
the foetus, from which a kind of liquid drops, and collects in the second
vessel in an hour and a half.
The magician then takes a human skull, and reduces it to a fine powder. This
is mixed with a portion of the liquid. A mark is made on the forehead with
this mixture, and the oil is rubbed on certain parts of the body, and he drinks
some cow-dung water. He then thinks that he can assume the figure of any
animal he likes, and successfully achieves the object in view, which is
generally to murder or maim a person.
A magic oil, called angola thilum, is extracted from the angola tree (Alangium
Lamarckii), which bears a very large number of fruits. One of these is
believed to be capable of descending and returning to its position on dark
nights. Its possession can be secured by demons, or by an expert watching at
the foot of the tree. When it has been secured, the extraction of the oil
involves the same operations as those for extracting the pilla thilum, and
they must be carried out within seven hours.
END OF QUOTE.
QUOTE from Edgar Thurston’s Omens and Superstitions of Southern India:

"There are," Mr Govinda Nambiar writes, “certain specialists among
mantravadis (dealers in magical spells), who are known as Odiyans. Conviction is deep-
rooted that they have the power of destroying whomever they please, and that, by
means of a powerful bewitching matter called pilla thilum (oil extracted from the body
of an infant), they are enabled to transform themselves into any shape or form, or even
to vanish into air, as their fancy may suggest.
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When an Odiyan is hired to cause the death of a man, he waits during the
night at the gate of his intended victim's house, usually in the form of a bullock. If,
however, the person is inside the house, the Odiyan assumes the shape of a cat, enters
the house, and induces him to come out. He is subsequently knocked down and
strangled.
The Odiyan is also credited with the power, by means of certain medicines, of
inducing sleeping persons to open the doors, and come out of their houses as
somnambulists do. Pregnant women are sometimes induced to come out of their
houses in this way, and they are murdered, and the foetus extracted from them. Murder
of both sexes by Odiyans was a crime of frequent occurrence before the British
occupation of the country." END OF QUOTE.
In the book Malabar, there is this hint that certain lower castes do inspire
terror and fear among the higher castes. However, there are two items in this fear. One
is directly connected to the feudal verbal codes, which actually have very powerful
destructive power.
However, when speaking from the perspective of superstitions, this is what is

there in this book, Malabar:
QUOTE: and some individuals of the lower classes have a powerful

superstitious influence over the higher castes owing to their supposed efficiency in
creating enchantments and spoils and in bringing misfortunes. END OF QUOTE.
Rev. Samuel Mateer also has made similar mention of how certain lower castes
use this intimidation tactic to ward off the terrible suppression let loose by the higher
castes.
There is this QUOTE: It may be added that the best educated native
gentlemen have even yet hardly got over their objections to photography on the
ground that their enemies may obtain possession of their photographs, and may by
piercing with needles the eyes and other organs, and by powerful incantations, work
them serious mischief. END OF QUOTE.
Actually the above quote is very closely connected to witchcraft, voodoo,

tantra etc. Do these things really work?
There is the wider issue that such British writers as Edgar Thurston, Samuel
Mateer, William Logan etc. have all missed the core element of the local social systems
in the subcontinent. This very core element is that the social system is encompassed by
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feudal languages. These languages do have powers beyond that of mere conveying of
ideas and thoughts.
This is where feudal language might have actual powers quite akin to that of
voodoo and such. It is another topic altogether. Readers can refer to the book I
mentioned.
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Misconnecting with English

There are a number of locations wherein English words are used as seeming
translations for local usages.
See these:
1. Of the hero of the original Tachcholi pat—the Robin Hood of North

Malabar— many traditions are extant.
[My note: Actually the Tachcholi pat or possibly the Vadakkan pattukal
cannot be compared with the native-English stories of Robin Hood. There
is a qualitative difference. In fact, no individual or entity in a feudal
language social system can be compared with anything in a
planar language social system. Both are in totally different
frameworks which have no corresponding elements between
them.]
2. This designation may be exactly reproduced
by the phrase from the *English wedding service in which the
mutual contract of the parties is “for better for worse, for richer for
poorer.”
[My note: This is another instance of trying to find
commonality between two items which cannot be equated to
each other.]
3. probably Commissioner of the Perumal
[My note: The use of the word Commissioner to define a subordinate of a
semi-barbarian ruler has its problems. The word ‘semi-barbarian’ is taken
from Travancore State Manual, in which V Nagam Aiya has very
categorically mentioned the peoples and
cultures of the subcontinent pervious to the
advent of the English rule as ‘semi-barbarian’.]
4. his officers and ministers
[My note: The use of the word ‘officer’ to
define any official in the ancient and medieval
kingdoms in the subcontinent as an ‘officer’ is
just a display of the stark ignorance of what the
word ‘officer’ stands for. In English, an officer
is a gentleman. An official in the subcontinent
and in the three current-day nations formed in
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the subcontinent, viz. Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, who uses words like
Thoo/Nee, USS / Avan / Aval, Eda / Edi etc. to a citizen of the nation
cannot be mentioned as an officer and a gentleman. Mentioning them as
officer is a stark misuse of the word. From this perspective, the above-
mentioned nations do not have any officers at all in their service, other
than for the exceptions to prove the rule.]
5. Ordered with the sanction of the Palace-major Vyaraka Devar,
6. either the hereditary military commandant of the Desam
7. Pandarappad, treasury officials
8. he was, in short, chairman.
9. Hydros Kutti who was, it is said, the Commissioner appointed by Hyder
Ali
[My note: 5 to 9 are other examples of this misuse of English words.]
10. I have heard well authenticated cases of Englishmen, who have shot three
and four cow bison of a day and have left them to rot where they fell.
This is a very curious location. For,

the point is that the Englishmen are seen as
having acted quite un-English. However, there
is a wider explanation to all this, that is rarely
noted down.
Imagine a person from the

subcontinent going to England and doing the
same. Will it be allowed in England? It is most preposterous idea that such an attempt
would be allowed or condoned. Off course, there are items over there that can be
mentioned to say that in that nation also such things occur. I will not go into those
items here. For, it will only confuse the issues.
The point is that when a native-Englishman comes to the subcontinent, it is

the others here who tell them what to do, what is allowed and how they should act. In
almost all these cases, the natives of the subcontinent give advices which are in sync
with their own mentality.
For instance, there are many photos on display nowadays showing white-
skinned persons in circumstances which look quite at odds with an English attitude.
That of them, standing along with a tiger they had shot. Or them going in a hand-
pulled cycle-rickshaw pulled by a very dried-up person. That of well-dressed English
men and women in the midst of very poor looking natives of the subcontinent. There
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are photos of the poor natives of the

subcontinent bowing before Englishmen
who are sitting on a very comfortable
leaning chair, with the legs stretched out.
If a person looks at these pictures

and start creating a huge understanding of
how the Englishmen and women behaved
in the subcontinent based on these images,
he or she will be making a grievous
mistake.
These are pictures that actually picture the actual state of the land, into which
the Englishmen and women are mere momentary insertions. I will explain this
statement.
One of my parents was an officer of the Madras State Civil Service which had
been an immediate continuation of the Madras Presidency Civil Service. All the officers
of this service then in the 1950s were quite good in English. My parent worked in the
Malabar district. The very noticeable difference that these officers had from the later-
day Kerala government ‘officers’, was that they generally communicated to each other
in English. As to referring to or talking about a common man, who had come to the
office or to the officer’s house with any help request was that, the words in English ‘he
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/ him/ she/ her etc. were used. If the Malabari or Malayalam word had to be used, the
word of reference would usually be ‘Ayaal’.
Yet, in the case of a lower stature common man, like a labourer, agricultural
labourer, financially low agriculturalist etc., even though they are addressed with a
decent word like ‘Ningal’, they invariably bent and bow and show all kinds of
obeisance and servitude. Even though at times, they are told not to exhibit these
kinds of servile behaviours, it is not possible to do a personality enhancement training
upon each person. So, in general, the officers do not take much efforts to tell them to
stand straight.
For the social training in subservience is part of the feudal language training
that is automatically there in the social system.
Now, look at this picture.
It is quite easy to think that it is the English officials who are oppressing them.
Actually the truth would be that these people approach the English officials with the
full understanding that they would get help without any strings attached only from
them. When they display any kind of worshipful-ness, it is actually their expression of
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pleading for help, in a terrible social system in which each individual is out to suppress
another. That is how feudal languages are designed.
In many contrived history books, one might see refined-looking English

colonial residences. And along with them, are shown terribly shoddy residences of the
poverty-stricken natives of the subcontinent. These kind of picture combinations are
deliberate attempts at misguiding.
For, the subcontinent was full of extremely rich and affluent landlords. Their
residences are literally unapproachable for the lower classes and castes of the land. The
cunning history textbooks never attempt to showcase the terrible differences between
the residences of the native rich and the native poor. Actually the native poor are not
actually ‘poor’. They are various levels of slaves.
And even the word ‘slave’ would not suffice.

For, if the negro slaves of the USA are taken into
account, from all perspectives, they are very much
higher than the ordinary lower class and lower caste
individuals of the subcontinent.
The lower caste / class individuals of the

subcontinent are addressed and referred to in the
pejorative word level of verbal codes. That is, they
are addressed with the lowest You, and referred to
with the lowest he/him, she/her. Once a person is
thus defined at the bottom end of a hierarchical
social ladder, their very sight, touch, seeing etc.
become items of acute repulsion and inauspicious.
They are not allowed to sit on a chair or to eat at a table. In all reference to
them, a verbal code adjective of ‘despicable dirt’ would get encoded. In fact, if anyone
arrives at this level of subordination under a feudal-language speaker from the
subcontinent, within a few generations, the individuals would look terribly degraded.
(Let the native-English population of England beware, and take appropriate pre-
emptive steps to forestall this eventuality!)
However, each level would strive to get someone under them. For, that would
provide an upward thrust in social buoyancy.
Apart from all this, when viewing the old colonial pictures, there are certain
more information that have to be borne in mind.
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One is that inside British-India, everything was perfectly administered as per

written codes of law. However, only around half of the subcontinent was British-India.
The rest were independent kingdoms. These independent kingdoms stuck close to
British-India due to the fabulous connection to England it provided. Most had alliance
treaties with the British-Indian government. A British-Indian resident was posted in
many of the kingdoms to advice the kings on various items. It was as a sort of a
representative of the British-Indian government in a semi-barbarian kingdom.
Yet, the kingdoms were independent. They had their own traditional customs,
social systems, officialdom (most of them corrupt to the core), police, judiciary etc.
They allowed many things which would not be allowed inside British-India.
In fact, inside British-India, even Christian missionary work was prohibited.

Inside Travancore, this was allowed.
Apart from all this, there is this fact also. British-Indian government was an
English government. Yet, there were people from Irish, Scottish, Welsh nativity and
even Continental Europeans working in the government apart from a huge percent of
natives of the subcontinent.
To that extent, the government was not English fully.
To add to this error, all White-skinned persons inside the subcontinent were
very easily identified as British. And the British were very cunningly identified as
Europeans. However, the fact remains that in most of the big battles fought against
the British inside the subcontinent, a major chunk of the soldiery were Continental
Europeans. In fact, it might be very easy to mention that most of the ‘freedom fights’
inside the subcontinent against the British rule, were fought by Continental Europeans.
Not only in the Battle of Plassey, but even in the fights by the Mysorean rulers Hyder
Ali and Sultan Tippu, there were a lot of Continental Europeans.
Why these Continental European ‘freedom fighters’ are not mentioned or

celebrated inside Pakistan and India is a very funny query, that can be asked. For they
antedate most of the current-day mentioned ‘great freedom fighters of India’. If this
point looks quite odd, then it might be mentioned that most of the so-called ‘freedom-
fighters’ were not from British-India. Hyder Ali was from Morocco. So naturally his
son Tippu was also not Indian or British-Indian. Gandhi was not from British-India.
Travancoreans cannot be mentioned as freedom fighters, against the British-rule. For,
their kingdom was not ruled by the British.
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Malabar Manual
Arab supporter Mappillas of Malabar were not fighting for the ‘freedom of
India’. Their actual loyalty was to the king of Egypt.
See this QUOTE about how Hyder Ali made use of the European regiment
which fought on his side :
QUOTE: The Europeans inspired the Malabars with a new terror by this
exploit ; and Hyder, to increase it, spread a report that he expected many thousand
men from Europe ; he added that they were a cruel people and devourers of human flesh, and
that his intention was to deliver all the coast to their outrages. The rage and fury by which
his small handful of French were urged on to revenge their murdered countrymen gave much
force to the belief the wretched inhabitants were disposed to afford to his reports.
Wherever he turned he found no opponent, nor even any human creature ; every
inhabited place was forsaken ; and the poor inhabitants, who fled to the woods and
mountains in the most inclement season, had the anguish to behold their houses in
flames, their fruit-trees cut down, their cattle destroyed, and their temples burnt. END
OF QUOTE
The above is a sample of the ‘great’ ‘Indian freedom fights’.
Many persons from Continental Europe did piggy-back ride on England inside
the subcontinent. And the British officials were quite foolish not to pick them out and
throw them out of their areas of administration. In fact, Gundert who is celebrated by
many academic scholars was a German. He should not have been allowed to be
anywhere near to any English administrative systems.
When viewing pictures showing White people in very cantankerous postures,

where is the evidence that they are British or English? And if they are British or
English, what of the location where the photo was taken? Was it in British-India or in
an independent kingdom in the subcontinent? And if they are from British-India, what
about the possibility that they were being misguided into such awkward behaviour by
their own staff-members from the sub-continent and by other local chiefs?
A very powerful example can be mentioned in making many of them Saabs

and Memsaabs. These are feudal ennobling words used in Hindi. It is not something
brought from England. I have seen many local rascals use this example to mention that
the English were feudal oppressive people. Actually, these words are pressed upon the
local people by the local staff members of the English administration. However, when
the administration is in such lousy feudal language like Hindi, this is the only way to
communicate with a government officials. As of now, the common Indian is a Thoo
while the Government official is an Aap. And no one dares to complain!
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English administration was pro-English language. Not supportive of any low-

class human degrading language like Hindi &c. of the sub-continent.
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Feudal language
As I have mentioned a few times earlier, the native-English officials did not
understand the trigger-codes inside the local feudal languages. The very concept of
feudal languages is very difficult for a native-Englishman to grasp. Actually the whole
lot of terrors, repulsions, negativities &c. and such other more obscure items like evil-
eye etc. are very intimately connected to the verbal codes inside feudal language. I have
already done some writing on this in this book.
The problem that the native-English faced without knowing it, was that even
their most loyal and reliable native-of-the-subcontinent subordinate would be having
his own mental repulsions and terrors, which could influence what suggestions and
information he can provide them. A single word can change a person’s demeanour.
This is actually what the native-Englishmen face here.
It is not a change of word from ‘good’ to ‘bad’ or anything like that. It is

simply changing a word like ‘You’ from the highest one to the next level down or even
to the lowest level. Like changing ‘Saar / Thaangal (highest you) to Ningal (middle
level you ) or to Nee (lowest level you).
The native-English would make a deal or a contract or a commitment with

someone from the subcontinent. He is found to be reliable and honest. But then, on
his way back somewhere, someone uses a different form of He / Him or You / Your
etc. The moment this indicant word level changes, he is a different man.
It is simply like this: A man addressed as a Ningal is suddenly addressed as a

Nee. He is different person with different mental trigger points. These are things on
which the shallow subjects called Psychology and Psychiatry have very little
information.
QUOTE taken from elsewhere: Hwen Thsang’s first impressions of the

people inhabiting northwest of the subcontinent were recorded as follows, “The
people are accustomed to a life of ease and prosperity and they like to sing. However,
they are weak-minded and cowardly, and they are given to deceit and treachery. In their
relations with each other, there is much trickery and the little courtesy. These people
are small in size and unpredictable in their movements. END OF QUOTE.
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Actually, the very opposite of these observations would also be true. It

depends on the frame on which the person is connected to, his own personal stature
relative to others, and the relative stability of the indicant words attached to him.
Now, let me take some quote from this book, Malabar.
QUOTE: It was, in fact, not a village establishment at all, and instead of

"bringing the Collector more immediately into contact with the people, it only served
to lengthen the chain, already too long, of officials between them. END OF QUOTE.
Establishing an English administration in a feudal language society is a very

tough job. It is like this: An ordinary labourer goes into the local revenue office and
says to the revenue officer: “Mr. Rajan, Can you please tell me when I can get my tax
papers?”
From an English perspective, this statement is quite decent and polite.

However, if an ordinary worker were to say these words in the same spirit of personal
dignity, either the revenue official will go unconscious or he will go off his rocker.
QUOTE: Sthana Mana avakasam END OF QUOTE (Rights connected to

social stature and position).
Actually, there is no right to equal status before the law in the feudal languages of
the land. This right to equality before the law is there only in the Constitution of India
written in English. When this Constitution of India is translated into the language of
India, the Constitution itself is degraded. For everything it professes goes illogical.
How can an Avan /Aval (lowest he / she) be equal to an Adheham /Avar

(highest He / Him)? This very simple question cannot be answered by the
Constitution, the moment it gets translated into the human-degrading feudal languages
of India.
Sthanam means position. Manam means status. Avakasam means rights.
This connects to the Rights or privileges that accrue to one, as per one’s Status
connected to one’s Position in society or officialdom.
QUOTE: Each amsam or parish has now besides the Adhikari or man of
authority, headman, an accountant or writer styled a Menon (literally, superior man),
and two or more Kolkars (club men or peons), END OF QUOTE.
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It was actually a misdeed to give powers to these native Adhikaris. They were
the repositories of feudal suppression using verbal codes. In fact, in Edgar Thurston’s’
Castes and Tribes of Southern India, it is seen recorded that the lower castes
individuals at times did use some kind of abusive words to the higher castes. Then the
Adhikaris would come with a few henchmen, drag the accused to a remote hut and
have him thrashed soundly. After that he would be tied up for a few days in the hut.
What was the abusive word he must have uttered? Just a lower indicant form
of He/ Him or She/Her or You / Your to a higher caste man or addressed him by
mere name. Higher caste means technically ‘officialdom’.
[Even now, the Indian officialdom has to be mentioned in the higher

‘respected’ form of word codes. Otherwise he or she is done for. The official cannot
be addressed by name in India. The common man can be addressed by mere name and
abused by lower level indicant codes. No one sees a crime in this, even though the
Constitution of India holds this as a crime of the first order. ]
When the English rule was getting stronger, it is true that the lower castes took
it as a sign that they were becoming more free. It was a very dangerous idea. And the
English administrators did not really understand what was happening.
QUOTE: Even in modern English some persons of the verb retain archaic
fragments of the pronominal signs (e.g. lovest, loveth) ; but in modern Malayalam
every trace of these signs has disappeared. END OF QUOTE.
This is the level of utter nonsensical language study that was going on. The
Nayars and their higher castes never informed the native-English that there were more
deeper things in the local languages than silly grammar rule issues.
QUOTE: The Vedic Brahmans (Nambutiris ) were, of and are still it may be
added, the last persons in the world to approve of educating the commonalty, for that
would have tended to take from themselves the monopoly of learning they so long
possessed. END OF QUOTE.
This is a very powerful statement. However, it is not a revelation about the

Vedic Brahmans or any other higher castes. This is the general character of all persons
who live in feudal languages. It is a well-known item that if the lower-placed
populations are allowed to get the knowledge and skills of the higher placed people,
the lower-placed populations will improve beyond any level that they can naturally
arrive at. Once they reach the top, a vertical flipping will occur in the verbal codes. The
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Avan will become Adheham. Then this new Adheham will fling the old Adheham
down to the dirty ditch where other ‘Avans’ are stuck.
This is the currently seen attitude of the newly financially improved classes of
India. They are full of words degrading the English and the British. For, they think that
they have arrived at the Adheham levels above their countrymen. They naturally want
to try the same verbal trick over the native-English also.
QUOTE: For indigenous Brahmans there are three Sanskrit colleges, two of
which — Tirunavayi in Ponnani taluk and Pulayi in Kurumbranad taluk—are in
Malabar, and the third is at Trichchur (Tirusivapperur) in the Cochin Native State.
END OF QUOTE
The issue of there being such exclusive institutions need not be taken as some
kind of apartheid. There are other connected issues. Like the fact that even if the other
castes are allowed in, they would not have much interest in the studies from scholastic
point of view. They would only study from a very materialistic view of getting some
money-earning job from this studies.
Beyond that, there is the issue of lower-caste persons generally being more
prone to be demeaning in words, ideas, usages etc. if they are allowed a position of
equality. For, there is no way a position of equality can be created in a feudal language
society.
This is due to the fact that each person is either on a tower or a hole, in the
verbal codes. A person in the hole cannot be placed on top of the tower. For, it is not
an issue of a single entity being pushed up. A huge number of individuals, words,
strings, and many other heavy web of nets would all be connected to this person. It is a
complicated scenario. Please read : An impressionistic history of the South Asian
Subcontinent for more information on this.
QUOTE: as usual among Malayalis when a man has risen a bit above his
fellows in good or in bad qualities, something of superstitious awe attaches to the place
of his dwelling. END OF QUOTE.
It is quite curious that the native-English administrators did not get this
information that the higher man is the man who has been conceded the divine-level
verbal codes. In Malayalam, even Prophet Muhammad is mentioned as Nabi
Thirumeni. Does pristine-Islam allow that?
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QUOTE: “The subject of caste divisions among the Hindus is one that would
take a lifetime of labour to elucidate. It is a subject on which no two divisions or
subdivisions of the people themselves are agreed, and upon which European
authorities who have paid any attention to it differ hopelessly. The operation of the
caste system is to isolate completely the members of each caste or sub-caste ; and
whatever a native may know of his own peculiar branch, he is, as a rule, grossly
ignorant of the habits and customs, or the origin, of those outside the pale of his own
section of the community.” END OF QUOTE
The observations are great and very profound. However, the machinery that
works this human repulsion was not understood. The explanation can be seen in the
feudal language codes.
QUOTE: “The later Aryan colonists evidently saw that if they were to
preserve their individuality and supremacy, they must draw a hard-and-fast line
between themselves, the earlier and partly degenerated Aryans, and the brown and
black races of the country, and hence probably we get a natural explanation of the
origin of caste.” END OF QUOTE.
Though the above contention does have the feel of profundity, it is actually
nonsense. The caste system is actually the solidification of social layers created by the
repulsions and attractions created by feudal language codes.
QUOTE: Jati itself, like all other Malayalam words beginning with “j”, is a
foreign word and expresses a foreign and not a Dravidian idea. The root of the word is
the Sanskrit “jan” and it simply means “ birth.” END OF QUOTE.
May be this is a curious observation about Malayalam words that begin with ‘j’.
After all Travancore Malayalam was created using Sanskrit words in abundance.
However, the other part that connects the creation of caste with the entry Sanskrit can
be nonsense. Caste-based layer formation is encoded in almost all the feudal languages
of the subcontinent. Sanskrit is a feudal language. These codes will be there. However,
Tamil is also a feudal language.
May be if one were to check Japan, one might be able to find some kind of
caste system there also. If the language is feudal, then mutually repulsive and highly
demarked social layers will form automatically.
Speaking about the feudal content in Tamil, the Tamil cultural leader Periyar E
V Ramaswamy, on one occasion, referred to the Tamil people as barbarians and the
Tamil language as "language of barbarians". Now, these defining words could be due
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to the terrific codes of human degradation and suppression in the Tamil language.
However, if Tamil is barbarian, the next contention is that Sanskrit is also equally
barbarian.
If Sanskrit is beautiful, Tamil is also beautiful. However, beauty is not the

issue here. What is being focused upon is what these languages do to the social system
and the people therein.
These languages splinter up the social system into a vertical array of

populations. Each one of the layers would try to keep the lower castes at a lower
distance, and would look upon all their endeavours to improve, with terror.
QUOTE: And first it may be noticed that the Malayalis distinguished two
kinds of pollutions, viz,., by people whose very approach within certain defined
distances causes atmospheric pollution to those of the higher castes, and by people
who only pollute by actual contact. END OF QUOTE
There is more to this information. Actually in feudal language social systems,

there is no need even to approach or touch. A simple calling by name of a higher
person by a lower person is enough to finish off the higher person.
A simple mention of an IPS (Indian Police Service –royalty of the police

administration in India) female officer by an Indian police constable (in Indian
languages, they are known as police shipai) as an Aval, can literally erase a lot many
superior features in the IPS female. If she comes to know of this, she could go
homicidal if she is mentally fit.
QUOTE: But it must be remembered that of individual freedom there was

very little as every person from his cradle to his grave was hemmed in by unyielding
chains of customary observance. END OF QUOTE.
These customary observances are encoded in the verbal codes inside the
feudal languages.
QUOTE: The people must have been a very law-abiding and docile race if
such simple formalities sufficed to govern them END OF QUOTE.
This is again some crank nonsense by some native-writer. The people in the
subcontinent are neither law-abiding or docile. The historical events mentioned in this
very book stands testimony for that. However, there are terrific command codes and
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routes of communication encoded in the languages. Only the most impertinent person
would dare to disobey them.
For instance, there is an IAS officer’s cabin, with a notice No Entry. No sane
ordinary man would dare to disobey this restriction. For, the IAS is part of a huge
structure of human hierarchies. It is foolish to think that a simple No Entry is the exact
code that works. There are more powerful ones in the background.
QUOTE: But indeed custom, when once it has become law, arrays the whole
community in arms against the law-breaker, and is perhaps the safest form of law for a
semi-civilised State. END OF QUOTE.
These are all writings by or influenced by the native-man of the subcontinent.

There is first of all no written law before the advent of the English rule. As to custom,
well, it is true that a single wrong indicant word by a lower class man can ignite the
wrath of the higher castes. They will literally beat him into a pulp, even if he is claims
to be a great Swami or Guru of the lower castes. Unless there the English rule is there
to protect that man.
QUOTE: Accordingly, when Da Gama sent Nicholas Coelho on shore with a

message to the Zamorin asking him to sanction trade, the authorities tried his temper
by making him wait, thinking this to cause a break with the Portuguese; but being
warned by a Castilian whom they found in the place, he exercised patience. END OF
QUOTE.
Actually this is a very visible character of human behaviour in a feudal

language set-up. It off course, depends on many factors. This is also a typical character
displayed by the Indian officialdom. However, this mental character is not limited to
the officials. Almost all persons who think and speak in feudal languages in the
subcontinent do display this feature. That of delaying things to impose a feel of power
and majestic demeanour. The other side or individual is literally made to suffer the
delay and thus forced to plead.
QUOTE: On 15th March, one Kunhi Ahamad, a nephew of the pirate chief of
Kottakal, who was generally known as “Cota Marcar,” was captured with a boat’s crew
of his men by the English boats employed in stopping the exportation of pepper from
Cannanore to Calicut. It did not appear that he was piratically engaged at the time, so
he resented the treatment and taking opium, ran amuck. END OF QUOTE.
Here the English officials may not have actually understood what really
happened. The crew of the English boats involved in patrolling against pepper
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smuggling, would most probably be the Nayars. There would be a slight possibility of
them being Thiyyas labour class also. Either of them, when they get someone in their
custody would very naturally use the Inhi (Nee) word (lowest You). The other side
leader would find it quite an uneasy and unsettling scenario. Actually anyone with some
prominence would go berserk if questioned with the Nee word and referred to with an
Oan (lowest he / him in Malabari).
Even though the terrific contents of this issue is there even now, the native-
English have no information on this. When some native-English youngster goes
berserk on being subjected to such verbal codes, instead of investigating the exact
signal that created the terror, the native-English youngster is send to jail. The other
side which actually placed the bomb is let loose to place more explosive on the native-
English soil.
QUOTE: but from an official neglect to send the order to a picquet of 150
men stationed at, the extraordinary distance of three miles, five hours were lost END
OF QUOTE.
This is about a major error that entered into Sultan Tipu’s strategy. In many
ways, these kinds of errors will be enacted in plenty on the side of any feudal language
army. For, minute instructions will not move to the right point in time. Everywhere
there is the incessant checking for verbal and physical ‘respect’. If an individual on the
route of the passage of this information is not of the right lower or higher stature,
there will be slowing down or total block of flow information. This is one of the
reasons why the native-English side always won the last battle in every war.
Even the Scots or the Irish or the Welsh side will not be error free. In fact, in
all these feudal language speaking sides, there will be an accumulation of errors.
QUOTE: Warren Hastings pertinently remarked that the proper place for the
plenipotentiaries to have arranged terms with Tippu would have been at the head of
Colonel Fullarton’s force instead of which they went as suppliants to Tippu’s camp at
Mangalore. END OF QUOTE.
There is an astronomically huge content in the above quote. In feudal language

social systems, it is very dangerous to go to the other side for conversation or fixing an
agreement etc. For, the other side will have the verbal advantage.
Moreover, there is something more. Extremely affable hospitality is used to

lure the other side to come and see this side’s prowess. The visiting side is made to get
extremely impressed.
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This is the way the French side fooled George Washington to become a traitor
to his country and his king. But then this George Washington was a silly person, with a
lot of personal animosities and ambitions. A dullard at best.
There is another similar fooling I can remember. It happened when the Japan
surrendered to the US forces. It was a very sound action for the Japanese. If they had
surrendered to the Russians, there would have been mass molestation and mass
slaughter of people in Japan. However, when the surrender was to the US, it was
managed very cunningly.
Usually feudal language nations like China, Japan, Russia, Germany, Spain, Sri
Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma etc. would care nothing about the enemy’s
stature. They would be treated like dirt.
If it was any of the

feudal language nations
capturing Japan, the Japanese
royal family would have been
molested first and foremost.
Then they would have been
tied up and displayed like
some animals, if they are
allowed to live.
However, in the case

of the US, it did not do
anything like that. US officials
simply went to Japan and
were offered the best of the
royal hospitality of the Japanese Royal family. The US officials would be exposed to
the very powerful ‘respect’ code hierarchy there. It would impress them.
And they were impressed just like the fool Washington. The whole of the US
economy was literally handed over to Japan to nibble away at ease. And even now, no
one in the US is aware of this grand cunning.
QUOTE: Tippu had, unfortunately for himself, by his insolent letters to the
Nizam in 1784 after the conclusion of peace with the English at Mangalore, shown
that he contemplated the early subjugation of the Nizam himself. END OF QUOTE.
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If a native-Englishman were to read the above lines, he would not understand

its contents. The word ‘insolent’ would not make much of an exact sense to him.
Actually the whole history of the subcontinent is contained in this word and a few
others.
It is the matter of addressing. You could be Aap in Hindi or Thoo. It can be

Ingal in Malabari or Inhi. It can be Thaangal in Malayalam or Nee.
The word-form which is selected declares a lot of other things, like who is the
superior and who is the inferior. The real terror is in the subordinates of the addressed
king being keenly interested in the word used. For, as per this word, their loyalty can
also shift.
Do any of the formal histories mention these things? Actually even the minute
event called the Opium War between the foolish Chinese king and a few English
trading ships was ignited by this issue. I think I have very clearly explained this issue in
my book: SHROUDED SATANISM in FEUDAL LANGUAGES!
QUOTE: On July 23rd Major Petrie, under orders from Colonel Robert
Bowles, commanding the troops in Malabar, marched from Calicut to the Dutch
frontier with a small force of infantry to obtain a peaceable surrender of the Dutch
settlement. But the Governor refused to give up the place, and Major Petrie had then
to wait till a siege train could be brought up. The Supervisor (Mr. Stevens) proceeded
in person to Cochin in the beginning of September to endeavour to arrange matters
with Mr. Vanspall, and a conference ensued, at which it was agreed that the surrender
should take place. But next day the Governor changed his mind and the negotiations
were suspended. END OF QUOTE
It is about a very curious situation. The Dutch government gives an order to

give up the Dutch fort to the English. But the Dutch governor in Cochin refuses to do
so. Why?
The Dutch governor presumably can understand the local language. It is an

extreme defect. He will know that the moment he relinquishes his leadership, the word
‘He’ in the local language would shift from Adheham to Ayaal and even to Avan, if
there are no appropriate props to hold it up. It is a terror. For when the word-code
changes, everything changes, everywhere. He would not budge, unless terrorised by
something of more gravity.
QUOTE: The reason assigned by the criminal for attacking the inspector was
that his wife’s gingelly-oil crop had been over- assessed. END OF QUOTE.
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Not really. The ‘inspector’ is the actual criminal. He is having official power
and is a native-man of the place. The moment a bit of power is given to a native-man
here, his first endeavour would be to address anyone who he can terrorise or torment
with the Inhi / Nee word. Even in front of others, including wife and children, he
would do it. Only an insane man would remain unconcerned. Sane men would go
berserk if they are of refinement and dignity. Check what Adam Purinton did in the
USA.
QUOTE: Mr. Thomas Lumsden Strange, a Judge of the Sadar Adalat, “whose
former long service in Malabar and intimate acquaintance with the people and their
peculiar habits and feelings eminently qualify him for the task, while his employment in
a different sphere of late years saves him from the influence of any prejudice or bias,”
was accordingly selected “to be Special Commissioner for enquiring into the Mappilla
disturbances, their causes and remedies.” END OF QUOTE.
The actual fact is that this Mr. Strange has not even an iota of clue on the
hidden verbal codes which get erased when translated into English. It is not surprising
that most of his assertions were half-baked. He did not understand anything.
QUOTE: but fourteen for whom any personal cause of provocation was
discoverable. In seven instances land has afforded the presumed ground of quarrel,”
and in the other seven cases the provocatives “were mostly of an equally unreal
nature.” END OF QUOTE
The solid fact is that this Mr. Strange did not get even the smallest idea of
what the provocations were. All his profound ‘discoveries’ were totally bereft of
information on the exact verbal codes that triggered the terrible anger. The verbal
codes would be just a very minute inappropriate or unacceptable indicant level form
for words like You, Your, Yours, He, His, Him, She, Her, Hers &c. These tiny sounds
are connected to a huge content of other verbal codes which more or less design the
social structure and routes and valves of communication.
QUOTE: I have given the subject every attention, and am convinced that
though instances may and do arise of individual hardship to a tenant, the general
character of the dealings of the Hindu landlords towards their tenantry, whether
Mappilla or Hindu, is mild, equitable and forbearing. END OF QUOTE.
This is the kind of foolishness that was arrived at. In feudal languages, the
suppression is not by rude sounds or terrorising words. It can be delivered by very soft
sounds and affectionate tones. A mere Inhi / Nee, and eda /edi is enough to maintain
the catching hold. However, no one will have complaints until the English social
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restructuring arrived. Once a docile subordinate gets to know that in another language
system he is not an excrement, things change.
It is like the conversation I had with an ex-Indian soldier. He was a respectable

man in his native village, of around 45 years old. He mentioned great things about the
Indian army. I simply asked him if he had any occasion to see the British army at close
quarters. He said, he had been part of the Indian UN peace-keeping contingent in
Sudan in Africa. There had been a British regiment nearby.
I asked him what his impression was about the English Officer-Soldier
relationship. He pondered on it for a few moments. Then he face turned terribly
contorted. He first said that the English army world was completely different. But
within a few more moments, his words became quite bitter. He started using expletives
about Indian army officers.
This is the issue. The Indian soldiers are very obedient and disciplined; until
they chance to see the English army at close quarters. Then they find that they had
been treated at the excrement part of the Indian languages.
These are things which this Mr. Strange had no idea about. No one from his
subordinates would inform him all this.
QUOTE: started for the house of a Cheraman (slave caste) lad who had some
years previously become a converted to Islam and had subsequently, much to the
disgust of the Mappillas of the neighbourhood, reverted to Hinduism END OF
QUOTE
This is an incident that has direct links to the feudal language codes. Look at
this illustration:
A police constable writes for the Civil Service exam and gets selected for the
IPS (India Police Service officer). He is posted far-away from his home state, where
everything is different.
He now has a lot of IPS friends. He addresses them with Nee / Thoo etc.
(lowest and most intimate level of you).
However, after a couple of years working in the far-off location, he finds that
he cannot bear the mental stress anymore. He resigns. And comes home. He appears
in an exam for a constable’s job in the local Fire Force. He gets the job.
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Now, there is a huge and colossal issue in the language codes. He can address
the IPS officers who were his friends with a Nee. For he has build up a friendship with
them. However, he is now at the bottom of the hierarchy. Literally a peon-level
(Shipai-level) man.
His continued existence becomes a source of sheer mental trauma for the IPS
folks who had been his former friends. In fact, if he were to exhibit his
companionship in front of others, they would be on the verge of homicide. These are
things beyond the ken of a common native-Englishman.
[The reader must note this kind of events do not happen at all. It is like the
entry of the English rule. It is not something that would happen in the subcontinent, in
a usual circumstance.]
The same is what happened in the case of the Cheruman (very lower castes,
diminutive individuals) who converted to Islam. The
moment he is a Muslim, he rises up to the top of the social
system. For, there is no higher layer in Islam. His
companionship now is at that level. However, he does the
unthinkable. He goes back to this slave-level. Naturally in
the verbal codes, he might continue his fleeting moments of
higher status. For instance, standing in his slave level, he
might use the word Avan or Aval about the Muslims. It is a
case of verbally dragging the others to his stinking level.
Actually in the virtual code vision and design vision that
exists behind reality, the other persons would be relocated to
such stinking depths. It can be felt emotionally.
The real provocation can be seen in this information:
QUOTE: The Mappillas of the neighbourhood had been in the habit of

taunting him with his lapse from Islam, and he in his turn had made free use of his
tongue in returning their taunts. END OF QUOTE.
May be the slave-cheruman would have said ഇ ി േപാടാ! It is now a very

lower placed person who is making free use of his tongue. This is an issue that cannot
be understood in English. It is that, a senior police officer degrading a socially high
stature man with a Nee (lowest You) is one thing. It is a totally different proposition if
the senior police officer’s menial servant also uses the Nee word to the socially high
stature man. The affected man will go totally homicidal, if he has any bit of self-dignity
left in him.
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QUOTE: Socially the cultivators are subjected (particularly if they are Hindus)
to many humiliations and much tyrannical usage by their landlord. END OF QUOTE.
The exact tyrannical humiliations are encoded in the verbal codes.
QUOTE: With settled homesteads and an assured income to all who are
thrifty and industrious—and in these respects the Mappillas surpass all other classes—
it is certain that fanaticism would die a natural death. END OF QUOTE.
It is a very foolish observation. First of all it is not fanaticism that is

provocative. Fanaticism is only the rallying ideology used for accruing inspiration. The
provocation is in the language codes. When the provoked side becomes more affluent,
they use better strategy to avenge the insults that would be boiling within them.
QUOTE: Without comfort, and with education, discontent would only be

increased. END OF QUOTE.
This is a slightly more intelligent observation. In that, simply improving the

internal mental stature of a person without a corresponding elevation from the
subordination to others, will only induce more hatred. In fact, the degrading verbal
codes inside a feudal language are very terrifically repugnant to anyone who improves
in mental stature.
QUOTE: The unit of the Hindu social system was the family, not the
individual END OF QUOTE.
This is a correct observation made without any profound understanding.

However, it is not about a Hindu family. It is about all families which are structured
upon feudal languages. All individuals are made to fall in line with a particular
regimentation of ‘respect’ focused on certain individuals upwards. Downwards, there
are powerful words of degrading positioning. However, if the system is mentally
acceptable, then there is no issue. It becomes a string of honouring the persons above
and showing affection to those below. To the docile lower-positioned person, it is a
cosy location of subordination. However, to a person whose mental stature is higher
than his assigned position, it can be position of revolt and mutiny.
It is a complicated scenario. For, in each level of subordination, other persons

who are not necessarily inside the regimented hierarchy might try to dominate by
degrading verbal codes. This is one of the reasons for the ambience of continual
infightings within these families.
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Even in the case of the much-mentioned Pazhassiraja, this was the real
provocation. He was made subordinate to a henchman of his uncle who was the real
king. This is an incident that requires more words to explain. I will do it in the relevant
section where this man is discussed.
QUOTE: a time when, looking at the high prices obtained for their produce,
the cultivators one would have thought had every reason to be satisfied—there
occurred the first of the Mappila outrages reported on by Special Commissioner
Strange in 1852. END OF QUOTE.
This was definitely a very erroneous understanding of events as mentioned

earlier. The provocation for Mappila outrages against the Nayar and Brahmin sections
of the population had more to do with feudal languages, than with any religious issues.
The converts to Islam were from the Cheruman caste and such other very low castes
and also from Makkathaya Thiyyas. The Brahmins, the Ambalavasis and the Nayars
would be used to addressing them as Nee/ Inhi and referring to them as Avan/ Oan
and Aval / Oal (all of the lowest indicant word level).
This itself would be a terrible provocation for the Muslims. However, when
these Muslims address the other side by mere name, or address them as Avan/ Oan
and Aval / Oal, it would have an explosive effect on the higher castes. They will react
with vehemence. These two triggers are what set-off the Mappila outrages in south
Malabar and to some minor extent in north Malabar.
QUOTE: The men are the laziest, and it was with great difficulty that they
were got to do some cooly work during the periodical visits of the officers to the
island. END OF QUOTE
This is another terrific information that is misunderstood. In a feudal language

social ambience, persons who have some kind of self-respect will not be willing to
work under others, in such kinds of work in which they might be addressed in the
pejorative forms of words for You, Your, Yours, He, His, Him, She, Her, Hers &c.
However, their wives can be made to work. For, they are used to a lower
profile in the verbal codes.
There is absolute lack of information on the wider aspects of this issue. When
feudal-language speakers set up businesses inside Great Britain, the native-English
people will definitely feel the shudder that lower indicant words evoke. In fact, these
words will literally rework and erode all the higher human qualities that the native-
English have gathered over the centuries.
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There is a specific information on feudal language entrepreneurism that is not

known to the native-English side. In almost all feudal language business enterprises,
the boss wants someone who can be addressed and referred to in the lower indicant
word level, as his subordinate. This is a very crucial bit of information that is not
known in England and in all other native-English nations. And it is a very significant
issue, which can literally reshape the social landscape of all native-English into terrible
levels.
Native-Englishmen and women will display signs of mental trauma and

instability if this is allowed to proliferate inside the nation.
QUOTE: The sailor class arrogate to themselves the reputation of being the
best malumis (pilots), but this pretension is ridiculed by the other islanders. END OF
QUOTE
This is another refection of feudal language social design. Individuals are

under stress to promote themselves through some kind of bluff and lies. This is a
simple means of improving their vital indicant word status in the society. However,
others might be able to see through it.
QUOTE: The generality of the people are poor, all the wealth and influence
being confined to a few of Karanavar class who keep the others well under subjection
END OF QUOTE
This is the standard social design in all feudal language nations. However, in
certain nations like Japan etc., the abundance of wealth that the nation has accrued by a
cunning close connection with the US, this poverty might not be visible in the general
dressing standards. For all kinds of infrastructural sophistication would be there. Yet,
the social divide and suppression will be there, in a non-tangible manner.
As to the conditions in the newly-created nation of India, the above-statement

is illustrative of the current-day realities. The officialdom has cornered all the wealth
and facilities of the nation. The ordinary man is maintained as a lowly individual. He
cannot even address a government official as an equal or with a pose of self-dignity.
QUOTE: The men exact great reverence from the low-caste people whom
they address, and are most punctilious in this respect. They in everything endeavour to
make it appear in their conduct and conversation that all the excellences are the
birthright of the Nambutiris, and that whatever is low and mean is the portion of the
lower orders of society END OF QUOTE.
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This wonderful observation might be Logan’s own words. However, the wider
fact that this is how feudal languages arrange ‘respect’ and loyalty does seem missed. In
fact, in feudal languages, the more the lowly-placed individual is oppressed, the more
would be his reverence and love to the ‘respected’ higher person. The depth of this
observation is not there in this book. For instance, in the location where the outrages
of Pazhassiraja, there is a mention of how the lower-class followers of his mentioned
his name in deep reverence. The secret of this ‘reverence’ is in the feudal language
codes. If the lower-order had been given some ‘respect’ in return, their ‘reverence’
would vanish.
See this QUOTE: I observed a decided interest for the Pyche (Palassi) Rajah,
towards whom the inhabitants entertained a regard and respect bordering on
veneration, which not even his death can efface. END OF QUOTE.
This is the error that the native-English did in the subcontinent. The more
they improved the lower classes and all classes, the more was the loss of ‘reverence’
towards them.
QUOTE: Mr. A. MacGregor. the British Resident in Travancore and Cochin,

who had been for several years Collector of Malabar: “First, as to the essential nature
of Malabar Mappilla outrages, I am perfectly satisfied that they are agrarian. Fanaticism
is merely the instrument through which the terrorism of the landed classes is aimed
at.”END OF QUOTE.
It is a terrible foolishness. For, it is already stated that Mappillas were

becoming more rich. See this QUOTE: “The land is with the Hindus, the money with
the Mappillas," observed3 Mr. Strange END OF QUOTE.
If anyone had mentioned that the error is in the language codes, it is doubtful
if anyone would have believed it. For example, in my own very old book March of the
Evil Empires; English versus the feudal languages, I have mentioned thus about what
would come to happen in the US when feudal languages spread inside it.
QUOTE: Ordinary, peaceful persons would react violently to alien disturbing

cultural signals, which are disturbing, and at the same time difficult to
understand...............and cause much distress to the individual persons; and can in a
matter of time, cause domino effect on many other areas, causing strange happenings
of technological failure, inefficiency, conflict, hatred, events that may be described with
shallow understanding as racially motivated, decent and peaceful persons acting with
unnatural violence etc. END OF QUOTE
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Yet, even now, there is no takers for this very profound foretelling.
QUOTE: With settled homesteads and an assured income to all who are
thrifty and industrious—and in these respects the Mappillas surpass all other classes—
it is certain that fanaticism would die a natural death. END OF QUOTE.
Actually when a lowly-placed person who has been bearing the hammering of
the verbal codes for long, slowly improves his social status, a new brooding emotion
would start boiling in him. That of seeking vengeance for the long years of brutal
verbal assaults he and his family had suffered. These kinds of emotions are not there at
all in pristine-English.
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Claims to great antiquity

The tone and timbre of this book in various locations is not that of any British
man, English or Celtic. In most of the locations, it is the voice of the Nayar
population/s in their desperation. It is evidently a very terrible time for them. In that,
they do understand the higher quality of the English administration. But have deep
misgiving about what is going to happen.
The age-old social structure which had been designed by a feudal language
system is going into disarray. However, what is going to take its place is not necessarily
a planar-language English social system. The old system will breakdown and allow the
total tumbling down of hierarchies. However, the social design will not change into
that of England, as designed by a planar language. What will come about would be a
levelled-up social structure in which all kinds of hierarchies and lowliness would exists
in a hidden form, inside the communication code, with newer persons or groups of
persons on top.
This is the total opposite of what was there in England. In England, there
were class hierarchies in a statutory form. But still the language codes did not define
anyone as a stinking dirt. That is there is no lesser-You than an ordinary-You.
Before going ahead, let me just have a look at the claims of the Nayar folks.
QUOTE: this “Parliament ”.....—-this all powerful influence tending always to

the maintenance of customary observances—....... END OF QUOTE
Oh, the great Nayar Parliament which existed from times immemorial! The
claims if accepted should re-route all Political Science studies to Malabar in seeking out
how democracy was discovered in Malabar, much before Magna Carta was even
contemplated upon.
QUOTE: But Mr. Graeme made the great mistake of thinking that the desam
and the tara were synonymous, and so in his scheme of amsam establishments, the real
civil organisation by the Karanavar or elders of the people was ignored, and in its place
authority of various kinds was conferred on some only of the men who had been the
local representatives of the ruling chieftains of Malabar. The mistake was of
importance because it diverted attention away from, what had been the ancient
organisation, and placed the real power in the hands of only one man out of several
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who had previously acted together in a body in the kuttam or assembly of the tara.
END OF QUOTE.
The whole paragraph above is a pack of lies. No group of persons in the

subcontinent were or are interested in the welfare of the sections which come under
them. In fact the very concept of improving a lower section population means allowing
them displace the population or individuals above them. That is the way the language
codes are placed. When an Avan (lowest he /him) develops into the level of an
Adheham (highest he / him), the Adheham goes down into the level of an Avan. This is
the most dangerous information that has been very cunningly secluded from the
native-English.
It was only the native-English rule that had no qualms about enhancing the
mental and physical quality of the lower populations. However, they were foolish. They
frankly did not know what they were doing. As of now, the very population/s which
have improved through their intervention have no qualms about mentioning ideas to
displace them, even from England.
Off course, it is a land where history is forged. There is this much mentioned
opinion about Al Biruni: QUOTE from elsewhere: Al-Biruni was critical of Indian
scribes who he believed carelessly corrupted Indian documents while making copies of
older documents. END OF QUOTE.
The word ‘Indian’ itself is some kind of a corruption inserted by some

ingenious genius. It would have been more appropriate to mention the exact word
which Al Biruni mentioned. And even if the word ‘Indian’ is actually there, it is not
about a nation or a country or even of a geopolitical region actually. It is only about a
particular population/s, who existed in the midst of a number of populations inside the
subcontinent. Brahmins do not represent any other population. In the same way, each
caste of people represents only themselves.
QUOTE: Nothing strikes the fancy more strongly in the old Hindu world
stories than the picture presented of fighting men killing each other in one field, while
the husbandman peacefully tilled the one adjoining, and the Brahman sat silently
contemplating creation under a neighbouring sacred tree. Busy each in their own
spheres, it mattered very little to them how it fared with others having other and distinct
functions. END OF QUOTE.
The words ‘Indian’, ‘India’, Indians’ &c. do not have any meaning, if the above
quote is ratified. For, each population is not bothered about others, inside the
subcontinent.
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QUOTE: On the other hand, of course, the sharing system in a pure Hindu
State is well known and exists to the present day, and extends to all classes of the
community, no matter how humble or how despised their callings may be. END OF
QUOTE.
This is a very cunning statement. There is no sharing of any goodness in the

subcontinent or in any other feudal language society. Simply check the state of the
people in Travancore. Check Slavery in the Indian Subcontinent (chapter excerpt
from Native Life in Travancore by Rev. Samuel Mateer.
QUOTE: “By eating of this rice they all engage to burn themselves on the day
the king dies, or is slain, and they punctually fulfil their promise.” END OF QUOTE.
These are claims which cannot withstand any kind of scrutiny. Check the
Nayar courage in the various battles. Even in Travancore State Manual, it is mentioned
as of dubious quality. It is quite obvious that all these words are not from Logan.
QUOTE: This festival was called the Mamakham or Maha Makham which
means literally big sacrifice. It seems to have been originally the occasion for a kuttam
or assembly of all Keralam, at which public affairs were discussed and settled. END
OF QUOTE.
The above statement is an extremely ridiculous one. The Mamankam is seen

described in detail as a very foolish amassing of people to witness some kind of
barbarian ritual. Only utterly foolish people would indulge in these kinds of activity in
which many people are simply hacked to pieces.
What kind of discussion of public affairs is supposed to take place there? The
amassing of such a huge number of people (around 30,000 Nayars, it is claimed) would
test the meagre infrastructural facilities at the temple premises. The place would stink
due to the issue of low-quality toileting and sanitary facilities. Beyond that there would
be huge issues of drinking water and food preparation. Beyond that there would issues
connected to accommodation and sleeping. Apart from all this, there would be issue of
security of the individual households in the locality and on the routes to this place.
And what about the hundreds of wounded persons?
Armed persons in groups moving through a path is generally considered

totally dangerous to the household and females in households. These are known items.
And there are locations in this book, Malabar, where such terrors are hinted at.
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However, it is quite funny that there is no direct mention of these things. The general
atmosphere of molesting that happens during a raid or a pillaging party entering a
village is mentioned in Travancore State Manual. The dying words of King Rama
Rajah, the Dharma Rajah, who died on a believed to be inauspicious day. The
barbarianism of wars, all wars is clear in them. Imagine a land that moves one war to
another, with regular periodicity.
QUOTE from Travancore State Manual:

“Yes I know that to-day is Chuturdasi, but it is unavoidable considering the
sins of war I have committed with Rama Iyan when we both conquered and annexed
several petty States to Travancore. Going to hell is unavoidable under the
circumstances. I can never forget the horrors to which we have been parties during
those wars. How then do you expect me to die on a better day than Chaturdasi? May
God forgive me all my sins” END OF QUOTE.
It might be true that all wars are horrible. However, think of the state of living
in a land where these kinds of insecurities were frequent events over periodic intervals.
QUOTE: He is also credited with having introduced the study of sciences into
the Malayali country, for the Malayali Brahmans were, it is said, ignorant of sciences up
to this time. In this, he was assisted by a person styled Udkayatungan, also called the
Chetty (foreign merchant), who endowed the teacher of science, Prabhakara Gurukkal,
with land sowing 5,000 kalams (bushels) of seed. END OF QUOTE.
The wider problem with this claim is that there are very many information in
the Shamanistic spiritual traditions (which the Brahmins abhor) and in the Vedic texts.
Both these traditions are not native to Malabar or Travancore or even to the
subcontinent. The Vedic scriptures are connected to some geographical locations in
the north-central Asia. Whether it is owned by the north-Indian ‘Aaryans’ or by the
German ‘Aryans’ is not known to me.
As to the Brahmins of Malabar, Tamilnadu, Canara, Travancore etc., it is quite

doubtful if they also have any deep information on what the exact technological ideas
are therein. Simply having the ability to chant a mantra does not mean that the
chanting population created the technology or understands it’s working. It is simply
like someone knowing to use a computer.
As to the bloodlines to the Vedic people, it would be very negligible and slim.
If one calculates backwards, every living human being in Malabar or Tamilnadu or
Travancore will be connected to literally millions of people who were alive some 7 to 8
thousand years back on this globe. Those people naturally, if they are technically
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skilled, would be connected to all the ancient populations in Asia, Africa, Continental
Europe, South American Continent, North American Continent and even to Great
Britain.
As to South Asia having special link to Sanskrit, it is actually very much less
than the link this location has to English. In fact, in my own childhood, I do not
remember knowing or hearing about anyone who was well-versed in Sanskrit.
Naturally there would be such persons, but they were not the common crowd. Simply
some scholars or others who strove to learn the language. That does not give them any
Sanskrit antiquity.
Now, the claim in the above quote has certain other implications. The land is
known for inserting claims into ancient documents. Even the Keralolpathi is very
apparently a forgery. So, it is only a matter of time before all modern scientific
knowledge would be very quaintly ‘found’ in ancient palm-leaf books! Just imagine a
population who could not create a writable paper claiming various scientific skills and
information.
However, in this regard there is this much also to be mentioned. Ancient

knowledge is actually seen to be a diffused version of some grand knowledge
repository. For instance, see the Zodiac sign names in Malabari and Travancore
astrology. Both might be using the same names. And these names would in many cases
be quite near in meaning to what is used in Western Astrology.
Kanni – Virgo
Thulam – Libra (Common balance is the symbol) etc.
May be if one were to check the astrology of the ancient Mayans also, there
might be some similarities. Simply knowing astrology does not mean that it is the
ancestor of that person who created the knowledge. These kind of senseless claims are
those of total insipid low-quality populations. There is actually a very sensible
caricaturing given to this attitude by a famous Malayalam writer, Vaikom Muhammad
Basheer. One of his book characters had the name Ettukaali Mammoonhju. He had been
featured as placing a claim on everything that he can.
Another thing worth mentioning is that it took a great lot of effort on the part
of the English officials of the English East India Company to find out the various
ancient textbooks in Sanskrit. They went on noting down books which had been
hinted at or mentioned or referred to other ancient books. Most of these books were
found out from various nook locations in the subcontinent in some ancient landlord
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household. In fact, if this endeavour had not been undertaken, the books would have
been lost to posterity.
And now the cantankerous claim is that all these books are part of the
antiquity of various populations who actually had not even an iota of connection with
these.
QUOTE: In the country of Malabar are twelve kings, the greatest of whom has
fifty thousand troops at his command ; the least five thousand or thereabouts END OF
QUOTE.
Twelve kings in the minute geographical location of Malabar! Well, that itself
should show that incessant daily confrontations between these tiny rulers.
And fifty thousand soldiers? Well, these kinds of claims from ancient records
of some writers have been collected and prominently mentioned. However in all the
wars and battles inside Malabar that the English Company has very carefully recorded,
most of the fights had only a few hundred or thousand fighters on each side. Only
when Hyder Ali and Sultan Tippu came into the picture did the attacking side seem to
have higher number. Even then, they were confronted not by tens of thousands of
Nayars! Tens of thousands of Nayars simply fled at the sight of the enemy.
QUOTE: "Just as Cabral was preparing to leave Cochin on 10th January 1501,
a fleet belonging to the Zamorin, carrying one thousand five hundred men was descried
off the harbour. END OF QUOTE.
See just one thousand five hundred men. Even this figure can be doubted.
People tend to exaggerate. It is like this. Many years ago, one man told me, “Some five
hundred women are working there.’ This is ‘five hundred’ is a usage to convey the
meaning of ‘immense’. In my total naivety, I asked him, ‘Five hundred women?’
He then told me, ‘We simply say thus just to convey the idea that a lot of
women are working there. There must be some thirty or thirty five women working
there.’
QUOTE: “Now when the season for setting out had arrived, the Emperor of
Hindustan appointed one of the junks of the thirteen that were in the port for our
voyage. END OF QUOTE
lbn Batuta’s writings are generally very local information more or less what his
mind was impressed with. As to an Emperor of Hindustan being there has to be taken
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with a pinch of salt. It is like the claim of an Emperor of Calicut. As a solitary traveller,
his impressions are what he directly saw in a locality, I should presume.
See his words: QUOTE: Every vessel, therefore, is like an independent city.
Of such ships as these, Chinese individuals will sometimes have large numbers; and,
generally, the Chinese are the richest people in the world END OF QUOTE.
For the above statement to be of any credibility, he must have seen the world.
I get a slight feeling from a cursory perusal of his book that he is a just a solitary
traveller who made fabulous historical recordings. However, his adjectives should be
taken from his background as a solitary traveller, who faced a lot of hardship on most
of his journey.
As to the Chinese being the richest in the world, it is only about the rich
Chinese man he is referring to. Not to the immensity of Chinese servants who worked
for this rich man. Since China is
presumably a feudal language nation of
a very terrible kind, it is possible that
even now, there would be a huge
percent of population over then who
live like the slaves of south Asia. Not
like the Negro slaves of USA, who in
those days, more or less, had the looks
of the super rich of Asia.
Even lbn Batuta, despite his

great wanderings, do not seem to be aware of the terrific issue of feudal languages, as
opposed to planar languages. After all, he had never visited England, in spite of all the
claims of his having great world knowledge and experience.
QUOTE: The greatest part of the Muhammadan merchants of this place are
so wealthy, that one of them can purchase the whole freightage of such vessels as put
in here, and fit out others like them. END OF QUOTE.
Even though there is no way to check the veracity of the above statement, it
could be true. In feudal language social system, the rich are super-rich and the poor
super poor. Apart from that, the statement seems to prove that the trading wares inside
each ship were not of such fabulous value. For a single rich man is seen to be able to
buy everything in all the ships in port.
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QUOTE: “No one becomes king by force of arms,” he observed, and seemed
astonished at the fact. END OF QUOTE.
It is all very local information connected to tiny locations and very small bits
of time-period. All feudal language nations do have problems with setting up placid
conventions, if there is a multitude of population groups. In a homogenous
population, feudal languages will arrange all members in a very tight and immovable
slots in varying layers.
QUOTE: The Raja exacted tribute from Ceylon, kept a corps of three hundred
female archers, and it is said he had not hesitated to challenge to battle the Raja of
Vijayanagar. END OF QUOTE.
Even though these female archers might look grand in both Hollywood as well
as Bombay Film world films, what their exact demeanour would be depending on the
level in the feudal languages codes. And what is the purpose they would serve which a
set of male archers could not do is also a moot question.
It is like claiming that a woman can climb coconut trees. What is it that would
be proved if this statement is mentioned as some kind of achievement? For, the men-
folk who dared to do this endeavour ended up in depleted social status.
Usually in current-day India, females with some personal quality will not go
and join as a police constable. An Englishman or woman would not really understand
why this is so. It is something to do with the language codes which define not only
men and women in any particular profession, but would also define their verbal
relationships.
As to his daring to fight the kind of Vijayanagar, it is again a local bluff to

impress his own people. In a different location in this book, Malabar, there is a
QUOTE thus:
for it is said that the king of Bijanagar has 300 sea-ports, every one of which is
equal to Kalikot, and that inland his cities and provinces extend over a journey of three
months.”
The question here is how would the bluff be called? Only if the Vijayanagar
king marches to Travancore, which he would only do if he is so egoistic and foolish.
For Travancore is a small place at a considerable distance. As to Travancore marching
to Vijayanagar, it would be a march with no prospects of return. For at that time, the
English East India Company was not there to lend support to Travancore.
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See this QUOTE: After that its decline was rapid owing to the interference of
the Portuguese with the Muhammadan trade, and it has never since then recovered its
position, as Cochin, its rival, under Portuguese and Dutch influence, has, with its
greater natural facilities, always hitherto had an advantage. END OF QUOTE
Tiny Calicut was propped up by the Egyptian king. When the Egyptian trade
was demolished by the Portuguese, Cochin went on to higher levels. However, it is
funny that after the arrival of the English, there is no grand historical nonsense such as
this one:
QUOTE: the Chinese even came from the far East in their gigantic floating
hulks. END OF QUOTE.
May be the Chinese took fright!
These kind of insipid statements will be swallowed hook, line and sinker by
many. However, the fact remains that a few shiploads of English sailors could defeat a
city army in China, within a matter of a few hours, in what is now known as the Opium
War. Technically China was very big compared to miniscule England and also much
more powerful. Yet, when it came to human interaction, the Chinese ditched their own
side. After all, who would like to be subordinated to feudal-language-speaking
barbarians?
QUOTE: ! In the time (literally, year) of Perumal (Cō, king, or Gō) Sthanu
Ravi Gupta, who now rules gloriously for many 100,000 years, treading under foot
hostile heads, END OF QUOTE.
This is from a Deed connected to Travancore kingdom. Why a Travancore

Deed has been mentioned in a book on Malabar has its own answers. I will not move
into that. The claim that this king Sthanu Ravi Gupta, now rules gloriously for many
100,000 years is more or less quite evocative of the real standards of the local antiquity.
QUOTE: For, coming fresh from the country east of the ghats, where the
ryots had been accustomed for generations to be a down-trodden race, he seems to
have mistaken altogether the character of the people with whom he had to deal. END
OF QUOTE.
This statement is meant to convey that the people of Madras area (current-day
Tamilnadu) are quite docile and meek. It is all half-baked information. The fact is that
Tamil is a very feudal language. People who get subordinated generally are made to
exist as some kind of docile subservient persons. For, that is the way to manage the
social communication issues.
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In Malabar, the Nayars have a number of populations under them. So, they are
not the subordinated population here. In the language codes, this will be a major factor
for deciding various verbal codes in regard to both the populations.
QUOTE: There must have been considerable intercourse between Persia and
India, for in the middle of the sixth century a learned Persian —perhaps a Christian—
came to India to get a copy of the Panchatantram. END OF QUOTE.
There is a cunning insertion here. It is not an innocent one. A Christian came

and collected a great book from ‘India’. Many persons would later on add on to it, and
say the Christians, the Jesuits, the Missionaries etc. came and took out ‘our’ great
‘knowledges’ to the West.
The fact might remain that it was the English officials who worked hard to
find the lost books of the subcontinent. It is doubtful if the present day populations
have any historical link to the ancient books.
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Malabar Manual
Piracy
It is true that there have been pirates who had been Englishmen. It is just that
when English ships move to long distances, they come across enterprises that are not
English in character. But then, when they become part of that world, they change.
However, an Englishman doing any such thing would be quite noticed and
mentioned many times in many locations. In fact, there is a mention of one
Englishman running an arrack trading business in the interior location of Madras
Presidency, seen mentioned. His name is mentioned. However, there would be many
other local people who did the same kind of peddling. But that would not evoke the
same level of notice. And, it would be quite unwise to try to define pristine-English
native character based on this information.
As to current-day England, the native-English population are living amongst

feudal-language speakers. They are like the old good quality Anglo-Indian populations
of in various locations in the subcontinent. Their easy affability was misinterpreted by
the others, after the departure of the English rule. During the English rule, their easy
affability had a sound logic. For, they were displaying a quality of refinement in the
midst of a semi-barbarian feudal-language population. However, the moment the
English rule departed, their easy affability became the definition of low class softness.
Their women folk were quite easy defined with the lower indicant word ‘Oalഓൾ’ /
Aval അവൾ. From this word platform, it is easy to address them as Inhi ഇ ി/ Nee
നീ. Their refinement was mentioned as the affability of sluts.
The same thing is currently happening to the native-English population, and

they are not aware of it. That is the grand tragedy. In a spontaneous way to shield
themselves, the men folk will become tougher and rude, and the women folk would
turn masculine. The traditional grace of the native-English would get wiped out.
Now coming back to the pirates, there is this QUOTE in this book, Malabar.
QUOTE: He then sailed for the West Indies, was arrested in America by one
of the noblemen (Lord Bellamont) who had helped to fit him out, was tried,
condemned, and hanged in chains at Tilbury (23rd May 1701), and his property
becoming forfeit, was presented by Queen Anne to Greenwich Hospital. This severe
example did not, however, prevent others from following in his footsteps, END OF
QUOTE.
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The issue with this kind of quotes is that in modern times, there is a tendency
to define England from the deeds of the misanthropes there. These deeds do not
define England.
However, when we come to the South Asian Subcontinent, the scenario

changes. This is due to the total roughness of the language codes and the rudeness it
induces on the people.
QUOTE: Kottakkal.—At the mouth of the Kotta river, was a famous resort
for pirates in former days. They made prizes of all vessels not carrying the pass of the
Kadattunad Rajah, their sovereign, who was styled the lord of the seas END OF
QUOTE.
QUOTE: Then, again; ships which came ashore were annexed by the chieftain
of the locality. Moreover, a more piratical custom than this even was observed, in
ancient times at least, for thus wrote Marco Polo respecting the kingdom of “Eli”
(ante, p. 7) : “And you must know that if any ship enters their estuary and anchors
there, having been bound for some other port, they seize her and plunder the cargo.
For they say, ‘you were bound for somewhere else, and ‘its God has sent you hither to
us, so we have a right to all your goods.’ END OF QUOTE.
These kinds of behaviour are the standard behaviour of the upper classes of
the subcontinent. Their lower classes also join them in their spirited endeavour. It is
part a display of loyalty, and part a chance to get a share of the booty. Imagine the
plight of the women who had travel from Calicut to Tellicherry via sea! Travelling by
sea was easier than by land, in those days due to the fact that there were no proper
roadways across the huge number of mutually competing ‘rulers’ on the pathways.
QUOTE: And they think it no sin to act thus. And this naughty custom
prevails all over these provinces of India, to wit, that if a ship be driven by stress of
weather into some other port than that to which it was bound, it is sure to be
plundered. But if a ship come bound originally to the place they receive it with all
honour and give it due protection.” (Yule’s Marco Polo, II, 374.) END OF QUOTE.
The concept of Sin is not much there in the spirituality of the subcontinent, I
think. Even the most pious person who is a government official has no qualms about
taking a bribe or extracting a bribe by terrorising a man. Telling lies to a subordinated
man or cheating him or breaking a word of honour given to him, is not an item of any
special consideration. It is just a plane fact of life.
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Only in English would these things seem like dishonourable acts.
QUOTE: The custom of taking ships and cargoes wrecked on the coast
continued down to recent times, for the English factors at Tellicherry entered into
engagements with three of the country powers for exempting English vessels from
such seizure. But it was a custom which the Malayali chieftains broke through with
extreme reluctance. The kings of Bednur were the first to grant immunity in 1736- 37,
and thrice afterwards ratified it ; then followed the Kolattiri prince, on 8th May 1749,
ratified in 1760; and finally the Kadattunad Raja granted similar immunity in 1761.
END OF QUOTE.
The English Company was slowly changing the landscape from a semi-
barbarian one to a better civil society. However, it took a lot of time. And at the end of
it all, an insane idiot in England gave the land back to the same people, to make it
semi-barbarian and then totally barbarian.
When speaking about piracy which was done with the total cooperation of the
local small-time rulers, there is a wider matter being missed. It was the total
helplessness of the common populations, mainly the lower castes. A simple lower-most
You, He, She, (ഇ ്, ഓൻ, ഓ ) is enough to erase all rights to dignity, self-respect
and right to social stature. For these people, the very movement from one place to
another in a secure ambience would have arrived only when the English Company
brought down the powers of the lower thugs, who were the higher castes and classes.
But then, if the truth be mentioned, the higher castes also suffered from
terrible problems. For the lower castes were not angels. They, if not properly
subordinated, were rude and insulting. Their very glance at the higher caste women
would be totally profane and degrading, if they do not acknowledge their subservience.
The Brahmin women would not budge out of their agraharams (Brahmins’ only
villages).
QUOTE: From thence they sail with the wind called Hippalos in forty days to
the first commercial station of India named Muziris (ante, p. 78), which is not much to
be recommended on account of the neighbouring pirates, who occupy a place called
Nitrias nor does it furnish any abundance of merchandise. END OF QUOTE.
What a way to praise a location! India’s first commercial station is

unapproachable, due to pirates. And what about the word ‘India’? Could it really be
‘India’ or something like ‘Inder’, ‘Indies’ &c. In the 1950s, when the whole
administrative systems founded by the native-English came into the hands of the
Indian/Pakistani bureaucrats, they must have felt a huge freedom to do what they
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wanted with anything in their hands. For, they had no qualms about anything going
spoilt. They had got everything free.
QUOTE: He then proceeds to describe the pirates of Melibar and of Gozurat,

and their tactics in forming sea cordons with a large number of vessels, each five or six
miles apart, communicating news to each other by means of fire or smoke, thereby
enabling all the corsairs to concentrate on the point where a prize was to be found.
END OF QUOTE.
What a wonderful leadership and purposefulness! Maybe some Indian

professor in some US University would be able to prove that it was actually these
‘Indian’ pirates who had discovered Morse code and other Telegraphic codes. It is
possible that he would pull out of his pocket some palm-leaf book, in which Morse
code is very clearly written in ancient Sanskrit. Well, off course, Samuel Morse stole it
from this ‘great’ ‘Kerala’ scientific book!!!
QUOTE: Meanwhile the coast pirates were busy, and in 1566 and again in
1568 those of Ponnani under Kutti Poker made prize of two large Portuguese vessels.
In one of these ships it is said no less than a thousand Portuguese soldiers, “many of
them approved veterans,’’ perished either by the sword or by drowning. Kutti Poker’s
adventurous career was however cut short in 1569, for after having made a successful
raid on the Portuguese fort at Mangalore, he fell in with a Portuguese fleet as he was
returning south off Cannanore, and he and all his company “received martyrdom.”
END OF QUOTE.
The above incident would be piracy only partially. For, a fight between the
Arab side and the Portuguese side for the monopoly of the pepper trade was an
ongoing event. Even though Kutti Poker might be mentioned as a sort of great
‘Indian freedom fighter’ for the nation that was going to be created much later, the fact
remains that he was only fighting for the interests of his own team and that of the
Egyptian King.
QUOTE: “And he (the Zamorin) and his country are the nest and resting
place for stranger thieves, and those be called ‘Moors of Carposa,’ because they wear
on their heads long red hats ; and thieves part the spoils that they take on the sea with
the King of Calicut, for he giveth leave unto all that will go a roving liberally to go ; in
such wise that all along that coast there is such a number of thieves, that there is no
sailing in those seas, but with great ships, and very well armed ; or else they must go in
company with the army of the Portugals.” — (Eng. Translation. END OF QUOTE.
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The hint that the king of tiny Calicut was in partnership with Muslim pirates
can be taken to be true to some extent. However, that was the way the subcontinent
was before the arrival of the English rule. It is seen that the King of Badagara was
actually a sort of king of pirates. It was all terrible times. Woe to the women folks who
got into the hands of a group which did not have ‘respect’ for them!
For ‘respect’ in feudal languages is a shield. Oru ഓ is protected. Olu ഓ is

molested.
Even King Marthanda Varma of Travancore, when he wanted to go on a

pilgrimage to Rameshwar, asked for a Sepoy regiment of the English Company to
accompany him and lend him and his family security. That was the land and the times.
QUOTE from Travancore State Manual by V Nagam Aiya: In 1784 the

Maharajah proposed a pilgrimage to the holy island of Ramesvaram not only as a piece
of religious duty but also to acquaint himself with the manners and customs and the
methods of administration followed in the neighbouring countries. His Highness was
accompanied by a large retinue and was escorted by a few companies of sepoys
belonging to the English and some officers of the Nawab, as he had to travel through
the countries of the Poligars, a set of rude and lawless chieftains. END OF QUOTE
If this be the case of a king, imagine the terrors that lay upon an ordinary
family. If they are of low caste, they cannot even travel on the road.
QUOTE: and in the half way is Cottica, which was famous formerly for
privateering on all Ships and Vessels that traded without their Lord’s Pass.” END OF
QUOTE.
That was about the Raja of Kadathnad (Badagara).
QUOTE: and two English vessels driven ashore in Canara had been seized
and plundered and no redress had been given END OF QUOTE.
That was the deed of the Bednur Raja of Canara. Anyone in distress is not
helped but looted and physically attacked.
QUOTE: Labourdonnais had despatched one of his ships to Goa for

provisions, etc., and on 10th December news arrived that the Mahratta pirate, Angria of
Gheria, with seven grabs and thirteen gallivats, had surrounded and after a long day’s
fighting, from 7 a.m. till 6 p.m., had taken her, although she had 200 European soldiers
and mariners on board. She was deeply laden with rice, wheat flour, and arrack, and
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she had besides between 300 and 400 slaves on board intended for the French Islands.
END OF QUOTE.
Even though, any insipid local historian might feel that this attack on French
ships were some kind of freedom fight, the fact is that there was no one to do any
policing on the High Seas.
Beyond that there is another fact that might be seen. That the French did
continue with the slave-employment even when Great Britain had categorically
demanded that slave-trade should be stopped. As to the French catching the ‘Indians’
as slaves, it might not be true. For there were millions of people in the subcontinent
who were defined as slaves. They were the commodity of the local landlords who
would sell them to anyone they wanted. The lucky ones were bought by the French.
QUOTE: This important capture seems to have inflamed the imaginations of

the coast pirates generally and to have incited them to renewed activity, for the records
during the next two years are full of notices of them and of their exploits END OF
QUOTE.
It is true that in current-day India, there is a general tendency for everyone to

try the same business which was found to be quite profitable. So, it is not a surprise
that a lot of people entered into the business of piracy. Almost all the coastal kings
would give their support to this enterprise. Yet, it must be mentioned that generally the
seafaring folks are kept at a distance by the higher castes. This might be due to the
general lower caste quality of the seafarers. The only exception to this might be the
Muslims. This was because there was no caste division among them, even though there
are slight repulsion in the case of marriages, with certain professions like the barber,
the butcher &c.
The second item for remark is the way the English Company maintained a
record of everything in their Log books. This Log book becomes an extremely accurate
history. Because it is not written with any clandestine aim of befooling the later people.
The Company officials were writing them for their own use as a diary of events.
QUOTE: After the monsoon of 1742 the pirates were again busy. Coompta
was looted by Kempsant. In January 1743 Angria with 7 grabs and 11 gallivats
appeared at Calicut and fired about 100 rounds at the shipping, driving some of them
ashore. On the 13th this piratical fleet was off Mahe. In February the Company’s armed
gallivat “Tiger” under Richard Richards, succeeded in capturing one of Kempsant’s
gallivats and three small vessels. END OF QUOTE.
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Here we see the fabulous record of the native-English when England was
pristine-England. That Britannia rules the waves!
QUOTE: Angria also took another French ship, and appeared off Calicut in
March, causing a great panic there and causing people to desert the place with their
families and valuables. END OF QUOTE
See the funny part. When the great ‘Indian freedom fighters’, after capturing a
French ship arrived on the Calicut coast, the people of Calicut ran for their lives.
QUOTE: In April several encounters occurred between the pirates and various
English ships and the “Tiger” gallivat on the voyage between Bombay and Tellicherry.
The “Tiger” was kept busy in looking after the Kottakal pirates to the south likewise.
END OF QUOTE.
In the current-day Indian history, the ‘Kottakal pirates’ are mentioned as

‘freedom fighters’. Their location is near to Badagara. They are Mappilla seafaring
people. The actual fact would be that they are local supporters of the Egyptian pepper
trade, supporting the Calicut king. How much the Nayars and other non-Muslim
populations liked them is a debatable point. In all trade issues, a very antagonistic
attitude has been there between the Nayars and the Mappillas. In fact, this was what
actually spoiled what could have been the beginning of a great trade relationship with
Portugal for Calicut. For, it was very clearly evident that the Calicut king had been
reduced to some kind of an imbecile by the mutually competing attitude of the two
separate power centres under him. His words of commitment had no value.
In fact, it was quite obvious that he was not in command.
QUOTE: In January 1744 a Portuguese frigate was engaged for two days and
two nights off “Pigeon Island” with 7 of Angria’s grabs and 17 gallivats. She would
likely have fallen a prize, for all her masts had been shot away, had not the Company’s
vessels above named, under Commodore Freeman, come to her rescue ; two of the
piratical grabs were hauled off from this encounter in a sinking state. END OF
QUOTE
Continental Europeans literally have piggy-backed ridden on native-English

accomplishments and reputation. Here it is seen that the English ship had to come to
the rescue of a Portuguese ship under attack of the pirates.
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QUOTE: In July the Kadattunad Raja (the King of the pirates) asserted his
right to the wreck of a French brigantine, which went ashore to the south of Mahe.
END OF QUOTE.
No comments!
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CASTE SYSTEM
There is a general talk about the caste system prevalent in the South Asian
Subcontinent. Actually it is a very clever technique to deflect all focus from a terrible
content in the subcontinent. This terrible content is the feudal language codes in the
communication software (language) over here. This is an open secret which is
maintained in a huge bit of secrecy.
If this information comes out, then it would become very difficult to mention
anything about the native-English racism. For, it would soon evolve that the native-
English are still being gullible idiots. For, they are being degraded into some kind of
abominable dirt by the immigrant sections, and still they are none the wiser.
There was a shooting of a Telugu speaker in the USA. I did try to explain the
provocation. However, the Telugu side over there went on ridiculing my explanations.
Some of the words they used were pure profanity and expletives. However, by the next
morning their association had made a declaration that the Telugu people in the US
should refrain from speaking in Telugu in the open areas. Yet, still the idea was not
mentioned in detail. So that the understanding that came out was that the ‘racists’ in
the US will not like another language there. However, that was not the real issue.
See my words in the comment: QUOTE: I think this move was provoked by
my own conversation on Youtube with the Telugu people in the US.
My last posts was thus:
QUOTE:
Since you have used a lot of insulting words, I am replying ignoring all them. I
know you would feign not to understand what I am saying. However, may be some
others might get to read the information.
A person in a feudal language, goes to a police station, and uses a lower grade
You, Your, Yours, He, Him, His &s. to the police official therein. In Hindi, I
understand it is Thoo, and in South Indian languages it is some kind of Nee word.
As far as I can understand the situation, the man who came in and used such
words would be beaten to a pulp by the policemen. Not many persons in India would
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find fault with the policemen, for it is colloquially understood that other man had used
provocations that cannot be humanly borne.
I am only saying that all the civil provocations in the US might need to be re-
investigated from this angle.
When such provocative triggers are pulled, the persons who do it should
understand that they are capable for igniting homicidal mania.
However, the excuse that the other side (Native-English) cannot understand
the degrading would be a lame excuse. It is like saying that one can commit a bank
robbery if one is not found out. END OF QUOTE
However, it is not correct to finish off the matter with a one-sided slyness.
The issue of feudal languages spreading disarraying in a refined native-English nation
has to be properly investigated.
All similar violence in the past in the US has to re-checked. If the feudal
language speakers have actually pulled the verbal trigger in their hands, then the other
side cannot be blamed for the violence they are seen to have done.
http://www.gulte.com/news/56152/Avoid-Speaking-In-Telugu-In-The-USA
QUOTE: The Hindu Malayali is not a lover of towns and villages. His austere
habits of caste purity and impurity made him in former days flee from places where
pollution in the shape of men and women of low caste met him at every corner ; and
even now the feeling is strong upon him and he loves not to dwell in cities. END OF
QUOTE.
This pollution is connected to the feudal languages. And it is real. It is like a

constable addressing an IPS officer as a Nee. There is no need to touch or come near.
The harm is done.
QUOTE: Inferior castes, however, cannot thus speak of their houses in the
presence of the autocratic Nambutiri. In lowliness and self-abasement they have, when
talking to such an one, to style their houses “dungheaps,” and they and their doings
can only be alluded to in phrases every one of which is an abasement and an insult
END OF QUOTE
It is the English rule that brought in dignity to the lower castes. If the English
rule had not come, there are many possibilities that could have happened. I will deal
with that later.
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QUOTE: Length of time has fossilised minute changes, and new castes have
grown up. These also, from an ethnic and social point of view, remain one and the
same caste.” END OF QUOTE.
Actually what has been fossilised is not caste per se. It is the fossilisation of the
slots and layers designed and created by the feudal language codes. It is the fossilisation
of verbal slots.
QUOTE: The committee (Madras Town Census Committee) accepted,

without question, the divisions of the Hindu community into (1) Brahmans, (2)
Kshairiyas, (3) Vaisyas, (4) Sudras, and (5) Out-castes END OF QUOTE.
May be this is the beginning point of the error. May be not. The first four
castes might be from the Brahmanical religion.
However, the outcastes are what is what matters here in Malabar. The Sudras
or the Nayars in Malabar might not also really be from the Brahmanical religion.
However, in the case of Marumakkathaya Thiyyas of north Malabar, Makkathaya
Thiyyas of south Malabar, Malayan, Vannaan, and such other lower castes, and Pariah,
Pulaya etc. very low castes, they are definitely not from the Brahmanical religion. In
most probability, they might be the populations enslaved by means of verbal codes by
the Hindus.
The English Company naturally made a grievous error. They clubbed the
enslaved populations along with the enslavers. However, the words enslaved and
enslavers also do have problems. In many case, it might not be a case of enslavement.
Instead it would be shackling of populations who if let loose would push out the
others and occupy the commanding locations. This again is an information that has not
arrived in England. The immigrant populations who are feudal language speakers have
been let loose in England. It is a most dangerous situation over there.
QUOTE: These Brahmans had a monopoly of learning for many centuries,

and doubtless this was one of the ways in which they managed to secure such
commanding influence in the country. END OF QUOTE.
The above is also a foolish statement. It is not learning actually that helps
maintain the commanding layer. It is the cunning use of verbal codes in such a way
that the other side has no other go other than to go under. These are very powerful
information, which all native-English nations have to bear in mind.
QUOTE: But it must not be supposed that the teaching which the Nambutiri
Brahmans receive is wholly religious. The study of the different sciences seems to have
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descended in particular families, and astronomy in particular has had great attention
paid to it, and the knowledge of it is fairly exact. END OF QUOTE
It might be true that the Brahmins might have had learning in the Sanskrit-
based knowledge of yore. What exactly are there in the Sanskrit text is not known to
me. It is possible that it might contain some hints of ancient mathematics etc.
However, whether a complete construction of mathematics starting right from the
fundamentals has reached into our times seems doubtful.
After-all, the Brahmins themselves do not seem have been the discovers of
any of the ancient knowledge systems. At best, they were the people who had some
ancient ancestral links with the people who created the Vedic textbooks. How who
made it or the machineries they used, are not known as of now, I think. And whether
these ancestors were the discoverers or the servants of the discoverers is also a moot
point. For the staff members in any scientific organisation would naturally pick up a lot
of information on what is going on in the organisation.
The Brahmins are merely the chanters of ancient verbal codes and software
codes. It is like a computer professional using a Computer or writing a codes in any
software language. He is not the creator of the computer or the software language. He
can merely work on them. That is all.
QUOTE: There can hardly be a doubt that the high degree of civilisation to
which the country had advanced at a comparatively early period was due to Aryan
immigrants from the north, and these immigrants brought with them Aryan ideas of
method and order in civil government which became the law of the land. END OF
QUOTE.
This is an utter nonsensical statement. In this book, in the history section

there is no location that can stand testimony to this nonsensical statement. Aaryan
ideas, if at all they are great, have not sowed any kind of fabulous method and order in
civil government. The state of the subcontinent till the advent of the English rule has
been categorically mentioned by V Nagam Aiya in his Travancore State Manual.
QUOTE from Travancore State Manual: “It is the power of the British
sword,” as has been well observed, “which secures to the people of India the great
blessings of peace and order which were unknown through many weary centuries of
turmoil, bloodshed and pillage before the advent of the Briton in India”. END OF
QUOTE.
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QUOTE: If this reasoning and the facts on which it is founded are correct,
then it follows that the origin of the caste system is to be sought, not so much in any
ethnic circumstances of blood connection as Dr. Cornish suggests, as in the ordinary
every-day system of civil government imported into the country by Aryan immigrants,
and readily adopted by the alien peoples among whom the immigrants came, not as
conquerors, but as peaceful citizens, able by their extensive influence elsewhere to
assist the people among whom they settled. END OF QUOTE.
This is a very cunning misrepresentation of events. The entry of feudal

language speakers would be quite a peaceful one, if seen from the perspective of
physical arms and munitions. However, they have one terrible powerful concealed
weapon. That is the dangerous feudal language codes. Once they ensnare another
human being inside these codes, he or she is as good as enslaved or imprisoned, with
no other person seeing the chains that lock him or her. And when he or she dares to
fight it out, his or her very countrymen will catch him or her as a criminal and put him
or her in jail. It is a most perplexing and paradoxical situation. This is exactly what is
happening in native-English nations.
QUOTE: There they saw each member of it told off to perform certain clear
and distinct functions. END OF QUOTE.
It is a very foolish understanding of events. These kind of nonsensical

statements come forth due to the fact that the native-English do not know what is
inside feudal languages. The writer of the above statement is most probably a higher
caste man of Malabar. Feudal languages see to it that a person enslaved as a toilet
cleaner gets his whole soul, body and family tainted in dirt as defined by verbal codes.
He cannot get rid of this enwrapping dirt, unless the native language changes to
pristine-English.
This is the vital information that is not mentioned at all. This book Malabar is
a repository of cunning misrepresentations and misinformation. Some of them are
deliberate. Some are inadvertent. And yet, some are due to lack of understanding.
QUOTE: It is unfortunate, however, that such an essentially European

classification of occupations has been adopted in the census returns, for it is only
confusing to suppose (as the Madras Town Census Committee supposed) that castes
naturally ranged themselves at first under the heads adopted in the census tables of
Professional, Personal Service, Commercial, Agricultural, Industrial, and Non-
productive.
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Some of these divisions are right, but others are not merely wrong, but
misleading. What ought to have been done was to have adopted the four great
divisions into which the Hindus themselves say they were originally divided, viz.
(1) The sacrificers (God-compellers) and Men of Learning ;

(2) The protectors and governing classes ;
(3) The traders and agriculturists ;
(4) The servile classes ; and to have added to this a fifth class of apparently
later origin— -
(5) The mechanics and handicraftsmen ; and all other classes now existing
would have fallen under a separate class of—
(G) Miscellaneous. END OF QUOTE.
There is cunning mischief in the above words. And it is clear that the words
are from the vested interests of the higher castes. For they were seeing in front of their
eyes a new kind of classification of human beings, that did not connect or shackle them
to their traditional castes. Beyond that the words ‘European’ is another attempt at
creating confusion. What was being brought in were the social ideas of English. Not of
Irish or Gaelic or Welsh. Or of Continental Europe.
QUOTE: In approaching a Nambutiri; low-caste people, male and female,

must uncover to the waist as a token of respect. END OF QUOTE
Here comes the real power of the a social set-up designed by feudal languages.
As of now, there other similar enforcements connected to current-day dressing
standards.
QUOTE: And first it may be noticed that the Malayalis distinguished two
kinds of pollutions, viz,., by people whose very approach within certain defined
distances causes atmospheric pollution to those of the higher castes, and by people
who only pollute by actual contact. END OF QUOTE.
There is nothing ‘Malayali’ about this. Modern Malayalis had not yet connected
fully to Malabar. As to the pollution that is caused by proximity and contact, it is there
in the feudal language codes. Even a mere seeing can cause dangerous shift in codes
connected to reality and to human body, depending on the social level of the person
who beholds.
QUOTE: Of the Malayali castes the most exclusive, and the most
conservative, and in the European sense, nearly the most unenlightened is that of the
indigenous Malayali Brahmans called Numbuthiris, If they did not introduce caste, as a
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political institution, into the country, they at least seem to have given to it its most
recent development, and they are its staunchest upholders now. They seem to have
embodied in the Sanskrit language rules of life regulating their most trivial actions, and
at every step their conduct is hampered and restrained by what, appear to European
eyes absurd customs. END OF QUOTE.
There is a cunningness that might easily escape notice. It is the word

‘European’. There is no ‘European eye’ here in this. It is only the English or British
eye. Even the French language is feudal. While English is planar. It is from the English
perspective that there are absurdities here. Not from French or German.
QUOTE: It is only the poorest of them who will consent to act as priests, and
of these the highest functionary in a large temple is condemned to three years of
celibacy while holding office END OF QUOTE
There evidently are many unsavoury items connected to being or installed on

the top.
QUOTE: Nambutiri females conceal themselves from prying eyes in their

walks abroad is usually styled the “mask umbrella” and is with them the outward sign
of chastity. END OF QUOTE.
It is like a young lady IPS officer who walks on the streets in her civil dress.
Even they constables, without knowing who it is can mention her as an Oal or Aval
(lowest she / her). At this level of referring, their glances will be quite profane, and
their words quite degrading. Here, again, the word ‘degrading’ cannot be understood in
English. For, there is nothing in English by which one can find a corresponding levels
of degrading.
QUOTE: In the latter also, in outlying parts, both men and women are still
afraid to avail themselves of the privilege of using the public roads. In passing from
one part of the country to another they tramp along through the marshes in mud, and
wet often up to their waists, rather than risk the displeasure of their lords and masters
by accidentally polluting them while using the public roads. They work very hard for
the pittance they receive; in fact nearly all the rice-land cultivation used to be in former
days carried on by them. The influx of European planters, who offer good wages,
END OF QUOTE.
This is the real fact of the caste system which was crushed by the English
administration in a very slow and steady manner. In Rev. Samuel Mateer’s Native Life
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in Travancore, there is a very detailed discussion on the slavery in Travancore. The

slavery in Malabar and other locations in the subcontinent will not be much different.
As to the use of the word ‘European’, it is a mischievous use. In Native Life in

Travancore, and such other books also, this erroneous usage is there. It might be true
that the presence of such persons as Gundert etc. might have caused this. For, when
the English administration became strong in the subcontinent, many Continental
Europeans did sneak in, using their white-skin colour to establish a collaboration and
equal status, which was actually just skin-deep.
QUOTE: It is said that the difficulty of providing for their woman is the chief
obstacle to their complete release from their shackles. The women must have dwellings
of some sort somewhere, and the masters provide the women with huts and allow their
men to go to work on plantations on condition that they return in good time for the
rice cultivation and hand over a considerable portion of their earnings. END OF
QUOTE
It is a strategic technique used for shackling the lower caste males. They need a
secure place to keep their women folk. However, there is no escape from this
shackling. The moment they try to break free, their household becomes insecure.
There is nothing to compare in this with the Negro slavery in the US. For, there the
language is planar English. Here is it is feudal languages of the most terrible kind.
QUOTE: Conversion to Muhammadanism has also had a most marked effect

in freeing the slave caste from their former burthens. By conversion, a Cheruman
obtains a distinct rise in the social scale, and if he is in consequence bullied or beaten
the influence of the whole Muhammadan community comes to his aid. With fanaticism
still rampant, the most powerful of landlords dares not to disregard the possible
consequences of making a martyr of his slave END OF QUOTE.
This is very significant statement. This statement contains more than one bit
of information. Among the Muslims, there are no layers similar to that of castes. So the
moment a Cheruman converts, he is on the one and only layer available. So the
hammering effect of the lower indicant words is lessened to a very feeble level. It
shows in his personality development.
Moreover the Islamic brotherhood that he has joined into would come to his
protection when he is in need of it.
The other item is that this conversion would be a terrible item for the Nayars
and their higher castes. For, individuals who traditionally had to display very visible
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‘respect’ and reverence would be seen to be acting as if they are equals. The indicant
words they use for You, He, She &c. would show marked lowering in ‘respect’. The
higher caste would find it difficult to communicate with them without being hard and
rough. There is enough inputs for the Mappilla outrages in South Malabar.
QUOTE: On this, nothing more was done just then, except that the
Government issued orders on 12th March 1839 “to watch the subject of the
improvement of the condition of the Cherumar with that interest which it evidently
merits, and leave no available means untried for effecting that object.” END OF
QUOTE.
The unmentioned greatness of the native-English rule.
QUOTE: The appointment of a Protector of the Cherumar was sanctioned

but never carried out, and various industrial and educational schemes organised for
their benefit failed because of their lack of industry in the one case, and their lack of
application and adaptability in the other. END OF QUOTE.
Social engineering is not that easy as such. Improving the lower classes and
castes is like trying to pull out people trapped in the lowest floors of a building that had
fallen down in an earthquake.
Even though they are alive and healthy, pulling them would not be easy due to
the huge weight of the various other floors above them. What is required is a lot of
patience, effort and perseverance. Only the native-English had this. However, the
pulled out persons were not of the kind who bore any gratitude.
QUOTE: But a partial crossing was effected at another point, and a curious
incident, possible only in Indian warfare, occurred, for a band of Cherumar, who were
there busy working in the fields, plucked up courage, seized their spades and attacked
the men who had crossed.
These being, more afraid of being polluted by the too near approach of the
low-caste men than by death at the hands of Pacheco’s men, fled precipitately.
Pacheco expressed strong admiration of the Cherumars’ courage and wished
to have them raised to the rank of Nayars. He was much astonished when told that this
could not be done. END OF QUOTE.
It is not easy to understand the hidden codes in the communication system

which hold everything in tight containers. The non-tangible links and relationships
encoded in the verbal codes can be disturbed only by very powerful and cataclysmic
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events, which are very difficult to happen. Like for instance, an IPS officer being
demoted to a peon or police constable.
QUOTE: “Before he quitted the country, Hyder by a solemn edict, declared the
Nayars deprived of all their privileges ; and ordained that their caste, which was
the first after the Brahmans, should thereafter be the lowest of all the castes,
subjecting them to salute the Parias and others of the lowest castes by ranging
themselves before them as the other Mallabars had been obliged to do before
the Nayars ; permitting all the other caste to bear arms and forbidding them to
the Nayars, who till then had enjoyed the sole right of carrying them; at the
same time allowing and commanding all persons to kill such Nayars as were
found bearing arms. By this rigorous edict, Hyder expected to make all the other
castes enemies of the Nayars, and that they would rejoice in the occasion of
revenging themselves for the tyrannic oppression this nobility had till then
exerted over them. END OF QUOTE.
This is a part of history which the birdbrain who is now in England

campaigning for a reparation from Britain for ‘looting India’ should bear in mind. The
question of what would have happened if England had not ruled ‘India’ is the query
that is being asked. The simple answer to this birdbrain is that he and his family
members would have been reduced to the lowest of the castes in the location. Pushing
down a population is easily accomplished by the forced change of words of addressing
and referring. This is a phenomenon about which the native-English have no idea at
all.
See this illustration:
The Nayar man says to his slave caste man: You come here.
The slave caste man says: Why do you want me?
In this above conversation, there is nothing of note in English.
However, in Malabari (the original Malayalam), ‘You came here’ will be ‘Inhi
come here’. Inhi is the lowest you.
The slave man ask: ‘Why do Ingal want me?’ Ingal is the highest You.
However, when the castes are flipped, the conversation would become:
You come here: Ingal come here. (Highest You come here.)
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The slave caste man asks: Why do Inhi want me? (Inhi is the lowest you).
When the You word forms change, there is a full-scale flipping of positions.
The lowest You would crush the other person. The highest You would make the other
person exalted and powerful.
The birdbrain and his household would have been converted into some kind
of stinking dirt.
QUOTE: About this time a hill tribe called Malasars (Mala—hill, and arasar -
lords) in Palghat having inopportunely disturbed a Brahman festival by intruding into
the circle for the relics of the feast, the Palghat Achchan caused the headman of the
tribe to be decapitated. END OF QUOTE.
This was one of the terrible issues that the English administration faced. That
of higher castes people taking law into their own hands, when it came to punishing the
lower castes. They claimed it to be their traditional rights.
QUOTE: The second class or Malumis are sailors and are engaged in
exporting the produce of the island to the mainland in the Karnavar's odams ; some of
them also possess fishing boats and small odams of their own, in which they make
voyages to the coast, and this has excited the jealousy of the Karnavar class, who look
upon them as interlopers and rebels. There is thus ill-feeling between the two classes
END OF QUOTE
This is with regard to one of the Laccadive Islands. The economic

empowerment of the lower castes is a terror. Because it can lead to them becoming less
‘respectful’ and more rude in their use of verbal codes.
QUOTE: The upper classes do not seem to be wanting in intelligence, but they
are very indifferent to education, whilst the lower classes from the state of the
subjection in which they are held are rude and ignorant. END OF QUOTE.
This is again from the Laccadive Islands. Education per se has no meaning in
this social system. What is essential is the higher position in the verbal codes. Technical
skills and knowledge will not give this higher position. For instance, the carpenters are
technically highly skilled. However, it is best to keep them in the lower slots in the
verbal slots. Otherwise, they would overtake their social higher-ups.
QUOTE from http://himalmag.com/life-letters-elizabethdraper/
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Forbes, once an Angengo official, documented some of the local practices in

his Oriental Memoirs. He writes that one Attingal queen ordered the breasts of a
female servant be cut off because the woman had appeared before her dressed in a
bodice given her by her English mistress, in defiance of the local custom. This was
common on the entire Malabar coast. END OF QUOTE.
Actually in the verbal codes, it is like an Indian police constable wearing the
uniform of the IPS officers. A great degrading in attire is good for imposing the lower
grade words on the lower positioned persons. It helps in enforcing command and
discipline in a feudal language. If the servant looks like a high quality person, it would
be quite cumbersome to use the degrading verbal codes Inhi / Nee on him. Without
this degrading, he cannot be allowed to continue as a servant.
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Slavery
Now we arrive at the location of slavery in the subcontinent. It is a very
curious situation. The whole social system worked on a foundation on indentured or
bound-to-the-soil slaves. It was so common an issue that it was not seen as
noteworthy at all. In many ancient traveller writings, there is mention of slaves in a
most casual manner, as if they are part of the furniture.
The state of being a slave is not a statutory one as one would understand how
it was treated in the US southern states. Over here it is more or less maintained by the
language system, which in turn created the powerful layers and slots of the caste
system. So that each downward layer or caste is a sort of slave to the higher layer/
layers.
From this perspective, the Brahmins are the highest slave-masters. However,
that is not the full truth. In that many of the downwards layers would not have any
complaint on being in subservience to the Brahmins. For instance, the Nayars were
totally willing to allow their women folk for the cohabitation of the Brahmins, if and
when they came home. The Nayar male would exhibit all kinds of reverences to the
Brahmin Nambhuthiri. And the Brahmin in turn would bless him.
The Brahmins gave the Nayars the rights over the many lower castes under
them. So, it was not an enslavement totally for the Nayars. For, they were to become
the supervisors and the masters of the lower castes. They had full rights over them to
the extent of even maiming or killing them.
This social consciousness in the Nayars continued till the advent and
empowerment of the English rule in Malabar, both in north Malabar as well as in south
Malabar. In the kingdom of Travancore, also there were Nayars. However, they
continued it for much longer, because that kingdom continued to exist as an
independent kingdom till it was taken over under military intimidation by India.
See this QUOTE from Native Life in Travancore: A good deal of controversy
has taken place on the subject in the public prints, and a society for the reform of the
Malabar laws of marriage (and inheritance) has been formed at Calicut by the leaders of
the Nayar community, especially those educated in English. END of QUOTE
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It might be true that there was no such corresponding event in Travancore.

For there, subservience to the Brahmins was part of the system which gave the Nayars
the authority over the lower castes. However, in Malabar, subservience to the
Brahmins was a wasteful attitude which was not going to give any more returns. It is
like being obsequious to an IPS officer by a constable, after the demise of India.
QUOTE: The questions of slavery and the slave trade attracted the early
attention of the Honourable Company’s Government. So early as 1702, the year in
which British rule commenced, a proclamation was issued by the Commissioners
against dealing in slaves. A person offering a slave for sale was to be considered as a
thief. The slave was to be forfeited and the person offering him for sale was to be fined
five times his value. The purchaser was to be similarly treated. The houses of suspected
slave traders were to be well watched and entered and searched on the smallest
suspicion, and the traders caught in flagrante delicto were to be handed over to the Rajas
to be dealt with.
This proclamation was, however, directed chiefly against the practice, then
prevalent, of bands of robbers carrying off by force from their houses the children of
“the most useful inhabitants, the Tiyars and other cultivators.” END OF QUOTE.
The most valid truth is that the English rule crushed slavery and the practise
of slave selling in the subcontinent. However, there are many writings that try to prove
that the English rule did sell slaves. It is all nonsense. Beyond that there are attempts to
confuse the issue with mixing up the theme to the deeds of Continental European
groups such as the French, Dutch &c. and then cast the blame on the English rule.
QUOTE: on the 23rd December of that year the Principal Collector received
orders desiring “that the practice of selling slaves for arrears of revenue may be
immediately discontinued.” END OF QUOTE.
The English rule took time to slowly remove slavery. And who is there to
appreciate the actions? The people of current-day India would find it very awkward if
they were asked not to use the pejorative form of addressing and referring to and
about their house servants. If they are asked to allow them to sit on a chair and eat
from the household dining table, they would go wild with anger. To explain the actions
of the English rule to these kinds of people would be a waste of effort. For, they have
no interest in the lower classes improving. However, to place a blame on the English
colonial rule, they would not miss an opportunity.
QUOTE: The matter in this and other ways reached the ears of the
Court of Directors, and in their despatch of 12th December 1821 they expressed
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considerable dissatisfaction at the lack of precise information which had been

vouchsafed to them regarding the cultivators in general, and in particular said :
We are told, indeed, that part of them (an article of very unwelcome intelligence)
are held as slaves ; that they are attached to the soil and marketable property.
You are directed to obtain and to communicate to us all the useful

information with respect to this latter class of persons which you possibly can;
the treatment to which they are liable, the habits of their masters with respect to
them, the kind of life to which they are doomed, the sort of title by which the
property of them is claimed, the price which they bear and more especially the
surest and safest means of ultimately effecting their emancipation.
We also desire to know whether those occupants, 150,000 in number,

cultivate immediately the whole of the lands by their slaves and hired servants,
or whether there is a class of inferior tenants to whom they let or sub-let a
portion of their lands. If there is such an interior class of lessees, you will inform
us under what conditions they cultivate, what are their circumstances, and what
measures, if any, have been employed for their protection END OF QUOTE.
A most wonderful attitude!
QUOTE: On 16th November 1836, the Government ordered the remission in

the Collector’s accounts of Rs. 927-13-0, which was the “annual revenue” from slaves
on the Government lands in Malabar, and the Government was at the same time
“pleased to accede to the recommendation in favour of emancipating the slaves on the
Government lands in Malabar.” END OF QUOTE.
QUOTE: Government issued orders on 12th March 1839 “to watch the subject
of the improvement of the condition of the Cherumar with that interest which it
evidently merits, and leave no available means untried for effecting that object.” END
OF QUOTE
QUOTE: Their freedom was not, however, to be proclaimed, and the measure
was to be carried out in such manner “as not to create any unnecessary alarm or
aversion to it on the part of other proprietors, or premature hopes of emancipation on
that of other slaves.” END OF QUOTE.
QUOTE: The Directors on learning what had been done "entirely approved”
of the measures adopted, and requested the Government to consider how to extend
similar measures to the slaves of private owners, and urged the necessity of carrying
out the measures with "extreme caution”. This was contained in the Directors’
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despatch of 17th August 1838, and in penning it they evidently had before their eyes the
fear of being heavily mulcted after the West Indian fashion in compensation to owners
if any overt act was taken towards publicly recognising a general emancipation of
slaves. END OF QUOTE.
The above are some of the quotes that stand testimony to what a private
trading company was doing for the emancipation of a huge number of slaves in a far-
off land. Actually if they had not even bothered nothing would have gone wrong from
their trade. On the other hand, there was the brooding fear that if they acted too fast,
the Nayars and their higher castes would unite to crush down the foreign power which
was enforcing egalitarianism in a land where the language codes do not support
egalitarian ideas.
QUOTE: Women in some taluks fetched higher prices in order to breed

slaves. END OF QUOTE.
Actually in the new nation of India, no one is really bothered if anyone is sold
or bought. Almost all persons are quite selfish. There are immense locations in India
where people do not even bother to notice the terrible poverty all around. It is not
possible to interfere. For the languages are hierarchical. They cannot go and simply
converse as it would be possible in English. There are verbal hierarchies to be enforced
in all conversations, if one should not get bruised by indicant word forms.
QUOTE: “Any person claiming a slave as janmam, kanam or panayam, the

right of such claim or claims will not be investigated into at any of the public offices or
courts.” END OF QUOTE.
This was one more step to saving the slaves from the ‘Indians’.
QUOTE: there is reason to think that they are still, even now, with their full
consent, bought and sold and hired out, although, of course, the transaction must be
kept secret for fear of the penalties of sections 370, 371, etc., of the Indian Penal Code,
which came into force on 1st January 1802 and which was the real final blow at slavery
in India. END OF QUOTE
English government made slave-trade a prohibited item. However, from the

above-statement it is hinted at that the ‘Indians’ did try to continue their slave-trade in
a clandestine manner. That of dealing in contraband.
QUOTE: It was apparently these letters of Mr. E. B. Thomas which eventually

decided the Board of Directors to send out orders to legislate in the matter, for in their
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despatch of 27th July 1842 they first sent orders “for the entire abolition of slavery”,
and in a second despatch of 15th March 1843 they called the special attention of the
Government of India to the question of slavery in Malabar where the evils, as
described by Mr. E. B. Thomas, were so aggravated “as compared with other portions
of India”. END OF QUOTE
The reader has to note that the evilness of slavery in Malabar is mentioned as
more terrible than other parts of the subcontinent. If the birdbrain who is demanding
reparation from England is asked to compensate for the thousand of slaves his
ancestral household had kept in confinement, it might wipe out the entire financial
acumen of his entire family members. That is the truth.
QUOTE: The Government of India thereupon passed Act V of 1843. On the

passing of the Act, its provisions were widely published throughout Malabar by
Mr.Conolly, the Collector, and he explained to the Cherumar that it was their interest
as well as their duty to remain with their masters if treated kindly. END OF QUOTE.
There is terrible pathos in the above statement in the offing. For this very Mr.
Conolly, much beloved Collector of Malabar was hacked to death by a few Mappillas in
their rage at the government interference when the Mappillas were wreaking vengeance
on the Nayar and Brahmin overlords. This is the typical issue. The English rule did its
best for the peoples of the subcontinent. However, the people learn from schools and
colleges that they were ‘looters’ and other evil deed doers.
The same way, the Mappilla murderers had no other way to understand the
government deeds to control the communal clashes. It is noteworthy that a lot of
enlightened Muslims stood by the English administration and lend support to catch the
Mappilla miscreants.
See these QUOTEs:
and Major Dow was deputed to the Mappilla districts, and a cowl of
protection was issued in favour of the Kundotti section of the Mappilla class, who had
been oppressed by the Nayar landholders. END OF QUOTE.
QUOTE: The Mappillas of this latter district undertook to assist the British to
maintain their hold of the province, but when it came to the push their hearts failed
them. END OF QUOTE
Now back to Mr. Conolly.
QUOTE: He proclaimed “The Government will not order a slave who is in

the employ of an individual to forsake him and go to the service of another claimant;
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nor will the Government interfere with the slave’s inclination as to where he wishes to
work. END OF QUOTE.
It was not wise to create a totally destruction of the social system. Changes
had to be brought in slowly. There was the issue of a person’s wish also.
QUOTE: The number of days in this case is fourteen, but as they cannot at
certain seasons afford to be idle for fourteen days together—for fourteen days’ idleness
very often with them means fourteen days’ starvation END OF QUOTE.
QUOTE: The Cherumar are supposed to be so styled because of their low

stature ((Cheru = small) but low feeding produces low stature, and it is very possible
that the slave caste constituted the aborigines of the ancient Chera kingdom (vide p.
147 ). END OF QUOTE.
Even though food is a very important ingredient for body growth, the
suppression via feudal-language pejorative codes does induce certain suppression in the
physical growth. It is a complicated issue and cannot be dealt with here. However,
there is a wider issue in that in a feudal language ambience, it is best to see that the
under-classes are under-fed. It is then easier to manage them. For it might be more
easier to extract ‘respect’ from midget-size human beings than from individuals with
very good physique.
QUOTE: With one merchant you will see one or two hundred of these
carriers, the merchant himself walking. But when the nobles pass from place to place,
they ride in a dula made of wood, something like a box, and which is carried upon the
shoulders of slaves and hirelings. END OF QUOTE.
This is the richness of ancient ‘India’ that is proclaimed by the modern day
jingoist of the subcontinent.
QUOTE: The Commissioners likewise prohibited the slave trade carried on

extensively in children by Mappilla merchants with the French and Dutch ports of
Mahe and Cochin respectively. END OF QUOTE
It appears that some of the Mappillas had trade connections with the Dutch
and the French. And that was in slave trade. But in these kinds of information, it need
to be noted that only a few Mappillas would be involved in this. Not all.
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QUOTE: They also framed regulations for the custom house collections,
prohibited the export slave trade and dealing in gunpowder, warlike weapons and
stores END OF TRADE
English attempts at bringing in a civil administration in the semi-barbarian

land.
QUOTE: and the breaking up of the system of serfdom since the assessments
were fixed must have had a much greater influence on agriculture in Wynad than it had
elsewhere, because in Wynad there was but a limited class to take the places of the
slaves who chose to leave their ancient masters and work for hire on the European
coffee-estates. END OF QUOTE
The serf system was broken by the arrival of the English rule. There are issues
here. One is the pain and anguish of the landlord class when they find that their
‘respectful’ and subservient class of slaves turning into rude competitors with no more
‘respect’.
Second is the new right that the serfs had gained to choose their employers.
The wider item to mention here is that as the serf moved out and their next
generations came, they were very cunningly told that it was the English administrators
who had enslaved them. This was made possible with the entry of the earlier feudal
classes into the business of ‘communist revolutions’.
It would not be surprising to see that the so-called ‘communist’ ‘revolutions’

and even ‘freedom fighters’ are from the class of feudal lords and enslavers. Many of
them are so cunning that they have pasted the whole tragic content of the history of
the location on the English rule. And they, who were the original oppressors, from
whose hands the English administration saved the lower classes, have become ‘great
leaders’. At least a few of them have very quietly sent their children into the native-
English nations.
QUOTE:
ADIYAN. Is literally slave both in Tamil and Malayalam, and in the Northern
Division of Malabar it is applied to the real slaves, but in South Malabar it means
generally vassals. Under the old system, where every Tiyan was under a kind of
vassalage to some superior, to some patron, to a Tamburan as he is commonly called,
the patron was bound to protect him and to redress any petty wrongs he might sustain,
and the client or vassal acknowledged his dependent state by yearly presents, and was
to be ready with his personal services upon any private quarrel of his patron. This kind
of dependency gave the patron no right of disposal of the person of his vassal as a
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slave, nor did it acquit the dependent individual of a superior obligation to the Raja or
his representatives, the Desavali, and Neduvali, upon a public emergency. END OF
QUOTE
Whatever right is mentioned or not mentioned, the fact is that due to the
hammering power of the pejorative word codes in the local feudal languages, the
Adiyan and his family members were literally living on the whims of their landlord.
They could be beaten to a pulp and even hacked to pieces and killed. There was no law
or policing mechanism in the land to prevent all this, until the advent of the English
rule.
QUOTE: Cherumar: Slaves in general. It is supposed to be derived from cheru

= soil, and makkal children : children of the soil, or sons of the earth. Others say from
cheru, small, and makkal, children, indicating that they are to be treated as young
children by their masters. END OF QUOTE.
From an English perspective, the feeling that might come forth on hearing
that they are being treated by the master as his own children, might be that of some
kind of affection. However, the greater lie in this sentence is that the Cherumar are
placed at the lowest indicant word codes. So that a Cheruman adult would be treated
like an infant in terms of intelligence. It is a very powerful degradation. However, no
one in the subcontinent is really bothered. That is the solid fact. After all, it is another
person. Who cares if he is ill-treated?
Even the ‘great’ ‘social reformers’ of the land do address and refer to their
menial staff with the most degrading pejorative codes of addressing and referring. No
one sees any problem in this. They treat them like dirt. No one is bothered. They make
them sit on the floor. No one is bothered.
And when cinemas produce fake story films of the English rulers who had
‘treated the people like dirt’, these very individuals understand that it is the Englishmen
who had ill-treated them. So much is the fraudulent nature of history studies in this
nation of India.
QUOTE: Is a fee which is given to a kind of headman among slaves for

watching a large tract of rice-land and protecting it from cattle. END OF THE
QUOTE.
It then becomes the headman-slave to see that all the other slaves do exhibit
their subservience to the landlord.
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QUOTE:
KANAM. I think, is generally supposed to mean mortgage or pledge, must be
construed to be the thing or consideration for which the mortgage or pledge is given,
and it seems applicable only to lands, timber trees, and slaves. END OF QUOTE
See the connection and the grouping. Land, timber trees and slaves. All
sellable commodities. And the wonder is that formal history does not even take time to
detect the slaves of the subcontinent, who literally lived like dust on the soil. The focus
of formal history is on the cunning Negro slaves of the US, who have improved
beyond the wildest dreams of their ancestor barbarians of Africa. Still they have only
complaints. However, there are some complications in this understanding also. I
cannot go into that here.
QUOTE: KUDI. A pair ; applied to a slave and his wife in speaking of their
price. END OF QUOTE.
It would be quite funny to see that in the modern age, it is the landlord class of
yore who have transformed into the revolutionary leader class in Malabar.
QUOTE:
KUDICHILLARA: Tax on houses, shops, warehouses, and implements of
the profession of blacksmiths &c. END OF QUOTE.
No comment other than that even taxation had discriminatory terms in the
local feudal language.
QUOTE:
PANDAKKAVAL. A watching fee, consisting of the crop of a certain portion
of the field, which a slave receives from his master for his trouble. Kaval is watching
and Pandal is the awning or cover under which the slave sets to watch. END OF
QUOTE
The slaves were literally left to bear the rain and the wind. It was just a like a
watch dog kept outside the house. What it suffered and experienced was not given any
thoughts. If other dogs bite it also, it is treated as an issue among animals.
QUOTE: Adimappanam was the yearly payment of 1 and 2 fanams which every
Adiyan was obliged to pay to his Tamburan or patron, END OF QUOTE
Even the slaves had to pay a tax it seems. However, this might not be the
bound-to-the-soil slaves, but the slaves who had been entrusted with some land, I
think.
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QUOTE: Dried fish and hides are occasionally exported to Ceylon, where the
majority of Anjengo Christians go to work on coffee estates. END OF QUOTE.
The above-event is an illustration of how the slaves escaped from the hands of
their traditional tormenters. However, in modern Indian history studied, the
description might be thus: ‘The British used to sell slaves into their plantations in
Ceylon and elsewhere. One can see such Indian people in many such places all over the
world, including South Africa.’
The minute understanding that these people were the slaves under the
‘Indians’ who escaped to other lands when the English administration was set up,
never appears in the minds of the geniuses who write formal history in India.
QUOTE: We also have given to him (the right of) the feast-cloth, house-
pillars, all the, revenue, the curved sword (or dagger), and in (or with) the sword the
sovereign merchant-ship, the right of proclamation, the privilege of having
forerunners, the five musical instruments, the conch, the light (or torch burning) by
day, the spreading cloth, litter, royal umbrella, Vaduca drum, the gateway with seats
and ornamental arches, and the sovereign merchant-ship over the four classes (or
streets), also the oil-makers and the five kinds of artificers we have subjected to him (or
given as slaves to him). END OF QUOTE.
This is a sample of the rights given by the small-time rulers to people from
outside who come as rich merchants and other powerful entities. What it means in the
feudal languages, is the right to address and refer to a huge percentage of the local
population in the pejorative word forms. This is an idea not at all understood by the
native-English.
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The Portuguese
Before looking at the events connected to the Portuguese attempts at
consolidating their power in the subcontinent, there is need to understand what went
wrong in the very beginning itself.
Calicut was a small kingdom with a harbour facility. What made it important
for the Arabian merchants who came across the Arabian Sea from the Middle-east
locations was pepper. This pepper they transported through the north African trade
routes to the Mediterranean Sea. From there it was taken to the Venetian trade centres.
The Venetian merchant took over the cargo from there and sold it in Continental
European markets and those in Great Britain.
I am not sure if the Arab traders were allowed to directly sell their wares inside
Europe. In most probability not. It is basically common sense. That if these traders are
allowed inside, they would take-over the internal trade also. However, as of now,
native-English nations seem to have lost all common sense. Their nations are in the
direct hands of ingenious feudal-language speaking businessmen. It is only a matter of
time before they takeover everything. For they come to posses both ends of the trade
and commerce. The only hope for native-English nations is to suppress the
democracies which have run totally amok and get rid of all feudal-language speakers
from inside their nations.
Calicut more or less subsisted on the trade and support of the Arabian
merchants. Calicut as a kingdom would be only a small place with a king who would be
more or less a strongman who can keep at bay the various rebellions against him from
various nook and corner of the place, including that from inside his own household.
QUOTE: indeed there exists a tradition that in 1489 or 1490 a rich

Muhammadan came to Malabar, ingratiated, himself with the Zamorin, and obtained
leave to build additional Muhammadan mosques. The country would no doubt have
soon been converted to Islam either by force or by conviction, but the nations of
Europe were in the meantime busy endeavouring to find a direct road to the pepper
country of the East. The arrival of this Portuguese expedition aroused at once the
greatest jealousy in the Moors or Muhammadans, who had the Red Sea and Persian
Gulf trade with Europe in their hands, and they immediately began to intrigue with the
authorities for the destruction of the expedition. END OF QUOTE.
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It cannot be said for sure if a compulsory mass conversion to Islam would be

conducted. It is possible that the local Muslims would not like to do that. For, if that is
done, they would be more or less giving up their own advantage to the others,
including to their own serving slave castes. But then it is possible that higher castes
would have been taken down and made some kind of very lower castes, if such a thing
were to happen. Luckily for them the Portuguese from Continental Europe arrived.
QUOTE: Accordingly, when Da Gama sent Nicholas Coelho on shore with a

message to the Zamorin asking him to sanction trade, the authorities tried his temper
by making him wait, thinking this to cause a break with the Portuguese; but being
warned by a Castilian whom they found in the place, he exercised patience END OF
QUOTE.
This was the culture and efficiency of the kingdom. More or less like the
current-day Indian officialdom.
QUOTE: The king (of Calicut) was sitting in his

chair which the factor” (who had preceded Da Grama
with the presents) “had got him to sit upon: he was a
very dark man, half-naked, and clothed with white cloths
from the middle to the knees ; END OF QUOTE
It does seem that the ‘factor’ had compelled him

to sit on a chair. Though the ‘very dark man, half-naked
and clothed’ to the middle of his knees’ description
would look quite a bit let-down description, the real
power of the man would be in the terrific hammering
content in the words in the native-language.
QUOTE: The interview would probably have had the desired result, but the
Moors had meanwhile been busy bribing the Chief Officer of the Palace Guard, an
official of great power, END OF QUOTE.
This is a typical behaviour pattern in the subcontinent. Things are worked

from elsewhere. The direct approach actually hides a lot of hidden approaches. It
might be good for native-English nations to know these things. When feudal language
speakers arrive in native-English nations, this is the ways things are accomplished. Be
they are from Italy or Germany or Japan, or Spain or India, or Pakistan or Sri Lanka or
Bangladesh or Korea.
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Beyond all this, the term ‘Chief Officer of the Palace Guard’ does not really
reflect the semi-barbarian quality of the people. It is like mentioning an Indian
government official as an ‘officer’.
QUOTE: the Chief Officer went before the king, charged Da Gama with
breaking faith, and suggested that the Moors should be permitted to take the ships and
appropriate the goods for the king’s use. The king agreed to this, but the jealousy of
the king’s Brahman and of his Treasurer had been aroused at the Chief Officer’s
having it all his own way. and first the one and then the other interfered and pointed
out that the Portuguese had so far done no harm, and great discussions thereupon
arose. END OF QUOTE.
This is the typical manner in which things work out, unless one comes in with
power. Decent and logical level of conversing and getting things done is not possible
with feudal language speakers. However, at the other end the Portuguese side also
might be feudal language speakers.
QUOTE: The hostages demanded to be put to death by the king if Da Gama

were to be slain, and their demands were backed up by both the Treasurer and the
king’s Justice out of envy at the rich presents offered by the Moors to the Chief Officer
of the Palace Guard. END OF QUOTE.
A trade negotiation becomes a mess of intrigues. However, for the Arabian

side, who were supported by the local Mappilla traders, this was a life or death battle to
retain their precious trade. They could foresee the disaster in the offing. A route to a
very remote, semi-barbarian geographical location had been discovered by competing
business entities.
QUOTE: Having thus revenged himself, Cabral sailed for Cochin, protesting
that in Calicut the people could not be trusted, and that truth and honour were alike
unknown, it appears, on the other hand, that Cabral was hasty and perfectly regardless
of the sacrifice of human life, being quite ready to slaughter Moors and Nayars
indiscriminately, with or without provocation, and with no expectation, of doing any
good. END OF QUOTE
There is something to be said about the above claims. The people of Calicut
cannot be trusted, but then the people of Cochin can be trusted? Well, the way the
social machinery works inside feudal language societies is like this: If honoured and
‘respected’, (i.e. Adheham, Avar, Saar, Anugunnu &c. all highest He / Him) the others
are generally quite truthful, trustworthy and honourable in commitments. If a person is
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placed in a location of no respect (i.e., Avan / Oan), he can expect no honesty, and no
commitment from others. That is the truth.
QUOTE: Meanwhile extraordinary preparations were being made in Egypt to

equip a fleet to drive away the Portuguese, whose interference with the overland trade
had deprived the Egyptian ruler of his chief source of revenue. END OF QUOTE.
So it is the Egyptian ruler who stood behind the scenes. Then, it would be
good deed to declare him as the first freedom fighter of India. For, just behind him is
the Moroccan, Hyder Ali who might like to place a claim on this. Then comes the
French, who more or less fought in many of the ‘freedom fights in India’ against the
British! They were there in the Battle of Plassey, actually the only fighting side that
really fought against Robert Clive’s natives of Madras. So, it seems that the French
were the freedom fighters of India, while the soldiers who arrived to fight for Robert
Clive from Madras were the foreigners. This the real insights of modern Indian
academic history.
QUOTE: The Portuguese spared the Christian houses, shops and churches,
but they looted those of the Jews and Moors. END OF QUOTE.
This is a very curious twist of international history. The Jews and the Muslims
on one side, while a Continental European nation against them. However, look at this:
QUOTE: About the time of Da Gama’s death, the Moors, with the Zamorin’s
approval, made an onslaught on the Cannanore Jews and Christians, the reason alleged
being that the Moors had resorted to various tricks for adulterating the pepper, etc.,
brought to market, and some Jews and Christians had been specially selected to
discover such tricks and mete out justice to the offenders END OF QUOTE.
There is this also at another location:
QUOTE: “As the Jews had favoured their enemies the Dutch, the Portuguese
considered it necessary to punish them to prevent the recurrence of such conduct, and
therefore immediately on the siege being raised, they plundered Jews’ Town of almost
all it contained, attempted to destroy the synagogue, END OF QUOTE.
QUOTE: But the Portuguese captains had obstructed the carrying out of the
order, and, perhaps, they had some excuse for doing so, as several Calicut Moors under
cover of this permission used to carry on trade. END OF QUOTE.
The issue at hand was that of the Mappilla traders from Calicut running a
prohibited trade using the permission. But then there is more to it. The Portuguese
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side also was running on feudal languages. In such languages systems, unless there is a
very powerful and very clearly understood regimentation, people would tend to step on
each others’ toes. Each endeavour would end up with individual tripping on others, so
to say.
QUOTE: The combined fleets then returned to Cannanore and quarrels

immediately ensued between the two viceroys. END OF QUOTE.
This is a very typical sign of feudal language presence.
QUOTE: To his sorrow, however, he found that his countrymen had in the
interval been associating indiscriminately with the natives, and had abandoned
themselves to vice and crime. END OF QUOTE.
No comment.
QUOTE: His zeal was, however, disparaged by slanderers among his own
officers, and the King of Portugal began to take alarm at his increasing renown. END
OF QUOTE.
QUOTE: But meanwhile the slanderers’ tales had been listened to and
Albuquerque’s supersession had been decreed END OF QUOTE.
Ah! Here we come to exact exhibition of what a feudal language does. When
Robert Clive became world famous, his immediate superior did not get the creeps. The
monarch did not get disturbed. However, the Portugal experience seems to be
apparently different.
I do not know Portuguese language. So I am writing from presumptions.
In the native feudal language of the Malabar, there is the He word. It can
change from Oan (Avan) (lowest he / him) to Ayaal (higher he / Him) and then to Oar
(Adheham) (highest He / Him). When a lower positioned person’s fame grows, this
verbal change would happen. It would then go on reaching a heights that one by one
each level of his superiors would stand demolished in the verbal codes. These verbal
codes actually contain the codes of command and obeisance.
It is a very creepy experience for the superiors. That a good quality

subordinate becomes a terrible foe, the moment he displays his calibre and quality. The
others in the social system, by merely changing the ‘he/him’ word form can tumble
down his superior into a state of nonentity. Even the king seems to have got the creeps
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when Albuquerque became successful. This is the exact way the feudal language
machinery works. England had a different machinery.
QUOTE: From this time forward the Home Government displayed great
jealousy and suspicion in regard to the acts of its Indian administrators, and frequently
cancelled their orders. This treatment naturally produced indifference in public affairs,
and resulted in every one connected with the administration striving to amass wealth
without caring much how it was obtained. END OF QUOTE
The people back at home not understanding the social culture, the feudal
language issues, and the exigencies of administrating a small location in South Asia was
a problem which the English administration in British-India also faced. However, the
planar nature of pristine-English made a serene ambience wherever the native-English
set up colonies. In the case of the Portuguese, the feudal content in their language
would create havoc, instead of a placid mood.
QUOTE: Sailing to Goa, Sampayo there seized him, put him in chains, and
sent him to Cannanore, where, in turn, the garrison honourably received him END OF
QUOTE.
QUOTE: In October 1529, Sampayo’s successor (Nunho D'Acunha) arrived

with orders to send Sampayo in custody to Europe, and this was at once done when
Sampayo boarded the Viceroy's ship at Cannanore on the 18th November. END OF
QUOTE.
See what a feudal language is creating. The Portuguese are again at each other’s
throat.
QUOTE: Moors in North Malabar began hostilities, and these continued till,
in 1559, they made the usual submission and agreed to take out the hateful passes.
END OF QUOTE.
The problem in understanding the ‘hate’ is there in English. The issue is that
the work of dispensing the passes would be most probably by some low-level native-
of-the-subcontinent employee. The moment a local man gets some power, he would
immediately start using the lower grade indicant words to the traders and others who
approach him for the passes. It then becomes a real torment to get a pass. It is like
going to a government office in current-day India, for the majority population.
QUOTE: and it is alleged they were utterly unscrupulous as to what became of

the crews. END OF QUOTE
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In many ways, this is reminiscent

of the attitude of current-day Indian
officials. However, there is another side to
this feeling. It is that they also cannot bear
the torment of insolent behaviour from the
common public, when they try to be nice
and refined. The Portuguese would have
had the same bad opinion of the common
person of the subcontinent, as the current-
day Indian officials have. In fact, most of
the Indian officials hate the common man
in India.
QUOTE: Zein-ud-din, who is,

however, a not altogether disinterested
witness, says that they massacred the crews
by cutting their throats, or tying them up
with ropes or in nets and throwing them
overboard END OF QUOTE.
It was trade at its very basics. That

is, trade is war, when there are feudal-
language speaking participants in the trade.
This understanding seems to have escaped
the notice of all native-English nations, as they go around promoting Japan, China,
Korea etc.
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The DUTCH
It is possible that the Dutch language is comparatively of a lesser feudal
content than German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. This is my own summarisation
based slightly on the fact that they were more sane and soft in many of their historical
activities when compared to that of the German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. It
must be admitted that I do not know much about the Dutch, or even about the
mentioned other four nations, here.
It is just a gut feeling, that this is so. May be it is due to the fact that they could
collaborate with the English people to create a wonderful nation in South Africa. But
off course, the totally insane political philosophy of democracy has literally given it
back to the barbarians of Africa. It is not that all the blacks of Africa are barbarians.
But that, the languages there might be quite barbarian and feudal. So, only those who
are totally barbarians will come up on top of those social systems, which use those
languages.
The Portuguese attempt at creating a favourable trading relationship with the

tiny, semi-barbarian Calicut failed due to the innate feudal language issues of the land.
No commitment was worth anything here. The moment another personage with some
social weight comes and speaks to the person who has given the promise, everything
changes. The man who is a Saab / Saar/ Thamburan, in one location, the moment he
is an Avan / Nee in another location, becomes a totally different man there.
By the time the Dutch arrived, the codes of interaction had already been
decided. It was treachery that was the code that was in place. Each of the tiny semi-
barbarian kingdoms vied against each other.
QUOTE: This event was almost contemporaneous with another which

influenced the fate of India in general and of Malabar in particular, for in 1580-81
Holland, one of the seven “Northern United Provinces,” declared its independence of
Spain. END OF QUOTE
Events in faraway Continental Europe were affecting event in a remote

location on the globe.
QUOTE: In 1597 two Dutch ships succeeded in reaching India, but the one
was destroyed off Malacca by a fleet of six Portuguese ships END OF QUOTE.
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There was desperation to find a route to the semi-barbarian land where pepper
was being grown. Yet, the Continental Europeans were also semi-barbarian, in that
many had some kind of erroneous languages. However, a long-time proximity to
England did give them an aura of glow and difference.
QUOTE: It was this protection of the Cochin Raja against the Zamorin which
involved the Dutch in so much profitless expenditure in Malabar. END OF QUOTE.
It is undeniable that the Dutch did their best to protect the Cochin kingdom
from being overrun and occupied by both the Calicut king as well as the Travancore
king.
QUOTE: directly he arrived he saw the necessity of curbing the rising power
of Travancore if the Dutch were to retain their hold of the trade of the country and
not allow it to pass into the hands of the English, who were backing up the Travancore
Raja. END OF QUOTE.
There were totally insane activities all around. It was only the English
Company that took up the stance that it is best to avoid warfare and try to get on
without a fight. This remained their policy till the last. However, the greatest paradox
was with regard to this policy. They were forced to fight to protect the kingdoms that
allied with them. And ultimately, one by one, the kingdoms came into their control,
through the falling down of their attackers.
The French government policy that commanded all French trade divisions to
attack English trading locations in all locations all around the world also led to this.
For, whenever the French coaxed a local king to attack the English-side, the king and
his supporters, the French, invariably lost the fight. This led to the taking over of the
land by the English Company. It is true that the French were one of the greatest
‘freedom fighters’ of ‘India’.
QUOTE: “Without sufficient troops to hold their own by force, surrounded

by native states outwardly friendly but secretly hostile, attacked by the Mysoreans, and
awaiting instructions from Batavia, Moens’ position was a very difficult one. A
common danger, it was true, bound the Cochin and Travancore States to the Dutch,
END OF QUOTE.
The backstabbing cunningness of the native kings was a feature of the land,
since times immemorial. In a feudal language social system, a person is most dangerous
when he is displaying most affable friendliness and hospitality. That is how they stab in
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the back. This point seems to have escaped the attention of all the policymakers in all
native-English nations.
QUOTE:
The Muhammadans had invested Chetwai, the garrison of which place sent a
message to Cochin, representing that they could not hold it much longer, so Governor
Moens now determined to attempt its relief. Provisions and ammunitions having been
packed in casks, 189 men embarked in the ship Hoolwerf, having some small boats in
tow for the purpose of landing the men and stores. On the same afternoon, November
11th, they arrived before Chetwai, but the surf being high, the wary Muhammadans had
the satisfaction of perceiving that they delayed landing until the next day.
“A chosen band of Sirdar Khan’s troops was told off, and in the dead of the
night placed in ambuscade close to the beach where the landing was most likely to be
effected, and in silence awaited the disembarkation of their prey.
“The morning dawned, and the Dutch having examined the shore, could see
no vestige of an enemy, all appeared perfectly quiet, and they congratulated themselves
on surprising Hyder's troops. The landing commenced, the first boat upset, but the
troops waded to the beach with their loaded muskets wet, and their ammunition of
course spoilt. Suddenly the ambuscade rushed out, and finding advance impossible, the
Dutch retreated in good order to the beach ; but their boats were gone, and the
terrified native boatmen were pulling quickly away from the scene of strife. Some of
the detachment were killed, and the remainder obliged to surrender themselves
prisoners of war.
"The Europeans were disheartened and abandoned the attempted relief whilst
the Muhammadans were greatly elated and the fort of Chetwai was compelled to
capitulate on the 13th, one condition being that the garrison should be permitted to
retreat to Cranganore, a promise which was of course broken. The prisoners were
plundered of everything, even to their very clothes, and with the women, children and
slaves, were sent to Calicut. END OF QUOTE.
The Dutch were dealing with a population that they could not understand.
There is treachery in the very air of the land. The verbal codes are terribly treacherous.
However, how this is so, and what it is supposed to mean, are not easy to convey to
them.
There is no sense of commitment among the native populations, unless they

are bound by powerful codes of ‘respect’ versus ‘degradation’. The degraded
populations will show deep loyalty to their higher man who they ‘respect’.
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Another thing that must be noted here is that there is no honour in any
commitment given to a fallen man. The moment he surrenders, he is questioned with
the Nee word and referred to with the Avan word. That means he can be literally
beaten up into a pulp. This attitude is sharply in contrast to the native-English style of
treating the surrendered team with dignity.
QUOTE: The French Republican army entered Holland. The Stadtholder fled
to England , and thence in February 1795, after the proclamation of the Batavian
Republic in alliance with France, he addressed a circular to all the Dutch Governors
and Commandants to admit British troops into all the Dutch “Settlements, Plantations,
Colonies and Factories in the East Indies” to prevent them from falling into the hands
of the French.
Mr. Vanspall was at this time Governor of Cochin, began laying in provisions
with a view to standing a siege, and he invited the Cochin Raja to help him. On July
23rd Major Petrie, under orders from Colonel Robert Bowles, commanding the troops
in Malabar, marched from Calicut to the Dutch frontier with a small force of infantry
to obtain a peaceable surrender of the Dutch settlement. But the Governor refused to
give up the place, and Major Petrie had then to wait till a siege train could be brought
up. The Supervisor (Mr. Stevens) proceeded in person to Cochin in the beginning of
September to endeavour to arrange matters with Mr. Vanspall, and a conference
ensued, at which it was agreed that the surrender should take place. But next day the
Governor changed his mind and the negotiations were suspended. END OF QUOTE
It is a very funny situation. The Dutch (Holland) government ordered the

Dutch fort to give it up to the English side, to prevent it from falling into the hands of
the French. However, the Dutch Governor in Cochin refused to give it up. Why?
The answer has to be sort in the feudal language codes of the land. The
moment he gives up his platform, he will go down the verbal codes. The ‘he’, ‘him’,
‘his’ &c. words would more or less spontaneously come down from the ‘Adheham’
level to ‘Ayaal’ and then even to that of ‘Avan’. This terror will be understood only the
governor knows the local language, which could a mix of Tamil and Malabari. The
question is ‘Could he understand the local language?’
QUOTE: shortly after the treaty was signed, and after the Travancore frontiers
had advanced as far as Cochin, the Travancore Raja of course turned on them and
repudiated his obligations, telling the Dutch, factors at Cochin they were no longer a
sovereign power, but merely a number of petty merchants, and if they required spices
they should go to the bazaars and purchase them at the market rates. They had
eventually to pay market prices for the pepper they wanted. END OF QUOTE.
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This is generally a typical feudal language attitude. Once a powerful individual

loses his power or status, then he will changed from Adheham (highest he / him) to
Avan (lowest he / him). At this level, no one would keep their word of honour or
commitment to him. He is just mere dirt in the local feudal languages. This is an
information that the native-English does not seem have had.
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The French
In many ways, one might say that it was the insidious endeavours of the
sneaky French governments that led to the slow and steady creation of British-India in
the subcontinent. There seems have been a continual attitude among the French
governments to encourage their traders all around the world to attack all English trade
centres.
This is what led to the attack on the English trade centre in Arcot near
Madras. This is what led to the attack on the English trade centre in Calcutta by Siraj-
ul-dawlah. This is what led to so many minor and major skirmishes between so many
small-time kings and rulers in the subcontinent and the English trading Company.
Even Hyder Ali and Sultan Tipu (both Moroccans), had the full support of the French
and even other Europeans in their endeavour to try to crush the English Company.
However, each one of these endeavours failed. And with each failure, the
Company was forced to take up the administration of more and more locations.
What created the terrible animosity for England among the Frenchmen was
that the Englishmen and women lived in a planar language ambience, while the French
lived in some kind of a feudal language social system. What was most confounding was
that formally both the nations have similar statutory social design. Both had the
common people as well as the lords and ladies and the monarchy. Yet, the French
common man had a terrible time, while the English common man was not living in a
crushed social ambience.
France and other Continental European nations conspired and seduced the
idiot George Washington and others to revolt against their own king and kingdom.
And yet, they could not form a Continental European nation in the USA location.
What came out ultimately was still an English nation. The French soldiers, after seeing
the English soldier at close quarters, had the same mental emotion, which the current-
day Indian soldiers who see the English soldiers at close quarters, had. They could not
bear their officers and their degraded status. They inspired a revolution in France.
Their king, who had also asked for an attack on English trade centres, had his head cut
off by his own countrymen.
QUOTE: On the 20th the factors heard with dismay of the activity of their
quondam friend Labourdonnais on the Coromandel Coast. On the 24th the French at
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Mahe began to make warlike preparations, giving out they would soon be saying mass
in Tellicherry as their fleet was expected in October. END OF QUOTE
Even though the French are of white-skin colour, they are actually like the
natives of the South Asian Subcontinent, innately. This is due to their language having
some kind of feudal content. However, long years of proximity to England would have
added to their stature. It is like an individual from India living in England. Within a few
years, he would start having English features. However, in the case of the French, they
still remained embedded in their own language.
QUOTE: Nor was the foresight thus displayed long in being justified, for,
notwithstanding the indecisive naval action off Point Calimere, in which
Labourdonnais was wounded, that indefatigable officer with his customary
promptitude and decision brought matters speedily to a crisis by capturing Port St.
George at Madras. END OF QUOTE.
Individual calibre has no meaning in a feudal language system. In fact, it is a

negative attribute. Other would get disturbed. Labourdonnais also faced the same fate
that befell Albuquerque.
See this QUOTE:

The French fleet had gone ; the factors knew not whither. They heard it was at
Goa and awaiting Labourdonnais’ return from the islands with another squadron. They
were still in daily dread of being besieged. It was with no little satisfaction therefore
that, about July 1747, they received the welcome news that the dreaded Labourdonnais
had been sent an unhappy prisoner to France. END OF QUOTE.
The French were winning. At that very moment, he is derailed by his own
countrymen.
However, there was a similar thing that was in the fate of Robert Clive also.
That is a different issue. I will take it up here.
When Robert Clive went back home after setting up the foundation of a
nation in the subcontinent, many of the people in England were deeply perturbed. For,
Clive had lived on the top of the verbal codes in the subcontinent. It will automatically
induce a royal attitude in him. This is a natural effect of the feudal languages of the
subcontinent.
When the native-English in England see this physical and mental demeanour
at close quarters, they will naturally get a creepy feeling. English effect had done a
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positive personality enhancement for the people of the subcontinent. At the same time,
the effect of the feudal languages of the subcontinent had induced a negativity in the
interior codes of the native-Englishmen who had lived and worked in the
subcontinent.
QUOTE: The Prince Regent intervened in their (that of the French) favour,
and arranged that if Mattalye fort were restored to them they would evacuate
Nilesvaram and some other small places, and the Prince Regent in return for his
services was to have his bond for Rs. 60,000, advanced to him in the war with the
Tellicherry factors, returned to him and cancelled. Moreover the Prince Regent
guaranteed on oath that the French would perform their part of the contract and
surrender Nilesvaram and the other places.
END OF QUOTE
QUOTE: The French fired a salute of 15 guns at Mahe on being repossessed,

on 22nd July 1756, of Mattalye ; but they deliberately broke their promises of evacuating
Nilesvaram and other places and of returning the Prince Regent's bond to him. END
OF QUOTE
What really always made the England side always win the last crucial battle was
their reputation of being honest and committed to their word. There have been at least
one incident which is oft-quoted to mentioned that the English side did not keep their
word. However, that was a word extracted in a sort of blackmail.
QUOTE: they were led on by fifty of the French Hussars lately arrived from
Pondicherry. END OF QUOTE.
That was about the French support to Hyder Ali. After all, France was also a
great fighter for ‘Indian freedom’. For, if Hyder Ali and Sultan Tipu had fought for the
freedom of ‘India’, then the French also had done their part!
QUOTE: 1. On the 1st of February war was declared by the French Republic
against England and Holland, and for the third time in its history the French
settlement at Mahe had to open its gates to a hostile English force under Colonel
Hurtley on the 16th July 1793. The garrison, after surrendering, was allowed to march
out with all the honours of war.
2. Chimbrah and Fort St. George were handed over next morning under a
salute of 21 guns, and the British colours were flying in Mahe itself at 6 p.m. on the
evening of the 20th. The garrison marched out with the honours of war, but all arms,
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stores, etc., were surrendered, and the forts, etc.,

were placed at the disposal of the Honourable
Company END OF QUOTE
This allowing the surrendered side to march

out in dignity or sit down in a chair in dignity is
something quite alien to the feudal language military
codes of the subcontinent. No deal or agreement
made as terms of surrender are honoured by the
winning side. The moment the other side lays down
their arms, the lowest of the soldiery of the winning side will batter up everyone on the
other side, be it their leader, their officers or their women folk.
I think this is more or less what happened with Mr. Prabhakaran, the Tamil
leader in North Ceylon surrendered. In the case of current-day India also, as the
Indian army slowly distances itself from the English-led British-Indian army’s
disposition, the ancient semi-barbarian attitude is come back to the fore.
I am told that when the Indian navy captured the Somali Pirates, they were
literally tied up like animals. This attitude cannot be blamed. For, the location is Asia
and Africa, where the antique mood is slightly or formidably wild. It is more or less a
wild animal-to-animal confrontation. The words and languages have carnivorous
quality.
See this QUOTE: A large body (300) of the enemy, after giving up their arms
and while proceeding to Cannanore, were barbarously massacred by the Nayars END
OF QUOTE. These kinds of incidences stand testimony to the above contentions.
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The ENGLISH
QUOTE: But it very soon transpired that all that the Zamorin wanted was to
get assistance against the Portuguese for the conquest of Cranganore and Cochin, and
when the English ships left without assisting him, very scant courtesy was shown to
the ten persons left behind, who were to have founded a factory at Calicut END OF
QUOTE
The fact of the matter was that there was a general feeling among the various
small-time rulers and those who mutinied against them, that a new set of mutually
competing mercenaries had arrived from Continental Europe. However, when it came
to connecting to the English, they were found to be of a very different mettle. First of
all, they were not from Continental Europe. Second, their native language was planar.
In every aspect they stood apart from the Continental Europeans, other than in their
skin colour. However, on the English side, there were the Celtic language speakers
also. Those who remained loyal to their Celtic tongue remained a chink in the English
armour. Even William Logan was from this Celtic language group. Possibly Gaelic.
However, it is not known as to how much he remained at home in this language.
QUOTE: From a very early period in its history the English Company had set
its face against martial enterprises. END OF QUOTE
This is a very important information, which is totally ignored by formal
historians. The English Company did not go develop a policy of belligerence.
QUOTE: So far indeed did the English Company carry this policy that they
even forbade at times an appeal to arms by the factors for their own defence ; and the
annoyances experienced in consequence of this were occasionally almost intolerable.
But the strength of the Company lay in the admirable arrangements whereby they
encouraged trade at their fortified settlements. END OF QUOTE
As a policy inside a semi-barbarian land which functioned on feudal languages,

a soft approach was a very vulnerable one. For, in this language system, there is no
premium value attached to politeness and good manners. For rude, cantankerous and
ill-mannered behaviour was considered as of high social value. The pejorative forms of
all words for You, He, She &c. were used to those who were seen as weak or polite. In
fact, politeness itself was seen as weakness.
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QUOTE: They established manufactures ; they attracted spinners and weavers

and wealthy men to settle in their limits ; the settlers were liberally treated and their
religious prejudices were tolerated ; the privacy of houses were respected by all classes
and creeds; settlers were allowed to burn their dead and to observe their peculiar
wedding ceremonies ; no compulsory efforts were made to spread Christianity, nor
were the settlers set to uncongenial tasks ; shipping facilities were afforded ; armed
vessels protected the shipping ; all manufactured goods were at first exempted from
payment of duty ; the Company coined their own money ; and courts of justice were
established ; security for life and property in short reigned within their limits END OF
QUOTE
The above words more or less denote what was some of the major differences
that the English Company had from the others who were seen as from the same genre.
But then the greatest of difference was that the English language was planar.
QUOTE: for the factors had perforce to study native character and to adapt
themselves to it ; and in doing this they were unconsciously fitting themselves to
become the future rulers of the empire. END OF QUOTE.
There is great foolishness in the above statement. And it is historically

inaccurate. The English Company, to a great extent, did not compromise its standards
to make it in sync with the local native character and systems. The native systems were
connected to feudal languages, which view the whole social system in a hierarchical
design. The native character was treachery, back-stabbing, rudeness, cheating, breaking
of words etc. to those who were defined as lower in the verbal codes of the feudal
languages.
The English Company took a most opposite standards in everything. In fact,

as the Company became more established as a sovereign power in a major part of the
subcontinent, it strove to make English the language of commerce, administration and
education. The greatness of this attitude was that it naturally and spontaneously aims
for the erasing of the rudeness in the native social cultures. These are things that
formal historians miss out altogether.
QUOTE: Louis XIV had to publish an edict telling his courtiers it was not
derogatory for a man of noble birth to trade to India. Men who had thus to be
reminded of what "was or was not fitting to their position were not the men to push
French interests successfully, and the English Company’s servants soon saw that the
French men were poor men of business and not likely to prove successful rivals in
trade. END OF TRADE
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There is a great information in the above statement. It first of all gives an

evidence that the French language was feudal. This is a great hindrance to the higher
classes to interact with the lower classes. For, it would make them vulnerable to the
insidious degrading the lower classes would force upon them.
However, in the case of the English also, the nobility would have some slight
issues. But then, there is only one single You, Your, Yours, He, His, Him, She, Her,
Hers etc. in English. So at this level of functioning there would be not much of a
traumatic problem.
But then, when dealing with the natives of the South Asian subcontinent, the
French would become more conscious of these issues than would the English.
However, the Celtic persons in the English Company would be conscious of this.
However, since the English Company was in supreme command of the subcontinent,
they would exist as the personnel of the ‘honourable’ Company. So the chance of being
attacked by the lower indicant words would be negligible.
However, there is a wider perspective to be mentioned. When the people from

the subcontinent arrive inside England, they would set up an attack on the native-
English system by using these very evil codes. They would splinter up the social system
and all relationships by these verbal codes. Actually just looking into the eyes of a
person who has degraded him or her by verbal codes can create terrible mutations
inside the codes of human body and personality designs. [Check my books: 1. Codes of
reality; What is language? 2. Software codes of mantra, tantra, witchcraft, black magic,
evil eye, evil tongue &c.].
Actually even a minor conversation with a feudal language speaker who does
not concede the adequate forms of verbal ‘respect’ can be a degrading experience.
England currently has no information on these things. Instead of taking very concrete
steps to push out these extremely dangerous language-speaking populations from their
land, they are made to reel under the accusations of being ‘racist’.
QUOTE: The English system of sending factors to various points on the coast
to test the value of the trade at those places seems to have enabled the Company to
decide where it would be best for their interests to plant factories for the defence of
the trade END OF QUOTE
No Comment.
QUOTE: the presence of the English in Travancore was gradually leading to a

revolution in that State. END OF QUOTE
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The truth is that wherever the native-English system was experienced in feudal
language social systems, great social changes and reformation would spring forth.
However, if this change is set-off without an entry of the English language, it would be
a most painful experience for the higher classes. For, the rude lower classes would
become overbearing and snubbing towards them. In fact, the higher classes would find
it difficult to come out of their houses, once the lower classes are allowed the freedom
to move anywhere they wanted. It would be like the Indian soldier and his family and
relatives being allowed entry into the exclusive areas of the Indian army officers. And
the right and freedom to address them in the pejorative word forms. That is, words
such as Thoo / Nee, Avan/ Aval/ Uss etc. all of which are the lowest of the word
forms for the words You, He, She &c.
QUOTE: It would be out of place here to set forth the grounds of quarrel
between the rival East India Companies, but in passing it requires to be noted that,
English interests suffered severely in consequence of the disputes, whereby piracy was
encouraged. The Mogul made the Surat factors pay heavy damages, and even went the
length of ordering the factories to be destroyed. END OF QUOTE.
There is indeed a very saying in the Malayalam language that says thus: ‘If you
cannot catch the person who actually robbed, then make the person who you could
catch, the robber.’ [ക വെന കി ിയിെല ിൽ, കി ിയവെന ക നാ ുക.]
The northern parts of the subcontinent were in the hands of the mogul kings
for quite some time. They, as in the case of all others, simply ‘ruled’ the land. It is
doubtful if any people quality enhancement programme was done by them other than
enslaving many of them for labouring on their grandiose architectural agenda,
including the Taj Mahal.
The other point worth mentioning here is that there were a few English
companies doing trading activities inside the subcontinent. They were naturally on
business rivalry. However, it is a testimony of the quality of the English land that all
these mutual rivalries could be brought to a halt. See this QUOTE:
It took a year or two more, however, to adjust all their differences ; and it was
not till September 29, 1708, that the Earl of Godolphin, Lord High Treasurer of
England, who had been appointed arbiter in the disputes, made his famous award, and
from that date the style of the association was altered to that of “The United Company
of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies.” END OF QUOTE
QUOTE: And, it is said, that one of the rival Kolattiri princes of the
Udayamangalam branch, in combination with the neighbouring Nayar chieftain of
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Iruvalinad, the Kurangoth Nayar, entered the Company’s warehouse one day about
1704-05 and committed certain regularities, which were duly reported to the Northern
Regent, and it was at the same time pointed out to him that such events would recur
unless the place were fortified. END OF QUOTE.
This could be a major turning point in the history of English colonialism in

Malabar. There was no policing mechanism, no security and no courts of justice in the
semi-barbarian land.
QUOTE: Jealousies between the Kolattiri chiefs had probably more to do with
it than the reasons assigned by Hamilton. END OF QUOTE.
It would be quite well to mention that Hamilton literally did not understand
anything. All human logic was controlled by the various trigger switches inside the
native feudal-languages. And yet, there is nothing to denote that he did even sense that
there is anything amiss in the language codes.
QUOTE: It appears they (English Company) also had the privilege of

protecting debtors who took refuge in their Calicut factory, to the disadvantage
occasionally of interlopers like Hamilton. END OF QUOTE.
No Comment.
QUOTE: early Tellicherry records show that the Company took great
exception to the loans which Mr. Adams had made out of their money to the Zamorin,
the Punnattur Raja, the Prince Regent of the Kolattiri dominions and others END OF
QUOTE.
The native kingdoms did actually parasite on the English trading company for
quite some time.
QUOTE: In April 1721 the Anjengo factors were applied to for their usual
annual present due to the Rani of Attingal, of the Travancore family. “Those who
demanded it assured him (the Chief of the Factory) that they came to demand it by the
Queen’s order, and offered their Receit of it in her Name.”
The chief appears to have had reason to expect that if the present were sent it
would never reach Her Highness as the Ettuvittil Pillamar were just then in the
ascendant, so he refused to pay it into any hands but those of the Rani. On this the
Rani invited him to bring it to Attingal himself.
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“And he to appear great there, carried two of his Council, and some others of
the Factory with most Part off the Military belonging to the Garrison, and by
Stratagem they were all cut off, except a few black Servants whose heels and language
saved them from the Massacre, and they brought the sad news of the tragedy.” END
OF QUOTE
This was actually the handiwork of the Nayars and other higher castes in
Travancore. They had to deal with a new terror that was been set loose in Travancore.
The lower castes were seeing the English ways and manners of dealing with them, and
were slowly escaping from their age-old shackles. Naturally the lower castes would be
very, very rude and ill-mannered in all ways, including words, actions, posture, eye
language &c.
It is a very funny situation in Travancore, that recently some persons have

made a demand that this barbarian action of killing the Englishmen should be declared
as the first fight for ‘Indian’ freedom. What a lot of nonsense! Travancore was not
even part of British-India. And to support cunning barbarians!
The second part of the issue is this: ‘he to appear great there’. It is obviously
the words of the interloper Hamilton. The fact is that in the subcontinent, everyone
takes someone as an attendant to introduce him or her with a higher indicant value.
However, neither this interloper nor the English side really understood what is
supposed to happen with the presence of supporters. However, someone must have
advised them to use this technique without carefully explaining what the supporters are
supposed to do.
QUOTE: Secondly, of the English Company’s resolution in 1723 to “subject

the country to the king” and so facilitate their trade ; END OF QUOTE.
There is an information in the above sentence. The English Company did face
a terrible issue in the subcontinent. In almost all locations, there was no great law and
order. In Travancore, the king was powerless to control the various Madampis
(landlords) and other powerful people who had money and social status. The English
Company decided to support the king and to help him crush all kinds of lawlessness.
This policy led to the creation of an enduring kingdom of Travancore, with King
Marthanda Varma more or less setting up the foundations of modern Travancore.
If the English Company had not supported him, Travancore would have
remained as one of the many small-time kingdoms in the locations, same as
Kayamkulam, Attingal, Quilon, Ambalapuzha, Kottayam, Chengannur,
Changanacherry &c.
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The creation of one single kingdom help the English Company to do their
trade with more ease as they had to negotiate with only one entity, instead of a lot
many others. However, it must be remembered here that Travancore was not Malabar.
It was a different kingdom in the far south, approachable conveniently by sea.
QUOTE: The Kottayam Raja shortly after this gave in his adhesion to the
Chief’s project. But jealousies were rife and the others all held aloof. The French too
had professed their willingness to strike in, but when the Chief visited Mahe on 31st
March to arrange the matter, the French, much to the disgust of the country powers,
backed out of it. The negotiations for a combination did not make much progress
under such circumstances. END OF QUOTE.
QUOTE:
the Chief set himself to the still more difficult task of trying to form a
combination of the petty country chieftains against the Canarese. END OF QUOTE
It was not easy at all to unite the small-time kingdoms of the subcontinent.
Each one of them were insecure about the others’ intentions. Moreover, each
relationship of others were viewed with envy and terror.
As to the French, they had the history of going back on their word. That is
mainly due to the fact that their language had feudal features. So, they could very easily
get emotionally distracted when the indicant word-levels shifted.
See these words of King Marthanda Varma about his opinion of the French
QUOTE from Travancore State Manual:
QUOTE: In the next year the Rajah of Travancore wrote to the King of
Colastria ‘advising him not to put any confidence in the French, but to assist the
English as much as he could’. END OF QUOTE.
QUOTE: 6 soldiers and 1 sepoy were killed, 13 soldiers and 12 sepoys were
wounded END OF QUOTE.
Here an item which the modern Indian patriot would find as ‘racist’ would be
there. It is ‘racism’ which the sepoys of the English Company did not feel. However
the modern India who has improved much beyond the wildest dreams of this people
of yore of this subcontinent will find the word ‘Sepoy’ totally unwelcome. For, the
English or British soldiers are mentioned as soldiers, while the natives of the
subcontinent soldiers are mentioned as Shipai.
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Actually the problem is not in the word Shipai, but in what the Shipai
represents. If the English soldiers of those time are mentioned as Shipais, and the
subcontinent soldiers of those times are mentioned as Soldiers, the word Shipai would
have more stature. And the word ‘soldier’ would have been seen as a ‘pejorative’ now.
QUOTE: 1st January 1738 the Chief received a peremptory order from him to
proceed forthwith to the camp to talk of important matters, whereupon the diary
records the following remarks : “The Board naturally remark the haughtiness of the
precited Ragonatt and how base is his disposition. END OF QUOTE.
Ragonatt is the new Canarese Governor Mangalore. There is an information in

the above statement which might escape the notice of the native-English. It is the
word ‘haughtiness’. What is this ‘haughtiness’? Well, the new native-land Governor
would see himself as a high official and the English Company as a team of employees
of a merchant group of England. His addressing will most probably be with the ‘Nee’
word. That is the lowest You in the native languages here. In fact, this local tradition
has been enduring in the nation, when the English administrative systems fell into
disuse with the creation of a very people-degrading nation called India.
The officialdom and the police generally use the lowest indicant words for the
common people, and the small-time traders. For them, the people are the Nee, Avan,
Avan &c. In the low-quality language of Hindi, the common man is the Thoo and the
Uss. The common man is trained to bear this degrading by the vernacular schools,
where they are invariable addressed and referred to by these lower grade words. At the
same time, the officials and the teachers are to be consistently addressed and referred
to with the highest of the verbal codes.
The wider issue is that these kind of dangerous verbal codes are being
exported to native-English nations as of now. The native-English populations have no
information on what is entering into the vital locations.
QUOTE: 4th January the deputation returned and reported that the Canarese
wished the Company to remain neutral in the war about to be commenced against “the
Mallabars”. END OF QUOTE.
It was by now an established fact that the English Company was a sort of
protective force for the small-time kingdoms, which had been incessantly in a state of
warfare from times immemorial.
QUOTE: In October 1738 the Prince Regent appears to have been so far
pressed that he actually delivered Rs. 30,000 to the factors to prosecute the war, and
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the agreement come to with the factors at this juncture “to make war against the
insolence of Canara” and “to drive out Canara” is still on record END OF QUOTE.
The small-time kingdom has not a bit of chance to withstand the might of
larger armies, which literally came on a pillaging and plunder agenda.
QUOTE: To keep down the price of pepper “which rises daily” the merchants
of the respective factories were not to be permitted to monopolise the product and the
factors were to consult how to keep it down. END OF QUOTE.
Even though the English Company did give much freedom of trade to the
native-traders, the native-traders were quite cunning. They could speak among
themselves and plan things which could not be understood by the English Company
officials.
QUOTE: “The intent of the above ola is to give the Honourable Company
authority over the Achanmars as also, to interpose with the prince if he should oppress
them by extravagant taxes, which has heretofore happened.”
But the temples had not been taken into account in the bond, and it became
necessary to include them formally. This did not, however, work well, and the
Brahmans appear to have been jealous of English interference in their affairs. END OF
QUOTE.
Even when the English Company acted in the best interest of everyone, the
issue was that the population was not one group. It was a hierarchical layers of
populations. Each layer had it own selfish interests to see that certain other layers do
not gather any benefit.
QUOTE: On March 23rd, 1765, after a period of disturbance during which the
management of the district was conducted by the Kolattiri, the Prince Regent finally
ceded the protection of Randattara to the Honourable Company, and from that year
the Honourable Company became the virtual sovereigns of that district and began to
levy a regular land revenue from it. END OF QUOTE.
Even though shallow-minded jingoists can always say that this was how the
nation was slowly taken up by the English Company, the truth was not fully that. The
English Company had honourable intentions which cannot be understood from a
native feudal-language perspective.
The basic issue is that all entrepreneurship in feudal-languages do have a factor

that is not know in English. That is all businessmen aim at gathering a lot of
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subordinates who they can address as Nee or Thoo. This is a very powerful gathering
of social leadership. It affects everything about everyone concerned. There is even an
affect of words acting as aphrodisiacs, when such words can be hammered on the
subordinates and they in turn are forced to mention deeply reverential words back.
The English Company did not have any such intentions of suppression or
oppression or even gathering reverences other than what was necessary to function in
a land which runs on the terrible codes of feudal languages.
However, in the above case there was another reason that the Company took
up the administration of the location. See the Quote below:
QUOTE: Hyder’s impending invasion of Malabar at this latter time also

weighed with the factors in accepting this charge. Hyder at first respected the
Honourable Company’s rights in the district. END OF QUOTE
It was not very easy to unite the various small-time petty kingdoms, whose
rulers were all very easily affected and perturbed by minutes variations in the verbal
codes. A very minute sound difference in the native language words would set them on
a very dangerous homicidal frenzy.
QUOTE: The French at Mahe enlisted 1,500 Mappillas, and the Mudaliyar
(chief man) of the Valarpattanam Mappillas joined the English. END OF QUOTE.
In the earlier days, locations which are now seen as quite small were great
distances. The same caste or religious groups would be seen to be supporting mutually
antagonistic sides in different locations. Such was the state of even minute Malabar.
Then imagine the complexity of the whole subcontinent.
QUOTE: In August and September 1748 matters came to a crisis by the

Prince Regent “laying an impediment” on one of the Company’s merchants, on
mulcting him heavily. On being remonstrated with for this and other similar behaviour,
he strenuously asserted his right to take the half of every man’s property, and the
whole of it if he committed a fault. END OF QUOTE.
Actually the attitude of the various small-time rulers was quite similar to the
small-time officials of current-day India, such as the peons and the clerks in the
government service. However, in recent times, even some of the higher officials also
are similar to the peons and the clerks. This is due to the fact that as of now, all
government officials learn the same indoctrinated stuff and as such there is not much
difference intellectually between a peon and an ‘officer’ in the government service.
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QUOTE: In November 1748 he had, it seems, portioned out his country to

certain headmen in order that they might plunder his subjects, and the Commandant at
Madakkara reported that soon the country would be ruined END OF QUOTE.
This is the typical callousness of the person in power in current-day India.

However, this trait is what has been inherited from olden days, it is seen here.
QUOTE: He was present at an affecting interview with a very old and bed-
ridden lady, described as the prince’s mother ; she expressed her satisfaction on being
informed that everything had been amicably accommodated, and enjoined her son as
her last parental counsel and advice never to give umbrage to the Chiefs of Tellicherry,
who had protected the Palli branch of their family in its utmost distress. END OF
QUOTE.
It is very, very curious that almost the very same command was give by Raja
Marthanda Varma of Travancore kingdom as his last words from his deathbed to the
heir to the throne.
See this QUOTE from Travancore State

Manual:
Marthanda Varma’s words: “That,
above all, the friendship existing between the
English East India Company and Travancore
should be maintained at any risk, and that full
confidence should always be placed in the
support and aid of that honourable association.” END OF QUOTE.
QUOTE: The Chief was warned from the Presidency not to allow the
Company to be dragged in as principals in any of the country quarrels, but he blindly
took the steps best calculated to bring this about END OF QUOTE.
There were at times, senior officials in the English Company who did really
understand realities of the social system. It was best to keep a distance and a
detachment from social systems which cannot be understood in English. This is the
reality now also, as native-English nations have entered into belligerences inside low-
quality nations, wherein such things are part of the local social psyche. And the English
nations have ended up as the principals in the fights. What a foolish situation!
QUOTE: On 21st October Tirimalla, another outpost on the Tellicherry limits

was taken by surprise, and (it was alleged) treachery. The garrison resisted, bravely
headed by their corporal, but being taken unawares, they had not time to fix their
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bayonets and were all slain and their bodies placed on the chevaux de frise. Ponolla Malla
was also hotly attacked. A panic ensued among the inhabitants, who all flocked into
the limits commanded by the Tellicherry fort. END OF QUOTE.
It was very carefully understood that some kind of security of life and person
was available in a location which was administered by the native-English. In all other
locations, there is no guarantee as to how the leaders would react or behave at the very
next moment.
QUOTE: Next day came the crisis, and it fortunately took a favourable turn,
for Captain Cameron, in command at Mailan fort, succeeded in destroying the
opposing battery on Putinha hill, END OF QUOTE.
Even though these kinds of English victories were increasingly natural and
more numerous, it was not always due to any English ingenuity that the English side
invariably won the critical battle. It was more to the dissipation that would set inside
the opposite side due to issues connected to ‘respect’, both in the verbal form as well
as in the physical posture form. These minute codes would go on terrorising many
persons into a state of mental disarray.
QUOTE: And finally the Tellicherry linguist (Pedro Rodrigues) and his family
were not to be employed in any transactions between the parties END OF QUOTE.
This dependence on a translator was a terrible thing that the English-side

always faced all over the world. In fact, the translator could literally decide on which
side the native-English lent support. They could manage and mismanage any situation
as per their own internal animosities, repulsions and partialities.
However, there is the other side to this. When a native-Englishman gets to

learn the barbarian languages of the subcontinent, he will be invariably affected to
some extent by the varying ‘respect’ versus degrading codes inside the language.
QUOTE: The records for some time after this are full of the charges brought
against, the Company’s linguist, Pedro Rodrigues. Mr. Dorril and the factors
endeavoured to make a scapegoat of him, but although he fled to Mahe and the factors
gave out that, his property was going to be seized, no serious steps were really taken
against him, and on 16th September 1752 the Bombay President and Council sent
orders forbidding the seizure of his effects, “this family having been so remarkably
distinguished by the Honourable Company.” And the despatch continued : “We
peremptorily order you not to do it.” END OF QUOTE.
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In the above case, it does appear that the local Company officials at Tellicherry
were in the error. However the above statement is illustrative of how the Company
administration was controlled from Bombay. It had its good points.
QUOTE: At this interview it is noted that Messrs. Johnson and Taylor, from
the progress they had made in “Mallabars,” were able to understand the Prince without
the aid of an interpreter, so that the linguist, Pedro Rodrigues, had not to be called in.
A very important step had consequently been taken towards freeing the Chief from
underhand intrigues of the linguist. END OF QUOTE.
Even though the capacity to understand and speak the native feudal language
is mentioned here as a great positive step, it had its own negativities. For one, the
Company officials would slowly change into the people whose language they speak. It
is always better to keep a corridor or wall between a feudal language and planar
English.
QUOTE: This was followed up on 8th February 1758 by a formal examination,

the first of its kind no doubt ever held in Malabar, conducted by the Chief in person, in
which Messrs. Johnson, Taylor, and Samuel Crocs were tested as to their proficiency
“in Mallabars." END OF QUOTE.
The hidden dangers in this action are not easy to explain. It is like installing a
virus program into a nicely running computer. Feudal languages are virus programs
when attached to Pristine-English. And vice versa.
QUOTE: For on 19th August 1757 the diary records that “Cotiote (Kottayam)
demised of a bile in his arm” and of course the agreement with him became mere
waste paper unless ratified by his successor. END OF QUOTE.
This was the state of the location. There was nothing to enforce an agreement.
Even the concept of word of honour does not work, when the other side goes down in
social stature. No word of honour or commitment is honoured by the higher stature
group, when it is seen that it is towards an entity that has no ‘respect’ or honour in the
social system. Only the native-English side viewed the various levels of populations as
human beings with equal rights to dignity.
QUOTE: The Chief even found time to devote to such petty matters as the
“cloathing of our irregulars.” The sepoys had “scarlet coats faced with green perpets”
and a belt “covered with green perpets.” The Calli-Quiloners (Mappillas) had “blue
coats faced with green perpets ” and thin bolts like those of the sepoys. The artillery
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lascars had blue coats faced and bound with red, and no belts. The coats were made to
reach just below the knees. END OF QUOTE.
These were minor beginnings that slowly led to the current-day dressing
standards of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi armies.
See this QUOTE from the Travancore State Manual:

The visit of His Excellency the Governor gave the Maharajah an opportunity
to see the British forces in full parade. He was struck with their dress and drill and
made arrangements for the improvement of his own forces after the British model.
New accoutrements were ordered and the commanding officer was asked to train the
sepoys after the model of the British troops. The dress of the mounted troopers was
improved and fresh horses were got down; and the appellation of the “Nayar Brigade”
was first given to the Travancore forces. The Tovala stables were removed to
Trivandrum and improved. On the advice of the Court of Directors, the European
officers of the Nayar Brigade were relieved from attendance at the Hindu religious
ceremonies END OF QUOTE.
However, if one were to see current-day patriotic films depicting fake stories
connected to the English rule in the subcontinent, it is possible that the old time native
land soldiers might be seen in attires which might match that of the Roman soldiers as
depicted in Hollywood films!
QUOTE: the Court of Directors’ orders were peremptory and forbade the
factors from interfering, except as mediators, in the disputes among the country
powers END OF QUOTE
It is too bad that there is no one to give such a sound advice to the current-
day administrators of Native-English nations.
QUOTE: After this the Mappilla picked a quarrel with a Nayar and was
subsequently shot by the Tiyar guard. His body was “spitted” along with those of the
others, and then thrown into the sea, to prevent their caste men from worshipping
them as saints for killing Christians. Such outrages became frequent, and on July 9th
1765 the Chief was obliged to issue a stringent order to disarm them within factory
limits. END OF QUOTE.
The Mappilla outrages were against the Nayars and higher castes. However the
English Company inadvertently got connected due to the fact that they were in charge
and committed to enforce law and order.
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There are a few curious issues here. The first and the foremost is that the
lower castes such as the Cherumar and also castes little bit above them, the
Makkathaya Thiyyas of South Malabar received the social freedom to convert to Islam
due to the spread of the English rule in the locality.
This more or less improved the stature of these converted persons. These
kinds of sudden uplifting of certain individuals will not go easy with the language
codes.
Apart from all that, in the very Codes of reality, which more or less stands
behind the scenes of both in the worldly life as well as in the human mind and body,
there will be drastic changes. These all will spread terror in the higher castes and hatred
in the lower castes who had converted to Islam.
The English Company administration more or less stood as naive individuals

who really did not understand the provocations in the verbal codes.
QUOTE: The Resident at Tellicherry had in August 1782 submitted to

Bombay proposals from Kottayam and Kaddattanud and the Iruvalinad Nambiars to
pay annual tribute to the extent of Rs. 1,00,000, Rs. 50,000, and Rs. 25,000,
respectively, in “consideration of the countenance and protection” of the Honourable
Company END OF QUOTE.
In fact, they wanted protection not only from other enemies, but also from
each other. The question of why the English Company became more powerful was due
to two powerful reasons. One was that they were functioning in Planar language
English. The second was that they were not connected to the various nefarious links in
the feudal language social system.
Now, the same issue can be taken up for discussion about business enterprises
in England and other native-English nations. How do they fare? Well, the answer is
that they are functioning in the wonderful soft social and administrative ambience of
native-English nations. Second, among themselves, they would use their native land
feudal languages to regiment their own folks and to belittle and degrade the native-
English.
When the English Company became powerful in the subcontinent, a lot of

social negativities were erased. When the enterprises owned by the feudal language
speakers spread inside England, a lot of outlandish negativities would be unloaded into
the placid English social systems.
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QUOTE: But the Bombay Government were not yet prepared to undertake
such responsibilities, and on the 30th September of the same year the Resident was
informed that “we do not think it advisable to enter into engagements for taking them
(Malabar powers) under our protection." The country powers had fully realised by this
time that the traders could fight as well as trade, and were eager to have their protection
as tributaries. The empire of India was being forced on the acceptance of a humble
company of foreign traders, whose only object was to buy pepper, ginger, cardamoms
and piece goods as cheaply as they could. END OF QUOTE.
Now here comes out a most formidable secret. It was the sly aim of the local
native small-time kingdoms to force the English Company to take them under its
protection. For, it was a foregone conclusion that if the English Company did not take
them under its protection as tributaries, they would go back to their innate state of
continual warfare, backstabbing, mutual molesting etc.
It is like the crooked nations like Japan, South Korea, Middle-East nations and
much else wishing to be under the US military umbrella. They can simply make use of
US capabilities to their best advantage. If at any time, the US capabilities go awry, it is a
most foolish thought that these creepy nations would come to the aid of the US. At
that time what would come out would all kinds of outrageous claims of US having
exploited them all those years. However, as of now, the US is not much a native-
English nation. It is full out non-English folks.
QUOTE: The effect of this on the country powers became speedily apparent,
for, on the 27th August, the factors received identical notes from the Kottayam and
Kadattanad Rajas saying they could no longer trust Tippu, and beseeching the factors
in the most earnest way "to take the Brahmans, the poor, and the whole kingdom under
their protection. END OF QUOTE.
When the English Company refused to take up their leadership, it was days of
pure terror for the small-time ‘great’ kingdoms. See the typical use of the words
‘Brahmins, the poor and the whole kingdom’. It is all very shallow, cunning, self-
serving words used in the desperate situation. It is like the immigrant crowds who rush
into native-English nations, displaying pictures of children in pathetic shapes.
However, the larger understanding that even if the pictures are true, they are being
used for the purpose of fooling the native-English populations, should be there.
QUOTE: These orders were subsequently modified by further orders from

Bombay, ordering the factors when it was too late—the orders were received only on
the 17th April—to repel force by force if the invaders attempted to pass the Tellicherry
limits, or to invade the Company’s immediate property. END OF QUOTE.
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However, the English Company was forced to take up the protection when
Tippu’s force started the mass slaughter of the higher castes in the location.
QUOTE: Lieutenant Bryant and his sepoys, being well apprised of treachery
within their own lines, left Palghat by night, and marching south-west into Cochin
territory eventually reached Madras by way of Travancore and Cape Comorin. END
OF QUOTE.
In feudal language social set ups, treachery is one of the most usable tools for
offence and onslaught.
QUOTE: On 12th March 1772 the factors began to levy a regular land revenue
assessment. Private gardens were taxed at “25 per cent, of the produce,” rice lands
belonging to the Honourable Company paid 40 percent, of the gross produce, and the
factors were at a loss to know what to impose on other lands of that description. END
OF QUOTE.
The English Company had come as a trading company. However, the local
people and the local kings forced them to take up the administration of the localities.
This forced them to think of ways to finance their administration, which was going to
be quite different from the administration of all the local kings. Various kinds of social
welfare infrastructure were going to be created in a land which had none of these
things.
The English Company followed the age-old agriculture taxation system.

However, it was a very strange endeavour for them. They had to very carefully survey
the land, count the trees, estimate the produce and mention a specific tax amount on
each land. In the earlier days, the whole idea was a mess. More so, because they had to
function their administrative departments using the native-land officials. The local land
officials were often rude and crude to the common people, and also very corrupt.
Beyond all that they would use the lower indicant word codes on persons who were
vulnerable and had no social protection.
QUOTE: The officer charged with collecting the revenue of Randattara was
styled “Inspector of Randattara.” END OF QUOTE
The English Company officials may not be aware of the astronomical social
elevation that would come to perch upon that native-official and his family. They
would slowly become social leaders in the native society. In fact, in the local society of
Tellicherry, there were many who rose to social highest by various verbal suffixes to
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their names. Butler, Vakil, Doctor, Tahsildar, Sub Magistrate &c. These words become
sort of social titles suffixed to their names.
Then it is these persons who then take steps to suppress the others in the
social set up. For, they demand ‘respect’ from the lower placed persons. They become
sort of the new ‘Nayars’, even if they are from the Thiyya caste. Verbal oppressors of
their own people.
QUOTE: At this juncture the principal inhabitants of all classes came forward
voluntarily and presented a petition, “ representing the deplorable situation they will be
reduced to in case the Honourable Company withdraw their protection from them,
and as they learn that the great expense of this settlement is the cause of the
Honourable Company’s resolution to withdraw their troops, they have agreed to raise a
sum sufficient, with the present revenues, to maintain a force for their protection by a
tax on their oarts and houses as specified at the foot of their petition. END OF
QUOTE.
This is the real history of how the English Company was forced to become the
sovereign head of a nation they were going to create. The fact is that even now, if a
choice is offered between living in a land ruled by the ‘Indian’ leaders and another land
ruled by the English East India Company administration, the vast majority of the
people would opt for the latter. If indeed there are two police stations, one run by the
‘Indians’ and another run by the native-English, all sane people would only approach
the English police station for any help. After all who would like to go to a police
station where they would be addressed in the dirty pejoratives which are reserved for
the common man in India?
QUOTE: Kadattanad, however, inclined to the English alliance, and so did the
Zamorin and Kottayam END OF QUOTE
This was when Hyder Ali attacked Malabar.
QUOTE: Prior to these events the state of siege was maintained ostensibly by
the Kolattunad and Kadattanad Princes ; for Kottayam was throughout the siege firmly
attached to the Honourable Company’s interests, and helped materially, with a body of
from 1,000 to 1,300 of his Nayars, to enable them to hold the town successfully. END
OF QUOTE
QUOTE: Into this small and insufficiently protected area flocked every one
who had property to lose. Hyder Ali’s “Buxy” (Bakshi — paymaster) at Mahe, in a
letter of May 29th, 1780, to the Resident put the matter very forcibly thus : “I know
perfectly well that you have been guilty of giving an asylum to people that ought to pay
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to the Nabob lacks and lacks of rupees, and given assistance to the vassals of the
Nabob. You also keep in your protection thieves, who ought to pay lacks and lacks of
rupees.” END OF QUOTE.
Both the kings as well as the people of the location ran to get the protection
inside the Tellicherry location where the English Company protected them. Even the
king of the minute Kottayam kingdom is seen protected. This minute kingdom has
been currently repeatedly been mentioned as waging a ‘freedom struggle’ against the
English rule. The whole story is nonsense.
QUOTE: This security of property and perfect trust in the Company’s officers
probably did more than anything else to bring the siege to a successful issue, for there
was no other spot on the coast, not excepting the Dutch settlement at Cochin, where
such perfect security to person and property could be found. The persons who flocked
into Tellicherry from all the country round accordingly fought and watched with the
courage and vigilance of despair, and every effort of the enemy to break through the
slender line of scattered outworks was defeated. END OF QUOTE.
It was the Tellicherry factory location alone that stood as a bulwark against the
forces of Hyder Ali, which was on a butchering campaign against the higher castes.
QUOTE: When the news of Bailey’s defeat by Hyder Ali arrived on

November 1st, matters assumed a very serious aspect, as it was supposed the Madras
troops under Major Cotgrave would be withdrawn, and the evacuation of two redoubts
called Whippey’s and Connor’s created shortly after this quite a panic in the town.
END OF QUOTE.
When the people heard rumours that the English forces would be relocated to
Madras, they went into deep terror.
QUOTE: Mr. Firth, one of the factors, proceeded by sea to Cochin to

endeavour to get a supply from the Dutch. A day or two after he had gone (August
27th), the news arrived that England was at war with the Dutch. END OF QUOTE
The Dutch were more or less the only nation from Continental Europe who
could have come to the side of the English. However, that hope was gone.
QUOTE: “That officer, confident in superior numbers, estimated at 7,000,

waited the result of an action in a strong but most injudicious position, with a deep and
difficult river in the rear of his right ; from this position he was dislodged, and the
retreat of the left being interrupted by a judicious movement of the English troops, a
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large portion of the Mysorean right was driven into the river with a loss, in killed alone,
estimated by Colonel Humberstone at between three and four hundred men, and
among that number Mukhdum Ali, their commander ; END OF QUOTE.
In a feudal language ambience, the issue of ‘respect’ will stand as a very

powerful burden over all kinds of intelligent action. If this issue of ‘respect’ is placed in
a very immovable position, that is oppressive hierarchy is powerfully in place, then
also, the varying layers would not act intelligently. For, they are connected to strings of
subservience as well as that of oppression.
QUOTE: On the morning of the 29th, before day, the field works being still
unfinished, Tippu attempted the strong, but weakly occupied position of Colonel
MacLeod by a well-designed attack in four columns, one of them headed by Lally’s
corps; but such was the vigilance, discipline and energy of the English troops that the
more advanced picquets were merely driven in on the out-posts, not one of which was
actually forced ; support to the most vulnerable having been skilfully provided and M.
Lally’s corps having fortunately been met by the strongest, each column before it could
penetrate further was impetuously charged with the bayonet. END OF QUOTE.
Even though the English side was fighting with Sultan Tipu to protect the
kingdoms of Malabar, in actual fact, the fight could also be mentioned as a fight
between a French Commander and an English Commander. After all the French can
have the dubious reputation of having been the foremost ‘freedom fighters’ of ‘India’.
The English side consistently won and in the cases where they initially lost,
they were able to reassemble in a very intelligent manner. That was due to the planar
nature of their language.
QUOTE: His (Colonel Fullarton’s) own account of his Palghaut campaign is

thus related : - “Palghautcherry held forth every advantage; it was a place of the first
strength in India, while its territory afforded a superabundance of provisions. END OF
QUOTE.
Even though the words are from a native-Brit, the words do reflect a lack of
information on the extent of the subcontinent. For, it is inconceivable how he could
use the words, ‘a place of the first strength in India’.
QUOTE: The disposition of the inhabitants towards us, and their means of
supply, exceeded our most sanguine expectations. END OF QUOTE.
This was the fact of the reputation that the English had in the subcontinent.
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QUOTE: “The Zamoria’s vakeel informed the Brahmans that we were friends
to their cause, and eager to deliver them from the yoke of Hyder ; that we only wished
to receive the public proportion of grain, but none from individuals, and that any
person belonging to the camp who should attempt to plunder, would be hanged in
front of the lines. On hearing these declarations they testified the strongest satisfaction,
and their confidence increased when they found that the first offenders were executed.
END OF QUOTE.
This contains an information worth pursuing. It is that all the local fights and
warfare were a period of terror for any local populace. For, the armed collection of
men would do all kinds of molestations on the people they accost. However, on the
English side, slowly a new kind of military discipline was slowly developing.
QUOTE: Accompanied by them we frequently rode through the adjacent

villages, assembled the head people, and assured them of protection.” END OF
QUOTE.
This must have been a most novel experience for the people. However, public
memory in the subcontinent is very short-lived.
QUOTE: Sir A. Campbell, the Governor, had intimated to Tippu that

aggression against Travancore would be viewed as equivalent to a declaration of war
against the English. END OF QUOTE.
Even though this is a statement that can stand testimony to the sense of
commitment and honouring of word, of the English side, there is another issue also in
this. It is that the English Company had been seduced and lured into these kinds of
commitments by the cunning and wily rulers of the various small-time kingdoms in the
South Asian Subcontinent. But then, the English side did built up a reputation for fair-
play and honourable actions. It was this reputation that sort of did them in. For all the
kingdoms tried to attach themselves to the English Company, once it was seen that
they were not mere nitwit traders, who had to bend and bow to all the small-time
officials.
QUOTE: And on August 6th, a letter from General Medows arrived stating
that he was at Coimbatore, that nearly all the south of Tippu’s dominions was in his
hands almost without the loss of a man, END OF QUOTE.
This ‘almost without the loss of a man’ was a sort of regular reputation of the
English side, in most their military engagements in the subcontinent.
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QUOTE: On September 24th, Mr. Taylor found it necessary to take another

step, for the misunderstanding between Hindu and Mappilla was becoming very
apparent, and the Chief to quiet the fears of the latter, had to issue a proclamation that
he would secure both parties on their ancient footing. END OF QUOTE.
There is no going back to anyone’s ancient footing. With the arrival of the
English Company, a new kind of liberation was spreading throughout the location.
Many of the lower castes had become less ‘respectful’ and converted into Islam. The
very character of Islam had changed. Now, it was full of people who had powerful
urges for revenge on their ancient oppressor classes, the Nairs and the Hindus
(Brahmins). This hatred actually had nothing to do with Islamic theology or Prophet
Muhammed. It was just that they had been at the butt-end of receiving the hammering
of the lower indicant words, ‘Inhi ഇ ി’, ‘Oan ഓൻ’, ‘Oal ഓ ’, ‘Eda എടാ’, ‘Edi
എടി’, ‘Ane അെന’, ‘Ale അെള’, ‘Aiyttingal ഐ ി ൾ’ etc. for centuries.
It was the English Company that stood there as the catalyst for this enormous
social change. Yet, there is no mention of this anywhere in the crass idiotic Indian
academic histories.
QUOTE: Soon after the conclusion of the peace Lord Cornwallis, the
Governor-General, instructed General R. Abercromby, Governor of Bombay, under
date the 23rd March 1792, to enquire into the present state of the country and to
establish a system for its future government, ........................ Such of the friendly Rajas
whose territories were not included in the cession were to be allowed the option of
returning to them under the protection of the 8th article of the Treaty, or of remaining
within the limits of the Company’s territories END OF QUOTE
It is very easily seen that the English Company wanted to do the right thing.
For taking over the rule of the land had not really been in their agenda. However, the
subcontinent was a political mess. There was not even one really dependable system or
group of people or family that could be entrusted with the rule of the land. All people
were totally selfish and more or less controlled by the codes in the feudal language.
See this QUOTE from the Travancore State Manual about what the Queen of
Travancore mentions about the people with her:
QUOTE: When the Dewan’s dismissal was resolved upon, and the question
was as to who should succeed him, the Rani wrote that “there was no person in
Travancore that she wished to elevate to the office of Dewan and that her own wishes
were that the Resident (Col. Munro) should superintend the affairs of the country as
she had a degree of confidence in his justice, judgement and integrity which she could
not place in the conduct of any other person”. END OF QUOTE.
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Actually, it was not a case of no one having

ability. Persons of extreme abilities were there.
However, they were all tied to strings of non-
tangible strings of relationships that more or less
controlled them. The basic negativity was that these
strings were in the feudal languages. Every link goes
through a choice of two to three different levels of
verbal codes. This is what makes everything
different from pristine-English.
QUOTE: In pursuance of these orders the

General arrived at Cannanore and appointed Mr. Farmer, a Senior Merchant, and
Major Dow, the Military Commandant of Tellicherry, as Commissioners, and issued
instructions to them under date the 20th April 1792, to preserve the peace of the
country, and after settling the amount of tribute to be paid by the native princes and
chiefs, to direct their attention to collecting materials to form a report on the most
eligible system of establishing the Company’s authority on the coast. END OF
QUOTE.
The precise nature of these kinds of work is quite refreshing. When it is

native-Englishmen who do the work, the verbal oscillations and consequent mood
swings which feudal language can bring in would not be there. What then comes are
systems which are remarkably refined, precise and clean.
QUOTE: Owing to the terms of the cowls they held, the three northern Rajas
did not immediately acquiesce in the Company’s sovereignty over them, but after some
hesitation they soon found the necessity of relaxing their pretensions, and the
Kadattanad Raja was the first to agree to a settlement on 25th April 1792, stipulating as
follows : —
1st - The Raja to remain in the exercise of
all his rights and authority subject only to the
control of the Company in case of oppressing the
inhabitants.
2ndly—A Resident or Dewan to reside
with him to enquire into any complaints of
oppression.
3rdly —Two persons on the part of the
Company and two on that of the Raja to make a
valuation of the revenues of each district. END
OF QUOTE
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There are lots of jingoist writings about how the English Company took over
the ‘nation’. The fact is that which sane person in this country would love to be under
the rule of these insipid kings and queens who could very easily become quite jealous
of their own subjects?
QUOTE: The Padinyaru Kovilakam branch of the Zamorin’s family, already

noticed, possessing great influence in the country, was entrusted with the collection of
the district of Nedunganad by the Eralpad Raja, the managing heir apparent of the
Zamorin. On the strength of this the Padinyaru K. Raja attempted to render himself
independent of the Zamorin. The dispute was carried on to such lengths that Captain
Burchall was obliged to seize his person at Cherupullasseri. He died there a day or two
afterwards, and at the instance of the Zamorin his brother and nephew were put under
restraint, and released only upon the Kilakka Kovilakam Raja standing security for their
good behaviour and payment of arrears of revenue amounting to one lakh of rupees.
END OF QUOTE.
The above is the state of the unity inside the ruling house of tiny Calicut.
There is no need to understand that the mutinous side was in the wrong and the other
side correct. It is just a continual struggle to keep one’s head above the swirling waters
of ‘no respect’. When one person goes up in ‘respect’, the other person necessarily
goes down in ‘respect’. And it is more or less impossible to live in a feudal language
society without ‘respect’, for the social seniors.
This concept of ‘respect’ which is encoded in the feudal language code has no
corresponding item in pristine-English.
The other issue of how come he died within a matter of two or three days in
custody. There are all possibilities that the native-soldiers who had custody of him
would bear upon him with the Nee and Eda word, which he would quite naturally
oppose. They would thrash him terrifically. These things happen on an everyday basis
in most police stations in India today.
QUOTE: Extract from the Governor-General's instructions to the

Commissioners deputed to the Malabar Coast: - ..... together with the particulars of
their interior and foreign trade, on which subject you will form and report your
opinion as to the best means of improving both, in such manner as shall have the
greatest tendency to conciliate the Commercial Interests of the Company with those of
the natives, and best promote the internal prosperity of the Country at large. END OF
QUOTE
These are original words of the administrators of the English Company. It is

easy to mention that these are mere words. It is like speaking about Bio-data/ CV
/Resume. Someone writes an original Bio-data containing the best version of his
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capabilities and personal dispositions. Others look at the wordings and simply copy
them.
This is the same issue with the above words. These words are original and
correct in intent. In the newly created nation of India, the officials simply write similar
words as the government policy. No one really believes that the government machinery
will at any time focus on these aims. It is not just a matter of some high level political
leader being focused on these aims. It is just that only he would be with that focus. All
others simply stand with focus in different direction. For, that is how feudal language
brings in disarray.
QUOTE: The establishment of a Plan for the administration of Justice in the

several Districts being a point the effectual attainment of which we have above all
others at heart, we rely with confidence on your experience acquired on this side of
India for your being able to determine in a satisfactory manlier on the number and
constitution of the several Courts of Justice that will be necessary to ensure to the
utmost possible degree (as far as the state of society there will permit) the dispensation
of equal Justice to all classes of the society ; END OF QUOTE
The reader can very well see the spirit that led to the creation of the judiciary
in the subcontinent. It had been a location where there was no equality before the law.
Because the wordings in the feudal languages insist that people are of different levels.
A few are of gold levels. A few of medium levels. And a big percent of the people at
the stinking excrement levels.
The setting-up of a judiciary based on written codes in pristine-English, more

or less, spontaneously and automatically insisted that the all persons are equal before
the law and administration.
It is a very curious sight to see various low-class websites including the

Wikipedia India pages simply refusing to mention the creation of the judiciary by the
English Company as the real foundation of the Indian judicial apparatus. If one reads
such low-class writings, one would get to feel that the Supreme Court of India simply
was born on its own one fine morning.
As of now, with the Constitution of India and the written codes of law being
translated into the feudal vernaculars, the majority people, the low financial and social
classes are again being pushed into the levels of the stinking excrement. This is what a
newly created nation is doing to its own people. And the people themselves cannot
understand this cunning reality. For, they know no other language system. For, English
has been cunningly denied to them, right from their primary school education. Their
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teachers use these very same degrading words to them. And they are trained to fall in
love to those who thus degrade them.
QUOTE: Seventh.—The pepper produced on the Coast of Malabar

constituting (as already intimated) a very material Branch of Commerce to the
Honourable Company, it is our wish that a Provision on terms of perfect fairness to the
natives may be effected in all the settlements for the Revenue payable to Government,
so that as far as possible it may be made good in the natural pepper produce, taken at a
fair market valuation instead of money payments, leaving whatever proportion cannot
be secured in this way to be purchased by the Company’s commercial Agents on the
spot on the footing END OF QUOTE.
The greatness of this rule might not be understood by the stupid arm-chair
academic historians of India. For, this made commercial activity quite attractive and
free of corruption and dependence on the low-class government clerks and peons.
The difference was that in independent native kingdoms, the people were fleeced by
the local officialdom and terrorised.
For instance in Travancore, trade in many of these commercial items were

monopolised by the government. The farmers could sell them only to government
warehouses. They were not paid in cash. They were given some other item in barter,
unless they bribed the official. And the items given in barter were in most case of very
low quality.
See these QUOTEs from Travancore State Manual:

1. The monopoly rates being abnormally high, there was a great temptation for
smuggling. Again the abolition of the monopoly system in Malabar dealt a
serious blow at the Sirkar monopoly and greatly facilitated the operations of the
smugglers from Cochin, Anjengo and Tangasseri
2. By Act VI of 1848 the coasting trade of British India was freed from all duties
3. It was therefore more advantageous for a merchant to take Travancore goods

by land to British Cochin in the first place and thence transport them to other
parts of British India. The same was the case with the imports also.
END OF QUOTE.
The freedom of trade in British-India was of fabulous quality. Indeed there is

no record of any sales tax department in British India, till almost the very end of the
English rule. That too, I have heard was in Madras Presidency, when the Congress
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ministry in rule decided to impose a very miniscule duty on sales. Now this miniscule
percent has developed into a huge monster in charge of a lot of corrupt officials.
QUOTE: One of the first measures of the United or Joint Commission was to
proclaim on 20th December 1792 the general freedom of trade in all articles except
pepper which was hold as a monopoly, and the Institution of “two separate courts of
Equity and Justice” at Calicut on 1st January 1793, the first court to be presided over by
the members in rotation, in which revenue and litigated landed claims were to be
investigated, and the second to take notice “of all other subjects of claim and litigation
not relating to the revenue or landed property.” END OF QUOTE.
Wonder of wonders! Way back in 1792, a very liberal measure. Under an
English rule.
QUOTE: They further, on 9th January 1793, sent round a circular to all the
chieftains charged with the collection of the Revenue of their Districts, forbidding the
collection, on any pretence whatever, of any presents or cesses such as had been
customarily prevalent END OF QUOTE.
Slowly the English administration was crushing down the traditional

officialdom of the land. The jingoistic patriots of India would naturally boil with fury.
‘Who gave them the right to crush our corrupt officials’ That would be the point
boiling in their minds.
QUOTE: While these Commissioners were engaged with the above-

mentioned enquiries, the remaining members issued a proclamation of general amnesty
for acts of homicide, maiming, robbery or theft committed prior to 1st February 1793
as a means of inducing the lawless among the population to resort to honest courses.
END OF QUOTE.
Slowly a peaceful and secure social life was being introduced in a location
where massacres and brutal hacking of individuals were a routine event.
QUOTE: “Phouzdarry oath. “I, William Gamull Farmer, Supravisor of the

Province of Malabar and entrusted as the Chief Magistrate with Phouzdarry
jurisdiction, do solemnly promise and swear that I will exert my best abilities for the
preservation of the peace of the District over which my authority extends, and will act
with impartiality and integrity, neither exacting or receiving, directly or indirectly, any
fee or reward in the execution of the duties of my office other than such as the orders
of Government do or may authorise me to receive. “So help me God !
END OF QUOTE
Thus was an honest administration being set up, in a land wherein lies and
cheating and bribes and corruption were an indispensable way of life.
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QUOTE: All interior customs were to be abolished END OF QUOTE
One has to experience the travails of trading in India as a small-time

businessman to understand huge relief the above-statement conveys. As of now, the
country is littered with check posts. Low quality, crooks man these check posts. The
great Indian officialdom!
QUOTE: further to institute a canongoe establishment throughout the country

to bring into and keep in order the accounts of each district, and to act as local
assistants, guides and intelligencers to the servants of Government in the discharge of
their duties, and to serve as checks upon undue exactions on the part of the Rajas.
END OF QUOTE.
When a good system of government comes into the picture, the local rulers
who try to fleece the populace will have to be kept in control. For, they can use
powerful lower indicant word codes to inflict oppression on anyone.
QUOTE: Itta Punga Achchan, who had settled with the Bombay
Commissioners for the first year’s lease, had shot himself and had been succeeded by
his nephew Itta Kombi Achchan. The latter had imprisoned a rival claimant to the raj,
by name Kunji Achchan, but on the arrival at Palghat of the deputed Commissioner,
the latter was set free. END OF QUOTE.
A typical issue which the English administration had to face in its formative
years.
QUOTE: Similar terms to those arranged with the aforesaid Rajas had been
made on 21st June 1793 with the managing Achchan, but with an additional clause
restricting him from the exercise of any judicial authority in consequence of the
beheading of the Malasar already alluded to. END OF QUOTE
The irascible powers of the local chiefs had to be cut down. For, they could
literally murder anyone as matter of traditional right.
QUOTE: The Roman Catholic padre of Calicut, however objected to the

“infidel tribunal” of the Darogas, and claimed the ancient privilege of the Portuguese
Factory of jurisdiction over Christians. This claim being incompatible with the
principles of British rule was rejected, but the padre was allowed to attend the
Fouzdarry Court to explain the law at the trial of Christians. END OF QUOTE.
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There is indeed a slight amount of duplicity in the English Company’s side.

Even though from a very slender perspective, the English side is seen to be
establishing a rule of law in which all citizens are equal. However, that is not the truth
in the subcontinent. The subcontinent runs on feudal languages. Individuals are not the
same in these satanic languages.
So the very fact that the natives of the land have been given judicial powers
was a very great negation of the essential quality of the English rule. For, it is a very
clearly understood idea that the natives of the land would not see the people in an
equal manner, with rights to equal dignity. Such persons should never be given any
statutory powers.
Indeed this issue came to the fore for the English side also.
See this incident mentioned in Travancore State Manual:

QUOTE: It had been declared by the Government of India so early as 1837
that “Europeans residing in the territories of Native States not being servants of the
British Government, were in all respects and in all cases, civil or criminal, subject to the
law of the country in which they reside.”
But the question as to the liability of European British subjects had long
remained unsettled. It came up for discussion in 1866 in connection with the trial of
John Liddel, Commercial Agent at Alleppey, who stood charged with having
embezzled a large sum of Sirkar money.
The Travancore Government tried him by a special Commission which found

him guilty of the offence and sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment. The trial was
declared by the Madras Government as illegal and as contrary to the provisions of the
Proclamation of the Government of India dated 10th January 1867, issued under, and
in conformity with,, with the result that Liddel’s immediate release was ordered. END
OF QUOTE.
In this context, the imprisonment given to the British Sailors who landed on
the Madras coast a few years back can be taken up. Grave miscarriage of justice was
done in this case. The spirit of the law was not taken up. Instead the crude ego issues
of the lowly Indian officials was what came into prominence.
It is not good to give power to Indians over other Indians. It has been
mentioned even during the Colonial days that if such power is given, it will be misused.
It is very difficult for feudal language speakers to think in a free manner. Their world
and social vision will be corrupted by the feudal language codes.
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QUOTE: But the erroneous idea thus authoritatively promulgated was

accepted without question in all further proceedings both in the Administrative
Department and in that of Civil Justice, and the question as to whether the
Commissioners’ action was correct or not was not raised until so recently as 1881.
END OF QUOTE.
The English administration had to deal with the attitude of the native officials
also. These native officials had their own vested interests. It was to see that the lower
castes were not developed, if the officials were from the higher castes. If the officials
were from the lower castes, they had huge fury and vengeance against the higher
castes. Both of them had fury towards the Mappillas who were the Muslims. The
above-quote is one such mood of the native-officials finding fault with the English
official actions. The attitude is that the native officials know better. It is just a creepy
claim.
QUOTE: and the old Tellicherry Factory, which
had exercised, as these pages show, such abundant
influence for good in the annals of the Malayalis for over
a century, and which had existed as oasis of peace and
security and good government during all those troublous
times, ceased to exist as such on the 27th July 1794. END
OF QUOTE.
The fact mentioned about the Old Tellicherry

Factory is true. However, the word ‘Malayalis’ is suspect.
The Malayalis of those times were the Malabari language
speakers. They do not include Travancoreans. The
above-statement should be about north Malabar and to a slight degree about south
Malabar. Words have to perfectly defined and used. Otherwise, they will be misused
later.
QUOTE: With Cochin there passed also into the hands of the British the
Dutch, formerly Portuguese, settlement of Tangasseri on the point of land lying west
of Quilon bay, and the various petty places named in paragraph 299 of section (6),
Chapter IV, lying to the north and south of Cochin in the territories of the Cochin and
Travancore Rajas, which now, with Cochin itself, constitute the British taluk of
Cochin. END OF QUOTE.
That was about British-Cochin. Tangasseri is also mentioned.
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QUOTE: at the same time charges of corruption and bribery were brought
before the Governor, Mr. Duncan, by the Zamorin against Messers. Stevens, Senior J.
Agnew, and Dewan Ayan Aya, a Palghat Brahman for extorting one lakh of rupees.
END OF QUOTE.
This must have been more revealing incident. That a local small-time ruler can
place accusations on the officials of the ruling power. And they were put into prison
after a trial in Great Britain.
QUOTE: The Raja, however, persisted in his assertion that the district was
fairly assessed, and as the Nambiar had meanwhile allied himself with certain of the
young Rajas of the Kolattiri family who were inclined to question the right of the Raja
to the position he had acquired from the English, the Supravisor, after taking the
orders from the Bombay Government, finally decided on 10th May 1796 to despatch a
body of troops into the district under Major Murray to enforce the Raja's demands.
The troops succeeded in driving the chieftain and his followers into the jungles, and
Major Murray further succeeded in detaching from their alliance with the Nambiar the
junior Rajas of the Kolattiri family who had taken refuge there.
The Nambiar on the 18th August then forwarded to the Commissioners a full
statement of his claims, and particularly insisted on the excessiveness of the demand
made against him by the Raja, and on the motives which had induced the Raja to
misrepresent his actions to the Honourable Company with a view to acquiring the
district for himself END OF QUOTE.
The English side was forced to deal with the issue of everyone wanting a title.
The issue of ‘respect’ was not really understood by them.
On the other side, there was desperation to misrepresent, misquote, and

misinterpret each of the competing persons / groups to the English side. This is how a
typical feudal language social system works. For, each verbal code pulls along with it a
lot of other verbal codes and set in motion various kinds of social machineries.
QUOTE: The Governor-General, Lord Mornington, after full consideration

of the matter, came to the conclusion that “Wynad was not ceded to the Company by
the late Treaty of Peace, and that it belongs by right to his said Highness the Nawaub
Tippu Sultan Bahadur,” who was to be permitted “consequently to occupy the said
district whenever it may suit his pleasure.” END OF QUOTE.
This is a very powerful illustration of how the English side consistently tried
their fair-play policy. Instead of aiming to gain a small profit, they were focused on
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creating powerful social systems and conventions of fair-play. However, on the other
side there were very few persons who could appreciate these gestures. For over there,
everyone of them were terribly preoccupied with the issues of maintaining ‘respect’
under all costs.
QUOTE: The Malabar militia, an irregular force and undisciplined, serving

under their own native chiefs, was then (June 10th, 1801) disbanded. END OF
QUOTE.
It is good that such an irregular and undisciplined force, functioning top to

bottom on feudal languages should be disbanded, and a new force which was focused
upon planar language English come up.
QUOTE: The superseded chiefs were continued in the enjoyment of the

allowance of one-fifth (in some cases) and of one-tenth (in others) of the revenue of
their respective districts which had been allotted to them for their maintenance. These
allowances continue to be paid to them down to the present day under the designation
of Malikhana. END OF QUOTE.
May be this is how the Privy Purse system (pension system for the old time
rulers and their descendents) came into being. It was a good policy of the English
rulers. For the royal houses were not forced into penury. However, when India was
created one of the Prime Ministers suddenly stopped this, as a display of some shallow
populism. This literally led to some of the small-scale kingly houses falling into deep
financial distress.
QUOTE: In 1857 the Government agreed with the Revenue Board and the
Acting Collector that the allowances are perpetual during good conduct and are not
revocable at pleasure.” END OF QUOTE.
If this be so, how come the Indian Prime Minister stopped the allowance all of
a sudden? May be a reparation case can be filed.
QUOTE: The Coorg war in 1834 did not affect Malabar beyond that “an old
and faithful servant of the Company,” Kalpalli Karunakara Menon, the Head
Sherishtadar of the district, was sent for the purpose of opening a friendly negotiation
with the Raja, and was imprisoned by the latter. This outrage led directly to the war.
END OF QUOTE.
Despite all great talk of great heritage and such nonsense, the fact remains that
in any scene the powerful side would use the degrading verbal codes on the weaker
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section. Once this done, the weaker section has no right to any kind of decent
behaviour from the other side.
QUOTE: with a view not only to exhibit the difficulties with which the district
officers have had to deal, but to elucidate the causes from which such difficulties have
sprung. END OF QUOTE.
Each of the minor localities had a lot of problems. For, the systems were
changing. In the earlier times, there is no location for appeal. The local chief took
terrific decisions including that of decapitation or impaling. Now, the focus of social
power was shifting towards written codes of law.
QUOTE: Kavalappara under its own Nayar chief owed a sort of nominal
allegiance both to the Cochin Raja and to the Zamorin. The Commissioners eventually
decided in favour of his independence. END OF QUOTE.
The king of Calicut is a tiny ruler. However, he has smaller-than-him rulers

under him. He will not allow them to go independent. For, their subordination is his
pathway to leadership. In fact, this remains a fact of social life in the subcontinent even
to this day. Conversion to another religion is tried to be forestalled. For, it is like
undermining a leadership. The lower castes declaring that they are not Hindus, but
actually different religions will not be allowed. For, that will be decimate the Hindu
leadership.
Even in the case of India-occupied-Kashmir, India will not allow the people
there to do decide what they want to be.
QUOTE: they were careful in their despatch of the December following to

caution the Government against introducing into Malabar “an intermediate class of
persons (call them Zemindars, Mootahdars, or what we may) between the Government
and the Jelmkaars or hereditary proprietors of the soil END OF QUOTE.
The insight and the foresight are extremely admirable. However, who is there
on the other side to understand the calibre of the native-English administrators? The
native intellectuals are bothered only about their own ‘respect’ and nothing else.
QUOTE: not to create, but to restore, landed property, gradually to convert

the bad farms of the Tamil country into good estates, and the land-property holders
into land-owners, etc." END OF QUOTE.
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Extremely great ideas. However, these great ideas are being put forward for an
ungrateful population, who the moment they get more power will only try to pull down
the very people who had helped them come up.
I am reminded of the biblical words:
Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before
swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you." –Matthew
7:6 Bible - King James Version
QUOTE: "The Board of Revenue declare that our knowledge with respect to
the ancient state of things in Malabar is extremely defective. To us it appears so
defective that many things which have been stated and re-stated as matters of fact are
but objects of conjecture, conjecture founded upon hardly anything to which with
propriety the term evidence can be applied. END OF QUOTE.
This is the truth about almost all antique claims currently made by India. All
things that have been traced out in some ancient Sanskrit palm-leaf books in some
remote households, are now claimed as the heritage of India. The actual fact remains
that most of these books were unearthed by the officials of the English Company. See
this quote from the preface to the English translation of Kama Sutra:
QUOTE: While translating with the pundits the ‘Anunga runga, or the stage of
love,’ reference was frequently found to be made to one Vatsya. The sage Vatsya was
of this opinion, or of that opinion. The sage Vatsya said this, and so on. Naturally
questions were asked who the sage was, and the pundits replied that Vatsya was the
author of the standard work on love in Sanscrit literature, that no Sanscrit library was
complete without his work, and that it was most difficult now to obtain in its entire
state. The copy of the manuscript obtained in Bombay was defective, and so the
pundits wrote to Benares, Calcutta and Jeypoor for copies of the manuscript from
Sanscrit libraries in those places. Copies having been obtained, they were then
compared with each other, and with the aid of a Commentary called ‘Jayamangla’ a
revised copy of the entire manuscript was prepared, and from this copy the English
translation was made. END OF QUOTE.
The fortitude displayed by the pristine-English officials in those days is of

fabulous standards.
QUOTE: “We observe with dissatisfaction that when you have assumed the
existence of any peculiar ownership in the land as that of Moorassidars or Jelmkars,
you afford us little information with regard to the condition of any other class of the
agricultural population. In Malabar the number of occupants who pay the assessment
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on the land, mortgagees and lessees

included is estimated by the Collector at
150,000. The number of persons employed
in the cultivation must exceed this number
to an extent of which we have no means of
forming an accurate judgment.”
Nothing known of the great body
of actual cultivators, nor of the slaves.
END OF QUOTE.
It is a great point to note here that

the people of the subcontinent do not
notice the poverty around them, or the fact that their own servants sit on the floor,
sleep on the floor, are made to dress in the old shabby dresses of their masters, have to
enter the household through the back door, have to use a shabby eastern-toilet while
the householders can use a western-toilet, and are addressed and referred to in the
pejorative form of word codes. But then these very same affluent class of India, do
notice the terrible racism in native-English nations, where well-groomed blacks and
Asians are still clamouring for more rights, after all the fabulous improvements they
have had in native-English nations.
These people are not really bothered about anyone else other than their own
right to encroach into native-English locations. Even the Continental Europeans have
this complaint that they are kept apart from the native-English.
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Kottayam
There was a small kingdom headquartered near to Tellicherry. It was the
Kottayam kingdom. Even though a lot of fabricated fame and halo has been added to
this tiny kingdom, most of the people who had heard about this kingdom did not really
know where exactly this place was. The place name Kottayam was misunderstood as
the Kottayam of Central Travancore.
In fact, when I once told a man in north Malabar this kingdom was near to
Tellicherry, he replied thus, ‘Now only I understand. I was always wondering how the
Wynad Kurichiyas were involved in a fight with the British in Kottayam.’
The issue here is that man’s native place was just around 35 kilometres from
the location of this Kottayam and yet he had not heard of this place. Nor had this
place been mentioned by my own family ancestors in Tellicherry.
However, the fame of this tiny place is being slowly built up by a series of
fabricated stories, newspaper writings, fake-story
films, and outright manipulation of written
history, of how this kingdom fought for the
‘freedom of India’ against the British Empire!
The fabricated story was of the king of

Kottayam fighting against the British to save his
people, his kingdom, and ultimately India, with
the help of the Kurichiya lower-caste tribals of
Wynad forests. There are even persons who
ascribe his team to have used the martial arts
techniques of Kalari to defeat the British in
various battles and guerrilla attacks.
This Kottayam itself must be a small

place near to Tellicherry. However, the kingdom
is mentioned as having its rights up to Kuttiadi
and Kavilumpara etc. and inside Wynad also.
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However, the so-called Pazhassi raja was not

really the king of Kottayam. He was seen as an
usurper by the real king of Kottayam.
As to Wynad, there is this point to be noted.

Wynad forest area seems to be part of the Deccan
plateau. I am not sure about this. However, it might
be very much a part of the Mysore kingdom. But
then being a thick forest location, there might not be
much of a ‘rule’ there.
See this quote:

QUOTE: The Governor-General, Lord Mornington, after full consideration
of the matter, came to the conclusion that “Wynad was not ceded to the Company by
the late Treaty of Peace, and that it belongs by right to his said Highness the Nawaub
Tippu Sultan Bahadur,” who was to be permitted “consequently to occupy the said
district whenever it may suit his pleasure.” END OF QUOTE
Now, let us go through the text in this book, Malabar and try to place
everything in the correct context. It may be borne in mind that the Nayar and higher
caste sections would insert filtered information into this book in an attempt to portray
the Kottayam insurgent leader in a larger than life version. The Company officials are
also seen to be lenient to him in this regard without really understanding the social
reality.
QUOTE: Of Rajputs, or foreign Kshatriyas, there are in Malabar (census 1881)

only three hundred and sixty-two all told. The families of the Kottayam and
Parappanad chieftains belong to this class, and the former of these chieftains used
sometimes to be called the ‘Puranatt’ (i.e., foreign) Raja. The Parappanad family
supplies consorts to the Ranis of Travancore, and also forms similar connections with
the families of other chieftains in Malabar. They follow the Marumakkathayam law of
inheritance. END OF QUOTE.
There might have been a sort of feeling that a mention of a connection to the
populations of the northern parts of the subcontinent would give a better genetic
address. It is seen mentioned that they follow the Matriarchal or Marumakkathaya law
of inheritance. In which case, the same family system must be seen in the Rajputs who
are seen mentioned as their family ancestry. I do not know if this true.
It is seen in this book that various persons when they assume or attempt to
assure some regal title or address, assume the Varma name. This Varma name in
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Malabar might have helped earn a Kshatriya heritage and antiquity address. There is a
general indoctrination in the social system that the Aaryan heritage is something
superior, to the Dravidian heritage. The Dravidian heritage is generally connected to
the Tamilians who are dark-skinned. Many of the dark-skin people have this skin-
colour inferiority complex in themselves.
However, it would be most unwise to assume that all the south Indians are
connected to the Tamilians or Dravidian ancestry. The Marumakkathaya Thiyyas, the
Malayans, the Pulaya, the Pariah, the Makkathaya Thiyyas, the Nayars, the Shanars, the
Vedars, the Chovvans, the Ezhavas, Nambhuthiri Brahmins, the Ambalavasis etc.
might have different ancestry and antiquity. Each one of them would have connections
to different population groups from all over the globe. In Malabar, Canara, Tamilnadu,
Travancore etc. they got regimented under the same social system. With the Brahmins
at the top. That is all.
Much before the Pazhassiraja insurgency, the Kottayam kingdom had long
years of relationship with the English Company. This kingdom also made use of the
Company to protect themselves from the insidious takeover attempts by other small-
time kingdoms, nearby. Moreover, the kingdom did try its own game at make the best
profit out of the competition between the English Company at Tellicherry and the
French headquartered at Mahe. Tellicherry, Kottayam and Mahe are within a few
kilometres radius.
QUOTE: And it was known that the Kottayam Raja, who had helped the
prince to take it from the Mappillas, had agreed to give up the positions held by him
on it to the French whenever they should choose to END OF QUOTE.
The king of Kottayam was also playing the seesaw game, with the English
Company and the French. However, whenever things became too hot, the then ruler
of Kottayam would rush to the English to ask for help.
QUOTE: But disputes early commenced between this Raja and Tippu relative
to their respective boundaries, and the latter’s vakils complained also of the Kottayam
Raja taking Wynad, which district the Commissioners were then of opinion was not
ceded by the treaty. END OF QUOTE.
Wynad was not part of Kottayam territory, but more or less under the
disputed ownership of the Mysorean kingdom.
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QUOTE: The Kottayam Raja's alarm of invasion had meanwhile not abated,
and on the 19th of February he sent to the Chief an unconditional agreement to plant
the English flag and post garrisons on the island. END OF QUOTE
This happened when the Canarese army invaded north Malabar. It is quite
funny that the well-established kingdoms had to run to the safety of a small trading
settlement of the English Company whenever there was any attack on them from any
neighbouring kingdom.
QUOTE: Meanwhile the mediation carried on by Kottayam went on slowly.

He was in no hurry to arrange terms while being paid a personal allowance of Rs. 40
per day as may be imagined, and he appears not to have scrupled at declaring openly
that he meant to make the most he could for himself of the troubles in the country.
END OF QUOTE.
The king of Kottayam was ‘making hay when the sun was shining’, so to say. For,
he thought as every other small-time kingdom in the locality did, that he could play
French against the English and vice versa and get his due profit.
QUOTE: The Kottayam Mappillas deserted the Raja and assisted the invaders
END OF QUOTE.
This happened when Hyder Ali invaded north Malabar kingdoms. The
Mappillas supported the Muslim invaders. For, they had their age-long grievances
against the Nayars and the higher castes.
QUOTE: It must also be here explained that with regard to the Chirakkal cowl
it was granted to Unni Amma, a younger member of the family, who assumed the
name of Ravi Varma, and was the only one on the spot, the real head of the house
having fled with his mother to Travancore ; and that the Kottayam cowl was likewise
granted to a junior member of the family, afterwards known as the rebel Pazhassi
(Pychy) Raja, the senior Raja having also taken refuge in Travancore. END OF
QUOTE.
This is the crucial information about the real reasons of how this ‘raja’ became
an insurgent. The tale of this insurgency is actually a story of how his uncle, the real
raja went on trying to subdue him, and the young man not willing to give up his title.
For, in feudal languages, the moment a title is given up, all the verbal codes of ‘respect’
would get erased. It is like an experience of ‘free-fall’ down to the social depths for the
person who has lost his ‘respect’. It is for this reason that politicians fight to retain
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their positions desperately in current-day India. The leader and the follower will be
placed on the same verbal level, once the ‘respect’ is gone.
The English Company did many times try to help the Pazhassiraja to come to
an amenable terms and relationship. However, each time, his uncle would thwart the
attempt. For, it was in his interest to see that the usurper is not allowed any power at
all.
QUOTE: As after events fully proved, however, the Kottayam nephew of

Kurumbranad—the famous Palassi (Pychy) Raja was not amenable to control by his
uncle, and the uncle was powerless to execute his own orders in the Palassi country.
END OF QUOTE.
This is the true, much understated fact about the background to the
insurgency, which was at best a struggle to get the royal title, and to safeguard his own
‘respect’ and honour by the Pazhassiraja. It was not any kind of a ‘freedom struggle’
against the British Empire. Only total nitwits will believe such nonsense.
QUOTE: The Palassi (Pychy) Raja had already, in April 1793, been guilty of
the exercise of one act of arbitrary authority in pulling down a Mappilla mosque
erected in the bazaar of Kottayam. The Joint Commissioners took no notice of the act,
although it was in direct opposition to the conditions, of the engagement made with
the Kurumbranad Raja for the Kottayam district. END OF QUOTE.
Actually the Mappilla presence in the kingdom would be a sort of social

revolution. In that the lower caste might see the elevated stature of the Muslims, as
they do not have any statutory hierarchies among them. Many of the Muslims could be
recently converted from the lower castes.
As to the English Company not taking any action against this act of villainy, it
might be just that they had not yet started their administration on a sure footing here.
Things were still quite fluid. Beyond that there must have been so many similar events
happening all around the geography.
QUOTE: Again, in September 1793, the Mappillas of Kodolli applied to the

Palassi (Pycliy) Raja for leave to build or to rebuild a mosque, and were told in reply to
give a present. They began to build without making the preliminary gift to the Raja, so
he sent Calliadan Eman with five armed men to bring the Mappilla headman (Talib
Kutti Ali) before him. The headman delayed; the escort attempted to seize him ;
whereupon Kutti Ali drew his sword and killed Calliadan Eman, and was in turn killed
by the others. END OF QUOTE.
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Here there is a hidden issue. The Muslim headman would have to display his
subservience to the small-time chief of Kottayam who was not really the king, but a
usurper. The headman would invariably be addressed as Inhi (Nee lowest You) by not
only Pazhassiraja, but also by most of his relatives. In such a scenario, many persons
with some self-dignity would refuse to go to such a location. Or else, they would try to
delay the going.
The team that went to bring the Mappilla headman also would use such
tormenting words to the Mappilla headman. However, this would be in a location
where the Mappilla headman would have his own supporters. The very word ‘Inhi’
would be highly inflammatory. He would turn homicidal, if he has any sense of self-
respect left in him. That is the truth. Only in native-English nations, this information
has not entered much to the bemused delight of outsiders/ immigrants.
There is no known defence to a degrading lower indicant word verbal attack.

The affected person has only one option. That is to go berserk.
QUOTE: On receipt of news of this affair the Raja sent an armed party with
orders to slay all the Mappillas in Kodoli. The party went and slew six Mappillas with a
loss to themselves of two killed and four wounded. END OF QUOTE.
The Pazhassiraja was not a person with any kind of enlightened statesmanship.
However, if he had become the king, naturally he would be ‘respected’ and honoured.
That is all.
QUOTE: They (The English Company) contented themselves with a mild

remonstrance addressed to the Kurumbranad Raja and with the despatch of troops to
Kodolli and Palassi. END OF QUOTE.
The English Company initially had no intention of interfering into all the
social issues of the land, which probably they (the native-English) could not
understand. Moreover, if the Company tried to insert its own justice on all local rulers,
they would have found it difficult to continue their trade there.
QUOTE: The Palassi detachment was accompanied by a European Assistant.

The Raja, alarmed at the movement of troops, designed as he thought to make him a
prisoner, refused to come to Tellicherry to explain the matters to the Northern
Superintendent, and ironically referred the Supravisor for explanation to his “elder
brother” of Kurumbranad. He further in his reply expressed surprise at his not being
“allowed to follow and be guided by our ancient customs” in the slaughter of erring Mappillas.
END OF QUOTE
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Here there are more than one issue. Even though the detachment was
accompanied by a European Assistant, it was naturally full of the local Nayar / Thiyya
sepoys. They would use only the lower indicant (Inhi/Nee, Eda, Enthada) words if
they were to accost him.
If he were to come to Tellicherry, he would not have anything to confirm that

he would not be treated in a manner in which the subordinated individual is treated by
the native rulers.
As to his ironical referring to his ‘elder brother’, the fact is that his elder
brother would also have a similar opinion on what to do to the Mappillas.
His surprise is also quite noteworthy. Till the advent of the English supremacy
in the subcontinent, the small-time rulers and other Adhikaris could literally do what
they wanted to the people under them.
QUOTE: the Palassi (Pychy) Raja had threatened to cut down all the pepper
vines if the Company’s officers persisted in counting them. In short he conducted
himself in a way that fully justified the Joint Commissioners in styling him “the most
untractable and unreasonable of all the Rajas.”
On the deputation of one of the Company’s Linguists, Mr. Lafrenais, to

enquire into his grievances, it was discovered that his uncle, the Kurumbranad Raja,
from views of personal advantage, had secretly instigated him to resist the execution of
those very terms of settlement with the Commissioners which he had himself concluded
with the Company on behalf of his nephew. He thus hoped to involve the Company in
active hostilities with the Palassi (Pychy) Raja, who now, convinced of his
machinations, entered on 20th December 1793 into an agreement direct with Mr.
Farmer for the districts of Katirur, Palassi, Kuttiyadi and Tamarasseri on the same
liberal lines as those accorded to Kadattanad. END OF QUOTE.
There is a wonderful illustration of how the social machinery works.

Pazhassiraja’s own uncle makes certain settlements with the English Company. At the
same time, he instigates Pazhassiraja to resist the execution of the terms of these very
settlements. This is actually a technique even now followed in various situations in the
subcontinent. That of acting as a sort of mediator between two groups, and then at the
same time instigating each against the other.
The feudal language word codes actually promote these kinds of activities.
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QUOTE: But over and above those concessions to the Palassi (Pychy) Raja,
Mr. Farmer further agreed for one year, until orders could be obtained, not to collect
the assessment on temple lands, and to remit further one-fifth of the revenues for the
maintenance of the Raja, and for the support of the temples one-fifth more in
consideration of the assistance given against Tippu and of the Raja’s ancient friendship
with the Company. END OF QUOTE.
Actually these are all wonderful offers. Yet, the verbal codes in the social
system can create havoc, in a scene where the raja is seen as a usurper and a threat by
his own uncle.
QUOTE: The Kottayam and Parappanad leases were, however, once more
executed by the Kurumbranad Raja—a repetition of the old mistake, as events soon
proved, made originally by the Joint Commissioners.
-----------the repetition of the old mistake of entrusting the management of the
Kottayam district to a chief who had no power or influence therein, and the passing
over of the Palassi (Pycliy) Raja’s claims to the Government of that district, very soon
bore disastrous fruit. END OF QUOTE.
This was the item that again made Pazhassiraja go astray. There would be very
concerted planning on the side of the Kurambranad Raja to keep his claims out. And
the English Company fell for this cunning.
QUOTE: Some time before the lease was concluded, one of the Iruvalinad
Nambiars—Narangoli—had brought himself within reach of the law. One of his
people had been killed by a Mappilla, and in revenge the Nambiar put to death three of
that class, being instigated (as it was alleged, but there was no conclusive proof of it) to
that act by the Palassi (Pychy) Raja. However this may have been, the Nambiar fled to
the protection of the Raja, and in spite of the Supravisor's remonstrances, that chief
protected the refugee. The Supravisor then declared the Nambiar to be a rebel and
confiscated his lands and property. END OF QUOTE.
Again it is the traditional antipathy for the Mappillas which created the
rancour.
QUOTE: Two Mappillas were suspected of having committed a robbery in the

house of a Chetti. The Raja explained afterwards that they confessed their crime; they
were certainly kept in confinement for some months. Then they were tried according
to the ancient usage of the country, it was alleged, and on their own confessions were
sentenced to death. Their execution was carried out on or about the above date at
Venkad by impalement alive according to ancient custom END OF QUOTE.
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Again it is the antipathy for a class of people who were not in sync with the
traditional hierarchal system in the society. If the traditional hierarchy were to be
enforced, most of the Mappillas would go to the very bottom of the social set up.
QUOTE: shortly afterwards there arrived intelligence of another arbitrary act

on the part of the Raja ; he, it was said, deliberately shot another Mappilla through the
body while retiring from his presence whither he had gone to present a gift. These
arbitrary acts could not be overlooked. END OF QUOTE.
Again it is the Mappilla man who has been killed. Now, it might be time to
check why this happened. The man went to give a gift. Yet, was killed.
The reason is that when a person is out of step with an established system of
hierarchy in a feudal language, a slight body posture which is not in sync with the verbal
respect code would cry out the signal that the side that has to be ‘respected’ has been
dishonoured.
It is like that of an ordinary man in India going to a police station and sitting
down in front of the police inspector. In most probability, he would be slapped on the
face with homicidal fury. As per the verbal hierarchy of the Indian officialdom, an
ordinary man has to bent, bow and cringe, and display all kinds of subservience. Even
a single item which is out of step would proclaim the information that all his other
actions of ‘respect’ were mere pretences.
This is exactly what happened to the British Sailors who were imprisoned in
Madras. They displayed their normal English behaviour and stature in an Indian police
station. The police officials would go berserk. Just because they were from Great
Britain, they were not physically attacked then and there. If it was a local citizen, he
would have his bones broken, then and there.
QUOTE: The Supreme Government directed that the Raja should be put
upon his trial for murder, but it was not easy to bring this about, for the Raja was well
guarded by five hundred well armed Nayars from Wynad.
In August 1795 the Supravisor stationed detachments of troops at the bazaar

of Kottayam itself and at Manattana to protect the Kurumbranad Raja s revenue
collectors.
These detachments were withdrawn for a time because of troubles with the
Mappillas in Ernad and Vellatiri, but they were again posted in November to keep the
peace, and as Mr. Rickards expressed it : END OF QUOTE.
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The mention of ‘five hundred well armed Nayars from Wynad’ could be just a
mere hearsay or even an insertion by the Nayar section into the book. Getting five
hundred Nayars from Wynad would be quite a difficult proposition, considering that
the location was a dense forest. It would take at least a couple of weeks to get them to
Kottayam (near Tellicherry).
Beyond that it does not look as if the Pazhassiraja could afford to maintain
such a large number of Nayars for his protection. It is not that easy in that the other
kings and rulers in the area did not want an upstart to grow up to regal levels.
There is another item to be mentioned. In Kottayam, the English Company

was trying to protect the Mappillas. However, in South Malabar, the Mappillas were
creating trouble for the Company by attacking the Hindus and Nayars. Their aim was
not really the English Company. However, the Company was forced to intervene.
Because it was the Company which was seen as the paramount power by everyone.
See these words of the king of Calicut, during the time when Sultan Tippu
attacked:
QUOTE: To this I am obliged to reply that the country and the government is
with the Company, whose armies must protect it ; that, unless they (the small-time
kings) willingly contribute to the expense of maintaining them according to what is
just, the country may go back to Tippu, and instead of living in peace under the
shadow of the Company, all our troubles and vexations may return and we may be
driven back into the Travancore country. END OF QUOTE.
QUOTE: “From this time forward the conduct of Kerala Varma, (Palassi Raja)
continued to be distinguished by a contempt for all authority. He delighted to show
how powerless Kurumbranad was to carry on his engagement for the Kottayam district.
END OF QUOTE
As seen in the above quote, the Pazhassiraja was smarting under the snubbing
he received from the Kurumbarand raja. That the English Company got involved was a
mere coincidence.
QUOTE: King of Calicut says: “As for me, when my people ask for revenue
(from the Mappillas), they shake their swords at them”. END OF QUOTE
So there are two separate items to be mentioned with regard to the

Pazhassiraja insurgency. The first one was that he was not the real king. He was seen as
a usurper by his own uncle who held the title of king. The other rulers in the area were
not very keen on his gaining the royal title.
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The second item was the Pazhassiraja shared the animosity for the Mappillas
which was there in all who were stuck in the social hierarchical system with the
Brahmins on the top. He took law into his own hands under the claim that it was his
hereditary right, and impaled a number of Mappillas and also killed some other
Mappillas otherwise.
Usually when eulogising the Pazhassiraja by the current-day academic histories

to spray ignominy on the English Company, these information are kept hidden.
QUOTE: The pepper revenue of Kottayam, a most important item in the

accounts, was in jeopardy owing to bands of armed men moving about the
country.......................On December 16th, the Northern Superintendent came to the
conclusion that the differences between the rival Rajas were irreconcilable, and
suggested the issue of a proclamation to the people forbidding them to assemble to
assist the Palassi (Pychy) Raja. END OF QUOTE.
Due to the feud between the Uncle and his nephew, the administration was
suffering. Pepper revenue was lost. This is due to the fact that no worker would dare to
go into the area for pepper collection. For, he might be hacked into pieces.
The English Company had to have financial acumen to administer this semi-
barbarian land where the people were accustomed to hack or impale each other, if they
get the upper-hand.
QUOTE: Moved by those threats, the Palassi (Pychy) Raja then openly visited
Tippu’s Killidar at Karkankotta. END OF QUOTE.
This is was a very foolish item to do. It is like what happened to

SubashChandran. He ditched his INA army and tried to move to Russia. There, it can
be presumed that he was caught by the Russian soldiers. It is a real tragic affair to be
caught to the Russian soldiers. There were news reports that came out during the
Presidency of Gorbachev in Russia that he had been made a menial servant in a
Siberian prison and that he had died there thus. There were other rumours that the
Indian Prime Minister Nehru was hell-bent on seeing that he did not come out. For, if
he came out, it would become a terrible threat to his own prime-minister-ship, which
presumably had been grabbed with the clandestine help of the British Labour Party
leadership.
QUOTE from timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated: Jan 24, 2016: One of the

disclosures in the Netaji files, made public on his 119th birthday on Saturday, is that
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Nehru had written to then British PM Clement Attlee about Subhas Chandra Bose,
saying,
"Your war criminal has been allowed to enter Russian territory by Stalin. This
is a clear treachery and betrayal of faith by the Russians, as they were allies of the
British and the Americans. Please take care and do what you consider proper and fit."
While this would appear to confirm a testimony by a stenographer, Shyam Lal

Jain, who had told the Khosla Commission set up in 1970 to investigate Netaji's death
that he had typed such a letter dictated by Nehru in December 1945, the Congress
jumped at the typographical and factual errors to claim it was a hoax. END OF
QUOTE
If Pazhassiraja had gone to Sultan’s Tippu’s residence, he would more or less

face the same problem of ‘respect’. Sultan Tippu’s people had the habit of cutting off
the hand and other parts of the human body, to extract ‘respect’ from them. In fact, a
number of British sailors and soldiers did experience this. See the story of James Scurry
who had been imprisoned and converted into a menial servant under the subordinates
of Sultan Tippu.
Tippu had a grudge against the Nayars and all the higher castes. Beyond that,
Pazhassiraja had the history of impaling the Mappillas. It would have fared very bad for
him if he had got caught by Tippu’s people.
QUOTE: It seems that Tippu agreed to supply him with ammunition, and to
on station 6000 “Carnatics” under his Killidar at Karkankotta on the Wynad frontier,
to be ready to help the Raja’s people in driving the British troops down the ghats out
of Wynad. END OF QUOTE.
However, no such thing ever materialised in the small-time skirmishes that

ensued later between the raja’s subordinates and the English Company.
QUOTE: Acting mainly on the advice of Shamnath, the Zamorin’s minister,

the Commissioners had, just before the arrival of the Committee of Government,
begun to raise a levy of irregular troops to harass the Palassi (Pychy) Raja, a measure
which appears to have been attended with the best possible effect. END OF QUOTE
It is plainly seen that the king of Calicut wanted to see Pazhassiraja crushed.
For, he was a usurper. He rising in power would embolden so many other similar
usurpers in so many king houses, in the various small-times kingdoms.
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QUOTEs
1. After several ineffectual attempts of the Chirakkal Raja and Mr. Peile, the
Northern Superintendent, had been made to induce the Palassi (Pychy) Raja, under
the most unqualified assurance of safe conduct, to meet the Committee at
Tellicherry, active measures were resumed against him,
2. pardon was likewise extended to the Narangoli Nambiar of Iruvalinad who as

already related, had, after the slaying of three Mappillas, fled to the Palassi (Pychy)
Raja for protection END OF QUOTE
Even then the English Company did try to reach out to him and settle matters
amicably.
QUOTE: This Yemen Nayar, for whom Colonel Wellesley wrote, was an
influential Nayar of Wynad, who, at the outbreak of hostilities with Tippu Sultan in
1799, had come to the Malabar Commissioners at Calicut and professed his attachment
to the British cause. His professions were believed and assurances of protection to
himself and his adherents were granted to him. He had since that time been admitted
to the confidence of the authorities in Malabar, and it was to consult him as to local
matters that Colonel Wellesley now sent for him prior to forming his plan of
operations against the rebels in Wynad.
It was never clearly proved, but it is almost certain, that he was all the time in
secret correspondence with his suzerain lord of Palassi (Pychy), advising him of the
measures to be taken against him. END OF QUOTE
These are the usual cunning used in almost all feudal language societies. There
is indeed the history of Ajatha Satru who was a king of yore in the far eastern parts of
the subcontinent. When he wanted to defeat the relatively more powerful kingdom of
Vajji, which was ruled by an oligarchy of high class families, he simply acted out a fight
with his minister. The minister went to the Vajji kingdom and asked for refuge. This
was granted to him. Then from inside he slowly set each family against each other.
When the internal rivalry was high, he sent word to Ajatha Satru, who came with his
army and captured the kingdom.
If indeed the US government would check the Tiananmen Square incident

acted out by the Chinese government, it would most probably seen that it was a very
cunning event set forth with the aim of stealing the technological secrets of the USA.
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The way these things are planned and acted out is not easy to imagine in
planar languages like English. In feudal languages, there are powerful routes of
command and obedience, even if the other man is on the enemy side.
This Yemen Nair would have his own vested interest in crushing the English
Company. For, the English Company was the most dangerous entity to appear on the
Malabar seashore. Its very existence would flatten up the social order, and the Nayar
and the rest of the higher castes would be brought down to the levels of equality with
the lower castes.
The Englishmen did not really understand the mental trauma which this
eventuality would create in the higher castes. The rude and crude lower castes would
be let loose in the social order. Then no higher caste individual, especially the female
folks would be able to walk on the road. For, the lower castes would dare to use the
lower indicant words on them.

QUOTE Brahmans never attend these markets. When this liberty was given to
the low castes, Sudra women and others refrained for a while from attending market,
but they are now getting accustomed to the new state of things, though they hotly
declare their dislike to it. END of QUOTE
QUOTE: Colonel Stevenson entered the district in January 1801, the rebels
were easily dispersed, and by the month of May every post of any importance in
Wynad was in the hands of the British. END OF QUOTE
There were a few skirmishes before this and after this, in which the Pazhassi
side did attack the English side by hiding in the woods and springing up upon them
suddenly. However, there is no great battle or war seen mentioned in this book,
Malabar.
QUOTE: Some five days previous to 11th October 1802, one of the proscribed
rebel leaders, Edachenna Kungan, chanced to be present at the house of a Kurchiyan,
when a belted peon came up and demanded some paddy from the Kurchiyan.
Edachenna Kungan replied by killing the peon, and the Kurchiyars (a jungle tribe) in
that neighbourhood, considering themselves thus compromised with the authorities,
joined Edachenna Kungan under the leadership of one Talakal Chandu. END OF
QUOTE.
This kind of cunning has been used many times in the subcontinent by various
groups. When this killing is done, the killer informs the Kurichars that the English
Company will catch them and do something terrible to them. The poor jungle folks
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who are literally at the mercy of the native-land bosses would not have the daring or
information to question or doubt these statements.
They then fall in line with the commands of their own traditional tormentor
class. For, they have been told that the English Company was terrible. They would
even tell them that they would be caught and sold as slaves in the high seas.
See the same technique used by the Travancore Nayars to terrorise the lower
castes, during the times of the Census conducted all over the Subcontinent by the
English East India Company administration:
QUOTE from Native Life in Travancore: The Sudras also sought to frighten
them by the report that the Christians were to be carried off in ships to foreign parts,
in which the missionaries and their native helpers would assist. When numbers were
stamped upon all the houses, people thought that
soon they themselves would be branded and seized by
the Sirkar. END OF QUOTE.
This is more or less the way in which the

Pazhassiraja side defrauded the Kurichiyas to stand
with his side. They would be made to do more and
more crimes that they would really be terrified of
getting caught by the English Company.
QUOTE: By June 20th Mr. Baber had

succeeded by his personal efforts in dissolving the
rebel confederation in Chirakkal ; he restored
confidence in the most rebellious tracts, and
undermined the influence of the rebel leaders by
representing them in the worst light as the enemies of
society. END OF QUOTE.
Actually if the English side did really understand the social system, they can
very well explain the goodness that they were ushering in. However, the information
on the feudal languages of the subcontinent simply was not detected by them.
However, it was very plainly clear that their presence was unshackling the lower classes
without much disturbing the higher castes.
QUOTE: The attack was made by Kurumbars, described as a desperate race of

men, who were just beginning to waver in their attachment to the Palassi (Pychy) Raja,
and whom the rebel leaders wished by some outrage to commit entirely to the Raja’s
side. END OF QUOTE.
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This was the rascality of the traditional tormenter class. They made the very
population who they had been oppressing over the centuries to commit the crime
against the very people who had arrived to save them from their social slavery. This
kind of treacherous actions are very much part of the social system even now.
QUOTE: Throughout the northern and western parts of the district, I found
the sentiment in our favour, at the same time a considerable disinclination to afford the
smallest information of the Pyche (Palassi ) Rajah or his partisans. END OF QUOTE.
The people understand the refinement of the English Company. But then,
what is to be done? They cannot openly support the English side. For, the social
system is full of treacherous elements. One small whisper is enough to get a person
hacked to pieces by the insurgent side, which is hell-bent on continuing the age-old
enslavement of the lower classes.
QUOTE: the most wealthy and numerous of whom were the Chetties and
Goundas,—a vile servile race of mortals, who are strangers to every honest sentiment,
and whom nothing but one uniform system of severity ever will prevent from the
commission of every species of deceit and treachery. END OF QUOTE.
I think the Chetties and the Goundas were the traditional landlord classes in
Wynad. Naturally they would be very cunning. For, they have to keep a huge section of
people as their slaves for centuries. But then, it would be quite unwise to brand them
exclusively with these vile attitudes. The fact is that almost all persons in the
subcontinent who has some clout and power does practise all this either inadvertently
or deliberately. This is so, because the codes for this attitude are there in the language
codes.
QUOTE: “The Kooramars (Kurumbar), a numerous race of bowmen, by far

the most rude of all the Wynadians, had to a man deserted their habitations and estates
and betaken themselves to the strongest parts of the country, where they had removed
their families and were dragging on a miserable existence, labouring under the dreadful
impression that it was the intention of our Government to extirpate their whole race. As
those people were exclusively under the influence of Palora Jamon (Pallur Eman), it is
not difficult to explain whence this unfortunate notion originated ; it is only those who
have had a personal opportunity of knowing the extensive abilities and artifices of this
man who can justly calculate upon the mischief and dire consequence that must ensue
where such qualifications are employed against us. END OF QUOTE.
The capability of cunning of the upper classes of the subcontinent is actually

of the most unbelievable quality when seen from English. This is so because in the
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native languages here, by a slight change in the verbal codes, huge emotional swings
can be created. There is no information on these things even now in English.
QUOTE: A few movements of our troops soon brought the inhabitants to a

sense of their own interest ; they had been driven from mountain to mountain, their
jungly huts were destroyed, their families were reduced to the greatest distress. They
had seen with surprise that no injury was offered to their habitations or cultivations and
they began now to conceive the idea that we were as ready to protect as we were
powerful to punish them. END OF QUOTE.
The English Company’s army was disciplined to the utmost. I have been told
that even women were safe with these units passed through a location. This is not very
easily achieved. For, in all the other armed groups, the chance to molest women and to
plunder is the most alluring aspects of joining raiding team. There is no professional
army in that sense in any of the kingdoms of the subcontinent.
QUOTE: “After proceeding about a mile and a half through very high grass
and thick teak forests into the Mysore country, Charen (Cheran) Subedar of Captain
Watson’s armed police, who was leading the advanced party, suddenly halted, and
beckoning to me, told me he heard voices. I immediately ran to the spot, and having
advanced a few steps, I saw distinctly to the left about ten persons, unsuspecting of
danger, on the banks of the Mavila Toda, or nulla to our left.
“Although Captain Clapham and the sepoys, as well as the greater part of the
Kolkars, were in the rear, I still deemed it prudent to proceed, apprehensive lest we
should be discovered and all hopes of surprise thereby frustrated. I accordingly ordered
the advance, which consisted of about thirty men, to dash on, which they accordingly
did with great gallantry, with Charen (Cheran) Subedar at their head.
“In a moment, the advance was in the midst of the enemy, fighting most
bravely. The contest was but of short duration. Several of the rebels had fallen, whom
the Kolkars were despatching, and a running fight was kept up after the rest- till we
could see no more of them END OF QUOTE.
This is the ‘great’ war that was fought between Pazhassiraja and the English
East India Company. However, actually it was a fight between the Pazhassiraja and the
Kolkars of the English side. Kolkars are peons by designation. Or rather untrained
foot-soldiers in this context.
QUOTE: I learnt that the Pyche (Palassi) Rajah was amongst those whom we
first observed on the banks of the nulla, and it was only on my return from the pursuit
that I learnt that the Rajah was amongst the first who had fallen. END OF QUOTE.
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It was a fight with a small group of people.
QUOTE: “The following day the Rajah’s body was despatched under a strong
escort to Manantoddy, and the Sheristadar sent with it with orders to assemble all the
Brahmins and to see that the customary honours were performed at his funeral. I was
induced to this conduct from the consideration that, although a rebel, he was one of
the natural chieftains of the country, and might be considered on that account rather as
a fallen enemy. If I have acted unjudiciously, I hope some allowances will be made for
my feelings on such an occasion. END OF QUOTE.
The English side was still quite magnanimous. For, if it was a local native king
who had defeated his enemy, the enemy would be tortured to death. And if already
dead, his body would be desecrated to the utmost. The female members of the fallen
enemy’s household would be molested by the foot-soldiers and the peons.
Beyond that the English official obviously makes the mistake of defining the
fallen enemy as the natural chieftain of the country. Pazhassiraja was not even the real
king of Kottayam. His main fight was with his uncle who tried to degrade him by
placing a lower grade man above him. These are very powerful things, which would
make the verbal codes change from that of ‘respect’ to ‘degrading’. In the ultimate
sense, Pazhassiraja was the victim of the language codes. He did not get the ‘respect’ he
yearned for. However, if the Mysorian invasion had not taken place, he would never
have had a chance to be on the top for a temporary period.
Being on top for a temporary period is a very dangerous thing in a feudal

language. For, the moment he steps down, the verbal codes changes to that of
degrading. It is an unbearable scenario.
QUOTEs: 1. On the cession of Malabar to the British in 1792 some

unfortunate misunderstandings arose, and the Palassi or Pychy Raja, the de facto head of
the house, rose in rebellion, and maintained a sort of independence so long as Wynad
2. Palassi amsam— the seat of the Raja known in Malabar history as the Pychy
(Palassi) Raja of Kottayam who carried on warfare against the East India Company for
a long time, and who was finally killed in 1805, his whole estate being confiscated to
Government. END OF QUOTE.
The above quote is from another section in this book. The sense that this
quote gives is much different from what had been mentioned in the history part.
These kind of different perspectives or indoctrinations are part of this book, Malabar.
It proves that different persons have written different sections in this book, which
purports to be a book written by William Logan.
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There is no long time independent rule in Wynad. Wynad was at that time a
terrible forest location with few locations of human habitation.
There was no great or long-time warfare. Pazhassiraja is said to have impaled

the Mappillas in 1795. His rebellion against his uncle commenced a few years later. He
was killed in 1805. So the length of his rebelling will not even be ten years. Actually it
was only around five years at the most.
QUOTE: I observed a decided interest for the Pyche (Palassi) Rajah, towards
whom the inhabitants entertained a regard and respect bordering on veneration, which
not even his death can efface. END OF QUOTE.
There are issues with this quote. In a feudal language system, the degraded
subordinate views the ‘respected’ higher man with veneration. However, if this
degraded subordinate is allowed to improve, sit on a chair, address the senior as an
equal etc., this veneration will vanish. So, the exact codes of such veneration is
connected to being maintained as a subservient.
The second point is that Pazhassiraja is seen as daring to fight with the ‘great’
English Company. Actually this Company is more humane and less dangerous.
However, if Pazhassiraja had been mentioned as rebelling against a less venerated
entity, like the lower castes or Mappillas, the level of veneration would go down.
This is a very powerful information that the current-day native-English nations

have no information of. For, when they enter into a fight, the enemy side’s stature goes
up. People respect them more and would line up to join them. However, if they are
heard as fighting with some low class populations, the glow will vanish and their
supporters would not bask in a halo.
QUOTE: Edachenna Kungan, being sick and unable to escape, committed

suicide to prevent himself from falling alive into the hands of a party sent in pursuit of
him. END OF QUOTE.
This information has some understanding problem for the native-English. If

this man had been captured by the Kolkars (peons), they would not allow him to die
fast. They would question him with the words Inhi - Nee, Ane - Eda, Yenthane -
Enthada, Oan - Avan etc. This is a kind of dirtying and defiling of the human soul of
someone who had been a leader, which has no parallel in English. In fact, there is no
way to convey to a native-Englishman as to what this experience is. It is more easier to
die than to be made to bear this.
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Mappillas
In this book, Malabar, Mappillas are defined from two entirely different
perspectives. One is the general English tone of them having been a solace inducing
effect on the downtrodden castes in the location. The other perspective is that them
being utter rascals and scoundrels. The second perspective could have much to do with
the Hindu (Brahmin) and Nayar experience with them. Naturally, the English side will
not get to feel the realities of the terrors connected to feudal language communication.
QUOTE: How the Muhammadans came to adopt this same style for their
mosques is perhaps to be accounted for by the tradition, which asserts that some at
least of the nine original mosques were built on the sites of temples, and that the
temple endowments in land were made over with the temples for the maintenance of
the mosque. Before Muhammadanism became a power in the land it is not difficult to
suppose that the temples themselves thus transferred were at first used for the new
worship, and this may have set the fashion which has come down to the present day.
So faithfully is the Hindu temple copied, that the Hindu trisul (or trident) is not
unfrequently still placed over the open gable front of the mosque. END OF QUOTE.
No comment.
QUOTE: .—The word Mappilla is a contraction of Maha (great) and pilla

(child, honorary title, as among Nayars in Travancore), and it was probably a title of
honour conferred on the early Muhammadan immigrants, or possibly on the still earlier
Christian immigrants, who are also down to the present day, called Mappillas. The
Muhammadans are usually called Jonaka or Chonaka Mappillas to distinguish them
from the Christian Mappillas, who are called Nasrani Mappillas. END OF QUOTE
This attempt to portray the word ‘Mappilla’ as some kind honourable title
might have been the attempt of the Christians of Travancore. Seeing that the Nayars
were the constable class, with much power over the common lower caste, this verbal
association might have done some help. However, with regard to the ‘Mappillas’ of
Malabar, who were the Muslims, there is no such association possible. Many of the
earlier Mappillas could be off-spring of Arabic sailors who had a marital relationship
on the Malabar Coast (not Travancore coast). Beyond that a vast majority of Malabar
Mappillas are the converts from the lower castes, including Cherumar and above up to
Makkathaya Thiyyas of south Malabar.
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QUOTEs: 1. Some years after his death Malik-ibn-Dinar and his family set-
out for Malabar.
2. To this they rejoined that they, foreigners, could not know his country and
its extent and would have no influence therein ; whereupon, it is said, he prepared and
gave them writings in the Malayalam language to all the chieftains whom he had
appointed in his stead, requiring them to give land for mosques and to endow them
END OF QUOTE
The above quotes are with regard to how Malik Dinar set up Islam in Malabar
for the first time. It is seen mentioned that the Perumal king who had gone to Arabia
and converted to Islam did give the written letter of introduction for them to show to
the rulers of the various small kingdoms of Malabar.
QUOTE: The race is rapidly progressing in numbers, to some extent from

natural causes, though they are apparently not so prolific as Hindus, and to a large
extent from conversion from the lower (the servile) classes of Hindus END OF
QUOTE.
It is seen here that the Islamic religion is expanding exponentially primarily

due to the oppression the lower castes face from their Hindu overlords.
QUOTE: Regarding the increase in the Muhammadan population between

1871 and 1881, the following remarks occur in the Presidency Census (1881) Report,
paragraph 151:—“Conspicuous for their degraded position and humiliating disabilities
are the Cherumars. This caste numbered 99,009 in Malabar at the census of 1871, and
in 1881, is returned at only 64,7251. This is a loss of 34.93 per cent, instead of the gain
5.71 per cent, observed generally in the district. There are, therefore, 40,000 fewer
Cherumars than there would have been but for some disturbing cause, and the
disturbing cause is very well known to the District Officer to be conversion to
Muhammadanism. END OF QUOTE.
The above quote more or less stands testimony of the fact that it was the
lower-caste conversion that boosted the Muslim Mappilla population in Malabar,
especially in South Malabar.
QUOTE: Zamorin Rajas of Calicut, who, in order to man their navies,

directed that one or more male members of the families of Hindu fishermen should be
brought up as Muhammadans, and this practice has continued down to modern times.
END OF QUOTE
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This is a very curious information. However, it might be true. Yet, the

question remains as to why the fishermen caste (lower-caste) men were not made use
of in his navy? There is the larger question of what kind of a ‘navy’ this tiny kingdom
had. There is nothing to suggest that the king of Calicut had any such thing. For, due
to the fact that the fishermen folk and other seafarers were lower castes, and hence of
a ruder and cruder type, from the perspective of the higher castes, there is no way a
navy could be created using them. Then the only other option would be to form one
with a Muslim team. Being Muslims, their mental attitude would be that of being on
the top.
However, it is still not possible to imagine the Muslim fishermen as a group

being culturally different from the lower caste fishermen.
QUOTE: In particular he (Cherman Perumal) invited a Muhammadan and his

wife to come from his native land of Aryapuram and installed them at Kannanur
(Cannanore). The Muhammadan was called Ali Raja, that is, lord of the deep, or of the
sea END OF QUOTE
May be this information might be from the fake history book, Keralolpathi.
However, there is no need to doubt the authenticity of the above statement. For,
Keralolpathi seems to have been written from various hearsays prevalent at the time of
writing the book. The name Ali Raja, as I had mentioned earlier, could really be Aazhi
Raja, if the meaning of the name given is accurate.
QUOTE: Note.—Considering that Muhammad himself was born only in the

7thcentury A.D., the date mentioned is obviously incorrect, if, as stated, this Perumal
organised the country against the Mappillas. END OF QUOTE
If there is any substance in the above statement, it is possible that the higher
castes had tried to suppress the spread of Islam in an earlier age.
QUOTE: As regards Muhammadan progress in Malabar, writing in the middle

of the ninth century A.D., a Muhammadan has left on record “I know not that there is
any one of either nation” (Chinese and Indian) “that has embraced Muhammadanism
or speaks Arabic.” (Renaudot’s “Ancient Accounts of India, etc” London, 1733). END
OF QUOTE.
This is the effect of trying to understand huge histories from minutes

information based on traveller accounts. Most traveller accounts with regard to
historical incidences are based on their personal experiences. However, the landscape
was astronomically larger than anything they could have imagined.
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QUOTE: The traveller thereupon concluded that here at last was a trustworthy
king, and so he settled down at Calicut and became the Koya (Muhammadan priest) of
Calicut. END OF QUOTE.
This is with regard to a story of how an Arabian merchant tested the honesty
of the then king of Calicut. The story can be correct or incorrect; however the
summarisation made based on this solitary incident might be foolish. However, this
might be one of the events that led to the Mappilla Muslim domination on the king of
Calicut. There might be other unconnected incidents also.
QUOTE: “To the infidels he supplies this in vessels ; to the Moslems he pours
it in their hands. They do not allow the Moslems to touch their vessels, or to enter into
their apartments ; but if any one should happen to eat out of one of their vessels, they
break it to pieces. END OF QUOTE.
That was Ibn Bututa’s words. These words might be true in the exact location
and time period he visited Malabar. Beyond that, these records might not be sufficient
evidence to prove anything. However, the repulsion to a low-caste convert might be
the reason.
QUOTE: indeed there exists a tradition that in 1489 or 1490 a rich

Muhammadan came to Malabar, ingratiated, himself with the Zamorin, and obtained
leave to build additional Muhammadan mosques. The country would no doubt have
soon been converted to Islam either by force or by conviction, but the nations of
Europe were in the meantime busy endeavouring to find a direct road to the pepper
country of the East. END OF QUOTE.
This might be true of that time. For, converting people to a religion in a feudal
language social set-up is different from anything a native-English mind can conceive. It
is a powerful manner to regiment people under the religious leaders. To this extent, the
aims of Islam might not be in sync with the real aims of Prophet Muhammad. However,
the same is true about other religions also.
It is not a surprise from this background to understand that the English

Company rule did not support any kind of religious conversion to Christianity. Nor
was Missionary activity allowed inside the locations where they were in rule.
QUOTE: The arrival of this Portuguese expedition aroused at once the

greatest jealousy in the Moors or Muhammadans, who had the Red Sea and Persian
Gulf trade with Europe in their hands, and they immediately began to intrigue with the
authorities for the destruction of the expedition. END OF QUOTE.
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There is a typical correctness in the above statement with regard to the

subcontinent. Trade and commerce are not really as understood in native-English
nations. Economic supremacy is the enslavement of the others in feudal languages.
Because it can cause terrific changes in the verbal codes. It is due to this non-
understanding of the real intentions of the feudal language speakers that the native-
English nations are keeping the nations open to them. No other sane population would
allow any competing feudal language population to enter and takeover the businesses.
QUOTE: A few Moors resided there, and possessed better houses than those
of the native population, which were merely composed of mats, with mud walls and
roofs thatched with leaves END OF QUOTE.
That was about Cochin. It might be true that Islam is an egalitarian religion.
However, the Muslims who live in the subcontinent, do not speak any egalitarian
language. They are part and parcel of the feudal language social systems, in the
subcontinent. Hence, their egalitarianism would be confined to their religious brethren,
who also would have to display some kind of subservience to their superiors.
QUOTE: one Kuti Ali of Tanur had the effrontery to bring a fleet of two
hundred vessels to Calicut, to load eight ships with pepper, and to despatch them with
a convoy of forty vessels to the Red Sea before the very eyes of the Portuguese. END
OF QUOTE
Well, the fight for dominating the pepper trade is the core issue here. Pepper
was an essential part of the European and British culinary traditions. And hence a very
profitable business. However, it would be a very great mistake to imagine that the
whole populations of Europe and Britain were involved in the competition for pepper
trade. At best, the competition would be between the traders.
The local Mappilla traders, not all the Mappillas, could have been the
supporters of the Egyptian traders.
QUOTE: On that day, however, the resolution was taken to begin the
necessary propagations at once by enlisting Mappillas at 23 fanams per month. END
OF QUOTE.
This is a record of the English Company enlisting Mappillas men as soldiers.
QUOTE: The Calli-Quiloners (Mappillas) had “blue coats faced with green
perpets ” and thin bolts like those of the sepoys. END OF QUOTE.
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The uniform of the Mappilla soldiers in the English Company pay.
QUOTE: He (the English Company chief) wished to dismantle it (Madakara

fort) and abandon the place, but the Prince Regent fearing it would fall into the hands
of the Mappillas persuaded him to keep it, END OF QUOTE.
There is obvious terror of the Mappilla dominance. It is just that it is a totally

different social regimentation, into which the non-Muslims cannot find a
corresponding berth. Even though inside the Muslim community there is slightly more
social freedom and individual dignity, they are still part of the feudal language social
communication. So, the egalitarianism that Islam promotes cannot come near to the
original tenets of pristine-Islam, which actually is very near to pristine-English.
QUOTE: During this interval also the Mappillas began to give trouble. The
factors in exercise of their treaty rights had established round boats to prevent the
export of pepper from Kadattanad. These boats were found not to be of sufficient
strength for the purpose, as they were unable to cope with the Mappilla boats rowed
by eight or ten men with four or six more to assist, all of whom (even the boatmen)
practised with the “sword and target” at least. In retaliation for the pressure thus
brought to bear upon them by the factors, the Mappillas took to committing outrages
END OF QUOTE.
There is a huge information left unmentioned here. It is that English boats

would be in the hands of the English Company peon level staff. Their usages of words
like ‘Inhi’, ‘eda’, ‘enthada,’ ‘Oan’, ‘Avan’ &c. mentioned in the manner to demean the
‘respected’ persons in the Mappilla boats would be the real cause for igniting the
antipathy. The antipathy would ultimately fall upon the English Company, even though
it is their subordinate Nayars and Thiyyas who are creating it.
QUOTE: Such outrages became frequent, and on July 9th 1765 the Chief was
obliged to issue a stringent order to disarm them within factory limits. END OF
QUOTE
The entry of the English Company had dismantled the age-old social
hierarchies. The lower castes had received the opportunity to go up socially as well as
financially. The most easy means to do this was to convert to Islam. Once a lower caste
man becomes a Mappilla, his complete ire would be focused on his traditional
tormentor classes, the Nayars and the higher castes.
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The English Company officials got involved because they are the people who
have to enforce the law and order. However, they have no means of understanding
what is going on.
If fact, when there was a shooting of a Telugu Engineer in the USA by a

native-US citizen, I did mention this issue. The Telugu population in the USA became
very vexed and started insulting me verbally. However by the next morning, the Telugu
organisation in the US had given out a proclamation that the Telugus should avoid
speaking in Telugu in the US.
The actual fact is that all feudal languages should be banned in native-English
nations. Otherwise, the native-English will slowly start going berserk as did the
Mappillas in Malabar.
QUOTE: On the 25th the factors despatched the Achanmar of Randattara to

their district, escorted by British sepoys, but the Mappillas refused them passage
thither. END OF QUOTE
This was the state of the location which was slowly converted into a great
nation by the English Company.
Mogul officer's report which was subsequently edited by Prince Ghulam

Muhammad, Tippu’s only surviving son on the invasion of Malabar by Hyder Ali:
QUOTE: The country of the Nayres was thrown into a general consternation, which
was much increased by the cruelty of the Mapelets, who followed the cavalry,
massacred all who had escaped, without sparing women or children : so that the army
advancing under the conduct of this enraged multitude, instead of meeting with
resistance, found the villages, fortresses, temples, and in general every habitable place
forsaken and deserted END OF QUOTE
This was the terror let loose by the great ‘freedom fighter’, who fought against
the English Company.
QUOTE: The Mappillas of this latter district undertook to assist the British to
them. END OF QUOTE.
It was difficult for the Mappillas to stand against Hyder Ali. For, he had
appealed to their spirit of religious camaraderie.
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QUOTE: Tippu’s affairs were not well managed in Malabar when he recovered
possession of it. The exactions of his revenue collectors appear to have driven the
people into rebellion. Ravi Varma of the Zamorin’s house received in 1784 a jaghire in
order to keep him quiet, and even Tippu’s Mappilla subjects in Ernad and Walluvanad
rebelled. END OF QUOTE.
That was about Sultan Tippu’s short-lived attempt at administering Malabar.
QUOTE: Shortly after this, the Bibi of Cannanore again sought protection
from the company and stated positively that Tippu was shortly coming to the coast
with the whole of his force. The Bibi was probably at this time playing a deep game.
The Mappillas of the coast generally recognised her as their head, and the Mappillas of
the south were in open rebellion against Tippu’s authority. END OF QUOTE.
Duplicity, double-talk, back-stabbing, lies, pretended affableness &c. were and

are the norms.
QUOTE: It was also now becoming evident to the factors that causes of
discord between Hindu and Mappilla were likely to cause the latter to favour Tippu
rather than the British, because they were afraid of letting the “Malabars” have
authority over them” after what had happened, and particularly after the forcible
conversion to Islam of so many Hindus, and after the fearful retribution which had
been wreaked by the Hindus in many places on their oppressors, when the tide of
victory turned in favour of the English. END OF QUOTE.
Even though the fight and enmity were between the Nayars and the Mappillas,
the feeling that if the English come to power, the Nayars would get the opportunity to
seek revenge must have been a fear among the Mappillas. In fact, the English
administration was being taken for a ride by the Nayar officials. Whatever verbal
atrocities they place on the Mappillas, the fury will be focused back on the English
administration.
QUOTE: The chief condition of surrender was effective protection against the
Nayars, who had joined Colonel Stuart and were employed in the blockade ; but on the
fire of the place being silenced, crowded the trenches and batteries, anxious for
sanguinary retaliation, which it required very exact arrangements to prevent. END OF
QUOTE.
That was with regard to the surrender of Palghat fort. There is huge hatred
that has been triggered by the verbal codes over the years. There is no way that any
agreement of terms of surrender would be followed. The moment the Nayars get their
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hands on the surrendered Mappillas, they would exact terrible revenge. Again it is for
the English Company’s officials to seek to protect the Mappillas.
QUOTE: On September 24th, Mr. Taylor found it necessary to take another

step, for the misunderstanding between Hindu and Mappilla was becoming very
apparent, and the Chief to quiet the fears of the latter, had to issue a proclamation that
he would secure both parties on their ancient footing. END OF QUOTE.
This is connected to the unsteady and wobbly Bibi of Cannanore.
QUOTE: “From the repeated treachery and notorious infidelity of the whole
Mappilla race, rigid and terrifying measures are become indispensably necessary to
draw from them the execution of their promises and stipulations. Lenity has been
found ineffectual.” END OF QUOTE.
That is from the Factory records of the English Factory, immediately after the
departure of Sultan Tippu. One cannot say for sure what provoked the writing of these
words. The lower financial class Mappillas were mostly the converts from the lower-
castes. However, there are words that are very appreciative of the rich Mappilla
merchants who are mentioned as quite decent, honest and dependable. So, the above
writing can be taken as the personal experience of the person who wrote it.
See this QUOTE:

Affairs in Chirakkal next claimed attention. The Raja died and the
Government recognised the succession of Ravi Varma, the eldest of the two princes in
Travancore. His nomination to the raj was opposed by the Kavinisseri branch of the
family supported by the senior or Kolattiri Raja. To ensure peace and harmony in the
family the Linguist, M. A. Rodrigues, and the influential Mappilla merchant
Chovakkaran Makki, were deputed to Chirakkal. They succeeded in establishing peace.
END OF QUOTE.
Yet, it must also be admitted that the English side had no means of
understanding what the provocations were in the social system.
QUOTE: Vellatiri or Valluvakon Rajas were, as the foregoing pages

sufficiently indicate, the hereditary enemies of the Zamorins. The reigning chief had
endeavoured, by favouring the Mappillas, to counterbalance the influence gained by
the Zamorin through his Muhammadan subjects. END OF QUOTE.
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The king of Calicut is competing with the kings of Palghat and of Valluvanad.
All of them are trying to manipulate the Mappilla /Muhammadan support to their own
side.
QUOTE: Mappillas consequently abounded in this chief’s territory, but as

Muhammadan immigrants were few in his inland tracts he had perforce to recruit his
Mappilja retainers from the lowest classes of all—the slaves of the soil or Cherumar.
Having tasted the sweets of liberty under the Mysorean rule, these Mappillas did not
readily yield submission to the ancient order of things when the Mysoreans were driven
out. Although., therefore, the Vellatiri Raja’s districts were restored “to the Raja for
management, it was soon discovered that he was powerless to repress the disturbance
which speedily arose between Nayar and Mappilla, and it was in consequence of this
that so early as May 1793 the Joint Commissioners had to resume his districts and
manage them directly. END OF QUOTE.
The very brief Mysorean occupation of south Malabar had given the lower
caste converts to Islam a very powerful experience. They had tasted the sweetness of
liberty from their oppressor Nayars and the Hindus (Brahmins). It would be very
difficult to get them back to don their age-old attire of bound-to-the-soil-slaves. Indeed
the very unidirectional addressing of them as Inhi / Ijj (lowest you) and referring to
them as Oan/ Avan, would provoke a retort in the same verbal manner. It would be
like an Indian army officer addressing the Indian soldier with a Thoo and the soldier
retorting back with a similar Thoo. The provocation would be of the highest order.
However, there is nothing in the English records to suggest that they had even the
slightest hint of these provocations.
QUOTE: Moreover, on the outskirts of this lawless tract of country there

dwelt a tribe of what were in those days called “jungle” Mappillas, who were banded
together under chiefs and who subsisted on the depredations committed on their
neighbours. END OF QUOTE.
This statement can be rewritten to mention that a population that subsisted on

depredations had converted into Islam, but still continued their traditional means of
subsistence.
QUOTE: On the representation of Said Ali, the Quilandy Tangal or

Muhammadan high priest, that a jaghire had been conferred on him by Tippu, a grant
exempting his house and property from taxation during his lifetime was given him.
END OF QUOTE.
That was the English Company administration working to set things in order.
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QUOTE: The ryots, on the other hand, viewed the government as the
inheritors in succession to Tippu and Hyder Ali of the pattam or land revenue
assessment, and this was explicitly stated to the Commissioners by a deputation of
influential Mappillas whom the Commissioners called together to consult on the
subject. If the Commissioners had followed out the rule laid down in the fourth
paragraph of the agreement with the Iruvalinad Nambiars which has already been
commented on, the status of the ryots of Malabar would have been very different at the
present day. END OF QUOTE.
The claim at the end of the above quote is a sly attempt by some native-of-the-
subcontinent writer in this book, Malabar. It is a very silly and very simplistic
understanding of the social scene. The provocations and the social relationships are
connected to the verbal codes. There has been cataclysmic changes in it in recent days.
First the entry of the English Company, which more or less showed that the traditional
oppressor classes are no more in control. The second item is the brief attempts at
administration by the Mysorean Muslims. They literally dismantled the traditional social
set up. In fact, if the Mysorean rule had continued, the Nayars would have been
converted into the lower castes.
QUOTE: An attempt was made by two of the Rajas of the Padinyaru

Kovilakam (western palace) of the Zamorin’s house to assassinate him because he
failed to procure them their restoration to Nedunganad. These Rajas then proceeded to
the southward to raise disturbances, and were joined by Unni Mutta Muppan, the
Mappilla bandit chief, and some Gowndan Poligar chiefs from Coimbatore who had
rebelled against Tippu. Subsequently, too, they were joined by Kunhi Achehan of the
Palghat family, who fled to them after having murdered a Nayar. This Kunhi
Achchan’s claims to the management of the Palghat District had been rejected by the
Joint Commissioners END OF QUOTE.
In the tiny geopolitical location of Malabar, there were so many claims and
counterclaims. In this soiled water, everyone were trying to fish, using all kinds of
permutations and combinations.
QUOTE: He (Pazhassiraja) further in his reply expressed surprise at his not

being “allowed to follow and be guided by our ancient customs” in the slaughter of
erring Mappillas END OF QUOTE.
There is a number of events connected to Pazhassiraja, wherein he is seen as a

tormentor of the Mappillas. Check the Section on Pazhassiraja.
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QUOTE: Just before the Joint Commission was dissolved, the Supravisor
made a grant exempting the lands of the Kundotti Tangal (a high priest of one section
of the Mappillas) from payment of the revenue, as had been the custom in Tippu’s
time, on the condition that the Tangal and his people would prove loyal to the
Honourable Company a promise which they have ever since very faithfully fulfilled.
END OF QUOTE.
Here it is seen mentioned that the Kundotti Tangal household had stood in
loyalty to the English rule. In this connection there is another incident to be mentioned
here. When the Malabar District Collector Connolly was hacked to death, QUOTE:
They (the killers) had not gone far from this place when they were seen, and, being
followed up by the people of Kondotti (another sect of Mappillas), were driven at
length to take refuge in the house, where they were shot the same evening by a
detachment of Major Haly’s Police Corps and a part of No. 5 Company of H.M’s 74th
Highlanders under Captain Davies END OF QUOTE.
There is this below quote also to be noted in another context:
QUOTE: The feud between Nayar and Mappiila in consequence of the

complete subversion of the ancient friendly relations subsisting between these classes
broke out afresh about this time, and Major Dow was deputed to the Mappilla districts,
and a cowl of protection was issued in favour of the Kundotti section of the Mappiila
class, who had been oppressed by the Nayar landholders. END OF QUOTE.
QUOTE: In the interim an agreement was on 8th May 1794 entered into with
the Mappilla bandit chief Unni Mutta Muppan by Major Murray and with a view, if
possible, to secure peace to the country his small district of Elampulasseri was to be
restored to him and a money allowance of Rs. 1,000 per annum granted. But he
renewed his pretensions to a share of the revenue and began levying blackmail END
OF QUOTE.
The problem with this kind of magnanimity is that it would collide with the
verbal codes at other locations. It is like this: when this Unni Mutta Muppan is
mentioning the English magnanimity, there would be other around him who would
speak using verbal codes that would make the whole item look quite ludicrous
buffoonery. These kind of verbal codes are not there in English. So, the native-
English side will not really understand what had gone wrong.
QUOTE: The petty robber chief Haidros was captured by the Ponnani
Mappillas, was put on his trial and sentenced to death but the sentence was commuted
into one of transportation to Botany Bay. END OF QUOTE.
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It might be possible that these kinds of

persons can very easily be identified as ‘freedom
fighters’ who fought for ‘India’ against the British! In
fact, if this logic can be taken to the northern parts of
the subcontinent, it might be possible to mention
that the Thuggees (highway robbers who conducted
the killing of merchants in a ritualistic manner) who
were crushed by Henry Sleeman were actually
‘freedom fighters’ against the British rule!!
QUOTE: The notorious Mappilla bandit chief, Unni Mutta Muppan, was
pardoned and restored to his estate of Elampuinsseri, while Attan Gurikkal, a relation
of his and no less noted for turbulence of character, was appointed from motives of
policy as head of a police establishment in Ernad. END OF QUOTE.
All these endeavours do have a great chance to collide with the verbal codes of
the native feudal languages, which would dismantle magnanimous gesture of the
English Company.
QUOTE: Nearly all the Rajas were backward in the regular discharge of their
kists and were obliged to procure the suretyship of Mappilla merchants for the
payment of arrears. Although members of this sect living in the coast towns were
active traders and well-behaved, in the interior their fellow religionists were incessantly
engaged in marauding expeditions. END OF QUOTE.
It is a very enlightening information. That the local rajas had to get the
suretyship of Mappilla merchants for the payment of their arrears to the English
Company. And also the description of the different versions of Mappillas. The
Mappilla traders were not of the same genre as the Mappilla lower caste converts.
However, the deeper fact is that that lower caste converts were existing on the lower
planes of the verbal codes, while the rich merchants were on the upper parts of the
verbal codes. This difference in location in the virtual codes creates entirely different
human personality and disposition. This is an information about which the native-
English side has no information on.
QUOTE: The mistaken notions prevalent in regard to ownership in the land

appear to have been to a large extent at the bottom of these disturbances, which
assumed the aspect of faction fights for supremacy between Hindus and Muhammadan
END OF QUOTE.
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This is again an insidious insertion of the Nayar vested interests who have
tried their best to subvert the magnanimous actions of the English Company. The
fight for supremacy has nothing to do with any doings of the English Company. It
simply broke out because of two different historical experiences that came upon the
land. First the advent of English supremacy, which more or less broke the backbone of
the age-old social hierarchy. The second was the total disruption of the social order
created by the brief Mysorean rule. The lower castes were literally informed that they
can relocate to the top, and the upper castes were on the verge of being pushed to the
bottom.
There is a tone in the quote above that the writer of the above lines knows
better than the English Company as to what is good of the land. Actually these native
upper classes were not able to bring any bit of goodness in this land for centuries.
QUOTE: The pensioned Rajas of Kumbla and Vittul Agra or Higgada did not
also fail to harass Tippu's possessions during the war and on this account the pension
of the former was in 1801 increased to Rs. 400. But the latter having after the
proclamation of peace plundered the Manasserum temple, he was declared a rebel and
death anticipated the orders issued for his seizure END OF QUOTE.
These are hidden facts of history. The modern Indian academic fake history
might mention that the British robbed the temples and such with no qualms. Actually
it was the opposite. The English rule was totally focused on protecting and preserving
the wealth and heritage of the land. In fact, no one seems to mention that had Sultan
Tipu managed to enter Travancore kingdom, the fabulous treasures mentioned to be in
the possession of the Sree Padmanabhapuram Temple would have been looted then
and there.
QUOTE : The Malabar Commissioners deputed Major Walker to the southern

districts, and upon his report condemning the spirited action of Messrs. Baber and
Waddell with reference to the Mappilla banditti, Chemban Pokar was pardoned on his
giving security of good behaviour, and Gurikkal was allowed the option of either living
on the coast near Calicut, or standing his trial for having caused the late troubles. END
OF QUOTE.
The English administration was quite accommodating and magnanimous to all

kinds of persons. The fact would come out if one were to compare these actions with
how the modern Indian police /army would act if they were catch similarly disposed
persons. They would have been thrashed to a pulp in the various police stations or in
the army barracks. The moment the words of address changes to Inhi / Nee / Thoo,
every kind of protective shields will vanish.
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QUOTE: This success encouraged Chemban Pokar to make a daring attempt

on the life of Mr. G. Waddell the Southern Superintendent, while he was proceeding
from Angadipuram to Orampuram, in which attempt Chemban Pokar was secretly
abetted by Gurikkal, who had been in Company’s service since 1790 as head of police
in Ernad END OF QUOTE.
In spite of the magnanimous attitude of the English Company, what was given
in return was again deeply troubling physical offense. However, there are deeper issues
involved. The other side of the equation, that is the anti-Mappilla groups would make
all kinds of taunts upon them the Mappillas, wherein it is quite candidly understood
that the blame would be placed upon the English Company officials. The cunningness
deeply entrenched within the local feudal language social system is of an unbelievable
kind.
QUOTE: The cause assigned for the murder of the peon was that the peon
dragged one of the Mappillas out of the mosque, END OF QUOTE.
The very act of allowing a lowly peon to touch another person as an act of
domination can be an erroneous act. In fact, I find that in Malabar the English
administration did understand this issue later on.
The next item that is missed is the content of the conversation that led to the
event. In all probability, the peon would have used lower indicant words of the most
despicable kind. For, he is the bearer of authority. In the initial period of the English
administration, the English officials did not really understand that a person with any
kind of official power in the subcontinent can become a satanic entity due to the
existence of the varying codes for verbal conversation.
QUOTE: It is very sad to look round us from where we are and see the vast
extent of forest that has been destroyed by the Mappillas all round for coffee END OF
QUOTE.
Though it might be true that the Mappilla Timber businessmen would have
had a hand in this, there is a wider truth that needs to be placed on record. A vast
percent of the forest lands had been wiped out by the converted to Christian settlers
from Travancore. However, presumably that event gathered strength in the years after
this book was written.
QUOTE: Genuine Arabs, of whom many families of pure blood are settled on
the coast, despise the learning thus imparted and are themselves highly educated in the
Arab sense. Their knowledge of their own books of science and of history is very often
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profound, and to a sympathetic listener who knows Malayalam they love to discourse
on such subjects. They have a great regard for the truth, and in their finer feelings they
approach nearer to the standard of English gentlemen than any other class of persons
in Malabar. END OF QUOTE
This might be Logan’s own words. It more or less reflect a particular similarity
between pristine-English and pristine-Arabic. That pristine-Arabic is also more or less
a planar language to a great extent. However, as to whether anyone anymore speaks
pristine-Arabic might be a debatable point.
QUOTE: Shortly after the close of the war with Coorg the district
administration entered upon a period of disturbance, which unhappily continues down
to the present time. The origin and causes of this are of so much importance that it has
been considered best to treat the subject at considerable length with a view not only to
exhibit the difficulties with which the district officers have had to deal, but to elucidate
the causes from which such difficulties have sprung. END OF QUOTE.
It is not possible for the English officials to really understand the various
provocations that exist in feudal languages. A number of incidences are mentioned
here. In all them, the attackers are seen as Mappillas and the attacked are the Hindus
(Brahmins) and the Nayars. A few individuals of the subordinated populations have
also been attacked at times. From the administrative side, representing the English
administration, are the native Tahsildars, and the peons, most of them from the Nayar
caste and Thiyyas.
If one were to look beyond the confines of purported religious animosities,

the reality is that the Hindus and the Nayars, and even the Thiyyas, would use highly
provocative degrading verbal forms such as Inhi (lowest You), Oan (lowest he / him),
etc. on the Mappilla individuals who might not be of the lower order in various ways.
There is a wider issue here. In that the Mappillas would have a penchant for
using these very words to all and sundry who are not exactly persons they personally
revere. They use it in a more egalitarian sense than can be understood by the Hindus
and the lower castes. The Hindus would get to feel the degrading when the Mappillas
use it on them. The lower castes may not get this feeling, however, used as they are to
it daily from their own Hindu oppressors and Nayars.
When the native-officials get the Mappillas (mostly the lower caste converts) in
their hands, they would use the same words in a more brutal manner, which is not in
an egalitarian sense. These are all very delicately slender issues to understand. Unless
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the reader has profound information on the verbal codes of Malabari (Malayalam of
yore), the higher provocative switches inside the language will not be visible.
The lower castes who converted into Islam are similar to a native of the
subcontinent individual who has learned English. He has moved into a social system
wherein he has no senior caste. However, this is a very narrow reality. For, just beyond
the confines of his new religion, he is still a lower caste man. The language is not
Arabic or English. The languages are feudal. They contain not only powerful codes for
ennobling, but also very powerful words which can literally turn a human soul to feel
like excrement.
The fact is that if the native-Englishman also were to understand or feel this
forced-turning-into-excrement experience, he will also go berserk. That is actually the
reason behind the violence in native-English nations, which have been callously
defined as ‘racist’. Native-English nations have no idea on the dangerous inputs that
are slowly entering into their placid social system.
However, here the Hindus and the Nayars see the Mappillas as a very
dangerous population who do not extend the requisite formal respects. It can be
slightly compared to a soldier in the Indian army who does not salute his officers or
use the App (highest you) / Unn (highest he / him) word to them or about them.
QUOTE: On the 2nd October 1850 information was received that the sons of
one Periambath Attan the Mappilla adhikari of Puliakod amsam in Ernad taluk had,
with others, concerted to kill one Mungamdambalatt Narayana Mussat and to devote
themselves to death in arms. Security was required of nine individuals on this account.
The District Magistrate, Mr. Conolly, in reporting on the outrage and wholesale
murders of January 4th-8th, suggested that a commission should be appointed “to
report1 on the question of Mappilla disturbances generally. I wish. ” he stated, “for the
utmost publicity. If any want of, or mistake in, management on my part has led in the
slightest degree to these fearful evils (far more fearful in my time than they have ever
been before), I am most desirous that a remedy be applied, whatever be the effect as
regards my personal interests END OF QUOTE.
The actual fact is that the English administration was guilty of being quite
gullible. The fight was between the Hindus and Nayars on one side, and the Mappillas
on the other. There were grievances on both sides. And the culprit was the highly
degrading and provocative local vernaculars Malayalam and Malabari. There is no
solution to be found without a total removal of these evil languages. Not only
Malayalam and Malabari, but most of the feudal languages of the subcontinent have to
be removed from their current-day status of statutory languages. If this is not possible,
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the social system will continue to have all the problems connected to social hierarchy
and human degrading.
QUOTE: The individual here referred to is the notorious Saiyid Fazl of Arab
extraction, otherwise known as the Pukoya or the Tirurangadi or Mambram Tangal. He
had succeeded at an early age to the position vacated by the Taramal Tangal (already
alluded to), and it is certain that fanaticism was focussed at the time at and about the
head-quarters of Saiyid Fazl at Mambram. Fanatics then, as now, considered it almost
essential to success in their enterprise that they should have visited and prayed at the
Taramal Tangal’s tomb at Mambram and kissed the hand of the Tangal living in the
house close by. END OF QUOTE.
The adjective ‘notorious’ need not be from Logan, but from some others who
had doctored the manuscript or actually written the text.
QUOTE: Information of this was given by the principal Mappillas of the

former amsam at about ten o’clock that night. They and their adherents remained on
guard during the whole of the night at the houses of Pilatodi Panchu Menon and
Purmekad Pisharodi, the principal Hindu janmis in the amsam, and respecting the
former of whom there were on several occasions rumours that Mappilla fanatics were
seeking to kill him. END OF QUOTE
The above-statement should stand testimony to the fact that at least the higher
class Mappillas stood apart from the aspiration of the lower class Mappillas.
QUOTE: On the night of the 28th April 1852 the house of Kannambat Tangal
in Kottayam taluk was fired into and the out-buildings of the Kallur temple were set on
fire. The tahsildar (a Hindu) was of opinion that it was done by Hindus wishing to
profit by the absence of the Tangal, the great janmi of the locality. The Sri Kovil
(shrine) and the grain rooms were left uninjured, and this fact was urged in support of
the tahsildar’s opinion. END OF QUOTE.
The above information could be very vital to showcase the ways and manners
of the society. There is a continuing urge in the language codes to use Agent
Provocateurs.
QUOTE: Five were induced to crime “because of relatives having wrongs,

fancied or real, to redress ; and the remaining 144 were without any personal
provocations whatsoever.” END OF QUOTE.
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What is indeed admirable in the English administration is their urge to find out
a cause; even though, they did not detect the cause. However, in the case of the
current-day Indian officialdom, there is no urge to find the real cause or provocation.
QUOTE: He then went on to review the next ground for committing them
dwelt upon by the Mappillas, namely, that the criminals were forced into them by
destitution, but he passed this by with the remark that most of the criminals were mere
youths, and he could not believe that they “should be ready thus to throw life away
from more despair as to the means of supporting it. END OF QUOTE.
The native higher-castes know that destitution does not make anyone revolt,
unless there is someone to organise them into a fighting unit. In fact, destitution only
makes a person more respectful.
QUOTE: The natural result was that “the Hindus, in the parts where
outbreaks have been most frequent, stand in such fear of the Mappillas as mostly not
to dare to press for their rights against them, and there is many a Mappilla tenant who
does not pay his rent, and cannot, so imminent are the risks, be evicted. Other injuries
are also put up with uncomplained of. END OF QUOTE.
There might be much truth in this. However, the terror is not just about
physical violence. It can even be the attitude to not concede ‘respect’. A simple ‘Inhi
podo’ to a higher caste landlord by the tenant can be a most mentally establishing
experience. The actual terror is the ‘Inhi’ (Nee) (lowest you). Not the podo (go off).
QUOTE: But Mr. Strange went beyond this and proposed that the force
should be exclusively composed of Hindus, a measure which it is needless to say was
not approved by the Government. The Government also, on similar grounds, refused
to entertain his proposals for putting restrictions on the erection of mosques as being a
departure from the policy of a wise and just neutrality in all matters of religion. END
OF QUOTE.
Even though many persons in the current-day would say that Mr. Strange’s
ideas were sound, the fact is that his information on what he was dealing with was not
that profound. As to the English administrators, they took a very enlightened policy of
not allowing any discrimination based on religion. But then, the problem in all these
kinds of endeavours, there was and is no one of quality or calibre enough to appreciate
these higher levels of thoughts and principles.
There was and are very grave coding errors in the local feudal languages. In
fact, most languages have these issues. Only languages like pristine-English are devoid
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of the evilness present in feudal languages. Yet, there is nothing on record to suggest
that anyone really thought about checking the verbal codes in the languages.
QUOTE: “First, as to the essential nature of Malabar Mappilla outrages, I am

perfectly satisfied that they are agrarian. Fanaticism is merely the instrument through
which the terrorism of the landed classes is aimed at.” END OF QUOTE.
It is a foolish assessment. For, it was the Mappillas who were in a better

financial location and also exponentially improving. The exact cause was the gaining of
more personal stature and social liberty than was allowed by the language codes.
QUOTE: The common kanam tenure has degenerated into an outrageous

system of forehand renting, favourable only to the money-lender. END OF QUOTE.
If this was true, then the revolt would not be confined into a communal clash.
And the revolutionaries would not attack the lower castes who stood in subordination
to the higher castes.
QUOTE: Most of them do not know where much of their property lies,
having never even seen it.
They do not know the persons who cultivate it, and do not concern
themselves as to whether their tenants sublet or not. Most of them care nothing for the
welfare of their tenants. END OF QUOTE.
This is an actual assessment of the traditional hierarchical social system, based

on the feudal languages of the subcontinent. However, this is not the reason for the
Mappilla outrages on the higher castes. For, these things do not trigger terrible mental
animosities.
QUOTE: This granting of receipts places large power for evil in the hands of
these low-paid and ignorant agents, and they have to be bribed by the ryots in order
that they may be allowed to remain in the good graces of the janmis, who in regard to
local details are completely in their agents’ hands. END OF QUOTE.
This again is the traditional system under which the officialdom as well as the
feudal social system subsists. However, this again is the not the reason for the
Mappillas outrages. If this had been the reason, more terrible Mappilla outrages should
have happened in these days. For, the Indian officialdom is absolutely feudal and
abusive to the ‘Indians’.
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QUOTES: Moidin Kutti was merely a tool in the hands of Kutti Mammu
END OF QUOTE.
The fact is that in a feudal language system, the person in subordination

becomes a willing tool of those who hold him in subordination. However, these things
do not explain what triggers the terrible animosity. If the Brahmin landlords are very
oppressive, well then, it is the lower castes who had not converted who should have
gone in for a bloody revolt. This did not happen, and will not happen, until the lower
castes changes their leadership from that of their traditional feudal upper castes to
someone from a revolutionary party.
QUOTE:
With settled homesteads and an assured income to all who are thrifty and
industrious—and in these respects the Mappillas surpass all other classes—it is certain
that fanaticism would die a natural death. END OF QUOTE.
This is a very good thing to happen. However, this may not shut down the
religious animosities. For, when the Mappillas improve financially, in the verbal codes,
the higher castes would be replaced by them. The lower levels of the verbal codes
would be placed on the Hindus (Brahmins) and the Nayars. This again would make
way for violent antipathy from the them.
QUOTE:
1. They attacked the Mappillas on the morning of the 24th, but upon the
latter rushing out, the sepoys were panic struck and took to flight
2. The military detachment who had misbehaved were called into Calicut the
next day and their place taken by a fresh body of 35 men, whom I thought
it essential to keep in the disturbed locality until tranquillity was more
secured.”
3. Ensign Wyse’s party, with the exception of 4 men who were all killed,
refused to advance to receive the charge of only a few of the fanatics who
came down hill at them, and notwithstanding the gallant example set by
the Ensign himself in killing the first man who charged, the party broke
and fled after some ineffectual filing. END OF QUOTE
The above words are not mentionable descriptions of the Nayar and others
who populated the sepoys of the English Company. However, the foolish English
administration is trying to protect the Hindus (Brahmins) and the Nayars, who actually
do not deserve it. For, they are the first to run off, from the scene, when danger looms
large.
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QUOTE: But the real fact was that the man slain was what would have been
called in Ireland a “landgrabber,” and the persons (Mappillas) for whose lands he was
intriguing set up Unni Mammad to commit the murder. END OF QUOTE.
I am just taking up the above quote due to one interesting insight. It is that the
Irish social scene has been mentioned to be quite similar to that of Malabar in another
book of those times. I have even mentioned that the Celtic language of Ireland would
be feudal. If the feudal elements are there in the native language of Ireland, the social
errors can be erased only by superimposing the society with pristine-English.
Whether this has happened in Ireland is not known to me. If this is how the
social trauma was removed from Ireland, then it might good to check if the same
treatment can be done on the societies of the subcontinent.
QUOTE: No persuasion could induce him to surrender himself. END OF

QUOTE.
Only a total idiot would surrender to a feudal-language speaking population.
The moment he surrenders, he is an ‘Inhi’/ ‘Nee’ to the others, even if he a respect
personage on his own side. There ends all his rights to human dignity.
QUOTE: held a close conclave with the Tangal on rumours being spread that
he was at once to be made a prisoner and disgraced. END OF QUOTE.
There is an issue about which the English administration had no information

on at that time. If the Tangal is arrested by the native police, they will naturally make
use of the opportunity to address him with a Inhi / Nee word. Other words like Eda,
Enthada &c. and even terrific profanities would be showered upon him. The
profanities can be borne, but the lower-indicant words would be not bearable. This is
the essential information that stands withheld from the native-English.
QUOTE: The Tangal (Saiyid Fazl) avowed that he had done nothing “to
deserve the displeasure of the Government ; that he repudiated the deeds of the
fanatics ; and that it was his misfortune that a general blessing, intended to convey
spiritual benefits to those alone who acted in accordance with the Muhammadan faith,
should be misinterpreted by a few parties who acted in contradiction to its precepts.”
END OF QUOTE.
Actually this is the curse that has befallen the Islamic faith. A religion that
should actually be in the possession of the highest quality persons has been literally
dispersed into the hands of populations which carry highly provocative verbal and
cultural codes. They are also involved in a daily battle with similar quality populations.
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QUOTE: Sayyid Fazl usually known as Pukkoya who was banished with his
relatives beyond India on the 19th March 1852. END OF QUOTE
The above quote stand in direct opposition to the words in the quote above it.
This can very easily lend support to the idea that the text in the book has had different
and mutually opposite direction codes attached to it. It is very clearly mentioned in the
earlier section that Sayyid Fazl Thangal left the place on his own will to see that his
name is not misused in the forthcoming communal frenzy between the converted to
Islam lower castes and the Hindus (Brahmins) and the Nayars. He cooperated with the
English administration to the utmost.
QUOTE: It must have been at this time that the parties interested began to
realise the enormous changes wrought by European ideas of property in their relative
positions, and it is a very significant and ominous fact pointing in this direction that on
the 26th November 1830 - at a time when, looking at the high prices obtained for their
produce, the cultivators one would have thought had every reason to be satisfied—
there occurred the first of the Mappila outrages reported on by Special Commissioner
Strange in 1852 END OF QUOTE.
The above words, quite obviously are not the words of William Logan. The
word ‘European’ is a cunning insertion. Even inside Britain, there were different ideas
on property. This was not the issue here. The issue here was the cataclysmic social
liberation that set in without the populations getting any kind of quality enhancement,
which necessarily involves the learning of the egalitarian language English.
And the arguments in the above statement is an utter mixing up of

contradictory ideas. Mappillas outrage commenced when the agrarian situation actually
improved. So, the agrarian disputes are not the reason. The reason is the verbal issues
which has not kept pace with the changes in the social system. And it is not possible
for feudal languages to accommodate such social liberties.
QUOTE: 1. that it was a religious merit to kill landlords who might eject
tenants,”
2. the fact of a jamni or landlord having, IN DUE COURESE OF LAW,
ejected from his lands a mortgagee or other substantial tenant, is a sufficient pretext to
murder him, become sahid (or saint), END OF QUOTE.
It is just a mere claim to seek some spiritual support to one’s own anger. This
is not the cause of the Mappila outrages.
Beyond that very few of the outrages against the Nayar and Hindus
(Brahmins) and also their slave castes were due to them ousting the Mappilla tenents.
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QUOTE: The spirit prevailing against the landlords I have remarked, as found
by me, to be very strong, and greed of land unquestionably inflames it END OF
QUOTE.
This would be true to the extent that the landlords can suppress the tenants
verbally. When the tenants get used to more social interaction and liberty, they would
resent this, even if they are not Mappillas. So, this is not the cause of the Mappilla
outrages.
QUOTE: Finally it is well known that the favourite text of the banished Arab
Priest or Tangal —Saiyid Fazl—in his Friday orations at the mosque in Tirurangadi
was :— It is no sin, but a merit, to kill a janmi who evicts.” END OF QUOTE.
It is possible that the above quote by Mr. Strange could very well be mere
hearsay. People do make up stories and quotes. Even the higher caste officials under
the English administration would add spicy and juicy stories.
Other than that, the above quote is strikingly similar to the contentions of the
Naxalbari (Communist) revolutionaries of the 1960s in the Wynad district of Kerala.
Actually they did commit certain outrages based on this slogan.
QUOTE: a number of influential Mappillas, the latter told Mr. Duncan that
since Hyder's time the rights of the jenmkaars had been taken or absorbed by
Government,” and consequently the Mappilla jenmkaars were at the time paying
nothing to the janmis except what they gave them out of charity, and they specifically
asserted that nothing had been reserved for the janmis in making the Mysorean land
revenue settlement, and they denied that the janmis were “of right” entitled to
anything. END OF QUOTE.
In the above quote, the influential Mappillas are sort of making fun of the
higher caste Janmis and their right to collect a rent from the tenants. However, this
issue might not be of any worth in studying the cause of the Mappilla outrage, which
was primarily caused by the breakdown of the feudal social hierarchies due to the
advent of the English Company administration as well as the action of the Mysorian
raiders. The local feudal languages were not capable of adjusting to the sudden and
cataclysmic enhancement of the lower caste levels when they converted into Islam.
Since the cataclysmic changes had been actually triggered by the Mysorean
invasion, and not really a controlled change induced by the English rule, there were
limits to how much the English administration could understand the social explosions
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that had set in. It was not really an English language based change, but simply the
pulling down of the social hierarchies suddenly by an external entity.
QUOTE: Socially the cultivators are subjected (particularly if they are Hindus)
to many humiliations and much tyrannical usage by their landlords. END OF
QUOTE.
Actually the whole issue of social discontent can be seen summed up in the
above one sentence. All it requires is a bit more elaboration on the meaning of the
words: ‘tyrannical usage’. Here the feudal language codes can come out and very
candidly show the satanic errors in the social landscape.
QUOTE: Mr. Logan finally formed the opinion that the Mappilla outrages
were designed “to counteract the overwhelming influence, when backed by the British
courts, of the janmis in the exercise of the novel powers of ouster and of rent raising
conferred upon them. A janmi who, through the courts, evicted, whether fraudulently
or otherwise, a substantial tenant, was doomed to have merited death, and it was
considered a religious virtue, not a fault, to have killed such a man, and to have
afterwards died in arms fighting against an infidel Government which sanctioned ouch
injustice.” END OF QUOTE.
The above was a very superficial assessment of the situation and totally a
misguide one. The misguiding would have been done by the Hindus (Brahmins) and
the Nayar officials.
QUOTE: “The land is with the Hindus, the money with the Mappillas,"
observed Mr. Strange END OF QUOTE.
Even though Mr. Strange has made a lot of observation about the social
realities of South Malabar and to some slight extent about North Malabar, whether
they are all of any level of profundity has to be examined separately. As to this above-
mentioned observation, there is the question of how the Muslims are able to gather
money when they have no land with them remains. And the observation is in sharp
opposition to the other observation that the cause of the Mappilla outrages is the
economic feebleness of the Mappillas. It does give a feeling that his observations are
based on flimsy bit of evidences, which might not be compatible with each other.
The above observation can be correct in some areas. However, it is all

observations in bits and pieces.
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QUOTE: The Mappillas, who had been peacefully in possession of the lands
since the time of Hyder Ali’s conquest, felt it no doubt as a bitter grievance that the
janmis should have obtained power to evict them END OF QUOTE.
The Mappillas did not come into possession of the lands in any peaceful
manner. But then, it is true that they were in peaceful possession for a very brief
period. The whole social order tumbled down during the ravaging times of the
Mysorian raid and rule. As to the Mappillas being in possession, again this contention
might go against the words of ‘The land is with the Hindus’ mentioned in the previous
Quote.
QUOTE: The policy of repression failed to fulfil its objects, and outrages or
attempts at outrage have, notwithstanding the enormous penalties of the repressive
Act, unfortunately occurred... END OF QUOTE
This statement very obviously cannot be the words of Logan. The words ‘the
policy of repression’ is not the way an administrator would define his own side’s
actions.
QUOTE: This exaltation of the Mappilla caste enables them to make better
terms with their janmis. The janmis do not fear the Hindus as a caste. Therefore Hindu
tenants have to submit to terms which Mappilla tenants would not endure. And finally
the result is that there is a steady movement whereby in all the Mappilla tracts the land
in passing slowly but surely into the possession of the Mappillas and the Hindus are
going to the wall. END OF QUOTE.
All these are quite funny findings. On making an enquiry on why the Mappillas
are aggrieved, the enquiry is seen to be coming up with findings that shows that the
Mappillas are not the aggrieved party, but rather the Hindus (Brahmins) and Nayars are
the aggrieved! And this is made to explain why the Mappillas are going berserk!!
However, actually in the verbal codes, the Hindus (Brahmins) and the Nayars
might have gone berserk many times. However, there is not even a minor hint of these
things in this book of historical records.
QUOTE: The insecurity to the ryots thus occasioned has resulted in fanatical
outrages by Mappillas and in a great increase of crime. The remedies to be applied are
still (1886) under the consideration of the Government of Madras. END OF QUOTE.
The above statements are talking in cross-purposes. The Mappillas have

money, the land is not with the Mappillas, the land is moving towards the Mappillas,
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the ryotes are insecure, the Mappillas are committing outrages!!! What all foolish ideas
are being promoted by the natives of the subcontinent writers who have written into
this book! There is an understated or even overstated input in these writings giving a
sly message that the English administration is a kind of imbecile and that the traditional
overlords of the land know how to administrate the land in a better manner!!
Yes, it is true. If the English administration had not been there, the Mappillas
would have been slaughtered by the local kings and the Nayars. Or maybe the
Mappillas will not lift their head, sensing what would happen to them, if they did.
QUOTE: 1. In 1765-66 Hyder Ali paid a visit to these Nads, and his agents
and his tributary, the Coimbatore Raja (Maha Deo Raj, usually styled Madavan in
Malabar), afterwards till 1767-68 managed the country and levied irregular and violent
contributions both on the personal and on the real property of the inhabitants.
2. In 1773 Chunder Row and Sreenivas Row came with troops and wrested the
country from the Zamorin. By their orders the Nads were rented to Mohidin Muppan
and Haidros Kutti, who collected 100 per cent, of the pattam (rent), but finding that
insufficient to enable them to meet their engagements, they imposed further
contributions and seized personal property. Finding this means also fail, they carried
some of the inhabitants to Seringapatain with whatever accounts of the pattam (rent)
were extent. END OF QUOTE.
This is the way the Mysorean ‘freedom fighters against the British rule’
administered Malabar. It may be noted that the agents of Hyder Ali are not having
Muslim names.
QUOTE: but the Mappillas being now in the habit of turning out the original
tenant as soon as the trees come to maturity and paying off the Kulikkanam money,
END OF QUOTE.
It does seem that the lower castes after becoming Mappillas were taking up a
position of consolidating the land in their own hands as the higher castes had done for
ages. The location does not have the feel of one single nation, but rather a land which
competing populations were trying to takeover. It is a great wonder that the English
administration could make a great nation out of all these mutually competing entities.
QUOTE: The Mappilla proprietors along the coast frequently, however, take
their pattam in kind and dispose of it to the best advantage END OF QUOTE.
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Being part of a much more interacting social group and that too on the coast
must have been a great advantage to them. For, they get to converse with a wider
section of people with more worldly experience. This advantage, the Hindus
(Brahmins) and the Nayars may not have. Even to interact with the lower caste
seafaring folks will not be liked by them. If a deeper look is done, it may be seen that
the Hindus (Brahmins) and the Nayars are placed in a location in the verbal codes
where they are under compulsion to get pre-set ‘respect’. In the case of the lower
castes converts to Islam, they are under no such compulsion. So, in a free-for-all
situation, the Mappillas are at an advantage.
QUOTE: 1. In the town of Quilandi there is an old mosque 130 by 70 feet. It

is very high, having three storeys. The Government have granted lands yielding
annually Rs. 1,800 for the support of this mosque.
2. In Edakkad amsam is a small Mappilla village known as Putiyangadi (new
bazaar), about three miles from Calicut town. Here lives the Mappilla priest, called
Putiyangadi Tangal of pure Arab extraction.
3. The Tangals have been loyal to the British Government and their loyalty has
been rewarded by the grant of a personal inam to the extent of Rs. 2,734 per year (vide
G.O., dated 12th October 1865, No. 2474), and by permission to keep seven pieces of
cannon (vide licence granted by the Government of India, under date the 15th
September 1885, No 43, forwarded with Madras Government G.O., dated 29th
September 1885, No. 2617, Mis.). END OF QUOTE.
QUOTE: It is curious that the only two pitched battles fought in Malabar
between the Mysoreans and the British took place on the same battlefield. END OF
QUOTE.
The location is near a dismantled fort in Tirurangadi. Colonel Humberstone

defeated and slew Mukhdam Ali, one of Hyder Ali’s Generals on 8th April 1782.
General Hartley defeated Tippu’s troops in 1790.
QUOTE: Notwithstanding their form of religion, monogamy is universal, and

the women appear in public freely with their heads uncovered, and in Minicoy take the
lead in almost everything, except navigation. END OF QUOTE.
This is about the Muslims of certain Laccadive Islands. Muslim women here
do seem to have a different custom and culture.
QUOTE: At Seuheli there is a mosque of rude construction and the tomb of a

pious Tangal held in much veneration by the islanders. Many miracles are ascribed to
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him, and it is especially common to invoke his aid in storms or when distressed by
adverse winds. The islanders say that when in a storm they make a vow to visit the
shrine of this saint the sea at once goes down and the winds become favourable. END
OF QUOTE.
No comment.
QUOTE: The people are, as a rule, quiet in their disposition, but the
complexities of the Muhammadan rules of inheritance and marriage and the existence,
side by side, of the Makkatayam and Marumakkatayam rules give rise to frequent
litigation END OF QUOTE.
This is about the Muslims of certain Laccadive Islands .There seems to be

three mutually incompatible family and inheritance systems. The Muhammadan, the
Makkathayam (patriarchal) and the Marumakkathayam (matriarchal).
QUOTE: The customs of the islanders are in many respects remarkable and
bear no trace of having been introduced from Cannanore. One which is without
parallel amongst any society of Mussalmans is that the men are monogamous. END
OF QUOTE.
This is about the Minicoy Island of the Laccadive Islands. Even though the
miniscule kingdom of Cannanore (Ali rajas) has claimed the sovereignty of these
islands, the above statements seems to place a doubt over the foundation of such
claims.
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Mappilla outrages against the

Nayars and the Hindus
(Brahmins and Ambalavasis)
Even though the Mappilla outrages which commenced from around 1836 has
been variously mentioned by stupid and shallow academic historians of India and
elsewhere as a revolt against the ‘British rule’, it was not anything of that kind. It was
purely an attack by the newly converted-into-Islam lower-castes, on the Hindus
(Brahmins and Ambalavasis) and the Nayars, and their loyal lower-caste slave-servants.
I can understand the terrible frustration that the English officials felt as they
started getting to hear of the terrible attacks on unwary and seemingly innocent Hindus
and Nayars. They made various kinds of enquiries on what was creating this terrible
homicidal mood for massacre. The fact is that all their conclusions and assertions were
wrong and quite distant from the real cause.
The lower castes, on converting into Hindus, suddenly find that they have no
one above them. Till that time, they were part of an insidious hierarchy, in which they
bore the verbal hammering, of such words as Inhi ഇ ്/Ijj ഇ ്/Nee നീ, Oan
ഓൻ/Avan അവൻ, Olu ഓ /Avalu അവ , Eda എടാ, Edi എടി, Vaada വാടാ, Vaadi
വാടീ, Vaane വാേന, Vaale വാേള, Avattakal അവ കൾ/Ittingal ഐ ി ൾ / Athungal
അ ൾ etc. [All lowest indicant code words for You, He/him, She/her, They/
Them &c.]
Getting out of this terrible suppression is like eating the biblical fruit of
knowledge (forbidden fruit). Suddenly the individual will get an awareness that till then
he, his wife and children had been kept artificially on a very degraded platform. Once
a person comes out this social shackle, each time he perceives that he has been
degraded by a population group, including the children, he would go into a very
brooding mood of fury and vengeance. {The stupid sciences of psychology and
psychiatry might not know anything about all this}
There is actually no solution for this, other than acclimatising them to the
same levels of degradation from another perspective by means of formal education. In
fact, modern Indian formal education is actually aimed at encoding tolerance to a
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similar kind of degradation into human beings. The teacher degrade the students and
the students are trained to bask in this degradation.
This is one of the reasons why feudal-language speaking

teachers should never be allowed to teach native-English
children. A non-tangible core human-value erasement will set
in, if this is allowed, in native-English children.
The Hindus and the Nayars were also getting to feel the same verbal attacks
on them from the lower-caste convert Mappilla side. The words ‘lower-caste converts’
has to be stressed. In this book, Malabar, William Logan has mentioned the Muslims of
pure Arabian stock to be quite a refined population with cultural and social interaction
standards quite near to that of the native-English.
He has also given a very good opinion of the big-time Mappilla merchants on
the coastal areas.
The Hindus and the Nayars would find it quite irksome to bear the verbal
assault of the lower-caste convert Mappillas. The verbal assaults would not be any
profanity or expletives. It would simply be the use of lower indicant words, such as
Nee/Inhi &c. That is enough for the Hindus and the Nayars to go into a terrible mood
of fury.
The English officialdom was quite naive and gullible. The terrific verbal
assaults were something innate to the social system.
Until the entry of the English administration there was not much of a problem
on this count. For, it was not easy to convert to Islam. But with the establishment of
the English supremacy, it was found that every man had his rights to do what he
wanted with regard to his affiliation and spiritual loyalties.
At the same time, it is also noticeable that there was indeed a historical
undercurrent of distaste to the Mappillas on account of them being outside the
hierarchical system on which the Hindus (Brahmins) were on top. The lower castes
would find them acting too superior to them, and the higher castes and the Hindus
would find them too over-bearing.
Pazhassiraja killing or impaling the Mappillas in his own locality is based on

this undercurrent of hatred. The fact is that people who are not part of the
subordinated groups would fail to exhibit the necessary ‘respect’ and subservience in
words, posture, body-language etc., which the subordinated individual would concede.
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Mappilla outrage list
I am listing out the various Mappillas outrages that started around 1836, as
found in the book, Malabar. It will be clearly noticed that the English administration is
actually not a part of this fight. However, the Hindus and the Nayars could very easily
make them a party in a belligerence they could not understand.
However, the entry of the English administration could worsen the fury of the
Mappillas. For, in almost all the police actions on the Mappillas, it is found that it was
the peons or Kolkars who went for the killing or maiming of the Mappillas. These
peons or Kolkars were mostly Nayars. There is actually no mention of any Thiyya
peon or Kolkar in this book, Malabar,
even though, that is also possible.
The Mappillas were not willing

to surrender to these peons and other
native officials. For, these native-officials
would not treat them with any kind of
courtesy expected by a surrendered
fighter in English. They would be
verbally abused by lower indicant words
such as Inhi/Nee, Eda, enthada, vaada
&c. even if the Mappilla persons are of
good personal stature.
These words, the natives of the land know, are capable of despoiling a human
soul like no other thing can.
Now, before embarking on the listing, I need to mention this much also.
The native English-speakers in England are slowly heading on to the same

mental trauma which the Mappilla persons endured.
It is like this. One Malabari Muslim man with some Arabian blood-mix told
me thus: When I was a young boy, I used to address a fifty year old aashari (carpenter)
by his mere name, ‘Govindan’. No one told me that this was a very bad thing. Later
when I grew up, I understood that I was being very cruel. After that I have made it a
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point to address all the non-Muslim elder persons with a Chettan (respected elder
brother) suffixed to their names.
Actually what he had been practising was the original Arabian language
culture, in which even one’s own father is addressed by mere name.
However, he was a Malabari and not an Arab. That was the problem.
I was once told by a Malayalam speaker, who came from England, that the
English people are utter rascals. They do not show respect to ‘our elder persons’.
Actually, English systems are the best in terms of communication. However, if and
when England gets filled with feudal-language speakers, they communication standards
would not be acceptable. They would be found to be ‘rascals’, and the immigrant folks
will be hell-bent on make them their slaves, in retribution.
The native-English would be very powerfully placed in a lower slot of the

feudal language. They would be very slowly made to understand that there are higher
social levels above them. It would be a real shocking information for them. However,
they would be by-then like the oppressed lower castes of the South Asian
subcontinent. With no energy to retaliate or escape. The feudal language words have
clasping power which might be compared to the sticking cobwebs of the spiders.
It would be then that they would start creating the same outrages that the
Mappillas did in Malabar. However, the Mappillas did this on escaping from their
shackles. As to the native-English, they would start the outrages when they get to feel
the sticky shackles slowly winding round their feet and body.
The Mappilla outrage list
1. On the 26th November 1836 Kallingal Kunyolan of Manjeri amsam,

Pandalur desam in Ernad taluk, stabbed one Chakku Panikkar of the Kanisan
(astrologer) caste, who subsequently died of his wounds. He also wounded two other
individuals, and a fourth who had been employed to watch him, and fled to Nenmini
amsam in Walluvanad taluk, whither he was pursued by the tahsildar, taluk peons and
villagers. He was shot by the police on the 28th idem
2. On the 15th April 1837 one Ali Kutti of Chengara amsam, Kalpetta desam,
Ernad taluk, inflicted numerous and severe wounds on one Chirukaranimana Narayana
Mussat (a Brahman janmi), and took post in his own shop, where he was attacked by
the tahsildar and the taluk peons, and shot by the taluk police on the following day.
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3. On the 5th April 1839 Thorayampolakal Attan and another, of Pallipuram

amsam, Walluvanad taluk, killed one Kelil Raman and then set fire to and burnt a
Hindu temple, took post in another temple and there they were attacked by the
tahsildar and his peons and were shot by a taluk peon.
4. On the 6th April 1830 Mambadtedi Kuttiathan stabbed and severely

wounded one Kotakat Paru Taragan and then came among the police party, consisting
of two tahsildars and others, who were occupied in framing a report connected with
the preceding case, and stabbed and wounded a peon. He was captured, brought to
trial, and sentenced to transportation for life.
5. On the 19th April 1840, in Irumbuli amsam, Ernad taluk, Paratodiyil Ali
Kutti severely wounded one Odayath Kunhunni Nayar and another, set fire to
Kidangali temple and took post in his house, where he was attacked by the tahsildar
and his peons. He rushed out and was shot by a taluk police peon on the following
day.
6. On the 5th April 1841 Tumba Mannil Kunyunniyan and eight others killed
one Perumbali Nambutiri (a Brahman janmi) and another at Pallipuram in Walluvanad
taluk, burnt the house of the latter victim as well as four other houses (belonging to the
dependents of the Brahmans), the owner of one of which died of injuries then
received. The Mappillas then established themselves in the Brahman’s house and
defied the Government authorities. They were attacked and killed on the 9th idem by a
party of the 36th Regiment Native Infantry and the police peons and villagers.
The chief criminal in this outbreak was one Kunyolan, and the cause assigned
was the duplicity on the part of the Nambutiri Brahmans in the matter of a garden for
which Kunyolan advanced Rs. 16, and of which he wished to remain in possession.
Another Mappilla brought a suit in the Munsiff's Court to evict Kunyolan on the
strength of a deed of melkanam obtained from the Brahmans.
7. On the 13th November 1841 Kaidotti Padil Moidin Kutti and seven others
killed one Tottassori Tachu Panikkar and a peon, took post in a mosque, set the police
at defiance for three days, and were joined by three more fanatics on the morning of
the 17th idem.
8. On the 27th December 1841 Melemanna Kunyattan, with seven others,

killed one Talappil Chakku Nayar and another, and took post in the adhikari’s house
on the 28th idem. They rushed upon the police peons and villagers who had
surrounded the house under the Ernad tahsildar’s directions, and were before the
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arrival of the detachment sent out from Calicut, all killed and their bodies were brought
to Calicut and interred under the gallows.
9. On the 19th October 1843 Kunnancheri Ali Attan and five others killed one
Kaprat Krishna Panikkar, the adhikari of Tirurangadi, and proceeded, at the suggestion
of a seventh Mappilla who joined them afterwards, to the house of a Nayar in Cherur,
and posting themselves in it, avowed not only the murder they committed, but their
determination of fighting to death.
10. On the 19th December 1843 a peon was found with his head and hand all
but cut off, and the perpetrators were supposed to be Mappilla fanatics of the sect
known as Hal Illakkam.
11. On the 4th December 1843 a Nayar labourer was found dead with ten deep
wounds on his body, and his murder was believed to be the work of the Hal Ilakkam
sect just described.
12. On the 11th December 1843 Anavattatt Seliman and nine others killed one
Karukamanna Govinda Mussat, the adhikari of Pandikad in the Walluvanad taluk, and
a servant of his while bathing. They afterwards defiled two temples, broke the images
therein, and took post in a house.
13. On the 26th May 1849 Chakalakkal Kammad wounded one Kanancheri
Chiru and another and took post in a mosque. When the Chernad tahsildar (a Pathan)
proceeded towards the mosque in the hope of inducing the murderer to surrender
himself, he rushed forward with a knife, and a peon put an end to the fanatic on the
same day.
14. On the 25th August 1849 Torangal Unniyan killed one Paditodi Teyyunni
and with four others joined one Attan1 Gurikkal. They with others on the following
day killed the servant of one Marat Nambutiri and two others and took post in the
Hindu temple overlooking Manjeri, the headquarters of the Ernad taluk. They defiled
the temple and in part burnt it.
15. On the 2nd October 1850 information was received that the sons of one
Periambath Attan the Mappilla adhikari of Puliakod amsam in Ernad taluk had, with
others, concerted to kill one Mungamdambalatt Narayana Mussat and to devote
themselves to death in arms. Security was required of nine individuals on this account.
16. On the 5th January 1851 Choondyamoochikal Attan attacked and wounded
severely a Government native clerk named Raman Menon, who had been employed in
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inspecting gingelly-oil seed (ellu) cultivation in Payanad in Ernad taluk in conjunction

with the village accountant in view to settling the Government share, and he then shut
himself up in the inspector’s house, setting the police at defiance. No persuasion could
induce him to surrender himself. He declared he was determined to die a martyr. The
tahsildar (a Mappilla) tried to induce him to deliver himself up, hut he utterly refused to
do so.
17. On the 15th April 1851 Illikot Kunyunni and five others were reported as
designing to break out and kill one Kotuparambat Komu Menon and another.
Evidence of the fact was deficient and the accused were released, but it subsequently
turned out that the information was only too true.
18. On the 22nd August 1851 six Mappillas killed one Kotuparambat Komu
Menon (above referred to) and his servant on the high road between Manjeri and
Angadipuram as they were returning home from the Mankada Kovilakam of the
Walluvanad Raja. They were joined by three others, with whom they proceeded
towards Komu Menon’s house. But finding a brother of Komu Menon’s ready to meet
them with a gun and a war knife, they left the place and went to the house of Ittunni
Rama Menon, another brother, who was then bathing in a tank close by. They killed
Kadakottil Nambutiri, who was seated in the porch of the house, the family of Rama
Menon escaping in the tumult.
19. The murderers next overtook Rama Menon, who had endeavoured to
escape, and cut him down. Setting fire to the house, they marched towards the house
of one Mudangara Rarichan Nayar, whom they wounded severely and who
subsequently died of his wounds. They then set fire to the house of one Chengara
Variyar.
They proceeded to the house of the Kulattur variyar, an influential janmi who
had opposed the erection of a mosque. They were in the meantime joined by five
others. On their arrival, the attendants and family escaped ; all the women and children
were told by the fanatics to go away. They next killed two servants of the Variyars.
Two of the junior Variyars escaped. But the old Variyar, a man of 79, probably shut
himself up in a room of his house where the fanatics eventually discovered him.
The Hindus sent for the Mappilla chief men of the place and others. About
fifty persons appeared, two of whom joined the insurgents, calling out “the chief pig is
inside.” The old Variyar was then brought out into the paddy field adjoining his house,
to a distance of sixty yards from the gatehouse, and one Pupatta Kuttiuttan and
another there, in the sight of all the people assembled, hacked him to pieces, severing
his head from his body.
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20. On the 5th October 1851 information was received that Tottangal
Mammad and three other Mappillas of Nenmini amsam, Walluvanad taluk, were found
in possession of certain arms and were designing to commit an outrage.
21. On the 9th November 1851 information was received that Choriyot Mayan
and eight others were designing to break out and kill one Kalattil Kesuvan Tangal, a
wealthy and influential Hindu janmi of Mattanur in Kottayam taluk. Evidence was
lacking, and the tahsildar omitted to report the matter.
On the night of 4th January 1852 the party named above and six others,
making in all fifteen, supported by a large mob estimated at 200, proceeded to the
house of the abovesaid Kalattil Tangal in Mattanur, Kottayam taluk. They butchered all
the unhappy inmates (eighteen in all) and thus extirpated the family, wounded two
other persons, and burnt the house on the following morning.
They then, unattended by the said mob, burnt four houses and a Hindu
temple, killed four more individuals, defiled and damaged another Hindu temple,
entered the palace of a Raja, took post there temporarily, defiled and destroyed two
other Hindu temples, and finally fell on the 8th idem in a desperate and long-sustained
attack on the house of the Kalliad Nambiar, another wealthy and influential janmi in
Kalliad amsam of Chirakkal taluk.
A detachment under Major Hodgson off the 16th Regiment, consisting of two
companies of that corps and 100 Europeans of the 94th Regiment, were sent out from
Cannanore, but before they arrived on the scene, the Mappilla fanatics had been all
killed by the country people, retainers of the Nambiar.
22. On the 5th January 1852 information was received that certain Mappillas
intended to break out and kill one Padinyaredattil Ambu Nambiar, and security was
taken from five of them.
23. On the night of the 28th February 1852 one Triyakalattil Chekku and
fifteen other Mappillas of Melmuri and Kilmuri amsams in the Ernad taluk "set out to
die and to create a fanatical outbreak.”
24. Ominous rumours of an intended Mappilla outbreak in the Kottayam taluk

in April 1852 drove many of the Hindu inhabitants into the jungles.
25. On the night of the 28th April 1852 the house of Kannambat Tangal in
Kottayam taluk was fired into and the out-buildings of the Kallur temple were set on
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fire. The tahsildar (a Hindu) was of opinion that it was done by Hindus wishing to
profit by the absence of the Tangal, the great janmi of the locality.
26. In April-May 1852 two Cheramars (the property of Kudilil Kannu Kutti
Nayar, peon of Chernad taluk), after embracing Muhammadanism, reverted to their
original faith after the departure of Saiyid Fazl, through whose influence they had
become converts. Some Mappillas did not relish this, and consequently determined to
murder Kannu Kutti Nayar and the two Cheramars, and thus become Sahids (martyrs).
27. On the 9th August 1852 information was received that three Mappillas of
Kurumbranad taluk had taken up a position in the house of the accountant of Puttur
amsam in the same taluk, and had resolved to die as Sahids (martyrs). They wounded a
Brahman and were on the 12th idem killed by the police, of whom two received
wounds.
28. Two Mappilla fanatics, Kunnumal Moidin and Cherukavil Moidin,

murdered a Brahman named Chengalary Vasudevau Nambutiri on the 10th September
1853.
29. In December 1854 Mr. Conolly proceeded on a tour to collect the war-
knives through the heart of the Mappilla country, and brought in 2,725, and by the 31st
of the following month of January 1855 (the latest date on which the possession of a
war-knife was legal) the number of war-knives surrendered to the authorities amounted
to the large number of 7,561.
The above are the Mappilla outrages in south Malabar in the year starting 1836
till the time this book, Malabar, was written. None of them were really directed against
the English administration per se. The English officials came into the scene only as the
officials responsible for the law and order. However, in current-day Indian academic
history, the whole theme is twisted out to make it a freedom fight by the Mappillas.
This contention more or less is utter nonsense, as is most of the other contentions of
Indian academic history studies.
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What is repulsive about the

Muslims?
This is an item that is not connected to this book, Malabar. However, the
records of the Mappilla outrages against the Hindus (Brahmins) and the Nayars is a
very tricky part of this book. And I have tried to give an explanation for this series of
incidences from the perspective of feudal language codes.
I think it might be correct give a more longer and wider attention to this issue
from the same perspective.
Islam per se, is not a bad religion, if the location where it was born is taken into
consideration. It was born in Asia, or better still in the Middle-East, among the Arabs.
The Arabs of those times were a very crude and rough people who did have a lot of
erroneous behaviours. However, that statement must be better qualified by mentioning
that in the ancient times all over the world, most human populations were quite
barbarian. And in the current-day world also, in many locations the same kind of
heinous barbarity still persists.
The person on whose life this religion has been founded is also not a bad man.
In fact, he might be of quite resplendent character, if the geopolitical location where he
lived is taken into consideration.
This religion was born among a most terrible population. It has tried its best
to bring in quality to the Asian and African populations. However, in each population
where it has spread, it has been contaminated by the innate erroneous features of that
population.
Islam has a particular philosophical quality that is quite near to pristine-

English. In that it tries to view all human beings as of equal dignity or stature. This
feature has been mentioned in this book, Malabar. I do remember having noticed
something similar in the Native Life in Travancore.
See this QUOTE: The condition of the predial or rustic slaves of Malabar
cannot bear a favourable comparison with that of household or domestic slaves among
the Mahommedans. The latter are received with them into a fraternity; and are no
longer kept at a suspicious distance. In Arabia their treatment is said to be like that of
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children, and they go by the appellation of sons with their masters. They often rise to
the most confidential station in the family; and the external appearance of the master
and slave is hardly distinguishable, they are so much upon a par. END OF QUOTE.
However, this above-statement does not give the whole picture. The above-
picture is connected to the socially higher strata Muslim families in Arabia and in the
South Asian subcontinent. For instance, the Sultans of the Slave dynasty (Mamluk
dynasty) of Delhi kingdom, were actually individuals who had been bought as slaves in
the slave-markets of the middle-east of those days.
However, all the Muslims are not from this background. That is the crucial
issue. Islam went forth and did what it was supposed to do. It went on converting the
lowest of the lowest populations in the subcontinent into Islam.
It is seen mentioned in Native Life in Travancore that there are a few numbers
of different Muslims in Travancore.
Pathans (Pattanis) or Afghans, Syeds, Lubbays, Mettan, Tulukkans, Moghuls,

Arabs and Sheik. Out of which the first four are significant. Besides these there might
be others also like the Rawuthors etc. Beyond that there are such categorisations as
Ossaan (barber) &c. The above information about the Muslim groups that I have given
need not be error-free and might need more scrutiny.
In Malabar, as elsewhere in the subcontinent, a lot of lower castes used the

minute incidents of the Mysorean invasion to escape from their centuries of
enslavement under the Hindus (Brahmins) and the Nayars. When the English rule
became powerful, many Cherumars and other lower castes took this same route to
freedom.
In this book, Malabar, the Cherumar caste is seen mentioned much in this
regard.
See this QUOTE taken from the Presidency Census (1881) Report, paragraph
151
QUOTE: There are, therefore, 40,000 fewer Cherumars than there would have
been but for some disturbing cause, and the disturbing cause is very well known to the
District Officer to be conversion to Muhammadanism. END OF QUOTE
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This is the location where Islam is seen to be very

evidently repulsive in the subcontinent. A huge percentage
of them are literally the much-despised by the Hindus
(Brahmins) and the Nayars, lowest of the castes.
It is seen mentioned that the Makkathaya Thiyyas

also did convert into Islam.
However, the moment they become Islam,

everything changes for them. It is an experience very much
near to arriving in a native-English nation. They have no one above them.
Now, there is another continuing terror with regard to people who are kept in
the lower pane in feudal languages. They very categorically know the flipping power of
the lower indicant word codes. If a higher caste man or woman is in their hands, they
will very fast use the lowest indicant codes of Inhi / Nee, Oan /Avan, Oalu / Aval etc.
The power of these words are not known to native-English people. The person who
has been thus defined literally falls into a deep social pit much below the persons who
spoke it. In this case, they go below the lowest of the population groups.
This is the most terrific problem connected to feudal languages. It is not just
that the higher persons would crush down the lower positioned persons. It is also that
the lower positioned persons become quite dangerous persons. For, their verbal power
can literally throw a person down into a gorge. The fact is that the effect can be felt
emotionally and on the physical body. [Interested readers are requested to read: 1.
Shrouded Satanism in feudal languages. 2. Codes of reality; what is language? ]
The lower populations who have converted into Islam do know the power of
their verbal codes. They use it whenever they can. In fact, once they have converted
into Islam, they have no qualms about using the Inhi / Nee, Oan /Avan, Olu / Aval
word on Hindus (Brahmins), the Nayars, the Thiyyas etc. For, they feel like they are
Englishmen. However, they are not Englishmen, and they are not speaking English. In
fact, they are not even speaking in Arabic. They are speaking in the utter satanic
languages of the subcontinent, such as Hindi, Malabari, Malayalam etc.
This same issue is felt in the northern parts of the subcontinent. That is, the
lower Islamic populations have a propensity to use the Thoo word (lowest You) in an
indiscriminate manner. At the same time, the higher Islamic populations also might
have this attitude, which basically springs from a higher caste feeling.
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Among the Muslims, there would be non-tangible codes of communication

that indicates who has to be honoured etc. For, even though the religion proposes
egalitarianism, there is no scope for it to be practised in a feudal language location. It
then becomes a lower class population group which is not willing to concede the
requisite feudal ‘respect’ and such other venerations that are expected by the non-
Muslim populations.
In the earlier days, a rich Muslim boy would not see any reason to use ‘respect’
to a Thiyya labourer who comes to work in his household. He would address him by
‘mere’ name, and also use the Inhi / Nee, Oan / Avan, Oalu / Aval words.
Actually this very verbal codes had been traditionally used by the Hindus
(Brahmins) and the Nayars to the lower castes including the Thiyya labour classes. In
those days, the lower castes would have not much objection to this, since it is their
acknowledged social seniors who are doing this. However, in the case of Muslim boy
who is very clearly from a lower caste ancestry, it becomes a totally unacceptable
action.
However, no correction can be really done to this error. For, if the Muslim
boy is forced to concede ‘respect’, immediately the labourer would use the verbal codes
to crush down the boy.
One may see these kinds of issues in the manner in which the Pazhassiraja
used to kill or impale the Mappillas. What triggered his homicidal mania would be
similar to the mental trigger that works in an Indian police constable, when he sees
someone who is defined as low-class not conceding the requisite ‘respect’ in words,
body-posture, body-language, eye-language, dress-code etc.
QUOTE: Genuine Arabs, of whom many families of pure blood are settled on
the coast, .............. have a great regard for the truth, and in their finer feelings they
approach nearer to the standard of English gentlemen than any other class of persons
in Malabar. END OF QUOTE
Now, the above-statement is an appraisal of Muslims of another individual

quality.
Of the around seven or more Muslims population groups I had mentioned,

the Mappilla outrages in the Valluvanad region was basically connected to the
converted-from-the-lower-castes Mappillas. In which case, the so-called Mappilla lahala
that continued to rage in South Malabar right up-to the early decades of the 20th
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century was actually between the Brahmins and Nayars on one side, and their erstwhile
subordinated lower castes on the other. However, the latter had converted into Islam.
Their stance cannot be fully found fault with. For, they have escaped from
centuries of enslavement. Suddenly they see their traditional master classes as mere
human beings. They have no mood for any kinds of formalities. They actually do not
see any use in it. Beyond that their religion proposes human equality and brotherhood.
However, this human equality and brotherhood has to be confined to their

own Islamic brotherhood.
They are not allowed to use it even to certain other Islamic groups. For,
instance, the children of Tangals. I think Tangals are very near to Syeds in ancestry.
The ordinary Muslims of Malabar are prohibited from using the lower indicant words
‘Inhi / Nee, Oan/ Avan &c. to and about the Tangal children, even if they are quite
young in age. So, it is seen that even among the Muslims, the traditional Muslims from
Arabia had taken steps to protect themselves from the verbal code degradation that the
converted-to-Islam populations could render.
The subject theme is somewhat more wider. However, I will not go into all
that here. Before concluding this item here, I will simply mention that Prophet
Muhammed did prohibit the action of getting up in ‘respect’ even if he is the person
who is entering into the presence of others. The action of ‘getting up’ in ‘respect’ is
very tightly connected to feudal language codes. I am not sure how it got connected to
pristine-Arabic. Maybe spoken-Arabic might not be pristine enough.
These kinds of Islamic tenets are not practicable inside any feudal language
social system. To this extent, Islam in their societies is a corrupted form of Islam.
At this point, I need to mention that pristine-Islam might actually be pointing

towards pristine-English, despite its various tenets seeming quite barbarian. That might
be so, because Islam is basically a religion that was created to reform barbarian social
systems.
From this perspective it might be mentionable that Islam need not try to
impose itself on native-English social systems, other than to inspire native-English
societies to go back to their own pristine-English form. That means, the ousting of all
feudal language speakers from native-English nations.
Now, coming back to the Mappillas of Malabar, as of now, it is first of all a

mix of North Malabar as well as South Malabar Mappillas. However, I do feel that
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some of the families of the traditional higher class or the Arabian bloodline Mappillas
do keep a distinct bloodline that might not get mixed with the others.
As to the Arab blood mix in Malabar, it is seen mentioned that the Arabian
seafarers who came for trade did maintain a family on the Malabar coast, with a wife
and children here.
Apart from the lower-castes who converted into Islam willingly, some Hindus
(Brahmins) and Ambalavasis and also a lot of Nayars did convert into Islam.
See this QUOTE: Parappanad, also "Tichera Terupar, a principal Nayar of

Nelemboor” and many other persons, who had been carried off to Coimbatore, were
circumcised and forced to eat beef. END OF QUOTE.
QUOTE: The unhappy captives gave a forced assent, and on the next day the
rite of circumcision was performed on all the males, every individual of both sexes
being compelled to close the ceremony by eating beef.” END OF QUOTE.
As of now, the current-day ordinary Mappillas of Malabar, both south and

north might be a wholesome mix of all these above-mentioned groups. In recent years,
they have lost their traditional Malabari language, with many of them deceived into
believing that Malayalam is their traditional language. Only a few among them will
currently understand their traditional language and the words and usages in it.
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Hyder Ali
QUOTE: The Palghat Raja turned in this emergency to his neighbour on the
east, and despatched in 1757 a deputation to Hyder Ali, then Foujdar of Dindigul
under the nominal sovereignty of the puppet Chick Kishen Raja of Mysore desiring his
assistance against the Zamorin.
Hyder Ali sent his brother-in-law Mukhdum Sahib with 2,000 horse, 5,000
infantry, and guns to assist him : and this force aided by the Palghat Nayars carried
their arms as far as the sea coast. The Zamorin’s force retreated and the Zamorin
bought off his opponents by agreeing to restore his Palghat conquests and by
promising to pay in instalments a war indemnity of Rs. 12,00,000.END OF QUOTE.
This might be how the Mysoreans got the taste of Malabar. However, in the
behind scenes a lot of treacherous and backstabbing incidences did take place on the
Mysore side. This is about how Hyder Ali, a Moroccan, usurped the title of the king.
Check the details in book, Malabar. QUOTE: This was the first occasion on which a
Muhammadan force ever entered Malabar. END OF QUOTE
QUOTE: Reinforced by a number of the disciplined soldiers of Hyder Ali, the

High Admiral, it is said, sailed for and conquered the Maldive Islands. After taking the
King of the Islands prisoner, he had the barbarity to put his eyes out. END OF
QUOTE.
The subcontinent was generally a semi-barbarian locations. Worse things have

taken place here.
QUOTE: But Hyder Ali was so irritated at the cruelty practised on the
unfortunate king by his admiral that he instantly deprived him of the command of the
fleet, which he afterwards, it is said, bestowed on an Englishman named Stanet. END
OF QUOTE.
It is quite interesting that an Englishman did have command on his naval fleet.
It may be that he did summarise that the English have a natural affinity for the seas.
However, this man’s name is not mentioned elsewhere in this book.
QUOTE: A general insinuation was given to the army to grant no quarter.

END OF QUOTE.
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Show no mercy! That was the military command given by the Mysorean
leader. It does not seem to be Islamic at all. Hyder Ali’s as well as his son Tipp’s
dispositions were totally connected to the terrific triggers of feudal languages.
QUOTE: Hyder Ali’s own army consisted it is said, of 12000 of his best
troops, of which 4,000 were cavalry and the rest infantry, and his artillery consisted of
only 4 pieces, but the fleet accompanied him along the coast and afforded assistance as
required. END OF QUOTE.
This was the terror that entered Malabar.
QUOTE: The Kolattiri family made no resistance, for simultaneously with

Hyder Ali’s advance Ali Raja and his men seized their palace at Chirakkal, and the old
Tekkalankur prince with his attendants came to
take refuge at the Brass Pagoda within Tellicherry
limits.
They were followed by numerous refugees,
fleeing probably more before the terror of the
Mappilla scouts than before Hyder Ali’s army.
END OF QUOTE.
The Ali Raja of that period acted like the

backstabbing double-crosser in Malabar.
As to the general populace, which might
mean the Hindus (Brahmins) and the Nayars, they
had no protection left. Everyone were fleeing
instead of fighting.
QUOTE: The factors at the same time had information that Ali Raja was all
this time urging Hyder Ali to attack the factory, but to this he would not listen. END
OF QUOTE.
The Ali Raja actually should have shown some gratitude to the English
Company. Instead, they were out to see that they are butchered. As to why Hyder Ali
did not want to attack the English Factory at Tellicherry might require some deep
analysis.
QUOTE: they were led on by fifty of the French Hussars lately arrived from
Pondicherry. END OF QUOTE.
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Off course, the French were the full supporters of the ‘great’ ‘Indian freedom
fighter Hyder Ali’ in his fight to ‘free India’ from British Colonialism!
QUOTE: He agreed not to molest the Raja of Cochin on certain conditions,

but he would guarantee nothing in regard to Travancore. As there was delay in replying
to his proposals he then modified his terms as regards these Rajas and demanded 4
lakhs of rupees and 8 elephants from Cochin, and 15 lakhs and 20 elephants from
Travancore, in default of receiving which, he said, he meant to visit those countries. In
reply to this demand, the Cochin Raja placed himself unreservedly in the Dutch
Company’s hands, but the Travancore Raja, strong in the assurance of English support,
replied that Hyder Ali had not commenced the war to please him or with his advice, that
therefore he objected, to contribute anything, that moreover he was already tributary to the
Nawab Muhammad Ali and could not afford to subsidise two suzerains at the same
time, but that he would contribute a considerable sum if Hyder Ali would reinstate the
Kolattiri and the Zamorin, and ended by suggesting to the Dutch to do the same. END
OF QUOTE.
King Marthanda Varma had assessed the English Company correctly. That
they would stand by their word. However, that was because the idiots in the British
Labour Party had no control over the English Company.
QUOTE: 1. When the river was at the lowest he (Hyder Ali) entered it full
gallop at the head of his cavalry which he had till then kept out of sight of the Nayars
2. They (the Nayars) were frightened at the sudden appearance of the cavalry
and fled with the utmost precipitation and disorder without making any other defence
but that of discharging a few cannon which they were too much intimidated to point
properly. END OF QUOTE.
No comment.
QUOTE: “Hyder foreseeing this event, had given orders to pursue the
fugitives full speed, cutting down all they could overtake, without losing time either by
taking prisoners or securing plunder. END OF QUOTE.
That was about the Nayars mentioned above. Then the Nayars, mentioned in
the local fake histories as great exponents of Kalari (a kind of fabulous martial arts of
unknown origin, practised traditionally in certain Kalari training centres of north
Malabar) etc. had no answer for the barbarity that was let loose by the Mysoreans.
QUOTE: and the 300 Europeans lately arrived from Pondicherry and
Colombo, were offered parasols as they did not choose to quit their habits END OF
QUOTE.
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Continental Europeans arriving to support Hyder Ali endeavours and to seek

revenge on England!
QUOTE: corps was commanded by a Portuguese Lieutenant-Colonel lately

arrived from Goa, with different officers of his nation. The left wing, composed of
topasses, was commanded by an English officer, and Hyder himself commanded the
main body, having behind him a reserve of Europeans, almost all French, with whom
were joined those who are called the Bara Audmees or great men, a corps composed of
all the young nobility and courtiers, without excepting even the generals who have not
appointed posts or commands on the day of battle. END OF QUOTE.
Horror of horror! There was even an Englishman on Hyder’s side. Could it be

the Stanet, mentioned earlier? Now, does that not involve England in this raid? For, if
a single Englishman’s name is mentioned with regard to any wrong deed anywhere in
the world, the great birdbrains would use it to put the full responsibility on pristine-
England. Here England is also seen as part of the great ‘Indian’ ‘freedom fighters’
against Britain!!!
QUOTE: Hyder answered that he might do as he thought proper ; and he

immediately joined his troop, which was impatient for the combat and burned with a
desire to revenge the French who were inhumanly massacred at Pondiaghari.
Headed by this active and courageous officer, and joined by the Bara Audmees,
they ran with violent eagerness to the attack. The intervals between the battalions of
sepoys afforded them a passage : they jumped into the ditch, and hastily ascending the
retrenchments tore up the pallisades, and were in the face of the enemy in an instant.
They gave no quarter ; and the enemy, astonished to the last degree at their impetuosity
and rage, suffered themselves to be butchered even without resistance.
The flames of the village on fire, and the direction of the cannon now pointed
on the distracted Nayars, evinced to Hyder that the village was carried. The whole
army in consequence moved to attack the retrenchment ; but the enemy perceiving that
Hyder’s troops had stormed their outpost, and catching the affright of the fugitives,
fled from their camp with disorder and precipitation. END OF QUOTE.
These are things that cannot be taught in Indian or Kerala history. For, on one
side a great ‘freedom fighter’ against the British would be seen as a barbarian. On the
other side the great valorous traditions of Malabar, which includes a lot of claims about
the great Kalari exponents of north Malabar, would stand demolished.
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However, a deeper analysis would reveal that what always brings in disarray
and mismanagement is the machinery of feudal languages. In fact, even the Mysorean
side was to get the negative effects of this, when they confronted the English armies.
QUOTE: This refers to the massacre at this same place a few months
previously of five French deserters from Mahe proceeding to join Hyder Ali's army.
This event occurred during the general revolt which followed Hyder Ali’s withdrawal
from the coast. Two women accompanying the deserters were, it is alleged, most
barbarously mutilated and killed at the same time. END OF QUOTE.
To be caught by the barbarians on any side of this conflict was a terrible

experience.
QUOTE: Before he quitted the country, Hyder by a
solemn edict, declared the Nayars deprived of all their
privileges ; and ordained that their caste, which was the first
after the Brahmans, should thereafter be the lowest of all the
castes, subjecting them to salute the Parias and others of the
lowest castes by ranging themselves before them as the other
Mallabars had been obliged to do before the Nayars ;
permitting all the other caste to bear arms and forbidding them
to the Nayars, who till then had enjoyed the sole right of
carrying them; at the same time allowing and commanding all
persons to kill such Nayars as were found bearing arms. By this
rigorous edict, Hyder expected to make all the other castes
enemies of the Nayars, and that they would rejoice in the
occasion of revenging themselves for the tyrannic oppression
this nobility had till then exerted over them. END OF
QUOTE.
Actually what the above edict proposes in the total upheaval and the vertical
flipping of the social order as designed in the feudal languages. It is something like
commanding the police constables to be on the top layer, and the IPS officers at the
bottom. That of the lower police officials addressing their actual seniors with Inhi /
Nee, and referring to them as Oan/ Avan, Oal / Aval. This single flipping of verbal
codes can literally through the whole regimentation into terrific disarray.
QUOTE: Hyder Ali bought off the Mahrattas, and the Nizam was induced to
throw over his allies and to join Hyder Ali in a campaign against the English on the
east coast. The first act of hostility occurred on 25th August 1768, but the news did not
reach Tellicherry till the 13th October.
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It is unnecessary to trace in detail the operations which followed. The allies

were beaten in the field, the Nizam made a separate peace, the English in conjunction
with Muhammad Ali, Nabob of the Carnatic, overran Hyder Ali’s dominions, and
planned, with an utterly inadequate force to carry out this resolution, an invasion of
Mysore itself. END OF QUOTE.
Surely there was something quite different in the English side, that even in
times of extreme tribulations, they face the trials and came out victorious. In a feudal
language situation, when one’s leaders are seen as losing, the verbal codes of ‘respect’
will get erased. This is a terrible tragedy to occur. For, when one is in grave need of
‘respect’ it would be withdrawn.
QUOTE: Hyder Ali’s rapid and secret march across the peninsula and his
recapture of Mangalore are matters of history. The Bombay force was driven out of
Mangalore with such indecent haste that they even left their sick and wounded behind
them, as well, as their field-pieces and stores. Honore and other places were recovered
with equal ease, and before the monsoon commenced Hyder Ali’s army had
reascended the ghats. END OF QUOTE
Fabulous success. But then maintaining it against the feeble softness of native-
English perseverance would be impossible!
QUOTE: In June he was at Bednur wreaking his vengeance on the inhabitants

who had favoured the English designs, END OF QUOTE.
Actually everyone outside his immediate command hierarchy would prefer the
English rule, rather than the tumultuous clamour and whimsical style of rule of Hyder
Ali.
QUOTE: Excepting Kolattunad and Palghat, therefore, and perhaps Kottayam

and other petty chieftains, whose territories Hyder Ali’s officers had never so far been
able to command, the Malayali chiefs eagerly adopted the terms offered, and "Hyder’s
provincial troops, whose escape would otherwise have been impracticable, not only
retreated in safety, but loaded with treasure—the willing contribution of the chiefs of
Malabar—the purchase of a dream of independence.” END OF QUOTE.
Everyone is eager for their own survival. There is no other political policy, no
social welfare, no concept of infrastructure building for the common populace, no
policy of educating the masses, nothing other than self-protection. That is only aim in a
feudal language social set up.
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QUOTE: Hyder Ali had meanwhile after suffering many reverses been forced
by the Mahrattas to make a disadvantageous peace. In a short time, however, his
treasury was again replenished at the expense of his subjects and his forces were
reorganised END OF QUOTE.
In a feudal language social set-up, the only aim is to gather leadership. Without
it, there is no ‘respect’. Everyone clamours for this slippery item called ‘respect’.
QUOTE: Coorg fell to him in November 1773, and a force despatched under
Said Sahib and Srinavas Row Berki pushed through Wynad and descended on Malabar
about 27th December by a new and direct route via the Tamarasseri pass END OF
QUOTE.
‘Srinavas Row Berki’ seems to be a non-Muslim name. How Hyder could

manage his pro-Muslim agenda using non-Muslim commanders is an intriguing point
worthy of inspection.
QUOTE: The latter had agreed in the Treaty of 1769 to assist him against the
Maharattas, but Muhammad Ali, the Nabob of the Carnatic, had by intrigues in
England effectually prevented the fulfilment of that part of the treaty in order to carry
out an ambitious scheme of his own. Hyder Ali appears to have fathomed the Nabob’s
designs, which, as a preliminary to still more ambitious schemes, required Hyder Ali’s
own destruction, and he accordingly determined to break with the English. His
relations with the Mahrattas, however, led him to temporise for a time. Meanwhile if he
could possess himself of Travancore he would not only replenish his coffers, but
would secure an advantageous position on his enemy’s flank for his contemplated
invasion of the Carnatic. END OF QUOTE.
Quite a wholesome content.
The point ‘by intrigues in England effectually prevented the fulfilment of that
part of the treaty’ is a very interesting information that should be taken up for more
debate. It is seen that during the English East India Company rule in a particular
percent area of the subcontinent, some of the kings and princes of the subcontinent
did go to England and secure support for their misdeeds from there. It is seen that
even in the months preceding the Sepoy Mutiny in the northern parts of the
subcontinent (in the Bengal regiment), a particular agent of one of the small-time kings
had gone to England, to assess the situation there, and to deceive the gullible, and
foolish native-English there.
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QUOTE from THE STORY OF CAWNPORE by CAPT. MOWBRAY

THOMSON :
Azimoolah was originally a khitmutghar (waiter at table) in
some Anglo-Indian family; profiting by the opportunity thus afforded
him, he acquired a thorough acquaintance with the English and
French languages, so as to be able to read and converse fluently, and
write accurately in them both. He afterwards became a pupil, and
subsequently a teacher, in the Cawnpore government schools, and
from the last-named position he was selected to become the vakeel, or
prime agent, of the Nana.
On account of his numerous qualifications he was deputed to

visit England, and press upon the authorities in Leadenhall Street the
application for the continuance of Bajee Rao’s pension. Azimoolah
accordingly reached London in the season of 1854. Passing himself
off as an Indian prince, and being thoroughly furnished with ways and
means, and having withal a most presentable contour, he obtained
admission to distinguished society.
In addition to the political business which he had in hand, he

was at one time prosecuting a suit of his own of a more delicate
character; but, happily for our fair countrywoman, who was the object
of his attentions, her friends interfered and saved her from becoming
an item in the harem of this Mahommedan polygamist. Foiled in all
his attempts to obtain the pension for his employer, he returned to
India via France; and report says that he there renewed his endeavours
to form an European alliance for his own individual benefit. I believe
that Azimoolah took the way of Constantinople also on his homeward
route.
..............It is matter of notoriety that such vaticinations as

these were at the period in question current from Calais to Cairo, and
it is not unlikely that the poor comfort Azimoolah could give the
Nana, in reporting on his unsuccessful journey, would be in some
measure compensated for, by the tidings that the Feringhees were
ruined, and that one decisive blow would destroy their yoke in the
East.
I believe that the mutiny had its origin in the diffusion of such
statements at Delhi, Lucknow, and other teeming cities in India.
Subtle, intriguing, politic, unscrupulous, and bloodthirsty, sleek and
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wary as a tiger, this man betrayed no animosity to us until the outburst

of the mutiny, and then he became the presiding genius in the assault
on Cawnpore.
I regret that his name does not appear, as it certainly ought to

have done, upon the list of outlaws published by the Governor-
General; for this Azimoolah was the actual murderer of our sisters
and their babes. When Havelock’s men cleared out Bithoor, they
found most expressive traces of the success he had obtained in his
ambitious . pursuit of distinction in England, in the shape of letters
from titled ladies couched in the terms of most courteous friendship.
Little could they have suspected the true character of their honoured
correspondent. END OF QUOTE
QUOTE: Mahe was at this time of more importance to Hyder Ali than even
Pondicherry itself, for it was through that port that he received his guns and
ammunition and French reinforcements. END OF QUOTE.
It does really seem that the Indian government should honour the French, as
does the foolish US government, for supporting the ‘freedom fighter’ Hyder Ali in his
endeavour to defeat the English.
QUOTE: Hyder Ali approved of young Kadattanad’s conduct, and the latter
beheaded the unfortunate dhobi in the presence of a peon of Brathwaite’s, who had
gone with a message, and of a horsekeeper who had also been entrapped. The two
latter, with their hands cut off, were permitted to return to Mahe. END OF QUOTE.
This cutting of limbs does seem to be a natural habit of the Mysorean kings,
both Hyder as well as Tippu. However, it might not be correct to associate these
barbarian habits with Islam. For, even Velu Thampi of Travancore did have this kind
of habit. The land and the people were reacting to the terrific codes inside feudal
languages. Even native-English men would react in a similar manner when they feel the
terrors of pejorative feudal language verbal codes. Check what Adam Purinton did in
the USA.
QUOTE: On October 24th the factors recorded their opinion that Hyder Ali
intended to break with the Honourable Company, and that the native chiefs were
acting under secret orders from him. END OF QUOTE.
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Once the ‘revered’ leadership shows signs of going weak, it is natural for the
‘respecters’ to jump to the more ‘respected’ side. For, that is how the feudal language
codes urge.
QUOTE: 1. Hyder Ali himself, too, in a letter to the Resident received on

February 4th, 1780, complained of the protection afforded to the Nayars and their
families and of the assistance given to them in arms, etc., in order to create
disturbances
2. Into this small and insufficiently protected area flocked every one who had
property to lose. Hyder Ali’s “Buxy” (Bakshi — paymaster) at Mahe, in a letter of May
29th, 1780, to the Resident put the matter very forcibly thus : “I know perfectly well
that you have been guilty of giving an asylum to people that ought to pay to the Nabob
lacks and lacks of rupees, and given assistance to the vassals of the Nabob. You also
keep in your protection thieves, who ought to pay lacks and lacks of rupees.” END OF
QUOTE.
Though the English Company has no particular affinity for any of the
barbarian populations in the subcontinent, since they are in charge of the protection of
those who come to them for safety, they were morally duty-bound to protect them.
However, Hyder has the aim to crush the traditional oppressor classes of the land. Yet,
there is no cumulative social reform that will come about. There will be only a change
of positions, with the lower castes occupying the higher positions. Which will be a
more tragic scenario.
QUOTE: On December 6th, 1779, Sirdar Khan, accompanied by some

European officers, minutely reconnoitred all the posts, END OF QUOTE.
It is amply clear that the English colonialism in the South Asian subcontinent
was a fight by the English against the Continental Europeans. The Continental
Europeans were the first and foremost fighters for ‘Indian Independence’! Even before
the very nation of ‘India’ was formed, they were at it.
QUOTE: The church management went on smoothly till the invasion of

Malabar by Hyder Ali in 1766. In that year the Portuguese Vicar and Factor waited on
Hyder Ali and obtained an order to Madye, Raja of Coimbatore and Governor of
Calicut, for the payment of 2,420 fanams annualiy to the Vicar of the church. Hyder
All also ordered that the rent and revenue or benefits of the landed property should
not be appropriated END OF QUOTE.
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In a feudal language set up, a direct appeal with the expected obeisance can
work wonders. Rule of law, statutes, fair-play, justice, right &c. can get sidelined by this
method.
QUOTE: Hyder Ali died on the 7th December 1782 and Tippu was in full
march back to secure his father’s throne. END OF QUOTE.
Now starts the next fight. The desperation to capture the title of the Sultan
before anyone else can take possession of it. There is no policy of primogeniture in
practise anywhere in the land, even though one traveller in his mistaken observation
has mentioned such a thing. In the subcontinent, the foreign travellers are easily
fooled.
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Sultan Tippu, generally known in the vernacular as Tippu

Sulthaan or Tippu Saib.
He was not his father’s favourite. There was another person, whose close
association with his father did create sharp envy in him. This individual was Shaikh
Ayaz. He was actually a Nair boy of exquisite personal beauty. He became a Muslim
under the forced conversion programme of Hyder Ali. See the quote below:
QUOTE: The noble port, ingenuous manners, and singular beauty of the boy
attracted general attention ; and when at a more mature age he was led into the field,
his ardent valour and uncommon intelligence recommended him to the particular
favour of Hyder, who was an enthusiast in his praise, and would frequently speak to
him, under the designation of “his right hand in the hour of danger.” . . . .In the
conversation of Muhammadan chiefs, a slave of the house, far from being a term of
degradation or reproach, uniformly conveys the impression of an affectionate and
trustworthy humble friend, and such was Ayaz in the estimation of Hyder. END OF
QUOTE.
On his father’s death, Tippu did unsuccessfully try to kill him.
Sultan Tippu have been as much or even more purposeful in seeing to it that
the Hindus (Brahmins) and the Nayars are degraded to levels below that of the pariahs
and pulayas. And he also wanted to see that the lower castes are relocated on the top
scales of the social system.
If the English Company had not been there, in all probability, as of now the
Hindus (Brahmins) and the Nayars would have been the lowest of the castes in
Malabar. May be in Travancore also, something similar might have happened. Beyond
that the Padmanabhapuram Temple would have been plundered and the fabulous
wealth stored since antiquity inside the secret chambers inside the Temple would have
been literally splattered on the streets.
QUOTE: Among other prisoners taken at the raising of the siege of

Tellicherry in 1782, the Kurangoth Nayar, chief of a portion of the petty district of
Iruvalinad, lying between the English and French settlements, had ever since remained
a prisoner at Tellicherry. ................
The Nayar appears to have been set free, but in 1787 he was seized by Tippu,
who hanged him and in spite of French remonstrances annexed his territory to the
Iruvalinad collectorship. END OF QUOTE
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There are ample contemporary records that attest to the fact that the people
on Sultan Tippu’s side were extremely barbarous. See this quote from Travancore State
Manual, as to what King Marthanda Varma said about him:
QUOTE from Travancore State Manual: ...........but when he has taken some of
my people he has been so base to cut off their noses and ears and sent them away
disgracefully. END OF QUOTE.
More or less the same thing is substantiated by James Scurry, an English sailor
who had been handed over to Tippu’s people by the French after they had attacked his
ship and imprisoned him.
QUOTE: Tippu’s affairs were not well managed in Malabar when he

recovered possession of it. The exactions of his revenue collectors appear to have
driven the people into rebellion. Ravi Varma of the Zamorin’s house received in 1784 a
jaghire in order to keep him quiet, and even Tippu’s Mappilla subjects in Ernad and
Walluvanad rebelled. END OF QUOTE.
Tippu’s rule in Malabar might have been just a version of the same old sultry
rule in the subcontinent that had continued since times immemorial. Just collect the
tax and squeeze the tenants.
QUOTE: On the 25th May 3 1788, the factors at Tellicherry received proposals
from the Bibi of Cannanore to take her under their protection ; and her message stated
that Tippu had advised her to make up her quarrel with the Kolattiri prince and to pick
one with the English. END OF QUOTE.
These kinds affections were mere shifting affections, more or less just to tide
over a difficult time.
QUOTE: On Tippu's inhuman treatment of his prisoners, it is unnecessary to

dwell. Beginning with the brave Captain Rumley, he had already poisoned, or destroyed
in other ways, all whom he thought from their gallantry or abilities would be dangerous
opponents in a future struggle. END OF QUOTE.
There are enough and more illustrative eye-witness narrations of these horrible
deeds.
QUOTE: Tippu complained bitterly of this evasion, and, on the 25th May, the
Chief at Tellicherry had a letter from him complaining further that the Cannanore fort
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had been looted of everything, “and the said fort made empty as a jungul, and then
your troops went away. END OF QUOTE.
This is with regard to the handing over of the Cannanore fort to Tippu by the
English Company. The English side simply vacated the place, without waiting for
Tippu’s soldiers to arrive. By the time Tippu’s men had arrive, the local populace of
Cannanore had more or less looted the fort totally clean.
QUOTE: It was, on July 14th, that the next most important item of news
reached the factors. They wished to send an express messenger overland with news of
their situation to the Anjengo settlement for communication to Madras and Calcutta.
Such messages had heretofore been safely entrusted to Brahmans who, from the
sanctity of their caste, had hitherto been permitted to come and go without hindrance.
But the factors now learnt that Brahman messengers were no longer safe ; a Brahman
selected to convey the message refused to go ; and assigned as his reason that there was
“a report prevailing that the Nabob had issued orders for all the Brahmans on the
coast to be seized and sent up to Seringapatam.” END OF QUOTE.
This is was the state of the land. The distances are very small in modern
perspective. However, no one can move beyond his own homeland without adequate
protection. Literally anything can happen.
However, generally Brahmins were safe. Due to their being accorded the
highest of ‘respects’.
QUOTE: And on the 20th continuation of the fact was received from Calicut,
where “200 Brahmans had been seized and confined, made Mussulmen, and forced to
eat beef and other things contrary to their caste.” END OF QUOTE.
It would be quite curious to think as to why they should remain Islam when
the terror is over. It is generally mentioned that it is because their own caste would not
accept them back. However, there might not be any problem in coming out of Islam
and remaining as a different caste.
There might be some unmentioned item about this. The experience of being
an Islam would in most probability give these ‘forced into Islam’ persons a lot of
worldly experiences beyond the narrow confines of their home. Moreover, the
experience in eating tasty ‘forbidden’ food articles would also be too alluring to leave.
QUOTE: First, a corps of “30,000 barbarians,” who butchered everybody

“who came in their way next, Lally with the guns ; then, Tippu himself riding on an
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elephant, and finally another corps of 30,000 men. His treatment of the people was
brutal in the extreme. At Calicut he hanged the mothers, “and then suspended the
children from their necks.” Naked Christians and Hindus were dragged to pieces tied
to the feet of elephants. All churches and temples were destroyed. Christian and pagan
women were forcibly married to Muhammadans. END OF QUOTE
That was Fra Bartolomæo’s graphic account Sultan Tippu’s ways and manners
in his expeditions.
QUOTE: Parappanad, also "Tichera Terupar, a principal Nayar of

Nelemboor” and many other persons, who had been carried off to Coimbatore, were
circumcised and forced to eat beef. END OF QUOTE.
In a way these are welcome pieces of information for current-day Muslims.

The earlier statements that a lot Cherumar and Makkathaya Thiyyas had converted into
Islam would have a very depressing effect on those who wish to connect to the highest
classes of people, who they believe are the Hindus (Brahmins) and the Nayars.
QUOTE: On May 27th the Kolattiri or Chirakkal prince began to show his zeal
for Tippu’s cause by demanding a settlement of accounts with the factors, and by
asking for an immediate payment of one lakh of rupees, for which purpose he sent one
of his ministers with orders to remain at Tellicherry till he was paid that sum. The
factors were astonished at the demand since the accounts showed that the prince was
over four lakhs in the debt of the Honourable Company. The Chief stopped the
minister’s “diet money,” invariably paid while such officers remained in the Company’s
settlement, and the minister after some demur departed. END OF QUOTE.
This is a very surprising feature of feudal languages. When it suddenly dawns

that the ‘revered’ individual or institution is going to slip into ‘no respect’, then the
persons who had till then being very submissive will start acting in a dominating
manner bordering on rascality.
QUOTE: While these operations were in progress no less than 30,000

Brahmans with their families, it is said, fled from the country, assisted by Ravi
Varmma, and took refuge in Travancore. END OF QUOTE.
It transpires that the great warrior class Nayars who are repeatedly mentioned
in this book, Malabar, had no stamina for a fight. Beyond that, the tall claims of north
Malabar being the homeland of Kalari, the fabulous Marital arts of unknown origin,
also stood erased. There was no protection against the hordes that came rushing in
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from Mysore. The only unwavering entity that stood forth as a protective force was the
feeble English Company at Tellicherry.
It should be quite a wonder that individuals who are quite effeminate, soft,
detached, reclusive and of feeble sound and utterances could actually form a more
powerful protective force than all the semi-barbarians who spontaneously made
terrible noises and clamour.
QUOTE: The unhappy captives gave a forced assent, and on the next day the
rite of circumcision was performed on all the males, every individual of both sexes
being compelled to close the ceremony by eating beef.” END OF QUOTE.
The forced eating of beef might be mentioned again and again as a very
repulsive event for the higher castes, especially the Brahmins and the Ambalavasis. Yet,
once they experience the Muslim culinary skills, this very repulsive practise might
entice them in.
QUOTE: Hereafter you must proceed in an opposite manner ; dwell quietly,

and pay your dues like good subjects : and since it is a practice with you for one
woman to associate with ten men, and you leave your mothers and sisters
unconstrained in their obscene practices, and are thence all born in adultery, and are
more shameless in your connexions than the beasts of the field : I hereby inquire you
to forsake those sinful practices, and live like the rest of mankind. END OF QUOTE.
These can be claimed to be the great words of a social reformer. However,

Sultan Tippu was a conqueror and raider. When he did both, the others with him
would do all kinds of molesting.
As to liberating women (or is it confining women?), the social communication

is much more complicated than can be improved by these kinds of reckless gimmickry.
Nothing that these ‘great’ social reformers did would come anywhere near to
what the English administration offered. And that was English education. Even now,
not many persons would like to give English education to the downtrodden. For, it will
only liberate them to the levels of competitors and degraders. In fact, all the higher
castes in the subcontinent knew it then, and all the higher classes know it now, that it is
like taking a poisonous creature from the fence and placing it on one’s own shoulder,
to allow the lower classes to learn English. For, they will develop and try to attack the
higher castes and classes.
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QUOTE: However that may be, it is certain from Tippu’s own account, as well
as from the factory diary record, that his body was treated with the greatest, indignities
by Tippu. He had it dragged by elephants through his camp and it was subsequently
hung up on a tree along with seventeen of the followers of the prince who had been
captured alive. END OF QUOTE.
This is about the fate of the Chirakkal Prince who was till the arrival of Sultan
Tippu’s ravaging team had been very hostile to the English Company. He had to come
seeking the protection of the feeble English Company at Tellicherry.
In James Scurry’s account of his subordination to Sultan Tippu, there are

many more terrible events described in a very stark manner.
QUOTE from James Scurry’s account:

Now followed the fate of the poor Malabar Christians, of
which I shall ever consider myself the innocent cause, in reading what
was written by General Matthews, as stated in the preceding note.
Their country was invested by Tippoo’s army, and they were driven,
men, women, and children, to the number of 30,000, to Seringapatam,
where all who were fit to carry arms were circumcised, and formed
into four battalions.
The sufferings of these poor creatures were most

excruciating: one circumstance, which came under my immediate
notice, I will attempt to describe. When recovered, they were armed
and drilled, and ordered to Mysore, nine miles from the capital, but
for what purpose we never could learn.
Their daughters were many of them beautiful girls, and

Tippoo was determined to have them for his seraglio; but this they
refused ; and Mysore was invested by his orders, and the four
battalions were disarmed and brought prisoners to Seringapatam. This
being done, the officers tied their hands behind them. The chumbars,
or sandalmakers, were then sent for, and their noses, ears, and upper
lips, were cut off; they were then mounted on asses, their faces
towards the tail, and led through Patani, with a wretch before them
proclaiming their crime.
One fell from his beast, and expired on the spot through loss
of blood. Such a mangled and bloody scene excited the compassion of
numbers, and our hearts were ready to burst at the inhuman sight. It
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was reported that Tippoo relented in this case, and I rather think it
true, as he never gave any further orders respecting their women. The
twenty-six that survived were sent to his different arsenals, where,
after the lapse of a few years, I saw several of them lingering out a
most miserable existence.
Some time after our initiation, (about nine months,) many of

the mechanics were brought from their different prisons to Patam,
and sent to his arsenal, to their different employments; about eighty
was their number; they had a tolerable allowance, but were all
circumcised. One, whose name was William Williams, effected his
escape, but was taken, and treated as the above, with the exception of
losing only one ear, with his nose; which was executed before us, as a
terror, no doubt, to prevent our attempting any thing in the same
manner.
Most of those unfortunate men were put to death; nine of

them, including to this office; and such was their brutality, that they
frequently cut (or sawed, rather) the upper lip off with the nose,
leaving the poor unfortunate wretch a pitiable object, to spin out a
most miserable existence, being always sent to Tippoo's arsenals, to
hard labour on a scanty allowance.
Two carpenter’s mates, belonging to the Hannibal, Archy

Douglas, and another whose name I have forgotten, were hung on
one tree, because one of the party, named Flood, a sergeant-major in
the Company’s service, to pass away a tedious hour, had been taking a
sketch of the surrounding scenery; this was the crime for which they
all suffered death! END OF QUOTE
QUOTE: Another conquering race had appealed on the scene, and there is not
the slightest doubt that, but for the intervention of a still stronger foreign race, the
Nayars would now be denizens of the jungles like the Kurumbar and other jungle races
whom they themselves had supplanted in similar fashion. END OF QUOTE.
This is the statement that should be read to the birdbrain who is now
campaigning in England among ‘White skinned persons’ that if England had not come
to ‘India’, ‘India’ would have been ‘rich’. The damn truth is that he would have been a
menial servant in that rich ‘India’ administered by the Cherumars, the Pulaya and the
Pariahs. That is the unmentionable truth.
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QUOTE: In 1788 the Zamorin was accordingly induced by a promise of the

restoration of a portion of his territory to put forward some rather antiquated claims to
suzerainty over Travancore. But being disgusted at the forcible conversions which
followed the sultan’s advent, he drew back from the arrangement. END OF QUOTE.
The king of tiny Calicut would have drooled over the prospect of being
offered the kingship of Travancore. However, on a deeper pondering, at least his
family members would have remonstrated at his wavering stance.
QUOTE: Tippu had, unfortunately for himself, by his insolent letters to the
Nizam in 1784 after the conclusion of peace with the English at Mangalore, shown
that he contemplated the early subjugation of the Nizam himself. END OF QUOTE.
This is in the realm of verbal codes. When he is feeling that he is going to be

paramount, his words would become filled with lower pejorative addressing
(Nee/Thoo) and referring (Avan/USS) of the other. However, when he does not
become paramount, these very words become triggering codes of brooding hatred; that
the other man would not be able to sleep in peace until he has been avenged.
QUOTE: Tippu, it seems, was still inclined not to appear as a principal in the
attack on Travancore. During the monsoon months, before setting his army in motion,
he had sent a message to his tributary, the Cochin Raja, to proceed to his camp at
Coimbatore. It is understood that Tippu really wished to avail himself of the Cochin
Raja’s name and services in his attack of Travancore. The Raja, however, having the
fear of forcible conversion to Islam before his eyes, replied that he paid his tribute
regularly, and that he had already paid a visit to his suzerain. END OF QUOTE.
Even though this terror can be very easily attributed to the ‘horrors of Islam’,
the fact remains that actually all the purported ‘horrors of Islam’ are connected to the
Islamic people being located in very specific location in the virtual code arena that is
created, designed and maintained by feudal language codes.
However, this was the social reality of the South Asian Subcontinent, in which
some kind of civil behaviour was ushered in by the native-English administration.
QUOTE: General Medows was at this time following Tippu, who, with his
superior equipments, was leading him a merry dance, and who was now after leaving
the neighbourhood of Tiurchirappalli, plundering, burning and carrying ruin into the
very heart of Coromandel. END OF QUOTE.
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It is generally mentioned in a most casual manner that the English won on

every front due to their superior weapons and knowledge. There is no truth at all in
this claim. For, in almost all the confrontations between the English and the native
rulers of the subcontinent, the latter had the full support of Continental Europeans.
The French being the foremost in this regard. However, such other Continental
European nations as the Portuguese and the Italians also did come to their help at
various times. For instance, the Mysoreans even had a European regiment and even
European commanders.
In terms of weaponry, the Mysorean could have been in a level of higher

sophistication. Yet, the English side prevailed at the end. On the Mysorean side, there
was always the possibility of backstabbing and treachery. In fact, the moment his father
died, one of the first deeds of Tippu was to try to kill his father’s most trusted
commander, Shaikh Ayaz.
Read the following narration of what took place.
QUOTE: Directly therefore Tippu assumed the reins of Government on the

death of Hyder Ali, he despatched secret instructions to the second in command at
Bodnur to put Ayaz to death and assume the government. What follows is thus
narrated by Wilks :—
“ Whatever may have been the ultimate intentions of Ayaz at this period, it is
certain that apprehensions of treachery were mixed with all his deliberations : he had
taken the precaution of ordering that no letter of any description from the eastward
should be delivered without previous examination ; and being entirely illiterate, this
scrutiny always took place with no other person present than the reader and himself,
either in a private chamber, or if abroad, retired from hearing and observation, in the
woods.
“On the day preceding that on which the ghauts were attacked, and while Ayaz
was occupied near Hyderghur, in giving directions regarding their defence, the fatal
letter arrived and was inspected with the usual precautions ; the Brahman who read it,
and to whom the letter was addressed as second in command, stands absolved from all
suspicion of prior design by the very act of reading its contents ; but in the perilous
condition of Ayaz he durst not confide in a secrecy at best precarious, even for a day ;
without a moment’s hesitation, he put the unfortunate Brahman to death to prevent
discovery ; put the letter in his pocket, and returning to his attendants instantly
mounted, and without leaving any orders, went off at speed to the citadel to make the
arrangements for surrender which have been related, it may well be presumed that this
horrible scene could not have been enacted without some intimation reaching the ears
of the attendants, and the very act of abandoning the scene of danger contrary to his
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usual habits, spread abroad among the troops those rumours of undefined treachery
which abundantly account for their dispersion and dismay.”
“He accordingly surrendered to General Matthews the fort and country of

Bednur, of which he was the governor, on the condition that he was “to remain under
the English as he was under the Nabob (Hyder Ali).”
“Of the unhappy results of General Matthews’ expedition it is unnecessary to

say anything. Shaikh Ayaz fled precipitately from Bednur on hearing of the approach
of Tippu with the whole of his army, leaving General Matthews and his army to its
fate, and his flight was so sudden that he lost the small remains of property belonging
to him. END OF QUOTE.
If this be the social situation inside the subcontinent, there is no doubt that the
English perseverance would prevail at the end.
QUOTE: The Coorg Raja next renewed his complaints about the boundary in
dispute with Tippu, and Captain Murray was in consequence deputed to his country
and appointed Resident at his court. END OF QUOTE.
The fabulousness of the English side was that whatever number of persons
were appointed in all kinds of location, they were all focused and united on the
platform of pristine-England. As of now, this is the greatest drawbacks that England is
facing. The social platform has been rapidly been shifting from that of pristine-English
and pristine-England to an utter nonsense called Multiculture.
QUOTE: In 1787 Tippu caught and hanged him and annexed his Nad to the
lruvalinad Revenue Cutcherry. END OF QUOTE.
That was Kurangott Nayar.
QUOTE: Ponmeri, In the Siva temple is an ancient inscription on a broken

slab in unknown characters. The temple is very old. It was destroyed by Tippu’s
soldiers. END OF QUOTE.
It is a very lucky thing for Travancore that the English Company was there to
protect the kingdom. Otherwise, there would be no one to stop Tippu’s raider from
entering the Sree Padmanabha Temple at Trivandrum.
QUOTE: The Mysorean Government continued its payment to church till

1781, when Sirdar Khan, Tippu’s fouzdar, stopped the allowance. But the Vicar raised
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the revenue from the glebe lands till 1788, when a Brahman named Daxapaya came as
Tippu's Revenue Collector of Calicut, and demanded from the Vicar, Gabriel
Gonsalves, the church revenues and imprisoned him ; but the Vicar effected his escape
with the connivance of Arshed Beg Klhan, Tippu’s fouzdar, and fled to Tellicherry.
END OF QUOTE.
The problem with dealing with or having a treaty with the semi-barbarian
rulers of the subcontinent was that their actions and administrative policies were more
or less based on momentary whims and fancies. The problem here is that in feudal
languages, very minute social, body-language and verbal signals can swing a person’s
mood and mental dispositions quite violently. In fact, a simple action as sitting down
without a due permission or standing with a straight back can bring in a sort of hatred
quite near to homicidal mania.
QUOTE: Ferokh. It was planned by Tippu whose intention it was to make it

the capital of Malabar, but his troops were driven out of it in 1790 before the design
was fully carried out. He compelled a large portion of the inhabitants of Calicut to
settle here, but on the departure of his troops they returned to their former abode.
END OF QUOTE.
May be he wanted a new city known in history as founded by him.
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Malabar Manual
Women
There is a lot of hype about the women folks of the subcontinent. However,
without taking into consideration the fact of caste rules, the state of women cannot be
mentioned. Women of the higher castes would not like even to be referred to by the
lower castes women, unless they can be very forcefully made to use the ‘respectful’
indicant words for She, Her, Hers etc.
If the lower caste females use the lower indicant words such as Olu / Aval
etc., it can be dangerous degrading. The native-English cannot understand this at all.
Hence, their own nation and its original native-English are being degraded bit by bit,
and they have no information on this.
The state of women was not that great,

unless they stayed in a location wherein they
received ‘respect’. If they were touched by a
lower caste male or female, many of them could
lose the right of entry into their very household.
There is a very detailed description of the

terrors of being a female in the neighbouring
Travancore in Rev. Samuel Mateer’s Native Life
in Travancore. Interested readers can refer to that
book.
QUOTE: Leud, adulterous women were made over to the chiefs with a
premium by the other members of their families in order that they might be taken care
of, and the chiefs (at any rate the Zamorins) used in turn to sell the women to foreign
merchants, thus making a double profit out of them END OF QUOTE.
Women in the hands of various others would naturally have to undergo many
kinds of experiences. Since they are from the higher castes, in most cases, they might
be made use of only by the higher castes. If the lower castes were to be given right to
use them, then it would be an utter tragic condition, given the terrific feudal content in
the languages. That of the lower castes using words such as Inhi/Nee, Edi, Ale,
Enthale, Enthadi, Olu, Aval etc. to and about a higher caste female.
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But then, it has been seen reported elsewhere that higher caste women who
were thrown out of their households used to be taken by the lower caste strong-men.
QUOTE: The persons accused by the woman are never permitted to disprove
the charges against them, but the woman herself is closely cross-examined and the
probabilities are carefully weighed. And every co-defendant, except the one who,
according to the woman’s statement, was the first to lead her astray, has a right to be
admitted to the boiling-oil ordeal as administered at the temple of Suchindram in
Travancore. If his hand is burnt, he is guilty ; if it comes out clean he is judged as
innocent END OF QUOTE.
QUOTE: Pulayatta-penna (lewd, aduterous women), or degraded women,

were a source of profit to Rajas ; outcastes, not exclusively, but chiefly of the Brahman
caste, they were made over to Rajas to take care of. As a compensation for their
maintenance and for the trouble of preventing their going astray again, the family of
the outcast were in the habit of offering to the Rajas as far as 600 fanams or Rs. 150.
The Rajas then disposed of them for money, but their future condition was not exactly
that of a slave. They were generally bought by the coast merchants called Chetties, by
whom they had offspring, who came to be intermarried among persons of the same
caste, and in a few generations their origin was obliterated in the ramifications of new
kindred into which they had been adopted. END OF QUOTE.
In such situations, a powerful family name would help. Otherwise the servants
of the merchant would address them in the pejorative. Once this is done, they are
literally defined as dirt.
In a feudal language situation, the servants are very dangerous individuals for
those who cannot display some powerful family name or status.
QUOTE: "Nilkesi, a woman of good family, an inhabitant of a place called

Sivaperur (Trichur?), a town famous for female beauty, could not obtain a son though
married to several men END OF QUOTE.
The above quote is from Payyannur Pattola (legend of Payyannur). The issue
of a woman mating with different men does not seem to be a great item here. For, if
the woman is addressed as Inhi / Nee, and referred to as Olu / Aval by different men,
there will definitely be a personality depreciation in her. She would literally be like a
servant woman in many ways. However, the words ‘woman of good family’ might
stand a defensive shield to her. However, the mention that she moved out as a beggar
might actually mean that she did lose her status in the society.
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But then polyandry was not that rare in the land. In which case, it is like a
woman brought home for doing the various household chores. And at the end of the
day the man who married her and his brothers taking her for fornication. Even in this
fornication, usually the precedence is perfectly maintained with the elder son having
relative precedence. There is no scope for any kind of jealousy or envy in that the
woman is literally a household servant who will bear the children of the sons of the
family.
See this QUOTE: Like the Pandava brothers, as they proudly point out, the
Kanisans used formerly to have one wife in common among several brothers, and this
custom is still observed by some of them. END OF QUOTE.
But then, in the matriarchal family system, the female is literally handed over
to Nambhoothri Brahman honoured guest, when he
visits the household, by her brothers. In the case of
her marriage (sambhandham) to a Nayar man also, it
is seen that her brothers do decide on whether that
relationship should continue. Literally she is in her
household where her brothers stay. They can inform
her ‘husband’ that he is no longer welcome.
QUOTE:
ROYAL LETTER ADDRESSED TO
CHUNDAYKAT OTALUR
Whereas there being no male members in the
two Illams of Kandiyur Natuvattunnu Natuvat and
Kandanasseri Palaykat in Alur Muri of Chundal
Pravirtti, Sridevi and Savitri, two females of Natuvat
Illam, have executed a document authorising Otalur
Nambutiri to marry in the said Taravad, to hold and
enjoy the property, movable and immovable (വ തുമതുൽ), including the slaves and
the Ambalapadi, Urayma and other titles and honours ( ാനമാന ൾ) attached to
the pagodas of Ariyannur, Kandiyur and Plakkat, and to maintain the females : and
whereas that document has now been presented before us, we hereby direct that
Otalur (Nambutiri) to marry in the said Taravad, hold and enjoy the property, movable
and immovable, slaves and chest of documents (െപ ി പമാണം) belonging to the two
Illams of Natuvat and Palaykat, and the Ambalapadi, Urayma, titles and honours, and
everything else pertaining to the above-mentioned three pagodas and maintain the
females. 1851 END OF QUOTE.
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This above mentioned deed might seem to have the look and feel of a
hybridisation or husbandry programme. However, in effect it is a formal familial
relationship that is being sponsored with a man who has social respect, title and
honour. It is indeed a great security for a female to be connected to a man who has
social ‘respect’. If she is connected to a man who is lowly on the social evaluation scale,
her own social value would go down. The physical security can be compromised.
QUOTE: Notwithstanding their form of religion, monogamy is universal, and

the women appear in public freely with their heads uncovered, and in Minicoy take the
lead in almost everything, except navigation. END OF QUOTE.
This is about Muslim women of certain Laccadive Islands.
QUOTE: Contrary to what is the usage on the mainland, the women do not
cover their heads and are not kept in seclusion. The women are generally very untidy
and dirty. END OF QUOTE.
This is again about women in certain Laccadive Islands.
QUOTE : Nearly all the work is done by the women, and, besides their usual
work, the women of the Melacheri class have, on the return of the odams from the
coast to carry the bags of rice, etc., from the vessels to the houses of the consignees
receiving one seer per bag as cooly END OF QUOTE.
This is again about women in certain Laccadive Islands.
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Malabar Manual
Laccadive Islands
When speaking about Laccadive Islands, it must be mentioned that these

Islands became part of current-day India, due to the fact that they were under British-
India. Otherwise, there is nothing to categorise them as India, other than that certain
Islands there had been under the control of the tiny Ali Raja kingdom of Cannanore.
Whether this hold was a willing subordination or forced one is not known to me.
However, there is some mention in this book wherein it is seen that some of the
Islanders were not very happy with the subordination to the tiny kingdom of
Cannanore town. I think that this subordination was made by the Arabian or Mappillas
traders or seafarers who might have doubled up as pirates also.
QUOTE: This form of patriarchal administration was suited to the rude state
of society on the islands, but corruption and its concomitant baneful influences were
rampant, and goaded the islanders into open rebellion and resistance of the Cannanore
authority. END OF QUOTE.
So, it is conceivable that the Ali Raja rule was more of a forced one.
QUOTE: The islanders state that it was surrendered by them to the Cannanore
house on condition of protection being afforded to them against the Kottakkal Kunyali
Marakkars, the famous Malayali pirates, who used to harry the island periodically. END
OF QUOTE.
However, there are other contentions in this book, Malabar, which gives a
different historical route of how the Islands came into the possession of a very tiny
kingdom, more or less confined to the Cannanore town and suburbs.
As to the presence of pirates inside the sea around this place, there are some
references to the pirates of South Asia mentioned in Ibn Battuta’s Travels in Asia and
Africa.
See this QUOTE about the Minicoy Island from that book: The Indian pirates
do not raid or molest them, as they have learned from experience that anyone who
seizes anything from them speedily meets misfortune. END OF QUOTE.
It may be mentioned that quote is from an English translation of the book

done by translated by H. A. R Gibb who was a lecturer in Arabic, School of Oriental
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Studies, University of London. Naturally, the Arabic word for would have been
translated as India, because England was understood in England to be ruling ‘India’.
Beyond that, Minicoy is not part of the Laccadive Islands, but still it is in the
nearby vicinity.
QUOTE: The Malikhans or chief men state that their forefathers voluntarily
surrendered the island to the Cannanore Raja on his undertaking to protect them
against pirates. END OF QUOTE.
That might not be the whole story.
QUOTE: The islands numbered 1 to 4 yielded annually during the ten years
1865-66 to 1874-75, during which period the islanders had broken loose from the
Raja’s control and exported their produce without any restriction, END OF QUOTE.
So, naturally the effect of the English rule in the Malabar area was a sort of
rebellion in the Ali Raja controlled islands.
QUOTE: The Portuguese made a settlement on the island of Ameni, but were
shortly afterwards (about A.D. 1545) exterminated by poison owing to the intrigues of
the Kolattiri princes.
About 1550, the Kolattiri Raja, who no doubt found the islands to be, after the
advent of the Portuguese, an irksome possession, conferred them, it is said in Jagir,
with the title of Ali Raja (Raja of the deep or sea), on the head of the Cannanore
family, the stipulated peishcush being either 6,000 or 12,000 fanams.
It is said that this tribute continued to be paid, but probably with more or less
irregularity as the fortunes of the two houses waxed or waned, by the house of
Cannanore to the Kolattiri princes till the middle of the eighteenth century. The
Bednur invasion and subsequently that of Hyder Ali led to the dismemberment of the
Kolattiri kingdom and to the independence of the Cannanore house, who retained the
exclusive possession of the islands as allies of Hyder Ali and Tippu Sultan END OF
QUOTE.
The above information might be the history how the islands came under the
tiny Arakkal kingdom.
QUOTE: The Cannanore islands became at the disposal of the Company by

the storming of Cannanore towards the end of 1791, and were further ceded with
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Tippu’s entire dependencies in Malabar by the Treaty of Seringapatam in 1792. This

southern or Malabar group of islands, along with Cannanore itself, are still held by the
Cannanore family at a peisheush of Rs. 15,000 (less the remission above mentioned),
alleged to be one-half of the profits derived from the trade with the islands and from
the lands at Cannanore—a tribute which, though adopted only provisionally at the
time of the first settlement, has remained unaltered to the present time.
The Malabar islands have, in recent years, been twice sequestrated for arrears
of revenue, and at the present time are under the direct management of the Collector
of Malabar END OF QUOTE.
There will definitely be a difference in the administration of the Ali raja’s

officials and that by the English Company officials.
QUOTE: In 1827 the price of coir suddenly fell from Rs. 60 to Rs. 20 or less,
but considering the profits derived from the coir monopoly for so many years
previously, the (English Company) Government held with regard to their Canara
islands that they could not fairly call on the islanders to share in the loss by low prices,
and no change whatever took place in the Government islands. In the Cannanore
islands (Ali rajas domain), on the other hand, the nominal price payable to the islanders
was reduced from Rs. 30 to Rs. 22 subject to the same deductions as before (viz., 10
per cent, import duty on coir, 10 per cent, export duty on rice and 1 per cent, on
account of sundry expenses), and to further aggravate the evil, the commutation price
of Rs. 2¼ per muda of rice was maintained, notwithstanding the fact that the market
price at that time was only Rs. 1½. END OF QUOTE
This is a typical example of the concern showed by the English Company

administration towards the problems faced by the people. In the location where the
native kings held the power, there was scarce concern how the people fared.
QUOTE:
a) Their coir was dried again and beaten in bundles at Cannanore with a view
to reduce its weight.
(b) Deductions were made on account of old debts which were never proved
to their satisfaction.
(c) The raja’s agents exacted presents.
(d) There was considerable delay in settling the accounts and allowing the
vessels to return to the islands.
END OF QUOTE.
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The above is some of the few ways in which the Ali Raja’s officials squeezed
the Islanders, as per this book, Malabar.
QUOTE:
1. The free supply of salt to the islanders was recognised by Government in
February 1880.
2. The tax was abolished with the sanction of Government, conveyed in their
order of 23rd February 1880.
3. When the land has been all thus settled, it will probably become possible to
abolish the trade monopolies with their irksome restrictions, and to throw the island
trade open.
END OF QUOTE.
This is the way the English Company rule attended to the issues of the
islanders.
QUOTE:
This form of patriarchal administration was suited to the rude state of society
on the islands, but corruption and its concomitant baneful influences were rampant,
and goaded the islanders into open rebellion and resistance of the Cannanore authority.
END OF QUOTE.
These things might not find their way into modern academic history. May be
Ali Raja’s also enjoy the status of ‘freedom fighters’ against the ‘evil’ English rule.
QUOTE: It is somewhat difficult to define what is the occupation of the

Karnavar class, as they rarely do anything save bullying their dependents or quarrelling
among themselves ; END OF QUOTE
The above statement is reflective of the foolish understanding that every man
should work for others. In a feudal language society, working for others, is a very
demeaning item. This is an experience that the native-English will get to know if they
become forced to work under feudal language speakers in a feudal language ambience.
See this QUOTE also:

The men are the laziest, and it was with great difficulty that they were got to
do some cooly work during the periodical visits of the officers to the island. END OF
QUOTE.
The fact is that doing cooly work under feudal language speakers is not a very
attractive proposition for anyone with some sense of upper-class sensitivity.
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QUOTE: Nearly all the work is done by the women, and, besides their usual
work, the women of the Melacheri class have, on the return of the odams from the
coast to carry the bags of rice, etc., from the vessels to the houses of the consignees
receiving one seer per bag as cooly. END OF QUOTE.
This again might serve to protect the social status of the family. It is a very
complicated scenario in feudal languages systems.
QUOTE: The generality of the people are poor, all the wealth and influence
being confined to a few of Karanavar class who keep the others well under subjection
END OF QUOTE.
In the ultimate information, the social system is run on feudal languages.
QUOTE: In the island, he and the gumasta alone wore jackets as a mark of
distinction, all others being prohibited from doing so whilst in the island, though out
of it, e.g., in Calicut, other Malikhans are in the habit of dressing somewhat gaudily.
Amongst the women also sumptuary distinctions prevail, the lowest class being strictly
prohibited from wrearing silver or gold ornaments END OF QUOTE.
The native-English side has no information on the requirements of feudal

languages. For, attire is one very easy means to understand another person’s stature in
the verbal codes. It is like the uniform in the Indian army. Depending on the uniform,
a person in uniform can be addressed as a Thoo or an Aap.
Wearing the wrong dress is like an ordinary soldier wearing the uniform of a
commissioned officer. He would be court-martialled. It would be a terrible crime
which would not be condoned.
QUOTE: One which is without parallel amongst any society of Mussalmans is

that the men are monogamous. END OF QUOTE.
No comment.
QUOTE: There are hardly more than three individuals in the island who can
speak or read Malayalam. The language spoken is Mahl, and there is therefore great
difficulty in communicating with the islanders. END OF QUOTE.
That is about Minicoy Island.
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QUOTE: The higher and lower classes are opposed to vaccination, but several
children have been operated on, and a beginning has been made. END OF QUOTE.
Even though Vaccination is not the last word on preventive healthcare, the
above event is illustrative of the way the English rule set out to create healthy living
conditions.
In fact, in Malabar there were Sanitary Inspectors who were in charge of

seeing that both the public as well as private toilets are kept in very clean conditions.
However, as is natural from the perspective of feudal languages, the people gave them
a derogatory name: Thotti inspector േതാ ി ഇ െപ ടർ. As of now, the very
concept of Sanitary Inspectors seems to have vanished. The officials have changed
their designation name into something more formidable. After all, a government
official is a ‘respected’ individual and is not supposed to do any work connected to
anything demeaning.
QUOTE: A school was started by Mr. Winterbotham in 1878 with a nominal

roll of 36 boys, but this number had dwindled away to 14 in 1880. The plan of
combining mosque schools and secular schools is being tried END OF QUOTE.
The English administration was bent on spreading ‘education’. However,

whether they understood that the only education that was worth the time spent is good
quality English education, is not known.
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Ali Raja
When speaking about north Malabar, and especially about the locations
between and including Tellicherry and Cannanore, three families are mentioned. One is
the Chirakkal family, next the Kolathiri and the third the Arakkal family.
The first two are connected and I think can easily get mixed up. The third one
is also known as the Ali Raja family. It is generally seen mentioned nowadays that the
meaning of Ali is Sea or Ocean. I do not know in which language Ali becomes Sea or
Ocean. I think it is a mistake which must have originated from this book, Malabar
purportedly written by William Logan.
In this book, a general tendency to write the Malabari and Malayalam zhi (ഴി)
as li (ലി) is seen. From this perspective, I think that actual word was not Ali Raja, but
Aazhi Raja. Aazhi (ആഴി) does mean Sea or Ocean. However, since the family was
Muslim, and the name Ali is a Muslim name, the shift in the English pronunciation was
widely accepted without much demur. And from English, the name pronunciation
must have diffused into Malabari and Malayalam also. So that as of now, the name
must be Ali in all the afore-mentioned languages.
Even though the kingdom has been mentioned several times in this book, as
far as I can discern, it is a very tiny bit of place. I feel it was more or less confined to
certain parts of Cannanore town. In the heydays of its existence, it must had occasion
when it might have had some larger existence. I am not sure about that.
See the words of Hamilton: QUOTE: “Adda Raja, a Mahometan Malabar

prince, who upon occasion can bring near 20,000 men into the field. END OF
QUOTE.
The number 20,000 in the above statement might need to be imbibed with a
pinch of salt. 20000 was the number of soldiers assembled by the Mogul Diwan at
Murshidabad to attack Robert Clive and his native infantry. It was indeed a very huge
assemble of soldiers.
However, the Arakkal family has had some kind of ownership of certain
islands in the Laccadive Sea. This ownership must have come upon this tiny kingdom
by their supporting the Arabian trading ships that came from Egypt. It is also possible
that the Mappilla seafaring family known as the Kunhali family of Badagara area may
also have supported them in this. The Arakkal family’s hold on the Laccadive islands
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was more or less tenacious, I think, holding on against the overall antipathy for the
more or less exploitative control over the disunited islands and the island populations.
There is the name of Arakkal Bibi, or Beevi or Beebee found in this book,
Malabar. This denotes the title holder of ‘queen’ of this family. Since the family system
was matriarchal, it is the Beevi who is mentioned in this book as representing the
family and ‘kingdom’. However, there is evidence in this book itself that the actual
players in decision-making were the male members of the family, with the Beevi being
only namesake tile-holder of family head.
The next point is that the word Bibi, Beevi and Beebee is seen mentioned in
the book, Malabar, in the history over the centuries. So naturally there will be different
individuals holding this title one after another over the years. There seems to be no
mention of these individuals, other than the sterile word Bibi, Beevi or Beebee. The
situation looks quite similar to the ‘Zamorin’ word representing another tiny, but still
much bigger kingdom that that of the Bibi.
QUOTE: Cheraman Perumal, the text goes on to say, encouraged merchants

and invited Jonaka Mappillas (Muhammadans) to the country. In particular he invited a
Muhammadan and his wife to come from his native land of Aryapuram and installed
them at Kannanur (Cannanore). The Muhammadan was called Ali Raja, that is, lord of
the deep, or of the sea. END OF QUOTE.
So, that was how this family came into being. There is another local story with
a slight variation in circulation in Cannanore.
QUOTE: On the 26th of the same month the Prince Regent took and
destroyed the Mappilla settlement at Valarpattanam, killing 600 men, women and
children END OF QUOTE.
Ali Raja’s relationship with the Kolathiri and also with Kottayam raja were at
times strained.
QUOTE: In their letter of 14th March 1728 to Bombay the factors reported
that “Ally Rajah .... is sailed for duddah, and all his country save Cannanore entirely
destroyed by the Prince.” The next news of him received in October, through Bombay,
was that he had been poisoned at Jeddah by his minister, and that all his effects had
been seized on account of presents promised to the prophet’s tomb. END OF
QUOTE.
No comments
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QUOTE: The Bibi of Cannanore was next prevailed on in November-

December 1734 to surrender her claims to the island out of fear that the Canarese or
French would take it, and owing to her inability to retake it herself and keep it securely.
If it was to be in any other hands than her own, she preferred that it should be taken
possession of by the English. END OF QUOTE.
The ‘she’ in the above passage might not really any ‘she’. It would be a
decision taken by the men folk. And it might be their preference to see that the island
is in English hands, rather than in the hands of Canarese or the French. The former
being dangerous feudal language speakers. And the latter also with the same infliction
but also quite unsteady.
QUOTE: The weakness of that prince was avarice, and Ali Raja of Cannanore,
helped by the French, had been “spiriting up” the Prince Regent with money and
creating dissensions between him and the English factory. END OF QUOTE.
This was the state of the geopolitical location where the English Company
tried to establish a trading relationship. Everyone was fighting against each other. Even
inside the Kolathiri family, there were various groups, all seeking ways to usurp the title
of the king.
It is seen that when feudal language speakers set up beachheads inside native-
English nations, those locations also start exhibiting similar social infections. That of
the nation fighting against itself. This is very much evident in the case of the USA now.
QUOTE: Ali Raja repaired at once to Mahe with 500 men. But his reception
seems to have cooled his ardour for the French alliance, and after this powerful French
fleet had sailed away without even attacking Tellicherry, he soon sued the English
factors for peace and stated his hearty repentance. END OF QUOTE.
The native-kings were shifty and always doing things which were not direct,
but from behind the back. There is indeed a culture here in which it is seen that
cheating another person, or doing something against him behind his back are seen as
great personal capacities. The direct manner of dealing is not encouraged by the feudal
language codes.
QUOTE: In September 1755, Ali Raja of Cannanore organised a big

buccaneering expedition in close alliance with Angria. He sent 3,000 men with guns in
70 native small craft (manchuas) and large boats to ravage the Canarese country. This
expedition attacked Manjeshwar and obtained there a booty of 4,000 pagodas, besides
100,000 more from a private merchant. They also landed people to the north of
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Mangalore, marched 18 leagues inland to a very rich pagoda called “Collure” and
carried off booty to the extent, it was reported, of no less than 4,000,000 pagodas.
END OF QUOTE
.
Till the entry of the English rule, there was no far-sighted aim to create any
enduring social or administrative system in the subcontinent. Everyone acted in the
most selfish manner.
QUOTE: On the 11th Ali Raja of Cannanore, without giving any notice to the
factors of his intention, surprised the French fort on Ettikulam Point at Mount Deli
and most barbarously massacred the garrison of 20 men. END OF QUOTE.
This was done because the support of the English Company was on their side.
However, it seems to be a show of power done without the permission of the English
Company officials.
QUOTE: On the 11th March 1761 the Kolattiri Regent wrote to the Chief to
say that Ali Raja of Cannanore had given the greatest affront possible to the Hindu
religion by putting a golden spire on the top of one of his mosques, it being contrary to
their established rules to have a spire of gold on any edifice throughout the coast
except on the principal pagodas ; and only those of Taliparamba, "Turukacoonotu" in
Kottayam, and "Urupyachy Cauvil" at Agarr were entitled to the distinction. War ensued:
the Court of Directors’ orders were peremptory and forbade the factors from
interfering, except as mediators, in the disputes among the country powers. END OF
QUOTE.
These fights are innately encoded into the social culture of the location. The
moment one side gets power, it will display it. However, the English Company was
not to get involved. This was a most sensible policy. This is the sense that has been lost
in native-English nations as they continuously get hoodwinked by various lobbies to
and get entrapped into fighting other people’s battles and wars.
As to the communal divide that ensued, it is spontaneous and not from what
has been currently described as a ‘divide and rule’ policy ostensibly of the English.
QUOTE: Shortly after this, the Bibi of Cannanore again sought protection
from the company and stated positively that Tippu was shortly coming to the coast
with the whole of his force. The Bibi was probably at this time playing a deep game.
The Mappillas of the coast generally recognised her as their head, and the Mappillas of
the south were in open rebellion against Tippu’s authority END OF QUOTE.
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Everyone was cunning to the core. And the political scene itself was quite
confusing.
QUOTE: She professed friendship for the Honourable Company, but did all
in her power in an underhand way against them. END OF QUOTE.
The word ‘she’ can be taken in a more gender-neutral sense. As to how the Ali
Raja side acted, there is nothing unusual. That is how unwary adversaries are struck
down in all feudal language locations. Affability and extreme hospitality are tools of
conquest and backstabbing.
QUOTE: The Bibi’s attitude at this time to the British was very unsatisfactory
and enigmatical. Ever since Tippu’s visit to Cannanore in the preceding year, she had
ostensibly lent to an alliance with the British, but had in reality secretly worked against
them END OF QUOTE.
The English Company officials were slowly learning the social culture of the
location.
QUOTE: It will be noted that this chieftainess was not on a footing similar to
that of the rest of the Malabar chiefs, for she had basely thrown over the English
alliance instead of assisting the Honourable Company’s officers, and had been
compelled by force of arms to withdraw from her alliance with Tippu. END OF
QUOTE.
It is only natural that the Muslim Arakkal family would find it more
advantageous to support a Muslim raider, who could probably overwhelm everyone in
Malabar and Travancore. If he was to win, it would have fared very good for the
Arakkal family. From its very tiny size, it would probably have grown into a very
powerful ruling family in Malabar and probably in Travancore also.
QUOTE: The islands numbered 1 to 4 yielded annually during the ten years
1865-66 to 1874-75, during which period the islanders had broken loose from the
Raja’s control and exported their produce without any restriction, END OF QUOTE.
It is doubtful if the islanders derived anything good by being the subjects of

the Arakkal family. However, till the advent of the English rule in the subcontinent, it
is doubtful if any of the rulers in the location had any concept of a people’s welfare in
their administration policy. Their main idea and mainstay was fighting, conquering,
capturing, overrunning, molesting, plundering, pillaging, breaking places of worship,
catching people for slavery &c. That itself took up almost all their time and
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intelligence. Moreover, they had to be continually vigilant about individuals on their

own side trying to seize the power and the title of king.
QUOTE: Over a part, however, the Pandaram asserts exclusive claims on the
ground that it was formerly waste land and therefore the property of the raja. The
claims were resisted by the people and gave rise to great discontentment and
opposition on their part END OF QUOTE.
That was with regard to Kavaratti Island. The mentioned ‘raja’ was Ali Raja.
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Kolathiri
Basically another tiny kingdom in Cannanore, but much more powerful than
the miniscule Ali Raja kingdom. They had their headquarters at Chirakkal, which is a
few kilometres from current-day Cannanore town. It may be mentioned that the Ali
Raja family also has certain hereditary connections with the Chirakkal raja family.
Even though this kingdom has certain traditional superiority over the other
smaller kingdoms, inside this family many feuds and mutinies and insubordinations are
seen mentioned.
Like all the other minor kingdoms of

Malabar, they also did go on shifting their
alliances with regard to the English East India
Company. All of them did go to their doom. In
this regard, the totally different stance taken by
the king of Travancore, Marthanda Varma and
his descendents might be mentioned. He
declared his total support for the English
Company and gave a message on this deathbed
to never disconnect with the great and
honourable English Company. Travancore was
to grow into a stable kingdom, remained in
existence, till the British Labour Party made
England look like a knave. All terms and treaties and commitments were thrown to the
wind, when they gave the military power to the politician of the northern parts of the
subcontinent.
QUOTE: a fortnight later news came from the factors at Honore regarding
“the Extraordinary Insolency of the Canarees” in having taken the guns out of several
Bombay boats because the English at Tellicherry had assisted the Prince Regent against
them. END OF QUOTE.
The English Company had actually connected to a prince who had ulterior
motives in everything. Even his treaty of peace with the Mappillas was mentioned by
him as : QUOTE: The present Treaty is only to give me a Breathing for four months.
END OF QUOTE.
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The social and family situation was a continually changing one, with everyone
have their own private aims, and ready to backstab anyone, friend or foe, for private
gains. For the English Company, it must have been a very tough situation to deal with
this type of social system.
QUOTE: The country south of the river to be under the Prince Regent, who
was to receive assistance against his rebellious subjects, first of whom were the
Mappillas of Cannanore. END OF QUOTE
This assistance was by the Canarese with whom the Prince had patched up.
The enemy was the Mappillas of Cannanore. Which might mean the people of Ali Raja,
i.e., the Arakkal family. However, the joint attack on them by the Kolathiri prince and
the Canarese forces was repulsed by the Mappillas.
QUOTE: In August and September 1748 matters came to a crisis by the Prince
Regent “laying an impediment” on one of the Company’s merchants, on mulcting him
heavily. On being remonstrated with for this and other similar behaviour, he
strenuously asserted his right to take the half of every man’s property, and the whole of
it if he committed a fault. END OF QUOTE.
The prince’s name was Kunhi Raman. It is quite easy to see that there is very
fast shifting of loyalty and connections. All that is required to provoke such a thing was
a minor change in the verbal code, mentioned by someone. These are things that could
have perplexed the English Company very much.
As to mulcting the Company’s merchant, the merchant could be a native-man

of the subcontinent. His own words, body posture, eye-language all could also be
provocative. For, his own stance would be that he is from a more higher position than
a ‘tiny’ prince.
QUOTE: In November 1748 he had, it seems, portioned out his country to

certain headmen in order that they might plunder his subjects, and the Commandant at
Madakkara reported that soon the country would be ruined END OF QUOTE
He, the prince, is actually acting quite similar to the current-day officials of
India.
QUOTE: He was present at an affecting interview with a very old and bed-
ridden lady, described as the prince’s mother ; she expressed her satisfaction on being
informed that everything had been amicably accommodated, and enjoined her son as
her last parental counsel and advice never to give umbrage to the Chiefs of Tellicherry,
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who had protected the Palli branch of their family in its utmost distress. END OF
QUOTE.
It was the English Company Chief Mr. Byfeld who had conversed with the
prince’s mother. However, there was actually no hope. The Kolathiri family was
divided into so many mutually competing and fighting teams. There was no way for
the English Company to address a single king or prince in this family.
QUOTE: The Prince Regent’s bad advisers, banished in Mr. Byfeld’s time,
returned and signalled their return by an outrage on a private servant of one of the
English officers at Madakkara fort. END OF QUOTE.
The English Company itself was in some kind of an issue. Their new Chief
was not able to understand the social system correctly.
QUOTE: The Prince Regent on 25th September openly visited Mahe and was
received with a salute. END OF QUTOE
The Prince was shifting his loyalty. As to the French, they were using that
standard technique used by all feudal-language speaking groups. That of effusive
hospitality to befriend a person who was on the enemy’s side. This is the same
technique they used to fool young George Washington in the American Continent
when he was sent to their camp with a message from the English Governor of the
place.
QUOTE: Northern Regent then transferred “for ever” to the Honourable

Company the “whole right of collecting the customs in all places in our dominions
END OF QUOTE.
This came about from a very curious situation in which the English Company
had to struggle to find a new ‘king’ when two Prince Regents died one after another.
As usual, many persons staked their claims and fought for it. The English Company
was forced to seek out who was the most eligible and to support him. And this was the
result when he was securely placed on the ‘throne’.
It might seem that the English Company was slowly taking over the locality or
‘country’. However, the fact is that no sane person would like to be ruled by the native
kings and princes. To be under them is a demeaning experience. The English
Company’s rule would be supported by the discerning people.
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QUOTE: On the 11th March 1761 the Kolattiri Regent wrote to the Chief to
say that Ali Raja of Cannanore had given the greatest affront possible to the Hindu
religion END OF QUOTE.
Kolathiris and the Ali Rajas fighting against each other
QUOTE: In April some disturbances were created in Chirakkal by a prince of

the Chenga Kovilakam of the Kolattiri family, a nephew of the late Raja. He claimed
the raj. Colonel Dow went with a force to restore quiet. The rebellious Raja attempted
in the following month of May to take the Puttur Temple by storm, but was slain in the
attempt by the ruling Raja's Nayars who defended it. END OF QUOTE.
The English Company is stuck in the midst of such acrimonious situations.

They came for trade but had to stay on to set up a peaceful situation in the land.
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Kadathanad
As per this book, Malabar, the location of Kadathanad is Badagara and

thereabouts. In certain other locations, the precise location is mentioned as
Puthuppanam. However, these two are more or less very near places.
QUOTE: Puttuppattanam (new town) was at one time the seat of the
Southern Regent of Kolattunad. END OF QUOTE.
As per this book, the king of this place was a sort of ‘lord of pirates’. The
place is the much mentioned as the location of Kalari (Vadakkan Kalari). Vadakkan
Kalari is a very sophisticated martial arts. It is not clearly known as to from where this
martial arts reached here. The problem that this martial art possesses is that it was very
much twined with the feudal language of Malabari. As of now, the feudal language
codes of Malayalam have replaced the Malabari codes.
This martial art, though currently mentioned as part of the heritage of Kerala,
is actually historically part of the heritage of North Malabar. It does not seem to have
any link to the traditions of Travancore, where possibly such traditions are connected
to Tamilnadu. At the same time, it is doubtful if this martial art has been of any use in
confronting any kind of military attacks. For, the language codes are feudal, and it
would be quite difficult to assemble different population groups in the regimentation
required in Kalari. Many persons would not like to be subordinated thus to any guru or
teacher other than their own acknowledged superior.
Pazhassiraja’s insurgency against his uncle ultimately resulted in a fight with

the English Company’s local Kolkars. It is seen mentioned by current-day Kerala spin-
tale wishy-washy historians that he had used this martial arts in his fight against the
English Company’s Kolkars. It is actually curious that there is no mention of this
martial art in this book, Malabar.
The only time some kind of martial arts expertise in mentioned is with regard
to one Mappilla incident and two times with regard to the Mamamkam festival at
Tirunavaya.
QUOTE: 1. Mappilla boats rowed by eight or ten men with four or six more
to assist, all of whom (even the boatmen) practised with the “sword and target” at leas
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2. There were but three Men that would venture on that desperate Action,
who fell in with Sword and Target among the Guards
END OF QUOTE.
Another time the term ‘Sword and Target’ is mentioned when the Kolattiri
visited Da Gama at Cannanore.
Whether all the kings and princes of the location were exponents in Kalari is a
debatable point. From their general attributes, it does not seem that they had any
inclination for any kind of dedicated programmes. Whether Pazhassiraja was an
exponent or expert in this art is not known. And it may not mean much also. For, his
real fight was against his uncle. And his aim was to get the kingship which his uncle
was cunningly avoiding in conceding to him. Kalari has no meaning this issue.
However, it is seen mentioned that there were such ‘champions’ in most of the
villages who would fight for others to settle feuds and challenges. Even though they
are currently being mentioned as ‘great’ persons, it can be really doubtful if they were
that great for the socially higher persons. Even the Vadakkan Pattukal, which contain
many stories of such persons and their exploits, were actually the ballads and songs
sung by the women working in the paddy fields. So, it might be true that these fighters
and champions were their heroes. Not the heroes of the higher grade families.
Moreover, in spite of all claims of so many great martial art professionals,

including females, when the Mysorians arrived, there were actually none to confront
them. In fact, almost the whole of the Hindu (Brahmin), Ambalavasis and Nayar
populations ran off. Whether the Marumakkathaya Thiyyas also ran off is not seen
mentioned. However, since the Muslim invaders were actually targeting only the
Hindu (Brahmin), Amabalavasi and Nayars, it might be possible that the Thiyyas and
the lower castes were left unmolested. This also cannot be said for sure. For raiding
parties, in the midst of the melee of plundering and molesting, would not stop to check
the caste of anyone.
QUOTE: Hamilton paid him a return visit on shore at “his palace which was
very meanly built of Reeds and covered with Coconut Leaves, but very neat and clean
END OF QUOTE.
Hamilton was actually an interloper. Meaning he was a British man who was
wandering in the location near English Company Factory on his own, and more or less
trying to give a perspective that was not from the Company’s view point.
However, his description of the palace of the king has to be noted. For, in
modern history versions, especially in movies and such, there is a tendency to show
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grand and majestic buildings as these palaces. See the words; It was ‘very meanly build
of Reeds, and covered with Coconut leaves’.
QUOTE: “I do not certainly know how far Southerly this Prince’s Dominions
reach along the Sea Coast, but I believe to Tecorie, about 12 miles from Mealie, and in
the half way is Cottica, which was famous formerly for privateering on all Ships and
Vessels that traded without their Lord’s Pass.” END OF QUOTE.
Piracy was crushed by the English rule in the subcontinent. The sea routes
became safe.
QUOTE: Hamilton further notices the “sacrifice Rock” lying off Cottica,
about 8 miles in the sea—so called, tradition says, because “when the Portuguese first
settled at Calicut, the Cottica cruisers surprised a Portuguese vessel and sacrificed all
their Prisoners on that Rock. END OF QUOTE.
It would be quite nonsensical to think that this was an of ‘freedom fight’. For,
the current-day India composes of various bloodlines, including that of the Portuguese.
As to the persons who attacked the Portuguese, they were attacking them only to
protect their own various interests.
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The Zamorin and other

apparitions
In the various history writings of the land, there are some names that are given
a more that life-size dominance. One such is the word Zamorin. Its colloquial name is
Samoori or in modern Malayalam Samoothiri.
When one reads the history that encompasses a few centuries, one finds that
the various native kings change in the various kingdoms. Then the Continental
Europeans arrive; the Portuguese, the Dutch and the French. Then the English comes.
In all these histories, some native kings are seen to remain in a un-dying form.
One such is the Zamorin. Another is the Beebi of the minute kingdom inside
Cannanore town. Then there are others like the Nawab of Carnatic etc.
Actually the persons do change across the years. Yet, their individual names
are not seen mentioned much. They sort of exist like the Phantom, the Ghost who
walks!
QUOTE: an agreement with “Kishen, Zamorin Raja of Calicut,” investing him

with the sole management of all the countries heretofore included in the province of
Calicut, which are or may be conquered by the British troops END OF QUOTE.
The name ‘Kishen’ is seen mentioned in the above quote.
As to the Zamorian, I think the word mentioned in English and the

Continental European languages must have struck the imagination of those people. Far
in the remote eastern mystical lands, there is a ‘great Emperor’, the Zamorin.
Actually the Calicut kingdom was a very tiny one. Its mainstay of existence was
the support given by the king of Egypt, whose one main source of revenue must have
been the pepper trade to Europe, monopolised by Egyptian traders. Even the kingdom
Palghat in the east did not concede to the supremacy of Calicut with or without demur.
Nor did Valluvanaad to the south.
Just beyond the Korapuzha to the north was the kingdom of the Kadathanad.
And far at the southern end of the subcontinent, Travancore was to become a far more
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powerful kingdom than Calicut had ever been. This rise of Travancore was totally due
to the support given by the English East India Company.
QUOTE: The king was sitting in his chair which the factor” (who had
preceded Da Grama with the presents) “had got him to sit upon: he was a very dark
man, half-naked, and clothed with white cloths from the middle to the knees ; END
OF QUOTE.
In all probability, the Zamorin would be just like a typical landlord of Malabar,
who had the seaport in his areas among the areas which were under his control or
ownership. However, beyond that he might even be much connected to seafaring
communicates, who are generally kept at a distance by the ‘higher castes’. But then,
there is nothing to denote that kings of Calicut did go for sea-travel. For, it was
dangerous when accosted by rude pirates, and also a source of defilement, when
accosted by lower caste seafaring populations.
May be he had some dark-skin Tamil bloodline. For generally the people in
Malabar, unconnected to the fishermen folks fair in complexion.
QUOTE: “On the other side stood another page, who held a gold cup with a
wide rim into which the king spat; END OF QUOTE.
The spitting would be after chewing the betel leaves. It would be done by
holding two fingers pressed on the mouth. It is a style that has to be developed with
meticulous practise. A barbarian and uncivilised act aimed at protruding some kind of
dominance.
QUOTE: “And he (the Zamorin) and his country are the nest and resting
place for stranger thieves, and those be called ‘Moors of Carposa,’ because they wear
on their heads long red hats ; and thieves part the spoils that they take on the sea with
the King of Calicut, for he giveth leave unto all that will go a roving liberally to go ; in
sailing in those seas, but with great ships, and very well armed ; or else they must go in
company with the army of the Portugals.” — (Eng. Translation.) END OF QUOTE.
That was the words of Cæsar Frederick, a merchant from Venice, writing
around 1570s.
But then, the king of Calicut was the person who could arrange the pepper for
the merchants. And he was in the control of the Arabian merchants who would not
allow any other trading team to come into direct contact with him.
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QUOTE: But it very soon transpired that all that the Zamorin wanted was to
get assistance against the Portuguese for the conquest of Cranganore and Cochin, and
the ten persons left behind, who were to have founded a factory at Calicut END OF
QUOTE.
The English trading ships came for trade. However, the local attitude was to
make use of all these gullible merchants as some kind of mercenaries. The local kings
and the various other population groups were not intent on setting up any kind of
refined social set up. Their one and only ambition was to tumble down another social
or political adversary. The continued maintenance of a huge section of the population
as slaves or repulsive castes was a foregone conclusion. No one even bothered to even
think of an alternative social set up, until the advent of the English colonial rule.
QUOTE: In 1788 the Zamorin was accordingly induced by a promise of the

restoration of a portion of his territory to put forward some rather antiquated claims to
suzerainty over Travancore. But being disgusted at the forcible conversions which
followed the sultan’s advent, he drew back from the arrangement END OF QUOTE.
It is quite funny to note that the then king of Calicut could be persuaded by
Sultan Tippu to support him, on being promised that the Travancore kingdom would
be brought under him. It might be remembered here that the Kolathiri raja of
Cannanore and beyond had been seduced by Hyder Ali, Tippu’s father to support him
on the promise that he would be made the king of Calicut. The title Samoori could
have had a definite ‘verbal greatness’. Oh, to be the Samoori!
Here the Samoori is being seduced by the promise that he would be the ruler
of Travancore!
QUOTE: 1. The Padinyaru Kovilakam branch of the Zamorin’s family, already

noticed, possessing great influence in the country, was entrusted with the collection of
the district of Nedunganad by the Eralpad Raja, the managing heir apparent of the
Zamorin.
On the strength of this the Padinyaru K. Raja attempted to render himself
independent of the Zamorin. The dispute was carried on to such lengths that Captain
Burchall was obliged to seize his person at Cherupullasseri. He died there a day or two
afterwards, and at the instance of the Zamorin his brother and nephew were put under
restraint, and released only upon the Kilakka Kovilakam Raja standing security for their
good behaviour and payment of arrears of revenue amounting to one lakh of rupees
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2. An attempt was made by two of the Rajas of the Padinyaru Kovilakam

(western palace) of the Zamorin’s house to assassinate him (the king of Calicut)
because he failed to procure them their restoration to Nedunganad. Though severely
wounded, he recovered under the treatment of Surgeon Wye END OF QUOTE.
This was the state of affairs inside the ruling family of tiny Calicut, in a period
of relative peace. The words ‘He died there a day or two afterwards’ also is quite
suspicious. The native-kolkars or peons (Nayars) who did all these kinds of custody
taking of persons would not leave a chance to beat up a person in their custody.
QUOTE: His (the king of Calicut’s) demand for the restoration of Pulavayi
was left in suspense to be settled by the Supravisor as its Nayar chiefs were openly
resisting the attempts of the Zamorin to interfere in the concerns of their country.
END OF QUOTE.
So it is seen that the king of Calicut was not the acknowledged leader of the
Nayars of South Malabar.
QUOTE: They granted one per cent of the land collection of the Zamorin’s
districts to Shamnath, a Palghat Brahman and the Sarvvadi Karyakkaran or chief
minister of the Zamorin, for services rendered by him to the Company. END OF
QUOTE.
No comment.
QUOTE: On 15th November 1806 the Principal Collector, Mr. Warden, and
the Zamorin reduced to terms the understanding with the latter and his family in
regard to the payment of the malikhana allowance (or one-fifth share of the revenues
of their districts) which had been set apart for their maintenance.
The family receives Rs. 1,32,163 odd per annum, and it is “considered as the
security for the good and dutiful behaviour towards the Company’s Government of
each and every member of the Rajeum (Rajyam) or family to which it may now and
hereafter be payable. END OF QUOTE.
I think this was commencing times of the famous Privy Purse, or the pension
given to the erstwhile rulers whose areas had been taken over by the English
administration. It was one of the Indian prime ministers who stopped this suddenly
inside India. What happened in Pakistan is not known to me. This sudden stopping
was a populist political action by a mediocre politician who literally got everything on a
silver platter from the English administration. Many small-time royal families went into
severe destitution with this.
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QUOTE: Kavalappara under its own Nayar chief owed a sort of nominal
allegiance both to the Cochin Raja and to the Zamorin. The Commissioners eventually
decided in favour of his independence. END OF QUOTE.
There is a missed information in all this. Why did the native-rulers concede to
the leadership of the English, when they would not have allowed anyone among them
to dominate? The answer lies in the fact that the native rulers and their henchmen are
feudal-language speaker. A subordination to one among them would pull down the
indicant word levels of such words as You, Your, Yours, He, His, Him, She, Her, Hers
etc. to dirt levels in the hands and minds of several persons. In the case of
subordination to the native-English, such a terror was not there at all.
QUOTE: But the Raja of Palghat applied to Hyder Ali, then Foujdar of
Dindigul, in the service of Chick Deo Raj, the nominal sovereign of Mysore. On this
application Hyder Ali sent a force under his brother-in-law, Muckh doom Sahib, who
drove back the Zamorin’s Nayars END OF QUOTE.
This is how the Mysorean’s got a taste for Malabar.
QUOTE: the gauntlet of the Zamorin’s 30,000 spears at Tirunavayi in Ponnani

taluk every twelfth year. END OF QUOTE.
Whether the number 30,000 is mere bluff might need to be checked. The
quote is about the Mahamakkam festival at Tirunavayi.
QUOTE: King and beggar were both thus attired, but Mussulmans dressed in
costly garments. The king was called “Samuri” and the traveller noticed the peculiar
law of inheritance in force. END OF QUOTE.
That was a quote from Abdu-r-Razzak’s writings (1442 A.D.). The beggar
looked like a king or the king looked like a beggar?
If it is the former, the place was quite rich like Japan, where even the lowest
classes have fabulous dresses. Or if it is the latter, the place must be quite different.
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The Jews
I am not sure as to what the native-language of the Jew is. It can be Aramaic
or Hebrew. And whether they practise their hereditary language/s is not known to me.
However, since it is language that holds the traditional culture and mentality of a
population, it is possible that they do speak their hereditary language, whatever it is.
It might not be correct to say that the Jews have been cunning. Even though
there is something about their language/s that has created some kind of very definite
issues about them in various parts of the world.
However, the Jewish leadership did have some innate knowledge about the
state of affairs in the subcontinent or at least in the Cochin-Kodungalloor area. When
they arrived to settle in the location, they presented themselves from a location of
power and prestige. Using this platform, they got the local kings to concede a social
position to that was more or less on par with the Nayars of the location. It was very
carefully mentioned that the lower castes were under them, and they had to be
extended the due servitude by them, in all manners.
The same thing, I think the Syrian Christians also would gather from the ruler
of Travancore.
This kind of intelligence very evidently were not made use of by such
population groups like the Marumakkathaya Thiyyas and Makkathayatha Thiyyas of
north and south Malabar.
This is a very dangerous way of entering into a social system which runs on
feudal languages. When entering into a feudal language social ambience, care should
be taken to keep a distance from the lower-placed persons. No kind of friendship or
common interests should be mentioned. All mention should be of higher-positioned
locations. For, verbal codes shift 180° depending on what connection is mentioned or
displayed. Never admit that one is capable of great physical feats like climbing a
coconut tree. This simple admission can place that person in a gorge.
In the case of the English also, they were actually quite foolish in that they did
not take into consideration the very powerful hierarchical layers inside the social
system. However, at the same time they had a few very powerful advantages. One was
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that their own native-language, pristine-English did not have the codes that would
create division, envy, backstabbing etc.
It is true that many native-Englishmen did find their personal qualities

compromised as they got entangled in personal relationships with the natives of the
subcontinent.
The second very powerful item was that they found it quite difficult to learn
the local feudal languages, which more or less would sound like animal sounds to a
person who is not used to them.
The third quite helpful item was that they were on their own. They could take
pre-emptive actions, without having to bother about explaining everything to the
people back at home, who literally would not be able to understand what these people
were actually facing. There was no democracy to make a mess of a great Company’s
endeavours.
The fourth great help was that the English Company directors were based in
England. So, that they were in a most egalitarian mood.
All this helped the English Company to save themselves from being slowly
and surely downgraded into one of the lower castes of the subcontinent.
There was great gullibility in the endeavours of the native-English. They were
bent on improving the stature of the lower castes. It is a very dangerous deed indeed.
For, when the lower castes improve, they will have no residue of gratitude left in them
after a generation or two. They will become as carnivorous as the higher castes in their
verbal codes, and will try to bite the native-English with all display of calibre and skills.
However as of now, all these great advantages are gone in England. The native
English are made to get accustomed to the satanic codes of feudal languages. The
other side literally enjoys the slow and steady atrophying of the native-English
posterity. If very clear understanding the great mutation this is bringing in into the
interiors of both the human beings as well as the social system is not there, within a
few centuries, the native-English will reach the levels of the lower castes of this
subcontinent. That much is for sure.
QUOTE: The Jews and Syrians were by other deeds incorporated in the
Malayali nation, and in the second of the Syrians’ deeds it is clear that the position
assigned to them was that of “equality with the Six Hundred” of the nad (that is, of the
county) END OF QUOTE
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This is a very powerful insertion in the Deeds. Only populations that

understand the social codes of feudal languages would insist on these things. In native-
English nations, where such things are not known, the native-English populations are
powerfully heading on to terrible conditions. They have no platform to stand upon as
feudal-language speakers from Continental Europe, South America, Africa and Asia
rush in and speak English. The fact all of them do have another social and mental
demeanour in their own native languages is not understood by the native-English
populations.
Some of the native-English react powerfully when they get to experience a

terrible kind of degrading that the feudal languages enforce upon them. It can be felt in
the eyes, body-language, camaraderie, facial demeanour etc. of the feudal language
speakers. In fact, inside the feudal language nations, people do not allow others who
might use pejorative word-form or pejorative glances or pejorative body languages,
into the close proximity. However, in pristine-English, there is no way to define
another person as being a dangerous entity.
When the native-English react to these satanic human degrading for which
there is no known defence as of now, it is quite coolly defined as a ‘hate’ behaviour and
‘racism’. The whole ludicrous item in these kinds of definitions is that the native-
English side has no means to even claim that something terrible has been done upon
them.
In the above-quote, the words “equality with the Six Hundred” is not to be
construed as being given superior status comparable to the royalty. At best, it is the
stature of the local police constable of present day India. Even though the police
constable are at the lowest rung of the India police administration, from the
perspective of the common man, they are quite brutally powerful.
QUOTE: There is only one other matter to be pointed out in connection with
these deeds. The privileges granted thereby were princely privileges, and that such
favours were conferred on foreigners engaged in trade like the Jews and Christians is
matter for remark. Such privileges are not usually to be had for the asking, and the
facts set forth in this section seem to point to their having been granted END OF
QUOTE.
There is indeed some cunning misinterpretations inserted here, naturally by

the Nayar writers of this book, Malabar. The privileges of the Nayars are not the
privileges of the princes and kings. However, from the perspective of the feudal
languages of the subcontinent, they are ‘princely’ for the common folks.
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If the ways and manners by which the common man has to behave in front of
an Indian police constable is compared with that of England, it might be seen that
even the common man in England does not have to display that level of subservience
and servitude to even the Monarch of England.
From this sense, the privileges granted are ‘princely’
QUOTE: a hereditary appendage for the time that earth and moon exist—
Anjuvannam, a hereditary appendage END OF QUOTE.
Well, it seems that as per the antiquity, these rights are still valid. It is a quote
from the Deed signed between King (Perumal) Sri Bhaskara Ravi Varman, and Joseph
Rabban.
QUOTE: ; pacudam (T.tribute) is, in the Jewish translation the right of calling
from the comers of the street that low castes may retire. END OF QUOTE.
This is the sort of clearing the way for the Hindus (Brahmins) and the higher
castes to move through the road. There are different distances at which each different
layer of the lower castes should keep themselves from the higher castes. The more
down the lower caste is, the more is the distance. Actually these things are directly
connected to the physical and virtual code effects of the feudal languages.
The more subordinated a person is, the more ‘respectful’ he or she has to be.
For the more lower a caste, the more taller is the pivot they create, on which they can
swing or seesaw or carousal the higher castes. For more on this, please check my
writing, ‘An Impressionistic history of the South Asian Subcontinent’.
See this QUOTE from Native Life in Travancore by Rev. Samuel Mateer:
QUOTE: Pulayars meeting me, cried po, po (“go”) േപാ, േപാ, and stood still, till I
assured them they need not fear me. END of QUOTE
This is one of the cautions the lower castes used to signal the higher castes of
their polluting presence.
QUOTE: We have given to Joseph Rabban (the principality) Anjuvannam,

along with the 72 Janmi rights, such as (going) with elephants and (other) conveyances,
tribute from subordinate landholders, and the possession (or revenue) of Anjuvannam,
the light by day, the spreading cloth, the litter, the umbrella, the Vaduca drum (Jews'
transl: "drum beaten with two sticks’’), the trumpet, the gateway with seats, ornamental
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arches, and similar awnings and garlands (charawu, i.e,, T.காவ) and the rest. END OF
QUOTE.
Even though the above rights look terrific, they are basically the rights of the
supervisor caste or the Nayars. It may be borne in mind that above the Nayars there
are the various layers of Ambalavasis and above them, the various layers of the
Brahmin caste.
It is similar to the police constables in India being quite powerful over the
lower financial private individual. However, above of the layers of the constables, there
are the middle-level police officials, viz. the Sub Inspector, the Circle Inspector, and
the DySp. Above them are the ‘officer’ class known as the IPS. It starts from the
Assistant Superintendant of Police, Superintendent of Police, the Deputy Inspector
General of Police, the Inspector General of Police and the Director General of Police.
The majority people of India are under the constables of the Indian police
department. They will be addressed and referred to in the most terrible pejorative
words of the feudal languages. The people have no complaints about this. For, they are
given the adequate training by the government vernacular schools that the common
man in the nation are mere low-class beings, quite lower than even the lowest class in
the government service.
QUOTE: We also have given to him (the right of) the feast-cloth(?), house-
pillars (or pictured rooms ?), all the, revenue, the curved sword (or dagger), and in (or
with) the sword the sovereign merchant-ship, the right of proclamation, the privilege
of having forerunners, the five musical instruments, the conch, the light (or torch
burning) by day, the spreading cloth, litter, royal umbrella, Vaduca drum (drum of the
Telugu’s or of Bhairava?), the gateway with seats and ornamental arches, and the
sovereign merchant-ship over the four classes6 (or streets), also the oil-makers and the
five kinds of artificers we have subjected to him (or given as slaves to him) END OF
QUOTE.
See the words ‘given as slaves to him’. It is simply the wording in the local
language such as ‘he is coming there to you’ by one boss to another. What is the level
of dignity being offered to ‘him’ depends on the word used for ‘he’. If it is ‘avan’, he is
literally taken as a lowly servant. If it is ‘Ayaal’, a slight more consideration is given. He
can be given a seat to sit down, and the pejorative words of addressing will not be
there. However, if the ‘he’ word used in the highest, something like Oru /Avaru/
Adhehem etc., the person would be given the same honour that is reserved for the
highest persons.
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Now, what has happened here is that a new group of people have come to the
land. The native king mentions to them that such as such persons are ‘for you to
address in the pejorative and can be used and misused as you like’.
The fact is that these things do matter much in the subcontinent. For instance,
I have seen in the Wynad district in north Malabar, the settlers coming from
Travancore and treating the forest-dwellers there as their dirty servants. It is there in
the verbal codes. No one bothers to question this.
Now, if outsiders go to England, then if the English king or some other

authority tell them, that such and such populations are dirt and they can be addressed
in the pejorative and used and misused, that would look pretty funny. For pristine-
English does not have codes to hold these kinds of cantankerous ideas.
It is into this high quality England that persons who speak such satanic
languages are entering. Their very mental disposition is devilish. When they speak or
think about another person or persons, the other person or persons are really being
encoded with very powerful codes of personality mutation and disarraying.
What is being thought will reflect in the eyes. The eye-language of person who
views another person as Inhi/Nee (lowest you), is different from the person who views
him as an Ingal/Saar (highest you). The former is highly piercing, personality
splintering, looks which can cause very powerful negatively mutations inside the other
person’s individuality.
The latter is the view that is offered to those one reveres. It adds to the other
person’s personality, positive codes and values. It can cause very powerful positive
mutations in his or her internal codes.
These are things that are not known in native-English nations. However some
persons, especially the lower-aged as well the persons doing jobs which are defined as
lowly in these dirty languages, will feel the tragic mutation. They might go berserk. And
the foolish psychologists and psychiatrists who do not know a thing about these things
will judge them as having mental problems. Actually, the reality is the exact opposite.
They are the few who could detect or sense the terrific degrading mutation that the
nation is undergoing.
It is like this. A person goes into a private location in a building and does a
biological action that would be too vulgar and dirty if seen by anyone outside.
However, someone who is his subordinate did see this action by spying into the room
through a hole in the wall.
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The first person comes out. He assembles all his subordinates in front of him.
When he is looking at the eyes of each on them, there is no problem. However, when
he looks into the eyes of the person who has viewed his private vulgarity, he would see
a different tone in the eyes. It is that, that person’s brain has entered into a very deeper
location with regard to him. And has processed him with that information.
The same is the case with the feudal-language speaker in England. He has
measured each of the native citizens using his own language codes. He has seen that
many of them of younger-age, and lesser-positioned jobs are of the mere ‘eda’, ‘edi’,
‘Inhi’, ‘Nee’, ‘oan’, ‘oalu’, ‘avan’, ‘aval’ &c. levels in his own language coding. This is
making a piercing entry into the very vitals of the native-English individual.
He or she has no defence against this. For, if a defence against this had been
available in the South Asian subcontinent, the lower castes would have used it to
protect themselves.
The native English individual will naturally have some kind of repulsiveness
when in the presence of such individuals. This is one of the real reasons for the
emotion called ‘racism’. However, there is another content also in it. That I might
mention later.
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SOCIAL CUSTOMS
QUOTE: Another curious custom has come down from ancient times and is
still flourishing, though the mutual confidence on which it relies for its proper effects
shows signs of breaking down and is cited as a degeneracy of Malayali manners. Any
one desirous of raising a considerable sum of money for some temporary purpose
invites his friends to join him in what is called a kuri or lottery : END QUOTE.
In the above-quote, there does seem to be some confusion or discrepancy.

There are two entirely different items in vogue in current-day Kerala. Of this, the item
which seems to be connected to the antiquity of Travancore is something known as
Chitty. It is also known as Kuri.
At the same time, there is another very popular social financial, sort-of-crowd-
sourcing. This is part of the antiquity of Malabar. It is known as Panappayat.
However, the above quote seems to be something kind of mixing up these two
items, possibly by the Travancore lobby which has had access to doctoring the inputs
in this book. For the word Malayali is seen used. It is troubling. Because, there are two
different population groups which are being conjoined using this word. The
Travancore population has not yet connected to the Malabar population other than at
the higher caste levels. Even at that level, there can be doubt as to whether the same
caste names do refer to the same antique populations.
QUOTE: The Kuri was of three kinds : (1) Nelkkuri, where the shares were
paid in paddy ; (2) Arikkuri, where the shares were paid in rice ; and (3) Panakkuri,
where the shares were paid in money. END OF QUOTE
A bit of more detail about Kuris.
QUOTE: 1. KURI MUPPAN is the president of the society termed

Changngatikkuri
2. The society has of late years fallen into disuse, partly because the European
authorities have discouraged it among all public servants as liable to abuse END OF
QUOTE.
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Off course, when such financial dealing become part of the social rights of a
native government officials, there would be misuse. It is great that the English
administration did sense this, and prohibit among the ‘public servants’.
There is this thing also to be noted. Current-day Indian officials do not like the
usage ‘public servant’. They find it a most foolish term. For, they are generally accepted
as the ‘public master’ and not the ‘public servant’. They will not allow such deprecatory
words defining them.
The usage ‘European authorities’ is utter nonsense. British-Malabar is not
under any ‘European authorities’.
QUOTE: It is not, it appears, confined to people of the same caste, but the
association was often composed of Nayers, Tiyars and Mappilas END OF QUOTE.
It is about the Changngatikkuri (may be panappayatt). The above statement

might be about North Malabar.
QUOTE: the lower orders of the population, who even now take vengeance
on the higher castes by stoning their houses at night and by various devices
superstitiously set down to the action of evil spirits. END OF QUOTE.
It might be true that some kind of mischief must have been done by the lower
castes. However, beyond that there might be no need to be judgemental about the
powers of supernatural beings associated with the various Shamanistic rituals of North
Malabar.
As to the attitude of the lower castes, there might naturally be many who
might have felt that they have more claims to social rights than was being conceded to
them.
QUOTE: Some of the agrestic slave caste had murdered a Nayar and mutilated
the body, and on being asked why they had committed the murder, the details of which
they freely confessed, they replied that if they ate of his flesh their sin would be
removed. (Indian Antiquary, VIII, 88.) END OF QUOTE.
These were very rare occurrences. I personally do not think that cannibalism
was a part of the culinary art in the subcontinent, as it was in the African continent.
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Hinduism
QUOTE: The final Brahman irruption from the north into Malabar, may be
placed about A.D. 700, was destined to work a greater change in the religion of the
land, for it was part of the policy of the new-comers to “enlarge their borders”, and to
embrace in their all-enveloping Hinduism all minor creeds with which they came into
contact END OF QUOTE
The above quote can be absolute nonsense. This ‘Hinduism’ did not envelop
all minor creeds in the manner one might easily understand. By some very clever use of
verbal codes, various different populations were subordinated to the Brahmins. This
Brahmanical Hinduism cannot embrace anyone other than itself.
Moreover, Hinduism never could come out of its cloistered features, due to
the fact that the Brahmanical religion (Hinduism) was connected to an extremely feudal
language, Sanskrit. Beyond that, it is possible that almost all the languages of the
subcontinent were also terribly feudal. So much so that even the an ordinary
conversation with a seafaring population who might not be ready to concede the
expected levels of reverence in words, would have had the effect of degrading the
Brahmins.
It is seen that the other ordinary Brahmins were averse to travelling by sea.
However, with the arrival of the English rule, many of them did get to travel by sea
and even to England, standing inside the cosy interiors of an English ambience.
The basic information to be had is that when the seafarers were Englishmen,
the Brahmins had no problem of travelling across the seas. When the travelling was in
the hands of the lower-castes of the subcontinent, it would be a terror to have a
conversation with them. For, they might not really concede the ‘respect’ words.
QUOTE: Malayali Hinduism, therefore, in the present day is a strange mixture

of all kinds of religious ideas. It embraces, chiefly as divers manifestations of Siva and
his consort Kali, all the demoniac gods originally worshipped by the Malayalis END
OF QUOTE.
The above statement might be a pack of lies packaged in easily seducing ideas.
The very word ‘Malayali Hinduism’ is a misnomer. In this book, Malabar, it is used to
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mean the Nayars and the Hindus (Brahmins) of Malabar, at the same time mixing up
this word with the people of Travancore.
Even though it is possible that some of the higher castes of Malabar are same
to the corresponding castes of Travancore, when it comes to the castes subordinated
under the Nayars, there might not be much of a correspondence. Even though the
Shamanistic deities of the populations kept subordinated under the Nayars have been
entangled into Hinduism as some kind of lower version of the Brahmanical religion,
actually there is no need for such a prop.
QUOTE: It has borrowed from Christianity—with which, probably for the

first time, Hinduism came into contact in Malabar —some of the loftiest ideas of pure
theism. END OF QUOTE.
This statement is again some kind of shallow scholarship. Christianity itself is

not a European religion. Its roots are based outside Europe. As to Christianity having
very lofty ideal, English Christianity is very high in quality. Whether the Continental
European Christianity is that high is doubtful. And whether Hinduism has any lofty
social ideals is also a debatable point. For, if the native-English rule had not come into
the subcontinent, even now the social system would have been terribly structured and
with a huge slave population.
QUOTE: It was at the hands of Samkaracharya, who is generally

acknowledged to have been a Malayali Brahman living in the last quarter of the eighth
and in the first quarter of the ninth, century A.D., that Hinduism attained its widest
bounds under the form of Vedantism END OF QUOTE.
I do not know what are Shankaracharya’s ideas and information. Since it has
been highly praised, it is very much possible that there are great thoughts in them.
However, to connect the high-grade thoughts, ideas and ideals of a solitary individual
to that of an unorganised religion or with an unconnected series of populations, does
seem quite unintelligent.
Again the word ‘Malayali Brahmin’ has a lot of issues. He is not from Malabar,
but from Travancore area. At that time, it is seen mentioned that the language was
more or less Tamil in Travancore. Simply running off with words without anything to
substantiate them does look ludicrous. In fact, Kaladi, his home town is not very far
from the Kottayam of Central Travancore, where the English evangelists such as
Henry Baker &c. had to work for years to improve the lower castes from their
hereditary state of being identified as very near to animals.
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It does look quite odd that this great teacher in Vedic contents had no
thoughts comparable to what the ordinary English evangelist had.
A book in Sanskrit is actually a book in Greek to the natives of both Malabar

as well as Travancore, whichever group is identified as ‘Malayalis’. However, it might
be possible that the newly created language, Travancore Malayalam, has literally
downloaded almost all the words in Sanskrit into its own verbal repository. From this
perspective, it is possible that Malayalam might be found in the ancient Sanskrit books.
QUOTE: There is a constant pining after a transcendental ideal, attainable

perhaps, but only after much suffering, and after much, almost, impossible, self-denial
END OF QUOTE.
The feudal content in the languages here do create a lot of very special kind of
thoughts. For, individuals cannot converse with others as they can do in English. For,
in each conversation, there is need to first establish and publish each person’s relative
social status. Beyond that, the above claims of piety can be found in persons of all
kinds of religious and spiritual persuasions.
QUOTE: the first Hindu embassy from King Porus, or, as others say, from the
King of Pandya, proceeded to Europe and followed the Roman Emperor Augustus to
Spain END OF QUOTE.
There is a question that can be asked about the above statement. Was it a
religious embassy from King Porus? Why a ‘Hindu’ word? Even if the Continental
Europeans may have used the word ‘Hindu’, from the local understanding the word
‘Hindu’ is superfluous. It can be mentioned as a delegation from King Porus, even
though such technical words as ‘delegation’ etc. might give the travellers an English
aura, which they might not have, other than in Hollywood, Bombay film world &c.
movies.
But then there might have been so many others also, since there was some
kind of trade going on globally. There is also the issue of technically relatively much
better placed nations were also there in the world in various places. If that be so, there
must have been more travellers of this kind.
At best, these kinds of claims might be there in plenty in the African continent
also. For, it was also a place with numerous ports of call in ancient times.
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Christianity
The subject of Christianity is quite a complicated one. There are a few

Christian denominations in current-day south India. Christians can be found in
Travancore, Cochin, Kodungalur, Trichur, Calicut, Wynad, Tellicherry, Cannanore and
such places. However, beyond the traditional urban areas, there are Christians to be
found in the forest areas of Malabar extending from the interiors of Calicut
/Malappuram to the interior mountain regions of Kasargode district.
Christians are found in Madras and in the various locations of Tamilnadu

state. They are to be found in Mangalore and Udupi and even in Bangalore. I
understand that Goa has a sizable Christian population. Bombay has Christian
populations.
All of them can be presumed to

be focused on the life and teaching of
Jesus Christ.
But then, as mentioned before,

the Christians are not single group.
Some of the denominations are not in
peace and love with certain other
Christian groups.
Inside Travancore itself there have been varied historical incidences connected
to the various minor denominations. The main traditional Christian group in
Travancore, I understand, might be the Syrian Christians.
Then there is the huge number of lower caste people who have converted into
Christians. Many of them are from the very low castes of Paraih, Pulaya etc.. Many
Ezhavas also have converted into Christians.
Of these converted-into-Christians from Travancore, a sizable number did

move to Malabar. Some of them might have come as Church officials and teachers.
Some might have come to take up jobs that required various skills, including formal
education.
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The converted Christians do not generally display any kind of lower mental or
physical abilities in the case of individuals who have risen up financially and
educationally.
QUOTE: There is consequently no inherent improbability in the tradition that

the Apostle Thomas was one of the earliest immigrants from the West; END OF
QUOTE.
The word ‘west’ is not clearly understood here. Jesus of Nazareth was not
actually from the ‘west’, if the word is meant to mean Continent Europe or Great
Britain. However, I have no personal knowledge in these things.
QUOTE: A king, who has been satisfactorily identified with, king

Gondophares mentioned in IndoSkythian coins, and of whose reign a stone
inscription, dated 40 A.D., has recently been deciphered is said to have sent to Christ
for an architect, and St. Thomas was sent in consequence. But this king reigned in
North-western India, whereas St. Thomas is understood to have preached his mission
in Malabar and to have been killed at St. Thomas’ Mount near Madras. END OF
QUOTE.
Quite an interesting historical confusion!
QUOTE: Likewise at Male where the pepper grows; and in the town Kalliena
there is also a bishop consecrated in Persia.” “Male” is clearly Malabar, and “Kalliena”
is most probably a place near Udipi in South Canara. END OF QUOTE.
It is quite curious. I do not remember seeing the word ‘Male’ to mean Malabar.
What about the Mali Island? It is simply a query, with no specific arguments. The
above quote also can be correct.
QUOTE: a large body headed by the venerable Bishop Mar Coorilos waited,
by special request, on the Right Honourable Mr. Grant Duff, Governor of Madras, at
Calicut, in January 1882, and presented to him a short account of themselves, from
which the following extracts are taken:- END OF QUOTE
Parts of the narration are given below:
QUOTE: the arrival of a Persian heretic of the School of Manes, or, as is

supposed1 by some, a heathen wizard. Through his teaching, many went over to him
and are even to this day known as ‘Manigramakkar’ They cannot be distinguished from
the Nayars, and are to be found at Quilon Kayencolam and other places. South
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Travancore is the seat of the descendants of those who stood steadfast in their faith
during this apostacy and are known as Dhariyayikal meaning ‘nonwearers’ (of heathen
symbols) END OF QUOTE.
This is one group of Christians, I suppose. However, the words ‘They cannot
be distinguished from the Nayars’ can be an issue. For, there is so much self-praise and
eulogising of Nayars in this book, Malabar, that everything mentioned with regard to
‘Nayars’ has to be taken up for scrutiny. A few of the items can be factually correct,
despite the ubiquitous eulogising words.
QUOTE: “Some years after this first split had taken place or in (350 A.D.)
was the arrival of Thomas of Cana, a Syrian merchant, whose large heartedness and
sympathy for the neglected community was such that on his return to his native land,
his story induced many to come out with him in his second visit, among whom was a
bishop by the name of Mar Joseph. It was the first time a colony of Christians came to
India.
They were about four hundred in number. They landed at Cranganore then
known as Mahadeverpattanam. They settled in the country with the permission of
‘Cheraman Perumal the ruler of Malabar, who, as a mark of distinction and favour,
granted to the Christian community certain privileges (72 in number) which at once
raised them to a position of equality with the Brahmans. One of the privileges was the
supremacy over seventeen of the lower classes; a relic of which still exists in the
adjudication by Syrian Christians of certain social questions belonging to them. The
grant was made on copper-plates, which with some others, are in the custody of the
Syrian Metran and are preserved in the Kottayam Seminary END OF QUOTE.
This may be how the English official came to understand how a Christian
community which was quite ancient was in existence in Travancore and Cochin areas.
They were to form the Syrian Christians in the location. Thomas of Cana and Mar
Joseph are seen as the founders of this Christian colony inside Travancore. The
purpose why they relocated to Travancore might not be what has been described in the
above paragraph.
That they did not come with any egalitarian principles or with the concept of
‘love thy neighbour’ concept of Jesus Christ can be seen very clearly. For, they came
with the full realisation that they had to survive in a land where if they are not properly
secured above the various layers of castes, they would get crushed down by the feudal
vernacular verbal codes. The Syrian Christians maintained this superiority even though
it is seen mentioned that all of them were not in good conditions, when the London
Missionary Society came to Travancore. That is mentioned in Native Life in
Travancore by Rev. Samuel Mateer.
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Here the difference between the intentions of Thomas of Cana and Mar
Joseph team and that of the evangelists of the London Missionary Society can be seen.
The former came to suppress the lower castes under them and to keep them as slaves.
The latter came with the deliberate aim of emancipating the enslaved classes from their
terrible state of life.
It is a curious situation. Both are Christian groups. However, it is the group

that came from England that had egalitarian aims.
QUOTE: “Matters continued thus until the arrival of the second colony of
Christians (who were Nestorians) from Persia, at Quilon ‘between the ninth and the
tenth century. They were also received well and permitted to settle in the country. The
first colony, incorporated with the northern portion of the community, had their
headquarters at Cranganore and the southern portion ‘Kumk-keni-kollam’ or Quilon.
END OF QUOTE.
The tale continues.
Then came the Portuguese, and then the mission of Alexis Menezes,
Archbishop of Goa, who was deputed by the Pope in 1598 A.D. to complete the
subjugation of the Syrian Church. The Church split into church into Romo-Syrians or
‘Old Party,’ and Syrians or ‘New Party. The presence of the Dutch brought down the
antipathies.
QUOTE: The capture of Cochin by the Dutch in 1063 was followed by an

order requiring the Romish bishops, priests, and monks to quit the place which was
not a little favourable to the Syrians. END OF QUOTE.
QUOTE: a large number, at a public assembly, resolved upon applying to

Babylon, Antioch, Alexandria, and Egypt for a bishop. “This was done, and in 1653
Antioch promptly complied with the request by sending out Mar Ignatius, a Jacobite
bishop. It was from this date that the Jacobite element began to leave the Malabar
church. Mar Ignatius was mercilessly seized and thrown into the sea, as is believed by
the Syrians, or sent to be tried before the Inquisition as is supposed by others END OF
QUOTE.
In the year 1800 came the figure of Rev. Claudius Buchanan, going from
church to church, conversing freely with all and diligently seeking for information
about them.
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QUOTE: Coming to Kandanad, he had an interview with the Metran, to

whom he set forth the advisability of maintaining a friendly relation with the Anglican
church, translating the Bible into Malayalam and establishing parochial schools. This
being acquiesced Dr. Buehanan saw Colonel Macaulay, the British Resident, in
company with whom he visited the northern parts of Travancore and Cochin END OF
QUOTE.
It is curious that Rev. Claudius Buchanan was mentioning the advisability of

maintaining a friendly relation with the Anglican church, and also on translating the
Bible into Malayalam and establishing parochial schools. The fact should be the last
two items are actually the exact opposite of what the Anglican Church should stand
for. I am not sure how much profound understanding the Anglican Church had about
the advisability of connecting with the Syrian Christian church, whose traditional aims
were the exact opposite of Anglican Christianity.
It is seen in the Native Life in Travancore that Syrian Christians did have
lower caste slaves under them bound to the soil. It is a sure case that they would not
view the activities of the London Missionary Society with pleasure. However, these
Missionaries also did not promote English, I think.
So there were actually a lot complications involved. And I think ultimately

with the departure of the English rule in the subcontinent, the Anglican Church also
must have fallen into the hands of the other Christian denominations. These are things
about which I do not have any information. It is true that these information can be
collected quite easily. However, there are so many information that can be collected if
enquired. If the reader wants to pursue them, he or she can.
It may be mentioned in passing that most of these above-mentioned items are

connected to Travancore and Cochin. The relevance to Malabar comes only with the
issue of Converted Christians from Travancore relocating into Malabar forest regions.
As to the wider aims of the Bishop Mar Coorilos in meeting the Right Honourable Mr.
Grant Duff, Governor of Madras, at Calicut, in January 1882, it might be just a
cunning premeditated plan to make the best use of the English supremacy in the
subcontinent, for furthering the interests of his own christen denomination.
QUOTE: ......The fact attracted the attention of Colonel Munro, who, after
making himself acquainted with the real position, set about getting a seminary built for
them at Kottayam, of which the foundation stone was laid in 1813.
At the commencement of his government, Colonel Munro undertook to get
out missionaries to train Syrian deacons and lads to carry on parochial schools.
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And the Resident got the Honourable East India Company to invest 3,000 star
pagodas in the name of the community for educational purposes. END OF QUOTE.
Colonel Munro seems to have done more indeed. However, whether it was
actually in sync with the published aims of the English East India Company might have
to be looked into, to know more. He could have been hoodwinked by pretended
affableness.
QOUTE: “Colonel Munro, whose tenure of office extended from 1810 to

1819, must be regarded as having been the most, earnest promoter of Syrian Christian
interests. END OF QUOTE.
Syrian Christians were not a pro-English side. Nor were they happy with the
unshackling of their hereditary slaves. Moreover, it was not an English Church.
However, Col. Munro himself seems to be a Scot.
Generally there is a mistaken notion in native-English nations that all

Christians all around the world are one team. It is a very flawed understanding of
realities. Even the Continental European Christians do not support any English
endeavour or side. If that be so, the feeling that the Christians in Asian/ African/
South American nations are from their side is a very foolish idea in native-English
nations.
QUOTE: Travancore, the Dewan and Resident of which was Colonel Munro,
endowed the institution with Rs. 20,000 and a large estate at Kallada called Munro
Island END OF QUOTE.
Col Munro is seen as a great administrator in Travancore. However, that was

just because he was part of the English East India Company. As to what he did as per
the above statement, a feeling that he clearly went beyond his brief comes.
It was not the policy of the English East India Company to promote any kind
of Christian denominations. In fact, the policy decision given to the officials was to be
neutral with regard to all religious and spiritual aspirations as much as possible.
In fact, I have personally seen all kinds of Christians who speak very bad
about English colonialism, after swallowing up huge contents of wholesome benefits
derived from the English rule.
QUOTE: how through the good offices of Mr. Bellard, the British Resident,
the Travancore Sircar restored to them their portion of the endowments which was in
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their custody after the adjudication by the committee, how the church is disturbed by
various internal feuds; and how the community is once more going through another
cycle of trials and neglect.” END OF QUOTE.
Thus ends the narration by Bishop Mar Coorilos to the Right Honourable Mr.
Grant Duff, Governor of Madras. Here again, it is seen that the Syrian Christian
church did take the British Resident Mr. Bellard for ride. After all in feudal language
nations, the best tool for deceiving is that of pretended affability and fake friendliness.
The standards of the English East India Company droop down in these
episodes.
QUOTE: As regards the Roman Catholics and their connection with the
Romo-Syrians, the following extracts are taken from a short history of the Verapoly
Catholic Mission END OF QUOTE.
That is a different story altogether. It goes through another route.
QUOTE: The first superior of the Carmelite mission, Mgr. Joseph of St. Mary,
a descendant of the noble Sebastiano family, was appointed by the afore said Pontiff in
the year 1656, END OF QUOTE.
This is from this Verapoly Catholic Mission story.
QUOTE: But, on the 6th January 1663, the Dutch having defeated the
Portuguese, took possession of Cochin, and refused to the Carmelite missionaries the
permission of exercising their ministry in Malabar
“However, after a short lapse of time, the Dutch Government being aware
that the presence of the Carmelites in Malabar could produce no harm, cancelled the
above-said prohibition and allowed them to dwell in this country as before END OF
QUOTE.
It continues thus to more complicated incidences,
QUOTE: Then appeared in Malabar a certain bishop named Mar Gregory,

who pretended to have been sent by the Patriarch of Jacobites at Antioch END OF
QUOTE.
If the reader is interested, the detailed history of the Christian Churches in the
subcontinent can be read directly from the book, Malabar. It moves through various
geopolitical locations including Goa, Portugal and Rome.
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QUOTE: The only Protestant mission at work in Malabar is the Basel German
Evangelical Missionary Society, of which the latest report, the 43rd, shows that on 1st
January 1883, the society had in Malabar 2,632 church members, END OF QUOTE.
The reader may have noted that most of the earlier-mentioned items are not
about Malabar per se. However, the above quote is directly about Malabar. However, it
is also not a standalone entity, I think. Furthermore, I do not know what was the route
through which a German missionary society came to Malabar. In the English East
Indian territories, missionary work was prohibited I think. If that is so, what was the
way in which they conducted their affairs also is not known to me.
QUOTE: Chombala in Aliyur amsam is a Basel Evangelical station. The

mission was started there in 1849, and the number of church members in the colony
on the 1st January 1885 were 309. There is a girls’ orphanage here, which was
transferred from Cannanore in 1872. A branch weaving establishment has existed here
since 1883. There are three schools for boys and girls with an average attendance of
about 200 pupils. The Chombala Mission has an out-station at Badagara and Muvaratt.
The station at Quilandi, opened in 1857, is subordinate to the mission at Calicut. The
congregation at Quilandi numbers 68. END OF QUOTE.
That is about the above mentioned Basel Mission.
QUOTE: There is also a Basel Mission Church at Calicut, The history of the
Mission is briefly noted below : — In May 1842 the Mission was established by the
Rev. J. M. Fritz. In the same year, two Malayalam schools and a Tamil school were
opened. One of the former was raised to the standard of a high school in 1879. END
OF QUOTE.
It is curious that the Basel Mission supported feudal-language education. In

which case, it ceases to be education, other than empowering the ‘educated’ persons to
subdue the ‘uneducated’. There is no quality improvement from the perspective of
social communication and relationship.
QUOTE: In 1855 a carpenter’s workshop and a weaving establishment with

six looms were opened. In the former, Christians and Heathens are employed, and in
the latter the number of workmen exceed 100.
In 1868 a mercantile mission shop was opened. It is the only shop at Calicut,
which fully meets the demand of the public. In 1874 the Mission started the works.
Here machines of German make are used for manufacturing tiles after the European
fashion, for which there is an ever-increasing demand. The tile works furnish
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employment for more than

150 persons both Christians
and Heathens. Here it must
be noted that these industrial
establishments are entirely of
a charitable character.
In 1876 a caste girls’
school was opened in Calicut,
and in 1883 a congregation
girls’ school with nearly 100
pupils was also started. END
OF QUOTE.
I am unable to understand the term ‘caste girls’. Could it be a school for the
relatively higher caste girls? I have seen a picture of a school for ‘Nayar girls’ of those
times.
QUOTE: And it has farther been settled with the concurrence of His
Excellency the Ayyan Adigal, His Excellency Rama, and the Palace-major, that the
church people (Palliyar, probably heads of the Tarisa citizens) alone have power to
punish the (Heathen) families of this land for any offence whatsoever, and receive the
fines, expenses, head-price and breast-price (probably the right of selling males and
females for serious caste offences) ; END OF QUOTE.
The above is a quote from the Deed signed between the king of Venadu and
the Tarisa church. It is one of the deeds belonging to the Syrian Christians of the
Cochin and Travancore States.
It is seen that this Church literally joins the feudal oppressors. They were not
the liberators of shackled human beings. To this extent, this Church was anti-English,
even though the English and British officials failed to understand the difference. For, it
is quite easy to hoodwink the native-English.
QUOTE:
PANDI. (Dravidian) = the Southern Tamil country with Madura as capital.
The name given to a tribe of Christian fishermen and palanquin-bearers on the
Malabar Coast, whom I have seen at Cannanore. They are supposed to have come
from, the southernmost part of the Malabar Coast, viz., Travancore, and, perhaps, from
the Tinnevelly province originally. END OF QUOTE
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So that adds another Christian group from south who have come to North
Malabar.
QUOTE: There is a Protestant church called the St. Mary’s Church at Calicut,
which was built in June 1863. Before its erection the Anglican community held Sunday
service in a portion of the Collector’s office. END OF QUOTE.
That might be about the Anglican Christians.
QUOTE: The history of the Roman Catholic Church, Calicut, which is

interesting, is briefly as follows :
In 1513 A.D., a treaty was concluded between the Portuguese and the
Zamorin, in which the latter allowed the former to erect a factory at Calicut to which
was attached a chapel.
..............
The church management went on smoothly till the invasion of Malabar by
Hyder Ali in 1766. In that year the Portuguese Vicar and Factor waited on Hyder Ali
and obtained an order to Madye, Raja of Coimbatore and Governor of Calicut, for the
payment of 2,420 fanams annually to the Vicar of the church. Hyder All also ordered
that the rent and revenue or benefits of the landed property should not be
appropriated.
.............
..till 1788, when a Brahman named Daxapaya came as Tippu's Revenue
Collector of Calicut, and demanded from the Vicar, Gabriel Gonsalves, the church
revenues and imprisoned him ; but the Vicar effected his escape with the connivance
of Arshed Beg Klhan, Tippu’s fouzdar, and fled to Tellicherry.
The Vicar returned to Calicut and resumed possession of the church lands in
1792, when Malabar came under the East India Company. END OF QUOTE.
The English East India Company appears to be quite soft. The reader can read
more about this in the book, Malabar.
QUOTE: In 1878 another charitable institution was attached to the Roman

Catholic Mission at Calicut, denominated the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. It has
since been divided into two branches—St. Mary’s conference and St. Francis Xavier’s
conference. The poor and helpless of every creed are here assisted in their temporal
necessities. END OF QUOTE.
Helping the poor and helpless is a great deed, indeed. However, there is a great
difference in how this goes about in feudal languages, from how it is imagined in
English.
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QUOTE: There is a small Roman Catholic chapel called the Chapel of the
Holy Cross at Calicut on the road to Wynad about two furlongs north of the
Mananchira tank. It was a thatched chapel until last year, when it was substantially built
by a member of the Roman Catholic congregation. END OF QUOTE
QUOTE: They go out to sea in the height of the monsoon in catamarans to

catch fish. The owner of each net has to pay one-third of the price of fish caught every
Friday to the church. This rate is called Friday contribution or Velliyalcha Kuru END
OF QUOTE.
That information is about Angengo.
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Pestilence, famine etc.
QUOTE: Malabar does not produce grain sufficient for the consumption of
the home population, and this has been more especially the case since, by the
introduction of European coffee cultivation into the Wynad taluk, the jungle tribes and
other servile castes, who used to cultivate the rice-fields in that region have been
attracted to the more profitable employments on coffee estates. END OF QUOTE.
The terrific information that the jungle tribes escaped from their age-old
tormentor does not hold much attraction for the current-day people of India. For, it is
a fact that is not very helpful in a feudal languages social system. When the lower ‘he’
(Avan/ Oan) improves, it is possible that this ‘he’ will topple down the higher ‘he’
(Avaru/ Oaru /Adheham).
And again the word ‘European’ is not a tenable one. The word could have
been British or English, even though it is possible that other Whites would have also
entered into the scene using their white-skin colour to confuse everyone.
This confusion has been a source of woe in those days. When the British West
African Squadron patrolled the West African coasts to catch the slaver-ships, the
native-blacks could not really make out if they were the saviours or the enslavers.
There were certain tragedies associated with the saving of potential slaves. The
Black natives could not differentiate between their saviour and their tormentors.
Sometimes, they mistook their British liberators for slave traders; there being a lot of
Europeans also in the vicinity, along with the local enslavers.
One time, a young Royal Navy officer by name Cheesman Binstead gave chase
to a convoy of canoes on the Congo River, seeking enslaved persons. When he came
near to one of the canoes, the people inside simply jumped into the water and met a
watery grave. They did this because they thought that he and his companions were
slave traders.
When this is the reality, the use of the word ‘European’ as a synonym for
‘Briton’ or ‘the English’ is an act of utter rascality. Continental Europeans might have
put up appearances of being British or English. However, that was probably only a
very thin veneer. The difference is caused by their native language codes.
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QUOTE: Thus in October 1755, the King of Bednur, to whom the rice -
exporting port of Mangalore belonged, laid an embargo on grain, because of the
ravages committed in his country by a buccaneering expedition under the Mappilla
chief of Cannanore. This placed the French at Mahe, the English at Tellicherry, the
Dutch at Cannanore, and the Malabar Nayars and Mappillas—the whole community in
fact -- in a state of comparative famine. END OF QUOTE.
This famine came as a punishment.
QUOTE: But of real famine in the land there are few records. During the long
period in which the Honourable Company occupied the factory at Tellicherry, there is
but one record of a real famine.
........On examination of the factory storehouses, there was found to be bare
provision for the place for one month, so an urgent requisition was sent to the
Anjengo factors for supplies. On the 8th September, there was famine in the land and
the record runs that the factory gates were daily besieged by people begging for
support. END OF QUOTE.
It is possible that the English Factory did try its best to give solace to the
people, even though the word gratitude is not ingrained in their brain. For, every single
ideology, gratitude and loyalty is connected to the powerful strings of ‘respect’. Their
whole endeavour is to gather ‘respect’.
QUOTE: One meal of rice kanji distributed gratis to all comers daily during
this season of the year at many places throughout the district sufficed to stave off
actual famine in 1877; the number thus daily relieved aggregated at one time over
40,000. END OF QUOTE.
The English Company administration certainly was taking up a lot of burden.

Yet, one might find in the writings of silly writers that every single work done in the
subcontinent was aimed at gathering profit for the company’s shareholders in London.
QUOTE: In October 1730, the Tellicherry factory diary records— “The

pestilence which has raged for some time among the people of this district being now
come to such a pitch, as, with difficulty, people are found to bury the dead, and our
garrison soldiers, Muckwas (fishermen, boatmen) and others under our protection being
reduced to such extremity by this contagion, so as not to be able to subsist in this place
any longer unless relieved by charity, it was agreed to build barracks for the sick and to
entertain attendants” to bury the dead.
What the “pestilence” was the records do not give information, but it was
probably cholera. A fortnight later requisitions were sent by the factors to Anjengo and
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to Madras to raise soldiers to supply the

vacancies, as the garrison was obliged to
do double duty on account of the
increasing of the contagion. END OF
QUOTE
I remember the time when there

was an earthquake in Gujarat around
1999. India has a huge army. Not even a
single army personnel was sent for rescue
work. The people stuck inside the
buildings went on screaming for hours,
till at last all sounds ceased. This is what
was reported in the newspapers. In the subcontinent, people who are safe are not very
much bothered about the people who are doomed.
QUOTE: One has only to attend one of the dispensaries in Malabar, or walk
through the bazaars of some of the principal towns, and see the great, amount of
people with anæmia, dropsy, and enlarged spleens. These classes of diseases fill our
dispensaries —all the result of neglected ague or from repeated attacks of it. END OF
QUOTE.
This is one problem with the English colonial rule. They have recorded
everything which actually in the subcontinent no one really cares about. If there is
terribly poverty in one location, the affluent classes look away. It is not that the
affluent classes are wicked or bad. It is just that to converse or communicate with the
financially backward classes is difficult, unless there is some way to enforce ‘respect’
from them. If they do not concede ‘respect’, instead of compassion what comes out is
hatred and homicidal mania.
QUOTE: The native system of medicine and surgery is based upon the
obsolete ideas, apparently borrowed from the Greeks, of the body being composed of
fives elements -earth, water, fire, air, and ether END OF QUOTE.
It might not be correct to be judgemental about native herbal cure. Herbal

treatment has been a part of all the populations all around the world. In Europe, there
was the Western Herbalism in practise. Chinese Herbalism is also much known
nowadays. In South America, Africa, other Asian nations etc., this kind of treatment
system has been in vogue.
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However, when speaking about the Herbalism in the subcontinent, one has to
be careful. It should be deliberately mentioned that it was ‘discovered’ in ‘India’
thousands of years ago. Mentioning it came from Greece and such other places can
create dramatic political issues.
Now, going into the wider aspects, it was the English rule that brought in the
concept of public healthcare, hospitals, medical colleges, and also the complete system
of systematic medical care. Of course, as an academic compromise, when the jingoists
claims that everything came from the Vedic texts from some 7000 years and beyond, it
can be accepted as a kind gesture.
The very compassionate understanding that Sanskrit culture could have come
from Central Asia, or from anywhere on the globe, might not be remembered. And
also the fact that Sanskrit is a very powerful feudal language, which can literally splinter
up any population groups into varying layers of populations might not be borne in
mind.
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British Malabar versus

Travancore kingdom
QUOTE: The caste is very scantily clad; in many places the men do not wear
cloth at all round their waists, but substitute for it a fringe of green leaves. Their
women used at one time to go similarly clad, but this practice has fallen into disuse in
Malabar at least, although it is still maintained in the Native States. END OF QUOTE.
The under-mentioned and understated goodness of the English rule in

Malabar. The lower castes slowly started feeling the weight of the pressing down caste
layers above them easing up. It has its terror also. For, the lower castes would start
acting over-smart and disrespectful.
Travancore
QUOTE: It is a noteworthy circumstance in this connection that even now-a-

days the Travancore Maharajas on receiving the sword at their coronations have still
to declare1;—“I will keep this sword until the uncle who has gone to Mecca
returns.” END OF QUOTE
QUOTE from Travancore State Manual: In support of this statement he

writes: — “It is a noteworthy circumstance in this connection that even now-a-days
that Travancore Maharajas on receiving the sword at their coronations have still to
declare: —
“I will keep this sword until the uncle who has gone to Mecca returns”. This
statement, founded as it is on Mateer’s Native life in Travancore, is clearly incorrect.
The Travancore Maharajahs have never made any such declaration at their coronations,
when they received the sword of State from God Sri Padmanabha.
The Valia Koil Tampuran (M. R. Ry. Kerala Varma Avl., C. S. I). writing to
His Highness the present Maharajah some years ago received the following reply dated
10th April 1891: — “I do not know where Mr. Logan got this information; but no such
declaration as mentioned in the Malabar Manual was made by me when I received the
State Sword at Sri Padmanabha Swamy’s Pagoda. I have not heard of any such
declaration having been made by former Maharajahs.” END OF QUOTE.
This is one very powerful input that might show that William Logan’s or his
other writers’ many sources could be unsubstantiated hearsay. Or they could have
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been inserted by someone quite deliberately to make the whole book look quite silly.
Feudal language world is full of silent intrigues.
QUOTE: This step consisted in obtaining a body of troops—1,000 cavalry

and 2,000 sepoys from the Nayak of Madura—in consideration of Travancore
undertaking to become tributary to him END OF QUOTE.
What looks funny here is the numbers, 2000 sepoys and 1000 cavalry.
QUOTE: Secondly, of the English Company’s resolution in 1723 to “subject

the country to the king” and so facilitate their trade ; END OF QUOTE
This was to be the English Company’s policy throughout the subcontinent.

That is to make the local king a responsible king. However, that was easier said than
done. For, in a feudal language system, there is no way for the lower population to
have any rights on the ruler. It is practically impossible to even initiate a conversation
with the higher layers. And for the higher layer to take up the concerns of the lower
populations and treat it with the seriousness it deserves, was a demeaning item. This
mood continues even to this day.
QUOTE: He was a most intolerant man, and directly he arrived he saw the
necessity of curbing the rising power of Travancore if the Dutch were to retain their
hold of the trade of the country and not allow it to pass into the hands of the English,
who were backing up the Travancore Raja. END OF QUOTE
There might have been a greater insight in him (Mr. Van Imhoff, the Dutch
Governor). It is connected to the realities in Continental Europe. The big Continental
European nations could not get to conquer the relatively small island of Great Britain.
The reason for this was the existence of pristine-England in Great Britain. From this
insight, he could foresee that once England gets a foothold in the Subcontinent, the
Continental Europeans were as good as out.
QUOTE: The Raja then broke up the conference by sneeringly observing, he

had “been thinking some day of invading Europe !” END OF QUOTE.
That was king Marthanda Varma sneering at the Dutch Governor, Van Imhof.
It is typical attitude of the subcontinent that once another entity is entrapped, a feeling
of shallow superiority complex comes in. Actually Travancore was at that time just a
semi-barbarian nation, just beginning to experience a connection with England.
Holland has had centuries of experience in proximity to England.
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Actually Travancore would not have able to fend off an attack from any of the
small-time kingdoms around it, without the active help and protection of the English
East India Company.
Even tiny Attingal might have finished it off, in the long run, if the mighty
support of the English East India Company was not there.
QUOTE: Such sordid meanness defeated its own end of course, and shortly
after the treaty was signed, and after the Travancore frontiers had advanced as far as
Cochin, the Travancore Raja of course turned on them and repudiated his obligations,
telling the Dutch, factors at Cochin they were no longer a sovereign power, but merely
a number of petty merchants, and if they required spices they should go to the bazaars
and purchase them at the market rates. They had eventually to pay market prices for
the pepper they wanted. END OF QUOTE.
Well, the fact might be of more deeper content.
It is possible that the Travancore side would have forced the Dutch to make
promises which amounted to breaking up of the commitment to other kingdoms. And
once this was achieved, the Travancore side more or less used the same logic to break
their words of commitment.
The way feudal language systems work cannot be understood in English.
There are verbal codes which cannot be translated into English. And hence
the emotions that they lend cannot be visualised or understood in English.
QUOTE: His relations with the Mahrattas, however, led him to temporise for
a time. Meanwhile if he could possess himself of Travancore he would not only
replenish his coffers, but would secure an advantageous position on his enemy’s flank
for his contemplated invasion of the Carnatic. END OF QUOTE.
That was Hyder Ali of Mysore. As to him being able to ‘replenish his coffers’,
if he could possess himself of Travancore, actually one of the greatest treasure troves
in the subcontinent was lying hidden inside secret vaults under the Padmanabha
Swamy temple at Trivandrum. Had the king of Travancore not had the English
Company to help him, it was just a matter of time before either Hyder Ali or his son
Sultan Tippu ransacked the vaults, and molested the Hindus (Brahmins) and the
Nayars.
See the commitment shown by the English Company to a minute kingdom,

which in later days would display its competitive mind and ingratitude at odd times.
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QUOTE: The Travancore Raja fearing a simultaneous attack from both

directions, had communicated with the Madras Government, and Sir A. Campbell, the
Governor, had intimated to Tippu that aggression against Travancore would be viewed
as equivalent to a declaration of war against the English. END OF QUOTE.
QUOTE: And it was formally intimated that, if these demands were not
complied with, Tippu’s force would come against Travancore.
To these demands the Travancore Raja made answer that he acted under English
advice, and that he would be guided by that advice in this case. END OF QUOTE
The Travancore Raja was none other than Marthanda Varma, who seems to
have placed his full faith in Sri Padamanabaha Swamy and the English Company.
QUOTE: The Travancore commander had arranged that the Raja’s force
should reassemble upon the Vypeen Island, but the extreme consternation caused by
the loss of their vaunted lines had upset this arrangement, and the whole of the force
had dispersed for refuge into the jungles or had retreated to the south. END OF
QUOTE.
Surely, with this type of army, Travancore did not have any chance against the
forces of Sultan Tippu.
QUOTE: “We are in that confusion that I scarce know what to recommend
respecting the detachment” (Colonel Hartley’s force). The consternation of the Raja's
people was so great that they could not be trusted to procure supplies. The whole of
the inhabitants, including the boat people, had gone off with their boats which had
been collected for conveyance of Colonel Hartley’s detachment, so that the principal
means of transport were also wanting. END OF QUOTE
The English Company was trying to protect a kingdom whose people had no
stamina to protect themselves. This fact is still continuing all around the world even to
this day.
QUOTE: The news of his force being on its way had greatly quieted the
inhabitants, and “the consternation which had seized all ranks of the people’’ had
considerably abated END OF QUOTE.
That was Colonel Hartley, fully determined to push on, despite the cowardice
of the Travancore forces.
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QUOTE: The Bombay Commissioners next learnt that General Medows, the
Governor of Madras, in the course of the war operations on the other side of the
peninsula, had allowed the Travancore Raja a controlling power over the Malabar Rajas
; and that on this plea the Travancore Dewan Keshu Pillay had collected, in the name
of the Company and on the plea of contribution towards the expenses of the war,
various sums of money from the revenues of the country for the years 1790 and 1791
END OF QUOTE
Travancore kingdom did clearly go beyond its brief.
QUOTE: The palace of the Kshatriya family of Parappanad Rajas is situated at

a short distance from the Railway station. It is from this family that the consorts of the
Ranis of the Travancore family are usually selected. END OF QUOTE.
This is this QUOTE from Travancore State Manual:

The Kilimanur Koil Tampurans are the natives of Parappanad in Malabar.
Their northern home is known as “Tattari-kovilakam”.
The great Martanda Varma Maharajah, the founder of Travancore, and his
illustrious nephew Rama Varma, were the issue of the alliance with Kilimanur — a
circumstance of which the members of that family always speak with just pride, as the
writer himself heard from the lips of one of its senior members, a venerable old
gentleman of eighty summers.
The Koil Tampurans of Kilimanur were the first of their class to come and
settle in Travancore and all the sovereigns of the State from Unni Kerala Varma to Her
Highness Parvathi Bayi, sometime Queen regent, were the issue of the Koil Tampurans
of Kilimanur. Thus it will be seen that the Kiliminur house has been loyally and
honourably connected with the Travancore Royal family for more than two centuries
END OF QUOTE.
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Malabar Manual
Judicial
The judiciary, written codes of law, equality before the law for all citizens, right
to move the court against government orders including that of the English East India
Company administration, the police department, security of life and property, Penal
code &c. were all the legacy of the English rule in the subcontinent, which currently
includes Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.
However, in current-day, all of these things are slowly being taught as

something that was there in the land since times immemorial. As to what is taught in
Pakistan and Bangladesh is not known to me.

Commissioners deputed to the Malabar Coast-
“Sixth.—The establishment of a Plan for the administration of Justice in the

several Districts being a point the effectual attainment of which we have above all
others at heart, we rely with confidence on your experience acquired on this side of
India for your being able to determine in a satisfactory manlier on the number and
constitution of the several Courts of Justice that will be necessary to ensure to the
utmost possible degree (as far as the state of society there will permit) the dispensation
of equal Justice to all classes of the society ; END OF QUOTE.
Actually the very preamble of the Constitution of India can be seen in the
above statement. However, the Indian political leaders (many of them who do not
even know to read the Constitution of India, in its original form), the corrupt
officialdom and the cunning academicians of India will not allow these kinds of
information to come into the possession of the people.
QUOTE: The permission of the chieftain to hunt on his territory was not
required and was never sought, and the idea of an exclusive personal right to hunting
privileges in certain limits is entirely foreign to the Malayali customary law. Such an
idea was only imported into Malabar with English courts and English law and lawyers.
There was a fundamental difference in the ideas from which originated the Malayali
law of land tenure and the English law of land, and this will be considered in the
chapter on the land tenures and land revenue.
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This difference has never been properly understood in the courts, and the
confusion and consequent strife among those interested has been very great and
deplorable. END OF QUOTE.
The above quoted words very obviously might not reflect the ideas of Logan.
It is more or less certainly in sync with native-land officialdoms jingoist words. Hunting
privileges might not be a personal right in the forest lands. For, so many forest
populations were living inside the forest. This information cannot be used to mention
that ‘confusion and consequent strife’ happened due to this lack of information by the
courts.
It is true that the English courts did not really understand the full satanic
quality of the social communication and control over the subordinated populations via
means of verbal codes. However, the native higher castes were aware of it. And they
were not willing to inform the English administration about that. Even now, the
native-English world does not have the least bit of information on the explosive
content in feudal language verbal codes.
QUOTE: The five great crimes were—(1) murder of a Brahman ; (2) drinking
spirits (probably a crime only among Brahmans, for the Nayars are not now, and never
were an abstemious caste, nor were the other lower castes) ; (3) theft : “They put a
thief to death”, wrote Sheikh Ibn Batuta regarding the Malayalis in the fourteenth
century A.D., “for stealing a single nut, or even a grain of seed of any fruit : hence
thieves are unknown among them, and should anything fall from a tree none except its
proper owner would attempt to touch it.” (Ibn Batuta, Travels, Or. Transl. Committee,
London, 1829, p. 167); (4) disobeying a teacher’s rules; (5) cowkilling, which is still a
penal offence in the Cochin State.
QUOTE: The manner of carrying out capital punishments was sometimes

barbarous in the extreme. Criminals were cut in half and exposed on a cross-bar, in the
manner still adopted with tigers and panthers slain in hunting expeditions and offered
as a sacrifice to local deities. Thieves were similarly cut in two and impaled on a stake,
which probably had a cross-bar, as the word for it and that for an eagle or vulture are
identical. But impaling alive was also known, and in June 1795, by the orders of the
Palassi (Pychy) rebel chief two Mappilias were thus treated after a pretended trial for
alleged robbery in a Nayar’s house at Venkad in Kottayam Taluk. END OF QUOTE.
This was the state of semi-barbarianism in the subcontinent. It might not be a

aberration of a minor period. For, Sheikh Ibn Batuta has mentioned this in the 1300s.
And it is seen practised by the much mentioned Pazhassiraja in the late 1700s / early
1800s.
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Malabar Manual
QUOTE: And every co-defendant, except the one who, according to the
woman’s statement, was the first to lead her astray, has a right to be admitted to the
boiling-oil ordeal as administered at the temple of Suchindram in Travancore. If his
hand is burnt, he is guilty; if it comes out clean he is judged as innocent END OF
QUOTE.
This was another system of enforcing justice or punishment.

Commissioners deputed to the Malabar Coast-
Seventh.—The pepper produced on the Coast of Malabar constituting (as

already intimated) a very material Branch of Commerce to the Honourable Company,
it is our wish that a Provision on terms of perfect fairness to the natives may be
effected in all the settlements for the Revenue payable to Government, so that as far as
possible it may be made good in the natural pepper produce, taken at a fair market
valuation instead of money payments, leaving whatever proportion cannot be secured
in this way to be purchased by the Company’s commercial Agents on the spot on the
footing END OF QUOTE.
In neighbouring Travancore kingdom, the farmers were forced to sell to the

government warehouses, where the officials would not pay money, unless a bribe was
given. In many cases, the officials would give useless other articles as a sort of barter
arrangement. The farmers used to smuggle their wares into British Cochin areas, which
might have included nearby Tangasherri.
QUOTE: One of the first measures of the United or Joint Commission was to
proclaim1 on 20th December 1792 the general freedom of trade in all articles except
pepper which was hold as a monopoly, and the Institution of “two separate courts of
Equity and Justice” at Calicut on 1st January 1793, the first court to be presided over by
the members in rotation, in which revenue and litigated landed claims were to be
investigated, and the second to take notice “of all other subjects of claim and litigation
not relating to the revenue or landed property.” END OF QUOTE.
In India (the current-day nation), this kind of freedom has vanished. Each
highway moves through a series of sales tax and excise check posts, where the low-
class officials wait for their prey. The modern-day avatar of the ancient Thuggees.
With regard to the above-mentioned Courts of Equity and Justice, the only
thing that could throw a hammer in the works was the feudal languages of the
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subcontinent. Nothing would be straight-forward. For the languages and

communication moved through crooked routes.
QUOTE: They further, on 9th January 1793, sent round a circular to all the
chieftains charged with the collection of the Revenue of their Districts, forbidding the
customarily prevalent END OF QUOTE.
This is not an easy thing to suppress. For the languages are feudal. The person
who is ‘honoured’ has to be necessarily given as article of ‘homage’ (kaanikka).
QUOTE: While these Commissioners were engaged with the above-

mentioned enquiries, the remaining members issued a proclamation of general amnesty
for acts of homicide, maiming, robbery or theft committed prior to 1st February 1793
as a means of inducing the lawless among the population to resort to honest courses.
END OF QUOTE.
That was a move based on expediency. If the various feuds and moods for
vengeance and revenge that existed as a brooding mood in the subcontinent were
taken into account, the justice system would break down under the huge load.
Moreover, the feudal languages would go on creating more and more brooding angers
each and every passing day.
QUOTE: In the Judicial Department seven local Darogas or native Judges

were appointed, subordinate to the Provincial Courts of the Superintendents, viz.., at
Cannanore, Quilandy, Tirurangadi, Ponnani, Palghat, Tanur and Chetwai END OF
QUOTE.
The use of barbarianism and semi-barbarians as a serviceable substitute for

quality judiciary was coming to an end.
See these QUOTES:
1. The Achchan in April took the law into his own hands, in spite of the terms
of his engagements, by "putting to death Ullateel Veetul Canden Nayar and taking out
the eyes of Parameshuaracooty Brahman”.
2. Among the privileges' recited, in a “Malabar Jenmum” deed granted by the

Kolattiri Raja to the Honourable Company’s linguist at Tellicherry in October 1758 are
the following : “Penalties or condemnations and customs, beginning with one principal
and ending with all other things,” which was explained to the Joint Commissioners
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Malabar Manual
(Diary 15th February 1793) as meaning “the power of administering justice, both civil
and criminal, even to the cutting off the hands of a thief.”
3. If any injustice be done to these (the Palliyar ? or Anjuwannam and

Manigramam ?), they may withhold the tribute (“world-bearing hire”) and remedy
themselves the injury done to them. Should they themselves commit a crime, they are
themselves to have the investigation of it. [NOTE: This is like the current-day Indian
Police system. They kill a person in an ‘encounter’ and if someone questions the deed,
they themselves enquire into it.]
END OF QUOTE.
There is no other option other than barbarity to run a semi-barbarian social

system. This continued till the English system arrived.
QUOTE: ".............. but you will not interfere with the Desavali Sthanamnana
Avakasam (or such ancient privileges belonging to him as Desavali) as the Government
may deem it advisable to permit to be enjoyed, and as the inhabitants may voluntarily
offer in conformity with old customs.” Extract from Mr. Græme’s form of sanad
appointing Adhikaris of Amsams. Special Commissioner to Principal Collector 20th
May 1823. Conf. p. 89 of the text. END OF QUOTE
The replacement of the traditional Adhikaris was not easy. They held the
power of killing and maiming anyone in their location from times immemorial. The
feudal languages added to their power of oppression.
Even their subordinated populations would offer their ‘respect’ and veneration
to them.
QUOTE: Where the mortgagee discovers that the landlord has acted
fraudulently in valuing the produce of the land, he is entitled to have the deed
cancelled.— (Proceedings of the Court of Sadr Adalat No. 18, dated 5th August 1856.
END OF QUOTE.
These are all quite high quality jurisprudence. However, the society would be
low-quality due to the feudal content in the language.
QUOTE: The following are notes of some of the voluminous and conflicting
decisions of the Courts on the various points connected with kanam and kulikanam,
The Courts, starting with an erroneous idea as to what jamnam was have, in their
endeavours to ascertain customs, been evidently making law instead of merely
declaring it, and deciding by it. END OF QUOTE.
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The fact of the matter would be that the native-officials would try hard to
make everything confusing. For, they did not really like to see the subordinated
populations improving. For, the subordinated populations, being from the
subordinated parts of the feudal vernacular, would be quite rude and crude if given
leeway to improve into the locations of the higher quality populations.
QUOTE: Such a protection the custom of the country provides against the
grasping avarice of proprietors, and it is only the strict preservation of this custom
which can prevent this species of tenure from becoming a monstrous fraud, in which
the weak will always be the prey of the strong."—S.S.C., 398 (1854) END OF QUOTE.
The English administrators were seeing the monstrous quality of the social
system. However, they cannot go inside and change it. For, everyone in the social
system is part of it. Simply relocating the downtrodden to the heights would only have
a catastrophic effect on the social system.
QUOTE: Notes.—1- The following are a few of the Civil Courts’ rulings. —
Verumpattakkar are entitled on eviction to the value of improvements,

whether these have been effected with or without the knowledge of the Kanakkar or
Janmi. This is an ordinary usage in the country.—S.D.C., 40 (1854).
A tenancy expressed to be for one year is not necessarily determined at the

end of the year. If the tenant remains in possession he holds as a tenant from year to
year.—S.D.C , 400 (1877), 437 (1878).
Although it is not open for a tenant to deny his lessor’s title, it is open to him
to show that the title has ceased.—N.D.C., 413 (1861), 73 (1862) ; S.D.C., 172 (1877).
A lessee is debarred from disputing that his lessor had no title.—S.S.C., 366
(1854). Semble: Lessor’s transferee’s lack of title.—M.S.C., 103 (1859).
Encroachments by a tenant on adjoining waste are for the benefit of the

landlord, — S.D.C., 438 (1877), 559 (1877).
A tenant cannot of right claim remission on account of loss by drought.—

S.D.C., 60 (1878). 133 (1878) END OF QUOTE.
There is a general feeling currently in this nation that the English

administration was on a looting spree. The people imagine the native-English of those
times as just a mirror reflection of themselves.
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Malabar Manual
As of now, the native population of England is also changing rapidly. The

entry of the immigrant populations who speak feudal languages is the worst of
negativities effecting England. The native-English are unknowingly reacting to feudal
language verbal codes, facial expression, body language etc. and changing /mutating.
Apart from that the influence of the USA is also there. USA is a location
where the feudal language speakers from elsewhere come and enjoy all the freedoms
that they cannot even imagine in their own nations. They do not represent pristine-
English. They represent the unbridling that English can deliver. But the innate controls
of pristine-English have not been imbibed by them.
QUOTE: 2. This lease runs only for a single year, unless otherwise specified.
At the end of the year the landlord is at liberty either to renew the lease or to let the
land to another tenant ; but he cannot, under any circumstances, disturb the tenant in
his enjoyment until the year has expired. Where the lease is for a specified period, the
tenant cannot be ejected during that period unless he endeavours to defraud the
landlord or allows the rent to fall into arrears. In either of these cases, however, an
action of ejectment will lie against the tenant.—(Proceedings of the Court of Sadr
Adalat, Ko. 18, dated 5th August 1856). END OF QUOTE.
The courts are slowly building up a huge repository of legal content, in a

location where there was none.
QUOTE:
NOTEs: Note.—See Chapter IV, Section (a) of the Text. The records of the
Courts having been searched it is believed that no suits of ejectment were in reality
brought before 1856, or at any rate before 1822. The Janmi used to oust an obnoxious
tenant by selling his interest in the land before 1856. END OF NOTEs
.
These are historical records of momentous importance of how the new
administrators very systematically build up a legal system. However, in the useless
academic textbooks, nonsensical speeches and processions and fights of ‘great’
‘freedom fighters’ are described!
QUOTE: The collection of revenue is made by Mr. Brown, who also exercises
petty judicial powers usually inherent in the village head. The late Mr. F. C. Brown was
appointed by Government to be an Honorary Magistrate of the First Class, and the
High Court was also moved to issue in his name a Commission of the Peace. (Vide
G.O. No. 1315, dated 14th September 1865.)
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Mr. Murdoch Brown, son of Mr. F. C. Brown, was appointed by Government,

in 1869, to be an Honorary Magistrate in the Chirakkal taluk with the powers of a
Subordinate Magistrate of the Second Class (G.O. No. 52, dated 12th January 1869)
END OF QUOTE.
From a very perfunctory perspective, the above statement can be easily

misconstrued as a replacement of native-administrators who had been doing yeoman
service from times immemorial. However, that is only how a utter idiot jingoist would
know it.
It has been seen mentioned in the writings of such others as Edgar Thurston,
and I can personally vouch for the correctness of it, of village headmen being utterly
brutal and barbarian to the lower classes. It is basically about an issue which could not
be understood by the English administrators.
It was seen that the lower caste men and women and even children might at
times use abusive words to and about the higher caste men, women and even children.
However, what this abusive words were could not be clearly understood. For, in
English the words might simply translate into harmless words, such as : Where are you
going?
However, the greater information would be that in the newly emerging social
scenario of the native English administration coming to supremacy, the lower castes
were fast losing the ‘respect’ for the higher castes.
The words: ‘Where are you going?’ would have the problem of indicant word
level of ‘you’ going down. Like from Ingalu to Inhi. If a lower caste person uses such a
terribly tormenting word to even a higher caste child, it would be a very bad thing.
The higher caste man who had been negatively affected would complain to the
village headman. Then the village headman would gather few ruffians from the higher
castes, who would then accost the villain who had used the derogatory form of ‘you’.
He would be taken to an isolated hut, and tied up and trashed up to the very inch of
his life. He would remain there in that position for a few days.
Far-reaching changes were commencing in Tellicherry, wherein good quality

English education was being distributed. However, when the fool in England, the
dastard Clement Atlee ditched the peoples of the subcontinent, everything collapsed.
And now, even those who received the goodness of good quality English education do
not have any qualms in using this very English to cast disparagement on the English
colonial rule.
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QUOTE: The judicial administration of the Kirar territory is conducted by the

officers of the British Government. The raja is merely permitted to collect rents on the
lands comprised within the Kirar limits, and has no power to interfere with the
collection of special rates chargeable under the municipal or fiscal law. END OF
QUOTE.
This is how an incorruptible officialdom was slowly set up in the Malabar

district of the Madras Presidency. I say that the officialdom, especially the officer class
of this set up was incorruptible, from my own personal experience and information. At
the same time, what the condition of a native-kingdom bureaucracy can be seen from
this quote from Travancore State Manual.
QUOTE from Travancore: To quote the illustrious writer of the article in the
Calcutta Review
“The public service from the top to the bottom consisted with few exceptions,
of an army of voracious place-seekers, who having obtained their appointments by
bribes, were bent upon recouping themselves a hundredfold; and peculation, torture,
false accusation, pretended demands on behalf of the Sirkar, these were the
instruments with which they worked out their object. Nonpayment of salaries
furnished even an open pretext for these malpractices.
The courts of justice were so many seats of corruption and perversion of
justice. Dacoits and marauders of the worst stamp scoured the country by hundreds;
but these wore less feared by the people than the so-called Police. In short, Travancore
was the veriest den of misrule, lawlessness, and callous tyranny of the worst
description. END OF QUOTE
It must be mentioned that when Malabar was amalgamated with the

Travancore-Cochin state to serve the vested interests of the Converted Christians of
Travancore’s interests and that of the Ezhava leadership of Travancore, it is this
terrible bureaucratic culture that was to infect all the official conventions of Malabar.
However, these are things not many people are aware of. And of the persons who are
aware of these things, not many have any concerns.
QUOTE: The Zilla Court at Calicut was established in 1803. It was abolished
in 1843 to make room for a Civil Court for which was substituted a District Court
under Act III of 1873. END OF QUOTE.
The emergence of quality judicial machinery at Calicut under the English rule.
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QUOTE:
1. Wandur—in the amsam of the same name, is 12 miles from Manjeri, and is
the seat of a Sub-Registrar of Assurances, who is also a Special Magistrate
2. The Koduvayur Sub-Registrar exercise also magisterial powers in respect of
nuisance cases arising within the Pudunagaram town.
END OF QUOTE.
The above are sample texts that denote the slow setting up of quality
administrative machinery. However, the moment these things were handed over to
India, the quality went down. Official behaviour went rude. Officials became
exorbitantly paid. They started demanding bribes and ‘respect’. They started getting
pension benefit of an astronomical scale for themselves and their dependents till their
and their dependents’ death. Official became the new feudal overlords of the people.
QUOTEs:
1. That the inhabitants, residing within the limits of the said village of
Tangasseri, of all castes and descriptions, whatsoever, shall continue to be under the
protection of the British Government in all cases of a civil or Police nature
2. That the inhabitants of the farm of Kottadilli of all castes and descriptions
whatsoever shall continue to be under the protection of the British Government and
amenable to its authorities in all cases of a police or civil nature and that the British
Resident is empowered by the second paragraph of the Minutes of Consultation of the
Government of Fort St. George, No. 90, under date the 25th Febiuary 1847, to
interfere summarily in all complaints made by the ryots against the Sirkar officers.
END OF QUOTE
These were the statutory agreements made when Tangasherri and Kottadilli
farms were given on lease to the Travancore kingdom. The terror of the people can be
understood on going under a brutal feudal language officialdom.
In fact, Great Britain stands guilty of not enforcing such a statutory

requirement when the South Asian Subcontinent was handed over to the crooks in
Pakistan and India. That the people can appeal to the British government when they
are being ill-treated by the Pakistani or Indian officials.
The same should have been done in the case of all the colonial lands which
were handed back to barbarians by the Satan Clement Atlee and his team of blood-
thirsty vampires in the British Labour Party.
Even the handing over of Hong Kong to China was a Satanic act.
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QUOTE: At present he can only convey to them this property by stripping

himself of it and making it over to them in free gift during his own lifetime. And this
he is naturally reluctant to do for many and obvious reasons. He is in a thoroughly
false position, for if he obeys his natural instincts and gives away his property during
his lifetime to his wife and children, he becomes a beggar and is taken to task by his
legal heirs; whereas, if he hesitates to do it, he incurs the displeasure of his own
household. This false position is fatal to individual industry and thrift, and it is to be
hoped that the law will soon be changed by permitting of the testamentary disposal of
self-acquisitions. END OF QUOTE.
The above is about the terrific changes that came into the laws and
understanding on inheritance. The terrors embedded in the Marumakkathaya
(matriarchal) family system. The father of the children cannot provide for them. He
can only provide for his sister’s children.
And there is the added mental burden. That there is only partial possibility that
his woman’s (wife’s) children are his own, as per the native family system. For, it is the
uncles and the brothers of his wife who really decide who his wife consorts with.
The following quotes are about Laccadive Islands.

QUOTE: The people are as a rule quarrelsome and litigious END OF
QUOTE.
The above-mentioned quote is about the Kavaratti Island of the Laccadives.
However, even if the statement is mentioned about the peoples of the subcontinent, it
would not be much incorrect. However, if proper hierarchies are enforced, people don
an artificial demeanour of quietude and subservience. It is connected to the feudal
language codes. Nothing to do with ethics.
QUOTE: There were no prescribed rules of procedure in regard to trials or

judicial proceedings and matters of importance were referred to Cannanore for orders.
It was supposed that records had been kept of all such proceedings, but they were
stated to be not forthcoming when demanded of the Raja by the Collector. END OF
QUOTE.
I think the reference is about the minute Ali raja kingdom of Cannanore town.
The issue first is that these ‘kingdoms’ are not used to keeping official records, and
such other things. The main focus perpetually remains on extracting ‘respect’ from
others and seeing to it that ‘respect’ is not conceded to the wrong person.
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The other issue is that there was indeed a feeling that English Company
officials were mere employees of some merchants in London, and hence the equivalent
of ‘Inhi’/ ‘Nee’, ‘Oan’ / ‘Avan’ etc. employee level person under the native-kings.
See this QUOTE of Sultan Tippu’s words in his letter to the Chief of English
Factory at Tellicherry :
I have many lakhs of people like you in my service and so have the company.”
END OF QUOTE
This ego issue is at stake in various interactions with the native-English or

British. For instance, Napoleon did go to the extent to calling Britain a nation of ‘shop-
keepers’, trying to imagine them as equivalent to the lower class commercial people of
France. It is twist of fate that he had to wait for an English ship to surrender. If he had
been caught by his Continent European enemies, he would have literally been beaten
to death.
There is one more ego issue. I have heard of rich landlords in Malabar refusing
to meet the District Collector in the local government Rest house, when the Collector
comes in to the interior villages. They would want the Collector to come to their
house, where they would be greeted with great hospitality. However, the fact remains
that the persons who goes to the other man’s home base gets to be reduced in stature
in the eyes of others. This again is part of the feudal language codes.
QUOTE: The Kuttam (see Glossary) was no doubt a rough but most effective
instrument of justice in such cases. The community simply rose and plundered (as in
this instance) the guilty individual and his family, reducing them to beggary END OF
QUOTE.
Though the above statement is about the Laccadive Islands, the fact remains
that this is mostly the case with most interior village panchayats of yore. That is the
group of persons who are in power literally reduce the others to levels of defilement
with the use of lower indicant verbal codes.
As of now, the same time is slowly come back. The local self-government
system in which each panchayat is having government office. The elected officials are
merely jokers, who have to continually fight it out to retain their seats in the Panchayat
Board. The actual power remains with the government officials who are permanent
officials. They do not care much for either the people or the Panchayat Board
members. In fact, it is the people’s representatives who have to be obsequious to them.
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QUOTE: In the adjudication of petty civil disputes oath, arbitration and ordeal
were freely employed, and oaths in the name of the raja and on the Koran were
considered peculiarly solemn. END OF QUOTE.
This is again from the descriptive writings on Laccadive Islands. The fact
remains that a higher level of adjudication, administration &c. are not very much
practical in the India, Pakistan or Bangladesh, in the current-day social ambience of
feudal languages. Every route of social thinking is made to curve and twist as per the
satanic codes inside these languages.
QUOTE: The islands have been periodically visited by Covenanted European

officers and a small staff of clerks, and the grievances of the people have been fairly
and equitably dealt with both on the spot as well as on the mainland END OF
QUOTE.
There is some malicious cunning in that the appropriate words ‘British

officers’ or ‘English officers’ are seen replaced in almost all such places with the word
‘European’. Even the Christian Church was not happy with the English Company. For,
their evangelical activities were prohibited inside the English ruled areas. They had
their European stooges inside the English administration.
QUOTE: One amin with a gumasta (clerk) to assist him, and paid fairly well,
has been appointed for each island, and has been authorised to try petty civil and
criminal cases of a nature which do not involve any intricate or nice questions beyond
the keen and intelligence of this class of officers. END OF QUOTE.
Under the guidance and control of the English officialdom, this system would
function at quality levels much above what can be expected in such semi-barbarian
social systems.
QUOTE: When society has become more complex, written laws must of
course follow ; but meanwhile the enlightened despotism of the officers of
Government, founded on justice and good conscience, is a form of administration
which the islanders thoroughly appreciate and which they have as yet shown no wish
to have changed. END OF QUOTE.
This was true of the whole of British-India.
Now let us have a comparison with the judiciary in a native-kingdom of the

subcontinent, where English systems have been copied, but run by the native feudal-
language speaking officials:
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QUOTE from Native Life in Travancore: “Notwithstanding the civilisation

that education ought to inculcate in the minds of the rulers of a State, we are sorry to
say that neither time nor education seems to have worked any change in the old usages
of the Tahsildars’ Cutcherries.
Parties to a suit, if they be of low caste, are not privileged to approach such
places, but have to keep away at a distance of fifty or sixty paces from them, the
examination of witnesses and every other proceeding of a suit being conducted at that
respectable distance.
It is very amusing to watch a case of this description going on, for the
Gumashta (clerk) of the cutcherry has to cry out at the top of his voice every question,
and the witnesses or defendants, as the case may be, have in turn to respond to them,
by as loud yells, so that all the proceedings are not only audible to those in court, but
to those out of and far from it, presenting a scene more like a serious quarrel than a
court of law.
The low-caste people who wish to present petitions are thus kept away from
the court, and are made to stand day after day in the hot sun, their heads not being
permitted to be covered, or they are exposed to merciless rain until by some chance
they come to be discovered, or the Tahsildar is pleased to call for the petition.
This procedure is diametrically opposite to the distinct orders of the British
Resident conveyed upon the subject several years ago, abolishing the barbarous
practice in the local courts, and we hope, therefore, that the Dewan will take the
necessary steps to put a stop to the invidious distinction of caste prejudice and
pollution so rampant in public places of business.” END OF QUOTE.
Actually the indifference to the ordinary citizen by the officialdom has spread
into India also. I have seen a lot of people, including women and children, standing in
the open ground many years ago when the newly designed Election IDs were being
issued. From morning till evening.
However the fact remains that it is the very members of this people who
become the officials. So, it might be more correct to say that the whole set of people
are crude and rude to each other.
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Revenue and administrative

changes
The English Company came to do trade. However, unwittingly they had to

take up the administration of the semi-barbarian locations. For, in the various feudal
language location, no one was bothered about creating any enduring systems. All that
was the thought about and aimed for was ‘respect’. Without ‘respect’, an individual is a
‘pinam’-പിണം, that is a dead body.
Once the administration became their responsibility, the English Company

officials had to literally set up and create each and every kind of infrastructure in the
land right from start. Including the administration, the police, the judiciary, the
roadways, the waterways, the postal system, public healthcare, public sanitation and
much, much more. ഇ ് ഇ യിെല രാ ീയ ാർ നി ് വിലസു മി ഭരണ
സംവിധാന ള ം ഇ ളി ഭരണം ഇവിെട െവറും നില ് െപാടിത ി,
കുഴികുഴി ് വി ി ് െവളളെമാഴി ് വളർ ി പ ലി ി വയാ .
For doing all this there was need for revenue. It is quite curious that the
English administrators did not think of sales tax at all. Instead, they tried to go along
with the revenue collection model that was already there in the land. That is of
collecting a tax on the agricultural products.
This was a Himalayan endeavour. These persons who did not know actually
anything about agriculture and produces of the subcontinent went on improving their
ideas, so as to arrive at the best suitable system. However, they were hampered by the
various vested interests involved. The first of this was their own natives-of-the-
subcontinent officials. They were mostly corrupt and could very easily misuse their
position. For, in the feudal languages, any official job automatically becomes a social
position.
QUOTE: Was Janmi, as Mr. Græme says, an empty title after his share of the
produce of the land had been thus mortgaged ? END OF QUOTE.
In English, it might seem that a person who has become a ‘former’ official, has
not much of a difference in the verbal codes from an ‘official’ who is incumbent.
However in feudal languages, it is not so easy. Titles are codes of ‘respect’. And it bear
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many kinds of social power and prestige, which are not there in English for any
official.
QUOTE: river-side portion of Ponnani town which stands at its mouth is

always in more or less danger from erosion, and in fact the town is only preserved by
groynes, for the proper maintenance of which a special voluntary cess is paid by the
mercantile community. END OF QUOTE.
That is from the description on Ponnani River.
QUOTE: “After completion, the roads should be maintained in good order by

the labour of the community. Bullocks carrying merchandise might be tolled so as to
provide a fund to meet contingent charges, etc.” END OF QUOTE.
That was mentioned with regard to the building of the various news roads to
the various interior parts of Malabar by the English Company.
QUOTE: The ryots, on the other hand, viewed the government as the
inheritors in succession to Tippu and Hyder Ali of the pattam or land revenue
assessment, and this was explicitly stated to the Commissioners by a deputation of
influential Mappillas whom the Commissioners called together to consult on the
subject. If the Commissioners had followed out the rule laid down in the fourth
paragraph of the agreement with the Iruvalinad Nambiars which has already been
commented on, the status of the ryots of Malabar would have been very different at
the present day. END OF QUOTE.
There are obviously a lot of conflicts of interests, as the English Company

went ahead to breakdown the oppressive social layers. Actually the English Company
was not any kind of inheritors of anything in the subcontinent. They were a totally
different group who was bring in a lot of enlightenment to the social system.
Naturally the higher castes who were in the earlier days the main officials of
the English administration, including the socially powerful peons (kolkars), had their
own interest in seeing that the English Company’s native-English officials were led to
all kinds of confusions and disorientations, as a means to delay the more or less certain
liberalisation of the social system.
QUOTE: They declared the trade in timber to be free, abolished the levy of
profits on black pepper, coconuts, etc., as impolitic, and instructed the Supravisur to
levy a modern tax in the shape of licence on the retail tobacco trade. END OF
QUOTE
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The English administration was bringing in standards in everything. Written

codes of law even in the case of tax collection was being introduced. Many age-old
revenue inflictions were removed.
QUOTE: These leases, after recapitulating the Provisions of the

Commissioners’ agreements of 1792 and 1793, prohibited the levy of all exactions
recently abolished and allowed only the collection of land revenue and the charges for
collection while deductions were made for bringing waste lands into cultivation. END
OF QUOTE.
This was to rein in the irascible powers of the various rajas and other small-
time chiefs in South Malabar on the people in their own locations.
QUOTE: There can be no manner of doubt that the system of settlement

adopted by the Joint Commission, of which Mr. Duncan was President during the
greater portion of its existence, was very unsuited to the circumstances of the country.
The Zamorin had in a very characteristic letter, as he himself put it “opened

his heart” to the Joint Commissioners, and at an early period in 1792 had assured them
that “By the ancient customs of Malabar the Nayars held their lands free ; they paid no
revenue to any one, but were obliged to attend their Rajas when called on to war.”
END OF QUOTE.
The point to be checked is what the circumstances of the ‘country’ were. It

was a land that functioned on feudal languages. A huge percent of the population were
placed in hierarchical layers, from which they revered those above and treated as
stinking dirt those who were below. Into this cantankerous ‘circumstances of the
country’, the English administration and the egalitarian English language were bringing
in a total wiping out of the hierarchical codes.
Naturally the vested interests who got a chance to write into the book,
Malabar, were writing their own perturbations. For, it was an uneasy situation. Because
the lower-placed populations, who had been traditionally ‘respectful’ would become
stark rude and insulting, once they get the upper hand, if the language was Malabari or
Malayalam.
QUOTE: The result, of course, was that the petty chieftains, accustomed to
independence, shook their swords or barred the doors of their defensible houses when
the tax-gatherers came, and large balances of course accrued. END OF QUOTE.
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Off course, the petty chieftains should now be declared as ‘great’ ‘freedom
fighters’ against the English! For, they were fighting against the English attempts to
uplift the lower populations.
However, there is the other side to the social communication involved. The
traditional rajas would find it quite difficult to converse with the native-officials of the
English Company in Malabari or Malayalam. For, in the usual course of things, the
petty kings could address them as Inhi or Nee. And they would have to stand with a
perpetual bow before these ‘rajas’.
The satanic languages, Malabari and Malayalam were the culprits.
QUOTE: “They (the Rajas) have (stimulated perhaps in some degree by the
uncertainty as to their future situations) acted in their avidity to amass wealth, more as
the scourges and plunderers than as the protectors of their respective little states. END
OF QUOTE.
The fact is the rajas of the subcontinent had always remained as scourges and
plunderers of the majority populations of the land. However, the in the new social
circumstance, they could very well understand that they were moving down to the
levels of the higher castes, who had treated them with venerations. So, the higher
castes and other social seniors were going to become their social competitors.
QUOTE: The posts of native dewans were abolished, and it was resolved to
make a radical change in the administration by the appointment of covenanted servants
as revenue assistants, to be employed throughout the district, on which account the
existing regulations were modified. END OF QUOTE.
This was an item that could have directly led to the emancipation of the lower
castes. The way was now opening for the lower castes to aspire for governmental jobs.
However, they needed to be properly trained, and their innate rudeness to those who
they did not venerate had to be ironed out.
QUOTE: The establishment of a rule for the registration of all writings of the
transfer of landed property END OF QUOTE.
This was the promotion of the Land Registration department. I think it was
first set up by Mr. Murdoch Brown, who was in charge of the Randattara Plantation in
Anjarakkandi.
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QUOTE: For the purpose of collecting the revenue Captain Watson was next
entrusted with the organisation of a new corps of armed police, consisting of 500 men,
whom he trained and equipped in a fashion much resembling the present constabulary
force. The Malabar militia, an irregular force and undisciplined, serving under their
own native chiefs, was then (June 10th, 1801) disbanded. END OF QUOTE.
Slowly the administration was setting up quality systems. The age-old

cantankerous, dirty pejorative word-using (Inhi, enthane, enthale, eda, edi, Oan, Oalu
&c.) rude systems were giving way to higher quality, much more disciplined official
systems. However, these changes would take time to stabilise. For, an English-speaking
officialdom had to be created.
In fact, in the Madras Presidency, by the 1900s, a good quality English-

speaking officer class had come to take charge of the government offices. They were
different from the crass satanic native-officialdom of yesteryears in that they would not
use the pejorative form of addressing or referring to people who came to their offices.
However, the clerks and the peons were still from the satanic language group. They
would address the common people as Inhi, and even as eda and edi. The police
constables also would do the same.
The English administrator could make the quality change only in the case of
the officer class. Before they could bring in this quality change in the lower officials,
the idiot Clement Atlee destroyed everything.
QUOTE: But Major Macleod's mistakes did not end here. For, coming fresh
from the country east of the ghats, where the ryots had been accustomed for
generations to be a down-trodden race, he seems to have mistaken altogether the
character of the people with whom he had to deal. END OF QUOTE.
It is almost certain that the higher-caste officials were out to misguide the
English administrators to make minor errors and grievous errors. For, at stake were the
traditional rights over the populations whom they had kept in shackles for centuries.
This kind of misguiding the native-English officials have been repeated almost all over
British-India.
Publications which came out in the native languages as purported translations

could be very cunningly made to seem exceedingly rude and oppressive by the mere
changing of a single word. For instance, the word Aap in Hindi can be changed into
Thoo. And in the language of the southern parts of the Subcontinent, the word Inhi /
Nee can be used instead of Ingal/Ungal/Neevu etc.
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The terrific dropping-down-the-canyon feeling that these words can create in a

person’s mind might not be clearly understood by the English administrators.
QUOTE: The time allowed for the purpose was ludicrously insufficient; the
establishments employed were underpaid and notoriously corrupt when such a chance
was placed within their reach. The natural results followed as a matter of course. The
accounts were fabricated, actual produce was over-assessed, produce was assessed that
did not exist, and assessments were imposed on the wrong men. END OF QUOTE.
This is what the English administration had to face. The basic issue was to
find quality people to officiate. In a feudal language set up, this is almost an impossible
thing, unless a totally different officer class could be created from among the natives.
However, the fact is that in the British-Indian location, they could create it slowly.
However, the officialdom in the native kingdoms, just outside British-India was top to
bottom corrupt.
QUOTE: The people were unable to find a market for their produce, and had
to part with their grain at ruinous prices to pay the revenue. END OF QUOTE.
This is mentioned as due to a grave error on the part of one English Chief.
How much misinformation and misguiding the native-officials gave is not seen
mentioned.
QUOTE: The Nayars were no doubt spread over the whole face of the
country (as they still are) protecting all rights, suffering none to fall into disuse, and at
the same time supervising the cultivation of the land and collecting the kon or king’s
share of the produce - the public land revenue in fact. END OF QUOTE.
This might be the very reason that the Nayar officials would have strived to
misguide the English officials. For, it was their traditional source of wealth that was
being taken out for the administration of a welfare state.
QUOTE: THE FUNDAMENTAL IDEA that certain castes or classes in the

state were told off to the work of cultivation, and the land was made over to them in
trust for that purpose, and in trust that the shares of produce due to the persons in
authority should be faithfully surrendered. END OF QUOTE.
Actually the holding power of this trust was encrypted in the feudal language
codes, which in turn kept the various population layers in position. However, with the
coming in of Land Registration and the advent of an administration that was immune
to the feudal language codes, and the caste system, every kind of exploitative
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connections began to tumble down. However, there was nothing of quality ready to
replace this social system.
QUOTE: But with these material objects it will be observed were conveyed
such things as “authority in the Desam,” “Battle wager” and “Rank” and “Customs” which
are clearly outside the idea of dominium as understood by Roman lawyers. It would
have been well therefore if, before adopting the view that janmam was equivalent in all
respects to dominium, a full investigation had been made of the points wherein they
differ. END OF QUOTE.
The above statement is something like ‘attacking a Strawman’. The English

administrators were not trying to establish Roman administration in the subcontinent.
The writer who mentions this is either trying to act pedantic, or simply trying to
confuse the situation. In fact, the local officials who quite obviously were good in
English were trying their best to create a mess of out of the English administration.
For, it is in a social mess that the ancient creepy officialdom of the subcontinent had
survived and prospered.
QUOTE: The idea of property in the soil—the Western or European idea —

was evidently not the idea uppermost in the minds of the persons who executed this
deed. END OF QUOTE.
The above foolish statement is not actually foolish, but sinister in its attempt
to act dumb. First, it is not Western or European ideas that were brought in, but
native-English ideas. Not even Celtic systems were encouraged, let alone European.
To this extent, it is somewhat a Straw man’s argument. Attacking an idea

which has not been proposed at all in the first place.
Second point is that it is indeed true that the property in soil might be what
was understood by the native-English administrators. For, they might not have any
information on rights that verbal codes give to individuals over other individuals and
their personal properties.
QUOTE: The European looks to the soil , and nothing but the soil. The
Malayali on the contrary looks chiefly to the people located on the soil END OF
QUOTE.
Ignore the nonsensical word ‘European’. The quote is correct to some extent.
But does not clearly mention that it is the definition assigned to the people or the
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individual, in feudal language indicant codes that is looked at. And there is no
Malayalis in Malabar, if the word is meant to mean the population of Travancore.
QUOTE: The system was admirably conceived for binding the two classes
together in harmonious interdependence. This excellent arrangement necessarily fell to
pieces at once when the Civil Courts began to recognise the force of contract—the
Western or European law— as superior to the force of custom—the Eastern or Indian
law END OF QUOTE.
The idiot who wrote the above-words are again and again using the words
‘Western or European’ to the extent of creating an irritation. The place is not ruled by
Continental European, but by native-English. Most of the Continental Europeans are
the exact antonyms of the native-English.
As to the point raised, the English administration was not thinking of the two
closely related higher-caste classes alone. There were many others, who do not get any
mention in any other history records of the location, other than in the case of some as
slaves. The English administration was trying to improve everyone. Naturally the close
symbiotic relationship between the two higher caste classes would not be able to
survive.
It is true that it will have it tragic side. That of a rude lower classes arriving at
higher positions. However, the native-English administrators did feel that they could
improve the individual quality through English.
QUOTE: Prior to 1856 or thereabouts, when a janmi wished to get rid of a

kanakkaran he allowed the pattam to fall into arrears and then sued for the arrears and
in execution sold the kanam interest. END OF QUOTE.
Naturally, when the new systems of judicial intervention came into a crass
semi-barbarian social system, there would be persons who would use or misuse it to
their own advantage. As to the English officials, it was a learning experience.
QUOTE: This system—another necessary result of the Hindu social

organisation — was evidently conceived in much wisdom for protecting the interests
of the cultivating castes. Here again however ideas borrowed from the European law
of property in the soil have come in to upset the well-conceived customary law of
Malabar. END OF QUOTE.
The above words are merely the wailing of the castes which were certainly
finding the social changes totally devastating to their own traditional rights. The ‘well-
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conceived customary law of Malabar’ is nowhere seen in the history of the place, other
than periodic raiding, molesting, plundering, pillaging, hacking, back-stabbing,
cheating, kidnapping, enslaving, selling as slaves, selling women to merchants in the
seaports etc.
QUOTE: Under the native customary law the cultivator could not be ousted
except by a decree of the tara, for the janmi was powerless unless he acted in strict
accordance with the Nayar guild END OF QUOTE.
Why should the English administration care two-pence for the decree of the
tara or of the Nayar guild? The English administration was out to bring in an
egalitarianism in the social set up which had never before seen attempted in recorded
history in the land.
QUOTE: The effect of this disturbance of the ancient system of customary

sharing of the produce has next to be traced.
“Of this produce one-third was allowed to the farmer for his maintenance,
profit, etc., one-third for the expenses of the Tiyars, Cherumars or other cultivators
attached to the soil, one-third went as rent to the jelmkaar or landlord. END OF
QUOTE.
This book, Malabar, had been written for the sake of information for the
English administrators about the district. And the various natives-of-the-subcontinent
officials had used this opportunity to misinform the English administrators.
When looking at the above quoted statement, everything looks quite refined
and okay. However, there is no mention that the various layers downward are defined
as stinking dirt in the verbal codes. The personality depreciation that this brings about
has to be seen to be understand. That of a higher caste child addressing a lower caste
adult of around 40 with an Inhi (lowest you), and referring to him or her as an Oan or
Oalu, and addressing her by mere name. And at the same time, the lower caste adult
has to use reverential words to and about the higher caste child.
There are no solutions to this in feudal languages. For, if this strict

enforcement of degrading and respecting are removed, then the exact opposite will
take place. The lower caste adult will use the degrading words upon the higher caste
child. Which is more terrific and satanic in what they propose.
QUOTE: They were in short, as already set forth, CO-PROPRIETORS bound

together in interest by admirable laws of custom. END OF QUOTE.
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What ‘admirable laws of custom’ are being alluded to in a land where

populations try their best to usurp the positions of the higher positioned persons? For,
‘respect’ in verbal codes is the key to social stature.
QUOTE: From that date forward the land disputes and troubles began, and
the views above described of the Joint Commissioners were not the only causes
contributing to the anarchy which ensued. END OF QUOTE.
The above words are very obviously the words of some native higher-caste
official. The whole history of the Malabar, Travancore and even of the whole of the
subcontinent is a history of all kinds of social insecurity and anarchy. And imagine the
crass rascality in placing all the responsibility of that on the native-English
administrators who were doing their best to understand an insane social system.
It is amply seen that it was noticed by the English administration that no

person in the subcontinent was stable. The actuality of this issue was that each person
in the native language existed in number of human personalities. That of Nee-Nee,
Nee-Ningal, Nee-Thangal. In this complex verbal relationship, each change of verbal
code, changes the individual.
And to make the whole thing more complex, a change in the social level of the
other person could also create terrific mood swings in the person.
Feudal language codes are like attachments to a flywheel. When the flywheel
moves, it pull along with it a lot of other links and attachments. The verbal codes will
change in far-off locations.
QUOTE: He took an early opportunity of calling together the principal janmis

of South Malabar to confer on the important question of fixing the Government share
of the produce. END OF QUOTE.
The English officialdom was at a loss at understand the social system, which
was totally different from anything pristine-English could design or create.
QUOTE: Very numerous and well-founded were the complaints that it is

usually impossible to obtain receipts for rent paid END OF QUOTE
There is a terrible information in the above quote. In the subcontinent, the

dealings are not between gentlemen of any kind of equal stature in communication.
One is an Ingal (higher You in Malabari) while the other is an Inhi (lowest you in
Malabari).
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The lowest ‘you’ will quite easily be defined, mentioned and terrorised by other
more terrible word-codes. He or she cannot ask for anything from the higher man, if
he is not willing to give it. The only way to ask is to plead, which the other man will
simply discard with a Inhi Poda or Inhi Podi (derogative verbal forms meaning Get
lost, you despicable being!). Curiously, these words are not abusive as the word
‘abusive’ is understood in English. For in translation, it only means, ‘you go’! These
words can be used to a person defined as lower. These words become ‘abusive’ only if
a lower man uses it on the higher man. Or if he or she uses on current-day Indian
officials. Current-day Indian officials using this on the lower populations is not a crime.
However using it on the officials is a crime. That is the real state of the ‘free’ nation of
India.
QUOTE: The jamnis' managers were as a body impeached, and with good
show of reason, for fraudulent dealings in various ways with the tenants under them.
END OF QUOTE.
The English administration was trying to bridle the reckless powers of the
supervisor class, i.e. the Nayars.
QUOTE: On only three out of ninety-eight estates examined in the low

country taluks, it was found that the cultivators were enjoying the share of produce set
apart for them under Mr. Rickards’ scheme of assessment ; on all the others, the
cultivators’ shares of produce had been encroached upon most seriously in most cases
and most outrageously in some. END OF QUOTE.
This is how the systems were working. The English administration was doing
its best to create ideal agricultural relationships. However, the feudal language codes
were acting on their own and creating different social relationships.
QUOTE: A garden, therefore, came to be known as a garden of so many coco,

arcca, or jack trees, and of so many pepper-vines END OF QUOTE
The English administration was trying its best to make taxation intelligent and
as per written laws. Till that time, it was more or less the whims and fancies of the
supervisor class that decided everything.
QUOTE: Malabar under Hyder Ali : and it was with the husbandmen, and not
with the landlords, that the settlement was made. (Paragraph 196 of the Joint
Commissioners’ Report, 1793 END OF QUOTE.
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On a close scrutiny, it was found that that the Mysorean invader Hyder Ali’s
officials had more or less disregarded the higher castes and tried to more or less give
the possession of the land to the real agriculture workers and farmers. It might seem as
if some great socialism and communism were being imposed. However, these are not
steady reforms. In a short course of time, new lords will spring up from the new land
owners. And they will start oppressing and degrading their former master classes. The
language codes are like that.
QUOTE: And of course this under-estimating of the capabilities of the land

was not procured for nothing.
Individuals who could manage to square the officials got off with comparative
immunity, while those who could not do so had their lands excessively assessed END
OF QUOTE.
This is how the native-officialdom tried to make a mess of all great reforms
that the English Company administration tried to bring into this semi-barbarian land. It
is the same now in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Those who bribe the officials and
are servile to the officialdom gets their things done. Others who deal with them with
self-dignity stand to lose.
Off-course, it might seen that it was the higher caste members who became
the leaders of the miniscule movements which tried to create a ruckus in the
subcontinent against the English rule. Almost all their meetings and protect marches
were poorly attended. After all who would like to go under these rascals who had
tormented the lower castes and populations for centuries with words like Inhi / Nee,
Eda, Edi, enthada, enthadi &c.? But then, there were plenty of the poor people who
were hoodwinked. For instance, if the communist party leaders of those times are
scrutinised, it would be seen that almost all of them were from the traditional higher
castes. They wanted to continue their dominance over the lower castes, in the guise of
‘revolutionary leaders’. Off course, many of them had their one foot in native-English
nations. For instance, there was one ‘great’ communist leader and later CM of Kerala.
He quietly relocated his son to the US.
QUOTE: It would at all times have been a difficult operation for intelligent
and trained officers to distinguish between what was true and what was false in the
deeds produced (unstamped and unregistered cadjan leaves) and in the statements made
by the people, on which Mr. Graeme proposed to found his revised assessment ; but
when this operation was made over for performance to the ignorant and interested
heads of villages, failure was quite certain END OF QUOTE
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The perseverance and the patience of the native-English officials was beyond
imagination. People telling lies, no one trustworthy, officials corrupt &c. And yet, the
wonderful capacity of the native-English officialdom carried the day.
QUOTE: The Mysorean officials, it would seem, imposed an apparently severe

tax on the “seed of assessment” and “fruitful tree” respectively, probably for the sake
of throwing dust in the eyes of the people at headquarters in Mysore, while in reality, in
distributing the lump sums thus assessed on particular districts, they found congenial
and remunerative employment in fixing the assessments on individuals. END OF
QUOTE
The true antiquity of the modern Indian officialdom and people.
QUOTE: In 1782-83, in the time of Arshad Beg Khan, a complaint was made
of the severity of the assessments, but no attention was paid to it and, on the contrary,
two of his subordinates (Venkappa and Venkaji) levied an additional contribution of 15
percent of charges for collection in all the Desams (compare paragraph 120). END OF
QUOTE
In a feudal language society, who really cares for the complaints and problems
of the common man? Everyone knows that if the common man improves, he becomes
a danger. And even the Common man is frightened of another Common man
improving!
QUOTE: ‘The Desadhikaris are excessively backward in the survey of the rice-
lands and pay not the least attention to orders, demeaning themselves in such a way as
evidently to prove their luke-warmness in the cause ; that he (the Principal Collector)
had been unable to make the least impression on them (the Desadhikaris); that the
accounts they give are ‘grossly false beyond description' ; and that they sedulously
conceal the deeds, ‘making it next to impossible to ascertain the resources of the
country. END OF QUOTE.
These traditional Desadhikaris are self-serving local hoodlums. They would

care two-pence for creating a great social set up. However, since they were disobeying
the English officialdom, modern India should honour them as great ‘freedom fighters’.
QUOTE: Desadhikaris made large fortunes, the country 'teemed with fictitious
deeds' ‘temporary deeds, and agreements were executed to suit present purposes, and
were prepared with a view of corresponding with a survey notoriously fallacious.' A
number of returns and deeds was eventually obtained, ‘but the great majority was of
the most grossly fraudulent description. END OF QUOTE.
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The relief and the solace must have come with the crushing down of these
traditional ‘freedom fighters’ and the commencement of a Civil Service officials who
were good in egalitarian English.
QUOTE: The Tahsildars were to cheek the accounts and send them to the
Huzzur, but after repeated reminders, etc., the accounts came in driblets and without
verification by Tahsildars. END OF QUOTE.
The native-English officials must have wept in horror as they went on to

discover the true ‘talents’ and ‘geniuses’ of the subcontinent.
QUOTE: In 1843 a small establishment was entertained, and about half of

them were copied hastily info a form of Kulawar Chitta (individual account); but
directly it was sought to verify or use them, their worthlessness was seen and Mr.
Conolly at once stopped further expenditure. END OF QUOTE.
In the subcontinent, people are made ‘small’ by the feudal languages. They
have very limited vision, unless they have commanding positions. They cannot
communicate beyond certain barriers.
QUOTE: In 1765-66 Hyder Ali paid a visit to these Nads, and his agents and
his tributary, the Coimbatore Raja (Maha Deo Raj, usually styled Madavan in Malabar),
afterwards till 1767-68 managed the country and levied irregular and violent
contributions both on the personal and on the real property of the inhabitants. END
OF QUOTE.
There might not be any need to attribute the full blame on Hyder Ali. The
land was run on feudal languages. The officialdom will deal quite cantankerously with
the common man. The common man cannot argue, debate or explain his point at all.
For, that would amount to absolute impertinence.
QUOTE: By their orders the Nads were rented to Mohidin Muppan and
Haidros Kutti, who collected 100 per cent, of the pattam (rent), but finding that
insufficient to enable them to meet their engagements, they imposed further
contributions and seized personal property. Finding this means also fail, they carried
some of the inhabitants to Seringapatain with whatever accounts of the pattam (rent)
were extent. END OF QUOTE.
That was the typical manner of tax collection in the subcontinent, by the
varying rulers who came one after another, in each minute location.
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QUOTE: These statements were found by him on examination to give in most

cases grossly false accounts of the rent (pattam) receivable by Janmis, so they served
very little purpose beyond furnishing facts to show how false they were on this point.
END OF QUOTE.
This is the real sort of governmental reports in India. It is similar to so many
other statutory records found in the governmental files now. Reports are simply
created to finish the work of submitting a report. Most of it would of useless content.
This was the state of affair in India for a long time. May be this is correct in Pakistan
and Bangladesh also. However, with the coming of digital technology, many of the
records have become slightly better. For, currently digital technology runs on English.
However, the moment feudal language encodings come inside the computer working,
various kinds of emotions connected to hierarchies will enter into them. And the pace
of digital communication will slow down to erroneous levels.
As of now, the problems of such diabolical emotions will enter into the
communication only when human beings have to be addressed or connected to
through the digital technology connected to government work.
QUOTE: The general information on which he relied was defective, because it

did not enable him to distinguish between rent paid by intermediaries and rent paid to
intermediaries by sub-tenants. END OF QUOTE.
It would be easily understood that the native officials were mostly trying to
befool the English officials.
QUOTE: The Verumpattam or actual rent was, they continued, in some places
concealed, and in other places understated with the connivance of the Mysorean
officers owing to favour, intrigue, or local causes. END OF QUOTE.
The most wonderful aspect of the English administration all over the world
was the more or less quaint efficiency. However, when feudal language speakers are
involved in it, everything twists, twines, whirls and twirls around each and every point.
For, the language codes are not planar, but feudal. In each specific location, the focus
and loyalty would be on to some minor personage of ‘respect’.
QUOTE: while, as matter of fact, it is extremely doubtful if any such

deduction ever really took place. The remission probably went into the pockets of the
officials. This fact must be constantly borne in mind when comparing the assessments
of South Malabar with those of the north END OF QUOTE.
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When assessing and comparing any social, administrative or police issues or

systems in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, with that of any native-English systems, it
must be constantly borne in mind that the subcontinent runs on feudal languages. The
officials are corrupt. The history and other claims that they make are mostly lies. Their
major aim is to amass money for themselves and to send their children to native-
English nations. Wherever they go, they will create social disintegration.
QUOTE: It was also generally assumed that the ryot could not have sub-
tenants so long as Government waste land of good quality existed for any one to
cultivate who felt so deposed. END OF QUOTE.
This is a very good point. There are plenty of forest lands. Can’t the enslaved
populations simply go and start on their own? Well, that is where the power of the
feudal languages comes into play in a very powerful manner. In a feudal language
system, the downtrodden populations cannot unite. They will compete against each
other. They will not ‘respect’ each other. Their ‘respect’ would be towards the higher
ups, who can degrade them. The more they are degraded, the more they love and
‘respect’ the higher classes. The higher classes will unite to see that the lower caste do
not go independent.
This is where the American war for ‘Independence’ has to be looked as afresh.
There is actually no tragic situations comparable to what the enslaved populations in
the subcontinent are suffering. Yet, they revolted against a very noble nation, hearing
the stupid demagogy of such insipid fools like George Washington etc. Whatever
goodness seen in the US was only the mere reflection of the noble standards of
pristine-England.
QUOTE: The courts view him as trespasser, but the original idea is that all
cultivators are in duty-bound to reclaim waste land, in Malabar and trespassers on
waste land are unknown END OF QUOTE
The above statement is packed in cunning misinformation. Actually, it was not

possible for the lower castes to take any waste land for cultivation and thus become a
landlord. This was precisely what was done by the Converted Christians of Travancore
kingdom in British-Malabar. This was something they would not have been allowed to
do in Travancore kingdom.
As for Malabar, it would be a foolish idea to imagine that the Hindus

(Brahmins) and the Nayars &c. would have allowed their slave populations to go in for
independent cultivation in the forest lands.
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QUOTE: it must of necessity have arisen that many of the original "ryots”
attending to their own interests, have become proprietors and have dropped the other
characters of labourer and farmer. END OF QUOTE.
Under the English rule, this is the possibility. Actually, this was what the
Converted Christians of Travancore did. They came to British-Malabar and occupied
the Malabar forests in the sly. However, in Travancore, if they had attempted to
become land owners, it would have created a huge ruckus in the social system. They
would probably have been slaughtered if there was no protection for them from the
English East India Company administration based in Madras.
QUOTE: All these considerations force one to the conviction that Sir Thomas
Munro’s ideal Ryotwari settlement is not a thing of permanence, and that sooner or
later, even in the model Ryotwari districts, a state of things will be brought about
similar to what has existed in Malabar from the very first. END OF QUOTE.
Actually there is more to this, than is obvious. The social system in designed
by the design codes in the language. Whatever formal and statutory changes are
enforced on a social system, everything will wind back to the original design that it
there in the language system. Only by changing the language can a perpetual design
change in the social system be brought in. In which case, it is an automatic change,
which does not require administrative intervention.
In this context, it might be good to mention that when England gets filled in
by people who speak feudal languages, England will change for the worse.
QUOTE: who employ, superintend, and sometimes assist the labourer, and
who are everywhere the farmers of the country, the creators and payers of the land
revenue,” END OF QUOTE
The native-English officials of the English East India Company are trying to
understand a social system without any information on the design codes in the local
languages.
QUOTE: for thinking that even in Malabar individual property in the soil, in
the European sense of the word, was not in existence at the beginning of British rule
END OF QUOTE.
What is the ‘European sense of the word’ is not known and also not relevant
here. However, in the English sense of the word, there naturally will be a lot of
difference. For, the social system here is tied powerfully to the feudal language word-
codes. Individual ownership will then be a hierarchy of ownerships. It will be like a
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woman married into a polyandry family. The single woman will be owned by all the
brothers, but the elder brother will have more precedence and he can command all the
brothers under him. This hierarchy will be maintained to the very youngest brother.
Under the youngest brother, there will be male servants. They do not have any right
over the woman, other than to tend to her various needs such as washing, cooking,
cleaning the house, doing routine household work etc. These persons can be compared
to the lower castes and the slaves. The brothers can be compared to the varying layers
of the higher castes, who ‘own’ the land.
QUOTE: That being so it is evident that the recognition by the courts of the
janmi as dominus and the enforcement by them of contracts have wrongfully benefited
the janmis and have deprived the others of the just rights. END OF QUOTE
The importing of Roman items is definitely misleading. There is no Roman or

Continental Europe involved in British-Malabar. As to the courts making mistakes, it is
true that the English administration’s all endeavours were mistakes if seen from the
perspective of the traditional upper classes. Everything was being changed. However,
almost none of these changes were in sync with the codes of the native feudal languages.
In fact, they stood in stark opposition to the hierarchical language codes. To that
extent, whatever good is done, will not reach its perfection expected in English. If
English had been the language here, the social system will automatically change into an
egalitarian one, even if there are statutory feudal structures in the society.
QUOTE: The grant of freedom to a community thus organised meant (as

soon as custom had given way) freedom for the "strong to oppress the weak ; freedom
for the newly created proprietor to take an ever increasing portion of the share of net
produce left over after paying the Government dues. END OF QUOTE.
The writer of the above words is trying to take up the argument of the
opposite side and using to support his own side. The ‘strong to oppress the weak’ was
the custom of the land. Now, the caste hierarchy has broken down. The lower caste
man who has improved will do the same thing, as he is now the ‘strong’.
This is the way things work out in feudal language systems. There is no
fundamental change in any social reform other than change of persons in the various
positions. The positions all remain the same.
QUOTE: to obtain the name of every field in the country, so as to serve as a

ground for an actual survey ; END OF QUOTE.
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Only a native-English team can even think of such a endeavour. Not that it is
impossible for others. It is just that in a feudal language system, there is nothing
attractive in creating efficient systems. For, in such systems, what is craved for are just
systems in which the top people get ‘respect’. Even a dirty location is liked, if it is a
place where they get ‘respect’.
QUOTE: Are they tenants-at-will of the former class? END OF QUOTE.
In feudal language systems, there are social codes, rights and claims over
individuals which are beyond the scope of statutory laws.
QUOTE: In 1850-52, owing to general complaints of over-assessment of

gardens, the whole of the old Kurumbranad Taluk was again surveyed, and a decrease
in the assessment of only Rs. 366 was the result. END OF QUOTE.
What is remarkable was the determination to redo a survey of a full Taluk.

Indeed this subcontinent was blessed that such individual of steely determination came
from England to create systems and infrastructure.
QUOTE: but on the 9th June 1825, after two year’s struggle to carry out Mr.
Graeme's Pymaish, Mr. Vaughan reported the ‘total failure in the promises made by
the inhabitants to revise and give in true and correct accounts END OF QUOTE
It is not that people do not want to give the correct and true accounts, but that
there are huge impediments across the social system and layers. Human relationships
are not as seen in English.
QUOTE: It will be seen from the above that it is difficult to compare the
Wynad wet land assessments with those of the low country, for here there is a fourth
kind of pattam (rent) to be dealt with. END OF QUOTE.
If this was the kind of complications that existed inside such a miniscule
geographical area, imagine the astronomical levels of complications that the English
administrators had to deal with at the whole subcontinent level. In each locality, there
is a multitude of populations connected to each other with very specific weird
relationships and claims.
QUOTE: while, on the other hand, the greater cost of labour and the breaking
down of the system of serfdom have tended to increase the original cost of the
produce END OF QUOTE.
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Cheap, slave labour was being removed and the enslaved populations were
getting their first experience of liberty to decide to whom to work for and at what
wages.
QUOTE: Wynad, however, is an exceptional taluk, chiefly owing to its

unhealthiness; and the breaking up of the system of serfdom since the assessments
were fixed must have had a much greater influence on agriculture in Wynad than it had
elsewhere, because in Wynad there was but a limited class to take the places of the
slaves who chose to leave their ancient masters and work for hire on the European
coffee-estates END OF QUOTE.
This is the conflict of interest that is downplayed. The feudal lord classes were
the losers while the slaves and the other lower castes were the most obvious
beneficiaries of the advent of the English rule. The birdbrain who is now campaigning
against England, sitting inside England, for reparations from England, represents the
former. Indeed his ancestral family surely
lost much satanic rights and wealth.
Naturally, he will find England
responsible for that. However, what about
the tens of thousands of enslaved
populations over the centuries? His
ancestral family will have to give them
proper compensation.
In the US, the black slaves

improved beyond the wildest dreams of
the African lower class blacks, during their days of enslavement in the US. However,
such a development never perched upon the slaves of Malabar. For, they were the
slaves of feudal language speakers.
QUOTE: Under any other circumstances the Adiyan cannot be dispossessed,

and he has the right of burial within the garden. END OF QUOTE.
This ‘right of burial’ is a resounding one, denied to all the very low castes. The
very low castes are assigned a burial ground far off from human habitation. I have
personally seen an situation some twenty years back, wherein the town had grown
around the lower caste burial ground. The sight of this very low caste burial ground
was depreciating the real estate value of the locality. The low castes were intimidated by
the social seniors and their burial rights taken off.
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The communication is not like in English. In the feudal languages, it is

downright pejorative words used. Nee, Eda, poda etc. are very freely used on them, in
a very disregarding and down-casting sound. As if speaking to throwaway piece of
waste.
QUOTE: It is certainly noteworthy that if a Nambudiri in Travancore sells this

freehold land to anyone but a Nambudiri, an obligation to pay Mupra (in the case of
wet lands, and Ettayil onnu (1 in 8 in the case of garden lands) immediately attaches to
the lands, END OF QUOTE.
These were the unmentioned attributes of the subcontinent social system, seen
when the native English came in.
QUOTE: Putran, literally the son, but

in Malabar construed to mean the heir, whether
a nephew or son END OF QUOTE.
Quite an interesting information.
QUOTE: The mortgagee gives two

fanams, which is placed in a small vessel of
water ; the mortgagor, holding the deed in his
hand, pours the water over it, which the
mortgagor receives as it falls, and either
swallows it, or puts it upon his head, or upon
his feet, or upon the ground, according to the
relative caste of the two parties. END OF
QUOTE
The relative statures are encoded in the

language codes.
QUOTE: It appears the private Janmams of conquered states were not

respected by the conquerors. END OF QUOTE.
That could be the fact of the matter with regard to all customs. Each raiding
and conquering team from the neighbourhood decides the next land ownership.
That much for heritage in a social system splintered up feudal languages.
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QUOTE: This tenure prevails only in the neighbourhood of Calicut END OF

QUOTE.
Imagine the level of complication that the English administration had to face,
as it strived to create a good nation in a semi-barbarian location. Each small-time local
area with its on traditional systems, which might not have any concurrence with the
other small-time locations all around!
QUOTE: The judicial administration of the Kirar territory is conducted by the

officers of the British Government. The raja is merely permitted to collect rents on the
lands comprised within the Kirar limits, and has no power to interfere with the
collection of special rates chargeable under the municipal or fiscal law END OF
QUOTE.
It took time, patience and perseverance to slowly shift the administration of

the land to that of a welfare state based on written codes-of-law. Earlier it was the
whims and fancies of the feudal lords and small-time rajas, trigged by the various
emotions connected to feudal language codes that decreed the rules and laws.
QUOTE: The tax was abolished with the sanction of Government, conveyed
in their order of 23rd February 1880. END OF QUOTE.
That was the English administration crushing the draconian rights of the
officials of the Cannanore Arakkal family over the people in the Laccadive Islands.
QUOTE: When the land has been all thus settled, it will probably become
possible to abolish the trade monopolies with their irksome restrictions, and to throw
the island trade open. END OF QUOTE.
Again the English administration is slowly freeing the people of the Laccadive
Islands from the stranglehold of the Cannanore Ali raja family.
QUOTE: "That with the exception of the introduction of the monopoly of the
sales of tobacco and spirits, the Travancore Sirkar or its Agents are prohibited from
imposing new taxes, levying unusual duties or arbitrary exactions of any kind on the
inhabitants of Tangassari, and that an attempt to do so by the Travancore Sirkar, will
forfeit all claim to a continuance of the Farm. END OF QUOTE.
This is with regard to the Tangasseri area which was leased to the Travancore
kingdom. The amount of care taken by the English administration to see that no low-
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class government official of the Travancore kingdom gets to harass or molest any
citizens of British-India, is quite admirable.
QUOTE: The janmi has, by the action of the Civil Courts, been virtually
converted into a dominus, and the result on the workers, the cultivators, has been, and
is, very deplorable. END OF QUOTE
The cunningness of the above quote is beyond words. In a land where the
majority population was slaves and semi-slaves, the English administration is trying its
best to introduce corrective measure without terrorising the upper-class populations
much. And it is these attempts that are being misinterpreted with misinformation.
It is true that most of the native-English systems were too good for the low-
quality feudal language social ambience in the subcontinent. For, all routes of social
communication go through the winding pathways of feudal language code. Nothing is
straightforward. There is no way for the different layers of populations to converse
with each other without one-side getting crushed, snubbed and maimed by words.
Yet, it was the English administrators who tried their level best to create
something good inside the enwrapping mess.
QUOTE: Turning lastly to the most important point of all, the oppressiveness
or otherwise of the Government shares produce at the Government commutation rate
it may be remarked in the first place that high prices of produce are like a high flood-
tide, submerging all inequalities of assessments, as rocks are submerged by the tidal
wave. It is only when the tide recedes that the rocks are laid bare. Since 1832 a high
flood of prices has set in which as yet shows no sign of ebbing. END OF QUOTE.
This is a very vital information. When the English administration brought in

peace and prosperity in the land, economy boomed. Commercial products started
getting higher prices. This was happening in a minute land, which was for centuries the
regular and periodic battlegrounds of varying killing, maiming and hacking attacks and
counterattacks.
QUOTE: The Government of Fort St. George having received information

through various channels that great inequalities exist in the present revenue jamabundy
of the province of Malabar, transmitted orders some time back to the Principal
Collector to frame by survey and assessment a new jamabundy upon improved
principles founded on a liberal consideration of the relative rights of the Sirkar, of the
proprietor and cultivator END OF QUOTE.
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These are the suo motu actions of a very vigilant egalitarian government.
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Rajas
There were a number of rajas in North Malabar and South Malabar.
See this QUOTE taken from Travancore State Manual, written by V Nagam
Iyya:
Among the Princes that took shelter in Travancore at the time were the
Zamorin of Calicut, the Rajahs of Chirakkal, Kottayam, Kurumbranad, Vettattnad,
Beypore, Tanniore, Palghat and the Chiefs of Koulaparay, Corengotte, Chowghat,
Edattara and Mannur. END OF QUOTE.
Raja of Valluvanad is not seen mentioned in the above list, I think. There
would be others also.
Not one of these kings or rajas was a ruler of any kind of big location. Rajas of
the northern-end parts of north Malabar are not mentioned above. And Ali raja, of an
extremely miniscule Arakkal kingdom in Cannanore, is also not there. However, if the
servile subordinates of these kings write any historical records, it would be about ‘great
kings’ or ‘Maha rajas’. A mention of the Empire of Calicut was also found in one of the
records.
None of them had any concern about the welfare of the people. They stood as
the vanguards and rearguards of a terrible social system which was based on the
terrible feudal languages of the location. Their aim was to see that the social upper
classes were protected from being accosted by the lower classes. Nothing intelligent
was proposed or desired. For instance, there was no aim to create an egalitarian social
system, judiciary based on egalitarian principles, education for the lower castes, making
the roadways safer and any other thing. There was no thoughts that the rude and
insolent lower castes/classes could be improved.
Each of the kings or rajas was totally immersed in the daily insecurity of
another competing entity trying to usurp his title. For, retaining or grabbing ‘respect’
was the most powerful of aims and ambitions.
Inside each miniscule raja family, there were others who tried to backstab or
act treacherously on the title holder. Every kind of permutations and combinations
were tried to settle or unsettle friends and adversaries. A single wrong indicant word
code can trigger homicidal mania in these rajas. A very illustrative example is the oft-
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mentioned in modern times Pazhassiraja, who literally impaled Mappillas on the whim
of the moment; his mental equilibrium terrible disturbed by some ‘respect’ issues.
Tax collection was not aimed at spending it for any people welfare purpose.
Instead, it was only aimed as empowering the upper classes.
QUOTE: Writing of the chiefs of North Malabar — but the same thing held
good for those in the South—the Joint Commissioners observed “they have
(stimulated, perhaps, in some degree by the uncertainty as to their future situations)
acted, in their avidity to amass ‘wealth, more as the scourgers and plunderers than as
the protectors of their respective little States.” END OF QUOTE.
This change from protector to plunderers is a more complicated issue than is

seen above. In the earlier times, it was a teamwork to maintain a huge section of the
population as semi-slaves and total slaves. However, when the English rule came, this
teamwork had no more meaning. For, it became an everyone-for-himself situation.
For instance, the Nayars used to show subservience to the Nambhodhiri

Brahmans. The Nambhudhiri Brahmans would then bless them. It was a great
experience to be near to a much-revered Nambhudhiri Brahman. Their entry into the
Nayar household was treated as special occasion. Actually, the Brahmans were given
access to the Nayar women folks through some special formalities and after some
ceremonies, if need be. These kind of connections literally improved the social status
of the Nayar household.
It may be noted that if a lower caste man were to even glance at without
‘respect’ or with a profane sense at a Nayar woman, it would be a most demeaning act.
For the verbal codes connected to Nayar woman would literally fall down into the
gutters.
QUOTE from Native Life in Travancore: Individuals of some castes are

allowed to form connections with Sudra females which are to them irregular, but which
they attempt to justify by pleading the Nayar usages; and many cases of prostitution
occur, even among the respectable classes. END of QUOTE
Actually, the words mentioned-above could be the opinion of the lower castes.
In that, they were avoided in manner of social contact, which the higher stature social
classes seemed to have freedoms beyond anything they could imagine.
However, once the English officialdom literally created a new administrative

system based on Civil Service officials, the ancient social structure collapsed in
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Malabar. The traditional systems were not a happy one. Even for the Nayar females.
In that, they would find it quite difficult to attach a sense of loyalty and fidelity to
anyone.
See these QUOTEs from Native Life in Travancore:
QUOTE: A good deal of controversy has taken place on the subject in the
public prints, and a society for the reform of the Malabar laws of marriage (and
inheritance) has been formed at Calicut by the leaders of the Nayar community,
especially those educated in English. END of QUOTE
QUOTE: Some of the more enlightened and educated Nayars are now
beginning to realise their degradation, and to rebel against the Brahmanical tyranny,
and absurd and demoralising laws under which they are placed. END of QUOTE
The whole of the ancient traditions became ‘Brahmanical tyranny, and absurd
and demoralising laws’ only when it was increasingly seen that the Brahmin were no
more the top layers of the social set up and language codes.
QUOTE: The blessed rule having devolved from the earth-ruler Man-lord
Chacravarti Vira Kerala (the first of the line), through regular succession, upon Sri Vira
Raghava Chacravarti, now wielding the sceptre for many 100,000 years END OF
QUOTE.
This is a quote from an ancient Deed (Deed No. 2, in this book, Malabar).
This is the way the Raja claimed heritage and antiquity. The extraordinary claims do
insert a great positive effect on the inner value of the verbal codes.
QUOTE: Attippettola Karyam (അ ിെ െ ാലകാർ ം) executed in the

month (മാസം) of Kanni, 281, Putuvaypa (പുതുവാ പ). The Cochin Rajas
(െപരു ുട )Gangadhara (ഗംഗാധര), Vira (വീര), Kerala (േകരള), Trikkovil
(തൃേ ാവിൽ), Adhikarikal (അധികാരികൾ) = Sarvadhikaryakar), END OF
QUOTE.
Even though, it might be seen that even the English do try to use high-
sounding titles to acknowledge their monarchy (may be due to the English Monarchies
Continental European ancestry), the heaviness of the words seen above is unmatchable
in pristine-English words. Words like Attippettola Karyam, Gangadhara, Vira,
Trikkovil, Adhikarikal, Sarvadhikaryakar &c. have a resounding heaviness that cannot
be found in native-English.
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Even the monarch of England who was literally in charges of an Empire was
only a mere ‘queen’. At the same time, even the miniscule raja of a miniscule kingdom
in the subcontinent will adorn himself with very high-sounding title and names. Words
such as Veera, Varma &c. are assumed by the title holder, even if there the antique
connection to these words is very slight and feeble. For, any verbal change applied
would literally pull up the verbal codes across the social scene in all conversations.
Even English official names did get to bear heaviness in the subcontinent in
those days. Queen Victoria was mentioned as Amma Maharani (Great Mother Queen)
by the lower castes, who had seen and experienced social freedom for the first time in
recorded history, with the advent of the English rule in Malabar.
QUOTE: means in Malabar the fifth or 20 per cent, of a fixed revenue of their
former countries which the dispossessed Rajas of Malabar receive from the Company.
END OF QUOTE.
This was a very magnanimous attitude on the part of the English East India
Company. Over the years, there must have been changes. However, the former raja
houses were given a pension by the English administration. This was to protect the raja
families from falling into penury in a land where no one has any sense of gratitude to
anyone. However, one Indian politician, when she came to power had the Privy Purse
suddenly stopped as a political gimmickry. It is not certain whether this act did serve
her anything good in the long run.
QUOTE: six miles from Perintalmanna is Mankata, the seat of the Walluvanad
Raja, who enjoys a Malikhana of Rs. 13,400 from Government. END OF QUOTE
No comment.
QUOTE: it was formerly customary to give from 3 to 5 per cent, on the

amount of the principal to the proprietor upon making out this deed as a fee under the
name of Oppu or signature, and further the mortgagee had to give 2 per cent, under the
denomination of Suchi, or the point of the iron style used for writing the deed END
OF QUOTE
Maybe in those days, it must have involved a huge lot of work connected to
measuring the land etc. I am not sure. However, may be this might be the antique
claim that the modern Land Registration Document Writers use to demand an
unreasonable percentage as fee for writing the documents.
QUOTE: It is however, I believe, well-known that all Devaswams are not

public institutions. Many are strictly private property END OF QUOTE
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It is a point that might need some inspection. For, with the departure of the
English rule, most of the major temples have been taken over by the government. The
earnings from the Brahmanical temples currently are regularly looted by the respective
governments in the various states in India. Even though, there is a very callous
tendency to claim that the English rulers even looted the temples, the reality is simply
the opposite. The English rule protected the temples, while the local government in
India are literally plundering the temples.
QUOTE: The systematic usurpation of the estates of such neighbouring Rajas

or Naduvalis or other chiefs as might be incapacitated from poverty or other cause
from governing. The Sastra says the peculiar duty of a king is conquest. END OF
QUOTE.
It is funny to see that even the Sastras call for regular plundering of mutual
locations. Civil life must have been terrible as seen mentioned in Travancore State
Manual, till the advent of the English rule in the subcontinent.
QUOTE: KOLA െകാല = violence, forced contribution, extortion.

CHARADAYAM: Forced contributions levied by Rajas for particular
emergencies according to the circumstances of the individuals.
TAPPU: Fines levied by Naduvalis and Desavalis from their inferiors, and by
Rajas from them, for accidental unintentional crimes END OF QUOTE.
The above thieving practises are mentioned as the means of raja’s revenue.
QUOTE: Under the name of Attadakkam the Raja was entitled to the property
of Naduvali, or Desavali or an Adiyan (vassal), or any person who held lands in free gift,
dying without heirs END OF QUOTE
That was another event for drooling. That of such persons dying without issues.
QUOTE: 1765-66 Hyder Ali descended into Kolattunad. The country was in a
distracted state : sometimes in Hyder’s possession, sometimes in the Rajas, and
sometimes in the hands of the Cannanore Bibi, and 30 per cent, of the pattam (rent)
was imposed. END OF QUOTE.
Imagine the plight of the people living in these semi-barbarian locations, till
the advent of the English rule. Academic historians of India who literally plunder the
national coffers with their astronomically huge 13 months a year salary, astronomical
pension, commutation of pension and much else have no problem in saying anything.
However, the realities of the land are starkly terrible for the vulnerable sections of the
people who literally are seen as dirt and ruffians by these academic looters.
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Forests
QUOTE: Forests in Malabar are chiefly private property and the great bulk of
the land in the Nilambur valley is the property of the Nilambur Tirumulpad, a wealthy
landowner not likely under any circumstances to sell land, still less for the purpose of
instituting a local industry of a character to compete with his own agricultural and
timber operations for the limited supply of local labour. The plantations owed their
existence to the accident that one of the many religious bodies holding temple lands
happened to be in want of funds and to own blocks of land scattered here and there in
this valley, many of which constituted the very best sites for planting that could have
been selected had the whole area been available to choose from. END OF QUOTE.
This is a very revealing

statement. In general, there is a very
common belief in the subcontinent as of
now, that during the English rule, the
administration could do what they
wanted. That they can rob any natural
resource or the private property of any
person. It is not true. Everything was
done as per the dictates of very powerful
written codes of law and rules.
The Nilambur Teak plantation

was a very wonderful creation of the then Malabar District Collector, Henry Valentine
Conolly. However, as of now, one can find insidious writings online that the Teak
plantation was created with the specific intention of looting ‘India’. The reader should
try to understand who could be writing such monstrous lies.
QUOTE: In considering, however, the difficulties which had to be contended

with, it is necessary to regard as occupying a prominent position, the jealousy of a local
Janmi of overpowering influence whose house and pagoda formed the only point of
social attraction in what was otherwise a jungle. END OF QUOTE.
This again is a very pertinent observation. In the subcontinent, due to the

feudal structure of the languages, every entity is seen from a relative perspective. A big
man will become small when a bigger entity comes into proximity. Words like He, His,
Him, She, Her, Hers, You, Your, Yours, They, Their, Theirs &c. all have relative
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forms. There is a terror in another entity or individual becoming big, even if there is no
competition between them in their spheres of activity.
QUOTE: The Nilambur teak plantations were first suggested in 1840 by Mr.
Conolly, Collector of Malabar, who described their object as being “to replace those
forests which had vanished from private carelessness and rapacity—a work too now,
too extensive, and too barren of early return to be ever taken up by the native
proprietor." END OF QUOTE
These are ideas which cannot be understood in a feudal language mindset

mind. The ‘native proprietor’ who lives and thinks in feudal languages has only one
aim. To gather as much ‘respect’ for himself or herself as long as he or she lives. What
happens to others is of no care to him.
This is the exact reason why the current-day citizens of Pakistan, India and
Bangladesh cannot understand the grand magnanimity of the English colonial rule in
the subcontinent. As to the native-Englishmen in current-day Britain, they are no more
pristine-English. For, most of them are multicultural Englishmen. Multicultural
Englishmen are sinister mutants. They have literally defiled their unique antiquity by
surrendering their nation, language and culture to the wild ravages of the feudal-
language speaking creeps.
QUOTE: In 1863 Mr. Ferguson arrived bringing the knowledge of a forester

trained in the extensive plantations of Perthshire, and operations were vigorously
prosecuted for the ensuing 7 years, i.e., from 1863-1869, by which time 619 acres had
been planted in this quarter. The area of suitable land here having been exhausted, the
experiment was made of further extending at Nellikutta, 10 miles up stream and near
the base of the hills in 1870 and 1871 rather more than 100 acres were planted. END
OF QUOTE.
The British Imperial Forest School was commenced in Dehradun in 1878.

This was set up with the aim of preserving the forests of the land. However, as of now,
I am told that the current-day trainees coming out of this institute are very careful
about getting the official assignments where they can earn the most on the sides. The
forest coverage in the geography of India, I think, has diminished to less than 10% of
what there was there in 1947.
QUOTE: The site, however, proved so unhealthy that it was abandoned owing
to loss of life and invaliding among the establishment. END OF QUOTE.
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The solid truth is that many native-Englishmen perished in the various forests
and mountains of this subcontinent, where they had ventured into, to create dams and
roads and other infrastructure, in an age when technology was still quite primitive.
Many died of Malaria, some by poisonous creature bites and some by various kinds of
accidents. Yet, they were able to create fabulous dams and other structures, where were
bequeathed to a most ungrateful local low-class politicians by Clement Atlee. [For
example, Google Search: Colonel John Pennycuick CSI]
QUOTE: teak of the clean, straight, sound growth, for which the Nilambur
Valley teak is celebrated, a character which in the plantations promises to be fully
maintained END OF QUOTE
Everything that the English rule created in this subcontinent was of

painstakingly worked out, to create items of persevering quality standards.
QUOTE: especially when the absence of heartshake and the economy of

working secured by straight growth is considered. A comparison of the conditions
under which the two classes of timber can be brought to market shows what a
hopeless disadvantage the Anamala teak labours under. END OF QUOTE.
That means that the English-administration created teak was of superb quality.
The wood was with no heartshake and also quite straight, with no bend.
QUOTE: it seems impossible to resist the conclusion that eventually the result
of the plantations must be to contribute to the wants of the country an immense stock
of useful material, realising such a revenue as fully to reimburse the State END OF
QUOTE.
The farsighted aims were good. However, it is not to be doubted that there
would have been private plundering of the timber here with the connivance of the
local and forest department officials after the location was handed over to the looting
Indian officials.
In fact, some twenty years back, there were huge jokes about felling trees in
such forests. When large-scale private plundering of forest timber started taking place
legally, with official permits, some low-class science organisations started making a
clamour that if trees are gone, there will be no rain. Then one politician who was thick
in the midst of these tree-felling operations, gave a very sarcastic comment, ‘If rains
will cease if there are no trees, then how come there is rain in the Arabian Sea?’ This
became a huge joke among the people of the local state, with everyone laughing it out,
when presumably the tree felling was going in unhampered. Off course, the rains did
not stop even when the forest lands went barren.
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QUOTE: Almost all these extensive and valuable forests are private property,
except the two Government forests known by the names of the "Chenat Nayar” and
the "Walayar ” Reserves END OF QUOTE
This was the tragedy. Private forests means, right for private axing of trees of
age extending to backward centuries.
QUOTE: The Chenat Nayar and the private heavy forests in the Taluk, all
contain more or less valuable trees, among others, teak and blackwood ; while
cardamom, honey, gum, &c., constitute the chief minor produce which is collected in
the case of the private forests by the resident jungle tribes and generally bartered in the
plains for the necessaries of life END OF QUOTE
As of now, the ‘resident jungle tribes’ have been plucked out into the open
sunlight with all the trees around them gone.
They have literally become homeless
dependents on the current-day state
government charity. The local officials
address them in the dirt-level verbal codes of
the local languages. The Nee (lowest you),
Avan (lowest he/him), Aval (lowest she/her)
&s. are the descriptive words secured for
them. The total blame should be placed on
Clement Atlee and his British Labour Party.
QUOTE: The lower slopes are very

malarious, but the open grass lands higher
up are above fever range END OF QUOTE
Malaria is spread by mosquitoes.

However, there was not much information
about this in those days. Going up the
mountains in those days for any work
could be a very dangerous endeavour.
QUOTE: the villagers in the

neighbourhood having been in the habit of
pollarding the trees for manure for their
paddy. In 1883, this was put a stop to and
a forest guard appointed to look after this
END OF QUOTE
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From a very superficial view, the

posting of a forest guard was a good act.
However, there is evidently the issue of
posting one ‘Indian’ over other ‘Indians’. This
is an act which portends serious issues. The
language is feudal. The moment one ‘Indian’
gets power over another ‘Indian’, the verbal
codes will change. The former can and will
start using the lowest indicant verbal codes of
Nee, Avan, Aval, eda, edi, enthada, enthadi etc. on
vulnerable persons.
I am not sure how far the native-English officials did understand this issue.
However, I have seen it mentioned by one IP (Imperial Police) officer of British-India,
that it is quite dangerous to hand over power over one ‘Indian’ to another ‘Indian’. For
the latter is sure to misuse the power.
So, if anyone reacts to the cantankerous words of the above-mentioned guard,

he or she naturally becomes a ‘freedom fighter’, and his descendents are eligible for
‘freedom fighters’ pension!
QUOTE: A working scheme of this forest has been prepared. It is fenced in,
and fire protected annually, and cattle are rigidly excluded. There is a special forest
pound for stray cattle. END OF QUOTE.
As of now, all this might look quite silly. However, a lot of calibre is required
to set up a huge structure of administrative system in a totally insane feudal language
social system, right from start.
QUOTE: Timber from the Anamalas and the Mannarghat forests is largely
floated down the river during the rainy season to the timber depots at Ponnani,
belonging to local merchants as well
as to the Cochin sirkar, for export to
foreign places END OF QUOTE.
There is a general feeling

spread by low-class academic
textbooks, that in British-India all
major commercial establishments
were run by the British. It is an
absolute lie. For, what really
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happened was the very powerful emergence of native-businessmen to very high levels,
due to the spread of peace and security all over the subcontinent. There was proper
policing, incorruptible officers in the administration, written codes of law, and the
extremely dangerous highway dacoits known as Thugges in the northern parts of the
subcontinent were crushed &c.
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Henry Valentine Conolly
Henry Valentine Conolly was, like most of the native-English officials of the
English East India Company, quite a dedicated individual. He was the Collector of the
Malabar district during the rule of the English East India Company from February
1840 to September 1855 as per this book, Malabar.
The problem that he faced was a complicated one, which the English
administration did face in many locations. Whatever good they did was misinterpreted
by some persons to create a ruckus.
He did a lot of good deeds in Malabar district. However, what are generally
mentioned are the Connolly Canal in Calicut and the Teak Plantation in Nilambur.
South Malabar did have the severe problem of solitary attacks on the Hindus
(Brahmins & Ambalavasis) and their supervisor caste, Nayars. The basic problem that
led to this was the feudal content in the local languages. The exact route of these
solitary attacks on the higher castes has been discussed in the relevant section in this
Commentary.
The English administration actually could not understand what was going on.
For, even their peons’ (kolkars’) verbal exchanges with the Mappillas did contain terrific
codes of provocation which could lead to homicidal mania in the adversely-affected
Mappillas.
The English administration being committed to maintain law and order had to
face the brunt of all criticism for trying to curb a communal frenzy between the higher
castes and the Mappillas, many of whom were recent converts from the lower castes.
Conolly, as the District Collector, could have been easily blamed for the
provocative verbal codes used by the native-officials on the Mappillas. And also for
trying to save the Hindus (Brahmins &c.) and the Nayars from such attacks or for
taking steps to capture the persons who had attacked them or had entered Hindu
(Brahmin) temples, with insidious intentions.
Actually if it had been a local raja’s rule, the king would have literally allowed
the non-Mappillas, who included the Hindus and the lower castes to attack and finish
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off the Mappillas. However, the English administration could not allow such a thing to
happen.
In fact, there were suggestions to remove all Mappillas from the English
armed forces. However, the English Company refused to be partial to any of the sides
in the ongoing communal belligerence.
QUOTE: The District Magistrate, Mr. Conolly, in reporting on the outrage

and wholesale murders of January 4th-8th, suggested that a commission should be
appointed “to report on the question of Mappilla disturbances generally. I wish,” he
stated, “for the utmost publicity. If any want of, or mistake in, management on my part
has led in the slightest degree to these fearful evils (far more fearful in my time than
they have ever been before), I am most desirous that a remedy be applied, whatever be
the effect as regards my personal interests. END OF QUOTE.
The problem that he faced was there were not many persons in the Mappilla
side to understand the administrative steps. On the other hand, the Hindu section
(Brahmins and their Nayars) would also misinterpret the events to both sides, to the
Mappillas and to the English administration. Their main aim would be catch fish in
troubled waters.
The Hindu (Brahmin) side naturally would want the English to fight their wars
with the Mappillas. This foolishness is actually continuing in all native-English nations.
Outsiders are very coolly entrapping the native-English nations in all their native-land
fights.
QUOTE: Mr. Conolly had received an anonymous letter warning him, but
unfortunately thought it needless to take precautions, and had not even mentioned it to
Mrs. Conolly.” END OF QUOTE.
It is quite sure that some Mappilla social leaders did try to warn Conolly about
the impending attack. However, they could not openly reveal the information to
Conolly. For, the native-officials would leak the name of the informants.
QUOTE: On the very day (17th February) that the Government appointed Mr.
Strange as Special Commissioner, Mr. Conolly reported that 10,000 to 12,000
Mappillas, “great numbers of whom were armed” met at Tirurangadi and held a close
conclave with the Tangal on rumours being spread that he was at once to be made a
prisoner and disgraced. END OF QUOTE
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There is a very slender and yet significant information hinted out here. The
Nayar and higher castes officials working in the English administration would spread
rumours that the Tangal was being questioned by the police with words such as Nee,
Eda, Enthada &c. This would provoke terrific homicidal mania in the Mappilla who
saw the Arabian Tangal as their leader.
However, it is seen that even on the Mappillas side, the Tangal was being
misinterpreted, to give out a feeling that he was supporting terror acts. Actually, the
reality was different.
See what were the Tangal’s own words:
QUOTE: Mr. Conolly had been successful in his negotiations to induce Saiyid
Fazl to depart peaceably.
The Tangal avowed that he had done nothing “to deserve the displeasure of
the Government ; that he repudiated the deeds of the fanatics ; and that it was his
misfortune that a general blessing, intended to convey spiritual benefits to those alone
who acted in accordance with the Muhammadan faith, should be misinterpreted by a
few parties who acted in contradiction to its precepts. END OF QUOTE
The issue here is that the Mappilla individuals who were nursing an antipathy
for the Hindu side would also be spreading false stories that the Tangal had given the
go-ahead for various terror attacks.
QUOTE:
It was apparently these letters of Mr. E. B. Thomas which eventually decided
the Board of Diroctors to send out orders to legislate in the matter, for in their
despatch of 27th July 1842 they first sent orders “for the entire abolition of slavery”, and
in a second despatch of 15th March 1843 they called the special attention of the
Government of India to the question of slavery in Malabar where the evils, as
described by Mr. E. B. Thomas, were so aggravated “as compared with other portions
of India”.
The Government of India thereupon passed Act V of 1843. On the passing of
the Act, its provisions were widely published throughout Malabar by Mr. Conolly, the
Collector, END OF QUOTE
Conolly was doing his best to eradicate the slavery of the Cherumar. However
the Mappillas included the Cherumar who had converted into Islam, and so they were
not bothered about slavery. For, they had already escaped from that.
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QUOTE: So far as the details at present are ascertained, the perpetrators were
three Mappillas, who rushed into the verandah and completed their deadly work before
assistance could be called. In the present state of Mrs. Conolly, it is impossible to
gather further particulars of the tragedy of which she was the sole witness ; but
immediately that I am able to do so, I will furnish more complete information. END
OF QUOTE.
This is how the murder was accomplished.
QUOTE: “Nothing could exceed the treachery with which the murder was
begun, or the brutal butchery with which it was completed. Mr. Conolly was seated in a
small verandah (as was his in variable custom of an evening) on a low sofa.
Mrs. Conolly was on one opposite, a low table with lights on it being between
them ; he was approached from behind and even Mrs. Conolly did not catch sight of
the first blow, which would alone have proved fatal ; the next moment the lights were
all swept off the table and the ruffians bounded upon their victim, slashing him in all
directions. The left hand was nearly severed, the
right knee deeply cut, and repeated stabs indicted
in the back. The wounds (twenty-seven in
number) could have been inflicted only by fiends
actuated by the most desperate malice.
To the cries of poor Mrs. Conolly no
one came ; the peons and servants are usually
present in a passage beyond the inner room ;
they were either panic-stricken, or, unarmed (as
they invariably were) were unable to come up in
time to afford any real assistance. END OF
QUOTE.
A young couple from England, duty-bound to bring in quality social systems

in a semi-barbarian land run on feudal languages. This is what was given back as
gratitude.
QUOTE: They compelled one Chapali Pokar to act as their guide. He led
them to Eddamannapara, which they reached at 4P.M. on the 17th. They had not gone
far from this place when they were seen, and, being followed up by the people of
Kondotti (another sect of Mappillas), were driven at length to take refuge in the house,
where they were shot the same evening by a detachment of Major Haly’s Police Corps
and a part of No. 5 Company of H.M’s 74th Highlanders under Captain Davies. END
OF QUOTE.
Ultimately, it was the Mappillas themselves who cornered the murderers.
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Miscellaneous notes
QUOTE: Vishu is the astronomical new year day END OF QUOTE
As per the Malabar Traditional Calendar (Malabar Kolla Varasham), I think

the New Year begins in the month of Kanni. As per the Travancore Traditional
Calendar (Travancore KollaVarsham), the New Year begins in the month of Chingam.
However, with the creation of Kerala, most of the Malabar traditions, including
language have been wiped out. Now, everything is connected to Travancore systems,
which in turn are connected to Tamil and Sanskrit. It is difficult to find persons now in
Malabar who know much about the antiquity and traditions of Malabar. Even the
traditional language Malabar is slowly getting erased out under the onslaught of
Malayalam, which comes with official backing.
The educated classes of Malabar had supported English, during the English
rule time. However, with the amalgamation of Malabar with Travancore, English was
pushed out and Travancore language Malayalam was ushered in.
As of now, the people of Malabar also swear by Travancore Malayalam

traditions and their loyalty is with that language. It is like the Mappillas of Malabar. At
least some of them are the descendents of Nayars and also a few of Brahmins, who
had been forced to convert to Islam by the Mysorean invaders. However, as of now,
the children of these forced converts are fully loyal to Islam.
QUOTE: Onam: This is the day on which Parasu Raman or Vishnu is

supposed to descend to earth to see his people happy. END OF QUOTE.
This again is some kind of nonsense, if current-day beliefs are taken into
account. As per current-day traditions, Onam traditions are connected to Vishnu
appearing in the form of Vamanan appearing before Mahabali. And the Onam day is
celebrated on the day, on which Mahabali is believed to be visiting his native-land again
to see his subjects.
Travancore State Manual does mention a Tamil (Vattezhuthu) stone

inscription dating 27th Medam, 410 M.E (Malayalam Era) at Manalikarai, a petty village
near Padmanabhapuram in South Travancore, in which there is mention of Onachelavu.
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QUOTE from Travancore State Manual: onachelavu, a special contribution to

keep up the annual national festival of that name (Onam).” END OF QUOTE.
This information does carry an additional burden, in that Onam the festival,
which is more or less claimed by Malayalees, does seem to have non-Malayalee (Tamil)
heritage links. However, the fact might only lead to the contention that Malayalam was
just of recent origin.
As to whether Onam is really connected to Malabar or to Travancore

traditions is not clear. May be Onam was brought to Malabar from Travancore by the
Hindus (Brahmin &c.), or vice versa, and it was forced upon the suppressed
populations, as part of their enforced display of subservience.
QUOTE from this book, Malabar: 1. Further, there is reason to think that, this
date,25th August 825, was the day of the Onam festival, when it was, and still is,
customary for dependants to visit their suzerains and to do acts of homage either in
person or by deputy to them, END OF QUOTE.
2. It was usual in former days, and it is to some extent still prevalent, for
superiors to be visited twice a year by their inferiors or dependents with gifts in hand—
once at the time of the vernal equinox called Vishu, and once at the time of new moon
in August— September, called Onam. END OF QUOTE.
Actually as a social ritual, for the suppressed populations including the semi-
slaves and the totally enslaved populations, Onam is a day to celebrate their enslaved
status. They have to go to the households of the Hindus and show their obeisance as
per their traditional vocation. They would be given some token gifts by their slave-
master households.
Vilkurup caste persons would place a bow and arrow in the houses of the
Nayar superiors. In return, they would be given some paddy, vegetables, one coconut
and some oil.
The household slaves of landlords would be given one para paddy, some salt,
one coconut, oil and chilly.
Nayadis would offer four coir ropes of eight yards length to their Nambhuthiri
illams, and two ropes in their Nayar houses. In return, the Hindus would offer them a
specific amount of paddy.
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See this conversation with a slave: QUOTE from Native Life in Travancore:
“Half an edungaly, with a trifling present once a year at Onam. END OF QUOTE
QUOTE: Panikkar: A kind of Master of Arts, formerly held in great respect in

families as teachers of the use of arms and of martial exercises of all kinds. END OF
QUOTE
Is this true?
QUOTE: It is supposed that in Malabar a man has enough to eat if he has 1½

Tippalis of rice and ½ Tippali of conjee a day, or 1 Idangali of paddy of 4 Calicut Nalis
There are many in a starving condition who get less, and many affluent who eat more.
END OF QUOTE
In the feudal language social system, it is deemed good to give only what is
enough for subsistence to the lower-placed populations. For, if they are given more
than that, they would start improving beyond their allowed social stature. Actually, only
in nations like England etc. are everyone allowed to develop to the best of their
potential.
QUOTE: But the extension of the railway to Calicut is likely to result in the
reversion of Beypore to its old state of a fishing village END OF QUOTE
That was more or less the undoing of Beypore from the great expectations
that must have been nursed by the locals there.
QUOTE: Kunda mountains and the Wavul range extending to

Chekkunnanmalai (െച ു ൻമല), a high saddle-hill north-east of Ariakode contains
teak and other timber in almost inexhaustible quantities END OF QUOTE.
It would be quite worthwhile to scrutinise what has happened to the great

forest wealth in the subcontinent after it has been handed over to the local politicians
who had their one foot in England, in the year 1947.
QUOTE: Administrative Divisions.—For purposes of administration the

Taluk is divided into 64 amsams, each having an Adhikari who collects the tax and is
also Village Magistrate and Munsif, and who has under him an accountant (menon)
and a couple of peons, except in one instance (Arakurishj amsam) in which the number
of peons is four. There is of course a Tahsildar with the powers of a Magistrate of the
2nd class, whose headquarters are at Perintalmanna and who is assisted in his revenue
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work by a Deputy Tahsildar stationed at Cherupulasseri and usually invested with 2nd-
class magisterial powders END OF QUOTE.
The above is about Walluvanad Taluk. The English administrators were slowly
introducing an efficient administrative system in the location. The only negativity about
this was the fact that the local people had to be handed administrative powers. Unless
they were good in English and committed to English, they would be quite feudal and
oppressive in the native language communication. This could be one of the reasons
that the Mappillas anger on the Hindus (Nayars and higher castes, and their loyal
servants) was quite easily diffused on the English administration.
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Culture of the land

The English Company was trying to set-up a trading relationship with
a semi-barbarian land. The culture of the land was totally different from anything that
the native-English could imagine or understand.
To know what the great difference is, one has to know that a social
system is designed by the design codes inside the language of the social system. The
languages here were feudal languages. That is, there are multiple words of many things,
including that of addressing as well as referring to a person or entity. The very
definition of an entity is defined by the specific words chosen for definition.
Here the reader must understand that the multitude of words is not synonyms
as understood in English. They represent varying levels of existence, as one can
imagine in a vertical hierarchy.
All human attributes, such as honesty, courage, valour, chivalry, word

of honour, civil behaviour, rectitude etc. depend on these words. And it must also be
mentioned that all the above-mentioned attributes are totally different from what they
look like or feel in English.
Into such a starkly different and semi-barbarian land, the native-

English were entering in all stances of dignity and daring. However there is nothing in
this land to reciprocate dignified stances in a like manner. In fact, a dignified stance by
a side seen to be weaker or vulnerable, is taken as an offensive stance. They will be
punished just for displaying a pose of dignity. A very illustrative example is what
happened to the British Sailors who were lured to the Indian coast and put into prison
in Madras.
QUOTE: “On the other side stood another page, who held a gold cup
with a wide rim into which the king spat; END OF QUOTE.
This is from the reception scene of the king of tiny Calicut meeting
Vasco da Gama. The Calicut king had not much of an information on what all stances
would give him a majestic demeanour. The very natural idea from a semi-barbarian
mentality would be to do a lot of spitting, with a pageboy kept in pose of servile
attendance. In fact, the real truth is that even now, people use servile subordinate
around them to display a show of power.
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QUOTE: The eldest female of all the branches was accustomed to

some distinction, and was entitled to the sthanam (dignity) annexed to the Achamma
Mupasthanam. She was nominally the head of the whole family just .............
But the executive power was in theory at least sub-divided among the five
eldest male members, who were styled, respectively, in their order of seniority. END
OF QUOTE
There is some great information in the above-statement. There is a general

feeling that the females are weaker. That is only on husband-wife relationship, wherein
she has to display her ‘respect’ to him. He has to address and refer to her in the
pejorative. However, the same woman would be quite violently rude and degrading in
her stance of power over all those who come under her. This is a very sly location that
does not find much mention.
I personally had an experience in this. Some twenty-five years back, I had to

go and meet the local area committee leader of the Communist party in his house in
one place. He had been a lower primary teacher in one of the government-aided
schools in the locality. He was a Nayar by caste. Even though by scholastic abilities, he
was more or less a dullard, he was the acknowledged leader of the lower classes, whom
he maintained a powerful leadership by addressing them as Nee (lowest you), and
referring to them as Avan (lowest he / him). For this, they showered him with honour
and affection.
This man used to address me with a ‘Ningal’ (middle-level you), and I used to
reciprocate in a like manner.
When I went to his house, his wife came out. A typical interior village Nayar
female. More or less totally unlettered ignoramus. However, she had the mien that
indicated that she was used to subordinating the lower class member of her party. I
had a terrific shock when she addressed me with a Inhi (ഇ ി). It was her house
and I had come to meet her husband. It was very momentary display of what must
have been the stance of the relatively higher classes in the subcontinent before the
English rule could dismantle the satanic power of these rude households. However, the
paradox in these kinds of social themes is that the more they suppress with words, the
more is the affection that the lower classes would give in return.
Now, coming back to the context, the mention of the male hierarchy
is intimately connected to the language codes. However, in all hierarchical set-ups,
seniority in age is generally taken up for designing the hierarchy. Even in the Monarchy
of England. But then, it must also be mentioned that the English Monarchy does have
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some roots in the German language. I cannot say for sure if this connection has
affected any structural frame of the English Monarchy. I do not think so.
QUOTE: On examining the records it is found that, as a rule, the ablest

member of the family, sometimes peaceably with the consent of all the members,
sometimes by force, seized the reins of power at the earliest possible opportunity, and
the rest of the family, although perhaps senior to himself, were mere puppets in his
hands. END OF QUOTE.
Even though the above-statement is with regard to the Kolathiri family of

Cannanore, the truth is that this statement would be equally true with regard to almost
all the ruling families of the various kingdoms in the subcontinent of those times. The
most powerful urging for mutinous usurping of the highest title is the fear of losing
‘respect’. Once a person is below the highest, it is the highest person’s decision as to
where to place him in the hierarchy. If the highest individual is not well-deposed to this
individual, he can even be made lower to certain levels of lowly individuals.
Maintaining one’s ‘respect’ and level is somewhat similar to being in a deep water,
wherein one has to continuously beat and peddle to keep one’s head up and above the
clamorous water.
Actually this is one of the reason that Pazhassiraja could not bear his uncle.
His uncle did try to place him under one of his own underlings.
QUOTE: The Nayars and other Malayalis suffered in their eagerness for
plunder, for a magazine blew up and killed 100 of them END OF QUOTE.
This craving for looting is what more or less gave inspiration for persons to
join in all kinds of clamour activities. However, there is a slight issue. There is the
mention of the ‘other Malayalis’. Why they are not specified might be a debatable
point. After all this is a sort of multi-user created book. Logan simply stands a sort of
gullible fool, giving a platform for many others with their own vested interests to insert
in what they wanted.
QUOTE: Captain Lane reported, “cruelly—shamefully— and in violation of

all laws divine and humane, most barbarously butchered” by the Nayars,
notwithstanding the exertions of the English officers to save them. END OF QUOTE.
This incident is very eerily similar to what happened to SubashChandran’s

natives of the Subcontinent soldiery who had shifted their loyalty from the British-
Indian army to that of the Japanese side. When they surrendered, the British-Indian
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soldiers took turns to butcher them on the sly. Ultimately they had to be placed under
the direct protection of the English soldiers.
QUOTE: If attempts were made to sow dissensions by showing forged letters,

etc. (as had already happened), inter-communication between the factories was to be
free in order to get rid of the distrust thereby caused. END OF QUOTE
There are very specific codes in the local feudal languages, that can make a
particular lower-class section to act like a pivot on which the higher sections are made
swing and carousal. Moreover, these codes can maintain the higher positioned groups
in a sort of seesaw experience. It requires great insight to understand all this. So that
pre-emptive measures can be taken to forestall the insidious attempts to create
dissension and division.
QUOTE: The country people all know this to be false, so the Chief and
factors accepted the offer, judging it would make the family contemptible in the eyes of
the natives. END OF QUOTE.
Actually this is a very foolish idea. The people in the subcontinent do not
necessarily support the side which has more integrity or honesty or courage. They are
naturally attuned to admire the side which shows more calibre for successful deceit and
treachery.
QUOTE: The factors now interposed and arranged articles of peace between
the Kolattiri and the Canarese. The Chief and Mr. Lynch and the Prince Regent, on
30th August 1737, met Surapaya, the Canarese general, near Madakkara. Both parties
went strongly armed and escorted fearing treachery, and the Canarese escort was
described as "very ungovernable” in their demeanour. END OF QUOTE.
The basic problem is that the subordinates do not really obey instructions
fully, unless they feel they can be punished. This cannot be done in the usual
circumstances. Even in current-day India, the subordinate policemen, including the
middle-level ‘officers’ do not actually obey orders if they can get away with it. At times,
they go beyond their brief. They kill, without specific orders to do so, and the higher
officers are made to stand supportive of them.
QUOTE: “It is observed that they will not go for a loan to shreffs and
merchants who cannot protect them ; but if we do not comply they will have to
mortgage their country to the prince, who probably could not supply them, and if he
could it would subject them to him more than is consistent with their privileges. The
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only other people they can apply to are the Honourable Company or the French, or
the Cotiote. END OF QUOTE.
Actually there is a huge information embedded in the above statement with

regard to why the native rulers liked to collaborate with the English Company. If they
took any kind of favour or help from anyone native to the subcontinent, immediately
they come under him or her. This would reflect very sharply in the words of addressing
and referring. However, in the case of the English, since they were native to a planar
language, there would not be any change in the verbal codes.
To put it more candidly, if one were to become subordinated to a native of the

subcontinent, the words of address, especially in letters and messages could change to
the Inhi or Nee or Thoo (lowest you). And the subordinated person would have to
consistently display his or her subordination in verbal codes.
QUOTE: At 2 P.M. the French troops arrived at Tellicherry with drums

beating, colours flying, etc., and grounded their arms at the southern limit gate. M.
Louet and the officers were received by the Chief Mr. Hodges, who returned them
their swords, and M. Louet was saluted with fifteen guns as he entered the fort. END
OF QUOTE.
The English were in most cases very professional and courteous when their
enemy had surrendered. This is an international point to be noted. That even
Napoleon did not surrender to anyone else other than the English. If it was the
English army that had entered Berlin, Adolf Hitler most probably would not have
committed suicide.
If it was the Russian army which had taken over Japan, the people
there would have faced a lot of molestations.
QUOTE: The Dutch were also very intolerant of persons professing the
Roman Catholic faith, and in their overtures to Portugal about this time they proposed
to hand back the places (except Cochin) where that faith had obtained a firm hold of
the people. The negotiations fell through, and in 1684 the Roman Catholic priests were
at last allowed to return to the charge of their flocks. END OF QUOTE.
It does seem that only the Portuguese were on a conversion to Christianity

programme. However, the general impression that one gets on the contentions of the
current-day jingoist of India, the feeling arises that the Continental Europeans and the
English were pro-Christian entities. This was not true at all.
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QUOTE: In consequence of these expensive wars the "Dutch settlement at

Cochin was not paying its way, so in 1721 the Supreme Council in Batavia came to the
very important resolution that the Raja of Cochin was no longer to be supported in his
interminable fights with the Zamorin, and the Cochin council was solemnly cautioned
to live peaceably with all men : advice more easily given than capable of being carried
out. END OF QUOTE
In the subcontinent, once an acquaintanceship is established with a lower

quality group, it is very difficult to cut the ties. They would use all means to foster the
relationship. For, the verbal codes do have an entwining quality, which cannot be
understood in English.
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The English efforts in

developing the subcontinent
The English Company officials came to the subcontinent as employees of an

England-based trading company. However, the social forces and the accumulated
social errors in the location forced them to intervene and to take charge of around half
of the subcontinent.
English-based trade, employment, supervision, entrepreneurship etc. cannot

be understood from any feudal languages.
All the above-mentioned items are there in feudal languages also. However,
the main motivating factor in them is the urge to go up in ‘respect’ by being able to
subordinate a number individuals as degraded dependents, who themselves are
arranged in a hierarchy, by means of ennobling versus degrading verbal codes.
This is the very powerful information that is missed in all kinds of sociological,
business, labour-relationship, entrepreneurship, psychology &c. studies about feudal
language social systems.
The amount of commitment, courage and perseverance shown by the native-

English officials cannot be imagined as of now. For, even England as changed from a
pristine-English entity, and the Mecca of pristine-English, to a Multi-culture entity with
monstrous possibilities in its destiny, unless very powerful corrective measures are
inserted before it is too late.
QUOTE: Since this was sent to press, an agreement has been arrived at with
the Travancore Government to transfer Tangassori and the four bits of territory
belonging to the Cochin Taluk to Travancore in part exchange for the site of the
Periyar dam designed to turn for irrigation purposes a portion of the waters of the
Periyar (great river) across the ghats into the Madurai district. The agreement has not
yet been carried out, END OF QUOTE.
The English government based in Madras was ready to transfer the rights over
Tangasseri and four other bits of territory to a native-kingdom. Why? To get the
permission to create a dam on the Periyar river. I think this history is connected to the
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building of Mullaperiyar Dam. It was a momentous work

in which very many native-Englishmen perished.
It is seen mentioned that the chief officer in

charge Col. John Pennycuick did go home to England,
sell his private properties, gather money to fund the
project, which was completed in 1895. This was because
the English administration ran out of funds for the
project. This was due to the fact that natural forces like
heavy rain, and floods kept on destroying the work and
the work materials.
This Dam irrigated of 2.23 lakh (hundred-thousand) acres in Theni, Dindigul,

Madurai, Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram districts of Madras presidency. The people
wept in joy and worship.
A quote from the grouchy Wikipedia:

QUOTE: Many of the farmer families of the Theni and Madurai districts still
keep portraits of Pennycuick and worship him as a god. Villagers prostrate before his
portrait, offer prayers, decorate with garlands and perform aarati to his photos which
are usually kept in the hall or in puja room along with images of other gods END OF
QUOTE
QUOTE: Out of 30 boys, with whom a school was established in 1878, only
11 appeared for examination in 1880. END OF QUOTE.
That was in Agatti Island in the Laccadive Islands.
QUOTE: A school was started by Mr. Winterbotham in 1878 with a nominal

roll of 36 boys, but this number had dwindled away to 14 in 1880. The plan of
combining mosque schools and secular schools is being tried. END OF QUOTE
That was in the Androth Island in the Laccadive Islands. The fact was that the
English administration was trying to uphold to its own honourable stance that they
would usher in social quality in semi-barbarian locations, all around the world.
QUOTE: Next day the French unloaded their ship and hauled her in so close
under the forts that it was thought she was aground. She lost 50 men in the action,
including her captain, while the English loss was only 2 men. END OF QUOTE.
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It might seem a quixotic claim if it is pointed out that in most of the English
East India Company’s military engagements in the Subcontinent against all others
including the Continental Europeans, the English side usually lost only very few of its
individuals. Only in rare occasions of some terrific errors or backstabbing did they lose
more.
I do not know if the reader here may agree to my contention that it was the
planar codes of the English language that made difference. The logic in this statement
has been very carefully explained in the ‘An Impressionistic history of the South Asian
Subcontinent.’
QUOTE: It may be added that the Nayar shortly afterwards proved to the
satisfaction of the Commissioners that he was really independent of the Cochin Raja,
and a decision was accordingly given in his favour on this point END OF QUOTE.
The English administration was quite magnanimous and at the same time
beyond the stranglehold of nepotism and partiality. Again, this was secured through
the planar codes of English.
The point to be noted here is that if it was a local native entity that was the
deciding power, the most significant logic that would have swung the decision would
be the question of ‘did he display enough ‘respect’’?
If not, he is done for. If Yes, then whatever be the correctness of the other
side’s arguments, they would lose their case. This is how the nation of India is being
currently run.
QUOTE: Of those “under instruction” 59,264 were males and 9,550 were
females ; of the “instructed ” 147,167 were males and 20,009 were females ; and of the
“illiterate and not stated” 967,173 were males and 1,160,471 were females. To cope
with this dense mass of ignorance a good deal of attention has been bestowed in the
last twenty-five years on schools and education, and the progress obtained will be seen
from the following figures END OF QUOTE
The English East India Company seems to have understood that the bane of
the land was lack of formal education. This was not a correct assessment. The curse on
the land was the feudal languages of the land.
I am not sure at what point the Company and later the British Crown rule
came to the understanding that it was promotion of English that would improve the
social system. It was Lord Macaulay’s famous Minutes on Indian Education that more
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or less created a most powerful inducement for teaching English to the masses. He did
detect that the native-languages of the land were ‘rude’.
I do not know what he meant by ‘rude’. However, the fact is that the
languages of the land are not only rude, but worse than rude. They have got all the
codes for social discrimination. And also for homicide and mass massacres if a wrong
indicant word is used at certain locations.
In fact, almost all the current-day seemingly insane gun violence in the USA is
provoked by the unrestrained entry of feudal language speakers into a quaint native-
English land. The feudal languages speakers can use these terrific provocative codes
with all the facial charm of being magnanimous, when actually they would be busy
inserting sharp wedges into the social system.
QUOTE: They work very hard for the pittance they receive; in fact nearly all
the riceland cultivation used to be in former days carried on by them. The influx of
European planters, who offer good wages, END OF QUOTE
The above statement has all the feelings of the anecdotal story of the frog
sitting on the elephant, when the elephant stomped the crocodile. It is the frog’s claim
that it was he and the elephant that crushed the crocodile.
All positive changes that entered into the Subcontinent were the handiwork of
the native-English. The Continental Europeans were at first the ‘freedom fighters of
India’, who either individually or with the natives rude kings and rulers of the
subcontinent fought the ‘freedom fight’ against the English rule.
The use of the word ‘European’, when an appropriate word ‘native-English’ or

‘British’ is available, is really a misuse of the word.
It might be true that there were Europeans also in the new fray to create
plantations. However, the fact then would be that there were many natives of the
subcontinent also doing the same thing. Indeed, even the lower castes did enter into
this frenzy.
QUOTE: The questions of slavery and the slave trade attracted the early
attention of the Honourable Company’s Government. So early as 1702, the year in
which British rule commenced, a proclamation was issued by the Commissioners
against dealing in slaves. END OF QUOTE
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Terrible things get enacted in the subcontinent currently. Degrading words are
used to the subordinate. The police personnel literally used abusive or degrading words
to the common persons and thrash them up inside the police stations. School teachers
use terrific degrading words like Thoo / Nee, Eda, Edi, Avan, USS, Aval etc. to and
about the students under them.
The household servants are not allowed to sit on a chair. They have to sit on
the floor, eat on the floor, and sleep on the floor. They are addressed in the degrading
verbal codes.
No one notices any of these things. However, the moment a native-English

man or woman sees this, he or she will notice that there is something amiss. This is the
mental quality that made the native-English officials see an item which went on
unnoticed in the subcontinent for centuries.
The reader is requested to read the chapter in this Commentary dealing with
Slavery.
QUOTE: The forests are peopled by Kurichiyars—a class of Jungle tribes who
raise various products in them. The forest has been notified for reservation under the
Madras Forest Act V of 1882. END OF QUOTE
This is about the forest areas that come under the Kottayam raja’s place. The
Kurichiyars were the jungle tribe in the Wynad area who were fooled and terrorised by
the Pazhassiraja’s people. They were made accomplice in a murder and thus forced to
join the insurgency run by Pazhassiraja, who had unsuccessfully tried to usurp his uncle
royal title. His uncle was more cunning. For more on this, read the Section on
Pazhassiraja in this Commentary.
Now, about the notification for reservation under the Madras Forest Act V of
1882. It was great deeds like this that more or less protected both the forest wealth as
well as the forest people from the ravages of the social leaders of the subcontinent.
However, when the English rule departed, the forests were literally in the hands of the
thugs, who had no qualms in plundering everything inside the forests.
QUOTE: 1. The forests were worked on the native system for many years, no
efforts were made to improve them, and trees were indiscriminately felled where
found, whatever their age might be. In 1878, all felling of living teak was stopped, and
the Forest Department turned its attention to the utilisation of the wind-fallen and
dead trees which were being annually destroyed by fire. In 1882, the Forest Act was
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introduced, and immense progress has been made in the scientific treatment of the
forests
2. Nurseries have been established, and large quantities of ficus elastica seed
obtained from Assam and planted, and numerous seedlings raised. Mahogany and
bamboo seedlings are also being raised to plant out clearings
3. Various exotics, such as mahogany and rubber trees, castilloa, hevea and
ipecacuanha, are being planted and experimented with, and some of them have
thoroughly been acclimatised and established there. END OF QUOTE
It was an utter crime done by the British Labour Party to handover the British-
Indian army to Pakistan and Indian politicians who within a decade destroyed the
complete incorruptible culture of the administration which had been designed by the
English administrators.
QUOTE:
1) The Deputy Collector and Magistrate located at Manantoddy.
(2) The Tahsildar and Sub-Magistrate located at Manantoddy.
(3) The Police Inspector located at Manantoddy.
(4) The Deputy Tahsildar and Sub-Magistrate located at Vayitiri.
(6) The Police Inspector located at Vayitiri.
(6) The District Munsif located at Vayitiri.
(7) The Sub-Registrar, Manantoddy, under the District Registrar. Tellicherry.
(8) The Sub-Registrar, Vayitiri, under the District Registrar, Calicut.
(9) Combined Postal and Telegraph office at Vayitiri.
(10) Other Post offices at Manantoddy, Kalpetta. Tariyott, Sultan’s Battery and
Mepadi.
(11) Police stations at Manantoddy, Oliyot, Koroth, Panamaram, Kalpetta, Vayitiri,
Mepadi, Tariyott, Sultan’s Battery and Periah.
(12) Sub-Assistant Conservator at Manantoddy and his subordinates,
(13) Local Fund Supervisors and Sub-Overseers at Vayitiri and Manantoddy.
(14) Local Fund Middle School at Manantoddy.
(15) Vaccine staff for North and South Wynad under the control of the Deputy
Inspectors of Tellicherry and Calicut circles respectively.
(16) Hospitals at Vayitiri and Manantoddy in charge of Apothecaries ; the latter
being supervised till August 1886 by a European medical officer, who drew a special
allowance of Rs. 150 per mensem from Government.
(17) Bench of Magistrates, North Wynad.
(18) Do. South Wynad.
END OF QUOTE
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QUOTE: The Post office at Calicut is also held in a private building rented for
the purpose. It is not far from the Telegraph office. END OF QUOTE
This is a minor list of social and administrative infrastructure created by the

English rule in the remote forest areas of Wynad. It definitely took a lot of
determination to create all this, in a location where for centuries the local feudal lords
literally fleeced the lower populations. In fact, the lower class females were under full
access to the feudal lords at any time they wanted. The poor husband, who would
literally be treated like some cattle, would have to stand apart for the feudal lord to be
thus entertained. It was the norm. His wife herself would have bare ‘respect’ for her
husband, as she is verbal trained to ‘respect’ the feudal lord.
It was the entry of the English administration that for the first time in
recorded history that made an attempt to stop this ravaging. And established the rights
of the husband against the various external claims on his wife. As of now, again Indian
statutory laws are handing this right back to the wife’s father, mother, uncle, aunts,
cousin etc. Utter academic-idiots are now in charge of writing statutory laws!
In a location where the common man cannot go much beyond his or her
immediate neighbourhood due to reasons of safety, a very powerful administrative set-
up based on egalitarian principles was being set up.
See what was being set up:

Deputy Collector, Magistrate, Tahsildar, Sub Magistrate, Police Inspector,
Deputy Tahsildar, District Munsif, Sub-Registrars, Postal and Telegraph office, post
offices, Sub-Assistant Conservator, Local Fund Supervisors and Sub-Overseers,
Middle School, Vaccine staff, Hospitals &c.
The modern day jingoist who has had all the facilities and infrastructures given
to him on a silver platter will quite easily mention that everything was done to suppress
the ‘Indians’. Those kinds of claims are only perverse words. The police, judiciary,
hospitals, vaccination staff, post offices, telegraph office, forest offices were all for the
people of the land. None of them were looting offices.
However, all of these set-ups did have a basic deficiency. That the staff
members were not native-English, but the same old natives of the land. These people
carried the terrible codes of their horrible feudal languages. The moment they get some
power in their hands, they would use it to degrade the others in the lands.
QUOTE: Under the head of education, the census of 1881 returned 6,384
persons as ‘'under instruction,” 18,721 as "instructed” and 180,857 as "illiterate
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including not stated”—a state of things

which shows that education has not reached
the masses END OF QUOTE
That was about the state of

Education in Calicut Taluk. The urgency and
focus on spreading education in the location
is seen in the above statement. May be it
would have been understood that the mere
spread on sterile knowledge would bring in
qualitative improvement in the social system.
However, that was an erroneous
understanding. For, all education in the
feudal languages would only add to the
terrors of the society. For, it was literally
feeding the Satan with more powers.
Only when the English East India

Company decided to support English
education did the real quality enhancements
come. However, this was to take time. Only
in few locations did reach to the heights.
And before anything could be done to
spread out the quality, the English rule was
ended by the idiots in England.
With that, a very low-class

replicated form of education spread from the Travancore area. This spread into
Malabar and more or less erased the whole good quality systems that was there in
British-Malabar. For, as of now, British-Malabar had been forcefully redesigned as
Enslaved-to-Hindi-Malabar.
The Hindi land people who are formally educated do not have much ‘respect’
for Malabar. They visualise Malabar as Mallus. Actually this Mallu word is a very recent
accident that befell the Malabar people.
During the British-Malabar times, Malabar was part of Madras Presidency.

And hence, the Malabaris were generally known as Madrasis.
However, when Malabar was disconnected with Madras state, this very people
were mentioned as Malabaris.
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But then, when the Malabari culture was overrun by the Travancore language
of Malayalam, both the names became quite unsuitable.
In those days, the change came in the Middle-East Gulf nations. The Mallu
word was a derogatory word used upon the Malayalam speakers. It was more or less
used in the same sense as ‘Annachis’, (Tamil-speaking rag-pickers of those times in
Kerala). Slowly the Malayalam speakers started mentioning themselves as ‘Mallus’,
without any information that it is a derogatory word.
As of now, all persons of Kerala are generally mentioned in derogation as

Mallus by the others, and as Mallus by the Keralites themselves in the firm belief that it
is some kind of ennobling word.
As of now, the Malabaris have lost all the good points in their culture, and has
absorbed all the bad points in Malayalam culture.
QUOTE: Cochin Taluk: On 31st March 1886 there were 16 schools, middle,
primary, aided and unaided, with an attendance of 996 pupils END OF QUOTE
That was about British-Cochin, and not about the native kingdom of Cochin.
QUOTE:
The purposes to which the funds raised under the Act are applied are
— (a) the construction, repair and maintenance of streets and bridges and other
means of communication ;
(b) the construction and repair of hospitals, dispensaries, lunatic asylums,
choultries, markets, drains, sewers, tanks and wells, the payment of all charges
connected with the objects for which such buildings have been constructed, the
training and employment of medical practitioners, vaccinators, the sanitary inspection
of towns and villages, the registration of births and deaths, the lighting of the streets,
the cleaning of streets, tanks and wells, and other works of a similar nature ;
(c) the diffusion of education, and with this view - the construction and repair of
school-houses, the establishment and maintenance of schools either wholly or by
means of grants-in-aid, the inspection of schools and the training of teachers
(d) other measures of public utility calculated to promote the safety, health, comfort
or convenience of the people ;
(e) the payment of salaries, leave allowances, pensions, gratuities and compassionate
allowances to servants employed by the Municipal Council ; and
(f) the payment of all expenses specially provided for by the Act, but not included
under preceding clauses (a) to (e).
END OF QUOTE.
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As of now, around 100% of all these kinds of governmental revenue is for feeding
the gigantic white elephants called ‘government employees’, and for providing various
kinds of conveniences for their family members.
For more on this, check: Fence eating the Crops.
QUOTE: The pier went out of order in 1883, when, with the permission of
Government, a company of local merchants, designated the Calicut Pier and
Warehouse Company Limited, to carry on the business of warehousemen and to levy
cranage and other dues and tolls, was started with a capital of Rs. 5,000, which was
utilised for repairing the pier. END OF QUOTE
The birdbrain who is now currently campaigning in England for compensation

for ‘looting’ ‘India’, seems to have a feeling that the native people of British-India were
gullible fools. Actually, the exact opposite was the truth. They were too intelligent for
words. But they lived in a feudal language ambience which would not bring in social
placidity. They used the English rule to the best to improve themselves.
QUOTE: There is a club for Europeans on the beach which was started on the
8th February 1864. Connected with the club is a station library maintained by
subscriptions. END OF QUOTE.
The fact that a club was there which limited its membership to those of white-
skin colour might look quite rude. However, the fact is that there are various locations
inside the subcontinent where only certain kind of people are given admittance. No
one sees anything wrong with them. Only when white skin-colour is used as the
minimum qualification for admittance does the fury of the fussy intellectuals erupt.
Actually giving a private space of culturally different populations is good. It

would be a free space where they can be themselves. The problem here is that the
native-English create great private spaces. The others who are rich want to barge in.
They find it quite troubling that their money cannot get them everything. At the same
time, they find that they are not able to create something which is good enough for
them.
This is one part of the issue. The second part is the word European.
Connecting Continental Europeans with the native-English is certainly a sore point.
Even Gundert, the Travancorean stooge, should have been kept out.
QUOTE: The hospital and dispensary at Calicut was opened in October 1845,
under the auspices of Government. It was transferred to the Municipality when it was
instituted at Calicut. It is now kept up at Municipal expense supplemented by a grant
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from the District Board. The dispensary has an endowment of Rs. 13,000 collected by
private subscriptions and invested in Government securities yielding Rs. 520 per
annum as interest.
2. Palghat: In-patients as well as outpatients are largely treated in the hospital
referred to, the total number of beds available for in-patients being 16; 8 for males and
8 for females END OF QUOTE.
It should be quite surprising that these kinds of people welfare activities and
infrastructure building were not in the purview of either the king of Calicut or of the
immensity of rulers in the subcontinent. It is true that some 2000 years back a king on
the eastern border areas of the subcontinent did go around placing a lot of rock edicts
claiming all kinds of bountiful actions of his. It is quite curious as to what kind of a
rule he was that he should go around writing his own greatness and great actions. It
sounds quite similar to the actions of current-day Indian politicians and officials who
placed full-page newspaper ads proclaiming their various developmental activities.
QUOTE: The lunatic asylum at Calicut was established on 20th May 1872 at a
cost of Rs. 39,250. It is about 2½ miles east of Calicut on the road to Chevayur. It is
built on a hill called Kutiravattam. On the 31st March 1885, there were 149 lunatics in
the asylum. END OF QUOTE.
It is curious that Edgar Thurston has mentioned that it is the Eurasians who
are more prone to insanity than the pure natives of the subcontinent. It is no doubt the
affect of living in two different language systems. As the person and his personality
shift from of a planar language to that of a feudal language, he would feel his
personality wobble, degraded, kicked, distorted, and disarrayed. A normal man would
go berserk. Others would not.
Check what Adam Purinton did when accosted and addressed by feudal
language speakers.
QUOTE: Sanitation. The conservancy of the chief towns is looked after by a

staff consisting of 1 Sanitary Inspector, 1 maistry, 13 sweepers and 1 totti, paid from
Local Funds. The Inspector, with his headquarters at Ponnani, supervises the work of
the whole staff which is distributed as follows :—Ponnani, 4 sweepers and 1 totti ;
Betatpudiyangadi, 3 sweepers ; Tanur, 1 maistry and 3 sweepers ; the remaining 3
sweepers being attached respectively to the three fish curing yards situated at Ponnani,
Veliyangod and Tanur END OF QUOTE.
The interest taken by the native-English administration in maintaining the

cleanliness of the townships was phenomenal. However, it is doubtful if the people
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really understood its value. They had the habit of using the most desultory verbal
usages for persons concerned with sanitation.
QUOTE After much and protracted discussion it was further finally decided
that the French had made good their claims to certain other bits of territory lying in the
neighbourhood of Mahe, described as the “four villages of Paloor, Pandaquel,
Chamberra and Chalicarra, and of the three detached points or posts of Fort Saint
George, the great and the little Calayi, as defined by the British authorities, without any
of the territory in their vicinity, to which a claim was made on a former occasion.”
These bits of territory were accordingly delivered1 to the French on 14th November
1853. END OF QUOTE.
The sense of fair-play, justness and magnanimity of the native-English

administration is beyond words.
QUOTE: 1. Prices which were abnormally low just then rose in 1831-32 to
about fifteen per cent, after the setting in of the rains. In the following year they again
rose twelve per cent. Prices were again higher in 1833-34
2. Since 1832 a high flood of prices has set in which as yet shows no sign of
ebbing END OF QUOTE
The real economic effect of the English rule can be seen in the above-
statement. In 1917, the British-Indian rupee is stated to have been Seven USD. That
was the state of the economy.
However, as of now, there is another kind of economic machine at work.

Artificially bring down the currency value. As of now, One USD is equivalent to 64
rupees. This has created an artificial group of rich persons who are employed or
domiciled or doing business in native-English and other nations. The locally earning
‘Indians’ have gone down to the very bottom of an economic gorge. The
aforementioned artificial rich are literally buying up the land and the people. All history
and political discussion are manipulated by these artificially rich individuals to befool
the people.
QUOTE Port rules for Cannanore

Your immediate and most particular attention is requested to the imperative
necessity of your entering in the report herewith forwarded the state of health of your
crew and passengers, and whether any infectious and malignant or other disease has
appeared on board during the voyage.
In the event of any such sickness having occurred, you are hereby ordered and
directed to prevent all communication with other vessels in the roads or with the
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shore, until the Port and Marine Surgeon shall have duly reported such intercourse to
be free from objection. If sickness has appeared and still prevails, you are required to
hoist the flag R of the Commercial Code by day, or two lighted lanterns one over the
other at the fore by night. END OF QUOTE
In a land with no systems, other than loud shouting and rude rebukes, the
native-English side was building up systems and codes of professional functioning. The
only error in the ambience was the feudal language of the native people of the
subcontinent. It remained rude, unpleasant and auguring distaste and disaster in the
offing.
QUOTE: Commanders and officers are particularly requested to abstain from

ill-using boatmen or other natives. All complaints will be promptly inquired into. END
OF QUOTE.
The English officers did have some understanding on what really happens
outside the veils of the statutory codes. The verbal exchanges are, even if politely and
softly done, quite rude and oppressive, and also demanding ‘respect’ and subservience
towards the lower positioned persons. However, if the lower positioned are placed at a
higher level, they would change into the same oppressive form.
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Famines
There are people in India who write about famines in British-India. They
claims that these famines were caused by the English rulers. These claims could be far
from the truth. Actually, it is only in very recent days that these kinds of claims are
being noticed.
There was indeed a terrible social situation which was actually noticed even by
visitors from Britain to the British-India and to the native-kingdoms. This was a land
with enough and more natural resources. However, the majority people lived like dirt.
There were people who blamed the English rule. This was actually a nonsense.
The actual degradation of the majority people had nothing to do with the English rule.
The real villain was the feudal languages. People were grouped in hierarchical layers.
The top layer people crushed, cheated and exploited the layers below them. And at the
same time, worshipped and adored the layers above them.
So, it was a sort of willing self-destructive mentality.
Physical labour was seen as distasteful. Each layer pushed down the physical
labourer part to their lower layers.
In such a terrible social mentality, whatever goodness and beneficial acts were
done by the English administrators, nothing will seep down. For, each one of the social
layers would see to it that the lower layers do not get any benefit which might give
them leeway to come up.
This is actual truth.
Now, about the actual food eating condition of the people has to be
mentioned. The slave castes literally lived on bare subsistence food.
See the series of QUOTEs I am posting from Travancore State Manual of the
living condition of the peoples in the native-kingdom ruled by a native king:
QUOTEs:
1. Pulayas:
“The food of these Pulayans is fish, often cooked with arrack and with the
liliaceous roots of certain water plants.
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Their food is chiefly rice, as they are employed in its cultivation, to which they add
vegetables and fruits grown in the small plots usually allotted them by their masters.
The rice is boiled and eaten with coarse curry, or only pepper and salt. It is also
parched, or beaten flat, but they have no skill in baking or cookery.
Not long since, a Pulayan escaped from a cage prison in South Travancore. When
again caught, he confessed that he had run off because he had been starved for four
days, the peons pocketing the allowance for food.
2. The Kanikars are generally very short in stature and meagre in appearance, from
their active habits and scanty food.
3. Pariahs: The flesh of cattle left dead by the roadside is their perquisite, and it is
their partaking of this food that excites the abhorrence of ordinary Hindus, who
venerate the cow.
The Pariahs eat the carcases of cows and other animals which have died of old age
or disease, even when almost putrid. These are cut up for distribution by the females
principally, and after partaking of this disgusting food, their odour is insufferable.
4. The Valans: Their food is scanty, and never includes eggs, milk, or rice cakes.
Their dress is unclean and poor, the children going quite naked, and often suffering
from indigestion, worms, and other diseases; while the parents are so ignorant that they
do not even know the use of such a simple remedy as castor oil.
5. During the months of scarcity the Vedar women go to the jungle, and dig up
various kinds of wild yams and tubers with pointed sticks of wood which they always
carry, and boil and eat these roots. The Pulayars, likewise, hunt for crabs, tiny fish, and
snails, in the irrigation channels, eggs of red ants, the winged white ants, or anything
else to fill the stomach and satisfy the cravings of hunger.
6. Roots, vegetables and fruits form a considerable proportion of the food of the
population, especially of the poorest classes, who have little besides when rice is scarce
or dear. The forest and hill people dig out wild, stringy yam-roots from the jungle as
food in the hot season. Every native grows something, if he can, around his own
dwelling for home use.
7. The poorer class of cultivators generally go to their work at six o’clock in the
morning, and return at the same hour in the evening. Only when the work is unusually
difficult or pressing do they take solid refreshment at noon. They get food warm and
abundant in the evening only.
8. Conversation with a slave:
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“Half an edungaly, with a trifling present once a year at Onam.”
“In sickness, is relief given by the masters ?”
“At first a little medicine, but this is soon discontinued. No food is supplied.”
“What is your usual food ? “
“Besides rice when able to work, often only the leaves of a plant called tagara
(Cassia tora) boiled; and for six months the roots of wild yams are dug from the
jungle.”
“How do you get salt?”
“We exchange one-sixth of our daily wages in paddy for a day’s supply of salt”
“Not having proper food, the children are weak and unable to do hard work,
therefore they are not paid any wages until they are fifteen years of age;
9. They are kept toiling in manuring, planting, or reaping through the day in the
agricultural season, mostly with the blazing sun beating on the bare head, and the feet
in mire or water, and return in the evening, fatigued and hungry, to their wretched huts
to boil their rice and eat it with salt and pepper.
10. Sudras (Nayars – higher caste) do not eat beef, but mutton, poultry, &c.
11. Syrian Christians (land owners): Food. — There are no prejudices against any
particular kind of food. Beef is ordinarily not procurable, therefore not eaten. Rice and
curry is a favourite dish.
12. The cheapest food in Travancore, except home-grown roots and fruits, is rice.
Of this adults require about a pound and a half daily, and it costs something like a
penny to a penny farthing per pound. Rice is not nearly so nourishing as wheat or
oatmeal, and should be supplemented, as it usually is among vegetable feeders, with
pease, milk, or butter. Numerous varieties are grown, and nice distinctions made of
flavour and individual taste.
13. Rice, the staple food of the people, is not commonly ground into flour, but
boiled whole and eaten with curry — that is, highly spiced meat, fruit, or vegetables;
other grains, as millet, &c., are ground into flour, and boiled into a kind of porridge or
pudding.
14. The social circumstances and daily life of the poor low-caste or slave women,
who are obliged to labour for their daily support, and sometimes have nothing to eat
on any day on which they remain idle, present a direct contrast to the comfort of these
just described, as might be expected from the condition of extreme and enforced
degradation in which they have been so long kept, and the contempt and abhorrence
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with which they are universally regarded. Yet they are human as well as their superiors.
They work hard, suffer much from sickness and often from want of food, and
generally, like all slaves, also form evil habits of thieving, sensuality, drunkenness, and
vice, which increase or produce disease and suffering.
END OF QUOTEs
This is the real condition of the food intake of the various peoples of
Travancore. The higher castes and the Syrian Christians did have good food. The
lower castes had food bare enough to just survive.
If that be the condition of Travancore, see what was the condition of Malabar.
QUOTE from this book, Malabar:

It is supposed that in Malabar a man has enough to eat if he has 1½ Tippalis
of rice and ½ Tippali of conjee a day, or 1 Idangali of paddy of 4 Calicut Nalis There
are many in a starving condition who get less, and many affluent who eat more. END
OF QUOTE.
There is a lot of online claims about famine in Bengal during the English rule.
It is mentioned as if the British government planned for this famine and induced it
artificially. The actual fact is that the problem is connected to languages. I have seen
very rich locations in Delhi in close proximity to very poor people location. The rich
classes simply act as if they do not see the other class. For, it is not easy for an Aap-
level person to get into a conversation with Thoo level individuals, unless some kind of
enforceable hierarchy is there.
After the formation of India, the poor in the land joined the Naxalite party
(revolutionary communist) and attacked the landlords and the police and killed them.
Their leader Charu Majumdar was caught from his hiding place after the police could
extract this information from one of his associates by torturing him in custody. Charu
Majumdar was beaten to death by the police. His body was burned by the police
without giving it to his relatives. This is the exact and wider truth about the Bengal
famine.
Even now there is terrible starvation and poverty in Bengal. However, people
of India are attuned to not notice such things. However, if it was English rule here,
there will be an infinite number of things that would be noticed, including the terrible
manner in which live fowls are transported for slaughter across the distances in cages
which are stacked one upon another.
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No one cares for another person’s sufferings. The current-day nation of India
is full of sufferings of the downtrodden folks. It is not possible to converse across the
layers created by the feudal languages.
Academic historians of India with low-class scholarship, sit inside cosy

buildings, earning astronomical salaries, write any nonsense that comes to their insipid
minds about the English rule. And these are people who puts on a pretence that they
do not know that if a person is addressed as a Thoo or Nee, there is a huge hammering
being done, that would travel down to the very bottom of highly-layered social
structure.
However, they are aware of this, but still they would place the blame for
everything on the English rule.
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Oft-mentioned objections
Insipid historians mention that the English Empire was a looting empire.
Basically it is an issue of them visualising English colonial officials as a mere reflection
of their own personal attributes.
For instance, when I mention that in Malabar till around the end of the 1970s,
there was an English-speaking officer class in the administration who would not take
even one paisa as bribe, currently it is difficult to find anyone to believe it. For, it is not
possible to imagine, as of now, any official signing away official papers which would be
very valuable to any member of the public without charge an appropriate bribe-fee.
However that was the truth. And I have ample proof with me to prove it beyond any
content of doubt.
In the same manner, whatever goodness was done in the subcontinent,

mediocre historians and their insipid repeaters mention them as with some other
ulterior motives. I am quoting from the words of one Christian Missionary of the
London Missionary Society. He worked in the Travancore kingdom. The quote is
taken from the Native Life in Travancore:
QUOTE: The first missionary, Ringeltaube, working quite alone, amid

difficulties and discouragements of every kind, and often suffering under heavy
depression of spirit in view of the unpromising character of the early converts, was not able to
realise the grand proportions which the mission would ultimately assume, nor the full
value of the work which he was doing in laying the foundations of a noble Christian
church in Travancore. Tempted by low spirits and long-continued solitude to unbelief,
bitterness of mind, and a somewhat undue depreciation of native character, he wrote
to his sister
“I have now about six hundred Christians, who are not worse than the other
Christians in India. About three or four of them may have a longing for their salvation.
The rest have come through all kinds of other motives, which we can only know of
after years have passed.”
END OF QUOTE
The certain native people of the subcontinent imagine everyone as being like
themselves. It is not true. Planar language people cannot be like feudal language
people. That is the basic issue in understanding the motives of the English
administrator. When they taught the people good cultural standards, good dressing
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standards, good technical information, taught them English, brought in good

administration, set up good quality healthcare, set up medical colleges and much else,
the aims was not to squeeze out money.
The truth is that from almost all these things, currently the native bosses are
make fortunes. For instance, private medical colleges are literally gathering
astronomical amounts of money from their students as Capitation fees. What does
England get from these things, all of which literally sprouted from the legacy they left
here?
Had England been cunning enough, they would have destroyed every one of
these things and asked the peoples of the subcontinent to create them all on their own.
However, due to their great magnanimity, they did not do this.
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Photos and picture of the

Colonial times
There are many pictures in circulation as of now, depicting scenes from the
English Colonial times. In most of them, the natives are seen in very wretched
conditions. This is then taken as a proof that under the English rule, the natives of the
subcontinent were in wretched conditions.
Actually the analysis of the pictures is done in a totally erroneous manner. The
pictures that is thus shown are the real conditions of the lower-placed populations of
the subcontinent as seen by the English officials. It is these persons who were slowly
placed on a platform for improvement. However, when doing this, the English officials
had to face the wrath and antipathy of the higher classes of the subcontinent.
The next mischievous pictures are those that show good quality households
and other buildings owned by the English officials in British-India, and the missionary
buildings in the native kingdoms.
Actually the great quality seen in them is the natural quality of the English
language ambience. The English dressing standards, though simple, was beyond the
conceptions of a lower caste man or women in the subcontinent. For, they stood under
the weight of a number of social layers pressing down from above.
What is missing in all these kinds of pictorial depictions were the pictures of
the higher castes and classes of the subcontinent. Their supreme position in the land
cannot be understood by merely looking at their dresses. For instance, when a big man
wears a mundu or dothi, there are hidden social codes of ‘respect’ and derogation
encrypted in them. Just by looking at a man wearing a Mundu, one cannot take up the
understanding that he is a non-entity or a nondescript man. He would very well be a
most powerful feudal lord.
And by looking at a tiled house of a landlord, it would be quite foolish to say

that he is poor. For, there would be an immensity of dependents of his who live in
thatched huts, with bare conveniences.
The fact is that if an English household were living near them, the whole
social system would change, by the very sight of the Englishmen and women standing,
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conversing, walking &c. with a totally different bearing. For, such a higher stature
human body-language was not commonly seen in the subcontinent. Just viewing the
English native of those times was a high-content education in human potential
enhancement.
These are things which insipid history textbooks written by equally dullard
Indian academicians would not dare to mention.
Now, we come to the various picture of White men and women in forest
scenes showing them having killed or shot dead some wild animal.
There are multiple issues in these pictures. For one thing, there might not be
enough evidence that these men and women in a specific picture were from England
or Great Britain. For, there were other White populations from Continental Europe
also nicely enjoying the secure conditions provided the English rule.
Even before the secure installing of the English rule, the French, Italians,
Portuguese etc. did also do all these things. These white people did fight on the side of
the ‘freedom fighters of India’ against the English.
Next items for scrutiny would, did these shootings take place inside British-
India or in the native-kingdoms. The native kings and other ‘Indian princes’ were
involved in the shady business of inviting native-Brits to their kingdoms and
conducting wildlife shooting expeditions.
There is another wider aspect to the inspected. Some rich people from India
go to Britain and take their guns and go in for shooting the animals and birds there.
What would happen?
It is very much possible that they would be arrested or restrained or taken into
custody and sent back home. However, instead of that, if the native officials in Britain
invite such people from outside and give them all encouragement to shoot any animal
they like, then the blame cannot be placed on the outsiders.
Now, this was what was restrained in British-India. The forest department in
British-India would have stood for protecting the forests and its resources, while in the
native-kingdoms, it would have been scene of inducing the foreign guests to take part
in such forest parties, as a sort of native entertainment. And in later years, the whole
blame would be placed on England. And not on the native kingdoms.
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Payment for the Colonial

deeds
I am intending to conclude this commentary with one brief discussion about a

very cantankerous campaign going on in England. It is mainly done by persons who
had the fortune to live in native-English nations.
This has been the history of this subcontinent. Persons of miniscule

personality and information go to England or some other native-English nation. From
there, they act as if someone from the subcontinent had authorised them to act as the
representatives or the agents or leaders of the people/s of the subcontinent.
They initiate campaigns, make declarations, deliver speeches, take part in

discussions, meet the political leaders of those nations and do so many things like that
in the foolish guise of the leaders of the people/s of the subcontinent.
When one lives in native-English nations, everything looks quite easy. These
very persons, if they were to live in the subcontinent, would find it quite difficult to
communicate across the social layers. It is not easy to even converse with a police
constable or a government office peon for most people in India. The languages are so
terrible that the government personnel can very easily degrade the common man using
very soft words.
The wise guys who go to England and act as the leaders of the people cannot
do one bit to change all this. In fact, they remain as the great stumbling block for the
development of the people.
There was one Gandhi who is mentioned currently

as the ‘father of the nation’. What kind of a ‘father of a
nation’ is this, when there is no such definition anywhere in
any of the statutory books, including the Constitution of
India, about such a ‘father of the nation’? This man’s USP
was asking the people to remain in their degrading dressing
standards, and to address him as Aap, and as a Mahatma or
a Ji. He remains an UNN (highest he/him), which the
common man is a Thoo, and a USS (lowest he/him). Some
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bloody fools in England have even put up a statue of him next to that of Winston
Churchill.
One should compare his common followers with the common people who
followed the English systems. Then the stark difference would come out.
In fact, there was no great ‘freedom struggle’ in the subcontinent so to speak

of. The Sepoy Mutiny was not a ‘freedom struggle’ by ‘Indians’. Only academic idiots
would make such a discovery. In fact, even the people of Meerut did not support the
actions of a reckless group of armed natives. A group of armed natives is a terror for
the common people.
It was the rest of the people/s and the kings and other rulers of the
subcontinent who rushed to the help of the English East India Company and crushed
the hooligans.
What these hooligans did in Cawnpore can be read in The Story of Cawnpore
by Capt. Mowbray Thomson. It might even be suspected that the Mutiny had the
blessing of the British home government or the British Crown. For, it was the only
legal opportunity to dismiss the East India Company government which had become
statistically multiple times more powerful that Great Britain itself. However, since the
Company was an English one, they did not go alone. Any other nationalities would
have simply gone off alone.
Only around half of the subcontinent was under the English rule. The rest
were independent kingdoms, who did not want to mention that they were not part of
British-India, in England. For, it was a very cosy address to mention cunningly.
However, even the earlier mentioned Gandhi was not from British-India. His father
was the prime minister of Porbunder kingdom.
The creation of Pakistan and India was not due to any kind of freedom
struggle anywhere. It was the foolish deed of the British Labour Party that killed the
English Empire. It was the Labour Party’s political policy that when they come to
power, they would kill the Empire. Those fools came to power in Britain in the
immediate aftermath of the World War 2. They ditched everyone who had stood by
Britain thick and thin.
The 3 million and odd native-soldiers of the subcontinent were betrayed. They
were handed over to the Hindi-speaking native officers. In Hindi, the soldier, his wife
and family are the Thoo people. The officers, the wives, and their families are the Aap
people.
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This is a very great defining element. The soldiers who had stood stolidly with
the English officers were going to mutate into something of a low-grade variety.
The native-kingdoms who had supported the English rule suddenly found that
they had nothing to hold on to. The British-Indian army which had been under
commitment to protect them was now in the hands of politicians who had no qualms
of using and misusing the armed forces as per their whims and wishes. Both Pakistan
and India went on military intimidation campaign to overrun all the native-kingdoms.
No referendums on the peoples’ wishes were taken into account.
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Calculating the compensation

The first part of the compensation has naturally to go to the kingdoms which
were forcefully attached to the nations of Pakistan and India. And also to the people
who were subjects therein. Naturally both Pakistan as well as India stands complicit in
this piece of rascality.
The second part of the Compensation can be taken up on the huge

infrastructure building done in the land.
Before going ahead on this route, let me take up the location of Malabar. It is a
miniscule location when seen from a subcontinent perspective. This book, Malabar,
deals with North Malabar and South Malabar. These two locations are socially
disconnected locations. The people of the north view the southern sections as
demeaned. What is the perspective from the other side is not known to me.
Inside each of these sections, there are numerous kingdoms, many small, and
the others miniscule. They are all incessantly fighting against each other, via frequent
plundering, and molesting raids.
Inside each king family, there are various mutinous groups who would be quite
happy to decapitate the head of their king.
Then there is the Hindu (Brahmin) social leadership who hold a very powerful
grip over a number of layers of human populations, by means of very terrible feudal
languages.
Below the Brahmins are the various layers of the Ambalavasis, who might also
be Hindus.
Below this comes the Nayars, who were in days of yore some kind of fake
Sudras or something else. However, by submitting themselves fully to the Brahmin
superiors, their bloodline became more or less totally Brahmin. It was their job to
uphold the ‘respect’ of the Hindus and to keep down the lower populations by means
of the powerful verbal codes in the feudal language. The language was something
called Malayalam, but not the current-day Malayalam. The name Malayalam was
usurped by the Travancore group as they took over some parts of the Malayalam of
Malabar and mixed it up with their traditional language Tamil and inserted Sanskrit
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words in immensity. It has come to a state that the original language of Malabar had to
be renamed as Malabari.
Each one of the lower castes themselves were brutal to those who came under
each one of them.
The Hindus (Brahmins) naturally had the learning in Sanskrit. However, the
technical skills were with the various lower class populations. However, only in native-
English nations would the technically skilled persons be allowed to function freely in
the social set up. In a feudal language set up, it is very clearly known that if the
technically skilled persons are given any leeway to go up in the social ladder, they
would take-over the social system.
Now, into this highly cantankerous social system of a very miniscule

geopolitical location, the English East India Company officials are under duress to
create a functioning and enduring political system. And they succeeded in doing this.
What can be the compensation for this? How does one calculate the stopping
of all kinds of warfare and battles in the location that had been going on incessantly
from times immemorial, in terms of monetary compensation?
This is item no 1.
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2. Emancipation of slaves:
The majority populations were in various levels of slavery. Even though the
subservience to the higher-placed populations starts directly from the Brahmins, it is
actually from the ranks below the Nayars that the real enslavement commences.
It is like this: Nayars are below the Ambalavasis. The Ambalavasis have several
layers. Ambalavasis, Unni, Nambishan, Pisharadi, Variyar, Chakkiyaar, Nambiyaar &c.
They all come under the Brahmins.
Among the Brahmins also there are layers. Thamburans, Nambhoothiripad,

‘special’ (Vishistar), Bhattathirpad, Saamaanya Brahmins, Nambi, Shanthikkaar /
Embraan, Namboori (Sapagrasthan), Papista Brahmins &c.
It should be noted that the above-mentioned lists might not be very authentic.
I have simply gathered them from one or two old time books. I have no direct
information on these castes and how they relate to each other.
Nayars could have been mentioned as an enslaved caste. However, they stood
rock-solidly loyal and subservient to the Hindus (Brahmans) to the extent that they
made a policy that the Nambhuthiri Brahmins could have close alliance with their
womenfolk.
Even though this might look a bit awkward from current-day shallow
understandings of reality, the fact is that offering the household women to the divine
levels of personages is one of the highest levels of offering an individual or household
or population can offer. It is an act of pious offering. This is an item that can be
understood only in a feudal-language social system.
It is an offering to the higher indicant word defined personage. It is not to the

lower-indicant word defined persons.
The higher indicant word personage can relocate the worshipper and his
family to the height of the social layers.
In other words, the Sudras were being placed above the various other
populations. They can address them as Inhi/Nee/Thoo, and refer to them as
Oan/Avan/Chekkan, Olu/Aval/Pennu etc. This positioning in the verbal codes is
something that cannot be understood in English.
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It is a great blessing that is being bestowed on the complete family members.

They literally rise high above the various other populations, who might exhibit dignity,
mental stature etc. However, in feudal languages, those who exhibit dignity, mental
stature, high bearing etc. are crushed down and the place of prominence is offered to
those who cringe, and shower feudal ‘respect’.
It is like a common soldier in a feudal-language based army offering his wife or

sister to the army officer/s. The officer/s helps him to slowly rise above his rank and
become a Commissioned Officer. What has happened is the total rising of the status of
his complete family members. They all are now part of the officer class. They can
address the common soldiers and their family members with the lower indicant words
for You, Your, Yours, He, His, Him, She, Her, Hers &c. It is a very powerful
endowment that has been received.
It might be seen that both the Syrian Christians as well as the Jews did very
powerfully grab the higher social positions more or less equal to the Nayars from the
contemporary Tamil kings of Travancore area. What they offered in return for getting
this kind of astronomical levels of social heights is not known.
Coming back to Malabar, it is seen that many populations who were not
willing to concede such offerings or were not even asked for such offerings, were
pushed down to the levels of various levels of slaves. The Hindus and the Nayars
literally lived on the centuries of enslavement of these unfortunate populations. Many
of the extremely lower classes literally lived like animals or domestic cattle. They were
more or less tied to the small bit of land where they had to work from the beginning of
their working life to the end of it. The working life would start when they were about
four or five years old.
They were sold or lent, or hired out to other land-owners. Even though the
higher classes saw them almost every day, no one really bothered to think of them as
human beings. It is like this in current-day India. People see the household servants
treated like some kind of low quality human beings. They are made to sit on the floor
and addressed in the pejorative part of the verbal codes. To become friendly with them
is also quite dangerous. For, if they feel that the other person is an equal, the verbal
codes they use to him would become quite carnivorous. That is, it will bite. They are
made to live like carnivorous animals.
It is true that if these people are allowed to go to any native-English nation,

their individuality would rise up sky-high. However, after a few years, they would start
complaining about native-English racism. That is the most funny part. That, persons
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who would be made to sit and sleep on the floor in India and addressed as ‘dirt’, when
they go to native-English nations would find the native-English, ‘racist.
It was the native-English administration in the subcontinent, starting with the

English East India Company that took the most vigorous steps to stamp out human
slavery. Many of these erstwhile slaves rose up to the social heights. Many other
escaped to other nations where English colonialism was in existence, and started their
lives as labourers. It is quite funny that idiot academic historians have taken this as
proof that the English were ‘exporting slaves from India’.
The fact is that the slave populations in Travancore, which was not part of
British-India, could not interact with the local social system with dignity. They could
not come on the roads. They would not get good government jobs. Their only option
to become part of any human society was to escape from this land to other lands,
where their manual labour skills could be given for wages. Not as slaves.
The slave populations who improved in Travancore was mainly due to the
handiwork of the members of the London Missionary Society. However, they escaped
to Malabar forests and became reasonably very rich. Today they will not admit that
they by ancestry were from the slave populations.
Actually no one would like to mention such a thing. None of the lower castes
would like to mention their caste name. They would prefer to be known as Hindus and
thus connected to the much-described Vedic culture of some 7000 years back in some
part of Central Asia. Actually none of these populations are Hindus. They all had their
own traditional deities and Shamanistic rituals. However, many of them are quite
ashamed to mention these links. Instead they all want to mention their links to
Hindu/Brahmanical traditions and antiquity.
On this account also, the English East India Company has lost much in terms
of gratitude. For, if no one claims to have come from the slave ancestry, there is no
meaning in seeking any appreciation for the great deeds of the English Company.
But then, historical facts should stand indelible. The vast majority
population/s of Malabar consists of those who were emancipated from social slavery
by the English East India Company. If compensation claims are to be put up, how
much it would run up to. An emancipation of millions of human beings across the
generations, whose ancestors were the human beast of labour for centuries and
beyond.
This is item no 2.
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However, that is the compensation that the emancipated populations have to

offer to pristine-England. Not to Multi-culture demon England.
But then what about the Hindus and the Nayars? They would have also to pay
a very huge astronomical sum as compensation to their erstwhile slaves’ descendents.
In which case, the birdbrain campaigning in England for compensation for

‘colonial looting’ would find his family fortunes completely wiped out. He himself
would find himself doing some wiping job to make ends meet.
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3. Educating the peoples
There was practically no formal education for the people of Malabar.

However, it does not mean that they were without skills or capabilities. In fact, most of
the lower-positioned castes were experts in some kind of skilled work. Furniture
carpentry, architecture carpentry, pottery, herbal medicine, various kinds of cultivation,
coconut-tree climbing, making oil, making lime for use as building mortar, and much
else were there as skill and knowledge among the various population groups, which
were identified by specific caste names.
But then, it might be true that the higher kind of information on engineering,
architecture, allopathic medical treatment, etc. had to be inserted into the social system
by the English administrators. It was not easy for them. For, it is seen that when they
tried to open a Medical College at Calcutta, for teaching medical studies to the native
students, there was indeed a huge hue and cry against it, from the local social leaders.
As to Sanskrit literary
education, it is sure that the Brahmins
did have this as part of their traditional
legacy. When the English
administrators set up schools, there was
a concerted effort on the part of the
local feudal landlords also to set up a
parallel vernacular education system. It
is easy to understand their urges.
For, in a feudal language social system, education has some other ulterior aims.
It is an easy way to assemble young children under oneself. The children can then be
addressed by powerful demeaning lower indicant words like Inhi, Nee etc. and other
lower grade indicant words can be used to refer to them. When this kind of demeaning
is done, what takes place is the exact opposite of what would happen in English. In
English, a person with some dignity would react with vehemence at this Satanic
degrading. (Currently in Multi-culture England, this degrading of students might be
going on in the sly. Feudal languages would raise their monstrous heads only when they
have gained a lot power).
In a feudal language ambience, the degraded students would fall in love with
their degrading teacher, shower him with respect, and hold him up as a very honoured
individual. This is the real secret for the inducement to become a teacher in the
subcontinent.
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What was great about the education that was truly supported wholeheartedly
by the English administrators was education in English. It may be noted that the
Christian Missionaries who worked in the native-kingdoms did not support education
in English, even though they did run many English schools. One of the reasons could
be that in the subcontinent, the Christian religion was only very slightly connected to
English and England. For most of its components were from non-English nations.
And there were persons like Gundert etc. who were actually some kind of interlopers,
acting as silent agents for a larger agenda.
It was the presence of such white-skinned Continental Europeans that messed

up the definition of the English rule. They also managed to confuse both the English
administrators as well as the native populations as to who was really ruling the land.
Actually the colonialism in the subcontinent was not a ‘White-man colonialism’, but an
English colonialism. The term ‘White’ can encompass a number of nationalities in
Continental Europe. At least some of them were the early days ‘freedom fighters’ of
‘India’, in that they collaborated heavily with the native kings to destroy the English
East India Company administration.
The greatest of English contribution in the field of education, actually all kinds
of education, was the setting up of very high quality systems, procedures, protocols,
codes of ethics, grooming standards, hierarchies not based on feudal language codes
and much else in all fields that had connection to education and professional studies.
For instance, the Allopathic Medical education. The very refined systems,
based on pristine-English were taught and enforced by them. This is where all other
systems including the native-herbal treatment systems and even formidable
Homoeopathy went behind. For instance, even though Homoeopathy is a very
effective disease treatment system, just because it was never part of the English
educational system, it continues to lag behind with low-quality systems, conventions,
behavioural pattern etc. and at the same time, more or less trying to imitate Allopathic
conventions. Even the word ‘doctor’ is a creation of the English system in this land. It
continues to hold a brand image of an honoured person, due to the feudal languages of
the land.
However, the Homoeopath has not been able to gather a similar ‘honourable’
stance for the word ‘Homoeopath’. So, he or she is highly bent on claiming a ‘doctor’
prefix to his or her name.
It is undeniable that the English administration did try to use formal education
to improve the standards of the common people. However, they did make one mistake
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in that, there were not insistent enough on stressing the importance of good-quality
English, and English only, in education.
Formal education without good-quality English was more or less a waste of

time, unless every kind of statutory jobs were reserved for this useless vernacular -
educated students. Vernacular education does not do anything to erase the huge and
totally encompassing feudal language emotions and triggers from a student’s mind.
Vernacular education in India as of now, is the forceful enslavement of

children under low-class under-informed individuals who address the children as
Thoo/Nee, and refer to them as Avan/Aval/Uss etc. All of these words are of the
lower indicant levels and meant to degrade the individual.
It may be seen that two persons were given the Noble Prize for aiding these
‘teachers’. They cannot be blamed. However, the Nobel Prize Committee which
decided to give the awards to these cunning crooks might need to be taken up for
scrutiny by both Providence as well as Nemesis.
As of now, teaching is a business. Compulsory teaching has its business aims.

A teacher’s job in a government-aided school in Malabar can be bought by ‘teachers’
for around 20 lakh (200 million) rupees and more. It is the school management’s profit.
The teachers who literally do not know anything are paid an astronomical salary, plus
huge pension benefits.
The textbook industry also has a very great vested interest in this.
I will give a list of educational systems that were introduced or supported or

sponsored by the native-English rulers:
1. Medical Colleges
2. Engineering Colleges
3. Dental Colleges
4. Veterinary Colleges
5. Agricultural Colleges
6. Science Colleges
7. Humanities Colleges
8. English Nursery Schools (some run by good-quality Anglo-Indians)
9. English Lower Primary Schools (some run by good-quality Anglo-Indians)
10. English Higher Primary Schools (some run by good-quality Anglo-Indians)
11. English High Schools (some run by good-quality Anglo-Indians)
12. English Intermediate Colleges
13. English Degree Colleges
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14. Vernacular Schools

15. Various kinds of technical teaching institutes
However, what needs to be mentioned here is that among all the above-
mentioned items, actually the best item was the English Nursery, Lower Primary,
Higher Primary and English High School education. It was in these locations that the
native children got to get educated in the egalitarian emotions of the English language.
Moreover, many of them became good in English Classical literature.
Actually a good reading experience in English Classical literature is the greatest

of education that an individual can get to totally erase his native-land barbarian and
semi-barbarian mentality.
In the English-rule times, only a person who has traversed the English
Classical literature track successfully could get to become a Government officer, a
doctor, an engineer, a teacher and such.
Because it was this English Classical literature which was the towering
Himalayan heights that should first be climbed, before any individual could aspire for
any higher quality profession. For, once he or she has climbed this, he or she becomes
a great individual with profound egalitarian principles in his or her mind.
An individual who has not climbed in the English Classical literature route
remains more or less, the same old feudal language mentality person. He or she should
never be given any quality professional status. For, if he or she occupies such positions,
everyone who works under him or her gets despoiled. From this despoilment, the
members of the public also get dirtied.
As of now, in India, persons who do not have any connection to English

Classical literature are becoming IAS/IPS officers, Doctors, Engineers, Political leaders
etc. And the quality derangement induced by them on the people is quite obvious.
It might be mentioned in passing that if current-day ‘officers’ of the Indian

government were to write a Civil Service exam of the English rule times, only very few
of them would get in. Most of the others would be assignable only menial jobs in the
government offices. Such persons are now in charge of the government offices.
However, the government official content is only representative of the people

content.
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Again, speaking of the Nursery-level education, in good-quality English

schools, it was done by good quality individuals who were good in English and English
Classics. They would never use a pejorative word to the students. However, as of now,
the servant-maid type of persons is in charge of Nursery school education. There is a
general feeling that Nursery school education is of the least importance. Actually it is
of the greatest importance.
Hopefully, the Nobel Prize Committee would get its just desserts before long
from Nemesis.
Every kind of educational item, which are all currently in their most dirtied
form, including the Professors, Lectures, Research fellows, University Convocation,
Graduate and Post Graduate degree Certificates, and much else are what has been
bequeathed to a most ungrateful population by the native-English rulers.
Now, speaking of Compensation, what can be the total valuation of the huge
and gigantic educational system that has grown up on the foundations made by the
native-English rulers? It might be noted in passing that the native-land feudal landlord
classes never seems to have pondered on these kinds of infrastructure building for the
common man. But then, they cannot be blamed. For, it was a common knowledge that
if the lower classes are improved, they would push out the benefactors and make all
kinds of attempts to take-over their assets and other possessions.
Actually this is going on in England as of now. The immigrant folks are hell-
bent on over-running England and enslaving the native-English people. They are
creating fractures in the social fabric and acting as if they are the healers to the malady.
Actually they are the malady.
The foundation for mass education in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh was the
legacy of the English Colonial rule. It is true that as of now, this public education has
been deliberately made sterile by the exclusion of English in the education.
This is item no. 3.
What amount of compensation should be paid to England for this fabulous

legacy of educational infrastructure? It is true that jingoists can speak of Taxila and
Nalanda &c. But then what do they have to do with the Nambhuthiris, Ambalavasis,
Marumakkathaya Thiyya, Makkathaya Thiyyas, Nayar, Malayans, Vedans, Chaliyars,
Pulayars, Pariahs, Converted Christians, Shanar and other immensity of populations
here?
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4. Creating a huge egalitarian administrative system
In Travancore State Manual written by V Nagam Iyya, there is this statement:

QUOTE: “It is the power of the British sword,” as has been well observed,
“which secures to the people of India the great blessings of peace and order which
were unknown through many weary centuries of turmoil, bloodshed and pillage before
the advent of the Briton in India”. END OF QUOTE.
Actually the British sword is not of a different breed that it is more sharp,
more lengthier or more piercing. And the word ‘India’ is not the apt word. The apt
word would have been Subcontinent. As to the word ‘people’, it should have been
‘peoples’.
Yet, what the statement defines is quite true. The lands had been ‘through
many weary centuries of turmoil, bloodshed and pillage before the advent of the Briton
in India’. However, the apt word here would have been ‘the English’ rather than ‘the
Briton’.
QUOTE from the Travancore State Manual:

It is quite possible that in the never-ending wars of those days between
neighbouring powers, Chera, Chola and Pandya Kings might have by turns appointed
Viceroys of their own to rule over the different divisions of Chera, one of whom might
have stuck to the southernmost portion, ....................... subsequently as an independent
ruler himself. This is the history of the whole of India during the time of the early
Hindu kings or under the Moghul Empire. END OF QUOTE.
See the words ‘never-ending wars of those days between neighbouring powers,
Chera, Chola and Pandya Kings’.
QUOTE from Travancore State Manual: collecting their own taxes, building
their own forts, levying and drilling their own troops of war, their chief recreation
consisting in the plundering of innocent ryots all over the country or molesting their
neighbouring Poligars. The same story was repeated throughout all the States under the
Great Moghul. In fact never before in the history of India has there been one
dominion for the whole of the Indian continent from the Himalayas to the Cape,
guided by one policy, owing allegiance to one sovereign-power and animated by one
feeling of patriotism to a common country, as has been seen since the consolidation of
the British power in India a hundred years ago. END OF QUOTE.
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Actually, Nagam Iyya seems to have gone berserk with his affection for the
English rule in the Subcontinent. For, there is an error. The native-kingdoms were not
actually part of British-India. This has been mentioned in ample words in that very
book itself, when a question about the legal rights over native-British citizens living
inside Travancore, came up for scrutiny.
QUOTE from Travancore State Manual: As a natural consequence anarchy

and confusion in their worst forms stalked the land. The neighbouring chiefs came
with armed marauders and committed dacoities from time to time plundering the
people wholesale, not sparing even the tali on their necks and the jewels on the ears of
women. The headman of each village in his turn similarly treated his inferiors END OF
QUOTE.
This was the experience of a place called Nanjanad. Actually, this was the
infrequent experience of very many places in the subcontinent, as far as the common
people were concerned. When a similar terrible time came for Malabar, the kings and
princes and other higher caste people who had the amenities, ran off to Travancore
kingdom seeking safety.
So what was the state of the subcontinent before the advent of the English
rule?
1. turmoil, bloodshed and pillage
2. never-ending wars
3. plundering of innocent ryots all over the country or molesting their neighbouring
Poligars
4. anarchy and confusion in their worst forms
5. plundering the people wholesale, not sparing even the tali on their necks and the
jewels on the ears of women
6. Slavery, and getting sold or rented out as slaves
Sitting inside some cosy air-conditioned building and writing a false history
comes easy for the Indian academicians. However, the realities of the subcontinent
were terrible. Even the forced burning of young widows was of unmentionable horror.
I have seen one joker sitting in the US and claims that it was burned women’s human
right to get decide to get burned. That fool has forgotten that in his native land in
India, people cannot think or decide beyond what is allowed in the verbal codes. There
are quite powerful strangleholds that the family as a whole has on an individual.
The insecurity on the trading roads due to the presence of the Thugges was
another unfathomable horror. They would use the vile strategy of affableness and
unwavering friendship to corner an unwary trader. This use of affableness and
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friendliness to subdue an adversary is a national pastime in all feudal language nations.

Native-English populations cannot even imagine the satanic pleasure that is derived in
using backstabbing methods to overpower them.
As to people’s safety and welfare, one only needs to see how an ordinary
worker or some other kind of lower-placed labourer gets treated in an Indian police
station or village office. The words used are invariably ‘Nee’, ‘Thoo’, ‘Inhi’ etc. Once
this hammering via words is placed on the person, the person is more or less in a
debilitated form. In fact, most of the ‘Indians’ are these kinds of ‘debilitated’ citizens.
The other non- debilitated citizens of India are happy to see them in such a condition.
For, they then pose no competition to them. Feudal languages create a terrific mood
for competition in each and every verbal dialogue, unless there is acknowledged
servility on one side.
It is these kinds of an immensity of minute populations, and lands that were

amalgamated to form British-India. British-India had its own national sovereignty, and
focus of sovereignty for the people/s. For the first time in recorded history, the
Nambhuthiris, Ambalavasis, Makkathaya Thiyyas, Malayans, Vedans, Chaliyars,
Pulayars, Pariahs, Cherumars, Converted Christian, converted Mappillas, Shanar,
Nayar, Marumakkathaya Thiyya, Arabian-blood-mix Mappillas, Rawuther Muslim and
other immensity of populations here, felt that they were part of a single large human
population group that consisted of Rajputs, Moguls, Gujaratis, Sindhis, Bengalis,
Telugus, Kannadigas, Biharis, Pathans, Tamilians &c.
However, there is also a much wider complication in this national affiliation.

For, inside each of these afore-mentioned ethnic groups, there would be a huge
number of castes who traditionally looked downwards with unconcealed distaste and
repulsion.
That the native-English could create a nation out of them, in around the half
of the geopolitical location of the subcontinent actually points to a very high calibre
communication-capability population
.
In such a very complicated social system, it would not be possible for any of
the local populations to create anything like this. For, no communication will go
forward without some powerful backing in it.
It is like this:
One leader tells another person to go and tell another person to do such and
such a thing. The first person would first assess if the order has been given by an
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adequate UNN/ Adheham/ Avar (highest He/Him). If the assessment is that the
person is not of enough heights, he will not do what has been asked of him.
Now, if he does go and give the request to the third person, the third person
would scrutinise both the first person as well as the second person. If either of them
are not of acceptable heights and lowliness respectively, he would dither on the
information and request.
This is how communication works in a feudal language. However, if the

command comes from a very terrorising and powerful entity, it is conceded to.
However, for the first time in recorded history in the subcontinent, a new
system of communication based on logic, pleasant words, good manners, non-
degrading and non-servile verbal codes entered into the social system. It actually took
some time for the local people and the local kings to understand that the English
systems had some kind of terrific difference from their own traditional systems.
It was this information that a very decent and honourable new entity,
something like a very decent alien population, had come into the subcontinent that
more or less united the people and the kings under the English East India Company
standard (flag).

Marthanda Varma’s words on his deathbed to his heir: “That, above all, the
friendship existing between the English East India Company and Travancore should
be maintained at any risk, and that full confidence should always be placed in the
support and aid of that honourable association. END OF QUOTE.
I have already listed out the great administrative apparatus that was created in
each every Taluk in miniscule Malabar. I will list them here again of Manantody Taluk:
QUOTE:
(1) The Deputy Collector and Magistrate located at Manantoddy.
(2) The Tahsildar and Sub-Magistrate located at Manantoddy.
(3) The Police Inspector located at Manantoddy.
(4) The Deputy Tahsildar and Sub-Magistrate located at Vayitiri.
(6) The Police Inspector located at Vayitiri.
(6) The District Munsif located at Vayitiri.
(7) The Sub-Registrar, Manantoddy, under the District Registrar. Tellicherry.
(8) The Sub-Registrar, Vayitiri, under the District Registrar, Calicut.
(9) Combined Postal and Telegraph office at Vayitiri.
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(10) Other Post offices at Manantoddy, Kalpetta. Tariyott, Sultan’s Battery and
Mepadi.
(11) Police stations at Manantoddy, Oliyot, Koroth, Panamaram, Kalpetta,
Vayitiri, Mepadi, Tariyott, Sultan’s Battery and Periah.
(12) Sub-Assistant Conservator at Manantoddy and his subordinates,
(13) Local Fund Supervisors and Sub-Overseers at Vayitiri and Manantoddy.
(14) Local Fund Middle School at Manantoddy.
(15) Vaccine staff for North and South Wynad under the control of the
Deputy Inspectors of Tellicherry and Calicut circles respectively.
(16) Hospitals at Vayitiri and Manantoddy in charge of Apothecaries ; the
latter being supervised till August 1886 by a European medical officer, who drew a
special allowance of Rs. 150 per mensem from Government.
(17) Bench of Magistrates, North Wynad.
(18) Do. South Wynad.
END OF QUOTE
This is a minor list of social and administrative infrastructure created by the

English rule in the remote forest areas of Wynad. Wynad was actually a forest-filled
Taluk north of Calicut and east of Tellicherry. Just imagine, the English Company
setting up all these things and more in around half the location of the subcontinent. In
other areas, like the seaports, they did create wonderful harbours and seaport. It is not
the infrastructure of the ports and harbours that should create wonder in our minds. It
is the port rules and other decorum, and codes of formal functioning that are
incredible. For these very decent codes of actions are being introduced in a semi to
fully barbarian land. Check the Port Rules section in the book, Malabar.
The main point here to be mentioned powerfully is that it is not that a native
leadership of the Subcontinent cannot visualise all these kinds of administrative set
ups. It is just that the moment he or she talks in the feudal languages social system, it
would create problems of communication. As to who is bigger and who is smaller.
Beyond that, inside the administrative set-up, everyone would be first and
foremost concerned about their own social stature and ‘respect’. The quality of
everything would be compromised upon this item.
This is item no. 4.
When speaking about Compensation, how much amount should the nations
of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh give to pristine-England (not to Multi-culture
demon England) for the setting up of an immensity of administrative set-ups in the
whole of the subcontinent? Remember that in India alone, there are around 238617
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panchayats and around 649481 villages. (I am not sure if the mentioned numbers are
correct).
Let the birdbrain start calculating.
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5. Postal Department
The concept of posts and courier is not difficult to conceive. It is just a matter
of telling someone to take some article, go to the place where it has to be given and
deliver it.
The idea is quite simple.
However, in a feudal language social systems only if a powerful entity gives the
order would the thing move forward. Otherwise, even if the other person has
promised that he would do it, he would not do it.
It is like this. In India, one man is told to take one letter to another man, who
has to do its bidding and then take the assigned item to another man.
Both the persons agree to do their part of the work. However, when the first
man is called in the morning, he admits that he has not done it. Why? His uncle called
him for another work. He cannot disobey his uncle. However, he will do it the next
day.
The next day also some other excuse.
Ultimately, the first man goes and gives it to the other man’s wife, who
informs him that her husband had waited for the article on the first day.
The next day the second man is called. He says his wife had received the item,
but then she had to go to her aunt’s house. And he has not received the article in his
hands.
Ultimately he receives the article. However, he is now called for some family
affairs and cannot tend to the instructions in the letter. The real reason is that he finds
that he has to go to a location wherein he might not be ‘respected’ adequately.
This is how these things work in a feudal language ambiance. For, very
powerful indicant word-codes do influence all human actions and emotions.
But then the higher castes and the rulers did have various kinds of letter and
other article delivery systems. The arrangement is not for the people to use. It is just
simply a system of people organised to send, forward and deliver letters and other
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articles from their social leaders to others. It has nothing like a pre-paid stamp and
such.
The very idea of a postal department which can be utilised by everyone came
from an English mind. It is not that a Malabari man cannot imagine this up. It is just
that, in Malabar, who would want to give this facility to the ‘low-class’ others in the
society? No sane man would do this. For, the ‘low-classes’ would then tend to show-
off their grandeur!
As of now, the traditional postal and telegraph systems are going rapidly into
oblivion or obscurity.
But then, in their heydays, they were wonderful creations of a most egalitarian
population’s mind. There was actually no need for the English rulers to set up a
postal department which all people could make use of.
No other king or queen or ruler in the subcontinent had even pondered on

giving such facilities to the downtrodden populations.
In my childhood, I was quite easily impressed by what it meant. I post a One-

paise stamp postcard in a small letterbox in some remote corner of some remote
village. It is addressed to a location in Assam, some 3500 kilometres away, in an equally
remote village. The exact location is a small hut on the other side of a water-filled
agricultural plantation.
The wonder of wonder is that this tiny bit of paper, with a stamp value of
extremely negligible amount, is delivered to the hut with supernatural precision.
The amount of written codes, rules, by-laws, systems, routing, authentications,

enforcement of discipline etc. in a land which had nothing of this can be understood
only by those who know what is what. For, each individual in the string of individuals
has to placed in a very controlled corridor, that moves only in the pre-set route. No
command, appeal, emotion, frustration, anger, enmity, laziness, procrastination &c.
should be able to create a disruption in this route.
The people here received this fabulous set-up on a silver platter.
Ibn Batuta does mention about a courier system among the Muslim kings of
the northern parts of the subcontinent. In Travancore, there was a Anjal ottam (mail-
runner) courier service. These are all sort of expensive services for the privileged
classes.
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These kinds of things would be found in all the ancient kingdoms of the
world. This has nothing to do with the English built up postal system based on prepaid
stamps. Even if such a system did exist in some per-historic times, it does not affect
the truth that in the South Asian Subcontinent, it was the English administration that
set up the postal department that exists today.
It is easy to say that a very professional set-up can be created very easily. The
fact is that to ensure the delivery of the mail article at the precisely correct location
requires the setting of a very fabulous organisational machinery.
When we speak about the British-Indian postal system, it would be a satanic

intention to confuse this system with the courier systems for the rulers and the other
privileged classes, which would be found in existence thousands-of-years back in all
continents.
QUOTE from the insipid Wikipedia: By 1861, there were 889 post offices
handling nearly 43 million letters and over 4.5 million newspapers annually. The first
superintendent of the post office was appointed in 1870 and based in Allahabad END
OF QUOTE.
Can this postal department be compared with the courier system for the
privileged classes of the subcontinent? An academic mind especially of India will
naturally have the genius to find a comparison.
The British-Indian postal rates were quite low. However, around 2000, the
government of India gave it very great patriotic push that all the lower financial classes
went out its purview. As of now, the Indian postal department caters to the financially
higher classes of the land. Mainly as a courier service for Online buying.
The postal department is a huge money-maker for the government of India,

as well as a treasure pot for its employees. However, there must be some thought
about paying the price of the company. Simply taking over a company when some nut
was ruling England cannot be mentioned as a great antiquity and heritage of a newly
formed nation. Or is its nations? Three of them are there.
This is item no. 5.
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6. Railways
There is a very cunning scene of the ‘father of the nation’ being pushed out a
South African train in the Gandhi movie. The ostensible reason being that he was not
White. However, how come a feudal language-speaking person, who discriminates
others and degrades a lot of them, on each and every aspect of a human being was
allowed into the train is the moot question.
The British-Indian railway was a wonder in the subcontinent in those days. It

traversed a lot of small and minor locations. The fact that all the people in the various
locations inside British-India were all under the same sovereign tended give an
impression that they were all one people, which actually they were not. The peoples of
the various locations viewed the various others as despicable entities. Even now this is
true.
See the way one native of middle India, where the common population is of
relatively lower social quality mentions the people of the south. He was working in a
Continental European nation as an employee there in one of the firms there.
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Being under the same sovereign

can give an impression that all the subjects
are same. For instance, the group of
Travancore and Malabar into one political
entity tended to give power to the Ezhava
political leaderships’ contention that both
the Thiyyas populations are Ezhavas. The
easiest logic is that all three come directly
under the Nayar caste in the social hierarchy
of yore.
Actually both the Thiyyas

populations are not one caste.
Even though in these times, when

almost all the technical skills and knowledge
of England has been download into India, it
might not seem to be a great thing to build a
Railway system in India, the truth is that the
creation of the British-Indian railways was a
marvellous event in the history of the
subcontinent.
However, the marvel does not stop at that. The huge content of systematic
actions that can allow the trains to run on time, and safely across the distances really
required a lot of mental exertion. It is quite easy to improve upon something another
man has created. However, that does not come anywhere near to the effort of the first
creation.
In my own professional writing works, which I used to do a few years back, I

had occasions wherein I would be compelled to finish a work in an extra hurry, with
some unknown client demanding that the work be given overnight. The work naturally
might not be of high quality standards due to this hurry. Later, actually weeks later, the
client would have someone else improve the text and give a comment that the original
was not up to the mark. The fact is that if I had been asked to do an improvement of
my own hurried work, I would have created a much better product. As for the other
person, he or she was simply improving a lot of verbal usages, on the translations I had
given, of the extremely complicated text.
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However, in the case of the Indian Railways, still it has not come anywhere
near to the egalitarian aims of the British-Indian administration. That is, to provide
quality travelling convenience for the downtrodden populations. However, this is not a
standalone issue. It is connected to the various other aspects of the administration.
For instance, look at the suburban railways in Bombay. It is a nightmare.

However, this issue is connected to the fact that the Bombay city has itself become a
nightmare for the lower populations of the city. Moreover, an immensity of others rush
into Bombay to escape the feudal language terrors of their own native places. For
inside Bombay, the presence of huge crowds everywhere can give anyone an
anonymity which is not possible to get in one’s own native place.
The quaint English-built railway stations were a natural beauty. There would
be trees in the railway platforms. There would be seats for all people to sit down. I
mean for even the lowest-class ticket holders.
This point requires a clarification. When I used to move from Malabar to

Travancore in the 1980s, I used to find the difference very stark. In the newly-built
Indian railways station of Travancore, in those days, sitting convenience for the lower-
class ticket holders was not very much obvious.
In those days, the railways were slowly changing from an easy-going English
system to that of rude feudal language systems. Actually brutish Hindi was spreading
throughout Malabar and Travancore Railways, in the same way it was doing all over the
nation.
The terrible replacement of English with a feudal language did create a lot of
efficiency problems around the 1980s. However, as of now, things have more or less
settled into the feudal language system. Feudal language systems are efficient inside
their own systems. However, if an outsider comes in, who does not display the
expected subservience, it would rankle.
Actually this is the real reason that I did not go to the Cannanore Railway
station to check the Railway archive records on how more than 20 railway stations in
the north Malabar area got a Muthappan Temple attached to them during the English
rule period. It simply is not easy to converse with an officialdom which speaks in
feudal languages, unless one is ready to bent and bow and cringe, and use words of
‘respect’ or has an uncanny ability to drop powerful names of connections,
inadvertently. The various officials in the system are tied to a very powerful stream of
feudal subservience or domination. An outsider has to fit into that stream to be able to
move with that stream.
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It is a different world from that of English altogether. From a feudal language

perspective this would be the best possible official system possible. However, once a
person gets acquainted with any pristine-English official systems, the stark difference
would be visible. However, it must still be admitted that the very system of
bureaucracy has a formal positioning and hierarchy in it, be it feudal language or
English. However, in feudal languages, this hierarchy become quite heavy and totally a
one-way valve system for the flow of communication and ideas. In fact, more than one
extraneous hierarchy gets overloaded into the official hierarchy.
The huge railway network with all kinds of textual guidance, procedures,
protocols, signal systems, precautions, cautions, railway gates, bridges, guards, periodic
and timely inspections, water supply, fuel storage, a huge number of auxiliary
businesses and such other things working, well, it all required a huge quality personnel
to set it up first. It is not all things cannot be imagined or created by others. It is simply
that there should be first such a people’s organisation that can work it out.
If it is a single feudal language system as in Japan, it can be done without much

hassles, even though they might have to first rob the initial idea from elsewhere. In a
nation where different human hierarchies work in close proximity in mutual
competition, it is very near impossible to first create the huge human organisation from
scratch. I do not mean the railway organisation, but the totality of all the things that
were gathered together by the pristine-English administration.
It is nation where even now a common man cannot communicate with a

policeman from a stature of dignity and self-respect. The policeman simply would not
allow it. His very words of addressing Inhi / Nee/ Thoo will erase any attempt by the
common man to communicate from a stature of dignity.
What is the Indian railway valued at? Well, the people who created it cannot
simply be shooed away just like that. A valuation has to be done, and a proper value
has to be given to the population that created it.
Simply using such words as ‘looters’ etc. on quality people will not help the
scene.
This is item no. 6.
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7. Hospitals and public healthcare
It took a lot of efforts on the part of the English administration to set up

hospitals and other healthcare infrastructure for the common people. For such a
concept of providing for the common man was not there in the subcontinent.
However, if by people one were to mean only the Hindus (Brahmins) and the Nayars,
there would be ample people to come to their houses and treat them with whatever
traditional treatment knowledge they had. However, for the lower populations below
the Nayars, the quantity of such services they received would decrease rapidly as their
caste level goes down.
I am quoting three different paragraphs from Edgar Thurston’s Castes and

Tribes of Southern India Vol 1.
QUOTE: 1. Adutton (a bystander).—A synonym for Kavutiyan, a caste of
Malayalam barbers. In like manner, the name Ambattan for Tamil barbers is said to be
derived from the Sanskrit amba (near), s'tha (to stand), indicating that they stand near
to shave their clients or treat their patients.................. Not improbably the name refers
to the original occupation of medicine-man, to which were added later the professions
of village barber and musician............. His medicines consist of pills made from
indigenous drugs, the nature of which he does not reveal. His surgical instrument is the
razor which he uses for shaving, and he does not resort to it until local applications,
e.g., in a case of carbuncle, have failed. In return for his multifarious services to the
villagers, the Ambattan was given a free grant of land, for which he has even now to
pay only a nominal tax.
2. In 1891 the live inmates of a single hut were murdered, and their hut burnt
to ashes, because, it was said, one of them who had been treating a sick Badaga child
failed to cure it.
3. A local tradition describes the Travancore Kshaurakans as pursuing their

present occupation owing to the curse of Surabhi, the divine calf. Whatever their
origin, they have faithfully followed their traditional occupation, and, in addition, many
study medicine in their youth, and attend to the ailments of the villagers, while the
women act as midwives.
END OF QUOTE.
This is a sample of a treatment system at certain caste levels. However, the

higher castes seems to have access to a particular standard of Herbal treatment, which
is locally known as Ayurveda. The moment the name Ayurveda is mentioned, the
current-day jingoists in India would spring up with very tall claims of having huge
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medical treatment systems in ‘ancient India’. Names such as Charaka, Danvanthari,

Shustrutha etc. would be mentioned rapidly.
There is no denying that such medical experts were there in the ancient times
in some parts of the globe, which might even be inside the subcontinent. However,
what is their bloodline, or genetic or caste-based connections to the Nambhuthiris,
Ambalavasis, Nayars, Marumakkathaya Thiyya, Makkathaya Thiyyas, Malayans,
Vedans, Chaliyars, Pulayars, Pariahs, Converted Christians, Arab blood-mix Mappillas,
lower caste Converted Mappillas, Tangal Muslims and other immensity of populations
of North and South Malabar?
Or with the Nambhuthiris, Ambalavasis, Nayars, Shanars, Ezhavas, Pulayas,

Pariahs, Vedars, Nadars,
Converted Christians, Syrian
Christians, Methan Muslims,
Mukkuvars &c. of Travancore?
Or with the vast

number of varying populations
in Canara, Madras Presidency,
Hyderabad kingdom, Kashmir,
Mushidabad, Assam, Sind?
There is this much

more to be added about the
English Company rule public
healthcare system. If the
medical professionals are
native-English, the members
of the public would get to feel a very vibrant egalitarian feeling, even though the
native-officials in the hospital would try their best to induce all kinds of inferiority
complexes in the socially lower-placed individuals.
But then, if the medical professionals themselves are feudal language speakers,
then the effect is again like being under the thraldom of an affable tyrant.
It is simply that the native medical professionals would use the lower indicant
words of addressing and referring. Such words as Inhi / Nee/ Thoo, and Oan / Avan /
Uss and Oalu / Avalu / Uss etc. These words do the pressing down action on a human
dignity, personality and stature.
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Now think of the immense number of public healthcare institutions, and their
command wings created all over the subcontinent; catering to the people of around
649481 villages in current-day India alone. (I am not sure if the mentioned numbers are
correct).
Then there is Pakistan and Bangladesh also.
Now, let us calculate the total cost of the healthcare infrastructure that was
handed over to the politicians in Pakistan and India. This would include the huge
training set-up for the various categories of medical professionals. The medical
literature, the textbooks, the class rooms, the awareness programmes for the common
people, the decorum of functioning, the uniforms of the personnel, the medical
teachers, the medicines, the drug manufacturing professional knowledge, the pharmacy
colleges, and off course the British Pharmacopeia.
Naturally the jingoist in Indian have copied the idea and created an Indian
Pharmacopeia. It is quite possible that they would claim that the complete drug
standards mentioned in the Indian Pharmacopeia was copied by the British from some
ancient Vedic textbook dating some 8000 years back!
It is quite a wonder that Clement Atlee had the nerve to simply throw out all
of these priceless legacies of English antiquity to competing rank outsiders.
This is item no. 7.
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8. Judiciary
As of now, the Internet is full of lies and misinformation. It was the English
East India Company that set-up a totally new form of judiciary in the subcontinent, in
which before the law all citizens were as they appeared in English. That is, a single You,
Your, Yours; a single He, His, Him; and a single She, Her, Hers; &c.
Before the entry of the English judicial systems, judicial verdicts were the
whims and fancies of some low-quality village-Adhikari or some other feudal landlord
who would dispense justice on the basis of the verbal definition of an individual. That
is, it depends on whether the individual is an Adheham, or Ayyal or Avan. And in the
case of belligerence between two individuals, the higher He/Him will naturally be
liable to get a favourable verdict in his favour.
For, it is like this: He beat him.
If Aheham (highest He) beat Avan (lowest him), then it is a condonable action.
However, if, Avan (lowest he) beat Adheham (highest him), then it is a terrible
crime.
If one were to search for the details of the Indian judiciary, it is quite possible
that there will be claims of ‘Indian’ judicial apparatus appearing in ancient textbooks of
various kingdoms.
But what is all of them to do with the meticulously worked-out Judicial

apparatus of the English East India Company. The most wonderful aspect of this is
that the common man would even place a complaint against the very officials of the
Company, if need be. And it would be enquired into and if the complaint is found
correct, action would be taken on the accused.
Imagine a common man trying to place a complaint on any of the officials in

the various kingdoms of the subcontinent! The individual will end up with his limbs
broken.
Some of the native-kingdoms, tried to replicate the judicial system set-up in

British-India inside their own kingdoms. However, they functioned in the native feudal
language.
See this statement from the Native Life in Travancore by Rev. Samuel Mateer:
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QUOTE: but cases of complaint rarely succeeded in those days, as the

subordinate magistracy were so deeply prejudiced and naturally partial to their own
intimates and caste connections. END OF QUOTE
See this statement from the Travancore State Manual written by V Nagam
Iyya:
QUOTE: When Col Munro took up the Diwanship for a brief period, this was
what he saw:
“No description can produce an adequate impression of the tyranny,
corruption and abuses of the system, full of activity and energy in everything
mischievous, oppressive and infamous, but slow and dilatory to effect any purpose of
humanity, mercy and justice. This body of public officers, united with each other on
fixed principles of combination and mutual support, resented a complaint against one
of their number, as an attack upon the whole. END OF QUOTE
If this be the state of a judiciary in one native kingdom, imagine the condition
in the hundreds of similar kingdoms in the subcontinent, over the centuries. The
majority people lived like slaughter-animals, with absolutely no human or animals
rights for them.
Into this inglorious land, the English Company brought in written codes of
law and an egalitarian language to define human beings before the judicial courts.
However, as of now, this tremendous and wonderful insertion of an egalitarian
language has been reversed. In many places in the northern parts of India, the judiciary
functions in Hindi. Hindi is a language that can quite easily define a human as a piece
of dirt (a Thoo and a Uss) and another man as a divinity (An Aap and a UNN).
In Kerala, that is, the sly amalgamation of Malabar with Travancore, the
Judicial courts have started to function in Malayalam. Malayalam is another satanic
language that can do more or less the same evil discrimination with more effectiveness.
The common man can be quite easily be defined as Nee/ Ningal and Avan/Ayaal, and
the officialdom can stand as the Saar and Adheham or Avar. What kind of a stupid
judiciary is this? The whole idea stands directly against the sacred tenets of the
Constitution of India, which proudly proclaims that all citizens of India are equal
before the law. The translated-into-Hindi Constitution does support an idea that the
common people are dirt and the officialdom and other higher persons are gold.
The Constitution of India is a great document written in English. Its original

concepts and precepts are based on the unwritten conventions and egalitarianism of
pristine-English.
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Translating this golden document into satanic languages is a deed of the devil.
There is one more thing that needs to be mentioned about the British-Indian
judiciary. It tried to enhance the personal stature of the people here. However, the
people here have to deal with the judiciary through the advocates / lawyers. It is
doubtful if these lawyers / advocates would treat the people with dignity. It is a
common knowledge in feudal language systems, the if you treat a lower entity with
‘respect’, he would withdraw his ‘respect’.
So, it is only natural to expect that the lawyers would use only the Inhi/Oan or
Nee-Avan (lower indicant words) on the lower-class people who come to them seeking
judicial solace. This is again a failure of the English East India Company. They should
have understood this issue and should have given stern advice to the lawyers that they
were under obligation to protect the stature of the individual who comes to them.
However, it is a hopeless situation. For the society at large would not concede
to this. So, at least the judges should have been native-English. At least at that level,
human beings would be seen as of equal stature.
Now, let us start calculating the Compensation:

A wonderful judiciary (which as of now has atrophied into feudal language systems)
A Constitution based on the egalitarian conventions of pristine-English.
A huge set of written codes of law and judicial procedures.
A huge array of Judicial courts across the country. A Supreme Court of India, High
Courts in the States. District Courts in each district. Sub-district Courts.
Judicial officers including Justices, Judges, Magistrates, Sub-Magistrates, Arbitrators
&c.
Lawyers / Advocates.
Statutory uniforms for the judicial officers including the lawyers.
Various kinds of writ petitions in the Supreme Court and High Courts, such as
Mandamus, Habeas corpus etc.
Various indelible rights to the citizens.
Well, this all for the total population of India. Pakistan and Bangladesh liability can
be calculated later, if need be.
What Compensation from India will suffice for the astronomical levels of efforts
placed in this subcontinent by the ordinary persons from England?
This is item no. 8.
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9. Land Registration Department
Imagine the efforts that created a complete registered documentation for

around half of the subcontinent. This was actually a corollary of another great social
reform created by the English rulers. That the age-old slave and semi-slave class of
people could become land-owners. Actually, this is where the birdbrains, who are
campaigning for Reparation for British-rule deeds did face their tragedy. They lost their
lands, and the slaves escaped from their clutches. They want compensation for this!
What a funny demand!!
What is the total value of the Land Registration department? Its creators
should be paid. Simply scooting with some other persons’ creation is not a good
action.
This is item no. 9.
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10. Police department
The Thugges were crushed. They had menaced the northern parts of the
subcontinent for centuries. It was Henry Sleeman who created the police force. He
crushed the Thuggees.
The roadways were made safe. There was a police station functioning in some
level of English, for the people to appeal for help. In a land, where there was actually
nothing like that at all. Functioning in English is great. Because the officials can
interact with other officials without being hindered by the feudal language limitation of
‘respect’ and pejoratives.
As of now, it is very difficult for the citizens of India to go to a police station

and demand a service. The very word ‘demand’ can get them thrashed. They can only
beg. They have to stand. They cannot sit. The police man
or woman will use terrible pejoratives to them. They
people have to speak in hushed tones with great ‘respect’
for the very officials who will use terrific pejoratives on
them. The great Indian patriots are not bothered. For,
they have one foot in England.
It will not be correct to blame the policemen for

this. For, this is the way the low-quality vernacular
education teaches the people to behave. The policemen
simply have to go along with this system.
What is the valuation that can be assigned for the Indian police departments?
During the English rule time, the Imperial Police (IP) officers were in charge.
At that time, British-Indian police was an English organisation, even though there were
many natives of the subcontinent also in this cadre. Now, the police departments are in
the charge of the Indian Police Service (IPS)officers. These are natives of India, who
have written a most illogical exam and got posted into positions which had been
created by the English rulers. It does not means that all of them are misfits. Actually
many of them are of very good quality. However, the systems are in feudal languages.
There is not much they can do individually to run the service with any kind of quality.
The IPS officers are the Director General of Police, Inspector General of
Police, the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Superintendent of Police, and the
Assistant Superintendent of Police.
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Below the IPS are the Deputy Superintendent of Police, the Circle Inspector
Police, and the Sub Inspector of police. This is the middle level executive cadre in the
police department.
Below them comes, the Assistant Sub Inspector, Head Constable and the
Constables.
Majority of the common people of India, as per the verbal codes in the feudal
languages come under the constables. That is, the constable can and will address them
as Nee / Thoo. No idiot patriot in India has any problem with this. For, they are rich
and many of them have relatives in England or USA.
Look at the huge personnel structure of the Indian Police system. It is in all
the Indian states. Apart from that there are police departments under the central
government also.
There are armed police forces also.
What would be the monetary value of the total of these police departments?
Off course, the England will have to be duly compensated for all this. It would be
quite an unwise things to stand with politicians who advice running off with other
people’s creations.
This is item no. 10
Fire Force. I do not know who actually commenced this department, which is
seen in many states in India. The current level of personnel would be totally feudal
language content.
This is an auxiliary to item no. 10
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11. Public Service Commissions
Before the advent of the English rule in the subcontinent, the local kings
simply appointed anyone they liked to any post. The problem with this kind of posting
was that the persons were mostly from a low-individual quality. Their most immediate
aim would be to amass money and to terrorise the people, so as to gather ‘respect’.
The English rule brought in the concept of Civil Service Exams. It was one of
the greatest changes in the social system. Even lower caste persons who acquired good
standards in English could become even senior officers in the Civil administration
(Imperial Civil Service – ICS), Police service (Imperial Police), Railway department,
British-Indian army, Healthcare etc. In fact, there are incidences of lower caste
individual becoming Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots.
At the same time in native kingdoms, the lower castes were merely menial
class workers who had to do the office cleaning in the government offices.
This concept and infrastructure for Civil Service exams has, as of now spread
all over the nation. May be it is there in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
There is a huge and monumental value for this activity and system. How much
should the nations of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh give to England as the price of
this? Simply confusing the issue by mentioning that there was a similar Civil Service
Exam in the Vedic times some 8000 years ago will not be enough.
After all when the nation steals, the citizens automatically become
accomplices, and complicit.
This is item no. 11
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12. Free trade routes.
There was no sales tax and many other vexatious taxes. The terror of these
taxes is due to the utterly rude native-officials who would come and use lower indicant
words on the small-time traders. The very fact these creeps had been removed by the
East India Company rule deserves a huge appreciation. It may be mentioned in passing
that these rogues are back in business, under the Indian rule in the subcontinent, under
various official titles.
This is item no. 12
13. Sanitation.
A huge set of official machinery focused on maintaining a high level of

cleanliness in private as well as public places. It is a great thing indeed. For, in the
native feudal languages, all things connected with sanitary work are considered to be
dirt and dirty. In spite of this, the English officials used to personally come and check
the cleanliness of the various public and private conveniences. In times of epidemics,
they would personally visit the houses in the affected areas and check for deficiencies.
This is item no. 13
14. Public Conveniences.
It might good to say that that even the very concept of public toilets might
have been promoted in the subcontinent by the English rulers. However, I do not have
any records as proof of this. But then, it might be possible to find some records of
public rest houses and such things created by this administration. Apart from this,
there was another thing that might be mentionable. The concept that when a common
man comes to a government office, that there should be use-able toilets, drinking
water, place to sit and wait etc. were seen in the old time government offices in
Malabar. As of now, these things are slowly coming into the notice of the government
employees.
This is item no. 14
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15. Forest Department.
The forest department of the English rule time had preserved the forest
resources in their pristine condition in most of the places. However, the moment the
subcontinent was handed over to the politicians of Pakistan and India, the looting of
the forests started. In fact, it was seen mentioned many years ago that only around
16% of the forest cover of India in 1947 is remaining. However, that was many years
ago. As to what is the condition now cannot be said. I am daily seeing the looting of
forests in Wynad district, as lorries loaded with huge-sized lumber move right in front
of my house.
I was once privy to a conspiracy by a group of rich persons, who were

manipulating the official records to convert around 230 acres of pristine forest land
into a private land. All the connected officials were to share a huge amount. Each tree
would cost in 100s of thousands of rupees. Who will Compensate for this loss?
And what about the value of the various Forest departments, the various
forestry colleges, and such?
This is item no. 15
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16. Indian army
British-Indian army was divided into two. One piece was given to India. The
other to Pakistan. Both armies use the cunning strategy of mutual belligerences to get
their respective government to allow them huge cash funds to buy expensive toys like
fighter planes, submarines, warships, armoured vehicles, guns, revolvers, bombs, and
other ammunitions. Imagine the amount of money that is wasted in a land where
actually there was only one government. Now, there are three. Each of them wary of
the other two.
British-Indian army was an English-based army. All the systems were based on
pristine-English conventions. And this army, including the Royal Indian Navy and the
Royal Indian Air Force were modelled upon the British army systems.
It would be quite foolish to imagine that the various kings of the subcontinent
would have been able to create such a professional army in their kingdoms. Even the
mogul army was mentioned as just a huge content of various feudal lords who come
with their serving folks, dancing girls, slaves for building toilets and setting up canopies
&c. There were elephants and such things to convey grandeur.
In all the major battles between the English East India Company and the
native kings, the French and the Portuguese fought on the side of the native kings. At
times, there were even Italian regiments also. However, at the end of all wars, it was
the English side that won.
Moreover, the casualties on the English side (most of the soldiers were the
natives of the subcontinent) were very negligible in most confrontations.
It was this army with a very glorious record that was divided into two mutually
antagonistic groups.
The Commissioned officers in the Indian army are thus: Field Marshal,
General, Lieutenant General, Major General, Brigadier, Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel,
Major, Captain and Lieutenant. Below them is the huge number of soldiers who are
currently of the Thoo / Uss level.
What would be the monetary value of this army? That is how much money
should be spent to create such an army? Monetary value will not convert into quality
value. For, the army is run on feudal languages. It will be quite a brutal army. However,
at the level of commitment and loyalty, the moment the tide seems to be going wrong,
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there would be mass desertions. For, no person with some sense of self-dignity will
allow himself to be thus desecrated by the officers of an army that is going down. This
is true for Pakistani and Bangladesh armies also.
The officer-soldier relationship will be uneasy at many levels. For, a soldier

with higher capabilities will be a distraction for the officer. For the language is feudal.
This is item no. 16
17. Miscellaneous
There is no need to elaborate on the various other items handed over to

ungrateful populations in the subcontinent. I will simply list them out here.
1. Roadways – literally a huge network of roads in a land with very little good
quality roadways.
2. Waterways, canals, dams, agricultural water supplies
3. Warehouses, and other food storage place
4. Museums
5. Census department
This is item no. 17
18. Various statutory councils, civial aviation, rules, decorums

&c.
Now look at the list given below:

1. Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority
2. Apparel Export Promotion Council
3. Carpet Export Promotion Council
4. Cashew Export Promotion Council of India
5. Basic Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals and Cosmetics Export Promotion Council
6. Coffee Board of India
7. Cotton Textile Export Promotion Council
8. Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council
9. Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts
10. Handloom Export Promotion Council
11. Council for Leather Exports
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12. Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council

13. Shellac and Forest Products Export Promotion Council
14. Indian Silk Export Promotion Council
15. Spices Board of India
16. Sports Goods Export Promotion Council
17. Tea Board of India
18. Tobacco Board
19. Wool & Woollens Export Promotion Council
20. Wool Industry Export Promotion Council
It is quite possible that most of the above-mentioned Councils were formed

after the formation of India. For, there are very many vested-interests who would like
to form a statutory Council and get appointed as its senior person.
However, would it be too foolish to mention that most of the above Council’s
do have some connection to the groundwork laid by the native-English administration?
When speaking of Compensation, these items would also require to be

mentioned.
Then there is Civil Aviation, aviation rules, airports.
Harbours, Port rules &c.
It is possible that the original quality of the people of the subcontinent could
never create any of these things. For, they (the Nayars) were ‘valorous’ fighters, ready
to die for their king; that is the way they are variously described in this book, Malabar.
This is item no. 18
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19. Now, let us speak about concepts.
The concept of Copyright, Patent, Brand name, Technical words, Technical

terminologies &c. might have come into the subcontinent via the English rule. Off
course, the natives of the subcontinents who have lived in the native-English nations
would get to see all these things as of their own ownership.
Beyond all this, look at the immense content of books currently available in
the Public Domain. I do not think that there was any such contribution from the
subcontinent in anything.
Even though people say Yoga is from India, it is not the truth. It was there in
the Asian culture in the exclusive social circles, that is true. However, as to how many
‘Indians’ knew about Yoga in the earlier days is doubtful. There is no mention of Yoga
in the various book of the southern parts that I had gone through.
For instance, check these books:

Travancore State Manual Vol 1 (I have read only Vol 1)
Native Life in Travancore
Castes and tribes of Southern India Vol 1 (I have read only Vol 1 fully)
Omens and Superstitions of Southern India
In none of these books did I find a mention of Yoga. However, it is quite

possible that the Hindus (Brahmins) would be aware of it. But then, the Hindus
(Brahmins) form only a very small percentage of the population in India. And they
would not teach this to others, in the ancient times.
As to the oft-mentioned huge treasure-trove of contents in Sanskrit, it was the

English officials of the English East India Company who made Sanskrit scholars go
and search them out, and bring them to the notice of the world. Otherwise, in most
probability they would have gone into oblivion over the centuries.
This is item no. 19
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20. Roadside trees
Trees, everywhere trees, was a hallmark of the English rule. The

roadsides were lined with shade-giving trees. However, with the birth of India, trees
have vanished from the roadsides. For, each tree is worth a lot of money for all the
people concerned.
Only in certain posh localities, are avenue trees being planted artificially.
In other locations, the common man has to endure the burning sun
when walking on the roadsides in the afternoon hours. However, these are not the
things that birdbrains who have one foot in native-English have to suffer.
This is item no. 20
21. Freedom of press
It was a very powerful urge among the English administrators that all the
books and other knowledges of the land should be preserved. Nothing should be lost
to posterity.
Along with that, there was a very special kind of freedom given to the citizens.
That of right to publish newspapers and magazines. It is off course true that the super
rich individuals like Gandhi &c. did misuse these freedoms to promote themselves as
the leaders of the peoples.
However, this freedom was given to the people.
As of now, this freedom is in the statute books. But then when anyone desires
to publish a newspaper or a magazine, the government of India has a very cunning
technique to bridle that aim. That is, the intending publisher has to get the name of the
publication verified as not being in the possession of another publisher. On this, the
intended publisher can be made to literally wander through various government
offices, including the utterly low-class village offices.
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It is true that the people of India are not of the quality as of the natives of
pristine-England. However, to bring them to that level, the feudal languages of the
location have to be thrown out into the Arabian Sea.
Talking about compensation, well, the nation does owe a huge compensation
to the English rulers for setting this right for the citizens. It may be remembered that
such rights were not given to any persons in any of the kingdoms of the subcontinent
by their local kings and queens. In fact, for a very minute error in the display of feudal
‘respect’, Pazhassiraja had a person, who had come to give him presents, killed.
This is item no. 21
22. Overrunning independent kingdoms
When the British-Indian army was divided and handed over to Pakistan and
India, both sides went ahead and captured all the independent kingdoms within their
respective proximity.
No referendum on the people’s wish was taken. No consideration was given

to such thoughts. However, simply conquering kingdoms which were not captured by
British-India was an act of rascality.
When thoughts are going ahead on compensations, it might be good to put in

some thoughts to compensating the royal families of those captured kingdoms. Along
with that a tidy sum for the subjects of those kingdoms.
For instance, a sum like 10 crores to the royal family of Travancore. And
around Rs. 10,000 to each individual whose ancestors were subjects of the Travancore
kingdom, when the kingdom was captured by India. This amount need not be taken
from the national coffers. Instead, it can be collected from the private properties of the
various national and regional political party leadership. After all, it was they who did
the mischief.
This is item no. 22
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23. People quality enhancement
People from the subcontinent who go and live in native-English nations

improve their physical stature and mental features. This is mainly due to the fact that
they live in a planar language world. The very air of a planar language world would
create positive changes in a human being. In fact, English language can actually create
positive mutations in a feudal language person, over the years and over the generations.
The English administration did bring in a human quality enhancement in the

people who were in close proximity to it. For instance, at Tellicherry, around the years
1960s, when I was a very young individual, I remember seeing a section of the lower
caste Thiyya community having quite fabulous looks, which Edgar Thurston, seems to
have mentioned as quite near to that of the ‘Europeans’, who themselves were having a
looks quite near to that of the native-English. The truth of the matter was that a close
proximity to the native-English population will set in personality enhancement in
people.
The very bearing of standing with the straight back, without it seeming to be
impertinence, is not possible for most Indians. For, they have to practise a sort of
ambivalent stance. That of being servile to the social higher ups so as to cajole them,
and stand with the chest-pushed-to-the-front stance to those whom they have to
subordinate.
In fact, when Indians try to imitate the English stance of standing with a
straight back, it can easily get misinterpreted as impertinence if it done in front of
someone who demands servility. For instance, if a common man stands thus in front
of a low-class Indian official or police official, it most cases, this posture would be
understood as rank insult.
The English-speaking Thiyyas of Tellicherry of yesteryears were starkly

different from the low-caste Malabari-speaking Thiyya who lived among them and
were in full strength within a few kilometres from Tellicherry. With the departure of
the English rule, the Travancorean Ezhava leadership came in with full strength and
‘converted’ the whole lot of Thiyyas to ‘Ezhavas’. It did not give any kind of quality
enhancement to the Thiyyas, other than a feeling that they were ‘low-caste’.
I have taken up the Thiyyas issue to focus on the wider aspect of the departure
of the English rule from the subcontinent. The people have again come under the low
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quality, people degrading local leadership of yore. British-Malabar has been converted
into Hindi-Malabar, if the newer geopolitical connection is taken into account.
By all means, a link to England was a million times better than a link to the
low-quality populations of the Hindi hinterland. After all when the low-quality Hindi-
speakers mention the Malabaris as Thoo, it does have a degrading effect, which can
only be erased by a disconnection.
The English connection of yesteryears was a connection to English Classics,

and pristine-England. As of now, that England has also vanished, with the tumultuous
arrival of the low-quality immigrant crowds in England. It is true that people improve
tremendously in England. Even if a servant maid from India goes to England and stays
there in close proximity to the native-English, she will display personality enhancement
of the highest order.
However, only total idiots would try to find the greatness in her and not in the
English ambience that promoted her individuality.
English racism is utter nonsense and useless. It cannot stop people from
running into England to experience it. In fact, English racism is totally useless to repel
populations who are the speakers of terrible feudal languages.
Feudal languages can desecrate any good quality native-English land.
Immense people in India and Pakistan speak English. But not everyone. The
individuals who did get English naturally have some advantage. It might be good on
their part to pay something like Rs. 10 every year to England.
It is like this. One very smart looking man is in the US. He is a company
leader. He speaks good English. He is groomed in an attire which would have been
identified as English dress in the colonial days. He is from India. His ancesters do not
look like him. They do no wear English attire.
Now where did he get all this? Naturally, from his school days, and others in
his society. However, where did they get all these kinds of ideas and language skills? If
the route is searched backwards, it would be found that it all commenced from the
untiring efforts of the English colonial officials. Well, everything is on record, if one
can search it out.
It would only be an act of expressing gratitude to them to decide to pay a

yearly sum, quite small let it be, to the native-English folks of England.
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Malabar Manual
Well, he would not like to do that? It is his will and wish. Everything comes
back in a circle.
Look at the huge content of books printed all over the world in English. It is
only right that a very small percent of the book profit should be given to pristine-
England. Not to Multi-culture England. The percentage need not be big. Something
like .0001%.
They will not do that? Well, that is their will and wish. Bear in mind everything
is on record.
This is item no. 23
24. Reparation for the daylight heist done to cater to the

selfish interests of the vested-interests here.
Next item is the immensity of English/British owned companies forced to be

sold to the cunning rich folks of subcontinent in the immediate aftermath of the
departure of the English-rule. Parrys of Madras is just one name that comes to my
mind. There are many more. It was all part of the ‘Indianisation’ drive by the rich
vested interests over here.
If that action can be condoned, a more justifiable action would be to Britianise
all the Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi owned firms in Great Britain one fine
morning.
Maybe a calculation of the monetary value of the British-owned companies
stolen by the rich-folks here should be done. And an appropriate reparation amount
decided.
This is item no. 24
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Complete list of Compensation dues
1. Creation of a single nation by gathering together a lot of barbarian and semi-

barbarian geopolitical locations.
2. Emancipation of slaves
3. Setting up the huge number of infrastructure for Eduction and educating the
peoples
4. Creating a huge egalitarian administrative system
5. Postal Department
6. Railways
7. Hospitals
8. Judiciary
9. Land Registration Department
10. Police department
11. Public Service Commissions
12. Free trade routes
13. Sanitation.
14. Public Conveniences
15. Forest Department.
16. Indian army
17. Miscellaneous
18. Various statutory councils, civial aviation, rules, decorums &c.
19. Concepts, civil aviation, rules, decorum &c.
20. Roadside trees
21. Freedom of press
22. Overrunning independent kingdoms
23. People quality enhancement
24. Indianisation under duress – practically pirating
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Maybe the birdbrain currently campaigning in England might need to be told that
trade is not looting, when it is done by the native-English. Only when trade is done by
the ancient enslavers of the subcontinent does it, does it become a deed of rascality.
Naturally, the birdbrain does belong to the enslaver class and caste of the subcontinent.
The foolish idiots in England who give a platform for these ancient enslavers also
should be taken to task.
End of Commentary
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Digital version published by VICTORIA INSTITUTIONS
BY Contents' page
WILLIAM LOGAN, M.C.S.
Collector and Magistrate of the District, and Fellow of the University of Madras
In Two Volumes
VOLUME 1
This version is the government of India reprinted (1951) version. There might be
serious differences from the original version published around 1887. See below:
QUOTE: In the year 1948, in view of the importance of the book, the Government
ordered that it should be reprinted. The work of reprinting was however delayed, to
some extent, owing to the pressure of work in the Government Press. While reprinting
the spelling of the place names have, in some cases, been modernized.
Egmore, B. S. BALIGA,
17 September 1951
th Curator, Madras Record Office
END OF QUOTE
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MALABAR by WILLIAM LOGAN
PREFACE TO VOLUME I
The feeling uppermost in my mind, as I lay aside my pen is, though it may seem
paradoxical to say so, that I could wish that I were just taking it up to begin! Not,
however, be it understood, that I could wish that I were just about to commence this
present work afresh, but that (it having been completed by someone else) I were starting
to follow my inclination in wandering along some of the many fascinating vistas of
knowledge which have been disclosed in the course of its preparation.
Many things I would, no doubt find wherein my knowledge was defective, and
many more still in which fuller investigation would, throw new, and perhaps altogether
different, light on what seems plain enough now.
The knowledge obtained in compiling these volumes and the Volume of
Treaties,* etc., which preceded them, has in short brought me to the stage in which
discrimination becomes practicable, and I could wish that I were taking up my pen now
to pursue the inquiry further in many directions.
How far my readers may agree with me on this point I know not, but I shall
consider that I have failed in one main object if I do not succeed in arousing a feeling of
interest on many points whereon I have necessarily touched but briefly in this present
work.
NOTEs
*A Collection of Treaties, Engagements, and other papers of importance relating to British
Affairs in Malabar. Edited with notes by W, Logan, Madras Civil Service, Calicut, 1870. END OF NOTEs
I would more especially call attention to the central point, of interest, as I look
at it, in any descriptive and historical account of the Malayali race—the position, namely,
which was occupied for centuries on centuries by the Nayar caste in the civil and military
organization of the province,— a position so unique and so lasting that but for foreign
intervention there seems no reason why it should not have continued to endure for
centuries on centuries to come. Their functions in the body politic have been tersely
described in their own traditions as “the eye,” “the hand” and “the order” and, to the
present day we find them spread throughout the length and breadth of the land, but no
longer—I could almost say, alas!—“preventing the rights (of all classes) from being
This bulwark against the tyranny and oppression of their own rulers secured for
the country a high state of happiness and peace, and if foreign peoples and foreign
.influences had not intervened it might, with almost literal truth, have been said of the
Malayalis that “happy is the people who have no history.”
To understand Malabar and the Malayalis aright it is above all things necessary
therefore that this central fact — this distribution of authority,—this “Parliament ” as it
was called so long ago as 28th May 1746 by one who was settled in the country and
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watching its working—this chastiser of the unwarrantable acts of Ministers of State—-

this all powerful influence tending always to the maintenance of customary
observances—should be firmly grasped by the mind.
Progress in the modern sense it is true was impossible under such a system, but
what after all has been the goal of all modern legislation, but, as Bentham’s great dictum
puts it,—“the greatest possible happiness of the greatest possible number.”
To anyone who chooses to study the history of the Malayalis it will become
apparent that the race had advanced far towards the attainment of this modem aim, and
this too, and it is all the more remarkable on that account, was the state of affairs among
a people whom I have described in the text as “a Hindu community of the purest and
most characteristic type”.
I regret much that more cannot be made at present of the early history of the
people. Such sources of information as were accessible to a very hard-worked District
Officer have been freely utilised, but the results are not very satisfactory. Moreover, it
ought never to be forgotten that facts, which bulk largely in the histories of European
races, arc not to be expected here. Violent ebullitions of the popular will be directed
towards the removal of tyrants, and great upheavals of classes are not to be looked for in
Malabar. A people who throughout a thousand and more years have been looking
longingly back to an event like the departure of Cheraman Perumal for Mecca, and
whose, rulers even now assume the sword or sceptre on the understanding that they
merely hold it “until the Uncle who has gone to Mecca returns,” must be a people whose
history presents few landmarks or stepping stones, so to speak,—a people whose history
was almost completed on the day when that wonderful civil constitution was organized
which endured unimpaired through so many centuries. The Malayali race has produced
no historians simply because there was little or no history in one sense to record.
But the field is in another sense a fertile one, and I have already in the text
acknowledged my great indebtedness to Dr. Gundert for having in his admirable
Malayalam Dictionary gathered in a rich harvest of knowledge on a vast variety of topics
treated of in this work. I believe that if one were to search the length and breadth of the
Peninsula it would ho found difficult to select another Province in which research is
likely to yield a more abundant store of highly interesting and important information. To
do the subject full justice however that harvest should be reaped, that stun' should be
accumulated, by a native of the soil.
In regard to the period when foreign peoples and foreign influences began to
make their mark in. Malayali history, the late Dr. Burnell told me that he had for years
been collecting in his library every work hearing on the Portuguese period, with a view
to preparing an exhaustive account of their doings. To this end he had been picking up
volumes in almost every country on the continent and in almost every European tongue.
It is a thousand pities that he was unable to complete the work: whether he ever made a
commencement of it I know not. The short account given in this work makes no
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pretensions to being exhaustive, and as regards accuracy I have done the best with the
materials I found ready to hand
Pyrard’s work, which is just appearing in London under the auspices of the
Hakluyt Society, did not come under my notice until the text was in print, else I would
not have failed to borrow from its picturesque pages some especially interesting sketches
of native society on the coast in the early years of the seventeenth century.
In regard to the later periods of foreign influence and intervention, I have
drawn nearly all my informal inn from the district records. The earliest of these, in my
office, at Calicut, go back to the seventeenth century, and from the year 1725 an almost
unbroken series of very ponderous manuscript volumes records, in the most minute
detail, the doings of the Honourable East India Company's Factories on the coast down
to the time (1792) when the Honourable Company’s “merchants" and “writers” laid
aside day-book and ledger and assumed the sword and sceptre of the land.
Subsequently to 1792 also, the records of my office contain nearly everything
that is required to furnish an account of the province down to the present day.
These portions of the history of the district have accordingly been treated as
fully as the nature of the present work seemed, to require. Advantage has also been
taken, to supplement the district records from standard works. But the number of the
latter is extremely limited, for although he was born in the district at Anjengo—Ormo
does not appear to have done anything towards elucidating its history—And Wilks
concerns himself chiefly with the Mysorean conquests, and scarcely touches on Malabar
topics except when re-counting the exploits of Hyder Ali, or describing the atrocities of
Tippu Sultan.
Full advantage has been taken of his graphic and picturesque historical sketches.
Finally Dr, Day’s “Land of the Perumals,” founded to a considerable extent in regard to
Dutch affairs on information derived from my office records, has been laid under liberal
contribution.
In conclusion 1 must acknowledge my great indebtedness to Mr. Rhodes
Morgan for his interesting sketches of the Forests and Fauna of the District, to Messrs.
O. Cannan, ex-Deputy Collector, and Kunju Menon, Subordinate Judge, for very
valuable notes on many subjects, to the gentlemen who have contributed the local
descriptive notes embodied in Appendix XXI, and to many other native friends too
numerous to mention here.
Mr. Jacques, of the Collector’s office, has been indefatigable in the preparation
of the index. One important source of information has, I regret, been neglected, more
from lack of special knowledge than from anything else. I refer to the archaeology of the
district.
The Director-General, Dr. Burgess, C.I.E., has lately been here on tour and
from the fact that some of the existing Malayali temples probably date back in his
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opinion so far as the eighth century A. D., some important information will almost
certainly be derived from this source. In one particular Dr. Burgess has also, from a
cursory examination of the Muhammadan tombstones at Pantalayini Kollam (page 195),
been able to sot me right.
He thinks that, apart from what may be engraved on the stones, not one of
them can, from the character of the writing, be of an earlier date than the fourteenth
century A.D. The inscription to be found at page 195 was read for me by a learned Arab
gentlemen, who took much pains in the way of paper tracings of the letters and figures,
and spent much time in endeavouring to secure accuracy in the reading. It is quite
possible that the tombstone was erected at a later date to commemorate the traditionary
burial place of one of the early Arabian pioneers on the coast.
EAST HILL, CALICUT
7th of January 1887.
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CONTENTS OF VOL. I
CHAPTER I.—The District.
(a) Its Limits and Physical Features
(b) Mountains
(c) Rivers, Backwaters and Canals
(d) Geological Formation
(e) Climate and Natural Phenomena
(f ) Fauna and Flora
(g) Passes, Roads and Railway
(h) Ports and Shipping Facilities
CHAPTER II.—The People.
(a) Numbers, Density of Population, Civil Condition, Sex and Age
(b) Towns, Villages, Dwellings and Rural Organization
(c) The Language, Literature, and State of Education among the People
(d) Caste and Occupations
(e) Manners, Customs, etc.
(f )Religion: Hindus, Muhammadans, Christians
(g) Famine, Diseases, Medicine
CHAPTER III.—History.
(a) Traditionary Ancient History
(b) Early History from other Sources
(c) 826 to 1408 A.D.
(d) The Portuguese Period, A.D. 1498-1003
(e) The Struggle for the Pepper and Piece Goods Trade—A.D. 1663
(f) The Mysorean Conquest—A.D. 17(WP—1702
(g) The British Supremacy—A.D. 1792 to date
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CHAPTER IV.—The Land .

(a) Land Tenures
(b) Land Revenue
I. Preliminary Remarks and Plan
II. Historical Facts down to 1805-6, relating to the Low Country.
Kolattunad
Randattara
The English Settlement at Tellicherry and Dharmappattanam Island
Iruvalinad
Kurungott Nayar’s Nad
Kottayam
Kadattanad
Payyormala, Payanad, Kurumbranad, Tamarasseri
Polanad, Beypore, Pulavayi
South Parappanad, Ramnud, Choranad, Ernad
Vellattiri, Walluvanad, Nedunganad, Kavalappara
Vadamalapuram, Tommalapuram, Naduvatturn
Vettatnad
Kutnad, Chavakkad, Chewai
III. Retrospective Summary as for the year 1805-6 in the Country
IV. The system of Land Revenue management adopted in Malabar 1805 -18, and
the Positions of the Ryot and of actual cultivator considered
Subsequent Land Revenue History of the Low Country down to the present
VI. The Exceptional Nads
Cannanore and the Laccadive Islands
Wynad
Dutch Settlement at Cochin
Dutch Settlement at Tangasseri and English Settlement at Anjengo
VII. Final Summary and General Conclusions
INDEX
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Vol 1 – Chapter One
Chapter 1. The DISTRICT

Section A. - Its Limit's and Physical features.
The name by which the district is known to Europeans is not in general use in
the district itself, except among foreigners and English-speaking’ natives. The ordinary
name is Malayalam, or, in its shorter form,
Malayam (the hill country).
The word Malabar is therefore probably, in
part at least, of foreign origin; the first two
syllables are almost certainly the ordinary
Dravidian word mala (hill, mountain) and bar1
is probably the Arabic word burr (continent), or
the Persian bar (country). From the time (A.D
522-547) of Cosmas Indicopleustes down to the
eleventh or twelfth century A.D., the word “
Male ' was applied to the coast by Arab
navigators, and the seafaring population, who
flocked thither subsequently for pepper and
other spices, called it Mulibar Manibar, Mulibar,
Munibar, Malibar.
The early European travellers followed suit, and hence come the other forms in
which the name has been written Melibar (Marco Polo), Minibar, Milibar, Minubur,
Melibaria,
Malabria etc, Malabar may therefore be taken to mean the hilly or mountainous
country, a name well suited to its physical characteristics.
NOTES
1 “Bar signifies a coast, in the language of the country,” p. 10(a) of Renaudet’s translation of “Ancient
Accounts of India and China by two Muhammadan travellers in the nineteenth century A.D.”—Lond.,
1733.
Malayalam is not, however, the only indigenous name for the district. The
natives love to call it Keralam, and this and other names will be found treated of in the
historical chapter.
The district is very widely scattered and consists of the following parts:
(a) Malabar proper extending from north to south along the coast, a distance of
about one hundred and fifty miles, and lying between N. Lat. 100 15’ and 120 18’ and E.
Long. 75° 14’ and 760 56’.
The boundaries of Malabar proper are north, (South Kanara district; east, Coorg,
Mysore, Nilgiris, Coimbatore; south, the Native State of Cochin; west, the Arabian Sea.
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(b) A group of nineteen isolated bits of territory lying scattered, fifteen of them
in the territories of the Native State of Cochin and four1 in those of Travancore, but all
of them on or near the coast line between about N. Lat. 9° 36' and 100 10' and E Long.
76° 14' and 76° 25'. These isolated bits of territory form the taluk of British Cochin.
(c) Two other detached bits of land imbedded in Travancore territory and also
on the coast line, namely :
Tangasseri, N. Lat. 8° 54', E. Long, 76° 38', and
Anjengo, N. Lat. 8° 40', E. Long. 76° 49'.
(d) Four inhabited and ten uninhabited islands of the Laccadive group. The
positions of the inhabited islands are notified below:
Agatti, N. Lat. 10° 50', E. Long. 72° 9', with four uninhabited islands, viz., (1)
Parali, (2) Bangara, (3) Tinnakara, and (4) Kalpitti;
Kavaratti , N. Lat. 10° 31', E. Long. 72° 35', with three uninhabited islands, viz.,
(1) Pitti, (2) Valiyakara, and (3) Cheriyakara, the two latter islets forming together the
Seuhelipar reef, thirty-seven miles south-west of the main island. Pitti, on the other
hand, lies fifteen miles north-west of the main island;
Androth , N. Lat. 10° 47', E. Long. 73° 40', and
Kalpeni, N Lat. 10° 6', E. Long. 73° 35', with three uninhabited islands, viz., (1)
Cheriyam, (2) Thilakka, and (3) Pitti.
(e) The solitary island of Minicoy (Menakayat) lying between the 8° and 9° ship
channels. Its position is
N. Lat. 8° 18', E. Long. 73° 1'. Attached to it is the small islet of
Viringilli, used for quarantine purposes by the islanders.
The Malabar Collector’s charge therefore lies scattered over four degrees
of latitude and over more than four degrees of longitude. It embraces an area of
six thousand and two square miles with something more to be added for the
islands and out-lying parts, and, as may be easily imagined, it presents a vast
variety in the conditions of its many parts.
NOTEs:
1: Since this was sent to press, an agreement has been arrived at with the Travancore Government
to transfer Tangasseri and the four bits of territory belonging to the Cochin Taluk to Travancore in part
exchange for the site of the Periyar dam designed to turn for irrigation purposes a portion of the waters of
the Periyar (great river) across the ghats into the Madurai district. The agreement has not yet been carried
out.
On the ghat range some of the mountain peaks rise to very nearly eight
thousand feet with bright frosty nights in the cold season, and at the opposite extreme
may be placed the radiant lagoons, the perpetual summer, and the coral reefs of the
Laccadive Islands.
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The coast line of Malabar proper trends from about north-north- west to south-
south-east, and, at a distance inland from the coast of about twenty increasing as it goes
southward to about fifty miles, rise the western shoulders of the great Mysore and
Nilgiri plateaus and the Western Chats. The lowest points in the ridge of the Mysore
plateau approximate invariably to about three thousand feet, while in the ridge of the
Nilgiri plateau it would be difficult to find a point under six thousand feet.
The mountain line does not, however; present an even aspect when viewed
from a distance on the west. It seems to approach and then to recede from the coast,
and the reason of this is at once apparent to a traveller from the south who skirts the
mountain bases and passes buttress after buttress thrown far out into the plains.
They form a magnificent array in echelon of mountain heights, with their front ,
facing southwards and with their loftiest ponies like grenadier companies protecting the
right of the line. The district does not rise above this mountain harrier except at two
points. The Wynad taluk, which lies above the ghats, is simply a portion of the great
Mysore plateau. Behind the ridge of ghats forming the southern slopes of the Nilgiri
range there also lie two forest-clad valleys—the Silent Valley and the Attapadi Valley—
which likewise pertain to Malabar.
One of the most striking features in the country is the great Palghat gap, a
complete opening some twenty miles across in this great backbone of the peninsula.
Here, by whatever great natural agency the break occurred, the mountains appear
thrown back and heaped up, as if some overwhelming deluge had burst through,
sweeping them to left and right.
On either hand tower the giant Nilgiris and Anamalas, over-topping the chain of
ghats by several thousand feet, while through the gap the south-west winds bring
pleasant 'moist air and grateful showers to the thirsty plains of Coimbatore, and roads
and railway link the Carnatic to Kerala. Through this the thousand streams of the higher
mountains find their way to the sea, and the produce of the eastern and western
provinces is exchanged.
The unique character—as a point of physical geography—of this gap in an
otherwise unbroken wall of high mountains, six hundred miles long, is only equalled by
its great economic value to the countries lying on either hand of it.
Stretching westward from the long spurs, extensive ravines, dense forests and
tangled jungles of the ghat mountains lie gentler slopes, rolling downs and gradually
widening valleys closely cultivated, and nearer the sea-board the low laterite tablelands
end abruptly in cliffs and give place to rice plains and cocoanut-fringed backwaters.
Numerous rivers have hollowed out for themselves long valleys to the coast,
where, backed up by the littoral currents, they discharge into the line of backwaters.
These backwaters and the streams which flow into them and the canals which connect
them afford a cheap means of communication to the inhabitants, and the rivers,
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backwaters and canals are crowded with boats conveying produce to market and huge
unwieldy rafts of timber being slowly poled downstream to the timber depots.
The coast line, trending, as already said, from about north-north-west to south-
south-east through a length of nearly one hundred and fifty miles, bears evidence
throughout its length to a slow but steady encroachment of the sea upon the land. The
prevailing littoral current is from north to south. It is one branch of the might ocean
current which sweeps across from Madagascar and the east African coast and impinges
on the Malabar coast at a point a little to the north of the northernmost part of the
Malabar district whore it apparently divides into two branches, one going northwards
and the other, and perhaps the main branch, flowing southwards down the coast. Its
action is to be seen in the long sand-spits stretching from the north across the mouths
of the rivers,—sand which in the wash of the waves travels slowly but most persistently
from north to south—and in denuded headlands where the primeval rocks jut up and
form barriers to the encroachment of the waves, which sweeping round the obstructions
gradually hollow out bays to the southward of them.
The sea-board may be considered pretty open except to the north, where stand
the island, hill, and wind-swept ruined fort of Mount Deli (eight hundred and fifty-five
feet), a bold eminence of laterite and gneiss, and a conspicuous and well-known
landmark to mariners. Further south and as far as Calicut the coast line is fringed
alternately by low cliffs and long reaches of sand.
Beyond Calicut to the southward the shore is one long unbroken stretch of
sand. The littoral currents, though persistent in their action, are nowhere strong, and
hence deep water close in shore is nowhere to be found and there are no natural
harbours suited for modern tonnage. The bottom of the ocean shelves very gradually,
and so uniformly that experienced mariners have no difficulty in telling their distance
from land at any point of the coast by the number of fathoms they find on sounding
with the lead.
The coast does, however, afford some refuge to small craft with shallow
draughts of water enabling them to cross the bars of some of the backwater outlets, and
where the backwater is extensive and the scour on the bar is great (as at Cochin)
comparatively large vessels do enter the estuaries and load and discharge in smooth
water.
The Laccadive Islands and Minicoy are islands composed for the most part of
coral sand, and limestone formed from it. The highest point of any of the islands is
probably not more than thirty feet above sea-level. The islands are small and as a rule
long and narrow, and within a few yards of the shore the bottom sinks abruptly beyond
the reach of any ordinary sounding tackle.
In form the islands generally lie north and south in a crescent-moon shape with
a more or less ample lagoon enclosed by a coral reef on the western and north-western
sides. These lagoons are shallow as a rule, and on a calm, clear day the dazzling
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whiteness of the coral sand at bottom, the rainbow-coloured
rainbow tints and diversified shapes
of the living coral rocks, the intensely brilliant colours — cobalt, green, yellow and
crimson—of of the fish which dart out and in among them, and the exquisitely buoyant
crystal clearness of the water on which he is floating, strike the visitor with surprise and
leave indelibly impressed on his mind a picture of radiant, beauty such as few spotsspot on
earth can produce.
The islands themselves, however, are intrinsically uninteresting and are usually
covered from end to end and down to within a few yards of sea-level
sea with a dense mass
of vegetation, consisting of cocoanut trees and a few bread-fruit and lime trees in the
cultivated parts, and elsewhere a dense mass of impenetrable scrub and screw-pine
screw
(Pandanus odoratissimus)) with here and there a few cocoanut trees towering above it.
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SECTION B — Mountains
The mountains forming the Western Ghats, frequently in former days called the
Sukhein1 mountains, range from three thousand to five thousand feet above sea-level on
the Coorg and Wynad slopes, with one or two peaks, to be noticed presently, ranging
over six thousand and up to nearly eight thousand feet. But on the Nilgiri-Kunda face
the average height springs up to over six thousand feet. It falls again to about four
thousand feet and lower on the southern Nilgiri slopes, and again rises to a high altitude
in the Vadamalas (northern hills), fringing the northern edge of the Palghat gap.
NOTEs: 1. Probably a corruption of Sahyan or Sahyachalam - the mighty hills – the Western
Ghats. END OF NOTEs
On the south edge of the gap the Tenmalas (southern hills), outliers of the lofty
Anamala mountains, commence with an elevation of four thousand to five thousand
feet above sea-level. Dwarfed into insignificance compared with the ghat mountains in
the background there also occur dotted about on the plain country several hills of
considerable elevation.
The following are among the most noteworthy peaks of the Western Ghats : —
Veidal Mala.—N. Lat. 12° 10', E. Long. 75° 36'. A long, level, grassy
mountain, standing almost at right angles to the ghats and ending precipitously on its
western face, supposed to be haunted by demon who displays a wonderful ruby stone at
nighttime to lure men to their destruction.
The people have a tradition that a mighty robber, Veidal Kumar, used at one time
to frequent this hill, and there is certainly near the western end the foundation of what
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must have been a large house. His neighbours in the low country finally combined
against him, and, having won by treachery one of the passes to the hill, took his house
and put its inmates to the sword, except one woman whose descendants can still be
pointed out.
At certain seasons of the year - April, May and October—thunderstorms of
terrific violence rage on the western summit of this mountain. Height above sea-level
about 1,500 feet.
Brahmagiri Peak.—N. Lat. 11° 56', 12. Long. 70° 4’. On the edge of an
elevated miniature plateau of beautiful grass and shola land, the greater portion of which
lies in Coorg. Height 5,276 feet.
Banasur or Balasur Peak.—N. Lat. 11° 42', E. Long. 75° 58'. An isolated
cone-shaped forest-clad hill towering high above the line of ghats. Height 6,762 feet.
Naduvarum Peak. -N. Lat. 11° 44', E. Long. 750 51’. An important Great
Trigonometrical Survey station. Height 4,557 feet.
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Tanolemala.—N. Lat, 11° 32', E. Long. 70° 2'. Overhanging the Tamarasseri
pass into Wynad. Height 5,095 feet.
Elambileri Peak.—N. Lat. 1l° 31', E. Long. 76° 9'. A precipitous needle-shaped
hill in the very heart of the best coffee-producing district in Wynad. Height 6,806 feet.
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Vellera Mala.—N. Lat. 11° 27', E. Long. 76° 12'. A massive hill in the same
famous coffee-producing district. Height 7,364 feet.
Vavulamala (Camel Hill) or Camel’s hump. N. Lat. 11° 26', E. Long. 76° 11'.
The highest peak in the Wynad, and a most conspicuous landmark from all points on
the coast and from far out at sea, covered to the very top with virgin forest. Height
7,677 feet.
Nilgiri Peak. - N. Lat, 11° 23' E. Long. 70° 32', and
Mukurti Peak.—N. Lat. 11° 22' E. Long. 70° 36'. Height 8,380 feet. Both on
the Nilgiri-Malabar boundary.
Anginda Peak.—N. Lat. 11° 1 1', lib Long. 76" 31'. Also on the edge
(southern) of the Nilgiri plateau. Height 7,828 feet.
Karimala.—N. Lat. 10° 56', E. Long. 70° 43'. The height point on the
mountains to the north of the Palghat gap. Height 6,556 feet.
South-west of it, and forming the extreme point of that range is —
Kalladikod Peak.—N. Lat. 10° 54', E. Long. 76° 39'. Perhaps the stormiest
peak in all Malabar, so much so that the native proverb is, “If Kalladikodan grows angry
(or black) will not the Karuga river be swollen.” Its height has not been accurately
ascertained, but it is close upon or
over 4,000 feet.
The following hills lie
dotted here and there over the
plain country : —
Elimala or Mount Deli.—
N. Lat. 12° 2', E. Long. 75° 16'. A
conspicuous isolated hill on the
sea-shore, well known as a
landmark for mariners since the
earliest times. Vasco da Gama’s
pilots foretold that the first land to
be sighted would be ‘a great
mountain which is on the coast of India in the kingdom of Cannanore, which the
1
people of the country in their language call the Mountain Delielly, and they call it of
the rat, and they call it Mount Dely, because in this mountain them were so many rats
that they never could make a village there.”
Eli certainly means a rat, but the name of the hill is written with the cerebro-
palatal1.
The legend which Correa obtained was like that which conferred on it likewise
the sounding title of sapta-shaila or seven hills, because elu means in Malayalam seven,
and elu mala means the seven hills, of which sapta-shaila is the Sanskrit equivalent.
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Now, as a matter of fact, there are not seven peaks to this hill, just as probably
the rats were no worse there than they were anywhere else on the coast. But eli2 in
clearly identical with Marco Pole's “Kingdom3 of Eli” and Ibn Batuta’s Hili, and as the
Eli Koviligam, the second oldest of the palaces of the ancient line of Kolattiri Princes,
lies at a very short distance from the northern slopes of the hill it is clear that the name
of the hill was given to the palace, or that of the palace to the hill. Height 855 feet.
NOTEs:
1: Stanley’s “Three voyages of Vasco da Gama and his Viceroyalty from the Lendas da Índia of Gaspar
Correia, &c.”—Hakluzt Soc., London, 1869, p. 145
2: The conversion of eli into Deli was simple enough, for the early Portuguese would call it the Monte
D’eli.”
3: Yule’s “Marco Polo,” Chap. XXIV of Book HI, Vol. II, pp. 374 to 377 Lodonn, 1874
Chekunnu.— N. Lat. 11° 15', E. Long. 76° 9'. On the outskirts of the Camel Hump
range. Height 1,975 feet.
Urolmala. N. Lot, 11° 5', K. Long. 70° 4'. Overlooking the European military
outpost of Malapuram. There is on its summit a small Hindu temple with an inscription
of no great antiquity. Height 1 ,573 feet.
Pandalur. — N. Lat. 11° 3', E. Long. 76° 14'. Also overlooking the
Malappuram outpost. It is covered for the most part with dense scrub jungle, but one or
two coffee gardens have been opened with success on its northern slopes. At some
distance from the summit and on the east face of the hill is a perennial spring of
excellent water flowing from beneath an immense boulder of rode. The spring is
supposed to be haunted, and, as a matter of fact, a solitary Mussulman Fakir used to
inhabit a tiger’s cave close to the spring.
A magnificent panoramic view of mountain scenery is obtained from various
points of this hill, but particularly from the highest point of it a piled up cone of rocks
reaching to a giddy level with the tops of the forest trees. Height about 2,000 feet.
Pranakod—N. Lat. 10° 59', E. Long. 76° 21'. The summit of a small densely
wooded range of hills which, with the range last mentioned, seems to form at this point
the advanced guard of the Nilgiri Mountains. Height 1,792 feet.
Anangamala.—N. Lat. 10° 49', E. Long. 76° 27'. A long precipitous isolated
rocky Hill, a conspicuous landmark. There are one or two small coffee gardens on its
slopes. Height 1,298 feet.
To the above list of mountain peaks and lulls, most of which are stations of the
Great Trigonometrical Survey, may be added the following list of other survey stations
of less elevation; —
Cannanore: N. Lat. 11° 52', E. Long. 75° 25'. Height 51 feet,
Darmapattanam.—N. Lat. 11° 46', E. Long, 76° 31'. Height 112 feet.
Manantoddy.—N. Lat. 11° 48', E. Long. 70° 4'. Height 2,558 feet.
Purakad.—N. Lat. 11° 28', E. Long. 75° 43'. Height 260 feet.
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Pukunnu—N. Lat. 11° 14', E. Long. 75° 53'. Height 279 feet.
Kurnad.—N. Lat. 10° 47', E. Long. 76° 9'. Height 354 feet.
Kurachimala.—N. Lat. 10° 47', E. Long. 75° 41'. Height 479
Palghat Fort.—N. Lat. 10° 46', E. Long. 76° 43’ Height 349 feet.
The latitudes and longitudes given are those of the ordinary Indian Atlas Sheets,
Nos. 44, 44, 61 and 62, and not the revised values found recently by the Great
Trigonometrical Survey : the heights, however, are correct.
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Section C.—Rivers, Backwaters and Canals.

The river and backwater system of the district had much to do with the
development of the country in the early days of foreign intervention, for those afforded
the easiest and cheapest and almost the only moans of communication in times when
wheeled traffic and pack-bullock traffic were unknown. And accordingly it is found that
the foreigners settled most thickly close to or on the rivers and selected sites for their
factories so as to command as much as possible of these arteries of traffic.
The Portuguese (subsequently Dutch) factory at Cannanore, with its outwork
on Mount Deli point, commanded the river navigation of the whole of the Kolattiri’s
northern domain. The English factory at Tellicherry, with its outworks on
Darmapattanam island, secured to the Honourable Company the largest share of the
trade in the excellent pepper produced in the Randattara Achanmars’ territory, in the
Kottayam Raja’s domain, and in that of the Iruvalinad Nambiars, tapped by the rivers
converging at Dharmapattanam.
The French factory at the mouth of the Mahe river did the same for the
Kadattanad Raja’s territory drained by that river. The Portuguese, the English, the
French, and the Danes had factories in the Zamorin’s territory at Calicut, whither was
conveyed by water the produce of the territories of the Zamorin, and of his more or less
dependent chieftains, the Payurmala Nayars, the Kurumbranad Rajas, the Tamarasseri
branch of the Kottayam family, the Parappanad Rajas, and the Puluvayi Nayars.
At Ponnani the water communication was defective because inconstant, so it
was not much sought after as a factory site; whereas Chetwai, at the mouth of a
widespread river and backwater system, was in much request by Portuguese and Dutch
and subsequently by the English, and was often hotly contended for.
Cochin, where the Portuguese and subsequently the Dutch formed large
settlements, owed its importance no less to its unsurpassed water communications with
the interior as to its deep bar and landlocked harbour for the ships of small draught of
water then in vogue. Again from Tangasseri the Dutch could command the largo
expanse of navigable rivers there finding outlet to the sea. And finally the English at
Anjengo settled on an inhospitable sandspit with the ocean on one side of it and a
navigable river on the other, just because of the advantages which this river and
neighbouring creeks afforded for bringing the produce of the country to their
Company’s mart.
These were the great emporia of foreign trade, but at the head of the tidal
portion of each river, and at favourable sites on its hanks, the pioneers of the great
foreign companies had their trade-outposts and warehouses, and at all such places
sprang up settlements of the classes (chiefly Muhammadans) who carried on the trade of
the country. Such settlements still exist, but with the opening up of roads, canals and
railway, and the centralizing influence of trade, their glory has largely passed away from
them.
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The following are the chief rivers, backwaters, canals, etc., in. the district, and
the latitudes and longitudes are taken from the Indian Atlas Sheets Nos. 14, 61 and 62,
and are those of the river mouths where they empty themselves into the ocean, or, in the
case of rivers flowing eastward, those of
the places where they finally leave the
district: -
The Nilesvaram River.—N. Lat. 12°
4', E. Long. 75° 14’ This river, which is
about forty-seven miles in length, lies for
the most part in the district of South
Canara. It drains, however, what is still a
Malayalam country, and what was
formerly the most northern portion of
the kingdom of the Kolattiris. Country
craft of small burthen can enter its
mouth for a short distance.
The Elimala, or Mount Deli River N. Lat. 12° 2', E. Long. 75° 18’. The
course of this stream is only about thirty miles in length. It rises in the ghat mountains
and loses itself in a number of crooks to the east and north-east of the mount. One or
more of these join the waters of the Nilesvaram river, and the chief one flows south and
enters the sea in the angle of the bay formed immediately to the south of and under the
very shadow of the mount itself.
These creeks being tidal, therefore convert the mount peninsula into an island.
The sluggish water of these brackish crooks is extremely favourable to the crocodile
tribe, which here at times attain prodigious dimensions, and with increasing weight they
gain an appetite for the flesh of men and animals which makes it extremely dangerous
for fishermen, and agriculturists too, to pursue their callings in such haunts. A crocodile
fifteen feet in length is far more than a match for the strongest buffalo. The prodigious
length of his ponderous jaws, armed with sharp-pointed interlocking teeth, give the
reptile a hold of his victim which enables him to make full use of the enormous dead
weight of his ungainly carcass as well as of his immense muscular power.
So much are these reptiles feared, that people in boats even are sometimes not
exempt from danger, and dwellers by the water-side generally have guns loaded to take
advantage of their enemies. Sometimes the whole country-side turns out to drag them
from their lairs by nets of strong meshed rope.
The Sultan's Canal.—N. Lat, 12° 2', E. Long. 75° 18’. This is an artificial work
(about two miles in length), undertaken and executed in 1766 by Ali Raja, the husband
of the Bibi of Cannanore, when managing the Kolattiri domains for Haidar Ali. It
connects the Mount Deli river with the backwater formed at the mouth of the
Taliparamba and Valarpattanam rivers, and thus gives uninterrupted water
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communication at all seasons. Formerly boats going to or from the north had to go out
to sea at this point.
The Taliparamba River.—N. Lat. 11° 57', E. Long. 75° 22'. The main branch
of this river is navigable at all seasons for boats as far as the lower slopes of the ghat
mountains. After passing Taliparamba the main branch is joined by one from the cast,
and the two together spread out into an extensive sheet of water, the haunt in certain
seasons of large flocks of aquatic birds. Bending slightly to the north and passing under
the guns of an old ruined fort of the Kolattiris, - the united streams then suddenly turn
at Palangadi (ancient bazaar) due south and run in a course parallel to the sea till they
meet the stronger current of the Valarpattanam river, united to which they force for
themselves a passage to the sea through the sand shoals thrown up by the littoral
currents. A large tract of fertile garden land has been formed by the continuous action of
the littoral currents damming up the mouth of this river. Its length from source to
mouth is about fifty-one
miles.
The Valarpattanam
River.—N. Lat. 110 57', E.
Long. 75° 22’. Though the
length of this river is less
than that of several others
in Malabar proper, it
perhaps discharges more
water into the sea than any
of them. It has three large
branches, one of which
joins the tidal part of the
main stream and is itself
navigable for boats almost
to the foot of the ghat
mountains. Near the head
of the navigable portion of this branch lies one of those pioneer settlements of trading
foreigners (Muhammadans) already alluded to, and it is in this out-of-the-way place that,
local tradition says, was founded one of the nine original Muhammadan mosques.
The tradition is, that this place, the “Surrukundapuram” of the Indian Atlas, was
in former days the chief emporium of trade with the fertile lands of Coorg and the
sandal forests of Mysore, and that this is the place to which Ibn Batuta travelled from
Hili (Elimala), and about the exact locality of which there has been some speculation. It
is just about one day's journey, by water all the way, from Mount Deli.
On the main branch of the river the head of the navigable portion is likewise
marked by a pioneer settlement of foreign traders (Muhammadans) located in the village
of Irukur (Erroocur of the Atlas). The trade route to Mysore and Coorg in more recent
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times lay through this village, and it was through this village that one of the columns of
the force despatched against Coorg in I834 laid its route.
Further up stream, at Irritti, and just below the junction of its other two main
branches, the existing trade route via the Perambadi ghat crosses the river by a lofty
bridge of masonry piers and abutments with a superstructure of wood about to be
replaced by iron lattice girders. Beyond this bridge the sources of the river lie in the ghat
mountains and in primeval forest, much of which is still inhabited only by wild beasts.
The lengths of these two main branches above Irritti bridge are respectively about thirty-
two and twenty-eight miles, and the whole length of the stream may be taken to be
about seventy-four miles.
At the village of Valarpattanam near its mouth there is a well-preserved fort on
a lofty cliff on the south bank of the river completely dominating the stream, and further
west on an island, in the backwater was yet another fort called Madakkara. The former
belonged to the Kolattiri, and was evidently planned for him by European engineers; the
latter was one of the outworks built by the Honourable Company’s factors at the
English settlement of Tellicherry to protect the Company’s trade on those rivers.
Country craft of considerable size enter the river and lie off the village of Valarpattanam.
The Anjarakandi River.—N. Lat. 11° 47', E. Long. 75° 32'. This river rises in
the heavy forest land on the western face of the Wynad ghat slopes, and after a course
of about forty miles divides into two branches and thus forms the island of
Darmapattanam at its junction with the sea. It is navigable for boats at all seasons to a
place called Venkat some distance above Anjarakandi. At Venkat the Honourable
English Company had a trading outpost in the very heart of the finest pepper-producing
country in Malabar.
And at Anjarakandi the Honourable Company started an experimental garden
for the growth of various exotics. The command of the traffic on this river was
considered so important that Darmapattanam island at its mouth, acquired by the
Honourable Company in 1734-35, was heavily fortified and garrisoned from the
Tellicherry factory, and it was even proposed to give up the Tellicherry factory
altogether and to build a new one on Darmapattanam island.
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The Tellicherry River.—N.
Lat. 11° 43’ E. Long. 75° 33'. This is
an insignificant stream navigable for
boats to a distance of only about three
or three and a half miles, and in length
altogether its course is about fourteen
miles. Small country craft do,
however, enter its mouth and lie above
the bridge which spans it. It was of
importance as affording protection to
the English factory at Tellicherry on
the northern and eastern landward
sides, and the natural protection it
afforded was further strengthened by small fortified outworks at various points of
vantage. It was frequently called the Kodoli river from the fort of that name,
commanding the bay at its month. At a short distance above Tellicherry it still forms the
boundary of the French aldee, of Pandakal, a detached outlying portion of the French
settlement at Mahe.
The Mahe River. - N. bat. 11° 43', E. Long. 75° 36'. This stream rises in the
heavy forests of the Wynad ghats, and after a course of about thirty-four miles falls into
the sea at the French settlement of Mahe, of the main portion of which it forms the
northern and eastern boundary for a distance of about two miles. It is navigable for
country craft of a small size for a distance of about half a mile and for boats as far as
Parakadavu some twelve miles farther up stream.
The Kotta River.—N. Lat. 11° 34', E. Long. 75° 39'. It is so named from a fort
(kotta) commanding the entrance to the sea. It was notorious in former days as a haunt
of pirates, one of whom Kottakkal Kunyali Marakkar, made his name famous. It drains a
heavy mass of virgin forest on the western slopes of the Wynad ghats, and, the rainfall
being excessively heavy in those parts, the river discharges for its length, only some
forty-six miles, more than the usual quantity of water for rivers of its size. It is navigable
at all seasons for boats as far as Kuttiyadi, which lies closely adjacent to the chain of
ghats, and from this point a pack-bullock road runs up the mountains into North
Wynad. The water communication on this river is linked on the one hand on the north
by —
the Vadakkara Canal. N. Lat 110 36', E Long. 750 38' - partly natural and partly
artificial, to the thriving trading town of Vadakkara, and on the south by another canal
made in 1843 and called —
the Payoli Canal—N. 110, 31', E Long. 750 43' length about one mile, to the
extensive natural backwater communication of—
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the Agalapula, which means lit orally broad river. This broad river or
backwater receives no stream of any importance, indeed nearly all the drainage from the
ghats at this point is intercepted by the main stream and tributaries of the Kotta river, so
that for a distance of about sixteen miles (N. Lat 110 31', E Long. 75° 43', to N. Lat. 11°
22', E. Long. 750' 48') this backwater runs in a course parallel to the sea until it meets the
Ellattur river close to the mouth of that stream. The importance of this natural water
communication can hardly be overrated. It would seem as if the Kotta river had at one
time found its way to the sea by this outlet instead of by the channel now in use, and
indeed even now the water-level in the Kotta river sometimes rises so high as to
threaten to breach through the narrow isthmus separating it from the Agalapula, the
water-level of which rises of course much less rapidly in floods. This difference of level
in floods necessitates the maintenance, of a water-lock at the entrance to the Payoli canal
from the Kotta river.
The Ellatlur River.- N. Lat, 11° 22', E Long. 75° 48'—is in length about thirty-
two miles, but it is a shallow stream, and, except near its mouth, is not suited for boat
traffic. It is connected with the Kallai river and backwaters and with the Beypore river
beyond by —
the Conolly Canal, which,

taking advantage of the natural
facilities already existing, loops
together the drainage areas of the
three streams above mentioned. The
canal was constructed under the
orders of Mr. Conolly, the Collector of
Malabar, and was completed in the
year 1848. It consists of a cut about
three miles in length through several
low ridges intervening between the
Ellattur river and the Kallai river ; the deepest cutting is about, thirty feet through
laterite rock, and the width which is irregular, is in the narrowest portions about twelve
feet. The depth of water in the cutting at low tide is only a few inches. Imperfect as it is,
the facilities it affords to traffic are largely utilised, and it is likely to be ere long much
improved in the carrying out of an extensive
scheme proposed so long ago as in 1822 by
Special Commissioner Mr. Graeme for
affording inland water communication from
Travancore northwards.
The Kallai river. N. Lat. 110 14', E. Long. 75°
51'. The stream, which, in the monsoon
months only, forces a way for itself into the
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The DISTRICT
sea through the sand shoals thrown up by the littoral currents on the beach at Calicut, is
a very insignificant one, and attains a length of about fourteen miles only. Connected
with it, however, are several pretty extensive back-waters, and these again are looped on
to the Beypore river by a narrow creek.
The Beypore river. N. Lat. 110 9’, E. Long. 75° 52'-—drains a very extensive
tract of the Wynad ghats and Nilgiri mountains. This is the only stream in Malabar
which brings any considerable portion of its waters from above the crest of the ghat
mountain ridge. Its two main branches rise respectively one in the Kunda mountains on
the Nilgiri plateau and the other on the lower ranges of south-east Wynad. The one,
called the Gold river, passes over the ridge of ghats in a long succession of rooky
cataracts lying a short distance south of the Karkur pass.
The other, called the Chola river, leaps down from the crest of the Wynad bills
in a magnificent cataract close to a footpath known as the Choladi pass. The two
streams, after receiving many large feeders, unite in the midst of the Nilambur
Government teak plantations, and then flow on, receiving several important feeders
from north and south, to their outlet into the sea at Beypore, the old terminus of the
Madras Railway south-west line, a total distance in the ease of the main branch of about
ninety-six miles.
This river discharges a very large volume of water in the monsoon seasons, and
the scour on the bar is thus sufficient to maintain a depth of about six feet at low tide
which enables country craft to enter and lie about half a mile up-stream opposite the
custom house and railway terminus. Even in the height of the dry season also boats of
light draught can ascend the stream as far as Mambat under the very shadow of the lofty
Camel Hump range. There as usual (and also at Arikod) are to be found colonies of
Muhammadan traders settled
for ages. The sands of this,
and indeed of all the streams
descending from the ghat
mountains in Malabar, have
from the earliest times been
known to be auriferous, and
even now some of the lower
classes of the population try
to eke out a precarious
livelihood by washing the
sands after each annual flood.
The Kadalundi river--N. Lat. 11° 8', E. Long. 75° 53'—is united to the
Beypore river by a creek, and thus is formed the island of Chaliyam, on which was
placed the old terminus of the Madras Railway south-west line.
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The Kadalundi river comes from the western slopes of the Nilgiri mountains
and of the Silent Valley range, and its main branch is seventy-five miles in length. The
country through which it passes is on a higher level than the valley of the Beypore river,
and hence the boat traffic on this stream is very limited except during the annual flood
season when boats can get up-stream as far as Malappuram and even farther, but in the
dry season boat traffic is confined to a few miles near the mouth of the river.
An unsuccessful attempt, continued down to 1857, was made by several
Collectors to connect by a canal the Kadalundi river with the hack-waters and creeks of
the Ponnani river. A outting was made, and for a day or two in the height of the
monsoon, when the country is flooded, boats can pass with some difficulty from the one
river to the other, but at other seasons this is impracticable. A great natural obstacle to
the successful construction of this canal was that at a short depth below the surface, a
bed of unctuous clay or mud was found, which oozing into the canal filled it up
sufficiently to prevent the passage of boats. This liquid mud seems to be of the same
character with that which, forced upwards from the bottom of the sea by submarine
volcanic action or by subterraneous pressure of water from the large inland back-waters,
forms the mud banks or mud bays in which at one or two places on the coast (notably at
Narakal and Alleppey) ships can ride in safety and load and discharge cargo throughout
the monsoon season. The same difficulty was experienced at Calicut in making a short
canal from the Kallai river to the main
bazaar.
The Ponnani river.—N. Lai.
10° 48', E. Long. 75° 59'. This is the
longest of the rivers which discharge
into the Arabian Ocean in Malabar
proper. The main stream is about one
hundred and fifty-six miles long, and
the lengths of its three chief tributaries
before they join the main stream are
respectively about sixty, fifty and
forty-six miles. But the volume of
water discharged from, the large area drained by this river and its tributaries is probably
not so great and is certainly not so constant as that discharged either by the
Valarpattanam river or by the Beypore river.
The reason of this is that the main stream comes from the arid plains of
Coimbatore, and its drainage area in the mountains under the influence of the south-
west monsoon is comparatively small. This tract, too, lies further inland than the
mountain ranges to the north of them. The south-west line of the Madras Railway
strikes the course of this river at the Palghat gap and runs along close to the stream till
within a mile or two of the coast. The bed of the stream in the lower roaches is generally
sandy, and the water is shallow, but in the rains loaded boats do ascend the stream for
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considerable distances There is
never, however, except during
the rains, a current at its mouth
sufficiently strong to maintain a
deep and wide channel through
the sand drifts carried by the
littoral currents. The bar is
therefore always considerably
impeded by shoals, and at times
when the first monsoon floods
come down the river the water is
backed up and floods the
surrounding country till the rush
of water has cleared away these sand shoals. Dangerous deep currents are thus formed,
and the river-side portion of Ponnani town which stands at its mouth is always in more
or less danger from erosion, and in fact the town is only preserved by groynes, for the
proper maintenance of which a special voluntary cess is paid by the mercantile
community. This river near its mouth is connected on the north by a navigable crook
with the railway system at Tirur railway station, and on the south by—
the Ponnani canal with the back-waters of Velliyankod, which again
communicate with those further south, and boat traffic is by those means possible from
the railway at Tirur down to Trivandrum, the capital of the Travancore State, a distance
of over two hundred miles. But the water communication is only practicable at all
seasons at present for small boats, and a scheme is under consideration for improving it.
Among the most urgent requirements is the widening and deepening of the cut about
two miles in length — connecting the Ponnani river with the Velliyankod back-water.
The cut is at present only about fifteen foot, wide, and the water in it is only a few
inches deep at low tide.
The Velliyankod back-water.-- N. Lat. 10° 44', E. Long. 76° 0’. No stream of
any importance joins this system of lagoons and back-waters, and the opening to the sea
is maintained by the force with which the tide ebbs and flows. It is united with —
the Chamkkad back-water by creeks which, together with the latter, extend
from N. Lat. 10° 44' to 10° 32' and from E. Long. 76° l' to 76° 6', a distance in all of
about fifteen miles. In all this distance no stream of any size flows into or out of the
back-water ; indeed two ridges running parallel to the coast line seem to shut off
drainage both from east and west. This hollow is filled with fresh-water in the rains, and
two rude embankments of wattle and mud are made at the end of the rains to keep in
the fresh and to prevent the influx of salt-wafer, which would otherwise destroy the
heavy rice-crops raised within the enclosure.
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The passage of boats is maintained by sliding them with extra help over the
obstacles on the unctuous mud of which the embankments are formed. At its southern
extremity the back-water joins
the Chewai river.—N. Lat. 10° 31', E. Long. 76° 6'. The mouth of this river
and about six miles of its course lie entirely in British territory, and for about two miles
more it forms the boundary between British territory and the Native State of Cochin. At
the end of this eight miles the river widens out into a lake, partly natural and partly
artificial.
The Trichur or Ennamakkal lake—N. Lat. 10° 25' to 10° 35', E. Long. 76°
10' to 76° 16'—as it is called, is of considerable size, about twenty-vivo square miles, and
of great value, and deserves notice, if only for the singular struggle of human industry
against the forces of nature to which the cultivation of its bed demands. From the
subsidence of the floods of one year to the commencement of the following rains the
space of time is barely sufficient for the garnering of a crop. At the close of the rains the
water in the lake, which is protected from tidal influences by a masonry dam at
Ennamakkal, is drained off by ceaseless labour day and night with Persian wools aided
not unfrequently now-a-days by patent pumps driven by portable steam-engines, whose
fires glow weirdly across the waste of waters on dark nights while the incessant throb
and rattle of the engines and machinery strive hard to dispel any illusions. Every foot of
ground that can be thus reclaimed is protected by fences of wattle and mud and is
planted up with well-grown rice seedlings.
Spaces are left between the fields, and into these channels the water drawn from
the fields is poured, so that boats have to be employed for visiting the different fields,
the dry beds of which lie some three or four feel below the level of the water in the
canals. In the dry weather the lake presents a magnificent level green expanse of the
most luxuriant growing rice, the pleasant effect of which to the eye is heightened by
contrast with the snowy plumage of the innumerable cranes and other aquatic birds
which here revel in a continual feast. With the early thunder harbingers of the south
west monsoon in April re-commences the struggle with the slowly but steadily rising
flood. Numberless Persian wheels bristle in their bamboo frameworks for the contest
with the threatening floods, and as the season advances thousands of the population,
many of them good caste Nayar women, are perched high above the scene on those
machines continuing the day and night struggle with the rising floods for the
preservation of their ripening crops. The bulwarks of the fields are frequently broached
and the unmatured crop drowned.
Often a large area has to be reaped by simply heading the stalks from boats ;
but, as a rule, an enormously rich crop rewards this remarkable industry. A small portion
only of this lake lies in British territory. The major portion belongs to the Cochin State,
and, as already observed, a masonry dam at Ennamakkal is necessary to maintain the
level of the fresh-water in the lake and to keep out the salt-water. The original dam
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The DISTRICT
seems to have been formed some time during the eighteenth century by (it is said) the
united efforts of the Zamorin and Cochin Rajas. They erected an embankment of hewn
stone above two hundred feet long across the backwater at Ennamakkal.
In 1802 Assistant Collector Mr. Drummond, under an erroneous expectation of
benefiting the neighbouring lands, caused the dam to be partially destroyed ; but the
consequence was that a largo area of land fell out of cultivation owing to the influx of
salt-water. Various attempts were made, especially in 1823 and 1842, to reconstruct the
dam on the original plan. A project for a now dam lower down the river at Chetwai was
proposed, and between 1855 and 1858 preparations for constructing this work were
undertaken. The idea was abandoned, however, after Rs. 35,000 had been spent on it,
and since then the original dam has been annually patched up at the joint cost to the
British and Cochin Governments.
The last stream to find its way into the sea, in British territory is-
The Cochin river- N. Lat. 90 38’ E. Long. 760 18’ It can hardly be called a river,
for it is rather the tidal opening, of an immense system of back-waters in which
numerous large rivers from the ghat mountains lose themselves. These back-waters
extend far away north into Cochin territory and far away south into Travancore and
afford an admirable means of conveying the produce of this immense tract to its market
at Cochin. The rush of water across the bar is so great as to maintain a depth on it of
about, twelve feet of water, which enables ships of a considerable size to come into
harbour and load in smooth water. The depth is, however, insufficient for the large
trading steamers employed in the coast traffic, and many of the sailing ships even which
convey the produce to foreign countries are unable to cross the bar when loaded. These
sometimes take in a portion of their cargo inside, and then go outside to the roadstead
to complete their lading. Many proposals have from time to time been mooted for
improving the Cochin river harbour, and a steam dredge was sent out from England to
deepen the bar. It was found to be unsuited for working in the rough water which
always more or less prevails on the bar, and it was also found that the depth of water in
the channel inside the bar was suited for the merchant steamers of the present day.
A proposal to make a close harbour has also been set aside on the ground of
expense. The trade of Cochin, considerable as it is, could not afford to pay the interest,
on the largo sum required for this purpose.
Besides the above rivers which flow into the Arabian sea in Malabar, there are
three of the largo tributaries of the Kaveri river which deserve mention as having their
sources in Malabar. Those are —
The Kabbani River- N. Lat. 110 52’ E. Long. 76° 16’ - which has its sources in
Wynad, and which at times, owing to excessive rainfall on the ghat mountains, rolls
down a very heavy flood to its parent stream. It and its tributaries drain, nearly the
whole of North and South Wynad, but their beds are too rocky and too shadow to
permit of any traffic on them beyond the floating of timber.
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The Rampur River—N. Lat. 11° 12', E. Long. 76° 48'—resembles the
Kabbani, into which it eventually flows after draining a large portion of South-East
Wynad.
The Bavani River - N. Lat. 11° 12', E. Long. 76° 48'—rises in the Kunda
mountains on the Nilgiri plateau, and, after following a circuitous course through the
Attapadi Valley, in which it barely escapes tumbling over the ghats to the westward, it
returns again to the shadow of the Nilgiri mountains just, before leaving Malabar. It is
joined in the valley by one large and several small feeders. The former is called the
Siruwani or small Bavani and rises on the crest of the lofty forest-clad mountains on the
northern edge of the Palghat gap.
Acquiring a considerable volume in a sort of amphitheatre of mountains on the
very crest of the ghats it pours itself in a magnificent cataract, said to be two thousand
foot high, over a precipitous ledge of rock which horns in the Attapadi Valley on the
south.
At the top of this lodge of rook is a deep pool in the bed of the stream called
Muttukulam, which is regarded with superstitious awe by the people, and about which
many wonderful stories are told. By those who have never been to see it, it is said to be
fathomless, and the people declare that extraordinary and tremendous noises do at times
issue from it, and full cracking among the mountains.
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Section D. — Geological Formation.

With the exception of the auriferous quartz-reef country in South-East Wynad,
the detailed consideration of which falls more appropriately under the heading of the
gold industry in Chapter VII, the district has not yet been scientifically surveyed by the
Geological Survey Department, but Mr. W. King, the Deputy Superintendent for
Madras, has embodied in his “General sketch of the Geology of the Travancore State”
the results of his observations gathered in visits to Malabar and Cochin, and those, as he
says, enables him to “generalise as to the lie and character of the very few rock
formations over the country far to the northward” of the scene of his immediate
explorations in Travancore, so that in fact a good deal is known about the geological
formations of Malabar.
For facility of reference Mr. King’s short paper on Travail core is therefore
subjoined, with notes to certain portions of it.
General sketch of the Geology of the Travancore State. By W. King, D.Sc., Deputy
Superintendent, (Madras) Geological Survey of India — (Records, Geological Survey, Vol. XV, p.
87.)
“My last season’s work (1880-81) was devoted to a general examination of the
geology of the southern half of Travancore, and to a particular study of a small area of
deposits which has been long known as occurring on the sea-coast, on the history of
which I have written a separate paper.
“The development of the gold industry of Southern India having raised hopes
of a similar auriferousness of the mountainous and coffee-planting districts in
Travancore to that in Wynad, I was, at the very urgent request of the Travancore
Government, induced to devote a considerable portion of my time to the examination
of the region supposed to present the most favourable indications of gold-bearing rooks.
The result of this was a report on the quartz outcrops of Peermad, in which I showed
that the supposed reels are to all appearance beds of nearly pure quartz rock occurring
with the other strata of the gneiss series, and that, though they locally give the very
faintest traces of gold, there is no reason to expect that hotter results will be obtained.
Practically, there are no auriferous quartz-reefs, as usually understood, in the area
pointed out; neither do I expect that such will be found of any extent or richness in so
much of Travancore as I was able to visit.
“The geological examination of the country may be said to have extended over
more than half of the territory—in reality, it consisted of various traverses over the
country between Cape Comorin and the 9° 35’ parallel of North latitude ; but I can
generalize as to the lie and character of the very few rock formations over the country
far to the northward through visits which I had made in previous years in the
Coimbatore and Malabar districts, and this season at Cochin, to which place I was called
in connection with a commission of enquiry on the harbours, conducted by Colonel R.
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H. Sankey, C.B., in the hopes of being able
to elucidate something regarding the well-
known tracts of smooth water off the coast
at Narakal and Poracaud.
“The Travancore State, though it
has long had a very irregular eastern
frontier, has now been settled as lying
practically to the westward of the main
water-shed of the southern portion of the
great mountainous back-bone or mid-rib of
Southern India, which stretches from the
low-lying gap of Palghat, below the Nilgiris,
to within some Fifteen miles of Cape
Comorin. Between this southern extremity
of the mountain land and ‘the Cape’, as it is
distinctively called, there is an outlying hill
mass which carries the watershed rather to
the eastward of the extreme southern point
of India ; but a low rocky spur does
terminate the end, and outside of it, or a
little to the eastward again and somewhat higher, are two rocky islets.
In the northern part of the country the mountain mass is very broad, but just
south of the Peermad parallel (the northern limit of my proper work) the hilly backbone
narrows considerably and becomes a lengthened series of more or less parallel ridges
with lower and lower intermediate valleys. Those are striking with the gneiss, or about
west-north-west and east-south-east, there being at the same time a line of higher masses
and peaks culminating the main ridge, from which the ribs run away, as indicated, to the
low country.
“The mountain land does not, as may be seen by any good map, run down the
middle of the peninsula, but keeps to the westward ; so that there is a broad stretch of
low country on the Madura and Tinnevelly side, while that on Travancore is narrow.
Then the mountains drop rather suddenly to the east, while they send long spurs down
to within a comparatively short distance of the western coast. There is thus still, in
Madura and Tinnevelly, a southerly prolongation of the wide plains of the Carnatic,
which stretch round by Cape Comorin and join the narrower, though rather more
elevated, low country of Travancore, Cochin and Malabar.
"This narrower and somewhat higher land of the west coast presents also
unmistakable traces of a plateau or terraced character1 which is best displayed about
Trivandrum, and northwards past Cochin into the Malabar country. South of
Trivandrum these marks gradually disappear, the last trace being in the flat upland or
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plateau bordering the sea-shore at Kolachel. This more or less even-surfaced tract of
country has an elevation in its most typical parts of one hundred and fifty to two
hundred feet above the sea, and it touches the shore in cliffs or headlands at two or
three points, particularly at Warkilli, and in the Paupanocheri hill south-west of
Trivandrum.
NOTEs: 1: The terracod character of the low lands of Malabar is best seen at Malapuram, the
Special Assistant Collector’s headquarters in the Ernad Taluk; but in the extreme north of the district, in the
Chirakkal taluk, both north and south of the Taliparamba river, it is also conspicuous. Those terraces touch
the sea and form low cliffs at Mount Deli, at Cannanore, at Darmapattanam and Tellicherry, and thence
almost continuously on to Mahe, at Kollam near Quilandy, and for a few miles north of it, and lastly at the
Ellattur river mouth. Mr, King examined some of these terraces and observed in regard to them that “the
capped character of the plateaus in the neighbourhood of Beypore and Calicut, for instance, is duo to the
denudation of an originally planed-down terrace of gneiss into detached plateaus, the upper surfaces of
which are altered and lateritised to a certain depth,”— {Records, Geological Survey, Vol. XV, p. 101.) END
of NOTEs
“To an observer travelling to Trivandrum across the Ariankow pass from

Tinnevelly, the change from the parallel ridges and broken form of the lower hilly
country to the comparatively smooth downs of Trivandrum is striking, though he would
hardly see the generally terraced or plateau character until a more extended acquaintance
had boon made with the country .
“Northwards from Trivandrum there are narrow strips of absolutely low land,
that is on the sea-level1, marked by sandy and alluvial flats and long back-waters or
lagoons. These widen out northwards from Quilon, until at Alleppey (Aulapolay) there is
a width of about twelve miles of such formations, with the very extensive backwater
which stretches far past Cochin.
NOTEs: 1 Those sea-level lands are numerous in Malabar also; as, for example, the wide tidal backwaters
on the Taliparamba and Valarpattanam rivers, the Agalapula (broad river) stretching between the Kotta and
Ellattur rivers, the backwaters on the Kadalundi river, those connected with the Velayankod backwater, and
finally the Trichur or Ennamakkal lake itself, with many others too numerous to be mentioned. END of
NOTEs
“The rock formations are first, and most prevalent and foundational, the gneiss
series1 and then on it, but only in a very small way, the Quilon beds, which are supposed
to be of eocene age. These last are overlapped by the Warkilli2 beds which certainly appear
to belong to a different series, and are thus perhaps of upper tertiary age ; they appear
also to be equivalent to the Cuddalore sandstones of the Coromandel. Finally, there are
the recent deposits.
NOTEs: 1. Mr. R. Bruce Foote, in his “ Sketch of the work of the Geological Survey in Southern
India”, points out that Mr, H. F BlandFord, in his memoir on the Nilgiris which appeared in 1859, exposed
“the fallacy of a view held by Captain Newbold as well as many others at that time and still later, namely,
that each of the mountain plateaus and ridges contained a great irrupted nucleus of granite rocks”, and
observes “that the metamorphic rocks have not. been greatly broken up and dislocated by intrusions of
granite, to which the present outlines of the country were supposed to be largely due”, and finally winds up
on this point as follows : “The existing outlines are almost entirely duo to atmospheric erosion acting over
vast periods of time, the gneissic highlands of the south of the peninsula being one of the oldest known
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portions of terra firma".—(Reprint from Madras Journal of Literature und Science, 1882, p. 5.) To this may
be added the following from Mr. W. King’s paper on the goldfields of South-East Wynad: “It is worthy of
notice that the present surface of Wynaad has probably only been exposed after a slow wearing away of over
two thousand feet of superincumbent gnoiss which was once continuous between the Nilgiri mountains and
the Vellera Mala range”.— (Records, Geological Survey, Vol.VIII p. 43.)
NOTEs: 2: So far as is yet known, the Quilon beds do not extend into Malabar, but the Warkilli beds are
known to occur at two places in least in Malabar, namely, going northwards
(1) Beypore where Lieutenant Newbold obtained the following measurements in the suction of a cliff
extending down to the water-level in the river :
“Four feet, of muddy alluvial soil.
Ten feet of loose sandstone; with beds of achroous earth.
Twenty feet of gritty sandstone, passing into gritty laterite, and variegated in its lower portions with red and
yellow bands.
Carboniferous stratum varying from a few inches to five feet in thickness.” —(Madras Journal of Literature
and Science, Vol. Xl, pp. 239-243).
Mr. King seems to have overlooked this account of Lieutenant Newbold’s when stating that all the lateritic
country about Calicut and Beypore is “merely one of a decomposed forte of gneiss”,- (Records, Geological
Survey. Vol. XV, p. 101.)
(2) Mr. O. Cannan, an ex-Deputy Collector of Malabar, while sinking (January—May 1876) a well in his
garden in the Cantonment of Cannanore, observed the following facts:
Strata met with
Feet
Red earth mid gravel 8
Tough, hard laterite . . 20
Red and yellow clay . . 10
Blue clay . . 10
Carboniferrous stratum with dammer (resin) fruits resembling
those of the alukkappayim (Sphæranthus Ind.) ores and metals 4
White sand with spring of water l
Total depth of well 56
Diameter of well 17
Distance from the sea about quarter mile. This carboniferous stratum is well known at Cannanore, and it is
often met with in sinking wells at that place. It also crops out in the low cliffs on the seashore.
In boring for foundations for a road bridge in the bed of the Kallai river at Calicut in 1883, a stratum of
what looked like a carbonaceous shale was met with at thirty feet to thirty-six feet, below river bed. In one
bore hole the thickness of this stratum was six feet; in another two feet. Other bore holes on either side did
not meet, with this stratum, which lay under stiff, grey, black and blue clays. END of NOTEs
“The gneisses are generally of the massive grey section of the series, that is, they
are nearest to the rocks of the Nilgiris, though they differ from them in being coarse-
grained or more largely crystallised, and in being generally quartzose rocks.
“So quartzose are they, that there are, locally, frequent thin beds of nearly pure
quartzrock which are at times very like reefs of veinquartz. Often those beds are strongly
felspathic, the felspar occurring among the quartz in distinguishable grains, or larger
crystalline masses, giving the rock rather a granitic appearance. The only other region
where I know of somewhat similar beds of quartz rock occurring with other gneisses is
in the schistose region of the Nellore district. There, however, the quartz rock becomes
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often a fine, compact quartzite; here, in Travancore, there are no approaches to such
compact forms.
“The common gneisses are felspathic quartzose varieties of white or grey
colours, very largely charged with garnets. A particular form of them is an exceedingly
tough, hut largely crystallized, dark-grey or greenish felspathic rock.
“Massive hornblendic gneisses are not common. Indeed, hornblende may be
said to be a comparatively rare constituent of the Travancore gneisses.
“All the gneisses are more or less charged with titaniferous iron in minute
grains; they are likewise—only more visibly—as a rule, highly garnetiferous. In fact, one
might say that Travancore is essentially a country of garnetiferous gneisses. The garnets
themselves are only locally obtainable, it being impossible to break them from the living
rock while they are generally decomposed or weathered. They are generally of small size,
but are very rich in colour, the precious garnet being very common. Other minerals,
such as red, blue and yellow sapphire and jacinth, arc found among the garnet sands so
common on the seashore at certain places. The sea-sands are also full of titaniferous iron
grain. While on this subject, I may instance the beautiful and long known constitution of
the shore sands at Cape Comorin, where, on the beach, may be seen the strongest-
coloured streaks or ribbons, of good width, of bright scarlet, black, purple, yellow and
white sands of all these minerals and the ordinary silica.
"As will be seen further on, an enormous quantity of ferruginous matter is
collected among certain forms of weathered gneiss and other rocks, the source of which
is hardly accounted for in the apparent sparse distribution of iron in the gneisses. After
all, however, an immense supply of ferruginous matter must result from the weathering
of the garnets, when we consider that they are so generally prevalent in all the gneisses,
and crowdedly so in very many of them.
“The general lie of the gneisses is in two or three parallel folds striking west-
north-west to east-south-east. There is, perhaps, rather a tendency of the strike more to
the northward in the broad part of the hills, about Peermad, and on towards the Cochin
territory. Thus between Trivandrum and Tinnevelly on the west coast, or for some
twelve to twenty miles inland, the dip is high to the south-south-west inland of the
terraced or plateau country, or among the first parallel ridges there is a north-north-east
dip ; then, on the mountain zone, there is again a high dip generally to the south-south-
west. Thus the inclination of the beds is generally high, right across the strike with a
crushed-up condition of the folds; but they are often at a low angle, and the anticlinal on
the western, the synclinal on the eastern, side are plainly distinguishable. About
Kurtallam (Courtallum), on the Tinnevelly side, the rise up from the synclinal is very
well displayed, and in their strike west-north-westward into the broad mountain land, the
beds of this place clearly take part in a further great anticlinal which is displayed in a
great flat arch of the Peermad strata. With this widening out of the mountain mass there
is rather an easier lie of the strata.
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"Southwards from the Ariankow traverse just detailed, there is much crushing
up of the beds ; but they roll out flatter again towards the southern extremity, and there
are good indications of a further synclinal to the south-south-west in the northerly low-
dipping beds of Cape Comorin.
“Foliation is very strongly developed : indeed it is here, practically, bedding and
lamination, of which there are some wonderful exhibitions. At Capo Comorin, indeed,
some of the gneiss in its weathered condition (not lateritised) is scarcely to be
distinguished, at first, from good thick bedded and laminated sandstones and flaggy
sandstones.
“There is no special development of igneous rocks either in the way of granites
or greenstones, though small veins and dykes are common, generally running nearly with
the strike of the gneiss. In South Travancore, or north of the parallel of Trivandrum,
there are stronger occurrences of granite, in which the mica is abundant and in largish
masses.
"The great feature about the gneisses in Travancore, and indeed also in Cochin
and Malabar, is their extraordinary tendency to weather or decompose, generally into
white, yellow, or reddish felspathic clayey rocks, which, in many places and often very
extensively, ultimately become what is here always called laterite1.
NOTEs: 1. The vexed question of the formation of laterite is still sub-judice. There are three theories
accounting for it, namely, the marine ; the fluviatile; and the sub-aerial. The chief difficulty lies in the total
absence of all organic remains, for chipped instruments, which have boon found in it, are only indirectly of
organic origin. Alluding to the different kinds of rock which go by the name of “laterite ” Mr. King, in a
footnote to his paper on “the Warkilli and Quilon beds in Travancore,” says :
“The origin of laterite being still unsettled, it is as well that no opportunity should be neglected
for keeping certain points in the investigation well to the fore. Only lately I see that my colleague Mr. F.R
Mallet, in his paper 'On the ferruginous rocks associated with the basaltic rocks of North-Eastern Ulster in
relation to Indian laterite (Records, Geological Survey of India, XIV, p. 148), writes with reference to a
generalisation of Mr. W. J. M’Gee of Farley, Iowa, United States of America : 'But that laterite is a product,
of the alteration in situ of the underlying rocks is a view open to serious objections, which has been fully
discussed by Mr. Blanford.’
Now this is striking at actual facts, against which no local or theoretical objections can be taken
into consideration; for, to put it plainly, and as long as we are unable to define strictly what shall and what
shall not be called laterite among the strange ferruginous rocks which go by that name, certain forms of this
rock are actually and really an altered condition of the rock in situ. Such is the case in Travancore, Malabar,
and Ceylon, where I have over and over again traced the laterite (as it is called in Travancore) or the ‘Kabuk’
(the Singalese synonym) into the living gneiss rock. I have held this view of what may be called the
lateritisation of gneiss with Mr. R. Bruce Foote (my colleague in Madras) for the last twenty years : our
conclusions have been based on observations on the Nilgris, Shevaroys, and other elevated regions in the
Kurnool und Cuddapah districts ; and my enlarged experience of the western coast, and Ceylon has only
confirmed it.
Our experience of the Deccan laterites in not so extended, but, we are agreed also that some of
these must be products of alteration of the rock in situ.”—(Records, Geological Survey, XV, p. 96). And Mr.
King goes on in the text (p. 97) to distinguish “three forms of rock here (Warkilli) and in the neighbourhood
which usually go by the name of laterite:
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"(1) Superficial ferruginously cemented debris.
“(2) The ferruginous, clayey, reddish or brown coloured, irregularly vesicular and vermiform
scabrous rock forming the uppermost portion of the Warkilli beds, which is unmistakably detrital, and
which I will call laterite in this paper.
(3) The altered form of decomposed gneiss (called ‘Kabuk’ in Ceylon), which I shall here write of
as lateritised gneiss. This form always eventually shows traces of original crystalline structure and constitution.”
END OF NOTEs
The evidence of this are, after all, only well seen in the field ; but it may be
stated here that these are seen principally in the constituent minerals, mainly the quartz,
being still identifiable in much of the rock ; in the lamination or foliation being also
traceable ; in the gradual change from the massive living rock to the soft and finally
hard, scabrous, and vermicular ferruginous clayey resultant called laterite ; and in the
thin, pale, and poorly ferruginous forms exhibited by the weathering and alteration of
the more felspathic and quartzose gneisses.
"This altered form of the weathered gneiss occurs over a definite area which I
have laid down approximately in the map. At the same time, the change from
unweathered gneiss to this belt is not sharp ; for long before the eastern limit of the
more generally lateritised belt is reached, approaching it from the mountain zone, the
great change has begun.
“Very soon after one begins to leave the higher ribs of the mountains and to
enter on the first long slopes loading down to the low country, the gneiss begins to be
weathered for some depth into a clayey rock, generally of pale colours, streaked and
veined with ferruginous matter, and having always an appreciable upper surface of
scabrous or pisolitic brown iron clay, which is, of course, probably largely the result of
ferruginous wash, and, less so, of ferruginous infiltration. Also the ferruginous and
lateritoid character is devolved to a certain extent according to the composition of the
gneisses ; but, on the whole, there is no doubt that the upper surface generally over large
areas is lateritised to a certain depth irrespective of the varying constitution of the strata.
“Then, as the rocks are followed or crossed westward the alteration becomes
more frequent, decided, and deeper seated ; though still, all over the field, ridges, humps,
and bosses of the living rock rise up from the surrounding more or less decomposed
low-lying rock areas.“
This generally irregular and fitfully altered condition of the gneisses begins at an
elevation of about four hundred foot above the sea, and thus it extends as a sort of
fringe of varying width along the lower slopes of the mountains.
At a yet lower level, say from two hundred to one hundred and fifty feet, and so
nearer the sea-coast, there is a better defined belt of more decidedly lateritised form of
weathered gneiss, in which the unaltered rock occurs less frequently, and then always in
more or less flatly rounded humps and masses, which never rise above a general dead
level. This belt is, in fact, a country of undulating downs (where free from thick and
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lofty jungle), or tolerably uniform level stretches of forest land. Occasionally it also
shows a plateau surface, or it is broken into small and low flat-topped hills. Always it is
very deeply indented by river and stream valleys, or even by some of the backwaters
which have high and steep shores.
“Further northwards the plateau character of the lateritic gneiss belt is very well
developed in Malabar.
“ It is remarkable of this coastal belt of country that its laterite (an altered, or
ferruginously infiltrated condition of weathered or decomposed gneiss) is not to be
distinguished from any other laterite, except that which is made up of obviously detrital
material,
“Whatever the laterite of Travancore or Malabar may have been originally, it is a
useless form of the rock, being crumbly and soft as a general rule, and oftener of a red
colour than brown, The character of the climate does, in fact, appear to militate against
the changing of the red peroxide of iron in the rock to the brown peroxide, during
which change the proper cementing and hardening of the sound rock, such as that on
the east coast or in the Deccan, is evidently brought about.
“The next succeeding rock formations, namely, the Quilon and Warkilli beds,
occur as a very small patch on the coast between the Quilon and Anjengo backwaters.
“The Quilon beds are only known through the researches of the late General
Cullen, who found them, cropping out at the base of the low laterite cliffs edging the
backwater of that place, and again in wells which he had dug or deepened for the
purpose, I was myself not able to find a truce1 of them. They are said to be argillaceous
limestones, or a kind of dolomite, in which a marine fauna2 of univalve shells, having an
eocene facies , was found, and they occur at about forty feet below the laterite of
Quilon, which is really the upper part of the next group.
NOTEs: 1. They have since been satisfactorily identified as occurring at a place called
Parappakkara on the Quilon backwater about six and a half miles north-east of the Residency at Quilon.
2. The marine fauna to which Mr. King here refers in thus described in an extract quoted by him
in his paper on “The Warkilli and Quilon beds in Travancore.”
“Lastly come the argillaceous limestone of the Malabar Const, not only abundantly charged with
the orbolite just mentioned” (Orb. Malabarica—but it is doubtful for reasons assigned by Mr. King, whether
this orbolite was actually found in the Quilon beds), “ but thou again in company with Strombus fortisi,
together with Cerithium rude, Ranella bufo, Cassis sculpta, Voluta jugosa, Conus calenulatus, and G. marginatus
(Grant. Geol. Cutch. Tert. Foss.) : also Natica, Turbo, Pleurotoma, Fasciolaria, Murex, Cancellaria, Ancillaria, and
Cyprea, all (now species?) closely allied in form to the figured shells of the eocene period. The orbolite differs
very little, except in size, from Orbiculina angulata, Zam. (Encyclop. Methodique, page 468, fig. 3), from
which I infer that the latter should also be included among orbolites, Zamarck.” — [Records, Geological
Survey, XV, p. 96.] END OF NOTEs
“The Warkilli beds, on the other hand, are clearly seen in the cliffs edging the
sea-shore some twelve miles south of Quilon, where they attain a thickness of about one
hundred and eighty feet, and have the following succession in descending order : —
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Laterite (with sandstone masses).
Sandy clays (or lithomarge).
Sandy clays (with sandstone bands).
Alum clays.
Lignite beds (with logs of wood, etc.).
The bottom lignite beds rest on loose white sand, and nothing is known, of any
lower strata.
“It will be seen how this set of strata has an upper portion, or capping of
laterite, which is, however, clearly detrital. On the landward edge of the field of those
Warkilli beds, there is in places only a thin skin, representative of these upper beds, of
lateritic grits and sandstones lying directly on the gneiss, which is itself also lateritised ;
and it is very hard, as may be supposed, to distinguish the boundary between the two
unless the detrital character of the former deposits is well displayed. Thus the upper part
of the formation has overlapped the gneiss. It is also this upper portion which overlies
the Quilon beds, which are also apparently overlapped.
“These Warkilli beds constitute, for so much of the coast, the seaward edge of
the plateau or terraced country above described, and they present similar features. The
Warkilli downs are a feature of the country—bare, grass grown, long, flat undulations of
latorite, with, about Warkilli itself, small plateau hills forming the higher ground—one
hundred and eighty to two hundred feet above the sea. These downs, too, and the small
plateaus or flat-topped hills, are partly of the Warkilli laterite and partly of the lateritoid
gnoiss.
“Whatever form of denudation may have produced the now much worn terrace
of the gneissic portion of the country, the same also determined the general surface of
the Warkilli beds. Indeed, it gradually dawned on me while surveying this country,
having the remembrance of what I had seen of the plateaus and terraced lowland in
Malabar in previous years, that here, clearly, on this western side of India is an old
marine terrace, which must be of later date than the Warkilli beds.
“These are, as I have endeavoured to show in another paper, of probably upper
tertiary ago, and equivalent of the Cuddalore sandstones of the Coromandel. Hence this
terrace must be late tertiary or post-pliocene, and it marks, like the long stretches of
laterite and sandstones on the eastern side of the country, the last great or decided
elevation1 of Southern India, prior to which, as is very probable, the Indian land rose
almost directly from the sea. by its Western Ghats and had an eastern shore line which is
now indicated very well by the inner edge of the Tanjore, South Arcot, Madras, Nellore,
and Godavari belts of latorite and sandstone.
NOTEs: 1. This reminds one of the traditionary account of the miraculous reclamation of Keralam from
the sea by the might of Parasu Raman. END OF NOTEs
“Mr. Foote has already generalised in this way for the eastern side of Southern
India in particular ; but I think he makes the elevation too great, including, as he does in
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his latorite deposits, patches of lateritised gravels and rock masses ranging up to a height
of five hundred feet at least, which are not so definitely part and parcel of the proper
coastal developments.
“The plateau form of the Coromandel areas has often already been commented
on ; but their connection with a terraced form of marine denudation is more clearly
brought out now that the evident conformation of the Travancore and Malabar lowland
is ascertained.
“The somewhat different level of the surfaces of these plateau lands on each
side of the peninsula is also interesting in so far as there is an evident general very slight
inclination of the whole to the south-eastward,
“One more very small patch of variegated sandstones, but associated with
scarcely any laterite, occurs in the Travancore country at Nagarcoil, about twelve miles
north of Cape Comorin. I should certainly take this to be representative of the
Cuddalore sandstones so long as no positive evidence to the contrary turns up ; and it
may be the nearest connecting link between these rocks on the eastern coast and the
Warkilli beds,
“The recent deposits are the usual blown-sands and alluvial deposits of the low
flats along the coast ; an exceptional form occurs at Cape Comorin in the shape of a
hard calcareous sandstone, which is crowded with true fossils and casts of the living
Helix vitata. It appears to be simply a blown-sand, modified through the infiltration of
calcareous waters. Loose blown -sands are heaped over it now in places, among which
are again thousands and thousands of the dead shells of the past season. The
examination of this deposit has, however, been left to Mr. Foote, who has likewise
reserved for his study other remarkable fossiliferous rocks of very late age which occur
in this neighbourhood.”
The soils resulting from the geological formations which Mr. King thus
describes have been roughly grouped by the natives into three classes, namely —
Pasima—a rich, heavy, clayey, tenacious soil.
Pasima-rasi—the above with an admixture of sand, and of a loamy character.
Rasi—sandy soils.
Each of these classes is again subdivided into three, so that in reality there are
nine classes of soils, and this classification is used in determining the revenue
assessments on rice lands, to which indeed this classification is alone applied. It is also
laid clown in the Hindu Sastras that the above classification of soils can be roughly
applied to any particular soil in the following manner : one cubic kol or yard of earth
being excavated, soil of the best description (pasima), if put back into the pit thus
excavated, will suffice to more than fill it ; while loamy soil (pasima-rasi) will exactly fill it,
and sandy soil (rasi) will not suffice to fill it.
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The poor sandy soils are chiefly found on the low-lying lands near the coast,
and the coconut palm flourishes vigorously in them if the subsoil water is within easy
reach of its roots. The uplands are chiefly formed of detrital laterite, many of them being
little better than gravel quarries, and of what Mr, King calls lateritised gneiss.
Some of the most productive grain land in the district, lies in the Walawanad
Taluk where laterite is scarce, and where the pasima lands are chiefly to be met with. On
the mountain slopes and ridges, where the gneiss does not crop up, there is an immense
store of rich black mould produced by decayed vegetable matter.
The chief building material in the district is laterite, a most valuable material for
some kinds of buildings and a most treacherous material for other kinds. In the mass,
when not exposed to the atmosphere, it is as a rule soft and therefore easily obtained. It
is cut out in squared oblong pieces with an axe having a bifurcated blade and is dressed
to the shape wanted by means of a rough adze. After exposure to the air for some time it
becomes hard and answers nearly all the purposes for which bricks are used, but it varies
greatly in quality. Some of the best sorts stand damp and exposure to the air as well as
the best sandstone, while, on the other hand, arched bridges and high revetments, when
constructed of inferior sorts, are notoriously unsafe, as the material (especially during the
rains) is very apt to crush.
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Section E.—Climate and Natural Phenomena

To understand aright the climate of Malabar it is necessary first of all to glance
at a few of the more prominent facts which hold good not only of Malabar, but of all
intertropioal countries similarly situated.
And the first and most obvious fact which strikes an observer is the uniformity
of temperature throughout the year as tested by the thermometer. The thermometer
shows a mean annual temperature on the sea-coast of 81° Fahr. It rarely rises above 900,
and it seldom falls below 70°. It may be said in short that it is always hot, sometimes
hotter, but never very hot.
This is not solely nor even chiefly due to the great altitude of the sun at midday
as very often supposed, for the sun is no higher in the heavens in Malabar at certain
seasons than it is in temperate climates. Moreover, the sun shines much longer in
summer in temperate climates than it does in Malabar. Further it may be observed that
the month in which the sun is at its highest in Malabar, and its hours of shining longest,
is by no means the hottest month of the year. At the same time of course it is to be
remembered that the altitude of the sun is always great, and its hours of shinning are
comparatively long throughout the year, varying as they do from a maximum of about
twelve hours and thirty-five minutes in the latter half of June to a minimum of about
eleven hours and thirty-five minutes in the latter half of December.
One of the most important factors in maintaining this high temperature is the
superheated condition of the surface soil. There is no thick body of cool earth on the
surface capable of quickly absorbing the sun’s rays as there is in the temperate zones,
where, the range of the thermometer being greater, the depth at which an uniform
temperature for the year is reached is deep below the surface of the earth.
The uniform annual temperature depth is soon reached in Malabar, and the
consequence is that the surface soil becomes superheated and is constantly radiating its
heat both by day and night, and thus maintaining a comparatively high temperature.
Another very efficient cause of the high temperature maintained throughout the year is
the influence of the aqueous vapour of the atmosphere. It has already been noticed that
an ocean current sweeps across from the African and Madagascar shores, and one
brunch of it apparently impinges on the coast a little to the north of the district. This
brings with it an atmosphere more or less saturated with moisture.
And the ocean itself is always at hand and the sea breeze always highly saturated
with moisture blows steadily for several hours of each day in the dry weather. Finally
during June, July and August—the south-west monsoon season—the wind blows all day
and night long off the ocean and rolls up before it dense masses of vapour. The
atmosphere is therefore throughout the year in a more or less saturated condition, and
the superfluous heat which, as observed above, is given off by the earth’s surface is,
instead of being radiated off into space, very largely absorbed by the aqueous vapour
held in suspension in the atmosphere. This aqueous vapour in fact acts like a blanket,
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preventing the earth from losing heat at night by radiation into space, and the greater the
heat is the greater is the capacity of the atmosphere for absorbing moisture.
A cloudless night in Malabar does not, as those who have experienced it can
testify, betoken a cool night as it usually does elsewhere.
The above facts are not, however, without their compensating advantages, for
the ocean never becomes superheated like the land, and the ocean breezes which blow
throughout the year, and in particular the south-west monsoon wind, are comparatively
cool winds. In the south-west monsoon season, the temperature of the atmosphere is
low in spite of the fact that the sun then attains its greatest elevation in the heavens, and
for days, sometimes for weeks together, the dense mass of the monsoon clouds shelters
the earth -from the sun’s direct rays.
In fact, so dense and so unbroken is the stratum of clouds in the south-west
monsoon season that the uniformity of temperature is chiefly maintained by another
cause, namely, by condensation of the atmospheric vapour in the shape of rain. To
convert water into steam requires a large amount of heat, and the reverse process, the
condensation of aqueous vapour into rain, necessitates the liberation of a large store of
heat. So long as the water retains its gaseous form, the heat is insensible, but on being
liberated it helps to keep up the high temperature of the air. And this is no doubt what
happens to a great extent in the monsoon season when the earth is screened by clouds.
But finally there is also evaporation, a conversion of watery molecules into their
gaseous form, in which process a large amount of boat becomes latent or insensible.
This goes on in the hours of hottest sunshine. The district is well supplied with rivers
and backwaters, and there is besides the ocean always at hand for the sun’s rays to act
upon. The heat thus absorbed is great, and evaporation plays no inconsiderable part in
moderating the heat and reducing the temperature on land.
Vegetation thrives in such a climate as Malabar possesses, and it is needless to
dwell on the luxuriance of grass and shrub and tree presented in Malabar to the eye of a
traveller crossing from the arid plains and hot winds of the country east of the ghat
mountains. The mountains themselves play an important part in sheltering the country
lying to the west of them, for they cool down the winds passing over thorn ; but in the
extreme south of the district, where the Palghat gap permits the hot land winds to rush
through unimpeded, vegetation receives a severe check in the dry months. Even here,
however, the balance of nature is maintained, for heated plains invite the inrush of moist
sea breezes, and though the days are hot, the sea breeze lasts longer than it does on the
coasts, and brings with it fresh nights and cool mornings even in March and April, the
hottest months of the year.
Nor is the climate less favourable to man and animals ; for, as Mr. Wallace in his
work on “Tropical Nature” justly observes : “The large absolute amount of moisture
always present in the air is almost as congenial to the health of man as it is favourable to
the growth and development of vegetation”—(p. 17).
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Facts bear out the truth of this remark, and it is matter of common observation
that Europeans, who leave the coast in the hot months to seek the coolness and the
“sweet half-English Nilgiri air” of the mountains, return after their holiday trip to find their
brethren in the plains in the enjoyment of robust health and vigorous constitutions. The
best time to seek a change on the coast is in the months when the sky is screened by
heavy clouds, when the almost incessant rain of the south-west monsoon has filled the
air and the earth with an excess of moisture, and when thick clothing is necessary to
stave off maladies arising from the chilly damp.
It is then, too, that animals require extra care and extra comforts in the shape of
warm dry beds. It is altogether a mistake to suppose that horses and dogs and cattle
generally thrive worse in the humid climate of the west coast than in other places to the
east of the mountains. There is absolutely less risk to a heated animal to be exposed to
the moist air of the coast climate than to the chilly breezes that prevail at certain seasons
elsewhere, and it is matter of experience that with the most ordinary care a sensitively
organised animal like the horse enjoys as good health on the coast as inland. All kinds of
property, susceptible of damage by excessive moisture, are very liable to be spoilt.
Articles made of leather, the binding of books, furniture whose parts are glued
together, instruments made of steel or iron, woollen articles of clothing, silks, etc.
require especial care in the monsoon season. They become mildewed, they fall to pieces,
they rust, they become spotted, they lose their colours, and, generally speaking, perish
unless great care and elaborate drying arrangements are undertaken.
Another most striking point in regard to the climate is the extreme regularity as
a rule of the seasons. It once happened to the present writer to be asked one day in the
end of the month of February or beginning of March as to the likelihood of rain coming
soon, and the reply given on the spur of the moment was that on the 22nd of March at 2
p.m. the first shower would fall. As a matter of fact, the shower did come on that day
and at that hour, within ten minutes or so. This was not altogether a haphazard guess,
for the 22nd of March is the vernal equinox, and 2 p.m. in the day is precisely the hour at
which most frequently the daily battle between sea-breeze and land-wind begins.
In some seasons, though not in all, the first distant rumble of thunder along the
line of ghats betokens that 2 p.m. has just struck or is about to strike. This daily battle
begins as soon as nature’s pendulum (so to speak) commences slowly to swing back with
the passage of the sun across the equator into the northern hemisphere. And so it is
throughout the seasons with a regularity as to months and almost to days and hours,
perfectly astonishing to people accustomed to live in less settled climes.
The rotation of seasons is very much as follows : towards the end of March or
beginning of April the first distant mutterings of thunder are heard among the hills. In
some seasons, these thunderstorms occur regularly every afternoon, and occasionally the
thundershowers extend as far as the coast line. In other seasons the, advent of these
storms is not such a regular daily occurrence, nor is the hour at which they begin so
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marked. At first the land-wind usually gets the advantage and blows throughout the
night; in the forenoon, there is a lull ; then, as the inland surface of the country becomes
heated, the sea-breeze rushes in to supply the place of the atmosphere rarefied by the
heat. This continues until the thunder-storms commence or until night sets in, for on
the coast the sea-breeze declines with the setting sun, and it is only far inland that it
continues to blow through the early part of the night. As the season progresses, the
western winds from the sea usually gain in force, while the land-winds from the east and
north-east fail.
Towards the end of May or beginning of June, the south-west monsoon wind
finally obtains the mastery, and the regular rains begin and are usually ushered in by
heavy banks of cloud to seaward, by a heavy swell from the west, and by an electric
storm of more than usual violence. In some seasons, the electrical disturbance at this
time is very great, the roar of the thunder is continuous for many minutes together, and
the blaze of the many coloured lightning flashes almost incessant.
In the season of 1873, the duration of one of these thunder-peals was noted. It
lasted for no less than thirty-five minutes, during all of which time there was no
cessation in the roar of sound, one thunder-peal succeeding another, now near, now far,
without a single moment’s interval between them.
The blaze of light, too, at such times is truly awful. Once, however, the south-
west monsoon has asserted itself, the thunder-storms cease, the wind settles steadily in
the west, and as the season progresses it veers a point or two to the northward of west,
although inland it blows steadily all the time from south-west. The explanation of the
fact of the wind veering to the north of west is that as it strikes the coast it follows, the
direction of the littoral current which at this season runs from north to south. The
figures given in the Statistical Appendix No. 1 attest the volume of rain which falls at
this season, but even in the heaviest weather one or two hours of each day are free from
rain, and there is sometimes a cessation for a fortnight. These long breaks in the
monsoon, if there occur with them a fresh breeze and a bright sky with scattered clouds,
are most enjoyable, but on the other hand the short intervals between the rain squalls of
the monsoon are most oppressive, the air is supersaturated with moisture, the heat is
also at the same time great, and of wind there is none.
In the end of September, the south-west monsoon dies away, nature's
pendulum (to use the same metaphor) again begins to swing back, and sometimes battles
royal again take place between the contending aerial currents, In October, the north-east
monsoon or land-wind has usually asserted itself, and with it the rain becomes less
frequent, the country begins to dry up, and by the end of December the dry weather has,
as a rule, fairly set in.
The period of regular land-winds at night and morning and of sea-breezes
during the day then commences and lasts till, with the venial equinox, the period of
disturbance again sets in.
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Of the south-west monsoon and the discovery by Hippalus —the Columbus of
antiquity as he has been called—of its importance to navigators, the following
interesting account is taken from M’Crindle’s translation of the “Periplus Maris
Erythraei” :
“The whole round of the voyage from Kane and Endaimon Arabia, which we
have just described, used to be performed in small vessels which kept close to shore and
followed its windings, but Hippalus was the pilot who first, by observing the bearings of
the ports and the configuration of the sea, discovered the direct course across the ocean;
whence as, at the season when our own Etesians are blowing, a periodical wind from the
ocean likewise blows in the Indian sea, this wind, which is the south-west, is, it seems,
called in these seas Hippalos (after the name of the pilot who first discovered the
passage by means of it). From the time of this discovery to the present day, merchants
who sail for India either from Kane or as others do from Aromata, if Limurike be their
destination, must often change their track, but if they are bound for Borugaza or Skythia
they are not retarded for more than three days, after which, committing themselves to
the monsoon which blows rigid in the direction of their course, they stand far out to sea,
leaving all the gulfs we have mentioned in the distance.”
It is generally accepted that Hippaios made his discovery in the first century
A.D.
Excessive falls of rain are quite common and floods are frequent. On 19th and
20th of May 1882 there was registered a very heavy fall of rain. Several rain-gauges in
different parts of the town of Calicut registered from eighteen to twenty-five inches in
the twenty-four hours, and as an instance of a heavy fall spread over a longer period in
the monsoon of 1871 the rain-gauge at the Collector’s office in Calicut registered over
six inches per diem for six consecutive days. But floods do little damage: the rivers have
in the course of ages worn down for themselves deep river beds, which, as a rule,
contain all ordinary floods, and the common laterite soil of the country is so porous that
within half-an-hour of the heaviest shower of rain the roads are dried up, and but for the
dripping trees and bushes there would be very little to tell of the rain that had just
ceased.
Of unusual storms there are but few records. This is perhaps to be explained by
the fact that the mountain peaks of the Western Ghats prevent altogether or disperse
any cyclonic tendency of the winds, but the squalls which usher in the south-west
monsoon are at times terrific in their violence, and do much damage to ships which have
incautiously remained too long on the coast to complete their lading. These squalls are
accompanied by mountainous seas, and the wind and waves together generally smash
the strongest cables of the best equipped ships. With their anchors gone, the ships
usually attempt to set sail, but, the squall being past, the seamen find there is a lull in the
wind, while the sea runs as high as ever. If the attempt to make an offing is persisted in,
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the ship generally drifts slowly into the breaker, and the most skilful seamen usually
attempt to beach their ships instead of trying to work them out to sea.
The great storm of the 10th, 17th and 18th April 1847 is perhaps the only
occurrence, of the kind of which some details are on record. The storm originated
somewhere beyond the southern islands of the Laccadive group. It swept over the
islands of Kalpeni and Androth, and did some damage to Kavarathi, but Agatti was
apparently beyond the circle of its violence. Of ninety thousand coconut trees in each of
the islands of Kalpeni and Androth the hurricane left only seven hundred standing in
Kalpeni and eight thousand in Androth.
Kalpeni was also partially submerged by a wave, and the drinking water of the
people in wells was spoilt and their stores of food and their houses destroyed. Of a
population of over one thousand six hundred in Kalpeni, four hundred and fifty only
remained, but it was estimated that from three hundred to four hundred people only had
perished in the storm or of famine afterwards, and that the others had left the island. Of
a population of over two thousand five hundred in Androth, nine hundred only
remained, the rest having either perished in the storm or dispersed. Two boats with
ninety-six males and a number of females belonging to Agatti were caught in the storm
and heard of no more. The storm wave dashed on the coast in a very unexpected
manner, and its effects were felt from Cannanore to Chetwai.
The wave destroyed the Cannanore Custom house ; it came in so suddenly that
the officials had hardly time to escape by the rear as the sea swept in at the front. The
wave rushed up the Kotta river and destroyed the Palliyad dam and the cultivation
above it over two miles from the mouth of the river. The floods from inland breached
the new work on the Conolly canal at Calicut.
At Parappanangadi and Tanur private persons suffered much loss from the
sudden rise of the sea. The wave rushed up the Velliyankod river and destroyed the
Ayinichira dam and the cultivation above it. The sea also “forced a new and deep
opening into the Chavakkad back-water and broke with much strength on the
Ennamakkal1 dam, which, however, sustained no injury,” but the crops in the bed of the
lake were injured by the floods from inland.
NOTEs: 1. Eight miles from the river month. END OF NOTEs
Earthquakes are fortunately not very frequently experienced, nor, when they do
occur, are they destructive in their effects. On the 31st December 1881 at 7:1 a.m.
(Madras time) a tremulous motion of the earth, apparently from east to west, was
observable at Calicut. It lasted only a few seconds, and the motion which, at Calicut, was
unaccompanied by any rumble or noise, was so slight that persons walking and riding
out of doors at the time failed to notice anything unusual.
To those indoors, however, the motion was very perceptible, and one or two
persons felt sick. This earthquake was preceded by something of the same kind about-
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mid-night of the preceding night, and a peculiar rumbling and a noise as of rushing
waters was heard, but these were so faint that they escaped general observation. This
earthquake extended over a wide area, stretching from the Malabar Coast to the Amman
Coast and as far north at Khatmandu in Nepal and south as far at least as the Nicobar
Islands. Two months later - on : 28th February 1882 about 6:16 a.m. (Madras time)
another smart shock of earthquake was felt at Calicut, but it seems to have been a mere
local affair, extending as far north as Tellicherry and as far east as the Nilgiri mountains.
There was the same tremulous motion as on the previous occasion, but the
motion gradually increased, and a muffled roar was heard approaching, passing, and
dying away. It was like the noise of a short train passing through a tunnel underfoot at
the rate of several hundred miles per hour, in a direction from south to north. Furniture
and roof tiles and window frames shook audibly for a second. From the first tremulous
motion of the earth until everything was again quiet there was no more than an interval
of four or five seconds.
At 2 p.m. on 14th October of the same year (1882) the Deputy Tahsildar at
Allattur in the Palghat taluk heard a noise as of a train proceeding underground from
east to west. He happened to be at the time in office, and the tables and boxes rattled
audibly while the shock lasted, which was only for a second or so. Further south
earthquakes occur occasionally also, and they have been noticed on the following dates
at Trivandrum : —
February 1823,
September 19, 1841.
November 20, 1845.
March 17, 1856.
August 11, 1856—5 h, 56 m. 25 s. A.M.
August 22, 1856—4 h. 25 m. 10 s. P.M. and
September 1, 1856—0 h. 1 5 m. 0 s. P.M.
At various periods of the year, but chiefly towards the close of the rains, the sea
and some of the backwaters exhale very offensive effluvia. The water is at times of a
dark porter colour, at other times it has been noticed to leave a deposit of black mud on
the sand. Whatever may be the cause of this change in the water, it is invariably fatal to
fishes of all sorts, which float dead and dying on the surface and are thrown up by the
waves on the beach. The offensive smell is of course largely caused by the putrid fish,
but the water itself when thus changed has a peculiar fetid odour.
Many suggestions have been offered to account for the occurrence almost
annually of this ked vellam- (bad, stinking water) as the natives call it. Day, in his “Land of
the Perumauls,” p. 417, suggests that at Cochin it is due to the emptying of the pits in
which coir fibre is soaked before being twisted into rope—the effluvia from which, he
very justly remarks, is “most horrible”—and also by the emptying or overflowing of
rice-fields in which vegetable matter is allowed to putrefy for manure. These causes do
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not, however, apply to all the circumstances under which this phenomenon occurs,
particularly in Malabar proper, and Dr. Day himself says that “the cause of this effluvia
in the sea, during the hot months, is difficult to determine.”
Benell, quoted by Dr. Davy, considered that in Ceylon it arose from the
presence of vast numbers of the Arum foptidum. The cause usually assigned, namely, the
mixing of the fresh-water from the flooded rivers with the salt-water of the ocean,
cannot account for the occurrence of the phenomenon, in November and December,
arid an instance of its having been observed at Tellicherry, where also there is no mud
bank, in those months of the year 1826 is on record.
It is possible that the phenomenon is connected with that puzzling one
presently to be described, which in the very height of the monsoon months vouchsafes
calm harbours of refuge for ships on the open coast.
The origin of the mud bays or mud banks which exist at Northern Kollam (near
Quilandy), at Calicut, and at Narakal in the Cochin State, and at Alleppey in Travancore,
to which some allusion has already been made in the description of the Kadalundi river,
has never yet been satisfactorily set at rest. The fact that at Narakal, and sometimes too,
at Alleppey mud banks exist, which enable ships to load and discharge cargo in calm
water on the open coast all through the south-west-monsoon season is well known. At
Calicut, too, a small mud bank of a similar description is generally present, and at
Northern Kollam also. In fact it was at one time supposed (erroneously of course) that
the mud bank at Kollam protected the fleet of Vasco da Gama through the monsoon
season of 1498, and this and the fact that a ship had lain there in safety the previous year
and another had already taken up her position for the season then approaching induced
the Joint Commissioners in Malabar in 1798 to permit the Honourable Company's
vessel Morning Star to lie under the protection of the mud bank there during the south-
west monsoon of that year.
Very heavy weather, however, was experienced, the seas broke-through the
bank, and the Morning Star was wrecked, Thu characteristic of the mud banks is that an
unctuous mud rises from the bottom of the sea, becomes dispersed in the water, and
effectually stills the surf. That the mud is always more or less present at the places
named is a fact, but the annual churning up of this mud stratum hardly accounts for all
that has been observed, and Mr. H. Crawford, the late Commercial Agent of the
Travancore Sirkar at Alleppey, who has perhaps had better opportunities of watching
the phenomenon than anyone else, came to the conclusion that subterranean passages or
streams communicating with some of the rivers and backwaters “become more active
after heavy rains, particularly at the commencement of the monsoon, and carry off the
accumulating water and with it vast quantities of soft mud.”
In scanty monsoons the mud banks are less effective as anchorages. He also
observed that at seven hundred yards east of the beach at Alleppey pipes were being
sunk at a depth of fifty feet to sixty feet when the shafting ran suddenly down to eighty
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feet and several buckets of mud from this depth were brought up, corresponding in
every respect with the mud thrown up by bubbles which he had observed in the sea.
A cone of mud, he said, at time ; appears above the water, the cone or bubble
bursts, throwing up immense quantities of soft soapy mud and blue mud of considerable
consistence in the form of boulders with fresh water, debris of vegetable matter decayed,
and in some instances fresh and green.
Mr. Crawford's successor at Alleppey, Mr. Rohde, confirms the observation,
and states that he has seen mud volcanoes bursting up in the sea during the rainy season,
to all appearance “as if a barrel of oil had suddenly been started below the surface.” He
has come to the conclusion that the mud bank at that place, after being formed in the
way above described, is gradually floated away to the southward by the littoral current,
and fresh mud banks are formed whenever the hydraulic pressure of the inland
backwater increases sufficiently to overcome the subterranean resistance offered by the
stratum of fluid mud which exists at the spot described by Mr. Crawford.
A further proof, he observes, of the truth of this is to be found in the fact that
the extent of mud bank at Alleppey increases and diminishes as the level of the inland
waters rises and falls, and this was most observable in the monsoon season of 1882.
Of the mud itself, Dr. Day gives the following account: “The mud feels
unctuous and sticky, but is not gritty unless mixed with the sand. It is of a very dark
greenish colour, and has but a slight odour. Under the microscope it shows ‘very minute
angular fragments of quartz, the largest hardly visible without a lens : this is the sand.
Secondly, — Foraminferous shells, of the genus rotalia, and a few fragments of larger shells.
Thirdly, — Diatomacea, of which were discovered species from upwards of twenty genera.
Fourthly,—a few spicules of sponges and corals, very minute: and some amorphous
matter which was not destroyed after long boiling in strong acids.’
On a more elaborate enquiry1 the mud was found to be very tenacious and
resistant of pressure, like a stiff piece of jelly; and it is supposed that, acting like an
immense spring, it yields to the pressure of the waves, that the water thus loses its force
and becomes quiescent2 whilst the mud expanding is prepared for a fresh encounter. An
examination into its composition resulted in the discovery of sixty-two species belonging
to thirty genera, of the class Cryptogamia and sub-group Diatomae." — Land of the
Perumauls, pp. 36, 37.
NOTEs: 1. Madras Journal of Literature and Science. New Series, No. XII. p. 264
2. While these pages have been passing through the press, Mr. King, of the Geological Survey, has
written a paper on the subject, in which, for the first time, it is conclusively proved that “a sensible amount
of oil” exists in the mud. And the oil, as Mr.. King points out, may be in part at least the sufficient cause of
the quiescence of the sea. The oil, Mr. King thinks, is ‘derived perhaps in part from the decomposition of
organism (in the mud), but principally from the distillation of oil in subjacent lignitoferous deposits
belonging presumably to Warkilli Strata'. He also suggests that this distillation of oil from the lignitiforous
Warkilli deposits may be due to 'moderate heat arising from a line of volcanic energy," “possibly lying
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parallel to the west coast of India". — Record, Geol, Surv., Vol. XVII, Pt. I, 1884, p. 14. END OF
NOTEs
These phenomena, owing perhaps more to natural difficulties than to any lack
of interest in the subject, have not yet been exhaustively investigated, but the following
statement of facts is perhaps justified by the observations so far made. The occurrence
of the Iced vellum (stinking water) and the existence of the mud banks are not
necessarily connected : fish can live in the latter, but not in the former. The former
probably owes its deadly character to the generation from subjacent strata by volcanic
heat of poisonous matter or vapour which is absorbed by the water; and the latter, while
possibly deriving some of their mud oil from similar volcanic causes, are also
replenished, in one instance at least, by subterranean passages, full of liquid mud,
communicating with the sea on one side and the backwaters on the other.
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SECTION F.—Fauna and Flora of Malabar.

(By Rhodes Morgan, F.Z.S., Member of the British OrnithologistsUnion,
District Forest Officer, Malabar.)
FORESTS AND TIMBER.
There being in Malabar great variations of climate, soil and rainfall, and the
latter being nowhere less than fifty inches annually, we find a rich and varied flora,
which is best classified as follows :
(1) The littoral zone—sea-level to 200 feet ; rainfall 70 to 133 inches.
(2) Zone of deciduous forest commencing some five miles or so from the base of the
Western Ghats and in the south-eastern portion of the range extending sonic distance
up to an elevation of l,500 feet ; rainfall (average) 130 inches.
(3) Tropical evergreen forest from 500 to 3,500 feet ; rainfall from 130 to 180 inches.
(4) Evergreen shola forest from 3,500 to 0,000 feet ; rainfall from 180 to 250 inches.
(5) Scrub shola forest from 6,000 feet upwards ; rainfall from 260 to 300 inches.
(0) Open grass, scrub and bamboo, mixed deciduous and evergreen forest (Wynad
plateau), from 2,000 to 2,500 feet ; rainfall 60 to 90 inches.
(7) Heavy deciduous forest with teak zone 50 to 80 inches.
Perhaps the best way in which I can describe these
various classes of forest will be by asking the reader to kindly
follow me on a trip from, say, Calicut to the Mysore frontier.
We will first of all drive from the beach to Ellatur,
where a boat is in waiting for us to take us to the foot of the
ghat near Kuttiyadi. The road passes through a forest of Coco
palms (Cocos nucifera), of which we notice several varieties.
Every here and there a giant Talipot (Corypha umbraculifera) with
Palmyra (Borassus flabelliformis) and Sago palms (Caryota urens)
are to be seen, generally near houses, whilst on the edges of
paddy flats, groves of the graceful Areca (A. catechu) are
Talipot Sago palm cultivated for the sake of their astringent

Picture attribution: Author Praveenp nuts. Mango (Mangifera Indica) and Jack
Image licensed under the Creative Commons (Artocarpus integrifolia) are abundant, and we
Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. see planted in the avenues, white Dammer
(Valeria Indica), Poonga (or Oonga as it is
here called) (Pongamia glabra), Banyans and Peepuls (Ficus Indica and religiosa), and in the
compounds of houses, the Poinciana, covered with its gaudy blossom, and the beautiful
Lagerstroemia reginae, which, later on, we will see in full blossom at the base of the ghats.
The graceful Indian Laburnum (Cassia fistula) with its pendulous racemes of golden
flowers, and long dark brown legumes, next claims our attention.
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Further on, we pass on our right, low
laterite hills, on which the Cashew-nut tree
(Anacardium occidentale) grows vigorously.
We pick some of the bright gold and
crimson peduncles of the fruit on which
the curved ash-coloured nut is borne ; but
though the former are juicy and sweet they
leave an acrid fooling behind in the throat.
The Casuarina (C. equisetifolia)
seems to thrive well also on these hills
where the laterite does not actually outcrop
on the surface but, where it does, it
supports a scrubby growth of Lantana,
Eugenias on which Eugenia bracteata, a small
tree in Wynad of thirty to forty feet in
height, and occasionally two feet in
diameter, is here a ramous shrub of three
or four feet in height at the most ; and two
species of Euphorbia, of which E. nivulia
grows to over twenty feet in height, and
occasionally sandalwood (Santalum album)
sown by birds from cultivated trees in the neighbourhood.
When we got to Ellatur we find numerous boats drawn up on the beach of the
backwater ; our canoe is rather better than the others, being larger and cloanor, with a
neat semi-circular awning of Corypha leaves. It has been cut out of a single log of Iyneo
(Artocarpus hirsuta). Some of the large sea-going boats, made of this timber, are worth
from five hundred to six hundred rupees each, and last for a great number of years.
Having crawled head foremost into our boat, the roof of which is so low that we can
just sit up without knocking our heads against it, the boatman in the stern digs his
bamboo polo into the un-savoury mud, and we are off. Our boat is manned by two
men—-the one who poles and the man in the prow who rows with an antiquated oar
made of a circular bit of wood snooped out like a spoon and lashed to a bit of bamboo
split at the end, which forms the handle.
The backwater, or tidal creek up which we are going, is known as the Agala-pula
and is very irregular in shape, sometimes broadening out to over two miles in width,
anon narrowing, till you can throw a stone across. The banks are fringed with the
everlasting cocoanut, and now and again, near houses, we see pretty clumps of dark
green trees, principally jacks and mangoes, with Talipot and Sago palms and occasional
gaunt stems of the silk-cotton tree (Bombax Malabaricum), from which the breeze floats
clouds of silky-down that drop gently in the water and boat down with the receding tide.
At intervals we pass groves of trees sacred to snakes, where stone images of the cobra,
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plentifully smeared with castor-oil and red ochre, lean against the trees. Here the
Frangipani (Plumeria acuminata) scents the air with its beautiful wax-like blossoms, whilst
a host of pied hornbills (Hydrocissa coronata) gorge themselves on the golden fruit of the
deadly Nux-vomica (Strychnos nux-vomica).
A scrubby growth of jungle fringes the oozy banks of the creek and thousands
of little red crabs race in and out of their holes in the slime, each holding a monstrous
ivory-white claw pugnaciously out, as if offering battle to all comers. This little creature
is apparently all claw ; the one claw being disproportionately developed at the expense of
the other. Growing in this fringe of jungle, the Cerbera odollam, claims our attention with
its green fruit, looking for all the world like mangoes, but deadly poisonous ; and where
the lagoon shallow's suddenly and forms marshes, a dense growth of Dillivaria (D.
ilicifolia) forms a secure retreat for muggers (Crocodylus palustris) which lie stretched out on
logs of drift wood or sand spits in the Dillivaria, lazily enjoying the hot sunshine with
wide-open mouth. Families of otters (Lutra nair) disport themselves in the bright blue
wavelets, diving and chiming one another in play, or swimming ashore when they have
been lucky enough to capture a fish to devour their finny prey secure from the greed of
their comrades. Kingfishers of four species are abundant. The large stork-billed
kingfisher (P. gurial) flying out of the clumps of trees that line the shore, as the boat
comes into view, uttering his harsh cackle, whilst the pied kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) hovers
over the stream with his eye keenly fixed on the small fry stemming the tide below.
The brilliant H. Smyrnensis is busy, excavating her nest on the sandy banks and
cliffs that here and there rise above the level of the water, and her smaller cousin, the
little Alcedo Bengalensis, seated on a twig just below is belabouring a minnow on the
branch he is on, to be presently thrown up in the air and swallowed head foremost with
much gusto. Bee-eaters too (Merops Swinhoii and viridis) are having a fine time of it,
hawking the numerous insects hovering over the water, and diving with them into the
holes in yonder sand hank, whore their clamorous young with gaping bills are waiting to
be fed. Long lines of snowy egrots (Bubulcus Coromandus) come flying past us low over
the water on their way to their roosting places lower down the river.
The sun is dipping now behind a heavy bank of clouds and darkness is speedily
on us.
How beautifully phosphorescent the water is, what flashes of light there are, as
frightened fish shoot like lightning through it, alarmed by the approach of the boat, and
how the water sparkles again as it falls dripping like a shower of diamonds off the blade
of the oar! We light a lantern and hang it over the boat and numbers of fish, attracted by
it, come leaping into the boat. Most of them look like miniature “Bombay ducks” with
long serrated beaks like the bill of a snipe. They have a nasty odour though, an ancient
and fish-like smell, and so we throw thorn back again or hand them to the peon in the
stern for his curry in the morning.
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At midnight we are awakened, for we have reached the Payoli Lock, where a
small fee has to be paid to the toll-keeper, and then on again. We are now in the
Kuttiyadi river, for we crossed from the Agalapula through a canal, where the lock is,
while we were asleep. How still everything is ! Now and again, however, there is a sullen
plunge, as some mugger waddles off the bank and tumbles head foremost into the river
or a great Nair fish (Lates calcarifer) leaps sportively out of the water. We turn in once
more only to be awakened by our servant asking us whether we wish to have coffee as
day has broken, and yet we have done twenty miles since leaving the lock ; but we have
slept so soundly, it seems only an hour ago we went to sleep !
We land, gather a few dry sticks and have chota hazri, then once more on again.
NOTE added by VED: Chhota haazri or Chota hazri was a meal served in British-rule-linked
households and barracks in the South Asian subcontinent, during the English colonial rule in around half of
the subcontinent. This term is still in use in certain areas in the subcontinent, where English systems are
followed. END OF NOTE
How the scenery has changed ! The mountains of the Western Ghats rise right
before us clothed with forest from base to Summit. We have only a mile more to go, and
this does not take us long. The boatman being paid his fare, and the usual inam which
every Tiyan makes a point of clamouring for, we mount our horses which we sent on
from Calicut, see our traps started, and follow them. It has rained overnight, though we
did not know it, and Nature is rejoicing ; a thousand brilliantly plumaged birds fly from
branch to branch and chatter in the trees overhead. The ubiquitous cocoanut palms are
on both sides; but we notice that many forest trees are growing amongst them, and that
luxuriant pepper vines are trained up the stems of every tree ; the lovely Erythrina (I.
Indica) with its scarlet blossoms being evidently a special favourite for this purpose.
Here are two elephants going to their day’s work. Poor beasts ! look at the
frightful abscesses in their jaws ! the result of making them drag huge logs of timber
with their teeth. Was over such barbarity heard of! Many of thorn lose their teeth, and
to an elephant this is a far more serious matter than to us, for he cannot go to a dentist,
poor beast, and have a fresh one put in. He cannot chew his food, nor digest it ; he loses
condition, and dies. His pigheaded owner will not listen to reason ; when you suggest
that he might use harness and adopt a more rational method of having his timbre
dragged, his only reply is that it is the custom of the country (mamool) and that his father
did it, etc.
Three miles after leaving Kuttiyadi we enter the forest. There, to our right, is a
timber depot ; it belongs to the owner of this forest, and we dismount and have a look at
it. There are logs of all sizes. Ebony (Diospyros ebenos), Irool (Xylia dolabriformis), Mutti
(Terminalia tomentosa), Poomaraday (Terminalia dolabriformis), and a few logs of red
(Acrocarpus fraxinifolius) and white Cedar (Cedrela toona).
All these will be floated down this little stream when it is in flood into the main
stream at Kuttiyadi, and from there they will be rafted to Calicut. All the logs in this
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depot are in the round, the bark alone being peeled off. We leave the depot and a few
yards further come on a large “Punam” clearing. What reckless and wanton damage has
been done here! All the larger trees have been girdled and killed long ago, and every
sapling has been pollarded. The tender green of the blades of sprouting grain are very
beautiful. There is the owner, a Malayar ; he is stooping to examine his dead falls, which
he has set at intervals all round his field for hares, porcupines and such small deer, and
see, he has just taken out a mouse-deer (Memimna Indica).
The forest now has grown denser ; everywhere we see the quaint stems of Cycas
circinalis, which is spared for the sake of the nuts it boars. There is a bunch of them to
our right, growing on the very apex of the tree ; they are green, and as large as a pigeon’s
egg ; but. one or two are of a golden-yellow, and must be ripe.
These magnificent trees, under which we are passing, are Schleichera (S. trijuga),
one of the handsomest trees I know. They bear bunches of round fruit, the size of a
robin’s egg, with a few short spines. The seeds contain a large percentage of good oil,
and the natives are much given to hacking off the branches to save themselves the
trouble of gathering the fruit, and that is why that file specimen to our right looks so
lopsided. At a distance, one might almost mistake this fine tree for an oak, and near
Palghat the country is covered with them, the owners being fully alive to their value,
having spared them when the rest of the forest fell before the axe.
Further on, lofty specimens of Hymenodiction (H. excelsum) tower above the
smaller trees that surround them. The hark of this tree is so bitter that at one time it was
believed, that it might contain similar alkaloids to the cinchona, but analysis soon
dispelled this idea. That tree next the Hymenodiction is a Bignonia, and touching it is a
fine specimen of the Alstonia (A. scholaris), belonging to the natural order Sapotaceae.
There are other genera of this useful order, such as the Bassia (B. longifolia), but though
common in the drier taluk of Palghat, it is not found here. But higher up a bit I will
introduce you to the Isonandra (I. Wightiana).
We now pass over a wooden bridge spanning a mountain torrent, which rushes
seething and foaming over a bed of solid gneiss which it has worn into innumerable pot-
holes, into and round which, the water, clear as crystal, gurgles and bubbles. Just below
the bridge is a pool the water of which is of a sapphire blue, so deep is it. Crowds of
little fish dart hither and thither, the lovely little Barilius Bakeri rising freely at the little
flies and ants that are falling into the water shaken down by a troop of noisy, chattering,
grey monkeys (Macacus radiatus), who are busy filling their pouches with some small
yellow berries that are growing on a creeper-enveloped tree that overshadows the pool.
We now begin the ascent of the ghat and at first rise gradually. The
undergrowth consists entirely of a species of Strobilanthes, in flower at present. Soon it
will all be dead and afford food for the destructive forest fires that sweep through the
forests at this elevation. The bamboos (B. arundinacea), too, have seeded, and the jungle
fowl (Gallus sonneratii) are rejoicing exceedingly. There are several scratching under
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yonder dump. The old cock crowing defiance to another who, perched on a boulder in
the middle of the stream, challenges him to battle, whilst his hens cackle their approval.
The booming note of the black languor (Presbytis jubatus) now resounds through
the forest, and presently we see him, his wives and children bounding from branch to
branch as they approach to have a nearer look at us. He is a truculent looking old fellow
this patriarch, and as he balances himself on a branch and barks angrily at us, we cannot
help noticing his enormously long and sharp canines with which he can rip up a dog as
with a razor.
We again cross the stream, and here the gigantic size of the trees strikes us with
wonder. There is a black Dammer (Canarium strictum) with a mass of resin, two feet long,
that has poured out of a cut in the trunk, sticking to the bark, and here a noble
Isonandra (I. Wightiana), which we hack with a shikar-knife, and a stream of milk oozes
nut and flows down its mossy sides ; this rapidly hardens into a kind of gutta-percha, for
which no doubt some use will hereafter he found. Close to the Isonandra is a curious
little tree, Baccaurea sapida, its trunk covered with racemes of pinkish red flowers. Most of
these have withered now, and the curious little angular rod fruit appear here and there.
In October when the cardamoms are ripe, the fruit will be the size of a duck’s
egg, and will prove a pleasant treat to the lucky finder for the aril of the seed inside is
sweet, sub-acid and pleasant, and very refreshing, tasting somewhat like a mangosteen.
Here are cardamoms (Elettaria cardamomum) too, but most of the flowers have
set, and we only find one at the extreme end of a raceme white, with the throat striped
and spotted with violet and purple.
Be careful, however, what you are about, for overhead is the terrible Laportea
crenulata or devil’s nettle- -the petioles of the leaves are hispid, with poisonous hairs, the
sting of which once felt will not be forgotten by you in a hurry - and yet another
vegetable abomination in the shape of Mucuna pruriens, or cowhage. The pods of this
nasty creeper are covered with a velvety armament of stinging hairs, so give them a wide
berth, and do not pick the purple flower of that arum, it has a horrible smell.
We must now press on, for the sun is getting hot. We can sit down and have a
sandwich higher up, where there is a stream of water, and a drink and smoke, and wait
for our people to come up.
A turn in the road brings us to a coffee estate. The trees are from ten to fifteen
feet high and covered with blossom. The air is scented with its sweet odour, just like
jessamine.
Birds are numerous here. The pure white Tchitrea Paradasi or paradise fly-
catcher is busy catching insects. The two long white tail feathers wave like ribbons
behind him as he flies from tree to tree, whilst his sober chestnut-coloured spouse is
busy with the cares of maternity. When they have reared their brood they will leave us,
for they are migratory.
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Hovering in front of yonder flower is the purple sun-bird (Cinnyris lotenia),
gorgeous in a mantle of the darkest steel-blue that flashes in the sun, whilst his quivering
wings boat the air as suspended in front of the flower, he quickly thrusts his tongue deep
down into it- and extracts the nectar. Another brilliant sun-bird (Cinnyris zeylanica) is also
busy at the coffee blossom. His wings are dark maroon, breast golden yellow, and his
head capped with metallic green, whilst his little throat is clothed with the most brilliant
amethystine purple feathers imaginable. Down in the rocky stream below, the Malabar
blue thrush (Myophonus Horsfieldii) is whistling gaily away. Soon, when the monsoon has
burst, he will be busy with his wife in building a home for a future generation in some
rooky cleft near a foaming torrent, inaccessible to mischievous monkeys and marauding
snakes.
And still we must toil upwards, for we have not reached the stream yet. Here, a
pretty little squirrel (Sciurus tristriatus) dashes across the road, and a still smaller one (S.
sublineatus) looks sharply at us from the gnarled knot of a forest tree overhanging the
road. These, however, are but pigmies of the race, for we presently see a splendid male
of the Malabar squirrel (S. Malabaricus) racing up the trunk of a giant Dammer (Vateria
Indica) as he rattles out his disapproval of us in no measured terms.
If you look up that buttress tree in front you will see a round hole, the edges of
which look as if they had been recently cut out with a chisel and so they have, for inside
Pteromys petaurista is no doubt at home, and if you will go down and rap on the trunk with
a stone, he will come forth to interview the unwelcome visitor, and when he sees you,
will spread his parachute and sail gracefully down the valley out of sight.
Perhaps, however, I am mistaken, and it is a smaller and rarer species of squirrel
(Sciuropterus fusco capillus) that lives in that hole. What a multitude of noble and valuable
trees are there here ! Look at that splendid iron wood (Mesua ferrea) and this tree, known
on the coast as Irrupu (Cynometra ramiflora), rare up here, but commoner down below, a
splendid timber, and that fine Jack (Artocarpus integrifolia), sixty feet to the first branch
and over three feet in diameter ! You never saw a boll like that in a cultivated tree, and
see what a splendid Poon spar (Calophyllum Angustifolium) that is! There are hundreds of
others, but if I were to go on at this rate the whole of the space at my command would
be taken up with the more description of these trees.
Are they not better described in Beddome’s magnificent “Flora Sylvatica”?
Here we are at last! This pure, cold mountain water is very refreshing. You need
not be afraid to drink it, no malaria fiend lurks there.
What a vast extent of forest lies stretched before us! We can distinctly see the
sea, and even the white sails of fishing craft coming homewards from the fishing
grounds, laden with seer-fish and pomfret and many other kinds.
Who would imagine that the whole of that vast forest that stretches from near
the base of the hills to the very sea consists mainly of cocoanut palms !
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Look too, at the rivers and backwaters glittering amongst the groves of far off
palms.
But here come our people, so we must press on. We have not far to go now, for
we intend to spend the night at the head of the ghat, and to-morrow early we will come
back to the toll-gate at the head of the ghat and go right up to the top of Balasore and
explore the forests. And this is the toll-gate. The taluk boundary runs, you see, to the
right and left up those conical forest-clad hills, and the next step we take brings us into
Wynad.
We must descend now a little. That urticaceous plant in the ravine is a Boehmeria
(B. Malabarica), and produces a splendid fibre. The string of yonder Coorcha’s bow is
made of it. What plucky men these Coorchas are ! I know an old fellow who lives in
these same forests ; he owned a little coffee garden some six miles from here, and one
evening his nephew was busy weeding it when a tiger suddenly pounced on him and
bore him away into the depths of the forest. The next morning a searching party was
organised and the remains of the poor follow recovered. The Coorchas instantly
surrounded the forest and beat the tiger out, when the old man drove an arrow through
its heart as it hounded across the open grassy hill side to the next shola.
We spend the night very comfortably in the Koroth bungalow and make an
early start for the great Balasore mountain, at the base of which our bungalow is : we
will not go back to the toll-gate that would be too far out of our way.
We first toil through some abandoned coffee, with that curse of the country,
lantana, growing in clumps here and there. It will soon overspread the whole face of the
mountain now under coffee. We have passed this bit of planting now and enter a small
patch of the original primeval forest. The ground is strewn with large, round prickly fruit
(Cullenia excelsa) that look like green hedgehogs rolled up. We must clear out of this, or
one may come down on our heads and that would be no joke, for they are very heavy
and the spines three inches long. Bump ! hump ! how fast they are falling ! and no
wonder for a tribe of Wanderoos (Innus silenus) or lion-tailed monkeys are feasting on the
seeds.
Here is a fearful thicket of rattans (Calamus rotang). Take care of the streamers ;
they are twelve or fourteen feet long, as thick as a pencil, and armed with rows of the
most fearful recurved spines. If they catch you by the lip or ear you will remember it.
And this is the handsome Solanum robustum, with leaves three feet long and two
feet broad, beautifully velvety ; but they and the stem are armed with spines. We will
take home the handsome orange fruit ; they are as big as badminton balls, and covered
with a thick coat of fine spines, When peeled, the fruit looks just like the yolk of a hard-
boiled egg. We will have them made into a tart to-night for dinner, and I promise you,
that they will taste nicer even than the Brazil cherry (Physalis Peruviana) cooked that way.
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There is a large solanum that Mr. Broughton got from Peru. It is exactly like
this, but unarmed. You will see it growing in the Conservatory (Botanical Gardens) at
Ootacamund if you go there. Is not this a lovely Thunbergia, with its racemes of
pendant golden flowers ! There is another species too here, much handsomer, with the
flowers streaked with orange- maroon. Both species flower in the cold weather, and it is
very curious that this one should have flowered like this out of season.
Here is a monstrous tree, it is a fig (Ficus parasitica) ; a thousand aerial roots have
descended to the ground in every direction so thickly that we can scarcely pass between
them. Many have anastomosed with the main stem and with each other, forming quaint
arches. The smaller roots produce a soft and silky fibre, very strong, used by the
Coorchas for their bows, and known as colinar. They, however, prefer the manali nar
(Boehmeria) I told you about.
It is very curious how little leaf mould there is in the ground. What has become
of it ? Well, the termites have buried it. Turn over that rotten log and you will find
millions of them hard at work, and see there is a splendid earth-snake under it, a very
rare and handsome one, the rainbow snake it is called, for its whole body gleams with
the most lovely iridescent hues—shades of purple and metallic blue. We will put him
into our death bottle ; and here is another treasure, the elephant beetle, the giant of his
tribe, and, if you travel through the deciduous forests on the Mysore frontier after rain,
you will find him busy carrying out the purpose for which he was created, rolling great
balls of elephants’ droppings along the path and tumbling them into a hole he has dug
with much trouble and patience. Break one of these balls open and you will find a yellow
egg, as big as the top of your little finger. Later on there will be a loathsome looking
larva there, covered with parasites. This will form a toothsome morsel for the black
sloth bear (Ursus labiatus) when he comes shuffling along and sniffs out the nest with his
keen nose.
Up the trunk of that Dammer we see a thin black line. It is the covered gallery
leading to a neat of the arboreal termite, suspended a hundred feet overhead. If it
happened to fall now and strike one of us it would be certain death, for that nest weighs
sixty pounds and is as hard as iron. There are over twenty different species of termes in
this province alone, and in Burmah there is a monstrous one, half an inch in length, that
marches along pathways at night and makes the natives jump when they happen to tread
on them in the dark.
Do you see those holes in the ground at the base of that white-ant’s nest ? They
have been made by the pangolin or scaly ant-eater (Manis pentadactyla) who is most
probably rolled up inside last asleep after having demolished the inhabitants of the
colony. We are still in the third zone or tropical evergreen forest, the most interesting of
all. On that block of gneiss a thousand rock-plantains (Musa ornata) display their
handsome leaves and curious bulbous looking stems, whilst the common wild plantain
(M. Superba) grows in clumps in the ravine lower down.
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We cut down a bunch of the tempting golden fruit. There is nought inside them
however but a mass of hard black seeds, thinly covered with farinaceous pulp. Our
attendant Coorcha munches steadily through them, finishing up with a handful of
common figs (Ficus glomerata) which he has picked on our way up and which swarm with
a multitude of little two-tailed flies.
This is a Gamboge tree (Garcinia morella) ; the yellow gum comes slowly out
when we cut the bark, and the larger one just ahead is the wild nutmeg (Myristica
laurifolia). There is another (M. Angustifolia) lower down, but it is not so common as this
one. And that tree you are passing, with the clusters of pale green flowers growing out
of the trunk, is a Polyalthia (P. coffeoides). The bark is very fibrous and strong. And here is
another of the same order Anonceae, quite a small tree with glabrous leaves ; it rejoices
in the name of Goniothalamus (G. Wightii). It is rare here, but much commoner near
Palghat in the Chenat Nayar forests.
We have to cut our way now through a dense undergrowth of the dwarf Screw-
pine (Pandanus. sp. undescribed?) and then through a lot of Strobilanthes (S. paniculatus)
which higher up forms the solo undergrowth in places. The number of species of
Strobilanthes is very great and varies according to the elevation.
We are now out again in more coffee, wretched sticks with hardly a loaf on
them. The hemileia vastatrix has destroyed them.
That large bird lying across is a hornbill (Dichoceros cavatus). Hornbills are
breeding now and are very noisy. Who would believe any bird capable of uttering such
horrible cries as that old male perched on the dead tree opposite? He roars like some
wild beast, disgusted no doubt at having the trouble of feeding his mate, who is sitting
comfortably on her large white eggs in the hole of some giant forest tree near. She is fat
and jolly, for every ten minutes or so Mr. Hornbill comes flying up with some sweet and
juicy fig or plum and pops it down her throat. Lady Hornbills are kept in due subjection
by their lords, who build them into their nests by plastering the mouth of the Hole up
with clay and excrement, leaving a mere slit to food them through. There must be some
reason for the males undertaking this self-imposed task ; possibly their spouses are a
giddy lot, and require to be restrained from leaving their nests to flirt while their eggs get
cold.
It is very sad to look round us from where we are and see the vast extent of
forest that has been destroyed by the Mappillas all round for coffee. After toiling
upwards for another hour, we again find ourselves in shola, but of a different character
to that we have left behind us. The trees are not so lofty, the undergrowth is much
denser, the species of Strobilanthes here is quite different to that last seen ; birds, too,
are more abundant, and bees and insects keep up a continual hum in the blossoming
trees overhead.
We are now in the fourth zone or evergreen shola.
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We enter a dense growth of dwarf
bamboo (Beesha Rheedii) and put up a barking
deer (Cervulus aureus). Further on our
Coorcha finds a bees' nest (Apis mellifica), and
as there is a delightful purling brook close by
we decide to have breakfast. How lovely
these moss-grown rocks are, with
lycopodiums and balsams growing all over
them, and that funny frog (Hylarana. sp.)
squatted amongst thorn, every now and then
raises his voice and treats us to what he no
doubt, considers music, a monotonous
miming up the scale, which sounds like
“Tune-tuk-tuck tuck, tuk, tuk.”
Here comes our Coorcha with the honey which he has cut of the hole of that
Eugenia---a mass of golden combs, with the divine scent of the beautiful camellia-like
flowers of the iron-wood (Mesua ferrea), for most of the honey now is collected from
that flower. The Coorcha reserves for himself the larvae and pollen, which he devours
with much gusto as we smoke our cheroots. Half an hour is all we have allowed
ourselves for this pleasure, for the top of the mountain is yet far off and we must cut
our way soon. There is a family party of the spur-fowl (Pteroperdix spadiceus). How fussy
the mother is about her little brood. She is hiding them in the dead leaves, and there
they will instinctively crouch till we have passed them.
The slimy hole you see in this bit of swampy ground is a sambur (Rusa aristotelis)
wallow, and last night, after rolling in the mud, a stag has rubbed his back against this
rock and then sharpened his horns against yonder Garcinia (G. purpurea). Our wide-
awake friend, the Coorcha, pockets a lot of the acid fruit of this tree, which are used by
the natives as a substitute for tamarind.
The Eugenia family is well represented here, and there are more species than
below, but I will reserve those for the list at the end. Symplocos too, of which we see
several species, and cinnamons ; but most of these are supposed to be only varieties of
the common kind (Cin. zeylonica). And there is Eurya (E. Japonica) which is so like the tea
shrub, and two species of Tetranthera which the Atlas larva delights to feed on, and
Bischofia Javanica —the A. Luna silk-worm loves it. And here is Evodia triphylla with
several gorgeous butterflies (Papilio Paris) hovering round it, and look at that chaste-
looking Hestia (H. Jasonia) with her lace-like wings. I have just secured three beetles, a
handsome green elater, a large rose beetle, one of the cetoniidae, and a line specimen of the
horned beetle (Odontolabis Burmeisteri).
And the Coorcha has found a horrible scorpion, eight inches long, of a dark
bluish green colour, which looks like a small lobster. He tells us a wonderful story of a
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snake which chased him here, and declares it had wattles like a cock on its head of a
brilliant scarlet ! Most probably the snake was the mountain cobra (Ophiophagus elaps)
which is given to be aggressive. This Coorcha knows the boa well enough, for he once
killed one eighteen feet long with an arrow, so he says. Snakes are numerous hereabouts,
especially a greenish brown viper with a villainous looking head. I have nearly been
bitten a hundred times ; but luckily this snake is so sluggish that it is a long time before
he will make up his mind to retaliate.
After another, half hour’s work we reach the region of dwarf shola forest, or the
fifth region, and here our troubles really commence. The undergrowth is very dense, and
we have to cut every yard of our way. The ground, too, has become very broken. There
are great stretches of boulders to be scrambled over, and we get badly stung by the
common nettle (Girardinia heterophylla). The trees are principally dwarf Egenias and ilex
(T. Wightiana) with a scrubby bamboo (Arundinacea Wightiana) only six or eight feet high.
The species of Strobilanthes is very harsh too, and difficult to struggle through. Flying,
from bush to bush we see small flocks of a rare laughing thrush (Trochaloptcrum Jerdoni),
while the blue rock thrush (Petrocincla cyanea) sits looking at us from a boulder above.
A multitude of other birds, such as Zosterops palpebrosus, Hypsipetes Nilgiriensis,
Dendrophila frontalis, etc., are busy scouring their food amongst the loaves and brunches
of the trees and shrubs, whilst the common green mogalaima, seated on the topmost
bough of the only tall tree near, utters his monotonous “koturr, koturr” the livelong day.
Thousands of swiftlets (Collocalia unicolor) are hawking the insects about, and will
probably roost to-night in the caves of the Bramagiris, where, at this time of the year,
they brood in thousands. Their nests are not edible, however, like the Chinese ones,
though they are made of the same substance, inspissated saliva mixed, in the case of
those birds, with moss and feathers.
A Nilgiri kestrel (Cerchneis tinnunculus) is busy eating a mouse on a rock, and flies
away with his prey as we approach.
At last we gain the peak and look round. There, away to the east, we see the
great pools of the Cobbani where the mahseer loves to dwell. To our right lie the
serrated peaks and ridges of the Western Ghats with patches here and there of coffee
near their bases, and beyond again the Nilgiri plateau with great masses of black storm-
clouds gathered menacingly over it, whilst from their dark depths vivid streaks of
lightning dart forth forked tongues of flame, and the boom of distant thunder echoes
from the rocky cliffs around.
Clouds are gathering, too, on our left over the Bramagiri and Dindamal hills, so
wo will take the warning and hurry down again — not the way we came, but down the
Terrioot face of the mountain. It is late by the time we reach the foot, and, mounting
our horses posted for us there, we got back to the Koroth bungalow in time for a late
dinner.
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At midnight, the storm bursts, the rain pours in torrents, whilst the vivid and
continuous flashes of lightning illuminate the country round. How the thunder peals and
crashes over head, as report quickly follows report, until the whole is merged in one
almost continuous series of detonations echoed back from the mountain above. In an
hour, it is all over, a loud rumbling to the west denoting the course followed by the
storm ; but the roar and rush of mountain torrents, careering madly down the steep
slopes behind us carrying the surface soil away to the sea, continues for some time
longer.
At day-break we are off, en route to
Manantoddy, ten miles away. The air is fresh and cool,
and a thousand birds rejoice ; here the exquisite scent
of a lovely orchid fills the air with fragrance. It is the
Dendrobium aurum. We pick a few of the delicate
golden flowers and collect a host of others with
which the trees are laden. In this hollow them is a
great bed of wild ginger, and the trees are covered
with festoons of Hoyas and handsome ferns, and
there, on the bank, or some fine tree ferns (Alsophila
glabra). Here the forest is principally deciduous,
though many evergreen trees appear, such as Vateria
Indica, Evolia triphylla, etc. The shrubby Wendlandia
(W. notoniana) is abundant, and we may expect to find
on it fine specimens of the larvae of the Atlas moth
(Attacus atlas).
The whole of the country about here has been ruined by koomree cultivation,
the land having been tuckled for raggi for years, until it refuses to grow anything now
but a scrubby vegetation, consisting mainly of such trees as Evodias, Lagerstroemias, the
Wodina (W. wodier), and Bignonias, with scattered trees of Careya arborea, surrounded by
a heavy growth of brackens.
There is an old avenue bordering the road, planted up with Vateria Indica, Ficus
benghalensis, Artocarpus integrifolia, etc. Between the patches of jungle are open grassy
downs with herds of buffaloes and small black cattle grazing on them. These latter are
not to be trusted, as they are often vicious and charge desperately, as I have experienced
to my cost. Most of the animals have wooden bells on, and their loud and monotonous
rattling is more curious than pleasant.
We pass numerous Mappilla houses on the road, each with its little coffee-
garden shaded by jack trees, up the stems of which Dioscoreas have been trained for the
sake of their tuberous roots.
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As we approach Manantoddy, the lantana becomes more abundant, till finally it
seems to have taken entire possession of the country, affording a secure asylum to
numerous panthers (Felis pardus) which prey on the village dogs, calves, etc.
We ride through the Manantoddy bazaar, a dirty and disreputable place, and finally
reach our destination at nine o’clock, quite ready for breakfast, which discussed, we walk
down to the Forest office, a small building on the top of a hill, prettily situated. Here we
find an experimental garden, in which Ceara rubber (Manihot Glaziovii), mahogany
(Chloroxylon Swietenia), cocoa (Theobroma cacao), the rain tree (Pithecellobium saman), sappan
(Caesalpinia sappan), and a host of Australian eucalypti, acacias, and exotic trees and palms
are growing vigorously ; and then on to the new building for the Forest officer, of which
nothing is to be seen but the foundations, after which we mount our horses and are off
again to Begur, the headquarters of the Koodrakote forest, where forest operations are
in full swing.
After riding about, two miles, we enter the reserve, a huge signboard with the
words “Imperial Forest Reserve, Koodrakote” informing us of this fact. This board has
been nailed to a fine young tree of the Nauclea species, covered with its curious flowers
just like olive-green badminton balls.
The Nauclea is growing in a swamp in a dense brake of screw-pine (Pandanus
odoratissimus) with scattered trees of the common willow (Salix tetrasperma). Just above us,
overhanging the road we have come, is a huge solitary tree loaded with the nests of the
cliff bee (Apis dorsula), so, for heaven’s sake, do not smoke, or the irascible little wretches
will be down upon us, in which case we are certain to have a bad time of it, even if we
escape with our lives! Here is a bridge with a notice that you are to walk over it. One of
my mahouts lately, in the dark, took his elephant across it, so I do not think we need pay
much attention to the notice.
The forest improves, and we presently leave the Oliot police station behind us
and reach the village of Sunnuthgoody. Here we turn off, the road to the right going on
to Mysore. We will go that way to-morrow.
The forest we are now riding through is very valuable. It belongs to the seventh
zone, and is first-class deciduous forest with teak. Yesterday, if you remember, we rode
through the sixth zone, or open grass scrub and bamboos with mixed deciduous and
evergreen forest. The principal timber here is Mutty (T. tomentosa), or Kurra-maradoe as it
is called in Canarose. See how abundant it is, and what grand logs it can produce.
Seventy and eighty foot long, and as straight as an arrow !
If we could but got an extensive sale for it at remunerative rates, what a mine of
wealth those grand forests would become. But we cannot sell it now. Natives do not
value it here, though it is a magnificent timber, very strong and tough. White-ants,
however, destroy it, and that is why it is not valued ; besides it is given to warping and
dry rot ! However, when a railway affords cheap carriage and saw-mills are at work, we
may hope to make a fair profit out of it yet.
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Look at those magnificent logs ! They are Hone (Pterocarpus marsupium), the next
best timber we have to teak. The merchant who has bought them has got his money’s
worth, for they have been so well and truly squared, and are so sound, that there will be
little or no wastage in sawing them up. This mark in the corner of the log has been made
by the Bet Kurumbar who squared it. What does this heirogiyphie mean ? It is only
Kala’s mark. He has no T-square, no tape, no foot-rule, chisel or hammer — nothing
hut his axe, and this is what it is like :
He has squared the log entirely by his eye. In the centre of the log we find
stamped with a stool die,
which means that the number of the log is 276, that it is 30 foot long, and its mean
quarter girth is 19¼ inches and total cubical contents 77-2-4. The /83 denotes the year
in which it was felled. (W.F) stands for Wynad forests and the (s) shows that it has been
sold. The K.J. in the right-hand corner are the initials of the purchaser. The hole in the
comer is for the drag-chain to pass through.
The logs in the next depot you see are all blackwood (Dalbergia latifolia). They are
for the coast market, and will be shipped by the purchasers at Tellicherry for the
Bombay and Karachi markets. We are close to Begur now, for on our left the forest is a
gorgeous sea of flame : the Poinciana (P. regia) is in flower. The whole of this side of the
road was once a splendid shoot of coffee, but the manager was foolish enough to plant
this tree for shade, and, being a surface-feeder, its roots quickly starved the coffee out.
We leave the road now and turn sharply to the right, and ride through the estate. There
are a few jack trees hero and there, but our elephants have stripped the leaves and
branches off them and they do not look happy. Those two large sheds you see below us
are the elephant houses, but the elephants have not returned yet from their work.
We will have tiffin now and then write some letters, after which we will go
down to the stream close by and see if we can got a tow carp for dinner. This is the
forest hut ; it is built entirely of teak and shingled. It was nicely matted inside at one
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The DISTRICT
time, but I had the mats all pulled off the walls, as rats took up their quarters between
and snakes followed them.
Here is old Khazi. He is a great fisherman and has turned up in the nick of time.
“How is the water, Khazi ?” “Excellent, sahib.”
“And the fish, are there lots of them ?”
“Your lordship will have good sport ; they are well on the feed.”
“Well, we will take the rods and come at once.”
“Here are the leaves, master.”
We carefully tie on a Vallisneria leaf to our hook, so that it is quite concealed,
and wading into the head of the run, lot our line, with six feet of the finest drawn gut at
the end, float gently down the current. Just as the loaf passes the roots of yonder willow,
sixty feet away, there is a swirl, and a plunge, and a sudden tug at the line, and our reel
screams a merry tune. He is six pounds, if an ounce! Gently now, for he is trying hard to
fray the gut against that snag. Now he makes a rush for that fallen tree in the water.
Once under that, and he is gone. Oh! run Kala, run! Wade in and free the line ; it has
twisted round that bamboo twig. Be careful! He is off ! No, thank goodness, no ; ho is
on still. Now for the net. They have left it behind : how disgusting, Khazi ! help me to
land this fish. Out with him now !
And Khazi deftly pushes his fingers in behind the gills and flings Barbus
carnaticus, quivering and gleaming, on the pebbly shore, He is quite four pounds we find.
But see what Khazi is up to. He has a dozen gourds, and is tying three feet of sago palm
(Caryota urens) fibre on to the neck of each ; and now he whips on hooks, baits them
with Ageratum leaves, and sets them floating down the stream. There goes the little
fleet, and bob ! down goes the leading gourd. Now it is up again, and seems to have
gone mad, for it jumps and leaps about, then dives and disappears in the most surprising
manner. But old Khazi knows what is up, for he has run to the bottom of the pool, and,
as the gourd passes him, seizes it, and lo ! there is a handsome three-pound barbus at the
end of the lino.
We go on fishing with varying success, and finally count up a bag of three brace
of carp. Old Khazi has caught two, and has made besides a miscellaneous bag of
mastacembelus —a fish that looks like a sharp-nosed eel—four young labeos, several cat
fish (silurus), and a heap of the little Barilius Bakeri.
On our way back we call on old Lutchmi, a dear old elephant, at the shed, and
treat her to some jaggery and see Mr. Sankara fed. He has been naughty of late and
became “must” so he has had to do double work. Here are Chloe and Phyllis, who were
captured in the Alambadi khedda in Coimbatore. Vixen has gone to Nilambur. These
last three are, I believe, the only ones alive now out of all those those captured ! They
are going down to the river now to bathe, after which they will be hobbled and turned
loose to graze all night.
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Do you notice the number of young trees here that have grown up everywhere
in this abandoned coffee estate ? There are two teak seedlings twenty feet in height ; and
these are all young blackwood trees, growing vigorously.
Before dinner we will send for old Kurumhar Kala and the forester, and give
them orders to have two Kurumbars ready to go with us to the Soola Bulla forest, near
the Coorg frontier, early to-morrow morning.
Daybreak sees us up, and we are in the forest after sunrise. We march steadily
along the forest road for some distance and turn off, after crossing a large bridge, to
inspect a depot. There are over seventy logs in this depot, all dead teak, for we have not
felled living trees here for the last six years. The Kurumbars who have prepared those
logs are waiting for the measurements to be checked, and this we do. A great deal of the
timber you see is much cracked and flawed, but as long as we can make any profit out of
it, it would be a great pity to let it get burnt up and
destroyed.
Look at the pugs of this tiger ! what a
monstrous size they are! He lives up on the
Bramagiri plateau, and only occasionally comes
down here when he is hard up for grub and has
established a scare amongst the sambur up there.
He is a grand old fellow, this tiger, and I once had
a shot at him, but only wounded him slightly in the
leg.
There are wild dogs (Cuon rutilans) crossing
the road ahead, eight-nine-ten of them ! One stops
and barks at us, with - his brush up in the air, and
then jumps lightly over a log and disappears. They
are remorseless beasts, these dogs, and kill
numbers of deer, both sambur (Rusa aristotelis) and
spotted deer (Axis maculatus). Sometimes they go
about in enormous packs ; I have seen one of over sixty myself. The wild dog has few
enemies to keep it in check, and it is but rarely shot by sportsmen. I think, though, that a
good many get killed in their encounters with dangerous game, such as boars and tigers.
There are many instances on record of wild dogs having tree’d both tigers and panthers,
and one, of their having killed and partly eaten a tiger at Bundipore on the Mysore
frontier.
The forest we are now passing through has a dense undergrowth of Lceas and
zingiberaceous plants, with a host of creepers trailing along the ground and twining up
the trunks of the trees, in many instances distorting the tree, or even strangling it
altogether. Many species of ficus arc, however, far worse in this respect, for there, in
front of you, is a mighty rosewood tree (Dalbergia latifolia), the trunk of which has been
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almost completely hidden by a fig (F. parasitica), and so tightly has it been embraced that
there is nothing to denote that the rosewood is even alive but that miserable tuft of
leaves showing overhead through the luxuriant foliage of its enemy.
We must keep a sharp look out now, for here are the fresh tracks of a solitary
elephant, a rogue, no doubt, for he is constantly about here and is the terror of our
Kurumbar axemen. I should not be at all surprised if we found him in company with
Chloe and Phyllis, who were let loose to graze in this part of the forest last night.
What is Kala running back for ? He must have seen the tusker. No; there is a
large sounder of pig (Sus Indica), he says, in a swamp. There they go, headed by a grim
old boar, who is, grunting angrily and champing his tusks. We will let him pass as we are
not armed.
Here we are at the big depot, and there is old Lutchmi in the swamp. She has
evidently not smelt that rogue, or she would have come straight home again, for she
does not like wild elephants, and is not
given to flirting with rogues, like her
giddy companions, Chloe and Phyllis.
Just look at the magnificent
trees here ! And no wonder they are so
fine,, for the soil is a deep rich loam,
nearly black, and composed entirely of
the rich surface-soil washed down from
the low hills around by the monsoon
rains. The rainfall is about eighty inches
here annually.. There stands a
magnificent teak surrounded by
thousands of Mutty trees (Terminalia
tomentosa), and Venghay (Pterocarpus
marsupium), and Venteak (Lagerstroemia microcarpa), with here and there a noble rosewood
(Dalbergia latifolia).
Here, just off the road, is a monstrous fig (Ficus mysorensis) that was blown down
in the fearful monsoon gales of 1882. A famous tree it was, too, known amongst the
Kurumbara as the great “Goni Barray”. Its branches bore twice a year a rich crop of wax
and honey, for over a hundred colonies of the largo bee (Apis dorsata) have resorted for
years to this mighty tree to rear their broods in fancied security.
We must return now, for we go to Bhawully this evening. The forest here swarms with
birds. That handsome black bird flying across the path is the Bhimraj (Edolus paradisus),
often tamed by Muhammadans for its song. It also possesses a strong power of mimicry,
and, in captivity, will imitate the mowing of cats, crying of babies, and cackling of
poultry in the most wonderful manner. In English it is known as the racquet-tailed
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drongo shrike, from the two elongated tail feathers, which are curled into the shape of a
racquet at the end.
Seated on a twig is a male of the handsome Malabar trogon (Harpactes fasciatus),
his rose-pink breast contrasting beautifully with the delicately-penciled black of his
wings, flashing like a meteor across the path, flies the lovely bronze-wing dove
(Chalcophaps Indica), the metallic green of his wings glittering like some jewel in the
sunshine ; and on the tree in front are a host of flame birds (Pericrocotus flammeus), the
cocks clad in orange-red and black and the hens in gold and dark grey.
The oriole (Oriolus kundoo) is here, too, resplendent in his gold and black livery,
and the fairy blue-bird (Irena puella) with a back of the loveliest cobalt blue, the rest of his
body a jetty black. Hodgson’s wood-pecker (Picus Hodgsoni) is investigating the trunk of
yonder hoary tree and making the forest resound again with his loud rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat.
The moment we catch his eye he slips round the trunk like lightning.
But how is it possible to describe the hundreds of species of birds that swarm in
these forests, with the limited space at my command ? I must even content myself with a
dry list of them at the end.
We have reached Begur now, and so we will mount our horses and be off to
Bhawully. At Karticollam we branch off to the Mysore road, and, after going a short
distance, pass the Padry Reserve signboard and a little further on reach the Bhawully
bridge. We now dismount, and go down to the river and have a look at the colonies of
bees (Apis dorsata) that have built under the arches of the bridge. It is a wonderful sight
truly ! There are over a hundred hives : the bees are flying in millions across the bridge
and we see nervous travellers passing the bridge at a run to avoid being stung.
Seated on a willow tree are about fifty or sixty birds— king-crows (Dicrurus
macrocercus) and bee-eaters (Mcrops viridis and Swinhoii). Watch them, and you will see one
or two leave their perches for a moment, fly rapidly through the arches of the bridge,
snap up a bee, and retire to the forest on the opposite side to devour their prey at their
leisure. This goes on continuously, and the numbers of bees devoured in this way must
be something enormous.
Before returning to Manantoddy we will just take a run down to the pool in the
Cubbani at Shanamangalam, and have a try for mahseer (Barbas mosal) and Carnatic carp
(B. Carnaticus). There are some monsters in this great pool, and if we are fortunate
enough to get a run, we must look to our tackle and see that it is in proper order.
Here is the pool, some four hundred yards long by one hundred yards broad,
and from ten to seventeen foot deep ; a fine sheet of water. We will now unwind our
reel, and dry the three hundred yards of strong cotton line it holds, in the sun for a
quarter of an hour. We will also oil the winch, for it is a cheek winch invented by me,
and see that it is in proper working order. Having done this, we will prepare our bait.
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First and foremost we cut a bamboo rod, seven feet long, and put on a single
gut-lino with a fine hair-hook ; next we deftly tie on a leaf-fly and then chuck in a
handful of Valisneria leaf. See how the fish are rising : now is the time. Our fly falls
gently in the very centre of a patch of floating Valisneria. There is a swirl, and a tug, and,
after a little play, we land a nice little Carnatic carp, nine inches long, just the right size.
Our Kurumbars have meanwhile made a bamboo basket with a narrow mouth, and we
put our bait into it and lower it into the water with a tuft of grass, to keep the fish from
jumping out, shoved into its mouth.
In ten minutes we have half-a-dozen young carp, and it is now time to reel up
our line. This finished, we examine the three trebles and coat the silk whipping with a
little fly-wax. These trebles are the very largest and strongest made for mahseer fishing.
We now cut a strong bamboo rod, twenty-five feet long, nice and pliable, and lash it
firmly to a willow tree so that the point overhangs a deep, shady portion of the pool.
Next we take out a carp and with a needle stitch a double thread through his back, just
in front of the dorsal fin. We then pass one of the hooks through the loop of thread
thus formed, and tie our line to the tip of the bamboo rod, so that we can lower our bait
at will from the bank ; at the same time we make our tie just strong enough to hook the
mahseer when he seizes the bait.
We now drive the spike of our reel deep into the bank, and reel up the slack lino
till the dorsal fin of the bait just shows above water. The bait is very vigorous, you see,
for he dashes madly round in a circle, striving to escape. A screen must be made or the
wily mahseer would never come near the place if he suspected that we were here.
We have another reel, and this we will work in a different way. We will first
drive the spike into the ground and then pull out thirty yards of line. About a foot from
the hooks, we tie a quartz pebble of a pound in weight, and then we bait the hooks with
a lump of raggi dough as big as your two fists. We next gather the lino into a neat coil
and fling our bait far out into the pool. When the bait and pebble have settled at the
bottom, we gently pull in the slack line till we feel the weight of the stone, and then take
a double turn of the line round a stake one foot long and as thick as your finger.
This stake we thrust deep into the sand, and then make the line from the reel to
the stake taut. All is ready now, and there is nothing for it but patience. The sun is just
setting, and it is the hour when mahsoor wake and begin to feed. Silence ! Not a word
must be uttered, so we lie down behind our screen and lazily watch the green imperial
pigeons (Carpophaga insignis) cooing and pinning their feathers on yonder bastard ebony
tree (Diospyros embryopteris).
Swimming slowly down the pool, nothing visible but his bung-like eyes, goon a
mugger (Crocodylus palustris) on the look out for grub. No chance of a mahsoor as long as
that scaly monster is on the move!
Some Wodagur women are coming down the bank for water opposite us with
their polished brass-pots gracefully poised on their heads. The mugger dives and is gone,
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the wood pigeons flutter from the ebony tree and
swiftly wing their way down stream, a melancholy
frog croaks dismally from yon slimy pool covered
with ferruginous scum, and the hoot of the great
eagle owl (Bubo Nipalensis) is echoed from the dark
forest behind us.
The stars twinkle overhead, and soon all
nature is hushed, the silence being now and again
broken by the splash of some great fish. Hours
pass and no sign. It is drowsy work, and soon the
heavy breathing of our Kurumbar is the only
sound heard. We begin to nod too, when splash !
whir-r-r-v-r ! whir-r-r-r-r-r-r-r ! There is a sound as
if the father of all fish had taken a header out of
the water, and our reel slugs merrily as yard after
yard is reeled - out with the rapidity of lightning !
Gently now ! We seize the line with a strip of
chamois leather; it is out through in an instant. Lower the line under water ! Let him
travel. Do not attempt to stop him or the line will part. One hundred and fifty yards out
and still he goes ! Ha ! His first rush is over, and now we will reel in hand over hand.
In comes the line ; a desperate tug. He is off again. Let him go. Nearly two
hundred yards out, and suddenly the line stiffens. Heavens ! it will part. We feel the
desperate tugs at the end of it, but not only will it not come in, but when we let it out, it
slacks ! The fish has fouled it and has beat us. The raft! the raft! The Kurumbar lights a
bamboo torch. I jump on the raft and my companion attends to the line. We polo
rapidly down, line in hand. The fish has fouled in the heavy water below. We shoot past
and over the spot. A few tugs at the line and it is free. Hurrah ! the fish is still on ! Let
out lino ! we cry as the fish forges ahead, nearly towing the raft. He has doubled and
goes up stream, fouling the line again under the raft ; but we quickly free it, and now it
tautens as he frantically dashes down again.
Line! line! more line! Ha! see his tail as the water boils under its strokes. His race
is run now, and he nears the raff. The glare of the torch lights up his massive back, and,
horror of horrors ! shows one hook alone slightly attached to the very tip of his under
lip ! One more pull, hands are slipped behind his gills, and he is ours as he lays gasping
on the raft. And now back to the hut, the Kurumbar frantic with joy. We land and weigh
our prize, sixty-four and a half pounds, a splendid female. Enough for to-night. We get
back to camp to sleep soundly till daybreak.
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FAUNA.
In Appendix II will be found a list of the animals found in Malabar. To this list I
might have added two new bats (Chiroptera) but as they have not been named as yet I not
done so. They were discovered in the depths of the primeval ghat forests, and are chiefly
remarkable for being clad with a long dense fur, I have found it impossible to give a
detailed description here of the fauna of Malabar, the space at my command being so
limited; but a short description of the habits and distribution of some of the more
remarkable forms may be of interest.
The wild elephant is the most important animal of the district. Without his
assistance, when domesticated, it would be difficult indeed to work the forests.
Wherever you go in the forests you find numberless pitfalls excavated for his capture;
but, as a rule, they are mostly old ones, half filled in. Numbers of elephants are captured
by Nayars and Mappillas, and broken in for timber dragging, which is done entirely by
the teeth ; the elephant seizing a thick cable made of grewia fibre in his trunk, and biting
the end between his molars, drags the log, to which the other end of the cable has been
made fast.
In wet and slippery weather, when going downhill, a log often gets such way on
that the elephant’s jaw is either dislocated by the sudden jerk or a molar is pulled out. All
elephants which are forced to drag timber in this brutal and irrational manner have their
jaws very much disfigured by abscesses and suffer cruelly from toothache, often being
laid up for months at a time.
Elephants are very abundant all along the chain of the Western Ghats and in the
teak forests of Beni, Chedleth, and Koodrakote ; but here they are partially migratory,
leaving Wynad in the heavy bursts of the monsoon for the drier climate of Mysore,
where they eat quantities of the black saline earth in the salt licks and thus get rid of the
innumerable intestinal worms, with which they are troubled.
When the domestic elephant, prompted by instinct, does this, the mahout
thinks at once that he is ill, and the wretched animal is forthwith dosed with the most
virulent mineral and vegetable poisons that the nearest bazaar is capable of producing,
such as corrosive sublimate, arsenic, verdigris, croton-oil, marking-nut, nuxvomica, etc.,
mixed, up with such ridiculous ingredients, as bison flesh, peacock’s fat, etc.
I have heard frequent complaints of the “want of constitution of Indian
elephants’’ and such like balderdash, but when we consider the brutal and wicked manner in
which this, one of the noblest creations of God, is treated, is it any wonder that the
wretched animal, however powerful its constitution, succumbs ? Think of the dreary
marches of a newly-caught animal—which has already endured all the tortures of the
damned in the khedda where it was captured—-over dusty plains in the hot weather,
picketted out in the scorching sun, often without a drop of water to assuage its burning
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thirst, fed for years on coooanut leaves or the eternal banyan and fig, physicked when it
is well and when it is ill, in a word—-physicked to death !
In Malabar the system of catching elephants is to dig groups of pitfalls on the
pathways and beaten tracks the animal has made for itself, and which it is so fond of
using. As a rule, those pits are dug a little way off the road and a tree felled across it to
induce the animals to go round, but so artful are they, that a cautious old female will
often suspect the trap, and carefully uncover the pitfalls, to prevent her more youthful
companions from tumbling in. Elephants are often seriously injured and even killed in
these pitfalls.
The gaur (Gareus gaurus) was in former years very abundant everywhere in the
Malabar forests, but murrain has slain its thousands, and the native and European pot-
hunters have, not been behind-hand in the work of destruction. I have heard well
authenticated cases of Englishmen, who have shot three and four cow bison of a day
and have left them to rot where they fell.
Now, bison are only to be found on the Bramagiri and Dindamul ranges of
hills, in the Chedleth and Beni forests, and; in the ghat forests near Peria in the Wynad.
In the low-country the gaur is found all along the slopes of the Western Ghats, from the
Coorg frontier to near Palghat in the Chenat Nayar forests ; but they are nowhere
abundant
Sambur (Rusa aristotelis).—This fine deer is almost extinct in the Wynad plateau
proper, but is still fairly abundant on the spurs of the Western Ghats and on the
Bramagiri range. It is also found all along the lower slopes of the Western Ghats, but is
hot very abundant.
The spotted door (Axis maculata).—This handsome animal is abundant only
near the foot of the Karkur ghat; elsewhere it is far from common,- and may be
considered nearly extinct in the Wynad, where at one time it swarmed.
The tiger (Felis tigris) is rare in the Wynad, not uncommon all along the Western
Ghats, where each tiger has his own beat and does not interfere - with his neighbour. As
a rule, the tiger in Malabar is restricted to such parts where game abounds.
The panther (F. pardus) is particularly abundant at Manantoddy in Wynad, and
in September and October may be heard roaring round your house in every direction.
Woe to the dog that leaved his master’s house, even for five minutes; there at night.
The wild pig (S. Indicus) is common everywhere in the forests, but, is fairly kept
in check by his natural enemies the tiger, pard, wild dog, and last, though not least, the
native, who is very partial to, pork, even though it may be measly.
The South Indian wild goat (Hemitragus hylocrius) was abundant once all along the
precipitous peaks and rocky hills of the Western Ghats from Naduvatam to near
Valliyar, but it has been so ceaselessly persecuted by Europeans and natives alike, and
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the does so ruthlessly slaughtered, that where there were herds formerly of over a
hundred, you rarely now meet with more than two or three, and on many great rocky
ranges they are quite extinct.
The following interesting account of tame ibex is taken from the Madras
Journal of Literature and Science, New Series, II, 82. It is sad to relate that those ibox
have all been since ruthlessly shot down by persons who ought to have known better.
“No one lives upon this hill” (Malliattur hill-station, northeast of Alwaye), “but
the chapel” “a very filthy little neglected church which bears a character of excessive
sanctity”) “has a weekly visit from the priests at Malliattur, who at other times leave the
chapel to the care of a converted herd of ibox, which graze on the steep hill-side and
shelter in the sheds and outhouses.
“I saw fifteen of those very ugly goats about the knoll, all males, which was
remarkable, and I should have entered them in this my diary as having distinctly
monastic habits had I not been told that there were many more in number of the other
sex just out of sight among the bushes, which silenced the suggestion. These civilised
members of a forest family have not lost all the habits of their race in general. They
saunter with composure on edges as sharp as knives, and stand with all four foot upon a
single point of rock. Nor are they less wary than the ibox tribe in general. Their cunning
teaches them that they are safer in the sanctuary of the church than on their wanted
haunts, the precipice; and having taken up their abode upon the sacred hill, they bask in
perfect safety as if aware that it was consecrated.
“In one of the chapel offices a black buck was lounging on a bedstead, who
know his place better than to take any notice of the heretic intruder, and such was
evidently the feeling of the herd in general. This seems to speak of good intelligence, yet,
judging by the head and face, the ibox is a sheepish jackass. Dull as those animals
appear, they are said to have all the cleverness of priests, and, when anything goes wrong
on the hill, one of the old bucks goes down immediately to report it in Malliattur.
“Only a few days ago one of these vigilant vergers is said to have taken the
three-mile walk to ask a man in the village when he meant to pay that silver elephant he
had promised to the church if the pitfalls he was digging should prove successful, an
elephant having been taken and the vow forgotten.”— (Captain Fred C. Colton's
account of a journey over the Annamullays for the purpose of examining the teak
forests, etc.— Cochin to Annamullay. )
There are three fine species of large squirrels in Malabar. The Malabar red
squirrel (Sciurus Malabaricus) is abundant everywhere in the ghat forests, and is also found
in the ravines of the deciduous forests. There are two varieties : the one has a yellow tip
to its tail and the other has a tail wholly black.
The largo flying squirrel (Pleromys pelarista) is a very handsome animal. It is
entirely nocturnal in its habits and very silent, only giving utterance to a low plaintive
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note at night. It grunts like a young pig when handled. The fur is beautiful and much
valued. These squirrels are very abundant, but rarely seen, unless a forest is felled, when
they fly out of their holes as the trees fall.
Fishes
Of fishes there are innumerable species and varieties, and all waters teem with
them. The most important amongst the sea-fish are the seer, the pomfret, mullet,
barmin, and Nair fish. Sardines (Sardinella Neohowii) are very abundant at times and very
cheap. They are extensively used as manure, and an evil smelling oil is manufactured
from them. Of fresh-water Ashes, the mahseer is the most important, and is found in
most of the larger rivers. It does not, however, grow to such a size in those rivers as it
does in the Cubbani in Wynad, where it is said to grow to over a hundred and fifty
pounds in weight. In Appendix III will be found a list of the fishes of Malabar taken
from Dr. Day’s work.
Birds.
The Malabar District is very rich in its avifauna. The list in Appendix IV contains
four hundred and twenty species of birds, most of which have been entered in the list
on undoubted authority, Mr. Atholl MacGregor, late British Resident in Travancore,
having collected them and drawn up a list from Jerdon’s “Birds of India,” which has
served as a foundation for the preparation of Appendix IV. Some few species, such as
Lyncornis bourdilloni, Merula Kinisii, etc., have been entered, as it is very probable that
they will be found to occur, both species having been procured in Travancore. No
doubt there are errors in this list ; but it is next to impossible, without the most careful
and systematic collecting, to got anything like a really correct list of the fauna of a largo
district like Malabar.
Inserts and reptiles
It is simply impossible to give lists of the various species of inserts and reptiles
that abound. It would take up a great deal of time and space, and both are here valuable.
I have, however, given a list (Appendix V), though not a complete one, of the butterflies
of the Wynad and the Western Ghats.
FOREST TREES
In Appendix VI will be found a list of the principal timber and forest trees of
Malabar classified according to the forests in which they grow.
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Section G.—Passes, Roads and Railway

The climate, the physical character of the country, and, in most places, the
nature of the road materials are all unfavourable to road-making in Malabar. Indeed, in
ancient times and within the memory of people still living, bullock carts and made roads
did not exist. The chief traffic of the country was, and in great measure still is, carried
on, as already alluded to in the section on rivers, etc., by water and not by land.
In ancient times, the country was split up into rival principalities and roads were
not a necessity. A force on the march went in single file and unencumbered by artillery,
and it was only after the Mysoroan invasions under Haidar Ali and Tippu Sultan that the
necessity for roads capable of carrying heavy guns began to be felt. The following
extracts from the records show how the matter stood shortly after the British acquisition
of the province.
Minute by Colonel Dow on the state of roads in 1796.—“The general disorder
that has hitherto prevailed in the Mappilla districts is greatly imputable to want of roads,
which enabled them to trespass with security. The Mappillas hold all regular government
in aversion, and never appear to have boon thoroughly subjugated by Tippu. This
habitual dislike to subordination is not to be removed by methods of severity, which are
likely to excite resistance. A large body of troops should be stationed at their quarters,
and their lurking-places should be kept open by constructing roads. At present no
vestige exists of wheel-carriages having over been in use in Malabar, and the roads are
generally narrow, which are rarely better than foot-paths running at random through
paddy-lands without any regard to the convenience of travelling.
“The necessity for spacious and broad roads was not probably felt until the
Muhammadan conquest. Tippu projected and in a great part finished an extensive chain
of roads that connected all the principal places in Malabar and pervaded the wildest
parts of the country. The grand termination of those intercommunications was
Seringapatam and as the route necessarily led over the ghats, neither labour nor expense
was spared in rendering it practicable for artillery. This was the most politic and
enlightened of any enterprise undertaken by that prince, and he appears to have been
sensible that the construction of the public roads was absolutely necessary for the
maintenance of his authority and to enable him to effect the forcible conversion he so
long meditated.
“Many works of utility have been abandoned since the province came into the
hands of the Company. Works of great extent and magnitude should be proceeded with
by degrees. The roads, whether projected or finished by Tippu, should be first
ascertained and completed thoroughly before any new works are undertaken. His routes
are in general well-chosen and lead through almost every part of the province. The work
might be performed by the Cherumars of the country. Having completed Tippu’s roads,
the Company should take up such roads as escaped the supervision of that prince.
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“After completion, the roads should be maintained in good order by the labour
of the community. Bullocks carrying merchandise might be tolled so as to provide a
fund to meet contingent charges, etc.”
Colonel Dow stated further: “Since the country came into the possession of the
Company, the roads have been gradually encroached on, and in many parts entirely shut
up, by the inhabitants. The country is rendered scarcely accessible to the troops and the
movement of artillery impracticable.”
The task of securing good roads to all parts of the province was taken in hand,
and, as a first step, the following information as to Tippu’s roads was obtained from the
Zamorin’s minister, and from actual inspection by an officer of Engineers.
“Account of Tippu’s Gun-roads by Shamnauth.
“1. From Calicut to the present cantonment Polwye by Purrinalettu, Cheakur,
Tamracheri.
“2. Prom Malapuram to Tamracheri.
“3. .Front Malapuram to Pudapani and from thence to the ghat.
“4. From Calicut to Ferokia, Carate Hobli, Elamaruthoo, Chatamungul, Purrinalettu,
Tamracheri.
“5. From Ferokia through Shernad Taluk, by Chalapoora Hobli, Pooloor,
Tirurangadi, Venkatakotta, Poolanalettu, Erakerlu, Kemaro, Waleakoonmuttu,
Tirucheraparamba, Cowlpara, Mungarey river, Pattambi, Walayar river, Coimbatore.
“6. From Palghat to Dindigul, Tallamangala, Wundelarrullatie, Nellimootiel,
Wellikumbil, Margienaympalim, Peelachi, Worunmalakatu, Kannenerukuvaturu, Palni,
Virupakshu, Dindigal.
“7. From Venkatakkotta, Purumbil, Walluanatakunny (Velateru), Palaketeri,
Angadipuram, Mulcakurchi, Karialutu, Vellatur, Rapelallawuloora, Peynat, Koondepulla
river, Mannar, Attapara, Tengraumttooroo, Wellimamutu, Coimbatore.
“The northern division is in like manner pervaded by roads, the particulars of
which may be easily obtained. It is sufficient at present to take notice that they lead from
mount Deli both by the seashore and through the interior parts of Chirakal, Cotiote,
etc., generally having for their direction the passes of Pudiacherrim and Tamracheri.”
Letter from Captain-Lieutenant Johnson, of Engineers, on the subject of the
gun-roads in the province, dated 1st December 1796.—
“The roads practicable for guns are as follows : one from the south side of the
Beypore river to Tanur, Ponnani, Balliancota, and keeping about one mile to the
westward of Chavakkad, proceeds along the island of Chetwai to Cranganore, where it
stops. This, road is throughout good, but has five rivers to cross, four of which, require
boats ; but as the road lies near towns close to each of these rivers, boats are easily,
procured when wanted.
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“The next begins at Tanur, from whence it proceeds through Pudiangadi,
Tirunavayi, Omalur, Tirttala, Cowlpara, Lakkidikotta to Palghat, and from thence to
Coimbatore to the eastward, as also through Chittur, Tattamangalam to Kolangod. The
first part of the road requires hardly any repairs as far as Tirunavayi, where, near the
Ponnani river, road is so much encroached on whenever it leads through batty fields,
that in such places it can hardly be called a foot-path ; not only this, but the more
effectually to prevent cultivated spots from being marched through, hedges, banks and
ditches are made to cross the roads, or trees felled which require time and trouble to
clear away.
“These appear to be the first obstacles to be removed and prevented. The latter
part of this road, as it mostly runs over high jungly, hilly grounds, only requires here and
there repairing, which being once done, the inhabitants of the country might be induced
to keep it so, as it is one of the first marks of attention very readily shown to many of
the natives of rank to clear and repair, and even clean, the road over which they have to
pass.
“There is also another gun-road loading from Pattikad Chokee to Trichur,
Ullur, Pudcad, through Ramesvaram gate to Amolum eastward of Cochin, which is kept
in repair by the Cochin Rajah, whose guns are moved over it frequently.
“Of roads formerly intended as gun-roads there are many leading in every
direction, the principal of which are one leading from Ferokabad to Trevengarry, and by
passing near Venkatakotta, to Angadipuram, from whence it leads through Cherpalcheri
to Mannar Town. The first part of this road, so far as Venkatakotta, is mostly over
uncultivated rocky heights, abounding in forage, but affording little wood and water,
which would only require a little repairing at the ascents and descents here and there,
after which, going toward Angadipuram, there are batty fields and nalas that require
more work to make them fit for guns, but the expense, even there, cannot be great, as
such places bear a very small proportion to the tract of country over which this road
loads, which is generally high and even, but also abounds in wood and water, which are
to be found in abundance everywhere but on the sea-coast.
“The next is a road from Ferokia to Konduvetti, and from thence to
Errowinagarry, Nilambur, and by the Karkur pass to the top of the Gazalhatti pass. The
first part of this road boars evident marks of having been made for guns at a great
labour, and appears more to require clearing of small trees, etc., than making ; it also
abounds in wood, water and forage throughout, but is destroyed whenever it crosses
batty fields. This road strikes to southward from Errowinagarry to Whurumpuram, the
first half of which I have not seen ; but, supposing it resembles the latter, will require
very little expense to make it practicable for guns. There are also many of this kind of
roads—such as one from Mannar to Cowpiel, from Cherpalcheri to Lakkidikotta, from
Venkatakotta to Tirunavayi- -all of which require more to be cleared and repaired than
made. Very little more can be said concerning them.”
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Though, the matter thus received early attention, but little was done this
direction for over fifty years, and it is only within the last thirty years that the opening up
of the country by good roads has been vigorously pushed on. The main lines of road
eastward and the coast-line absorbed all the money that could be devoted to them, and
the following roads, which enabled the produce of Malabar to be exchanged for that of
the eastern districts, were maintained in fair order during the first period of fifty years.
(1) The Perambadi ghat road, leading from Tellicherry and Cannanore through
Coorg, to Seringapatam and Mysore, by which sandalwood and pepper and grain, and
chillies and pulses, and latterly, coffee were brought to the coast, and return loads,
chiefly of salt, were taken back. The route has been partly altered and the gradients on
this line have been greatly improved of recent years. The ghat portion of it lies in Coorg
territory.
(2) The Pariah ghat road, from Tellicherry and Cannanore through North Wynad
to Mysore, conveying much the same traffic as the road last-mentioned between the
same places. This road has been very greatly improved in recent years. It was originally
required, as an alternative route for the passage of troops from the coast to Mysore,
which, going this way, avoided passing through, the Coorg Raja’s country. The ghat has
been retraced in recent years, and all the old steep gradients cut down or circumvented.
(3) The Kuttiyadi ghat road, leading from the head of the navigable waters of the
Kotta river into North Wynad, which at first was made, and afterwards maintained,
chiefly for military purposes, in connection with the Palassi Raja’s rebellion. This ghat
road remains in much the same state as formerly. A new and easy trace up the
mountains has been laid out, hut it has not been widened sufficiently for carts. The
traffic which exists is still carried on by means of pack-bullocks and by coolies.
(4) The Tamracheri ghat road — one of Tippu’s military roads — leading from
Calicut through South Wynad to Mysore, was the line judiciously selected by Colonel the
Honourable Arthur Wellesley (afterwards Duke of Wellington) as commander of the
forces for the operations against the rebellious Palassi Raja. It had the advantage of
splitting up the country of that chieftain in Wynad and of enabling the military
commanders to operate, according to circumstances, against any position where the
rebels seemed inclined to make a stand.
For this purpose stockades1 or small forts were made at easy distances apart
throughout its length. The labour of moving guns on this road must have been most
severe, as the original trace ran straight up the almost precipitous face of the mountain.
In recent years a well-graded ghat road, seven and three-quarter miles in length and
rising nearly three thousand feet, has taken the place of the old short direct track.
NOTEs: 1. Lakkidikotta means literally stick or timber fort, and this is how the place at the head
of the ghat obtained its name. END OF NOTEs.
For the first three miles from the top of the ghat the road has literally been
blasted out of the solid rock, which at that place crops out precipitously on the face of
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the mountain. The view, from the upper zigzag, of mountains and forests, and of the
plains of Malabar with the sea in the distance, is superb.
(5) The Sissapara ghat road was made from the head of the navigable waters of
the Beypore river, through the head of the Silent Valley, also called Vallaghat, up to the
summits of the Kundah mountains on the Nilgiri plateau, for the purpose of enabling
visitors from Bombay and the west coast generally to reach the Nilgiri Sanitarium.
Except, from the river to the foot of the hills it was, and still, is, only passable for
baggage animals, but it has, ever since the opening of the railway, been discarded as a.
route to the Nilgiris.
(6) The Palghat gap afforded an easy means of communication between east and
west, and a good road has always been maintained between Ponnani on the coast and
Coimbatore and Palani inland. This road passes through Palghat, where it bifurcates, one
branch going to Coimbatore, the other to Palani. From Tirtala, too, a branch struck off
north-westwards to the coast road and afforded the usual route adopted by travellers to
or from Calicut.
(7) Finally, the coast road, from Calicut to the extreme north of the district,
united all the above lines at the points where they touched the sea-coast, and afforded a
ready means of bringing detachments of troops from the military brigade stationed at
Cannanore to any point where their services were required. These were the main lines of
communication kept up till within the last forty years, but a good deal used to be done
besides to keep up country-paths, running in all directions over the country, but utilised
only by men and animals. Those country-paths were maintained by the occupiers of
lands through which they passed.
In the last forty years great strides have been made towards opening up the
district, and there is now scarcely any considerable portion of it to which wheeled traffic
has not been extended. The roads, exclusive of those within the limits of municipalities,
now number one hundred and seventeen and the total length maintained is one
thousand, four hundred and forty-three miles. The details will be found in Appendix
VIT. The south-west branch of the Madras railway was opened in the following sections
on the following dates :
Sections. Miles. Dates.
Beypore to Tirur 19 12th March 1861.
Tirur to Kuttipuram 9 1st May 1861.
Kuttipuram to Pattambi 12 23rd September 1861.
Pattambi to Podanur 65 14th April 1862.
Kadalundi to Calicut 10 2nd January 1888.
Olavakkot to Palghat 3 Do
And with the opening on 12th May 1802 of the section beyond Podanur, the
west coast was put into direct railway communication with the presidency town. The
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total length of line within the district is ninety-nine miles, and the following are the
railway stations:-
1 Calicut. 2 Kallayi.
3 Ferok. 4 Kadalundi.
5 Parappanangadi 6 Tanur.
7 Tirur. 8 Edakkolam.
9 Kuttipuram. 10 Pallippuvam.
11 Pattambi. 12 Cheruvannur (Shoranore).
13 Ottapalam. 14 Lakkidi.
15 Mankarai. 16 Parali
17 Olavakkot. 18 Palghat.
19 Kanyikod. 20 Valliyar.
Before the extension of the line to Calicut it was felt that it was a mistake for
the railway to stop at Beypore, which is only an insignificant fishing village, and that the
line should have been brought into Calicut, the headquarters of the district, only seven
miles distant from the terminus. On 9th February 1880, after much previous discussion, a
public meeting was held at Calicut, and resolutions were passed and a memorial drawn
up, praying that the line might he brought into Calicut. The prayer of the memorialists
was favourably received and the line to Calicut opened on 2nd January 1888. On the
same date a feeder line was opened between Olavakkot and Palghat.
There are but few works of any engineering consequence on the line of railway
in Malabar, but the following may be mentioned :
Dimensions of principal bridges on the Madras railway in Malabar District
Bridges Miles Telegraph Remarks.
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post
Kallayi Bridge 412 3 300 feet in length. Iron lattice girders.
Three openings, each 130 feet long. Iron
cylinder foundation. No flooring.
Ferok do. 407 2 780 foot in length. Iron lattice girders. Six
openings, each 30 feet. long. Iron cylinder
foundation. No flooring.
Kadalundi Bridge 403 5 840 foot in length. Twelve 70-feet, iron
No.1, at girders on piers of cast iron cylinders of 6
feet diameter, 12 spans, each 64 feet. No
flooring.
Do No. 2 at 403 7 560 foot in length. Eight 70-feet iron
girders on piers of screw-piles, 8 spans,
each 04 feet. Depth of screw-piles 30 to 35
feet below rail level. No flooring.
Canal Bridge at 395 5 210 foot in length. Three 70-feet iron
girders on piers of screw-piles, 3 spans,
each 64 feet. Depth of screw-piles 30 to 35
feet below rail level. Floored.
Tirur Bridge at 387 12 370 feet in length. Five 70- feet and one
20-feet iron girders on four piers of screw-
piles and one pier of laterite stone 4 feet
10½ inches thick, 5 spans, each 64 feet
and 1 span 16 feet, 1 1/2 inch. Depth of
screw-piles 30 to 35 feet below rail level.
No flooring.
Tudhakal River 373 12 744 feet in length. Twelve 62-feet iron
Bridge at girders on piers of laterite stones 7 feet
thick, 12 spans, each 55 feet. Nature of
foundation, clay ; platform, timber over
wells. No flooring.
Kottakkad Bridge at 329 4 520 feet in length, Fifteen 30-feet arches
on piers of granite stones 5 feet thick.
Nature of foundation, on rock, No
flooring.
Valliyar do at 316 3 100 feet in length. Three 30-feet arches on
piers of masonry 5 feet thick. Nature of
foundation, gneiss. Depth 7 feet. No
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flooring.
The following heights above mean sea-level give a very fair idea of the gradients on the
line :
Height above mean sea-level
Feet
Kadalundi bridge 11.64
Parappanangadi platform 37.60
Tannr do 22.54
Tirur platform 16. 61
Tudhakal bridge parapet 48.20
Cheruvannur (Shoranore) platform 94.58
Ottapalam platform 115.67
Palghat do. 255.73
Kanyikod do. 376.77
Valliyar boundary bridge parapet 689.23
The heaviest gradient west of the boundary bridge is one in sixty-six.
The traffic on the line in goods showed no tendency to expand, nor was it likely to be
the case till a more suitable terminal station was obtained ; but some concessions to
third-class passengers resulted in a considerable increase in the passenger traffic. A
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statement showing the variations in the goods and the passenger traffic subsequent to
the extension of the line to Calicut is appended.
Monthly average
Passengers Goods
Year No. Tonnes
1870 12,729 2,134
1871 13,219 4,279
1872 14,820 7,480
1873 16,607 4,986
1874 10,291 3,770
1876 16,028 4,383
1870 14,767 3,054
1877 16,492 8,660
1878 14,311 3,199
1879 14,761 3,431
1880 18,297 3,200
1881 20,012 2,709
1882 21,796 2,931
Statement showing the monthly average number of passengers and tonnes of

goods passed in and out of Calicut Railway Station
Monthly average
Passengers Goods
Year No. Tonnes
1888 34,980 3,610
1889 37,711 4,9!)J
1890 34,054 4,403
1891 35,653 4,640
1892 40,241 5,670
1893 40,702 4,918
1894 41,703 4,818
1895 33,855 4,357
1890 34,377 4,004
1897 31,065 0,777
1898 27,718 4,100
1899 29,984 8,107
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Section H —Ports and Shipping Facilities.

The number of ports in Malabar is very large, but many of them are only
occasionally visited by small coasting craft. The following list, proceeding from north to
south, gives such particulars of them as are worthy of notice : —
(1) Kavvayi.—Small craft enter the mouth of the Kavvayi river.
(2) Ellikkulam.—This is a small, picturesquely situated village, in a bay just
under the mount Deli promontory, and commanded by the old mount Deli redoubt
now in ruins. When the wind is from north-north-west large numbers of country craft
bound to the northward take shelter in this bay and wait till the wind takes a favourable
slant for the continuation of their voyages. In former days this bay was a regular resort
of the pirates who infested the coasts, and who came in here to waylay their victims and
to take in wood and water.
(3) Putiyangadi.—Fourteen miles north of Cannanore. A very small port of call
on the open coast for country craft taking in cocoanuts and other produce. The name
means “new bazaar” and it was probably so called to distinguish it from Palayangadi or
“old bazaar” a place of ancient repute on the Taliparamba river.
(4) Valarpattanam.—This port has a fair amount of coasting trade. Craft of
considerable size enter the river of the same name and take in the country produce
brought to market at Valarpattanam by the rivers (Valarpattanam and Taliparamba)
which here unite their streams.
(5) Cannanore. —This is the principal port of the group composed of Nos. 1, 2,
3, 4 and 5. The average tonnage is 459,253 per annum. The imports average Rs.
21,44,726 and exports Rs. 13,87,749.
It was described by the first Europeans who saw it as “a large town of thatched
houses inside a bay.” — (Correa, .p. 145).
Most of the houses are now tiled, and the barracks of the European troops, and
the bungalows of the officers dotted along the low cliffs, and the fort built by the
Portuguese on the promontory north of the bay, stand prominently out when
approached from seaward. Being the headquarters of the Malabar and Canara brigade,
coasting steamers call here regularly ; but of trade there is not much, particularly since
the excise system of managing the Government salt monopoly was introduced. The best
anchorage for large vessels in the roads is with the following bearings : —Flagstaff N.E.
by N. to N.E. by E. in from five and a half to six fathoms, and about two and a half
miles off shore, while small coasting craft find shelter in the bay under the guns of the
fort situated on a promontory commanding the native town. The port limits are as
follows:-
To the north.—The boundary pillar one mile north of the fort.
To the south.- -The boundary pillar two miles south of the fort.
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To the east.—The seashore between them to within fifty yards of high-water
mark, spring tides.
To the west.—The space enclosed by two lines running duo west from the
boundary pillars to nine fathoms water. There is a flagstaff in the fort with a light for the
shipping in the roadstead.
(6) Elam or Agarr.—This port is at the mouth of a small stream, the bar of
which, however, cannot he crossed even by small craft. The English factors at
Tellicherry had a warehouse here for collecting pepper.
(7) Dharmmapattanam.—A small bay at the month of the southern branch of the
Anjarakandi river, which, however, cannot be entered by any but the smallest coasting
vessels.
(8) Tellicherry .—This is the principal port of the group composed of Nos. 6, 7, 8
and 9. It is not, as sometimes supposed, a place of ancient trade. It was the Honourable
East India Company’s first regular settlement on the Malabar coast. ‘Let us be sole. Masters
of the pepper trade” they said, and accordingly selected the site of the town as the most
favourable point they could at the time obtain for commanding the pepper trade in the
Kottayam and Kolattiri Raja’s dominions.
Dharmmapattanam [No. (7)]
would have suited their purpose
better, but this ancient trading post
was at the beginning of the
eighteenth century in dispute
between three country powers—the
Kolattiri and the Kottayam Rajas,
and Ali Raja of Cannanore. And it
was not till some years afterwards
and under pressure of a Canarese
invasion, that a favourable
opportunity occurred for securing
Dharmmapattanam Island for the Honourable Company. A scheme for moving the
Tellicherry Factory bodily to Dharmmapattanam Island was sanctioned immediately
after the acquisition of the latter, but, on account of the expense of moving, the scheme
was never carried out, though it was steadily kept in view even up to the time (1792)
when Malabar was finally ceded to the British by Tippu Sultan.
The Factors completed about 1708 the building of a fort on a rocky cliff
projecting into the sea at Tellicherry, and this port continued to be one of the principal
trading posts of the Honourable Company down to 1702. It was subordinate to the
Company’s chief settlement at Bombay. The average tonnage now-a-days is 601,404 per
annum. The imports average Rs, 42,0.8,272 and the exports Rs, 78,05,718. It is a place
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of considerable trade, of which the most valuable articles of export are coffee and
pepper, and the most valuable imports are rice and salt.
The best anchorage for large vessels is with the following bearings :—Flagstaff
N.K. by N. in six fathoms and about two miles off shore. Coasting craft come into the
bay, lying south of a reef of rocks, which, at a distance of about a thousand yards from
shore, runs parallel to the coast line. Instances have been known of vessels of six
hundred or eight hundred tons in ballast passing the monsoon under shelter of this reef.
The custom house is in the centre of the business quarter of the town. The port
is supplied with a flagstaff on a bastion of the Honourable Company’s fort! And here,
too, is a white light (sixth order dioptric) displayed at a height of ninety feet above water
mark and visible about six miles.
The limits of the port of Tellicherry are as follows : —
To the north.—The boundary pillar one and a half miles north of the custom
house.
To the south.—The boundary pillar one and a half miles south of the custom
house.
To the east .—The seashore between them to within fifty yards of high-water
mark, spring tides.
To the west.—The space enclosed by the two lines funning due west from the
boundary pillars to nine fathoms water.
(9) Talayi .—Is a small port on the open coast about one and a half miles south
of Tellicherry.
(10) Kallayi.—This port is inside the bar of the Mahe river, which can be entered
by small-sized country craft. There is little coasting trade, but the land customs of the
French settlement provide some occupation for the establishment here maintained,
there is no port subordinate to it. Its average tonnage is 1 6,966 per annum, imports Rs.
2,24,732, exports Rs. 82,728.
(11) Chombayi or Chombal.—This port is on the open coast, and an occasional
load of cocoanuts is taken to market. It lies about five miles north of Vadakara.
(12) Muttungal.—The same remarks apply to this port, which lies about three
miles north of Vadakara. It was a notorious haunt of pirates in former days.
(13) Vadakara.—This is a place of considerable trade on the open coast and
coasting steamers occasionally call. The chief exports are coffee and dried and fresh
cocoanuts ; the chief imports rice and salt. It is the chief port of the group composed of
Nos. 11, 12, 13 and 14, Its average tonnage is 202,735 per annum. Its average imports
are worth Rs. 7,42,241 and its exports Rs. 13,84,921 .
(14) Kottakkal.—At the mouth of the Kotta river, was a famous resort for
pirates in former days. They made prizes of all vessels not carrying the pass of the
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The DISTRICT
Kadattunad Rajah, their sovereign, who was styled the lord of the seas. But for the fact
that a canal, partly natural, partly artificial, gives access from the Kotta river to Vadakara,
the trade at this port would be considerable.
(15) Trikkodi and (10) Kadalur.—Are small ports, with occasional craft calling to
load with cocoanuts and other country produce.
(17) Kollam .—This is the Northern Quilon, as distinguished from Quilon
proper in Travancore, which is styled Southern Kollam by Malayalis. Some confusion
has sometimes arisen from the fact not being known that there are two Kollams, both of
which were important places in former days. This place, about one and a half miles
north of Kovilkandi (Quilandy, Coilandy), is sometimes also called by another name
which it bears, Pantalayini, or Pantalayini Kollam. This is the Pandarani of Portuguese
writers, the Flandrina of Friar Odoric, the Fandreeah of Rowlandson’s Tahafat-ul-
Mujahidin, the Fandaraina of Ibn Batuta.
Some accounts say that it was here Vasco da Gama brought his ships (probably
from Kappatt), and it was here he landed. This is not at all improbable. It was certainly
here that the Morning Star, a vessel belonging to the Honourable Company, was wrecked
as already described (ante, p. 30), and the fact of the existence of the mud-bank gave
colour to the story that it was here that Vasco da Gama lay with his ships, protected by
the mud-bank, during the monsoon of 1498.
The mud-bank still exists, and in the monsoon season it is generally possible to
land in a small bay immediately to the south of the promontory which is used as a
Muhammadan burial-ground. Moreover, even now, sailing ships from the Arabian Coast
and Persian Gulf invariably touch here if the monsoon is still blowing when they arrive
off the coast, and the fact that Vasco da Gama’s expedition reached the coast on 26th
August, at a time, that is, when the monsoon must still have been blowing, is much in
favour of the supposition that it was here, and not at Kappatt, that Vasco da Gama
landed. Indeed, Correa’s account, which is evidently the most trustworthy, is silent on
the point, and his statement that the anchors were dropped at Kappatt is quite
reconcilable with the other account which points out Kollam as the eventual landing-
place ; for this account also say the ships were brought subsequently to “Pandarane”
(i.e.) Pantalayini ), and this is not contradicted by Correa.
(18) Kovilkandi (Quilandy, Coilandy),—This port has some trade, and the ports
Nos. 15, 16, 17, and 19 are subordinate to it. Its average tonnage is 15,865 per annum.
Its average imports are valued at Rs. 2,33,690 and exports at Rs. 2,46,843. Some years
ago this was the favourite starting and landing place for Muhammadan pilgrims to
Mecca, but of recent years and since the introduction of steamers the passenger traffic
has fallen off.
(10) Kappatti or Kappallangadi.—This little port on the open coast is famous as
the place where Vasco da Gama’s expedition first dropped anchor. Correa’s account
may be here transcribed. “The ships,” after sighting mount Deli and passing Cannanore,
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“ continued running along the coast close to land, for
the coast was clear, without banks against which to
take precautions : and the pilots gave orders to cast
anchor in a place which made a sort of bay, because
there commenced the city of Calicut. This town is
named Capocate.” The “city of Calicut” does not
commence for eight miles more to the southward,
but what was meant probably was that there
commenced the dominions of the Zamorin of
Calicut. The place is an insignificant minor port
where country craft sometimes come to lade with
bulky country produce.
(20) Elattur.—A small port at the month of
the river of the same name. Small vessels do not enter
the river ; they call here occasionally for country
produce.
(21) Puliyangadi.—A small port on the
outskirts of Calicut, where country vessels sometimes
call.
(22) Calicut.—This is one of the largest ports
in the presidency. The tonnage frequenting it annually averages 902,119 tons. The
average, value of its imports, chiefly consisting of grain, salt, and piece-goods, is Rs.
68,43,021, and of its exports, chiefly consisting of coffee, pepper, timber, ginger, etc., Rs.
1,22,37,598. It was in ancient days, when the Zamorin’s influence was supreme on the
Malabar Coast, a place of great trade. The nations of the West came here for spices,
popper, and cloth (calico); the Chinese even came from the far East in their gigantic
floating hulks. It probably rose into importance about the eleventh or twelfth century
A.D. In the first half of the fourteenth century, when Shaik Ibn Batuta visited it, it was
certainly a place of great trade, and so it continued till the arrival of the Portuguese in
the end of the fifteenth century. After that its decline was rapid owing to the
interference of the Portuguese with the Muhammadan trade, and it has never since then
recovered its position, as Cochin, its rival, under Portuguese and Dutch influence, has,
with its greater natural facilities, always hitherto had an advantage.
In later times the French, Danes, and English had small trading factories at
Calicut. It was here that the notorious pirate Captain Kydd began his career of crime.
Aided by several noblemen, he had, in 1695, fitted out his ship the “Adventure,” a galley
of thirty guns with two hundred men, to attack and destroy "the buccaneers who had
their rendezvous at Madagascar, and who preyed to such an extent on the native trade
that the Honourable Company feared the Mogul Emperor would take to making
reprisals on them. His mission failed if it ever was seriously undertaken, and Captain
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The DISTRICT
Kydd finally threw off the mask and made prize of a small Dutch bark at Calicut,
carrying it off to Madagascar.
Shortly afterwards he took the “Quedah Merchant,” of four hundred tons, with
a cargo valued at four lakhs of rupees. After this he was joined by others, and his force
was eventually composed of five ships (one hundred and eighty guns), two of which
constantly cruised off Cape Camorin and the three others off the Malabar Coast, the
port of Porcat (Porukatt) being free to them. After a short but brilliant career he
returned to St. Mary’s Island off Madagascar and partitioned his gains among his crew.
He then sailed for the West Indies, was arrested in America by one of the noblemen
(Lord Bellamont) who had helped to fit him out, was tried, condemned, and hanged in
chains at Tilbury (23rd May 1701), and his property becoming forfeit, was presented by
Queen Anne to Greenwich Hospital. This severe example did not, however, prevent
others from following in his footsteps, though, perhaps, the trade was carried on less
openly afterwards, and Captain Alexander Hamilton narrates how he met at Calicut, in
February 1703, a certain Captain Green, who admitted to him he had helped the
Madagascar pirates with arms, and who, under the guise of lawful trading, did not let slip
any opportunity of enriching himself by plundering others who were weaker.
Captain Green, too, had his crimes brought home to him, and was executed in
Scotland. Other nations also, it would seem, engaged in this unlawful trade, and the
“Formosa,” an English ship of Surat, was never heard of move after leaving Calicut one
night on her voyage home. The people ashore heard a great firing of cannon at sea next
forenoon, and two Danish cruisers were believed to have rifled her and then sunk her
and her crew.
Calicut possesses an iron screw-pile pier extending out to twelve feet of water,
and it has a lighthouse exposing a good dioptric light. The best anchorage for large
vessels is marked by a buoy, and is with the following bearings ;—Lighthouse E. to IS.
by N. in five to six fathoms, and from two to three miles off shore. Small craft, of which
large numbers frequent this port, lie close in shore, but they should not anchor further
south than with the light bearing E.N.E. as the ground then becomes foul.
The latter frequently lie aground on the soft mud-bank which from time to time
forms off the lighthouse. This mud-bank is of small extent and gets broken up by heavy
weather, but it at times suffices to still the surf created by ordinary sea-breezes and bints
affords facilities for landing and shipping goods. The entrance and exit to and from the
anchorages, particularly from the southward, is cumbered by a reef known as the “Coote
Reef,” from one of the Honourable Company’s vessels having grounded on it.
This is probably also the reef alluded to by Captain Alexander Hamilton as “the
ruins of the sunken town built by the Portuguese.” In standing into Calicut roadstead his
ship struck on the “ruins,” and in describing the event he conjectures how the “ruins”
got there, and quaintly winds up with the observation “but so it was, that in six Fathoms
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at the mainmast, my ship, which drew twenty-one Foot water, sat fast afore the chest-
tree.”
That the sea has encroached at Calicut cannot be doubted, but that a
Portuguese fort once stood where the Coote Reef now is cannot be believed, although
the tradition alluded to by Captain Hamilton has great currency on the coast. There is no
doubt that the tomb of an Arab of Himisi in Egypt, by name Shaikh Mammu Koya,
once stood on a spot now covered by the sea, but his bones were recovered, and a birth-
feast (muvalud) is now held annually in his honour, in the month Rajab, at his mosque.
The encroachment on this occasion could evidently not have been a serious one.
Recent experience shows that if the sea encroaches one year it recedes again
speedily, a fact which is perhaps to be accounted for by the rocky (laterite) nature of the
bottom opposite the lighthouse, and for a considerable distance further north. In 1877 it
encroached so much on the beach opposite the new custom house (about a thousand
yards north of the lighthouse) that the abutment of the pier and three of the pier bays
were carried away ; but now (April 1883) the sea beach has reformed at this spot, and
the sand now extends fully up to or beyond its former limits.
The limits of the port, of Calicut are as follows : —
To the north.—The boundary pillar erected three quarters of a mile north of
the new custom house.
To the south.—The boundary pillar two miles south of the custom house ; the
seashore between them to within fifty yards of high-water mark spring-tides.
To the east.—The harbour or backwater, and the Kallayi river as far as the
junction of Conolly’s canal with all creeks and channels leading thereto, and so much of
the shores thereof, whether of the mainland or the islands, as are within fifty yards of
high-water spring-tides.
To the west .—The space enclosed by two lines running due west from the
boundary pillars to nine fathoms water. The ports immediately subordinate to Calicut
are Nos. 20, 21 and 23.
(23) Molamkadavu.—A small port at the mouth of the Kallayi river, about a mile
south of the Calicut lighthouse.
(24) Beypore.—The present terminus of the Madras railway south-west line is
usually called Beypore, but this nomenclature is not correct, for Beypore, the port
properly so called, lies on the north bank of the river of that name, whereas the terminus
of the railway is on what is known as the island of Chaliyam. The custom house is on
the north bank of the river, but the marine establishment, with a flagstaff, is located
close to the railway station on the south side. The anchorage for small vessels is inside
the river, close to the north bank and immediately below a reef of laterite rock which
projects far into the stream. There is here, too, a tide-registering apparatus. The best
anchorage in the roads for large vessels is with the following bearings : ---Port flagstaff
E. by N. ½ N. to N.E. by E. in four and a half to six fathoms and from two to three
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The DISTRICT
miles off shore. There is one port subordinate to it, No. 25. The average tonnage of the
port is 276,071 per annum, its average imports, consisting chiefly of salt and grain, are
worth Rs. 4,80,407, and exports, consisting chiefly of coffee and cotton, are worth Rs.
37,66,695. The limits of the port are as follows :
To the north and south .—The seashore within fifty yards of high-water mark
spring-tides, from boundary pillars one and a half miles north and south of the river’s
mouth.
To the west.—The anchorage between two lines running west from the
boundary pillars to nine fathoms water.
To the east.- -The banks of the river, backwater, creeks, and islands within fifty
yards of high-water spring-tides, and within a distance of one and a half miles from the
river’s mouth.
(25) Kadalundi .—This is a small port at the mouth of the river of the same
name, where native vessels occasionally come for country produce. The bar of the river
prevents even small native craft from entering it. It is possible that this port was of
considerable importance in ancient times, inasmuch as the fate Dr. Burnell has taken this
to be the site of the “village of great note situate near the sea” known to the author of
the Periplus Mar. Eryth, as Tundis. There is some colour for this conclusion in the name
itself, as Kadalundi is probably kadal (Mal. sea) and lundi (Mal. navel). Moreover, Tundis1
was, according to the Periplus, distant five hundred stadia from the mouth of the Mouziris
river, which has been pretty satisfactorily identified with Muyiri-kodu or Cranganore
(Kodungallur), and as matter of fact Kadalundi is sixty-six and a half miles or five hundred
and seventy-eight stadia from the mouth of the Cranganore river.
NOTEs: 1. Tundis was on a river, and the only other river that could bd referred to in the Periplus
is Ponnani, the mouth of which is a long way short of 500 stadia from the mouth of the Cranganore river.
END OF NOTEs.
There is a temple of some note in the neighbourhood with a tradition going

back to Rama’s conquest of Ceylon. The services rendered on that occasion by the
monkeys secure daily food at the present day for their descendants left behind by Rama,
on his return journey, at this temple. They come up boldly directly they are called. There
is also a sacred spring which holds only a gallon or so of water, but refills as soon as the
water is drawn. There are no remains of mark, but as in the first century A.D. Tundis
was only a “village,” not much can be expected in that way.
(26) Parpanangadi.—This is a small port on the open coast, with some trade in
salt-fish and country produce.
(27) Tanur.—This is another small port and fishing village, also on the open
coast. Subordinate to it are the ports Nos. (26) and (28). Its average tonnage is (5,406
per annum. Its imports average Rs. 7,247 and its exports Rs. 90,345.
(28) Paravanna and (29) Kuttayi resemble Nos. (26) and (27).
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(30) Ponnani.—This port is of some
importance owing to its position at the
month of the river of the same name, and
also owing to its being the nearest port to
the great gap at Palghat in the Western Ghat
chain. There was in fact, on this account, a
proposition at one time to place here the
terminus of the Madras southwest line of
railway. A large part of the country east of
the ghats used to be supplied with salt
brought from Bombay to this port, but the railway has revolutionised this trade. The
average tonnage frequenting the port is 39,203 per annum. The average imports (grain
and salt chiefly) are valued at Rs. 1,01,260 and the exports (chiefly timber, pepper and
cocoanut produce) are valued at Rs. 4,25,576.
Coasting craft of small size can enter the river, the mouth of which is, however,
much cumbered by sand-banks. Subordinate to this port are Nos. 29 and 31.
(31) Veliyankod.—Is a small port of call for coasting craft loading with
cocoanuts and other country produce, and is placed at the mouth of the river of the
same name.
(32) Chavakkad.—This port is not situated at Chavakkad itself , which is an
inland place, but at Chetwai (Chettuvali ) at the mouth of the river of that name. Its chief
trade is in salt-fish, cocoanuts, etc., carried in small coasting craft, which, however, do
not enter the mouth of the river. Average tonnage 4,987 per annum. Imports Rs. 671,
exports Rs. 31,927.
(33) Madayi, (34) Attakuli, (35) Kurkkuli, (36) Attupuram. — Are all small ports
of call for native coasting craft, and are all situated on the open coast respectively forty-
eight miles, forty-two miles, thirty-six miles, and thirty miles north of Cochin, to which
port they are all subordinate. These ports, however, all belong to the Ponnani and not to
the Cochin Taluk, being situated in the Vadanapalli, Pallipuram, Keippamangalam, and
Panangad amsams of the former taluk.
(37) Cochin.—This is the second or
third largest trading port in the presidency. Its
imports, valued at Rs. 57,46,987, the average
for the seven years 1875-76 to 1881-82,
consist chiefly of food-grains, metals, piece-
goods, seeds, wood and manufactures, and its
exports, valued at Rs. 74,44,303, the average
for the same period of seven years, consist
chiefly of coir yarn, rope and fibre, coffee,
dried cocoanut, cocoanut-oil, pepper and
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The DISTRICT
wood, and manufactures. The average tonnage frequenting this port is 474,357 per
annum.
Cochin has an inner harbour and an outer roadstead. The former is comprised
of a narrowish patch of deep water created by the heavy scour of the tides rushing into
and out of the immense tidal area of the backwater lying both to the north and south of
the port. This deep water lies chiefly on the south bank close to the town of Cochin, and
also between the jaws (as it were) of the harbour. On passing beyond the points of the
land, the stream of the tides naturally diffuses itself over a wider area and the ship
channel gradually diminishes in depth till the bar is readied.
The bar, which is at a distance of about a mile from the shore, is marked with
buoys about five hundred yards apart, and carries a depth of never less than twelve feet
and never more than eighteen feet of water. For the first half mile beyond the bar the
depths lead only to twenty-one feet, and to secure thirty-six feet another mile has to be
passed. The roadstead for vessels of great draught, therefore, lies about two to two and a
half miles from shore in five and a half to six and a half fathoms with the following
bearings : flagstaff E. ½ N. to E.N.E.
Cochin possesses great natural facilities for trade as it is the centre of an
immense area of rich country, tapped in all directions by inland backwaters and
navigable creeks, and it has the further advantage of affording security to the small
shipping which frequents the port ; but it fails to come up to the requirements of
modern trade in the matter of harbour accommodation for the large ocean-going
steamers now used.
In the monsoon mouths, when the bar is usually impassable, the shipping takes
refuge at the mud-bank of Narakal lying off Cochin State territory, five miles to the
north ; and trade, though slack in the rains, is still carried on there. The limits of the port
of Cochin are as follows :
To the north.—The boundary pillar on the northern point of the entrance to
the harbour or backwater.
To the south.—The boundary pillar three miles south of the southern point of
the entrance to the backwater. The seashore between them to within fifty yards of high-
water mark springtides.
To the east.—The harbour and backwater, with all creeks and channels leading
thereto that may be within the Honourable Company’s territories, and so much of the
shores thereof, whether of the mainland or the islands, as are within fifty yards of high-
water mark spring-tides.
To the west. — The space enclosed by two lines running due west from the
boundary pillars to nine fathoms of water.
Cochin is really the successful rival of the very ancient trading city of Mouziris
mentioned in the Periplus Mar. Eryth, which was written in the first or the third century
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A.D. The account given of that city in the said work is so interesting that it deserves to
be here transcribed.
From the Periplus Maris Erythraei (M'Crindle's translation).
“53. After Kallienna, other local marts occur—Semulla, Mandagora,
Palaipatmai, Melizeigara, Buzantion, Toparon, and Turannosboas. You come next to the
islands called Sesekreienai and the island of the Aigidioi and that of the Kaineitai near
what is called the Khersonesos, places in which are pirates, and after this the island
Leuke (or "the white ”). Then follow Naoura and Tundis, (the first marts of Limurike,
and after these Mouziris and Nelkunda, the seats of government.
"54. To the kingdom under the sway of Keprobotras, Tundis is subject, a village
of great note situate near the sea. Mouziris, which pertains to the same realm, is a city at
the height of prosperity frequented as it is by ships from Ariake and Greek ships from
Egypt. It lies near a river at a distance from Tundis of live hundred stadia, whether this is
measured from river to river or by the length of the sea voyage, and it is twenty stadia
distant from the mouth of its own river. The distance of Nelkunda from Mouziris is also
nearly five hundred stadia, whether measured from river to river or by the sea voyage,
but it belongs to a different kingdom, that of Pandion. It likewise is situate near a river
and at about a distance from the sea of one hundred and twenty stadia.
“55. At the very mouth of this river lies another village, Bakare, to which the
ships despatched from Nelkunda come down empty and ride at anchor off shore while
taking in cargo, for the river, it may be noted, has sunken reefs and shallows which make
its navigation difficult. The sign by which those who come hither by sea know they are
nearing land is their meeting with snakes, which are here of a black colour, not so long
as those already mentioned, like serpents about the head, and with eyes the colour of
blood.
“56. The ships which frequent these ports are of a large size, on account of the
great amount and bulkiness of the pepper and betel of which their lading consists. The
imports here are principally—
Great quantities of specie. Wine, but not much, but about as
(Topaz?) gold-stone, chrysolite. much as at Barugaza.
A small assortment of plain cloth. Sandarach (Sindura).
Flowered robes. Arsenic (orpiment), yellow sulphuret
Stibium, a pigment for the eyes ; coral. of arsenic.
White glass, copper or brass. Corn, only for the use of the ship’s
Tin, load. company, as the merchants do not sell
it.
“The following commodities are brought to it for export.1
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The DISTRICT
NOTEs:
1. It will be observed that there is no mention among those exports of cocoanuts or of cocoanut
produce of any description. If the cocoanut tree had existed at this time (first century A.D.) in
Malabar, it is pretty certain that the produce of such a notable fruit tree would have been
exported and must have been here mentioned. It may be safely concluded that the
cocoanut;—-the southern tree as the Malayalis call it — was introduced on the coast after the
first century A.D. It was probably cultivated on the coast at the time of the Syrian Christians’
copper-plate grant—the date of which is placed in the early part of the ninth century A.D.—
for the professional planters of the coast, the Tiyar* (islanders), Cingalese, organised as a civic
guild, were then well established, and tradition says that they came from the south bringing
with them the “southern tree,” the cocoanut to wit. END OF NOTEs
NOTEs by VED: * Here, Logan has clearly made a confusion. He is confusing the Ezhavas of
Travancore with the Thiyyas of Malabar. Actually, there are two different castes coming
under the name of Thiyya. One is the Thiyyas of North Malabar who were traditionally
following a Matriarchal family system. The second is the Thiyyas of South Malabar, who were
following a patriarchal family system. Traditionally, all the above mentioned three castes were
different with no common traditions or family connections. The English administration in
Malabar did face some confusion with regard to the two different castes named Thiyyas
coming with their administrative control, when the North and South Malabar came under the
Malabar district. Edger Thurston’s book: ‘Castes and tribes of Southern India’ does mention
the difference in certain pages. In certain other pages, this is difference is not allowed. More
or less pointing to the fact that local interests did influence the contents of many similar
writings by British colonial officials.
Ezhavas are mentioned as coming from Ezham or Ceylon (Sri lanka). Thiyyas have other claims.
All the three groups get connected to each other by the single fact that all three of them were
forcefully placed under the same supervisory caste of the Brahmins, that is, the Nairs. That is,
the same level of subordination. END OF NOTEs by VED
Pepper in great quantity, produced in onlyPearls in great quantity and of

one of these marts and called the pepper of
superior quality.
Kottonara, Ivory.
Spikenard from the Ganges. Fine silks.
Betel—all brought from countries further Jacinths.
east. Tortoise shell from the Golden
Transparent or precious stones of all sorts.
Island, and another sort which is
Diamonds. taken in the islands which lie off the
coast of Limurike.
"The proper season to set sail from Egypt for this part of India is about the
month of July, that is, Epiphi.”
Mouziris, as already noticed, has been satisfactorily identified with Muyiri-kodu,
alias Kodungullur, alias Cranganore, the capital city of the Chera empire*, and its site was
manifestly well selected as a place of trade before the mouth of the Periyar (great river)
was blocked up by the sand-banks and alluvial islands which now hamper it.
NOTEs by VED: The use of the word Empire with regard to any of the kingdoms, big or small,
in currently dug-up history, of the various locations inside the South Asian Subcontinent, is a fallacious and
deceptive use of the word. To add to the fallacy, is the fact that the ruler of the English Empire which more
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or less was one of the biggest empires the world has seen, was only a queen or a king. At the same time,
miniscule rulers in the South Asian subcontinent are in various ways, great kings or Emperors or Empresses.
The Portuguese would no doubt have made their chief settlement at

Cranganore instead of at Cochin had the advantages been in favour of the former, but
Vasco da Gama's successor, in 1500 A.D., wisely selected a site for his factory at Cochin,
situated at the principal mouth of the system of back waters. It was described at this
time as a long, low, sandy island covered with cocoanut trees, and divided by a deep
river from Vypeen. Since that time it has continued to be a place of great trade, first
under the Portuguese (A.D. 1500 to 1663), then under the Dutch (A.D. 1663 to 1795),
and finally under the British.
The mouth of the system of backwaters has thus been fixed and protected, a
fact of importance to the stability of trade at any part of a coast where the littoral current
and the surf are always at work attempting to block up existing waterways and to open
others. A breach, in fact, did take place in 1875 at what is called the Cruz Milagre Gap,
about two miles north of Cochin, and to shut up the deep channel which was
immediately scoured out was a labour of difficulty and expense. The existing waterway
at Cochin can only be maintained by preventing the opening out of other waterways in
the long reach of low sand spits stretching from Cranganore river to beyond Alleppey, a
distance of over sixty miles.
The limits of the minor ports, namely, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15,
16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 31, 35, and 36 in the above list, have
been authoritatively1 laid down as follows : —
NOTEs: 1. Government notification, 18th June 1881. END OF NOTEs.
"Half a mile on either side of the landing-place, extending to ten fathoms water
seaward and fifty yards above high-water mark landwards.”
The Appendices VIII and IX give additional information as to port rules, fees,
and other matters at the various ports.
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Vol 1 – Chapter Two
Chapter 2. The PEOPLE

Section A.—Numbers, Density of Population, Civil Condition, Sex and Age
In 1802 the population was estimated at 465,594, in 1807 at 707,556, in 1821-22

at 907,575, in 1837- at 1,165,791, in 1851-52 at 1,514,909, in 1856-57 at 1,602,914, in
1861-62 at 1,709,081 and in 1866-67 at 1,856,378.
In 1871, when the first really trustworthy census was taken, the number was
found to Be 2,261,250 living in 378,228 occupied houses, and in 1881, 2,365,035 living
in 404,968 occupied houses.
The population is naturally densest on the seaboard, the number of persons
(census, 1881) per square mile being –
Highest in Ponnani . . . . . . 974
Lowest in Wynad . . . . . . 92
and on the average . . . . . . 272
The average number of persons per occupied house (census, 1881) is found to
be
Highest in Wynad . . . . . . 10.1
Lowest in Kurumbranad . . . . 5.3
and in the district generally . . . . 5.8
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The people
The civil condition of the people (census, 1881) is represented by the following
figures:-
Males 688,027
Females 539,109
Singles
1,227,136
Males 455,083
Married Females 476,711
941,704
Males 20,283
Females 174,079
Widowed
194,362
Males 881
Females 862
Not stated
1,743
Males 1,174,274
Total Females 1,190,761
2,366,035
Of the ages of the people (census 1881) the following figures* give the chief facts:
Years Males Females
0 to 5 170,649 174,780
5 to 10 166,072 155,077
10 to 15 150,011 133,233
15 to 20 112,686 115,632
20 to 25 98,982 116,012
25 to 30 102,538 110,603
30 to 35 89,614 91,231
35 to 40 76,618 65,907
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40 to 45 60,627 61,857
45 to 50 41,570 39,087
50 to 55 36,050 41,178
55 to 60 22,722 22,068
60 and upwards 43,377 61,906
Not stated 248 195
Total 1,174,274 1,190,761
NOTEs by VED: There can be errors in the digits given above, due to the fact that text in the
scanned pdf file of the original book is not very clear. END of NOTEs by VED
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The people
Section B.—Towns, Villages, Dwellings and Rural Organisation.
The Hindu Malayali is not a lover of towns and villages. His austere habits of
caste purity and impurity made him in former days flee from places where pollution in
the shape of men and women of low caste met him at every corner ; and even now the
feeling is strong upon him and he loves not to dwell in cities.
On the margin of a fertile valley or ravine, with bright green fields of rice in
front of his door, he likes to select the site of his dwelling. The stream coming down the
valley or ravine is skilfully turned aside to right and left high up in its course where the
first of the rice-fields is terraced out of the steep hill-side.
This device serves several purposes, for first of all the divided stream is carried
along the sides of the valley at a higher level than the middle of it and thus irrigation is
easy ; then, again, the channels serve as catch-drains for the streamlets coming down at
intervals along the lull sides ; and, finally the water serves many domestic purposes as it
flows close past the outer gateway of the house.
This outer gateway is the first tiling that catches one’s eye as the dwelling is
approached: it is quaintly placed, quaintly constructed, and quaintly neat and tidy in all
its surroundings. It is essential that a stair or a ladder should lead up to it from the bank
of the green level paddy flat, reminding one in its construction of the days when security
of life and limb and property depended on one’s ability to laugh a siege to scorn ; when
a Nayar’s house was his castle ; and when here, at the gateway, were posted the retainers
to keep watch and ward against enemies. Seats for them to rest on, to right and left,
both outside and in ; a quaintly and solidly carved door and lintel ; a room above
approached by a ladder from inside, with a window or openings whence deadly shots are
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even now-a-days sometimes discharged on lawless intruders ; and, finally, a thatched
roof, complete the characteristics of the gatehouse.
The Malayali is scrupulously particular about the tidiness and cleanliness of his
house and its surroundings, and nowhere perhaps is this more conspicuous than at the
gateway of his dwelling.
But a gate-house without flanking defences would be of little use, and the
attention is next drawn to the massive bank of earth which hems in the spacious orchard
in which the dwelling is placed. A neat interlaced and most serviceable fence of dry
prickly bamboo thorns now generally tops the massive bank of earth and takes the place
of the dense mass of living bamboo thorns which in former times used to be relied on
for keeping out enemies. The house was evidently never meant to stand a long siege in
former times, and the defences were intended merely to ward off a sudden raid and give
time for the occupant’s friends and retainers to rally round him as was their wont.
On entering at the gateway the most prominent feature is the expanse of cool
shade thrown by the umbrageous trees that surround the dwelling. The cocoanut, the
jack with its dark glossy leaves and massive shade, the slender areca-nut and the broad-
leafed plantain, all contribute to this effect. The earth around is cooled, and an agreeable
freshness is perceptible even in the hottest and most scorching days in April and May.
A broad smooth path of hard baked clay, with raised banks a few inches high
on either side, leads to a square, flat, open yard, where at midday' the sun shines
dazzlingly and scorchingly down on the stores of paddy and other grains laid out to dry.
The floor of this yard is well rammed and made smooth by cow-dung mixed with
charcoal dust, often renewed in the hot weather, and the same bank of smooth clay
hems in this yard on the open side.
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The people
The neatness, tidiness, and cleanliness of the approaches are not belied on
closer acquaintance with the dwelling itself, and speak volumes for the housewifely
qualities of the ladies who inhabit the main dwelling ranged round three sides, or
sometimes all four sides, of the open yard just described.
The main building must face the rising sun—the east—and yet rather
inconsistently it is called the Padinyatta-pura or western dwelling. The reason of this is
explained that the building is opposite to the rising sun, and the Padinyatta-muri—the
central chamber, the honoured guest chamber in the house, the sanctuary of the
ancestors of its occupants—must be placed so as to admit of entrance through its
doorway of the sun’s earliest rays. Another way of looking at it is that it is called the
“western dwelling” because there cannot be any portion of the house to the west of it
again. It in fact hems in as it were the dwelling on the western side. On either side of it,
forming two sides of the square, are the vatakkina and tekkina—the northern and
southern rooms—the former used for cooking and the latter for ordinary purposes of
the household.
These three are the main rooms of the dwelling, but the fourth side of the
square is sometimes occupied by another room called kilakkina or eastern room, and
behind one or more of the chambers is sometimes placed another called the chaypu, or
lean-to, forming an enclosed verandah room.
In selecting the exact spot for his dwelling a Malayali is guided by a very simple
rule. The garden in which it is to be placed must be intersected into as far as possible
equal portions by lines running due north and south and duo east and west. Four
divisions are thus formed and the exact spot where the Padinyatta-pura is to be placed is
in the north-east division, and in the inner corner or south-west angle of that division.
The reason for the selection of this spot is explained to be that a Malayali tries to be as
far as possible away from the polluting caste people who may approach the house as far
as the fence, but may not enter the garden.
However high a man’s position may be, and however numerous may be his
dependents, his house must, if he attends to the customs of his ancestors, be a
succession of dwellings made in the above style ; but upper storeys are often added,
verandahs generally find a place both upstairs and down, and are made both open and
enclosed. Long, cool, comfortable quarters are to be found in those enclosed verandahs,
which, by an arrangement, common on the west coast, are screened from outside
observation by a pent-house roof with a massive carved wooden reverse slope to the
caves filled in with horizontal bars.
The woodwork of the dwelling is solid and substantial and is often beautifully
carved. The walls are generally of latorite to bricks set in mud, for lime is expensive and
scarce, and till recent years the roof was invariably of thatch. This custom of the country
was very strictly observed, and it was not till after the Honourable East India Company
had had settlements on the coast for nearly a century that they were at last permitted, as
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a special favour, in 1759 fill to put tiles on their factory at Calicut. Palaces and temples
alone were tiled in former days.
Of the surroundings of the dwelling there is generally a cattle-shed, and
sometimes an excavated tank for bathing purposes, often full of fish and water-lilies ; a
well of water at the rear of the cooking room, so arranged as to admit of water being
taken direct from the well into the cook-room, is generally present.
A chapel of the household deity is found in all considerable houses, and there is
sometimes a separate dwelling (matam) for Brahman travellers and Brahman visitors. The
houses of the poorer classes, though smaller, are built on the same lines as a rule, and
are usually kept as neat, and tidy, and clean as those of their superiors. The furniture of
all the houses is very simple ; a metal pot with a spout, a few metal plates and saucers, a
few metal pans of sizes, a spittoon of brass, a betel box, a few mats, a knife, a cot or
two, a few wooden bins for grain, etc., are nearly all the requirements of a household in
this respect.
NOTEs by VED: Above part is obviously of the household of the Nairs and not of the other
castes. However, from the next paragraph onwards, the household mention goes into the case of all
populations in the land. END of NOTEs by VED
The house itself is called by different names according to the occupant’s caste.
The house of a Pariah is a cheri, while the agrestic slave—the Cheraman—lives in a chala.
The blacksmith, the goldsmith, the carpenter, the weaver, etc., and the toddy-drawer
(Tiyan) inhabit houses styled pura or kudi ; the temple servant resides in a variyan or
pisharam or pumatham, the ordinary Nayar in a vidu or bhavanam, while the man in
authority of this caste dwells in an idam ; the Raja lives in a kovilakam or kottaram, the
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The people
indigenous Brahman (Nambutiri) in an illam, while his fellow of higher rank calls his
house a mana or manakhal.
Inferior castes, however, cannot thus speak of their houses in the presence of
the autocratic Nambutiri. In lowliness and self-abasement they have, when talking to
such an one, to style their houses “dungheaps,” and they and their doings can only be
alluded to in phrases every one of which is an abasement and an insult.
The Nambutiri’s character for Hospitality stands high, but only among those of
his own caste. Here is a graphic picture from the Travancore Census (1871) Report of
the Nambutiri in his own home, related apparently from personal experience : —
“The Nambutiri’s hospitality and charity are proverbial. The Brahman guest in
the family, especially if he combines with that character some little influence, is most
kindly, treated, and in spite of the uncouth manners and queer conversation which he
may meet with, he is certain to carry away the happiest recollections, of the illam. On
entering the gate of the extensive property—in the midst of which is situated the palatial
mansion with its suburban buildings severally dedicated for the household god, the
younger members of the family, the cutcherry of the Pravritti officers, and for the
wearied Brahman travellers- the visitor is received by the lord of the manor, who in his
native simplicity inquires if he has bathed without any further ado about the health or
other concerns of his guest. If the answer is in the negative, he himself leads the guest to
the bathing-tank with its cool shod and refreshing waters, most politely inquiring if oil,
enja (Acacia intsia) and thali are required, all the time innocently gaping at the dhowti, the
walk, the arrangement of the hair, the moustaches on the face, the absence of the
nanamundu and the conventional waist-string and undercloth, while the stranger,
accustomed to more formal societies, smarts with shyness at the queer looks of his host.
The Nambutiri must be asked to leave the bath for a short time before he can
be expected to go. The visitor is next led into the illam and asked to sit before the leaf
spread out, not where the inmates generally eat, but in one of the outer rooms,
respectable though ; but the inevitable thought occurs that you are treated like an
outcasts. Even the ghi and dhal eating propensities of the visitor are attended to, though
they are carefully eschewed and even disliked by the Nambutiri in his own meals.
Before serving rice, the Nambutiri inquires if the morning prayers are over,
which he thinks improbable on account of the speed with which the visitor has returned
from the tank, and feels a conscientious but unexpressed, hatred of the light manner in
which religious observations are regarded by the Brahmans of the other coast. The
feeding of Brahman travellers is not, however, such a rare or difficult business with the
Nambutiri. It is a matter of course with him ; he makes it a rule of his life to treat the
hungry Brahman : the traditions of his family am full of the proudest feats of charity and
hospitality, and the number which he daily foods is limited only by the measure of his
affluence.”
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It may be gathered from the above descriptions that quiet and retirement are
what the Malayali looks to in selecting a site for his dwelling, and that towns and town-
life are not congenial to his tastes. And the fact is that the coast tracts are so densely
populated that it is difficult to say where one of the municipal towns begins and where
another ends. From end to end of the district on the low-lying lands near the sea there is
an unbroken belt of coooanut-palm orchards, and the description which Shaikh Ibn
Batuta gave of the country in the fourteenth century A.D, is equally applicable to it,
now.
“We next”, said he “came into the country of Malabar which is the country of
black pepper. Its length is a journey of two months along the shore from Sindabur to
Kawlam. The whole of the way by land lies under the shade of trees. And in all this
space of two months’ journey there is not a span free from cultivation. For everybody
has here a garden and his house is placed in the middle of it ; and round the whole of
this them is a fence of wood, up to which the ground of each inhabitant comes.”
The fact which on the coast of Malabar indicates the existence of a town is the
occurrence of one or more streets of shops—bazaars — longer and busier than those to
be met with elsewhere in the district. The foreign Brahmans, the Eurasian population,
and, to a certain extent the Muhammadans also, live in streets of houses built in
continuous rows.
The following statement shows at a glance the chief circumstances connected
with the town population in Malabar:
Area Houses Floating Total Religions
in population population
Acrea including
floating
O U M F M F H M C O
c n a e a e i u h t
Towns Total
c o l m l m n h r h
u c e a e a d a i e
p c s l s l u m s r
i u e e m t s
e p s s a i
d i d a
e a n
d n s
s
Cannanore 2,482 4,038 1,943 238 18 13,046 13,340 26,386 1 0,656 11,617 4,087 26
Tellicherry 2,555 3,420 2,118 725 54 12,939 13,471 26,410 15,488 9,140 1,705 8
Calicut 8,447 8,540 1,512 1,140 76 30,009 27,076 57,085 33,875 20,257 2,909 44
Palghat 5,821 6081 1,658 728 231 17,673 18,666 36,330 30,424 4,854 1,061
Cochin 597 2,411 467 2,602 20 8,374 7,824 15,698 4,383 2,942 8,360 13
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The people
NOTEs by VED: There can be minor errors in the digits copied and placed above, due to the
fact that the text was not clear in the scanned pdf file of the book. END of NOTEs by VED
For administrative purposes the district is divided not into villages as in the
eastern coast districts, but into amsams, that is to say, parishes, of which the following
statement gives the numbers in the different taluks:-
Taluks Number of Estimated Total Average Average
amsams area in population area per population
acres of taluk amsam in per
acres amsam
Chirakkal 44 644,453 272,669 14,046 6,197
Kottayam 28 420,080 165,775 15,002 5,920
Kurumbranad 57 261,163 261,024 4,581 4,579
Wynad 13 612,240 88,091 47,095 6,776
Culicut 41 765,680 205,962 18,675 5,023
Ernad 52 1,527,332 296,143 29,371 5,695
Valluvanad 64 448,961 308,102 7,015 4,814
Palghat 56 614,400 342,454 10,971 6,115
Ponnani 73 258,154 392,654 3,536 5,278
Cochin 1 1,085 17,161 1,085 17,161
District totals 429 5,553,548 2,350,035 12,945 5,477
and averages
NOTEs by VED: There can be minor errors in the digits copied and placed above, due to the
fact that the text was not clear in the scanned pdf file of the book. END of NOTEs by VED
As the district has never been surveyed in detail, the areas of amsams are not
wholly reliable, and in fact there are several obvious errors in the census (1881) statistics
on this point, as, for example, the amsam of Arakurissi in Valluvanad taluk is said to
embrace only 29,555 acres, whereas the whole of the Attapadi Valley, a very sparsely
populated tract—probably 200 square miles in extent—ought to have been included, but
is omitted from the statement of this amsam.
Subordinate to the amsam comes the desam or hamlet, which has often been
mistaken for the village of the east coast. The fact, however, was that the desam was the
territorial unit of the military organization in the ancient regime, and the true village, that
is, the territorial unit of organization for civil purposes, was the tara. The amsams as at
present defined are a modern and very recent creation for administrative purposes, but
taras and desams, and the distinction that existed between them, take the enquirer back
into ancient times and necessitate an investigation of the ancient system of government.
This would, however, be out of place here, and it will more appropriately fall under the
sections devoted to the history of the country.
It will suffice here to note that the earliest of the British administrators asserted
repeatedly that the Hindu village did not exist in Malabar. Each State, said Mr. Warden,
“was partitioned into gradations of military divisions from the Naduvali1 to the Desavali
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“Every division and subdivision was designated by the allotted quota of Nayars it was
required to bring into the field.”
NOTEs: 1 Naduvali = the ruler, commandant of the nad or country ; Desavali = the ruler,
commandant of the desam, or parish END of NOTEs
“The designations of the different military divisions remain to this day in every
district in Malabar.”
The chieftains of the military divisions, large and small, held their dignities as
hereditary in their respective families, and had appropriate titles of distinction. They
were not always in attendance on the Raja’s person. If not required on particular State
duties or religious services, they were only called out for defensive or offensive warfare.
(Report to Board of Revenue, 12th September 1815, paragraphs 63, 64.
Sir Thomas Munro seems to have felt, and felt truly, that this could not have
been the real state of things in a Hindu State, and in 1817 he paid Malabar a flying visit
to satisfy himself on the point. The result of this visit was embodied in a very interesting
report, dated the 4th July 1817, and the conclusion he arrived at was that for some
purpose or other Malabar “was in the earliest times divided like the other provinces of
India into districts and villages, the limits of which, but more especially of the villages,
remain unchanged to this day.”
The districts and villages he found to be under hereditary chiefs, and the village
was called the desam, the name by which it is still most commonly known.
Mr. Warden and Sir Thomas Munro were both in the right to a certain extent,
but they both failed to recognize the importance of that most influential territorial unit
of organisation - the Dravidan tara1. Sir Thomas Munro indeed mentions the word, but
only as the name which the experienced Mysorean administrators of Haidar Ali and
Tippu Sultan applied to the territorial units which they endeavoured to foster and keep
alive as villages with hereditary heads, “an essential branch of their system” as Sir.
Thomas Munro pointed out. This fact ought to, and probably would, have opened his
eyes to the real state of the case had his stay in Malabar been prolonged. The influence of
the tara organisation cannot be overrated in a political system tending always to despotism.
NOTEs: 1 Tara = foundation, mound, ground, village, quarter; similar to Tamil and Malayalam
teru, Telugu teruvu, Cannarese and Tulu teravu END of NOTEs
The Nayar inhabitants of a tara formed a small republic, represented by their

Karanavar or elders, and presented in that respect a striking resemblance to the “village
republic” of the east coast districts as sketched by the Board of Revenue at the time
when the village lease settlement system, as opposed to the ryotwari settlement system,
was being discussed (Revenue Selections I, 487). The desam and the tara were not
conterminous. If Sir Thomas Munro had enquired thoroughly into the matter he would,
for instance, have found that the hundred and twenty-five desams which, according to
information supplied him, formed the Calicut nad or county, embraced precisely the
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The people
same lands as the seventy-two taras into which that nad was likewise divided. The nad or
county was a congeries of taras or village republics, and the kuttam or assembly of the
nad or county was a representative body of immense power which, when necessity
existed, set at naught the authority of the Raja and punished his ministers when they did
“unwarrantable acts.”
These are the very words used by the Honourable Company’s representative at
Calicut when asked to explain the origin of certain civil commotions which had taken
place there in 1746. His report deserves to be quoted in full, for it gives a vivid insight
into the state of things as it then existed.
“These Nayars,” he wrote, “being heads of the Calicut people, resemble the
parliament, and do not obey the king’s dictates in all things, but chastise his ministers
when they do unwarrantable acts.” (Tellicherry Factory Diary of 28th May 1746).
The tara organisation instituted by the Mysoreans was unwisely changed into the
hobali system or subordinate district establishments under the Honourable Company, the
tarns being enlarged for this purpose. Sir Thomas Munro pointed out that the
establishment thus organised was “so inadequate to the object of its institution that it
required a complete revision.”
It was, in fact, not a village establishment at all, and instead of "bringing the
Collector more immediately into contact with the people, it only served to lengthen the
chain, already too long, of officials between them. The hobali system was abolished, and
the existing amsam system was organised in its place by Special Commissioner H. S.
Graeme in 1822-23. In doing this Mr. Graeme was at some pains to search out and
instate as head of the amsam or adhikari, the most influential of the Desavalis under the
ancient system, but many desams had to be rolled together to form one amsam.
There were formerly two thousand and odd desams ; there are now only four
hundred and twenty-nine amsams. The Desavali selected was not always, or even
generally, the Desavali of all the desams comprised in his amsam, and it was a new and
unaccustomed role for him to be placed as headman in civil matters over people who
had not previously acknowledged his authority. Indeed Mr. Graeme was careful in his
sanads of appointment to preserve the rights of other Desavalis to the Sthana Mana
avakasam (rights and privileges of office) in tracts which had previously been under other
men.
But Mr. Graeme made the great mistake of thinking that the desam and the tara
were synonymous, and so in his scheme of amsam establishments, the real civil
organisation by the Karanavar or elders of the people was ignored, and in its place
authority of various kinds was conferred on some only of the men who had been the
local representatives of the ruling chieftains of Malabar. The mistake was of importance
because it diverted attention away from, what had been the ancient organisation, and
placed the real power in the hands of only one man out of several who had previously
acted together in a body in the kuttam or assembly of the tara.
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In these popular assemblies existed the nucleus of what might have been
organised by judicious treatment into real local self-government, and it was a great
misfortune that this important point escaped notice at the time. Each amsam or parish
has now besides the Adhikari or man of authority, headman, an accountant or writer
styled a Menon (literally, superior man), and two or more Kolkars (club men or peons),
who between them manage the public affairs of the parish and are the local
representatives of the Government.
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The people
Section C.—-The Language, Literature and State of Education
AMONG THE PEOPLE.
The vernacular of the district, popularly known as Malaylam, but more correctly
written as Malayalma or Malayayma, “claims to be placed,” says Dr. Caldwell, “ next to
Tamil in the list of Dravidian tongues, on account of the peculiarly close relationship to
Tamil in which it stands.” Indeed the relationship is so close that Sanskrit writers class
both tongues as Dravida, although from remote times a separate name has been applied
by them to the Malayalam country.
Whether Malayalam is a “very ancient” and much-altered offshoot” of Tamil, as
Dr, Caldwell holds, or whether, as Dr. Gundert holds, “the two languages of old
differed rather as dialects of the same member of the Dravidian family than as separate
languages,” is a point into which it is unnecessary to enter here in detail beyond
remarking that Dr. Caldwell’s main argument from the words denoting east and west
seems to be a fanciful though ingenious one. Because the Malayalam word for east,
kilakku, means beneath, and because melku1 (west) means above, Dr. Caldwell argues
that the Malayalis must have come from the Tamil country east of the ghats, since there
they had the low level of the ocean on the east and the high level of the ghat mountains
on the west.
NOTEs: 1.The more common word in Malayalam for west is padinynyaru, meaning the setting
sun. END of NOTEs
But it is quite as reasonable to suppose that the Dravidians, in finding names for
east and west, selected words denoting that east was where the sun appeared from
below, as it would seem to them, and west as the place where he similarly disappeared
from above. The languages were no doubt identical in ancient times, but with a high
range of mountains intervening between the two countries rendering inter-
communication difficult, and with further obstacles thrown in the way by differing
political institutions, it is not to be wondered at that they split into two dialects, and as
time advanced that they became two tongues.
The chief difference between them, and indeed between Malayalam and all the
other Dravidian tongues, lies in the absence in Malayalam of the personal terminations
of the verbs.
In treating of the Dravidian conjugational system Dr. Caldwell writes :
“The tenses are formed, not by means of the position of the pronouns, but by
the particles or signs of present, past, and future time suffixed to the theme ; and the
personal signs, as in the Turkish and Finnish families, are suffixed to the signs of tense.
The only exception to this rule is that which forms the most characteristic feature of
Malayalam—a language which appears to have been originally identical with Tamil, but
which, in so far as its conjugational system is concerned, has fallen back from the
inflexional development reached by both tongues whilst they were still one, to what
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appears to have been the primitive condition of both—a condition nearly resembling the
Mongolian, the Manchu, and the other rude primitive tongue of High Asia.
“In ancient times, as may be gathered from the Malayalam poetry, and especially
from the inscriptions1 preserved by the Syrian Christians and the Jews, the pronouns
were suffixed to the Malayalam verb precisely as they still are in Tamil. At present the
verb is entirely divested, at least in the colloquial dialect, of signs of personality ; . and
with the pronouns the signs of number and gender have also necessarily disappeared : so
that the pronoun or nominative must in every instance be separately prefixed to the verb
to complete the signification ; and it is chiefly by means of this prefixed pronoun that a
verb, properly so called, is distinguished from a verbal participle.
NOTEs: 1 Dates about A.D. 700 to A.D. 820. END of NOTEs
“Though the personal signs have been abandoned by the Malayalam verb, the
signs of tense or time have been retained, and are annexed directly to the root as in the
other dialects. Even in modern English some persons of the verb retain archaic
fragments of the pronominal signs (e.g. lovest, loveth) ; but in modern Malayalam every
trace of these signs has disappeared.
“Thus, whilst we should say in Tamil aditten , I beat ; adittay , thou didst beat ;
adittan, he beat ; Malayalam uses in these and all similar cases the verbal participle adichu
(for adittu), having beaten, with the prefixed pronouns I, thou, he, etc. (e.g., nyan adichu, I
beat ; ni adichu, thou didst beat ; avan adichu he beat). Though the pronominal signs have
been lost by the Malayalam verb, they have been retained even by the Tuda ; and
notwithstanding the comparative barbarity of the Gonds and Kus, their conjugational
system is peculiarly elaborate and complete.”
The complete disappearance of signs of personality in the Malayalam verb raises
a doubt whether they were ever really adopted in the colloquial language. For the
evidence in favour of pronouns being suffixed to the Malayalam tenses—it being
admitted that verbs in all Dravidian languages were originally uninflected—is derived
from ancient poetry and ancient inscriptions, and these did not necessarily correspond
with the spoken language.
It is to be noted that the written tongue in ancient times always tended to
become a speciality, the speciality of a class or caste who got a livelihood by it.
Moreover, as will be seen further on, the precise time to which Dr. Caldwell alludes—
the time of the Jews’ and Syrians’ deeds—was precisely at that epoch (about eighth
century A.D.) in the history of the country when Vedic Brahmanism is believed to have
finally supplanted Jainism as the religion of the Aryan immigrants.
The Jains, whose period of greatest literary activity in the Tamil country was
subsequent—ninth or tenth to thirteenth century A.D.—to the dates of the Jews’ and
Syrians’ deeds, seem to have encouraged the study of the vernaculars and to have
developed the languages of the common people ; the Vedic Brahmans, on the other
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hand, encouraged—and that only among themselves—the study of nothing but Sanskrit,
of which and of the religion and arts and sciences embodied in that tongue they held a
practical monopoly for many centuries, beginning from probably the end of the seventh
or commencement of the eighth century A.D. One would expect therefore to find—and
such is the actual fact—that Malayalam is much fuller than any of the other Dravidian
languages of pure Sanskrit words (tatsamam) and Sanskrit derivatives (tudbhavam) : this is,
indeed, the only other chief difference between it and the other Dravidian tongues.
The most probable view is that the Vedic Brahman immigration into Malabar
put a stop to the development of Malayalam as a language just at the time when the
literary activity of the Jains in the Tamil country was commencing. It is admitted that
this immigration took place at an earlier point of time into Malabar than into the other
South Indian countries, and it is not unreasonable to suppose that at the time when this
took place the use of verbal inflexions had not taken hold of the colloquial language.
The Vedic Brahmans (Nambutiris ) were, of and are still it may be added, the
last persons in the world to approve of educating the commonalty, for that would have
tended to take from themselves the monopoly of learning they so long possessed. It was
no less than a revolution when in the seventeenth century one Tunjatta Eluttachchan, a
man of the Sudra (Nayar) caste, boldly made an alphabet—the existing Malayalam
one—-derived chiefly from the Grantha—the Sanskrit alphabet of the Tamils, which
permitted of the free use of Sanskrit in writing—and boldly set to work to render the
chief Sanskrit poems into Malayalam.
Regarding the obstacles which he had to meet and the opposition which was
offered to him Mr. F. W. Ellis has the following remarks in a dissertation on the
Malayalam language : “The difficulties with which he had in consequence to struggle
gave him an energy of character which it is probable he would not have possessed had
his caste been without blemish .1
NOTEs: 1 Mr. Ellis supposed him to be the illegitimate son of a Brahman woman, hut there is
nothing to support, this, and, on the contrary, tradition says he was a Sudra (Nayar). Mr. Ellis may have
confounded the tradition about the great Sankara Acharya with the tradition about him END of NOTEs
“The Brahmans envied his genius and learning, and are said to have seduced
him by the arts of sorcery into the habit of ebriety, wishing to overshadow the mental
powers which they feared. The poet, however, triumphed on his habits, though he could
not abandon them, and, in revenge against those whom he considered the cause of his
debasement he opposed himself openly to the prejudices and the intolerance of the
Brahmans. The mode of vengeance he chose was the exaltation of the Malayalam
tongue, declaring it his intention to raise this inferior dialect of the Tamil to an equality
with the sacred language of the gods and rishis.
“In the prosecution of this purpose he enriched the Malayalam with the
translations I have mentioned,1 all of which, it is said, he composed while under the
immediate influence of intoxication. No original compositions are attributed to him.”
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NOTEs: 1 Viz. “All the works of note in the original language” (Sanskrit). He is traditionally
reported to have translated into Malayalam the following : Ramayanam, Mahabharatam, Bhagavatam,
besides others. END of NOTEs
Tunjatta Eluttachchan’s success even in his own lifetime seems to have been
great, and it was in consequence of his influence and success that Malayalam, as a
written language, obtained its most recent development.
The site of his house is still pointed out at Trikkandiyur near Vellattpudiangadi
in the Ponnani taluk, and, as usual among Malayalis when a man has risen a bit above his
fellows in good or in bad qualities, something of superstitious awe attaches to the place
of his dwelling. It is said that as Tunjatta Eluttachchan lay on his death-bed he told his
daughter that at a particular hour, on a particular day, in a certain month and a certain
year which he named, a youth would come to his house. His daughter was directed to
have the house swept and garnished as for a distinguished guest, and his directions were
that to this visitor his sandals and his books should be given.
On the appointed day and at the appointed hour came one Surya Narayanan
Eluttachchan, then a youth of sixteen years and of the Taragan caste. He received the
sandals and the books and went his way. This Surya Narayanan became Gurunadhan
(tutor, teacher) to the Zamorin, and afterwards set out on pilgrimages to Benares and
other places, wandering about leading a holy life till he was thirty-two years old. He then
returned to Malabar, and was directed in a vision, thrice repeated, to settle on the river
bank (then a jungly place) at what is now Chittur Tekke Gramam in Cochin territory,
east of Palghat.
He there bought some ground and, helped by the Zamorin and others, built on
one side of the street a row of houses for Brahmans and in the middle, on the opposite
side, one for himself. He next invited some Brahman families to settle them, which they
did, attracted by the holiness of Surya Narayanan Eluttachchan’s life and character. He
never married but lived and died a sanyasi (ascetic), and Tunjatta Eluttachchan’s relics
were, it is said, there sacredly preserved and worshipped till, with one exception, they
were destroyed by fire some thirty or forty years ago.
The stool and staff mentioned by Dr. Burnell in his “South Indian Palæography”
belonged, it is said, to the ascetic and not to the father of modern Malayalam. And
another fire has, it is believed, destroyed these relies since Dr. Burnell’s visit, and also
probably the Bhagavatam, the only thing saved from the previous conflagration.
Tunjatta Eluttachchan’s memory, however, is not likely to die down, for relics thus lost
are easily replaced and the sacred honours paid to them are easily shifted to the
substitutes. On the development of Malayalam since Tunjatta Eluttachchan’s time Dr.
Burnell has the following remarks in his “South Indian Palæography”: The Sanskrit
literature was, after this, no longer a secret, and there was perhaps no part of South India
where it was more studied by people of many castes during the eighteenth century.”
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Of the Malayalam poetry which thus originated Mr. F. W. Ellis gives the
following account :
"The language of Malayalam poetry is in fact a mixture of Sanskrit, generally
pure, with Sen and Kodun Tamil ; ” but in Tamil “ declined or conjugated forms from the
Sanskrit are not admissible.” “ They are not admissible, also, in Malayalam prose, but in
verse they are often used with such profusion as to give it the appearance of that fanciful
species of composition called in Sanskrit Mani-pravalam and in English ‘Maccaronic
verse,’ rather than the sober dress of grammatical language : often, indeed, the whole
verse is pure Sanskrit, connected or concluded by a few words of Malayalam.”
And “this profuse intermixture of the grammatical forms of the Sanskrit in the
higher order of Malayalam composition would seem to have led certain recent Italian
writers into strange misconceptions. Though one of them, Paulinus of St. Bartholomæo,
has composed a grammar of the Sanskrit, he does not seem quite clear there is any
radical distinction between what he calls the lingua Sanscredamico-Malabarica and the
Samscredamica; and the author of the introduction to the Alphabetum grandonico-malabaricum
sive samscrudonicum, by which he means the Arya character of the Malayalam, though he
be sadly puzzled to discover whether the Samscrudonica lingua be the mother of the
Grandonica or vice versa, expressly says : ‘Lingua igitur vulgaris Malabarica, ea nempe quoe
usurpatior a Gentibus littoris Malabarici insolis, a Promotario Comorino usque ad monlem Deli prope
Regnum Canara, nil nisi dialectus est Sanscrudonicae linguae.”
Mr. Ellis goes on to remark : “The Malayalam has never been cultivated as an
independent literary language, nor does the Tamil literature, notwithstanding the length
of time the country was subject to the Kings of Seram, appear to have been extensively
known here, or at least has not survived that dynasty. This is the more extraordinary as
some of the earliest and best of the Tamil works were composed in Seram. This remark,
however, applies more to Keralam proper than to Mushikam or Travancore ; the
residence of the Seram viceroys was in this province, and a knowledge of pure Tamil has
always been more prevalent here than in the northern districts.”
Of the historical portion of these remarks this is not the place to speak, but it is
necessary to observe that Tamil, as an independent literary language, flourished in the
tenth to thirteenth centuries A.D., some considerable time after the last of the Perumals
(to whom apparently Mr. Ellis refers in speaking of the viceroys) disappeared, an event
which, for reasons to be assigned in the proper place, was probably contemporaneous
with the commencement of the Kollam era, 25th August 825 A.D.
Mr. Ellis is right in saying that Malayalam has never been cultivated as an
independent literary language, and he continues:
“There exists in Malayalam, as far as my information extends, no work or
language, no grammar1, no dictionary, commentaries on the Sanskrit Amarakosha
excepted. The principal work in prose is the Keralutpati2, which is also said to be
translated from the Sanskrit, though the original is now nowhere to be found.”
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NOTEs: This was written some time before 1819, the year in which Mr. Ellis died. These
complaints exist no longer, thanks to the research of Dr. Gundert.
NOTEs: 2. Origin of Keralam END of NOTEs
This last-named work is an account chiefly from the Vedic Brahman point of
view of the origin and history of Keralam. As a historical work it is of little use, but as a
mine of half forgotten and wholly forgotten native usages and customs it is most
valuable.
While, however, Malayalis have no literature to be compared to the Kural of
Tiruvalluvar or to the polished3 verses of Sivavakkiyar , they have many folk songs, few
of which have been reduced to writing, but which are extremely popular, being
composed in the ordinary dialect of the people and treating of subjects in which they
have an interest.
NOTEs: 3
Arium alla, Ayanum alla, Not Brahma, Vishnu, Siva,
Aranum alla—appuram alla; In the beyond is He;
Karumei, semmei, venmeiyum, Not black, nor white, nor ruddy,
Kadantu nindra karanam; This Source of things that be:
Peritum alla, siritum alla, Not great is He, nor little,
Pennum anum allave; Not female and not male;
Duriamum Kadaptu nindra— But stands far, far and far beyond
Dura, dura, durame. All being utmost pale.
(Sivavakkiyar.) (R. C Caldwell.)
END of NOTEs
Of these, perhaps the most popular are the ballads relating the deeds of
Tachcholi Meppayil Kunhi Othenan. The original Tachcholi pat, describing one of
Othenan’s exploits — whether the final exploit of his life or not is uncertain— is a great
favourite, and several Tachcholi pats, as they are called, have since been composed in
the same metre regarding the doings of other men. There is one commemorating the
Palassi (Pychy) Raja’s rebellion (1797-1805 A.D.), another about Tippu Sultan, a third
about the mythical feats of Veikeleri Kunhi Kelappan. A specimen of the metro (the
first few lines) of the original Tachcholi pat is subjoined :
“Otayottidattile Kandasseri
Lokanar Kavile Kavuttana
Kavur vannum pulannu vello
Nammala Kavilum pova venam
Tachcholi Meppayile Kunynyi Otenan
Tanre chamayam chamayavum cheythu
Tanre idattatum valattatumayi
Munnile pokunna Kandasseri
Valiye madhakkaran Kunynyi Otenan
Iruvarum kudiyallo porunnata.”
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The metro falls in the class of what are known as "Vishamavrittam ” or irregular
metres. The lines contain generally ten or more syllables or fourteen matras (time
required to utter u) and each couplet ought to have twenty-eight matras.
Of the hero of the original Tachcholi pat—the Robin Hood of North Malabar—
many traditions are extant. He was apparently a man of fine physique and skilful in the
use of arms, who attracted to himself a large and mixed following. It is not exactly said
that, like his prototype, he robbed the rich to give to the poor, but he was evidently not
too particular as to his means of taking what he wanted for himself or followers.
This, no doubt, brought him into collision with the authorities, and the well is
still pointed out near Vadakkara in Kurumbranad Taluk which he is said to have cleared
at one bound to prevent his capture by the followers of the Kadattanad Raja. The well is
a fine masonry-built structure, still in excellent preservation, and at the spot where
Tachcholi Otenan is said to have cleared it, it is twenty feet six inches between
perpendiculars.
There is a massive conical-shaped block of laterite some three feet in height
planted erect in the ground about fifteen paces from the well, and one mythical tradition
says he jumped the well with this and a jack tree in his arms. In the popular ballad he is
stated to have been treacherously shot, but whether mortally or not is uncertain, by a
Mappilla on returning to search for a dagger he had accidently dropped in a duel in
which he had discomfited his enemy. The following is a literal translation of the ballad,
narrating with much quaintness the events of this duel, and shedding various interesting
lights on native customs and habits.
Tachcholi Ballad
To his squire Odayottidattil Kandasseri Said dear Kunhi Odenan

(Chappan) To his wife Kavile Chathoth Kunhi Cliiru.
Said Tachcholi Meppayil Kunhi Odenan, "Till I go and come
“For the Lokanar Kavil Kavut, "Don’t you go down the gate steps
“Which day of ceremony has come and “Do caress child Ambadi;
dawned, “Give him milk when thirsty
“We to that temple must go.” “And rice when hungry.”
Tachcholi Meppayil Kunhi Odenan So Tachcholi Meppayil Kunhi Odenan .

His apparel he put on, Took loave of Kavile Chathoth.
His sword and shield he took in his right Odayottidattil Kandesseri
and left, Took a lance made of the first-rate
In front walked Kandasseri, cocoanut tree;
In the rear the nobleman Kunhi Odenan. Armed with it,
Together proceeded in company. They proceeded together ;
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Walked (the whole distance) in one march. “What (a) strange (thing is) all this !
“On the platform under our Banian tree
On arriving at the Lokanar Kavu What Nayar cometh to take a seat ?
It appeared as if it had been fenced with “Make haste and see who he is.” ;
men on all four sides. Thus said Meppayil Tachcholi Kunhi
Odenan—
All the Ten Thousand Nayars had A very jealous Odenan—
assembled ; “What Nayar art thou
Also the Princes of the Four Palaces “That went to the Banian tree?
The reigning Raja of Kadattanad,
The heir apparent of Purameri, Odenan seeing this with his own eyes
And the Raja of Kuttipuram, Boiled his jet black eyes in burning rage,
Had put ill their royal prosence. Shook his legs in excitement,
Clenched his fists in anger,
Tahcholi Meppayil Kunhi Odonan And spoke thus : “Odayottidattil
Went and ascended the entrance steps. Kandasseri!
Walked straight up to the Tachcholi’s “Go home quick, and get
seat— “ My silver-handled gun ;
The platform under the Banian tree— “In our western chamber it stands
Where the good fellow sat and amused “Full loaded with two bullets and two
himself. plugs.
“Hasten thou and come soon.
Gazing at the comers and
Looking all round about the temple. “One word more to you ! Kandasseri!
While thus sitting, “The Poratara Peacock
The Mathilur Kurikkal with his “With its young brood
disciples— “*Is perching upon our Banian tree
The two and twenty youngsters— “I’ll shoot them dead one by one.”
Arrive at the Lokanar Kavu, This one word was said.
Went to the Goddess’ divine presence,
Most devoutly worshipped with clasped At once Kurikkal said,
hands, “Hark ! My beloved youths !
And, after worshipping, left the temple “We must start at once ;
To occupy a seat on the Tachcholi’s We must go to our Poratara.’
platform, So the Mathilur Kurikkal and pupils
On the south part of which they went and Proceeded back with their heads
sat. Covered and hungdown in disgrace.
This with his own eyes Kunhi Odenan Again said the Kurikkal,
saw, “We should not wait to see the Kavut.”
And he thus exclaimed ; Thus the Kurikkal left at once
“Lo ! Odayottidattil Kandasseri With his two and twenty pupils.
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When descending the steps, “Got thee gone ! What (an) unmanly
The Kurikkal shouted loud and challenged thing!
“My good fellow, Tachcholi Kunhi “What meanest thou by
Odena! Untimely interposition?
“If the tenth and eleventh of Kumbham “ If God spares me
shall come, “ I will make him atone for it.”
If God will spare my life, Thus saying the Kurikkal went his way to
“I pledge my word to be at Ponniyat. Poratara.
“There under the Banian tree
“In single combat could we test our Tachacholi Koma Kurup
supremacy. Went however to the Lokanar Kavu.
“That day let us meet again!” He was met by his brother,
Who was returning having seen the Kavut.
Thus the Kurikkal declared the war, They walked home straight.
In the midst of the Ten Thousand,
And proceeded back on his way. On their way the Kurup wept,
The sight-seers trembled Beating his breast, shedding bloody tears,
At this throwing down and taking up the And thus addressed his brother :—-
gauntlet. “My beloved brother ! how impudent you
are!
A stillness prevailed like that after a heavy “You have engaged to fight on the 1Oth
rain. and 11th Kumbham !
A panic spread “ What do you think of doing next ?”
Over all assembled.
Immediately replied Kunhi Odenan,
Tachchoji Koma Kurup (older brother of “ Brother ! Why do you weep ?
Odonan), “ Am I not a man like himself ?
On this very news coming into his ears, “Is it enough always to give ?
Beat his breast and exclaimed in tears “Can’t I receive it once ?
“Alas ! You saucy fellow ! “Let it happen as fate wills it!
“Is it at a mountain that you are throwing “Why cry for it !”
a pot ? “Hear me,” said the Kurup,
“On Thursday in Kumbham next “In whose charge do you leave me?
“ You have agreed to enter the lists.” “Am I not in my dotage ?
The Kurup hastened on to interpose: “ If fate should call me away any moment,
The Kurikkal, on his way from the temple, “To perform the funeral rites
Is accosted by the Kurup, “No male exists in our family.”
Whom the Lord Kurikkal treats with
contempt, Thus saying they were going.
Spits on his face with betel juice, The Kurup further observed :
And says to the Kurup : “My dear brother Odena
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“Your nice little face of ripe areoanut They were all accordingly invited.
colour Chandu, on being asked, said :—
“How came it to be changed into a new “Odenan ! don’t you go this year to
pot’s colour?” Ponniyat.
By this time they reached the Tachcholi “You have an evil time of it,
Meppayil house. “ And I shall not come with you.”
At once returns Kunhi Odonan,
Their sister Tachcholi Unnichira Walking hastily through Ponniyat Kalam
Seeing then come, field,
Brought a gindy pot of water (to wash Crossing the Ponniyam and Puttalam
hands and feet, with) rivers,
And asked her dear brother to partake of And passing the Chambat Puncha land,
kanji; Arrives at his Tachcholi Meppayil house,
But Kunhi Odonan said he must bathe. Bathes and takes his food,
So he bathed, dined, and spent that day And spends the day there.
there.
Next morning he went to Lokanar Kavu;
The next morning dawned, Bade the priest to open the shrine
And the Koma Kurup said :— And light up lamps on each side of the
“Brother Tachcholi Meppayil Kunhi idol, !
Odenan ! And caused the musicians to beat: tom-
“The fatal 10th and 11th of Kumbham tom.
“Are drawing closer and closer. The treasure-box was brought out,
“On Thursday week, in Kumbham next, And the idol in procession marched out.
“At Ponniyat Banian tree, you must
“Go to fight the duel. At this juncture
“Your friends in all A Nambutiri youth received divine
“You must go and call— inspiration,
“Kottakal Ahamad Marakkar, And pronounced the oracle ;—
“Vadakkara Pidigayil Kunhi Pokkar— “You should not go to Ponniyat this year ;
“To them you must go, and tell “Your evil star is in the ascendant;
particularly “I can do nothing for you.”
“That they should accompany you
personally. When this was heard
“Again, Etacheri Odenan Nambiyar Odenan prostrated himself before the
“ And Panangatan Chandu Kurup Goddess
“ Must also be requested And prayed :—“ 0 ! noble Goddess !
“ To accompany you to Ponniyat, "When I go to Ponniyat
“ Hear me again, Kunhi Odonan ! “You must stand on my right.
“ There is Payyampalli of Katirur Tara, “I have no other help
“ The Kunhi Chandu of that house “But my mother Goddess !”
“ You must also take along with you.”
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The oracle then gave him leave Bathing and eating he spent that day there.
To stay in the arena till noon, Next day broke;
And not to remain there longer; Kinhi Odenan rose
And further assured him And proposed to go to Meppayil house
That if he looked up to the Banian tree Then Chiru prepared milk kanji,
He would see the Goddess herself in the Which Odenan took and went home.
disguise of a yellow bird.
In taking leave of his wife, lie told her;
But afternoon she would not be there, “My dear Kunhi Chiru,
And therefore he should not be there. “ Till I come back
Kunhi Odenan then from his waist cloth “ Don’t you stir out of the house.”
took When words like these were heard,
Sixteen silver Panama, which in the sacred Beating her breast, she cried.
box he put.
“ Why do you cry, my dear” said Odenan,
Thus worshipping, he returned “I am not going to die ;
With his attendant Odayottidattil Chappan “I shall come very soon.”
To theTachcholi Meppayil house, Thus saying, he took leave of her.
And told his brother Koma Kurup When descending the gate steps
All that the oracle had said. Her eyes were full of tears
“Don’t you then go this year,” says Koma Which were flowing by the breast in
Kurup. bloody drops.
But Odenan replies—
‘‘Should I die even, it matters not; He walked straight to his Tachcholi
“ I must go to Ponniyat to-day. Meppayil house.
Remonstrance had no effect— Where, in the west room he found
Either brothers or others’. That his brother was still in his bed.
He sat on the bed
“Let us go,” says Odenan to Kandasseri, And placing his feet on his lap
“To Kavile Chathoth house.” And rubbing thorn gently
Thither they went accordingly He waked his brother from sleep. ,
And saw his wife Chiru “Who is this at my feet ? ” asked the
Talcing the child Ambadi in her arms, brother ;
And looking at the husband she cried :— “l am, I am my brother,” was the answer.
“ Oh ! my daring husband ! So and so he passed that day there. ’
"You have engaged to fight
"At the Banian tree in Ponniyat: The next day came,
To whose care will you entrust us ?” And the eventful Thursday came.
“Dear Chiru,” says Odenan in reply, There came then the Kottakkal Ahamad
"Am I going to die ? Marakka
“Is not man equal to man ? And his followers,
Vadakkara Pidigayil Kunhi Pokkar
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And his followers, And wore a flower of gold over the
Edacheri Odenan Nambiyar crown,
And his followers, A silk cloth round the loins,
Kalleri Kunga Kurup A gold girdle over it,
And his followers, Gold rings in four lingers,
Panangatan Chandu Kurup A bracelet worked in with scenes
And his followers,
All in a body assembled From Ramayanam and Bharatam
Numbering about five hundred. High up on his right arm,
Tachcholi Meppayil Kunhi Odenan A gold-handled sword in his right hand,
Took an oil bath, and rubbed over his And a tiger-fighting shield in his left hand
body When coming out thus dressed, he looked
A mixture of perfume, sandalwood and Like melted gold of ten and a half touch !
musk, Like the rising sun in the east!
And sat down for dinner. Liko the setting moon in the west!
A Kadali plantain leaf was spread.
He took leave of his brother Koma Kurup
His sister Tachcholi Unichira By falling prostrate at his feet,
Served him the dinner— Who then blessed him thus— ,
Fine lily-white rice, “May God help you !
A large quantity of pure ghee, “May you gain the victory !
And eleven kinds of vegetable curries. Odayottidattii Kandasseri
He fed himself sumptuously on all those Took a spear—a tiger spear—
And washed his hands and mouth after it. And led the way on ;
He then sat in the south verandah. All in a body went on ;
Numbering about five hundred.
Kandasseri Chappan, his squire,
Served him betel to chew. They proceeded on in one single march
Chewing and chatting he sat there for a From Kadattanad to Ponniyat.
while; They halted not on the road,
After which he rose and opened his west They drank not when thirsty,
room, They sat not to chew betel.
Where he stood in devotion to family
Gods, Fatigued as they were by the march,
And offered them vows if success he got, They came to the Peringalam river
And beseeched them to stand on his right. And they crossed the river.
He then prostrated himself before them,
And went to dress-—a full dress. Through the Chambat Punja field,
And through the good village of Chambat,
He wore God of-Serpent’s head ear-ring They made a rapid march.
in ears,
Combed down his hair, They reached the mango grove
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For tightening girdles above. The Mathilur Kurikkal and pupils were
startled.
From under the Ponniyat Banian tree
The noise of the crowd assembled, Leaving his waist dagger behind,
The sound of swords clashing upon Odenan jumped into the arena
targets Like a cock running to fight
Were heard, and Odenan said And combat ensued.
To his brother and comrades
That Kurikkal and his party had taken the It was then about noon.
field. Odenan took his enemy’s sword seven
times
Odenan, from his waist cloth, On looking up to the tree at these times
Took sixteen silver Fanams, He saw the yellow bird—
And, presenting the same The Lokanar Kavu Goddess.
To Kottakkal Ahamad Marakkar, On looking up again,
Prostrated himself at his feet, It was in vain
In the name of Allah he blessed him And Odenan retired from the arena
“The plot you stand in" said he instantly,
To Odenan, “shall be the Kalari— And marched home triumphantly.
“The seat of the God of war."
But, as ill fate would have it,
In like manner did he receive blessings When Ponniyam new river was arrived at
Of Kalleri Kunga Kurup and He found his dagger had been lost.
Of his brother Koma Kurup. At once sayeth he—
With the latter’s permission, . “Hark ! my brother !
Odenan tied his girdle “I left my dagger in the arena
One end to a mango tree “And I forgot to take it.
The other to his loins. “ What shall I do now ?”
In one pull the tree’s leaves came down, “If that is lost,” replies the brother,
A second pull brought down the “I shall give you another like it.”
branches. “It’s all true, my brother,
Then took he in his right and left “But go and take my dagger I must.”
The sword and shield,
And ran off, crossing the new river. The brother’s remonstrance had no effect.
To the Ponniyat Banian tree, Odenan ran back to the arena;
Where, in formidable array, people stood ; The Kurikkal seeing this said
But to Odenan and his party they gave To Chundanga poyilil Mayan Pakki—
open way. The Tachcholi who went away, is coming
again;
On his glaring at them “ Now he will not allow us to survive.”
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Hearing words to this effect, Tho Kurup, his brother ,seeing this
Pakki took up his gun, and Burst into tears.
Loaded it with two shots,
And concealed himself behind a tree. But Odonan remained bold and said:
“Brother! don’t you show your weakness
On Odenan coming near, “In the midst of these thousands of men.
The Mappilla, taking good aim, shot “How simple you are !
At Odenan’s forehead. “Has anybody as yet died
He fell down on his knees. “From arrows on the neck ?
But would not let his mean enemy escape. “Or from bullets on the forehead?”
He threw his sword at him,
Which cut not only the tree They then began to retreat
But Pakki himself into two. Through the Chambat field
And reached home—Meppayil in
Tearing off his silk turband, Kadattanad—that day.
Odenan dressed his wound on the
forehead.
The common people still compose ballads in memory of passing events, and
one of the most remarkable relates the circumstances attending one of the Mappilla
outrages, and recalls with graphic power and a great deal of exaggeration of course, the
chief incidents that occurred.
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Translation of some Mappilla Gitans.
The first part relates the cause of the murder of a Hindu by a fanatic Mappilla
and the circumstances attending the outrage down to the time when the fanatic, joined
by six others, selected a place in which to make a stand against the troops. The song
then proceeds as follows ; —
The news now spread, and a petition from the taluk reached the huzur
cutcherry. Then the chiefs were angry and assembled officers, subedars at the huzur ; a
company was got ready, the Feringees gave the order to go quickly ; there were many
Mussulmen in the company ; the drums beat, and Pallakur Raman went with the
company ; the Kafirs were all delighted at its going out, and many persons accompanied
it to assist and see to the fun.
“The Mussulmen in the company said to one another, ‘The Feringee’s order is
given to fight; if we do not fight we shall be brought to ‘ Kott-mashal ’ (court-martial) ;
go along quickly ’ (sic). The sepoys with belts on and guns on their shoulders, Pallakar
Raman Menon with his people marched away !
“The officers in palkis, etc., cried out, ‘ Clal ! chalol (sic Get on! get on !) “The
Pallakar’s people said ‘Keep together, and do not separate.’ Kaasim, subadar of the
company, said, ‘Do not fear ! we shall soon catch them !’
“On hearing Kaasim, all the men of the company were pleased and went on.
The bugle went ‘Didi ! didi1’ and the drum ‘Dado dado do !’ All kept step with the
music, but in their hearts they were afraid !
“The officers’ bearers called out ‘ Tukkadu dam tukkada dam dim, dim, dim’
“The sound of the bugle and the tramp of the sepoys’ foot were very stirring!
Our Commanding Officer was on a horse ; he instructed the men and called out ‘Chal !
Chal !’ (Gel along, get along).
“The sepoys began to think, ‘ Here is trouble on our heads ; Kaasim Subadar is
taking us, poor Mussulmen, along with him ! The Jemadar Mallikappen also told the
men to go along rapidly, and they would be rewarded if they caught them ; he said,
‘Cannot we, a hundred men, seize seven ? There is nothing to be afraid of. My sword
tells me we shall be victorious to-day ! '
“Going along altogether, about 2,000 persons may have joined,
“They reached Achali Pannjkar’s house and surrounded it nobody knew how
many persons were inside.
“As a man in the jungle approaches a tiger’s lair cautiously, so did these men go
up to the house. They were as wary as if they were walking into a lion’s mouth !
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“Pallakar Raman (wearer of a ball of hair, i.e. a Nayar) called out ‘Are you afraid of
seven half-starved wretches ? We know all about them ; they are not demons from another world. Here
you have arms ! This is not a fort you have to take : these men must die if not taken by us alive’
“All went close to the house. They wanted to take the Mappiilas alive, but on
getting close their intention vanished as an image from a glass !
"Pallakar Raman called out, ‘Why do not you seven wine outside ? Your time is up ! ’
The men inside replied, ‘Wait a bit ; as soon as we finish a prayer or two we will came. Get ready
for us. We have done this by Syed Aim's order, and with his blessing, to remove the slur from our
religion’
Then saying ‘Praise to God the highest, etc., etc.’ the seven kissed each others hands
and came out. It was a rainy day and the guns fired at them missed their marks ; the
Mappillas got into the midst of the sepoys ; all bolted as a snake makes for its hole when
men assemble and attack it. Of all the persons who had been standing outside not one
remained. The number of men killed by tiger Hussein’s blows and the number who fell
by Bookari’s strokes—heads down, feet up, broken necked (an immense number)—we
know not, and the number of heads and arms separated by Ali Hussein’s blows we
cannot tell, neither can we estimate the number who, on hearing Mussa Kutti’s voice,
fell down, or the number destroyed by the lion-child Mohidin.
The Mappillas called out to the sepoys, ‘You have come to fight us ; why do not
you stay ? ’ and to the company officers ‘Kum hir! Kott-mashal ! Koni loff ysholder! Kumpani !
Shut ! phayr ! ’ (sic- Come here ! Court-martial ! Company left shoulders ! Company Shoot ! Fire !)
“Then all stopped and loaded again, firing from different places. Kassim
Subadar seized Bookari, who was pursuing the fugitives. Bookari released himself and
stabbed Kassim, cutting him in half. An officer came in front ; he was cut into two also :
after that Mussa Kutti killed eight persons and wounded nineteen. The sepoys formed
up, all the cutcherry people with them, but the Mappillas broke them again. Then the
Mappillas congratulated each other and said ‘We are now contented ; the disgrace to our
religion is far removed.’
The Mappillas called out to the regiment, ‘Do not run away ; we are all badly
Wounded and cannot fight any more ; you may now come and take our lives ! Then the Pultun
people fired again and killed them.
“The seven died as martyrs, and houris of paradise comforted them and their
bodies remained where they fell in a place pleasant for them.
“The names of the seven were notorious over the world, and I also write these
praises on their behalf. All Mussulmen should remember these martyrs and should hold
them in veneration over their nearest relatives. I have made this poem by order of
certain Sahiban, viz., Kadir Sahib Markar, Kunji Mohidin, inhabitants of Vettatt
Pudiangadi, and they highly approve of these verses.
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May God give courage to all Mussulmen to remove disgrace from their religion,
and let all persons pray that in similar cases the martyrs may be admitted into paradise1!”
NOTEs: 1. Most of the facts related are of course without foundation, but the sepoy troops were
so often broken by the fanatics that the authorities decided at last not to employ them again in such
expeditions. END of NOTEs
Malayalam is rich in proverbs, in “wise saws and modern instances,” and there
is nothing the Malayali loves better than to give a turn to conversation by an apt saying.
The proverbs depend as much on rhythm and alliterative and other affinities as on
terseness of expression, and on sarcasm, wit, and humour as much as on common sense.
The second, for instance, of those that are to be found printed in Appendix X
runs thus : Akattu kattiyum— purattu pattiyam” : literally “ knife inside, plaster outside,”
reminding one of the Old Testament verse : “The words of his mouth were smoother than
butter, but war was in his heart : his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.” Ps. 55,
21.
The fifty-fifth is also very terse in its expression, and though it is wholly Sanskrit
it is in common use in Malabar : “Artham anartham” : literally, “riches (are) ruin.”
In the hundred and eighty-fourth the Malayali gives expression to his scorn of
the sordidness of foreign Brahmans : “ Uttu ketta pattar—attu ketta panni,” meaning the
Pattar runs as fast to a rice distribution as the wild pig runs from its pursuers. The Pattar
is often the butt for a Malayans wit and sarcasm, and in one proverb he classes him with
black beetles and bandicoots (a kind of large rat) as among the plagues of Keralam.
The proverbs translated in the appendix are only a few out of hundreds, and are
taken from the beginning of a small pamphlet of them published in Malayalam at
Mangalore in 1868 and containing nine hundred and ninety such phrases.
Malayalam is written in more than one alphabet, and that employed in the most
ancient written documents extant—the Jews’ and Syrians’ copper-plate grants—is
known as the Vatteluttu. Besides it there is its derived alphabet called Koleluttu, chiefly
used in keeping the records in Rajas’ houses. And lastly, there is the modern Malayalam
alphabet introduced by Tunjatta Eluttachchan.
Dr. Burnell styles the Vatteluttu “the original Tamil alphabet which was once
used in all that part of the peninsula south of Tanjore, and also in South Malabar and
Travancore.”
In a modern form it is still known, but if used at all its use is very limited. Its
origin has not hitherto been traced. Dr. Burnell said of it : “The only possible
conclusion, therefore, is that the S. Acoka and Vatteluttu alphabets are independent
adaptations of some foreign character the first to a Sanskritic, the last to a Dravidian
language.” And he thought that both had “a common Semitic origin.”
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The Vattelultu alphabet “remained in use” in Malabar, Dr. Burnell wrote, “up to
the end of the seventeenth century among the Hindus, and since then in the form of the
Koleluttu (= sceptre writing), it is the character in which the Hindu sovereigns have their
grants drawn up.”
The modern Malayalam alphabet introduced by Tunjatta Eluttachchan comes
from the Grantha—the Tamil-Sanskrit character and Dr. Burnell says of the application
by Tunjatta Eluttachchan of the Aryaeluttu (as it is sometimes called) to the vernacular
Malayalam that “beyond adopting the Vatteluttu signs for r, l and l (റ, ല, and ള), he did
nothing whatever to systematise the orthography, which till lately was most defective, or
to supply signs for letters (e.g. u) which are wanting in most of the other Dravidian
languages.”
It will be seen from the above account that there is but little of interest or of
importance in Malayalam literature, and the scholars who have of late years studied the
language have been attracted to it rather by the philological interest attached to it than
by anything else. Mr. F. W. Ellis in his essay, from which numerous quotations have
been taken, long ago saw the importance of comparative philology, and the following
further quotation from his essay on Malayalam is very interesting from a historical point
of view : — “He who shall conquer the difficulties which the absurd speculations of the idle or the
ignorant have thrown in his way, and establish etymology on the firm basis of truth and reason, will
suggest to the philosopher new and important speculations on mankind, and open to the historian views
of the origin and connection of nations which he can derive from no other source.”
Commenting on this and the essay generally Dr. Burnell observes : “It was not
till 1816 that Bopp published his ‘ Conjugation, system, which was the beginning of
Comparative Philology in Europe,” so that Mr. F. W. Ellis had, probably by some years,
anticipated in his Malayalam researches the importance to which this science would rise,
and Dr. Burnell justly adds : “ His unfortunate end—he was poisoned by accident—
prevented his doing much, for he was only forty when he died, but he cannot be robbed
of his due fame by the success of others more lucky than he was.”
Among those who have followed in the path traced out for them by Mr. Ellis,
not the least successful is the author of the standard Dictionary of Malayalam and
English—Dr. K. Gundert. The lavish industry, research, and ability displayed in this
work, which was published in 1872, are beyond all praise, and have opened up to the
enquirer, as Mr. Ellis foresaw, new and truthful explanations of what was in former days
all mystery and doubt. There is hardly a page in this present work which in one way or
other does not derive authority or enlightenment from Dr. Gundert’s labours and
scholarship.
Besides Malayalam there is one other territorial language in Malabar—Mahl to
wit—the language of the Minicoy Islanders. Owing to the remoteness of the island, its
small size, and the scanty means of communication with it, very little progress has been
made in the knowledge of its language ; but in Appendix XL will be found a vocabulary
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taken down at odd times from the lips of Ali Malikhan, the late headman of the island,
The vocabulary was taken down in Malayalam, and it has been transliterated in the
method used in this volume. But it has not been carefully revised or even arranged, and
any conclusions to be drawn from it should therefore be accepted with caution. There is
no doubt, however, that their system of notation is the duodecimal modified by the
introduction of various foreign terms.
There also seem to be, as in Malayalam, no personal suffixes to the verbal
tenses. It is singular that living in an island, they have no word for such a thing except
“country.” They have names for each day of the week, chiefly Sanskrit derivatives, but
no word apparently for “week” itself. They use Dravidian words for quarter and three-
quarters, while for “half” there seems to be an indigenous term.
It only remains to speak of the state of education among the people, and the
chief facts are contained in the subjoined statement taken from the census (1881)
figures:
Taluks Under Instructed Illiterate, including Total
instruction not stated
Chirakkal 9,486 17,772 245,411 272,669
Kottayam 5,567 12,764 147,444 165,775
Kurumbranad 7,944 20,206 232,874 261,024
Wynad 1,370 3,853 82,868 88,091
Calicut 6,384 18,721 180,857 205,962
Ernad 5,114 14,823 276,206 206,143
Walluvanad 7,117 19,149 281,836 308,102
Palghat 11,018 25,703 305,733 342,454
Ponnani 12,769 27,762 352,123 392,654
Cochin 1,799 4,046 15,515 21,300
Island 246 2,377 8,178 10,801
TOTAL 68,814 167,176 2,129,045 2,365,035
NOTEs by VED: Typographical errors might be there in the above table. END of NOTEs by VED
Of those “under instruction” 59,264 were males and 9,550 were females ; of the
“instructed ” 147,167 were males and 20,009 were females ; and of the “illiterate and not
stated” 967,173 were males and 1,160,471 were females. To cope with this dense mass
of ignorance a good deal of attention has been bestowed in the last twenty-five years on
schools and education, and the progress obtained will be seen from the following
figures:—
Years University High Middle Elementary Normal
pupils school school pupils school
pupils pupils pupils
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1857-58 .. 205 580 116 ..
1862-63 .. 381 577 .. 32
1867-68 10 753 2,012 1,013 26
1872-73 32 562 3,696 11,671 22
1877-78 55 295 1,180 27,527 90
1882-83 149 341 1,431 37,136 120
Of the pupils in 1882-83, 5,270 were girls. Many Malayali youths proceed to
Madras and elsewhere to complete their education, and if the numbers of these were
added, there would be a considerable increase in the numbers shown in the column
headed “University pupils.”
The above includes only such pupils as attend schools brought under inspection
and control by the Educational Department. There are, as a comparison of the two
statements will show, numerous other scholars educated after a fashion in indigenous
schools. Of the system of teaching adopted by the educational authorities it is
unnecessary to say anything here, but of the Hindu system which it is gradually
supplanting—the indigenous methods— the following notes may be of interest.
The first step in such schools is to teach the boys, and girls too—for
the indigenous schools are freely attended by girls—the alphabet : some sand
is spread on the floor and the letters are learnt by tracing them in the sand
with the forefinger. The teacher next writes on a cadjan leaf some slogams
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(verses) relating to Ganapati and other gods. These are spelt out by the boys
and girls and learnt by heart and sung.
The next stage is the reading (singing) of the Amaram, a collection of
slogams (verses) telling the names of all things in heaven and on earth and
under the earth—gods, and men and living animals, trees and stocks and
stones. After this comes grammar, taught on cadjan leaves, and also by means
of slogams (verses) which are sung. Finally, the pupils who have advanced thus
far are set to read (sing) the Ramayanam, Bhagavatam, etc, written in the
“maccaronic verse” described above by Mr. F. W. Ellis.
The Vyagaranam and other sastrams follow on this. A pupil who has
advanced thus far is considered very far advanced in learning, but those who
get so far as to be able to read and understand the Ramayanam and the other
epics are usually considered quite learned enough, and the generality of people
do not get further than spelling out the Amaram. It will be seen that reciting or
singing plays a very important part in this system.
For indigenous Brahmans there are three Sanskrit colleges, two of which—
Tirunavayi in Ponnani taluk and Pulayi in Kurumbranad taluk—are in Malabar, and the
third is at Trichchur (Tirusivapperur) in the Cochin Native State.
Each college is presided over by a Vadhyan or teacher. The generality of the
Brahmans educated in these places are taught to repeat their particular Veda without
understanding it. It is only a very small number who can both read and interpret the
Vedas, and the proportion in which these, are studied by the Nambutiri families is as
follows:
Rik Vedists 532 families
Yajur do 407 do
Sama do 7 do
Excluded from reading the Vedas or uncertain 71 do
....................
Total 1,017
But it must not be supposed that the teaching which the Nambutiri Brahmans
receive is wholly religious. The study of the different sciences seems to have descended
in particular families, and astronomy in particular has had great attention paid to it, and
the knowledge of it is fairly exact. These Brahmans had a monopoly of learning for
many centuries, and doubtless this was one of the ways in which they managed to secure
such commanding influence in the country.
Muhammadan children are likewise taught to repeat, without understanding, the
Koran, and in addition to this elementary Malayalam writing is taught. But at Ponnani
there exists a Muhammadan college, founded, it is said, some six hundred years ago by
an Arab named Zoyn-ud-din. Ho took or received the title of Mukhaddam, an Arabic
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word meaning the first or foremost in an assembly, etc. He married a Mappilla
(indigenous Muhammadan) woman, and his descendants in the female line have retained
the title. The present Mukhaddam at Ponnani is the twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth in the
line of succession.
The students at the college are supported by the Ponnani towns people, the
custom being to quarter two students in each house. The students study in the public or
Jammat or (as it is sometimes called) Friday Mosque, and in their undergraduate stage
they are called Mullas. There is apparently very little system in their course of study up
to the taking of the degree of Mutaliyar, i.e elder or priest. The word is sometimes
pronounced Musaliyar, and very often by ignorant people as Moyaliyar.
There is no examination, but the most diligent and most able of the Mullas are
sought out by the Mukhaddam and are invited by him to join in the public reading with
him at the “big lamp” in the Jammat Mosque. This invitation is considered as a sign of
their fitness for the degree, which they assume without further preliminaries.
Genuine Arabs, of whom many families of pure blood are settled on the coast,
despise the learning thus imparted and are themselves highly educated in the Arab sense.
Their knowledge of their own books of science and of history is very often profound,
and to a sympathetic listener who knows Malayalam they love to discourse on such
subjects. They have a great regard for the truth, and in their finer feelings they approach
nearer to the standard of English gentlemen than any other class of persons in Malabar.
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Section D.— Caste and Occupations.
In Chapter XI of the Madras Census (1871) Report, in treating of caste,
Surgeon-General Cornish wrote as follows : “The subject of caste divisions among the
Hindus is one that would take a lifetime of labour to elucidate. It is a subject on which
no two divisions or subdivisions of the people themselves are agreed, and upon which
European authorities who have paid any attention to it differ hopelessly. The operation
of the caste system is to isolate completely the members of each caste or sub-caste; and
whatever a native may know of his own peculiar branch, he is, as a rule, grossly ignorant
of the habits and customs, or the origin, of those outside the pale of his own section of
the community.”
To reduce the subject to something like order and method, the Madras Town
Census Committee proposed, in 1869, a system of classification, which was adopted in
the census 1871, and this system is thus described by Surgeon-General Cornish : “ The
committee started with the assumption that the present Hindu castes must all have
branched out from a few parent stems ; that from the first there must have been a
primitive division of labour, and hence of caste, corresponding to the great divisions of
labour now existing, i.e., Professional, Personal Service, Commercial, Agricultural,
Industrial and Non-productive.”
They are probably correct in stating that in “early times the present almost
innumerable sub-divisions of castes did not exist, and that a large number are mere
repetitions of castes in another tribe and language. Long separation and infrequent
communication have led to insulation so complete that former union is forgotten and
intermarriage is prohibited.
Another very large aggregate of the population has sprung from a few root
castes, simply because of local variations in the mode of labour. Length of time has
fossilised minute changes, and new castes have grown up. These also, from an ethnic
and social point of view, remain one and the same caste.”
The committee accepted, without question, the divisions of the Hindu
community into (1) Brahmans, (2) Kshairiyas, (3) Vaisyas, (4) Sudras, and (5) Out-castes.
After examining, at some length, the Hindu sacred writings Dr. Cornish
observed : “It is plain that in a critical inquiry regarding the origin of caste we can place
no reliance upon the statements made in the Hindu sacred writings.” The tendency of
these writings was too obviously the exaltation of the Brahman at the expense of the
other castes. He concluded, moreover, that “the whole caste system, as it has come
down to us, bears unmistakable evidence of Brahmanical origin ;” and finally arrived at a
“ natural explanation ” of the origin of caste which he thus described ; “The later Aryan
colonists evidently saw that if they were to preserve their individuality and supremacy,
they must draw a hard-and-fast line between themselves, the earlier and partly
degenerated Aryans, and the brown and black races of the country, and hence probably
we get a natural explanation of the origin of caste.”
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As bearing upon this important subject of the origin of the caste system the
evidence of the early Syrian Christians’ deed, translated by Dr. Gundert in Madras
Journal of Literature and Science, Vol. XIII, Part I, deserves, it would seem, a prominent
place, but a few preliminary remarks are necessary before setting forth this evidence. If it
were necessary to sum up in one word the law of the country as it stood before the
Muhammadan invasion (1766 A.D.) and British occupation (1792 A.D.), that word
would undoubtedly be the word “Custom.”
In Malayalam it would be “Maryada” “Manrgam” “Acharam” all signifying
established rule and custom, and all of them Sanskrit words. There can hardly be a
doubt that the high degree of civilisation to which the country had advanced at a
comparatively early period was due to Aryan immigrants from the north, and these
immigrants brought with them Aryan ideas of method and order in civil government
which became the law of the land.
Among other things which they imported was “jati” (caste). There is no
indigenous word either in Malayalam or in any other of the Dravidian languages to
signify caste, Jati itself, like all other Malayalam words beginning with “j”, is a foreign
word and expresses a foreign and not a Dravidian idea. The root of the word is the
Sanskrit “jan” and it simply means “birth.”
As applied in the law of the land, it was the “custom” connected with “birth.”
But of course Malayalis have an indigenous word for “birth,” and, in common with
Tamil, Canarese and Tulu, they use a verb signifying to bring forth, and from it the
Tamils and Malayalis form a verbal noun peru (birth). And this word peru occurs in the
well-known compound word nir-atti-peru, signifying the “water-contact birthright” in
land, equivalent to the later Sanskrit word janmam, (birthright) used for the same
purpose.
The indigenous word for “birth” seems thus to have acquired at a very early
period a peculiar signification of its own for it occurs in this sense in the Cochin Jews’
deed—of date about the beginning of the eighth century A.D.—and it was thus perhaps
not available for the purpose of defining “caste.” The word Jati (caste) was not,
however, the only Sanskrit word used in the development of tire caste system, and the
words Karalar and Karanmei (modern Karayma ) —the former used twice and the latter
once in the second (of date about the first quarter of the ninth century A.D.) of the
Syrians’ deeds—deserve attention.
These are not pure Sanskrit words, but they come from a Sanskrit root with a
Dravidian termination, and they originally implied a trust and correlative duty. Certain
classes of citizens were, according to that deed, entrusted with certain functions, which
functions it was their duty, as an organised community in the body politic, to fulfil . A
certain class called the planters—that is to say, the caste now known as the Tiyar
(Dwipar — islanders) or Iluvar (Simhalar , Sihalar, Ihalar Cingalese)—were entrusted with
the duty of planting up the waste lands. They are specifically referred to elsewhere in the
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same deed as the Islanders with a headman of their guild. Two of their specific privileges
are also mentioned in the deed, namely, the “Footrope right (for mounting trees)” and
the "Ladder right (for a similar purpose)”.
NOTEs by VED: The contention that Ezhavas and Thiyyas (two separates castes in themselves)
are same is not correct. Moreover the word Thiyya might not be a contortion of the word dweepar. END
of NOTEs by VED
Curiously enough, although the word Karanmei (modern Karayma) has come in
the course of ages ordinarily to signify something very different, yet the ancient meaning
is still occasionally to bo met with by the diligent observer. He will find it, however, not
in the mouths of the learned or the well-to-do, but in the mouths of the poor cultivators
in out-of-theway parts of the country, where archaic forms of words and archaic ideas
still survive. The Iluvar or planters in these parts still look upon it as their duly in the
body politic to form gardens and to plant up the wastes with trees.
So it was with the “setters,” whoso duly it was to “set” the rice plants. This class
or caste is also specifically named in the deed as the Vellalar (that is, irrigators), a caste
which subsists to the present day, but which, for reasons to be presently alluded to, has
not kept itself as distinct as the planters in the body politic.
Again it was declared to be the duty of the Jewish and Syrian guilds assembled
in their respective corporate headquarters at Anjuvannam and Manigramam to protect
the church peoples’ (Palliyar) town. This duty of “protection” was a most important
function in the body politic. The Jews and Syrians were by other deeds incorporated in
the Malayali nation, and in the second of the Syrians’ deeds it is clear that the position
assigned to them was that of equality with the Six Hundred ” of the nad (that is, of the
county).
The “Six Hundred” are both in this deed and in another ancient one referred to
as the protectors, and in the latter they are also referred to as the supervisors (the
Kanakkar), a word which has come down to modem days and which has been much
misunderstood.
The Nayars (so styled from a Sanskrit word signifying leader, in the honorific
plural lord, and in ordinary sense soldier) were the “protectors” of the country, and, as
such, crystallised readily into the existing caste of Nayars, with numerous branches.
Their other function of supervision (Kanam) still also remained with them almost
unimpaired down to the time of the British occupation ; but of recent years, owing to
the ignorance of the British courts of justice, the term has quite lost its proper
signification. The Nayars were, if we may credit tradition, also Vellalar (that is,
irrigators), but of course their most important, most consequential, and most acceptable
function was the protection duty and trust, and so there are comparatively few of the
original Vellalar (irrigator) caste in the district.
Then, again, it was the duty of the heads of the Syrian Church (Palliyar) to
render to the powers above them—who were respectively the Kon or king, or Perumal
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or emperor*, and the Jewish and Syrian protector guilds in their corporate capacities—a
trustworthy account of the shares of produce of the land which respectively fell to them.
But it seems very doubtful if the shares which respectively fell to the powers above them
were shares of the land produce alone : it would, of course, in an agricultural country be
the chief source of their revenues, and probably as regards the protector guild the only
one. The word Varakkol, used in the deed, means, however, simply “sharing staff of
office,” and the wording of some of the clauses seems to point to a share, in all gains,
however made, being paid to the central authority—the lion (that is, shepherd or king).
As a matter of fact this system of sharing gains has not survived in Malabar in any other
industry but agriculture, but the history is peculiar as will be seen further on, and fully
accounts for this fact.
On the other hand, of course, the sharing system in a pure Hindu State is well
known and exists to the present day, and extends to all classes of the community, no
matter how humble or how despised their callings may be.
Finally, the Palliyar themselves were on the precise footing of members of the
“protector guild” established in out-of-the-way parts of the country. Their “sharing
staff” duty would ordinarily have constituted of them a distinct caste, but as members of
the “protector guild” the protectors’ duty would overshadow their minor duty as
“sharing staff” office holders. And this seems to have been what actually happened to
the Nayars who were scattered over the place of the country not only as supervisors
holding the “sharing staff” of office, but as local militia and “protectors.”
Down to recent times the Nayars were primarily the “protecting” caste, but as a
matter of fact also they inherited the “sharing staff” office functions as Kanakkar. In this
way, there came to be therefore no distinct caste of “sharing staff ” office holders, or at
least none are traceable now.
If this reasoning and the facts on which it is founded are correct, then it follows
that the origin of the caste system is to be sought, not so much in any ethnic
circumstances of blood connection as Dr. Cornish suggests, as in the ordinary every-day
system of civil government imported into the country by Aryan immigrants, and readily
adopted by the alien peoples among whom the immigrants came, not as conquerors, but
as peaceful citizens, able by their extensive influence elsewhere to assist the people
among whom they settled.
The idea in fact embodied in the caste system of civil government was the idea
which permeates Hindu society—the idea of the family household. The Aryans thought,
and to a certain extent wisely thought, that they could not do better in organising their
State than to copy the example continually before their eyes and to organise it on the
model of a well-regulated household. There they saw each member of it told off to
perform certain clear and distinct functions. The clearer and more distinct those
functions were, the better were the household affairs managed. The cook must attend to
the kitchen, the lady’s maid to her mistress’ attire; the sweeper must not interfere with
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The people
the food, nor the water-man with the lady’s muslins. In no country under the sun has
the efficient organisation by households—by families -been better understood or more
extensively carried out than in India. And when questions of civil administration were
under consideration it was the most natural thing to turn to the family as a model. The
soldier was told off to his especial calling, the merchant to his accounts and trade, the
cultivator to his plough.
Nothing strikes the fancy more strongly in the old Hindu world stories than the
picture presented of fighting men killing each other in one field, while the husbandman
peacefully tilled the one adjoining, and the Brahman sat silently contemplating creation
under a neighbouring sacred tree. Busy each in their own spheres, it mattered very little
to them how it fared with others having other and distinct functions.
Society organised on these lines was capable of easy and rapid development, and
this no doubt accounts for the advanced state of the people in early times, on which it is
unnecessary here to dwell.
A time came of course, and came quickly too, when development ceased, when
custom became lord paramount, and when society, turned in (as it were) upon itself,
began to waste its energies in multiplying distinctions of caste and in searching out hair-
splitting differences. This followed, of necessity, for the bonds of caste being inherited
at birth are as rigid as they are strong. Even criminals at last set up as civic corporations,
as witness the powerful thief or robber caste in Southern India. Even now, when custom
is no longer sole lord of the land, castes continue to multiply, nor will it be otherwise till
British freedom evokes, as it is sure to do in good time, a national sentiment, and forms
a nation out of the confusing congeries of tribal guilds at present composing it.
Looked at from this point of view, it is clear that questions of caste and
questions of hereditary occupation ought to be considered together. The census figures
unfortunately give insufficient data for an analysis of the extent to which castes have
fallen away from their hereditary trades as professions, but something may be learnt
from the returns. It is unfortunate, however, that such an essentially European
classification of occupations has been adopted in the census returns, for it is only
confusing to suppose (as the Madras Town Census Committee supposed) that castes
naturally ranged themselves at first under the heads adopted in the census tables of
Professional, Personal Service, Commercial, Agricultural, Industrial, and Non-
productive.
Some of these divisions are right, but others are not merely wrong, but
misleading. What ought to have been done was to have adopted the four great divisions
into which the Hindus themselves say they were originally divided, viz :
(1) The sacrificers (God-compellers) and Men of Learning ;
(2) The protectors and governing classes ;
(3) The traders and agriculturists ;
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(4) The servile classes ; and to have added to
this a fifth class of apparently later origin— -
(5) The mechanics and handicraftsmen ; and all
other classes now existing would have fallen under
a separate class of—
(G) Miscellaneous.
It would have been interesting to have
noted to what extent persons belonging to one or
other of these great caste divisions had encroached upon the hereditary occupations of
persons belonging to other divisions ; but occupations have boon treated in the census
1881 returns as something quite unconnected with caste.
Foreigners (such as the British and Parsis) and people of foreign religions (such
as the Muhammadans) should thou have been separately treated in order to show to
what extent they too had encroached upon the hereditary occupations of the Hindus.
The census returns do not permit of such a comparison being made, nor are the returns
even of castes so distinct as could be desired, so that the following is merely an attempt
to classify the Hindu castes under the indigenous hereditary occupation or caste, guilds :
Division I
The sacrifice's (God-compellers) and Men of Learning
Totals
Brahman (Malayali and foreign) . . . . 47,683
Division II.
The Protectors and Governing Classes,
Maravan (Tamils—Watchers) . . 130
Mutratcha (Tamils—Watchers) . . 6
Nayars (Militia) .. .. 321,674
Rajput (Foreigners) . . . . 362
322,178
Division III.
. (a) The Traders.
Balija (Tolugus) . . . . . . 1,466
Komati (Tamils) . . . . . . 1,096
Shetti (Tamils) . . . . . . 20,945
Vaniyan and Gandlu .. . 42,781
Vanniyan (Tamils) . . . . . . 1,259
67,547
(b) The Agriculturists.
Agamudayan (Tamils) .. . . 184
Golla or Idaiyar (Herdsmen) . . 2,889
Gouda (Herdsmen) . . . . . . 1,062
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Kurumbar (Shepherds, Junglemen) 2,062

Kuruba Golla (Herdsmen) . . . . 16
Padayachi (Tamils) . . . . . 1,008
Reddi (Telugus) . . . . . . 119
Shanan or Idiga & Tiyan or Ilavan (Planters) 559,7 17
Telugalu or Vadugar (North countrymen) 7,811
Vellalan (Irrigators) . . . . 7,525
Yadavulu (Telugus) . . . . 24
582,417
Division IV.
The Servile Classes
Palli (Ploughmen) . . . . . . 40,809
Parayan (Slaves) . . . . . . 93,612
Ambattan (Barbers—Serving all castes, but not indiscriminately). 8,347
Oddar (East Coast tank-diggers) . . 1,682
Upparavan (East Coast tank digger) 1
Vannan (Washerman—Serving all castes, but not indiscriminately). 37,556
182,007
Division V.
Mechanics and Handicraftsmen
Devangulu (Telugus) . . . . 10
Kaikalar (Weavers) . . . . 20,465
Kamsalar or Kammalar (Carpenters, Braziers, Stone-masons, Goldsmiths,
Blacksmiths) . . . . 51,553
Kummara or Kushavan (Potters) . . 11,770
Madiyu (Workers in leather ?) . . 181,614
Sale (Weavers) .. .. .. 21,589
Seniyan (Tamils—Weavers) 486
287,487
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Division VI.
Miscellaneous
Ambalakaran (Tamils—Chiefs of the Kallar ?) .. .. .. .. 27
Besta or Valayan (Fishermen) 16,024
Lingadhari (Lingavites—No caste). 71
Kallan (Tamils—Thief, Robber caste) . . . . . . . . 47
Shembadavan (Fishmongers) . . 167
Others 162,175
Not stated . . , . . . . . 1,441
179,952
Grand total 1,669,271
The names of the different castes in the above list have been adopted from the
census tables but they are not strictly applicable to Malabar. It will of course be urged
against this table that such castes as the planters—the Tiyar or Ilavar should not find a
place in the division corresponding to the agriculturists of original Aryan organisation,
but it must be remembered that the Aryans were, in dealing with the aboriginal
population of Malabar, not dealing with their own people but with an alien race. They
had no sufficient body of "protectors” of their own race to fall back upon, so they had
perforce to acknowledge as “protectors” the aboriginal ruling race,- the Nayars —
whom they designated as “Sudras” but in reality treated as Kshatriyas.
If their “protectors” were called Sudras (servile classes), then the castes below
Sudras would not have any footing in the original Aryan organisation. This is so, and it is
moreover, most strenuously maintained to the present day. Nevertheless it is perfectly
clear from the wording of the Syrians’ deed that the planters—the islanders—who are
still the most numerous body of Hindus in the district, were originally an organised
agricultural caste with a distinct function in the body politic. The, real fact seems to have
been that the Aryans who introduced the political system of caste into Malabar were
unwilling to raise even the aboriginal ruling race to the dignity of the pure Kshatriya
caste of Aryans.
Very possibly they were Kshatriyas1 themselves who introduced the system.
And yet the State organisation required that there should be a protector or Kshatriya
casts, so they solved the difficulty by inventing a term—-Nayan, plu. Nayar (Sans, leader,
soldier)— and by applying it to the caste whom they constituted protectors and yet
treated as “Sudras” (servile caste). In this way the real agriculturists except the Vellalar
(irrigators) out of whom the caste of Nayars seems to have been originally formed, came
to be treated as being outside the caste system altogether.
NOTEs*: 1 Conf. the Dutch Chaplain (but a Tamil by birth) P. de Melhe’s account of the
tradition current in his time. He said that the Chera, Chola and Pandya rulers were all Kshatriyas and
belonged respectively to the races of the fire, of the sun, and of the moon, Ind. Ant. X, 85 END of
NOTEs
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The people
*NOTEs by VED: These notes by native observer can be suspect. They might usually write
what found acceptable by the ruling classes. In many locations in the subcontinent, there was a powerful
urge to be connected to the higher echelon of the brahminical caste layers. END of NOTEs by VED
To the present day the higher castes maintain most strenuously that the Tiyar—
the islanders, the planters of the community—are outcastes.
The final organisation of castes in Malabar probably took place about the eighth
century A.D., simultaneously with the rise of the Nambutiri Brahmans to power and
influence. The Aryan Jains who had preceded the latter had probably already organised
the community in the Aryan fashion into corporate guilds, and it only needed the idea of
caste as a religious institution to be imported into the country by the Vedic Brahmans to
bring about the crystallisation (so to speak) of the various caste elements.
In the census 1881 returns the population has been classed according to actual
occupations as follows :
I. Professional
1. Government 7,206 57 7,263

2. Defence 2,274 2,274
3. Learning, literature etc. 27, 657 14,588 42,245
Total 37,137 14,645 51,782
II. Domestic
4. Wives 866 866

5. Personal offices 5,739 6,001 11,794
Total 5,793 6867 53,704
III. Commercial
6. Money, house, good dealing 16,968 2,304 19,272

7. Carrying 32,299 2,133 34,432
Total 49,267 4,437 53,704
IV. Agricultural
8. Occupancy of land & agriculture 346,868 228631 575,499

9. Care of animals 13,082 3948 17,030
Total 359,950 232,579 592,529
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V. Industrial
10. Art and mechanics 19,673 417 20,090

11. Textile fabrics and dress 30,097 61,973 92,070
12. Food and drinks 72,632 52,998 125,630
13. Animal substances 705 1,599 2,304
14. Vegetable substances 27,830 14,030 41,860
15. Mineral substances 65,708 6,742 72,450
Total 216,645 6,742 354,404
VI. Indefinite and Non-productive
16. Labour (specified) 29,066 18,081 41,147

17. Rank and property (without 31 30 61
occupation)
18. No specified occupation 476,385 776,336 1,252,721
Total 505,482 794,474 1,299,956
Grand total 1,174,274 1,190,761 2,365,035
Of the different castes in Malabar much information has been collected and a
great deal might be written, but it will probably suffice to notice here the chief
peculiarities of the more noteworthy among the Malayali castes.
And first it may be noticed that the Malayalis distinguished two kinds of
pollutions, viz,., by people whose very approach within certain defined distances causes
atmospheric pollution to those of the higher castes, and by people who only pollute by
actual contact.
Among the first class may be mentioned the following, and the prescribed
distances at which they must stand, viz.
Feet.
The Nayadi (dog-catcher) 72
The Pulayan (agrostic slave) 64
The Kanisan (astrologer) 30
The Mukkuvan (fisherman), etc. 24
But women, even of equal caste-rank, pollute if at certain times they come
within certain distances, and this custom seems to prevail even among the lowest castes.
A newly confined woman has to stand at a distance of eighteen feet and a menstruating
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women at twelve feet ; hence the necessity in all respectable houses for special buildings
set apart for special use by the women.
Among the second class are ranked Muhammadans, Christians and foreign
Hindus, who defile only by touch. And it is a sufficiently remarkable fact that a corpse
even may be defiled by touching it. This feeling on the part of the Hindus loads to
various inconveniences, for it is only in the very last resort that a European or a low-
caste medical man is permitted to touch a sick person.
Pollution, however acquired, by the near approach of a low-caste man or by
touch, can only by washed out by complete immersion in water. Even to use hot water
seems to be against the canon. And great are the perplexities of the strictly conservative,
and noteworthy are some of the devices by which the better castes try to turn the flank
(so to speak) of this law, now that greater freedom in moving about the country is
necessitated by modern requirements. The water must be in a natural tank or stream :
even Ganges water if confined in a tub would perhaps fail to wash away pollution.
The strictly orthodox are
sometimes driven to emptying big
bottles of boiling water into the
stream above the place of bathing
in order that the health of the
bather may not suffer when on a
journey in a cold climate. The
orthodox fashion is to hold the
nose with finger and dip completely
under the surface when nothing
more loathsome has to be washed
off than the polluting touch of a
European’s friendly shake of the hand. This bath is necessary before food can be
partaken, or a sacred place entered, or several other acts performed.
Tho highest castes are naturally the greatest sticklers for this observance, and
although British freedom has made inroads on the Hindu custom in this respect, chiefly
through the influence of education and extended knowledge, it is too soon yet to look
forward to the final extinction of this anomalous custom.
Of the Malayali castes the most exclusive, and the most conservative, and in the
European sense, nearly the most unenlightened is that of the indigenous Malayali
Brahmans called Numbuthiris, If they did not introduce caste, as a political institution,
into the country, they atleast seem to have given to it its most recent development, and
they are its staunchest upholders now. They seem to have embodied in the Sanskrit
language rules of life regulating their most trivial actions, and at every step their conduct
is hampered and restrained by what, appear to European eyes absurd customs.
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They shun publicity, and it is exceedingly difficult
to obtain exact knowledge of what they do, or think, or
feel. In ancient times their influence seems to have been
supreme in the State councils, as indeed their caste name
implies, for Dr. Gumlert derives the word from the
Dravidian verb nambuka (= to confide, desire) and the
common Sanskrit affix tiri1 (= office, dignity).
NOTEs: 1. Tiru, blessed, fortunate — sri, END of NOTEs
There are several other derivations, but all are

more or less fanciful, and the above may be accepted as
the correct one since it not only has the authority of so
distinguished a Dravidian scholar as Dr. Gundert, but
because the character of confidential adviser and trusty
friend of Rajas and people of influence is even now the peculiar character which this
caste bears.
The Nambutiris are Vedic Brahmans. It has been conjectured from the use of the phrase
Aryya Brahmanar that they are of pure Aryan descent, but the fact requires proof, and is
certainly not borne out by personal appearances. The bulk of them are followers either
of the Rik or of the Yajur Veda, while a very few follow the Sama Veda, and some are
excluded from studying the Vedas altogether. The existing actual distribution of the
several schools is shown in the following tabic which was prepared a year or two ago:
Taluks Number of Of whom there are
Nambutiri
families Rik Yagur Sama Excluded
settled in Vedists Vedists Vedists from
each taluk Vedas or
uncertain
1. Chirakkal 79 3 76
2. Kottayam 30 4 26
3. Kurumbranad 70 51 19
4. Wynad
5. Calicut 152 8 144
6. Ernad 120 10 85 25
7. Valluvanad 277 192 40 2 43
8. Palghat
9. Ponnani 299 264 17 5 3
10. Cochin
Total 1,017 532 407 7 71
It is asserted that the Panniyur (literally, pig village) Gramam is totally excluded
from the Veda. In that case twenty-one of the families in Kurumbranad, shown as of the
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The people
Rik Veda school, and one of the
Yajur Veda school, should be
transferred to the last column of
the statement ; and similarly, in
the returns for Ponnani, forty -
five of the Rik Vedists and one of
the Rama Vedists should be
transferred to the last column.
In the early history of the caste
there was a split into two factions,
the Panniyur Gramam adopting
the Vaishnavite faith with the
Vaishnavite emblem, the pig or boar, and the Chovur Gramam that of Saiva. It will be
noted in the historical chapter that a more or less successful resistance, probably with
Brahman aid, was made by the Malayalis against the aggressions of the Western
Chalukya dynasty, and as the boar was also the Chalukya emblem, it is probable that the
decline of the Panniyur Gramam and the ascendancy of the Chovur Gramam was
brought about at this time. At any rate, the Chovur Gramam had the best of the quarrel.
The whole caste has, however, since adopted the Vedantist doctrines of Sankara
Acharya, himself believed to have been a Nambutiri.
Their organisation is by Gramams (villages), just as the Nayars were organised
by taras and nads, and Tiyars and other foreigners by cheris. The principal pure
Nambuthiri Gramams now extant are
1. Sukapuram or Sivapuram (probably identical with the original Chovur or
Chovaram = Sivapuram).
2. Peruvanam.
2. Irinyalalaula.
4. Panniyur (the other original village).
5. Karikkad.
6. Trissivaperur
7. Perinchellur
8. Venganad.
9. Alattur.
10. Edakkad.
The only two villages mentioned in the Syrians’ deed of A.D. 774 are Panniyur
and Chovur (Chovaram, i.e., Sivapuram — Siva’s town) ; so it is difficult to resist the
conclusion that there were but two organized villages of Brahmans in Malabar at that
time, both Vedic, but of opposite religious views. The other Gramams, besides others
now extinct, probably either branched off from the two original villages or settled in the
country subsequently.
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The mythical story of Parasu Raman reclaiming the land of Keralam from the
sea, for the benefit of sixty-four Brahman villages, and in expiation of his sins in slaying
twenty-one heroic dynasties of Kshatriyas (as the Malayali tradition runs) is not in
accordance with such scraps of history as have come down, nor with facts as they exist,
but this matter will be better dealt with in the subsequent chapters.
Besides these there are several classes of inferior Brahmans styled Nambidis,
Elayads, and in one instance Embrantiri , who have succeeded in later times in securing,
or being thought fit to assume, the name of Nambutiri, and there is yet another class,
the Mussat, or more properly the Urilparisha Mussat, who are privileged to eat with
Nambutiris, but who do not intermarry with them, nor are they entitled to perform
yagams (sacrifices).
The hereditary Veidyan (physician) family is also styled Mussat, and tins family’s
only disqualification for the rank of Nambutiri lies, it is said, in the fact that they were
originally surgeons as well as physicians.
The conclusion seems to be that the original Brahman families divided among
themselves the learned professions and the privilege of making sacrifices, and never lost
an opportunity of protecting their monopolies by every art in their power, and in
particular by forbidding the study of Sanskrit to other castes. There are hereditary
magician or sorcerer families ; a few are well versed in astronomy ; some are preservers
of the sacred fire (adittiri ) ; others are doctors or surgeons ; others again actors.
It is only the poorest of them who will consent to act as priests, and of these the
highest functionary in a large temple is condemned to three years of celibacy while
holding office ; some are celibates for one year of office, and allow their hair to grow.
It is traditionally alleged that some portion of the Brahmans did at one time arm
themselves. The numbers who did so are said to have been thirty-six thousand, and they
are known as Ayudhapani or weapon-bearers. The heads of this class were styled
Nambiyattiri, and the Idappalli Nambiyattiri is still pointed out as the chief of them.
There was therefore probably some foundation in fact for the tradition, but arms to a
Brahman, under the old regime, was not a congenial employment.
The Gramams are presided over by six Smarthas, who are presidents of the
assemblies at which caste offences are tried. Such assemblies in former times required
the sanction of the ruling chieftain, who, on representation made that a caste offence
had been committed, issued orders to the local Smartha to hold an enquiry. There seems
to have been in former days no appeal from the decision of the Gramm assembly to any
other authority, but within the last few years the decision of such an assembly was called
in question, and the attempt that was subsequently made to overrule its decision greatly
exercised the minds of the “twice born” in all the Malayali countries.
The episodes in the trial of a caste offence among Nambutiris are so curious, and
throw such light on their ways of thinking and acting, that it is worthwhile to go into the
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matter in some detail. The local chieftain’s sanction for the trial of the offence was, as
already said, first of all necessary. The Nambutiri family (Bhattattiri) which has the
privilege of furnishing the president (Smartha), and the number of members
(Mimamsukas) required to form a tribunal, are different in different parts of the country.
When a woman is suspected by her own kinsmen or by neighbouring Brahmans
of having been guilty of light conduct, she is under pain of ex-communication of all her
kinsmen, placed under restraint. The maid-servant (Dasi or Vrshali), who is indispensable
to every Nambutiri family, if not to every individual female thereof, is then interrogated,
and if she should eliminate her mistress, the latter is forthwith segregated and a watch
set upon her. When the family can find a suitable house1 for the purpose, the sadhanam
(the thing or article or subject, as the suspected person is called) is removed to it ;
otherwise she is kept in the family house, the other members finding temporary
accommodation elsewhere.
NOTEs: 1 It is called the “fifth house”, i.e., tbe building next to the usual "'4 four houses” or
northern (Vadakkini), southern (Tekkini ), eastern (Kilakkini}, and western (Padinyyattini) rooms or houses.
END of NOTEs
The examination of the servant-maid is conducted by the Nambutiris of the

Gramam, who, in the event of the servant accusing her mistress, proceed without delay
to the local chieftain who has the power to order a trial. And authority is granted in
writing to the local Smartha, who in turn calls together the usual number of Mimamsakas
(persons skilled in the law).
They assemble at some convenient spot, generally in a temple not far from the
place where the accused may be. All who are interested in the proceedings are permitted
to be present. Order is preserved by an officer deputed by the chief for the purpose, and
he stands sword in hand near the Smartha and members of the tribunal.
The only other member of the court is a Nambutiri called the Agakkoyma,
whose duties will be described presently. When all is ready the chief’s warrant is first
read out and the accused’s whereabouts ascertained.
The Smartha, accompanied by the officer on guard and the Agakkoyma
Nambutiri, next proceeds to the accused’s house : the officer on guard remains outside
while the others enter. At the entrance, however, they are met by the maid-servant, who
up to this time has never lost sight of the accused and who prevents the men from
entering. In feigned ignorance of the cause for thus being stopped, the Smartha
demands an explanation, and is told that a certain person is in the room.
The Smartha demands more information, and is told that the person is no other
than such and such a lady, the daughter or sister or mother (as the case may be) of such
and such a Nambutiri of such and such an illam. The Smartha professes profound
surprise at the idea of the lady being where she is and again demands an explanation.
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Here begins the trial proper. The accused, who is still strictly gosho., is
questioned through the medium of the maid, and she is made to admit that there is a
charge against her. This is the first point to ho gained, for nothing further can be done
in the matter until the accused herself has made this admission. This point, however, is
not very easily gained at times, and the Smartha has often to appeal to her own feelings
and knowledge of the world and asks her to recollect how unlikely it would be that a
Nambutiri female of her position should be turned out of her parent’s house and placed
where she then was unless there was some cause for it.
In the majority of cases this preliminary stage is got over with little trouble, and
is considered a fair day’s work for the first day. The Smartha and his colleagues then
return to the assembly and the former relates in minute detail all that has happened since
he left the conclave. The Agakkoyma's basic is to see that the version is faithful. He is not
at liberty to speak, but whenever he thinks the Smartha has made a mistake as to what
happened, he removes from his shoulders and lays on the ground a piece of cloth as a
sign for the Smartha to brush up his memory. The latter takes the hint and tries to
correct himself. If he succeeds, the Agaikkoyma's cloth is replaced on his shoulders, but
if not the Smartha is obliged to go back to the accused and obtain what information is
required.
When the day’s proceedings are finished, the members of the tribunal are
sumptuously entertained by the accused’s kinsmen, and this continues to be done as
long as the enquiry lasts. A trial sometimes lasts several years, the tribunal meeting
occasionally and the accused’s kinsmen being obliged to entertain the members and any
other Nambutiris present on each occasion, while the kinsmen themselves are
temporarily cut off from intercourse with other Brahmans pending the result of the trial,
and all sraddhas (sacrifices to benefit the souls of deceased ancestors) are stopped.
The reason for this is that, until the woman is found guilty or not, and until it is
ascertained when the sin was committed, they cannot, owing to the probability that they
have unwittingly associated with her after her disgrace, be admitted into society until
they have performed the expiatory ceremony (Prayaschittam). The tribunal continues its
sittings as long as may be necessary, that is, until either the accused confesses and is
convicted, or her innocence is established. No verdict of guilty can be given against her
except on her own confession. No amount of evidence is sufficient.
In former days, when the servant accused her mistress and there was other
evidence forthcoming, but the accused did not confess, various modes of torture were
had recourse to in order to extort a confession, such as roiling up the accused in a piece
of matting and letting the bundle fall from the roof to the court-yard below. This was
done by women, and the mat supplied the place of the purdah. At other times live rat-
snakes and other vermin were turned into the room beside her, and even in certain cases
cobras, and it is said that if after having been with the cobra a certain length of time and
unhurt, the fact was accepted as conclusive evidence of her innocence.
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The people
In cases when the accused offers to confess, she is examined, cross-examined,
and re-examined very minutely as to time, place, person, circumstances, etc., etc., but the
name of the adulterer is withheld (though it may be known to all) to the very last.
Sometimes a long list of persons is given and similarly treated. Innocent persons are
sometimes named and have to purchase impunity at great expense.
In one case a woman who had indicated several persons was so nettled by the
continual “who else ?” “who else ? ” of the zealous scribe who was taking down the
details, that she at last, to his intense astonishment, pointed to himself as one of them,
and backed it up by sundry alleged facts.
The persons accused by the woman are never permitted to disprove the charges
against them, but the woman herself is closely cross-examined and the probabilities are
carefully weighed. And every co-defendant, except the one who, according to the
woman’s statement, was the first to lead her astray, has a right to be admitted to the
boiling-oil ordeal as administered at the temple of Suchindram in Travancore. If his
hand is burnt, he is guilty ; if it comes out clean he is judged as innocent.
The ordeal by weighment in scales is also at times resorted to. The order for
submission to these ordeals is called a pampu and is granted by the president (Smartha)
of the tribunal. Money goes a long way towards a favourable verdict or towards a
favourable issue in the ordeals. The tribunal meets at the accused’s temporary house in
the Pumukhan (drawing-room) after the accused has admitted that she is where she is
because there is a charge against her. She remains in a room, or behind a big umbrella,
unseen by the members of the tribunal and other inhabitants of the desam who are
present, and the examination is conducted by the Smartha.
A profound silence is observed by all present except by the Smartha, and he
alone puts such questions as have been arranged beforehand by the members of the
tribunal. The solemnity of the proceedings is enhanced to the utmost degree by the
demeanour of those present. If the accused is present in the room, she stands behind
her maidservant and whispers her replies into her ear to be repeated to the assembly.
Sometimes the greatest difficulty is experienced in getting her to confess, but
this is usually brought about by the novelty of the situation, the scanty food, the
protracted and fatiguing examination, and the entreaties of her relatives, who are being
ruined, and by the expostulations and promises of the Smartha, who tells her it is best to
confess and repent, and promises to get the chief to take care of her and comfortably
house her on the bank of some sacred stream where she may end her days in prayer and
repentance.
The solemnity of the proceedings too has its effect. And the family often come
forward, offering her a large share of the family property if she will only confess and
allow the trial to end. When by these means the woman has once been induced to make
a confession of her weakness everything becomes easy. Hitherto strictly gosha, she is
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now asked to come out of her room or lay aside her umbrella and to be seated before
the Smartha and the tribunal.
She sometimes even takes betel and nut in their presence. When the trial is
finished, a night (night-time seems to be essential for this part of the trial) is set apart for
pronouncing sentence, or, as it is called, for “declaring the true figure, frame, or aspect”
of the matter. It takes place in the presence of the local chieftain who ordered the trial.
A faithful and most minutely detailed account of all the circumstances and of the trial is
given by the Smartha, who winds up with the statement that his “child” or "boy” (a
term1 applied by Nambutiris to their east coast Pattar servants) will name the adulterer
or adulterers.
NOTEs: 1. Kutti — Child or boy. The phrase Kutti Pattar is sometimes used. END of NOTEs
Thereupon the servant comes forward, steps on to a low stool, and proclaims
the name or names.
This duty is invariably performed by a man of the Pattar caste. It is essential that
the man who does it should himself be a Brahman, and as no Nambutiri or Embrantiri
(Canarese Brahman) would do it for love or money, a needy Pattar is found and paid
handsomely for doing it. Directly he has performed the duty, he proceeds to the nearest
piece of water, there to immerse his whole body and so wash away the sin he has
contracted.
The next proceeding, which formally deprives the accused woman of all her
caste privileges, is called the ‘Keikkottal ' or handclapping ceremony. The large palmyra
leaf umbrella with which all Nambutiri females conceal themselves from prying eyes in
their walks abroad is usually styled the “mask umbrella” and is with them the outward
sign of chastity.
The sentence of ex-communication is passed by the Smartha in the woman’s
presence, and thereupon the accused’s umbrella is formally taken from her hands by a
Nayar of a certain caste, the pollution-remover of the desam, With much clapping of
hands from the assembly the woman is then instantly driven forth from her temporary
quarters and all her family ties are broken. Her kinsmen perform certain rites and
formally cut her off from relationship. She becomes in future to them even less than if
she had died. Indeed, if she happens to die in the course of the enquiry, the proceedings
go on as if she were still alive, and they are formally brought to a conclusion in the usual
mannor by a verdict of guilty or of acquittal against the man implicated.
The woman thus driven out goes where she likes. Some are recognized by their
seducers ; some become prostitutes ; not a fow aro taken as wives by the Chettis of
Calicnt. A few find homes in institutions specially endowod to receive them.
Those last-named institutions are of a peculiar character. Perhaps the best
known, because it has formed the subject of judicial proceedings, is that of the
Muttedatta Aramanakal in the Chirakkal Taluk with extensive jungly land endowments.
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The people
The members of this institution are respectively styled as Mannanar or Machchiyar,
according as they are men or women. They have baronial powers and keep up a sort of
baronial state, for which purpose two hundred Nayars of the Edavakutti Kulum (or
clan) were in former days bound to follow the Mannanars when out on active service.
The members of the institution are recognised as of the Tiyan (or toddydrawer)
caste, and the sons of Machchiyars become in turn Mannanars (or barons). The women
take husbands from the Tiyan community. The women who are sent to this institution
are those convicted of illicit intercourse with men of the Tiyan or of superior castes. If
the connection has been with men of lower caste than the Tiyan (toddy-drawer), the
women are sent on to another institution called Kutira Mala, still deeper in the jungles of
the Western Ghats.
Following on the Keikkottal (hand-clapping) ceremony comes the feast of
purification (Prayaschittam) given by the accused’s people, at which for the first time since
the trial commenced the relatives of the accused woman are permitted to eat in company
with their caste follows, and with this feast, which is partaken of by every Nambutiri
who cares to attend, the troubles of the family come to an end. Apart altogether from
the scandals which are thus dragged into the light, it is a very serious matter to a family
to have to incur the expenses of such an enquiry, for the cost rarely comes to less than
one thousand rupees and has been known to amount to as much as twelve thousand
rupees. Nothing but the dread of being deprived of their caste privileges by the general
body of their community would induce a family to incur the odium and expense of such
a trial, and this feeling prompts them unhesitatingly to cast out their erring members.
The caste may be divided into two classes : Nambutirippads and Nambutiris.
The former, as their name implies1, are of superior rank. They are expected to be more
strict than the latter in their religious duties, and among them the oldest son alone may
marry, his brothers being expected to refrain even from concubinage with Nayar
fomales. This latter practice is, however, now often set aside. The common Nambutiris
are not expected to be so strict, and they, as a rule, form fugitive connections with Nayar
women. Those Nambutiris who have performed a public sacrifice (yagam) are called
Chomatirippads (i.e., persons who have sacrified with Soma juice).
NOTEs: 1. Nambutiri and pad - authority. END OF NOTEs
As a rule the people of this caste every simple lives ; and the simplicity of
character of a Nambutiri is in some places proverbial. They rise very early in the
morning, 3 a.m., and immediately bathe in the cold water of their tanks. They spread
their cloths out to dry and proceed almost naked to their religious exercises in the
temple. After this and till eleven o’clock the more religious of them read or recite their
Vedas. At eleven o’clock they dine, and after that devote themselves to various
employments including the keeping of a solemn silence.
In the evening they bathe in oil, and again resort to the temple till about 9 P.M.,
when they sup and retire for the night.
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Their dress, too, is very simple, and consists of an under and of an upper cloth ;
on extraordinary occasions the long upper cloth is twisted round the loins and each leg
separately. They wear no ornaments except finger rings and waist-strings. They are very
particular about their caste marks made with sandalwood saw dust and ashes. The
women are styled antarjjananams, or agattummamar (in-doors people), appropriate names,
as, after attaining majority, they are rarely seen abroad. They must not look on the face
of a human being of the male sex except their husbands, and, when compelled to travel,
they are invariably preceded by a crier in the person of a Nayar woman called a Vrshali
who warns off male travellers by a long-drawn shout of Ahayi. Besides this they are
protected -by their large cadjan umbrellas as already alluded to above.
Like the men they are very simply dressed in an under-cloth round the loins and
passed between the legs and an upper cloth wrapped round the breasts under the arm
pits and reaching as far as the thighs. Both cloths have coloured gold-embroidered
borders. They have metal—generally silver—ear-rings, and they wear brass bracelets in
profusion on their arms from the wrist to the elbow. They are not allowed to wear gold
ones. On their foreheads they wear sandal paste marks after bathing.
The men exact great reverence from the low-caste people whom they address,
and are most punctilious in this respect. They in everything endeavour to make it appear
in their conduct and conversation that all the excellences are the birthright of the
Nambutiris, and that whatever is low and mean is the portion of the lower orders of
society. A Nayar speaking to a Nambutiri must not call his own food “rice”, but “stony
or gritty rice”, his money he must call his “Copper cash,” and so on. In approaching a
Nambutiri; low-caste people, male and female, must uncover to the waist as a token of
respect. But with all this self-assertion, a Nambutiri who is true to the best traditions of
his race in respect to unworldliness, gentleness, simplicity and benevolence, presents
himself to the Hindu mind as a model of Hindu piety coupled with a charming
innocence and a noble simplicity. “His person is holy ; his directions are commands ; his
movements are processions ; his meal is nectar ; he is the holiest of human beings ; he is the representative
of God on earth.” (Travancore Census Report, 1874-75, page 191.)
As the eldest son only of a family may marry into his own caste the younger
brothers cohabit with Nayar females, and many Nambutiri women necessarily never get
a chance of marriage. It is on this account that the caste rules against adultery are so
stringent. But to make tardy retribution—if it deserves such a name—to women who
die unmarried, the corpse, it is said, cannot be burnt till a tali string (the Hindu
equivalent of the wedding ring of Europe) is tied round the neck of the corpse while
lying on the funeral pile by a competent relative. Nambutiris are exceedingly reticent in
regard to their funeral ceremonies and observances, and the Abbe Dubois’ account of
what was related to him regarding other observances at this strange funeral pile marriage
requires confirmation.
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The people
In order to get his daughters married at all, a Nambutiri must be rich, for with
each of them he has to pay the bridegroom a heavy dowry and many an illam’s resources
have been drained in this way. The details of the marriage ceremonies are too long for
insertion here. The horoscopes of the pair must agree, then the dowry is settled, formal
sanction to marry his daughter is asked by the bridegroom from the bride’s father, the
bridegroom proceeds in state to the bride’s house, there is much feasting and ceremony,
the bridegroom has a bamboo staff in his right hand and a string tied to his right arm,
the bride’s emblems are an arrow and mirror and a sacred thread round her neck, the
dowry and the daughter are handed over simultaneously to the bridegroom by the
father, the pair then take seven steps forward and seat themselves, then follows a
sacrifice, and the final act at the bride’s house is the father’s delivery of her to the groom
with a solemn injunction to “treat her well”.
Then comes the procession back to the bridegroom's house, where again
feasting and ceremonies occur, and finally the pair are escorted to the nuptial couch, a
blanket spread on the floor with a white robe over it and hemmed in by ridges of rice
and paddy. The priest leads in the pair and seats them on the couch, and then withdraws
and locks the door and continues outside reciting appropriate passages, which are
repeated and followed by the bridegroom from within. The wife then serves to the
husband his first meal, and on the fifth day the ceremonies end by the husband laying
aside his staff and untying the sacred thread on his right arm.
One remarkable proceeding in the marriage ceremonies is, it is said, that bride
and bridegroom stand beside a tub of water in which several small live fishes are placed
and by means of a cloth capture these fishes. The significance of this custom is
uncertain; some allege that it is done in remembrance of the fisher origin of the caste, as
sarcastically alleged by the Mahratta Brahmans ; another interpretation is that the fishes
are captured as emblems of the fertility wished for by the parties to the union.
In the third month of the first pregnancy a solemn sacrifice is performed,
emblematic of the offering of the first fruits of wedlock to the Supreme Being. In the
fifth and ninth months other ceremonies take place: in the one the husband draws with a
porcupine quill a straight line from the tip of his wife’s nose to the crown of her head,
and in the other he pours into his wife’s nostrils a few drops of the essence extracted
from the barks of the five sacred trees—Ficus Indica, Ficus racemosa, Tamarind, Spondias
mangifera (Hog-plum) and Coorg tamarind?). Immediately after confinement both mother
and babe are bathed in cold water.
On the eleventh day after birth the father names the child ; in the sixth month
he is fed on sweet rice; in the third year tonsure takes place ; in the fifth year the boy is
initiated by his father in the alphabet on the last day of the Dasara feast ; in the seventh
year the boy is invested with the sacred thread (punnul) and his ears are bored. For three
years he next leads a holy life and pays visits only to his teacher.
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As already said, the Nambutiris are very reticent on the subject of their funeral
ceremonies. The dead body having been laid on the pile, rice is scattered over the
deceased’s face and mouth by all blood relations, and pieces of gold are placed in the
nine openings of the body, apparently to provide the deceased’s soul with money for its
journey by whatever exit it leaves the body, thus recalling the somewhat similar practice
of the Roman world. After fire has been applied to the pile the company retires and
bathes. They observe pollution for ten days, and during that time abstain from supper
and the use of salt in curries. On the twelfth day a grand feast is given to all relatives,
and on the recurrence of the fatal day two men are feasted in honour of the deceased.
Of the east coast or foreign Brahmans it is unnecessary to say much as they differ
in no respect from ordinary east coast Brahmans. They are called Pattars, a corruption of
the Sanskrit Bhatta. They engage in trade and agriculture and in domestic and other
service. In former times they were used as confidential messengers and spies. One class
of them are styled Choliya or Aryya Pattars, and instead of wearing the top knot of hair
(kudumi) on the back of the head, as other east coast Brahmans do, these wear it on the
top of the head like the Nambutiris and Nayars.
The great Pattar settlements in Malabar lie in the Palghat Taluk, a taluk which, if
it ever was occupied by the Nambutiris, has for a very long time past been deserted by
them. The Pattars live in ‘grammas or villages, the houses being arranged in rows and
streets like those of east coast villages.
A class of Brahmans peculiar to Malabar are the Ilayavar or Ilayathu, the
progenitor of whom is traditionally said to have been a Nambutiri and to have been
turned out of caste for communicating to a Nayar the details of the funeral rites (sraddha)
to be performed for the benefit of departed ancestors. These do not eat nor keep
company with ordinary Brahmans, nor will they eat or associate with Nayars. They
officiate as the family priests (purohit) of Nayar families. In customs they are still
Brahmans and their women are strictly gosha.
Another very small class of Brahmans is to be found in North Malabar. They
are called Pidaranmar. They drink liquor, sometimes exercise devils, and are worshippers
of Bhadrakali or of Sakti. The name is also applied to snake-catchers, and it was probably
conferred on the caste owing to the snake being an emblem of the human passion
embodied in the deities they worship. This caste wears the sacred thread, but their
women are not gosha.
Another class of pseudo-Brahmans derive their name from the ceremony of
jumping through fire before temples. Those are the Tiyattunni or Tiyadi (Ti = fire, attam
= play). They differ but little from the caste last named, except that they follow the
Marumakkatayam system of inheritance.
The Pisharodi class do not wear the sacred thread. The legend of their extraction
is that a Sanyasi had educated a Nambutiri pupil to fit him as a member of his holy order.
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The people
But when the time came for him to receive the distinctive marks of asceticism, he fled
from his preceptor and from the prospect of a life of penance and austerities.
His descendants were called those “who ran away,” and to commemorate the
event their bodies are after death buried with salt, as in the case of Sanyasis. They are
chiefly temple servants. Whether they and the Pidaran class above described were more
closely connected originally it is not easy to say, but pisharan and pidaran appear to be
identical, and pisharodi may well be those who deserted (“ran away from”) the worship of
the sexual passion and became ascetics.
Besides the three classes last named there are several others whose distinctive
function is temple service. As a class they are known as Ambalavasis (i.e. dwellers in
ambalams or temples), and they form a sort of intermediate class between the Nambutiris
and the Nayars.
Of these temple servants the following may be named.
One class of the Nambidis wears the sacred thread, another subdivision does
not, and the class in general is said to have been originally Nambutiri. Their progenitor, it
is said, was degraded for having murdered with a knife one of the Perumals or “Emperors
of Keralam”. They follow the Marumakkatayam system of inheritance.
The Gurukkal class wears the sacred thread. The name seems to suggest that
they were originally teachers, but their proper functions, as understood now-a-days, are
to supply milk, ghee, and dowers to temples and to sweep and clean them. They are
governed by the Marumakkathayam system of inheritance.
The Muttatu class ought perhaps to have been placed at the head of the
Ambalavasis or temple servants. Their functions are to sweep the steps of the temples, to
carry the idols in procession on their heads, and to do other temple services. They wear
the sacred thread and do not follow the Marumakkathayam system of inheritance. Their
women, too, are free from concubinage with the superior castes. They adopt the
customs and rites of Brahmans, and it is said that Brahmans may cook their food in
Muttatu houses, and in turn the food cooked by the Muttatus may, it is said, be eaten by
other Ambalavasis. Some of them are styled Potuvals and do not wear the thread.
The Pushpakan class, as their name implies (pushpam = a flower), are employed in
bringing flowers and garlands to the temples, and follow the Marumakkathayam law of
inheritance.
The Chakkiyars sing and play in the temples, and sometimes, on occasions of
festivals, improvise verses of their own and make the characteristics of the community
“the butt of their sarcasm and satire” (Travancore Census 1874-75 Report). Their
women are called Nangiyar. “Their wives are Illodammammar. The Nangiyar sounds the
cymbal to the time of the Chakkiyar’s play, and is seated by his side while he is engaged
in dramatic representations. Their law of succession is Marumakkathayam” (Ibid, pages
220, 221).
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The Variyars perform the lower temple services and funeral ceremonies. In
Malabar they follow the Marumakkathayam system of inheritance.
The Nambiyars are in some parts of the country a very influential body, as in the
ancient Iruvalinad, of which they were the chieftains. They follow Marumakkathayam, and
their functions in a temple are said to be helping the Chakkiyar in their play acting by
beating the big drum (milavu).
The Marans or Marayans are the temple sweepers and musicians, and play on five
different kinds of instruments, chiefly drums, viz., (1) Chenda = kettle-drum, (2)
Kurunkulal = short flute or pipe, (3) Timilu = another kind of drum, (4) Idakka = a
double drum, and (5) Dhamanam = another kind of kettle-drum. These do not eat with
the other Ambalavasis, They follow Marumakkathayam. Ohe section of the class perform
purification for Brahmans.
Of Rajputs, or foreign Kshatriyas, there are in Malabar (census 1881) only three
hundred and sixty-two all told. The families of the Kottayam and Parappanad chieftains
belong to this class, and the former of these chieftains used sometimes to be called the
’Puranatt’ (i.e., foreign) Raja. The Parappanad family supplies consorts to the Ranis of
Travancore, and also forms similar connections with the families of other chieftains in
Malabar. They follow the Marumakkathayam law of inheritance.
Something has already been said under this section of the next great division of
the Hindu population—-the Nayars—who are 321,674 strong. The Nayars were, until
the British occupied the country, the militia of the district. Their name itself implies, as
already said, that they were the “leaders” of the people. Originally they seem to have
been organised into “Six hundreds,” and each “Six hundred” seems to have had assigned
to it the protection of all the people in a nad or county. The nad was in turn split up into
taras, a Dravidian word signifying originally a foundation, the foundation of a house,
hence applied collectively to a street, as in Tamil (teru), in Telugu (teruvu), and in
Canarese and Tulu (teravu).
The tara was the Nayur territorial unit of organisation for civil purposes, and
was governed by representatives of the caste, who were styled Karanavar or elders. The
“Six hundred” was probably composed exclusively of those Karanavar or elders, who
were in some parts called Mukhyaslans (= chief men), or Madhayastans (= Mediators), or
Pramanis (= Chiefmen), and there seem to have been four families of them to each tara,
so that the nad must originally have consisted of one hundred and fifty tara.
This tara organisation of the protector caste played a most important part in the
political history of the country, for it was the great bulwark against the tyranny and
oppression of the Rajas. Something has already been said about it in the section treating
of towns, villages, etc.
The evidence of the Honourable East India Company’s linguist (interpreter,
agent) at Calicut, which appears in the Diary of the Tellicherry Factory under date 28th
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The people
May 1746, and which has already been quoted (ante p. 80), deserves to be here
reproduced. He wrote as follows :
“These Nayars, being heads of the Calicut people, resemble the parliament, and
do not obey the king’s dictates in all things, but chastise his ministers when they do
unwarrantable acts.”
The “parliament” referred to must have been the “kuttam” (assembly) of the
nad. The kuttam answered many purposes when combined action on the part of the
community was necessary. The Nayars assembled in their kuttams whenever hunting, or
war, or arbitration, or what not was in hand. And this organisation does not seem to
have been confined to Malabar, for the koot organisation of the people of South Canara
gave the British officers much trouble in 1832-33.
In so far as Malabar itself was concerned the system seems to have remained in
an efficient state down to the time of the British occupation, and the power of the Rajas
was strictly limited. Mr. Murdoch Brown of Anjarakandi, who know the country well,
thus wrote to Dr. Francis Buchanan in the earliest years of the present century regarding
the despotic action of the Rajas when constituted, after the Mysorean conquest, the
revenue agents of the Government of Haidar Ali : “By this new order of things, these
latter (the Rajas), were vested with despotic authority over the other inhabitants instead
of the very limited prerogatives that they had enjoyed by the feudal system, under which
they could neither exact revenue from the lands of their vassals nor exercise any direct
authority in their districts.”
And again, “The Raja was no longer what he had been, the head of a feudal
aristocracy with limited authority, but the all-powerful deputy of a despotic prince whose
military force was always at his command to curb or chastise any of the chieftains who
were inclined to dispute or disobey his mandates.” (Buch. Mysore, Canara and Malabar,
II, pages 189-90).
From the earliest times therefore down to the end of the eighteenth century the
Nayar tara and nad organisation kept the country from oppression and tyranny on the
part of the rulers, and to this fact more than to any other is duo the comparative
prosperity which the Malayali country so long enjoyed, and which made of Calicut at
one time the great emporium of trade between the East and the West.
But besides protection the Nayars had originally another most important
function in the body politic. Besides being protectors they were also supervisors or
overseers, a duty which, as the very ancient deed (No. IV in Appendix XII) testifies, was
styled kanam— a Dravidian word derived from the verb kanaka (= to see, etc.). The
original meaning of this word kanam has been very greatly misunderstood by the British
courts and British administrators, and this point will be dwelt on hereafter under land
tenures.
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Parasu Raman (so the tradition preserved in the Keralolpatti runs) “separated the
Nayars into Taras and ordered that to them belonged the duty of supervision (lit. kan =
the eye), the executive power (lit. kei = the hand, as the emblem of power), and the
giving of orders (lit. kalpana — order, command) so as to prevent the rights from being
The Nayars were originally the overseers or supervisors of the nad, and they
seem to have been employed in this capacity as the collectors of the share of produce of
the land originally reserved for Government purposes. As remuneration for this service,
and for the other function as protectors, another share of the produce of the soil seems
to have been reserved specially for them. It would be well worth the study of persons
acquainted with other districts of the Presidency to ascertain whether somewhat similar
functions to these (protection and supervision) did not originally appertain to the
Kavalkars of Tamil districts and the Kapus in the Telugu country, for both of these
words seem to have come from the same root as the Malayalam kanam.
And it is significant that the Tamil word now used for proprietorship in the soil
is Kani-yatchi, to which word the late Mr. F. W. Ellis in his paper on “Mirasi rights”
assigned a similar derivation.
There are, of course, numerous subdivisions among the Nayars. The
distinctions between the customs of these subdivisions is often whimsical, but the more
capricious they seem the more persistently are they observed. The chief distinction
seems to be in the preparation and eating of food. Food cooked in one house will not be
partaken of by the members of a different subdivision to that to which the house
belongs, and different classes object to eating while seated in the same row with
members of other subdivisions The following subdivisions may be mentioned :
1. Nayar (Leader, soldier, lord).
2. Menon or Menavan (mel — above, and avan — third personal pronoun; superior
N., generally writers, accountants).
3. Menokki [mel— above, and nokki from nokkunnu — to look, look after ; supervisor,
superintendent N.).
4. Muppil Nayar (Chief N.).
5. Pada Nayar (Fighting N.).
G. Kuruppu (? Fort N.).
7. Keimal (kei = hand as emblem of power ; hence powerful or chief N.).
8. Panikkar (Fencing master N.).
9. Kiriyatta Nayar (House N., stewards).
10. Muttar (Elder, chief N.).
11. Ore (for plural third personal pronoun avar, honorific title of N.).
12. Kidavu (child, young person, N. ; considered honour ideally as child of the king,
Raja).
13. Kartavu (Lord).
14. Eradi (N. of Eradu or Ernad — taluk of that name, the bullock country).
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The people
15. Nedungadi (N. of Nedunganad in taluk of Valluvanad).
16. Vallodi (N. of Valluvanad).
17. Mannadiyar (N. of Palghat, originally from the Chola country).
18. Manavalan (? Cultivating N.)
The Nayars follow the Marumakkathayam system, of inheritance, with the solo
exception of some of the Mannadiyars in Palghat taluk. These latter seem to have come
into the country from the east coast at a later date than the great body of Nayars, and
only some of them, having mixed with the Nayars, have adopted the distinctive Nayar
system of inheritance.
The national dress of the Nayars is extremely scanty. The women clothe
themselves in a single white cloth of fine texture reaching from the waist to the knees,
and occasionally, while abroad, they throw over the shoulders and bosom another
similar cloth. But by custom the Nayar women go uncovered from the waist; *upper
garments indicate lower caste, or sometimes, by a strange reversal of western notions,
immodesty.
NOTEs by VED: *This assertion seems to be quite wrong. END of NOTEs by VED
The men wear a white cloth in like fashion, and another cloth is also
occasionally thrown over the shoulders. The ornaments of the women consist chiefly, of
a huge cylinder, gold plated, finely worked, and inserted in the lobe of the oar, which is
artificially enlarged for the purpose of receiving it. Several kinds of massive gold
necklaces rest on the bosom, while bangles for the wrist, rings for the fingers and nose
and a waist string of elaborate construction, complete the list of ornaments. The men
content themselves with ordinary ear-rings, finger rings, and a waist string. In childhood
they also wear bangles and one or two neck ornaments.
Both men and women are extremely neat, and scrupulously particular as to their
cleanliness and personal appearance. The women in particular enjoy a large measure of
liberty, and mix freely in public assemblies.
NOTEs by VED: *This kind of insertions should be understood with a clear bearing in mind that the word
‘public’ means only those who are of equal caste or above. In the case of being in the presences of or in the
assemblages of lower castes, these female would be at pain to display a superior demeanour in dressing and
facial expression. END of NOTEs by VED
The men wear their kudumi or tuft of hair on the top of the head. The women
have long black locks which they keep neat and clean and tidy by constant bathing and
combing. When returning from the bath the hair is coquettishly allowed to hang loose
down the back to dry. When dry it is oiled and gathered up neatly into a knot on the left
side of the head in front.
The most characteristic custom of the Nayars is connected with their marriages.
Every Nayar girl is married in one sense at a very early age. The tali is tied round her
neck before she attains puberty, and it is considered to be disgraceful in her relations not
to have this ceremony performed before that event takes place. The tying of the tali is a
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great event in each household, and frequently several girls go through this ceremony
simultaneously. When this can be managed it enables the family to make a greater
display than they would probably be able to afford if there was a separate ceremony for
each girl.
The marriage pavilion is in the case of influential families very often magnificent
in its decorations—bright-coloured rows of columns supporting gothic arched or
Saracenic roofs resplendent in tinsel and colours, with an extremely ingenious and pretty
device of domes revolving slowly at intervals and showering down at appropriate
moments sweet-smelling flowers on the guests and bridal party. The auspicious day and
hour are carefully selected beforehand in consultation with the astrologers : friends,
relations and neighbours all flock to the ceremony, and at the selected auspicious
moment the tali is tied round the girl’s neck amid much tom-tomming and shrill music
accompanied by deafening shouts from the assembled people.
Then follows the usual distribution of betel and areca nut, and the guests
afterwards sit clown to a banquet. The ceremony is prolonged over four days in the case
of well-to-do families. The strange thing about it all is that the girl is not really married
to the man who performs the tali-tying ceremony. In the case of good families the man
selected for this duty is usually either an llayattu or an east coast Brahman, and in the
case of others a man of their own kindred. After the ceremony he receives a suitable
present and departs. When the girl comes of age he cannot claim her as his wife, nor
solicit her favours in after life.
After attainment of the age of puberty the girl chooses her real husband of her
own free will, though in this she is often guided by the opinions of her elders. The man
she selects is called the “Gunadoshakkaran”, gunam being good and dosham being bad and
karan being the doer. This designation may be exactly reproduced by the phrase from
the *English wedding service in which the mutual contract of the parties is “for better for
worse, for richer for poorer.”
NOTEs by VED: *Logan is being utterly foolish and misled. There might not actually be any such area of
correspondence. END of NOTEs by VED
The ceremony of instalment of her husband is exceedingly simple. All that is

necessary is that the husband should give, and that the girl should receive, a cloth in the
presence of relations and friends. If the pair are dissatisfied with each other the woman
in like simple fashion returns the cloth and their connection thereupon ends. Sometimes
a woman accepts the favours of many lovers, but this is generally now-a-days scouted by
all respectable people, and the fashion is daily becoming more and more prevalent for
the woman to leave her ancestral home for that of the husband of her choice, although,
as matter of law, the husband occupies no recognised1 legal relation involving rights and
responsibilities in regard either to his wife or his children.
NOTEs: 1 As this work is being passed through the Press (July 1884) a Committee (President—Raja Sir T.
Madava Row, K.C.S.I., Members—Mossara. Logon, Wigram, P. Karunakara Menon, and C. Sankaran Nayar) is
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The people
busy drafting a Rill to legalise marriage among people governed by the Marumakkathayam system of
inheritance. END of NOTEs
The statement that the younger cadets of Nambutiri families live with Nayar
women merely reproduces in English the Malayali mode of describing the married life of
these people and of the Nayars. It is part of the theory that the women they live with are
not wives, that they may part at will, and that they may form new connections. This part
of the Malabar law has, in the hands of unenquiring commentators, brought much
undeserved obloquy on the morality of the people. The fact, at any rate of recent years,
is that, although the theory of the law sanctions freedom in these relations, conjugal
fidelity is very general. Nowhere is the marriage tie—albeit informal—more rigidly
observed or respected, nowhere is it more jealously guarded or its neglect more savagely
avenged.
The very looseness of the law makes the individual observance closer; for
people have more watchful care over the things they are most liable to lose. The absence
of ceremonial has encouraged the popular impression ; but ceremonial, like other
conventionalities, is an accident, and Nayar women are as chaste and faithful as their
neighbours, just as they are as modest as their neighbours although their national
costume does not include some of the details required by conventional notions of
modesty.
In former times, however, there was perhaps a better foundation for the
popular impression. One Sheikh Zin-ud-din, the author of a work which in a more or
less abridged shape has a large circulation, chiefly in manuscript, in Malabar, noticed the
Nayar custom of marriage as one which they possessed distinguishing them from other
races. He wrote about the middle and latter half of the sixteenth century. He seems to
have had exceptionally good opportunities for observing facts. He said that each woman
had two or four men who cohabited with her, and the men, he said “seldom” quarrelled,
the woman distributing her time among her husbands just as a Muhammadan distributes
his time among his women.
NOTEs: 2. 2 Tahafat-ul-Mujahidin or “Hints for por.sons seeking the way to God,” as it is frequently
translated, or more literally “An offering to warriors who shall fight in defence of religion against infidels :”
Translated by Rowlandson : London, 1833. END of NOTEs
Hamilton, too, in his “New account of the East Indies” (Edinburgh, 1727)
wrote : “ The husbands,” of whom, he said, there might be twelve, but no more at one
time, “*agree very well, for they co-habit with her in their Turns, according to their
Priority of Marriage, ten Days, more or less according as they can fix a Term among
themselves, and he that co-habits with her maintains her in all things necessary for his
Time, so that she is plentifully provided for by a constant Circulation.”
NOTEs by VED: *There will be verbal hierarchies, attached to the names, and also in the words for He,
Him etc. that makes precedence correctly understood. Beyond that women in such sort of polyandry
relationships, the so-called wife will be there to serve a specific purpose, just as a domestic help is
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understood as being there for that specific purpose. No individual ownership might not be aimed for, by
anyone. END of NOTEs by VED
“When the Man that co-habits with her goes into her House, he leaves his Arms
at the Door, and none dare remove them or enter the House on Pain of Death.” “
When she proves with Child she nominates its Father, who takes care of its Education,
after she has suckled it, and brought it to walk or speak, but the Children are never Heirs
to their Father’s Estate, but the Father’s Sisters’ Children are.”
Many fanciful reasons are assigned for this peculiar custom, but there can be
little doubt that the custom was adopted to prevent alienation of property, as Shiekh
Zin-ud-din, the earliest observer, himself specifically sets forth. The custom had also
much to commend it in a society organised as it then was, when the Nayars were the
“protectors” of the State and could seldom, except in old age, settle down to manage
their family affairs.
In Johnston’s “Relations of the most famous Kingdom in the world” (1611
Edition) there occurs the following quaintly written account of this protector guild : “It
is strange to see how ready the Souldiour of this Country is at his Weapons : they are all
gentile men, and tearmed Naires. At seven Years of Age they are put to School to learn
the Use of their Weapons, where, to make them nimble and active, their Sinnewes and
Joints are stretched by skilful Fellows, and annointed with the Oyle Sesamus : By this
annointing they become so light and nimble that they will winde and turn their Bodies as
if they had no Bones, casting them forward, backward, high and low, even to the
Astonishment of the Beholders. Their continual Delight is in their Weapon, persuading
themselves that no Nation goeth beyond them in Skill and Dexterity.”
And Jonathan Duncan, who visited Malabar more than once as one of the
Commissioners from Bengal in 1792-03, and afterwards as Governor of Bombay, after
quoting the following lines from Mickle’s Camoens, Book VII-
“Poliar the labouring lower clans are named :
“By the proud Nayrs the noble rank is claimed ;
“The toils of culture and of art they scorn :
“The shining faulchion brandish’d in the right_
“Their left arm wields the target in the fight_
went on to observe :
“These lines, and especially the two last, contain a good description of a Nayar,
who walks along, holding up his naked sword with the same kind of unconcern as
travellers in other countries carry in their hands a cane or walking staff. I have observed
others of them have it fastened to their back, the hilt being stuck in their waist band, and
the blade rising up and glittering between their shoulders.” (Asiatic Researches, V, pages
10, 18.)
NOTEs by VED: These type of descriptions are due to not understanding the power which a
police constable has in the Subcontinent. It is connected to the huge and eerie power that feudal language
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The people
codes perch upon them, over populations forcefully made subordinate to them. END of NOTEs by
VED.
M. Mahe de la Bourdonnais, who had some experience of their fighting qualities

in the field, thus described them :
“Les Nairs sont de grands hommes basanes, legers et vigoureux: Ils n'not pas d'ature
profession que celle des armes, et seraient de fort bons soldats, s'ils otaient disciplines: mais ils combattent
sans ordre, ils prennent la fruite des qu'on les serre de pres avee quelque superiorte; pourtant, s'ils se
vioent presses avee vigueur et qu'ils se croient en danger, ils reviennent a la charge, et ne se rendent
jamais." (E. Esquer, "Essai sur les Castes dans l'Inde" Page 181, quotation)
NOTEs by VED: The above text will contain enough and more typos. This is due to copying
very illegible text from a language which I do not know. END of NOTEs by VED.
Finally the only British General of any note—Sir Hector Munro who had ever
to face the Nayars in the hold thus wrote of their modes of fighting :- “One may as well
look for a needle in a Bottle of Hay as any of them in the daytime, they being lurking
behind sand-banks and bushes, except when we are marching towards the fort, and then
they appear like bees out in the month of June.”
“Besides which,” he continued, “they point their guns well and fire them well
also.” (Tellicherry Factory Diary, March, 1701.) They were, in short, brave light troops,
excelling in skirmishing, but their organisation into small bodies with discordant
interests unfitted them to repel any serious invasion by an enemy even moderately well
organised.
Among other strange Malayali customs Sheikh Zin-ud-din also noticed the fact
that if a chieftain was slain, his followers attacked and obstinately persevered in ravaging
the slayer’s country and killing his people till their vengeance was satisfied. This custom
is doubtless that which was described so long ago as in the ninth century A.D. by two
Muhammadans whose work was translated by Renaudot (Lond., 17 33) ;
“There are kings who, upon their accession, observe the following ceremony.”
A quantity of cooked rice was spread before the king, and some three or four hundred
persons came of their own accord and received each a small quantity of rice from the
king’s own hands after he himself had eaten some.
“By eating of this rice they all engage to burn themselves on the day the king
dies, or is slain, and they punctually fulfil their promise.”
Men who devoted themselves to certain death on great occasions were termed
“Amoucos” by the Portuguese ; and Barbosa, one of the Portuguese writers, alluded to
the practice as a prevalent custom among the Nayars. Purchas (II, 1708) has also the
following : “ The King of Cochin hath a great number of Gentlemen, which he calleth
Amocchi, and some are called Nairi : these two sorts of men esteem not their lives
anything, so that it may be for the honour of the king.” The proper Malayalam term for
such men was Chaver, literally, those who took up, or devoted themselves to death. It
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was a custom of the Nayars which was readily adopted by the Mappillas, who also at
times—as at the great Mahamakham, twelfth-year feast, at Tirunavayi— devoted
themselves to death in the company of Nayars for the honour of the Valluvanad Raja.
And probably the frantic fanatical rush of the Mappillas on British bayonets, which is
not even yet a thing of the past, is the latest development of this ancient custom* of the
Nayars.
NOTEs by VED: *These are all totally foolish claims, made either by Logan himself, who has
not understood the power of the feudal hierarchical codes in the native languages; or it could be the
insertions of someone who wanted to promote purported Nair heritage. Actually, the very opposite ideas
about Nair fighting qualities are mentioned Travancore State Manual written by V. Nagam Iyya. Beyond
that, there is actually no requirement to exault fighting qualities of semi-barbarian populations. If there is
any evidence of quality social codes that they can promote, it is these things that might need to be praised.
Actually the suicide bombers currently in active in many locations are more brave that the above-mentioned
population/s. However, there is nothing to admire in their bravery unless it is towards some great aim.
END of NOTEs by VED
The martial spirit of the Nayars in these piping times of peace has quite died out
for want of exercise. The Nayar is more and more becoming a family man.
Comparatively few of them nowadays even engage in hunting. With a large increase in
their numbers, and with comparative poverty for the large body of them, the race is fast
degenerating. A caste who are hardly to be distinguished from the Nayars except by their
inheritance customs, is that of the Kadupallar or Eluttachchans, that is, professional village
schoolmasters. They follow a modified Makkatayam system of inheritance in which the
property descends from father to son but not from father to daughter. The girls are
married before attaining puberty, and the bridegroom who is to be the girl’s real
husband in after life arranges the dowry and other matters by means of mediators
(Enangan).
The tali is tied round the girl’s neck by the bridegroom’s sister or female relative.
At the funeral ceremonies of this class, the barber caste (Ambattan) performs priestly
offices, giving directions and preparing oblation rice. A widow without male issue is
removed on the twelfth day after her husband’s death from his house to that of her own
parents. And this is done even if she have female issue.
But on the contrary, if she has borne sons to the deceased, she is not only
entitled to remain at her husband’s house, but she continues to have, in virtue of her
sons, a joint right over his property. When she goes to her parents’ house widowed, two
other women bear her company as far as the gate of her destination and then retire.
Loud lamentations are exchanged when the parents receive the poor widow. On her way
home she is clad in a new cloth and veiled. But she can remarry.
The Astrologers, who come next in turn to be noticed, deserve a somewhat
detailed description. The caste is styled Kaniyan, Kanisan and Kaniyar Panikkar, the last
designation being the title of their office. They are a polluting caste, and have to stand at
the distance already described. And yet their caste functions (astrology, and astrology
coupled with teaching children to read and write) can be classed only among the learned
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The people
professions. Native tradition is never at a loss to account for such a fact as this, and
there is a traditional myth regarding the origin of the caste which may have some
historical foundation in fact.
The tradition runs that astrology as a profession was once exclusively practised
by the Nambudiri Brahmans, and this is most probably historically correct, for the
Brahmans seem to have had originally a monopoly of all the learned professions. One
Palur Bhattiri, one of the greatest of the Brahman astrologers, is said to have foreseen an
evil conjunction of the planets which would certainly bring him into disgrace and prove
calamitous, and to avoid this adverse fate he forsook his home and friends and set out
on a journey.
In the course of this journey he had to cross the dry bed of a river, when
sudden freshes came down and swept him off to an unknown region. He scrambled
ashore in torrents of rain and in darkness, and, espying a light in a house near where he
landed, he made for it, and in an exhausted state lay down in the verandah of the hut
musing on the untoward events of the day and on his affectionate family whom he had
left. The hut was the dwelling of a man of the Tityan caste, and as it happened this man
had that day quarrelled with his wife and left the hut.
The wife anxiously, it is said, expecting his return, opened the door about
midnight, and seeing a man lying in the verandah, mistook him for her husband, and the
Brahman was so wrapt up in his thoughts of his home that he in turn mistook the Tiyatti
for his own wife. In the morning the truth was revealed, and the Brahman then accepted
his degradation and lived with the woman, who bore him a son. This son the Brahman
in due course educated in all the lore of his profession, and by his influence obtained for
him an important place in the Hindu constitution as Ganakan, that is, astrologer.
The name was subsequently corrupted into Kanikan or Kanisan. Stripped of its
improbabilities the story just amounts to this, that a Brahman astrologer of good
position and influence conceived an attachment for a woman of the Tiyan caste, and
educated the son born of this mesalliance in all the secrets of his own profession and thus
founded the caste of Kanisans. The probability of this story being in part at least true is
that the most noteworthy family of Kanisans in the Malayali country is still known as the
Palm Kanisans who are still reputed to be the most skilful of the caste in foretelling future
events.
However this may be, it is certain that the Kanisans as a caste have spread over
the face of the land and have in large measure superseded the Brahmans in this
profession. This is easily accounted for by the store which is set upon their services as
diviners of future events. They occupied in the ancient Hindu constitution a place of
importance in every village, and along with the Asari or carpenter, the Tattan or
goldsmith, the Malayan or musician, conjuror, the Vannan or washerman, the Velan or
midwife, accoucheur, and the Vilakkattaravan or barber, they were styled
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Cherujanmakkar, that is, small birthright holders, and as such were entitled to hereditary
rights and perquisites within certain well-defined local limits.
This organisation is to a certain extent still preserved, and most probably the
Kanisan’s profession will survive all other relics of the ancient Hindu constitution as his
services are still considered of essential importance in all matters of everyday life.
Indeed it would be difficult to describe a single important occasion in everyday
life when the Kanisan is not at hand as a guiding spirit, foretelling lucky days and lucky
hours, casting horoscopes, explaining the causes of calamities, prescribing remedies for
untoward events, and physicians (not physic) for sick persons. Seed cannot be sown nor
trees planted unless the Kanisan has been consulted beforehand.
He is even asked to consult his shastras to find lucky days and moments for
setting out on a journey, commencing an enterprise, giving a loan, executing a deed, or
shaving the head. For such important occasions as births, marriages, tonsure, investiture
with the sacred thread, and beginning the A. B, C, the Kanisan is of course
indispensable. His work in short mixes him up with the gravest as with the most trivial
of the domestic events of the people, and his influence and position are correspondingly
great.
The astrologer’s finding, as one will solemnly assert with all due reverence, is
the oracle of God himself, with the justice of which every one ought to be satisfied, and
the poorer classes follow his dictates unhesitatingly.
There is no prescribed scale of fees for his services, and in this respect he is like
the native physician and teacher. Those who consult him, however, rarely come empty-
handed, and the gift is proportioned to the means of the party and the time spent in
serving him. If no fee is given, the Kanisan does not exact it, as it is one of his
professional characteristics and a matter of professional etiquette that the astrologer
should be unselfish and not greedy of gain. On public occasions, however, and on
important domestic events, a fixed scale of fees is usually adhered to.
The astrologer’s busiest time is from January to July, the period of harvest and
of marriages, but in the other six months of the year his is far from being an idle life. His
most lucrative business lies in casting horoscopes, recording the events of a man’s life
from birth to death, pointing out dangerous periods of life, and prescribing rules and
ceremonies to be observed by individuals for the purpose of propitiating the gods and
planets and so averting the calamities of dangerous times. He also shows favourable
junctures for commencement of undertakings, and the Grantham or book written on
palmyra leaf sets forth in considerable detail the person’s disposition and mental qualities
as affected by the position of the planets in the Zodiac at the moment of birth.
All this is a work of labour, and of time; there are few members of respectable
families who are not thus provided, and nobody grudges the five to twenty-five rupees
usually paid for a horoscope according to the position and reputation of the astrologer.
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The people
Two things are essential to the astrologer, namely, a bag of cowries and an
almanac, When any one comes to consult him he quietly sits down, facing the sun, on a
plank seat or mat, murmuring some mantrams or sacred verses, opens his bag of cowries
and pours them on the floor. With his right hand he moves them slowly round and
round, solemnly inciting meanwhile a stanza or two in praise of his guru or teacher and
of his deity, invoking their help.
He then stops and explains what he has been doing, at the same time taking a handful of
cowries from the heap and placing them on one side. In front is a diagram drawn with
chalk on the floor and consisting of twelve compartments. Before commencing
operations with the diagram he selects three or five of the cowries highest up in the heap
and places them in a line on the right-hand side. These represent Ganapati (the Belly
God, the remover of difficulties), the sun, the planet Jupiter, Sarasvati (the Goddess of
speech), and his own guru or preceptor.
To all of those the astrologer gives due obeisance, touching his ears and the
ground three times with both hands. The cowries are next arranged in the compartments
of the diagram and are moved about from compartment to compartment by the
astrologer, who quotes meanwhile the authority on
which he makes such moves. Finally he explains the
result, and ends with again worshipping the deified
cowries who were witnessing the operation as
spectators.
Like the Pandava brothers, as they proudly
point out, the Kanisans used formerly to have one
wife in common among several brothers, and this
custom is still observed by some of them. Their custom of inheritance is consequently
from father to son, and the son performs the funeral ceremonies. But in all other
respects their marriage and death ceremonies seem to have a Marumakkatayam origin.
The marriage and other important ceremonial expenses of the village (desam)
astrologer and schoolmaster are always provided by the people of his village and the
headman and others take a proper pride in celebrating the marriage and other
ceremonies in good style. At his wedding he is decked out for the occasion in valuable
ornaments conspicuous among which is the combined style (for writing on palmyra
leaves) and knife, which is thrust into the girdle, and which is highly embellished with
inlaid silver and gold work.
On setting out on his wedding journey lie is accompanied by a party of Nayars
as escort who fire guns, blow horns and beat tom-toms as the procession sets forth
from the bridegroom’s house, and the same proceeding is followed on arrival at the
bride’s house. One of the bride’s female relatives, who is styled Enangatti, has a
conspicuous part to play in the ceremony. She seats the bride on seven and a half
measures of white rice spread on the floor. The bride is either carried or led in by her
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with her eyes closed, two betel loaves being hold firmly pressed by her against her
eyelids.
The tali is placed round her neck by the Enangatti while the bride is seated on
the rice, with her back to the bridegroom, and the bridegroom knots the string at the
back of the bride’s nock at the precise moment when a neighbouring astrologer called in
for the occasion declares that the moment is auspicious.
The phrase he uses is as follows : “The auspicious time is come and it greets
you with offers of beauty long life, wealth, sweet wedlock, posterity, and happiness.
Seize thou the occasion and marry the bride, and prosperity will attend you.”
The wedding guests here break in with a solemn twang of Aha ! Aha ! I” The
tali string is thereupon promptly tied by the bridegroom. After reading of a portion of
the Ramayanam the Enangatti seats the bride beside the groom and joins their hands.
The rice on which the bride was seated becomes the astrologer’s fee, with eight
annas added in money. The Enangatti next feeds the youthful pair with sweets, and
practices on the bridegroom various little jokes while so doing. Finally she comes behind
the pair with rice in both hands and sprinkles it over their heads with prayers and good
wishes, and this is done in turn by all the relations beginning with the parents. The
wedding ceremony concludes with the pair making obeisance to their elders.
The festivities, however, last for four days, and on the third day the party
adjourns to the bridegroom’s home, and on the fifth day it finally disperses. Without the
consent of the people of the village the parties are not permitted to divorce each other.
With this consent the parties have simply to pronounce the divorce in a caste assembly.
The children, if any, in that case belong to the father.
Their other ceremonies are not of sufficient interest to merit detailed
description.
The *Tiyar or Ilavar caste is the numerically strongest section of the Hindu
population, numbering in ail 559,717. They were, as already noticed in this section, the
planters of the ancient Hindu constitution, and this character they still to a very large
extent retain, as they hold to the present day a practical monopoly of tree climbing and
toddy drawing from palm trees.
NOTEs by VED: *This grouping of Thiyyas (two different castes in themselves) with Ezhavas,
is seen to be done in a most vehement manner, suggesting some vested interests have interfered in this
writing, with regard to this:
Moreover, to mention them as part of ancient Hindu constitution is also a very foolish item.
END of NOTEs by VED
One of their caste names (Tiyan) denotes that they came originally from an
*island, while the other caste name (Ilavan) denotes that that island was Ceylon. Tiyan is
a corruption of the Sanskrit Dvipan passing through Tivan, a name which is even now
sometimes applied to the caste. In the records of the Tellicherry Factory the caste is
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The people
generally alluded to “Tivee.” Simhala was the ancient name for Ceylon, and the other
caste name of the planters must have passed through Simhalam to Sihalan and Ihalan
and finally to Ilavan.
NOTEs by VED: * The whole text above is just a lot nonsense, written very clearly by some of
the SNDP or some other Ezhava activists who strived to set up a base in Malabar. They might have had the
support of many Thiyya social leadership as well as Thiyya government officials. It is not possible to
mention as who all must have collaborated in this scheme of events, which also included setting up Ezhava
Temple in Tellicherry. Logan, very obviously was a dullard in many of his observations, if they are from his
own insights. Or else he has been befooled.
There is no possibility of a migration of Ezhavas from Travancore to north Malabar. In fact, the
very language of north Malabar was different from that of what the Ehavas might have spoken. Beyond that
none of the north Malabar Thiyya traditional spiritual system, which are basically shamanistic, have any
connection to Ezhava traditions.
All that is common is that both Ezhavas as well as the Thiyyas came under the same feudal caste
masters. It is like the immigrants from various Asian locations arriving in England. After being under
English systems for a few centuries, these immigrants would find it quite difficult to mention a difference.
However, in the case of Ezhavas and Thiyyas, especially north Malabar Thiyyas, there is
absolutely anything common. In fact, the Ezhavas traditionally followed patriarchal family system, while the
North Malabar Thiyyas followed matriarchal system of family inheritance.
It would be most interesting to get the information on who gave such information to Logan.
Edgar Thurston, in his Castes and Tribes of Southern India has actually given a very detailed
information of this issue. END of NOTEs by VED
In their migration into Malabar they are traditionally stated to have brought with
them the Tenkay-maram, that is, the southern fruit-tree, alias, the coconut1 palm, the
coconut palm was perhaps grown in India at a very early period for in Photios’
abridgement of the Indika of Ktesias reference is made to “palm trees and their dates”
which were said to be “thrice the size of those in Babylon,” and in another abridged
passage of the same work by another writer the palm fruits are referred to as “the largest
of nuts.”
NOTEs: 1 See ante, foot-note, p. 70. END OF NOTEs
Both passages however belong to times long subsequent to that of the original
work. There is no doubt however that Kosmas Indiko pleustes described most accurately
the coconut palm under the appellation of Argellia, an erroneous transliteration probably
of the word narikelam or nalikeram usually applied to the fruit by the Malayali Brahmans.
It is not at all improbable that Tiyans had arrived in Malabar before the time of Kosmas
Indiko pleustes. (A.D. 522—547.)
The former caste name is used on the coast and in North Malabar generally, the
latter is applied to them chiefly in the Palghat and Valluvanad taluks.
In North Malabar the caste generally follows the Marumakkaltayam system of
inheritance, while in South Malabar the descent of property is generally from father to
son. Not unfrequently, however, two brothers, or more even, marry one wife. If she
have but one son the child is fathered on the elder brother.
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Both men and women of the North Malabar caste are remarkably neat in
appearance, although, like the Nayars, their clothing, both of men and women, is
extremely scanty, and they are besides extremely careful as to personal cleanliness. The
headquarters* of the caste may be said to lie at and round the ancient European
settlements of the French at Mahe and of the English at Tellicherry. The women are not
as a rule excommunicated if they live with Europeans, and the consequence is that there
has been among them a large admixture of European blood, and the caste itself has been
materially raised in the social scale.
In appearance some of the women** are almost as fair as Europeans, and it may
be said in a general way that to a European eye the best favoured men and women to be
found in the district are the inhabitants of ancient Kadattunad, Iruvalinad, and
Kottayam, of whom a large proportion belong to the Tiyan or planting community.
NOTEs by VED: It is quite obvious that the above-mentioned items are about North Malabar
Thiyyas, not about Ezhavas. END of NOTEs by VED
In the facility of their marriage relations they differ but little from the Nayars,
but with them the real marriage ceremony is much more formal. It is usual for the girl to
have her tali tied, as in the Nayars caste, before attaining the ago of puberty, but the
system of having the tali tied by the man who is to be her future husband is always
resorted to when a suitable husband can be found before the girl attains to that age. At
the betrothal ceremony, which is managed by two relatives, and by a Tandan (headman
or priest) on each side the bridegroom’s party tender payment of four fanams,
apparently for the food they have partaken, and then five and a quarter rupees in cash
and two now pieces of cloth as an adayalam or mark or sign of the conclusion of the
bargain.
At the end of this part of the proceedings the groom’s Tandan gives to the
bride’s Tandan two betal leaves with the remark, “We shall be coming for the marriage
with a party of so many on such and such a date,” to which the bride’s Tandan replies,
“If you satisfy our claims with (say) ten and a half rupees in cash and six pieces of new
cloth and two fanams for uncle’s son, we shall hand over the girl to you.” The allusion
here to “uncle’s son” will be explained presently.
Before the wedding day the bridegroom goes and visits all his relations
accompanied by live women all well clad and bedecked. If he accepts food in any house
it is a sign that the inmates are invited to the wedding
Thu bridegroom1 with his relations and friends sets out for the bride’s house on
the wedding day on observing a favourable omen.
NOTEs: 1 As this work is being passed through the Press (July 1884) a Committee (President Raja Sir T.
Madava Row, K.C.S.I., Members—Mossara. Logon, Wigram, P. Karunakara Menon, and C. Sankaran Nayar) is
busy drafting a Rill to legalise marriage among people governed by the Marumakkathayam system of
inheritance. END of NOTEs
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The people
He goes accompanied by two other youths dressed exactly like himself, and
with others of his male relations and friends armed with swords and targets playing in
front of him. On arrival at the wedding pavilion2 the bride’s Tandan wisely collects the
swords and keeps them in his own charge. The three youths dressed exactly alike sit
together and have rice strewn over them in common.
NOTEs: 2 Tahafat-ul-Mujahidin or “Hints for persons seeking the way to God,” as it is
frequently translated, or more literally “An offering to warriors who shall fight in defence of religion against
infidels.” Translated by Rowlandson : London, 1833. END of NOTEs
NOTEs by VED: The context of the above note is not clear. END of NOTEs by VED
The bridegroom’s sister brings in the bride and seats her behind the groom ; the
other female relatives stand behind, and the bride’s mother is conspicuous in a special
red cloth thrown over her shoulders. If the bride has not already had her tali tied, the
groom now puts it round her neck, and his sister ties it at the auspicious moment
pronounced by the astrologer present for that purpose. After this the bride moves back
to her seat behind the groom, and the groom’s sister then asks permission of the
assembly to pay the bride’s price (kanam), and the bride’s mother then, in similar fashion,
seeks permission to receive at her hands the cloths and ton and a half rupees in cash.
The groom and his two groomsmen are then served with food, etc., which they
in dumb show pretend to take, and at the conclusion of this they rise up and march
straight home with the bride, who must be held by the groom’s sister all the way.
As they stop out of the wedding pavilion they are met by Machchun or “uncle’s
son,” prepared to contest with them for the bride as prize, he having, according to
Marumakkatayam ideas, a better claim to her than anyone else. It is on this account that
the two groomsmen are dressed up like the groom himself in order to puzzle the
Machchun at this juncture as to who’s who. The Machchun’s claims are bought off with the
two fanams brought for the purpose, and he in turn presents betel leaf in token of
conciliation.
On reaching the bridegroom’s house the bride and groom must enter the door
placing their right foot simultaneously on the door step. The feasting is kept up for two
days at the groom’s home and for two more days at the bride’s, the parties assisting each
other and also making presents to the couple.
This caste is much given to devil-charming, or devil-driving as it is often called.
The washer-men (Vannan) are the high-priests of this superstition, and with chants,
ringing cymbals, magic figures, and waving lights they drive out evil spirits from their
votaries of this caste at certain epochs in their married lives. One ceremony in particular,
called Teyyattam—incorrupt form of Deva and Attam, that is, playing at gods—takes
place occasionally in the fifth month of pregnancy.
A leafy arbour is constructed and in front of it is placed a terrible figure of
Chamundi, the queen of the demons*, made of rice-flour, turmeric powder, and charcoal
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powder. A party of not less than eighteen washer-men is organised to represent the
demons and furies—Kuttichattan (a mischievous imp) and many others. On being
invoked, those demons bound on to the stage in pairs, dance, caper, jump, roar, fight,
and drench each other with saffron-water. Their capers and exertions gradually work up
their excitement, until they are veritably possessed of the devil. At this juncture fowls
and animals are sometimes thrown to thorn to appease their fury. Those they attack with
their teeth, and kill and tear as a tiger does his prey. After about twenty minutes the
convulsions ease, the demon or spirit declares its pleasure, and much fatigued, retires to
give place to others, and thus the whole night is spent with much tom-tomming and
noise and shouting, making it impossible, for Europeans at least, to sleep within earshot
of the din.
NOTEs by VED: *Logan is clearly being judgemental on items he is simply ignorant END of
NOTEs by VED
Their funeral ceremonies are peculiar in certain respects. The diseased is

furnished with money and food for his journey by each blood-relative holding in his
right hand in turn a piece of gold and some white rice, and pouring over those some
drops of water into deceased’s mouth as he lies at the grave side or on the funeral pyre
as the case may be. Early too on the morning of the third day after death the Kurup or
caste barber adopts measures to entice the spirit of the deceased out of the room in
which he breathed his last. This is done by the nearest relative bringing into the room a
steaming pot of savoury funeral rice. It is immediately again removed and the spirit after
three days’ fasting is understood greedily to follow the odour of the tempting food.
The Kurup at once closes the door and shuts out the spirit. Boiled rice is
thrown to the crows daily while the ceremony lasts. The barber or Kurup is fed most
liberally for the duties which he has to perform, and which are looked on as entailing
great sin. And it is a common saying that the Kurups never increase in numbers owing
to these sinful earnings.
The Kurup just referred to belongs to Panan caste. He is the barber of the
polluting castes above Cherumars, and by profession he is also an umbrella-maker. But
curiously enough, though an umbrella -maker, he cannot make the whole of an umbrella.
He may make only the framework ; the covering of it is the portion of the females of his
caste. If he has no female relatives of his own capable of finishing off his umbrellas, he
must seek the services of the females of other families in the neighbourhood to finish
his for him.
In the ceremonies of this caste there is nothing particular worth mentioning
except that the village astrologer is not expected to be present at their weddings, and the
usual part played by him in such ceremonies among other castes is taken by an older of
the caste itself.
The basket-makers of society are called Kavaras. Their origin is obscure, but it. is
clearly Dravidian as they speak a corrupt kind of Tulu. Nothing will induce them to take
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The people
hold of an umbrella, as they have a rule or motto ; “Do not take hold of a Panan's (umbrella-
maker’s) leg.” They have no fashion about wearing their hair : some shave in the Hindu
fashion, leaving a top knot, others shave their heads clean, others again wear their hair
long and matted and not over clean.
Though the village astrologer will not work for the barbers (umbrella-makers)
of polluting castes, yet he attends the wedding ceremonies of the basket-makers. The
basket-makers in turn have barbers of their own. The polluting castes’ barber—the
Panan—does not serve them.
The most remarkable custom of the basket-makers is that as soon as the pains
of delivery come upon a pregnant woman she is taken to an outlying shed and left alone
to live or die as the event may turn out. No help is given to her for twenty-eight days ;
even medicines are thrown to her from a distance; and the only assistance rendered is to
place a jar of warm water close by her just
before her child is born. Pollution from birth is
held as worse than that from death. At the end
of the twenty-eight days the hut in which she
was confined is burnt down. The father, too, is
polluted for fourteen days, and at the end of
that time he is purified, not like other castes by
the barber, but by holy water obtained from
Brahmans at temples or elsewhere, and on this
point the Kavara is most particular.
The next caste to be noticed is formed of the
Cherumar or agrestic slaves. These were in all
probability the aborigines of the country when
it passed under the rule of the Nayars. The
name is now written as above Cherumar, and as
such is supposed to be derived from cheru,
small, an adjective which correctly describes the appearance of this caste now-a-days ;
but size and stature depend more upon conditions of food than upon anything else, and
a race which has for centuries on centuries continued to be fed by its masters on a
minimum of what will keep body and soul together is pretty sure in the long run to
degenerate in size.
NOTEs by VED: *There is more to what happened than what Logan could possibly
understand. This unmentioned item is the feudal language of the natives. It has the capability of delivering
hammerblows on the extremely lower-down positioned populations. In fact, if the Briton were to come
under the immigrants from the South Asian subcontinent, and remain there for a few centuries, they
themselves would have many of the facial and physical demeanours of the lower castes in the subcontinent.
It is basically connected to being under feudal language speakers, at an extremely low level. And the native-
English have many of the qualifications that can make them be pushed to the lowest levels. END of
NOTEs by VED
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The Hindu mind, moreover, seems to be peculiarly liable to adopt superficial
views on historical matters, and the fact that the race of Cherumar is of small stature is
just one of those superficial facts which would be accepted by a Hindu (with the clearest
conscience) as proof positive that the name was given because the people were of small
size and stature. On the other hand there is ample evidence that the Malabar coast
constituted at one time the kingdom or empire of Chera, and the nad or country of
Cheranad lying on the coast and Inland south-east of Calicut remains to the present day
to give a local habitation to the ancient name. Moreover the name of the *great
Emperor of Malabar who is known to every child on the coast as Cheraman Perumal,
although the first of these names is now written with the dental instead of with the
cerebral r—was undoubtedly the title and not the name of the emperor, and meant the
chief (literally, big man) of the Chera people.
NOTEs by VED: *It is true that in the local feudal languages, there is a propensity to use large-
scale words for anything that seems beyond one’s level. However, to use the word ‘Emporer about any king
of the subcontinent, is being slightly farfetched. Simply overrunning locations with crude and brutal
barbarian forces is simply not the hallmark of any Empire. Empire-building should consist of a capability of
setting up great social and administrative systems that caters to at least a majority of the residents. END of
NOTEs by VED
Finally, from a census taken in 1857 of the slave population it appears that they
were then distributed as follows :
1. Chirakkal 13,380
2. Kottayam 2,859
3. Kurumbranad 10,500
4. Wynad 10,561
5. Calicut 14,082
G. Ernad 35,419
7. Valluvanad 34,902
8. Palghat 25,280
0. Ponnani 28,668
10. Cochin 71
Total 187,812
That is to say, the bulk of them were located in the ancient Cheranad (part of the
Ernad taluk) and in the neighbourhood of it. Moreover Ernad and Valluvanad and
Ponnani are the three great Mappilla taluks of the district, and the converts to Islam
have in Malabar been drawn chiefly from the slave population, so that originally the
slave population in those three taluks, which seem to have been about the heart of
ancient Chera, was denser still. There is therefore a good deal to be said in favour of the
view that the Cherumars were the aborigines of Malabar.
The Cherumar are of two sections, one of which, the Iraya Cherumar, are of
slightly higher social standing than the Pulayar. As the names denote, the former are
permitted to come as far as the eaves (ira) of their employers’ houses, while the latter
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The people
name denotes that they convoy pollution (pula) to all whom they meet or approach, the
former class belongs chiefly to Palghat taluk, and it is said that the only houses which
they may approach as far as the eaves are the houses of the Ilavan caste.
The caste is very scantily clad; in many places the men do not wear cloth at all
round their waists, but substitute for it a fringe of green loaves. Their women used at
one time to go similarly clad, but this practice has fallen into disuse in Malabar at least,
although it is still maintained in the Native States. In the latter also, in outlying parts,
both men and women are still afraid to avail themselves of the privilege of using the
public roads. In passing from one part of the country to another they tramp along
through the marshes in mud, and wet often up to their waists, rather than risk the
displeasure of their lords and masters by accidentally polluting them while using the
public roads. They work very hard for the pittance they receive; in fact nearly all the rice-
land cultivation used to be in former days carried on by them. The influx of European
planters, who offer good wages, has had a marked effect in releasing this class from
some of their bonds, and the hold which their masters had over them has been
proportionately relaxed. It is said that the difficulty of providing for their woman is the
chief obstacle to their complete release from their shackles. The women must have
dwellings of some sort somewhere, and the masters provide the women with huts and
allow their men to go to work on plantations on condition that they return in good time
for the rice cultivation and hand over a considerable portion of their earnings.
Conversion to Muhammadanism has also had a most marked effect in freeing
the slave caste from their former burthens. By conversion, a Cheruman obtains a distinct
rise in the social scale, and if he is in consequence bullied or beaten the influence of the
whole Muhammadan community comes to his aid. With fanaticism still rampant, the
most powerful of landlords dares not to disregard the possible consequences of making
a martyr of his slave.
The questions of slavery and the slave trade attracted the early attention of the
Honourable Company’s Government. So early as 1702, the year in which British rule
commenced, a proclamation was issued by the Commissioners against dealing in slaves.
A person offering a slave for sale was to be considered as a thief. The slave was to be
forfeited and the person offering him for sale was to be fined five times his value. The
purchaser was to be similarly treated. The houses of suspected slave traders were to be
well watched and entered and searched on the smallest suspicion, and the traders caught
in flagrante delicto were to be handed over to the Rajas to be dealt with.
Fishermen and Mappillas convoying slaves were to be “severely flogged and
fined at the rate of ten rupees each slave.” Vessels used in trade (except fisher-boats)
were to be confiscated. But the proclamation was not to prevent the privileged superior
castes from purchasing the children of famine-stricken parents, as had been customary,
on condition that the parents might repurchase their children, as had also been
customary, on the advent of better times. This proclamation was, however, directed
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chiefly against the practice, then prevalent, of bands of robbers carrying off by force
from their houses the children of “the most useful inhabitants, the Tiyars and other
cultivators.”
This practice was kept alive by the facility with which the slaves could be sold
on the coast to the agents of vessels engaged in the trade sailing from the French
settlement at Mahe and from the Dutch settlement at Cochin. These ships “in general
carried them (the slaves) to the French Islands.”
The subject of agrestic slavery did not come forward for some years, but on 20th
July 1819, Mr. Warden, the Principal Collector, wrote an interesting report on the
condition of the Cherumar and on the 23rd December of that year the Principal
Collector received orders desiring “that the practice of selling slaves for arrears of
revenue may be immediately discontinued.”
The matter in this and other ways reached the ears of the Court of Directors,
and in their despatch of 12th December 1821 they expressed considerable dissatisfaction
at the lack of precise information which had been vouchsafed to them regarding the
cultivators in general, and in particular said : We are told, indeed, that part of them (an
article of very unwelcome intelligence) are held as slaves ; that they are attached to the
soil and marketable property.”
A report was called for, and Mr. Vaughan in his letter of 24th August 1822
merely said that the slaves were under the protection of the laws. The general question
of slavery was not, however, allowed to drop—as, indeed, at that time it was not likely to
be—for the British public mind was in great excitement on a question of the kind nearer
home. It was, perhaps, fortunate for Malabar that West Indian slavery was receiving so
much notice at home as it served to divert attention away from the Indian question, and
at any rate the solution of the difficulty was thus set about with greater regard for the
individual interests both of the slave and of his master.
On 16th November 1836, the Government ordered the remission in the
Collector’s accounts of Rs. 927-13-0, which was the “annual revenue” from slaves on
the Government lands in Malabar, and the Government was at the same time “pleased
to accede to the recommendation in favour of emancipating the slaves on the
Government lands in Malabar.”
Their freedom was not, however, to be proclaimed, and the measure was to be
carried out in such manner “as not to create any unnecessary alarm or aversion to it on
the part of other proprietors, or premature hopes of emancipation on that of other
slaves.”
This was a wise step on the part of Government, for it strengthened their hands
in future years in recommending others to do as they themselves had already done. But
at the same time they need not have been under any apprehensions as to the effects of
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The people
such an emancipation on the minds of other slaves. It is only people with initial ideas of
liberty who fret under a system of compulsory customary employments.
The Directors on learning what had been done "entirely approved” of the
measures adopted, and requested the Government to consider how to extend similar
measures to the slaves of private owners, and urged the necessity of carrying out the
measures with "extreme caution”. This was contained in the Directors’ despatch of 17th
August 1838, and in penning it they evidently had before their eyes the fear of being
heavily mulcted after the West Indian fashion in compensation to owners if any overt
act was taken towards publicly recognising a general emancipation of slaves.
The Collector on 7th January 1839 submitted his report, and noticed the fact
that there were “few or no slaves” in North Malabar. Ho also stated that, their condition
was ameliorated since 1822. On this, nothing more was done just then, except that the
Government issued orders on 12th March 1839 “to watch the subject of the
improvement of the condition of the Cherumar with that interest which it evidently
merits, and leave no available means untried for effecting that object.”
Nothing more would likely have been done had not Mr. E. B, Thomas, the
Judge at Calicut, written in strong terms on 24th November 1841 a letter to the Sadr
Adalat, in which he pointed out a number of facts which had come judicially under his
notice. Women in some taluks fetched higher prices in order to breed slaves. Tho
average cost of a young male under ten years was about Rs. 3-8-0, of a female somewhat
loss. An infant ten months old was sold in a court auction on 10th August 1841 for Rs.
1-10-6 independent of the price of its mother.
And in a recent suit, the right to twenty-seven slaves was the “sole matter of
litigation, and it was disposed of on its merits.” In a second letter, dated 24th August
1842, Mr. E. B. Thomas pointed out that the slaves had increased in numbers from
144,000 in census 1835 to 159,000 in census 1842, and he observed that “no gradual
extinction of slavery is really going on in Malabar.”
It was apparently these letters of Mr. E. B. Thomas which eventually decided
the Board of Diroctors to send out orders to legislate in the matter, for in their despatch
of 27th July 1842 they first sent orders “for the entire abolition of slavery”, and in a
second despatch of 15th March 1843 they called the special attention of the Government
of India to the question of slavery in Malabar where the evils, as described by Mr. E. B.
Thomas, were so aggravated “as compared with other portions of India”.
The Government of India thereupon passed Act V of 1843. On the passing of
the Act, its provisions were widely published throughout Malabar by Mr. Conolly, the
Collector, and he explained to the Cherumar that it was their interest as well as their
duty to remain with their masters if treated kindly.
He proclaimed “The Government will not order a slave who is in the employ of
an individual to forsake him and go to the service of another claimant; nor will the
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Government interfere with the slave’s inclination as to where he wishes to work.” And
again, “Any person claiming a slave as janmam, kanam or panayam, the right of such
claim or claims will not be investigated into at any of the public offices or courts.”
In the other portions of the proclamation, he closely adhered to the language of
the Act. These measures in due course received the cordial approval of the Court of
Directors, who, in their despatch of 30th July 1845, wrote as follows : “It would defeat
the very object in view to create any estrangement between them and their masters, and ,
moreover would be an act of injustice and bad faith of which the masters would be
entitled to complain.”
The appointment of a Protector of the Cherumar was sanctioned but never
carried out, and various industrial and educational schemes organised for their benefit
failed because of their lack of industry in the one case, and their lack of application and
adaptability in the other.
In 1852 and again in 1855 the fact that traffic in slaves still continued was
brought incidentally on the first occasion, and specially on the second, to the notice of
Government, but on full consideration no further measures for the emancipation of the
Cherumar were deemed to be necessary. The Cherumar even yet have not realised what
public opinion in England would probably have forced down their throats fifty years
ago, and there is reason to think that they are still, even now, with their full consent,
bought and sold and hired out, although, of course, the transaction must be kept secret
for fear of the penalties of sections 370, 371, etc., of the Indian Penal Code, which came
into force on 1st January 1802 and which was the real final blow at slavery in India.
The slaves, however, as a caste will never understand what real freedom means
until measures are adopted to give them indefeasible rights in the small orchards
occupied by them as house sites.
Like the Tiyar or Ilavar, the Cherumar purchase their wives, and the
bridegroom’s sister is the chief performer in the wedding ceremony. It is she who pays
the girl’s price and carries off the bride.
The consent of the parents on both sides to a marriage is signified by an
interchange of visits at which sips of rice-water are partaken, the visitors in each case
signifying assent by dropping a fanam coin into the rice-water before partaking of it.
When the wedding party sets out, they form a large gang of people, and at intervals the
men set to at stick-play, the women singing in chorus to encourage thej “Let us see—let
us see - the stick-play (Paditallu), oh ! Cherumar”.
At their weddings too, men and women minglo indiscriminately in dancing. On
the return to the bridegroom’s hut, the bride is expected to weep loudly and deplore her
fate. On entering the bridegroom’s hut, the bride must tread on a pestle placed across
the threshold. A divorce presents no difficulties beyond the necessity of returning half
of the bride’s purchase value.
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The people
Like the other castes, the Cherumar observe pollution for a number of days
when a relative dies. The number of days in this case is fourteen, but as they cannot at
certain seasons afford to be idle for fourteen days together—for fourteen days’ idleness
very often with them means fourteen days’ starvation—they resort to an artifice to attain
this end. They mix cowdung and paddy and make it into a ball and place this ball in an
earthen pot, the mouth of which they carefully close with clay. The pot is laid in a corner
of the cottage, and as long as the pot remains unopened they remain free from pollution
and can mix among their fellows. On a convenient day they open the pot and are
instantly seized with pollution, - which continues for forty days. Otherwise fourteen
days’ consecutive pollution is all that is required. On the forty-first or fifteenth day, as
the case may be, rice is thrown to the ancestors and a feast follows.
The village astrologer is above being consulted by the Cherumar who therefore
resort to a Pariah. The process of divination is performed by turning some paddy in a
basket, and in this way the good and the bad times of a Cheruman are reckoned.
Of the Nayadis or lowest caste among the Hindus—the dog-eaters— nothing
definite is known. They are most persistent in their clamour for charity, and will follow
at a respectful distance for miles together any person walking, driving or boating. If
anything is given to them it must be laid down, and after the person offering it has
proceeded a sufficient distance the recipient comes timidly forward and removes it.
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Section E— Manners, Customs etc.
The most important of the customs in which the people of Malabar differ from
people elsewhere is that connected with the inheritance of property. It is a sufficiently
perplexing thought to a person brought up in western modes of life and with western
ideas that a father can stand in no recognised legal1 relation to his own children, and that
a father’s property does not as a matter of course descend to his offspring. And yet that
is how the law stands at present in regard to the vast majority of the inhabitants of the
district.
NOTEs: 1 See foot-note to p. 136. END OF NOTEs
This law of inheritance, usually styled Marumakkattayam (literally, sister’s son’s

inheritance), may be shortly described thus. A Malayali taravad corresponds pretty closely
to what the Romans called a gens, with this important distinction, however, that whereas
in Rome all members of the gens traced their descent in the male line from a common
ancestor, in Malabar the members of a taravad trace their descent, in the female line only,
from a common ancestress.
All Taravads of influence set apart property for the common use, and indeed it
seems to have been for purposes of thrift that this system of inheritance was at first
devised. So long as that common property exists any number of families may hang
together and form one taravad. To explain what is here meant by a “family” as
distinguished from a taravad, take the following example :
A (Common ancestress)
B (Female) X (Male) C (Female) Y (Male) D (Female) Z (Male)
(has issue) (no issue) (has issue)
X, Y and Z are A’s sons, and, as such, are members of A’s taravad, but however
many children may be born to them, those children never come into A’s taravad nor
stand in any recognised legal relation either to their fathers, or to the property of their
fathers’ taravad. But the daughters B and D have each a family, and their daughters may
in turn have further families, and so on. The word “family” was used in the sense of the
issue (both male and female) of any female descendant in the female line only of A.
Every member, whether male or female, and whether of age or not, has an equal interest
in the common stock of the taravad ; but no member can claim his share of it. The
taravad, however, as a body, can of course make any division, it pleases of the common
stock, and among the more influential families it is customary to set aside certain
portions of it, for the life enjoyment only, of members who attain to Sthanams or
dignities hereditary in the family.
The portions so set apart are intended to help them in maintaining the dignity
of their positions, and in respect to them they are to a great extent in the position of
trustees. When a partition of the whole stock takes place, the taravad becomes
disintegrated, and dissolves into so many fresh taravads as the members may have
settled to form among themselves. This process of disintegration goes on continually
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The people
except among the highest classes, who pride themselves on maintaining a large common
stock. But even among them the taravad gets split up into subordinate divisions, known
as tavalis or branches. One way in which this occurs is, that a member with perhaps
some assistance from the common stock, but more usually with the assistance obtained
from his father (who, as already said, stands in no recognised legal relation to his son),
sets out from his taravad house and lives apart, taking with him one or more female
relatives (usually a sister or sisters) and thus founds a separate branch (tavali ) of the
taravad.
Or, more usually still now-a-days, a female of the taravad leaves the taravad
house to live with the husband of her choice in a separate house prepared on purpose
for her by her husband. This house is usually conveyed to her in free gift by her
husband, and there she settles down to rear her family, who constitute a tavali of their
taravad. The property acquired by such a tavali has been usually regarded as the separate
property of the members who compose the tavali, and not as part of the common stock
of the taravad, even when there has been no formal deed declaring what is, and what is
not, common property ; but the High Court has of recent1 years held otherwise, and the
tendency of the courts is now to regard all property as common property until a formal
division thereof has taken place.
NOTEs: 1 I.L.R., Madras III, p. 212, and IV, p. 150, and Madras H.C. Reports, II, p. 162, and
VI, pp. 401 to 415.END OF NOTEs
A man’s own acquisitions during his lifetime, therefore, descend at his death to
his taravad and not to his own children. In the days when the Nayar male population
were all soldiers and the marital tie was not much regarded this did not matter much, but
things are changed now that a Nayar usually marries one wife, lives apart with her in
their own home, and rears her children as his own also. His natural affections come into
play, and there is a strong and most laudable desire for some legal mode, other than
those at present recognised, for conveying to his children and to their mother all his self-
acquired property.
At present he can only convey to them this property by stripping himself of it
and making it over to them in free gift during his own lifetime. And this he is naturally
reluctant to do for many and obvious reasons. He is in a thoroughly false position, for if
he obeys his natural instincts and gives away his property during his lifetime to his wife
and children, he becomes a beggar and is taken to task by his legal heirs; whereas, if he
hesitates to do it, he incurs the displeasure of his own household. This false position is
fatal to individual industry and thrift, and it is to be hoped that the law will soon1 be
changed by permitting of the testamentary disposal of self-acquisitions.
NOTEs:1. See foot-note, p, 116 END OF NOTEs
Dr. Gundert gives the following list of the castes who follow this system of
inheritance : (1) Seventeen Brahman illams in Payanur, Chirakkal taluk ; (2) Kshatriya ;
(3) Tirumulpad ; (4) Nayar ; (5) Urali ; (G) Andor ; (7) Pallichan ; (8) Kuskavan ; (9)
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Vyabari ; (10) Kolayan ; (11) Chembotti ; (12) Pisharodi ; (13) V. Variyan ; (14) Nambi ;
(15) Teyambadi ; (16) Maran ; (17) PoduvaL ; (18) Kuttunambi ; (19) Attikurichi ; (20)
Unnitiri ; (21) Eradi ; (22) Vallodi ; (23) Nedungadi ; (24) Veluttedan ; (25) Chaliyan ;
(26) Tiyan in north, and in Travancore.
NOTEs by VED: The observation that Tiyan in north and Travancore follow Matriarchal
system of inheritance is again some kind of mischief, deliberately inserted for some political reason. Tiyans
were not there by antiquity in Travancore. And the Ezhavas of Travancore, who are nowhere connected to
Thiyyas of north Malabar, are not matriarchal people, even though there might have been some families
there which might have followed this system due to some specific reasons, soley connected to them. END
of NOTEs by VED
Of the other system of inheritance, usually styled Makkattayam (literally, son’s'

inheritance), very little needs to be said, but many castes have peculiar customs in regard
to it of which a few have already been noticed in the caste section. As a rule it may be
said that these special customs have for foundation a desire to keep the property of the
family together. It is this desire which prompts the Nambutiris to allow only their eldest
sons' to marry wives of their own caste, and which prompts the Ilavar to have one wife
in common among several brothers.
Dr. Gundert gives the following list of castes who follow this Makkattayam
system of inheritance : (1) Nambutiri, (2) Pattar, (3) Embran, (4) Mussad, (5) Ilayad, (0)
Tangal, (7) Nambidi, (8) Komatti, (9) Veishyan, (10) Nambiachan, (11) Chakyar, (12)
Adigal, (13) Pidaran , (14) Poduval, (15) Vilakkattaravan , (16) Irankolli , (17) Mutta
Chettiyan, (18) Kammalar, (19) Tavdan, (2) Ilavar, (21) Cherumar,—also some of the
following castes : (22) Chaliyar, (23) Jedar, (24) Kaikolar, (25) Kaniyan, and (26) Tiyar in
Kadattunad and Travancore.
Of other customs peculiar to Malabar there is a list of sixty-four, of which,
however, there is more than one version. One version of the list will be found in the “
Indian Antiquary,” Vol. IV, p. 255, based, it is said, on precepts given by the great
Samkara Acharya in twenty-six Sanskrit slogams. Another version, derived from personal
communication with men learned in such matters, is subjoined. These sixty-four rules
are called the Kerala Anacharam, that is, the irregular customs of Keralam and one
tradition alleges that Samkara Acharya promulgated them at Kollam on 25th August 825
A.D., the first day of the first year of the Kollam era followed on the coast. There is
some colour for this tradition in the well-known chronogram marking the
commencement of the Kollam era, viz, :
0 6 1 4 3 4 1
Ach ar Ya va ka bhod ya
which means, Acharya’s (i.e., Samkaracharya’s) word or law is unalterable, or must not
be changed. The syllables represent figures as shown above, and those written
backwards give the ago in days of the Kali Yuga on the first day of the first Kollam year.
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The people
It is perhaps unnecessary to observe that Samkaracharaya was, according to the most
recent authorities, not alive on 25th August 825 A.D., so he could not have promulgated
them as alleged. The sixty-four rules are evidently of Brahman origin, and are concerned
chiefly with Brahman usages.
Customs for Malabar Brahmans, etc., not observed elsewhere.
1. You must not clean your teeth with sticks.
2. You must not bathe with clothes worn on your person.
3. You must not rub your body with the clothes worn on your person.
4. You must not bathe before sun-rise.
5. You must not cook your food before you bathe.
0. Avoid the water kept aside during the night.
7. You must not have one particular object in view while you bathe.
8. The remainder of water taken for one purpose must not be made use of for
another ceremony.
9. You must bathe if you touch another.
10. You must bathe if you happen to be near another.
11. You must bathe if you touch polluted wells or tanks.
12. You must not tread over a place that has been cleaned with a broom, unless it is
washed.
13. A particular mode of marking the forehead with ashes.
14. You must repeat charms yourself.
15. You must avoid cold-rice, etc.
16. You must avoid leavings of meals by children.
17. You must not taste anything that has been offered to Siva.
18. You must not serve out food with hands.
19. You must not make use of the ghee of buffalo-cows for burnt offerings, etc.
20. You must not make use of the ghee of buffalo-cows for anniversary, etc.
21. A particular mode of taking meals.
22. You must not chew betel while you are polluted.
23. You must observe the conclusion of Bramhachari (an unmarriedman).
24. You must give presents to your guru (preceptor)
25. You must not repeat Vedas at the road.
26. You must not sell women.
27. You must avoid any vow which you observe in anticipation of getting your
desires fulfilled.
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28. Bathing is all that a woman should observe if she touches another in her monthly
course.
29. Brahmans should not spin cotton.
30. Brahmans should not wash clothes for themselves.
31. Kshatriyas should avoid worshipping in Siva Lingam.
32. Brahmans should not accept the anniversary of Sudras.
33. Perform the anniversaries of your fathers, etc.
34. Anniversaries should be performed oil the day of the new moon.
35. The funeral ceremony should be performed at the end of the year from the day
of death.
36. The ceremony to be performed till the end of the year from the day of death.
37. Sraddha should be performed with regard to the stars.
38. The funeral ceremony should be performed after the pollution caused by a child-
birth at that time has been removed.
39. A particular mode of performing Sraddha by an adopted son.
40. The corpse of a man should be burnt in his own compound.
41. Sanyasis (devotees) should not look at females,
42. You must always be seeking for the next world.
43. Sraddha should not be performed in honour of dead Sanyasis.
44. Brahman females must not look at any other persons besides their own
husbands,
45. Brahman females must not go out unaccompanied by female servants.
46. Should wear only white clothes.
47. Noses should not be pierced.
48. Brahmans ought to be put out of their caste if they drink any liquor.
49. They ought to be put out of their caste if they have intercourse with other
Brahman women besides their wives.
50. The consecration of evil spirits in temples should be avoided.
51. Sudras, etc., are prevented from touching an image.
52. Anything offered to one god should not be offered to another.
63. Marriages, etc., should not be done without a burnt- offering.
54. Brahmans should not pour blessings upon each other.
55. They should not bow down to another person.
56. Sacrifice with a cow should be avoided.
57. Do not cause distraction, some by observing the religious rite of Siva and others
those of Vishnu.
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The people
58. Brahmans should wear only one sacred thread.
59. Eldest son only is entitled to legal marriage.
60. Ceremony in honour of the dead ancestors should be performed with boiled rice.
61. Ceremony to be performed in honour of an uncle.
62. The right of inheritance among Kshatriyas, etc., goes towards nephews.
63. Widows should lead the lives of Sanyasis.
64. Sati should be avoided.
The Malayalis compute1 their time, as observed above, by the Kollam era, which
commenced on 25th August 8252 A.D., but it is not generally known that there are two
Kollam years, just as it is not generally known that there are two well-known Kollams or
Quilons, as already described in Chapter I, p. 72. The Northern Kollam year commences
on the 1st of Kanni, the month (September) in which the sun enters the Zodiacal sign of
Virgo. The Southern Kollam year, on the other hand, commences on the 1st of
Chingam, the Zodiacal month of Leo (August-September).
NOTEs: 1. Another Era which is in use, but only to a very limited extent, near Cochin in the Vypeen Era.
In Malayalam it is called Putuveppu (literally—new deposit) and it dates from A.D. 1341, the year in which a
new inland (Vypeen) was formed by deposit of sand and silt between the mouths of the Cranganore and
Cochin rivers—or in which perhaps this island was first inhabited.
2. The data for fixing this day may be thus stated : —
(a) Up to midnight of 14th September 1882 A.D. there had elapsed 687,280 days of the Christian era.
(b) On 15th September 1882, the first day of the Northern Kollam year 1058, the age of the Kali Yugam in
days was 1,820,238.
(c) The age of the Kali Yugam on the first day of the first year of the Kollam era was as fixed by the
chronogram "Acharya vakubhodya," 1,434,160 days.
(d) Therefore 301,202 days of the Christian ore had elapsed when the Kollam era began.
(e) And this corresponds with the 236th day of the 825th year.
(f) The 237th day of 825 A.D. was 25th August.
(g) The same date is assigned in the Ind. Ant., Vol. XI, 271, but the date in that case are not stated. END
OF NOTEs
It is uncertain how this difference of a month was imported into the era. The
most natural explanation seems to be that there are two eras, and not merely one, but
here history is at fault, for it is certain that the dates could not have been fixed as those
of the founding of the two Kollams, as very often supposed, one of the Kollams having
already been in existence for two centuries at least at the date of the commencement of
the era. (As. Res., X, 69 ; Caldwell’s Drav. Gram., p. 27.).
Another theory is that the two dates mark the acquisition of independence of
the Perumal (emperor) by the two Kolattiri families. There is much to be urged in favour
of this view, only it is unlikely that the dates of acquiring independence should have
fallen precisely on the first days of two successive months. The matter is explained more
fully in the historical Chapter, Section (a).
A third theory is that the dates denote respectively the epochs when
Samkaracharya’s Vedantist doctrines were embraced respectively by the Brahmans of the
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south and the Brahmans of the north portions of Keralam. There is some colour for this
in the chronogram already explained above (page 150) marking in the Kali Yugam era
the commencement of the Kollam era. But there is no historical evidence so far as yet
discovered in favour of this view.
The other two explanations proceed on the assumption that originally there was
but one era, that it marked an event in the history of the country, and that as this event
fell in the middle of a month the initial day of the Kollam year was arbitrarily transferred
by the respective suzerains of the north and south (in all probability the two Kolattiri
dynasties), the one to the beginning of the Zodiacal month next following (1st Kanni),
and the other to that of the Zodiacal month next preceding (1st Chingam), the exact date
of the event, and this is probably the true explanation of the difference.
The two historical events from which is supposed to date the commencement
of the Kollam era are respectively the institution of the Onam festival, the great annual
festival of the Malayali , and the departure of the last emperor (Perumal) of Keralam for
Arabia, whence he never returned. The evidence in favour of this latter event having
taken place at this time will come more appropriately hereafter. As regards the former,
the facts on which the assumption, for it is nothing more, rests is that the Onam festival
falls on varying days at or about this time of the year, and that in title-deeds, horoscopes
and other writings in North Keralam the year is still sometimes written as having ended
on the day preceding the Tiru Onam day.
This fact is quite reconcilable with the other explanation which alleges that the
commencement of the era coincides with the day of the Perumal’s departure for Arabia
if it is assumed that, as is not improbable, the day on which he sailed was the Tiru Onam
day—the day on which acknowledgments of fealty should have been made.
As there are two initial days of the Kollam year, so there are two systems of
astronomy and two calendars in use on the coast. The differences between the two
systems are, however, of minor importance, and the chief difference will be presently set
forth. The system in vogue both in the north and in the south is that founded on Arya
Bhattacharya’s dictum ;—“All the heavenly bodies1 enter the sign Aries and rise above the
horizon at one and the same moment on a certain day2, which moment is reckoned as
the commencement of a Kalpam3 , of a Yugam4 , of a year, of a month, and of a day.
Time is duration with no beginning nor end, but capable of being computed by means
of the relative positions of the planets and stars.”
NOTEs: 1. Sun, moon and planets.
2. Here must be understood: at Lanka (Ceylon), supposed to be on the Equator :
3. The period commencing with this phenomenon and ending with its recurrence.
4. One seventy-second part of a Kalpam according to one school, and one seventy-first part according to
another. END OF NOTEs
It is accordingly by the sun’s position in the heavens that the lengths of the
Malayali months and years are determined. Hence the months correspond with the signs
of the Zodiac :
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The people
Months in Mal. Signs of the Zodiac. Corresponding English

month.
Medham Aries April—May.
Idavam Taurus May—June.
Midunam Gemini June—July.
Karkadagam Cancer July—August
Chingam Leo August—September.
Kanni Virgo . September—October.
Tulam Libra . October—November.
Vrikshikam Scorpio November—December
Dhanu Sagittarius December—January.
Makaram Capricornus January—February.
Kumbham Aquarius February—March.
Minam Pisces March—April.
The Malayali names, chiefly of Sanskrit origin, correspond precisely to the

names of the Zodiacal signs used in European countries.
The Malayalis again divide their day into 60 naligas (— 24 minutes), and each
naliga into 60 vinaligas ( — 24 seconds), and each vinaliga into 60, what they call, “long
letter utterance times” (the time taken to pronounce a consonant and a long vowel =
2/5 of a second).
There are two other fanciful measures of time shorter than this, one of which
(matra) is ¼ of a “long letter utterance time,” and another (noddi ) which is ⅛ of a matra
; but for practical purposes the day is divided into naligas, vinaligas, and "long letter
utterance limes.”
The chief difference between the northern and southern systems of astronomy
is that if the sun enters a sign of the Zodiac (Sankramam) during the day time, that day is
reckoned in the northern calendars as the first day of the month corresponding to that
sign ; whereas in the south, in order that a day may he reckoned as the first day of the
month corresponding to any Zodiacal sign the sun must have entered that sign within
the first three of the five parts into which they have divided the day. If the entry takes
place in the latter two of the five parts of the day, the day next following is accepted as
the first day of the month. According to both systems the months are of the following
durations :
According to both systems the months are of the following durations :
Months Days Naligas Vinaligas Long letter
utterance
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times
Medhom 30 55 30 13
Iddavam 31 24 3 31
Midhunam 31 36 26 5
Karkadagam 31 28 4 30
Chingam 31 2 4 59
Kanni 30 27 23 15
Tulam 20 54 11 55
Vrikshikam 29 30 31 6
Dhanu 29 21 2 13
Makaram 29 27 23 36
Kumbham 29 48 30 14
Minara 30 20 10 38
Total 365 15 31 15
These numbers are noted in the chronogram.

5 1 1 3 5 1 5 6 3
“Mu khyah Ka lo ma ya ma tu lah"
a phrase with a fanciful and apprently inappropriate meaning.

As the fractional parts of the day set forth above correspond to 6 hours 12
minutes and 30 seconds, it is clear that the Malayali year is too long by 23 minutes odd,
and this is no doubt due to the omission in the above calculations, as in all other Hindu
astronomical systems, of any compensation for the error caused by the precession of the
equinoxes. The astronomers, it is understood, did recognise the fact of precession
(ayanamgah), but they failed to utilise it to obtain a correct computation of the solar year.
The calendars are prepared by taking every fourth year as of 366 days and every
hundred and sixteenth year as of 307 days in order to make up the fractional part of a
day over and above 365 days. A great deal more might be said as to the infinity of uses
to which those skilled in astronomical and astrological questions put the elaborate
almanacs issued afresh every year, but enough has already been said about this matter in
connection with the professional caste of astrologers.
Of the Malayali festivals only a very short account can be given.
It was usual in former days, and it is to some extent still prevalent, for superiors
to be visited twice a year by their inferiors or dependents with gifts in hand—once at the
time of the vernal equinox called Vishu, and once at the time of new moon in August—
September, called Onam.
Vishu is the astronomical new year day. In 1883 it occurred on the 13th of April.
It is supposed to be the vernal equinox, but as its position in the calendar has shifted
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The people
about twenty-one days from the exact date of that event, it marks the time when Hindu
astronomy attained its present development, for the Malayali year is too long by twenty-
three minutes forty seconds, and an easy sum in compound division shows that the
Malayali vernal equinox began to be diverted from its true position some thousand three
hundred years ago, or (say) about the middle or end of the sixth century A.D. This is of
course due, as already said above, to the error imported by failure to observe the effects
of precession.
But however this may be, the Malayali is very superstitious about his conduct on
this day of Vishu, and the first thing that comes under his observation on the morning
of that day is believed to be significant of the luck that will attend him throughout the
year then commencing. Hence the collection beforehand, sometimes in houses of
temporary structure expressly built, of costly and auspicious objects, hence the annual
presents to superiors, etc.
At Onam, which is perhaps the greatest national feast in Malabar, the houses are
made gay with wild flowers, which are collected for the purpose by bands of children
singing shrilly the appropriate Onam hymn. This is the day on which Parasu Raman or
Vishnu is supposed to descend to earth to see his people happy.
To understand aright the significance of this feast to the people now-a-days it
must be remembered that the good old days when perfect justice, perfect trust, and
perfect truth prevailed upon the earth, are believed to have been during the reign of
Mahabali . And the people attempt in a joyous way to reproduce, if only for one night, a
vivid remembrance of the millennium, to which they look back with fond longings.
Next to these, perhaps the most popular feast in Malabar is that of the Bharani
or cock feast in the month of Minam (March- April). It takes the people in great crowds
away from their homes. The whole country near the lines of march rings with the shouts
“Nada-a-Nada-a” of the pilgrims to the favourite shrines, chief of which is that at
Cranganore (Kodungallur) in the Native State of Cochin. Of what takes place when the
pilgrims reach this spot perhaps the less said the better. In their passage up to the shrine
the cry of “Nada-a-Nada-a” (march, march away) is varied by terms of unmeasured abuse
levelled at the goddess (a Bhagavati) of the shrine. This abusive language is supposed to
be acceptable to her. On arrival at the shrine they desecrate it in every conceivable way,
believing that this too is acceptable : they throw stones and filth, howling volleys of
opprobrium at her house.
The chief of the fishermen caste, styled Kuli Mullalla Arayan, has the privilege of
being the first to begin the work of polluting the Bhoot or shrine. Into other particulars it
is unnecessary to enter. The cocks are slaughtered and sacrificed. The worshipper gets
flowers only and no holy water after paying his vows. Instead of water he proceeds
outside and drinks arrack or toddy, which an attendant Nayar serves out. All castes are
free to go, including Tiyars and low caste-people.
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The temple was originally only a Bhoot or holy tree with a platform. The image
in the temple is said to have been introduced only of recent years. The object of the
pilgrimage is to secure immunity from severe diseases during the succeeding year.
Of the Dasara it is unnecessary to say much. The feast is called in Malabar the
Ayudhapuja (weapon or tool worship) or Sarasvatipuja- and sometimes Pujaveppu (the
opening day) and Pujayeduppu (the closing day). On the opening day, tools, weapons,
implements, etc., are or ought to be laid aside (veppu), and on the closing day they are
resumed, taken up (eduppu). It is a ten days’ feast, and is called the feast of the autumnal
equinox. The closing day has shifted, as in the case of Vishu, and for the same reason,
about three weeks from the exact date of the equinox.
The other principal festivals are, Siva Ratri (Siva’s night-watch), Pongal (the
cooking of the new season’s rice), Sri Rama Navami (Rama’s birthday), Vinyagachaturti
(birthday of Ganesa, the god of wisdom and wealth, worshipped in the image of a rat),
and Dipali or Dipavali (the feast of lamps at the new moon in the month Tulam,
October-November).
There are also numerous local
festivals which sometimes attract large
crowds from long distances ; of these
the Tiruchamaram festival, held at
Taliparamba in Chirakkal taluk, in
March ; the Kottiyur festival about May-
June, held in the jungles of the
Kottayam Taluk, at the foot of the
mountains near the Periah Pass ; the
Kilur Arat festivals, held in December
in the Kurumbranad taluk ; the Car
festival, held in November in Palghat Town ; the Konduvetti Takkujakal Nercha (a
Mappilla feast), Ernad taluk in April ; the Guruvayyur Ekadesi feast, held in Ponnni
taluk in April; and the Kurumandham Kunnu festival, held in April in Valluvanad taluk,
are among the chief events.
Besides these, a festival which used formerly to be held every twelfth year at Tirunavayi
temple in the Ponnani taluk deserves more than a passing reference although it has been
discontinued for the past one hundred and forty years. This festival was called the
Mamakham or Maha Makham* which means literally big sacrifice. It seems to have been
originally the occasion for a kuttam or assembly of all Keralam, at which public affairs
were discussed and settled.
NOTEs by VED: *This information might be wrong. END of NOTEs by VED
Hamilton thus alludes to the tradition current about it in his time (end of
seventeenth anti beginning of eighteenth centuries) : — “It was an ancient custom for
the Zamorin to reign but twelve Years and no longer. If he died before his Term was
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The people
Expired it saved him a troublesome Ceremony of cutting his own Throat on a public
Scaffold erected for that Purpose. He first made a Feast for all his Nobility and Gentry,
who are very numerous. After the Feast he saluted his Guests and went on the Scaffold,
and very decently cut his own Throat in the View of the Assembly, and his Body was a
little While after burned with great Pomp and Ceremony, and the Grandees elected a
new Zamorin. Whether that Custom was a religious or a civil Ceremony I know not, but
it is now laid aside.
“And a new Custom is followed by the modern Zamorins, that a Jubilee is
proclaimed throughout his Dominions at the End of twelve Years, and a Tent is pitched
for him in a spacious Plain, and a great Feast is celebrated for ten or twelve days with
Mirth and Jollity, Guns firing Night and Day, so at the End of the Feast any four of the
Guests that have a Mind to gain a Crown by a desperate Action in fighting their Way
through thirty or forty thousand of his Guards and kill the Samorin in his Tent, he that
kills him, succeeds him in his Empire.
In Anno 1695 one of those Jubilees happened, and the Tent pitched near
Pennany (Ponnani), a Sea Port of his, about fifteen Leagues to the Southward of Calicut.
There were but three Men that would venture on that desperate Action, who fell in with
Sword and Target among the Guards, and after they had killed and wounded many were
themselves killed. One of the Desperadoes had a Nephew of fifteen or sixteen years of
Age, that kept close by his Uncle in the Attack on the Guards, and when he saw him fall
the Youth got through the Guards into the Tent and made a stroke at his Majesty’s
Head, and had certainly despatched him if a large Brass Lamp which was burning over
his Head had not marred the Blow : but before he could make another he was killed by
the Guards : and I believe the same Zamorin reigns yet.
“I chanced to come that Time along the Coast, and heard the Guns for two or
three Days and Nights successively.” (New Account, etc., Vol. 1, pages 306-8).”
The Kerala Mahatrnya so far corroborates Hamilton's story that it declares the
king used to be deposed at this festival, but there is no mention of self-immolation,
although it is quite possible the deposed kings may have occasionally adopted this mode
of escape from the chagrin of not being re-elected by those who had hitherto been their
adherents.
Mr. Jonathan Duncan, Governor of Bombay, wrote about this festival in the
first volume of the Transactions of the Bombay Literary Society to the following
effect.—The installation of the first Perumal took place on “Pushya (8th Lunar Asterism)
in the month Magha1 in Karkadaga Vyalam2 (the period during which Jupiter remains in
Cancer) and this day in every cycle of Jupiter thus became important in the history of
Malabar” because the reign of each Perumal terminated on that day, he being elected
only for 12 years. “This great feast and the coronation occurring in the month Magha
that month in every Karkadaga Vyalam was known as the great Magha or Mahamagha
which was afterwards corrected into Mamangam.”
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NOTEs: 1* There is no such month as that —Magha—mentioned by Mr. Duncan and the title
of the festival is properly that above given, namely, Maha (= great) and Makham ( = sacrifice). He evidently
confounded makham with Makaram. END OF NOTEs
NOTEs by VED: *It seems that Logan also missed the idea. The festival seems to be connected
to the Magham nakshatram (astrological star) and not to any ‘sacrifice’ meaning. END of NOTEs by VED
NOTEs: 2*. Vyalam is the Tamil-Malayalam word for Jupiter, and a cycle of Jupiter is
roughly speaking 12 years, more accurately 4,332 days odd. END OF NOTEs
NOTEs by VED: *The correct pronunciation might be Vyazham. END of NOTEs by VED
“At the end of this feast all prior leases of land were considered to be at an end
and fresh grants were to be obtained at the beginning of the next reign.”
“In all the principal deeds the position of Jupiter is to be mentioned.”
“This practice is continued even up to the present day.”
Mr. Duncan seems to have obtained his information from the Keralopathi. The fact
seems to have been that at each recurring festival all feudal ties were broken, and the
parties, assembled in public
conclave at Tirunavayi, readjusted
at such times all existing relations
among themselves. The tradition is
that this festival was instituted in
the days of the emperors
(Perumals), that is, prior to the
Kollam era, and that when the last
emperor set out for Mecca and left
the country without a head the duty
of celebrating it devolved on the
raja of the locality where the
festival used to take place, that is,
on the Valluvanad alias Vellatri alias
Arangott Raja3. And this arrangement seems to have continued up to the twelfth or
thirteenth century A.D., when the power of the Zamorins (chiefly through
Muhammadan influence and arms and trade) became supreme in all Keralam. From that
time down to the last celebration of the festival in 1743 the Zamorins were present at
this festival as Suzerains of all Keralam, including Travancore, which as a Malayali State
only attained to the first rank shortly after the date of the last Mahamakham festival in
1743.
NOTEs: 3. So called in the Jews’ deed of the eighth century A.D., on account of his territory
lying beyond (angotla) the river (ar) from Cranganore, the emperor’s headquarters. END OF NOTEs
Those who acknowledged the Zamorin’s suzerainty sent flags in token of fealty,
and the places where these flags used to be hoisted at festival time are still pointed out.
The Valluvanad Raja, who is still represented in the management of the Tirunavayi
temple by one out of the four Brahman Karalars, instead of sending a flag used to send
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The people
men called Chavers (men who have elected to die}, whose office it was to endeavour to
cut their way through the Zamorin’s guards to his throne in a manner presently to be
described. If they had succeeded in killing him—as on the occasion cited by Hamilton,
whose statement, except as to the date, is moreover corroborated by tradition-—it is
uncertain what would have happened; but probably if a capable raja had been ruling in
Valluvanad at such a time, popular opinion would have endowed him with the
suzerainty, for the Nayar militia were very fickle, and flocked to the standard of the man
who was fittest to command and who treated them the most considerately.
With the kind assistance of the present Zamorin, Maharaja Bahadur, the records
of his family have been examined and a complete account obtained of the events
attending the festival held in 1683 A.D., the festival next preceding that alluded to by
Hamilton. The festival used to continue for twenty-eight days every twelfth year, when
the planet Jupiter was in retrograde motion in the sign of Karkadagam or Cancer or the
Crab, and at the time of the eighth lunar asterism in the month of Makaram the festival
used to culminate. On the occasion in question the Zamorin some months beforehand
sent orders for the preparation of the necessary timber and bamboos for the temporary
buildings required at Tirunavayi, and the materials were floated downstream from the
Aliparamba Chirakkal lands. Then exactly two months before the opening day he sent
out a circular to his followers worded as follows :—
"Royal writing to the Akampati Janam (body-guards).
“On the 5th Makaram 858 is Mahamakha Talpuyam (time of the eighth lunar
asterism in the festival season), and the Lokars (chief people of each locality) are required
to attend at Tirunavayi as in olden times.
'"Mangatt Raman and Tinayancheri1 are sent to collect and bring you in regular
order for the Mahamakham.
NOTEs: 1.Two of the hereditary ministers, the first being a Nayar, the second an Ilayatu. END
OF NOTEs
“You must come to Tirunavayi on the 3rd of Makaram to fight and foil as usual.
But all of you should come for the Mahamakham.”
The Zamorin timed himself to arrive at Tirunavayi on the day after that
appointed for the arrival of his followers, and the lucky moment for setting out on this
particular occasion on the last day’s stage of the journey was “at the rising of the
constellation of Aquarius”.
The Tirunavayi temple stands on the north bank of the Ponnani river close to
the present line of railway. Passengers by train can catch a glimpse of it by looking
across the level expanse of paddy fields which lie south of the sixth telegraph post on
the three hundred and eighty-second mile of the railway.
There is a modest clump of trees on the river bank hiding the temple, the
western gateway of which faces a perfectly straight piece of road a little over half a mile
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in length stretching from the temple gateway westwards to the elevated ridge hemming
the paddy-fields on the west. This road is but little raised above the level of the paddy
flat. Directly facing this straight piece of road as the elevated ridge is reached there are
three or perhaps four terraces, the outlines of which may still be traced in the face of the
precipitous bank.
A little to one side of the upper terrace are the ruins of a strongly built powder
magazine, and on the flat ground above and on both sides of the fine avenue shading
the public road at this place is ample space for the erection of temporary houses.
In a neighbouring enclosure under cultivation is a disused well of fine
proportions and of most solid construction.
From the upper terrace alluded to a commanding view is obtained facing
eastwards of the level rice-plain at foot, of the broad placid river on the right backed by
low hills, of higher flat-topped laterite plateaus on the left, their lower slopes bosomed
in trees, and, in the far distance, of the great chain of Western Ghats with the Nilgris in
the extreme left front hardly distinguishable in their proverbial colour from the sky
above them.
It was on this spot, on a smooth plateau of hard laterite rock, raised some 30 to
40 feet above the plain, that the Zamorin used several times in the course of the festival
to take his stand with the sword of Cheraman Perumal, the last emperor, in his hand.
The sword is, and has been for centuries, slowly rusting away in its scabbard,
but it is not alone on it that the Zamorin depends for his safety, for the plain below him
is covered with the thirty thousand Nayars of Ernad, the ten thousand of Polanad, and
numberless petty dependent chieftains, each counting his fighting men by the hundred
or the thousand, or by thousands. Away on the right, across the river are the camps of
the second prince of the Zamorin’s family and of the dependent Punattur Raja ; the
third, fourth, fifth and sixth princes’ camps too are close at hand in the left front behind
the temple, and behind the terrace itself is tl.re Zamorin’s own camp.
The whole scene is being made gay with flags as an elephant is being formally
caparisoned with a drain of solid gold with “one hundred and fourteen small links and
one clasp, making in all one hundred and fifteen”—as the record specifically testifies—
and with golden bosses and other ornaments too numerous to be detailed. But this part
of the festivities is not to be permitted to pass unchallenged, for it signifies in a formal
manner the Zamorin’s intention to assume the role of Rakshapurashan, or protector of
the festivities and of the people there assembled. On the instant, therefore, there is a stir
among the crowd assembled near the western gate of the temple directly facing at a half
mile distance the Zamorin’s standing-place on the upper-terrace.
From this post, running due east in a perfectly straight line to the western gate
of the temple, is the straight piece of road already described, but the road itself is clear
and the armed crowd on the plain, it is seen, are hemmed in by barred palisadings
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The people
running the full length of the road on both sides. Two spears’ length apart the palisades
are placed, and the armed crowd on either hand, consisting on this occasion of the thirty
thousand Ernad Nayars, it is seen, are all carrying spears. The spearmen may not enter
that narrow lane, and by the mere weight of their bodies present an impassable obstacle
to the free passage of the freemen now bent on cutting down the Zamorin in his pride
of place.
Amid much din and firing of guns the morituri, the Chaver Nayars, the elect of
four Nayar houses in Valluvanad, step forth from the crowd and receive the last
blessings and farewells of their friends and relatives. They have just partaken of the last
meal they are to eat on earth at the house of the temple representative of their chieftain ;
they are decked with garlands and smeared with ashes. On this particular occasion it is
one of the house of Putumanna Panikkar who heads the fray. He is joined by seventeen
of his friends—Nayar or Mappilla or other arms bearing caste men— for all who so
wish may fall in with sword and target in support of the men who have elected to die.
Armed with swords and targets alone they rush at the spearmen thronging the
palisades ; they “wind and turn their bodies as if they had no bones ; casting them
forward, backward, high and low, even to the astonishment of the beholders” as worthy
Master Johnson describes them in a passage already quoted (p. 137). But,
notwithstanding the suppleness of their limbs notwithstanding their delight and skill and
dexterity in their weapons, the result is inevitable, and is prosaically recorded in the
chronicle thus: “The number of Chavers who came and died early morning the next day
after the elephant began to be adorned with gold trappings—boi g Pulumanna Kattur
Menon and followers—were 18.”
NOTEs: 1. *(l) Chandratt Panikkar, (2) Putamanna Panikkar, (3) Kolkot Panikkarand (4) Verkot
Panikkar. END OF NOTES
At various times during the ten last days of the festival the same thing is
repeated. Whenever the Zamorin takes his stand on the terrace, assumes the sword and
shakes it, men rush forth from the crowd at the west temple gate only to be impaled on
the spears of the guardsmen who relieve each other from day to day. The turns for this
duty are specifically mentioned in the chronicle thus : “On the day the golden ornaments
are begun to be used the body-guard consists of the Thirty Thousand ; of Ellaya
Vakkayil Veltodi (and his men) the second clay, of Netiyiruppu1 Muttarati Tirumalpad
(and his men) the third day, of Itatturnad2 Nambiyattiri Tirumalpad (and his men) the
fourth day, of Ernad Munamkur3 Nambiyattiri Tirumalpad (and his men) the fifth day,
of Ernad Elankur4 Nambiyattiri Tirumalpad (and his men) the sixth day, and of the Ten
Thousand,5 the Calicut Talachanna Nayar ancl Ernad Menon the seventh day.”
NOTEs: 1 The Fifth Prince of the Zamorin’s family.
2 The Fourth Prince of the Zamorin’s family.
8 The Third Prince of the Zamorin's family.
4 The Second Prince and Heir Apparent of the Zamorin’s family.
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5 The Ten Thousand of Polanad, the district
round about Calicut, formed the Zamorin’s own
immediate able body-guard— Cenf. the account
contained in the Keralolpatti of how these men were
originally selected—Chap. Ill, Sect. (a). END OF
NOTEs
The chronicle is silent as to the turns

for this duty on the eighth, ninth and tenth
days. On the eleventh day, before the
assembly broke up and after the final assault
of the Chavers had been delivered, the Ernad
Elankur Nambiyattiri Tirumalpad (the Zamorin
next in succession) and the Tirumanisseri
Nambutiri were convoyed in palanquins to the
eastern end of the narrow palisaded lane, and
thence they advanced on foot, prostrating
themselves four times towards the Zamorin,
once at the eastern end of the lane, twice in the middle, and once at the foot of the
terraces.
And after due permission was sought and obtained they took their places on the
Zamorin s right hand. After this, so the chronicle runs, it was the duty of the men who
had formed the body-guard to march up with music and pomp to make obeisance. On
this occasion, however, a large portion of the body-guard seems to have been displeased,
for they left without fulfilling this duty, and this story corroborates in a marked way the
fact already set forth (p. 132) regarding the independence and important political
influence possessed by the Nayars as a body.
The Ernad Menon and the Calicut Talachanna Nayar with their followers were the
only chiefs who made obeisance in due form to the Zamorin on this occasion, and
possibly by the time of the next festival (1695 AD), of which Hamilton wrote, the
dissatisfaction may have increased among his followers, and the Zamorin’s life even may
have been endangered, as Hamilton alleges, probably through lack of men to guard him.
Tradition asserts that the Chaver who manage on one occasion to get through the
guards and up to the Zamorin’s seat belonged to the family of the Chandrattil Panikkar.
The chronicle winds up with a list of the Chavers slain on this occasion, viz.:-
When the Zamorin was taking his stand on the terrace apparently at the
commencement of the festivities . . 5
On the day the elephant was adorned, as already related . . 18
“The next day of Chandratiil Panikkar and followers, the number who came and
died .. .. .. .. 11
“Of Verkot Panikkar and followers, the number that came and died the third day
.......... 12
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The people
“The number who came up to Vakkayur and died in the four days . 4
“The number of Chavers who were arrested at the place where Kalattil Itti
Karunakara Menon was and brought tied to Vakkayur and put to death . . . . . . 1
“The number of Chavers arrested on the day of the sacrifice, when all the persons
together made the obeisance below Vakkayur at the time when the Zamorin was
taking his stand, and left tied to the bars, and who were afterwards brought to
Vakkayur and after the ceremony was over and the Zamorin had returned to the
palace were put to the sword.. .. .. .. .. .. .. 4
Total 55
The chronicle does not mention the fact, but a current tradition says that the
corpses of the slain were customarily kicked by elephants as far as the brink of the fine
well, of which mention has been made, and into which they were tumbled
promiscuously. The well itself is nearly filled up with debris of sorts, and a search made
at the spot would probably elicit conclusive evidence of the truth of this tradition.
The martial spirit of the Nayars was in former days kept alive by such desperate
enterprises as the above, but in every day life the Nayar used to be prepared and ready to
take vengeance on any who affronted him, for he invariably carried his weapons, and
when a man was slain it was incumbent on his family to compass the death of a member
of the slayer’s family. This custom was called Kudippaka (literally, house feud), or in an
abbreviated form, Kuduppu.
One curious fact connected with this custom was that the chieftain of the
district intervened when a man was slain and the body of the deceased was by him taken
to his enemy’s house and the corpse and the house were burnt together. It is understood
that an outhouse was usually selected for the purpose, but it was a common phrase to
say “the slain rests in the yard of the slayer.”
Again, when mortal offence was given by one man to another, a solemn
contract used to be entered into before the chieftain of the locality to fight a duel, the
chief himself being umpire. Large sums (up to a thousand fanams or two hundred and
fifty rupees) used to be deposited as the battle-wager, and these sums formed one source
(ankam) of the chieftain’s revenue, and the right to levy them was sometimes transferred
along with other privileges appertaining to the tenure of the soil.
A preparation and training (it is said) for twelve years preceded the battle in
order to qualify the combatants in the use of their weapons. The men who fought were
not necessarily the principals in the quarrel—they were generally their champions. It was
essential that one should fall, and so both men settled all their worldly affairs before the
day of combat.
Besides this custom, which brought revenue into the chieftain's coffers, a
curious list of items also producing revenue has been preserved in Mr. Graeme, the
Malabar Special Commissioner’s Report ( 1818- 1822), and it may be here given as it
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illustrates in many lights the customs of Malabar in ancient times. The chieftain levied
customs duties on imports, exports, and transports.
He had a recognized right to usurp the estates of his decaying neighbouring
chiefs: in fact the doctrine of the “survival of the fittest” was carried into practical
politics in Malabar to a great extent.
And he had the right to force them, by violence if necessary, to contribute
supplies on emergencies. Fines of sorts were of course levied from subjects, and when
they died their successors, particularly those who held offices or rights over land, had to
contribute something in order to ensure recognition of their right to succeed to the
deceased’s estate or office. Leud, adulterous women were made over to the chiefs with a
premium by the other members of their families in order that they might be taken care
of, and the chiefs (at any rate the Zamorins) used in turn to sell the women to foreign
merchants, thus making a double profit out of them.
No one might quest for gold without payment of a royalty, and in Mr. Dillon’s
“East Indies” the way this was managed at Calicut is thus described : “Among the sands
of the shore, there is good store of gold dust, which is very fine ; and everybody has the
freedom to gather it at pleasure : the biggest piece that ere I saw was not worth above
fifteen pence, and commonly they are not worth above four or five pence a piece ;
abundance of people got a livelihood by it ; and with the consent of the Governor
(which is to be purchased by a certain set price for the maintenance of a hundred poor
people) you may have as much sand as you please carried to your dwelling-places in
order to separate it with the more convenience.”
Again, when a man died without heirs, the chieftain took his property ; nor
could a man adopt an heir without the chief’s consent. Under various designations fees
for protection were levied from dependants and from strangers, and this latter was
doubtless one of the obstacles which prevented the Chinese traveller Fah Hian from
penetrating into South India, for he wrote : “ Those who desire to proceed thither
should first pay a certain sum of money to the king of the country, who will then
appoint people to accompany them and show them the way.”
Presents of congratulation or of condolence were always sent to the chieftains
on the occasions of weddings, funerals, births, opening of row palaces, of ascension to
the throne, and on the occurrence of numerous other domestic and public events.
Then, again; ships which came ashore were annexed by the chieftain of the locality.
Moreover, a more piratical custom than this even was observed, in ancient times at least,
for thus wrote Marco Polo respecting the kingdom of “Eli” (ante, p. 7) :
“And you must know that if any ship enters their estuary and anchors there,
having been bound for some other port, they seize her and plunder the cargo. For they
say, ‘you were bound for somewhere else, and ‘its God has sent you hither to us, so we
have a right to all your goods.’
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The people
“And they think it no sin to act thus. And this naughty custom prevails all over
these provinces of India, to wit, that if a ship be driven by stress of weather into some
other port than that to which it was bound, it is sure to be plundered. But if a ship come
bound originally to the place they receive it with all honour and give it due protection.”
(Yule’s Marco Polo, II, 374.)
The custom of taking ships and cargoes wrecked on the coast continued down
to recent times, for the English factors at Tellicherry entered into engagements with
three of the country powers for exempting English vessels from such seizure. But it was
a custom which the Malayali chieftains broke through with extreme reluctance. The
kings of Bednur were the first to grant immunity in 1736-37, and thrice afterwards
ratified it ; then followed the Kolattiri prince, on 8th May 1749, ratified in 1760; and
finally the Kadattunad Raja granted similar immunity in 1761.
No others followed their examples. Finally the chieftains had a monopoly of
various animals produced or captured in their domains, cows having an abnormal
number of dugs, cattle that had killed a human being crany animal (they were called “red
horns cattle born with a white speck near the corner of the eye, buffaloes with white tips
to their tails, wild elephants caught in pitfalls, the hind quarter of any wild hog or deer
slain in hunting, the tails and skins of all tigers similarly slain, and wild hogs that had
fallen into wells —an occurrence which must have been frequent to judge by the wide
area in which this right of the chieftains was recognized :—all of these were their
perquisites of office.
A few words may be added regarding the right to appropriate a portion of each
wild game animal slain in hunting. This right was, and it still is, known as the Urpalli
right, ur being a village, and palli a place of reverence or importance. The village hunts,
like everything else in the daily life of a Hindu community, were conducted precisely
according to ancient corporate customs. The Urpalli was the place where, according to
custom, the game must be broken up. The man even who alone could perform this
office had a hereditary right to officiate. He was called the Keikkaran or attendant
(perhaps originally an older of the village). As perquisite, he had the other hind quarter
of the animal. The hunter who killed the animal had as perquisites the head and one
forequarter. A share of the flesh was given to each of the hunters engaged in the hunt,
and three pieces were distributed among those who came to the Urpalli to see it cut up.
The animal was methodically out up into eighteen customary pieces.
The Urpalli was a place in the jungle duly consecrated to the hunting deity
Ayyan or Ayyappan, and it was in front of his shrine that the formal ceremony took place.
The hunting season opens on the 10th or 11th of Tulam തുലാം (October—November)
of each year, and those days are still considered of importance in places where game is
still to be found.
The permission of the chieftain to hunt on his territory was not required and
was never sought, and the idea of an exclusive personal right to hunting privileges in
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certain limits is entirely foreign to the Malayali customary law. Such an idea was only
imported into Malabar with English courts and English law and lawyers. There was a
fundamental difference in the ideas from which originated the Malayali law of land
tenure and the English law of land, and this will be considered in the chapter on the land
tenures and land revenue.
This difference has never been properly understood in the courts, and the
confusion and consequent strife among those interested has been very great and
deplorable.
So strong indeed was the hold that old observances and customs had upon the
people, that “when summary payment was demanded of a debtor, the custom was to
draw a circle round him with a green branch and imprecate on him the name of the
particular divinity whose curse was to fall upon him if he left the circle before satisfying
the claim of his creditor.” (I. A. VIII, 2G7.)
Many writers have noticed the existence of this custom, and some have
commented on and marvelled at the strictness of the arrest. But it must be remembered
that of individual freedom there was very little as every person from his cradle to his
grave was hemmed in by unyielding chains of customary observance.
In an interdict there were four kinds of twigs used for the four sides, viz., either
the four tali plants—-probably consisting of 1, Convolvulus maximus ; 2, another kind of
convolvulus called Tirumudittali; 3, a three-ribbed convolvulus (Tirupantittali) ; and 4,
Ipomoea setosa;—or 1, a thorn with an edible fruit called Rhamnus circumcisus; 2, a medicinal
tree called in Malayalam nyallu ; 3, Mussaenda frondosa with white bracts called in
Malayalam Vellila ; and 4, the Malayalam tumba (Phlornis or Leucas Indica), a common
weed.
A tuft of three green twigs tied to a doorway precluded persons from crossing
the threshold of a house, and a similar tuft to the end of a staff stuck in the ground was,
and still is, in some parts a sign, that there is an interdict on the crops there growing.
The people must have been a very law-abiding and docile race if such simple formalities
sufficed to govern them. But indeed custom, when once it has become law, arrays the
whole community in arms against the law-breaker, and is perhaps the safest form of law
for a semi-civilised State.
Another curious custom has come down from ancient times and is still
flourishing, though the mutual confidence on which it relies for its proper effects shows
signs of breaking down and is cited as a degeneracy of Malayali manners. Any one
desirous of raising a considerable sum of money for some temporary purpose invites his
friends to join him in what is called a kuri or lottery : chance enters very little, however,
into the arrangement, and it would be a bettor term to call the members a mutual loan
society. The organiser of the kuri gets a certain number of his friends to subscribe a
certain amount of money, or of rice husked or unhusked, as the case may be. The
friends bring their contributions to his house, where they are hospitably entertained, and
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The people
by lot the person is selected to whom similar contributions from all present, including
the organiser of the kuri, are to be made at a certain date then and there fixed.
This individual in turn hospitably entertains his friends when they come with
their contributions. A third person is then selected, and the same thing comes off at his
house. And so it goes on, until every one of the original members or his heir has in turn
reaped the benefits of the contributions of his friends. The arrangement is of obvious
benefit in several ways to those concerned.
Trials by ordeal were and still are very common, although some forms of them
have necessarily disappeared. The Zamorin in 1710 entered into an engagement with the
Honourable Company’s Factors at Tellicherry to subject to the oil ordeal people who
disputed with them as to the value of articles agreed to be supplied for money received.
This engagement is recorded in the Tellicherry Factory Diary of 6th May 1728 as: "A
grant that any Mallabarr having accounts with us must put his hand in Oyio to prove the
verity thereof, given Anno 1710.”
And in the engagement itself it was written: “If his hand comes out clean, he
will be held innocent and you will have to pay him, as usual, the expenses he may incur
(in taking the oath).” The form of taking the oath was to pick a coin out of a pot of
boiling oil with the hand, which was immediately swathed in bandages and sealed up,
and the state of the hand after a certain lapse of time (three days, it is understood)
determined the matter.
The crocodile ordeal, in which a man swam across a piece of water swarming
with saurians was also in vogue at some places to determine the guilt or innocence of
criminals. The ordeal by weighment was, and still is, sometimes resorted to. A man who
wishes to establish his innocence is weighed: he proceeds to a neighbouring tank and
bathes, and if on returning to the scales he is lighter than when he went into the water,
his innocence is established. This is used now-a-days in deciding caste offences.
But criminals did not in former days always escape, and were not always given
the option of submitting the test of their innocence to an ordeal.
The five great crimes were—(1) murder of a Brahman ; (2) drinking spirits
(probably a crime only among Brahmans, for the Nayars are not now, and never were an
abstemious caste, nor were the other lower castes) ; (3) theft : “They put a thief to
death”, wrote Sheikh Ibn Batuta regarding the Malayalis in the fourteenth century A.D.,
“for stealing a single nut, or even a grain of seed of any fruit : hence thieves are
unknown among them, and should anything fall from a tree none except its proper
owner would attempt to touch it.” (Ibn Batuta, Travels, Or. Transl. Committee, London,
1829, p. 167); (4) disobeying a teacher’s rules; (5) cowkilling, which is still a penal
offence hi the Cochin State.
The manner of carrying out capital punishments was sometimes barbarous in
the extreme. Criminals were cut in half and exposed on a cross-bar, in the manner still
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adopted with tigers and panthers slain in hunting expeditions and offered as a sacrifice
to local deities. Thieves were similarly cut in two and impaled on a stake, which probably
had a cross-bar, as the word for it and that for an eagle or vulture are identical. But
impaling alive was also known, and in June 1795, by the orders of the Palassi (Pychy)
rebel chief two Mappilias were thus treated after a pretended trial for alleged robbery in
a Nayar’s house at Venkad in Kottayam Taluk.
Finally, great criminal were at times wrapped up in green palm leaves and tom
asunder probably by elephants.
Whether cannibalism ever extensively prevailed is uncertain, but it is not
improbable that it at times was perpetrated among the lower orders of the population,
who even now take vengeance on the higher castes by stoning their houses at night and
by various devices superstitiously set down to the action of evil spirits. In modem times
only one authentic instance of cannibalism is on record, and it was vouched for by the
late Dr. Burnell. Some of the agrestic slave caste had murdered a Nayar and mutilated
the body, and on being asked why they had committed the murder, the details of which
they freely confessed, they replied that if they ate of his flesh their sin would be
removed. (Indian Antiquary, VIII, 88.)
Down to the present day the power of enchantments and spells is believed in
implicitly by the lower and by the semi-educated among the upper classes ; and some
individuals of the lower classes have a powerful superstitious influence over the higher
castes owing to their supposed efficiency in creating enchantments and spoils and in
bringing misfortunes.
The family of famous trackers, whose services in the jungles were retained for
H.R.H. the Prince of Wales’ projected sporting tour in the Anamallai Mountains in 1875,
dropped off most mysteriously one by one shortly afterwards, stricken down by an
unseen hand, and all of them expressing beforehand their conviction that they were
under a certain individual’s spell and were doomed to certain death at an early date. They
were probably poisoned, but how it was managed remains to the present day a mystery,
although the family was under the protection of a European gentleman who would have
at once brought to light any ostensible foul play.
“Be it noted,” wrote Mr. Walhouse, late M.C.S., in the Indian Antiquary for
January 1876, “that Malabar is the land par excellence of sorcery and magic ; the most
powerful bhootas and demons reside there.” He further gives details of three of the forms
raised in compassing the discomfiture of enemies.
“Make an image with wax in the form of your enemy, take it in your right hand
at night and hold your chain of beads in your left hand ; then bum the imago with duo
rites, and it shall slay your enemy in a fortnight. Another strong spell for evil is to take a
human bone from a burial ground and recite over it a thousand times the powerful
Malayali mantra namely, ‘Om ! Hram ! Hram ! Swine-faced goddess ! seize him ! seize him
as a victim ! drink, drink his blood ! eat ! eat his flesh ! O image of imminent death !
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Bhagavati of Malayala ! Glaum ! Glaum ! Om !’ The bone thrown into an enemy’s house
will cause his ruin...........
Let a sorcerer obtain the corpse of a maiden, and on a Sunday night place it at
the foot of a bhuta haunted tree on an altar, and repeat a hundred times ‘Om ! Hrim !
Hrom ! O goddess of Malayala, who possessest us in a moment ! come ! come ! !’ The
corpse will then be inspired by a demon and rise up, and if the demon be appeased with
flesh and arrack, will answer all questions put.”
The demons “can be bought, carried about, and transferred from one sorcerer
to another.” It may be added that the best educated native gentlemen have even yet
hardly got over their objections to photography on the ground that their enemies may
obtain possession of their photographs, and may by piercing with needles the eyes and
other organs, and by powerful incantations, work them serious mischief.
Keralam has twelve professional magicians, six of whom work to win the good
gods, and six to coerce the evil ones.
Of belief in the potency of the “evil eye” evidence meets one at nearly every
step throughout the land. A house or a shop is being built ; there surely is to be found
exposed in some conspicuous position an image, sometimes of extreme indecency, a pot
covered with cabalistic signs, a prickly branch of cactus or what not to catch the “evil
eye” of passers-by and to divert their attention from the important work in hand.
A crop is being raised in a garden visible from the road : the vegetables will
never reach maturity unless a bogey of some sort is set up in their midst. A cow will stop
giving milk unless a shell is tied conspicuously about her horns.
The same idea enters into all domestic events and arrangements, and that not
merely among Hindus, but among Muhammadans as well, to an extent that is with
difficulty realised by Europeans.
When affliction comes the animal affected is served with grass, fruits, etc., on
which charms have been whispered, or is bathed in charmed water, or has a talisman in
the shape of a palm-leaf inscribed with charms rolled up and tied round its neck.
So too with human beings. In 1877 a poor Mappilla woman residing in one of
the Laccadive Islands was put upon her trial for witchcraft for importing into the island
a betel leaf with a certain cabalistic and magical inscription it, but it fortunately turned
out for her that she had merely pounded it up and rubbed it over her daughter's body to
cure her of fits.
Ibn Batuta wrote of a Malayali king who was converted to Islam by the leaf of
“the tree of testimony,” a tree of which it was related to him that it does not generally
drop its leaves, but, at the season of autumn in every year, one of them changes its
colour, first to yellow, then to red ; and that upon this is written, with the pen of power,
‘There is no god but God : Muhammad is the Prophet of God,’ and that this leaf alone
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falls.” The falling of the leaf was an annual event anxiously looked for, and the leaf itself
was efficacious in curing diseases.
Now-a-days the belief among Muhammadans still subsists that the leaves of a
certain tree growing on Mount Deli possess similar virtues.
The incantation for the removal of spells and for avoiding future mischiefs is a long
and somewhat complicated affair at times. The following account has been furnished
from a trustworthy source : —
“Besides this, two other methods called Tolulika (a ceremony for removing
different sins and punishments by throwing them with leaves into the fire), and Beliyulika
(a ceremony performed by waving a basket of flowers round a possessed person), are
also adopted in the case of human beings, and the mode of performing it is as follows :
First, a lighted lamp and a nazhi (a wooden vessel containing half a seer) filled with rice
are kept in the verandah or in the yard of a house. On the north-east corner of it a
representation of Kala Bhyravan (a demon) with its head towards the south and feet
towards the north, is made in five colours, viz., white, yellow, green, red and black.
Rice cleaned and uncleaned, tender cocoanut, plantains, pounded rice, fried
grain, betel leaf, arcca nut, etc., are placed on all the four sides of it. A Kypandi (a triangle
made with plantain rind and young cocoanut leaves cut and stuck upon it in row's)
having Kanikkali (saffron and chunam mixed with water and made after the fashion of a
gruel) sprinkled over it, is placed on the east, red gurusi (water made red by mixing a little
saffron and chunam with it) and a reddened cocoanut on the north, and black gurusi
(water mixed with charcoal) and a blackened cocoanut on the south, of the said
representation.
After modes of adoration have been done to these, Piniyal (the person on whom
exorcism is being practised) proceeds with three betel leaves and three pieces of arcca
nut, rice and wick in the right hand and with a knife in the other, and goes three times
round the said representation, and then standing on the west of it facing towards the
east, holds out the knife three times against the representation and cuts three times
across it, and at last sticks the knife in its light eye, and then sits down. After this a wick
is placed in the Kypandi, one in the red gurusi , and a third on the reddened cocoanut after
singing hymns in praise of Kali, and wicks are similarly placed in black gurusi and on the
blackened cocoanut after singing hymns in praise of Gulikan (son of Saturn, the ruler of
the fatal hours). Then either the person who performs the ceremony or anybody else
takes one handful of the leaves of Iranynyi (a tree) and one handful of those of nochchi (a
shrub), and having caused Piniyal to keep a wick upon them for avoiding the evil eye,
keeps them aside. Again one man takes one handful and a second another handful of the
said leaves and stand on each aide of the Piniyal and rub with them from the head to the
feet of the Piniyal, when Bharatam ought to be sung. This ought to be that portion of the
Bharatam called Nilalkuttu which relates the story of the Pandus who were troubled by
Curus by means of sorcery. At the end of each verse, the said leaves ought to be mixed
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The people
with salt, chillies, mustard seed, gingelly seed, etc,., and burnt in fire prepared with jack
wood ; a piece of iron is also placed in the fire.
At the end of the four verses in this manner Pandi and gurusi are thrown aside,
having due hymns sung by the person who performs the ceremony. After this, the body
of the Piniyal is anointed with the ground root of a medicinal plant called Panal mixed
with gingelly oil. The said piece of iron is then taken out of the fire and placed in front
of the Piniyal, and the performer takes in his hands the smoke that bursts out by
pouring upon it water mixed with gingelly and lamp oil, and rubs the body of the Piniyal
with it.
A cocoanut is then placed in the front of the Piniyal, having two wicks one
across the other upon it. The Piniyal then crosses the cocoanut three times forward and
backward, with a knife in the right hand and with a lighted wick in the other, and then
sets fire to the wicks already placed on the cocoanut. The Piniyal then attempts three
times to cut the cocoanut with the knife, and at the fourth time cuts it into two pieces,
and then destroys the said representation with the hands and puts a mark on the
forehead. Thus it ends.
“This is generally performed for males just before their first marriage, and also
when they appear to be subject to such injuries as those already mentioned. This is done
for females also on the day previous to the Pumsavana (a ceremony generally observed by
them in the fifth, seventh, or ninth month of their first pregnancy). It is also performed
for females who are afflicted with barrenness”.
There are no professional augurs among the population, but the events of their
daily lives are supposed to be largely influenced by the signs presented to them by
various birds and beasts and human beings and substances of sorts. The following list of
good and bad omens has been prepared by a native gentleman.
Good omens.—The sight of such birds as crows and pigeons, etc., and beasts as
deer, etc., moving from left to right, and dogs and jackals moving inversely, and other
beasts found similarly and singly, wild crow, cock, ruddy goose, mongoose, goat and
peacock seen singly, or in couples either at right or left ; the rainbow seen on right or left
side or behind, prognosticates good, but the reverse if seen in front.
Butter-milk, raw rice, Puttalpira (Trichosanthes anguina), Priyanga flower, honey,
ghee, red cotton juice, antimony, sulphurate, metallic mug, bell ringing, lamp, lotus,
Koruka grass (Agrostis linearis), raw fish, flesh, flour, ripe fruits, sweetmeats, gems,
sandalwood, elephant, pots filled with water, a virgin, a woman, a couple of Brahmans,
Rajas, respectable men, white flower, white yak tail, white cloth and white horse.
Chank-shell, flagstaff, turband, triumphal arch. fruitful soil, burning fire, elegant
eatables or drinkables, carts with men in, cows with their young, mares, bulls or cows
with ropes tied to their necks, palanquin, swans, peacock and Indian crane warbling
sweetly !
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Bracelets, looking-glass, mustard, Bazoor, any substance of white colour, the
bellowing of oxen, auspicious words, harmonious human voice, such sounds made by
birds or beasts, the uplifting of umbrellas, flagstaffs and flags, bailing acclamations,
sounds of harp, flute, timbrel, tabor, and other instruments of music, sounds of hymns
of consecration and of Vedic recitations, gente breeze all round happening at the time of
journey.
Bad omen.--The sight of men deprived of any of their limbs, such as the lame
or blind, etc., of corpse, or wearer of cloth put on a corpse, coir pieces, broken vessels,
bearing of words expressive of breaking, burning and destroying, etc., the alarming cry
of "alas ! alas !” loud screams, cursing, tumbling, sneezing, the sight of a man in sorrow
or one with a stick, a barber, or widow, pepper and other pungent substances.
The sight of a- serpent, cat, igu a, bloodsucker, or monkey passing across to
road, or vociferous boasts or birds. Such as jackals, dogs and kites, crying loud from the
eastern side, and of a buffalo, donkey, or temple bull, black grains, sail , liquor, hide,
grass, dirt, faggots, iron, and flower used for funeral ceremonies, a eunuch, a ruffian, an
outcaste, vomit, excrement, stench, any horrible figure, bamboo, cotton, lead, cots,
stools or vehicles being carried with legs upwards, and dishes, cups, etc., with mouth
downwards, vessels filled with live coals, and which are broken and not burning,
broomstick, ashes, oil, winnow and a hatchet, etc.
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The people
SECTION F. RELIGIONS
The annexed table shows the respective members of the followers of the
different religions in Malabar, and the ratio of each to every 100,000 of the population in
1871 and again in 1881.
1871 1881
Religion Population Ration per 100,000 Population Ration per
100,000
Hindus 1,037,914 72,434 1,669,271 70,581

Muhammadans 581,609 25,721 652,198 27,677
Christians 40,268 1,781 43,196 1,826
Others 1,459 84 370 16
Total 2,261,250 100,000 2,365,035 100,000
Excluding the Laccadive Islands, which are wholly Muhammadan, the Hindus
are most numerous in Palghat Taluk, where, of every 100,000 of the population, 80, 518
are Hindus, and fewest in numbers in Cochin Taluk, where the proportion is only
25,900. The Muhammadans similarly are most numerous in Ernad Taluk, proportion
50,649, and least numerous in Palghat, proportion 9,441.
The Christians again are most numerous in Cochin Taluk, proportion 50,354,
and least numerous in Valluvanad Taluk, proportion only 46. Of people of other
religions, the largest number is in Wynad Taluk, proportion 174, and the fewest in
Palghat Taluk, proportion nil.
NOTEs by VED: There can be an error here. All throughout this book, there is a grey area,
when mentioning two items. One is the word Malayali. And the other is the word Hindu. The word Malayali
more or less is seen to mean only the Brahmans and the castes below upto the Nairs. For instance, see
Chapter 2. The PEOPLE: Section B.—Towns, Villages, Dwellings and Rural Organisation.
Second item which is in the grey area is the definition of Hindu. It is more or less clear the
Hindus are actually the Brahmin classes and their subordinates consisting of the Amabalavasi and their
direct serving class, the Nairs. The nairs actually are in the peripheral region of the Hindu religion, with no
rights to hear or recite Hindu scriptures. The Marumakkathaya Thiyyas of north Malabar as well as the
Makkathaya Thiyyas of south Malabar are not allowed in the spiritual practises of the Hindu religion at all.
Most of the castes that come below them also do not have any connection to Hindu religion, other than that
they are the castes, which are kept at a distance from the Hindus. However, the distance always did lend
enchantment. Some of these kept-at-a-distance castes did continually try to mention some historical
connection to being connected to Brahmins or some other higher castes. Check: Castes and tribes of
Southern India by Edgar Thurston
Logan is again quite flimsy and superficial here. END of NOTEs by VED
Hindus
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Of the strange medley of cults and religions which goes by the name of
Hinduism, it is very difficult to give any adequate idea in a few pages.
The earliest aboriginal cult was probably that which is sometimes called
animism—the propitiation of evil spirits, male and female—for in the earliest relics of
religion still extant there seems to be embodied a belief in an existence after death.
Persons who caused sorrow and trouble in life were after death supposed to be the
cause of further unhappiness, and as such they had to be propitiated with gifts which
they would have appreciated when alive. They had to be supplied with the weapons, the
cooking pots, the oil receptacles, oil lamps, the ornaments, the water jars, and the
implements which they used during life.
Periodically solemn festivals were held, and a portion of the viands was
solemnly set apart for the, departed. In every garden on the southern side, even in the
present day, a portion is set apart where the bones of those who are burned are buried in
pots, and nightly lights are periodically kept blazing in memory of the day on which the
deceased departed this life.
This custom prevails among Nayars, Tiyars, and the artisan castes, and it is no
doubt the latest development of the cult, which dictated the making of the massive
sepulchral urns and the erection of the massive cromlechs, and k stvacus with which the
district abounds, but of which, tradition, in any reliable form, is wholly wanting.
A distinct advance in religious ideas may perhaps be gathered from those
sepulchral relies, which, in Malabar am more varied in their forms, end in their
associations perhaps more interesting than any similar relics in any land yet explored.
And although the subject is archaeologically of historical interest, its chief importance
seems to be in its religious aspect, and as such it may be fitly introduced here.
In so far as explorations have yet been conducted the sepulchral remains
referred to may be separated into four classes, which, from internal evidence, may
probably be correctly classified chronologically thus :-
I. Megalithic remains. probably
II. Excavated caves :. synchronous.
III. Caves with massive urns (kula-kallu) and massive sepulchral
urns without caves.
IV. Modern sepulchral urns of a small size.
There is a fifth class which has not- boon authoritatively connected with
sepulchral uses. This class is known as the topikullu (hat stone), and evidently belongs to
the megalithic period of Class I.
Illustrations Nos. I and II are of this uncertain class ; the hat stone represented
in No. I was explored by Mr. Babington in November 1819 who thus summed up the
result : “Though from its situation, size, and appearance I was led to expect my labour
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would not have been in vein, nothing was found in the hollow space between the stones
which supported the topikallu and which were themselves placed on, the solid rock.”
Similar researches made since have so far as known proved as equally
unsuccessful, and Mr. Babington’s conclusion either that these monuments are not
sepulchral, or, if sepulchral, that their contents have crumbled into indistinguishable dust
is fully justified.
Specimens of the first of the four undoubtedly sepulchral classes may be found
scattered widely over the hilly country in the South of Malabar, and one characteristic
group of them is to be found in a valley at the foot of the Kalladikod mountain peak in,
the Kavalpat amsam of Palghat Taluk. They invariably contain the remains of iron
implements and weapons and earthen pots. All covered up most carefully with fine earth
which has in general been carefully sifted. Those remains correspond so closely with
ordinary cromlechs elsewhere that it is unnecessary to illustrate them.
The stones composing the sides and ends of the place of sepulchre are
sometimes fully exposed, sometimes half-buried, and sometimes only just showing
above the surface. Occasionally the cromlech has a circle of stones placed round it at the
distance of a yard or two. Of Class II, specimens (Illustrations Nos. Ill to VII)
occasionally come to light, by accident, in quarrying blocks of stone, or in digging the
foundations of buildings.
Such specimens are known to exist in the following places :—(1) in the Tallavil
desam of Kuttiyori amsam in Chirakkal Taluk ; (2) in the Taliparamba and Trichumaram
desam of Taliparamba amsam in the same taluk ; (3) in the Padinyattumurai amsam and
desam of Calicut Taluk.
Their existence has been reported from many other places (Sewells "Lists of
Antiquities, Madras,” p. 210, seq). The contents are, in all respects, similar to those from
the megalithic class. Those caves are therefore probably of the same ago as the
megalithic class, although in form they differ widely from the square megalithic
cromlech, as will be seen from the following plans and sections. The caves are invariably
cut out of soft laterite rock, and as gneiss is both more difficult to work and scarcer than
laterite in the parts where these caves are to be found, it is probable that the architects
adapted themselves to circumstances, and, instead of building their sepulchres or death-
houses, set to work to excavate them.
The next illustration, No. VIII, convoys an accurate idea of the style of the
earthernware vessels and iron weapons and implements found in those excavated
“death-houses.”
It was probably a distinct advance in civilisation and in religious ideas (as will be
presently explained) which led to the adoption of the next class (No. Ill) of sepulchral
relies, for the kuta-kallu remains invariably' contain a largo sepulchral urn placed inside
an excavated chamber, in addition to the usual earthenware pots and iron implements
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characteristic of the supposed earlier sepulchral relics. Moreover, in these kuta-kallu
chambers are to be found earthenware pots of a more advanced type, evincing that
meanwhile society had begun to pay attention to ornamenting the vessels in domestic
use. Beads, too, are found in them, and the iron implements, weapons are more varied in
form as if designed for more extended wants.
Illustrations (Nos. IX to XII) copied from a very interesting paper
communicated by Mr. .J. Babington to the Literary Society of Bombay in December
1820 (Reprint, Bombay Literary Society's Transactions, 1877, p. 342), are representative
of those kuta-kallu remains and of their contents.
The occurrence of these massive half-backed earthenware urns in the excavated
chambers of the kuta-kallu seems to supply the necessary connecting link between
society, ancient and modern ; for Malayalis, as already said, still adhere to the practice of
using small sepulchral urns of the IV class. But now-a-days the charred bones of the
deceased are placed in the urns as a temporary resting place only, and are, as soon as
convenient, removed and cast into the fresh water of the holy rivers.
Formerly there was evidently no intention of ever disturbing the relics after they
were put in their final resting place. The shape of some of the ancient urns perhaps
affords a clue to the idea which originally suggested this mode of sepulchre; for in
Malabar, as in the districts east of the ghats, their shape is at times peculiar. The urn
shown in Mr. Babington’s illustration (No. IX) was evidently the final resting-place of a
person of wealth and consideration—the extent of the excavation, the massive character
of the capstone, and the articles found, all attest this.
Meaner individuals had to be content with less pretentious tombs, and,
accordingly, it is found that in many localities in the district massive half-baked
sepulchral urns, simply buried in the ground, are grouped together, generally on hill
sides, in large numbers; occasionally, where the laterite rock occurs near the surface, the
- rock is hollowed out a little to admit of receiving the urn, but no attempt is made at
constructing a chamber round each urn. What is further peculiar about them is that,
while some are plaintlv made like that shown in Mr. Babington's illustration (No, IX), in
others of them, as in some of the specimens to be found at Vaniarnkulam in the
Valluvanad taluk, the bottom of the ur thickens out in a circular -shape and through this
protuberance a small hole is drilled.
It has been suggested that this peculiarity in construction is emblematic of the
religious ideas connected with the Bhu-devi or earth goddess (Tellus), and that burial in
this fashion was emblematic of the return of the individual to the womb of Mother
Earth. The protuberance on the bottom of the urn under this supposition would signify
that it was representative of the os uteri.
The worship of the earth goddess is a subject full of difficulty; it probably came
in with the advance in civilisation, which taught men that the earth was fruitful if tilled,
and possibly the transition from the megalithic and excavated tomb period to the period
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in which earthen sepulchral urns began to be used marks a change in Malayali civilisation
from a pastoral life to one of agriculture, and from a belief in the powers for good and
evil of departed human spirits to one in which the former belief began to be modified
by the idea of an earth goddess, who became the refuge of the dead.
To the present day there is a native tradition, which of course is not in harmony
with orthodox Sanskrit texts, and which runs follows :
"As long as the bones remain undestroyed and undefiled;”
“So long does the soul enjoy heaven."
And this tradition has still such a powerful hold on the people, that their
superstitious fears are at ones aroused if such places of sepulchre are opened up. To this
feeling chiefly is to be attributed the lead fact that so little is still known about these
death relics. When a tomb is by accident discovered, it is generally for superstitious
reasons closed up again at once and the fact of its existence is kept secret.
But even, according to orthodox Brahmanical idea, the corpse of a human being
is, if the proper mantras are used, delivered at the burning ground to the care of Rudran,
(one form of Siva), whose charge ceases when the burning is complete. The unburnt
bones become pure and ought to be delivered in a pure form to Paramesvaran (another
form of Siva) whose property they become. This is effected by casting them into the
fresh water of holy streams, such as the Ganges, and into branches of the Kaveri as at
Tirunelli in Wynad, and Periar in Coimbatore, and the like. But it in not always
convenient to carry away the bones at once for this purpose, and frequently it is not
done for years. Meanwhile, therefore, the bones are placed in a holy urn1 (Class IV) and
preserved till a fitting opportunity occurs for their removal. The spirit of the deceased is
meanwhile supposed to inhabit the western room—the honoured guest-chamber of the
house-into which it is conveyed on the fortieth day after death in the holy urn before the
latter is finally consigned to its temporary resting-place in the southern portion of the
garden. The urn used must be of un burnt fresh earth, a fact which goes a long way to
connect the ancient and modern practice on this point, for the massive urns of Class III
above described are likewise constructed of only partially baked earth.
NOTEs: 1. The urns are not peculiar in shape, so it is unnecessary to give an illustration of class IV. END
OF NOTEs
The native tradition still extant, that so long as the bones remained
"undestroyed and undefiled” the deceased enjoyed heaven, is no doubt the original
ancient idea, and the carrying out of the idea gave rise to the first three classes of these
forms of sepulchre. Modern ideas have changed simply by making priestly intercessions
necessary for the welfare of the deceased.
This is most conspicuous in the ideas now in vogue regarding the sraddha
ceremonies, for priestly ingenuity has had a wide scope in following the course of a
departed spirit and in inventing obstacles to its final attainment of bliss.
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At every step of the preta, or departed spirit, obstacles are thrown in its way, and
heavy toll is levied from the pockets of the deceased's descendants to purchase gati, or
progress onward through purgatory— the “fourth mansion" as it is sometimes called by
Malayalis—to other births and ultimate emancipation. Neglect to perform the necessary
ceremonies leaves the departed spirit in the condition of a pisachu or foul wandering
ghost, disposed to take revenge for its misery by a variety of malignant acts on living
creatures.
While on the other hand, the due performances of the ceremonies converts the
preta into a pitri with divine honours which are paid to it in the Sraddha ceremony. At
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this stage even priestly interference does not leave the departed soul, for the pitri has to
progress through various other stages of bliss till admitted finally into heaven. Malayalis,
like other Hindus, flock to Gaya for the performance of Sraddha ceremonies, because of
the efficacy of the service conducted there in procuring direct admission into heaven of
the pitris at whatever stage of gati, or progress, they had previously arrived.
The primary or foundational religious idea of the Malayali Hindu, then,
consisted probably of a relief in the evil propensities of deceased persons (animism).
When calamity attacked him he sought refuge in sacrifices to propitiate the evil
wandering spirits of his ancestors, or of other men or women. When disease attacked a
community an evil spirit, generally feminine, was supposed to be the author. And so it
remains to the present day : astrologers are consulted when the calamity is a personal
one : when the trouble is common to society it is the velichchappadu (the enlightener or
oracle) of the local deity, who falls into a trance, becomes inspired, and points out the
remedy to the assembled multitude.
The snakes, too, are supposed to exercise an evil influence on human beings if
their shrines are not respected. A clump of wild jungle trees luxuriantly festooned with
graceful creepers is usually to be found in the south-west corner of the gardens of all
respectable Malayali Hindus. The spot is left free to nature to deal with as she likes.
Every tree and bush, every branch and twig is sacred. This is the vishattum kavu (poison
shrine) or naga kotta (snake shrine).
Usually there is a granite stone (chittra kuta-kallu) carved after the fashion of a
cobra's hood set up and consecrated in this waste spot. Leprosy, itch, barrenness in
women, deaths of children, the frequent appearance of snakes in the garden, and other
diseases and calamities supposed to be brought about by poison, are all set down to the
anger of the serpents. If there is a snake shrine in the garden, sacrifices and ceremonies
are resorted to. If there is none, then the place is diligently dug up, and search made for
a snake stone, and if one is found it is concluded that the calamities have occurred
because of there having previously been a snake shrine at the spot, and because the
shrine had been neglected. A shrine is then at once formed, and costly sacrifices and
ceremonies serve to allay the serpent’s anger.
Allied with this worship of the serpent, there occur two other religious ideas
about which it is difficult to come to correct or to satisfactory conclusions ; for phallic
and sakti worship and tree worship are somehow inextricably mixed up with serpent1
worship in Malayali Hinduism. It is possible that the tree1 was at first simply an emblem
of the phallus, and the serpent was, and still continues to be, an emblem of the sexual
passion.
NOTEs: 1 These objects of adoration, borrowed apparently from the mosaic of Hindu cults,
were imported through Manichaean influence into Christianity in one of its earlier and grosser forms. END
OF NOTEs
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Then again those are probably a development of the sun and earth goddess
worship, for, contemporaneously with the change from a pastoral to an agricultural life,
fertility of the soil seems to have been recognised and embodied in divine male and
female forms.
It would be out of place here to consider those points in detail. It is sufficient to
remark that the Malayali Hindus are still to a very great extant demon and ancestor
worshippers; that this was probably their original religious idea and that, probably with
the introduction of agriculture, their religious ideas, in which images2 of the divinities
played no part, received fresh impressions tending towards the phallic cult which still
holds them enchained.
NOTEs: 2. All the Malayali words for idols are of Sanskrit origin. END OF NOTEs
It remains to consider how their religion has been affected by the introduction of
foreign ideas. It is certain that Jain missionaries penetrated as far as Malabar in Asoka’s
time, for Asoka, in one of his Girnar edicts, says3 expressly ; “In the whole dominion of
the king Devanampriya Priyadarsin, as also in the
adjacent countries, as Chola, Pandya,
Satyaputra, Keralaputra, as far as Tamaraparni,
the kingdom of Antiochus, the Grecian king,
and of his neighbour kings, the system of caring
for the sick, both of men and of cattle,
followed by king Devanampriya Priyadarsin, has
been everywhere brought into practice ; and at
all places where useful healing herbs for men
and cattle were wanting, he has caused them to
be brought and planted ; and at all places where
roots and fruits were wanting, he has caused
them to be brought and planted ; also he has caused wells to be dug and trees to be
planted on the roads for the benefit of cattle.”
NOTEs: 3 Indian Antiquary, Vol. V, p, 272, and Thomas’ “Jainism, or the Early Faith of Asoka,
etc.”, London, 1877, p. 42. END OF NOTEs
Here Keralaputra, or as sometimes transliterated Ketalaputra, refers

undoubtedly to the king of ancient Chera, and the fact that Chera embraced the Malabar
district and a good deal more is generally accepted as historically correct.
The Jains seem to have made very little impression on the religious beliefs of
the people, for even a regard for animal life, the great characteristic of the Jains, had,
until recent years, very little hold on the people; and even now the great bulk of the
Hindu population feed on fish and flesh when they can get it, and it is only the
unenlightened upper classes, who are under Brahmanieal influence, who observe the
practice of abstaining from flesh. Under such circumstances, it may be regarded as
having been introduced to this limited extent by the Brahmans rather than by the Jains.
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The Jains do, however, seem to have left behind them one of their peculiar
styles of temple architecture ; for the Hindu temples and even the Muhammadan
mosques of Malabar are all built in the style peculiar to the Jains, as it is still to be seen in
the Jain bastis at Mudbiddri and other places in the South Canara district. Regarding this
style, Mr. Forgusson has the following suggestive remarks in his work on the “History of
Indian and Eastern Architecture” : —
“When1 we descend the ghats into Canara, or the Tulava - country, we come on
a totally different state of matters. Jainism is the religion of the country, and all, or nearly
all, the temples belong to this soot, but their architecture is neither the Dravidian style of
the South, nor that of Northern India, and indeed is not known to exist anywhere else in
India proper, but recurs with all its peculiarities in Nepal.”
NOTEs: 1. Edition 1876, p. 270. END OF NOTEs
“They2 are much plainer than Hindu temples usually are. The pillars look like
logs of wood with the angles partially chamfered off, so as to make them octagons, and
the sloping roofs of the verandahs are so evidently wooden that the style itself cannot be
far removed3 from a wooden original. In many places, indeed, below the ghats the
temples are still wholly constructed in wood without any admixture of stone, and almost
all the features of the Moodbidri temples may be found in wood at the present day. The
blinds between the pillars, which are there executed in stone, are found in wood in every
city in India, and, with very little variation, are used by Europeans in Calcutta to a
greater extent, perhaps, than they were over used by the natives.
NOTEs: 2. Ibid., p.271.
3. Note.—The buildings in this style in Malabar are invariably built of wood in all their characteristic
portions. END OF NOTEs
“The feature, however, which presents the greatest resemblance to the northern
styles is the reverse slope of the caves above the verandah. I am not aware of its
existence anywhere else south of Nepal, and it is so peculiar that it is much more likely
to have been copied than reinvented.”
“I1 cannot offer even a plausible conjecture how, or at what time, a connection
existed between Nepal and Tibet, and Canara, but I cannot doubt that such was the
case.” Further on, after describing the architecture of Nepal, Mr. Forgusson continues2 :
“It may be remembered that, in speaking of the architecture of Canara, I remarked on
the similarity that existed between that of that remote province and the style that is
found in this Himalayan valley ; and I do not think that any one can look at the
illustrations quoted above and not perceive the similarity between them and the
Nepalese examples, though it might require a familiarity with all the photographs to
make it evident, without its being pointed out. This being the case, it is curious to find
Colonel Kirkpatrick stating, more than seventy years ago, ‘that it is remarkable enough
that the Newar women, like those among the Nayars, may, in fact, have as many
husbands as they please, being at liberty to divorce them continually on the slightest
pretence.’ (Nepal, p. 187.)
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NOTEs: 1 Edition 1870, p. 278.
2. Ibid., p, 305. END OF NOTEs
Dr. Buchanan Hamilton also remarks that ; though a small portion of the
Newars have forsaken the doctrine of Buddha and adopted the worship of Siva, it is
without changing their manners, which are chiefly remarkable for their extraordinary
carelessness about the conduct of their women ; ’ and he elsewhere remarks on their
promiscuousness and licentiousness—(Account of Kingdom of Nepal, pp. 29 42, 51,
etc.).
In fact, there are no two tribes in India, except the Nayars and Newars, who are
known to have the same strange notions as to female chastity, and that coupled with the
architecture and other peculiarities, seems to point to a similarity of race which is both
curious and interesting ; but how and when the connection took place I must leave it to
others to determine. I do not think there is anything in the likeness of the names, but I
do place faith in the similarity of their architecture combined with that of their manners
and customs.”
Regarding these extracts it may be remarked that this style of architecture marks
out better than anything else the limits of the ancient kingdom of Chera, for the style
prevails all through the West Coast country from the limits of Canara to Cape Comorin.
In Malabar proper the style is reserved almost, if not altogether, exclusively for
religious edifices. In Travancore it is often to be seen in lay buildings.
How the Muhammadans came to adopt this same style for their mosques is
perhaps to be accounted for by the tradition, which asserts that some at least of the nine
original mosques were built on the sites of temples, and that the temple endowments in
land were made over with the temples for the maintenance of the mosque. Before
Muhammadanism became a power in the land it is not difficult to suppose that the
temples1 themselves thus transferred were at first used for the new worship, and this
may have set the fashion which has come down to the present day. So faithfully is the
Hindu temple copied, that the Hindu trisul (or trident) is not unfrequently still placed
over the open gable front of the mosque.
NOTEs: 1 In this connection it may be mentioned that on the margin of the bathing place in one
of the original mosques, at Pantalayini-kolla, there still exists a fragment of granite stone inscription in ancient
Vatteluttu characters, said to have, at one time, formed part of the temple which the mosque superseded ;
another fragment is also to be seen there. And on a rock on the sea-shore, close to the site of this same
mosque at Pantalayini-kollam, there is a foot-print deeply cut. A natural hollow in the rock has been chiselled
into the shape of a foot, and this mark, which is 3' 3” long by 10” to 12” broad, is said by the local Mappillas
to be foot print of Adam’s foot, as he landed from across the ocean ; his next step took him to Adam’s Peak
in Ceylon. Both temple and foot-print were doubtless originally Jain. END OF NOTEs
The final Brahman irruption from the north into Malabar, which for reasons set
out at some length in Chapter III, may be placed about A.D. 700, was destined to work
a greater change in the religion of the land, for it was part of the policy of the new-
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comers to “enlarge their borders”, and to embrace in their all-enveloping Hinduism all
minor creeds with which they came into contact.
Malayali Hinduism, therefore, in the present day is a strange mixture of all kinds
of religious ideas. It embraces, chiefly as divers manifestations of Siva and his consort
Kali, all the demoniac gods originally worshipped by the Malayalis. Brahma and Vishnu,
too, are worshipped with Siva, the other member of the Hindu Trimurti or triad. It has
borrowed from Christianity—with which, probably for the first time, Hinduism came
into contact in Malabar —some of the loftiest ideas of pure theism.
And Buddhism and Jainism have each left their mark on the system as
eventually elaborated.
It was at the hands of Samkaracharya, who is generally acknowledged to have
been a Malayali Brahman living2 in the last quarter of the eighth and in the first quarter
of the ninth, century A.D., that Hinduism attained its widest bounds under the form of
Vedantism. The Malayali tradition regarding him, as embodied in the Keralolpatti and
other works, is that he was the son of a Brahman widow, and as “the son of the widow”
he is sometimes referred to in Malayalam. This slur upon the legitimacy of the “gracious
teacher,” who summed up his philosophy and his religion in the Atma Bodha Prakasika, is
not borne out by other stories of his life, one of which, however (and that an Eastern
Coast one), makes him the miraculous son of a virgin, like the founder of Christianity.
NOTEs: 2. Born A.D, 788 ; died A.D. 820-21. Indian Antiquary Vol XI, pp, 175, 263. The
accuracy of this date has since been questioned, and the matter is still subjudice. END OF NOTEs
Whether there was any truth in the story is likely ever to remain a matter of
doubt, but the necessity of explaining how at a very early period of his life, he was
rejected by his own people and adopted the habits of a saniyasi, or religious recluse, has
led to the currency of another story regarding him, namely, that at eight years of ago he
was seized by a crocodile while bathing in the Aluvayi river, and that, after obtaining the
consent, of his mother, who witnessed the affair from the river bank, he adopted the life
of a saniyasi , and at that very early age begun his religious career.
The Malayali traditions place his birth-place at Kaladi to the south1 of the
Aluvayi river in the Nambutiri illam of the Keippalli taravad. At an early ago, it is said, he
began to criticise the Vedic knowledge and studies generally of the Nambutiris, who
resented his conduct, and, it is said, excommunicated the family. At sixteen years of ago,
it is said, he became omniscient, and set out on his travels as a saniyasi. He composed
largely, and one account says he met Vyasa, the great Rishi, who approved of his works,
and resided with him for some years.
NOTEs: 1 One account says north, instead of south. END OF NOTEs
According to another account his treatment of the sago was very far from being
polite at their first meeting, for, after having vanquished him in argument, he ordered his
disciples to throw down the defeated and unmannerly old Brahman, and drag him away
by his legs. This account goes on to say they eventually became reconciled and Vyasa
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approved of Samkaracharya's works. The most interesting and most, important part of
the account of the life of the “gracious teacher”, as related by Anandagiri, in his
Samkaravijaya (victories of Samkara), is that the great Vedantist had at last to respect the
popular superstitions of the day, and to give his sanction even to those forms of
idolatrous worship, which his philosophy repudiated.
All Malayali accounts agree that he returned to Kerala, and performed the
religious obsequies of his mother, at which ceremony as those of his own caste held
back, a Sudra had to perform the part usually undertaken by a junior member of the
family, and it is said that from the time of this event began the custom in Kerala of “no
ceremony for Brahmans without the assistance of a Sudra”, and vice versa.
All Malayali accounts, too, agree in stating that he eventually died at
Badarikasramam2 in Northern India, and at a very early ago, thirty-two years, according
to most accounts.
NOTEs: 2. He is said to have died, not at Badarikasramam, the place named in the Malayali
stories of his life, but at Kedarnath in the Himalaya, to which place he proceeded from the former place—
(Wilson, Asiatic Researches, XVII, 178-79 ; Moor's Hindu Pantheon, edition 1864, pp. 81. 353.) END OF
NOTEs
Of his philosophical system of religion, which has in times past produced, and
which still exercises, so wide and so beneficent an influence on native society, it may be
said to be summed up in the "great saying” as Samkaracharya himself called it,, “Tat
Tvam asti ” = (that i.e., Brahma,1 “the supreme deity, the causa materialis and causa efficiens,
of the illusive world")—tu (thou, the individual living spirit) -—es (art)=;“ Thou art
that.” “Having by the aid of the words ‘it is not so, it is not so’ removed all the upadhis
(‘the illusive forms of Brahma within the world’) 'one will easily recognise, by the aid of
the great saying, the oneness of the (individual) living spirit with the (Universal) Supreme
Spirit.’” "(Atma Bodha Prakasika, translated by the Rev. J.F.Kearns, Strophe 29.)
NOTEs: 1. To be distinguished from Brahma., the chief god of the Hindu Trimurti or triad—
Brahma, Siva and Vishnu. Samkaracharya's views regarding Brahma are stated in Strophe 57 of the Atma
Bodha Prakasika :—
“Having access to a portion of the bliss of the being of all perfect bliss, Brahma and the other
(popular deities) become, by degrees, partially happy beings.” (Kearns “Translation.”)END OF NOTEs
“Having crossed the sea of fascination, and having slain the giants, 'inclination’
‘aversion’ etc., the wise shall go forth married to tranquillity, delighting in the spirit,”
(Ibid., Strophe 49) ; “Extinguishing his inclination for external changeable pleasure, and
securely reposing in spirit—pleasure, (such an one) shall always shine forth clearly
therein, like the light which stands in a vessel secure,” (Ibid., Strophe 50).
To the question— “In what condition, then, is the freed-life-soul, until the guilt
(accumulated during a prior existence) is completely expiated and incorporeal bliss
succeeds the extinction of the threefold2 corporealness?"
NOTEs: 2.
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“According to the Vedanta Philosophy, there are three sarira or corporeal forms;—(i) the karana
sarira (corpus causans), (ii) the sukshma sarira, the fine material form, and (iii) the sthulada sarira, the gross
body, made up of the limbs which we perceive. The latter two are the corpora causata. The sthulada sarira
perishes at death, but the sukshma sarira, the immediate organ of the soul, is said to accompany it through all
its transmigrations, and is capable of sensations of enjoyment and suffering. The corpus causans is the
original type or embryo of the body as existing with the soul in its original state.” (Rev. J.F.Kearn's Note to
Strophe 13.) END OF NOTEs
The “gracious teacher” replied, in Strophe 51: “Although still involved in the
upadhi (i.e., corporeity) the muni (i.e., wisdom-perfected sage) may remain
uncontaminated by its natural qualities (just like the æther, which, although it pervades
the most unclean things, is nevertheless uncontaminated). And although hE knows all,
yet like a (disinterested) imbecile will he stand aside, and clinging (to no sensual thing)
(he) passes through (them) like the wind.”
In Strophe 52, he continued: “By the dissolution of the upadhi, the muni
(wisdom-perfected sage) unites inseparably with the (All) Pervading One, just as water
mixes inseparably with water, air with air and fire with fire.” In this description of what
Brahma is, he said:
“That, which one having perceived, there is nothing else to perceive,
“That, which one having attained, there is nothing else to attain,
“That, which one knowing, there exists nothing else to be known,
“That is, Brahma—let this be believed." (Ibid., Strophe 54.)
And in the concluding Strophe (67), he observed: “ Whoever undertakes the
pilgrimage of himself * * * obtains eternal happiness, and is free from all toil * * * and
becomes, omniscient, all-pervading immortal.”
The Vedantists say, in short, that nothing exists but Brahma, that the “pilgrim
of himself,” if he frees himself from the illusions of the flesh and the mind, will become
a muni (a wisdom-perfected sage), and will in the final stage of existence at last-perceive
that he himself is Brahma.
The religious ideal thus presented is in strange contrast to that which preaches:-
“Whether ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God,” and it is ill-
adapted for a work-a-day world, where fields have to be ploughed to gain bread, where
children have to be born to continue the human race, and whom the good and the evil
things in this world meet the passer-by at every corner of his life journey. But it is an
ideal always present to the mind of the devout Hindu, and its deep refining influence on
the people cannot be exaggerated—an influence, which, in their inner life, is productive
of many most admirable qualities.
There is a constant pining after a transcendental ideal, attainable perhaps, but
only after much suffering, and after much, almost, impossible, self-denial
“O for those days when I shall dwell alone,
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"Among the snowy hills by Ganga’s stream,
“In stony torpor stiffened on a stone,
"Inly conversing with the One Supreme,
“Rapt in devotion, dead to all beside,
"And deer shall fray their horns against my senseless hide.”
(Tawney’s Metrical Version of the Vairagya Satakam.)
Of places of resort, for Hindu devotees there are in Malabar, owing perhaps to
the jealous exclusiveness of the Nambutiri Brahmans, singularly few, and such as do
occur are resorted to almost exclusively by people of the coast. The most famous temple
in the district is Tirunavayi in the Ponnani taluk, where the Maha Makham festival,
already fully described at page 103 of this Chapter, used to take place every twelve years.
Next to it, perhaps, comes Guruvayur also in the Ponnani taluk, a shrine supposed to be
effectual in the cure of rheumatism. Besides these the following may be named : the
Taliparamba temple in Chirakkal taluk; the Kottiyur shrine in the jungles of the Manattana
amsam of Kottayam taluk resorted to by
great multitudes about the beginning of the
south-west monsoon season ; the Kilur
tomplo on the south bank of the Kotta
river, where is held annually the largest
cattle-market in the district ; the Tirunelli
temple placed on a branch of the Kaveri
river at the foot of the Bramagiri plateau in
Wynad, to which the people of North
Malabar used to resort for the performance
of Sraddha ceremonies, until by the opening
of the railway it became easier for them to
visit Perur on the Noyal river in Coimbatore
for this purpose; the Bhagavati shrine near Angadipuram in Valluvanad taluk, whence,
after decorating the shrine, the largest band of Mappilla fanatics ever collected (66 in
number) issued forth to be shot down or impaled on the bayonets of the Grenadier
Company of Her Majesty's 94th Regiment. (August-September 1849); the Kalpati temple
in Palghat town, where is held annually a car festival, the only ceremony of the kind that
takes place in the district although very common in eastern districts, and in which the
idol is carried in procession through the streets on a monster car.
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Muhammadans
There are many accounts extant in Malabar concerning the introduction of the
religion of the prophet into the district. The indigenous manuscripts, however, differ
from those belonging to Arab families settled in the district on one or two points, while
in regard to all others the accounts are identical.
The points of difference relate to the time when the first convert was made, and
as to some of the things that happened to him. The indigenous Muhammadans
(Mappillas)1 are anxious, very naturally, to claim for their first convert the honour of
having had an interview with the Prophet himself, and of having been instructed by the
Prophet himself in the principles of the “Fourth Vedam,2” as the religion of Islam is
commonly called in Malabar. The Mappilla accounts likewise give the text of a speech
said to have been delivered by the Prophet to his followers on the occasion, and further
assert that the Prophet changed the name of the convert to Thiaj-ud-din (Crown of the
Faith).
NOTEs: 1. N.B .—The word Mappilla is a contraction of Maha (great) and pilla (child, honorary
title, as among Nayars in Travancore), and it was probably a title of honour conferred on the early
Muhammadan immigrants, or possibly on the still earlier Christian immigrants, who are also down to the
present day, called Mappillas. The Muhammadans are usually called Jonaka or Chonaka Mappillas to
distinguish them from the Christian Mappillas, who are called Nasrani Mappillas. Jonaka or Chonaka is
believed to stand for Yavanaka = Ionian — Greek. In the Payyanur pat, or earliest Malayali poem, some of
the sailors are called chonavar. Nasrani is of course Nazarene ; the term is applied to Syrian or Syrio-Roman
Christians.
2. The three other Vedams (knowledge, revelation, religion) are according Muhammadans, (1)
Heathen or Hindu, (2) Jewish and (3) Christian. END OF NOTEs
The Malayali Arabs do not credit these facts, because, in the first place, the
convert’s name (he being so influential a person as king or emperor of Malabar) would
certainly have come down to posterity in the works of the old commentators, or have
appeared in the list of Assahabi, or persons who saw the Prophet.
Moreover, it is also a fact that no such names as those taken by the convert
denoting attachment to Islam were given in the Prophet’s lifetime. In their rejection of
those facts they follow the example set by Sheikh Zin-ud-din, a writer, who in the
sixteenth century noticed the story as then current, but rejected it on the ground, among
others, that the convert was said, in his time, to have died on the coast of the Red Sea,
whereas it was well known that his tomb was at Zaphar (on the Arabian Coast north-
east of Aden). The Mappillas now assert that he died at Shahr-Mokulla, not on the Red
Sea Coast. This, too, is contrary to fact, as the evidence of the tomb stone itself, still
existing at Zaphar, is understood to testify.
The Malayali Arabs assert, chiefly on Sheikh Zin-ud-din’s authority, that Islam
was not introduced into Malabar until 200 years after the Hejira—And this, or a later
date, seems to be correct, for the Arab merchant, Sulaiman, who wrote in A.H. 2371
(A.D 851- 52), and who wrote with knowledge as he had evidently visited the countries
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he wrote about, said expressly2 : “I know not that there is any one of either nation
(Chinese or Indian) that has embraced Muhammadanism or speaks Arabic.”
NOTEs: 1. Malik-ibn-Dinar's expedition described further down is said to have reached Malabar
about A.H. 224, by which time Sulaiman had probably returned from his wanderings.
2. Renaudot’s translation of “Ancient Accounts of India, etc." London, 1733, p. 37 (a). END OF
NOTES
There is no reason to suppose3 with Rowlandson that Arab emigrants

established themselves in Malabar (presumably as a conquering race) in the time of the
Umayyide Caliph Walid I (A.D. 705-15), for it is by no means certain that the pirate
Meds, alias Naukumara, alias Nagamara, alias Kurks, were in any way related to the
Coorgs—an inland people—or to the Malayalis. The expeditions directed by the
Muhammadan Governor of Persia against Sind, in revenge for the plundering by the
pirates of Debal of the king of Ceylon’s ships convoying tribute, were directed, as was
natural, against Debal itself, which appears to have been some place in Sind.
NOTEs: 1. Rowlandson’s foot-note to Tahafat-ul-Mujahidiv, p. 5. END OF NOTES
All Malayali accounts, however, are substantially in accord as to the following

facts :—The last king or emperor of Malabar was one Cheraman Perumal, who reigned
at Kodungallur (Cranganore, the Mouziris of the Greeks, the Muyiri-kodu of the Cochin
Jews’ deed). Cheraman Perumal dreamed that the fullmoon appeared on the night of
newmoon at Mecca in Arabia, and that, when at the meridian, she split into two, one
half remaining and the other half descending to the foot of a hill called Abikubais, when
the two halves joined together and then set.
Sometime afterwards a party of Muhammadan pilgrims on their way to the
foot-print shrine at Adam’s Peak in Ceylon chanced to visit the Perumal’s capital, and
were admitted to an audience and treated most hospitably. On being asked if there was
any news in their country, one, by name Sheikh Sekke-ud-din4, it is said, related to the
Perumal the apocryphal story of Muhammad having, by the miracle about which the
Perumal had dreamt, converted a number of unbelievers. The Perumal, it is said, was
much interested and secretly made known to the Sheikh his intention “to unite5 himself
to them.” When the Sheikh returned from Ceylon the Perumal secretly directed him “to
make ready a vessel and provide it with everything necessary for proceeding on a
voyage."
NOTEs: 4. Or Seuj-ud-din.
5. Rowlandson's Tuhafat-ul-Mujahidin p. 59. END OF NOTEs
For the next, eight days the Perumal busied himself privately in arranging affairs
of state, and, in particular, in assigning to the different chieftains under him their
respective portions of territory. This was all embodied in a written deed which he left
behind him. At the end of the eight days he embarked secretly in the vessel prepared for
him along with the Sheikh and his companions, and they proceeded to Panthalayini-
Kollam (Northern Kollam near Quilandy), to the place, where some six-and half
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The people
centuries later the first Europeans, who successfully navigated their way to Indian soil,
first landed.
At Pantalayini-Kollam they spent one day, or a day and a night, and thence
proceeded to the island of Darmatam, or Darmapattanam, near Tellicherry. This island
adjoins the Randattara Achanmars territory and to this day Randattara is commonly called
the Poyanad (i.e. the country whence the Perumal “went” or “set out” on his journey to
Arabia).
At Darmapattanam the party remained three days, and then embarking set sail
for, and landed at, 8hahr on the Arabian Coast,. At this place the Perurnal remained,
according to the Arab accounts, for a considerable time.
It is uncertain whether it was here (Shahr) that the Perumal came for the first
time into contact with the persons, who were to be the pioneers of Islam in Malabar, or
whether they, or some of them, had been of the party of pilgrims with whom he
originally set out from Kodungallur. But, however this may be, the names of the persons
have been handed down by tradition as (1) Malik-ibn-Dinar, (2) Habib-ibn-Malik, (3)
Sherf-ibn-Malik1 (4) Malik-ibn-Habib and his wife, Kumarieth with their ten sons2 and
five daughters3.
NOTEs: 1 Or Shiaff-ibn-Malik
2. (1) Habib, (2) Muhammad, (3) Ali, (4) Hussain, (ii) Thuki-ud-din ?, (6) Abdar Rahman, (7)
Ibrahim, (8) Mussa, (9} Umrnar, (10) Hassan.
8 (l) Fatima, (2) Ayissa, (3} Zainab, (4) Thanirath, (6) Halima END OF NOTEs
From the names it may perhaps be gathered that the party consisted of Malik-
ibn-Dinar, his two sons, one grandson, and his grandson's wife, and their family of
fifteen children.
The Peruman apparently changed his name to that which is still said to appear
on his tomb, namely Abdul Rahman Samiri, and married a wife, whose name has been
variously handed down as Rahabieth or Gomariah. The Perurnul, it is said, after
remaining a considerable time at Shahr, formed a resolution to return to Malabar for the
purpose of establishing his new religion with suitable places of worship, and he set about
for the purpose the building of a ship. Before, however, the ship was built the Perumal
fell dangerously ill, and, being convinced there was no hope of his recovery, implored
his companions not to desist from their design of proceeding to Malabar to propagate
there the Fourth Vedam. To this they rejoined that they, foreigners, could not know his
country and its extent and would have no influence therein ; whereupon, it is said, he
prepared and gave them writings in the Malayalam language to all the chieftains whom
he had appointed in his stead, requiring them to give land for mosques and to endow
them.
He further instructed them not to tell of his sufferings and death1 ‘‘but tell ye
not to any of my people of Malabar of the violence of my sufferings, or that I am no
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more.” And he finally enjoined on them not to land anywhere, save at Kodungallur
(Cranganore), Darmapattanam, Pantalayini- Kollam, or Southern Kollam (Quilon).
"And1 after this he surrendered his soul to the unbounded mercy of God."
NOTEs: 1 Rowlandson’s Tuhafat-ul-Mujahidin p. 53. END OF NOTES
Some years2 after his death Malik-ibn-Dinar and his family set-out for Malabar,
bearing with them the Perumal’s letter, and, concealing his death, delivered them to
those to whom they were addressed, beginning with the prince3 ruling at Kodungallur
(Cranganore). They were received hospitably, and, in accordance with the Perumal’s
instructions, land to build a mosque and a suitable endowment were given. Malik-ibn-
Dinar himself became the first Kazi of this place.
NOTEs: 2. Eight years according to the Mappilla manuscripts.
3. Probably of the Cochin Raja’s family. END OF NOTES
After some time Malik-ibn-Dinar sent out to Southern Kollam4 (Quilon) Malik-
ibn-Habib with his wife and some of their sons. There also they were received
hospitably, apparently by the Southern Kolattiri (Travancore Raja), and a second
mosque was founded, of which Hassan, one of the sons, became Kazi. Some of the
remaining sons, accompanied by their father most probably, next set out for the
dominion of the Northern Kolattiri (Chirakkal Raja’s family), and at Hubaee Murawee
(Madayi) or Palyangadi in Chirakkal taluk, close to one of the palaces of the Kolattiris, a
third mosque was founded and endowed.
NOTEs: 4. According to one manuscript the second mosque was erected at Northern Kollam
(Pantalayini-Kollam) not at Southern Kollam (Quilon), and according to it, the last mosquo erected was at
the latter place. END OF NOTES
At this mosque a tradition exists that the party brought over with them from
Arabia three blocks of white marble, one of which was placed in this mosque, where it is
still to be seen. The other two, the tradition says, were similarly placed in the mosques at
Quilon and Cranganore. Abdar-Rahman remained there as Kazi.
Thence the party proceeded to Bakkanur (Barkur) and to Manjalur (Mangalore)
and to Northern Kanyarode (Casargode), three places in Canara, founding mosques at
each place and leaving as Kazis at them respectively Ibrahim, Mussa, and Muhammad,
sons of Malik-ibn- Habib. The remainder of the party next returned to Madayi
Palayangadi and remained there three months.
The locality of the next mosque founded has been the subject of some debate,
but there seems no reason to doubt the correctness of the current Malayali accounts,
which agree in placing it at Chirikandatam5 or Cherupattanam6 (literally small town).
“Zaraftan” is the name which occurs in Rowlandson’s version of the Tahafat-ul-
Mujahidin and Jarfattan, in two other versions of the same work in the hands of families
at Ponnani and Calicut. The village now called Srikandapuram or Chirikandatam (the
“Surrukundapuram” of the Indian Atlas) lies at the head of the navigable waters of one
branch of the Valarpattanam river in the Chirakkal taluk, and its former importance as a
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The people
entrepot of trade with Coorg and Mysore has already been alluded to. (Chapter I, Section
C, p. 10.)
NOTEs: 5. Palayangadi mosque manuscripts.
6. Another manuscript in the hands of an Arab family in Calicut. END OF NOTEs
To this mosque, at Srikandapuram, the first Kazi appointed was Ummar,

another of the ten sons.
After this the party visited, in succession, Darmapattanam in the Kottayam
taluk, and Pantalayini-Kollam in the Kurumbranad taluk, (both already alluded to
above), and lastly Chaliyam in the Ernad taluk, the present terminus of the Madras
South-West Line of Railway. At those three places respectively Hussain, Muhammad1,
and Thaki-ud-din, three more of the ten sons, were appointed as Kazis.
NOTEs: 1.There is a discrepancy here, for Muhammad was already Kazi of Cassargode mosque.
END OF NOTES
Of the persons who were thus instrumental in introducing Muhammadanism

into Malabar, it is related that Malik-ibn-Dinar subsequently visited each of the mosques
in turn, and, after returning to Kodungallur, set out for Southern Quilon2 with Malik-
ibn-Habib. Thence he went to Arabia and “travelling3 on to Khorassan there resigned his
breath.” Malik-ibn-Habib and his wife came after Malik-ibn-Dinar’s departure from
Quilon to Kodungallur and there both of them died.
NOTEs: 2. According to one manuscript the last of the nine mosques was erected here—See
note above regarding Southern Kollam (Quilon)
3. Rowlandson’s Tahafat-ul-Mujahidin, p. 55. END OF NOTEs
And of the Kazis of the other mosques, Muhammad alone died elsewhere than
at his post of duty ; he, it seems, died at Aden.
There is good reason for thinking that this account of the introduction of
Muhammadanism into Malabar is reliable.
For first of all it is beyond doubt that Arabs had by the ninth century, about
which time these events are said to have happened, penetrated beyond India and as far
as China for purposes of trade, and it is notable that all the nine places where mosques
were erected were either the headquarters of the petty potentates of the country, or
places affording facilities for trade, and in some cases (as at Kodungallur, Kollum,
Palayangadi, and perhaps Pantalayini Kollam) the places had the double advantage of being
both well situated for trade and in close proximity to the chieftain’s strongholds. Arabs
engaged in trade had no doubt settled in these places long previously, and indeed an
inscription on a Muhammadan granite tombstone still standing at Pantalayini-Kollam
recites, after the usual prayer, that “Ali-ibn-Udtherman was obliged to leave this world
for over to the one which is everlasting, and which receives the spirits of all, in the year
1661 of Hejira, so called after Muhammad the Prophet left Mecca for Medina.’’
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NOTEs: The date is a good deal weather-worn, but those figures are still fairly distinct. END
OF NOTEs
Malik-ibn-Dinar and his party, even with the exceptional advantages they
possessed, would hardly have been able in so short a time to found and establish
mosques at these places, unless the ground had been prepared beforehand for them to
some extent at least. And the fact that Arabs had settled for trading purposes carries
with it the further probable assumption that some of them at least had contracted
alliances with women of the country, and the beginnings of a mixed race, the Mappillas,
had been laid.
Finally, it has recently come to notice, from the information of an Arab resident
near the spot, that the tomb of the Perumal referred to still exists at Zaphar on the
Arabian Coast, at some distance from the place (Shahr), where he is reported to have
landed. The facts have still to be authoritatively verified, but it is stated that on this tomb
the inscription runs: “Arrived at Zaphar A. H. 212. Died there A.H. 216.” These dates
correspond with the years 827 -832 A.D., and as the Kollam era of the coast
commenced in 825 A.D., and in the month of the year (25th August) just before the
northeast monsoon sets in, when ships frequently sail for Arabia and the Persian Gulf, it
is not at all improbable that the beginning of the Kollam era of the coast dates from the
day on which Cheraman Perumal, the last of the kings of Malabar, set sail for Arabia in
the manner described. It is said that he stayed a “considerable time” at Shahr, which
perhaps accounts satisfactorily for the time elapsing between August-September 825
A.D. and A.D. 827 the year in which he went to Zaphar.
Moreover Sheikh Zin-ud-din2 stated in reference to this affair : “Touching the
exact time when this event occurred there is no certain information ; but there appears
good ground for the supposition that it happened about two hundred years after the
flight of the Prophet.”
NOTEs: 2. Rowlandson’a Tahafat-ul-Mujahidin, p. 55. END OF NOTEs
And he continued : “It is a fact, moreover, now well known to all, that the king
was buried at Zofar, instead of on the Arabian Coast of the Red Sea, at which place his
tomb can be seen by every one, and is indeed now flocked to on account of its virtues.
And the king, of whom this tale is told, is styled by the people of that part of the world
As-Samira3, whilst the tradition of his disappearance is very common throughout the
population generally of Malabar, whether Moslems or Pagans ; although the latter would
believe that he has been taken up into heaven, and still continue to expect his descent,
on which account they assemble at Cranganoro and keep ready there wooden shoes and
water, and on a certain night of the year burn lamp as a kind of festival in honour of his
memory.”
NOTEs: 3. The name of the king is said to have been changed to Abdul Rahman Samiri, and the
tomb, it is said, is till regarded with much veneration as that of a Hindu (Samiri-Samaritan-worshipper of the
calf — Koran, S. 20) king of Malabar, who became a convert to Islam. From the fact that the king is called
Samiri, some Mappillas assert that the king buried at Zaphar was really a Zamorin. The mukri of the
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The people
mosque adjacent to the tomb came to Malabar some sixteen years ago, soliciting subscriptions for repairing
the tomb and mosque. END OF NOTEs
The Mappillas, the mixed race, the beginnings of which have just been sketched,
have played an important part in the political history of the District, which will be
alluded to in its proper place in the historical chapter. And it is unnecessary to say more
about that subject here than that the Arab element in the parentage of the vast majority
of them is now very small indeed. The race is rapidly progressing in numbers, to some
extent from natural causes, though they are apparently not so prolific as Hindus, and to
a large extent from conversion from the lower (the servile) classes of Hindus - -a
practice which was not only permitted but in some instances enjoined under the
Zamorin Rajas of Calicut, who, in order to man their navies, directed that one or more
male members of the families of Hindu fishermen should be brought up as
Muhammadans, and this practice has continued down to modern times.
Regarding the increase in the Muhammadan population between 1871 and
1881, the following remarks occur in the Presidency
Census (1881) Report, paragraph 151:—“Conspicuous
for their degraded position and humiliating disabilities
are the Cherumars. This caste numbered 99,009 in
Malabar at the census of 1871, and in 1881, is returned
at only 64,7251. This is a loss of 34.93 per cent, instead
of the gain 5.71 per cent, observed generally in the
district. There are, therefore, 40,000 fewer Cherumars
than there would have been but for some disturbing
cause, and the disturbing cause is very well known to the
District Officer to be conversion to Muhammadanism.
NOTEs: 1. In the year 1856, the Government called for
information as to the traffic in slaves, and from a careful enumeration
then made, it seems that the caste numbered at that time 187,758 ; so
that the decrease in 25 years has been over 65 per cent. END OF NOTEs
“The honour of Islam” once conferred on a Cheruman, or on one of the other

low castes, he moves, at one spring, several places higher socially than that which he
originally occupied, and the figures, corroborating what has been actually observed in
the district show that nearly 50,000 Cherumars and other Hindus have availed
themselves of the opening.”
The conversion of a Pariah, or low caste Hindu, to Muhammadanism raises him
distinctly in the social scale, and he is treated with more respect by Hindus. “He is no
longer a link in a chain which requires to be kept in its particular place. His new faith
neutralises all his former bad qualities. He is no longer the degraded Pariah whose
approach disgusted, and whose touch polluted the Hindu of caste, but belonging now to
a different scale of being, contact with him docs not require the same ablutions to purify
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it.” (Special Commissioner Græme's Report, paragraph 21). This was written before the
Mappilla outrages exalted this community so greatly in the district.
It may be doubted whether contact with a Hindu, even in Mr. Græme’s time,
did not carry with it the necessity of Hindu ablutions afterwards, but however this may
be, the Hindu is very strict about such matters now. At the same time the main fact
remains that a low caste Hindu, obtains by conversion many substantial benefits, For
Mappillas, as a class pull well together ; and he is a daring Hindu indeed who dares now-
a-days to trample on their class prejudices or feelings.
Of the Mappilla, as a class, Mr. Græme expressed himself as follows :—“ On
the coast, they are industrious, skilful in trade, crafty, avaricious, rigid observers of the in
junction of the Prophet in abstaining from the use of spirituous liquors, particular in
attending to the forms rather than the spirit of their religion, being regular in worship,
but at the same time hypocritical rogues, and zealous in their attempts to gain
proselytes.” (Report, paragraph 20.)
Of their fanaticism and courage in meeting death enough will be said further on.
They are frugal and thrifty as well as industrious. They marry as a rule, but one wife, and
live with her and their children on affectionate terms.
The women appear in public without veils, but among the better class it is usual
to envelop the head and person but not the face in a long robe. They are very
scrupulous about the chastity of their women, who, however, enjoy much freedom.
To those who treat the men with kindness and consideration they become
much attached, and they are of all classes in the district by far the most serviceable on
ordinary occasions, and the most reliable in emergencies. But the hand that controls
them as a class must be firm, and punishment, when justly merited must be inflicted
with severity; for leniency is an unknown word, and is interpreted as weakness, and not
merely that, but as weakness, of which advantage is to be taken at the earliest possible
moment.
They are moreover, as a class, nearly almost, if not altogether, illiterate. The only
education received is a parrot-like recitation of portions of the Koran, which, being in
Arabic, none of them understand. The scruples of the parents prevent them from
permitting their children to attend the vernacular schools of the Hindus. A fairly
successful attempt has however been made to reach them by giving grants to their own
teachers on condition that they must show results. The teachers, being as illiterate as
their pupils, except in knowledge of Koran recitations, usually employ Hindu youths to
teach the pupils and so earn the results grants.
And some of the pupils are now being taught teaching as a profession in special
normal schools. The number of Mappillas who have advanced so far as to learn to read
and write English in the schools, could very probably be counted on the fingers of two
hands. The people, as a class, being thus ignorant, are very easily misled by designing
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The people
persons, and they are of course as bigoted as they are ignorant. Of their religion itself
they obtain such knowledge as they possess of it from Malayalam tracts, for which,
especially for those detailing the essential things to be attended to in pilgrimages to
Mecca, there is a considerable demand. The ceremonial observance connected with
bathing, the washing of the face and hands, worship by prostration, the appropriate
prayers, the hours of worship, the Prophet’s commandments, acts vitiating the efficacy
of worship, the giving of alms, the observances of Ramzan (the fasting-month), and
many other similar subjects are treated of in these tracts. And the people obtain from
them accurate ideas of the outward forms of their religion, in the observance of which
they are very strict.
They are chiefly Sunnis, or followers of the Ponnani Tangal, the chief priest of
the orthodox party, but some time in the eighteenth century a schism was created by the
introduction of new forms of worship by a foreign (Persian) Muhammadan, who settled
at Kandotti (Konduvetti) in the Ernad Taluk. His followers are called Shi’ahs by the
orthodox party, but they themselves, when questioned, object to the use of the name
and assert that they are as much Sunnis as the other party. This sect, though still
numerous, does not seem to be increasing in numbers.
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Christians
There are four chief sects of Christians in Malabar, namely—
1. Syrians,
2. Romo-Syrians,
3. Roman Catholics, following the ordinary Latin rite, and
4. Protestants of all denominations.
The Syrians and Romo-Syrians.—Malabar Christians of the first two of those
classes are often called “the Christians of St. Thomas,” from the prevalence of a
tradition that Christianity was introduced into Malabar by the Apostle himself, and the
tradition is implicitly believed by the generality of the adherents of the first three classes.
But the evidence as yet available in support of the truth of the tradition is by no
means perfect.
It is certain that, in the first century A.D., a very extensive trade and connection
existed directly between India and the Western world, and a promise and expanding
knowledge of the geography of the Indian coasts and markets, is manifest in the writings
of the author of the “Periplus Maris Erythræi” and several others. Mouziris, in particular,
which has already been alluded to, was one of the places best known to travellers and
merchants from the West, and it was there and thereabouts that the original settlements
of Christians were formed. The names of the traditionary places where the first seven
churches were built sufficiently attest this viz., (1) Niranam, (2) Chayal, (3) Kollam, (4)
Palur. (5) Kodungallur (Mouziris itself), (6) Gokkamangalam, (7) Kottakayal, localities
which are all well known, and in all of which except Chayal and Kodungallur, churches
still exist. Of those places only one, Palur1 lies in British Malabar.
NOTEs: 1. In Palayur amsum of the Ponnani taluk. END OF NOTEs
This direct trade connection seems to have been maintained though probably in
a diminishing scale, for some centuries after the birth of Christ, and if the evidence of
the Peutingerian Tables* (which are believed to have been constructed about 226 A.D.)
is accepted, the Romans even at that date are said to have had a force of two cohorts
(840 to 1,200 men) at Mouziris to protect their trade, and they had also erected a temple
to Augustus at the same place. That Christians, among others, found their way to
Malabar in the very early centuries after Christ is therefore highly probable.
NOTES added: *Tabula Peutingeriana is an illustrated ancient Roman road map showing the
road network in the Roman Empire. The map is a 13th-century parchment copy of the Roman original, and
includes Continental Europe, North Africa, and parts of Asia (including the Middle-East and the South
Asian Subcontinent). END OF NOTES added
There is consequently no inherent improbability in the tradition that the Apostle

Thomas was one of the earliest immigrants from the West; but of direct contemporary
proof that he did come to Mouziris and found the Christian churches in that
neighbourhood there is absolutely none so far as researches have yet gone.
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The people
The probability of the tradition consequently depends on later evidence.
The first mention of St. Thomas’ mission to Ma'abar is probably to be found in
the Acta Thomæ, or Acts of Judas Thomas, an apocryphal gospel, the date of which was
probably not earlier than 200 A.D, and was certainly not later than the fourth century. A
king, who has been satisfactorily identified with, king Gondophares mentioned in Indo-
Skythian coins, and of whose reign a stone inscription, dated 40 A.D., has recently been
deciphered is said to have sent to Christ for an architect, and St. Thomas was sent in
consequence. But this king reigned in North-western India, whereas St. Thomas is
understood to have preached his mission in Malabar and to have been killed at St.
Thomas’ Mount near Madras.
The object of the author of this apocryphal gospel scorns to have been to promote the
doctrine of celibacy, and ho possibly took, as his ground-work, the current traditionary
story about St. Thomas, and possibly in entire ignorance of what he was writing about
hauled in the name of a king, who could not possibly have had anything to do with the
part of India, where St. Thomas was said to have
preached and died.
However this may be, the next authentic
notice of the story seems to be contained in the
fragments of the writings of Dorotheus, Bishop
of Tyre, latter half of third and beginning of
fourth centuries A.D. He wrote that St. Thomas,
after preaching to the Parthians, Medes and
Persians, died at Calamina1, a town in India.”
And this name is considered by some to be the
Syriac translation of "Maliapore" since Mala
(Tam.) and Golomath2 (Syriac) both mean “hill,”
and both names signify “City of the Mount.”
NOTEs: 1. This is the name which also occurs in the Roman Martyrology. END OF NOTES
NOTES added: A martyrology is a catalogue or list of martyrs and other saints and beati arranged in the
calendar order of their anniversaries or feasts (Information taken from newadvent.org) END OF NOTES
added
NOTEs: 2. It may be noted however in passing that it is very doubtful if the Syrian connection with the
“Thomas Christians” was established for several centuries after this time.END OF NOTES
It was about the same time (A.D. 261) that Manes, the disciple of Terebinthus
founded the sect of Manichæans in Persia. It seems that sometime in the second century
A.D. one Scythianus, who had studied at Alexandria and had visited the anchorets of Thebais
went, by sea to India and brought thence four books containing the most extravagant
doctrines, but he died about the end of the second century before he could preach his
new tenets.
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On Terebinthus, his disciple, devolved the duty of spreading those new views,
and he accordingly preached his doctrines in Palastine and Persia, declaring that he
himself was another Buddha, and that he was born of a virgin. Meeting with strong
opposition from the priesthood he had to conceal himself in the house of a rich widow,
and there he met with his death by accident. The widow’s adopted son or servant was
Manes, and he it was who is said to have “called on” Hind and Sin and the people of
Khorasan, and ‘‘made a deputy of one of his companions in each province.” It seems
doubtful whether he himself ever visited “Hind” which, among Arabs, was the name
applied to Southern India exclusively.
He was put to death, by the king of Persia in 277 A.D.
“The Manichæaus1 said that Christ was the primæval serpent, who enlightened
the minds of Adam and Eve, the creator, the preserver, and the destroyer, the original
soul, the preserver of the soul, and the fabricator of the instrument with which the
salvation of the soul is effected. He was born of the earth, and for the redemption of
mankind suspended on every tree, for they saw him crucified on every tree among its
branches.”
NOTEs: 1. Asiatic Rearches IX, 216-18. It is noteworthy that in the Keralolpatti or origin of
Keralam, the pseudo-history of Malabar current among natives, the Brahmans are said to have displaced the
Nagas or snakes. The final Brahman immigration seems to have occurred in or about the eighth century
A.D. and Christian (?Manichcæn) colonies had arrived in the country long before that time. It is possible
that the allusion in the Keralopatti refers to the Manichæane. END OF NOTEs
“The doctrine2 of Manos could not fail of meeting with many admirers in India
when he appeared in the character of Buddha, and of Christ, or Salivahana.
Transmigration was one of his tenets, and the rule of the life and manners of his
disciples was very severe and rigorous. They abstained from flesh, fish, eggs, wine, etc.,
and the ruler of every district and president of their assemblies was considered as
Christ.”
NOTEs: 2. Asiatic Researches IX, 221. END OF NOTEs
But whether it was Christianity in this shape, or Christianity in a more orthodox

form that was at first imported into Malabar, it is difficult to say. The late Doctor
Burnell’s3 views were that the earliest Christian settlements in India were Persian, and
probably therefore Manichæan or Gnostic,” and that these were not supplanted by the
more orthodox Nestorians “earlier than the eleventh or twelfth century A.D.”
NOTEs: 3. Indian Antiquary III, 311. END OF NOTEs
On the other hand it has boon pointed out that Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea,
about 264-340 A.P. mentions that Pantænus of the Catechetical School at Alexandria,
visited India and brought home with him a Hebrew copy of the Gospel by St. Mathew
about the end of the second century A.D., and that one of the apostles (Bartholomew)
did visit India.
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India, however, in those days and long afterwards meant a very large portion of
the globe, and which of the Indies it was that Pantænus visited it is impossible to say
with certainty ; for, about the fourth century, there were two Indias, Major and Minor.
India Minor adjoined Persia. Some time later there were three Indies — Major Minor and
Tertia. The first, India Major extended from Malabar indefinitely eastward. The second,
India Minor embraced the Western Coast of India as far as, but not including, Malabar,
and probably Sind, and possibly the Mekran Coast, India Tertia was Zanzibar in Africa.
It would seem that the Malabar Coast lay in India Major, but whether it was this
India and this part of India Major that Pantænus visited cannot be decided. If he did
come to India Major, it is extremely likely that it was on the Malabar Coast that he found
the Hebrew Gospel of St. Matthew, for the Jews have according to tradition been settled
in the country now comprising the Native State of Cochin since the beginning of the
Christian era and perhaps before it. Moreover, if according to the Peutingerian Tables,
the Romans had a force of two cohorts at Muoziris to protect their trade there in A.D.
210, it is certain that intercourse between Alexandria and the Malabar Coast must have
been both direct and frequent, and the fact that Pantænus went to India Major and to
Muoziris becomes highly probable.
The fact, however, that he found a Hebrew copy of St. Matthew’s Gospel
points to the probability of the first colony of Christians having been Israelites, and not
either Syrians or Persians. Eusebius likewise mentioned that St. Thomas was the Apostle
of Edessa in Syria, and as the Apostle of the Syrians he has all along been accepted. The
facts to be presently set forth go to show that in the Christian colonies Persian and not
Syrian influences were prevalent from a comparatively early date.
The next item of history available is the presence of Johannes, Metropolitan of
“Persian and the Great India” at the Council of Nice in 325 A.D. There can be little
doubt that “India Major” as above explained, was here meant, and India Major included
the Malabar Coast. If Johannes belonged to the Manichæan sect would he have been
present at this Council?
Rufinus, who went to Syria in 371 A.D. and lived at Edessa for 25 years,
attested that St. Thomas’ body was brought from India to Edessa and there interred ;
but from which of the “Indies” was the body brought, presuming that the relics were
still in existence ?
It was about this same time that the first authentic mention of the "Acts of
Judas Thomas” was made by Epiphanius Bishop of Salamis, and Jerome, who died in
420 A.D., also alluded to St. Thomas’ mission to India.
The next important fact seems to be that Nestorius was consecrated Bishop of
Constantinople in 428 or 429 A.D. His heretical doctrines were condemned by the first
Council of Ephesus a year or two later, and in 435 he was banished by the Emperor and
in 430 his followers were proscribed.
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A year or two later the Manichæans were persecuted, their books burned at
Rome, and their doctrines condemned by the Council of Rome in 444 A.D. There must
have been considerable intercourse between Persia and India, for in the middle of the
sixth century a learned Persian —perhaps a Christian—came to India to get a copy of
the Panchatantram.
And about 522 A.D. Cosmas Indicopleustes, a Byzantine monk, visited Ceylon
and the West Coast of India and wrote as follows :— “ In the Island of Taprobane
(Ceylon) there * * * is a church of Christians, and clerks, and faithful. * * * Likewise at
Male where the pepper grows; and in the town Kalliena there is also a bishop
consecrated in Persia.” “Male” is clearly Malabar, and “Kalliena” is most probably a
place near Udipi in South Canara.
“A letter1 in Assemani’s Bibliotheca from the Patriarch Jesajabus (died A.D.
660) to Simon, Metropolitan of Persia, blames his neglect of duty saying that, in
consequence, not only is India 'which extends from the coast of the kingdom of Persia
to Colon, a distance of 1,200 parasangs deprived of a regular ministry, but Persia itself is
left in darkness.’ ” “Colon” can be none other than Quilon or Kollam, and it was the
Metropolitan of Persia who was blamed, probably on insufficient grounds owing to the
rapid rise and spread of Islam, for having shut the doors of episcopal imposition of
hands and for interrupting the sacerdotal succession.
NOTEs: Caldwell’s Dravidian Grammar—Foot-note by Colonel Yule, p. 27. END OF NOTEs
It was in this century also (the seventh century A.D.) that the direct Red Sea
trade between Egypt and India was finally stopped from the same cause—the rise of the
Muhammadan religion and the spread of Arabian political power. The Persian
metropolitan in the next, hundred years seems to have cast off, and again to have
reverted to, the control of the Seleucian Patriarch. This was probably the beginning of
Syrian influence in the church of Malabar. And indeed the tradition of the existing
church is that a company of Christians from Baghdad, Nineveh, and Jerusalem, under
orders from the Catholic Archpriest at Ural ai (Edessa), arrived in company with the
merchant Thomas in 745 A.D.
But whether this date is correct or not it is certain that in A.D. 774 there is no
trace of Syrian influence in the pseudo-Syrian copper-plate deed still1 extant, and the
later pseudo-Syrian copper plate deed (also extant)2 contains (as the late Dr. Burnoll3 has
shown) no trace of Syriac either ; but, on the contrary, several Sassanian-Pahlavi, and
Hebrew or Chaldee-Pahlavi attestations —that is, attestations of Persian immigrants are
appended to it.
NOTEs: 1. No. 2 in Appendix XII.
2. No. 3 in Appendix XII.
3. Probably fifty years later than the former—“ninth century” (Hang). Indian Antiquary III, 315.
END OF NOTEs
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Moreover the “Maruvan Sapir iso” the grantee of this latter deed can be no
other than the ‘‘Mar Sapor” who with “Mar Purges” or “Peroz” proceeded from
Babylon to “Couln” (Quilon) about A.D. 822, and they seem to have been Nestorian
Persians. In both deeds the pseudo-Syrian chief settlement is called Manigramam, winch
the late Dr. Burnell took to mean the village of Manes or Manichæus, a suggestion first
volunteered by Dr. Gundert, the translator of both deeds (M.J.L.S., Vol. X III, Part I).
In the ninth century the Muhammadan traveller, Sulaiman, mentioned,
“Betuma” as being ten days’ sail from “Calabar” which latter he describes as the name of
a place, and a kingdom on the coast to the right hand beyond India.”
“Betuma” has been taken by the Editor M. Reanudot to mean the “House of
Thomas,” that is St. Thomas, and the same authority has—“There is a numerous colony
of Jews in Sarandib (Ceylon) and people of other religions especially4 Manichæans. The
king allows each sect to follow its own religion.”
NOTEs: Sir H. Elliot’s History of India, I. 10. M. Renaudot translated the passage somewhat
differently : “In this same island (Sarandib, Ceylon) there is a very great multitude of Jews, as well as of
many other sects, even Tannis or Manicheus, the king permitting the free exercise of every religion.”
(Ancient Accounts of India, etc., translated by Renaudot, London, 1733, page 84 (a) ). END OF NOTEs
It would appear probable from the above facts that the Malabar church,
whatever it may have been originally, was not latterly Manichæan as the late Dr. Burnell
suggested5 on what seems to be barely sufficient evidence, but more orthodox Persian
(Nestorian)6. After this time it is generally acknowledged that the Syrian church
possessed the ascendancy. A tablet at Kottayam in the Travancore State has an
inscription in Syriac as well as one in Pahlavi, and the latest inscriptions in Pahlavi to be
found in India belong to the eleventh or twelfth centuries A.D., by which time Persian
influence in the church had probably been completely superseded.
NOTEs: 5.Indian Antiquary III, 311.
6. The Syrians themselves say (v. infra) that the Jacobite doctrines did no prevail till so late as
1663, and it was then for the first time that the Patriarch of Antioch obtained control over the church.
END OF NOTEs
But there is also a church tradition that the preaching of Manes did have some
effect on the community. This and the subsequent history and the present position of
the Syrian and Romo-Syrian churches will be best told in the language of the Syrians
themselves, who in a large body headed by the venerable Bishop Mar Coorilos waited,
by special request, on the Right Honourable Mr. Grant Duff, Governor of Madras, at
Calicut, in January 1882, and presented to him a short account of themselves, from
which the following extracts are taken:-
“Passing over this period we come to the third century remarkable for the
arrival of a Persian heretic of the School of Manes, or, as is supposed1 by some, a
heathen wizard. Through his teaching, many went over to him and are even to this day
known as ‘Manigramakkar’ They cannot be distinguished from the Nayars, and are to be
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found at Quilon Kayencolam and other places. South Travancore is the seat of the
descendants of those who stood steadfast in their faith during this apostacy and are
known as Dhariyayikal2 meaning ‘nonwearers’ (of heathen symbols).
NOTEs: 1.There is probably some confusion here between the founder of the Manichæana and
Manikavachaka , a Tamil reformer of a much later date.
2. Sometimes explained as the firm, courageous men, from theiryam= (bravery). END OF
NOTEs
“Some years after this first split had taken place or in (350 A.D.3) was the arrival
of Thomas of Cana, a Syrian merchant, whose large heartedness and sympathy for the
neglected community was such that on his return to his native land, his story induced
many to come out with him in his second visit, among whom was a bishop by the name
of Mar Joseph. It was the first time a colony of Christians came to India. They were
about four hundred in number. They landed at Cranganore then known as
Mahadeverpattanam. They settled in the country with the permission of ‘Cheraman
Perumal4 the ruler of Malabar, who, as a mark of distinction and favour, granted to the
Christian community certain privileges (72 in number) which at once raised them to a
position of equality5 with the Brahmans. One of the privileges was the supremacy over
seventeen of the lower classes; a relic of which still exists in the adjudication by Syrian
Christians of certain social questions belonging to them. The grant was made on copper-
plates, which with some others, are in the custody of the Syrian Metran and are
preserved in the Kottayam Seminary.
NOTEs: 3. Too early. A much later date (745 A.D.) is assigned by another tradition.v. supra.
4. For reasons already given (p. 195-196) and understanding (as is usual in Malabar) that
Cheraman Perumul was the last king of Kerala, the date is obviously wrong.
5. The effect of this grant will be fully considered in the historical chapter. The assertion here
made is not quite correct—See No. 2 in Appendix XII. END OF NOTEs
“Matters continued thus until the arrival of the second colony of Christians
(who were Nestorians) from Persia, at Quilon ‘between the ninth and the tenth century.
They were also received well and permitted to settle in the country. The first colony,
incorporated with the northern portion of the community, had their headquarters at
Cranganore and the southern6 portion ‘Kumk-keni-kollam’5 or Quilon. And in title-
deeds this distinction had been preserved for centuries up to the time of the recent
organisation of the Registration Department. The zenith of the prosperity of the
community seems to have been between the ninth and fourteenth centuries, as then they
were permitted to have a king of their own, the extent of whose authority cannot be
stated with any historical precision. Their house of princes was known as the
‘Valiyarvattam’ or ‘Undiyamperur’ dynasty. It however afterwards became extinct and
the community came under the subjection of Perumpatappu or Native Cochin. This part
of the history of the Syrians leads us to the advent of the Portuguese.
“Immediately after the appearance of the Portuguese the Christians of Malabar
went to them, making advances for support and protection, which were introduced by
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The people
the presentation of the sceptre of their extinct royal1 house to Da Gama, whose efforts,
as well as those of his successors, were directed to bring the native church under the
authority of the Sec of Rome. Hence the details in the history of the connection with the
Portuguese will be found to be a string of artful measures and violence which ended in
the mission of Alexis Menezes, Archbishop of Goa.
NOTEs: 1. The peculiar organisation of the country at this time will be set forth In the historical
chapter. In the exact words of the grant the Christian headman was created “grand merchant of the
Cheraman world” (Kerala) “and lord of Manigramam." END OF NOTEs
He was deputed by the Pope in 1598 A.D. to complete the subjugation2 of the
Syrian Church, and his arrival was remarkable as having been the occasion on which the
third and most grievous split arose in the church into Romo-Syrians or ‘Old Party,’3 and
Syrians or ‘New Party.’4 It was not however very long before the church had a cessation
of its troubles. The presence of the Dutch staid the hand of persecution and reduced the
pressure on the community. The capture of Cochin by the Dutch in 1063 was followed
by an order requiring the Romish bishops, priests, and monks to quit the place which
was not a little favourable to the Syrians.
NOTEs 2. In 1599, he held the memorable Synod of Diamper (Utayamper) in which the heresies of
Nacstorius were condemned. There were at this time only 76 churches.
3. It would have been rather an inversion of the facts to have called the “Syrians” the “New Party." It is
more probable that they were so called, because of their acceptance of the Jacobite doctrine and the Jacobite
Bishops alluded to further on, they having up to this time been Nestorians. END OF NOTEs
“The thread of history cannot be complete without the mention of the Jacobite
bishops, who began to make their appearance before the time of the Dutch. It was
necessitated by the anarchy that reigned in the church at the close of the Portuguese
connection. Things had been deliberately brought to such a crisis by thorn that the
assimilation of the Syrian to the Roman Church was thought practicable only by the
extermination of the bishops and clergy. Bold and stout hearts did however not want to
declare their independence and a large number, at a public assembly, resolved upon
applying to Babylon, Antioch, Alexandria, and Egypt for a bishop.
“This was done, and in 1653 Antioch promptly complied with the request by
sending out Mar Ignatius, a Jacobite bishop. It was from this date that the Jacobite
element began to leave the Malabar church. Mar Ignatius was mercilessly seized and
thrown into the sea, as is believed by the Syrians, or sent to be tried before the
Inquisition as is supposed by others. The fury of the community was roused and a
numerous body went to Cochin to take revenge. But nothing more serious was done
than swearing with one voice never more to have anything to do with the Portuguese,
which was done by holding a thick rope to show that every one who held it joined m the
oath.
“From 1665 to 1751, five Metrans, in succession, all bearing the name Mar
Thoma, and belonging to the Pakalomattam1 family, at at the head of the church. The
remaining period to the beginning of the present century may be passed over with the
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remark that it was also one of unrest, as the presence of foreign prelates was superfluous
side by side with that of native metrans, and party spirit was fostered by the former to
the distraction of the church.
NOTEs: 1. One of the two families from which it was customary to ordain the ministers of the
church. The other was the Sankarapuri family. END OF NOTEs
“The year 1800 opens a fresh and glorious chapter in the history of this
community, tormented, victimised, and disorganised by so many ceaseless troubles from
friend and foe alike. We are here introduced to the figure of Rev. Claudius Buchanan,
going from church to church, conversing freely with all and diligently seeking for
information about them, as for two hundred years after the Portuguese nothing had
been heard of them. On inquiring of a priest at Chenganur how the community had
sunk so low, the pregnant answer was — ‘Three hundred years ago an enemy bearing
the name of Christ came from the West and had us to seek shelter under the native
princes, under whom, though we have not been stripped of our appendages of dignity,
we have been reduced to slavery.’
Coming to Kandanad, he had an interview with the Metran, to whom he set
forth the advisability of maintaining a friendly relation with the Anglican church,
translating the Bible into Malayalam and establishing parochial schools. This being
acquiesced Dr. Buehanan saw Colonel Macaulay, the British Resident, in company with
whom he visited the northern parts of Travancore and Cochin.
At Ankamali, he was presented with an old copy of the Syriac Bible written on
parchment, which had been in the possession of the Syrians for a thousand years. This
book was taken by him to England, where it was printed, after his death, by the Bible
Society and copies were distributed among the churches in Malabar. The Metran, after
this time, was Mar Thoma, the seventh and last of the Pakalomattam family, whose
consecration having been irregular the people became discontented and a division was
the consequence. The fact attracted the attention of Colonel Munro, who, after making
himself acquainted with the real position, set about getting a seminary built for them at
Kottayam, of which the foundation stone was laid in 1813.
Mar Thoma having died in 1810, was succeeded by the liberal-minded Mar
Dionysius. At the commencement of his government, Colonel Munro undertook to get
out missionaries to train Syrian deacons and lads to carry on parochial schools.
Accordingly through the influence of this worthy Resident, the C. M. Society
sent out the Rev. Thomas Norton, who arrived in May 1816 and to whom the services
of the Rev. B. Baily were added in November of the same year. He was followed by the
Rev. Messrs. Baker and Fen and the latter was placed in charge of the seminary.
Travancore, the Dewan and Resident of which was Colonel Munro, endowed the
institution with Rs. 20,000 and a large estate at Kallada called Munro Island.
More than this the native government helped the translation and distribution of
the Bible with another gift of Rs. 8,000. And the Resident got the Honourable East
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The people
India Company to invest 3,000 star pagodas in the name of the community for
educational purposes. A new career had no sooner been opened than the liberal-minded
Mar Dionysius died, and was succeeded by another Mar Dionysius belonging to a family
at Kottayam.
“Colonel Munro, whose tenure of office extended from 1810 to 1819, must be
regarded as having been the most, earnest promoter of Syrian Christian interests.
“The next and last, part of the history may be dismissed with a word or two. It
discloses how the Syrian church wanted to break its friendly connection with the
missionaries through the machinations of evil-minded persons ; how a special
committee settled their respective chains on the endowments of the seminary; how the
late Mar Athanasius, who had received his consecration for the first time in the annals of
the country and community at Antioch, attempted a reformation in consonance with the
teachings of the Bible ; how through the good offices of Mr. Bellard, the British
Resident, the Travancore Sircar restored to them their portion of the endowments
which was in their custody after the adjudication by the committee, how the church is
disturbed by various internal feuds; and how the community is once more going through
another cycle of trials and neglect.”
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Church Government, Forms of Worship, etc.
“It will have been observed that there was a ministry ordained by the Apostle1
himself. Then came the government, new and then, by foreign prelates, who laid claim
to nothing more than ministering to their spiritual wants. And with the second colony
was introduced the Nestorian element from Babylon. But their influence seems to have
left no permanent trace of their heretical views. No one appears to have cared for
theological sub Jo tics or deep inquiries into the basis of their faith. A simple belief in
the Lord’s work of redemption was all they had. From the earliest times and during all
the time of foreign prelacy there was an archdeacon, always a native, looking after the
temporal affairs of the church. This line of archdeacons continued up to the seventeenth
century, and at the close of the Portuguese period began, as has already been observed,
the commotion with the Jacobite bishops.
NOTEs: 1 From what has been set forth above, it will be seen that this fact is , to say the least, doubtful.
END OF NOTEs
“Turning to the forms of worship, etc., it must be promised that there is a

reforming party and a non-reforming one at the present day. The work of the
reformation has been progressing for the last thirty years, widening the gulf between the
two parties. The principle of the reformers is to bring the church to its primitive purity,
while the others adhere to most of the practices which found their way during the
unhappy connection with the Romish church. The reformers try to reject whatever is
unscriptural, such as Mariolatry, invocation of the saints, and prayers for the dead, and
the others look upon them as heterodox on this account.
The reforming party administers the Lord’s Supper in both kinds, in
contradistinction to the administration in one kind by the others. The former have all
their service in Malayalam, as opposed to the Syriac services of the latter. Both alike pray
standing in churches and facing to the east. In the midst of the service, before reading
the Gospel, the hands of fellowship (Kayyassuri) are offered to all.
Festivals are numerous and love feasts (Agapæ), such as were observed by the
primitive church, are extant. In the baptism of infants tepid water is poured on the head
followed by anointing with the holy oil (Sythe and Muron in Syriac). Bishops observe
celibacy, while the priests are allowed to marry, though remarriage is not permitted by
the non-reformers. The clergy too were celibates until very recently. Marriages are
celebrated by the non-reforming party on Sundays, whilom one of the week days is
chosen by the others. Cousins can marry only after the seventh generation. The customs
and manners of this people are too numerous to mention, and are therefore omitted ;
but it must be observed that many of them are duo to the influence of the classes
around.
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Present Status
“The community numbering now about 300,000 has nearly 200 churches with
nine Metrans, six of whom were consecrated by the Patriarch of Antioch when he
visited Malabar in 1875. These newly consecrated bishops, though they had their
dioceses assigned to them by the Patriarch, have not been accepted by the people in all
cases. One of the remaining three in the person of Mar Coorilos enjoys undisputed
authority in British Malabar. Mar Dionysius, the head of the non-reforming party, and
Mar Athanasius that of the reforming party, have between them the whole of the
Travancore and Cochin churches ; and now the contention for supremacy is at its climax
though it does not seem likely that the adherents will change, sides even after the battle
is won by either, as both parties have been trained to think differently.
“The number of priests in the churches varies with the size of the parish—
larger ones having 10 or 12, and smaller ones 2 or 3. Almost all churches have endowed
property mostly mismanaged and in the hands of persons, who scarcely think of paying
up the dues. The endowments and their possession have caused much litigation, and the
large resource of rich churches have been drained to meet the costs of suits and counter-
suits, terminating in heavy losses to the community in every way.
“They are mostly an agricultural people. Elementary education has never been
neglected and every effort is made to secure the benefits1 of higher education. The
number of graduates end under- graduates is annually increasing, and if judged by the
success at examinations, the community must he said to be keeping pace with the times,
and bids fair to take a good place in the rank of nations and classes making rapid
progress in the cultivation of knowledge and intelligence. The learned professions have
their proportion of votaries, and it is not too much to say that their loyalty coupled with
their light and intelligence will do honour to the land of their birth.
“The clergy, too, are far in advance of these of the denomination in former
days. Notwithstanding the utilisation of the educational advantages, there is a
discouraging want of State patronage, which is so liberally dispensed to other classes. An
analysis of the list of public servants of the Travancore Government1 will bear out this
statement. Thus, internal! peacelessness, incessant litigation impoverishing the richest
churches and individuals, the agitating influence of the recent heresy of the ‘Six Years’
sect, and the want of encouragement, are the forces which are acting upon this
community, the extent of whose consequences cannot be pre-judged.”
NOTEs: 1. “The list for 1879-80 shows that out of 1,424 servants holding appointments worth Rs. 10 or
above, there are only 25 Syrian Christians.” END OF NOTEs
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The Romo-Syrians and Roman Catholics
As regards the Roman Catholics and their connection with the Romo-Syrians,
the following extracts are taken from a short history of the Verapoly Catholic Mission
kindly furnished in manuscript by the Rev. Father Camillas, D.C., Missionary Apostolic
of Cochin. The southern-most portion of Malabar is, it will be seen, under the spiritual
jurisdiction of the Carmolite Vicar-Apostolic at Verapoly. The rest of Malabar is
spiritually under the Jesuit Vicar Apostolic of Mangalore.
“After the conversion of the Syrian to Catholicism, the Supreme Pontiff
Clement VXIII (in 1605), appointed as their first Archbishop, Mgr. Francisco Roz, a
Jesuit, who was afterwards transferred by Paul V to the Sec of Cranganore (1605) (the
title of Angamale being suppressed), and the said prelate governed the Syrian
congregation all his lifetime, till the 18th February 1624, in which he breathed his last at
Pattana Paroor.
“Thus, the Syrians remained under the administration of Jesuit bishops till the
year 1653, when they became disgusted with them and rejected the allegiance of Mgr.
Francisco Garcia, who was then their legitimate bishop.
“And now we can understand the motive for which Pope Alexander VII, who
was governing the church at that time, sent over the Carmelite missionaries to take
charge of the Christians of Malabar and established a Vicar-Apostolic at Verapoly. The
first superior of the Carmelite mission, Mgr. Joseph of St. Mary, a descendant of the
noble Sebastiano family, was appointed by the afore said Pontiff in the year 1656, This
prelate, with the help of his follow missionaries, worked with energy and perseverance
to uproot the schism and recall the Syrians to their duty, their efforts bring rewarded by
the conversion of many parishes that came back to the catholic unity.
“In the meantime, Mgr. Joseph of St. Mary having returned to Rome was there
raised to the episcopal dignity, and sent again by the Pope to the Malabar mission, with a
now batch of Carmelite missionaries ; after their arrival (1661) they hed the consolation
to reconcile a large number of the schismatic Syrians to the catholic unity.
“But, on the 6th January 1663, the Dutch having defeated the Portuguese, took
possession of Cochin, and refused to the Carmelite missionaries the permission of
exercising their ministry in Malabar. In such a circumstance, Mgr. Joseph, seeing the
necessity of providing the Syrian congregation with a lawful pastor, and using the
extraordinary powers he had received ad hoc from the Popo, consecrated, as a bishop,
Parambil Alexander, a catenar of Corrovalanghatt, on the 31st January of the same year, in
the of Cadatturutti.
“However, after a short lapse of time, the Dutch Government being aware that
the presence of the Carmelites in Malabar could produce no harm, cancelled the above-
said prohibition and allowed them to dwell in this country as before ; from that time to
the present day they have continued their apostolical work for the civilisation and
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religious instruction not only of the Syrians but also of the Latin Christians, whose care
was entrusted to them by the Holy See.
“But a portion of the schismatics would not abandon their rebellious
opposition, and remained without a spiritual loader till the end of the year 1665. Then
appeared in Malabar a certain bishop named Mar Gregory, whe pretended to have been
sent by the Patriarch of Jacobites at Antioch. To this, the aforesaid schismatics gave
obedience, and till now are called Syrian Jacobites ; they readily acknowledge that they
are indebted to him for their new creed, call him their patriarch, and venerate him as a
saint.
“To enable the reader to understand how, in this country, we have also a
Catholic Goanese jurisdiction, some previous remarks are necessary. It must be
remembered that, in former times, the Popes desirous to promote the propagation of
the catholic faith had granted to the Kings of Portugal a kind of religious patronage,
called Jus Patronalis. This is a privilege, which the Catholic church sometimes grants to
sovereigns or influential parsonages, and is connected with certain obligations and duties
to be fulfilled by such patrons. Speaking of the Malabar country in particular, we may
say that Pope Clement VIII granted the above-said privilege to King Philip, with a
charge of providing with donations and supporting the catholic churches, the bishop
and the canons of his cathedral, seminaries, etc., declaring at the same time that, in the
case of a non-execution of the said clause by the king, the privilege and concession
should of itself (ipso facto) become null and void (See the Poutifical Bull ‘In supremo
militantis ecclesiae Solio' 4th August 1600).
After a certain lapse of time, Portugal ceased to provide for the support of the
churches and government of the Christians, according to compact ; and in fact, having
lost the supremacy in most parts of India, it became impossible for that nation to fulfil
the above-said obligations. Besides after the Dutch took possession of Cochin, they
would not allow any Portuguese bishop or missionary to remain in the country. The
Goanese themselves, on their part, far from assisting, or supporting the clergy, were
incessantly exciting troubles and vexations against, the missionaries sent by the Holy
See. Such being the case, the Supreme Pontiffs, to whom it chiefly belongs to promote
the spiritual interests of the Christians, were obliged to appoint Vicars-Apostolic, whom
they exempted from the Goanese jurisdiction.
Thus on the 10th November 1673, Clement X forbade, ‘under severe
punishment,’ that the Archbishop of Goa or his Canonical Chapter should exercise any
act of jurisdiction beyond the ‘limits of the Portuguesa dominions, and exempted from
the Goanese jurisdiction both the Vicars and Missionaries Apostolic.’ Moreover, on the
22nd December of the same year, and the 7th of June 1674, in two different briefs, the
Pope declared ‘that the Portuguese had no jurisdiction whatever upon the Vicars or
Missionaries Apostolic sent to India, chiefly in the territories where the King of Portugal
had no authority.'
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In spite of all these arrangements, the general progress of the mission was
cramped by various causes. Finally, in the year 1837, Gregory XVI, whe then sat on St.
Peter’s chair, published his famous bull ‘Multa Præclare’ by which he divided the whole
of India, into a certain number of Vicariates Apostolic, and distinctly forbade the
Goanese prelates and priests to interfere in any way with the management of the same.
“But the Goanese disregarded this authoritative decree, and began the schism,
commonly called ‘Indo-Portuguese’ Indo-Lustrum Schisma. On the contrary, the great
majority of the Catholics in India acknowledged the spiritual authority of the Apostolic
Vicars and Missionaries, and put them in possession of their churches end
establishments such was the state of things till the year 1861.
“At that time, the Supreme Pontiff Pius IX anxious to procure the eternal
salvation of so many Christians, who were miserably adhering to the Goanese schism,
first (in February 1857) had concluded a concordat with the King of Portugal, in which,
among other dispositions, was inscribed the following, namely, that such churches and
Christians as, in the day of the signature of the concordat, were presently under the
obedience and jurisdiction of the Apostolic Vicars, should continue to adhere to the
same, and that churches and Christians, then acknowledging the authority of the
Goaneso prelates should remain under their government.
“To put this decree into execution (in the year which had been fixed in the
above concordat No. 17), that is, in 1861, two commissioners were sent to India, one
Apostolic Commissioner acting in behalf of the Pope, and one Royal Commissioner
acting in the name of the King of Portugal. Through their agency, His Holiness granted
for some time (ad tempus) to the Archbishop of Goa, an extraordinary jurisdiction upon
the few churches and Christians that were then governed by Goanese priests, either in
Malabar, or in Madura, Coylon, Madras, Bombay, etc. Here is the reason of a double
jurisdiction existing till now in the said places.
“From this statement, it is easy to conclude that all Catholics are under the
obedience of the Pope, and that their allegiance to the Kings of Portugal is merely
political and accidental. All spiritual jurisdiction is derived, even for the Archbishop of
Goa and other Portuguese Prelates, from the visible Head of the Catholic Church, the
Supreme Pontiff residing at Rome, and they would lose it entirely the very day they
should throw away their obedience to him.
“In order to understand better the progress of the Catholic mission in this
country, it must be remarked that the present Syrian community, now composed of
Catholics and Jacobites, was, at the beginning, one and the same congregation, founded
in the earliest times of the church, as the bishops, who subsequently came from Persia
into Malabar, communicated to them their own liturgy (which was the Syrian rife), for
that mason the above-said Christians were usually called Syrians ; they were also
designated by the name of ‘St. Thomas’ Christians,’ according to the tradition handed
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The people
down from their forefathers that they had really been converted from paganism by that
holy Apostle.
“This Christian community subsisted and gradually increased, both by its
intrinsic elements and by the admission of new converts, from the people living in the
neighbourhood of Syrian churches. In some localities, these neophytes were very
numerous, and having, from the day of their conversion, resided amongst Syrians, were
considered as belonging to their race. Even now, amongst those who are baptised at
Verapoly, the greater part, settles in Syrian parishes.
“But besides this catholic community, there is another one, equally catholic, that
is called Latin on account of its following the Latin liturgy. This was formed from the
Malabarese people of various castes, who had been converted to Catholicism before the
year 1512 (namely, the date of St. Francis Xavier’s arrival in India), and from the others
who have been converted subsequently down to the present-times. As these Christians
had been baptised by Latin priests, and in places where generally there was no Syrian
church, they began to follow, and even now are following, the Latin rite. At the present
time, the Catholic Syrians have 160 parochial churches with a great number of chapels,
depending from the greater ones, and number about 200,000 souls. The Christians, who
follow the Latin rite, have about 40 principal churches with a proportionate number of
annexed chapels ; their population is nearly 90,000. It is to be noted that in the above-
stated numbers are not included all the churches with their attendant belonging to the
Vicariate of Quilon, but only those of the Verapoly Vicariate, the limits of which are in
the north Ponnani, in the south Poracaud, and in the east the Ghats.
“In fact, the Vicariate of Quilon extends from Poracaud in the north to Cape
Comorin in the south, having its own churches and Christians, who all of them belong
to the Latin rite, the Syrians who live within the said limits being Syrian Jacobites.”
Tippu Sultan in his proselytising zeal carried away many Christians from Canara
to Mysore, and in 1793, and 1795, 87 families of these returned and were located by the
Honourable Company in the district of Randatara in the Chirakkal taluk, where lands
were assigned to them and money advances given to help them.
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Protestants
The only Protestant mission at work in Malabar is the Basel German

Evangelical Missionary Society, of which the latest report, the 43rd, shows that on 1st
January 1883, the society had in Malabar 2,632 church members, including children,
distributed at the following mission stations : Cannanore in the Chirakkal taluk,
Tellicherry in the Kottayam taluk, Chombala in the Kurumbranad taluk, Calicut in the
Calicut taluk, Codacal in the Ponnani taluk and Palghat in the Palghat taluk.
The earliest of these stations was established at Tellicherry in 1839 and the latest
at Palghat in I858.
Besides attending to the spiritual and educational wants of their congregations,
the mission has very wisely organised various workshops and manufactories, the
productions of which have acquired not merely local celebrity, for "mission’’ cotton
cloths of infinites variety and “mission" tiles for roofing and other purposes are now to
be met everywhere in India. Besides these, a mercantile branch has been organised,
which gives very suitable employment in shops to other members of the congregations,
And a printing press at the mission headquarters at Mangalore in South Canara turns
out, both in English and the vernaculars, work of which any press in Europe might be
proud.
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The people
Section G.—Famine, Diseases, Medicine
Malabar does not produce grain sufficient for the consumption of the home
population, and this has been more especially the case since, by the introduction of
European coffee cultivation into the Wynad taluk, the jungle tribes and other servile
castes, who used to cultivate the rice-fields in that region have been attracted to the
more profitable employments on coffee estates. Malabar pays for much of the grain
consumed by the people out of the money obtained for its special products—coconuts,
coir, coconut-oil, areca-nuts, coffee, pepper, ginger, cardamoms, timber, etc.
An artificial famine is therefore always possible in Malabar, and, as matter of
fact, such famines used to occur pretty frequently in former times when the supply of
grain came from only one or two foreign ports. Thus in October 1755, the King of
Bednur, to whom the rice -exporting port of Mangalore belonged, laid an embargo on
grain, because of the ravages committed in his country by a buccaneering expedition
under the Mappilla chief of Cannanore. This placed the French at Mahe, the English at
Tellicherry, the Dutch at Cannanore, and the Malabar Nayars and Mappillas—the whole
community in fact -- in a state of comparative famine.
But of real famine in the land there are few records. During the long period in
which the Honourable Company occupied the factory at Tellicherry, there is but one
record of a real famine. It occurred in August— September of 1727. The factors’ diary
record is as follows:
“The country about us of late have greatly feared an extraordinary scarcity of
rice,” and it was accordingly resolved to impose the embargo, usual in those days, an
exports of grain. Strict orders were issued “for not carrying any quantity out of our
limits.” There, was none to be had at Mangalore ; the granary — and almost the sole one
in those days --from which Malayalis drew their extra supplies of rice. The factors had
information that parents were selling their children at Mangalore in order to obtain
support for themselves.
On examination of the factory storehouses, there was found to be bare
provision for the place for one month, so an urgent requisition was sent to the Anjengo
factors for supplies. On the 8th September, there was famine in the land and the record
runs that the factory gates were daily besieged by people begging for support. There is
no further record in the diary, and doubtless the worst symptoms disappeared, as they
did in 1877, with the garnering of the first (kanni) rice crop in September. The months
of July, August and September are the months in which the poorest classes of Malayalis
find it hardest to obtain sustenance.
The stores that may have been reserved from the previous season’s crops are
always then at the lowest ebb. The rice-crops on the ground are usually sufficiently
advanced at this season to require only the minimum of attention from out-of-door
labourers. And the now harvest is not yet available. In every season the pinch of poverty
is therefore felt in these months, more than in the others, and in seasons when famine is
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raging in neighbouring districts and when famine prices have for months reduced the
slender stores of savings, it is in these months of the year, particularly, that organised
assistance is required ; and the rich should come forward to help the poor. One meal of
rice kanji distributed gratis to all comers daily during this season of the year at many
places throughout the district sufficed to stave off actual famine in 1877; the number
thus daily relieved aggregated at one time over 40,000.
Of remarkable outbreaks of disease the records also contain few notices. In
October 1730, the Tellicherry factory diary records—
“The pestilence which has raged for some time among the people of this district
being now come to such a pitch, as, with difficulty, people are found to bury the dead,
and our garrison soldiers, Muckwas (fishermen, boatmen) and others under our
protection being reduced to such extremity by this contagion, so as not to be able to
subsist in this place any longer unless relieved by charity, it was agreed to build barracks
for the sick and to entertain attendants” to bury the dead.
What the “pestilence” was the records do not give information, but it was
probably cholera. A fortnight later requisitions were sent by the factors to Anjengo and
to Madras lo raise soldiers to supply the vacancies, as the garrison was obliged to do
double duty on account of the increasing of the contagion. Calicut also suffered severely,
for, on 13th November, there is an entry that the “pestilence was again broke out in
Calicut more violent than before.”
On 18th December, the “contagion” was “in no wise abated” and the factors
organised charitable relief. The further history of the outbreak stops short here. The
garrison at this time numbered about 270 men, including Nayars and Mappillas, in the
service of the Honourable Company, and besides those the men of two other outposts,
which cost; about Rs. 250 more per mensem.
It was not till July 1757 that the next severe visitation of disease occurred ; and
on that occasion it was said to be due to the excessive monsoon rains. There was
“terrible mortality” at Calicut, Mahe, and Cannanore, but by 20th July it had abated at
Tellicherry. What the disease was was again not recorded. In August 1800 there was a
scare, lest the plague then raging at Baghdad should be imported into India, and strict
quarantine regulations were imposed.
In December 1801 very handsome rewards and encouragement were offered to
natives who successfully practised inoculation1 for small-pox, and in 1803 the Sub-
Collectors were directed to exert themselves “personally to the utmost in persuading the
principal inhabitants of the country, who have not had the Small-pox to submit to
vaccination.”
NOTEs: 1.This was probably the “vaccine inoculation,” then recently discovered. END OF
NOTEs
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The people
Notwithstanding the measures then taken and the organisation subsequently of
a special establishment to deal with this disease, it almost annually claims its thousands
of victims, and, alternating with cholera, the two diseases carry off a large proportion of
those who live insanitary lives.
The chief source of disease in the low country is the badness of the water-
supply, and as there is hardly any water, however filthy in appearance, which the lower
classes of the population refuse to utilise for domestic purposes, there is little to be
wondered at in this.
The higher classes are much more particular in this respect than in East Coast
Districts, but they, too, have yet failed to realise that a water source once tainted is not
fit for use for some time. They, in futile fashion, bent drums and blow horns to drive
away the devils, which bring, they think the disease, but never dream of taking
exceptional care to keep their water-supply untainted. Recent experience has shown,
however, that the mortality from cholera, can be lessened, if not prevented altogether,
by judicious administrative measures. The closing of the. wells of the infected locality is
not the least important of the steps to be adopted. And great good results from the mere
presence in an infected locality of the officers specially charged to deal with the disease.
The District Medical and Sanitary officer (Surgeon-Major H. D. Cook. M.D) has
furnished the following brief sketch of the principal diseases:
“The principal diseases that are especially prevalent in the Malabar district may
be enumerated as follows:
1. Anæmia (general weakness). 5. Dysentery.
2. General dropsy. 6. Skin diseases
3. Splenitis (or ague cake) 7. Elephantiasis
4. Ague.
“A few remarks on each is necessary. Anæmia, general dropsy, and splenitis,

although put down as special diseases, are generally, if not always, the result of neglected
or protracted attacks of ague. They occur in this way. People of Malabar of all classes
reside for some time or other in Wynad. In the months of March, April and May ague
abounds there and spares few, rich or poor. The poor, through neglect of seeking
medical aid, have repeated attacks of it undermining their constitutions, the result being
that they flock back to the coast, bloodless, dropsical, and with spleens occupying
sometimes half the cavity of the abdomen instead of the area of a man's hand.
One has only to attend one of the dispensaries in Malabar, or walk through the
bazaars of some of the principal towns, and see the great, amount of people with
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anæmia, dropsy, and enlarged spleens. These classes of diseases fill our dispensaries —all
the result of neglected ague or from repeated attacks of it.
“Dysentery is very common indeed, and it is a common saying ‘if you are subject
to dysentery avoid Malabar.’ In my experience I have not found dysentery so common
among the rich, but the poor suffer fearfully from it, and generally the acute variety. The
season for it is June, July and August, and the cause the climate. The hot and dry months
of April and May are succeeded by the very wet ones of June and July. The houses of
the poor are mere huts, thus exposing the inhabitants to damp and cold. Children suffer
terribly from this. Dysentery, of course, is often the result of affections of the liver and
of malaria. But what I refer to is acute dysentery, the result, as said, of damp and cold, or
sometimes from eating bad fish.
“Skin diseases abound, the principal form being scabies, vulgarly called ‘
Malabar itch.’ Itch generally is the result of uncleanliness all over the world ; but the
form of itch met with in Malabar is of an aggravated form, and I cannot give any
particular reason for it. Some attribute it to eating a kind of fish called in Malayalam
‘Ayila.’
“Elephantiasis. - This is very common in Malabar, especially among Mappillas
on the coast. It is called in Malayalam ‘Mantha kalu or ; Ana kalu’ 'The ordinary form is a
hypertrophy of the skin and arcolar tissue of some part of the body, but generally
attacking the legs and genital organs. The skin becomes enormously thickened with a
quantity of albuminous fluid in the arcolar tissue. It is most common in males. Various
causes are said to be assigned for this disease—air, water and food -and it generally
occurs near the sea. Eating fish has been said to be a cause for it. I think that poor living
has a good deal to do with it.
“Dr. Fayrer, in his book, attaches much importance to the presence of filariæ in
nutritious fluids. This is too big a question to take up here ; but I may as well mention
that acute researches are now being made to prove that mosquitoes have very much to
do with the production of many diseases, by communicating filariæ to the human body
which entering the blood becomes what is termed filariæ sanguinis hominis. Any one
desirous of obtaining all information on this subject, I advise them to read Dr. Fayrer’s
book on 'Tropical Diseases.’”
The native system of medicine and surgery is based upon the obsolete ideas,
apparently borrowed from the Greeks, of the body being composed of fives elements -
earth, water, fire, air, and ether. Physical health is supposed to be preserved by the
preservation, in exact proportions, of the three general elements, viz. rheum, bile and
phlegm, or air, fire, and water respectively.
“Their harmonious1 admixture, tends to constitutional nourishment, whilst
anything that disturbs or destroys this harmony causes impaired health. Though in a
sense pomading all (ho body, each of them is not without its allotted province, that is,
air, or rheum , spreads itself below the navel ; lire, or bile., between it and the heart; and
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water, or phlegm above the heart and upwards. By the predominance of one of these
humours over the others, the human health is deranged, whilst their proportionate
evenness secures good health.”
NOTEs: 1 Translated from the Introduction to Mr. O. Cannan's “Malayalam Translation and
Commentaries on the ‘Ashtanga Hridayam,' or Treatise on Manhood (Ayur Vedam)" Calicut, 1878. END
OF NOTEs
“Tastes are six in number, viz., sweet, sour, saltish, bitter, pungent, and
astringent, which are the atributes of substances, each preceding taste being superior to
that immediately succeeding it. The first three-—sweet, sour, and saltish—appease
rheum ; and the remaining three—bitter, pungent and astringent—appease phlegm,
while bile is appeased by astringent, bitter and sweet.
According to another opinion, the three humours are said to be promoted by
those tastes, viz., the rheum, by bitter, pungent and astringent : the phlegm by sweet,
sour, and saltish ; and the bile by pungent, sour, and saltish. Substances have three forms
of digestions, viz., the sweet and saltish will digest sweetly, the sour in its original taste,
and the pungent and astringent mostly turn acrid.
“Medicines are of two classes known as clearing and subsidiary. The first
effects the cure by purging out the irritated humours ; and the second by establishing the
humours which have bum disturbed in their respective positions.
‘‘To secure health, we should try to purge out the bile and other humours
according to season.
“Purgatives are essential, as otherwise the humours, augmented by their
stagnancy, will endanger even life. The humours allayed by fasting, or by the use of
medicines having digestive properties, will sometimes be irritated.
“If properly purged out, these humours are not liable to irritation.
“Oil bath, athletic exorcise, simple bath, and oil-syringing are also necessary, as
those will restore health and establish the digestive powers, and likewise create
intellectual brightness, personal beauty, acuteness of the senses, and prolongation of life.
Refrain from doing anything disagreeable to the mind, feelings and thoughts, lest a
deceitful conscience irritate all the humours ; govern the passions and senses in order
that they may not be led astray ; remember the past, and conduct yourself with duo
regard to the peculiarities of the time and place as well as of your own constitution, and
pursue the well-trodden path of the righteous.
“He who wishes for happiness in this as well as in the next world should, in
controlling the passions, successfully resist the blind rush of the thirteen mental vices
known as (1) avarice, (2) envy, (3) malice, (4} enmity, (5) lust, (6) covetousness, (7) love
or passion, (8) anger, (9) pride, (10) jealousy, (11) arrogance, (12) haughtiness and (13)
self-conceit, inasmuch as man, imbued with any one of them, is apt to commit vicious
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acts of divers sorts, resulting in iniquities, which gaining ground in successive births, will
force themselves out in the shape of diseases causing immense misery.
“Moreover when those evils take hold of the mind, their influence agitates it
and destroys the mental ease and vitiates the vital air, which is wholly dependent on such
mental ease ; and as the very life, vigour, memory, etc., are all sustained by this vital air,
its loss entails hazard to them, and injuring respiration gives rise to various diseases. By
treading the paths of virtue and possessing a truthful nature, a charitable disposition,
compassion, sympathy, and continence, and by using such fare as is congenial to the
mind, free motion to the vital air will be secured. For mental vices, spiritual knowledge,
combined with prudence and courage, is the best remedy, by seeking which, the mind
will be liberated from evil passions and left to pursue a virtuous course.”
After much wise discourse on the true means of attaining the "pith of all human
endeavours,” happiness, by aid of virtue, he continues as follows : — “Speak but little,
and that significantly and opportunely, so as to be agreeable to your hearers, and lot your
speech be characterised by sweetness, voracity, and cheerfulness, and an open
countenance graced with kindness and affability.
“Eat or enjoy nothing alone. Do not be overcredulous or suspicious. Be
sagacious in guessing other minds ; treat them with kind and greeting expressions and do
net over-vox or over-indulge the organs of taste with distasteful or delicious fare.
“Let your mental, vocal, or bodily exertion cease before actual fatigue
commences.
“Do not deal in, or drink, spirituous liquors, nor expose yourself to the east
wind, directly to the rays of the sun, or to the dust, show, and storm .
“Do not in a crooked position yawn, cough, sleep or eat., nor shelter under the
shadow of trees on the margins of rivers.
“As the wise have the world for their preceptor in all doings, you ought to study
the movements of the righteous, keeping yourself steadily to their virtuous path.
“A tender fooling and unaffected charity towards all creatures, and a self-
restraint, physical as well as vocal and mental, combined with a duo regard to the
interests of others, are moral virtues which complete the test of true uprightness.
“He that daily contemplates his own acts, as to whether and how he has actually
realised the grand ends of his existence on the day, the lapse of which has brought him
nearer to the grave than on the previous day, cannot be overtaken by grief, inasmuch as
his deliberations, secure in divine grace, will ultimately conduct him to the attainment of
true wisdom, regarding the mutability of this world and the eternity of God; and he will,
thus, be freed from all sins and sorrows, and in the end gain everlasting happiness.
Moreover as each day passes, life becomes shorter, and patent is the fact that the
exercise of morality can be prosecuted only while it exists, and as the extrication from
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sorrow is the result of a strict pursuit of virtue and abstinence from vice, a daily
reckoning of the nature and amount of our virtuous floods is a salutary remedy for all
mental diseases.
“A strict adherence to the daily observances herein briefly summarised will lead
to longevity, health, prosperity, imputation and eternity.”
The lofty tone of morality above sketched runs quaintly through the
voluminous treatise, which follows consisting of six parts and containing 120 chapters.
The treatise gives extremely explicit directions, first for the preventive and afterwards
for the curative measures to be adopted in the multitudinous circumstances of life. A
more detailed examination of the system of medicine in vogue would be beyond the
scope of the present work.
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Vol 1 – Chapter Three
CHAPTER III. HISTORY.

Section A — Traditionary Ancient History
The Kerala Mahatmyam and the Keralolpatti (Kerala-ulpatti = origin of
Kerala), the former written in indifferent Sanskrit and the latter in modern
Malayalam, contain the traditions current among the people regarding the ancient
history of the province.
The mace-bearing incarnation of Vishnu (Parasu Raman), the former work
says, was obliged by the Rishis to expiate the sin of having slain his mother by
extirpating the Kshatriyas, the enemies of the Brahmans. This he accomplished in
twenty-one expeditions. At Vishvamitra's suggestion he then made over all the land
within the four seas to the Rishis “with all the blood-guiltiness attached to it, by
making them drink of the water1 of possession”.
NOTEs: 1. N.B.—The fact that the janmam (birth-
right) of land in Malabar is also called the "water-contact-
birthright” (Nirattiperu) is fully commented on in Chapter IV.
END OF NOTEs
The Brahmans, it is
said, turned him out of the land
he thus gave away, but with
Subramanya's assistance, he
obtained by penance from the
god of the seas (Varuna) the
grant of some land to dwell on. The throw of his
mace (parasu) was to determine its extent. He threw it
from Kanya Kumari (Cape Comerin) to Gokarnam
The gods came to visit the land thus miraculously
won and called it Parasu Raman's land, and Siva condescended to be worshipped in
Gokarnam the metropolis of the province thus reclaimed from the sea. To people
this land, Parasu Raman is said to have first of all brought a poor Brahman from the
shores of the Kistna river. This man had eight sons, and the eldest was made head
of all the Brahmans of Kerala and located, some say, at a place near Gokarnam,
others say at Trisivaperur (Trichur in the Cochin State).
Other Brahmans were next brought, and located in sixty-four gramas or
villages. Ships with seeds and animals next came, also eighteen Samantas2 (sons of
Brahmans and Kshatriya women) also Vaishyas (Chottis) and Sudras and the low
castes. Some of the Brahmans emigrated, and to prevent this for the future the
special customs already alluded to (ante p. 155) were prescribed.
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NOTEs: 2. The families of the native chieftain are mostly of this caste, but they are classed
as Sudras. END OF NOTEs
Bauddhas are confounded in the Mahatmyam with Muhammadans, and the

first Buddhist vihara or palli (chapel, mosque) is said to have been located at
Madayi3 south of the Seven Hills,4 i.e., Mount Deli. The Mahatmyam is full of the
usual inflated Brahmanical legends, and is not so worthy of serious analysis as its
more popular form, the Keralolpatti.
NOTEs: 3. Compare p. 194.
4. Vide p. 6. END OF NOTEs
The Keralolpatti too is full of Brahmanical legends, but historically there is

something to be learnt from it.
It agrees with the Mahatmyam on the main points, the miraculous formation
of the land, and the peopling of it first of all with Brahmans. It sets forth that the
first Brahmans who arrived from various places did not remain in Keralam owing to
their dread of the myriads of serpents1 infesting the country.
NOTEs: 1. See footnote on p. 201. END OF NOTEs
When the Brahmins retired, the serpents are said to have protected the
country. Then Parasu Raman fetched more Brahmans from the north and located
them in sixty-four villages or gramams, viz., (1) Gokamam ; (2) Gomakutam ; (3)
Karavalli ; (4) Mallur; (5) Eppanur ; (15) Cheppanur ; (7) Katalur ; (8) Kallannur ; (9)
Karyachchira ; (10) Peiyanchira — this was the first group in the extreme north of
the newly reclaimed land—(11) Trikkani ; (12) Trikkatta ; (13) Trikkanpala ; (14)
Trichchola (15) Kollur ; (16) Komalam ; (17) Vellara ; (18) Vengatu ; (19) Venkatam
; (20) Chengotu—-another set of ten gramams presumably to the south of the first
group and all lying in North Canara or Tulunad (21) Kolisvaram ; (22)
Manchisvaram ; (23) Utuppu ; (24) Sankaranarayam ; (25) Kottam ; (20) Sivalli ; (27)
Mora (28) Pancha ; (29) Vittad ; (3u) Kumaramangalam ; (31) Anantapuram ; (32)
Kannapuram—a group of twelve gramams lying in South Canara or Tulunad—(33)
Peiyanur ; (34) Perinchellur ; (35) Karikkatu ; (36) lsanamangalam ; (37) Alattur; (38)
Karintolam ; (39) Trissivaperur ; (40) Panniyur ; (41) Chovaram— those though
only nine in number are said to have formed another group of ten grammams----
(42) Paruppur ; (43) Eiranikkulam ; (44) Mushikakulam ; (45) Iringatikkotu: (46)
Alappur ; (47) Chenganolu; ; (48) Uliyanur ; (49) Kalutunalu. (50) Kalachchur ; (51)
Ilibhyam ; (52) Chamundha ; (53) Avattiputtur --another group of twelve gramams
—(51) Katukaruka ; (55) Kilangur, (56) Karanallur ; (67) Kaviyur ; (58) Ettulaniyur ;
(59) Nilmanna ; (60) Anmani; (61) Anmalam ; (62) Tiruvallayi ; (63) Chenganiyur.
One of the names has probably been lost. The last named thirty-one
gramams seem to belong to Malabar proper and the Native States of Cochin and
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North Travancore; but some of the names of places cannot now be identified, nor
are the name which can be identified arranged in strict order proceeding from north
to south.
The Keralolpatti proceeds to describe how certain of the Brahmans
obtained the gift of arms, how the serpents which had formerly been the terror of
the Brahmans were made their household gods— a portion of the shares2 of the
Brahmans being set apart to satisfy the serpents—how fencing schools with tutelary
deities were established, how the goddess Durga was set to guard the sea-shore, and
the god Sasta the feet of the hills, how the unstableness of the land was removed by
sprinkling gold dust on the ground, by stamping so as to make it firm, and by
depositing water carrying golden sands.
NOTEs. 2. Vide p. 184. END OF NOTEs
Parasu Raman finally organised the gramams, setting special tasks to some,
and to particular individuals others. His last injunction to the gramams was to adopt
the law of succession through the mother, but only one of them (Peiyanur), located
in the extreme north of the Malayalam country, obeyed him.
After all this had been arranged he next introduced Sudras from the
countries east of the ghats, and caused all of them to adopt the law of succession
through the mother, and he constituted them as the body -guard of the Brahman
villages.
“Thus” the Keralolpatti runs on, "Parashu Raman created the land of
Malabar—the Karmabhumi, or country where salvation depends entirely upon good
actions—and bestowed the same upon the Brahmans of the sixty-four gramams as a
poured-out gift.
The narrative recites how he selected the four gramams of Peiynur,
Perinchellur, Parappur and Chenganiyur and gave them authority to act in place of
the whole sixty-four gramams. While the armed Brahmans were ruling the land, it is
said, disputes arose and injustice ensued. So the Brahmans assembled and appointed
a Protector in each1 of the four selected villages, to hold office for three years, and
assigned to each Protector a share equal to 1/6 of all the land for the support of
himself and his subordinates.
NOTEs: 1. There is a different tradition about this. END OF NOTEs
This institution, it is said, did not work well, and the people were oppressed
by the Protectors, who sought to make the most of their opportunities during their
short terms of office. So the Brahmans, assembled at Tirunavayi, determined to select
a king, and empowered the four selected gramams to choose a. king. Their choice
fell on Keya Perumal, of Keyapuram, in the country east of the ghats. He was
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History
brought, it is said, to Keralam and installed as the first of the Perumals in the year of
the Kalivug “Bhumanbhupoyam Prapya”, corresponding to A.D. 216.2
NOTEs: 2. The specific dates mentioned in the work are all unreliable. END OF NOTEs
The Brahmans arranged that he should rule for twelve years, but it is said
he reigned for only eight years and four months. It is incidentally mentioned that
there were two other Perumals besides the Keya (Chera, Kerala) Perumal. Those
were the Choya (Chola) Perumal of Choyamandalam, and the Pandi or Kulasekhara
Perumal of Pandimandalam, which information is corroborated from other and
early sources, which mention Chera, Chola and Pandya as being the three great
kingdoms of the south of the Peninsula.
It is further incidentally mentioned that the Malanad (hillcountry, Malabar)
was divided into four parts, viz. : — (1) Tula kingdom extending from Gokarnam to
Perumpula (the big river), i.e., the Canaras (north and south) very nearly as at
present defined.
(2) The Kupa kingdom extending from Perumpula to Putupattanam, the
seat of the Tekkankur (Southern Regent) of the north Kolattiri dynasty situated on
the Kotta river, i.e., North Malabar as at present defined less the southern half of
the Kurumbranad taluk.
(3) The Kerala kingdom extending from Putupattanam to Kannetti, that is,
South Malabar, including the south halt of the Kurumbranad taluk, the Cochin
State, and North Travancore.
(4) The Mushika kingdom extending from Kannetti to Cape Comorin, that
is, South Travancore.
It would appear, therefore, that the Perumal whom the Brahmans say they
selected ruled over only a small portion of the country (Kerala) reclaimed by the
efforts of Parasu Raman, and that Kerala, the name usually applied to the whole of
Parasu Raman's reclamation, was in fact the name by which the Brahmans
designated the middle half only of the country inhabited by the Malayalam-speaking
race of Dravidians.
This fact has an important bearing on the question as to when the
Brahmans really did settle in Malabar, for Kerala is now by scholars recognised to be
a dialectic (Canarese) form of the ancient name of the whole country, viz., Chera or
Cheram or Keram, a name which probably still survives in Cheranad, the western
portion of the Ernad taluk, and possibly also in Cheruman (plural — Cherumakkal1)
the agrestic slave caste.
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NOTEs: 1. The Cherumar are supposed to be so styled because of their low stature ((Cheru
= small) but low feeding produces low stature, and it is very possible that the slave caste constituted
the aborigines of the ancient Chera kingdom (vide p. 147). END OF NOTEs
The name Kerala was probably not in use in Malabar itself until it was
imported along with the Nambutiri Brahmans, and after being so imported it was
naturally applied to that portion only of ancient Chera where those Brahmans
settled most2 thickly, that is, in the third of the divisions or kingdoms mentioned in
the Keralolpatti. Outside the Malayalam country the name was certainly in use, as will
be seen presently, for centuries before the Nambutiri Brahmans arrived, and was
employed to designate the dominions of the Chera king.
NOTEs: 2. See the table given at p. 119-120. END OF NOTEs
Thus runs the Keralolpatti ;— “When the Brahmans first appointed a king
they made an agreement on oath with him to this effect—‘Do that which is beyond
our power to do and protect. When complaints happen to arise, we will settle them
by ourselves. You are not to question us on that point. For formality’s sake you may
ask why we deal with affairs ourselves after making you a king’.
At this3 day even when complaints arise the king says:-- Why do you deal
with them ? Why did you not make your complaint to me?' This is owing to the
former oath.''
NOTEs: 3. The work is generally supposed to have been written in the 17th century A.D.
END OF NOTEs
It is further said they gifted him with lands and fixed his headquarters at
Allur alias Kodumgallur (Cranganore) alias Muyirikode (Jew's deed) alias the Mouziris
of the Greeks.
After Keya Perumal's death the Brahmans, it is said, brought Choya
Perumal from Choyamandalama. He reigned ten years and two months and
returned to Choyamandalam.
They next brought Pandi Perumal1 from the Pandi country. He built a fort,
reigned nine years and returned to his former home “whence a messenger had come
to inform him that there was no one to be king at Pandimandalam”.
NOTEs: 1. One version asserts that this was an "enterprising female.—” Ind. Ant. IX, p.
78. END OF NOTEs
It will be noticed that the names of these three first Perumals, supposed to
be single individuals with exact terms stated as to the durations of their reigns, are in
reality the names of the Chera, Chola, and Pandya rulers, and it is quite possible that
when the dominion of the Chera princes terminated, they were succeeded in the
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suzerainty of the Kerala chieftains, first by the Cholas and afterwards by the
Pandyas.
Then comes in a tradition of a king called Bhutarayar2 Pandi Perumal,
between whom and the Brahmans bitter enmity arose. He was guarded by two
spirits and the Brahmans could not compass his destruction, until one of them
played chess with him and won the services of the guardian spirits ; after which he
was assassinated3 by a Brahman, from whom descended the Nambidi caste.
NOTEs: 2. This Perumal who was guarded by evil spirits and inimical to the Brahmans was
not improbably the Perumal who became a convert to Muhammadanism, the Pallibana Perumal, as he
is called further on, and the Cheraman Perumal of the popular tradition.
3. Another version asserts that the Perumal thus assassinated was called Shola Perumal (or
Choya Perumal above referred to). — Ind. Ant. IX, 78. END OF NOTEs
The Mahatmyam says of him that the Pandyans invaded Kerala with an
army of Bhutans (spirits) that Parasu Raman said to the Bhuta Raja angrily : “Your
arrival at my country is in vain. I have given it over to the Southern king
Adityavarman 4.The Bhuta army was then defeated, and the boundary of Kerala was
fixed at the place (Bhuta pandi) where Parana Raman accosted the invaders.
NOTEs: 4. This seems to refer to the Chola king of this name, who, according to present
knowledge, overran a large part of Southern India about A.D. 804. If the Bhutarayar Pandi Perumal
above referred to was, as suggested, the Muhammadan convert, then this allusion to the Chola king is
chronologically correct. END OF NOTEs
Invasions, it is said in the Keralopatti, became frequent ; the Brahmans

applied to Parasu Raman, who told them to select a king at Tirunavayi5 , that the
Gangadevi (Ganges) would come6 on the day of the festival at Tirunavayi, that they
might choose whomsoever they wished, and that he should be anointed with the
water of the Perar (big river), that is, the Ponnani river, on the north bank of which
Tirunavayi stands; Parasu Raman likewise gave them the sword of Bhadrakali7 for
the protection of the country.
NOTEs: 5. Vide p. 163.
6. At the Mahamakham festival (vide pp. 163-69) still held at Kumbhakonam, in Tanjore
District, every twelfth year, the Ganges in the form of a blooming girl of seventeen-years (sometimes
still seen by imaginative individuals) is believed to visit a certain tank in that town much bathed in on
such occasions.
7. Conf. p. 240. END OF NOTEs
They proceeded to Choyamandalam, the narrative continues, and brought

thence a king named Keralan. He was anointed on the day of Puyam, in the month
of Kumbham, in the year when the planet Jupiter was in the constellation of the
Crab, that is, he was anointed after one of the Tirunavayi Mahamakhom1 festivals,
and the ceremony was performed in the royal hall of Vakayur.2"
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NOTEs: 1. Conf. p. 104.

On him the Brahmans, it is said, conferred the following privileges :—

Battle wager, land customs, fines for evasion of ancient usages, riding on elephants,
cows with five tents to the udder, cows with three teats to the udder, bulls that have
slain men or animals, spotted bulls, tails of tigers slain in hunting, wild pigs that have
fallen into wells, regulation of the beds of streams, accretions from the sea, tax on
headloads [or, perhaps, trees or fruits of abnormal growth, or, perhaps, the cabbage
of palm trees cut down), sea customs, the revenue and charges of all Kerala. They
also presented to him the sword of Bhadrakali, and built him a palace at Trikkata
Matilaha.
lt is said he reigned for twelve years and then returned to his own country,
and on account of his good qualities, it is said, the land received the name of Kerala.
To him succeeded King Pandyan alias Chenaar of the Pandyan Raj. He
reigned twelve years and then went back to his own country after settling up
accounts with the Brahmans.
Then followed King Choyiyan of the Choya Raj. He also, it is said, ruled
twelve years.
The tradition about these three kings is, it will be observed, just a different
version, with some local colouring, of the tradition already alluded to above pointing
to the probability that the Kerala princes proper were followed in the suzerainty of
Malabar by the Cholas and Pandyas ; only this repetition of the tradition seems to
place the Pandyas’ suzerainty as an event prior to that of the Cholas.
The Keralolpatti next proceeds to state that the Brahmans, in order to
prevent the King from seizing despotic power, divided the country into seventeen
divisions, and committed the power of control to four gramams (Brahman villages),
namely, (1) Eiranikkulam, (2) Iringal kollu, (2) Mushikakulam, and Purappur. Of
these four villages, it will be noticed that only one (Purappur) was among the first
four villages selected by Parasu Raman. The reason assigned for the supersession of
Peiyanur (or perhaps Panniyur), Perinchellur and Chenganiyar, is that these were too
distant from Paravur, or Parappur.
The fact, however, is also consistent with the supposition that political
reasons had been at work, and the acquisition of independence by the Northern
Kolattiris in North Malabar and by the Southern Kolattiris in Travancore (for which
there is a strong tradition) may have led to the withdrawal of the Peiyanur gramam
from the list of controlling gramams in North Malabar, and to the non-
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History
establishment (a fact which remains to the present day) of any Nambutiri villages to
the south of the Quilon river.
If on the other hand, it was the Panniyur (literally pig village) gramam which
was superseded, that also is explicable on the supposition (for which also there is
some extraneous evidence) that there was at one time a diminution1 in the influence
of the Vaishnavites (worshippers of the boar incarnation of Vishnu) and an increase
in the influence of the Saivites. Kerala was probably stripped of its northern
province by the power and influence of the Western Chalukyas, whose emblem was
this name boar incarnation of Vishnu and the Rashtrakuta or Ratta dynasty in turn
with strong Brahmanical and Saivite proclivities superseded the Western Chalukyas
and claimed to have conquered Keralam.
NOTEs: 1. Conf. pp. 119 and 120. At the present day, the Panniyur (pig village) Brahmans
are considered not to be entitled to recite the Vedas.END OF NOTEs
The precise time or times when those events occurred will be considered in
the next section of this chapter, but meanwhile, as some additional evidence that
political influences were at work, it is necessary to draw attention to the fact that the
Keralolpatti next proceeds to describe a new arrangement of the gramams which
took place at this time. The thirty-two Tulu gramams (north of the Perumpula) were
it is said, “cut off from all connection (or perhaps intermarriage)” with the thirty-
two pure Malayali gramams lying to the south of that river, and a fresh distribution
of the Malayali gramams themselves took place. The narrative further runs thus :—“
The other thirty-two gramams (i.e., those lying to the north of the Perumpula) are
composed of those who went away to join the Panchadravidas2 and returned
afterwards. They are called Palantuluvar3 or Tulunambis4.”
NOTEs: 2. Literally five Dravidas, which usually refers to the five chief Dravidian
dialect—Tamil, Telugu, Canarese, Malayalam and Tulu. Had the word in the text been the “ Fifth
Dravidas," i.e., the Tulus, the meaning would have been clear.
3. Literally ancient Tulus
4. Literally Tulu Vaishnavas END OF NOTEs
Sometime after this, so the tradition runs, the Brahmans brought from the
East Coast from Banapuram5 a king whom they called Bana5 Perumal. He was
installed at Allur, i.e., Kodungallur (Cranganore). It was during his reign that the
Mappillas came and gave an account to him of the greatness of their religion. The
Perumal, it is said, was convinced, and embraced the Muhammadan (or Baudha
(sic)] faith.
NOTEs: 5. Query.—The Mahavali dynasty of kings was also called the Bana dynasty. Is
Banapuram another name for Mamallaipuram (the Seven Pagodas near Madras), and did this Perumal
belong to the Mahavali dynasty? END OF NOTEs
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He sent for the Brahmans and said to them : “Everybody in this Malanad
(hill country, Malabar) must embrace this way (religion).” The Brahmans were
embarrassed and could not eat with comfort owing to the defilement of the
choultries. It is said they finally persuaded the Perumal to allow them an opportunity
of controversy with the exponents of the new religion, agreeing that the party which
was worsted in the encounter should have tongues cut out. The Mappillas, it is said,
were defeated and the Perumal cut out the tongues of those who remained and
expelled them from the kingdom. Somewhat, inconsistently, however, the narrative
runs that the Perumal himself did not revert to Hinduism and after a reign of four
years he proceeded to Mecca, “saying that since he believed in the Mappilla faith he
had no other way of obtaining salvation” ; and one account of him winds up thus:—
“The Bhauhus (Mappillas) say that Cheraman Perumal went to Mecca- and not to
heaven. That was not Cheraman Perumal, but this Pallibana Perumal1 (king of
Kerala) ; Cheraman Perumal did indeed go to heaven. He was the fifth king after
four kings had reigned.’’
NOTEs: 1.This Muhammadan Perumal must have lived subsequently to the seventh
century A.D. when the Muhammadan religion was founded, and if, as the text says, Cheraman Perumal
was the fifth of his successors, it follows that Cheraman Perumal must have lived after the seventh
century A.D., whereas further on it will be seen, the text says, he went to heaven in the fourth or fifth
century A.D. All the specific dates mentioned in the text are worthless. END OF NOTEs
Notwithstanding, however, the assertion in the text, it will be seen presently

that the tradition about the conversion of this Baudl a (alias Mappilla) Perumal fits
in accurately with the little that is known of the real Cheraman Perumal, and these
traditions themselves, it will be seen, have assigned to him his proper place in
history as having reigned subsequently to the partial disruption of the ancient Chera
kingdom alluded to above.
The Keralolpatti then proceeds as follows – “The Brahmans went to other
countries and brought Tulubhan Perumal from the northern country.” He fixed his
residence, it is said, in the gramam of Kotisvaram2, and it was he that gave his name
to the Tulunad (Canara). He is said to have reigned six years and to have died.
NOTEs: 2. This gramam lay in South Canara. END OF NOTEs
Indra Perumal was next, it is stated, sent for and made king. He lived at the
big palace (Kovilagam king’s house) at Allur3 (Kodungallur, Cranganore). He
reigned, aided by the councillors, it is said, of the four representative Brahman
villages, for a period of twelve years, and then went away to the east, leaving orders
to appoint another king.
NOTEs: 3. To the present day this place lies in the Native State of Cochin. END OF
NOTEs
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History
Arya Perumul was brought from Aryapuram and installed. He, it is said,
inspected the whole of the country and arranged it4 into four divisions or provinces,
viz. : —
(1) Tulu country, from Gokarnam to Perumpula.
(2) Kerala,5 from Perumpula to Puluppalanam.
(3) Mushika6 country, from Putuppattanam to Kannetti.
(4) Kuvala7 country, from Kannetti to Cape Comorin.
NOTEs: 4. Another version says the division took place in the reigns of the two Perumals
last above mentioned as well as in this Perumals's reign (Ind. Ant. IX, 78). This version of the tradition
materially helps the suggestions made further on in the text
5. N.B.—Kerala here acquires a very restricted meaning, and corresponds precisely to what
was the dominion of the North Kolattiris in historical times.
6 N.B.—This Province was in the previous distribution called Kerala.
7 N.B.—This Province was in the previous distribution called Mushika END OF NOTEs
He is further said to have arranged it into seventeen nads or counties, and

each nad into eighteen kandams or portions. He also, it is said, organised the
country into desams (territorial military units) and named them.
He reigned with the aid of the councillors of the representative Brahman
villages, and at the end of five (or twelve) years “the gods let down their chariot
from the heavens, in which the Perumal went in a royal procession to heaven” to
the great sorrow of the Brahmans.
They, however, next sent for Kannan Perumal “from the east country.” He
is said to have built a “king’s house” at Kundivaka near Kannetti.1 He reigned four
(or twelve) years and went away to his country.
NOTEs:1. In Travancore END OF NOTEs
Then Kotti Perumal was sent for and crowned as king. He lived at Kotti
kollam2 for one year and died.
NOTEs: 2. Conf. p. I58. The assertion that this place was the modem Calicut (Ind. Ant.
IX, 78) seems to be mere conjecture. END OF NOTEs
To him succeeded, it is said, Mata Perumal who reigned for eleven (or
twelve) years and then thought of building a fort, so he sent for his younger brother
Eli Perumal,3 i.e, the Perumal or Mount Deli, and went away to his country.
This Eli Perumal3 built, it is said, the Matayeli4 fort, and after reigning
twelve years, he either died or went away to his native country.
NOTEs: 3. Conf. p. 6. END OF NOTEs
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4. Note. This is probably the original spelling of Madayi, the third most ancient of the king’s
houses of the Northern Kolatiiris. It is in the immediate vicinity of Palayangadi referred to in the notice
of the Taliparamba River (ante p. 10). Col. Yule, in “Marco Polo,” has a note (II, pp. 375-76) on the
various spellings of Madayi. END OF NOTEs
Komban Perumal was next sent for, and it is said he lived for three years
and six months in tents or in camp on the banks of the Neytara river, another name
for the Valarpattanam river5 (ante p. 10).
NOTEs: In North Malabar END OF NOTEs
Then came Vijayan Perumal, who built the fort at Vijayan kollam6. He
reigned for twelve years and went away to his country, leaving orders to appoint
another king.
The Brahmans, it is said, next sent for Valabhan Perumal “from the eastern
country” and made him king of Kerala.7 He is said to have consecrated gods and
built a fort on the banks of the Neytara6 river (Valarpattanam river). The fort (ante
p. 11) received the name of Valarbhattu Kotta, and he appointed this as the
hereditary residence of the future kings of Kerala.7 He reigned for eleven years and
died.
NOTEs: 6. This place is subsequently mentioned in the text as being near Kanyarott
(Cassergode) river in the Malayali portion of the South Canara district.
7. N.B. — Kerala, it will be noted, had now, according to the text, the restricted meaning of
the territory lying between the Perumpula river and Putuppatlanam, that is, the dominion of the
Northern Kolatiiris, North Malabar in fact. END OF NOTEs
Harischandra Perumal was next brought. He is said to have built a fort on
the top of the Purali hill in Kottayara taluk.1 It was, however, haunted2 by forest
deities, and men could not, it is said, safely go there and speak to the king. After
reigning a few years, he is said to have disappeared.
NOTEs: 1. In North Malabar.
2. This tradition still survives. END OF NOTEs
Then Mallan Perumal was sent for. He built the fort of Nallurumallan in the
Mushika3 province, and after a reign of twelve years went away to his country.
NOTEs: 3. That is, South Malabar, Cochin, and North Travancore, according to the
distribution made above. END OF NOTEs
The next Perumal was Kulasekhara Perumal4 from the Pandyan country.
He built his king’s house in the Mushika Province, introduced Kshatriya families,
and organised the country, it is said, into small chieftainships to protect it against the
Mappillas. He is also credited with having introduced the study of sciences into the
Malayali country, for the Malayali Brahmans were, it is said, ignorant of sciences up
to this time. In this, he was assisted by a person styled Udkayatungan, also called the
Chetty (foreign merchant), who endowed the teacher of science, Prabhakara
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Gurukkal, with land sowing 5,000 kalams (bushels) of seed. The Perumal’s gift was
of land sowing, it is said, 7,000 kalams.
NOTEs: 4. N.B.—This is still one of the titles of the Maharajas of Travancore, the
Southern Kolattiris. END OF NOTEs
“Kulasekhara Perumal reigned for eighteen years and went to heaven with
his body” in tl.o Purudisamasrayam year of kaliyuga, or in A.D. 3335, so it is said.
The Bhagawati temple at Tiruvanjakkulam (near Cranganore) is also said to have
come into existence in the same year.
NOTEs: 5. Note.—Considering that Muhammad himself was born only in the 7th century
A.D., the date mentioned is obviously incorrect, if, as stated, this Perumal organised the country
against the Mappillas.. END OF NOTEs
And here it will be as well to pause to consider who those Perumals were,
who are said to have succeeded to the Muhammadan Pallibana Perumal in the
manner above related. It has already been set forth above (ante. pp 72-73 . 158 -159)
that there are two well-known places called Kollam6 — one in North Malabar and
one in Travancore —that there are two Kollam eras in use in the Malayali countries
and that the northern Kollam era began on 25th August 825 A.D.
NOTEs: 6. Note.—It is perhaps not too far-fetched to suggest that the Kolattiris were
really originally the Kallattiris, i.e., chiefs of the countries lying round the two Kollams. Kollam is only
an abbreviated form of Koyilagam or Kovilagam, which word means “King’s house.” The word
Kollam is also applied to many other places where there were “King’s houses,” e.g., Kodungallur or
Cranganore. It may be objected that the Northern Kolattiris never held sway about North Kollam
which lies to the south of Putuppattanam on the Kotta River, usually assigned as the North Kolattunad
southern limit, but this is rendered doubtful by the fact that down to the present day Nayar women
from North Malabar may not pass to the south of the Ellattur river. All to the north of this latter river,
including North Kollam, was probably at first the dominion of the North Kolattiris. END OF
NOTEs
There is further extrinsic evidence (ante p. 196) that at or about the very
time a king of Malabar, stated by the Mapillas to have been Cheraman Perumal,
whom all—Hindus and Muhammadans alike—regard as having been the last of the
kings of Kerala, embraced Muhammadanism, went to Arabia, and died at Zaphar,
where his tomb is still to be seen. Further, there is reason to think that, this date,
25th August 825, was the day of the Onam festival, when it was, and still is,
customary for dependants to visit their suzerains and to do acts of homage either in
person or by deputy to them, and this of all days in the year would be the day for a
vassal to proclaim his independence of his suzerain.
It is not, therefore, an improbable suggestion that this was the day on which
the Southern Kollattirs and possibly also the Northern branch broke away, possibly
under the pressure of foreign influences, or possibly out of disgust at Cheraman
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Perumals perversion to Islam, from their allegiance to the last of the Kerala
Perumals.
And again, for reasons which will be set forth further on, it may perhaps be
guessed that the Northern Kolattiris had not up to this time attained to the dignity
of a separate dynasty, whereas their cousins of the south, the Southern Kolattiris
(Travancore), had, as the Jews and Syrians’ deeds show, been a distinct ruling family
for some time. It is a noteworthy circumstance in this connection that even now-a-
days the Travancore Maharajas on receiving the sword at their coronations have still
to declare1;—“I will keep this sword until the uncle who has gone to Mecca
returns.”
NOTEs: Mateer’s “Native Life in Travancore.” London 1883, p. 121. END OF NOTEs
The use of this phrase would seem to point to another solution of the
problem, namely, that the Southern Kolattiris
only assumed independence after the Perumal
had left the country, and then only on the
understanding that it was to be laid aside directly
he returned. There is more in favour of this view
than the former, for it renders it easier to
understand how the writs obtained by Sheikh-
ibn-Dinar and his family from Cheraman
Perumal obtained2 ready acceptance and
recognition at the hands of the various chieftains
whose territories they visited with a view to the
propagation of Islam.
NOTEs: Pages 193 -195. END OF NOTEs
Whichever of those views is correct, it

will be noted that the principal actors on the Malayali stage after the flight or
pilgrimage of the Muhammadan Pallibana Perumal ought to be the North and South
branches of the Kolattiris and the other chiefs who attained independence in
consequence of the Perumal’s flight, and if the traditions contained in the
Keralolpatti are correct, they ought, after relating the disappearance of the convert
to Islam, to go on to describe the chiefs who at this time attained to independence :
nor does this test fail, for it will be seen from the details given above that the
Perumals described as having reigned after Pallibana Perumal are either the North
or South Kolattiris or the Tula or Cochin chiefs. The name “Kerala" even undergo a
change, and instead of meaning the whole of the land between Gokarnam and Cape
Comorin it comes at this time to signify merely North Malabar, i.e., Kolattunad, the
kingdom of the Northern Kolattiris.
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History
In his review of the Kerala Mahatmyam, Dr. Gundert observed 1 :—" The
intention of the Purana is evidently to describe Kerala as being first under the rule
of the united Travancore and Kolattiri dynasty, the sway of which being contracted
by foreign aggression in the north, paved the way for the independent rule of the
Kolattiri branch.”
NOTEs: 1. M.J.L.S., XIII, ii, 07. END OF NOTEs
This view, it will be seen, has much in common with what is set forth
above, but it is more probable that the circumstances which finally led to the
independence of the Kolattiris (or perhaps Kollattiris) were those detailed in what
follows in the text.
The natural view to take of the text seems to be that two traditions— one
probably a pure Brahman tradition, and the other a more popular tradition—have
become mixed up, that Pallibana Perumal was really Cheraman Perumal, and that the
Perumals who are recorded in the manner just set forth to have succeeded Pallibana
Perumal were in reality the petty dynasties among whom Cheraman Pemmal divided
his dominions, in the manner to be presently described, before he set out on his
pilgrimage to Arabia.
The Keralolpatti after recording the death of Kulasekhara Perumal
proceeds to describe over again the organisation of the Brahmans into an arms-
bearing caste in order to protect the country. It is said eight and a half of the
gramams took up arms, and were subsequently joined by two others, and it is
recorded that seventy-two chiefs of one of the four selected villages fell in battle,
but when, or where, or how, is not stated. One person each from two others of the
selected gramams are also stated to have fallen in fight. In those cases, the names
and the date of the month on which they fell are preserved, chiefly, it is presumed,
because death ceremonies had to be performed for them once a year ever
afterwards. Those armed Brahmans or protectors had, it is said, four chief things to
attend to, viz. : —
(1) To assemble to consult about Government affairs.
(2) To assemble for play.
(3) Sankha Lakshanam, which literally means the characteristic mark of
assembly, whatever that may have been. To these throe, which the protectors had
from the beginning, was added —
(4) Authority to fix the flag at Tirunavayi, i.e., presumably at the
Mahamakham festival held there every twelfth year.
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Regarding the above organisation it seems probable that an attempt was

made to form some of the Brahmans into a military caste, but it is impossible at
present to say when this occurred or what was the occasion for it. That it ever
supplied the place of a ruling king in the country is inconsistent with established
facts and is, from the account given of the institution, also incredible.
Having dealt with this institution, the Keralolpatti proceeds as follows :—
“After the country had been thus governed by the Brahmans of the sixty-four
gramams and the Perumal1 for a short period, the sixty-four gramams assembled at
Trikkariyur2 temple, consulted and resolved as follows :— ‘ This state of things will
not do. The country will be lacking in the administration of justice. The Brahmans
will have to leave the country and go away. A king is wanted.'
NOTEs: 1. The military organisation of the Brahmans seems by this to have occurred
during the reign of one of the Perumals.
2. Or, as another copy says, “assembled in full at
the sandy island of Tirunavayi” (ante p. 163). END OF
NOTEs
“They went to the eastern country,

obtained an interview with Anakundi Krishna
Rayar, and after making various agreements with
him asked him to send a king for Keralam to
rule for every twelve years. (3He accordingly
sent Perumal, the first king, and then Pandi
Perumal to rule for twelve years, and after their
reigns were ended) he sent the Kshatriya,
Cheraman Perumal.
NOTEs: 3. The passage within brackets is a
variation in the text. It seems to be on incomplete version
of a tradition about the predecessors of Cheraman Perumal. END OF NOTEs
“They sat in the palace of Trikkariyur for the ceremony of coronation. Then
the Brahmans of sixty-four gramams gave him an Anayatittu” (a kid of writ) to rule
Kerala, the land 100 Katam (leagues) in length, and authorised him to rule as sole
Emperor, giving him flowers and water. (4Thus Cheraman Perumal obtained the
country of Kerala, 160 Katam (leagues) in length, with water. That Kali year was
Swargasandehaprapyam,5 (A.D. 428).”
NOTEs: 4. Variation in the text.
5. Literally, “He went to heaven with his body." The value of the chronogram is 1,288,734
days of the Kali Yuga. END OF NOTEs
The Anakundi Krishna Rayar mentioned can be no other than the well
known (puppet?) King of Vijayanagar, who flourished in the early part of the
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History
sixteenth century A.D; and the statement that a Perumal nominated by him came to
Kerala in A.D, 428 is sufficiently absurd. This date, like the others already mentioned,
is worthless, and the allusion to Krishna Rayar of Vijayanagar must also be
inaccurate, since he lived in the first century after the Portuguese arrival, and the
account which follows of the partition of Kerala among the existing families of
Rajas by a Perumal of his nomination is palpably erroneous.
It is said that Cheraman Perumal after inspecting the country found that
Trikkariyur, Tirunavayi and Valarppattanam fort were holy places, and of the
eighteen seaports (literally, entrances to the deep), he selected that at
Tiruvanchalimukham, and there erected the temple of Tiruvanchakkulam.
At the end of twelve years the Brahmans being pleased with him
determined, it is said, to set at nought the injunction of Krishna Rayar that the
Perumal was to reign for only twelve years, and
they accordingly made him reign for another
twelve years.
They next wished to have a race of
good Kshatriyas in Kerala, so they sent for a
“Surya Kshatriya” woman, and to her two sons
were assigned, respectively, the Mushika1
country and the Tulunad1 country.
NOTEs: 1. Mushika here seems to mean the
province between Putuppattanam and Kannetti and
Tulunad, the country north of the Perumpula. This
partition between the two sons of this woman is
commented on further down. END OF NOTEs
It is not said that this was a wife of

Cheraman Perumal, but on the contrary it is stated that the sons were the sons of a
Brahman and of the Kshatriya woman after the fashion current now-a-days in the
Malayali Rajas’ families. This tradition relates, as will be seen presently, to the
Cochin Raja’s family. The woman was probably a sister or other near relative,
natural or adopted, of Cheraman Perumal ; and in, corroboration of what is here
stated the Jews, in connection with their copper-plate grant, explain the absence of
the Cochin Raja’s name from the list of witnesses to the deed by asserting that he
was Cheraman Perumal’s heir.
Then follows an account of three women (one Kshatriya and two Sudra),
strangers from some northern land being stranded in a boat on Mount Deli.
Cheraman Perumal took all of them to wife apparently, and on the descendents of
the Kshatriya woman he conferred the title of Elibhupan (king of Eli) with
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“heirdom to the kingdom,” and he built for her the Elett king’s house at the foot of
Elimala (Mount. Deli).
This tradition relates undoubtedly to the northern Kolattiri family, the
second most ancient seat of the family having been at this particular king’s house
under Mount Deli. The descendants of the other two (the shudra) women became,
respectively, the ancestress of the Nerpatt and Chulali dynasties.
These families became the chief feudatories of the Northern Kolattiris. The
Chulali dynasty apparently protected the trade2 route between Coorg and the
Kolattiris’ dominion which passed through Srikandapuram or Jarfattan, where one
of the original Muhammadan mosques, as already related, was built. If it is a correct
tradition that the Chulali family is descended from Cheraman Perumal, it was a very
natural thing for the Perumal to include among the letters given to Sheikh-ihn-
.Dinar one addressed to the Chulali family; and the building of the mosque at such
an apparently out-of-the-way spot becomes in this light intelligible.
NOTEs: 2. Srikandapuram is in the Chulai amsam of Chirakkal taluk. It is called in the
Keralolpatti Siravupattanam (S. 7, Part 2), which is not far from the Jarfattan of the Arabs. END OF
NOTEs
Another remark deserves to be here recorded, for these traditions explain a

very powerful influence which was, and it may be added still is, always at work
tending to the disintegration of Malayali families and Malayali inheritances. A
Malayali king’s natural heirs were his sister’s or aunt’s or female cousin’s children.
His own children were the heirs not of their father but of their mother. But from
natural affection a suitable provision would always be made for the mother of the
king’s children and her off spring; and the provision often took the shape of a grant
of territory.
It was undoubtedly thus that the
dominions of the Northern Kolattiris became so
curtailed in extent. The Kadattunad family thus
acquired the portion of their dominions which
used at one time to be under the Tekke Ilankur,
or Southern Regent of Kollatunad, with head-
quarters at Putuppattanam, and the Keralopatti
explains how the Nilesvaram dynasty holding
the Malayali portion of South Canara sprang
from a matrimonial alliance between a prince of
the Kolattiri and a lady of the Zamorin’s house.
The more powerful the family of the
lady was the more likelihood there was of the
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History
provision for her leading to the founding of a dynasty and to its semi-independence
of the male parent stock. It is not at all improbable therefore that the Northern
Kolattiris are descended from a matrimonial alliance between the last of the Kerala
Perumals and a lady of the stock of the great southern feudatory, the Travancore
(South Kolattiri) Rajas. The two families have always observed pollution, when
deaths occurred in their respective houses, and, as matter of fact, the southern
family would have ceased to exist long ago but for the adoption of heirs on several
occasions from the northern family.
In all probability a fresh adoption will have to be made in the course of the
next few years.
This solution of the problem, while in strict accordance with the text,
supplies a sufficient answer to the question why the Northern Kolattiri was not,
while his cousin of the south, was a witness to the copper-plate grants whereby the
Jews and Christians obtained extensive privileges from two of the Perumals in the
eighth century A.D.
This absence of the name of the North Kolattiri from the list of witnesses
to those deed led Dr. Gundert to conjecture1 that the North Kolattiri was, at the
dates of their execution, independent of the Perumal, but so far as evidence is yet
forthcoming there is nothing to show that the North Kolattiri dynasty had a
separate existence in the eighth century A.D. ; and it will be seen that the
Muhammadan story about the introduction2 of Islam into Malabar renders it
probable that the last of the Perumals had sufficient influence over the North
Kolattiri to induce him to grant a site for a mosque at Madayi and to endow the
institution. This would not have been a very probable occurrence had the North
Kolattiri been, for perhaps a century and-a-half previously, as Dr. Gundert
conjectured, independent of the Porumals altogether.
NOTEs: 1. M.J.L.S XIII, Part I.
2. Anfep. 194. END OF NOTEs
Cheraman Perumal, the text goes on to say, encouraged merchants and

invited Jonaka3 Mappillas (Muhammadans) to the country. In particular he invited4 a
Muhammadan and his wife to come from his native land of Aryapuram and installed
them at Kannanur (Cannanore). The Muhammadan was called Ali Raja, that is, lord
of the deep, or of the sea.
NOTEs: 3. Vide foot-note p. 191.
4. There are other traditions about the origin of the family of the Chief of Cannanore and of
the Laccadive Islands, which will be alluded to further on. END OF NOTEs
Cheraman Perumal had reigned for thirty-six years when Krishna Rayar, it
is said, sent an expedition to subdue the country and enforce his commands.
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Another version of the text says that it was not Anakundi Krishna Rayar
but a Pandyan king who invaded the country in Cheraman Perumal’s time : and the
reason for the expedition is said to have been that the Perumal himself came from
the Chola country, and the Pandyan was jealous of the growth of the Chola
influence in Kerala. The Pandyan, it is said, ascended the Anamala mountains,
descended through the forests on Kerala, and built a fort in the Taravur country.
To drive back the invaders Cheraman Perumal, it is said, employed Prince
Utaya Varmman of the Karippatt1 king’s house, his son by the Kshatriya women :
and he also sent for Manichchan and Vikkiran of Puntura,2 or, according to another
version, those noble youths while on a pilgrimage came to Tirunavayi, where the
Perumal was residing after having sustained a defeat in battle. He was apparently
even contemplating a flight in boats when assured by the youths that they would
take the fort.
NOTEs: 1. This is the earliest of the seats of the North Kolattiris. It lies in Kurummattur
Amsam in Chirakkal taluk.
3 Punturakkon (King of Puntura) is still one of the titles of the Zamorin Maharaja Bahadur
of Calicut, and his official title is Manavikraman, a compound of the names mentioned in the text.
END OF NOTEs
So the expedition was organised and despatched under the Puntura youths.
It is unnecessary to relate the events of the campaign, as they are all more or less of
a mythical character and include the mention of the use of fire-arms and cartridges !
! The battle lasted for three days, and the result was, it is said, that, the Rayar
evacuated his fort, and it was seized by the Perumal’s troops. It is also related that
the well known body of Nayars, the Ten Thousand of Polanad (country about
Calicut), were specially solicited by the Puntura youths and miraculously marked by
them with a vulture’s quill. They distinguished themselves greatly on the occasion
and earned, it is said, the reward of being stationed in the best district of the
kingdom.
It is known from the Jews’ and Syrians’ deeds that the Zamorin’s family had
attained the dignity of Utayavar for at least a century before the dawn of the Kollam
era ; the tradition then, which makes the Perumal summon the boys from school, as
one version relates, to lead his army, is apochryphal unless indeed there is here to be
found the real tradition of the founding of the family some considerable time
previously to the reign of the last of the Perumals. It is not at all unlikely that a
battle against invaders coming via Anamala, that is, through the Palghat gap, did take
place, and the gallantry of the ancestors of the Zamorin brought them on that
occasion into favourable notice, but it must have been on an occasion long prior to
the beginning of the Kollam era.
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History
Again it is noteworthy that the North Kolattiri, whose name is also

mentioned, seems to have played no part in the campaign conducted by the Puntura
youths, although, as said above, the Perumal had selected him to drive back the
invaders. But this is unaccounted for if it be supposed that Kerala was threatened
from two sides simultaneously—from the north via the coast, and from the east via
the Palghat gap—and it may be added that, as the Keralolpatti itself says, invasions
became frequent, and invaders apparently did come from both directions about this
time. The North Kolattiri may possibly have reconquered for the Perumal the
Malayali territory (North Malabar) which from the first description of the limits of
Kerala (ante p. 224) seems to have been previously lost to the latter.
The “heirdom to the kingdom” conferred on him by the Perumal may have
subsequently led to the designation of Kolattunad as Kerala (ante p. 228); but
however this may be, it is pretty certain that the North Kolattiri had the duty
assigned to them of protecting the north of the Perumal’s domain, just as their
cousins of the south (Travancore) had already for some generations been guarding
the southern passes.
“At the time of this successful war” continues the Keralolpatti, “there was
born as the son (or incarnation) of Mahadevan (Siva) a celebrated genius. It was he
who was afterwards known as Samkaracharyar”. And the text goes on to give one of
the versions of his life which have already been summarised.1 He is further stated to
have laid down laws for the guidance of the Malayali Brahmans in all the ordinary
business of life, as well as for the Sudras and other classes. The Sudras (Nayars)
were told off to “battle, hunting, service, guard, convoy, and escort.”
It is also incidentally mentioned that subsequently to the reign of
Mayuravarmman in Malayalam, or, as another version has it in Toulavam, i.e., the
Tulu province (South Canara), the Rajas were in the habit of adopting the suffix of
Varmman or Sarmman to their names. The text next diverges into a general account
of the Malayali castes and mentions among other facts that the Chinese were among
the merchant immigrants, as also were “the men of round hats (!)” of whom there
were four castes, viz. : — 1. Parinki (Portuguese), 2. Lanta (Dutch), 3. Parintirias
(French), aud 4. Inkiriss (English).
The various castes, including apparently the "round-hatted” Europeans, are
said to have been told off to their various functions in the State by Samkaracharyar
himself. The text runs: “Thus Samkaracharyar laid down the rules to be observed by
the seventy-two classes,” and he is said to have solemnly proclaimed the same “on
the day next after the Mahamakkam which occurred in the month of Kumbham in
the year of the cycle of Jupiter when he was in the sign of the Crab.”
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This account of Samkaracharyar, which makes him a contemporary of the

last of the Perumals, is interesting, because, as a matter of fact, the tradition on the
point is probably correct. The last Perumal, for reasons stated, probably left Kerala
on his voyage to Arabia on or shortly after the 25th of August 825 A.D., and the
latest authority1 for Samkaracharyar's date places it at 788-820 A.D. As the last
Perumal is understood to have reigned for thirty-six years, it follows that he was a
contemporary of the “gracious teacher.”
NOTEs: 1. Ante p. 187. END OF NOTEs
The mention of Mayuravarmman's name is also important, as it was he

who, according to other extraneous traditions to be noticed shortly, first introduced
Vedic Brahmans into Kerala. The time when this occurred will be noticed further
on, but it is important to observe that the tradition is that he was ruler of the
Tulunad (Canara) Province only.
The Keralolpatti next proceeds to detail the division made of the Malayali
Provinces by Cheramam Perumal : “While Cheraman Perumal was thus ruling the
kingdom independently he thought as follows :— “This country was given as a
poured out-gift by Parasu Raman to the Brahmans. I have enjoyed it for so many
years. How am I to expiate that sin? He consulted several Sastris (selected
Brahmans). They informed him the expiation was not to be found in the six Sastras
and three Vedas and that the remedy must be sought for in the fourth Veda.”2
NOTEs: 2. Vide p. 191. The fourth Veda is the Koran.END OF NOTEs
Then it goes on to relate how the Perumal wished to punish his minister for
a fault, which strangely reminds one of the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. The
minister was miraculously saved, it is said, by being taken straight up to heaven, and
his last words were to the “Ten Thousand” to “do his office of body guard.”
The name of the minister was Patamalanayar3 and therefore he was a Sudra
(Nayar). As he was ascending to heaven the Perumal asked him : “How can I attain
eternal bliss?” and the reply of the minister was that he should join the
Muhammadans, go to Mecca, and there he would through the efficacy of the fourth
Veda attain half bliss.
NOTEs: 3. Pata = warfare, Mala = hill, and Nayar = caste of fighting men. END OF
NOTEs
This version of the tradition contains what was a sufficient reason for the
secrecy of the Perumal’s final departure as related by the Muhammadans. The
Perumal had evidently for some reason entertained suspicions of the loyalty of the
“Ten Thousand ” —of the body guard, that is to say. He seems to have put the
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chief of that corps to death, and it was incumbent on the survivors by the old
established custom of Kudipakka4 (blood feud), to seek his death in return.
NOTEs: 4. Vide p. 169. The Nayar hostages on board Vasco da Gama’s ships, when
warned of the fate which awaited them because of the Zamorin’s having treacherously detained da
Gama on shore, replied —“Yes, that there they were, and if any harm were done to the Ambassador
on shore, the Portuguese might cut off their heads if they pleased, for they were men who had brothers
and relations on shore who would revenge their deaths even upon the person of the King.” (Correa.)
END OF NOTEs
Another tradition is that the Perumal’s final dispute was with the Brahmans
as they were bathing in the holy water on the day of Mahamakham5. It related to the
Vedas, and it is said that, being offended, the Perumal determined to go to Mecca
with the Mappillas [Baudahas (sic)].
NOTEs: 5. Vide p. 163 END OF NOTEs
Whatever the immediate moving cause

was, the Perumal, it is said, determined to
partition his dominions among his friends and
relatives. “Between Gokarnam and Cape
Comorin, within Kannetti1 and Puttuppattanam,
there lie on the south Changalappuratta port,
and on the north Putupattanam1 port, on the
east the eighteen mountain passes, on the west
the eighteen entrances to the deep. Between
these and the four corners, north-west, north-
east, south-east, and south-west, lies the country
of Cheraman.1 (Parasu Raman’s land) 160 Katam
in extent. The adjoining five countries are Pandi,
Kongu, Tulu, Vayanad, Pimnad.”
NOTEs: 1. N.B.—Cheraman's country by this
description excluded the dominions of the two Kolattiris.
END OF NOTEs
“In this country of Cheraman, Utayavarmman Kolattiri was made Perumal

of the north (Crowned King and Lord of Kerala); Kolattiri was then crowned. The
two barons of Kolattiri, namely, the two Nambiyars, Chulanna (Chulali)Kammal
and Nerpetta Kammal, were each given twelve Katams (leagues) of territory and
12,000 Nayars. Cheraman, then blessed Utayavarman and said to him :2 ‘If I return
you shall be Ilankuru (heir apparent), if I don’t return you shall have Cheraman’s
crown (chief authority).’
NOTEs: 2. Compare the declaration which the Maharajas of Travancore have to make at
their coronations (ante p. 231).END OF NOTEs
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Then in the south to the Venatatikal3 (of Kulasekhara's dynasty) were

appointed 350,0004 Nayars armed to serve him in the Omana new king’s house (on
the right hand side of the fort at Kalkkulam) and territorial kingly authority (over
Onanad and Venanad). Cheraman said to him: ‘You must assist Kolatliri and expend
money' and he appointed him ruler5 (Valuvan) of the Kuvala kingdom. Then to the
Surya Kshatriya, he gave fifty-two Katam (leagues) of territory, many (fighting) men,
eighteen barons, and forty-two (or seventy-two) ministers, and conferred on him the
title of Perimpatapp6 ... (His younger7 brother Kavi-simhaveru was appointed to
protect the Tulunad, and was given kingly authority to the north of the Perimpala.
Four chiefs were ordered to support him, viz., Parampar (Bangar of Nandvar) Ajalar
(Ajilar) Savitlar (Chantar of Mudubidri) and Samantareru (Samantar of Mulukki).”
NOTEs: 3. The Travancore Maharaja.
4. The same number were assigned to the North Kolatliri.
5. It is beyond doubt that the Travancore Chiefs
were Utayavar (the same word as the Woddear, e'c, of
Coorg, Mysore, etc.) of the south long before the last
Perumal’s time. See also the declaration which the
Maharajas still have to make at their coronations (ante p.
231).
6. This is still one of the titles of the Raja of
Cochin.
7 From another version. END OF NOTEs.
The text then goes on to say that

donations of territory, etc., were given to the
Poralatiri of Polanad , to Kurumbaratiri (or
Kurumbiyatiri), (to the Raja of Kollam)8 to the
Raja of Pantalam lying between Venanad and
Onanad, to the Parappur, and Vettatt, and
Kayankulatt Cherayi dynasties. To Valluvakkonattiri he assigned a nad (or country)
and the privilege of conducting the Mahamakham1 festival at Tirunavayi. He is said
to have conferred on the Valluva Konattiri the title of Arangattu2 or Arangottur3.
NOTEs: 8. That is, north Kollam (ante p. 72). This occurs in one version of the text, and it is
probably an interpolation to suit subsequently existing facts, and indeed of what is here stated seems to
be in the same case, for the only Malabar Utayavar families mentioned in the Jew’s and Syrians’ deeds
are the Zamorins, the Valluvanad and the Palghat Rajas.
1. Ante p. 164.
2. The title was in use before the last Perumal's reign. The Valluvanad Raja was thus designated in the
Jews’ and Syrians’ deeds. The name literally signifies the chief of the nad or district lying across
(angottu) the river (ar) from the Perumal's palace at Kodungallur, i.e., the district north of the Ponnani
River. END OF NOTEs
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Under this arrangement, the Zamorin was left out in the cold, so, it is said,
that as the Perumal was about to set sail for Mecca, the survivor, according to one
version, of the two Puntura youths, one (Manichan) having fallen in battle, went to
the Perumal, who told him he had already divided his kingdom, that there were left
only one Desam so small that a cock3 crowing could be heard all over it, also one bit
of thorny4 jungle, that he could give him these and that he was sorry he had not
come sooner. The Puntura youth, it is said, agreed to take this insignificant, gift
accompanied, as it, was said to be, with the Perumal's sword5, and with the advice to
“die, and kill, and seize” and to make himself master of all the Malanad. The
Perumal gave the territory and the sword with water, and one version says he gave
the sword to Manichchan and the water to Vikkruman, both being alive and present.
NOTEs: 3. Allusion is here made to the popular derivation of the name of Calicut Koli
(fowl) and Kottu (a corner or empty space) or Kolta (a fort
4. Perhaps a salt swamp was intended if the
thorny bush referred to was the waterholy (chulli) so
common in the salt marshes.
5. The frontispiece to this volume is an engraving
from a sketch of this weapon, as still preserved by the
Zamorins. The blade is rusted to the scabbard, and the
whole of the weapon, which is 3 feet 2 inches in length, has
been carefully coated with a copper covering to preserve
the original. It is daily decorated with flower wreaths. The
weapon used to play an important part at the Mahamakkam
festival at Thirunavayi (ante p. 163 6) and it was in all
probability the weapon which the Perumals used on the
occasions « of the occurrence of the assembly every twelfth
year of the people at that festival. It may have been the
sword of Bhadrakali referred to (ante p. 226). END OF
NOTEs
The Zamorin was forbidden, it is said, to go to war with either the North or
South Kolattiris, but he might go to war with the other chiefs.
The Perumal, it is further said, distributed territory among other petty
chiefs and feudal lordships among others. He is also said to have appointed four
men (named) to commit the laws and customs to writing, and they met at the
Mahamakham festival on the day of Puyam, in the month of Magaram, when Jupiter
was in Cancer.
"After doing all this, the Perumal left the sandy island of Tirunavayi with
the people of the Veda and descended from a ship at harbour and entered the palace
of Kodungallur with a view to proceed to Mecca (Cheruman embarked for Mecca
with the people of the Veda). It was in the Kali1 year (Cheraman desaprapyah)”
(A.D. 355). Then follows the Mappilla version of the story, as already summarised,2
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but with the addition that the ship in which he sailed was pursued by other ships
and it was only by fighting hard that he escaped.
The proper light in which to regard these last traditions is undoubtedly to
view them as a repetition of the traditions already commented on, which detail how
various Tulu and North and South Kolattiri Permals succeeded to the
Muhammadan convert Pallibana Perumal. Cheraman Perumal may safely be taken as
identical with Pallibana Perumal, the traditions about the latter being from a
Brahman point of view, while those about the former are from the point of view of
the common people.
The exclusion of the domains of the
two Kolattiris or Kollattiris from the kingdom
of the Perumal, and yet his having granted
territory to them before leaving for Mecca is
probably to be explained by the fact of his
having conform to the “heirdom to the
kingdom,” i.e., future independence of future
Perumals, on the North Kolattiris, and of his
having conferred somewhat similar authority
on those of the South. Their independence may
have been recognised before the Perumal sailed
for Arabia. The dates on the Zaphar tombstone
record the Perumal’s arrival at that place as
having happened some time after the Kollam
era commenced, and it has been already
suggested (ante, p. 196) that he may have spent
at sea and at Shair Makulla, where he first
landed, the interval that elapsed between the
date on which he set sail (presuming that date
to have been the initial day of the north Kollam
era) and the date recorded on the tomb of his arrival at Zaphar.
But it is equally probable that he did not sail till some time after having
partitioned his dominions in the way described, and the initial day or days of the
Kollam eras may have been the day or days on which he conferred the “heirdom of
the kingdoms ” on the two Kolattiris or Kollattiris. It is in favour of this view that
the tradition regarding the partition by himself of his own kingdom is so strong.
The tradition about the grants of territory to the Perimpatapp (Cochin) and
Tulunad Rajas, the sons of the Surya Khshatriya woman, presumably a sister or female
relative, natural or adopted, of the Perumal, is merely a repetition of the tradition
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History
already commented on above (ante, p. 231). This tradition throws some light on the
Muhammadan story about the introduction of Islam, for if the Perumal’s dominion
extended only from Putupattanam to Kannetti as related, it is difficult to understand
how the Perumal’s letters should have obtained for the Muhammadans such a
favourable reception at Mangalore, Barkur and Kanyarott (Cassergode) which all lie
in South Canara.
At the same time of course this tradition that the Perumal assigned the
Tulunad to one of the brothers is inconsistent, with the tradition, already
commented on, that prior to this Perumal’s reign the Tulunad had been definitely
severed from the Kerala kingdom.
It may be suggested that a connection, either natural or adoptive, existed
between the Perumal and the Tulu king. After Mayura Varmman's time it will be
noted the Perumals are said to have adopted the
suffixes of Varmman and Sarmman to their titles.
The first authentic instance of the use of such a
surname by a Perumal occurs in the Jews’ deed
(circa 700 A.D.). This fact points to a close
connection between the Perumals and the Tulu
kings, and if the Surya Kshatriya woman was
adopted by the Perumal from the Tulu king’s
family, it is not difficult to understand how her
sons obtained Cochin and Tulunad, respectively,
nor to understand how the Perumal even after
his setting out for Mecca should have retained
influence in Tulunad.
Finally, there remains the important
point that the Zamorin was treated so shabbily by the departing Perumal in the
matter of the grant of territory. The Jews and Syrians’ deeds show that the Zamorin
had long previously attained to the rank of Ulayavar of Eralinad or Ernad, so that
the family did not spring into existence at this time which was probably 125 years
later than the date of the earliest of those grants. The differences between the
Perumal and the Ten Thousand, whose headman the Perumal apparently put to
death, had probably something to do with the matter, for the Ten Thousand were in
later times at least the Zamorin’s bodyguard.
The Ten Thousand were moreover the troops specially selected by the
Zamorin with which he repulsed the invaders. The Nayar of Calicut, one of the
small bits of territory assigned to the Zamorin, was, up to the time of the British
occupation, one of the leaders of the Ten Thousand, and the text after describing
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the victory also runs that the Perumal out of gratitude for the success the Puntura
youths had won called them before him, told them he would make them his
successors, or heirs (Anantaravar), and station them at Calicut ; so that there is
much reason for the inference that the Zamorin had cast in his lot with his favourite
troops and there is little wonder then that he was not in favour with the Perumal at
his departure.
It is not at all improbable under these circumstances to suggest that the
Zamorin’s power and influence had been increasing after his successful repulse of
the invaders, that this had excited the Perumal’s jealousy and had led him to adopt
stringent measures against the Ten Thousand, ending naturally enough in his being
obliged to flee the country after providing, as best he could, for his immediate
relatives. In corroboration of this view it is at least suggestive that not one of the
original Muhammadan mosques founded by Sheikh-ibn-Dinar was situated in
territory under the sway of the Zamorin.
The grant of territory to the Valluvakonattiri (Valluvanad) and the grants to
the other petty chieftains who are named in the text were not, it may be presumed,
made at this time ; for the Valluvakon, as evidenced by the Jews and Syrians’ deeds,
had been an Utayavar of a nad (county) like the Zamorin and Travancore Rajas for
several generations before the Perumal left Malabar.
This ends the portion of the Keralolpatti dealing with the earliest traditions
and with those current concerning the Perumals. The remaining traditions relate to
the subsequent changes among the ruling families wrought after Cheraman Perumal’s
departure (circa 825 A.D.) and will be best considered further on.
It remains to sum up the traditions already narrated and commented on
before proceeding to detail such scraps of the ancient history of Malabar as are to be
gathered from other sources. It cannot be doubted that the first half of the ninth
century A.D, was an important epoch in the history of Malabar and of the Malayalis.
It is beyond all doubt that events of sufficient importance occurred at this
time to create an era, which, dating in Malabar, Cochin and North Travancore from
the 25th day of August 825, continues down to the present day to be the era in
common use by the people.
What those events were may perhaps be gathered from the traditions now
under consideration. The chief event was the termination of the reign of the last of
the Kerala or Chera Perumals or Emperors, who for centuries had been kings of
the land ; for it may be assumed, until evidence to the contrary is forthcoming, that
the Muhammadan tradition is correct, and that the Hindu King of Malabar, who lies
buried at Zaphar in Arabia, was indeed Cheraman Perumal.
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The dates on that tombstone, which however still require verification, place
this event as closely contemporaneous with the inauguration of the new era. Why it
was called the Kollam era these traditions also seem to explain ; for the
independence, until Cheraman Perumal should return, of the two branches of the
Kolattiri (or perhaps Kollattiri) family seems to have dated from this time, and to
have been brought about in the manner already described in the commentaries on
those traditions.
Of the events which preceded, and of the Perumals who reigned in the
county prior to that event, these traditions tell next to nothing, and the reason is not
perhaps far to seek. Those traditions are mainly of Brahmanical origin, and from
facts which will be detailed in the following section it is pretty certain that the
Brahmans had not, for more than a generation or two at most, been settled in the
land when Cheraman Perumal assumed the reins of Government.
The Brahmans are notoriously careless of history and of the lessons which
it teaches. Their lives are bound hard and fast by rigid chains of customs. The long
line of Chera kings, dating back to the “Son of Kerala”, mentioned in the third
century B.C., in King Asoka’s rock-out inscriptions, had for them no interest and no
instruction; and it is not to be wondered, at that the mention of them finds in the
Keralolpatti no place.
What is substituted for the real history of this period in these traditions is a
farrago of legendary nonsense, having for definite aim the securing to the Brahman
caste of unbounded power and influence in the country. The land was miraculously
reclaimed for their benefit ; the whole of it was made over to them with the “blood-
guilty water of possession” ; they were the first inhabitants ; the kings were appointed
and the land was governed by them ; and the only allusion to prior occupants is an
obscure allusion to the “serpents”, from fear of which the first immigrants fled back
to the country whence they came.
This allusion to the serpents, who “protected” the land, contains perhaps an
allusion to Jaina immigrants, worshippers of the twenty-third Jaina, Tirtham Kara,
Parsva or Parsvanatha, whose symbol was a hooded snake. That the Perumals were
originally of the Jaina persuasion is not at all improbable, considering the facts
already stated (ante p. 184-86) regarding the style of religious architecture still
prevalent in the land.
Judging by the extent of country over which this Jaina style of religious
architecture prevails, the limits of the old Chera kingdom were not improbably
those which it is said Parasu Raman miraculously reclaimed from the sea, viz.,
Canara, Malabar, Cochin and Travancore. But when the bearers of these traditions
first came into the land Chera or Kerala had dwindled down to the small province
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of South Malabar, Cochin and North Travancore (Putuppattanam to Kannetti), and it

was apparently to these limits that the name of Kerala, thus imported into Malabar
at this time, was originally applied by Malayalis themselves.
There is also to be learnt from these traditions that the time was ripe for
religious movements, the last Perumal became a convert to Islam, and the great
Samkaracharyar, himself a Malayali, was engaged in creating the revival of Hinduism
which has moved so profoundly every generation since.
The “great1 saying” had just gone forth, and the words “Thou art that” had
set for the great mass of the people an exemplar which they have patiently and
piteously, but very imperfectly, been studying ever since to attain. It was a fitting
time for the commencement of an era, and the dynasty of the ancient "Sons of
Kerala” (Keralaputran) drew appropriately to a close as new religious light began to
be disseminated in the land.
NOTEs: 1 Ante p. 189. END OF NOTEs
It has been noticed that the Maharajas of Travancore have still to declare at
their coronations that they hold their territories only on sufferance until their
kinsman returns from Mecca. The Zamorins too, at their coronations, have still,
when crossing the Kallayi ferry, to take betel from the hands of a man dressed up as
a Mappilla woman, and are actually put-out of caste2 by the ceremony, and have to
live separately thereafter to their manifold discomfort."
NOTEs: 2. Was this brought about by their having been constituted as Cheraman
Perumal*a successors or heirs after the victory obtained over the invaders!. END OF NOTEs
These are no doubt relics of the time when the Perumal turned
Muhammadan and left the country to its own devices. The Travancore, the
Valluvakon [literally king of the Valluvar (? Pallavas)], and the Zamorin Rajas were
left free by his flight to establish themselves as independent kings of their respective
little States.
The Cochin and perhaps the Tulunad Rajas and the North Kolattiri Raja,
the Chulali and Nerpett Kammals, being his heirs and children, respectively, were, as
these traditions seem to show, provided for with grants of territory and with men to
defend them ; and thus the country was split up into little kingdoms, which under
ordinary circumstances would have immediately set to work to devour each other.
The organisation of the militia, however, as will be explained presently, served to
retard the process, and though it may seem strange that after the lapse of so many
centuries nearly all of those identical families should have remained in existence, still
it is a fact which deserves careful consideration that these very families were the
chief among those with whom the British Commissioners came into contact in 1792
when reorganising the country after Haider Ali’s and Tippu’s wild raids through it.
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Section B.—Early History from other Sources.
Some of the more remarkable of the vegetable and animal productions of

the Malabar Coast have been known to Western nations from times antecedent to
the Christian era, and have been the objects of maritime enterprise and commerce
through all the succeeding centuries.
Perhaps as early as the time of Moses, the great Jewish law-giver, this
commerce existed, for cinnamon and cassia played a part in the temple services of
the Jews (Exodus xxx. 23, 24), and at any rate the commerce existed in the time of
King Solomon (c. B.C. 1000), for the Bible narrative records that silver “was
nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon”—everything was of gold. “For the
king had at sea a navy of Tharsish with the navy of Hiram ; once in three years came
the navy of Tharsish, bringing gold and silver, ivory,1 and apes and peacocks ” (I
Kings x. 22).2 With the exception perhaps of silver, these are all production of the
Malabar Coast, and the biblical name for the peacock — tuki—is evidently the Tam.
Mai. tokei, the bird of the tail.
NOTEs: 1. Elephants’ teeth.
2. Conf. Genesis x. 29 ; I Kings ix. 28, x, 11, and xxii. 49 ; I Chronicles xxix. 4 ; II Chronicles
viii. 18, and ix. 10, 21 ; Job xxii. 24, and xxxix, 13 ; Isaiah xiii. 12. END OF NOTEs
Again, Solomon obtained his gold from Ophir. It is hazardous after all that
has been written about this place to contribute anything more to the controversy,
for as Master Purchas quaintly wrote about it ; “This Golden Country is like Gold, hard
to find, and much quarrelled, and needs a wise Myner to bring it out of the labyrinths of
darknessse, and to try and purifie the Mynors themselves and their reports.” (Purchas His
Pilgrimes I, 25.)
But it may as well be pointed out that Beypore lies at the mouth of the river
of the same name, which still brings down gold from the auriferous quartz region of
South-East Wainad, the mines of which were well worked in pre-historic times; that
Tundis, the “village of great note situate near the sea”, mentioned in the early
centuries A.D. by the author of the Periplus Mar. Eryth. (ante. pp. 70-80), lies close
to Beypore on the southern bank of the same river ; and that the country lying
inland from these places is still called Ernad — the bullock, that is grazing, country.
If Ophir, as is generally now supposed, meant, the country of the Abhira or
cowherds (? Kurumbar) then the name of Ophir fits the locality indicated as well as,
or bettor perhaps than, any of the very numerous other places with which it has
been identified. There has also been much learned disquisition on the word
Tharsish, and the name perhaps survived1 on the coast till the ninth century A.D. in
the word Tarisa-palli or church of the Tarisa (Tharshish?) people, which occurs in
the third of the ancient deeds published in Appendix XII.
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History
NOTEs: 1. .J.L.S. XIII, part I END OF NOTEs
The fact remains to the present day that Jewish colonies are settled on the
coast, and if their progenitors, often of course replenished by further immigrations,
did not come with King Solomon’s fleets, they have at least traditions which carry
back their arrival on the coast to the time of their escape from servitude under
Cyrus in the sixth century B.C. And if the Jews were settled on the coast at the early
period mentioned in their traditions, they would have had no difficulty in
maintaining intercourse with their native land, for in Herodotus’ time (B.C. 484-413)
the trade with the East was maintained.
About 600 B.C. Scylax, a Greek sent by Darius, had voyaged home by sea
from the mouth of the Indus. Herodotus mentions that the Red Sea trade in
frankincense and myrrh, and cinnamon and cassia (the two latter being Malabar
products), was in the hands of the Egyptians and Phoenicians, but these traders do
not appear to have proceeded beyond the port in Arabia Felix (Aden probably)
where these goods were procurable.
Of India proper Herodotus’ information is scanty, and, though capable of

corroboration in some respects, inclines to the marvellous. In the end of the fourth
century B.C. the Greek writer Ktesias probably alluded to cinnamon, a common
product of Malabar, as karpion, a name which seems to have been derived from the
Tam. Mai. karuppu or karppu. In this same fourth century B.C. occurred Alexander
the Great’s expedition into Northern India, and Megasthenes, the Greek
ambassador sent by Seleucus Nicator to the Indian King Chandragupta’s (Greek
Sandrocottus) court gathered some scanty information about Southern India. It is
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certain from his account that the Pandyan kingdom then existed, and the people
whom he styles “Charmœ” and places correctly next to the “Panda” can be no other
than the aborigines of Chera, whe to the present day probably exist in the Cherumar
or agrestic slaves of Malabar (conf. p. 147).
It is also noteworthy in this connection that Megasthenes alludes to the fact
that the southern peoples were ruled by queens, He accounts for it by a mythical
story of the Greek hero Heracles having left the kingdom to his daughter. As all the
Malayali chieftains’ houses are still, theoretically at least, subject to the eldest lady in
each, it is probable that in the earliest ages the kingdoms were in fact governed by
females. One of the successors of King Chandragupta in Northern India was the
“King beloved of the gods”—King Priyadasi—whe reigned in the middle of the
third century B.C. This king, better known as Asoka, left behind him certain edicts
engraven on rocks in different parts of the country, and in one which occurs at
Girnar the legend runs as follows : —
"In the whole dominion of King Devanampriya Priyadarsin, as also in the
adjacent countries, as Chola, Pandya, Satyaputra, Keralaputra, as far as Tamraparni,
the kingdom of Antiochus the Grecian king, and of his neighbour kings, the system
of caring for the sick, both of men and of cattle, followed by King Devanampriya
Priyadarsin, has been everywhere brought into practice, etc., etc.
It is matter of controversy whether King Asoka, was Jain by religion or a
follower of Buddha ; but the evidence seems to favour the former conclusion. Jain
missionaries doubtless at this time spread over the Malabar Coast, and there are still
relics of them left in the Jain settlements in Canara, and in the peculiar Jaina style of
architecture of religious edifices still prevalent all over the Malayali tracts and
Canara.
About this style of architecture Mr. Ferguson’s very pertinent remarks have
already (ante, pp. 185-6) been quoted. It is a significant fact that nothing like it exists
at any point on the continent of India nearer than Nepal, and the coincidences
which Mr. Fergusson points out in the circumstances of two countries
geographically so distant from each other, makes it more than probable that Aryan
civilisation was first imported into Malabar by Jain missionaries, and this event
probably occurred about the time of King Asoka in the third century B.C. If this
style of architecture had been peculiar to the later Brahman colonists, and if these
latter had, as usually asserted, such commanding influence in the country from the
very first, it is almost certain that the Muhammadans would not have been
permitted to adopt it in their mosques, for these too are almost universally
constructed in the same style.
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History
In this edict of King Asoka’s the country is styled Ketala or Kerala, the
name which occurs, as already described, in the Keralolpatti. It is a dialectic
(Canarese) form of the ancient name Keram, or Cheram, or Chera, a name which
still survives in the Cheranad or country lying round Tundis, the “village of great
note situate by the sea” already more than once referred to, and in Cherumar1
(Megasthenes’ Charmœ?), the aboriginal inhabitants, now the agrestic slaves of the
community.
NOTEs: 1. Conf, pp. 147-53. END OF NOTEs
On the breaking up of Alexander the Great’s Empire, the cities of

Phoenicia and their Red Sea trade passed with Egypt into the hands of the
Ptolemies, Egypt then became not only the centre of literary cultivation and learning
for the Hellenic world, but an emporium of trade and the centre of great
commercial enterprises. The Red Sea trade, which had previously crossed the
Isthmus of Suez to the Phoenician city of Tyre, was diverted to Alexandria. Ptolemy
Philadelphus (B.G. 285-247) founded a city (called Arsinœ after his wife) in the
Gulf of Suez, and proceeded t o open a canal from that place to the Nile. But owing
to the dangers of navigation in the gulf, this project was abandoned and a port
(called Berenice after his mother) was opened nearly 500 miles down the Red Sea,
and this gradually became an emporium of trade.
The merchandise was thence transported overland to Coptos on the Nile,
whence it descended the river to Alexandria. But Myos Hormos, lying further north
than Berenice, was next found to be in some respects even more conveniently
situated than the latter for the land transhipment, of goods to Coptos, and so the
trade with India for a time centred itself at this place.
Like their predecessors the Phoenicians, however, the Egyptian Greeks
contented themselves with buying Eastern merchandise from the Sabæans (Arabs),
and Aden was probably the port in which the Arabian and Indian merchants met
the Greeks and exchanged their goods.
It was not till about 120 B.C. that an attempt was made to go direct from
Egypt to India. A Hindu said to have been, wrecked in the Red Sea volunteered to
take a ship to India. The ship was fitted out and in it sailed Eudoxus of Cyzicus. The
voyage was successful ; the ship brought back a valuable cargo, but it was
appropriated by the king (Ptolemy Euergetes II). The same fate befell a second
expedition sent out by Cleopatra. Strabo wrote of Eudoxus’ attempt to reach India
as something altogether new and exceptional.
These facts explain the barrenness of the Greek writers on the subject of
India. Their accounts at this period are derived from Megasthenes and
contemporaries of Alexander the Great, not from direct information obtained from
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merchants and travellers. Eratosthenes (B.C. 270) thought India lay east and west ;
he was familiar with Ceylon (Taprobane), but made it far too large—8,000 stadia—
and extending east and west.
Very little advance on this state of knowledge had been made even so late
as the time of Strabo (about B.C. 54 to A.D. 25), but an important change came
with the conquest of Egypt by the Romans, for the trade passed directly into their
hands and they were not long in tracing it out to its sources. The first important
advance was made by a Greek named Hippalos, who, acting on information
received probably from Arab or Hindu informants, boldly stood out to sea from
Cape Fartak in Arabia, and sailing with the south-west monsoon trade winds, found
a direct route to the pepper-bearing country of Malabar.
This event, as already described (ante, p. 32), occurred in the early part of
the first century A.D. And about this same time (A.D. 24) the first Hindu embassy
from King Porus, or, as others say, from the King of Pandya, proceeded to Europe
and followed the Roman Emperor Augustus to Spain, It was on this occasion that
an ascetic (probably a Jain) who accompanied the expedition voluntarily sacrificed
himself at Athens on a funeral pyre.
With increased trade came increasing knowledge of the countries whence
the spices came. The fullest account of the trade about this time is contained in the
Periplus Maris Erythræi, from which a passage has already been quoted (ante, pp. 78-
80). It is matter of controversy whether this account was written in the first century
A.D. or at a later date (third century A.D.), but, however this may be, Roman
authors of the first century A.D, amply attest the fact that a large trade existed.
Petronius in the early part of the first century A.D, reproached the Roman
matrons for exposing their charms in Indian muslins, which he called “woven wind”
or “a texture of cloud.”
Pliny (A.D. 23-79) raked together without much discrimination a vast
amount of information regarding the subjects he wrote about. He countenanced a
story of Hindus having sailed round the north of Asia and Europe and having been
wrecked on the coasts of Germany, but he seems to have acquired a very exact idea
of the navigation as practised in his day after the discovery by Hippalos of the direct
route to the Indian shores.
“Afterwards” he wrote, “it was found the safest course to proceed direct
from the promontory of Syagrus in Arabi” (Capo Fartak) “to Patale” (probably
Pantalayini1 or Pantalayini Kollam see pp. 72-73) “with the west wind (Favonius),
which they call there the Hippalos, a distance reckoned at 1, 435 miles. In the next
generation it was judged to be both a safer and nearer course to proceed from the
same promontory direct to Sigerus,2 a port of India.
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NOTEs: 1. Down to the present day this port is generally the first one touched at by ships
from the Arabian coast, and it was to its immediate neighbourhood that the "pilots brought Vasco da
Gama’s ships. Moreover it was in former times and even till quite recently—till steam ships superseded
sailing ships—a very favourite port of departure for the Arabian coast and Persian Gulf. Pilgrims to
Mecca used to set sail from it in large numbers formerly.
2.The Melezigara of the Periplus Maria Erythrœi and the Melezigyris of Ptolemy — probably
Viziagur, 120 miles south of Bombay. END OF NOTEs
And this mode of navigation was preserved for a long time until merchants
discovered a shorter route, and the profits of India were thus brought nearer to
land. The voyage is now made every year with cohorts of archers on board the ships
; on account of the pirates which infest those seas”.
He estimated that India took 65,000,0003 sesterces annually, and the goods
purchased brought a hundred times that amount when sold in Europe. He described
the journey by the trade route through Egypt and then proceeded as follows: —
“They begin the navigation in the middle of summer before the rising of the
Dogstar, or immediately after its appearance, and arrive in about thirty days at
Ocelis in Arabia, or Cane in the frankincense-bearing region. There is also a third
port called Muza which is not frequented by those sailing to India, but by the
merchants whe trade in frankincense and other Arabian perfumes. In the interior is
a city, the capital of the kingdom called Sapphar,1 and another called Sane. But for
those whose course is directed to India it is most advantageous to start from Ocelis.
From thence they sail with the wind called Hippalos in forty days to the first
commercial station of India named Muziris (ante, p. 78), which is not much to be
recommended on account of the neighbouring pirates,2 who occupy a place called
Nitrias3 nor does it furnish any abundance of merchandise.
NOTEs: 1. This is evidently Zaphar, where Cheraman Perumal lies buried (ante, p. 196).
2. Conj. pp. 69 and 72.
3. Query: Can this be Nittur in Kottayam taluk, adjoining Tellicherry? END OF NOTEs
“Moreover the station of shipping is far from the land, and cargoes have to
be loaded and unloaded in barges. The ruler of the country at the time of which I
speak was Cottonara4. There is another more advantageous port, which is named
Barace5 in the territory of a nation called the Ncacyndi. The king of that country was
named Pandion6 whe resided far from the port in a city of the interior which is
called Madura. But the region from which pepper is brought to Barace in barges
hewn out of single trees is called Cottonara7. None of these names of nations or
ports or cities are found in any former writer, from which it is evident what changes
take place in the state of things in those countries. They commence the return
voyage from India at the beginning of the Egyptian month of Tybis, which answers
to our December, or at all events within the sixth day of the Egyptian month
Mech’r, that is, within our Ides of January. Thus it comes to pass they return home
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within the year. They make the return voyage from India with the south-west wind
(Vulturnus), and, when they have entered the Red Sea, with the south-west or south
wind.”
NOTEs: 4. In one manuscript it is written Celobotras. It is clearly intended for Keraputran
or Cheraputran ~ king of Chera.
5. This place was probably situated close to Southern Kollam at the mouth of the Quilon
river. It is called Bakare in the Periplus Maris Erythrœi (ante, p. 79).
6. The Pandya kingdom, with Madura for capital, is here very clearly indicated.
7. Called Kottonara in the Periplus Maris Erythrœi (ante, p. 80). Some writers have identified
this place with Kadattunad in North Malabar, and with Kolattu Nad (North Malabar), but it is
unnecessary to go so far afield, and the fact stated that the pepper came in barges hewn out of single
logs of timber makes it in the highest degree improbable that these identifications can be correct. The
country lying about 10 miles east of Quilon is still called Kottaram (royal residence) or Kottarakkara
(place of royal residence) : and it is tapped in various directions by the river, and connected backwaters
; and it is here probably that the pepper grew. END OF NOTEs
Pliny also obtained information from the Ceylon ambassadors to the

Emperor Claudius about A.D. 50 regarding Ceylon, and some mention seems to
have been made of the Chinese (Seres) having at this time traded to Ceylon.
It is clear from this account that the kingdom of Chera did not extend in
the first century A.D. to the south of South Kollam (Quilon). South Travancore at
this time lay in the Pandyan dominions. Moreover this is precisely the account given
by the author of the Periplus Maris Erythrœi (ante, p. 79), but the latter’s account
differs from Pliny’s in regard to the condition of Mouziris at or about this time, for
it is described as “a city at the height of prosperity,” frequented by ships from the
coasts of Guzerat and by Greek ships from Egypt.
There is no doubt of the fact that Roman gold poured largely into the
country at this time. Many such coins have been found, and in the collection of His
Highness the Maharaja of Travancore there are 9 aurei of the reign of the Emperor
Augustus, 28 of Tiberius, 2 of Caligula, 16 of Claudius, and 16 of Nero. These and
many other similar coins are understood to have been found in a remote part of
North Malabar.
“Great quantities of specie” is one of the import items mentioned in the
Periplus Maris Erythrœi (ante, p. 79), and from the facts vouched for by Pliny the
commerce must have been on a very large scale.
Whether St. Thomas the Apostle visited the Malabar Coast about this time
and founded the Christian Church, which certainly from a very early period down to
the present day has existed there, is likely ever to remain a subject of controversy.
But it will be seen that, had he been so minded, he would have found in those
annual pepper fleets every facility for effecting his journey to Malabar.
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The Jews, too, have a tradition that a largo number of their nation came and
settled in Malabar at this time, after the destruction (A.D. 68) of the temple at
Jerusalem.
Ptolemy (A.D. 126—61) is the next writer from whose pages some
information is to be gleaned. He wrote the title of the Chera king as Kerobothros
and stated the fact that the capital of the kingdom was at Karoura, which name has
been very generally accepted as identical with that of the modern town of Karur in
the Coimbatore district. But this is after all very little more than conjecture, as there
are no data such as are to be found in the Periplus Maris Erythrœi in regard to Tundis,
Mouziris and Nelkunda for accurately fixing the position of the place. Tradition,
however, places the trijunction of the three ancient kingdoms of Chera, Chola and
Pandya at a small stream (the Karaipottanar) flowing into the Kaveri river eleven
miles east of the modern Karur.
Accepting, then, till some better conclusion is forthcoming, that Ptolemy’s
Karoura is identical with the modern Karur, the boundaries of ancient Chera in the
first to the third1 centuries A.D. may be roughly gathered from the sources already
cited. The boundaries seem to have been : —
North—as for at least as Honore or Honavar (the Naoura of the Periplus, ante,
p. 79).
South—as for as the Quilon (Southern Kollam) river.
East—as far as Karur, or perhaps the Kaveri river at that point. . .
West—the sea.
NOTEs: 1 The Periplus Maris Erythrœi is by some writers thought to have been written in the
first and by others in the third century A.D. END OF NOTEs
But it is impossible at present to say if the boundary projected any further

in a north-east direction. Some writers have taken the Cheras to be identical with the
Gangas or Kongus of Coimbatore and Mysore, and much confusion has in
consequence arisen. Malayalis themselves call the country east of the Palghat gap the
Kongunad or country of the Kongus.
The Kongu language seems to have been Canarese, and not Tamil or
Malayalam, and in fact, as will be seen further on, the Kongus were a distinct
dynasty, who seem to have allied themselves with the Western Chalukyas and
Rashtrakutas against the Cheras. The confusion on this point apparently arose from
one or two clerical errors in the well-known chronicle of the kings of Kongu
(Kongudesa Rajakkal). There is no evidence as yet on record to show that the
Cheras did at any time extend their rule further to the east than Karur or the banks
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of the Kaveri river east of the Palghat gap, or that they ever held any territory on the
Mysore plateau. And in this negative position the question must for the present rest.
In the Mackenzie Mss. the traditionary boundaries of Chera are recorded in
three separate passages:
Stanza I.
"1. To the North, the place (or fane) Palanna1—hail ! To the East,
Chengodu2
"2. To the West point. Koli-kudu3 will be. The seashore of
“3. The margin, that will be the South : an 80 katams (leagues)
“4. The Cheranad boundary; speaking, say thou.
Stanza II.
“1. To the North, the place Palani1—hail ! To the East, the South Kasi2
“2. The West point Koli-kudu3 will become. The seashore of
“3. The margin that will make the South. An 80 katams (leagues)
“4. The Cheranad boundary ; speaking, say thou.”
Another version.
“On the North Palani1 , to the East the great town (Perur), on the South
the sea, on the West the great mountain, from East to West 40 katams (leagues),
from South to North 40 katams (leagues), making together 80 katams.”
NOTEs: 1. The modern Pulney.
2. Probably Shencotta, near Tenkasi in Tirunelveli.
3. Apparently intended for Calicut. END OF NOTEs
It is not easy to reconcile these traditions, but it is clear in the light of the
writings of Pliny and Ptolemy and of the Periplus that the Tenkasi eastern boundary,
which describes pretty accurately the Malayali limits now, is of later date than the
first to third centuries A.D. The Malayalis have since those dates encroached
considerably to the south on the ancient Pandya dominions. Then, again, Perur may
very well be the limits of Chera when it shrunk within the Malayali present limits at
the Palghat gap, for there is a well-known town of that name to the west of
Coimbatore and almost in the gap. It is much resorted to by Malayalis for sraddha
ceremonies (ante, p. 183).
As regards the northern boundary, these traditions say that it ended at
Palani, a well-known temple and place of pilgrimage in the Mathurai district, just
beyond the Palghat gap. The western boundary is variously stated to be either Calicut
or “the great mountain,” both of which lie in one sense to the north of Palani. If the
limit on the coast line is taken to be mount Deli (ante, p. 6)—the “great mountain”
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of the pilots who conducted Vasco da Gama’s expedition—then it would be very

nearly correct, but it is clear that on this side too the Malayali limits had in the
interval shrunk considerably within the boundary assigned by the author of the
Periplus.
Intercourse between East and West from this time forward continued to be
briskly maintained. After the Ceylon embassy to Claudius in A.D. 44, further
embassies from India continued at long intervals to reach the Roman world. Trajan
received one in A.D. 107, Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138-61) another, Julian received a
third in A.D. 361 , and even so late as the reign of Justinian (A.D. 540) one was
despatched to Constantinople. The trade during this period seems to have been
steadily carried on.
The Pentingerian Tables (supposed to have been compiled about A.D. 226)
mention that there was a considerable Roman settlement at Mouziris (Cranganore),
that there was there a temple to Augustus, and that two cohorts of soldiers were
employed in protecting the trade. But notwithstanding this there is a singular
deficiency in the contemporary Latin and Greek authors of any fresh information
regarding the countries of the East, and after the fall of Palmyra in A.D. 274 this
deficiency becomes still more marked.
Indeed the first really fresh and authentic piece of information about the
Malabar Coast is that contained in the writings of a Byzantine monk by name Cosmas
Indicopleustes, who lived in the early part of the sixth century A.D. He wrote : “In the
Island Taprobane (i.e., Ceylon) there is a church of Christians, and clerks, and
faithful. Likewise at Mala where the pepper-grows ; and in the town Kalliena1, there
is also a Bishop consecrated in Persia.”
NOTEs: 1. Near Udipi in South Canara. END OF NOTEs
And in further confirmation of the fact that Christianity had meanwhile

taken root in Malabar, a letter in Assemani's Bibliotheca, from the Patriarch
Jesajabus (died A.D. 660) to Simon, Metropolitan of Persia, blames his neglect of
duty, saying that in consequence not only is India, “which extends from the coast of
the kingdom of Persia to Colon,3 a distance of 1,200 parasangs, deprived of a regular
ministry, but Persia itself is left in darkness.” (Colonel Yule in foot-note. Caldwell's
Dravidian Grammar, p. 27.)
NOTEs: 2. One of the Kollams, probably the southern (Quilon proper). END OF NOTEs
It would be out of place here to attempt to trace in detail the influences

brought to bear during these centuries of commerce on India and Europe
respectively. It is certain that Indian ideas and practices contributed largely to the
form which orthodox Christianity in the West finally adopted. Monasteries and
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nunneries, tonsures, rosaries, confession, and celibacy all seem to have found their
way to Europe from Indian sources.
And in return, the West seems to have given to the East arts and sciences,
architecture, the art of coining money, and in particular the high ideal of religion
contained in Christianity, as St. Chrysostom (who died A.D. 407) wrote: “The
Syrians too, and Egyptians, and Indians, and Persians, and Ethiopians, and
innumerable other nations, translating into their own tongues the doctrines derived
from this man, barbarians though they were, learnt to philosophise.”
The Malabar Coast with its Christian settlers must have been one of the
chief centres whence European influences spread throughout the land, so it is not to
be wondered at that Vedantism at the hands of its expounder, the “gracious
teacher" — Samkaracharyar— spread from Malabar over the whole of India ; nor
that the founder — Madhavacharyar—of the sect which approaches nearest of all to
Christianity was born at Udipi, near the place (Kalliena) where, according to Cosmas
Indicopleustes, a Persian Bishop was settled in the sixth century A.D.
It was probably not from any neglect or unwillingness that the Patriarch of
Persia had failed to maintain regular Christian ministration on the Western Coast,
for a new influence had by this time (seventh century) began to be felt. Islam was
spreading rapidly over the face of the globe, and, with the conquest of Egypt (A.D.
638-40), the trade between India and Europe passed into fresh hands. These hands
were, however, for many generations engaged with conquest rather than with trade,
so that probably for two centuries at least after this time but little was done to
extend commercial enterprise.
The Christian settlements, however, were still on the coast, though sadly
embarrassed at times for regular ministrations.
As regards Muhammadan progress in Malabar, writing in the middle of the
ninth century A.D., a Muhammadan has left on record “I know not that there is any
one of either nation” (Chinese and Indian) “that has embraced Muhammadanism or
speaks Arabic.” (Renaudot’s “Ancient Accounts of India, etc” London, 1733).
It will be necessary to revert here to indigenous sources of information,
scanty as these sources are. The true ancient history of Southern India, almost
unrecorded by its own people in anything worthy of the name of history, appears as
yet only as a faint outline on canvas. Thanks to the untiring labours of European
scholars and of one or two native scholars these faint outlines are gradually
assuming more distinct lines, but it is impossible as yet to offer anything even
approaching to a picture in full detail of any period or of any state, for the sources
of information contained in inscriptions and deeds are extremely scanty, and even in
genuinely ancient deeds it is frequently found that the facts to be gathered from
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them are unreliable owing to the deeds themselves having been forged at periods
long subsequent to the facts which they pretend to state.
The Malayali country is, further, most peculiarly unfortunate in not having
preserved its traditions in inscriptions and deeds after the manner in vogue
elsewhere. The eulogies of court poets, as embodied in the inscriptions found in
other parts of South India, though generally full of inflated language, relate the
names and relationships and reigns of kings and princes from remote antiquity
down to the time when the grant or privilege contained in the deed was finally
conferred by the then reigning sovereign or chief.
When these statements, taken from different inscriptions, agree among
themselves, fairly reliable evidence of the facts is obtained. But in Malabar, besides
the fact that such inscriptions are, so far as present knowledge goes, extremely rare,
it further seems to have been the habit not to record the grant of privileges in this
fashion, so that even this meagre source of information is not available. Then, again,
the inscriptions recording alleged grants by the neighbouring dynasty of the Gangas
or Kongus are precisely those with which the greatest liberties seem to have been
taken by forgers, and the consequent difficulty of eliciting what is true and of
rejecting what is false has resulted in throwing doubt on information which might
have been utilised to some extent in the history of the Malayalis.
It is then only when inscriptions of neighbouring dynasties throw some
side-light on the course of events in Malabar, and thus supplement facts and
inferences to be drawn from indigenous sources of information, that it is possible to
make use of the studies of modern scholars in this direction. How small the results
are so far shall now be set forth.
One dynasty, besides those — Chera, Chola and Pandya—already mentioned,
stands prominently forward in the ancient history of the south.
This dynasty is that of the Pallavas, as they are usually called, or Pallavas of
Kanchi (Conjeeveram) as they are also sometimes styled. It is proved by inscriptions
that the dynasty was in existence in the fourth or fifth century A.D. and at a still
earlier period in the second or third century. When and how far they invaded
Malabar, and whether, having taken the country, it was the Cherumars or the
Kurumbars, or partly the one and partly the other that they displaced, is at present
matter of speculation. It is quite possible that the dynasty is still represented in
Malabar by the Vallodi or Valluvanadi caste of Nayars.
There is also a servile caste of Valluvar who are labourers, fishers, ferrymen
and sorcerers. Of these two classes, the former inhabit Valluvanad (i.e the country
of the Valluvar), which to the present day gives its name to one of the taluks of the
district ; while the latter are usually regarded as of superior rank to the huntsmen
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who abound on the slopes of the Western Ghats and in Wainad. The latter are
called Kurumbar, or Kurchiar, or Kuravar, and they too have a local habitation in
the low country in the name of one of the present taluks called Kurumbranad or the
country of the Kurumbar.
The Kurumbar were originally, and are to the present day in districts east of
the ghats, shepherds and herdsmen, and from their having given their name to such
an unpastoral portion of the district as Kurumbranad, it is perhaps safe to conclude
that it was only occupied by them under compulsion, and that there they made a
stand for some considerable time.
The Valluvar country, on the other hand, is a fine pastoral country lying
close to the south-west slopes of the Nilgiris, just such a country as shepherds and
herdsmen would select.
It is not improbable, therefore, if the Cherumar (agrestic slaves) are, as
suggested, the real aborigines of the ancient Chera kingdom, that they were
displaced to some extent at least by a more independent race of shepherds, who in
turn gave way to the Valluvar (?Pallavar). The fact that the Kurumbars preferred a
roving life in the jungles to a sedentary one in subjection on the plains, proves them
to have been a superior race, and indeed to the present day they very markedly
retain this characteristic.
As to when the Tiyar or Islanders (Cingaloso) and the Nayars (militia) came
into Malabar it is at present hardly possible even to suggest.
These castes constitute by far the largest portion of the Hindu population at
the present day. They were certainly both settled in the country at the time when the
Jews’ and Christians’ deeds of privileges were granted (A.D. 700 to 825), but there is
very little evidence to show one way or other how long they had at that time been
settled in the land.
The Cingalese tradition is that the Cholas invaded Ceylon so early as in the
third century B.C., and again in the second century B.C., and for a third time in the
second century A.D. ; that the Cingalese retaliated and invaded the mainland, and
that after the second century A.D. there were constant wars between the two races.
These dates are quite uncertain, but it is perhaps to be inferred that the islanders
obtained possession of some portion of the mainland, and were in turn brought
under subjection by an irruption of the Tamil race (Nayars) under Kshatriya leaders
from the East Coast.
If, as tradition says, the islanders brought with them the coconut tree-—the
“southern tree” as it is still called — then, judging from the facts stated in the foot-
note to page 79, this must have happened some time after the beginning of the
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Christian era ; and, judging from the fact that the tree was well known to, and fully
described by Cosmas Indicopleustes, the islanders [Tiyar) must have been settled in
the country before the middle of the sixth century A.D.
The Nayars again were certainly settled in the country before A.D. 700, and
they are consequently not the descendants of the Cholas, who are historically known
to have subjected the greater portion of Southern India in the end of the ninth and
in the tenth and eleventh centuries A.D. It must have been an earlier invasion of
Tamils that brought the Nayars into Malabar. Judging from the fact to be alluded to
presently that the whole of South India, including Kerala, was in the seventh century
A.D. under the sway (suzerainty) of the Pallavas of Kanchi (Conjeevaram), and from
the fact that the Tamil and Malayalam languages were in those days practically
identical, it may be inferred that the ruling caste of Nayar3 were already settled in
Malabar in the early centuries A.D., and may possibly have been on the coast at a
very much earlier period, Mr. Ellis considered1 that Malabar was divided into
chieftainships (Ulayavar) about 389 A.D., and there is a strong tradition in favour of
so early a date.
NOTEs: 1. See Dr. Gundert’s note to cl. g of Deed No. 1, Appendix XIX. END OF
NOTEs
The Pallavas of Kanchi continued in power for many centuries after they
first come to notice in the fourth or fifth century A.D. Indeed they did not
disappear as a power till the fourteenth century, although for a long period before
that time they had subsided into the position of mere feudatories. According to the
earlier grants, in the fourth or fifth century A.D. they had pushed their dominions as
far north as Badami, for they are styled “crushers of Vatapi,” the ancient name of
that place. But their conquests in that region seem to have excited opposition, for an
early dynasty of Kadambas comes to notice, and one of that line — Mrigesa—in the
fifth century is mentioned as having been “a very fire of destruction to the
Pallavas,” and of another of them (Ravi Varma) it is recorded that he “uprooted
Chandadanda, the Lord of Kanchi”.
The Pallava kingdom probably about this time reached its greatest
dimensions, and there is hardly any room for doubt that it was to it that Fah Hian,
the Chinese pilgrim (about 400 A.D,), referred when he wrote regarding the great
kingdom of the Tha-Thsen (Dakshina or south). “Those who desire to proceed
thither” he wrote, “ should first pay a certain sum of money to the king of the
country, who will then appoint people to accompany them and show them the
way.”
This custom clearly refers to the well-known ancient Malayali system of
Changatam (convoy, guard) from which the Nayar chieftains used to derive some
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revenue. These are small matters enough to serve as links of connection between
the ancient Pallavas and the Nayars, but a deed is still in existence of date about the
fifth century A.D. , in which the genealogy of some of the ancient Pallava kings is
given, and in which one of the Pallava headquarters is said to be a place called
“Palakkada,” which may, as a writer in the Indian Antiquary (V, 154) has suggested,
be taken to be Palghat, lying within a few miles of Valluvanad [i.e., the Valluvar (?
Pallava) country].
It will be seen presently that in the ancient deeds a dear distinction is drawn
between the Keralas and the Pallavas. These names, and likewise those already so
often mentioned—Chola and Pandya— were, however, dynastic names rather than
names of distinct nations. The Tamil race seems to have spread over the whole of
the peninsula and to have split up into three kingdoms — Chera, Chola and
Pandya—corresponding to those very ancient and well-known divisions of the
Peninsula. The Pallava kingdom of Kanchi was probably a fourth dynasty founded
when the Tamils thus spread as a conquering race over the South.
In 500-504 A.D. it is recorded by Chinese writers that a king of India sent
an ambassador as far as China, taking with him presents consisting of pepper,
ginger, sugar, sandalwood, tortoise-shell, etc., and it was said that this Indian nation
traded to the West with the Romans and Parthians, and to the east as far as Siam
and Tonquin. Their sovereign was said to wear a small lock of hair dressed spirally
on the crown of his head, and to wear the rest of his hair very short. The people, it
is also said, wrote on palm leaves and were excellent astronomers. The produce sent
as presents, the trade to East and West, and the manner of wearing the hair, are all
so essentially Malayali, that it is difficult to resist the conclusion that the ambassador
must have been sent from some place on the Malabar Coast.
With the founding about the end of the sixth century A.D. of the dynasty
of the Chalukyas, a most important political influence began to bear on the nations,
if they may so be called, of the South. The founder of the dynasty (Pulakesi I) is
styled the “Lord of Vatapi” (Badami), “the best of cities.”
The dynasty was founded by dispossessing the Pallavas of that city, and, in
the reign of Pulakesi I’s successor Kirtti Varma, by the breaking up of the
“confederacy of the Kadambas" with whom the Pallavas had already been at war.
Kirtti Varma, whose reign terminated in 567-68 A.D., is recorded to have “broken
the Kadamba tree” and to have subdued the Kadambas of Vanavasi. Kirtti Varma's
younger brother (Mangalisa ) next reigned for some years during the minority of
Kirtti Varma's son (Pulakesi 11 or Satyasraya), but, being ambitious of securing the
kingdom for his own son, he seems to have lost his life in the attempt, and the
family perhaps in consequence of these dissensions split up about the beginning of
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the seventh century A.D. into two branohes, which are respectively known as the
Western and Eastern Chalukyas.
It is with the former alone that it is necessary to deal in considering the
history of Malabar.
Of the first king of the Western Chalukyas branch, Pulakesi II, it is
recorded; “When he prepared himself speedily for the conquest of the Cholas, the
river” (Kaveri) “which abounds in the rolling eyes of the carp, abandoned its contact
with the ocean, having (the onward flow of) its waters obstructed by the bridge
formed by his elephants, from whom rut was flowing. There he caused the great
prosperity of the Cholas and the Keralas and the Pandyas, but became a very sun to
(melt) the hoar frost which was the army of the Pallavas."
He is also said to have “caused the Lord of the Pallavas, who had arrived at
the eminence of his own power, to hide his prowess within the ramparts of the city
of Kanchi.” This, the first of the Western Chalukya irruptions, seems to have taken
place in the early part of the seventh century A.D.
It is to be inferred from this that Pallava influence had, some time prior to
these events, become to some extent paramount in the south, overshadowing the
other dynasties, to whom it was a relief that an invader from the north should have
been able to drive the Pallava king to take shelter within the ramparts of his own
capital.
Contemporary grants do not record that Kerala became at this time tributary
to the Western Chalukya king, but in a forged grant of about the tenth century it is
recorded, not of Pulakesi II, the founder of the Western Chalukya line, but of
Pulakesi I, the founder of the whole family, that he “made the kings of Chola, and
Chera, and Kerala, and Simhala. (Ceylon), and Kalinga, to pay tribute,” and punished
the Pandya and other chieftains.
There is no reason to suppose, however, that such was the fact. The forger
of the grant evidently confused the two Pulakesis, amplified the exploits of the later
of the two kings and tacked them on to the earlier of the two, whose authority he
wished to have in favour of his grant. But the fact of a deed (albeit forged) of the
tenth century recording that Chera was distinct from Kerala opens up ground for
remark. It has already been noticed (page 224) that the traditionary limits of the
original Kerala extended from Putupattanam on the Kotta river to Kannetti in
Travancore. If this was Kerala, where then was Chera?
The answer to this is not easy to suggest. The forger may have referred to
the Ganga or Kongu dynasty under the name of Chera, and the confusion as to
Gangas and Cheras may have had an origin as ancient as his time. The fact that he
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would have been historically incorrect in such an allusion would not matter to one
who could be so far wrong as to mistake Pulakesi I for Pulakesi II.
In a genuine deed nearer the time of the occurrences it is specifically said
that Pulakesi II in his southern raid, was “closely attended by the Gangas. And it
may be noted in passing that this confederation seems to have been brought about
first by the conquest of the Gangas by Mrigesa, the Kadamba already mentioned as
having fought the Pallavas, and secondly by the subsequent conquest of the
Kadambas by the Chalukyas under Kirtti Varma. The Gangas, under these
circumstances, must have in turn accepted the Chalukyas as their suzerains, and it
was quite natural that they should under such circumstances join in Pulakesi II’s raid
against the Pallavas.
If the forger did not refer to the Gangas, then it is to be inferred that the
reference was to a Chera dynasty as distinct from the Kerala dynasty. Perhaps the
Pallavas still held that part of Malabar where their name still seems to linger—the
Valluvunad. The chieftain of this nad, the Valluva Konattiri, or as he is sometimes
called, the Vallabhan or Vellattiri Raja, is in the Jews’ deed (c. A.D. 700) styled the
Arangott Utayavar, meaning the chieftain who held the country on the other side
(Angotta) of the river (ar), and as this is a title by which the Valluva Konattiri is still
known on account of his dominions lying to the north of the Ponnani river, it may
perhaps be correct that in the seventh century this part of Chera was held by the
Pallavas ( Valluvar) as distinct from the Keralas. It is certain that the Valluva
Konattiri after the last Perumal’s departure in A.D. 825 became the protector of the
Maha Makkam feast at Tirunavayi, and this looks as if he had held a distinguished
place among the Malayali chiefs before that time—a place so distinguished that he
appears to have superseded the last Perumal’s lawful heir (Cochin) as protector at
this festival.
In the seventh century it is certain that Gokarnam, the traditionary most
northerly point of Kerala, was already famous as a place of worship, for Siva is
alluded to about this time as the “Lord (svami) of Gokarna.”
It is almost certain that the Vedic Brahmans proper had not at this time
migrated to the south. “The bones of the dead,” so wrote in 605 A.D. one of the
numerous Chinese pilgrims who flocked at this time to India “are burned and their
ashes placed in a so-tu (stupa),” a practice which Malayalis certainly observed
originally if the evidence of the rude stone monuments of the district signifies
anything (conf. pp. 179-83).
“So long as the bones remain undisturbed and undefiled,
“So long does the soul enjoy heaven”..
seems, as already said, to have been the original faith.
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History
But with the advent of the Vedic Brahmans came a change in this respect.
These posed before the rude chieftains with whom they came in contact as “God-
compellers.” Their sonorous mantrams and spells could compel the gods to take the
wandering ghosts of even the worst of men direct to heaven. There was no necessity
for costly death houses, and for furnishing such with all the deceased’s weapons and
implements in use by him during life. A few sonorous phrases, a ringing of bells and
burning of incense, and the thing was accomplished, and it only remained to scatter
the ashes of the deceased over the surface of some holy river to ensure to him a
welcome into the heaven of Indra.
In a grant of perhaps the fifth century A.D. and coming from the far north
(Ilichpur), it is recorded by a king that “in order to increase our spiritual merit, life,
strength, conquests, and rule, and for the sake of our welfare in this and the next
world” he gave some land to certain Brahmans, on the condition, however—a
unique fact perhaps, but perhaps necessary before the sacred status of the Brahmans
had been established beyond doubt that they should continue to be loyal and
peaceful citizens.
From this time forward grant after grant by different dynasties — Western
Chalukya, Kalinga, Gurjora, Mahavali, Rashtrakuta, Ganga — record that lands were
given to Brahmans, with libations of water (the well-known incident of the Nirattiper
tenure in Malabar), in order to increase the religious merit of the grantors and of
their deceased relatives.
And so the faith in the necessity for sraddha ceremonies, and in the
necessity for the removal of the ashes of the dead to sacred rivers, seems gradually
to have worked its way southwards towards Malabar in the wake of the "God-
compelling” Vedic Brahmans. There is no reason however, for thinking that such a
change in the faith of the Malayalis had taken root before the beginning of the
seventh century A.D. ; indeed it will be seen presently that the great Brahman
migration into Malabar did not probably take place till a century later.
Between the years 629-45 A.D. the Chinese traveller Hwen Thsang visited
South India, and from the work of his two pupils, translated by M. Stan. Julien,
many facts can be gathered regarding the condition of the south at this time. He
visited the Pallava kingdom called Ta-lo-pi-tch'a (Dravida), and he described the
capital —Kanchi—as being 30 li in circumference. He described the people as brave
and eager (ardent), profoundly attached to good faith and justice, and holding science
in esteem. He found 100 monasteries with 10,000 Buddhist or perhaps Jain votaries,
and 80 temples of the gods frequented by naked heretics, whom Dr. Burnell, for
substantial reasons (Ind. Ant. I, 309) has identified as Digambara Jains, followers of
the 24th Tirthamkar.
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From Dravida he proceeded to Malakuta, which lay in the Kaveri delta of

Tanjore. The people there were black, rough (dur) and passionate, having among
them partisans both of the truth and of error. They did not care for the cultivation
of the arts “el mettent loute leur habilete a poursuivre le lucre." The naked heretics
(Digambara Jains) were in great force.
Unfortunately he did not visit the Malabar Coast. He, however, noticed the
fact that sandalwood and a camphor-bearing tree (cinnamon) grew on the
mountains of Mo-la-ye (Malaya), "dont les sommets escarpes dominent des vallees profondes".
And he further noticed that a certain island which he described as lying to
the south-west of Persia was peopled only by women. Reference is probably here
made to the Island of Minicoy, and this subject will again occur in considering
Marco Polo’s account of the male and female islands.
Hwen Thsang’s description is here transcribed : "Au sud-ouest du royaume Po-
la-see (Persia) dans une ile, se lrouve le royaume des femmes d'occident; on n'y voit que des femmes
et pas un seul homme. Ce pays abonde en productions rares et precicuses; it est sous la dependance
du royaume de Fo-lin, dont le roi leur enovie chaque annee des maris qui s'unissent avec elles: mais
lorsqu'elles mettent au monde des gracons les lois du pays defendent de les elever."
About the time of Hwen Thsang’s visit the Pallavas seem to have made an
effort and to have recovered temporarily from the Western Chalukyas the town of
Vatapi (Badami), and in this they were apparently assisted as feudatories by the three
rulers of Chola, Pandya and Kerala.
The Chalukya king Pulakesi II at his death seems to have left three infant
sons. During their minority Vijaya battarika assumed the reins of government. The
oldest son died and made way for Vikramaditya I. The southern powers apparently
saw, while this interregnum lasted, a chance of suppressing the rising dynasty and
accordingly combined against it.
That the combination was successful at the time is borne out by more than
one Chalukya grant. The Pallava king is referred to in one of those as the leader
“who had been the cause of the discomfiture and the destruction of that family
which was as pure as the rays of the moon.”1
NOTEs: 1. The Chalukyas claimed to belong to the Somavaea or Lunar Race. END OF
NOTEs
But retribution speedily came, for it is recorded of Vinayaditya that during

the lifetime of his father Vikramaditya I (about 670-80 A.D.), and by his command,
he “arrested the extremely exalted power of the Pallavas, whose kingdom consisted
of three component dominions.” This last phrase, though it occurs more than once
and in different deeds, is not explained therein.
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History
In regard to it Mr. Fleet thus expresses his views : “The expression points
distinctly to there being three well-defined and recognised divisions of the Pallava
dominions. They may have been each ruled by a separate king of a separate branch
of the dynasty ; or they may have been under one monarch with a viceroy in each of
the three provinces.”
There is little room for doubt that the expression refers to the “Chola,
Pandya and Kerala ” rulers, who, in another grant of Vinayaditya's, are specifically
referred to as “the proud summits” of three mountains which he “rent open (like
Indra) with the thunderbolt which was his prowess.”
How much Vinayaditya and his father Vikramaditya I accomplished in this
raid into the South it is not easy to suggest. Vikramaditya I is said to have “had the
water-lilies which were his foot kissed by the diadem of the Lord of Kanchi, who
had bowed down before no other,” and of Vinayaditya, it is recorded that he
“caused the riders of Kamera and Parasika and Simhala and other islands to pay
tribute to him.”
The name Kamera occurs in two grants ; in another it occurs as Kavera
(perhaps Kaveri), and in a fourth the word used is Kerala. Parasika is the modern
Halsi in Belgaum, the capital of the early Kadamba dynasty, and Simhala is Ceylon.
It is not improbable that the Chalukyas entered into separate tributary
relations with the Kerala ruler at this time. Their policy would certainly be to break
up the southern confederacy which had nearly proved fatal to them. And the
isolated position of the Keralas behind their mountains would render it easier to
detach them than any of the other combined powers.
It is not improbable also that it was at this time that the Kerala territory
lying to the east of the Palghat gap (vide page 252) which to this day Malayalis call the
Kongunad, was lopped off from their possessions. For in more than one grant of
Vinayaditya's allusion is made to him as the king “by whom the Pallavas, the
Kalambras, the Keralas, the Haihayas, the Vilas, the Malavas, the Cholas, the Pandyas and
others were brought into a similar state of servitude, with the Aluvas and Gangas and
others who were hereditarily (subject to him).”
The Gangas or Kongus (as Malayalis call them) must have followed their
suzerain in his southern raid, and not improbably drove the Keralas inside their
mountain limits at this time (c . A.D. 680-96).
Of Vinayaditya's successor in the early part of the eighth century A.D.
nothing further is related regarding measures affecting the southern powers than
that he is said to have “uprooted the clumps of thorns among the kings of the
south.”
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But the next of the Western Chalukya kings — Vikramaditya II (A.D. 732-
47)— seems to have directed all his energies to the subjugation of the Pallavas of
Kanchi. It is said he slew the Pallava king, whose name Nandi Polavarma is given,
and took a big drum belonging to him called “Roar of the Sea.” He directed three
expeditions apparently against Kanchi, and his successor Kirtti Varma II, whilst heir -
apparent, seems to have commanded in one of them.
As regards the other powers of the south, nothing more is recorded than
that Vikramaditya II “withered up Pandya, Chola, Kerala, Kalabra, and other kings.”
These expeditions, however, which were probably in great measure
unsuccessful as permanent conquests, seem to have exhausted the Western
Chalukya resources, and the natural reaction set in. In the reign of Kirtti Varma II
(A.D. 747-57) the Rashtrakuta dynasty rose to power and effaced for a time the
glories of the Chalukyas. The Rashtrakuta king Dantidurga coming from the north,
subdued the victorious army of Karnata (Chalukya), and of Kirtti Varma II it is
recorded that “through him the regal fortune of the Chalukyas became impeded on
the earth.”
Dantidurga the Rashtrakuta king’s date has been fixed by means of grants
as A.D. 725-55, and with his conquest of the Western Chalukyas a fresh political
influence began to bear on the kingdoms of the south. That he came into collision
with the southern powers is not stated. It is merely recorded of him that he
conquered the army of Karnata (Western Chalukya), “which had been expert in
defeating the Lords of Kanchi and Kerala, the Chola, the Pandya, Sriharsha and
Vajrata”. But after this the dynasty rapidly acquired great and extensive influence. It
extended its rule not only over the Dekhan proper, hut over the Konkana, a portion
of Gujarat and Central India, up to the Vindhya mountains, and its influence made
itself felt much further to the north.
It was Krishna I, the successor of Dantidurga, who built the temple of
Ellura, and the second king after Krishna I, by name Dhruva (about 770-79 A.D.),
seems to have set himself in earnest to conquer the south. The Pallavas of Kanchi had
probably, in the Western Chalukya wars, lost much of their influence in the south.
Dhruwa, it is recorded, managed to hem in the army of the Pallavas between his
army on the one side and the ocean on the other, and despoiled the conquered of
their fighting elephants, which were much prized in the armaments of Indian kings.
The Pallava king seems to have had but little choice left to him than “to bow down
before him” as another grant records.
With the conquest of the Western Chaluhyas the tributary lien on Kerala and
the suzerainty over the Gangas must also have passed to the Rashtrakutas. The
Ganga king seems to have rebelled against the yoke, for Dhruva, it is recorded,
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History
conquered and imprisoned him, and from this time forward down at least to the
beginning of the tenth century the Gangas continued to follow their Rashtrakuta
suzerains in their battles.
In the reign of Govinda III, his successor (A.D. 803-814-15), they were in
particular used in the wars against the Eastern Chalukya dynasty, one of whose kings
(Vijayaditya or Narendra Mriga Raja) fought, it is recorded, a hundred and eight
battles against the combined Rashtrakutas and Gangas in the short space of twelve
and a half years. It was perhaps on account of this good service that Govinda III
released the captive Ganga king (imprisoned by Dhruva), but his lenient policy
failed, for he had again shortly to retake and reimprison him.
Whether it was at this time, or shortly before or after it, is uncertain, but the
Keralas also began to give trouble. Of Govinda III one grant records that “(Having
conquered) the Keralas, the Malavas (and) the Santas, together with the Gurjaras
(and) .... who dwelt at the hill fort of Chitrakuta, then he (became) a very Narayana
on the earth in inspect of fame.”
And again in another grant belonging to the allied dynasty (Rathor) of
Gujarat it is recorded, “...and the array of the Mahasamantas1 of the region of the
south, terrified, and not holding together, and having their possessions in the course
of being taken away from them by Srivallabha” (i.e., Govinda III), ‘‘through
(showing) inspect, obtained protection from him” (i.e., Indra III , the Rathor king of
Gujrat).
NOTEs: The Malayan chieftains all claim to be of the Samantha caste, with the exception of
one or two who claim Kshatriya rank. END OF NOTEs
It may be doubted whether, as alleged, the victory over the Keralas was very
complete. But the fact that expeditions into Malabar did about this time occur is in
consonance with local tradition2. Local tradition, however, says that they were
repulsed, and that the Eradi chiefs of the Zamorin's house were, with the aid of the
Ten Thousand Nayars of Polanad, the chief instruments of the discomfiture of the
invasion via the Palghat gap, while the Northern Kolattiri seems to have arrested
that which came by way of the coast.
NOTEs: Pages 236-37. END OF NOTEs
It is doubtful whether after this time (early part of the ninth century A.D.)
the Rashtrakuta dynasty had any dealings directly with Kerala. The invaders were
probably driven back, as Malayali tradition indeed asserts. At any rate there is
apparently nothing yet on record to prove that the Rashtrakutas conquered Malabar
; whereas, on the contrary, the fighting with the Pallavas and with the Eastern
Chalukyas continued from this time down to about the beginning of the tenth
century A.D., and this probably occupied most of their attention.
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It was about this latter time that the great irruption from the south into the
Dekhan took place. The Cholas had probably during all these years been husbanding
their strength, and when the other dynasties had exhausted themselves in barren
conflicts, the greater part of their dominions fell an easy prey to the southern
dynasty. The final blow to the Rashtrakuta supremacy was dealt by Tailapa or Taila,
who revived the dynasty of the Western Chalukyas in the latter half of this same
tenth century A.D.
But it will be necessary to revert here to matters more immediately
concerning Malabar, and the epoch is a convenient one for the purpose, because, on
the 25th August 825 A.D., there dawned, as already explained (pp. 157-60), the
Kollam Era of the Malayalis. There are three ancient Malayali deeds which have
excited much interest, not only because of their antiquity, but because of the
interesting fact that by them the ancient kings of Kerala conferred on the Jewish and
Christian colonies certain privileges which those colonies, to a certain extent, do still
possess. Those deeds have been more than once translated, and in Appendix XII
will be found translations of them by the most erudite of Malayalam scholars, Dr.
H. Gundert.
The dates to be assigned to these deeds have been much discussed, but
there is a general agreement among those best capable of judging that the Jews’ deed
(No. 1) is of date about the end of the seventh or beginning of the eighth century
A.D. Dr. Burnell says of No. 2, the settlement deed of the main colony of
Christians, that “the only possible date is A.D. 774.”
And as regards No. 3, the settlement deed of the southern Christian colony,
it is on general grounds placed about 50 years later than No. 2. or about A.D. 824,
and in corroboration of the correctness of this conclusion it may be pointed out that
two Nestorian priests, by name Mar Sapor, and Mar Peroz, or Peroses, or Pargos,1
are known to have proceeded about 822 A.D. from Babylon to Quilon, and to have
founded a Christian colony there, and the name of the grantee of the privileges
conveyed by No. 3, namely, Maruvan Sapir Iso is evidently identical with the name
of the first-mentioned of these priests.
NOTEs: Forster’s “Fra Bartelomœo,” London, 1,800 foot note to p. 91. END OF
NOTEs
These three deeds, when read together1 and along with No. 4, the date of
which has not yet been authoritatively fixed, afford evidence of the following facts :
—
Chera, or to use its better known Canarese equivalent Kerala, was at this
time (end of seventh to first quarter of ninth century) a petty empire extending in a
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History
southerly direction at least as far as Quilon, and in a northerly direction at least as

far as Calicut.
The petty suzerains who ruled this tract of country were —
At the time of No. 1 (c A. I). 700)- — Bhaskara Ravi Varma .
At the time of No. 2 (A.D. 774) — Vira Raghava Chacravarti,
and
At the time of No. 3 (c. A.D. 824) Sthanu Ravi Gupta.
NOTEs: See the foot-notes in the Appendix. END OF NOTEs
These three names are, so far as investigations have yet proceeded, the only
really authentic names known of the kings or Perumals of ancient Chera or Kerala.
And the last named of them is probably identical with the Cheraman Perumal (a title
meaning literally the bigman of the Cheras), whose name is in the mouth of every
child on the coast. His title of Gupta seems to point to the family having been of
Mauryan descent and it very possibly came from the Konkana.
Below the suzerain were a number of chieftains or princes (Utayavar—
literally owners) of nads (counties), including among them the well-known families
of Venad (Travancore), Eralanad (Zamorin), Valluvanad, and Nedumpuraiyurnad
(Palghat).
The nad (country) was the territorial organisation of the ruling caste
(Nayars), and, in two instances at least (Venad and Cheranad), it was the territory of
the “Six hundred.” These “Six hundred” were the supervisors (Kanakkar) and
protectors of the nad. The importance to the country of this Nayar organisation has
already2 been dwelt upon. It was, as the Keralolpatti expressly says, their duty "to
prevent the rights from being curtailed or suffered to fall into disuse.” They were, in
short, the custodians of ancient rights and customs; they chastised the chieftains’
ministers when they committed “unwarrantable acts,” and were the “Parliament” of
the land.
NOTEs: Conf. pp. 88, 89, 132, 133. END OF NOTEs
Under such circumstances it becomes easy to understand how institutions

existed unchanged for centuries, and how some of the influential families (continued
when necessary by adoptions from allied families) who ruled the nads in the eighth
and ninth centimes A.D. still continued to rule them when the British acquired the
country in 1792.
Custom was the law of the land, and it did not escape the attention of some
of the early British administrators that this was so. Lord William Bentinck wrote in
1804 that there was one point in regard to the character of the inhabitants of
Malabar, on which all authorities, however diametrically opposed to each other on
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other points, agreed, and that was with regard to the “independence of mind ”of the
inhabitants.
This “independence of mind” was “generally diffused through the minds of
the people. They are described as being extremely sensible of good treatment, and
impatient of oppression; to entertain a high respect for courts of judicature, and to
be extremely attached to their customs. Agriculture is considered as an honourable
occupation, and the rights of landed property and the division of the produce of the
soil between the landlord and tenant are perfectly defined and confirmed by immemorial
usage”.
The “independence of mind” which is here referred to by Lord William
Bentinck, and which has been noticed by every district officer then and since, could
only have been the slow growth of a steady political system, and there can be no
doubt that this territorial organisation of the
Nayars into supervising and protecting agencies
was the system which produced such (for India)
unexpected results.
To the Jews and Christians
organisations were given similar to that, of the
Nayars. Their headmen (Joseph Rabban and
Iravi Corttan respectively) were raised with
hereditary rank to (at least a nominal) equality of
rank with the chieftains (Utayavar — Woddear
of Mysore and Coorg) of the nads. The privileges
conferred on them along with their rank as
Utayavar are very curious, viz. :
(a) The seventy-two Viduper, attached to
lordship over the land. —What these were cannot now be fully stated, as the only
information regarding them is contained in clause (b ) of No. 1 and in clause (k) of
deed No. 3 (Appendix XII).
From the instances there given they appear to have been generally of a
sumptuary character, such as the use of elephants carrying earth and water in marriage or
other processions ; tribute from subordinate, landholders—the revenues of the land granted ; the
light by day, a well-known privilege still highly prized by the ruling houses of
Travancore and Cochin and other chieftains; the spreading cloth to walk upon; the litter
or palanquin still in common use ; the umbrella , another privilege still highly prized
by Malayali chieftains ; the Vaduca drum; the trumpet, that is, the conch shell, which
still figures in the emblazonments of the Travancore and Cochin rulers ; the gateway
with seats, that is, probably the power of administering justice ; ornamental arches and
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History
similar awnings and garlands, still thrown across the paths taken by members of the
ruling houses—“and the rest”
(b ) Remission of tribute to the Supreme Government.
(c) Remission of taxes to the king’s house due from townspeople.
(d) The privilege of receiving presents when townspeople receive them.
(e) Feast cloth.
(f) House pillars or pictured rooms.
(g) The curved sword or dagger, that is, probably, the right to make war armed
with the distinctive Nayar1 weapon, the ayudha katti (war-knife), or as it is sometimes
called, the kodunga katti (curved knife).
NOTEs: 1.The use of this knife was proscribed by Act XXXV of 1854 in consequence of
the deadly use made of it by fanatical Mappillas. END OF NOTEs
h) Sovereign, merchantship over the four classes (cheri), who were probably all
foreigners ; Jews and Christians were certainly two of the classes ; another of them
may have been the Islanders or Cingalese (Dvipar, Divar, Tiyar, and Simhalar, Sihalar,
Ilavar) ; the fourth were Chettis (East Coast merchants) or Arabs, or perhaps Chinese.
(i) Right of proclamation.
(j) Forerunners in processions.
(k) The five musical instruments.
(l) Lordship over the oil-makers and. the five kinds of artificers, that i.e., the
carpenter, blacksmith, goldsmith, brazier, and tanner.
(m) Brokerage and customs of all general classes of goods. — The phrases used
(Deed No. 2, Appendix XII) in describing the articles to which this privilege
extended are noteworthy : “all that may be measured by the para (bushel), weighed
by the balance, stretched by the line, of all that may be counted or carried.” This is
almost an exact reproduction of the phrase so familiar to Roman jurists : Quote
pondere, numero, mensurave, constant, and it has been suggested in a foot note to the
deed that perhaps the currency of the phrase at Kodungallur (Cranganore, alias
Mouziris) is traceable back to the time of the Roman trade with that city.
But the interest in. the deeds does not end here ; and deed No. 32 in
particular is replete with allusions to the state of society then prevailing. Put into few
words the transaction therein recorded seems to have been this : Maruvan Sapir Iso
had obtained a “water” grant of some land over which one or more headmen of the
Christian community (Palliyar) already had some (inferior) claims. He bought up
their existing privileges, and transferred to certain persons, with the sanction of the
authorities, the superior title he himself had acquired. It is in regard to the notice of
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the various rights and privileges thus bought up and convoyed that the interest in
the deed seems to culminate.
NOTEs: Appendix XII END OF NOTEs
A good deal has already been said (pp. 110 to 113) about the light which
this deed (No. 3) seems to throw on the origin of the Hindu caste system, and it is
unnecessary to repeat it here. The deed itself was executed with the "concurrence”
of
(a) The local chieftain (Travancore).
(b) His next heir.
(c) His officers.
(d) His ministers.
(e) The “Six hundred.”
(f) The neighbouring lords ; and with the “sanction” of
(g) The Perumal or suzerain.
Moreover the “Six hundred,” that is, the Nayar congregation of the nad,
were associated with the Jewish and Christian communities (Anjuvannam and
Mamiymmwm) in the protection of the subordinate community of Christians
founded by this deed. The reason of this seems to have been that the “Six hundred”
were always on the spot, while Anjuvannam and Manigramam were a long way off.
The church in question is understood to have been situated at Southern Kollam
(Quilon), or somewhere in South Travancore territory, while Anjuvannam and
Manigramam lay at Cranganore some miles north of Cochin.
It will be noted further that in addition to the “sanction" of the Perumal,
the “concurrence” of the various persons detailed above was considered necessary
to complete the formality of the grant. Why was this? The answer seems to be plain
enough. The local chieftain (Travancore) was evidently the headman of the local
“Six hundred.”
Until Maruvan Sapir Iso obtained from the Perumal this “water” grant the
local chief and the local “Six hundred” were the protectors of this as well as of the
other territory of their nad, and, most probably, entitled as such to the Pati's share of
the produce. If this was so, it will be seen that the Perumal was bound in justice to
make this grant only after he had ascertained that such proposals—transfer to the
Jewish and Christian corporate bodies of the protection trust, and along with it the
Pati's share of the produce—would be agreeable to the authorities of the nad. The
neighbouring lords were probably individuals who had already received similar
“water” grants of other bits of the nad.
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The following is a list of the rights and privileges noticed in this deed. Some
of those are obscure in meaning, and possibly further research may show that some
of the terms have been misunderstood.
(a) Varakol (share1 staff) of certain Iluvar
and other families.
(b) Foot-rope right. \For mounting trees.
(c) Ladder right / For mounting trees.
(d) Tax on elephant feeder.
(e) Wash gold (tax on washerman). Inferior rights and privileges.
(/) Harvest gold. Clauses (b ) and (c).
(g) Nightly meal of rice.
(h) Pot-measure.
(t) Cavvan (? tribute).
(j) Karanmei (Karayma2 modern) of land.
(k) Power to seize and possess with the Superior right. Clause (d).
ceremony of water3 drops.
(l) Power to punish offences, Special privileges, given to the
(m) Levy of fines. holders of the “water- contact
(n) Levy of expenses. birth-right” in this instance.
Clause (e).
(o) Head price. Prices of males and females sold
(p) Breasts price. into slavery for caste offences
(q) Protection. Privileges of the Pati (over-lord).
(r) Power to enforce the grant. Clauses (f) and (g).
(s) Limitation of citizenship to sixty-one in
number
(t) Liability to pay poll-tax
(u) Limitation of hire for conveyances Limitation of the privileges
(v) Do Do Animals conferred on the “water”
(w) Limitation of mode of disposal of grantees. Clause (i).
merchandise
(x) Liability to control by the Pati (over-
lord) in carrying on the business of a lord
(svami)
(y) Liability to pay Ko-patta-varam (king’s
share of produce) and Patipattavaram (over-
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lord’s share of produce)

(z) The seventy-two Viduper, or privileges Ordinary privileges of the “water"
attaching to the “water” grant of a piece of grantees. Clause (k).
land (see above),
(aa) Right to withhold tribute due to the
Kon (king) if injustice were done. Privileges of the Pati (over-lord).
(bb) Investigation of offences by members Clauses (l) and (m).
of their own body,
(cc) Karanmei (modern Karayma) of the
town.
NOTEs: 1. It would seem that a share of the earnings of all classes formed part of the
Perumal’s revenue, and this is in accordance with the usage in some Hindu States down to the present
day.
2. Conf. pp. 110-13 and Chapter IV, Section (a)
The light thrown by these deeds on the state of society as it existed in the
eighth and ninth centuries A.D. exhibits a community in a very advanced state of
organisation. At the head of all was the Kon or King or Perumal—drawing from the
land a share of the produce of the soil called the Ko-pad's share (varam). Another
share of the produce went to the Pati (over-lord) intermediary between the Kon and
the actual landholder. The Pati, it seems, was not any particular person, but a body
corporate of the Jews in their municipal township of Anjuvannam and of the
Christians in their’s of Manigramam, and (inferentially) of the Nayars in their
corporation called the ‘‘ Six hundred”. But each body corporate had a hereditary
headman or chieftain.
These bodies corporate seem to have constituted the political back-bone of
the country, and their particular functions in the State were those of protecting and
of supervising to which several allusions have already1 been made.
NOTEs: 1 Pages 87 to 90, 111-12, 131 to 133, 168. END OF NOTEs
But whom did they “protect,” and whom did they "supervise”? The
Keralolpatti expressly says their duty was “to prevent the rights from being curtailed
or suffered to fall into disuse,” and what has already been said about the
organisation of the caste system seems to make it certain that their function in the
body politic was to keep every one in the place allotted to him by hereditary descent,
i.e., by caste, and to see that he fulfilled his hereditary functions.
And, more than this, their duty as supervisors (Kanak -kar)—the men of
the “eye”, the “hand” and the “order” as the Keralolpatti calls them-entitled them to
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a share2 in the produce of the land while collecting the Kon's (king’s) share, the
public land revenue in fact.
NOTEs: 2. The Kana-pattam (Kanampat-varam = the share of the man who had Kanam
authority, i.e., the share of the supervising caste of Nayars). The bearing of this on the question of land
tenures is most important, and will be stated in its proper place. END OF NOTEs
It is easy to understand, then, how this “protecting” and “supervising” caste

of Nayars spread themselves over the face of the land in the positions in which they
are still to be found. And it is further easy to understand how society, organised on
such lines as these, was capable of enduring almost unchanged through the long
centuries which elapsed before their country finally fell under the sway of foreign
rulers.
There is one other point which requires more than a passing notice here.
In deed No. 2 the witnesses are thus cited:—“With the knowledge of the
two Brahman divisions of Panniyur and Chowaram village have we given it, etc.”
There is no such attesting clause to deed No. 1, nor is there any such to deeds Nos.
3 and 4.
Now these two Brahman divisions or villages, as they are called, are the two
well-known Nambutiri Brahman factions of the Panniyur (literally, pig village) and
Chovur (literally, Siva village) already alluded to (p. 120). These facts seem to throw
some light on the much-disputed point as to when the Vedic Brahman irruption
into Malabar occurred, and such facts as are available on this point may
conveniently be here brought together.
It is certain that when Hwen Thsang, the Chinese pilgrim, visited Southern
India east of the ghats in A.D. 629-45, he either found no Vedic Brahmans at all, or
they were in such numbers and influence as not to deserve mention. The “sectaires
nus” whom he met in large numbers were, as Dr. Burnell was the first to point out,
Digambara Jains, i.e., adherents of the 24th Tirthamkar.
In deed No. 1—the Jew's deed—the Brahman factions were not cited as
witnesses. This happened about the beginning of the eighth century A.D.
In A.D. 774 they attested the deed No. 2.
They were not cited as witnesses to deed No. 3 of date about 822-24 A.D.
Now the communities founded by deeds Nos. 1 and 2 were located at the
Perumal’s head -quarters at Kodungallur (Cranganore), while by No. 3 was founded
a Christian community located somewhere in South Travancore. Down to the
present day no Nambutiri family of pure birth has settled to the south of the Quilon
river in South Travancore. The Travancore Rajas have “in vain tried by every means
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in their power to induce them to reside there.” (Day’s Land of the Perumauls, p. 23;
Mateer’s “Land of Charity,” p. 29.)
The table given at pages 117-18 shows that they congregate most largely in
the Calicut, Ernad, Walluvanad and Ponnani taluks of Malabar, and in the Cochin
territory and in North Travancore they are also to be found in large numbers. These
tracts constituted very nearly the whole of the portion of the Malabar coast first
named1 as Keralam in the Keralolpatti, and the chief seat of the Kerala Perumal was
at Kodungallur (Cranganore), where were located the headquarters of the Jewish
and Christian communities.
NOTEs: 1 Page 221. END OF NOTEs
But reasons have already been assigned (pp. 223-24) for thinking that the
territory over which the Kerala Perumal finally ruled was this very tract styled
Keralam (Putupattanam to Kannetti), in which the Brahmans settled most thickly. It
is not an unnatural inference consequently that the Brahmans arrived in the
declining day's of the Perumals, and as they were powerful enough to be cited with
Travancore and other chieftains as witnesses to deed No. 2, and do not appear
along with the same chieftains as witnesses to deed No. 1, it may also be inferred
that they became a power in the land somewhere between the early years of the
eighth century and the year A.D. 774.
Moreover in North Malabar, where they have settled very sparsely, one of
their villages (Peiyannnr) has adopted the law2 of inheritance customary among
Hindus on the coast. And it is noteworthy that the Muhammadans settled there
(Mappillas) have done the same thing. The Peiyannnr village is near the extreme
north of the Northern Kolattiri’s ancient domain. This looks as if the Brahman
immigrants coming from the north along the coast had only been permitted to settle
down in those parts after adopting the laws peculiar to it.
NOTEs: 2. Marumakkatayam or descent in the female line to the exclusion of the male.
END OF NOTEs
Very probably this demand to conform to the customs of the country did
not suit them. Their non-settlement in the country of the Southern Kolattiri
(Travancore) is also noteworthy in this connection.
One of the last acts of Cheraman Perumal was (according to the
Keralolpatti) to confer separate dominions on the Northern and Southern Kolattiris.
The Northern Kolattiri was employed apparently in driving back invaders coming
by the way of the coast, and the Southern Kolattiri had evidently guarded the
southern passes for some generations. If the Northern Kolattiri, after driving back
the invaders, allowed Brahman immigrants to settle down in his dominions only on
condition that they changed their habits of life and conformed to the custom of the
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country, it is not difficult to understand how the Brahmans refrained altogether

from settling down in the Southern Kolattiri (Travancore) domains.
This, too, points in the same direction, namely, to the settlement of the
Nambutiri Brahmans on the coast somewhere about the time of the last of the
Perumals.
Turning next to native traditions other than Malayali, there are in the
Mackenzie MSS, two separate accounts current in the early years of the present
century among the Canarese and among the Mahrattas.
The Canarese account, taken from the St’hala Mahatmyam of Banavasi,
relates how one Mayura Varmma, a Kadamba king of Banavasi, impressed with
reverence for a Brahman who refused to eat in a country where no Brahmans were
settled, established this man in his capital. Mayura Varmma’s son, called
Chandrangatan, it is said, called in a large colony of Brahmans and located them in
Kerala, in Tuluva, Haigiri, Concana and Corada.
The Kerala Brahmans are said to use Malayalam. It was after this so it is
further said, that Parasu Raman came1 to the country, bringing with him sixty-four
families, among whom he established his own Vaidika (ascetical) system.
NOTEs: 1 Conf. p. 221. END OF NOTEs
The Mahratta account states that Parasu Raman turned the Boyijati
(fisherman2 caste) into Brahmans in order to people Keralam. They were to
summon him from Gokarnam, whither he had retired, if they had any cause of
sorrow or regret.
NOTEs: 2. Probably intended as a slur on the origin of the Nambutiris. In Malabar also
there are indications of some such tradition having been at one time current. END OF NOTEs
They summoned him unnecessarily and he cursed them and “condemned

them to lose the power of assembling together in council, and to become servile.
They accordingly mingle with Sudra females and became a degraded race.”
“About this time one Mayura Varmma, considering these Brahmans to be
contemptible, sent for others from Hai- Kshetram and located them at different
places in his dominions.” Mayura Varmma was a Kadamba king, and was “selected,”
so the tradition runs, to rule over “Kerala and Caurashtaka Desam.”
Both traditions,3 it will be seen, credit the Kadamba king Mayura Varmma
with having been mainly instrumental in introducing Vedic Brahmans into Keralam,
and it is known from other reliable sources that Mayura1 Varmma was the first of a
resuscitated dynasty of Kadamba kings, one of whom (Tailapa) reigned from A.D
1077 to 1108.
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NOTEs: 3. For further notices of the tradition as current among the Canarese, both Jains
and Brahmans, see Buchanan's Mysore, Canara and Malabar, Volume II, pp. 225, 259, 269, 270, 270,
Madras edition, 1870.
1. There was a second of the name, but his date is much later, long after the time when,
from deed No. 2, it is known for certain that the Vedic Brahmans were firmly settled in
Malabar. END OF NOTEs
Calculating back from these dates through the sixteen generations which
had elapsed between Mayura Varmma’s time and Tailapa’s, and allowing twenty-
four years as an average,2 Mayura Varmma’s accession may be placed in the last
years of the seventh or beginning of the eighth century A.D. This again points to
the Vedic Brahman immigration having been in the early years of the eighth century
A.D., and to their having come into Malabar by way of the coast from the Tula
country (South Canara).
NOTEs: 2. This is a fair average for Indian kings of this class. END OF NOTEs
Until better evidence is forthcoming, therefore, it may be concluded from

the above facts and traditions that the “God-compelling” Vedic Brahmans, with
their mantrams, and spells, and doctrine of salvation for deceased persons through
the efficacy of their sacrifices, came in the wake of the conquering Western
Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas and their allies. The former were Vaishnavites and their
emblem was a boar, and the Panniyur (pig village) faction of the Nambutiris no
doubt was at first in a position of equality with the Saivite faction, but the
Rashtrakutas were chiefly Saivites, and the Chovur faction of the Nambutiris
managed in the end to get the ascendency.
To this day the latter party assert that the Panniyur faction is, as already
stated (p. 120), excluded from the Vedas altogether. At the time of deed No. 2 (A.D.
774) both factions seem to have been in power in Malabar.
There is only one other matter to be pointed out in connection with these
deeds. The privileges granted thereby were princely privileges, and that such favours
were conferred on foreigners engaged in trade like the Jews and Christians is matter
for remark.
Such privileges are not usually to be had for the asking, and the facts set
forth in this section seem to point to their having been granted - in the case of the
Jews’ deed (No. I), at or very near the time3 when the Western Chalukya raids into
Southern India resulted in the dismemberment of the Pallava kingdom, and its three
confederate and apparently subordinate dynasties of which Kerala was one ; and in
the case of the Christians deed (No. 2), at or very near the time4 when the
Rashtrakuta invasions of Southern India had resulted in the final subjugation of the
Pallava dynasty of Kanchi (Conjeeveram).
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NOTEs: 3. Conf. pp. 262-3.

4. Conf. pp. 263-5.END OF NOTEs
Indeed in the latter case the date of the deed (A.D. 774) falls in the reign of
Dhruva, the Rashtrakuta who hemmed in the Pallava host between his own army
and the sea, and who, after despoiling them of their fighting elephants, seems to
have let the opposing host go free in shame and contumely after making their
sovereign “bow down before him'.”
At such times money would be required in large sums to buy off opposing
hosts, and it is not therefore an improper inference to draw from the facts that, in
offering assistance in this shape, the trading foreigners met the Perumal’s wishes,
and naturally enough secured at the same time for themselves a higher standing in
the land in which they traded.
A few years1 later it may be further noted—about the time of deed No. 3—
fresh invasions of Kerala took place. It was, as the Keralolpatti tradition indicates,
threatened from two sides at once. The Northern Kolattiri chief was appointed by
the Perumal to stop the invaders—probably Kadambas or some other feudatory of
the Rashtrakutas - coming along the coast from the north, while the raid from the
east via the Palghat gap, probably by the Gangas or other feudatories of the
Rashtrakutas, seems to have been defeated by the Eradi chiefs of the Zamorin’s
house.
NOTEs: 1. Conj. p. 265. END OF NOTEs
How this last exploit led to the exaltation of the latter family, to the last
Perumal’s flight to Arabia, and to the sinking into humble rank of his family—the
present Cochin2 Raja’s dynasty—has already been set forth in the preceding section.
NOTEs: 2. The Jews, it will be noted—Dr. Gundert's note to deed No. 1—have preserved
the tradition that the Cochin Raja was the last Perumal’s lawful heir. END OF NOTEs
There can be little doubt that it was at this time (first half of the ninth
century A.D.) that the Malayalam-speaking races became consolidated within the
limits which they occupy down to the present day. At the time mentioned, as these
deeds show, Malayalam and Tamil were practically one language, at least in their
written form. From that time forward Malayalam and the Malayalam races began to
draw apart from Tamil and the races east of the ghats. Shut in by their mountain
walls except at the Palghat gap, the Malayalis became in time a distinct race, and,
owing to their excellent political constitution, which on the one hand kept them free
from the aggressions of their neighbours, and on the other hand maintained
steadfastly among themselves the ancient order of things, there is little wonder that
they presented through many succeeding centuries the example of a Hindu
community of the purest and most characteristic type.
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History
Section C.—825 to 1498 A.D.

The Keralolpatti, after describing the partition of his dominions by
Cheraman Perumal, and after describing how the original settlement of
Muhammadans was effected in the way3 already described, proceeds to give some
account of the changes which followed the retirement of Cheraman Perumal among
the petty Rajas whom he left behind. The details given, however, do not admit of
anything but the most cursory treatment.
It relates how the Zamorin became the most famous of the Malayali Rajas.
He seems to have adopted the high sounding title of Kunnalakkon, or king of the
hills (kunnu) and waves (ala). The Sanskrit form of this title Samudri, or as it is
pronounced by Malayalis Samutiri or Tamutiri (or vulgarly Samuri or Tamuri), is that
by which the chief Raja of this house became known to Europeans as the Zamorin
of Calicut.
The Zamorins in the eighth century had been Utayavar1 of Eralinad or
Ernad, the Bullock country. Down to the present day the second eldest male of the
family bears the title of Eralpad. And the family is sometimes called the Eradi
dynasty, and sometimes the Netiyiruppu dynasty from the locality (in Ernad) where
probably was located the original family residence.
NOTEs: 1. Conf. Deeds Nos. I and 2, App. XII. END OF NOTEs
Another tradition has it that the original family residence was at Puntura,
whence the title also sometimes applied of Punturakkon or king of Puntura. Where
this last named place was situated is not definitely known, but one tradition has it
that the family came originally from a place of that name situated somewhere in the
valley of the Kaveri River.
The Zamorin was also sometimes called the “Lord of Men” and a
distinction was drawn between him and the North and South Kolattiri chiefs who
were respectively styled the “Lord of Horses” and the “Lord of Elephants”,
Cannanore, the capital of the former chief, was in former days a great emporium of
the trade in horses between Arabia, the Persian Gulf, and Southern India.
The Zamorin’s first act of aggression after the departure of the Perumal was
to dispossess the chieftain of Polanad—the country round about Calicut —the
country in fact of the Ten Thousand with whose assistance it is said he won the
victory2 over the invaders coming by the Palghat gap. One tradition says that for
forty-eight years he warred with the chief of Polanad, the Porlattiri Raja, and in the
end succeeded by winning over his opponent’s troops, the Ten Thousand, and by
bribing his opponent’s minister and mistress.
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NOTEs: 2. Conf. pp. 236, 238, 241, 242. END OF NOTEs
The Zamorin’s troops having been admitted by treachery into his fort, the
Porlattiri chief fled to the protection of the North Kolattiri, and from one of the
females of this family the present Kadattunad Raja of North Malabar is descended.
The treacherous minister and mistress of Porlattiri were rewarded with
territory and honours—the former received the rank of Ernad Menon and the latter
that of Talachennor of Calicut. Sometime afterwards however misunderstandings
arose, and half of the Ten Thousand (the Vadakkampuram faction) marched to the
Zamorin’s palace to oppose the other half of the Ten Thousand (the
Kilakkampuram faction). But peaceable councils prevailed, and by timely
concessions and liberal allowances the Zamorin and his ministers finally won over
the Ten Thousand and their country (Polanad) round Calicut.
The tradition preserved in the Keralolpatti as to the founding of Calicut and
its rapid rise as a trading centre are very probably founded on fact. The Zamorin
had apparently built a fort at a place called Velapuram in Calicut probably in order
to have a firmer hold of Polanad. A merchant (Chetti) from the East Coast, who
had been on a trading voyage to Mecca reached Calicut with a ship overloaded (it is
said) with gold. The ship was about to sink in consequence, and the merchant
brought it close in shore at Calicut, took out a box of treasure, laid it before the
Zamorin, and told his story. The Zamorin directed him to bring the treasure ashore
and to store it in his palace. The merchant accordingly built (it is said) a granite
cellar in the king’s house and deposited therein as much of the treasure as could not
be conveniently taken away in his ship. He then sailed for his own country, and after
a time returned to Calicut, opened the cellar in the presence of the Zamorin,'
counted out the treasure, and finding it correct divided it into two portions and
offered the Zamorin one-half of it.
But the Zamorin replied, “I do not want your treasure, you may take away
the whole.” The Chetti being “convinced that this was the most truthful of all kings
and Svarupams (dynasties)” then asked and obtained permission to trade at Calicut.
In this way the bazaar was founded. The Chetti’s name was Ambaresan, and, so the
Keralolpatti runs, “the cellar erected by him in the Kovilagam (king’s house) bears
even to this day1 the name of Ambaresan kett, (Ambaresan built).”
NOTEs: 1. The tradition has been lost since the Keralolpatti was written (seventeenth
century A.D). END OF NOTEs
After this, it is said, “the men of the port began to make voyages to Mecca
in ships, and Calicut became the most famous (port) in the world for its extensive
commerce, wealth, country, town, and king.”
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Yet another tradition is also preserved in the Keralolpatti, somewhat to the

same purport as that last above related. It runs, that in the town of Muscat two sons
were born to a Muhammadan ; after they had grown up, the father addressed the
elder of the two sons saying :—“After my death you two will fight with each other.
The other will kill you. Both of you should not be in this same place. You had better
go to some land and pass your days. I shall give you enough of gold for that.” Thus
the father sent away the elder son in a ship. He visited various countries and laid
presents before their respective sovereigns. The presents consisted of pickle -boxes
full of gold, and he used to represent to each king whose honesty he wished to test
that the box contained only pickles. All the kings he visited on discovering what the
boxes really contained concealed the fact and appropriated the gold, but at last the
experiment was tried on the Zamorin, and the Zamorin at once called him up and
said :—“ You mistook one thing for another. This is not pickles but gold.” The
traveller thereupon concluded that here at last was a trustworthy king, and so he
settled down at Calicut and became the Koya (Muhammadan priest) of Calicut.
Both traditions it will be seen rely on the fact that property was made
secure in Calicut, and that in consequence of this the trade of the place and the
trading settlers increased largely. Among the latter the Arab and Muhammadan
element became in time predominant. And the Keralolpatti tradition asserts that it
was through the aid rendered by the Muhammadan settlers at Calicut that the
Zamorins made their next great encroachment on the neighbouring chiefs.
Up to this time1 the Valluva kon or king of the Valluvar [(?) Pallavas] had
been the presiding chief at the great Kuttam or Assembly of Keralam which took
place every twelfth year at the Maha Makhum2 festival at Tirunavayi. The Koya of
Calicut was desirous of seeing the ceremonies, and accordingly went to one of the
festivals. On his return to Calicut he told the Zamorin that, if he wanted it, he would
conquer the country for him and install him as presiding chief at the festival. To this
the Zamorin agreed, and the celebration of the festival under the auspices of the
Zamorins dates from the time when the Muhammadan took up arms on behalf of
the Zamorin, It is unlikely that it was only with the Valluva kon that hostilities
ensued, for the Cochin Rajas seem to have been despoiled by the Zamorins about
the same time of the Kutnad and Chavakkad portions of the Ponnani taluk.
2. Still allied to the Rashtrakuta dynasty. END OF NOTEs
It is impossible to say exactly when those events happened. Other traditions

previously related3 seem to show that, when the line of Kerala princes ended with
Cheraman Perumal in 825 A.D., the Cholas acquired the suzerainty of Kerala.
Moreover, the Keralolpatti has preserved the name of one of the Chola kings
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Adityavarmman, who is generally supposed to have overrun a large part of South

India about A.D. 894.
NOTEs: 3. Conf. pp. 163-68. END OF NOTEs
And the tradition also exists that invasions became frequent about this time.
Both Pandyans and Cholas apparently struggled for the mastery, and the latter
appear to have driven back the Kongus or Gangas and so freed Kerala, for a time at
least, from attack via the Palghat gap. The Zamorins about this time-the first
century after 825 A.D. — were probably busy consolidating their hold on the
country round Calicut, and it was not till some considerable time later that their
preponderance among the Malayali chieftains began to be recognized.
The Cochin Rajas as Cheraman Perumal’s direct heirs, shorn however of
the territories transferred to the Kolattiris (North and South), and of other territory,
besides by the defection of the Zamorins, seem to have been the principal power in
central Kerala, and it is in accordance with this that in the Kollam year 93 (A.D.
917-18) an expedition (probably of Kongus4 or Gangas) from Mysore was driven
back when attempting an invasion of Kerala via the Palghat gap.
NOTEs: 4. Conf. pp. 225-26. END OF NOTEs
Local tradition assigns this as the date on which the Cochin Rajas acquired
the small district of Chittur still held by them and lying to the east of Palghat in the
very centre of the gap. And the Palghat Rajas assort that the territory was assigned
by them to the Cochin Rajas to enable the latter the better to protect the country
from invasions at that point.
About 973-90 the Rashtrakuta dynasty succumbed to the Western Chalukya
king Taila II, “who lifted up the royal fortunes of the kingly favourites of the
Chalukya family which had been made to sink down by the deceitful practices of the
Rashtrakutas.” Kerala, after this time probably, had peace on its Kongu or Ganga
frontier, for the resuscitated dynasty of Western Chalukyas does not appear to have
extended its power to its old limits in the South, and about a century later (1080
A.D.) the Gangas or Kongus gave place finally to the Hoysala Ballalas.
After the overthrow of the Rashtrakutas the Gangas or Kongus were
probably a decaying power. It was about this time, or more exactly A.D. 970-1039,
that Al Biruni wrote his account of the coast—“Beyond Guzarat are Konkan and
Tana ; beyond them the country of Malibar,1 which, from the boundary of Karoha
to Kulam,2 is 300 parasangs in length. The whole country produces the pan, in
consequence of which Indians find it easy to live there, for they are ready to spend
their whole wealth on that leaf. There is much coined gold and silver there, which is
not exported to any other place. Part of the territory is inland and part on the sea-
shore. They, speak a mixed language, like the men of Khabhalik in the direction of
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Rum, whom they resemble in many respects. The people are all Samanis (Buddhists)
and worship idols. Of the cities on the shore the first is Sindabur, then Faknur,3
then the country of Manjarur,4 then the country of Hili,5 then the country of
Sadarsa,6 then Jangli,6 then Kulam.7 The men of all those countries are Samanis.
After these comes the country of Sawalak8 which comprises 125,000 cities and
villages. After that comes Malwala,8 which means 1,893,000 in number.
NOTEs: 1 Conf. p. 203.—“Male, where the pepper grows,” has now developed into
Malibar. And this last form of the name has to be distinguished from M'abar, which name Al Biruni
assigns to the country extending from 'Kulam' to the country of Silawar ’ 300 parasangs along the
shore.”
2. Quilon (South Kollam).
3. Barkur in South Canara.
4. Mangalore in South Canara.
5. This evidently refers to the North Kolattiri dynasty whose second most ancient family seat
was in the immediate neighbourhood of Mount Deli, the Hili of Al Biruni.
6. These names have probably not been accurately handed down.
7. Kulam is evidently Quilon (South Kollam), the country of the South Kolattiri
(Travancore).
8 These names being derived from numerals, the Laccadive and Maldive Islands are
probably here referred to. The Laccadive Islands have always been the prey of sea-robbers. END OF
NOTEs
“About forty years ago the king of Malwala died, and between his son and
the minister a contest arose, and after several battles they ended with dividing the
territory between them. The consequence is that their enemies obtained a footing
and are always making their incursions from different parts of Hind, and carrying
and viands, sugar, wine, cotton cloths, captives and great booty. But through the
great wealth of that country no serious injury is done.”
By the eleventh century A.D., the time when the above account was
written, the Pallavas had sunk into the position of mere feudatories of the Cholas,
and the Cholas seem to have become the great suzerain power of South India. The
Mala-nad (hill country, West Coast, Malabar) was more than once invaded by the
Cholas at this time, and they doubtless drew tribute from one or more of the
Malayali chiefs. Those invasions, however, do not seem to have left any permanent
impression on the country or to have given rise to any changes among the ruling
families.
The Vikramanka deva charita of Bilhana affects to give an, account of a
brilliant Western Chalukyan expedition made into Southern India in the last quarter
of the eleventh century A.D. or in the first quarter of the twelfth by Vikramaditya
VI styled The Great. And in this expedition the poet relates that the king of Kerala
was slain. That Vikramaditya the Great ever came so-far south as Malabar is not to
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be credited for various reasons, but it would appear that some of his feudatories
(Sindas of Erambarage) made an incursion to the West Coast, in the course of
which they are said to have burnt Uppinakatti (? Uppinangadi in South Canara) and
Goa and to have seized the Konkan. This was probably exploit enough for the court
poet to magnify into a magnificent royal procession throughout South India.
The Chola supremacy in South India continued throughout the twelfth
century A.D. ; it attained its widest bounds probably in the reign of Kulottunga
Chola (about 1064-1113 A.D.), and in 1170 Madura, the Pandyan capital city, had
become incorporated in the Chola dominions.
“Five miles by sea (from Kulam Mali) lies the Island of Mali, which is large
and pretty. It is an elevated plateau but not very hilly, and is covered with
vegetation. The pepper vine grows in this island, as in Kandarina1 and Jirbatan,2 but
it is found nowhere else but in these places”—so wrote Al Idrisi, a Muhammadan
geographer settled at the court of Roger II of Sicily in the end of the eleventh
century A.D. He then desorbed the pepper vines, and-explained how white pepper
is obtained from pepper “beginning to ripen or even before ” and finally he
assorted that the pepper vine leaves curl over the bunches of grapes to protect them
from rain and return to their natural position afterwards—“ a surprising fact5” !!
NOTEs: 1. Afterwards written as Fandarina by the author. Conf. pp. 72, 192, 194, 195.
2. Conf. pp. 10, 195, footnote 234. END OF NOTEs
Al Idrisi obtained his information chiefly from books and from travellers ;
he had no personal knowledge of the countries in India about which he wrote, and
his account is much confused. The following is his description of the places named
above:
“From Bana (Tanna) to Fandarina is 4 days’ journey. Fandrina is a town
built at the mouth1 of a river which comes from Manibar2 where vessels from India
and Sind cast anchor. The inhabitants are rich, the markets well supplied, and trade
flourishing. North of this town there is a very high mountain3 covered with trees,
villages and flocks. The cardamom3 grown here and forms the staple of a
considerable trade. It grows like the grains of hemp, and the grains are enclosed in
pods.”
NOTEs: 1. Query—Did the Kotta River at this period flow into the Agalapula and find an
outlet into the sea at Pantalayini KoIIum ? It is not improbable. Conf. p. 12.
2. Malabar— Conf. p. 279, footnote 1.
3. The portion of the Wynad plateau lying north-east of P. Kollam has always been and is
still celebrated for the excellence of its cardamoms. END OF NOTEs
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“From Fandarina to Jirbatan, a populous town on a little river,4 is five days.

It is fertile in rice and grain, and supplies provisions to the markets of Sarandib.
Pepper grows in the neighbouring mountains.”
NOTEs: 4. This description fits Srikandapmam — Conf. p. 195. But in another place the
author apparently places Jirbatan on the sea-coast. END OF NOTEs
At this time the rising power in the south were the Hoysala Ballalas of
Halabid ; they had in Al Idrisi's time apparently already obtained a footing on the
West Coast, for among the places he mentions is Saimur which “ belongs to a
country whose king is called Balhara,” and Nahrwara (? Honere) seems to have been
at this time also in their possession.
In the first half of the twelfth century the Ballala king Vishnuvardhana took
Talakad, the Ganga or Kongu capital, and brought that dynasty to a close, and a few
years later (A.D. 1182 or 1189) the suzerains of the Gangas or Kongus—the
Western Chalukya dynasty—came to an end in the reign of Somesvara Deva, the
last king of that branch of the family, their territory being swallowed up by the
Yadavas of Devagiri coming from the North, and by Bijjala of the Kulabhuriya Kula
who was in turn supplanted by the Ballalas advancing from the South.
About this time and a little later the Cholas were kept busy by invasions
from Ceylon, apparently in aid of the Pandyas, mild by attacks of the Orungal
dynasty in the North, and although the Ballalas took Canara which they called
Kerala it does not yet appear that they had anything to do with Kerala proper, that
is, Malabar.
In 1263-75 Al Kazwini, another Muhammadan geographer, compiled his
account of India from the works of others, and among other places he mentions
“Kulam5, a large city in India. Mis’ar bin Muhalhil, who visited the place, says that
he did not see either a temple or an idol there. When their king dies the people of
the place choose another from China6. There is no physician in India except in this
city. The buildings are curious, for the pillars are (covered with) shells from the
backs of fishes. The inhabitants do not eat fish, nor do they slaughter1 animals, but
they eat carrion”, and he goes on to describe the pottery made there and contrasts it
with China ware. “There are places here where the teak tree grows to a very great
height, exceeding even 100 cubits.”
NOTEs: 5. Quilon.
6. Was Quilon at this time a Chinese Factory?
1. This looks as if the people had been Jains or Buddhists. END OF NOTEs
A more trustworthy account of the coast than Al Kazwini's is to be found

in the Book of Travels containing the adventures of Messer Marco Polo and his
companions in the East. Marco Polo's first visit to India on a mission from Kublai
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Khan was about 1290 A.D, and on his return journey in the suite of the Princess
Kokachin he passed up the coast in 1292 or in 1293, the probabilities being in
favour of the latter year.
“When you leave the Island of Sedan and sail westward about sixty miles
you come to the great province of Malabar2 which is styled India the Greater; it is
the best of all the Indies and is on the main land.”
NOTEs: 2.This name- is applied by Marco Polo to the country east of the Ghauts
comprising the ancient territories of the Pallavas of Kanchi, of the Cholas, and of the Pandyas. Conf.
footnote, p. 279. END OF NOTEs
After giving an interesting account of the countries east of the Ghauts, and
after describing the “kingdom of Coilum3 and the “country called Comari”4 , a short
chapter5 is devoted to the “kingdom of Eli”.6
NOTEs: 3. Quilon (South Kollam).
4. Cape Comorin.
5. Colonel Yule’s Marco Polo, 2nd edition, Vol. II, p. 374.
6. Mount Deli —Conf. pp. 6, 229. END OF NOTEs
“Eli is a kingdom towards the west, about 300 miles from Comari. The
people are idolaters, and have a king, and are tributary7 to nobody ; and have a
peculiar language. We will tell you particulars about their manners and their
products, and you will better understand things now because we are drawing near to
places that are not so outlandish.
NOTEs: 7. This statement confirms the assertion made in the text that the Ballalas had
nothing to do with Kerala proper. END OF NOTEs
“There is no proper harbour in the country, but there are many great rivers
with good estuaries8, wide and deep. Pepper and ginger grow there, and other spices
in quantities. The king is rich in treasure but not very strong in forces. The approach
to his kingdom, however, is so strong by nature that no one can attack him, so he is
afraid of nobody.
NOTEs: 8. Conf. pp. 9, 10, 11. END OF NOTEs
“And you must know that if any ship enters their estuary and anchors there,
having been bound for some other port, they seize9 her and plunder the cargo. For
they say, ‘you were bound for somewhere else, and ’tis-God has sent you hither to
us, so we have a right to all your goods.’
And they think it no sin to act thus. And this naughty custom prevails all
over those provinces of India, to wit, that if a ship be driven by stress of weather
into some other port than that to which it was bound, it is sure to be plundered. But
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if a ship comes bound originally to the place, they receive it with all honour and give
it duo protection. The ships of Manzi1 and other countries that come hither in
summer lay in their cargoes in six or eight days and depart as fast as possible,
because there is no harbour other than the river2 mouth, a mere roadstead and
banks, so that it is perilous to tarry there.
NOTEs: 1. China, south of the Hwang-ho (Yellow river)—Yule’s Marco Polo, II, 8. It is
possible that the Chinese had at this time one or more settlements on the coast. (Conf. p. 281.)
2. This refers no doubt to the rivers (Nilesvaram and Eli mala) which unite and enter the see
immediately north of Mount Deli (p. 9)). In this neighbourhood, at a place called Cachchilpattanam,
there was a settlement of trading foreigners who, with the Jews of Anjuvannam and Christians of
Manigramam, formed three of the four settlements [cheri) of foreigners referred to in Deed No. 2,
Appendix XII— See full details in the notice of Chirakkal taluk regarding this settlement in "The
Legend of Payanur”. END OF NOTEs
The ships of Manzi indeed are not so much afraid of those roadsteads as
others are, because they have such huge wooden anchors which hold in all weather.
“There are many Lions and other wild beasts here, and plenty of game,
both beast and bird.”
There can be no reasonable doubt that the “Kingdom of Eli” here referred
to is identical with the kingdom of the Northern Kolattiris, whose original
settlement was at Karipatt3 in Kurummattur amsam in Chirakkal taluk. The second
most ancient seat, of the family was at the foot, of Mount Deli (Eli mala), and the
site of one at least of their residences at the time of Marco Polo’s visit is probably
still marked by a small but very ancient temple—with a stone inscription in
Vatteluttu characters—not very far from the big Ramantalli temple on the banks of
the river near Kavvayi, and lying close in under the mount on its western or sea face.
While residing at this Eli Kovilagam or king’s house, the family seems to
have split up—after the fashion of Malayali taravads—into two brandies, one of
which, (Odeamangalam) settled at Aduthila in the Madayi amsam, while the other
(Palli ) had various residences. The head of both branches (that is, the eldest male)
was the Kolattiri for the time being. He, as ruling prince, lived apart from the rest of
the family and had residences at Madayi4, Valarpattanam5 , and other places. Madayi
was probably, as the Keralolpatti seems to indicate, the more ancient of the two
seats of the ruling prince, for down to the present day the Madayi Kava is looked on
as the chief temple of the Kolattiri household goddess Bhagavati, and the next most
important temple of the goddess is at the Kallarivatukal (Fencing School gateway)
temple at Valarpattanam.
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After describing the kingdom of Eli, Marco Polo in what appears to be an

interpolated passage proceeds : “Melibar6 is a great kingdom lying towards the West.
The people are idolaters; they have a language of their own, and a king of their own,
and pay tribute, to nobody.”
NOTEs: 6. Conf. pp. 279, 281, 282. END OF NOTEs
He then proceeds to describe the pirates of Melibar and of Gozurat, and

their tactics in forming sea cordons with a large number of vessels, each five or six
miles apart, communicating news to each other by means of fire or smoke, thereby
enabling all the corsairs to concentrate on the point where a prize was to be found.
Then he goes on to describe the commerce : “There is in this kingdom a
great quantity of pepper, and ginger, and cinnamon, and turbit, and of nuts of India.
They also manufacture very delicate and beautiful buckrams. They also bring hither
cloths of silk and gold and sendels ; also gold and silver, cloves and spikenard, and
other fine spices, for which there is a demand here, and exchange them for the
products of these countries.
“Ships come hither from many quarters, but especially from the great
province of Manzi1. Coarse spices are exported hence both to Manzi and to the
West, and that which is carried by the merchants to Aden goes on to Alexandria, but
the ships that go in the latter direction are not one2 to ten of those that go to the
eastward ; a very notable fact that I have mentioned before.”
NOTEs: 1. Conf. foot-note, p, 283.
2. The preponderance of the Malabar trade towards China and the East at this time is, as
Marco Polo states, "a very notable fact". The Red Sea trade had suffered by the rise of the
Muhammadan powers. END OF NOTEs
After giving short accounts of “Gozurat”, “ Tana”, “ Cambaet”, “

Semenat” and “ Kesmakoran” Marco Polo proceeds : “And so now let us proceed,
and I will tell you of some of the Indian islands. And I will begin by two islands
which are called Male3 and Female.”
NOTEs: 3. Conf. p. 261, where Hwon Thsang’s parallel tradition is given. END OF
NOTEs
“When you leave this kingdom of Kesmakoran, which is on the mainland,

you go by sea some 500 miles towards the south, and then you find the two islands,
Male and Female, lying about thirty miles distant from each other. The people are all
baptised Christians, but maintain the ordinances of the Old Testament4 ; thus when
their wives are with child they never go now them till their confinement, or for forty
days thereafter.
NOTEs: 4. "The islanders have, from time immemorial, adopted the precaution of
separating lepers from among them. On the appearance of the disease the sufferer is called before the
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Kazi (Priest) and, if the leprosy is pronounced to be contagious, he is expelled to the north end of the
island where a place is set apart for the purpose. A hut is built for him, and he subsists on supplies of
food and water which his relatives bring at intervals and leave on the ground at a safe distance’- Mr.
Winterbotham's official report on Minicoy, dated 31st May 1876. Conf. Leviticus Chapters XIII and
XIV. END OF NOTEs
“In the island, however, which is called Male, dwell the men alone, without
their wives or any other women. Every year when the month of March arrives the
men all set out for the other island, and tarry there for three months, to wit, March,
April, May, dwelling with their wives for that space. At the end of those three
months they return to their own island, and pursue their husbandry and trade5 for
the other nine months.
NOTEs: 5. "383 men were absent on voyages to Bengal and other places"—.Mr.
Winterbotham'a report on Minicoy of 25th May 1876. END OF NOTEs
“They find on this island very fine ambergris.1 they live on flesh, milk and
rice. They are capital fishermen2, and catch a great quantity of fine large sea-fish, and
them they dry, so that all the year they have plenty of food, and also enough to sell
to the traders who go thither. They have no chief except a Bishop, who is subject to
the Archbishop of another island, of which we shall presently speak, called Socotra.
They have also a peculiar language.
NOTEs: 1. Found on the Laccadives and Minicoy and considered a royalty.
2. "The pursuit of the mass-fish is the most lucrative (industry). The boats used in mass-
fishing are built on the island. * * They are the finest boats I have seen in the East, and are managed
most skilfully by the men of the island."_ Mr. Logan's official report on Minicoy, dated 28th February
1870, The mass-fish comprise two kinds of bonito ; the boats under full sail pass and repass through
the shoals of these fish when they visit the neighbourhood of the island. Two men, provided with stout
rods and short lines, trail long unbarbed hooks of white metal at the stern of each boat, and as the fish,
mistaking those trailing hooks for fish-fry, dash at them and are hooked, the point of the rod is raised,
and the fish without further ado is swung round into the boat, and, disengaging itself readily from the
unbarbed hook, is left to flounder about in the bottom of the boat while the fisherman proceeds to
capture another. While this is going on a third fisherman is busy in the bottom of the boat ladling out
fish-fry of which a supply is kept ready to hand in a well in the centre of the boat. The catch is
occasionally enormous and the dried fish is exported largely to Ceylon and other places. END OF
NOTEs
“As for the children which their wives bear to them, if they be girls they
abide with the mothers ; but if they be boys the mothers bring them up till they are
fourteen, and then send them to the fathers. Such is the custom of these two
islands. The wives do nothing but nurse their children and gather3 such fruits as
their island produces : for their husbands do furnish4 them with all necessaries.”
NOTEs: 3. The gathering of coconuts is one of the chief occupations of the women of
Minicoy. The collection is made monthly, and “each woman engaged in collecting nuts receives eight
nuts a day and 4 per cent of the number she collects.”—Mr. Winterbotham's report on Minicoy, dated 26th
May 1876.
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4. "Every woman in the island is dressed in silk. The gowns fit closely round the neck and
reach to the ankles. The upper classes wear red silk and ear-rings of peculiar fashion. The Melacheri
women are restricted to the use of a dark striped silk of a coarser quality. Every husband must allow his
wife at least one candy of rice, two silk gowns, and two under- cloths a year. He also presents her on
marriage with a fine betel-pouch (brought from Galle) and a silver ornament containing receptacles for
lime and tobacco, and instruments of strange forms intended for cleaning the oars and teeth.”- Mr.
Winterbotham's report on Minicoy, dated 26th May 1876. END OF NOTES
There has been much debate whether such islands have over existed
anywhere, for similar stories have a wide currency, and no small amount of
speculation has been bestowed on the question as to what islands are specifically
referred to by Marco Polo ; for as Colonel Yule observes,5 “Marco’s statement that
they had a Bishop subject to the Metropolitan of Socotra certainly looks as if certain
concrete islands had been associated with the tale.”
NOTEs: 5. Polo, II, p. 397. END OF NOTEs
The following facts, and the foot-notes appended to the text, make it not
improbable that the Female Island referred to may have been Minicoy.
The following are extracts from an official report regarding the island,
written in 1876 by a District Officer (Mr. H. M. Winterbotham) who visited the
island in the early part of that year: — “One (custom) which, so far as I know, is
without parallel amongst any society of Mussulmans is that the men are
monogamous.1
NOTEs: 1. If the Minicovites were at one time "baptised Christians” (see Marco Polo’s
account of the islanders) the fact would be accounted for, the custom having survived their conversion
to Muhammadanism. END OF NOTEs
I was assured that it was an established custom that no man could have
more than one wife at one time. When I took the census there were 1,179 women
on the island and only 351 men. The other men were absent on their voyages. But
when all are present on the island the women exceed the men by 20 per cent.”
“The women appear in public freely with their heads uncovered, and take
the lead in almost everything except navigation. The census was made through them
in a manner peculiar to the island. Orders were issued by Ali Malikhan to certain
women in authority, and they called together an adult female from every house.
About four hundred females assembled and told off the number of their households
with much readiness and propriety.”
“After marriage the wife remains in her father's house,2 a very convenient
custom when the men are mostly sailors, absent from the island a great part of the
year. Three or four couples find accommodation in the same chamber, each
enveloped in long-cloth mosquito curtains. If the daughters are numerous, they
leave the parental roof in order of seniority, and the houses erected for them
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become their property. The men, I was told repeatedly, have no right of ownership
over the houses.”
NOTEs: 2. Or rather her mother's -see what immediately follows. END OF NOTEs
From the facts as they exist even down to the present day, it is easy to
understand how mariners casually visiting the island would he astounded to find
none hut women, to receive them and everything arranged and managed by the
women. The men who remained on the island would probably keep out of the way
until the strangers cleared out. These islands (Laccadives and Mini coy) were
notoriously the prey of sea-robbers in former days, and it would have fared badly
with the remaining men if they had offered resistance.
In the Lusiad there is a vivid description of a company of Portuguese
mariners running riot in an island of this description. Again, seeing that the islands
described by Marco Polo are “Indian islands” and not either Arabian or African, it
follows that the locality to be sought lay on the Indian side of the Arabian Sea, and
the Island of Minicoy consequently better fulfils the description given than either
the Kuria Muria Islands lying off the Arabian coast or any others lying nearer Africa.
Shortly after Marco Polo’s visit, Southern India was convulsed by a Muhammadan
irruption from the North under Malik Kafur (A.D. 1310). It has sometimes been
supposed that the Malabar coast fell in common with the rest of the peninsula
before the Muhammadans at this time, but there is nothing to show that this was
the case, and the name applied at this time by Marco Polo (1293A.D.) and by lbn
Batuta (1342-47 A.D.) to the eastern portion of the peninsula—namely, Malabar—
probably gave rise to the idea.
Chola and Pandya both however succumbed to the Muhammadans, and
Kerala probably owed its immunity from attack to its ramparts of mountains and
forests.
With the founding, however, of the Vijayanagar dynasty in 1336-50 a new
political influence began to bear on the South, and it was about this time (1342-47
A.D.) that Sheik Ibn Batuta of Tangier’s came to Malabar.
The following interesting sketches of the coast at this period have been
taken from an abridged account1 of his travels : — “We next came into the country
of Malabar which is the country of black pepper. Its length is a journey of two
months along the shore from Sindabur to Kawlam.2 The whole of the way by land
lies under the shade of trees,3 and at the distance of every half mile there is a house4
made of wood, in which there are chambers fitted up for the reception of comers
and goers, whether they be Moslems or infidels. To each of these there is a well, out
of which they drink ; and over each is an infidel appointed to give drink.
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NOTEs: 1. “The Travels of Ibn Bututa, etc.” by the Rev. Samuel Lee, B.D., London,
Oriental Translation Committee, 1829.
2. South Kollam—Quilon.
3. The country must have been thickly planted (as now) with coconut and other palms.
4. From the description which follows, the water-pandals, still so common on all frequented
roads in the hot season, seem to be here alluded to. END OF NOTEs
“To the infidels he supplies this in vessels ; to the Moslems he pours5 it in

their hands. They do not allow the Moslems to touch their vessels, or to enter into
their apartments ; but if any one should happen to eat out of one of their vessels,
they break it to pieces. But in most of their districts the Mussulman merchants have
houses, and are greatly respected. So that Moslems who are strangers, whether they
are merchants or poor, may lodge among them. But at any town in which no
Moslem resides, upon any one’s arriving they cook, and pour out drink for him,
upon the leaf of the banana ; and, whatever he happens to leave, is given to the
dogs. And in all this space of two months’ journey, there is not a span6 free from
cultivation. For everybody7 has here a garden, and his house is placed in the middle
of it ; and round the whole of this there is a fence of wood, up to which the ground
of each inhabitant comes. No one travels in these parts upon beasts of burden ; nor
is there any horse8 found, except with the king, who is therefore the only person
who rides.
NOTEs: 5. This practice is still followed. For certain low castes a long spout is provided,
made from bamboo or from the midrib of the sago palm leaf. The low caste man stands at the end of
the spout and receives the water in his hands, and thus the high caste dispenser of the drink is kept free
from pollution by the too near approach of the drinker.
6. lbn Batuta probably exaggerates a little, but the land was evidently highly cultivated.
7. This description might be literally written of the Malabar of to-day.
8. Horses and ponies are still very few in numbers, notwithstanding the improvement in the
roads of recent years. END OF NOTEs
“When, however, any merchant has to sell or buy goods, they are carried
upon the backs1 of men, who are always ready to do so (for hire).
NOTEs: 1. Still largely true of the district. END OF NOTEs
“Every one of these men has a long staff,2 which is shod with iron at its
extremity and at the top has a hook. When, therefore, he is tired with his burden, he
sets up his staff in the earth like a pillar and places the burden upon it ; and when he
has rested, he again takes up his burden without the assistance of another. With one
merchant you will see one or two hundred of these carriers, the merchant himself
walking. But when the nobles pass from place to place, they ride in a dula3 made of
wood, something like a box, and which is carried upon the shoulders of slaves and
hirelings. They put a thief4 to death for stealing a single nut, or even a grain of seed
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of any fruit, hence thieves are unknown among them; and should anything fall from
a tree, none, except its proper owners, would attempt to touch it.
NOTEs: 2. Still occasionally to be seen.
3. Palanquin. The Manchal, a long and broad strip of canvass suspended at each end to a
stout pole is more frequently seen now-a-days.
4. Conf. p. 174 and p. 293. END OF NOTEs
“In the country of Malabar are twelve kings, the greatest of whom has fifty
thousand troops at his command ; the least five thousand or thereabouts. That
which separates the district of one king from that of another is a wooden gate upon
which is written : “ The gate of safety of such an one.”
“For when any criminal escapes from the district of one king and gets safely
into that of another, he is quite safe ; so that no one has the least desire to take him
so long as he remains there.
“Each of their kings succeeds to rule, as being sister’s5 son, not the son to
the last. Their country is that from which black pepper is brought ; and this is the
far greater part of their produce and culture. The pepper tree resembles that of the
dark grape. They plant it near that of the coconut, and make framework6 for it, just
as they do for the grape tree. It has, however, no tendrils, and the tree itself
resembles a bunch of grapes. The leaves are like the ears of a horse ; but some of
them resemble the leaves of a bramble. When the autumn arrive, it is ripe ; they then
cut it, and spread it just as they do grapes, and thus it is dried by the sun. As to what
some have said that they boil7 it in order to dry it, it is without foundation.
NOTEs: 5. Conf. pp, 153, 154 and 155.
6. The practice is different now, the vine is planted at the foot of jack, mango, and Murikku
trees (Erythrina Indica) which serve as standards for the vine.
7. To make white pepper probably. END OF NOTEs
“I also saw in their country and on the sea-shores also, like the seed-aloe,
sold by measure, just as meal and millet is.
***
“We next came to the town of Hili,8 which is large and situated upon an
estuary of the sea. As far as this place come the ships of China,1 but they do not go
beyond it; nor do they enter any harbour, except that of this place, of Kalikut and
Kawlam.
NOTEs: 8. Eli or Mount Deli — Conf. pp. 6, 9, etc.
The city of Hili is much revered both by the Muhammadans and infidels on
account of a mosque,2 the source of light and blessings, which is found in it. To this
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sea-faring persons make and pay their vows, whence its treasury is derived, which is
placed under the control of the principal Moslem. The mosque maintains a
preacher, and has within it several students, as well as readers of the Koran, and
persons who teach writing.
NOTEs: 2. Conf. p. 194. The city referred to was probably Palayangadi (lit—old Bazaar).
END OF NOTEs
“We next arrived at the city of Jarkannan,3 the king of which is one of the
greatest on these coasts. We next came to Dadkannan,4 which is a large city
abounding with gardens, and situated upon a mouth of the sea. In this are found the
betel-leaf and nut, the coconut and colocassia. Without the city is a large pond5 for
retaining water ; about which are gardens. The King is an infidel. His grandfather,
who had become Muhammadan, built its mosque6 and made the pond. The cause of
the grandfather’s receiving Islamism was a tree, over which he had built the mosque.
This tree is a very great wonder ; its leaves are green, and like those of the fig, except
only that they are soft. The tree is called Darakhti Shahadel (the tree of testimony),
darakht meaning tree.
NOTEs: 3. Afterwards written Jarafattan — Conf. pp. 194, etc.
4. Afterwards written Badafattam. This no doubt infers to Valarpattam — Conf. pp. 10 and
l1
5. This probably refers to the magnificent tank at the Chirakkal Kovilagam of the Kolattiri
family where the Chirakkal Raja now usually resides.
6. This fact strengthens the conclusion at p. 194, that the fourth of the original mosques was
not placed at Valarpattanam. END OF NOTEs
“I was told in these parts that this tree does not generally drop its leaves ;
but at the season of autumn in every year, one of them changes its colour, first to
yellow, then to red ; and that upon this is written with the pen of power, “There is
no God but God ; Muhammad is the Prophet of God ;” and that this leaf alone
falls. Very many Muhammadans, who were worthy of belief, told me this; and said
that they had witnessed its fall, and had read the writing ; and further, that every
year, at the time of the fall, credible persons among the Muhammadans, as well as
others of the infidels, sat beneath the tree waiting for the fall of the leaf; and when
this took place, that the one-half was taken by the Muhammadans, as a blessing, and
for the purpose of curing their diseases ; and the other by the king of the infidel city,
and laid up in his treasury as a blessing ; and that this is constantly received among
them.
“Now the grandfather of the present king could read the Arabic ; he
witnessed, therefore, the fall of the leaf, read the Inscription, and, understanding its
import, became a Muhammadan accordingly. At the time of his death he appointed
his son, who was a violent infidel, to succeed him. This man adhered to his own
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religion, cut down the tree, tore up its roots, and effaced every vestige of it. After
two years the tree grew, and regained its original state, and in this it now is. This
king died suddenly ; and none of his infidel descendants, since his time, has done
anything to the tree.
“We next came to the city of Fattan1 (Battan), the greater part of the
inhabitants of which are Brahmins, who are held in great estimation among the
Hindoos. In this place there was not one Muhammadan. Without it was a.mosque,
to which the Muhammadan strangers resort. It is said to have been built by certain
merchants, and afterwards to have been destroyed by one of the Brahmins, who had
removed the roof of it to his own house. On the following night, however, this
house was entirely burnt, and in it the Brahmin, his followers, and all his children.
They then restored the mosque, and in future abstained from injuring it ; whence it
became the resort of the Muhammadan strangers.
NOTEs: 1. This referred probably to Darmapattanamm — Conf. p. 194. END OF
NOTEs
“After this we came to the city of Fandaraina,2 a beautiful and large place,
abounding with gardens and markets. In this the Muhammadans have three districts,
in each of which is a mosque, with a judge and preacher. We next came to Kalikut3
one of the great ports of the district of Malabar, and in which merchants from all
parts are found. The king of this place is an infidel, who shaves his chin just as the
Haidari Fakeers of Room do. When we approached this place, the people came out
to meet us, and with a large concourse brought us into the port. The greatest part of
the Muhammadan merchants of this place are so wealthy, that one of them can
purchase the whole freightage of such vessels as put in here, and fit out others like
them.
NOTEs: 2. Pantalayini or Pantalayini Kollam. North Kollam—Conf. pp. 72, 194.
3. The modern Calicut. END OF NOTEs
“Here we waited three months for the season to set sail for China : for
there is only one season in the year in which the sea of China is navigable. Nor then
is the voyage undertaken, except in vessels of the three descriptions following : the
greatest is called a junk, the middling size a zaw, the least a kakam. The sails of these
vessels are made of cane-reeds, woven together like a mat ; which, when they put
into port, they leave standing in the wind. In some of these vessels there will be
employed a thousand men, six hundred of these sailors, and four hundred soldiers.
Each of the larger ships is followed by three others, a middle sized, a third, and a
fourth sized. These vessels are nowhere made except in the city of Elzaitum in
China, or in Sin Kilan, which is Sin Elsin.
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“They row in these ships with large oars, which may be compared to great
masts, over some of which five, and twenty men will be stationed, who work
standing. The commander of each vessel is a great Emir. In the large ships too they
sow garden herbs and ginger, which they cultivate in cisterns (made for that
purpose), and placed on the sides of them. In these also are houses constructed of
wood, in which the higher officers reside with their wives ; but these they do not
hire out to the merchants.
“Every vessel, therefore, is like an independent city. Of such ships as these,
Chinese individuals will sometimes have large numbers; and, generally, the Chinese
are the richest people in the world.
“Now when the season for setting out had arrived, the Emperor of
Hindustan appointed one of the junks of the thirteen that were in the port for our
voyage. El Malik Sambul therefore, who had been commissioned to present the gift,
and Zahir Oddin, went on board, and to the former was the present carried. I also
sent my baggage, servants, and slave-girls on board, but was told by one of them,
before I could leave the shore, that the cabin which had been assigned to me was so
small, that it would not take the baggage and slave-girls. I went, therefore, to the
commander, who said, ‘There is no remedy for this ; if you wish to have a larger,
you had better get into one of the kakams (third-sized vessels) ; there you will find
larger cabins, and such as you want.’
“I accordingly ordered my property to be put into the kakam. This was in
the afternoon of Thursday, and I myself remained on shore for the purpose of
attending divine service on the Friday. During the night, however, the sea arose,
when some of the junks struck upon the shore, and the greatest part of those on
board were drowned ; and the rest were saved by swimming. Some of the junks, too,
sailed off, and what became of them I know not. The vessel in which the present
was stowed, kept on the sea till morning, when it struck on the shore, and all on
board perished, and the wealth was lost. I had indeed seen from the shore the
Emperors servants, with El Malik Sambul and Zahir Oddin, prostrating themselves
almost distracted ; for the terror of the sea was such as not to be got rid of.
“I myself had remained on shore having with me my prostration carpet and
ten dinars, which had been given me by some holy men. These I kept as a blessing,
for the kakam had sailed off with my property and followers. The missionaries of
the king of China were on board another junk, which struck upon the shore also.
Some of them were saved and brought to land, and afterwards clothed by the
Chinese merchants.
“I was told that the kakam, in which my property was, must have put into
Kawlam.1 I proceeded therefore to that place by the river. It is situated at the
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distance of ten days from Kalikiit. After five days I came to Kanjarkara, which
stands on the top of a hill, is inhabited by Jews, and governed by an Emir who pays
tribute to the king of Kawlam. All the trees (we saw) upon the banks of this river, as
well as upon the sea-shores, were those of the cinnamon and bakam2 , which
constitute the fuel of the inhabitants ; and with this we cooked our food. Upon the
tenth day we arrived at Kawlam, which is the last city on the Malabar coast. In this
place is a large number of Muhammadan merchants ; but the king is an infidel.
NOTEs: 1. Southern Kollam — Quilon,
2. Caesalpinia sappan. END OF NOTEs
“In this place I remained a considerable time, but heard nothing of the
kakam and my property. I was afraid to return to the Emperor, who would have
said, ‘How came you to leave the present and stay upon the shore?5 for I know what
sort of a man he was in cases of this kind. I also advised with some of the
Muhammadans who dissuaded me from returning and said : ‘He will condemn you
because you left the present : you had better, therefore, return by the river to Kalikut’.”
***
“I then left him for Hiuaur1 and then proceeded to Fakanaur2 and thence to
Manjarur3, thence to Hili, Jarafattan, Badafattan, Fandaraina. and Kalikut, mention
of which has already been made. I next came to the city of Shaliat,4 where the
Shaliats are made, and hence they derive their name. This is a fine city ; I remained
at it some time and there heard that the kakam has returned to China, and that my
slave-girl had died in it ; and I was much, distressed on her account.
NOTEs: 1. Honer.
2. Barkur — Conf. p. 194.
3. Mangalore —Conf, p. 194.
4. Chaliyam, the Island lying between the Beypore and Kadalundi rivers (p. 13) - Conf. p.
194. END OF NOTEs
“The infidels, too had seized upon my property, and my followers had been
dispersed among the Chinese and others.”
Ibn Batuta, twice afterwards visited Calicut and other places on the coast,
but no further particulars of interest are recorded. Setting sail finally from Calicut he
arrived at Zafar in April 1347 and thence returned to Egypt and North Africa.
The Muhammadans continued their raids into Southern India, during the
fourteenth century, and in 1374, in one of these, under Mujabid Shah of the
Baluimni dynasty, they came as far south, as Rameswaram, but the rapid rise and
extension of the Vijayanagar Raj in the last half of the century put an end for a time
to these Muhammadan raids into the South. There can be no doubt, however, that
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even in Malabar, which was free from such expeditions, Muhammadan influence
was on the increase, and it is not at all improbable that it was about this time (end of
fourteenth century A.D.) that the influence of the Zamorins began to preponderate
in Malabar ; and this there can be no doubt was brought about (as indeed the
Keralolpatti indicates) by a close alliance with the Muhammadan traders attracted to
Calicut by the freedom of trade enjoyed there.
One of the first effects of this Muhammadan alliance seems to have been
that the trading rivals of the Muhammadans, the Chinese merchants, whose fleets
Ibn Batuta so graphically describes received some bad usage at the Zamorin’s hands,
and deserted Calicut and the Malabar coast generally after undertaking an expedition
of revenge in which they inflicted no small slaughter on the people of Calicut. This
happened, Colonel Yule thinks,5 about the beginning of the fifteenth century.
NOTEs: Marco Polo, II, 381. END OF NOTEs
There is certainly no mention made by Abdu-r Razzak6 of Chinese trade,

except that the sea-faring population of Calicut were nick-named, at the time of his
visit. (1442 A.D.), “Chini Buchagan” (China boys) ; and, as he says, that the trade with
Mecca was chiefly in pepper and that at Calicut there were “in abundance varieties
brought from maritime counties, especially from Abyssinia, Zirbad, and Zanzibar,” it is
probable that the preponderance of the Malabar trade with China and the East,
noticed1 by Marco Polo, had by this time given place to a trade with the West in the
hands of Muhammadan merchants, and in proof that Muhammadans were then
both numerous and influential at Calicut, it may be cited that there were when
Abdu-r Razzak visited the place, two cathedral mosques (Jamath mosques) at
Calicut.
NOTEs: 1. Sec p. 285. END OF NOTEs
Abdu-r- Razzak gives a very interesting account of his sojourn at Calicut,

which he describes as a “perfectly safe harbour.” The Calicut port is, and from the
shelving nature of the sea-bottom probably always will be, an open roadstead, so
that the traveller intended to convoy that the safety of its harbour depended on
other circumstances than the nature of its shores, and these he proceeds to describe
thus —
“Such security and justice reign in that city that rich merchants bring to it
from maritime countries large cargoes of merchandise which they disembark and
deposit in the streets and market-places, and for a length of time leave it without
consigning it to any one’s charge or placing it under a guard. The officers of the
Custom House have it under their protection, and night and day keep guard round
it. If it is sold they take a customs duty of 2½ per cent ; otherwise they offer no kind
of interference.”
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This corroborates in a very remarkable way the tradition2 preserved in the

Keralolpatti that it was owing to the security of trade which merchants found at
Calicut that they were induced to settle there. Abdu-r-Razzak also notices that
wrecked vessels were not taken at Calicut by the authorities. The people went about
naked, bearing “a Hindi dagger' (bright) as a drop of water” in one hand and in the other
a shield “of cow’s hide large as a portion of cloud.”
NOTEs: 1. Sec p. 280. END OF NOTEs
King and beggar were both thus attired, but Mussulmans dressed in costly
garments. The king was called “Samuri” and the traveller noticed the peculiar law of
inheritance in force.
“No one becomes king by force of arms,” he observed, and seemed astonished at
the fact. At his audience with the king he was made to sit down and his letter was
read, but “The Samuri paid little respect to my embassy so leaving the court I
returned home.”
His presents while en route, had been taken by pirates, and this no doubt
contributed to his cold reception. The result was that he remained “in that wretched
place, a comrade of trouble, and a companion of sorrow” for some time. At last came a herald
from Vijayanagar with a letter to the Samuri “desiring that the ambassador of His
Majesty the Khakan-i-Said should be instantly sent to him” the Raja of Vijayanagar,
and the traveller thereupon remarked : —“Although the Samuri is not under his
authority, nevertheless he is in great alarm and apprehension from him, for it is said
that the king of Bijanagar has 300 sea-ports, every one of which is equal to Kalikot,
and that inland his cities and provinces extend over a journey of three months.”
There was evidently a settled and independent Government at Calicut, and
the pleasing account given of the security there afforded to merchants accounts for
the pre-eminence to which the city of Calicut rose about this time. The trade in
Malabar products seems to have been exclusively in the hands of Muhammadan
merchants, and it may be safely concluded that, after the retirement of the Chinese,
the power and influence of the Muhammadans were on the increase, and indeed
there exists a tradition that in 1489 or 1490 a rich Muhammadan came to Malabar,
ingratiated, himself with the Zamorin, and obtained leave to build additional
Muhammadan mosques. The country would no doubt have soon been converted to
Islam either by force or by conviction, but the nations of Europe were in the
meantime busy endeavouring to find a direct road to the pepper country of the East.
The first assured step in this direction was taken when Bartholomew Dias
sailed round the “Cape of Storms” in I486. The Cape was promptly rechristened the
“Cape of Good Hope,” and the direct road to India by sea was won.
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Section (D). THE PORTUGUESE PERIOD. A. D. 1498 – 1663

The next adventurer who weathered the Cape of Good Hope was an
unlettered man “of middle stature, rather stout, and of a florid complexion.” He was
of noble birth. In character he is described as being possessed of “a violent and
passionate temper,” which led him to the commission at times of atrocious cruelties.
But he could, when he chose, command his temper, and he had a large fund of
dissimulation.”
His great qualities were “indomitable constancy” and a will which brooked no
questioning. The most pleasing trait in his character was his affection for his
brother, who sailed with him in this voyage of exploration.
Starting from Belem near Lisbon on the 25th of March 1497, Vasco da
Gama’s fleet consisted of three small vessels called the San Raphael (his own ship,
100 tons), the San Gabriel (his brother Paulo da Gama’s ship 120 tons), and the San
Miguel (commanded by Nicholas Coelho, 50 tons). Each ship carried eighty men
officers, seamen and servants.
After a voyage of nearly five months the fleet arrived at St. Helena Bay (18th
August 1497). From that point they stood out to sea for one month and then made
for the land. Failing in weathering the Cape on that tack, they again stood out to sea
for two two months, and on making for the land they found that they had
weathered the Cape (November 1497). After entering one or two rivers east of the
Cape they left the coast, and on. 8th December 1497, the squadron encountered a
great storm and the crews rose in mutiny.
The officers stood by their commander, the ringleaders were put in irons,
and the ships went on their way sighting the coast of Natal on Christmas Day. On
6th January 1498 the squadron entered the River of Mercy (des Reis or De Cobre),
and there they remained for a month careening the ships and breaking up the San
Miguel, the crew of which was distributed between the other two ships, Coelho
himself thereafter sailing with Vasco da Gama in the San Raphael .
Leaving the place in February, they passed the banks of Sofala and in the
end of March the expedition reached Mozambique, There they remained about
twenty days and left it on Sunday, 8th or 15th April. On 21st April the squadron
reached Mombasa, and on Sunday, 29th April, Melinde.
Their stay at Melinde extended to three months, for the “new moon of
July” was the beginning of the season for departure from Melinde for India.
The king of Melinde most hospitably entertained the strangers, and
provided them with pilots and with a broker to help them in their trade. And it was
by his advice that the expedition eventually sailed for Calicut instead of for Cambay
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whither the broker wished to take them. Leaving Melinde on 6th August 1498, the
two ships ran across with the south-west monsoon and sighted the coast of Malabar
on 26th August.
The pilots foretold that the first land to be seen would be “a great
mountain1 which is on the coast of India in the kingdom of Cannanore, which the
people of the country in their language call the mountain Delielly, and they call it of
the rat, and they call it Mount Dely, because in this mountain there were so many
rats that they never could make a village there.”
NOTEs: Conf. p. 7. END OF NOTEs
Running down the coast from Mount Deli the expedition passed
Cannanore without stopping, which town seems to have presented much the same
appearance then as it does now, for it is described as “a large town of thatched
houses inside a bay.”
The ships continued running along the coast close to land, for the coast was
clear without banks against which to take precautions: and the pilots gave orders to
cast anchor in a place which made a sort of bay, because there commenced the city
of Calicut. This town is named Capocate.”2
Shortly afterwards Da Gama appears to have moved his ships a few miles
to the northward and to have anchored them inside the mudbank lying off
Pantalayini Kollam.
The arrival of this Portuguese expedition aroused at once the greatest
jealousy in the Moors or Muhammadans, who had the Red Sea and Persian Gulf
trade with Europe in their hands, and they immediately began to intrigue with the
authorities for the destruction of the expedition. There appear to have been three
persons in authority under the Zamorin, the Overseer of the Treasury, the king's
Justice, and the Chief Officer of the Palace Guard. The two first of these were the
first to be liberally bribed to obstruct the new-comers.
Accordingly, when Da Gama sent Nicholas Coelho on shore with a
message to the Zamorin asking him to sanction trade, the authorities tried his
temper by making him wait, thinking this to cause a break with the Portuguese; but
being warned by a Castilian whom they found in the place, he exercised patience,
and on declining to give his message to any but the king himself, he was at last
admitted to an audience, and after some further delay the king gave his sanction,
written on a palm leaf, for opening trade. Trade accordingly began, but the
Portuguese were supplied with nothing in the way of goods but rubbish, and scantily
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even with that. They accepted it,

however, in default of better stuff, but
the jealousy of the Moors prevented
them eventually from getting even this
much.
Da Gama accordingly
determined to visit the Zamorin in
person, and demanded hostages for his
safe conduct. By the Castilian’s advice
the nephew of the king’s Justice was
accepted as a sufficient hostage. Intrigues
were rife however, and when Da Gama
made his first attempt to land he found
that the Zamorin had gone to a place at
some distance, and the authorities were
prepared to take Da Gama thither by
force if he landed. Again warned by the Castilian, Da Gama sent messengers in
front to ascertain if the king was really there to receive him, and on finding that he
was not, Da Gama, without landing, re-embarked.
Finding that he was not to be outwitted, the authorities eventually arranged
for an interview. Sending a factor in front of him with the presents1 for the king, Da
Gama ascertained that this time he was there and ready to receive him, and he
proceeded to the interview accompanied by twelve men of good appearance and
well-dressed. He himself was “in a long cloak coming down to his foot of tawny-
coloured satin, lined with smooth brocade, and underneath a short tunic of blue
satin, and white buskins, and on his head a cap with lappets of blue velvet, with a
white feather fastened under a splendid medal, and a valuable enamel collar on his
shoulders, and a rich sash with a handsome dagger.”
NOTEs: 1. Piece of very fine scarlet cloth, piece crimson velvet, piece yellow satin, chair
covered with brocade of much nap studded with silver gilt nails, cushion of crimson satin with tassels
of gold thread, cushion of red satin for the feet, a hand-basin chased and gilt with ewer of the same
kind “a very handsome thing,” “a large very splendid gilt mirror,” fifty scarlet caps with buttons and
tassels of crimson twisted silk and gold thread on the top of the caps, fifty sheaths of Flanders knives
with ivory handles and gilt sheaths. The presents were “all wrapped in napkins, and all in very good
order.” END OF NOTEs
The appearance of the king at this interview in thus described. —

“The king was sitting in his chair which the factor” (who had preceded Da
Grama with the presents) “had got him to sit upon: he was a very dark man, half-
naked, and clothed with white cloths from the middle to the knees ; one of these
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cloths ended in a long point on which were threaded several gold rings with large
rubies which made a great show. He had on his left arm a bracelet above the elbow,
which seemed like three rings together, the middle one larger than the others, all
studded with rich jewels, particularly the middle one, which bore large stones which
could not fail to be of very great value. From this middle ring hung a pendant stone
which glittered : it was a diamond of the thickness of a thumb ; it seemed a priceless
filing. Round his neck was a string of pearls about the size of hazel nuts, the string
took two turns and reached to his middle; above it he wore a thin round gold chain
which bore a jewel of the form of a heart surrounded with large pearls, and all full
of rubies ; in the middle was a green stone of the size of a large bean, which, from
its showiness, was of great price, which was called an emerald ; and according to the
information which the Castilian afterwards gave the Captain Major of this jewel, and
of that which was in the bracelet on his arm, and of another pearl which the king
were suspended in his hair, they were all three belonging to the ancient treasury of
the Kings of Calicut.
“The king had long dark hair all gathered up and tied on the top of his head
with a knot made in it ; and round the knot he had a string of pearls like those
round his neck, and at the end of the string a pendant pearl pear-shaped and larger
than the rest , which seemed a thing of great value. His ears were pierced with large
holes with many gold ear-rings of round beads. Close to the king stood a boy, his
page, with a silk cloth round him: he held a red shield with a border of gold and
jewels, and a boss in the centre, of a span’s breadth, of the same materials, and the
rings inside for the arms were of gold ; also a short drawn sword of an ell's length,
round at the point, with a hilt of gold and jewellery with pendant pearls.
“On the other side stood another page, who held a gold cup with a wide
rim into which the king spat; and at the side of his chair was his chief Brahman, who
gave him from time to time a groom leaf closely folded with other things inside it
which the king ate and spat into the cup.”
Da Gama on reaching the king’s presence made profound salutations, and
the king, bowing his head and his body a little, extended his right hand and arm, and
with the points on his fingers touched the right hand of the Captain Major and
made him sit- upon the dais upon which he was.”
But Da Gama declined the honour, and remained standing during the
interview,1 in which he pressed for freedom to trade in the produce of the kingdom,
explaining what he could give in return.
NOTEs: The Zamorin’s return present to Da Gama consisted of twenty pieces of white
stuff very fine with gold embroidery ‘‘which they call Beyramies,” twenty other pieces called
“Sinabafes,” ten pieces coloured silk, four large leaves of Benzoin as much as a man could carry, and in
a porcelain jar fifty bags of musk, six basin of porcelain of the size of large soup basins, six porcelain
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jars each holding thirty pints of These things were for Da Gama himself. If he had parted amicably the
king he was to have received a special present for the King of Portugal. END OF NOTEs
The interview would probably have had the desired result, but the Moors
had meanwhile been busy bribing the Chief Officer of the Palace Guard, an official
of great power, for “if any one entered where the king dwelt without his leave,
immediately he would order his head to be cut off at the door of the palace without
asking the king’s pleasure.”
To him then the Moors resorted in their alarm, and fresh dangers
immediately beset Da Gama. The Portuguese had been allowed to erect a factory on
shore for trading purposes, and Da Gama was at this factory after his interview with
the king, when the Chief Officer of the Palace Guard arrived there with a palanquin
to conduct Da Gama, as he said, to a second interview. Encouraged by the
seemingly satisfactory result of the first interview, Da Gama appears to have been
off his guard for the time, and accompanied by eight of his men carrying sticks—
their arms having prudently been left behind—he was borne off in the palanquin.
They journeyed leisurely till nightfall and were lodged all together in a house
in the middle of other houses, having for food boiled rice and boiled fish and a jar
of water. Next morning the doors of their house were opened very late, and only
those who wished to go out for offices of nature were permitted to do so.
Thus they remained a day and another night.
On the next day they were taken “among thickets until about midday,
stifled with the great heal, of the sun,” and then they reached the hanks of a river,
where they were put into two Indian boats and so went on. The boat with Da.
Gama went ahead and reached some houses, where rice was cooked and offered to
them. The other boat with five men in it remained behind, and at night they were
landed and put into another house.
“When a great part of the night had passed” a message was brought to Da
Gama to say the Chief of the Palace Guard wanted to speak to him, and one man
who acted as interpreter, by name Joan Nuz (Nunez), was alone permitted to
accompany him. He was taken by himself through a path, in the bushes by a Nayar
to a house where he was shut in by himself. The Moors tried hard to persuade the
Chief Officer to kill him at this point, but he did not, it is said, dare to allow it,
because the king would have utterly extirpated him and his.
In the morning Da Gama was taken before the Chief Officer, who received
him very ungraciously and questioned him about the object of his voyage. Da Gama
almost laughingly put him off and said he ought to take him to the king and he
would tell him the truth.
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The Chief Officer was very angry at receiving this answer and Da Gama did
not reply to his further questions.
The next device resorted to was to get Ga Dama to promise to land all his
merchandise from the ships, and to then excite the king’s cupidity by telling him it
was no sin to take the goods as the Portuguese were only robbers and pirates who
ought to be executed. Acting on t his, Da Gama was told on the following day that
the king had ordered all the goods to be landed, and he thereupon consented to do
so ; but seeing in this a means of communicating with the ships and letting his
brother know of the predicament in which he was placed. Da Gama added that it
was necessary to send some one with a message to the ships, and this was agreed to.
The place where Da Gama and his men then were was only a league from
the factory, so one Joan De Sctubal was sent in a boat to the ships to tell all that had
happened. One boat load of goods was accordingly sent ashore and the goods were
taken to tile factory.
Da Gama thereupon promised to send all the rest if he were allowed to go
on board, but to this the Chief Officer would not consent.
Then Da Gama sent a message to his brother to say that even if all the
goods were landed he did not think they would let him go ; so he directed him to
send the hostages ashore with much honour and many gifts, and to make sail for
Europe.
Paulo da Gama refused to obey this order, and the goods not having been
landed, the Chief Officer went before the king, charged Da Gama with breaking
faith, and suggested that the Moors should be permitted to take the ships and
appropriate the goods for the king’s use. The king agreed to this, but the jealousy of
the king’s Brahman and of his Treasurer had been aroused at the Chief Officer’s
having it all his own way. and first the one and then the other interfered and pointed
out that the Portuguese had so far done no harm, and great discussions thereupon
arose.
At this juncture Paulo da Gama released the hostages on board honourably
and with rich presents, and made pretence to sail away. The hostages demanded to
be put to death by the king if Da Gama were to be slain, and their demands were
backed up by both the Treasurer and the king’s Justice out of envy at the rich
presents offered by the Moors to the Chief Officer of the Palace Guard. The king
then seeing the ships, as he thought, departing without doing harm, repented and
ordered the goods in the factory to be paid for.
He also sent for Da Gama and begged his pardon, and gave him a present
and dismissed him, “asking his pardon frequently.” As Da Gama was thus going
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away, he met the factor coming to tell the king that the factory had been robbed.
The king’s Treasurer accompanied Da Gama to his boats, and when Da Gama
vowed to him he would have his revenge, he said “he regretted very much the
manner in which he had been treated, but that the king was not in fault.”
On hearing from the Castilian, who returned on-shore after seeing Da
Gama on board, the true account of what had happened, the king sent off a boat
with one of his Brahmans to ask Da Gama to return in order to see the justice the
king would execute on the persons through whose fault offence had been given to
the Portuguese, and to offer also to complete the lading of the ships., but Da Gama,
thankful to be safe on board once more, declined the invitation and offer.
The expedition appears to have remained for about seventy days at
Pantalayani Kollam, and to have left the place about the 4th November 1498.
Running up the coast they were met by boats sent out by the King of
Cannanore (the Kolattiri Raja) to intercept them, and Da Gama decided to visit the
place, but declined to land.
To show his good-will, the Kolattiri sent them all they required and more
for the loading of their ships, and Da Gama, was equally liberal in the goods sent in
exchange : branch coral, vermilion, quicksilver, and brass and copper basins.
To the Kolattiri himself he sent a present of green cloth, brown satin, velvet
crimson damask, a large silver basin, thirty scarlet cloth caps, two knives in sheaths,
and five ells of darker scarlet cloth.
Thereupon the Kolattiri would not rest till he had seen the commanders
with his own eyes and for this purpose, as Da Gama would not land, he had
constructed for himself a narrow wooden bridge made out into the sea to the
distance of a cross-bow shot, and at the extremity of it he had a small planked
chamber prepared. Thither the Kolattiri came to be nearer to the ships, and there
the brothers Da Gama, visited him giving and receiving valuable presents, and
talking of the vile treatment received by Da Gama, at Calicut.
The Kolattiri likewise sent a present to the King of Portugal and gave Da
Gama a, golden palm-leaf on which all was written.
The expedition left Cannanore on 20th November 1498, proceeded to
Angediva Island, which they left, on 10th December. They readied Melinde on 8th
January 1499, sailed again on 20th January, touched at Tereceira Island for the burial
of Paulo da Gama in the end of August, and finally, on 18th September 1499, the
two ships again reached Belem.
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Of the momentous results to Asia and Europe of this most memorable

voyage, this is not the place to write, as it forms part of the general history of India.
Suffice it to say that the Moors of Calicut had good cause to be jealous of the
Portuguese interlopers who bade fair soon to make their Red Sea and Persian Gulf
trade unprofitable, and who in a very short time showed that they meant to suppress
the Moorish trade on the Indian coasts altogether.
The profits realised on the cargoes taken home in Da Gama’s ships were
enormous, and accordingly in the following year (1500 A.D.) a fresh expedition was
fitted out and entrusted by the King of Portugal to the command of Pedro Alvarez
Cabral. It was this expedition which laid the foundations of the Portuguese
settlement at Cochin, and the following account thereof is extracted from Day’s
Land of the Perumauls ; or Cochin, its Past and its Present ” (Madras, 1863), p. 79:
“In the following year, Pedro Alvarez Cabral was despatched from
Portugal with ten ships and two caravels, carrying one thousand five hundred men
besides twenty convicts, to establish a factory by fair means if possible, but
otherwise to carry fire and sword into the country. Some of those who had sailed
with Da Cama. accompanied him, and Bartholomew Diaz commanded one of the
vessels, and five friars of the Order of St. Francis accompanied the fleet.
Cabral received secret orders that if he succeeded in negotiating with the
Zamorin, he was to endeavour to induce him to banish the Moors from his
dominions. On 5th March 1500 the sailors embarked, Cabral was presented with a
royal banner, which had been blessed by the Bishop of Visen, and a cap which had
received the Pope’s benediction ; thus armed, on the 9th the fleet commenced their
voyage.
On 24th May they encountered a sudden tempest near the Cape of Good
Hope, and four vessels foundered with all hands on board ; but on 13th September
the remainder of the fleet arrived off Calicut. Cabral then despatched a deputation
to the Zamorin of one European and four natives, the latter being some of those
carried away by Da Gama, but as they were fishermen (Mukkuvar) and consequently
low-caste men, the Zamorin could not receive them.
“Cabral then demanded that hostages should be sent on board to obviate
any treachery in case he wished to land, and named the Cutwat1 and a chief Nayar as
the most suitable persons ; they, however, declined the honour, but on other
hostages bring furnished, Cabral landed with thirty officers and men.
NOTEs: The Chief Officer of the Palace Guard, who had ill-treated Da Gama. It was
perhaps as well for him that he did not go on board. END OF NOTEs
"An interview then took place, at which rich presents were exchanged, and
a treaty of friendship, ‘as long as the sun and moon should endure’ was entered upon.
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"About this time, a vessel from Cochin of six hundred tons burden passing
the port, the Zamorin requested Cabral to capture it, which he succeeded in doing,
hut subsequently restored it to the Raja of Cochin. A factory was soon established at
Calicut in which, seventy Europeans were located. Cabral, however, found that he
still progressed very slowly, having only succeeded in loading two vessels with
pepper in two months. The Moors appear to have effectually prevented the
Portuguese from obtaining any large supply of this valuable condiment.
"Cabral at length became very impatient at the delay, and informed the
Zamorin that he must immediately receive lading for his vessels as he was anxious
to return to Europe, complaining that the Moors had been served with all the spices,
thus precluding his procuring any. The Zamorin hesitated and appeared
embarrassed how to act, and Cabral, with a view to hasten his delusion, on 17th
December attacked and seized a Moorish vessel, which was loading in the harbour,
on which the Moors on shore became greatly excited and besieged the factory,
slaughtering fifty of the Portuguese in sight of their countrymen, who, however,
could render no assistance: the remaining twenty contrived to escape by swimming
off to the ship’s boats, which were lying as close to the shore as was safe.
“Cabral demanded satisfaction for this outrage, but not receiving any, he
bombarded the town, killing six hundred of the inhabitants ; and then seized ten of
the Zamorin's vessels, to pay for the merchandise left, onshore, which was valued at
four thousand ducats : some of these ships contained merchandise, and on board
one of them were three elephants, which were killed and salted for the voyage.
Having thus revenged himself, Cabral sailed for Cochin, protesting that in
Calicut the people could not be trusted, and that truth and honour were alike
unknown, it appears, on the other hand, that Cabral was hasty and perfectly
regardless of the sacrifice of human, life, being quite ready to slaughter Moors and
Nayars indiscriminately, with or without provocation, and with no expectation, of
doing any good.
"On 20th December1 1500, the fleet arrived at Cochin, and a Syrian
Christian, Michael Jogue who was a passenger in one of the vessels (for the purpose
of visiting Rome and afterwards proceeding to the Holy Land) was despatched on
shore accompanied by an European to visit the Raja, Tirumumpara, who received
them in a very friendly manner and sent a message to Cabral that he might either
purchase spices for money, or give merchandise in exchange for them, as was most
convenient to him.
NOTEs: 1. Or 24th by other accounts. END OF NOTEs
"Cabral was in every respect much pleased, with the Raja of Cochin, who,
although much less wealthy than the Zamorin, and consequently not living in so
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much state,2 was greatly superior to him in every other respect, being honest in his
dealings and intelligent and truthful in his conversation.
NOTEs: 2. It appears he was at this time tributary to the Zamorin. END OF NOTEs
"Cochin at this time was described as a long low sandy island covered with
coconut trees and divided by a deep river, a quarter of a mile broad, from the
neighbouring island of Baypin, or Vypeen. Passing up this river for half a mile, a
wide expanse of backwater appeared, which extended for about a hundred miles
north and south.
“The town of Cochin was small and situated close to the river, and in it was
the Raja’s palace (where Muttancherry now stands), by no means an imposing edifice,
and badly furnished. A few Moors resided there, and possessed better houses than
those of the native population, which were merely composed of mats, with mud
walls and roofs thatched with leaves. At this period no buildings were allowed to be
constructed on stone or brick and tiled, excepting temples and palaces; but Moorish
merchants were permitted to surround their dwellings with stone-walls for the
security of their merchandise.
The Raja suggested that to avoid any misunderstanding and to create
mutual confidence, it would be best for him to send Nayar hostages on board the
fleet. This was accordingly done, the Nayars being exchanged for others every
morning and evening, as they could not eat on board without violating some
religious rules. An alliance of friendship was signed, and the Portuguese promised
Tirumumpara at some future date to install him as Zamorin and to add Calicut to
his dominions.
A factory was then given the Portuguese, in which seven factors were
placed to sell their merchandise. The Raja allowed them a guard and permitted them
to sleep within the walls of his palace.
One night this factory caught fire, which of course was attributed to the
vindictiveness of the Moors, but no injury appears to have resulted.
“Whilst Cabral was at Cochin he received deputations from both the Rajas
of Cannanore1 and Quilon, inviting him to visit them and promising to supply him
with pepper and spices at- a cheaper rate than he could obtain them at Cochin, but
their offers were politely declined.
NOTEs: 1. The Kolathiri.
2. Notwithstanding this it appears that as stated further down, Cabral visited Cannanore
before sailing for Europe, as Da Dama had done before him. END OF NOTEs
Two natives also paid Cabral a visit and requested a passage to Europe,
stating that they were members of a large Christian community residing at
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Cranganore (Kodungngallur), about twenty miles north of Cochin, in which some

Jews of little note were also located.
"Just as Cabral was preparing to leave Cochin on 10th January 1501, a fleet
belonging to the Zamorin, carrying one thousand five hundred men was descried
off the harbour. The Raja immediately sent messengers to inform the Portuguese of
the appearance of the enemy and to offer them any assistance they might require.
But the Calicut people held off and had evidently no wish to come to an
engagement. On the following day finding that they did not attack, Cabral chased
them, but was overtaken by a violent storm which carried him out to sea. He did not
subsequently return, to Cochin, but put into Cannanore, where he received on
board an ambassador from the Raja of that country to the King of Portugal.
NOTEs: 3. The fact no doubt was that the Cochin Raja hoped, with the assistance of the
foreigners, to regain some of the power and independence of which the Zamorin, with Muhammadan
assistance, had robbed him. END OF NOTEs
“From thence he proceeded to Europe, carrying with him the hostages,

whom he had forgotten to land. Thus was Cochin first visited by European vessels,
filled with Portuguese, who after their recent capture of the Raja's vessels,
apprehended retaliation, but instead met with nothing but kindness arm hospitality,
as writ as every assistance in obtaining lading for their ships.
“Cabral in return, unfortunately, but as he asserted accidentally, carried off
the Nayar hostages to Europe, leaving his factor and people on shore without any
attempt either to provide for their safety or to reconvey them to their native land.
But they were taken every care of by the Cochin Raja and subsequently honourably
returned to their friends.
“As the number of vessels lost in these first expeditions counterbalanced
the profits, the King of Portugal proposed that merchants should trade to India in
their own vessels on the following terms, namely, that twenty-five per cent of the
profits should go the king and the trade in spices remain wholly in the hands of
government officials who were to decide upon all mercantile transactions even to
the necessary expenditure for factors, it is hardly requisite to observe that no
persons come forward to avail themselves of this extremely liberal proposition.
“The next Portuguese navigator, or rather buccaneer, who arrived in
Cochin was John de Nueva, who was despatched from Portugal in March 1501 in
command of four vessels. The king supposing all difficulties with Calicut amicably
settled by Cabral, ordered de Nueva to leave two of these ships at Cochin and to
proceed, with the remaining two to Calicut : in case he met with Cabral he received
instructions to obey him as general.
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“At St. Blaze he found an old shoe hanging from the branch of a tree,
which contained a letter from Pedro de Tazde, giving an account of what had lately
occurred at Calicut, and also of the friendly dispositions of the Rajas of Cannanore
and Cochin. It was thought best on receiving this information to take all four vessels
on to India as the whole force did not exceed eighty men. Nueva anchored at
Anchediva in November and from thence proceeded to Cannanore where he was
amicably received by the Raja, who offered him lading for his vessels. This Nueva
declined until he had consulted the factor at Cochin, whilst en route, to which place
he attacked and captured a Moorish vessel opposite Calicut.
“On his arrival at Cochin, the factor came on board and informed him that
although the Raja was naturally extremely indignant with Cabral for having carried
away his hostages and departed without bidding him adieu, he had nevertheless
treated him and the other Portuguese who were left in his territory in a friendly
manner.
“Being apprehensive lest their enemies the Moors might attempt to
massacre them, the Raja had even lodged them in his own palace and had provided
them with a guard of Nayars to protect them when they went into the town. He also
stated that the Moors had persuaded the native merchants to refuse to exchange
their pepper for Portuguese merchandise, and that therefore ready-money would be
required for all purchases. Nueva being unprovided with this, returned at once to
Cannanore, but found that owing to the machinations of the Moors, it was as
necessary there as at Cochin.
He now quite despaired of procuring lading for his vessels, but the Raja of
Cochin, when informed of his dilemma, at once became his security for a thousand
hundred-weights of popper, four- hundred and fifty of cinnamon, fifty of ginger,
and some bales of cloth. Whilst lying off this place on 15th December, about one
hunched and eighty vessels filled with Moors arrived from Calicut with the intention
of attacking the Portuguese fleet. The Raja immediately offered Nueva any
assistance in his power; this was however civilly declined, and all the ordnance at the
command of the Portuguese vessels was speedily brought to bear on the enemy.
“By this means a number of their vessels were sunk and the remaining
Moors were too much discouraged to continue the action. Owing to the generosity
of the Raja, the Portuguese ships were soon loaded, and Nueva departed, leaving his
European merchandise for disposal in Cannanore under the charge of a factor and
two clerks. Before sailing he received an embassy from the Zamorin, offering
excuses for his previous conduct and promising to give hostages if be would
proceed to Calicut and there load his vessels. To this message Nueva vouchsafed no
reply.
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“The King of Portugal, on learning the treatment which Cabral had

received from the Zamorin, was extremely indignant and determined to exact
further retribution. Vasco da Gama was therefore despatched from Lisbon on 3rd
March 1502, in command of an avenging squadron of fifteen vessels, being followed
a short time subsequently by his cousin Stephen da Gama with five smaller ships.”
The King of Portugal originally intended that Pedro Alvarez Cabral should
again command in this expedition, but Da Gama, who was engaged in
superintending arrangements connected with these expeditions ashore, succeeded
with difficulty in persuading the king to allow him to go on this occasion to take
vengeance on the Zamorin. Among the crews went eight hundred men at arms,
“honourable men and many gentlemen of birth.” Da Gama’s flagship was the San
Jeronyme, with Vincent Sodre, “a relation of his,” as captain.
The fleet sailed on 25th March 1502, made the coast of Brazil, and then
crossed to and weathered the Cape of Good Hope. One ship was lost in a storm off
the Sofala banks, and after touching at Melinde, which they left on the 18th of
August, they made the coast of India at Dabul.
Running south along the coast, Da Gama claimed for the King of Portugal
the suzerainty of the sea, and this was first formally notified to the King of Batticola,
who is described as “a tenant of the King of Bisnaga” (Vijayanagar).
Da Gama promulgated the conditions on which alone he would allow
native trading vessels to ply, namely,
They were not to trade in pepper.
Nor bring Turks.
Nor go to the port of Calicut.
The fleet proceeding southwards came to an anchor in the ‘Bay of Marabia’1
to repair a mast and while anchored there they fell in with “a larger ship of Calicut”
with “the chief merchant and the richest in Calicut” on board.
NOTEs: 1. The bay lying opposite Madayi conf. p. 229 and p. 69. The bay alluded to is that
of Ettikkulam. END OF NOTEs
This individual was the brother of “Coja Casem, the factor of the sea to the
King of Calicut.” There were besides more than seven hundred Moors on board.
The Portuguese first looted the ship, and then, notwithstanding promises of the
largest ransoms, Da Gama ordered the ship to be set on fire. The crew had been
deprived of most of their arms, but with what remained they began a desperate
fight. They succeeded in boarding a Portuguese ship which tackled them, and would
have succeeded in taking it had not assistance arrived.
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Da Gama then gave orders to sink the ship with the falconets and swivel
guns. This was done, and the crew taking to the water were killed with lances. But
even then they continued to resist, and one man, while swimming, hurled a lance
into one of the boats and killed a Portuguese.
Da Gama was complimented on this exploit by the Kolattiri, who had
hospitably treated the Portuguese factors left at Cannanore by Cabral. Da Gama
proceeding thither landed, and with his men attended mass in the church.
While at Cannanore the Kolattiri visited Da Gama attended by four
thousand Nayar swordsmen. He was accompanied by his nephew, “a youth and a
courtly person,” who carried sword and target, “which it is their custom to carry till
death.”
Da Gama arranged a treaty of commerce with the Kolattiri, the goods to be
supplied at fixed prices.
He next divided his fleet ; one portion of it was to war on all ships except
those of Cannanore, Cochin and Quilon, which were to be protected by passes
obtained from the Portuguese factors at Cannanore and Cochin respectively. The
Kolattiri allotted to the Cannanore factor ten Nayars as a guard and to carry his
messages.
“These Nayars are gentlemen by lineage, and by their law they are bound2
to die for whoever gives them pay, they and all their lineage.”
And even if they are of the same lineage and serving different masters, they
are bound all the same to kill each other if need be, “and when the struggle is
finished, they will speak and communicate with one another as if they had never
fought.”
Proceeding southwards towards Calicut, Da Gama first received a message
from the Zamorin by a Brahman who came dressed in one of the murdered friar’s
habits. The message was to say that the Zamorin had arrested the twelve Moors
who had been guilty of the outrage on the factory, and with them he would send a
large sum to pay for the factory goods.
Da Gama sent back word to say that he did not want money, and referred
to his treatment of the rich Moor in Mount Deli bay. But he kept the Brahman.
Da Gama’s next acts were those of a fiend in human form over which it is
well to draw a veil. And his relative De Sodro at Cannanore was also guilty of great
cruelty to a wealthy Moor (Coja Muhammad Marakkar of Cairo) who had insulted
the Kolattiri. For the service rendered by De Sodre on this occasion the Kolattiri
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began, it is said, the custom of giving to the Portuguese commandants at Cannanore

a gold pardao daily for their table supplies.
Da Gama went on to Cochin, which he reached on 7th November. He there
keel hauled and caulked his ships and loaded them with pepper, at the same time
satisfactorily settling a treaty of commerce with the King of Cochin. He also
arranged a similar treaty with the Queen of Quilon. The Zamorin and the Calicut
Moors had meanwhile been making great preparations to fight the Portuguese at
sea.
Da Gama left Cochin with his fleet in two divisions to load up with ginger
at Cannanore. Vincent Sodre with the fighting caravels ran along close inshore while
the laden ships kept further out to sea. Proceeding thus they fell in with the Calicut
fleet, the “first squadron” of which consisted of about twenty large ships and about
fifty other “fustas” and "sambuks.”
The Portuguese with their caravels got to windward of the enemy, a light
land wind blowing. The Moors were much elated at seeing the smallness of the
Portuguese fleet. But the Portuguese artillery was much more powerful than that of
the Moors ; the Moorish shot came “like bowls” (their powder was weak). The
Portuguese succeeded in dismantling the Moorish flagship, the others collided, got
into a tangle, and drifted helplessly out to sea.
Then the ships of burden came up and tackled the second squadron of the
enemy, consisting of a hundred sail, chiefly “sambuks.” Standing through among
them, living broadsides, the Portuguese ships did much damage ; while in return,
although the Portuguese ships were covered with arrows, no harm was done as the
men lay concealed. Many of the Moorish vessels were sunk, and some of them, after
being deserted by their crews, were towed up as far as Calicut, there tied together,
and then set on fire and allowed to drift ashore in front of Calicut.
Da Gama, buried much of his artillery at Cannanore, and obtained
permission from the Kolattiri to build a wall and palisading, the key of the door of
which was to remain at night in the safe keeping of the Kolattiri himself. After
regulating the Cannanore factory affairs Da Gama left two hundred men there and
sailed for Europe on the 28th December 1602.
Da Gama’s departure was the signal for the outbreak of hostilities between
the Raja of Cochin and the Zamorin, to whom the former was tributary. The latter
demanded that the Portuguese factors left at Cochin should be given up to him, and
the demand was refused. A force of fifty thousand Nayars, joined by many Cochin
malcontents, marched to Repelim (Eddapalli in Cochin State) on the 31st March
1503.
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On the 2nd of April this army attempted to force a passage by a ford near
Cranganore, defended by Narayan, the heir apparent of the Cochin State, with five
thousand five hundred Nayars. The attack was repulsed, but aided with Moorish
money, the Zamorin effected by treachery what he had failed to obtain by force, and
Narayan was slain with two more of the Cochin princes. The Cochin Raja’s people,
on this happening, became clamorous for the lives of the foreigners whose
protection had led to the calamity, but the Raja remained firmly their friend.
Two Italians however deserted, and learning from them the state of panic
prevailing at Cochin, the Zamorin’s forces marched thither and burnt it to the
ground. The Cochin Raja thereupon retreated to the Island of Vypeen opposite
Cochin, and the Portuguese with their property went with him.
As the south-west monsoon had begun, the Zamorin’s force leaving a
strong detachment at Cochin, retreated to Cranganore and postponed further
operations until after the Onam festival in August.
Great was their consternation and great was the joy of the beleaguered
Portuguese and Raja therefore when, on Saturday, 2nd September 1503, there
appeared before Cochin Don Francisco de Albuquerque with six sail. He had
touched at the Cannanore factory and learning from the Kolattiri the critical
position of affairs, had pushed on to Cochin just in time to relieve the small
garrison.
The Zamorin’s forces were disheartened and easily driven back. And
Albuquerque, taking advantage of the high favour he possessed with the Raja,
sought and obtained permission to build a stockade at Cochin for the future
protection of the Portuguese traders. It was accordingly commenced on 26th
September 1503, and it took the shape of a square with flanking bastions at the
corners mounted with ordnance.
The walls were made of double rows of coconut tree stems securely
fastened together and with earth rammed firmly between; it was further protected
by a wet ditch. On 30th September Albuquerque’s cousin Alonso arrived with three
more ships, and as the crews of those vessels were also at once put on to the work it
was soon finished.
On the morning of 1st October the fort was with great pomp christened
Emmanuel, after the reigning King of Portugal and one Gaston, a Franciscan monk,
preached a sermon on the occasion, blessing the day as one on which a door for the
evangelization of the Hindus had been opened, and enjoining daily prayers for the
welfare of Perimpatap, the Raja of Cochin.
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Thus was founded the first European fort in India, for the stockade already
erected at Cannanore appears to have been little more than a fence to keep out
incendiaries. The Zamorin and the Moors next resorted to other tactics. The
Portuguese came for pepper and spices: if unable to obtain them they might perhaps
leave the coast. The utmost exertions were therefore made to prevent their getting a
lading for their ships.
Albuquerque sent Pacheco into the interior to procure pepper, but what he
got after great exertions and fighting sufficed to lade only one ship. He therefore
proceeded to Quilon, where he was amicably relived, and easily procured, with the
aid of the local Christian merchants, spices for his ships. Obtaining permission to
open a factory, he left a small establishment there.
Travancore was at this time ruled by Govardhana Martanda. His territory
extended from Quilon to Cape Comorin, and embraced, besides, the southern
portion of the Pandyan kingdom including the port of Kayal. The Raja exacted
tribute from Ceylon, kept a corps of three hundred female archers, and it is said he
had not hesitated to challenge to battle the Raja of Vijayanagar.
Albuquerque sailed from Quilon on 12th January 1604 for Cochin, whence
on 31st January he finally sailed for Europe, touching at Cannanore for ginger.
Before doing so, however, he concluded a short-lived treaty with the Zamorin, the
conditions of which were : (1) nine hundred candies of pepper as compensation, (2)
Moors to give up trade with Arabia and Egypt, (3) permanent reconciliation
between the Zamorin and Cochin, and (4) the delivery up of the two Italian
deserters.
These terms, except the last, were agreed to by the Zamorin to the rage and
indignation of the Moors, some of whom left Calicut. But the treaty was of short
duration, because of the capture of a boat by the Portuguese laden with pepper
intended for Cranganore. Six persons were slain and several wounded in effecting
this capture.
Albuquerque, before sailing, was warned of impending dangers, and the
defence of the Cochin fort was accordingly entrusted to Pacheco, a most valiant
soldier. He had as garrison one hundred and fifty men including invalids, and two
ships which had not been loaded with pepper were also placed at his disposal.
On 16th March 1504 the Zamorin’s force, consisting of five big guns which
had been constructed for him by the two Italian deserters, the Vettatta and
Kottayam and Parappanad Rajas and other chiefs, with fifty - seven thousand
Nayars, together with one hundred and sixty boats linked together and armed with
guns cast by the Italians attacked Pacheco's small force at the Eddapalli ferry. But
the Portuguese artillery again proved completely effective, and the enemy was driven
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back with heavy loss notwithstanding that the Cochin Nayers (five hundred men)
had fled at the first alarm.
On Sunday, the 25th March, another attempt to force the passage was made,
and this time again the Zamorin was defeated by Pacheco’s daring little band.
On the Tuesday following a third attempt was made, but with no better
success. The Zamorin next divided his forces and sent one part of it to force
another and shallower ferry called Valanjaca. Pacheco’s resources were now put to
the greatest test, for at ebb tide he had to proceed to Valanjaca and defend it, and
when the flood tide made that passage impracticable for men without boats he
returned to Edapalli. As a precautionary measure he had seized all the boats.
The rains set in, cholera broke out among the Zamorin’s men, and this
brought a- short respite to the wearied Pacheco and his band of heroes. The
Brahmans with the Zamorin finally appointed Thursday, the 7th May, for the last
attack ; and it was with the utmost difficulty repulsed, the Cochin Nayars having
again proved faithless.
But a partial crossing was effected at another point, and a curious incident,
possible only in Indian warfare, occurred, for a band of Cherumar, who were there
busy working in the fields, plucked up courage, seized their spades and attacked the
men who had crossed. These being, more afraid of being polluted by the too near
approach of the low-caste men than by death at the hands of Pacheco’s men, fled
precipitately.
Pacheco expressed strong admiration of the Cherumars’ courage and
wished to have them raised to the rank of Nayars. He was much astonished when
told that this could not be done.
The Zamorin at last gave up the attempt in despair, and his power and
influence waned perceptibly in consequence of his ill-success, while the influence of
the Cochin Raja, on the other hand, increased considerably. On 3rd July Pacheco
having brought his three and a half months toil to a happy issue, returned to Cochin
in triumph, and hearing there of a partial outbreak at Quilon, he set sail, to the
amazement of everybody, in the teeth of the monsoon, landed at Quilon, and
speedily restored the Portuguese prestige there.
On the 1st September 1504 Suarez de Menezes arrived at Cannanore, where
he was received by the Kolattiri escorted by three elephants and five thousand
Nayars. After an ineffectual attempt to rescue some of the prisoners taken at Calicut
in Cabral’s time, he cannonaded the place and sailed on 14th September for Cochin.
After being joined there by Pacheco on his return from Quilon in October,
a successful night attack was made on Cranganore, which was held by the
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Padinyattedam chieftain under the Zamorin. The place was captured and was nearly
all burnt. The Portuguese spared the Christian houses, shops and churches, but they
looted those of the Jews and Moors.
The only other notable incident connected with Suarez’s stay on the coast
was his destruction of a large Moorish fleet at Pantalayini Kollam. It had assembled
there to take back a large number of Moors to Arabia and Egypt, who were leaving
the country disheartened at the trade losses caused to them by the Portuguese. It
was a crushing blow, for it is said Suarez captured seventeen vessels and slew two
thousand men ; and the Zamorin too felt the weight of it, for he had hitherto relied
on the Moors for assistance, and it was by their aid chiefly that he had obtained such
pre-eminence on the coast.
On the return of Suarez and Pacheco, King Emmanuel, at a Council,
resolved to bring about the complete overthrow of the Moorish trade by seizing (1)
Aden, (2) Hormuz, and {3} Malacca, the two first being the ports through which
their eastern trade reached Europe via Alexandria and Beyrout, and the last being
that at which they exchanged goods with China.
The year 1505 was a memorable year in the Portuguese annals, for on 31st
October there arrived at Cochin eight vessels, all that remained out of a fleet of
twenty-two, carrying one thousand five hundred soldiers, with which Don Francisco
de Almeyda, the first Portuguese Viceroy of all the Indies had sailed from Europe.
His appointment dated from the 25th March of that year, but it was made
conditional on his succeeding in erecting forts at four places: (1) Anjediva Island, (2)
Cannanore, (3) Cochin, and (4) Quilon. The building of the Anjediva fort was
commenced directly Almeyda touched the coast on 13th September, and it is said
that in digging the foundations the Portuguese came across stones bearing a cross,
showing that the place had once been the abode of Christians.1
NOTEs: 1. It does not follow that they were Christian crosses, for the cross was originally a
heathen emblem. END OF NOTEs
On his way down the coast he, on 23rd October, commenced, with the
Kolattiri’s permission, the Cannanore fort,2 which he called St. Angelo. And he left
there Lorenzo de Brito with one hundred and fifty men and two ships to defend it.
NOTEs: 2. It was probably built on the site of the existing fort at this place. END OF
NOTEs
Here he was visited by the minister of Narasimha Row of Vijayanagar, who

then ruled the chief portion of Southern India. South Canara had been before this
time annexed in order to provide horses (Arab and Persian Gulf) for his cavalry.
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Almeyda was flattered at this visit, and the minister proposed an alliance of
marriage between his master’s daughter and the King of Portugal’s son.
On reaching Cochin Almeyda learnt that the factor and others, thirteen
persons in all, had been burnt to death by the mob at Quilon. Thither accordingly
he despatched his son Lorenzo with six vessels, with orders to ignore the massacre
if lading for his ships were provided, but if not, then to take ample vengeance for
the massacre. Lorenzo, finding twenty-seven Calicut vessels there, engaged and sank
them all ; and after visiting the Maidive Islands (in search of Arab vessels) he
touched at Ceylon and concluded a treaty with the King of Colombo.
Almeyda himself was meanwhile busy with political affairs at Cochin,
arranging a new succession to the crown. He installed with great pomp the third
Raja, and endeavoured to alter the succession to the throne, making it contingent on
the approval of the King of Portugal. This not being approved by the elder princes,
hostilities ensued. But the Portuguese hold on Cochin was increased by the
strengthening and rebuilding of the fort there, a work to which Almeyda devoted all
his energies.
The Zamorin had for a long time been waiting for succour from Egypt, and
had meanwhile been completing with utmost secrecy preparations for a great naval
attack on the Portuguese. The secret was well kept, but a travelling European, one
Ludovic of Bologna, disguised as a Moslem Fakir, visited Calicut, fell in there with
the two Italian deserters in the Zamorin’s employ, fraternised with them, and soon
ascertained that preparations on a big scale were afoot.
He succeeded in escaping to the Cannanore fort, and was thence
despatched to Cochin to lay his information before Almeyda. Lorenzo Almeyda was
accordingly ordered to concentrate his ships on Cannanore, and as it happened, they
rendezvoused there on the 16th March 1506, just in time to intercept an armada of
Turks and Moors whom the Zamorin had launched against Cannanore. This armada
consisted of two hundred and ten large vessels gathered from Ponnani, Calicut,
Kappatt, Pantalayini Kollam, and Dharmapattanam.
Lorenzo Almeyda steered his ship straight between two of the enemy
carrying red-coated Turkish soldiers. The Portuguese gunpowder and artillery fire
again easily won the day, and the armada retreated towards Dharmapattanam. The
wind falling adverse, however, they were again driven north towards Cannanore.
They sent a message to Lorenzo to say they had not come to fight, and wished to
pass to the northward.
To this, however, Lorenzo would not listen. He again closed with them and
near three thousand Moslems, it is said, fell in the battle and the rest were scattered
in all directions. The Portuguese loss was very trifling.
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This victory completely established the naval supremacy of the Portuguese,

and no further attempt was made to dispute it.
At the end of the monsoon in 1506, the Portuguese viceroy wisely
determined to give up the Anjediva fort and to concentrate his forces in the
Cannanore and Cochin forts, which sufficiently protected the trade. And it was well
he did so ; for, in April 1507, the Portuguese at Cannanore had to sustain the brunt
of a powerful attack from the Kolattiri, assisted both by the Zamorin and the
Moors.
The old Kolattiri, the original friend of Vasco da Gama, had died and the
succession to the raj had been disputed. The matter had been left to the arbitration
of a Brahman nominated by the Zamorin, so that the new Kolattiri was attached to
the Zamorin’s interests and was no friend of the Portuguese.
Moreover, a barbarous incident had justly incensed the people of
Kolattunad. The Portuguese permitted no native vessel to ply on the coast without
their passes, signed by the commandants either of Cochin or of Cannanore.
Chenacheri Kurup, the minister of the old Kolattiri had some years previously sent a
memorial to the King of Portugal praying for an order to the Portuguese captains
not to molest the Kolattiri’s petty islands, the Laccadive group, and to permit ten
native vessels to go annually to Hormuz or Gujarat for the purchase of horses, and a
favourable reply had been received.
But the Portuguese captains had obstructed the carrying out of the order,
and, perhaps, they had some excuse for doing so, as several Calicut Moors under
cover of this permission used to carry on trade. The Portuguese captains were not
therefore very particular as to what vessels they took.
And it so happened about this time that one of them, Gonzalo Vaz,
meeting a vessel near Gunmumre, overhauled her papers, and, declaring a pass
which she carried from Brito, the Cannanore commandant, to be a forgery, seized
the rich prize, and, to avoid discovery, plundered and sank her after sewing the crew
up in a sail and throwing them overboard.
The stitching had not been firm, and the corpses of the crew were washed
up on the beach. One of the bodies was identified as the son-in-law of Mammali
Marakkar, and the father, a very influential merchant, came to the Cannanore fort
and indignantly upbraided Brito for the breach of the faith.
Brito protested his innocence, but it was not believed. And the murdered
man’s family, therefore, went in a body to the Valarpattanam palace of the Kolattiri
and demanded vengeance. The populace was greatly incensed, and the Kolattiri
reluctantly consented to hostilities.
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The Portuguese, seeing

the threatening attitude of the
people, withdrew within their
fort, and from 27th April 1507,
for a period of four months, the
fort was closely invested.
Before the breaking of
the monsoon, Brito
communicated with Almeyda at
Cochin and obtained some
reinforcements and supplies, and Gonzalo Vaz was dismissed from the service. But,
though informed of this act of justice, the Kolattiri was not satisfied. He obtained
twenty-one pieces of cannon from the Zamorin, all communication between the
town and fort was cut off by a trench, and forty thousand Nayars were entertained
to besiege the place, and the Zamorin subsequently sent twenty thousand more to
assist.
Brito worked hard to complete his defences. At last one morning, the
besiegers advanced against the fort in twelve columns of two thousand men each,
tom-toms beating, rockets and blue-lights blazing, and doughty champions dancing
in front of the array, performing wonderful athletic feats.
The Portuguese poured in a destructive fire, however, and drove the
invaders back before they reached the walls.
The water of the garrison came from a well1 situated a bowshot from the
walls, and each time the Portuguese wished to draw water they had to fight for it,
until Fernandez, an engineer, hit upon the expedient of mining a passage as far as
the well and so drawing off the supply underground. The Portuguese, after this had
been accomplished, made another sally and filled up the well with earth to hide the
device from the enemy.
NOTEs: It is an interesting fact that the present Cannanore fort is still dependant for its
water-supply on this well. END OF NOTEs
The Moors constructed ramparts of bales of cotton, and against them the
ordinary cannon used had but little effect ; but the Portuguese planted a large piece
of ordnance on their ramparts, and one lucky shot from it, it is said, sent the cotton
bales flying and killed no less than twenty two men. After this, no attempt was made
to take the fort, and the besiegers hoped to starve out the garrison. The latter were
reduced to the greatest straits, and lived on lizards, rats, cats, and other animals.
On the 15th August, however, a miraculous event occurred, seemingly in
answer to the prayers of the besieged to the Queen of Heaven,1 whose feast day it
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chanced to be, for the sea sent forth shoals of crabs and prawns, and the garrison
again lived in plenty.
NOTEs: 1. Conf. pp. 34-37. The sea had probably sickened, as it does periodically, and the
prawns and crabs had probably been driven on shore in consequence. END OF NOTEs
To bring the siege to a termination before the Onam festival in August, a

grand final assault, both by sea and land, was planned. The boats and catamarans
were easily enough driven back by the besieged garrison, but the Nayars gallantly
stormed the wall and effected an entrance. So steady, however, was the Portuguese
fire that they withered away before it and finally retreated.
Nearly every one of the little garrison was, however, wounded in that day’s
fight ; and Brito, to conceal the exhaustion of his resources, kept up a bombardment
of the town after the enemy had been repulsed, and destroyed a big mosque in
which the Moors had congregated for the Friday service. But succour was at hand ;
for on 27th August, a fresh fleet of eleven ships under De Cunha arrived from
Europe, and their commander, with three hundred of his men, had no difficulty in
driving back the besiegers and relieving the place.
The Kolattiri then sued for peace, which was granted on terms
advantageous to the Portuguese. The markets of Cannanore and Cochin were thus
open, and no difficulty was experienced in freighting the ships for Europe with
spices.
Prior, however, to the despatch of the fleet, Almeyda, on the 24th
November, made a descent on the Zamorin's shallow harbour of Ponnani, and
destroyed the town and shipping. Numbers of Moors took oath to die as sahids on
this occasion, and the defence of the town, the Moorish headquarters on the coast,
was very stubborn. Eighteen Portuguese were killed in the assault on the place. The
fleet eventually sailed for Europe on 6th December.
Meanwhile extraordinary preparations were being made in Egypt to equip a
fleet to drive away the Portuguese, whose interference with the overland trade had
deprived the Egyptian ruler of his chief source of revenue. Cedar trees felled on Mount
Lebanon were rafted to Alexandria by sea, thence floated up the Nile, and finally
transported on camel back to Suez, where twelve large ships were built under the
skilled superintendence of Venetian shipwrights.
This fleet, under the command of Admiral Mir Hussain, then sailed for the
coast of Konkan, carrying on board one thousand five hundred Mamluks and the
Zamorin’s ambassador, Muyimama Marakkar, who had been sent to request
assistance against the Portuguese.
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This ambassador was among the first slain in the fight which ensued at
ChauI with Lorenzo Almeyda’s ships. But Lorenzo was himself slain together with
the whole of the crew of his ship, which had grounded on some fishing stakes and
there remained fast. The remaining Portuguese vessels then sailed for Cochin and
conveyed the news of this disaster to the viceroy.
The latter vowed vengeance ; and, with a fleet, carrying one thousand three
hundred Europeans and four hundred selected Cochin Nayars, sailed for and
reached Cannanore on 25th November 1508.
Hearing a rumour that the Egyptian fleet was approaching, Almeyda sailed
up to Mount Deli, and while anchored there a large fleet hove in sight, which turned
out to be that of the great Albuquerque, who had been sent out to relieve Almeyda
of the viceroyalty. The combined fleets then returned to Cannanore and quarrels
immediately ensued between the two viceroys.
In the end Albuquerque was sent to Cochin, and Almeyda, as viceroy in
command of the combined fleets, sailed from Cannanore on 12th December in
search of the enemy.
On the 3rd February 1500 the viceroy fell in with the Egyptian fleet, and the
eighty war-boats despatched to its assistance by the Zamorin in a harbour in
Gujarat. A complete victory was gained by the Portuguese, who also secured much
plunder and took many prisoners.
Returning in triumph to Cannanore, Almeyda made a most brutal use of his
victory by hanging some, and by blowing from cannon others, of the Turkish
prisoners taken by him. The limbs of the victims of his revengeful fury are said to
have been showered over the Moorish town of Cannanore as a warning to Moslems
not to provoke the Portuguese to vengeance.
On reaching headquarters at Cochin (8th March 1509)), Almeyda still
delayed handing over charge of his office to Albuquerque. The disputes between
them continued until Albuquerque was despatched a prisoner to Cannanore and
consigned to Brito’s charge.
Thus matters continued until 16th October 1500, when fresh reinforcements
arrived at Cannanore from Europe under the command of Don Fernando
Coutinho. Brito, the Cannanore commandant, set sail secretly the very night the
fleet anchored at Cannanore to convey the news to Almeyda, for one of the first
acts of Coutinho was to release the great Albuquerque from custody, and to confer
on him the insignia, of his rank as viceory.
On their arrival at Cochin (29th October 1509), Almeyda quietly resigned
charge of his office and made preparations to return to Europe. He was, however,
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never destined to reach Portugal again, for in a petty quarrel with Caffres at a place
to the west of the Cape of Good Hope, the first of the Portuguese viceroys of India
was mortally wounded, and the same fate likewise befell Brito, the famous defender
of the Cannanore fort.
Coutinho had brought out instructions from Portugal that Calicut should
be destroyed. Such had been, it is said, the counsel sent to Europe by the Kolattiri
and by the Cochin Raja, both of whom envied and were afraid of the Zamorin, and
benefited by his misfortunes.
Accordingly Albuquerque and Coutinho set out for and reached Calicut on
4thJanuary 1510, timing their arrival there when the Zamorin was absent from the
place.
Landing in two divisions, Albuquerque on the left took the fort by escalade
and carried all before him.
Not to be outdone, the aged Coutinho, with the right division, sought and
obtained a guide to conduct his party of eight hundred men straight to the
Zamorin’s palace. The day was hot, Coutinho himself had no helmet or other head
covering. The country through which his division passed was thickly covered with
orchards and the gardens were divided from each other (as they are now) by massive
earthen embankments.1
NOTEs: 1. The palace alluded to is still pointed out as that of which the mounds forming
the foundations now alone exist on both sides of the main road from the Mananchira Tank towards
Beypore. It is there that the Zamorins are still crowned. END OF NOTEs
Proceeding thus, it is said, for a mile and a half, the palace was at last
reached, and the Chief Officer of the Palace Guard and two other chieftains
defending it were slain. The palace was sacked, the treasure and royal emblems
accumulated for ages were seized, the precious stones were picked out of the idols,
and excesses of all kinds were committed. Overcome by fatigue Coutinho lay clown
to rest on a couch in one of the most spacious halls, and it is said he slept for over
two hours.
Suddenly he was roused by the wild shouts of the returning foe, the Nayar
guards (the agambadi ) poured in from all directions before he could rally his men ;
the Portuguese knew not which way to turn in their ignorance of the locality, and
the Nayars overwhelmed them with showers of arrows and javelins.
Albuquerque arrived on the scene too late to save his friend ; Coutinho and
eighty of his men were slain, and Albuquerque himself escaped with difficulty. The
palace was on fire, and two of the guns were in the hands of the enemy. He made a
great but ineffectual effort to retake them, and then retreated. The earthen
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embankments among the orchards obstructed his men, and at such places the
Nayars pressed them hard and wounded many of the Portuguese. Albuquerque
himself was first wounded by a bullet in his foot, and then by a stone which
knocked him down insensible. Laying him on shields, he was carried without further
mishap to the shore, and on reaching this the Portuguese made good their retreat to
the ships under cover of the guns of the fleet commanded by Captain Rebello.
They left, however, one hundred of their number behind.
After returning to Cochin and giving the wounded some time to recover,
Albuquerque next set out on an expedition against Hormuz; the headquarters of the
Moslem trade in the Persian Gulf. Proceeding up the coast he touched at Honore,
and was there prevailed on by the chieftain Timmaya, to attack him before
proceeding to Hormuz.
The chieftain of Goa, Subbayi, had lately died. He had succeeded in
collecting around him a large following of divers nations, and piracy on a large scale
was there carried on.
Adil Khan, his successor, was absent at the time, and Goa fell an easy prey
to Albuquerque aided by the Honore chief. On 25th February 1510 Albuquerque
entered the place in triumph, and found great booty, including a large number of
horses intended for sale to the Vijayanagar Raja.
The advantage of having a deep harbour like Goa, available for shelter for
even his largest ships in the south-west monsoon season struck Albuquerque very
forcibly, and he determined at once to make it the capital of the Portuguese
possessions in India. And to this end he set about strengthening its defences. He
accordingly stayed there till the monsoon set in, and meanwhile despatched an
embassy to Vijayanagar, proposing an offensive and defensive alliance against the
Moslems.
But Adil Khan then returning, laid siege to the place, and so effectually
intercepted supplies that Albuquerque was compelled at last to evacuate the place
and to retreat to Ra-bunder, where he remained in great stress for provisions all
through the monsoon. Many desertions from the Portuguese ranks took place at
this time. At last, taking advantage of a break in the weather, he made good his
retreat to Anjediva (August 1510), and on 15th September arrived at Cannanore
There in a large tent erected in front of the fort a grand durbar was held,
attended by the Kolattiri, his minister Chenacheri Kurup, and Mammali Marakkar,
the chief Moor of Cannanore.
At this council an urgent message was received from Nuno, left in
command at Cochin, that the viceroy would at once return thither, because the
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reigning Raja had, under Brahman advice, decided to relinquish the throne
according to custom on the death of the senior Raja, which had just taken place.
The ruling Cochin Rajas had been previously in the habit of retiring to a
pagoda to lead the lives of hermits directly their seniors in the family died. This
custom was now to be broken through in deference to the wishes of the Portuguese,
to whose interest it was that the next senior in the family, an ally of the Zamorin’s,
should not succeed to the raj. It was, however, with much reluctance and with a
heavy heart that the reigning Raja was prevailed upon to do so, and it was only when
a number of his chieftains presented themselves, tendered fealty, and advised that
the Brahmans should not be listened to in this matter, that he consented to break
through the customs of his ancestors.
Albuquerque tried to reassure him and said, “Brahmans’ have ceased to rule
this kingdom. The mighty arm of the foreigner must be respected in future. Seek
asylum therefore in the royal favour of the King of Portugal, and you will never be
forsaken.”
In the end of September Albuquerque decided on a second expedition
against Goa, and a fresh fleet from Europe arrived just as he was organising the
expedition and enabled him to make up his force to the necessary strength.
On arrival at Cannanore, however, the men broke into mutiny on hearing
that a force of nine thousand Turks had been prepared to meet them. The Zamorin
too sent a force under the rival Cochin claimant to draw off the Kolattiri from the
Portuguese alliance. Albuquerque was, however, equal to the occasion ; he
eventually persuaded the Kolattiri minister, Chenacheri Kurup, to join his
expedition at the head of three hundred picked Nayars, and this shamed his own
men into facing the dangers in front of them.
Proceeding up the coast, the expedition touched at Honore, and after
engaging the chief of that place, Timmayya, to assist him against Goa, and on
learning that Adil Khan was again absent from the place, Albuquerque determined
on immediate attack. He reached Goa on St. Catherine’s day, 6th November 1510,
and after a contest lasting only for six hours the place fell into his hands.
Albuquerque took a statesmen-like view of his position, and it was under
his orders that the foundations of Portuguese power in India were laid. Besides
building forts and churches and carrying out various public works with Moorish
spoils, he encouraged his men to marry the native women, and on them he
bestowed the lands taken from the Moors. To the mixed race thus produced he
looked for the formation of a native army which should be as powerful by land as
his fleet was by sea.
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Adhering to these views with

firmness, he ably carried them out. But the
people under him thirsted to be rich ; the
means they adopted to this end were very
frequently most unscrupulous, and all such
irregularities Albuquerque repressed with a
heavy hand. He thus made numerous enemies
among his own people.
From November 1510 Goa finally
supplanted Cochin as the chief Portuguese
settlement, and the effect of the capture was
so great that the different Rajas of Southern
India voluntarily sent embassies to Albuquerque acknowledging the Portuguese
supremacy.
To ruin the Moslem trade in India
and the East had been the aim of all the
Portuguese commanders from Da Gama’s
time downwards. And Albuquerque’s next
blow was aimed at their China trade, the
emporium of which was at Malacca. This city
he took in July 1511.
Narrowly escaping being drowned in
shipwreck on his way back, he landed at
Cochin in February 1512 among great
demonstrations of joy as the Moors had been
industriously circulating rumours of his death.
To his sorrow, however, he found that his countrymen had in the interval
been associating indiscriminately with the natives, and had abandoned themselves to
vice and crime. To stop this he constructed a barrier to separate the fort from the
town, and made a rule that any one other than a Christian entering the Fort should
forfeit his life. In consequence of this rule over four hundred Cochinites, including
some Nayars voluntarily embraced Christianity. For their benefit the viceroy
established schools.
Leaving Malabar in September 1512, Albuquerque next proceeded to Goa
and thence he set out on another distant expedition against Aden, after putting in
train a scheme for building a fort at Calicut and for entering on a treaty of peace
with the Zamorin, It was in spite of the expressed dissatisfaction of the Kolattiri and
of the Cochin Raja that he endeavoured to come to terms with the Zamorin, and as
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all their influence was exerted to thwart the plan, the negotiations did not make
much progress, and they came to a standstill altogether directly Albuquerque sailed
for Aden and the Red Sea.
Returning with a heavy heart from his unsuccessful expedition against Aden
in August 1513, an opening was presented to Albuquerque for a good understanding
with Calicut in consequence of the succession to the raj of the member of the family
who had hitherto encouraged the idea of an alliance with Portugal.
By a treaty with the Zamorin the Portuguese would be enabled to curtail
their expenditure at Cochin, for their establishment to protect Cochin from
invasion, especially at the Eddapalli ferry, had always to be maintained on a war
footing whilst the Zamorin was their foe. Albuquerque landed at Calicut, had an
interview with the Zamorin, and arranged the following terms of peace with him: —
The Portuguese were to erect a fort at Calicut in a locality of their own selection.
They were to be permitted to trade as they pleased.
They were to be permitted to barter European goods for pepper whilst all other
traders1 were to pay for it in cash.
The annual quantity of pepper to be supplied to them was fixed as fifteen
thousand candies, and the price to be governed by that prevailing at Cochin.
NOTEs: 1. The Moors alleged that one of the conditions was that, they should be permitted
to load four vessels annually for the Red Sea, but as soon as the Calicut fort was finished the
Portuguese broke faith with them and forbade any further trade with Arabia, and any trade whatever in
pepper or ginger (Rowlandson's Tahafat-ul Mujahidin, p. 112). It is doubtful however if this was so,
and reference is probably made to the proposed terms embracing a condition to the said effect offered
by Albuquerque prior to his Aden expedition, which terms were not accepted at the time. END OF
NOTEs
A moiety of the customs revenue was to be paid as tribute to the King of

Portugal. The loss incurred by the destruction of the factory planted by Cabral was
to be made good from the Zamorin’s treasury.
In accordance with this agreement, the Portuguese set to work to erect a
fort at Calicut. The site selected appears to have been on the northern bank of the
Kallayi river at the southern extremity of Calicut. The position chosen had the
advantage of being flanked on two sides by water. The fort was square in form with
flanking bastions at the corners facing the sea. The Zamorin personally exerted
himself to help the engineer, Thomas Fernandez, who built it.
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This arrangement with the Zamorin increased Albuquerque’s fame in Europe. He

sent tigers and elephants to Portugal ; some of them were passed on to Rome. His
zeal was, however, disparaged by slanderers among his own officers, and the King
of Portugal began to take alarm at his increasing renown.
In February 1515, Albuquerque set out on his last expedition for ruining the
Moslem trade, and this was directed against Hormuz, the emporium of the Persian
Gulf. This place fell an easy conquest.
But meanwhile the slanderers’ tales had been listened to and Albuquerque’s
supersession had been decreed. His successor, Suarez, sailed in April and reached
Goa on 2nd September 1515. Albuquerque was still absent on the Hormuz
expedition, and a ship was despatched to convey to him the news. His anguish was
great when he came to know that men whom he had sent in disgrace to Europe had
returned in high offices of State.
“Oh holy Jesus, deliver me from this dilemma. When I serve my king
loyally, the people hate me! When I serve the people the king hates me! I have had
enough of this ; it is time for me to hid farewell to the world. Ah! do not forsake an
aged man.”
Falling ill of dysentery, he saw his end approaching, and placidly acquiesced
therein. His ship arrived at Goa on 16th December ; a boat was despatched to shore
to fetch a priest ; he received the last offices of the Church, and on the 17th he died,
aged 63 years.
Albuquerque was greatly beloved by the natives for his justice and honesty.
These good qualities lived long in their memories, and offerings and vows were
made at his tomb by all classes and creeds among the natives.
The events of the next few years do not present many features of interest.
But an important change came over the Portuguese administration. In 1517 a
Finance Minister was sent out from Europe
to control expenditure, and as a check on
the hitherto unlimited powers of the
Viceroy. Dissensions of course arose directly
he tried to exercise his authority, and in the
end he had to go home.
From this time forward the Home
Government displayed great jealousy and
suspicion in regard to the acts of its Indian
administrators, and frequently cancelled
their orders. This treatment naturally
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produced indifference in public affairs, and resulted in every one connected with the
administration striving to amass wealth without caring much how it was obtained.
In 1517 Suarez arranged a treaty with the Queen of Quilon. Compensation
was given for the loss of the former factory, control of the pepper trade was
obtained, and a fresh factory was erected, probably on the site of the existing fort at
Tangasseri.
An unsuccessful expedition against Jeddah, and the subjugation of Egypt by
the Turks, also marked this year. The impending trouble from a fresh Egyptian
expedition consequently passed over.
In 1518 expeditions were sent to the Maldives and to Ceylon, and in the
end of the year a change of viceroys took place, Scqueria succeeding Suarez.
In 1519 some trading Moslems, taking advantage of the weakness of the
Portuguese factory at the Maldives, massacred the garrison, and from this time
forward the islanders, including probably those of Minicoy, were not interfered with
by the Portuguese, and in course of time became Muhammadans.
In this same year in September, the Quilon, or rather Tangasseri fort (Fort. Thomas)
was begun secretly by the Commandant Rodrigues under pretence of repairing the
factory, and was completed and armed ; and, under the conditions of the agreement
giving the Portuguese the control of the pepper trade, Rodrigues seized five
thousand bullock-loads of that article which certain traders from the East Coast had
collected in barter for five thousand bullock-loads of rice, and which they were on
the point of taking across the ghauts via the Ariankavu Pass.
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From that time forward, East Coast

merchants were afraid to cross by that
puss for trade at Quilon and it gradually
fell into disuse. It was in this year also
that Scqueria, the Viceroy, with a band of
men witnessed near Cochin a duel1 on a
very big scale between a chieftain of the
Zamorin and a chieftain of Cochin. Four
thousand men were engaged on each
side, and while the fighting was in
progress one of the Portuguese struck in
with the Zamorin ’s men, whereupon the
Cochin men sent a flight of arrows into
the Portuguese spectators and killed five
of thorn, putting the rest to flight.
NOTEs: Conf. p. 169. END OF
NOTEs
In January 1520, another

expedition against Jeddah was
despatched, but it seems to have accomplished little or nothing, and in the monsoon
of that year, Fort Thomas at Tangassori was besieged. The garrison, numbering only
thirty Europeans, had rice to eat, but little
else, and were driven to making curry of
rats to give their rice a flavour.
In August, however, provisions
and reinforcements arrived from Cochin,
and the two Queens of Quilon sued for
and obtained peace.
In 1521 the Cochin Raja, smarting
under the recollection of the former
defeats sustained at the Zamorin’s hands,
thought he saw a favourable opportunity
for attacking the latter, which he did with a
force of fifty thousand Nayars, and the
Portuguese, disregarding treaty obligations
sent some gunners to assist him. But the
Brahmans came to the Zamorin’s
assistance, and by cursing the land which
gave protection to the Parangis
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History
(Portuguese), succeeded in making many of the Cochin Raja’s followers desist from
the enterprise, and the rest were easily driven back into their own limits.
The Portuguese too, under Scqueria, made themselves very much disliked
by the natives by refusing to recognise their own passes to native ships engaged in
trade ; in fact, the Portuguese ship captains became little better than organised
pirates. Petitions went home, particularly from Cannanore, and in consequence of
these Scqueria was recalled and Don Duarte de Menezes came out as Viceroy with
orders to maintain peace and to propagate Christianity.
In January 1523, Menezes came to Calicut, and there found to his
astonishment that things were rapidly assuming a warlike aspect. The Zamorin was
dead and his successor did not favour the Portuguese alliance. Moreover, the
piratical acts of the Portuguese had made the Moorish merchants desperate.
The Viceroy, to avoid war, adopted the readiest means for bringing it on by
overlooking insults to his people. His own Secretary (Castro) was grossly insulted in
Calicut bazaar and driven back with his retinue into the fort, by the rabble with
stones, several of the retinue being wounded, and no notice was taken of the
affront. When therefore Menezes sailed with all the available ships to Hormuz, a
Moorish merchant, one Kuti Ali of Tanur had the effrontery to bring a fleet of two
hundred vessels to Calicut, to load eight ships with pepper, and to despatch them
with a convoy of forty vessels to the Red Sea before the very eyes of the Portuguese.
On the 11th or (perhaps) 21st of September 1524, “there arrived at the bar
of Goa D. Vasco da Gama, who discovered India, as Viceroy of India.” He came in
great state as befitted his position, with a fleet of fourteen ships carrying three
thousand men, and his mission was to reform the abuses which had crept, into the
administration. On reaching the land at Dabul “and with the wind becalmed, during
the watch of daybreak, the sea trembled in such a manner, giving such great buffets
to the ships, that all thought they were on shoals, and struck the sails, and lowered
the boats into the sea with great shouts and cries and discharge of cannon.”
On sounding, they found no bottom, “and they cried to God for mercy,
because the ships pitched so violently that the men could not stand upright and the
chests were sent from one end of the ship to the other,” The trembling came, died
away, and was renewed “each time during the space of a Credo.”
The subterranean disturbance lasted about an hour, “in which the water
made a great boiling up, one sea struggling with another.” When daylight was fully
come, they saw the land. Da Gama maintained his presence of mind during this
trying scene, and reassured his men by telling them that even the sea trembled at the
presence of the Portuguese.
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Da Gama went to Cannanore and stayed there for three days, during which
time he insisted on the Kolattiri surrendering a notorious pirate chief called Bala
Kansan, who was thereupon thrown into a dungeon in Cannanore fort.
Passing Calicut, where there were commotions but no fighting, Da Gama
proceeded to Cochin and took measures to bring Menezes, the Viceroy, to account
for his actions by arresting both him and his brother D. Luiz, the good Governor of
Cochin.
But Da Gama had fallen sick and Menezes hoped to continue in his post if
his illness proved fatal. In this, however, Da Gama forestalled him by orders issued
from his sick bed, and he sailed for Europe before the illness took a fatal turn.
Da Gama died “at 3 o’clock after midnight on the 24th day of December of
this present year of 1524.”
“Feeling his death approaching (he) passed from the fortress to the houses
of Deogo Pereira which were close by in the court of the church.” After death, his
body “was carried to the monastery of St. Anthony and1 buried in the principal
chapel.”
NOTEs: The quotation in the text is from Correa's "Lendas da India" (Stanley’s
translation). There has been much conjecture as to the exact place of the great Du Gama’s burial at
Cochin. The monastery belonged to the Franciscans, and the principal chapel thereof was probably
dedicated, as Correa and P. Barreto de Resende state, to St. Anthony. Castanheda, on the other hand,
says the burial took place in the Cochin cathedral. Barros and San Roman say it was the monastery of
St. Francis. Correa's account written so near the time is entitled to the fullest credit, and there can be
little doubt that it was in the Franciscan chapel of St. Anthony that Da Gama’s body was first laid to
rest. Much has been written about the vandalism of the British Government in having blown up the
church where Da Gama’s remains rested, but, the charges are without foundation, for the chapel,
rebuilt by the Dutch, still exists as the European Protestant place of worship down to the present day.
Da Gama's body was removed to Portugal in 1538 and deposited first at Vidigueira. His remains now
rest, in a. chapel at Belem, the port whence he set out on his adventurous voyage. They were
transferred to this last resting place with much ceremony so lately as Juno 1880. END OF NOTEs
On this tomb, there was “a square grating surrounding the grave, of the
height of a span, lined with a black velvet, and a black and white fringe placed upon
a velvet cloth which covered all the grave.”2 Short as was the time during which Da
Gama held office, he did much to rehabilitate the reputation of the Portuguese. He
purged the settlements visited by him, and selected the ablest officers to conduct
affairs.
NOTEs: There is pointed out in the Protestant Church at Cochin a tomb-stone in the
pavement of the church bearing the name “Vasco” in legible characters thereon, the remainder of the
name has become obliterated. The top of the stone bearing a coat of arms is broken, but if the top
there now is the real top of the stone on which the name “Vasco” is engraved, then it is almost
certainly not Da Gama’s tomb-stone, as the coat of arms is different from that of Da Gama. END OF
NOTEs
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History
De Souza under his orders relieved Calicut, engaged the famous Kutti Ali’s
fleet at Kappatt and drove it to Pantalayani Kollam. Taking up the chase next day,
De Souza drove the fleet before him as far as Cannanore, where the sailors having
abandoned it, it fell a prey to the Portuguese.
Meantime the young George Tellia had encountered the younger Kutti Ali
near Goa and had defeated him too.
When the royal despatch was opened after Da Gama’s death, it was found
that Henry Menezes had been appointed to succeed him in the event of his death.
About the time of Da Gama’s death, the Moors, with the Zamorin’s approval, made
an onslaught on the Cannanore Jews and Christians, the reason alleged being that
the Moors had resorted to various tricks for adulterating the pepper, etc., brought to
market, and some Jews and Christians had been specially selected to discover such
tricks and mete out justice to the offenders.
Assembling from Calicut, Pantalayini Kollam, Kappatt, “Turlcoz”
(?Trikkodi), Chaliyam, Parappanangadi, “Travancore ” (?) Tanur, Paroni, Ponnani,
and Baleenghat,” the Moors mustered a fleet of one hundred grabs and attacked
Cranganore. They slew many Jews and drove out the rest to a village to the east, but
when they attacked the Christians, the Nayars of the place retaliated, and, in turn
drove all the Moors out of Cranganore.
One of the first acts of Henry Menezes’ rule, when he arrived at Cannanore
on his way to the south from Goa, was to order the execution of the pirate Bala
Hassan, who had been delivered up by the Kolattiri on a demand from Da Gama.
This man was related to the family of the Arakal Raja of Cannanore (Mappilla), and
bribes to a large amount were offered for his release, but in vain.
The Kolattiri also offered a visit to the Viceroy to intercede for him, but the
execution was not stayed. The Moors were greatly disgusted at this and decided that
in the future they should act independently of the Kolattiri altogether. And the
Kolattiri on his part asked the Viceroy to punish those Moors who had taken refuge
at Darmapattanam Island. An expedition was accordingly organised, and the towns,
bazaars and shipping at Darmapattanam and at Mahe were destroyed (January
1525).
On reaching Calicut, Menezes found that the place had been attacked by
the Zamorin’s troops ; but notwithstanding this, the Zamorin pretended he was now
inclined to sue for peace. Pushing on to Cochin, Menezes there received another
message from the Zamorin asking for peace, but in reality it was only a pretence to
gain time till the setting in of the monsoon.
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Hurrying his preparation, therefore, Menezes determined to strike the first

blow, so he sailed for Ponnani and there burnt the town and seized or burnt the
shipping (26th February 1525).
Pantalayini Kollam, the emporium of the trade with Mecca, next occupied
his attention. It was defended by three bastions on a hill1 with many guns. A canal
had been dug communicating with the sea and the ships and mercantile warehouses
lay along this canal. The town was defended by twenty thousand Nayars and Moors.
NOTEs: 1. The present graveyard hill apparently. END OF NOTEs
Menezes arrived before it one evening, and both parties made great
preparations for the fight on the morrow. The Portuguese next day landed in three
divisions and were completely victorious, taking, it is said, two hundred and fifty
cannon and quantities of ammunition. The town and bazaar and shipping were all
burnt, and the Portuguese carried off with them forty vessels to Cannanore, where
they arrived on 11th March 1525.
The effect of this victory was great, and the reputation of the Portuguese
for valour was revived. The Viceroy next dealt with the Laccadive Islands, which are
eighteen in number. Orders had come from Portugal that if the Kolattiri would
supply all the coir (for which the islands are famous) required by the Portuguese at a
cheap rate, he might keep the islands. Menezes, at an interview with the Kolattiri,
then demanded a thousand candies per annum of coir.
The Kolattiri replied he could not undertake to supply this quantify and said
he preferred giving up the islands. This was accordingly done, and Menezes
stationed there forty soldiers and imposed an import duty on all rice taken to the
islands. With the sum thus collected, he was able to buy the coir required and to pay
for the establishment.
He next blockaded the coast to intercept the supplies of rice required at
Calicut, and two naval actions, both in favour of the Portuguese, were fought near
Mount Deli. War with the Zamorin was clearly impending, although he still
pretended to want peace with a view to throw the Portuguese off their guard ; so the
Calicut fort was first provisioned and strengthened for the monsoon season, and
Captain Lima, with three hundred men, undertook its defence.
The Kurumbranad Raja and Tinayancheri Elayad invested the place with
their Nayars directly the monsoon set in, and they were helped by a band of Moors
under the command of a skilled European engineer who had three years before,
been made a captain at the siege in Rhode Island by the Turks (1522), and who,
having been taken prisoner, renounced Christianity and became a Muhammadan.
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History
He threw up trenches and placed guns in Vannattan paramba, south of the

fort, and in the street of Chinakkotta (Chinese fort). The Portuguese retired within
their fort after destroying all outlying warehouses and buildings. They had water and
rice sufficient for one year, and curry stuff and oil for one month.
On the 13th June 1525, the Zamorin himself came with an additional force,
and Lima, although the monsoon was then blowing, despatched a boat to Cochin
for assistance. The boat reached there after much buffeting on 10th July, and one
hundred and forty men were despatched to succour Calicut. Only thirty-five of
them landed with great difficulty, owing to the roughness of the sea about the
beginning of August, under protection of the fort guns. The rest, without leaving
their boats, went back to Cochin after receiving a message, shot out to them tied to
an arrow, that four men were killed, that many were wounded, that five hundred
men at least were required, and that provisions and ammunition were wanted most
particularly.
The Zamorin spared no efforts to take the place before reinforcements
could reach it. The powder magazine walls cracked, and the ammunition had to be
stored elsewhere. The Sicilian engineer tried to mine under the wall, but a
Portuguese renegade conveyed the news to his besieged countrymen in a song. A
countermine was sunk and the miners were caught.
On a stormy night in the end of August, boats arrived and landed
ammunition, bread, salted meat, and other provisions, and in the morning Lima, the
Commandant, out of bravado, sealed the rampart, chucked some bundles of fresh
betel leaf to the besiegers, and then proceeded to show them he had both bread and
meat to eat by eating it in full view of the besiegers. On 15th October, the Viceroy
arrived with twenty ships and relieved the garrison ; and on the 31st of that month
an attack was made on the besiegers and they were driven back, leaving the renegade
Sicilian and two thousand men dead in the trenches.
Meanwhile, the Viceroy had determined to abandon the fort altogether,
because he had news from Europe that the Turks, now rulers of Egypt, were
organising an expedition to the East, and it was manifest the Portuguese could only
hope to resist them by concentrating their strength. The fort was accordingly
abandoned1 and it is said that the last man to leave it set fire to a train of gunpowder
which killed many of the Nayars and Moors, who in hopes of plunder flocked into
the fort directly it was abandoned.
NOTEs: Zein-ud-din in the Tahafat-ul Mujahidin gives a similar account, “To facilitate their
doing this’’ (abandoning the fort), “they made an opening in the wall from within the fort, and in a part
which was not visible to those who were without, and abandoning the fort they set sail in the ships and
went away.” Ferishta’s story about the taking of the fort was probably founded on the inflated account
which the Zamorin sent abroad concerning the siege. END OF NOTEs
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During the rest of the year, the Viceroy was busy hunting up pirates along
the coast, for no open opposition was now over offered to the Portuguese at sea.
The people, however, organised a system of fire signals, and the movements of the
Portuguese ships were vigilantly watched and made known. While taking some boats
near Beypore, the Viceroy received a wound in the leg, and the inflammation was
increased by unnecessary exertions of a similar kind off Mahe. He then retired to
Cannanore and landed there in January 1526. But his wound grew worse and he
died there on the 2nd February. His body was buried in the Church at Cannanore. It
was remarked of him with wonder that he had saved no money during his tenure of
office. On opening next day the royal despatches, it was found that Mascarenhas,
then absent on an expedition to Malacca, was nominated as Viceroy next after
Henry Menezes.
Owing to his absence, and as it was necessary to have some one at hand to
organise the defence against the Turks, the next despatch was opened and Sampayo,
at Cochin, was found to be the next nominee. He was informed of this, and
accordingly assumed the reins of government, and at once set to work to put Goa,
Cannanore and Cochin in a posture of defence to resist the expected Turkish
expedition. Fort St. Angelo at Cannanore was extended up to the well on which the
garrison depended for drinking water, and Fort Emmanuel at Cochin had bastions
erected on the sea side of the work.
Dissensions at Mascarenhas' supersession, however, arose, and the
Portuguese were divided into two parties, and party spirit ran high.
Fortunately for them, similar dissensions had arisen in the Turkish fleet
despatched to India, and anxiety on that account was allayed by the news that the
Turks had failed to take Aden.
This news was conveyed to Portugal by the overland route via Hormuz
through the Turkish dominions, in the wonderfully short space of three months, the
first occasion on winch the overland route was ever used for the purpose. When
Mascarenhas arrived from Malacca, he was favourably received at Quilon, but at
Cochin he was driven again on board his ship. Sailing to Goa, Sampayo there seized
him, put him in chains, and sent him to Cannanore, where, in turn, the garrison
honourably received him. In July, arbitration as to the rival claims was resorted to,
and the result being in favour of Sampayo, Mascarenhas sailed for Europe (21st
December 1527).
Various combinations of pirate boats under the Kutti Alis were dispersed
during the early part of 1528, and in September of that year there occurred a violent
storm while some Portuguese ships were lying off the mouth of the Chetwai River.
The wind came, it is said, from the east, but, if that was so, it is difficult to
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understand how several ships were driven on shore and wrecked and the crews
massacred, for an east wind ought to have blown them out to sea.
In the following month, the Viceroy made a descent on Purakkat, the Nayar
chieftain of which had, up to the time of the attack on Pantalayini Kollam, been a
firm ally of the Portuguese and had joined them on several expeditions with his
men. On that, and probably on previous occasions also, the Purakkat people,
however, had been on the watch for the plundering rather than for the fighting, and
while Purakkat was lazily looking on at the fight at Pantalayini Kollam and watching
his chance for plunder, Henry Menezes, the Viceroy, in a rage directed one of his
men to aim “at that idle fellow.”
Purakkat was wounded in the leg and fell, but concealed his feelings of
indignation at the time. Afterwards, however, he joined the Zamorin against the
Portuguese and was in particular present at the siege of Calicut fort. It was to take
vengeance for his desertion that the Viceroy attacked his territory, and he further
timed his attack so as to arrive there when the chief was absent. On the 15th
October 1528 the Portuguese took the place and obtained a very rich booty. Each
of the thousand men engaged obtained as his share, it, is said, no less than eight
hundred gold pallaks (ducats), and Sampayo himself got a lakh of them.
Purukkat after this sharp lesson returned to his allegiance and continued
steadfast in it up to the very last.
In October 1529, Sampayo’s successor (Nunho D'Acunha) arrived with
orders to send Sampayo in custody to Europe, and this was at once done when
Sampayo boarded the Viceroy's ship at Cannanore on the 18th November.
The new Viceroy governed with justice and impartiality, and the Portuguese
under his rule again became all-powerful, so that, in 1531 the Zamorin again began
to think of a Portuguese alliance. Terms of peace were arranged, and the Portuguese
selected a site for a new fort in the Zamorin’s territory. The place selected was the
island of Chaliyam.1
NOTEs: 1.The site of the present terminus of the Madras Railway south-west line. END
OF NOTEs
The position was well chosen for the object which the Portuguese from
Cabral’s time had kept steadily in view, namely, ‘‘to ruin the trade of the Moors.”
“Is2 locus ultra Calicutum duas lencas apprime navigabili aesluario impositus, mire
factus eral ad Arabum infestanda commercin et Zamorini consilia exploranda, conatusque
opprimendos.” And its advantages are further set out; in Zein-nd-din’s work. From
their fort there the Portuguese were able as Maffeius says, to watch the Zamorin’s
movements, because “the Zamorin, his troops, and, indeed, all travellers of
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whatever description were obliged to pass” that way along the coast, and the fort
“thus commanded the trade between Arabia and Calicut.”
NOTEs: 2. Maffeius, lib, ix. p. 208. END OF NOTEs
Securely posted at Chaliyam, the Portuguese, with the aid of their armed
boats, which could ply at all seasons of the year as far up the Beypore river as
Arikkod, and even farther into the very heart of the ghaut forests, were in an
unequalled position to harass the Zamorin by overhauling all traffic between the
portions of his dominions lying to the north and to the south of that river. This
armed patrol service in fact cut his dominions in half, and all merchandise passing to
Calicut from the southern territory could be overhauled as it passed. Even his
troops, unless they swam the river whilst the Portuguese patrol boats were absent,
could not cross the stream without seeking Portuguese permission.
No wonder, then, that Zein-ud-din described the Portuguese official who
negotiated the peace as a “master of the greatest subtlety and cunning and capable of employing
the deepest stratagems.”
There accordingly a fort “of great solidity and strength” was built, and in
making it the Portuguese were not particular as to the materials employed. They
threw down the ancient Jamat mosque3 and even “demolished the tombs of the
Moslems, and carried off the stones of which they had been built to complete their
fortress”.
NOTEs: 3. Conf. pp. 194—95. END OF NOTEs
On being remonstrated with for this, the Viceroy himself came to the place
and ordered that the materials belonging to the Portuguese only should be
employed. The work of destruction went on however and it then transpired that, the
local chief had sold the mosque and tombs to the Portuguese. For this he was
afterwards summarily dealt with by the Zamorin.
The building of this fort exercised a most important influence on the events
that followed, for the Portuguese hold of the Moslem trade grew stronger than ever
in consequence. And the events of the next few years might be summed up in a few
words as fruitless attempts on the part of the Moors to break the chains that bound
them in this respect.
In 1537 the Portuguese made a descent on Peroney and killed Kutti
Ibrahim Marakkar and others because a vessel had sailed to Jeddah with pepper and
ginger without obtaining a Portuguese pass, and punishment was necessary to
prevent a repetition of the act, which would have caused the Portuguese great loss.
In consequence of this the Zamorin started for Cranganore to attack the
Portuguese and the Cochin Raja, but his courage failed him, and to protect the place
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for the future the Portuguese erected a fort at Cranganore, "by which and other acts of
theirs” Zein-ud-din says, “the Zamorin was reduced to the last extremity.”
In the same year (1537) the Portuguese followed up their opponents to
Kayil, to the east of Cape Comorin, and destroyed a Moorish fleet which had
rendezvoused there. And a somewhat similar event occurred in the year following in
1539 peace followed, and the Zamorin’s subjects again agreed to accept the
Portuguese passes.
In 1550 war again broke out in consequence of the Zamorin interfering in
the succession to the chiefship of some territory near Cochin famous for its pepper.
Its chief was called by the Portuguese “the great pepper-owner.”
The chief was slain and the Zamorin came south to avenge his death. The
hostilities which ensued caused him to expend “much good substance, which never
returned either to himself or to his posterity.’* The Portuguese retaliated by making
descents on the coast towns, particularly on Pantalayini Kollam, destroying mosques
and houses, and giving one-third of the inhabitants “martyrdom.”
In 1552 the Zamorin received assistance in heavy guns landed at Ponnani,
brought thither by Yoosuf, a Turk, who had sailed against the monsoon.
But by 1555 the desultory war had exhausted the resources both of the
Zamorin and of his Moorish subjects, and the inevitable had to be submitted to
once more.
Peace was restored on condition that the Portuguese ship passes should be
taken out by traders. Again, in 1557, the Moors in North Malabar began hostilities,
and these continued till, in 1559, they made the usual submission and agreed to take
out the hateful passes.
It was at this time (about 1559) that the Portuguese began to be most
stringent in enforcing their pass rules. They confiscated all vessels not carrying their
passes, even in cases in which passes had been duly taken out and had been
accidentally lost, and it is alleged they were utterly unscrupulous as to what became
of the crews.
Zein-ud-din, who is, however, a not altogether disinterested witness, says
that they massacred the crews by cutting their throats, or tying them up with ropes
or in nets and throwing them overboard. However divergent might be the views of
Portuguese viceroys and commandants on other points, they appear to have been at
one on this question of the advisability of destroying the Moorish trade. Their policy
was, therefore, consistent and directed to one end. They began by making
contraband any traffic in the articles of pepper and ginger.
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They next excluded Muhammadans from the trade “in the bark of spice
trees, and in the clove jilli-flower, and the herb fennel, and in produce of this kind.”
Lastly, they closed to Muhammadan merchants the Arabian ports, and Malacca, and
Resha, and Thinasuree, and other places,” so that there remained to the
Muhammadans of Malabar “of their coast trade, nothing but the petty traffic in
Indian nut, coconut, and cloth, whilst their foreign voyages of travel were confined
to the ports of Gujarat, the Concan, Solmundel, and the countries about Kaeel.”
Moreover, the Portuguese also obtained the control of the rice trade from
Honore, Barcelore, and Mangalore by building forts designed to prevent Malabar
merchants from collecting rice in granaries and exporting it, as was their custom
from these places, “to Malabar generally, to Goa, and even to the Arabian ports.”
Down to the present day an artificial famine can always be produced in
Malabar by stopping its imports of grain, and it appears to have been the same in
the sixteenth century. These stringent measures led to the Moors fitting out piratical
fleets of small boats—chiefly at Valarpattanam, “Turkoz”1 (?Trikkodi) and
Pantalayini Kollam to prey on the commerce of the Portuguese and their allies. In
this they were at first very successful, and the Portuguese thereupon began an
indiscriminate plunder of the property of Muhammadans, and were guilty of great
oppression, for which there was none among them (Muhammadans) able or willing
to grant redress.”
NOTEs: 1. Famous among the pirate chiefs who commanded these fleets stands out the
name of the Kottakkal Kunhali Marakkars. The family originally hailed from Pantalayini Kollom.
Probably at the time when Henry Menezes destroyed that Moorish settlement, the family moved to
Trikkodi, and thence again to Kottakkal at the mouth of the Kota river. They obtained the title of
Kunhali Marakkar from the Zamorin. Kunhi means a youth, a title of distinction ; Ali is the name of
the Prophet’s son-in-law, and Marakkar means the doer or follower of the law —marggam—and is
applied, as a title, to persons of a foreign religion like the Christians and Muhammadans. Some of the
remains of their fort at Kattakkal are still to be seen. It was situated at the northern extremity of a spit
of sand extending from the south across the Kota river mouth, and it completely commanded the bar
of the river and the shipping which lay inside it. The position was one of great strength against ancient
artillery as it was protected on two sides (north and east) by water, on a third side (the west,) by a
swampy salt marsh, through which the river, encumbered by another sand-spit stretching from the
north across its mouth, has now (1885) forced its way. On the south the narrow neck of land was easily
protected by a rampart. This fort lay just opposite to Putupattanam, the ancient seat of the
Tekkalankur (Southern Regent,) of Kollattunad. It would occupy too much space to relate the history
of this family, whose descendants still live in Kottakkal in comparative poverty. The tombs of the first,
of the Kunhali Marakkars and of the mother of the founder of the family (who had no title), are still
pointed out in a building attached to the chief mosque of the place. A memorial tomb to the founder
of the family, who was captured by the Portuguese and “received martyrdom,” at Goa, is also to be
seen in the same building. END OF NOTEs
Nor did the Portuguese content themselves with suppressing the

Muhammadan trade ; they tried to convert the Moslems to Christianity and it is
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related that, in 1512, they seized a large number of Moorish merchants at Goa and
forcibly converted them. Of course those converts reverted to their own religion at
the first convenient opportunity.
Zein-ud-din’s indictment of the Portuguese for these and similar
oppressions is very forcible. They were “guilty of actions the most diabolical and
infamous, such indeed as are beyond the power of description; they having made
the Muhammadans to be a just and a laughing stock, displaying towards them the
greatest contempt ; employing them to draw water from the wells and in other
menial employments ; spitting in their faces and upon their persons ; hindering them
on their journeys, particularly when proceeding on voyages to Mecca ; destroying
their property ; burning their dwellings and mosques ; seizing their ships : defacing
and treading under foot their archives and writings ; burning their records ;
profaning the sanctuaries of their mosques ; even striving to make the professors of
Islamism apostates from their creed and worshippers of their crucifixes, and
seeking, by bribes of money, to induce to their apostacy. Moreover, decking out
their women with jewels and fine clothing in order to lead away and entice after
them the women of the Muhammadans ; slaying also the pilgrims to Mecca and all
who embraced Islamism, and practising upon them all kinds of cruelties ; openly
uttering execrations upon the Prophet of God (upon whom may the divine favour and
grace for ever rest) ; confining his followers and incarcerating them. Further binding
them with ponderous shackles and exposing them in the markets for sale, after the
manner that slaves are sold ; and when so exposed, torturing them with all sorts of
painful inflictions, in order to exact more from them for their freedom. Huddling
them together into a dark noisome and horrible building;1 and when performing the
ablutions directed by their law, beating them with slippers ; torturing them with fire ;
soiling and making slaves of some, and harassing others with disgusting
employments ; in short, in their treatment of the Muhammadans they proved
themselves devoid of all compassion.”
NOTEs: 1. This refers to the prison of the Inquisition at Goa, called by the Portuguese
“Algowar.” It was thus described by M. Dellon, who was confined in it : “This prison was more foul,
dark, and horrible than any one I had seen, and I doubt whether there can be one so nauseous and
appalling.” He was told that forty out of fifty Malabar pirates confined in it some years before his time
hanged themselves with their turbands owing to the horrible famine they suffered. END OF NOTEs
“For how many women of noble birth, thus made captive (at sea) did they
not incarcerate, afterwards violating their persons for the production of Christian
children, who were brought up enemies to the religion of God and taught to
oppress its professors? How many noble Saids, too, and learned and worthy men
did they not imprison and persecute even unto death ! How many Moslems, both
men and women, did they not compel to embrace Christianity ! And how many acts
of this kind, atrocious and wicked, the enumeration of which would require
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volumes, did they not commit! May the All Gracious and Merciful God consign
them to eternal destruction! ”
“Notwithstanding all this, however, they preserved an outward show of
peace towards the Muhammadans in consequence of their being compelled to dwell
amongst them, since the chief part of the population of the sea-ports consisted of
Muhammadans.”
The year 1564 was an eventful year for Southern India, since it was in that
year that the bulwark which the Hindu dynasty of Vijayanagar had presented against
the flood of Muhammadan invasion from the north, was overthrown at the battle of
Talikota. So far as Malabar itself was concerned this event, however, did not bear
fruit for two centuries more.
In that same year the Portuguese were again besieged in their fort at
Cannanore. The attack was however repulsed, and in retaliation the Portuguese, it is
said, cut down forty thousand coconut trees to punish the inhabitants.
In 1565 the Zamorin and his Moorish allies again attacked the Cochin Raja
at or near Cranganore, and in the course of a fortnight, it is said that two of the
Cochin Rajas fell at the head of their troops in this war. The result was that the
Portuguese enlarged and strengthened their Cranganore fort. And the Jews in this
same year finally deserted their ancient settlement of Anjuvannam at Cranganore
and came to Cochin, where they resided within the fort limits until Jew’s Town was
built. It was completed in 1567, and the Jews in a body moved into it.
Meanwhile the coast pirates were busy, and in 1566 and again in 1568 those
of Ponnani under Kutti Poker made prize of two large Portuguese vessels. In one of
these ships it is said no less than a thousand Portuguese soldiers, “many of them
approved veterans,’’ perished either by the sword or by drowning. Kutti Poker’s
adventurous career was however cut short in 1569, for after having made a
successful raid on the Portuguese fort at Mangalore, he fell in with a Portuguese
fleet as he was returning south off Cannanore, and he and all his company “received
martyrdom.”
The Zamorin about this time tried to arrange a combined attack on the
Portuguese in all parts of the country simultaneously, and two of the confederate
Muhammadan kings of the Dekhan (Ahmadnagar and Bijapur) besieged the
Portuguese settlements of the north. Mutual jealousies fomented by the Portuguese,
however, brought these expeditions to naught.
In 1571 an important advantage was obtained, for in that year “on the 14th
or15thof the month Sufur” the Zamorin's troops laid siege to the fort at Chaliyam,
which had been such a thorn in the Zamorin’s side ever since it was built in 1351.
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The Ponnani, “Punnoor,” Tanur, and Parappanangadi Moors joined in, and the
combined forces drove the Portuguese under Attaide, with considerable slaughter,
inside their fortifications. The besiegers threw up trenches.
The Zamorin expended "a vast sum of money,” and after two months came
in person from Ponnani to conduct the operations. The besieged garrison’s
provisions ran short and they were driven to feed on dogs and “animals of a similar
vile impure nature.”
Supplies sent from Cochin and Cannanore were intercepted. The
Portuguese tried to arrange terms, and eventually, on the “10th of the month
Jumadee Alakhur”, at midnight, the garrison marched out, “safe egress being
afforded them,” and they were shortly afterwards sent away under the escort of the
Raja of Tanur (? Vettatta Raja), who had leagued with and abetted them.
From Tanur they were
shipped to Cochin. A relieving
expedition from Goa arrived just
too late to be of any assistance.
The Chaliyam fort had
been such a source of trouble and
annoyance to him, as already
explained, that the Zamorin
“demolished the fort completely,
leaving not one stone upon
another.” He made the site “a
barren waste, transporting to
Calicut the greater part of the
stones and masonry,” whilst he
gave the remainder to be appropriated for rebuilding the Jamat mosque, which the
Portuguese had destroyed in building their fort. The ground and that lying round it
were given, as previously arranged, to the Raja of Chaliyam (Parappanad Raja) for
the assistance rendered by him on the occasion.
An event even still more important to Portuguese interests occurred in this
same year (1571), for orders came out from Portugal to divide their possessions into
three portions, designated India, Monomotapa, and Malacca. The decline of the
Portuguese power seems to have dated from the time of this arrangement, for the
consequence was a train of perplexities that distracted the Portuguese more than all
the previous attacks of their enemies in India.
The war, however, still went on. In 1572 the Portuguese made a descent on
Chaliyam and burnt it. In the following year Parappanangadi was attacked and four
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Muhammadans “suffered martyrdom.” In 1577 a fleet of fifty “grabs” returning

from South Canara with vice was seized by the Portuguese and three thousand
Muhammadans and sailors, it is said, were slain, and “the trade of the
Muhammadans by this blow became almost annihilated.”
In the following year negotiations were opened for peace ; the Zamorin
offered to allow them to build a fort at Calicut, but they wished to have one at
Ponnani, to which the Zamorin would not agree. In 1579 the Zamorin was at the
sacred temple of Kodungagallur (Cranganore), and the Cochin Raja, even with
Portuguese assistance, failed to dislodge him from it. Nettled at this failure, the
Portuguese carried on hostilities with great rancour against the Zamorin and his
subjects—at Calicut, “the new harbour” (?Putiyangadi), Kappatt, Pantalayini
Kollam, “Turkoy” ('?Trikkodi) and Ponnani—attacking them at all times and
seasons, cutting off intercourse between neighbouring ports, and “greatly hindering
” the importation of rice from South Canara. So that a great famine, such as had
never before occurred, was the consequence, “the common people of the ports
above named being deprived of all means of subsistence.”
About this time a merchant of Venice, Cæsar Frederick, paid a visit to the
coast, and among other interesting bits of information he gives the following : “And
from thence (Barcelore) you shall go to a city called Cannanore, which is a
harquebush shot distant from the chiefest city that the king of Cannanore hath in
his kingdom, being a king of the Gentiles.”
“And he (the Zamorin) and his country are the nest and resting place for
stranger thieves, and those be called ‘Moors of Carposa,’ because they wear on their
heads long red hats ; and thieves part the spoils that they take on the sea with the
King of Calicut, for he giveth leave unto all that will go a roving liberally to go ; in
sailing in those seas, but with great ships, and very well armed ; or else they must go
in company with the army of the Portugals.” — (Eng. Translation.)
Just then (1530) another blow was impending still further to destroy
Portuguese prestige, for on the death of Henry I, Spain subdued Portugal, and the
control of their possessions in the East passed into Spanish hands, This event was
almost contemporaneous with another which influenced the fate of India in general
and of Malabar in particular, for in 1580-81 Holland, one of the seven “Northern
United Provinces,” declared its independence of Spain.
And shortly after this other European nationalities began to trade directly
with the East. About 1581-84 the Zamorin had had enough of fighting, and he
arranged a treaty of peace with the new Viceroy Mascarenhas (the first appointed by
Philip of Spain), whereby the Zamorin's subjects were permitted to trade as far as
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Gujarat, and to other parts as formerly, and to open trade with Arabia at the end of
each season.
With the conclusion of this treaty of peace the interest in the narrative
changes from Malabar to Europe, because it was only for a year or two more that
the Portuguese enjoyed that monopoly of the Indian trade, particularly in Malabar
pepper and spices, to which their efforts had hitherto been very consistently
directed. With the appearance on the scene of the Dutch, and afterwards of the
English and of the French, this monopoly died a natural death. Moreover the
Muhammadans, whose trade it was the policy of the Portuguese to ruin, again began
after a while to exercise their former privileges under the favouring shelter of the
European jealousies imported into the East.
It would be out of place here to trace out the influences which eventually
resulted in the conquest of all the Portuguese possessions in India outside Goa. A
few words will suffice to carry the history of the Malabar coast up to the next stage
in its course, the conquest by the Dutch of the Portuguese settlements, culminating
in that of Cochin.
In 1591 Captain Raymonds made an unsuccessful attempt to reach the East
in three English ships. In 1594-95 Houtman organised the Dutch East India
Company. In 1596 another English expedition to the East under Captain Wood was
also unsuccessful. In 1597 two Dutch ships succeeded in reaching India, but the one
was destroyed off Malacca by a fleet of six Portuguese ships, and the other was
wrecked on the coast of Pegu.
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In 1598 the Dutch under VanNec reached Amboyna, established trade, and
also settled at Baroda. On 31st December 1600 the English East India Company of
London was formed. Henry IV of France issued letters patent for the formation of a
French East India Company on 1st June 1604, but it came to naught. In August 1607
or 1608 the first English ship reached Surat under Captain Hawkins. In 1609 the
right of Holland to trade with India was formally recognised by treaty with Spain,
and in 1610 the Dutch settled at Pulicat.
In 1612 the English factory at Surat was established, and in 1615 Captain
Keeling with three English ships, the same which had brought Sir Thomas Roe on
his embassy to the Great Mogul, arrived off Calicut, and concluded a treaty with the
Zamorin. But it very soon transpired that all that the Zamorin wanted was to get
assistance against the Portuguese for the conquest of Cranganore and Cochin, and
the ten persons left behind, who were to have founded a factory at Calicut.
In 1611-15 the United French East India Company was formed. In 1616
this United Company sent two ships to Java, and the result is described negatively as
“not a failure” financially.
In 1617 the Dutch settled at Ahmedabad.
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In 1619-20 the French Company sent an expedition to Acheen and Java,

and it was fairly successful. In 1620-22 the Dutch settled in Persia and in other
places tentatively.
In 1624 the English East India Company was invested with powers of
Government. In 1634-35 the English East India Company entered into a treaty with
the Portuguese by which the English gained free access to Portuguese ports. In
consequence of this some Englishmen appear to have settled at Cochin, and in 1635
pepper was for the first time exported to England direct from Malabar. In 1636
other bodies than the English East India Company were empowered to trade with
India, and the same was renewed in 1655.
In 1639 the English settled at Madras and the Dutch made their first attack
on Goa. In 1640 Portugal recovered its independence from Spain. In 1642 Richelieu
founded “La Compagnie des Indes” with exclusive privileges for twenty years, but the
energies of the company were wasted in an ineffectual attempt to conquer
Madagascar.
In 1647 the English East India Company began to enlist Members of
Parliament among the subscribers to their stock ; hitherto they had been shy of
enlisting ‘‘gentlemen” among their servants. In 1652-53 ensued the naval war
between England and Holland in Europe, and the English factories in India suffered
in consequence. In 1655 the Dutch settled at Vingorla. In 1657 the English East
India Company obtained a new charter. In 1660 the Dutch made a second attack on
Goa and failed.
In 1661 the English East India Company was re-incorporated by Charles II,
and by the charter granted in this year the East India Company’s servants were
authorised to make peace or war with any prince or people not being Christians, and
to administer justice for themselves and their dependents. This provision materially
improved the status of the chartered Company’s servants—who had up to this time
been buccaneering adventurers rather than steady traders and one company had
been seeking to discredit another.
Moreover in this same year Bombay was transferred to the English Crown
as part of the Infanta Catherina’s dowry on her marriage with Charles II.
The following account of the capture of Cochin, and of the other
Portuguese settlements in Malabar, is taken from Dr. Day’s “Land of the Permauls ;
or Cochin, its Past and its Present,” p. 115. Dr. Day’s account was compiled from
official records now in the Collector’s office at Calicut.
“Another power was now to become predominant in the East, another race
was to try their hand at supremacy, and another religion to be introduced. The
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Portuguese had become objects of aversion to their old allies, the prince of Cochin,
as they had deposed the Raja and created his aunt the Rani.
“The Dutch beginning to dislike the interference of the Mogul and others at
Surat, wished to establish a settlement on the coast of Malabar, where they might be
territorial sovereigns, as well as traders without being subject to the rapacious
exactions of the Muhammadan Government, or the neighbourhood of their
successful rivals, the English. Cochin appeared a suitable spot, so they determined
to try and dispossess the Portuguese and occupy it themselves.
“In 1601 the Dutch entered into an agreement with the Paliat Achan,
hereditary chief minister to the Cochin Raja, to assist them in their schemes. ‘When
the Dutch planned the conquest of the coast, he (the Paliat Achan) materially
assisted and met VanGoens, 12th March 1661, in a friendly manner and entered into
an agreement the purport of which was that, as the Portuguese and other enemies
had deprived him of his lands, he would place himself entirely under the protection
of the Dutch, who were to restore him by force to his territories, whilst he was to
obey them in all things.’
“This agreement was
dated the same day on board
the ship De Muscaatboom. The
Dutch troops appeared on the
northern side of Cochin at
Vypeen, where VanGoens
fixed his head-quarters at the
Bishop’s house, and strongly
fortified the Roman Catholic
Church. Leaving eight hundred
men to garrison it, VanGoens
re-embarked the remainder of
his force, and landed on the
southern side of the town. The
Raja of Cochin now openly
asserted that he and the Dutch
had entered into an alliance.
“VanGoens seized a
church to the south, and made
it his headquarters. He then
attacked the Rani’s palace at
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Muttancherry, and after a struggle succeeded in taking it and making the Rani a
prisoner. On the following day the Dutch attacked the fort of Cochin, but the
officer commanding the storming party was killed, and they retreated in confusion.
Regular approaches were now opened, but the old Portuguese spirit showed itself,
and the garrison bravely defended themselves for several weeks, when the Raja of
Porea1 came to their assistance with six thousand natives, and the Dutch determined
to retreat.
NOTEs: 1. Purakkat. END OF NOTEs
“In the dead of the night they accordingly embarked in silence. When the
morning broke, the Portuguese were amazed at finding their enemy’s camp
abandoned. A Jew had sounded the hours as usual, thereby effectually deceiving
them and preventing any sally on their part. Seven hundred men were left in the
entrenchment at Vypeen. This year Tangacherry fell to the Dutch.
“As the Jews had favoured their enemies the Dutch, the Portuguese
considered it necessary to punish them to prevent the recurrence of such conduct,
and therefore immediately on the siege being raised, they plundered Jews’ Town of
almost all it contained, attempted to destroy the synagogue, and carried off the
Pentateuch, which was subsequently, in 1668, recovered uninjured.
“The absence of the Dutch was but temporary. In 1662 Cranganore fell to
them; in October of that year they returned to Cochin under Hustart, but were
vigorously met by the Portuguese, who in vain attempted to prevent their landing.
The head-quarters of the Dutch were fixed at the convent of St. John the
destruction of which had been unsuccessfully attempted by the garrison. In
November VanGoens with a large number of troops joined the besiegers, but the
garrison bravely determined to stand a siege.
“In December the Raja of Porea1 arrived with a large native force at
Ernakulam, and threw supplies into the fort. It was therefore determined to attack
him. The natives under Portuguese officers met their foes most gallantly and drove
them back with great loss, and the Dutch were compelled to bring up fresh troops
before the Porea contingent could be routed.
“But the Portuguese still held out, so the Dutch with the assistance of the
troops of their ally the Raja of Cochin and the Paliat Achan, determined on
storming the fort, and for eight days and nights were enabled to keep up a
succession of assailants, the troops being relieved every three hours. A remnant of
the glorious valour of the early Portuguese appears to have animated this little band
of their descendants in so long maintaining such an obstinate defence. At length,
when the Portuguese commandant Pierre de Pon found that no assistance could
reach him, that his native allies had forsaken him and had joined the new European
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power, that provisions were becoming very scarce, and all were worn out with
fatigue and anxiety, he capitulated, and the Dutch became masters of Cochin on the
8th January 1663.
“Four hundred topasses who were not included in the terms of the
capitulation on discovering the omission, and knowing the cruel and licentious
character of the Dutch soldiery in India, drew up close to the gate at which the
Portuguese were to march out and the Dutch to enter, declaring that if equally
favourable terms were not granted to them as to the Portuguese, they would
massacre them all and set fire to the town. It was deemed advisable to accede to
their demands, and subsequently some of them even enlisted in the Dutch service.”
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Section (E) - THE DUTCH, ENGLISH AND FRENCH

SETTLEMENTS
The Struggle for the Pepper and Piece Goods Trade. A.D. 1663-1766.
When the Dutch acquired in the manner described in the preceding section
all the Portuguese possessions in Malabar they found, among the settlers at Cochin,
a small factory of the English East India Company established there, as already
described, so early as 1634-35, and these factors receiving immediate notice to quit,
took the earliest opportunity to leave the place after it fell into Dutch hands.
From a very early period in its history the English Company had set its face
against martial enterprises. And Sir Thomas Roe, the Ambassador to the Great
Mogul, had given the Company some invaluable advice which they took well to
heart.
“The Portugueses”, he wrote, "notwithstanding their many rich residences
are beggared by keeping of soldiers, and yet their garrisons are but mean. They
never made advantage of the Indies since they defended them. Observe this well. It
has also been the error of the Dutch who seek plantations here by the sword. They
turn a wonderful stock; they prole in all places ; they possess some of the best, yet
their dead pays consume all the gain.”
So far indeed did the English Company carry this policy that they
even forbade at times an appeal to arms by the factors for their own
defence ; and the annoyances experienced in consequence of this were
occasionally almost intolerable. But the strength of the Company lay in
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the admirable arrangements whereby they encouraged trade at their

fortified settlements. They established manufactures ; they attracted
spinners and weavers and wealthy men to settle in their limits ; the settlers
were liberally treated and their religious prejudices were tolerated ; the
privacy of houses were respected by all classes and creeds; settlers were
allowed to burn their dead and to observe their peculiar wedding
ceremonies ; no compulsory efforts were made to spread Christianity, nor
were the settlers set to uncongenial tasks ; shipping facilities were afforded
; armed vessels protected the shipping ; all manufactured goods were at
first exempted from payment of duty ; the Company coined their own
money ; and courts of justice were established ; security for life and
property in short reigned within their limits.
In 1685-90 a martial policy was tried at Bombay and Surat, but the
Company found to their heavy cost that it did not pay, and so it was once more
abandoned. And the settled policy of the Company seems to have been from this
time forward to avoid war, either defensive or offensive, unless a substantial return
could be obtained for the outlay in money and men.
The English Company’s servants were graded in their order of seniority as
apprentices for five years, as writers for five years, as factors for three years, as
senior factors for three years, and as merchants.
Some changes subsequently took place in these grades, for senior factors
were latterly styled merchants, and the merchant grade became senior merchants.
The pay of the several grades was very small. In 1739 the Chief of the Tellicherry
factory received only £70 a year, the two senior merchants £40 a year each, one
junior merchant £30 a year, and one writer £5 a year with an additional Rs. 144
(equivalent at that time to £18 a year) for reading divine service.
One or more of these servants seem to have been despatched from time to
time to look after the Company’s investments at the different ports on the coast.
They lived under the protection of the native rulers of the places where they settled,
and were in no way different from ordinary private merchants.
In time, as the Company’s investments became larger and more important,
the necessity for fortified posts to protect the Company’s warehouses made itself
felt ; but for many years after the Company’s factors were unceremoniously turned
out of Cochin by the Dutch in 1663 the English Company’s servants in Malabar had
to rely alone for protection on the native chieftains in whose territories they were
settled. It would be difficult to over-estimate the benefits of the experience thus
obtained in the Company’s dealings with the natives, for the factors had perforce to
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study native character and to adapt themselves to it ; and in doing this they were
unconsciously fitting themselves to become the future rulers of the empire.
Such settlements seem to have been formed at Rattera and Brinjan in
Travancore territory and at Ponnani and Calicut in the Zamorin’s country. It was
with the latter chief that the English Company’s earliest extant1 agreement was
concluded in September 1664 shortly after the taking of Cochin by the Dutch. Two
of the Company’s servants by name Riveri (? Rivers) and Vetti (?) appear to have
proceeded to Calicut in June preceding the above date, and to have been permitted
to settle there on agreeing to pay duty to the Zamorin on the trade carried on.
NOTEs: Collection of Treaties, etc,, i. I.—Calicut 1879. END OF NOTEs
The Zamorin is described shortly after this time as ruling the country “from
Ticori (Trikitodi1) to Chitwa,”2 a distance of about 22 leagues. His palace at Calicut
was built of stone, and he kept up “some faint resemblance of grandeur” about it.
NOTEs: 1. Page 72.
2. Chavakkad, see p. 77 END OF NOTEs
He was still “reckoned the powerfullest king” on the coast, and he had the
best trade in his country. The products of his country were pepper, betel-nut,
coconut, jaggery, copra, sandalwood, iron, cassia-lignum and timber. His supremacy
appears to have been acknowledged by all the Malayali chiefs, except, perhaps, the
Cochin Raja, from the northernmost part of Malabar to the southernmost extremity
of Travancore by the offering of a flag or other token of submission, and by
attending him once in twelve years at the Tirunavayi ceremony already fully
described.3 This supremacy was however little more than nominal, and his position
among the country powers appears to have deteriorated greatly from what it was in
1498 when the Portuguese appeared upon the scene.
In August 1664 the French “Compagnie des Indes” was formed by Colbert. It
started with a capital of 15,000,000 “livres tournois” (£600,000), and Louis XIV had to
publish an edict telling his courtiers it was not derogatory for a man of noble birth
to trade to India. Men who had thus to be reminded of what "was or was not fitting
to their position were not the men to push French interests successfully, and the
English Company’s servants soon saw that the French men were poor men of
business and not likely to prove successful rivals in trade.
Fryer described their Surat factory about this time as “better stored with
monsieurs than with cash ; they live well, borrow money, and make a show'”.
Their first venture was a fresh attempt on Madagascar, and most of their
funds were spent in combating with a bad climate, a poor soil, and the hostility of
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the Malagasis. In 1672 they relinquished their attempts on the island and their
colonists were scattered abroad, some to India and some to Mauritius and Reunion.
Meanwhile in 1665 war had broken out in Europe between the English and
the Dutch ; and the Dutch4 in 1673 with a fleet carrying 6,000 men under
VanGoens threatened the English settlement at Bombay, where in September 23,
1668, the English Company had finally settled down and secured for themselves
from the Crown authorities an unequalled position for trade. The Dutch, on finding
they were likely to receive a warmer reception than they had bargained for, wisely
determined not to land.
NOTEs: The Dutch settlements on the coast at this time were —
(1) Quilon.
(2) Calli-Quilon.
(3) Cranganore.
(4) Cannanore, which were all placed under the command of the Governor at.
(5) Cochin. END OF NOTEs
In 1674 the French, who had been driven out of St. Thome by the Dutch,
settled under Francois Martin at Pondicherry.
About 1680 the Dutch began to experience the results of their error in
seeking trade at the point of the sword. The expenses of the garrisons maintained at
their various settlements were so large that their trade yielded no profits, and they
began gravely to consider the advisability of destroying the forts of Cannanore,
Cranganore and Quilon, or of re-selling them to the Portuguese.
For various reasons, however, the resolution was not carried out. The
Dutch were also very intolerant of persons professing the Roman Catholic faith, and
in their overtures to Portugal about this time they proposed to hand back the places
(except Cochin) where that faith had obtained a firm hold of the people. The
negotiations fell through, and in 1684 the Roman Catholic priests were at last
allowed to return to the charge of their flocks.
In this same year (1684) the English Company obtained from the Attingal
Rani (of the Travancore family) a sandy spit, of land at Anjengo. The site was badly
selected in some respects, for there was no good water within three miles or so and
the open roadstead and surf rendered shipping operations precarious.
The place, however, had other advantages. Pepper was abundant, also
calicoes of excellent quality. And when the place was fortified some years later, the
cannon of the fort commanded the river, the main artery of traffic, as well as the
shipping in the roadstead.
It was in 1690 that the Rani of Attingal gave permission to the English
Company to erect the Anjengo fort, but no written treaty remains as a record of the
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fact. The English system of sending factors to various points on the coast to test the
value of the trade at those places seems to have enabled the Company to decide
where it would be best for their interests to plant factories for the defence of the
trade thus ascertained to exist ; and, in this way, towards the close of the
seventeenth century they settled on two points on the Malabar coast, one at
Anjengo, as already described, and the other at Tellicherry.
Calicut would probably have been selected as a more favourable spot for
trade than Tellicherry, but the Zamorins seem, not unnaturally after their experience
of what had befallen them in the Portuguese period, to have looked with jealousy on
all foreign fortified settlements ; and so strong seems to have been the feeling on
this point that it was not, until after the English Company had been settled for
nearly a whole century at Calicut, that they were permitted in 1759 even to tile their
factory there so as to secure it against fire.
As the English Company’s operations expanded in this way so did the
Dutch Company’s business fall off, notwithstanding the number and strength of
their fortified posts. On September 10, 1691, the Dutch gave up Chetwai to the
Zamorin. In 1697 the walls of the Dutch fort at Cochin had become so ruinous,
owing to the parsimonious policy pursued, that it was manifest something must be
done. In pursuance therefore of the policy inaugurated in 1680; steps were taken to
reduce their military expenditure.
The Cochin fort was reduced to half its size, at Cannanore and Quilon only
one tower was to be left standing, and at Cranganore the exterior works only were
to remain. Moreover the military at all the outposts— Paponetty, Purakkat, and
Calli-Quilon —were to be withdrawn, and the marine establishment was reduced to
the most attenuated proportions-—one small yacht, two sloops, and three row
boats.
These reductions had their natural effect on the country powers, and the
Dutch Company was no longer feared.
It was in 1695 that the notorious Captain Kydd’s expedition was lifted out
in England to put down1 European piracy in the Indian seas. The Mogul held the
factors at Surat responsible for the piratical acts of Kydd, the Dutchman Chivers,
and others. And the other country powers seem to have reasoned in like fashion, for
about November 1697 the Anjengo settlement was violently but unsuccessfully
attacked by the Travancoreans on the plea that, the factors were pirates. It may,
however, be doubted whether this, their ostensible reason, was the true one, for, as
will presently appear, the presence of the English in Travancore was gradually
leading to a revolution in that State.
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It was not the country powers alone who charged the old English Company
with fomenting piracy, for their rivals (the new company) also brought this charge
against, them ; and indeed from the extent to which European piracy had prevailed,
the alternative lay between the suppression either of it or of honest trade.
It would be out of place here to set forth the grounds of quarrel between
the rival East India Companies, but in passing it requires to be noted that, English
interests suffered severely in consequence of the disputes, whereby piracy was
encouraged. The Mogul made the Surat factors pay heavy damages, and even went
the length of ordering the factories to be destroyed. The differences were at, last,
however, arranged; on April 27, 1702, the rival Companies approved an instrument
of union, and on and after July 22 of that same year all opposition between the rival
Companies’ officers in India was to cease.
It took a year or two more, however, to adjust all their differences ; and it
was not till September 29, 1708, that the Earl of Godolphin, Lord High Treasurer of
England, who had been appointed arbiter in the disputes, made his famous award,
and from that date the style of the association was altered to that of “The United
Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies.”
Notwithstanding those troubles the English settlements on the coast were
making progress.
About 1680 there had occurred a disruption in the Northern Kolattiri
family. Hamilton, who visited the reigning Kolattiri in 1702, but who had been on
the coast some years previously, thus describes the event :—“There were three
princes of the blood royal who conspired to cut him” (the reigning Prince Unnitri)
“and his family off, to possess themselves of the government of Callistree ”
(Kolattiri): “but being detected they were beheaded on altars built of stone. About
two miles from Cannanore the altars were standing when I saw there. They were
only square piles of hewn stone, about three yards high and four yards each side.”
Such family quarrels were not infrequent in the Kolattiri Chief’s house, and
the reasons therefore are in operation in all Malayali families down to the present
day and more especially in North Malabar. The head of a Malayali house has two
conflicting sets of interests to deal with—first;, those of his legal heirs, the children
of his female relatives of various degrees ; and secondly, those of his natural heirs,
his own wife and children. The latter have no legal claim on him, but natural
affection comes into play, and to provide suitably for his own children and their
mother a man not infrequently trenches upon the right of his legal heir.
Hence arise bitter quarrels and jealousies. There can be no doubt that the
Kolattiri family’s dominions had become greatly curtailed by such provisions having
been made for the natural heirs of the chiefs out of the territories belonging of right
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to the legal heirs. And at the period when the Tellicherry factory was established,
somewhere about I694-95, one of the natural offshoots of the family, the
Kadattunad Raja, known to the early English as the Boyanore or Baonor1 of
Badagara2 was in semi-independent possession of Kadattunad3 ;i that is, of the
territory lying between the Mahe and Kotta rivers.
NOTEs: 1. Valunnavar - Ruler.
2. Vadakara (p. 72)
3. See map at paragraph II of Section (b), Chapter IV. END OF NOTEs
And another such offshoot was in similar semi-independent possession of

the Malayalam territory lying to the north of the Kavayi river. And of the territory
lying between the Kavayi and Mahe rivers various portions had come, whether by
family alliances of the kind described or by grants, it is difficult to say, into the
possession of various chieftains who were all more or less dependent on the
Kolattiris.
Randattara, otherwise called Poyanad,4 was under the Achanmar (fathers)
four houses of the Nambiar caste ; Kottayam was under the Puranat (foreign) Rajas,
and Iruvalinad including Kurangoth ) was ruled by six houses of the Nambiar caste
and by one house of the Nayar caste. Besides the above the two houses of Nambiars
still continued to rule, in some subjection to the Kolattiris, the territories,1 assigned,
(it is said) to them by Cheraman Perumal himself along the foot of the Western
Ghauts in the present Chirakkal taluk, and there were other houses of Nambiars
(though of lower lank) located in different places in what is now the Chirakkal taluk.
NOTEs: 4. Tradition says that, this was the county (nad) from which Cheraman Perumal
went (poyi) to Arabia.
1. (Chulali and Noriyot) - Conf. p. 234. END OF NOTEs
Lastly the Mappilla Chief of Cannanore (the Ali Raja) or Raja of the Sea had
secured to himself a small slice of territory at and about Cannanore. The original
Kolattiri dominions were therefore broken up into a large number of petty
principalities at the time of the founding of the Tellicherry factory, and the territory
which remained under the direct rule of the Kolatliris was of comparatively small
extent.
To understand thoroughly the position of affairs at this time, it is further
necessary to explain that the Kolattiri house itself had become largely disintegrated.
The following table shows its present (1886) constitution:
Kolattiri family
Udayamangalam Palli
Chirakk Chenga Tevanamkot Padinyar Kavinisse
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al ta a ri
Prayikkar Ennakkat
a
Ennakk Mavalikka
at ra
Several other sub-branches had broken off from the parent stem, but these
have all since become extinct.
The eldest female of all the branches was accustomed to some distinction,
and was entitled to the sthanam (dignity) annexed to the Achamma Mupasthanam.
She was nominally the head of the whole family just as the Ambadi Kovilagam Rani
was the nominal head of the Zamorin’s house.
But the executive power was in theory at least sub-divided among the five
eldest male members, who were styled, respectively, in their order of seniority.
1. The Kolattiri,
2. The Tekkalankur ,
3. The Vadakkalankur,
4. The Nalamkur, and
5. The Anjamkur.
When this arrangement was first made, the Kolattiri himself probably
retained originally the immediate executive charge of only the middle portion of his
dominions. The Tekkalankur (the Southern Regent) used to have separate charge of
the southern portion of the territories of the house with his headquarters at
Putupattanam on the Kotta river , and tradition says that it was by marriage with
one of the southern regents that one of the Kadattanad Raja’s female ancestors
acquired the territory of that family. The Vadakkalankur (the Northern Regent) had
separate charge of the northern territories, and from a marriage with one of them,
the Nilesvaram Rajas acquired their territory forming at present the southern
portion of the Kasargode taluk in South Canara.
The other Kurvalchas (rulers of portions), namely, the fourth (Nalamkur) and
fifth (Anjamkur), probably remained in more or less immediate attendance on the
Kolattiri himself and rendered him any assistance he required.
The dissensions which broke out from time to time in the family, and of
which that noticed by Hamilton is the first on record, were caused no doubt by the
extensive surrenders of territory to the consorts of the ruling members. The
Tekkalankur, when he succeeded to that dignity in order of seniority, would find
himself, if he accepted the situation, a ruling chief without any territory to rule, and
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he would not willingly part with what remained of the territory attached to the
dignity (the Vadakkalankur’s) he was about to vacate.
On examining the records it is found that, as a rule, the ablest member of
the family, sometimes peaceably with the consent of all the members, sometimes by
force, seized the reins of power at the earliest possible opportunity, and the rest of
the family, although perhaps senior to himself, were mere puppets in his hands.
This explains how it came about that the grant of the Tellicherry factory site
was obtained, not from the Kolattiri himself but from the Northern Regent (the
Vadakkalankur), who happened at the time to be the de facto ruler of Kolattunad. It
is not easy to explain why the Company eventually decided to settle at Tellicherry,
for it was a place of no importance up to that time. Hamilton, who however bore
the factors no good-will, was not able to find a satisfactory reason for it at the time.
His narrative runs thus:—
“The place where the Factory now stands belonged to the French, who left
the mud walls of a Fort built by them to serve the English when they first settled
there, and for many years they continued so, but of late1 no small pains and charge
have been bestowed on its buildings ; but for what reason I know not for it has no
River near it that can want its protection, nor can it defend the Road from the
insults of Enemies, unless it be for small vessels that can come within some rocks
that lay half a mile oft or to protect the Company’s Warehouse, and a Punch-House
that stands on the Sea-Shore a short Pistol Shot from the garrison.”
NOTEs: 1. Published in Edinburgh in 1727. END OF NOTEs
The factory site was probably chosen more for purposes of trade than with
a view to securing that trade once it was developed. Tellicherry lies close to the fine
pepper-producing countries of Kottayam and Randattara, and the finest cardamoms
in the world are produced in the country lying at the head of the Periah pass into
Wynad, to which Tellicherry is the nearest point on the coast.
These were advantages which the Company would certainly appreciate. By
selecting Darmapattanam Island, however, the same advantages could have been
secured along with capabilities of defence such as Tellicherry could not boast. But
the island was at this time in dispute among the country powers, and when the
chance did occur of acquiring it the expense of moving the garrison and warehouses
to the island was so heavy that, although the removal was sanctioned, it was never
actually carried out.
As to when the factory was established it is certain that this event happened
some time before the 24th October 1699, the first, date in the “General Letter
Book” of the factory extant on 6th May 1728 as mentioned in the factory diary of
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this latter date. The Company had probably had a trading post at Tellicherry for
some years previously, and it is certain that at the union between the Companies in
1702 Tellicherry is mentioned along with Karwar, Calicut, and Anjengo as among
the affiliated factories of Bombay.
It was the Vadakkalankur (Northern Regent) of Kolattiri who permitted the
English Company to settle at Tellicherry. Their settlement was as usual unprotected.
And, it is said, that one of the rival Kolattiri princes of the Udayamangalam branch,
in combination with the neighbouring Nayar chieftain of Iruvalinad, the Kurangoth
Nayar, entered the Company’s warehouse one day about 1704-05 and committed
certain regularities, which were duly reported to the Northern Regent, and it was at
the same time pointed out to him that such events would recur unless the place
were fortified.
The Regent thereupon gave his consent to the building of a fort, and it is
said that he himself laid the foundation-stone thereof. With the consent, it is said,
of the Ponattil Poduval and of the Vallura Tangal, a house site belonging to the
former and a hill (Tiruvallappan Kunnu) belonging to the latter were taken up, and
on these sites the fort and fort-house were built. The Company also bought up, for
the same purpose, a street of weavers which existed at the place.
The town, Hamilton says, lay at the back of the fort with a stone wall round
it “to keep out Enemies of the Chief’s making, for in 1703 he began a war that still
continues, at least there were Folks killed in 1723 when I was there”.
The buildings and the war together, he said, had taken, “double the Money
to maintain them that the Company’s investments came to,” and he thus relates the
origin of the disturbance.
“The occasion of the War, as I was informed, began about a trifle. The
Nayar, that was Lord of the Mannor, had a Royalty, for every Vessel that unladed at
Tellicherry paid two Bales of Rice duty to him. There was another Royalty of every
tenth Fish that came to the Market there, and both together did not amount to £20
Sterling per annum. The Chief either appropriated these Royalties to his own or the
Company’s use, and the Nayar complained of the Injustice but had no Redress.
These little duties were the best part of the poor Nayar’s subsistence which made it
the harder to bear, so his friends advised him to repel force by force, and disturb
the Factory what, he could, which he accordingly did (by the secret assistance of his
Friends) for above twenty years. The Company are the best Judges whether the War
is likely to bring any profit to their affairs there or no."
It is extremely improbable, it may be remarked, that the Company’s
officers, who had been careful to buy up the weavers’ and others’ houses and lands
before beginning to erect their fort, would have refused to pay the petty dues
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Hamilton writes about, had they been justly payable, and he omits all mention of the
irregular entry into the Company’s warehouse before the fort was built, so he is not
an impartial witness in the matter.
Jealousies between the Kolattiri chiefs had probably more to do with it than
the reasons assigned by Hamilton.
A paper in the records states that every endeavour was made to arrange
matters amicably with the Kurangoth Nayar, and it was only when these proved
abortive that the English Company resorted to force. They stormed the Mailan hill
on the outskirts of Tellicherry and took it, although it had, with a view to giving
trouble to the factory, been fortified by the Nayar with the secret assistance of his
friends,1 no doubt, as Hamilton says.
NOTEs: Hamilton himself, who was an Interloper, was probably to be reckoned of this
number as he paid a visit to Mahe, the southern limit of the Nayar’s territory in 1707. END OF
NOTEs
On August 20th, 1708, the Northern Regent formally gave2 and made over
the Tellicherry fort, which had been “built at the request and entreaties made by me
as a friend " to the Honourable Company, and he added that within its limits "no
person shall demand, collect or plant," and “our custom house will be obliged to
give us what has been settled."
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., i. III. This treaty was subsequently confirmed by the Kolattiri
himself and other members of the family. Ibid., i. VIII, IX and X. END OF NOTEs
The Nayar appears to have maintained a desultory warfare with the factory
until, on 29th September 1719, he submitted proposals of peace, which were
accorded to him and ratified on that date. Among other terms3 he gave the
Company “two great guns and a slave in lieu of one you have lost," and he agreed to
give the Company a monopoly of his pepper produce without any duty and to
surrender "the Ramem hill," which is probably identical with that of Mailan already
referred to.
NOTEs: 3. Treaties, etc., i. VI and VII. END OF NOTEs
The Zamorin in 1699 had probably received an advance of money from the
Company, as in that year he came to an understanding4 with a Mr. Peni (Penny?)
authorising him to deduct 25 per cent, of the duty on pepper exported. And again in
1710 he had authorised1 them to employ the oil ordeal for settling their disputes
with native traders. It appears they also had the privilege of protecting debtors who
took refuge in their Calicut factory, to the disadvantage occasionally of interlopers
like Hamilton.
NOTEs: 4. Treaties, etc., i. II.
1. Treaties, etc., i. IV. END OF NOTEs
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Meanwhile affairs in other parts of the Zamorin’s territory had not

proceeded so satisfactorily for the English Company’s interests. It has already been
said that the Dutch in pursuance of their policy to curtail their military expenditure
had in 1691 placed the Island of Chetwai in the Zamorin’s hands. The Zamorin was
not slow to follow up the advantage this gave him of being placed on the flank, as it
were, of his hereditary foe, the Cochin Raja’s territory. War broke out shortly
afterwards, and from 1701 till 1710 the Dutch were drawn into it in a desultory
manner in protection of the Cochin Raja’s interests.
It was this protection of the Cochin Raja against the Zamorin which
involved the Dutch in so much profitless expenditure in Malabar. So long as the
Chetwai Island remained in the Zamorin’s hands, he could at any moment turn, as it
were, the flank of the Cochin Raja’s defence, and it, therefore, became an object of
importance to the Dutch Company to protect the northernmost point of the island.
In 1714 they accordingly set about the erection of a fort at this point.
The English Company, on the other hand, and, if Hamilton’s account is
correct, the Chief of the English factory, Mr. Robert Adams, had, in particular,
interests of their own to protect. Ever since the place had been in the Zamorin’s
hands, the English chiefs had made, as Hamilton expresses it, “a good Milch Cow”
of it, by vending presumably on their own private account, “between 500 and 1,000
Chests of Bengal Ophium yearly up in the inland Countries where it is very much
used.2 The Water Carriage of the River being cheap and secure, the Price of
Ophium high, and the Price of Pepper low, so that their profits were great both
ways.”
NOTEs: 2. The consumption in these same parts is still large. END OF NOTEs
The Raja of Cochin made over his claims to the island to the Dutch,
“who,” as Hamilton records, “made small account who had the best Title, but
carried on their Work with Diligence.”
Acting on the advice of Mr. Adams on the other hand, the Zamorin
determined to resort to stratagem to recover possession of it. He accordingly sent
some soldiers disguised as coolies who entered the Dutch service to help in the
building of the fort. These men were instructed to watch their opportunity, and for
this purpose they lay in ambuscade “in a Morass overgrown with weeds near the
Fort.” The two Dutch lieutenants in charge of the works began one evening to play
dominoes in a temporary guard-room about half a mile from the fort, while the
garrison strolled about off their guard in the cool of the evening. Taking advantage
of this favourable opportunity the men in ambush easily overpowered the sentinels
and took the half-built fort.
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Collecting a few men the officers rushed to the spot, but one of them was
killed in the advance, and the other losing heart drew off his men and sailed for
Cochin. Before sailing he had the mortification to see the English flag flying over
the fort. On reaching Cochin he was tried by court-martial and shot, Hamilton
being present at the execution. The Zamorin’s people set to work at once to
demolish the fort and carried off some great guns belonging to the Dutch. “And
this was the Prelude of the War.”
The reason for the hoisting of the English flag over the unfinished work
appears to have been that in February 1715, Mr. Adams had obtained permission1
from the Zamorin to build a warehouse at Chetwai, and keep a person there for
trade purposes.
The Dutch could not stand this affront, so Councillor Willem Bakker
Jacobtz took the field at the head of 4,000 European and native troops. Chetwai was
recovered ; Paponetty previously mortgaged to the Zamorin was also taken ; and
notwithstanding some unacceptable advice tendered to Mr. Adams by Hamilton “not
to embark his Masters in that Affair because war was a different Province from his,” the war
ended in “a dishonourable and disadvantageous Peace” in 1717. The Zamorin by
the conditions of peace “was obliged to build up the Fort he had demolished, to pay
the Dutch Company 7 per cent, on all the pepper exported out of his Dominions
for ever, and to pay a large Sum towards the Charges of the War. Some Part of the
Money, I believe, he borrowed.”
The Dutch formally resumed possession of the Chetwai fort on April 10th,
1717. It was named Fort William and Heer Wilhem Blasser, Captain-Lieutenant, and
first commandant thereof, died there on the 2nd of February 1729, as his tombstone
lying at the Chetwai public bungalow still attests.
After the conclusion of this disadvantageous peace, Mr. Adams continued
to be the Chief of the Tellicherry factory for many years, and he was not relieved of
that charge till the 10th of March 1728. Hamilton’s belief that part of the money
spent by the Zamorin in this war was borrowed was fully justified, for the early
Tellicherry records show that the Company took great exception to the loans which
Mr. Adams had made out of their money to the Zamorin, the Punnattur Raja, the
Prince Regent of the Kolattiri dominions and others.
Notwithstanding the most persistent dunning, the Zamorin’s debt
amounted to the large sum of fanams 6,68,122.04 when Mr. John Braddyl eventually
took charge of the factory. Mr. Adams did not regularly deliver over charge of it. He
proceeded with Mr. Braddyl to Tanur to recover some of the money lent. Mrs.
Adams, after some restraint (subsequently withdrawn) had been used to prevent her
leaving Tellicherry, came down the coast “on board the Decker for Fort St.
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George,” picked up her husband at Calicut, and the records do not say what further
became of them.
In consequence of these expensive wars the "Dutch settlement at Cochin
was not paying its way, so in 1721 the Supreme Council in Batavia came to the very
important resolution that the Raja of Cochin was no longer to be supported in his
interminable fights with the Zamorin, and the Cochin council was solemnly
cautioned to live peaceably with all men : advice more easily given than capable of
being carried out.
This resolution of the Dutch Company, coupled with the results of certain
memorable events at Anjengo, speedily led to great changes among the country
powers.
The Honourable Company settled at Anjengo mainly for two reasons—
“Pepper” and “piece-goods.” Travancore was at the time of the settlement and for many
years subsequently in a state which did not favour trade. The Rajas were as a rule
mere puppets in the hands of certain Brahmans of the Trivandrum temple and of
certain petty chieftains of the Nayar caste, who were styled the Ettuvittil Pillamar, or
the Pillays of the eight houses. These latter appear to have been the local heads of
the Nayar tara organisation - of the organisation, that is, which, as already fully
explained, was charged with the maintenance of the rights of all classes, and with
preventing any such from falling into disuse.
The country was therefore broken up, as was also the case with Kolattunad,
into an immense number of petty chieftainships, over which the Rajas had very
limited and precarious authority. Such a country was not favourable for trade. What
the English Company would have liked would have been a despotic monarch who
could assign to them monopolies of the produce they came seeking and could
enforce the same with a strong arm.
A weaker prince than usual appears to have succeeded to the Travancore
Raj in 1718, and another prince then quite a boy, but afterwards famous as the great
Martanda Varma, appears to have set himself in opposition to the Brahmans and
feudal chiefs, and in consequence the country was in a disturbed state.
In April 1721 the Anjengo factors were applied to for their usual annual
present due to the Rani of Attingal, of the Travancore family. “Those1 who
demanded it assured him (the Chief of the Factory) that they came to demand it by
the Queen’s order, and offered their Receit of it in her Name.” The chief appears to
have had reason to expect that if the present were sent it would never reach Her
Highness as the Ettuvittil Pillamar were just then in the ascendant, so he refused to
pay it into any hands but those of the Rani. On this the Rani invited him to bring it
to Attingal himself.
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NOTEs: 1. Hamilton's New Account, etc., I. 332-3. END OF NOTEs
“And he to appear great there, carried two of his Council, and some others
of the Factory with most Part off the Military belonging to the Garrison, and by
Stratagem they were all cut off, except a few black Servants whose heels and
language saved them from the Massacre, and they brought the sad news of the
tragedy.”
This happened on the 15th April 1721.
Two years later the Chief of the Anjengo factory was Dr. Alexander1 Orme,
the father of the Historian2 Robert Orme. He had come as an adventurer to India
about 1706, and probing serviceable as a surgeon to the factors at Anjengo he had
been taken into the Company’s service, being described by the Anjengo factors, who
recommended his being entertained, as “a very capable and ingenious person that
would be extraordinarily serviceable to our masters and us in sickness." He appears
to have been appointed as the chief of the factory directly after the massacre.
The resolution taken by the Honourable Company on learning of this
massacre is thus expressed in an ola (cadjan letter), written by the Travancore Raja to
Dr. Orme on the 15th August 1723 ; —
“Owing to the loss sustained by the Honourable Company in the
capture of Atinga (Attingal) and the money and artillery, which the
enemies robbed in our country, the Honourable Company have resolved,
in spite of money expenses, to put clown the enemies and subject the
country to the king, we are ready to do anything, which the Honourable
Company may require, and shall personally come there and punish the
enemies there in the best manner you may desire, regarding which we
affirm to do without fail, and wish to know when must we come there
with our army.”
The Raja appears to have died shortly after this letter was written, and it
was not till 1726 that the first important step was taken by his successor, advised to
it also by the Prince Martanda Varma, now twenty years of age, to break the power
of the Ettuvittil Pillamar and other chieftains whose interference was as unwelcome
to the Raja as it was to the trading English Company. This step consisted in
obtaining a body of troops—1,000 cavalry and 2,000 sepoys from the Nayak of
Madura—in consideration of Travancore undertaking to become tributary to him.
With the aid of this force the refractory feudal chiefs were kept under some
restraint, but it was not until after 1729, when the famous Raja Martanda Varma at
last succeeded to the Raj, that effectual steps were taken “to put down the enemies,
and subject the country to the king.” And the extirpation of the Ettuvittil Pillamar
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was the first effectual step taken in this direction by that energetic chief. The
advantage of having a standing army of trained troops had however meanwhile
become so apparent that the next step adopted by this capable Martanda Varma was
to employ the famous Fleming Eustachius D'Lanoy to organise his forces. D’Lanoy
had been taken prisoner at the Travancorean attack on the Dutch fort of Colachel in
August 1741 ; he had attracted the notice of the Raja who had treated him with
much kindness and consideration, and in return he and several of his companions
had entered the Raja’s military service.
Things had in this way become rife for great changes in the south, and in
consequence
First, of the Dutch Company’s resolution in 1721 not to back up their
native allies, or to do it in an irresolute fashion, which appears to have been what
actually happened ;
Secondly, of the English Company’s resolution in 1723 to “subject the
country to the king” and so facilitate their trade ;
and
Thirdly, of the formation about 1741 of a standing army in Travancore,
the next few years saw the Travancoreans masters of the whole of the
country as far north as Cranganore, leaving to the luckless ally of the Dutch
Company, the Cochin Raja, only a few square miles lying round his palaces at
Ernakulum and Cochin.
Meanwhile the French had secured a stable footing on the coast as
competitors for the Malayali produce of pepper, piece-goods, ginger and
cardamoms, and the way of it was as follows : —
Hamilton, as already set forth, mentions incidentally that the French had
formed a temporary settlement in a small mud fort at Tellicherry prior to the
occupation of that place by the English. And he further notices the fact that in 1698
they had a factory at Calicut. They were, however, evidently not doing much there,
as he says they had neither money nor credit and were “not in a condition to carry
on a trade.”
Hamilton chanced once to visit the place which he called “Mealie,”1 and
which the French subsequently seized in the manner to be presently described, and
his account furnishes much interesting information regarding the chief of that
district of Kolattunad, whom the French afterwards dispossessed of a small portion
of his territory.
NOTEs: 1. Mayyali — Mahe. END OF NOTEs
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“And 8 or 10 miles further to the Southward” (of Mahe) “is Burgara,2 a

seaport in the dominions of Ballanore3 Burgarie2 a formidable Prince. His country
produces Pepper and the best Cardamoms in the World.”
NOTEs: 2. Vadakara.
3. Corrupt form of Valunnavar = Ruler. END OF NOTEs
In January 1703 Hamilton appears to have visited the place and bought
cardamoms, and received a visit from the prince on board his ship, which he
minutely inspected and then signified his intention of building a similar one “but
there wanted water enough in his Rivers to flote her.”
“This Prince and his predecessors have been Lords of the Sea, Time out of
Mind, and all trading vessels between Cape Comorin and Damaan were obliged to
carry his Passes. Those of one Mast paid for their Passes about 8 shillings yearly,
and those with three paid about sixteen ; but when the Portuguese settled in India,
then they pretended to the Sovereignty of the Seas which occasioned a War between
him and them that has lasted ever since. He keeps some light Gallies that row and
sail very well, which cruise along the Coast from October to May to make Prize of
all who have not his Pass.
“In our discourse I asked him if he was not afraid to venture his person on
hoard of a Merchant Ship since he himself was an Enemy to all Merchants that
traded on these Coasts. He answered that he had heard of my Character, and that
made him fearless and that he was no Enemy to trade, but only vindicated the
Sovereignty of those Seas before mentioned, and that our own King was invested
with the like Sovereignty not only on his own Coasts, but on those of France,
Holland and Denmark and could have no greater right than he had, only he was in a
better Position to oblige the transgressors of his Laws to obedience than he was.
“However, he would maintain his claim and right the best way he could,
and whoever lost their Ships or Vessels for contempt of his authority might blame
their own obstinacy or folly and not him.”
On parting with Hamilton he gave him a bracelet and made him "a free
Denizen in all his Territories.”
Hamilton paid him a return visit on shore at “his palace which was very
meanly built of Reeds and covered with Coconut Leaves, but very neat and clean.”
He expressed wonder why the English did not settle in his dominions
because he had pepper and cardamoms which were carried both to Calicut and
Tellicherry and paid customs en route to other chiefs while he only charged 5 per
cent as duty. Hamilton replied “that sending his Vessels to cruise on Merchant Ships
had blasted the reputation of his country.”
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He proposed to Hamilton to settle there, but Hamilton told him in reply

that he could not accept of his favours without the approbation of the Company.
In 1707 Hamilton again came from Cochin to buy a new ship which the
Raja (Kadattunad) had built. He called at a place, belonging to him “called Mealie.”1
He was received with great favour, but the Raja would not sell the ship until he had
first employed her in one voyage himself.
NOTEs: 1. Mayyali — Mahe. END OF NOTEs
“When I went to his palace the first time I was innocently guilty of ill-
manners, for walking with him near his lodgings, I chanced to touch the Thatch
with my Hat which polluted it so much that as soon as I went away he stript it of its
Covering because Religion forbade him to sleep under it when it was thus polluted,
but it was soon re-sanctified by a new Thatching.”
If this had been done by one of his own subjects he might have been in
danger of his life for it. The Raja insisted on all things being supplied to Hamilton
without payment, and he had in consequence to pay fishermen on the sly for the
fish he got from them.
“I do not certainly know how far Southerly this Prince’s Dominions reach
along the Sea Coast, but I believe to Tecorie,2 about 12 miles from Mealie,1 and in
the half way is Cottica,2 which was famous formerly for privateering on all Ships and
Vessels that traded without their Lord’s Pass.”
NOTEs: 2. Trikkodi, p. 72. 1. Mayyali — Mahe. 2. Kottakkal, p. 72, and foot-note, p. 330.
END OF NOTEs
Hamilton further notices the “sacrifice Rock” lying off Cottica, about 8
miles in the sea—so called, tradition says, because “when the Portuguese first settled
at Calicut, the Cottica2 cruisers surprised a Portuguese vessel and sacrificed all their
Prisoners on that Rock.”
NOTEs: Kottakkal, p. 72, and foot-note, p. 330. END OF NOTEs
In 1719 the “Perpetual Company of the Indies” was formed in France by Law,
and a few years after this event a French squadron made, in 1725, a descent on
Mahe3 “in pursuance4 of orders from the Directors, with the view to secure on the
Malabar Coast a post that would indemnify the French for the loss of Surat.”
NOTEs: 3. It appears from the Tellicherry factory diary of 28th November 1726 that the
French had previously in 1722 occupied Mahe, and this is probably the occupation to which Hamilton
alludes in his “ New Account, etc.” 1,298, in the following terms :—“About 4 miles to the south ward
of Tellicherry is a small French factory lately settled at the mouth of a small river, but for what end I
know not : but I believe more to employ a little stock for the gentlemen of Calicut factory’s account
than for the French Company.”
4. Malleson’s “History of the French in India” p. 82, foot-note. END OF NOTEs
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“In the year 1725, a small French squadron under the command of M.
dePardaillan, acting under the orders of the Government of Pondicherry, came to
opposite the little town of Maihi, just below Tellicherry, on the Malabar coast, and
summoned the place to surrender. The governor refused. The situation of Maihi
indeed seemed to place it out of all danger.
“On high ground rising up from the sea, and washed on its north side by a
little river, the entrance into which, as it ran into the sea, was closed by rocks for
even the smallest boats, Maihi seemed to be able to bid defiance to any enemy who
should attack it on the side of the sea. So at least thought the governor, and so,
apparently, seemed to think the French commodore. He, at all events, was,
hesitating as to the course he should adopt under the circumstances, when the
captain of one of his ships submitted to him a plan which he begged he might be
permitted to carry himself into execution. The name of this captain was Bertrand
Francois Mahe deLabourdonnais.
“On arriving at Pondicherry, he was attached to the squardon of M.
dePardaillian, just starting for the conquest of Maihi. It is under the orders of this
commodore, hesitating regarding the attack of the place, that we now find him.
“The plan which Labourdonnais submitted to the commodore was to land
the troops on a raft of his own designing, in order of battle, under cover of the fire
of the squadron. He pressed also that he might be permitted to lead them himself.
M. dePardaillian, struck with the ingenuity of the plan, and with the energy and
quickness of decision evinced by the young officer, gave his consent to the scheme,
it was carried out almost instantly.
“The raft was made, the troops were placed upon it, and, piloted by
deLabourdonnais, were landed, with dry feet and almost in order of battle, at the
foot of the high ground. This difficulty being surmounted, the place was stormed.
As an acknowledgment of the skill and enterprise of his young captain, the
commodore by a slight alteration of the letters which went to form the name of the
captured town, transformed it from the Indian Maihi or Mahi1 into the French
Mahe — the first name of Labourdonnais. This new name, not only took root, but
it gradually effaced the recollection that the town had ever borne another.
NOTEs: The Malayalam name ia written thus : മയഴി— Mayyali. END OF NOTEs
“We are indebted to the Carnatic Chronology of Mr. C. P. Brown, late Madras
Civil Service, for the information regarding the origin of the name ‘Mahe’. It was
evidently unknown to Mr. Mill, and equally so to the authors of the Indian
Gazetteers.”2
NOTEs: 2. Pages 62-64, Malleson’s History of the French in India. END OF NOTEs
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The Tellicherry factors naturally enough regarded this intrusion of the

French at a place so close to their limits—only two miles from their outposts in no
friendly light, and the first paper on the record of the extant Tellicherry factory diary
beginning with Monday, 1st August 1726, is a letter from the President and Council
at Madras expressing concern at the success of the French in seizing Mahe.
From an entry a week later it would appear that the Kadattunad Raja had
been at war at this time with the Kottayam Raja as well as with the French. Mr.
Adams succeeded however in reconciling them with a view no doubt to turn all the
Kadattunad Raja’s efforts towards embarrassing the French, and the terms of peace
demanded by Kottayam and accepted by Kadattunad were—(1) The districts of
“Belleta” with absolute command thereof to be delivered to the former ; (2) an
elephant to be given to Tellicherry pagoda by the latter with an offering of butter
tied round its neck ; (3) a piece of ground and a house for Brahmans to be given up
by latter ; and (4) a house in the latter’s country to be burnt.
This however did not much affect the result. On the 14th August the French
seized a small hill lying between them and Kadattunad’s force, and notwithstanding
smart firing the latter failed to dislodge them. On the 15th, 100 Tellicherry Nayars
were sent to assist3 Kadattunad ; but he wanted money and being already indebted
to the Company, he was told first of all to settle his accounts. Rather than do this he
preferred to come to terms with the French, and notwithstanding the chief’s efforts
to “embarrass the affair,” he sent on the 8th September to say that he thought
himself obliged by force to hearken to the French, and was told in reply that he was
unreasonable.
NOTEs: 3. He had, on February 17th, 1725, agreed with the English factors not to permit
any other Europeans to settle in this country and to give the English a monopoly of the produce of
pepper and cardamoms. Treaties, etc., i. XIII. END OF NOTEs
On the 10th of September there was a cessation of hostilities, and

Kadattunad began to try to obtain the best terms he could by playing off the one
factory against the other. No sooner had the hostilities with Kadattunad ceased than
the French under M. Fremisot began to be active in other directions. Between the
two factories lay the territory of the Kurangoth Nayar with whom the English
factors had previously been at war as already described. The Nayar welcomed the
French as allies and with their aid began to try to recover the territory he had lost.
The great annual hunting festival of the Nayars, Tulappattua1, was at hand ;
between Tellicherry and Malie lay some hills covered with brushwood which
harboured wild pigs, and Mr. Adams obtained information that on the 12th of
October the Nayar and the French intended to hunt on two hills, called Punnella
and Putinha, which had been taken from the Nayar by the English factors. It was
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accordingly resolved to get up an opposition hunt and to guard the hills in order to
prevent the French from seizing them.
On 12th October accordingly the Nayar and French combined and suddenly
attacked the people stationed on the disputed hills. In the fight which ensued one
Nayar was killed on the side of the English, and one Frenchman was slain and
several wounded on the other side. On the following day there was another fight in
which one Nayar boy was killed on the English side and three Nayars and a
fisherman were wounded.
The affair ended in mutual protests between the two factories, both urging
that their nations were at peace in Europe, and finally a conference was arranged in
December to settle matters. The English factory limits at this time are thus
described: “From Upalla Canidi to Ponella Malla, north and south, and what may be
to the westward of said places or with them, and Tellicherry fort to Moohara and
Codalla.”
The firm attitude assumed by the English factors had, they were assured,
greatly advanced their credit in the country.
To protect their trade the English factors resolved to assist Kadattunad
with money, etc., as being cheaper than war ; and they made use of the friendship of
the Prince Regent in the Kolattiri dominions to bring over to their2 side the four
Kulatta Nambiar’s of Iruvalinad, who were in a position to stop country supplies
from reaching Tellicherry.
NOTEs: Treaties, etc., i.e. XV end XVI. END OF NOTEs
This fighting at Tellicherry was not approved either at the Presidency

(Bombay) or by the Court of Directors. Orders were sent to live amicably with the
French, to reduce expenses,3 and to recover debts.
NOTEs: 3.
The following establishment, it was calculated, would suffice as soon as all the buildings were
finished—
(1) Tellicherry fort—126 men.
(2) Mailan do. 44 do.
(3) Coddalice do. 40 Nayars
16 Moors
(4) Moohara do. garrisoned by Narangapuratta Nayar's men at 500 fanams monthly.
(6) Putniha fort Garrisoned by Narangapuratta Nayar’s men at 50 fanams monthly.
(6) Tirimalla fort esteemed at 500 fanams—(Diary, 14th February 1727).
END OF NOTEs
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The Secretary of State was also moved to send a remonstrance to the

French Ministry against the French insults at Tellicherry, and the Royal Company of
France was ordered to be in amity with the English settlements in India.
The result was that the two settlements began to interchange friendly visits,
and much gunpowder was spent in salutes, much to the chagrin of the Kurangoth
Nayar, who tried various plans to prevent the respective factors from coming to an
amicable understanding. His people came vapouring up before the English posts,
which however were ordered “to bear everything till attackt.”
They next pulled down one dark night a fence round a French post in their
own lines with a view to make the French believe the English had done it and set
the French firing in all directions ; but Mr. Adams had no difficulty in exposing the
Nayar’s “villainous artifices”.
The respective factors finally arranged terms mutually satisfactory and
advantageous, and these were embodied in two agreements1 and duly executed on
9th March and 17th—28th April 1728. This agreement secured both factories against
the intrigues of the Kurangoth Nayar and other petty chieftains in Iruvalinad ; it
provided for the surrender of deserters, and for fixing a fair price for pepper ; and
even if war prevailed between the two countries in Europe, the conditions of the agreement
were to be observed until notice to the contrary was given by either side.
NOTEs: Treaties, etc., i. XVII, afterwards in 1736. Extended in regard to the surrender of
deserters who had committod crimes in the respective settlements. See i. XXXII. END OF NOTEs
Thus peace and security reigned to the south and east of the Tellicherry
factory. To the north disturbances occurred in another quarter.
The Tellicherry factory diary records, on the 6th June 1727, that Ally Raja
“did last night Treacherously seize the said Hill and Fort” (namely, Codalla) which
the Prince Regent in Kolattunad had erected “purely as a barrier to a Large Country
which produced a great quantity of Pepper.”
The Dutch were still at this time settled in Cannanore in Fort Angelo taken
from the Portuguese, and Ally Raja, or more correctly Ali Raja (the sea king), lived
under the guns of their fort at a house called the Arakkal in Cannanore town.
Reference2 has already been made to the origin of this Mappilla chieftain.
The Keralolpatti would trace the family history back to the time of Cheraman
Perumal, but tradition is tolerably unanimous that the first chieftain of the family
was a Nayar, by name Arayan Kulangara Nayar, one of the ministers of the Kolattiri,
who is said to have lived about the end of the 11th or beginning of the 12th century
A.D., and who embraced Islam and adopted the name of Muhammad or Mammad
Ali.
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Owing to his skill and ability, it is said, the Kolattiri retained him as his
minister after his conversion, and his successors were known as the Mammali Kitavus,
who were hereditary ministers of the Kolattiri. Tradition says that Mammad Ali and
his successors1 were admitted to all the important counsels of the Kolattiri and that
they used to stand on such occasions with sword point resting on a box, implying
that, whatever was determined on, they would find the money to do it.
NOTEs: 1.
The following is the traditionary list of these chieftains :—1. Mammad Ali. 2. Ussan Ali. 3. Ali Mussa.
4. Kunhi Mussa. 5. Ali Mussu is said to have conquered some of the Maldive Islands in 1183-84. The
Laccadive Islands had probably before this time been colonised from Kolattunad. The Kolattiri is said
to have arranged with him for an annual payment of 18,000 fanams for the islands besides any further
required sum of money in times of need. And as a reward for his services the port of Cannanore and
the desams of Kanattur and Kanottamichala were assigned to him. The long subsisting connection
between the Maldive Islands and the Cannanore family probably also began at so early a date as that
here assigned by tradition. It is certain that in the beginning of the 16th century the Maldive king was a
tributary of Cannanore. 6. Alivappan Mappilla, A.D. 1204-5. 7. Issa Pokra, A.D. 1283-84. 8. Valiya
Mammali, A.D. 1364-65. The title of this chieftain, viz., the Great (Valiya) Mammali (Muhammad Ali),
is suggestive of an extension of the family influence about his time. The family title of Mammali was
well known to the Portuguese and other Europeans, and from the family connection with the Maldives
and Laccadives the 9° channel separating Minicoy from the Laccadive group was usually referred to
down to nearly the end of the 18th century, as “Mammala’s channel.” 9. Pokrali Koya, said to have
been killed by the Portuguese in 1544-45. This appears to have been a brother of the chieftain
(Mammali), and the Portuguese appear to have first offered to him the position of “Lord of the
Maldives." Shortly after this the Maldive king in 1552 became a convert to Christianity. The
Portuguese reduced the Islands in 1553, but ten years afterwards two Katibs, assisted by four vessels
from the coast (“Corsaires Malabares”) took the Portuguese fort, killed 300 of the garrison, and
established themselves as joint kings. 10. Kuttiali, A.D. 1544-45. 11. Kunhi Pokko, A.D. 1590-91. 12.
ChoriyA Kunhi Pokkur, A.D. 1606-7. In the time of this chieftain, the family connection with the
Maldives appears to have been resumed, and he, after defeating the claimants to the Maldive throne,
appointed one of them as his “Vice-Regent.” Very little is known of the Maldives after his time until
the beginning of the 18th century, but from about the middle of the 17th century the Maldive kings have
placed themselves under the protection of the dominant European power in Ceylon, first the Dutch
and afterwards the British. 13. Mammali, A.D. 1 609-10. 14. Mammali Koya, A.D. 1646-47. 15. Kamali
Karnavar, A.D. 1654-55. 16. Mammali, A.D. 1655-56. 17. Kuttiali, A.D. 1699-91. I8. Kunhi Avusi,
A.D. 1703-4. 19. Kunhi Mammali, A.D. 1719-20. 20. Kunhi Bi, alias Aravichchikiravu, A.D. 1727-28.
21. Junumma Bi, A.D. 1731-32. 22. Kunhi Amsi, A.D. 1744-45. 23. Jumumma Bi, Valiya Tangal A.D.
1776-77. 24. Abdul Kadar, A.D. 1815 16. 25. Bi Valiya Tangal, A.D. 26. Maria Amma Bi, A.D. . 27.
Ayissa Bibi Valiya Tangal, died, A.D. 1861-62. 28. Sultan Ali Raja, died A.D. 15th November 1870, 29.
Sultan Ali Raja, the present chieftain. END OF NOTEs
Hamilton gives an interesting account of these chieftains after they had

become independent of the Kolattiris. He describes Cannanore as “a pretty large
town built in the bottom of the bay” and as independent of the Dutch stationed
Fort Angelo. It was under “Adda Raja, a Mahometan Malabar prince, who upon
occasion can bring near 20,000 men into the field.”
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“His government is not absolute, nor is it hereditary ; and instead of giving

him the trust of the Treasury which comes by Taxes and Merchandise, they have
chests made on purpose with holes made in their lids, and their coin being all gold,
whatever is received from the treasurer is put into these chests by these holes and
each chest has four locks, and their keys are put in the hands of the Raja, the
Commissioner of Trade, the Chief Judge, and the Treasurer, and when there is
occasion for money none can be taken out without all these four be present or their
deputies.”
The practice alluded to doubtless had its origin in the time when the
Mammali Kilavus were the Kolattiri’s Chief Sea Customs Agents and Admirals. After
the Portuguese reprisals on the Moorish commerce, the relations between the Ali
Rajas and the Kolattiris had become strained, and at the period now reached the
Dutch had evidently set up the Ali Raja to seize Codally, with a view to gain for
themselves the pepper of the country (Randattara) commanded from that place. The
Dutch making use also of the manifold dissensions always existing in the Kolattiri
family had also made it impracticable for the Prince Regent to act vigorously.
A detachment sent to Agarr,1 in June 1727, to protect the English
warehouse there, was stopped at Darmapattanam Island by Ali Raja’s people and
turned back with insults. The Chief appealed to the Prince Regent to “unite with
those of the Royal line” and maintain peace. But the prince quaintly replied that “as
there are so many of the Royall Line ’tis extream difficult to effect the necessary
Union.”
The Kottayam Raja, however came to his assistance and between them
they, in February 1728, took one of Ali Raja's forts on Darmapattanam Island. On
the 26th of the same month the Prince Regent took and destroyed the Mappilla
settlement at Valarpattanam, killing 600 men, women and children. On the 29th the
united forces took Darmapattanam Island, another great Mappilla settlement, and
Ali Raja’s people had to take refuge in the little2 island lying about a gunshot off the
point of Darmapattanam, whence they exchanged shots with the Prince Regent’s
people on the main island ; and there they maintained themselves for some time.
NOTEs: 2. Called in Hamilton’s time “Cacca Diva, i.e. Crow (Kakka) Island, but usually,
called at this time “Grove Island” by the factors. END OF NOTEs
In their letter of 14th March 1728 to Bombay the factors reported that “Ally
Rajah .... is sailed for duddah, and all his country save Cannanore entirely destroyed
by the Prince.” The next news of him received in October, through Bombay, was
that he had been poisoned at Jeddah by his minister, and that all his effects had been
seized on account of presents promised to the prophet’s tomb. But the factors
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informed Bombay, that the Moors had not been discouraged thereby, and they were
14,000 to 15,000 strong in Cannanore. So the war went on ; the Prince Regent, in
great need of money and supplies, and being refused the same by the English
factors, opened negotiations with the Dutch of Cannanore to hand over to them
Darmapattanam Island, the possession of which was essential to the trade of
Tellicherry.
The factors thereupon (September 1730) determined to open their purse
strings and store-rooms, and, as the best means of preventing a large expenditure of
money, they further resolved to bring about peace between the Prince Regent and
the Mappillas. On the 1st of November the Chief (Mr. Braddyl) had a satisfactory
interview with the Prince Regent, and on the 2nd at another interview the Chief
obtained from him a grant3 of a monopoly of trade in Iruvalinad, Darmapattanam
Island and Randattara, with permission to hoist their flag if the Dutch or French
threatened to take possession of these places.
NOTEs: Treatise, etc., i. XIX. END OF NOTEs
In return the Chief promised him 20,000 fanams worth of military stores to
enable him to carry on his war against the Mappillas. On 13th January and 10th May
following further loans were given him, and on the 9th June 1731, peace was at last
arranged through the mediation of the Kalliad Nambiar, the Mappillas agreeing to
pay an indemnity of 1,00,000 fanams at once, and a similar sum in four months
time.
Hearing of this, Mr. Braddyl promptly applied for repayment of the loans,
but the prince answered : “The present Treaty is only to give me a Breathing for
four months.”
Before, however, the four months had elapsed, a greater danger to the
Prince’s authority began to make itself felt. It seems to have had its origin in the
same family dissensions which had probably precipitated the Mappilla outbreak. The
prince had stated, when applying for the loan given to him on the 10th of May, that
the money was wanted to enable him to fight the Canarese as well as the Moors, and
on 23rd October following he applied for Tellicherry manchuas (small coasting
craft), etc., to “cruise against the Canarees,” and a fortnight later news came from
the factors at Honore regarding “ the Extraordinary Insolency of the Canarees” in
having taken the guns out of several Bombay boats because the English at
Tellicherry had assisted the Prince Regent against them.
The Ikkeri, or Keladi, or Bednur Rajas were chiefs who had obtained
independence on the breaking up of the Vijayanagar dynasty after the battle of
Talikota in 1564. Prior to that event, Wilks says : The founder of the dynasty had
been raised from the situation of an opulent farmer to the rank of Governor of
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Bednur, and the ninth in descent from him (Sivappa Nayak) who reigned from 1649
to 1671, but who had really been de facto king for a much longer period during the
reigns of three of his cousins (1604-49), had defeated the Jain Rajas of Tuluva, and
had acquired Canara from Honore to Cassargode.
At Cassargode the Canarese necessarily came into contact with Malayalis
and with the dominions of that offshoot of the Kolattiri family which had been
founded by intermarriage with the Zamorin’s family. The Prince Regent, as already
described, had found it “extream difficult to effect the necessary union” among the
various branches of the family, and it seems to have been on the invitation of one or
more of his discontented relatives that Somesekhara Nayakha, the thirteenth of this
line of Bednur Rajas, pushed his forces across the Malayali frontier.
On the 16th January 1732 the factors reported to the President and Council
at Bombay that the Prince Regent’s army had been routed by the Canarese, who
had, they said, “gott as farr as Monuty1 Dilly,” and the factors expressed anxiety as
to their grain supplies usually obtained through the Canarese port of Mangalore.
On the 28th January news came that the parts of the country about
Valarpattanam were “altogether unsettled” and “in utmost confusion by reason of
the great progress made by the Carnatick army against this kingdom.” Adherence to
the Prince Regent’s cause meant starvation to the Tellicherry settlement, and great
anxiety prevailed as to the provision of grain for consumption in the ensuing
monsoon season. Moreover to add to the anxieties of the factors at this time the
native pirates became unusually active ; but they despatched two successful
expeditions against them, in one of which a pirate vessel, mounting 15 small guns,
was taken, and in another, Ensign Lewis Mendonza, after first taking off the
Valarpattanam river month a small Canarese vessel which attacked his party, was in
turn attacked by a pirate vessel belonging to “Cutty Coileen” and carrying 200 men.
A skilfully planted shell, however, appears to have reached the pirates’
magazine and she blew up, not one of her crow escaping. The factors were nearly in
despair as to the provision of grain, and were planning secret expeditions to seize
the Canarese boats carrying it to the army, when a welcome supply of 2,000 bales
came in from Bombay. Almost simultaneously, however, came the unwelcome news
that the Canarese had taken by assault on the 10th of May the fortified peninsula of
“Matame” held by the Mappillas to the north of the Valarpattanam river.
The Prince Regent had apparently made some sort of terms with the
Canarese on condition that they should help him in his feud with the rebellious
Mappillas of Cannanore.
There was nothing now to prevent the Canarese from making themselves
masters of the whole of the country down to the very gates of Tellicherry, and from
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overrunning the whole of the country from which the settlement obtained its chief
supplies of pepper. The situation became consequently very embarrassing. On 22nd
October 1732 news came that the Canarese had passed to the south of the
Valarpattanam river, and were about to besiege Cannanore in aid of the Prince
Regent and in pursuance of a treaty with him.
The factors learnt by letter next day from the prince himself what terms he
had accepted from the Canarese general “Ragonatt,” These were:—The prince to
hold the country north of Valarpattanam river as far as Nilesvaram as a tributary of
Bednur. Bedmir to have three forts in the said territory - one at “Madacarro”1
another at “Cavi,”2 and the third at Nilesvaram in South Canara.
NOTEs: 1. Near the Valarpattanam river mouth — Conf. p. II.
2. Kavvayi — Conf. p. 69. END OF NOTEs
The country south of the river to be under the Prince Regent, who was to
receive assistance against his rebellious subjects, first of whom were the Mappillas of
Cannanore. In January, and again in February 1733, Cannanore was accordingly
attacked, but on both occasions the Prince Regent’s troops and the Canarese were
repulsed with loss.
The possession of the Darmapattanam Island now became a matter of
supreme importance to the factory. The main portion of it was still held, it is true,
by the Prince Regent's people, but it was quite possible that they might transfer it to
the Canarese, and on the other hand it was quite possible the Kottayam Raja might
hand it over to the French. With the possession of it either in Canarese or in French
hands, the Tellicherry trade would certainly have either disappeared altogether, or
been fatally hampered, as the country from which their chief pepper supplies were
drawn were commanded by this island.
Strenuous efforts were accordingly made to obtain exclusive possession of
it, and the conduct of the negotiations lay in competent hands—those of Mr.
Stephen Law1 - who had succeeded Mr. Braddyl as Chief on 17th December 1732.
The first step taken was to secure a firm hold of “Grove Island” lying off the Point
of Darmapattanam, and this was done with the Bibi of Cannanore’s consent, on 5th
October 1734, on which date Sergeant John Christian, 2 corporals, 7 soldiers and 15
sepoys were admitted to garrison the small island in company with the Bibi's men.
NOTEs: 1.Afterwards President and Governor of Bombay. END OF NOTEs
The Chief having gained this first step, took care to let the French factors
know his determination to keep out everybody else. He accordingly next introduced
men in English pay, but nominally in the prince’s service, into all the forts on the
island under a secret engagement already obtained from the prince, for at this time
(October-November 1734) the Chief was under an apprehension that the French
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would take it by a coup de main assisted by the crew of a French ship then at Mahe.
And it was known that the Kottayam Raja, who had helped the prince to take it
from the Mappillas, had agreed to give up the positions held by him on it to the
French whenever they should choose to take them.
The Bibi of Cannanore was next2 prevailed on in November-December
1734 to surrender her claims to the island out of fear that the Canarese or French
would take it, and owing to her inability to retake it herself and keep it securely. If it
was to be in any other hands than her own, she preferred that it should be taken
possession of by the English.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc i. XXIV, XXV and XXVI. END OF NOTEs
There remained then only the Kottayam Raja to be dealt with, and his
consent was at last obtained after an army of between 4,000 and 5,000 Canarese had,
on 3rd February 1735, crossed the Anjarakandi (called at that time the
“Trentapatam”) river and had encamped on the sandy flats at the east end of the
island with a view to the further3 invasion of the Kottayam Raja’s territory. The
preliminaries were arranged with him on the 6th February; the cadjan4 deed
containing his consent to the English occupation was received at Tellicherry at 2A.M.
on the 7th.
NOTEs: 3. The French afterwards gave out that, this advantage had been planned by the
English to compel Kottayam to come to terms with them. There was probably some good ground for
this assertion.
4. Treaties, etc., i, XXVII. END OF NOTEs
A hasty council was summoned, and it was resolved to act on it at 8A.M. by

formally taking possession of the largest fortress and any others the engineers might
think necessary. These being secured, a peremptory demand was to be sent to the
Canarese to evacuate the island forthwith. Captains Slaughter and Mendonza and
Ensign Adams with 120 soldiers, 140 Nayars and 60 Tiyars, and others, mustering
altogether 400 men, accordingly took possession of the fortress that same forenoon,
and the Canarese general received notice to quit, with which he feigned compliance ;
but he did not actually go.
The Kottayam Raja's alarm of invasion had meanwhile not abated, and on
the 19th of February he sent to the Chief an unconditional agreement1 to plant the
English flag and post garrisons on the island. It was then only that the prior secret
arrangement2 with the Prince Regent of Kolattunad was made public, making the
grant of the island to the English absolute.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., i. XXVIII, followed by another a few days later—i. XXX.
2. Treaties, etc., i. XXI, XXII. END OF NOTEs
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As soon as the business of gaining a solid footing on Darmapattanam

Island had been thus satisfactorily arranged, the Chief set himself to the still more
difficult task of trying to form a combination of the petty country chieftains against
the Canarese. The Prince Regent had proposed this to the Chief in the preceding
December (1734), and had proposed to raise the necessary funds by “tribute, and
taking from such Pagodas as are supplied therewith.”
On 8th February 1735 the Chief advised the prince to help the Canarese
until the Kadattunad and Kottayam Rajas and the Nambiars of Iruvalinad were
forced to combine against the invaders. The Kottayam Raja shortly after this gave in
his adhesion to the Chief’s project. But jealousies were rife and the others all held
aloof. The French too had professed their willingness to strike in, but when the
Chief visited Mahe on 31st March to arrange the matter, the French, much to the
disgust of the country powers, backed out of it. The negotiations for a combination
did not make much progress under such circumstances.
In fact it was not till 29th January 1736 that any substantial progress way
made, and then the combination included only the Prince Regent, the Kottayam
Raja and the English. On that day, however, the resolution was taken to begin the
necessary propagations at once by enlisting Mappillas at 23 fanams per month.
News had come from Bombay two days previously that Madras and Anjengo had
been asked to help, and that men and a sloop-of-war were on their way from
Bombay. On the 17th February the Prince Regent deposited Rs. 20,000 as his share
of expenses.
On the 24th February the Canarese were peremptorily ordered to move
back to the north of the Valarpattanam river, and their general seeing that mischief
was brewing, took the hint and at noon on the 25th retreated across the Anjarakandi
river towards Agarr and a strongly fortified post built at a place called “Cadalay”.
On the 27th the native levies from Tellicherry—all Narangapuratta Nayar’s men, the
corps of Tiyar, and 231 Mappillas, 450 men in all—proceeded to join the Prince’s
and Kottayam Raja's forces at Edakkad.
On the 20th the first hostilities ensued. The allies were attacked by the
Canarese at Edakad, but the assailants were repulsed with loss, and a Canarese
redoubt ("Trankier") at the Edakad point was taken. On the 3rd March the Chief
himself (Mr. Stephan Law) took the field and planned a fort to annoy the “Cadalay”
fort held by the Canarese. He next devoted his attention to the Canarese outlying
works and to intercepting their supplies of food. On the 7th their Madakara fort was
surrendered to the English war “gallivats”.
On the 8th the Chief proceeded thither and found the fort to be 500 yards
in circumference with eight half - moon bastions. He wished to dismantle it and
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abandon the place, but the Prince Regent fearing it would fall into the hands of the
Mappillas persuaded him to keep it, and an engagement1 was accordingly
afterwards2 drawn up in ratification of the arrangement.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., i, XXXI.
2. On 5th July 1737.END OF NOTEs
The news reached him on the same day that the Canarese were beginning to
desert other fortified posts to the north. The incursion of the Canarese had been
disastrous to the Dutch trade at Cannanore as well as to the English, and on the 15th
March the Dutch Chief at Cannanore, under orders from Cochin, took steps to stop
the supply of food to the Canarese. That same day the Chief (Mr. Stephen Law)
began to draw in his detachments and to concentrate on the isolated position of the
Canarese at Cadalay. The preparations for attacking it were complete on the 17th,
and on the morning of the 18th the first attack was delivered. The English force
secured an eminence with the Nayars on their right, but the latter fled when
attacked by the Canarese. The English position was next attacked and was
successfully defended with the loss of 3 men killed and 20 wounded. At 4PM. a
retreat was made to a better position.
The Dutch factors at Cannanore were meanwhile holding aloof from active
operations against the common enemy. They were afraid lest the post of Cadalay, if
it were taken, would be retained by the English and used to intercept the Dutch
trade with the pepper country lying up the Valarpattanam river. To remove their
jealousy the Chief agreed on the 19th to give them a certificate renouncing all claim
to Cadalay if it should be taken. It is like enough that if the attack of the 18th had
succeeded Cadalay would have been retained by the English and used to cut out the
Dutch.
On the 20th a reinforcement (an ensign and 30 men) arrived from Anjengo.
On the 21st the Dutch agreed to join on the understanding that Cadalay should be
razed to the ground. On the 26th Dutch reinforcements, in five ships and other
small vessels, arrived at Cannanore, and on the 29th Mr. Law visited Cannanore and
after some more fencing about the future occupation of Cadalay the Dutch at last
agreed to land 300 men (of whom 180 were Europeans) to assist the English, and
this was accordingly done on March 30th.
On the 31st a council of war was held, and it was agreed to seize a hill near
the Canarese camp, to erect a breastwork there, and then to bring up cannon and
mortars to reduce the Cadalay fort.
On the morning of 1st April this plan was put into operation. An advanced
guard, half English and half Dutch, seized the hill. A general advance of the whole
force was then made. The Canarese horse made a stand, but the Dutch, assisted by
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the English, routed them in great disorder, some taking towards the fort and some
to the ground below it. The combined force then made a rush for the fort ; the
Canarese hung out a flag of truce, but continued firing. This enraged the assailants,
and a great slaughter took place at the gate, which was stubbornly defended by the
Canarese, and which became blocked up by the dead bodies of assailants and
defenders.
At this crisis an English topass one Joam Pichota, brought up a ladder,
scaled the fort wall, and discharged his own piece as well as those of 18 others
handed up to him in quick succession. This cleared the wall, and the English colours
were soon flying on the ramparts. Meanwhile the defence of the gate slackened, the
assailants poured in, and many of the Canarese defenders sought safety by lowering
themselves over the walls by ropes. At about 7 a.m. the fort was completely taken
amid great slaughter, women and children and the Canarese general, Gopalji, being
among the slain.
A large body (300) of the enemy, after giving up their arms and while
proceeding to Cannanore, were barbarously massacred by the Nayars. By the Chief’s
exertions 600 or 700 more were saved and taken to Tellicherry. A third body of 200
horse and foot, while trying to escape inland, was cut off by the Nayars. The loss of
the allies was not very great, the English lost five natives killed and 8 wounded. The
Dutch had 1 ensign killed (died from over-exertion on the march), another
European killed, and 2 others burnt by an explosion of gunpowder. The Nayars and
other Malayalis suffered in their eagerness for plunder, for a magazine blew up and
killed 100 of them.
Eight cannon and 1 mortar were among the spoils, and it was found that
the Canarese would have been very soon starved into surrender, even if their fort
had not been taken. The other Canarese forts surrendered one by one after this
event to small detachments sent under Ensign Fisher and Captain Lane. These forts
were located at Madayi, Taliparamba, Matalay and Ayconny. This last fort, described
as 500 yards in circumference with ten half-moon bastions, situated at the mouth of
the Kavayi river “in a pleasant plain country,” gave some trouble.
Captain Lane bombarded it at pistol-shot distance from 6A.M. to 3A.M. After
its surrender, the whole of the garrison, men, women and children, were. Captain
Lane reported, “cruelly—shamefully— and in violation of all laws divine and humane, most
barbarously butchered” by the Nayars, notwithstanding the exertions of the English
officers to save them.
The 700 Canarase saved by the Chief at Cadalay were sent back (all but
three officers) under safe escort as a sort of peace-offering to Bednur, and on 11th
May the Chief wrote to the Bednur Raja detailing the causes of his breaking with
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him. These were (i) the factory at Honore had to be abandoned in consequence of
the oppressions of his people ; (2) the Company’s broker at Mangalore had been
fined and imprisoned on a false pretext ; (3) the promise to respect the English
trading privileges in the Kolattiri country had been broken; (4) and two English
vessels driven ashore in Canara had been seized and plundered and no redress had
been given ; (5) finally the Canarese general Gopalayya, had created dissensions in
the Kolattiri family and tried to alienate the Company’s privileges. And he followed
this up with an offer to negotiate terms of peace, between Bednur and the Prince
Regent.
On the 12th August 1736 a somewhat questionable transaction took place.
The Bibi of Cannanore had begun to show some hankering after Darmapattanam
Island acquired by the Company in the way above described, and as Grove Island,
to which the military had, with her consent, been admitted in October 1734,
commanded the entrance to one of its rivers, it was resolved to “send away the Moors
now on it.” There is no doubt this was regarded as a breach of faith by the Mappillas,
and was resented as such. ; but it was submitted to quietly enough. The fact was that
the Bibi of Cannanore could not afford to act independently of the English, and on
the 8th October 1736, when she showed some signs of trying to intrigue against the
Company, the Chief warned her to desist in very plain terms:-
“If in future you continue in same evil practices, I shall no longer make
those favourable allowances, but proceed for compelling you to desist.” The Bibi
was so placed that if the English had shut up her communications by sea, as they
could very easily have done, and if the Prince Regent had co-operated with them by
land, as he would have been only too delighted to do, the Bibi’s stronghold at
Cannanore could not have resisted the joint attack for any length of time.
On 30th April1737, the Bibi's husband agreed to take an oath in the chief
mosque at Cannanore that she had never attempted anything against the English
Company. The country people all know this to be false, so the Chief and factors
accepted the offer, judging it would make the family contemptible in the eyes of the
natives. After this, amicable relations were resumed and a vessel seized at Anjengo
was restored.
On 10th September 1737 the factors received news that, the Dutch had
come to a disagreement with the Prince Regent, and had threatened to refuse
further aid against the Canarese.
The facts forcibly illustrate the different methods of dealing with the
country powers adopted by the Dutch and by the English Companies. The Dutch
wished the Prince Regent to undertake to sell them 100 candies of pepper at 13½
Venetians, to be laid on any district of his country. To this the prince replied that he
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did not concern himself with merchandise, that he had already assigned to the
English Company privileges of trade, and that the English only bought pepper with
the free consent of the owners thereof. This did not content the Dutch ; the
negotiations went on ; and eventually about January 1737 an agreement was
arranged that the Dutch should assist the prince to expel the Canarese beyond the
Cassargode river, should aid him to reduce the Mappillas of Cannanore and the Raja
of Kottayam on condition that the prince should deliver to them annually 1,000
candies of pepper at Rs. 56 per candy, about half its market rate.
This arrangement did not much disconcert the Tellicherry factors, who
shrewdly recorded in their diary that even if the Dutch did their part, the prince
would not do his because of his avarice, which prevented him from paying even for
the few Nayars the Company had entertained at Ayconny fort (Alikkunuu opposite
Kavayi), and which would certainly, they concluded, prevent him from paying the
market price for pepper and selling it at a loss to the Dutch.
The English Company were well advised in paying market prices for the
produce they required, for North Malabar was so broken up into petty principalities
that the Prince Regent could not have, without war, secured the produce of any
district, in his dominions at less than the market rates.
The state of disunion among the petty chieftains, and, more especially
between the different members of the Kolattiri family, and their mutual jealousies
were more strongly than ever forced on the attention of the factors in endeavouring
to arrange a peace with Bednur ; and after an unsuccessful effort made in October
1736 by Captain Gibbs and Mendonza with 200 soldiers and 180 sepoys to take the
Nilesvaram fort, the last remaining stronghold held by the Canarese, the factors
decided to send one of their number, Mr. Lynch, to Mangalore to arrange a general
peace, if possible, and if that, as seemed probable, were unattainable, then a separate
peace on behalf of the English Company.
Mr. Lynch went properly equipped for the undertaking, and in his bill of
expenses subsequently submitted there occurred the item of “Rs. 200 defraying the
equipping himself with apparel suitable to the gay temper of the Canarese,” which item the
factors passed with the remark that what he alleged had weight, the more so that his
ordinary style of dress was very indifferent.
The result of Mr. Lynch’s embassy was a treaty,1 dated 9th - 20th February
1737, in which the Canarese Governor of Mangalore Surapaya, ratified all former
grants to the Company, empowered them to re-open the factory at Honore, secured
all English wrecks from seizure, assigned to the English a monopoly of pepper and
cardamoms in all the Kolattiri territory that might thereafter be conquered, secured
recognition of all their grants theretofore obtained from the Kolattiri, empowered
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the Company and their officers to export rice from Mangalore without payment of a
heavy duty called Adlamy, barred the Canarese from coming to the south1 of the
Valarpattanam river, or erecting strongholds near the Company’s fort at Madalkara
and left the rest of the Kolattiri dominions to be overrun by the Canarese as they
might think fit ; and besides these terms the diary shows that damages to the extent
of 5910 pagodas were obtained for wrongs suffered.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., i. XXXIII.
1. In the diary of January 6th, 1737, it is stated that this is the country where all the pepper is
grown. END OF NOTEs
On the 16th February 1737 a counterpart agreement2 was executed by the

Chief Mr. Stephen Law, on behalf of the Company.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., i. XXXIV. END OF NOTEs
Directly Mr. Lynch left Mangalore, the Canarese to-crossed the Nilesvaram
river. The Prince Regent applied as usual for money to aid him to oppose them, but
he was reminded that, at the first settlement being formed at Tellicherry, the
Company was to keep up no force, and that the Prince Regent was to protect the
settlement in return for the customs duties which the Company had agreed, to pay.
He was accordingly informed that money would be advanced only if due security for
re-payment were given. And the factors noted in their diary that even if the worst
came to the worst, “the fortresses we have erected in this country may be esteemed
a tolerable security for the trade, even should the prince or whomsoever be disposed
to attempt any violations therein.”
On the 14th January news arrived of a grave disaster suffered at the
Ayeonny fort (Allikkunnu) protecting the mouth of the Nilesvaram river.
Bombardier John Hull, it seems, was engaged in fixing some fuzes. Instead of using
a wooden mallet he attempted to do it with an iron hammer ; the magazine door
was carelessly left open, an explosion took place, and in a second the magazine
exploded, the fort gate was knocked down, also part of the wall ; 6 soldiers and 1
sepoy were killed, 13 soldiers and 12 sepoys were wounded ; the house, provisions,
arms and most of the stores were destroyed.
But under the treaty it became no longer necessary to hold this fort, and so,
on 16th February (the date on which the Chief ratified the terms), orders were sent
to vacate it, which was immediately done. The Nayars on this deserted it, and it was
immediately occupied by the Canarese. It gave them the command of the
Nilesvaram river and of the Nilesvaram portion of the Kolattiri dominions. The
peace enabled the factors to reduce their military establishment. They sent back the
Anjengo and part of the Madras detachment, and a return shows that, on 7th March
1737, they had 2 captains, 4 ensigns, 19 sergeants, 16 corporals, 13 rounders, 14
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drummers, 91 Europeans, 42 mustees, 221 topasses, total 422, less 30 sick, leaving
392 effective men for duty. These men were thus distributed:
(a) Tellicherry
(1) Limit gate 8
(2) Banksaul (warehouse) 13
(3) Great bastion 9
(4) Hospital 5
(5) Fort 90
125
(b) Mailan fort 48
(c) Putinha 25
(d) Grove Island 14
(e) Atarra 1 22
(f) Darmapattanam (Great) 35
(g) Tachara 10
(h) Codotu 15
(i) River’s mouth 8
(j) Eddakat 12
(k) Madakkara 30
Total 344
NOTEs: 1. 1. Elara, or Agarr. END OF NOTEs
For the necessary reliefs a “free guard” of 140 men was wanted,
making a total of 484 ; so the factors wanted 92 sepoys to make up their force to its
proper strength.
On 8th April 1737 news arrived from Bombay that Salsette Island had been
taken by the Mahrattas. The Presidency asked for succour, and the factors at once
despatched 170 sepoys (already under orders to go back) and 3 gallivats and 100
stand-of-arms.
The Canarese were busy meanwhile within the limits allotted to them in the
treaty with the English Company. In April 1737 they had again come south as far as
Madakkara, and supplies and men had to be sent thither as a precautionary measure.
In July the Prince Regent was promised Rs. 5,000 if he would decline to deal with
any other European nation than the English and if he would consent to give an
authentic deed ratifying the English Company's hold on Eddakat and Madakkara.
Rs. 1,000 were sent to him and he2 did as he was required.
NOTEs: 2. Conf. Treaties, etc., i. XXXI, XXXV. END OF NOTEs
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The Dutch functionaries too retired in disgust to Cochin, not being able to
arrange terms with the Canarese or with the Prince Regent, uttering vague threats of
vengeance against the Canarese as they retired. Their trade at Cannanore must now
have dwindled away to very small proportions, as the English Company from their
Madakkara fort were now able to keep them out of the Valarpattanam river. In fact,
on 18th March 1737, as some of their boats entered they were brought to by the fort
and obliged to retire across the bar.
By August 1737 the Canarese had again overrun the whole of the country as
far south as the Taliparamba river, but Madayi fort still held out against them.
The factors now interposed and arranged articles of peace between the
Kolattiri and the Canarese. The Chief and Mr. Lynch and the Prince Regent, on 30th
August 1737, met Surapaya, the Canarese general, near Madakkara. Both parties
went strongly armed and escorted fearing treachery, and the Canarese escort was
described as "very ungovernable” in their demeanour. The terms arranged were as
follows
1 : “That from the fort of Madday (Madayi), westward, to Urbolly,
southward, and as the river winds to the foot of the hills, eastward, with all the
country, northward of the said river, shall hereafter appertain to the King of Bednur,
and from the parts aforesaid, southward, the King of Colastri (Kolattiri) shall enjoy
what appertains to him, etc.”
These terms were not, however, acceptable to the King of Bednur, who had
more ambitious schemes of conquest in view, and simultaneously (20th, 21st October
1737) with his refusal to ratify the terms came the news that the Company’s vessels
at Mangalore had been refused a supply of rice. The Bednur Raja by turning off the
rice tap, so to speak, had it always in his power to inconvenience seriously the
Company’s settlements and to cause an artificial famine. And rice was urgently
needed just then in the Presidency for the Mahrattas were threatening an invasion.
Surapaya was superseded by Ragonatt as Governor of Mangalore and
Commander of the Army, and the selection was not agreeable to the factors. On
20th December 1737 he reached the camp at Madayi, and, on 1st January 1738 the
Chief received a peremptory order from him to proceed forthwith to the camp to
talk of important matters, whereupon the diary records the following remarks : “The
Board naturally remark the haughtiness of the precited Ragonatt and how base is his
disposition. The Chief never thought proper to visit him even in times of the
Canarese elated state, well knowing that Chicane and Treachery are what Ragonatt is
extremely addicted to.”
They however agreed to disguise their real feelings and to send a deputation
to ascertain his intentions, and on the 4th January the deputation returned and
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reported that the Canarese wished the Company to remain neutral in the war about
to be commenced against “the Mallabars.”
The factors’ reply to this was the putting of the Madakkara fort in a
thorough posture of defence and the securing the mouth of the Valarpattanam river
so as to prevent the Canarese from crossing it into the pepper districts. This being
accomplished, the factors awaited the current of events, but beyond seizing (April
1738) the guns of some English vessels detained at Mangalore the Canarese did
nothing towards pursuing their conquests up to August 1738.
There is a gap in the diary at this period, and the events of the next twelve
months cannot be fully ascertained from the other records. In October 1738 the
Prince Regent appears to have been so far pressed that he actually delivered Rs.
30,000 to the factors to prosecute the war, and the agreement come to with the
factors at this juncture “to make war against the insolence of Canara” and “to drive
out Canara” is still on record.1
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., i. XXXIX. END OF NOTEs
About the end of the year hostilities were in progress. On January 2nd, 1739,
Mr. Law reported from Madakkara a skirmish with the Canarese in which, on the
English side, the Malabars displayed great apathy. On January 7th an attack by
bombardment was delivered on the Canarese position near the same place ; the
Canarese made a counter attack on the English flank, but were repulsed by the
“remarkable fire” of the English troops. On January 10th prospects of peace began
to dawn, the Canarese being dejected at the obstinate defence of the line of the
Valarpattanam river, but the actual terms2 were not definitely settled for another
thirteen months.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., i. XLII, XJLIII. END OF NOTEs
The chief points were the permission to export a definite quantity of rice
without duty from Mangalore, and the omission of the clause stopping the Canarese
from making conquests to the south of the Valarpattanam river, in other respects
the treaty followed pretty closely that of February 1737, which was likewise at the
same time ratified.
After the conclusion of peace in the manner above indicated, the Bednur
forces gave little further trouble to the Tellicherry factory, and they do not appear
ever to have subsequently attempted to force their way to the south of the
Valarpattanam river, which was securely guarded by the Company’s fort at
Madakkara. The fact seems to have been that besides the opposition which the
factors would have made had they attempted to pass to the south of the river, the
invaders had pretty well exhausted the resources of the country to the north of it,
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and found a difficulty in supporting the large force they had there, and which it is
said was costing them in January 1749 as much as 12,000 pagodas per month.
On February 27th, 1739, there arrived the ship “Harrington” from England
with despatches from the Court of Directors appointing the Chief, Mr. Stephen
Law, to be President and Governor of Bombay, and appointing Mr. William Wake
from Anjengo to the chiefship of Tellicherry. By the same ship the Directors wrote
pointing out that “Rs. 1,36,000, the charge (of the Tellicherry factory) last year is a
sum which runs away with all our profit.”
The dissensions in the Kolattiri family still continued, and the party of
disorder appears to have been headed by a prince called “Ockoo,” who, in
consequence of the peace with the Canarese, seemed to have turned his attention
next to creating trouble in the south. In an attempt to reach Kadattunad by sea in
November 1739 he was taken prisoner by the factors and sent in custody to
Madakkara fort. But this does not seem to have disheartened his followers,, and the
record of the next few years is full of references to various petty risings by this gang
in different parts of the country.
Moreover, two of his immediate followers escaped from custody in
Dharmapattanam Island through the carelessness of a “Centinel” on 12th December
1739, and the factors were so annoyed at this that they dealt summarily with those
responsible. “The commanding officer is relieved and severely reprimanded. The
corporall is broke, and the centry Henry Goodgame ordered to run the gauntlet and
confined to duty in the fort for two months.”
The escape of these men appears to have encouraged the rest of their party.
Meanwhile the French at Mahe had been at war with the Nambiars of Iruvalinad.
The original cause of dispute was whether a certain Nayar called “Polatche” should
pay pattam to the Nambiars, who claimed him as a vassal. The French, on the other
hand, laid similar claims to him. The Nambiars imposed an interdict by tying a
bough to a tree after the country fashion. The French pulled the bough down, and
“Polatche” took their side.
The French obtained assistance from the Kadattunad Raja, who was at this
time a minor and under their influence, but the Nambiars repulsed their enemies on
4th September 1739 after killing the French commanding officer and many of his
men. The English factors finding the Nambiars hard pressed shortly after this,
assisted them indirectly through the Prince Regent, and on 20th November the
French were repulsed.
The respective factories then protested formally against each other and
peace1 was restored in December 1739.
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History
But the peace was of short duration, for on the 22nd of that same month the
French seized a hill near Mahe under the pretext that they had bought it from the
minor Kadattunad Raja, whose mother, on the other hand, refused to acquiesce in
the arrangement, and amicable relations were, accordingly broken off in that
direction.
The French were very busy about this time and pushing in all directions. In
December 1739 they hoisted their colours at Tanur. In January 1740 they attempted
to settle at Chetwai, but the Zamorin would not consent, and the Dutch also
marched down on them and forced them to leave. Then on 6th March 1740 and
again in the end of the year came news from Europe of a probable impending war
between England and Spain assisted by France.
In April the French, who were blockading the Kadattunad country, seized
an English boat, but released it. In June the English factors obtained information
that the French had designs on Andolla Mala, an outlying bit of territory attached to
Tellicherry. The English factors were on the alert and hoisted their colours on the
hill, sending at the same time a party of military to protect them. The French began
making entrenchments under the English guns on the hill, whereupon they were
promptly attacked on 17th June 1740 by Ensign Bilderbeck and turned out of the
place.
The English loss was one man mortally, and another slightly, wounded. The
usual protest followed, the French sending a sergeant and drummer to notify the
same. And the English factors in their diary of 23rd July 1740 recorded that the
English Company had a grant from the Kolattiri, empowering them to hoist their
colours at any time and anywhere in the kingdom consisting of seven provinces, viz
:—
"1. Pallartuta Naddu. 2. Choulsaroum.
3. Neliotusaroum. 4. Alerta Naddu.
5. Edevadu Naddu. 6. Cartua Naddu.
7. Porovenaddu.”
And they observed that the Canarese had conquered Aleta Naddu, and that
“long since one of his (Kolattiri) ancestors being embarrassed in war, granted to one
who was of the race of kings (which is a particular caste) the province of
Porovenaddu (now called Cotiote), which he was to govern according to the dictates
of an idol of a pagoda who is called Peremal a Podee.”
And they continued : The kings heretofore appointed a governor in Cartua
Naddu, but some few years before the French settled at Mihie the Governor (called
Boyanore) paid little regard to the present king, who was then also embarrassed with
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war. Upon the French settling, they countenanced him, and since the governor’s
death his sister who presides pays no allegiance at all.”
It also appears that the French had lately set up “one of the caste of kings”
in opposition to the Regent (Boyanore’s sister), but this proceeding of theirs had not
been approved by their superiors.
On 5th September 1740 the French were repulsed in attacking a hill in
Kadattunad on the road to Peringatur, where they had an outpost. On the 18th they
suffered another disaster at the same place. They had taken forty men out of one of
their Europe ships to assist, them, and in the attack which followed, thirty of these
were killed besides twenty others of the garrison, making in all fifty killed. Besides
those, twenty men were wounded, exclusive of Nayars and sepoys. Of course the
French protested against the English factors, and in proof sent the latter an English
cannon ball which had been fired into their fort. The following day a reply was sent
from Tellicherry to say that English cannon balls could be found in every country
where the English had settled, and they recommended the French factors to return
it “whence it came.”
This war continued in a desultory manner till the beginning of May 1741,
when, both parties agreed to a cessation of arms for a time.
The diary of 13th November 1741 contains the following: — Arrived M. de
Labourdonnais with two large ships at Mihie.” And on the 15th the factors received
notice of his intention of making war on the Kadattunad Raja, and of overhauling
boats and vessels approaching that part of the coast.
The tone of the letter was somewhat overbearing, as if written with the full
knowledge that if his requests were not acceded to, he had ample force at his back
to compel compliance. And so it turned out, for next day news came that three
other French ships of Labourdonnais’ squadron had reached Mahe, and another had
arrived at Calicut.
Thus reinforced the French speedily took the field, and on the 22nd their
forces captured the Kadattunad entrenchments after a warm fight in which many
were killed on both sides. Labourdonnais had despatched one of his ships to Goa
for provisions, etc., and on 10th December news arrived that the Mahratta pirate,
Angria of Gheria, with seven grabs and thirteen gallivats, had surrounded and after a
long day’s fighting, from 7 a.m. till 6 p.m., had taken her, although she had 200
European soldiers and mariners on board. She was deeply laden with rice, wheat
flour, and arrack, and she had besides between 300 and 400 slaves on board
intended for the French Islands.
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History
Having defeated Kadattunad, Labourdonnais next turned his attention

towards bringing about a more satisfactory state of the relations between the French
and English factories. The agreement1 of 17th - 28th April 1728 had adjusted the
differences between the factories in regard to the Kurangoth Nayar’s domains. Both
factories had since then, and particularly just before Labourdonnais’ arrival, been
competing for the command of the Iruvalinad Nambiars’ domains which adjoined
those of Kurangoth inland.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., i. XVII. END OF NOTEs
Each had seized and fortified several places in that part of the country. At
Labourdonnais’ suggestion they now wisely decided to relinquish those advanced
posts, which only served “to bring an expense on both, give disgust to the
Malabars, and afford them an occasion of sowing divisions between the settlements
of Tellicherry and Mahe.”
It was accordingly agreed2 to raze the following posts and to withdraw from
them the guns and garrisons :
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., i. CVII. This agreement and that which follows it (CVIII) were
signed by M. de Labourdonnais as Mahe de La B. The French settlement is usually alluded to in the
diary as “Mihie," which represents pretty accurately the native spelling "Mayyali”. END OF NOTEs
By the French. By the English.

1 Peringatur. 1 Andolla Malla.
2 Cannamalla. 2 Putinha.
3 Chimbora. 3 Tere Malla.
4 Poitera. 4 Ponella Malla.
5 Bilay. 5 Muicarra Cunnu.
6 Maylat. 6 Muicarra Cundy.
Neither factory was in future to erect warehouses or forts in Iruvalinad, but

only to hold such places as might be within gunshot of the respective settlements.
Commissaries were to supervise the carrying out of the above ; and the produce of
the Nad was to be bought only at the respective factories.
On Christmas day 1741 the above articles were supplemented by others.3
Joint action by both factories was to be taken against the Nambiars of Iruvalinad
and against the Kottayam Raja if they attempted to disturb peace.
NOTEs: 3. Treaties, etc., i. CVIII. END OF NOTEs
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If attempts were made to sow dissensions by showing forged letters, etc. (as
had already happened), inter-communication between the factories was to be free in
order to get rid of the distrust thereby caused. The Nayars1 in the pay of the
respective companies were to be kept quiet, and the factories were to take joint
action in case of dissensions among them and also in protecting them against other
people.
NOTEs: English.—(l) Naranport Nayar, (2) Muicara Cunoti Nayar, (3) Muicara Candil
Nayar.
French. - (1) Kurangoth Nayar, (2) Unichatoo Nayar. END OF NOTEs
To keep down the price of pepper “which rises daily” the merchants of the
respective factories were not to be permitted to monopolise the product and the
factors were to consult how to keep it down. In January and February consultations
and assemblies of the respective merchants, with a view to fixing fair rates for
pepper, were to be held. If after a rate was fixed the price should rise, the factors
were to consult before making any advance on the rate already fixed. And if the
merchants raised the price inland suitable remedies were to be applied.
Further it was provisionally2 agreed that in disputes arising between the
French and the Kadattunad Raja the English factors were to arbitrate, and the
French factors were to act similarly in disputes between the English and the Prince
Regent of Kolattiri, and as regards disputes with other Malabar powers the factors
were to afford mutual succour to each other by arbitration, if asked, and failing that
by arms if necessary. If arbitration were not asked, then the respective factories were
to remain neuter and under no pretext whatever was succour to be given to the
native powers.
NOTEs: 2. It does not appear that what follows was ratified by the President and Council at
Bombay. END OF NOTEs
The succour to be respectively given was to consist of ammunition and

provisions, and to evince the friendly understanding between the factories, soldiers
and officers were likewise to be lent. Finally the agreements3 of 1728 and 1736 were
to remain in full force.
NOTEs: Treaties, etc., i. XVII—XXXII. END OF NOTEs
On the following day, 26th December 1741, orders were given for
withdrawing the guns and garrisons. On the 11th January following peace was
declared between the French and Kadattunad. The latter gave up the two hills about
which they had been fighting, besides some adjoining land from the river to the sea.
The hill recently stormed and taken by the French, called Porto Peak, was not to be
occupied by either party. The French paid Kadattunad 2,000 pagodas presumably
for the land taken by them.
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History
The French also concluded peace with the Nambiars of Iruvalinad who
relinquished 14 coconut gardens to the French and received back their bonds4 for
1,80,000 fanams for war expanses, but the bonds were to revive if they misbehaved
themselves.
NOTEs: 4. Conf. Treaties , etc., i, XLI. END OF NOTEs
Having thus, in a very short time and in a very satisfactory manner, adjusted
the affairs of the Mahe factory with its neighbours, M. deLabourdonnais sailed on
13th January 1742 for the Island of Mauritius with one ship only.
It will be necessary now to revert to the 29th December 1740, on which day
the Achanmar (fathers, chieftains) of a district, called Randattara, repaired to the
Tellicherry fort, bringing with them fanams 1,029 in part-payment of the Prince
Regent’s debt to the Company and proposing to the factors to hand over the
revenues of that district “for the remaining part of their proportion of said debt, and
such a further sum as will make the whole 60,000 fanams which they will repay at
the end of five years, and pay the interest thereon annually at the rate of 10 per
cent.”
The factors’ resolution thereupon was that "this being a matter that requires
some time to enquire into, we defer giving them an answer for some few days.”
On the 3rd January 1741, the matter was fully explained. The Prince Regent
had assessed the district of Randattara with 1,00,000 fanams as its share of the
Canarese war expenses in 1737. Of that sum, 70,130 fanams 4 vis had been paid,
and there remained a balance of 29,869 fanams 12 vis of the principal and 11,388
fanams 9 vis as interest, making in all 41,258 fanams 5 vis.
‘‘They now request that we lend them 18,741 fanams 11 vis, which will
make their balance to be 60,000 fanams, for payment of which in five years and
interest arising thereon they propose to make over the rents and revenues of their
country to the Honourable Company, which now by moderate computation do not
amount to less than 2,20,000 fanams per annum. Out of which they constantly
maintain about 1,000 Nayars, which with other officers and servants, amounts to
upwards of 1,80,000 fanams, and pay annually towards defraying Government
charges in time of peace about 8,000 fanams and more in war or on emergent
occasions. The above-mentioned 1,00,000 fanams was their proportion of expense
incurred by Government in the late wars with the Canarese. Whence there will
remain in time of peace about 30,000 fanams and is what their families—in number
now 13—subsist upon.
“Their occasion for about 20,000 fanams is for repairing a place of
worship, which sum the country people cannot now pay without overburthening
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them at a time when the country requires cultivating to restore it to its former
productive state destroyed by the Canarese war, and which occasioned Chattoo
Chitty to be in arrears with the Company, the country at present not producing half
the quantity of pepper. We could formerly depend on it for a yield of 800 to 1,000
candies annually.
“It is observed that they will not go for a loan to shreffs and merchants
who cannot protect them ; but if we do not comply they will have to mortgage their
country to the prince, who probably could not supply them, and if he could it would
subject them to him more than is consistent with their privileges. The only other
people they can apply to are the Honourable Company or the French, or the
Cotiote. It would damage the Company’s interest if the French or Cotiote were to
supply them, as the pepper would be lost.
“The security offered is undeniable, and if the President and Council should
disapprove, then the money could be raised from others at Tellicherry living under
the Company’s protection.
“Resolved, therefore, to accept their proposals by lending fanams 60,000
(inclusive of 41,258 fanams 5 vis now due by them) for five years, and to obtain
their mortgages1 ola making over to the Honourable Company the routs and
revenues of their country.”
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., i. XLIV. END OF NOTEs
This entry in the diary throws a good deal of light on the former relations
between the ruling chiefs and the petty chieftains, who, under them, directly
governed the country. The petty chieftains had to defray out of the pattam (or
authority’s share of the produce) the charges connected with maintaining the body
of militia of the district. The pattam, was still in fact the public land revenue of the
country, and was not rent as understood in Europe. This coincides with the views
on the subject adopted in Chapter IV.
The relations between the Honourable Company and the Randattara
Achanmar thus inaugurated were afterwards more closely cemented, and the bonds
of union were of so much advantage to the respective parties that no serious
attempt seems ever to have been made by the Achanmar to pay off the debt and to
recover their former independence.
On 12th June 1741, in consequence of a son of the Achanmar having sided
with some members of Ockoo’s gang of rebels, the necessity of having more control
over them was felt, and the Achanmar agreed2 to keep all intruders out of their
district who were inimical to the Prince Regent or to the Honourable Company and
to chastise any of their own number who might molest the prince or Company.
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History
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., i. XLV.—The house of the rebellious youth was pulled down by
an elephant in the presence of one of the Kolattiri princes “as the utmost mark of disgrace to his
family.” END OF NOTEs
The factors recorded in regard to this deed :—“The intent of the above ola
is to give the Honourable Company authority over the Achanmars as also, to
interpose with the prince if he should oppress them by extravagant taxes which has
heretofore happened.”
But the temples had not been taken into account in the bond, and it became
necessary to include them formally.3 This did not, however, work well, and the
Brahmans appear to have been jealous of English interference in their affairs. The
principal of the bond was accordingly in 1749 reduced by 15,000 fanams by
enfranchising4 for payments to that amount, the lands in Randattava held by the
temples.
NOTEs: 3. Treaties, etc., i. CIX.
4. Treaties, etc,, i. LVII, LVIII, LIX, LX, LXI, mid foot-note to LXI. END OF NOTEs
The Achanmar at the same time (7th September 1749) renewed5 their bond
and gave additional security. On 16th October the principal of the debt had
increased6 to 60,000 fanams. On March 23rd, 1765, after a period of disturbance
during which the management of the district was conducted by the Kolattiri, the
Prince Regent finally ceded7 the protection of Randattara to the Honourable
Company, and from that year the Honourable Company became the virtual1
sovereigns of that district and began to levy a regular land revenue from it.
NOTEs: 5. Treaties, etc., i. LXII.
6. Treaties, etc., i. LXIV.
7. Treaties, etc., i. LXXXI, LXXXII.
1. Treaties, etc., i. LXXXIII, LXXXIV. END OF NOTEs
Hyder’s impending invasion of Malabar at this latter time also weighed with
the factors in accepting this charge. Hyder at first respected the Honourable
Company’s rights in the district. It has already been stated that a large French ship
belonging to Labourdonnais’ squadron was captured in December 1741 by a fleet of
country vessels belonging to the pirate chief Angria of Gheria. This important
capture seems to have inflamed the imaginations of the coast pirates generally and
to have incited them to renewed activity, for the records during the next two years
are full of notices of them and of their exploits.
On 30th January 1742, the gallivats of a Mahratta pirate known as
“Kempsant” made a descent during the night on the coast near Cannanore and
looted and burnt some houses. On 15th March, one Kunhi Ahamad, a nephew of
the pirate chief of Kottakal, who was generally known as “Cota2 Marcar,” was
captured with a boat’s crew of his men by the English boats employed in stopping
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the exportation of pepper from Cannanore to Calicut. It did not appear that he was
piratically engaged at the time, so he resented the treatment and taking opium, ran
amuck. He killed a sergeant with a knife and was then shot by the guard. Of his
companions several escaped, of whom two were retaken, one of them being killed.
The general opinion was that the pirates had been badly treated, and this treatment
seems to have led to an outburst of fanaticism both at Tellicherry and Calicut, in
which several lives, including that of a Portuguese Padre, were lost and other
persons were wounded. Great honours were, it seems paid to the tomb of Kunhi
Ahamad, and to that of the man who killed the Padre at Calicut.
NOTEs: 2. Cota Marcar = Kotta (fort and name of river) and Marggakkaran (lit. doer of the
law or rule, i.e., convert from Hinduism to some foreign religion, in this case Muhammadan), Conf.
foot-note p. 330. END OF NOTEs
After the monsoon of 1742 the pirates were again busy. Coompta was
looted by Kempsant. In January 1743 Angria with 7 grabs and 11 gallivats appeared at
Calicut and fired about 100 rounds at the shipping, driving some of them ashore.
On the 13th this piratical fleet was off Mahe. In February the Company’s armed
gallivat “Tiger” under Richard Richards, succeeded in capturing one of Kempsant’s
gallivats and three small vessels.
Angria’s fleet was meanwhile lying off Mount Deli, and Kempsant’s off
Mangalore, intercepting the rice vessels. In March the latter took a French ship,
which was however again taken from them by a Portuguese fleet off Mangalore.
Angria also took another French ship, and appeared off Calicut in March, causing a
great panic there and causing people to desert the place with their families and
valuables.
In April several encounters occurred between the pirates and various
English ships and the “Tiger” gallivat on the voyage between Bombay and
Tellicherry. The “Tiger” was kept busy in looking after the Kottakal pirates to the
south likewise. After the monsoon of 1743 Angria again put to sea and came south
to Calicut and Tellicherry.
The “Montagut" and "Warwick” coming down the coast, were engaged from
8 p.m. till 4 a.m. during one night and from 6 a.m. till noon next day with a fleet of
Angria’s, consisting of 7 grabs and 8 gallivats, but 4 of the small vessels under their
convoy were taken. In January 1744 a Portuguese frigate was engaged for two days
and two nights off “Pigeon Island” with 7 of Angria’s grabs and 17 gallivats. She
would likely have fallen a prize, for all her masts had been shot away, had not the
Company’s vessels above named, under Commodore Freeman, come to her rescue ;
two of the piratical grabs were hauled off from this encounter in a sinking state.
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In July the Kadattunad Raja (the King of the pirates) asserted his right to
the wreck of a French brigantine, which went ashore to the south of Mahe.
In 1744 war broke out in Europe between England and France.
Unfortunately the records are incomplete at this time (August 1744 - 31st July 1745).
But the war had little effect at first on the Company’s settlements owing to the great
losses at sea sustained by the French. In March 1746 the factors found there were
“no buyers of pepper now but us,” and taking advantage of that fact they promptly
proceeded to lower the price of the article. The following month they recorded that
the French commerce was now carried in Dutch ships.
It looked for a time as if the anticipations of the Bombay President and
Council that the French would not be troublesome would be fulfilled. But on 17th
July 1746 two ships came into Mahe roadstead, a French brigantine and an English
prize (a country ship from Bengal) captured off Mozambique. On the 20th the
factors heard with dismay of the activity of their quondam friend Labourdonnais on
the Coromandel Coast. On the 24th the French at Mahe began to make warlike
preparations, giving out they would soon be saying mass in Tellicherry as their fleet
was expected in October.
Matters thus suddenly began to look alarming, and it was well that the
factors had just before this news reached them been successful in getting one of the
Kolattiri princes, favourable to their interests, installed in Kolattanad. They had in
August 1745 been obliged to recognise another of the Kolattiri princes and assist
him with gunpowder and lead in order to cheek the Prince Regent “his arbitrary
proceedings.”
The weakness of that prince was avarice, and Ali Raja of Cannanore, helped
by the French, had been “spiriting up” the Prince Regent with money and creating
dissensions between him and the English factory. A desultory war ensued between
Ali Raja and the English about the mouth of the Valarpattanam river and the
English fort at Madakkara, but Captain Faudell with 300 men on 22nd October 1745
dislodged the enemy from their entrenchments with the loss of 1 soldier killed and 5
wounded. As a protection on the landward side, the factors enlisted1 in their interest
the Raja of Kottayam as it seemed not unlikely the Prince Regent himself would
take the field against them.
NOTEs: Treaties, etc., i, CX. END OF NOTEs
They next asked the Dutch for permission to attack Cannanore directly, but
this was refused. In April 1746 there was a revolution in Kolattunad, and a prince
favourable to the Company's interests obtained the reins of power after getting rid
of an obnoxious minister, named Unni Chandu Kurup. Almost simultaneously there
was a riot in Cannanore and two of Ali Raja’s ministers were slain by the populace.
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In June the ex-Prince Regent died, so that in July, when the above ominous news
came from the Coromandel Coast, the factors were in a position to raise all the
important country powers (except Ali Raja) in their favour if there should arise a
necessity for it.
Nor was the foresight thus displayed long in being justified, for,
notwithstanding the indecisive naval action off Point Calimere, in which
Labourdonnais was wounded, that indefatigable officer with his customary
promptitude and decision brought matters speedily to a crisis by capturing Port St.
George at Madras. The first news that arrived was that it had fallen on the 8th
September 1746, but Mr. Hinde at Fort St. David shortly afterwards corrected this
date to the 10th and at the same time
sent the factors the reassuring message
that he had just completed a bomb-
proof building, as the French used
bombs, that the factors should follow
his example, and that he had no doubt
he could hold out in Fort St. David for
twelve months against all the force the
French could bring against him.
The French at Mahe marked
the receipt of the news of the capture
of Madras with every demonstration
of joy and with much expenditure of
gunpowder from all their forts. The
English factors at once set to work to
prepare for a siege by the French fleet.
Provisions and liquors were laid in,
men were enlisted, the garrison was
concentrated as much as possible, the
Native Chiefs, the Prince Regent, the Bednur Raja, the Nileswaram Raja, the
Achanmar of Randattara, etc., came forward with offers of assistance of men, some
of whom were accepted.
The French at Mahe enlisted 1,500 Mappillas, and the Mudaliyar (chief
man) of the Valarpattanam Mappillas joined the English. The English garrison was
camped out between Tellicherry and Mailan forts to be ready at a moment’s notice.
But their services were not required, for Fort St. David not only stoutly held out,
but even repulsed the enemy. And shortly afterwards the French fleet was reported
as having passed Anjengo and Tanur on its way north to Mahe. It arrived in two
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History
detachments on 27th February and 1st March 1747, and consisted of the Centaur,
Mars, Brilliant, St. Lewis, Princess Mary and one other.
Ali Raja repaired at once to Mahe with 500 men. But his reception seems to
have cooled his ardour for the French alliance, and after this powerful French fleet
had sailed away without even attacking Tellicherry, he soon sued the English factors
for peace and stated his hearty repentance. The factors promptly tendered to him a
bill for 3,10,556 fans., 12 tar. He offered to pay Rs. 15,000, which was declined at
first, but after a day or two’s delay accepted.
The French fleet had gone ; the factors knew not whither. They heard it
was at Goa and awaiting Labourdonnais’ return from the islands with another
squadron. They were still in daily dread of being besieged. It was with no little
satisfaction therefore that, about July 1747, they received the welcome news that the
dreaded Labourdonnais had been sent an unhappy prisoner to France. The
departure of the French fleet enabled the English factors to reduce their military
establishment, and to succour Fort St. David with 250 sepoys in June 1747 and with
1301 more on the 19th August.
NOTEs: 1 Orme states this reinforcement at 400 men, but it seems that only 380 men were
sent. END OF NOTEs
These men afterwards proved unfaithful to their salt. Their commander, “a

Moor” (? Mappilla) was tampered with by an ex-interpreter of the Governor of
Madras, who was in secret communication with Madame Dupleix, the wife of the
French Governor of Pondicherry. The commander’s design to desert to the French
in the first engagement that should happen was discovered, and he and ten of his
officers were banished to St. Helena, where several of them helped each other to
end their lives rather than remain as prisoners in such a hopelessly remote island.
The naval warfare between the English and French still went on, and after
the monsoon of 1747, the English fleet appears to have kept to the Coromandel
Coast and the French to the West coast, and there was constant anxiety for the
safety of the Company’s ships. On 14th and 26th September, four French ships
arrived at Mahe, one of them bringing in two prizes, one English and one Dutch,
taken off Bombay. As they came into the roads they were flying English colours
“with the union downwards.” But after the receipt on 8th February 1748 of the news
of Anson’s victory off Finisterre, events took a different turn, and on March 29th,
H.M.’s ships Exeter (Commodore Panlet) and Winchester (Lord Thos. Bertie) came
into the Tellicherry roads, and took on board a party of men, with a design to
destroy the St. Lewis, which was lying in the Mahe roads at the time.
Accordingly, on March 30th, H.M.’s ships ran into Mahe roads under
Portuguese colours, which they hauled down about noon and the English ensign
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was hoisted in their place. The French were taken by surprise ; the St. Lewis fired
signal guns and boats pushed off from Mahe to her assistance. They did not all
arrive in time, however, and the action, which lasted only about an hour, resulted in
the St. Lewis cutting her cables and getting under the protection of the Mahe forts
with the aid of her jib or jib staysail, the rest of her rigging having been torn from
her yards, and her three top-gallant masts having been shattered ; she continued,
however, to defend herself, and the engagement ceased at sunset.
Next day the French unloaded their ship and hauled her in so close under
the forts that it was thought she was aground. She lost 50 men in the action,
including her captain, while the English loss was only 2 men.
Meanwhile, the tables had been successfully turned on the French on the
Coromandel Coast also, and the French at Mahe were obliged to despatch men to
help to defend Pondicherry, besieged by Admiral Boscawen. On 24th October 1748
the news of the preliminaries having been settled of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle
arrived, and orders came at the same time for a cessation of hostilities after 19th
October. The French at Mahe were immediately apprised of the fact. It was not
however, until 24th September 1749 that H.M.’s proclamation of peace arrived. This
proclamation was read to the military and artillery train drawn up outside the
Tellicherry gates.
The Chief (Mr. Thomas Byfeld) proceeded thither in state, accompanied by
two of the gentlemen from the Mahe factory, with whom cordial relations had again
been established. Twenty-one guns were fired from the fort, and the day was “spent
in other demonstrations of joy.” The French and English factors had meanwhile
likewise combined and had succeeded in reducing the price of pepper to Rs. 50 per
candy, the lowest price it had ever fetched.
The Prince Regent of Kolattunad during the time of the French war (1744-
49), byname Kunhi Raman, appears to have been jealous of the Company’s
interference in the affairs of Randattara, and to have impeded the Company’s
officers in collecting the revenues of that district. In 1747 he claimed the property of
a Nambidi, who died without heirs, and interfered in two desams, “laying
impediments on the ground,” besides which, it was brought to the factors’ notice,
he had “tyed four or five elephants in Randattara and ordered the olaes and fruit to
be gathered from trees belonging to themselves (the Achanmar) and others which
used not to be done formerly.”
His alliance was of too much importance to the factors at this time for
them to attempt to break with him, and as the Achanmars’ troubles continued, and
the Prince Regent encroached more and more on their privileges. In August and
September 1748 matters came to a crisis by the Prince Regent “laying an
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impediment” on one of the Company’s merchants, on mulcting him heavily. On

being remonstrated with for this and other similar behaviour, he strenuously
asserted his right to take the half of every man’s property, and the whole of it if he
committed a fault.
In November 1748 he had, it seems, portioned out his country to certain
headmen in order that they might plunder his subjects, and the Commandant at
Madakkara reported that soon the country would be ruined. Meanwhile, the
cessation of hostilities with France had strengthened the factors’ position, and they
were able to deal with him with more firmness in regard to Randattara and other
matters. The result was duly recorded in an agreement,1 dated 10th January 1749, by
which he agreed to turn a number of people out of his dominions, to dismiss his
customs master, and not to interfere except as agreed in Randattara affairs.
NOTEs: Treaties, etc., i. XLVI. END OF NOTEs
But there were other matters remaining to be settled, particularly in regard

to the island of Madakkara, and the Chief Mr. Byfeld, took an early opportunity of
visiting Madakkara fort and of personally conferring with the Prince Regent and
others regarding them. He was present at an affecting interview with a very old and
bed-ridden lady, described as the prince’s mother ; she expressed her satisfaction on
being informed that everything had been amicably accommodated,1 and enjoined
her son as her last parental counsel and advice never to give umbrage to the Chiefs
of Tellicherry, who had protected the Palli branch of their family in its utmost
distress.
NOTEs: Treaties, etc., i. XLVIII. END OF NOTEs
Mr. Byfeld also seized the opportunity to obtain from the prince, who held
the rank of Vadakkalankur (Northern Regent) at the time, and who belonged to the
Udayamangalam branch, a deed,2 dated 9th May 1749, transferring absolutely to the
Prince Regent of the Palli branch all the property of his family lying to the south of
a line drawn from the river Quilavelly to Urbelli.” This line appears to have
coincided pretty closely with that of the Taliparamba river, and probably cut off the
isthmus running south to Madakkara fort and lying between the river and the sea,
the portion, in short, of North Malabar which was at this time tributary to the king
of Bednur.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., i. XLIX ; Conf. i. XXXVIII oncl ii. CCX. It was probably under
this deed that the Palli branch of the family virtually superseded the other (Udayamangalam) branch,
which arrangement still continues in force. The nominal Kolattiri is still the eldest male of both
branches, but the de facto head of the family is the oldest male of the Palli branch, who is usually
styled the Chirakkal Raja. The matter has been more than once before the British Courts.—Mr.
Rickards’ decree of 6th August 1803 and Sadr Adalat Special Appeal No. 9 of 1821. END OF NOTEs
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This deed was cancelled and another3 signed two days later (11th May 1749),
in which the southern limit of the Udayamangalam branch territory was fixed at
“Cheria Kunnu” which appears to correspond with the amsam of Cherukunnu, about
a mile to the south of the Taliparamba river opposite Madayi. The Vadakkalankur,
who signed these deeds, was at the time a prisoner in the Valarpattanam fort
belonging to the Palli branch of the family. On signing the latter deed, which put the
Prince Regent in a better position to pay off his debts to the Company, the
Vadakkalankur was released from confinement at Mr. Byfeld’s request. But the
younger princes of the Udayamangalam branch naturally objected to being thus
compelled to part with their birth-right, and as the Chief was unable to bring them
to terms in any other way, he resolved to assist the Prince Regent vigorously with
men and ammunition.
NOTEs: 3. Treaties, etc., i. L. END OF NOTEs
The result was that their stronghold at Puttur was captured in June 1749,
and they themselves were driven into the jungles and their followers dispersed.
Having thus for the time being enabled the Prince Regent to quell the
dissensions in his own family, Mr. Byfeld next turned his attention to strengthening
the position of the Company in the Kadattunad territory, while maintaining therein,
as far as a treaty could do it,4 the authority of the Prince Regent of Kolattunad. And
that having been satisfactorily accomplished, a general settling up5 of accounts took
place in September 1749.
NOTEs: 4. Treaties, etc., i. LIII,
5. Treaties, etc,, i. LIV to LXII. END OF NOTEs
The trade of the Company likewise received attention. The method adopted
for getting the pepper at a low figure was as follows:
A monopoly of the trade in the country having been secured from the
various chiefs by treaty, the exporting of the article without permission was
prohibited both by sea and land. This prevented, to a certain extent, sales being
made to outsiders, but whenever the price of the article in a free market, as at
Calicut, rose high, the merchants were tempted to run the risk of exporting for the
sake of the extra prices obtainable. The Company, however, had much control over
its merchants, for the latter obtained no protection anywhere outside the limits of
the Tellicherry factory, and when the Chief found that they were exporting the
pepper to a free market, and that they were consequently unable to fulfil their
contracts, he took summary means to bring them to reason by incarcerating them.
The same influences which had so weakened and distracted the Kolaltiri
family in the past were still at work. The Prince Regent had married the Kadattunad
Raja’s sister, and had built a house for her in Iruvalinad, the country of the
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Nambiars. His object was to establish his son therein as ruler (Valunnavur, the title
held by the Kadattunad Raja). But to do this, it was necessary that the semi-
independent Nambiars should either submit willingly or be compelled to it.
The Chief seeing in this a means of counteracting French influences in that
district, assented to the proposal, which also, of course, had the support of the
Kadattunad Raja, whose nephew and heir this youth was. The Company were not,
however, to take an active part in the operations : indeed on the contrary, they just
then took the opportunity of reducing their military to a peace1 footing. The design
of the prince was not, however, carried through, but in March 1750 the Kadattunad
ruler formally assumed the title of Raja, the Prince Regent being privy to it.
NOTEs: 1. The establishment consisted of 400 military under a “Captain,” who received 10
shillings sterling per day ; 70 gunners under a “Lieutenant Fireworker,” who received £75 per annum,
and 365 “milita,” consisting of sepoys, Mappillas and Nayars under various headmen. END OF
NOTEs
On 17th January 1750 Mr. Byfled handed over charge of the Tellicherry
factory to Mr. Thomas Dorril, as Chief, and immediately a change for the worse
came over its management. Mr. Dorril appears to have been rash as well as narrow-
minded and weak. He was easily misled, and being weak, he mistook obstinacy for
firmness. The Prince Regent’s bad advisers, banished in Mr. Byfeld’s time, returned
and signalled their return by an outrage on a private servant of one of the English
officers at Madakkara fort. The new Chief, nettled perhaps at this event, set his face
against the designs of the Prince2 Regent, who had married Kadattunad’s sister ; and
this estrangement speedily led to divers troubles, for, although the Chief and factors
acknowledged an elder prince, who, by virtue of his age, ought to have been the
ruling prince, the latter was powerless, and very probably at heart unwilling to help
them.
NOTEs: 2. There were two princes regnant at this time, and although the younger is styled
the junior prince in the Diary, he was de facto ruler. END OF NOTES
Of the Iruvalinad Nambiars, some adopted one side and some another. The
Chief was warned from the Presidency not to allow the Company to be dragged in
as principals in any of the country quarrels, but he blindly took the steps best
calculated to bring this about. The de facto Prince Regent finding himself thrown
over by Mr. Dorril, naturally turned to the French alliance.
Mr. Dorril in April 1751 proceeded to the Madakkara fort, and thence to
Valarpattanam fort, and placed himself in communication with the nominal head of
the house, the Kolattiri Raja himself, a frail old man, who had no power in the
country. He assented, at Mr. Dorril’s suggestion, to the appointment of a junior
prince, without any power in the country, by name Ambu Tamban, to be Prince
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Regent in supersession of the de facto ruler, and this arrangement was duly embodied
in three deeds,1 dated the 21st April 1751.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., i. LXV, LXVI and CXIII. END OF NOTEs
The Chief’s eyes ought to have been opened to the fatal step he was taking,
when, on proceeding strongly guarded to Cotcunna (Kottakkunnu) to interview the
elder Prince regnant, the latter, on learning his mission, abruptly withdrew inside his
fort and prepared to fire at the Chief’s party. The Chief’s guard were ill advised
enough to open fire at this threat. It was returned from the fort, and the Chief
withdrew to Valarpattanam, where he received the news that the de facto Prince
Regent, then in the south, was advancing with 1,500 Kottayam and Kadattunad men
to attack Tellicherry.
Next day (22nd April), as the Chief and party withdrew from Valarpattanam
to Madakkara, they were again fired at. And to complete the list of his errors, Mr.
Dorril made prisoner of the aged Kolattiri and of the young Ambu Tamban, and
took them off with him to Tellicherry, presumably as hostages for the good conduct
of the rest of the family.
It is difficult to understand what could possibly have been Mr. Dorril’s
object in acting thus, for it soon became evident that he had roused the country, and
had no friend left among the chieftains, except Ali Raja of Cannanore, who only
promised to remain neuter. Lest the Achamnar of Randattara should give him aid,
the de facto Prince Regent threw 2,000 men into that district to overawe it and
demanded 1,00,000 fanams from the Achamnar. Finding no friend near home, Mr.
Dorril had perforce to seek them abroad, and on 7th July he advised the Bednur
Governor of Mangalore that now was his opportunity to seize Nilesvaram fort. His
real object in tendering this advice was to prevent its falling into the hands of the
French, for it was only too obvious by this time that the French were stirring with a
view to benefit themselves in the impending struggle, and the Nilesvaram country
yielded sandalwood and cardamoms, which would be lost to the English if the
French settled there.
The French were not slow to make use of the opportunity offered, and by
the 17th July, they had hoisted their flag at Nilesvaram and the mouth of Kavvayi
river (Ayconna—Alikkunnu) and were busy fortifying both places. They had also
thrown men into Valarpattanam fort.
The Canarese under a Brahman who is described as an “inactive man,"
moved towards Nelesvaram in August, but created very little diversion on that side.
The Achanmar of Randattara came to Tellicherry to seek protection, and receiving
aid in military and militia, attempted to return to their district via Agarr ; after some
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smart skirmishes, the military had to return on finding themselves confronted by

5,000 of the Prince Regent’s Nayars. Their loss was 2 killed and 9 wounded.
The Prince Regent on 25th September openly visited Mahe and was received
with a salute. And this was followed by fresh concessions to the French ; Ramdilly
fort and the Ettikulam fort on the point of Mount Deli were placed in their hands.
Moreover, by this time, the Prince Regent was able to assume the aggressive. On 9th
September he had attacked and been repulsed from the Company’s post of Edakad.
On 18th October he attacked Ponolla Malla on the outskirts of Tellicherry with 4,000
men. Being repulsed he set to work with French and to erect a battery on a hill
called Chimbra which commanded Ponolla Malla.
On 21st October Tirimalla, another outpost on the Tellicherry limits was
taken by surprise, and (it was alleged) treachery. The garrison resisted, bravely
headed by their corporal, but being taken unawares, they had not time to fix their
bayonets and were all slain and their bodies placed on the chevaux de frise. Ponolla
Malla was also hotly attacked. A panic ensued among the inhabitants, who all
flocked into the limits commanded by the Tellicherry fort.
Then a crisis occurred. The Nayars and Tiyars at Ponolla Malta deserted,
and the sepoys refused to sacrifice themselves. Orders were sent to retreat from
Ponolla Malla after spiking the guns and destroying the ammunition and stores and
this was done. The English loss in this day’s engagement was about 100 killed, and
20 wounded were brought to hospital. How many more were not brought in does
not appear.
The panic among the inhabitants continued ; families were sent away and
the merchants deserted. The Prince Regent busied himself on the 23rd, burning the
houses of the inhabitants within the Tellicherry limits, and threatening Morakkunnu,
which was immediately reinforced. On the 24th the Tiruvengad pagoda, another
outpost, was in his hands and Melur aud Kodolli were threatened.
On the 27th a French ship of considerable force came in sight, and the most
gloomy anticipations were indulged in by the beleaguered factors.
In the straits to which he had so easily brought the settlement, Mr. Dorril
turned, as already said, to the Raja of Bednur for help, and to this end he despatched
the Company’s Canarese linguist, as he was called, by name Antonio Pircs, to
Mangalore to seek assistance. The linguist arranged two treaties,1 dated respectively
25th and 30th October 1751, but these were of little advantage beyond preventing the
French from concluding terms with Bednur.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., i. LXVII and CLXVIII. END OF NOTEs
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On 29th October a welcome supply of rice from Mangalore arrived just in

time to save the garrison from starvation. And the Chief was on 2nd November at
last successful in creating a split in the enemy’s camp. From the position of the
Kottayam Raja’s territories abutting on the Tellicherry limits inland and extending
thence into the Ghats and Wynad, the Raja and the Company combined could
prevent the passage of troops and inter-communication between the Kolattiri's and
Kadattunad’s dominions. And any enemy attacking Tellicherry from the landward
side was liable to have his rear attacked unless he had laid his accounts to have
Kottayam as a friend.
Kottayam ratified the proposals2 on 12th November, and bargained for Rs.
40 per diem as his own allowance, payable fortnightly “so long as he acted as a
faithful ally to the Honourable Company”. He also agreed to lend the Company, on
payment, 1,000 men with arms and to stop the communication between the
Kolattiri and Kadattunad dominions as soon as the Prince Regent had gone north
into Kolattunad and his wife (Kadattunad’s sister) had gone south into her brother’s
territory.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., i. CXIV. END OF NOTEs
It was well for the Tellicherry factory that this treaty was concluded, for the
Company was beleaguered on all hands—Madakkara fort was also besieged. On 4th
November the Morakkunnu redoubt within the Tellicherry limits was attacked, and
the enemy came up to the very gates of the Tellicherry fort itself. The cavalier
bastion in the south-east corner of the latter was of great service on this occasion.
On the 13th the communications with Mailan fort guarding the southern limits were
intercepted, and a second unsuccessful attack was made; on Morakkunnu redoubt.
On the 16th the siege was pressed with great vigour and the batteries kept
up an incessant fire with shot, and shell on the besiegers. On the 22nd the factors
resolved that if any advantage was gained against Mailan fort they would withdraw
their forces from all the outposts. Next day came the crisis, and it fortunately took a
favourable turn, for Captain Cameron, in command at Mailan fort, succeeded in
destroying the opposing battery on Putinha hill, and greatly alarmed the French by
sending a few shells into Ponolla Malla battery, where their gunpowder was
unprotected.
Kottayam, who had probably been waiting the turn of events, now came
forward, and on the 25th November he managed that the Prince Regent should
withdraw his forces from Narangapuram and Putinha and so free the Tellicherry
limits.
The Bombay President and Council had had troubles of their own on hand
just then and had been unable to send the successor urgently demanded for
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Tellicherry. On 14th December they at last managed to send ships to the assistance
of Tellicherry, and with it came a letter expressing their utmost surprise at the turn
affairs had so unexpectedly taken, and attributing it all to Mr. Dorril s great want of
judgment for reasons already set forth above.
Meanwhile the mediation carried on by Kottayam went on slowly. He was
in no hurry to arrange terms while being paid a personal allowance of Rs. 40 per day
as may be imagined, and he appears not to have scrupled at declaring openly that he
meant to make the most he could for himself of the troubles in the country. So the
war went on. In December the Canarese met with a severe reverse when attempting
to cross the Nilesvaram river.
In January 1752, when terms of peace had been almost arranged, the Prince
Regent “flew off” on hearing of another success in the north. On 19th March the
French attacked Madakkara fort with big guns from a new battery, alleging they had
acquired land there. On 22nd March the enemy returned to Putinha and began
erecting a battery there. Captain Mostyn offered to take it, and he appears to have
succeeded. But a panic ensued consequent on Ensign Target’s being shot through
the head going up to the captured redoubt, and a hasty retreat was made by the
common soldiers, of whom it is recorded “ happy was he who could run fastest.”
On the 1st of April an attack was made on Madakkara, but the enemy were
driven back with 100 to 150 killed and wounded. On 12th April the batteries on
Putinha were enlarged, but on the 17th the fire from Malian fort silenced them for a
time. Up to 13th May the duel between these two places continued.
A week later on (or 22nd May 1752) an armistice was concluded, and on the
following day the terms1 of peace were ratified by the Prince Regent. These were for
the most part very general. The Honourable Company and the Kolattiri princes
were not to meddle in each other’s affairs, the grants to the Company being
confirmed. They were to give each other mutual assistance if attacked. And finally
the Tellicherry linguist (Pedro Rodrigues) and his family were not to be employed in
any transactions between the parties.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., i. LXIX. END OF NOTEs
But besides these terms there were others which did not appear : Rs. 50,000
was paid to the Prince Regent as compensation, and Rs. 10,000 to Kottayam as
mediator. Madakkara fort was given back, and the prince was to destroy his
redoubts on the outskirts of Tellicherry on the hills of Andolla, Ponolla and
Putinha.
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Mr. Dorril objected to the insertion of these terms in the treaty because
they were disadvantageous to the Honourable Company and because he did not
wish to have the facts entered on the “Prince, his records.”
The records for some time after this are full of the charges brought against,
the Company’s linguist, Pedro Rodrigues. Mr. Dorril and the factors endeavoured to
make a scapegoat of him, but although he fled to Mahe and the factors gave out
that, his property was going to be seized, no serious steps were really taken against
him, and on 16th September 1752 the Bombay President and Council sent orders
forbidding the seizure of his effects, “this family having been so remarkably
distinguished by the Honourable Company.” And the despatch continued : “We
peremptorily order you not to do it.”
The French continued at war with Bednur in aid of the Prince Regent of
Kolattiri during 1753, and meanwhile afresh combination of the country powers was
brought about. The Zamorin was in April 1753 induced to visit the Tellicherry
factory, and on his return journey he was escorted with great military pomp by sea
as far as Quilandy. An alliance was formed between the Zamorin, Kottayam, and the
Iruvalinad Nambiars, backed of course by the Honourable Company, and their
object was “to ward against the growing power of the Prince Regent (Kolattiri) and
Kadattunad backed by the French.”
This combination made the Prince Regent of Kolattunad exceedingly
uneasy, and in June he wished to visit the factory. But on desiring the Chief to come
out to meet him, Mr. Dorril declined and the prince then went to Mahe, where he
was received with open arms by the French Chief. The war, however, had told on
the French resources, and they began to be in straits for money, their new forts in
the north costing them as much as Rs, 15,000 per mensem. Moreover, just about
this time the Canarese gained an important success over the French allies, the details
of which were carefully kept secret.
In October 1753 the Kadattunad commenced hostilities in Iruvalinad
against the Nambiars and Kottayam, who were backed of course by the Tellicherry
factors. The Prince Regent would fain have come to his brother-in-law’s help, but
the factors and Kottayam together effectually blocked his way in the manner already
described. The effect of this was that the Prince Regent, for the first time since Mr.
Dorril commenced hostilities against him, came to the factory on the 17th
November 1753.
Little time however remained for effecting a complete reconciliation
between them, for on 3rd January 1754 there arrived from Bombay two gentlemen
(John Sewell and Thomas Hodges), commissioned as “Supravizors,” to enquire into
Mr.Dorril’s administration of the factory affairs, and after completing the enquiry
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one of them (Thomas Hodges) was commissioned to remain on as Chief of the

settlement. The “supravizors” completed their enquiry by the 15th March, on which
date Mr. Hodges assumed the office of Chief.
The enquiry resolved itself into a battle between Mr. Dorril and the linguist
Pedro Rodrigues. The supravizors naturally held Mr. Dorril solely responsible for
the misfortunes which had befallen the factory and Pedro Rodrigues was acquitted,
and on 12th May 1754 restored to office as linguist.
In July the French Chief (M. Louet) managed to arrange a peace between
Kadattunad and the Iruvalinad Nambiars and Kottayam. Kadattunad accepted M.
Louet’s intervention, but was disgusted at the French having secretly assisted the
Nambiars.
Mr. Hodges’ management of affairs was much more prudent than Mr.
Dorrill’s and the factors began slowly to regain the ground they had lost in the
latter’s time. He avoided war ; but steadfastly set his face to turn the French out of
Nilesvaram. To this end he succoured the third Prince of the Nilesvaram family in
opposition to the first Prince, who was in alliance with the French, and a desultory
war begun in August 1755 kept the French employed in that quarter till after the
news had arrived (28th May 1756) that France was again at open war with England.
Meanwhile it will be necessary to revert to Dutch affairs. The important
resolution taken by the Supreme Council in Batavia in 1721 not to succour their
native allies, which has already been alluded to, began shortly afterwards to bear its
natural fruit. In October 1733 Calli-Qulion was threatened by the energetic
Marthanda Varma of Travancore ; the Dutch Governor, A. Mateu, was applied to
for aid, and the result was a refusal to grant it, coupled at the same time with advice
to join another chief who had refused passage to the Travancoreans and to drive
back the invaders.
In 1734 the territories of this latter chief and another were annexed by
Travancore. In 1739 Mr. Van Imhoff became Governor. He was a most intolerant
man, and directly he arrived he saw the necessity of curbing the rising power of
Travancore if the Dutch were to retain their hold of the trade of the country and
not allow it to pass into the hands of the English, who were backing up the
Travancore Raja. Van Imhoff, it is said, carried to the Travancore Raja his own
protest against the Raja's occupation of the territory acquired in 1734. His protest
failed, and Van Imhoff nettled at this result spoke of invading Travancore.
“The Raja replied1 that doubtless he might do so, but there were forests
into which he could retire in safety.”
NOTEs: 1. Day's Land of the Permauls, p. 131. END OF NOTEs
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Imhoff retorted that “where Travancoreans could go, Dutch could follow.”
The Raja then broke up the conference by sneeringly observing, he had
“been thinking some day of invading Europe !”
Unfortunately for Van Imhoff he had no sufficient force at hand to
command respect and obedience to his wishes. War ensued, but it was not
conducted with energy and vigour, and the successes obtained by the Dutch at
starting were not maintained. They waited for orders from Batavia, and maintained a
desultory war meanwhile. On October 18th, 1748, the Batavian Council at last
approved of the terms finally accepted by Travancore, but it was not till nearly five
years later that peace was finally established on August 15th, 1753.
The Dutch were mean enough to stipulate on this latter date that they
"shall2recede from all engagements, which they may have entered into with the
other Malabar princes, whom the King of Travancore might choose to attack, and
on no account interfere in their disputes, afford them assistance or shelter, or in any
respect raise any opposition to the enterprises of the king.”
NOTEs: 2. Day’s Land of the Permauls, p. 133. END OF NOTEs
And what were they to get in exchange for such a pledge ? Just 4 annas on
every 25 lb. of pepper to be supplied to them from Travancore and from the
territories to be conquered by that State ! !
Such sordid meanness defeated its own end of course, and shortly after the
treaty was signed, and after the Travancore frontiers had advanced as far as Cochin,
the Travancore Raja of course turned on them and repudiated his obligations, telling
the Dutch, factors at Cochin they were no longer a sovereign power, but merely a
number of petty merchants, and if they required spices they should go to the bazaars
and purchase them at the market rates. They had eventually to pay market prices for
the pepper they wanted.
This treaty gave the coup de grace to Dutch influence in Malabar.
The pirates too had meanwhile begun to give trouble once more. In 1753-
54 the Tellicherry factors were kept in constant anxiety on account of the
Honourable Company’s shipping, and the Mahratta Angria’s fleet was much feared.
In September 1755, Ali Raja of Cannanore organised a big buccaneering expedition
in close alliance with Angria. He sent 3,000 men with guns in 70 native small craft
(manchuas) and large boats to ravage the Canarese country. This expedition attacked
Manjeshwar and obtained there a booty of 4,000 pagodas, besides 100,000 more
from a private merchant. They also landed people to the north of Mangalore,
marched 18 leagues inland to a very rich pagoda called “Collure” and carried off
booty to the extent, it was reported, of no less than 4,000,000 pagodas.
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In this expedition the Mappillas killed some Brahmans who were greatly
mourned at the Bednur court. And of course Bednur adopted the readiest means at
his command for bringing everybody to their senses ; he stopped the export of rice
from Mangalore, and thus put everybody, English, French, Dutch, Nayars, and
Mappillas, all in a serious predicament. The Bombay President and Council, on 7th
November 1755, sent Ali Raja a sharp letter of remonstrance on his conduct. He
had not attacked the Company’s shipping, else he would have been as summarily
dealt with as his ally, Angria, shortly afterwards (January and February 1756) was at
Gheriah by a squadron of H.M.’s and of the Honourable Company’s ships under
Admiral Watson and Colonel Clive.
The Tellicherry factors were jubilant on this occasion ; the news of the
capture of Gheriah on the 13th February reached Tellicherry on the 23rd and a royal
salute was fired at once.
It had come shortly after this to the knowledge of the factors that affairs
were again in a critical state in Europe between England and France, so like wise
men they set all their energies to work to lay in a suitable stock of grain in
anticipation of hostilities, and in this Mr. Hodges was successful in the early part of
1756.
On the 28th May of that year authentic news arrived via Madras of the
renewal of hostilities in America, but war had not been declared. All doubt,
however, on this latter point was set at rest on 17th October 1756 on receipt of
H.M.’s declaration of war against France. The news came via Bussorah and Bombay.
The factors had not, when they got the news, completed their collection of stores,
so they waited a day or two before publishing it till all their rice and store boats had
come in.
On 26th October a store of 12,000 bales of rice was on hand and the factors
felt themselves to be relieved of anxiety on that score.
It has been said that the first news of the critical state of politics in Europe
reached the factors on the 28th May 1756. Mr. Hodges had prior to this event been
vigorously sending aid to his ally the third Prince of Nilesvaram in pursuance of his
policy of driving the French out of that country and securing its cardamoms and
sandalwood for the Honourable Company. The results of Mr. Hodges’ action were
soon apparent, for on 5th April news had come that the third Prince had defeated
the French in two hand-to-hand engagements.
On the 1st of May news of another victory came to hand : the French had
again been defeated with the loss of 2 officers and 20 sepoys and others killed and
70 more wounded. Then on 23rd June came the still more important news that the
French fort at Mattalye had been surprised by the third Prince of Nilesvaram. This
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fort maintained the French communications between their fort of Ramdilly

(Alikkunnu) and their furthest post at Nilesvaram, so that its capture imperilled their
line of communications. The garrison, consisting of 1 officer and 20 soldiers, was
put to the sword ; all but the gunner, who was spared on the condition that he
would point their guns for the captors.
The fort mounted 20 guns, chiefly 18-pounders, and 1 mortar, and there
were also 200 muskets with suitable ammunition. On the 4th July the third Prince
was further aided by Mr. Hodges, both with money and stores, as news had come
that the Prince Regent himself meant to take the field with 1,000 men in aid of the
French. The French were very uneasy, as may be imagined, at the loss of the fort
and the danger to their line of communications with Nilesvaram, and were ready to
agree to any terms to have it restored.
The Prince Regent intervened in their favour, and arranged that if Mattalye
fort were restored to them they would evacuate Nilesvaram and some other small
places, and the Prince Regent in return for his services was to have his bond for Rs.
60,000, advanced to him in the war with the Tellicherry factors, returned to him and
cancelled. Moreover the Prince Regent guaranteed on oath that the French would
perform their part of the contract and surrender Nilesvaram and the other places.
The French fired a salute of 15 guns at Mahe on being repossessed, on 22nd
July 1756, of Mattalye ; but they deliberately broke their promises of evacuating Nilesvaram
and other places and of returning the Prince Regent's bond to him.
This was not unnaturally the turning point in the Prince Regent’s friendship
with the French.
When the declaration of war arrived therefore on the 17th October
following, the English factory affairs under Mr.
Hodges’ able guidance were in a prosperous
condition, while the French at Mahe were
exhausted with the protracted warfare in the
north and with the heavy monthly expenses of
their garrisons in those regions.
The Chief next directed his energies
towards extending and consolidating good
relations with the various country powers.
Kottayam and Ali Raja appeared inclined to join
the Honourable Company against the Prince
Regent and the French. And it was hoped that
Kadattunad and the Iruvalinad Nambiars too
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would join. There remained the Prince Regent to be brought to terms, and matters
were already arranging themselves in the desired direction because of his disgust at
the broken promises of the French. On 2nd November he came to the factory and
gave vent to his anger at Mr. Dorril having been let off so easily ; he had been
dismissed the service : but that was punishment insufficient he thought for what he
had done : he called him a ‘cullan’1 (which in Mallabars signifies infamous man, or
more literally interpreted, robber).”
NOTEs: 1. Kallan. END OF NOTEs
At this interview it is noted that Messrs. Johnson and Taylor, from the
progress they had made in “Mallabars,” were able to understand the Prince without
the aid of an interpreter, so that the linguist, Pedro Rodrigues, had not to be called
in. A very important2 step had consequently been taken towards freeing the Chief
from underhand intrigues of the linguist.
NOTEs: 2. This was followed up on 8th February 1758 by a formal examination, the first of
its kind no doubt ever held in Malabar, conducted by the Chief in person, in which Messrs. Johnson,
Taylor, and Samuel Crocs were tested as to their proficiency “in Mallabars." END OF NOTEs
This interview was followed by a secret one on the following day, at which
the Prince Regent promised to assist the factors against the French and to oblige
Kadattunad to do the same. He would not, however, though pressed, give this in
writing. He evidently wished to give the French a last chance of fulfilling their
promises, and, accordingly, on 11th November, on his way to the south with his wife
and family, he had a very private interview with the French Chief of Mahe.
The French too were on the alert, and on the very day after the Prince had
thus gone to the south, the Honourable Company’s fort of Meylure on
Darmapattanam Island was attacked by three Mappillas, who killed two people and
dangerously wounded the corporal in charge. They were however themselves slain,
and Mr. Hodges, on informing the Prince Regent of the affair, learnt that, in the
Prince’s opinion it was an act of his enemies to embroil him with the Company.
On hearing from him to this effect he was asked to send some of his people
to be present to “assist ours in spitting them as they are not worthy of burial.” This
was accordingly carried out, and on the 25th November the bodies, after being
“spitted” a sufficient time, were thrown into the sea to prevent others from erecting
monuments and canonising them for having slain others of a different religion. The
factors, though in some doubt on the point, concluded that this attack was an
artifice on the part of "Candotty Pacquey", the Mahe merchant, to embroil the English
factors with the Prince Regent.
It will be recollected that, at the beginning of Mr. Dorril’s term of office, a
somewhat similar event at Madakkara had led him into hostilities with the Prince.
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On the 15th December 1756 the negotiations with Kottayam for a defensive alliance
had progressed so far that, a treaty1 was arranged on a basis favourable to both
parties. He promised to let the factors have the services of as many as 6,000 Nayars,
and he himself was to receive a douceur of Rs. 2,000 whenever war broke out and
the French assumed the offensive; but if the Company were going against the
French he agreed not to assist the latter, but he would not act against them.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties etc., i. CXXI. END OF NOTEs
Meanwhile hostilities had commenced in November by the Honourable

Company’s Commoodre capturing between Tellicherry and Calicut a French vessel,
the “Indian” of 700 tons and 24 guns with 400 men, coming from Pondicherry and
laden with military stores for Mahe. No details of the fight are given, but the
Commodore’s loss was not great.
This capture must have crippled still more the French resources.
Mr. Hodges was still busy extending good relations with the country
powers, and even the Kurangoth Nayar appears to have at this time been on good
terms with the factory. The Prince Regent had fallen sick, and when he had
recovered sufficiently, Mr. Hodges on 19th April 1757 set out for Chirakkal to pay
him a visit. He was very handsomely received and the Prince sent his own chaise for
him, and in it Mr. Hodges travelled as far as the road would permit.
The result, of this interview was embodied in an agreement,2 dated the 21st
April 1757, though the terms had been arranged in the previous November. The
Prince agreed to assist the Honourable Company against the French or any other
nation who might attack them, and to use his influence in the same direction with
the other country powers. If a French fleet arrived, 1,500 musketeers and other
armed men were at once to be sent to Tellicherry, and if the English were to go
against the French, the Prince was to assist after settling what gain he was to get. He
was in turn to be assisted by the Honourable Company if he required it, and his
people, if killed or wounded, were to be treated like those of the Company.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties etc. i. LXX. END OF NOTEs
Finally the Company’s trade was to remain on the same footing as formerly,
and to be enlarged, if possible, and the Prince was to be assisted on his part as
formerly.
This treaty, brought about in great measure by the broken promises of the
French, restored English prestige in Kolattunad to its old footing and completed
Mr. Hodges’ masterly preparations for the coming conflict.
But just as the factors—their preparations being completed — were settling
quietly down to await the anticipated conflict, an event happened which upset, for a
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History
time, their calculations of preparedness. For on 19th August 1757 the diary records
that “Cotiote (Kottayam) demised of a bile in his arm” and of course the agreement with
him became mere waste paper unless ratified by his successor. Who that successor
was to be was fiercely contested, for the Prince Regent of Kolattunad intervened in
the dispute, and so did the French. It was not till the 28th June 1759 that the Vice
Regent of Kottayam was able to report that he had been crowned at “Vaenalt”
(Wynad), and on 23rd August following the Chief obtained from him a ratification1
of the former treaty in an amplified form.
NOTEs: 1. 1. Treaties etc,, i. LXXIII. END OF NOTEs
Meanwhile, another similar event had happened, and in the diary of 9th May
1759 it is recorded that the Prince Regent too had “demised.” The Chief had much
difficulty in securing a suitable successor, but he decided at last to exercise all his
great influence in favour of a prince who had already succeeded to the title of
Vadakkanlankur or Northern Regent of the Kolattunad, and who was senior in age
to the late prince, and to oppose the claims of a junior prince, Unaman, who had
married the late Prince Regent’s daughter, and who was therefore likely to fall under
the influence of the French exerted through his wife’s uncle the Kadattunad Raja.
The preliminaries took months to arrange, but at last, on 5th September
1760, everything was ready and a combination of the Kolaltiri Northern Regent, of
Kottayam, and of Ali Raja of Cannanore was formed. On 6th September the
Northern Regent executed two agreements2 ratifying the Company’s privileges and
extending them. On the 23rd hostilities commenced and were rapidly and
successfully carried through, place after place being taken from Prince Unaman by
the allied forces, while the Kadattunad Raja’s forces were kept from passing to the
north to assist his beleaguered nephew-in-law by the cordon drawn across the
country from the sea shore at Tellicherry to the limits of Wynad by the combined
forces of the Honourable Company and of Kottayam.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties etc., i. LXXIV and LXXV. END OF NOTEs
On the 8th October Prince Unaman sued for peace, but the terms he
obtained were so little to his liking that he determined to go to the south, taking his
wife, Kadattunad’s niece, along with him. He was allowed to pass through the
cordon on 16th October, and on the 17th the Northern Regent was in full possession
of the country and the Honourable Company’s forces were recalled. Pursuant to his
engagement in the previous treaty, the Northern Regent then transferred3 “for ever”
to the Honourable Company the “whole right of collecting the customs in all places in our
dominions” for the sum of 21,000 silver fanams to be paid annually. The formal deed
evidencing this transaction, though dated 21st November 1760, was not signed till
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11th March 1761, the Northern Regent having in the meanwhile on various pretexts
put off signing it.
NOTEs: Treaties etc, i. LXXVI. END OF NOTEs
So far the Tellicherry factory had not been disturbed by the French. On 4th
July 1758 the factors heard with alarm the news of the fall of Fort St. David in the
previous month. The Prince Regent shortly after this, actuated by the French, put
on foot negotiations for a strict neutrality between the settlements, but after what
had passed this had no chance of being listened to. On 11th March 1759 the factors
were jubilant with 21 guns over the news of the siege of Madras having been raised,
and on the 20th of the same month they fired 21 guns on receiving intelligence of
the taking of Surat castle and of Admiral Boseawen’s successful expedition against
Louisbourg.
On the 24th they flouted the Dutch by stopping one of their ships from
exporting pepper from Vadakkara. And things altogether seemed to wax
prosperously with them : each of the ships despatched at this time to Canton with
pepper and sandalwood was freighted by them up to £40,000 sterling. The Chief
even found time to devote to such petty matters as the “cloathing of our irregulars.”
The sepoys had “scarlet coats faced with green perpets” and a belt “covered
with green perpets.” The Calli-Quiloners (Mappillas) had “blue coats faced with
green perpets ” and thin bolts like those of the sepoys. The artillery lascars had blue
coats faced and bound with red, and no belts. The coats were made to reach just
below the knees.
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History
The English fleet had come up the coast in the end of 1759, and the Chief
had thought of going against Mahe but desisted for want of an Engineer officer to
make the approaches.
In January 1760 the French again brought forward proposals for a strict
neutrality between the settlements, which were of course rejected on the obvious
ground that all the advantages of such an arrangement under the existing
circumstances would be with the French. The French at Mahe were in fact in a bad
way. On 13th April 1760 the factors wrote to Bombay that “Mahe had long been in a
deplorable condition and was then without appearance of relief.”
On the 11th September 1760 the first ostensibly aggressive act of the factors
against the French, was an unsuccessful attempt to cut out a French “Snow” from
under the guns of Mount Deli fort.
The English on the East Coast were still
engaged with the siege of Pondicherry, when on
27th December 1760 there occurs the following
entry in the Tellicherry factory diary :—
“Imported the Honourable Company’s ships
Neptune, York and Earl Temple from England and
Triton from Bengal—and came ashore Major
Hector Munro, Commander of H.M.’s troops
on board.”
The troops belonged to Colonels
Parslow’s and Moriss’ regiments, the former
under Major Piers, and the latter under Major
Hector Munro the senior officer. There "were
six hundred and thirty-five rank and file, besides
officers, and one hundred and three of them were down with scurvy.
On the following day (28th) the troops were landed and put under tents to
await an opportunity of sending them to Fort St. George, and at a consultation with
the factors Major Hector Munro expressed an opinion that Mahe could be reduced
since the French there were now in great straits and had even been selling their
good arms to procure means of subsistence, and their European soldiers were kept
on constant duty to prevent their deserting for want of pay. On the 29th more
troops arrived in the Honourable Company’s ship London, and on the 30th there
came H.M.’s ships Elizabeth, Baleine and South Sea Castle with a tender and a French
prize, the Hermione—all from Trincomallee.
On the 31st the fleet sailed for Bombay, all but the Triton. On the 3rd
January 1701 the Company’s ship Egmont arrived from England with the rest of the
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troops. The factors now found themselves sufficiently strong to attack Mahe and so
prevent the French from exporting pepper, as they had been doing in Portuguese
bottoms, but orders came from Bombay disapproving of this, as the place must fall
on Pondicherry being taken.
And Pondicherry, it was well known, had for some time been in an almost
hopeless plight and provisions were so scarce in that beleaguered city that the
poorer inhabitants had been reduced for some time back to the eating “of camels,
elephants, dogs and cats.” The Bombay authorities, therefore, directed that if the news
of Pondicherry having been taken reached the factors before they had forwarded the
troops to Madras, they were to employ them against Mahe.
These orders arrived on 19th January, and simultaneously came the
melancholy news from Colonel Coote of a dreadful storm having occurred on 2nd
idem at Pondicherry, which had driven ashore several of Admiral Steven’s squadron,
had dispersed the rest, and had blown down, with many casualties among the native
troops, the greater part of his encampment, and damaged most of his gunpowder.
He sent an urgent requisition for stores and gunpowder, and the factors at once
began their preparations to aid him. By the 31st their preparations were almost
complete and everything was ready to start, when there arrived "the glorious news”
of the surrender of Pondicherry on the 16th idem.
Messages were at once sent flying about the country informing the various
chiefs of what had happened, amidst thundering salutes from the batteries and ships
and a feu de joic by the king’s troops. On February 1st the factors accordingly set to
work in earnest for the conquest of Mahe. They prevented both by sea, and by land
with Kottayam’s help, the French from calling in their garrisons in the north ; whilst
they themselves withdrew as many as possible of their outpost troops in order to
combine with H.M.’s troops under Major Hector Munro for the reduction of Mahe.
On the 3rd M. Louet was called on to surrender Mahe and its dependencies,
to which he replied on the 16th that be the respective forces what they might, he
could not “but defend and support H.M.’s colours.” The factors’ reply to this was the
seizure of Chambra hill, from which to attack Fort St. George at Mahe, and on the
7th orders were sent to Major Hector Munro to march, every thing being ready.
On the 8th accordingly the battalion of Colonel Parslow's regiment marched
with the Company’s irregular forces, all under Major Piers, to the south end of
Ponolla Mala to take the defences in flank, but there was to be no fighting, for, on
that same day a party of deserters came in bringing the news that the Mahe Council
had decided to capitulate. Notwithstanding this, however, preparations continued
and Colonel Moriss’ battalion of Highlanders with the Company’s regulars were
ordered to join the other troops next morning.
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History
And this movement was carried out although between 1 and 2AM on the 9th,
letters were received from M. Louet and his council proposing terms of capitulation.
On 9th February 1791 the French delivered over all their forts in the north, except
Mount Deli and Ramdilly (Alikkunnu), to Prince Cape Tamban of the Kolattiri
family.
On the 10th two topsail vessels came in sight flying Danish colours, but
evidently intent on reaching Mahe. The blockading squadron however cleared them
away. And a manchua, a schooner and a sloop mounting six swivel guns were driven
on shore, one sergeant being killed and six others wounded in the latter operation,
which was successfully carried out by Captain James Lindsay in the Success ketch.
On the 11th Ali Raja of Cannanore, without giving any notice to the factors
of his intention, surprised the French fort1 on Ettikulam Point at Mount Deli and
most barbarously massacred the garrison of 20 men. The interval between the 9th
and 12th had been taken up in discussing the terms of capitulation, and on the latter
date the articles2 were received back duly signed by the French Chief M. Louet and
his military officers. The terms were briefly as follows :—
NOTEs: 1. Conf. Treaties, etc., i. CV as to the terms on which the French had in Mr.
Dorril’s time obtained this and the Alikkunnu fort from the Kolattiri.
2. Treaties, etc,, i. LXXVII. END OF NOTEs
The Roman Catholic religion was not to be disturbed. “The garrison to

march out with honours of war, drums beating, colours flying, each man with, a ball
in his mouth, four field-pieces with one mortar and twelve rounds to march to
Tellicherry, etc.” the arms, etc., being delivered up at Tellicherry. The garrison was
to be sent to the Island of Bourbon or to Europe. All deserters, except one, named
Thomas Palmer of Colonel Parslow’s regiment, were to be pardoned. Private
property of various descriptions was not to be confiscated, along with that
belonging to the French Company. All forts to the northward were to be
surrendered on the same conditions. The French factory at Calicut was to be treated
as neutral. Assistance was to be rendered to the garrison for transporting their
effects and for treating the sick and infirm.
On the 13th, in pursuance of the above-articles, Major Piers with about five
hundred men went to take possession of Mahe, and about noon the British flag was
run up under a salute from the ships and forts. At 2 P.M. the French troops arrived at
Tellicherry with drums beating, colours flying, etc., and grounded their arms at the
southern limit gate. M. Louet and the officers were received by the Chief Mr.
Hodges, who returned them their swords, and M. Louet was saluted with fifteen
guns as he entered the fort.
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M. Louet publicly declared that if the country powers had not been drawn
off from the French alliance, Mahe would have made a better stand, which was a
well-deserved tribute to the superior diplomatic powers of Mr. Hedges.
On the 16th of February Major Hector Munro proceeded to the north to
recover the French forts in Prince Capu Tamban’s hands. He had some difficulty in
effecting this service, and some experience, which has already1 been quoted, of the
Nayar modes of fighting. By the 19th of March he had accomplished the task and
proceeded to demolish the forts, of which Mattalye was reported to be of great
natural strength. Their retention would have been of no use for the Company’s
trade in those parts. When, therefore, the fleet came round from Pondicherry in
March, bringing with it the 70th Regiment of Highlanders and artillery to assist in the
capture of Mahe, there was nothing for them to do and they were considerably
disappointed.
NOTEs: Page138. END OF NOTEs
On the 1st May 1701 M. Louet with his family and the other French
prisoners were embarked for Europe on board the Lord Mansfield under a salute of
fifteen guns. And nothing else of importance, except an unseemly quarrel between
the factors and Major Hector Munro in regard to the ownership of the French
stores found in the Mahe forts, occurred, until on 20th April 1763 H.M.’s
proclamation of a cessation of arms was received and published.
In consequence of the destruction of the French influence and competition
in trade the factors were enabled to withdraw a number of outposts and to
concentrate their establishments with economy. In this way the Madakkara fort was
blown up, and the island was restored to the King Regent on 28th August 1762, and
other smaller posts were similarly relinquished, until on 1st August 1764 the only
outposts kept up consisted of Darmapattanam Island and Mould Deli.
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History
Section (F). THE MYSOREAN CONQUEST. A.D. 1766-1792.

Meanwhile, however, fresh and most serious trouble was brewing in a
totally unexpected quarter. On the 11th March 1761 the Kolattiri Regent wrote to
the Chief to say that Ali Raja of Cannanore had given the greatest affront possible
to the Hindu religion by putting a golden spire on the top of one of his mosques, it
being contrary to their established rules to have a spire of gold on any edifice
throughout the coast except on the principal pagodas ; and only those of
Taliparamba, "Turukacoonotu" in Kottayam, and "Urupyachy Cauvil" at Agarr were
entitled to the distinction. War ensued: the Court of Directors’ orders were
peremptory and forbade the factors from interfering, except as mediators, in the
disputes among the country powers.
At last on 28th August 1762 a hollow peace was patched up between the
Kolattiri Regent and the Cannanore Mappillas.
Only a few months later, Mr. Stracey, the Honourable Company’s Resident,
at Honore, sent an urgent message, which arrived on January 9th, 1768, to say that a
large Mogul (sic) army was threatening Bednur, and that he urgently wanted a ship
to be sent to remove the Honourable Company’s property from Honore. And on
the same day the linguist, at Mangalore wrote to the same effect, but informed the
factors that the army belonged to "Hedder Naique" and not to the Mogul.
The factors were not kept long in suspense, for, on the 24th of the same
month, the news of the taking of Bednur by "Hedder Naique" on the 16th arrived,
and on the 28th this was followed up by an account of "Nabob Hyder Ally Cawn's"
arrival at Mangalore on the 27th.
In the success of a Muhammadan like Hyder Ali, the Ali Raja of Cannanore
saw hopes of future aggrandisement and of settling the long score he had to repay
the Kolattiris. The factors received intelligence that, even so early as January 1763 he
was endeavouring to persuade Hyder Ali to the conquest of Malabar, but for a time
it did not suit that potentate's schemes to comply with the request.
Before proceeding to relate the story of Hyder Ali’s conquest of the
province, it will be well to take note briefly of the changes brought about in the
south in the last few years.
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When in 1753 the Dutch basely threw

over their native allies and, more particularly, the
Raja of Cochin in the manner already described,
two important, aggressive forces were let loose
on the hapless Raja of Cochin and his allies and
vassals. The Zamorin coming along the coast
line from the north in 1755-56 attacked Chetwai,
drove in the Dutch outposts, and rapidly
possessed himself of Cranganore, Paroor and
Verapoly. And the Travancore Raja advancing in
like manner from the south, rapidly overran
Tekkankur, Vadakkankur, Purakkat and other
places—allies or vassals of Cochin—whom their
suzerain attempted but in vain to assist. The
allied forces were completely routed by the
Travancoreans at Purakkat.
The Dutch managed to recover their
fort at Chetwai, and by a disadvantageous peace
with the Zamorin in 1758 they obtained three
islands lying off Palliport, but otherwise these
encroachments from the north and south were
unchecked.
In his extremity the Cochin Raja turned
for assistance to Travancore instead of to his
hereditary foe the Zamorin, and on the 22nd and
23rd December 1761 articles1 of alliance passed
between the two Rajas, providing for the expulsion of the Zamorin and for the
cession of further territory to Travancore. The Travancore troops were admitted to
the Cochin territory for its defence, and the first act of the Travancoreans was to set
about the construction of the famous Travancore lines stretching in an almost
straight line from the shore of the backwater opposite the ancient town of
Cranganore to the foot of the ghats. The lines consisted of an imposing earthen
rampart, but of no great height, fronted on the north by a ditch formed by
excavation of earth required for the rampart. At intervals were placed flanking
towers and at the western extremity a fort of considerable strength.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., i. CXXIV and CXXV. END OF NOTEs
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History
Its weakness lay in the fact that so few of the points were closed on the rear
or south side, and that if one such point were taken the whole line of defence,
extending to nearly thirty miles, necessarily collapsed.
But however imperfect the Travancorean engineering was, the importance
of such a line of works was not perceived by the troops of the Zamorin. The
meaning of the trouble taken by the Travancoreans in constructing such a work was
not seen until, with their right flank thoroughly protected by this work, the
Travancoreans in 1762 launched themselves under their General Eustachius
Benedictus de Lannoy2 in three divisions on the Zamorin’s garrisons, extending in a
long weak line into Cochin territory at Cranganore, Paroor and Verapoly. The defeat
of the Zamorin was rapidly achieved and his troops were completely and finally
driven from Cochin territory. This left the Travancoreans masters of the whole
country from Cranganore to Cape Comorin, a small isolated portion of territory
lying round the Cochin Raja’s palace at Tirupunattara on the east, of the backwater,
and another portion to the north and south of Cochin on the west of it, being all
that was left to the Cochin Raja of his dominions to the south of the Travancore
lines.
NOTEs: 2. De Lannoy lies buried in the ruined chapel of the Udayagiri fort in South
Travancore. His tombstone contains the following inscription :—“Hic jucet Eustathius Benedictus de
Lannoy qui tanquom dux generalis militiæ Travancotidis præfuit, ac per annos XXXVII formo summa
felicitate regi insorbiit, cui omnia regna ex Caiamcolum usque ad Cochin vi armorum ac terrore
subjecit. Vixit annos LXII menses V et mortuus est die I Junu MDCCLXXII. Requieseat in pace."
END OF NOTEs
But it was not alone in Cochin territory that the Zamorin was actively
aggressive about this time. Some time previously, but in what particular year it is
impossible to say, he had driven a wedge through the territories of his other
hereditary foe, the Walluvanad Raja, and had cut the dominions of the latter in two
by annexing a broad band3 of territory extending from his own country of Ernad in
the north to the previously conquered Walluvanad territory of Nedunganad in the
south.
NOTEs: See the map at paragraph 11, Section (B), Chapter IV. END OF NOTEs
And by adopting similar tactics with the dominions of the Palghat Raja, his
neighbour on the east, the Zamorin had about 1756-57 driven a similar wedge, to
which he gave the name of the Naduvattam,1 through the Palghat territory and cut it
in two with a view no doubt to eventual absorption of the whole.
NOTEs: See the map at paragraph 11, Section (B), Chapter IV. END OF NOTEs
The Palghat Raja turned in this emergency to his neighbour on the east, and
despatched in 1757 a deputation to Hyder Ali, then Foujdar of Dindigul under the
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nominal sovereignty of the puppet Chick Kishen Raja of Mysore desiring his
assistance against the Zamorin.
Hyder Ali sent his brother-in-law2 Mukhdum Sahib with 2,000 horse, 5,000
infantry, and guns to assist him : and this force aided by the Palghat Nayars carried
their arms as far as the sea coast. The Zamorin’s force retreated and the Zamorin
bought off his opponents by agreeing to restore his Palghat conquests and by
promising to pay in instalments a war indemnity of Rs. 12,00,000. Not relishing the
presence of Muhammadan troops, while waiting for payment of the subsidy, the
Zamorin opened negotiations with Deo Raju one of the puppet Mysore Raja’s
ministers.
NOTEs: This was the first occasion on which a Muhammadan force ever entered Malabar.
END OF NOTEs
This afforded Deo Raj an opportunity he desired of settling some other

matters in dispute between himself and Hyder Ali, and the latter relinquished his
claim to the Rs. 12,00,000 in favour of Deo Raj, who thereupon sent the Rajput
corps of Herri Sing, the most zealous of his supporters, to collect it. Herri Sing
failed to recover any portion of the money, and returned, on hearing of Deo Raj’s
death, which took place at Seringapatam on 19th June 1758, to Avanasi in
Coimbatore. Here he was treacherously surprised and murdered at night by a force
sent by Hyder Ali under Mukhdum Sahib for this special purpose, though the force
was ostensibly detailed for service at Dindigul. The claim to this war subsidy was
never relinquished, and to recover it was one of Hyder Ali’s avowed objects in
invading Malabar.
Shortly after these events, in June 1759 Hyder All successfully intrigued to
remove Nunjeraj, the remaining minister of the puppet Mysore Raja. He was
supplanted by Kunde Row, a creature of Hyder Ali’s and the latter became virtually
the ruler of Mysore. Two years later, in the beginning of June 1761, Hyder Ali finally
overthrew Kunde Row and usurped the Government, still, however, nominally
recognizing the Raja as such.
To resume the narrative of events. On the 7th May 1763 the Tellicherry
factors heard that hostilities had been commenced on the Canara frontier by the
king of Nilesvaram. Hyder Ali threatened to come down to take the forts lately
vacated by the French, and the Honourable Company’s Agents considered it high
time to come to some understanding with him. A treaty, dated 27th May 1763, was
accordingly arranged at Bednur in the shape of a "Phurmaund"3 from the “Nabob
Hyder Ali Khan Bahadur,” permitting the Honourable Company to export rice
from Mangalore for Tellicherry, and binding both parties not to assist each other’s
enemies.
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NOTEs: For the two articles of it relating to the Tellicherry factory, see Treaties, etc., i.
LXXIX. END OF NOTEs
Hyder Ali’s plans were not yet ripe for the conquest of Malabar, and in the
interval orders were about April 1764 received from Bombay that the French were
in accordance with treaty to be put in possession of all their places as they stood in
1749. To Captain Louis D. Plusquellec, Commissary appointed by John Law of
Lauriston, Commander-in-General of all the French Settlements in the East Indies,
the factors accordingly in due course on October 20th, 1765, restored1 Mahe and its
dependencies and the places where the fortifications stood.”
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., i. LXXX and CXXX. END OF NOTEs
During this interval also the Mappillas began to give trouble. The factors in
exercise of their treaty rights had established round boats to prevent the export of
pepper from Kadattanad. These boats were found not to be of sufficient strength
for the purpose, as they were unable to cope with the Mappilla boats rowed by eight
or ten men with four or six more to assist, all of whom (even the boatmen)
practised with the “sword and target” at least. In retaliation for the pressure thus
brought to bear upon them by the factors, the Mappillas took to committing
outrages.
In March 1764 two of them entered a church on Darmapattanam Island,
where a priest was saying mass, and murdered one man and severely wounded
several. They were shot by the garrison “and spitted.” A few days afterwards
another Mappilla came behind two Europeans while walking along one of the
narrow lanes leading to Fort Mailan and cut one of them through the neck and half
way through the body with one stroke of his sword. The other was mangled in such
a way that his life was despaired of. After this the Mappilla picked a quarrel with a
Nayar and was subsequently shot by the Tiyar guard. His body was “spitted” along
with those of the others, and then thrown into the sea, to prevent their caste men
from worshipping them as saints for killing Christians.
Such outrages became frequent, and on July 9th 1765 the Chief was obliged
to issue a stringent order2 to disarm them within factory limits.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., i. CXXVIII. END OF NOTEs
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The factors were fully alive to the fact

that Hyder Ali’s invasion of Malabar was only a
question of time ; and with, a view no doubt to
obtaining a reliable estimate of his power the
Chief had, so early as January 1764, despatched
Ensign Parker on a long journey overland to
Madras. The ostensible object of the trip was to
survey the line of country “through Cotiote3 to
Syringapatam and thence through the pass in the
mountains called Sautgurr to Vellour.” with a
view to marching troops that way if necessary to
Madras.
NOTEs: 3. The Kottayam Raja’s territory
comprising the present taluks of Kottayam and Wainad.
END OF NOTEs
On the 8th October of that same year Hyder Ali sent a letter to the Chief by
the hands of Anant Row, who hinted that it was Hyder Ali’s intention to invade
Malabar as soon as he had settled with the Mahrattas. Against this, of course, the
Chief and factors - protested ; but on the 6th November following came another
letter from Hyder Ali, and Anant Row asked the factors to offer no opposition
when Hyder Ali’s army entered the country as he had now made up his mind to
make the Kolattiri, the Zamorin, and the Cochin and other Rajas tributary to him.
Anat Row invited the Honourable Company to assist Hyder Ali in carrying
out his designs or to at least remain neuter. The Chief and factors at first said they
could not listen to such proposals, but on further consideration “that he might not
in all probability be prevailed upon to desist from carrying his already projected
plans into execution by anything they might say or do,1 they finally resolved to make
the best terms possible for the Honourable Company.
NOTEs: 1. Ensign Parker’s mission had no doubt opened their eyes to the power Hyder Ali
commanded. END OF NOTEs
They accordingly informed Anant How that it could not be expected that
the Company would remain neuter unless Hyder Ali entered previously into
engagements for preserving the Company’s proper footing in any countries he
might subdue, and they suggested the following as a basis for an agreement : -(1)
The commodities dealt in by the Company to be solely appropriated to the
Company on payment of the usual customs and no more. (2) Wollen goods and
Europe staples to pass customs free on the Chief’s certificate. (3) Goods (cloth, etc.,
purchased inland for the Company to pass duty free, and that not for the Company
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to pay half the usual rates. (4) Any quantity of rice to be exported free of adlamy
from the Canara ports.
Ali Raja of Cannanore, in view of the impending invasion, next proceeded
to better himself by siding with the irreconcilable party of Capu Tamban in the
Kolattiri family. The Prince Regent applied to the factors, and they tried to bring Ali
Raja to reason, but without much success ; for notwithstanding the engagement2
given by him to give back what he had unjustly seized and not to interfere further in
Kolattunad affairs, the war went on, and on 18th August 1765 the Ramdilly
(Alikkunnu) fort was taken by a party sent from Tellicherry under Captain Lytt Le
die to a d the Prince Regent.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., i. CXXIX. END OF NOTEs
The irreconcilables under Prince Ambu Tamban still, however, kept the
field, and it was in ostensible aid of this prince, and also to collect an old Bednur
outstanding of Pagodas 2,00,000 against the Kolattiri and his own debt against the
Zamorin, that Hyder Ali eventually crossed the frontier. The news of this event
reached the factors on the 10th February 1766 and on the 12th Mr, Ashburner
reported from Nilesvaram that Hyder Ali was there with a considerable army bent
on subduing Malabar.
In accordance with orders from Bombay two members of the Tellicherry
Board set out for Hyder Ali’s camp to point out to him what powers were in alliance
with the Company and should not be molested. And the result of this mission is
embodied in “a grant”3 from Hyder Ali, executed at Madayi on the 23rd of the same
month, confirming all the Honourable Company's trading privileges in Malabar.
NOTEs: 3. Treaties, etc., i. LXXXV. END OF NOTEs
Prior to this, Hyder Ali had been

directing his attention to the formation of a
fleet, and Ali Raja of Cannanore, who already
had a number of well-equipped vessels at sea,
was appointed High Admiral, while his brother
Sheikh Ali received the appointment of
"Indendant of the marine, of the ports, and of the
maritime commerce of his dominions." Reinforced by a
number of the disciplined soldiers of Hyder Ali,
the High Admiral, it is said, sailed for and
conquered the Maldive Islands. After taking the
King of the Islands prisoner, he had the
barbarity to put his eyes out.
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Returning victorious
to Mangalore, Ali Raja next
proceeded to Nagar with his
unfortunate captive. But
Hyder Ali was so irritated at
the cruelty practised on the
unfortunate king by his
admiral that he instantly
deprived him of the
command of the fleet, which
he afterwards, it is said,
bestowed on an Englishman
named Stanet. And it is a pleasing trait in Hyder Ali’s character that he entreated the
unfortunate king to forgive the outrage committed, and that he provided
sumptuously for the blind man’s comfort. Thence forward Ali Raja and his brother
served on land, and aided by a body of their troops, stated to have been 8,000, and
by a different account 12,000 in number, they acted as very efficient scouts to Hyder
Ali’s army in its progress through Malabar.
Hyder Ali’s own army consisted it is said, of 12000 of his best troops, of
which 4,000 were cavalry and the rest infantry, and his artillery consisted of only 4
pieces, but the fleet accompanied him along the coast and afforded assistance as
required. A general insinuation was given to the army to grant no quarter.
On the 21st February 1766 the factors heard that the force had taken
possession of a temple1 and had laid seige to Madayi, which the officer in command
offered to deliver up. Hyder Ali would, however, consent only to an unconditional
surrender. On the following day news came that the fort had been evacuated.
NOTEs: Probably that of Kunhimangalam. END OF NOTEs
The Kolattiri family made no resistance, for simultaneously with Hyder

Ali’s advance Ali Raja and his men seized their palace at Chirakkal, and the old
Tekkalankur prince with his attendants came to take refuge at the Brass Pagoda
within Tellicherry limits. They were followed by numerous refugees, fleeing
probably more before the terror of the Mappilla scouts than before Hyder Ali’s
army.
On the 6th of March Hyder Ali, encamped at Chirakkal, sent a message to
the Chief (Mr. James Ryloy) asking for a personal interview, but the Chief declined
the honour unless Hyder Ali would consent to come to Dharmapattanam Island, or
on board a country ship then in Tellicherry roads.
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On the 7th the army entered Randattara and began to commit irregularities,
whereupon the factors sent one Ramjee Purvoe to remonstrate. Hyder Ali changed
his demeanour and told the messenger it was entirely the factors’ own fault: “Why
did they not hoist his colours instead of the English ones, which his people did not
know?”
The Nabob had, by this time, come to the conclusion that, the English were
destined to be the masters of all India unless a change soon took place. They were
already, he was heard to say, “masters of the whole of Bengal, of the greatest part of
the Coromandel Coast, they are trying to get Malabar under them, and they have it
in contemplation to send an expedition to China.”
He was, he added, determined to prevent this coming to pass. This
conversation was reported to H. Kroonenberg, the Dutch Commandant at
Cannanore when he, in great state mounted along with Hyder Ali on the latter’s own
elephant, returned the visit paid by the latter to Cannanore fort on the 15th of
March. The Nabob said he looked to the Dutch to help him to drive out the
English.
Being in this frame of mind, the Mysorean objected to the protection
afforded by the Tellicherry settlement to the refugees who fled before his army. He
also asked to be supplied with gunpowder and arms, and being refused, made
another grievance out of this. The factors at the same time had information that Ali
Raja was all this time urging Hyder Ali to attack the factory, but to this he would not
listen. On the 15th March the army entered the Kottayam Raja’s territory after some
opposition and with some casualties, on both sides.
The Kottayam Mappillas deserted the Raja and assisted the invaders.
On the 21st, at 6 P.M., an interview took place between Hyder Ali and the
Chief Mr. Ryley, at a spot in Kottayam territory opposite to Darmapattanam Island,
but no business was discussed, and it was arranged that Ramjee Purvoe should
remain behind to settle all such affairs.
On the 25th the factors despatched the Achanmar of Randattara to their
district, escorted by British sepoys, but the Mappillas refused them passage thither.
On the 26th came orders from Bombay counselling the adoption of a conciliatory
policy towards the invaders, as opposing them would lead the Company into
projects far too extensive, for which there was no sufficient force. These orders
were subsequently modified by further orders from Bombay, ordering the factors
when it was too late—the orders were received only on the 17th April—to repel
force by force if the invaders attempted to pass the Tellicherry limits, or to invade
the Company’s immediate property.
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The orders were accompanied by a letter to Hyder Ali himself, which was
sent to him, upbraiding him for attacking the Company’s allies. The invaders met
with the first serious opposition they had experienced when attempting on the 28th
to enter Kadattanad. To do this they had to cross the Mahe river in the face of the
enemy strongly posted on its southern bank. It is difficult to point to the exact scene
of this battle, but it probably lay at or near the existing ferry of Perinkulam. The
fight is thus picturesquely, but, perhaps, not very accurately, described by the Mogul
officer, whose work was subsequently edited by Prince Ghulam Muhammad,1
Tippu’s only surviving son.
NOTEs.1. London: Thacker & Co., 1855, p. 69. END OF NOTEs
“To succeed in his attempt, in spite of this numerous army and the artillery,
Hyder caused his fleet to enter the river. His vessels sailed up as far as possible ; and
drawing up his infantry in order of battle in a single line in face of the enemy with
his twelve pieces of cannon, he waited for the ebb of the water. When the river was
at the lowest he entered it full gallop at the head of his cavalry which he had till then
kept out of sight of the Nayres : they were led on by fifty of the French Hussars
lately arrived from Pondicherry. As the rapidity of the current was diminished by his
vessels, he traversed the river without difficulty at a place where it was a league in
breadth, sometimes swimming and sometimes wading: he soon came to the other
river where the Nayres were busied in attempting to oppose the infantry, who
pretended to be on the point of passing over. They were frightened at the sudden
appearance of the cavalry and fled with the utmost precipitation and disorder
without making any other defence but that of discharging a few cannon which they
were too much intimidated to point properly.
“Hyder foreseeing this event, had given orders to pursue the fugitives full
speed, cutting down all they could overtake, without losing time either by taking
prisoners or securing plunder.
“This order being executed with the utmost strictness, nothing was to be
seen in the roads for the distance of four leagues round but scattered limbs and
mutilated bodies. The country of the Nayres was thrown into a general
consternation, which was much increased by the cruelty of the Mapelets, who
followed the cavalry, massacred all who had escaped, without sparing women or
children : so that the army advancing under the conduct of this enraged multitude,
instead of meeting with resistance, found the villages, fortresses, temples, and in
general every habitable place forsaken and deserted.
“It was not till they were near the environs of Tellicherry and Mahe, French
and English establishments, that they began to find people, who had taken refuge
near those places.”
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The factors’ information regarding this severe engagement was that it lasted
twenty-four hours, that there were many casualties, including some principal
officers, and that the Kadattanad Raja retired to a pagoda with his force not
altogether beaten. The invading army remained at the spot, making good their
passage for over a week, and on the 6th of April a force of 1,000 men entered and
searched Mahe in an attempt to discover the Kadattanad treasures.
On that same day another force of 6,000 men was despatched against
Calicut. The invaders met with little further resistance, and as they proceeded they
secured the country in their rear by a series of block houses (called lakkidikottas or
wooden forts). The Nayars, in their despair, defended such small posts as they
possessed most bravely.
“One of these which my manuscripts name Tamelpelly, was surrounded by
Hyder in the following manner : first, a line of regular infantry and guns with an
abbatis ; second, a line of peons ; third, of cavalry. This disposition was made for the
purpose of striking terror by not allowing a man to escape destruction. The Nayars
defended themselves until they were tired of the confinement, and then leaping over
the abbatis and cutting through the three lines with astonishing rapidity, they gained
the woods before the enemy had recovered from their surprise.” (Wilks’ History, I,
291.)
The officer left in command at Kottayam wrote on the 10th to say he had
instructions to maintain a friendly footing with the Honourable Company.
And next day the factors received news from Calicut that Ali Raja, at the
head of 1,000 men, had reached the Zamorin’s palace near Calicut, and on
summoning it to surrender, had been refused by the second prince of the family.
Calicut itself was quietly occupied by another party. Another account says that the
Zamorin himself met Hyder Ali in Kurumbranad, to which the latter had advanced
with his army from the Turasseri river. The demand made for a crore of gold
mohurs was so extravagant, that the Zamorin protested his inability to comply with
it. He offered to deliver the whole of his treasure and all his property, but this did
not satisfy his adversary, who caused him to be seized and imprisoned.
“He was sent1 under a guard of 500 horse and 2,000 infantry to the fort of
Calicut ; the Raja was confined in his own house without food, and was strictly
prohibited from performing the ceremonies of his religion: and as he thought that
Hydro might inflict some further disgrace upon him, either by causing him to be
hanged, or blown from a gun, the Raja set fire to the house with his own hand, and
was consumed in it.”
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NOTEs: 1. Asiatic Researches, V, pp. 30, 31. Several accounts of this event are extant. That
given in the text was obtained in 1793 from the then Zamorin by Mr. Jonathan Duncan, President of
the first Malabar Commission, and afterwards Governor of Bombay. END OF NOTEs
At Calicut Dutch commissioners met Hyder Ali at his request and discussed
with him the terms on which he would be prepared to enter into an offensive and
defensive alliance with the Hollanders. It is unnecessary to give the proposals in
detail, for nothing came of the conference, and it was manifest that to have accepted
his terms the Dutch would have had to fight the English both at home and abroad.
He agreed not to molest the Raja of Cochin on certain conditions, but he
would guarantee nothing in regard to Travancore. As there was delay in replying to
his proposals he then modified his terms as regards these Rajas and demanded 4
lakhs of rupees and 8 elephants from Cochin, and 15 lakhs and 20 elephants from
Travancore, in default of receiving which, he said, he meant to visit those countries.
In reply to this demand, the Cochin Raja placed himself unreservedly in the Dutch
Company’s hands, but the Travancore Raja, strong in the assurance of English
support, replied that Hyder Ali had not commenced the war to please him or with his advice,
that therefore he objected, to contribute anything, that moreover he was already tributary1 to
the Nawab Muhammad Ali and could not afford to subsidise two suzerains at the
same time, but that he would contribute a considerable sum if Hyder Ali would
reinstate the Kolattiri and the Zamorin, and ended by suggesting to the Dutch to do
the same.
NOTEs: 1. Conf. Treaties, etc., i, CXXXlV to CXLI. END OF NOTEs
And strangely enough, in spite of the ill-treatment which the Cochin Raja
had quite recently received at the hands of the Zamorin, the Cochin Raja too in his
reply trusted that the Kolattiri and the Zamorin would be restored. The Dutch did
not care to send such replies to Hyder Ali, as in the case of Travancore they would
have shown him how helpless in reality they were to conduct such negotiations, and
how powerful by contrast their English rivals were ; the Cochin Raja eventually
obtained immunity from conquest by agreeing to pay a subsidy of 2 lakhs of rupees
and 8 elephants.
To the demand of Hyder Ali the Travancore Raja, on July 20th, 1766, made
further significant reply by commencing on that date to extend the Travancore lines
to within range of the guns of the Dutch fort at Cranganore and on to the territory
of the Cranganore Raja. The Dutch, in their fear of offending Hyder Ali, required
them to desist from this work within Dutch limits.
After engaging in these negotiations and in further preparations for
securing, by means of fortified posts, the conquered country, Hyder Ali at length
started eastwards, leaving a movable column of 3,000 regular troops aided by Ali
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Raja and his Mappillas at Calicut. He also left Madanna, an experienced revenue
officer, as civil governor of the province.
He had remained too long on the coast, however, and was overtaken by the
south-west monsoon on his fourth day’s march. His march was rendered difficult in
consequence, and it was only after sustaining a heavy loss of horses and cattle that
his army debouched at last on the cool and pleasant plains of Coimbatore. At
Madakkara he left Raza Sahib in quarters with 3.000 infantry.
While Hyder Ali was thus engaged in the south, the Tellicherry factors on
the 17th April again attempted to recover Randattara, and a small force sent thither
for the purpose had to retire. A boat sent to the Valarpattanam river at the same
time to protect the Company’s trade was captured by the Mappillas, two guns and
three mortars were seized, and the sergeant in charge was made prisoner. The
factors suspected that Ali Raja (“that Moor”) was being secretly assisted by Hyder
Ali, who, however, when appealed to, restored on 7th May the guns and mortars and
other property. As regards Randattara, Hyder Ali told the factors to send only one
Brahman thither to collect the revenue, and wound up ironically thus; “but if you do
not choose to trust me, keep what people you please there.”
On the 22nd June came a letter from Madras strongly advising the Bombay
Council not to come to a rupture with Hyder Ali — first, because having command
of the passes, he might send his cavalry and ravage the country ; secondly, because
he was a check on the Mahrattas, who but for him would do the same thing ; and,
finally, because the Mogul having recently given a grant of the Northern Sirkars to
the Company, and the Nizam being inclined to oppose it, it would be a formidable
combination if Hyder Ali were driven to join him.
Moreover they pointed out that the Company’s position on the West Coast
put it in their power to disturb him at any time when he was not prepared to resist,
or when troubles in other parts of his extensive dominions called him away
elsewhere. They recommended, however, that the factors should not submit to be
insulted by him.
On the 24th June, after Hyder Ali had retired to Coimbatore, news reached
the factors that the Kottayam and Kadattanad Nayars had risen and retaken many
places, and next day it was reported that Ali Raja had been appointed civil governor
and his brother, Sheikh Ali, military governor of Kolattunad. The former was at
Quilandy with 200 men and unable to pass through Kadattanad, being opposed by
the Nayars. In September too Prince Ambu Tamban revolted, took two forts, and
inflicted a defeat with a loss of 300 men on the Mappillas. The Kottayam Nayars
also retook the Nittur fort close to the Tellicherry limits, and the country rose en
masse.
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The revolt was also general in South Malabar. No word of it, so effectually
were messengers intercepted, reached the Mysoreans at Coimbatore until after the
chief forts at Calicut and Ponnani had been closely invested. And even then the
news was only convoyed by a Portuguese sailor, who, on promise of a handsome
reward from the officer commanding at Ponnani, succeeded after many hardships,
and with only a compass for guide, in reaching Madakkam and apprising Raza Sahib
of the revolt and of the dangers to the garrisons at Calicut and Ponnani.
Raza Sahib marched at once with his infantry alone in spite of the inclement
weather and of the inundated state of the country. The absence of his cavalry
enabled the Nayars to harass the force at every river-crossing, and at length it was
drawn into a position at the junction of the Tutakal and Ponnani rivers, whence it
could neither advance on account of the streams, nor retreat on account of the
ravines strongly held by the enemy in the rear.
Prince Gulam Muhammad’s author gives the following interesting account
of Hyder Ali’s march to relieve his lieutenant : — “Raza Sahib having contrived to
send advice of his situation, Hyder immediately marched with 3,000 horse and
10,000 sepoys or topasses. He ordered his cavalry, both officers and men, to ride
without saddles ; and commanded his infantry to quit their habits and march naked,
excepting a pair of light drawers and shoes. Each soldier was provided with a waxed
cloth to wrap up his knapsack, and the 300 Europeans lately arrived from
Pondicherry and Colombo, were offered parasols as they did not choose to quit
their habits! Their refusal was the cause that they were almost the only persons in
the army that were attacked by the dysentery.
“All the artillery of this small army consisted in twelve light pieces of
cannon that were carried by elephants.
“It is scarcely possible to form an idea of the species of war to which Hyder
led his troops this campaign. Imagine an army of 15,000 men marching from the
break of day through a mountainous country in roads or passages scarcely admitting
more than three men abreast, exposed from morning till night to a constant shower,
equal to those that fall in the greatest storms attended with frequent thunder and
lightning, excepting for three hours after noon in which the sun shone out with
almost insupportable lustre and heat ; frequently obliged to cross rivers up to the
chin in water and sometimes swimming ; and passing the night in towns or villages
deserted by their inhabitants, where, however, they found plenty of the necessaries
of life. Their path was everywhere marked by rain and destruction, for their orders
were to burn and pillage, and they exerted themselves so much in this horrible work
that they left behind them nothing hut heaps of ruins where houses had formerly
stood.
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“This unexpected march obliged the Nayars to collect all their troops and
gave some relief to the troops of Raza Sahib, though not sufficient to prevent his
losing many of his men for want of necessaries and in consequence of the hardship
they were subjected to. The Nayar princes, though half defeated by the fear of the
consequences of their revolt, nevertheless expected Hyder with confidence in a
retrenched camp near Pondiaghari,1 which on its left wing had a village fortified
with a ditch and parapet planted with pallisades well furnished with artillery and
maintained by the most resolute, who had determined rather to perish than to yield.
NOTEs: The place indicated appears to have been Vettatt Putiyangadi in Ponnani taluk. It
is usually referred to as Putiyangadi (lit. new bazaar). END OF NOTEs
“Hyder, for the attack of this retrenched camp, disposed of his army so that
4,000 of his best sepoys, forming the right wing, were charged to attack the village ;
this corps was commanded by a Portuguese Lieutenant-Colonel lately arrived from
Goa, with different officers of his nation. The left wing, composed of topasses, was
commanded by an English officer, and Hyder himself commanded the main body,
having behind him a reserve of Europeans, almost all French, with whom were
joined those who are called the Bara Audmees or great men, a corps composed of
all the young nobility and courtiers, without excepting even the generals who have
not appointed posts or commands on the day of battle. They were all on foot and
armed with sabres and bucklers, having voluntarily put themselves under the
command of the officer of Europeans, whom they promised to follow wherever he
might lead them.
“The cavalry, that could not be of service till after the entrenchment was
forced, was formed behind the corps-de-reserve. According to the orders, the
Portuguese officer attacked the retrenched village with his 4,000 sepoys, by
conducting them bravely to the edge of the ditch ; but without advancing a step
farther, he contented himself with causing his troop to fire as if at their exercise.
These unfortunate sepoys, totally exposed, were destroyed with impunity by their
enemies, who fired from pent-holes or from behind the hedges. This firing, which
lasted upwards of two hours, highly enraged Hyder, who receiving every moment
news of the state of the attack, learned with the utmost mortification the unavailing
loss of his host troops. The French officer, commandant of the Europeans, who
lately arrived, and had not yet had an opportunity of distinguishing himself, offered
to advance with the corps-de-reserve and put himself at the head of the sepoys.
Hyder answered that he might do as he thought proper ; and he
immediately joined his troop, which was impatient for the combat and burned with
a desire to revenge the French who were inhumanly1 massacred at Pondiaghari.
Headed by this active and courageous officer, and joined by the Bara Audmees, they
ran with violent eagerness to the attack. The intervals between the battalions of
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sepoys afforded them a passage : they jumped into the ditch, and hastily ascending
the retrenchments tore up the pallisades, and were in the face of the enemy in an
instant. They gave no quarter ; and the enemy, astonished to the last degree at their
impetuosity and rage, suffered themselves to be butchered even without resistance.
The flames of the village on fire, and the direction of the cannon now pointed on
the distracted Nayars, evinced to Hyder that the village was carried. The whole army
in consequence moved to attack the retrenchment ; but the enemy perceiving that
Hyder’s troops had stormed their outpost, and catching the affright of the fugitives,
fled from their camp with disorder and precipitation.
NOTEs: 1. This refers to the massacre at this same place a few months previously of five
French deserters from Mahe proceeding to join Hyder Ali's army. This event occurred during the
general revolt which followed Hyder Ali’s withdrawal from the coast. Two women accompanying the
deserters were, it is alleged, most barbarously mutilated and killed at the same time. END OF
NOTEs
“Hyder had supposed his enemies would have exhibited more firmness on
this occasion. This brave and fortunate attack, which was much exalted by the
young nobility that shared the glory, gave him infinite pleasure. He created the
French commandant Bahadur upon the spot ; and in the evening presented him
with a patent appointing him general of 10,000 horses, which is the highest military
post among the Moguls, at the same time declaring him general-in-chief of his
artillery. He likewise gave a gratification of thirty rupees to every soldier, and twice
that sum to each of the wounded, of which there was a great number, though no
more than one died.
“As the Nayars had no bayonets, the wounds were only cuts with the sabre,
little dangerous where ready assistance is to be had.
“The Europeans inspired the Malabars with a new terror by this
exploit ; and Hyder, to increase it, spread a report that he expected many
thousand men from Europe ; he added that they were a cruel people and devourers of
human flesh, and that his intention was to deliver all the coast to their outrages. The rage
and fury by which his small handful of French were urged on to revenge their
murdered countrymen gave much force to the belief the wretched inhabitants
were disposed to afford to his reports. Wherever he turned he found no
opponent, nor even any human creature ; every inhabited place was forsaken
; and the poor inhabitants, who fled to the woods and mountains in the most
inclement season, had the anguish to behold their houses in flames, their
fruit-trees cut down, their cattle destroyed, and their temples burnt.
The perfidy of the Nayars had been too great for them to trust the
offers of pardon made by Hyder ; by means of Brahmans he despatched into
the woods and mountains to recall those unhappy people, who were hanged
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without mercy and their wives and children reduced to slavery whenever they
were found in the woods by the troops of Hyder, severity and mildness being
both equally ineffectual in making them return to their homes. Ali Raja and
the Mappillas, who saw themselves thus involved in the ruin of the Nayars,
persuaded Hyder to return to Coimbatore in hopes that his absence might
remove the timidity of the people ; and it is highly probable that the
dysentery that raged in his army was a much more effectual reason that
induced him to leave the country. The officers and Europeans, who had
retained their clothing and had more particularly abused the liberty of doing
as they pleased, were the most exposed to this dangerous malady.
“Before he quitted the country, Hyder by a solemn edict, declared
the Nayars deprived of all their privileges ; and ordained that their caste,
which was the first after the Brahmans, should thereafter be the lowest of
all the castes, subjecting them to salute the Parias and others of the lowest
castes by ranging themselves before them as the other Mallabars had been
obliged to do before the Nayars ; permitting all the other caste to bear
arms and forbidding them to the Nayars, who till then had enjoyed the
sole right of carrying them; at the same time allowing and commanding all
persons to kill such Nayars as were found bearing arms. By this rigorous
edict, Hyder expected to make all the other castes enemies of the Nayars,
and that they would rejoice in the occasion of revenging themselves for
the tyrannic oppression this nobility had till then exerted over them.
“This ordinance being found to make the submission of the Nayars
absolutely impossible, because they would have thought death preferable to such a
degradation, he made a new edict by which he re-established in all their rights and
privileges such Nayars as should embrace the Muhammadan religion. Many of these
nobles took the turban on this occasion, but the greater part remained dispersed and
chose rather to take refuge in the kingdom of Travancore than submit to this last
ordinance.
“Though the approach of the fine season and the terror he had spread
might have left little apprehension of another revolt, yet he left several bodies of
troops in the country distributed in posts so situated as to assist each other in case
of necessity, and quartered the rest of his infantry in the neighbourhood of
Madigheri,1 taking only his cavalry with him to Coimbatore, which he was obliged to
spread over the country on account of the scarcity of forage.”
NOTEs: 1. Madakkara. END OF NOTEs
In addition to the measures described above Hyder Ali adopted other

means of subduing the refractory Nayars. His troops spread over the face of the
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country after taking Vettattputiyangadi, and

acting from Manjeri in the Ernad taluk as a
centre, they brought in numerous prisoners.
These were at first either beheaded or hanged ;
“but2 as their numbers increased, Hyder
conceived the plan of sparing them for the use
of his former territories. This cure for rebellion
in one province and for defective population in
another, of which such numerous examples
occur in the Jewish history, was not successfully
practised by Hyder. The captives were uncared
for, and owing to privations and a violent
change of climate, of 15,000 who were removed,
it is supposed that 200 did not survive the
experiment.”
NOTEs: 2. Wilks* “Historical Sketches, etc.,” 1,293. END OF NOTEs
These violent measures produced a deceitful calm in the province, and

Hyder Ali thinking he had permanently tranquillised the country proceeded to
Coimbatore, giving orders en route for the erection of the present Palghat fort,
which, lying in the centre of the gap in the line of ghats, was judiciously chosen as
an advanced post and depot to facilitate communications with the newly-subdued
province.
Hyder Ali at this juncture had to face a more formidable confederation than
any he had yet experienced. The Mahrattas and the Nizam, aided by an English
corps, were threatening him on the north and north-east. In the face of this
combination, he accordingly resorted to measures likely to be pleasing to one of his
antagonists, and on 3rd November 1766 the factors at Tellicherry had the
satisfaction of learning that he had evinced a veal desire to be on good terms with
the Honourable Company, and in proof of it he had ordered all the pepper and
other monopoly products of Malabar to be given to them.
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But the seeming calm was not destined to last. Hyder Ali had not received
the submission of Travancore, and only a week after the above event the factors
obtained intelligence that he was preparing to invade Travancore and was seeking
for a passage for his troops through the mountains. And, on 10th January 1766,
came the further news that a force despatched for this purpose had been defeated,
and this reverse seems to have been the signal for another general rising in Malabar.
A force of 4,000 men had been sent into the Kottayam territory. It was attacked by
2,000 Nayars and defeated with great slaughter and loss of their camp and stores.
The Nayars all over the country again rose and shut up the invaders in their
stockades (lakkidikotta).
Hyder Ali bought off the Mahrattas, and the Nizam was induced to throw
over his allies and to join Hyder Ali in a campaign against the English on the east
coast. The first act of hostility occurred on 25th August 1768, but the news did not
reach Tellicherry till the 13th October.
It is unnecessary to trace in detail the operations which followed. The allies
were beaten in the field, the Nizam made a separate peace, the English in
conjunction with Muhammad Ali, Nabob of the Carnatic, overran Hyder Ali’s
dominions, and planned, with an utterly inadequate force to carry out this
resolution, an invasion of Mysore itself.
To aid the operations on the east coast an expedition under Messrs. Govin
and Watson was despatched in February 1768 from Bombay to take or destroy
Hyder Ali’s fleet. The leaders of the expedition, on reaching Honore, wrote to
Tellicherry for boats to assist in crossing the Mangalore surf, and Mr. Sibbald at
Honore prevailed on Hyder Ali’s naval commander to join the expedition with one
three-mast grab, one two-mast grab, and five gallivats. In Mangalore the expedition
took the “Buckingham” and another three -mast grab.
On 1st March the news arrived
that Mangalore had been taken and
that three vessels of the expedition
were being despatched to help the
Tellicherry factors in an expedition
they had planned against Ali Raja’s
town of Cannanore. On the 3rd of
March the expedition against
Cannanore was despatched. The force
consisted of 2 captains, 5 subalterns,
and 182 infantry, the commanding
officer of artillery and 47 of his train -
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232 Bombay sepoys, 80 of the Honourable Company’s Narangpurattta Nayars, and

175 Tiyars—altogether 716 effective men besides officers; and the Prince of
Kolattunad and the Raja of Kottayam had agreed to join with 1,700 Nayars.
The whole force was under the command of Captain Thomas Henry
assisted by Mr. Robert Sparkes.
Their first move was from Darmapattanam Island to Carly Hill on 3rd
March. After reconnoitring the place Captain Henry determined to attempt the
capture of a fort called Avarakotta1 lying to the north-east of the town. Once in
command of this fort the town would have been at his mercy. He accordingly
proceeded on the 9th March to storm it, but the defence was desperate and the
attacking column was driven back with the loss of 1 officer, 9 Europeans, 6 seamen,
and 6 natives killed, and 1 officer, 16 Europeans, 4 seamen, 19 Bombay sepoys, and
8 Nayars wounded —altogether 70 men killed and wounded.
NOTEs: Probably identical with the ruined fort now called the Sultan’s Battery. END OF
NOTEs
An application to the leaders of the expedition at Mangalore for assistance

was made, but only one artillery officer’s services could be spared, and so on 22nd
March, after a council of war had been held, at which it was estimated that a force
of 2,200 men of all arms would be required to effect the reduction of the place, the
scheme was finally abandoned. The factors were indignant at their native allies,
Kottayam and Kadattanad, for not assisting them. The Prince of Kolattunad, on the
other hand, was present and energetically assisted the besiegers.
On the 26th the news of the capture of Honore was reported, and on the
same day came a vigorous remonstrance from the Bombay council at the line of
action taken by the factors. “This your precipitate and ill-judged conduct1 in the
present state of affairs lays us under the greatest embarrassment.”
NOTEs: 1. The council's declared policy had been to assist the native powers against Ali
Raja, but not to engage as principals in any warfare against him—Despatch of 30th September 1766.
END OF NOTEs
And the despatch peremptorily directed operations against Ali Raja to be

suspended in order that those against Hyder Ali might be carried on more
vigorously.
Hyder Ali’s rapid and secret march across the peninsula and his recapture
of Mangalore are matters of history. The Bombay force was driven out of
Mangalore with such indecent haste that they even left their sick and wounded
behind them, as well, as their field-pieces and stores. Honore and other places were
recovered with equal ease, and before the monsoon commenced Hyder Ali’s army
had reascended the ghats.
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In June he was at Bednur wreaking his vengeance on the inhabitants who

had favoured the English designs, and on the 18th of the month he prevailed on a
Madras officer there imprisoned to write to the Chief at Tellicherry, signifying his
desire for peace. This letter was in due course forwarded to Colonel Wood, and on
20th August the Chief was instructed from Madras to reply as follows :—
“I have communicated to the Governor of Madras what you
wrote to me at the desire of Hyder Ally, the 18th June, to which I have
received the following answer :—
“‘In the letter you sent me from the officer at Biddanora it is
said Hyder Ally is desirous that a general peace may be effected
through the mediation of Bombay. I have no objections to receive his
proposals for peace ; if Hyder Ally has anything to propose on that
subject and will write to me, I shall answer his letters. If he rather
chuses to write to Bombay ’tis well, it will only prolong the
negotiations, the end will be the same. It is said also in the same letter
that Hyder Ally desires not to make war with the English but with
Nabob Muhammad Ally only. The English are always true to their
friends and faithful to their allies and therefore must look on the
enemies of the Nabob Wallajah as their enemies. Whether the forts we
have taken be of mud or stone ’tis not necessary to explain here, ’tis
enough that Hyder Ally knows what they were worth to him, and I
know well their importance to us. As to his threats of laying waste
these countries and destroying the inhabitants, of what avail are
words—they cannot hurt and merit not a reply—’Tis not my custom
to threaten but to act.’ ”
Hyder Ali’s threats were not empty words, however, as the Madras council
learnt to their cost when in November 1768, Fazlulla Khan in command of one
column and Hyder Ali himself in command of another made a rapid and
unexpected descent on Coimbatore and Salem, and Colonel Wood’s weak and
scattered posts, designed more for the Nabob Muhammad Ali’s extortionate
exactions of revenue than for military operations, fell an easy prey to the Mysoreans,
some by treachery and some by force.
Lieutenant Bryant and his sepoys, being well apprised of treachery within
their own lines, left Palghat by night, and marching south-west into Cochin territory
eventually reached Madras by way of Travancore and Cape Comorin. Hyder Ali
fulfilled his threat by scouring the country up to the very gates of Madras itself and
almost1 dictated peace within sight of its walls on the 3rd April 1769.
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The Tellicherry factors were not too well pleased with the terms obtained,
although the Honourable Company’s trading privileges were confirmed, and
recorded their opinion that Ali Raja should either be obliged by Hyder Ali to restore
Kolattunad to the Prince Regent, or be compelled to give it up by force of arms.
The fact was that Hyder Ali had insisted, as a special condition in the negotiations
which Madanna, the Civil Governor of South Malabar, had opened with the various
Malabar chiefs in December 1768, that Ali Raja should remain undisturbed, and as
Palghat was also studiously omitted, Hyder Ali had thus previously secured two
points on the coast from which at any time he could resume his designs on the
province.
Excepting Kolattunad and Palghat, therefore, and perhaps Kottayam and
other petty chieftains, whose territories Hyder Ali’s officers had never so far been
able to command, the Malayali chiefs eagerly adopted the terms offered, and
"Hyder’s2 provincial troops, whose escape would otherwise have been impracticable,
not only retreated in safety, but loaded with treasure—the willing3 contribution of
the chiefs of Malabar—the purchase of a dream of independence.”
NOTEs: 1. Wilks, I. 383.
2. The Kadattanad Raja paid as much as Rs. 80,000.-— (Factors’ Diary, December, 1768).
END OF NOTEs
The Malabar contingent of troops thus relieved in December 1768 formed

a respectable portion of the army with which Hyder Ali and Fazlulla Khan a few
months afterwards, ravaged the Carnatic plains, and forced the Madras Government
to accept the terms of peace above alluded to.
Ali Raja’s territory did not however in the factors’ view, or in that of the
native chiefs’, extend to the south of the Anjarakandi river, and accordingly, in
December 1768, the factors shelled his people out of a bamboo fort which they had
erected on Nittur point close to the Tellicherry limits on the opposite side of the
Koduvalli river. And this fort was in due course made4 over to the Kottayam Raja,
its rightful owner, and he in return finally waived his claim to some land on the
Honourable Company’s Island of Darmapattanam, regarding which he had from
time to time been troubling the factors ever since 17351.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., i. LXXXVIL.
2. Treaties, etc., i. XXVII, XXVIII. END OF NOTEs
At the conclusion of the peace with Hyder Ali in 1769, affairs in Malabar
seem to have settled down into their usual quiescent state. In 1770 the factors were
once more reinstated in full possession of the district of Randattara. And in the
following year the Dutch, following out their policy of reducing the number of their
fortified places, sold Fort St. Angelo at Cannanore to Ali Raja, and about this same
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time or a little earlier the equipments of their forts at Chetwai and Cranganore were
materially reduced. Cochin fort too was in a ruinous state, and Governor Moons set
to work to repair it.
While the Dutch were thus still further reducing2 their hold on the country,
the English factors were busy, but in another way, in strengthening their position.
On 12th March 1772 the factors began to levy a regular land revenue assessment.
Private gardens were taxed at “25 per cent, of the produce,” rice lands belonging to
the Honourable Company paid 40 percent, of the gross produce, and the factors
were at a loss to know what to impose on other lands of that description. A
reference to Bombay brought hack, on 24th April, an order that “the estates and
verges3 not yet assessed must be taxed at 10 per cent, on account the Honourable
Company.”
NOTEs: 2. Under the circumstances, it is not a little curious to know that even at so late a
date as 1790, the Dutch at Cochin passed a formal resolution that the English factory at Anjenge
should be destroyed.
3. Paddy flats.—Port. END OF NOTEs
The officer charged with collecting the revenue of Randattara was styled
“Inspector of Randattara.”
Hyder Ali had meanwhile after suffering many reverses been forced by the
Mahrattas to make a disadvantageous peace. In a short time, however, his treasury
was again replenished at the expense of his subjects and his forces were reorganised
: so that when dissensions broke out in the Mahratta camp consequent on the death
of Madu Row in November 1772, Hyder was ready “for4 whatever event the page of
fate should unfold ;” and in little more than six months, between September 1773
and February 1774, he managed to repossess himself of all the territories he had lost
during the English and Mahratta wars.
NOTEs: 4. Wilks, I. 388. END OF NOTEs
Coorg fell to him in November 1773, and a force despatched under Said
Sahib and Srinavas Row Berki pushed through Wynad and descended on Malabar
about 27th December by a new and direct route via the Tamarasseri pass. The
Malayali chiefs yielded without striking a blow, and Srinivas Row remained as
Foujdar (or military governor) assisted by Sirdar Khan, while Said Sahib, returned to
Seringapatam with the cavalry and other troops not required as a garrison.
About a year later (1775) Hyder Ali appears to have made up his mind that
any idea of an alliance with the English was hopeless. The latter had agreed in the
Treaty of 1769 to assist him against the Maharattas, but Muhammad Ali, the Nabob
of the Carnatic, had by intrigues in England effectually prevented the fulfilment of
that part of the treaty in order to carry out an ambitious scheme of his own. Hyder
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Ali appears to have fathomed the Nabob’s designs, which, as a preliminary to still
more ambitious schemes, required Hyder Ali’s own destruction, and he accordingly
determined to break with the English. His relations with the Mahrattas, however, led
him to temporise for a time. Meanwhile if he could possess himself of Travancore
he would not only replenish his coffers, but would secure an advantageous position
on his enemy’s flank for his contemplated invasion of the Carnatic.
In 1776 then he demanded of the Dutch at Cochin a free passage through
their territories into Travancore. The Dutch still held possession of their fort at
Cranganore, which effectually protected the western flank of the Travancore lines,
and which was regarded on this account, and also because it commanded the great
natural water communications between north and south, as the key of the country.
Hyder’s demand to be allowed to pass was refused on the plea that a reference had
to be made to Batavia ; but ten .years previously this very same request had been
met by this very same reply.
Hyder Ali knowing that the Dutch had had ten years to consider his
proposal, not unnaturally regarded the reply as evasive and threatened the Dutch
with annihilation.
Sirdar Khan was accordingly set in motion at the head of about 10,000 men.
He invaded in August 1776 the northern portion of Cochin and took the fort of
Trichur. The Cochin Raja agreed to give a nazar of 4 lakhs of rupees and 4 elephants
and to pay an annual tribute of Rs. 1,20,000 ; but the Travancore lines blocked a
further advance southward of Sirdar Khan’s force and the Dutch were beginning to
hope there would be no more trouble.
“The Dutch now congratulated themselves on the disappearance of the
Mysoreans, but a letter soon arrived from Sirdar Khan in which he claimed the
Chetwai territory on the plea that it had formed a portion of the Zamorin’s
dominions wrested from him by the Dutch, who had promised to return it after a
certain period. That time having elapsed, and Hyder being now by right of conquest
the successor to the Zamorin, the Cochin council were requested to give up the
lands, which they declined doing.
“On October 9th, Sirdar Khan crossed the Chetwai river near Poolicarra, a
little to the north of the Dutch fort, and took possession of the customs-house,
making a prisoner of the writer who was sent to him as the bearer of a message. The
Mysore forces now divided into two bodies, one of which proceeded southwards
towards Paponetty, from whence the Dutch Resident retired into the Cranganore
fort, taking with him the company’s treasure. Sirdar Khan now threw up strong
works at Paponetty and despatched a letter to the Governor of Cochin, stating that
Hyder Ali considered that he had met with a premeditated insult from the Dutch
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Governor, who had given no decided reply to his letter. Still he wished to be friends,
but a free passage for his troops towards Travancore was essential; and were such
refused, it would be considered equivalent to a declaration of war.
“Governor Moens replied that he was glad to understand that the
Mysoreans wished to be regarded as friends, and he should feel obliged by their
evacuating the Dutch territory, and not allowing their people to approach the
Cranganore fort. But before his reply could reach its destination, Sirdar Khan
attempted to surprise this fort on October 11th, but failed. He then wrote another
letter, stating that having taken the lands of Paponotty, he should feel obliged by the
accounts of the last twenty years being forwarded. He also demanded the territory
the Dutch Company had received from the Zamorin in 1758, as well as a nazar and
a free passage towards Travancore.
“Without sufficient troops to hold their own by force, surrounded by native
states outwardly friendly but secretly hostile, attacked by the Mysoreans, and
awaiting instructions from Batavia, Moens’ position was a very difficult one. A
common danger, it was true, bound the Cochin and Travancore States to the Dutch,
but it was feared that they did not possess sufficient forces to afford any effectual
barrier against the advance of the Mysore troops. Still Moens considered it advisable
to sound the dispositions of the two Rajas, so wrote and informed them that he was
ready to commence offensive operations against the Mysoreans, but he first required
a categorical answer as to how far he could depend upon their support ; he also
proposed a plan on which all would have to act in concert against the common
enemy. The Raja of Travancore replied that he had entered into an alliance with the
Nabob of Areot and the British, in which it had been stipulated that he was only to
act on the defensive, and not to be the aggressor, otherwise he would receive no aid
: so he regretted being unable to join the Dutch, except for defensive measures.
Should the Mysoreans advance on his territory, British and Arcot troops were
promised for his assistance.
“Urgent requests were despatched to Ceylon for more troops as there were
only 200 effective soldiers present and the safety of Cochin itself was now
endangered, for it was ascertained that a fleet, consisting of one three-mast ship, six
two-mast grabs, and twenty well-armed gallivats, were preparing at Calicut to take
troops by sea past Cranganore to the island of Vypeen. It was suspected that the
Ayacotta fort would be first attacked, and should it fall, that Cranganore would be
besieged from the south, whilst Sirdar Khan invested it from the north. An armed
sloop was placed at the entrance of the Cranganore river, and two armed merchant
ships further out to sea to cover the coast. The Raja of Travancore and Cochin
improved the lines, which commenced from the rear of the Ayacotta fort and were
carried along the southern bank of the river towards the ghauts. The Cranganore
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and Ayacotta forts were strengthened, the first and most important by having a
retrenchment thrown up under its guns, and the latter by being repaired.
“Some Travancore sepoys were now sent to Ayacotta, which the Mysore
troops prepared to attack ; but unwilling to come to blows, the Travancoreans
retired to their own country. Fortunately at this critical time a Dutch detachment
arrived by sea, and consequently the Mysoreans retreated. A strictly defensive policy
was now decided upon, for fear of giving offence to the British and the Nabob of
Arcot, but in November, as a further reinforcement had arrived, the Dutch
considered themselves strong enough to become the aggressors.
“The Muhammadans had invested Chetwai, the garrison of which place
sent a message to Cochin, representing that they could not hold it much longer, so
Governor Moens now determined to attempt its relief. Provisions and ammunitions
having been packed in casks, 189 men embarked in the ship Hoolwerf, having some
small boats in tow for the purpose of landing the men and stores. On the same
afternoon, November 11th, they arrived before Chetwai, but the surf being high, the
wary Muhammadans had the satisfaction of perceiving that they delayed landing
until the next day. A chosen band of Sirdar Khan’s troops was told off, and in the
dead of the night placed in ambuscade close to the beach where the landing was
most likely to be effected, and in silence awaited the disembarkation of their prey.
“The morning dawned, and the Dutch having examined the shore, could
see no vestige of an enemy, all appeared perfectly quiet, and they congratulated
themselves on surprising Hyder's troops. The landing commenced, the first boat
upset, but the troops waded to the beach with their loaded muskets wet, and their
ammunition of course spoilt. Suddenly the ambuscade rushed out, and finding
advance impossible, the Dutch retreated in good order to the beach ; but their boats
were gone, and the terrified native boatmen were pulling quickly away from the
scene of strife. Some of the detachment were killed, and the remainder obliged to
surrender themselves prisoners of war.
"The Europeans were disheartened and abandoned the attempted relief
whilst the Muhammadans were greatly elated and the fort of Chetwai was compelled
to capitulate on the 13th, one condition being that the garrison should be permitted
to retreat to Cranganore, a promise which was of course broken. The prisoners were
plundered of everything, even to their very clothes, and with the women, children
and slaves, were sent to Calicut. From thence the military were despatched loaded
with chains to Seringapatam, where all took service with Hyder, excepting the
Commandant of Chetwai and the Resident.
“The whole of the island including Chetwai, Ayroor or Paponetty, and the
territory of the Raja of Cranganore (excepting the Dutch fort), all of which were
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tributary to the Dutch, now succumbed to Hyder’s general ; but he found his further
advance impeded by the Travancore lines. The Cochin council now decided upon
still further strengthening the Cranganore fort and on not again breaking up their
troops into detachments.
“On January 9th, 1777, the answer to Hyder’s letter arrived from Batavia,
and with it the customary presents, which with an apologetic letter from the
Governor of Cochin, were forwarded to Hyder’s camp. On February 25th the
Commandant and Resident of the Chetwai fort arrived in Cochin from
Seringapatam and informed Governor Moens from Hyder that most of the
prisoners, including the women and slaves, were set at liberty (some soldiers were
induced to remain in Hyder’s service) and that they were commissioned by Hyder to
say that he was still anxious to enter into a treaty of friendship with the company,
upon which subject he would shortly write. Hyder’s letter disowned Sirdar Khan’s
proceedings, and stated that he had only despatched him into the sandy1 country to
inquire after some of the Zamorin’s lands ; that he had no unfriendly feeling
towards the Dutch, and whilst returning the prisoners trusted all matters of dispute
between them would be rapidly and amicably settled.
NOTEs: Chetwai Island is some times called Manapuram, i,e., sandy place from the nature
of the soil. END OF NOTEs
“Hyder Ali in a secret correspondence became very pressing to carry into

effect his former propositions for entering into an alliance with the Dutch. He now
reduced his requirements to 400 European infantry and 100 artillery men. Governor
Moens evaded this application without declining it, and held out hopes which were
never carried into effect. He foresaw that neutrality with the English and
Travancore must cease should he join Hyder. The Dutch council also wished to
prevent the Travancore Raja, who was becoming alarmed at Hyder’s increasing
power, from forming too intimate relationship with the British, so they tried to
induce him to believe that from Hyder he had nothing to fear.
*******
“On January 8th, 1778, the Dutch planned an expedition to recover their
lost ground. They stormed and took the Cranganore Raja’s palace, which had a
garrison of 300 men, and pursued the enemy to Paponetty. The succeeding day the
Dutch forces reached Bellapattoo, and on the evening of the third day arrived
before Chetwai, At once the guns began to play upon the fort, and continued all that
night and throughout the next day. On the third day they unsuccessfully attempted
to storm ; the attack was continued seven days, but the enemy commencing to
assemble in force on the opposite side of the river, the Dutch were obliged to
retreat to Cranganore on January 19th with the loss of some guns. On the morning
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of March 3rd the Mysoreans attacked the Cranganore palace with 3,000 men on foot,
150 horse and 4 guns. After ten hours’ fighting the Dutch retired to the Cranganore
fort with the loss of 6 men.
“In March the Dewan of Travancore came to Cochin to have an interview
with Governor Moens, who pointed out to him the necessity of preventing
Cranganore from falling into the hands of Hyder, and urged that it was to the
interest of the Travancoreans to join the Dutch as they were running a risk of losing
their country, whilst the Dutch could only lose a little strip of territory, which
Moens hinted might even be avoided should he join the Mysoroans.
“About this time Hyder, who was now most indignant with the Dutch, was
obliged to go to war with the English and the Nabob of Arcot. On his way he found
time to plunder the Dutch store-house at Porto Novo and make a prisoner of the
Resident.”
***
“In 1783 the Raja of Chetwai was peaceably reinstated in his dominions by
the Dutch when they retook the place from Tippu’s forces ; but in the following
year orders arrived from Batavia to return this territory to Tippu, Hyder having died
in December 1782.” — Day's Land of the Permauls, pages 149 to 155.
Meanwhile in North Malabar, in consequence of Ali Raja’s failure to pay
the stipulated tribute, the Prince Regent of Chirakkal (Kolattunad) had been
restored to his dominions and a Mysorean officer had been sent to administer the
revenue. On 25th April 1775 the Prince Regent, backed by the Mysoreans, forced the
Kurangoth Nayar, backed by the French of Mahe, to come to terms, and on 5th May
the French paid Rs. 80,000 and procured the withdrawal of the enemy.
In June the Prince Regent proceeded into Kottayam to reduce various forts
: all guns taken were sent to Hyder Ali. The Prince Regent however during all this
time continued to supply the Tellicherry factory with pepper, and thereby the
factors incurred the jealousy of the French Settlement at Mahe. M. Law de Lauriston
wrote to Warren Hastings, complaining of the entire ruin of French trade on the
coast through the factors “new treaties” with the Prince Regent “for all the pepper
and other productions of the country.”
Notwithstanding this aid, however, in their mercantile pursuits, the
Tellicherry factory had not for some years past been a paying investment. On 8th
January 1776 advices were received by the Gatton that what had been impending for
some years had at last been ordered to be carried out. The factory was to be reduced
to a residency and the troops removed. At this juncture the principal inhabitants of
all classes came forward voluntarily and presented a petition, “representing the
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deplorable situation they will be reduced to in case the Honourable Company

withdraw their protection from them, and as they learn that the great expense of this
settlement is the cause of the Honourable Company’s resolution to withdraw their
troops, they have agreed to raise a sum sufficient, with the present revenues, to
maintain a force for their protection by a tax on their oarts1 and houses as specified
at the foot of their petition.
NOTEs: 1. Port. Horta = garden. END OF NOTEs
The officer commanding estimated that the force required would cost Rs.
60,000 per annum, and the new tax and other revenues were estimated likewise to
produce that sum. The petition was accordingly sent to Bombay for orders, and the
factors pointed out that, unless the settlement was kept up on a more respectable
footing than a residency, it would be impossible to provide for the annual
investment in pepper and cardamoms, except at exorbitant rates.
It remained as a residency—-with an establishment of a Resident, and one
or sometimes two factors — until 27th January 1784, on which date the chiefship
was re-established, and it continued on this footing down to 1794, when the factory
was finally abolished. On March 13th, 1778, the French recognised the declaration of
American independence and thus brought on another war with England.
The news reached Tellicherry via Anjengo on the 20th July, shortly after a
French reinforcement for Hyder Ali had been passed on to him through Mahe.
Mahe was at this time of more importance to Hyder Ali than even
Pondicherry itself, for it was through that port that he received his guns and
ammunition and French reinforcements. He was busy wresting from the Mahrattas
the territory lying between the Tumbadra and the Kistna rivers, when the English
laid siege to Pondicherry on August 8th, 1778, and he failed to make a diversion in
their favour. Pondicherry fell on 18th October. The news reached Tellicherry on 3rd
November, and shortly after that date the factors heard that it was in contemplation
to reduce Mahe also. But the reduction of Mahe would have cut off Hyder Ali from
his base of supplies, so, although not yet prepared finally to break with the English,
he appears directly Pondicherry fell to have sent orders, which resulted in the Prince
Regent of Kolattunad joining the French at Mahe with 1,500 of his Nayars. Besides
which 200 of Hyder Ali’s own sepoys were thrown into the place ; and orders were
sent to Kadattanad to reinforce Mahe with 2,000 more men, and Kolattunad was to
send a like further number.
Kadattanad, however, inclined to the English alliance, and so did the
Zamorin and Kottayam. The factors at Tellicherry took every possible means to
secure these allies, and as the event turned out, the Kolattunad Prince was the only
chief who remained faithful to Hyder Ali’s interest until after Mahe had fallen.
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On January 3rd, 1779, the siege stores for Mahe came in from Bombay. On
February 6th the Kolattunad force1 in defence of Mahe was reinforced by 2,000 men
from Coorg. On February 21st the first division of Colonel Brathwaite's
expeditionary force, 800 sepoys under Captain Walker, reached Tellicherry. On
February 24th there arrived another battalion under Captain Fraser. On March 2nd
there came the Terrible bomb ketch Asia, man-of-war, and on March 12th H.M.’s
ships Sea Horse and Coventry, with the Resolution in convoy, carrying Colonel
Brathwaite and a European battalion.
NOTEs: 1,000 men and 2 guns. END OF NOTEs
At 4 p.m. on that day the colonel landed under a salute of 15 guns, and at 5
p.m. the first gun was fired by the
French at the British advanced posts.
On March 15th the Royal Charlotte
brought Major Clifton and three
companion of artillery. And the force
being now complete, Colonel
Brathwaite, on the 16th March at 3
p.m., summoned M. Picot to
surrender the place. Lieutenants Bate
and Williams, his messengers,
returned with M. Picot’s refusal at 8
p.m. on the same day.
But meanwhile the Prince of
Kolattunad had, on February 27th,
thrown a cordon round Tellicherry
and stopped the import of provisions.
The factors, however, effectually
replied to this move by supplying
Kottayam with military stores and
despatching him on March 11 to recover his country. The Prince Regent thus
th
found himself with Kottayam and the British actively hostile on his rear and right
flank, and Kadattanad and the Iruvalinad Nambiars passively hostile on his left
flank, and it became at once apparent that he was helpless to assist the French
unless they could feed him and his men.
The position was hopeless for the French, so on the 19th March, at 7 a.m.,
proposals of capitulation were received from M. Picot. Brathwaite’s reply was
accepted1 the same day, and at 4 p.m. the British colours were hoisted on
“Currachee redoubt”.
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History
NOTEs: Treaties, etc., i. LXXXIX. END OF NOTEs
Chimbrah and Fort St. George were handed over next morning under a
salute of 21 guns, and the British colours were flying in Mahe itself at 6 p.m. on the
evening of the 20th. The garrison marched out with the honours of war, but all arms,
stores, etc., were surrendered, and the forts, etc., were placed at the disposal of the
Honourable Company.
The Prince Regent of Kolattunad effected his retreat from Mahe through
Nittur after suffering defeat from Kottayam and sustaining considerable loss, and
both Kottayam and the Zamorin for a time recovered most of their dominions from
Hyder Ali’s troops.
The Company was, however, still nominally at peace with the latter, and no
overt encouragement, beyond the grant of supplies of arms, etc., was held out to the
country powers, though the circumstances might have justified the adoption of
active measures, for Mr. Wm. Freeman, the Company’s Resident Factor at Calicut,
had, by order of the Governor, been obliged, on March 18th, summarily to leave that
place, and the Company’s goods and some of their employees had been left behind
by him at the mercy of Hyder Ali’s people there.
The Mysorean provincial troops had consequently no difficulty in putting
down the rising in the south, and the Kolattunad Prince, after, joining Bulwant Row,
returned to the Kottayam country, dispersed the Kottayam force, and then
proceeded to Kadattanad, where the Senior Raja, who had sided with the English,
was deposed in favour of a young prince.
The effect of these measures was soon apparent, at Mahe and Tellicherry.
On June 24th young Kadattanad’s force closed in on Mahe and began erecting
fortifications. On August 20th a washer-man belonging to Brathwaite’s force camped
at Mahe was carried off. Restitution was demanded, and in a collision which
occurred in consequence eight of the Kadattanad Nayars were slain.
Hyder Ali approved of young Kadattanad’s conduct, and the latter
beheaded the unfortunate dhobi in the presence of a peon of Brathwaite’s, who had
gone with a message, and of a horsekeeper who had also been entrapped. The two
latter, with their hands cut off, were permitted to return to Mahe.
It soon became apparent in short that Hyder Ali, by means of the Malabar
chiefs in his interest, meant to become actively hostile. The country powers
intercepted letters and stopped the supply of provisions, and in October still more
active measures were undertaken by them—first against the British outpost at
Mount Deli in the beginning of that month, and towards the end of it the British
district of Randattara was overrun by the Kolattunad Prince with his force.
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The Mappillas of this latter district undertook to assist the British to

them. A small force sent out to assist the Randattara Achanmars was obliged to
retreat before overwhelming numbers to Darmapattanam Island. On October 24th
the factors recorded their opinion that Hyder Ali intended to break with the
Honourable Company, and that the native chiefs were acting under secret orders
from him.
On October 31st young Kadattanad attacked the British outpost at
“Moicara” and seized it and Andolla and Tira Malas, and as the factory was now
attacked on all sides, the factors sent a requisition to Colonel Brathwaite to come to
Tellicherry to assist in its defence.
On November 1st, 1779, the factory diary thus runs : “As the enemy seem
to be gaining ground—resolved that agreeable to the Company’s orders, we deliver
the keys of the fort to the Military Commanding Officer, who is to take all possible
means for the security of the fort and districts.”
From this date till January 8th, 1782, the town was in a state of close siege
on the landward side, and the keys were only returned to the Resident on the 24th of
this latter month.
Colonel Brathwaite accordingly evacuated Mahe and brought his Madras
troops to assist in the defence of Tellicherry. Part of the British Island of
Darmapattanam was seized by the enemy so early as November 3rd, but the rest of it
was held till July 18th, 1780, two days prior to the date on which Hyder Ali finally
threw off the mask and descended on the Nabob of Arcot’s territory with his array
of 99,000 men in pursuance of his plan with the Mahrattas of annihilating the
English power. And it was on that very day, July 20th, 1780, that the factors were at
last authentically apprised by a deserter that Hyder Ali was at war with the
Company. The only remaining outpost at Mount Deli was evacuated in November
1780.
Prior to these events the state of siege was maintained ostensibly by the
Kolattunad and Kadattanad Princes ; for Kottayam was throughout the siege firmly
attached to the Honourable Company’s interests, and helped materially, with a body
of from 1,000 to 1,300 of his Nayars, to enable them to hold the town successfully.
The post was not a strong one, although it was protected on three sides by the sea
and the river with redoubts1 on all positions of importance, but there was cover
available for the enemy up to within 200 yards of the main fort itself if they had
once broken through the “extensive2, but indefensible” outer line of defence.
NOTEs: 1.“Cuchicundy”, Koduvalli, Pallikkunnu, Morakkunnu, Chirakkalkandi,
Tiruvengad temple and Mailan were the principal outworks.
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2. Wilks’ "Historical Sketches”, II. 1 END OF NOTEs
Into this small and insufficiently protected area flocked every one who had
property to lose. Hyder Ali’s “Buxy” (Bakshi — paymaster) at Mahe, in a letter of
May 29th, 1780, to the Resident put the matter very forcibly thus : “I know perfectly
well that you have been guilty of giving an asylum to people that ought to pay to the
Nabob lacks and lacks of rupees, and given assistance to the vassals of the Nabob.
You also keep in your protection thieves, who ought to pay lacks and lacks of
rupees.”
Hyder Ali himself, too, in a letter to the Resident received on February 4th,
1780, complained of the protection afforded to the Nayars and their families and of
the assistance given to them in arms, etc., in order to create disturbances, whereby
“my country of 20 lacks of rupees revenue is entirely ruined, and I cannot get the
same increased.”
This security of property and perfect trust in the Company’s officers
probably did more than anything else to bring the siege to a successful issue, for
there was no other spot on the coast, not excepting the Dutch settlement at Cochin,
where such perfect security to person and property could be found. The persons
who flocked into Tellicherry from all the country round accordingly fought and
watched with the courage and vigilance of despair, and every effort of the enemy to
break through the slender line of scattered outworks was defeated.
On December 6th, 1779, Sirdar Khan, accompanied by some European
officers, minutely reconnoitred all the posts, and on January 17th, 1780, the factors
reported to the Governor-General (Warren Hastings) that Sirdar Khan was
expected shortly with a large force from Seringapatam. On February 17th, 1780, the
news arrived that he had reached Tamarasseri and wished to treat with Kottayam,
the Honourable Company’s only native ally at this time, for the restoration3 to him
of his country below the ghats. The negotiation took place: a demand was made for
five lakhs of rupees, of which two lakhs were to be paid at once. Kottayam could
raise but one lakh ; an application to the factors for the loan of another lakh was of
course refused, although it would have gone hardly with the besieged had the
Kottayam Nayars been withdrawn.
NOTEs: 3. It appears that Kottayam had previously received from Hyder Ali a “Phirmaund
for Vaenatoo” (Wainad). END OF NOTEs
Eventually Kottayam paid Rs. 60,000 to Sirdar Khan, but this was not
enough to satisfy the latter, and his request to be restored to his dominions was
accordingly refused. The result of these negotiations was to attach Kottayam more
strongly than before to the Company’s interests.
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On December 23rd, 1779, Brathwaite was relieved of the command of the

town by Major John Cotgrave, another Madras officer. On July 8th, 1780, Sirdar
Khan appeared at Mahe with a large force, which three days later he began to pass
across the river, and on the morning of the 12th the force reached “Mellure.” This
led to the evacuation of Darmapattanam Island and to the concentration of the
Honourable Company’s force within the lines of Tellicherry. Sirdar Khan refused to
assign any reasons for his action; but it was no longer doubtful that Hyder Ali had
finally broken with the Company.
As soon as the state of the season permitted, Sirdar Khan commenced
operations by sea as well as by land, and on October 1st, 1780, the factors reported
that they were “blocked by sea by a ketch and a great number of armed manchuas
and toneys.”
But this did not last long, for on October 6th came the “Drake,” and "Eagle”
cruizers, which disabled the enemy’s ketch and drove away the smaller vessels into
the creeks and rivers, where, however, they lay ready for future operations.
When the news of Bailey’s defeat by Hyder Ali arrived on November 1st,
matters assumed a very serious aspect, as it was supposed the Madras troops under
Major Cotgrave would be withdrawn, and the evacuation of two redoubts called
Whippey’s and Connor’s created shortly after this quite a panic in the town. But a
day or two later (November 27th) matters began to look brighter when Sir Edward
Hughes with H.M.’s ships Superb, Exeter, Eagle, Worcester, and Burford and others in
convoy put into the roads.
Just about this time the Mahratta Angriah, in command of Hyder Ali’s fleet,
consisting of two ships, two snows, six ketches, and two gallivats, sailed south as far
as Cannanore to attack the ships in the Tellicherry roadstead, but he did not like the
aspect of the shipping when he arrived there and wisely retreated.
Directly, however, Sir Edward Hughes sailed north to Bombay, the enemy’s
fleet again began to give trouble, and to remedy this Captain LcMesurier of the
Ponsbornc was appointed Cammodore of the Tellicherry roads.
In March and April 1781 the enemy’s exertions were redoubled, but the
garrison reinforced by two 12-pounder guns and 60 marines from the ships
successfully repelled the attacks. The following singular account of one of the
modes of attack adopted by Sirdar Khan is given by Wilks1 on the authority of Sir
Barry Close, “one of the besieged” :—“Sirdar Khan had no acquaintance with the
European science of attack and defence, but, after failing in several assaults which
were repelled by the bravery of the defenders, and finding every ordinary battery
opposed by corresponding and more skilful defensive means, or destroyed by
sorties, adopted a species of offensive work, which from its height should enable
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him to see and counteract the designs of the besieged, and from its construction be
exempt from the dangers of assault. An immense extent of base served as the
foundation for several successive storeys, constructed of the trunks of trees in
successive layers, crossing each other and compacted by earth rammed between the
intervals ; the contrivances in the rear for raising the guns were removed when the
erection was complete, and enormous inaccessible towers rearing up their summits
by the successive addition of another storey as the besieged covered themselves
from the proceeding, exhibited a system of attack too curious to be dismissed in
silence, but too imperfectly impressed by distant recollection to be well described.”
NOTEs: 1. Wilks’ “Historical Sketches, etc.," II. 2. END OF NOTEs
Shortly after this, on May 7th, Sir Edward Hughes’ squadron again came
into the roads with troops and stores and Major Aldington as “Major Commandant”
in succession to Major Cotgrave, who with the Madras troops sailed with the fleet
on May 16th.
On May 17th and 18th ineffectual attempts were made by the enemy to set
fire to the Sea Horse in the roadstead, nor were their efforts by land more successful.
On August 6th, however, they opened a fresh battery of 5 guns against
Morakkunnu, a redoubt by the river side, and in consequence of the incessant firing
kept up in reply, the gunpowder supply of the garrison began to run short and
became “very alarming.” An urgent requisition was sent to Anjengo, and Mr. Firth,
one of the factors, proceeded by sea to Cochin to endeavour to get a supply from
the Dutch. A day or two after he had gone (August 27th), the news arrived that
England was at war with the Dutch. Mr. Firth was accordingly detained as a
prisoner of war at Cochin, and the money and other things that he carried with him
were seized.
As the British fire slackened, the enemy came closer to the lines, and in
spite of the news of Sir Eyre Coote’s victories on the East Coast in July and August,
the enemy were no whit less assiduous in the siege. On October 11th they had,
Major Abington reported, mined “under and even within our lines.” But on that day
also arrived the first instalment of the long looked for supply of gunpowder and
hand grenades from Anjengo, and the anxiety so long felt was removed.
On November 22nd Mr. Firth was released at Cochin in exchange for a
Dutchman, a relative of the Dutch Governor Van Angelbeck. With the beginning of
December 1781 came the news from the East Coast of the retaking of Arcot and of
Hyder Ali being in “a very perilous situation at a place called Convy”.
And by this time the Bombay authorities had matured their plans for
relieving the settlement. Accordingly, on December 18th, the Resident and Major
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Abington had a consultation and agreed on a plan of operations to be put in force

directly the expected reinforcements arrived.
The plan appears to have been much the same as that already long before
proposed by the Kottayam Raja in December 1780, and then warmly approved by
Major Cotgrave. Kottayam was to advance from the fastnesses of the ghats in rear
of the enemy opposing the Morakkunnu redoubt. The garrison were to join hands
with him there and thus cut the besieging army in half and afterwards vanquish it in
detail.
Besides this, the cruisers were to be stationed to the south of Mahe to
prevent a retreat of Sirdar Khan’s force by sea. The cruisers protecting the roadstead
at this time were the Morning Star and the Drake, and as a preliminary to the further
operations, they, on 21st December, set upon Hyder Ali’s gallivats, took one of
them, and drove the remainder in a very shattered condition into the Valarpattanam
river. On the same day the enemy sprung two mines at Fort Mailan, but without
doing any damage, and that post was made stronger than ever. On December 28th,
the Travancore and Zamorin Rajas were addressed to assist in crushing Hyder Ali’s
force on the coast as soon as the Tellicherry siege was raised. It was necessary to
maintain the strictest secrecy in regard to the intended movements, and hence the
addresses to these Rajas were not sent sooner.
On December 30th, 1781, the expected reinforcements arrived from
Bombay, consisting of the 2nd and 8th battalions of sepoys and 40 artillery men with
four 6-pounders, besides lascars.
With this force, and as many of the troops in garrison as could be spared,
Major Abington left his trenches at 5 A.M. on Monday, 8th January 1782, and
“stormed and carried the enemy’s batteries, took their cannon, ammunition, etc.,
and a number of prisoners, etc.” And the further results were thus described by him
in a note addressed to Mr. Freeman, the Resident, written from “Guerechee” at 11
o’clock: -
“Sir, I congratulate you on our success, and I believe our whole loss does
not exceed 30 killed and wounded. We are in possession of Guerechee, Putney,
Bench Hill and I hope by this time of everything under Moylan, all the guns and 2
brass field-pieces. Scirdar Caun is now setting with me, and all his family; he is
wounded and seems very ill; the Buckshee of the irregulars is killed, and they have
suffered very considerably. Poor Woodington is the only officer wounded. Yours
very sincerely —William Abington.”
Fort St. George at Mahe surrendered at 9½P.M. on the 8th, and Mahe at 5A.M
next morning. The left attack being thus annihilated, the remainder of the besieging
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army on the point of Nittur and on Darmapattanam Island evacuated their positions
on the 9th.
The keys of the fort were re-delivered to the Resident on January 24th. The
Nayars rose all over the country, and Major Abington pushing on southwards took
Calicut on February 13th, and by the 20th of that month "Palicatcherry" was reported
to be the only place of importance, though this fact is doubtful, remaining in Hyder
Ali’s hands in South Malabar.
“Sirdar Caun departed this life at 9 o’clock this morning” (February 26th).
Hyder’s affairs at this time were in a very unprosperous state — Sirdar
Khan’s army destroyed at Tellicherry ; disappointed and, as he thought, deceived by
the French, foiled in every battle by Sir Eyre Coote. Rebellions in Malabar, in Coorg
and in Bullum, and finally threatened by a Mahratta invasion from the north, “he
determined1 to concentrate his force, to abandon his scheme of conquest in
Coromandel, and to direct his undivided efforts first, for the expulsion of the
English from the Western Coast, and afterwards for the preservation of his
dominions, and for watching the course of events.”
He had to reduce his army in the Carnatic considerably in order to despatch
the three expeditions required to put down the rebels. Mukhdum Ali was sent to
Malabar, Woffadar (a Chela) to Coorg, and Shaikh Ayaz (Hyat Sahib,2 another and
more remarkable Chela) was ordered from Bednur (of which he was appointed
governor) against Bullum.
NOTEs: 2. The story of this man is remarkable. Wilks gives the following account of him :
—
Among the prisoners carried off in the first inhuman emigration from Malabar, was a young
Nair, from Chereul, who had been received as a slave of the populace, and to whom, on his forced
conversion to Islam, they had given the name of Shaikh Ayaz.* The noble port, ingenuous manners,
and singular beauty of the boy attracted general attention ; and when at a more mature age he was led
into the field, his ardent valour and uncommon intelligence recommended him to the particular favour
of Hyder, who was an enthusiast in his praise, and would frequently speak to him, under the
designation of “his right hand in the hour of danger.” . . . .In the conversation of Muhammadan chiefs,
a slave of the house, far from being a term of degradation or reproach, uniformly conveys the
impression of an affectionate and trustworthy humble friend, and such was Ayaz in the estimation of
Hyder. To the endowments which have been stated, incessant and confidential military service had
superadded experience beyond his years ; and Hyder selected him for the important trust of civil and
military governor of the fort and territory of Chittledroog. But modest as he was, faithful and brave,
Ayaz wished to decline the distinction, as one to which he felt himself incompetent ; and particularly
objected, that he could neither read nor write, and was consequently incapable of a civil charge. “Keep
a corlat at your right hand ” said Hyder, “ and that will do you better service than pen and ink,” then
assuming a graver countenance, “place reliance ” added he, “on your excellent understanding ! act for
yourself alone ! fear nothing from the calumnies of the scribblers ! but trust in me as I trust in you !
Reading and writing!! how have I risen to empire without the knowledge of either?” In addition to this
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Hyder Ali was in the habit of publicly drawing very invidious comparisons between his son Tippu and
his favourite Shaikh Ayaz. Reprimanding the former on one occasion for attempting secretly to
embezzle some plunder, he called him “a thief and a blockhead” ; observing that he had not the
common sense to perceive that he was stealing from himself : for “unhappily,” said he, “ you will be
my successor; would that I had begotten Ayaz instead of you !” Directly therefore Tippu assumed the
reins of Government on the death of Hyder Ali, he despatched secret instructions to the second in
command at Bodnur to put Ayaz to death and assume the government. What follows is thus narrated
by Wilks :—“ Whatever may have been the ultimate intentions of Ayaz at this period, it is certain that
apprehensions of treachery were mixed with all his deliberations : he had taken the precaution of
ordering that no letter of any description from the eastward should be delivered without previous
examination ; and being entirely illiterate, this scrutiny always took place with no other person present
than the reader and himself, either in a private chamber, or if abroad, retired from hearing and
observation, in the woods. On the day preceding that on which the ghauts were attacked, and while
Ayaz was occupied near Hyderghur, in giving directions regarding their defence, the fatal letter arrived
and was inspected with the usual precautions ; the Brahman who read it, and to whom the letter was
addressed as second in command, stands absolved from all suspicion of prior design by the very act of
reading its contents ; but in the perilous condition of Ayaz he durst not confide in a secrecy at best
precarious, even for a day ; without a moment’s hesitation, he put the unfortunate Brahman to death to
prevent discovery ; put the letter in his pocket, and returning to his attendants instantly mounted, and
without leaving any orders, went off at speed to the citadel to make the arrangements for surrender
which have been related, it may well be presumed that this horrible scene could not have been enacted
without some intimation reaching the ears of the attendants, and the very act of abandoning the scene
of danger contrary to his usual habits, spread abroad among the troops those rumours of undefined
treachery which abundantly account for their dispersion and dismay.” He accordingly surrendered to
General Matthews the fort and country of Bednur, of which he was the governor, on the condition
that he was “to remain under the English as he was under the Nabob (Hyder Ali).” Of the unhappy
results of General Matthews’ expedition it is unnecessary to say anything. Shaikh Ayaz fled precipitately
from Bednur on hearing of the approach of Tippu with the whole of his army, leaving General
Matthews and his army to its fate, and his flight was so sudden that he lost the small remains of
property belonging to him. He appears to have fled to the protection of the Company’s settlement at
Tellicherry, and there “on the 7th of the month Kany,” in the year 1783, he obtained under pretence of
using his influence with the English to procure for his quondam sovereign, the reigning Kolattiri
Prince, the restoration of his country, a grant for his family of three taras or villages in the Chirakkal
taluk ( Treaties , etc., i. XCI.). The grant was subsequently pronounced invalid as having been obtained
by fraud. Tippu tried in vain to persuade the English to give up his enemy Ayaz under one of the
conditions of the treaty of peace executed in 1784, which provided for a restitution of prisoners
captured. Ayaz eventually retired to Mazagon in Bombay in enjoyment of a money allowance granted
to him by the Supreme Government. It would appear that he was originally a Nambiar by caste
belonging to the Valia Putiya house in Chirakkal. END OF NOTEs
* The same person afterwards Governor of Bednur at the accession of
Tippu, and called in most English accounts Hyat Saheb.
t. A long whip of cotton rope, about an inch and a half in diameter at the
thick end, where it is grasped, and tapering to a point at the other extremity ; this
severe instrument of personal punishment is about 9 feet long; and Hyder was
constantly attended by a considerable number of persons too constantly practised in
its use.
Shortly after Major Abington had, on 13th February 1782, taken Calicut,
there arrived at that place from Bombay, under the command of Colonel
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Humber«tone, a portion of the force despatched from England under General

Medows and Commodore Johnson. Col. Humberstone’s force consisted of about
1,000 men, and it appears that the original plan was for General Medows’ whole
force to co-operate with Sir Edward Hughes’ squadron in an operation against the
Dutch settlements in Ceylon. But it was diverted from this object through
instructions received from Mr. Sullivan, the British Resident at Tanjore, and Colonel
Humberstone accordingly proceeded to make a diversion against Hyder Ali by
advancing from Calicut against the approaching army of Mukhdum Ali.
The following is Colonel Walk's narrative1 of the events which followed :
—
“The naval and military officers commanding this portion of the armament
having received the communication from Mr. Sullivan, which has been described,
and deeming the attempt to reach the opposite coast, while the French were
understood to have the superiority at sea, as a precarious undertaking, determined
that the troops should be landed at Calicut in aid of the proposed diversion, and
that the ships should return to Bombay in furtherance of the same design. Colonel
Humberstone, as senior officer, assumed also the command of the troops which
had hitherto served under Major Abington, and being joined by a body of Nayars
anxious to emerge from a long and cruel subjugation, he moved about twenty miles
to the southward (of Calicut) and close to Tricalore,2 came in contact with Hyder’s
detachment under Mukhdum Ali, already adverted to.
NOTEs: 1. Wilks’ “Historical Sketches," II. 28.
2. On 8th April 1782.—(Tellicherry Factory Diary, 13th and 15th April 1782.) The place
appears to be identical with Tirurangadi in Ernad taluk. END OF NOTEs
“That officer, confident in superior numbers, estimated at 7,000, waited the

result of an action in a strong but most injudicious position, with a deep and
difficult river in the rear of his right ; from this position he was dislodged, and the
retreat of the left being interrupted by a judicious movement of the English troops,
a large portion of the Mysorean right was driven into the river with a loss, in killed
alone, estimated by Colonel Humberstone at between three and four hundred men,
and among that number Mukhdum Ali, their commander ; 200 prisoners and 150
horses were secured, and the total loss in killed, wounded and prisoners may thus be
estimated at from 1,000 to 2,000 men, while that of the English was inconsiderable.
“Colonel Humberstone followed the route of the fugitives as far as
Audicota. but finding pursuit unavailing, he resumed his plan of proceeding to the
attack of Palghaut cherry by the river Paniani, which passing near to that fort
discharges itself into the sea at a town of the same name with the river, distant about
sixty miles, and is navigable for boats to distances fluctuating with the season, but
sometimes for thirty miles. While moving southward for that purpose and waiting
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the arrival of the boats which conveyed his stores, a violent gale of wind, attended
with five days’ incessant rain, dispersed the boats, spoiled the provisions, and
damaged the ammunition ; and the soldiers, from exposure to the inclemency of the
season, becoming sickly, he was induced, as soon as the violence of the weather
would allow, to march his troops to the towns of Tanoor and Paniani.
During these events, the Mysoreans rallied at Ramgerry,3 a place situated
about half way from the coast to Palghaut cherry, whence detachments of cavalry
were advanced for the usual purpose of annoyance. Colonel Humberstone being
himself seriously indisposed, directed Major Campbell, in an interval of fair weather
to advance towards the enemy, who again awaited the attack in an injudicious
position and were defeated with the loss of two guns. Experience of the nature of
the season already commenced compelled Colonel Humberstone to seek for better
cover to shelter his troops during the monsoon, and he availed himself of the first
favourable interval to return to Calicut after a short course of operations highly
creditable to his energies as an executive military officer, but founded on views
neither sufficiently matured nor combined by the Governments, who were to supply
the means necessary to the execution of the service and finally undertaken at an
improper season.
NOTEs: 3. On the cross road between Pattambi and Cherupullasseri. END OF NOTEs
“In contemplating the policy of such diversion, the Government of

Bombay were wisely of opinion that no middle course was expedient between
measures purely defensive on that coast, and an armament capable not only of
penetrating into the interior but maintaining its communications. Previously to the
departure of Colonel Humberstone from Bombay, the Government had distinctly
objected to a project which he had suggested for employing the troops under his
command in the reduction of Mangalore or Cochin, and urged his proceeding to
Madras where the reinforcement was expected. The operations which have been
described are therefore to be viewed as resulting from a coincidence of
circumstances, and not the effect of digested measures, for we shall hereafter have
occasion to see that the combinations which might have rendered them safe and
efficient were never practically adopted.
“On receiving intelligence, however, of his landing at Calicut and sending
back the ships, although the Government of Bombay state this determination to
have ‘disconcerted their measures,’ ‘they nevertheless resolved to take the proper
means to assist him’ ; afterwards however expressing their regret that ‘while General
Coote is in want of every European we can collect, as appears by the Madras letter
received on the 13th ultimo, the force under Colonel Humberstone should be shut
up at Calicut in the utmost distress for many necessary articles ; in no situation to
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render any service to the public ; and out of the reach of support or supply from
hence at this season of the year.’
“Sir Eyre Coote, however, judiciously converting his own disappointment
with regard to this reinforcement into the means of effecting a secure diversion,
placed Colonel Humberstone under the orders of the Government of Bombay,
recommending to them such a concentrated and powerful attack on Hyder’s
western possessions, as should have the effect of compelling him to return for their
defence and thus leave his French allies in Coromandel to their own separate
resources. Before, however, these measures could be matured, or the season could
admit of conveying to Colonel Humberstone the requisite orders for his guidance,
that officer was again in motion for the prosecution of his original design. The river
Paniani afforded conveyance for his stores as far as the post of Tirtalla, thirty miles
inland, and he soon afterwards obtained possession of Ramgerry, a place of some
capability, five miles further up the river.
“Fortunately the extreme peril of the expedition was here tempered by the
consequences of local inexperience, and apparently inadequate means of
communication with the natives; he describes himself to be 'ignorant of the road and
situation of the country, and could place little dependence on the information of the Nayars,’
natives of that part of the country, and deeply interested in his success : he
consequently determined to leave under the protection of a battalion of sepoys at
Ramgerry the whole of his battering train and heavy equipments and marched with
six 6-pounders, two 1-pounders, and the remainder of his force ‘to reconnoitre the
country and fortress of Palghautcherry, before he should undertake to attack it.
“The remains of the Mysorean troops appeared to make a stand in a
position not far from the place, but suffered themselves to be easily dislodged, and
retreated into the fort. The colonel proceeded under cover of his troops to
reconnoitre the southern and western works ; he moved on the ensuing day to the
northward of the fort, and after folding by a complete examination that it was
‘everywhere much stronger than he had reason to apprehend,’ he returned to his first ground
to the westward of the place, but in this movement, a judicious and well-timed sortie
produced the loss of nearly the whole of his provisions and the discomfiture of all
his Nayars, who seem to have gone off in a panic in consequence of being attacked
in a morass during a thick fog.
“On the ensuing day he fell back to a little place named Mangaricota, eight
miles distant, where he had left some provisions. An attack in force upon his rear
repelled with judgment and spirit was of less importance than the distress sustained
by rains which fell from the 21st to the 24th with as great violence as during any
period of the monsoon, and rendered impassable for several hours a rivulet in his
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rear. It appears by letters, not officially recorded, that on the 10th November he
received at Mangaricota orders from Bombay to return to the coast ; he commenced
his march for that purpose on the 12th. On the 14th he was at Ramgerry, about
halfway from Palghaut to the coast.
“A chasm occurs in the materials which the public records afford from the
30th of October till the 19th of November, when Colonel MacLeod, who had been
sent by Sir Eyre Coote to assume the command, landed at Paniani. On the 20th
Colonel Humberstone with his whole force came in, having made a rapid retreat
before Tippu and Lally, who followed him by forced marches with a very superior
force the last march being from Tirtalla, thirty miles. The public despatches are
silent with regard to his numbers and the fate of the battering train, but the
circumstances which led to this attack are better ascertained.
“After the defeat of Mukhduni All, Hyder had made all the requisite
arrangements for endeavouring to repair that misfortune as soon as the season
should permit. Tippu’s usual command including the corps of M. Lally had been
reinforced and improved, and towards the close of the rains in Malabar, affected to
be meditating some blow in the neighbourhood of Trichinopoly in order that when
the state of the season and of the roads should be reported favourable, and above all
when Colonel Humberstone should have advanced a sufficient distance from the
coast, Tippu1 might be enabled by a few forced marches to come unexpectedly
upon him. The receipt of orders from Bombay for his return to the coast,
considered by himself as a public misfortune, may be deemed the efficient cause of
the preservation of the troops under his command.
NOTEs: Colonel Humberstone, on 16th June 1782, when at Calicut, received information
that "Tippu Said will most undoubtedly command the army on this side in the ensuing campaign. (His
letter in Tellicherry Factory Diary, dated 1st July 1782.) END OF NOTEs
“Tippu commenced his forced march from the vicinity of Caroor in the
confidence of finding Colonel Humberstone at Mangaricota advancing his stores for
the siege of Palghaut. Tippu arrived at the latter place on the 16th, when his enemy
had receded to Ramgerry ; it was not however, until the 18th2 at night, that he had
any intelligence which satisfied him of the necessity of retreat at four o'clock on the
ensuing morning ; but from an official neglect to send the order to a picquet of 150
men stationed at the extraordinary distance of three miles, five hours were lost ;
incessantly harassed and cannonaded throughout the day, he attempted without
success to pursue his route on the right bank of the river which was not fordable,
but found himself stopped by impenetrable swamps.
NOTEs: 2. Apparently he had intended marching on the evening of the 18th (Tellicherry
Factory Diary. 22nd November 1782.) END OF NOTEs
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“The early part of the night was passed in anxious search for a practicable
forth and at length one was found so deep as to take ordinary men to the chin ; yet
by clinging together in silence, the tall assisting the short, the whole got across
without the loss of a man. Tippu supposing the river to be everywhere impassable,
employed the night in making dispositions for destroying his enemy in the snare in
which he supposed him to be entrapped ; but by daylight on the 20th the detachment
had performed the largest portion of the march and was only overtaken within two
miles of Paniani. The hope of intercepting him was thus frustrated by an unexpected
event, but Tippu determined to persevere in the attack.
“Colonel MacLeod, on examining his position3 at Paniani, began to
strengthen it by some field works, and on the 25th attempted to surprise Tippu’s
camp by night, an enterprise from which he desisted on forcing a picquet and
discovering regular military arrangements and a strong position. On the morning of
the 29th, before day, the field works being still unfinished, Tippu attempted the
strong, but weakly occupied position of Colonel MacLeod by a well-designed attack
in four columns, one of them headed by Lally’s corps; but such was the vigilance,
discipline and energy of the English troops that the more advanced picquets were
merely driven in on the out-posts, not one of which was actually forced ; support to
the most vulnerable having been skilfully provided and M. Lally’s corps having
fortunately been met by the strongest, each column before it could penetrate further
was impetuously charged with the bayonet.
NOTEs: 3. The Tellicherry factors sent him 500 bags of rice on the 27th, there being only
13days' provisions in store at Ponnani. - (Tellicherry Factory Diary, dated 27th November 1782.) END
OF NOTEs
“The errors incident to operations by night divided the columns, but the
English tactic was uniform. A single company of Europeans did not hesitate to
charge with the bayonet, a column of whatever weight without knowing or
calculating numbers. M. Lally’s dispositions were excellent, if the quality of the
troops had been equal, a pretension which could only be claimed by a portion of
one column out of the four, and the attempt ended in total discomfiture and
confusion, the Mysoreans leaving on the field 200 men killed and carrying off about
1,000 wounded; the loss of the English was 41 Europeans and 47 sepoys killed and
wounded, including eight officers.
“Sir Edward Hughes proceeding with his squadron from Madras to
Bombay, came in sight of the place on the ensuing day ; and on learning the
circumstances in which the troops were placed, offered to Colonel MacLeod the
alternative of receiving them on board, or reinforcing him with 450 Europeans. He
adopted the latter, from considering that while Tippu should remain in his front, the
small body under his command could not be better employed than in occupying the
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attention of so large a portion of the enemy’s army, and that while at Paniani he was
equally prepared, as at any other part of the coast, to embark and join the
concentrated force which he knew to be preparing at Bombay.
“The return furnished by Colonel MacLeod to the Commander-in-Chief at
Madras of his total number, after receiving from Sir Edward Hughes the
reinforcement of 450 men, was European 800, English sepoys 1,000, Travaneorean
troops 1,200, showing that the number of Europeans engaged in the late encounter
were fewer than 400 men, and as he had been accompanied in landing by 40 men,
the number with which Colonel Humberstone returned to Paniani could not have
exceeded 300 men, out of the thousand with which he had landed in the preceding
February.
“Tippu after this ineffectual attempt1 retired to a further distance to await
the arrival of his heavy equipments in order to resume the attack on the position at
Paniani ; but on the 12th of December, the swarm of light troops which had
continued to watch the English position was invisible, and successive reports
confirmed the intelligence that the whole Mysorean force was proceeding by forced
marches to the eastward, whither our narrative must return.”
*****
Hyder Ali died on the 7th December 1782 and Tippu was in full march back
to secure his father’s throne.
On hearing of Colonel MacLeod’s position at Ponnani the Bombay
Government determined to despatch their Commander-in-Chief, Brigadier-General
Matthews, to relieve him with such forces as were immediately available. In his
progress down the coast General Matthews heard of the hasty retreat of the enemy’s
force, and instead of going on to Ponnani, he commenced, under special orders
from Bombay, a hasty and ill-considered scheme for an advance on Bednur. For this
purpose he sent ships to Ponnani and brought away Colonel MacLeod and the force
under his command. The factors at Tellicherry were alarmed at the withdrawal of
the force, as it exposed the settlement to great danger in the event of its being again
attacked.
It is unnecessary to follow in this narrative the unhappy issue of the
campaign thus rashly undertaken or of the defence of Mangalore which brought it
to a glorious but unfortunate close. The shattered remains of the Mangalore
garrison, with their brave commander, Colonel Campbell, reached Tellicherry on the
3rd February 1783 in the ships Sulivan, Hawke, and Alfred, escorted by the Morning
Star and Drake, cruisers.
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As a diversion in another quarter to draw Tippu’s attention away from

Mangalore after his breach of the armistice at that place Colonel Fullarton, in
command of a force1 of 1,700 Europeans and seventeen battalions of sepoys which
had been organised by Mr. Sullivan, the Resident of Tanjore, to operate in Mysore,
pushed westwards from Dindigul via Darapuram towards Palghaut as soon as he
had been apprised2 by the factors of Tellicherry of a recommencement of hostilities
at Mangalore.
NOTEs:1. One European and three sepoy brigades, besides four flank battalions that acted
as a fifth brigade.” Also “65 pieces of cannon, with field ammunition and 10,000 battering shot; the
engineer’s department was stored with besieging tools and other implements ; the pioneer corps was
strengthened ; our cavalry, excepting three troops, were natives and irregulars ; they amounted to 1,000
men ”—Col. Fullarton’s letter to Madras Government, 7th January 1785. The figures given in the text
are taken from the Tellicherry factory diary.
2. This was on 3rd October 1783. They had, the previous day, received secret intelligence of
the fact from Mr. Murdoch Brown written, as alleged, at the peril of his life from Valarpattanam ; but.
the fact was subsequently not confirmed. Mr. Brown's information was that Tippu taking advantage of
an opportunity “seized and put in irons the troops, general, and gentlemen, who were out of the fort”
at a time when Tippu's own force was apparently dispersed ; but the General (MacLeod) arrived at
Tellicherry on the 12th. END OF NOTEs
“The immediate object of this movement was the relief of Mangalore : the
ultimate object was the reduction of Hyder’s family, or at least the attainment of a
respectable accommodation.”
The vaguest ideas regarding the topography of the country prevailed, and
Mangalore was found to be too distant to be reached by the force, but the seizure of
Palghaut “as an intermediate place of strength and resources” and to serve as a
magazine of stores and provisions for the prosecution of our undertaking or to
secure a retreat if necessary,” with a view to the carrying out of the ultimate object
for which the force had been organised, appeared to Colonel Fullarton an operation
of the greatest importance.
His own account3 of his Palghaut campaign is thus related : -
“Palghautcherry4 held forth every advantage; it was a place of the first strength in
India, while its territory afforded a superabundance of provisions. The mountains
that bound the pass which it commands are strengthened by thick forests and
surrounding woods, and the intersections of the Ponnani river, through deep rice
grounds, all concurred to enable a small body of infantry to defend the territory
against any number of horse. It commanded, further, the only practicable
communication between the coasts of Coromandel and Malabar, and promised us
possession of all the countries from Trichinopoly by Darapuram, in a reach of more
than two hundred miles. It opened the means of supply from Travancore, Cochin,
and other places on the Malabar coast. It afforded confidence to the Zamorin and
other disaffected rajas, from Cochin to Goa, who were struggling to shake off the
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yoke of Hyder. It left us at liberty to disguise our movements and to proceed either
by the route of Coimbatore and Gudgereddy, or by Calicut on the Malabar coast,
and the pass of Damalcherry,1 to the siege of Seringapatam. It was, besides, of such
intrinsic consequence to the Mysore Government that the reduction of it could not
fail to weigh essentially in the negotiations for peace, then said to be in agitation,
and promised to make Tippu Sultan raise the siege of Mangalore, in order to oppose
our farther progress.
NOTEs: 3. “A View of English Interests in India,” etc., Madras 1867, pp. 26-30.
4. Palghautcherry was completely re-built by Hyder since the war of 1767 with the English,
and was furnished with all the advantages of European construction and defence.
1. Tamarassori. END OF NOTEs
“We marched from Putney in October, reduced the forts of Cumalum,

Chucklygerry, and Annamally, and passed through a rich country abounding with
dry grain, cattle, wood, and rice-fields. At Poliatchy the ground attains its highest
elevation, and the streams run east and west to the Coromandel and Malabar seas.
During our whole march through this part of the country, the flank brigade, under
Captain Maitland, moved constantly in front, occupied positions, and secured
provisions for the army.
“From Annamally our progress became truly laborious ; we had to force
our way through a forest twenty miles in depth, extending thirty miles across the
pass of Palghaut. Our object was to reach Calingoody,2 a post on the western side of
the forest, within fifteen miles of Palghaut cherry. The frequent ravines required to
be filled up before it was possible to drag the guns across them ; innumerable large
trees which obstructed the passage, required to be cut down and drawn out of the
intended track, and then the whole road was then to be formed before the carriages
could pass. The bridges were distributed to succeed each other at intervals, preceded
by pioneers, in order to clear what the advanced body had opened, for the guns and
stores that were to move under cover of the rear division.
“While we were thus engaged, an unremitting rain, extremely unusual at
that season, commenced. The ravines were filled with water, the paths became
slippery, the bullocks lost their footing, and the troops were obliged to drag the
guns and carriages across the, whole forest. I forced on with the advance to
Calingoody,2 in order to make the necessary arrangements with the people of the
Zamorin, who had prepared for the future subsistence of the army. The disposition
of the inhabitants towards us, and their means of supply, exceeded our most
sanguine expectations.
NOTEs: 2. Kollengode. END OF NOTEs
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“The Zamoria’s vakeel informed the Brahmans that we were friends to their
cause, and eager to deliver them from the yoke of Hyder ; that we only wished to
receive the public proportion of grain, but none from individuals, and that any
person belonging to the camp who should attempt to plunder, would be hanged in
front of the lines. On hearing these declarations they testified the strongest
satisfaction, and their confidence increased when they found that the first offenders
were executed.
“The rains continued fourteen days without intermission, the passage
through the forest became daily move distressful, and the troops were exposed, in
their whole progress, without the possibility of pitching touts or of affording them
either cover or convenience.
“Calingoody1 is fifteen miles from Palghautcherry, and the road lies entirely
through rice grounds, with intersecting ridges
covered with cocoa and other trees ; the water
and embankments necessary for the cultivation
of rice render it difficult for guns to pass and
impracticable for cavalry to act. As soon as
sufficient, force got through the wood, the
advance corps moved to the bank of the
Ponnani river, within random shot of the works
of Palghautcherry. There we took a secure
position and prepared to attack the place.
NOTEs: 1. Kollengode. END OF NOTEs
My Brahman Hircarrahs2 had executed a

model of the fort in clay, a work at which they
are extremely dexterous, and on all hands we
had received accounts of it that appeared exaggerated ; but on a near inspection, my
admiration of its strength was mingled with serious apprehensions that much time
might be wasted on its reduction.
NOTEs: 2. Hircarrahs are people who give intelligence, show roads, etc. END OF
NOTEs
“On the 4th of November the main body of the troops, not including the
rear division, arrived at our position on the river, which we crossed next day, and
encamped about two miles east from the fort across the great road that leads from
Coimbatore. The engineer’s stores arrived and a post for them was established,
where all the preparations for a siege were collected. As our next object was to
circumscribe the besieged and accelerate our approaches, with this view we
occupied the pettah, or open town, on the east and north faces of the fort ; and on
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each of these faces we carried forward an attack. During the whole period of our
approaches, and in the construction of our trenches, parallels and batteries, the
besieged kept a continued fire on our covering and working parties. The battering
train and stores, under cover of the 4th brigade, reached our encampment on the 9th,
after a succession of toils that would appear incredible if recited in detail.
“Apprehending much delay from the strength of the defences and the
obstinacy of the defenders, especially if they should force us to approach by sap to
the crest of the glacis, and to proceed from thence by regular gradations across the
ditch, we resolved, at a seasonable opportunity, to attempt the gateway. We found it,
so strongly flanked and fortified that it appeared almost secure from any attack ;
however, having no drawbridge, we founded our hopes of accelerating the siege on
this circumstance.
“We did not permit any heavy metal whatever to be fired till the 13th when
we opened with twelve guns and four howitzers from two batteries, at four hundred
yards’ distance from the east and north faces of the fort, and before sunset the
defences were so much damaged that the fire of the besieged considerably abated.
The fortunate circumstances1 attending our attack, and the surrender of the place
during the night, are explained in my letter of the 15th November.
NOTEs: 1 “The Honourable Captain (now Sir Thomas) Maitland being on duty in the
trenches, had taken advantage of a heavy fall of rain to drive the enemy from the covered way which
was not palisaded, and pursuing the fugitives through the first, and second gateways, struck such a
panic into the garrison so as to cause its immediate surrender.” (Wilks’ “Historical Sketches,’ II, 80.)
END OF NOTEs
“On the surrender of Palghautcherry, I appointed Captain Dewar, one of

your ablest officers, to command there, and the 19th battalion with a few Europeans
and some irregulars to garrison the place. The heir apparent to the Zamorin left his
retirement in the woods and remained with me during the siege. In answer to his
urgent solicitations that I should restore him to the dominions, of which Hyder had
deprived his family, I declared that, in the event of our moving by Calicut, I hoped
to effect his re-establishment there ; and that, in the meanwhile, he should be
reinstated in the territory of Palghaut, an ancient dependency of the Zamorins,
requiring only from him that he should furnish grain for the army while in that
vicinity, without any other obligation until the termination of the war, or until your
Government should make some regular agreement with him.
“To establish more fully the Zamorin’s authority, and to afford him the
necessary support in his present situation, a large body of Brahman hircarrahs, who
had constantly remained with me in camp, were employed, and proved not only of
material service in the business of intelligence, but of material influence in
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conciliating the Gentoos. Accompanied by them we frequently rode through the

adjacent villages, assembled the head people, and assured them of protection.”
Finding that the physical difficulties in the way of effecting a junction with
General MacLeod’s force at Tellicherry with a view to a combined movement
against Mysore were insurmountable, Colonel Fullarton still bent on reaching
Mysore, turned eastwards, and on 26th November received the surrender of
Coimbatore.
Two days later he received instructions, which he at first sensibly
disregarded, from the peace plenipotentiaries proceeding to Tippu’s camp, to
abandon his intentions of aggression against Mysore and to retire within the limits
held by the English on the 26th July preceding. But the orders received confirmation
from Madras, and Fullarton on 28th December began reluctantly to obey them.
Hardly however had he reached Dindigul once more, when the government of Lord
Macartney changed its mind and he was told to stand fast in his possessions.
It was too late, however, the evacuation had been carried out and as Mr.
Swartz, the famous missionary, forcibly expressed it, “they had let go the reins and how
were they to control the beast !”
Palghaut had been occupied by the Zamorin of Calicut as soon as the
British force retired. Fullarton applied for and received four battalions of
Travancore sepoys, which he despatched to the place to help the Zamorin to hold it
till further assistance could arrive, but before the succour arrived, the Zamorin’s
force despairing1 of support had abandoned the place and retired into the
mountains. Tippu’s forces, thereupon, speedily re-occupied all the south of Malabar
as far as the Kota river, at which point a detachment of troops from Tellicherry was
stationed to prevent the enemy from encroaching on the Kadattanad country to the
north of the river.
NOTEs: 1. Fullarton, in his narrative, gives the following curious account of the reasons for
abandoning the place :—"The Zamorin and his followers of the Nayar caste are rigid Gentoos and
venerate the Brahmans. Tippu’s soldiers, therefore daily exposed the heads of many Brahmans in sight
of the fort. It is asserted that the Zamorin, rather than witness such enormities, chose to abandon
Palghautcherry.” END OF NOTEs
Meanwhile, an independent expedition had been planned against

Cannanore, "that nest of enemies” as the officer in command, Brigadier-General
Norman MacLeod, styled it. The reason for attacking it was that some 300 sepoys
on their way from Bombay to join General MacLeod’s army had been wrecked on
the coast in a storm. Two hundred of them had been detained by Tippu as
prisoners, and the rest had similarly been detained by the Bibi of Cannanore. There
are very few particulars in the records regarding this expedition, of the reasons for
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which the factors were not informed until after the place had fallen. Genera]
MacLeod arrived at Tellicherry on October 12, 1783, almost simultaneously with the
detachment of French troops under Colonel Cossigny, which had taken part in the
earlier operations against Mangalore, but which had left Tippu’s service on the
conclusion of peace between the English and French.
On October 20th there arrived the squadron of H.M.’s ships under Sir
Richard Bickerton bringing with them from Madras “800 of H.M.’s troops” for
General MacLeod’s command. More troops came from Bombay shortly afterwards,
and by 11th December General MacLeod reported “everything in great forwardness
in the siege.” And three days later, or on 14th December, the place was carried. The
42nd and 100th regiments and two companies of the Tellicherry grenadiers took part
in the operations.
On the 8th of January 1784 the General and the Bibi of Cannanore entered
into an agreement2 of peace and friendship, stipulating for repossession of all the
countries, of which the Bibi stood possessed before the English army entered the
country (thereby including3 the greater portion, if not the whole, of the Kolattiri
northern dominions), for a war indemnity of 1½ lakhs of rupees, for an annual
tribute of another lakh, and for the Bibi’s protection against the Nayars, retention of
the forts by the English, and offer of the pepper crop at a reasonable price.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., i. XCII
3. The reigning Kolattiri prince, while a vassal of Tippu’s, had in 1782 joined General
Matthew’s force. This was the signal for the Cannanore Mappilla family to rise and re-possess itself of
the territory which it had held under Hyder Ali from 1766 till 1777. END OF NOTEs
This engagement was however disavowed subsequently by the Bombay

Government as having been concluded without authority, but afterwards it was
temporarily confirmed during the armistice with Tippu or until peace should be
concluded.
And peace was now near at hand, although it was not a peace of which the
English could be proud ; for Tippu, already in possession of all the territory which
the English held as guarantees of peace excepting Cannanore and Dindigul, was in a
position to flout the peace plenipotentiaries, and he on the 11th March 1784
acquiesced eventually in the articles1 only when he learnt that the English were again
preparing in earnest for a further conflict.
NOTEs: 1 Treaties, etc., i. XCIII.- Which contains only those articles relating to Malabar
affairs. END OF NOTEs
In the first article the parties stipulated for peace on behalf of their “allies
and friends” among whom the English particularly cited, as theirs, the Rajas of
Tanjure and Travancore and the Nabob of the Carnatic, and among those whom
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History
Tippu similarly cited were “the Bibi of Cannanore and the Rajas or Zamindars of
the Malabar Coast”.
The peace plenipotentiaries were not in a position to protect their friends.
Warren Hastings pertinently remarked that the proper place for the plenipotentiaries
to have arranged terms with Tippu would have been at the head of Colonel
Fullarton’s force instead of which they went as suppliants to Tippu’s camp at
Mangalore. The Tellicherry factors addressed them at that place under date the 16th
February, begging earnestly that the dominions of the Coorg, Kolattiri, Kottayam
and Kadattanad Rajas and of the Iruvalinad Nambiars might be secured
independence, inasmuch as the welfare and trade of the company’s settlement, and
their China investments, depended upon the degree of independence which might
he secured for these chieftains.
“They pointed out that Coorg had been independent since the close of the
siege of Tellicherry, that the company through their conquest of Cannanore were
now in a position to reins-state the Kolattiri prince, that the Kottayam2 family had
never bowed their necks either to Hyder Ali or to Tippu’s rule, had preferred exile
in their mountain fastnesses to submission to the conqueror, had in company with
Kadattanad rendered “very essential service to the company during the siege of
Tellicherry,” and had, since January 1782, been in independent possession of their
country, and finally that Kadattanad,1 though a feudatory of Hyder Ali's from 1774,
had in 1779 evaded his demand to assist the French at Mahe, had on being driven
out in favour of his nephew taken refuge in Tellicherry, rendering also good service
to the company during the siege of that place, and had since the raising of it been in
independent possession of all his own territory.
NOTEs: 2. The Resident at Tellicherry had in August 1782 submitted to Bombay proposals
from Kottayam and Kaddattanud and the Iruvalinad Nambiars to pay annual tribute to the extent of
Rs. 1,00,000, Rs. 50,000, and Rs. 25,000, respectively, in “consideration of the countenance and
protection” of the Honourable Company (See Treaties , etc., i. XC).
But the Bombay Government were not yet prepared to undertake such responsibilities, and
on the 30th September of the same year the Resident was informed that “we do not think it advisable
to enter into engagements for taking them (Malabar powers) under our protection." The country
powers had fully realised by this time that the traders could fight as well as trade, and were eager to
have their protection as tributaries. The empire of India was being forced on the acceptance of a
humble company of foreign traders, whose only object was to buy pepper, ginger, cardamoms and
piece goods as cheaply as they could. END OF NOTEs
Tippu was admittedly in possession of South Malabar, but from the Kota
river northwards the chiefs and the company were exclusively in possession. On the
17th March, Messrs. Staunton and Hudleston, two of the plenipotentiaries, arrived
by sea at Tellicherry, bringing news of the peace, and of the Malabar chiefs having
been included by Tippu among his “friends and allies’’ !!
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The fourth article stipulated that Cannanore should be evacuated by the

English and restored to the Bibi as soon as all the prisoners2 are released and
delivered.”
On Tippu's inhuman treatment of his prisoners, it is unnecessary to dwell.
Beginning with the brave Captain Rumley, he had already poisoned, or destroyed in
other ways, all whom he thought from their gallantry or abilities would be dangerous
opponents in a future struggle. But he was not without a grievance himself owing to
the summary manner in which the fort of Cannanore had been evacuated in April
by General MacLeod in express breach of this fourth article.
Without waiting to hear of the release of the remaining prisoners, MacLeod
in April disbanded his force which included the 42nd and 100th regiments, sending
some to the east coast, some to Bombay, and some to garrison Tellicherry, and he
himself left Tellicherry on the 27th of that month. There were doubtless reasons-
near approach of the monson, difficulty in obtaining transports, and difficulty in
feeding the force—for evacuating the fort so soon ; but these ought to have been
set aside in favour of strict adherence to the terms of the treaty.
Tippu complained bitterly of this evasion, and, on the 25th May, the Chief at
Tellicherry had a letter from him complaining1 further that the Cannanore fort had
been looted of everything, “and the said fort made empty as a jungul, and then your
troops went away. By this it is certain that the heart is not clean :—What more is to
write !!”
NOTEs: 1. It is clear the Tippu expected the guns and stores to be handed over with “the
fort and district; ” but there is nothing in the article to countenance such an interpretation of its
clauses. END OF NOTEs
The eighth and ninth articles renewed and confirmed the Honourable
Company’s trading privileges in Malabar and stipulated for the restoration of the
fort and district of Mount Deli and of the Calicut factory.
Among other prisoners taken at the raising of the siege of Tellicherry in
1782, the Kurangoth Nayar, chief of a portion of the petty district of Iruvalinad,
lying between the English and French settlements, had ever since remained a
prisoner at Tellicherry. When the peace with Tippu above cited was concluded, all
the English acquisitions along the coast were relinquished, except this Nayar's
territory. He continued to pay tribute to the Honourable Company for some time.
The French on receiving2 back on 15th August 1785, their settlement of
Mahe in pursuance of the treaty of Versailles (3rd September 1783) claimed the
Nayar as their ally, not as their dependent. The Nayar appears to have been set free,
but in 1787 he was seized by Tippu, who hanged him and in spite of French
remonstrances annexed his territory to the Iruvalinad collectorship.
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History
Tippu’s affairs were not well managed in Malabar when he recovered

possession of it. The exactions of his revenue collectors appear to have driven the
people into rebellion. Ravi Varma of the Zamorin’s house received in 1784 a jaghire
in order to keep him quiet, and even Tippu’s Mappilla subjects in Ernad and
Walluvanad rebelled.
In 1784-85 Tippu unwisely separated the civil from the military authority of
the province. The latter was entrusted to Arshad Beg Khan, “a Mussulman of rare
talents, humanity and integrity,” who had previously, since Hyder All’s death, been
sole governor, and the former was bestowed on Meer Ibrahim. The civil governor
broke through all the engagements with the Malabar chieftains, imposed new
exactions, and of course rebellions broke out on every hand.
Foreseeing the evil consequences, Arshad Beg Khan, in 1786, tendered his
resignation of his post, and asked to be permitted to visit Mecca. And some time
afterwards he earnestly requested Tippu to come in person and avert the threatened
destruction of his authority in Malabar.
This request was eventually complied with after Tippu had succeeded in
making peace with the Muhrattas and the Nizam. It was on the 4th April 1788, that
the factors at Tellicherry heard that Tippu was shortly coming3 to the coast and that
a great magazine of rice was being laid in at Calicut, and next day they received the
alarming intelligence ” of his being actually “this side of the Tamalcherry
(Tamarasseri) Ghaut.”
The Calicut governor was meanwhile engaged with the “Insurgent Moors”.
The Calicut Resident was at the time at Tellicherry, but he was sent post-haste back
to his appointment at Calicut, with instructions to beg for the removal of the
embargo laid on articles entering the Tellicherry settlement from the districts lying
round it, which appeared to have been in force more or less ever since the treaty of
Mangalore, and in spite of the specific terms of that treaty.
Various alarming rumours were current as to what Tippu’s intentions were,
and the factors set earnestly to work to repair their defences which had fallen
considerably into disrepair since the close of the siege ; but more re-assuring news
came from the Resident directly he reached Calicut. Tippu had only 5,000 men and
100 field pieces and no battering train.
Calicut was not well placed for the operations then in hand, the subjugation
of the “rebellious Moors,” and shortly after having had an audience with Tippu on
14th April, the Resident sent word that “the Nabob has been twice to Beypore,
where on the 12th he began the construction of a strong fort, and it is supposed he
intends to transfer the trade of Calicut thither,” and next day he reported that the
Nabob was to proceed that day to Beypore to select a site to build his new city.”
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On April 25th the Resident (Mr. Gribble) had another audience of Tippu,
but failed to extract any promise from him in regard to trade. Tippu’s formal reply
to the factors’ letter, with the delivery of which and of the customary present the
Resident had been charged, was given into Mr. Gribble’s own hands, and Tippu
insisted that he himself should convey it to Tellicherry. This very unusual request
was complied with. When the reply was opened it was found that Tippu referred the
factors to Mr. Gribble for full details of business, and Mr. Gribble had none to give,
his conversation with the Nabob having been of the most, general character!
On May 3rd, Mr. Gribble was sent back to Calicut with another letter from
the Chief, and another audience produced no better results although on this
occasion some verbal promises were made. On the 11th it became quite certain that
the Nabob was preparing to leave the place and on the 12th the report was—“The
Pasha is now in the country lately infested by the rebel Moplas (Mappillas) to the
southward of the Beypore river, from whence, it is said, he will proceed to Panany
(Ponnani) on his way to Palacatcherry (Palghaut).”
The monsoon was on him before his journey was completed, and he
arrogantly said that he would order the clouds to cease discharging their waters till
he should have passed but the rains showed no respect to him and his army suffered
the greatest hardships on their march.
On the 25th May 3 1788, the factors at Tellicherry received proposals from
the Bibi of Cannanore to take her under their protection ; and her message stated
that Tippu had advised her to make up her quarrel with the Kolattiri prince and to
pick one with the English.
The reason for this seems to have been that the Kolattiri prince was just
then in high favour with Tippu, and had been confirmed in his tenure of his own
dominions. The Bibi and her ministers had, on the other hand, desired to be
reinstated in the position of Governor of Kolattunad conferred on the Cannanore
chieftain by Hyder Ali in 1766, and had been disappointed, and so, for the time
being, they leaned to the English alliance.
On May 27th the Kolattiri or Chirakkal1 prince began to show his zeal for
Tippu’s cause by demanding a settlement of accounts with the factors, and by asking
for an immediate payment of one lakh of rupees, for which purpose he sent one of
his ministers with orders to remain at Tellicherry till he was paid that sum. The
factors were astonished at the demand since the accounts showed that the prince
was over four lakhs in the debt of the Honourable Company. The Chief stopped the
minister’s “diet money,” invariably paid while such officers remained in the
Company’s settlement, and the minister after some demur departed.
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NOTEs: 1. The old name of the dynasty, Kolattiri, had by this time become pretty well
forgotten, and in the records the prince is invariably styled as of Chirakkal. There had been a split in
the family at the time of the Bednur Baja’s invasion (1733-40). At that time, the Kolattiri had conferred
heirship on “Odeormen of the Palace of Pally’’ (Treaties, etc., i. XXXVIII), and ever since the princes
of this Palli branch of the family had been recognised as having taken the place of the head of the
family —Kolattiri. In fact, the Utayamangalam branch had been shut out from the KoIatitiri
sovereignty (Conf. Treaties, etc., ii. CCX) although, as matter of fact, one of that branch might still
have claimed, if he was the eldest male of both branches, the empty title of Kolattiri. The title of
Kolattiri thus fell into disuse, and the ruling family (Palli branch) gradually began to be known as that
of Chirakkal from the Kovilugam of that name, which was the headquarters of their branch of the
family. The Palli branch claimed “such part of the kingdom as had not been dismembered” by the
Ikkeri (Bednur) Raja, and as the ruling family they obtained and still enjoy Rs. 23,500 out of Rs. 24,000
mallikana allowance from the British Government. The remaining Rs. 500 is enjoyed by the
Utayomangalam branch. END OF NOTEs
The factors were not long left in doubt as to the next step. The prince had
three years previously resumed possession of the district of Randattara, on which
the Honourable Company had a mortgage claim to a large amount. The factors and
the Bombay Government did not consider it necessary actively to oppose this
occupation as the Company’s claim was not that of full sovereignty ; but on June 4th,
1788, the factors received information that the Chirakkal prince meant to seize
Darmapattanam island, which ever since 1733, had been in the company’s
undisputed possession. On June 7th accordingly, the prince occupied the island with
his troops, and the garrison of Tellicherry being inadequate to defend the island as
well as the main settlement, the factors prudently resolved not to oppose the
occupation.
The factors plainly saw that Tippu was the real aggressor1 in these instances.
The monsoon season had just commenced, communication with Bombay was
consequently cut off, and the factors wrote urgent letters to Madras and via Madras
to Calcutta of the dangers threatening.
On the 17th of June, they heard that the Chirakkal prince had met with an
honourable and flattering reception from Tippu at Coimbatore and that he had been
sent back with orders to molest the English settlement. On the 25th came further
news that the prince meant to seize Muicara on the south-east of Tellicherry as his
nephew had been appointed by Tippu Governor of Iruvalinad and Kurangoth.
There was every prospect, therefore, of the settlement being put at an early date in a
state of close seige, as it was from Iruvalinad that supplies of country provisions,
etc., were chiefly obtained.
Happily for the factory this latter design was never carried out, for, on his
return journey, the Chirakkal prince was sudden taken ill and died on June 19th at
Palghaut, and his brother, who succeeded him, though he still pressed his money
claims on the notice of the factors, was not inclined to be aggressively hostile.
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Meanwhile the factors were busy looking to the state of their lines. Captain
Paul Daser of the Engineers reported, on the 30th June, that the limit lines had been
very nearly completed. The weak point still was, as it had been during the siege of
1779-82, the “very open and exposed” portion stretching from C'hirakkalkandi
round Morakkunnu by the river side which was insufficiently protected by a
stockade along the river bank.
Both the Madras and Supreme Governments meanwhile remonstrated with
Tippu for his Chirakkal feudatory’s unauthorised invasion of the Honourable
Company’s territory, “in a manner very little short of actual hostilities” as the
Madras Government chose to put it. But Tippu put them off with a false
representation off the facts pretending that the Honourable Company had merely a
mortgage claim to Darmapattanam island, and that the Company was deeply
indebted to Chirakkal.
It was, on July 14th, that the next most important item of news reached the
factors. They wished to send an express messenger overland with news of their
situation to the Anjengo settlement for communication to Madras and Calcutta.
Such messages had heretofore been safely entrusted to Brahmans who, from the
sanctity of their caste, had hitherto been permitted to come and go without
hindrance. But the factors now learnt that Brahman messengers were no longer safe ; a Brahman
selected to convey the message refused to go ; and assigned as his reason that there
was “a report prevailing that the Nabob had issued orders for all the Brahmans on
the coast to be seized and sent up to Seringapatam.”
And on the 20th continuation of the fact was received from Calicut, where
“200 Brahmans had been seized and confined, made Mussulmen, and forced to eat
beef and other things contrary to their caste.”
The effect of this on the country powers became speedily apparent, for, on
the 27th August, the factors received identical notes from the Kottayam and
Kadattanad Rajas saying they could no longer trust Tippu, and beseeching the
factors in the most earnest way "to take the Brahmans, the poor, and the whole
kingdom under their protection.”
But it was not only the Brahmans, who were thus put in a state of terror of
forcible conversion, for, in this same month, a Raja of the Kshatriya family of
Parappanad, also "Tichera Terupar, a principal Nayar of Nelemboor” and many other
persons, who had been carried off to Coimbatore, were circumcised and forced to
eat beef.
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History
The Nayars in desperation, under those

circumstances, rose on their oppressors in the
south, and the Coorgs too joined in. The
Mappillas likewise, though in their case, fiscal
oppression and intrigues to be presently alluded
to must have been the causes, rose in rebellion.
The movement was headed by Ravi Varma of
the Zamorin’s house, on whom, to quiet him, a
jaghire had already been conferred by the
Mysoreans. This chieftain, between July and
November 1788, took the field, and being
victorious1 made himself master of the open
country. He then proceeded to invest Calicut.
NOTEs: 1. The Tellicherry merchants living
under the Honourable Company’s protection, it seems, supplied the insurgents with gunpowder and
“shott,” and the Governor of Calicut, wrote in September an angry remonstrance to the factors
regarding this. END OF NOTEs
Tippu, in December, sent down Lally and Mir Asr Ali Khan, who
succeeded with 6000 native troops and 170 Europeans, in driving him away from
Calicut, but never quite succeeded in driving him out of the field.
While these operations were in progress no less than 30,000 Brahmans with
their families, it is said, fled from the country, assisted by Ravi Varmma, and took
refuge in Travancore. The factors in the interval were left in peace at Tellicherry. No
further aggressive movement of the Chirakkal prince took place, and the factory
having been reinforced from Bombay after the rains, was strong enough to take the
field.
On December 23rd, the Chief demanded restitution of Darmapattanam
Island within ten days, failing compliance with which, he said, “I shall be under the
necessity, conformably to my orders, to resume possession of the said island by
force.”
No heed was taken of this threat, so on the appointed day (January 2nd,
1789) at 7 p.m. a. force of one battalion of sepoys with artillery men and two field
pieces, was despatched to carry out the orders. Next day the Prince’s Nayars quietly
yielded up possession of the island to the force, and the Chief wrote to the prince to
say he was now ready to come to a liberal adjustment of his accounts with him.
So early as October 30th, 1788, the factors heard of Tippu’s intention
shortly to revisit the coast, and Sir Francis Gordon, Bart., the Company’s Resident at
Calicut, when reporting on January 1st, 1789, the arrival of Lally’s troops, indicated
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pretty clearly what Tippu’s mission was; for Lally and his coadjutor had already
received “orders to surround and extirpate the whole race of Nayars from Cotiote
(Kottayam) to Palacatcherry (Palghant).
Shortly after this, the Bibi of Cannanore again sought protection from the
company and stated positively that Tippu was shortly coming to the coast with the
whole of his force. The Bibi was probably at this time playing a deep game. The
Mappillas of the coast generally recognised her as their head, and the Mappillas of
the south were in open rebellion against Tippu’s authority.
Her reinstatement in possession of the country of her hereditary enemy, the
Chiiakkal prince, would doubtless have induced her to quiet the troubles in the
south, and as events turned out this appears to have been her object all along.
Meanwhile, she again turned to the English alliance. On the 11th of February, there
was a report at Calicut that Tippu had descended into the low country by the
Tamarasseri ghaut, and on the 15th he sent a formal request to the factors not to
give protection to any Nayars, who might flee to Tellicherry. Next day, Sir Francis
Gordon’s letter from Calicut stated that Tippu was then at “Anjacuddechaveddy,” some
four leagues from Calicut on the Tamarasseri road.
Tippu’s first object on reaching the coast was to try to reconcile matters
with his rebellious subjects. This piece of information came from Sir Francis
Gordon at Calicut. But Tippu had already broken with the Nayars, so that it would
appear it was his rebellious Mappilla subjects and fellow-religionists whom he
wished to reconcile. It is nowhere stated that, to accomplish this object, he found it
necessary as a preliminary step to secure the good will of the Bibi of Cannanore, but
it is almost certain that this was the reason which impelled him to his next move ;
for, on February 27th, after leaving a force at Calicut “to surround the woods and
seize the heads of this faction,” that is, Nayars, he turned his steps northwards.
This move was the signal for a general exodus of the Hindu chiefs in North
Malabar. The Fouzdar of Kottayam wrote angrily to the factors, on the 7th of March,
to say that both the Kottayam and Kadattanad Rajas and other principal people had
taken refuge in Tellicherry. The Chief replied that he had given orders to put out all
the people belonging to Tippu’s Sirkar, and the Fouzdar was at liberty to come and
see if they were there. The fact was, as Tippu afterwards pointed out in a very angry
letter to the Chief, that the Rajas had come into Tellicherry and taken boat thence to
Travancore, carrying with them, so Tippu alleged, ten lakhs of rupees each. But
Tippu was not convinced that they were really gone until, with the Chief’s consent,
he had on March 10th and 11th, sent an officer and six other persons to search for
them in Tellicherry.
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It was time for the factors to bestir

themselves in looking to their defences, for, on
the 12th March, they had authentic information
from a spy that the force now at “Cootypore”
(Kuttippuram in Kadattanad) within a few
hours’ march of the settlement consisted of
between 20,000 and 30,000 regulars, namely:
Men Guns
Lally’s corps 5,000 9 Field pieces.
Mir Kamr-ud-diu’s 10,000 7 Do
corps
Said Guffar’s corps 2,000 6 Do
Chelas 2,000 6 do
Near Nabob’s tent 18 do
Totals 19,000 46 do
Besides some other “Russulas” and a great number of “Camattys and

Comattys” irregulars. There were but 400 horse of the “Khaspaga.”
It was at Kuttippuram, the head-quarters of the Kadattanad family, that this
force surrounded 2,000 Nayars with their families in an old fort which they
defended for several days. At last finding it untenable they submitted to Tippu’s
terms which were “a voluntary1 profession of the Muhammadan faith, or a forcible
conversion with deportation from their native land. The unhappy captives gave a
forced assent, and on the next day the rite of circumcision was performed on all the
males, every individual of both sexes being compelled to close the ceremony by
eating beef.”
NOTEs: 1. Wilks’ “Historical Sketches," II. 126. END OF NOTEs
This achievement was held out as an example to the other detachments of the army.
There was no doubt that Tippu was bent on carrying out to the letter the
substance of the proclamation, which, he himself in his autobiography says, he
addressed to the people of Malabar. “From2 the period of the conquest until this
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day, during twenty-four years, you have been a turbulent and refractory people, and
in the wars waged during your rainy season, you have caused numbers of our
warriors to taste the draught of martyrdom—Be it so. What is past is past. Hereafter
you must proceed in an opposite manner ; dwell quietly, and pay your dues like
good subjects : and since it is a practice with you for one woman to associate with
ten men, and you leave your mothers and sisters unconstrained in their obscene
practices, and are thence all born in adultery, and are more shameless in your
connexions than the beasts of the field : I hereby inquire you to forsake those sinful
practices, and live like the rest of mankind. And if you are disobedient to these
commands, I have made repeated vows to honour the whole of you with Islam and
to march all the chief persons to the seat of government.”
NOTEs: 2. Wilks’ “Historical Sketches II. 120.—It appears that circular orders for the
conversion of the Hindus were issued to all the different detachments of his troops. The original of
one of these orders found in the records of Palghaut fort, after its capture in 1790, ran as follows :—
“If directed that every being in the district, without distinction, should be honoured with Islam, that,
the houses of such as fled to avoid that honour should be burned, that they should be traced to their
lurking places, and that all means of truth and faslehood, fraud or force, should be employed to effect
their universal conversion.”—Ibid., 11. 132, footnote. END OF NOTEs
The factors at Tellicherry redoubled their efforts to get their lines into a
proper state of defence. The length of the lines which had been successfully
defended against Sirdar Khan was no less than over 3,000 yards from Mailan Fort to
Chirakkalkandi, and 5,500 yards more from the latter place to the Coduvalli river
mouth, besides upwards of three miles of sea shore. The factors set to work at an
inner1 line of defence stretching from the river north and west of Morakkunnu to
the beach at the south end of the bazaar.
NOTEs: 1. This line was afterwards completed by special orders of Lord Cornwallis. END
OF NOTEs
But they might have spared themselves the trouble, for Tippu’s plans were
not yet ready for breaking with the Honourable Company. He was bent on his
proselytising mission for the present.
On March 22nd the Chirakkal prince, who had been till lately in hostile
possession of Darmapattanam Island, and who was still in hostile possession of
Randattara next claimed the protection of the factors, but as the receiving of him
would probably have diverted Tippu’s whole force against the settlement, and as
moreover his recent conduct had been so unfriendly the Chief gave him a stern
refusal. Next day however his sister and the rest of the family made their appearance
uninvited on Darmapattanam Island. On being told to go they refused both that day
and the next. In the following night they appear to have set sail in a boat for
Travancore. Tippu made another grievance out of this against the factors ; this party
was also said by him to have carried off ten lakhs of rupees with them in their flight.
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Some 10,000 to 15,000 Nayars came with the family to Darmapattanam

Island and provoked the angry letter from Tippu to which reference has already
been made. The island was crowded with them on the evening of March 26th, but
during that night, after their Chief’s family had sailed, they most mysteriously
disappeared,2 and the Commanding Officer of the Island, who had received orders
to send them away, found, to his surprise, on the morning of the 27th that they had
already gone.
NOTEs: 2. Pakal kataka ravu vitaka is a saying still current regarding the hardships endured
by the Nayars at this time. It was only at night that they could with safety visit their houses; during the
day time they had to conceal themselves in the jungles. Another conquering race had appeared on the
scene, and there is not the slightest doubt that, but for the intervention of a still stronger foreign race,
the Nayars would now be denizens of the jungles like the Kurumbar and other jungle races whom they
themselves had supplanted in similar fashion. END OF NOTEs
There are different accounts of what befel their unhappy prince. Wilks says
that “he had been induced by the most, sacred promises to pay his personal respects
to the sultan, and was for several days treated with considerable distinction, and
dismissed with costly presents to his little principality.”
But after his departure malign influences came into play ; he was accused of
a secret conspiracy to revenge the cruel indignities committed on his countrymen ;
two brigades were sent to take him ; his attendants prepared to defend themselves ;
and, in a skirmish, he was killed. The factory diary records that “he was killed in
attempting to escape.” Another account says he shot himself on finding that escape was
hopeless. However that may be, it is certain from Tippu’s own account, as well as
from the factory diary record, that his body was treated with the greatest, indignities
by Tippu. He had it dragged by elephants through his camp and it was subsequently
hung up on a tree along with seventeen of the followers of the prince who had been
captured alive.
On April 18th, the factors requested Tippu to carry out one of the
stipulations of the treaty of Mangalore, which had provided for the restitution to the
Honourable Company of their fort and district of Mount Deli, whence the
settlement used to be supplied with timber and firewood ; but Tippu was too
incensed with the factors to listen for a moment to such a request. Being furious, he
was not unnaturally also illogical, and in his reply of the 21st he accused the Chief
(Mr. W. Lewis) of something like falsehood, and wound up his letter with—
“Therefore I believe you are not a good man, but whether good or bad what can I
say ? I have many lakhs of people like you in my service and so have the company.”
And he desired that the Chief would not write to him again.
Tippu, when he sent this reply, had again turned his face southwards. But
previously to doing so he had visited Cannanore and solemnised the preliminary
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ceremonies of a marriage between the Bibi’s daughter and one of his sons, Abd-ul-
khalic.
There can be little doubt that the main object of his visit at this time to
North Malabar was to appease the Cannanore chieftainess. Having made friends
with the Bibi by handing over1 to her a portion of the Chirakkal district, as well as
by the projected marriage, the trouble from rebellious Mappillas in the south rapidly
disappeared, and in the future this turbulent race ranged themselves on the side of
Tippu’s troops.
On April 22nd Tippu, his mission to the north having been accomplished,
quitted the Kottayam territory and was expected at Calicut on the 27th. Before
leaving the neighbourhood of Tellicherry, he drew the cordon of troops round the
place still closer and stopped all supplies, even the most trifling, from entering the
settlement.
The Bibi still professed friendship for the English, although the factors
remarked, on March 10th, that in spite of her professions she had in an unfriendly
way sent two of the company’s European deserters to Tippu at Calicut. The fact was
that her maritime trade was so great that she dared not to oppose the Honourable
Company openly for fear of the reprisals, which would certainly have been made at
sea. She professed friendship for the Honourable Company, but did all in her power
in an underhand way against them.
The final act in the drama was now about to commence. From a state of
scarcely veiled hostility against the English at Tellicherry, Tippu rapidly passed into
one of active aggression against, the Honourable Company and its allies.
The conquest of Travancore had been the goal of Mysorean ambition ever
since Hyder Ali’s first raid through Malabar.
How that conqueror was stopped by the Dutch from passing into
Travancore round the flank of the Travancore lines has already been related.
The Travancore lines again barred Tippu’s path, and nothing but the entire
subjugation of that country, whither so many of his unhappy “friends and allies”
(Mangalore Treaty, Art. I) had fled with their “tens of lakhs of rupees” would satisfy
him. He was anxious to conquer the country without appearing as a principal in the
war, for the very good reason that the Travancore Raja had been included in that
same article of the Mangalore treaty as one of the special “friends and allies” of the
Honourable Company. In 1788 the Zamorin was accordingly induced by a promise
of the restoration of a portion of his territory to put forward some rather antiquated
claims to suzerainty over Travancore. But being disgusted at the forcible
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conversions which followed the sultan’s advent, he drew back from the
arrangement.
In this same year and in the following year (1789) there occurred the
combination, which resulted in the complete isolation of the Mysore State. The
Nizam took umbrage at the assumption by the Honourable Company of the
government of the province of Guntur, to which their reversionary right was, in
Lord Cornwallis’ opinion, “no longer doubtful,” owing to the death of Basalut Jung.
And he accordingly sent, embassies, both to the English Company and to Tippu,
with a view to forming an alliance with either the one or the other, and so protecting
his own interests. To Tippu he sent an ambassador bearing a splendid Koran for his
acceptance and return if a similar present by Tippu was intended to mean the
establishment of “the most sacred and solemn obligations of friendship and
alliance.”
Tippu had, unfortunately for himself, by his insolent letters to the Nizam in
1784 after the conclusion of peace with the English at Mangalore, shown that he
contemplated the early subjugation of the Nizam himself. And now (May 1789), just
after the events above related, when Tippu reached Coimbatore for the rains and
found the Nizam’s ambassador awaiting his arrival, he, instead of accepting the
proffered friendship, had the insolence, as the Nizam viewed it, to propose an
intermarriage between the families as a preliminary condition to the acceptance of
the Nizam’s terms.
The Nizam publicly repudiated the counter proposal, and accepted instead
the proposals of the English Viceroy as convoyed in his famous letter of July 1st,
1789, the substance of which was that the treaty of 1768 was to be carried into full
effect with the aid of the Mahrattas and the Nizam. One of the provisions of that
treaty provided for the conquest of Mysore. An English subsidiary force was to be
organised and furnished to the Nizam and Lord Cornwallis, in enumerating the
powers against whom the force was not to be used, studiously omitted the name of
the Mysorean ruler, and as studiously included the name of every other power in the
Deckan and the south.
The omission of Tippu’s name could not be misunderstood, and the sultan,
therefore, directly the monsoon season was past, set himself to the conquest of
Travancore as the most efficient preparation he could make for the struggle which
he now saw was impending.
He had not meanwhile been inactive in his preparations for the subjugation
of Travancore, but he made the mistake of thinking that it was easy of
accomplishment. He had about June-August, 1788, minutely investigated the routes
leading into Travancore both from the north by way of the coast, and from the east
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by way of the Cumbum valley and the pass of Gudalur. The Travancore Raja fearing a
simultaneous attack from both directions, had communicated with the Madras
Government, and Sir A. Campbell, the Governor, had intimated to Tippu that
aggression against Travancore would be viewed as equivalent to a declaration of war
against the English.
Tippu’s plans were not sufficiently matured at the time, and he merely
replied that the interposition between him and Travancore of the dependent Cochin
State prevented the possibility of a collision.
About the same time, June-September 1788, he further proceeded to moot
to the Dutch at Cochin Hyder Ali's old policy of forming an offensive and defensive
alliance with them, but his intentions were suspected, and nothing came of it. Nor
was he more successful some time later (in 1789) in his offer to buy, from the
Dutch the fort of Cochin, together with the
forts of Cranganore and Ayacotta, which flanked
the defence of the Travancore lines.
Instead of selling their possessions to
Tippu, the Dutch consulted with Travancore on
the best means either of stopping the
Mysoreans, or of committing the English as
parties in the impending struggle. And as the
best means to this end, a sale which had been
talked of for the previous two years was carried
into effect on the 31st July 1789.
On that date “the Illustrious and Mighty
Netherlands East India Company” sold1 to "the
Illustrious and Mighty King of Travancore
Wanjie Walla Martanda Rama Warmer” “the fort of Cranganore and the outpost of
Ayacotta with the plantations and fields belonging thereto” also the cannon and
thereto belonging ammunition” and gunpowder, for the sum of Surat silver Rs.
50,000 ready money and a further sum of Rs. 2,50,000 to be adjusted afterwards or
three lakhs of rupees in all. The chief exceptions made in the conveyance of all the
Dutch possessions in that quarter were in respect to “the Lepers’ house at Palliport
with its adjoining buildings, gardens, and other grounds belonging thereto,” which
were to remain in the ‘‘company’s full and free possessions” and in respect to the
Roman churches at Cranganore and Ayacotta,” the Christians of which were “to
remain vassals of the company ” and were "not to be burthened with any new taxes.”
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., i. CLVII. END OF NOTEs
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On November 13th, 1789, Lord Cornwallis issued clear and explicit

instructions to the Madras Government in regard to the attitude to be assumed in
regard to the above transaction, as soon as it became known that Tippu had put
forward a claim of sovereignty on behalf of his Vassal Cochin to the places thus
sold by the Dutch. If they had belonged to the Raja of Cochin subsequently to his
becoming tributary to Mysore, the Raja of Travancore was to be compelled to
restore them, to their former possessor. If not, then the Travancore possession of
the places was to be supported. If Tippu had actually taken possession of the places
he was not to be forcibly dispossessed of them without the sanction of the Supreme
Government, unless he had also attacked the other territories of Travancore ; but if
such attack had occurred, then the Madras Government was positively ordered to
deem it as an act of hostility to be followed up vigorously by war.
These instructions, instead of being obeyed by the Government of Mr.
Holland, were animadverted on and disregarded to such an extent that Lord
Cornwallis accused them subsequently of “a most criminal disobedience of the clear
and explicit orders of this Government, dated the 29th of August and 13th of
November, by not considering themselves to be at war with Tippu, from the
moment that they heard of his attack” on the Travancore lines.
It was not till October 1789 that Tippu left his monsoon quarters at
Coimbatore ; and the first intelligence of his being on the move readied the
Tellicherry factors on the 6th November from Mr. Powney, the Honourable
Company’s Resident in Travancore. He reported that Tippu, with his army,2 had
reached Palghat, that it was supposed that he meant first to take Tellicherry, and
then proceed against the south ; but the Resident himself anticipated that the south,
that is, Travancore, would be his first object of attack. Some design was certainly on
foot as provisions, ammunition, etc., were being sent about the country.
NOTEs: 2.
Regular infantry 20,000 I Horse 5,000
Spearmen and match-lock men 10,000 I Field guns 20 END OF NOTEs
The factors’ first care on receipt of this news was to prosecute vigorously
the construction of their inner line of defence, cutting off the Morakunnu,
Chirakkalkandi, Tiruvengad temple, and Mailan redoubts for the purpose of
enabling the garrison to concentrate, if necessary, in the Tellicherry fort itself, and in
the comparatively short line of defence extending from the end of the main bazaar
to the Koduvalli river along the line of paddy fields, and thence along the river bank
to its mouth. This scheme of Captain Paul Daser, Engineer, had received the
sanction of Lord Cornwallis, and the importance of the Tellicherry settlement as
affording a secure point of attack against the Mysorean dominions was at this time
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fully recognised, and as the sequel will show its advantages were fully utilised in the
operations which followed.
Tippu, it seems, was still inclined not to appear as a principal in the attack
on Travancore. During the monsoon months, before setting his army in motion, he
had sent a message to his tributary, the Cochin Raja, to proceed to his camp at
Coimbatore. It is understood that Tippu really wished to avail himself of the Cochin
Raja’s name and services in his attack of Travancore. The Raja, however, having the
fear of forcible conversion to Islam before his eyes, replied that he paid his tribute
regularly, and that he had already paid1 a visit to his suzerain. Tippu on receiving this
message temporised, and sent an envoy to the Raja accepting his apology for not
complying with the request, desiring that the Raja’s son or a minister might be sent,
and he would not detain him two days, and stating that he wished the Raja to
arrange for him with the Dutch for the purchase of their Cochin fort.
NOTEs: 1. This was on May 26th, 1788, at Palghat. END OF NOTEs
A second refusal on the part of the Raja aroused Tippu’s wrath, and he is
reported to have said that “if they did not attend his summons, he would come and fetch them
by force.” The Travancore lines were constructed originally, as has been already
stated, on the territory conquered for the Travancore State by the enterprising
Flemish General D’Lanoy. In the negotiations2 which succeeded the conquest, the
Cochin Raja was left in possession of the territory immediately surrounding and
attached to his two palaces of Tiruppunattara and Mattancheri both in the immediate
neighbourhood of Cochin. But between this territory and the Raja’s other
dominions not conquered by D’Lanoy, there extended, and there still extends, to the
east of the backwater a wide belt of Travancore territory, near the northern limit of
which the famous Travancore lines were constructed with their left resting on the
backwater opposite Cranganore, and their right extending right up into the jungly
hills, a distance of close upon 20 miles.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc.,i, CXXIV, CXXV. END OF NOTEs
Tippu’s tributary Cochin State, therefore, lay partly to the north and partly
to the south of the lines, and it was with no small show of reason that Tippu now
demanded a passage through the lines to his own tributary territory lying round the
Dutch town of Cochin.
On the 30th December, the Tellicherry factors were at last apprised, as a
certainty, that Tippu’s armament was not in the first instance to be launched at
them. Mr. Powney’s letter of the 20th reached them on that date and conveyed the
news that Tippu had formally demanded of the Travancore Raja.
That his troops holding the recently acquired fort of Cranganore should be
withdrawn.
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That the Malabar Rajas, Tippu’s “friends and allies” of the Mangalore
treaty, should be surrendered.
And that the Travancore lines should be demolished.
And it was formally intimated that, if these demands were not complied
with, Tippu’s force would come against Travancore.
To these demands the Travancore Raja made answer that he acted under
English advice, and that he would be guided by that advice in this case. As regards
the lines, he further asserted, what was the fact, that they had been in existence long
before Cochin became tributary to Mysore.
In reply to this, Tippu, on the 24th December, sent another embassy with
two caparisoned elephants, ostensibly meant for the conveyance to his presence of
the two Rajas, Cochin and Travancore. The latter viewed this as a gross insult, but
Tippu’s rocket-men and scouts, who came up to within musket-shot of the walls for
the purpose of inviting an attack, were nevertheless unmolested. The main body of
the force was then some 10 miles distant, but the vanguard was camped within 2 or
3 miles of the lines.
On the 5th January 1790, Mr. Powney followed up the above intelligence
with the exciting news that the lines had been attacked and that the attack had been
repulsed. His account, written from Parour, on the 1st, ran as follows : —
"Tippu has met with a repulse from the Raja’s troops. He breached1 a weak
part of the lines and filled the ditch with bales of cotton2 and earth for his cavalry to
enter. He made the attack with 7,000 men. They carried it and possessed the lines
for 3 miles in extent, but reinforcements of the Raja’s troops coming from the right
and left, the enemy were hemmed in between two fires, and were drove out with
great slaughter. Near a thousand were left dead within the lines, some horses and
prisoners were taken.
Zemaul Beg, commander
of a cuasoom, was killed,
likewise another person of
consequence ; it is said to
be a son of the late Meer
Saib. The enemy, as soon
as he fell, cut off his head
and carried it with them.
About 200 of the Raja’s
people were killed and
wounded. By all accounts
they behaved very
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gallantly. A Brahman of some consequence is among the prisoners ; he says that

Tippu1 was at the attack, and had a horse shot under him. We apprehend he is
meditating some grand attack. Report says he has crossed the Chitwa river and is
advancing along the sea-side with the intentions of attacking Cranganore and
Ayacotta. I think we shall be prepared for him at these places. He has certainly
drawn off his army from the lines.”
NOTEs: 1. The attack was made on a part of the lines close to the hills, and a thick jungle
running close to it allowed him to bring his men to the attack almost as soon as they were discovered.
The battery was soon carried. From a subsequent letter, dated the 8th January.
2. The use of bales of cotton for this purpose is contradicted by other accounts.
1. Another account says that in the confusion of re-crossing the ditch in front of the lines 10
feet wide and 20 feet deep, the Sultan escaped with great difficulty and chiefly by the exertions of some
Chelae, and the injuries he received on this occasion made him lame for life. END OF NOTEs
Tippu had counted on securing an easy victory, and had made his
preparations accordingly, and the above result made him determine that his
preparations should be adequate on the next occasion. He sent to Seringapatam and
Bangalore for battering guns and recalled a detachment from Coorg and the troops
employed in Malabar in hunting down the Hindus and making forcible converts of
them. He withdrew his force to a distance of only 4 miles from the lines and there
awaited his reinforcements.
The news of this attack decided Lord Cornwallis to prosecute the war with
vigour and on the 4th March the Tellicherry factors heard that the Nizam and the
Mahrattas were to join the English in their onslaught on Mysore, and that Lord
Cornwallis was coming in person to conduct the operations.
Mr. Robert Taylor had, on 25th December 1789, relieved Mr. Lewis, as
Chief of the Tellicherry factory, and on the 9th of the following month of March
instructions came from Bombay that he and the other members of the Tellicherry
factory were to take an oath of secrecy for the conduct of the warlike operations
then imminent. And among the first affairs, to which after taking this oath they were
directed to turn their attention, was the holding out of hopes to Tippu ’s “friends and
allies” the Malabar Rajas, that they would not be deserted in the event of the
Honourable Company coming to an open rupture with Tippu.
Accordingly, on the 20th of the same month, “general assurances of
protection” were issued by the factors. On the 24th Mr. Powney was requested
secretly to send up from Travancore, where he had taken refuge, the Raja of
Kadattanad, and an armed vessel was despatched thither for his conveyance. On the
28th, the ministers of the Kottayam and Chirakkal Rajas received hints that they
might expect protection.
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On April 6th, Lord Cornwallis’ despatch, promising to confirm any

“reasonable promises” the Chief might make to the Rajas, was received. And on April
9th, the factors finally received intelligence from the Madras Government, through
Mr. Powney, that “the sword was drawn” and that the chief was at liberty to hold out
hopes to the country powers that they would in any future treaty with Tippu be
“rendered independent” of their “friend and ally”.
Accordingly on the 25th April, on the occasion of a force under Major Bow
proceeding from Tellicherry to clear the neighbourhood of Tippu’s garrisons and
patrols, which had for so long put the settlement in a state of virtual siege on the
landward side, Mr. Taylor issued a proclamation1 to all the inhabitants guaranteeing
to all who joined the Honourable Company’s forces that they would be protected
and included as “allies of the Honourable Company in any future treaty they may enter into
with the Nabob,” and warning those who would not join that they would be
considered “as enemies of the Honourable Company and acted against accordingly.”
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., i. CLVIII. END OF NOTEs
The Hindu chieftains very readily accepted the terms, and on the 4th of May
Mr. Taylor under his hand and the seal of the Honourable Company assured2 the
Chirakkal Raja, who is styled as “Reviwarma, king of the house of Palliculam of the
kingdom of Colastri,” that if he entered heartily into the war against Tippu and
fulfilled his contracts for supplies granted to him, he would in any future treaty with
that prince "be included and considered as an ally of the Honourable Company.”
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., i. XCV. END OF NOTEs
And the same terms were offered to, and accepted shortly after this by,
both the Kottayam and Kadattanad Rajas. On the 9th of May Lord Cornwallis’
second despatch of 8th April was received, promising on similar conditions as above
that the Honourable Company would do their utmost “to render them (Malabar
chieftains) in future entirely independent of Tippu, and at the conclusion of a peace
to retain them upon reasonable terms under the protection of the company.”
Again on the 1st of June Lord Cornwallis wrote that, subject to the same
conditions, we will do our utmost to force that prince (Tippu) to relinquish his claim
of sovereignty over them at the conclusion of a peace.”
And finally in a letter written by Lord Cornwallis to the Bombay
Government, on the 31st May he promised on the same conditions to “force that
prince (Tippu) to relinquish all future claims upon their (Malabar chiefs’) allegiance,
and to agree to their becoming the subjects and dependents of the Honourable
Company. To which we shall add that, in order to secure a willing obedience from
the Malabar chiefs, we should be contented with their paying a very moderate
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tribute, provided they will give the company advantageous privileges for carrying on
a commerce in the valuable possession of their country.”
It is necessary to be thus particular in regard to the terms offered and
accepted, for the intentions of the Honourable Company in coming to the above
agreements with the North Malabar chiefs were afterwards much discussed.
Meanwhile in the south matters had gradually been coming to a crisis. On
the 2nd and 8th March, Mr. Powney reported a skirmish having taken place in front
of the lines, and that Tippu after opening fire from his batteries with only a few
guns had discontinued the cannonade— for what reason it was impossible to say or
even to guess. On March 14th, the Madras troops (two battalions) marched "into the
lines to help the defenders. On the 22nd March the factors heard from Mr. Powney
that Tippu’s approaches were within 100 yards of the ditch in front of the lines, but
still the assault was delayed ; and on the 25th that the approaches were 50 yards
closer ; and that assaulting batteries then ready covered a distance of from 1 to 1½
miles in extent.
On April 2nd he again wrote that the enemy had made regular approaches
within a few yards of the counterscarp of the ditches and added “I am afraid the
lines must be carried.”
A week later the approaches were reported to be within a few feet of the
ditch, and on the 18th Mr. Powney wrote that the approaches were then through the
ditch, and probably under the wall, twenty feet of which had been knocked down by
the batteries and had been rapidly filled up again by the defenders.
The first overt act of the war by the Honourable Company on the west
coast was the taking, on the 28th March, by Captain Byron of H.M.’s frigate Phœnix1
of an armed grab with Tippu’s “commodore of the fighting craft” on board. The grab
mistook its adversary ; she was found with her guns loaded with canister and shot,
matches burning, and each sepoy with 30 rounds of ball in his pouch.
NOTEs: 1. Later on in the war this frigate took part in a curious episode, which is fully
described by Major Dirom. While Commodore Cornwallis was anchored with his fleet at Tellicherry at
a time when Tippu was known to be expecting supplies from France, a French frigate of 36 guns, La
Resolu, came out of the Mahe roads with two merchantmen in convoy. The commodore thereupon
despatched the Phœnix and Perseverance frigates, each mounting 36 guns and commanded by Captains Sir
Richard Strachan and Smith to chase and bring to the merchantmen and overhaul their cargoes. A gun
was fired to bring to the merchantmen, and an officer from the Phœnix was sent on board La Resolu to
acquaint the French captain with the commodore’s orders. As the officer was returning, La Resolu
poured two broadsides into the Phœnix. Sir Richard thereupon manœuvred his ship and raked the
Frenchman. The Perseverance joined in and in half an hour the French vessel struck her colours. The
Phœnix lost 7 men and La Resolu 21 killed and 44 wounded, including her captain, who said he acted
under the orders of his commodore, who had sworn he would fight the English commodore wherever
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he met him. The merchantmen did not after all contain any goods contraband of war, and the French
and English nations were at peace at the time ! END OF NOTEs
“I am persuaded,” Captain Byron wrote, “they intended to take me, so I

thought it proper to take him.”
On the 31st March, Tellicherry received a reinforcement of another
battalion of sepoys, besides 60 Europeans and 10 gunners for its defence during the
approaching monsoon.
But a few days later news came that a larger force consisting of H.M.’s 75th
Regiment, two battalions of sepoys, and one company of artillery was on its way
down the coast under command of Colonel Hartley, with orders to co-operate with
Travancore against the enemy.
It was extremely doubtful if they could arrive in time to be of service in
defending the Travancore lines, for the approaches had already been reported as
within a few feet of the ditch. And Mr. Powney, who had been informed of its
coming, was very desirous that it should arrive before Tippu’s force had crossed the
Cranganore river. He requested that it should be ordered to proceed to Alikkotta
(Ayacotta on Vypeen Island) as rapidly as possible. On the 20th April it reached
Tellicherry, and on the 22nd it again sailed southwards.
It arrived too late, however, to be of service in saving the lines, for off
Beypore Colonel Hartley was met by news from Mr. Powney that the long-
impending stroke had fallen and that the lines had been taken by the enemy. Writing
from Alikkotta on the 15th Mr. Powney reported: “The enemy all last night kept up a
heavy cannonade, and this morning at daybreak stormed. It is said that 6,000 of
Tippu’s dismounted horsemen made the assault. Some of the Raja’s troops
withstood them for some time, but some Poligars giving way caused a general flight.
In short the enemy are in possession of the lines ; the Company’s battalions this day
have been covering the retreat of the Raja’s troops across the Cranganore river, after
which they are to take post at Ayacotta ” (Alikkotta).
The Travancore commander had arranged that the Raja’s force should re-
assemble upon the Vypeen Island, but the extreme consternation caused by the loss
of their vaunted lines had upset this arrangement, and the whole of the force had
dispersed for refuge into the jungles or had retreated to the south.
“We are in that confusion that I scarce know what to recommend
respecting the detachment” (Colonel Hartley’s force). The consternation of the
Raja's people was so great that they could not be trusted to procure supplies. The
whole of the inhabitants, including the boat people, had gone off with their boats
which had been collected for conveyance of Colonel Hartley’s detachment, so that
the principal means of transport were also wanting.
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Colonel Hartley nevertheless determined to push on and take post at

Alikkotta. The news of his force being on its way had greatly quieted the inhabitants,
and “the consternation which had seized all ranks of the people’’ had considerably
abated when Mr. Powney again wrote on the 20th and 22nd of April urging strongly
that Colonel Hartley should push on to Alikkotta with his force to restore
confidence. The Raja’s forces encouraged by these hopes of assistance were
beginning to return, and Mr. Powney had been able to lay in a large stock of grain.
Colonel Hartley duly arrived and joined Mr. Powney at Alikkotta, and after
this junction had been effected, the Travancore troops were on May 8th withdrawn
by Colonel Hartley’s orders from the Cranganore fort, which was no longer of use
when the Travancore lines had been forced. It was however, dismantled before
being thus thrown open to Tippu. With the combined Bombay and Madras troops,
consisting of one European and four native battalions placed at Alikkotta in such an
advantageous position on his flank, it was clear
that Tippu could not dare to make any
considerable forward movement into
Travancore territory.
He accordingly busied himself in
demolishing the famous lines. “The whole army1
off duty was regularly paraded without arms, and
marched in divisions to the appointed stations ;
the Sultan, placed on an eminence, set the
example of striking the first stroke with a
pickaxe ; the ceremony was repeated by the
courtiers and chiefs, the followers of every
description, bankers, money-changers,
shopkeepers, and the mixed crowd of followers
were all ordered to assist the soldiers.”
NOTEs: 1. Wilks’ “Historical Sketches" II, p. 154. END OF NOTEs
And some considerable breaches were made in the wall. After this exploit,
and without penetrating farther to the south than Verapoly, the headquarters of the
Carmelite mission, Tippu, on the 24th May 1790, turned again towards the north
with a view to avoid the monsoon and to re-equip his army for the storm already
gathering in his rear. General Medows, the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of
Madras, assumed command of the army at Tiruchirappalli on that same day and
made his first march northwards from Tiruchirappalli on May 26th.
It was thus that Tippu left Malabar, destined never to enter it again.
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Fra Bartolomæo,1 who was on the coast for some time before Tippu thus
left it, gives a graphic account of his doings, in all his expeditions Tippu thus
arranged his force—First, a corps of “30,000 barbarians,” who butchered everybody
“who came in their way next, Lally with the guns ; then, Tippu himself riding on an
elephant, and finally another corps of 30,000 men. His treatment of the people was
brutal in the extreme. At Calicut he hanged the mothers, “and then suspended the
children from their necks.” Naked Christians and Hindus were dragged to pieces
tied to the feet of elephants. All churches and temples were destroyed. Christian and
pagan women were forcibly married to Muhammadans.
NOTEs: 1 “Voyage to E. Indies”—Forster’s Translation, London, 1800, pp. 141-42. END
OF NOTEs
His information was obtained from Christian and heathen refugees fleeing
before the face of the “merciless tyrant,” and while being helped by the author to cross
the Verapoly river—Verapoly itself (the farthest point to the southward reached by
Tippu’s force—was visited by a “few marauders” from the Mysorean army shortly
after Fra Bartolomæo left it. They “converted our church, our seminary, and our
convent into real dens of thieves. They plundered and destroyed whatever they
could lay their hands on, for it had been almost impossible for us to remove
anything out of the way.”
The Tellicherry factors had meanwhile bestirred themselves to clear the
country about that settlement of Tippu’s posts and patrols, by which they had been
placed in a state of siege for many months previously. Ten days after the Travancore
lines had been forced in the manner above narrated, and before the news of that
event had reached the factory, Major Alexander Dow, the Officer Commanding the
Tellicherry garrison, moved out of his entrenchments on the 25th of April with a
force consisting of 3 battalions of sepoys, 3 companies of Europeans, and 4 field
pieces with their complement of gunners. As
auxiliary forces he had also with him 1,500
Kottayam Nayars under “one of the princes” of
Kottayam, and 1,300 Chirakkal Nayars under
“one of the Chirakkal family”.
With this force he attacked a stockaded
encampment of the enemy at Katirur, some four
miles from Tellicherry. His force took the
encampment easily but a stockaded house,
probably the Kottayam Raja’s palace at that
place, held out against his assaults. His guns
were not heavy enough to force an entrance, and
he had to send back an officer to bring up an
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18-pounder gun from Tellicherry. Before, however, this gun was despatched, the
enemy had on the 26th surrendered their position.
While Major Dow was thus engaged on the east, Captain Murray, with
some parties of the 6th battalion of sepoys, cleared the Kurangoth country and some
small forts on the south of the settlement. In these operations, 500 prisoners were
taken including 8 killadars, and the British loss was two sepoys killed, a very few
wounded, and Lieutenant Lamb slightly in the shoulders.” Two guns were also
captured.
The Kadattauad Raja arrived from Travancore in the Shark gallivat, which
brought the news of the fall of the Travancore lines, and setting out for his country
he was able, in this same month of April, to clear it of the enemy-who appear to
have evacuated all their forts and retreated southwards. Kottayam too was busy, and
in May he took the Kuttiyadi fort, mounting 4 guns, and some other places later on.
The east and south of the Tellicherry settlement being thus in a fair way of
being cleared of the enemy, attention was next directed to the north, and in
particular to the Honourable Company’s mortgaged district of Randattara. On the
28th of April, Major Dow with his force endeavoured to cut off Tippu’s garrison in a
fort erected at Agaar. But some Cannanore Mappillas gave information of his
movements to the garrison who evacuated their post and retreated before Major
Dow’s force into the shelter of the posts defending the Bibi’s town of Cannanore.
On coming within range of the Carley fort, the guns opened fire on the
British troops, and Major Dow in consequence drew off his force.
The Bibi’s attitude at this time to the British was very unsatisfactory and
enigmatical. Ever since Tippu’s visit to Cannanore in the preceding year, she had
ostensibly lent to an alliance with the British, but had in reality secretly worked
against them.
The proclamation warning the country powers that those who did not join
the British, would be treated as enemies was in great measure disregarded. The
factors now thought it high time to act, so on the 27th April one of the Bibi’s vessels
was seized, but still she hung back. The bearer of a letter to her from Mr. Taylor was
turned back. Major Dow’s force was fired upon, as already stated, on the 28th, and
on the 3rd of May the Drake, an armed vessel of the company’s, stood in towards
Cannanore to test the depth of water for a naval attack and drew on herself the fire
of the fort on the south-east of the bay ; one shot struck her and carried away a
main topmast backstay.
But the force at the settlement was not strong enough to deal effectually
with her. The safety of the Tellicherry settlement had been very strongly impressed
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on the factors, both by the Bengal and Bombay Governments, as a matter of

supreme importance at the then juncture in affairs, and Major Dew’s instructions
were not to proceed beyond 24 hours’ distance of the place. The factors accordingly
ordered him back to head-quarters as soon as it was seen that the Bibi meant to
resist, and the posts captured by him were made over to the country powers to
protect.
But Chirakkal could not proceed to his dominions, as 8,000, it was said, of
Tippu’s troops were still in and about Cannanore. The factors had to give him leave
to remain with 200 of his men in Tellicherry during the monsoon, for he said, it
would be a disgrace to him if he were to return to his districts and remain in hiding
in the jungles as he had done before. Moreover he could not now count on
maintaining himself in the jungles in the manner he had done before, namely “by
plundering and making occasional depredations.”
It was also now becoming evident to the factors that causes of discord
between Hindu and Mappilla were likely to cause the latter to favour Tippu rather
than the British, because they were afraid of letting the “Malabars” have authority
over them ” after what had happened, and particularly after the forcible conversion
to Islam of so many Hindus, and after the fearful retribution which had been
wreaked by the Hindus in many places on their oppressors, when the tide of victory
turned in favour of the English.
On the 28th of June, the Chief reported to Bombay that, the Bibi was still
holding aloof from an alliance with the Company, and that the reduction of
Cannanore was necessary. Meanwhile, however, events to the east of the ghauts had
shown that the British were likely to carry matters all their own way. On July 24th,
news of the taking of Karur by General Medows on the 15th June arrived, and with
it also came information of the triple alliance between the Mahrattas, the Nizam and
the English having been ratified.
And on August 6th, a letter from General Medows arrived stating that he
was at Coimbatore, that nearly all the south of Tippu’s dominions was in his hands
almost without the loss of a man, and that the enemy had retired up the ghauts into
Mysore.
It was now high time for the Bibi to declare herself, and two days later (8th
August), she accordingly signed “the preliminaries1 to a future treaty of firm alliance
and friendship” with the Honourable Company. It was done, however, under the
strictest secrecy; two officers (Lieutenants Lewis and Munro) proceeded to
Cannanore by sea at night, landed secretly there and obtained the Bibi’s signature to
it.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., i. XCVI. END OF NOTEs
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The terms were that she was “whenever called upon” to admit the
company’s troops to garrison the fortress of Cannanore and to give as hostages for
such performance the husband of her oldest daughter, and one of her ministers. On
these and other conditions, which it is unnecessary to detail, as they were never
carried out, the Bibi was to be considered as an ally of the Honourable Company “in
the same manner as the other Malabar princes, their allies.’”
Ten days later Mr. Powney reported that the Raja of Cochin had thrown off
allegiance to Tippu, and had joined1 the British.
NOTEs: 1.The formal treaty with this Raja was not, however, signed for some months, 6th
January 1791 - See Treaties, etc., i. Cl. But he had previously to this entered into an agreement with Mr.
Powney for the lease of the Island of Chetwai, which was cleared of the enemy by Colonel Hartley in
the September preceding—See Treaties, etc., i. XCIX etc. END OF NOTEs
And on 27th September 1790, General Medows, the Governor and

Commander-in-Chief of Madras, entered at Coimbatore into an agreement2 with
“Kishen, Zamorin Raja of Calicut,” investing him with the sole management of all
the countries heretofore included in the province of Calicut, which are or may be
conquered by the British troops.”
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc,, i. XCVII. This "Kishen Raja” was in reality not the Zamorin at all,
but only the second of the house. END OF NOTEs
Palghaut fort and district and certain adjacent districts had just then been
taken after a short siege of this fort by the same officer, Colonel Stuart, who, on
proceeding with an advanced force of General Medow's army to invest and
summon the place in the July preceding, had been driven back by the violence of the
south-west monsoon. Wikls3 gives the following account of his second and
successful attempt to take the place:
NOTEs: “Historical Sketches” II, pp. 163-64. END OF NOTEs
“After retracing his steps to Coimbatore, this officer was, without joining
head-quarters, ordered, with augmented means, to proceed to Palghaut. Officers
who had served in the siege of 1783 spoke in high terms of the strength of the
works, as being composed of long blocks of granite, so built as to present the end
instead of the side to the shot, and thus resisting the ordinary means of effecting a
breach ; the ordnance was therefore prepared on a respectable scale and placed
under the direction of Lieutenant Colonel Moorhouse, an officer of distinguished
reputation.
“The preparations were made with corresponding care, and at daylight, on
the 21stSeptember, two batteries opened at distances under 500 yards, one for
enfilade and the other for breaching ; the latter, consisting of eight 18-pounders,
dismounted at their first discharge six of the guns opposed to them. In less than two
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hours the fort was silenced and before night a practicable breach was effected. The
opinion above stated appears to have arisen from attempting a breach in a circular
tower, and the reflection of shot from indirect incidence was ascribed to direct
resistance. In the present instance, the breach was made in the curtain, and the error
was practically discovered.
“Among the recent improvements was the completion of the ditch across
that causeway which led the assailants of 1783 to the gate ; but although the covered
way had been improved, it was still without palisades, and in a considerable extent
immediately opposite to the breach, the glacis was so imperfectly finished as to
leave cover immediately under its crest : of these defects the proper advantage was
taken the same night.
“On reconnoitring the covered way, it was found that the besieged retired
every night into the body of the place, drawing after them a rude wooden bridge,
which was replaced every morning. The defective spot was immediately seized : a
circular place of arms, in a salient angle of the covered way, was next occupied, and
its defences reversed; the musketry from the crust of the glacis opposed that of the
fort, the gate of the sortie was converted into a battery for two 18-pounders, light
mortars were brought up to the position first seized and were served with decisive
effect ; the ditch, however, was still to be filled : the advanced position must on the
ensuing day have remained insulated until it could be connected in the usual manner
with the trenches ; but all these labours were rendered unnecessary by the
impression produced on the garrison, who before daylight called out that they
desired to capitulate.
“The terms were soon adjusted in conversation across the ditch, and soon
after daylight the rude bridge was launched, which enabled the besiegers to occupy
the place, which was found to mount sixty guns of various calibres. The chief
condition of surrender was effective protection against the Nayars, who had joined
Colonel Stuart and were employed in the blockade ; but on the fire of the place
being silenced, crowded the trenches and batteries, anxious for sanguinary
retaliation, which it required very exact arrangements to prevent.
“Colonel Stuart arrived before Palghaut, with two day’s provisions, and
without a shilling in his military chest ; the sympathy which he evinced for the
sufferings of the Nayars and the rigid enforcement of a protecting discipline had
caused his bazaar to assume the appearance of a provincial granary ; the fort was ill-
stored, but after depositing six months’ provisions for the garrison appointed for its
defence, he carried back to his Commander-in-Chief one month's grain for his
whole army : the confidence which his conduct inspired in this short intercourse
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having enabled him to pay for these supplies with written acknowledgments
convertible into cash at the conclusion of the war.”
All the Malabar Chieftains1 had thus declared for the British.
NOTEs: 1. The Coorg Raja too joined the confederacy on 26th October 1790 — Treaties,
etc..,i. XCVIII.—An easy and safe passage through friendly territory was thus secured for an army
advancing from Tellicherry as the base through Kottayam and Coorg against Seringapatam. This treaty
with Coorg completed Mr. Taylor’s able political preparations for the struggle just commencing. END
OF NOTEs
Colonel Hartley had, in September, moved up the coast from Alikkotta, and
after clearing the Island of Chetwai2 of the enemy, he took, on 26th September, the
enemy’s fortified post at Chavakkad mounting 15 guns, and fifty prisoners were
captured at the same time. Proceeding onwards to Ponnani, he then turned his face
eastwards clearing all the country to the south of the Ponnani river, and by the 9th
October he had reached Palghaut already taken
by Colonel Stuart. And there he remained till
about the 20th November.
NOTEs: 2. Leased by Mr. Powney to the
Cochin Raja for one year on 26th November 1790 for an
annual payment of Rs. 40,000. END OF NOTEs
Meanwhile affairs to the east of the

ghauts had not been prospering with General
Medows. Colonel Floyd’s detachment sent out
to forage at the foot of the Hassanur hills beat a
hasty retreat in September before a large force
brought down the Gajalhatti pass by Tippu in
person, and it narrowly escaped annihilation
before effecting a junction with General
Medow’s own force. The Mysorean army was
better equipped and General Medows never
succeeded in coming up with it.
Tippu threatened Coimbatore, which was
opportunely strengthened by Colonel Hartley,
who despatched three Madras battalions to
defend it. Tippu, however, managed to take
Darapuram from the weak garrison left there by
General Mcdows.
In August the Bombay Government
had despatched Major Auchmuty to Tellicherry
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with a commission to act in concert with Colonel Hartley and Mr. Taylor, and with
orders to keep ready at Tellicherry for field service a force consisting of one
company of artillery and lascars, three companies of the Bombay European
regiment, and the 2nd, 3rd and 10th battalions of sepoys, all under the command of
Major Dow for co-operation with Colonel Hartley.
This force was kept in readiness to move at a moment’s notice, but in the
meantime the Cannanore Bibi’s attitude again excited suspicion.
In August the Chief had reason to think she was really endeavouring to get
rid of Tippu’s force which still lay at Cannanore, and to facilitate her endeavours
and give her confidence a small party of men from Tellicherry was sent, under
protest from the French at Mahe, to guard the passage across the Mahe river so as
to prevent Tippu’s force in the south from communicating with that lying in and
about Cannanore.
On September 24th, Mr. Taylor found it necessary to take another step, for
the misunderstanding between Hindu and Mappilla was becoming very apparent,
and the Chief to quiet the fears of the latter, had to issue a proclamation that he
would secure both parties on their ancient footing.
About October 14th, the Bibi complied so far with the terms of her
engagement that she sent away Tippu’s troops from the place, and Randattara
accordingly once more passed into the hands of the Company. No further progress,
however, was made in carrying out the agreement, and in order to force her to
declare herself, Mr. Taylor on 17th October despatched a battalion to take
possession of the Cannanore fort. Admission was refused and the battalion
thereupon took post at Agarr in order to protect Randattara.
On the 19th an evasive reply was received from the Bibi, and on the 21st Mr.
Taylor heard that Tippu’s force of about 8,000 men, which had gone only a short
distance north, had again returned to Cannanore.
There was now no uncertainty about the fact that the Bibi meant to side
with Tippu and oppose the Honourable Company. Mr. Taylor accordingly wrote to
Bombay to ask for sanction to besiege Cannanore, and, on the 22nd October, the
Princess Royal ketch belonging to the Honourable Company was sent to blockade the
place by sea. Finally on the 5th November the Bombay Government "justly incensed
at her (the Bibi’s) prevaricating if not treacherous, conduct” determined to
prosecute the siege with vigour.
The interest in the narrative at this point next centres on the movements of
Colonel Hartley’s force in South Malabar. Having heard from Tellicherry that Major
Dow, with the force above detailed, was held in readiness to join him, Colonel
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Hartley, on 13th November, wrote from Palghaut, desiring that Major Dow might be
sent down the coast to Ponnani to take post on the south of the river at that place
and to await further orders. But the Bibi’s hostile attitude made it impossible for Mr.
Taylor to comply with this request, and as soon as Tellicherry had been reinforced,
Major Dow was sent out to take post at Agarr with three battalions in order to
watch the movements of Tippu’s force at Cannanore and to protect Randattara.
Colonel Hartley, after despatching the above requisition, next set his force
in motion from Palghaut towards the west about the middle of November. On the
22nd, he was at “Ometore” on the south bank of the Ponnani river, three miles east
of the famous Tirunavayi temple. His object was to keep open the communications
between General Medow’s force and the west coast via Palghaut.
Martab Khan with 5,000 of Tippu’s troops had pushed southwards across
the river and had busied themselves in
devastating the country as far as Chavakkad, On
hearing of the approach of Colonel Hartley, this
force retired northwards and was generally
supposed to have concentrated on Venkatakotta,
a few miles north of Tirunavayi. On December
1st Hartley reached Ponnani and remained there
four days. On the 5th he set out in pursuit of
Martab Khan, and on the 7th captured
Venkatakotta with 3 guns and 20 prisoners.
Pushing on from there, Colonel Hartley with
only one European regiment and two battalions
of sepoys with their usual field artillery came up
with the enemy on the 10th and won a brilliant
victory which is thus described in the records.
“He encountered two of Tippu’s commanders, Martab Khan and Hussain
Ali Khan, at the head of 9,000 Tippu’s men and 4,000 Mappillas on the plains of
Tervannengurry”1 (evidently Tirurangadi in Ernad taluk) “on the morning of the 10th
instant. After a smart action the colonel routed Martab Khan with the right wing of
the enemy and put them to total flight. The retreat of Hussain Ali being cut off by
the Highland or 75th Regiment, he, with the remaining troops, was obliged to fly
towards the fort of Tervannengurry, but the 7th battalion coming up with him
before he could effectually enter the fort put 400 of his men to the sword in the
covert way. Being then surrounded on all sides by the English, Hussain Ali loudly
called out for quarter, which being granted, he surrendered himself with two sirdars
and 900 men prisoners of war.
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NOTEs: 1. In Major Dirom’s “Narrative of the

Campaign, etc." London, 2nd edition, 1794, p, 263, the place
is called “Tricalore" which is evidently Tirukkallur, the
Hindu name of the neighbouring temple and fort. The
locality is probably identical with that where Humberstone
won his victory over Hyder Ali’s general, Mukhdum Ali in
1782. END OF NOTEs
The loss on our side during this action

is very trifling. No officers killed—among the
wounded are Captains Lauman and Blackford,
Lieutenants Stuart and Powell—none
dangerously, but the latter, it is supposed, will
lose his arm. The loss on the side of the enemy,
independent of the captured, is estimated at
about 1,000 killed and wounded.
“Colonel Hartley finding that Martab Khan had retreated to Ferokia, or
new Calicut, a place lately strengthened and considerably improved by Tippu,
pursued him thither without a moment’s loss of time. On the night previous to the
arrival of the detachment Martab Khan again fled from them, and carried with him
from thence, on elephants, all the treasure of the place. It is supposed that he is
gone towards the Tambercherry pass. The remainder of this garrison, consisting of
1,500 men, laid down their arms on the colonel’s appearance, who consequently,
took possession of the fort, guns, etc., without further opposition.
Beypore also surrendered to him immediately with a considerable number
of vessels and boats laying in the river.”
Major Dirom, who was Deputy Adjutant-General of the Army, put the
enemy’s losses in these three affairs at
Guns Men killed, wounded and missing
or prisoners.
December Tricalore 3 2,000
10th
December Ferokabad 50 1,300
12th
December Beypore 20 Evacuated
12th
The effect of these operations of Colonel Hartley’s was to clear the whole
of South Malabar of the enemy. It only remained to effect the same purpose in
North Malabar.
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After determining, on 5th November, as already stated, to besiege

Cannanore, the Bombay Government of General Abercromby vigorously set about
their preparations for this end. On 25th November the factors heard that they were
despatching to Tellicherry a regiment of Europeans, a company of artillery, two of
lascars, and the 12th battalion of native infantry, and that the Governor himself was
coming to conduct the operations.
Major Dow was despatched with three battalions to take post at Agarr, as
already stated, on the 27th and four companies of the Bombay European regiment
were held in readiness on Darmapattanam island to support him. On the 4th, 5th and
6th December the troops from Bombay, including H.M.’s 77th Regiment (nine
companies strong), and General Abercromby himself arrived. H.M.’s ship Phœnix
(Captain Byron) was appointed the flagship in the naval operations against
Cannanore.
On the 13th December, General Abercromby with his force of 3,000 to
4,000 men and the ships invested the place.
On the 14th the siege was opened, the two important out works, Forts
Avary and Carlee, were captured on the 16th, and on the 17th the besieging force
having mastered all the heights and commanding situations round the fort and
town, the Bibi wisely submitted to her fate and agreed to an unconditional
surrender.1 The Bibi and inhabitants generally were, however, assured by General
Abercromby of protection for themselves and for their personal property and
household furniture.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., i. CLIX.—The assurances referred to in the text were afterwards
supplemented by others executed respectively by General Abercromby (Treaties, etc., i. CII), on 14th
February 1791, and by the Bibi (i. C .X), in March 1791, guaranteeing that the Bibi and her family
should not be handed over to Tippu by the British on the one hand, and that the Bibi should do all in
her power to conciliate and attach the Mappiles to the English interest, and to assist in the war against
Tippu on the other. END OF NOTEs
All military and naval stores, vessels, grain, etc., were confiscated. Future
relations were to be left for adjustment afterwards, and meanwhile the Bibi was to
continue “to exercise justice to the inhabitants agreeable to their customs in all cases
where the commandant of the fort and town does not interfere”. The Bibi’s
husband, who it seems had always headed the opposition to the English, died during
the early part of the siege, and her minister and heir apparent were therefore sent as
hostages to the English camp. Five thousand of Tippu’s troops found in the town
laid down their arms and colours, and formal possession of the place was taken by
Captain Wiseman, who marched into Fort St. Angelo and occupied it with the two
flank companies of his battalion.
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The British flag was hoisted under a salute from the batteries, and the
enemy lost 68 guns by the capture.
Thus Cannanore, the first place in India to welcome2 Europeans to Indian
shores, was the last of the important places in Malabar to pass into the conquering
hands of the British. There was, after this and after Colonel Hartley's brilliant
exploits in the south, but little left to do for the establishment in Malabar of British
supremacy.
Major Dow with a detachment moved against Valarpattanam and captured
there five more guns ; but the Mappillas and some remains of Tippu’s force had
seized Vadakkara and part of Kadattanad, and it was necessary to disposes them.
This was done without difficulty by a detachment commanded by Captain Oakes,
who secured twelve guns and 400 prisoners at Vadakkara and Kuttippuram, the
Kadattanad Raja's headquarters.
All Malabar was in fact now in the hands of the British, and it only
remained for the administrators to set to work. And it is notable in this connection
and in the light of subsequent, and (some of them) very recent, event that the
following occurs among the first sentences in the records after describing the above
affairs: -
“From the repeated treachery and notorious infidelity of the whole Mappilla race, rigid
and terrifying measures are become indispensably necessary to draw from them the execution of their
promises and stipulations. Lenity has been found ineffectual.”
General Abercromby, therefore, wisely determined to takeaway their arms
and prohibit them the possession of any weapons. The narrative of the succeeding
events may be related in a few words, as the scene of active operations in the war lay
to the east of the ghauts.
On December 12th, 1790,
Lord Cornwallis, the Governor-
General arrived at Madras to take
the management of affairs into his
own hands. General Medows was
at this time following Tippu, who,
with his superior equipments, was
leading him a merry dance, and
who was now after leaving the
neighbourhood of Tiurchirappalli,
plundering, burning and carrying
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ruin into the very heart of Coromandel.

On December 30th, General Medows
received orders to return to Madras with his
army as it was clear his plan of operations could
never have brought the war to a successful close.
On January 29th, 1791, Lord Cornwallis assumed
command of the Army at Vellout, 18 miles from
Madras, and determined to strike in the first
instance at Bangalore, the place second in
importance in Tippu’s dominions, and
afterwards at Seringapatam itself.
On February 5th the army began its
march, and on the 11th it concentrated near
Vellore. Bangalore was taken by assault on March 21st, and on May 15th Tippu was
defeated at Arikera, close to Seringapatam. But a week later (May 22nd) Lord
Cornwallis had to abandon his scheme of carrying Seringapatam itself, his transport
having failed him, and he destroyed his battering train under the very walls of the
fort against which he had designed to use it. General Abercromby, with his force,
had ascended through friendly territory from Cannanore via Irukkur and Coorg to the
Mysore frontier and was ready to co-operate with the main army, but on receipt of
intelligence of what had happened he effected a safe retreat to the coast in spite of a
large force sent by Tippu to intercept him.
In November 1791, General Abercromby returned once more to the coast
from Bombay either bringing with him or receiving from Palghaut all the means of a
good equipment. Again ascending the ghauts he made his first march from the head
of the pass towards Seringapatam with an effective force of 8,400 men on January
22nd, 1792.
On the 25th of that same month, Lord Cornwallis, with 16,721 infantry and
cavalry, 44 field guns, and a battering train of 42 pieces, effected a junction with the
Nizam’s army and some Mahrattas under Hari Punt at Savendrug, and commenced
his second march on Seringapatam. On February 16th, the two armies effected a
junction under the walls of Seringapatam, and on the 22nd Tippu was1 forced to
yield to the allies “one-half of the dominions which were in his possession at the
commencement of the present war” and to pay “three crores and thirty lakhs of
sicca rupees.”
All prisoners were to be released, and “two of the three oldest sons of
Tippu Sultan” were to be given as hostages. This treaty was, as contemplated by
article V, only preliminary to “a definitive treaty of perpetual friendship.” It took some
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weeks to adjust the exact terms of this further “definitive1 treaty,” which was signed
by Lord Cornwallis on 18th March 1792, and from that date “Calicut, 63 taluks,”
valued at “C. Pagodas 8,48,765-5-4½” and “Palghautcherry,” with an estimated
revenue of “C. Pagodas 88,000,” passed finally under the dominion of the
Honourable East India Company.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii II. END OF NOTEs
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Section (G). THE BRITISH SUPREMACY. 1792 to Date.

At the cession of Malabar, in the manner above related, to the British by the
Treaties of Seringapatam,2 dated 22nd February and 18th March 1792, the country
was found to be split into a number of kingdoms and principalities, a prey to the
bigotry of its late Muhammadan conquerors, abandoned by its principal landholders,
and distracted by the depredations and rapacity of the Mappilla banditti.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii II. END OF NOTEs
The Joint Commissioners, whose proceedings will be stated in some detail

shortly, thus described the territory which fell to the share of the British by the
above treaties : — "Malabar, exclusive of the two merely tributary districts of Corga
and Cochin (situated at either of its extremities), may be considered as consisting of
two grand divisions, the northern
and southern, separated by the
Toorshairoo (Turasseri) or Cotta
(Kotta) river.
“That to the northward
comprehending the ancient
Colastrian (Kolattiri) range (raj)
or kingdom, now dismembered
and partitioned out into the
several principalities or districts
of—
“1st—Chericul (Chirakkal) or
Colastry (Kelattiri) proper ;
“2ndly—Cottattu or Cotiote
(Kottayam or inflected Kottayattu),
annexed to which was, or is, Wynad above the ghats (the former peculiarly noted for
the production of pepper, and the latter for cardamoms) ;
“3rdly—The district of Cartinaad (Kadattanad), the woods in which contain
abundance of neglected cassia or wild cinnamon ; and
“4thly—The petty township and contiguous districts of Cannanore (held by a
Mappilla family possessing also the greater part of the Laccadive Islands, and which
is much respected by all the others of the same tribe throughout Malabar) ; and
“5thly, 6thly and 7thly—The small taluks of Irvenaad (Iruvalinad), Corengotte
(Kurangot) and Randaterra (Randattara), which last-mentioned place had become
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subordinate to the settlement of Tellicherry in the manner that will be hereafter

pointed out
“The districts to the south of the Toorahairoo (Turasseri) river contain —
“1st—Coorimnaad (Kurumbranad), a distinct and independent rajaship ; and
“2ndly~Those districts that formed the dominions of the Samoory or Zamorin,
such as Pynaar (Payyanad), with Warcumbra (Vadakkampuram) and Curcumbra
(Kilakkampuram) to the north and east of Calicut ;
“and to the southward of that city and district, the countries of Ernaad (Ernad),
Shernaad (Cheranad), Venkillycotta (Venkattakkotta), Malapuram (Malapuram),
Capool (Kappul), Weenarcar (Mannarakkad), Cunumpoora (Karmpula),
Nerenganaad (Nedunganad), and Poonany (Ponnani).
“Besides which, the Samoory claimed to be, with a more or less influence, the
paramount sovereign over —
“The Nayarships of Pyoormulla (Payyormala) and Poorwye (Pulavayi) to the
north and east of Calicut ;
“and to the southward of the Rajaships of Beypoor (Beypore), Perepnaar
(Parappanad), Bettut or Vettutnaar (Vettattunad), and Tallapellie (Talapalli), called
also Soukar and Chowghaut (Chavakkad), including the Nayarship of Coulpara
(Kavalappara)
“And he had also possessed himself of the more full and immediate sovereignty
over the three Nayarships of Colemgoor (Kollankodu), Codovoura or Koorwye
(Kotuvayyur) and Mungary (Mangara), originally a part of the Palghaut (Palghat)
country
“So that, exclusive of the residue of this last-mentioned district, and of the
three lesser Nayarships of Congad (Kongad), Manoor (Mannur) and Yerterra
(Edattara), and of the district of Coorimnaad (Kurumbranad) and of that of Velatra
or Velnatera (Vellatiri) in the southern division of Malabar, the family of the
Zamorin had, by a continued service of warfare and contest, thus reduced (before
the period of their own expulsion by Hyder Ali Khan) to a greater or less degree of
subordination and dread of their power, all the Raja’s chiefs and land-holders of the
countries lying between the Toorshairee (Turassori) river [which is above stated to
have been the boundary of the ancient Colastrian (Kolattiri) kingdom] and that of
Cochin.”
To complete the list of British possessions on the coast at this time, it will
be gathered from the foregoing narrative that the following had already, for longer
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or shorter periods and more or less uninterruptedly, been in the possession of the
British :— .
(a) Tellicherry, with its dependencies, namely, the Island of
Dharmmapattanam with Grove Island lying off it, the district of Randattara (also
mentioned by the Commissioners), and the fort and district of Mount Deli.
(b) The Island of Chetwai, retaken from the Mysoreans by Colonel Hartley
in 1790, and rented to the Cochin Raja at Rs. 40,000 per annum.
And (c) The fort and territory at Anjengo.
The localities of most of the above bits of territory are indicated in the
sketch map given at paragraph 11 of Chapter IV, (Section (b), and further details of
the precise limits of each little bit of territory will be found in that section itself.
Soon after the conclusion of the peace Lord Cornwallis, the Governor-
General, instructed General R. Abercromby, Governor of Bombay, under date the
23rd March 1792, to enquire into the present state of the country and to establish a
system for its future government, but to lose no time in coming to an agreement
with all the chiefs for some specific revenue to be paid for the ensuing year. Such of
the friendly Rajas whose territories were not included in the cession were to be
allowed the option of returning to them under the protection of the 8th article of the
Treaty, or of remaining within the limits of the Company’s territories ; and Lord
Cornwallis promised, in conclusion to depute two Civil Servants from Bengal to act
in concert with the gentlemen to be appointed from Bombay.
In pursuance of these orders the General arrived at Cannanore and
appointed Mr. Farmer, a Senior Merchant, and Major Dow, the Military
Commandant of Tellicherry, as Commissioners, and issued instructions to them
under date the 20th April 1792, to preserve the peace of the country, and after
settling the amount of tribute to be paid by the native princes and chiefs, to direct
their attention to collecting materials to form a report on the most eligible system of
establishing the Company’s authority on the coast. The states of Coorg in the north-
east and Cochin in the south, which were included in the cession, were made
tributaries and included in the object of the commission.
Before proceeding to state in detail the measures adopted by the
Commissioners for carrying out the above instructions, it will be as well to explain
that the only plan on which this can be done with a view to giving an adequate idea,
of the labours of the Commissioners, will be to adhere strictly to the chronological
method.
The narrative will necessarily appear disjointed, but, having regard to the
vast number of bits of independent territory which came under settlement, this
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cannot be helped. The Bombay Commissioners began at Tellicherry to effect

settlements with the three northern Rajas of Chirakkal. Kottayam and Kadattanad,
whose relations with the English from a remote period have already been dealt with
in the foregoing pages.
The engagements or cowls entered into in 1790 with these chieftains, the
terms of which have already1 been fully described were now found to be “not so
comprehensive as could be wished, since they provided for the emancipation of the
Malabar Rajas from Tippu, but did not clearly express their dependence on the
Company,” for the instructions of the Governor-General issued on 8th April and
31st May 1790, and already fully described, were received only after the execution of
the cowls.
NOTEs: 1. Pages 458-459. END OF NOTEs
These instructions contained clear directions as to the terms of dependence

on which the chieftains were to remain under the Honourable Company, but they
did not appear to have been communicated to those chiefly concerned.
It must also be here explained that with regard to the
Chirakkal cowl it was granted to Unni Amma, a younger member
of the family, who assumed the name of Ravi Varma, and was the
only one on the spot, the real head of the house having fled with
his mother to Travancore ; and that the Kottayam cowl was
likewise granted to a junior member of the family, afterwards
known as the rebel Pazhassi (Pychy) Raja, the senior Raja having
also taken refuge in Travancore.
Owing to the terms of the cowls they held, the three northern Rajas did not
immediately acquiesce in the Company’s sovereignty over them, but after some
hesitation they soon found the necessity of relaxing their pretensions, and the
Kadattanad Raja was the first to agree to a settlement1 on 25th April 1792, stipulating
as follows : —
NOTEs: 1.Treaties, etc., ii. IV. END OF NOTEs
1st - The Raja to remain in the exercise of all his rights and authority subject
only to the control of the Company in case of oppressing the inhabitants.
2ndly—A Resident or Dewan to reside with him to enquire into any
complaints of oppression.
3rdly —Two persons on the part of the Company and two on that of the
Raja to make a valuation of the revenues of each district.
4thly—Amount of revenue payable by each subject to be ascertained.
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5thly—-The Raja’s tribute to be settled in October according to the

appearance of the crop2 .
6thly—The Government share of pepper to be delivered to the Company at
a price to be fixed in December.
7thly—The remaining pepper to be purchased exclusively by merchants
appointed by the Company, and
8thly—Lesser points which might arise from time to time to be left with Mr.
Taylor, the Chief of Tellicherry, to adjust, and the whole was to be considered as
temporary and subject to the confirmation of General Abercromby on his return to
the coast.
Similar3 terms were next accepted by the Kottayam and Chirakkal Rajas,
and measures were adopted for obtaining a valuation of these districts.
NOTEs: 2.Treaties, etc., ii. V and VI.
3. Of pepper presumblay. END OF NOTEs
With a view to check the illicit trade in pepper, etc., carried on by the
French at Mahe, the small district of Iruvalinad, of which frequent mention has
already been made in the foregoing narrative, was retained under the direct
management of a covenanted servant subordinate to the Tellicherry Factory, and the
same system was likewise extended to the district of Randattara, already so often
mentioned as a bone of contention between the Company and the Chirakkal Raja.
The Bombay Commissioners next turned their attention to Cannanore,
another of the Malayali chieftainships, whose relations with the English from a
remote period have already been detailed in the preceding pages. It will be noted
that this chieftainess was not on a footing similar to that of the rest of the Malabar
chiefs, for she had basely thrown over the English alliance instead of assisting the
Honourable Company’s officers, and had been compelled by force of arms to
withdraw from her alliance with Tippu.
The chief source of revenue in Cannanore being the commerce carried on
by the Bibi with Arabia, etc., and the produce of the Laccadive Islands, she was
called upon for a statement of the produce and value of her country preparatory to a
settlement.
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The Commissioners then proceeded to settle the case of the five friendly
northern Rajas whose territories lying contiguous to Kolattiri proper or Chirakkal
on the north of the Kavvayi river, were not included in the cession, although they
were, prior to Hyder Ali’s conquest, under the suzerainty of the Kolaltiri family.
Hyder Ali attached their territories to his Kacheri of Bednur. They were the
Rajas of Nilesvaram, Kumbla, Vitul Hegra or Beigada, Bungor and Chowtwara. The
Nilesvaram Raja, although he was granted cowl by the factors in 1790, obtained
permission from Tippu to return to his country. The Kumbla and Vitul Hegra Rajas
were each granted1 a pension of Rs. 200 by the Company, with permission to reside
at Tellicherry.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. Ill and IX. END OF NOTEs
As to the Bunga or Bunger and Chowtwara Rajas, they having made the
offer of their services very late in the war, it was
not deemed necessary to extend to them any
indulgence of the kind. They had to return to
their country, and were, it is said, imprisoned by
Tippu.
Having put matters in train for a
settlement in the north, the Bombay
Commissioners next repaired to Calicut to
negotiate with the Zamorin, who, however,
delayed to attend on the Board. The
Commissioners accordingly made a settlement
of the Kurumbranad district with Vira Varma
Raja, who had been a member of the Kottayam
family and had been adopted as heir by the
senior Kurumbranad Raja. The latter was absent in Travancore. They leased2 to him
on the 27th May 1792, for the sum of Rs. 1,40,000 for one year, not only the two
districts of Kurumbranad and Kolakkad, which appertained to his adopted family,
but Payyanad, Payormala, Kilakkampuram, Vadakkampuram and Pulavayi, which
were then understood to belong to the Zamorin, but classed in Tippu’s schedule
under the taluk of Kurumbranad.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc. ii, VlI and VIII. END OF NOTEs
This Raja had received no cowl from the Tellicherry factors, so as a

preliminary condition to the grant of the above agreement he had to acknowledge
that the Honourable Company “alone are the rightful sovereigns” of his districts,
and he was in turn appointed the Honourable Company’s “manager” to "collect the
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revenues, administer justice, and preserve the

peace” of his districts, and the Zamorin’s agents
were required to settle with him for sums
collected by them.
The Bombay Commissioners next learnt
that General Medows, the Governor of Madras,
in the course of the war operations on the other
side of the peninsula, had allowed the
Travancore Raja a controlling power over the
Malabar Rajas ; and that on this plea the
Travancore Dewan Keshu Pillay had collected,
in the name of the Company and on the plea of
contribution towards the expenses of the war,
various sums of money from the revenues of the
country for the years 1790 and 1791. The question as to whether he should be made
to account for these collections occupied some of the Commissioner’s time, and
was eventually left for disposal by the Governor-General.
The feud between Nayar and Mappiila in consequence of the complete
subversion of the ancient friendly relations subsisting between these classes broke
out afresh about this time, and Major Dow was deputed to the Mappilla districts,
and a cowl1 of protection was issued in favour of the Kundotti section of the
Mappilla class, who had been oppressed by the Nayar landholders.
NOTEs: 1. 1 Treaties, etc.., ii. X. END OF NOTEs
The next settlement was made for the Palghat district with Itta Punga
Achchan, a younger member of the family, who, according to custom, exercised
sovereign authority as regent in place of a superannuated senior Raja. On his
acknowledging the sole sovereignty of the Honorouable Company over his district it
was, on 12th July 1792, leased2 to him for one year for the net sum of Rs. 80,000
after allowing for charges of collection.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., ii. XI. END OF NOTEs
The Zamorin had driven a wedge3 through and had acquired, as already
described, a large part of the ancient Palghat territory. In this agreement with Itta
Punga Achchan this claim of the Zamorin to the Natuvattam was carefully ignored.
NOTEs: 3. The Natuvattam (Central circle), see map at, paragraph 11 of Section (b), Chap.
IV. END OF NOTEs
And on the same4 day the Kavalappara Nayar acknowledged the Honourable
Company’s sovereignty and was installed in his territory for one year his payments
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being fixed at Rs. 15,000. As however, the Cochin Raja had advanced a claim to
sovereignty over the Nayar’s territory (Treaties, etc., i. Cl. Article III), the Nayar was
further bound to abide by the decision of the Honourable Company in this matter.
It may be added that the Nayar shortly afterwards proved to the satisfaction of the
Commissioners that he was really independent of the Cochin Raja, and a decision
was accordingly given in his favour on this point.
NOTEs: 4. Treaties, etc., ii, XII. END OF NOTEs
It was at first resolved to place the Nayars of Kongad, Mannur and

Edattara under the Palghat Achehan, but as they had formerly taken the protection
of the Vellatiri Raja, they were ordered to pay their revenue through that Raja, viz.
Rs. HOONS
Kongad 1,454 8
Mannur 1,344 2½
Edattara 1,505 8
A dispute soon however arose between the Raja’s family and these Nayars,
and they were thenceforward permitted to pay revenues direct to the Company.
Their territories were in this way first included among those for which the
Vellatiri Raja next, on 30th July 1792, undertook to pay a sum of Rs. 38,410½. The
Vellatiri or Valluvakon Rajas were, as the foregoing pages sufficiently indicate, the
hereditary enemies of the Zamorins. The reigning chief had endeavoured, by
favouring the Mappillas, to counterbalance the influence gained by the Zamorin
through his Muhammadan subjects.
Mappillas consequently abounded in this chief’s territory, but as
Muhammadan immigrants were few in his inland tracts he had perforce to recruit
his Mappilja retainers from the
lowest classes of all—the slaves of
the soil or Cherumar. Having
tasted the sweets of liberty under
the Mysorean rule, these Mappillas
did not readily yield submission to
the ancient order of things when
the Mysoreans were driven out.
Although., therefore, the Vellatiri
Raja’s districts were restored “to
the Raja for management, it was
soon discovered that he was
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powerless to repress the disturbance which speedily arose between Nayar and
Mappilla, and it was in consequence of this that so early as May 1793 the Joint
Commissioners had to resume his districts and manage them directly.
Another reason for direct intervention was that this chief and his family had
all fled to Travancore, and that they had afforded the Honourable Company no help
whatever in the war with Tippu.
In settling with the minister of the Vellatiri Raja the Commissioners learnt
that it had been the practice with Tippu and his farmers to exact 10 per cent, on the
jama or annual demand for the charges of collection in the southern districts. They
therefore took this extra charge to account and increased the amount of the Vellatiri
lease from Rs. 38,410½ to Rs. 41,594½.
The Parappanad district was next, on 11th August 1792, farmed3 out for the
net sum of Rs. 14,000 to one of its Rajas, Vira Varma, one of the few members of
the family who had escaped forcible conversion at the hands of Tippu’s myrmidons.
NOTEs: 3. Treaties, etc., ii, XIII. END OF NOTEs
The Vettattanad district was next leased on 14th August 1792, on behalf of
the Raja, by his minister for Rs. 34, 807¼. But this Raja did not long survive ; he
died on 24th May 1793, leaving no heirs natural or adoptive to succeed him, and his
estates were declared to have passed to the Honourable Company.
The settlement with the Zamorin, which had been all the while under
consideration, presented various difficulties. During the religious persecutions of
Tippu, a younger member of the family, Ravi Varma, belonging to that branch of
the family styled Padinhare Kovilakam (western palace), having proved himself a
champion of the Hindus, obtained from General Medows at Coimbatore, on 27th
September 1790, a cowl1 in the name of Kishnen Raja, heir apparent of the
Zamorin, who had fled to Travancore, authorising the latter to administer the
revenue of the country during the war and providing for the payment of an
equitable poishcash to the Company at its termination.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc, ii, XCVII. END OF NOTEs
Under the provisions of this cowl an agreement2 was, on the 18th August
1792, concluded with the fourth Raja of the Kizhakke Kovilakam (eastern palace),
on behalf of, and as surety for the Zamorin for Rs. 4,16,366¼. It contained sixteen
articles, which constituted the basis of all subsequent proceedings with this Raja.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., ii, XVI. END OF NOTEs
The districts leased were —

in Calicut—the cusba and Ramnad.
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in Kurumbranad—Vadakkampuram
and Kizhakkampuram, which the Kurumbranad
Raja agreed to give up to the Zamorin.
in Vettattanad—-Ponnani, Choranad
and Venkattakkotta.
in Chavakkad—Chavakkad,
Nedunganad and Karimpuzha,
in Ernad—Ernad and Malapuram, and
in Palghat—Kollangod, Koduvayyur,
and Mankara, and the duties on land and sea
customs were also likewise leased.
As a mark of respect and superiority,
the Rajas of Beypore, Parappanad and
Vettattunad were required to pay their revenues through the Zamorin, who was also
temporarily vested, “as in the ancient times”, with power to administer justice “over
all these petty Rajas.”
The last separate district settled by the Commissioners was with the
Beypore Raja for Rs. 10,000.
After this the Commission separated for a time, Major Dow proceeding to
Cochin and Travancore with a view to secure3 the pepper produce and to obtain as
much information as possible before the arrival of the Bengal Commissioners.
NOTEs: 3. Treaties, etc., ii, XVII. END OF NOTEs
Mr. Farmer remained behind and entered into an arrangement for the mint
with the Zamorin, to whom it was leased for Rs. 15,000. He also appointed Mr.
Agnew the Calicut Resident, as Collector General of the southern districts, and Mr.
Sunkheet as Collector of Palghat. He then proceeded to the north to arrange
definitely with the northern Rajas. There he was joined by Mr. W. Page, appointed
as third member of the Bombay Commission.
The Chirakkal Raja’s revenue1 was fixed at Rs. 50,000, the Kadattanad1
Raja’s at Rs. 30,000, and the Kottayam1 Raja’s at Rs. 25,000 and all three Rajas now
acknowledged the full sovereignty of the Honourable Company over their
respective districts.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii, XVIII, XIX and XX. END OF NOTEs
The articles were similar to those made with the Zamorin, with
modifications to suit the circumstances of the districts, particularly in the mode of
purchasing pepper.
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In regard to the Bibi of Cannanore nothing was arranged. She claimed the
restoration of the jaghire given to her by Tippu in lieu2 of four of her islands taken by
him and attached to Canara, and which jaghire had been resumed by the Chirakkal
Raja. She represented also that she had been obliged to mortgage the coir of her
remaining islands to Chovakkara Mussa on account of the expense of former wars.
NOTEs: 2. Conf. p. 453, foot note. END OF NOTEs
The Chief (Mr. Robert Taylor) and Factors of Tellicherry were on 31st
October 1792 appointed Collectors-General of the northern districts.
The Padinyaru Kovilakam branch of the Zamorin’s family, already noticed,
possessing great influence in the country, was entrusted with the collection of the
district of Nedunganad by the Eralpad Raja, the managing heir apparent of the
Zamorin. On the strength of this the Padinyaru K. Raja attempted to render himself
independent of the Zamorin. The dispute was
carried on to such lengths that Captain Burchall
was obliged to seize his person at Cherupullasseri.
He died there a day or two afterwards, and at the
instance of the Zamorin his brother and nephew
were put under restraint, and released only upon
the Kilakka Kovilakam Raja standing security for
their good behaviour and payment of arrears of
revenue amounting to one lakh of rupees.
Such was the general state of progress
made by the Bombay Commissioners when the
Governor, Sir Robert Abercromby, again arrived
in Malabar, followed on 12th December 1792 by
Messrs. Jonathan Duncan and Charles Boddam,
the Commissioners despatched from Bengal by Lord Cornwallis to co-operate with
those from Bombay. The following extract contains Lord Cornwallis’ instructions to
Messrs. Duncan and Boddam and explains the scope of the Joint Commission.
Extract from the Governor-General's instructions to the Commissioners
deputed to the Malabar Coast-
“Third.—It is our intention that, in conjunction with the

Commissioners on the part of Bombay, you shall enter into full
investigation with a view to ascertain with as much accuracy as possible
the general and particular situation of this Ceded country, in respect as
well to its former as its late and present Governments, as far as may be
requisite to enable you to point out in what manner justice has heretofore
been and may in future be more advantageously administered to all classes
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of the natives, the nature of whose several tenures and more especially
those of the Zamorin of Calicut and of the principal Rajas and Nayars and
Mappillas throughout that and the other parts of the country are to be
specified, accompanied with Estimates and statements, formed on the
best materials you may be able to procure, of the amount of Revenue
which these several Districts are capable of paying and may be equitably
assessed at ; together with the particulars of their interior and foreign
trade, on which subject you will form and report your opinion as to the
best means of improving both, in such manner as shall have the greatest
tendency to conciliate the Commercial Interests of the Company with
those of the natives, and best promote the internal prosperity of the
Country at large.
“Fourth.—From the several Copies of Papers (consisting of the
Correspondence that has hitherto passed on this subject) which the
Secretary will furnish you with, you will learn what progress has hitherto
been made by Mr. Farmer and Major Dow, with whom Mr. Page has
since been joined in the Commission, consisting of certain articles agreed
upon between them and the Rajahs of Cartinaad (Kadattanad) and others
in the northern division of the Ceded country, by one of which the
amount of the revenue payable the first year was to be ascertained from
the appearance of the crop in October last. The result of this intended
inspection you will no doubt learn on your arrival at Tellicherry ; and
besides this the Commissioners from Bombay appear to have since
concluded a money settlement for one year with the Zamorin and some
other Chiefs of the Southern Districts, as you will find detailed in the
latest advices received from Mr. Farmer.
“Fifth.—Although these advices show that the general assessment
of the Ceded countries in the coast of Malabar is likely to fall considerably
short (for the first year at least) of their estimated Revenue Produce as
contained in the schedule of Jamabandi furnished at the Peace by Tippu
Sultan, we think it nevertheless probable that your and the other
Commissioners’ further enquiries may ascertain the revenue capacity of
the country to be at least much nearer the standard at which it was ceded
to us than the amount of the Temporary settlements hitherto made seems
to indicate ; but although it is certainly our object to fix on a fair and
equitable Jama as payable to Government (and we rely on your best
exertions and those of the gentlemen from Bombay to ascertain the real
ability of the country in that respect), yet we are at the same time willing
to admit and act upon the expediency of a principle of a suggestion which
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you will find urged to the Commissioner from Bombay in a representation

made to them on the part of the Zamorin, viz. :—that with a view to
conciliate the native Rajas, Landholders and cultivators to the Company’s
Government, and encourage them to improve their respective' Districts
and increase their productiveness, more especially by replanting the
pepper vines wherever they have of late years been destroyed, their
Burthens, that is, the revenue assessed on them, should in the beginning
at least, be in general lighter than that exacted from them by Tippu, - in
which view we think it may be very advisable for you and the other
Commissioners to propose to the several Parties a settlement, either for
their respective lives or for such a term of years as may be most agreeable
to them, with a moderate increase (in such places as you think will bear
one) on the reduced Jama that it may now be necessary to stipulate for ; so
that the just advantages of Government may in some degree keep pace
with the progressive improvement of the country under that system of
good government which your researches and proceedings will, we trust,
enable us to establish in it.
“And as the settlement for the first one year ending as we
understand, in September 1793, will probably be everywhere concluded
before your arrival on the Malabar Coast, your principal attention will, of
course, be directed to the permanent adjustment of the public Revenue to
take place from that period, for the first year of which series (or up to
September 1794) we shall with a view of preventing interruption to the
current business of the country or obstruction to the progress of its
improvement, confirm as a matter of course the Jama which you and the
other Commissioners may stipulate for each district ; but the settlement
for the remaining years of each lease you and they are only to recommend
and (as far as you may find satisfactory grounds) conclude with the several
parties, subject by an express clause to our ultimate approbation or
alteration, which shall be signified as soon after your report as possible.
“Sixth.—The establishment of a Plan for the administration of
Justice in the several Districts being a point the effectual attainment of
which we have above all others at heart, we rely with confidence on your
experience acquired on this side of India for your being able to determine
in a satisfactory manner on the number and constitution of the several
Courts of Justice that will be necessary to ensure to the utmost possible
degree (as far as the state of society there will permit) the dispensation of
equal Justice to all classes of the society ; and if, from General
Abercromby’s presence on the spot or in the neighbourhood of the place
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at which your proceedings are held, he shall concur with you in opinion
on these subjects, or in those plans that relate to the collection of the
Revenues, or to the management of the trade of the country, we shall
have no objection to find either one or all of them begun to be carried
into execution (subject to our ultimate approbation) by the country being
divided provisionally (even before your final Report to us) into such
Revenue Divisions or Collectorships, and Judicial Jurisdictions, Civil and
Criminal, and commercial agencies, as you shall intend ultimately to
propose for our Confirmation.
Seventh.—The pepper produced on the Coast of Malabar
constituting (as already intimated) a very material Branch of Commerce to
the Honourable Company, it is our wish that a Provision on terms of
perfect fairness to the natives may be effected in all the settlements for
the Revenue payable to Government, so that as far as possible it may be
made good in the natural pepper produce, taken at a fair market valuation
instead of money payments, leaving whatever proportion cannot be
secured in this way to be purchased by the Company’s commercial Agents
on the spot on the footing (as nearly as may be) that their purchases of
Investments are provided by the Regulations (with which you are
acquainted) established for the Commercial Department in Bengal ; for
we are aware that on the footing of any positively exclusive privilege the
Company must lose in their Revenues and in the prosperity of the country
more than they could gain by rigidly enforcing a right to monopoly or
purchase in any other mode than that which we have thus pointed out.
“Eighth.—You are also, in the same spirit of moderation and
liberal attention to the rights of the native, to include in your Report the
information you may be able to obtain in respect to the General state of
the trade of the country in the other articles besides pepper,
comprehending (as far as your opportunities may admit) that carried on in
the Districts of the Raja of Travancore, and reporting thereon whatever
means may occur to you for securing, on equitable principles, such share
of it to the Company as former engagements (which Mr. Powney, the
Resident with the Raja, will be directed to make you acquainted with), and
more especially the late and recent exertions in favour of that country so
fully entitle them to expect.”
The Governor-General did not fail at the same time to notice (despatch of
18th November 1792) with “much satisfaction” the “laborious and persevering
attention” which had been already devoted to the objects of the Commission by the
Bombay members of it. One of the first measures of the United or Joint
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Commission was to proclaim1 on 20th December 1792 the general freedom of trade
in all articles except pepper which was held as a monopoly, and the Institution of
“two separate courts of Equity and Justice” at Calicut on 1st January 1793, the first
court to be presided over by the members in rotation, in which revenue and litigated
landed claims were to be investigated, and the second to take notice “of all other
subjects of claim and litigation not relating to the revenue or landed property.”
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. XXIII, XXIV, XXVII. END OF NOTEs
They further, on 9th January 1793, sent round a circular2 to all the chieftains
charged with the collection of the Revenue of their Districts, forbidding the
customarily prevalent before the Mysore Government imposed the land cess, which
alone they were authorised to collect.
About this time a hill tribe called Malasars (Mala—hill, and arasar - lords) in
Palghat having inopportunely disturbed a Brahman festival by intruding into the
circle for the relics of the feast, the Palghat Achchan caused the headman of the
tribe to be decapitated. On this account the Commissioners soon afterwards insisted
on the Achchan not only satisfying the family of the deceased Malasar, but entering
before Mr. Lockhart into a written agreement1 not to exercise in future any criminal
jurisdiction affecting the life or limb of any person without obtaining the sanction of
Government.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii, XXVI. END OF NOTEs
Messrs. Page and Boddam were next deputed to Cochin and Palghat
respectively to ascertain the identity of the taluks referred to in the Cochin Treaty of
1790 and Tippu’s schedule of 1792, to enquire into the boundary dispute between
the Cochin Raja and the Zamorin as well as that relative to three taluks between the
former and the Travancore Raja, to adjust with the Dewan of the latter large sum of
money said to have been unduly collected by him, and lastly, to settle the Cochin
Raja’s claims on Kavalappara, which point was, as already stated, decided in favour
of the Nayar.
While these Commissioners were engaged with the above-mentioned
enquiries, the remaining members issued a proclamation of general amnesty for acts
of homicide, maiming, robbery or theft committed prior to 1st February 1793 as a
means of inducing the lawless among the population to resort to honest courses.
The Commissioners likewise prohibited the slave trade carried on
extensively in children by Mappilla merchants with the French and Dutch
ports of Mahe and Cochin respectively.
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It was becoming very apparent that the breach between the Mappillas and
the Nayars, particularly in the Vellatiri district, was very wide. The Raja was found to
be powerless to prevent outrages of all kinds by Mappillas, or to punish them when
the culprits were known. Moreover, on the outskirts of this lawless tract of country
there dwelt a tribe of what were in those days called “jungle” Mappillas, who were
banded together under chiefs and who subsisted on the depredations committed on
their neighbours.
The best known chief of these banditti was styled Elampulasseri Unni
Mutta (Mussa) Muppan, who had a loopholed and fortified house in the jungles at
the foot of the ghats at a place called "Tereangnanor” in the records, and who kept a
retinue of a hundred armed men. He declined to submit to the Honourable
Company’s protection when asked to do so by one of the Company’s military
officers, unless he were granted a pension, because he said his followers had no
means of subsistence beyond what they could get by robbing their neighbours.
But in addition to professional robbers like this, the Vellatiri district
swarmed with Mappillas driven to desperation by the exactions of the Raja’s Hindu
agents employed in collecting the revenue, who resorted, much to the disgust of the
British officers quartered in those districts in command of troops, to the most
cunning devices for procuring military aid to support their extortionate demands on
the inhabitants. The latter were in constant dread of being deprived of their lands by
the Nayars, and of their being thus deprived of their only means of support.
The Commissioners had meanwhile also been busy with a plan for the
general government of the ceded countries, and this having been sanctioned by the
Governor, Sir Robert Abercromby, it was duly proclaimed in the Governors
presence at Calicut on the 18th March 1793. The following extract from Mr.
Farmer’s Diary describes briefly the ceremony which took place on the occasion.
The Diary entry runs as follows: —
“Calicut, 18th March 1793.
“Diary of the Proceedings of William Gamull Fanner, Esquire, Supravisor and
Chief Magistrate of the Province of Malabar.
“This day, by appointment of the Honourable Major-General Robert
Abercromby, President and Governor of Bombay, the gentlemen of the Civil
Service present at Calicut were summoned to attend at the Government House, late
the English Factory, where the Commandant of the troops likewise attended with a
numerous assemblage of officers and other gentlemen.
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“The Battalion of grenadiers, forming two lines, was drawn up on the road
leading from the General’s encampment to the Government House ; the General
was saluted with nineteen guns from six field-pieces in passing through the lines.
“Being arrived at the Government House, Major-General Abercromby read
before all the persons assembled the following letter of instructions, which was then
delivered to the Supravisor
“To Williams Gamull Farmer, Esq.
“ Sir,
“ ‘You are apprised of the reasons that have induced me to form a temporary
Government for the ceded country, and the motives that have actuated me in the
choice of a Chief Magistrate.
“ ‘The sovereignty acquired in these Provinces by the Honarable Company
imposes serious duties on their representatives ; it is their duty to protect the
persons and property of all ranks of subjects to administer unbiassed justice
according to ancient laws and customs, but meliorated by the influence of our
milder institutions, to respect religious opinions and established customs, to provide
for the exigencies of Government by a fair and equal assessment, to diffuse the
blessings of free intercourse and commerce, to preserve the rights of the superior
class of subjects as far as is consistent with the general good, in fine to introduce
good order and government where anarchy, oppression, and distress have long
prevailed.
“These, Sir, are the duties imposed on the Honourable Company’s
representatives ; a knowledge of these duties actuated the Commissioners in
recommending a system of government, and these must actuate you in the
execution of it.
“ ‘The general rules by which you will be guided are clearly defined, and
particular instructions will be framed for the several Departments under your
control. In addition to those instructions, I have to request you will remember that
abuses are more easily prevented than remedied. The principle of the present
Government is not to seek emolument or create places for persons, but to grant
moderate salaries, and hold out to the hopes and ambition of the younger servants
the honourable and liberal situations that superior stations admit of. You will also
recollect and impress it on the minds of the gentlemen under you that it is an
arduous task, and requires zeal and exertion to fill with propriety newly established
officers under a Government recently formed. This zeal is expected from you ;
without it every effort to establish will but weaken our influence, and where merit is
so indispensably required, it will be properly noticed and rewarded.
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“ ‘To enable you to enter on the execution of your office, I have only to add
that by authority of powers vested in me, I hereby appoint you to assume the
temporary management of the ceded countries under the name and title of
Supravisor and Chief Magistrate of the countries henceforth to be denominated the
Province of Malabar.
“ ‘You will be subject to such orders and directions as you may receive from
Government, or the Commissioners may think proper to give you, and at the
termination of the Commission you will assume the same powers over the Chiefship
of Tellicherry as are now held by them.
“ ‘Wishing you success in the execution of your duty,
“ ‘I have, etc.,
(Signed) Robert Abercromby.’
“After the delivery of this letter the Government thus established was
saluted by twenty-one guns from the field-pieces placed in front of the Government
House.
“The following oaths were then taken by the Supravisor:-
“Revenue, oath.
“I, William Gamull Farmer, do promise and swear that, I will, to the utmost of
my endeavours, well and faithfully execute and discharge the duties of an officer of
revenue reposed in and committed to me by the United Company of Merchants
trading to the East Indies, and that I will not demand, take or accept, directly or
indirectly, by myself or by any other person for my use, or on my behalf, of or from
any Raja, Zemindar, Talukdar, Poligar, Renter, Ryot, or other person paying or liable
to pay any tribute, rent, or tax to, or for the use of, the said United Company, any
sum of money or other valuable thing by way of gift, present or otherwise, over and
above, or besides and except the actual tribute, rent, or tax authorised to be taken by
and for the use of the said United Company, and that I will justly and truly account
and answer for the same to the said United Company.
“So help me God !
“(Signed) W. G. Farmer,
“Calicut,
“ 18th March 1793.
“Sworn to before me.
“(Signed) Robert Abeuoromby.
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“Phouzdarry oath.
“I, William Gamull Farmer, Supravisor of the Province of Malabar and entrusted
as the Chief Magistrate with Phouzdarry jurisdiction, do solemnly promise and
swear that I will exert my best abilities for the preservation of the peace of the
District over which my authority extends, and will act with impartiality and integrity,
neither exacting or receiving, directly or indirectly, any fee or reward in the
execution of the duties of my office other than such as the orders of Government
do or may authorise me to receive.
“So help me God !
"(Signed) W. G. Farmer,
“Calicut,
“18th March 1793.
“(Signed) Robert Abercromby.
“Sadar Adalat oath.
I, William Gamull Farmer, Supravisor and Chief Magistrate of the Province of
Malabar, do swear that I will administer justice to the best of my ability, knowledge
and judgment, without fear, favour, promise or hope of reward, and that I will not
receive, directly or indirectly, any present or nuzzer, either in money or in effects of
any kind, from any party in any cause, or from any person whatsoever, on account
of any suit to be instituted, or which may be depending, or have been decided in the
Court of Sadar Adalat under my jurisdiction, nor will I knowingly permit any person
or persons under my authority, or in my immediate service, to receive, directly or
indirectly, any present or nuzzer, either in money or in effects of any kind, from any
party in any cause, or from any person whatsoever, on account of any suit to be
instituted, or which may be depending or have been decided in the Court of Sadar
Adalat under my jurisdiction, and that I will render a true and faithful account of all
sums received for deposits on causes, and fees of court, and of all expenditures.
“So help me God !
“(Signed) W, G. Farmar.
“Calicut,
"18th March 1793.
“(Signed) Robert Abercromby.
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“James Stevens, Esquire, next took the necessary oaths as Superintendent of the
southern Districts. Mr. Augustus William Handley, Senior Assistant to the
Supravisor, and, as such, Judge of the Court of Adalat at Calicut, then also took the
oaths appointed.
“After this Major-General Abercromby withdrew with the same ceremony he
entered, the field-pieces saluting him with nineteen guns.
“The principal natives paid their respects. It was remarked as a propitious omen
that the day of fixing a government for the Malabar Coast was the anniversary of the
day on which it was ceded by Tippu in consequence of the treaty concluded with
Earl Cornwallis at Seringapatam on the 18th March 1792.
The Governor, before his departure from the coast, further issued a circular1 to
all the Rajas and Chiefs explaining the purport and object of the measure which had
thus taken effect. Agreeably to the plan, the ceded country was called the
“PROVINCE OF MALABAR” and divided into two superintendencies, with a
middle division directly under a Supravisor, as he was called, with superior political,
revenue, and judicial powers and full control over the two Superintendents.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii, XXXII. END OF NOTEs
His seat was fixed at Calicut. The Superintendents had revenue and
magisterial power. The headquarters of the Northern Superintendent were fixed at
Tellicherry, with the districts from Chirakkal to Kurumbranad and Coorg under his
control.
The Southern Superintendent was stationed at Cherapullasseri, in charge of
the districts from Parappanad to Chetwai together with the Cochin tribute. The
military force stationed on the coast was subject to the sole requisition of the
Supravisor, except in cases of ‘serious emergency.’
The Supravisor and Superintendents had also a number of assistants under
them, and the Senior Assistant was Judge and Magistrate at Calicut.
There was to be only one mint for the whole country, under the control of
the Supravisor at Calicut. All interior customs were to be abolished and duties on
foreign exports and imports were to be collected by Government. The Senior
Commissioner, Mr. Farmer, was made the first Supravisor, and he thereupon
vacated his seat on the Commission. Messrs. Galley and Stevens were appointed
Northern and Southern Superintendents respectively and Mr. Handley as Senior
Assistant. The remaining members of the Joint Commission then continued their
labours with Mr. Jonathan Duncan as President.
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The Coorg tribute was next settled1 at Rs. 24,000 per annum. But disputes
early commenced between this Raja and Tippu relative to their respective
boundaries, and the latter’s vakils complained also of the Kottayam Raja taking
Wynad, which district the Commissioners were then of opinion was not ceded by
the treaty.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. XXXIII. END OF NOTEs
Two of them, Mr. Duncan and Major Dow, next proceeded to Cannanore
to enquire into the alleged mortgage of the Laccadive Islands to Chovakkara Mussa
and the land taken from the Bibi by the Chirakkal Raja. There they were joined by
Mr. Page from Palghat, and engagements2 were taken on the 11th and 13th April
1793 from the Bib, binding her to pay up arrears and to pay a “moiety of whatever is the
produce of my country according to the funds thereof, and out of the Rs. 20,000 annual profit which
I reap from my trade with the Laccadives, I am also to pay the half to Government.”
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., ii. XXXIV, XXXV. END OF NOTEs
And further stipulations provided for the future revision of the estimate of
income, and for the sequestration, if need be, of the whole of the produce of the
islands and of the islands themselves.
The pepper monopoly3 was next abolished in the south, while in the north
it was limited to one-half of the produce to be taken in kind. Owing to some
clashing between the authority exercised by the Joint Commission and by the
Supravisor respectively, a uniform system of dealing with the pepper produce
throughout the province was not introduced.
NOTEs: 3. Treaties, etc., ii. XXXVI, XXXVII. END OF NOTEs
The Commissioners next turned their attention to the affairs of the

Honourable Company’s mortgaged district of Randattara, and an agreement4 was on
26th April 1793 entered into with the Achchanmar or Chiefs of that district, that on
condition of the revenue of their estates being estimated at 20 per cent on garden
produce and 15 per cent on rice lands, the rates which had prevailed since 1741,
when the province was first mortgaged5 to the Company, and with an exemption in
favour of temple lands and of their own houses, they renounced all future right to
manage the district after the native fashion, with its fines and mulets and presents
and succession duties.
NOTEs: 3. Treaties, etc., ii. XXXVI, XXXVII.
4. Treaties, etc., ii. XXXIX. END OF NOTEs
The waste lands of this district having been thus placed at the disposal of
Government, a number of Native Christians who had fled from Canara and Mysore
in consequence of Tippu’s persecutions were allowed to settle with their families on
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the waste lands in Randattara, and were granted advances of money to carry on
cultivation.
Iruvalinad, the district of the Nambiars1, which was a most important tract
of country to the Honourable Company in the early days of the Tellicherry Factory,
was next taken in hand by the Commissioners. The district had been in a disturbed
state owing to the mutual animosities and jealousies of the Nambiars themselves
and to the confused method in which they conducted the administration. It was very
necessary to protect the lower classes of the people from the exactions of the
Nambiars, who now freed by the strong arm of the Company from dependence on
those beneath them, would have taken the opportunity, if it had been afforded
them, of enriching themselves at the expense of their poorer neighbours and
subjects.
The Commissioners accordingly, on the 14th May 1793 took from them an
agreement2 to protect the poorer class of landholders and to put an end to the
exaction of the feudal fines and mulcts and duties and presents which had formerly
been customary, and further arranged that the Nambiars were to conclude a detailed
settlement3 with Mr. Galley the Northern superintendent at Tellicherry. An
allowance of 10 per cent “on the Government’s moiety of Revenue was granted to
the Nambiars for their support and comfort.”
NOTEs: 3. Treaties, etc., ii. XLI.
4. Treaties, etc., ii. LXIII, LXIV. END OF NOTEs
It may be noted in passing that the Honourable Company’s officers had had
for many years previously exceptional opportunities of studying the organisation of
this petty district, and the care displayed by the Commissioners in protecting the
rights of the lower orders of landholders in this district should have been extended
widely throughout the Province; but in place of viewing the janmam right over land
in its true aspect as a mere right to exercise authority over the persons of those who
resided thereon the Commissioners accepted the view that janmam right was a right
to the soil the plenum dominium of Latin jurists, and as such they proceeded shortly
afterwards, as will be presently seen, to set forth, and to direct the Courts to act
upon, that EUROPEAN IDEA.
The Commissioners, after some unsatisfactory negotiations with the
northern rajas, returned to Calicut, where they on 18th May 1793 accepted the (as it
appeared to them at the time) agreeable proposal4 of the Kurumbranad Raja to
appoint a person on the part of the Company to assist in his collections for the
ensuing year, on the result of which a permanent lease might be granted to him not
only for the district of Kurumbranad, but also for Kottayam and Parappanad, which
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were in the possession of his two nephews of the Kottayam family, over whom it
was alleged he possessed entire ascendency.
NOTEs: 4. Treaties, etc., ii. XLII. END OF NOTEs
The latter district had fallen to the family by adoption and by the recent
death of the old Parappanad Raja! As after events fully proved, however, the
Kottayam nephew of Kurumbranad—the famous Palassi (Pychy) Raja was not
amenable to control by his uncle, and the uncle was powerless to execute his own
orders in the Palassi country. He further agreed subsequently to relinquish the
districts of Payyanod, Puluvayi and Payyormala, which had been included in the first
agreement entered into by him.
At this juncture the Mappillas of the south began to give trouble. Major
Dow was deputed a second time to settle with the robber chiefs Haidros and Unni
Mutta Muppan, but as they were refractory, Captain Burchall marched against Unni
Mutta and surrounded his fortified house. The robber chief, however, made a
desperate sally and escaped. Bui some of his noted followers were captured and his
lands sequestered.
Meanwhile, encouraged by their success with the Kurumbranad Raja, the
Commissioners proceeded to negotiate the same sort of agreement with the
Zamorin, whose chief Minister, Shamnath, they had engaged to assist in the work
and further to institute a canongoe establishment throughout the country to bring
into and keep in order the accounts of each district, and to act as local assistants,
guides and intelligencers to the servants of Government in the discharge of their
duties, and to serve as checks upon undue exactions on the part of the Rajas.
To these two points the Zamorin was induced on 29th June 1793 to give his
assent1 on condition of an adequate provision being made for his family. He further
agreed to give up his right to customs and transport duties, he being allowed to keep
accounts of the receipts in the Company’s custom houses. In regard to the mint a
compromise was agreed to by the Commissioners that the general direction should
remain exclusively under the Company, but that the Raja’s people should assist in
the details of the business, and that he should be allowed half the profits.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc.., ii. LXIV. END OF NOTEs
Similar terms2 were accepted shortly afterwards by the Rajas of Kadattanad

and Kurumbranad, the latter making separate similar engagements also for
Kottayam and Parappanad. Shortly after these arrangements had been made, Mr.
Boddam rejoined the Commission from Palghat. Itta Punga Achchan, who had
settled with the Bombay Commissioners for the first year’s lease, had shot himself
and had been succeeded by his nephew Itta Kombi Achchan. The latter had
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imprisoned a rival claimant to the raj, by name Kunji Achchan, but on the arrival at
Palghat of the deputed Commissioner, the latter was set free.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., ii. XLV, XLVII. END OF NOTEs
Similar terms3 to those arranged with the aforesaid Rajas had been made on
21st June 1793 with the managing Achchan, but with an additional clause restricting
him from the exercise of any judicial authority in consequence of the beheading of
the Malasar already alluded to.
NOTEs: 3. Treatieat etc., ii. XLVI. END OF NOTEs
Similar terms1 to those made with the Achchan were likewise arranged with
the Nayars of Kavalappara, Kongad, Mannur and Edattara, and for the benefit of
the subjects of the Achchan and of the three last-named Nayars the Commissioners
agreed2 to the establishment at Palghat of an inferior Court subordinate to the
Southern Superintendent for the trial of small suits and of 'inconsiderable quarrels,
brawls and affrays.”
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. XLVIII to LI
2. Treaties, etc., ii LII and LIII. END OF NOTEs
The Chirakkal Raja also at length, on 5th July 1793, acceded3 to the terms,
and the Beypore Raja likewise executed an engagement similar to that entered into
by the Palghat Achchan.
NOTEs: 3. Treaties, etc, ii. LV. END OF NOTEs
The deeds were all forwarded to the Supravisor with directions to appoint
Tahsildars or Collectors in the several districts with subordinate Parbutties and
Menons, exclusive of Canongoes, who were separately furnished with instructions
so as to ensure “such a control over the collections as would enable the Company’s servants to
ascertain at the end of the year the nature and constituent parts and amount of the public revenue.”
In regard to the remaining districts there were disputed claims, which
previous to a settlement, it was necessary to adjust, the districts of Chirakkal and
Parappanad were also in dispute, and it will be proper here to notice the conflicting
claims.
The competitor for Chirakkal was a young Raja of the family, as already
noticed, who had never left Travancore. His claims were set aside in favour of the
Raja, with whom the settlement was first made, from his having been in possession
from the earlier period , but the claimant was allowed to make good his right, if so
advised, by suit in the Adalat Court.
Parappanad was subject to two claims, one from a person claiming as
nephew of the late Raja, who had adopted a member of the Kottayam family of
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which the Kurumbranad Raja, as already

mentioned, was the head. This claim was left
open for investigation. The other was advanced
by the Zamorin, but he was not able to
substantiate it. The Kurumbranad Raja, who had
made the settlement for his nephew, was
therefore held responsible for the revenues.
The Zamorin’s claims to Vettattanad,
on the ground that he had been levying some
dues from the Mappillas of this district were
rejected as untenable, as also was the one
advanced by him to Kavalappara.
His pretensions to Chetwai Island were
next enquired into and decided against him. It had been taken from him by the
Dutch in 1717 and from the latter by Hyder Ali in 1776, and the English in 1790
took it from Tippu Sultan and leased it to the Cochin Raja for Rs. 40,000 per
annum.
The Zamorin next preferred a claim to Payyanad, and as the four chiefs
acknowledged him as their lord paramount, his claim was accordingly admitted.
His demand for the restoration of Pulavayi was left in suspense to be settled
by the Supravisor as its Nayar chiefs were openly resisting the attempts of the
Zamorin to interfere in the concerns of their country.
His claim on Payyormala he himself renounced, and this district was placed
directly under the Company.
Finally, the Zamorin and the Talapalli or Punattur Raja both claimed the
Chavakkad district, which had, the latter alleged, been at one time in the exclusive
possession of his ancestors, but the Zamorin had been gradually usurping the
district from them. It was arranged that both parties should enter into a written
engagement binding themselves to abide by the Supravisor’s decision, and in the
meantime a proper allowance for his support was granted to the claimant by the
Zamorin.
Marco Antonio Rodrigues, a descendant of the former Linguists of the
Tellicherry Factory, next laid claim to the petty district of Kallai in Chirakkal under a
deed of conveyance1 to his grandfather by the Chirakkal Raja in 1758, and which the
present Raja had quietly resumed. The claim was submitted for the decision of the
Governor-General, and meanwhile the district was sequestered by the Company.
How the matter was finally settled cannot be traced in the records.
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NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., i. LXXL. END OF NOTEs
Hyat Sahib, a converted Hindu of the Nambiar caste of Chirakkal, whose

interesting biography has already2 been related at some length, advanced his claims
on a similar deed3 granted by the Chirakkal Raja in 1783 to the three taras or villages
of Chalat, Talapil and Kunattur, which were the identical places claimed by the Bibi
of Cannanore as her jaghire, obtained4 from Tippu at the time of her daughter’s
marriage to Tippu’s son. The grant to Hyat Sahib was pronounced invalid by the
Commissioners as having been obtained by fraud and the claim was rejected.
NOTEs: 2. Conf. p. 431 foot-note.
3. Treaties, etc., i. XCI.
On the representation of Said Ali, the Quilandy Tangal or Muhammadan

high priest, that a jaghire had been conferred on him by Tippu, a grant exempting
his house and property from taxation during his lifetime was given him.
The French claim to the petty district of Kurangot as a dependency of their
settlement at Mahe early led to much discussion, and was in itself very much
involved, but France was just then in the throes of the Reign of Terror. King Louis
XVI died on the scaffold on the 21st January 1793.
On the 1st of February war was declared by the French Republic against
England and Holland, and for the third time in its history the French settlement at
Mahe had to open1 its gates to a hostile English force under Colonel Hurtley on the
16th July 1793. The garrison, after surrendering, was allowed to march out with all
the honours of war. The settlement was placed under Mr. G. Parry as
Superintendent of Police.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. LVII. END OF
NOTEs
It was at this time that Mr. Murdoch

Brown, who had been in French employ and
whose name is intimately connected with the
early administration of the country, joined the
Company's service. He was at first made Deputy
Superintendent of Police, which appointment
being disapproved by Government he resigned
it. But he was afterwards re-entertained as
Superintendent of Police, and was subsequently
made overseer of the Company's plantation in
Randattara, of which he eventually became the
possessor2 by purchase on a ninety-nine years’
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lease. His descendants still hold this estate under the original grant.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., ii. CCLXIX. END OF NOTEs
Having concluded the general mode of arrangement for the ensuing year,
the Commissioners next proceeded to draw up general regulations for the
administration of the revenue, founded entirely on the Bengal Code, modified so as
to adapt it to the circumstances of the country. These were followed by Regulations
for the civil and criminal administration of justice to take effect from 1st July 1793,
with some supplementary articles in both departments.
In the Revenue Department, Dewans were appointed to help the
Supravisor and Superintendents, and bound by muchilkas or penal obligations for
good behaviour and integrity. In the Judicial Department seven local Darogas or
native Judges were appointed, subordinate to the Provincial Courts of the
Superintendents, viz.., at Cannanore, Quilandy, Tirurangadi, Ponnani, Palghat,
Tanur and Chetwai.
The Roman Catholic padre of Calicut, however objected to the “infidel
tribunal” of the Darogas, and claimed the ancient privilege of the Portuguese Factory
of jurisdiction over Christians. This claim being incompatible with the principles of
British rule was rejected, but the padre was allowed to attend the Fouzdarry Court
to explain the law at the trial of Christians.
The Commissioners further laid down regulations3 relative to the janmis.
This subject is fully discussed in section (a) of Chapter IV. The Joint Commissioners
viewed the status of a janmi as being equivalent in all respects to that of a Roman
dominus. The matter was very insufficiently investigated by the Commissioners. The
janmi was simply a man exercising authority within a certain defined area, and
entitled as such to a well-defined share of the produce—the pattam or ancient land
revenue assessment—of the land lying within that area. But by the Commissioners’
action the jenmi was constituted the lord of the soil, and it is not to be wondered at that
in time the janmis began, with the help of the courts of justice, to show very small
respect for the rights of the tillers of the soil—the ryots in fact.
NOTEs: 3. Published subsequently by the authority of the Supravisor, Mr. Farmer.-Treaties,
etc., ii. LXVIII. END OF NOTEs
The ryots, on the other hand, viewed the government as the inheritors in
succession to Tippu and Hyder Ali of the pattam or land revenue assessment, and
this was explicitly stated to the Commissioners by a deputation of influential
Mappillas whom the Commissioners called together to consult on the subject. If the
Commissioners had followed out the rule laid down in the fourth paragraph of the
agreement with the Iruvalinad Nambiars which has already been commented on, the
status of the ryots of Malabar would have been very different at the present day.
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History
But the erroneous idea thus authoritatively promulgated was accepted

without question in all further proceedings both in the Administrative Department
and in that of Civil Justice, and the question as to whether the Commissioners’
action was correct or not was not raised until so recently as 1881.
They also framed regulations1 for the custom house collections, prohibited
the export slave trade and dealing in gunpowder, warlike weapons and stores. They
declared the trade in timber to be free, abolished the levy of profits on black pepper,
coconuts, etc., as impolitic, and instructed the Supravisur to levy a modern tax in the
shape of licence on the retail tobacco trade. They granted one per cent of the land
collection of the Zamorin’s districts to Shamnath, a Palghat Brahman and the
Sarvvadi Karyakkaran or chief minister of the Zamorin, for services rendered by him
to the Company.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. LXII. END OF NOTEs
An attempt was made by two of the Rajas of the Padinyaru Kovilakam

(western palace) of the Zamorin’s house to assassinate2 him because he failed to
procure them their restoration to Nedunganad. These Rajas then proceeded to the
southward to raise disturbances, and were joined by Unni Mutta Muppan, the
Mappilla bandit chief, and some Gowndan Poligar chiefs from Coimbatore who had
rebelled against Tippu. Subsequently, too, they were joined by Kunhi Achehan of
the Palghat family, who fled to them after having murdered a Nayar. This Kunhi
Achchan’s claims to the management of the Palghat District had been rejected by
the Joint Commissioners.
NOTEs: 2. Though severely wounded, he recovered under the treatment of Surgeon Wye.
END OF NOTEs
The Padinyaru Kovilakam Rajas, for whose capture the Supravisor offered
Rs. 5,000 reward, were hotly pursued by Captain Burchall as far as the Anamala
Mountains, whence they escaped into Travancore. The Coorg Raja next renewed his
complaints about the boundary in dispute with Tippu, and Captain Murray was in
consequence deputed to his country and appointed Resident at his court.
Major Dow next proceeded to the Court of the Travancore Raja on a
separate commission from the Bombay Government to organise the military
defence of the country. Mr. Boddam was compelled by illness to proceed to the
Carnatic, and the two remaining members went to the south to Alikkotta and
Cochin, where the Cochin Raja’s revived claims to Kavalappara, and the important
question whether the district of Cranganore formed part of the Company’s island of
Chetwai or not, engaged their attention.
The deputed Commissioners, to whom among other subjects the first point
had been committed for enquiry, had at a very early stage given their opinion that
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the Kavalappara district ought not to be granted to the Raja, as his claim was based
solely on its having being inserted in the Cochin Treaty of 1790—a judgment in
which the other members concurred, and to which the Commissioners now adhered
in the renewed discussion.
As to the second point, after a lengthy correspondence with the Raja, and
with Herr Van Anglebeck, the Dutch Governor of Cochin, determined to let
Cranganore remain with the Raja until the pleasure of Government should be
known.
They likewise agreed to the renewal of the lease to the Cochin Raja of the
island of Chetwai.
Meanwhile a storm was brewing in the district of Kottayam in the north.
The Kurumbranad Raja had agreed with the Joint Commissioners, as has already
been stated, to manage that district, and it has also been observed that that
agreement was a mistake inasmuch as the Kurumbranad Raja had no power or
influence in the district, which was completely under the control of Kerala Varma
Raja of the Padinyaru Kovilakam (western palace) of Kottayam, the head-quarters of
which were located at Palassi, whence Kerala Varma was usually styled the Palassi
(Pycliy) Raja. It will be convenient in the rest of this narrative to give him this
abbreviated title.
The Palassi (Pychy) Raja had already, in April 1793, been guilty of the
exercise of one act of arbitrary authority in pulling down a Mappilla mosque erected
in the bazaar of Kottayam. The Joint Commissioners took no notice of the act,
although it was in direct opposition to the conditions, of the engagement made with
the Kurumbranad Raja for the Kottayam district.
Again, in September 1793, the Mappillas of Kodolli applied to the Palassi
(Pycliy) Raja for leave to build or to rebuild a mosque, and were told in reply to give
a present. They began to build without making the preliminary gift to the Raja, so he
sent Calliadan Eman with five armed men to bring the Mappilla headman (Talib
Kutti Ali) before him. The headman delayed; the escort attempted to seize him ;
whereupon Kutti Ali drew his sword and killed Calliadan Eman, and was in turn
killed by the others.
On receipt of news of this affair the Raja sent an armed party with orders to
slay all the Mappillas in Kodoli. The party went and slew six Mappillas with a loss to
themselves of two killed and four wounded.
The Supravisor and Commissioners, probably from various reasons, and
more especially the danger of throwing the Palassi (Pychy) Raja, with Wynad at his
back, into the arms of Tippu, and the danger of losing the pepper crop of the
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History
district, took no steps to deal summarily with him, as they had already done with the
Achchan of Palghat for the execution of the Malasta. They contented themselves
with a mild remonstrance addressed to the Kurumbranad Raja and with the
despatch of troops to Kodolli and Palassi.
The Palassi detachment was accompanied by a European Assistant. The
Raja, alarmed at the movement of troops, designed as he thought to make him a
prisoner, refused to come to Tellicherry to explain the matters to the Northern
Superintendent, and ironically referred the Supravisor for explanation to his “elder
brother” of Kurumbranad. He further in his reply expressed surprise at his not
being “allowed to follow and be guided by our ancient customs” in the slaughter of erring
Mappillas.
With disturbances thus brewing both in the north and in the south the Joint
Commission was brought to a not unsuccessful close, for the bulk of the country
continued to be in a fairly peaceful state and to pay a fair revenue. Among the last
acts of the Join Commissioners were the inauguration of a postal establishment and
the institution of enquiries regarding the manufacture, and regarding other
industries, which subjects were left at present in abeyance by order of Government.
On the 11th October 1793 the Commission dissolved itself. The members
forwarded to the Governor-General a most elaborate and very valuable report on
the province, framed from materials which they had with untiring industry collected.
Just before the Joint Commission was dissolved, the Supravisor made a
grant exempting the lands of the Kundotti Tangal (a high priest of one section of
the Mappillas) from payment of the revenue, as had been the custom in Tippu’s
time, on the condition that the Tangal and his people would prove loyal to the
Honourable Company a promise which they have ever since very faithfully fulfilled.
The Supravisor (Mr. Farmer) was now in uncontrolled charge of the
province, and among his first acts after issuing the janmi proclamation already
alluded to, was to settle the long pending dispute between the Zamorin and
Punattur Rajas by inducing1 the former to allow the latter 20,000 fanams or Rs.
5,700 annually for his support.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. LX, LXI, and LXIX. END OF NOTEs
To encourage people in catching elephants he next gave2 up the

Government royalty in them and proclaimed that the Company would be satisfied
with one-third of the value of any elephant caught.
NOTEs: Treaties, etc., ii. LXX. END OF NOTEs
The system of joint collection and of canongoe inspection of the real

revenue funds of the country did not from various causes turn out satisfactorily.
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The first difficulties were experienced in the northern division, where the Rajas
generally complained that the country could not bear the assessment which they had
engaged to pay, and they evinced a spirit of dissatisfaction.
The Supravisor was advised by one of the Commissioners, Mr. Duncan,
that. “no consideration of temporary pecuniary advantage to the Honourable Company ought to
induce him to enter into, or very much risk the contingency of being led into a state of warfare with
any of the Rajas, especially with those who hold cowls from the chiefs of Tellicherry.”
Therefore in Mr. Farmer’s conference with the Kadattanad Raja, he in
December 1793 made certain concessions1 to him by altering the demand from half
the produce in kind to half the pattam, and by other measures which it is needless to
specify in detail as the Government of India afterwards rescinded them.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. LXXIII. END OF NOTEs
The Palassi (Pychy) Raja appears to have been the most discontented of all,
and up to November 1793 no collections of revenue had been made in Kottayam.
Moreover, the Palassi (Pychy) Raja had threatened to cut down all the pepper vines
if the Company’s officers persisted in counting them. In short he conducted himself
in a way that fully justified the Joint Commissioners in styling him “the most
untractable and unreasonable of all the Rajas.”
On the deputation of one of the Company’s Linguists, Mr. Lafrenais, to
enquire into his grievances, it was discovered that his uncle, the Kurumbranad Raja,
from views of personal advantage, had secretly instigated him to resist the execution
of those very terms of settlement with the Commissioners which he had himself
concluded with the Company on behalf of his nephew. He thus hoped to involve
the Company in active hostilities with the Palassi (Pychy) Raja, who now, convinced
of his machinations, entered on 20th December 1793 into an agreement2 direct with
Mr. Farmer for the districts of Katirur, Palassi, Kuttiyadi and Tamarasseri on the
same liberal lines as those accorded to Kadattanad.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., ii. LXXV. END OF NOTEs
But over and above those concessions to the Palassi (Pychy) Raja, Mr.
Farmer further agreed3 for one year, until orders could be obtained, not to collect
the assessment on temple lands, and to remit further one-fifth of the revenues for
the maintenance of the Raja, and for the support of the temples one-fifth more in
consideration of the assistance given against Tippu and of the Raja’s ancient
friendship with the Company.
NOTEs: 3. Treaties, etc., ii. LXXTV. END OF NOTEs
The same liberal terms accorded to Kadattanad were also granted4 to the
Chirakkal Raja on 7th January 1794.
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History
NOTEs: 4. Treaties, etc., ii. LXXVI. END OF NOTEs
There is every reason to believe that these concessions, all which were
subsequently rescinded by the Governor-General, secured (for a time at least) the
tranquillity of the northern division of the province.
The Bengal Commissioners submitted on the 2nd February 1794 a
supplementary report dwelling on the subject of the troubles excited by the
Padinyaru Kovilakam Rajas of the Zamorin’s house and Unni Mutta Muppan, the
unadjusted boundary concerns with Tippu and regarding the money levied in
Malabar by the Travancore Dewan, which last transaction had on enquiry been
denied by the Dewan. The Commissioners were now of opinion that the sums
exhibited were not justly recoverable.
Sir John Shore, the Governor-General, in a lengthy letter to the Bombay
Governor, the Honourable G. Dick, dated 27th March 1794, conveyed the Supreme
Government’s general approbation and confirmation of the several institutions and
regulations framed by the Joint Commissioners—of the agreements concluded by
them with the Rajas—and of the decisions arrived at by them in the cases of
disputed claims.
Respecting other points it passed the following orders : —
To treat Randattara as a part of the Company’s domain, but to relinquish all
demands on the Chirakkal Raja for debts due by him and his predecessors on
former accounts, inclusive of his suretyship for the debts of his kinsman the
Nilesvaram Raja.
To apprehend the Padinyaru Kovilakam Rajas of the Zamorin’s house, or
allow them the option of retiring to Travancore on an adequate pension.
To allow Cranganore to remain with the Cochin Raja, as well as to renew
the Chetwai lease with him for a term of years with the assent of its inhabitants.
To allow the three villages of Perur, Allungur and Kunatnad to remain with
Travancore till the decisions of the Court of Directors were received.
And to relinquish the claims on the Travancore Dewan for the collections
made by him during the war.
Regarding the Bibi of Cannanore the Supreme Government called for
further particulars in respect of the sums brought to the Company’s credit by the
reduction of Cannanore in 1784 by General Macleod and regarding the mortgage
claims to the islands of Chovakkaran Mussa, and directed that an officer in a cruiser
should be deputed to report on the state of the Laccadive Islands.
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With regard to the boundary disputes the Supreme Government proposed

to despatch Captain Doveton to enquire into the subject of the doubtful possession
of Wynad and the frontiers in order to bring the whole into an amicable adjustment.
The despatch further authorised the abolition of the Tellicherry Factory.
This measure was at once carried into effect, and the old Tellicherry
Factory, which had exercised, as these pages show, such abundant influence for
good in the annals of the Malayalis for over a century, and which had existed as
oasis of peace and security and good government during all those troublous times,
ceased to exist as such on the 27th July 1794. A temporary Commercial Residency
under the Chief Mr. Taylor, was established in its place at Mahe.
In the beginning of the year 1794 Mr. Farmer left, and was succeeded in the
Supravisorship by Mr. J. Stevens, Senior.
The new Supravisor found fault with the engagements recently concluded
with the three northern Rajas by his predecessor, and after a lengthy
correspondence the agreements were rescinded by the Bengal Government as
containing concessions improper and impolitic as well as opposed to the regulations
framed by the Governor-General on the Joint Commissioners reports and the
Supravisor was further directed to conclude engagements for a term of years with all
the Rajas and chiefs. But he had to defer for a time the settlement with the northern
Rajas and made but low progress with those in the south.
In the interim an agreement1 was on 8th May 1794 entered into with the
Mappilla bandit chief Unni Mutta Muppan by Major Murray and with a view, if
possible, to secure peace to the country his small district of Elampulasseri was to be
restored to him and a money allowance of Rs. 1,000 per annum granted. But he
renewed his pretensions to a share of the revenue and began levying blackmail. The
Supravisor thereupon revoked the engagement, and in lieu of it offered a reward of
Rs. 3,000 for his capture. Captain MacDonald seized and demolished his stronghold
on the forest-clad hill of Pandalur near Malapuram, as well as several other fortified
houses belonging to him and his followers, and pursued him far into the jungles.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. LXXVIII. END OF NOTEs
The petty robber chief Haidros was captured by the Ponnani Mappillas, was
put on his trial and sentenced to death but the sentence was commuted into one of
transportation to Botany Bay.
By October 1794 a beginning was made with the execution of the
quinquennial2 agreements by the Rajas and chiefs in the south. These leases, after
recapitulating the Provisions of the Commissioners’ agreements of 1792 and 1793,
prohibited the levy of all exactions recently abolished and allowed only the
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History
collection of land revenue and the charges for collection while deductions were
made for bringing waste lands into cultivation.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., ii. LXXX to LXXXII, LXXXIV to LXXXVII. END OF
NOTEs
In reality, however, the Devasthanams or temple lands, and cherikkal or

private lands of the Rajas and chiefs, were also left out of assessment.
The data for fixing the revenue payable in each instance were as follows:
The gross revenue realisable was first estimated ; from it 10 per cent was
deducted as charges of collection, 20 per cent as allowances for the Raja or chief,
and 3½ per cent, for temple lands and the Raja's or chief's private property.
A decennial3 lease of the Chetwai island was likewise, in accordance with
the Governor-General's orders, granted in November 1794 to the Cochin Raja for
the net sum of Rs. 30,000 per annum exclusive of the collections of customs, which
were to be retained by the Company.
NOTEs: 3. Treaties, etc., ii. LXXXII. END OF NOTEs
The authority of the Company’s judicial courts was likewise to be in force

throughout the district. The island had produced only Rs. 22,053 when managed by
the Company’s officers direct in the previous year, but the Raja consented to pay the
higher sum in order to keep the island out of the hands of the Zamorin, his
hereditary foe.
Upon similar data settlements were next effected with the Rajas in the
north. The Kottayam and Parappanad leases were, however, once more executed by
the Kurumbranad Raja—a repetition of the old mistake, as events soon proved,
made originally by the Joint Commissioners. In this lease were included the district,
of Tamarasseri and eleven desams of Pulavayi as appendages of Kottayam, while the
Pulavayi Nayar chiefs were granted a separate lease.1
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii, XCIV. END OF NOTEs
The Danish Governor of Tranquebar, through his Agent Mr. W. Brown of

Alleppey, had in 1792 and 1793 advanced claims to the Danish Factory at Calicut.
The Danish Governor of Tranquebar (Ans Arnest Bonsark) had in 1752 sent an
agent by name Jacob Christovo Suytenan to the Zamorin to effect a settlement in
his dominions, and a plot of ground at Calicut called “Valappii Kadute” had been
granted to the Danish nation on the same terms as those granted to the French
Factory there, viz. : payment of customs on all goods imported and exported, supply
of munitions of war, and aid in case of an attack on the Zamorin’s territories. This
plot of ground adjoined the grounds of the French Factory.
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In 1766 the grant was continued by Hyder Ali. But in 1788, when Tippu
began his religious persecutions in Malabar, the Danish Factor (Manuel Bernardes)
under the orders of Tippu’s Fouzdar Arsad Beg Khan precipitately fled from the
place, abandoning his trust. The Governor-General, to whom the matter was
referred, expressed in 1795 an opinion adverse to the Danish interests, as it was
clear that the Danish Factor had voluntarily abandoned the possession in 1788 in
Tippu’s time. There the matter rested for many years ; the buildings were in
existence up to 1817 and were then in use as a hospital.
The present Calicut hospital appears to occupy the exact site of the Danish
Factory. In 1845 the British Government acquired for four lakhs of rupees all
Danish claims in India and extinguished this one among others.
As already said, the repetition of the old mistake of entrusting the
management of the Kottayam district to a chief who had no power or influence
therein, and the passing over of the Palassi (Pycliy) Raja’s claims to the Government
of that district, very soon bore disastrous fruit.
Some time before the lease was concluded, one of the Iruvalinad
Nambiars—Narangoli—had brought himself within reach of the law. One of his
people had been killed by a Mappilla, and in revenge the Nambiar put to death three
of that class, being instigated (as it was alleged, but there was no conclusive proof of
it) to that act by the Palassi (Pychy) Raja. However this may have been, the Nambiar
fled to the protection of the Raja, and in spite of the Supravisor's remonstrances,
that chief protected the refugee. The Supravisor then declared the Nambiar to be a
rebel and confiscated his lands and property.
But there was worse to follow, for about 28th June 1795 the Palassi (Pychy)
Raja not only stopped the collection of the revenue of Kottayam, but once more
took the law into his own hands. Two Mappillas were suspected of having
committed a robbery in the house of a Chetti. The Raja explained afterwards that
they confessed their crime; they were certainly kept in confinement for some
months. Then they were tried according to the ancient usage of the country, it was
alleged, and on their own confessions were sentenced to death. Their execution was
carried out on or about the above date at Venkad by impalement alive according to
ancient custom. This barbarous form of execution was known to Malayalis as the
Kalu or eagle, and the impaling stake appears to have been so named from its
resemblance to that bird.
The news of this event reached the Supravisor early in July, and shortly
afterwards there arrived intelligence of another arbitrary act on the part of the Raja ;
he, it was said, deliberately shot another Mappilla through the body while retiring
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History
from his presence whither he had gone to present a gift. These arbitrary acts could
not be overlooked.
The Supreme Government directed that the Raja should be put upon his
trial for murder, but it was not easy to bring this about, for the Raja was well
guarded by five hundred well armed Nayars from Wynad. In August 1795 the
Supravisor stationed detachments of troops at the bazaar of Kottayam itself and at
Manattana to protect the Kurumbranad Raja’s revenue collectors. These
detachments were withdrawn for a time because of troubles with the Mappillas in
Ernad and Vellatiri, but they were again posted in November to keep the peace, and
as Mr. Rickards expressed it :
“From this time forward the conduct of Kerala Varma, (Palassi Raja)
continued to be distinguished by a contempt for all authority. He delighted to show
how powerless Kurumbranad was to carry on his engagement for the Kottayam
district.
Meanwhile events in the war already alluded to begun in Europe by
Republican France against England and Holland were destined to spread their
influences to the Malabar coast. The French Republican army entered Holland. The
Stadtholder fled to England , and thence in February 1795, after the proclamation of
the Batavian Republic in alliance with France, he addressed a circular to all the
Dutch Governors and Commandants to admit British troops into all the Dutch
“Settlements, Plantations, Colonies and Factories in the East Indies” to prevent them from
falling into the hands of the French.
Mr. Vanspall was at this time Governor of Cochin, began laying in
provisions with a view to standing a siege, and he invited the Cochin Raja to help
him. On July 23rd Major Petrie, under orders from Colonel Robert Bowles,
commanding the troops in Malabar, marched from Calicut to the Dutch frontier
with a small force of infantry to obtain a peaceable surrender of the Dutch
settlement. But the Governor refused to give up the place, and Major Petrie had
then to wait till a siege train could be brought up. The Supervisor (Mr. Stevens)
proceeded in person to Cochin in the beginning of September to endeavour to
arrange matters with Mr. Vanspall, and a conference ensued, at which it was agreed
that the surrender should take place. But next day the Governor changed his mind
and the negotiations were suspended.
A force consisting of the remainder of His Majesty’s 77th regiment (two
companies being already with Major Petrie at Cochin), another battalion (the 5th) of
native infantry, and a company of artillery with 6 six-pounder field-pieces, 6
eighteen- pounders, 6 twelve-pounders and 2 eight-inch mortars, was accordingly
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ordered down the coast to Major Petrie’s assistance. The force was safely landed to
the south of Cochin, and on the night of 19th October fire was opened.
“A shell1 was cast with excellent skill into the centre of the Government
House, bursting without any disaster : the white flag was at once hoisted, and a
suspension of hostilities agreed to during the negotiations for a surrender.” Major
Petrie’s reply to the Dutch proposals was sent off at 11-30 on 19th October; the
armistice was to last till 4 a.m., by which hour Mr. Vanspall’s acceptance of the term
was required. The terms were2 accepted, and Cochin passed into British possession
at noon on 20th October 1795.
NOTEs: 1. “British and Native Cochin,” by C. A. L. : Cochin, I860, p. 15.
2. Treaties, etc., ii. XCVl. END OF NOTEs
With Cochin there passed also into the hands of the British the Dutch,
formerly Portuguese, settlement of Tangasseri on the point of land lying west of
Quilon bay, and the various petty places named in paragraph 299 of section (6),
Chapter IV, lying to the north and south of Cochin in the territories of the Cochin
and Travancore Rajas, which now, with Cochin itself, constitute the British taluk of
Cochin.
Cochin and these dependencies were finally ceded to the British
Government by the Paris Convention of 1814.
One of the members of the former Joint Commission—the Honourable
Jonathan Duncan—having been appointed as Governor of Bombay, visited in
November and December 1795 Travancore and Malabar whilst en route by sea from
Bengal to the Presidency.
During his visit to Travancore Mr. Duncan concluded a temporary
commercial engagement and a treaty3 of “future prepetual friendship, alliance and subsidy”
with the Travancore Raja on the 17th November 1795. The taluks of Perur, Alungad
and Kunnatnad had been ceded by Tippu to the British in 1792.
NOTEs: 3. Treaties, etc., ii. XCVII to XCIX. END OF NOTEs
The question as to whether these districts should be occupied by the

Honourable Company or left on the former footing as part of the Raja’s territory
was now decided in favour of the latter. The Raja had at a comparatively recent
date1 acquired these districts by conquest from the Raja of Cochin and his
feudatories, and it was on this account, and because Tippu’s troops had in 1790,
after the taking of the Travancore lines, overrun this part of the country, that the
Sultan had claimed them as his own possessions.
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The Governor also held conferences with the subordinate Rajas of the
Padinyaru Kovilakam (western palace.) of the Zamorin’s family and finally settled,
with a view to the preservation of peace, an allowance2 of Rs. 10,000 for their
maintenance payable by the Zamorin.
In his minute of 17th December 1795, written on board the “Panther” on his
way to Bombay, Mr. Duncan considered at great length another question of
importance which forced itself upon his notice.
Out of a total revenue of something more than fourteen lakhs of rupees
due for the year ending September 1795, no less a balance than upwards of six lakhs
of rupees remained uncollected on the 31st October 1795. Prior to Mr. Duncan’s
arrival at Calicut on 21st November the Supravisor had, however, collected Rs.
1,67,794 of the arrears, but a balance of nearly four and a half lakhs of rupees
remained unadjusted.
Mr. Ducan under these circumstances procured agreements2 or insisted on
the deposit of good securities3 by the principal indebted chieftains. And he further
insisted on their signing agreements4 binding themselves to regularity in the future
payments of their dues, and in default of the regular discharge of their obligations he
insisted on their agreeing to pay interest on all arrears at the following rates:
NOTEs: 3. Treaties, etc., ii. CXII.
4. Treaties, etc., ii. C, C1, CIII, CIV, CV.
5. Treaties, etc., ii. CVI to CX. END OF NOTEs
For the first 8 days after due date 12 per cent per annum.
Do. next 20 do. do. 24 do. Do.
Do. do. 30 do. do. 36 do. do.
and so on, 1 per cent, per mensum being added to the rate of interest for each
additional month on which the arrears remained unpaid. And on failure to pay
arrears within twenty-eight days, the Honourable Company were to be at liberty to
enter into possession and collect the revenue direct from the ryots until ample
security was given “for the future punctuality of the payments”.
There can be no manner of doubt that the system of settlement adopted by
the Joint Commission, of which Mr. Duncan was President during the greater
portion of its existence, was very unsuited to the circumstances of the country.
The Zamorin had in a very characteristic letter, as he himself put it “opened
his heart” to the Joint Commissioners, and at an early period in 1792 had assured
them that “By the ancient customs of Malabar the Nayars held their lands free ; they paid no
revenue to any one, but were obliged to attend their Rajas when called on to war.” And his
experience in endeavouring, as required by the Commissioners, to levy the general
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assessment imposed by the Mysoreans was thus graphically described : “As for me,
when my people ask for revenue (from the Mappillas), they shake their swords at
them”. And as to the Nayars : “They think that my government is returned, and
they hope to be relieved of all the oppressions of Tippu. To this I am obliged to
reply that the country and the government is with the Company, whose armies must
protect it ; that, unless they willingly contribute to the expense of maintaining them
according to what is just, the country may go back to Tippu, and instead of living in
peace under the shadow of the Company, all our troubles and vexations may return
and we may be driven back into the Travancore country.
“This is I tell them ; but after all, you know they are not like the people of
other countries, who live collected in cities where the hand of government can reach
them and the tax-gatherer has an easy task. They live in woods and in hills, with
every house separate., and that house defensible.”
Had the Joint Commissioners, instead of accepting as conclusive the
statement that the Nayars paid
“no revenue to any one,” pursued their investigations a little farther than they did,
and sought reasons for the assertion that Malabar was an exception to all other
territories in India in having no land revenue system, they would undoubtedly have
been convinced in the end that the Zamorin’s statement was not strictly accurate.
The fact was that, as stated more at large in section (a) of Chapter IV, Malabar was
no exception to the rule, and that pattam, which the Joint Commissioners viewed
simply as rent in the European sense, was in reality a land revenue assessment
imposed on every cultivated acre of land, as indeed the very name itself indicates,
for pattam is simply the pad (i.e., authority’s) varam (share of the produce).
The Nayars who paid “no revenue to any one” were simply fragments of a
government which had at one time levied this pattam throughout the province. The
subdivision and re-subdivision of the authority of government were perfectly
marvellous and probably unparalleled in the history of any country in the world. The
great families—the Zamorin, Kolattiri, Walluvanad, Palghat, Kottayam, Kadattanad,
Kurumbranad, etc.—were petty suzerains, each with numbers of vassals, more or
less independent, and more or less fluctuating in numbers, who again were suzerains
to still pettier chiefs, also more or less independent and more or less fluctuating in
numbers. The subdivisions of authority did not cease till the lowest stratum of
agricultural society was reached.
The society thus constituted was on a thoroughly sound basis, for the
strongest men had opportunities of coming to the front (so to speak). The great
bulk of the payers of the pattern were themselves Nayars the “eyes,” the “hands,”
and the givers of orders as the Keralolpatti pithily expresses their state functions.
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These Nayars naturally attached themselves to the strongest individuals of their

community, taking with them of course the pattam or authority share of the produce,
which formed a substantial object of ambition to the pushing men of the
community.
In this way numberless petty chieftains arose, and the great families waxed
or waned just according as they were able to attract to their following larger or fewer
numbers of these petty chieftains. “No revenue” was in one sense levied from the
petty chiefs who thus flocked round the standards of the great families, for the petty
chiefs themselves enjoyed the ancient land revenue assessment.
But in another sense land revenue was paid on every cultivated acre. The
difficulty was to see and realise that this revenue was really what, in every other
Indian province, has constituted the basis of the revenues of the province. But what
the Joint Commissioners failed to see was no mystery to the people themselves. The
influential Mappillas in particular told Mr. Jonathan Duncan that the Mysorean
Government “had taken or absorbed” the customary payments formerly made by
them to the janmis, i.e., the pads or men in authority.
This view was in every sense most natural ; the ancient government of
divided authorities had been superseded by the organised rule first of the Mysoreans
and afterwards of the Honourable Company, and what else could be expected than
that the ancient government share of produce should go along with the authority.
The Joint Commissioners in express terms withdrew from the great families
to whom they committed the revenue management of their ancient territories all
authority except that of levying the land revenue but the “authority" and the land
revenue collection had never before been so divorced from each other, for in
Mysorean times even the land revenue was collected direct from the cultivators by
Mysorean officials.
The result, of course, was that the petty chieftains, accustomed to
independence, shook their swords or barred the doors of their defensible houses
when the tax-gatherers came, and large balances of course accrued.
And again, such pressure as Mr. Duncan here brought to bear on the great
families with a view to getting in their arrears of revenue was better calculated than
anything else could have been to aggravate the very evil of which the Joint
Commissioners had complained in their report1 to Government that “They (the
Rajas) have (stimulated perhaps in some degree by the uncertainty as to their future
situations) acted in their avidity to amass wealth, more as the scourges and
plunderers than as the protectors of their respective little states.”
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Freed by the presence of British troops from the restraints of having to

consult the interests and feelings and prejudices of the petty chieftains who had
formerly been their mainstays, the Rajas naturally enough perhaps, sought their own
aggrandisement at the expense of their former subjects. About the only thing that
can be said in favour of Mr. Duncan's drastic measures for getting in the land
revenue is, and possibly this was intended by him, that it paved the way for speedily
undoing the very work which he, as a joint Commissioner, had laboriously
elaborated.
Towards the middle of December 1795 Mr. Stevens, Senior, resigned the
Supravisorship and was succeeded by Mr. Handloy, and at the same time charges of
corruption and bribery were brought before the Governor, Mr. Duncan, by the
Zamorin against Messers. Stevens, Senior,1 J. Agnew,1 and Dewan Ayan Aya, a
Palghat Brahman for extorting one lakh of rupees. The Bombay Government in
January 1796, accordingly appointed a commission for special enquiry into these
charges and some other minor matters. The commission consisted of three
members, Messrs. Wilkinson, Simpson and Fell.
NOTEs: 1. These officers were prosecuted by His Majesty’s Attorney-General before the
Court of King's Bench in London on charges of bribery and extortion. The trial began in 1801. They
were found jointly guilty by a jury of having taken Rupees 85,000 from the Zamorin, and of having
demanded larger sums. And on 18th June 1804 they were brought up before the Court for sentence.
They were jointly condemned to the forfeiture of Rs. 85,000, the sum received from the Zamorin. Mr
Stevens was fined £5,000 over and above the said amount and sentenced to two years imprisonment
“from that time and until he shall have discharged the fine.’’ In consideration of Mr. Agnew’s
impoverished condition no fine was imposed on him “but he was sentenced to a further imprisonment
of two years from that time.”- Court of Directors' despatch of 31st August 1804, paras. 71-74. The
Principal Collector, on 18th May 1805, communicated the result of the trial to the Zamorin and in
accordance with the orders received, thus addressed him : “You will have it perused to you with
attention, and I have no doubt be fully satisfied that the principles upon which the English wish to
govern their subjects in India are founded upon truth and justice, and are particularly sensitive of the
comforts and happiness of the natives of India.” END OF NOTEs
Owing to this untoward state of affairs, added to disturbances in Chirakkal,

Kottayam, etc., which will be presently related, and also to prevent the clashing of
authority, the office of Supravisor was incorporated with the special commission, to
which were appointed2 on 18th May 1790, Lieutenant-Colonel Dow and Mr.
Rickards in lieu of Messrs. Simpson and Fell. Mr. Handley, the Supravisor, also
became for a short time a member of the commission.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., ii. CXV. END OF NOTEs
The possessions taken from the Dutch were about the same time placed
under a separate Commissioner, Mr. Hutchinson, the Anjengo Resident, who was
soon after succeeded by Mr. Oliphant, and the Dutch inhabitants were allowed3 “for
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the present” the privilege of retaining the “exercise and operations of their laws,
customs and usages.”
NOTEs: 3. Treaties, etc., ii. CXIV. END OF NOTEs
Shortly afterwards fresh accusations were brought against other public

officials by the Kavalappara Nayar, the Palghat Achchan, and the Kurumbranad
Raja - against an officer (subsequently acquitted) and against the late Supravisor, Mr.
Handley, and Dewan Ayan Aya, Chicken Aya, Purba Panadurang and Ram Row of
bribery and extortion of Rs. 62,000. Just about this time, too, a native cashkeeper,
Kasinath Balajee Prabhu, robbed the Government treasury of Rs. 27,000, and some
defalcations in the military chest likewise came to notice.
The troubles in Chirakkal, to which allusion has already been made, arose
from the Raja making a demand on the Chulali Nambiar for an excessive sum (Rs.
16,000 per annum) for the district which this chieftain held in the wildest part of the
Chirakkal country.
The Nambiar was one of those semi-independent chiefs who had formerly
acknowledged a merely nominal suzerainty to the Kolattiri family. Reference1 has
already been made to the traditional origin of this family, and it is certain that from a
very remote period it had enjoyed a position of semi-independence, if not complete
independence.
When the Chirakkal Raja obtained a lease of the whole of the Kolattiri
dominions, the opportunity was too good to be lost to bring this hitherto free
district into subjection so the Raja made demands which he knew could not be
complied with, and when asked to settle the balance due to him, he assigned as his
reason that the Nambiar was in arrears with the sum due from his district.
Major Murray was ordered to visit the district, and in his report of 28th
December 1795 after seeing the chief, he gave his opinion that the district was too
highly assessed, that the Nambiar with his neighbours could raise could raise among
them 1000 men armed with English firelocks, and that the country was too wild - he
described it, as indeed it still is at the present day, 'the strongest imaginable" for the
purpose of guerilla warfare - to hold out any hopes of an easy subjection. He wound
up by stating that the Raja on his part must concede, and that the Nambiar on the
other should listen to reason.
The Raja, however, persisted in his assertion that the district was fairly
assessed, and as the Nambiar had meanwhile allied himself with certain of the young
Rajas of the Kolattiri family who were inclined to question the right of the Raja to
the position he had acquired from the English, the Supravisor, after taking the
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orders from the Bombay Government, finally decided on 10th May 1796 to despatch
a body of troops into the district under Major Murray to enforce the Raja's
demands. The troops succeeded in driving the chieftain and his followers into the
jungles, and Major Murray further succeeded in detaching from their alliance with
the Nambiar the junior Rajas of the Kolattiri family who had taken refuge there.
The Nambiar on the 18th August then forwarded to the Commissioners a
full statement of his claims, and particularly insisted on the excessiveness of the
demand made against him by the Raja, and on the motives which had induced the
Raja to misrepresent his actions to the Honourable Company with a view to
acquiring the district for himself.
After some further negotiations the Northern Superintendent (Mr.
Christopher Peile) finally adjusted the matters in dispute between them. The Raja
was obliged to admit that his demand of Rs. 16,000 for the district was nearly Rs.
5,000 in excess of what it ought to have been, and on this basis the Superintendent
on the 27th October effected a reconciliation between them and an adjustment of
their accounts.
Unhappily for the peace of the province, matters were not so easily adjusted
with the Palassi (Pyolty) Raja. In November 1795 his conduct, as already stated,
seemed to Mr. Rickards to be “distinguished by a contempt for all authority”. He
completely set aside the authority of his uncle of Kurumbranad, who had, at Mr.
Stevens’ request, signed the quinquennial lease for the Kottayam districts. Again and
again requests were made to the Supravisor for troops to bring the Palassi (Pychy)
Raja into subjection, but for a time those requests were disregarded. Meanwhile,
however, the revenue was more and more falling into arrears, until at last in April-
May 1796 orders came from Bombay to get in the arrears ; and with this view to
seize the person of the Raja and to bring him to trial for the murder of the three
Mappillas.
The bulk of the troops were at this time absent at Colombo, but were daily
expected back. Colonel Bowles, the Officer commanding the Province, formed on
April llth a plan for seizing the Raja. The Supravisor acquiesced in the plan, and on
April 19th an attempt was made to put it into execution. In the early morning of that
day 300 men of the 3rd battalion of native infantry, under Lieutenant James Gordon,
marched from Tellicherry and surrounded the Raja’s fortified house at Palassi at
daybreak. An entrance was forced, but the affair had been mismanaged and the Raja
had four days previously gone to Mauattana in the jungles.
A quantity of treasure was found in the house, and a portion1 of it only, as
afterwards appeared, was sent to Tellicherry. The troops remained at the place and a
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proclamation was issued that they had been sent to protect the inhabitants against
the Raja’s oppression and violence.
NOTEs: 1. 301 gold mohurs, 2,568 Venetians, and 1 gubber. END OF NOTEs
The Raja resented the taking of his house and forwarded to the Supravisor
a long list of articles said to have been in it. This list differed very materially from
that prepared under Lieutenant Gordon’s orders. But, it, was afterwards proved that
it was in some respects at least erroneous.
The Raja after this could not feel himself safe in the low country, so the
next news received of him was that, accompanied by his family and principal people,
he had in May 1796 “ascended the mountains and gone to the Ghaut Parayool in
the Wynad country.”
In June he stopped the traffic on the Kuttiyadi Ghat, and the British
military force was in like manner directed to stop all communication between the
upper and lower country, but, not to pursue the Raja into Wynad. The military posts
from which these operations were to be carried out were Manattam and Kuttiyadi.
But the force at Colonel Dow’s disposal was insufficient for this service, and
additional troops were requisitioned. The change to Wynad, especially during the
rains, appears to have been severely felt by the Raja, and in the end of June Colonel
Dow in whom (from old acquaintanceship at the siege of Tellicherry and
subsequently) he appears to have placed much confidence, received at “ Corote-
Angady,” in the Wynad, a penitential letter from him alluding to his “evil fate, which
had compelled him to remove from his ancient abode to this strange habitation, and
proposing to come in if pardoned and his property restored.
Colonel Dow on 3rd July acceded to his request and promised him “an act of
oblivion.’’ The other Commissioners did not approve of this measure, and very
pertinently remarked that Government had proceeded to violent measures with the
Raja because lenient ones had been found ineffectual, and “if after going such
lengths, we were to reinstate him without reserve merely because he petitions for
forgiveness, either what has already been done was oppressive and unjust, or so
doing must be the height of weakness and inconsistency.”
However, as Colonel Dow had made the promise they felt compelled to
confirm it in so far as he felt himself bound, and until the orders of Government
could be obtained. But, on the other side it might have been argued that failing to
come to terms with him would have thrown him into the arms of Tippu, and the
cause of his proceeding to Wynad at all was the secret and unsuccessful attempt to
take him in his house at Palassi.
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In pursuance of this arrangement the Northern Superintendent returned

from Manattana, and the Raja was, under Colonel Dow’s orders, conducted to
Palassi by Lieutenant Walker, and his property, except the treasure, was restored to
him.
For his good behaviour pending the receipt, of the orders of Government,
Colonel Dow further took security1 from the Kurumbranad Raja and four of the
principal inhabitants of Kottayam, and in return Colonel Dow agreed2 to use his
efforts to get back the Palassi house, which had been attached, and to have a
thorough enquiry made into the alleged plunder of it by the troop, on condition that
the Raja explained to the satisfaction of Government his conduct in putting the
three Mappillas to death.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. CXVII.
2. Treaties, etc., ii. CXVIII. END OF NOTEs
In due time the orders3 of the Bombay and Supreme Governments were
received (July 25th, August, 16th, 23rd and 27th) approving of the Raja’s reinstatement
“on account of the cowl4 granted to him by the Chief of Tellicherry” and likewise of Colonel
Dow’s action in granting a pardon, indemnity and act of oblivion on the terms
agreed to by the Colonel, and his “restoration to his district and property” was
distinctly ordered.
NOTEs: 3.Treaties, etc., ii. CXXII.
4. Treaties, etc., i. XCV. END OF NOTEs
But these orders of Government were not communicated direct to the

Palassi (Pychy) Raja. They were sent through the Raja of Kurumbranad, whose
agents omitted both to communicate them to the Raj and to pay over to him the
money taken at the sack of his house, which the Government had likewise ordered
to be restored to him.
Moreover, the Kurumbranad Raja removed from the management of the
Kottayam district an agent whom the Palassi Raja particularly wished to keep there.
And this agent (Kaiteri Ambu) betook himself with some followers to Kanoth ,
where, it was reported, “they meditated tumult and commotion, and, working on the
Pychy (Palassi) Raja’s leading passions, had enticed him to join them.”
The Northern Superintendent wished to have an interview with the Raja,
but by that time (October 1796) he had “retired to the most impenetrable parts of the
jungle.”
In short, the Raja felt himself deceived (as indeed he had been by his uncle
and his agents), and feared that the Commissions, a majority of whom were
determinedly set against him, would make another attempt to secure his person
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which might not be so unsuccessful as the last. Moreover, the Commissioners ought
to have themselves carried out the orders regarding the “restoration to his districts
and property” which both the Bombay and Supreme Governments had directed to
be done.
Of course the result of his flight to the jungles was that the collections again
fell into arrears. Meanwhile further orders (17th October 1796) of the Supreme
Government had likewise been received at Bombay, and were to the effect that the
Commissioners were to take possession of Wynad, which both Governments, after
the very favourable terms accorded by them to the Palassi (Pychy) Raja, probably
thought must now be in the Raja’s friendly hands.
The orders regarding “restoration to his districts and property” had, however,
meanwhile reached the Raja, and in November the Northern Superintendent then
for the first time (although the orders were dated so far back as the previous July
and August) asked what the "doubtful” phrase meant, and reported that the Raja
expected to get back all the property which he alleged had been lost at Palassi and to
obtain besides the direct management of the Kottayam district.
The Commissioners also now (24th November 1796) very tardily asked the
Government what the “doubtful phrase ” meant, and meanwhile took no steps to
give effect to that portion of the orders which were clear, namely, to make the
Kurumbranad Raja disgorge the intercepted treasure which should have been
handed over by him long ago to the Palassi (Pyoby) Raja.
Troops had already some time previously been sent to Periah in Wynad to
protect the ingathering of the cardamom crop, and in November-December 1796
another detachment was sent for the same purpose. This movement of troops
appears to have excited the gravest suspicions in the Raja’s mind. On December 1st,
however, he attended a meeting arranged with the Northern Superintendent, and
then chiefly dwelt on his being kept out of the management of Kottayam, and
particularly in being placed in an intolerable position of subjection under i.e.
Kurumbranad Raja’s agent, one Palaya Vittil Chandu, who had faithlessly deserted
from his own service.
He came to this meeting attended by 1,200 to 1,500 armed men. A week
was spent by the Superintendent in endeavouring to bring about a reconciliation
between the rival Rajas, but these well-meant efforts came to nothing owing to ‘
duplicity’ on the one side and “intolerable insolence” on the other. After this,
matters rapidly went from bad to worse. News came that the Palassi (Pychy) Raja
was in treaty with Tippu’s officers.
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The pepper revenue of Kottayam, a most important item in the accounts,

was in jeopardy owing to bands of armed men moving about the country. Troops
were despatched to protect the Wynad passes and to act offensively if necessary.
Dindimal was occupied as a central place for defending the Kottiyur and Nelliadi
passes, and the Periah Ghat detachment was also strengthened. But the country was
wild and covered with impenetrable forests and more troops were wanted for the
service.
On December 16th, the Northern Superintendent came to the conclusion
that the differences between the rival Rajas were irreconcilable, and suggested the
issue of a proclamation to the people forbidding them to assemble to assist the
Palassi (Pychy) Raja.
The Commissioners adopted this idea, and on 18th December drafted but
did not at once publish a warning proclamation1 that “previous to proceeding to
extremities” against the Raja they gave the people an opportunity of returning to
their allegiance and if they did not seize it within fifteen days they were to be
considered as “irreconcilable enemies of the Company’s Government, their lands
and property will be immediately confiscated, never again to be restored, and the
Raja and his friends2 pursued to their utter extirpation from the Company’s
dominions.”
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. CXXXI.
2. (1) Parappanad Raja, (2) Kannavatt Shekaran Nambiar, (3) Kaitori Ambu, (4) Kaiteri
Kamaran, (5) Kaiteri, Eman, (6) Elampullian Kunyan (7) Puttamvittil Rairu (8) Menon Kuran, (9)
Shekara Variyar, (10) Puttulat Nayar, (11) Melodam Kanachan Nambiar holding Rs. 41,000 of janmam
property and having in train 481 men. END OF NOTEs
And they wrote to the Raja direct, telling him in a phrase which he ironically
commented on afterwards when the fulfilment of the threat had miscarried, that
“not a sepoy shall rest in this province till you and all your adherents are utterly
extirpated”.
The Commissioners evidently lost their temper over this proclamation and
the chief moving cause appears to have been that the pepper crop and the revenue
dependent thereon were in danger of being lost through the disturbances created by
the rebels.
Moved by those threats, the Palassi (Pychy) Raja then openly visited Tippu’s
Killidar at Karkankotta.
But as a last resource another meeting was arranged at Nittur between him
and the President of the Commissioners and Northern Superintendent on 30th
December. The Raja demanded the direct management of his district, and was again
refused as the Kurumbranad Raja would not agree.
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After this nothing remained but to proceed to overawe the district by a

show of force, so the Superintendent was directed to act on the proclamation of 18th
December to break up the bands of armed men, to reduce the number of ghats
leading to Wynad, and to efficiently protect those remaining. On January 4th, 1797,
the Coorg Raja reported that either the Palassi (Pychy) Raja himself or one of his
family had had an interview with Tippu at "Hegadideva” in Mysore, whither Tippu
had proceeded ostensibly to see a white elephant.
The pepper crop was by this time just about ready for gathering, and to
their chagrin the Commissioners now found even the Kurumbranad Raja's
adherents passing over to the rebel side, and that the Raja himself showed great
lukewarmness in the British cause.
Matters came to a crisis on January 7th, 1797. On that date a detachment of
80 men of Captain Lawrence's battalion was proceeding with a peon of the
Superintendent's to a place called in the records “Manandory,” where they were to
be stationed and where the Commissioners' proclamation was to be read.
A band of men under Kaiteri Ambu waylaid them, mortally wounded the
commanding officer Captain Bowman, wounded several other officers, and killed
many of the men. The detachment appears to have been taken by surprise : they
had, when fired upon, neither their bayonets fixed nor their muskets loaded.
Flushed with this success, the rebels next, on the 8th January attacked the
havildar’s guard stationed at Palassi, and killed the whole party excepting one man,
who escaped to tell the story. And not content with killing the sepoys, great excesses
were committed, for the rebels “cause1 to be cut up with unrelenting fury the
women and children as is said of the same detachment. And a similar fate was
intended towards a small guard stationed at Benghaut (Venkad), and the purpose
would no doubt have been carried into effect had not timely intelligence readied that
quarter so as to enable the party to provide the means of their security.”
NOTEs: 1. Mr. Wilkinson, President of Commission, minute of 2nd February 1797. END
OF NOTEs
The weak and scattered detachments in Wynad too were found to be in

danger. That at Dindimul had to retreat, under Lieutenant Inglis, for safety to the
Periah post commanded by Lieutenant Gorman. It was savagely attacked en route
on 14th January 1797 by the rebels, and the defenceless women and followers of the
party were massacred. But the detachment made good its “very gallant retreat,” as
the Bombay Government characterised it at the time, in spite of the overwhelming
force of "Nambiars,” probably Kanoth Shekaran’s party, by which it was opposed,
and Lieutenant Inglis won the strong approbation of the Bombay Government. His
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loss on the march amounted only to 1 jemadar, 1 naigue and 12 sepoys killed or
missing.
The united detachments having exhausted their provisions, were permitted
unmolested to make their way down, the Ellacherrum pass to Kuttiyadi. All the
remote military posts in the country below the ghats were likewise placed in a state
of comparative siege, and convoys of provisions sent to them were attacked. On
27th January a convoy proceeding to Major Anderson at Mananderi was attacked and
3 sepoys were killed, and a jemadar and 19 sepoys were wounded, in addition to
which the coolies ran away and the stores, ammunition, etc., were lost.
The measures proposed by the Commissioners to counteract these savage
successes were-—more troops to be stationed in Wynad, fortified military posts to
be constructed at Venkad, Palassi, Kodoli, and Kottayam bazaar, and another post
in Iruvalinad was proposed to overawe the Nambiars, one of whom (Kampuratt)
was connected by marriage with the Palassi (Pyoliy) Raja’s chief adherent, Kanoth
Shekaran Nambiar.
In February accordingly, the Bombay Government sent down a
considerable reinforcement of troops, consisting of one battalion of sepoys, 200
Europeans, and a detachment of artillery, together with Major-General Bowles (who
was ordered to resume the military command of the province) and several other
officers.
Wynad had always been considered an “equivocal possession” as it was not
specifically mentioned in the Seringapatam treaty; indeed, the only ground for
considering that it had been ceded by Tippu that had occurred to the Joint
Commissioners was that the revenue of the Kottayam districts would not have been
rated so high by Tippu if he had not intended also to include it in the cession.
But in 1796, the Commissioners had made some advances towards
annexing it to the other Malabar districts by appointing, on 26th February 1796 a
canongoe to work under the Kurumbranad Raja with a view to ascertaining what its
revenue resources were. This officer entered on the duty assigned to him on the 27th
March following. And the Commissioners followed this up by deputing one of their
members, Colonel Dow, to co-operate with the Kurumbranad Raja in arranging a
mode for the future collection of the revenue, under restrictions however as to
advancing any claims from which it might thereafter be dishonourable to retract,
and Colonel Dow was in particular directed to avoid, as tar as possible, interfering in
matters that mght occasion, on the part of Tippu any opposition to the authority of
the Honourable Company in that district. Colonel Dow had accordingly, on 27th
June 1796, ascended the Tamarasseri pass accompanied by a military force, and had
traversed on that occasion the portion of the district lying between the head of the
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Tamarasseri pass and the passes known respectively as the Periah pass and the
Smugglers' pass, descending on Manattana. On the 17th of July he posted at a place
variously called "Coonjiste" or "Cotote" or "Canccote" or "Concesta" bazaar a
detachment of troops commanded by Lieutenant Hiff, as a check on the Palassi
(Pychy) Raja rather than to assert the Honourable Company's authority in Wynad.
Again in the beginning of December 1796, the Officer Commanding the
Province had, at the request of the Commissioners, stationed a detachment of
troops under Lieutenant Gorman at Perish with a view, as already alluded to, to
protect the cardamom crop from being carried off by the Palassi (Pychy) Raja's
people, and some time afterwards Lieutenant Inglis' party, to whose gallant retreat
from Dindimal to Periah reference had already been made, was posted at the former
of these Places.
Matters were in this state when the Commissioners finally decided to issue
their proclamation1 of 18th December 1796, and the effect on the Palassi (Pychy)
Raja was to drive him to seek aid from Tippu. It seems that Tippu agreed to supply
him with ammunition, and to on station 6000 “Carnatics” under his Killidar at
Karkankotta on the Wynad frontier, to be ready to help the Raja’s people in driving
the British troops down the ghats out of Wynad.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., CXXXI. END OF NOTEs
After the outbreak of hostilities, Colonel Dow was nominated to the

command of the troops serving against the rebels and in pursuance of this object he,
in the beginning of March 1797, again ascended the Tamarasseri pass and marched
without opposition through the Wynad district from the head of that pass as far as
Periah. The plan of operations was for Colonel Dow to concentrate in force at
Periah, and, when that post was secured, the force below the ghats was to drive
away the rebels from the fortified post in the low country about Kanoth and it was
hoped that the force above the ghats, by cutting off the rebels’ retreat, would
effectually break them up.
But two companies of sepoys under command of Lieutenant Mealey, who
had ascended into Wynaad by way of the Karkur pass and were bringing up the rear
of Colonel Dow's force, did not succeed in overtaking the main body, and during
three successive days 9th, 10th and 11th March - this detachment had to fight its way,
being opposed by “some thousands" of Nayars and Kurichiars “between Devote
Angady and Cunjote Angady", and was finally forced to retreat from Wynaad via the
"Ellacherrum”2 (Cardamom mountain) pass with “considerable loss,” viz., one
subbadar, 2 havildars, 2naiguos, 1 waterman and 32 sepoys killed or missing and 67
wounded including an English officer (Lieutenant Millinchamp). About half the
force were either killed, missing or wounded.
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NOTEs: 2. This is apparently the pass between the existing Kuttiadi and Periah ghat roads,
leading directly under in the north of Naduvaram peak to the Government cardamom forests. The
pass is still used by foot-passengers to and from Kuttiadi. END OF NOTEs
Colonel Dow himself was completely hampered in carrying out the plan of
operations by lack of commissariat supplies. He had started from the head of the
Tamarasseri pass with only a few days’ rations, and when his force reached Periah;
he had but five days’ supplies of rice left for his men. He had written several urgent
letters to the Commissioners, telling them of the straits he was in for food, and they
had requested Major-General Bowles to forward supplies for him via the Kuttiyadi
pass the foot of which was held by the rebels.
Major Andersen, entrusted with the duty of convoying the supplies and
effecting a junction with Colonel Dow was unable to fulfil that service as the
Mappillas detailed to act as guides to his detachment failed to put in an appearance,
and thus much valuable time was lost, and the failure of supplies to reach in time
paved the way for the disasters which immediately followed.
Shortly after reaching Periah, Colonel Dow received at the hands of six
armed men letters from Tippu’s officer at Karkankotta remonstrating against his
marching with a force through Wynad which he claimed as a portion of the Sultan’s
territory. This circumstance seemed to Colonel Dow to render it absolutely
necessary that a fresh plan of operations should be decided on, as it was clearly, he
thought, impracticable, with the resources at command, to maintain the position
above the ghats in the face of an active opposition of the combined forces of the
Palassi (Pychy Raja) and Tippu.
Colonel Dow, under those circumstances, decided to descend the ghats
with a view to consulting his colleagues in the Commission. On his way from Periah
to the Ellacherrum pass above referred to his detachment was attacked by bands of
rebels among whom he could easily distinguish men in the dress of Tippu’s sepoys,
but he made good his retreat to the pass although only accompanied by a small
party of sepoys and he descended into the low country on the 17th March, with the
loss, however, of all his baggage, papers, etc.
On the night of the following day, 18th March, Major Cameron, left in
command of 1,100 men at Periah by Colonel Dow, was forced by want of
provisions to quit that post and to attempt a similar retreat by the same pass. But
the enemy had by this time completed their arrangements and instead of attacking
the party on the comparatively level ground above, they waited until the force had
entered the pass.
Both sides of it were lined by the rebels, who had likewise stockaded it, and
a melancholy loss occurred. Major Cameron and three other officers (Lieutenant
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Nugent and Ensigns Madge and Rudderman) were killed, two other officers were
wounded and of the detachment “some Europeans of artillery, with a considerable
number of native officers and privates were either killed or missing. In addition to
this loss of life, the detachment lost its guns, baggage, ammunition and cattle and
the union colour of the battalion of sepoys.
Major Anderson with his convoy of supplies, which Colonel Dow had
expected to meet at or near the head of the pass on the 16th arrived on the ghat on
the 19th, just in time to help to carry off the wounded, of whom there were “great
numbers.”
Amongst the secret papers found in Seringapatam after the final fall of
Tippu there occurs the following significant passage relating to these events in a
letter dated "Le primidi de later decade de Florcal l'an 5e de la Republique francaise"1 from
Tippu Sultan to Citoyen General Mangalon.
NOTEs: 1. “The first day (?) of the first ten days of the month of flowers (20th April to 19th
May), in the fifth year of the French Republic," i.e., 20th April 1797. END OF NOTEs
Referring to English affairs in India, he wrote “A Calicule its ont ete attaque
par le Rajas Congis Ramme Ramme Chefe de Coutengris (Kottayam), qui leurs a tue en trois
sorties mille Europeens et trois milles Sipaif ; par toute la cote ils sont attaque ; tous sont revoltes
contre eux, par rapors au vexations et au impots qu'ils ont mis”.
On receipt of intelligence of the above events, the Bombay Government
quickly decided that the presence of the Governor (Mr. Jonathan Duncan) and of
the Commander-in-chief (Lieutenant-General Stuart) was necessary in Malabar, so
on 10th April 1797, by orders2 of the Governor in Council, those officers were
deputed to form a Committee of the Government in Malabar where they arrived in
the middle of the month.
NOTEs. 2. Treaties, etc., ii. CXXXIV. END OF NOTEs
Pending their arrival the Commissioners were directed to suspend

hostilities. Before proceeding to relate the measures adopted by the Committee of
Government to bring affairs into a more satisfactory state, it will be necessary to
revert to other matters which had meanwhile occupied the attention of the
Commissioners.
With regard to the affairs of the Bibi of Cannanore, orders were received
from Government that the jaghire granted to her by Tippu should not be restored
as it was only a temporary alienation from the Chirakkal Raja. She then executed an
agreement3, dated 28th October 1796, to pay Rs. 15,000 annually, “being the jumma
(jama—demand) on the houses, purrams, etc., situated at or near Cannanore on my
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trade to the Laccadive Islands, and on my jelm (janmam) property on the said
islands.”
NOTEs: 3. Treaties, etc., ii CXXVI. END OF NOTEs
The right of Government to sequester4 the islands and the whole of their
produce was to remain in force. She also agreed to pay customs duties on all articles
except island coir yarn, and she gave up all pretensions to the one-fifth share of the
collections granted to other Malayali chieftains, and finally renounced all claims to
the jaghire.
This agreement is still in force, and is that under which the Cannanore
Laccadive Islands are administered down to the present day.
The Zamorin had in the meanwhile failed1 to pay in the revenues of his
districts with punctuality, and the Commissioners, acting on the stringent orders
issued by the Governor, took over on 5th July 1796 the direct management of them.
It would appear that the Mappillas of Ernad and Malapuram had given great trouble
to the Zamorin’s collectors, and he had some time previously renounced the direct
management of those districts, which had in consequence been made over to
Manjeri Attan Gurikkal for management under the Raja. For those and the
remaining districts the Zamorin was able eventually to settle the accounts, and the
districts were accordingly returned to him for management on the 24th August 1796.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. CXIII, CXVI, CXIX., CXX, CXXI. END OF NOTEs
The direct management by the Company’s officers of the Kavalappara and

Palghat districts was shortly afterwards taken2 over for the same reasons, and it does
not appear that they were ever afterwards returned for management to their
respective chiefs. In short, the beginning of the final resumption of all districts held
under the quinquennial leases had commenced. The two Rajas belonging to the
Padinyaru Kovilakam (western palace) of the Zamorin’s family, who from the time
of the murderous assault on Shamnath, the Zamorin’s minister, had been living in a
state of chronic semi-rebellion latterly in their residence in the jungly country at
Kalladikod in the Walluvanad taluk, were at last brought to accept terms.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., ii. CXXIII, CXXV. END OF NOTEs
The Commissioners agreed3 on 6th January 1797 to their receiving an annual

allowance of Rs. 10,000, and they on their part agreed to reside peaceably thereafter
at Calicut.
NOTEs: 3. Treaties, etc., ii. CXXX. END OF NOTEs
This was fortunately arranged just before the troubles with the Palassi
(Pychy) Raja came to a head, for had the rebellion in the north been supplemented
by a similar rising in the south, the Commissioners would have been sore pressed to
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make head against so formidable a combination, and the task undertaken by the
Committee of Government, even with all the resources of the state to back them,
would have become more difficult than it actually was.
In the middle of April the Governor, Mr. Jonathan Duncan, and
Lieutenant-General Stuart, the Commandar-in-Chief, arrived to investigate the
affairs of the country. Acting mainly on the advice of Shamnath, the Zamorin’s
minister, the Commissioners had, just before the arrival of the Committee of
Government, begun to raise a levy of irregular troops to harass the Palassi (Pychy)
Raja, a measure which appears to have been attended with the best possible effect.
After the arrival of the Committee, one of their first measures was to
resume4 from the charge of the so-called Kurumbranad Raja of the Kottayam
family, the direct revenue management of the Palassi (Pychy) districts, which ought
never to have been entrusted to his care, as his authority and that of the Palassi
(Pychy) Raja had been in continual conflict, and the latter had repeatedly put this
forward as his main grievance.
NOTEs. 4. Treaties, etc., ii. CXXXVI, CXXXVII. END OF NOTEs
A way was thus opened up for bringing the matters in dispute to a peaceful
issue, but for a time there seemed to be no hope of a settlement After several
ineffectual attempts of the Chirakkal Raja and Mr. Peile, the Northern
Superintendent, had been made to induce the Palassi (Pychy) Raja, under the most
unqualified assurance of safe conduct, to meet the Committee at Tellicherry, active
measures were resumed against him, full authority being given to Colonel Row, who
was well known to the inhabitants.
An amnesty was at the same time proclaimed to the inhabitants who should
return to their allegiance. Colonels Dow and Dunlop then marched in two columns
from Kottayam bazaar, and joining forces at Manattana, they there met with some
opposition, and their force suffered some casualties in officers and men. But the
united force pushed onward in spite of some opposition and took possession of
Tadikulam, the Raja’s headquarters and demolished the contiguous fortified house
of the Kanoth Nambiar, with the loss of Brigade-Major Captain Batchelor killed and
one or two Europeans and sepoys wounded. After these exploits they returned to
their encamping ground.
In spite, however, of this success, the Committee became aware of the
difficulties which lay in the way of bringing this guerilla warfare to a speedy
conclusion on account of the mountainous and thickly wooded nature of the
country. For these reasons, and for others of a wider character, namely, the war with
France in Europe and the danger of intrigues on the part of Tippu and the French,
the Committee determined, if possible, to bring about a speedy peace.
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The Chirakkal Raja was accordingly permitted to re-open negotiations on

behalf of the Palassi (Pychy) Raja, in which Devas Bhandari, a Konkana and one of
the Company’s pepper merchants, and the adopted Parappanad Raja (of the
Kottayam family) took prominent parts and succeeded2 on 23rd July 1797 in bringing
matters to a satisfactory termination.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc ii. CXL, CXLI, CXLII. END OF NOTEs
The Palassi (Pychy) Raja and his chief adherents, the Kanoth Nambiar and
others, agreed to respect an agreement to be made by the Senior Raja of the
Kottayam family, hitherto resident in Travancore, for the revenue management of
the Kottayam districts, including Tamarasseri, in place of the superseded
Kurumbranad Raja, and this arrangement3 was shortly afterwards (27th September
1797) carried into effect, and the detachments of troops posted in different parts of
the low country were then concentrated in a
cantonment at Kuttuparamba, about eight miles
east of Tellicherry on the high road to Coorg
and Wynad.
NOTEs: 3. Treaties, etc., ii. CXLV, CXLVI.
END OF NOTEs
A meeting having then been arranged

with the late rebellious Raja the Committee
ascertained from him that through some intrigue
or other the pardon of the Governor-General,
conveyed to him through the Kurumbranad
Raja, had not reached him before he begun to
make collections on his own account. Moreover
plundered property, which had been committed
to the same Raja for restoration to him, had never been received. It was only on
receipt direct from the Northern Superintendent of a copy of the Supreme
Government’s orders in his case that he came to understand how it had been
settled, and it so happened that the Malayalam translations of those orders
construed the expression1 “his restoration to his district and property” in the largest
sense, viz., that his country and property should be given back to him.
NOTEs: 1. Conf. Treaties, etc., ii. CXXII. END OF NOTEs
The Committee were not quite satisfied that the adoption of the superseded
Raja into the real Kurumbranad family operated as a forfeiture of all his rights in the
family of his birth, namely, Kottayam and they therefore could not attach much
importance to that point, which was also pressed on their notice by the Palassi
(Pyehy) Raja. But therein they were doubtless wrong.
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The Palassi (Pyehy) Raja was granted2 a pension of Rs. 8,000 per annum
and the plunder of his Palassi house was made good to him. He was further granted
a pardon “for all that had been done towards the Company.”
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., CL., CLI, CLII. END OF NOTEs
A pardon was likewise extended to the Narangoli Nambiar of Iruvalinad

who as already related, had, after the slaying of three Mappillas, fled to the Palassi
(Pychy) Raja for protection. The Committee of Government, on reviewing the
papers connected with his case, had come to the conclusion that the sequestration
of his lands and property was not justified by the regulations. So his outlawry was
reversed and the Nambiar was restored3 to his possessions.
NOTEs: 3. Treaties, etc., ii. CLIII. END OF NOTEs
In regard to other measures, the Committee of Government strengthened

the Commission on 15th September 1797 by adding to the Board the Officer
commanding the Province. The militia was next disbanded and two sibandi corps of
Nayars and Mappillas were organised, the Nayars being stationed in the southern
and the Mappillas in the northern division to secure the peace of the country.
Affairs in Chirakkal next claimed attention. The Raja died and the
Government recognised the succession of Ravi Varma, the eldest of the two princes
in Travancore. His nomination to the raj was opposed by the Kavinisseri branch of
the family supported by the senior or Kolattiri Raja. To ensure peace and harmony
in the family the Linguist, M. A. Rodrigues, and the influential Mappilla merchant
Chovakkaran Makki, were deputed to Chirakkal. They succeeded in establishing
peace. Ravi Varma was confirmed in the raj and Colonel Dow was placed in judicial
and magisterial charge of this district in addition to Kottayam.
The Ernad district having been relinquished by the Zamorin, an European
assistant was appointed to take charge of it and another assistant was sent to
administer Parappanad.
Mr. Rivett was succeeded by Mr. Spencer as President of the Commission,
while Messrs. Smee and Torrins were appointed in the room of Colonel Dow and
Mr. Handley. The posts of native dewans were abolished, and it was resolved to
make a radical change in the administration by the appointment of covenanted
servants as revenue assistants, to be employed throughout the district, on which
account the existing regulations were modified.
Separate decennial leases1 were for the first time entered into with the
Kurangot Nayar and the chief landholder under him, the Payapurat Nayar, for the
district known as Koringot Kallai.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. CLIV, CLV. END OF NOTEs
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The notorious Mappilla bandit chief, Unni Mutta Muppan, was pardoned
and restored to his estate of Elampuinsseri, while Attan Gurikkal, a relation of his
and no less noted for turbulence of character, was appointed from motives of policy
as head of a police establishment in Ernad.
The forts of Cannanore, Tellicherry and Palghat were now either improved
or repaired. The minor matters which engaged the attention of the Committee of
Government were -
The abolition of the expensive mail boat service and the establishment of a
post via Cochin and the Travancore gate on the Tinnevelly frontier to Tuticorin.
The regulation of ferries.
The freedom of trade to the Laccadive islanders.
The abolition of all frontier duties on horned cattle, provisions, etc.,
imported from Tippu’s territories.
The introduction of a tax on all spirituous liquors, which were to be farmed
out as well as the trade in tobacco.
The repair of the gun roads made by Tippu.
And the tracing of a road from Palghat to Palani and Dindigul in order to
avoid the adjacent territories of Tippu.
Their attention was also directed to the cultivation of special products such
as cinnamon, coffee, pepper, nutmeg, spices, sugarcane, cotton, etc., Mr. M. Brown
was accordingly appointed2 Overseer of the Company’s plantation opened out at
Anjarakandi in the waste lands of Randattara on a salary of Rs. 800 per month. The
Vettatnad escheats were surveyed by Captain Moncrief, who as well as Colonel
Sartorius surveyed the rivers of the country and Lieutenant Monier Williams drew
the first map of Malabar under Captain Monerief’s supervision. Just at the close of
the labours of the Committee of Government some treasonable correspondence-
said to have been carried on by Tippu with the Palassi (Pychy) Raja, with the
Padinyaru Kovilakam Rajas of the Zamorin’s house, with Unni Mutta Muppan-was
discovered, but the
Committee having no reliable information to go upon, deeded to overlook
the matter.
In the very begining of 1798, after a stay of over eight months in the
province, the Governor and the Commander-in-Chief returned to the Presidency.
In pursuance of the arrangement for the better administration of the
country, European assistants were located in all the districts under the
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Superintendents, and Mr. Smee was entrusted1 with the very important duty of
revising the assessment of the Province by an inspection of the estate of each ryot.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. CLXXXl. END OF NOTEs
In order to prevent confusion in the regular payment of revenue by the six

Nambiars of Iruvalinad, the Commissioners, with the consent of these chieftains,
next annulled,2 the quinquennial lease and entered into separate engagements3 with
each of them for the unexpired portion of two years remaining under the lease. The
revised leases followed the precise lines of those already issued to the other chiefs of
Malabar.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc. ii. XCIII, CLX,
3. Treaties, etc., ii, CLXI to CLXVI. END OF NOTEs
As their earnest entreaty, agreements were in February-March 1798 for the

first time also entered into with the Kuttali, Avinyat and Paleri Nayars of
Payyormala for the remaining term of the quinquennial lease period by the
Kurumbranad Raja.
The district of Kurumbala, which lay above the ghats in Wynad and which
formerly formed part of Payyormala, was not included in the Kuttali and Avinyat
Nayars' agreements as to the Honourable Company's right to the territory was, like
that to the rest of Wynad, considered to be doubtful, but the collections of this
small district were to be made4 by the Nayars and paid into the northern treasury.
NOTEs: 4. Treaties, etc., ii, CLXIX. END OF NOTEs
In April some disturbances were created in Chirakkal by a prince of the

Chenga Kovilakam of the Kolattiri family, a nephew of the late Raja. He claimed the
raj. Colonel Dow went with a force to restore5 quiet. The rebellious Raja attempted
in the following month of May to take the Puttur Temple by storm, but was slain in
the attempt by the ruling Raja's Nayars who defended it.
NOTEs: 5. Treaties, etc., CLXXV; CLXXIX, CLXXX. END OF NOTEs
Kottayam affairs once more claimed attention. The senior managing Raja
was found to be falling into arrears with his collections, although assisted by British
officers. It became apparent that he had not sufficient personal influence or energy
to keep things in order, so he was pensioned and permitted to retire to Travancore.
The district was then placed under the direct management of the Honourable
Company's officers.
The Commissioners' attention was next taken up by the affairs of Palghat.
The Achchan in April took the law into his own hands, in spite of the terms of his
engagements, by "putting to death Ullateel Veetul Canden Nayar and taking out the
eyes of Parameshuaracooty Brahman”.
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Having thus committed himself, he escaped on 7th July from his house in
Kalpetti in Palghat town as soon as it was known that the Commissioners intended
to bring him to trail for these offenses. A proclamation1 offering Rs. 5000 was
issued for his apprehension. The upshot was that he surrendered himself to Major
Romney at Palghat and was imprisoned in the Tellicherry fort, where he soon after
died.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. CLXXVII, CLXXVIII. END OF NOTEs
In sending orders to the Commissioners to assume the direct revenue

management of the Palghat district the Bombay Government wrote approving of
this measure, which had been suggested by the Commissioners, and observing
further:-
“There exists no anterior general engagement whatever between the
Company and the Palghat family, who appeared to have availed themselves of the
victories of our army during the last Mysore war to reassume possession without
any formal sanction on the part of the English, in which situation are several of the
southern chieftains, who have heretofore no sort of claim upon us more than may
result from their own good and unexceptionable behaviour, a distinction more than
once pointed out for your guidance by this Government.”
In September of this same year final orders were at last received in regard to
Tippu’s claims to Wynad. The Governor-General, Lord Mornington, after full
consideration of the matter, came2 to the conclusion that “Wynad was not ceded to the
Company by the late Treaty of Peace, and that it belongs by right to his said Highness the
Nawaub Tippu Sultan Bahadur,” who was to be permitted “consequently to occupy
the said district whenever it may suit his pleasure.”
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., ii. CLXXXII. END OF NOTEs
But the Company’s claim to the passes leading up to Wynad were not to be
affected in any way by this waiver of right to the district itself.
Nearly all the Rajas were backward in the regular discharge of their kists
and were obliged to procure the suretyship of Mappilla merchants for the payment
of arrears. Although members of this sect living in the coast towns were active
traders and well-behaved, in the interior their fellow religionists were incessantly
engaged in marauding expeditions.3
NOTEs: 3. Treaties, etc., ii, CLXXXVIII. END OF NOTEs
Mannarakad, Tamarasseri, Pulavayi, Vettattnad, Cheranad and Ernad

especially suffered from these banditti. The mistaken notions prevalent in regard to
ownership in the land appear to have been to a large extent at the bottom of these
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disturbances, which assumed the aspect of faction fights for supremacy between
Hindus and Muhammadans.
The Zamorin having failed to pay his revenue regularly, the direct
management of his remaining districts was again assumed4 in October 1798 by the
Company, and agreements were shortly afterwards entered into with the fifth Raja
and other members of the family for the payment of their allowances, provided and
only so long as they should remain in good behaviour.
NOTEs: 4. Treaties, etc., ii. CLXXXIV. END OF NOTEs
Some of them were then allowed to resume their residence at the

Kalladikod Kovilakam which was “situated amidst a strong intricate jungle”.
Subsequent events did not, however, justify the grant of this relaxation.
Of the events of the last war with Tippu Sultan ending in the taking of his
capital and in his own death, little need here to be said. The arrival in a French
frigate at Mangalore, on 26th April 1798, of 99 French Civil and Military Officers,
sent by the Governor of the Isle of France for service under Tippu, put the English
on the alert, and made them commence preparations for war. The above event,
followed by the despatch of a further embassy from Tippu to France, which was
sent by way of Tranquebar, led directly to the last war with Tippu.
On 11th February 1799 General Harris began his march on Seringapatam,
and on the 21st of that same month General Stuart, with the Bombay Army of 6,420
fighting men, made his first march out of Cannanore. On the 25th the top of the
pass was reached and the column halted. On the 6th March, Tippu attacked General
Stuart at Sedaseer and was repulsed, and on the 11th he retreated to Seringapatam to
oppose General Harris. On April 14th the two armies effected a junction before
Seringapatam, and on the 4th of May 1799 Seringapatam fell and Tippu was slain.
Stores were sent from Malabar via Irikkur on the Valarpattanam river to
Coorg, where a commissariat magazine was established. The Raja of Coorg proved
himself again to be a staunch adherent of the English. He aided them most
substantially with provisions and bullocks, while at the same time he refused any
remuneration, the value of the supplies afforded by him being calculated at not less
than four lakhs of rupees. In appreciation of his conduct and valuable services, the
Coorg tribute was cancelled, and for it was substituted,1 as a proof of fealty and
devotion, an annual present to the Company of a trained elephant. The affairs of the
State were taken out of the hands of the authorities in Malabar and a Resident was
stationed at his Court.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. CCI, CCII. END OF NOTEs
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The pensioned Rajas of Kumbla and Vittul Agra or Higgada did not also
fail to harass Tippu's possessions during the war and on this account the pension of
the former was in 1801 increased to Rs. 400. But the latter having after the
proclamation of peace plundered the Manasserum temple, he was declared a rebel
and death anticipated the orders issued for his seizure.
Strangely enough the Rajas and Chiefs of Malabar, considering the
turbulent and discontented disposition of many, were on their best behaviour during
this period of disturbance. Several persons hitherto believed to be inimical to the
Company's interests proved their loyalty and devotion, notwithstanding that
rumours were afloat of the Chirakkal and Palassi (Pychy) Rajas carrying on
clandestine correspondence with Tippu and aiding him with men and provision.
It is important to mention that with the exception of a detachment at
Cannanore, and with the exception of the militia, Malabar was left entirely without
military protection during the operations of the armies in the field. But General
Stuart s brilliant victory of the 6th March, at the very opening of the campaign
against Tippu’s force, was viewed at the time by the Governor-General and others
as having conduced largely to the tranquillity in Malabar.
On the fall of Seringapatam, Wynad was, under the Partition Treaty1 and
subsidiary treaties, ceded to the Company as part of their share on the Western
Coast.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. CXCIII, CXCIV, CCXXVIII, CCXLVII. END OF NOTEs
The four islands of the Laccadive group taken by Tippu from the Bibi of
Cannanore were leased to Chovakkaran Mussa by Captain Munro, Collector of the
newly acquired Province of Canara, although the Bibi did not fail once more to urge
her claims to them.
The Payyormala Nayars having failed to pay their revenue, their district was
next taken under2 the Company’s control, and on the expiration of the Chirakkal
lease, the management of that district was also undertaken3 by the Company owing
to irregularity in the payment of its revenue.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., ii, CXCVII.
3. Treaties, etc., ii, CCIII. END OF NOTEs
Writing to the Madras Government on 14th August 1800, the

Commissioners reported as follows : —
“From a general failure in the fulfilment of their engagements by the Rajas,
Government assumed the collection of the revenue at sundry periods before the
expiration of the settlements in September 1799. Since which period, except4 in the
instances of Kadattand, Kurangoth-Kallayi and Cannanore in the northern,
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Kavalappara and the three petty Nayar districts of Mannur, Kougad and Eddatara in
the southern division, and the island of Chetwai held by the Cochin Raja on a
decennial lease commencing 970, the collection of the revenues has proceeded
under the sole control of the officers of Government, an arrangement from which
the best effects have been produced.”
NOTEs: 4. By 18th June 1802 this number had still further diminished, and on that date the
Principal Collector reported as follows to the Board of Revenue :—“ Except the two Nayars of
Kallayi" (i.e., Kurangoth -Kallayi in the text), “who have a Cowl (Treaties, etc., ii. CLIV, CLV) giving
them the collections for ten years ending 1807, no other person in the province that participates in the
one-fifth share of the revenue has the charge of management." END OF NOTEs
The only lease renewed5 was that of the Kadattanad Raja, and that for
periods of one year only. He had been uniformly punctual in the payment of his
revenue. The superseded chiefs were continued in the enjoyment of the allowance
of one-fifth (in some cases) and of one-tenth (in others) of the revenue of their
respective districts which had been allotted to them for their maintenance. These
allowances continue to be paid to them down to the present day under the
designation of Malikhana.
NOTEs: 5. Treaties, etc., ii, CCVII, CCXXIII. END OF NOTEs
The minor matters which at this time engaged the attention of the
Commissioners were-
The introduction of the tobacco monopoly.
The establishment of a rule for the registration1 of all writings of the
transfer of landed property, on whatever tenure held, in order to put a stop to
systematic forgeries.
And the change of the postal route from Travancore to Coimbatore, one of
the newly acquired districts.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. CCV. END OF NOTEs
The Putiyangadi Tangal, of an influential Arab family, was in March 1799

continued in an exemption from the payment of the revenue on his property,
originally granted to him by the Second Raja of Calicut in 1791 in order that by his
influence he might restrain the lawless habits of his countrymen, the ringleaders of
whom were Unni Mutta Muppan, Attan Gurikkal, Chemban Pokar, etc.
A formidable combination was formed by these Mappilla headmen
instigated by a spirit of revenge for the punishment inflicted by the regular judicial
process on some of their connexions, especially on Adam Khan, a brother-in-law of
Gurikkal’s, who had executed for murder. The combination became alarming after
an abortive attempt had been made by the Assistant, Mr. Baber to seize Chemban
Pokar, who had escaped from the Palghat fort. Mr. Baber’s party was repulsed. This
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success encouraged Chemban Pokar to make a daring attempt on the life of Mr. G.
Waddell the Southern Superintendent, while he was proceeding from Angadipuram
to Orampuram, in which attempt Chemban Pokar was secretly abetted by Gurikkal,
who had been in Company’s service since 1790 as head of police in Ernad.
While these Mappilla disturbances were occurring in the south the Amildars
of the Mysore Commission went to take possession of Wynad as a portion of the
Company’s cession, and it was then in contemplation to attach it either to Canara or
Coimbatore. But the Palassy (Pychy) Raja had laid claim to the district and persisted
in keeping possession of it. To uphold his pretentions he raised a large body of men
consisting of Nayars, Mappillas, and Mussalmans, the last being portions of the
disbanded troops of the late Sultan.
Orders were therefore issued by the Supreme Government to punish
severely his presumptuous conduct. The control of the province was placed under
the Madras Government, which appointed Colonel Arthur Wellesley3 as
Commander of the forces in Malabar and Canara as well as in Mysore. It was
arranged to assemble forces on both sides of Wynad and to prosecute the war with
the utmost vigour. But owing to the lateness of the season and the approach of the
monsoon, the first military operations were confined to strengthening the military
posts in the low country of Kottayam with a view to protect the peaceably disposed
inhabitants. Colonel Wellesley on April 4th, 1800, writing from Cannanore, informed
the Commissioners that he had ordered two companies of the 8th to Kuttuparamba
and put the other six companies under Major Walker's orders for the above
purpose.
NOTEs: 3. Afterwards Duke of Wellington END OF NOTEs
At the same time other preparations were begun by the construction of

military roads into the heart of the country, and of two additional posts provisioned,
if possible, before the rains. In any case a large store was to be thrown into
Kuttuparamba and two companies of sepoys were to be sent to guard them.
Colonel Wellesley returned to Seringapatam in the same month, but
nothing of much importance occurred beyond numerous secessions to the rebel
ranks in Wynad. To stop this, Colonel Wellesley recommended the Commissioners
to seize the families and property of those who joined. In June and July he was
employed in his pursuit of Dhondia Wahan, who had invited the Malabar Chiefs to
join his standard, and later on in other operations the north.
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During this time the Palassy (Pychy) Raja took advantage of the
opportunity, and descending the ghats at Kutttiadi, he was there joined by the
notorious Mappilla bandit chief Unni Mutta Muppan and many of the chief
landholders of Iruvalinad, such as the Kampuratt, Peruvayyal and Kannavatt
Nambiars.
At the suggestion of Colonel Wellesley and in order to retain possession of
the advanced posts of Kannavam and Manatana, Captains Ward and Moncrief
dispersed the rebels from Kuttuparamba as far as Kannavam, while Major Holmes,
though harassed on the march, succeeded in relieving and provisioning Manatana
besieged by the rebels.
It will be convenient here, before proceeding to deal with the further
military operations, to notice certain very important changes in the administration,
which had a most important bearing on the
events which followed.
Mr Uthoff having been sent on a
separate mission to Goa and Colonel Hartley
dying, Major Alexander Walker was nominated
to a seat on the Commission, and pending his
arrival from a tour in Travancore, Lieutenans J.
Watson was provisionally appointed in his stead.
In April 1800 the posts of the two
Superintendents were ordered to be abolished1
and the province to be partitioned into a
number of small circles2 of collection, with
limited judicial powers vested in the revenue
collectors, while the Cochin Commissioner was
placed directly under the orders of the Malabar Board.
NOTEs. 1. Treaties, etc., ii. CCXII.
2. Treaties, etc., ii. CCX1V, CCXV. END OF NOTEs
These instructions were followed up by orders from the Supreme

Government of 21st May 1800, directing that the civil administration should be
transferred from the Bombay Presidency to that of Madras with effect from the 1st
of July. It will be noted that for some time previously the military administration had
already been in the hands of the Madras authorities, and the benefit of having
undivided authority in the hands of the one presidency or the other, led to the
choice3 of Madras, from its nearer vicinity to the province, as the presidency to
which it, in common with Coorg and Cochin, should be transferred. The
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Commercial Department in the province was, however, left to the Bombay

authorities.
NOTEs: 3. Treaties, etc., ii. CCXIII. END OF NOTEs
Travancore too was placed under a separate Political Officer and Colonel
Macaulay was nominated to the post.
The commission of Bombay officers continued under the orders of Madras
to perform their functions for some time longer. The Malabar Commissioners
deputed Major Walker to the southern districts, and upon his report condemning
the spirited action of Messrs. Baber and Waddell with reference to the Mappilla
banditti, Chemban Pokar was pardoned on his giving security1 of good behaviour,
and Gurikkal was allowed the option of either living on the coast near Calicut, or
standing his trial for having caused the late troubles.
NOTEs. 1. Treaties, etc., ii. CCXVI. END OF NOTEs
For the purpose of collecting the revenue Captain Watson was next
entrusted with the organisation of a new corps of armed police, consisting of 500
men, whom he trained and equipped in a fashion much resembling the present
constabulary force. The Malabar militia, an irregular force and undisciplined, serving
under their own native chiefs, was then (June 10th, 1801) disbanded.
Directly the rains set in (June-July 1800), the rebels had taken possession of
the low country of Kottayam, and among other mischief perpetrated, they attacked
and destroyed a portion of Mr. Brown's plantation at Anjarakandi, besides
beleaguering the small British outposts, especially those at Kodolli and Manatana.
Colonel Wellesley when he heard of this raid was busy with Dhondia's fort of
Dammal. He took that by escalade on July 26th, and next day wrote to the
commissioners telling them that his success against Dammal might, if published,
have some influence in quieting Malabar, and that, in anticipation of trouble, he had
already on July 1st directed Colonel Sartorius to bring together at Tellicherry as large
a body of troops as possible to relive the threatened posts and to drive the rebels
out of the western portion of Kottayam.
A gunboat was also stationed on the Anjarakandi river. The revenue
collection of Kottayam were at a standstill in consequence of the troubles, and in
the beginning of October, when the revenue collection ought to have been begun, a
proclamation2 was under these circumstances issued, directing the people to retain
their dues in their own hands until persons duly authorised were sent to receive
them.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., ii. CCXIX. END OF NOTEs
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Sufficient troops were not however yet available for dealing effectually with
the rebels as Colonel Wellesley was still engaged in the north with his campaign
against Dondia Wahan. On October 22nd he wrote advising the Commissioners to
stop all communication with Wynad with a view to cut off the Palassi (Pychy) Raja's
supplies. And a few weeks prior to the receipt of this letter the Commissioners had
on their own accord prohibited1 the traffic, an order which however the troops at
command did not enable them adequately to enforce.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. CCXXIV- CCXXII. END OF NOTEs
About a month later, however (20th November 1800), the campaign against
Dhondia Wahan was brought to a close with his defeat and death, and the force
under Colonel Wellesley was ordered for service against the rebels, whose ranks had
just been reinforced2 by Manjeri Attan Gurikkal and his banditti, who had in Ernad
attempted to loot some Government property in charge of an escort of sepoys.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., ii. CCXXIV. END OF NOTEs
Colonel Wellesley, on the above date, writing from “Annagee in Mysore,”

informed the Commissioners of the orders he had received to attack the Palassi
(Pychy) Raja simultaneously from Mysore and the coast, and said that he was on his
way to Seringapatam, followed by the army destined for the purpose, “now crossing
Tumbudra.”
To Seringapatam accordingly he requested that “Yemen Nayar” should be
sent with all expedition, and he wound up with a hope that he would be able to have
sufficient force to attack all the rebels at once, including Gurukkal and his hand, of
whose outbreak he had just heard.
This Yemen3 Nayar, for whom Colonel Wellesley wrote, was an influential
Nayar of Wynad, who, at the outbreak of hostilities with Tippu Sultan in 1799, had
come to the Malabar Commissioners at Calicut and professed his attachment to the
British cause. His professions were believed and assurances4 of protection to
himself and his adherents were granted to him. He had since that time been
admitted to the confidence of the authorities in Malabar, and it was to consult him
as to local matters that Colonel Wellesley now sent for him prior to forming his plan
of operations against the rebels in Wynad.
NOTEs: 3. Otherwise called Pallur Eman Nayar of Muppainad.
4. Treaties, etc., ii. CXC. END OF NOTEs
It was never clearly proved, but it is almost certain, that he was all the time
in secret correspondence with his suzerain lord of Palassi (Pychy), advising him of
the measures to be taken against him. And his after conduct - for on 6th December
1802 - he openly espoused the rebel cause at a time when it was becoming well nigh
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desperate - gives great colour to the story. The time had not however yet come for
him to declare- himself in his true colours, and meanwhile he proceeded to
Seringapatam to help the “Iron Duke”5 to settle the details of his campaign.
NOTEs: 5. Had a suspicion of his fidelity been brought home to the mind of the “Iron
Duke” one can picture what would have been his fate in that pregnant P.S. to the latter’s despatch
from Dammal - “P.S.—The killidar fell into our hands, and was hanged.” END OF NOTEs
On November 30th Colonel Wellesley, then at Seringapatam, again wrote to

the Commissioners requesting that one of them would come to Seringapatam for
the purpose of accompanying the expedition, which, he was sorry to say, he would
not be able to command in person as he had been ordered to the Carnatic ; but he
commended Colonel Stevenson, the probable commander of the expedition, to the
Commissioners’ notice for his zeal, intelligence and ability, and he promised to
submit a plan of operations before leaving Seringapatam.
On December 5th the general plan had been matured and was
communicated by Colonel Wellesley to the Commissioners. The force to be
employed was –
19th Dragoons,
2nd Cavalry,
3rd do.
Five companies, 12th Foot,
The 77th Foot,
Two battalions, Coast sepoys,
Do. Bombay sepoys,
600 Pioneers,
with 14 guns with Bengal Coast and Bombay artillerymen in proportion,
besides the guns with the two cavalry regiments and 4 small mortars with stores.
The plan of operations was as follows :—The military posts in Kottayam
below the ghats were to be advanced as far as Peruvayyal1 (Big paddy flat) as soon as
the pressure in Wynad had induced the Palassi (Pychy) Raja to withdraw his people
from the low country. Communication via the Periah pass was then to be opened up
with the Mysore army as soon as practicable.
NOTEs: 1. Near Kannavam in Kottayam taluk. END OF NOTEs
The 19th Dragoons and 2nd Cavalry were to proceed via Coimbatore and
Palghat to overawe the Mappillas in the south.
Colonel Wellesley then rejected a plan which had been proposed “by
different Nayars2 whose opinions have been taken” for a simultaneous attack from
five points. And his reasons were that the five columns would really constitute five
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armies, the provisioning, etc., of which would lead to delays ; that the columns
would not be able to act in concert with each other ; and that, even if troops could
be spared from Calicut (which was doubtful), the columns would be weak, and the
Raja, by bringing all his strength against one column, might destroy that before the
other columns could help it, and there might be a chance of one-third or even of
one-half of the army being cut off.
NOTEs: 2. Query.—-In the light of Pallur Eman Nayar’s subsequent conduct, it would be
interesting to know if it was his advice to which Colonel Wellesley here alludes. END OF NOTEs
The plan which Colonel Wellesley therefore finally recommended Colonel

Stevenson to adopt was : After planting a post at Karkankotta on the Mysore
frontier on the north-east of Wynad, to push on with the rest of the troops via
Eratorah (Editerrahcotta - east of Sultan’s Battery) to the Tamarasseri pass with a
view to –
Opening communication with Calicut,
Encouraging Yemen (Eman) Nayar and his friends, whose influence was
greatest in the country to the south of the great road to Tamarasseri.
And impeding communication between the Raja and the Mappillas under
Gurikkal in Ernad and his other friends in South Wynad and South Malabar.
After getting possession of this line and securing it by posts, two of which
were to be at Eratorah (Editerrahcotta) near the Mysore frontier, and Lacrycotta
(Lakkidikotta) at the head of the Tamarasseri pass, Colonel Stevenson was
recommended to push forward to the Raja’s Colgum (Kovilakam) “in as many
divisions as he might think proper,” taking care not to break up his force more than
was necessary, and not to send out detachments with baggage till well acquainted
with the strength of the enemy.
Colonel Stevenson entered the district in January 1801, the rebels were
easily dispersed, and by the month of May every post of any importance in Wynad
was in the hands of the British.
Colonel Wellesley returned from his special duties in Ceylon on the 28th
April, landed at Cannanore, and proceeded to Seringapatam, whence, on May 10th,
he once more addressed the Commissioners, informing them of his appointment
“to command the troops in Mysore, Malabar and Canara,” and of Colonel
Stevenson having been appointed to command in Malabar and Canara “under my
directions.”
With every post both above and below the ghats held by British troops and
the whole country disarmed,1 the Palassi (Pychv) Raja became a wanderer in the
jungles, and there can be no doubt that even then, if he had proposed to accept
terms from the Government, he would have been accorded favourable conditions
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because of his former services and of the cowl given to him by the Chief of the
Tellicherry factory in 1790, but he appears never to have hesitated in the course he
ought to follow.
NOTEs. 1. Treaties, etc., ii. CCXXVII. END OF NOTEs
First he fled in March along the ghats into Chirakkal, to “Neddyanji by way
of Payanur” (? Payavur), and the Chulali Nambiar, being suspected of aiding him,
was arrested and sent under escort to Calicut. Returning to his haunts in Kottayam,
the detachments of troops drove him thence into the Kadattanad and thence into
the Kurumbranad jungles, the Avinyat Nayar of Payyormala and the Kadattanad
Raja both being suspected of aiding him.
In the end of July Colonel Stevenson reported that “the senior Peruvayyal
Nambiar” had surrendered himself to his fate, and had been sent to Kannavam to
be hanged along with two others at that place and two more at Iliacoiur (Irukkur) in
Chirakkal, as an awful warning to the people. The rebellion at this time was “at a
very low ebb,” he stated, and the people were beginning to show some respect for
the Government. If succour could be prevented from reaching the Raja from
Kurumbranad and Kadattanad, his surrender might be looked for “as not very
distant.” His following at this time consisted of but six people and from twenty to
twenty-five “musquet people.” He had sent back two of his followers (Mappillas),
who gave those particulars.
The time seemed to be opportune for granting terms to the peaceably
disposed, and the Commissioners accordingly1 proclaimed on 4th August 1801 “full
and unequivocal pardon” and restoration of their property to all rebels who should
submit and return to allegiance, excepting, however, the Raja himself, the Kannavatt
Nambiar, Chattappan Nambiar, Edachenna Kungan, Chingot Chattu, Pulliyan
Shanalu, and Punattil Nambiar, and the direst penalties to all who should disobey. A
period of six weeks was named within which time this offer was to remain open for
acceptance.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. CCXXIX. END OF NOTEs
But this measure failed to bring about the end desired ; the chief rebel, with
a faithful few, still remained at large in spite of troops acting in concert both from
above and below the ghats in hunting him up. But some of his principal adherents
were captured, and in particular, on November 27th, 1801, Colonel Stevenson
reported to Major Macleod, the Principal Collector, that a detachment under
Lieutenant Edwards had succeeded in capturing the Kannavatt Nambiar, the
primary instigator, as was alleged, of the rebellion, together with his son aged about
twenty-four years. These rebels were forthwith marched from Kuttiyadi, where they
had been caught, to Kannavam, “to be hanged on the Hill2 of Canute (Kannavam),
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which is near their late residence and the scene of their rebellious oppositions to the
Company’s authority. Their estates were also declared to be forfeited.
NOTEs: 2. In front of the Travellers' Bungalow at this place, on the opposite side of the
main road. END OF NOTEs
The mention of the name of the Principal Collector makes it necessary to

pause for an instant to describe yet another change which had taken place in the
administration of the province. The Government of Lord Clive was not satisfied
with the system of Government established in Malabar under the auspices of the
Bombay Presidency, as it had failed to establish the authority of the Government on
a respectable foundation. Writing to the Commissioners on 25th December 1800,
the Government observed that while the military force, being insufficient to
maintain the civil authority, had been one of the main causes of the failure to
establish a permanent system of government in Malabar, the Government also
thought that the principles on which the civil administration was carried on were
not calculated to support a permanent government, and that every branch of the
internal arrangements appeared to be overcharged with expensive and unnecessary
establishments.
The Government consequently called, through the Board of Revenue, for
reports from the Commissioners and from the several Collectors regarding the
principles and detailed system of the present administration of the revenue in
Malabar.
On receipt of these reports, the Government resolved3 on 5th September
1801 to abolish the Commission for the affairs of Malabar, and to subject the
Province to the control and superintendence of one Principal Collector with three
subordinate Collectors, for the administration of the revenues and of the civil
government.
NOTEs: 3. Treatise, etc. ii. CCXXX, followed shortly afterwards (17th October 1801) by the
abolition of the Commission for the affairs of Cochin, which with its dependencies, including Chetwai
Island, was transferred likewise to the Principal Collector. - (Treatise, etc. ii. CCXXXI, CCXXXII).
END OF NOTEs
Major William Macleod, then Collector of Salem, was selected for the post,
and Messrs. Strachey, Hodgson and Keate were appointed his subordinate
Collectors in Malabar. To Major Macleod and his assistants the Government
committed all power, both civil and criminal, and the military were further
authorised to punish, “by summary process, crimes of every description.”
This state of things was to continue “until the military power of the
Company shall have subjugated the refractory people of the Province.”
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The Commission was accordingly abolished on 30th September 1801, and

the first of the Principal Collectors assumed charge on 1st October.
The capture and execution of the Kannavatt Nambiar and his son, which
followed shortly on this change in the administration, must have been severely felt
by the rebels, and a deceitful calm appears to have spread over the country below
the ghats. Taking advantage of it, Major Macleod, in January 1802, endeavoured1 to
complete the disarmament of the province by getting the people to bring in the
“considerable quantities of arms” which it was believed they still kept either openly
in their houses or concealed. Death was the penalty threatened to all who opposed
the carrying out of these orders.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii . CCXXXIV. END OF NOTEs
But he followed this up by other measures which led to disastrous results.

The first of those was in regard to the prevailing rates of exchange. On 31st August
1802 he issued a proclamation2 fixing (on erroneous data as was afterwards proved)
the exchange rates of the “twenty-three current coins now issued and received in the
public treasury as they are now rated and exchanged in the province of
Coimbatore.” The effect of this may be stated shortly thus. The table so
promulgated lowered the value of
Gold fanams from 3½ to 47/32 per rupee
Silver do do 5 to 5½ do
Or
Gold fanams from 12¼ to 1449/64 per star pagoda
Silver do do 17½ to 19¼ do
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., ii. CCXXXVI. END OF NOTEs
The revenue at this time was accounted for in star pagodas, which coins
were, however, not current in the province. The revenue was mainly collected in
fanams, which were the commonest current coins in the province. In the bazaars,
again, where agriculturists sold their produce, the rupee was the general standard of
exchange.
The rates so promulgated therefore “in fact1 raised the revenue on every
individual throughout the country 20 per cent in gold fanams and 10 per cent in
silver, while for their commodities in the markets ” (where the dealers had naturally
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enough disregarded the proclamation) "they could only got the old rates of 3½ gold
and 5 silver fanams per rupee.”
NOTEs: 1. Principal Collector Rickards to Board of Rovenue, 27th April 1803, paragraph
28. END OF NOTEs:
This measure took effect from 15th September 1802, shortly after the
commencement, that is, of the revenue year.
But Major Macleod's mistakes did not end here. For, coming fresh from the
country east of the ghats, where the ryots had been accustomed for generations to
be a down-trodden race, he seems to have mistaken altogether the character of the
people with whom he had to deal. The Tara organisation of the Nayars, albeit
crushed by the Mysorean supremacy, was not altogether dead, and it only needed
some acts of palpable injustice to rouse the whole community into violent
opposition to the new race of rulers.
Major Macleod estimated the Government share of the produce of the rice-
fields at as much as 35 to 40 per cent of the gross produce. Mr. Rickards, who
followed him in his office as Principal Collector, observed that 40 per cent of the
produce might possibly be collected without objection on particular spots, “but if
the principles be indiscriminately applied to seed lands in Malabar, I am confident
that agriculture would no longer be worth pursuing. Then, again Major Macleod
estimated the average produce in nuts so high as—
Per coconut tree . . . 48 nuts,
Per arecanut do. . . 200 do.
whereas Special Commissioner Mr. Graeme, who drew up the scheme on
which the existing tree assessment is based, accepted as his averages —
Per coconut tree . . . . 2421/32
Per arecanut do. . . . . 15023/64
Starting with these very grave initial errors, Major Macleod endeavoured, by
means of the ordinary Parbutty (Parvritty - amsam officer) establishment, to make a
fresh revenue survey of the province in the short space of forty days. The time
allowed for the purpose was ludicrously insufficient; the establishments employed
were underpaid and notoriously corrupt when such a chance was placed within their
reach. The natural results followed as a matter of course. The accounts were
fabricated, actual produce was over-assessed, produce was assessed that did not
exist, and assessments were imposed on the wrong men.
A rigid exaction of the revenue under these inequalities constituted
therefore one grand source of complaint. And when to this was added that the
ryots, when they paid into the treasuries their full assessments in fanams, were told
to their astonishment that, owing to the new rates of exchange, they had not paid
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enough, the prevalent dissatisfaction very rapidly took shape in organised resistance
to the exorbitant demands of Government.
In the early part of 1803, the province rose en masse. To allay the storm
which he had roused, and which he felt himself powerless to quell, Major Macleod,
after an ineffectual attempt to quiet by a proclamation the people of the south, on
the 11th of March 1803 summarily resigned his charge into the hands of Mr.
Rickards, the Principal Judge of the Court of Fouzdari Adalat, which had been
organised1 at Mahe for the trial of criminal cases in the low-country portions of the
province, and Mr. Richards very wisely, pending the orders2of the Government,
issued a proclamation3 which had some effect in quieting the rising storm.
NOTEs: 1.Treaties, etc., ii. CCXXXVIII.
2. “The orders of Government confirmed Mr. Rickards’ action in taking charge of the
province, and approved the terms of the proclamation mentioned in the text.- (Proclamation of 2nd
April 1803).
3. Treaties, etc., ii. CCXL.
He declared his intention to adhere to the demand as fixed by the

previously existing revenue survey, and to accept in payment of the demand all the
current coins at the previously existing exchange rates.
The dissatisfaction, however, had been gathering head for some months
previously, and in spite of the hold which the large body of troops quartered
throughout the country had upon it, the insurrection already smouldering very
speedily spread. The first overt act occurred at Panamaram (otherwise called
Panamarattakotta, or Panamurtha Cotta, or still shorter Panorta Cota, literally the
“palmyra tree fort”) in Wynad.
Some five days previous to 11th October 1802, one of the proscribed rebel
leaders, Edachenna Kungan, chanced to be present at the house of a Kurchiyan,
when a belted peon came up and demanded some paddy from the Kurchiyan.
Edachenna Kungan replied by killing the peon, and the Kurchiyars (a jungle tribe) in
that neighbourhood, considering themselves thus compromised with the authorities,
joined Edachenna Kungan under the leadership of one Talakal Chandu. This band,
numbering about 150, joined by Edachenna Kungan and his two brothers, then laid
their plans for attacking the military post at Panamaram, held by a detachment of 70
men of the 1st battalion of the 4th Bombay Infantry under Captain Dickenson and
Lieutenant Maxwell.
“They first4 seized the sentry’s musket and killed him with arrows. Captain
Dickenson killed and wounded with his pistols, bayonet and sword, 15 of the
Kurchiyars, 5 of whom are dead and 10 wounded.” The whole of the detachment
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was massacred, and the rebels obtained 112 muskets, 6 boxes of ammunition and
Rs. 6,000. All the buildings at the post were destroyed.
NOTEs: 4. Account received about three weeks later from two spies sent to ascertain the
facts. END OF NOTEs
The headquarters and about 360 men of the battalion which had suffered
this loss were at the time in cantonment at another fortified place called Poolinjall, a
few miles to the west of Panamaram, on the lower slopes of the Balasur mountain
peak. But Major Drummond, in command, made no effort to retrieve the disaster ;
in fact, as Colonel Wellesley scornfully wrote of him on 3rd November, he remained
a kyde1 in his own fort until released by a reinforcement of 5002 men which was
despatched to the affected district.
NOTEs: 1. Keidi (Mal.) = Qaidi (Arab.) = prisoner.
2. 300 sepoys from Calicut, 200 Watson's police. END OF NOTEs
This supineness of the military on the spot had its natural effect in rousing
the country. And Edachenna Kungan, the hero of the exploit, caused orders to be
issued from Pulpalli Pagoda calling the inhabitants to arms. About 3,000 men3
assembled, of whom 500 immediately separated and the rest took post at Vallur
Kava, the well known Fish Pagoda close to Manantoddy, at “Motimjarra” on the
Karkankotta road, and at Eddapaddy.
NOTEs: 3. Colonel (now Major-General) Wellesley, in a letter of 27th December 1802, puts
the number at 5,000, but the number given in the text is in accordance with local information obtained
at the time. END OF NOTEs
One of Edachenna Kungan’s brothers with 100 men stationed themselves

at the “Pynch” (? Periah) pass and parts adjacent. The Kottiyur pass (Smugglers’
pass) was blocked with trees and 25 men were set to guard it. And various other
posts were occupied, extending from Dindimal to the Fish Pagoda. Some of the
rebels were armed with matchlocks and muskets, and the rest with bows and arrows,
Nayar knives and swords. The southern portion of the taluk had not up to the
beginning of November joined the rebels, but the Kuppatode Nayar and two others
had done so.
Edachenna Kungan had stationed himself on the route from Mysore to
Manantoddy via Karkankotta, and of the detachments which were hurried up both
from the coast and from Mysore, that4 coming via Karkankotta experienced the
greatest opposition. It was on October 27th met “at Sungaloo on the Bhawully
Nullah” by a body of Nayars in a stockaded position which was passed on both
flanks. But from there all the way to Manantoddy through a thickly wooded country,
it experienced opposition next day with, however, trifling loss.5
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NOTEs: 4. First battalion 8th Regiment M.N.I., a party of pioneers, and 200 Mysore horses
under Captain Gurnell. - (Wilson’s Hist. Madras Army, Vol. III, pp. 5, 56.)
5. Mysore cavalry killed and 17 horses wounded. The cavalry was found to be of no use in
such a jungly country, and was sent back. - (Ibid.) END OF NOTEs
The regiment kept open the communication between the Bhawully river
and Manantoddy, but the enemy still hung about the neighbourhood, and about 12th
November one of its detachments had a smart skirmish with the enemy, resulting in
9 killed and 18 wounded, at a swamp between these two places. The enemy held an
impassable nullah on the road, but a reinforcement arriving from Sungaloo in time,
taking the rebel position in rear, discomfited the enemy, of whom many were put to
death in the road.
The troops on this occasion were considered by Colonel Wellesley to have
“behaved remarkably well”.
Besides the already mentioned reinforcement sent to Major Drummond,
other troops were despatched by Colonel Bells from the cantonment at
Kuttuparamba to strengthen Manantoddy, Periah and Lakkidikotta, and Colonel
Lawrence ascended the ghats with his battalion and pushed on to Manantoddy.
Major Howden, with five companies of sepoys and one of Europeans,
likewise marched up the Kuttiyadi pass to act in concert with Colonel Lawrence.
The troops now marched about the country, but could nowhere find the
enemy, and on November 5th Colonel Wellesley wrote to Major Macleod that he
himself should ascend the ghats, to help the troops and persuade the people to settle
down, and on the following day the Government sent him specific orders to the
same effect.
Meanwhile the rush of troops into Wynad produced outward tranquillity
there, but the growing discontent with Major Macleod’s administration was
beginning by December 1802 to make itself felt in the low country. On the 6th of
that month the quondam friend and adviser of Colonel Wellesley - Pallur Eman
Nayar—finally threw off his disguise and openly joined the party in rebellion, and
on the 10th of the month news was reported from Manattana that a baggage and
provision escort had been attacked between Kottiyur and the foot of the Smugglers'
Pass—in the low country, that is to say.
On December 16th Major Macleod reported from Manantoddy that the
number of troops employed was insufficient, that the people would not return to
their homes, and it may be noticed in passing that only a day or two previously it
had been reported to him that the people of the low country would give no
information of the rebel movements. Finally, on 7th January 1803, the rebels had
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openly taken the field in Kurumbranad, and the people of Payyormala were openly
sympathising with them.
In the next two months Major Macleod’s ill-advised innovations had set the
whole of the province in a ferment, and his summary resignation of his office in
favour of Mr. Rickards, already described, did no more than partially remedy it. In
April Edachenna Kungan—"that determined and incorrigible rebel’’ came down
from Wynad to assist the Kottayam marauders in an attack on the Palassi post, but
they were “discomfited with considerable loss”.
In June the rebellion had extended to Chirakkal, and the armed bands were
becoming so bold that they burnt a house within two miles of the Kuttuparamba
cantonment. In August the rebel emissaries were in Randattara. In September they
were strong enough to risk an engagement between Katirur and Anjarakandi in
Kottayam. In November the Chirakkal detachments having been withdrawn to help
those in Kottayam, the rebels next concentrated in Chirakkal.
On December 7th parties of the rebels were busy committing depredations
at Cannanore, Makreri, Anjarakandi (Mr. Brown’s spice gardens) and at Kodoli, and
on December 20th some of them came even as far as Darmapattanam island close to
Tellicherry, and did much damage to the property of the peaceably inclined
inhabitants.
After this time matters began slowly to improve, for Mr. Rickards, by timely
concessions1 to the influential people of South Malabar in the matter of a fair
settlement of the revenue, had in March, and again on 20th June 1803, prevented to
a great extent the insurrectionary movement from spreading to South Malabar. And
the inhabitants of Randattara had likewise in April been quieted by the judicious
selection of Mr. Murdoch Brown, of the Anjarakandi spice plantation, to conduct a
fresh and moderate revenue2 settlement of that district.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. CCXL, CCXLII, CCXLIII, and see Appendix XlV.
2. Treaties, etc., ii. CCXLI. END OF NOTEs
The rebels knew that if the people were made contented their cause was
lost, and hence the repeated outrages to which this latter district was subjected in
the latter part of the year. But the daring exploits of the rebels in venturing close up
to, and committing outrages in the immediate vicinity of, the European settlements
on the coast necessitated the withdrawal of troops from the inland parts. Although,
therefore, the force3 stationed in the province was large. Colonel Montresor, the
officer in command, had to apply in December 1803 for a reinforcement of 5,000
men. The Madras Government was unable to comply with this requisition.
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NOTEs: 3. In May 1803—8,147 men, including 3 European regiments. On October

1804— 5,819 men, including 2 European regiments.—(Wilson’s Hist. Madras Army, Vol. Ill, p. 146.)
END OF NOTEs
An important change was, however, shortly afterwards made. Service in

Malabar, and more especially in the fever-stricken district of Wynad, was very
unpopular with the Bombay troops, who were far from their homes and families,
and provision for their regular periodical relief, owing to the distance, was also very
difficult. Hence the battalions became4 weak and inefficient, and Major-General
Wellesley, writing on February 14th, 1804, considered that their relief was “absolutely
necessary, both to preserve the peace in Malabar, and to secure the existence of the
Bombay army as a respectable body”.
NOTEs: 4. Wilson’s Hist. Madras Army, Vol. Ill, p. 147. END OF NOTEs
In the course of 1804 Madras troops were therefore gradually sent to relieve
them, and by the end of that year “a respectable5 body of Madras troops was
assembled in Malabar under Lieutenant-Colonel A. Macleod”.
NOTEs: 5. Ibid—The Force consisted of—
A detachment of artillery.
First battalion 7th Regiment.
Second do. 6th do.
First do. do.
" do. 13th do.
" do. 14th do.
" do. do.
" do. Pioneers, besides His Majesty’s 30th Foot, and the
Second do. 1st Regiment. END OF NOTEs
Moreover, in addition to the regular troops, Captain Watson had by this

time thoroughly organised his famous “Kolkars” or police, a body of 1,200 men,
who rendered most conspicuous services in dealing with the small parties of rebels
who infested the low country and laid waste the property of all peaceably disposed
persons.
Mr. Thomas Warden had in the early part of 1804 become Principal
Collector in succession to Mr. Rickards, and Mr. Warden’s Sub-Collector in charge
of North Malabar was Mr. Thomas Harvey Baber, an officer of exceptional energy,
to whose personal efforts the final suppression of the rebellion was largely due.
In February 1804 Mr. Baber was busily engaged with the Kolkars in
suppressing an extensive rising in the eastern and jungly portion of Chirakkal under
the Kalliyad Nambiar and the Palassi (Pychy) Raja’s followers. He found that the
Mappillas of Irukkur, Kallayi and Venkat were supplying the rebels with
ammunition in exchange for pepper. The rebels were dispersed by the Kolkars,
supported by the regular troops under Colonel Montresor.
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On April 5th Mr. Baber reported that he had begun a new policy, namely, to
hold the people residing in any locality responsible whenever possible, for giving
information about, and for withholding succours from, the rebels, And the good
effects of this had been proved by sundry rebels having been taken or killed by the
people, who had also given up a lot of arms. By June 20th Mr. Baber had succeeded
by his personal efforts in dissolving the rebel confederation in Chirakkal ; he
restored confidence in the most rebellious tracts, and undermined the influence of
the rebel leaders by representing them in the worst light as the enemies of society.
He further effected a more complete disarmament of the tract and collected 2,715
muskets, 543 Nayar knives and 1,862 swords besides other articles.
The effect of this energetic action was to circumscribe the disturbed area,
and to enable the troops to hold it more in subjection.
Following up the line of policy already
adopted in Chirakkal, he next turned his
attention to Kottayam, in which, on July 8th, he
issued1 a proclamation prohibiting the sale in the
bazaars to strangers, without formal sanction, of
more than one silver fanam’s worth (about 3
annas 2 pies) of rice and of other articles in
proportion. The carrying of articles by any other
than the public roads was forbidden to everyone
‘‘on pain of being apprehended and punished as
rebels”.
NOTEs: 1: Treaties, etc., ii. CCL. END OF
NOTEs
The effect of this, coupled with the

vigilance of the Kolkars, was to drive the rebels from the low country into the woods
and fastnesses of Wynad, and on 30th January 1804 Colonel Macleod, in command
of a portion2 of the Madras force recently imported into the province, proceeded in
company with the Principal Collector Mr. Warden, into Wynad, publishing at the
same time a proclamation offering - to all but four rebels - a free pardon to all who
returned to their homes and peaceably settled down.
The troops marched by way of the Kottiyur (Smugglers’) Pass to
Panamaram, where and also at “Velland”, “Koiladdy” and “Kunyote”, fortified
posts were constructed. The troops marched into every part of the district and
dispersed the rebels, who were put to the greatest straits for the necessary means to
prosecute the war.
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By the end of April all appearance of opposition had died away, and on
May 24th Colonel Macleod issued a further proclamation1 warning those who had
previously accepted2 the terms offered that they would be treated as rebels’ if they
failed (of which there was already some indication) to give information of rebel
movements, and if they furnished the rebel parties with arms, ammunition or
provisions. This was, in effect, introducing into Wynad the policy which Mr. Baber
had already, with such excellent results, employed in quieting the low country.
NOTEs: Treaties, etc., ii, CCLV
2. The bulk of the inhabitants had accepted the terms. END OF NOTEs
Mr. Warden returned to Calicut and Colonel Macleod to Cannanore in May

for the rains, leaving 2,1523 non-commissioned rank and file and Captain Watson
with 800 of his Kolkars in the district, all under the orders of Lieutenant-Colonel
Innes of the 2nd battalion 1st Regiment.
NOTEs: 3. Distributed amongst eleven posts as follows: 2nd battalion 1st Regiment, 1,000,
Pammaram, Koiladdy and Kamyote; 1st battalion 12th Regiment, 308, Matelette, Pullingal, Manantoddy,
Lackery; and a havildar's guard (to be relived every third day from Manantoddy) at Sungaloo on the
Mysore frontier. - (Wilson's History Madras Army, Vol III, p. 148, foot-note.) END OF NOTEs
In addition to these measures, Colonel Macleod finally on 16th June issued a

further proclamation1 offering rewards for the apprehension of twelve persons
whose “estates and property” were further “confiscated from this date.” The
following is a list of the proscribed rebels and of the rewards offered for their
seizure :
PAGODAS
1.Kerala Varma, Palassi (Pychy) Raja 3.000
2.Vira Varma Raja of the same family 1.000
3.Ravi Varma Raja of the same family 1,000
4. Pallur Eman (Colonel Wellesley’s friend) 1,000
5.Pallur Rayrappan (No. 4’s elder brother) 300
6. Edachenna Kungan (the hero of the Panamaram 1,000
massacre)
7. Edachenna Otenan 300
8. Edachenna Komappan 300
9. Edachenna Ammu 300
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10. Karverryallay Kannan 300

11. Yogimulla Machan 300
12. Itty Combetta Kelappan Nambiar 833
Directly the Principal Collector and Colonel Macleod quitted Wynad, the
rebels, who had held a conference as to their plan of operations, attacked but were
beaten off, not, however, without considerable loss,1 from the post of “Churikunjee”,
as it is called in the records.
NOTEs: 1. Subbadar and 7 sepoys killed, 17 sepoys wounded. END OF NOTEs
The attack was made by Kurumbars, described as a desperate race of men,

who were just beginning to waver in their attachment to the Palassi (Pychy) Raja,
and whom the rebel leaders wished by some outrage to commit entirely to the Raja’s
side.
On June 11th Mr. Baber reported (with much satisfaction at the good results
of his policy) the arrest of three rebel leaders and eight of their followers, by the
Kolkars and people of Chirakkal acting in concert. This was followed up very shortly
by other similar arrests. And the Palassi (Pychy) Raja himself narrowly escaped on
6th September from falling into the hands of a party of Kolkars despatched from
below the ghats by Mr. Warden on receiving authentic information of the Raja
having encamped in a pass leading from South Wynad into South Malabar.
The Kolkaras marched all night through the ghats amid rain and leeches, and
at 7 a.m. completely surprised the rebel party. They had got within sixty yards of the
thatched shed where the Raja was when a Kurumban on guard discovered them,
discharged his arrow and gave the alarm. The Raja and others hurried out of the
shed and received the fire of the detachment, by which, owing to the quantity of
blood afterwards found, it was believed that Pallur Rayrappan had been mortally2
wounded. The Kolkars had a hollow and a difficult piece of jungle to pass through
before reaching the shed, and the delay in passing these obstacles favoured the
escape of the rebels.
NOTEs: 2. This was afterwards found to be a mistake. END OF NOTEs
Moreover, another detachment of Kolkars, ordered to co-operate with

them from the Wynad side, received their orders some hours too late, and were not
in the position allotted to them for intercepting the fugitives. Two of the Raja’s
attendants were taken ; and 15 good muskets, 4 swords and a large heap of wearing
apparel, besides about 500 pagodas worth of gold and silver valuables were captured
by the Kolkar party.
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But “terrible weather” and “want of cover” had played havoc with the
health of the troops and Kolkars stationed in Wynad during the monsoon. Lack of
provisions and medical aid had also something to do with it. Out of 1,500 Kolkars
who had been in Wynad only five weeks before, only 170 were on the roll for duty
on October 18th, - so reported Sub-Collector Pearson, in charge of Wynad, to Mr.
Warden on that date. The rebels were consequently again assembling at the Pulpalli
temple, and a considerable number of Kurichiyars and Kurumbars, headed by the
Raja, and Edachenna Kungan were assembled in the country stretching from
Kurchiat by Pakam to Pulpalli.
Mr. Pearson was incapacitated by
a fifth attack of fever, and Mr. Baber was
consequently asked be exchange duties
with him for the present or until further
orders.
On November 1st Mr. Baber
reported having taken charge of Wynad.
He had really joined some days
previously, but he had been busy in the
interval counteracting a movement of the
rebel leaders and their Kurichiyar
followers to get the country people who
had made their submission, again
embroiled. They had required them “to
again rise and follow up the injunctions
contained in the Niyogyam or address from
the Murikan mar or tutelar deities of
Wynad.”
The troops and Kolkars had been
constantly on the move in consequence,
and two encounters had taken place, with
a few casualties on both sides. But an important event had happened, for the
“notorious Talakal Chandu,” who, under Edachenna Kungan, had led the attack on
the Panamaram post on 11th October 1802, was taken prisoner in one of these
affairs. His musket had missed fire, and he was seized, but not before he had with
his knife wounded one of the cutcherry people.
The next and most important event, of all which virtually terminated the
rebellion in Wynad on 30th November 1805, must be told in Mr, Baber’s own words
:—
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“To the Chief Secretary to Government,

“Fort St. George.
“Sir,—It is with infinite satisfaction that I report to you, for the information
of the Right Honourable the Governor in Council, that this forenoon, after having
been out 15 hours, I had the good fortune to come up with the Cotiote Kerula
Werma Rajah alias the Pyche (Palassi) Rajah and with the assistance of Captain
Clapham and 50 sepoys1 and 100 Kolkars, to chastise this rebel chieftain, by
destroying him and five of his followers, one of whom was the notorious and
proscribed rebel leader of Cotiote (Kottayam), Aralet Cooty Nambiar.
NOTEs: 1. Of the 1st battalion of the 4th Regiment. END OF NOTEs
“A separate party of Kolkars, whom I despatched with the Sheristadar for

the purpose of co-operating with me and intercepting any fugitives, were also
successful in having captured three elephants, the property of the Pyche (Palassi)
Rajah.
“I trust that this notification of an event of such importance to the future
prosperity of Malabar and Wynad, will not be the less acceptable to Government,
because not conveyed through the proscribed channel of communication. (Signed)
T. H. Baber,
“Camp at PULPELLY” Sub-Collector, Northern Divn Malabar.
“30th November 1805.”
“To the Principal Collector,
“Malabar Province.
“SIR,— A severe sickness has till now prevented me from making to you
my official report of the fall of the Rebel Chieftain Cotiote Kerula Werma Rajah
alias the Pyche Rajah (Palassi Rajah). I have now the honour of doing this, as well as
of detailing some few circumstances, to enable you to judge by what means so
fortunate and important an event has been accomplished.
“My letter to you of the 1st November last, though written at the
commencement of my career in Wynad, would have raised your hopes to expect
further success. The seizure of Tallakal Chundoo (Talakal Chandu), though a
Courchan (Kurchiyan) was an event which excited the greatest consternation
amongst those in rebellion, for such was the consequence of this person that
Yadachana Coongan (Edachenna Kungan) is said to have declared (figuratively),
that he had lost his right arm. Your injunctions on this occasion were received, and
accordingly in the course of a few days the orders were out for a general movement
and alteration in the disposition of our military force in Wynad.
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“Having obtained this so essential point, I deemed it advisable during the

interval that must unavoidably elapse before those arrangements could be carried
into effect, to make a tour of the district, that I might be the better enabled to form
some certain judgment of the real disposition of the community, and how far I
could rely upon them for that co-operation which as liege subjects it was their duty
to have afforded me. Throughout the northern and western parts of the district, I
found the sentiment in our favour, at the same time a considerable disinclination to
afford the smallest information of the Pyche (Palassi ) Rajah or his partisans. This I
attribute to the dread which the numerous examples of assassination by the rebels
of those who had come forward could not fail of inspiring, which, notwithstanding
all our efforts to oppose, they constantly kept alive by small and numerous roving
partisans, who had spread themselves all over the country.
“In many, however, I evidently saw a strong inclination to favour the rebel
leaders, in particular Yadachau Coongan (Edachenna Kungan), who, with his rebel
relations wisely had taken the opportunity, while the Wynad was in exclusive
possession of the Pyche (Palassi) Rajah, to connect themselves with principal
families in Wynad, who thereby became interested for them, but in all classes, I
observed a decided interest for the Pyche (Palassi) Rajah, towards whom the
inhabitants entertained a regard and respect bordering on veneration, which not
even his death can efface.
“The conduct to be observed towards the most doubtful of those
characters it was not difficult to determine on. Something decisive was absolutely
necessary ; there was no security while they were living on their estates, and I found
no other alternative left me than that of sending out of the district such of those
against whom my suspicions were strongest, a determination which, while it was
calculated to cut off the rebels from deriving any further support from such able
allies, also would have the effect of warning others against imitating their example.
“Having fully conveyed to the inhabitants of the northern and western
divisions a full idea of the line of conduct I intended to adopt towards them, I
proceeded to fill up all the vacant revenue appointments in order to give due effect
to my measures. Written instructions were drawn out for the conduct of these
native servants, throughout which I enjoyed the most conciliatory conduct, and
having concluded my arrangements I proceeded to the Southern Hobelies of
Parakameetil (Parakkumital = South-East Wynad).
“In this division of the country, affairs were a different aspect. Here was no
security to be placed in the inhabitants, the most wealthy and numerous of whom
were the Chetties and Goundas,—a vile servile race of mortals, who are strangers to
every honest sentiment, and whom nothing but one uniform system of severity ever
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will prevent from the commission of every species of deceit and treachery. Although
the whole of these had presented themselves at the cutcherry, they had done so
from no other impulse than a dread of the consequences of absenting themselves,
neither did they thereby throw off their connections with the rebels, for it is
notorious that the whole rebel confederacy, with the exception of Coongan’s
(Kungan) party, were in Parakametal (Parakkumital) and were being supported and
secreted by these very Chetties, after they had received cowle.
“I am fully persuaded also from what transpired in the course of my
investigation, that the majority of these Chetties did not present themselves to the
cutcherry until they had previously obtained the permission of the Pyche (Palassi)
Rajah and Palora Jamen (Pallur Eman), a conduct that will be easily accounted for
when it is recollected that the Rajah’s whole reliance for subsistence and
information rested in these people.
The Soodra (Sudra) or Nair (Nayar) part, of the community were more to
be depended upon ; there was an honest frankness about them which you could not
but admire, and which is a surety that in proportion to our increasing influence,
these people will prove themselves worthy of the confidence of Government.
“The Kooramars (Kurumbar), a numerous race of bowmen, by far the most
rude of all the Wynadians, had to a man deserted their habitations and estates and
betaken themselves to the strongest parts of the country, where they had removed
their families and were dragging on a miserable existence, labouring under the
dreadful impression that it was the intention of our Government to extirpate their
whole race. As those people were exclusively under the influence of Palora Jamon
(Pallur Eman), it is not difficult to explain whence this unfortunate notion
originated ; it is only those who have had a personal opportunity of knowing the
extensive abilities and artifices of this man who can justly calculate upon the
mischief and dire consequence that must ensue where such qualifications are
employed against us.
“This was unfortunately instanced in the Kooramars (Kurumbar), who,
from the time of Palora Jamen’s (Pallur Eman’s) defection, had become in a manner
desperate; they had been the foremost amongst the rebel ranks, and there is no
crime, no species of cruelty and outrage, which they have not committed.
“After this unfavourable description of the southern inhabitants of Wynad,
you will judge what were the difficulties to be overcome. I saw that the utmost
firmness and vigilance was requisite, at the same time that I deemed the most open
and public disclosure of my purposes was more likely to keep in awe those who
were wearing the appearance of fidelity as well as to counteract the designs of our
open enemies.
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“To the Chetties in particular I explained that there were no means I would
leave untried to discover their real sentiments, and warned them against giving me
the smallest shadow to suspect they were continuing in the rebel interest. For this
purpose I employed emissaries in a variety of characters. I made frequent marches
by day and night, to the most unfrequented parts of the country, and by degrees
obtained such a knowledge of the inhabitants that, fearful lest their shallow artifices
would sooner or later be known, they began evidently to alter their conduct and on
some instances they came forward with information.
“The rebels saw this change that was being effected, and suspecting a
continuance in Parakameetil (Parakkumital) would expose them to danger, they by
degrees emigrated1 towards the eastern extremities of Wynad, and one march I
made after the Rajah while residing at Cooreheat (Kurchiyat) and which would have
succeeded but for the treachery of my guide, a Chetty, drove them entirely out of
the southern division.
NOTEs: 1. The Principal Collector was also, as already rotated, in receipt of authentic
intelligence from below the ghats, and the narrow escape the Palassi Raja then had must also have
acted us inducement to move eastward. Pearson before Baber’s arrival also reported the Palassi Raja as
being about Pulpally. END OF NOTEs
"As the great engine of success against an enemy is depriving him of his
means of subsistence, my thoughts were naturally directed to this point. As I before
said, the Chetties were the media through whom these were principally drawn ;
these people, to further those their views, had removed their families into Mysore in
the villages of Poonat, Pootoor, Kakanabetta, etc., whither they had free egress and
regress ; and from whence it was no difficult matter to draw such supplies as Wynad
could not provide. They had established an intercourse by these means with the
Mysoreans, whom they supplied with ghee and grains of different sorts, and in
return received coconuts, oil, salt and other articles necessary for subsistence; in
removing their families from Wynad they had a variety of objects, one of which was
to secure them against any of those consequences which they naturally apprehended
from their own dishonest and perfidious pursuits ; another was a safe asylum in the
event of discovery.
“The rebels had now confined themselves to the Wynad Hobali and had
entire possession of the eastern frontier, by which they were enabled to profit by
this understanding between the Mysoreans and Wynad Chetties free of any
molestation whatever. After this statement, it will not be extraordinary that 1 should
have pursued the most effectual means to cut off the destructive commerce.
“I wrote, therefore, to the Resident at Mysore fully on the subject, and
requested his co-operation to that extent as should to him appear judicious and
expedient ; the result of this application was a perfect compliance with my wishes :
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all the inhabitants of Wynad then in Mysore were ordered to be seized and
proclamation made prohibiting, under severe penalties, the passage of any articles
whatever without a passport from the officers of the Honourable Company or of
Mysore. Major Wilkes went further, so earnest was he in forwarding the public
service, that he offered to meet me on the frontier should I deem a personal
conference as promising still further advantages.
“From this time, the rebels began to experience the miseries of want, and
their supporters, the Chetties, to be sensible that a perseverance in their conduct
would only entail disgrace and ruin upon themselves and families. Still I found that
they paid deaf ear to all our promises of protection and thundering declarations
against the rebels, all of which the inhabitants considered and with great reason, as
so many vauntings, for with all our means our forces, our resources, our reiterated
offers of reward, we had not succeeded in apprehending any one rebel of
consequence. It became, therefore, an object of the first importance to direct our
views to this one subject, and which, now the rebels were confined to one part of
the country, was become the more necessary, since matters were brought into that
train as to afford every reasonable hope of success.
“As the rebels had entirely fled into the Wynad Hobali, I deemed it
necessary to go in quest of them without loss of time ; having, therefore, made my
arrangements at Ganapady Watton (Ganapativattam—Sultan’s Battery), I proceeded
to Panarote Cotta (Panamaratta Kotta) and there solicited of Colonel Hill, a
detachment lightly equipped to accompany me. A detachment of 200 men was in
consequence held in readiness, and on the (blank) Lieutenant-Colonel Hill with 3
officers, accompanied by myself and 200 of the police, marched to Pulpally
(Pulpalli).
“Nothing material happened on the road ; not a single inhabitant was to be
seen, although many of them had presented themselves some months previous to
the officer of Government. But it was not to be surprised at ; they were principally
Chetties, conscious of the double part they were acting ; they had fled to the
mountains, and many of them with their families were followers of the Rajah and
his leaders.
“A few movements of our troops soon brought the inhabitants to a sense
of their own interest ; they had been driven from mountain to mountain, their
jungly huts were destroyed, their families were reduced to the greatest distress. They
had seen with surprise that no injury was offered to their habitations or cultivations
and they began now to conceive the idea that we were as ready to protect as we
were powerful to punish them. I soon learned this their situation, and as they had
been so situated as not to derive the smallest support from our Government, I
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conceived they merited our most favourable consideration as it was possible they
might have been compelled to have espoused the rebel interest. I, therefore, sent
them invitations to come in, by which I hoped not only to induce them to throw off
all their connection with the rebels and become good subjects, but to obtain from
them that information which I know they must possess of the rebel retreats.
“The invitations were accepted, and in the course of a few days most of the
inhabitants within several miles of Pulpally (Pulpalli) had made their submission to
me.
“From the time of my arrival at Pulpally (Pulpalli) scarcely a day passed
without some movement of their sepoys or Kolkars, and the natural result was
frequent skirmishes with parties of the rebels, in all of which we invariably obtained
a superiority, having shot or taken several prisoners.
“Having said thus much of the plan of operations that had been adopted, I
now come to those which terminated the career of the Pyche (Palassi) Chieftain.
“I before said that one of my objects by getting in the inhabitants of
Pulpally (Pulpalli) was to obtain accurate information of the rebels. This I did not
think prudent to commence upon too early lest they should take the alarm. I
preferred trying all my persuasive means to gain their confidence and to wean them
from these their connections. For this purpose, I had them constantly before me
and took every opportunity of representing the folly of countenancing a body of
men so truly contemptible, and who had no other end than to involve them in one
common ruin. I pointed to them in the strongest colours the power and lenity of the
British Government, and at last, what with exhortations and occasional presents,
had succeeded in inducing several of those, who had been of most essential service
to the Rajah’s party, to send their Paniars (Paniyar — agricultural labourers) out in
quest of information.
“I took the precaution of swearing all whom I employed to secrecy. With
many agents I could not fail of success in some one of them. On the 30th ultimo,
three of them at last brought me intelligence of the Pyche (Palassi) Rajah and all the
rebel leaders, with the exception of Palora Jamen (Pallur Eman) being then in the
opposite side of the Kangura river, a short distance in Mysore, and this so
unequivocally that I determined to act upon it. I accordingly requested of
Lieutenant-Colonel Hill to assist me with 50 sepoys and an officer, with which force
and about 100 Kolkars, half Captain Watson’s police, half my own locals, I marched
at nine o’clock at night, and such was the secrecy in which we set off that our guides
even did not know my intention until the moment we took our departure.
“Previous to this, I had deemed it expedient to make a feint to divert the
attention of the rebels (who I thought it probable might have their spies in camp) by
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detaching 70 of my Kolkars, under the Sheristadar, under the pretext of going in

pursuit of Palora Jamon (Pallur Emanl), who was reported to be in the Komanpany
Mala in the south-eastern direction, while they had secret instructions after
marching half-way to this mountain to strike off eastward to the Kallir mountain
and there lay in ambush near to paths to cut off the retreat of any fugitives who
would, in most probability, go off in that direction in the event of our party coming
up with the rebels.
“Such was the nature of the country that, although we kept marching the
whole night, we did not reach the Kangara river until seven the following morning.
Here we divided ourselves into two parties, and proceeding along the banks
observed a vast number of huts, all of them bearing every appearance of recent
habitation : we continued marching until nine o’clock when the detachment being
fatigued, a halt was proposed. We accordingly halted, and having taken some
refreshment, we again started, with the determination of tracing every jungly path—
so fully persuaded was I, as well from the earnestness of our guides as the
consideration that this was a part of Mysore that our troops had at no time
penetrated or perhaps even thought of doing, that the rebels must be concealed in
some part of these jungles.
“After proceeding about a mile and a half through very high grass and thick
teak forests into the Mysore country, Charen (Cheran) Subedar of Captain Watson’s
armed police, who was leading the advanced party, suddenly halted, and beckoning
to me, told me he heard voices. I immediately ran to the spot, and having advanced
a few steps, I saw distinctly to the left about ten persons, unsuspecting of danger, on
the banks of the Mavila Toda, or nulla to our left.
“Although Captain Clapham and the sepoys, as well as the greater part of
the Kolkars, were in the rear, I still deemed it prudent to proceed, apprehensive lest
we should be discovered and all hopes of surprise thereby frustrated. I accordingly
ordered the advance, which consisted of about thirty men, to dash on, which they
accordingly did with great gallantry, with Charen (Cheran) Subedar at their head. In
a moment, the advance was in the midst of the enemy, fighting most bravely. The
contest was but of short duration. Several of the rebels had fallen, whom the
Kolkars were despatching, and a running fight was kept up after the rest- till we
could see no more of them.
“Just at this time, a firing was heard to the right ; was accordingly returned,
when we saw the sepoys and Kolkars engaged with fresh body of rebels, who
proved to be Coongan’s (Kungan’s) party, but who fled after a few shots had been
fired at them, and, though pursued, were seen nothing more of. From one of the
rebels of the first party to the left., whom I discovered concealed in the grass, I
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learnt that the Pyche (Palassi) Rajah was amongst those whom we first observed on
the banks of the nulla, and it was only on my return from the pursuit that I learnt
that the Rajah was amongst the first who had fallen.
“It fell to the lot of one of my cutcherry servants, Canara Menon, to arrest
the flight of the Rajah, which he did at the hazard of his life (the Rajah having put
his musket to his breast), and it is worthy of mention that this extraordinary
personage, though in the moment of death, called out in the most dignified and
commanding manner to the Menon, ‘not to approach and defile his person.’
“Aralat Cootty Nambiar, the only one remaining of those rebels proscribed
by Colonel Stevenson, and a most faithful adherent of the Rajah, made a most
desperate resistance, but at last fell overpowered by the superior skill of one of the
Parbutties (Pravritti) in Wynad ; four other followers of the Rajah were also killed,
two taken prisoners together with the Rajah's Lady1 and several female attendants.
NOTEs: 1. Niece of the Payyormala Nayar. END OF NOTEs
“There was no other property discovered, but a gold Cuttarum (Katharam

or Kattaram—dagger) or knife and a waist-chain— the former I have now in my
possession, the latter I presented to Captain Clapham. And from the accounts of the
Rajah’s Lady, they had been reduced to the greatest distresses, in particular for the
last ten days. The Rajah’s body was taken up and put into my palanquin, while the
lady, who was dreadfully reduced from sickness, was put into Captain Clapham’s.
Finding any further pursuit of the rebels useless, we made a disposition of our
forces and returned to Chomady, which we reached about six in the afternoon
without having met with any further occurrences on the road.
“The following day the Rajah’s body was despatched under a strong escort
to Manantoddy, and the Sheristadar sent with it with orders to assemble all the
Brahmins and to see that the customary honours were performed at his funeral. I
was induced to this conduct from the consideration that, although a rebel, he was
one of the natural chieftains of the country, and might be considered on that
account rather as a fallen enemy. If I have acted unjudiciously, I hope some
allowances will be made for my feelings on such an occasion.
“Thus terminated the career of a man who has been enabled to persevere in
hostilities against the Company for near nine years, during which many thousand
valuable lives have been sacrificed and sums of money beyond all calculation
expended.
“Notwithstanding that every effort of moderation and lenity was pursued
towards the Rajah, nothing could get the better of his natural restlessness and
ferocity of disposition, which, aided by the evil counsels of his advisors, impelled
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him to the most desperate acts and produced an infatuation which rendered him
insensible to the dictates of humanity or reason. His annihilation became necessary
for the stability and security of the Government and its subjects. While this severe
necessity existed, the recollection of the services he has performed during the
infancy of our Government cannot but inspire us with a sentiment of regret that a
man so formed should have pursued a conduct that should have thrown so
insuperable a bar to all kind of accommodations. To temporise further than was
done would have been to yield, and to have yielded would have afforded a
precedent which might have been fatal to the British Government in India.
“But it will not be necessary for me to enlarge to you, who are so well
acquainted with this chieftain’s history, on the leading features of so extraordinary
and singular a character. The records of India and England will convey to posterity a
just idea of him.
“Where the conduct of all was so generally satisfactory, it would be an
invidious distinction to mention individuals at the same time. I should be wanting in
justice to Charen (Cheran), the Subodar, were I to pass over unnoticed his gallantry
and judgment on the present as well as on all former occasions, nor is Caranakara
(Karunakara) Menon less entitled to my approbation for his activity, courage and
attachment which I have experienced for six years.
“Nothing more remains to give due effect to our Government in Wynad
but the extirpation of the remaining rebel leaders—one of the most formidable, the
proscribed Jadachana Jamoo (Edachenna Ammu), has already fallen. Since my
departure for the coast, by the activity and intrepidity of the Pooluyal Parbutty
(Pravirtti) several advantages have been obtained, and I anticipate as soon as I can
return to the upper country a speedy termination to the career of the remainder.
“I am, Sir, etc.,
“Cannanore, (Signed) T. H. Baber,
“13th December 1805. Sub-Collector.
“Five elephants, a small quantity of sandalwood, and several copper pots,
the property of the Rajah, have been discovered and taken at different times. I beg
to recommend their immediate sale and that the proceeds be distributed for the
benefit of the captors.
“(Signed) T. H, Baber,
“Sub-Collector.”
The other rebel leaders were shortly afterwards all accounted for.
Edachenna Kungan, being sick and unable to escape, committed suicide to prevent
himself from falling alive into the hands of a party sent in pursuit of him. Pallur
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Rayrappan was in January 1808 overtaken on a mountain belonging to the

Tirumalpad of Nilambur, who had been privy to the rebel’s retreat and had sent
men to assist him. He made a desperate resistance before he fell, and mortally
wounded, it was feared, one of his captors. His brother Pallur Eman, the friend of
Colonel Wellesley, was captured, and with many other rebels was deported to Prince
of Wales’ Island in 1806.
The two junior Rajas of the Palassi (Pychy) family had, previously to the
Raja’s death, fled to the southward to the protection of the Raja of the Padinyaru
(western) branch of the Zamorin’s house, who had been permitted as a favour1 to
reside at Kalladikod. The place was searched and the arms of the rebel party were
found. The Raja was made a prisoner and sent to the fortress of Dindigul and his
house was completely demolished. He died without a trial on 3rd March 1806. Mr.
Warden held2 out, after the Palassi (Pychy) Raja’s death, an offer of pardon to the
two Rajas who had thus been sheltered at Kalladikod, and they appear to have
accepted.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. CLXXXVI.
2. Treaties, etc., ii. CCLVII. END OF NOTEs
Mr. Baber received the thanks of Government for his services, and a
donation of 2,500 pagodas.
The peace of the district has not been very seriously disturbed since then,
except in consequence of the Mappilla outrages, which will be presently related. But
in the beginning of April 1812, the people, chiefly Kurchiyars and Kurumbars of the
east of Wynad, again gave some trouble owing to the exaction of the Government
land revenue in money. The people were unable to find a market for their produce,
and had to part with their grain at ruinous prices to pay the revenue. They
assembled and consulted as to what they should do, and a subbadar and jemadar of
the local police were attacked with bows and arrows on endeavouring to disperse an
assemblage in Nallurnad.
Fire, was returned, but the police party was not strong enough to carry out
its object and eventually had to retreat with the jemadar and two Kolkars wounded.
Troops had to be brought both from the coast and from Mysore for the relief of the
detachments at Manantoddy and Sultan’s Battery which were placed in a state of
siege by the insurgents. The column from the coast encountered opposition in the
Kuttiyadi pass, near which (on the north) there is a strong Kurchiyar settlement.
Two officers and seventeen or eighteen men of the second battalion of the
3rd regiment were wounded. The posts were relieved, and in order to obtain a better
command of the country held by the jungle tribes, a chain of posts was established
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in the wild jungly country stretching to the north of the Sultan’s Battery, namely,
Porakandy, Pakam, and Moodramoly, besides Panamaram and Sultan’s Battery.
In connection also with the rebellion in 1808-9 of the Travancore and
Cochin Nayars, an unsuccessful attempt was made on 28th December 1808 to
murder the British Resident (Colonel Macaulay) in his house at Cochin. And on the
19th January following, the town was attacked by the rebels, 3,000 strong, in three
divisions. They had also planted a battery of two guns on Vypeen point and did
some execution with it. The place was gallantly defended1 by fifty men of His
Majesty’s 12th Foot and by six companies of the 1st battalion of the 17th Regiment,
all under Major Hewitt.
NOTEs: 1. Wilson’s Hist. Madras Army, Vol. Ill, pp. 208-10. END OF NOTEs
The defence was conducted with great spirit notwithstanding several

determined attacks from the rebels, who lost 300 men. The gallant defenders also
suffered severely.2
NOTEs: 2. His Majesty's 12th Foot— 1 private killed, 1 officer and 14 rank and file
wounded; 1st Battalion, 17th Regiment—10 sepoys killed, 1 officer and 45 rank and file wounded, the
former (Captain Read) mortally. END OF NOTEs
But the rebels, though defeated, were not driven out of the field ; two days
later they attacked the Dutch Governor’s house on the outskirts of the town and
destroyed the garden. On the 25th another attack was made on the town from the
eastward. They3 came on with their guns adorned with crimson shoe flowers
(Hibiscus rosa sinensis), sacred to Siva and the Gods of Blood. They did not, however,
approach with any bravery, and were without much difficulty forced to retreat, many
being taken prisoners.”
NOTEs: 3. Day’s Land of the Perumauls, page 188. END OF NOTEs
For a month more they hovered about the town, doing mischief, and in
particular subjecting the Syrian Christian community to great ill-treatment. Few
events of political importance remain to be noticed except the outrages by
Mappillas, which, unfortunately for the peace of the district, continue down to the
present day.
But mention requires to be made of the following : —
On 15th November 1806 the Principal Collector, Mr. Warden, and the
Zamorin reduced to terms1 the understanding with the latter and his family in regard
to the payment of the malikhana allowance (or one-fifth share of the revenues of
their districts) which had been set apart for their maintenance. The family receives
Rs. 1,32,163 odd per annum, and it is “considered as the security for the good and
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dutiful behaviour towards the Company’s Government of each and every member
of the Rajeum (Rajyam) or family to which it may now and hereafter be payable.”
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. CCLXII. END OF NOTEs
The Government had on 21st November 1804 approved of the Principal

Collector’s suggestion to have similar written instruments interchanged with the
other ancient chieftains of the district. But beyond this engagement with the
Zamorin and his family no such interchange of written deeds appears to have taken
place.
In Appendix XX will be found a complete list of the malikhana recipients,
and the nature of the payments made to them has been defined as follows:-
“It should2 be understood that these allowances will be subject to
revocation upon proof established of flagrant, misbehaviour or rebellious conduct.”
NOTEs: 2. Revenue Board to Principal Collector, 5th May 1804. END OF NOTEs
In 1857 the Government3 agreed with the Revenue Board and the Acting
Collector that the allowances are perpetual during good conduct and are not
revocable at pleasure.”
NOTEs: 3.Ext. Min. Cons., 30th May 1857. END OF NOTEs
“These4 varying allowances were permanently fixed at 20 per cent, of the

net revenue of the year 1800-1.”
NOTEs: 4. Proceedings, Board of Revenue, 1970, dated 11th June 1857. END OF
NOTEs
The control of the Cochin State was transferred5 to the British Resident in
Travancore in April 1809.
NOTEs: 5. Treaties, etc., ii. CCLXV. END OF NOTEs
In 1813 the Anjengo Factory was closed.

On 23rd February 1817, after the conclusion of peace between the two
nations, “the establishment of Mahe” was retransferred6 to the French and this was
followed on 1st February 1819 by the delivery7 to M. le Chef of Mahe of the French
factory at Calicut with the extent of ground to which that Government are entitled
in virtue of their having possessed it in former days.”
NOTEs: 6. Treaties, etc., ii. CCLXVIII.
7. Treaties, etc., ii. CCLXXI—CCLXXXIX. END OF NOTEs
After much and protracted discussion it was further finally decided that the
French had made good their claims to certain other bits of territory lying in the
neighbourhood of Mahe, described as the “four villages of Paloor, Pandaquel,
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Chamberra and Chalicarra, and of the three detached points or posts of Fort Saint
George, the great and the little Calayi, as defined by the British authorities, without
any of the territory in their vicinity, to which a claim was made on a former
occasion.” These bits of territory were accordingly delivered1 to the French on 14th
November 1853.
The Coorg war in 1834 did not affect Malabar beyond that “an old and
faithful servant of the Company,” Kalpalli Karunakara Menon, the Head
Sherishtadar of the district, was sent for the purpose of opening a friendly
negotiation with the Raja, and was imprisoned by the latter. This outrage led2
directly to the war.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., ii. CCLXXV. END OF NOTEs
Shortly after the close of the war with Coorg the district administration
entered upon a period of disturbance, which unhappily continues down to the
present time. The origin and causes of this are of so much importance that it has
been considered best to treat the subject at considerable length with a view not only
to exhibit the difficulties with which the district officers have had to deal, but to
elucidate the causes from which such difficulties have sprung.
On the 26th November 1836 Kallingal Kunyolan of Manjeri amsam,
Pandalur desam in Ernad taluk, stabbed one Chakku Panikkar of the Kanisan
(astrologer) caste, who subsequently died of his wounds. He also wounded two
other individuals, and a fourth who had been employed to watch him, and fled to
Nenmini amsam in Walluvanad taluk, whither he was pursued by the tahsildar, taluk
peons and villagers. He was shot by the police on the 28th idem.
On the 15th April 1837 one Ali Kutti of Chengara amsam, Kalpetta desam,
Ernad taluk, inflicted numerous and severe wounds on one Chirukaranimana
Narayana Mussat (a Brahman janmi), and took post in his own shop, where he was
attacked by the tahsildar and the taluk peons, and shot by the taluk police on the
following day.
On the 5th April 1839 Thorayampolakal Attan and another, of Pallipuram
amsam, Walluvanad taluk, killed one Kelil Raman and then set fire to and burnt a
Hindu temple, took post in another temple and there they were attacked by the
tahsildar and his peons and were shot by a taluk peon.
On the 6th April 1830 Mambadtedi Kuttiathan stabbed and severely
wounded one Kotakat Paru Taragan and then came among the police party,
consisting of two tahsildars and others, who were occupied in framing a report
connected with the preceding case, and stabbed and wounded a peon. He was
captured, brought to trial, and sentenced to transportation for life.
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On the 19th April 1840, in Irumbuli amsam, Ernad taluk, Paratodiyil Ali
Kutti severely wounded one Odayath Kunhunni Nayar and another, set fire to
Kidangali temple and took post in his house, where he was attacked by the tahsildar
and his peons. He rushed out and was shot by a taluk police peon on the following
day.
On the 5th April 1841 Tumba Mannil Kunyunniyan and eight others killed
one Perumbali Nambutiri (a Brahman janmi) and another at Pallipuram in
Walluvanad taluk, burnt the house of the latter victim as well as four other houses
(belonging to the dependents of the Brahmans), the owner of one of which died of
injuries then received. The Mappillas then established themselves in the Brahman’s
house and defied the Government authorities. They were attacked and killed on the
9th idem by a party of the 36th Regiment Native Infantry and the police peons and
villagers under the direction of Mr. Silver, then Head Assistant Magistrate in the
district. The military consisted of 1 jemadar, 1 havildar, 2 naigues and 20 privates.
“The plan1 of attack I formed was, a body of peons to rush close up to one
of the doors with axes and break it open, closely followed by a storming party of
sepoys, while the armed villagers and peons should be disposed round the building,
among the trees, as skirmishers to keep up a constant fire on every aperture to
protect as much as possible the storming party.............. While we were waiting for
the pick-axes, etc., the door was flung open and forth rushed the ruffians.”
NOTEs: 1. Mr. Silver’s report of 10th April 1841. END OF NOTEs
*****
“The jemadar’s party of sepoys behaved extremely well, and without them
many lives would have been sacrificed.”
****
One man, Pulikot Raman Nayar, was killed and ten, namely, 1 sepoy, 5
peons and 4 villagers, were wounded. The Government in Extract from Minutes of
Consultation, dated 22nd April 1841, No. 329, remarked : “His Lordship in Council
considers that great commendation is due to Mr. Silver for the decision and
promptitude displayed by him, and to the detachment 36th Regiment Native Infantry
who aided him, as well as the tahsildar and others concerned.”
The chief criminal in this outbreak was one Kunyolan, and the cause
assigned was the duplicity on the part of the Nambutiri Brahmans in the matter of a
garden for which Kunyolan advanced Rs. 16, and of which he wished to remain in
possession. Another Mappilla brought a suit in the Munsiff's Court to evict
Kunyolan on the strength of a deed of melkanam obtained from the Brahmans.
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On the 13th November 1841 Kaidotti Padil Moidin Kutti and seven others
killed one Tottassori Tachu Panikkar and a peon, took post in a mosque, set the
police at defiance for three days, and were joined by three more fanatics on the
morning of the 17th idem.
“On1 the requisition of the Zillah Judge, Mr. E. B. Thomas (the Collector
having been absent at Ootacamund), a party of 40 sepoys of the 9th Regiment
Native Infantry, under Lieutenant Shakespear, accompanied by Mr. Platel, arrived”
on the scene.
NOTEs: 1. The District Magistrate's letter to Government, No. 29, dated 22nd November
1841. END OF NOTEs
***
“Mr. Platel2 made strenuous efforts to induce a party of peons to advance ;
I found it was necessary to advance with them ; as we approached, the peons fired a
few shots and drew off to the left, and when we arrived within 100 yards of it, five
of the Mappillas rushed forward with big knives and shields to defend themselves ;
two diverged to the left, who were instantly shot by the peons, and three made off
to the right towards some paddy-fields, where they were assailed by a file or two of
my men, and a few villagers and peons likewise joined them. A struggle took place
between a sepoy and one of the Mappillas ; and adhikari came up and cut him down
; a second was attacked by a sepoy who threw him down, and whilst securing him
was shot by one or two peons ; a third having severely wounded a villager, was also
killed. Immediately after the rush of the first men, six more came running headlong
down the eminence, similarly armed, and from the desperation of their manner the
sepoys and peons opened fire upon them and they fell.”
NOTEs: 2. Lieutenant Shakespear’s report of 20th November 1841. END OF NOTEs
The cause assigned for the murder of the peon was that the peon dragged
one of the Mappillas out of the mosque, and with the assistance of Tachu Panikkar
tied him up. But the Mappillas had previously resolved upon murdering the
Panikkar because he had opposed the raising of a mud wall round a small mosque
built in a garden obtained on kanam twenty-two years before from his predecessor.
On the 17th of the same month a large band of Mappillas, estimated at
2,000, set at defiance a police party on guard over the spot where the above
criminals had been buried, and forcibly carried off their bodies and interred them
with honours at a mosque. Twelve of these were convicted and punished.
On the 27th December 1841 Melemanna Kunyattan, with seven others,
killed one Talappil Chakku Nayar and another, and took post in the adhikari’s house
on the 28th idem. They rushed upon the police peons and villagers who had
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surrounded the house under the Ernad tahsildar’s directions, and were before the
arrival of the detachment sent out from Calicut, all killed and their bodies were
brought to Calicut and interred under the gallows.
On the 19th October 1843 Kunnancheri Ali Attan and five others killed one
Kaprat Krishna Panikkar, the adhikari of Tirurangadi, and proceeded, at the
suggestion of a seventh Mappilla who joined them afterwards, to the house of a
Nayar in Cherur, and posting themselves in it, avowed not only the murder they
committed, but their determination of fighting to death. A detachment consisting of
1 lieutenant, 1 subadar, 1 jemadar, 3 havildars, 4 naigues, 1 drummer, 51 privates, 1
puckalli, and 1 lascar of the 5th Regiment Native Infantry, under Captain Leader, was
deputed to the spot. They attacked the Mappillas on the morning of the 24th, but
upon the latter rushing out, the sepoys were panic struck and took to flight.
The consequence was that 1 subadar and 3 sepoys were killed, Captain
Leader and 5 sepoys were wounded, the former in the neck and stomach, and,
besides these casualties to the regular troops, 7 peons were wounded (3 of them
severely). The fanatics, seven in number, were killed by the taluk peons and villagers.
The sepoys were subsequently tried by a Military Court of Enquiry assembled at
Cannanore.
“The military1 detachment who had misbehaved were called into Calicut the
next day and their place taken by a fresh body of 35 men, whom I thought it
essential to keep in the disturbed locality until tranquillity was more secured.”
NOTEs: 1. District Magistrate's report to Government, No. 29, dated 4th November 1843.
END OF NOTEs
It is this outbreak which is described in the verses translated at pages 102-

104. Tirurangadi, the adhikari of which was killed, lay close to the residence of the
Arab Tangal or High Priest who was generally credited with having incited the
Mappillas to commit these outrages. The Tangal died shortly afterwards and was
buried at the Mambram mosque situated on the river bank opposite Tirurangadi.
Fanatics who intend to commit outrages,
and those who have committed them do, as
a rule even now, proceed to this mosque to
pray at the Tangal’s shrine.
On the 19th December 1843 a peon
was found with his head and hand all but
cut off, and the perpetrators were supposed
to be Mappilla fanatics of the sect known as
Hal Illakkam (lit : Frenzy-raising). The
following interesting account of this sect is
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History
taken from an official report by a native subordinate, dated November 1843 : —

“Particulars of the (ഹാൽ ഇള ം) (Hal llakkam = frenzy) among the
Mappillas in Chernad taluk and the neighbouring parts,
“Originally there was no Hal Ilakkam there.
“In the month of Metam last year, one Alathamkuliyil Moidin of Kotinhi
desam, Nannambra amsam, Vettattnad taluk, which is on the skirts of Trikkulam
amsam, went out into the fields (punja pattam) before daybreak to water the crops,
and there he saw a certain person who advised him to give up all his work and
devote his time to prayer at the mosque. Moulin objected to this, urging that he
would have nothing to live upon. Whereupon the above-mentioned person told him
that a palm tree which grew in his (Moidin’s) compound would yield sufficient
toddy which he could convert into jaggery and thus maintain himself.
“After saying this, the person disappeared. Moidin thought that the person
he saw was God himself and felt frantic (hal). He then went to Taramal1 Tangal
performed dikkar and niskaram (cries and prayers). After two or three days he
complained to the Tangal that Kafirs (a term applied by Muhammadans to people of
other religions) were making fun of him. The Tangal told him that the course
adopted by him was a right one, and saying “let it be as I have said”, gave him a spear
to be borne as an emblem, and assured him that nobody would mock him in future.
NOTEs. 1. The high priest referred to in connection with the preceding outrage. END OF
NOTEs
“Subsequently several Mappillas affecting Hal Ilakkam played all sorts of

pranks, and wandered about with canes in their hands, without going to their homes
or attending to their work. After two or three days some of them, who had no
means of maintaining themselves unless they attended to their work, returned to
their former course of life, while others, with canes and Ernad knives2 (war knives)
in their hands, wandered about in companies consisting of five, six, eight, or ten
men, and congregating in places not much frequented by Hindus, carried on their
dikkar and niskaram (cries and prayers).
NOTEs: 2. See kodungakutti in the Glossary, Appendix XIII. END OF NOTEs
“The Mappillas in general look upon this as a religious vow and provide
those people with food. I hear of the Mappillas taking among themselves that one
or two of the ancestors of Taramal Tangal died fighting, that the present man being
advanced in ago it is time for him to follow the same course, and that the above-
mentioned men affected with Hal Ilakkam, when their number swells to 400, will
engage in a fight with Kafirs and die in company with the Tangal.
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“One of these men (who are known as Halar) by name Avarumayan,

residing in Kilmuri desam, Melmuri amsam two months ago collected a number of
his countrymen and sacrificed a bull, and for preparing meals for these men placed a
copper vessel with water on the hearth and said that rice would appear of itself in
the vessel. He waited for some time. There was no rice to be seen. Those who had
assembled there ate beef alone and dispersed. Some people made fun of
Avarumayan for this. He felt ashamed and went to Taramal Tangal, with whom he
stayed two or three days. He then went into the mosque at Mambram, and on
attempting to fly through the air into the mosque at Tirurangadi on the southern3
side of the river, fell down through the opening of the door and became lame of
one leg, in which state he is reported to be still lying.
NOTEs: 3. And, it may be added, on the opposite side of the river, which here runs within
high banks of which the southern bank is the higher. END OF NOTEs
“While the Halar of Muniyur desam were performing niskaram (prayer) one
day at the tomb of Chemban4 Pokar Muppan, a rebel, they declared that in the
course of a week a mosque would spring up at night and that there would be
complete darkness for two full days. Mappillas waited in anxious expectation of the
phenomenon for seven or eight days and nights. There was, however, neither
darkness nor mosque to be seen.
NOTEs: 1. The famous rebel in the early days of the British Government, conf. pp. 527-
529. END OF NOTEs
“Again in the month of Karkidagam last, some of the influential Mappillas

led their ignorant Hindu neighbours to believe that a ship would arrive with the
necessary arms, provisions and money for 40,000 men; that if that number (40,000)
could be secured meanwhile, they could conquer the country, and that the Hindus
would then totally vanish. It appears that it was about that time that some Tiyyar
(toddy-drawers) and others became converts. For some days some Mappillas gave
up all their usual work and led an idle life. In those days Halar were made much of
and treated by some.
“None of these predictions having been realised, Mappillas as well as others
have begun to make fun of the Halar, who having taken offence at this, are bent
upon putting an end to themselves by engaging in a fight. A certain individual
known as Harabikaran Tangal (lit. Arab high priest), with long hair, has been putting
up with the Taramal Tangal for the last two years, offering prayers with a cry called
dikkar (ദി ർ). The Halar appear to have adopted the dikkar from the said Tangal,
as it was not known to the people before.
“The man who first had the Hal Ilakkam in the punja fields is called by the
people ‘Punja Tangal.’ ”
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History
On the 4th December 1843 a Nayar labourer was found dead with ten deep
wounds on his body, and his murder was believed to be the work of the Hal Ilakkam
sect just described.
On the 11th December 1843 Anavattatt Seliman and nine others killed one
Karukamanna Govinda Mussat, the adhikari of Pandikad in the Walluvanad taluk,
and a servant of his while bathing. They afterwards defiled two temples, broke the
images therein, and took post in a house. A detachment1 of the 19th Regiment
Native Infantry was sent out, but the officer commanding deemed his force
insufficient and consequently fell back a short distance. Two companies2 of sepoys
of the same regiment, under the command of Major Osbourne, marched from
Palghat on the 17th, and on the 19th the Mappillas without waiting to be attacked,
rushed at the troops directly they appeared and were shot, but not without loss of
life, as one naigue of the force was killed.
NOTEs: 1. Lieutenant Lynch, l subbedar, I jemudar, 3 havildars, 3 naigues, 1 drummer, and
30 sepoys.
2. 2 lieutenants, 2 subbedars, 2 jemudars, 11 havildars, 8 naigues, 3 drummers 148 privates. 2
puckallis, and 4 lascars. END OF NOTEs
“I moved3 the detachment at half-past ten in the direction of the house

occupied by the murderers accompanied by H. D. Cook, Esq., two tahsildars and
peons. Immediately after filing through the paddy field the murderers rushed upon
the column, and in a few minutes were shot, ten in number.”
NOTEs: 3. Major Osbourne's report, dated 19th December 1843. END OF NOTEs
On this occasion the fanatics were in an open plain without shelter, and
charged deliberately, 10 men into the midst of over 200.
On the 26th May 1849 Chakalakkal Kammad wounded one Kanancheri
Chiru and another and took post in a mosque. When the Chernad tahsildar (a
Pathan) proceeded towards the mosque in the hope of inducing the murderer to
surrender himself, he rushed forward with a knife, and a peon put an end to the
fanatic on the same day.
On the 25th August 1849 Torangal Unniyan killed one Paditodi Teyyunni
and with four others joined one Attan1 Gurikkal. They with others on the following
day killed the servant of one Marat Nambutiri and two others and took post in the
Hindu temple overlooking Manjeri, the headquarters of the Ernad taluk. They
defiled the temple and in part burnt it. Captain Watt with a detachment of the 43rd
Regiment Native Infantry proceeded from Malapuram to Manjeri, and on the 28th
he formed a plan for attacking the temple. Ensign Wyse and his company were sent
across the paddy flat separating the taluk cutcherry hill from the temple hill to attack
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the rebels, then only 32 in number, who were to be drawn from their position in the
temple by parties of police and villagers who had been sent forward to fire at them.
NOTEs: 1. A descendant of the Gurikkal who gave so much trouble in the early days of the
British administration. Attan Gurikkal was a worthless follow who preferred a life of idleness and
shikar, varied by occasional dacoities, to any other kind of pursuit. He had gathered round him a
considerable following of men of the same way of thinking ns himself, but among them were two at
least of a respectable family who had been reduced to poverty “by suit and otherwise in their early
life.” END OF NOTEs
The rest of the detachment was held in reserve on the cutcherry hill, Mr.
Collett, the Assistant Magistrate, being with them. Ensign Wyse’s party, with the
exception of 4 men who were all killed, refused to advance to receive the charge of
only a few of the fanatics who came down hill at them, and notwithstanding the
gallant example set by the Ensign himself in killing the first man who charged, the
party broke and fled after some ineffectual filing.
“Others now2 came down upon Ensign
Wyse, and I am informed that one of them
seized him by the jacket and he received a
wound, when he appears to have fallen and was
of course quickly put to death ; but by this time
three of the insurgents had fallen, and now those
men in the detachment who alone had emulated
their officer, fell, one of them having first
gallantly bayonetted the man who gave Mr.
Wyse his death wound.”
The party held in reserve on the
cutcherry lull, on witnessing this disaster, fled,
although the fanatics were still at a considerable
distance on the far side of the paddy flat lying at the bottom of the hill on which the
reserve was posted. Only one of the insurgents crossed this paddy flat and he was
killed by a police Kolkar.
A detachment of His Majesty’s 94th regiment3 from Cannanore, under
Major Dennis, reached Manjeri on the 3rd September, and also a detachment of the
30th Regiment1 Native Infantry from Palghat. The insurgents, whose ranks had been
largely recruited in the interval, evacuated the temple during the night after the
arrival of the reinforcements, and proceeded a distance of about twelve miles to the
Bhagavati Kavu temple near Angadipuram, the head-quarters of the Walluvanad
taluk.
NOTEs: 3 officers, 6 sergeants, 5 corporals, 2 drummers, and 104 privates.
1. 2 officers, 4 native officers, 9 naigues, 2 buglers, and 132 privates. END OF NOTEs
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History
Thither next day they were followed by the troops, who, in spite of their
forced march in tempestuous weather from Cannanore to Calicut, of being cooped
up, wet and without regular food, in cramped positions in the boats, in which, in still
more tempestuous weather, they were conveyed from Calicut to Arikkod, and of the
heavy march of the two preceding days, showed the utmost eagerness to close with
the enemy.
At 5 p.m. on the 4th September the encounter took place at the forty-first
milestone from Calicut on the Great Western Road (No. 6) and in the open ground
(now enclosed) to the south of the road at that point. On receiving intelligence that
the insurgents, now 64 in number, were coming to the attack, Major Dennis drew
his men up “in column2 of sections, right in front, so as to occupy the whole
breadth of the road, when the enemy came on with most desperate courage,
throwing themselves on our bayonets ; after firing off their matchlocks, they took to
their war knives, swords and spears, and when struck down to the ground, renewed
the fight even on their knees by hurling their weapons at the faces of our men, and
which continued until literally, they were cut to pieces ; others, planted on the trees,
kept up a most destructive fire with their matchlocks loaded with iron slugs.
“This attack was made by the enemy in three divisions, about 300 yards
apart, the second led on in person by Attan Gurikkal (Coyah or priest), who fought
with most desperate courage ; but I am happy to say that through the steadiness,
correct and low firing of the men, our loss has not been so considerable as might
have been expected from the desperate onset of these mad fanatics ; and in the
space of half an hour the enemy was completely annihilated, leaving 64 dead, their
bodies lying close to each other, exhibiting most dreadful wounds, some having
received four or five musket balls, besides bayonet stabs, before these fanatics could
be stayed carrying on their determined work of destruction into our ranks.”
NOTEs. 2. Major Dennis’ report of 5th September 1949. END OF NOTEs
“The power3 of their fanaticism was astounding. One of the men had had
his thigh broken in the engagement in which Lieutenant Wyse was killed. He had
remained in all the agony attendant on an unhealed and unattended wound of this
nature for seven days ; he had been further tortured by being carried in a rough litter
from the Manjeri to the Angadipuram pagoda.. Yet there he was at the time of the
fight, hopping on his sound leg to the encounter, and only anxious to get a fair blow
at the infidels ere he died.”
NOTEs. 3. District Magistrate report of 12th October 1849. END OF NOTEs
The casualties in the detachments were trifling when the numbers and
determination of the insurgents are considered. Two privates of the 94th Regiment
were killed and three others and a sergeant wounded ; one officer received a deep
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flesh wound, and Major Dennis “had1 a wonderful escape from a bullet, which
grazed his wrist”.
NOTEs. 1. District Magistrate's report of 4th September 1849. END OF NOTEs
A sepoy of the 30th Regiment was likewise severely wounded. On searching

afterwards, one of the insurgents, a lad of 17 or 18 years, was found to be alive. He
lived for some time and told what he knew about the outrages.
The bodies of the slain insurgents were thrown into a dry well in the garden
lying in the south of the Walluvanad taluk cutcherry at Perintalmanna. On the 2nd
October 1850 information was received that the sons of one Periambath Attan the
Mappilla adhikari of Puliakod amsam in Ernad taluk had, with others, concerted to
kill one Mungamdambalatt Narayana Mussat and to devote themselves to death in
arms. Security was required of nine individuals on this account.
On the 5th January 1851 Choondyamoochikal Attan attacked and wounded
severely a Government native clerk named Raman Menon, who had been employed
in inspecting gingelly-oil seed (ellu) cultivation in Payanad in Ernad taluk in
conjunction with the village accountant in view to settling the Government share,
and he then shut himself up in the inspector’s house, setting the police at defiance.
No persuasion could induce him to surrender himself. He declared he was
determined to die a martyr. The tahsildar (a Mappilla) tried to induce him to deliver
himself up, hut he utterly refused to do so. Finally, rushing out and firing at the
opposing party, he was shot dead. The reason assigned by the criminal for attacking
the inspector was that his wife’s gingelly-oil crop had been over- assessed.
On the 17th January 1851 three Mappillas were reported as contemplating
an assault, and security was taken from them.
On the 15th April 1851 Illikot Kunyunni and five others were reported as
designing to break out and kill one Kotuparambat Komu Menon and another.
Evidence of the fact was deficient and the accused were released, but it subsequently
turned out that the information was only too true.
On the 22nd August 1851 six Mappillas killed one Kotuparambat Komu
Menon (above referred to) and his servant on the high road between Manjeri and
Angadipuram as they were returning home from the Mankada Kovilakam of the
Walluvanad Raja. They were joined by three others, with whom they proceeded
towards Komu Menon’s house. But finding a brother of Komu Menon’s ready to
meet them with a gun and a war knife, they left the place and went to the house of
Ittunni Rama Menon, another brother, who was then bathing in a tank close by.
They killed Kadakottil Nambutiri, who was seated in the porch of the house, the
family of Rama Menon escaping in the tumult.
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History
The murderers next overtook Rama Menon, who had endeavoured to

escape, and cut him down. Setting fire to the house, they marched towards the
house of one Mudangara Rarichan Nayar, whom they wounded severely and who
subsequently died of his wounds. They then set fire to the house of one Chengara
Variyar.
On the morning of the 23rd they were seen in Kuruva amsam, about eight
miles distant from Ittunni Rama Menon’s house. Thence they proceeded to the
house of the Kulattur variyar, an influential janmi who had opposed the erection of
a mosque. They were in the meantime joined by five others. On their arrival, the
attendants and family escaped ; all the women and children were told by the fanatics
to go away. They next killed two servants of the Variyars. Two of the junior Variyars
escaped. But the old Variyar, a man of 79, probably shut himself up in a room of his
house where the fanatics eventually discovered him.
The Hindus sent for the Mappilla chief men of the place and others. About
fifty persons appeared, two of whom joined the insurgents, calling out “the chief pig is
inside.” The old Variyar was then brought out into the paddy field adjoining his
house, to a distance of sixty yards from the gatehouse, and one Pupatta Kuttiuttan
and another there, in the sight of all the people assembled, hacked him to pieces,
severing his head from his body.
As soon as Mr. Collett, the Divisional Magistrate, heard of their having
taken up a position at Kulattur, he sent a, requisition to Major Wilkinson, the officer
commanding the 39th Regiment at Malapuram, who in complying with the request,
wrote to Mr. Conolly in the 24th as follows : —
“I despatched a party, under the command of Ensign Turner of 65 rank
and file with the proper complement of native commissioned and non-
commissioned officers.
*****
“My reason for sending the party under the command of Ensign Turner
was, that Mr. Collett had informed me, when at my house very early yesterday
morning, that he had written expressly for the European troops stationed at
Calicut.”
In his two letters to Government of the 25th August 1851, Mr. Conolly thus
described the operations of the Malapuram detachment : —
“The troops advanced by a muddy road towards the house” in which the
insurgents were “and attacked three abrest along a causeway leading to the house
through paddy-fields. After some firing, nine of the Mappillas came out from the
house and advanced to meet the sepoys on the causeway. The leading sepoys were
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seized with a panic, which communicated itself to those in the rear, and a general
retreat ensued. The Mappillas pursued the fugitives and cut down (killed) three—a
naigue, a sepoy, and a drummer. They then picked up some of the muskets which
had been thrown away by some of the sepoys in their haste to escape, and returned
to their home. One or two of the partty is supposed to have been badly wounded by
the first firing. The scattered sepoys rallied after some time and have been posted in
a house about a mile from where the Mappillas are.”
This was (to use Mr. Collett’s words) “a complete disaster.”
The European detachment1 from Calicut arrived on the forenoon of the
27th,under command of Captain Rhodes. They “were so fagged with their marches”2 and
so “exhausted and footsore” that they were not able to act with sufficient steadiness
against the fanatics, whose ranks had been, in spite of a close watch by villagers and
police, joined by three others, and who now numbered seventeen. Moreover, the
fanatics showed a disposition to attack directly the detachment arrived near their
stronghold, and Captain Rhodes had no time to rest and recruit his men. The attack
was thus sketched by Mr. Conolly3 :
NOTEs: 1. captain, 1 lieutenant, 2 sergeants, 2 corporals, 2 drummers, 47 privates, and 2
puckallies of H.M.’s 94th Regiment.
2. They had “marched a good forty miles in two days, over a very hilly, stony and wild
district,” the route being by Beypore, Tirurangadi, Venkatakotta, and Chappanangadi to Kulattur.
3. Reports to Government of 28th and 30th August 1851. END OF NOTEs
“The Europeans were in advance and the sepoys in the rear. The
Europeans fired at the fanatics, who had the partial cover of a bank, till they were
too tired to load. The fanatics then advanced and charged4 them, and the soldiers
retreated in order. The sepoys in the rear seeing this, of course retreated also, and
the confusion was very great until the officers, by dint of exhortation, managed to
rally their men. It was now that the sepoys, whose guns were loaded, did the good
service5 I spoke of. They brought down some of the leading pursuers and enabled
the Europeans to halt and reload. Their confidence was at once restored, and they
moved forward again with the sepoys in expectation of meeting more enemies. They
were all in good order when I joined them in the house from which the fanatics had
come out. That the check was a very unhappy one cannot be denied, but it was
satisfactory that it was so soon rectified.
NOTEs: 4. The charge was made under cover of the smoke of the firing, which had lasted a
quarter of an hour or more; the detachment was drawn up in quarter column, and some of the fanatics,
passing round the flanks under cover of the smoke, attacked the rear, while others attacked the front of
the column.
5. Eleven of the fanatics were shot by a party of the 30th Regiment, who ran down to meet
them from the house held by the sepoys about a mile from the Variyar’s house. END OF NOTEs
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“In the previous attack by the detachment of the 39th Regiment the rout
was complete, and there was no rallying until the Mappilias had retired to their
stronghold.”
In this second engagement on August 27th, 4 European privates and l native
subbadar were killed.
The result of the action as far as the Mappillas were concerned may be thus
summarised. Of the 19 fanatics who were concerned in these outrages it seems that
9 were engaged in the first four murders on the 22nd, 1 joined them immediately
afterwards, and 4 more dining the night and next morning. Fourteen thus attacked
the Variyar’s house, where 2 more immediately joined them. Of these 16 men, one
was killed in the affair of the 24th August, and another, mortally wounded, died on
that night. Three more subsequently joined the band, making 17 who fell on the 27th
August.
On the 5th October 1851 information was received that Tottangal Mammad
and three other Mappillas of Nenmini amsam, Walluvanad taluk, were found in
possession of certain arms and were designing to commit an outrage. “They1 had
intended to join the fanatics who perished at Kulattur, but were too late. Their
purpose, it was said, had been known to some of their co-religionists and they were
subject to the contemptuous soubriquet of Minjina Sahid's (all but saints). There was
but too much reason to fear therefore from former experience that they would take
an opportunity of wiping off the reproach by organising an outbreak on their own
account.” Security to keep the peace was required from three of them.
NOTEs:1. District Magistrate’s report of 10th Octobers 1851. END OF NOTEs
On the 27th October 1851 information reached the head police officer in
Ernad that some Mappillas of Irumbuli amsam, Ernad taluk, had likewise intended
to join the late fanatical outbreak at Kulattur. Two of them were required to give
security to keep the peace.
On the 9th November 1851 information was received that Choriyot Mayan
and eight others were designing to break out and kill one Kalattil Kesuvan Tangal, a
wealthy and influential Hindu janmi of Mattanur in Kottayam taluk. Evidence was
lacking, and the tahsildar omitted to report the matter. The individuals in question
did, however, with others subsequently commit the outrages next to be described.
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On the night of 4th January 1852 the party named above and six others,
making in all fifteen, supported by a large mob estimated at 200, proceeded to the
house of the abovesaid Kalattil Tangal in Mattanur, Kottayam taluk. They butchered
all the unhappy inmates (eighteen in all) and thus extirpated the family, wounded
two other persons, and burnt the house on the following morning. They then,
unattended by the said mob, burnt four houses and a Hindu temple, killed four
more individuals, defiled and damaged another Hindu temple, entered the palace of
a Raja, took post there temporarily, defiled and destroyed two other Hindu temples,
and finally fell on the 8th idem in a desperate and long-sustained attack on the house
of the Kalliad Nambiar, another wealthy and influential janmi in Kalliad amsam of
Chirakkal taluk.
A detachment under Major Hodgson off the 16th Regiment, consisting of
two companies of that corps and 100 Europeans of the 94th Regiment, were sent out
from Cannanore, but before they arrived on the
scene, the Mappilla fanatics had been all killed
by the country people, retainers of the Nambiar.
On the 5th January 1852 information
was received that certain Mappillas intended to
break out and kill one Padinyaredattil Ambu
Nambiar, and security was taken from five of
them.
The District Magistrate, Mr.
Conolly, in reporting on the outrage and
wholesale murders of January 4th-8th,
suggested that a commission should be
appointed “to report1 on the question of
Mappilla disturbances generally. I wish,” he stated, “for the utmost
publicity. If any want of, or mistake in, management on my part has led in
the slightest degree to these fearful evils (far more fearful in my time than
they have ever been before), I am most desirous that a remedy be applied,
whatever be the effect as regards my personal interests. I have acted to the
best of my judgment, but my judgment may be in error, and I should be
glad were it duly tested......................... No measures taken as yet have
reached the root of the evil, which there is too much reason to fear is
growing in place of decaying.”
NOTEs:1. Report, dated 28th January 1852. END OF NOTEs
When reviewing2 this report the Government decided to adopt Mr.

Conolly’s suggestion.
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“For some years past the province of Malabar has been disgraced by a
succession of outrages of the most heinous character, perpetrated by the Mappillas
of the province upon the Hindus. Bodies of Mappillas have in open day attacked
Hindus of wealth and respectability, murdered them under circumstances the most
horrible, burnt houses or given them up to pillage, and finally, wound up their
crimes by throwing away their lives in desperate resistance to the Police and
Military.”
NOTEs: 2. Extracts Minutes of Consultation, 17th February 1852. END OF NOTEs
The order then proceeds to point out that the outbreaks had “become
progressively more sanguinary and more difficult of suppression” in spite of the
employment of the regular troops, and that, while on former occasions the fanatics
spared women and children, they had (in the last outrage perpetrated in a part of the
district” of late years distinguished for its quietness”) put to death “men, women,
children, the very infant at the breast, masters, servants, casual guests and ordinary
inmates,” in short, “every human being found” in the house first attacked.
Mr. Thomas Lumsden Strange, a Judge of the Sadar Adalat, “whose former
long service in Malabar and intimate acquaintance with the people and their peculiar
habits and feelings eminently qualify him for the task, while his employment in a
different sphere of late years saves him from the influence of any prejudice or bias,”
was accordingly selected “to be Special Commissioner for enquiring into the
Mappilla disturbances, their causes and remedies.”
Mr. Strange was directed to enter into the freest intercourse with all classes,
official and non-official, “to ascertain the causes of past outbreaks and the manner
in which they may be most effectually prevented for the future. Referring to the
many instances in which disputes respecting land have been, or have been assigned
as, the causes of emeutes, and to the position of the Hindu and Mappilla in their
relations of landlord and tenant, mortgagor and mortgagee, he will consider whether
any measures seem called for for defining the landed tenures of the country and
placing them on a better basis. He will report upon the various expedients proposed
from time to time by the present Magistrate, for preventing or repressing outbreaks,
and if it should seem to him that the district functionaries require to be armed with
larger authority than they possess under the existing law, he will suggest the
extraordinary powers which should be conferred and submit draft of a legislative
enactment for the purpose of giving them effect.’’
Among Mr. Strange’s instructions it was pointed out that a subject, to
which he should give his earliest consideration was “the conduct of the Tirurangadi
Tangal, and the measures to be employed in reference to that individual.” The individual here
referred to is the notorious Saiyid Fazl of Arab extraction, otherwise known as the
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Pukoya1 or the Tirurangadi or Mambram Tangal. He had succeeded at an early age

to the position vacated by the Taramal Tangal (already alluded to), and it is certain
that fanaticism was focussed at this time at and about the head-quarters of Saiyid
Fazl at Mambram. Fanatics then, as now, considered it almost essential to success in
their enterprise that they should have visited and prayed at the Taramal Tangal’s
tomb at Mambram and kissed the hand of the Tangal living in the house close by.
NOTEs: 1. Pu (Mal.) = flower, and Koya (? corrupt form of Khwaja) = influential person,
gentleman. END OF NOTEs
So great an ascendency had Saiyid Fazl at this time attained that the
Mappillas regarded him “as imbued2 with a portion of divinity. They swear by his
foot as their most solemn oath. Earth on which he has spat or walked is treasured
up. Marvellous stories are told of his supernatural knowledge. His blessing is
supremely prized.” And even among the higher class of Mappillas his wish was
regarded as a command, and no consideration of economy was allowed to stand in
the way of its being gratified.
NOTEs: 2. Magistrate's report, dated 29th November 1851. END OF NOTEs
On the very day (17th February) that the Government appointed Mr.
Strange as Special Commissioner, Mr. Conolly reported that 10,000 to 12,000
Mappillas, “great numbers of whom were armed” met at Tirurangadi and held a
close conclave with the Tangal on rumours being spread that he was at once to be
made a prisoner and disgraced.
Mr. Strange was directed to report whether the Tangal should be brought to
a formal trial, or treated as a State prisoner, or be induced to quit the district, quietly.
But meanwhile Mr. Conolly had been successful in his negotiations to induce Saiyid
Fazl to depart peaceably. The Tangal avowed that he had done nothing “to3 deserve
the displeasure of the Government ; that he repudiated the deeds of the fanatics ;
and that it was his misfortune that a general blessing, intended to convey spiritual
benefits to those alone who acted in accordance with the Muhammadan faith,
should be misinterpreted by a few parties who acted in contradiction to its
precepts.”
But he added “as his blessing was sometimes misunderstood and his
presence in the country unfortunately had led to deeds of horror, he was willing, if
the Government chose it, to end further embarrassment by leaving Malabar and
taking up his permanent abode among his people in Arabia.”
Mr. Conolly on his own responsibility then acted upon this proposal, a
measure which the Government afterwards approved, and on the 19th March 1852
the Tangal, with his family, companions and servants (fiftyseven persons in all), set
sail forArabia.
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History
“The Tangal’s own conduct since he resolved on going has been prudent
and politic. He did all that was in his power to avoid popular excitement by
remaining in his house and denying himself even to the gaze of the large bodies who
came to visit him on hearing of his intention to quit Malabar. He continued in this
seclusion, so far as it was possible, till the last. So soon as it was heard that he was
leaving his house (yesterday1 ) a large crowd assembled, and by the time he got to
Parappanangadi on the coast, six miles from his residence, from 7,000 to 8,000 men
were collected, showing strong signs of grief at his departure. The Tangal had
proposed to come in during the night to Calicut by land and embark with his family,
who had preceded him from thence ; but foreseeing the great excitement which
might ensue from the crowd, which positively refused to leave him, and whose
numbers would, no doubt, have swelled in his journey along the coast, he resolved,
as he sent me a message, to take boat to the ship from Parappanangadi itself. He
reached it after a twelve miles’
pull and at once got under
weigh.”
NOTEs:1. 19th March
1852. END OF NOTEs
On the night of the

28th February 1852 one
Triyakalattil Chekku and
fifteen other Mappillas of
Melmuri and Kilmuri amsams
in the Ernad taluk "set out to
die and to create a fanatical
outbreak.” Information of this
was given by the principal
Mappillas of the former amsam at about ten o’clock that night. They and their
adherents remained on guard during the whole of the night at the houses of Pilatodi
Panchu Menon and Purmekad Pisharodi, the principal Hindu janmis in the amsam,
and respecting the former of whom there were on several occasions rumours that
Mappilla fanatics were seeking to kill him. On the morning of Sunday the 29th,
Panchu Menon hastened into Malapuram, having been alarmed by seeing some
Mappillas moving on the hill at the back of his house. He applied for protection to
the officer in command at Malapuram, who, deeming the danger of an attack on
Panchu Menon’s house imminent, proceeded with a portion of his troops to the
house, where they remained for a few hours. He left a guard of twenty-five sepoys,
who were withdrawn at night, a guard of villagers being substituted.
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On the afternoon of the 1st March the

suspected persons were secured in a mosque
through the exertions of a wealthy and
influential Mappilla named Kunyali. The case
was enquired into by Mr. Collett, Assistant
Magistrate, and the offenders were required to
furnish security to keep the peace.
Ominous rumours of an intended
Mappilla outbreak in the Kottayam taluk in April
1852 drove many of the Hindu inhabitants into
the jungles. From two letters—one from Mr.
Brown of Anjarakandi, and the other from the
Kalliad Nambiar at the attack of whose house
the fanatics were slain on 8th January of this
year— the Joint Magistrate was led to believe that the storm, if it was brewing, was
intended to burst upon the head of the latter, who had become a marked man by his
late spirited defence of his house.
The Raja of Chavasseri had received previous warning to leave his palace.
The Joint Magistrate sent off all the assistance in his power to the Nambiar, and
wrote to the Raja requesting him not to leave the palace, and in the event of an
emergency he would repair to his assistance with troops. The origin of the panic was
that the Mappillas had given out that they were determined to avenge the supposed
disgrace brought upon them by the Hindu resistance at Kalliad, and also to erect, a
monument over the remains of the “martyrs” who died on that occasion.
The Joint Magistrate adopted some necessary precautions and the panic
subsided. But the Mappillas did attempt to erect the tomb in the course of a single
night. It was immediately, however, destroyed under the orders of the Joint
Magistrate, Mr. Chatfield.
On the night of the 28th April 1852 the house of Kannambat Tangal in
Kottayam taluk was fired into and the out-buildings of the Kallur temple were set
on fire. The tahsildar (a Hindu) was of opinion that it was done by Hindus wishing
to profit by the absence of the Tangal, the great janmi of the locality. The Sri Kovil
(shrine) and the grain rooms were left uninjured, and this fact was urged in support
of the tahsildar’s opinion. But in the view of the Special Commissioner, Mr. Strange,
this opinion had been expressed more to suit the views of the Collector (Mr.
Conolly) than to report facts. Mr. Strange took a different view and attributed the
affair to the Mappillas.
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History
In April-May 1852 two Cheramars (the property of Kudilil Kannu Kutti

Nayar, peon of Chernad taluk), after embracing Muhammadanism, reverted to their
original faith after the departure of Saiyid Fazl, through whose influence they had
become converts. Some Mappillas did not relish this, and consequently determined
to murder Kannu Kutti Nayar and the two Cheramars, and thus become Sahids
(martyrs). Although the Nayar agreed to relinquish his claims over these Cheramars
on receipt of their purchase money, the impression made on the conspirators was
that Kannu Kutti Nayar alone was instrumental to the Cheramars’ apostacy.
As the life of Kannu Kutti Nayar was thus threatened, he was allowed to
carry a pistol with him for his self-protection. He was instructed to take good care
of the pistol and also to send the Cheramars away to some distant place, which was
agreed to by him. In connection with this conspiracy two persons were apprehended
by the tahsildar and steps taken for the arrest of every one who aided in and abetted
the offence. The result of the proceedings taken is not known, but Kannu Kutti
Nayar was transferred to Ponnani, and subsequently to Calicut, with a view to avert
the impending danger to his life.
The Cheramars also were sent away to other taluks as their presence was
considered a source of disturbance.
On the 9th August 1852 information was received that three Mappillas of
Kurumbranad taluk had taken up a position in the house of the accountant of
Puttur amsam in the same taluk, and had resolved to die as Sahids (martyrs). They
wounded a Brahman and were on the 12th idem killed by the police, of whom two
received wounds.
Two Mappilla fanatics, Kunnumal Moidin and Cherukavil Moidin,
murdered a Brahman named Chengalary Vasudevau Nambutiri on the 10th
September 1853. They, failing to get any recruits and not finding any good house
undefended, made their appearance on the 23rd on the top of a hill close to
Angadipuram. The tahsildar at once went up to the spot with his peons. The
fanatics, one an elderly man and the other a mere boy, rushed upon the assailing
party as usual.
Eighteen shots were fired at them. The elder man was brought down
wounded but the younger was unhurt and fell on the leading peons and villagers, by
whom he was despatched before inflicting injury on any one.
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On the 25th September 1852 Mr. Strange had submitted the report called
for by the Government, and this report was in due course reviewed by the
Government and orders issued on the 23rd August 1853. Mr. Strange found that of
all the persons engaged in the thirty-one cases, the circumstances of which he set
forth in detail, there were “but fourteen for whom any personal cause of
provocation was discoverable. In seven instances land has afforded the presumed
ground of quarrel,” and in the other seven cases the provocatives “were mostly of
an equally unreal nature.”
In nine cases the parties had been “instigated to engage in crime by others
who were to profit thereby or had malice to satisfy.” Five were induced to crime
“because of relatives having wrongs, fancied or real, to redress ; and the remaining
144 were without any personal provocations whatsoever.”
“It is apparent thus that in no instance
can any outbreak or threat of outbreak that has
arisen be attributed to the oppression of tenants
by landlords. A great clamour is now raised on
this regard prominently in the southern taluks
visited by me, the Mappilla population seeking
to throw the blame of these outbreaks upon the
landlords by thus charging them with being the
cause thereof. I have given the subject every
attention, and am convinced that though
instances may and do arise of individual
hardship to a tenant, the general character of the
dealings of the Hindu landlords towards their
tenantry, whether Mappilla or Hindu, is mild,
equitable and forbearing.
“I am further convinced that where stringent proceedings are taken, the
conduct of the tenants is, in the vast majority of cases, the cause thereof, and that
the Mappilla tenantry, especially of the taluks in South Malabar, where the outbreaks
have been so common, are very prone to evade their obligations and to resort to
false and litigious pleas.”
And Mr. Strange proceeded to review some instances—such as the taking
of fines and fees on renewal of leases and the granting of melkanam rights for the
purpose of getting rid of obnoxious tenants—in which he thought some changes1 in
the customary rules ought to be made.
NOTEs: 1. These changes he proposed (paragraph 69) to leave to the Sadr Adalat to declare
by rule, and this was partly done. The rules issued by the Sadr Adalat will be found printed in the
Notes to Appendix XIII. END OF NOTEs
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History
He then went on to review the next ground for committing them dwelt
upon by the Mappillas, namely, that the criminals were forced into them by
destitution, but he passed this by with the remark that most of the criminals were
mere youths, and he could not believe that they “should be ready thus to throw life
away from more despair as to the means of supporting it.”
But he next remarked “a feature that has been manifestly common to the
whole of these affairs is that they have been one and all marked by the most decided
fanaticism, and this, there can be no doubt, has furnished the true incentive to
them.”
And he then proceeded to state that the Mappillas of the interior were
always lawless, even in the time of Tippu’s Government, were steeped in ignorance,
and were on these accounts more than ordinarily susceptible to the teaching of
ambitious and fanatical priests,2 using the recognised precepts of the Koran as
handles for the sanction to arise and slay Kafirs, who opposed the faithful chiefly in
the pursuit of agriculture.
NOTEs: 2. He named especially the Taramal Tangal mentioned in connection with the 19th
October 1843 outrage, and his son Saiyid Fazl, who left the country under the circumstances already
related. END OF NOTEs
The natural result was that “the Hindus, in the parts where outbreaks have
been most frequent, stand in such fear of the Mappillas as mostly not to dare to
press for their rights against them, and there is many a Mappilla tenant who does
not pay his rent, and cannot, so imminent are the risks, be evicted. Other injuries are
also put up with uncomplained of.”
And he continued: “To what further lengths the evil might not go if
unchecked, it is impossible to say. Even the desire for plunder may prove a
sufficient motive for the organisation of these outbreaks, some having already
largely profited in this way. They will also, there can be no doubt, be more and more
directed against the landed proprietors. Six of the very highest class have been
marked out for destruction in the course of the past outbreaks, of whom three were
killed and several others of average property have suffered.”
In the Kulattur case in August 1851 the leading Mappillas had even asserted
“that it was a religious merit to kill landlords who might eject tenants.”
The condition of the Hindus had “become most lamentable," and even the
prestige of the rule of Government had been “much shaken in the district. ”
Special legislation was necessary towards the following objects, namely :—
escheating the property of those guilty of fanatic outrage,
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fining the districts where such outrages occur,

deporting the suspected, and placing restrictions on the possession of arms,
and more especially of the war-knife, and on the building of mosques.
Mr. Strange further proposed the organisation of a special police force to
put down these risings, and deprecated the resort to the use of the European force
for the purpose. The Magistrate, Mr Conolly, was in favour of this scheme, but he
would “esteem it only as an adjunct to the European troops, in whom alone he has any
confidence.”
But Mr. Strange went beyond this and proposed1 that the force should be
exclusively composed of Hindus, a measure which it is needless to say was not approved
by the Government. The Government also, on similar grounds, refused to entertain
his proposals for putting restrictions on the erection of mosques as being a
departure from the policy of a wise and just neutrality in all matters of religion.
NOTEs: 1. It is unnecessary to notice here some other utmost grotesque proposals of Mr.
Strange, all directed to the same end, the repression of the Mappilla caste. The Government took no
action upon these proposals. END OF NOTEs
But on all the other main points above adverted to Mr. Strange’s views were
adopted, and a policy of repression set in with the passing into law of Acts XXIII2
and XXIV3 of 1854, the latter for rendering illegal the possession of the war-knife,
and the former for fining localities disturbed and for dealing with persons suspected
of being privy to the commission of outrages.
NOTEs: 2. Continued by Act XXIV of 1859.
3 This Act came into force on the 1st February 1855. END OF NOTEs
In December 1854 Mr. Conolly proceeded on a tour to collect the war-

knives through the heart of the Mappilla country, and brought in 2,725, and by the
31st of the following month of January 1855 (the latest date on which the possession
of a war-knife was legal) the number of war-knives surrendered to the authorities
amounted to the large number of 7,561.
The next report in connection with these Mappilla outrages conveyed to the
Government the distressing intelligence that Mr. Conolly, the District Magistrate
and Provisional Member of Council4 for the Presidency, had been barbarously
murdered by a gang of Mappillas.
NOTEs: 4. Mr. Conolly was shortly to have proceeded to the Presidency town as Member
of the Council of Government. END OF NOTEs
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History
The following is a copy of the letter

written by Mr. G. B. Tod, Assistant Collector,
Malabar, to the Chief Secretary to Government,
dated 1A.M., 12th September 1855, reporting the
occurrence : —
“It is my melancholy duty to inform
you, for the information of the Right
Honourable the Governor in Council, that Mr.
Conolly, the Collector of this district, was most
barbarously murdered this evening, between
eight and nine o’clock, in the presence of his
wife. He received seven wounds, one of which at
least was mortal.
“So far as the details at present are
ascertained, the perpetrators were three
Mappillas, who rushed into the verandah and completed their deadly work before
assistance could be called. In the present state of Mrs. Conolly, it is impossible to
gather further particulars of the tragedy of which she was the sole witness ; but
immediately that I am able to do so, I will furnish more complete information.”
The facts of this most tragic and melancholy occurrence are narrated below
:—
On the 4th August 1855 convicts Valasseri Emalu, Puliyakunat Tenu,
Chemban Moidin Kutti and Vellattadayatta Parambil Moidin escaped from their
working party of jail convicts at Calicut and proceeded to Walluvanad. They loitered
about in that taluk for a few days and left it finally on the 20th, visiting, on their way,
the house of Tenu and taking with them Ossan Hyderman (a barber lad), whom
they desired to show the way as far as the “new public road” running due east and
west through the Payanad hills, which are connected with the Pandalur range.
On the 23rd they (including the barber lad, who threw in his fate with the
party) proceeded to Urotmala, whence they went to the house of Moidin Kutti at
night to take their food. After a brief halt there of three or four hours they left the
house, visiting some of their relatives on their way, and reached Mambram on the
evening of the 24th. Here they prayed with Taramal Kunhi Koya at the shrine of the
great Tangal referred to by Special Commissioner Mr. Strange as having been one of
the great apostles of fanaticism and the instigator of the earlier outrages narrated
above.
At Mambram the intention of the murderers appears to have been disclosed
to Kunhi Koya, whose son, a boy, 13 years old, heard his father speak of it to his
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wife, and subsequently

gave evidence to that
effect before Mr.
Collett, who enquired
into the case. From the
shrine they proceeded
to Vettattpudiangadi,
where they stayed for a
short time.
On the 29th and
30ththey visited certain
shrines of local
reputation lying within
easy distance of that
station. After this they
roamed about the
country till the 9th
September, on which date they were harboured by one Malakal Mammu, whose
house was situated three-quarters of a mile due east of Mr. Conolly’s residence on
West Hill, now occupied by the European detachment at Calicut.
On the 10th there was a nercha (feast when a vow is made) in Mammu’s
house, at which these assassins were present. The ceremony consisted in the recital
of a song called Moidin Mula Pattu, and their war-knife was passed through the
smoke of the incense burnt on the occasion.
Thus prepared, the ruffians left Mammu’s house on the evening of the 11th
and noiselessly entered Mr. Conolly’s residence between eight and nine o’clock.
What followed is thus described by Mr. Collett, the Sub-Collector, in one of his
official reports:
“Nothing1 could exceed the treachery with which the murder was begun, or
the brutal butchery with which it was completed. Mr. Conolly was seated in a small
verandah (as was his in variable custom of an evening) on a low sofa. Mrs. Conolly
was on one opposite, a low table with lights on it being between them ; he was
approached from behind and even Mrs. Conolly did not catch sight of the first
blow, which would alone have proved fatal ; the next moment the lights were all
swept off the table and the ruffians bounded upon their victim, slashing him in all
directions. The left hand was nearly severed, the right knee deeply cut, and repeated
stabs indicted in the back. The wounds (twenty-seven in number) could have been
inflicted only by fiends actuated by the most desperate malice. To the cries of poor
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History
Mrs. Conolly no one came ; the peons and servants are usually present in a passage
beyond the inner room ; they were either panic-stricken, or, unarmed (as they
invariably were) were unable to come up in time to afford any real assistance.
NOTEs: 1. Mr. Cullett’s report of 21st September 1855. END OF NOTEs
“One poor massalji who came forward and met one of the murderers in the
inner room, received a blow which cut clean off four fingers of his left hand. A
peon has also a slight wound, but it does not appear how he came by it. Doubtless
this atrocity was rapidly completed, and perhaps the first thought of those servants
who came up was to carry off their poor mistress to another part of the house. Mr.
Conolly was soon after carried in, and Mr. Tod was the first who arrived to witness
the terrible scene of domestic agony that ensued.
“Supported by Mr. Tod, Mr. Conolly lingered another half hour and then
expired, having addressed a few words only to Mrs. Conolly, and apparently
endured intense agony. Mr. Conolly had received an anonymous letter warning him,
but unfortunately thought it needless to take precautions, and had not even
mentioned it to Mrs. Conolly.”
Immediately after the murder the criminals proceeded along the high road
to Tamarasseri to a village near Keravul, a distance of about twelve miles from Mr.
Conolly’s house. Here they went to the mosque. About 4P.M. on the 12th they went
to Makat Nambutiri’s illam and remained there till about 9P.M. They took away
money and property to the amount of Rs. 300. Then they struck back to the main
road to Tamarasseri and came to the house of Pulkutti Moyi.
At night they went to the Bhavat mosque, where they remained till the
following night (13th). On the 14th they were reported to have purchased provisions
at the Tamarasseri bazaar. On the 15th they moved on to the Tiruvambadi amsam of
the Calicut taluk. On the 16th they met a village peon and wrested his musket from
him. They compelled one Chapali Pokar to act as their guide. He led them to
Eddamannapara, which they reached at 4P.M. on the 17th. They had not gone far
from this place when they were seen, and, being followed up by the people of
Kondotti (another sect of Mappillas), were driven at length to take refuge in the
house, where they were shot the same evening by a detachment of Major Haly’s
Police Corps and a part of No. 5 Company of H.M’s 74th Highlanders under
Captain Davies.
“The position1 of the Mappillas was a most difficult one consisting of
gardens surrounded by ditches. After some practice with the mortar and howitzer,
the troops charged into the gardens and after turning the Mappillas out of one
house, the offenders retreated to a stronger one, which they barricaded ; the outer
door of this garden was on the edge of a deep nullah ; this door was first forced, and
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the troops were in the act of firing the house when the Mappillas threw open the
door and rushed out upon the troops and were, of course, quickly disposed of. It
was quite impossible, I consider, to have secured them alive, though injunctions had
been given to do so if possible. The men of the new Police Corps emulated the
Europeans in their steadiness, and were equally to the front at the last charge. I
have, though with great regret, to report that one European was killed2 by a shot
from the house, and another very dangerously wounded by a cut on the throat
whilst one of the Mappillas was on his bayonet.”
NOTEs: 1. Mr. Collett's report of 17th September 1855, from "Morar, eight miles north-
west of Manjeri.
2. Two Hindus were also killed, one accidentally shot, by and the other murdered by the
Mappillas when they took possession of the house. END OF NOTEs
Various causes have been suggested as the motive for the murder of Mr.
Conolly, but the most probable of them seem to be that the ruffians, who were men
of bad character, were exasperated at the orders of Mr. Conolly subjecting them to
restraint in the jail and that they had resolved, probably at the suggestion of some
outsiders on avenging the banishment of Saiyid Fnzl to Arabia.
The following amsams, implicated in the outrage, were fined in the sums
noted against each: —
Rs. A. P.
Nemnini, Walluvanad taluk . 1,857 8 0
Kariavattain, do. 1,951 0 0
Kalpakancheri, Ponnani taluk. 16,989 0 0
Kanmanam, do. 1,869 0 0
Vadakkumpuram, do. 1,991 0 0
Talakad, do. 8,842 0 0
Koduvayur, Palghat taluk 3,003 0 0
Kacheri, Calicut taluk. 1,317 0 0
Kedavur, do. 512 0 0
The widow of Mr. Conolly was granted the net proceeds of the Mappilla
fines aggregating Rs. 30,936-13-10.
In November 1855 Mr. Collett, the Joint Magistrate, suspecting two
Mappillas who had deserted from the Malabar Police Corps of complicity with the
murderers of Mr. Conolly, required them to produce sureties for good behaviour,
and confined them on failure to give security for three years. They were afterwards
permitted to leave the country.
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History
A Muhammadan named Vanji Cudorat Kunji Mayan, a relative of the

Kottayam Tangal, and who had been convicted on a former occasion of robbery
and sentenced to eight years hard labour, was arrested on the 3rd September 1857 on
a charge of using seditious and inflammatory language in the public streets of
Tellicherry, and of invoking the people in the name of God to rid the country of the
Kafirs (Europeans).
The country was then in a very disaffected state owing to scarcity of rice
and the outbreak of the Mutiny. The excitement caused by Mayan’s preaching was
so great as to induce the Brigadier commanding the provinces to adopt
precautionary measures at Cannanore and Tellicherry, and to place the former
station in a state of defence. The Magistrate, Mr. Robinson, on proceeding to the
northern division, found that the Head Assistant Magistrate had unwisely left the
case in the hands of the subordinate police.
Mr. Robinson, in consultation with the Sessions Judge, Mr. Chatfield,
decided that the case should be summarily dealt with without the intervention of the
Muhammadan Sadr Amin (native criminal judge), and particularly directed the Head
Assistant Magistrate to pursue this course. The latter disobeyed the instructions
given him and ordered the committal of the case to the Principal Sadr Amin, who,
acting on an informal medical certificate given by Mr. West, Civil Surgeon, as to the
man’s insanity, and on the plea that the declamations made by Mayan in the public
streets were not heard by men of his own persuasion, acquitted him of the charge,
but kept him in jail as he was believed to be insane.
The Acting Magistrate and the Sessions Judge disagreeing with the views
taken by the Principal Sadr Amin, the Head Assistant was directed to send the
prisoner with a report to Calicut, where he was kept under the surveillance of the
Zillah Surgeon ; and as the Acting Magistrate could find no reason to doubt the
man’s sanity, he proposed to Government to put the Mappilla Outrages Act in force
by deporting him. This suggestion was adopted and Mayan subsequently died in jail
at Trichirappalli.
About the latter end of August 1857, Puvadan Kunyappa Haji and seven
other Mappillas of Ponmala in Ernad taluk, the hot-bed at that time of fanaticism
and disaffection, were suspected of conspiring to revenge the supposed insult
offered to their religion by the relapse of a Nayar convert, and to make an attempt
to rid the country of the Kafirs (Europeans), representing that the Government was
weakened by the mutiny in Northern India.
One of them, a mullah, who was mukri of the Ponmala mosque, and who
was the depositary of the fanatical songs and ballads of the people, had collected the
prisoners and incited them to deeds of violence and blood-shed by reciting to them
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the famous “Cherur1 ballad,” commemorating the feats of their relatives in the
outbreak of 19th October 1843. Information of this was conveyed to the police by
the inhabitants, who valued their property too much to connive at it. The
conspirators were surprised and taken prisoners by the police officer at Ernad
(Koman Nayar) and by Mr. E. C. G. Thomas, the Special Assistant Magistrate.
NOTEs: 1. The ballad translated at pages 102-4 is sometimes thus called. END OF
NOTEs
Seven of them were dealt with under the Mappilla Outrages Act and
deported. The Acting Magistrate of Malabar reported to Government on 9th
February 1858 that the Mappilla Act should be put in force against three individuals,
one of whom had purchased the piece of ground—the scene of the death struggles
of the Mappillas killed in the outbreak of 19th October 1843—had built a small
mosque there, and had instituted a day for holding a festival in honour of the
martyrs.
Since 1849 the number of visitors to the place had steadily increased, and
the least assumed a very threatening character in the opinion of Mr. Collett. The two
others were mullahs who exercised a powerful influence for evil on the people, and
their removal also was thought necessary. The three men were accordingly deported
for short terms.
In I860 two Mappillas of North Malabar were deported for short terms for
threatening the life of an adhikari who gave evidence in a criminal case against them.
The District Magistrate, Mr. Ballard, reported to Government that on the
4th February 1864, during the Ramzan feast, a Mappilla of Melmuri amsam, Ernad
taluk, named Attan Kutti, in a fit of religious fanaticism, stabbed and caused the
death of one Netta Panikkar, whom he found in the house of a Tiyan, his intended
victim. Attan was convicted and sentenced to be hanged as an ordinary malefactor.
It afterwards transpired that he had a confederate in his design, and as their design
must have been known to the people of the amsam, the District Magistrate
proposed, and the Government sanctioned, the fining of the amsam to the extent of
Rs. 2,037 and the deportation of the confederate.
Three Mappillas, Muhammad Kutti and two others, were convicted of the
murder of one Shangu Nayar of Nenmini amsam, Walluvanad taluk, on the 17th
September 1805. The circumstances of the case were such as to lead to the
conclusion that the murder was planned and committed from personal and private
motives, as the prisoners had money transactions with the murdered man ; but a
religious cloak was thrown around the affair by the performance, three days before
the act was committed, of a certain religious ceremony called mavulud at a feast at the
first prisoner’s house. Several men were present on the occasion to whom the
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objects of the murderers must have been known. Six persons were accordingly
deported.
Shortly after midnight of 7th September 1873, Kunhippa Musaliyar the
priest of the Tutakkal mosque in Paral amsam of Walluvanad taluk, with eight
others, visited the house of one Chattara Nayar, the Velichchapad or oracle of the
Hindu temple at Tutakkal, which lies directly opposite to the mosque on the other
or southern bank of the river.
The Velichchapad in one of his fits of inspiration had given offence to the
Mappillas of the mosque opposite. The party, on arrival at his house, roused him up
on the pretence that one of their number had been bitten on the foot by a snake. As
the Velichchapad stooped down to examine the limb, the leader of the gang struck
him several severe blows with a sword across the back of the neck, and the party
then went away leaving him for dead.
From the Velichchapad’s house the gang proceeded to, and reached in the
early morning, Kulattur, the scene of the memorable outrage of 22nd-27th August
1851, a distance of twelve miles, expecting to find the Variyar (the present head of
the family and a member of the District Board) at home. But he chanced to be
absent. Two other male members of the family, however, were at the house, and
one of those was decoyed downstairs by the leader of the gang and was immediately
attacked and mortally wounded.
The other man managed to escape. Hearing from Paral in the early morning
that the gang had started for Kulattur, the taluk tahsildar, a Mappilla, sent to
Malapuram a requisition for troops. And Mr. Winterbotham, the Head Assistant
Magistrate who chanced to be in the taluk at the time, also heard of the outbreak
while riding from Manarghat to Angadipuram, and pushed on to Kulattur, which he
reached at 4P.M.
Mr. Winterbotham had time to reconnoitre the buildings held by the
fanatics before the troops1 from Malapuram arrived at about an hour before dark.
This enabled Captain Vesey to make his dispositions for attacking the fanatics at
once.
The right half company under Lieutenant Williamson passed through the
temple attached to the Variyar’s house and took up a position in the level courtyard
of the house flanking the left half company, which, under Captain Vesey, occupied
the interior verandah of a raised gate-house.
NOTEs: 1. 1 lieutenant, 1 surgeon, 2 sergeants, 1 corporal, 1 bugler, and 31 privates of the
43rd or Oxfordshire Light Infantry under Captain Vesey. END OF NOTEs
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As soon as these dispositions had been completed and just as the day was
closing in, the fanatics attacked the gate-house party. They were armed with swords,
spears, a knife, an axe, and a chopper, and notwithstanding the cross fire from both
parties of military, charged home on the bayonets. The leader of the gang, a man of
great determination, “received2 two bullets in the chest, if not more, wounded first a
front rank man, and then a rear rank man, receiving first the bayonet thrust of each,
and was then killed by a third bayonet thrust.”
NOTEs: 2. District Magistrate's (Mr. MacGregor's) report to Government, No. 84-F, dated
12th September 1873. END OF NOTEs
“Another man was also wounded at the same spot.”

Of the nine fanatics eight were killed, and one, “a mere child,” was
wounded and afterwards recovered. The amsams concerned in this outrage were
fined Rs. 42,000, and the proceeds were utilised in giving compensation to those
aggrieved, and in constructing two cart roads to open up the tract of country where
the outrage occurred, and a police station at Kulattur.
On the 27th March 1877 it was reported by the adhikari of Irimbuli amsam
in Ernad taluk that Avinjipurat Kunji Moidin and four other Mappillas were
designing to commit a fanatical outrage, the reason assigned being that a Nayar had
debauched Kalitha, the wife of one of the men, and consequently the grossest insult
had been given both to him personally and to his religion. The injured husband had
asked A. Kunji Moidin to join him, and had got five choppers made and well
ground for the purpose of murdering the Nayar. The other three had been asked to
assist in carrying out the design.
It would appear that these three men could not make up their minds to
join, and that, in the meanwhile, news of their design had leaked out and was
communicated to the authorities, who promptly dealt with the matter.
Kunji Moidin had set out to join the fanatics at Kulattur in 1873, but had
arrived too late. Security for his good behaviour for a year was therefore taken, from
him. It being considered unsafe to allow the two chief conspirators to remain at
large, the Government directed that they should be proceeded against under section
6 of Act XX of 1859 unless they undertook to leave India for seven years, and that
security for good behaviour should be taken from the others. The two men elected
to leave Malabar for Mecca, to which place they were accordingly sent.
On the 20th June 1879 the Taluk Magistrate of Walluvanad received private
information from one Teyan Menon of Cherapullasseri to the effect that Kunnanat
Kunhi Moidu of Tutakal bazaar in Paral amsam, and the younger brother of
Kunhippa Musaliyar, the ringleader of the Kulattur fanatics of 1873, had been
inciting some six or seven young men to commit an outrage by inculcating into their
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minds at the mosque and other places that they would gain paradise if killed in an
outbreak, and that Kunhi Moidu had also received money from, and seditious songs
composed by, his father Moidin Kutti Haji, who was detained at Rajahmundry for
complicity in the Kulattur outrage of 1873.
Immediately on receiving this information the tahsildar proceeded to
Tutakal, where he arrested Kunhi Moidu and other individuals suspected. The
evidence obtained in the case was of an unsatisfactory character, and the District
Magistrate, Mr. McWatters, accordingly directed the release of the seven prisoners
including Kunhi Moidu. But this action was subsequently overruled by the
Government, who ordered the ringleader to be deported and security to be taken
from the other six men.
The Haji above referred to, as well as Nellayi Pokar, the chief of the
persons banished to Rajahmundry in 1873, were reincarcerated in jail and the
allowance sanctioned to five other men who were under surveillance at
Rajahmundry was reduced to Rs. 6 per mensem.
On 9th September 1880 Matuminaltodi Ali, after waiting till he was tired at
the gate of an East Coast Brahman landlord named Appatura Pattar in Melattur
amsam, Walluvanad taluk, for the purpose of murdering him, started for the house
of a Cheraman (slave caste) lad who had some years previously become a converted
to Islam and had subsequently, much to the disgust of the Mappillas of the
neighbourhood, reverted to Hinduism. Finding the lad at home, he went up to him
in a friendly sort of manner as he was standing close to a wooden stile, and seizing
him, he bent the lad back over the stile and deliberately cut his throat with a knife.
Thence he went to the village mosque, armed himself with the mosque sword, and
started with the avowed intention of slaying the above-said Appatura Pattar, another
landlord called Trippakkada Krishna Pisharodi, and another Hindu named Mannan
Raman.
Several other Mappillas were afterwards suspected of having intended to
join Ali, but as matter of fact none of them did. On the afternoon of the 9th Ali
wounded a potter who came in his way and thrashed with the flat of his sword a
small Cheraman boy who met him and began imitating the way in which he was
brandishing his weapon.
On the early morning of the 10th September Ali, dressed in martyr fashion
(white with loins girt), went vapouring up through the paddy fields to the gate-house
of one of his intended victims — the Pisharodi—flourishing his sword and chanting
some hymn or other. But the door was shut in his face, and a Hindu watchman
named Gopala Taragan, placed in the upper story of the gate-house and armed with
a shot gun, planted a charge of slugs and shot in Ali’s breast from a distance of
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about ten or twelve feet, and sent him doubled up and dead into the water-channel
running past the gate-house.
The Molattur amsam was fined Rs. 4,200, seven Mappillas privy to the
design were deported, nine others required to give security, and the watchman who
shot Ali was rewarded.
On the 14th October 1880, shortly after the last outrage above narrated, in
which the lives of two prominent landlords (Appatura Pattar and Krishna Pisharodi)
were menaced, the Government of His Grace the Duke of Buckingham and
Chandos received an anonymous petition, in which the grievances of the
agriculturists were set forth, particularly in regard to eviction from their lands, and
stating that the people, especially Mappillas, having conspired to create a
disturbance, had been advised by some wise men to wait until a representation of
the popular grievances had been made to Government and orders received
thereupon.
The petition went on to say that “disturbances and bloodshed of a kind
unknown in Malabar will take place,” and that this was no vain threat.
"By the Almighty God who has created all, petitioners swear that this will
be a fact.”
And the petition wound up by praying for orders to prohibit the trial and
execution of eviction suits, to forbid registration of deeds effecting transfers of land
recovered in such suits, and for the appointment of a Commissioner “to inquire into
complaints against landlords.”
This petition was referred for confidential report to the District Judge of
South Malabar (Mr. H. Wigram), who was to hand it over for the same purpose to
the District Magistrate (Mr. W. Logan), then just about to return from leave on
furlough. Both officers agreed that Special Commissioner Mr. Strange had given far
too little weight to agrarian discontent as the cause of the Mappilla outbreaks, and
both officers, who had had to deal, the one in his judicial and the other in his
executive capacity, with a very serious outbreak of dacoity which had imperilled the
peace of the district in the years 1875, 1876, 1877, were also agreed that agrarian
discontent was also at the bottom of that business.
At the same time both officers were agreed that no general rising was
imminent, but both thought it likely that the agrarian discontent would culminate in
fresh acts of fanaticism directed against individuals, notwithstanding the tremendous
penalties of Mr. Strange’s repressive legislation.
Those opinions were in due course forwarded to Mr. A. MacGregor. the
British Resident in Travancore and Cochin, who had been for several years
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Collector of Malabar, and in whose time, as such, the Kulattur outrage of September
1873 had occurred, and he in turn generally agreed in the views above expressed:—
“First, as to the essential nature of Malabar Mappilla outrages, I am
perfectly satisfied that they are agrarian. Fanaticism is merely the instrument through
which the terrorism of the landed classes is aimed at.”
After consideration of the above reports, the Government of Mr. Adam
decided, on 5th February 1881, to appoint the Collector of the District (Mr. W,
Logan) as Commissioner to “specially inquire into and report, upon —
(1) The general question of the tenure of land and of tenant right in
Malabar, and the alleged insufficiency of compensation offered by the landlords and
awarded for land improvements made by tenants.
(2) The question of sites1 for mosques and burial-grounds, with suggestions
for a measure rendering the grant of such sites compulsory under certain conditions
it such a measure appears to him called for.
NOTEs: 1. Another fertile cause of disagreement between Hindu and Mappilla. END OF
NOTEs
“He will further submit his views as to the best means tor redressing any
existing grievances which are, in his opinion, well founded, and which, after due
enquiry, he thinks ought, to be redressed, and will suggest appropriate remedies.”
On receipt of these orders Mr. Logan proceeded, in February-October
1881, to visit all parts of the district (except Wynad), and after receiving in those
tours 2,200 petitions presented by 4 021 persons, he was engaged from October
1881 till Juno 16th 1881, in arranging the information gathered, in searching the
voluminous district records, and in drawing up a report, which on the last
mentioned date, was duly submitted to the Government of Mr. Grant Duff.
The facts and conclusions arrived at may be shortly stated thus : —
At the commencement of British rule, the janmi or landlord was entitled to
no more than his proper share, viz,, one-third of the net produce of the soil, and
even that one-third was liable to diminution if he had received advances from those
beneath him.
The janmi was also entitled to various ranks and dignities of sorts—
commandant of the Nayar militia; a man of authority in the Nayar guild, organised
into villages called taras ; trustee of the village temples, etc.
The British authorities mistook his real position and invested him
erroneously with the Roman dominium of the soil. For certain reasons (on which it is
unnecessary to enlarge) this change in the position of the janmi did not make itself
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much felt until Mr. Graeme, the Special Commissioner in Malabar in 1818-22,
proposed to ascertain what the actual “rents” were in order to base upon them a
scheme for revising the land revenue assessment on wet lands.
This inquiry brought the respective conflicting interests into sharp
antagonism, and the result will be found sufficiently described in paragraph 266,
etc., of Chapter IV, Section (b).
Moreover, shortly after this (about 1832) a notable increase in the prices of
agricultural produce began to be felt. The land revenue assessments, hitherto
collected with great difficulty, began to come in with increasing1 ease. This increase
in the prices of produce, however, left a larger margin of profit than before to be
scrambled for between and the ryots ; and the former, holding in the view of the
Courts the dominium of the soil, began to evict such of the latter as would not yield
to their increasing demands.
NOTEs:1. Chapter IV, Section (A), paragraph 315. END OF NOTEs
It was only a few years, namely, on the 26th November 1836, after these
disturbing elements had been at work, that the first of the Mappilla outrages
reported on by Mr. Strange occurred. Mr. Strange’s view was mainly to the effect
that the outrages were due to fanaticism fanned by the ambition of two Arab priests,
and the legislation proceeding from that idea had been purely repressive.
Finally this repressive legislation had failed to fulfil its objects, as the above
narrative abundantly shows. Mr. Logan next turned his attention to the present
condition of the agricultural classes and elicited the following facts : —
Fully two-thirds of the land revenue of the district come from wet or rice
land ; there is still a considerable extent of land to be taken up (about five acres1 per
man of the agricultural classes).
NOTEs: 1. Of course this is the worst land, and very little of it can be irrigated. END OF
NOTEs
The cultivators are all more or less in debt, and have to pay excessive
interest on their debts. Socially the cultivators are subjected (particularly if they are
Hindus) to many humiliations and much tyrannical usage by their landlords.
The common kanam tenure has degenerated into an outrageous sytem of
forehand renting, favourable only to the money-lender. The improving lease
(kulikkanam) tenure is also unsatisfactory, as tenants, when evicted, do not get the
full market value of their improvements.
The ordinary ryot (the verumpattam holder) no longer enjoys the one-third of
the net produce to which he was by custom entitled, and his terms have of late years
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approached the starvation limit. Moreover, the bulk of the ryots tend to become
such ordinary ryots (verumpattam holders).
And this is more especially noticeable in the grain-producing portion of the
district (the Mappilla taluks), where rack renting is so much easier than in the fruit-
bearing portion of the country, which chiefly lies along the coast line. Of the
ordinary ryots' (verumpattam holders) grain land holdings, no less than 2,4832 out of
3,8172 (over 65 per cent) are year to year holdings, which have been held by present
occupants for periods less than twelve years. Suits for eviction of cultivators and for
rent have become increasingly numerous between 1862-1880.
NOTEs: 2. These figures relate only to the land actually examined in all parts of the district.
END OF NOTEs
Quinquennial Average annual numbers of

periods. Suits of eviction Persons against Rent decrees,
whom eviction excluding Small
decrees have been Cause suits against
passed. persons.
1862-66 2,039 1,891 1,473
1867-7I 2,547 3,483 2,549
1872-76 3,974 6,286 4,314
1877-80 4,983 8,355 6,498
The excessive hardship of evictions was specially dwelt upon by the

petitioners.
And when tenants are evicted, they do not, owing to court costs and other
expenses, realise anything like the full market value of their improvements.
The big janmis’ property is scattered widely over the face of the country and
is rarely held in compact blocks capable of effective management.
Most of them do not know where much of their property lies, having never
even seen it.
They do not know the persons who cultivate it, and do not concern
themselves as to whether their tenants sublet or not. Most of them care nothing for
the welfare of their tenants. And the tenants are, as a rule, largely in arrears with
their rents. Moreover, the men employed by these big janmis to manage their
scattered properties are all men of common education, who get very small pay, and
their chief duty is to grant receipts for rent collected.
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This granting of receipts places large power for evil in the hands of these
low-paid and ignorant agents, and they have to be bribed by the ryots in order that
they may be allowed to remain in the good graces of the janmis, who in regard to
local details are completely in their agents’ hands.
Mr. Logan finally formed the opinion that the Mappilla outrages were
designed “to counteract the overwhelming influence, when backed by the British
courts, of the janmis in the exercise of the novel powers of ouster and of rent raising
conferred upon them. A janmi who, through the courts, evicted,1 whether
fraudulently or otherwise, a substantial tenant, was doomed to have merited death,
and it was considered a religious virtue, not a fault, to have killed such a man, and to
have afterwards died in arms fighting against an infidel Government which
sanctioned such injustice.”
NOTEs: 1. Mr. Collett’s report on the first Kulathur outrage of 22nd August 1851. END
OF NOTEs
It is unnecessary to say anything here of Mr. Logan’s proposals for

legislation, as the matter is still (1886) under consideration, but it may be mentioned
here that he proposed to adopt as principles for legislation the following :
(a) The only person interested in the soil, to whom the Government should
look in the pending legislation, is the actual cultivator or ryot :
(b) The landlord’s power of ouster must, in the public interests, be curtailed
:
(c) The landlord is perfectly entitled to take a competition rent, provided he
is dealing with capitalists: and
(d) The tenants must have the full benefit of the ancient customary law
entitling them to sell the improvements on their holdings.
While Pulikkal Raman of Pandikad amsam, Ernad taluk, was cleaning his
teeth at a channel on the 31st October 1883, Asaritodi Moidin Kutti of the same
amsam attacked him from behind with a sword, cut him on the back of the neck,
and, as he rose, inflicted another wound on the shoulder. Raman fled pursued by
Moidin Kutti, who held the sword in one hand and a book in the other, and used
unintelligible expressions as he ran. After dancing about on a rock for some time,
brandishing his sword and striking the back of his neck with it, Moidin Kutti, on the
intervention of his brother Aavaran and a Mappilla named Mammad, threw the
sword and book down and surrendered. He was at forwards tried and acquitted on
the ground of insanity.
On the 4th March 1884 one Marakkar and four others, of Chembrasseri
amsam, Ernad taluk, presented a petition before the Taluk Magistrate, charging one
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Vakkayil Moidin Kutti and another of the same amsam with conspiracy to murder
the East Coast Brahman landlord named Appatura Pattar of Melattur amsam in
Walluvanad taluk already mentioned in connexion with the outrage of 9th September
1880, and to die subsequently as martyrs.
Moidin Kutti was a son of one of the petitioners, and his companion. (O.
Kutti Mammu) was a tenant of the Brahman who had rendered himself obnoxious
as a landlord generally, and who had prevented Kutti Mammu from ploughing
His land until arrears of rent due had been paid or until security had been
given for its due payment. Moidin Kutti was merely a tool in the hands of Kutti
Mammu, and there were also five others who had been arrested on suspicion. The
two ringleaders were deported, two of the remaining five had to furnish security to
keep the peace, another was released unconditionally, and the other two were
released with a warning. The man who disclosed the design received a reward of Rs.
200.
A Hindu of the toddy-drawer caste, named Kannancheri Raman, who had
several years previously embraced and subsequently renounced Islam, was
proceeding by a river footpath from his house to work at the Malapuram barracks at
about 6-30 in the morning of the 18th June 1884. He was there waylaid and attacked
in a most savage manner by two Mappillas armed with hatchets, and was very
severely wounded. He managed, however, to get free and fell into the river close by,
whence he contrived to make his escape to the house of his brother, by whom he
was taken to the barrack hospital.
He at once denounced Avarankutti and Koyamutti as the men who had
wounded him, and stated that a third person, one Kunhi Mammad Mulla, was
present and held him whilst the others attacked him. These men had intended to
run the usual fanatical course, but their courage failed them at the last moment,
and they were in due course arrested, brought to trial, and, being convicted of
attempt to commit murder, were sentenced to transportation for life.
Three other persons were afterwards deported in connection with this case
and five others released with a warning. The Acting District Magistrate (Mr. Galton)
proposed to fine the amsam (Kilmuri) in’ the sum of Rs. 15.000, of which he
proposed to assign a sum of Rs. 1,000 to K. Raman as compensation for his
wounds, and these proposals were in due course sanctioned by the Government.
It was found necessary subsequently to reduce the fine to about Rs 5,000 by
reason of the poverty of the Mappilla inhabitants.
The proposal to assign Rs. 1,000 of this sum to the apostate K. Raman
appears to have rankled in the minds of the Mappillas generally. These held the
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perverted view that an apostate should suffer death, and viewed the idea of granting
a reward to an apostate for his wounds as a covert attack on this cherished dogma
of their religion. This, and the fact that the pseudo-sahids (martyrs) in this case had
set out fully resolved to die as such, and had not had courage enough to adhere to
their resolution, were viewed as slurs upon the faith of Islam which could only be
washed out in blood.
Champions of the faith were required, and these were found, not among
the recreant inhabitants of Malapuram, but away in the north of the taluk among the
wild timber-floating population, who earn a precarious living amid hardships and
dangers of no common sort.
And the following narrative sets forth how they fared in their self-imposed
mission in defence of their “pearl -like faith.”
At 4 A.M. on 27th December 1884, Kolakkadan Kutti Assan and eleven
other Mappillas proceeded to the house of Kannancheri Choyi Kutti, the brother of
the apostate K. Raman mentioned in the narrative of the preceding outrage, in
search of the latter, who, fortunately for himself, was absent. The house is on the river
bank within sight of the barracks of the European infantry stationed at Malapuram, and is
situated less than half a mile distant therefrom. When Choyi Kutti, hearing a noise at his
cowshed, opened the door to ascertain what it was he was greeted by a volley from
the firearms carried by the party. Two of the shots took effect on him and he fell
badly wounded. His son, a small boy, was also wounded. The gang set fire to the
thatched roof of the house and drove the women and children out of it. On leaving
the house in flames they raised the Mussulman cry to prayers.
The noise was distinctly heard in the barracks, but no one paid any
attention to it as firing of guns at that time was quite common in the
neighbourhood.
After this exploit the gang formed up and marched right through the
Malapuram bazaar, passing within twenty yards of the police station, and continued
on their course along the Great Western road (No. 6) for a distance of over eight
miles, warning people whom they met to get off the road. A Brahman who failed to
comply with this peremptory demand, was mortally wounded by the leader of the
gang with a bullet from a No. 6 gauge single-barrelled muzzle-loading elephant rifle1
which he carried, and received besides a cut from a heavy knife behind the ear.
NOTEs: 1. The rifle has "Samuel Nock invenit" on the lock plate. END OF NOTEs
Long before they left the road it was broad daylight, and they sent sundry
message to the Officer commanding, Malapuram and to the District Magistrate of
what they had done.
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On reaching the 21st mile 4th furlong they diverged to the north into the
wild hilly and jungly country stretching thence to the Beypore river. At the river they
halted a short time to take some Food. After doing this a party of seven of them
proceeded straight across that river, which was at the time fordable, to the Hindu
temple of Trikkallur, lying in the Urngattiri amsam of Ernad taluk. They halted, for a
short time only, at the Churott mosque, which lies about three-quarters of a mile
from the temple on the opposite bank of a large paddy flat.
The seven men broke into the temple and took possession of it, raising the
Muhammadan cry to prayer, and firing their guns out of the four windows of the
upper-storeyed gate-house.
The above occurrences happened during the Christmas holidays, and both
the Special Assistant Magistrate and the Assistant Superintendent of Police
quartered at Malapuram were absent from the station. The head constable of police
however put himself, as soon as the particulars were ascertained, in communication
with the Officer commanding (Captain Curtis of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry),
and the latter with a party of his men started in pursuit of the gang, which, however,
having had a long start, was never overtaken, and the detachment returned the same
afternoon to their barracks.
The District Magistrate (Mr. W. Logan) and the Police Superintendent
(Major F. Hole) were at Calicut when the news of the outrage arrived late in the
forenoon of the same day. Hastily gathering as many as possible of the police
reserve under Inspector Sweeny, they marched in the afternoon and evening to
Kondotti, and before midnight received authentic intelligence that the gang of
fanatics had taken possession of the temple at Trikkallur. Hearing that the gang had
firearms, the District Magistrate sent from Arikod, which was reached in the early
morning of 28th, urgent requisitions to Malapuram and Calicut for dynamite, as it
was not at all improbable that this gang of fanatics meant to depart from the tactics
of their predecessors and to fight from behind walls with firearms, instead of
charging the troops in the open as had been the practice heretofore. After events
fully justified this anticipation.
The paddy flat beneath the temple on the east was reached at 10-30 a.m.,
and the Mappilla inhabitants of the locality were assembled and despatched to bring
in the fanatics if possible. But in this they failed and only brought back a message to
the effect from the fanatics : “K. Raman committed an offence worthy of death by
becoming an apostate. You not only did not punish him for this offence, but you
actually proposed to reward him with Rs. 1,000” (the sum proposed by Mr. Galton
as compensation for his wounds) for doing it. How could we let him live under such
circumstances?”
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One of the members of the deputation had the hardihood to remain behind
when the rest of the party retired from the temple and joined the gang of fanatics.
They now numbered twelve. The heart of one of the original party having failed him
when the neighbourhood of the temple was reached in the preceding afternoon.
The fanatics had burnt two houses in the neighbourhood in the morning as
a warning to the people that they must be supplied with provisions. They had also
caught and killed for food a cow which they found near the temple.
The first shot was fired by the fanatics shortly after the deputation of
Mappillas retired from their interview with the gang. About 2 p.m. a party of 28 men
of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry, commanded by Lieutenant Day and accompanied
by Surgeon-Major Joseph Heath,1 reached the spot from Malapuram. It was
determined to attack the temple from the west, on which side the ground was open,
whereas the direct route on the east side was not only steep, but, owing to the
sloping nature of the ground, no musketry fire could be directed on the building
until close range was reached, and even then there was no room for more than ten
men in the first line of attack.
NOTEs: 1. Shortly afterwards killed by dacoits in Burmah to the great regret of a wide circle
of friends. END OF NOTEs
On the west the building, and in particular the upper-storeyed gate-house in

which it was believed the fanatics meant to make their stand, could be seen from a
distance of over half a mile. It was known that the fanatics had but one rifle in their
possession, the one already described ; the rest of their armament consisted of a
double-barrelled muzzle-loading percussion gun, about 14 bore, by Westley
Richards, a smooth-bore muzzle-loading percussion musket, and two smooth-bore
muzzle-loading percussion country guns, besides several heavy chopping knives, etc.
The temple, and in particular the upper-storeyed gate-house, occupied a
most commanding position except on the east, where the view was obscured by
trees.
As Lieutenant Day’s party came in sight at a distance of about 500 yards the
fanatics opened fire from the upper-storeyed gatehouse with their rifle throwing
conical bullets of over three ounces, which, from their ragged shape and high
velocity, due to excessive charges of English sporting gunpowder, flew over the
heads of the detachment with a scream like that of a small cannon ball. The Light
Infantry assumed the attack formation, advancing by rushes of a few yards, and
having the police in reserve behind them.
No casualties occurred until the military and police had both entered the
spacious outer temple square through the ruined western gate. Here they found
themselves, with massive bolted wooden doors, stone walls, and thick tiled roofs
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separating them from their enemies, who held the spacious inner square and the
upper-storeyed eastern gate-house. But the walls which sheltered the Mappillas also
afforded shelter to the military and police, for the fanatics, not expecting the attack
from the western side, had only partially loop-holed it.
As Lieutenant Day was reconnoitring the building he received what at the
time appeared to be a fatal wound from a bullet at the southern door of the inner
square and had to retire. And the fanatics began to come down from the upper-
storey building into the inner square and to make loopholes in the roof for shots at
close range. Axes were procured, but it was soon found to be an impossible task to
break open the massive doors.
A retreat from the outer square became necessary, and just as this critical
operation had been successfully accomplished under a brisk fire, but without
casualty, Lieutenant Cardew of the Oxfordshires came up shortly before sundown
with 28 more men. The fanatics had all this while kept up a brisk fire from the
upper-storeyed building and the western doorway of the inner square, and
numerous very narrow escapes from their bullets had occurred.
The reinforcement enabled Lieutenant Cardew to guard during the night
two of the four gates leading through the walls of the outer square of the temple,
and the charge of a third, the eastern one, was taken by the police reserve. The
southern gate was left unguarded during the night. This fact was probably not
known to the Mappillas in the temple nor to those in the neighbourhood, several of
whom, armed with guns, had been seen suspiciously hanging on the flank of
Lieutenant Day’s detachment as it marched up to the temple, and from others of
whom there came defiantly at intervals across the intervening paddy flat a wild
Muhammadan call to prayers during all the time that the musketry was playing in the
temple front, in sympathetic response to similar cries raised by the fanatics in the
temple.
Two men unarmed attempted to pass into the temple during the night, but
were stopped by the sentries. It is certain, judging from previous experience, that
recruits would have joined the gang in large numbers during the night had these
precautions not been taken.
Captain Curtis arrived during the night with some dynamite, and Mr. Twigg,
the Special Assistant Magistrate, who had travelled all the way from Madras after
receiving news of the outbreak, also arrived in the early morning. The Mappillas had
been busy loop-holing the western side of the temple during the night, and at the
first dawn, as the party of six officers stood closely together in a group talking, the
first shot from the new loopholes in the temple was fired, and the bullet from an
overloaded gun fortunately whistled harmlessly over their heads.
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The means of getting access to the temple had now arrived, but a difficulty
which had not been foreseen occurred, for no one present knew how to handle the
explosive. And those who eventually prepared the cartridges had never even seen
the explosive before. A series of experiments were made separately first with fuse,
then with fuse and detonator, and finally with fuse detonator and cartridge. The
experiments being successful, about twenty-five cartridges were tied together and
enveloped in a thick coating of wet clay.
Just as these preparations were being made, Captain Heron Maxwell arrived
from Calicut with Surgeon Cusack and 50 men of the Royal Fusiliers.
The troops and police were then divided into three parties ; the larger
number, including nearly all the police, were posted at every available spot round the
ruined outer wall of the temple to fire upon the upper-storeyed gate-house and all
the loopholes in the doors and roof of the north-west and south sides of the inner
square. Another but very small party of picked men were told off to line the few
practicable places in the ruined wall on the cast side. A third party was held ready to
receive the fanatics with the bayonet if they charged out.
These arrangements having been completed, a brisk fire was opened on the
north-west and south sides against the loop-holed doors and roof of the inner
square. And when the firing ceased, Private Barrett of the Oxfordshires ran up to
the western door of the inner square and placed a dynamite cartridge on the sill. The
fuse went out ; a second cartridge was brought and placed in like manner beside the
first one.
After an interval which seemed an age to those waiting for the result, a loud
report shook the ground, a dense cloud of smoke and dust rose from the doorway,
and when this cleared away it was seen that the dynamite1 cartridges had successfully
done their work by blowing in the door and displacing the beams with which the
fanatics had strengthened it inside. Another five pound cartridge had subsequently
to be used to clear away the wreck.
NOTEs: 1. It is believed that this was the first occasion on which dynamite was used in
actual warlike operations in face of an enemy in India. END OF NOTEs
After this the taking of the stronghold was only a matter of time. But it was
not accomplished without further bloodshed. Private Miles, one of the steadiest
shots in the Oxfordshire detachment, had been told off as one of the marksmen at
the eastern gate to protect Private Rolfe of the Royal Fusiliers, who laid the
dynamite charge at the eastern door. Rolfe had laid one charge, but the fuse had
gone out. Miles was peering through some bushes growing on the ruined outer wall
with his head only exposed, when a fanatic shot him dead from one of the
loopholes in the upper-storeyed gatehouse.
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History
Rolfe, nothing daunted, successfully laid the second charge in spite of a

brisk fire from the fanatics and smashed in the eastern door.
The north door was next destroyed, and a cross-fire poured through the
north and west doors drove the fanatics in the inner square up into the upper-
storeyed building.
Their determination to resist desperately to the end was remarkable. They
had a bullet-proof parapet extending to a height of nearly thirty inches above the
floor of the upper-storeyed room in which they were now all gathered. By lying or
even kneeling behind this, they were absolutely safe from injury from the bullets,
which crashed through the broad wooden planks which closed in the room on all
sides above this thirty inch parapet. In the interstices between these planks
loopholes had been cut. Each fanatic took his turn to fire at the military and police
sharp-shooters lining the outer wall.
As the muzzle of his gun was seen protruded from the loophole and in act
to fire, some twenty or thirty of the marksmen lining the ruined outer wall, fired a
volley at the spot, and some of their bullets crashing through the wooden planks, hit
the fanatic in several parts of his body simultaneously, but usually in the head or
throat or chest. It was thus that they all died one by one.
As their fire slackened the interior of the temple was gradually occupied by
the military and police, and the last dynamite cartridge was used to blow open the
massive trap-door giving access to the upper-storeyed gate-house room where the
final stand was made.
Of the twelve fanatics, three were still alive, but two of them were
speechless and died immediately ; the third man lived about twenty-four hours.
The casualties among the military were one private killed and one officer
(Lieutenant Day) and one private wounded. It is marvellous that the casualties were
so few in number, considering that the fanatics were afterwards estimated to have
fired not leas than two hundred and fifty shots at the party of order.
This serious outbreak was followed by several other small affairs, all
pointing to the existence of widespread excitement and fanatical zeal, the particulars
of which it is unnecessary to relate here.
The Soudanese Mahdi was at this time (January-April 1885) occupying a
large share of public attention. One fanatical teacher at least selected his exploits for
the theme of many exciting discourses, and a mysterious Hungarian stranger, under
the guise of a priest, who admitted that he had known Oliver Pain, the Soudanese
Mahdi’s Frenchman, made his appearance shortly afterwards at Cochin.
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The risks run by the party employed in suppressing the Trikkallur gang
from the firearms used by the fanatics made the Government decide to disarm three
taluks of the district (Calicut, Ernad and Walluvanad). And this ticklish operation
was, notwithstanding the excited state of the Mappilla community at the time,
successfully carried out in the month of February 1885 by the district officers. It had
a most beneficial effect on the population of the tracts in which the order was
enforced.
Five disarming parties were organised, each in charge of a Magistrate with a
police officer to assist him. To each party were attached a havildar’s guard of sepoys
and a head constable’s party of the Police Reserve of the district. Troops furnished
by the 12th Regiment were imported by rail, and stationed at all the important
centres, and a considerable body of European troops furnished by the Oxfordshire
Light Infantry was located at Malapuram and Calicut, in the heart of the country to
be disarmed ready to act in any direction in which their services might be required.
“The general1 plan of the operations was to start from a common centre-
the country lying around Malapuram, where the bulk of the European force lay in
readiness for any emergency and by sweeping clean all amsams lying in the rear and
on the flanks of the several disarming parties, to concentrate eventually three of the
disarming parties on the country where the gang of rebels was originally recruited.”
NOTEs: 1. District Magistrate's report. No. 1871, dated 1st, May 1885, to Government.
END OF NOTEs
The military and other preparations were kept secret up to the very last
moment, until in fact the troops (brought, by rail from Bangalore) were at their
appointed stations. “The sudden descent2 of the troops, their swift and sudden
seizure and firm hold of all the important, places, the sudden and widespread issue
of the demand for the surrender of all arms, the shortness of the time allowed to the
people to think over the matter, the enforced surrender of their arms, and the ease
with which, on the failure of the telegraph line, we were enabled to open up
communication almost as swift and far more secure, were all well calculated to
impress the population with a wholesome fear of the resources of the Government.
NOTEs: 2. Ibid. END OF NOTEs
The allusion to the failure of the telegraph line relates to a curious

coincidence which happened on the very day (10th February) on which the troops
arrived in the district. In the afternoon of that day communication between Calicut
and Malapuram was suddenly interrupted ; it was known that some people in Calicut
had been discussing the effect which an interruption to the wires would have had
on the outbreak of December 1884.
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It was thought at the time that the interruption might have been caused by
design3, and in any case the necessity for a substitute made itself strongly felt.
Signalling parties were accordingly organised. The Urot hill (1,573 feet) near
Malapuram was occupied in force by a signalling party of the Oxfordshires, who
communicated by hetic by day and by lamp at night with the General Officer
Commanding at Calicut, 22 miles with Malapuram, where the bulk of the European
force was stationed, 6 miles ; and with the District Magistrate’s disarming camp, as
it moved to its various disarming stations, namely, Manjeri, 8 miles; Pandikad. 16
miles; Wandur, 17 miles; and Arikkod, 10 miles.
NOTEs: 3. It was long afterwards satisfactorily ascertained that this was not the case. END
OF NOTEs
The number of arms of all kinds collected was very large, namely, 17,295, of
which no less than 7,503 were firearms of different kinds.
A marked change for the better was immediately perceived in the
"demeanour of the people of the disarmed tracts directly these operations were
brought to a close.
But the people of the neighbouring taluk of Ponnani were the next to
betake themselves to acts of violence.
During the night of 1st May 1885 a gang of Mappillas, consisting of T. V.
Virankutti and eleven others, broke open the house of a Cheraman (slave caste)
called Kutti Kariyan, and murdered him and his wife and four of their children, and
set fire to the house and a neighbouring temple. The victim had become a convert
to Islam many years previously, and had reverted to his original religion fourteen
years ago. The Mappillas of the neighbourhood had been in the habit of taunting
him with his lapse from Islam, and he in his turn had made free use of his tongue in
returning their taunts.
After effecting the murders, the gang, who had one gun with them,
proceeded to a police station (Kalpakancheri) with a view to help themselves to the
police arms, but finding that guarded, they struck a course northwards towards the
Urot hill near Malapuram, just above-mentioned, with the avowed intention of there
taking post in a small Hindu temple on the summit of it. But want of water
compelled them to descend the hill on the west, and the attitude of their co-
religionists in that part of the country, which had just been disarmed, being
unfriendly, they retreated during the night of the 2nd May to their own country side,
and in the early morning of the 3rd they seized the house of a wealthy Nambutiri
Brahman, landlord of Ponmundam amsam, in the Ponnani taluk.
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On the afternoon of that day they were there attacked by a party of the
South Wales Borderers from Malapuram under Captain Logan, accompanied by the
Special Assistant Magistrate Mr. Twigg.
They opened fire from a window in the third or top storey of the house at
the military, and wounded four of the men ; upon this the fire was returned, and, as
it afterwards turned out, the few shots poured in at the windows of the room to
silence the fire killed all twelve persons. Three, including a child, had joined the
gang in place of three men whose courage had failed the m, and who had deserted
during the night.
Their determination to be slain was perhaps quite as strong as that of the
Trikkallur gang, and they adopted similar tactics in trusting to their firearm to do
damage to their opponents. The disarming of the Ponnani taluk was next ordered by
the Government. And this operation was also successfully carried1 out by the
district officers in June 1885, on the same plan which had been adopted in the
previous February. One company of the 2nd Battalion South Wales Borderers was
brought by rail from Madras and stationed at Vettattpudiangadi, where it remained
during the disarming operations.
NOTEs: 1. Arms collected 3,800, of which 1,010 were firearms. END OF NOTEs
On the morning of 11th August 1885 a Mappilla named Unni Mammad

entered the house of Krishna Pisharodi, referred to in the account of the outrage of
9th September 1880, under the pretence of buying paddy. The Pisharodi was at the
time engaged in having an oil-bath. The Mappilla slipped past the attendants, and
with one blow of a hatchet which he had brought with him, he inflicted a mortal
wound on the recumbent Pisharodi’s head. He was immediately seized and
disarmed, and was, after trial in the usual course, eventually hanged. He thus missed
the martyr’s fate which he repeatedly, during his examinations, avowed to have been
the mainspring of his actions. But the real fact was that the man slain was what
would have been called in Ireland a “landgrabber,” and the persons (Mappillas) for
whose lands he was intriguing set up Unni Mammad to commit the murder.
This closes the narrative up to date of these fanatical outrages, which have
been a special feature in the district administration during the last half century. And
it only remains to add that the policy of repression advocated by Mr. Strange has
signally failed to fulfil what was expected of it.
Fanaticism of this violent type flourishes only upon sterile soil. When the
people are poor1 and discontented, it flourishes apace like other crimes of violence.
The grievous insecurity to which the working ryots are exposed by the existing
system of landed tenures is undoubtedly largely to blame for the impoverished and
discontented state of the peasantry, and a measure to protect the working ryot, of
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whatever class, is the means which seems to command itself the most for the
amelioration of their condition. With settled homesteads and an assured income to
all who are thrifty and industrious—and in these respects the Mappillas surpass all
other classes—it is certain that fanaticism would die a natural death.
NOTEs: 1. That they are both -poor and discontented Mr. Logan’s Special Commission
conclusively proved. END OF NOTEs
Education is looked to by many as an equally certain means to the same

end, but starving people are not easily taught, and, if taught, it would only lead to
their adopting more effectual measures to obtain for themselves that security and
comfort in their homesteads which it would be much wiser to grant at once. With
increasing comfort at home, an increasing demand for education would certainly
spring up. Without comfort, and with education, discontent would only be
increased.
From the foregoing narrative it will be seen that the Malabar district of the
present day is made up
— First—of the “Province of Malabar” the government of which was
fixed by Sir R. Abercromby, Governor of Bombay, and the Joint Bengal and
Bombay Commission, on the 18th March 1793,
Secondly—of the Dutch possessions of the town of Cochin and its outlying
patterns, and of Tangasseri, which were acquired on 20th October 1795, and
Thirdly—of the district of Wynad, acquired at the end of the last Mysore
war on the 22nd June 1799.
Few changes except the restitutions already described to the French have
occurred in its limits since that last event happened. In 1830 the Nilgiri plateau was
attached to Malabar, and its precise limits as a “separate charge” were defined1 in
1836. In 1843 the Nilgiris were transferred1 to Coimbatore, leaving to Malabar the
range of the Kundahs. In 1860 the Kundahs were also transferred1 to Coimbatore
and “a small nook of land at the confluence of the Moyar river and its western
tributary on the confines of the Mysore territory” was at the same time transferred
from Coimbatore to Malabar. On 6th October 1870 an interchange1 of some small
bits of land in the Walluvanad and Ponnani taluks took place between Malabar and
the Cochin State.
NOTEs: 1. Treaties, etc., ii. CCLXXVII, CCLXXIX, CCLXXXI, CCXCl. END OF
NOTEs
In 1873 “the tract known as Outchterlony valley” was transferred2 from

Malabar to the jurisdiction of the Commissioner of the Nilgiris. And finally the
three amsams of South-east Wynad—Nambolakod, Cherankod, and Munnanad—
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were in like manner also transferred2 to the Nilgiri district from and after 31st March
1877.
NOTEs: 2. Treaties, etc., ii. CCLXXXIV, CCLXXXV. END OF NOTEs
The Collector3 and District Magistrate has political, revenue, and magisterial
authority over the whole of these territories, except in regard to the revenues of the
outlying bits of territory at Anjengo and Tangasseri, which are leased4 for terms of
five years to the State of Travancore, and in regard to the territories of Ali Raja of
Cannanore, comprising the kirar limits at Cannanore and the Laccadive Islands of
Agatti, Kavaratti, Androth, Kalpeni, and Minicoy. The Collector and District
Magistrate has ordinarily5 only magisterial jurisdiction over the kirar limits of the
mainland, while the Raja collects the revenue there and exercises full authority over
the islanders.
NOTEs: 3. In Appendix XIV will be found lists of the British officials, Chiefs, Residents,
Commissioners, Supervisors, Principal Collectors and Collectors from the earliest times down to the
present day.
4. Treaties, etc., ii. CCLXXXV1, CCLXXXVII.
5. Since 1877 the islands have however, been under attachment for arrears of revenue due by
the Raja, and the administration is in process of reformation. END OF NOTEs
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The Land
CHAPTER IV. THE LAND.

Section (A). Land Tenures.
NB: The author puts forward the views contained in this section as those which he has
adopted after an attentive study of the sources of information at present available on the
subject of the Malabar Land Tenures. These views are not to be taken as an authoritative
exposition of this most difficult subject, which requires further study and a more detailed
elucidation than the author has been able to give to it. The Glossary in Volume 11 contains
the information gathered by Special Commissioner Mr. Grœme in the years 1818-21.
The unit of the Hindu social system was the family, not the individual. An
association of families formed a body corporate, as, for example, the gramam (village)
among the Brahmans, the tara (foundation, street, village) among the Nayars, the cheri
(assemblage, village, street) among the Tiyar (Cingalese, Islanders) and other foreigners.
These guilds or corporate bodies had each distinct functions1 to perform in
the body politic, and those functions were in old times strictly hereditary.
In their administration of the land the Hindus seem to have made no
exception to the rule governing their social organisation. The chief agricultural class
appears to have been the Vellalar2 the water rulers, that is, the irrigators. To them was
given the duty3 (Karanmei or karayma) of regulating the distribution of water for the
irrigation of the paddy or rice holds. The Tiyar or Islanders who, it is said, came from
the south (Ceylon), bringing with them the southern tree, that is, the cocoanut (Tengnga
or Tengnga4 or Tengayi), were appointed the planters of the body politic. These two
guilds seems to have formed the bulk of the agricultural population, as indeed they do
down to the present day if the Nayars, who have been classed5 as belonging to the
protector and governing classes, be relegated to the agricultural class to which they
appear to have originally6 belonged, and to which as matter of fact they belong at the
present time.
2. From Vellum — water, and the verb aluka = to rule, possess, have.
3. Conf. pp. 110—12. So common became the use of this word and its derivatives that karalar
came to signify in time husbandmen, or ploughmen,
4. From Tekku = south and kay - fruit.
5. Page 114.
6. The tradition is strong that Kerala was conquered by Chola and Pandya Vellalars. END OF
NOTEs
Why the Nayars have been classed in the protecting or governing class has
already been explained.1 The Nayars were, as the Keralolpatti2 expressly says, the
people of “the eye,” “the hand,” and “the order,” and it was their duty “to prevent the
rights from being curtailed or suffered to fall into disuse.”
NOTEs: 1. Pages 111, 112, 114 and 116.
2. Conf. p. 132, 133. END OF NOTEs
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Vol 1 – Chapter Four
So that they had as a guild higher functions in the body politic than merely
ploughing the rice-fields and controlling the irrigated lands.
What these higher functions were has already also been more than once
alluded to. They were probably the holders of the “sharing-staff”3 of office and they
were also supervisors (kanakkar) and as kanam or the supervision right is the name4
applied to one of the commonest tenures at the present clay, it is essential to a proper
understanding of Malayali land tenures that the original idea attached to the word
kanam should be thoroughly understood.
NOTEs: 3. Varakol—Deed 3, Appendix XII.
4. This is however only a very modern use of the name. The proper name for the tenure given
correctly in Mr. Graeme’s Glossary (Appendix XIII), namely, Pattola, or Pattamala. The Kanakkaran was in
fact, as assorted in these pages, the person responsible to the ruling authority the (pad) for the ancient land
revenue assessment (pattam). This modern use of the word kanam as applied to the tenure has tended not a
little to obscure the facts—see foot-note No. 1, to Deed 57, Appendix XII. END OF NOTEs
It is unfortunate, under such circumstances, that so little evidence of the early

use of this word is as yet forthcoming. It occurs twice in deed No. 3 and once in deed
No. 4, Appendix XJI. In the two first instances Dr. Gundert has translated it as “right”
and in the last as “possession” or (with some hesitation) as “mortgage.”
In considering its meaning it is well to notice in the first place that the word
itself – kanam - comes from the Dravidian verb kanuku (=to see, or to be seen), and
the root from which that verb is derived is kan (= the eye). Now to the Nayars as a
caste belonged the duty of supervision (literally, “the eye”) as the Keralolpatti expressly
says, so that kanam in its original sense seems to have denoted this function of theirs in
the body politic. And there can be little doubt that it is in this sense and not as either
“possession” or “mortgage” that it is to be understood in deed No. 4, Appendix XII.
The phrase in which it there occurs runs as follows: - “The purchase of this
domain of the Padarar with all that belongs to it has been then made by the Ruler of
Cheranadu and his Officers, and the image of the God of the Padarar with their
sovereignty has been subjected to the Six Hundred, and is kanam held under the king.”
The Six Hundred were the heads of the Nayar militia of the nad, the karnavar (elders or
managers) of the families of authority — Taravads5—in the taras (Nayar villages)
constituting the nad (county).
NOTEs: 5. From Tara (= Nayar village) and padu (= authority). END OF NOTEs
The Nayar guild were in short constituted the supervisors (kanakkarar) of

this domain purchased from the Padarar.
But what was this supervision duty or right (kanam) ? Clause (i) of deed No. 3,
Appendix XII, proves conclusively that the Kon (shepherd, King) and the Pati (Lord,
Master) had shares of the produce due to them as the persons of authority in the land.
And the specific words used in the ninth century A.D. to denote these shares have
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probably survived to the present day, and are still in common use in a contracted form
as puttam. For pattam seems to be a compound word signifying the padu (=authority’s)
varam (= share) and it was perhaps used in its uncontracted form in this clause of deed
3.
The exact words of the clause will be found printed in the appendix. To make
the matter clear, the translation is here given:—“that Anjuvannam1 and Manigramam2
protect the citizens in every coming generation, that in the space within the four gates
and on the spot where land for sale3 (or “under prohibition”3) is given in trust4 the
Palace (or supreme Government) having received the King’s tithe, Anjuvannam5 and
Manigramma6 receive the Lord’s title.”
NOTEs: 1. The Jews as a body corporate.
2. The Christians as a body corporate.
3. This is Dr. Gundert’s translation, but as suggested in the foot-note to the clause an alternative
reading is “for cultivation."
4. Karanmei = Karayma. The use of this word signifies very clearly that the land was given in
trust to the appointed workers or functionaries in the body politic. Conf. foot-note 3, p. 596.
5. The Jews as a body Corporate.
6. The Christians as a body Corporate. END OF NOTEs
In respect to the lands referred to in this deed it is clear that the Jews and
Christians in their corporate capacities had conferred on them the chief function in the
State usually performed by the Six Hundred Nayars, viz., Protection. Indeed, as will be
seen from clause (x), they were specifically associated with the local Six Hundred in
that function. It is peculiarly significant therefore that to them also should have been
assigned the Pati (- Lord’s) tithe or share of produce.
For it follows that this share of produce did ordinarily at that time go either to
the Six Hundred or to the Patis (Lords) of the Six Hundred. In fact the other function
appertaining to the Six Hundred, namely, kanam (- supervision), appears to have been
the function of giving the land in trust to the proper workers in the body politic and of
gathering from them in due course the shares of produce due to the persons in
authority.
The Nayars were no doubt spread over the whole face of the country (as they
still are) protecting all rights, suffering none to fall into disuse, and at the same time
supervising the cultivation of the land and collecting the kon or king’s share of the
produce - the public land revenue in fact.
If this reasoning be accepted it brings the Malayali land tenures very
appreciably nearer to those prevailing in the rest of India, for it has, up to very recent
years, been a matter of accepted belief with the British authorities that, prior to the
advent of the Mysorean Mussulmans, there was no public land revenue in Malabar.
Other books !
The Honourable the Court of Directors were, and with good show of reason,
very sceptical1 on the point. The above facts seem to afford the clue to all the
confusion of ideas which has prevailed. There was a public land revenue in Malabar
originally, just as in every other Indian province, but with the extinction of the supreme
kon or king in the ninth century A.D. the share of produce due to him did not pass to
those (the present Rajas) who supplied in some measures his place, but to the great
bulk of the people—the Nayars, the Six Hundreds — with whom, in their corporate
capacities all power rested.
NOTEs: 1. Para. 246 of Section (B) of this chapter. END OF NOTEs
In order to understand the Malayali land tenures aright it is therefore first of

all necessary to realise THE FUNDAMENTAL IDEA that certain castes or classes in the
state were told off to the work of cultivation, and the land was made over to them in
trust for that purpose, and in trust that the shares of produce due to the persons in
authority should be faithfully surrendered.
The next most important point to keep in remembrance in regard to Malayali
tenures is the fact that from the earliest times (about 700 A.D). the date of deed No. 1,
Appendix XII) grants of land by the ruling power were customary, and what those
grants conveyed requires to be examined attentively. In the first place the grants were
of a hereditary character.
This is fully borne out by the earliest deeds (Nos. 1, 2 and 3, Appendix XII).
The distinctive phrase used was peru. It occurs in various combinations. Viduper,
Atmiperu, Attipettola, 2 Perumartham, Epperpettatu, etc. Peru itself is the verbal noun of the
verb peruka (= to bring forth), and it means birth.
NOTEs: 2. Peru inflected becomes perru, the two rr shaving the force of tt. END OF NOTEs
The word has fallen into disuse of recent years, and it has been supplanted by
its Sanskrit equivalent janmam, which, coming from the root jan, also signifies birth.
Both words when applied in speaking of land tenures conveyed the idea of hereditary
grants.
In the next place these grants have almost invariably been made with water3.
The earliest exception to this rule is, curiously enough, the earliest deed of all, the Jews’
deed (No. 1). It has already been remarked4 that the Vedic Brahman factions were not
cited as witnesses to this deed, although only a few years later they were witnesses to
the Christians’ deed (No. 2, Appendix XII).
NOTEs: 3. Conf. pp. 221, 269.
4. Page 271. END OF NOTEs
In deeds Nos. 35 and 38, Appendix XII, two other exceptions to this rule
occur; moreover it has already also been said5 that the Vedic Brahmans in their passage
southwards spread abroad their influence chiefly by claiming for themselves the gift of
Other books !
The Land
being able to compel the gods to do their will by reason of sacrifices conducted in
sonorous Sanskrit, and in particular they claimed the power to secure benefits in the
next world for their devotees by ensuring for them and their deceased ancestors an
easy passage into the Heaven of lndra.
NOTEs: 5. Page 260. END OF NOTEs
The deeds of the various dynasties there cited afford the most conclusive
proof that in the grants of land conferred on the Brahmans in return for their services
the act of giving is almost invariably accompanied or preceded by “libations of water,”1
by “pouring of water,” by copious libations of water,” “with water in hand,” with the
pouring of “water out of a beautiful golden water-pot,” etc.
In twenty-five of these deeds casually observed and extending from about the
fifth century A.D. down to the year 1339-40 A.D. the omission to mention a libation
of water as accompanying a grant of land to these Vedic Brahmans occurs only once.
In that solitary instance however—a deed of the Rashtrakuta king Karka III in A.D.
972—73—the grant is as usual made “in order to increase the religious merit and the
fame of (my) parents and of myself.”
Several preceding Rashtrakuta grants contain the phrase, so that the instance
in question seems merely to be the exception proving the rule. It is hard to resist the
conclusions therefore that, as the notes to deeds Nos. 2 and 38 set forth, the
customary libation1 of water in making a hereditary grant of land in Malabar was
introduced by the Vedic Brahmans about the beginning of the eighth century A.D.,
and that in parts of the district, where the influence of that caste was but small, this
incident in a grant or sale of hereditary land did not obtain currency down to quite
recent years.
NOTEs: 1. A water grant or deed was called in parts of the country, where the Brahman
influence preponderated, "Nir-atti-peru” = Water-contact-birthright. In some of the deeds to be found in
Appendix XII there is a curious extravagance of phraseology, as if the parties had laboured to find phrases
to put the fact that they were water grants beyond the possibility of a shadow of doubt. See deeds 15, 18,
27, 30, 33, 37, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 46 and in particular 47, whereas in the Chirakkal Taluk, where the
Brahman influence was small, the phrase is simply “Deed of price or sale". END OF NOTEs
In regard to the next, and perhaps the most important point of all, the sharing
of the produce in these hereditary holdings, much has already2 been said. And it is
needless to say more here than that all the State functionaries employed had well-
defined shares of the produce set apart for them. The Kon, or king, had his share. The
pati or overlord (the hereditary grantee apparently if there chanced to be one) had
likewise a share.
NOTEs: 2. Conf. pp. 110—112, 269, 270. END OF NOTEs
Other books !
And if there was no such pati or hereditary grantee then it seems his share
went to the general body of protectors and supervisors—the “Six Hundred,” the Nayar
guild, the Kanakkar.
But when the reign of the Perumals came suddenly to an end in 825 A.D. in
the manner indicated in the historical chapter, their (the Kon's) share of the produce
was, in Malabar at least, certainly not passed on to the chieftains who in some measure
supplied the Perumals’ place.
It was probably different in Cochin—the territory left to and still ruled by the
last Perumal’s heirs—and in that territory the mupra1 (the 3 paras2 per 10 paras of
produce in wet lands) and the Ettukkonnu1 (the 1 in 8 of produce in gardens) do
probably still represent what was the Kon's share, or in other words the public land
revenue of the State. This holds true also of the Cochin territory usurped by the
Travancore Maharajas in the eighteenth century A.D. and perhaps also of their other
territories further south.
NOTEs: 1. See footnote to deed No. 42, Appendix XII, find these words in Appendix XIII.
2. Bushels. END OF NOTEs
But in Malabar it seems to have been very different, and the fact that there was
no public land revenue originally in Malabar has been accepted until very recent years
as correct. It is certain that, with two trifling exceptions which are fully explained in the
next section, none of the Malayali chieftains were levying a regular land revenue when
the Muhammadan invasion occurred in 1766 A.D.
As the Court of Directors pointed3 out, these chieftains certainty had revenues
from their demesne lands, but from the lands of the bulk of those subject to them they
certainly levied nothing. The chieftains were hereditary holders (Janmis) of the lands
from which they derived a share of the produce and on the other hand the bulk of
their subjects— the headmen of the Nayar protector guild—had likewise become
hereditary holders (janmis) of their own lands by usurping the Kon's share of the
produce. This is the only explanation which accounts for the state of the facts at the
time of the conquest of Malabar, and moreover it is a very natural explanation.
NOTEs: 3. Para. 246 of Section (B) of this chapter. END OF NOTEs
The hereditary holders (janmis) had originally, as already seen4, obtained their
grants of land with many and formidable formalities. Those formalities lingered still in
some respects, and it was usual down to recent times at a sale or gift of hereditary lands
to summon the neighbours and others as witnesses to the deed.
The conveyance of the property, under such circumstances, conferred on the

buyer in Malabar the hereditary position which was sold, but in Travancore, on the
other hand, the conveyance of hereditary property at once broke the allodial character
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The Land
of the holding, and liability to pay land revenue (Mupra and Etlukkonnu) seems to have
at once attached to the holding if the strictly hereditary lien was broken. The Janmis
transferee in short becomes an ordinary ryot in Travancore on purchasing the Janmum
right.
It is unnecessary to say that under these circumstances sales very rarely take
place.
In this respect the difference between the usages observed in the two
countries was probably due to the fact that the Travancore chiefs were stronger in their
own dominions than the Malabar chieftains were. They were able to insist on
conditions which the Malayali chieftains were powerless to enforce.
The Travancore chiefs had a standing army drilled by a European—the
Fleming, Eustachius D’Lanoy—which made them, at least latterly,1 independent of the
protector guild of Nayars. That they were strong enough to insist on such conditions
as the above before the standing army was organised by D’Lanoy is extremely
doubtful.
NOTEs: 1. First half of eighteenth century. END OF NOTEs
In Malabar the hereditary property (janmam) was freely bought and sold long
before the Mysorean invasion took place. And it was this buying and selling, and in
particular the wording of the deeds in which such transactions were recorded, that
misled the early British administrators and caused them to form erroneous views on
the general subject of the Malayali land tenures. A reference to the deeds printed in
Appendix XII seems at the first glance to leave no doubt whatever as to the character
of these hereditary holdings. And it was unfortunately this superficial view which was
adopted by the early British administrators, and which led to janmam being regarded as
equivalent in all respects to the dominium of the Romans. The deed of sale in No. 15
conveyed to the purchaser:-
1. Good stones.2 15. Field ridges.
2. Charcoal3 16. Canals.
3. Stumps of Stryhnos nux vomica. 17. Washing places.
4. Thorns. 18. Footpaths.
5. Roots. 19. Streams.
6. Stupid, bad, wicked snakes. 20. Deer forests.
7. Holes. 21. Shady places where bees make
honey.
8. Mounds or foundations. 22. Desam.
9. Treasure. 23. Authority in the Desam..
10. Wells, 24. Amsam (? share).
11. Skies. 25. Rank.
Other books !
12. Lower world. 26. Battle wager.

13. Water-courses. 27. Import, export and transport
customs,
14. Boundaries. 28. Everything else.4
NOTEs: 2. The various things conveyed are sometimes strung together in a sort of alliterative rhyme thus
:—
Veppum Cheppam = Hidden treasure and its receptacles.
Kallum Karadum — Stones good and bad.
Kanyira Kuttiyam ~ Stumps of Strychnos nux vomica.
Mullum Muradurn = Thorns and roots.
Murkkan Pambum = Stupid, bad, wicked snakes.
Melakasattolavam - Up to the Heavens.
Kilpatalottalavam ~ Down to the lower World.
3 Probably a mistake for karudu -= Bad stones.
4 Matta opperppettatum = Everything heritable. END OF NOTEs
Most of these details seem at first sight to place beyond all doubt the
completeness of the rights the purchaser acquired in the soil according to Western
notions. The things enumerated seem at first sight to have been named purposely to
express, with exaggerated force, the completeness of the relinquishment of the seller's
rights in the soil. But with these material objects it will be observed were conveyed
such things as “authority in the Desam,” “Battle wager” and “Rank” and “Customs”
which are clearly outside the idea of dominium as understood by Roman lawyers. It
would have been well therefore if, before adopting the view that janmam was equivalent
in all respects to dominium, a full investigation had been made of the points wherein
they differ.
Passing to another characteristic deed (No. 9) it will be seen that in that case
the objects conveyed were:-
(a) A Desam along with—
1. Authority in the Desam.
(b) A Temple along with—
2. The seat of honour at the temple feasts,
3. The management of the temple affairs,
4. The temple wet lands,
5. Do. gardens,
6. Do. slaves1, and
(c) A Tarawad (authority in the Nayar tara or village) along with —
7. The Tarawad wet lands,
8. Do. gardens,
9. Do. slaves,1
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The Land
10. Do. house-sites.

NOTEs: 1. Cherumar. Conf. pp. 147-247. END OF NOTEs
Here the lands and gardens and house-sites are appurtenant to the Desam,
Temple, and Tara authority conveyed.
The chief things conveyed were the different kinds of authority attaching to a
Desam, a Temple and a Tara, and not merely the lands and slaves.
The idea of property in the soil—the Western or European idea — was
evidently not the idea uppermost in the minds of the persons who executed this deed.
They, on the contrary, concerned themselves chiefly with the “authority” constituting
the main items conveyed.
The rest of the items were more appurtenances to the “authority.” This seems
to go to the root of the whole matter, and to differ essentially from the Western idea of
ownership in the soil alone.
What in fact the Malayalis were buying and selling in this instance (deed No. 9)
and also in the case of deed No. 15 was not the soil, but a position with emoluments
(in Malayalam Sthanam Manam) conferring authority of different kinds, and of varying
degrees over the classes resident within the limits specifically laid down in the deeds.
The European looks to the soil , and nothing but the soil. The Malayali on the
contrary looks chiefly to the people located on the soil.
If however the fundamental idea of the Malayali land tenures referred to above
(p. 599) is borne in mind, namely, that the land was made over in trust to certain
classes for cultivation, the above will be seen to be a most natural outcome of the
Hindu system.
And the surprising fact which has frequently been commented on that even
the soil1 itself might drop away from the owner of a janmam holding and yet have him
as completely as before the janmi of the whole of it, becomes under the above
interpretation a perfectly natural —nay, a necessary—consequence.
NOTEs: 1. Conf. Perum artham, Attiperu, Janmam, Sthana-mana-avakasam, Otti, Ottikumpurameyulla
kanam, Nirmutal, Janmapanyam in Appendix XIII. END OF NOTEs
This essential difference between a Roman dominus and a Malayali janmi was
unfortunately not perceived or not, understood at the commencement of the British
administration. The janmi has, by the action of the Civil Courts, been virtually
converted into a dominus, and the result on the workers, the cultivators, has been, and
is, very deplorable. While on the one hand therefore it is erroneous to suppose that the
janmi was the dominus, it is equally inaccurate, on the other hand, to say of the kanakkar
or supervisors that they were the real proprietors of the soil.
Other books !
The Nayar protector guild was distributed over the length and breadth of the
land exercising their State functions of “the eye,” “the hand,” and “the order,” and, as
kanakkar, they collected the share of produce due to the janmi. But janmis were at times
hard pressed for coin, and it became customary for them to borrow what money they
wanted from the kanakkar.
In proportion to the sum borrowed the kanakkaran deducted from the pattam
(i.e., the padu or authority’s varam or share) collected by him for the janmi a quantity of
produce sufficient to meet the interest on the sum lent. The interest was calculated at
certain customary2 rates, and the balance of produce alone went to the janmi.
NOTEs: See Palisa in Appendix XIII. END OF NOTEs
Sometimes the interest on the sum borrowed was sufficiently large to wipe out
the whole of the janmi's share of produce. In that case the kanakkaran's interest in the
land was styled an otti. It might be thought that a janmi having borrowed enough to
wipe out by way of interest the whole value of his share of produce had but little
proprietary right left in the land, but this was not so, for the obvious reason that,
besides his share of the produce, he held authority of various kinds over the persons,
located on his hereditary land, and it was customary to value this remaining right at one
half of what had already been advanced to purchase the otti.
The deeds by which these further transactions were effected were : —
(a) the Ottikkum Purameyullakanam, by which the janmi borrowed ten per cent
or more on the sum received for the otti right ;
(b) the Nirmutal, by which the janmi borrowed another ten percent on the
money already advanced for the otti and ottikkum puram rights. He pledged himself to
confer the water (nir) right on his creditor ;
(c) the janmapanayan or pledge of the janmam right. Under this deed a still
further advance was made on the sums borrowed, and there was but one step beyond
this, and that was the conveyance outright of the janmam right itself.
The general effect of this system of borrowing was that the janmi first
mortgaged up to its full value his own share of the produce, and, when that was no
longer available for payment of the interest, he had to meet the interest out of his other
resources as janmi. What he pledged was evidently not the soil itself but only his share
of its produce so far as that went, and after that his other income and emoluments
attaching to his status as janmi of the land.
But the Civil Courts, acting on the idea that the janmi was a dominus and as such
entitled to take what he could get out of the land, viewed his pledges as pledges of the
soil itself, and in this way they have almost completely upset the native system of
customary sharing of the produce.
Other books !
The Land
Under that system of customary sharing of the produce the kanakkaran’s

advance to the janmi used to be periodically1 revised in one or other of two ways,
namely : —
NOTEs: 1. These renewals originally do not seem to have taken place more frequently than at
successions to the janmam and kanam holdings respectively. They appear to have been in fact succession
duties. (Conf. Purushantaram in Appendix XLIL END OF NOTEs
(a) A deduction of about thirteen per cent, of the advance was made, and a
renewed deed showing the loan diminished by this percentage was prepared, or
(b) no deduction was made, but instead of it the kanakkaran made to the janmi
a payment equivalent to the customary deduction described in (a) and the renewed
deed showed the full original sum advanced.
When (a) was the method adopted of revising the relations between the parties
the portion, of the janmi’s share of the produce which had been pledged for the
advance was of course released to the extent of thirteen per cent from the pledge and
the kanakkaran had to account for that thirteen per cent, to the janmi.
When (b) was the method adopted, it is clear that the portion of the janmi's
share of the produce which had been pledged for the advance remained still fully under
pledge, and no portion of it was released.
The latter method (b) is that which has generally been adopted, and the
periodical renewal fees—now however extravagantly enhanced, amounting in the most
favourable cases to about twenty-five per cent, of the mortgage advance—form one of
the regular2 sources of a janmi’s income.
NOTEs: 2. The renewals now take place after every twelve years. END OF NOTEs
The idea at the root of this system of renewals was that in due course of time
the janmi’s customary share of the produce should be freed from the mortgage with
mutual advantage both to the janmi and to the kanakkaran. If, on the other hand, it was
to their mutual advantage to maintain the existing relations, the payment made in lieu of
the customary deduction was of advantage to both of them.
The system was admirably conceived for binding the two classes together in
harmonious interdependence. This excellent arrangement necessarily fell to pieces at
once when the Civil Courts began to recognise the force of contract—the Western or
European law— as superior to the force of custom—the Eastern or Indian law.
And this supersession of the unwritten native law was the final blow which
ruined a system already endangered by the erroneous idea that a janmi was really a
dominus. Under the native system when, after a series of renewals by the method (a)
above described, the janmam holding had been freed from mortgage, the parties (janmi
and kanakkaran) simply resumed their original stations.
Other books !
The kanakkaran began to yield up again to the janmi the whole of the janmi’s
customary share, as he had been in the habit of doing before the loan had been made,
and remained on the holding in his capacity as supervisor (kanakkaran). But the Civil
Courts viewing the janmi as a dominus, and the kanakkaran’s advance as a mortgage of
the soil, began to hold under the law of contract that on full payment of the advance
the kanakkaran was bound to yield up the soil itself.
This is the latest development of the law resting on the decisions of the
Courts, and it is probably not of earlier date than about 1856 when the Sadr Adalat
circular, which has been published in extracts in Appendix XIII, was sent to the Courts
for criticism. Though that circular was never formally promulgated, there is no doubt
that the decisions of the Courts in the last thirty years have generally followed the law
therein laid down. Prior to 1856 or thereabouts, when a janmi wished to get rid of a
kanakkaran he allowed the pattam to fall into arrears and then sued for the arrears and
in execution sold the kanam interest.
To save all trouble and doubt the janmi frequently now embodies in his kanam
deeds a clause expressly contracting that the soil shall be given up on demand. The
tenure which comes next in order of importance to kanam and its connected tenures,
otti, etc., is that known as kulikkanam. The agricultural workers in the State organisation
not only cultivated the lands already reclaimed, but were constantly bringing fresh
waste lands under cultivation. And kulikkanam was the term applied to the admirable
system under which this was arranged.
The customary sharing of the produce of freshly reclaimed land took place (in
the case of gardens at least) at the end of a certain number of years (usually not more
than twelve years) from the time the land was taken up. Up to that time the cultivator
enjoyed the whole of the produce, and all he had to pay was a trifling fee of two
fanams (about nine annas) on entry on the soil, paid more as an act of fealty to the janmi
than as recompense for the privilege of possession.
When the janmi—the padu or authority—wished to take his customary share of
the produce (pattam) of the newly reclaimed land he had to buy it from the cultivator at
the rates recognised as customary in such transactions. But the money thus due was
seldom or never paid down in cash. It was allowed to remain as a debt bearing interest
at customary rates, and that interest was made good from the janmi s customary share
of the produce.
This sum, however, under the system (a) described in regard to renewals of
kanam deeds, was in due course of time gradually wiped off, or under the system (b),
also described above, the janmi might content himself with taking periodically the
renewal fee. The renewal did not come round very frequently in former days ; the
longer the janmi lived, and the longer the cultivator lived, so much the better it was for
Other books !
The Land
both of them, and when a succession did take place it was only thirteen percent of the
debt that was wiped off, or an equivalent payment that was made.
This system—another necessary result of the Hindu social organisation— was
evidently conceived in much wisdom for protecting the interests of the cultivating
castes. Here again however ideas borrowed from the European law of property in the
soil have come in to upset the well-conceived customary law of Malabar.
The courts have viewed the janmi' s payment of the customary improvement
rates as payment in full to the cultivator for the improvements made by him in the soil,
whereas there can be no doubt that the rates so established by custom were intended
merely as compensation for the customary share of the produce—the pattam—due to
the padu or janmi by reason of those improvements and as in no sense whatever
compensation to the cultivator for his customary share of the not produce.
The leading principle however has very fortunately been preserved, and it is
now the well-recognised practice of the courts that a tenant making improvements in
the soil has to be paid for them if deprived of his holding, and the courts have even
gone further than this and have awarded compensation for improvements even to a
cultivator1 who had not taken the trouble to recognise any one as janmi before
beginning his reclamation of the waste land.
NOTEs: 1. The courts view him as trespasser, but the original idea is that all cultivators are in
duty bound to reclaim waste land, in Malabar and trespassers on waste land are unknown. END OF
NOTEs
Under the native customary law the cultivator could not be ousted except by a
decree of the tara2, for the janmi was powerless unless he acted in strict accordance
with the Nayar guild whose function was “to prevent the rights from being curtailed or
suffered to fall into disuse” as the Keralolpatti expressly says.
NOTEs: 2. The kanakkar used evidently to transfer themselves and the janmi's shares of the
produce of the lands they supervised from one janmi to another as their interest or inclination dictated.
And even down to the present day a kanakkaran considers it a perfectly legitimate manoeuvre on his part
to transfer himself and the land to any janmi who, he thinks, is an abler man than the one under whom he
holds. It is such a well-known device that it has now become the settled law of the courts that, a
kanakkaran denying his janmi's title operates the forfeiture of his own. See Kanam in Appendix XIII END
OF NOTEs
So that in fact the holders of the kanam and kulikkanam tenures were
practically permanent1 tenants.
NOTEs: 1. Mr. Rickards, the second of the Principal Collectors of Malabar, entered
Parliament after retiring from the service, and in a book published by him in 1832—(“India, or Facts
submitted, &c.”—Smith, Elder & Co., London—Vol. II, page 279) he recognised the fact that they were
practically permanent tenants. END OF NOTEs
Other books !
This practical permanency of possession of their holdings coupled with the

preservation and observance of the customs regulating the shares of produce among all
concerned, naturally enough created proprietary rights in the soil, and those rights are,
and always have been objects of free2 transfer by sale gift or mortgage. What was sold,
given or mortgaged however was confined strictly to the interest of the person making
the transfer.
NOTEs: 2. Conf, Inakkumuri in Appendix XIII. END OF NOTEs
That being so it is evident that the recognition by the courts of the janmi as
dominus and the enforcement by them of contracts have wrongfully benefited the janmis
and have deprived the others of the just rights.
These others were in effect CO-PROPRIETORS with the janmis and the action
of the courts has virtually expropriated them.
On the 5th of February 1881 the Government of the late Mr Adam appointed
Mr. W. Logan as Special Commissioner to inquire into and report on the general
question of the tenure of land and of tenant-right in Malabar and the alleged
insufficiently of compensation offered by the landlords and awarded for land
improvements made by tenants. Mr. Logan visited, in the course of the inquiry, all the
taluks in the district except Wynad ; he received petitions from 4,021 individuals , and
on the 16th June 1882 submitted, for the orders of Government, the result of his
investigation in a report of 112 pages, with two additional volumes of appendices, one
of papers on various connected subjects and one of the evidence collected.
The foregoing is an abstract of the chief points treated in the report with
"some slight revisions, and the following gives some further insight into the relations
between the parties. For any further information the glossary published in Appendix
XIII should be referred to, as it contains the earlier views of the British officers on the
subject as well as the views of the Honourable the Judges of the Sadr Adalat in 1850
and references to many decisions of the courts in the time which has since elapsed.
When the Mysorean invasion occurred there was necessarily a disturbance of
the customary sharing of produce which up to that time had prevailed. For the
Mysorean Government of Hyder Ali and Tippu assessed the whole of the country with
an ordinary Indian land revenue settlement. And this land revenue assessment had
necessarily to be carved out of the customary shares of produce.
What the Mysoreans did1 was to take everywhere as land revenue a certain
portion more or less of the pattam (i.e., of the padu or authority’s customary share of
the produce). This portion encroached more or less on the customary shares of both
kanakkaran and janrni (who seem to have generally divided the pattam equally2 between
themselves) and to have left the customary share of the cultivator intact.
NOTEs: 1. For details see Section (13) of this chapter.
Other books !
The Land
2. The influential Nayars who set themselves up as patis or overlords or janmis appear to have
generally divided share and share alike the whole of the pattam between themselves and their subordinate
kanakkar. END OF NOTEs
Stated in few words it may be said the Mysoreans took as Government land
revenue a proportion of the puttum, varying, when taken in kind, from ten per cent, (on
the wet lands in the Chera nad) to a hundred per cent, (on the garden lands in all South
Malabar).
But the collection as land revenue of a hundred per cent, of the pattam simply
meant the expropriation of the whole of the junmi's and kanakkaran's customary shares
of the produce, and this was no doubt intended by the Muhammadans in all the
localities where a hundred per cent, was the share taken of the pattam.
In practice, however, matters arranged themselves differently, and in
consequence of the variations in the commutation rates used for converting the shares
of produce taken as land revenue into a land revenue assessment payable in money a
greater degree of quality in the assessments was obtained than would at first sight
appear probable. For instance, the ten per cent of the pattam of wet lands taken in the
Chera nad in produce was commuted at Rs. 260 per 1000 Macleod seers, while 50 per
cent, of the pattam of wet lands in Kadattanad was commuted at only Rs. 40 per 1,000
Macleod seers. In reality then, other things being equal, the ten per cent, assessment in
the Chera nad was really heavier, when taken, in money, than the fifty per cent,
assessment in Kadattanad.
In the tables to be found in Sub-sections III and VII of Section (B) of this
chapter the money rates imposed by the Muhammadans on the various classes of land
in Malabar and those subsequently imposed by the British Government have been
reduced to certain common standards of produce assessments, and the result may be
roughly stated thus :
(a) Assuming that in 1805-6 the actual market prices of produce were the same
as those which Special Commissioner Graeme thought to be fair averages in 1822, no
earlier figures being available, then in 1805-6 the assessments (which were still
practically those imposed by the Muhammadans) averaged in the case of —
1. Wet lands—about 863 per cent, of the pattam.
NOTEs: 3. Special Commissioner Graeme, working by different methods, found that these
percentages came respectively to, wet lands fully 90 per cent, gardens over 62 percent. See also “'Modern
Land Revenue” in Appendix XIII. END OF NOTEs
II. Cocoanut gardens—about 67 per cent, of the pattam.

Areca-nut do. 53 do. do.
Jack -tree do. 69 do. do.
3)189
Other books !
Average for gardens 631 do. do.

NOTEs: 1. Special Commissioner Graeme, working by different methods, found that those
percentages came respectively to, wet lands fully 90 per cent gardens over 62 percent. See also “Modern
Land Revenue" in Appendix XIII. END OF NOTEs
III. Modan lands — about 32 per cent of the gross produce.

Punam do. 42 do. do.
Ellu do.— market prices not available.
In many cases, however, and over large tracts of country the assessment, rates
greatly exceeded these proportions, and swallowed up the whole of the pattam.
(b) Whereas now the assessments, owing to the enormous rise of late years in
the prices of all kinds of produce, average no more than in the case of
I. Wet lands— about 31 per cent, of the pattam.
II. Coconut gardens— about 18 per cent, of the pattam.
Areca-nut do. 17 do. do.
Jack-tree do.—present pattam rates not available.
2) 35
Average for garden: 17 per cent, of the pattam.
III. Modan lands—about 7 per cent, of the gross produce.
Punam do. do. 4 do. do.
Ellu do. do. 7 do. do.
The various kinds of pattam adopted for revenue purposes in different, parts
of the district are fully explained in paragraphs 226, 226(a), 226(b), 227, 228, 290, 306
of Section (B) of this chapter.
The general result may be thus stated:
In some cases the pattam was at first wholly expropriated, and nearly
everywhere the share taken of it as revenue was very large; whereas of late years, owing
to the rise in prices, the share taken of it as land revenue has become very moderate.
The effect of this disturbance of the ancient system of customary sharing of
the produce has next to be traced.
The Mysoreans made their land revenue settlements with the kanakarar. The
reason of this was that the janmis— the Nambudiri Brahmans and petty chieftains of the
Nayar caste—had fled from Malabar owing to the terror inspired by Hyder Ali’s and
Tippu’s ferocious administrations, or if they remained in Malabar the same terror
prevented them from ever trusting their persons at the Muhammadan cutcherries.
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The Land
“When, therefore,” so wrote the Bengal and Bombay Joint Commissioners1 in

1793, “the system of establishing a general money rental, payable to these latter (the
Mysorereans) was to be carried into execution, the local delegates of the Mysore
Government had in general no other choice than to settle the assessment on each
portion of territory with these kanoomar2 or kanumkar who, making some reservation3
out of the gross produce for a payment to their jenmkaars4 or landholders (which
appears from Oodhut Roy’s examination, entered in the Voucher No. 4. to have been
in proportion of three-twentieths), together with a further deduction of about eleven-
twentieths5 for their own support and profits and for the charges of cultivation, agreed
to pay the residue, being about six-twentieths,6 to Government.”
NOTEs: 1.For the settlement of Malabar on its cession by Tippu.
2. The Joint Commissioner's spoiling has been retained. The proper spelling is of course
kanakkarar.
3. Special Commissioner Graeme’s inquiry in 1818-22 proved conclusively that no such special
reservation was made, except in two instances to benefit the Muhammadan community. Paras. 147 and
192 of Section (B) of this chapter.
4. This is the Joint Commissioner's spelling. The proper spelling is janmakkarar or shortly janmi.
5. It is perhaps needless to say in the light of the facts stated in Section (B) of this chapter that
these are fanciful figures likewise.
6. Styled elsewhere by the Commissioners the “cultivating farmer” or kanumkar i.e., kanakkaran.
END OF NOTEs
There is no doubt whatever that Oodhut Roy, a Mysorean Mahratta Revenue

officer, misled the Joint Commissioners. The latter, acquainted only with European
ideas on the subject of property in the soil, naturally enough looked on the janmis as
European landed proprietor and on the Kanakkarar as ‘‘cultivating farmers.”
Mr. Fanner, one of the Commissioners, made some inquiries, and that was the
result he obtained. But he seems to have been correctly informed as to the ancient
system of the customary sharing of the produce which, in the case of wet lands, was
thus described to him :—
From the quantity of seed the produce was calculated according to the
qualities of the soil. “Of this produce one-third was allowed to the farmer6 for his
maintenance, profit, etc., one-third for the expenses of the Tiyars, Cherumars or other
cultivators attached to the soil, one-third went as rent to the jelmkaar7 or landlord.”
NOTEs: 6. Styled elsewhere by the Commissioners the “cultivating farmer” or kanumkar i.e,
kanakkaran .
7. Property janmakaran or janmi. END OF NOTEs
Understanding here by the word “produce” that net produce was meant,8 it
will be seen that the parties interested in the soil divided the net produce among them
share and share, alike.
NOTEs: 8. Conf. para. 228 of Section (B) of this chapter. END OF NOTEs
Other books !
Again at an interview between Mr. Jonathan Duncan, President of the Joint

Commission, and a number of influential Mappillas, the latter told Mr. Duncan that
since Hyder's time the rights of the jenmkaars9 had been taken or absorbed by
Government,” and consequently the Mappilla jenmkaars were at the time paying
nothing to the janmis except what they gave them out of charity, and they specifically
asserted that nothing had been reserved for the janmis in making the Mysorean land
revenue settlement, and they denied that the janmis were “of right” entitled to anything.
NOTEs: 9. i.e. janmakare or janmis. END OF NOTEs
This was the beginning of the serious misunderstanding of the janmi’s true
position in regard to the land, which has since, as already set forth in the beginning of
this section, produced so much hardship to the classes beneath them.
For the Joint Commissioners viewed the Mappilla assertions as a claim on
their part to the janmam right itself, whereas it is clear that what they really meant was
that the janmis' authority and customary share of produce had been “absorbed” by the
Government, not by themselves.
It was long a matter of wonder and surprise among the earlier British
administrators that the Mappillas had been so easily satisfied when all the janmis fled to
Travancore. It was thought that they could then have easily seized the janmam right
itself, that is, as it was then thought, the absolute ownership of the soil according to
European ideas.
What the Mappillas really did at this time was to advance small sums of money
and to obtain deeds assigning to them large kanam rights.
Had janmam meant in those days dominium, as it does now, and had kanam
meant a more lease liable to cancelment every twelfth year, as it does now, it may be
shrewdly guessed that the Mappillas would not have made such indifferent bargains.
But the fact was that a kanakkaran was as much the proprietor of the soil as the janmi
himself was in former days.
They were in short, as already set forth, CO-PROPRIETORS bound together
in interest by admirable laws of custom.
The Joint Commissioners however looked on the janmi as the “owner”1 of the
soil, and on the kanakkaran as the owner’s lessee, and as such liable to be turned out of
the lands “when the time they leased them for expires,” and on 28th October 1793
those views were embodied in a proclamation and promulgated throughout the district.
NOTEs: See No. LXVIII, Part II, of Mr. Logan’s “Collection of Treaties, etc., relating to
British affairs in Malabar.”—Calicut, 1879. END OF NOTEs
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The Land
From that date forward the land disputes and troubles began, and the views
above described of the Joint Commissioners were not the only causes contributing to
the anarchy which ensued.
The revenue management of the country was made over, on behalf of the
Honourable Company, to the petty chiefs, who, freed by the irresistible power of the
British Government from such ties as previously bound them, were only too eager to
seize the opportunity of bettering themselves at the expense of those who had
formerly been the mainstay of their power.
Writing of the chiefs of North Malabar — but the same thing held good for
those in the South—the Joint Commissioners observed “they have (stimulated,
perhaps, in some degree by the uncertainty as to their future situations) acted, in their
avidity to amass ‘wealth, more as the scourgers and plunderers than as the protectors
of their respective little States.”
From 1792 till 1802 the district was in a state of constant disturbance from
rebellions and organised robberies, and in these the Mappillas took a conspicuous part.
In 1803 Major Macleod, the first of the Collectors of Malabar, attempted in
the short space of forty days to revise the land revenue of the district, and he also at
the same time raised the rates of exchange. The fabrication of accounts, the over-
assessment of produce, the assessment of produce that did not exist, the assessments imposed on wrong
people, and the rigid exaction of the revenue under those inequalities were sufficient of
themselves to raise a rebellion, but when to this was added that the ryots found to their
astonishment, after paying in their full assessment in fanams, they had not, owing to
very ill-advised changes in exchange rate, paid enough, the whole country rose en
masse.
Major Macleod, with a view to lessen the excitement, summarily resigned his
charge into the hands of Mr. Rickards, the First Judge of the Provincial Court then
located at Mahe. Mr. Rickards had been employed in the district for some years, and
was well acquainted with the people. His first steps were to cancel the revised
assessment and to restore the former rates of exchange, and finally.
He took an early opportunity of calling together the principal janmis of South
Malabar to confer on the important question of fixing the Government share of the
produce.
The result of the deliberations is stated in detail in paragraphs 226, 226(a), and
226(b) of Section (B) of this chapter, and the proclamation embodying the details will
be found in Appendix XV.
The net produce was ascertained in the customary method—this net produce
was then assigned to the parties interested in the manner following :
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Wet lands. Gardens

One -third to the cultivator One-third to the cultivator
Two-fifths to the Government One-third to the Government
Four-fifteenths to the Janmi One -third to the Janmi
In regard to Miscellaneous Lands (Modan, Punam and Ellu) the sharing system
generally adopted1 was
Three-fifths of the gross produce to the cultivator.
One-fifth do. do. Government.
One-fifth do. do. Janmi.
Even Mr. Rickards seems to have been misled as to what "not produce” really
meant, for Special Commissioner Graeme, who made a very full inquiry into the
subject afterwards (1818-22), found2 that there were besides customary shares of the
produce deducted, at the time, for harvesting, threshing, etc., and for the carpenter,
blacksmith, etc., amounting in all to about twenty percent, of the gross produce, which
customary shares were, as a matter of course deducted from the gross produce, and did not form part of
the gross produce distributed under the system adopted by Mr. Rickards in consultation with the
janmis.
NOTEs: 1 Paras, 232, 254, 273, 277, 278 of Section (B) of this chapter.
Conf. Kolulabham in Appendix XIII. END OF NOTEs
The scheme also failed to provide for the kanakkaran's customary share. The
kanakkar were not, it seems, consulted at all in the matter. They were, it will be seen
from what has been said above, entitled to a customary share equal to that of the janmi.
But, in this distribution scheme if the kanakkaran’s position ever came up at all in the
discussion, it must have been passed by with the reflection that he was a mortgagee, an
investor of his money—-which was to some extent true—and that he might be trusted
to look after his own interests and investments.
The janmi was by this scheme finally and fully recognised as the lord of the
soil after the European fashion.
This did not at the time matter very much to the kanakkar, because no
immediate attempt was made to act upon the distribution scheme thus sanctioned, and
indeed in many places the janmis were so heavily in debt1 to the kanakkar at this time
and for years afterwards that they were unable to pay off their claims.
NOTEs: 1. Principal Collector Warden to the Board of Revenue, 12th September 1815,
paragraph 12. END OF NOTEs
Even when Special Commissioner Graeme made his enquiry in 1818-22 the
kanakkar were still in some places paying the janmis nothing (paragraph 551 of his
Other books !
The Land
report) and in other places were allowing the janmis only twenty per cent,2 of the
balance left over of the puttam after defraying the Government assessment and the
interest on the sums advanced by them (the kanakkar) to the janmis. (Graeme’s report,
paragraphs 632, 732, 733, 734, 735, 802, 803.)
NOTEs: 2. In Ernad at least there seems to have been some agreement come to to this effect
in 1790-91, and in 1818-22 Mr. Graeme mentions the facts that the courts were acting upon this custom in
adjudging cases that arose. (Graeme’s report, paragraphs 732-35) Conf. Nikuti Sistam and Pattinnu randu in
Appendix XIII. END OF NOTEs
For years, therefore, it was a matter of hardly any importance to the kanakkar
on what principles the Government assessment had been fixed. They were virtually in
full enjoyment of their rights. But about 1831-32 a most important change took place,
for prices of produce began to rise.
Prices which were abnormally low just then rose in 1831-32 to about fifteen
per cent, after the setting in of the rains. In the following year they again rose twelve
per cent. Prices were again higher in 1833-34. Next year grain prices were a little lower,
but garden produce more than maintained its position. The year following grain prices
again fell, but garden produce prices were maintained. In 1836-37 grain quite recovered
its position and garden produce fell considerably.
In 1837-38 grain prices were maintained, while garden produce fully recovered
its previous good position. And so it went on. There occurred a marked all round rise
in the five years 1852-53 to 1856-57, and a still more marked rise3 all round in the three
following years 1857-58 to 1859-60.
NOTEs: 3. See para. 315 of Section (B) of this chapter. END OF NOTEs
Under such favourable circumstances the Government land revenue was of

course, collected with great facility. This was first noticed in the year, 1832-33, and in
1833-34 the ease with which it was collected was still more noticeable. Since then the
Collectors have had no difficulty in maintaining clean balance sheets.
But higher prices would enable the tenants to pay more to the janmi as well as
to pay the Government demand with increasing ease, so a very material motive came
into action straining the hitherto quiescent relations between the parties.
Unfortunately also, just before this rise in prices occurred, the parties
interested in the soil had at last been brought face to face with, and enabled to realise,
the innovations brought about in their relative positions by the British administration.
This began in consequence of the inquiry set on foot by Special Commissioner Graeme
in 1823 into “actual rents" as a basis for his scheme of fixing the Government
assessment on wet lands.
Sir W. Robinsons graphic account of the measures adopted to this end, and of
their utter failure [paragraphs 266-68 of Section (B) of this chapter] gives some insight
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into the burning jealousies and strife thus engendered. The country teemed with false
deeds, the courts were crowded with litigants. Those heart-burnings and disputes had
no time to subside, for in 1833 there was commenced another similar inquiry by the
same agency, and this continued for no less than ten years or till 1843.
It must have been at this time that the parties interested began to realise the
enormous changes wrought by European ideas of property in their relative positions,
and it is a very significant and ominous fact pointing in this direction that on the 26th
November 1830 - at a time when, looking at the high prices obtained for their produce,
the cultivators one would have thought had every reason to be satisfied—there
occurred the first of the Mappila1 outrages reported on by Special Commissioner
Strange in 1852.
NOTEs: 1. Paras. 399-407 of his report. END OF NOTEs
From that time down to the 14th September 1857 thirty-eight such outrages or
attempted outrages occurred, including among the number the one which, shortly after
Mr. Strange’s special commission, resulted fatally to the Collector Mr. Conolly.
In reporting on those fanatical outrages Mr. Strange forcibly pointed2 out that
by means of fanaticism “the power of the Mappilla caste and the prostration of those
of the adverse persuasion have been much advanced, and out of this substantial
benefits to the aggressive body have arisen.”
NOTEs: 2. Paras. 38-39 of his report. END OF NOTEs
And again, “the evil has become deep-rooted in the country, and being based
not on simple delusion merely, but upon actual criminality and prospect of gain, it will
not of itself expire” and he continued, “even the desire for plunder may prove a
sufficient motive for the organisation of these outbreaks, some having already largely
profited in this way”; and finally, “they will be more and more directed against the
landed proprietors."
He found1 that in one instance the relatives of certain of the fanatics avowed
“that it was a religious merit to kill landlords who might eject tenants,” and in Mr. Collett’s (the
Special Assistant Magistrate's) report on the first of the Kulattur outrages (22nd August
1851) there occurs the following very significant passage :— “The most perverted ideas
on the doctrine of martyrdom, according to the Koran, universally prevail and are
fostered among the lower classes of the Mappillas. The late inquiries have shown that
there is a notion prevalent among the lower orders that, according to the Mussulman
religion, the fact of a jamni or landlord having, IN DUE COURESE OF LAW, ejected from
his lands a mortgagee2 or other substantial tenant, is a sufficient pretext to murder him,
become sahid (or saint), and so ensure the pleasures of the Muhammadan paradise.
This opinion has been openly stated before me by Mappillas, some indeed making a
distinction as to whether the ejection was accomplished by fraud or otherwise, but
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The Land
others believing that the fact of the tenant being thus reduced to poverty was
sufficient.”
NOTEs: 1. Para. 30 of his report.
2. i.e., a Kanakkaran. END OF NOTEs
And the same feeling is more than3 once alluded to in the correspondence on
the subject. Mr. Strange further pointed4 out :—
“The spirit prevailing against the landlords I have remarked, as found by me,
to be very strong, and greed of land unquestionably inflames it.”
NOTEs: 3. Mappilla Outrages Correspondence, Vol. I, pp. 194, 195, 205, 355, 360, 451, 453.
4. Report, para. 39. END OF NOTEs
Finally it is well known that the favourite text of the banished Arab Priest or
Tangal —Saiyid Fazl—in his Friday orations at the mosque in Tirurangadi was :— It is
no sin, but a merit, to kill a janmi who evicts.”
“The land is with the Hindus, the money with the Mappillas," observed5 Mr.
Strange, so to get the land the Mappillas in his view encouraged fanaticism. That “greed
of land” inflamed the movement there can be no manner of doubt, but, in the light of
what has been set forth above, it may be permitted to question the accuracy of Mr,
Strange’s conclusion that this greed was exhibited by the Mappillas alone.
NOTEs: 5. Mappilla Outrages Correspondence, Vol. I, pp. 194, 195, 205, 355, 360, 451, 453.
END OF NOTEs
The real fact seems to have been that the janmis, influenced partly by the rise in
the prices of produce and partly by the novel views of the courts as to their real
position, had at last begun to feel their power as Lords of the Soil and to exercise it
through the courts.
The Mappillas, who had been peacefully in possession of the lands since the
time of Hyder Ali’s conquest, felt it no doubt as a bitter grievance that the janmis
should have obtained power to evict them—a power which did not intrinsically belong
to them — and the influential men among them, looking about for means to protect
themselves, set fanaticism in motion, and at first experienced great benefits from it.
Mr. Strange holding, or perhaps rather never suspecting the accuracy of, the
view that the janmi was really the Lord of the Soil, did not much concern himself with
the land question. He suggested that the Sadr Adalat should issue the circular of 5th
August 1856 already referred to defining the law as then held by the Honourable the
Judges, and on three points he suggested that amendments in the practice of the courts
should be made.
These were—(1) that the fine on renewal of the kanam deed should not be
taken oftener than once in twelve years ;
Other books !
(2) that the fees of various descriptions, but of a petty nature, should be
regulated ; and
(3) that melkanam (an advance on the kanam debt) should not operate to a
tenant’s disadvantage during the currency of his kanam lease.
He directed his main efforts towards the repression of the rampant fanaticism,
and the chief measures finally sanctioned may be shortly described as
(1) a sort of permanent repeal of the Habeas Corpus Act in so far as the
Mappillas are concerned in all disturbed tracts, and
(2) the fining up to total confiscation of property, if necessary, of all Mappillas
resident within the limits of portions of the disturbed district.
The Government of India, when passing the first of the Mappilla Outrages
Act, observed : “Within that period” (the period of five years, to which the operation
of the Act was first of all limited) “it is hoped these fanatical outrages will be entirely
suppressed by means of the increased powers conferred upon the Government of
Madras and the judicial authorities, and by the establishment of the proposed police
corps, and that the continuance of the Acts will be no longer necessary.”
This was written on the 31st March 1854, and unfortunately the Act does still
remain on the Statute Book.
The policy of repression failed to fulfil its objects, and outrages or attempts at
outrage have, notwithstanding the enormous penalties of the repressive Act,
unfortunately occurred on 19th February 1858, 8th July 1860, 4th February 1864, 17th
September 1865, 8th September 1873, June 1874, 20th March 1877, June 1879, 9th
September 1880, December 1880, July 1884, 27th December 1884, 2nd May 1885, and
11th August 1885.
The exhibition of fanaticism on these occasions is still used as a means
towards an end, and Mr. Strange’s description of the results is still true—“The power
of the Mappilla caste, and the prostration of those of the adverse persuasion have been
much advanced, and out of this substantial benefits to the aggressive body have
arisen.”
Fanaticism through the fear inspired by its exhibition exalts the Mappilla
religion, and this carries with it the exaltation of the Mappilla caste. This exaltation of
the Mappilla caste enables them to make better terms with their janmis. The janmis do
not fear the Hindus as a caste. Therefore Hindu tenants have to submit to terms which
Mappilla tenants would not endure. And finally the result is that there is a steady
movement whereby in all the Mappilla tracts the land in passing slowly but surely into
the possession of the Mappillas and the Hindus are going to the wall.
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The Land
Out of 14,034 pieces of land examined by Mr. Logan in the course of his
inquiry as Special Commissioner in 1881 it was found that –
The cultivator held direct from the janmi, ---------
10,328
Do. from intermediaries between himself and the janmi , ---------
3,706
Total
14,034
These 10,328 pieces or land were held on the following tenures
NOS.
I. Permanent tenures with or without rent 338
II. Tenures with advances secured on the land but without rent, not liable to 33
renewal fees at fixed intervals (Otti)
III. Tenures with advances secured on the land but without rent, liable to 26
renewal lees at fixed intervals (Quasi-otti)
IV. Tenures with advances secured on the land, and with rent, not liable to 23
renewal fees at fixed intervals (Quasi-kanam)
V. Tenures with advances secured on the land, and with rent, liable to 3,472
renewal fees at fixed intervals (Kanam)
VT. Mortgages with or without rent for definite or indefinite periods 123
(Panayam)
VII. Leases for twelve years or more (Verum pattam) 972
VIII. Leases for more than one year and less than twelve years 2,752
IX. Leases for one year or at will 2,589
Total 10,328
Similarly the 3,706 pieces held by the cultivators through intermediaries gave the
following results:-
Held by intermediaries. Held by cultivators from
intermediaries
NOS. NOS.
Under Tenure I as 86 7
above,
“ “ II 131 19
“ “ III 9
“ “ IV 78
“ “ V 2,976 443
Other books !
“ “ VI 194 399
“ “ VII 86 245
“ “ VIII 109 233
“ “ IX 37 2,360
Total 3,706 3,706
The kanam tenure is being steadily abandoned in favour of ordinary leases and
more particularly in favour of leases from year to year or at will.
As regards the length of possession by the cultivators of the 14,034 pieces of
land examined, the general results were found to be as follows :—
The largest proportion (over forty-three per cent.) of the grain cultivators have
held possession of their lands for less than twelve years. The next largest proportion of
them (over thirty-four per cent.) have been in possession for over thirty years. Whereas
in regard to the garden cultivators these proportions are exactly reversed ; forty-three
per cent, having been in possession over thirty years, while over thirty per cent, have
held their lands for periods under twelve years. The statistics in regard to eviction suits
supplied the following very suggestive figures:
Average annual number of
Quinquennial periods Suits of eviction Persons against Persons against
whom eviction was whom rent was
decreed. decreed1.
1862-66 2,039 1,891 1,473

1867-71 2,547 3,483 2,549
1872-76 3,974 6,286 4,314
1877-80 4,983 8,335 6,498
NOTEs: 1. Exclusive of those sued in the Small Cause Courts. END OF NOTEs
These figures prove that in the nineteen years preceding Mr. Logan’s inquiry
evictions had been steadily on the increase. Eviction does not however necessarily
follow on a decree for eviction. The janmis have by this power of eviction been simply
forcing up rents, which were formerly very moderate by force of custom. If the tenant
agreed to enhancement of his rent then eviction did not usually follow on the decree
against him. But if he refused he was ejected and a more amenable tenant took his
place. The complaints against these eviction proceedings were both numerous and
bitter, and ranged themselves under a few general heads, the chief complaints being of
eviction : —
(a) from ancestral lands ;
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The Land
(b) on demand of the land by the janmi ;

(c) just as the trees begin to bear;
(d) after due payment of renewal fees;
(e) before being permitted to reap standing crops ;
(f) for refusing to permit tenants’ trees to be cut by the janmi ;
(g) for refusing to give up the janmam title to other lands ;
(h) for sending petitions of complaint ;
(i) of widows and orphans.
On only three out of ninety-eight estates examined in the low country taluks, it
was found that the cultivators were enjoying the share of produce set apart for them
under Mr. Rickards’ scheme of assessment ; on all the others, the cultivators’ shares of
produce had been encroached upon most seriously in most cases and most
outrageously in some.
Consequently complaints of excessive rent and excessive renewal fees were
very common and well founded in most instances.
Another very important subject of complaint was the inadequacy of the rates
paid to the ryots for “improvements” when being evicted from their holdings. The
cause of this has been already explained : the customary rates for improvements were
the rates at which the janmi's share of produce had to be bought, and not at all the
value of the ryots’ interest in his holding. When he (the ryot) wished to get rid of that
(his interest in his holding) he sold it at its full market value, and this he does still
though the janmi's power of ouster has greatly neutralised the value of the privilege.
Among other miscellaneous matters complained of were the following: —
(a) The insecurity to purchasers of kanam rights. This was a very well-founded
complaint looking to the practical permanency of the tenure in former times, and the
tenant’s free power of transfer of his interest in his holding,
(b) Breaches of contract to renew Kanam deeds. The system of renewal as now
developed is an outrageous system of forehand renting requiring extravagant sums to
be paid down on entry or renewal. These extravagant payments having exhausted the
tenants’ resources and tenants’ credit, they cannot readily raise such sums. Renewal
fees are, therefore now paid in driblets as the money can be scraped together, and the
janmi frequently ignores such payments and gives away the land over the tenant’s head,
thus forfeiting the payments made for which receipts are never given,
(c) Having obtained his renewal deed, the tenant is still not left at peace, for,
under the guise of extra payments, fines, gifts, demands of produce, etc., and
subscriptions he has to contribute in many illegal ways to his janmi's comfort and
convenience. If he refuses, he is evicted at the next periodical renewal,
Other books !
(d) The courts having viewed the kanakkaran's advance to his jamni as having
been made to secure payment of the rent (pattam) and as having been also made on the
security of the land, it follows that the tenant cannot be ousted for allowing rent
(pattam) to fall into arrears, and if rent is allowed to fall into arrears it can be recovered
when the kanam advance is paid off at the end of the tenant’s term of occupation. This
being so it has become usual to write off from five to fourteen years’ arrears of rent
from the kanam advance at the end of the term of occupation. In one case, that of a
poor widow, nineteen years’ arrears of rent were so written off, the tenant being unable
to produce receipts for the rent,
(c) Very numerous and well-founded were, the complaints that it is usually
impossible to obtain receipts for rent paid.
(d) The jamnis' managers were as a body impeached, and with good show of
reason, for fraudulent dealings in various ways with the tenants under them.
This brief sketch of some of the contents of Mr. Logan’s report on the land
tenures brings matters down to the present day, and the following conclusions seem to
be justified : —
I. The original Malayali system of land tenure was a system of customary
sharing of the produce, each customary sharer being permitted the free transfer of his
interest in the land.
II. Under British rule one of these customary sharers has been exalted into the
position of a European proprietor holding the plenum dominium as the Romans called it.
III. The other customary co-sharers have consequently been gradually pushed
to the wall and do not now receive their customary shares, and their right, of free
transfer of their interests has been virtually expropriated.
IV. The insecurity to the ryots thus occasioned has resulted in fanatical outrages
by Mappillas and in a great increase of crime. The remedies to be applied are still
(1886) under the consideration of the Government of Madras.
Other books !
The Land
Section (B): REVENUE ASSESSMENTS

EXAMINATION OF THE PRINCIPLES WHICH REGULATE THE LAND
REVENUE ASSESSMENTS IN MALABAR AS BEARING ON THE SUBJECT
OF RENT.
Sub-section I. — Preliminary Remarks and Plan.
The objects which have necessitated the preparation of this paper are mainly
two, viz.
(a). To ascertain (a) To ascertain, first, by reference to the past Revenue History of
proportions between Malabar, the proportions which the land revenue assessments bear
Government land
assessments and not
to the fund available out of the net produce of the land, for paying
produce. a rent to the proprietor and an assessment to Government.
(b). Are these (b) To discover, in the second place, whether these proportions are
proportions anywhere so oppressive at the present time, as to take from the
anywhere
excessive?
people more of the produce than by the fixed principles regulating
the assessments the Government intended to take
Private property in The former object is merely precedent to the latter.
land in India Regarding the latter, it was absolutely necessary to obtain accurate
depends on the
share left, over
and exact notions, before proceeding to the main object of the
after satisfying the present Commission, the consideration of the existing state of the
Government relations between cultivators, intermediaries, and proprietors. It is
demands. sufficiently obvious, and, moreover, it has always been recognised
that private property in land in this country depends on the share of
the produce which remains to the cultivator, after satisfying the
demands of Government. The administrations, Muhammadan and
others, prior to the British, on the East Coast of the Presidency, had
practically abolished private landed estates by raising the
Government demands so as to absorb the whole of the surplus
produce.
The British policy The policy of the British Government has hitherto been to
has been to restore restore property in land on that coast. Evidence is not wanting (see
property in land.
This has, perhaps,
the Famine Commissioners' Report) that that policy of restoring
already proceeded landed property has, perhaps, already proceeded far enough. The
enough. lessons to be learnt by an attentive study of the progress of events in
Malabar, where the condition of landed property designed for the
East Coast has never ceased to exist, may, perhaps, be found to be
under such circumstances capable of more general application, and,
Other books !
at any rate as regards Malabar itself, it is absolutely necessary to a

proper understanding of the land tenures, that exact ideas should
first be obtained regarding the shares of produce which Government
leaves to be divided between the private individuals interested in the
land.
Contrary to the 2. Some reasons will be found set forth elsewhere [Section
view usually (A) of this Chapter] for thinking that the idea hitherto generally
adopted, Malabar
probably at first
received that in ancient times there was no such thing as a land
had a land revenue assessment in Malabar is, after all, a mistaken one. Knowledge on
associated like all this subject is at present extremely limited, and it is now doubtful
other Indian whether the point, if it is eventually cleared up will hereafter be of
countries.
any other than antiquarian interest.
It will be sufficient for the present purpose here to observe that the position
occupied by the Kanakkars in ancient society, will repay the best study that can be
devoted to it, and that it will almost certainly turn out that the proceedings, which will
be found hereinafter detailed in due course, of the Kolattiri Raja in 1736-37 in
Kolattunad, and of the Zamorin Raja a few years later in the Palghat country, were not
after all as hitherto usually accepted, the first essays to assess a land tax in Malabar.
Necessity for 3. Before proceeding to give in detail an account of the measures
reference to certain adopted, first, by Hyder Ali and Tippu and afterwards by the
preliminary matters.
Honourable Company, for introducing a regular land tax
throughout the district, it will be necessary to advert to some
preliminary matters necessary to the correct appreciation of those
measures.
The Malayali mode 4. First, as to the Malayali mode of determining, or rather of stating,
of stating the extent the extent of grain-crop lands, it appears that Malabar has preserved
of grain-crop lands.
is by the quantity of
on this point (as on so many others) the traditionary custom of
seed required to other parts of the Continent. The quantity of seedgrain which it
sow them. takes to sow a certain field, depends so much on the quality of the
soil that it is impossible to form from it any but the very roughest
approximation to the extent of the field, but on the other hand, the
quantity of seed required for any particular field is, other things
being equal, pretty constant, and the outturn multiple being pretty
constant, also, the gross produce of the field is easily calculated.
Reason for this. It will be seen from the paper on Tenures [Section (A) of
Custom, and not this Chapter] that custom - and not, as in these modern days,
composition, competition—ruled everything: it was essential that the gross
distributed the produce of each field should be known in order that, it might be
produce in former
Other books !
The Land
times. distributed by custom ; and hence the adoption of a mode of stating

areas, which, under any other system, would have presented
difficulties.
5. As regards gardens, the produce of which, as in the case of grain lands, was
likewise ruled by custom, it had been usual to count the fruitful trees only and to form
an estimate of their produce for distribution in the allotted shares. A garden, therefore,
came to be known as a garden of so many coco, arcca, or jack trees, and of so many
pepper-vines.
The facilities which 6. The subject of pattam or so-called rent, has been considered, as
this customary fully as extent of present knowledge will permit under the head of
sharing of the
produce afforded
Tenures, and nothing more required here than to observe that when
to the Mysoreans the Mysoreans descended into Malabar under Hyder Ali , they
for assessing a land found, as it were, a system made ready to hand for easily and quickly
revenue. assessing a land tax. The seed sown on each field, the gross produce
of the field, the shares into which this gross produce was divided,
the number of fruitful trees in a garden, the produce of the garden
and the customary shares of it were all points which were, and if
may be added are still, known to the most illiterate husbandman ;
and it was with the husbandmen, and not with the landlords, that
the settlement was made. (Paragraph 196 of the Joint
Commissioners’ Report, 1793).
That settlement proceeded (as will be seen further on) nearly everywhere on
the plan of taking for the Government a certain portion of the pattam or so-called rent
paid by the husbandman.
The Mysorean6a. Finally, it has been too often and too easily assumed in many
settlement was notpublic reports that the Mysorean settlement of a land tax proceeded
systematic.
on a definite system, and was carried out completely and universally
Arshad Beg Khan's on such a system. The good but unfortunate Mysorean Governor
share in it.
Arshad Beg Khan’s name has been too often quoted as the official
who, at least in South Malabar, carried out this system ; but it will be
seen presently what was in reality the part that he played. The
country was not settled enough for the introduction of any
systematic and complete plan, and the Mysoreans, even under
Hyder's strict rule, were not the persons to introduce such a scheme
if it had been elaborated.
The Joint 7. The Bengal and Bombay Joint Commissioners, in 1792-93,

Commissioners, in obtained from a Brahman named Jinnea a statement purporting to
Other books !
1792-1793, were give details of Arshad Beg Khan's settlement of the southern
misled by a portion of the district for the year 1784-85, and on this the Joint
Brahman called
Jinnea.
Commissioners proceeded (paragraphs 39, 41, 42, 196 to 200 and
269 to 278) to discuss the principles on which that settlement was
based, and being satisfied with its general correctness, they directed
(paragraph 458) its adoption in the southern districts.
Mr. Greame pointed It was conclusively ascertained, however, by Mr.
out the Commissioner Graeme in 1822 that the Joint Commissioners had
inconsistencies in
Jinnea's account.
been misled into believing that the settlement was more orderly
and systematic than the reality proved it to be. The Brahman
Jinnea's statement had set forth that so many measures of seed
sown produced so many rupees, and so many fruitful trees
produced so many more rupees. The Joint Commissioners
thereupon judged that the Mysore settlement had been fixed at
certain money rates per measure of seed sown and per fruitful tree
respectively, which rates they ascertained by dividing the total
revenue from wet lands and the total revenue from gardens by the
number of measures of seed sown and by the number of fruitful
trees respectively. Mr. Graeme in 1818-22 found, however, by
comparing Jinnea's account with certain subsequently prepared,
that the discrepancies in regard to "seed sown" and "fruitful trees"
were enormous.
In South Malabar except Number of paras of Outturn multiple. Gross produce.

Palghat. seed sown.
As per Jinnea’s account 704,645 10 7,046,450

As per the Jamabandi of 782,194 10 7,821,910
1800-1 founded on
Jinnea's account.
As per the Janmi 1,865,040 About 6 11,262,125
Pymaish account given
in by the people
themselves in 1 805—6.
So also with cocoanut trees.

In South Malabar, excluding Palghat and Number
Temmalapuram of
productive
Other books !
The Land
trees.
As per Jinnea’s account 733,501
As per English Surveys made between I793-4 and 1800-1. 1,273,138
As per Major Macleod’s Survey, 180I—2 1,452,816
As per the account which regulated the collections up to the 1,306,735
end of 1804-5.
As per the Janmi Pymaish account prepared by the people 2,033,905
themselves in 1805-6.
The real facts It is unnecessary to go into further details regarding the other garden
relating to the productions, except to say that the Joint Commissioners’
Mysorean
settlement were
calculations as to the rates of assessment were equally erroneous
gathered by Mr. regarding them. Graeme, after satisfying himself that “it would be
Graeme. delusive to regard the principles of assessment pointed out in that
Report” (Joint Commissioners’ Report, 1793) “as correct,”
proceeded on a four years’ tour through the different districts of
Malabar and collected most of the details which will be found below
relating to the period prior to 1823.
Jinnea's "factitious 8. It may be stated as the general result of Mr. Graeme’s

seed of assessment" enquiries that he found Jinnea’s account to be as misleading as he at
and "artificial tree
of account."
first suspected it to be ; and he found that the rates which had been
deduced therefrom by the Joint Commissioners had been applied to
“a factitious seed of assessment” and to “an artificial tree of
account” respectively. The Mysorean officials, it would seem,
imposed an apparently severe tax on the “seed of assessment” and
“fruitful tree” respectively, probably for the sake of throwing dust in
the eyes of the people at headquarters in Mysore, while in reality, in
distributing the lump sums thus assessed on particular districts, they
found congenial and remunerative employment in fixing the
assessments on individuals.
The rates were so heavy that, even when an attempt was made to assess the
lands fairly, the quantity of seed sown and the number of productive trees had to be
understated in order to find an assessment which the lands could bear. And of course
this under-estimating of the capabilities of the land was not procured for nothing.
Other books !
The rates were so Individuals who could manage to square the officials got off with
heavy that the comparative immunity, while those who could not do so had their
quantity of seed
sown and the
lands excessively assessed. Much has been done since to equalise the
number of fruitful assessments, but the commutation rates have since become so
trees had to be favourable to the cultivators that many inequalities which would
understated in otherwise have come to the surface (so to speak) have remained
order to find an
hidden, and it is only when local investigations are made into
assessment which
the land could bear. existing facts that the immense differences which do really still exist,
especially as respects the wet lands, are laid bare.
The inequalities of
assessment are still
excessive.
Arshad Beg Khan's 9. Notwithstanding, then its great inequalities in regard to

so-called Jambandi individuals, it was Arshad Beg Khan’s so-called Jamabandi which
was adopted by the
Joint
was adopted by the Bengal and Bombay Joint Commissioners. In
Commissioners, and the Southern Districts, it continued to be the standard to which all
i t continues down partial revisions of assessments were made to approximate, until
to the present day to Mr. Graeme’s elaborate investigation (1818-22) put fresh materials
influence materially
into the hands of Government.
the land revenue in
South Malabar. In
North Malabar the
system in force was
understood by the
Joint
Commissioners to
load to the same
results, and it, too, is
to some extent in
force down to the
present day.
As regards wet lands, it will be seen in the course of this narrative that the so-
called Arshad Beg Khan’s settlement continues even down to the present day to be the
standard in the southern portion of the district, while in the north the settlement
adopted under orders of the Joint Commissioners (Report paragraph 459), though
differing in details from Arshad Beg Khan’s was understood to lead to the same
results, and it, too, remains to a considerable extent to influence down to the present
day the collections from wet lands in North Malabar.
Other books !
The Land
North Malabar was managed by its 9a. It only remains to add that the revenues of North
chieftains as quasi-Zemindars Malabar were to a great extent managed by the
under the Mysoreans.
respective chieftains of that part of the country as
This system continued under quasi-Zemindars during the Mysorean occupation,
British, but owing to accumulation
of arrears it was gradually
while South Malabar was more or less directly under the
abolished. management of Mysorean officials. During the first
years of the Honourable Company’s Government, each
The Joint Commission.
Nad was respectively managed for longer or shorter
The Supravisors.
periods by its hereditary chieftain. Owing, however, to
The second Commission. the accumulation of arrears of revenue, which on 30th
Transfer from Bombay to Madras. September 1801 had reached the large amount of over
Major Macleod the first Principal Rs. 11,40,000, this system of management was gradually
Collector. abolished.
Scheme of arrangement for the
On the winding up of the first or Joint Commission of
historical details which follow.
Bengal and Bombay Officers who controlled the
district during 1792 and part of 1793, a Supervisor with
two Superintendents under him constituted the
executive authority. This system remained in force till
May 1796, when a second Commission was sent down
to execute the office of Supervisor. This Commission
continued till Malabar was transferred from the
Bombay to the Madras Presidency, and Major Macleod
was appointed the first Principal Collector in 1801.
10. In arranging the following historical details it will be best to adopt a

uniform scheme, and the one that seems best to suit the subject is —
(a) To take up one by one, proceeding from north to south, the different Nads
or districts into which Malabar was divided at the time of the Mysorean conquest, and
to set out in regard to each, as briefly as possible, the series of measures which were
introduced therein, first under the Mysore and afterwards under the British
Government, down to the year 1805-6, after which year the low-country portion of the
district was treated on an uniform and systematic plan as regards land revenue.
(b) The measures adopted subsequently to 1805-6 in the low country taluks
will then be detailed.
(c) The exceptional cases of (1) Cannanore and the Laccadive Islands, (2)
Wynad, (3) Cochin, (4) Tangacherry and Anjengo will finally be dealt -with.
Moreover, in order to secure clearness, it will be necessary, in treating of each
Nad, to detail under the separate heads of —
Other books !
I. Wet Lands,
II. Garden Lands,
III. Miscellaneous Lands,
the measures adopted in regard to each. This plan will lead to some repetition,
but it is impossible otherwise to prevent confusion in detail.
Other books !
The Land
Sub-Section II.—Historical Facts down to 1805-6

RELATING TO THE LOW-COUNTRY.
Sketch Map of Nads.
11. The accompanying rough sketch map will enable any one to
pick out, at a glance, the particular portion of the district dealt
with.
MAP of the Malabar District
Other books !
Nads
I. Kolattunad (Kolattiri) II. Randattara (Achanmar under
Hon. E.I.Co.)
III. Tellicherry and Darmapatam (Hon. IV. Iruvalinad (Nambiar)
E.I.Co)
V. Kurangoth (Nayar) VI. Kottayam (Raja)
VII. Kadattunad (Raja) VIII. Payurmalla (Nayars)
IX. Pynad (Zamorin) X. Kurumbranad (Raja)
XI. Tamarasseri (Kottayam Raja) XII. Polanad (Zamorin)
XIII. N. Parappanad (Raja) XIV. Pulavayi (Nayars)
XV. S. Parappanad (Raja) XVI. Ramnad (Zamorin)
XVII.Cheranad (Zamorin) XVIII. Ernad (Zamorin)
XIX. Walluvanad (Vellatiri Raja) XX. Walluvanad (Zamorin)
XXI. Nadunganad (Zamorin) XXII. Kavalapara (Nayar)
XXIII. Vadamalapuram (Raja) XXIV. Temmalapuram (Raja)
XXV. Naduvattam (Zamorin) XXVI. Bettatnad (Raja)
XXVII. Kutnad (Zamorin) XXVIII. Chavakkad & Chetwai
(Zamorin)
XXIX. Cannanore (Raja) XXX. Wynad (Kottayam Raja)
XXXI. Cochin (Hon. E. I Comy) XXXII. Tangacherry and Anjengo
(Hon. E. I Comy)
Other books !
The Land
(1) Kolattunad.
Limits of Kolattanad. 12. The domain in which the Kolattiri or Chirakkal family was
regarded as the suzerain comprised the following modern
amsams of the modern taluk of Chirakkal, viz.
Payyannur Kurumattur Kalliasseri

Vellur Taliparamba Moraya
Karuvellur Pattuvam Kayaralam
Korom Elom Kuttiyattur
Eramam Cherutalam Maniyur
Kuttur Kunynyimangalam Munderi
Kuttiyeri Madayi Cheleri
Chulali Mattul Kannadiparambu
Kanyileri Cherukunnu Chirakkal
Kalliad Kannapuran Alikod
Malapattam Irinava Pulati
Kottayam Pappinisseri Elayavur
Wet Lands.
A.D. 1731-32. 13. In 1731-32 the Kolattiri dominions were invaded by the
Bodnur Raja’s forces, and the Kolattiri Raja had in consequence to impose a tax of 20
per cent, of the pattam (rent) on all rice-lands.
Invasion of the Bodnur Raja.14. From this time forward the Kolattiri Raja
was in straits for money to settle the Bodnur Raja’s demands, and the country seems to
have been twice at least invaded afterwards.
1765-66 : 15. 1765-66 Hyder Ali descended into Kolattunad. The country was
in a distracted state : sometimes in Hyder’s possession, sometimes in the Rajas, and
sometimes in the hands of the Cannanore Bibi, and 30 per cent, of the pattam (rent)
was imposed.
1776-77: 16. This continued till 1776-77, when Ramalinga Pillay, an officer of
Hyder’s, sent one Koonjamaran Pillay, his gumasta or deputy, who fixed an assessment
on each field at the rate of 50 per cent, of the pattam.
Other books !
1777-80: 17 In 1777-80 Hyder exacted an annual tribute or Nuzzar of Rs.

4,00,000, and people say that 100 per cent, of the pattam (rent) was taken to make
good the demand.
1781-83: 18. In 1781-83 the Raja exacted 50 per cent, of the pattam (rent),
taking the paddy in kind.
1783:19. In 1783 one Harpenhully Venkappa made some alteration, but what it
was, is not clear.
1785-88: 20. In 1785-88 Tippu, while the country was in possession of the Raja, sent a
Commission to make a survey and to detect frauds, and the assessment was fixed at 50
per cent, of the pattam (rent), commuted into money at Rs. 40 per 1,000 seers of
paddy. This commutation rate was increased to Rs. 41½ per 1,000 seers because of the
substitution in the revenue collections of the Sultani fanam (3½ to the rupee) for the
fanam current in the country.
1788-89: 21. In 1788-89 the people deserted the country owing to Tippu’s
attempts at wholesale Islamism.
1790-92: 22. In 1790-92 the revenue was managed by the Raja, and the
assessment was 50 per cent, of the pattam (rent), taken in kind for rice-lands.
1792-93: 23. In 1792-93 a survey was made by the Company’s and Raja’s
servants, and the Raja alleged that he collected only 50 per cent, of the pattom (rent).
1798-99. The Hon'ble Company assume direct management:
24. A deficiency occurring in the collections, the Company in 1798—99
assumed the direct management.
1799-1800: 25. In 1799-1800 Mr. Hodgson, the Sub-Collector, made a
settlement on the principle of taking 50 per cent of the pattam, commuted into money
at Rs. 41½ per 1,000 seers of paddy.
1799-1801: 26. It has been customery for the inhabitants to give 10 seers per
Potpad (Poti = 30 seers; Potipad = land requiring 30 seers to sow it), under the
denomination of Potipattu (literally, 10 per poti), for the use of the Devasvam or
Hindu temples. In 1799-1800 or 1800-1 half of this Potipattu, or (say 81/3 per cent, of
the pattam) was assumed on behalf of Government at the ordinary commutation of Rs.
41½ per 1,000 seers.
1799-1801: 27. It had also been customary for the proprietors to give for every
100 seers of pattam (rent) 16 seers, under the names of Veli nellu (paddy for hedges)
and Kythee nellu (grain for ropes), for raising hedges and providing ropes for keeping
out and fastening up cattle which strayed into the rice-fields. In 1799-1800 or in 1800-1
Other books !
The Land
half of this also was assumed by Government, at the ordinary commutation rate (Rs.
41 l/2 for 1,000 seers).
1801-2: 28. In 1801-2 Major Macleod, the first Principal Collector of the
district, made a survey. Owing to the rebellion which arose, the survey was rescinded
and Mr. Rickards, the second Principal Collector, reverted to the assessment of 1 800-I
1805-6: 29. In 1805-6 Mr. Warden, the third Principal Collector, for the
purpose of carrying out the scheme of assessment proposed by Mr. Rickards and
approved by Government (see Appendix XV), obtained a return from all proprietors
of the seed, produce, etc., of all their fields. This return is usually known as the Janmi
Pymaish of 981 M.E. On receipt of the returns for this Nad, the assessments, which
were found to fall short of the proper proportion (50 per cent.) of the pattam (rent),
were raised, but excesses similarly ascertained were not similarly reduced.
Garden lands
A.D. 1731-92: 30. It will be unnecessary to do more than refer to the following
dates and paragraphs of this note for a description of the circumstances under which
the revenue share of the pattam on gardens was, like that on rice-lands, assessed at the
following rates:
1731-32, paragraph 13 20 per cent.
1731-65, do. 14
1765-66, do. 15 30 per cent.
1776-77, do. 16 50 per cent.
1777-80, do. 17 1 00 per cent.
1781-83, do 18 50 percent, (Pepper was taken in kind).
1783, do. 19
1790-92, do. 22 50 per cent. (Taken in money.)
1792-99: 31. Between 1792 and 1798-99 the Raja, who continued at this period
to collect the revenue, had increased the percentage of assessment on garden produce
to 60 per cent, of the pattam, except on pepper, which remained at 50 per cent. The
pattam was ascertained by taking 20 per cent of the gross produce as the tenants share,
except as regards pepper, the tenant’s share of which was not properly ascertained. The
commutation rates for the produce were-
Cocoanuts Rs. 10-0-0 per 1,000 nuts.
Betel-nuts Re. 0—6—4 do.
Jacks Six-tenths of pattam, whatever the number of trees
might be.
Pepper. Rs. 130-0-0 per candy of 640 lb.
Other books !
32. In 1805-6 (as in the case of wet lands, paragraph 29 above) ascertained
deficiencies in the proper proportion (50 per cent.) of the pattam (rent) on garden
lands were raised on receipt of the Janmi Pymaish account of 981 M.E., but similarly
ascertained excesses were not similarly reduced.
Miscellaneous Lands
1776-77 Modam: 32. In 1805-6 (as in the case of wet lands, paragraph 29
above) ascertained deficiencies in the proper proportion (50 per cent.) of the pattam
(rent) on garden lands were raised on receipt of the Janmi Pymaish account of 981 M.E.,
but similarly ascertained excesses were not similarly reduced.
1776-77. Punom: 34. And in the same year (1776-77) Punam crops (rice and
other grains and pulses, and occasionally some cotton grown on jungle lands felled
annually for the purpose) were similarly assessed at 30 per cent, of the gross produce in
the Elom, Madayi, Cherutalam and Kunyimangalam Amsams, and at 10 per cent, of the
gross produce in the rest of the Nad : and the commutation rate was the same
throughout, viz., Rs. 35 per 1,000 local seers as in the case of Pattada.
1776-77. Ellu: 35. Likewise, in the same year (1776-77), Ellu crops (gingelly-oil
seed) were assessed throughout the Nad at 20 percent of the gross produce, commuted
into money at Rs. 40 per 1,000 local seers.
(2) RANDATARA
Limits of Randatara: 36. Randatara (or , as it is sometimes called, Poyanadu in
reference to the tradition that it was from this Nad that Cheraman Perumal took his
final departure on his journey to Mecca) comprised the following modern amsams of
the modern taluk of Chirakkal:-
1. Edakad. 2. Chembilod. 3. Iruveri
4. Makreri. 5. Anjarakandi. 6. Mavilayi.
7. Mulappilangad.
Its connection with the Honourable East India Company’s Settlement

at Tellicherry. A.D. 1741-93: It originally formed part of the Kolattunad under the
Kolattiris, but it had come in the course of time to be treated as a separate Nad owing to
the English factory at Tellicherry having taken the four ruling families of Achanmar and
the 500 Nayars of the Nad under their special protection in the year 1741. The
intention of this measure was “to give the Honourable Company authority over the
Other books !
The Land
Achanmar, as also to interpose with the Prince” (Kolattiri) “if he should oppress them
by extravagant taxes, which has heretofore happened”- an allusion to the exactions
which followed upon the Bednur irruption into Kolattunad in 1731 and following
years. The transaction took the form of a mortgage for 60,000 fanams of the Nad,
which was rich in pepper.
This was the beginning of a long series of transactions, which ended on the
26th April 1793 in an agreement between the Achanmar and the Joint Commissioners
in allowing to the former a deduction in the amount of the revenue payable by them
for their own lands equivalent to the 20 per cent, of the revenue allowed to the other
chieftains of Malabar as Malilkhana.
Wet Lands
1765: 37. In 1705, collections were made by the Honourable Company at 15
per cent, probably of the pattam or rent on rice-lands, and this share of produce was
taken in kind. In the agreement with the Achanmar cited in paragraph 36, this
arrangement is alluded to as having been in force from 1741, but, owing to
disturbances in the country, the arrangement had evidently been broken through and it
was renewed on 16th May 1765.
1792: 38. In 1792, the assessment “was raised by the Commissioners to 50
percent of the “produce”, commuted into money at Rs. 43 per 1,000 seers. “The
produce” here seems to mean the “pattam”(rent).
A permanent assessment of the Achanmar's private estates: 39. In 1793,
the agreement alluded to in paragraph 36 was made with the Achanmar, whose wet
lands were permanently assessed at 15 per cent, of “the pattam (rent)”, commuted into
money at Rs. 45 per 1,000 seers.
In addition to the private estates of the Achanmar, those of the Bibi of
Cannanore and of the Raja of Chirakkal were also similarly assessed. The agreement
itself is very indefinite in its terms, but the above has been ascertained to be the actual
settlement. The lands of other proprietors continued to be held on the footing detailed
in paragraph 38.
Garden Lands.
1765: 40. In 1765 collections were made by the Company at 20 per cent,
probably of the pattam or rent on gardens, the produce of which was generally
commuted into money probably at current market rates. The terms of the agreement
of 16th May 1765 are very indefinite.
1792: 41. In 1792 the Commissioners raised the assessment to 50 per cent, of "the
produce" (which seems to have here meant pattam or rent calculated on the customary
share at the customary pattam rates for produce), except on pepper. The rates were-
Other books !
A P
Cocoanut tree 1 71/ 5
Betel-nut tree 0 41/5
Jack tree 3 22/5
Pepper-vine 2 057/100
Permanent assessment of Achanmar's private estates. 42. In 1793, under the
agreement alluded to in paragraph 36, the gardens on the private estates of the
Achanmar were permanently assessed at 20 percent of the pattam (rent), commuted
into money at the following rates :
Rs. A P
Cocoanuts 10 0 0 per 1,000 nuts.
Betel-nuts 0 8 0 do.
Jacks 0 6 4 1/5 per tree.

Cannanore and of the Chirakkal Raja were also similarly assessed. The agreement itself
is very indefinite in its terms, but the above has been ascertained to be the actual
in paragraph 41.
Miscellaneous Lands.
43. Puttada, Punaw and Ellu (see paragraphs 33, 34, 35) were assessed alike at
25 per cent, of the gross produce, commuted into money at Rs. 40, Rs. 40 and Rs. 80
per 1,000 seers respectively, but it is not certain when this assessment was fixed. (Year
uncertain).
Cannanore and of the Chirakkal Raja were also similarly assessed. The agreement itself
is very indefinite in its terms, but the above has been ascertained to be the actual
in paragraph 41.
Year uncertain: 43. Puttada, Punawm and Ellu (see paragraphs 33, 34, 35)
were assessed alike at 25 per cent, of the gross produce, commuted into money at Rs.
40, Rs. 40 and Rs. 80 per 1,000 seers respectively, but it is not certain when this
assessment was fixed.
Other books !
The Land
(3) THE ENGLISH SETTLEMENT AT TELLICHERRY AND

DARMAPATTAM ISLAND
Limits of the Honourable East India Company’s settlement. 44. The settlement
consisted of the following modern amsams of the Kottayam taluk:-
Dharmadam. | Mailanjanmam.
Tellicherry. | Tiruvangad.
How, and when acquired: The settlement also originally formed a portion
of the ancient Kolattunad. The Honourable Company sent agents to Tellicherry about
1683-84. In 1708 a formal grant was obtained from the northern regent of the Kolattiri
family to erect a fort at Tellicherry, which thenceforth remained uninterruptedly in
British occupation. The island of Dharmapattanam, lying adjacent to Tellicherry on the
north, was acquired by agreements from the Kolattiri and Kottayam Rajas and the Bibi
of Cannanore, who all had claims on it, in the years 1734-35, and remained from that
time forward, with one short interruption (1788-89), in British occupation. The factory
became a Residency in 1776, as, owing to the Mysore occupation, it was not continuing
to pay. But the chiefship was afterwards restored.
Wet Lands
45. Those belonging to the Company were assessed at 100 percent, the pattam
(rent), equivalent to about 40 per cent of the gross produce, and commuted into
money at Rs. 45 per 1,000 seers.
1772-76: 46. Those belonging to private individuals in Tellicherry were free of
assessment till 1772, when they were rated at 10 per cent, of the “produce.” This
continued till 1776, when 25 per cent, of the ‘‘produce” - here, however, intended to
mean the pattam or rent—was taken and commuted into money at Rs. 43 per 1,000
seers, which rate was subsequently raised to Rs. 45 per 1,000 seers.
47. Those belonging to private individuals in Dharmapattanam Island were
assessed at 50 per cent, of the pattam (rent), commuted into money at Rs. 45 per 1,000
seers.
48. Those belonging to temples in Dharmapattanam Island were assessed at 35
per cent of the pattam (rent), commuted into money at Rs. 45 per 1,000, seers.
Garden Lands
49. Those belonging to the Honourable Company in Tellicherry were, prior to
1793-94, rated at 50 per cent, of the pattam (rent), and in that year the rate was
increased to 662/3 per cent of the pattam (rent).
Other books !
50. Some of those belonging to private individuals in Tellicherry had, prior to

1772, been rated at 25 per cent, of the "produce,” and in that year all of them were so
rated. This continued till 1776, when the following rates were imposed : -
A P
Cocoanuts 1 71/ 5 per fruitful tree.
Betel-nuts 0 92/5 do.
Jacks 6 43/5 do.
Pepper-vines 3 22/5 per fruitful vine.
But what constituted a “fruitful tree” or “fruitful vine” is not known. If the
customary share of produce was taken and commuted into money at the customary
pattam rates of produce, then it would appear as if it had been meant to take 50 per
cent, of pattam on cocoanuts, 100 per cent, of pattam on betel-nuts, and 100 per cent,
of pattam on jacks.
51. In Dharmapattanam Island all garden lands, whether belonging to the
Honourable Company, to private parsons, or to temples were assessed alike at 50 per
cent, of the pattam (rent).
Year uncertain: 52. In Dharmapattanam Island, Puttada and Ellu (vide
paragraphs 33 and 35) on all lands were assessed at 25 percent of the gross produce,
commuted into money at Rs. 40 and Rs. 80 per 1,000 seers respectively. It is not
certain when this assessment was fixed.
(4) Iruvalinad
The Iruvalinad Nambiars:
53. Was also a portion of Kolattunad under the suzerainty of the Kolattiri
Raja. When the English factory was established at Tellicherry it was held by six families
of Nambiars, viz., (1) Kunnumal, (2) Chandrott, (3) Kilakkodatta, (4) Kampuratta, who
were known collectively as the Kulatta Nambiars, and by (5) Narangoli Nambiar and
(6) Kariyad Nambiar. The Kurangott Nayar’s possessions also probably formed part of
the original territory of Iruvalinad, but this portion will be more conveniently treated
separately.
Iruvalinad proper consisted of the following modern amsams of the modern
taluk of Kottayam, viz. : —
1. Pamir. | 4. Panniyannur.
Other books !
The Land
2. Puttur. | 5. Perinkulam.
3. Triprangottur. | 6. Kariyad.
Their relations with the English and French settlements:
Owing to the position of their territory, these Iruvalinad Nambiars were early
brought into relations with both of the neighbouring settlements of the English at
Tellicherry and of the French at Mahe. There were accordingly many engagements
entered into between the Honourable Company’s Factors at Tellicherry on the one
hand and the Nambiars on the other.
The Nambiars are also frequently referred to in engagements between the
English and French settlements, and between the English Company and other Native
chieftains. It does not seem, however, that the Nambiars were in any way subject to the
Honourable Company till 1782, when, owing to the successes attending the raising of
the Siege of Tellicherry, the Nambiars and two other country powers agreed to become
tributary to the Company. Whether this agreement was carried out is doubtful, because
it was followed soon after by the Mangalore treaty of peace with Tippu Sultan in 1784,
and by a return to the mutual positions hold by the respective parties before the war.
Wet Lands
1765-82: In Hyder Ali’s time (1765-82) this Nad was managed by the Raja of
Chirakkal, who took 50 per cent, of the Pattam (rent), payable either in kind or
commutable into money at Rs. 40 per 1,000 seers.
55. In Tippu’s time the rate continued the same, the revenue being collected in
kind.
56. To prevent illicit trade with the French at Mahe the Nad was taken under
the direct management of the Company at the rupture with Tippu Sultan in 1790-91;
50 per cent, of the pattam (rent.) was collected.
1793: 57. In 1793 the commutation rate was raised from Rs. 411/2 per 1,000
seers to Rs. 45 per 1,000 seers on the Narangoli Nambiar’s private estate ; it remained
at the former rate elsewhere.
1793-91. 58. In 1793-91 the Nambiars were entrusted with the management of
the Nad, and in 1794-95 they fixed the assessment at 50 per cent, of the pattam (rent).
1795-96: 59. In 1795-96 the assessment on all lands was raised to 60 per cent,
of the pattam (rent) at the same commutation rates.
1799-1800: 60. In 1799-1800 the assessment was further raised to 72 percent,
of the pattam (rent), except, on the Narangoli Nambiar's private estate, and except in
four desams of Panur amsam.
Other books !
Garden lands
1765-82: 61. Under Hyder Ali (1765-82) the Chirakkal Raja collected an
assessment at the following rates:
A P
Cocoanuts 1 71/5 per fruitful tree
Jacks 3 2 /5
2 do.
62. In Tippu's time, these rates were altered as follows:-

A P
Cocoanuts 2 33/7 per fruitful tree
Jacks 4 66/7 do.
But these rates being found burdensome, the whole jama (demand) on the Nad
was reduced from Rs. 34,000 to Rs. 30,000, and the people were themselves allowed to
regulate the rates.
1792: 63. The Nad being under the direct, management of the Honourable
Company in 1792 (vide paragraph 56), the rates were raised so as to take 50 per cent, of
the pattam.
1793: 04. In 1793 the rates were again altered as follows:-
A P
Cocoanuts 1 71/5 per fruit tree
Betel-nuts 0 93/6 do
Jacks 6 44/5 do
Pepper 2 018/25 per fruit vine
These rates were, however, subsequently reduced as too high

1793-94: 65. The Nambiars were in 1793-94 entrusted with the management of
the Nad.
1794-95: 66. The Nambiars in 1794-95 fixed the assessment at 50 per cent. of
the pattam (rent). The assessment on pepper 1794-95. seems to have remained at this
Other books !
The Land
rate of 50 per cent, of the pattam. commuted into money at Rs. 120 per candy of 640
lb., down to the final abolition of the assessment in 1806-7.
1795-96: 67. In 1795-96 the assessment was raised to 60 per cent, of the
pattam (rent).
1796-97: 68. In 1796-97 Narangoli Nambiar’s lands were assessed at 100 per
cent, of the pattam (rent), probably for misconduct in intriguing with the rebellious
Pychy Raja.
1799-1800: 69. In 1799-1800 the assessment was again raised (except on
Narangoli Nambiars lands and except in four desams of Panur amsam to 72 percent,
of the pattam (rent).
Miscellaneous Lands
1790-91: 70. In 1790-91 the assessment on Puttada, Punam and Ellu (see
paragraphs 33, 34, 35) was fixed at 25 per cent, of the gross produce, commuted into
money at Rs. 35, Rs. 35 and Rs. 80 per 1,000 seers respectively.
1792-93: 71. In 1792-93 the assessment on these crops was professedly raised
to 40 per cent, of the gross produce, much too high a rate, leading to extensive
concealment of produce.
1806-07: 72. In 1806-7 the assessment was extended, on the same principles,
to Puttada and Ellu crops raised on land already assessed for garden produce.
(5) KURANGOTT NAYAR'S NAD

Position and limits: 73. For remarks, see paragraph 53 above. This Nad lay
directly between the English and French settlements at Tellicherry and Mahe
respectively, and consisted of the following amsams of the modern taluk of Kottayam :
(1) Olavitam.
(2) Kallavi.
His relations with the English and French and Mysoreans: From the
position of his Nad, the Nayar was early brought into relations with both the English
and French Companies, and he tried his best, to play off one against the other, not
without loss to himself. He was the first chieftain who tried conclusions with the arms
of the Honourable Company. This was in 1719, and he came out of it worsted, and
was obliged to cede to the Company the desam of Mailam in the modern amsam of
Mailanjanmam.
After this he remained more under French than under English influence till
1766, when, on Hyder Ali’s descent into Malabar, he was the only chieftain1 besides
Other books !
Cochin permitted to retain his district. He was, however, subsequently compelled to

pay tribute to Hyder Ali.
NOTEs: 1. The Randatara Achanmar being under the protection of the Honourable Company were
likewise at first undisturbed. END OF NOTEs
In 1779 he assisted the English Company at the taking of Mahe, and in 1782
he was in turn taken prisoner by the English Company at the successful sortie which
closed the siege of Tellicherry. Remaining a prisoner at Tellicherry, he paid tribute to
the Company for his Nad till 1785, in which year he was again claimed by the French
as their ally.
In 1787 Tippu caught and hanged him and annexed his Nad to the lruvalinad
Revenue Cutcherry. In 1790 the English Company drove the Mysoreans out of this
Nad, and reinstated the Nayar, who again turned to the French alliance, in
consequence of which he was arrested and sent a prisoner to Calicut in 1793. In 1797
the Nayar was reinstated in his Nad, which he managed down to 1805-6.
Wet Lands
1795-180: 74. There is nothing to show on what principles the Nayar collected
the revenue between 1795 and 1805-6. In the latter year he resigned the management
and received a Malikhana.
1805-6. 75. In 1805-6 the assessment was fixed at 60 per cent, of' the pattam
(rent) as entered in the Janmi Pymaish account of 981 (1805-6), and commuted into
money at Rs. 45 per 1,000 seers. Whether the pattam (rent), of which 60 per cent, was
taken, was the actual puttam (rent) being paid to the Janmis, or whether it was the
pattam (rent) calculated on Mr. Rickards’ plan (see paragraphs 226, 226a, 226b below)
is not known. It was probably the latter, because the garden assessments were fixed on
Mr. Rickards’ plan.
Garden Lands
1805-6: 76. In 1805-6 the assessment was fixed at 50 per cent, of the pattam
(formed of two-thirds of the gross produce on Rickards’ plan, vide paragraphs 226,
226a, 226b below) and the commutation rates were fixed as follows :-
Cocanuts 10 0 0 per 1,000 nuts.
Betel-nuts 0 6 64/5 do
Jacks 0 3 22/5 per tree
Pepper 1 0 0
It is not known, however, what this "fruit vine" was expected to yield in
produce.
77. No details are available.
Other books !
The Land
(6) KOTTAYAM OR COTIOTE

The Kottayam Rajas. The Pyche Raja's rebellion, and death, 30th November
1805, Limits:
78. Was also formerly a portion of Kolattunud. The Cotiote or Kottayattu
Rajas, who are also styled Puranattu (i.e.foreign Kshatriya) Rajas, received their territory
from the Kolattiri. This event took place some centuries ago, and when the English
settlement was formed at Tellicherry, “the Cotiote” (as the Raja was generally called)
was one of the first with whom the Honourable Company came into formal relations.
The Raja steadily supported the Honourable Company in the conflicts with Hyder and
Tippu, first in 1780-82 and again in 1791-92.
On the cession of Malabar to the British in 1792 some unfortunate
misunderstandings arose, and the Palassi or Pychy Raja, the de facto head of the house,
rose in rebellion, and maintained a sort of independence so long as Wynad (which was
claimed both by Tippu Sultan and by the Honourable Company) was at hand for him
to flee to.
On the fall of Seringapalam in 1799 Wynad was formally ceded to the
Honourable Company, and a struggle immediately commenced with Palassi or Pychy
Raja. The conflict lasted till near the end of 1805, and was terminated on 30th
November 1805 by the death, in a skirmish, of the Palassi Raja. The Kottayam country,
consisting Wynad, which will be considered separately, consisted of the following
modern amsams in the modern taluk of Kottayam, viz.
Kudali. Mulakkunnu. Sivapuram. Pinarayi.
Pattannur. Gannavam. Palassi. Nittur.
Chavasseri. Manatana. Kandamkkunnu. Katirur.
Veliyambra. Kannavam. Paduvilayi. Kottayam.
Wet Lands
In a more or less unsettled state till 1805-6: 79. It will be gathered from the
above that this Nad was in a more or less unsettled state both under Mysore and under
British rule until 1805-6, but a settlement was concluded between the Mysoreans and
the Raja some time after Hyder Ali’s second invasion, and its principles were to take 50
per cent of the pattam (rent), commuted into money at Rs. 41-8-0 per 1,000 seers.
There was supposed to be an annual survey, and if this was properly conducted, the
assessment would not, according to the recognised customs of the country as regards
deductions for cultivation expenses, etc., have amounted to more than 25 per cent, of
the gross produce.
1805-6: 80. The above principles were professedly followed down to 1805-6,
when, on the receipt of the Jamni Pymaish accounts (vide paragraph 29 above), the
Other books !
assessment was raised in the cases in which it fell short of the proper proportion of
pattam (rent) as returned in the said accounts, but similarly ascertained excesses were
not similarly reduced.
Garden Lands
81. The Mysorean settlement with the Raja was on the principles of taking 50
per cent,of the pattam (rent) and of commuting it into money at the following rates :
Cocanuts Rs. 10-0-0 per nuts.
Betel-nuts 0-6—44/5 do.
Jacks The pattam was ascertained as precisely as possible.
Pepper Rs. 130-0-0 per candy of 640 lb.
1805-6: 82. These rates remained professedly unaltered down to 1805-6, when,
as in the case of wet lands, on receipt of the Janmi Pymaish accounts (paragraph 29
above) ascertained deficiencies were raised and ascertained excesses were not reduced.
The commutation rates remained as before, except that betel-nuts were rated at 8
annas per mille and jacks at 6 annas 44/5 pies per tree.
Miscellaneous Lands
Year uncertain: 83. Pullada and Punam (vide, paragraphs 33, 34, above) were
assessed at 40 percent, of the gross produce, commuted into money at Rs. 35 per 1,000
seers, and Ellu (vide paragraph 35 above) was assessed at 25 per cent, of the gross
produce, commuted into money at Rs. 80 per 1,000 seers. It has not been ascertained
when this settlement was made. It was very severe, and it must have led to extensive
concealment of produce.
(7) Kadattanad
The Kadattanad Rajas: 84. This was also formerly a portion of Kolattunad :
it in fact formed the chief portion of the territory under the jurisdiction of the
Tekkalankur (Southern Regent), or second Rajasthanam of the Kolattiri. When the
English Company settled at Tellicherry, Kulattanad was subject to the ancestors of the
present Raja of Kadattanad who was at that time usually known as the "Boyanore” or
(Baynor1 of Badagara,” from the chief port of the Nad, and who, tradition says, was
connected in the male line with the Kolattiris. It was composed of the following modern
amsams of the modern taluk of Kurumbranad, viz.
NOTEs: 1. Corrupt transliterations of “Valunnavar”= ruler. END OF NOTEs
Aliyur. Valayam. Kumangod.

Muttungal. Velliyod. Ponmeri.
Eramala Kunnummal. Arakkilad.
Karttikapalli Kavilumpara. Vadakara.
Other books !
The Land
Purameri. Kuttiyadi. Memunda.

Edacheri. Velam. Palayad.
Iringannur. Cherapuram. Putuppanam.
Tuneri. Kottappalli. Maniyur.
Vellur. Ayancheri. Tiruvallur
Parakadavu Kadameri.
Chekkiyad. Kuttipuram.
Kavilumpara and Kuttiyadi: The amsarns of Kavilampara and Kuttiyadi
belonged, when the Honourable Company acquired Malabar in 1792, to the Kottayam
or Cotiote Raja, but it will be more convenient in the present narrative to include them
in Kadattanad.
Wet Lands
1766-67: 85. In 1766-67 the Kadattanad Raja agreed to become tributary to
Hyder Ali for his Nad in the sum of Rs. 50,000.
1768-69: 86. No levy was made from the people on the above account till
1768-69, when, in order to defray arrears, a survey of gardens was made, but no
assessment was imposed on rice.
1768-73: 87. Hyder Ali's forces having retired, no collections were made
between 1768 and 1773.
1778-79: 88. It was only in 1778-79 that rice-lands were first assessed by the
second Raja, acting under the orders of Bulvunt Row, Hyder Ali’s general. The
assessment was at the rate of 50 per cent, of the pattam (rent), commuted into money at
Rs. 40 per 1,000 seers.
1780-81: 89. This continued in force till 1781, the Raja having meanwhile been
relieved from management by Sirdar Khan, who took charge in 1780-81.
1781: 90. In 1781 no revenue was paid.
1782-87: 91. 1782-83 till 1786-87, under Arshad Beg Khan's governorship, the
collections continued at the former rate of 50 per cent, of the pattam (rent).
1787: 92. In 1787 the Raja was directed1 by Parvana from Tippu Sultan to take
50 per cent, of the gross produce as the Sirkar’s share, but the arrangement was never
carried into effect.
NOTEs: 1 Treaties, etc., i. CXLVIII. END OF NOTEs
1788: 93. In 1788 Ramalinga Pillay, an agent, who was originally appointed by
Hyder Ali, and who had made sundry settlements in South Malabar, completed a
survey of the Nad and assessed the rice-lands as follows:-
Other books !
Each local para (10 local seers), of seed was assessed at 3 Cunteray fanams, but
whether this assessment per para of seed was imposed on the actual number of paras
required to sow all the wet lands in the Nad, or whether it was only imposed (as in
South Malabar) on a certain proportion of the actual number of paras so required, has
not been ascertained.
1789-91: 94. The above assessment (whatever it was) was collected by Tippu
Sultan's officers, who, in the absence of by the Raja, managed the district in the years
1789-90 and 1790-91.
1791-98: 95. The Raja having returned to his Nad on the expulsion of the
Mysoreans, it is not clear on what principles the assessment was levied by him between
1791 and 1798.
1798-99: 96. In 1798-99 a survey was made and 60 per cent, of the pattam
(rent) was assessed on rice-lands, and commuted 1798-99 into money at Rs. 40 per
1,000 seers.
Garden Lands
1768-69: 97. See paragraphs 85 and 86 above, in order to defray the arrears of
tribute which had accrued, 100 percent, of the pattam on gardens was levied in1768-69.
1773-74: 98. In 1773-74 arrears had again accrued to the extent of Rs.
3,00,000, and to defray this an estimate of the number of gardens was made, excluding
unproductive and waste. It came to 15,000, and on this number a rate was levied at Rs.
10 per garden. This was made at the instance of Burki Srinivas Row, Hyder’s Civil and
Military Governor, who had descended into Malabar with an army.
1774-75: 99. In 1774-75 a contribution per garden of Rs. 5 was levied.
1775-76:100. In 1775-76 the contribution per garden was again raised to Rs.
10.
1777-78: 101. This continued till 1777-78.
1778-79: 102. In 1778-79 the second Raja, as already alluded to in paragraph
88, aided by an auxiliary force of 500 Mysoreans, whose pay he had to defray in
addition to the tribute, made a. survey of the gardens and fixed the assessment at two-
thirds of the gross produce (i.e., 100 per cent, of the pattam), the commutation rate for
cocoanuts being Rs. 8 to 10 per 1,000 nuts.
1782: 103. This continued in force, under the Raja, and under Sirdar Khan till
1782, in which year Sirdar Khan having been taken prisoner at Tellicherry, no revenue
was raised beyond R.s. 2 per garden levied by the Raja to defray his military charges.
Other books !
The Land
1782-83: 104. From 1782-83 till 1786-87, during Arshad Beg Khan’s
governorship, the collections were made on the principle of taking 100 per cent, of the
pattam, (rent) on gardens.
1787: 105. In 1787 Tippu Sultan's Parvana to the Raja prescribed certain rates
for gardens, which, however, as they were never enforced, need not be detailed.
1788: 106. In 1788 Ramalinga Pillay (mentioned in paragraph 93 above) made
a survey of the gardens and assessed them at the following rates :
Cunteray fanam
Each cocoanut tree ½
6 Betel -nut trees 1
1 Jack tree 1
Pepper gardens were inspected, the produce in dry pepper estimated, and each
seer of dry pepper was assessed at 12½ annas of a Cunteray fanam, equivalent to about
Rs. 7 5 per candy of 640 lb.
1780-91: 107. The assessment remained at these rates during 1789-90 and
1790-91.
1791-98: 108. The Raja having been reinstated in his Nad, managed it from
1791 till 1798, but it has not been ascertained on what principles he collected the
assessment.
1798-99: 109. In 1798-99 a survey was made and the assessment fixed at 60
per cent, of the pattam (rent) on gardens, commuted into money at the following rate:-
Per 1,000 nuts
Cocoanuts 10 rupees.
Betel-nuts 6 annas 4 4/5 pies.
The pattam (rent) of four productive betel-nut trees was assessed at 3 annas
22/5 pics, but it is not clear how this was fixed, and whether trees yielding small
produce were classed as unproductive.
Jacks : 6 annas 44/5 pies was taken as the pattam (rent.) per tree.
Pepper was assessed at "half of the produce brought to account,” and, as in
the calculation of produce customary deductions were made on the following accounts,
viz.:-
20 to 25 per cent, for loss by falling off of grapes between inspection and
harvest,
10 to 12 per cent for plucking the pepper, and about
Other books !
20 per cent, for cultivation expenses,

it follows that the Government share was never more than about one-third of the
gross produce. Whether the money valuation exceeded or fell short of that proportion
could only be known by a comparison of the commutation rate (Rs. 150 per candy of
640 lbs.) with the actual market prices, which cannot now be ascertained.
Miscellaneous Lands
1798-99: 110. In 1798-99 Puttada, and Punam (see paragraphs 33 and 34) were
assessed at 40 per cent, of the gross produce commuted into money at Rs. 40 per 1,000
seers ; and in the same year Ellu (see paragraph 35) was assessed at 20 per cent, of the
gross produce, commuted into money at Rs. 60 per 1,000 seers, and the assessment
was extended to garden lands where this kind of cultivation was carried on although
the gardens might also be bearing a garden assessment.
(8) Payyormala ; (9) Payanad ; (10) Kurumbranad ; (11) Tamarasseri
Reasons for grouping Nads: 111. It will be convenient to group these Nads
together in this narrative because the principles of the original assessment under Hyder
Ali were identical in all.
Payyormala Nayars. Limits: 112. Payyormala was subject to the Nayars
(Paleri, Avinyat and Kutali) of Payyormala. They were independent chieftains, with
some theoretical dependence on the Kurumbranad family and also on the Zamorin.
The Nad was composed of the following modern amsams of the modern Kurumbranad
taluk, viz.:—
Paleri. Kayanna.
Cheruvannur. Karayad.
Meppayur. Iringatt.
Perambra.
Zamorin's acquisitions. Limits: 113: Payanad was subject to the Zamorin,

being part of the ancient kingdom of Kollam which he annexed. It was composed of
the following modern amsams of the modern taluk of Kurmubranad, viz.:-
Kilariyur. Meladi. Melar.
Mudadi. Vivyur. Chemancheri.
Pallikkara. Arikkulam. Tiruvangur.
Kurumbranad Raja’s Limit: 114. Kurumbranad was subject to the

Kurumbranad family, connected with that of Kottayam. It consisted of the following
modern amsams of the modern taluks of Kurumbranad and Calicut, viz.:
Other books !
The Land
Kottur. Kavantara. Nediyanad.

Trikkutisseri. lyyad. Kilakkot.
Naduvannur. Panangad. Madavur.
Kottayam Raja's District. Limits: 115. Tamarasseri was subject to the

Kottayam or Cotiote Rajas (regarding whom see paragraph 78 above). It consisted of
the following modern amsams of the modern taluks of Kurumbranad and Calicut,
viz.:-
Ulleri. Kunnattara. Nanminda.
Kokallur. Annasseri. Nediyanad.
Edakara. Naduvallur. Kudattayi.
Wet lands
1776-77: In 1776-77 an account of the pattam of the different lands having
been taken by the inhabitants to Hyder’s durbar, and the price of paddy having been
stated at Rs. 35 to 40 per 1,000 local seers, an order was received in reply, directing that
30 per cent, of the pattam should be taken and commuted into money at 3 old Viray
fanams (12 annas modern money) for each of the local paras (10 local seers), of which
there were more than one. As they varied in capacity the commutation rates per 1,000
Macleod seers varied likewise as follows:-
Rs. A P
In 38 Desams in Nad IX 68 2 1010/11
„ 40 do. do. XI
„ 65 do. do. VIII 62 8 0
„ 11 do. do. IX 57 11 012/13
„ 13 do. do. IX
„ 60 do. do. X 56 9 719/53
„ 40 do. do. XI
Arshad Beg Khan's remission of 20 per cent: 117. In 1782-83 Arshad Beg
Khan, Tippu Sultan's Governor, on receipt of complaints, reduced the jama (demand)
20 per cent, all round on wet lands and gardens, but left the distribution of this
reduction on individuals to be carried out by his subordinates. To what extent this
reduction was ever carried out in regard to individuals, it is impossible to say. This
reduction took effect in these Nads and in the whole of South Malabar except in Nads
XXIII, XXIV and XXV.
Other books !
Tippu Sultan substituted Sultani fanams for old Viray fanams, involving
increase of 12½ percent: 118. In 1786-87 Tippu Sultan ordered a coinage of Sultani
fanams, and the collections were afterwards made in these instead of in old Viray
fanams. As old Viray fanams were worth four to the rupee, and as Sultani fanams,
though of higher value originally, had in 1788-89 fallen in value to 3½ per rupee, the
substitution of Sultani fanams for old Viray fanams had the effect of raising the
revenue at least 12½ per cent, all round on wet lands, gardens, and miscellaneous
lands. This increase, as in the case of Arshad Beg Khan’s reduction, had effect in these
Nads and in nearly the whole of South Malabar.
When the Zamorin, on his restoration in 1790-91, recommenced the coinage
of fanams, called new Viray fanams, he adhered pretty closely to the standard of Tippu
Sultan’s Sultani fanams, viz., 3½ to the rupee. The assessment, therefore, at this time
suffered no change on this account.
1792-94: 119. In 1792-94 a kind of survey was made in consequence of a
request preferred by the inhabitants to the Bengal and Bombay Commissioners that
half of the “rice produce" (sic, vide paragraph 459 of their report) should be taken as
revenue. It is extremely doubtful that this was their request, and it is more probable
they meant the Government share to be 50 per cent, of the pattam (rent.); but however
this may be, what was actually done was by adherence to the old principles to
endeavour, as far as possible, to keep the revenue at the old amount.
Then 10 per cent cess for collection charges: 120. The second
Commission, following a practice which had to some extent elsewhere been introduced
by the Mysorean‘s and by the Joint Commissioners, added 10 per cent, to the jama
(demand) in order to defray collection charges. The Mysoreans never, however,
included this 10 per cent, in the permanent jama as the Commissioners did. The exact
date is not known, but it was between 1796 and 1801.
Garden Lands
The original assessments in those Nads were nominally the same as those in
South Malabar districts generally, viz. :—
One old Viray fanam per two cocoanut trees.
Ono do. per six betel-nut trees.
One do. per jack tree.
Three do. per pepper-vine estimated to yield 15 seers of green pepper.
But the settlement really proceeded on the principle of taking 100 per cent, of
the pattam (rent), ascertained partly by inspection of trees, partly by deeds, and partly by
information obtained from the people. The commutation rates were, however, the
Other books !
The Land
customary rates between Janmis and Ryots in fixing the pattam rates, which were
admittedly below the market prices of produce. Those customary rates were –
Rs. A P
Jacks 0 4 0 per tree.
If Janmis chose to break through the ancient customs and regulated their
dealings with their Ryots at market prices, these rates left a margin for payment of
some pattam (rent).
Arshad Beg Khan’s remission of 20 per cent: 122. Arshad Beg Khan’s
reduction of 20 per cent, on the jama (demand), Tippu Sultan’s increase of 12½ per
cent., and the second Commissioner’s increase of 10 per cent, (vide paragraphs 117,
118, 120 above) affected the garden assessments in these Nads likewise.
Miscellaneous Lands
123. Modan and Ellu (vide paragraphs 33 and 35 above) were assessed by orders
from Mysore in Hyder Ali’s time at 20 per cent, of the produce, commuted into
money, the Modan produce at Rs. 35 to 40 per 1,000 local seers, and Ellu at Rs. 50 to 55
per 1,000 local seers.
(12) Polanad (Vadakkampuram and Kilakkampuram) ;

(13) Beypore or Northern Parappanad; (14) Pulavayi.
Reasons grouping: 124. These Nads, which constitute the greater portion of
the modern taluk of Calicut, will be best taken together, as they seem to have been
managed as regards revenue on an uniform plan.
Zamorin's acquisition of Polanad. Limits: 25. Polanad was one of the
districts immediately subordinate to the Zamorin, who took it originally by stratagem
from the Porlatiri Rajas. It was the Nad in which Calicut, the Zamorin’s headquarters,
was situated. It consisted of the following modern amsams of the modern taluk of
Calicut, viz.
Elattur. Padinyavattumuri. Kottuli.
Talakkuluttur. Karannur. Chevayur.
Makkada. Edakkad. Mayanad.
Chattamangalam. Kacheri. Kovur.
Kunnamangalam. Nagaram. Perumanna
Tamarasseri. Kasba. Peruvayal.
Other books !
Kuruvattur. Valayanad. Iringallur.

Olavanna.
Parappur Raja's Limits: 126. Beypore or Northern Parappanad was subject

to the Beypore branch of the Parappur family of Kshatriyas under the nominal
suzerainty of the Zamorin. In consisted of the following modern amsams in the
modern taluk of Calicut, viz.:
Kedavur. Kanniparamba.
Tiruvambati. Chulur.
Puttur. Manasseri.
Nilesvaram. Pannikkot.
Koduvalli.
Wet Lands
The Huzzur Niguti. 1776-77: 128. In 1776-77 Sirdar Khan, Hyder Ali’s Civil
and Military Governor, prepared certain accounts and sent them to Hyder Ali’s durbar,
where they were revised, and upon them an assessment, was founded, which has
usually been designated as the Huzzur Niguti, or assessment fixed at the seat of
Government. Neither in Sirdar Khan’s accounts nor in those received back from the
durbar was it specifically expressed what proportion of the pattam (rent) or of the
gross produce was intended to be taken as the Government share.
The Niguti vittu or assessed seed: 129. But Mr. Graeme ascertained on
local inquiry that the Government share varied in these Nads on wet lands from 25 per
cent, of the pattam (rent) in Nads XIII and XIV and in six Desams of Nad XII to 30
per cent, in the remaining fifty-seven Desams in Nad XII.
This proportion of the produce came to be known as the Niguti Vittu or
assessed seed. Each local para (10 local seers) of Niguti Vittu or assessed seed was
commuted into money at 3 old gold fanams, but on complaint of the severity of this
rate, Sirdar Khan reduced the commutation rate in the fifty-seven Desams ot Nad XII
[where 30 per cent, of the pattam (rent) was taken] from 3 to 2½ old gold fanams. The
commutation rate, therefore, varied from 10 to 12 annas per local para (10 local seers)
of Niguti Vittu, or, to state the matter differently, for the purpose of general
comparison, from Rs. 50 to Rs. 60 per 1,000 Macleod seers.
130. Arshad Beg Khan’s reduction of 20 per cent, and Tippu Sultan’s increase
of 12½ per cent, (see paragraphs 117, 118 above) were applied to the rice-lands in
these Nads.
Other books !
The Land
1791-94: In 1791-92 to 1793-94 a return was gradually made to the jama (demand) at
the above rates.
132. The 10 per cent, for charges of collection (vide paragraph 120 above) was
also added to the demand.
1793-94: 133. In 1793-94 there was a sort of a survey, but the old principles
were adhered to, and the main point kept in view was not to exceed the aggregate of
the former jama (demand).
Garden Lands
Huzur Niguti : The Huzur Niguti (see paragraph 128 above) fixed the rates of
assessment on garden produce as follows:-
A P
Cocoanuts ½ old Viray fanam or 2 0 per
productive tree.
Betel-nuts 1/6 do. or 0 8 do.
Jacks 1 do. or 4 0 do.
Pepper-vines. 3 do. or 12 0 per
productive vine.
100 percent of pattam taken as assessment: These rates, however, were

perhaps never as matter of fact applied in practice. The Mysore Government, it is
understood, meant to appropriate the whole of the Janmi’s share of the produce, or in
other words 100 per cent, of pattam (rent).
What was understood by a 'productive tree’: In order to do this and at the
same tine to preserve some uniformity in the principle of taxation, their officers
entered in the accounts as “productive” only the number of trees or vines which, at the
above rates, it took to make up the total jama (demand). All other trees, whether
productive or not, were classed as “unproductive.” For example, 10 fanams of pattam
(rent) would be reckoned as 20 productive cocoanut trees. In some localities this
number of trees might produce 10 fanams of pattam (rent), but in other localities it
would take 30 or 40, or, perhaps, 60 really productive trees to makeup 10 fanams of
pattam (rent) ; in these cases 20 trees only would be returned as productive, while the
balance of 10, 20 or 40 trees respectively, though really productive, would be returned
as "unproductive.”
And so with pepper-vines, the 3 fanams per productive vine was not an
assessment on each vine, or even (as was sometimes thought) on each standard tree
Other books !
supporting a number of vines, but upon any number of vines - varying, as it necessarily
must have done, with the fertility of soil and congeniality of climate—that were
estimated to yield 15 seers of green pepper (or 6 seers of dry pepper). The whole of the
pattam (rent) thus taken as revenue was, however, commuted into money at rates
which still left the Janmi (if he chose to break through the ancient customary rule and
take it) a small share of the produce. The customary commutation rates in these Nads
were as follows :
Rs. A P
which were considerably below market prices.
135. Arshad Beg Khan’s reduction of 20 per cent, and Tippu Sultan’s increase
of 12½ per cent, and the Commissioner’s increase of 10 per cent, for establishment
charges (see paragraphs 117, 118 and 120 above), were applied to the garden
assessments in these Nads.
Miscellaneous Lands
136. Modan (sec paragraph 33 above) was only assessed by the Mysoreans in
Nads Nos. XIII and XIV, and there at the rate of 20 per cent, of the gross produce at
current market prices. Ellu (see paragraph 35) was unassessed by the Mysoreans,
except when it was sown instead of Modan in Nads Nos. XIII and XIV. In the latter
event the Mysore Government took in some places 5 Sultani fanams 3½ to the rupee)
for every Macleod seer of seed sown, and in other places 20 per cent, of the gross
produce at current market prices.
1801-2: 137. In 1801-2 Major Macleod, the first Principal Collector, included in
the permanent jama (demand) of those Nads 20 per cent of the gross produce in that
year of Modan and Ellu lands [commuted into money assessments at 1 new Viray
fanam (3½ to the rupee) and 2½ new Viray fanams respectively per para (10 seers),
dividing the amount thus arrived at into three portions, and collecting one-third
annually, the lands being cultivated only once in three years. These commutation rates
were equivalent to Rs. 28-9-15/7 and Rs. 71-0-102/7 per 1,000 Macleod seers
respectively. To the above he also added the 10 per cent, for charges of collection (see
paragraph 120).
Other books !
The Land
(15) Southern Parappanad ; (16) Ramnad; (17) Chernad ; (18) Ernad.

Reasons for grouping: 138. As the Huzzur Niguti (see paragraphs 128,129
and 134) was the rule of assessment in these four Nads, and grouping as these Nads
constitute nearly the whole of the modern taluk of Ernad, it will be convenient to take
them together, although the modes of applying the Huzzur Niguti varied great in each
of them.
Parappur Raja's Limits: 139. Southern Parappanad, under the Parappur
family with the Zamorin as nominal suzerain (see paragraph 126), consisted of the
following modern amsams of the modern taluk of Ernad, viz. :
Palanchannur. Vallikunnu.
Mannur. Parappanangadi
Tonyipalam. Nannambra.
Neduva.
The territory: 140. Ramnad, Chernad and Ernad all acknowledged the
Zamorin as direct ruler. They consisted of the following modern amsams of the
modern taluks of Ernad and Ponnani :
Ramnad
Nallur. Karad. Karippur.
Alinyilam. Karumarakad. Chelembra.
Chorukava.
Chernad
Vadakkumpram. Parutur. Urakam
Valiyakunnu. Olakara. Melmuri.
Kattiparutti. Trikkulam. Puttur.
Atavanad. Koduvayur. Kottakkal.
Ummattur. Vengara. Indiannur.
Irimbiliam. Kannamangalam. Valakkulam.
Ernad
Mappram. Porur. Iruvetti.
Chikkod. Vandur. Kavannur.
Uragattiri. Tiruvali. Chengara.
Mambat. Trikalangod, Puliyakod.
Other books !
Nilambur. Karakunnu. Kulimanna

Kolattur. Arimbra. Payyanad.
Nediyirippu. Valluvambrnm. Elankur.
Kilmuri. Irirnbuli. Ponmala.
Melmuri. Mancheri.
Wet Lands
1776-77:141. Graeme ascertained that the Huzzur Niguti (see paragraph 128),
as assessed in these Nads in bore the following proportions to pattam (rent) at the
following commutation rates calculated in the manner detailed in paragraph 129
above:-
Percentage of pattam taken as assessed seed, Niguti vittu:
Rs.
Southern No XV 33½ per cent, at
Parappanad, 62½
Ramnad, No. XVI 25 do. at 75
Chernad, No. XVII:- per 1,000 Macleod
In 10 desams 10 do. at seers.
250
„ 60 Do. 10 do at
125
" 31 Do. 25 do at
75
" 1 Do. 331/3 do at
75
Ernad, No. XVIII 20 do at
75
142. Arshad Beg Khan’s reduction of 20 per cent. Tippu Sultan’s increase of
12½ per cent., and the 10 per cent, addition for collection charges (see paragraphs
117, 118 and 120) all took effect on the wet lands of these Nads.
1791—94: 143. The old jama (demand) was gradually worked up to in 1791-92
to 1793-94, and collected as far as possible up to 1800-1.
1801-3: 144. Major Macleod made a sort of survey or inspection and increased
the jama (demand) in 1801-2, without, however, presumably altering the principles of
Other books !
The Land
the assessment. Owing to the rebellion which ensued, the old jama (demand) of 1800-1
was reverted to by Mr. Rickards in 1802-3.
1803-4: 145. In 1803-4, however, Mr. Warden, third of the Principal
Collectors, directed one-fourth of the increase to the jama (demand) made by Major
Macleod to be collected in Nad No. XV and in one desam—Puttur—in Nad No.
XVII. To this increase he superadded 10 per cent, for charges of collection (vide
paragraph 120).
Garden Lands
The Huzrur Niguti (see paragraph 134) was introduced by Ramalinga Pillay
(Hyder Ali’s agent) in all these Nads on the same footing as in the Calicut Taluk Nads,
viz., that 100 percent, of the pattam (rent) was taken and commuted into money at the
customary rates prevalent in all of these Nads, viz.
Rs. A P
Cocoanuts 7. 8 0 per 1,000 nuts
Betel-nuts 0. 4 0 Do
Jacks 0 4 0 per tree
These rates were admittedly below the market prices, and left a small margin
as pattam if the Janmi thought right to take it.
147. It appears, however, that in the assessment of the gardens in Nad No. XV
and in Bettatnad (Nad No. XXVI), some small additional share was left over for the
Janmi in manner following. The trees were divided as usual into productive,
unproductive, and young, and a pattam (rent) calculated in money was arrived at (after
making a deduction of one-third, it is supposed, as the Ryot’s share).
From the pattam (rent) so ascertained a deduction of 2 old viray fanams in 10
(i.e. 20 per cent.) was made for the benefit of the Janmis,1 and the residue, viz., 8
fanams in 10, was then entered in the accounts as 16 productive cocoanut trees in
accordance with the rule of the Huzzur Niguti (paragraph 13-4).
NOTEs: 1. Mappillas (Mulmmmadans) predominated then as they still in these parts. END
OF NOTEs
1803-4: 148. In Nad No. XV and in one Desam—Puttur—of Nad No. XVII
also one-fourth of Major Macleod’s increase appears to have been levied by Mr.
Warden in 1803-4 as in the case of wet lands (paragraphs144 and 145). To this increase
was superadded 10 per cent, for collection charges.
Other books !
149. Arshad Beg Khan’s reduction of 20 per cent., Tippu Sultan's increase of
12½ per cent., and the 10 per cent, for collection charges (see paragraphs 117, 118,
120) also affected the gardens in these Nads.
Miscellaneous Lands
150. The Nads were treated somewhat differently in the assessment of Modan
(sec paragraph 33), Punam (paragraph 34) and Ellu (paragraph 35) were not assessed in
these Nads.
1801-2: 151. Modan in Nad XV. The Mysore Government applied the same rules as in
Nads XIII and XIV (vide paragraph 136), i.e. they took 20 per cent, of the gross
produce in years when the crop was cultivated and commuted the share into money at
current market prices, and Major Macleod, in similar fashion as in the Nads XIII anti
XIV, took one-third of the assessment, of the year 1801-2 and included it in the
permanent jama (demand) of the Nad (see paragraph 137).
152. Modan in Nad XVI was exempt from assessment till Major Macleod ’s
time, 1801-2, in which year he assessed it as follows:-
One local para (10 local seers) in every seven paras of gross produce was
selected as the Government share, and of this selected share one para in five (i.e., 1/35
of the gross produce or 26/7 per cent.) was taken and commuted into a money
assessment at 6 new Viray fanams (Rs. 1-11-5 1/7) per para. The assessment thus fixed
was collected in three years at one- third per year (see paragraph 137.)
153. Modan in Nad XVII was exempt from assessment till Major Macleod’s
time in 1801-2, in which year he assessed the crop as follows: 20 percent, of the gross
produce was selected as the Government share, and out of every five paras (50 seers)
of the share thus selected one para (10 seers) (i.e.1/25 2) or 4 per cent of the gross
produce was taken and assessed at 3 new Viray fanams (As.- 13-8 4/7) per para (10
seers). This assessment was likewise spread over three years.
NOTEs. 2. 21/5 of 1/5 = 1/25. END OF NOTEs
154. Modem in Nad XV1II. In assessing the Huzzur Niguti in this Nad in
1776-77, additions were made to the permanent jama (demand) in 99 Desams out of
116 in the following fashion:-
(a). On every para (10 seers) of assessed seed of wet lands (see paragraph 141).
(b). On every 3 fanams of garden assessment (see paragraph 146),
one-half of a fanam was imposed on account of Modan, and Major Macleod in
1801-2 completed the Modan assessment (wherever it had already been imposed) in
the manner and on the principles described for Nad No. XVII (paragraph 153).
Other books !
The Land
(19) Vellattri (Walluvanad Proper); (20) Walluvanad; (21) Nedunganad ;

(22) Kavalappara.
Reasons for grouping: 155. As those Nads constitute the modern taluk of
Walluvanad and as the Huzzur Niguti (paragraphs 128, 134) was the mode of
assessment adopted in them in 1776-77, it will be convenient to take them together.
Prior to 1776-77 these Nads were subjected by the Mysoreans to violent and irregular
collections under the name of Nuzzurs or Perumbuddy.
The Walluvanad Raja's Limits: 156. Vellattri or Walluvanad proper was the
sole remaining territory of the Walluvanad Raja (Valluva Konatiri), who once exercised
suzerain rights over a large portion of South Malabar. His territory had been gradually
broken up by the Zamorin. At the time of the Mysore conquest there remained to him
the following modern amsams of the modern taluks of Walluvanad and Ernad, viz. : —
Kodur. Valambur. Vettattur.
Kuruva Karyavattam Kottapadam
Pallipuram. Nenmini. Arakurissi.
Mangada. Melattur. Tachambara.
Arakkuparamba. Panga. Anamangad.
Chettanallur. Kolattur. Paral.
Angadipuram. Kuruvambalam. Chembrasseri
Perintalmanna. Pulamantol. Pandikkad.
Pulakkattiri. Elankulam
The Zamorin's latest acquisition. Limits: 157. Walluvanad was apparently

the latest acquisition by Zamorin at the expense of the Walluvanad Raja. It consisted of
the following modern amsams of the modern taluk of Walluvanad:-
Tuvur. Karimpula.
Tiruvalamkunnu. Tachanattukara.
Tenkara. Aliparamba
Kumaramputtur.
The Zamorin's territory. Limits: 158. Nedunganad had for some time been
under the Zamorin. It consisted of the following modern amsams of the modern taluk
of Walluvanad, viz.
Elambulasseri. Cherppullasseri Netirimangalam.
Other books !
Vellinali. Naduvattamkaralmanna. Pallipuram.

Srikrishnapuram. Kulukkalaur. Kalladiatta.
Kadambalipuram Chundampetta. Vallapula
Kalladikod. Vilayur. Kotakurissi.
Vadakkuinpnram Pulasseri. Eledattamadamba.
Muttedattamadamba. Naduvattarn Chunangad.
Trikatiri. Mututala. Mulanyur.
Chalavara. Perumudiyur. Perur.
The Kavalappara Nayar. Limits: 159. Kavalappara under its own Nayar
chief owed a sort of nominal allegiance both to the Cochin Raja and to the Zamorin.
The Commissioners eventually decided in favour of his independence. His territory
consisted of the following modern amsams of the modern taluk of Walluvanad, viz.
Mundakodkurissi. Panamanna.
Kunattara. Karakkad.
Kulappalli. Mundamuka.
Wet Lands
160. Mr. Graeme ascertained that the Huzzur Niguti (paragraph 128). as
assessed in 1776-77 in the Nads1- in Nad No. 19 by Mohidin Muppan and in Nad No.
22 by Haidros Kutti Muppan— bore the following proportions to pattam (rent) and at
the following commutation rates :
Nads Percentage of Commutation
Puttam (rent) Rates of the
taken as Niguti Niguti Vittu into
Vittu (assessed Money Per 1000
seed.) Macleod seers
Rs. A. P
Vellattri (Walluvanad proper) 10 per cent 125 0 0
Walluvanad 10 do 125 0 0
Nedunganad
a. 89 Desams 10 do 100 0 0
b. 9 do. 111 1 91/3
Kavalappara 10 do 100 0 0
But as regards the commutation rate for Kavalappara between 1776 and 1790-
91 see paragraph 161 below regarding the Modan assessment.
Other books !
The Land
NOTEs: 1. The names of the officers who settled Nads Nos. 20 and 21 have not been handed
down. END OF NOTEs
161. Arshad Beg Khan’s reduction of 20 per cent., Tippu Sultan's increase of
12½ per cent,, and the 10 per cent, for collection charges— the latter cess levied as
early as 1778-79 in Nads 19 and 22—all affected the wet lands of these Nads (see
paragraphs 117, 118 and 120 above).
Garden Lands
162. In all of these Nads the whole of the pattam (rent), calculated in money
and founded upon a valuation of the gross produce existing for a long time back
between Janmis and Ryots was taken and converted into an assessment of account in
the manner already described for other Nads (see paragraph 134). The customary rates
for produce prevalent in all of these Nads were as follows:-
RS. A. P
Cocoanuts 7 8 0 per 1,000 nuts,
Betel –nuts 0 4 0 do.
which rates were considerably below the actual prevailing market prices, and left to the
Janmi (if he cared to break through custom and take it) a portion of the actual produce
of the gardens.
163. Arshad Beg Khan’s reduction of 20 per cent., Tippu Sultan’s increase of
12½ per cent, and the 10 per cent, levied for collection charges (vide paragraphs 117,
118 and 120 above) all affected the garden assessments in all of these Nads.
Miscellaneous Lands
164. The assessment of Modan (see paragraph 13) in these Nads was made at
different times and in different manners, and Ella (paragraph 35) was assessed in only
one of the Nads.
165. Modan in Vellattri (Walluvanad proper) was assessed in 1776-77 on the
following principles, The “produce” having been ascertained, 30 per cent, of it was
selected as the Niguti Vitta (see paragraph 129), and a money assessment fixed on it at
the rate of half old Viray fanam (2 annas) per local para (10 seers), which, as the para in
use was equal to a standard para, gave a commutation rate of Rs. 12½ per 1,000
Macleod seers.
In 1796-97 to 1800-1 the whole of the Modan assessment of this Nad was
remitted under orders of Mr. Stevens, the Supervisor, as he was then styled. In 1801-2,
Major Macleod (first Principal Collector) revived the assessment, taking 20 per cent, of
the gross produce and commuting it into money at a rate equivalent to Rs. 16-5-234/49
per 1000 Macleod seers.
Other books !
In 1815, in a portion of this Nad, the Modan assessment of 1801-2 was

apportioned at various rates on the wet land assessments and consolidated with them.
In the rest of the Nad the previous system continued to prevail, but the jama fixed in
1801-2 had always to be realised. If the assessments exceeded the jama no action was
taken, but, if they fell short, then the assessments were raised to the requisite pitch by
increasing the commutation rate so as to bring the assessments for the year up to the
level of the jama (demand) of 1801-2.
1801-2: 166. Modan in Walluvanad and Nedunganad was apparently not assessed
till 1801-2, when Mr. Drummond, Sub-Collector, fixed it at 20 per cent, of the gross
produce, commuted into money at rates equivalent in some parts to Rs. 19-0-91/7, and
in other parts lo Rs. 16-5-234/49 per 1,000 Macleod seers.
1776-77: 167. Modan in Kavalappara was assessed in 1776-77 at the rate of
one-fourth old Viray fanam per local para of Niguti Vittu (see paragraph 129) on all
wetlands, that is, in effect the wet lands assessment was increased from 4 to 41/4 old
Viray fanams per local para of Niguti Vittu. Owing to this the commutation rate on
wet lands was raised from Rs. 100 to Rs. 106-4-0 per 1,000 Macleod seers. On this
increase 10 per cent, for collection charges was also levied. In 1790-91 to 1795-96,
under the Honourable Company's rule, the Modan assessment seems to have been
revised with reference to the arrangement prevailing in Nad No. 19. Instead, however,
of taking 30 per cent of the produce as in Nad No. 19, only 20 per cent, was taken, and
the remaining 10 per cent, was remitted on behalf of the Janmis.
On the above 20 per cent, of produce a rate was fixed of 1 fanam 51/3 annas
per 2 paras (20 seers) or ½ paras (15 seers) per fanam, or Rs. 16-10-8 per 1,000
Macleod seers. It would also seem as if the permanent demand for Modan assessed on
the wet lands was also at the same time remitted.
1770-1802: 168. Ellu in Vellttri (Walluvanad proper) was assessed from 1776-77
on the same principles as Modan (see paragraph 165), viz., from 1776-77 till 1796-97 at
30 per cent, of the ascertained produce; between 1796-97 and 1800-1 the assessment
was relinquished altogether ; and after 1801- 2 the shares of the produce taken as
Niguti Vittu (vide paragraph 129) was 20 per cent. The commutation rates varied
similarly, viz:-
Per 1,000 Macleod seers. Rs
From 1776-77 to 1789-90 37½
" 1790-91 to 1795-96 50 to 62½
" 1801-2 62½
Other books !
The Land
(23) PALGHAT OR VADAMALAPURAM ; (24) TEMMALAPURAM ; (25)

NADUVATTAM
Reasons for grouping: 169. These Nads, constituting the present taluk of
Palghat, may be conveniently considered together, because in revenue matters, after the
Mysore occupation, they were treated, with one exception, on all uniform plan, and
because a few remarks are required regarding their political and revenue history at and
about this time (1765-66).
Political events immediately preceding 1765-66: 170. The following
appears to be the political history of this part of the country at the above time. Some
time previously to 1757 the territories of the Palghat Rajas had suffered by severe
inroads on the part of the Cochin and Walluvanad Rajas and of the Zamorin. The
former had possessed himself of the Chittur territory lying east of Palghat.
The Walluvanad Raja had obtained a nominal sovereignty over the three
Nayarships of Kongad, Edattara, and Mannur, lying in the north-west of the present
taluk, and the Zamorin had possessed himself of the division of the country called
Naduvattarn (Nad No. 25). To protect his territory from further dismemberment, the
Palghat Raja had offered to become, and had been accepted as, a tributary of the
Mysore Rajas, still best known in Malabar as the Rajas of Kongu or Kongunad. The
tribute was 12,000 old Viray fanams per annum, was designated as Rakshabhogam, and
was met, without assessment of land tax from the ordinary revenues of the country.
In 1757 or thereabouts the Zamorin seems to have overrun the remaining
territory of the Palghat Raja and imposed a land-tax, called Kavalphanam upon it
similar to one already in force in the Naduvattarn Nad No. 25, and designed to meet
the expenses of the force required as a defence against Mysore. It amounted to one-
fourth old Viray fanam per local para (10 seers) of seed-land, i.e., land required to sow
one para (10 seers) of seed in a single crop. But the Raja of Palghat applied to Hyder
Ali, then Foujdar of Dindigul, in the service of Chick Deo Raj, the nominal sovereign
of Mysore.
On this application Hyder Ali sent a force under his brother-in-law, Muckh
doom Sahib, who drove back the Zamorin’s Nayars and the Zamorin thereupon
sought to compromise matters by agreeing to pay Rs. 12,00,000 as a military
contribution, and by restoring the conquests he had made from Palghat, from which,
however, the Naduvattam Division (Nad No. 25) seems to have been exempted. Hyder
Ali afterwards made over his right to the Rs. 12,00,000 to one of the ministers of the
puppet Raja of Mysore and when Hyder Ali at last usurped the Government of Mysore
this claim became one of his pretexts for invading the country. After the invasion
(1765-66) the Naduvattam Nad (No. 25) seems to have been managed, along with
Nads 23 and 24, by the Palghat Raja’s nephew as an agent of Hyder Ali.
Other books !
The northern Division of Palghat: 171. Palghat or Vadmalapuram

comprised the following modern amsams in the modern taluk of Palghat, viz:-
Cheraya Elapalli Vadakuntara PalIanchuattanur
Kongad Polpalli Koduntirapalli Kannadi
Mundur Pallatteri Edattara Kinasseri
Kavalpad Puttur Kilakkumpuram Tiruvalattur
Akattettara Koppam Tadukasserri Palattulli
Putusseri Yakkara Mattur
The Southern Division of Palghat: 172. Temmalapuram comprised the following

modern amsams of the modern taluk of Palghat, viz.
Chulanur. Kannanurpattola.
Vadakkettara. Ayakkad.
Kattusscri. MangaIam.
Kavasseri. Vadakkancheri.
Tirur. Chittalancheri
The Zamorin's territory: 173. Naduvattom comprised of the following modem

amsams in the modern taluk of Palghat, viz.:-
Kottaya Tannisseri Erinmayur Kilakketara
Mangara Peruvemba Kunisseri Padinynyaretara
Kuttanur Koduvayur Pallavur Vattekud
Kulalmannam Kakkayur Kudullur Panangattiri
Vilayanchattannur Vilayannur Pallassna Mutalamada
Tenkurissi Manynyalur Vadavannur
Wet lands
1765-66: 174. In 1765-66 Itti Kombi Achan, Palghat Raja’s nephew, as an
agent of Hyder’s on his invasion of the country in that year, increased the rate of
assessment to one old Viray fanam per para (10 seers) of seed land (see paragraph 170).
1773-74. Sullayad Khan's reduction of assessment in Nads 23 and 24:175. In
1773-74 Sullayad Khan (commonly called Darogha Sahib) Hyder Ali's Dewan, raised
the assessment to 1½ fanams per local para (10 local seers) of seed-land, but on
complaint of its oppressiveness he reduced it in Nads 23 and 24 in the following
Other books !
The Land
manner. When the land yielded 5 paras (50 seers) of pattam (rent) for each para (10
seers) of seed sown, the rate was maintained ; but, when the land yielded a less pattam,
he preserved the rate, but assessed it on a proportionately smaller quantity seed, e.g:-
10 paras of seed-land yielding 50 paras or pattam (rent) were entered in accounts as 10
paras.
10 do. 40 do. 8 do.
10 do. 30 do. 6 do.
10 do. 20 do. 4 do.
On these 10, 8, 6 and 4 paras respectively, he assessed his rate of 1½ fanams
per para. The paras of seed-land shown in the accounts were therefore here, as well as
elsewhere in the Southern Districts, factitious measures of assessment quite
unconnected with the quantity of grain required to sow the land.
176. Calculating on these figures, it therefore seems that the rate of assessment
in Nads 23 and 24 was 20 per cent of the pattam (rent), converted into money at Rs.
53-9-15/7 per 1,000 Macleod seers; but of course the assessment falls heavier than this
in Nad 25. What ratio it bears to pattam in that Nad, it is impossible to say. Moreover
in Nad 24 Modan and Ellu (paragraphs 33-35) were assessed at 8 annas per head on all
persons paying wet land assessment. This increased also to some extent the wet land
assessments in that Nad (vide paragraph 183).
1781-82: 177: In 1781-82 Palghat was transferred from the Mysore Cutcherry
of Calicut to that of Seringapatam.
I78. Consequently Arshad Beg Khan’s reduction of 20 per cent, in the jama
(demand) did not extend to these Nads (see paragraph 117).
179. But on the other hand Tippu Sultan's increase of 12½ per cent (paragraph
118) did affect the wet lands in these Nads.
Itti Kombi Achan's 5 per cent, cess for establishment.- Increased to 10
per cent under Honourable Company: 180. Moreover in Darogha Sahib's time
(paragraph 175) Itti Kombi Achan established a Parbutti Menon (Accountant) and two
or three Kolkars (Peons) in each Desam to collect the revenue, and imposed for the
purpose of paying them, an additional tax of 5 per cent, in some places, and somewhat
less in others. Under the Company’s Government this was increased to 10 per cent,
(see paragraph 120).
Other books !
Garden Lands
181. Were unassessed under the Mysore Government.
1801-2: 182. In 1801-2 Major Macleod (the first of the Principal Collectors) for the first
time imposed taxes on garden at the following rates, with 10 per cent, added (see
paragraph 120) for collection charges:-
One new Viray fanam on S productive Coccanut trees.
One do. on 24 do. Betel-nut trees.
One do. on 4 do. Jack trees.
Three-quarter do. on each do. Pepper-vine.
What a "productive” tree or vine was supposed to mean is not now to be
ascertained but supposing that the trees actually assessed were really productive trees,
and accepting as the average produce per productive tree the exceptionally low rates
given in the Janmi Pymaish account of 981 (See paragraph 29 above), then it becomes
possible to calculate the ratio between assessment and gross produce, and between
assessment and pattam (rent) ; if the pattam be hypothetically taken as two-thirds of
the gross produce on Mr. Rickards’ plan (vide Append x XV). The assessment,
including the 10 per cent, for collection charges, may be taken as varying.
From about 62 41/49 per cent, of the pattam (rent) on trees yielding an average
of 10 nuts per tree at a commutation rate of Rs. 9-6-0 per 1,000 nuts, to about 6717/49
per cent, of the pattam (rent) on trees yielding an average of 10 nuts per tree at a
commutation rate of Rs. 8-12-0 per 1,000 nuts on cocoanuts.
And from about 742/77 per cent of the pattam (rent) on trees yielding an
average of 386/13 nuts per tree at a commutation rate of 11 annas per 1,000 nuts, to
about 813/7 per cent, of the pattam (rent) on trees yielding an average of 386/13, nuts
per tree at a commutation rate of 10 annas per 1,000 nuts on betel-nuts.
And 25 per cent of the pattam (rent) on trees yielding an average pattam (rent)
of 4 annas 66/7 pies per tree on jacks.
As to pepper, assuming that the same principle was observed in those Nads as
elsewhere, and that the assessment was fixed on any number of vines, which were
calculated to yield 15lbs. of green or 6lb. of dry pepper, the percentage of the
assessment to the gross produce would be about 62½ per cent.
Miscellaneous Lands
183. Modan and Ellu (see paragraphs 33 and 35) were assessed by the
Mysorean Government only in Temmalapuram (Nad No. XXIV), and there the
assessment was not on produce or rent, but at the rate of 2 old Viray fanams (8 annas)
per individual paying wet land revenue.
Other books !
The Land
(26) Vettatnad
The Vettatta Raj extinct. Death, 24th May 1793, of the last Raja. Limits: 184. This
Nad was subject to the Vettatta Raja, over whom the Zamorin also claimed certain
nominal suzerain rights. The family - a Kshatriya one - became extinct on the death of
the last Raja, on 24th May 1793, while the Joint Commissioners were proceeding with
the settlement of the Nad. It consisted of the following modern amsams in the modern
taluk of Ponnani :
Pariyapuram. Pomnundam. Trikkandiyur.
Rayirimangalam. Tanalur. Iringavur.
Olur. Niramarutur. Klari.
Kalpakancheri. Talakkad. Chennara.
Melmuri. Vettam. Triprangod.
Anantavur. Pachattiri. Pallipuram.
Kanmanam. Mangalam. Purattur.
Wet Lands
1777: 185. In 1777 Ramalinga Pillay, an agent of Hyder Ali’s Government,
upon an inspection of the Janmi’s pattam (rent) accounts of rice-lands, assumed for
the whole taluk, for the purpose of introducing the Huzzur Niguti (see paragraphs 128,
129), one local para (10 local seers) of Niguti Vittu (paragraph 129) for every 4 paras of
pattam (rent) (i.e. 25 percent), and applied to it a tax of 3 old Viray fanams ( i.e Rs. 75
per 1,000 Macleod seers),
186. But Mr. Graeme ascertained that the actual shares of the pattam taken as
Nigiiti Vittu varied greatly as per particulars below:-
In 65 Desams 25 per cent.
In 38 Desams 222/9 per cent. at the uniform rate of Rs. 75
In 8 Desams 20 per cent. per 1,000 Macleod seers.
In 7 Desams 162/3 per cent.
1782-83: 187. In 1782-83, in the time of Arshad Beg Khan, a complaint was
made of the severity of the assessments, but no attention was paid to it and, on the
contrary, two of his subordinates (Venkappa and Venkaji) levied an additional
contribution of 15 percent of charges for collection in all the Desams (compare
paragraph 120). Arshad Beg Khan’s order regarding reduction of 20 per cent extended
to this Nad, but whether it was ever acted on is extremely doubtful (see paragraph
117). Tippu’s increase of 12½ per cent affected this Nad (paragraph 118).
Other books !
1790-91: 189. Between 1790-01 and 1793-04 the full revenue at the above rates
was gradually revived and collected with some balances till 1800-1.
1801-3: 189. Major Macleod’s survey or rather inspection in 1801-2, followed
by an attempt to collect the increased revenue, resulted in a rebellion, and Mr. Rickards
in 1802-3 reverted to the settlement of 1800-1.
1803-4: 190. In 1803-4 however, Mr. Warden, the next of the Principal
Collectors, directed one-fourth of the increase to the assessment fixed by Major
Macleod’s survey to be collected. This increase, it may be presumed, did not affect the
principles of the settlement in force.
191. To this increase was superadded 15 per cent for charges of collection (see
paragraph 187).
Garden Lands
1777-78: 192. In introducing, in 1777-78, the Huzzur Niguti (paragraph 134) in
this Nad, Ramalinga Pillay left a small margin for the proprietor, viz. 20 per cent of the
pattam (rent), in the manner already described in paragraph 147, so that only 80 per
cent of the pattam (rent) was taken as assessment in this Nad. There is no record of
what the customary commutation rates between Janmis and Ryots were in this Nad, but
it is likely they were the same as in the neighbouring Nads and in all other Nads in
South Malabar except Nos. 23, 24 and 25.
Rs. A P
Cocoanuts 7 8 0 per 1,000 nuts
Betel-nuts 0 4 0 do
193. Arshad Beg Khan's, reduction of 20 percent, and Tippu Sultan's increase
of 12½ per cent (paragraphs 117, 118) were applied to the garden lands in this Nad.
1790-94: 194. In 1790-91 to 1793-94 the full assessment at the above rates was
gradually revived.
1801-2: 195. Major Macleod, in 1801-2, increased the assessment on gardens as
on wet lands (paragraph 189). Mr. Rickards also reverted to the previous settlement of
1809-1 (paragraph 189), and Mr. Warden likewise, in 1803-4, levied one-fourth of
Major Macleod’s increase (paragraph 190).
196. The establishment charges percentage was likewise in per cent on gardens
as on wet lands (paragraph 187), and was levied on the one-fourth of Major Macleod’s
increase by Mr. Warden.
Other books !
The Land
Miscellaneous Lands
197. Under the Mysore Government the same rules were applied in this Nad
as in Nads No 13 and 15 to the assessment of Modan (paragraph 33), viz., 20 percent
of the gross produce, valued at current market rates, wherever that, crop was cultivated
In 62 Desams, 20 per cent of the gross produce was taken as the pattam (rent),
and of this pattam (rent) 25 per cent (or, say, 5 per cent, of the gross produce) was
taken as assessment and commuted at the rate of Rs. 85-11-5-1/7 per 1,000 Macleod
seers.
In 7 Desams, every para (10 seers) of seed sown was assessed at one new Viray
fanam. Assuming the outturn to be five-fold, the assessment would be 20 per cent, of
the gross produce, valued at Rs. 28-9-1-5/7 per 1,000 Macleod seers.
199. In the 62 Desams, the crop was further assessed at 15 per cent, for
collection charges (see paragraphs 120, 187) and in the 7 Desams at 10 per cent.
1801-2: 200. After 1801-2 fresh assessments continued to be levied on the Mysore
principles, viz., 20 per cent, of gross produce at current market rates.
201. The cultivation of Ellu (paragraph 35) being very inconsiderable was not
assessed in this Nad.
(27) KUTNAD; (28) CHAVAKKAD AND CHETVAI.
Chetvai Island. Limits: 202. The Zamorin at the time of the Mysore invasion
possessed suzerain rights over both of these Nads, except over the island of Chetvai,
consisting of the following amsams of the modern taluk or Ponnani, viz. :-
Vadanapalli. Nattika. Pallipuram.
Edattirutti. Kaippamangalam. Pappinivattam.
Panangad.
Political events: This island had from 1717 been in the possession of the
Dutch, from whom, however, it was taken by Hyder Ali in 1776 and in turn from the
Mysoreans by the Honourable Company in 1790.
Limits: The above two Nads consisting of the following modern amsams of Ponnani:-
Kutanad
Tavanur Isvaramangalam Nagalasseri
Kaladi Pallapuram Tirumittakod
Kodanad Ponnani Otalur
Other books !
Melattur Kanynyiramukku Kappur

Chekkod Edappal Alangod
Anakkara Vattamkuam Pallikkara
Kilmuri Kumaranallur Eramangalam
Pottanur Kotachira Vavilattur
Chavakkad and Chetvai.

Veliangod. Ayirur. Kadikkad.
Punnayur. Edakaliyur. Palayur.
Guruvayur. Iringapuram. Annakara.
Bhrahmakulam. Mullasseri. Venkidanga.
Chavakkad. Orumanayur. Vadanapalli.
Nattika. Pallipuram. Edattirutti.
Kaippamangalam. Pappinivattam Panangad.
Wet Lands.
1765-66: 203. In 1765-66 Hyder Ali paid a visit to these Nads, and his agents
and his tributary, the Coimbatore Raja (Maha Deo Raj, usually styled Madavan in
Malabar), afterwards till 1767-68 managed the country and levied irregular and violent
contributions both on the personal and on the real property of the inhabitants.
1767-68: 204. From 1767-68 till 1773 those Nads were again under the
Zamorin.
1773: 205. In 1773 Chunder Row and Sreenivas Row came with troops and
wrested the country from the Zamorin. By their orders the Nads were rented to
Mohidin Muppan and Haidros Kutti, who collected 100 per cent, of the pattam (rent),
but finding that insufficient to enable them to meet their engagements, they imposed
further contributions and seized personal property. Finding this means also fail, they
carried some of the inhabitants to Seringapatain with whatever accounts of the pattam
(rent) were extent.
1777-78: 206. On their return in 1777-78 they commenced to collect what they
called the Huzzur Niguti (paragraphs 128,129) upon an actual reaping and measuring
of the crop, taking two-thirds of the gross preclude as the Government share on rice-
lands and leaving one-third to the cultivator. The consequence was the people flied and
the lands lay uncultivated.
Other books !
The Land
207. About this time Ramalinga Pillay came under orders from Hyder Ali and
made a survey, but the amount fell short of the Huzzur Niguti (see paragraphs 128,
129).
1779-80: 208. In 1779-80 Jumien Subahdar was sent by Hyder Ali in
consequence of the outcry of the people to equalise the assessment. He ascertained the
probable landlord’s rent, styled the Mudalalinra pattam (headman's rent), and took
Rs. A P
In 282 Desams 60 per cent at 31 4 0
In 24 do. 60 do. at 25 0 0
209. To the above was added 10 per cent., as Chelluvari (charges of collection)
1781-82: 210. In 1781-82 the British possessed the country for a short time
and the restored Rajas had the management of it.
211. Arshud Beg Khan's reduction of 20 per cent, and Tippu’s increase of
12½ percent, (see paragraphs 117, 118) affected the assessment on the wet lands.
1785-86: 212. In 1785-86 Krishna Achari, appointed by Arshad Beg Khan to
the management, added two-sixteenths of an old Viray fanam, or 12½ percent., to the
jama (demand) under the designation of Hecha Niguti.
1790-91: 213. In 1790-91 the Honourable Company allowed the Rajas to
manage those Nads, the Chetvai Island being made over to the management of the
Raja of Cochin, who continued, with a short interruption, to manage it till 1801, paying
a revenue of Rs. 40,000 per annum.
1791-92: 214. In 1791-92 three-fourths and in 1792-93 six -tenths of the old
jama (demand) were collected in the Nads, excepting Chetvai Island.
1793-94: 215. In 1793-94 the Honourable Company’s servants and the Rajas
collected the full jama (demand) on all cultivated lands, and added another 10 per cent.,
for charges of collection (see paragraphs 120, 209), and this continued till 1799-1800.
1800-1: 216. In 1800-1 Mr. Drummond, Sub-Collector, increased the revenue
by adding an assessment on the uncultivated lands.
1801-2: 217. In 1801-2 the jama (demand) was regulated by Major Macleod’s
survey, but Mr. Rickards in 1802-3 annulled it and reverted to that of 1800-1.
However, in some places the increase made bv Major Macleod was allowed to remain.
Other books !
Garden Lands
218. The principles of the Huzur Niguti (paragraphs 128, 134) were applied to
the garden lands, viz. : 100 per cent of the pattam (rent) was taken at the customary
rates usual between Jamnis and Ryots in these Nads, which rates were, as usual in South
Malabar,-
Rs. A P
Cocoanuts 7 8 0 per 1,000 nuts
Betel-nuts 0 4 0 do
considerably below market prices.
219. Arshad Beg Khan’s reduction of 20 per cent, (paragraph 117) extended to
the garden assessments.
220. The Mysore Government, and afterwards the Honourable Company,
seem both to have imposed 10 per cent, (or 20 per cent., in all) for collection charges
(see paragraphs 120, 209 and 215).
221. The Hecha Niguti of Krishna Achari, or a further addition of 12½ per
cent., seems also to have been imposed on gardens.
1801-2: 222. Moreover, Major Macleod’s increase in 1801-2 on the garden
assessments was not apparently removed.
Miscellaneous Lands
223. No assessments were imposed on Modan or Ellu (paragraphs 33 and 35),
the cultivation of which was inconsiderable.
SUB-SECTION III.- RETROSPECTIVE SUMMARY AS FOR THE YEAR 1805-6
IN THE LOW COUNTRY.
Necessity for the summary: 224. Before proceeding to deal with the
subsequent measures taken for adjusting the land revenue, it will be as well to
summarise retrospectively the measures already described, so as to bring, as far as
possible within one view, the position of affairs as existing in the year 1805-6.
Method adopted for working it out: 225. Before giving the results of this
proposed retrospect, it will be necessary to describe the method in which it is proposed
to work them out.
Mr. Rickards' plan for establishing principles of assessment: 226. The
year 1805-6 has been selected as a convenient point-of-time for doing this, because,
following on the insurrection of 1803 (consequent on Major Macleod’s ill-advised
Other books !
The Land
innovations), Mr Rickards' the Principal Collector, with a view to remedying the

extreme inequalities of assessment as well as to establish some fixed principles on
which to base a new assessment, was at considerable pains to ascertain from the chief
Janmis what mode of sharing the produce of the land would be most acceptable to
them. Having ascertained this (29th June 1803), he recommended the scheme for
adoption (1st July 1803), and it was sanctioned by Government (Board of Revenue to
Principal Collector, 5th May 1804) and embodied in a proclamation and published
throughout the district. (21st July 1805)—see Appendix No. XV.
The shares of produce thus sanctioned: 226a. The shares of the produce
thus ascertained as being acceptable to the chief Janmis were as follows:-
Wet Lands
Deduct from the gross produce the seed and a similar quantity for expenses of
cultivation, allot one-third of the balance to the cultivator for profit, divide the
remainder in the proportions of 60 per cent, and 10 per cent, between the Government
and the Janmi respectively, and commute the Government share into money “under a
consideration to local value of the several articles in the different districts."
Illustration:
Quantities of Seed. Outturn Multiple. Gross Produce.
Paras
5 paras X 15 = 75
Paras
Deduct—
Seed 5
Expenses 5
--------
10
--------
Balance Paras: 65
One-third to cultivator for profit: 212/3
Remainder, being the share available as pattam (rent) or two-thirds net product: 431/3
60 per cent, of 431/3 paras to Government—paras. 26

40 per cent, of 431/3, paras to Janmi — do. 171/3
--------
431/3
Other books !
Garden Lands
Cocoanuts and Arecas. -The pattam (rent) was to be divided between the
Government and the Janmi half to each, the Government share being commuted into
money at local rates.
Illustration:
Nuts
Gross produce 100
Deduct cultivator's one-third share 331/3
Remainder, being the share available as pattam (rent) or
two-thirds gross produce 662/3
50 per cent, to Government 331/3
50 per cent, to Janmi 331/3
............ 662/3
Jacks —the same principle was adopted as in the case of other garden
produce, namely. 50 per cent of the pattam (rent) was to go to Government and the
remaining 50 per cent, to the Janmi but the pattam (rent) stated in money was not fixed
at any prescribed share of the gross or of the net produce.
Pepper- It is unnecessary to state what the sanctioned shares of the pepper
produce were as the assessment was in 1806-7 taken off the land and an export duty
levied instead.
The sanctioned standard shares of Government in the produce: 266b.
The standard shares of Government in standard shares of the, produce, that is, the
revenue assessments, were therefore fixed at-
60 per cent, of the pattam (rent ) for wet lands.
60 do. do. do. garden lands.
The pattam was calculated on a peculiar plan, hence styled Vilachchal
meni pattam: 227. But this pattam (rent) was, it will be observed to be calculated in
peculiar methods, whence it got its name of the Vilchchal meni pattam, that is, in the case
of wet lands two-thirds ot the net produce to be ascertained in a certain manner ; and,
in the case of cocoanuts and arcea-nuls, two-thirds of the gross produce in nuts only.
In the case of jacks no estimate ol produce was to be made, but the money pattam
(rent) was to be ascertained. How this was usually done will be alluded to presently
when considering Verumpattam.
The Vilachchal meni pattam distinguished from: 228. And here it will be
as well, before going further, to elucidate and distinguish this Vilachchal meni pattam
from the other two kinds of rent (pattam) alluded to by Mr. Graeme and differently
determined. And there is all the more reason for this, because in the foregoing account
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no distinction has been drawn between the different kinds of rent (pattam) referred to,
when treating of the various Nads. The three kinds of rent (pattam) alluded to in Mr.
Graeme’s report are-
I. Vilachchal meni pattam which has just been described.
(a). the Verumpattam: II Verumpattam or actual rent received by Janmis
from Ryots, Mr. Graeme was most unfortunately prevented (paragraph 1131 of his
report) from pursuing detailed inquiries into the ratios which the Verumpattam (actual
rent) bore to gross produce or to net produce. He was consequently obliged to have
recourse to the statements submitted to Mr. Warden, the Principal Collector, by Janmis
in the year 981 (1805-6).
These statements were found by him on examination to give in most cases
grossly false accounts of the rent (pattam) receivable by Janmis, so they served very
little purpose beyond furnishing facts to show how false they were on this point. It.
will be seen in the sequel that lack of precise information as to what the actual rents
were, not only vitiated Mr. Graeme's proposals in regard to wet lands and diverted his
attention away from points in regard to the position of subtenants, to which the Court
of Directors had turned their earnest attention, but precipitated the collision between
the parties interested in the land, and indirectly led to the Mappilla fanatical outrages
and other evils (Section A of this Chapter). The general information on which he relied
was defective, because it did not enable him to distinguish between rent paid by
intermediaries and rent paid to intermediaries by sub-tenants. Whether, therefore, the
facts which follow relate to rents paid direct by the Ryots to the Janmis or by
intermediary Kanakkar to the Janmis, it is now impossible to say.
The general information he received was to the following effect:—
On wet lands the Verumpattam varied from 10 per cent, of the “average
available gross produce:” in particular planes, where accidents were liable to happen
from wild beasts, etc., to 33 and 45 per cent, of the same ; and "even as high as 50 per
cent, of the same when the settlement with the tenant is only for one year.”
By this use of the word “available” reference was made to the customary
deduction of 20 per cent, of the gross produce for the expenses of reaping, threshing
and winnowing, and for fees to carpenters, smiths, and other petty proprietors, who,
like the Janmi himself, had Janmam rights in the land. This deduction of 20 percent, did
not in Mr. Graeme's time, and, it may be noted in passing, does not even now in many
cases enter into any calculations of gross produce.
Garden lands.-In the case of coccanuts and areca-nuts, the Verumpattam was
the balance of the produce1 in nuts after deducting for the cultivator’s share 20 per
cent, of the same in North Malabar, and 331/3 per cent, of the same in South Malabar ;
but as the customary commutation rates were respectively Rs. 10 and Rs. 7-8-0 in the
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two divisions, the real customary shares of the cultivators were as Rs. 202 and Rs. 252
respectively on every 10,000 nuts.
NOTEs: 1. 1 The gross produce wns taken to be the whole number of nuts of all sizes on the
trees at one time, less one-third for accidents, loss by rats, windfalls, etc. ; but see also “Koyilmeni” in the
Glossary, Appendix XIII.
2. Take two gardens in North and South Malabar, respectively producing each 10,000 nuts
gross produce ; then--
In North Malabar the cultivator’s share of produce is 2,000 nuts, which, at Rs. 10 per mille, the
customary rate, are worth Rs. 20.
In South Malabar the cultivator’s share is 3,333½ nuts, which, at Rs. 7-8-0 per mille, are worth
Rs. 25. END OF NOTEs
This leaves out of account, the other produce of these gardens, such as
cocoanut husks, from which coir fibre is made, leaves for thatching, branches, wood,
etc., all of which fell to the cultivator’s share for profit (labham), and was excluded from
any estimate of produce in fixing the Verumpattam.
Moreover these shares, Mr. Graeme noted, were sufficient remuneration to
the cultivator only when the gardens were fully planted up and in bearing, but they
were insufficient remuneration if the garden was not in full bearing, and would not
enable the cultivator to keep up the garden in good style. These remarks, which still
continue true, have a most important bearing on the relations between Janmis and
Ryots of garden lands.
In the case of Jack trees it has never been customary to estimate the produce
(either gross or net) except at its money value, and its money value depends entirely on
whether there is a market for the product or not within reasonable distance. The fruit,
from its bulkiness, is not easily carried to any great distance and it readily spoils. The
money value of the produce is determined in a rough sort of way upon inspection. So
many of the trees — having regard to quality and distance from a market—are judged
to be capable of yielding one fanum of pattam (rent). In some places where the trees
are in bad order, or the market is distant, a great number of trees may be required to
yield one fanam of pattam (rent), and in other places any number of trees would be
insufficient, the trees not being capable of bearing even one fanam of pattam (rent)
from the lack of demand for the produce.
Under such circumstances the customary Verumpattam was probably, as in the
case of cocos and arecas, one-third of the gross produce ; but, unlike cocos and arecas,
estimated in money at no fixed rate per fixed quantity of produce.
(b) The Mysorean Niguti pattam: III. The Niguti Pattam.—Mr. Graeme
found, on proceeding to inquire into details, that the divisional (Hobali) accounts
specified in the case of each wet land what the number of paras (each 10 seers) of
Niguti Vittu (assessed seed) (paragraph 129) was, but they were silent (as already
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noticed, paragraph 128) in regard to the proportion which the Niguti Vittu (assessed
seed) bore to the gross or to the net produce.
Under these circumstances Mr. Graeme resorted to information from “the
principal inhabitants,” and learning from them, first in the case of the Calicut Taluk
Nads (Nos. XII, XIII, XIV) and afterwards in the case of the other Nads in South
Malabar, as they were taken up one by one, what proportion the Niguti Vittu (assessed
seed) bore to the pattam (rent) shown in the accounts sent by Sirdar Khan to
Seringapatam, he worked back in this way to a pattam (rent) which, to distinguish it
from the others just above described, he called the Niguti pattam, or pattam on which
the assessment (Niguti) was fixed. Moreover the people, on being questioned, readily
admitted that the pattam shown in the accounts sent to Seringapatam by Sirdar Khan
was incorrect. The Verumpattam or actual rent was, they continued, in some places
concealed, and in other places understated with the connivance of the Mysorean
officers owing to favour, intrigue, or local causes.
This third kind of pattam extended only to the Nads in which the Huzzur
Niguti (see paragraphs 128, 131) was in force, and in them it extended to all lands, both
wet and garden, it will be seen from what has been stated that it represented no fixed
share of the produce in kind, but the share in kind, whatever it was, was commuted
into money at fixed rates.
What pattam regulated the assessments in what Nads in 1805-6: 229.
Now, on referring back to the historical details given in the preceding narrative, it will
be seen that in the year 1805-6 the revenue assessments were regulated in the various
Nads in the following manner :
(a) On both wet lands and garden lands in Nads I, V and VI, partly by the
Vilachchal meni pattam and partly by the verumpattam;
(b) On both wet lands and garden lands in Nads II, III, IV, and VII, and on
wet lands only in Nads XXIII, XXIV, XXV, XXVII and XXVIII, by the verumpattam;
and
(c) On both wet lands and garden lands in Nads VIII to XXII and XXVI, and
on garden lands only in Nads XXVII and XXVIII, by the Niguti pattam.
The garden land assessments in Nads XXIII, XXIV and XXV have, for
purposes of comparison in the foregoing narrative, been taken as shares of the
Vilachchalmeni pattam, though, of course, that pattam was not a standard in force
anywhere at the time (1801-2).
The actual assessment, shares of produce will be compared with the standard assessment
shares of produce, and the comparison will be extended (in the inverse ratio) to the actual
commutation rates so as to obtain a fair approximation to the actual incidence of the
assessments in the various Nads in1805-6
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280. Bearing in mind, then, the differences which existed between these
various pattams (rents), it will be found possible to compare the standard rates of
assessment (viz., 60 per cent, of pattam on wet lands and 50 per cent, of pattam on
garden lands, paragraph 220) with the actual rates originally assessed and afterwards
more or less modified in the respective Nads, and this comparison will, when extended
to the commutation rates for produce (in the inverse ratios, of course), give a fair
approximation to the comparative incidence as in 1805-6 of the assessments on the
respective Nads. The approximation will, of course, be more or less unreliable as
between Nads in which different standards of pattam prevailed, but nothing more
precise is available. An example will best illustrate what is intended:
In Nads XII, XIII, XIV the percentages of Niguti pattam taken as revenue on
wet lands were 30 and 25, at commutation rates of Rs. 50 and Rs. 60 per 1,000
Macleod seers respectively (paragraph 129).
After deducting from these commutation rates 20 per cent, for Arshad Beg
Khan’s reduction (paragraph 130), and after adding 12½ per cent, for Tippu’s increase
by the substitution of Sultani fanams for old Viray fanams (paragraph 130), and after
adding 10 per cent, for establishment charges imposed under the Honourable
Company's Government (paragraph 132), the sequence of these events being in the
order in which they have been placed, the commutation rates come out at Rs. 49-8-0
and Rs. 59-6-44/5 per 1,000 Macleod seers respectively.
Then, in order to ascertain the equivalents of these rates at the 60 percentage
standard assessment the following calculation has to be made :—
Standard Actual Percentage Actual Equivalent
Assessment. taken. Commutation Rate. Commutation rate
at 60 percent
Rs. A P Rs. A P
60 30 : : 2:1 49 8 0 24 12 0
60 25 : : 12: 5 59 6 44/5 24 12 0
That is to say, the equivalent of 30 per cent, of the Niguti pattam. (rent) at a
commutation rate of Rs. 49-8-0 and of 25 per cent, of the Niguti pattam at a
commutation rate of Rs. 59 - 6 - 14/5 is at 60 per cent, of the Niguti pattam, a
commutation rate of Rs. 24-12-0. It will thus be seen that although different-
percentages of pattam (rent) were taken as revenue assessments in different parts of
these Nads, still the actual result, was that the money assessment imposed was uniform
throughout.
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The sub-joined table shows: 231. Worked out in the method above
described the following table has been prepared. It shows:
(a) The actual assessments, as in 1805-6 [varying percentages of pattam (rent)
commuted into money at varying rates], worked out to their equivalents in the standard
assessments [60 per cent, of pattam (rent) on wet lands and 50 per cent, of pattam
(rent) on garden lands, see paragraph 226b] at the commutation rates which appear in
columns 2, 4, 6 and 8, and
b) The commutation rates for produce by adopted after full inquiry by Mr.
Graeme in 1822, there being no earlier figures available.
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Mr. Rickards did not fix any principles to regulate the assessments on miscellaneous lands in 1803-5,
but as the comparison will be useful the following table has been prepared, the standard share of
produce adopted being 20 per cent, of the gross produce.
232. No agreement was come to in 1803- 5 regarding the proper mode of
sharing the produce of lands not permanently assessed to revenue, that is to say,
Puttada or Modan, Punam and EIlu lands (see paragraphs 33, 31, 35) ; but, as most of the
materials are available, it will be useful to institute a comparison similar in the above in
respect of such assessments also as for the year 1805—6. And the assessment share of
produce with which they may most suitably be compared is that which prevailed
generally both under the Mysore and under the Honourable Company’s Governments
in South Malabar, and which Mr. Graeme subsequently recommended for adoption
(paragraph 1273 of his report), viz., 20 per cent, of the gross produce.
NB.—Graeme’s commutation rates for low ground paddy produce have been taken as the market prices
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for Modan and Punam paddy, although, as a rule, these grains do not fetch so much in the market.
233. These figures confirm what had always been recognised as a fact, viz., that the assessments in
North Malabar were heavier than those in the south.
This was why the 10 per cent, establishment cess was not extended to the north.
Caution as to Arshad Beg Khan's remission of 20 per cent.
233. These figures confirm what had all along been recognised as a fact, viz.,
that the assessments (especially on wet and miscellaneous lands) in North Malabar
were comparatively heavier than those in South Malabar. This fact had influenced the
Supravisor, and afterwards the second Commissioners, not to extend to North Malabar
the 10 per cent, establishment cess (paragraph 120) which they imposed on lands in the
south. At the same time, it should be noticed that in the calculations made in preparing
these tables, the full deduction has been allowed for Arshad Beg Khan's remission of
20 per cent, all round ; while, as matter of fact, it is extremely doubtful (as already
noticed, paragraph 117) if any such deduction ever really took place. The remission
probably went into the pockets of the officials. This fact must be constantly borne in
mind when comparing the assessments of South Malabar with those of the north.
234. But at the same time the northern assessments were less oppressive individually than those of
the south.
Reasons for this.
234. Whilst, however, the assessments were comparatively heavier in the
north, they were at the same time less oppressive individually, that is to say, the burden
was more evenly divided. This is to be accounted for, first, by the fact that the
assessments in the north were based on the Vilachchal meni pattam and on the
Verumpattam, that is to say, on certain fixed proportions of the gross or net produce;
and secondly, by the fact that the assessments were made by the chieftains themselves,
who, as tributaries first of Mysore and afterwards of the Honourable Company, were
not easily deceived as to the capabilities of the land, and who had every inducement to
make the assessments heavy on all lands but their own ; whereas, in the south, the
assessment was chiefly the work of Mysorean officials, who, as strangers to the
province, were more easily imposed upon, and who were, perhaps, more ready to be
complacent or severe according as inducements were held out to them or refused. The
result of course was that, in the south the Niguti pattam represented no certain share
either of the net or of the gross produce (paragraph. 228) and individual assessments
were very unequal.
The Niguti puttarn of the south represented no certain share either of the net or of the gross produce.
Examples.
For example, in Nads VIII, IX. X and XI, Mr. Graeme found that in one
instance the garden assessment was 4,085 per cent of the pattam, in two instances over
2,000 per cent., in three instances over 1,000 per cent., and in other instances less than
1,000 per cent., but far in excess of the proper proportion of the pattam.
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Wet Lands
235. The actual assessment commutation rates of 1805-6 are, with three exceptions, higher than the market
rates adopted by Mr. Graeme in 1822, and the excess is a measure of the excess of actual assessments over the
standard assessment.
235. An examination of the figures discloses the following fact in regard to wet
lands :—It is not to be presumed that the market prices of produce should have fallen
between 1805-6 and 1822, and yet Mr. Graeme’s rates, adopted in 1822, are (with three
exceptions occurring within the territory administered by the Honourable Company’s
Factors at Tellicherry) below the assessment commutation rates prevalent in 1805-6.
The extent to which the rates of 1805-6 exceed, as noticed, the rates of 1822 is the
measure of the extent to which the actual assessment in 1805-6 exceeded the standard
assessment of 60 per cent., of the pattam (rent) if it is assumed that the market prices
did not vary meanwhile. If, on the other hand, the market, prices were rising between
1895-6 and 1822 (as may safely be assumed to have been the case under regular British
rule), the actual assessments of 1805-6 must have still more exceeded the standard
assessment of 60 per cent.
Garden Lands
236. Similarly, the cocoanut garden assessments exceeded the standard assessments, but arecas seem to have
been exceptionally favoured in many places.
236. Similar remarks to the above occur under garden lands but more
particularly as regards cocoanut trees. It was in the territory lying round the Tellicherry
factory that the cocoanut tree rates of 1805-6 approximated to and in one instance ran
lower than, Mr. Graeme's rates of 1822. The cocoanut tree rates generally were much
too high. Arecanut trees seem to have been less severely taxed than other produce in
the district generally, for in many of the Nads, Mr. Graeme’s rates of 1822 are higher
than the assessment rates of 1805-6.
While, on the other hand, jacks were too highly assessed nearly everywhere.
As regards jack trees, the assessments seem to have been, with a few
exceptions, too high. It is unnecessary, however, to go into more detail regarding the
garden assessments, because the garden land assessments were subsequently revised
throughout the district.
Miscellaneous Lands
237. The assessments were very severe in the north, but the fact probably was that there was a large
concealment of produce. This is why Modan and Ellu are so little cultivated in the north, and why Punam is
more extensively cultivated there.
In the south, though the rates were more moderate, they were still too high.
237. The Modan, Punam and Ella rates were excessive in the north ; indeed, it
is difficult to understand how even an approximation could be made towards levying
them. It is quite certain that if they had been rigorously exacted the cultivation must
have ceased to exist. The fact seems to have been that a large portion of the produce
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was concealed, an end easily to be attained through the difficulty, in the case of these
fugitive modes of cultivation, of checking what was the actual produce. Even at the
present day, Modan and Ellu crops, which, being, cultivated in the open country, are
better capable of being properly assessed, are of far less extent in the north than in the
south; while on the other hand, Punam crops, cultivated in the jungle country, where
the cultivation is not so easily checked, is still one of the principal crops in the north,
while it is comparatively of small extent in the south. These facts are easily accounted
for on examining the commutation rates in force in 1805-6. In South Malabar, the
rates, though more moderate than in the north, were still too high for those days.
These assessments have all since been revised, so it is unnecessary to enter into more
detail.
Sub-Section IV.—The System of Land Revenue Management ADOPTED IN MALABAR, 1805-

18, AND THE POSITIONS OF THE “Ryot” and of the “Actual Cultivator” considered.
238. The steps taken to treat the low-country part of the district in the aggregate.
238. Having passed in review the measures adopted from the earliest times for
assessing particular portions of the district, and having attained as complete a view as
circumstances will permit of the exact state in which these measures left the matter, it
now becomes necessary to relate the particular steps, taken to deal with the district as a
whole. The measures up to this time (1805-6) had been fragmentary and of local
application ; it remains to relate what steps were taken to treat the low-country portion
of the district in the aggregate.
239. The part Malabar played in the great battle of the tenures.
239. A word or two may, however, first of all be fittingly introduced in regard
to the part which Malabar played in the great battle of the tenures, which at this time
(1805-6) had begun to attract attention. It is unnecessary to say much about it, because
it never at any time seems to have been in doubt that Ryotwari was the system best
adapted to the district, though it was a Ryotwari with a difference from that
understood by Sir Thomas Munro.
240. The position of Sir. Thomas Munro's ryot defined.
240. The characters of labourer, farmer, and landlord were generally
understood as being united in the ryot. It was also generally assumed that the ryot
could not have sub-tenants so long as Government waste land of good quality existed
for any one to cultivate who felt so deposed. Moreover, the laws of inheritance in force
in eastern districts have a constant tendency to break up properties and to cause the
subdivision of landed estates.
241. This definition quite inapplicable to the state of the facts in Malabar.
241. But suppose, on the contrary, that there were portions of districts so
highly cultivated that no waste land lay within convenient reach of the man willing to
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till it,—suppose that the waste land, if it did exist within convenient reach, was held
(whether rightly or wrongly does not at present matter) to be the property, not of the
State, but of private individuals,—suppose the laws of inheritance directly tended to
keep property together, and suppose the classes of labourer, farmer, and landlord were
distinct and separate - then clearly the district where such a system prevailed was not a
Ryotwari one, and this was (and it still is) the case of Malabar.
242. From a different point of view, however, and taking “ ryot. ” as synonymous with “actual cultivator,”
then Malabar was, and still continues to be a Ryotwari district.
242. Looked at, however, from a different point of view, and when the
question at issue is whether the Government land revenue shall be paid by a Zamindar
or farmer of the Government land revenue in many villages, by the Mouzawar or
headman of one village, or by the cultivator himself, then, understanding by the word
“ryot” the actual cultivator of the soil, the Malabar District revenue system was
originally under the Mysoreans, and it still continues to be, to a great extent, a Ryotwari
one. How this came about is easily explained by the fact that “the terror of Hyder Ali's
and of his son Tippu's subsequent administration prevented the major part, of these
Brahman landholders, as well as many of the Nayars, from ever trusting their persons
at the Muhammadan cutcherries of their new sovereigns” (Joint. Commissioners’
Report, paragraph 196), and the Mysoreans had therefore no choice left but to
conclude the land revenue settlement with the Kanakkar or the actual cultivators.
243. Sir Thomas Munro's Ryotwari system not a thing of performance. Reasons for thinking so.
243. It is manifest, however, that the meaning attached by Sir Thomas Munro
to the word Ryotwari, is one that will not apply permanently to any one particular
district, supposing that that district progresses in population. Waste land, under such
circumstances, becomes scarcer and scarcer and more and more difficult to till as the
worst lands are taken up, and long before the time when the last acre of waste is
appropriated, it must of necessity have arisen that many of the original "ryots”
attending to their own interests, have become proprietors and have dropped the other
characters of labourer and farmer.
This state of things has existed in Malabar from the first.
Moreover, under a settled government, money acquired in trades and
professions is naturally often invested in land by persons who have not the slightest
intention to cultivate it. And further the laws of inheritance have been considerably
affected by the power of testamentary succession. All these considerations force one to
the conviction that Sir Thomas Munro’s ideal Ryotwari settlement is not a thing of
permanence, and that sooner or later, even in the model Ryotwari districts, a state of
things will be brought about similar to what has existed in Malabar from the very first.
244. The fact of the existence of private property in land in Malabar and Canara exercised an important
influence in the debates on the merits of the rival tenures.
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244. The fact that private property in land already existed in Canara and in
Malabar, attracted attention at an early period in the history of British rule in South
India, and the fact is again and again referred to in the correspondence which took
place while the merits of the rival systems were being debated, and it exercised a very
material influence on the ultimate issue in favour of the Ryotwari system and of the
special form which it took.
The village community was also supposed not to exist in Malabar.
The above, coupled with another fact, viz., that the village community was
supposed not to exist in Malabar, seems to have prevented any attempt to introduce
into the district, the system of village settlements which for a time found favour with
the authorities.
The Court of Directors' despatch of 16th December 1812, ordering the introduction of the
Ryotwari system in all unsettled districts.
The final orders were issued by the Board of Revenue on the 5th January 1818.
On the 16th December 1812, the Court of Directors finally ordered the
introduction of the Ryotwari system in all unsettled districts, and they were careful in
their despatch of the December following to caution the Government against
introducing into Malabar “an intermediate class of persons (call them Zemindars,
Mootahdars, or what we may) between the Government and the Jelmkaars or hereditary
proprietors of the soil ; but it was not till the 5th January 1818, that the Board of
Revenue issued instructions for "the abandonment of the existing system of revenue
administration and the introduction of the Ryotwari mode of settlement and collection
in all practicable cases,” and in paragraph 307 of the same Proceedings the Board
wound up their instructions to all Collectors in the following terms : —
The plan to be followed was to substitute the Ryotwari of the Western Coast for the old Carnatic etc.,
Ryotwari.
“The Collectors, in entering on the new settlement should ever recollect that
the great object in view is not immediately, but by degrees, to substitute the Ryotwari
of the Western Coast for the old Carnatic and Ceded District Ryotwari; not to create,
but to restore, landed property, gradually to convert the bad farms of the Tamil
country into good estates, and the land-property holders into land-owners, etc."
Malabar, Canara, Coimbatore, Madura and Dindigul were at this time the only districts
classed as Ryotwari. All others were either managed by Zemindars or under the village
lease system.
There was one radical defect and confusion of ideas in this minute of the Board of Revenue.
245. One radical defect and confusion of ideas was unfortunately imported
into this, otherwise admirable, Minute of the Board of Revenue. Sir Thomas Munro’s
confusion of ideal "ryot", whose position has been already alluded to (paragraphs 240
to 243), was defined by the Board of Revenue in paragraph 17 of their instructions
quoted above to mean “that particular class only among them ” (“the cultivators of the
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soil in general") “who employ, superintend, and sometimes assist the labourer, and
who are everywhere the farmers of the country, the creators and payers of the land
revenue,” and in paragraphs 21 to 39 of these same instructions, the Board went on to
describe "the rights of the ryot” in Malabar.
The Board's definition of Sir. Thomas Munro's ideal ryot applied to Malabar.
The mistake was in lumping Janmis, Kanakkar, and Pattakkar all together under the head of ryots.
The mistake was in treating the rights of the Janmi, Kanakkar and Pattakar as
equivalent to those of the “ryot,” whereas, as matter of fact, many Janmis and many
Kanakkars also, and perhaps even some Pattakars, had no title whatever to be
considered as “ cultivators,” or "farmers,” or as the creators,” or even as the “ payers,”
of the land revenue.
It is obvious that in Malabar there existed other classes interested in the land besides the ryots.
Classes whose interests did not receive sufficient consideration.
Substantial grounds will be found set forth elsewhere [Section (A) of this
Chapter] for dissenting altogether from the views entertained at that time in regard to
Janmis, Kanakkar and Pattakar ; but apart altogether from controversial matters, and
accepting the relative positions assigned to the three classes by the Board, viz.,
proprietors, mortgagees and tenants, it is obvious that there existed in Malabar other
classes besides the “ryot” - classes whose position in regard to the land, either as
landlords entitled to rent from under-tenants or as intermediaries liable to pay rent to
landlords as well to receive rent from under-tenants, should have received very careful
consideration before treating them all on the footing of the “ryot” in the sense in
which the Board used that word.
The person to whom the Government of this country should give the first consideration is the 'actual cultivator',
whatever he be, proprietor, farmer or labourer.
All others having interests in the soil are mere investors of their money.
The mistake made in 1818 was to drop the actual cultivator out of sight and to substitute for him an "ideal
ryot".
The growing insolvent cotticrism of the bulk of the cultivators in Malabar at
the present day, might, probably have been prevented, had the Board of Revenue been
better informed as to the real relations subsisting at the time between the classes
named. Situated as the Government of this country is, that is as part landlord of the
soil, it is obvious that the person to whom the first consideration is due is the actual
cultivator of the soil, whatever he be, proprietor, farmer or labourer. It is he who, by
his industry and skill, pays the Government, revenue and contributes to the general
welfare of the State. All others having interests in the land are mere investors of their
money. The mistake made in 1818 (so far at least as regards Malabar) was to drop the
actual cultivator out of sight, and to substitute for him an ideal “ryot.”
246. The further history of this point.
The Court of Directors' despatch, 12th December 1821.
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246. It will be as well to continue the notice of the point here raised down to
the time when it seems finally to have passed completely out of sight. On the 12th
December 1821 the Court of Directors, in reviewing a letter, dated 6th February 1815
from 1821 the Board of Revenue, on the subject of the great inequalities in the land
assessments in Malabar, thus expressed themselves : "The Board of Revenue declare
that our knowledge with respect to the ancient state of things in Malabar is extremely
defective. To us it appears so defective that many things which have been stated and
re-stated as matters of fact are but objects of conjecture, conjecture founded upon
hardly anything to which with propriety the term evidence can be applied.”
Defectiveness of information regarding ancient Malabar.
The earliest accounts received from the parties most interested should have been accepted with great caution and
distrust.
After noticing that the first accounts of ancient Malabar obtained from Rajas
and leading men had been “exceedingly favourable to their interests and contrary to
what prevailed in other parts of India”, and should therefore have been received “with
great caution and distrust,” the Court of Directors went on to observe that it had been
affirmed that “in Malabar the whole of the produce was the property of the landowner
and that no portion of it was taken by the Government. In this one circumstance lies
the difference between the supposed state of rights in Malabar and the state of them
in the rest of India, and that difference is so great, that it ought not to be admitted as a
fact without distinct and specific evidence.”
The Court of Directors were sceptical as to the exceptional state of things in Malabar.
The Court of Directors then stated certain reasons which led them to think
that the circumstances noticed in regard to the demesne land of the Rajas, to the
property of pagodas, and to jaghires held on the condition of military service, pointed
rather to the opposite conclusion, and that Malabar was in no way singular from other
parts of India in those respects, and they continued : “It was no doubt the interest of
the landholders, in Malabar to persuade their new rulers—the English—if they could,
that all land was holden under jaghires of this description. The wonder is that they
succeeded.1 One remarkable circumstance is that they succeeded with respect to the
supposed demesne lands of the Rajas, which surely yielded revenue to Government,
yet not even such part is discriminated.”
NOTEs: 1. Major Macleod, the first of the Principal Collectors, did not credit the fact
(paragraph 17 of his Jamabandi Report of 18th June 1802), but he remained too short a time in the district
to succeed in elucidating his views. END OF NOTEs
The Court of Directors called for information regarding other classes of the agricultural population.
After a cursory notice of Sir Thomas Munro’s very important report on 4th
July 1817 (of which notice will be taken presently), they commended the subject of the
inequalities in the land assessment to the notice of the Government, which, by this
time, had Sir Thomas Munro at its head, and wound up this portion of their despatch
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in the following words : “We observe with dissatisfaction that when you have assumed
the existence of any peculiar ownership in the land as that of Moorassidars or
Jelmkars, you afford us little information with regard to the condition of any other
class of the agricultural population. In Malabar the number of occupants who pay the
assessment on the land, mortgagees and lessees included is estimated by the Collector
at 150,000. The number of persons employed in the cultivation must exceed this
number to an extent of which we have no means of forming an accurate judgment.
Nothing known of the great body of actual cultivators, nor of the slaves.
"Of the condition of these people we know hardly anything, and not more
with respect to the other descriptions of the population. We are told, indeed, that part
of them (an article of very unwelcome intelligence) are held as slaves; that, they are
attached to the soil and marketable property. You are directed to obtain and to
communicate to us all the useful information with respect to this latter class of persons
which you possibly can; the treatment to which they are liable, the habits of their
masters with respect to them, the kind of life to which they are doomed, the sort of
title by which the property of them is claimed, the price which they bear and more
especially the surest and safest means of ultimately effecting their emancipation. We
also desire to know whether those occupants, 150,000 in number, cultivate immediately
the whole of the lands by their slaves and hired servants, or whether there is a class of
inferior tenants to whom they let or sub-let a portion of their lands. If there is such an
interior class of lessees, you will inform us under what conditions they cultivate, what
are their circumstances, and what measures, if any, have been employed for their
protection.”
Mr. Vaughan's cursory report of 24th August 1822. V
Its cursoriness probably due to the fact that Mr. Graeme had shortly before submitted his voluminous report on
Malabar.
The only report traceable in the records dealing with the question thus raised
by the Court of Directors is a very short one from the Principal Collector, Mr.
Vaughan dated, 24th August 1822, in which he stated that there was no necessity to
interfere for the protection of under-tenants, as people of all castes and religion
engaged in agriculture exactly as they felt inclined, and slaves too were under the
protection of the laws. But the shortness and cursoriness of this report is probably
attributable to the fact that Mr. Graeme, who had been Special Commissioner in
Malabar from 1818 to 1822, had some months previously submitted his report on
Malabar, which, Sir. Thomas Munro subsequently (10th July 1822) characterised as "on
the whole the fullest, and most comprehensive report ever received, of any province
under this Government."
The Court of Directors were not quite satisfied, 18th May 1825,
Mr. Graeme was most unfortunately (as already alluded to in paragraph 228)
prevented from pursuing detailed inquiries into the terms on which under-tenants held
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their lands, and he seems to have in consequence accepted the views of those who had
preceded him in their investigations on this point. The Court of Directors were not
quite satisfied, and in reviewing, on the 18th May 1825, the measures which had been
adopted in consequence of Mr. Graeme's inquiry, they concluded the portion of their
despatch bearing on the subject in the following terms :
and called for further information.
“There appears to be in Malabar an intermediate class between the cultivators
and the Government, who come nearer to the situation of proprietors of land in
England than any intermediate class in any other part of India. The information which
we possess respecting this class of persons, their obligations to Government, and their
powers over the more numerous classes whose subsistence is derived from the land, is
exceedingly imperfect. Justice requires that such a portion of the rent of the land as this
class have by custom enjoyed should be still reserved to them. But the questions which
relate to the other descriptions of persons subsisting upon the land are more numerous
and more difficult of decision. Are they tenants-at-will of the former class? Or have they,
like the ryots in other parts of India, a fixed interest in the soil? If tenants under such
conditions as the superior class may please to impose, what is the sort of treatment
which they receive (and if their condition is miserable, what measures can be adopted
for its improvement. To these points we particularly desire that your attention should
be directed. The progress of the measures which you have in contemplation will bring
evidence relating to them frequently before you and it is of the highest importance that
it should not be neglected."
The conditions of the under-tenants was to be kept constantly in view in the measures then in contemplation,
but nothing further seems to have been done.
The actual cultivator dropped out of sight, in favour of the 'ideal ryot', and did not again come into view owing
to the increasing ease experienced in collecting the land revenue.
The records do not show that anything further was done to elucidate the
points regarding which the Court of Directors had evinced so much anxiety for further
information, and it is to be concluded that the actual cultivator having dropped out of
sight in 1818 in favour of the "ideal ryot", it became unnecessary to think about the
former as soon as the land revenue assessments, aided by increasing prices, began to
come in with increasing ease and regularity.
It was easy to create or restore property in the soil.
The Government should have regulated its management when created.
246a. In conclusion, it may be observed that the creation or restoration of
property in the soil was a thing sufficiently easy of accomplishment . The Government
had only to adhere to a policy of taking the half of the net annual produce, in order by
a word to create property in the soil equal in value to the remaining half of the net
annual produce.
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This was clearly seen at the time, but it may be asked was it wise thus to create
a property and not endeavour to regulate its future management among a people to
whom freedom and liberty were unknown words? Reasons will be found set forth in
section (A) of this Chapter, for thinking that even in Malabar individual property in the
soil, in the European sense of the word, was not in existence at the beginning of
British rule.
The drones have waxed fat and the working bees have waxed lean.
Custom, not competition, adjudged the shares into which the produce was to
be divided. The grant of freedom to a community thus organised meant (as soon as
custom had given way) freedom for the "strong to oppress the weak ; freedom for the
newly created proprietor to take an ever increasing portion of the share of net produce
left over after paying the Government dues. What wonder, then, that the drones in the
hive have prospered and grown fat, or that the working bees have become famished
and lean!
(a) To assess the revenue at 65 per cent, of the actual rent (Verumpattam, see
paragraph 228), as ascertained from deeds and from the people themselves instead of
at 60 percent of the Vilachchal meni pattam (see paragraphs 226, 226a, 226b and 227),
calculated on the plan proposed by Mr. Rickards and approved by Government in
1804 (see Appendix XV). The reason for departing from the letter of the proclamation
issued, with Government sanction by Mr. Warden in 1805 seems to have been that Mr.
Graeme ascertained, as the result of his general inquiries, that, the Rajas and others
who had ascended to adopt the Vilachchal meni pattam as a standard, made it appear as if
they were in the enjoyment of a considerably larger share of the produce, than they
were as matter of fact getting either at that time, or from that time up even to the time
of Mr. Greame inquiry. (See “Vilachchal meni pattam” in the Glossary, Appendix
XIII). Mr. Greame therefore proposed (and his proposal was approved by Sir Thomas
Munro, paragraph 9 of Minute, 16th July 1822, Revenue. Selections, Vol. Ill, page 548)
to discard the Vilachchal meni pattam, altogether and to take such a percentage ol the
actual rent (Verumpattam) as from his general inquiries he found would be equivalent
to the share which Government had a right to expect in virtue of the proclamation of
1805, that is, equivalent to 60 per cent, of the Vilachchal meni pattam. Taking the share
at 65 per cent, of the actual rent (Verumpattam), Mr Greame estimated there would
still be a reduction in the actual revenue of Rs. 1,39,922 or about 13 per cent.
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SUB-SECTION V. -SUBSEQUENT LAND REVENUE HISTORY OF THE

LOW COUNTRY DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME.
247. Mr. Rickards' agreement with the chief landholders in 1803 regarding shares of produce.
247. After this digression on the system of land revenue management finally
adopted for the district, it will be necessary to revert to a much earlier period to the
first attempt to treat the revenue assessment the low country taluks on one uniform
basis. For this propose it is necessary to go back to the year 1803, when, at a critical
time, with active rebellion still flaming in the Cotiote and Wynad countries to the
north, Mr. Rickards came to the agreement with the senior Rajas and chief landed
proprietors already fully described in paragraphs 226, 226a, 226b and 227.
Mr. Warden as a first step called on all landholders for a return of their lands.
248. On Mr. Warden, who succeeded Mr. Rickards, devolved the duty of
carrying out the orders of Government for a revision of the assessments. As a first
step, he on 21st July 1805, on all proprietors of land to send in under their respective
signatures a detailed account of their landed property, his object being:
(a) to obtain the name of every field in the country, so as to serve as a ground
for an actual survey ; and
(b) to obtain an accurate numerical account of the assessable trees, so as to
regulate the garden assessments.
The Janmi Pymaish account of 1805-6 was thus obtained.
The statements thus obtained are known in the district as the Janmi Pymaish of
981 M.E. (1805-6), The Janmi Pymaish account of 1805-6 was thus obtained. and
frequent references have already in this Section been made to these accounts.
Mr. Warden also collected data for a classification of soils.
249. He, at the same time, arranged through his Sub-Collectors (at that time
four in number) “to ascertain the actual produce on different qualities of soil in
different places, with a view to obtaining data for a classification of the soils in every
taluk.
Mr. Warden next proceeded to survey the wet lands, 1806-10.
250. After being in due time furnished with all these documents, Mr. Warden
proceeded to the laborious task of surveying the wet lands. He was assisted in this by
the Collector of Coimbatore, who sent him a number of surveyors, “all foreigners to
this country.” “They entered on their duty in the year 1806. After four years' labour the
work was completed and there it rests ;” so wrote Mr. Warden, in his letter to the Board
of Revenue, of 16th June 1813, and he continued :
The accounts thus prepared are known as the Alavu or Hinduvi Pymuish.
“The several changes which afterwards took place brought with them such an
accumulation of duty and trouble upon me, with diminished means of getting through
them, being left almost entirely to native assistance, that the new assessment, with
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every thing connected with it, has for some time back been laid aside and the revenues
of the province have been continued to be collected on the Commissioners’ Jama1 of
976 (1800-1).” The accounts thus prepared in 1806-10 are known in the districts as the
Alavu Pymaish or the Hinduvi Pymaish from their being written in Mahratta : they are the
most reliable of all the Pymaish accounts yet prepared, but in certain respects they are
very defective.
NOTEs: 1. This was not quite correct, see paragraph 271. END OF NOTEs
The Proclamation of 21st July 1805.
251. The important proclamation published throughout the district at this time
will be found in extenso in Appendix XV, It is dated 21st July 1805.
No further steps taken till Sir Thomas Munro visited the district in 1817.
His report.
252. Matters remained in this state till 1817, when Sir Thomas Munro, then a
member of the commission for revising establishments, paid a visit to Malabar, and,
notwithstanding the shortness of his stay, wrote a most valuable report on the district
(Revenue Selections, Vol. I, p. 838). He received many complaints regarding the
assessments of garden and wet lands, not so much, however, directed against the
general oppressiveness of the assessments, for these were at that time “in general very
moderate,” but against the continuance of assessments on lands which had been
deteriorated or destroyed by natural causes, and on gardens which had also from
natural causes gone to decay. The landholders being unable to pay such assessments,
had had their holdings sold, and this practice of selling the land in satisfaction of
arrears of revenue, formerly unknown in Malabar, had been viewed with a good deal of
dissatisfaction. The balances of revenue thus realised were inconsiderable, but the
number of individuals affected thereby was large.
The Board of Revenue (22nd December 1817) proposed to depute one of their members to Malabar, but the
Government selected Mr. Graeme (10th February 1818).
253. On the 22nd December 1817 the Board of Revenue proposed to depute a
Member of their Board to Malabar to carry out Sir Thomas Munro’s suggestions, but
the Government, on the 10th February 1818, overruled this proposal and appointed
Mr. Graeme, one of the Judges of the Southern Court of Circuit-
His special commission.
(a). to introduce the new system of Police and Magistracy ; and
(b). consider what improvements might be introduced into the revenue
administration of the district.
Mr. Graeme submitted his report, 14th January 1822.
His proposals in regard to assessments.
254. On the 14th January 1822 Mr. Graeme completed his work and submitted
to Government his report, already mentioned as having been considered by Sir
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Thomas Munro ‘‘on the whole the fullest and most comprehensive report ever
received of any province under this Government.” His proposals in regard to
assessments were briefly as follows: -
Wet Lands (paragraphs 1244 and 1245 of his Report).
Mr. Graeme submitted his report, 14th January 1822.
His proposals in regard to assessments. (a) To take 65 per cent, of the actual rent (Verumpattam) of wet
lands.
The reasons for this departure from the letter of the proclamation of 1805.
To assess the revenue at 65 per cent, of the actual rent (Verumpattam, see
paragraph 228), as ascertained from deeds and from the people themselves, instead of
at 60 per cent of the Vilachchal meni pattam (see paragraphs 226, 226a, 226b and 227
calculated on the plan proposed by Mr. Rickards and approved by Government in
1804 (see Appendix XV). The reason for departing from proclamation issued, with
Government sanction by Mr. Warden in 1805 seems to have been that Mr. Graeme
ascertained, as the result of his general inquiries, that, the Rajas and others who had
assented to Mr. Rickards’ plan for distributing the produce, had, by consenting to
adopt the Vilachchal meni pattam as a standard, made it appear as if they were in the
enjoyment of a considerably larger share of the produce, than they were as matter of
fact getting either at that time, or from that time up even to the time of Mr. Graeme's
inquiry. (See “Vilachchal meni pattam” in the Glossary, Appendix XIII).
Mr. Graeme therefore proposed (and his proposal was approved by Sir
Thomas Munro, paragraph 9 of Minute, 16th July 1822, Revenue Selections, Vol. Ill,
page 548) to discard the Vilachchal meni pattam, altogether and to take such a
percentage of the actual rent (Verum pattam) as from his general inquiries he found
would be equivalent to the share which Government had a right to expect in virtue of
the proclamation of 1805, that is, equivalent to 60 per cent, of the Vilachchal meni
pattam. Taking the share at 65 per cent, of the actual rent (Verumpattam), Mr Graeme
estimated there would still be a reduction in the actual revenue of Rs. 1,39,922 or about
13 per cent.
Garden Lands (paragraph 1258 of Report)
(b) To take 50 per cent of the pattam of gardens.
(b) Mr. Rickards' plan of taking 50 per cent, of the pattam was adhered to.
(c) But the pattam was to be differently calculated in the north and in the south.
(d) He devised a plan of this own for applying these principles.
(c) But in making his estimate of future revenue Mr. Graeme departed to the
following extent from the precise rule laid down by Mr. Rickards. That is, as already
alluded to in paragraph 228, he found the Janmis in North Malabar enjoying 80
percent, of the produce in nuts from cocos and arecas and 80 per cent of the money
pattam from jack 3, whereas in South Malabar the universal custom was to take only
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662/3 percent, of the same. Mr. Rickards, who, owing to the state of the rebellion in the
north at that time, was dealing (with one solitary exception, the Chulali Nambiar) with
South Malabar Janmis had naturally followed the South Malabar plan of distribution.
Mr. Graeme proposed to follow the North Malabar plan of distribution in North
Malabar, and the South Malabar plan (corresponding to that of Mr. Rickards) in the
south only.
The details of his plan.
(d) The details of his plan were then worked his plan out as follows : —
I. He found from the Janmi Pymaish accounts (paragraph 248) the total number
of trees existing in 1805-6.
II. He deducted all trees said to have been at that time unproductive, or too
young to bear fruit.
III. He next made a further deduction (at 20 per cent) for trees at that time
productive, but which had since, it might be conjectured, gone out of bearing.
IV. He then took into account the number (75 per cent) of the young trees
which had, since that time, it might be conjectured come into bearing.
V. In this way he arrived at the number of actually productive trees.
VI And also at the number of unproductive trees.
VII. From the number of unproductive trees he next deducted the number (20
per cent) which he thought might possibly be cut down and removed when his rates
per tree came to be applied to all productive trees.
VIII. And in this way he arrived at the number of unproductive trees which
would have to be dealt with when the assessment came to be made.
IX. He next added the number of unproductive trees thus arrived at (Clause
VIII) to the number of productive trees (Clause V), and found what would be the total
number of full-grown trees standing at the time when the assessment came to be made.
He then went on with his estimate as follows:-
(1) He applied the rates of gross produce in nuts per tree for cocos and arecas,
ascertained from the Janmi Pymaish accounts of 1805-6 (paragraph 248), to the
number of productive trees (Clause V), and thus obtained the gross produce in nuts.
(2) To this gross produce of cocos and arecas he next applied his locally
ascertained prices of produce, and thus ascertained the money-value of the gross
produce of those trees.
(3) Next applying to the money-value of the gross produce the principles
mentioned in Clauses (b) and (c) above, he ascertained the customary pattam (rent for
Cocas and arecas).
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(4) To ascertain the customary pattam rent for jacks (Clauses b and c) he had
only to apply the money pattam rates obtained from the Janmi Pymaish accounts of
I805-6 to the number of productive trees (Clause V).
(5) He then found what the Government share at 50 per cent, of the
customary pattam (Clauses 3 and 4) was on all the trees.
And finally —
(6) He divided the Government share of the customary pattam (rent) thus
arrived at (Clause 5) by the number of productive and unproductive trees which he
expected to find standing at the time of assessment (Clause IX), and thus obtained
certain rates per tree which he proposed to apply to all standing trees, except those that
were too young to bear. These rates he further proposed not to alter for twelve years
except under particular circumstances. The revenue estimated in this way, Mr. Graeme
thought, would fall short by about 7 per cent, of the revenue then being collected.
Miscellaneous Lands (paragraphs 1273. 1274).
(c) To take 20 per cent of the gross produce of Modan lands.
(f) He made no proposals in regard to Ella or Punam.
Modan. Graeme recommended the continuance of the prevailing system in
South Malabar of taking not more than 20 per cent, of the gross produce of Modan
lands (paragraph 33) in the case of all new assessments, to be spread over the period
years when the lands are alternately cultivated and lie fallow. Where gardens were
cultivated with Modan crops, and where the garden assessment was less than the
Modan assessment, the latter should, he thought, be paid till the gardens had
sufficiently improved.
Punam and Ellu.—Mr. Graeme made no specific recommendations regarding
these.
Sir Thomas Munro’s opinion on these proposals.
Exception taken to the principles which necessitated the cutting down of trees yielding fruit.
255. On the 16th July 1822 Sir Thomas Munro, then Governor, minuted in
favour of Mr. Graeme’s proposals, the only exception taken to them being that it was
a defective principle of taxation which required a man to put down a tree which was
bearing fruit (see Clause VII of last paragraph under gardens), and he suggested that
“some method might perhaps be found in practice of making such a remission for old
trees as would save them from being prematurely out down without exposing the
revenue to any material loss.”
Mr. Graeme sent back to Malabar to carry out his own proporsals.
The order in which they were to be taken up.
256. Mr. Graeme was accordingly sent back to Malabar to carry his own
proposals into practical effect. The order in which he was directed to take up the work
was—first, to revise the revenue establishment; second, to revise the garden
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assessment ; thirdly, to revise the wet land assessments ; as that seemed to be the order
in which the subjects required attention.
How far Mr. Graeme carried out this programme.
257. He completed the first, he began the second on the 20th May 1823 he left
it and the third to be completed by the ordinary revenue establishment.
The garden assessments in Calicut taluk.
258. Mr. Graeme began the revision of the garden assessments in the Calicut
taluk, but, as matter of fact, he left the district before he had time to do more than fix
the total of the garden assessments on each village (Hobali) in that one taluk. The
individual distribution of that total was left to the Collector, Mr. Vaughan.
Mr. Greame's plan of 259 Mr. Graeme, however, sketched out a plan of operations and left
operations. instructions with Mr. Vaughan that that plan was to be followed.
Details of his plan.
What that plan was will be now described.
260 (a). He first of all obtained from the people themselves returns of the
actual number of trees in each of their gardens and of the produce of the same.
(b) He next inspected some of the gardens and got the people to correct their
returns when that was necessary.
(c) When he had satisfied himself of the correctness of the returns, he
proceeded to calculate the resulting produce in gross, and took one-third as the share
of Government, as recommended by Mr. Rickards and by himself for South Malabar.
This one-third share he next commuted into money at certain fixed market rates for
produce which he had ascertained by personal inquiry to be correct.
(d) In this way he arrived at the total assessment to be imposed on the village
(Hobali).
(e) The next stop in his plan of operations was to communicate to the people
themselves the gross assessment thus fixed, and to allow them to distribute it rateably
over all the trees in all the gardens of the village, which, for this purpose, were divided
into Attu Veppu (river, or low-lying, damp, fruitful gardens), of which there were two
classes, and Kara Veppu [gardens on banks (Kara) and other high-lying localities, less
productive], of which there were three classes.
(f) His object in doing this was to obtain certain fixed rates per tree, to be
applied to all trees in the village according to the class of garden (Attu Veppu or Kara
Veppu) in which they stood.
(g) The total village assessment might be increased if gardens had not been
brought to account when preparing the estimate of total assessment [Clauses (a), (b)
and (c)], and, on the other hand, if on distributing the rates the assessment fell short of
the total estimate, the deficiency was made good by distributing the surplus rateably on
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trees in gardens of the Attn Veppu, first and second, and on the Kara Veppu, first
classes only, that is to say, the rates on trees in the best classes of gardens in the village
were in such a case pro tanto raised.
The advantage of 261. The advantage of having fixed rates per tree in each class of
having fixed rates per gardens for each village was that there was thus avoided all necessity
tree in each class of
gardens in each
for calculating the gross produce of individual gardens. The rates had
village. merely to be applied to the existing state of the facts as ascertained
by inspection of the soil and situation of the garden, and nothing
was left in this way in making individual assessments “to the difficult
and uncertain judgment of the gross produce of each garden.”
262. Obtained in the above method, the Attu Veppu and Kara Veppu rates
per tree were necessarily not uniform throughout any wide area, and it was only natural
it should be so, for cocoa-nut trees, for instance, in inland villages require more care,
are more expensive to rear, and yield when full grown a smaller produce than trees
growing in low-lying localities near the coast ; and hence it came about that in every
taluk Attu Veppu rates and Kara Veppu rates shaded off the one into the other and
were not uniform anywhere, not even sometimes in the same village (Hobali), because
a Hobali was composed of many Desams, and the rates within the Hobali seem to have
been fixed by the people themselves Desamwar and not Hobaliwar.
The Attu Veppu and The distinction, therefore, between Attu Veppu gardens veppu and
Kara Veppu rates, Kara gardens was (and is) by no means apparent, and though the
therefore, differ
everywhere, sometimes
distinction is still maintained in the accounts, it is doubtful if it is of
even in the same much practical value, and, on the other hand, it has a tendency to
amsam (Hobali) mislead. Gardens fringing a river, even near its mouth, are frequently
capable of being classed only as Kara Veppu, while other gardens at
long distance from a river are justly classed as Attu Veppu.
Mr. Graeme's 263. It is unnecessary to follow in much detail the subsequent

principles are still in course of events, because the general principles laid down, by Mr.
force.
All really
Graeme were adhered to. In practice, however, some details of his
unproductive trees scheme appear to have been altered. Effect was also given to Sir
were exempted. Thomas Munro’s suggestion regarding the cutting down of trees, by
exempting from assessment all trees that were really past-bearing.
264. Mr. Vaughan finished the garden survey and put the result in operation in
1824-25, but it had been too hastily done, the classification of gardens was incorrect,
and there was dissatisfaction with some of the executive arrangements.
Mr. Vaughan On the 15th November 1825, the Government directed "no further
finished the garden
Other books !
survey and put it in collection to be made until a more correct survey had been effected,
operation in 1824- and until the accounts had received the sanction of the Board of
25.
Revenue and of Government.”
Meanwhile the dissatisfaction had rapidly increased. On 28th February 1826,
Mr. Sheffield took charge of the district, and in the following month he proceeded to
Tellicherry and organised a survey of the five villages (amsams) of Kottayam taluk,
whose people had first raised the clamour.
It had been too hastily He next, took up 21 villages (amsams) in Kadattanad. the whole of
done and great Kurumbranad. and then the 22 "dissenting amsams” in Calicut taluk,
dissatisfaction arose.
70 gardens in Puluvalinad, one amsam in Ernad, and 2 in
Nedunganad, increasing or decreasing the assessments as he found it
necessary. This completed the survey of those parts where the
people had objected to Mr. Vaughan’s settlement, and the results
were put in operation in Kurumbranad in 1827-28, in Calicut in
1828-29, and in Kadattanad and Kottayam in 1829-30.
A general survey of It is probable that the assessments on the lands lying along the Mahe
the gardens was river and on Dharmapattanam island were still too high, for the
undertaken and was
continuously in hand
clamour did not altogether cease, and the revenue was, with
from 1829-30 till difficulty, collected. The survey, however, had been far too hastily
1840-41. conducted and put in force even in places where no clamour was
raised.
The net result, From this time (1829-30) therefore on to 1840-41 the survey
increase of Rs. of the gardens was continuously in hand, and there resulted a small
18,849 on 279,896
gardens.
increase of revenue to the extent of Rs. 18,849 instead of the 7 per
cent, deficiency which Mr. Graeme had originally anticipated. The
actual number of gardens on which this small increase accrued was
279,896.
Mr. Graeme's 265. One part of Mr. Graeme's scheme had been to revise
proposal in regard to
the garden assessments every twelve years. In due course, therefore,
periodical inspirations
of gardens was not
the question of periodicity in revisions came up for decision, and in
followed. his Jamabandi report of Fash-1253 (4843-44) Mr. Conolly pointed
out that no fixed periods for revision could be named, and that "the
Mr. Conolly's views
on this point. chief object of periodical revision was to counterbalance any
extensive remissions which partial bad seasons or private
misfortunes might render indispensable.”
He further observed that the landholders "are aware also that, though we do
not think it desirable to bind ourselves to a permanency of aggregate amount of tax, we
do so to a permanency of the proportion of the Government demand to the produce;”
Other books !
The Land
and, he continued, as uncertainty regarding inspection would curb garden industry, he

thought it, best to let things go on as they were and to examine only such gardens as
their holders were “forced by their necessity” to submit for inspection. A general
revision was necessary, he thought, only when the just rights of Government, owing to
remissions, required it.
The old In 1850-52, owing to general complaints of over-assessment of
Kurumbranad Taluk gardens, the whole of the old Kurumbranad Taluk was again
re-inspected in 1850-
52. A fresh survey
surveyed, and a decrease in the assessment of only Rs. 366 was the
thought, necessary by result. In 1854 Mr. Conolly seemed to think that owing to
Sir.Conolly in 1854 considerable remissions in the three or four previous years a fresh
was afterwards survey was necessary, but Mr. Grant in 1858 pointed out that the
(1858) considered
losses referred to by Mr. Conolly had since, owing to favourable
unnecessary. No
extensive surveys have seasons, been resumed, and there was no longer a necessity for the
since been made or fresh survey suggested, and an additional argument was that the
called for. The rule regular scientific revenue survey seemed then to the point of being
followed is that a extended to the district. Since that time no extensive surveys have
person claiming
remission on one
either been made or called for and the rule has been that anyone
garden must submit claiming remission of assessment on one of his gardens must submit
all his gardens for the whole of them for inspection.
inspection.
Wet Lands
266. Mr. Greame’s scheme for the revision of the wet land assessments did
not progress so favourably. The result was graphically summed up in Mr. (now Sir.
William) Robinson's letter to the Board of Revenue of 5th August 1857, paragraphs 16
to 19, which are here subjoined : —
Sir William
"16. Mr. Graeme’s operations were very limited indeed. He left the
Robinson's district in 1823, directing the Principal Collector, Mr, Vaughan, 'to
graphic summery
of the result.
continue the survey of the Province hitherto carried on under his
own control.’ He had himself, however, experienced that the account
The 'plague spot'
of the survey returns of gardens were so understated and suspicious,
in Mr. Graeme's
scheme. as to require greatest caution in, accepting them1 and 'that the
accounts of rice-land which had hitherto been rendered by the
proprietors seemed by no means entitled to credit.' Mr. Graeme did
not indicate how this plague spot in his proposed scheme of survey
was to be remedied.
NOTEs: 1. Vide Mr. Commissioner Graeme's letter to Principal Collector, dated 20th May
1827. END OF NOTEs
Other books !
nd
To Board, 22 September 1823. “17. The correspondence noted in the margin kept the
th
" " 4 February 1824 Board acquainted with the failure of this almost
th
" " 20 April " ridiculous attempt. ‘The Desadhikaris are excessively
rd
" " 3 June "
rd backward in the survey of the rice-lands and pay not the
" " 3 July "
" "
th
16 July "
least attention to orders, demeaning themselves in such
From" 26 July
th
" a way as evidently to prove their luke-warmness in the
" "
rd
3 August " cause ; that he (the Principal Collector) had been unable
th
" " 12 October " to make the least impression on them (the Desadhikaris);
th
" " 29 November " that the accounts they give are ‘grossly false beyond
th
To " 19 December " description' ; and that they sedulously conceal the
th
" " 24 January 1825 deeds, ‘making it next to impossible to ascertain the
th
" " 5 March "
th resources of the country.' In his letter 3rd June,
From" 14 April "
To "
th
9 June "
paragraph 10 Mr. Vaughan speaks of his 'utter despair of
th
From" 24 October " being able to prepare any returns within reasonable time', and of
The accounts given in were the 'hopelessness of the chance of getting any true
"grossly false beyond deeds' through the Desadhikaris.
description.
Desadhikaris made "18. The ryots, too, naturally had recourse to every
large fortunes. expedient to secure the easy defeat of the proposed settlement.
The country teemed Desadhikaris made large fortunes, the country 'teemed with fictitious
with fictitious deeds, deeds' ‘temporary deeds, and agreements were executed to suit
temporary deeds, and
present purposes, and were prepared with a view of corresponding
deeds executed to suit
present purposes. with a survey notoriously fallacious.' A number of returns and deeds
was eventually obtained, ‘but the great majority was of the most
The returns obtained
were grossly grossly fraudulent description.'
fraudulent.
Special and singular legislative provisions were proposed, penalties
Special and singular and rewards to informants were suggested, forfeiture of concealed
provisions proposed toland was threatened, and assessment to the full amount of the rental
check fraud.
in cases of fraud was actually authorised by the Board,2 but all in
Collusions, vain. In paragraph 5 of his letter, dated 12th October 1824, to the
innumerable disputes
Board, Mr. Vaughan boldly calls on the Board ‘to reflect on the
and feuds, and suits,
beyond calculation in effects of these collusions on the morals of the people in giving rise
the Civil Courts. to innumerable disputes and feuds, as well as suits beyond
calculation in the Civil Courts;' adding ‘that it is full time to adopt
measures to check the pending evil.’
NOTEs: 2. Proceedings of the Board of Revenue, dated 14th April 1825. END OF NOTEs
Total failure of the A variety futile endeavours to induce the Desadhikaris and ryots to
attempt after two years'
Other books !
The Land
struggle, 9th June 1825. return faithful statements were made’ but on the 9th June 1825, after
two year’s struggle to carry out Mr. Graeme's Pymaish, Mr.
Vaughan reported the ‘total failure in the promises made by the
inhabitants to revise and give in true and correct accounts.’
The Utopian scheme 19. Such is the history of another period of five or six years wasted
died of its own in futile exertion to get reliable revenue accounts from parties most
corruption.
interested in concealing the information, which was sought for
through the corruptest, most suspicious and equally interested channels, viz.,
the Desadhigaris of Mr. Graeme’s appointment. The Utopian
scheme of Desadhikaris’ Pymaish and Azmaish died of its own
corruption, and infinitesimal authority is attached to the bundles of
imperfect returns which load our records under the name of
'Desadhikari Pymaish.’
The difficulties of Mr. 267. It would at all times have been a difficult operation for
Graeme's scheme. intelligent and trained officers to distinguish between what was true
due to his having been and what was false in the deeds produced (unstamped and
prevented from making unregistered cadjan leaves) and in the statements made by the
detailed inquiries into
the condition of the
people, on which Mr. Graeme proposed to found his revised
ryots. assessment ; but when this operation was made over for
performance to the ignorant and interested heads of villages, failure
was quite certain. If Mr. Graeme had been permitted to pursue
detailed inquiries into the relations between Janmis and Ryots (see
paragraph 228), it might be safely hazarded that so experienced an
officer would never have committed himself to such a scheme.
The wet land survey 268. It is unnecessary to follow up in detail the steps which were
postponed till after the taken subsequently and which eventually led to nothing. It will be
completion of the garden
survey.
sufficient to say that the wet land survey was postponed till after the
completion of the garden1 survey, as suggested by Sir Thomas
Prices of produce rose
meanwhile and the
Munro, and that meanwhile prices of produce had increased so
revenue coming in easily much as to enable the collections to be made with a facility hitherto
the necessity for a unknown. The necessity for a revision therefore, did not force itself
survey did not crop up into notice.
again.
NOTEs: 1829-30 to 1841. END OF NOTEs
The revenue 269. Nevertheless an important change was made, in

accounts had, consequence of the want of accounts to show the particulars of the
however, fallen
into confusion.
holding of each individual tax-payer. The want of such accounts began
to be seriously felt in the year 1832-33. Holdings had been enlarged,
had been thrown together, and had been parcelled out afresh, and
Other books !
simultaneously the distribution of items of assessment had been

tampered with without any regard to the principles of the assessment by
which they were at first fixed.
Holdings had A landholder with good and bad land in his occupation, and
changed in size, under some ordinary obligation to part with a piece of it to meet his
and the items of
revenue had been
necessities, naturally enough parted with the bad land first, and there
distributed being no control over him (owing to a want of any accounts to show
without any what he was doing), he naturally enough also assigned with the bad land
control being an obligation to pay as much of the revenue assessed on the good and
exercised.
bad land together as he could get his assignee to accept. The principles
Good land was of the assessment thus became completely changed : the good land was
assessed at less
in future assessed with less, and the bad land with more of the land
and bad land at
more than they revenue than they respectively ought to have borne. In this fashion
ought to have great inequalities in the assessment had arisen, and to remedy them a
borne. plan was instituted of preparing what has generally since been known as
Pukil Vivaram Accounts.
The heads of 270. As if no experience had been gained of the value to be set upon
villages were accounts prepared by the interested heads of villages (see paragraph
again entrusted
with the duty of
266) the old mistake was again made, and these officials were again
preparing the entrusted with the duty of preparing returns of the lands within their
accounts. respective limits. No measurements, no accurate description, nor
No classification of soils were called for. In fact it was as Mr. (now Sir
measurements, William) Robinson described, in his letter to the Board of Revenue of
nor accurate 5th August 1857, a repetition of the Desadhikaris' Pymaish, with fewer
descriptions, nor
guarantees for fidelity or accuracy, and it was more carelessly conducted
classifications of
soils were made. and supervised. The Tahsildars were to check the accounts and send
them to the Huzzur, but after repeated reminders, etc., the accounts
came in driblets and without verification by Tahsildars.
In 1843, when In 1843 a small establishment was entertained, and about half
an attempt was of them were copied hastily info a form of Kulawar Chitta (individual
made to use
accounts
account); but directly it was sought to verify or use them, their
prepared, their worthlessness was seen and Mr. Conolly at once stopped further
worthlessness expenditure. Mr. (now Sir William) Robinson's opinion of these Pukil
became at once Vivaram Accounts was expressed in his letter to the Board above
apparent.
quoted ; he considered that they were not worth examining, as they
recorded imperfectly certain particulars of the land as it existed in 1833-
43.
Other books !
The Land
The upshot was that 271. The upshot of the matter was thus described by Mr. Robinson:
Sir William “I determined that the only escape from the confusion was to face
Robinson determined
to bring back the
the question determinedly and to bring back the deranged revenue
deranged revenue demand on each parcel or garden to the only certain and common
demand to the basis of basis that our land revenue accounts of the district admit of the
the ancient Jamabandi ancient Jamalbandi "as embodied in the Alara Pymuish accounts of
1806-10 (see paragraph 250).
as embodied in the These accounts showed the assessment on the wet lands as
Alavu Pymaish of it existed at the time named, and that, assessment was not, as
1806-10.
described by Mr, Robinson (paragraph 22 of his letter), that up
"Major Macleod’s Jamabandi of 1802,” nor yet even that mentioned
in the quotation from Mr. Warden's letter (given in paragraph 250),"
the Commissioners' Jama of 976 (1800-1) but a Jama founded indeed
for the most part, as may be gathered from the preceding narrative
on that of the Commissioners of 1800-1 but considerably modified
in North Malabar by the steps taken there after the receipt of the
Janmi Pymaish Accounts of 981 (1805-6) (see paragraphs 29, 32, 75,
76, 80, 82, and 248).
This Jama was Moreover, it will be seen from the above narrative that the
founded for the most reference by Mr. Robinson to the bringing back of the demand on
part, on the
Jamabandi made by
gardens to the ancient jamabandi was also incorrect. It was probably
the Commissioners in a slip of the pen, because it is certain that what followed on Mr.
1800-1. Robinson's proposals related to the wet lands exclusively (Board’s
Proceedings, dated 12th November 1863, No. 7212).
Sir William 272. Mr. Robinson’s proposals were in due course sanctioned (G.O.,
Robinson's proposals Revenue Department, dated 11th January 1861, No. 82), and carried
sanctioned 11th
January 1861, and
out by his successors, Messrs. P. Grant and Ballard, so that the table
carried out by (in so far as it relates to wet lands) given at paragraph 231 may be
Messers. P. Grant taken as still embodying, as approximately as circumstances wilt
and G. A. Ballard so permit, the actual facts relating to the principles of the bulk of the
that the table at
wet land assessment in the low -country taluks named therein.
paragraph 231 still
embodies
approximately the
actual facts of the
bulk of the wet land
assessments.
Other books !
Exceptions to this 272. There will be some exceptions to this rule in regard to such
rule. fresh lands as have been since 1822 brought under cultivation, and
Fresh land assessment assessed at 65 per cent, of the pattam (rent) at local commutation
at 65 percent of the rates. This was a plan adopted by Mr. Clementson in 1833, and
pattam.
afterwards sanctioned. Where, however, the local rates were
A proposal of Mr. excessive, he was at liberty to reduce them to the average market
Clementson's.
prices for ten years. Whether the Verumpattam or Mr. Rickards’
Vilachchal meni pattam was the standard is doubtful. The difference
between these pattams was not well understood at that time. The
matter will be found treated of fully in connection with the Cochin
wetland assessments (paragraph 306).
Miscellaneous Lands
Mr. Graeme's 273. Modan.—Mr. Graeme’s proposals (paragraph 254) in regard to
proposals in regard to Modan lands (paragraph 33) occurring as they do in the midst of
Modan re-assessment
perhaps escaped
other matter in his report, probably escaped attention ; at any rate
attention. they were partially put into force. He proposed to take one-fifth of
One-fifth of gross
the gross produce, which seems to have been done. He said nothing
produce was taken at about commutation rates for produce, so it cannot be gathered
current market rates, whether he meant to commute the one-fifth share at current market
but the demand was rates or not. So the actual practice, which was to take current market
not spread over the
rates, may or may not have been part of his scheme. Finally he
period of years when
the land lay fallow. proposed to spread the demand then ascertained over the period of
years in which the lands alternately lay fallow and were cultivated:
this was not followed.
Mr. Sheffield revised 274. If was Mr. Sheffield, the Principal Collector, who in 1827-28
the Modan revised the Modan assessments. His plan was as follows ; —
assessment, 1827-28.
(a) He first of all classified the lands into three qualities according to their
productive powers, viz:
Details of his plan First class, yielding an outturn multiple of from 618/64 to 443/64 the
quantity of seed sown.
Second class, yielding an outturn multiple of from 426/64 the quantity of seed
sown.
Third class, yielding an outturn multiple of from 315/64 to 29/64 the quantity of
seed sown.
Other books !
The Land
(b) For each class of lands “a fair and moderate” quantity of seed was assumed
as necessary for “100 square kolls” or land.
(c) The land was next measured and its "square contents found".
(d) The square kolls x quantity of seed x outturn multiple = gross produce.
(e) Government share = one-fifth or 20 per cent, of the gross produce.
(f) The Government share was finally commuted into a money assessment at
rates "fixed for each taluk with reference to the average local prices".
The old commutation Mr. Sheffield took a great deal of trouble and found, on attempting to
rates were found to be apply the existing commutation rates (see paragraph 232) to the exact
exorbitant.
share of Government, that the cultivation would not stand it; indeed
there was an extensive abandonment of the cultivation in the Ernad
taluk directly he attempted it ; so he was forced to commute at current
market rates. He described the previous commutation rates as being
“very exorbitant and arbitrary", a fact borne out by the table in
paragraph 232.
275. For purposes of comparison with the rates in paragraph 232, it will be as
well to insert here the following details as to current market rates both of Modan and
Ellu in Messrs. Sheffield and Clementson's time, faslis 1239—43 (1829-34).
Other books !
N.B- What seer was used is not certain, but it was probably the Macleod seer used in the table in
paragraph 232.
Mr. Sheffield's system abolished 1st November 1861. 276. The system thus instituted continued in
force up to 1861, when it was abolished
Mr. Grant, the Collector, at the time was unaware of
the data on which the rates then in force were fixed.
(G.O., Revenue Department, dated 1st
Novombor 1861, No. 2086). Mr. Grant, the
The custom of fixing the commutation rates annually Collector, at this time stated (paragraph 18 of
had perhaps ceased. his letter in Board's proceedings, dated 14th
September 1861, No. 5005) that the data on
The new plan was to fix 12 annas per acre cultivated
annually. which the assessment rates then in force were
fixed were not known, but it will be seen, on
Other books !
The Land
reference to column 5 of the table given in

paragraph 17 of that letter, that Mr. Shefield’s
plan of taking one-fifth of the gross produce
was still in force. The commutation rates
were not perhaps in 1861 fixed annually with
reference to market prices, as had been the
case down to 1845 at least. The Government
fixed one uniform rate of assessment per acre
on the area cultivated annually, viz., 12 annas.
Calculating on the figures given by Mr. Grant
in paragraph 17 of his letter above quoted,
the commutation rates per 1,000 Macleod
seers in each of the modern taluks were in
1861 as follows :
Assuming the Taking the average of the Government share of produce in all taluks,
Government share as as per Mr. Grant’s figures, and applying to it the money rate of
one-fifth of the gross
produce, the present
assessement fixed by Government in 1861, it appears that the
rate per acre existing assessment represents the very moderate commutation rate
represents a Rs.17-11 - 11 per 1,000 Macleod -seers, assuming, of course, as in
commutation rate of paragraph 232, that the Government share is one-fifth of the gross
Rs. 17-11-11 per
produce.
1000 Macleod seers.
Mr. Graeme made no 277. Ellu. — Mr. Graeme made no specific

specific proposals recommendations in regard to lands cultivated with this crop, but
regarding Ellu, but
Mr. Sheffield extended to it precisely the same system as that
Other books !
Mr. Sheffield assessed introduced for Modan and described above (paragraph 274). His
this kind ofplan (likewise as in the case of Modan lands) continued in force till
cultivation on precisely
the same plan as he
1861, when by the same Government order an acreage assessment
had applied towas substituted, viz., nine annas on the breadth of land annually
Modan. sown with Ellu. What was done at this time will be clearly seen by
Continued in force till reference to the following figures. The commutation rates per 1,000
1861, and 9 annas Maclood seers, as per Mr. Grants’ figures were in 1861:
per acre substituted.
Assuming the Assuming, as in paragraph 232, that, the Government share is one-
Government share of fifth of the gross produce, and calculating on the average of Mr.
produce at one-fifth of
the gross, the rate per
Grant’s figures and on the money rate of assessment fixed by
acre now in force Government in 1861, the commutation rate now is very moderate,
represents a viz., Rs. 63-15-8 per 1,000 Maclood seers.
commutation rate of
Rs. 63-15-8 per NB.—This rate would not, however have been a moderate rate in some taluks in
1000 Macleod seers. 1829-34 (see paragraph 275).
This rate would have
been too severe in
1829-34.
Mr. Graeme mad no 278. Punam —Mr. Graeme made no specific proposals regarding
proposals regarding this crop (see paragraph 34), and probably owing to the remoteness
Punam.
of the localities where it is directly cultivated, Messrs. Sheffield and
There is no record of Clementson also seem to have overlooked it. There is no record, as
any revision of
assessment from
far as ascertained, of any revision of the principles of the assessment
1805-6 till 1861, from 1805-6 down to 1861, when the Government order quoted in
when money rates per paragraph 276 fixed an acreage assessment on the breadth annually
acre, varying from 8 cultivated of—
annas to 12 annas,
were imposed.
10 annas-per acre in old Kavayi taluk (part of Chirakkal).

12 do. in the old Kadattanad taluk (northern part of Kurumbranad).
8 do. 8 do. elsewhere.
Adopting for the purposes of comparison the gross produce outturns in the
several taluks as given in the table at paragraph 7 of Mr. Grant’s letter on which the
Government order was passed, the acreage rates on the original principles of the
assessment would have been respectively:
Rupees 3 Odd per acre in the old Kavayi taluk
do. 3 Do do
Other books !
The Land
do. 4 Do do
do 1 or 12 annas odd per acre elsewhere
as per the figures in the table at paragraph 232.
The original principles It may, therefore, be gathered from the figures given in the table at
of assessment had long Paragraph 7 of Grant’s letter, that all attempt to work on the original
ago been abandoned,
and the assessments
principles of the assessment had been long ago abandoned indeed -
were in 1861 in the it was inevitable (see the remarks in paragraph 237) and that the
greatest confusion. assessments had fallen into the greatest confusion. There is no
Assuming the principle discoverable in Mr. Grant’s figures. The assessment seems
Government share at to have in course of time approximated to about 10 per cent of the
one-fifth of gross gross produce at from about Rs. 16 to Rs. 24 per 1,000 Macleod
produce the present
seers, which figures at the standard rate (adopted in paragraph 232)
money rates per acre
represent commutation of 20 per cent, of the gross produce, give the very moderate
rates of Rs. 8 to 12 commutation rates of about Rs. 8 to 12 per 1,000 Macleod seers.
per 1,000 Macleod
seers.
Other Miscellaneous Lands

Other miscellaneous 279. In 1870 a proposal mooted by Mr. Ballard was finally sanctioned
crops in Palghat Taluk (Revenue Board's Proceedings dated 24th February 1870, No. 1289), of
were assessed at 12
annas, per acre in
assessing the following crops in the Palghat taluk, viz
1870.
1. Cholarn, 6. pulses
2. Raggy, 7. Tobacco,
3. Chama, 8 Thomara,
4. Kambu, 9. Amarakay.
5. Horse-gram, 10. Castor-oil seed.
A similar proposal at the rate of 12 annas per acre on the annual breadth of land
for other crops cultivated. A further proposal by the Revenue Board to extend a
elsewhere was
abandonded.
similar assessment to other crops, such as pepper, ginger, etc., and to
other parts of the district was finally abandoned (Revenue Board’s
Proceedings, dated 16th September 1873, No. 1846).
The 6 annas per acre 280. Six Annas per Acre Rate.—But in 1861 it was also thought
on miscellaneous lands politic to hold out inducements to people to take up such
imposed in 1861,
16,000 across thus
miscellaneous lands permanently so as to save the annual inspections
Other books !
held at present. and measurements by the Revenue subordinates, which are liable to
so much abuse. Accordingly a rate of only 6 annas per acre was
sanctioned in the Government order already referred to (No. 2086,
dated 1st November 1861), and some 16,000 acres are now held on
that assessment throughout the district.
Various money rates 280a. Various Money Rates per Acre on Palliyal, etc.—On 2nd
per acre were assessed September 1862 Mr. Ballard issued orders to assess permanently on
on Palliyal, etc. lands
in 1862.
the acreage certain classes of land known locally as —
(1) Palliyal.—Rice-lands intermediate between the ordinary low-lying paddy-
flats and the high-lying Modan lands.
(2) Vila nokhi chartunna vaka.—Lands somewhat similar to Palliyal and
inspected annually for assessment. The Palliyal lands had hitherto been assessed like
Modan lands at one-filth of the gross produce; the Vila nokki chartunna vaka had
hitherto been assessed like fresh paddy-lands. These principles were apparently
adhered to in fixing the rates per acre, the average of four or five years being struck.
Other books !
The Land
Sub-Section VI.—The Exceptional Nads, viz. (1) Cannanore and Laccadives,

(2) Wynad, (3) Cochin, (4) Tangacherry and Anjengo.
The exceptional 281. It only remains to consider the exceptional cases of :—
Nads. Nad XXIX.—Cannanore and the Laccadive Islands.
Nad XXX.—Wynad.
Nad XXXI.—The Dutch Settlement at Cochin.
Nad XXXII.—The Dutch and English Settlements at Tangacherry
and Anjengo.
Nad XXIX.— Cannanore and The Laccadive Islands.
Considered 281a. Little need be said regarding these territories because any
unnecessary to say measures to be introduced for regulating the necessary the relations
much of Cannanore
and the Laccadive
between Janmis and Ryots in Malabar would not, it is presumed, be
Islands. extended to them. The Ali Rajas (Sea Rulers) hold only a small
portion of territory on the mainland, comprising 31 Desams in and
about the town and cantonment, of Cannanore in the modern Taluk
of Chirakkal. They pay for their mainland territory a lump
assessment of Rs. 3,801.
The Laccadive Islands now subject to the family are –
1. Agatti 2. Kavaratti, 3. Androth,

4. Kalpeni, 5. Minicoy
with several other uninhabited small islands attached. These islands are among the
“Scheduled Districts” (Act No. XV of 1874). The original assessment on them and
their trade was Rs. 11,200, but that sum has since been reduced by Rs. 5,250 owing to
some misunderstanding at the time of the Kirar of 1796 regarding some other territory
on the mainland, which the Bibi thought she was to be allowed to retain, but which
was eventually restored to its rightful suzerain, the Kolattiri Raja.
281b. The islands numbered 1 to 4 yielded annually during the ten years 1865-66 to
1874-75, during which period the islanders had broken loose from the Raja’s control
and exported their produce without any restriction, the following quantity of cocoanut
produce, of which coir yarn alone is monopolised:-
Coir yarn, 6,335 cwts. 62,631
Cocoanuts, 1,534,121 23,011
Copra, 1,783 cwts. 16,200
Jaggery, 5,930 cwts 27,423
Vendiah, a sweat-meat, 2,693 bundles and 13 cwts 1,331
Other books !
Total 1,30,599
These four islands, therefore, yield monopoly produce which may be valued—but
prices vary greatly—at : Rs. 63,682, viz.:-
281c. The Island of Minicoy is administered on a different system. There is no
monopoly of the coir yarn, cowries, and tortoise shell produce as in the four northern
islands. The following is an estimate of the revenue derived from this island :
Cocoanuts (from Pandaram land), 550,000 number.
Coir Yarn (Poll Tax) 22 candies.
Sugar (Poll Tax) 900 adubahs (worth about Rs. 225 in Malabar).
Rice (Tax on large vessels trading with Bengal), 20 candies.
Maas fish (Tax on fishing boats), 350 fish.
Cowries—5 candies.
Maas fish (Hire of* the Pandaram boat a1 14 per cent, of the catch), 300 fish.
Money rents-—Rs. 900.
This revenue, valued in Malabar at ordinary prices prevailing there, averages about Rs.
7,000 per annum gross.
281d. The net revenue, after defraying all charges of collection, comes to Rs. 9,750—
0—11 on the five islands and on the territory at Cannanore.
NAD XXX. WYNAD

282. In paragraph 78 will be found as much of the political history of Wynad as it
seems necessary here to refer to. Wynad consisted originally of the following modern
amsams in the modern taluk of Wynad and in the Nilgiri Commission:-
Wynad Taluk
1. Peria. 2. Edavaka. 3. Nallurnad.
4. Ellurnad. 5. Kuppatod. 6. Putati.
7. Kurumbala. 8. Porunnanur. 9. Tondarnad.
10. Vaitri. 11. Etannalassakur. 12. Muppainad.
13. Ganapativattam
Nilgiri Commission.
14. Cherangod.
15. Munnanad.
16. Nambolaketta.
Other books !
The Land
No settlement till 283. The constant disturbances which agitated this Nad prevented
after the Pychy Raja's any fixed settlement being made till after the death of the Palassi or
death, 30th
November 1805.
Pychy Raja, which event took place, as already related, on 30th
November 1805.
Mr. Baber, Sub- 284. Mr. Baber, the Sub-Collector, on 1st March 1806 reported to the
Collector, on 1st Principal Collector, Mr. Warden, that in consequence of the
March 1806 reported
that the pattam was
devastating wars which had prevailed, the pattam (rent) was at the
equal to double the rate of double' the quantity of seed sown, or on an average not more
quantity of seed sown. than one-fifth of the net produce, and that, to make such a pattam
the basis of the revenue demand, as in the districts below the ghats,
would be too low a standard.
Mr. Warden, the 285. Mr. Warden eventually decided to adopt the following scheme
Principal Collector, of assessment:
eventually sanctioned
the following scheme.
(a) Ascertain the number of Potis (30 seers) of seed sown on each
Details. holding.
(b) Adopt as the fixed outturn multiples of the seed sown in the
lands in the following amsams the following figures :
Other books !
(c) The number of Potis (30 seers) of seed x the respective outturn multiples =
gross produce of the holding.
(d) Deduct from the gross produce, for expenses of cultivation, three Potis (90
seers) for each Poti (30 seers) of seed sown.
(e) Divide the balance thus left over of the gross produce in equal shares
between-
1. The Government,
2. The Jamni and
3. The Ryot.
(f) Commute the Government share of the net produce into money at rates
varying according to local circumstances.
A good deal was left 286. Mr. Warden, however, left it to Mr. Baber’s discretion to vary
to Mr. Baber's these rates in cases in which from local circumstances he thought
discretion, and he used
a peculiar device for
that course necessary, discretion, and this discretion was apparently
preserving the extensively utilised. Moreover, in recording these variations a
principles of the peculiar device had to be resorted to, to preserve in the accounts the
assessment in principles of the original assessment. For example, a land requiring
exceptional cases.
1½ or 2 Potis (45 to 60 seers) to sow it, might be so subject to the
devastations of wild beasts, etc., that it could not bear the local rate
of assessment.
In such a case, instead of showing in the accounts the actual quantity of seed
required, a smaller quantity [say, 1 Poti (30 seers)] would be entered in the accounts,
and the other calculations would be made as if that were the actual quantity of seed
required for that land. Similar devices, it will be seen on reference to paragraphs 134
and 175, were favourite ones likewise with the Mysorean officials.
Mr. Warden's plan 287. As soon as Mr. Warden’s scheme began to be worked,
resolved itself into it was probably discovered that a much simpler plan would effect the
money rates assessed
directly on the Poti of
same end, and this was to assess certain money-rates directly on the
seed. Potis (30 seers) seed sown on each land, instead of on the gross
produce less deductions as in Mr. Warden’s plan. The explanation of
this is very simple.
Explanation of the In Mr. Warden’s scheme the outturn multiple and the share of
above. Government are uniform within local areas. It may also be assumed
that the rates for commuting produce into money would also be
once for all fixed by Mr. Baber for local areas, as he had no
instructions to alter these rates annually to suit the market prices.
Other books !
The Land
Directly therefore the scheme began to be worked, it would be seen

that it saved a lot of work and bother, if, instead of applying the
uniform money commutation rate to the uniform Government share
of the uniform net produce, the uniform resulting money-rate were
applied at once and directly to the quantity of seed required to sow
each holding, and this device would be followed within the local
Example areas in which these uniform conditions held good. For example,
take a land sowing 5 Potis of grain in the Ganapativattam amsam
Potis Outturn Gross Expenses of Net Produce Government

Multiple Produce Cultivation. Share
5 x 9 = 45 -(5x3) =15 = 30 ÷ 10 Potis
At Rs. 1-2-9½ per Poti = Rs. 11-11-11.

But 5 Potis (the seed) at Rs. 2-5-7 = Rs. 11-11-11.
The advantages of this Therefore, by applying directly a rate of Rs. 2-5-7 to the number of
plan when the land Potis of seed sown, all the advantages of this plan, where the
revenue had annually
to be assessed.
quantity of land sown annually had annually to be ascertained, and
the revenue assessment annually calculated thereon, are sufficiently
manifest.
Mr. Graeme did not 288. Mr. Graeme decided not to interfere with the wet land
interfere with Wynad assessments in Wynad, and instructed Mr. Vaughan, the Principal
and instructed Mr.
Vaughan to follow
Collector, to adhere to the plan of “Annual Settlements" (paragraph
the plan of annual 27 of his letter to Mr. Vaughan, dated 20th May 1823). And the
settlements, 20th May Government, on a later occasion (G.O., Revenue Department, No.
1823. Similar 662, dated 26th March 1862) came to a similar decision.
determination of
Government, 26th
March 1862
The money rates per 289. It will be seen on reference to the subjoined table that the
Poti of seed have money rates per Poti of seed sown have shifted somewhat, since
shifted somewhat since
1822.
1822. The figures are taken from Mr. Graeme‘s report and from a
statement recently prepared in the Collector’s office:-
Other books !
NOTEs: 1. The phrase “assessed seed “is correct, for the "assessed seed” was not always the actual
quantity of seed sown (see paragraph 286, also paragraph 129). END OF NOTEs
NB.—Fractions of a pie have been omitted in converting those rates into modern currency.
The Warden 290. It will be seen from the above that it is difficult to compare the
pattam. Wynad wet land assessments with those of the low country, for here
Compared with the there is a fourth kind of pattam (rent) to be dealt with. Being different
Vilachchal meni from the three others it may appropriately be called, after its author,
pattam. the Warden pattam. It approximates the most to the Vilachhal meni
pattam of Mr. Rickards (paragraphs 226, 226a, 226b and 227). For
example:
Seed = 5 Potis ; Outturn multiple = 15, the rate in Kuppatod and Putati amsams.
Other books !
The Land
It may also be noted in passing that the deduction for expanses in the Warden pattam,
is the customary rate which is still prevalent in several of the heavy rich land amsams in
the Ernad Taluk.
Comparison of 291. Bearing in mind the peculiarities of the Warden pattam, which
commutation rates, gives to the Government half or 50 per cent, of the shares of
assuming 60 percent
of pattam as the share
produce available as Pattam (rent) and adopting the latest Poti rates
of Government. as shown in paragraph 289, it is possible to compare the assessments
with those in the low-country taluks by adopting the same standard
percentage of pattam (rent), viz., 60 per cent., and by converting the
commutation rates per Poti1 into commutation rates per 1,000
Macleod seers, the standard adopted for the low-country. On those
data the prevailing commutation rates at 60 per cent of the pattam
(rent) in the various amsams come out as follows :-
Other books !
N.B.—Fractions of a pie are omitted, and the Nilgiri Commission amsam rates are calculated on
the basis of the Poti rates prevalent in 1822.
The market prices prevalent in Wynad since 1860 during the harvest months
average Rs. 69-6-4 per 1,000 Macleod seers, so that the commutation rates on which
the assessments were fixed are everywhere well within the prices the cultivators have of
late been obtaining for their produce. Other changes, however, have affected the
cultivators, some beneficially, others the reverse.
The good cartloads must have very materially tended to equalise prices
throughout the Nad, and the food required for the large bodies of coolies employed on
coffee-estates must also have tended in the same direction ; while, on the other hand,
the greater cost of labour and the breaking down of the system of serfdom have
tended to increase the original cost of the produce.
The Ganapativattam The comparatively high rate in Ganapativattom was due to the
rate must have been demand there was for grain in 1806 to feed, the large body of regular
prohibitive for some
time after the troops,
and irregular troops stationed in that amsam at that time. It must
regular and irregular, have been a prohibitive rate after those troops were withdrawn and
stationed there were before the country was opened up by good roads, as indeed the large
withdrawn. extent of waste paddy-fields in that neighbourhood still amply
testifies.
The Nambolakotta On the other hand, the low rate in Nambolakotta must have held out
rate, on the other strong inducements to extend wet cultivation there, as soon as a
hand, must have
encouraged cultivation
market for it could be found. Wynad, however, is an exceptional
there as soon as a taluk, chiefly owing to its unhealthiness; and the breaking up of the
Other books !
The Land
market was found. system of serfdom since the assessments were fixed must have had a
much greater influence on agriculture in Wynad than it had
elsewhere, because in Wynad there was but a limited class to take the
places of the slaves who chose to leave their ancient masters and
work for hire on the European coffee-estates
Garden Lands
Coco, areca, and jack 292. Coco, areca, and jack gardens are unassessed in Wynad.
are unassessed.
Coffee. 293. In 1860 coffee had become such an important industry in

Rs. 2 per acre Wynad that Sir Charles Trevelyan proposed to assess coffee gardens
imposed from the at a uniform rate of Rs. 2 per acre, from the third1 year after planting
third yoar, 16th May (G.O., Revenue Department, dated 16th May 1860, No, 788).
1800.
This rate bore no
This assessment was arbitrarily fixed without reference to either the
proportion to gross or gross or the net produce. The crop is so capricious and the return is
net produce. so uncertain that an arbitrary rate had to be fixed. The rate is hardly
Crop capricious, felt on a good estate in a good year, but Mr. Macgregor pithily
return uncertain. summed up (Board’s Proceedings, dated 16th September 1873, No.
The rate is hardly felt
1846) the other side of the question thus: "The existing tax of Rs. 2
on a good estate, but an acre on coffee falls heavily on many estates that have been fairly
in many, perhaps the successful, while in a large number of instances, perhaps in the
majority, it is only so majority, it is so much added to the losses.”
much added to the
losses.
NOTEs: 1. A practice having sprung up of granting three years' remission at starting, the Government,
ordered it to be discontinued. Tea and cinchona lands are to be similarly treated—G.O., R.D., 1118, of 2nd
October 1885. END OF NOTEs
8 annas per acre more 294. A few months later (G.O., 18th September 1860, No. 1634) an
assessed on extra cess of 8 annas per acre was imposed on Government land
Government lands as
Janmabhogam, 18th
only as Janmabhogam from date of occupation “for any purpose.”
September 1860. This rate is leviable on the entire holding under puttah, whereas the
assessment is payable on the area actually cultivated only.
Rates per acre under 295. The rules for the sale of Government waste lands were
Waste Land Sale sanctioned in 1863 (G.O., dated 23rd December 1862. No. 2677),
Rule Rs. 2 for forest
and Re. 1 for grass,
and Rs. 2 per acre for forest and Re. 11 per acre for grass-land, were
afterwards reduced to the rates of assessment reserved at the sales. The lands were not
8 annas, 23rd necessarily, but as matter of fact they were without exception, taken
December 1862. up for coffee cultivation.
Cess remitted for an 296. In 1871 the coffee-cess was remitted for an extra year, making
extra year, or three in
Other books !
all, from date of three in all from the date of planting (G.O., dated 22nd September
planting, 22nd 1871 No. 1656).2
September 1871.
NOTEs: 1. This rate on grass-land taken up under the Waste Land Rules was reduced to 8 annas per acre
by G.O., 22nd September 1871, No. 1656.
2. This G.O. “must be held to apply to such land” (forest land) “when cultivated with Cinchona" i.e., Rs. 2
per acre.—Board of Revenue, No, 2001. 11th August 1882. END OF NOTEs
Miscellaneous Lands
Unassessed till 1862, 297. Dry grain lands were unassessed till 1862, when the Board
when Rs. 2 per acre Revenue first recommended and Government approved (G.O.,
was first imposed.
dated 26th March 1862, No. 660) an assessment of Rs. 2 per acre, the
Afterwards altered to same as for imposed coffee, but on Mr. Ballard giving certain
1-4-0 per acre on
lands annually
explanations, the Government and the Secretary of State finally
inspected and to 10 sanctioned a rate of Rs. 1-4-0 per acre on cultivation annually
annas per acre if land inspected, and 10 annas per acre if the land were taken up and
taken up permanently assessed.
permanently, 11th
August 1863, 15th These rates were applied to private lands only (G.Os., Revenue 11th
August 1863, 15th August 1863, No. 1483, and 15th December 1863. No, 2292). They
December 1863. were the Wynad equivalents of the 12 annas per acre and 6 annas per
These are the Wynad acre assessments in the low country taluks already referred to in
equivalents of the 12 paragraphs 278, 279, 280. The reason why they were made so much
annas per acre and 6
more heavy is that Government had already decided (see paragraph
annas per acre cesses
in the low-country. 295) to sell Government wastes subject to a cess of one rupee per
acre for grass-lands, and it was thought that Government lands
The reason why they
are so much heavier. would be unfairly weighted if private lands were assessed at lower
rates than those mentioned.
Neither the net
produce nor the gross Neither the net produce nor the gross was therefore considered
was considered. when fixing those rates, and in this respect it will be seen they are to
some extent on the same footing as their equivalents in the low
country taluks.
Nad XXXI—Dutch Settlement at Cochin.
Historical 298. On the 20th October 1795 the Dutch Settlement at Cochin was
delivered up to Major Petrie, in command of a detachment of British
troops. The settlement remained under the British flag till by the
Convention of Paris in 1814 it was finally ceded to Great Britain.
Limits 299. The settlement consisted of the town and fort of Cochin and of
the following gardens or pattams outside those limits :-
Other books !
The Land
1. Tumboli pattam. 2. Kattur pattam.

3. Attalakad pattam. 4. Manakodat pattam.
5. Antony Fernandez pattam. 6. Tekkepurupunkara pattam.
7. Mundenvelli pattam. 8. Domingo Fernandez palakal pattam.
9. Santiago pattam 10. Taiveppu pattam.
11 . Belicho Rodrigues pattam 12. Saint Louis pattam.
13. Duart Lemos pattam. 14. Hendrick Silva pattam.
15. Ramanturutti pattam 16. Sondikalguvanliure Silva pattam.
17. Palliport Hospital puramba.
No 1 lies 33 miles south of Cochin

2 do 31 do Do do
3 do 27 do Do do
4 do 27 do Do do
5 do 6 do south-east do
6 do 6i do Do do
7 do 6 do Do do
8 do G do Do do
9 do 5 do south do
10 do 4 do Do do
11 do 4½ do Do do
12 do 5½ do Do do
13 do 5 do south of Cochin
14 do 4½ do Do do
15 do 1½ do North-east do
16 do 4½ do South do
17 do 16 do North do
Nos. 5 and 16 arc together known as Kallancheri.
Proprietary right in 300. The proprietary right in the soil of the settlement was vested in
soil vested in the Government, but the Dutch and Christian residents were exempt
Government.
Other books !
from ground-rent taxation.

Land hold on leases 301. The land beyond the fort was held on leases running for periods
of 20 years. This of twenty years, “on the expiry of which the land with all
system continued after
the territory passed
improvements reverted absolutely to the Government, no tenant
into British hands. right or compensation being admitted.”
Leases put up to 302. “This system was continued after the territory passed into the
auction. possession of the British Government, but with the disadvantageous
change of selling the leases as they fell in by auction.”
Mr. Conolly revised 303. Mr. Conolly saw the objectionable character of the system and
the arrangements in applied a remedy in 1847 when a number of the leases expired. He
1847 and settled the
pattams with the ryots
had these estates surveyed and assessed in conformity with the usage
in accordance with theof the district according to their condition, and made over to the
district usage. actual resident ryots (who as sub-tenants of the former renters
Assessment liable to enjoyed a moiety of their produce, but lost their improvements and
revision every twenty rights with each renewal of the lease to the former renters or to
years. strangers, according as circumstances rendered it expedient. The
assessment is subject to revision every twenty years, but as the
agreements contain no resumption conditions, the tenure is virtually1
permanent, the holder having the option of retaining the land at its
revised assessment in preference to others if so inclined. The same
system has since continued, and three estates only remain unsettled
in this manner.”
Board's Proceedings, 304. The above extracts are from Revenue Board’s Proceedings,
1st July 1858, No. dated 1st July 1858, No. 2279.
2279
NOTEs: 1. This is not quite correct The puttahs contain a condition that the lands are resumable "at the
pleasure of Government.”—G.O., Revenue Department, No 706 dated 5th June 1884, pp. 21, 23, or “should the
Government require it.”—Ibid p. 20 END OF NOTEs
Wet Lands
Details of the 305. The principles on which the wet land assessments have been
settlement of wet framed as related above are as follows :
lands.
(a) The number of seers required to sow 100 Perukkams in each holding is
first ascertained. A “perukkam” is 6 feet x 6 feet, so, 1,210 Perukkams go to an acre.
The number of seers so required ranges from 4 to 4½, 5 and 6.
(b) The outturn multiple of the holding is simultaneously fixed. The outturn
multiples range from three to eighteen times the seed.
Other books !
The Land
(c) Then extent in hundreds of Perukkams X seed X outturn multiple = gross

produce of the holding.
(d) Deduct the seed and a similar quantity for cultivation expenses and find the
net produce.
(e)Reserve one-third of the net produce for the cultivator, and the remainder is
the pattam.
(f) The whole of the remainder goes to Government, although in the accounts
a distinction is drawn between the Government share (65 per cent, of it) and the
Jamni’s share (35 per cent of it).
(g) Both shares are commuted into a money assessment at Rs. 25 per 1,000
Macleod seers.
Mr. Conolly followed 306. Mr. Conolly, it will be seen from the above, followed the
the general plan general plan adopted by Mr. Sheffield for assessing Modan lands
adopted by Mr.
(paragraph 274), and in the precise distribution of the produce he
Sheffield for assessing
Modan, and Mr. followed the scheme adopted by Mr. Clementson (paragraph 272 a)
Clementson's plan forfor assessing land freshly taken up for cultivation. This fifth method
distributing the
of distributing the produce differs from the others already described,
produce.
but it is very closely allied to the method adopted in distributing the
The Cochin plan of Vilachchal meni pattam of Mr. Rickards and to that adopted for
produce distribution
distributing the Warden pattam in Wynad.
distinguished from
Vilachchal meni
pattam and the
Warden pattam.
For example:-
Seed 5 seers; outturn multiple. 15.
Other books !
It was in fact the In short it is the Vilachchal meni pattam of Mr. Rickards, with however
Vilachchal meni
65 per cent, of the pattam (in place of 60 per cent) reserved for the
pattam with 65
Government share. It was Mr. Graeme who proposed to take as the
percent reserved for
Government share 65 per cent, of the pattam, but then the pattam
Government instead of
60 percent. he referred to was the Verumpattam or actual rent, not the
The explanation of Vilachchal meni pattam. Mr. Graeme’s reason for proposing a
this change of departure from Mr. Rickards’ scheme fixing the Government share
percentage. at 60 per cent, was that in his time it took 65 per cent, of the
Verumpattam to make up 60 per cent, of the Vilachchal meni pattam ;
the Verumpattamm being in his time pro tanto lower than the
Vilachchal meni pattam (see paragraph 254).
It was a departure It was a clear departure from the agreement with the
from the agreement principal Janmis in 1803 (paragraph 247) to calculate the pattam on
arrived at in 1803.
the Vilachchal meni principles and then to take 65 per cent, of the
remainder instead of the 60 per cent, agreed to. This was evidently
not looked into when Mr. Clementson was authorised to adopt his
plan for assessing land freshly taken up for cultivation (paragraph
272 a).
The Government 307. It did not, however, matter much in Cochin, because
takes 100 per cent of there the Government was also the Janmi, and in its double capacity,
the pattam in Cochin.
it took 100 per cent, of the pattam in the shape of assessment and
Other books !
The Land
This at first sight Janma-bhogam from the Ryots. This at first sight would seem to be
looks like too large a too large a proportion of the produce for the Government to
proportion of produce
for Government to
swallow up, but the fact is that the extreme moderation of the
take, commutation rate assumed in converting produce into money, has
bu the commutation left to the Ryots in Cochin a much larger share of produce than at
rate is extremely first sight appears.
moderate,
and represents a rate Bearing in mind that in this instance it is the Vilachchal
of Rs. 41-10-8 per meni pattam which is being distributed, and that the Government
Macleod seers at the
share is 100 per cent, of it, the commutation rate (viz., Rs. 25 per
standard percentage of
pattam. 1,000 Macleod seers) at the standard percentage adopted in the
tables at paragraphs 231, 291 (viz., 60 percent, of the pattam) comes
The price of paddy in out at Rs. 41-10-8 per 1,000 Macleod seers. Now, on the other hand,
Cochin in the harvest since 1860 the market prices obtainable at Cochin for Paddy in the
months since 1860
has averaged Rs. 57-
harvest months have averaged no less than Rs. 57-15-0 per 1,000
15-0 per Macleod Macleod seers.
seers, so that the
Even therefore though the ryots have been paying to
Cochin Ryots are
better off than these in Government the whole of the Vilachchal meni pattam, they have
many other places. been better off than the Ryots in many of the Nads, for which the
figures will be found in the tables at paragraphs 231 and 291, who, in
addition to meeting a commutation rate quite as high, and, in some
instances a good deal higher, have still above and beyond this to find
a rent for the Janmi.
Garden Lands
Mr. Graeme's plan 308. Mr. Conolly assessed the coco, areca and jack trees on the plan
followed by Mr. adopted in the rest of the district (paragraph 263).
Connolly.
Miscellaneous Lands
No cultivation, but 309. Modan, Punam, and Ellu cultivation (paragraphs 33, 34, 35) is
some money rates not practised in Cochin, but Mr. Ballard’s order of 2nd September
have been applied
under Mr. Ballard’s
1862 (see paragraph 280a) has been put in operation in Cochin to a
Circular of 2nd small extent.
September 1802.
Nad. XXXII—The Dutch Settlement at Tangacherry and the English

Settlement at Anjengo.
Land revenues framed 310. Very little requires to be said about those settlements, because
by the Travancore the land revenues of both are, with the other sources of revenue,
Other books !
Government. rented out at lump sums the Travancore State at Rs. 2,447 per
annum for Tangacherry and Rs. 1,450 per annum for Anjengo.
The Travancore State
311. The land belongs partly to Government and partly to Jamnis.
collects the share due
The lands of the latter class are exempt from all assessments, and as
to Government on
Government lands.
regards the former the Travancore State collects only the share
(pattam) due to Government. This state of things proves, if
additional proof were necessary, that the position taken up in Section
Janmam lands are (A) of this Chapter is correct, viz., that the pattam really the ancient
exempt.
land revenue assessment of the coast—(Conf. p. 601.)
Sub-Section VII.—Final Summary and General Conclusions.
Recapitulation of the 312. The objects necessitating the preparation of this paper were
objects set forth in thus set forth in paragraph 1:
paragraph 1 of this
paper.
(a) To ascertain, first, by reference to the past revenue history of Malabar the
proportions which the land revenue assessments bear to the fund available out of the
net produce of the land for paying a rent to the Janmi and an assessment to
Government.
(b) To discover, in the second place, whether these proportions are anywhere
so oppressive at the present time, as to take from the Ryots more of the produce than
by the fixed principles regulating the assessments the Government intended to take.
How far have these It now becomes possible to ascertain how far these objects have
been attained? been attained.
Details set forth for 313. The proportions which the various assessments bear to the rent
every part of the and revenue fund, have been set forth in detail for every district for
district and focussed
(so to speak) in
which details were required in the foregoing narrative.
paragraphs 231, And these details have already been focussed (so to speak) in the
232, 291, 307.
figures to be found for the bulk of the low country in paragraphs
231, 232, as for the year 1805-6, and for the rest of the district in
paragraphs 291 and 307, as for the present time.
Further general 314. The following further general remarks observations. seem to be
observations. required:- :
How far has Mr. 1. From the time of Lord William Bentinck's Minute (22nd
Rickards' scheme of April 1804) there has been no doubt regarding the
distribution been
carried out?
proportion of the produce of the soil the Government
intended to take from wet lands and gardens. Mr. Rickards’
scheme of distribution was then approved (paragraph 226),
Other books !
The Land
and the extent to which it has been carried out, and the
extent to which departures from it have occurred, will here
be briefly recapitulated.
Wet Lands
Mr. Rickards' scheme Mr. Rickards’ scheme of distribution depended on the ascertainment
has not been fully of an arbitrary pattam (rent), which has been called the Vilachchal
carried out.
meni pattam. It may be gathered from the foregoing narrative that
Mr. Graeme’s his scheme has never been fully carried out. Mr. Graeme proposed,
alternative plan
provod abortive.
for reasons which have been already explained in paragraph 264, an
equivalent scheme of his own (see in particular Sir Thomas Munro’s
The assessments are
Minute of 16th July 1822, paragraph 9, Revenue Selections, Vol. Ill, p.
in much the same
status as in 1805-6, 558), founded on the Verumpattam or actual rent, but Mr. Graeme’s
scheme proved abortive, and so the wet land assessments are in
and are based on four
kinds of pattam.
much the same state as in 1805-6. The basis of them rests on four
different kinds of pattam (rent), viz.
(a) Verumpattam (actual rent).
(b) Nikuti pattam (the Mysorean assessment rent).
(c) Vilachchal meni pattam (Mr. Rickards').
These three regulate the proportion of produce in the low country to the
extent shown in detail in paragraph 229, and the fourth, viz.,
(d) Warden pattam is in operation only in the Wynad.
Caution as to the These pattams of course, vary greatly among themselves, and the
figures in the tables at figures in paragraphs 231, 291 and 307 are not to be taken as the
paragraphs 231, 291
and 307.
exact equivalents of the assessments in the various Nads reduced to
one common fixed standard, but only as the nearest approximations
which circumstances will permit, towards the attainment of such a
standard. Where, however, one of these pattams is the basis of the
assessment in more than one Nad, the figures represent the exact
proportions which the assessments bear to each other in those
respective Nads.
One departure from There has, however, been one departure from the intentions of Lord
the intention of Lord William Bentinck’s Government. The details will be found in
William Bentinck's
Government founded
paragraphs 254, 272 and 306. The mistake made by Mr. Clementson
on a mistake. of taking 65 per cent, of the Vilachchal meni pattam as equivalent to
65 per cent of the Verumpattam was apparently unnoticed then, and
it has been perpetuated down to the present time. It affects all wet
lands recently brought under cultivation in the low country and the
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accounts of all the wet lands in Cochin.

Garden Lands
Mr. Rickards' scheme Mr. Rickards’ scheme for the distribution of the produce in this class
fully and successfully of lands was based on the actual prevailing customary pattam in
carried out by
Graeme.
South Malabar only. Graeme’s proposals did not necessitate any
departure from that scheme except to the extent noted in paragraph
254. This was hardly a departure from the original scheme, because it
left the North Malabar custom as to pattam intact. So that in regard
to gardens (and excluding coffee, paragraphs 293, 296, as a recently
introduced industry) the intentions of Lord William Bentinch’s
Government have been fully carried out, and most successfully.
Miscellaneous Land
Mr. Rickards’ scheme II. As regards miscellaneous lands, Mr. Rickards’ scheme provided
did not affect the no rules for the distribution of the produce. There has consequently
miscellaneous lands.
been some uncertainty in regard to the assessments. The standard
Uncertainty in adopted, for reasons stated in paragraph 232, was adhered to by Mr.
consequence.
Sheffield in regulating the Modan and Ellu assessments in the low
The standard adopted country, but it was overlooked in regard to Punam. And when the
by Mr. Sheffield was
low country assessments on these crops came again under revision in
afterwards overlooked
in I860. The 1860, the standard in regard to Modan and Ellu was in its turn lost
disadvantage of one sight of, although practically its principles were to some extent
single fixed rate per preserved in the rates per acre then sanctioned (paragraphs 276,
acre. 277). The disadvantage of these fixed rates per acre is that no
Too heavy on poor, distinction is drawn between good, bad, and indifferent land. Mr.
too light on good land. Sheffield had arranged the Modan lands in three classes, with
outturn multiples varying from 29/64 to 618/64 and it is clear that one
uniform average assessment must fall too heavily on the poor, and
too lightly on the good lands.
314a. To illustrate this section thirteen maps of the district have been prepared
and are here inserted, showing the different portions of the district in which the
various descriptions of cultivation principally occur.
Are the rates 315. Turning lastly to the most important point of all, the
anywhere oppressive? oppressiveness or otherwise of the Government shares produce at
High prices of produce
the Government commutation rate it may be remarked in the first
are like a high flood- place that high prices of produce are like a high flood-tide,
tide, submerging all submerging all inequalities of assessments, as rocks are submerged
inequalities. by the tidal wave. It is only when the tide recedes that the rocks are
laid bare. Since 1832 a high flood of prices has set in which as yet
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The Land
When the tide recedes shows no sign of ebbing.

the rocks lie bare.
Since 1831-32 a high
flood of prices has set
in, and shows no sign
of ebbing.
The rise most marked 315. The district records show that prices ran very low in 1828-31 so
in and just after, the much so that there was in 1830-31 some fear that Mr. Graeme’s
five years ending
1856-57.
commutation rates for garden produce would prove too high. Mr.
Hudleston the Principal Collector, in 1830-31 had to give no less
than Rs. 69,31 as remissions on gardens. This, however, was the
turning point. The flood of high prices began after the setting in of
the rains in 1831-32, and with some intermissions it has continued
ever since. Perhaps the greatest permanent increase since 1822 took
place in, and just after, the five years ending 1856-57. The following
table exhibits such details as can be found of this time:-
The garce referred to in this table is about three times the standard quantity
used in the tables at paragraphs 231 232 291 307.
These high prices are 316. In Appendices XVI to XIX will be found such details as can be
compared in the had regarding the prices of produce current in recent years. In the
following table with
actual commutation
following table these prices are compared with the commutation
rates as fixed by the rates equivalent, at the standard Government shares of the produce
principles of the (adopted in the figures at paragraphs 231, 232, 276, 277, 278, 291,
assessment. 307), to the actual commutation rates of the existing assessment; and
the map showing “Modern Taluks” will serve to show in what
particular parts of the country these different rates prevail.
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The Land
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The Land
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The Land
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The Land
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The Land
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The Land
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The Land
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The Land
Some doubt as to From a return recently prepared, there appears to be some doubt
whether Mr. whether Mr. Graeme’s commutation rates for garden produce were
Graeme's
commutation rates for
implicitly followed when making some of the garden assessments,
garden produce were particularly in North Malabar. There is no doubt it was the intention
adhered to in North of Mr. Graeme, who had from Government full authority in this
Malabar. matter, that they should be followed, and as they at all events are
sufficiently approximate to existing rates to enable an opinion to be
formed on the subject now in hand, they have been retained in the
above table.
The above figures 317. Very little more need be said than to refer to the figures in the
proof positive of the above figures as proof positive that the land assessments are at the
moderation of the
assessments.
present time, and have been for many years, extremely moderate and
well within the limits of the shares of produce which the
Government has considered it politic to take.
The exceptional case The only instance in which, to continue the simile used in paragraph
of the Kottayam 315, a rock may appear to stand above the flood prices, is in regard
Taluk explained.
to the highest assessment on wet lands in the Kottayam Taluk. The
commutation rate there comes out at Rs. 75 per per 1,000 Macleod
seers. This, however, is an assessment on Government land, not on
private land ; and the assessment has been taken at 100 percent, of
the fund available for rent and assessment together. Converted into
that standard of 100 per cent., the commutation rate comes out at
Rs. 45 per 1,000 Macleod seers, which is well within the current price
of the last twenty-one years. In this case the holders have no rent to
pay to any one. They are not so well off, however, as the holders of
Government wet land in Cochin for instance (see paragraph 307).
The assessments are 318. It is quite clear that the land assessments are nowhere
nowhere oppressive, oppressive, and that the growing insolvent cottierism of the great
and the growing
insolvent cottierism of
body of ryots in Malabar is not due to any action of Government in
the Malabar the direction of taking more than its fair share of the produce of the
cultivators is not due land. It may seem paradoxical to say so, but it is not far from the
to Government having truth to assert that the action of Government has been too liberal,
taken more than its
and that had the share of produce left to the ryot been less, his
fair share of their
produce. present position would have been better.
Paradox. Had
Government taken
more, their position
would have been
better.
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Malabar by William Logan
INDEX TO VOLUME I
Abbe Dubois Abdar Rahman
Abdulkhalic, Tippu’s son Abdul Rahman Samiri
Abdu-r-Razzak Abercromby, General R.
Abhira (cowherds) Abikubais
Abington, Major Abyssinia
Acacias Achali Panikkar
Achamma Mupasthanam Achanmar
Acharam Acharyavakabhodya
Acheen Acoka
Acta Thomae (Acts of Judas Thomas) Adam
Adam, The Rt. Honbl'e Mr. Adams, Ensign
Adams, Mr. Robert Adam’s foot
Adam’s peak Adam Khan
Adayalam Adda Raja (Ali Raja,
Aden Adhikari
Adigal Adil Khan
Aditien (Tamil), and Adichu (Mulayalam) Adittiri (casto)
Adityavarmman Adlamy, duty on rice
Aduthila "Adventure,” the
Agakkoyma Nambutiri Agalapula
Agambadi (Nayar guards) Agamudayan
Agapae Agarr (seo Elara)
Agattammamar Agatti
Ageratum Agnew, Mr.
Aguo Aha! Aha !
Ahayi Ahlwye
Aigidioi Ajalar (Ajilar)
Akampati Janam (Body guards) "Akattu Kattiyum, purattu pattiyam"
Alambadi khedda Alattur
Alavu Pymaish Al Biruni
Albuquerque, Don Francisco de Alcedo Bengalensis
Alerta Naddu Alexander VII, Pope
Alexander, the Great Aloxander, Parambil, Bishop
Alexandria Alexis Menezes, Archbishop of Goa
"Algowar " prison of the inquisition at Goa Aii Attann, Kannancheri
Al Idrisi Ali Hussein
Ali-ibn-Udthorman Alikkotta (Ayacotta)
Ali Kutti Ali Kutti, Paratodiyil
Alikkunnu (Ayconny) Ali Malikhan
Ali Matuminaltodi Aliparamba Chirukkal lands
Ali Raja of Cannanore Al Kazwini
Allah Alleppey
Allungur Allur
Almeyda, Don Francisco de, the first Almeyda, Lorenzo
Portuguese viceory of all the Indies
Alonso Alstonia (A. Scholaris)
Alungad Aluvas
Aluvayi (also Ahlwye) Amarakosha
Amaram Ambadi
Ambadi Kovilakam Ambalakaran
Ambalavasi Ambaresan Chetti
Ambaresan Kett Arabattan
Ambergris Amboyna
Ambu Nambiar, Padinyaredattil Ambu Tamban
Other books !
INDEX
Ameni Island America

Amocchi Amolum
Amouces Amsam
Anæmia Ana kalu
Anamalas Anamally fort
Anandagiri Anangamala
Anantapuram Anantaravar
Anant Row Anayatittu
Ancillaria Anderson, Major
Andolla Mala Andor
Aadroth Angadipuram
Angamale Angediva Island
Angelo, Fort St. at Cannanore Animism
Anjamkur Anjarakandi (river)
Anjarakandi (plantation) Anjengo
Anjuvannum Ankam
Ankamali Anmalam
Anmani Annagee in Mysore
Anne, Queen Anonace
Anson Antarjjanam
Ant eater (see pangolin). Manis pentadactla Anthony, monastery of saint
Antioch Antioch, Patriarch of
Antiochus Antoninus Pius
Appatura Pattar Aquarius
Arabia Arabia Felix
Arabian Coast Arabian Sea
Arabs Arakkal Raja Cannanore (vide also Ali Raja)
Arakurissi Aralet cooty Kambiar
Aramunakkal, Muttedatta Arangattu or Arangottur
Arangott Raja Arangott Utayavar
Arayan Kulungare Nayar Architecture, history of Indian and Eastern by
Mr. Fergusson
Areca (A. catechu) Argellia
Ariake Ariankow pass
Aries Arikera
Arikod Aromata
Arracan coast Arshad Beg Khan, Tippu's fouzdar
Arsinoe Artham Anartham
Artocarpus integrifolia Arya Bhattacharya
Arya Brahmanar Aryaeluttu
Aryans Arya Puttar (see Choliya Pattar)
Arya Perumal Aryapuram
Asari Ashburner, Mr.
Ashtanga Hridayam Asiatic Researches
Assahabi As-Samiri
Assemani’s Bibliotheca Assessments, Revenue, in Malabar
Astrologers Atappur
Atarra Athens
Atlas larva Atlas moth (Attacus Atlas)
Atma Bodhu Prakasika Attaide
Attakuli Attan, Choondyamoochikal
Attan Gurikkal At an Kutti
Allan, Periambath Allan, Thorayampolakal
Attapadi Valley Attapara
Attikurichi Attinga
Other books !
Attingal Rani Attiperu

Attipettola Attupuram
Attu Veppu Anchmuty, Major
Audicota Augustus, Roman Emperor
Augustus, temple of Aulopolay.
Aurei Avanasi
Avarakotta Avaran
Avarankutti Avarumayan
Avary fort Avatti Pattur
Avinyat Nayar Ayacotta fort
Ayanamgah Ayan Aya, Dewan
Ayconny fort Ayila (fish)
Ayinchiradam Ayroor
Ayudha katti (see also war-knifes) Ayudhapani (weapon-bearer)
Ayudhapuja, also Dasara Ayur Vedam (Treatise on manhood).
Ayyan or Ayyappan Baber. Mr.
Babinglon, Mr. Babylon
Baccaurea sapida Badafattan (Jaraffan)
Badagara (see also Vadakara) Badami
Badarikasramam Baghdad
Bahmani dynasty Bailey, Colonel
Baily, Rev. B. Bakam (Caesalpinia sappan)
Bakare Baker, Rev. M
Bakkanur (Barkur) Bala Hassan, notorious pirate chief
Balasore Balasur peak
'Baleenghat' Balhara
Balija Ballalas
Ballanore Burgarie (Valunnavar of Vadakkara) Ballard, Mr. G.A.
Balliancota Bamboo (B. Arundinacea)
Bamboo, dwarf (Beesha Bheedi) Bamboo, scrubby (Arundinacea Wightiana)
Bana (Tanna) Bana Perumal
Banapuram Bunasur
Banavasi Bandha (alias Muppilla) Perumal .
Bandhas (Muhammadan) Bandicot
Bangalore Bangara
Banyan [Ficus Indica) Bara aadmees (grant men)
Barace Barbosa
Barbus Carnaticus Barcelore
Barillus Bakeri Barmin
Baroda Barrett, Private, Oxfordshire
Bartholomew. St. Barugaza
Basalut Jung Basel German Evangelical Mission Society
Bassia (B. longifolia) Bastis
Batavia Batchelor, Captain Brigade-Major
Bate, Lieutenant Bate (Cheiroptera)
Butticola, king of Bavani river
Bavnor (Valunnavar) of Badagara Baypin (see Vypeen)
Bear, block sloth (Ursus labiatus) Beddome, Colonel
Bednur Bednur, Governor of
Bednur Raja Bednur river
Beebee of Cannanore Bee, cliff (Apis dorsata)
Bee-eater (Merops viridis and Swinhoii) Bee, large (Apis dorsata)
Bees’ nest (apis mellifica) Beetle, elephant
Beetle, Green, rose and horned. Begur
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INDEX
Beigada Raja. Belem

Bellamont, Lord Bellapattoo
Belleta Bells, Colonel
Bench Hill Benett
Benghaut (Venkad) Beni, teak forest
Bentinck, Lord William. Berenice
Bernardes, Manuel Bertie, Lord Thomas
Besta or Valayan Bettattnad escheats
Beypore town Bezoor
Bhadrakali Bhagavatam
Bhagavati Bhagavati Kavu temple
Bhagavati shrine Bharani
Bharatam Bhaskara Ravi Varma (Perumal)
Bhatta Bhattattiri
Bhattiri, Palur Bhavanam
Bhavat mosque Bhawully
Bhimraj (Edolus paradiseus) Bhoot or Bhuta
Bhudevi (Tellus) “Bhumanbhupoyam Prapya."
Bhutans (spirits) Bhutupandi
Bhuta Raja Bhutarayar Pandi Perumal
Bibi of Cannanore Bickerton, Sir Richard
Biddanora Bignonia
Bijanagar Bijjala
Bilay Bilderbeck, Ensign
Bilhana Bird, flame (Pericrocotus flammeus)
Bischofia Javanica (A Luna silkworm). Blackford, Captain
Blackwood (Dalbergia latifolia) Blanford, Mr. M. F.
Blasser, Heer Wilhelm, Captain, Lieutenant Blaze, St.
Blue bird (Irena puella) Boddam, Mr. Charles
Boehmeria (B. Malabarica) Bombax Malabaricum
Bombay Bomhay ducks
Bonsack, Ans Arnest, Danish Governor of Bookari
Tranquebar
Bopp Borassus flabelliformis
Borugaza Boseawen, Admiral
Botany Bay Bourbon Island
Bowles, Colonel R. Bowman, Captain
Boyanore or Baonor (Valunnavar of Badagara) Braddyl, Mr. John
Brahma Brahmanism, Vedic
Brahmans Brahmans, Mahratta
Brahmans, Vedic (Nambutiris) Bramagiri peak
Bramagiris Bramhachari
Brass Pagoda in Tellicherry Brathwaite, Colonel
Brazil Brinjan
Brito, Lorenzo de Broughton, Mr.
Brown, Mr. C. P. Brown, Mr. Murdock
Brown, Mr. W Bryant, Lieutenant
Babulcus Coromandus Buchanan, Dr. Francis
Buchanan, Rev. Claudius Buckingham and Chandos, His Grace the Duke
of
Buddha Buddhism
Bullock country, The—Ernad) Bullam
Bulwant Row Bunga Raja
Bungor Raja Burchall, Captain
Burgara (see Vadakara) Burki, Srinivasa Row
Other books !
Burnell. Dr. Butterflies (Papiles paris)

Buxy (Bakshi -paymaster) Buzantion
Byfeld, Mr. Thomas Byron, Captain
Cabral, Pedro Alcarez Cacca Diva (Crow Island) usually called Grove
island
Cachchilapattanam Cadalay
Cadatturutti Cælebothras
Caffres (see Kafirs) Calabar
Calamina Calayi, the great and little
Caldwell, Dr. Calicut
Calicut nad or county Caligula
Calingoody (Kollangod) Calliadan Eman
Calli-Quilon Calli-Quiloners (Mappillas)
Callistree Camattys
Cambæt Cambay
Camel’s hump Cameron, Captain
Camillus, D.C. Rev. Father Campbell, Major
Campbell, Sir A. the Madras Governor Canal bridge
Canara Menon Canaru (South)
Canarese Cancellaria
Cancer Candotty Pacquey, the Mahe merchant
Cane Cannamalla
Cannan, Mr. O. Cannanore
Cannanore Karar limits Cannanore Revenue assessments
Canutehill (Kannavam) Cape Comerin
Capocate Cape of Good Hope
Cape of storms Capool
Cupricornus Capu Tamban, Prince
Caranakara Menon Carate Hobli
Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) Cardew, Lieutenant
Careya arborea Car festival
Carly fort Carly hill
Carmelite Missionaries Carnatic
Carnatic, Carp (B. Carnaticus) Carnatic Chronology of Mr. C. P. Brown
Carnatic plains Caroor
Cartinaad Cartun Naddu
Caryota urens Cashewnut tree (Anacardium occidentale)
Cassargode Cassis sculpta
Castes dans l' Inde Castilian, the
Castro, Secretary to the Portuguese Viceroy Casuarina (C. equisetifolia)
Catenar (priest) Catherina Infanta
Catherine’s day Catholic Goanese jurisdiction
Cauccote Caurashtaka Desam
Cavi (Kavvayi) Cavvan
Ceara rubber (Manihot Glaxovii) Cedar red (Acrocarpus fraxinifolius)
Cedar, white (Cedrela toona) Colobotras
Census of 1835 Census of 1842
Census of 1857 Census of 1871
Census of 1881 Census of Travancore
Cerbera Odollam Cerithium rude
Ceryle rudis Ceylon
Chakkiyars Chakku Nayar, Talappil
Chakku Panikkar Chakyar
Chala Chalupura Hobli
Chalat Chaldæa, Pahluvi attestations
Other books !
INDEX
Chalicarra Chaliyan
Chalukya dynasty, the western Chambat
Chamberra Chembra hill
Chamundha Chamundi
Chandadanda, the Lord of Kanch or Chandragupta
Conjeveram
Chandragatan Chandratttil Panikkar
Chandrott Numbiar Changatam
Chandu Kurup, Panangatan Changalappurattu port
Chapali Pokar Chappanangadi
Chappan, Odayottiidattal Kandasseri Charles II
Charmæ Chatfield, Mr.,
Chattamangul Chattappan Nambiar
Chattara Nayar Chattoo Chitty
Chaul Chavakkad
Chavakkad backwater Chavasseri Raja
Chaver Chayal
Chaypu Cheakur
Chedleth teak forests Chekunnu
Chekku, Triyakulattil Chela
Chelluvari (charges of collection of rent) Chemban Pokar
Chembotti Chenaar (King)
Chenachori Kurup Chenat Nayar forests
Chenda Chenga Kovilakam
Chenganiyur. Chenganetu
Chenganur Chengara
Chengara, Variyar Chengedu
Chengotu Chappanur
Chera Empire Cherum
Choraman, the country of "Cheraman Cheraman Perumal
Desaprapyah"
Cheranadu Cherankod
Cheran Subedar Cheraputran
Cheri Cherikkal (private lands)
Cheria Kunnu Cheriyakara
Cheriyam Cherry, Brazil (Physalis Peruviana)
Cherujanmakkarar Cherukkunnu
Cherumar Cherumar, lraya
Cherupattanam Cherupullasseri
Cherur Cherur ballad, the
Cherutalam Cheruvannur
Chettis (see also Shetti) Chettiyan, Mutta
Chetwai Chetwai, fort, named Fort William
Chetwai island (or Chettavali) Chetwai river
Chevaux de fries Chick Deo Raj
Chicken Aya, Dcwnn, WU. Chick Kishen Raja
Chimbora Chimbra hill
China Chinese
Chingam Chingot Chattu
Chini bachgan (China boys) Chinnakotta (the Chinese fort)
Chirakkal Chirakkalkandi
Chirakkal Raja Chirikandatam
Chiru, Kannancheri Chirukaranimana Narayana Mussat
Chiru, Kavile Chathoth Kunhi Chitlac Island
Chitrakuta Chitta, Kulawar
Other books !
Chittur Chittur Tekkegramam

Chitwa Chivers, Dutchman
Chloe Choladi pass
Chola Empire Chola river
Cholera Choliya or Aryya Pattar
Chomady Chomatirippad
Chombal Chombayi or Chombad
Choulsareum Chovakkaran Mussa
Chovarum Chovur Grammam
Chowtwara Raja Choyamandalam
Choya (Chola) Permmal Choyi Kutti Kannancherri
Choyiyan (King) Christians
Christian, Sargeant John. Chrysostom, St.
Chucklygerry fort Chulali dynasty
Chulali Nambiar Chulanna (Chulali) Kammal
Chunder Row Churikunjee
Churott, mosque Cingalese
City of the Mount Clapham, Captain
Claudius Clement VIII, Supreme Pontiff
Clement X, Supreme Pontiff Clementson, Mr.
Cleopatra Clifton, Major.
Clive, Colonel Clive, Lord
Close, Sir Barry Cobra, Mountain (Ophiophagus elaps)
Cochin (British) Cochin (Native)
Cochin fort, built by the Portuguese christened Cochin, The Dutch settlement at
Emmanuel
Cochin, The outlying pattams belonging to Cochin Raja
Cochin river Cochinites
Coco (Theobroma cacao) Coco palms
Codacal Codalla
Codally Codatu
Codavoura Coelho, Nicholas
Coilandy (see Quilandy) Coilum
Coimbatore Coja Casem
Coja Muhammad Marakkar Colachel, Dutch fort
Colastri Colbert
Colemgoor Colinar
Collett, Mr. Collure pagoda
Colombo "Colon”
Comari Comattya
Commissioners, The Joint Commutation rates, Mr. Græme’s, adopted in
Commutation rates of produce for purposes of Compagnie des Indes, The French, 340.
assessment
Company of Merchants of England trading to Company of the Indies, the Perpetual,
the East Indies, The United.
Concan Concana (see Konkana)
Concasta bazaar Concordat, The
Congad Conjeveram or Kanchi
Conelly, Mr. H. V. Conolly, Mrs.
Conolly’s canal Constantinople
Conus Catenulatus Convy
Cook, Mr. H. D., District Judge Cook, Surgeon-Major H. D.
Coompta Coonjiste
Coorchas Cooreheat : see Kurchiyat
Coorg Coorgs, The
Other books !
INDEX
Cooriles, Bishop Mar Coorimnaad

Coote, Colonel Coote Reef
Coote, Sir Eyre Cootypore (Kuttipuram in Kadattanad),
Coptes Corade
Corengotte (Kurungot) Corla (a whip), Hyder's instrument of corporal
punishment
Cornish, Surgeon-General Cornwallis, Commodore
Cornwallis, Lord Corote Angady
Correa Corrovallanghatt
Corypha umbraculifera Cosmas Indicopleustes
Cossigny, Colonel Cotacunna (Kottakkunnu)
Cota Maccar Cotgrave, Major John
Cotiote Cotiote Kerala Varma Raja
Cotiote, revenue assessments Cotta (see Kotta) river
Cotlattu (Cotiote) Cottica (Kottakkal).
Cottonara "Coulan"
Council of Ephesus Council of Nice
Council of Rome Courtallum(see Kurtallum
Coutinhe, Don Fernando Cowhage (Mucuna pruriens).
Cowlpara Cowpiel
Cranganore Cranganore river
Crawford, Mr. H. Crocodilus palustris
Cross,Mr. Samuel Crow Island, usually called Grove Island
Cruz Milagre Gap Cryptogamin
Cuchicundy Cuddalore sandstones
Cullen, General Cullenia excelsa (prickly fruit)
Cumalum fort Cumbum valley
Cunjote Angadi Cunumpoora
Curcumbra “Currachee redoubt”
Curtis, Captain Curus
Cusack, Surgeon “Custom” King
Cuttarum : see Kattaram Cutty Coileen
Cutwal Cycas circinalis
Cyprea Cyrus
Cyzicus
Dabul. Dadkannan
Damalcherry Daman
Dammal Dammer
Dammer, black (Canarium strictum) Dammer, giant (Vateria Indica)
Danes Dantidurga
Darakti Shahadet Darapuram
Darius, Darogas, native judges
Darogha Sahib Dasara
Daser, Captain Paul Dasi or Vrashali
Davies, Captain Day, Dr. Land of the Perumals
Day, Lieutenant Debal
De Cunha Deer, barking (Cerulus aureus)
Deer, spotted (Axis maculatus) Dekkam
De Labourdonnais, Bertrand, Francois Mahe De Labourdonnais, M. Mahe
De Lannoy, General, Eustachius Benedictus Dellon, M.
De Muscaatboom Dendrobium aurum
Dendriphila frontalis Dennis, Major
De, Raj De Pardaillan. M
Desadhikaris Desadhikari's pymaish
Desam Desavali
Other books !
De Souza Deva-attam
Devagiri Devanampriya Priyadarsin
Devangulu Devas Bhandari
Devasthanams (temple lands) Devil’s nettle (Laportea crenulata)
Devote Angadi Dewar, Captain
Dhal Dhamanam
Dhanu Dhariyayikal
Dharmapattanam Dhendia Wahan
Dhowti Dhruva
Diamper (Utayamper), Synod of Dias, Bartholomew
Diatomaceæ Diatomere
Dick, The Honorable G. Dickenson, Captain
Digambaras Dikkar
Dillivaria (D.ilicifolia) Dillon, Mr.
Dindamal hills Dindigul
Dindimul Dioscereas
Dipali or Dipavali Directors’, Court of
Direm, Major Disarmament of the Calicut, Ernad and
Wulluvanad Taluks
Disarmament of the Ponnani Taluk Divar
D’Lanoy, Eustachius Dogs, wild (Cuon rutilaus)
Dominium, The Roman Dnminus
Dorotheus, Bishop of Tyre Derril, Mr. Thomas
Deve, bronze-wing (Chalcophaps indica) Doveton, Captain
Dow, Major Dravida
Dropsy, General Drummond, Mr.
Dula Dunlop, Colonel
Duncan, Mr. Jonathan "Dung heap" for house
Dupleix, Madame. Durga (goddess)
Dutch, The Dutch, East India Company, The
Dutch settlements in Malabar, The Dwipar (See Tiyar)
East India Company, The East Indies, Forster’s translation of the voyage
to the
Ebony (Diospyros ebenes) Ebony tree, bastard (Diospyros embryopteris)
Edachenna Ammu Edachenna Jammu
Edachenna Komappan Edachenna Kungan
Edachenna Otenan Edakkad
Edattara Edavukutti Kulam
Eddamannapara Eddapalli
Edessa Edevadu naddu
Editerrahcotta Edward, Lieutenant
Egrets (Bubulcus Coromandus) Egypt
Egyptians Eiranikkulam
Elamaruthoo Elambileri peak
Elambalasseri Elampullian Kunyan
Elara Elayad
Elephantiasis Eli
Eli Elibhupan
Eli Kovilakam. Elimala
Elimala river Eli Perumal
Ellacherrum pass Ellambulasseri Unni Mutta (Mussa) Muppan,
Chief of the Mappilla banditti
Ellattur port Ellattur river
Elliot, Sir H. Ellis, Mr. F. W.
Ellu lands Ellura
Other books !
INDEX
El Malik Sambul Elem

Elott, king’s house Elumala
Eluttachchan, 139. Elzaitun
Emalu Valasseri Eman Nayar (Pallur)
Embran Embrantiri
Emir Emmanuel, Fort Saint, at Cochin
Emmanuel, King of Portugal Enangan
Enangatti Eudaimon Arabia
English, The “English Interests in India.” A View of the
Enja (acacia intsia) Ennakkat Kovilakam
Ennamakkal dam Ennamakkal lake
Epiphanius, Bishop of Salamis and Jerome Epiphi
Eppanur Epperpettatu
Eradi Erakerlu
Eralanad Eralpad, Raja of Calicut
Endorah. Eratosthenes
Ernacollum Ernad
Ernad Menon Erroocur (see Irukur)
Errowinagarry Erythrina (Erythrina Indica)
Etesians Ethiopians
Eltikkulum Ettukkonnu
Ertulaniyur Ettuvittil Pillamar
Eucalypti, Australian Eudoxus
Eugenia Eagenia bractreata
Euphorbia (E. nivulia) Eurasians.
Europeans Eurya (E. Japonica)
Eusebius, Bishop of Cæsarea Eve
Eviction, Suits for—of cultivators Evolic triphylla
Fah Hian
Fakanaur Fakir
Faknur Fanam, Cunteray
Fanam. Sultani Fanam, Viray
Fandariana Faudell, Captain
Fandreeah Farmer, Mr.
Fartak, Cape Fasciolaria
Fattan (Puttun) Fauna and flora of Malabar
Favonius Fayrer, Dr., on Tropical Diseases
Fazlulla Khan Fell, Mr.
Female Island Fen., Rev. Mr.
Fergusson, Mr. Feringees
Ferishta Fernendez, Mr. Thomas, Engineer
Ferns, tree Eremophila glabra Ferokabad
Ferokia Ficus Benghalensis
Ficus Indica Ficus parasitica
Ficus racemosa Ficus religiosa
Fig, common (Ficus glomerata) Fig, monstrous (Ficus Mysorensis)
Finisterre Fireworker, Lieutenant
Firth, Mr. Fish, eat (Silurus)
Fisher, Ensign Flandrina
Fleet, Mr. Flora sylvatica, Col. Beddome
Floyd, Colonel Foote, Mr. R. B
Formosa, The Forster’s Fra Bartolomœo
Fort St. Angelo at Cannanore Fort St. David
Fort St. Emmanuel at Cochin Fort St. George
Other books !
Fra Bartolomœo Francis Xavier, St.

Francis, Friars of the Order of Saint Frangipani (Plumeria apocynaceae)
Fraser, Captain Frederick Cæsar
Freeman, Mr. William Fremisol
French,The French East India Company
French factory at Calicut French Ministry, The
Friar Odoric Frog (Hylorana)
Fryer Fullerton, Colonel
Galle Galley, Mr.
Galton, Mr.C.A Gamboge tree, Garcinia morella
Ganakan Ganapady Watton, See Ganapathivattom
Ganadlu Ghandophares
Ganesa Gangadevi
Gangas or Kongas Ganges, The
Garcinia Garcio, Mgr Francisco, Bishop
Garden, experimental, Manantoddy Gaston, a Franciscan monk
Gati Gaton
Gaur Gaya
Gazalhatti pass Gemini
Gens Gentoos
Gheria Ghi
Ghulum Muhammad, Tippu's son Gibbs, Captain
Girnar Gnostic
Goa Goa, Archbishop of
Goanese jurisdiction. The Catholic Goanese schism
Goat, wild (Hemitragus hylocrias) God compellers
Godolphin, Earl of, Lord High Treasurer of Gokarnam
England
Gukkamangalam Golden Island
Gold River Golla or Idaiyar
Golomath Gomakutam
Gomaria Gonds, The
Goni Barray Goniothalamus(G. Wightii)
Goodgame, Henry Gopala, Taragan
Gopalayya, Canarese General Gopalji, Canarese General
Gordon, Lieutenant James Gordon, Sir Francis, Bart
Gorman, Lieutenant Gosha
Gouda Goundus
Govardhana Martanda Govin. Mr.
Govinda Govinda Mussot Karukamanna
Gowndan, Poligar chiefs "Gozurat"
Greme, Mr. (Spl. Commr.) Græme, Mr. (Spl. Commr.)
Gramam Gramams (villages), The
Gramams, The 32 pure Malayali Grant. Mr. P.
Grant Duff, The Rt. Hon'ble Mr. Grantha
Grass, Koruka (Agrostis linearis) Green, Captain
Greenwich Hospital Gregory XVI, Pope
Grenadier Company, H.M.’s 94th Regt Gribble
Grove Island Gudalur
Gudgereddy Guersihee
Gulikan (son of Saturn) Gunadoshakaran
Gundert, Dr. Gunroads, Tippu's
Gupta Gurjara
Gurnell, Captain Guru
Gurukkal Gurunadhan
Other books !
INDEX
Gurusi Guruvayyur Ekadesi

Guttapercha Guzerat.
Habeas Corpus Act Habib-ibu-Malik
Haidar Ali Haidari Fakeers of Room
Haidros, The Mappilla robber chief Haidros, Kutti Muppan
Haigiri Haihayas
Hai-kshetram Halabid
Halar Hal Ilakkam (Frenzy among Mappillas)
Halsi Haly, Major
Hamilton, Captain A. Hamilton, Dr. Bachanun
Handley, Mr. A. W. Harabikaran Tangal
Hari Punt Harischandra Perumal
Harpenhully Venkappa "Harrington” The
Harris, General Hartley, Colonel
Hassan Hassanur hills
Hawkins, Captain Heath, Surgeon-Major
Hecha Niguti Hedder Naique
Hegadideva Hejira
Helena, St. Helena Bay, St.
Heliographic, stations established during the Helix vitata
disarmament of Ernad taluk in February 1885
Hemileia vastatrix Henry 1 of Spain
Henry IV of France Henry, Captain
Heracles Herodotus
Herrsing Herr Van Anglebeek, Dutch Governor of
Cochin
Hestia (H. Jasonia) Hewitt, Major
Higgada Raja Hili
Hill, Colonel Himalayas
Hinaur Hind
Hindi dagger Hindu caste
Hinduism Hindus
Hindu, trimutri or triad Hinduvi pynmish, 084.
Hippalos Hiram
Hircarrahs (guides) Hobali
Hodges, Mr. Thomas. Supervisor Hodgson, Major
Hodgson, Mr. Hole, Major, F.
Holland Holland, Mr.
Holmes, Major
Hone (Pterocarpus Marsupium) Honore or Honavar
Hood, Robin of North Malabar Hormuz
Hornbill (Dichoceros cavatus) Hornbills, pied (Hydrocissa Coronula)
Howden, Major Houtman
Howden, Major Hoyas
Hoysala Ballalas Hubaee Murawee (Madayi)
Hudleston, Mr. Hughes, Sir Edward
Hull, Bombardier, John Humberstone, Colonel
Hussain, the “tiger" Hussain Ali Khan
Hustart Hutchinson. Mr.
Huzzur niguti HwenThsang
Hyat Sahib Hyder Ali: see Haidar Ali
Hydrocissa carnata Hymenodiction (H. Excelsum)
Hypsipetes Nilgiriensis Ibex
lbn Batuta Ibrahim
ldaiyar (see golla) Idakka (drum)
Other books !
Idam Idappalli Nambiyattiri

Iddavam Ides
Idiga (see Shanan) Ihalar (see Iluvar)
Ikkeri (Bednur) Rajas Llankuru
Ilayavar or Ilayathu Ibex (T. Wightiana)
Iliacour Ilibhyam
Ilichpur Iliff, Lieutenant
Illam Illodammammur.
Iluvar Inakkumuri
"India". or facts submitted, &c. India, Major
India, Minor India, Tertia
Indies Indika of Ktesins
Indo-Lusitarum Schisma Indo-Skythian coins
Indra III lndra Perumal
Indus lnglis, Lieutenant
Inkiriss (English) linnes, Lieutenant-Colonel
Ipomæa, Setosa Ira
Iranynyi Irankoli
Iravicorttan Iringatikkotu
Irinyalakuda "Iron Duke"
Iron wood (Mesua ferrea) Irool (Xylia dolabriformis)
Irritti Irrupu (cynometra ramiflora)
Irukur Irumbuli
Iruvalinad Iruvalinad Nambiars
Iruvalinad, Revenue assessment Irvenad (Iruvalinad)
Isanamangalam Islam
Islanders, The Isonandra, (I. Wightinana)
Israelites. Italians, The
Itta Kombi Achchan Itta Punga Achchan
Itty Kumbi Achchan Itty Combetta Kelappan Nambiar
Iynee (Artocarpus hirsute) Jack (artocarpus integrifolia)
Jacobite bishops, The Jucobtz, Willem Bakker
Jadachna Jamon, see Edachenna Jamma Jains, The
Jain Bastis Jainism
Jain Raja of Tuluva Jama
Jammat mosques Jangli
Janmabhogam Janmam
Janma-panayam Janmi
Janmi Pymaish Jarfattan
Jarkannan Jati
Jedar Jeddah
Jelmkaar Jenmkaar
Jordon. Dr. Jerusalem
Jesajabus, Patriarch Jesuit bishops
Jews, The Jews’ and Syrians’ deeds
Jews’ town Jimen, Statement of— in re Arshad Beg Khan's
settlement
Jirbatan Joma Pichota, an English topass
Joan de Setubad Joan Nuz (Numez)
Johannes, Metropolitan of “Persia and the Great John, Convent of St.
India”
Johnde Nueva Johnson, Captain-Lieutenant
Johnson, Commodore Johnson. Mr.
Johnston, on the relations of the most famous Jenaka or Chonaka (Mappillas)
kingdom
Other books !
INDEX
Joseph Joseph, Mgr. of St. Mary

Joseph Rabban Juddah (Jeddah)
Julian Julien, M. Stan
Junmdeo Alakhur Jumion Subahdar
Jumma Jungle fowl (Gallas sonneratii)
Jupiter Jus Patronalis (religious patronage)
Justinian Kabbani river
Kabuk Kacheri amsum
Kadakkottil Nambutiri Kadalundi bridge
Kadulundi port Kadulund river
Kadalur Kadamat island
Kudambas Kadattanad
Kadattanad Raja Kadattanad Revenue assessments
Kadir Sahib Markar Kaduputtur
Kacel Kafirs
Kaikalar Kaikolar
Kaineitai Kaiteri Ambu
Kaiteri Eman Kaiteri Kamaran
Kukanabetta Karkur pass
Kala Bhyravan Kalabra
Kalachchur Kaladi
Kala Kurumbar Kalambras
Kalari Kalattil Tangal
Kalattil Itti Karunakara Menon Kali
Kalikot Kalikut
Kalinga Kalitha
Kali yugam Kalkkulam
Kallada Kalladikod
Kalladikodan Kalladikod peak
Kallan Kallannur
Kallar (see Ambalakaran) Kallarivatukkal temple
Kallayi Kallayi in Chirakkal
Kallayi river Kalliad
Kalliad Nambiar Kallienna
Kallir mountain Kallur temple
Kalpakancheri Kalpalli Karunakara Menon
Kalpam Kalpana
Kalpati in Wynad Kalputi temple
Kalpeni Kalpitti
Kalutunatu Kamera
Kammad, Chakalakkal Kampuratt Nambiar
Kamsalar or Kammalar Kanakkar
Kanam Kanampat-varum
Kanapattam Kanchi or Conjeveram
Kandanad Kandarina
Kandotti Kane
Kangura river Kanikan
Kanikkali Kanisan
Kanisan, Palur Kaniyan
Kani-yatchi Kanjarakara
Kanji Kanmanam
Kannanbat Tangal Kunnancheri Chiru
Kannnacheri, Choyikutti Kannnacheri Raman
Kannan Perumal Kannanur : see Cannanore
Other books !
Kannapuram Kannavum
Kannavatt Kanoth Shekaran Nambiar Kannenerukuvaturu
Kannetti Kanni
Kannu Kutti Nayar, Kudilil Kanoth
Kanya Kumari Kanyarodo (Cassargode)
Kanyarott (Cassargode) Kanyikod
Kappat or Kappattangadi Kapul
Kapus Karaipottanar
Karalar Karanallur
Karanavar Karanmei
Karavalli Karaveppu
Karayma Karialutu
Kariavattam Karikkad
Kurikkatu Karimala
Karimpulai Karintolam
Karipputt King's house Kariyad Nambiyar.
Karka III, King Karkadagam
Karkadaga Vijalam (Vyalam) Karkankotta
Karkur ghat Karkur pass
Karmabhumi Karnataka
Karoha Karoura
Karpion (Cinnamon) Kartavu
Karticollum Karuga
Karukamanna Govinda Muscat Karunakara Menon
Karunakara Menon, Kalatttil, Itti Karunakara Menon, Kalpalli
Karunakara Menon, Mr. P. Karappu or Karppu
Karur Karverryallay Kannan
Karwar Kuryachchira
Kasargode (Cassargode) Kasi
Kasinath Balaji Prabhu Kassirn Subadar
Katalur Katam
Katharam Katirur
Kattaram Katukaruka
Kavalappara Kavalappara Nayar
Kavalkar Kavalpat
Kavalphalam (land tax) Kavaras.
Kavaratti Kavera
Kaveri river Kavilumpara
Kavinisseri Kovilakam Kavisimhaveru
Kaviyur Kavvayi
Kawlam Kayal
Kayankolam Kayankulatt Cherayi dynasty
Kayyaasuri Kuzi
Kearns, Rev.J. F. Keate, Mr.
Kedarnath Kedavur
Kedvellam Keeling, Captain
Keid (prisoner) Keikkaran
Keikkottal Keimul
Keippalli Taravad Keippamangalam
Keladi Rajas Kelappan, Veikeleri, Kunhi
Kemaro Kempsant, Mahratta pirate
Keprobotras Kerala
Kerala, son of Kerala Anacharam
Keralam Kerala Mahatmyam
Other books !
INDEX
KeraIan (King) Kerala Perumal

Keralaputra Kerala Varma Raja
Keralolpati
Keram Keraputran or Cheraputran
Keraval Kerobothros.
Keshu Pillay, Travancore Dewan Kesmakoran
Kestrel, Nilgiri (Cerchneis tinunculas) Kesuvan Tungal, Kalattil
Ketala or Kerala Ketalaputra
Keya Perumal Keyapuram
Khabhulik Khakan-i-Said
Khaspaga Khatmandu
Khersonesos Khorassan
Kidangali temple Kidavu
Kiggatnad Kilukkedatt Nambiar
Kilakke Kovilukam Kilakkina
Kilakku Kilakkumpuram
Kilmuri Kiltan Island
Kilur Arat Kilur temple
King, Mr. W. King-crow (Dicrurus macrocercus)
King-fisher, pied (Ceryle rudis) King-fisher, stork-billed (P. gurial)
Kirkpatrick, Colonel Kirtti Varma
Kirti Varma II Kiriyattu Nayar
Kishen, Zamorin Raja of Calicut Kitangur
Kistna river Kodakal
Kodolli Kodolii river
Kodungallur (see Cranganore) Kodungakatti
Koduvalli river Koiladdy
Kokachin, Princess KoI
Kolachel Kolakkad
Kolanged Kolattiri
Kolattunad Koluttunad Revenue assessments
Kolayan Koleluttu
Kolikottu (Calicut) Kolikodu
Kolkar Kolkat, Panikkar
Kollam Kollam era
Kollur Kolulabham
Komalam Koman Nayar
Komanpany mala Komati
Komban Perumal Kombiachan
Komu Menon, Kottuparambat. Kon (King)
Kondotti Tangal Konduvetti
Konduvetti, Tukkujakal Nercha Kongad
Kongu Konga, Kings of (Kongadesa Rajakkal).
Kongsnad Kongus
Konkana Koodracote forest
Koomree cultivation Koondepulla river
Koonjamaram Pillay Kooramars, see Kurumbar
Koorwye Koot (see also Kuttam)
Kopad (king) Kopattavaram
Koran Koringot Kallai
Koroth Kotinhi
Kotisvarom Kottakkad bridge.
Kottakkal Kottakkal Ahmad Marakkar
Kottakkal Kunyali Marakkar Kottakkal pirates
Other books !
Kottakayal Kottam
Kottarakkara Kottaram
Kotta river Kottayam
Kottayam or Cotiote Revenue assessments Kottayam in Travancore
Kottuyam Raja Kotti Kollam
Kotti Perumal Kottiyur
Kottiyur pass Kottimashal (sic) Court Martini
Kuttonara Kotuvayyur
Kovilakam Kovilkandi (see Quilandy)
Koya (Mappilla priest) Koyamutti.
Koyilmeni Krishna I
Krishna Achari Krishna Panikkar, Kaprat
Krishna-Pisharodi, Trippakkada Krishna Rayar, Anakundi
Kroonenberg, H., the Dutch Commandant Kshatriyas
Ktesias Kublai Khan
Kudi Kudilil Kannu Kutti Nayar
Kudippaka or Kuduppu (Blood feud Kudumi
Kulabhuriya Kula Kulam
Kulam Mali Kulasekhara dynasty
Kulasekhara Perumal Kulatta Nambiars of Iruvilnad
Kulattur Kulattur Variyar
Kulikkanam Kuli Muttata Arayan
Kulottunga Chola Kumaramagalam
Kumarieth Kumbhakonam
Kumbham Kumbla Raja
Kummara or Kushavan Kunatnad
Kunattur Kunda Mountains
Kunde Row, 402. Kundivaka
Kundotti Kundotti Section of Muppillas
Kundotti Tangal Kunga Kurup, Kalleri
Kunhali Marakkars, Kottakkal Kunhi Ahamad Marakkar, Kottukkal
Kunhi Chandu Kunhi Mammad Mulla
Kunhimangalam Kunji Mohidin
Kunhi Moidu, Kunnanat Kunhippa Mussaliyar
Kunhi Raman, Price of Kolattiri Kunhunni Nayar, Odyayath
Kunhjiachchan Kunji Mayan, Vanji Cudorat
Kunji Moidin, Avinjipurat Kunnalakkon (Zamorin)
Kunmnnmal Nambiar Kunyali
Kunyali Marakkar, Kottakkal Kunyappa Haji, Puvadan
Kunyattan, Melemanna Kunyimungalam
Kunyolan Kunyolan, Kallingal
Kunyote Kunyunni, Illikot
Kunyunniyan, Tumba Mannil Kupa
Kuppatod Kuppatod Nayar
Kurachimala Kurak-keni -Kollam
KuraI of Tiruvalluvar Kuringot
Kurangot Nayar Kurchiyar
Kurchas Kuri
Kuria Muria Islands Kurks
Kurnad Kurrachee
Kurramaradoo (see mutti) Kurtallum
Kuruba Golla Kurumandham Kunnu festival
Kurumattur Kurumbala
Kurumbar Kurumbar, Bet
Other books !
INDEX
Kurumbraratiri (or Kurumbiyatiri) Kurumbranad

Kurumbranad Raja Kurunkulal
Kurup (caste barber) Kurup, Tachcholi Koma
Kuruppu Kurvalchas, (Rulers of portions)
Kus Kutakallu
Kutakullu, chitra Kutira mala
Kutnad Kutnad, Chavakkad and Chetwai Revenue
assessment
Kuttali Nayar Kuttam
Kuttayi Kuttiyali of Tanur
Kutti Assan, Kolakkadan Kuttiatan, Mambadtodi
Kuttiattan, Pupatta Kuttichathan
Kutti Ibrahim Marakkar Kutti Kariyan.
Kutti Mamu Kitti Poker
Kuttipuram Kuttipuram Raja
Kuttiyadi Kuttiyadi ghat road
Kutriyeri Kuttunambi
Kuttuparamba Kuvala
Kydd, Captain Kyde (Keidi - prisoner)
Kypandi Labeos
Labourdonais Laburnum (Cassia fistula)
Laccadives Laccadive Revenue asessments
"La Compagnie des Indes" Lacryocotta : see Lakkidikkotta
Lafrenais, Mr., The E.I.Company Linguist Lagerstroemia reginoe
Lakkidi Lakkidikotta
Lally Lamb, Lieutenant
Lane, Captain Lanagoor, black (Prebytia jubatus)
Lanka (Ceylon) Lauman, Captain
Lanta (Dutch) Laportea crenulata
Law, Mr. John of Lauriston Law, Mr. Stephen
Lawrence, Captain Leader, Captain
Lee, Rev. Samuel, B.D Leens
Le Mesurier, Captain Lendas da India of Gaspar Correia, &c.
Leslie, Captain Lytton Leuke (or "The White")
Lewis, Lieutenant Lewis, Mr. W
Libra Lima, Captain
Limurike Lingadhari
Lisbon Lockhart
Logan, Captain, South Wales Borderers Logan, Mr. W.).
Logan, Mr. W., Special Commissioner of Logan, Mr. W., The Special Commission Report
Malabar of
Lokanar Kavu Kavut Lokars (chief people)
Lorenzo Louet, M
Louis XIV of France Louisbourg
Ludovic of Bologna disguised as a Moslem fakir Luiz, Don, Governor of Cochin
Lusiad Lutchmi
Lutra nair Lynch, Lieutenant
Lynch, Mr. Lyncornis bourdilloni
Maabar Maas, fish
Mabar Macacus radiatus
Macartney, Lord Macaulay, Colonel, British Resident, Travancore
and Cochin
MacDonald, Captain MacGregor, Mr. Atholl
Machchun (uncle's son) Macleod, Lieutentant-Colonel
Macleod, Major Mackenzie, MSS
Other books !
Madacarro (Madakkara) Madagascar

Madakkara Madanna, Revenue Officer and Civil Governor,
South Malabar
Madava Row, Raja Sir T. Madayi
Madayi Kavu Madge, Ensign
Madhavacharyar Madhyastan
Madiga Madigheri (Madakkara)
Madras Madras Town Census Committee
Madura Madu Row
Maffeius Magha
Mahabali Mahabharatam
Mahu Deo Raja (Madavan) Mahadevan (Siva)
Mahadevarpattanam (Cranganore) Mahamagha
Mahamakham Mahamakham Talpuyam
Mahasamantas Mahavali
Mahavali, dynasty Mahdi, The Soudanese
Mahe Mahe river
Mahl Mahogany (Chlorixylon Swietenia)
Mahrattas Mahseer (Barbus mosal)
Maihi (Mahe) Mailam
Mailan Hill and fort Mailanjanmam
Mysore Maitland, Captain (now Sir Thomas)
Makaram Makat-Nambutiri
Makkattayam Makreri
Malabar. Malabar itch
Malabar land revenue assessment Malabar land tenures
Malabar partially surveyed in 1824-26 Malabria
Malacca Malagasis
Malakuta Malanad
Malapuram Malasars, a wild tribe that inhabit the Palghat,
etc., forests.
Malavas Malayalam
Malayalis Malayayalma or Malayayma
Malayam MaIayar
Maldive Islands Male
Male Island Mali
Maliapore Malibar
Malibar Malik-ibn- Dinar
Malik-ibn-Habib Malik-ibn-Habib, sons and daughters of
Malik Kafur Mallabars
Mallan Perumal Malleson’s History of the French in India
Mallet, Mr. F. R Malliattur
Mallikappen, Jemadar Mallur
Malwala Mamallaipuram, (The 7 pagodas near Madras
Mamangam Mambat
Mambram Mambram mosque
Mambram Tangal Mammad
Mammad Tottangal Mammad Ali or Muhammad
Mammad Ali's 29 successors Mammali Kitavus
Mammali Marakkar Mammu, Malakkal
Muna or Manakkal (Nambutiri's house) Manali nar (bow string)
Mananchira tank Manandery
Manantoddy Manapuram
Manasserum temple Manattana
Manavalan Manavikraman, official title of the Zamorin
Other books !
INDEX
Manachal Manchisvaram
Manchu Manchuas (small native crafts)
Mandagora Manes
Mangalise Mangalon, General
Mangalore Mangara
Mangaricota Mangatt Raman
Mango (Mangifera indica) Manibar
Manichchan Manichæans
Munichavachaka Manigramakkar
Manigramam Manipravalam
Manjalur (Mangalore) Manjarur
Manjeri Manjeri Attan Gurikkal
Manjeshvar Mankada Kovilakam
Mannadiyar Mannanar or Machchiyar
Mannar Mannarakkad
Mannor, Lord of the Mannur
Manoor Manthakalu
Mantrams Manuel Bernardes, Danish factor
Manzi Mappillas (Malayali Muhammadans)
Mappilla fanatics Mappilla gitans
Mappillas, Jonaka or Chonaka Mappillas, Jungle
Mappillas, Nasrani (Syrian Christians) Mappilla outrages
Mappilla outrages, An account of the, Mappilla outrages
committed in Malabar from 1836 to 1885
Marabia bay Marakkar
Marakkar, Kottakkal Ahamad Marans or Marayans
Mar Athanasius Marat Nambutiri
Maruvan Mar Coorilos (Syrian Bishop)
Marco Polo Mar Dionysius
Marggam Margienaympalim
Mar Gregory Mar Ignatius
Mar Joseph (Syrian bishop) Mar Parges or Peroz
Mar Sapor Martab Khan
Martanda Varma, Raja of Travancore Mar Thoma
Martin, Francois Marumakkatayam, (Malayali Law of Inheritance)
Maruvan Sapor Maryada
Mary's Island Mascarenhas
Maslacemblus Matalay fort
Matam Matame, Peninsula of
Mata Perumal Matayeli
Mateer's "Land of charity" Mateer's "Native life in Travancore"
Mateu, a Dutch Governor Mathew, St.
Mathilur Kurikkal Matras
Mattalye Mattancherri
Mattannur Mathews, General
Mauritius Mavalikkara Kovilakam
Mavalud (birth feast) Mavilatoda
Maxwell, Captain Heron Maxwell, Lieutenant
Mayan,Choriyot Mayimama Marakkar
Maylat Mayuravarmman
Mayyali (Mahe) Mazagon in Bombay
M'Crindle McWatters, Mr. G
Menley, Lieutenant Mealie (Mahe)
Mecca Mechir
Medes Medham
Other books !
Medina Medows, General

Meds Meer Ibrahim
Meer Sahib Megalaima, common green
Megasthenes Mekran Coast
Melachoris Melattur
Melezigara Melezigyris
Melho, P. de, The Dutch Chaplain Melibar
Melibarin Melindo
Melizeigara Melkanam
Melku Mellure
Melmuri Meledam Kanchan Nambiar
Molur Menkayat, see Minicoy
Mendonza, Ensign afterwards Captain Lewis Menezes, Don Duarte de
Menezes, Henry Menokki
Menon Kuran Menons
Merops Swinhoii and viridis Merula Kinisii
Metran, Syrian Meylure fort
M'Gee, W.J Michael Jogue
Mickle's Comoens Midhunam
Mihie Milavu (big drum)
Miles, death of Private Milibar
Mill, Mr. Millanchamp, Lieutenant
Mimamsakas Minam
Minibar Minicoy Island
Minjina Sahids, (viz., all but saints) Minubar
Mir Asr Ali Khan Mirassidars
Mirassi rights, Ellis on Mir Hussain, Admiral
Mir Kumruddin. Mis'ar bin Muhalhil
Modan lands Moeus, Dutch Governor
Moguls Mohidin Muppan
Mohidin, The lion-child Moicara
Moidin, Alathamkuliyil Moidin, Cherukavil
Moidin, Kunnummal Moidin, Vellattadayattu Parambil
Moidin Mala Pattu (Fanatical song) Moidin Kutti Asaritodi
Moidin Kutti, Chemban Moidin Kutti, Kaidotti Padil
Moidin Kutti, Vakkayil Moidin Kutti, Haji
Molamkadavu Molaye (Malaya)
Mombasa Moncrief, Captain
Monier, Williams, Lieutenant Monkey's grey (Macacus radiatus)
Monkeys, lion-tailed (see Wanderoos, Innus Monomotapa
silenus)
Monte D'Eli Montresor, Colonel
Moohara Moodramoly
Moorhouse, Lieutenant-Colonel Moors, The
Moors of Carposa Moor's Hindu Pantheon
Mootahdar Mora
Morakkunnu Morar
Morgan, Mr. R. W., District Forest Officer Moriss, Colonel
Morituri Mornington, Lord.
Moslems Mosques, Jammat
Mosques, The original Mostyn, Captain
Motimjarra Mountain Delielly
Mount Deli Mount Deli river
Mount Lebanon Mouse-deer (Memimna Indica)
Mouzawar or headman of a village Mouziris river
Other books !
INDEX
Moyaliyar Moyar river

Moylan Mozambique
Mrigesa Muckhdoom Sahib
Mudaliyar Mudbiddri
Mugger (Crocodilus palustris) Muhammad
Muhammad All, Nabob of the Carnatic Muhammad or Mammad Ali
Muhnmadans Muhammadan college
Muhammadan Governor of Persia Muhammad Kutti
Muicarra Candil Nayar Muicarra Candy
Muicarra Cunnu Muicarra Cunoti Nayar
Mujabid Shah Mukhaddam
Mukhdum Ali Mukhdum Sahib, brother-in-law of Haidar Ali
Mukhya Kalomayamatulah Mukhyastan
Mukkuwan Mukkuvar (Muckwas) fishermen
Mukri Mukurti peak
Muleakurchi Mulibar
Mullas Mullet
Multa pracelare, Bull of Pope Gregory, XVI Mungarey river
Mungary Muni
Mumbar Munnanad
Munniyur Munro, Captain, Collector of Canara
Munro, Colonel Munro Island
Munro, Lieutenant Munro, Major Hector
Munro, Sir Hector Munro, Sir Thomas
Munro, Sir Thomas, Report of Mupra
Murex Murkanmar (Tutelar deities of Wynad)
Murikku tree (Erythrina indica) Muron
Murray, Captain Musuliyar
Muscut Mushika
Mushikakulam Mushikalam (see Travancore)
Mussa Mussa Kutti
Mussat Mutaliyar
Mutratcha Muttancherry
Muttar Muttatu
Mutti (Terminalia tomentosa) Muttukulam
Muttungal Muyiri, Kodu, alius Kodungullur or Cranganore
Muza Muziris
Myos Hermes Nabob of Arcot
Nabob of the Carnatic Nad
"Nada-a-Nada-a" Naduvali
Naduvaram peak Naduvmam peak, 0.
Naduvattam Naga Kotta (snake shrine)
Nagamara Nagarcoil
Nagas Nahrwara (? Honore)
Nair fish (Lates calcarifer) Nairi
Nalamkar Nali
Nailika Nalikerum
Nallurnad. Nallurumullan
Nambi Nambiachan
Nambidis Nambiyars
Nambiyattiri Nambolakod
Nambutiri (Malayali Brahmans) Nambutiri gramams
Nambutirippad Nanamundu
Nandi Potavarma Nangiyar
Other books !
Nankamara Nannambra
Naoura Narakkal
Narangapuram Narangapuratta Nayar
Narangoli Nambiar Naranport Nayar
Narasimha Row, minister of Vijayanagar Narayan, the heir apparent of Cochin State
Narayana Narayana Musset, Chirukaranimana
Narayana Mussut, Mumgamdambalatt Narendar Mriga Raja
Nasrani (Nazarene) Natal
Natica Nanclea
Nayadi Nayak of Madura
Nayar, The Nayur, Kiriyatta
Nayar, Muppil Nayar, Pada
Nayar, The, of Calicut Nayar houses in Walluvanad, The elect of four
Nayars, The “six-hundred" Nayars, The ten thousand, of Polanad
Nayar’s house, Description of a Neacyndi
Neddyanji Nedumpuraiyurnad
Nedungadi Nedunganad
Neliotusaroum. Nelkunda
Nellayi Pokar Nelliadi pass
Nellimootiel Nellore
Nellu, Kythee Nellu, Veli
Nenmini Nepal
Nercha Nerenganaad
Neriyot Nero
Nerpatt dynasty Nerpetta Kammal
Nestorians Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople
Nettle, common (Girardina petreophylla) Newars, 180. ,
Newbold, Captain Neytara river
Nicholus Coelho Nicobar Islands
Niguti pattam Niguti sistam
Niguti Vittu Nilalkuttu
Nilambur Nilambur teak plantations
Nile, the Nilesvaram
Nilesvaram dynasty Nilesvaram Raja
Nilgiri-Kunda Nilgiri peak
Nilgiris Nilmanna
Niranam Nirattiperu land tenure
Nirmutal land tenure Niskaram
Nitrias Nittur
Nochchi Nock, Samuel
Noddi Norton, Rev. Thomas
Notta Panikkar. Noyel river, the
Nueva, John de Nunho D’Acunha
NunjeRaj Nuno
Nutmeg, rare (N. angustifolia) Nutmeg, wild (Myristica laurifolia)
Nuxvomica (Strychnos nux-vomica) Nuzzer
Nyallu Oakes, Captain
Ocelis Ockoo, Prince
Oddar Odeamangalam
Odenan, Tachcholi Meppayil Kunhi Odenan Nambiyar, Etacheri
Odeormen of the Palacne of Pally in Chirakkal Ola (mortgage)
Oliout, police station, 5 1. Oliphant
Omalur Omana
Ometore Onam
Other books !
INDEX
Onam, Tiru Onanad

Oodhut Roy Oonga (son Poonga) Pongamia glabra
Orampuram Orbiculina angulata
Ore (a Nayar title) Oriole (Oriolos Kundoo)
Orme, Dr. Alexander Orme, Mr. Robert
Orungul dynasty Osbourne, Major
Ossan Hyderman Ottapalam
Otter (Lutra nair) Otti
Ottikkumpurameyulla Kanam land tenure Outchterlony Valley
Outcastes Owl, great eagle (Bubo Nipalensis)
Pacheco the valient Pad
Padarar Padayachchi
Padinyare Kovilakam Padinyatta-pura
Padinyattedam chieftain Padinyatta-muri
Paditallu Padry reserve
Page, Mr. W Pagoda, The fish—near Manantoddy
Pagoda, The brass—in Tellicherry Pahlavi
Pain, Olivier Pakal Kataka Ravu Vitaka, denoting hardships
endured by the Nayars during the Mysorean
conquest
Pakalomattum family Pakam
Pakki, Chundangapoylil Mayan Palaipatmai
Palaketeri Palakkada
Palani. Palanna
Palantuluvar Palassi (Pychy) Raja, the rebel
Palayangadi Palava Vittil Chaudu
Palayur Paleography, South Indian, by Dr. Burnell
Paleri Nayar Palghat
Palghat Achchan Palghatcherry
Palghat fort Palghat gap
Palghat, Temmalapuram and Nuduvuttarn Paliat Achan
revenue assessments
Palicatcherry Pallartuta naddu
Pallavas Palli
Pallibana Perumal Pallichan
Palliculam Palli Kovilukam of the Kolattiri family
Palliport Pallipuram
Palliyad dam Palliyal lands
Palliyar Palm (Caryola urens)
Palmer, Thomas Palmyra (Borassus flabelliformis)
Palmyra (port) Palni
Paloor Palora Jamen, see Eman Nayar
Palur Pampu
Pan Panal
Panamaram Panamarattakkotta
Panamurtha Cotta Panan
Panangad Panayam
Pancha Panchadravidas
Panchatantram Panchu Menon, Pilatodi
Pandæ Pandakal, Aldee of
Pandalur hill Pandanus odoratissimus
Pandaquel Pandaram lands
Pandarani Pandavas
Pandi Pandikkad
Pandimandalam Pandion
Other books !
Pandi or Kulasekhara Perumal Paudya

Pandyan alias Chenaar (King) Pangolin or ant-eater (Manis pentadactyla)
Paniani (Ponnani) Panikkar caste
Panikkar, Kaniyar Paniyar
Panniyur Gramam Panarte Cotta
Pantænus Pantalayini or Pantalayini Kollam
Pantalur Panthers (Felix pardus)
Panur Paponetty
Paradise fly-catcher (Tchitrea paradasi) Parakadavu
Parakameetil, see Parakkumital Parakkumital (S.E. Wynad)
Paral Parali
Parameshvaracooty Paramesvaran
Parampar (Bangar of Nundadar) Parappakkara
Parappanad Parappanad Raja
Parappanad (South) Ramnad, Chernad and Parappanangadi
Ernad, Revenue assessments
Parappur Parappur Raja
Parasang Parasika
Parasu Raman Paravanna
Parayeel (? Periah ghat) Parbutty
Pardao Parker, Ensign
Pariah or Parayan Perinki (Portuguese)
Paritiriss (French) Paris convention of 1814, The
Paroni Puroor
Parry, Mr. G., Superintendent of Police Parsis
Parslou, Colonel Parsva or Parsvavanatha
Parthians Paru Taragan. K.
Pasima soil Pasima-rasi soil
Patale mentioned by Pliny Patamalanayar
Pati Pati-patta-varam
Pattakkar Pattaks (ducats)
Pattam, ancient Land Revenue, - modern rent Pattam, Mudalalinra
Pattam, Vilachchal meni Pattambi
Pattar Pattar, Kutti
Puttikod chokee Pattinnu randu
Pattona Paroor Paul, V. - Pope
Paulet, Commodore Paulinus, a St. Bartholomære, Sanskrit Grammar
Paulo da Gama Panpancheri hill
Payanad hills Payapurat Nayar
Payoli canal Payoli lock
Payyampalli of Katirur Tara Payyanad
Payyanur, 17 Brahman Illams in, Payyannurpat
Payyoramala Payyoramala Nayars
Payyormala, Payanad, Kurumbrand and Pearson, Mr.
Tamarasseri Revenue assessment,
Pedro de Tazde Peelachi
Peepuls (Ficus religiosa) Peemad
Peile, Mr. Christopher Peiyanchira
Peiyanur Peni (? Penny), Mr.
Perambadi ghat Perambadi ghat road
Perar (Ponnani river) Pereira, Deogo
Peremal a Podce (idol) Perepnaar
Periah Periah ghat road
Perimpatapp (Raja of Cochin) Perinchellur
Peringalam river Peringatur
Other books !
INDEX
Perinkulam Periplus Maris Erythræi

Periyar Persia
Persian Gulf Persians
Peru Perumals
Perumartham Perumbali Nambutiri
Perumbuddy Perumpatappu (Native Cochin)
Perumpula Perur
Peruvanam Peruvayyal
Peruvayyal nambiar Petrie, Major
Petronius Peutingerian Tables
Peynat Phallic worship
Phallus Philip, King of Portugal
Philip, King of Spain, 334. “Phirmaund for Vaenatte"
Phoenicians Photios
"Phurmaund" treaty Phyllis
Picot, M. Pidaranmar
Pierre de Pon, Commandant Piers, Major
Pigeon, green imperial (Carpophaga insignis) Pigeon Island
Pillamar (Pillays) Piniyal
Pires, Antonio—The Company's Canares Pisacha
linguist
Pisces Pisharam
Pisharan Pisharodi
Pitri Pitti
Pins IX, Supreme Pontiff Plantains, Kadali
Plantains, rock (Musa ornata) Plantains, rock, wild (Musa Superba)
Platel, Plenum dominium
Pleurotoma Pliny
Plusquellec, Captain Louis D Podnnur
Point Calimere Poitera.
Pokkar, Pidikayil Kunhi Polanad
Polanad, Beypore and Pulavayi revenue “Polatche" Nayar
assessments
Poliatchy Poland, the “Ten Thousand” of
Poluz Polyalthia (P. coffeoides)
Pomfret Ponattil Poduval
Pondiaghari (Vellatt Putiyangadi) Pondicherry
Ponella Mala Pongal
Pongamia glabra Poniciana (P. regia)
Ponmala Ponmundam Mappilla outrage
Ponnani Ponnani canal
Ponnani Mappillas Ponnani (river)
Ponnani Tangul Ponniyam river
Ponniyat Poolanalettu
Poolicarra Poolinjall
Pooloor Pooluyal Parbutty (Pravritti)
Poomaraday (Terminalia paniculata) Poonany
Poonat Poonga (Pongamia glabra)
Poonspur [Calophyllum angustifolium) Pootoor
Poracaud Porakandy
Poralatiri Poratara
Poratara peacock Perca (Purakkat), Raja of
Porcat or Porukatt Porovenaddu
Porto Novo Porto Peak
Portugul, King of Portuguese, the
Other books !
Porus, King Potipad

Potipattu Potiphar’s wife
Potuval Powell, Lieutenant
Powney, Mr. Poyaned (for Randattara)
Prabhakara Gurukkal Pramani
Pranakod Pravritti officers
Prayaschittam Prayikkara Kovilakam
Preta Prince of Wales, H.R.H. the
Prince of Wales’ Island Priyadasi, King
Priyangu flower Protestants
Pteromys petaurista or flying squirrel Ptolemies
Ptolemy Ptolemy Energetes II
Ptolemy Philadelphus Pudcad
Pudiyacherrim pass Pudupani
Pujaveppu Pujayeduppu
Pukil vivaram accounts Pukoya
Pukunnu Pula
Pulakesi I Pulakesi II
Pulavayi Pulavayi Nayars
Pulayan Pulayi
Puliakod Pulicat
Pulikkal Raman Pulikot Raman Nayar
Pulkutti Moyi Pulliyan Shanalu
Pulnoy Pulpalli
Pulpalli pagoda Pultun people
Puluvalinad Pumatham
Pumsavana Pumukham
Punam clearing Punam lands
Punattil Nambiar Punattur Raja
Punja Tangal Punnad
Punnella hill Punnoor
Punnul Puntura
Punturakkon Pura (house)
Purakad Purali
Purameri Puranatt Raja
Purbu Pandurang Purchas
Purchas, His Pilgrimes Purchas, Master
Purdah Purmekad Pisharodi
Purohit (a family Hindu priest) Purrinalettu
Purudisamasrayam Purumbil
Purushantaram Pushpakan
Pushya Putati
Putinha hill Putiyangadi in Calicut
Putiyangadi in Chirakkal Putiyangadi in Ponnani
Putiyangadi Tangal Putney
Puttada crops Puttalam river
Puttalat Nayar Puttalpira (Trichosanthes anguina)
Puttamvittil Rayiru Puttur
Putumanna Kantur Menon Putumanna Panikkar
Putupattanam Putuveppu
Puyam Pychy Raja, the Rebel, see Palassi Raja.
Pynaar (Payyamul), 474. Pynoh (Periah).
Pyoormulla, see Payyormala Quedah Merchant
Queen of Heaven Quilandi
Other books !
INDEX
Quilandi Tangal Quilavelly

Quilon (South Kollam) Qulion Bay
Quilon Queen Quilon Raja
Ra-bunder Ragonatt, Canarese General
Rahabieth Railway, S. W. Line
Railway stations, The, in Malabar Rain tree (Pithecellobium saman)
Rajah Rajahmundry
Rajputs, The Rakshabhogam
Rakshapurushan Ramalinga Pillay
Rama Menon, Ittunni Raman, Kannancher
Raman, Kolil Raman, Mannan
Raman, Mangatt Raman Menon
Raman Nayar, Pulikot Raman, Pallakar
Raman, Pulikkal Ramayanam
Ramdilly fort Ramella bufa
Ramem hill Ramesvaram
Ramgerry Ramjee Purvoe
Ramnad Rampur river
Ram Row Ramzan
Randattara Randattara Achanmar
Randattara Revenue assessments Ranis, The Travancore
Rapelallawaloora Rarichan Nayar, Mundangara
Rashtrakutas, The Rasi
Ratlhor Rattans (Calamus rotang)
Rattera Ravi Varma
Ravi Varma, Raja of the Palassi family Raymonds, Captain
Rayrappan Nayar, Pallur Raza Sahib
Read, Captain Rebello, Captain
Rebels, List of proscribed, during the Palassi Reddi
(Pychy) rebellion
Red Sea, The Renaudot
Repelim (Eddapalli in Cochin State) Resha
Revenue assessments in Malabar Revenue assessments in Mysorean settlement of
Rhamnus circumcises Rhode Island
Rhodes, Captain Richards, Westley
Richelieu Rickards, Mr.
Rishis River of Mercy (dos Reis or Do Cobre)
Riveri (? Rivers) Rivett
Robinson, Mr., (afterwards Sir William) Rodrigues, Commandant
Rodrigues, Marco Antonio Rodrigues, Pedro, Tellicherry linguist
Roe, Sir Thomas Rohde, Mr.
Rohde, Private, Royal Fusiliers Roman Catholics
Roman martyrology Romans
Romney, Major Romo-Syrians
Rosewood tree (Dalbergia latifolia) Retalia
Rowlandson Roz, Mgr. Francisco, Archbishop
Rubber, Ceara (Manihot Glazorii) Ruddorman, Ensign
Rudran Rufinus
Rum Rumley, Captain
Russalas Ryley, Mr. James
“Ryot” and "actual cultivator,” Positions of the Sabtæans
Sacrifice Rock, The Sagittarius
Sago palm (Caryota urens) Sagitturius
Sahiban Sahids
Sahyachalam Sahyan
Other books !
Said Ali, The Quilandy Tangal Said Guffar

Said Sahib Saimur
Saivites Saiyid Fazl
Sakti worship Sale
Salivahana Salsotte Island
Samanis (Buddhists) Samantareru (Samantar of Mulukki)
Samantas Sambur (Rusa aristotelis)
Samiri Sampayo
Samudri or Samutiri Raja (Zamorin of Calicut) Sandalwood (Sanatalum album)
Sandracottus (Chandragupta) Sandracottus (Olumdraguptu), 247.
Sano San Gabriel
San Jeronyme Sanka Lakshanam
Sankara Sankara Acharya
Sankaramam Sankaranarayam
Sankara Nayar, Mr. C. Sankarapuri family
Sankaravijaya Sankey, Colonel, R. H., C.B
San Miguel San Raphael
Sanskrit Sanskrit colleges
Santas Sanyasi
Sapotaceæ Sappan (Cæsalpinia sappan)
Sapphar Sapta-shailft (Seven hills), (Mount Deli)
Sarandib (Ceylon) Sarasvati (goddess of speech)
Sarasavatipuja Sardines (Sardinella Neohowii)
Sariras, the three Sarira Karana
Sarira sukshma Sarmman
Sartorius, Colonel Sarvadi Karyakkaran Shamnath (chief minister
of the Zamorin)
Sassanian- Pahlavi attestations Susta
Sastrams Sastris
Sati Satyaputra
Saurians Santgur
Savendrug Savittar (Chantar of Mudubidri)
Sawalak Schleichoras (S. trijuga)
Scorpio Screwpine (Pandanus odoratissimus)
Scylax Scythianus
Sebastiano family Sedaseer
Seer-fish Seilan
Seleucian Patriarch Seleucus Nicator
Semenat Semulla
Seniyan Sequeira
Seram Seres
Seringapatam Sesekreienai
Sesterces Seuhelipar, Laccadive Islands
Seven Hills, The Sewell, Mr. John, Supravisor
Sewell’s, Mr. R., list of antiquities Shahr
Shahr, Mokkulla Shaikh Ayaz
Shaikh Mammu Koya, arab of Himisi Shakespear, Lieutenant
Shaliat Shamnath, the Zamorin’s minister
Shanamangalam Shanan or Idiga
Shangu Nayar Sheffield, Mr.
Sheikh Ali Sheikh-ibn-Bututa of Tangiers
Sheikh-ibn-Dinar Sheikh Sekke-ud-din (or Seuj-ud-din),
Sheikh Zin-ud-din Shekara Variyar
Shembadavan Shencotta
Sherf-ibn-Malik Shernaad (see Cheranad)
Other books !
INDEX
Shernad Taluk (see Cheranad) Shettis

Shevaroys Shiaff-ibn-Malik
Shi'ahs Shoranore (see Cheruvannur)
Shore, Sir John, the Governor-General Shrike, racquet - tailed drongo
Sibbald Sigerus
Sihalar, Simhalar (see Iluvar) Silent Valley, The
Silk cotton tree (Bombax Malabaricum) Silver. Mr.
Simhala (Ceylon) Simon, Metropolitan of Persia
Simplocos Simpson, Mr.
Sin Sind
Sindabur Sindas of Erambarage
Sin Elsin Sin Kilan
Siravupattanam Sirdar Khan
Siruvani stream Sissupara ghat road
Sitawar Siva
Siva Lingam Sivalli
Sivappa Nayak Sivapuram
Siva Ratri Sivavakkiyar
"Six years” sect Skin diseases
Skythia Slaughter, Captain
Slave caste, The Siogams
Smarthas Smee, Mr.
Smith, Captain Smugglers’ pass
Smyrensis Snake, rainbow
Socotra Sofala
Solanum robustum Soliman, Anavattatt
Solmundel Solomon, King
Somasekhara Nayakka Somavamsa
Somesvara Deva Soolla Bulla
So-tu (Stupa) Soukar (Chavakkad)
Spencer, Mr. Splenitis
Spondias mangifera Spur-fowl (Pteroperdix spadiccus)
Squirrel (Sciurus tristriatus) Squirrel, flying (pteromys petaurista)
Squirrel, Malabar (S. Malabaricus) Squirrel, rare (Sciuropterus fasco capillus)
Squirrel, small (S. sublincatas) Sraddhas
Srinivasa Row Sriharsha
Srikandapuram Srinivas Row Berki
Sri Rama Navami Srivallabha
Stadia Stanet, Mr.
Stanley Staunton. Mr.
Stephen da dama Steven, Admiral
Stevens. Mr. James Stevenson, Colonel
St’hala Mahatmyam of Banavasi Sthana Mana avakasam
Sthanums Sthanu Ravi Gupta (Perumal)
Stibium Strabo
Stracey, Mr. Resident at Honore Strachan, Captain Sir Richard
Strachey, Mr. Strange, Mr T. L., Special Commissioner in
Malabar in 1852
Strobilanthes (S. paniculatus) Strombus fortisi
Stuart, Colonel Stuart, Lieutenant
Suarez de Menezes Subbayi, chieftain
Subramaniya Suchindram temple
Sudras Sukapuram (see Chovarum)
Sukhein Sulaiman
Sullayad Khan Sullivan, Mr., British Resident, Tanjore
Other books !
Sultan Ali Raja Sultan’s Battery

Sultan’s Canal Sunbird, brilliant (Cynniris zeylanica)
Sunbird, purple (Cynniris lotenia) Sungaloo
Sunkheet, Mr., Collector of Palghat Sunnis, a sect of Muhammadans
Sunnuthgoody, village Surapaya, Canarese Governor of Mangalore
Surat Surrukundapuram
Surya Kshatriya Surya Narayanan Eluttachchan
Suytenan (Jacob Christovo), Danish Governor’s Svami
Agent
Svarupams “Swargasandehaprapyam"
Swartz Sweeney, Mr. P. M., Police Inspector
Swiftlets (Collocalia unicolor) Syagrus
Syed Ahwi Syria
Syrian Christians Syrian Christians' copper plate grant
Syrian church, heads of the (Palliyar) Syrian Jacobites
Sythe Tachara
Tachcholi Koma Kurup Tachcholi Meppayil Kunhi Othenan
Tachcholipat Tachu Panikkar
Tachu Panikkar, Tottasseri Tadbhavam (Sanskrit derivatives)
Tadikulam Tahafut-ul-Mujahidin, Rowlandson's
Tailapa or Taila Taila
Tulachanna Nayar, The Calicut Talakad
Talakol chandu Talapalli
Talapil Talayi
Talechennor of Calicut Tali (Convolvulus maximus)
Tali (ornament ) Talib Kutti Ali
Talikota Taliparamba
Taliparamba river Talipot palm (Cory umbraculifera)
Tallamangala Tallapellie
Tallavil desam Talopitch'a
Tamarasseri Tamarasseri ghat road
Tamarasseri pass Tarnelpelly Nayar
Tamraparni Tamuri or Tamutiri Raja (Zamorin)
Tana Tandan (headman or priest)
Tangal Tangal, Kondotti (Konduvetti)
Tangal, Ponnani Tangasseri
Tangasseri fort named Thomas Tankamara
Tanotemala Tanur
Tanwis Taprobane, Island of (Ceylon)
Tara organisation Taragan
Taramal Kunhi Kora Taramal Tangal
Taravad (head of the tara organisation) Taravur
Target, Ensign Tarisa
Tarisa-palli Tatsamam (Sanskrit words)
Tattamangalam Tattan
"Tat tvam asti" (Hoc tu es) Vedantist “great Taurus
saying”
Tavali Taylor, Mr.
Taylor, Mr. Robert Tecorie (Trikkodi)
Tekkankur Tekke Ilankur
Tekkina Tellia, George
Tellicherry Tellicherry Factory Diary
Tellicherry river Telugalu or, Vadugar
Temmalapuram Tengaga or Tengai
Tengraumttooroo Tenkasi
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INDEX
Tenkay-marum Tenmalas
Tenu, Puliyakunatt Tenures, Land, of Malabar
Teravu Terceira Island
Tercangnanor Terebinthus
Tere malla Termite, arboreal
Termite, Burmah Terriot
Teru Teravu
Tervannengurry (Tirurangadi) Tetranthera
Tevanamkotta Kovilakam Teyambadi
Teyan Menon Teyyattam
Teyyunni, Paditodi Thaki-ud-din
Thurshish Tha-Thsen (Dakshina)
Thebais Thiaj-ud-din
Thilakka Thinasuree
Thomas, Mr. E. B. Thomus, Mr. E. C. G.
Thomas of Cana Thomas, St.
Thomas’ Christians, St. Thomas’ Mount, St.
Thomee. St. Thrush, blue (Myiophonus Horsfieldii)
Thrush, blue rare (Petrocincla cyanea) Thrush, rare. Laughing (Trochaloptcrum Jerdoni)
Thunbergia Tichera Tornpar, a principal Nayar of Nilambur
Ticori (Trikkodi) Tiger (Felis tigris)
Tilbury Timila (drum)
Timmaya, chieftain Tinayancheri
Tinayancheri Elayad Tinnakara
Tinnevelly Tippu Sultan
Tirimalla fort Tirthamkara
Tirttala Tiruchamaram
Tirucheraparamba Tirukkallar (Tricalore)
Tirumanisseri Nambudiri Tirumudittali
Tirumalpad Tirumalpad, Ernad Elankur Nambiyattiri
Tirumalpad, Ernad Munnamkur, Nambiyatiri Tirumalpad, Itatturnad Nambiyatiri
Tirumalpad, Netiyiruppu Muttarati Tirumalpad, Nilambur
Tirumumpara (Raja) Tirunavayi
Tirunavayi Mahamakham Tirunelli
Tirupantittali Tiruppunattara palace
Tirur Tirurangadi
Tirurangadi mosque Tirurangadi Tangal
Tirur bridge Tiruvallapan Kunnu
Tiruvallayi Tiruvambadi
Tiruvanchalimukham Tiruvanjakkulam
Tiruvengad Tiruvengad pagoda
Tivan Tivee
Tiyar Tiyattunni or Tiyadi
Tod, Mr. Tokei (peacock)
Tolulika Toorshairoo (Turasseri) river
Toparon Topikallu
Torrins, Mr. Tottasseri Tachu Pankikkar
Trankier Travancore
Travancore Raja Trentapam river
Trevelyan, Sir Charles Trevengarry
Tricalore Trichchola
Trichchur (Tirusivaperur) Trichur lake (see Ennamakkal)
Trigonometrical Survey stations Trikkallur, Mappilla outrage at
Trikkallur, Temple Trikkanpala
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Trikkandiyur Trikkani
Trikkariyur Trikkariyur Temple
Trikkata Matilakam Trikkatta
Trikkodi Trikkulam
Trimurthi Trimurthi
Trinconmallee Trippakkada Krishna Pisharodi
Trisul (trident) Trivandrum
Trogon, Malabar (Harpactes fasciatus) Tuda
Tuki (peacock) Tulam
Tulappatta (great annual hunting festival of Tulu
Nayars)
Tulubhan Perumal Tulugramma
Tulunad Tulunambis
Tulus, ancient Tuluva
Tulu Vaishnavas Tumba (Phlornis or Leucas Indica)
Tumbudra river Tundis
Tunjatta Eluttachchan Turannosbuas
Turasseri river Turho
Turkoz Turks
Turner, Ensign Turukacoonetu
Tutakkal Tutakkal mosque
Tutakkal river Tutakkal river bridge
Twigg, Mr. J Tybis
Tyre Udayagiri fort
Udamangalam Kovilakam Udhayatungan
Udipi Ulhur
Uliyanur "Ullateel Veetul Canden Nayar"
Ummar Ummayide Caliph Walid
Unaman, Prince Undiyamperur
Unni Amma Ravi Varma Unni Chandu Kurup
Unnichatoo Nayar Unni Mammad
Unni Mutta (Mussa) Muppan, The Mappilla Unnitiri
bandit (chief)
Unniyan Torangal Upadhis
Upalla Canadi Upparavan
Uppinakatti Uppinangadi
Ural ai (see Edessa) Urali
Urangattiri Urbelly
Urilaparisha Mussat Urotumala
Urpalli right Urupyachy Cauvil
Utayavar Utaya Varman
Utayavarmman Kolattiri Uthoff, Mr.
Uttu ketta pattar - attu ketta panni Utuppu
Vadakkalankur Vadakkankur
Vadakkara (canal) Vadakkara (town)
Vakkumpuram Vadamalapuram
Vadamalas Vadanappalli
Vadhyan Vaduca drum
Vadugar (See Telugalu) Vaenalt (Wynad)
Vaidika system Vairagya Satakam
Vaishvavites Vaisyas
Vajrata Vakkayil Veltodi, Ellaya
Vakkayur Valabhan Perumal
Valanjaca "Valappil Kadute" land
Valarpattanam (village) Valarpattu Kotta
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Valayan (See Besta) Valisneria

Valiyakara Valiya Putiya house in Chirakkal
Valiyarvattam Vallahan or Vellattiri Raja
Vallaghat Valliyar
Valliyar bridge Vallodi
Vallura Tangal Vallur Kavu
Valluvakonatiri Valluvanad
Valluvanadi Valluvanad Raja
Valluvanad alias Vellatri alias Arangott Raja Valluvar
Valunnavar Valuvan
Van Angelbeck, Dutch Governor Vanavasi
VanGoens Vaniamkulam
Van Imhoff Vaniyan
Vannan Vannattan, paramba
VanNec Vanniyan
Vanspall, Mr. Dutch Governor of Cochin Varakkol
Varam Variyam
Variyars Varmman or Sarmman
Varuna Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama's present to the Zamorin Vasudevan Nambutiri, Chenaglary
Vatakkina Vatapi
Vateria Indica Vatteluttu
Vaughan, Mr. Vavulmala
Vayanad (Wynad) Vaz, Gonzalo
Vedam, the fourth Vedantism
Vedas Vedists, Rik, Yajur, Sama
Veidal Kumar Veidal mala
Veidyan Veishyan
Velam Velapuram
Velateru Velatra
Velichchaappadu Vellalar
Vellatiri Vellatiri Raja
Vellatiri, Walluvanad, Nedunganad and Vellatur
Kavalappara revenue assessments
Vellaud Vellera Mala
Vellila (Mussaenda frondosa) Velliyankod (backwater)
Vellore Vellour
Vellout Velnatera
Venanad Vengattu
Venghay (Pterocarpus marsupium) Venkad
Venkaji and Venkappa. Arshad Beg Khan's Venkatakotta
subordinates
Venkatam Venkillycotta
Venteak (Lagerstroemia microcarpa) Verapoly
Verapoly Catholic mission, short history of the, Verkot Panikkar
Versailles, Treaty of Verumpattam
Vesey, Captain, 43rd Light Infantry Vettat dynasty
Vettatunad Vettat Raja
Vettatunad revenue assessments Vettatt Pudiyangadi
Vetti Vettutnaar
Vicar Apostolic, Carmelite, at Verapoly Vicar Apostolic, Jesuit, of Mangalore
Vidu Viduper, The Seventy-two
Vihara (chapel, mosque) Vijaya Bhattarika
Vijayaditya Vijayanagar, King of
Vijayan Kollam Vijayan Perumal
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Vikkiran Vikkraman
Vikramanka deva charita of Bilhana Vikramaditya I
Vikramaditya II Vikramaditya VI, the Great
Vilachchal meni pattam Vilanokkichartunna vaka lands
Vilas Vincent Sodre, Captain
Vingorla Vinayagachaturti
Virankutti Vira Raghava Chacravatri (Perumal)
Vira Varma, Raja of Kurumbranad Viringilli Island
Virupakshu Visen, Cabral’s banner blessed by Bishop of
Vishamavrittam Vishattum kavu (poison shrine)
Vishnu Vishnuvardhana, the Ballala king
Vishu Vishvamitra
Vittal Vitul Hegra Raja
Viziagur Veluta Jugose
Vrikshikam Vrshali (see Dasi)
Vulturnus Vyabari
Vyagaranam Vyasa, the great Rishi
Vypeen Vypeen Era, see also Putuveppu
Waddell, Mr. G. Wake, Mr. William
Walayar river Waleakoomuttu
Walhouse, Mr. Walker, Captain
Walker, Lieutenant Walker, Major Alexander
Wallace, Mr. Wallajah Nabob
Walluanatakuny Walluvunad
Walluvanad Raja Wanderoos (Innus Silennus)
Wandur "Wanjie walla Martanda Rama Warmer"
Warcumbra Ward, Captain
Warden, Mr. Warden pattam, The
Warkilli War knives, see also ayudhakatti
Warren Hastings Watson, Admiral
Watson, Lieutenant Watt, Captain
Weenarcar Wellesely, Colonel the Honorable Arthur
Wellikumbil Wellimamutu
Wendlandia (W. notoniana) West, Mr., Civil Surgeon
Western ghats West Indies
Whurumpuram Wigram, Mr. H
Wilkes, Major Wilkinson, Major
Wilkinson, Mr. Williams, Lieutenant
Williamson, Lieutenant Willow, common (Salix tetrasperma)
Winterbotham, Mr. H. M Wiseman, Captain
Wodagur Woddear
Wodina (W. Wodier) Woffadar
Wood, Captain Wood, Colonel
Woodington Wood-pecker (Picus Hodgsoni)
Worunmalakatu Wunderlarrullatiel
Wynad Wynad ghats
Wynad hills Wynad Revenue Assessments
Wye Surgeon Wyse, Death of Ensign
Yadachanna Conngan: See Educhenna Kungan Yaduvus of Devagiri
Yadavulu Yagam
Yavanaka. (see Jonaka) Yemen Nayar (see Eman Nayar)
Yerterra Yogimulla Machan
Yoosuf Yugam
Zahir Oddin. Zamarck
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Zamorin of Calicut Zamorin, Minister of the

Zamorin's return present to Vasco da Gama Zanzibar
Zaphar Zaraftan
Zemaul Beg Zeyn-ud-din
Zirbad Zodiac
Zofar Zosterops palpebrosus
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BY
WILLIAM LOGAN, M.C.S.
Collector and Magistrate of the District, and Fellow of the University of Madras
In Two Volumes
VOLUME 2
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CONTENTS OF VOL. II
Appendix
„ I—Statistics
„ II.—Animals
„ III.—Fishes
„ IV.—Birds
„ V. — Butterflies
„ VI.—Timber Trees
,. VII.—Roads
„ VIII.—Port Rules (Major Ports)
„ IX.— Do. (Minor Ports)
„ X.—Proverbs
„ XI.—Mahl Vocabulary
,, XII.—Collection of Deeds
„ XIII.—Mr. Graeme’s Glossary Etymological Headings
„ XIV.—List of Chiefs, Residents, Commissioners, Principal Collectors
and Collectors
,, XV.—Land Revenue Assessment, Proclamation of 21st July I805
„ XVI.—Annual Average price of Paddy, 1860-80
„ XVII.— Monthly Average no. do.
,, XVIII.—Prices of Gingelly Seed, 1861-81
,, XIX.— Do, of Coconuts and Areca-nuts, 1862-81
„ XX —List of Malikhana Recipients in Malabar
„ XXI.—Short Descriptive Notes of Taluks, &c.
Chirakkal Taluk
Anjarakandi Amsam
Cannanore-Kirur Territory
Laccadive Islands
Agatti Island
Kavaratti Island
Androth do.
Kalpeni do.
Minicoy do.
Kottayam Taluk
Kurumbranad Taluk
Mahe and the Aldces
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Wynad Taluk
Wynad Forests
Kanoth Forest
Calicut Taluk
Ernad do.
Nilambur Teak Plantations
Walluvanad Taluk
Palghat do.
do. Forests
Ponnani Taluk do.
Cochin do.
Tangasseri
Anjengo
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Port rules for Cannanore

Rule 1.—All vessels within the port of Cannanore shall be bound to take up such berth
as may be appointed for them by the conservator, and shall change their berths or
remove when required by such authority.
Runs 2.—All vessels taking in or discharging ballast, or any particular kind of cargo
within the port of Cannanore, shall take up such berth as the conservator may direct.
Rule 3.—A free passage shall be kept to piers, jetties, landing places, wharves, quays,
docks, and moorings , and all vessels shall be bound to move when required by the
conservator to clear such passages.
Rule 4 — All vessels within the port of Cannanore, shall anchor, moor, and unmoor,
when and where required by the conservator.
Rule 5.—The cargo boat rules published by Government, under date the 30th
September 1867, shall be in force at the port of Cannanore.
Rule 6.— No vessels within the limits of the port of Cannanore shall boil any pitch or
dammer on board, or shall draw off spirits by candle or other artificial lights.
Rule 7.— All vessels in the roadstead of Cannanore shall when at anchor between
sunset and sunrise, have a good light hoisted at the starboard foreyard arm ; and all
vessels under weigh at night, shall show a good light at the foreroyal or upper foremast
head, and when under weigh in tow of a steamer, shall, in addition, show a light at each
foreyard arm ; the steamer showing the usual light prescribed by the Admiralty
Regulations.
N.B.— An infraction of rules 2 and 6 renders a commander liable to a penalty of 200
rupees, and an infraction of any of the other rules to a penalty of Rs. 100.
TELLICHERRY
The port rules for Tellicherry are the same as those in force at Cannanore, except that
rule 7 runs as follows : —
Rule 7.—All vessels in the roadstead of Tellicherry whether steamships or sailing
vessels, shall, when at anchor between sunset and sunrise, exhibit at the starboard
foreyard arm, but at a height not exceeding 20 feet above the hull, a white light in a
globular lantern of eight inches in diameter and so constructed as to show a clear,
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uniform, and unbroken light visible all round the horizon, and at a distance of at least
one mile.
CALICUT
Rate of boat-hire at Calicut, Beypore.
1. Boats conveying 1 ton and under, laden or unladen —
Rs. A. P.
To all vessels under 3 fathoms 0 6 0
Do. in 3 and under 6 fathoms 0 14 0
Do. in 5 and under 7 fathoms 1 8 0
In and beyond 7 fathoms, the rate to be at the option of parties contracting.
For every quarter ton over one One quarter of the above rates additional.
ton
2. Transhipping trip and return Half the above rates.

trip
3. Trip between 6 p.m. and 5 a.m. Double the above rates.

in monsoon, and on Sundays and
close holidays.
4. Detention alongside of vessels Do.

more than three hours.
5. With an awning Four annas additional.
The port rules at Calicut are the same as at Cannanore, except that rules 5 and 7 run as
follows : —
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Rule 5.—The cargo boat rules published by Government, under date the 23rd April
1847, shall be in force at the port of Calicut,
Rule 7.—All vessels in the roadstead of Calicut, whether steamships or sailing vessels,
shall, when at anchor between sunset and sunrise, exhibit at the starboard foreyard
arm, but at a height not exceeding 20 feet above the hull, a white light in a globular
lantern of eight inches in diameter and so constructed as to show a clear, uniform, and
unbroken light visible all round the horizon, and at a distance of at least one mile.
BEYPORE
The port rules for Beypore are similar to those in force at Cannanore1, except in regard
to the following : —
NOTEs: 1. Rules 1, 4, 6, 8 and 9 are identical with rules 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 respectively of those in force at
Cannanore. END OF NOTEs
RULE 2.—All vessels within the entrance of the backwater shall, if required by the
conservator, rig in their jib and driver-booms, and strike their masts and yards.
RULE 3.—All vessels within the entrance of the backwater shall remove any anchor or
spar, or other substance projecting from her side, if required to do so by the
conservator.
RULE 5.— free channel shall be kept for ships moving up and down the backwater,
and also free passage to piers, jetties, landing places, wharves, quays, docks, and
moorings, and all vessels shall be bound to remove, when required by the conservator,
to clear such channels or passages.
RULE 7.— All vessels within the entrance of the backwater shall be moored or
warped from place to place as required by the conservator, and no vessel shall cast of a
warp that has been made fast to her to assist a vessel in mooring without being
required to do so by the conservator or officer-in-charge of the vessel mooring
RULE 10.—Every vessel, whether a steamer or a sailing vessel, when riding at anchor,
shall exhibit, where it can best be seen, but at a height not exceeding 20 feet above the
hull, a white light in a globular lantern of eight inches in diameter, and so constructed
as to show a clear, uniform and unbroken light visible all round the horizon, and at a
distance of at least one mile. An infraction of any of the above rules renders a
commander liable to a penalty of 100 rupees under section 9 of Act XXII of 1855.
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COCHIN
Instructions to commanders of vessels entering the port of Cochin.
SIR,—I am desired by the Master Attendant, Administrative Department, at Madras,
to request that you will, without delay, fill up the accompanying report and return it by
the bearer, the hour of whose departure from your vessel should be noted on the
report.
2. Your immediate and most particular attention is requested to the imperative necessity
of your entering in the report herewith forwarded the state of health of your crew and
passengers, and whether any infectious and malignant or other disease has appeared on
board during the voyage. In the event of any such sickness having occurred, you are hereby
ordered and directed to prevent all communication with other vessels in the roads or
with the shore, until the Port and Marine Surgeon shall have duly reported such
intercourse to be free from objection. If sickness has appeared and still prevails, you
are required to hoist the flag R of the Commercial Code by day, or two lighted lanterns
one over the other at the fore by night. On either of these signals being hoisted, the
commander or other person in charge of such vessel shall consider himself in
quarantine. No dead bodies are to be thrown overboard in the roadstead.
NOTE — No boats to be allowed alongside until the ensign is hosted at some mast-head in token that the
Commander accepts the responsibility of the proceeding caution.
3. Your attention is particularly directed to the following rules.

4. The best anchorage in the roads is with the following bearings : — Flagstaff E.½ N.
to E. N. E. in 5½ to 6½ fathoms, soft ground, about 2 to 2½ miles off shore.
5. All post office-packets and letters are to be delivered to the post office peon who is
sent for them.
6. Commanders are requested to fill up and return the accompanying paper relating to
the port light, and the Master Attendant, Administrative Department, at Madras,
invites them to forward to him any observations they may wish to offer regarding this
or any other light along the coast which they may have passed.
7. Commanders are required to report themselves in person on landing at the Master
Attendant’s office, and to bring with them the ship’s register, with two lists of the
officers, ship’s company and passengers, and no vessel will be admitted to entry at the
customhouse without producing a certificate from the Master Attendant that the
provisions of this article have been complied with. In the case of certain vessels
arriving in port to load part cargo for foreign ports, although the goods to be exported
in them may be afloat, commanders must come on shore immediately after anchoring
for the purpose of entering their vessels at the marine and customs offices, and if any
of the export cargo afloat is taken on board before permission is obtained by signal
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from the flagstaff, they will be liable to a penalty of 1,000 rupees under sections 61 and
136 of the Sea Customs Act of 1878.
8 Commanders are also required, previous to clearing out, to deliver to the Master
Attendant two lists of the officers, crew, and passengers proceeding by the vessel,
together with notification of all casualties which may have occurred during her stay in
port, whether by death, discharge, or desertion. No vessel will be granted port
clearance until the production of a certificate from the Master Attendant that the port
rules have been complied with
9. Commanders requiring a pilot to enter the inner harbour are to hoist the union jack
at the foreroyal mast-head. Applications for pilots inwards and outwards are to be
made to the Master Attendant in writing.
10. No cargo is to be landed in ship’s boats under a penalty of 50 rupees and
confiscation of the boat.
11. No ballast is to be thrown overboard in less than 9 fathoms ; nor is any to be
discharged on the beach, or elsewhere, from which it would be liable to be washed into
the port. The penalty for infringing this rule is 500 rupees.
12. Commanders of vessels having more than 50 lb. of gunpowder or other
combustibles on board are, under a penalty of 200 rupees for default, to report the
same to the conservator, who will arrange, if necessary, for landing and storing the
excess.
13. When the surf is so high as to render communication with the shore dangerous, a
red and white chequered flag will be hoisted at the Master Attendant's flagstaff. When
the surf is impassable the first distinguishing pendant will be displayed under that flag.
14. Should a boat be urgently required during the night, three lights should be hoisted
horizontally, and in case of danger from fire or other causes, blue lights should be
burnt and guns fired.
15. No boats are to be detained alongside after 6 p.m. The detention of a boat during
the day for more than three hours will entail double hire. Commanders and officers are
particularly requested to abstain from ill-using boatmen or other natives. All
complaints will be promptly inquired into.
16. In the event of boisterous weather having been experienced, commanders are
requested to report the same to the Master Attendant for the information of the
Marine Superintendent, forwarding, if likely to be useful copy of the log detailing the
circumstances.
17. No vessel of 200 tons and upwards is to be moved in the inner harbour without
having a pilot or the conservator on board ; and no vessel exceeding 100 tons and less
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than 200 tons is to be moved without a pilot, except under the authority of the
conservator, under penalty in each case of 100 rupees.
18. All vessels in the inner harbour shall have their jib and driver booms rigged in, and
their yards and top masts struck, unless otherwise permitted by the conservator. All
projections from the ship's side must be removed.
19. All vessels moored in the stream shall keep a clear hawse.
20. No vessel anchored between the buoys and inner harbour shall have lights
exhibited aloft or above the deck.
21. No warps are to be made fast to the fairway buoys.
22. A free passage of half a cable's length or 120 yards shall be kept between the
wharves, jetties, landing places, and dockyards, and the position of the vessels moored
in the inner harbour.
23. The Madras Ports Acts can be seen at the Master Attendant's office, and copies of
them can be had at six annas each.
24. Schedules of the boat hire, pilot, and other charges of the port are hereto annexed.
Note.—Similar instructions to the above are sent to commanders of vessels entering the other ports of
the district. END OF NOTE
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SCHEDULE A
Boat-hire to the outer roads
Rs. A P
Boats carrying 6 large pipes of oil, or 7 small pipes or 12 2 8 0
puncheons or 20 hogsheads.
Boats carrying 50 bales yarn or fibre, or 50 cases of coffee 3 0 0
or 12 bales hides.
Boats carrying 100 bags rice, coffee, pepper, etc. 3 12 0
Boats carrying 100 cwt. coir yarn in dholls or ballasts, or 3 8 0
100 cwt. coir rope.
One cargo boat measuring not less than 8 tons, carrying 3 8 0
general cargo or ballast or passengers.
One cargo boat measuring less than 8 tons and above 3 2 8 0
tons carrying general cargo or ballast or passengers.
Return trip, loaded from same vessel—Half the above rates
Return trip, loaded from another vessel—Three quarters of
the above rates.
Transhipping from one vessel to another 2 0 0
Ordinary trip, passenger or Quilon boat, to or from the 1 8 0
roads.
Return trip, passenger or Quilon boat 0 12 0
Boats carrying more than the above quantities of specified cargo, to be

paid proportionately for the excess.
Double the above rates in foul weather, in going to and from vessel in
and beyond 7 fathoms and at night.
Boat hire in the inner harbour
For 1 boat load of cargo to or from a vessel 2.0.0
Return trip from same vessel—Half the above rates
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Do. another vessel—Three quarters the above rates.
Passenger or Quilon boat to or from a vessel. 0.2.0
In cases of extraordinary service, as proceeding to a vessel beyond the limits of

the port, or rendering aid to a vessel in distress under circumstances of peril,
etc., the Master Attendant shall adjudge to be paid such additional hire as the
service may seem to warrant, reporting the same for the confirmation of the
Collector.
SCHEDULE B
I. For every vessel of any burden exceeding 100 tons, but not exceeding 200 tons-
Per ton
Rs. A P
a) Drawing 4 feet and over 3 feet of water 0 10 0
(b) Do. 5 do. 4 do. 0 11 0
(c) Do. 6 do. 5 do. 0 13 0
(d) Do. 7 do. 6 do. 0 15 0
(e) Do. 8 do. 7 do. 1 4 0
(f) Do. 9 do. 8 do. 1 9 0
(g) Drawing 10 feet and over 9 feet of water 1 14 0
(h) Do. 11 do. 10 do 2 8 0
(i) Do. 12 do. 11 do 3 2 0
(j) Do. 13 do. 12 do 3 12 0
(The draft of water will be calculated upon a whole foot, e.g , a vessel drawing 3½ feet
will be charged at 4 feet or Rs. 2—8~0 ; and one drawing less than at 3½ at 3 feet or
Rs. 1-4-0.)
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(a) For every vessel whose burden exceeds 200 tons, but 30
does not exceed 400 tons
(6) For every vessel whose burden exceeds 400 tons, but 40
does not exceed 600 tons
(c) For every vessel whose burden exceeds 600 tons 60
SCHEDULE C
Rs. A P
For the use of the anchor boat from 8 a m. to sunset per 20 0 0

diem.
For the use of a hawser (besides making good any injury it 5 0 0

may sustain per diem)
Transporting a vessel from one position to another after she 7 0 0

has been moored, of 300ons and upwards
Do. do. do. under 300 tons 3 8 0
SCHEDULE D
Scale of fees for measuring vessels.
The same as at Cannanore.
The port rules for Cochin are identical with those in force at Beypore except that rule 8
runs as follows :—
Rule 8.—The cargo boat rules published by Government in G.O. No 317, dated 16th
December 1873, shall be in force at the port of Cochin.
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Appendix
NARAKAL
Directions for vessels bound to the roads of Narakal.
1. The port of Narakal is situate about 5 miles to the north of Cochin, and its flagstaff
is in latitude 100 2' N. and longitude 760 13' 36" E.
2. Owing to a mud flat extending off the place, and breaking the force of the ocean
swell, the usual sea existing in an open roadstead is barely felt in a depth of five
fathoms ; but under three fathoms the water is perfectly smooth. A first-class red buoy
is moored on the flat in 18 feet water and bears from the Narakal flagstaff W. by N.½
N
3. In consequence of the total absence of surf on the beach abreast, a free and easy
communication with the shore can be maintained at all periods of the year, and in all
weathers, by boats of every description.
4. Vessels intending to seek this anchorage during the south-west monsoon, or in bad
weather, should take up a berth with the Narakal flagstaff bearing from E. b. S. to E.
by S. ½ S.— the Cruz Milagre gap S.E. to S.E.½ E. and the Cochin lighthouse, which
is distinctly visible, S.E.3/4 S. to S.E. by S. distance off shore about 3 miles in 4 to 5
fathoms.
5. Cruz Milagre is a conspicuous opening formed in the belt of coconut trees which
fringes the coast, and is clearly discernible from a ship’s deck either when approaching
from the northward, or from the offing abreast of Narakal But coming from the
southward, the gap is not open to view until abreast of it.
6. Close attention should be paid to the lead while approaching the flat, as from the
extreme softness of the mud, the contact with the bottom is scarcely felt, and an error
may lead vessels into shallow water.
7. Vessels unable to remain in the roads of Cochin from stress of weather, or bound to
that port during the south-west monsoon, will find Narakal, a perfect safe anchorage,
and can ride securely and communicate with Cochin either by land or backwater, m
less than two hours.
8. Ships intending to leave the roads of Cochin for Narakal should steer a N. W. b. N.
course until abreast of the place, and then run in for the anchorage according to the
bearings given. In the event of the wind being scant, vessels should endeavour to leave
Cochin during the ebb tide, as the flood is likely to sweep them in shore.
9. An ordinary light, visible about 8 miles, is exhibited from the flagstaff at Narakal
during the prevalence of the south-west monsoon from the 10th May to the 30th
September, which is a good guide to ships wishing to make for that anchorage during
the night.
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10. Boats intending to communicate from ships in the anchorage to the shore at
Narakal in bad weather, should make direct for the flagstaff where they can safely be
hauled up on the beach, which is free of surf to the extent of two miles ; but should
avoid going far to the north or south before making for the shore, as heavy breakers
prevail in the outer surf line during the prevalence of a heavy monsoon.
11. Provisions and water can easily be obtained, and to vessels, navigating this part of
the western coast during the south-west monsoon, and receiving any damage or loss,
Narakal affords a very desirable place of resort where such injuries can be remedied by
the facilities which Cochin offers.
12. At the first burst of the monsoon, previous to which the surrounding sea is calm
and quiet, there is always a sea prevailing in Narakal roads and on the shore ; but after
the lapse of about a week, when the surrounding sea is much disturbed by the violence
of the weather, the waters at Narakal subside into their normal serenity which
continues till the end of the year.
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Appendix
APPENDIX IX.
Port Rules, etc., of the minor

ports.
In the exercise of the power conferred by section 7 of the Indian Ports Act No. XII of
1875, the Governor of Port St. George in Council hereby prescribes the following port
rulers for each of the under-mentioned ports*:
Port rules
RULE 1.— All vessels within the port shall be bound to take up such berths as may be
appointed for them by the conservator, and shall change their berths or remove
therefrom when required by such authority.
RULE 2.—All vessels within the entrance of the backwater shall, if required by the
conservator, rig in their jib and driver-booms and strike their masts and yards.
RULE 3.—All vessels within the entrance of the backwater shall remove any anchors,
spars or other things projecting from their sides if required to do so by the
conservator.
RULE 4.—All vessels taking in or discharging ballast or cargo or any particular kind of
cargo within the port shall, whilst so engaged, occupy such stations respectively as the
conservator may from time to time direct.
RULE 5.—Free passages of such width as the conservator shall from time to time
direct shall be kept for ships moving up and down the backwater and also along or
near to the piers, jetties, landing places, wharves, quays, docks, and moorings in or
adjoining the port.
RULE 6-—All vessels within the port shall anchor, moor, and unmoor as may from
time to time be required by the conservator.
RULE 7.—All vessels within the entrance of the backwater shall be moved or warped
from place to place in such manner as may from time to time be required by the
conservator, and no vessel shall cast off a warp that has been made fast to her to assist
a vessel in mooring without being required to do so by the conservator or the officer in
charge of the vessel mooring.
RULE 8.—The cargo boat rules published by Government under date the 30th
September 1867, as modified by notification of Government under the Ports Act XII
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of 1875 of this date, and, by Madras Act I of 1881, in ports to which that Act shall be
extended, shall be in force at the said ports.
RULE 9.—No pitch or dammer shall be boiled nor shall any spirits be drawn off by
candle or other artificial light on board any vessel within the limits of the port. RULE
10.—Every vessel, whether a steamer or a sailing vessel, when riding at anchor, shall
exhibit, where it can best be seen, but at a height not exceeding 20 feet above the hull,
a white light, in a globular lantern of eight inches in diameter, and so constructed to
show a clear, uniform, and unbroken light, visible all round the horizon, at a distance
of at least one mile.
NOTEs: The minor ports mentioned, at page 80 of the text. END OF NOTEs
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Appendix
APPENDIX X
Proverbs
1. If you put anything inside, it will surely be
known outside.
2. Literally, Dagger within, 2. Inwardly malicious, but pious outwardly.

plaster without.
3. Call one passing afar and you lose one-eighth of

a pice.
4. Of. "A bad workman quarrels 4. Want of ingenuity finds fault with any material.
with his tools".
5. Alluding to false accusation. 5. The man on the opposite bank rolled the boat.
6. A kuran or mouse-deer is 6. Why starest thou at me for being duped by

caught in a trap laid by A. B says Akkara Mavilon?
to the deer "why starest," etc.
7. Why blamest thou thy mother for thy defeat in

market ?
8. Alluding to attempting 8. How to dig but the root of Angillapongu (a

impossibilities. rootless plant floating on water)?
9. Why should you remove your shoes when water

flows far off?
10. If the father be a Mahout (elephant-keeper),

will the son also have a callosity on his hinder
parts?
11. If there are five buffaloes to milk, the

neighbourhood will come to know it. If you strain
and drink the conjee (boiled rice with water) your
breast will know it.
12. You can keep a betel-nut in your lap, but not a
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betel-nut tree.
13. The drum gets beaten, but the drummer gets

the money.
14. Brothers should never get the length of blows.
15. Even an elephant will fall on its own, if its foot

slips.
16. Would you catch a leech and put it abed ?
17. The roof, if broken, will fall inside : a bridge

falls into the current.
18. If eyes are given to the leech no chatty can be

hung up from the roof.
19. A miry pit suits a leech.
20. A god will be recognised only if clad

accordingly.
21. Though I hurt my throat, I will not renounce

my share.
22. “The best can do no more" 22. A squirrel does what it can.
23. No mirror is necessary to see one’s brother’s

foot.
24. Short life for being otherwise.
25. Covetousness will lead to unusual labour.
26. The thirteenth constellation, royal anger,

bilious complaint, and paternal curse, cease not
until they produce their effect.
27. Danger follows avarice.
28. If my food could give me good strength and

God gives me a long life, you will see me in the
battle-field called Mannattal.
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Appendix
29. Spoken of a time-server. 29. Put oil to the sword that is used daily.
30. Applies to artisans and others 30. Do not benight yourself with a piece of work
who have to take their labour to that cannot be done in one day.
the market daily.
31. If love fails, right fails also.
32. A gift made with a good heart is nectar.
33. Will not you be satisfied, with eating the bread?

Why should you count the air-holes in it ?
34. If you practice you can carry an elephant.
35. A door is a morsel (lit. pappatam) to him who

devours a temple.
36. In practising, a good many 36. He who has lost a great many arrows, becomes
arrows are lost and a good many a good archer : he who has spoiled a great many
cadjans used as copybooks. cadjans, a good writer.
37. A Dutchman’s anchor ? 37. The arrow is at Kumbalath, the bow at

Sekkalath, but the Nayar who uses them has
reached Pannangat gateway.
38. If the mother is a harlot, the daughter is also

one.
39. Mother in the ഉറി (net-work for suspending

pots), sister below it, and the wife in mortar (rice-
pounding).
40. If mother is beaten, father should enquire

about it ; and if sister is beaten, brother-in-law
should enquire about it.
41. In allusion to a story wherein 41. Let uncle stand where he used to stand, and
the ‘‘uncle” and the cow are put the cow where she used to stand
in status quo by an umpire. Is
repeated by a man when he stops
a quarrel, etc.
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42 If you take more than your share, the sky will

fall down on your head.
43. She who leaves her husband, falling in love

with a king, gets neither.
44. Is there war after the king is slain ?
45. Instant death results from the biting of a

salamander.
46. It is said that the reptile 46. Forgetfulness is with salamander.

forgets a thing ere its tail (while
creeping) has reached where its
head was.
47. Borrowed from the weaver ; 47. Difficulty of half a pallam weight of thread.
meaning, with reference to any
difficulty, that there is as much
of it as there is in disentangling
half a pallam of yarn.
48. Half a pallam weight will waste away when any

one goes by side of another.
49. The dog ate the rice and bit the carpenter
woman, and yet it snarls.
50. A thousand crows will come if you throw rice.
51. If you (devour) subdue your anger, it will turn

out nectar ; but if you devour (fail to use) your
weapon, you will not keep your manliness.
52. One in infirmity cannot be ceremonious, nor

can one in destitution make presents.
53. For the operation cannot 53. What has been ground should not be pounded.
improve the substance.
54. Is the complaint of a patient 54. Many are there to grind, but there is only one
who has to swallow, unassisted, to drink.
what the doctors compound.
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Appendix
55. Riches (are) ruin.
56. A mean fellow becoming rich will cause an

umbrella to be held up for him even at midnight.
57. Do half yourself and leave the other half to

Providence.
58. Every clump of bushes is an elephant to an

ignorant
59. One need not explain to men of

understanding, nor should one explain to men of
ignorance.
60. If you can give a thousand to be butchered,

why cannot you give one to be reared ?
61. Said of one in extreme agony. 61. Like a cock that struggles having its head out
off.
62. Said of one hard-worked. 62. Like a washerman's donkey.
63. Do not speak to a distressed Pulayi woman

about a Jungle full of firewood.
64. He is a bed or mattress to ten persons.
65. Said of a dying man. 65. If all the gods come, it can be managed.
66. In the treatment of those who are not versed in

Ashtanga Hridayam, turmeric is used as orris root
and camphor as Plumbago Ceylanica.
67. Of. "A worm will turn." 67. Even a rat-snake will bite if attacked in its hole.
68. There will be no pulp in a jackfruit that looks

beautiful.
69. Deprecates overcrowding. 69. A plantain tree that grows in a cluster of

several others will produce no bunch.
70. Put on the chains and log as soon as you see
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that an elephant is mast.
71. Will a goat know anything of the merchandise

in a bazaar ?
72. Dress supplies what merit 72. To the Chakkiyar who does not know how to
lacks. dance, dress and ornaments are everything.
73. Like a jungle where goats are allowed to graze.
74. The proximity of kings was 74. Goats spoil a jungle ji-tst as a wandering king a
dreaded in former days. country.
75. ‘‘Out of one’s element.’’ 75. How will an oil-monger behave if told off to
weave?
76. Give an elephant rather than give rise to hopes.
77. The innermost part of a 77. Are ivory and the heart of the plantain tree
plantain tree that has brought out equal to each other ?
its bunch has a 'heart’ resembling
ivory in colour, etc.
78. The walking of an elephant and the running of

a horse are equal.
79. “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, 79. How can it be a procession if there is no

without the part of Hamlet.” elephant ?
80. When a dog barks at an elephant-keeper on the

back of an elephant, how much will he be
frightened
81. When elephants fight, the ants are crushed to

death.
82. To an elephant a horse is only a footstool,
83. A palm-tree is sugar to an elephant.
84. An elephant needs no 84. Do not hang bells on the neck of an elephant.
decoration.
85. Alludes to people prone to 85. One so careful that he looks to see if a worm
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Appendix
find fault with anything and has bitten a gold mohur.

everything.
86. Spoken of a stupid fellow. 86. None but senseless words will be uttered,
though thousands of instructions are poured into
the ear.
87. He holds a thousand gardens on rent, but has

only oilcakes to make curry with at night.
88. A man will be called only half a physician if he

has made a thousand men blind.
89. One dose of arsenic is sufficient to kill a

thousand crows.
90. Having borne it a thousand leagues, do not

drag it half a league.
91. Better to see one sovereign than a thousand

ministers.
92. A thousand proverbs are not injurious to life,

but a thousand curses are.
93. Not quite clear, but is 93. He who pretended to possess a thousand
probably spoken by a tiny fish, senses, has now a rock on his breast ; and the
and has reference to its own other who pretended to possess a hundred, is
escape through the meshes of the strung on the rib of a cocoanut leaf ; but I who am
net, while the turtle is caught and said to possess only one sense may now leap off
placed on its back with a stone free.
upon it and the larger fish are
strung on an “ikkil".
94. A thousand words have not the weight of half

a pallam (one quarter pound)
95. The words of a person about 95. If grown there will be a thousand cocoanuts
to plant a thousand nuts. (tengnga), otherwise the loss is but a thousand
shells (tongna).
96. However fondly you may bring up a stranger,
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he will ever remain a stranger.
97. Is commonly repeated when 97. The Variyan is blamed for another’s fault.
one is blamed for another’s fault.
98. You may a thousand times kiss another’s child,

but not once slap it.
99. Better (more serviceable) our own gums than

the teeth of other people.
100. A Pattar (foreign Brahman) 100. If there is nobody else, then give me a Pattar.
gets a Nayar girl when no one If there is nothing else to eat, then give me Tal
else will have her. Tal is eaten (edible plant).
only when nothing else is
procurable.
101. A hundred languages in half a dozen districts.
102. Teaches the importance of 102. Even if you spill it in a stream, it should be
accounts. measured.
103. In allusion to a stupid 103. Like Ali's going to Nagapuram.

errandboy who, as soon as he
was told he must run an errand
to a certain place, went thither
without waiting to receive the
message and returned.
104. If you drink milk at the cattlepen you will not

have buttermilk at home.
105. You should not strike a cow on its muzzle

when it is coming to the pen.
106. “When you are at Rome do 106. When one flying-fox visits another, the one
as the Romans do.” takes one branch, the other another.
107. The result of your deeds during the prime of

your life will be seen at the time of your death.
108. Avaricious men will fall into great danger.
109. In Malabar a carpenter 109 Drudgery at the beginning of life and the end,
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Appendix
begins life by making coconut- like (the career of) a carpenter.

shell spoons; in old age he earns
a scanty livelihood by making the
same description of useful
articles.
110. "Necessity knows no law.’’ 110 When necessity compels, a temple is a mere
compound.
111. Precious stones are not 111 The worth of the gem depends on the worth
unfrequently valued according to of the man who wears it.
the worth of the wearer.
112. If you want a thing done, do 112. Better go yourself than send many.
it yourself.
115. "Grasp your nettle.” 113. What the root is to a tree, such is help to a
man (who needs it).
114. A long pole for a deep pit.
115. There is no chilliness if you plunge deep (into

water).
116. Distance lends enchantment 116. When seen from this side, the opposite side
to the view. looks green
117. "Itala” (a fast-burning wood) is not suitable

for cremation : nor is a Sudra (for the purpose
now in hand).
118. Like a snake that heard thunder.
119. Like a tree struck down by lightning.
120. Do not associate with one that has no friend.
121. If you associate with one that has no friend,

you will lose all your nine friends and at last
yourself.
122. Children brought up by a beggar will not

leave off mendicancy.
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123. Fit for no work. 123. Like a snake that has devoured its prey.
124. Probably in allusion to 124. Like the door of a room in which a maid-
constant calls the maid has to servant sleeps.
attend to.
125. Do not stretch out your legs before you are

seated.
126. The would-be donor is 126. When the rock at Iringath becomes gold, half
certainly liberal. of it will be given to Devar.
127. Improvements should never 127. Do not thatch your gate-house till after you
begin at the wrong end. have thatched your dwelling.
128. Spoken of things that have 128. Will (red-hot) iron belch the water it has
found their way to people's drunk ?
hands and never will return.
129. A grave wrong is not 129. If you swallow an iron bar, will drinking
counteracted by a slight act of ginger-water enable you to digest it?
the opposite kind.
130. The horse knows the taste of iron and the

elephant the weight of a chain.
131 . Iron and skill will go bad if not used.
132. Falling between two stools. 132. If you put your feet in two boats you will find
yourself in the middle (of the stream).
133. If you cut down a tree on which you are

seated, the tree will come uppermost and you
undermost.
134. An idle fellow will not know what appetite is,

but he will who digs hard.
135. Probably meaning that when 135. When flesh is present, the feathers should not
there is a greater man present, a struggle.
lesser one should not make much
ado.
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Appendix
136. The man who went for meat, died of

shivering (having been benighted in the jungle),
and the man who sent for it died of greediness.
137. Meat is eaten, but the horns are not strung up

and hung around the neck.
138. If there is want In the Brahman's house, you

need not expect to find anything in the King's
palace.
139. He that can be useful at home, will not go

abroad as a serving man.
140. A man with plenty at home finds plenty

abroad
141. The birth of a daughter is to 141. Why do you look like a Brahman to whom a
a Brahman the beginning of daughter has been born ?
anxiety and expense.
142. Homeward a man will carry even seventy-five

(measures) [an extraordinarily heavy load.]
143. An emaciated child certainly 143. The circumstances of the family can be
does not indicate plenty at home. guessed from the child'ship.
144. Has access to all parts of the 144. Like the cat in a Brahman’s house.
house(?)
145. Amata (superfine gold) is to the poor the

same as common gold.
146. A wife, if not liked, is found fault within

whatever she does.
147. Money is a hatchet for severing friendship.
148. Do not plant (a tree) head downwards
149. A young deer does not know the jungle tracks

; an old deer is not strong enough to run.
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150. Making a deal of noise (with 150. Like a dog on a heap of cockleshells.
the feet).
151. Like a monkey who has got a lump of bread.
152. Both are apt to take 152. Do not show your sore to a fly nor your
advantage and worry you. toothless gums to a child.
153. Some mishap (to an enemy) 153 Sore-mouth to crows when dates ripen.
in the nick of time.
154. Is a louse to be the wages for removing a nit ?
155. What the miser Mayan had acquired, the

prodigal Mayan consumed.
156. She that went to act as a midwife brought

forth twins.
157. The reason is not known ; 157. The Brahman who sees Ceylon will never see
possibly because intercourse with his home again.
the island was forbidden to
Brahmans, or because the trip
thither was attended with danger.
158. Is that stump of the stalk for me and the

coconut for Mullappalli (a Nambutiri) ?
159. For fear of hurting himself 159. Will a man who has a sore on his hip pass
(?) through a narrow stile ?
160. How can a man who has no clothes to wear,

use a clothes line ?
161 A child that has eaten well will jump and play
about, but a child that has not, will play seated in
one place.
162. We should not put pebbles in rice left over

after meals.
163. A man who has taken his meals will not know
the hunger of a man who has not taken it
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Appendix
164. The man who has taken his meals wants a mat
: but the man who has not done so wants a
plantain leaf (off which to eat).
165. You should not wish to make an attachment

(distraint) in a house where you have lived as a
boarder
166. Vide 143. 166. The appearance of a child tells the distress
prevailing.
167 No presents at meals and no ceremonies in

sleep.
168 If destitute of any other things, take rice made

of seed paddy, and if no clothing, wear silk
169. As their "luck’’ so the crops. 169 The good luck of the people who are to eat,
can be seen at the place ploughed.
170. If you are industrious you can have your

dimmer.
171. Real merit alone will retain 171. If you force anything up It will slide down of
its place. itself.
172. Better to be drowned in a well with a stone

hung on our neck than to be mounting both ends
of a pestle (rice pounder) for which there is no use
(rice to be pounded).
173 Nothing salted will be more saltish than salt.
174. If anyone eat salt, he will drink water.
175. If salt is saltish, then the Mappilla (shop-

keeper) will cheat.
176. Underwent hardship in a 176. He was exposed to smoke while pounding

useless occupation. paddy husks.
177. i.e., You must allow for 177. A small drum (tudi) will be formed of it even
wastage Tudi and ural are alike in if you make it as large as a mortar (ural).
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shape, but the latter is several

times larger than the former.
178. One must expect to get blows if seated at the

foot of a mortar.
179 The former is operated upon 179. A mortar (for pounding rice) complains to a
on one side only, while the latter finger-drum.
is beaten on both sides at least in
Malabar.
180. See 177. 180 Being cut for a pestle, turned out a short stiek.
181. Even an uri (a net work for suspending

household pots) will laugh if the truth is spoken.
182. A poor man's iron bar is required for stealing

a rich man's gold.
183. If you jump up without knowing your

strength, you are sure to break your hip.
184. The former hastens to the 184. A Pattar (foreign Brahman) who has heard of
feast. The pig, frightened at the a rice choultry and a pig that had heard of a chase
sound of the "horn" runs for its (run equally fast).
life.
185. In eating and bathing be first, and in war,

umbrella, and mud, the middle.
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Appendix
APPENDIX XI.
Vocabulary of the language—
Mahl—-spoken in the Island of Minicoy,
Taken down from Ali Malikhan Amina (Headman) of the Island.
English Mahl English Mahl

Man Pirihenu. Spade Hutali.
Woman Amgahenu- Axe Phuru
Child Kudi. Chisel Vatankari
Boy Pirihen Hudi. Knife Kuraphai.
Girl Amgahen Kudi Needle Thinoss.
Young Kuta. Cap Thakhiya.
Old Bodu. Shoo Phevamg.
Husband Phirimiha Sail (of a ship) Riyan
Wife Abimiha. Tail Phintu.
Son Pirihen Darivu. Box Phori
Daughter Amgahen Gun Badi
Darivu.
Marriage Kavini Kuram. Gunpowder . Badi Bess.
House Oe Goti. Bullet Bodu Unta.
Room No word. Shot Kudi Unta.
Door Doru. Net Dau.
Window Kudi Daru. Hook (fishing) Buli.
Roof Timi. Deep Phum.
Earth Binmatti Long Digu.
Bimka.
Sky Udu. Short. . Kuru.
Fire Aliphang. Broad Phulau.
Water Pheng. High Ussmimg.
Air Ve Madu. Narrow Phulaumi, Hanivi
Wind Ve Gada. You Tha Khalig.
Cloud Vila. I Aphurimimg Ma.
Sun Iru We Aphurimimg.
Moon Hadu He Eyi.
Star Tari. She Eya
Rain Par They Eyimimg.
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Light Havali That Eyuti.

Darkness Antiri. This Miyuti.
Morning Hentunu. Yours Thage.
Noon Menturugam. Mine Aphurimg Ma.
Evening HavirU His Eyi.
Day Davalu. Hers Eya.
Night Regam. Their Eyimimg.
Week No word. Whose Khagi.
Month Mastuvass. When Komg Regu.
Year Ahari. Where Kontaka
Sunday Aditta. Why Kevu Gante
Monday Oma. Which Konch.
Tuesday Amgara. Me Ma.
Wednesday Buda. Him Esoru.
Thursday Buraswati. Her Egoyya.
Friday Hukkuru. Them Eyimimg.
English Mahl. You (objective) Tha.
Saturday Onihiru. Complainant. Sariyan Kuramiya.
One Ekke. Defendant Prati
Two De. Witness Sakshi
Three Tine. Document Adaram
Four Hattari. Trial Sariyai Kurani
Five Pahe. Decision Vidhi.
Six Haye. Fine Phesa.
Seven Hatti. Imprisonment Tatavu.
Eight Areg. Medicine Boss
Nine Nuve, Physician Bess Kuramiya.
Ten Dihe. Dish Tharhi
Eleven Egara Ekluss. Copper vessel. Lo.
Twelve Doloss. Wodden vessel Tharagi.
Thirteen Doloss ekke. Chair Adarada Gonti.
Fourteen Doloss De. Spoon Samusa.
Fifteen Doloss Tine. Ink-bottle Davadu
Sixteen Doloss Hattari. Price Agu.
Seventeen Doloss Pahe, Body Harigamg
Eighteen Doloss Haye. To sleep Nidani.
Nineteen Doloss Hatti. To drink Boni
Twenty Doloss Areg. To bathe Erani.
Twenty-one Doloss Nuve. To steal Vakkan Kurani
Other books !
Appendix
Twenty-two Doloss Dihe.

Twenty-three Doloss Eklus.
Twenty-four Phasihi. Tank Valu.
Twenty-five Phasihi Ekke. Well Phempuvaiu.
Twenty-six Phasihi De and River Koru.
so on
Thirty-six Tixxtoloss. To laugh Higoni.
Thirty-seven Tintoloss ekke To cry Roni.
and so
Forty-eight Phanass. Pain Thadu.
Sixty Phattoloss. Pleasure Oha.
Seventy-two Phahitti. Sorrow Hittadu.
Eighty-four Haidoloss. I speak Aphurimg Bunani, Ma Bunani.
Ninety-six Hiya. You speak Khalig Bunani.
One hundred Hiya Hattari, He speaks Eyi Bunani, Esoru Bunani.
Sattika.
One hundred Sattika ekke. They speak Eyimimg Bunani.
and one
Two Dwi Satta. I do Aphurimg Kurani Ma Kurani
hundred
Three Tin Sattika You do Khalig Kurani.
hundred
Four Hattari Sattika He does Eyi Kurani, Esoru Kurani.
hundred. and so on.
One Ha He. They do Eyimimg Kurani.
thousand
Ten Dihass. I go Aphuring Higadani, Ma
thousand Higadani.
One hundred Sattika Hass. He goes Eyi Higadani ; Esoru
thousand. Higadani.
Quarter KaL You go Khalig Higadani.
Half Be. They go Eyimimg Higadani.
Three- Mukkal. I see Aphurina Phene ; Ma Phene.
quarters
East. Irumatti. He sees Esoru Phene.
West Olakumatti. You see Khaligaya Phene.
North Utturu. They see Eyimimg Phene
South Dekkunu. Eye-brow Buma.
Hair Ittari. Moustache Mattimass.
Other books !
Vol 2
Head Bo. Beard Tumpuli.

Eye Bo. Tears Lolu Phamg.
Nose Nephai. Nails Nivati.
Mouth Amka. Ring Mudi.
Tooth Dai. Lip Tumpai.
Face Munu. Tobacco Durnpai.
Neck Kharu, Snuff Vahi.
Khantura.
Ear Kampai. Betel-leaf Bileyi.
Arm Ai. Areca-nut Phuva.
Hand No word. Coat Libass.
Belly Badu. Stick Asa.
Leg Phe. Sugar Ussakkuru.
Foot Daphe. Honey Mamuyi
Finger Imgili, Atu- Sea-beach Attiri
imglli.
Toe Phe-imgili. Plantain Khevu
Skin Hamg. Emergent Vehe Avakka
Heat Hunu. Book Phoyi
Hot Hunuve. Koran Tiriss1
1. The Hindustani word (corrupted)

for 30, because in the big copy of the
Koran it is written on 30 ജ ൂ
(Jus) of 12 leaves (ൈഫഗം-
Pheigam) each or 360 leaves in all. A
Jus does not take heed of where the
Suras begin and end. The Islanders
are without exception
Muhammadans.
Cold Ihu. School Kiyavagge
Thunder Guguri. Teacher Kiyavade Miha
Lightning Vidum. Student Kiyava Kudi
Tree Gass, Dream Huva Phimg.
Dog Pirihen Lati Firewood Daru
Bitch Amgahen Geri. Who are you? Tha Sibahari Kakute
Cat Bulo. What is your age? Kitamg Aharu Vejjate
Bull Pirihen Geri When did you Diya Hukkuru Duvahu Rarum
leave your country Phuri
Cow Amgahen Geri. How do you know Tharag Enguni Kina Kunte
that?
Other books !
Appendix
Rat Midau. I came in an Ma Odiyagge Ayi.

Odam.
Fish Mass. How long were Khaduge Ginaduvass Viyang.
you at sea?
Flesh Mass Where did you Hontakkatte Phebi.
land?
Sea Khadu. What things have Khalik Konch Ginai.
you brought?
Ship Nau I have brought (1) Ma (1) Ronu (2) Kahari, (3)
coir, (2) coconuts, Boli, (4) Kampuphai (5)
(3) cowries, (4) Hakkaru, Maginat
tortoiseshell, and
(5) jaggery.
Boat Barkass. Was there any Tha Rarum Phur Iruge
sickness in your Balimadu Khami Ulaiamg.
country when you
left it?
God Khalamki, What do you wish Mitanu Tharaphi Tuge Oti
Devatamki. to buy here ? Konch Gananti.
Idol Bhuddhu Are your accounts Khalig Khanakku Ganass
ready? Obiyya.
Mosque Missakkuyi (? How many peons Khalig Gatuge Kita Siphai
Mosque). have you got? Ebarute.
Father Baphu. Who draws toddy Khalig Raruge Ra Nagani
in your country? Kompetti
Mother Ama. When do you go Kalig Horn Ira kunte
back? Higadani.
Island 1 No word I want a barber. Aphurina Bobala Mihe
Benume.
1. They use the
word for
"Country" -
"Rahrum".
Leper Bodu Bali Can he shave? Tha Bobala Danehe.
Far Duru. Look at me Magayi Balahare.
Near Gahi. Run after him. Maphahattuga Ana Hare.
New Au. Bring that goat. Oyo Bakkari Ginnahari.
Sick Bali Nukare. Shut my box. Aphurimg Phori Thalu Lahari
Fever Hum Hattave Send this to him. Mi Gemkuss Dehere.
Small-pox Khari Vadili. Ask him what he Thara Koncham gahe Benumi
Other books !
Vol 2
wants. Eha Balahari.

Cholera Hode Bade He says he has a Essura Samkatam Ebutti.
lagatti "Sankadam"
(grievance).
Love Bobive. I have no time Mihintakku Nuphenevene
today. Come Mata Makku Enadupahu
tomorrow or the Anantahare.
day after it.
Fear Biru Gani. Can you climb that Khalig Yeg Egahia Aram
tree? Kerenahe.
Anger Ruli Hatuve. He fell down Esuru Gahum Vetij.
Friend Rahu Mattiri. He got a wound. Esuru Aiburivejji.
Foe Jussman. He is a fool Esuru Muyaki.
Good Hevu. No, he is very Nu-Esuru Ramkulu Gulakki.
clever.
Bad Nube. Yes, you speak Khalig Thedu Bunani.
truth.
Black Khalu Where do you live? Khalig Kontaku The Uluni.
White Dom. In a shop Phiyarageya.
Bed Reyi. I remember it. Mara Hantamg Oboyi.
Blue Nu. I will see you next Naga Ahara Khalige
year. Maphinnani.
Yellow Rintu.
Green No word.
Dry Hikki,
Milk Kiru.
Rice (boiled) Bai.
Blood Be.
Cloth Pheli.
Iron Dagadu.
Silver Rihi.
Gold Rain
Copper Bo.
Brass. Hudulo.
Lead Timara.
Tin Tuttiya.
To walk Higani,
To do Kurani.
To sit Ittani.
Other books !
Appendix
To see Phene
To hear Ive.
To smell Vassduve.
Lie Ottani.
Speak Vahakadakkani
Ask Ahani.
Big Konnani,
Plough (to) No word.
Plough Do
(noun).
Horse Ass.
Eat Khani.
Beat (Strike) Thalani
Kill Marani.
Bury Valulani.
To call Banika.
To cook Bai Kakkani.
To out Khatani.
To stab Thorn Pheli.
Salt Lonu
Chilly Onu
Mustard No word
Oil Thevu.
Butter Venne.
Mat Kunan
Pillow Khanni.
Doubt Drappanai.
Certainty Urapp.
Path Magu (S
Marga).
Hodge Phula
Paper Kharudass.
To write Liyani
Read Hiyani
Right Thedu.
Wrong Hamanuvi.
Owner Oni
Property Mutal.
Money Ruppiya.
Other books !
Vol 2
Right Kanayi.
Left Vayi.
Front Kurimatti.
Back Phuragass.
Above Mati.
Below Tiri.
Grass Huyi.
Stone Gau.
Sand Domveli
Sin Phap
Large Bodu.
Small Kuta.
Fowl Kukkudu.
Egg Biss
Lamp Vvo
Cot Entu.
(bedstead)
Pot Phuphe
Other books !
Appendix
APPENDIX XII
COLLECTION OF DEEDS
No. 1
a. Hail ! Sri—The King who has taken the supreme rule, King (Perumal) Sri
Bhaskara Ravi Varman, wielding the sceptre and ruling for many 100,000 years, in his
time, in the thirty-sixth year against1 the second cycle (literally, year), on the day when
he was pleased to sit in Muyirikodu, he was pleased to grant this favour.
[N.B. - The Jewish translation, particularly incorrect in the rendering of this sentence, deserves
perhaps, to be listened to in its translation of Muyirikodu “residing in Kranganur or
Kodungalur." Perhaps the Musiris of the ancients is to be sought so far south. The calculation
of the thirty-sixth year against the second cycle, which Mr. Whish has attempted, guided by the
authority of other documents of considerable age, I am not prepared to criticise, as I am
doubtful of the signification of "Etir” against (before ?).]
b. We have given to Joseph Rabban (the principality) Anjuvannam, along with the 72
Janmi2 rights, such as (going) with elephants and (other) conveyances, tribute from
subordinate landholders, and the possession (or revenue) of Anjuvannam, the light by
day, the spreading cloth, the litter, the umbrella, the Vaduca drum (Jews' transl: "drum
beaten with two sticks’’), the trumpet, the gateway with seats, ornamental arches, and
similar awnings and garlands (charawu, i.e,, T.காைவ) and the rest.
[N.B. - Here the name of Anjuvannam has been mistaken by the Jewish and other translators.
The Jews translate it “five colours,” and the revenue of Anjuvannam is converted by them into
a right to convert from the five castes. But the language of the document forbids to take “anju ”
for the numeral 5 : it would have been “aintu” as in the later document, Ila3. The present
translation of vidu peru, generally mistaken for a gift of houses, or even for a gift to 72 families is
fully secured by document II3 m several places ; vidu (cf. II, k3) is the verbal noun of vidu, “ to
leave,” signifies “remittance, freedom,” hence in ancient T. Synonymous with S. mocsha ; the
derived meaning is “freehold, Janmam,” hence the modem signification “gardens house.” Some
of the privileges are not quite determined ; pacudam (T.tribute) is, in the Jewish translation the
right of calling from the comers of the street that low castes may retire. After “umbrella” the
Jews have inserted a word of which they do not know the meaning.]
c. We have remitted to him the tribute to the Supreme Government (literally, the
world-bearing-hire of II4 l),
[NB.— The Jews translate literally, but ungrammatically, "and the revenue of the land and
balances their hires be remitted.”]
Other books !
Vol 2
NOTEs: 1. Compare a similar use of the word “Etir” in Deed No. 4. “The date of this deed
cannot be later than the eighth century A.D.” Nor can the deed be “older than the beginning of
the eighth century.” Burnell in Ind, Ant, III, 334 : “Probably not later than the ninth century
A.D., nor earlier than the seventh.” Caldwell, Grammar of Dravidian languages, Introdn., 89, Edn.
1875, “About 750.” Burnell, South Indian Palaeography, 2nd Edn 140.
2. See the note which follows: the word used is Viduper.
3. No. 3 in this collection.
4. Deed No. 3, Clause (I). END OF NOTEs
And we have enacted with this copper-deed that when the other town
inhabitants pay taxes to the (Perumal's) palace, he shall not have to pay ; when they
receive, he shall also receive.
[N.B.- Nothing of the Jewish version can here be of any use ; they are quite misled by
the word Coyil, which they take for synagogues, and hence conclude the sense to be this : “and
he shall be chief to the rest of the cities in which there are synagogues and Jewish inhabitants,”
without any attention to the structure of the sentence. But the sentence is difficult on account
of the (antiquated) double aru, which I take for “time, term;” of Beschi’s அ வ tax paid at
fixed times;” and the derivative aru, used in. Malayalam and Canares for “when". From a
comparison of this and the first1 document, it appears that the residence of the Jewish and
Christian chieftains was not in the little principality given to them, but that they remained in the
metropolis as the seat of commerce. The Jewish translation may give confirmation to the
tradition that there were Jews and synagogues in many cities, and that naturally enough their
naturalised Emir had jurisdiction over the whole nation, which he represented in the system of
Government then established.]
d. (Given) to Joseph Rabban, the owner of Anjuvannam, and to his posterity,
sons and daughters, nephews and sons-in-law—a hereditary appendage for the time
that earth and moon exist—Anjuvannam, a hereditary appendage. Sri.
[NB. — Pracriti “what is natural, essential to.” I take it for synonymous with janmam,
which also first signifies “birth,” then in Malayalam “ hereditary property”. Different is the use
of pracriti in Ila2. The Jews translate it here with “standing.”]
e. Thus do I know Govardhana Marttandan, owner of Venadu (or

Travancore). Thus do I know Kotei Sri Candan, owner of the Venavali province
(perhaps Bembali, wherein now Cottayam. May it not be the older name of Odunadu,
I1.)
[N.B.-These are the two southern vassals.]
f. Thus do I know, Mana Vepala Mana Viyan, owner of Erala province (the
name of the Tamutiri, changed by the Jewish version, according to the current
tradition, into Mana Vicrama, vulgo Mana Vikkiran), thus do I know Rayaran Chattan,
owner of Valluwa province.
[N.B.—Thus are the two northern vassals, as1.]
Other books !
Appendix
g. Thus do I know, Cotei Ravi, owner of Nedumpureiyur district (Jewish

version corrupted by the writers, but the tradition that this is the Palacadu Raja seems
correct. Nedumpureiyur is an old temple on the Palghatcheri road, from which Mr.
Whish obtained some inscriptions).
Thus do I know Murkhan Chattan, commanding the Eastern Army. The Jews
take Kilpadei for a proper name. It seems these two are the great eastern vassals on the
road which leads through the Coimbatoor gap to the old fields of battle between the
Pandi, Chola and Chera princes. I conclude from Document1 I, that in a later period
the Chera country, properly speaking, had been taken from the Cheramans).
[According to Ellis it was divided among the great vassals as early as A.D. 389,
and finally, though at what period is uncertain, was reduced to a province of the
Pandyan government. (Trans. Madras Lit. Society p. 19.).]
NOTEs: 1. No. 2 in this collection.
2. No. 3 in this collection. END OF NOTEs
h. Candan of Great Taleicheri Kil-way ("under-mouth, eastern commander or

viceroy, i.e, dhalawa, "army-mouth" or general), mountain-splitter. The writing of
Kelappa.
[N.B. - It is open to question whether these persons are two or three. The Jewish
version has only the first and the last, leaving out the middle altogether. If Kil-way be the name
of a place, we must render “the writing of Kil-way Kelappan, the mountain-splitter," and the
latter appellation may be taken for a title given to the writer because he deals in metals
(compare the grand-goldsmith of the I1 document). But as Buchanan says the Jews find in the
names of the subscribing Rajas the Colattiri and the Curumbenadu rulers, we may find it
possible to recognise m the Candan of Taleicheri a family member or vassal of Colattiri, who
with this sea-town recognised the rule of the Perumal, and in the mountain-splitter the chieftain
of the Curumbar or jungle-dwellers, so called either from his mines at Tamracheri or from a
pass he opened through the ghats. It does not seem that in the time of these three documents
the northern Malabar or Colatirri did belong to the Perumals, for if it did, its Rajas would
certainly have obtained as high and conspicuous a place in the line of witnesses as their relations
of Venadu, to whom in old times they appear certainly superior. They recognised2 perhaps a
Tulu or Maisur dynasty as supreme lords.]
NOTEs: 1. No. 2 in this collection.
2. It is suggested in the text that Keralam was at this time more or less under the Western
Chalukya kings and that the northern Kolattiri family had not at this time been founded. END OF
NOTEs
["Perimpadappu, who is now the Raja of Cochin, is here not mentioned,

because (the Perumal) made him his heir and successor.” There is certainly some truth
in this remark, from what is said1 I, about the name Vira Kerala, now the standing
appellation which the Perimpadappu assumes on his accession to the throne]
Other books !
Vol 2
NOTEs: 1. No. 2 in this collection. END OF NOTEs
Note.—This translation of the Cochin Jews’ deed was published by Dr. Gundert in the Madras
Journal Lit. Sc., XIII Part I, p. 137. Other translations by Ellis and Burnell are to be found in
Madras J.L S. XIII. II, and Ind. Ant III, 34 ; also by K. Kelu Nayar in M.J., L.S., N S., V 42.
No. 2
Hari Sri. Adoration to Ganapati.

The blessed rule having devolved from the earth-ruler Man-lord Chacravarti
Vira Kerala (the first of the line), through regular succession, upon Sri Vira Raghava
Chacravarti, now wielding the sceptre for many 100,000 years (in the year), Jupiter4 in
Capricornus, the 21st of the Mina month, Saturday, Rohani4 asterism, the following
grant was made in the royal palace (of the Perumal). We have given to Iravi Corttan of
Mahodeverpattnam [henceforth to be called Grand Merchant of the Cheraman world
(Kerala)], the lordship of Manigramam. We also have given to him (the right of) the
feast-cloth(?), house-pillars (or pictured rooms ?), all the, revenue, the curved5 sword
(or dagger), and in (or with) the sword the sovereign merchant-ship, the right of
proclamation, the privilege of having forerunners, the five musical instruments, the
conch, the light (or torch burning) by day, the spreading cloth, litter, royal umbrella,
Vaduca drum (drum of the Telugu’s or of Bhairava?), the gateway with seats and
ornamental arches, and the sovereign merchant-ship over the four classes6 (or streets),
also the oil-makers and the five kinds of artificers1 we have subjected to him (or given
as slaves to him).
NOTEs: 2. It is suggested in the text that Keralam was at this time more or less under the Western
Chalukya kings and that the northern Kolattiri family had not at this time been founded
3.This is, so far as known, the earliest instance of the use, within Malabar itself, of this dialectic (Canarese)
form of the ancient name, Chera, of the country.
4.“A.D. 774 is the only possible year.”—Dr. Burnell in Indian Antiqary I, p. 229.
5.The knife variously styled the war knife, Nayar knife, Mappilla knife, etc., is probably referred to. See
Kodungakatti in Glossary. The possession of this weapon is now illegal.
6. Cheri—probably foreign settlers— corporate bodies.
1. 1, Goldsmith ; 2, Carpenter ; 3, Founder ; 4, Irionsmith ; 5, Coppersmith. END OF NOTEs
We have given as eternal (literally, ‘‘water”2) possession to Iravi Corttan, the

lord of the town, the brokerage and due customs of all that may be measured3 by the
para, weighed3 by the balance, stretched3 by the line, of all that may be counted3 or
carried, contained within salt sugar, musk, and lamp-oil, or whatever it be, viz., within
the river-mouth of Codungalur and the tower, or between the four Talis (temples of
the deputy Brahmans) and the gramams belonging to them. We have given it by an
unreserved4 tenure to Iravi Corttan, Grand Merchant of the Cheraman world, and to
his sons and sons' sons in proper succession.
NOTEs: 1. 1, Goldsmith ; 2, Carpenter ; 3, Founder ; 4, Ironsmith ; 5, Coppersmith.
Other books !
Appendix
2. In the case of the Jews' grant there was no transfer by "water". Did this part of the ceremony
come into the country with the Vedic Brahmans? See Deed No. 38.
3. “Quoe pondere, numero, mensurave constant." Is there here a relic of the Roman trade with Muziris?
i e., the Codungallur of this grant ?
4. This grant is chiefly of privileges and dignities of soils, though made with "water". END OF
NOTEs
Witnesses are :—
With the knowledge of the two Brahman5 divisions of Panniyur and
Chowaram village have we given it ; with the knowledge of the Venadu and Odunadu
(rulers) have we given it ; with the knowledge of the Eranadu and Valluwanadu (rulers)
have we given it ; given for the time that sun and moon shall last ; with the knowledge
of the above, written by Nambi Chadayan, grand goldsmith of the Cheraman world.
Note.—The above is one of the deeds belonging to the Syrian Christians of the
Cochin and Travancore States. This translation, by Dr. Gundert, appeared in the Madras
"Journal of Literature, etc., Vol XIII, Part I p. 118.
NOTEs: 5. See pages 269—273 of the test.
Other books !
Vol 2
No. 3.
The following is the translation, as far as it can be made out, with short remarks in
brackets.
a. Hail! In the time (literally, year) of Perumal (Cō, king, or Gō) Sthanu Ravi Gupta,
who now rules gloriously for many 100,000 years, treading under foot hostile heads, in
his fifth6 year, this year under the concurrence of His Excellency the Ayyan Adigal,
governing the Venadu (the Travancore king is still called Venad Adigal, "the adorable
feet of Venadu") of Anjuwannam (the Jewish principality of Deed No. 1) and of
Punnattala's Lord7 (the next neighbour, vide d), the following grant of a freehold8 has
been given by His Excellency the Ayyan Adigal to the Tarisa9 church (and community),
established (or built) by Isodata Virai of Curakkeni Collam. (The name Tarisa is
perhaps to be recognised in the Dariaygal of the Syrian tradition).
NOTEs: 6 Probably fifty years later than Deed No. 2. “Ninth Century** (Haug).— Burnell in
ind. Ant. Ill, 315.
7. பதி (pati).
8. ெப (peru).
9. Dr. Burnell thinks Tarisa is of Semitic origin, signifying study. In modem Persian Tarsa means
prayer. —Ind,. Ant. Ill, 310. Other scholars have found in this word the Biblical “Tarshish."— Madras
Journal of Literature and Science, XIII, Part I. END OF NOTEs
b. (This sentence is the most difficult of the whole, first, on account of the
many antiquated terms of country customs ; secondly, on account of the construction,
perar being the negative verb which gives no plausible translation. I prefer to read perar
and take it as the nominative for the genitive.) And I also (one of the above lords of
Maruwan Sapir Iso or the church, vide n), who formerly had the possession of the share
staff1 (வாரகெகா , feudal tenure ?) of the four families of Ilawar (Simhalese, also
Tiyar, Dwipar, Islanders,” now palm-tree cultivators), and of the eight families of
Ilakeyar (Sihala low castes or slaves ?) belonging to them, and one family of washermen
coming from the same stock as these—all these being entitled to the fetter-right2
(தைள the foot-rope for mounting coconut trees ?) and ladder-right2 (for reaping
pepper ?), to the tax for the elephant feeder, and to the wash gold (‘‘eri, perhaps ari),
which the Chandan (‘'‘great person ? sun ? ) is wont to get (mattu, “hook in” T., “get
by ruse"), as well as to the harvest gold (“polipon,' gold of interest ? shining gold ?), to
the nightly meal of rice and to the pot measure— I, possessed of this sharestaff, and of
the Cavvan (or cappam ? “tribute”), and of those five Kandis (pieces of ground or
shares ?), have given them by a free and unrestricted transfer.
NOTEs: 1.The shares of produce, etc., due to the Ko (king) and to the pati (over lord) were styled varam
(see i). The possession of the varakkol probably gave the holder authority to collect those dues.
2. காண (kanam). END OF NOTEs
Other books !
Appendix
c. Maruwan Sapir Iso (Maruwan, the Syrian lord ?), who has received the water
(hereditary possession) of this town, having arranged that these four families of Ilawar
(with their servants and washerman), families of—3, one family of carpenters, and four
families of Vellalar (Tamil agriculturists)—the latter being Caralar (T. ploughmen, M.
temple-servants, used. Clause m, for trustees, hence Clause i, the noun Caranmei
“trusteeship”) of the Alave (or Aladeiya) land—that all these may do their duty4 to the
God, the planter by planting (rice, etc.), the setter by setting (trees, or by building,
offering ?), so that the required ceremonies, such as the oil for the church, suffer no
diminution, has enacted and given to the Tarisa church the land now to be described.
NOTEs: 3. Sic.
4. The various members of the community were evidently told off to perform various functions
; those customary functions were hereditary : hence caste., See pages 108-112 of the text. The community
was evidently organised on the model of a well-ordered household. END OF NOTEs
d. Decreed with the sanction of the Palace-major (Koyilatikarikal) Vyaraka

Devar (probably Commissioner of the Perumal, since he is repeatedly mentioned
before the Travancore vassal), and power given with (the ceremony of) water5 drops
for seizing and possessing, under the concurrence of His Excellency the Ayyan Adigal,
His Excellency the second Raja Rama (brother of the former and next heir), his
officers and ministers, and of the 6006 (a local authority, vide f) ; also of the
(neighbouring) lords of Punnattala (“place of Calophyllum trees”) and Pulacudi
(“dwelling of silk cotton trees"), the land bounded so that the east border be Vayalcadu
(open waste plain) and the backwater included ; the south-east border be the wall near
the little door-gate? (Chiru watil cal matil) ; the west border the sea ; the north border the
Torana garden ; the north-east border the garden of the unapproachable (andilan) of
Punnattala ; the land enclosed within these four borders I have empowered to take,
and by executing this copper-deed have given, for the days that earth, moon and sun
exist.
NOTEs: 5. See note to Deed No. 2. In this case the transfer was of land and other things ; the
things transferred by Deed No. 2, with "water,” were privileges of sorts.
6. 6. Compare the notice of the “Six hundred" in Deed No, 4. It is almost certain that the
Karanavar of all the Taras (Nayar villages) in the Nad constituted the "Six Hundred ;” but Dr. Gundert in
the translation of Deed No. 4 says, though with some doubt, "Bodyguard." See pages 87—90 and 132-34
of the text and the word "Kuttam” in the Glossary, App, XIII. END OF NOTEs
e. And it has farther been settled with the concurrence of His Excellency the
Ayyan Adigal, His Excellency Rama, and the Palace-major, that the church people
(Palliyar, probably heads of the Tarisa citizens) alone have power to punish the
(Heathen) families of this land for any offence1 whatsoever, and receive the fines,
expenses, head-price and breast-price (probably the right of selling males and females
for serious caste offences) ;
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NOTEs: 1. Among the privileges' recited, in a “Malabar Jenmum” deed granted by the Kolattiri
Raja to the Honourable Company’s linguist at Tellicherry in October 1758 are the following : “Penalties or
condemnations and customs, beginning with one principal and ending with all other things,” which was
explained to the Joint Commissioners (Diary 15th February 1793) as meaning “the power of administering
justice, both civil and criminal, even to the cutting off the hands of a thief.” END OF NOTEs
f. mine own relations, whoever they be, whatever the charges be, shall never
have the right there to speak as heads of the land dealing with subjects. Let the 6002
(see d), the Anjuwannam2 and Manigramam2 (Jewish and Christian principalities) be
the protectors.
NOTEs: 2. The deed, it will be observed, makes no allusion here to the headman of the Jewish
and Christian communities, although it is known from Deeds Nos. 1 and 2 that such headmen had been
appointed. The conclusion is, therefore, that the power of protection here assumed resided not in the
headmen, but in the communities as corporate bodies. This strengthens the view in the note to para (d)
that the Six Hundred were really the Kuttom (see Appendix XIII) of the Karanavar of the Nad. END OF
NOTEs
g. Let them, even Anjuwannam and Manigramam act both with the church
and the land according to the manner detailed in this copper deed for the times that
earth, moon and sun exist.
h. Ordered with the sanction of the Palace-major Vyaraka Devar, and with the
sanction of His Excellency the Ayyan Adigal, and His Excellency Rama, and free3
tenure granted to these (Palliyar) as follows : —
NOTEs 3. Viduper. END OF NOTEs
i. (Again a difficult sentence. I take Ulaku i.e,, loka for the official name of the
citizens, Christian freemen formed into a corporation4 and distinguished both from the
Palliyar, who are their headmen, and from the Cudi or Heathen families, who live on
their grounds as farmers or slaves.) There being 61 citizens, the number not to be
increased nor to be diminished ; no personal tax to be received for the slaves they buy
(or, the person tax to be received’’ if you read perar) ; for admitting any conveyances or
letting them out they are to receive 8 coins (Kachuwayinam is vahanam, understand
horses, waggons) ; in the case of (female) elephants and of boats, whether for letting in
or letting out, they are to receive 4 coins ; merchandise belonging to the citizens to be
disposed of (or removed) by them with the cognizance of the above (the Palliyar ? or
the protecting lords ? ) ; and that they (the Palliyar) do all the business (rights and
duties) of a lord (swami) on the place of packing the wares (or on spots where poles
with leaves are set up as signs of prohibition) and elsewhere, only after deliberation
with the above mentioned (Anjuwannam and Manigramam ?) ; that Anjuwannam and
Manigramam protect the citizens in every coming generation1; that in the space within
the four gates (or in the four public offices ?) and on the spot where land for sale (or
“under prohibition") is given in trust, the palace (or Supreme Government) having
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Appendix
received the king’s tithe2 (Ko-pata-waram), Anjuwannam and Manigramam receive the
Lord’s tithe2 (Pati-ppata-waram).
NOTEs: 4. This and the succeeding para, (k) prove conclusively that Dr. Gundert’s position
here is correct. The Jews and Syrians were in guilds or corporations precisely similar to the Nayars, the
Palliyar corresponding to the Taravad (Tara-pad) Karanavar and Anjuwannam and Manigramam to the
“600" of the Nad.
1.
2. There is here the earliest intimation of what “Pattam” was originally. See the Glossary. The
king (Ko-pad) and the over-lord (Pati-pad) had each a share (varam) of the produce, not necessarily of the
land alone. Is it too far-fetched derive pattam from patta-varam ? END OF NOTES
k. with the sanction of the Palace-major Vyaraka Devar, who has given to
these (the Palliyar) the 72 janmi3 rights (viduperu), such as for marriages (or
processions), the elephant's back, the earth, the water, etc. (or “earth and water on the
elephant,” at all events, marks of nobility), and with the concurrence of His Excellency
the Ayyan Adigal, His Excellency Rama, the ministers and officers, the 600, and the
Lords of Punnattala and Pulacudi, let Anjuwannam and Manigramam carry out this
unrestricted possession right in the manner described by this copper-deed for the time
that earth, moon and sun exist.
NOTEs: 3. See note to Deed No. 1. END OF NOTEs
l. If any injustice be done to these (the Palliyar ? or Anjuwannam and

Manigramam ?), they may withhold the tribute (“world-bearing hire”) and remedy
themselves the injury done to them. Should they themselves commit a crime, they are
themselves4 to have the investigation of it.
NOTEs: 4. The Muhammadan community in Malabar does not seem to have possessed this
privilege - "Tahafut-ul-Mujahideen" by Rowlandson, pp. 72, 73. END OF NOTEs
m. And let whatever the two chieftains5 in Anjuwannam and Manigramam,

who have taken the water (possession) as trustees for this town (Caralar, see c.), may do
in unison be counted for one act.
NOTEs: 5. The allusion here to the headmen (see Deeds 1 and 2) shows that their respective
corporate bodies or guilds acted through them, though the real power (see Note to paragraph f) rested
with the community. So too must it have been in the Nayar organisation by Nads. END OF NOTEs
n. And let Maruwan Sapir Iso, who took the water for this town, since he
acquired (or transferred ? peruttu) the share-staff (Varakol of b), and those5 pieces (or
Anjacandi) which formerly were the property of the Palliyar, pay for it the full price to
the church. This also I have given over by unrestricted transfer.
o. I have ceded to the Tarisa church people, by full and unrestricted tenure,
every kind of revenue by this copper-deed for the time that earth, moon and sun do
last.
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p. Those Ilawar6 are permitted to follow out their occupations (?) in the bazar
and on the wall. The washer-man may come and do his work in the bazar7 and on the
wall.
NOTEs: 6. Presumably these were some of the families of the land conveyed along with it in
paragraph (c).
7. Presumably outside the limits of the land conveyed by paragraph (d). END OF NOTEs
q. Nor have the Island1 ruler (or Tiyar headman) and the Wall office or
whoever it be, any power to stop them on any charges whatsoever. Though they
should commit a trespass, the Palliyar alone have to try them.
NOTEs: 1. See Glossary under Tiyan, &c. END OF NOTEs
r. I have given this in the manner detailed in the copper-deed, for the time that earth,
moon, and sun do last, by full, free and unrestricted tenure.
s. The person who made this full, free and unrestricted transfer to the Tarisapalli
through His Excellency the Ayyan Adigal, is Maruwan Sapir Iso.
t. To those who keep this and care to see it observed let God himself be gracious (what
is anugramam or anucramam ?). The writing of Ayyan ; and may this benefit (vel, or is it a
compound word ?) be equal to Cula Sundara's (Vishnu ?). Rule victoriously !
Note.—The above is one of the deeds belonging to the Syrian Christians of the Cochin and
Travancore States. This translation, by Dr Gundert, appeared in the "Madras Journal of
Literature, & c. Vol. XIII. Part I, p, 130.
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Appendix
No. 4
Svasti Sri.—In the year that runs for the Kolavalan2 (or Keralavalan ?) Ramar
the fourth, opposed3 to the fourth year, in this year has the ruler of Rama-vala-nadu,
Kannankandan of Vali (or Valiyattu), and his officers and the 6004 (body-guard ?), in
concert with the house-gods (ancestors ? Brahmans?), performed the following act :—
Chellan, the father (or stay ? lord) of Kanayapalli, wanted to purchase
Tirumunnur, the Padarar’s domain, and, finding the gold required for it not
forthcoming, delayed the purchase. (Here the verb െചാഴിയുക seems plain but its
meaning is obscure. Can it be Tamil ചുഴിയുക, revolve in mind ?) The purchase of this
domain5 of the Padarar, with all6 that belongs to it, has then been made by the ruler
of Cheranadu (or Chara ? ) and his officers, and the image of the god of the Padarars,
with their sovereignty (prabhutvam), has been subjected7 to the 600, and is possession8
(Kanam or mortgage ?) held under8 the king (Iran). They may burn a lamp of joy
(nanda vilakku, an old privilege, see (Curian s Essay, 1872, p. 12). The Uralan is to be
the hand of the Padarar. The 600 ought to make the Padarar perform the service with
one Nali rice. Let them also look after Tirukkunam, the property of these (or this)
Padarar and protect9 (ilaxikka = raxikka) it for them, even the 600, and the agreeing
party furnish them for this purpose with good liquor (madhu), fire and water (or holy
ashes ?). When the agreeing party (mortgagor ?) maintains the temple offerings, then
the Potuval has to go and hand to them what they order. It is not the 600 that have
thus to serve (different meaning, if പീടി should have to be read). (Follows something,
which I cannot read, about the expense at the fane of Tirukkunam. The last line is
readable, except the end. ) The Uralan, if he be guilty of embezzlement( ?), shall be
fined 25 Kalanju gold.
Note —This translation of an inscription on stone in old Vatteluttu characters is by
Dr. Gundert. The stone was found at Tiruvannur (the “Tirumunnur” of the inscription), one of
the residences of the Zamorin Maharaja Bahadur in Calicut town.
NOTEs: 3. Etir, the same word that occurs in the Jews’ Deed No. 1 .
4. See notes to Deed No. 3.
5. Padarar mel.
6. Eppereppattatum.
7. Arunurruvarkkum Kilpaitu.
8. Iranukku Kilittu kanom. This is the earliest instance excepting Clause (6) of No. 3, of the use of
this important word Kanam. The "600” were evidently appointed to be the Kanakkarar (overseers or
protectors) of the Padarar’s estate. Conf. p. 133 of the text.
9. See note to paragraph (f) of Deed No. 3. This sentence, taken in connection with the use of
the word Kanam above, shows that the duty [see note to paragraph (c) of Deed No. 3] of the Kanakkarar
was to supervise and protect. The collection of the pattam [see notes to paragraphs (b) and (i) of Deed
No. 3] on behalf of the Ko-pad would naturally be part of that duty. The share of the pattam due to the
Patipad went into their own exchequer as a corporate body, or into the exchequer of their headman, or
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perhaps partly into the one and partly into the other. Compare notes to paragraphs (i) and (m) of Deed
No. 3, and the word Kanam in the Glossary as to the derivation of the word Kanam. Conf. also p. 138 of
the text. END OF NOTEs
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Appendix
No. 5
Kumbha Vyalam, on the 5th of Karkitakam solar month (ഞായർ), in the
dignified presence (തിരുമു ്) of our Kalle Kulangare Emur Bhagavati, in the
northern entrance of the temple (വടെ നട), Sekhari Varma alias Tekkunathan,1 with
the knowledge (അറിയ) of the four immediate successors (നാലുകൂറുവാ ചയും) of
the two Tamburattis (ര ് ത ുരാ ിയും = two queens, ladies), of the two
Anantiravars in the female line (ര ു െപൺവഴി അന ിരവ ാരും) of the Kurur
Namburipad2 (കൂറരന ൂരി പാടും), of the inhabitants (നഗര ാരും) of
Rayirinallara and Kumarapuram (രായിരിനലരകുമരപുരം), of townspeople
(നഗര ാരും) of Yogakkar(േയാഗകാരും) of Koppana Mannadi (െകാ ണമ ാടി),
and of two Kodakarttakkanmar3 (െകാടകർ ാ ാർ) our Emur Bhagavati

Devasvam nilam, called Kottapadi (െകാ പടി), and lands (ഉഭയം) sowing 242 kalams
(കാലം =: a Tamil measure of 12 marcals) of seed, (comprised) in the 14 Cherikkal4
under (the place called) Kunnumpara കു ുംപാറ), with the parambas (പറ ു്) and
tanks by their (lands) banks (തൻകര), and lands (ഉഭയം) sowing 1,200 kalams (കലം
= 12 marcals) of seed, including nanja and punja (ന പു ), (comprised) in the 42
Cherikkal (േചരി ൽ) (extending) from Chembana (െച ന) to Kachanada
(ക നട) at the ghat (മലയകം = literally, within the hill), and the Akamala5
(അകമല = valley), Puramala (പുറമല), Chiramala (ചറമല), and Kilamala5 (കീഴമല)
of the ghat (മലയകം) ; these are given as Manyam6 (മാന ംവിടുക), to last till stones
(കല്), and Cavery (കാേവരി), and grass (പുല്) and the earth (ഭൂമി) exist, in order
that with the income (വരുമാനം) derivable from them the expenses of Puja (പൂജ), of
feeding (ഊ = generally feeding of Brahmans), and of songs (പാ ് = probably
songs at temple), and of the subjects ( പജകൾ) may be met without any distinction
(?)െഏെറവരികയും ഇലാമൽ). Besides this, with the pattam1 (പാടും) 411
kalams4 (കലം) sowing seeds special ceremonies (വിേശഷ അടിയ രം) will go on
(നട ും). Whoever does harm (േദാഷം) to these, will merge േപാകു വർ) in
those who murder Brahmans ( ബ ഹതി) on the banks of the Ganges (ഗംഗാകര).
With the knowledge of the witnesses Vadakkunathan2 (വട ുംനാഥൻ) and
Vilvadrinathan (വില ാ ദിനാഥൻ).
Note.—Translated from a copy received from Nellisseri Siva Ramayyan of

Palghat town. The document is in places barely intelligible.
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NOTE: 1. Tekku-nathan (literally, southern lord), that is, the Southern Nayakkan of Palghat,
the ruler of Temmalapuram.
2. Kurvalcha, from kuru (= part, share) and Dravidian-valcha ( living prosperously, reigning,
governing). The immediate successors of a Raja had share in the administration.
3. Probably intended for Kotta-Karttakkanmar = literally, fort lords. Perhaps the same as the
Cotual (Kottavals) of the Portuguese.
4. Lands set apart for the support of Rajas.
5. These four words probably denote “the valleys and mountain spurs."
6. Manyam (Sanskrit) - deserving of honour or regard, and lands nearly or altogether exempt
from tax. Note that this is the case of a Raja parting with a portion of the lands set apart for his own use
(Cherikkal).
1. See note to paragraph (i) of Deed No. 3. It is to be inferred that this pattam was derived from
other land than that conveyed as Manyam. Probably it was from land of which the temple had. already
obtained the "water right" and the Pati-patta-varam or pattam of which was now also given up.
2. See above. This was the head (Northern Nayakkan) of the other branch of the Palghat Raja's
family. END OF NOTEs
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Appendix
No. 6
Letter (തി ്)from Kandan Damodaran. To be read over by Mangat Menon
(േമനവൻ = accountant) and communicated (തിരുമന ഉണർ ി ൂ ==
awaken the blessed mind) to Trissivaperur (Trichur) Natuvile Matattil Kakkote
Tirumanassu (തിരുമന = blessed mind, a term applied to Nambutiris, etc.), who
looks after the affairs of Tiruvalattur Bhagavati, our household goddess (പരേദവത) ;
the object ((കാർ ം), than, is that, with a view that prosperity may come to us (നമു ്
േ ശയ ് വേര തി ു്) by removing the displeasure (തിരുെവളേ ട contracted

from തിരുഉ േ ട, a particular term for the displeasure of Nambutiris, Rajas, etc.), of
the Bhagavati, incurred by our having done something ( ചിലൈക ാർ ംെച തു==
did some deeds by the hand) to Chuvath Nambi from Sanketam (സേ തം = an
asylum or holy refuge exempt from war and profanation), we have made a gift (ദ ു്
െച തു) by way of atonement ( പായ ി മായി), of our property (സ )

Meletattakku, bounded on the east by Elayachchapara, Ariyampaka and Parakkatavu,
on the south by river (പുഴ) on the west by Pantillottumakku, and on the north by
Pantittodu (േതാ = canal), lands for 12 (പ ിരു) kalams (കലം, a Tamil measure =
12 marcals) of seed, and parambas situated within these boundaries, Etavantikavil
Ayyan (അ ൻ or അ ൻ == deity of hunting), the Ayyappan Variyam (വാരിയം
= Variyar's house), Kambu kulam (കുളം = tank), Kula nilam (നിലം == land),
and 20 paras of paddy as Melvaram (േമൽവാരം), out of the Micharam due to us on
account of Oravan Kandam, 60 paras lands demised (ചാർ ിയ) to Kottavali
(Nambutiri). Thus Kartikanyayar (കാർ ിക ായ ിൽ == in the solar month of
Kartika) of Bahudhaniya3 Varsham (ബഹുധാന വർഷം). May Kartiyayini
(കാർ ായിനി = female deity) be pleased and become protectress. With the
knowledge of Tiruvalattur Potuval Chutanarayanan Vadamuli Kumaran Kandan, the
witness to this.
Note.—Translated from a copy received from Nellisseri Siva Ramayyan of Palghat
town. The language of this deed is ordinary modern Malayalam. It is placed here in the list
because its date is, like the dates of those that precede it, not referable to the Kollam or
Putuveppu era, but it is an ordinary modern deed.
NOTEs: 3. The twelfth year in the Brihaspati (60 years) Cycle. END OF NOTEs
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No. 7
In the month of Makaram of the year 4664, Vayalmanakkal Shangara
Narayanan, the proprietor5 (ഉടയ) of Parayat Desam, has conveyed [എഴുതിെകാടു ു
= literally, wrote (and) gave] for 48,101 old fanams1 to Ayikkare, Ittikota, and
Itichakki, by a copper-plate (െചേ ടു്) executed by Shangara Narayanan in the
blessed (തിരു) presence of Villiyar Vatta Svarupam2, his lands (ഉൽപ ികൾ) and
parambas (പറ ുകൾ) in the Parayat Desam (which are) bounded on the east by
Aynarikkal channel (േതാടു്), on the south by Kotatha ferry, on the west by Kuttiruthi
channel (േതാടു്), and on the north by Kayanutti channel (േതാടു്) as well as the
Sthanamanangal ാനമാന ൾ = literally, rank and honors ; but per Gundert
‘"rank and emoluments of office”), Yekku3 (െയ ു sic ? ), Chollu (െചാല =
command), Kuttu (കു ു = probably authority over transactions, such as signing
deeds), Vilakku4 (വിള ു = lamp), right of digging and splitting (െവ കയും
പിള ുകയും), cow having five nipples to the udder (അ ു മുല), Chelli a sort of
grass in the fields, = to stray as cattle. Gundert, Chelli (െചലി =? stray cattle), fighting
bull (െചെ ാ ു്
==: literally, red horn), dramatic ornaments or religious festival
(െവലയാ സാധനം), enjoyment of crops (വിളെപാക ൾ)5, the fish known as
Cannan6 in the tank (കുള ിൽ ക ൻ), the hog that has fallen into a well
(കിണ ിൽ പ ി), and civet cat (െപരു = probably െമരു) and tigress (പുലി),
abnormal jackfruit (െകാ ച )7 and "bunch of plantains with tree (കുലവാഴ), and
all similar rank and honours ( ാനമാന ൾ). Thus Ayikkare, Ittikota, and Itichakki
have taken by writing (എഴുതി െകാ ാൻ) from Shangara Narayanan, in the
blessed presence of Villiyar Vatta Svarupam, his lands (ഉൽപ ികൾ) and parambas
(പറ ുകൾ) specified in Parayat Desam, as well as the rank and honours
( ാനമാന ൾ)8 Yekku (െയ ു sic), Chollu (െചാല = command), Kuttu (കു ു,
see notes above), Vilakku (lamp), the right of digging and splitting (െവ കയും
പിള ുകയും), cows having five nipples to the udder (അ ു മുല), Chelli (െചലി, see
above), the fighting bull (െചെ ാ ു്), dramatic ornaments (േവലയാ സാധനം), see
above), the fish known as Cannan in the tank (കുള ിൽ ക ൻ), the hog that has
fallen into a well (കിണ ിൽ പ ി), civet Cat (െപരു = probably െമരു), tigress
(പുലി), abnormal jack (െകാ ച ) and bunch of plantains with tree (കുലവാഴ),
and all similar ranks. Thus Ittikota and Itichakki got by writing the Desam (േദശം
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Appendix
അട ി എഴുതി െകാ ാൻ), by paying 48,101 old fanams ; the witnesses who know
this being Tiriwalu Patteri, Talappu of Palutinepalli, Vaykot Elamal and Katammat
Menon.
Note.—It is not known whether the boundaries specified are the boundaries of the
Desam, or only of a portion of it. The copy from which this translation was made was obtained
from the Dewan of Cochin State.
NOTEs: 1. It will be seen in subsequent deeds that the price paid is never stated.
2.The "Beliartes" of the Portuguese, the Kodungallur (Cranganore) dynasty.
3.. എ ം (Ekkam) means turning for fight. — Gundert.
4.കു ുവിള ു, if taken together, means “lamp with a long handle” used as insignia.
5. First-fruits would probably better express the meaning.
6. Varal—piral (North Malabar)—pral == Maral.
7. Jackfruit with a horn, abnormal growth.
8. Some of these “ranks" (Sthanam,) and "honours" (Manam) are (see Glossary under "Revenue”)
privileges supposed to appertain exclusively to ruling Rajas. END OF NOTEs
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Vol 2
No. 8
In the year 6401, Vrisohika Vyalam, solar month (ഞായർ) Kanni, under the
orders of Ittikombi and Anantiravars (അന ിരവൻ), and of Kalpatti Mukhalvattams
(മു ാൽവ ൾ == the oracles of Velichapadu), the land bounded on the east by
the paramba north of the Chira (ചിറ) = tank or embankment) and Tekka Telava, on
the south by Maravalli Todu (േതാ = stream), on the west by patti Kadavu കട =
ferry), and on the north by the Kalpatti Kadavu (കട = ferry), is made a gift of
with water2 (ധാരാദ ) to the temple (േകാവിൽ), with the very superior ( െമ െമ
= superior and superior) use of protection3 (േ മമു ഉപേയാഗം), to the

Brahmans living therein, and with the upper and lower produce (േമൽഫലവും
കീ ഫലവും) retainers and slaver, (ആളടിയാർ), cattle (ഏര) and iron (ഇരി ് =
ploughshare), seed and valli (വി ും വലിയും), oil-mill (ച ു), and Mukkalvattam
(മു ാൽ വ ം = also applied to the temples of Bhagavati, where the oracles were
consulted), 130 Brahman houses existing therein, 132 fanams given to Tiranda Mana
with interest of 132 fanams, the gold, silver, and copper vessels belonging to the
temple, and every such thing. Nephew4 (മരുമകൻ) Ittikombi and Anantiravars and
these Mukkalvattam (മു ാൽവ ം), are witnesses5 (to this) (സാ ി കടവർ) ; the
support to this (ഇതി ു ആധാരമാകു തു്) is Chokkanathan (Siva), Emur Bhagavati
and Melkaranavan (chief administrator). Written to this effect by Rayiramkandatt
Pangi.
Note.—The copy from which, this translation was made was obtained from Nellisseri
Siva Ramayyan of Palghat town.
NOTEs: 1. A.D. 1464.
2. Transfers of the “water right” required formerly the sanction of the Perumal as well as of the
local chief, and his heir, and the “six hundred,” and neighbouring lords (Deed 3). Here the transfer is
made by the local chief with the concurrence, however, of the people, whose mouth-piece was the
Velichapad or oracle. The Perumal or Kon-of Keralam was now extinct. Each ruling chief of a nad had
probably set himself up as Kon.
3. This deed adheres to the old line of providing for the "protection" of the inhabitants.
Compare Deed 3.
4. "Nephew,” that is of the Palghat Raja. He was probably at the time the ruling chief, for the
head of the house did not always possess executive functions.
5.The copy is to this effect, but sakshi (witness) has probably been mistaken for sukshi, which
gives the more intelligible meaning, that these individuals would “take care” the deed of gift was carried
out.
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Appendix
No. 9
Attipettolakarunam (അ ിെപെ ാലകരണം), executed in Medam Nyayar (solar
month), Makara Vyalam, of the year 6996,
Pulavali Nakan Naranan7 has given, with
water, the Attipper of his Chennapuram Desam (േദശം), and Desadhipatyam
(േദശാധിപത ം), and Chennapuratt8 Ambalam (അ ലം = temple), and Ambalapadi
Urayma (അ ലപടി ഊരരാ മ), and the Devasvam lands (ഉഭയ ൾ), and
parambas, and Cherumars (വലിചാ ാർ), amd Kolapuratt Taravad9, and the lands
and parambas, and Cherumars (വലിചാ ാർ), and Kudiyiruppus (കടിയരു ്)
belonging to the said Taravad, to Valayur1 Kuriyetat Viyatan Manichan, after receiving
from his hands (ക ാൽ) and the current market value thereof (അ ുെപരും
അർ ം)2 = literally, the then breeding money, i.e,, the then market value.
NOTEs: 6. A.D. 1523,
7. Both parties to this deed are Samandar, the caste of the Zamorin Rajas.
8. Also called Keitodik:, temple, situated in the Cheruppullasseri Amsam of Walluvanad Taluk.
9. See Glossary and Note to Deed No. 22.
1. Also called Vinakunnatt.
2. "The price it will then fetch ; so much as it is worth." — Gundert, Compare the second note
to Deed No. 7. This phrase occurs frequently in subsequent deeds. END OF NOTEs
Thus Valayur Kuriyetat Viyatan Manchan has received, with water, the
Attipper of the above-said Chennapuram Desam (േദശം), and Desadhipatyam
(േദശാധിപത ം), and Chennapuratt Ambalam (അ ലം = temple), and Ambalapadi
Urayma (അ ല ടി ഊരാ മ), and the Devasvam lands (ഉഭയ ൾ), and parambas,
and Cherumars (വലിആളർ), and Kolapuratt Taravad, and the lands (ഉ പ ി), and
parambas, and Cherumars (വലിആളർ), and Kudiyiruppus (കുടിയിരു ്) belonging
to the said Taravad, after paying the current market value thereof അ ുെപറും
അർ ം). Thus Pulavali Nakan Naranan has given, with water, the Attipper of the
four boundaries (നലതിർ), and parambas, and nilams, and produce (ഫലം = fruit),
and all of these, etc,, comprised in the said Desam (േദശം), lands (ഉൽപ ി), parambas
and Kudiyiruppus (കുടിയിരു ്), as also everything, of whatever3 description
(എെ ർെ തു്) included in them, after receiving the current market value
(അ ുെപറും അർ ം). Thus Viyatan Manichan has received, with water, the
Attipper of the four boundaries, and parambas, and nilams, and phalams, and all of
these and everything else included in the said Desam, and in the lands and parambas,
and Kudiyiruppu after paying the market value (െപരും അർ ം). That the Attipper
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is given with water and that the Attipper is received with water, is witnessed by
Elandikundatt Nambutiri and Patinhare Kur.4 Written by Chattu.
Note.—The copy from which this translation was made was obtained from Kilepatt
Teyyan Menon of Walluvanad Taluk, Malabar.
NOTEs: 3. The same phrase occurs in Deed No. 4.
4. The branch of the reigning family, probably Zamorin of Calicut. END OF NOTEs
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Appendix
No. 10
Veppolakarunam (െവേ ാലകരുണം) executed in the solar month (ഞായർ)
of Chingam, towards the end of Karkadaka Vyalam (കർ ടകവ ാഴം
7255,
േപാകു ). Elaya Nambi Vittil Chattan Raman and heirs (ത ിമാർ) received 111½
new fanams from (the hands of) Muttanambiar Vittil Kelan Kandan and heirs
(ത ിമാർ) in this manner. Now the object of receiving the above 111½ fanams is
that Elaya Nambi Vittil Chattan Raman and heirs (ത ിമാർ) grant (literally, write and
give) Nambukkotil Kandam 2 plots, Pantarattil Kandam 1 plot, Kundu Kandam 1 plot,
and Pulikkunnat compound (വള ്). Muttanambiar Vittil Kelan Kandan and
Ananthavars accordingly obtain Veppu6 (െവ ്) right on payment of the said sum.
Thus written by the grantee, with the knowledge of Ayikltara Kandan Chattan, witness
for the parties granting and obtaining Veppu (െവ ്) right for the said amount.
Note.—Translated from a copy received from Kilepatt Teyyan Menon of Walluvanad
Taluk.
NOTEs: 5. A.D. 1550
6. Veppu signifies a deposit, hence a pledge for the sum advanced. It is equivalent to Otti, See
Glossary. END OF NOTEs
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Vol 2
No. 11
Attippettolakaranam (അ ിെ േ ാലകരണം), executed in Kumbham Nyayar
(ഞായർ = solar month) of the year (which has) advanced (െച ) to 7621, Kilakke
Kuttattil2 Chandu of Kannanuriyatt Ur (ഊ = village) granted Attipper and water
(അ ിെ രുംനീരുെകാടു ാൻ) of his Nirattu house3, granted Attipper and water of
Kannanuriyatt Kisaliyakat Nirattu house3, Kannanuriyatt Kisaliyakat Kuttattil4 Chandu
granted Attipper and water of his Nirattu3 house by settling the price (വിലമുറി ).
Kisaliyatt Chandu granted Attipper and water by settling the price (വിലമുറി ) and
receiving the full value in gold (െപാ റ). In this way (ഇ ാർ െമ) the Uralan, in
the blessed name (തിരുനാമം) of Nallatat Perillatta5, fixed the price (വിലമുറി )
and obtained Attipper and water (അ ിെ റും നീരുംെകാ ാം) of the said Nirattu
house. In this way the witness6 (സാ ി), knowing (this transaction) on behalf of the
party who fixed the price and granted Attipper and water of the said house, and of the
party who obtained (the same), is Talavattatt7 Kilakke Vittil Nambadi Kanakkampalli
Kannan. Written in the hand of Kanakkam Valli.
Note.—Translated from a copy received from the Huzur Sheristadar, Malabar
Collector’s Office.
NOTEs: 1. A.D. 1587.
2. Literally, Chandu of the Eastern Kuttam (see Appendix XIII), belonging to the village of
Kannanuriyatt.
3. See note to Deed No. 20.
4. Literally Chandu of the Eastern Kuttam (see p. 132 of the text), belonging to the village of
Kannanuriyatt.
5. Literally, nameless.
6. Neither Ko nor pati was present at the execution of this deed apparently. The circle of the
Taras did, however, probably witness its execution. See following note.
7. Probably intended for Tara vattatt. See notes to Deeds Nos. 13, 14, and 20. END OF
NOTEs
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Appendix
No. 12
Attippettolakaranam (അ ിെ േ ാലകരണം), executed in Tula Nyayar (ഞായർ
= solar month) of the year (which has) advanced to (െച ) 7938. Kunimal Micheri
Kunhamu of Putuppattanatt Ur (ഊ = village) received the current market value
(അ ുെപറുവില അർ വും വാ ി) of the Ottakandam land (ഒ ം) at the
north-western extremity (മൂല) of Valayala land in a way extinguishing the water
(right) (നീരറ) and extinguishing the price (വലിയറ). The Uralars of Nallatat
Nerillat Tiru namam [തിരുനാമംവയരാ (?) = blessed name] joining the nearest
Anantiravars for the time being, and with the knowledge of the neighbours and of the
over-lord (പതി = lord, or master), and in the presence of the Kovil (േകാവിൽ =
literally, palace, hence king) of that Nad9, paid the full value in gold
(െപാെ റെകാടു ), settled the price (വിലമുറ ്) and obtained Attipper with
water for full value (അ ിെ രുനീരുംെകാ ാൻ). In the blessed name
(തിരുനാമംവായ) of Urulleri Nallatat Perillatta paid the current market value
(അ ുെപരുവില അർ വുംെകാടു ു്) with the knowledge of the neighbours
(അയാലു്) of the over-lord (പതി), and of the Kovil ((േകാവിൽ = palace, hence
king) of that Nad, settled the price (വിലമുറി ്) and obtained Attipper with water
(അ ിെ റുംനീരുംെകാ ാൻ) of the Ottakandam1 land (ഒ ക ം) for 602 Idangalis
of paddy at the north-western extremity of Valayala Kandam (ക ം == piece of
land), belonging to the Putuppattanatt Kunimal Muvailacheri Kunhamu.
In this way written in the hand of Nallatat Perillat Taye Kanakkam3 Valli,
witness knowing (this transaction) on behalf of parties who granted and who obtained
Attipper with water of what is contained within these boundaries of the said piece of
land— ൈദവ ി െറ ക ം (God’s land) on the east, Amat Kotta (േകാ =
fortress) on the south, അടിേയാടി െറ ക ം (Adiyodi s land) on the west, and
Akkamvittil Nayar’s Korappalli on the north.
NOTEs: 8. A.D. 1617,
9. In Deeds Nos. 1, 2 and 3 the Ko was the Perumal or Emperor (Chakravarti) of Malabar. Here
the Ko is merely king of a nad. In fact the Naduvali has by this time become the Ko.
1. It should be noticed that though the usual modern meaning of Kandam is rice-field, its
original meaning is a piece or fragment or share of anything. When the Nayar “60” were breaking up their
communal rights in land, this word probably meant share.
2. This means the seed required to sow the land was 60 Idangalis.
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Vol 2
3. Probably Kanakkapilla — writer, accountant of the temple. END OF NOTEs
No. 13
Attippettolakaranam (അ ിെ െ ാലകരണം), executed in Chinga Nyayar
(ഞായർ) == solar month) of the year (which has) advanced to (െച ) 7954.
Putiyavittil Kunnummal Kandumalacheri Taye Chandu Kurup, Kora Kurup and Taye
Kunhan Nurup of Puttuppattanatt5 Ur (ഊർ = village), received the current market
value (അ ുെപറുംവില അർ വും വാ ി) of their Kunnummal house6, and
having received the full value in gold (െപെ റ) in a way extinguishing the water
(right) and extinguishing the price, granted the Attipper and water (അ ിെ റു നീരും)
after settling the price (വിലമു ), by joining the nearest Anantiravars for the time
being (അ ടു ും അന ിരവെരയുംകൂടി), and with the knowledge of the
neighbours (അയല) and of the over-lord7 (പതി = lord or master). In this way
(ഇവാർ െമ), in the blessed name (തിരുനാമം വയരാൽ) (?) of Nallatat Perillatta8
Taye, Kurulleri Uralars, sitting inside (കരെ രി ഊരാളര ഉ രിെ ), paid the
current market value of the Kunnummal house belonging to (ത ള െട), the said
Kandumalacheri Taye Chandu Kurup Kora Kurup, and Kunhan Kurup, settled the
price (വില മുറി ) and obtained the Attipper and water (അ ിെ റും നീരും
കാ ാൻ). In this way (ഇ ാർ െമ) the good and bad stones (കല ം കരടു),
stump of nux vomica (കാ ിരകു ി) the front side and back side (മു ുംപി ും) ?
thorns (മു ), cobras (മൂർ ൻപാ ു്), hidden treasure and the vessel in which it is
secured (െവ ം െച ), and water included in the four boundaries of the said house
(വീടു്) are granted as Attipper and water by settling the price. In behalf of the
grantor, and in behalf of the purchaser of Attipper with water, the witnesses (താ ി)
knowing (this) are Taravattam1 Tekkmn Talasseri (തറെവ ം െത ും തലേ രി), Kelu
Kurup and Kileriye Karunakara Kurup. Written by the god’s accountant
(ൈദവ ി െറ കണ ി ) with due publicity (േക േകൾ ി = literally, heard
and caused to be heard ) in the blessed name (തിരുനാമം വയരാം) (?) of Nallatat
Perillatta (nameless) god, with the Uralars sitting inside (ഊരാള ിരു ു ).
NOTEs: 4. A.D. 1620.
5. Puttuppattanam (new town) was at one time the seat of the Southern Regent of Kolattunad.
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Appendix
7. The Ko (king) is not here mentioned, but see Deed No. 14.
1. Taravattam means “circle of Taras". The witnesses were evidently Karanavar of the Taras of
the nad. See pp. 88 and 132 of the text. The Pati also knew of the transaction. See above. Who was this
Pati ? Paragraph (i) to Deed No 3 seems to make it clear that at that time the Pati was the “600’’ of the
nad, the body that corresponded in the Jews’ and Christians’ organisations to Anjuvannam and
Manigramam in their corporate capacities. Whether the “600” had by this time divided the common
property (the Pati-patta-varam) among all the Taravads represented in the “600” it is difficult to say. On the
whole, it is probably correct that the Pati-pattam was divided among all the Taravad families (see the items
included under Taravad in Deed No. 9) and that the individual known as the Pati was either the hereditary
military commandant of the Desam or the Naduvali or perhaps some temporarily influential man in the nad.
END OF NOTEs
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No. 14
Attippettalakaranam (അ ിെ െ ാലകരണം), executed in Chinga Nyayar
(ഞായർ = solar month) of the year (which has) advanced (െച ) to7952
Kuruvayilatt Tayatt Puttalatt Nambiar of Putupattanatt Ur (ഊ = village) received
the current market value (അ ുെപറും വിലഅർ ം), and with the knowledge of the
neighbours (അയൽ), and of the over-lord (പതി = lord3 or master), and in the
presence (മ ാെക) of the king4 (േകാവിൽ = palace, put for king) ruling (വാഴും)
that Nadu (അ ാടു്), received full value in gold (െപാൻനിറിവാ ി), and granted
Attipper (അ ിെ ർ) and water (നീർ) by settling the price (വിലമുറി ) in a way
extinguishing the price (വിലയറ മുറി ) of his share5 (ഒകതി) (corruption of
ഓഹരി = share) of his Mittalapavuttil, house6, Pallikkara Vittil Uralan, in the blessed
name (തിരുനാമം) of Perillatta7 Taya (god) of Nallatatt Ur (ഊ =village), purchased
Vayara and Nir (വയരും നീരും = perhaps, including grass and water (?) by settling
the price (വിലമറി ). In this way the boundaries of this house are, east Mekkombatt
house south, as far as Mekkalam, west as far as Tayatt Puttillam and north as far as
Tirinnatt Kandi ; the Kanynyra kuyi paramba and field (വയൽ), Chembu (െച ു) =
inferior yellowish soil ?, and water (നീർ) included in the above four boundaries ; of
these the Attipper and water are granted after settling the price (വിലമുറി ). In
behalf of him who granted the Attipper and water (അ ിെ രും നീരും
വിലമുറി െകാടു െമയ ും), and in behalf of him who purchased the Attipper and
water (അ ിെ രുംനീരും വിലവുറി െകാ െമയ ും), the witness (താ ി)
corruption of (സാ ി) who knows this is Talavattutt1 Putiya Pattanatt Nanikkott

Nambiar. Written by Mekkanattokam Palli.
Note. — Translated from a copy received fiom the Huzur Sheristadar,
Malabar Collector’s Office.
NOTEs: 4. A.D. 1620.
5. Puttuppattanam (new town) was at one time the seat of the Southern Regent
of Kolattunad.
7. The Ko (king) is not here mentioned, but see Deed no. 14.
1. Taravattatt (?). See note to No. 13. END OF NOTEs
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Appendix
No. 15
Attippettola Karyam (അ ിെ െ ാലകാർ ം) executed in the month (മാസം)
of Kanni, 281, Putuvaypa2 (പുതുവാ പ). The Cochin Rajas (െപരു ുട )
Gangadhara (ഗംഗാധര)3, Vira (വീര), Kerala (േകരള), Trikkovil (തൃേ ാവിൽ),
Adhikarikal (അധികാരികൾ) = Sarvadhikaryakar), granted on receipt of the market

Attipper value (െപറും വില അ ിേ രാർ ം), found then by four people
(അ ുനാല ക ), a Nirmutaludakamare3 Attipper (നീർമതലുദകമെറ അ ിെ ർ)
of their Desam (േദശം) to the north of the bar4 (അഴി), and Paliyat Raman Iravi and
heirs (ന ിമാർ) accordingly obtained on payment of the market Attipper value
(േപറും വില അ ിേ രർ ം), found then by four people (അ ുനാലർക ), a
Nirmutaludakamare Attipper of the Desam to the north of the bar. The boundaries5 of
the Desam included in the Attipper are Kalukutta6 (കഴുക = probably the depth
of a pole) in the river (കായൽ) on the east, Kalukutta in the sea (കടൽ) on the west,
the bar on the south, and the Captain’s Cross (ക ി ാൻ കരിശികെല) todu
(channel) on the north. Everything7 contained within the said four boundaries
(എ ീനാല തൃ ക കെ എേ ർ തും), such as stones (കല്), charcoal
(കരി ), stumps of Strychnos nux vomica (കാ ിര ു ി), thorn-clump (മു മുരിട),
cobras (മൂർ പാ ്), holes (അള), mounds8 (തറ), treasure (നിധി), wells (കിണർ),
skies (ആകാശം), underground (പാതാളം), watercourses (നീരുവീതി), boundaries
(അതി ), field ridges (വര ്), canals (േതാടു്) washing places (തുറ), roads used by
persons (ആൾേപാകുംവഴി), streams (നീരുേപാകു ചാൽ), forests having deer
(മാൻെപടും കാടു്), shady places having honey (േതൻെപടും േചാല), Desam9 (േദശം),
Desadhipatyam9 (േദശാധിപത ം) Amsam10 (അംശം), Sthanam ( ാനം), battle wager
(അ ം), customs duty (ചു ം), and everything else (മ എേ ർെ തും) sold and
purchased respectively. Written in the hand of Itti.
Note —Translated from a copy received from the Dewan of Cochin.
NOTEs: 2. Putuvaypu or Putuveppu (literally, new deposit) is an island formed between the
mouths of the Crangannore and Cochin rivers. The deposit was formed in A.D. 1341. The date of the
deed is therefore A.D. 1622.
3. From Nir (Drav.)—water ; mutal (Drav.)—property ; udakam (Sansk.) water ; vare (Drav.)—as
far as, up to.
4. Cochin bar.
5. The Desam must have formed the southern extremity of what is now called the Island of
Vypeen, part of which is now British territory inherited from the Dutch.
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6. Meaning the boundary extends so far into the river as can be sounded by a bambo pole used
in propelling boats.
7. Compare Deed No. 21 and the note thereto.
8. Tara is probably correctly translated here as “mounds", its original meaning.
9. This deed is very interesting as it shows that Rajas were in the habit of occasionally selling the
over-lordships (Pati) of territory. See note to Deed No. 13.
10. Amsam (Sansk).—share, part ; probably synonymous here with varam, i.e., the Ko's or Pati's
share of produce. END OF NOTEs
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Appendix
No. 16
Attipettolakaranam (അ ിെ െ ാലകരണം), executed in Karkadaka Nyayar
(ഞായർ = solar mon) of the year which has) advanced to (െച ) 8001. The blessed
name of Nallatat Uralan of Kuruvalleri Ur (ഊ = village). The Uralan of the god
paid the current market value (അ ുെപറും വില അർ ും െകാടു ു്), joined the
nearest Anantiravars for the time being (അ ടു ും അന ിരവാെരയുംകൂടി), paid
the full value in gold (െപാെ രെകാടു ു്), settled the price (വിലറമുറി ്), obtained
Attipper and water (അ ിെ റും നീരുംെകാ ാൻ) of the Karumani house2 belonging
to (ത ുെട) Perunkinillat Pilarat Chattu Nambiyar. In this way the boundaries are
south as far as the fields (വയൽ), west as far as Katakandam, north as far as Aviyaram
Kandi (eastern boundary not given) ; thorns (മു ്), good and bad stones (കല ം
കരടും), the stump of nux vomica (ൈക ിരകു ി), thorns (മു ്), and cobras
(മൂർ ൻപാ ്), included in the circle (വ ം) of the above four boundaries, are
granted on Attipper and water, after fixing the price (വിലമുറി ്). The witness
(താ ി) in behalf of the grantor and grantee is............ Written by Valli.
Note. - Translated from a copy received from the Huzar Sheristadar, Malabar
Collector’s Office. The deed is incomplete, and to some extent, unintelligible.
NOTEs: 1. A. D. 1625.
2. See note to Deed No. 20. END OF NOTEs
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Vol 2
No. 17
Pattolakarunam (പാെ ാല കരുണം), executed in the solar month (ഞായർ)
of Kumbham of the year 8223. Mukkachattil Kandar Kandar and Karumattil Ponnan
Chattu received 121 new fanams from Chembil, Parangodan Kandar ; the object, then,
of receiving the said 121 fanams is that our Talappalli Tirutt Kandam4 6 plots (ക ം),
Pulakkura Kandam 2 plots, making a total of 8 plots, are a pattam5, together with the
Kavalpalam (കാവൽപലം or കാവൽഫലം—remuneration for protection6 of land
claimed by, the chief inhabitants), on an annual5 pattam of 5 potis (െപാതി) of paddy,
as per the Edappal Peru-nali (െപരുനാഴി-big nali) ; out of this deduct 2 potis and 8
tunis (തുണി) as interest on the amoimt at 5 per cent, and commutable at 4 paras per
fanam (നാ പര വിലയും) and 12 tunis (തൂണി) Kavalpalam (കാവൽഫലം). May
the balance of 2 potis (െപാതി) be paid annually. Thus written by Eledatt Elayad.
Note.-Translated from a copy received from Kilepatt Teyyan Menon of

Walluvanad Taluk.
NOTEs: 3. A.D. 1627.
4. Here again Kandam occurs in a way to suggest that it originally meant the Taravad’s share of
the communal rights. See Deed No. 12.
5. Pattamayi pattamandu.
6. The duty of the Kanakkars (Nayar headmen) was protection. See note to Deed No. 4. It is a
significant fact that in this, the earliest Kanam deed, the duty of protection is thrown on the Kanakkar.
END OF NOTEs
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Appendix
No. 18
Attippettolakarunam (അ ിെ െ ാലകരണം), executed, at Nalleppalli
Mannam7 (മ ം), of Ankavenatkatavur (അ േവണാ കടവൂർ) Keiretatt
(ൈകെരട ു്) in the solar month (ഞായർ) of Mithunam Edava vyalam, 8311.
Chambattil Chattan Chattan and heirs (ത ിമാർ) received the market value
(െപറുമർ ം) from Iswara Pattar, son of Ellappa Pattar, residing at Nalleppalli. Thus
the object of the said market value is that Chambattil Chattan Chattan and heirs, by
pouring water granted as Nirmutal (നീർമുതൽ = literally, water property) Nirattipper
(നീര ിേ ർ = Attipper with water) of 2 pieces of land sowing 20 paras and lying
above the Vakappatat Arayakka Chira lands sowing 45 paras down from Eluvat Potta
in Kalayam Kolumbu and above (േമെ ്) Ankarat Nilam, others sowing 20 paras
above Talatteturu Nilam, and others sowing 20 paras above Karakkatan Chira in
Kosavan Kuli, making a total of (ആെക) lands sowing 105 paras, and parambas on
both sides, together with the upper and lower produce (േമൽഫലവും കീ ഫലവും).
Iswara Pattar and heirs accordingly paid the said market value (െപറുമർ ം), and by
receiving water poured out obtained as Nirmutal (നീർമുതൽ = water property)
Nirattipper (നീര ിേ ർ = Attipper with water) of the said lands sowIng 20 paras at
Vakappatom, sowing 45 paras at Kalayam Kolumbil, 20 paras of Talatte, and 20 paras
at Kosavankuli making a total of (ആെക) lands sowing 105 paras, and the parambas
on both sides, together wdth the upper and lower produce (േമൽഫലവുംകീ
ഫലവും). Written in the hand of Ponnachatat Pannochan, with the knowledge of
Vettiyil Chattan Chattan and Tevur Teyyan Raman witnesses knowing this.
Note. — Translated from a copy received from Nallepalli Ankaratta Valiya
Mannadiyar of Cochin State.
NOTEs: 7. Vide note to Deed 1 No. 24.
1. A.D. 1656 END OF NOTEs
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No. 19
Tittu (തീ ്) of Yogiyatiri (േയാഗിയാതിരി), addressed to (ക ുകാർ ം) our
Elavathur Vanchi Tayamman and heirs (ത ിമാർ). In consideration of what we have
enjoyed (നമു ുേവ ി അനുഭവി തി ു്) from your Karnavan Chittalapalli
Nambidi, we have given to you at the Rishabha Yogam (ഋഷഭേയാഗം = council of
that name), for your hereditary enjoyment (വംശപര രയായി
അനുഭവി െകാളള മ ം) the following, the Pallipuratta pattam : (പാ ം)2 to be
enjoyed as Karam pattam2? (കാരാംപാ - കാര മപാ ം = perpetual pattam), and

the Velakkora land sowing 62 paras, and Karamata sowing 7 paras, which were given
to you for 36 years, and 2 narayams of boiled rice at Pilakkod in Madilagam. From the
solar month of Makaram 8423, what is here written under orders may be enjoyed in
hereditary succession (വംശപര രയായി).
Note.—Translated from a copy of a copper-plate deed received from the

Nallepalli Ankaratta Valiya Mannadiyar of Cochin State. The deed is barely intelligible
in places.
NOTEs: 2. Compare note to paragraph (i) of Heed No. 3.
3. A.D. 1666. END OF NOTEs
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Appendix
No. 20
Attippettolakaranam (അ ിെപെ ാലകരണം), executed in Meta Nyayar (ഞായർ
= solar month) of the year (which has) advanced to 8454. Putiyaparambatt Tachcholi5
Emma Kurup and Rayiru Kurap of Meppayil Ur (ഊർ == village) having received
(വാ ിെകാ ്) the current market value (അ ുെപറുംവില അർ ം) of thelr
Malamal House1, and joining (with them) the nearest Anantiravars for the time being
and having received (വാ ി) full value in gold (െപാ ിരവാ ി), granted Attipper
and water (അ ിെ രുംനീരും), after settling the price (വിലമുറി ്) in a way to
extinguish the price (വിലയറ) and water (right) (നീരറ), with the knowledge of the
neighbours (അയൽ) and the over-lord (പതി = lord or master), and in the presence
(മു ാെക) of the Kovil (േകാവിൽ = palace, hence king) of that Nad.
Putiyaparambatt Tachcholi Devan Yamma Kurup and Rayiru Kurup having paid the
current market value (അ ുെപറും വില അർ ം), and having paid (െകാടു ു) the
full value in gold (െപാ ിറ), purchased the Attipper by settling the price
(വിലമുറി ്) of his (ത ുെട) Malamal house, by joining (with them) the nearest
Anantiravars for the time being (അ ടു ും അന ിരവെരയുംകൂടി), and with the
knowledge of the neighbours (അയൽ) and of the over-lord (പതി) = lord, master),
and in the presence (മുെ ) of the king of that Nad (അ ാടുേകാവിൽ), in a way
extinguishing the water (right) (നീരറ) and extinguishing the price (വിലയറ). In the
blessed name of Perillatta (േപരിലാ തരിനാമംവയരാം) of Nalladath Ur (ഊർ =
village), the Uralars, by sitting inside (ഊരാളർ ഉളളിരിെ ), got the Malamal house
surrendered (െവ ി െകാ ാൻ == literally, caused to be laid down) by paying the
current market value (അ െപറും വിലയർ ം), and by joining the nearest
Anantiravars for the time being (അ ടു ും അന ിരവെരയും കൂടി), and with the
knowledge of the neighbours and the over-lord (അയലും പതിയും അറിയ), the
Attipper and water (അ ിെപറുംനീരും) were got surrendered (െവ ി െകാ ാൻ)
in the blessed name of the god (ൈദവം തിരനാമം വയരാം ?) (by) the Uralars sitting
inside (ഊരാളരു ിരിെ ). In this way (ഇ ാർ െമ) the boundaries of the said
house are east as far as the god’s swamp (പട ), south as far as the river, west as far as
the hill (മല) and north as far as the hill cultivated with cholam (െചാളംെവ ) by
Kilalam Kurup, the good and bad stones (കല ം കരടും), the stump of Nux vomica
(കാ ിരകു ി), thorns (മു ്), cobras (മൂർ ൻപാ ്), hidden treasure (െവ ്),
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the vessel in which it is secured (െച ്), water (നീർ), included (അട ി ) in
these four boundaries (are) given as Attipper with water (നീേരാടുകൂടി), by settling the
price ; in behalf of the giver (െകാടു െമ ും) and in behalf of him who
purchased the Attipper and water by settling the price, the witnesses (താ ി) knowing
(this) are Taravattam2 Kaikanda (തറവാ ം ൈകക = literally, influential in the
circle2 of Taras), Malachcheri Kunka Kurup and Chellattan Karunakara Kurap ; written
by the god’s accountant (ൈദവ ി െറ കണകുപി ) with due publicity (െക ്
േകൾ ി = literally, heard and caused to be heard).
Note.— Translated from a copy received from the Huzur Sheristadar, Malabar
Collector’s Office. The document is in one place very obscure. There is an apparent
inconsistency in the beginning, where the vendors are first said to sell the house by receiving
the price and then to buy the same house by paying the price.
NOTEs: 4. A.D. 1670.
5. Apparently the family of the hero of the തേ ാളിപാ ്, the Robin Hood of North Malabar.
- Conf. p- 96 of the next.
1. Vidu (Drav.) ordinarily means a house, but it had a meaning more ancient and more
approximate to the verb [viduka (Drav.)—to part, let go, untie, discharge, abandon] from which it is
derived. The viduper, 72 of which were conferred on the Jews by Deed No. 1, were items which were
"given up” to them by the Perumal. The meaning of vidu in this deed would probably be more precisely
represented by the word "manor". Compare the note on Taravad in Deed No. 22, and the note on
Purayidam in Deed No. 26.
2. See note to Deed No, 13. END OF NOTEs
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Appendix
No. 21
Attippettola Karyam (അ ിെ െ ാലകാരിയം), executed in the month (മാസം)
of Dhanu, 8531. The Cochin Rajas (െപരു ട ്) Lekshmikovil Adhikarikal
(അധികാരികൾ = Sarvadhi-Karyakar), on receipt of the market Attipper value, then
found by four people (അ ുനാലർക െപറുംവില അ ിെ രർ ം) granted an
Attippera (അ ിെ ർ) of their Pilavattara paramba2 (പറ ു്), and Paliyat Raman
Ittikkumaran and heirs (ത ിമാർ) accordingly obtained, on payment of the market
Attipper value, then found by four people, an Attippera of Pilavattara paramba. The
boundaries of the paramba sold are Nambulikat paramba on the east, Vayikkat
paramba on the south, Vayal on the west and Vatakkera paramba on the north.
Everything3 of whatever description3, that is contained (അകെ ് എേ ർെ തും)
within the said boundaries, including stones (കല ്), charcoal (കരി ), stump of
Strychnos nux vomica (കാ ിര ു ി), thorn-clumb (മു മുരിട), cobras
(മൂർ പാ ു്), holes (അള), mounds (തറ), treasure (നിധി), wells (കിണർ) skies
(ആകാശം), the underground (പാതാളം), water-course (നീരുവീധി)2 and everything else
(മ ് എെ ർെ ടുതും), were sold and purchased, as witness Kotamangalat Battatiri
and Ulutaral Battatiri. Written in the hand of Vattakkumcheri Unikkumaran.
Note.—Translated from a copy received from the Dewan of Cochin.
NOTEs: 1. A.D. 1677-78.
2. By this deed the Cochin Baja, disposed of a piece of garden. Compare with this the Deed No.
15.
3. In No. 15 the following were also named :—1, Boundaries ; 2, Field ridges ; 3, Canals ; 4,
Washing-places ; 5, Roads ; 6, Streams ; 7, Deer forests ; 8, Shady places for honey ; 9, Desam ; 10,
Desadhipatyam ; 11, Amsam ; 12, Sthanam ; 13,. Angam ; and 14, Chungam. If all these important
privileges had been conveyed by this deed, it is hardly possible that they would have been all lumped
together under the general head at the end. Moreover, Deed No. 15 has likewise a general head for
privileges not mentioned. END OF NOTEs
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Vol 2
No. 22
Tittu (തീ = letter from a superior to an inferior) from Karunnukki Tattan
Narayanan to the Fifteen4 (പതിന ്) of Irinyalakuda4 and to the Muttatu (മൂ തു്)
of Kolamanna. As the anger (േ ാഭം) of Kudalmanikkam (കൂടൽമാണി ം) =

probably an evil spirit was found in our Taravad, we have this day, according to the
remedy suggested (ഒഴിക ിരി ു പകാരം) by an astrological calculation
(വ ം), surrendered (ഒഴി ു) by a document (എഴുതിെവ = literally, wrote
and placed) laid on the blessed door (തൃ ടി = door of temple) the lands (നിലം)
and parambas (പറ ു്) which are our Taravad5 Janmam6 (തറവാടുജ ം) in Allur
Desam in the country (നാടു) of Chundal, and Poymale temple (േ തം), Turutti
temple, and Alu Bhagavati temple out of (our) temples (േ തം), and the property
(വ തുവക), and retainers (ആൾ) and slaves (അടിയാർ) and others (മുതലായതും)
of the above temples (ഈ േ ത ളിെല), and in addition to this (ഇതുകൂടാെത) the
property (വ തു ൾ) in the interior Dessams (ഉൾേദശം) of Poravur, Perumannai
and Kandiyur, and the Karayma and Samudayam (കാരാ മസദുദായം) of the
Kandiyur temple (േ തം), as perpetual (ശാശ ാത) enjoyment (അനുേപാകും), with
water (ഉദയമായി) in order that they may be enjoyed for ever and ever
(എെ േ ും) as Devaswam (property): all the above-written property
(േമെലഴുതിയവക ലവും) may be enjoyed by the Devaswam in the same manner
as we are enjoying them. (This is) executed voluntarily (മനപൂർ മായി), with gift of
water Janmam1 (ജ നീരുദകം), by Karumukka Illath Tattan Narayanan, Chumaran,
and Saraswati and Nanganeli out of the females (അ ർ ന ൾ), on the 14th of
Chittrai month, in the year 8562, on the auspicious day, (ശുഭദിനം) of Tuesday
(മംകളവാരം) and written by Unikkandan Vittil Raman. Witness : Kovur Vasudevan
and Nallurpilli Paramesvaran.
NOTEs: 4. Irinyalakuda is one of the original 64 Nambutiri Gramams (villages). The "Fifteen”
probably constituted the council of the Gramam, just as the Karanavar of the Nayar Tara represented the
Tara in the Kuttam in the nad, or the Palliyar (literally, church people) the various communities of Christians
under the protection of Manigramam. See Deed No. 3
5. The use of this word here by a Brahman family marks a change in the constitution of society.
The Tara was the Nayar village or guild (so to speak) ; Taravad is Tara-padu, that is, authority in the Tara.
How could a Nambutiri family have obtained authority in the Tara ? The answer seems to be supplied by
Deed No. 9 and also by Deeds Nos. 11, 13, 14, 16 and 20. The vidu is, probably, equivalent to Taravad,
and both alike, it will be seen, were frequently sold.
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Appendix
6. This deed was executed by a Nambutiri family in favour of the elders of a Nambutiri village.
4. Irinyalakuda is one of the original 64 Nambutiri Gramams (villages). The "Fifteen” probably constituted
the council of the Gramam, just as the Karanavar of the Nayar Tara represented the Tara in the Kuttam in
the nad, or the Palliyar (literally, church people) the various communities of Christians under the
protection of Manigramam. See Deed No. 3
5. The use of this word here by a Brahman family marks a change in the constitution of society.
The Tara was the Nayar village or guild (so to speak) ; Taravad is Tara-padtt, that is, authority in the Tara.
How could a Nambutiri family have obtained authority in the Tara ? The answer seems to be supplied by
Deed No. 9 and also by Deeds Nos. 11, 13, 14, 16 and 20. The vidu is, probably, equivalent to Taravad,
and both alike, it will be seen, were frequently sold.
6. This deed was executed by a Nambutiri family in favour of the elders of a Nambutiri village.
This is the earliest instance as yet found of the use of the Sanskrit word Janmam in a Malayali deed.
1. Vide note above. Compare the phrase frequently repeated in the preceding and subsequent
deeds, namely, Attipper nir, etc. Janma nir udakam is merely the Sanskritised form of the ancient phrase.
2. A.D. 1681.
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No. 23
Pattolakarunam (പാെ ാലകരണം), executed in the solar month (ഞായർ) of
Karkadakam, of the year 8683. Tirumalasseri Naranan Naranan having received 240 new
fanams from (literally, from the hands of, ക ാൽ) Tekkat Raman Kumaran ; now the
object (കാർ ം) of receiving the said 240 fanams is that the lands at the northern end
of Potiyapuram are a pattam4 on a pattam of 24 paras of paddy, exclusive of an
allowance for damage (േകടു) and inclusive of Vasi (വാശി = allowance for
difference of measures) ; let the net pattam of 12 paras of paddy, after deducting 12
paras for interest on the amount (advanced) at 5 per cent, and commutable at 1 para
per fanam, be paid annually to my Polattikkarar (െപാഴ ി ാരർ = Pravarttikkar).
Thus written by Ambalat Kelu.
Note—Translated from a copy received from Kilepatt Teyyan Menon of
Walluvanad Taluk.
NOTEs. 3. A.D. 1693.
4. Pattamayi pattamandu. END OF NOTEs
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Appendix
NO. 24
Attipettolakaranam (അ ിെ െ ാലകരണം), executed in Chingam Nyayar
(ഞായർ = solar month), Karkidaka Vyalam, of the year 8815, at the Chittur
Mannatt6 (മ ു് ഇരു = literally, sitting at the Mannatt) of the Kilappalayur
Nad (നാടു്). Kotakare Kumaran Kandan received from (ക ാൽ == literally, from
the hands of) Ambat Raman Manchu the market value (െപരുവർ ം) ; thus the
object (കാർ ം) of this market value (െപരുവർ ം) is that Kotakare Kumaran
Kandan has given, with water as Attipper, his land (.. ) sowing 80 paras, and
bounded on the north by Otachirayil Matampalli Vatti Kandam (field), on the south by
the high road (െപരുവഴി), on the east by Parikkat Paru Nilam, and on the west by the
hill ; together with its upper produce (േമൽഫലം) and lower produce (കീ ഫലം), as
well as Vellayan and his two children, Kutti Kannan and his four childreii, and Tambi
(ത ി) and his two children, making a total of five (adults) and six children, and
making a grand total of eleven Cherumars (വലി ാ ാർ), out of his (Kumaran
Kandan's) slave Cherumars (അടിയാൻ വലിചാ ാർ). In this way Ambat Raman
Manchu and heirs (ത ികൾ) have taken with water as Attipper after paying the above
market value (െപരുവർ ം), the abovesaid land sowing 80 paras, and bounded on the
north by Otachirayal Matampalli Vatti Kandam (ക ം = field), on the south by the
high road (െപരുവഴി), on the east by Parikkat Paru Nilam, and on the west by the hill ;
together with the jungles (കാടു്) and embankment (കര) on both sides (ഇരുകര), as
also Vellayan and his children, Kutti Kannan and his children, Tambi and his children,
making a total of five adults and six children, and making a grand total of eleven
Cherumars out of the slave Cherumars (വലിചാ ാർ). The witnesses who know
this (transaction) are Ilamule Chennan Raman and Chennalikkote Chatta Raman.
Written by Meledatt Menon.
Note.—Translated from a copy received from the Nallepalli Ankaratta Valiya
NOTEs: 5. A.D. 1706.
6. A place of judgment or assembly, or a place for transacting business. For the three kinds of
Mannatt, vide Gundert*s Dictionary under മണat page 788. The Chittur Taluk of Cochin State lies east of
Palghat. END OF NOTEs
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Vol 2
NO. 25
Attippettolakaranam (അ ിെ െ ാലകരണം), executed in Dhanu Nyayar
(ഞായർ = solar month), Chinga Vyalam, of the year 8821, at the Chittur Mannatt2
(മ ഇരു = literally, sitting at the Mannatt) of the Kilpapalayur Nad (നാ ).
Matampalli Korissan and heirs (ത ിമാർ) received from the hands of (ക ാൽ)
Eluvatt Chattan Malayan the market value (െപറുവർ ം). The object (കാർ ം),
then, of this market value is that the Otasara land (ഉഭയം) I obtained from Kotukare
Nayar, and sowing 500 Nali (നാഴി) seeds, the boundaries whereof are these : below
the Ambat Nilam and above the Porayattavar's Nilam, west of Annayi Kanam
(അ ായികാണം) east of the public road. The land comprised within these
(boundaries), and sowing 50 paras seed, and Vellanan, son of Cheruman
(വലിചാ ൻ) Tambi, obtained3 (േനടി) by me, and the original document
(മുതൽകരണം) thereon, and the jungle (കാടു്), the hillock or margin (കര), channel
(േതാടു്), fees (ഇറ)4, and the upper and lower produce (േമൽഫലവും കീ ഫലവും)
comprised within the abovesaid boundaries, are given with water as Attipper by
Matampalli Korissan and heirs (ത ിമാർ). Thus having paid the said market value
(െപറുമർ ം), the abovesaid Otasara land (നിലം), sowing 50 paras seed, and
Cheruman (വലിചാ ൻ) Vellanan, with the original document (മുതൽകരണം)
thereof, as well as the upper and lower produce comprised within the said boundaries,
are taken with water as Attipper by Eluvatt Chattan Malayan and heirs (ത ിമാർ).
Thus the witnesses who know this (transaction) are Ilamule Chennan Raman and
Chennalikkote Chatta Raman. Written by Nerayath Teyan.
Note. - Translated from a copy received from the Nallepalli Ankaratta Valiya
NOTEs: 1. A.D. 1707.
2. Vide note to Deed No. 24.
3. Probably before this transaction regarding the land.
4. Ancient meaning, tribute, taxes. END OF NOTEs
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Appendix
No. 26
Attippettola Karyam (അ ിെ െ ാലകാർ ം), executed in the Kanni Nyayar
(solar month) of the year 8881. Kulikkat Karumukkil Naranan Memman and heirs
(ത ിമാർ) conveyed (എഴുതിെ ാടു ാൻ = literally, wrote and gave) as
Nirmutalaruti2 Attipper (നീർമുതലറുതി അ ിെ രാെക), their Karumattara Desam
(േദശം) by receiving the market Attipper value (െപറും വില അ ിെ രർ ം), as
then found by four people (നാലർക ു്), to Paliyatt Mannan Kommi, in the blessed
name (തിരുനാമ) of Putiya (പുതിയ = new ; probably newly-built) Peruntiracovil
Tevar (െപരു ിര െകാവിൽേതവർ) god of Peruntira temple, or god of that name).
The boundaries of the Purayidam3 (പുരിയടം = the site of a habitation, compound)
thus purchased on Attipper at Karumattara Desam, are Otikkam Todu (േതാടു് =
stream) on the east, the river on the south, Angadi Kadaivu (അ ാടികട = shop
ferry) on the west, and Ramanchira (രാമൻചിറ = a tank or embankment of that
name) on the north. Everything, of whatever4 description (എെ ർെ ടുതു്) included
in the above four boundaries, has been purchased (എഴുതി െകാ ാൻ = literally,
wrote and took or brought) by Paliyatt Mannan Kommi, as Nirmutalaruti Attipper
(നീർമുതലറുതിഅ ിെ റാെക), in the blessed name of Putiya Peruntiracovil Tevar
(പുതിയെപരു ിരെകാവിൽേതവർ). The witnesses who know this (transaction) are
Chekolli Nambutiri and Kutampilli Nambidi.
Note: - Translated from a copy received from the Dewan of Cochin.
NOTEs: 1. A.D. 1712.
2. Nir (Drav.) = water ; mutal (Drav.) property ; aruti (Drav.) = end, utmost limit.
3. This word is probably used here in a wider sense than ordinary. As the sale was of a Desam, the proper
rendering of pura ( = house), idam ( = place, mansion), should probably be manor. Compare the note on
vidu in Deed 20.
4. It is impossible to say from this whether the official dignities of Desavali were included in the rights
conveyed. END OF NOTEs
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Vol 2
No. 27
Attippettolakarunam (അ ിെ െ ാലകരുണം), executed in the solar month
(ഞായർ) of Kumbham, 8885, Kumbha Vyalam. Matattil Otanyil Mukkan and heirs
(ത ിമാർ) received the current market value (അ ുെപറും അർ ം) from
Nambale Naranan Chinnaran, and granted (െവ െകാടു ാൻ) him the Attipper,
with water (നീരുതകമായി), of the Adhipatyam (ആധിപത ം = sovereignty) of his
Kile Otani Taravad6 ..................7 in Vellott Kurissi Desam, along with the said Desam
and Desadhipatyam (േദശാധിപത ം = supreme authority in the Desam), and Urayma
(ഊരാ മ), and Ama1 [ആമ = turtle (?)] and hill (മല), and Malapuram (മല റം =
hill side), and Nanya (ന ് = a poison used in fishing), and hunting (നായാ ്) and
everything, of whatever description (എെ ർെ ടുതും). Thus Naranan Chumaran and
heirs (ത ിമാർ) obtained (െവ ി െകാ ാൻ), by paying the current market value
(െപറുംഅർ ം), the Kile-Otani Taravad, Desam, Desadhipatyam, Ambalapadi2
(അ ല ടി), Urayma, hill (മല), Malapuram (hill-side), Nanya (ന ു്), and hunting.
Mukkan and heirs (ത ിമാർ) accordingly granted Attipper with water, after receiving
the current market value, and Naranan Chumaran and heirs (ത ിമാർ) obtained
Attipper with water after paying the current market value, as witnessed on behalf of
both grantor and grantee by the Sabhavattam (സഭവടം = circle of assembly).
Written in the hand of Putiyetat Komunni.
Note.—The original is in Vatteluttu character. A clause near the end is imperfect, and
has been omitted. The copy from which this translation has been made was obtained from
Kileppatt Teyyan Menon of Walluvanad Taluk, Malabar.
NOTEs:
5. 1713 AD
6. Here the word Taravad (Tara-padu, see Glossary) bears its original meaning. Compare notes
on vidu in Deed No. 20 and on Purayidam in Deed No. 26.
7. Words gone here owing to age of docrunent.
1. Perhaps the scat shaped like a turtle, or perhaps Ambalapadi, the seat of honour in a temple.
The Ama, however, was probably portable, while the Ambalapadi, was fixed in the outer side of the wall of
the sanctuary.
2. Here Ambalapadi seems to be the equivalent of Ama, vide above. END OF NOTEs
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Appendix
No. 28
Attippettolakaranam (അ ിെ െ ാലകരണം), executed in the month (മാസം)
of Karkidakam of the year 8983. Samudayattiri Panikkar and heirs (ത ിമാർ) have
given, with water (നീരടി), the Attipper of the land (നിലം) called Vellatt oluva, sowing
12 paras and belonging to the three Panikkars of Vellatt Samudayam
(െവ ാ സമുദായ ിൽ പണി ർ ാർ ർ മൂ ർ ും), after receiving3 the
market Attipper gold (െപറുംഅടു◌ിെ െപാ ു്) , then found by four people
(അ നാലർക . In this way Paliyatt Mannen Komi and heirs (ത ിമാർ) have
bought with water the land (നിലം) called Vellatt oluva, sowing 12 paras, after paying
(മാവറമുതല ) the market Attipper gold then found by four people. The witnesses
who know this are Mangalassa Nambutiri and Kilani Nambutiri. Written by Pattatt
Raman.
NOTEs:3. A.D. 1723 END OF NOTEs
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Vol 2
No. 29
Attippettolakarunam (അ ിെ െ ാലകരുണം), executed in the solar month of
Karkidakam 8983, Dhanu Vyalam. Kolappurat Nokan Narayanan and heirs (ത ിമാർ)
received the current market value (അ ുെപറുംഅർ ം) from1 Palayur Viyatan

Manichan, and granted him the Attipper with water of Murkankandi Nilam, Kodunga
Nilam, Telakka Nilam, Atamban Nilam, Patinhare Vellakunnu paramba, and Namban
Pallimanyayal (പ ിമഞായൽ), situated in Irimbalasseri Desam. Thus Palayur Viyatan
Manichan paid the current market value and obtained the Attipper with water of the
said Murkankandi Nilam, Kodunga Nilam, Telakka Nilam, Atamban Nilam, Patinhare
Vellakunnu paramba and Namban Pallimanyayal (പ ിമഞായൽ). The boundaries
(അതിരുകൾ) of the said lands are east Vellakunnu, south Nambankalam Nilam, west
Ayyappantepanatiri Nilam, and north Vellarakku Nilam. Everything, of whatever
description (എെ ർെ തും), contained within the said boundaries is given (as)
Attipper with water. The boundaries of Murkankandi Nilam are east Matana Nilam,
south Atamari Nilam, west the embankment of the tank, and north the canal ;
everything, of whatever description included within the said boundaries, including the
planting space of seedlings (നുരി) and the interval between them (നുരിയിടപഴുതു്),
was obtained on Attipper with water ; as witnessed on behalf of both grantor and
grantee by neighbours (അയലും), the over-lord1a (പതിയും), and the Sabhavattam
(circle of assembly). Written in the hand of Vellot Raman.
Note.—The original is in Vatteluttu character. The copy fiom which this translation
was made was obtained from Kilepatt Teyyan Menon of Walluvanad Taluk, Malabar.
NOTEs: 3. A,D. 1723 .
1. Receiving and paying are qualified by the phrase മാവറമുതലെറ, which cannot be clearly made out.
If മാവർ is a corruption of മൂവര, then the clause may mean “in a way extinguishing the right of the
three,” i,e., three Panikkars. But if മാവര stands for മാവൻ, then the clause may mean “in a way
extinguishing the right of Mavan, a deity of Nayars.” The Panikkars being called Samundayam favours this
interpretation. Finally the word may mean that the right extinguished was "as far as the mango tree," i,e.,
the timber right. On this last point compare Deed No. 43.
1a. Here the Pati and the circle of assembly attest the deed. END OF NOTEs
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Appendix
No. 30
Attippettolakarunam (അ ിെപെ ാലകരുണം), executed in the solar mouth of
Makaram of the year 8982, Dhanu Vyalam. The Uralars of Iswaramangalam sitting
inside [ഉ ിരു = sitting inside (probably of temple] in the sacred name
(തിരുനാൾേപരാൽ) of the god (േതവർ), received the current market value (annu
perum artham) from Valayur Kuriyetat Viyatan Manichan, and granted him the
Attipper with water, Nirudakamayi of their Vettan Nilam in Kilatrikkovil Desam. Thus
Valayur Kuriyetat Viyatan Manichan paid the current market value
(അ ുെപറുംഅർ ം) and obtained the Attipper with water of the Vettan Nilam in
Kilatrikkovil Desam. The Uralars of Iswaramangalam sitting inside (ഉ ിരു =
sitting inside, perhaps of temple), in the sacred name (തിരനാൾേപരാൽ) of the god
(േതവർ), granted the Attipper with water, of everything, of whatever description
(എെ ർെ തും), comprised within the four boundaries of the said Vettan Nilam in
Kilatrikkovil Desam. Thus witnessed by the Sabhavattam3 (സഭവ ം = circle of
assembly) on behalf of the granting and obtaining, for current value, the Attipper with
water of Vettan Nilam in Kilatrikkovil Desam, together with everything, of whatever
description, contained within its four boundaries. Written in the hand of Panku.
Note.—The original is in Vettelutta charactors. The copy from which this transalation was
made was obtained from Kilepatt Teyyan Menon of Walluvanad Taluk, Malabar. A clause near
the end is imperfect and has been omitted.
NOTEs: 3. The circle of assembly represented authority. END OF NOTEs
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Vol 2
No. 31
Pattolakarunam (പെ ാലകരണം), executed in the solar month (ഞായർ) of
Kanni, 8991. Tirumalsseri Naranan Naranan received 840 new fanams from (the hands
of) Mulayil Kummini Tayi ; the object (കാർ ം), then, of receiving the said 840 fanams
is that the land called Ekaram in Iswaramangalam Pattam1a is a pattam2 on a pattam of
56 paras of paddy, as per my Narayappara3. Out of this deduct 11 paras on account of
damage (േകടുപിഴ) and 42 paras on account of interest on the amount (advanced) ;
let the balance of 3 paras of pattam, which with Vasi (വാശി == allowance for
difference of measure) becomes 3 paras and 3 tunis (തുണി == a measure about 1½
Idangali), be paid to my Poluttikkarar (െപാഴു ി ാരർ = Pravarttikkar). Thus
written by Atiyarat Krishnan.
Note.—Translated from a copy received from Kilepatt Teyyan Menon of Walluvanad
Taluk.
NOTEs: 1. A.D. 1724.
1a. The sense in which the word pattam is here used, that is, as an aggregation of lands, points to yet
another mode in which the "Six Hundred" broke up their communal rights. The Nad was assessed with a
certain quantity of produce as the Ko's share, that is, as Ko-patta-varam, Note (i) to Deed No. 3. The
Taravad Karanavar in distributing the land would have to assign liability to pay a certain portion of the
Ko's pattam to each piece of land made over to each Taravad as its share of the common property. Each
piece of land would then come to be known as so and so's or such and such pattam. The use of the word
in this sense is still adhered to in British Cochin inherited from the Dutch.
3. നാരായം = a certain measure. END OF NOTEs
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Appendix
No. 32
Pattolakaranam (പാ ലകരണം), executed in the solar month of Kanni, 8994.
Tirumalasseri Naranan Naranan received 101 fanams and 125 paras of paddy from
Mulayil Kummini Tayi ; the object, then, of receiving the said 101 fanams and 125
paras of paddy is that the land which formerly belonged to Kundanur Perumpilavil
people of Cherumarutur Desam is a pattam2 on a pattam of 48 paras, as per my
Narayappara (നാരായപറ), exclusive of an allowance for damage (േകടു്). Out of
this deduct 10 paras as interest on the amount at 5 per cent, and commutable at 4 paras
per fanam, and let the balance of 38 paras be paid to my Poluttikkarar
(െപാഴു ി ാരർ) annually. Thus written by Atiyarat Teyyan.
Note .—Translated from a copy received from Kilepatt Teyyan Menon of Walluvanad
Taluk.
NOTEs: 4. A D. 1724. END OF NOTEs
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Vol 2
No. 33
Attippettolakaranam (അ ിെ െ ാലകരണം), executed in the solar month
(ഞായർ) of Mithunam of the year 9005. Having received from (ക ാൽ == from
the hands of Atayur Raman, Samudayam (സമുദായം) (of) the Uralars who sit inside
(ഉ ിരു = sitting within, perhaps the temple), in the blessed name (തിരുനാമം)
of the Pallimal Tevar (േതവർ = god), the current market value (അ ുെപറും
അർ ം), Patavarkote Narayanan Devan granted [എഴുതിെവ െകാടു ാൻ ===

literally, wrote and gave by laying (on the ground)] Attipper (അ ിേപർ) with pouring
of water (നീരുദകമായി), of Arangatodi land (നിലം) of 12 paras, Mutayan Chattamili
of 12 paras, Pullanimuri of 6 paras, the land above it (അതി ുേമെല), of 5 paras, and
Kunnachcheri Kandam6 of 12 paras, aggregating (കൂടി) lands sowing 47 measures
(വടി ൻ — a measure) of seed, possessed by him (തിന ു ) in Valia Kundanur
Desam. Thus paying the current market value (അ ുെപറും അർ ം), Atayur Raman
Samudayam (of) the Uralars who sit inside (ഉ ിരു — see note above), in the
blessed name (തിരനാമം) of the Pallimal Tevar (േതവർ), obtained
[എഴുതിെവ ി െകാ ാൻ = literally, wrote and caused to be laid (on the ground)]
Attipper (അ ിെ ർ) with pouring of water (നീരുദകമായി), of Arangatodi land
(നിലം) of 12 paras, Mutayan Chattamili of 12 paras, Pulanimuri of 6 paras, the land
above it (അതി േമെല) of 5 paras, and Kunnachcheri Kandam of 12 paras,
aggregating lands sowing 47 measures (വടി ൻ) of seed (situated) in Valia Kundanur
Desam. Thus Patavarkote Narayanan Devan having received the current market value,
granted (എഴുതിെവ േകാടു ാൻ) Attipper with pouring of water (നീരുദകമായി),
of the lands sowing 47 paras of seed which he possesses (തനി ു ) in Valia
Kundanur Desam. Thus Atayur Raman obtained (എഴുതിെവ ി െകാ ാൻ ==
see note above) the said lands (as) Attipjoer with pouring of water (നീരുദകമായി).
Thus the witness who knows this on behalf of the grantor
(എഴുതിെവ െകാടു െമ ും) and grantee (എഴുതിെവ െകാ െമ ും) is
Raru Patteri (Bhattatiri). Written by Kelachchatil Paman.

Note —Translated from a copy received from the Dewan of Cochin.
NOTEs: 5. A.D. 1725.
6. See note to deed No. 12. END OF NOTEs
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Appendix
No. 34
Desapattolakarunam (േദശപാെ ാലകരണം), executed in the solar month
(ഞായർ) of Karkadakam 9061 Chinga Vyalam Kudallur Yogiyattiri Tiruvadi
(കൂടല ർേയാഗിയാതിരിതിരുവടി) in the name of Trisivaperur Appan
(തൃ ിവേപരൂർഅ ൻ = Trichur god (?) ] received 14,000 old fanams from Kuttale
Anantanarayanan Tayamma. The object of receiving the above 14,000 faiiams is that
subsequent to the former document, lands sowing 420 paras of Kanimangalam
Cherikkal2 (േചരി ൽ), 120 paras of Utiyal, 360 paras of Manniti Cherikkal
(േചരി ൽ), 620 paras of Mattur Cherikkal, 120 paras of Ayinampattam3, and 120
paras of Mangalur Vengattara and 18 Cherumars (--ലിയാൾ) are a pattam to you4 on a
Pattam of 5,000 paras of paddy including the 1,000 paras payable by Kayaradi5
Pattillattavar and the 120 paras payable from Vellamkur [െവ ാംകൂർ (?)]. The net
annual purapad is 1,500 paras after deducting 1,050 paras for interest on the amount
(advanced), 2,240 paras for Changngatam6 (ച ാത ള ം) and Palisa [പലിശകള ം
== persons rendering service as guards bearing (palisa) shields] and 210 paras for
( പവർ ികാരനു7(?) േ പാർ ിയാവന (different kinds of agents, servants), making
a total deduction of 3,500. The above purapad of 1,500 paras with one Chotana
(േചാതന = a measure) of oil should be annually8 paid regularly on the 1st of every
Chingam, and you may enjoy വഴിപിഴ (fines) for infringing old customs. Written in
the hand of Kuruppat Chennan.
Note.—Translated from a copy of a copper-plate deed received from the Nallopalli
Ankaratta Valiya Mannadiyar of Cochin State.
NOTEs: 1. A.D. 1731.
2. Lands belonging to Rajas or temples.
3. See note to Deed No.31 on pattam used in this way.
5. കയരാടിപ ില വർ — the ten Illam people of Kayarati (?).
6. See Glossary.
7. Probably for പവൃ ിയാവൻ.
8. This deed cannot be clearly understood, as the previous deed is not forthcoming. So far as can be made
out, it is a Kanam deed (see Glossary under “Kanam" and notes to Deed No.4 ) of a whole Desam or of
the whole of the demisor’s interest in -- and, etc., in the Desam. It is of interest because the Kanakkar had
evidently to take upon himself the protection of the territory. See Deed No.4. END OF NOTEs
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Vol 2
No 35
Valiyolakaranam (വലിഒലകരണം, corruption of വിലേയാലകരണം = bill of
sale), executed in the solar month (ഞായർ) of Karkadakam of the year 9141.
Kurikkalote Palakkal Mittalevittil Ummanga and Uchchira of Cherukunnatt village
(ഊർ) sold as far as their share (ത ൾ ുളളഒപതിഒളവും) of the Tara2 (തറ)
Kandam (ക ം = field) and swamps (ൈക ാടു്) below their house (വീടു്).
Tayatt Vittil Rairu Koran and heirs (ത ിമാർ) purchased (the same) by paying the
current market value3 (അ ുെപറും അർ ം). The boundary of the land (ക ം)
for which this price was paid is east as far as the river, south as far as the Palakkal
paramba (പറ ു്), west as far as the Palakkal paramba, and north as far as the
Patikkarante Kandam (land). The land (നിലം) produce (പലം = fruit) hidden
treasure (െവ ്) and the vessel in which it is secured (െച ്) and thorns (മു ),
and cobras (മൂർ ൻപാ ്) included in the said four boundaries are purchased
(വിലെകാ ാൻ) by paying the price (വിലെകാടു ു). The witness4 who knows this
(transaction) is Kuppadakkal Kannan Kammaran and the witness5 who knows the
house (കടിയറിയുംതാ ി) is Valliyotan Chingan Kelu. Written with the knowledge of
the neighbours6 (േക േകൾ ി ്) in the hand of Talavil Sankaran.
Note.—Translated from a copy received from the District Munsif of Kavai, Chirakkal Taluk.
The original is in Tamil (Koleluttu) characters.
NOTEs: 1. A. D. 1739.
2. The fact that the vendors sold their share of the Tara hold or Tara portion (Kandam, see Deed No. 12)
looks as if the Tara (Nayar village or guild) had held property in its corporate capacity in this part of the
country (Northern Kolattunad). See Deed No. 4 and Deed No. 14.
3. Literally, Anna = that day ; Perum = which will produce : Artham = the money, wealth
4. The attestation of the neighbours and of two special witnesses was alone considered necessary in this
case.
5. (?)
6. Literally “heard and caused to be heard” Kettu-Kelpichu. END OF NOTEs
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Appendix
No. 36
Attipettolakaranam (അ ിെ െ ാലകരണം); executed in Edavam Nyayar (solar
month) Karkadaka Vyalam of the year 9177 at the Chittur Mannatt8 (മ ു്) of the
Kilappalayur Nad (നാടു്). Varikkot Raman and heirs (ത ിമാർ) received the market
value (െപറുവർ ം) from the hands of Ambat Raman Manchu. The object of this
market value is that Varikkat Raman and heirs have given with water as Attipper his
(Raman’s) property (െതാ ) the field9 (ക ം) sowing 10 paras (and situated) above
the Ambatte field by the side (ഓെര) of the hill (മല) and below the field belonging
to the Ayam house, together with its adjoining hillock or margin (കര) and upper and
lower produce (േമൽഫലവും കീ ഫലവും). Thus having paid the said market value
the above said land (നിലം) which is above the Ambat field by the side of the hill and
below the field belonging to Ayam house, and sowing 10 paras, together with its
adjoining hillock or margin and the upper and lower produce has been taken with
water as Attipper by Ambat Manchu and heirs (ത ിമാർ). Thus the witnesses who
know this (transaction) are Ilamule Chennan Raman and Chennalikkote Chatta Raman.
Written by Kuttikat Itti Korappen.
Note. — Translated from a copy received from the Nallepalli Ankaratta Valiya
Munnadiyar of Cochin State.
NOTEs: 7. A.D. 1742.
8. Vide note to Deed No. 24,
9. Kandam See note to deed No. 12. END OF NOTEs
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Vol 2
No. 37
Attippetttolakaranam (അ ിെ െ ാലകരണം), executed at Nallaypalli Mannatt1
(മ ു്) in Angavenat (അ േവണാ ്) (?) Kadavur (കടവൂർ) (?) Kayariyadath
(കയരിയട ു്) (?) in the solar month (ഞായർ) of Tulam 9242 Makara Vyalam.
Karutta Mannattil Iravi Itarachan and heirs (ത ിമാർ) received from (the hands of)
Tottatt Malayan Itti Chattar the current market value (െപരുവർ ം). The object of
receiving the market value is that Karuttamannattil Iravi Itarachan and heirs have given
by pouring water as Nirmutal (നീർമുതൽ) = water property) the Nir Attipper
(നീർഅ ിെ ർ) of his (Itaraohan’s) land (െതാ )3 situated on the south of the
Kalaparamba (കളപറ ു്) and Pula (പൂള = silk-cotton tree) which are above the
embankment (ചി..) lying below that (land) demised on Kanam4 (കാണം ചാർ ിയ)
by them (Itarachan and heirs) at Kottamangalam (െകാ മംഗലം) and (situated) on the
north of the Kolaohira (െകാളചിറ = big tank) ; the plots (ക ം) included within
those (limits) sowing 70 paras and Kuli (കുഴി = an excavated ground) and the three
Kuli parambas (കുഴിപറ ു്) with their upper and lower produce (േമൽഫലവുംകീ
ഫലവും) together with Atiyan Valli Chattanmar (അടയാൻവലിചാ ാർ = slave
Cherumars) Kannan’s son Karuttapulli and Rangayan. Thus Thodatt Malayan Itti
Chattan and heirs (ത ിമാർ) by giving the abovesaid market value (െപറുവർ ം)
obtained as water property (നീർമുതൽ) the Nir Attipper (നീർഅ ിെ ർ) of the
abovesaid lands with their upper and lower produce (േമൽഫലവുംകീ ഫലവും) and
Kuli (കഴി) and the three Kuli parambas together with two Cherumars (വലിയാൻ).
Witnesses hereof are Vadavannur Vellalars (വടവ ൂർ െവ ാളർ and Kilillatt
Anantiravars (കീഴില ു് അന ിരവർ). Written in the hands of the vendor
(െകാ ാൻ).
Note. - Translated from a copy received from the Nallopalli Ankaratta Valiya
NOTEs: 1. Vide note to Deed No. 24.
2. A.D. 1748.
3. Tonma, a corrupt form of Svanma, which occurs in Deed No. 6
4. The lane demised on Kanam was not sold. END OF NOTEs
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Appendix
No. 38
Baliyolaharanam (ബലിഓലകരണം, corruption of വിലേയാലകരണം = sale
deed), executed in the solar month (ഞായർ), of Makaram of the year 9255 Kaliyatt
Vittil Kunyan Nambi and heirs (ന ിമാർ) having received (വാ ി) the current
market6 value (അ ുെപറും േപാൻകാണം വില) sold (വിലെകാടു ാർ) the
Kurikkalott Palakkal Koliyatt Putiyavittile Valappa (വള = paramba) in
Cherukunnatt village (ഊർ = village) Palakkal Mittalevittil Kammaran Otenan
having paid (െകാടു ) the current market6 value (അ ുെപറും െപാൻകാണം
വില) purchased (വിലെകാ ാൻ) (the same). The boundaries of this paramba
(പറ ്) are, east as far as the canal (േതാടു്), south as far as the Chettire Karanma
Kandam7 (ക ം = field), west as far as the eastern wall (മതിൽ) of Kaliyatt Mittale
house, and north as far as the Bhagavathi Ammere Kandam7 (ക ം = field).
Kaliyatt Vittil Kunyan Nambi and heirs having received the current market value sold1
the lands (നിലം) and produce (പലം = fruit), including (അട ി) the hidden
treasure (െവ ്) and the vessel in which it is secured (െച ്) comprised within the
said four boundaries. Palakkal Mittalevittil Kammaran Otenan purchased (the same)
by paying the current market value. The witness2 (താ ി) corruption of (സാ ി)
who knows this (transaction) is Kuppadakkai Kannan Kammaran and the witness who
knows the house (?) [കടിഅറിയും താ ി (?)] is Vellyodan Chindan Koran. With the
knowledge of these, written in the hand of Talavil Narayanan Sankaran.
Note.— Translated from a copy received from the District Munsif of Kavai, Chirakkal
taluk. The original is in Tamil (Koleluttu) characters.
NOTEs: 6. Literally, Anna == that day ; Perum = which will produce ; Pon - gold, Kanam =
kanam, possession ; Vila = price
1. The use of the word Kanam above proves, that what was sold was the Kanam right (compare
Deed No. 4). If so, it is important to observe exactly the things so conveyed, viz., lands, produce and
hidden treasure. Veppum Cheppum are two of the best known incidents of the water birthright.
2. It is suggested in a note to Deed No, 2 that possibly the transfer of freehold "by water” came
into the country with the Vedic Brahmans, whose influence was never so great in this part of the country
(North Kolattunad, Chirakkal taluk) as it was further south. Possibly, therefore, this deed and, perhaps,
No. 35 also were meant to be freehold deeds. They were certainly handed in as copies of so-called Janmam
deeds. END OF NOTEs
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Vol 2
No. 39
Attippettolakaranam (അ ിെ േ ാലകരണം), executed in the solar month

(ഞായർ) of Dhanu of the year 9323. Nechchikkot Raman Kittanan (കി ണൻ =
vulgar form of Krishnan) and heirs (ന ിമാർ) received from (ക ാൽ = from the
hands of) Kuruppatt Chirukota and heirs (ത ിമാർ) the current market value
(അ ുെപറും അർ ം). Thus having received the current market value,
Nechchikkot Raman Kittanan and heirs granted (എഴുതിെകാടു ാൻ = literally
wrote and gave) the Attipper അ ിെപർ as water property (നീർമുതൽ) with water
(.....) of his Kotumanna land (നിലം) sowing 6 paras in Kurichchikkare desam. Thus
having paid the current market value, Kuruppat Chirukota and heirs obtained
[എഴുതി െകാ ാൻ = literally had or got (it) written] the Attipper as water
property നീർമുതൽ with water of the Kotumanna land sowing 6 paras in
Kurichchikkare desam. Thus Neehchikkot Raman Kittanan and heirs granted the
Attipper as water property with water of the Kotumanna (land) of 6 paras. Thus having
paid the current market value, Kuruppatt Chirukota and heirs obtained
(എഴുതി െകാണഅടാൻ), see note above) the Attipper as water property with water
of Kotumanna (land) of 6 paras in Kurichchikkare desam. Thus Raman Kittanan and
heirs granted (എഴുതിെകാടു ാൻ) the said land. Thus Chirukota and heirs obtained
(എഴുതി െകാ ാൻ) the said land. The witnesses who know this in behalf of the
grantor (എഴുതിെകാടു െമ ും) and of the grantee (എഴുതി െകാ െമ ും)
are Koravankuli Nayar and Attittre Kora Mappilla. Written in the hand of Chiraman.
Note.— Translated from a copy received from the the Dewan of Cochin.
NOTEs: 3. A.D. 1756-57. END OF NOTEs
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Appendix
No. 40
Attippettolakaranam (അ ിെ െ ാലകരണം), executed in the solar month
(ഞായർ) of Mithunam of the year 9344. Having received the current market value
(അ ുെപറും അർ ം) from (ക ാൽ = from the hands of) the Uralar in the
blessed name (തിരുനാൾേപരാൽ) of Kurichchikkare Tevar (േതവർ = god)
Techchikkot Chakkan Ramar and heirs (ന ിമാർ) granted (എഴുതെകാടു ാൻ =
wrote and gave) the Attipper with pouring water (നീരുദകമായി) of his Pati paramba
of 7 paras in the Muti desam. Thus having paid the current market value (the Uralars)
obtained [എഴുതി െകാ ാൻ = literally had or got (it) written] the Attipper with
pouring water of Pati paramba of 7 paras in the Muti desam. Thus Chakkan Ramar and
heirs granted (എഴുതിെകാടു ാൻ, see note above) the said land. Thus having paid the
current market value, the Uralar in the blessed name of Kurichchikkare Tevar obtained
(എഴുതി െകാ ാൻ, see note above) the said land. The witnesses who know this in
behalf of the grantor (എഴുതിെകാടു െമ ും) and grantee
(എഴുതി െകാ െമ ും) are Koravankuli Nayar and Malamavatiyil Makkachar.
Written in the hand of Koyat Kondu.
Note. - Translated from a copy received from the Dewan of Cochin.
NOTEs: 4. A.D. 1759. END OF NOTEs
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Vol 2
No. 41
Attippettolakaranam (അ ിെ േ ാലകരണം), executed at Chittur Mannatt1
(മ ു്) in Kilappalayur Nad in the solar month (ഞായർ) of Minam9282, Edavam
Vyalam. Elluvatt Raman Chattan and heirs (ന ിമാർ) received from Ambat Manchu
Raman the current market value (െപറുവർ ം). The object of receiving the said
market value is Eluvatt Raman Chattan and heirs give as water porperty (നീർമുതൽ)
by pouring water the Nir Attipper (നീര ിെ ർ) of the land (.... ) called Otasera
above the Porayatta Nilam and below the Alukkan Chira, comprising plots sowing 60
paras of paddy and the parambas (പറ ു്) on both sides (ഇരുകര) and the upper and
lower produce (േമൽഫലവും കീ ഫലവും) and the Nuri (നുരി = space required
for planting seedlings) and the Nuriyida Paluta (നുരിയിടപഴുതു്— interval between
the planting of seedlings). Thus Ambat Raman and Manchu and Raman and heirs
(ന ിമാർ) by giving the current market value obtained as water property (നീർമുതൽ)
the Nir Attipper with the pouring of water of the said land Otasera above the Porayatta
Nilam and below the Alukkan Chira, comprising plots sowing 60 paras of seed and the
parambas on both sides, and the Nuri (നുരി = the space required to plant seedlings)
and Nuriyida Paluta (നുരിയിടപഴുതു് = interval between the planting of seedlings).
Thus Raman Chattan and heirs receiving the current market value have executed this,
and likewise Manchu Raman and heirs paying the current market value have got this
executed. Tlius the witnesses to this are Elamally Chenur Raman and Chennalikat
Chattan Raman. Written in the hand of Achatt Kandu.
Note. — Translated from a copy received from the Nallopalli Ankaratta Valiya
NOTEs: 1. See note to Deed No. 24.
Other books !
Appendix
No. 42
To the Adhikari (അധികാരി) of Tirumala Devara (േദവര) in Cochin. Heard
from Cochin Sangara Pillay that boundaries were fixed (അതൃ ി തിരി ) to the
compounds3 (പുരയിട ൾ = literally the site of a habitation) and lands4
(ക ൾ) belonging to Tirumala devasam in the tracts പേദശ ൾ) included in
Turavur and Manakkottuttu (subject to) Cherttala Mandavattum1 Vatukkal1 and that
copies were brought and deposited [അനുവവ പി (?)] at the Mandavattum
Vatukkal (മ വ ും വാതു ൽ) of documents relating to property held on
Erakkarayma2 (എറ ാരാ മ) and Janmam (ജ ം). Therefore I have relinquished
(ഒഴി ുത ു) in behalf of the devasvam of the Mupra3 (മു പ) and 1/
8 of what is
Janmam (ജ ം) and Erakarayma (എറകാരാ മ) documents whereof have been
found. Enjoying (them) thus the Michavaram4 of Erakarayma should be paid annually
to the Mandavattum Vatukkal and receipts (ചീ ്) taken. Thus to this effect written
on the 10th of the month (മാസം) of Makaram of the year 9455 under the orders of
His Highness (തിരുവു ുംപടിനിനവു) by Anancha Perumal Anancha Perumal,
the Valia Meleluttu Kanakku (വലിയേമെലഴു ുകണ ് = an office of that name).
Note. — Translated from a copy received from the Dewan of Cochin State.
NOTEs: 1.Mandapam (Sansk.) = open shed or hall, and Vatil (Drav.) = door, gate, chief
entrance. Taken together they mean a Tahsildar’s office.
2. A right by which a small purapad is paid to the janmi by the name of Era-Micharam. It is not
generally renewed, but of late it is renewed on payment of Oppu and Tusi alone. It is now recognised as
redeemable.
3. Literally, three (Munnu) paras (bushels), i.e., 3 paras per 10 paras, the State share of the net
produce.
4. The Mupra assessment in the Native States of Travancore and Cochin is perhaps the relic of
the ancient Ko-Pattavaram, [see note to paragraph (2) of Deed No. 3]. It is certainly noteworthy that if a
Nambudiri in Travancore sells this freehold land to anyone but a Nambudiri, an obligation to pay Mupra
(in the case of wet lands), and Ettayil onnu (1 in 8 in the case of garden lands) immediately attaches to the
lands, —(Ward and Connor’s Survey Memo., p. 63. Trivandrum Ed.) The Brahman hierarchy had
evidently prior to the execution of Deed No. 2 (A.D.774) been admitted to privileges equal or perhaps
superior to those conferred on the Jews and Syrians. Those privileges were probably hereditary, but not
assignable to any one but Nambudiris.
Other books !
Vol 2
No. 43
Attipper ola karanam (അ ിെ െറാലകരണം), executed on the closing

(െപാകു ) solar month (ഞായർ) of the Chingam of the year 9516.
Pilaparambil Kelan Koman and heirs (ത ിമാർ) having received the current
market Attipper value (െപറുംവില അ ിെ റർ ം) as found at the time by four
people (അ ുനാലർക .) granted (എഴുതിെകാടു ാൻ == literally wrote and
gave) the Attipper with pouring of water (നീരുദകമായി) of the plot (ക ം) lying
east to west on the northern slope (വടെ എറ ിൽ
) of the hill in the western Odi (ഒടി)
= division or range of fields) of Karaka Akathutta belonging to them (ത ൾ ു )
in Kutuvur desam, so as to extinguish the (right in) mango tree (മാവെര)7 the (right in)
sand (മണലെര) and the right in water (ഉദകമെര) and to convey the right of
ceremony (കർ ം മട ി)8 without any dispute respecting this and touching that
(ഒ െതാെ ാ െചാലി െചാതിയംകൂടാെത). In this way Iluvan Tharayolil Kalavan
Maman and heirs (ന ിമാർ) obtained the Attipper with pouring of water
(നീരുദകമായി) of the plot (ക ം) lying east to west on the northern slope of the
western hill and belonging to Kelan Koman and heirs, in a manner to extinguish the
(right in) mango tree (മാവെറ), the (right in) sand (മണലെര), and the (right in) water
(ഉദകമെറ), and to convey the right of ceremony (കർ ം മട ി) and without any
dispute respecting this and touching that (ഓ െതാെ ാ െചാലി െചാതിയും
കൂടാെത). Thus the witness who knows this is Otaparambatt Kittanan Nayar. Written
by Poringelil Chennan.
Note. — Translated from a copy received from the Subordinate Judge of
British Cochin.
NOTEs: 6. A.D. 1776.
7. These seem to indicate that the timber-right, the earth-right, and the water right were given
up.
8. It is not clear what this means. END OF NOTEs
Other books !
Appendix
No. 44
This is Attippettolakaranam (അ ിെ െ ാലകരണം) written in the solar month
(ഞായർ) of Tulam of the year 9541. Talikokkat Parameswaran Trivikraman and heirs
(ത ിമാർ) have given, by receiving the market (െപറും2 = literally, born2 or
produced) Attipper2 value (അ ിേ റർ ം) as then found (ക ു) by four people
(നാലർ) the Attipper2 with pouring of water (നീരുദകമായി) and accompanied by
Janmam2 right (ജ ഫലം == literally born2 fruit) over their (lands) in Talikolangara
Desam and bounded on the east by (the land called) Totu-pata, west of Pangolam and
Kunnatotupata, on the west ................... on the south by Puli Kandam and
Manakkattilavan’s dwelling compound (മണ ാ ിലവൻ ഇരി ു പറ ്) ...... . .
.north............ field and Pilakkat paramba on the west ......on the east by the Patinhare
Devasvam Totuva, on the south by. . . . jungle (കാടു), (Note.— Here more boundaries
follow which owing to omission of words are unintelligible) ; (the lands) included in
the above four boundaries (നാലതിർ) and sowing 18 paras, Erinheri (lands) of 8
paras, Nalpatinam land, Karuvannur Punja (പു ) (land) of 9 paras, making a total
of punja lands (പു നിലം) of 38 paras and wet lands (ഉൽപ ി) and parambas
(പറ ു്) Netumpalli Tarana Nellur Narayanan Parameswaran" and heirs (ത ിമാർ)
take the abovesaid lands (ഉ പ ി) and parambas (പറ ു) and the waste (മുട)
Chulliparamba in the east and west (കീ േമൽ) with flowing water (നീരുദകമായി)
and water caused to come into contact (നീര ിക) along with the Janmam right
(ജനമഫലം, see note above)......................... Witnesses knowing (this) are Ponnallur,
Kuttampilli, Kataluramallur, Kilakkiniyeddatt Kokka.
Note. - Translated from a copy received from the Dewan of Cochin State.
NOTEs: 1. A.D. 1778
2. Here the close connection between the Drav. Peru and the Sanskritised form of it
Janmam is sufficiently obvious. END OF NOTEs
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Vol 2
No. 45
Attippettolakaranam (അ ിെ െ ാലകരണം), executed at Tatta Mangalam Mannatta3
(മ ു്) in Palayur Nad (നാടു) in the solar month of Kumbham in the year 9574. Dhanu
Vyalam Shippi Ammiyar, daughter of Thoppa Pattar5, a Paradesi (പരേദശി = foreigner) and
heirs (ത ിമാർ) residing at Kakurissi Akaram (അകരം = a Brahman house) received from
Ambat Raman Ittunni Raman the current market value (െപരുവർ ം). Thus the object of
receiving the said market value is that Shippi Ammiyar and heirs (ത ിമാർ) give by pouring
water as water property (നീർമുതൽ) the Nir Attipper (നീർഅ ിെ ർ) of 2 kandams (plots)
sowing 120 nalis (നാഴി) of paddy and situated below your land (െതാ )1 called Otasira nilam
of Chamba (?) and above our Parakkal Kandam (plot) and the parambas (പറ ു്) on both
sides (ഇരുകര) of it together with the upper and lower produce (േമൽഫലവും കീ
ഫലവും). Thus Ambat Raman Ittunni Raman and heirs (ത ിമാർ) obtained with the
pouring of water as Nirmutal (നീർമുതൽ = water property) the Nir Attipper (നീര ിെ ർ)
of the abovesaid two plots of land below the Otasira land of Chambatt (ച ു്) and above
the Parakkal Kandam and sowing 12 paras of seed, and the parambas on both sides of it with
the upper and lower produce (േമൽഫലവും കീ ഫലവും). Thus the witnesses who know
this are Kilatti Arangan Chattan and Manikatt Kandan Teyyan. Written in the hand of Eluvatt
Thoppu.
Note. - Translated from a copy received from the Nallepalli Ankaratta Valiya
NOTEs: 3. See note to deed No. 24.
4. A.D. 1781-82.
5. East Coast Brahman.
1. Tonma, See Note to Deed No. 37. END OF NOTEs
Other books !
Appendix
No. 46
Attippettolakarunam (അ ിെ െ ാലകരുണം), executed at Chittur Mannatt2 in

the solar month (ഞായർ) of Edavam in the year 9593 Kumbham Vyalam. Porayatt
Raman and heirs (ന ിമാർ) received the current market value (െപറുവർ ം) from
Ambat Raman Ittunni Raman. The object (കാർ ം) of receiving the said market
value is that Porayatt Raman and heirs give (െകാടു ാർ) with pouring water as water
property (നീർമുതൽ) the Nir Attipper (നീര ിെ ർ) of the Kandams (ക ം ==
plot) sowing 12 paras seed, bounded on the north by your (ത െറ) land (െതാ )
called Otasira Annakonath (ഒടാശിര അ ാെകാണ ു്) and on the south by our
(ത െട) Nilam, east by Tiruttillatt Nilam, and on the west by the slope (െവ ചരു)
of the paramba, together with the (right of) guarding3 (പേരാവു or പാറാവു =
sentry or guard) and Karayma4 (കാരാ മ) as well as the upper and lower produce
(േമൽഫലവും കീ ഫലവും) and everything of whatever description
(എെ ർെ തും) comprised within these four boundaries. Ambat Raman Ittunni
Raman and heirs (ത ിമാർ) obtain with the pouring of water as water property
(നീർമുതൽ) the Nir Attipper (നീര ിെ ർ) by giving the said market value of the
Kandam (plot) sowing 12 paras and bounded on the north by the Otasira Annakonath
Nilam, on the south by their (ത െട) Nilam, on the east by Tiruttillatt Nilam, and on
the west by the slope of the paramba together with the right of guarding (പാരാവും)
and Karayma as well as the upper and lower produce and everything of whatever
description (എെ ർെ തും) comprised within these four boundaries. Thus the
witnesses who know this are Chattan Raman and Chennalikot Teyyan Raman. Written
in the hand of Tatchat Kandu.
Note.—Translated from a copy received from the Nallopaili Ankaratta Valiya

NOTEs: 2. See note to deed No 24.
3. A D. 1784
4. Compare notes to paragraphs (c) and (f) and (m) of Deed No. 3 ; also notes to Deed No. 4. END OF
NOTEs
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Vol 2
No. 47
Attippettolakaranarn (അ ിെ െ ാലകരണം), executed in the solar month
(ഞായർ) of Karkadakam of the year 9635. Chirakkal Panayanullil Narayanan
Chumaran and heirs (ത ിമാർ) having received the market Attipper value (െപറും
അ ിെ റർ ം) as found at the time by four people (അ ുനാലെപർക ു) granted
(എഴുതിെകാടു ാൻ) the Attipper with water flowing (നീരദകമായി) and water
coining into contact (നീര ി ) of their (ത ൾ ു ) Kalimpuram Desam
(കഴി ുറം േദശം). Thus Ayirur Narayana Rama Varma Avatiri Kovilatikarikal and
heirs (ത ിമാർ) having paid the market Attipper value (െപറും അ ിെ റർ ം) as
found then by four people (അ ുനാലുേപർ ക ു) obtained (എഴുതി െകാ ാൻ)
the Attipper with water flowing (നീരുദകമായി) and water coming into contact
(നീര ിക) of the said Kalimpuram desam. Thus the boundaries of this desam are east
Edamuttam Desam, south Ramallur desam, west Meppuratta Paramba (which is) west
of Tirunilam, and north Kuruvetti Paramba. The lands (ഉൽപ ികൾ) and parambas
(പറ ുകൾ) and everything else of whatever description (മ ം എെ ർെ തും)
included (അകെ ) within the above four boundaries and the Desam1
Desadhipatyam, Amabalappadi1 and Urayma1 have been given and received with water
flowing (നിരുദകം). The witnesses who know this are Kuttumpilli Mutta Nambutiri,
Kunampilli Nambutiri, Edatiruttu Pattali, and Kutaykkal Sankaran Kammal. Written by
Chemmappallil Sankaran Shollampenambiyath Sankaran.
Note: Translated from a copy received from the Subordinate Judge of British Cochin.
NOTEs: 5. A. D. 1788.
1. Incidents attached to the rank of a Desavali. See Glossary. END OF NOTEs
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Appendix
No. 48
Vilayolakaranam (വിലെയാലകരണം = deed of sale), executed in the solar
month (ഞായർ) of Mithunam of the year 9832. Palakkal Patinhare Vittil Rayiru
Chandu and heirs (ത ിമാർ) of Cherukunnatt village (ഊർ) sold by receiving the
current market value (അ ുെപറും വിലയറു ം) the paramba (പര ്) known as
Kallinga Valappa which is the janmam (െജ ം corruption of ജ ം) of Payangote
Palakkal Patinhare Vittil Chandu of Cherukunnatt village. The said paramba was
purchased by payihg the current market value3 (അ ുെപറും വിലയറു ം) by
Karippatt Palli Kulakatt Chirakkal Kulakkat Ravi Varma Raja (രാച). The boundary
of this paramba (പറ ു്) is east as far as the Cherukunnatt Devasvam (േതവാ ം)
Kandam (field), south as far as Kalattil Kolangakote Paramba, west as far as

Udayammadatt Palakkal Kandam (land), and north as far as the land (ക ം) of
Chirakkal Kovilakam and Cherukunnu Devasvam (േതവ ം). The lands (നിലം)
produce (ഫലം = fruit), stones (കല്), thorns (മു ), hidden treasure (നിതി), and
other things of whatever description (എെ ർെ തും) included in the said
boundaries were purchased by paying the current market value by Karippatt Palli
Kulakattil Chirakkal Kulakatt Ravi Varma Raja Tamburan to Palakkal Patinhare Vittil
Rayiru Chandu and heirs. Thus the witnesses (താ ി corruption of സാ ി) are
Chenicheri Chattu and (കൂടി അറിയും ?) Puliyankotan Kannan. Written in the hand
of Katankotan Chandu Koran with the knowledge of the neighbours
(േക േകൾ ി )4.
Note .—Translated from a copy received from the District Munsif of Kavai, Chirakkal
taluk.
NOTEs: 2. A.D. 1808.
3. No mention here of water, through Janmam would seem to mean the water birthright. The
deed is called merely a deed of sale—not an Attipper. There are only three deeds in this collection. Nos. 35,
38 and 48, in proof of the fact, but it is not improbable that neither Attipper nor Janmam was in general use
in North Kolattunad (Chirakkal Taluk until after the British occupation).
4. Kettu Kelpichu = heard and caused to be heard. END OF NOTEs
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Vol 2
No. 49
Attippettolakaryyam (അ ിെ െ ാലകാർ ം), executed in the solar month
(ഞായർ) of Makaram of the year 9851. Medabyalam at Mitranannapuram
Mukkalvattam (മു ാൽവാ ം = temple of Bhagavati). Payyur Parameswaran
Narayanan and heirs (ത ിമാർ) granted (എഴുതിെ ാടു ാൻ = literally wrote and
gave to Ennur Nandiyar Valli Narayanan Narayanan and heirs (ത ിമാർ) by receiving
the current market value (െപറു വിലഅർ ം) as then found by four people
(അ നാലർക ു്) the Attipper (അ ിേ ർ) with pouring of water (ഉദകപൂർ ം)
in such a manner that (the transaction) might not in future (േമലിൽ) be questioned
(േചാത യം) by us, our heirs (േശഷ ാർ == descendants) or anybody else
(മെ ാര രാലും), their Putturdesam2 (പു ൂർേദശം) Desadhipatyam2
(േദശാധിപത ം) two temples (ഇതുര ും) (called) Mitranannapuram
(മി താന പുരം) and Tekkiniyammakava, the Ambalappadi2 (അ ല ടി) Urayma2
(ഊരാ മ) and other temple dignities (മ ം േ താധിപത ള ം) the lands
(ഉ പ ി) and parambas (പറ ു) the retainers3 (ആള ്) and slaves (അടിയാർ)
the dues (േപാക ൾ corruption of േഭാഗ ൾ = enjoyments) of Desavali
(േദശവാഴി) and everything else of whatever description (മ െമേ ർെ തും)
included (അകെ ) within this desam. Thus Ennur Nandiyar Valli Narayanan and
Anantiravars obtained (എഴുതി െകാ ാർ = literally, had or got written) by paying
the current market value (െപറുവില അർ ം) as then found by four people
(അ ുനാലർക ു്) the Attipper with pouring of water (ഉദകപൂർ ം) in such a
manner that (the transaction) might not in future (േമലിൽ) be questioned (േചാത യം)
by Parameswaran Narayanan, heirs (ത ിമാർ) descendants (േശഷ ാർ) or anybody

else, (മെ ാരു രാലും) Parameswaran Narayanan’s and heirs (ത ിമാർ) Puttur
desam4, Desadhipatyam4, the two temples (called) Mitranannapuram and
Tekkiniyammakava, the Ambalappadi4 and Urayma4 and other temple dignities (മ ം
േ താധിപത ൾ), the lands and parambas (ഉ പ ികള ം പറ ുകള ം), the
retainers and slaves (ആളടിയാർ), the dues (േപാക ൾ, see note above) of Desavali,
and everything else of whatever description included within this desam. Thus the
witnesses for this Attippettola (അ ിെ െ ാല) in behalf of the grantors
(എഴുതിെ ാടു െമ ും) and the grantees (എഴുതിെകാ െമ ും)
Vennarattur Okki, Tekkiniyetam and Nantiyarvalli. Written in the hand of Kollikandara

Govindan.
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Appendix
Note. - Translated from a copy received from Mr. H. Wigram, District Judge
of South Malabar.
NOTEs: 1. A.D. 1810
2. Incidents attached to the dignity of a Desavali. See Glossary.
3. The conveyance of rights in free retainers after the introduction of British rule is to be noted
as it explains the relations which have all along subsisted between the Janmi and those beneath him.
4. "C.D. was anciently Desavali of the Desams of --------in your division, but as the present
family is disqualified from poverty (or want of respectability or other cause) you will exercise in these
Desams the duties of head of Police, of Village Munsif, and of Tax-Collector, but you will not interfere
with the Desavali Sthanamnana Avakasam (or such ancient privileges belonging to him as Desavali) as the
Government may deem it advisable to permit to be enjoyed, and as the inhabitants may voluntarily offer in
conformity with old customs.” Extract from Mr. Græme’s form of sanad appointing Adhikaris of Amsams.
Special Commissioner to Principal Collector 20th May 1823. Conf. p. 89 of the text. END OF NOTEs
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Vol 2
No. 50
Royal letter addressed to Cheruvattur Nambutiri. Eletat Ullannur lllam in
Perumpillesseri Desam of Urakam Pravirtti having become extinct that Taravad1
together with the property (വ തു) rice-lands (ഉ പ ി), persons (ആൾ =
probably retainers, guards), slaves (അടിയാർ), chest of documents (െപ ി പമാണം)
and all Ambalapadi and Urayma rights and everything of whatever description
(എെ ർെ തും) with the exception of the Urayma of Changarayil Kshetram
(temple), are hereby granted2 to you Cheruvattur Nambutiri for exclusive enjoyment
(മെ ാരു രാലും േചാദ ംകൂടാെത = literally without any question from any one).
Written in the month of Vrischikam 10203 M.E. in the hand of Pavvattil Krishnan, in
the presence and under the orders of Kanayannur Kovilakam Raja.
Note. — Translated from a copy received from Nellisseri Siva Ramayyan of
Palghat Town.
NOTEs: 1.See note to Deed No. 22.
2.This illustrates one mode in which Nambutiri inheritances are passed on in the Native States.
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Appendix
No. 51
ROYAL LETTER ADDRESSED TO CHUNDAYKAT OTALUR
(NAMBUTIRI)
Whereas there being no male members in the two Illams of Kandiyur
Natuvattunnu Natuvat and Kandanasseri Palaykat in Alur Muri of Chundal Pravirtti,
Sridevi and Savitri, two females of Natuvat Illam4, have executed a document
authorising4 Otalur Nambutiri to marry5 in the said Taravad4, to hold and enjoy the
property, movable and immovable (വ തുമതുൽ), including the slaves and the
Ambalapadi, Urayma and other titles and honours ( ാനമാന ൾ) attached to the
pagodas of Ariyannur, Kandiyur and Plakkat, and to maintain the females : and
whereas that document has now been presented before us, we hereby direct that
Otalur (Nambutiri) do marry in the said Taravad, hold and enjoy the property, movable
and immovable, slaves and chest of documents (െപ ി പമാണം) belonging to the two
Illams of Natuvat and Palaykat, and the Ambalapadi, Urayma, titles and honours, and
everything else pertaining to the abovementioned three pagodas and maintain the
females. Written in the month of Mithunam 10266 M.E. in the hand of Pavvattil
Krishnan, in the presence and under the orders of Trichur Vatakkechira Kovilakam
Raja.
Note. — Translated from a copy received from Nellisseri Siva Ramayyan of Palghat Town.
NOTEs: 4. Illam is a Dravidian, not a Sanskrit word. It is now almost exclusively applied to Nambutiri
family houses, but anciently the il was the king’s house. See the use of Kovil (properly Koyil) in Deed No.
12 and others. The Nambutiris, in right of the princely privileges which seem to have been conferred on
them, in common with Jews and Syrians, probably assumed the right, among their other privileges, of
styling their dwellings royal houses. There is a strong contrast in this deed between lllam and Taravad—See
note to Deed No. 22.
5. This illustrates another mode in which Nambutiri inheritances are passed on in the Native States.
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Vol 2
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Appendix
No. 52
ROYAL LETTER ADDRESSED TO CHOLAYKARA (NAMBUTIRI)
Whereas the document executed on the 8th Mithunam 991 by Tamarasseri
Nambutiri of Kariyannur Muri, in Chengalikkot Pravirtti, authorising1 Cholaykara
Nambutiri to hold and1 enjoy, in the capacity of Anantiravan1, the Tamarasseri Taravad
and the property, movable and immovable, slaves, chest of documents
(െപ ി പമാണം), Desam, Desadhipatyam, Ambalapadi, Urayma, and everything else
belonging to that Taravad2 has been produced before us ; and whereas Tamarasseri
Nambutiri and the female members are dead and Cholaykara has married in that
Taravad and has been enjoying the property and titles pertaining to the same ; and
whereas Cholaykara has communicated the matter to us by a letter, we hereby direct
that Cholaykara do hold and enjoy the said Tamarasseri Taravad and the property,
movable and immovable, slaves, chest of documents (െപ ി പമാണം) Desam,
Desadhipatyam, Ambalapadi, Urayma, and everything else attached to the Taravad.
Written in the month of Vrischikam 10313 M.E. in the hand of Pavvattil Krishnan, in
the presence and under the orders of Kanayannur Kovilakat Tamburan.
Note. — Translated from a copy received from Nellisseri Siva Ramayyan of Palghat Town.
NOTEs: 1. This illustrates another mode of passing on Nambutiri inheritances in the Native States.
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Vol 2
No. 53
Whereas the document executed by Nangayya and Nangeli, the only members
(female) of Pattallur Illam in Etakkulam Muri of Arippalam Pravirtti, authorising4
Patiyur Nambutiri to hold and4 enjoy the property, movable and immovable, slaves,
chest of documents (െപ ി പമാണം), Ambalapadi, Urayma, titles and honours attached
to Vellinattan Pagoda, Desam, Desadhipatyam, and everything else belonging to that
Taravad1 has been produced before us and Pattallur Nangeli is dead, we hereby direct
that Patiyur Nambutiri do hold and enjoy, as he has hitherto done, by virtue of the
document aforesaid, the Pattallur Taravad, and the property, movable and immovable,
slaves, chest of documents (െപ ി പമാണം), belonging to the same, Ambalapadi and
Urayma of Vellittat Pagoda, Desam and Desadhipatyam, and everything else connected
with the said Taravad, and maintain the female Nangayya. Written in the month of
Dhanu 10315 M.E. in the hand of Pavyattil Krishnan, in the presence and under the
orders of Iringatakkute Kovilakat Tamburan.
Note. - Translated from a copy received from Nellisseri Siva Ramayyan of Palghat Town.
NOTEs: 1. This illustrates another mode of passing on Nambutiri inheritances in the Native States.
NOTEs: 4. Illustrative of another mode of passing on Nambutiri inheritances in the Native States.
5. A.D. 1855-56. END OF NOTEs
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Appendix
No. 54
Jamnam6 deed (ജ ാധാരം) executed by 1, Erechchan alias Chekkunni Nayar
; 2, Chandu Nayar ; 3, Chattu Nayar, sons of Koletuttakuriyettina Cheratamma ; and 4,
Erechchan Nayar, son of Pennutti Amma in Nedungottur Desam, Kottuli Amsam,
Calicut Taluk, to Rama alias Unnippera Kurup, son of Matiravana Cherukotta
Cherunni Amma of the above Desam, on the 12th Chingam of the year (െകാലം)
1056, corresponding to 26th August 1881. Whereas Rs. 300 was fixed (നി യി ) as
the Janmam value (ജ വില) of 1, Vadakkemulakkandam (വടെ മൂലക ം ==
northern comer land) in the eastern division (ഒടി) of Kilakke (eastern), Mantayar
Nilam (നിലം == land) ; and 2, Vadakku Padinyare Mulakkandam Paramba (north-
western corner portion of the paramba) in Veluttur Paramba, specified in the schedule
below, which are our Janmam, we have this day granted (ത ിരി ു ു) the Janmam
of the property (വകകൾ), with everything of whatever description
(എേ ർെ േതാടുകൂടി) ; out of the Janmam value of Rs. 300 due to us
(ഞ ൾ ുവെര ും
= literally, that ought to come to us) we have reserved (നിർ ി)
Rs.103, being the Kanam and loan (കടംവാ പ), including interest (പലിശകൂടി), due
by us the first and second executants to Chemmalasseri Patinyarayil Koru Kurup on
land No. 1, and Rs. 166-10-0, being the Kanam and loan (കടംവാ പ), including
interest (പലിശകൂടി), due to you on the paramba No. 2, making under the two heads
(വകര ിൽ) Rs. 270-10-0, and the balance of Rs. 29-6-0 we have received in cash
(െറാ ം) from you, and we are satisfied as to the Janmam value of Rs. 300; we have
therefore no claim (അവകാശം) and concern (േചർ ) about your possessing
(അട ി) and enjoying (അനുഭവി ) the property (വകകൾ) as Janmam under this
(deed) (ഇതിനാൽ).
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Vol 2
Written in the hand of Kakkalan Imbichchi Andi with Matirapanapennapurat

Ittirarappa Kurup and Mannil Arikkotparambat Kelu Adiyodi as witnesses to this —
1. CHEKKUNNI NAYAR (signed).
2. CHANDU NAYAR (").
3. CHATTU NAYAR (").
4. EROMAN NAYAR (").
Witnesses-
1. ITTIRARPPA KURUP (Signed).
2. KELU ADIYODI (").
Note.—Translated from a copy received from the Registrar of Malabar.
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Appendix
No. 55
KOVILAKAM No. 10 of 1057.
Royal letter (തീ ്) written jointly by Walluvanattudaya1 Kadannamuttayil
Walluvanattukare Mankadakovilakat Vedapuratti Valiya Tamburatti of Mankada
Amsam, Walluvanad Taluk, and Srivallabhan Valiya Tamburan Avarkal of the said
Kovilakam, to Mambee Ali, son of Moidu of Valambur Amsam, of the said taluk. The
object (കാർ ം) is that, whereas one item of Kudiyirippu (കുടിയിരി ), being the
Janmam of Mankada Kovilakam Cherikkal, purchased (തീരു്വാ ി) on the 13th
Vrischikam 1052 from Avarankutti and his brother Said Ali, sons of Kalattiltodiyil Pari,
and specified in the schedule below, has this day been demised to you on a pattam of 3
fanams and a Kanam2 of Rs.4-9-2, equal to 16 new fanams, you should pay within the
30th Makaram of each year from 1057, Annas 6, being the michcharam payable
annually, after deducting the interest on the Kanam amount and the Government
assessment from the aforesaid pattam, as well as 2 annas for Onavalakkula
(ഓണവാഴ ുല = bunch of plantains presented during the Onam festival) and
Annas 2 on account of Nei Vilakku (െനയിവിള ു = lamp lighted with ghee) in
Mankada temple from your pocket (ക ാൽ = literally, from the hand) and obtain
receipt (േനർമറി) ; and if the michcharam is left in arrears without being paid at the
prescribed time, you should pay the same, with interest at 12 per cent ; you should also
surrender, on receipt of the Kanam, the Kudiyirippu mentioned in the schedule on
demand3.
NOTEs: 1. One of the families which attested Deeds Nos. 1 and 2,

2. There is here no mention of any fine on entry. It is not usual to mention it or state its amount,
3. This is the innovating clause which is so much objected to by tenants, particularly by those who have
paid fines on entry or renewal fees. See Mr. Holloway’s decision in South. END OF NOTEs
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Vol 2
Written in the hand of Pulappillimadattil Venkideswara Pattar on the 6th

December 1881, corresponding to the 22nd Vrischikam 1057, with the
undersigned witnesses.
Note.—Translated from a copy furnished by the District Registrar.
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Appendix
No. 56
Panaya patta kulikkana1 kudiyirippu deed (പണയ ാ കുഴി ാണ
കുടിയിരി ്) executed on the 9th Dhanu 1057 by Nadavilakat Mamukkoya, son of
Mayan Koya of Nagaram Amsam, Calicut Taluk, to Ayyappan, Mundakkutti Imbichchi

and Sami, sons of Puvvattinkal Tannikunnat Chekku, residing in Valappil Paramba in
Veliyancheri Desam, Kasba Amsam of the said taluk. Whereas I have this day granted
you a renewed lease (െപാളിെ ഴുതിചാർ ിരു ു) of the Valappil Paramba, the
boundaries and extent of which are specified in the schedule below, being my Janmam,
and included in the property assigned to me as my share in execution of the Appeal
decree No. 282 of 1880, against the decree of the Subordinate Court of South Malabar
in Regular Suit No. 329 of 1879 of the District Munsif’s Court of Calicut, which was
transferred to the former Court, on an annual pattam of Rs. 17—8—0, equal to 70
fanams, on a Kanam of 144 fanams and 12 visams (വീശം), the Kanam already due to
your father Chekku, plus 38 fanams and 8 visams, the improvement value with Ali
(അഴി) = customary deduction in paying for improvements under Kulikkanam when
the Janmi has not to pay for the tenth plant) of 15 coconut and 8 areca trees, this day
paid for, plus 516 fanams and 12 visams, equal to Rs. 129—3—0, received this day in
cash (ഇ ുെറാ ംവാ ിയ), making under the three heads a total Kanam of 700
fanams, equal to Rs. 175, and on a Purappad pattam of Rs. 8-12-0, deducting Rs. 8-12-
0 for interest on the money advanced (അർ ംപലിശ) ; you should enjoy the lease
(പാ ംനടു ു) of the paramba and pay annually from Vrischikam 1058 Rs. 8-12-0,
being the Purappad pattam after deducting the interest on the Kanam amount, and
obtain receipt (മുറി). Keikkuli Avakkasam (ൈക ൂലിഅവകാശം == fine upon a
lease and its renewal) equal to the amount of the pattam has been collected.
Alikulikkanam (അഴികുഴി ാണം = customary improvement value subject to Ali),
according to local custom (േദശമർ ാദ) for trees already planted but not paid for, and
for those that may be planted hereafter, excepting the 38 coconut and 8 areca trees and
miscellaneous trees (പടുമരം) included in the lease, along with those which have been
paid for, and the Kanam amount of Rs. 175 will be paid on eviction when the term
expires. It has also been stipulated that if the paramba is not properly taken care of, or
if the pattam is allowed to fall into arrears, the property should be surrendered on
demand after settlement of accounts, irrespective of the term of the lease
(കാലനിയമംപറയാെത = literally without speaking about the term), and that as the
Government tax (ശീമനികുതി) and the Municipal tax, if paid by you, will be allowed
out of the pattam payable by you; but the Municipal tax must be paid by you. Written
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Vol 2
in the hand of Putiyakovilakam Parambil Sankaralinkam Pilla on the 21st December

1881 with the undersigned as witnesses to this :
Note.—Translated from a copy furnished by the District Registrar.

NOTEs: 1. Panayam = pIedge : pattam = rent ; kuli = pit, excavation ; Kanam = money claim ; kudiyiruppu
= house-site, meaning a deed embracing in its conditions some elements of a mortgage, a lease, an
improving lease, and a building lease. END OF NOTEs
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Appendix
No. 57
Kanam1 deed, executed by Chekku Panikkar, son of Puliyosseri Mittaie Vittil
Ittu Amma of Cheruvannur Amsam and Desam, Calicut Taluk, to Govindan Nayar,
son of Chellat Imbichchi Amma of the above Desam. Whereas I have granted you, for
the period included within 12 years (12 െകാല ി കമായ) Dharm Nyayar (ഞായർ
= solar month) of this year 1057, a renewal of Kulikkanakudiyirippu (കുഴി ാണ
കുടിയിരി ി െപാളിെ ഴുതിചാർ ി)2 of Vattakandi Paramba and two others

items of property, which are my Taravad Janmam3 in the above Desam, and the
boundaries and extent of which are described in the schedule below, on a pattam of 14
fanams for Parambas 1 and 2, and 4 paras of paddy per Nanaliyan para
(നാനാഴിയൻപറ), worth 10 annas, for land No.3, and on a Kanam of 12 fanams, being
the amount for which a lease was granted in 1046 after payment of the improvement
value of (കഴി ൂർ തീർ ുചാർ ിയ) 2 coconut and 1 jack tree in Paramba No. 2
plus 4 fanams, being the improvement value with Ali (അഴി or ....= customary
deduction in paying for improvements under കഴി ാണം when the Janmi has not to
pay for the tenth plant) of two coconut trees now grown in the said paramba, making a
total under the two heads of 16 fanams, from which deduct fanams 5 for arrears of
rent, leaving a balance of 11 fanams as present Kanam and on a Purappad pattam of 13
1/2 fanams and 4 paras of paddy, half a fanam being deducted for interest on the
Kanam1 amount ; you should from this (day) ഇതുമുതൽ enjoy the lease (പാ ംനട ു)
of these lands annually (കാലംേതാറും), and pay me annually 13½ fanams and 4 paras
of paddy, being the Purappad pattam (പുറ ാടുപാ ം) due to me after deducting the
interest on your Kanam (amount) and obtain receipt (പുകമുറി).
NOTES: 1. This is quite a modern phrase. The proper term for a Kanam deed is Pattamola or
Patola. See Glosssary and Deeds 17, 23, 31, etc.
2. Kulikkana kudiyirippina polichcheluti chartti. Literally, for an improving (Kuli) Kannam
dwelling-house site, having cancelled (polichchu) and renewed (eluti = written) and written (chartti).
3. Taravad Janmam has now come to signify merely "family property,” but the retention of the
word Taravad before Janmam points out the direction in which modern ideas on the subjet have been
derived. All Janmam land has descended to the present owners through the ancient Nayar Taravads (Tara =
Nayar village, and padu = authority).
1. Here Kanam signifies simply money advanced and secured on the land. Compare the use
made of the word in Deed No. 4. END OF NOTEs
Customary improvement value, subject to Ali (അഴി, see above) ൈദശമർ ാദ

അഴീകുഴി ാണ will be paid2 for young trees (എളംഫലം) already planted but not
paid for (മു ുെവ തിൽ തീരാതെതയു ), and for trees which may be planted
hereafter (ഇതുമുതലായി), excepting two old jack trees (മുതുഫലംപിലാവു്)
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Vol 2
previously existing in Paramba No. 1, and four coconut and one jack tree in Paramba
No. 2, of which the improvement value has been paid (കുഴി ൂറുതീർ ), although a
premium3 (പാ ൈക ൂലി) of Rs. 5—8—0 for 12 years is now collected, if the
Purappad pattam payable annually be not paid at stated periods but be allowed to fall
into arrears, the same should be paid in one lump (ഒ ായി), with interest at 12 per
cent, whenever I demand it. Written in the hand of Katakkat Pappu Nayar on the 19th
Dhanu Nyayar (ഞായർ = solar month) of the year 1057, corresponding to 1st
January 1882, with Kuttitalat Cherunni Nayar and Kannyingat Appunni as witnesses
(സാ ിയാെക).
Note.—Translated from a copy received from the Registrar of Malabar.

NOTEs: 2. The incorporation in the deed of clauses relating to the valuation of improvements is quite a
modern practice.
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Appendix
END OF NOTEs
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Vol 2
No. 58
Karipanayam deed (കരിപണയം = mortgage with possession), executed by
Mangngalasseri Tekkinkattil Narayanan Nayar, son of Kunchiamma of Mundur
Amsam and Desam, Palghat Taluk, to Anappara Purakkal Pachchi, daughter of Iluvan
Velu, of Nechchippalli Desam, Kavalpad Amsam, of the said taluk. One item of land
sowing 5 paras and specified in the subjoined schedule being given to (your)
possession (കയ ശംത ു) as Karipanayam (കരിപണയമായി) (I have) this day
received 360 fanams, which, with 40 fanams already due, makes under two heads
(വകര ിൽ) a total of 400 fanams, equal to Rs. 114-4-7. For this sum of Rs. 114-4-7
you should, by cultivating (കൃഷിനട ു) the land mentioned in the schedule, measure
out (പടിേക ും) a pattam of 33 paras and 5 Idangalis of paddy, out of which,
deducting 22 paras 5 Idangalis as interest on the money advanced (അർ പലിശ),
(there is left) a balance inclusive of assessment of a pattam of 11 paras of paddy, which

must be annually measured out at my house in my para from 1058 (M.E.) within the
30th Makaram, after being dried and cleaned (െവടി വരു ി), and a receipt should
be taken (by you). Moreover, you should quit and give possession of the land (to me)
when the 400 fanams is returned on the day following any Uchchar (ഉ ാർ or
ഉചാചരൽ is the season when leases of land are generally granted and cancelled ;
festival in honour of Bhudevi’s (ഭൂേദവി goddess of earth) menstruation on Makara
Sankaranthi (end of January)]. Written in the hand of Narayanan, the receiver
(െകാ ാൻ of the the money) on the 29th January 1882, corresponding to 17th
Makaram of the year 1057, with the undersigned as witnesses.
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Appendix
APPENDIX XIII
Mr. GRÆME’S GLOSSARY WITH

NOTES AND ETYMOLOGICAL
HEADINGS
INDEX
A
Adima Parambu. Adima.
Adinynya Urukkal, see Revenue Adimappanam, see Revenue
Alipadam Adiyan
Alukiya Attipper, see Perura Artham Alisilavu
Amsapatram Ambalappadi, see Desam
Anappidi, see Revenue. Anakkomban
Anubhavam Angam, see Revenue
Aphalam Anubhogam, see Anubhavam, also
Kulichchekam
Attadakkam, see Revenue Areca
Attipperu, see Attippettola Attaladakkam, see Revenue
Ayudhakatti, see Kodungakatti Attippoettola, Attuveppu
B
Betelnut, see Areca.
C Chala, see Houses
Changngatum Changagatam, see also Revenue
Changngatikkuri Changngatikkur Kalyanam, see
Changngatikkuri
Charadayam, see Revenue Chaver
Chenkombu, see Revenue Cherikkal, see Revenue
Cherlabbam, Cheru, See Podl
Cherujanmam Cherumakkal.
Chira. Chungam, see Revenue
Coconut Cowle
D
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Vol 2
Dasta bakki. Desadhipatyam, see Desam

Desakoyma, see Desam Desam
Desavali, see Desam Dravyani, see Otti
E
Edam Eimmula, see Revenue
Ela, see Revenue Elam
Ennam. Ennipadu, see Koyilmeni
Ettukkonnu
F
Fanam Forfeiture of lease, see Kanam
G
Garce Gold Fanam, see Fanam
Gramam Grandhavari
H
Hobali Houses
I
Idam, see Edam, also Houses Idapadu
Ilavan Illakkur
Illam, see Houses Improvements, see Kanam
Inakkumuri Incidents, see Kanam
Irunalipattam, see Pattam
J
Jack tree Janmakkaran, see Jemmam
Janmakkaval, see Janmam Janmakkolu, see Janmam
Janmakkudiyan , see Janmam, Janmam
Janmapanayam Eluttu, see Janmam Janmapanayam Ola Ka.
Janmapanayam Ola Karanam, see Janmam Jamini, see Janmam
K
Kadamvaypa, see Palisa. Kal.
Kalameni. Kalappad.
Kalayi. Kalcha, see Revenue.
Kalkura patinaru. Kanakkappilla, see Kirani.
Kanakkaran, see Kanam. Kanam.
Kanampuram-kadam, see Kanam. Kandam.
Kandi, see Kandam. Kani, see Pattam.
Kannadappulli, see Revenue. Kappam.
Kara, see Ur. Karalan.
Karanam. Karaveppu.
Kattakkanam. Kattakkol, see Kattavadi.
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Appendix
Kattavadi. Kattival, see Kodungakatti.

Kattuvaram. Kavalphalam.
Kayattu nel, see Petipadu. Keikkuli.
Keippanam. Keivida otti.
Keram. Kilayijanmam, see Kilayikurujanmam.
Kilayikurujanmam. Kinattil panni, see Revenue.
Kirani. Kodungakatti.
Kol Peimasi. Kol.
Kola, see Revenue. Kolichchal.
Kolu Labham. Koluppanayam.
Kombu, see Revenue. Kottaram, see Houses.
Kovilakam, see Houses. Koyilmeni.
Krishi. Krishikkaran, see Krishi.
Kudi, see also Houses. Kudi.
Kudichillara. Kudippaka.
Kudiyan. Kudiyankur.
Kudiyirippu. Kudiyirumappadu.
Kudmanir, see Kudumanir. Kudumanir
Kuduppu, nee Kudippaka.. Kulichchakkaran
Kulichchekam. Kulikkanam.
Kuppamanyal. Kuraka, see Revenue.
Kuri Muppan, see Changngatikkuri. Kurvalcha.
Kuttadan. Kuttala, see Houses.
Kuttam. Kutti nellu.
Kutti vasi. Kuttikkanakkola.
Kuttikkanam. Kuva.
M
Macleod seer. Madhyastanmar.
Malikana. Mana, see Houses.
Maniyani. Mannattappan.
Mappilla. Maricham
Marupattam, see Pattam. Maryada.
Matham, see Houses. Melkanam, eee Kanam.
Melkoyma. Melvaram, see Pattam.
Menavan. Meni Vilachchal.
Menippattam, see Pattam. Mennokki.
Menon, see Menavan. Michcharam, see Pattam.
Michchavaram, see Pattam. Modan.
Modern Land Revenue, see Revenue. Mrigam Nalkkali.
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Vol 2
Muda. Mukhyasthan.
Mukkatavali. Mukkuvar.
Mulluvalli. Mummula, see Revenue.
Mummula, see Revenue. Mundakam, see Kuttadan.
Munnu-meni-nilam. Munpattam, see Pattam.
Muppappanam, see Kattakkanam. Muppara, see Ettukkonnu.
Muri. Mutalalan, see Janmi.
Mutira.
N
Nadukuttam, see Kuttam. Naduvali.
Nalubhayam. Nalu-meni-nilam, see Munnu-meni-
niIam.
Nambiyar. Namburi, see Nambutiri.
Nambutiri. Nayan.
Nayar, see Nayan. Nayattukuttam, see Kuttam.
New Viray Fanam, see Fanam. Nikuti Chittu.
Nikuti Sishtam, see Nikuti Chittu. Nikuti Vitty, see Nikuti Chittu.
Nilal Kuttam, see Kuttarn. Nilam, see Kandam.
Nirmutal Nokkichartta.
Nokkiyelutta Peimasi, see Nokkichartta.
O
Oart. Old Viray Fanam. see Fanam.
Oppu. Otti.
Ottikkum-purameyulla Kanam, see Otti.
P
Pada Kuttam, see Kuttam. Padam, see Kandam.
Pakuti ola, see Amsapatram. Palisa.
Palisa Madakkam. Pallimanyayal, see Palliyal.
Pallinyayal sea Palliyal. Palliyal.
Palliyali, see Palliyal. Palparambu.
Panaya Eluttukaran, see Panayam. Panayam.
Panaya patta Kulikkanam, see Pandakkaval.
Kulikkanam.
Pandaram. Pandi.
Panikkar. Para.
Parambu. Para of seed land, see Para.
Pasirna, see Pasuma. Pasuma.
Patam. Pattachchittu, see Pattam.
Pattakkaran, see. Pattam. Pattali, see Pattam.
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Appendix
Pattam. Pattamali, see Pattam.

Pattamola, see Pattom. Pattan.
Pattinnu randu. Pattola, sea Pattam.
Pepper vine. Perpetual lease.
Perum artham. Phalam.
Pidika, see Houses. Pila, see Revenue.
Pisharam, see Houses. Podi.
Polichcheluttu. Poluttikkaran, see Maniyani.
Ponnarippu. see Revenue. Potippadu.
Potippattu, see Potippadu. Prabhu.
Pramanam. sea Karanam. Pramani.
Pramani, see also Tara. Pravrittikkaran.
Pravrittikkaran, see also Maniyani. Proprietors.
Pukil. Pulayatta penna, see Revenue.
Punam. see Modan. Punja.
Pura, see Houses. Purappad, see Kanam.
Purushantaram, see Revenue. Pushpottu. see Houses.
Puttada. Puval, see Revenue.
R
Rakshabhogam, see Revenue. Rasi, see Pasuma.
Rasi Fanam, see Fanam. Rat Hunts, see Kuttam.
Reas. Renewal, see Kanam.
Revenue. Rice.
Rice Lands, see Rice. Robbin.
S Sakshi.
Salt. Salt-pans, see Salt.
Sanar. Silakkasu, see Keikkuli.
Silver Fanam, see Fanam. Sisht Bakki.
Sisu. Slaves.
Sthana-maria-avakasam Sudran.
Sultani Fanam, see Fanam. Svarupakkur. see Svarupam.
Svarupam.
T
Tala Uda-ya Tamburan. Talappanam, see Revenue.
Tandu. Tappu. see Revenue.
Tara. Taravadu, see Tara.
Taravattukaran, see Tara. Tarisu.
Tei, see Sisu. Tikappalisa, see Palisa.
Tingalppanam. Tippali.
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Vol 2
Tiruvatira Nyattutala. Tittu, see Adima.

Tiyan. Tobacco.
Todi, see Parambu. Toduppanayam
Tol, see Revenue. Tottam, see Parambu.
Tusikkanam.
U
Ubhayam, see Kandam. Ulaparambu.
Ulpatti, see Kandam.
Undaruti. Ur.
Uralan, see Ur. Urayma, see Desam.
V
Vakachchal. Vakachchalkaran, see Vakachchal
Vakku. Val, see Revenue.
Valli. Valumel Kodi.
Valum-pudavam Vanokki.
Varam, see Pattam. Vilumpadi.
Virippu. Vittu-pati-pattam, see Pattam,
Vittiratta pattam, see Pattam. Vattolam pattam, see Pattam.
Vittu, see Valli. Vittupadu.
Vyalavattam. Vyavaharamala.
Y
Yapana. see Kulichehekam. Yogakuttam, see Kuttam.
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Appendix
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS NOTED IN THE GLOSSARY.

S.A. = Sadr Adalat,
S.C. = Sadr Court.
M.H.C. = Madras High Court.
M.H.C.R. = Madras High Court Reports.
M.S. Decisions = Madras Sadr Court Decisions.
M.S.C. = Madras Sadr Court.
S.D.C. = South Malabar District Court.
S.S.C. == South Malabar Subordinate Court.
N.D.C. = North Malabar District Court.
I.L.R. Madras — Indian Law Reports, Madras Series.
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Vol 2
GLOSSARY
ADIMA GRANT called a TITTU
Adima, from Dravidian adi ( bottom, base, foot), means slavery, feudal
dependency. Tittu, from Dravidian tinduka (= to touch, defile), means a writ
from a superior to an inferior.
In Malabar there are few castes under the rank of Nayar who did not, and who do
not still, acknowledge a feudal dependence upon some superior lord, and who are
not Adiyans or vassals. Persons of this description were not formerly allowed to
possess land in Janmam right ; and therefore, when a Janmi made over land to a
person in the condition of an Adiyan, it was called an Adima deed or grant,
although he might not be his own vassal, and although the proprietor might have
received the full Janmam value for the land. The right of proprietorship continued
with the Janmi, and the tenant paid him a small sum of money—not more,
perhaps, than two fanams annually—by way of acknowledgment of
proprietorship. The tenant, however, could not be dispossessed, and the Iand
descended to his heirs, and only reverted to the Janmi on failure of heirs.
The Adima grant of a paramba or garden was also often conferred by a superior
lord, or Tala Udaya Tamburan, upon his own Adiyan or vassal ; but here it was in
the feature of an Inam or gift, no consideration having been received for it by the
proprietor. An annual trifling tribute of superiority is, however, reserved to the
proprietor to prevent the garden being entirely alienated. The garden reverts to
the proprietor on failure of heirs on the part of the Adiyan and if the Adiyan takes
a part with the enemies of his patron, the latter may resume the property. Under
any other circumstances the Adiyan cannot be dispossessed, and he has the right
of burial within the garden.
Notes.—1. See Kudima, Changngatam.
2. In this the land is made over in perpetuity to the grantee, either unconditionally as a
mark of favour, or on condition of certain services being performed. The terms Adima
and Kudima mean a slave, or one subject to the landlord, the grant being generally
made to such persons. A nominal fee of about two fanams a year is payable to the
landlord to show that he still retains the proprietary title. Land bestowed as a mark of
favour can never be resumed, but where it is granted as remuneration for certain
services to be performed, the non-performance of such services involving the
necessity of having them discharged by others will give the landlord power to recover
the land. The non-payment of the annual fee will form no ground for ousting the
grantee, but it will be recoverable by action. The hereditary property of Native princes
cannot be conferred on this tenure, the ruling prince having only the right of
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Appendix
enjoyment during life, without power to alienate —(Proceedings of the Court of Sadr
Adalat, No, 18, dated 6th August 1856.)
3. A grant on condition of performing service is irredeemable so long as the grantee is
ready and willing to perform the service.—S.D.C. 522 (1876), 113 (1877), 663 (1879).
ADIMA PARAMBU.
Adima (q. v.) Parambu (Dravidian) = higher or dry ground laid out in terraces,
all fields too high for irrigation, an orchard, garden, compound.
Is a garden given to a slave (not a Cheruman or a person who can be sold), rather a
vassal under the lord’s particular protection. A certain pattam is taken sometimes,
and sometimes none. Land so given can never be taken away, but remains with
the vassal till his death. If he dies without heirs, it reverts to the lord paramount.
A Vettuvan or salt manufacturer who had got such a piece of land at Calicut said it
was a place where he could be buried. He seemed to consider it a privilege insured
to him.
Note.—See Parambu.
ADIYAN.
From Dravidian adi ( == base, bottom, foot), means servant, slave.
Is literally slave both in Tamil and Malayalam, and in the Northern Division of
Malabar it is applied to the real slaves, but in South Malabar it means generally vassals.
Under the old system, where every Tiyan was under a kind of vassalage to some
superior, to some patron, to a Tamburan as he is commonly called, the patron
was bound to protect him and to redress any petty wrongs he might sustain, and
the client or vassal acknowledged his dependent state by yearly presents, and was
to be ready with his personal services upon any private quarrel of his patron. This
kind of dependency gave the patron no right of disposal of the person of his
vassal as a slave, nor did it acquit the dependent individual of a superior obligation
to the Raja or his representatives, the Desavali, and Neduvali, upon a public
emergency.
Individuals were often clients of the church, which, by means of its
representatives, the Uralar, was bound to protect them. Even at the present day
an individual will immediately say who his Tamburan or patron is, and the yearly
presents are still kept up.
Note.—See Changngatam.
ALIPADAM.
From (Dravidian) ali == (the ocean, the deep) and (Sanskrit) padam (a range,
especially of rice-fields).
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Vol 2
Alam, means, as in Tamil, depth, lowness, and padam field. The word applies to
the lowest rice-lands.
Note.—See Kandam.
ALI SILAVU.
Ali, properly alu or aluku (Dravidian), means the high wall round an orchard.
Silavu, properly chelavu (Dravidian), means expense.
The expense of preparing gardens. It bears the proportion of 20 per cent to the
established valuation of trees, which is settled in making the Kulikkanam. This
being added to the value of the trees, which in most places is half a rupee a
coconut tree, the proprietor must pay for both, or else the interest of the two
sums, according to the usual rate of the place, is included in the Pramanam and
deducted from the pattam.
AMSAPATRAM or Pakuti Ola
Amspatram, from Sanskrit Amsom (= share, part) and Sanskrit Patram (= a leaf,
a letter).
Pakuti Ola, from Dravidian pakuti (= division, share) and Dravidian ola (=
palm leaf, a writing leaf).
Is a deed of division of hereditary property among relations ; another kind of
Panaya Ola Karanam for rice-lands ; it is also called Muri : the same deed is used
for plantations, and it is called in addition Kettiadakkam on account of these words
being in the deed, which show that it refers to plantations.
Is a deed under which a Janmi makes over land for money borrowed. The
mortgagee pays himself the interest and gives to the Janmi the purapad or residue
of the pattam after deducting the interest, and in some cases the land tax is also to
be deducted. The land is to be restored on payment of the debt without any
deduction, of Sakshi, and no Polichcheluttu is allowed under this deed. The
interest is supposed to be rather high in this transaction compared with that of
many other land tenures.
ANAKKOMBAN.
From Dravidian Ana (= elephant) and Dravidian kombu (= tusk ivory).
A species of fine paddy grown in the Palghat District in low rice-lands, which is
ten months in coming to maturity. It is heating. It is generally exported to
Coimbatore, where it fetches one-twentieth more than any other kind of paddy.
ANUBHAVAM or Anubhogam.
(Sanskrit) = enjoyment, usufruct.
A deed of gift of land as a reward for services performed, answering, perhaps, to
Inam land. The holder cannot be dispossessed, and the right is hereditary; but if
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Appendix
the grantee or any of his descendants die without heirs, the land reverts to the
Janmi, and on the succession of heirs the Janmi is entitled to Purushantaram. In
some instances a trifling payment of one or two fanams is made by the grantee to
the Janmi in token of acknowledgment of proprietorship. An hereditary grant of
Anubhavam of the purapad, or residue of purapad after deducting mortgage
interest, which remains in the hands of a mortgagee, is sometimes made to the
mortgagee himself, or to some other person not connected with the land to
whom the mortgagee is required to pay it.
Notes. —1. See Adim Kulichchekam.
2. It was customary for princes, when conferring a title on any person, to grant him at
the same time sufficient land, to enable him to maintain the dignity of his position.
Grants under this tenure were also bestowed upon persons for special services
rendered, or for the future performance of certain services. The tenant cannot be
ejected except where there are conditions imposed and he fails to fulfil them ; but, on
the other hand, he and his heirs have only the right of enjoyment and cannot alienate
their title. A trifling annual fee is generally paid to the landlord to show that he has not
surrendered the proprietary.—(Proceedings of the Court of Sadr Adalat, No. 18, dated
5th August 1856.)
APHALAM.
(Sanskrit) = unfruitful, from a (Sanskrit negative particle) and Sanskrit phalam
(= fruit), perhaps from Dravidian palam (== fruit).
A tree past bearing.
ARECA or BETEL-NUT. (Areca Catechu)
The tree = Kamugu, Kamundu, Kavundu, or Kalungngu (Dravidian). Its fruit
= Adakka, Adekka (Dravidian), whence Portuguese Areca.
The nut of the betel-nut tree (not the tree itself) in Malayalam, whence probably
the botanical name areca.
According to Arshad Beg’s Settlement of 1783-84 or 959 of the Southern District,
exclusive of Palghat.-
Total Trees 3,361,195
Aphalam or Sisu 2,161,115
Productive 1,200,080
Hoons S. C.
Or about one-third assessable Revenue 20,018 0 0
59 productive trees per hoon, or 20 productive trees per rupee.
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The number according to the Janmi Pymaish account of 981, furnished by the
Collector, Mr. Vaughan, was 4,409,843 ; of this past bearing 1,326,652, pupils
1,376,846, productive 1,706,345. Their revenue of that year, deducting past
bearing and pupils, Rs. 58,656 1 qr, 32 3/4 reas; average assessment per
productive tree 13 3/4 reas.
Note.—The number according to the Jamabandi accounts of Fasli 1289 (1879- 80)
was 8,167,552, of which 1,661,003 were returned as past bearing 3,304,740 too young
to bear, and 3,201,189 as productive. The revenue, assessed on the productive trees
alone, was returned as Rs. 81,311—12—0, giving an average of nearly1 5 pies per
productive tree.
NOTEs: Correct average = 4215740/246293 pies. END OF NOTES.
ATTIPPETTOLA or Attipperu.
From Dravidian Atti (= causal of a verb signifying to be close, contiguous to,
hence causal form, == to come in contact) and Dravidian peru (= birth,
bringing forth), and Dravidian ola (= palm-leaf, leaf for writing.) The full
phrase is Nir Atti peru, meaning the birthright (peru) obtained by coming in
contact (Atti) with nir (= water).
Per in Malayalam corresponds with the Sanskrit word, Janmam, which means born,
created, acquired, and more generally property. Atti means to join, mix. These two
words united give but an imperfect meaning, and the word nir is generally
prefixed. Nir-atti-per thus means the Janmam combined with water is given up. The
Janmi reserves no purapad (balance of rent after deducting mortgage interest) or
anything to himself. He cannot, after the execution of this deed, redeem the
mortgage, and the relinquishment of the proprietary right is absolute under it. At
the time of executing and delivering the deed, the following persons must be
present. A Sva-jati, a person of the same caste ; Bandhu, a relative ; Putran, literally
the son, but in Malabar construed to mean the heir, whether a nephew or son ;
Narapati, the Raja ; the writer of the deed ; Tatra Sambandhi, a resident round the
spot. In practice the attendance of the Raja, or the execution of the deed before
the Raja, is dispensed with. It is only necessary that he should be apprised of the
transaction. The mortgagee gives two fanams, which is placed in a small vessel of
water ; the mortgagor, holding the deed in his hand, pours the water over it,
which the mortgagor receives as it falls, and either swallows it, or puts it upon his
head, or upon his feet, or upon the ground, according to the relative caste of the
two parties. The deed is then delivered to the mortgagee. This deed mentions
generally that the full value of the property disposed of has been received, and
states the boundaries of it, but it does not specify the amount received.
Notes.—1. See Janmam and Perumartham and Sthana-mana-avakasam.
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2. The purchaser, in coming into possession, is bound by all obligations which

attached to the proprietor. He cannot disturb those who may be holding the property
or any portion of it on Kanam mortgage, but merely receives the surplus rent produce
in place of the former landlord. On the other hand, he comes into all the rights and
privileges of the former landlord and may pay off Otti mortgages and sell or transfer
the property as he pleases.—(Proceedings of the Court of Sadr Adalat, No. 18, dated
6th August 1856.)
ATTUVEPPU.
From Dravidian Aru (= river) and Dravidian veppu := (placing, planting).
Plantations bordering the seashore and rivers.
Notes.—1. One of the classes into which coconut gardens are divided.
2. As matter of fact, such gardens do not always border on the shore or river.
CHANGNGATAM.
(Sanskrit) == convoy, guard, income of Rajas from granting such guards, grants of
land to persons liable to such service, companion.
Is also a kind of vassalage, and is applied particularly to Nayars who have placed
themselves in a state of dependency upon some Desavali, Naduvali or Raja. The word
Adiyan would, with respect to them, be degrading and improperly used. Nayars have often
agreed to give Changngatam or protection-money to some chief of authority, and to make
yearly presents in consequence from 4 to 34 fanams to individual patrons, and as high as
120 to the church. The church, again, has often subjected itself to Changngatam money to
Rajas to ensure the benefit of their power.
Notes.—1. “Those who desire to proceed thither should first pay a certain sum of
money to the king of the country, who will then appoint people to accompany them
and show them the way.” — Fah Hian's Travels, quoted at Indian Antiquary VII, p- 3.
‘‘Thither” meant the country called by Fah Hian the “Kingdom of the Dakshina” or of
the South.
2. There were four classes of officers about the Raja, whose posts were not hereditary
but within his gift, viz., (1) Munnalippad, attendants with a daily allowance of three
Nalis of paddy, youthful attendants ; (2) Arunalippad attendants with double the above
allowance ; (3) Pandarappad, treasury officials ; and (4) Changngatuppad (see heading).—
(Gundert’s Dictionary.)
3. See Kudima, Kulichchakkaran, Revenue.
CHANGNGATIKKURI.
From Sanskrit changngati (—convoy, guard, companion, friend) and Dravidian
Kuri (= lot, share, lottery, club).
May be construed a season of friendship, a periodical association the lodge of
friendship, a society of friends. It was a meeting formerly very common in
Malabar among the natives, and still partially kept up, for the purposes of
conversation, of discussing any particular subject, of inquiring into the conduct of
any individual. It is not, it appears, confined to people of the same caste, but the
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association was often composed of Nayers, Tiyars and Mappilas. Besides promoting
social intercourse, it has a tendency to prudential consequences. It induces
economy.
Where there is a variety of castes in the society, the entertainer gives to those who
are not of his own caste a certain quantity of rice and allows them to dress it by
their own people. It is supported by the subscription of the members in the
following manner. Suppose there are 25 members ; that each contributes 4 fanams
monthly, making a total stock for each month of 100 fanams ; that the society is
limited to 25 months' duration, and every member is obliged to give an
entertainment to the party once in the course of this period at his own house. It
does not come to the members in regular turn, but is decided by lot, that is, every
member places with his subscription a ticket with his name into the deposit, and a
ticket is drawn every month by some indifferent person, and the person whose
name appears on the ticket drawn gives the entertainment and is entitled to the
amount in deposit for the month.
The entertainment is calculated to cost at most not more than 10 per cent, of one
month’s' subscription of all the members, and the great advantage is derived from
drawing a ticket at an early stage, on account of the interest upon the sum to the
remaining period ; there is no other prize ; every member’s subscription amounts
in the end to the whole principal gain which he can ever make.
The greatest disadvantages to any member are the drawing his ticket towards the
close of the duration of the society, the consequent loss of interests on his
monthly subscriptions, and the loss of principal expended in the entertainment to
the extent of two or two and a half month's subscription.
But these are counterbalanced by his facility of procuring easy loans of money
upon the security which the ultimate certainty of attaining a prize affords. The
monthly subscriptions in the meantime are small and not felt, and induce a habit
of saving which would not otherwise be practised.
The interest upon loans which the members thus procure is to be paid only till the
prize comes up. The lender derives no benefit from the chance of its coming up
early.
Notes.—1. See Changngatam.
2. The Kuri was of three kinds : (1) Nelkkuri, where the shares were paid in paddy ; (2)
Arikkuri, where the shares were paid in rice ; and (3) Panakkuri, where the shares were
paid in money.
KURI MUPPAN
Is the president of the society termed Changngatikkuri, whose duty it is to see the
money collected, or, in failure, to forfeit to the prize-drawer double the deficient
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subscription. He is entitled to the privilege of giving the first month’s

entertainment.
The society has of late years fallen into disuse, partly because the European
authorities have discouraged it among all public servants as liable to abuse, and
partly because it does not enjoy the necessary power to enforce its rules by
degradation or other punishment, and members are not to be found who will
support it from their own respectability. The contempt of its regulations can only
be attempted to be remedied by a tedious, vexatious and expensive appeal to a
judicial tribunal—an appeal likely to be more particularly ineffectual from the
compact of the parties being rather understood than expressive, founded more
upon a sense of honour than upon law or written agreement.
CHANGHGATIKKURI KALYANAM.
See Changngatikkuri; Kalyanam (Sanskrit) = luck, happiness.
May be termed an association of friendship and pleasure among the natives of
Malabar. It is an entertainment given by a respectable native, at which all his
friends who are invited present a sum of money and a certain number of
coconuts, plantains, betel-leaves and betel-nuts, every man according to his fancy,
to the entertainer.
The host feeds all those who come and has diversions for the company. An
account is kept of what each guest offers, and when these guests in their turn
announce that an entertainment is to be given by them, the person who has
formerly had the benefit of an entertainment is expected to be present and to
make a return at least equal, but in general half as much again, and sometimes
double, what he has received.
To any person who evades the invitation and does not send the proper present of
money and fruit, a small vessel of arrack and the bone of a fowl are sent in
derision to shame him into a more liberal spirit, and he is desired to eat and drink
them and to return the money, etc., he formerly received. This, in general, was
sufficient to ensure a compliance with the custom.
Note. —Kurikkalyanam is in some places used to signify Changngatikkuri. Such
associations are still kept up.
CHAVER.
From Dravidian Chava (death) and Dravidian Eruka (= to arise, aseend),
literally, those who went forth to death.
Or lands granted by Rajas to the families of deceased heroes who fell in
performance of solemn vows to fight till death against the enemy. If any escaped
this conflict they were excommunicated them caste and obliged to flee the
country. The Ilaya Raja of Angadipuram states that much of his original rajyam in
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Vullatra was alienated from this cause in his wars with the Zamorin. It appears the
private Janmams of conquered states were not respected by the conquerors.
Notes 1.—The name was applied to those persons who, for the honour of the
Valluvakonatiri or Vellattiri elected to run, armed with swords and shields, the gauntlet
of the Zamorin’s 30,000 spears at Tirunavayi in Ponnani taluk every twelfth year.
2. Their ostensible object was to elude the spears and to slay the Zamorin, who, armed
with Cheraman Perumal’s sword awaited their onslaught. Conf. pp. 162—69 of the
text.
CHERLABHAM.
Cherlabham, from Dravidian cheru (= wet soil) and Sanskrit labham ( = gain,
profit).
Meaning generally the same as Kolulabham, but more literally the profit of the earth
or soil—the cultivator’s share.
Note.—See Kolulabham.
CHERUJANMAM.
From cheru (Dravidian) = small, and Janmam (Sanskrit) = birth.
Inferior rights applied to the fees receivable by the carpenter and smith in
Malabar.
Notes.—1 . See Janmam.
2. Hereditary rights and perquisites were claimed, within certain defined local limits, by
(1) the Kanisan (astrologer) for feasts, (2) the Asari (carpenter) for dedication of
houses, (3) the Tattan (goldsmith) for marriages, (4) the Malayan (musicians and
conjurors) for devil feasts, (5) the Vannan (washerman), (6) the Velan (midwife,
accoucheur), (7) the Vilakkattaravan (barber), etc.
CHERUMAKKAL.
From Dravidian cheru = chiru (= small) and Dravidian makkal ( = children).—
(Gundert).
Slaves in general. It is supposed to be derived from cheru = soil, and makkal
children : children of the soil, or sons of the earth. Others say from cheru, small,
and makkal, children, indicating that they are to be treated as young children by
their masters.
Notes.—1. From a census taken in 1857 of the slave population it appeared that they
were then distributed as follows :
1.Chirakkal 13,380
2.Kottayam 2,859
3.Kurumbranad 16,590
4.Wynad 16,661
5.Calicut 14,082
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6.Ernad 35,419
7.Waliuvanad 34,902
8.Palghat 25,280
9.Ponnani 28,668
10.Cochin 71
District total 187,812
2. The bulk of the slaves being located in the ancient Cheranad (part of the Ernad
taluk) and in the neighbourhood of it, it is not unreasonable to suppose they got their
name as being the aborigines of Cheranad, or possibly of the still more ancient
kingdom of Chera.
CHIRA.
(Dravidian) == enclosure, dam, tank.
A reservoir of water or tank on a smaller scale ; it answers to eri or lake in the
Dravida country. In the Palghat and Temmalapuram districts, it is used for
cultivation. It is formed by a bank thrown across the higher parts of a tract of
rice lands and resting at each end upon eminences. Cultivation of rice is
carried on on land lower than its level ; and in the bed of it a kind of rice called
Kuttadan is sown, which takes nine months to come to maturity. It is sown in
Chithri or April, before the commencement of the heavy monsoon, and is cut
in Margulli or December, and it shoots its head above the water, the depth of
which is often six feet.
COCONUT.
In Malayalam tengnga contraction for tengngankayi, from Dravidian tekke (=
south) and Dravidian kay (= ripening fruit)
According to Arshad Beg’s Settlement of 1783—84 or 959 of the southern
districts, exclusive of Palghat there were:-
Coconut trees 2,896,099
Aphalam and Sisu 2,162,508
Productive 733,591
or about one-fourth assessable revenue 36,724 - 5½ fanams, or twenty trees per
hoon, or 7 trees per rupee.
The number according to the Janmi Pymaish account of 981, furnished by the Collector
Mr. Vaughan, was 6,124,367, past bearing 1,792,987, pupils 1,244,440, productive
3,086,939. Their revenue of that year, deducting past bearing and pupils, Rs. 3,15,115-0
qr. 75 ¼ reas ; average of assessment per productive tree 40 13½/16 reas.
In talking of the price of coconuts, it is always understood to be the nut without the
husk, which latter is sold separately.
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Note.—According to the jamabandi accounts of fasli 1289 (AD. 1879—80) the number
of coconut trees was 9,519,567, of which 1,310,253 were past bearing, 3,611,506 were
not yet come into bearing, and 4,597,808 were productive. The productive trees were
assessed at Rs. 3,49,835-11-3, being at the rate of 1 anna 22799143/4597808 pies per
productive tree.
COWLE.
(Arabic) qabul = engagement, cowle.
Notes.—1. A Government cowle for the cultivation of waste land confers a right of
entry, and of compensation for improvements, but does not affect the Janmi’s right to
rent.—S.D.C., 132 (1877), 79 (1878).
2. A Jamni is not at liberty to eject a squatter on waste land who has obtained a cowle
from Government, if 12 years have elapsed from the date of entry SD.C, 195 (1878),
674 (1879).
3. A Government cowle does not confer any right as against a prior occupant. S.D.O.,
47 and 48 (1878).
DASTA BAKKl.
From Persian dast ( = balance in hand) and Arabic bakki ( == remnant,
surplus).
A balance of revenue collected from the person due, but not brought to the
public credit by the Revenue Officers.
DESAM.
(Sanskrit) = region, country, parish.
A village, the same as Tara in the Malabar province. In the ancient Hindu histories
a kingdom, of which there were 56 in India, is meant by it.
Note.—See pp. 87-90 of the Text. The Desam and the Tara were not the same thing.
See Tara.
DESAVALI.
From Desam (q.v.) and Dravidian vali, from valuka, to live, live prosperously,
reign.
Hereditary heads of villages. Before Hyder’s conquest some had one, some two or
more villages , their places are now supplied by Mukhyastanmar.
The number of Nayars or fighting men attached to a Desavali was from 25 to 100 ;
if it exceeded the latter number, he ranked as Naduvali.
Note—See pp. 87—90 of the Text. He was the military chief, not the civil chief of the
Desam.
DESAKOYMA
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From Desam. (q.v.) and Dravidian Koyma, modern form of Konma, from Kon (=
king) , means sovereignty, authority.
Same as Desavali.
Note.—This word denotes the functions of a Desavali which were as follows:-
1. Desam
See Desam
2. Desadhipatyam
From Desam (q.v.) and Sanskrit adhipatyam = supreme authority.
3. Ambalappadi
From Dravidian ambalam (= place devoted for public use or assemblies, a temple) and
Dravidian padi (=a step, bench).
4. Urayma
From Dravidian Ur (= village, town, parish) and Dravidian vayama modern form of
vanma from valuka (= to live prosperously, reign) meaning authority, office.
Sthanams or dignities.
Ambalappadi is the seat of honour, a certain step or degree in a temple to which
only particular persons are entitled. The claim to it is derived from ancestry, but
the dignity is saleable. It is, however, understood that it cannot be disposed of
except to a person of the proper caste and necessary respectability. It is, strictly
speaking, confined to Brahmans but there have been interlopers of the Samunta
caste.
The Urayma is the office to which is attached the general superintendence of the
affairs of a temple; a person who has attained the Ambalappadi dignity in the
village holds invariably also that of Urayma, that is, he is the Uralan of the temple,
but the Uralan may be such without being an Ambalappadi (sic).
Desam means that a person possesses in proprietary right the whole property of
the village or Desam He is the janmi or Mutalalan of the Desam.
Desadhipatyam is the office held by the Desadhipati or Desavali, which is the political
ruler or representative of Government in the Desam; of the Desam and
Desadhipatyam an individual may be possessed of the one or the other separately.
The Desavali was not necessarily proprietor of all the lands of the village. But a
person enjoying these four dignities collectively and in the same Desam is
esteemed as one who has reached the summit of honour All the dignities were
saleable, either separately or collectively, except the Urayma and the Ambalappadi,
which went always together, and generally the Desam and Desadhipatyam.
Ambalam equals temple of the first order, called Maha Kshetram dedicated to the
Hindu Trimurtti. There were 108 principal temples constructed by Parasurama
between Gokarnam and Kannya Kumari (Cape Comorin), and the one opposite
to Mr. Babington’s bungalow at Varakkal, near Calicut, is of the number.
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Notes.—1. See pp. 87—90 of the Text ; also Tara and Ur.
2. A Desam was not Synonymous with a tara. Great confusion has arisen from thinking
so.
3. The seat of honour in the ambalam is just outside the sanctuary. As Brahmans can
enter the sanctuary itself, it was no honour to them to be seated on the ambalappadi. To
be thought entitled to exclusive right to the ambalappadi was, on the other hand, a
source of profit which Brahmans coveted. The ambalappadi was originally the seat of
the chief man directing the proceedings of any public meeting, such as a temple feast ;
he was, in short, chairman
4. Ambalappadi and Urayma were the privileges of the headmen, Karanavar of the tara
(Dravidian teru — street, village) or of the Ur (Dravidian = village), along with other
privileges, some of which are still observed, for example, Urpalli, the special place set
apart in the village (Ur) for cutting up the carcases of deer, etc., killed in the village
hunt, the headman of the Ur (a Taravattukaranavan) being entitled to a hind-quarter and
other parts of the animal.
EDAM or Idam.
(Dravidian) = place, house, mansion.
Is the distinctive name of a house or palace occupied by a member of the family
of the Palghat Raja; it is also used sometimes for the house of a Naduvali of
consequence in the Palghat district. In the same part of the country the house of a
common man is called a Vidu ; Edam in Tamil means place.
Note. —The use of the word is not confined to the Palghat taluk.
ELAM.
(Dravidian) —cardamoms.
A thousand rupees a candy the Wynaad cardamom sells for.
Note.—The best cardamoms now fetch from Rs. 1.200 to Rs, 1,400 per candy 700 lb.
ENNAM.
(Dravidian) = number, counting.
Counting. It is a term used for the expense of reaping, reckoned 10 per cent. In
some places this proportion is given after the paddy is measured out , in others
one out of ten sheaves is given in the field.
Note —The number of sheaves varies : in one part of Chirakkal taluk at the present
time one out of twelve goes to the reapers. See Patam, Kolulabham, Cherlabham, and
Pandakkaval.
ETTUKKONNU and Muppara.

Ettukkonnu, from Dravidian ettu ( == eight) and Dravidian onnu ( == one).
Muppara, from Dravidian munnu (= three) and Dravidian para (= a measure,
bushel).
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Meaning one to eight, and three paras ; it expresses the nature of the land-tax in
the Travancore province. On the garden land one in eight (of the pattam or rent) is
said to be taken, and on rice-lands three paras (out of ten).
FANAM.
From Dravidian Panam = coin, fanam, money in general.
Old Viray or Gold = 4 to a rupee. There are 12½ Malabar pice to one fanam.
New Viray or Gold = 3½ to a rupee. There are 141/4 Malabar pice to one fanam.
Silver = 5 to a rupee, and each fanam worth ten Malabar pice.
Note.- Mr. Græme has omitted mention of the
1. Rasi fanam. —The most ancient of the indigenous fanams, bearing at the present
time a fanciful value. They are of gold, and have the same 14 dots as the gold fanams
mentioned above. Rasi means a sign of the Zodiac, so it is supposed the 12 dots are
the 12 signs of the Zodiac, and the two separate dots are the sun and moon. The 12
Zodiacal signs are divided into four good, four middling, and four bad signs, which
may account for the appearance of the dots on one side of the coins : the four
prolonged dots being the good, the four ordinary-sized ones the middling, and the
four tiny dots placed separately in a corner by themselves the four bad signs. The
other emblems are not understood.
II. The Sultani fanam.—A coin of Tippu’s, which in 1790—92 had fallen in value to
3½ = a rupee.
GARCE.
120 paras of Macleod seers, or 3,000 Macleod seers, make a garce, Bombay salt,
according to my experiment, weighs 90 lb. the para of salt, so that a garce is
10,800 lb.
GRAMAM.
(Sanskrit) = village.
Equivalent to Agraharam in the Carnatic, a Brahman village. At the time of
Parasurama’s gift of the country to the Brahmans, 64 Gramams were established
from Goa to Cape Comorin, 32 from Kanyirote (or Cassergode north to Comorin
south) ; to these were attached all the Sudra villages.
Notes.—1. See Chapter III, Sections (a) and (b) of the Text.
2. Mr. Græme here follows the Keralolpatti tradition, which, is unreliable.
GRANDHAVARI.
From Sanskrit Grandham == verse, book.
A book formed of the leaves of the Kudappana palm or Talipot tree, in which Janmis
register their agreements respecting land with their tenants or mortgagees. Where
it is kept it is said to be a register which may be safely referred to as authenticating
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an agreement otherwise doubtful, but it is not kept up so much as it used to be.

The Kudappana of Malabar does not afford the leaf capable of being so used ; the
impression of the iron pen goes through and prevents its being written on both
sides. The proper kind is only procurable in Travancore and Canara. It is brought
for sale. It is much more expensive than that of Malabar. It is also much more
durable.
HOBALI.
(Dravidian) == division of a district.
A term introduced into Malabar by the Muhammadan Government. It is in
Malabar a subdivision of a taluk comprehending several Desams or villages. It
corresponds with Magani in Canara and with Maganum on the Eastern Coast.
Note.—The Muhammadans called their village organisation in Malabar the Tara. See
Sir Thomas Munro’s Report. Revenue Selections, Vol. I, p. 842. See also Tara and Ur.
HOUSES.
Different names for them in Malabar according to castes -
Mana Nambutiripadu’s house
Illam Nambutiri’s house
Kovilakam or Kottaram Raja’s house
Idam or Kuttala Naduvali’s house
Vidu Nayar house
Pushpottu or Pisharam or Houses of Ambalavasi or servants of the pagoda,
Varyam. expressive of their caste
Matham Houses of Chakkyar
Kudi House of Chaliar or weavers
Pidika House of Mappilla
Pura House of Tiyan
Chala The house of a Cheruman
Pura or chala The house of a blacksmith, goldsmith, silversmith,
carpenter, brazier
IDAPADU
From Dravidian idam ( = place, house of Naduvalis) and Dravidian padu
(falling, falling into power, place, rank of officials, etc.), means the authority
exercised by the family inhabiting the idam, who also controlled the pagodas of
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Urile Bhagavati (goddess of the ur, village) and of Muvanti kali (the tutelar deity
of Calicut) lying within their limits. Pagodas ; 18 should be included in the
range of a Kartava of 3,000 (Nayars).
Note .—See Edam.
ILLAKKUR.
From Dravidian. Illam ( == a house) and Dravidian kuru or kur ( = part,
share).
Illam, a house ; kur, partition, share. It means the private property of a Raja which
descends to his heirs. He relinquishes this property to his nephew or next heir
upon his giving up one official dignity for a higher step. Not that he absolutely
gives up all control over it, but this arrangement is made to distinguish and
separate it from the public property of the official station he has just held, and to
prevent its being claimed by his successor in it.
Note.—See Kurvalcha.
ILAVAN.
From ilam, from Chingngalam, Simhala, Sihala = Ceylon.
The name of the Tiyan in the Palghat and Temmalapuram Districts in parlance,
who are aborigines of Malabar ; in other places they are only so named in writings.
Note—The Tiyar or Tivar (from tivu, corruption of Sanskrit divpu = an island) are
believed not to have been the aborigines of Malabar, but to have come from an
island (Ceylon), bringing with them the southern tree (tengngkay), the cocoanut.
See Tiyan, Shanar, Mukkuvar.
INAKKUMURI.
From Dravidian inakku ( = agreement, certificate of agreement) and Dravidian
muri (== fragment, note, bond, receipt).
There are two kinds of deeds of this denomination. A mortgagee making over
land to another person in mortgage gives him an Inakkumuri, or certificate that he
has received a sum of money from the second mortgagee and has made over the
land to him, and calls upon the Janmi to confirm him in the same tenure which he
himself possessed. If this certificate be shown to the Janmi, he has a right ro
demand Sakshi for the renewal of the deed, but the second mortgagee often
withholds the production of the deeds in order to avoid payment of the renewal
money. That is also called an Inakkumuri which a Janmi gives to a mortgagee when
he has sold the Janmam right of the mortgaged land to a third person. In it he
refers the mortgagee to the purchaser for the future responsibility for the kanam
money.
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Note.—1. Mortgagees may transfer their interest to sub-mortgagees, and the latter
come into the enjoyment of the same rights and privileges as the former possessed. A
notice should be given to the landlord at the time of such transfer. In an action for the
recovery of the property, when an Inak has been given, the landlord must recognize
and sue the property in possession, but it is only liable to pay the amount which would
have been payable to the original mortgagee.—- (Proceedings of the Court of Sadr
Adalat, No. 18, dated 5th August 1856.)
3. Mr. Græme and the Sadr Court both here use kanam as synonymous with mortgage.
It is clear that the Kanakkar had the privilege of selling his holding, independently of
the Janmi, a most important point. See Chapter IV, Section (a) of the Text.
JACK TREE. (Artocarpas integrifolia.)

In Malayalam the tree = pilavu ; its fruit == chakka, whence Jack.
Chakkha — the Malayalam name for the fruit of the Artocarpus integrifolia,
whence is probably derived the name Jack.
Chakka, Mangay, Tal or Talu, Takara = a common saying expressive of the kind
of food which the poorer classes of people live upon chiefly in Malabar. Chakka is
the Jack, Mangay the Mango, Tal or Talu a species of wild Yam with a broad leaf,
often cultivated in private gardens, and Takara a species of Dholl. It is called Sag
in Hindustani, and the leaf is eaten boiled. The Jack is eaten boiled, in general
mixed with salt, etc.
Note.—According to the Jamabandi accounts of Fasli 1289 (A.D. 1879—80) there
were 1,441,034 Jack trees, of which 500,641 were past bearing, 605,640 were too
young to bear, and 334,753 were productive. The productive trees were assessed at Rs.
52,337-8-7, or at the rate of 2 annas 66217/334753 —pies per productive tree.
JANMAM.
(Sanskrit) == birth, birthright, hereditary proprietorship, freehold property =
the Sanskritised form of the Dravidian peru ( = birth birthright).
The landed property of a Janmakkaran or proprietor.
Notes.—1. See Chapter IV, Section (a) and Attiperu.
2. The purchaser, in coming into possession, is bound by all the obligations which
attached to the proprietor. He cannot disturb those who may be holding the property,
or any portion of it, on kanam mortgage, but merely receives the surplus rent produce
in place of the former landlord. On the other hand, he comes into all the rights and
privileges of the former landlord, and may pay off Otti mortgages, and sell or transfer
the property as he pleases.—(Proceedings of the Court of Sadr Adalut, No. 18, dated
5th August 1856
JANMAKKARAN or JANMI or MUTALALAN.
Janmakkaran and Janmi = from Sanskrit Janmam (q.v.) and Sanskrit Karan ( =
doer, one who has to do with).
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Mutalalan, from Dravidian Mutal ( = beginning, principal, stock property,

money) and Dravidian al ( = person).
A landed proprietor. In Malabar there are 44,378, and the same number of estates,
and the land assessment being about Star Pagodas 480,000, each estate on an
average bears to the whole revenue a proportion of little more than 10 pagodas
per annum.—(38th paragraph of the Revenue Board’s Minute of 5th January 1818).
This number is taken from the 77th paragraph of Mr. Warden’s letter to the
Revenue Board of 16th June 1813, and the 33rd paragraph of his letter to the Board
of 20th April 1815, which again was taken from the Janmi Pymaish accounts of 981,
but by mistake the taluks of Kavai, Cotiote, and Randatara were omitted.
The copy of the Janmi Pymaish accounts received from Mr. Vaughan by Mr,
Græme makes the number 52,303, which reduces the revenue payable by each to
little more than 9 pagodas. It is conjectured (though I have not yet obtained any
accounts to prove it) that half the revenue is paid by estates yielding from a
thousand to five thousand rupees’ assessment, which will make the amount of the
assessment payable by the greater proportion of the proprietors very small indeed.
Supposing that half the revenue is paid by estates yielding a revenue of a thousand
rupees, that will withdraw eight hundred and forty from the number, and the
remaining half, viz., 240,000 Star Pagodas, will be paid by 52,463 estates or
proprietors, which will be between 4½ and 5 pagodas for each.
The Board of Revenue have considered the number stated as so many estates,
whilst Mr. Warden expressly calls this number so many proprietors, but upon
examination I find that neither the one nor the other mode of considering it is
strictly correct. That may be called an estate which an individual possesses in the
whole province or in a village, and others have denominated single fields estates,
but in the Janmi Pymaish accounts is entered as one estate the whole landed
property possessed by an individual in one Hobali comprehending several
Desams or villages, the number of estates is therefore either too great or too little,
according to the acceptation given to the term. But if it is wished to know what
assessment is payable on the whole estate in the province of each individual, this
account will not show it. The number of estates is too great. It is only correct with
respect to each Hobali, for many Janmis possess lands in different villages of the
same Hobali, in different Hobalis of the same taluk, and in different taluks of the
province, all of which, with the exception of those within the confines of villages,
are entered as separate estates.
The real number of Janmis is, in consequence, not equal to the number of estates
specified. Some individuals are entered ten times instead of one, and very many
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appear four times. The number cannot therefore be taken at more than 15,000,
but for this conjecture there is no document.
Note.—See Proprietors and Perumartham and Sthana-mana-avakasam.
JANMAKKAVAL.
From Janmam (q.v.) and Dravidian kaval ( == custody, guard, watch).
Is a fee which is given to a kind of headman among slaves for watching a large
tract of rice-land and protecting it from cattle. The land may belong to different
proprietors, though the watcher is the slave of only one. The fee consists in the
crop of a certain portion of every rice-field. The watcher is generally selected from
the caste of Palium, which is considered the most trustworthy and attentive, and
the watcher goes on such occasion by the name of Kalladi Palium, though the
Kalladi is a different caste of slave.
JANMAKKOLU.
From Janmam (q.v.) and Dravidian kolu ( == ploughshare, cultivating tenure).
Answering to Moolgainee. It is a fixed rent which cannot be raised, and the
proprietor cannot remove the tenant. It prevails in some few places in the
Northern Division of Malabar.
Notes.—1. In this case the land is made over for permanent cultivation by the tenant
in return for services rendered. Where the proprietary title is vested in a pagoda, the
grant will be made for future services. In some cases land is mortgaged on this tenure,
the Kanam mortgagee paying the surplus rent produce to the landlord after deducting
the interest of the money he has advanced. The tenant has, in North Malabar, only a
life-interest in the property, which at his death reverts to the landlord. In the South the
land is enjoyed by the tenant and his descendants until there is failure of heirs, when it
reverts to the proprietor ; except where the is granted for special services, an annual
rent is payable under this tenure. The tenants right is confined to that of cultivation,
but it is permanent, and he cannot be ousted for arrears of rent, which must be
recovered by action, unless there be a specific clause in the deed declaring the lease
cancelled if the rent be allowed to fall into arrears.—(Proceedings of the Court of Sadr
Adalat, No. 18, dated 5th August 1856).
2. This right reverts to the landlord on failure of tenant’s heirs.—High Court Spec.
App. 495 (1869).
JANMAKKUDIYAN.
From Janmam (q.v.) and Dravidian Kudiyan ( == inhabitant, subject, tenant).
May be translated a proprietary inhabitant. It is not uncommonly used to
designate the modern Janmakar, who has acquired his property by purchase, in
contradistinction to the ancient or hereditary Janmakar.
JANMAPANAYAM Olakkaranam, or JANMAPANAYAM Eluttu.
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Janmapanayam, from Janmam (q.v.) and Dravidian panayam (= bet, stake, pledge).
Olakkaranam, from Dravidian Ola ( == palm-leaf writing) and Sanskrit
Karanam ( = acting, instrument, deed). Eluttu (Dravidian) = writing, writ.
The Janmakkaran is supposed to have received an additional 10 per cent on the
amount of the Otti, making altogether 30 per cent beyond the Otti. Under this
deed he pledges the Janmam or proprietary right, without relinquishing the actual
possession of it by which he is bound not to transfer the Janmam right, to another
without the consent of the present mortgagee. He has still, however, the power of
redeeming the mortgage by paying the debt and the interest of all sums borrowed
since the period of the execution of the Otti deed, with the proviso that the
interest do not exceed double the amount of the sums so borrowed. The amount
of the debt, but not the pattam, is specified in this deed.
Notes.—1. “This is the last resource short of selling the land altogether. In executing
this deed the landlord relinquishes the power to redeem his land, and has nothing left
him but the nominal right of proprietorship. By going through the form of casting a
few drops of water from his hand he yields up all right of further interference in the
land. Nor can he sell his proprietary title to any one but the mortgagee, as he has
already made over to him all the rights and privileges possessed by a proprietor. This
tenure prevails only in the neighbourhood of Calicut.”—S.C. Circular, dated 5th
August 1856, No. 18.
2. Mr. Græme in his report (paragraph 1553) remarked : "Before the conquest several
intermediate stages of mortgage, in the hope of future redemption before land was
sold, were common, and its disposal with all this was very rare ; but in the present
times the intermediate deeds are dispensed with entirely in Palghat, and in Calicut the
Otti and Janmam deeds, instead of being as before at different and distant periods from
each other, are now very frequently executed on one and the same day, and the
property transferred without reservation on the part of the proprietor.”
3. The above interpretation of this deed was probably more theoretical than real. It
was supposed to be the fifth of the six deeds culminating in Janmam.
4. A suit to recover lands granted on a pepper-corn rent is barred after 12 years from
the grant-—S.D.C., 368 (1879).
KAL
(Dravidian) == foot, leg, stem, pillar.
Literally, leg ; figuratively, support. In the Northern Division of Malabar it
means the standard tree round which the pepper-vines climb. It applies to
trees such as the Moochy wood tree (moorka), which are planted expressly for
the support of the vine. A coconut or jack would not be called a Kal.
KALAMENI.
From Dravidian Kalam ( = pot, vessel, measure) and Dravidian meni ( = body,
shape, sample, average).
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An average.
KALAPPAD.
From Dravidian Kalam ( = a threshing-floor) and Dravidian padu ( = falling, falling
into power of, rank, nature, measure of space and time).
A term in use in the Walluvanad Taluk, and, perhaps, other places to the
southward in Malabar. It means a threshing-floor, a house or a place for
removing the grain from the straw, whether by threshing, or, as in Walluvanad,
by treading with men. More generally it means a collection of paddy-fields
under one manager or cultivator, the produce of which is brought to one
threshing-floor.
KALAYI.
(From Dravidian kal = foot, stem, or stubble, and ayi ( = became) = the
second cultivation of a rice-field.
Means rice of a second crop. It implies that one crop must have been cut in Kanni
(September and October, and that the second crop is cut in Makaram (January and
February). It does not apply to a crop cut in Makaram which had no previous
crop.
Note—Kalayi Nilam is the opposite of Ariri Nilam , which means land on which Ariri
— a single crop—is raised.
KALKURA PATINARU.
Kal (Dravidian) = one-fourth ; kuravu (Dravidian) == deficiency; patinaru,
(Dravidian) = sixteen.
Quarter less 16 or 153/4 Viray fanams, which Desavalis could receive in fines from
inhabitants. If the fine amounted to 16 or above it, it was the right of the
Naduvalis.
KIRANI or Kanakkapilla.
Derivation of Kirani is doubtful. Kanakkapilla, from Dravidian kanakku. ( =
accounts) and Dravidian illa ( = child, honorary title).
Writer or Accountant. In Malabar the first used exclusively for Portuguese and
half-caste writers, the second is also used for them, but I find it was also the
common name for the Raja’s accountants in the Kadattanad, Kottayam (Cotiote),
and Chirakkal Rajyams.
KANAM.
From Dravidian Kanuka ( == to see) means now-a-days possession, mortgage
or lease, but originally it meant supervision, protection.
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Which, I think, is generally supposed to mean mortgage or pledge, must be

construed to be the thing or consideration for which the mortgage or pledge is
given, and it seems applicable only to lands, timber trees, and slaves.
In Arabic the terms for the different incidents of mortgage are very distinct and
precise. Murhoon is the thing mortgaged or pledged ; Rahin is the mortgagee ;
Moortahin the mortgagor ; and Mooblunghi Murhoon the money or consideration
which is given for the pledge. Kanam corresponds with Mooblunghi Murhoon, or the
money given, and Panayam with Murhoon, or the thing mortgaged.
Panayam Eluttu is the mortgage writing or deed. Though the pattam or rent capable
of being collected from the lands which is in the possession of the mortgagee is
more than sufficient to pay the interest of the mortgage debt, yet it is generally
calculated that the value of the pattam would, if sold, be not more than adequate
to pay the principal. If the mortgagee retains more than his fixed share of the
pattam for the payment of the interest of the debt, and neglects to pay the
remainder to the Janmakkaran, he forfeits the land, which is instantly resumable by
the Janmakkaran.
It is supposed that the original intention of receiving the kanam was to secure the
proprietor against the imposition or the neglect of the tenant, that it was to be
considered that the pattam was permanent notwithstanding the representations of
the tenant, whether true or false, of bad seasons and accidents. The principal of
the kanam was not, therefore, more than equal to one year's pattam, and the
proprietor thus provided against failure by having received the pattam in advance
for a year. The introduction of the land-tax and the increasing necessities of the
proprietors obliged them to involve deeper in debts and mortgages.
There is a great distinction to be observed between a mortgage and what is called
kanam. A mortgage is the thing given for the security of the creditor for money
borrowed of him. A kanam is an advance of rent made by a tenant to a proprietor
for the security of the latter against failure in payment of the pattam. It was
originally as much the custom for a tenant to have been a long time in possession
of land, merely paying the simple pattam before he advanced money, as for him to
acquire possession in consequence only of advancing the pattam money. The
occupancy of the land, in short, sometimes preceded, and sometimes followed,
the advance of money.
One of the six Pramanams or deeds of mortgage recognised in the Sastra.
Notes.—1. See Chapter IV, Section, (a) of the Text, and Pattam and Pattola or Pattamola
and Proprietors and Keikkuli.
2. Said to be the second of the six deeds culminating in janmam.
3. If no period be specified the mortgage is considered to extend to 12 years, and
always so where a fee has been paid. The mortgagee has possession, recovering the
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interest of the money he has advanced from the produce of the land, and paying over
the net profits to the landlord. Should he fail in the last respect, the amount is placed
to the landlord’s credit when the mortgage is paid off, allowance being made, on the
other side, for any improvements which the mortgagee may have effected. Failure to
pay over the net proceeds regularly to the landlord will not give the latter power to
redeem his land before the expiration of the period stipulated (or that of 12 years),
unless there be an express condition to that effect in the deed. Any attempt, however,
an the part, of the mortgagee to defraud the landlord and usurp the property wifi give
the latter that power. Should the landlord desire to raise a further sum of money on
the land, and the mortgagee be unwilling to advance it, he may mortgage the property
to a third party, who will be entitled to possession on paying off the sum originally
advanced by the first mortgagee. The latter, however, has the option of advancing the
required sum and remaining in possession if he pleases. Where the land has been
mortgaged for a particular period, the landlord cannot interfere until the expiration of
such period. Kanam mortgages are generally renewed at the end of the period fixed,
the landlord receiving a fee ; but there is no obligation on either side to renew them
unless the landlord and mortgagee should be mutually desirous of doing so. Where the
mortgagee discovers that the landlord has acted fraudulently in valuing the produce of
the land, he is entitled to have the deed cancelled.—(Proceedings of the Court of Sadr
Adalat No. 18, dated 5th August 1856.)
4. The following are notes of some of the voluminous and conflicting decisions of the
Courts on the various points connected with kanam and kulikanam, The Courts,
starting with an erroneous idea as to what jamnam was have, in their endeavours to
ascertain customs, been evidently making law instead of merely declaring it, and
deciding by it.
(a) Renewal.—The payment of keikkuli fees (fine) is merely an accident of
the contract, and when the kanam amount has been passed, all necessary acts
will be presumed to have been done, particularly when undisputed
possession has followed upon the demise.—S.S.C., 5 (1856)
‘‘The payment or non-payment” (of the renewal fees)“ is wholly
irrelevant to the question of validity of the deed.”—S.S.C, 57 and
155 (1865). A suit for money advanced on account of renewal fees
is not barred until three years from the date of the refusal to
renew.—S.D.C., 69 and 182 (1876). A renewal is the making of a
new, not a continuation of an old, contract.—S.S.C., 197 (1855). A
contract to renew, of which the mortgagee might claim specific
performance is a sufficient answer to a suit for redemption.—
S.D.C, 524 (1876), 644 and 650 (1877) 395, 572, 573 (1879). A
tenant may forfeit his right to insist on specific performance of an
agreement to renew by denying his mortgagor’s title to a portion of
the demised property.—S.D.C., 625 (1877). A contract to renew
must, if in writing, be stamped and if the consideration exceeds Rs.
100, and if the proper construction is that the whole amount is to
be credited to renewal fees, it ought to be registered under Section
17, Clause 3, Act VIII of 1871. Aliter, if part of the consideration is
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for arrears of rent.—S.D.O., 126 (1876). The execution of the

kanam and kychit deeds and their registration is good evidence of
oral agreement to renew.- S D C., 333 (1877)..
(b) Incidents.— A kanakkaran creating a mortgage or quasi -mortgage of the
kanam holding of which he is not owner “is to me a contradiction in terms;"
the quasi-mortgagee is simply a creditor.—S.S.C., 144 (1855). It is necessary
for the security of a sub-mortgagee that he should make known his claims to
the proprietor. By not doing so he renders himself liable to have his claim
overlooked on a settlement occurring between the proprietor and the
superior mortgagee and for this the proprietor can of course not be held
liable.—S.S.C., 103 (1844). A mortgagee cannot, by private arrangement with
his mortgagor, prejudice the rights of the sub-mortgagee in possession.
S.D.C., 346 (1878). Sub-mortgagees have no right as against janmis to hold
for twelve years from date of sub-mortgagees.- S.D.C., 180 (1851). No sub-
kanam does exist. The kanam, with all its incidents attached to it, can only be
cut out of a right superior to itself, and the only way in which a mere
kanakkaran can convey such a right is by selling that which accrued to him
from the possessor of a janmam or otti right. He can also give his kanam right
on simple mortgage.—S.S.C., 234 (1855). The jamnam right can be sold while
kanam right is outstanding.—S.S.C., 113 (1858). The contract is not complete
till the deed has been properly delivered.—S.D.C., 626 (1876). “No janmi can,
in less than twelve years, demand the restoration of his land by a kanakkaran"
except in the case of the breach of express or implied covenants by such
kanakkaran. Such a protection the custom of the country provides against the
grasping avarice of proprietors, and it is only the strict preservation of this
custom which can prevent this species of tenure from becoming a monstrous
fraud, in which the weak will always be the prey of the strong."—S.S.C., 398
(1854). So also fn S.S.C 63 (1855), and M.S.C., 154 (1855). A janmi has no
power to enhance his demands during the currency (12 years) of a kanam
lease.—S.S.C., 57 (1853). Kanam right is “an incorporeal right over the land,
which may or may not be accompanied by physical possession.’’—S.S.C,, 441
(1855). If a kanakkaran has two claims, both must be settled before he can be
dusted from the land.—N.D.C., 126 (1856); M.S.C., 22nd April 1858. The
kanam amount cannot be apportioned piecemeal on the several parcels of
land the possession of which constitutes the kanakkar’s security.—S.S.C,, 37
(1854). The kanam amount secured on several parcels of land cannot be
apportioned among them : the kanakkaran may resist redemption and
recovery till the whole of his kanam claim has been paid—N.D.C., 380
(1868). So also "my money was advanced on the security of all the parcels,
good, bad, and indifferent together, and until I get all back I shall not
relinquish any.” — N.D.C., 198, 216, 221 (1876) ; M.H.C., 611 (1877). In a
suit by a janmi for damages for waste, the defendant’s liability will depend on
whether there has been any injury to plaintiff’s reversion.—S.D.C,, 116
(1876), 560 (1877). A janmi cannot attach and sell his kanakkaran’s interest for
arrears of rent if that interest has already been assigned by private sale.—
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S.D.C., 335 (1877). A kanam deed is not a lease for more than one year, and
is not compulsorily registrable.—S.D.C., 353 (1876). An understanding as to
how the increased fruitfulness of trees is to be brought to account in future
demises does not make the tenure a permanent one.—N.D.C., 177 (1861). If
land is taken back before the expiration of the lease, a portion of the fees
paid at the commencement of the lease, proportionate to the time unexpired
of the lease, is returned to the tenant, who, however, if guilty of breach of
covenant, is not entitled to the return of such proportionate part.—N.D.C.,
401 (1873).
(c) Melkanam. - When there are two valid equitable titles, he who has got the
legal estate shall prevail is a doctrine peculiarly necessary in a country like
this.” A man should not accept a kanam deed when the land is not in the
possession of his demiser without sufficient enquiry into the demiser’s title to
give him possession, which was held in this case by a previous kanam
demisee.—N.D.C., 38 (1860). If the janmi is unable to give possession, the
remedy is by suit against him for return of the money.—2 M.H.C K., 315.
"These acceptors of kanam rights while other rights are outstanding are a pest
to the country. The remedy for this hardship is the non-acceptance of kanam
rights until it is in the power of the janmi to deliver the land.”—NT.D.C., 86
(1860). A first kanakkaran is entitled to the first chance of supplying his
janmi’s further needs. If this is not done, and even if, in the course of
proceedings in Court, the first kanakkaran denied his janmi’s title, the second
kanakkaran has no cause of action, for asking a return of the land.—1
M.H.C.R., 13.
Semble : If the first kanakkaran denied his janmi’s title before the
date of the second kanam, it would not be necessary to give him the
option of supplying his janmi’s needs. — Ibid.
A melkanam is not wholly invalid, but will operate as an assignment
of the equity of redemption although the time for redeeming may
not have arrived. — S.D.C., 484 (1879). Whilst a prior kanam
mortgage is outstanding and the document is in the hands of third
persons claiming a lien thereon, a renewal of such mortgage is
invalid.—S.D.C., 159, 743, 768 (1877). A melkanakkaran cannot oust
a kanakkaran or his assignee before the expiration of 12 years from
the date of the kanam.—M.S.C., 129 (1862).
{d) Purappad.—Rent tendered and refused, if of the proper amount ;
exempts the tenant from future claims for that amount.—S.S.C., 157 (1855).
In deciding that a kanam tenant allowing the purappad to fall into arrears was
not liable to be turned out, the High Court pointed out two ways in which
the jarnni can recover his purappad, viz., (1) by suing for it ; or (2) by taking
credit for it on paying off the kanam amount after the lapse of 12 years.—1
M.H.C.R., 112. In a suit for redemption of kanam, arrears of rent, the
recovery of which is barred by the Statute of Limitations, may be set off
against the mortgage money.—S.D.C., 426 (1876), 449 (1877). The principle
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of this is that the kanam is deposited as security for the rent, and that the
mortgagor is entitled to an account of rents and profits-—S.D.C., 285 (1877).
When no date is specified for payment of rent in kind the presumption is
that the rent is payable in Kanni and Makaram. If the rent for one crop is
specified, double the amount may be presumed to be a fair rent for two
crops.—S.D.C., 370 (1877). It is usually the rule that 60 per cent, of the rent
is payable in Kanni and the rest in Makaram.—S.D.C,, 393 (1878), The words
"Kanam free from the payment of rent” will not enlarge that kanam into an
otti — M.H.C., 142 (1870).
(e) Improvements.—When a janmi rents a land, he must well know that the
tenants cannot live thereon without a house, and, consequently, that they
would, in conformity with established usage, build one. If the building is
unnecessarily large, or in other respects informal, or not sanctioned, he ought
to have put a atop to it ; but the idea of making the renters pull it down and
carry off the materials, since he tacitly consented to its being built, is
absurd.—N.D.C., 55 (1843). The Court admitted an appeal to try “whether
the tenant was entitled to the value of the house,” or "whether he has the
option of either removing the materials or receiving only their value,” and
confirmed the Civil Judge’s decree allowing hire of labourers as part of the
cost of the house.—M.S.C., 11 (1847). Tenants in North Malabar are entitled
to Vettukanam, and the law encourages cultivation so much that even
trespassers are entitled to it less one-tenth.—M.S.C., 32 (1872); N.D.C., 312,
315 (1873). Rupees 11½ per 100 perukkams (1210 to the acre) was taken as a
fair price for converting paramba into rice-fields.—N.D.C., 283 (1874). The
implied contract to pay for improvements is limited to agricultural leases. —
S.D.C., 286 (1876). No compensation is claimable for improvements made
prior to the date of the demise, unless specially reserved.—S.D.C., 627
(1877). All reasonable improvements must be paid for.—S.D.C., 156, 161
(1877). It is usual to apportion the compensation for improvements among
the sub-tenants.—S.D.C., 170 (1878).
(f) Forfeiture of Lease.—The following have been held as reasons –
I. Sufficient for cancelling the lease before the expiration of the
customary 12 years’ period. Failure under improving lease
(Kulikkanam, q v.) to make reasonable improvements.—S.D.C., 68
(1859). Alteration of boundaries.-—S.D.C., 75 (1853). Denial of
janmi’s title.—2 M.H.C.R., 161. Removal of foundation-stones of a
ruined pagoda outside limits of holding, and from possession of
which the tenant was specially shut out.—N.D.C., 82 (1844).
Neglect to plant trees under improving lease (Kulikkanam, g.v.).—
N.D.C., 62 (1875). Acts to invalidate the lessor’s title obviously
operate the forfeiture of lease.”-—S.S.C., 191 (1854) , N,D.C., 172
(1861). Destruction of a pond essential to irrigate the lands-—
S.S.C., 157 (1855). Cutting down trees without janmi’s permission.-
—N-D.C , 211 (1859). Fraudulent setting up of a different tenure to
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that given by the janmi.—N.D.C., 218, 219, 220 (1859). Failure to

cultivate in a husband-like manner under an improving lease
(Kulikkanam, q.v.).—N.D.C., 274 (1859). Fraudulent attempt to
embarrass the janmi by a false dispute as to the boundaries of a
portion of the holding.—N.D.C., 21 (1861). False claim of right
larger than tenant really possessed.- N.D.O., 176 (1861). Denial of
]anmi’s title by the assignee of a kanam right.—1 M.H.C.R., 14, 445.
Neglect to cultivate.—N.D C., 350 (1870). Cutting down fruitful
trees without janmi’s consent.—N.D.C., 386 (1872). Denial of
janmi’s title after institution by the janmi of a suit to oust.—2 M.H
C.R., 109. Express agreement to surrender on demand.—S D C.,
566, 612, 621 (1876), 204 (1878) ; M.H.C., 278 (1879).
II. Insufficient for cancelling the lease before the expiration of the
customary 12 years’ period. Burial of a corpse.—N.D.C., 350
(1873). “Non-payment of purappad being a breach going only to a
part of the consideration, should not in all principle be held to
repeal the contract.”—N.D.C., 172 (1861). So also in. M.H.C.R.,
112, and M.S.C., 84 and 111 (1862).
KANAKKARAN.
From Kanam (q.v.) and Sanskrit Karan ( = doer, or one who has to do with).
Mortgagee ; the person who has lent the kanam.
KANAM-PURAM-KADAM.
From kanam (q.v.) and Dravidian puram ( = the back, outside, beyond) and
Dravidian Kadam ( = debt, obligation).
This is an expedient for raising money on land already made over on kanam. It is
quite a separate transaction, sometimes taking place at the time of the mortgage,
in which case it is referred to in the kanam deed ; at other times effected long after
the mortgagee has come into possession. In the latter case the fact of the
mortgage is alluded to in this deed, and the landlord engages to pay off both the
mortgage and the loan together. The loan thus made gives the mortgagee an
additional lien upon the property as security for the repayment of the loan. Where
the new loan is added to the sum first advanced, and a fresh mortgage-bond is
executed, the transaction is treated altogether according to the rules applying to
kanam mortgages.—(Proceedings of the Court of Sadr Adalat, No. 18, dated 5th
August 1856.)
KANDAM.
(Sanskrit) == piece of anything, land.
A division in rice-fields.
Note.—Perhaps this word meant originally a share of the Tara rice-fields held in
common.
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NILAM.
(Dravidian) = ground, soil, rice-field.
Which means particularly rice-land, means also a field (answering to a stullum
in the Carnatic) having a distinct name, and having many kandams or divisions
of banks for the convenience of irrigation.
PADAM.
(Sanskrit) =- range, especially of rice-fields.
UBHAYAM.
(Sanskrit) = in South Malabar, rice-fields.
ULPATTI.
(Sanskrit) = birth, origin, rice-fields.
Terms used in Malabar for rice-lands ; some of these terms are peculiar to some
districts.
VAYAL.
(Dravidian) = rice-fields.
A large tract or sheet of paddy land.
KANDI.
(Dravidian) == gap in a hedge or fence, a piece of high ground.
A division used in garden lands only to express one paramba or garden. It is used
when speaking of the number of gardens in an estate.
KAPPAM.
(Dravidian) = tribute, taxes.
Equivalent to peishcush or tribute. The rajas of the Northern Districts of Malabar
agreed to give to the Bednore Government in 913 M.S. a kappam of 80,000
rupees.
KARALAN.
(Dravidian) = workers, agents, temple servants. Their office Karayma (ancient,
Karanmei).
Is the agent or deputy for the uralan, or founder, in the management of the lands
of Hindu temples.
Notes.—1. Karayma right is not proved to be a right of perpetual tenure of land ; it is
equally consistent that it was a title to the perpetual performance of certain services for
which certain payments were demandable. - N.D.C., 142-171 (1859). Karayma right is
unsaleable - M.H.C., 120 (1867)—and indefeasible. - M.H.C., 623 (1874). Karalar have
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no right to succeed Uralar on these becoming extinct. The right of appointing others
“always did, and does still be with the executive.”—N.D.C, 1 (I860).
2. Lands made over by the trustees or managers of pagodas to those employed in
performing certain offices therein are conferred on this tenure. So long as they fulfil
their duties, the tenants are not liable to be ousted ; to maintain an action of ejectment,
therefore, it must be shown either that they have neglected their duties, which has
rendered it necessary to employ other persons to perform them, or that they have
endeavoured to set up a proprietary claim in subversion of that of the pagoda,—
(Proceedings of the Court of Sadr Adalat, No. 18, dated 5th August 1856.)
3. For other and more ancient uses of this word, see pp. 110—13 and Chapter IV,
Section (a) of the Text.
KARANAM or PRAMANAM.
Karanam (Sanskrit) = acting, organ, instrument, deed ; Pramanam (Sanskrit) =
measure, authority, proof, bond.
Generally means bonds and agreements of all kinds.
Note.—The six kinds of Karanama culminating in Janmam were, 1, Kulikkanam ; 2, Kanam ,
3, Otti ; 4, Ottikkumpuram ; 5, Janmappanayam ; 6, Janmam.
KARAVEPPU.
From Dravidian Kara ( = snore, river-side, bank) and Dravidian Veppu ( =
deposit, planting).
Plantations on elevated spots of ground, in contradistinction to Attuveppu, situated
on low ground.
Note.—High-lying coconut gardens are divided in the revenue accounts into three
classes of Karaveppu. See Ur. Kuraveppu gardens are not unfrequently situated on the
high banks of rivers and backwaters. See Attuveppu.
KATTAKKANAM also MUPPAPPANAM.
Kattakkanam, from Dravidian Katta ( == lump, mass, clod) and Kanam (q.v.) ;
also called Kashtakkanam, from Sanskrit Kashtam ( = hard, bad) and Kanam
(q.v.).
Muppappanam, from Dravidian Muppan ( == old man, chief) and Dravidian
panam ( = money).
Is the acknowledgment or Nuzur paid by a cultivator to a proprietor for land he is
allowed to cultivate. It is not an advance which is recoverable. It is not deducted
from subsequent payments to be made, nor is any interest granted upon it ; the
cultivator pays the full established pattam besides. Its proportion to the pattam
does not seem uniform. It means, literally, clod-money.
Note. - Kattakkanam is the tenure of a simple lessee who deposits m his Janmi’s hands a
sum of money as security (a) for due fulfilment of his lease contract, and (b) for
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payment of rent. It does not carry with it a right to hold for 12 years; the security is
returned without interest at the end of the lease.—N.D.C., 18 (1874)., 466 (1877).
KATTAVADI or KATTAKOL.
From Dravidian Katta ( = lump, clod) and Dravidian vadi ( = stick, staff) or
Dravidian Kol ( = staff, rod).
Literally, clod-breaker. The stick in Malabar, with a knob at the end of it, with
which men and women break the clods in a field after it has been dug by the
mamutty or spade.
KATTUVARUM.
From Dravidian Kadu. ( = jungle) and Dravidian varam ( == share of produce).
A tax of two fanams upon every individual possessing land in a few Hobalis of the
Temmalapuram District, where there is no regular Modan cultivation. It was
intended as an equivalent for any cultivation which might he carried on in the Kad
or jungle.
KAVALPHALAM.
From Dravidian Kaval ( == custody, protection) and Sanskrit phalam (?
Dravidian palam) ( = fruit, produce).
Protection fund or compensation for protection.
KEIKKULI or SHILAKKASU
From Dravidian Kei ( = hand) and Dravidian Kuli ( == wages) and from
Dravidian Shila ( = purse) or perhaps Sanskrit Shilam ( = conduct, habit,
character) and Dravidian kasu ( == gold, copper coin).
A fee or fine or Nuzur of so many fanams on a Potippadu which the lessee or
Verumpattakaran gives to the Janmi or proprietor upon the renewal of his lease. In
Kavai Taluk, two Velli fanams, the Potippadu, is the rate fixed, which, calculating at
the rate of 41½ rupees per 1,000 Idangalis, is supposed to add one-fourth to the
Janmi's share in the year in which it is imposed. It is the extent of Shilakkasu which
any land can afford that seems to give it a value in sale and purchase above its
nominal value, or that at which the pattam is entered in account. Where this
proportion is given, the lease is only for one year ; where it is for four, it is equal
to one year’s pattam, that is, the full pattam is taken once in four years, being an
equivalent for Polichcheluttu, though Keikkuli in the Southern Division answers to
Shilakkasu in the Northern Division, where the transaction is a simple lease or
Verumpattam. It is also applied in the Southern Division to land having already a
mortgage upon it. It is taken in lieu of Sakshi, being in general the amount of one
year’s pattam.
Note.—-See Kunarn and Pattola.
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KEIPPANAM.
From Dravidian Kei ( = hand) and Dravidian panam ( = money).
Note.— Keippanam property is property given on marriage (among Mappillas),
which is returnable on termination of the marital state by death or divorce ; to the
widow if she survives, or to her children if she has died, or to the Taravad in
absence of wife and children. The widow and children have a Iife interest
independent of the Karanavan.—N.D.C., 60 (1874).
KEIVIDA OTTI.
From Dravidian Kei ( = hand) and Dravidian vida or vidatta ( = without
leaving) and Otti (q.v.).
Is not a separate deed, but if the two first words are tacked to the Otti deed, it
becomes a condition that the mortgagee can never be dispossessed, that the land
can never go out of his hands, that the mortgage is irredeemable. Kei is "hand”
and vida is "without letting go.”
The following note is by an experienced Native Revenue Officer of the district :-
Notes.—1. The question is not settled as yet, I believe it has been decided both ways. The whole
thing turns on the meaning of the expression. Above it is written ൈകവിടാ ഒ ി and
interpreted accordingly. But some hold that the term is ൈകവിടുക ഒ ി, that the meaning is
that in Otti of this description the landlord “relinquishes” in favour of the Otti holder his right,
recognised in ordinary Otti cases, of taking from the garden mortgaged (if the property is a
garden) a few coconuts and a jackfruit annually without asking for the permission of the tenant.
2. The balance of authority is in favour of a Keivida Otti being irredeemable. The mortgagee
cannot, however, assign. S.D.C.,— 578-629 (1878).
3. The landlord in this case relinquishes the power of transferring the property to a third party,
and binds himself to borrow any further sum he may require only from the mortgagee. Should
the latter decline to advance the amount, the landlord may pay off the mortgage and re-assign
the property to another party. — (Proceedings of Madras Sadr Adalat, No. 18, dated 5th August
1856).
KERAM.
Canarese mode of pronouncing Cheram.
The Sanskrit name for the coconut fruit. A law is in existence in Malabar,
contained in a book called Kera Kalpam, composed in the Sanskrit language but
written in the Malayalam character, regulating the mode of planting coconut,
betel-nut and jack trees, and the pepper-vine, and of settling the Kulikkanam.
Note. — Dr. Gundert’s view is that Keram is the Canarese mode of pronouncing
Cheram, i.e., Chera or Malabar, and hence applied to its chief fruit, the coconut palm.
KILAYIKURUJANMAM or KILAYIJANMAM.
From Dravidian Kilu = place below, under ;
From Dravidian Ayi = became ;
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From Rravidian Kuru = part, share, class ; and

Sanskrit Janmam (q.v.).
A deed in use.
Note.— Means the right to the lower kinds of paramba produce when the higher (i.e.
Nalubhayam or coconut, areca and jack trees, and pepper-vines) belong to another.
KODUNGA KATTI.
From Dravidian Kodunga ( = bent) and Dravidian Katti ( == knife).
The knife worn for defence by the Nayars of Malabar, fastened to a hook
attached to a leathern girdle at the back of the body.
Note.—Also called Ayudha Katti, Vettu Katti, Katti, Val, Nayar knife, Mappilla knife, etc.
KOLICHCHAL.
(Dravidian) == falling.
Literally, fall. Is an allowance made by inspectors of pepper-vines for the quantity
of pepper which is likely to fall off between the period of inspection and the
season for plucking.
KOL.
(Dravidian) = staff, rod, measuring rod.
A pace (a native’s), ten of which regulate the distance that ought to be
observed in the original planting of coconuts ; another is afterwards planted
between the two original ones, when they have grown large, in order to supply
their place when they decay.
KOL PEIMASI.
From Kol (q.v.) and Persian Paimaish ( == measure, survey).
The survey which took place in 983 under Mr. Warden of the ricelands by actual
measurement in cawnies and goolies is so called ; all other paimaishes in Malabar have
been merely inspections without measurement.
Note. —The result of this Pymaish was embodied in what are known in the district as
the Hinduvi, i.e., Mahratta accounts. It is the only reliable account in the records, but
even m regard to it the details, owing to the changes in names of fields and in
holdings, are not always available for references. It refers to wet lands alone.
KOLULABHAM.
From Dravidian Kolu (= ploughshare) and Sanskrit labham (== getting gain,
profit).
Kolu, ploughing, and labham, profit ; or the profit of agriculture. It is the
cultivator’s share.
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Is the cultivator’s clear profit after deducting expenses under the name of Vittu
Valli, or charges of cultivation. Out of the Kolulabham is reckoned, indeed, to pay
the inconsiderable expense of Eru Irimbu, or cattle and iron. It is generally
supposed that the Kolulabham is a third of the gross produce (deducting, always, 10
per cent for reaping), and that the Vittu Valli is another third. It may be so
reckoned when the produce is above seven-fold, but within that the Vittu Valli
comes to more than a third and encroaches upon the Kolulabham.
Notes.—1. “Besides the rent there is a cultivator’s share, which is very valuable and
which affords a comfortable subsistence to a family.”—Graeme’s Report, paragraph
1428.
2. “Taking the pattern to be four-tenths of the gross produce, the gross produce
would be paras 19,204,887 ; to this again may be fairly added 20 per cent. (“the usual
deduction,” paragraph 1565) for the expense of reaping, for the fees of carpenters,
smiths, and other petty proprietors denominated Cheru Janmakkar, and for portions of
crops given up to slaves for watching, which are never brought into any calculation of
produce and the gross produce would then be paras 23,045,865.” Græme’s Report,
paragraph 1563.
3. See Ennam, Patam, Cherlabam, Kudiyankur, Pandakkaval, Valli-vittu.
KOLUPPANAYAM.
From Kolu (Dravidian) == ploughshare, and panayam (q.v.).
Notes.—1. Under this tenure, the mortgagee has only the right to cultivate the land. If
no period be specified, the landlord is at liberty to pay off the mortgage whenever he
pleases. This tenure prevails in the neighbourhood of Palghat as well as in North
Malabar—(Madras Sadr Adalat Proceedings, No, 18, dated 5th August 1866).
2. In absence of a period fixed in the lease, it was held that a Kolukkanam lease was for
5 years, which had been the time fixed in the previous lease. N.D.C., 248 (1877).
KOYILMENI or ENNIPADU.
From Dravidian Koyil (= hire of fruit-gatherer) and Dravidian Meni (=
average). And from Dravidian Ennuka (= to count) and Dravidian padu (=
authority).
Different modes in use of valuing or estimating the produce of coconut
gardens. Koyilmeni means strictly the number of pluckings, or more generally the
number of crops. After deducting the Sisu or young plants, and the Aphalam or
those past bearing, it is estimated what the productive trees will yield with
reference as well to their appearance as to the kind of soil—Attu Veppu, Kara
Veppu, Pasima, etc. (in which they are classed by nature rather than by any public
account or any written deed). It is estimated that the tree produces so many crops
in the year and so many fruit for each crop. Eight crops (Ettu Koyil) of 7 fruit each
(Elu Meni) are the highest at which a tree is rated in account, making altogether 56
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fruits ; but it is reported that there is one garden at Calicut whose trees have in
general produced 64 fruits each.
The Ennipadu is the reckoning of the actual number of fruit growing in a
particular year. There is supposed to be great enmity between the Janmi and the
Kudiyan when this extreme measure is resorted to, and it is not common. When
the estimation is fixed to take place, the Janmi gives notice to the tenant that he
must not touch the fruit for a year, but allow it to remain on the trees. At the end
of the year the Janmi counts the number there actually are, and fixes his pattam or
share accordingly. In the present times, the fear of the dishonesty of the tenant,
who might make away with many of the fruit before the day of examination
arrived is sufficient to deter Janmi from this unpopular mode.
KRISHI.
(Sanskrit) = ploughing, agriculture.
Seems the land under the direct management of proprietors or their stewards,
also called Svakaryam Krishi.
KRISHIKKARAN.
From Krishi (q.v.) and Sanskrit Karan (= doer, one who has to do with).
Steward of Janmi, employed to pay the slaves of the estate and other domestic
expenses.
KUDI.
(Dravidian) = house, hut.
A pair ; applied to a slave and his wife in speaking of their price.
KUDICHILLARA.
From Kudi (q.v.) and Dravidian chillara (= sundries).
Tax on houses, shops, warehouses, and implements of the profession of
blacksmiths, potters, oilmen, weavers, etc. Persons of these professions pay the
house-tax as well as the tax on their implements. The Kudichillara amounts in
Malabar to a revenue of Rs. 1,10,441—12—916½/25 and consists of the following
items, viz., taxes on large houses, on small houses and huts, on upper-roomed
retailer shops, on retailers’ shops, on petty retailers’ shops, on warehouses in the
bazaar, warehouses, in other places, on oilmen’s mills, on carpenters’ tools, on
blacksmiths’ anvils, on silversmiths’ tools, on grinders’ stones, on sawyers’ saws,
on weavers’ looms, on smiths’ hammers, on smiths’ shops, on potters’ furnace, on
brass-smiths’ shops, on barber shops, on washermen’s stones, on mud-wall
bricklayers, on mat-makers’ tools, on Pattom or Cherumars, on fishermen’s nets, on
fishermen’s boots, on pack-bullocks, on brinjals, etc., on betel-leaf vendors, on
grazing lands in Kanattil, on salt godowns belonging to salt-pan proprietors, on
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coconut safe, on chunam-makers’ furnace, on Kangany, interest on Sircar land given

on Kanam, Annakat or fees on tailor acting as barber, on teahtorum ; total 37 items
composing the Kudichillara. Supposing the tax upon the houses of the lower
classes to be generally 2 fanams (new Viray) a house, it would take off the tax
upon 25,000 houses to reduce the house tax revenue in the sum of 5,000 pagodas
or 60,000 fanams.
Note.—The Mohturfa taxes were abolished in 1861.
KUDIPPAKA or KUDUPPU.
From Kudi (q.v.) and Dravidian paka (= separation, enmity).
Family or house feud or enmity. It is the common term to express the deadly
hatred subsisting between two families, if a member of a family has been killed,
his relations have been known to steep a cloth in his blood and vow never to lose
sight of it till they have avenged his murder by the death of the murderer and the
destruction of his habitation.
Note.— It was the custom to burn the body of the slain in the house of the slayer
which was of course also burnt. It was usual, however, to burn only an outhouse!
KUDIYAN.
(Dravidian) = inhabitant, subject.
Who pays revenue direct to Government, not less than one hundred and fifty
thousand.—(Mr. Warden’s letter to Board of Revenue 16th June 1813, paragraph
77.)
Note.- The number of separate pattas issued or in force in Fasli 1290 (A D 1880-81)
was 178,790.
KUDIYAN KUR.
From Kudiyan (q.v.) and (Dravidian) Kur ( = share, portion).
Cultivator’s share.
Note.—See Kotulabham, etc.
KUDIYIRIPPU.
From kudi (q.v.) and (Dravidian) irippu ( = sitting, residence).
It is consideration of 2 fanams which before the land-tax a tenant used to pay
to a proprietor for land taken for building alone.
Notes.—1. A Kttiyirippu tenure carries with it power to build shops if locality is suitable
for the purpose. N.D.C., 21 (1879). One who has obtained permission to build a
house in a paramba, but not to enclose any portion of it, is liable to pay rent for use and
occupation if he excludes the owner or his assignee from access to the trees.—S.D.C.,
367, 382 (1877).
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Appendix
2. The payment was made as a token of fealty to the Janmi. The land taken was used
for a garden as well as for building purposes.
KUDIYIRUMAPPADU.
From kudi (q.v.) and (Dravidian) irikkuka ( == to sit, remain, be in a place),
and (Dravidian) padu ( = falling, falling into one's power, etc.)
Is a muri or document by which a Janmi who is entitled to receive purappad from a
mortgagee assigns over the payment of it to a third person from whom he has
borrowed money.
Note. This is an agreement between a landlord, and his creditor, according to which
the latter agrees to receive the rent produce of land leased to a tenant in lieu of interest in
money upon the sum borrowed by the landlord. Should any dispute arise between the
landlord and his tenant, and should the latter in consequence refuse to deliver rent
produce according to the landlord’s deed of assignment, the creditor, can sustain an action
only against the landlord.—(Sadr Adalat Proceedings No. 18, dated 5th August 1856).
KUDUMANIR or KUDIMANIR.
From Darvidian Kuduma = narrow point, crest, (top) or Dravidian Kudma ( =
tenantry) and Dravidian nir ( = water).
The terms of the body of this deed1 are the same as those in the deed of Attipper.
The difference in the title alone shows a difference in the attributes. The
proprietor acknowledges by this deed to have received the full value of the
property, and the execution and delivery of the deed are attested by the same
formalities as those of the Attipper deed. The word Kudima2, which means the
condition or station of tenant, shows that the proprietor has still some proprietary
right and that the mortgagee continues in the relation of Kudiyan or tenant. As a
tribute of acknowledgment of proprietorship the mortgagee is bound to pay a
sum of money, not exceeding two fanams or a half or a whole Tipree of ghee,
which, and the periods of payment, are specified in the deed. Under this deed the
proprietor has no power of redemption.
NOTEs: 1. Adima is more properly Service Inam. It used to be granted in favour of village
artisans, washermen, and others who in return for the bulk of the rent of the land were bound
to perform certain services. Sometimes it was likewise granted to Cherumars and other low caste
people to enable them to bury or burn their dead in spots where the latter were not liable to be
disturbed.
2. Kudima used to be given by big Janmis to their dependents and others as building sites. END
OF NOTES
Notes—1. See Adima

2. The foot-notes to Mr. Græme’s text are by an experienced Native Revenue Officer of the
district.
3. In this case the land is made over in perpetuity to the grantee, either unconditionally as
a mark of favour or on condition of certain services being performed. The terms Adima
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and Kudima mean a slave or one subject to the landlord, the grant being generally made to
such persons. A normal fee of about two fanams a year is payable to the landlord to show
that he still retains the proprietary title. Land bestowed as a mark of favour can never be
resumed, but where it is granted as remuneration for certain services to be performed, the
non-performance of such services involving the necessity of having them discharged by
others will give the landlord power to recover the land. The non-payment of the annual
fee will form no ground for ousting the grantee, but it will be recoverable by action. The
hereditary property of native princes cannot be conferred on this tenure, the ruling prince
having only the right of enjoyment during life, without power to alienate.—( Proceedings
of the Court of Sadr Adalat, No. 18, dated 5th August 1856).
4. Kudima Janmam is the highest but one of the Malabar tenures; the land is never
recoverable.— 285 (1862).
KULICHCHAKKARAN.
From Dravidian kulichcham (from kuli = hire, wages) = pay of Nayar militia,
and Sanskrit karan ( = doer, one who has to do with).
An armed servant or vassal of a Naduvali or Raja ; he is sometimes paid with land
for his maintenance.
Note.—See Adima, Kudima, Changngatam.
KULICHCHEKAM.
Or Kulichcham (see Kulichchakkaran), from Dravidian Kuli ( — hire, wages), means
besides pay the honourable service of Nayars, especially in war. Military tournaments
formerly in use among the Nayars.
KULICHCHEKAM or Yapana or Anubhogam.
Kulichchekam (q.v.) Yapana (Sanskrit) = livelihood, maintenance, provisisions
for soldiers. Anubhogam (q.v.).
KULIKKANAM.
From Dravidian kuli [ == hollow, hole, excavation, pit (for planting fruit trees]
and kanam (q.v.).
Before the introduction of the land-tax the pattam used to be settled once
in twelve years, and Kulikkanam allowed for young trees, and a deduction made
for those that had gone to decay. This practice was observed even though the
garden did not admit of any increase beyond the number originally planted. The
tenant’s business was to take care of the trees that were standing , but he was
under no obligation to replace old ones with young ones without being paid the
Kulikkanam money. Since the tax, wherever the proprietor receives regularly from
the tenant the pattam and takes upon himself the payment of the public
assessment, the settlement of the Kulikkanam and the pattam is conducted as
before ; but where the assessment is entered in the name of the tenant, and he
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only pays to the proprietor the Nikuti Sishtam, or what remains after discharging
the assessment, the system of Kulikkanam and pattam is generally relinquished.
The tenant is responsible for the revenue ; he gets nothing from the
proprietor for improvements, and he enjoys the undivided profits of them.
The Kadattanad Raja is said to have made over all his garden lands to his
tenants in this way, and no settlement of Kulikkanam and pattam has been made
between them for many years. The chief condition of it is that the mortgagee is to
be paid a certain sum for the trees he may grow in a garden, or the interest upon
that sum, to be deducted annually from the pattam or rent in the case the principal
is not paid. If the tenant who planted the trees is continued in the lease, the
Kulikkanam money is only given for such trees as bear; but, if he is to be
dispossessed for another, the proprietor must pay it for the young trees also. This
kind of tenure does not, I think, imply poverty in the Janmi. It is a good
arrangement for ensuring the improvement of property by giving the tenant an
interest in it. The general price of a coconut tree is from 1 old to 4 fanams from 4
to 8; betel-nut trees 1 fanam, pepper-vine 4 rupees for vines capable of yielding 1
maund, and jack trees from 2 to 16 fanams each.
It is according to the Sastra and to ancient custom to plant coconut trees
at the distance of forty feet from each other. It was then the practice to continue
the tenant in possession who had planted the trees, but the Mappillas being now in
the habit of turning out the original tenant as soon as the trees come to maturity
and paying off the Kulikkanam money, the tenants now plant closer than they
used to do in order to increase the number of trees upon which they are entitled
to the Kulikkanam.
It is not customary to settle the Kulikkanam and the pattam for four or five
years after the trees begin to bear. The tenant in this period enjoys the produce
free of any payment to the proprietor, which, and the produce of Chama and the
oil-plant for the first two years, make up the expense he has to sustain, as the
compensation to him does not come to him till the latter period of his
undertaking. A tenant who takes upon himself the planting of trees must possess
a certain capital from which he can afford to advance the expense, or, at all
events, he must be able to afford to labour unpaid for this period.
The Kulikkanam rates vary from one to four old gold fanams, or one-
quarter to one rupee, but half a rupee is the most prevalent.
PANAYA-PATTA KULIKKANAM.
See Panayam, Pattam and Kulikkanam.
This is a deed1 of mortgage executed by the mortgagor in favour of the mortgagee
for plantations, and differs in no respect from that given for rice-lands, except
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that it promises to give the Kulikkanam, or the fixed value of the trees, and the
Aliva, or the expense of preparing the garden, in conformity with the Desa
Mariyada or custom of the village. In deeds2 in use in the Northern Division of
Malabar the rates of Kulikkanam for the different kinds of trees are specified. In
the Panayapatta deeds, as well for rice as garden lands, the proprietor of the land
has a right of Polichcheluttu, that is, to renew the deeds every twelve years ; or,
when the Janmi dies, his successor3 may demand the Polichcheluttu (or tearing up of
old bonds and the making of new), by which he is entitled to a deduction Sakshi
and Oppu and Suchi from the mortgage debt, or to receive the amount of it in
hand from the mortgagee. It is understood that the proprietor has not the right of
renewal within five or six years after the last renewal. There are two modes of
settling the pattam on plantations, the Kulikkanam pattam and the Koyil4 Meni pattam
: the first is where the pattam is fixed at one-fifth or 20 per cent of the Kulikkanam
or established value of the trees, and the latter is where the produce is estimated
and two-thirds of it determined to be the pattam.
NOTEs: 1. I have already said that Kanam sometimes means simply money. I believe
Kulikkanam means digging money or hole-money, i.e. compensation for digging and
planting the land. അഴിവ expense
2. Sometimes the descriptions of trees in respect of which alone improvement value is
claimable are likewise specified.
3. Obsolete.
4. Koyil = harvesting ; meni = fold. Koyil meni gross produce ? The Kulikkanapattam is
almost nominal, being fixed at a time when there are perhaps no bearing trees in the
paramba. The practice is to lease out on a nominal rent in the first instance, and to
continue to collect the same till the trees planted by the tenant have come into
bearing. When this is done the custom is value improvements, make the value a
charge (kanam) on the paramba, fix a Koil Mani Pattam, deduct therefrom the interest
on the Kanam amount, and divide the residue between the Janmi and Government.
Under the Kulikkanam tenure the tenant or mortgagee is not answerable
for any loss of trees or diminution of produce occasioned by mere neglect in not
fencing the premises or not manuring the trees. No remission, however, is made
in the pattarn by the Janmi for loss occasioned by this cause. The loss the tenant
himself thus sustains is a sufficient punishment to him. If, however, he does a
positive injury by cutting down trees without the consent of the Janmi, he is
answerable1 to him for their value ; they are the property of the Janmi. The Kanam
money may be forfeited in toto, or in part in proportion to the injury done. He is
not however, responsible for the acts of the sovereign or the visitations of
Providence, known by the name of Rajikam and Devikam. A tenant is entitled to
the value of the Kulikkanam for every succession of trees which he plants, and if
he throws up the garden, insisting upon this right the proprietor must pay, but
much depends upon the relative situations of the proprietor and the tenant.
NOTEs: 1. Doubtful. Vide note below. END OF NOTEs
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If the latter has a good thing of the tenure, or from having no other
residence it would be inconvenient for him to remove, he will submit to a
modification of the right not quite so favourable to him. For instance, a tenant
possesses a garden producing a pattam of 100 fanams ; he plants more trees
yielding a further pattam of 40 fanams. The pattam being a fifth of the Kulikkanam
value, he is entitled to 200 fanams for the addition without any deduction for
trees decayed of the original number. The loss from this cause being, however, 20
fanams of pattam, the proprietor deducts it and gives him credit for only 20
fanams in addition, that is, he gives him only 100 instead of 200 fanams to which
he was entitled as Kulikkanam, but a remission is made for the pattam of trees
decayed, and the future pattam is fixed at 120 fanams.
He has the right to revise the pattam upon the tenant’s demand of
Kulikkanam for new trees, but if he anticipates an unfavourable result, he will
decline any inspection of the trees upon which the pattam has been settled ; he
must, at all events, pay the Kulikkanam money. If a tenant is obliged to quit a
garden on the motion of the proprietor, the proprietor must pay the full
Kulikkanam of all trees, however young, and the tenant on notice of such a
measure frequently introduces young trees for the purpose of getting the
Kulikkanam money.
The Janmi has no right to revise a pattam after it has once been fixed
except upon a demand of Kulikkanam for new trees, but all this depends a good
deal upon the relative circumstances of the parties. Upon every Polichcheluttu or
renewal of bonds the tenant has a right to demand a revision of the pattam, and if
he has suffered from Devikam (the visitation of Providence, which comprehends
losses by fire, lightning, storms, floods, etc.) or from Rajikam (the acts of a
sovereign), he may claim remission or decline payment of the puttam. These
losses2 must be supposed to exceed 20 per cent to come within the extent of
these exceptions. Jack and mango trees are exclusively the property of the
proprietor, and cannot3 be cut without his permission. The tenant is entitled to
cut down all unproductive coconut and betel-nut trees.
NOTEs: 2. Not legally or customarily recognised at present as far as I am aware.
3. Nor, in my opinion, can the landlord do so without the tenant's consent. END OF
NOTEs
Notes.—1. See Kanam.

2. The foot-notes to Mr. Græmo’s text are by an experienced Native
Revenue Officer, Mr. P. Karunakara Menon.
3. The landlord contended that “whenever a Kulikkanam deed provides for
no period, the ryot must give up the land when demanded," and that “if this be not
allowed, the ryot (who is merely to receive his Kulikkanam improvements) and
proprietor are placed on the same footing.” The tenants contended “that it is not
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customary to resume parambas when no injury or arrear of rent is sustained.” It was

held that summary ejectment in the manner asked could not be granted. — Malabar
Auxiliary Court, 43 (1843).
4. “The law only gives 12 years' possession to a Kulikkanam tenant.” N.D.C., 33
(1876).
5. In a Kulikkanam lease there was a clause to this effect : “If you plant these said four
fruits and the coconuts bear fruit as is the usage, I will give a taragu, fixing rent after
estimate of the produce.” Held that the Janmi was entitled to take a full rent after the
Kulikkanam lease was up, that is, after 12 years quite and sure enjoyment by the tenant,
and that the tenant was obliged to give up the land at the end of the 12 years on
receiving the value of his improvements.—N.D.C., 98 (1876).
6. A Kulikkanam lease is not forfeited by failure to pay rent ; even though there is an
express stipulation in the deed of lease, the tenant has a right to hold for 12 years.—
N.D.C., 75 (1875).
7. Where no express period has been stipulated this lease is considered to run for 12
years, otherwise for such period as may have been agreed upon. At the expiration of
either of these periods the landlord may either renew the lease to the same tenant,
paying him the value of his improvements, which may also be invested as a mortgage,
or he may satisfy all the tenant’s claim upon the land for improvements, and may let
the property to a new tenant. Compensation is allowed for buildings and fruit-
producing trees and shrubs of every description. In the event of the tenant failing to
reclaim the land, plant trees, and otherwise fulfil the conditions of the deed, he may be
dispossessed by the landlord before the expiration of the period specified. The
landlord may exercise .a similar power in the event of the tenant setting up a
fraudulent title to the land.—(Proceedings of the Court of Sadr Adalat, No. 18, dated
5th August 1856).
8. Under this tenure the tenant binds himself to pay a stipulated rent, as well as to
bring new land under culture. Failure in either of these respects, or any attempt to
defraud the landlord of his title, will render the tenant liable to ejectment. If no period
is named in the agreement the lease will be considered to extend to 12 years.—
(Proceedings of the Court of Sadr Adalat, No. 18, dated 5th August 1856).
9. A tenant cannot be disturbed under this tenure for 12 years, or during the period, if
any, stipulated, unless he attempts to set up a claim subversive of the landlord’s rights.
Possessing a pecuniary interest in the property, he cannot be dispossessed for neglect
to improve it.—(Proceedings of the Court of Sadr Adalat, No. 18, dated 5th August
1856).
10. The customary payment for improvements was meant as payment for the Janmi's
share of produce not as payment for the cultivator’s interest in the land. See Chapter
IV, Section (a) of the Text.
KUPPA MANYAL.
From Dravidian Kuppa (= heap of dirt, sweepings), and Dravidian Manyal (=
saffron, yellow dye).
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The Anotta or Bixa orellana. There is a great abundance of it growing wild

at Quilandy, about 15 miles north of Calicut, without any kind of cultivation. The
natural colour of the juice of the seed, which is used as a dye, is yellow, for which
purpose it is exported to Bombay. It is so easily procurable that no stock is laid in
for exportation, but the coasting merchants pick it up as they find it growing in
the lanes about Quilandy. The seeds are carried off without any preparation. They
are used in Malabar as beads in necklaces by the Mappilla women and are called
Mulla. The tree grows in hedges with little or no care within the precincts of the
town of Tellicherry.
KURVALCHA.
From Dravidian. Kur (=== share) and Dravidian valuka (= to live, live well,
reign).
Is the step or throne which the Rajas of Malabar ascend. It answers to
Puttum in Tamil and to Musnud Tnkht in Persian. Kur is share and Valcha is the
management or government, implying that a Raja has come to the possession of
the share of rank to which he is entitled by his seniority.
Note .—The term was always used in speaking of the share of Government
entrusted to a subordinate prince of the ruling family.
KUTTADAN or Mundakam.
A species of paddy sown within the bed of tanks in the Palghat District.
It is sown in the middle of Chittree (April), when there has been a little rain, and it
grows afterwards during the monsoon in water, and is not cut till the middle of
Tye (January), making a period of nine months for its growth.
The name of a rice which has only one crop in the year, and that crop is
only cut in Makaram (January and February).
The names of paddy crop sown in Kumbham (February and March) and is
eleven months before it comes to maturity . After the ploughing there is no
expense of cultivation. The smallness of the expense of cultivation is mentioned
as a proof that the Valli cannot be regulated by the number of meni produce.
Note—The two names are not generally applied to the same kind of paddy ; the
former kind grows in salt marshes—planted April, reaped January. The latter is a rice
of slow growth, reaped about January
KUTTAM.
(Dravidian) = junction, assembly.
A collection of houses, consisting of, 500 or 600 persons, six necessary for a
Kartavu of 3,000.
Notes.—1. See pp. 132, 133 of the text. The Kuttam was evidently the “ Six hundred”
of Deeds Nos. 3 and 4, Appendix XII.
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2. The Kuttam answered many proposes, e.g., Nilalkuttam, assembly under shade of a
tree to discuss Tara affairs, etc., Padakuttam, for war ; Nayattukuttam, for hunting ;
Yogakkuttam, for meditation ; Nadu-kuttam, for arbitration.
3. In the Laccadive Islands there are periodical kuttams for killing the rats which infest
the coconut trees. Any one absenting himself is fined.
4. The Honourable Mr. Hudleston has suggested that the Koot organisation which gave
so much trouble in Canara in 1832-33 was probably identical with the Kuttam of
Malabar.
KUTTIKKANAKKOLA.
From Dravidian Kutti (= stake, peg to mark limits) and Dravidian kanakku
(==: accounts), and Dravidian Ola (= palm-leaf, writing).
A kind of memorandum or register written upon the Karimbana palm or palmyra
leaf, in which is recorded the Janmakaran's Pramanams or deeds with his tenants
and the amount of the pattam share.
KUTTIKKANAM.
From Dravidian Kutti (= stake, peg, stump) and Kanam (q.v).
Is the privilege of half a rupee or one rupee (according to local custom) to
which every proprietor of a forest is entitled for every tree cut within the limit of
his property. It means literally, stump money.
Note.— This is an arrangement by which the landlord assigns on mortgage a
tract of forest land, receiving a stipulated fee for every tree felled by the
mortgagee ; the entire number of trees to are cut down, and the period within
which they are to be felled, being expressly fixed in the Karar entered into
between the parties. The mortgagee usually makes an advance and agrees to pay
the balance by instalments. The non-payment of the stipulated instalments does
not render the mortgagee liable to dispossession unless there be special clause in
the agreement to this effect. The instalments may be recovered by action, but the
mortgagee remains in possession during the period stipulated.—(Proceedings of
the Court of Sadr Adalat, No. 18, dated 5th August 1856).
KUTTINELLU or Velinellu.
From Dravidian Kutti (— peg, stump, stake, in a fence) and Dravidian veli (=
hedge, fence) and Dravidian nel (== rice).
Hedge grain ; a contribution formerly made by Janmakars for keeping up
fences against cattle, half of which contribution was taken and consolidated with
the land revenue in 975 M.S. in the taluk of Kavai. It amounted to 16 Idangalis for
every 100 of seed, or 8 of which were incorporated with the land revenue.
KUTTIVASI.
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From Dravidian Kutti (= peg, stake, stump of a tree, hence what remains,
balance) and Dravidian vasi (== excess, difference).
With the soft t it may be called the Nuffur Bakee, or balance against individuals.
KUVA.
(Dravidian) = arrowroot.
The Malayalam name for the arrowroot that grows in Malabar. It grows
without cultivation, and is commonly eaten by the poorer classes boiled in water
and mixed sometimes with teire (curds), and salt.
Note. — The different kinds in Malabar are Anakkuva, elephant arrowroot ;
Channakkuva, Costus speciosus ; Nyettikkuva, Curcuma augustifolia, Manyakkuva and
Malankuva, Koempferia ; and Manyalkkuva, Curcuma longa.
MACLEOD SEER.
Macleod seer is 25 to a para of salt, or 3,000 to a garce. Of the Madras seers
there appear to be 4,800 to the garce in measuring salt.
MADHYASTANMAR.
Plural of Sanskrit Madhyastam (= neutral person mediator, arbitrator).
Arbitrators answering to Panchayat, though the latter term is not known in
Malabar. Dharmakarta is also used.
Note.— The Karanavar of the Tara answered to the village Panchayat of Eastern
districts. See Taravattu Karanavar.
MALIKANA.
(Persian)—what is due to the Malik or proprietor when set aside from the
management of his estate, allowances to deposed Rajas.
Which is a Bengal term implying the fee or privilege of the proprietor, and was
originally applied to the allowance made to the Bengal Zamindar in concluding the
permanent settlement ; means in Malabar the fifth or 20 per cent, of a fixed
revenue of their former countries which the dispossessed Rajas of Malabar receive
from the Company.
Note. The allowances are calculated on the revenue of 1800—1.
MANIYANI.
(Sanskrit) = manager of estate on behalf of the Janmi.
POLUTTIKKARAN.
A Malayalam corrupt form of –
PRAVRATTIKKARAN.
From Sanskrit Pravratti (= occupation, business) and Sanskrit karan (=
doer, one who has to do with).
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Stewards or managers for Janmis or proprietors on estates or fields kept under

their own direct management.
Note.- The officers who collect the revenue from ryots in Cochin and
Travancore are called Pravrattikars.
MANNATTAPPAN.
From Dravidian Mannadi (= immigrant landowners in Palghat) and Dravidian
appan (— father).
A caste of Vellalars or cultivating Sudras residing in certain Hobalis of the
Palghat Taluk, who are said to have come from Kangayam in the Coimbatore
province, and who are now so intermixed with the Nayars as not to be
distinguished from them except when a Tiyan addresses them and gives them this
appellation instead of Nayar. In Kangayam they are called Mannadi.
MAPPILLA.
From Ma, that is, Sanskrit Maha (= great) and Dravidian pilla (= child,
honorary title).
A tribe of Mussulmans in Malabar whom Europeans call Mappillas. They are
supposed to be descendants of the Arabs who first settled on the Malabar Coast,
and in some families the inheritance by nephews, instead of sons is observed, the
same among the Nayars, but generally the succession is by sons. Some derive the
name from Ma, mother, and pilla, son, implying that they are the sons of their
mothers, but that their fathers are unknown in consequence of the promiscuous
intercourse between the first Arab settlers and the Native women of Malabar.
Others, from Makkal daughter, and pilla, son, literally, but meaning son-in-law,
that is son to the man whose daughter he has married. Makkalpilla is usually
pronounced Mappilla. Makkalpilla is the common word for son-in-law in Tamil.
Mokhaeepilla, or people from Mokhaee, as Mocha is usually pronounced, is another
derivation. The Rajas, in writing to a Mappilla, designate him Jonakan, and they are
often called Jona Mappillas. The Kestorian Christians are called Nassrani Mappillas.
The number of Mappillas in Malabar, according to an account taken in 1807,
amounts to 172,600.
Notes.—1. Dr. Gundert’s view is that Mappilla was an “honorary title given to
colonists from the West, perhaps at first only to their representatives." The name is
not confined to Muhammadans.
2. The number of Mappillas (Mnhaimnadans) in Malabar at the census taken in 1871
was 546,912.
MARICHAM.
(Sanskrit) = pepper.
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Appendix
The Sanskrit name for the pepper. The Hindustani word mirch is evidently derived
from it.
MARYADA.
(Sanskrit) = limit, boundary, custom.
Which in Tamil means honour, respect; signifies in the Malabar province the
custom, the usage, and corresponds exactly with the Hindustani word mamool.
MELKKOYMA.
From Dravidian mel (= above) and Dravidian konma or koyma (= royal
authority).
Note.—Melkkoyma was the right the sovereign power possessed over property of
which the ownership was in others. Malabar Rajas not now being sovereigns have no
longer Melkkoyma rights.—N.H.C., 118 (1861).
MENAVAN or Menon.
From Dravidian mel (= above), and Dravidian avan (= he).
Is the accountant or register, and answers to Karnam and Kanakkapilla
(Conicapoly). The appellation is generally, if not always, confined to an accountant
of the caste of Nayar.
Note.—The accountants of Amsams (parishes) are now styled Menons.
MENI VILACHCHAL.
From Dravidian Meni (= body, shape, sample, average article), and Dravidian
vilachchal (= produce of corn).
Means in one case the number of fold. If you ask the Meni Vilachchal, or
produce of an extent of land requiring so many paras of seed to sow it (in a single
crop), it is usual to state the Vilachchal, or produce, of the best crop, and not the
aggregate of the different crops. For instance, the first crop may produce 8 paras,
the second 10, and the third 6 : instead of saying 24, the answer would be 10.
It means also the gross produce. The number of fold produced from one para
of seed land (or land which requires one para to sow it for a single crop) is about
514/16 in the province of Malabar upon applying the total gross produce
(15,571,268 paras) to the total seed sown (2,638,168 paras) according to the
accounts rendered by the Janmakars in 981. The assessment being proposed to be
regulated on the principle of deducting seed and the same quantity under the
name of Vittuvalli or expense of cultivation, and also one-third for the cultivator,
and dividing the remainder in the proportion of 6 in 10 to the Sircar and 4 in 10
to the Janmi, the Government assessment comes to 184/5/16 of a para for every
para shown, or about 266/15 per cent of the gross produce.
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Note.—The distribution a of wet land produce, according to the scheme drawn up by

Mr. Richards and approved by Government (1803-4), is known as the Villachchal meni
pattam (q.v.) scheme.
MENNOKKI.
From Dravidian mel (= above, and Dravidian nokkuka (= to look at, view, look
after).
The common name formerly for accountants in the Kurumbranad and Polwye
and Pyurmala Districts and in the Kartavus or lordships of Vadakkampuram, and
Kilakkampuram, or the Northern and Southern Divisions of the Calicut District.
MODAN and PUNAM.
Mean generally high lands where a particular kind of paddy is capable of being
cultivated, and where the oil-plant and millet and toor are also planted. In the
Northern Division that land only is called Punam in which there is a great deal of
underwood, and which can only be cultivated once in six years ; and that Modan
which is high land, but not overgrown with wood, and capable of being planted
with coconut, etc., trees ; but in the Southern Division Modan is the only name
and Punam is not known. The Punam is never ploughed, but always dug. The
plough could not make its way through the roots of the underwood. The seed is
sown, or rather placed in the holes dug, dry and not sprouted.
Rice sown on high orchard land.
Note.—Modan cultivation is now assessed at a uniform rate of 12 annas per acre in the
low-country taluks, and Punam cultivation at rates varying from 8 annas to 12 annas per
acre. The assessment is imposed only on the breadth of ground annually occupied.
MRIGAM NADKKALI.
Mrigam (Sanskrit) == quadrupeds, wild animals. Nalkkali (Dravidian) =
quadrupeds, tame animals.
Four-footed animals. In the Southern Districts of Malabar a permanent
allowance has, by ancient custom, been made by proprietors in fixing the pattam
for estimated losses by animals, whilst in the Northern Districts no allowance was
made for this and other items, such as Veli Nellu ; but the proprietors take upon
themselves the expense of protecting their fields from cattle and pay it out of
their pattam, each contributing so much to one or more persons appointed to
watch a particular tract.
MUDA.
(Dravidian) = load, bale.
Means, literally, a fastening, or bundle, or package. It is applied to the packages
in a circular form, like a Dutch cheese, fastened with whisps of straw, in which
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Appendix
rice is made up in the south of Malabar and Canara. It is uniformly of the same
size, containing 25 Macleod seers. In the Sea Custom accounts the Muda of rice is
reckoned at 81 lb. and of paddy at 55 lb.
MUKHYASTHAN.
From Sanskrit mukhyam ( = chief, principal) and Sanskrit stham ( = staying).
Is quite a modem term, introduced since Hyder’s invasion, in lieu of the
Taravattukarar or heads of villages. Though it may be derived from the Sanskrit
word Mukhyam or chief, it is doutbful whether Mukhyastan, which was unknown in
Malabar, was not an imitation of the Persian word Mokhtusir, which was common
in the Mysore durbar and means a person of authority, a chief.
Note. - Mr. Græme, contrary to other observations made by him, here alludes to the
Taravattukarur as being the heads of villages. See Tara, and Ur, and Madhya--stanmar and
Taravattu-karanavar.
MUKKATAVALI.
From Dravidian munnu ( == three) and Dravidian Katam ( =- about five
EngHsh miles, a league), and Dravidian vali ( = ruler).
The limit of the jurisdiction of a Kartavu of 3,000 men, extending to 3 Katam.
MUKKUVAR.
From Dravidian mukkuka (= to dip, immerse, plunge) and Dravidian avar ( =
they).
A tribe of fishermen in Malabar whom Europeans call Mucquas ; their number,
according to an account taken in 1807, was 12,369.
Note.—“Said to be immigrants from Ceylon with Ilavar” (q.v.) —Gundert.
MUTTUVALLI.
From Dravidian mullu ( = thorn) and Malayalam valli ( = proper subsistence
given in kind to slaves or day-labourers).
Literally, thorn expense, the expense of taking care of plantations. It is
synonymous with Ali Silavu.
MUNNU or Nalu Meni Nilam.
Munnu (Dravidian) = three ; Nalu (Dravidian) == four ; Meni (Dravidian) =
average ; Nilam (Dravidian) = rice-field.
A paddy-field requiring only one para of seed and capable of producing three and
four fold.
MURI.
(Dravidian) == a fragment, note, bond, receipt.
A receipt.
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MUTIRA.
(Dravidian) = horsegram.
Horsegram, answering to Kollu in Tamil, Kooltee in Hindustani.
NADUVALI.
From (Dravidian Nadu) = the country, a (province) and Dravidian valuka ( =
to live, to live well, rule).
He was not considered a Naduvali who had not at least 100 Nayars attached to
his range ; any number below that ranked a person as a Desavali.
Notes.—1. See Desam and Tara, and Kuttam.
2. Mr. Græme is here referring to the modern idea of a Naduvali. In ancient the Nad
was the territory of the Six Hundred, of the Kuttam, of the Kanakkar, supervisors,
protectors, Nayar militia.
NALUBHAYAM.
From Dravidian nalu ( == four) and Sanskrit ubhayam (= garden produce in
North Malabar).
Means the four products, and is applied in the Northern Division of Malabar
to the produce, collectively, of the coconut, the betel-nut, the pepper and the jack
tree.
Note.—The fifth in degree of importance was the Kodi, betel-leaf vine.
NAMBIYAR.
Honour, plural of Dravidian nambi ( = a title among Nayars).
A caste of Nayar ; the caste is distinguished by this termination to their name.
NAMBUTIRI or Namburi.
From Dravidian Nambuka ( == to trust, confide) and Sanskrit affix tiri ( ==
tiru = sri = blessed, fortunate).
A Brahman of Malabar.
NAYAN, plural Nayar.
(Sanskrit) = leader, in honorific plural, lord ; in ordinary sense, soldiers, militia.
A caste of Hindus in Malabar classed among the Sudras ; their number, from
an account taken in 1807, was 156,283. Among Nayars nephews, and not sons,
are entitled to succeed to property. This material point being established, the law
of shares among relations follows in other respects the general Hindu law of
succession. There are some Nayar families in Travancore who circumcise. The
origin of this custom, does not seem clearly known. There is some faint tradition
that there was a forcible, but partial, circumcision of natives of Malabar by people
from Arabia long before Hyder’s invasion. The word Nayar has much
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resemblance to the Gentoo word Nayadu, to the Canarese and Tamil Nayakkan,
and to the Hindustani Naig ; all titles of respect, applied in the manner that Sahib
is at the end of a name.
NIKUTI CHITTU.
Nikiti or Nikuti, from Arabic nagdi ( === ready-money) or Canarese nigadi ( =
instalment) or Sanskrit niti ( =:= right, proportion, law, justice), means the
land-tax payable in money introduced by the Muhammadans (Mysoreans).
Chittu (Dravidian) = note, bill.
A document given by the Sircar to every person who is to pay the Nikuti or
public revenue showing the annual amount of Nikuti he is to pay.
NIKUTI Sishtam.
Nikuti (q.v.) Sishtam (Sanskrit) == balance.
Is where the Kudiyan gives to Janmakar in pattam whatever remains in the pattam
after paying the Nikuti.
Different ways in which it is settled in the districts south of the Kotta river, viz. :
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NIKUTTI Vittu.
Nikuti (q.v,). Vittu (Dravidian) = seed.
Is the quantity of seed assessed in the time of Hyder by the Huzzur Nikuti
accounts. It is in contradistinction to the Vittu, which is the seed required to
sow the land for one crop.
Note.—In Wynad also the actual seed sown is not always shown in the accounts.
NIRMUTAL.
From Dravidian nir ( = water) and Dravidian mutal ( = property, money).
Is a compound of Nir, water, and Mutal, property ; figuratively it means that
additional property or security is acquired to the mortgagee by a pledge given by
the proprietor that he will perform the ceremony of giving water to the
mortgagee. It is a kind of mortgage, without possession, of the additional right
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which the act of giving water confers. After the execution of this deed, the
proprietor cannot transfer the land to another without the express consent of the
mortgagee. It is still, however, in his power to redeem the mortgage by payment
of the debt. At this stage of the mortgage the proprietor has generally received 10
per cent upon the sum specified in the deed of Otti in addition to that which he
had received under the deed of Ottikkumpuram. The amount of the debt, but not
the pattam, is specified m this deed.
Note.—When the landlord requires to borrow a still further sum on the security of
land assigned to an Otti mortgagee to whom he has already executed an Ottikkumpuram
deed, he is bound first to apply to such mortgagee, and if the latter should consent to
make the required advance, the landlord gives him a Nirmutal document, by which he
makes over to him all but the right of water. Such further advance is recoverable with the
amount of the original mortgage, the Otti claim being, in fact, merged in the Nirmutal
deed. In this case, as in that of an Ottikkumpuram transaction, if the mortgagee decline to
make the advance, the landlord may obtain it from a third party, who satisfies the claim of
the original mortgagee and comes into possession. In any of the three cases last
mentioned the landlord is at liberty at any time to pay off the mortgage and redeem his
property.—(Proceedings of the Court of Sadr Adalat, No. 18, dated 5th August 1856).
NOKKICHARTTA or Nokkiyelutta Peimasi.

From Dravidian Nokki ( == having looked) and Dravidian chartta ( =
assessed) or Dravidian Elutta ( = written). Peimasi = (Persian) Pymaish.
Terms in use for survey. The latter seems to have been introduced only in
Tippu’s time. The surveys, except what was made by Mr. Warden in 983, are not
to be understood as meaning an actual measurement of the land by square feet,
but merely a calculation of the quantity of seed necessary for sowing with respect
to paddy, or an inspection of the number and a valuation of the produce of trees
with respect to orchards.
OART.
Used in the Commissioners’ correspondence of 1793 for garden. The
Portuguese word is Horta, and its origin is evidently from Hortus.
OPPU.
From Dravidian okka ( = together, all), means agreement, and hence a
signature as the mark of agreement.
Is the signature. A fee upon one of the parties signing a new mortgage-deed
respecting land.
OTTI.
From Dravidian Otta ( = one, single), hence ottuka ( = to step aside, make
room for another) and otti ( = the stepping aside to make room for another,
or, perhaps, the substitution of one thing for another).
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In former times the Otti deed was scarcely ever executed before the
Pattola deed. It was the consequence of the mortgagor becoming involved in a
greater degree than when he first incurred the debt to the mortgagee. It is a
deeper stage into debt. In the present times it is very usual for persons to borrow
to that extent at once, without going through the preliminary step of Panaya
Pattam to render it necessary to execute the Otti deed.
In this deed the amount of the debt only is specified and not the pattam
or rent. In this stage of mortgage the interest of the debt is equal to the annual
pattam, and the mortgagee pays no pattam to the proprietor. It is also called Veppu
(in Palghat) and Palisa Madakku (in Nedunganad and Walluvanad), which latter term
is expressive of this characteristic feature.
The mortgagor under this deed and under the subsequent deeds, which
indicate advanced stages of the mortgage, is not entitled to polichcheluttu and its
concomitant advantages, Sakshi, etc., etc.
He is considered to have already received two-thirds of the value of his
mortgaged land, and to be entitled to one-third more before he has relinquished
his proprietary right.
Though this and other deeds have certain defined rules, it must not be
understood that they are rigidly observed with respect to the proportion to the
whole estimated value of the Janmam or proprietary right which should constitute
it to be one kind of deed or another, but the particular sums to be given will be
exceeded where the quality of the land and the great demand on the part of others
may render the mortgagee apprehensive of losing possession, and in other cases
the Janmi may not get so much as is supposed in these explanations.
Under this deed, as the proprietor receives no rent from the land, he
must be considered to have lost all interest in it, and to be wholly inefficient for
the purpose of improving it ; he is no longer even a pensioner upon it.
Notes.—1. This tenure gives the mortgagee possession and the entire
produce of the land, the landlord merely retaining the proprietary title and the power
to redeem. Where no period has been stipulated, the landlord may pay off the
mortgage at any time. The principal alone is repayable, the mortgagee recovering the
interest of his money from the produce of the land If the landlord be desirous of
raising a further sum and the Otti mortgagee refuse to advance it, the money may be
received from a third party and the mortgage transferred to him. But the original
mortgagee has a right to be first consulted.—(Proceedings of the Court of Sadr
Adalat, No. 18, dated 5th August 1856.)
2. The following are some of the decisions of the Courts. An Otti holder, like
a Kanakkaran, forfeits his right to hold for 12 years by denying his Janmi’s title.—2
M.H.C.K , p. 161. An Otti holder is entitled to the first chance of supplying his Janmi’s
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deeds for further loans.—M.S.C., 17 (1860) ; M.S. decisions (I860), p. 249. The words
“Kanam free from the payment of rent" will not enlarge that Kanam right into an Otti
right.—M.S.C., 142 (1870). Until the Otti holder refuses to purchase it the Janmam
right cannot be sold to another person. S.S.C., 344—358 (1855). The offer to sell the
Janmam right must be “at a reasonable rate.”—N.D.C., 64 (1859). A Janmi can at any
time call on an Otti holder to purchase the Janmam right, and, on his refusal, he can sell
his rights to whom he pleases. M.S.C., 30 (1857). To grant land on Janmam to a third
party without the Otti holder’s consent is directly at variance with the general usage of
the country. S.D.C., 135—155 (1854). The Otti holder is entitled to the refusal of the
opportunity of making a further advance—M.S.C, 17 (1860) and 1 M H.C.R., p. 356.
The right to hold for 12 years probably attaches to an Otti.—N.D.C., 28 (1862) ;
M.H.C., 380 (1862). The difference between a Kanam and an Otti pointed out : the
latter includes (a) the right of pre-emption of Janmam, and (b) Janmi’s right is reduced
to a mere pepper-corn rent —M.H.C., 101 (1862).
DRAVYAM.
(Sanskrit) = object, movable property, money.
The amount of Otti received by the Janmi when giving his property under the
tenure of Otti.
OTTIKKUM PURAMEYULLA KANAM.
(Literally) the Kanam which is in addition to the Otti.
May be considered the third stage of mortgage. The mortgagor has borrowed 10
per cent more than the sum he had received when he executed the deed of Otti.
The deed specifies the amount of debt with this addition, and makes no allusion
to the pattam. The mortgagor is as little entitled to Polichcheluttu, Sakshi, and Suchi
under this as under the deed of Otti.
If the mortgagor should pay off the mortgage debt, he must also under this deed,
and under all the deeds executed at subsequent stages of the mortgage, pay the
interest of the additional 10 per cent from the time he borrowed it, with this
qualification, that it does not exceed double the amount of the principal from
which it sprung.
Ottikkumpuram means above or beyond the Otti.
Under this deed the mortgagor has still the power of transferring the property to
another or recovering the possession for himself by redeeming the debt.
The addition to the Otti deed which makes this deed called Ottikkum puram is not
necessarily limited to 10 per cent. The mortgage retains this denomination till it
becomes deep enough to be classed under Nirmutal.
The amount of the debt, but not the pattam, is specified in this deed.
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Note.—When the landlord wishes to obtain a further sum he applies to the Otti
mortgagee, and on receiving it executes this deed to him, in which he binds himself to
repay the amount at the same time that he pays off the mortgage. The mortgagee must
always have the option of making such further advance, but if he decline, the landlord
may apply to a third party and assign the property to him, the latter paying off the
claim of the original mortgagee.—(Proceedings of the Court of Sadr Adalat, No. 18,
dated 5th August 1856.).
PALISA.
(Malayalam) = interest on money, distinct from interest on rice (= Polu, or
Palisa).
Interest. The subjoined are the denominations of the different kinds of Palisa and
the meaning of them in the Southern Division of Malabar, not including Palghat
and Temmalapuram, where the Janmakar’s and tenants’ pattam rate is one gold
fanam for 2 paras. In the Northern Division it is generally 2 silver fanams for 1 para,
but in Kavai alone it is 1 silver fanam for 1 para. The terms of interest which in this
table indicate so many years’ purchase for the Southern Division generally have
not the same meaning in the Northern Division or in the Palghat and
Temmalapuram Districts of the Southern Division, for which there ought to be a
separate table.
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Appendix
Remarks.—No. 1. May be explained to be an interest of one-sixteenth of every

Idangali pattam for every fanam borrowed, or (taking the settled price of 10 Idangalis a
fanam) one hundred and sixtieth part of the principal, or 160 years’ purchase, 10/16
per cent. This explanation applies to the Palisa upon paddy-fields. In plantations it is
customary to refer its relation to every 10 fanams borrowed. A Makani Palisa is one-
sixteenth, to be paid in interest of one fanam pattam for every ten fanams borrowed. Its
centage, number of years’ purchase, and proportion to the principal, are the same as in
paddy lands.
No. 2 (Blank.)
No. 3. After deducting the proportion for the assessment, this rate of interest
prevails in some places.
No. 4. After deducting the proportion for one assessment, this rate is the most
prevalent.
No. 5. Not in use before the introduction of the land assessment, but now in some
places it prevails inclusive of the Nikuti.
No. 6. Not in use before, but now is in use inclusive of the assessment. When the
assessment is half the pattam, the Ner Palisa, including the Nikuti, is equivalent to the
Palisa exclusive of the Nikuti.
TIKAPPALISA.
From Dravidian Tikayuka = to become fall, complete) and Palisa (q.v.).
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With respect to plantations has the same meaning as Ner Palisa in regard to rice-
lands. It is the full interest or 10 per cent., that is, it is 10 fanams given in purchase
for every fanam pattam (rent). It is the highest interest on land recognised by
custom ; any excess above it would be usury.
KADAMVAYPA.
From Dravidian Kadam (= debt) and Dravidian vaypu ( = growth).
Rate of interest observable in loans of money, in contradistinction to the interest
on land mortgage loans, which is much lower, but in Ernad and Vellatra many
Janmakars have been obliged to borrow part of the money upon which their land
is mortgaged on the terms of the Kadamvaypa.
PALISA MADAKKAM.
From Palisa (q.v.) and Dravidian Madakkam ( = return).
Used in Palghat.
The chief feature of this deed1 is that the interest of the money borrowed is
equal to the value of the pattam in the possession of the mortgagee, and in this
respect it exactly resembles the Otti deed. In it, however, the pattam is specified
(which is not the case in the Otti deed) as well as the amount of the debt.
It is rather more favourable to the Janmakar than the Otti deed, because, as
long as the mortgage has not reached the point of Otti, the Janmakar is at liberty2
to raise his terms, and the specification of the pattam gives him the means of doing
it. Under the Otti deed the knowledge of the pattam is lost in former deeds, and
the proprietor, it is well known, has no right to more than half as much again as
he has already received. He has already got two-thirds of the whole value of the
Janmam.
Notes.—1. See Otti.
2. The foot-notes to Mr. Græme’s text are by an experienced Native Revenue
official.
NOTEs: 1. Otti and Palisa Madakkam are one and the same, at present at all events.
2. The distinction is scarcely maintained at the present time. END OF NOTEs
PALLIYAL, or PALLIYALI, or PAILLNYAYAL, or PALLIMANYAYAL.

Pallimanyayal from Dravidian Palli or Pallam ( == pit, hole, excavation) and
Dravidian Nyaru or Naru (= what rises above ground, young plant fit for
transplantation).
The highest stage of Ubhayam, a low rice-land ; it corresponds, I think
with the bill of Canara The paramba may be called the high land which is not
artificially irrigated.
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Appendix
In one kind of Palliyal or Pallimanyayal or Potta there is no cultivation. It

only answers for sowing seed to be transplanted to lower lands.
Note.—Pallimanyayal was originally land excavated for rearing rice plants for
transplantation.
PALPARAMBU.
From Dravidian Pal ( = an empty, void, desolate, waste place) and Dravidian
Parambu ( = high ground, orchard, garden).
A destroyed garden.
PANAYAM.
From Dravidian root pan ( = to exchange, buy, bet) = bet, stake, pledge,
mortgage.
In speech this deed is often designated the Todu Panayam deed with
reference to its character, which corresponds with the Tors Udawoo deed of
Canara.
By this deed the Janmi engages to pay a certain interest for money
borrowed, or, in failure thereof, to make over to the Panayakkaran or mortgagee
certain lands therein named.
In some cases the term for repayment of the principal is specified, in
others it is omitted ; but it is supposed the mortgagee has a right to be put into
possession of the land if the mortgagor do not pay upon the demand of the
mortgagee.
If the Janmi decline putting the mortgagee into possession in failing to
pay the interest, the mortgagee is in the habit of bringing an action for the
recovery of the principal and interest by any means, whether by the sale of the
mortgaged land alone or by the sale of other property belonging to the Janmi ; and
the Judicial Courts, it is said, pass their decisions conformably to this principle.
If the Janmi, upon failing to pay the interest, were immediately to put the
mortgagee in possession, the latter, it is thought, would have no right to sue for
recovery of the debt by any other means.
Under this deed the Janmi has properly no right to dispose of the Janmam
in the mortgaged land without the consent of the mortgagee ; but if any transfer
of the kind should be clandestinely made, may insist upon the purchaser paying
his demand or placing him in the possession of the land.
Where a mortgagee is placed in possession under this deed, he is to pay
to the Janmi the residue of the pattam after deducting the mortgage interest.
Under this deed there is no right of Polichcheluttu, Sakshi, Oppu, and Suchi.
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Notes.—1. The land is here pledged as security for the repayment, with interest, of
certain sums advanced, but the lender has no right to interfere m the management of
the property. In some cases it is stipulated that on failure on the part of the borrower
to pay the interest, the lender shall be placed in possession of the land. Where such
stipulation exists, the lender can sustain an action for possession ; in other cases he
must sue for the recovery of the principal and interest of the loan, the land being liable
in the event of the money not being paid. (Proceedings of the Court of Sadr Adalat,
No. 18, dated 5th August 1856.)
2. The tender of the mortgage amount makes the person to whom tender is made
responsible for rent from date of tender.—M.S.C., 134 (1857). A simple mortgagee
has no claim to improvements.—S.D.C., 338 (1877).
3. This deed was evidently a mortgage without possession of the land interest pledged.
PANAYA ELUTTUKARAN.
From Panayam (q.v.) and Eluttukaran (Dravidian) = writ, or deed-holder.
A creditor of a Janmi, to whom the actual possession of the estate is not;
consigned, but to whom the Janmi has engaged to consign it in failure of payment
by a certain time. It depends upon the terms of the deed whether the land
becomes in the possession of the mortgagee or not.
PANDAKKAVAL.
From Dravidian Pandal ( = temporary shed of leaves) and Dravidian Kaval ( =
custody, guard, watch).
A watching fee, consisting of the crop of a certain portion of the field, which a
slave receives from his master for his trouble. Kaval is watching and Pandal is the
awning or cover under which the slave sets to watch.
Note.—See Kolulabham and Ennam and Patam.
PANDARAM.
(Dravidian) = treasury, government.
Term commonly used in Malabar for expressing the Government.
PANDI.
(Dravidian) = the Southern Tamil country with Madura as capital.
The name given to a tribe of Christian fishermen and palanquin-bearers on the
Malabar Coast, whom I have seen at Cannanore. They are supposed to have come
from, the southernmost part of the Malabar Coast, viz., Travancore, and, perhaps,
from the Tinnevelly province originally.
PANIKKAR.
A kind of Master of Arts, formerly held in great respect in families as teachers
of the use of arms and of martial exercises of all kinds.
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Appendix
The agent having jurisdiction either in a village or in a Hobaii on the part of the
Kartavu, or lord of the Nad or district, to whom intermediate references are made
from the Adiyans or vassals of the Kartavu.
PARA.
(Dravidian) = a drum, a rice measure.
In the Malabar province means generally ten of the measure next in quantity to
it, that is, ten Idangalis or Dangalis, whatever may be the quantity of the latter. It is
nearer to the mercal than to any other measure at Madras.
The standard para which appears in Mr. Græme’s statements of assessment
contains ten Macleod Idangalis each Idangali being four Calicut Nalis and 3,000
Idangalis a garce.
Note.- See Vittupad.
PARAMBU.
(Dravidian) = high, dry ground, orchard, garden, compound.
May be considered the high land, whether cultivated with Modan rice, the oil-
plant, the chama (Panicum miliaceum), or coconut and other trees, which is not
capable of being inundated or irrigated artificially, and it does not apply
exclusively to garden land as I at first thought it did.
Todi or Tottam.
(Dravidian) == garden.
Terms used for gardens and plantations.
PASUMA or Pasima.
(Dravidian) = freshness, softness, richness of soil.
Rasi.
(Sanskrit) = (a heap) with Dravidian Kuru ( = class), means poor, light soil.
Terms used for distinguishing the qualities of lands, viz., Pasima is the first,
Rasi Pasima the second, and Rasi the third sort.
PATAM.
(Dravidian) = share of reapers.
It is a term used for the expense of reaping, reckoned 10 per cent. In some
places this proportion is given after the paddy is measured out, in others one out
of ten sheaves is given in the field.
Note.—See Ennam, Kolulabham, and Pandakkaval.
PATTAM.
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Probably from Dravidian padu ( = falling, falling into one’s power, place,
situation, order, office, rank of officials and of princes, etc.), hence probably
meaning the share of the produce of land due to officials and princes, and
latterly to Janmis or other proprietors of land. It was probably at first written as
patta-varam ( = the pad's share (varam) of the produce).
The fixed proportion agreed to between a Janmi and cultivator to be given
to the Janmi as his share or rent ; this proportion is usually paid in kind for rice
cultivation and in money for plantations.
In settling the pattam of coconut trees it has, in most places in Malabar,
been the custom to give 20 per cent of the kulikkanam money, that is, of the value
of the trees. Where the cultivator has demanded immediate payment of the value,
the pattam has almost everywhere been settled at two-thirds of the estimated
produce. 7 1/2 rupees has been the general price almost everywhere in the central
Southern Districts, at which the produce has been commuted between the
proprietor and tenant in settling the pattam. At Tellicherry, Kadattanad,
Kolattunad and Kavai the rate is 10 rupees The Mappilla proprietors along the
coast frequently, however, take their pattam in kind and dispose of it to the best
advantage.
Note.—See “Varam” and note to cl. (i) of Deed No. 3, App. XII. See also Chapter IV,
Section, (a) of the Text. The kulikkanam money was the value not of the trees, as Mr.
Græme asserts, but of the Janmi's share of the produce of the trees, the pattam in fact.
It would never have paid any one to have planted a garden and to have undertaken to
pay as annual rent one-fifth of the value of the trees, but one-fifth of the value of the
Janmi's share of produce (pattam) was a very moderate annual rent.
PATTAKKARAN
From Pattam (q.v.) and Sanskrit Karan ( = doer, one who has to do with).
The tenant on a simple lease without any mortgage incumbrance.
Note.—The tenant simply yielded up the whole of the Janmi's share of the produce,
that is of the pattam. It was the pattam which was not encumbered by mortgage—not
the land.
KANI.
(Dravidian) =- something to be seen, gift.
Is an allowance, or offering, or tribute, of one Poti of paddy for every Poti of
seed-land, which the cultivator makes to the proprietor in Wynad, answering to
the Nikuti Sishtam of other taluks. Ramasvami, formerly Tahsildar of Wynad, says
the Poti is given for every Poti seed of assessment, which is different from the
Poti seed-land and answers to the Nejja moodee in Canara.
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Appendix
Synonymous with Pattam and Varam, and is used in the Wynad country for
the landlord’s rent.
VARAM.
(Dravidian) == share in general, landlord’s share, rack-rent, chiefly of rice-
lands (pattam of trees). — (Gundert).
The proportion given to the proprietor by the cultivator from the produce of
his land. This proportion is not fixed, but depends on the actual produce, and the
proprietor receives either half, or more or less, according to their agreement,
which is made with respect to the quality of the land.
Note.—Pattam was probably originally patta-varam. In the ancient system certain
individuals held the Varakol (share-staff) and distributed the produce. See Deed No. 3,
App. XII, Conf. Nakachchal.
VARAM PATTAM.
See Varam and Pattam.
Though in general these two words are synonymous to express the
landlord’s share of the produce on all kinds of land—Varam being used in the
Northern and Pattam in the Southern Districts of Malabar—it appears that Varam
is used in the districts south of the Kotta river in a more limited way, that is, it is
confined to mean the landlord’s share arising from lands producing Modam or hill
paddy and Till only, and no other descriptions of land.
Note.—Doubtful if this is so now.
VERUMPATTAM.
From Dravidian veru ( = empty, bare) and pattam (q. v.).
Simple rent unencumbered with mortgage interest.
Notes.—1- The following are a few of the Civil Courts’ rulings. —Verumpattakkar
are entitled on eviction to the value of improvements, whether these have been
effected with or without the knowledge of the Kanakkar or Janmi. This is an ordinary
usage in the country.—S.D.C., 40 (1854). A tenancy expressed to be for one year is
not necessarily determined at the end of the year. If the tenant remains in possession
he holds as a tenant from year to year.—S.D.C , 400 (1877), 437 (1878). Although it is
not open for a tenant to deny his lessor’s title, it is open to him to show that the title
has ceased.—N.D.C., 413 (1861), 73 (1862) ; S.D.C., 172 (1877). A lessee is debarred
from disputing that his lessor had no title.—S.S.C., 366 (1854). Semble: Lessor’s
transferee’s lack of title.—M.S.C., 103 (1859). Encroachments by a tenant on adjoining
waste are for the benefit of the landlord, — S.D.C., 438 (1877), 559 (1877). A tenant
cannot of right claim remission on account of loss by drought.—S.D.C., 60 (1878).
133 (1878).
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2. This lease runs only for a single year, unless otherwise specified. At the end of the
year the landlord is at liberty either to renew the lease or to let the land to another
tenant ; but he cannot, under any circumstances, disturb the tenant in his enjoyment
until the year has expired. Where the lease is for a specified period, the tenant cannot
be ejected during that period unless he endeavours to defraud the landlord or allows
the rent to fall into arrears. In either of these cases, however, an action of ejectment
will lie against the tenant.—(Proceedings of the Court of Sadr Adalat, Ko. 18, dated 5th
August 1856).
NOTEs: Note.—See Chapter IV, Section (a) of the Text. The records of the Courts having been searched
it is believed that no suits of ejectment were in reality brought before 1856, or at any rate before 1822. The
Janmi used to oust an obnoxious tenant by selling his interest in the land before 1856. END OF NOTEs
VITTA PATI PATTAM.

= literally, pattam equal to half the seed sown.
Where it is half (of seed sown).
VITTOLAM PATTAM.
= literally, pattam equal to seed sown.
Where it is equal (to seed sown).
VITTIRATTA PATTAM.
= literally, pattam equal to double the seed sown.
Where the pattam is double the seed sown.
IRUNALI PATTAM.
= literally, pattam of two Nalis.
That is, two Nalis out of four which make an Idangali. It is used to express an
equal division of the crop between proprietor and tenant, a mode of settlement
which is seldom practised in Malabar, and which is only made for the year. It has
the same meaning as Varam on the Coromandel Coast.
MENIPPATTAM.
From Dravidian meni ( == average) and pattam (q.v.).
Means the pattam or rent of a given extent of land derivable from the aggregate
of the different crops, whilst the Vilachchal meni, or gross produce, refers only to
the best crop, in common parlance, though not in account.
MICHCHAVARAM or MICHCHARAM.
From Dravidian micha ( = height, above) and varam (q.v.).
The balance of pattam or rent after deducting mortgage interest. It is the same as
Purappad.
MELVARAM
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From Dravidian mel ( = what is above, above) and varam (q.v.).

The tax upon the pattam or varam which was levied by the Rajas in the Northern
Districts of Malabar before Hyder's time to pay the tribute of the Bednore or
Ikkaree Raja. The Chirakkal Raja states it amounted to 2 in 10 ; in some places it
is said to have been 3 in 10, or 30 per cent of the pattam.
MARUPATTAM.
From Dravidian maru ( = other, next, back again) and pattam (q.v.)
Is the counterpart of the Pattam Pramanam which the Janmi keeps by him,
and may be referred to as a document in failure of the Grandhavari.
It is written upon the Karimbana palm or palmyra leaf.
MUNPATTAM.
From Dravidian ( = priority in time or place, first) and pattam (q.v.).
Note. No condition of 12 years’ enjoyment attaches to a Munpattam lease. — S.B.C.,
215 (1878).
PATTACHCHITTU.
From Pattam (q.v.) and Dravidian chittu ( — a note, bill, bond).
A receipt.
Note—It is not a receipt, as Mr. Græme says, but a lease given by the proprietor to the
tenant. The counterpart is Marupattam (q.v.).
PATTAMALI or PATTALI.
From Pattam (q.v.) and Dravidian ali ( = a holder).
Is a subordinate officer attacked to a Hindu temple, subject, generally, to
the Uralan or to his locum tenens the Karalan. Generally speaking the office is
hereditary, but the Uralan may procure his dismissal for any crime by
representation to the Raja or the reigning authority.
The hereditary Karanam or register of a Naduvali The fixed or permanent
writer. It is not applied to registers of Desavalis or others.
PATTOLA or PATTAMOLA.
From Pattam (q.v.) and Dravidian Ola ( = palm-leaf, deed).
Is a deed executed by the mortgagor in favour of the mortgagee, making over
certain rice-land to the possession of the latter in consideration of money
received, called Kanappanam. In the deed the amount of the debt is specified, the
whole number of paras pattam which the land yields, the number of paras which are
to be deducted1 for the interest of the debt, and the remaining number of the
paras pattam of rice in the husk, called purappad, which are to be paid to the Janma.
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It describes the particular kind of para in which the residue is to be paid, and that
it is to be delivered at the house of the proprietor. The deed states that the Kanam
money received is equal to the pattam, by which is to be understood that the
amount of the principal does not exceed the annual pattam, and it is said that the
original intention of the proprietor receiving an advance was merely that of
securing himself against the tenant failing in the payment of his pattam. The
necessities of the proprietors in aftertimes drove them to borrow far beyond their
annual incomes. Though not specified in the deed, it was formerly customary to
give from 3 to 5 per cent, on the amount of the principal to the proprietor upon
making out this deed as a fee2 under the name of Oppu or signature, and further
the mortgagee had to give 2 per cent, under the denomination of Suchi, or the
point of the iron style used for writing the deed. This was given where the Janmi’s
established Pattolakkaran or register was employed, but the fee was less where the
mortgagee appointed a person for the occasion.
NOTEs: 1. Among deductions is likewise the equivalent in paddy of the amount of assessment
on the land in cases in which the tax is agreed to be paid by the mortgagee.
2. At present the rates differ with different Janmis. In some cases these are ad valorem, more
frequently they are fixed. Other fees are usually paid now-a-days, such as fee to attesting witnesses,
and small presents to the mortgagor’s relatives.
In the case of the Zamorin and his Kovilakams the fines and fees ordinarily levied are the
subjoined :—
(1) Avakasam, at so much per para, or fanam, Janmapattam. The rate varies from 8 to 12 annas.
(2) Twenty per cent, on ditto under the name of “Aduppatha.”
(3) Stalat chilavu (expenses on the spot), that is, fees to local Karyastans.
(4) Tiruveluttu valivadu, i.e., the signature fee.
(5) A fee to the agent of the Janmi, who, under a Power of Attorney, admits execution of the
documents before the registering officer. END OF NOTEs
Altogether the Oppu and Suchi are supposed not to have exceeded 5 per cent,
on the amount of the debt in general. But these payments1 have been for some
time discontinued in practice in most places ; they have only reference to a state
of things in which the interest of the mortgage debt bore little proportion to the
annual rent yielded by the land in the possession of the mortgagee, and are too
excessive to be applicable to the altered circumstance of the interest of debts
being equal to the pattam receivable by the mortgagee. With respect2 to this deed it
is understood that if the mortgagee insists upon payment of the mortgage debt,
the mortgagor has a right to deduct from the principal from 10 to 20 per cent, the
rate depending upon local custom, under the name of Sakshi, and he is under no
obligation to return the fees of Oppu and Suchi which he has received.
NOTEs: 1. I dare say they were when paddy was so cheap that the Michcharam received in kind
hardly enabled the Janmi to meet the Government demand.
2. I am not aware that where a mortgagee demands money, any deduction in Kanam is allowed.
The Janmi is not liable to refund fees. Within the last few years a practice has been introduced by
certain janmis of inserting a clause m the Kanam deed whereby the mortgagee is deprived of his right
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of holding for 12 years if he keeps rent in arrear or does any act to the prejudice of the Janmi.
Sometimes it is provided that the land shall be surrendered on demand. In all these cases the
mortgagee is entitled to the refund of a fraction of the fines and fees whereof the denominator is 12,
while the numerator is the number of years out of 12 which still remain to run out. The Janmi,
however, takes care to mention in the document only a portion of the fines, etc., actually received by
him, and when it is remembered that only a certain fraction of the principal is claimable, and not
interest thereon, the hardship this practice works on the tenant becomes clear. END OF NOTEs
If the mortgagor refuses payment upon demand, the mortgagee has a right to
withhold the whole of the pattam yielded by the land in his possession until his
claim is satisfied, or he may mortgage the land or sell his interest in it to another.
He has no claim upon any other but the particular property mortgaged belonging
to the mortgagor, or any right of causing the arrest of the mortgagor. If the
mortgagor of his own accord tenders payment of the mortgage debt contrary to
the wish of the mortgagee, he must pay the full amount without any deduction for
Sakshi, and if the mortgagee has not held possession for three years, the
mortgagor must return to him the Oppu and Suchi fees which he has received.
If the mortgagee3 under this deed fails to pay the proprietor the purappad or
residue after deducting the mortgage interest from the pattam, he forfeits all claim
to the debt, and the proprietor has a right to demand restitution of the land. The
Polichcheluttu claimable under this deed seems intended as an equivalent for the
tenant’s profit, named Cherlabham, which he has derived from the land.
NOTEs: 3. At present the law, except in the cases mentioned in Note 4, is, I believe, that the
Janmi shall sue for rent from time to time, or set off the accumulated rent against the Kanam money
at the end of the 12 years. END OF NOTEs
On the demise4 of the tenant it is a fine of entry to his successor. The amount
of it and the frequency of its renewal seem to depend upon the quality of the soil
and the quantity of Cherlabham which has been enjoyed by the tenant. The latter is
generally ascertained by the competition of neighbours who offer better terms to
the proprietor. In the Northern Division the practice of Silakasu, or taking one
year’s pattam once in three or four years, or a quarter or a third of the pattam every
year, as an equivalent for the Cherlabham, has prevailed in lieu of Polichcheluttu.
Notes.—1. See Kanam and the notes of judicial decisions appended thereto.
2. The foot-notes to Mr. Græme’s text are by an experienced Native Revenue
official of the district.
NOTEs: 4. This is obsolete now. END OF NOTEs
PATTAN
Corruption of Sanskrit bhattan ( = a class of foreign Brahmans). Honorific
plural == pattar, applied as a caste name.
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Is the foreign Brahman, not an aboriginal of Malabar. In the Palghat and

Tommalapuram Districts they are the chief money-lenders and traders.
PATTINNU RANDU.
(Dravidian) = literally, two in ten.
Is where the Kudiyan pays only 2 in 10 of the pattam to the Janmi,
whatever the Nikuti may be, and the difference between the Nikuti and what
remains is his profit and loss.
PEPPER - VINE.
By a vine in the public accounts is meant the standard tree supporting a
number of pepper-vines, or as many pepper-vines as there may be clinging to a
standard tree are reckoned as one. The vine of assessment, again, the Nikuti valli,
is as many vines as produce a certain quantity of pepper ; these are counted as one
assessment-vine ; the quantity is 15 Idangalis of pepper in the Southern Division.
Notes.—1. The 16 Idangalis were of green pepper, which would turn out about 6
Idangalis of dry pepper.
2. The pepper-vine assessment was abolished in 1806—7, and an export duty levied
instead. This continued till 1874—75.
PERPETUAL LEASE.
Notes.—1. A perpetual lease is an absolute alienation of the land subject to a perpetual
obligation of paying the quit-rent, but failure to pay the quit-rent will certainly not
justify resumption of the land.—S.S.C., 405 (1854), 10 (1865).
2. A perpetual lease is irredeemable, but usually not assignable.— S.D.C., 188 (1877),
29 (1878), 374 (1878), and 236 (1879).
PERUM ARTHUM or ALUKIYA ATTIPPER.
From Dravidian Perum (from peruka=to bring forth, to obtain, acquire, get)
and Sanskrit (= aim, scope, object desired, gain, wealth, riches, money), and
from Dravidian Alukuka (=to rot, decay) and Attipper (q.v.).
Is a deed under which the Janmi has received the full value of the
property mortgaged and is not entitled to any, the smallest, share of the pattam, or
even the smallest token of acknowledgment of proprietorship, but he withholds
the ceremony of giving water that he may retain the empty title of Jamni.
Notes.—1. This tenure approximates closely to that of Otti, the mortgagee being in
possession and enjoying the whole produce. The peculiarity of this transaction is that
the sum advanced, which is always the full marketable value of the land for the time
being, js not mentioned in the deed ; and the landlord, in redeeming his property, does
not repay the amount originally advanced, but the actual value of it in the market at
the time of redemption. In other respects the same rules that apply to Otti mortgages
are applicable to this also. Deeds of this kind are in use only at Palghat and
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Temmalapuram.—(Proceedings of the Court of Sadr Adalat, No. 18, dated 5th August
1856.)
2. Perum Artham is a mortgage under which, when the mortgagor redeems, the
mortgagee is entitled (before restoration of the mortgaged land) to be paid its market
value at the time of redemption, not the amount for which the land was mortgaged.—
I.I.L.R., Madras, 57.
3. Query : Was Janmi, as Mr. Græme says, an empty title after his share of the produce
of the land had been thus mortgaged ? It is contrary to all reason to think so. The
Janrni still retained his ‘‘water contact birthright’' (Nir-atti-peru). With various privileges
attached to it. See Attiperu, Janmam, Sthana-mana-avakasam.
PHALAM.
Sanskrit, probably from Dravidian palam (==ripe fruit), fruit especially of
trees, result, produce.
Fruit, profit, compensation. Under the name of Kaval-phalam or
compensation for protection the Zamorin in 933 M.S. levied a general tax of one
quarter of a Viray fanam upon every para of seed-land specified in Pramanams or
deeds.
A bearing tree.
Note.—It was in parts of Palghat only that the Zamorin levied the tax.
PODI-CHERU.
Podi, dust ; Cheru, mud ; alluding to the different states in which land is
before and after the rains. The seed without preparation is sown in the dry
land and the sprouted seed on the wet.
POLICHCHELUTTU.
From Dravidian polikka (=to break open, undo) and Dravidian Eluttu (=
writing).
A deed on the periodical renewal of lease, a new bond.
Literally, tearing (of documents). Is the remission or donation which the
mortgagee makes periodically to the Janrni upon the amount of the debt and upon
renewing the mortgage-bond. It was formerly renewed once in twelve years, the
cycle in use before the present Malabar era, and generally speaking may be
reckoned 2 in 10 upon the principal, but every family has its peculiar custom. At
present the twelve years are not observed, but it depends on circumstances. The
former principal is not reduced in the new bond ; for instance, it might have been
1,000 fanams, and the Kanakkaran gives one or two hundreds to the Janmi ready
money, but the 1,000 are brought into the new bond. It is not receivable when the
mortgage has arrived at that stage which is called Otti, nor is it payable upon Kadan
Vayppa mortgage.
POTIPPADU.
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From Dravidian poti (==a measure) and Dravidian padu (= falling, subjection,
nature, measure of space, time).
Poti is a measure equal to 30 Idangalis, Potippadu is an extent of land which
requires this quantity of seed to sow it.
POTIPPATTU.
From Poti (q.v.) and Dravidian pattu (=ten).
KAVATTU NEL.
From Dravidian Kayattuka ( =to increase, raise) and Dravidian nel (= unhusked
rice).
The tenth of the seed, the tax which pagodas used to receive from the
Kudiyan’s share in some Hobalis in the Kavali Taluk. It seems to have been
consolidated with the Sircar assessment upon the Company's first survey, and no
adequate compensation provided for the pagodas.
PRABHU.
(Sanskrit) = lord, prince, chief of Nayar militia.
A military chief or leader of a large force.
PRAMANI.
(Sanskrit) = chief, influential person.
Village arbitrators in the time of the Rajas, respectable inhabitants.
PRAVRITTIKKARAN.
(Sanskrit) = man of business. Often corruptly written Parputty or Parbutty.
The native collector of the revenue of a Hobali or subdivision of a taluk
or district, of which there are in general from 9 to 15 to a district. It is rather a
modern term, substituted for the ancient term of Pravrittikkaran.
PROPRIETORS.
It has been supposed (Mr. Warden’s letter to the Board of Revenue, 16th
June 1813) that there are 44,378 proprietors1 in Malabar, the average revenue of
whose estate is 480,000 pagodas, and that there are about 150,000 individuals who
pay revenue direct to Government, whose payments do not exceed 3-3/16
pagodas each ; that almost the whole2 of the Janmam property is vested in
pagodas and other religious establishments, and that about three-fourths of the
land are held under foreclosed mortgages. This information is founded upon the
account given in by the landed proprietors in 981 or 1805-6 ; but it has not been
adverted to that an immense number of proprietors possess estates in several
districts and different Hobalis.
NOTEs: 1. One-twentieth of them only pay-revenue to Government.
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2. This was, perhaps, the state of things at the time this was written, but it is not at
present, although Mr. Chattu Nambiar states that Devaswam lands form not less than one-third
of the Malabar lands. There is probably some truth in the complaint, so frequently preferred of
late, that the Uralars of Devaswams are converting into private (i.e.Taravad) janmam lands
belonging to the pagodas. It is however, I believe, well known that all Devaswams are not public
institutions. Many are strictly private property. It is considered a great point to own a Devaswam,
and many janmis, until quite recently, had a tendency to set apart for their Devaswam lands till
then their Taravad property. Others, again, used to do the same in order to guard against lands
being sold by posterity (it being considered sinful to dispose of pagoda property, but apparently
not to misappropriate the produce thereof) or held responsible by Courts for debts contracted
by the owners of the Devaswams. END OF NOTEs
The account of 981 was made out by Hobalis, and a proprietor who has
estates in many Hobalis appeared separately in the account of each Hobali, or
perhaps three or four times in the account of a district, though properly he should
only have been entered once. The number of proprietors is therefore swelled
beyond all proper proportion, and their actual number is not supposed to exceed
15,000 The number of persons paying revenue direct is much exaggerated from
the same cause, though the payment is certainly in very great detail and the
number is no doubt very large who pay within one rupee.
I have only, however, been able to see Hobaliwar accounts, and many
individuals have to pay in several Hobalis of a district. There are no accounts to
show how much each individual pays in each district. It has been stated that
almost the whole of the Janmam property is vested in the pagodas and other
religious establishments. Much of this property must, however, be considered to
belong to individual Brahmans to whom the whole landed property is said at one
time to have appertained.
Taking the number of proprietors at 15,000 each estate may be reckoned
to give 32 pagodas revenue, but it is conjectured that half of the whole revenue is
due from estates yielding from 1,000 to 5,000 rupees assessment, though the
proprietors do not themselves hold the lands in their possession or pay the
assessment, the mortgagees being the occupants and paying the revenue.
The mortgaging system has been considered injurious, because the
mortgagee in possession could not improve his land without the risk of being
dispossessed, without affording to the proprietor the temptation to demand more
or to transfer possession to another ; but it must be recollected that the proprietor
cannot dispossess a mortgagee without foregoing the benefit which would be
derivable to him if the mortgagee himself were to require payment of a deduction
of 20 per cent from the mortgage debt under the name of Sakshi ; that it is not
customary to alter a pattam long established upon an average estimate ; that every
fresh demand on the part of the proprietor for an increased rent diminishes his
and strengthens the rights and interests of the mortgagee in the land, gives the
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latter an additional mortgage interest and an improved prospect of becoming the

ultimate proprietor.
By the gradual operation of this system the greater part of the mortgagees
have indeed already become the virtual proprietors of the land. It seems to have
been considered that lands were expressly and for the first time made over to
mortgagees to discharge1 an existing debt contracted from causes unconnected
with the occupation of the land ; but the fact is, I believe, that the money was
almost invariably borrowed from tenants who were previously in possession.
NOTEs: 1. I do not believe that in former times the Kanam money was borrowed in order to
discharge debts, for it will, I am sure, be found on investigation that in every case, without
exception, the existing Kanam on any given land might have been borrowed on a mortgage of a
portion of it. The fact is, I believe, that the money was received rather as security for rent. In
short Kanam originally was not mortgage but was lease. Otti was mortgage. A janmi who assigned
land on Otti did so because he was pinched for money. Of this, however, further on.
A “Kanam" is probably equivalent to the Roman emphyteusis, under which the tenant possessed
the right of enjoying all the fruits, and disposing at pleasure of the thing of another, subject to
the payment of a yearly rent to the owner (dominus). The idea of a 12 years’ holding is quite
modem. Indeed it originated, I believe, with Mr. Holloway, who, taking Kanam as equivalent to
emphyteusis, is said to have substituted Vyalavattam or jubilee, and thence argued that under
Kanam demise the tenant was entitled to hold for a Vyalavattam or 12 years.
The meaning of the term Kanam is not clear. It is said by some to be “small fee,” “usufruct,”
the word being of Persian origin. The root may perhaps be "കാണു ു" see, and the meaning,
“money secured on the land,” i.e., seen, visible, or mentioned in the deed ("കാണുംപണം")
as opposed to "കാണാപണം" invisible money, i.e., not secured on the land. The latter term
is widely used in respect of renewal fees. Generally the word kanam is used as meaning money,
as in Kulikkanam, Vettukanam, Tusikanam, etc.
The origin of these loans seems to have been that the tenant should give
a year’s rent (pattam) in advance to the proprietor, either as a necessary security for
payment or as a bonus for the profit he was allowed to enjoy, and the
extravagance or necessities of the proprietor induced them to continue to borrow
till the rights and interests of the mortgagee in the land became stronger than
those of the proprietor. The inherent principle of redemption which the mortgage
of Malabar is described to possess, and which applies strictly to the Kanam tenure
alone, is accountable for by the Cherlabham or cultivator’s profit from the soil,
which the proprietors have allowed them to possess independently of the
deduction from the pattam on account of the mortgage interest. This is the origin
of the Polichcheluttu, the Sakshi, which may be considered fines for the renewal of
leases, of 10 and in some places 20 per cent according to local custom and the
degree of profit enjoyed by the tenant.
Mr. Warden says truly that “The variety and number of the mortgage
tenures, till they reach the deed which for ever alienates the janmam, affords the
most conclusive evidence that can be adduced of the tenacity with which the
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ancient landholders clung to the janmam right.” They may also be considered as
the result of a circumspect and jealous1 precaution on the part of the mortgagees,
who, whenever they accommodated the necessities of the janmi, did not fail at the
same time to add gradually but strongly to their securities for the ultimate
acquisition of the proprietary right, for every step of the different mortgages
involved a condition which increased the difficulty of transferring the land to any
but the mortgagee.
Notes.—1. The foot-notes to Mr. Græme’s text are by an experienced Native Revenue
official of the district, Mr. P. Karunakara Menon. As regards the derivation of Otti the
derivation shown in its proper place in this Glossary seems preferable ; and as regards
Kanam, the original meaning (supervision, protection) is fixed by Deeds 3 and 4,
Appendix XII.
2. The number of Pattadars in Fasli 1290 (A.D. 1880—81) was 178,790.
3. See Chapter IV, Section (a) of the Text. The fact that the cherlabham or kolulabham
(q.v.), the cultivator’s share of the produce, was “possessed independently of the
deduction from the pattam on account of the mortgage interest” by the cultivator
should have suggested to Mr. Græme that the thing which the Janmi mortgaged under
kanam, otti, etc., was not the soil itself, but the Jamni's interest in the soil, his share of
produce, the pattam in short. And this should also have suggested to him—that the
Janmi had only a limited interest in the soil— that the Janmi was a co-proprietor of the
soil not the dominus thereof.
NOTEs. 1. This is easily accounted for if Kanam is assumed to have been security for rent. Under
Kanam, then, the mortgagee (I use the word because it is convenient) used to enjoy large profits, and he
could not well impose conditions on the janmi. When however, the latter became needy and assigned
land on Otti, the profits to the tenant became smaller and he naturally demanded at least greater
permanency of title. And here I may attempt to derive the term Otti. I believe it is derived from "ഒ ൽ"
(which see in Dr. Gundert’s Dictionary). The verb is "ഒ ക" i.e., to secure (fish) in an "ഒ ൽ". The
Otti holder secures the land to a certain extent, for the janmi cannot sell away to another without first
giving the Ottida, the refusal. END OF NOTEs
PUKIL
A crop.
PUNJA.
(Dravidian). The name of a rice which is always cut in Medam or Edavam (April
and May), It may be the only crop of the season, for some lands only admit of
one, or it may be the second or the third, but it must be the crop that is cut in
Medam or Edavam to entitle it to the appellation of punja.
PUTTADA.
From pu (Dravidian) == flower.
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In the Northern Division of Malabar this species of rice is sown upon

paramba land, whilst the kind of rice sown on lands overgrown with wood, which
requires to be dug rather than ploughed, is called Punam.
REAS pronounce RIAS.
An imaginary coin introduced into the public accounts of the Malabar
province, since the Company became possessed of it, from the Bombay
Presidency. There are 100 of them to a quarter or 400 to one Bombay rupee.
REVENUE.
Different sources of the former revenues of Rajas in Malabar, viz. :
ANKAM.
(Dravidian) = fight, duel, battle-wager.
Was as high as 1,000 fanams or 250 rupees ; was only leviable by the Raja.
It was the money which he received as umpire between two combatants under the
system of battle-wager. These quarrels arose from private feuds and were meant
to wipe off stains cast upon an individual's honour. A preparation and training for
twelve years preceded the battle in order to qualify the combatants in the use of
their weapons. They were not necessarily the principals in the quarrel, generally
their champions. They undertook to defend the cause they had espoused till
death. It was indispensable that one should fall.
Battle-wager or trial by single combat was a source of considerable
revenue to the Rajas in former times, for each combatant was obliged to deposit
with the Raja a certain sum of money. Women were the chief origin of the
quarrels which occasioned these combats. They were confined to the Nayars.
They were thought necessary to prove or disprove the charge of seducing women
under particular protection. It was not indispensable that the parties themselves in
the quarrel should be the combatants. Champions were admitted, and, in general
substituted. The champions settled all their worldly affairs before the onset of the
combat, for it was unavoidable that one must fall. A notification of twelve years
took place before the day of combat.
CHUNKAM.
(Dravidian) == toll, custom.
Customs—land and sea—upon imports and exports. By some said to be
only 2½ and 3 per cent and by others as high as 10. Naduvalis were also entitled to
inland customs.
ELA.
(Dravidian) = fine, penalty, exacting presents.
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The systematic usurpation of the estates of such neighbouring Rajas or

Naduvalis or other chiefs as might be incapacitated from poverty or other cause
from governing. The Sastra says the peculiar duty of a king is conquest.
KOLA or CHARADAYAM.
KOLA
(Dravidian) = violence, forced contribution, extortion.
CHARADAYAM.
From (? Dravidian) char (=confidant, third person) and Sanskrit adayam (=
gain, income).
Forced contributions levied by Rajas for particular emergencies according
to the circumstances of the individuals.
TAPPU.
(Dravidian) = blunder.
Fines levied by Naduvalis and Desavalis from their inferiors, and by Rajas from
them, for accidental unintentional crimes.
PILA.
(Dravidian) = slip, fault, fine.
Fines levied in the same manner for intentional crimes, according to the
magnitude of the crimes and the circumstances of the individuals. It might be a
total confiscation of property.
PURUSHANTARAM.
(Sanskrit) = the next generation, succession duty.
Literally, the death of the man. Sums varying from 120 to 1,200 fanams, levied
by Rajas from Naduvalis, Desavalis, heads of commercial corporation, from the
holders of lands in free gift or under conditional tenure, and generally all persons
holding sthanam, manam, or official dignities in the State, They also, in common
with other Janmis or private proprietors, levied Purushantaram from their tenants as
a fine of entry upon the decease of a proprietor or tenant. It has been supposed
that the Rajas were entitled under the head of Purushantaram to a certain share of
the property of deceased Mappillas, but the prevalent opinion is that there was no
fixed proportion, and that it was not levied generally upon all Mappillas, but was
confined to individuals possessed of wealth and holding situations or privileges
dependent upon the will or favour of the Raja. The Purushantaram was
sometimes enjoyed by the Desavali and Naduvali, instead of the Raja, according
to the extent of right and authority which was granted or usurped, and on all
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Vol 2
occasions they were exclusively entitled to the Purushantaram of their own private
lands.
PULAYATTA-PENNA.
(Dravidian) == lewd, adulterous women.
Pulayatta-penna, or degraded women, were a source of profit to Rajas ;
outcastes, not exclusively, but chiefly of the Brahman caste, they were made over
to Rajas to take care of. As a compensation for their maintenance and for the
trouble of preventing their going astray again, the family of the outcast were in the
habit of offering to the Rajas as far as 600 fanams or Rs. 150. The Rajas then
disposed of them for money, but their future condition was not exactly that of a
slave. They were generally bought by the coast merchants called Chetties, by
whom they had offspring, who came to be intermarried among persons of the
same caste, and in a few generations their origin was obliterated in the
ramifications of new kindred into which they had been adopted.
PONNARIPPU.
(Dravidian) == (pon) gold (arippu) sifting.
Ponnarippu, the sifting of gold, or, generally, gold dust, was considered a royalty
and the perquisite of the Rajah or the Naduvali as the case might be.
ATTADAKKAM or ATTALADAKKAM.
From Malayalam attam ( = extremity, end) and Dravidian adakkam (=
subjection, possession, enjoyment).
Under the name of Attadakkam the Raja was entitled to the property of
Naduvali, or Desavali or an Adiyan (vassal), or any person who held lands in free
gift, dying without heirs ; and no Datt Swikaram or adoption could be valid
without his sanction. A Naduvali and Desavali enjoyed the same privilege with
respect to persons in the same manner dependent upon them.
ADIMAPPANAM or TALAPPANAM.
From Adima (q.v.) and Dravidian tala ( = head) and Dravidian panam (=
money).
Adimappanam was the yearly payment of 1 and 2 fanams which every
Adiyan was obliged to pay to his Tamburan or patron, whether he was Raja,
Naduvali, Desavali, or other great man.
CHANGNGATAM.
(See note on this word in its proper place in the Glossary.)
Whenever a person wished to place himself under the special protection
of a man of consequence, he paid from 4 to 64 fanams annually for Changngatam,
or companionship or association, making sometimes an assignment on particular
Other books !
Appendix
lands for the payment. It was meant for the maintenance of a kind of honorary
sentinel, a belted official peon of the present times, whom the patron furnished to
the person who sought his protection, but this implied also a necessity for the
patron to assist with a stronger force if required in his defence.
RAKSHABHOGAM.
(Sanskrit) — Raksha, protection, and bhogam, enjoyment, hire.
Rakshabhogam payments were much to the same extent and for the same
purposes. It implies an engagement of protection generally without being limited
to any specific aid in the first instance.
KALCHA.
Verbal noun, from Dravidian kanuka (= to see), means perception, offering,
gift.
Note. - Compare Kanam.
(Answering to Nuzzur) or presents of from 2 to 1,000 fanams, according to the
circumstances of the parties, of congratulation and condolence were made to Rajas and
Naduvalis by all ranks of people on occasions of the ascension of Rajas to their pattam or
throne ; of the opening of a newly-built palace, a marriage, a birth, the ceremony of
placing rings on a child, and a death in the family of Rajas and Naduvalis.
ADINYNYA Urukkal or Wrecks

From adinynya (Dravidian) = touched bottom, drifted ashore, and urukkal
(Dravidian) = vessel, ship.
Rajas alone were entitled to shipwrecked vessels or Adinynya Urukkal.
CHERIKKAL or private domains.
From Dravidian cheri ( = assemblage, village), and, perhaps, Dravidian kal ( =
foot, stem, quarter, place in general).
And they besides possessed extensive private domains in proprietary
right, whether by purchases, lapses, or escheats, called Cherikkal.
EIMMULA
From Dravidian ei ( = 5) and Dravidian mula ( = udder).
MUMMULA.
From Dravidian mu ( = 3) and Dravidian mula ( = udder).
CHENOMBU.
Literally, red (chem) horn (kombu).
KANNADAPPULLI
Literally, eye spotted.
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Vol 2
ANAPPIDI
Literally, elephant- catching.
PUVAL.
Literally, spot or speck tail.
KOMBU.
(Dravidian) = horn, ivory.
KURAKA.
(Dravidian) == the quarter, horn, thigh of an animal.
VAL.
(Dravidian) = the tail of an animal.
TOL.
(Dravidian) = the skin of an animal.
KINATTIL-PANNI.
Literally, pig (fallen) into a well.
Rajas and Naduvalis were besides entitled to Eimmula and Mummular,
cows having 5 or 3 dugs ; to Chenkombu, or cattle that had destroyed a man or any
animal ; to Kannadappulli, cattle having a white spot near the corner of the eye;
Anappidi, elephants caught ; Puval, a buffalo having a white spot at the tip of the
tail ; Kombu, the tusks of an elephant killed ; Kuraha, the leg of a deer, wild hog, or
other eatable wild animal ; Val, the tail of a tiger ; Tol, its skin : and Kinattil panni, a
hog fallen into a well.
MODERN LAND REVENUE.
The revenue in rice-lands, applying t.he existing professed rates of assessment
per 100 paras to the average value, as fixed by Mr. Græme, of the actual pattam
as rendered by the Janmis in 981, is Rs. 84 3 qrs. 52 reas per cent in the
Southern Division, and Rs. 72 1 qr. 15½ reas in the Northern Division of the
pattam, or for the whole province Rs. 82 0 qr. 1¼ reas.
RICE.
According to Arshed Beg’s Settlement of 1783-4 or M.E. 959 of the Southern
Districts, exclusive of Palghat:-
Total paras sowable 743,031
Deduct fallow 38,386
Sowable land 704,645
Hoons F
Revenue 231,481 4
Seed of rice sown, 3 paras per hoon or 1 para per rupee.
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Appendix
RICE LANDS.
There are 231,114 cawnies of rice-land in the Malabar Province, with
the exception of Wynad, according to the survey by measurement in 983, and
according to Mr. Warden’s abstract accompanying his report to the Revenue
Board of 16th June 1813, of which 149,143 yield only one crop, 59,720 cawnies
produce two crops, and 1,031 cawnies produce three crops ; but deducting
24,214 cawnies for waste and for pagoda and other Inams, there were remaining
assessable to the revenue cawnies 209,899, of which 149,143 produce one crop
only, 59,727 two crops, and 1,031 three crops, According to the Janma Pymaish
accounts of 981 each cawny gives 67 standard paras and 3¼ Idangalis gross
produce, and 5 rupees 42½ reas assessment, if the total revenue of 980 is
applied to the total cawnies.
Note.—The rice-lands of the district are now supposed to measure,
including Wynad, 394,411 acres, and excluding Wynad 366,466 acres,
equivalent to 277.140 cawnies. The total revenue on the rice-lands is Rs.
11,65,921 or Rs. 2-15-5 per acre.
ROBBIN
Is what in the English correspondence is understood by a muda of
rice. I cannot discover its origin.
SAKSHI
(Sanskrit) = witnessing, evidence.
Means renewal or confirmation connected with Polichcheluttu ; 2 in 10
is given for Sakshi upon the renewal of a mortgage-deed.
Note.—-See Pattola, Polichcheluttu.
SALT.
From Fasli 1216, the first year of the monopoly, to the end of Fasli
1227—
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Vol 2
In Bombay the price rarely exceeds 2 rupees per ton. In 1821 it had
risen to 6 and 7.—{Bombay Gazette, 18th April 1821.) A ton is 2,240 lb, ; a
Madras garce of Bombay salt (reckoning a para at 90 lb. and 120 paras to a
garce) is 10,800 lb. or 4 tons and 1,840 lb. The price of a Madras garce at 2
rupees a ton is therefore 9 rupees 2 quarters and 57 reas. The usual price at
which Bombay salt has been bought in Malabar has been 13 rupees a coomb
or 39 rupees a garce at Cannanore, Tellicherry, and Mahe, 42 at Calicut, and 45
at Ponnani.—(Mr. Warden's report of 3rd October 1828). At 7 rupees a ton the
price is Rs. 33 3 qr. the Madras garce.
According to a letter from Government to the Revenue Board, of 20th
March 1820, the present average consumption of salt in all the territories
under the Madras Presidency may be taken at 25,000 garces ; reckon them at
Rs. 112 the garce, monopoly selling price, they will come to 27,90,000 rupees ;
but reckoning 30 per cent, for prime cost and charges, the net revenue will be
Rs 19,53,000, or between 5 and 6 lakhs of pagodas. In this calculation there is
nothing authenticated but the number of garces sold.
Note.—The annual average importations of salt for the five years preceding
the introduction of the excise system was 4,2391 garces. Since the introduction (1877)
of the excise system the annual average importation has been 3,016 garces, i.e. 10
garces of Government salt, 2,596 garces of duty prepaid salt, and 401 garces of foreign
salt.
SALT PANS.
The owners of salt pans in Malabar used before the monopoly to
employ labourers for the manufacture of salt, or to let the pans out on rent or
pattam. The pattam was not fixed for a length of time together as on rice-
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Appendix
lands, but depended upon the annual produce. It is generally supposed to have
been a third leaving two-thirds to the manufacturer.
SHANAR.
The name by which Tiyars or toddy-drawers are called in the Temmalapuram and
Palghat Districts, who are not aborigines of Malabar, but come from the
districts to the east of the ghats.
Note.—See Iluvar and Tiyar.
SISHT-BAKKI.
From Sanskrit Sishtam ( = remainder) and Arabic bakhi ( == surplus).
A balance of revenue uncollected from the person from whom due, in
contradistinction to Dast-bakki, a balance collected but not brought to the
account of Government.
SISU or Tei.
Sisu (Sanskrit) = young animal or plant. Tei (Dravidian) = shoot, young tree.
A young plant.
SLAVES.
Amount taken in 1807, to 96,368.
Note.—In 1857, when the last census of slaves was taken, the number was
found to be 187,812, of whom 148,210 had up to that time remained with
their former masters. See Cherumakkal.
STHANA-MANA-AVAKSAM.
From Sanskrit Sthanam ( == standing, place, situation, rank) and Sanskrit
Kanam ( = honour, rank) and Sanskrit Avakasam ( = title, claim, right).
Dignity and emoluments of a public situation.
Note.—This probably denoted the true position of a Janmi or holder of the "water
contact birthright" (Nir-atti-peru). See Attiperu, Janmam, Perumartham.
SUDRAN, plural SUDRANMAR.
(Sanskrit) = the fourth caste in the Hindu system.
Who according, to the Sastram, are the fourth class of Hindus, are a
particular caste of Nayars in Malabar, whose duty it is to perform ceremonies or
Karmam in Brahman families on the birth of a child, etc.
Note.—Nayars generally do now style themselves as Sudras.
SVARUPAM.
(Sanskrit) = one’s own shape, image, idol, dynasty.
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Vol 2
Means descent, family, race, house, answering to Vamsam. The Calicut

Zamorin Raja’s family is called the Nayaririppu (or vulgarly, Nediyirippu) Svarupam,
that of the Kadattanad Raja is the Porlatiri Svarupam, that of the Chirakkal Raja,
Kolatthi or Kola Svarupam, that of Kottayam or Cotiote the Puranattukara or
Purattara Svarupam, that of the Kurumbranad the Kurumbarattiri or Kurumbiyattiri
Svarupam. The Walluvanad Raja is the Arngngottu Svarupam, the Cochin Raja is the
Perimbadappu Swarupam, the Travancore Raja is the Trippa or Trippappu Svarupam.
SVARUPAKKUR.
From Svarupam (q.v.) and Dravidian Kuru ( = part, share).
Office, dignity, and Kuru, share, partition, allotment. It means the
property attached to the official rank of a Raja.
SVARUPAM.
See Svarupam
Head of a family. Ten necessary for a Kartavu or lordship of 3,000 men.
TALA UDAYA TAMBURAN.
Literally == the head-possessing lord.
The Kartavu or superior lord of a vassal.
TANDU.
(Sanskrit) — palanquin hanging on silk cords
An open palanquin, which in the Malabar Province is also called and
which Englishmen call Manchil. The attainment of the rank of Valum-pudavum is
indispensable to qualify any person, whether a common man or a Raja, to ride in a
palanquin.
TARA.
(Dravidian) == foundation, mound, ground, village, quarter. Similar to Tamil
and Malayalam teru, Telugu teruvu, Canarese and Tulu teravu.
A village. The same as Desam in the Malabar Province.
Note.—See Ur and Desam. This and not the Desam was the true village of Malabar, that
is, it was the Nayar village or unit of organisation for civil purposes among the Nayars.
Conf. p. 87 of the text.
TARAVADU.
From Tara (q.v.) and Dravidian padu (=falling, falling into one's power, place,
situation, rank, authority)
A house or family.
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Appendix
Note.—Compare pattam. Dr, Gundert defines the term a house chiefly of noblemen,
ancestral residence of landowners, a family. The term was applied only to the families
of authority in the Nayar village (Tara).
TARAVATTUKARAN or PRAMANI.
From Taravadu (q.v.) and Sanskrit Karan (=doer, one who has to do with), and
Sanskrit Pramanam (== measure, authority).
In every Desam four householders or Taravattukarar possess a certain
hereditary sthanam or dignity which points them out as the proper persons to
apply to whenever a marriage, a death, a religious ceremony or dispute takes place.
They are sometimes called Pramani, or principal inhabitants, and latterly, under the
Company’s Government, Mukhyastanmar. They did not possess the Koyma or
controlling authority in the Desam, but were a kind of arbitrators. When a dispute
could not be settled by their mediation it went to the Desavali.
Names of former heads of villages.
Note.— Mr. Græme, contrary to previous notes, here states correctly, if Tara be
submitted for Desam, the position of the Taravattukkarar. The Desavali was usually one
of the Taravattukarar of his tara or village. See Madhyastanmar and Mukkyastan.
TARISU.
(Dravidian) = waste rice-land.
TINGALPPANAM.
From Dravidian tingal (==the moon) and Dravidian panam (=money).
General monthly levy on all classes of the inhabitants. One of the
contributions levied in Malabar by the Rajas.
TIPPALI.
Is the same as Nali, a measure of which 4 go to a Idangali. It is supposed that in
Malabar a man has enough to eat if he has 1½ Tippalis of rice and ½ Tippali of
conjee a day, or 1 Idangali of paddy of 4 Calicut Nalis There are many in a
starving condition who get less, and many affluent who eat more.
TIRUVATIRA NYATTUTALA
From Tiruvatira (==the sixth asterism, including Betelgeuze) and Dravidian
Nyattutala (= the time of a constellation).
Nyattutala is a period of fourteen days. It is in the fourteen days
commencing with about the 7th of Mithunam (June) that there must be constant
rain for the proper growth of the pepper ; the failure of this season may cause a
difference of produce of perhaps 25 per cent.
TIYAN.
Formerly written Tivan, that is islander (from Sanskrit dvipam).
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Vol 2
Toddy-drawer and cultivator of land. Upon asking a number of

Brahmans and Nayars assembled at Calicut whether Tiyars were included among
the Sudras of the Sastra they professed ignorance, and said they must refer to the
Sastra. Their number, according to an account taken in 1807, was 128,045.
The Tiyan woman (Tiyatti) wears no cholee, or any cloth thrown over her
shoulders and neck. Her body down to the waist is entirely exposed.
Notes.—1. See lluvan, Shanar.
2. This caste now numbers 527,928 (Census, 1871).
TOBACCO.
Average annual consumption 1,500 candies of 640 lb., or 1¾ per head in the
whole population.
TODUPPANAYAM.
From Dravidian Toduka = to touch, feel, come into contact with) and Panayam
(q.v.).
A deed in use.
Notes.—1. The land is here pledged as security for the repayment with interest of
certain sums advanced, but the lender has no right to interfere m the management of
the property. In some cases it is stipulated that on failure on the part of the borrower
to pay the interest, the lender shall be placed in possession of the land. Where such
stipulation exists the lender can sustain an action for possession. In other cases he
must sue for the recovery of the principal and interest of the loan, the land being liable
in the event of the money not being paid.—(Proceedings of the Court of Sadr Adalat,
No. 18, dated 5th August 1856.)
TUSIKKANAM.
From corruption of Sanskrit Suchi (=a needle, iron style) and Kanam (q.v.).
Is the fee to the writer of a new mortgage-deed. This and the Oppu may
amount to 7 per cent, sometimes more, sometimes less.
ULA-PARAMBU.
Ula for ulavu (Dravidian) = tillage, and Parambu (q.v.).
Ploughable or arable highland by which the hill r

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COMMENTARY Go back! MALABAR Vol 1 Find!

VED from VICTORIA INSTITUTIONS

VED from VICTORIA INSTITUTIONS

Commentary Commentary Contents

William Logan's Malabar is popularly known as ‘Malabar Manual’. It is a huge book

2. The information divide

3. The layout of the book

5. The first impressions about the contents

6. India and Indians

7. An acute sense of not understanding

8. Entering a terrible social system

9. The doctoring and the manipulations

10. What was missed or unmentioned, or even fallaciously defined

12. Nairs / Nayars

13. A digression to Thiyyas

14. Designing the background

15. Content of current-day populations

16. Nairs / Nayars

17. The Thiyya quandary

18. The terror that perched upon the Nayars

19. The entry of the Ezhavas

20. Exertions of the converted Christian Church

21. Ezhava-side interests

22. The takeover of Malabar

24. About the language Malayalam

26. Misconnecting with English

27. Feudal language

28. Claims to great antiquity

30. CASTE SYSTEM

32. The Portuguese

33. The DUTCH

34. The French

35. The ENGLISH

38. Mappilla outrages against the Nayars and the Hindus

39. Mappilla outrage list

40. What is repulsive about the Muslims?

41. Hyder Ali

42. Sultan Tippu

44. Laccadive Islands

45. Ali Raja

48. The Zamorin and other apparitions

49. The Jews

50. SOCIAL CUSTOMS

53. Pestilence, famine etc.

54. British Malabar versus Travancore kingdom

56. Revenue and administrative changes

59. Henry Valentine Conolly

60. Miscellaneous notes

61. Culture of the land

62. The English efforts in developing the subcontinent

64. Oft-mentioned objections

65. Photos and picture of the Colonial times

66. Payment for the Colonial deeds

67. Calculating the compensation

k. Public Service Commissions

My interest is basically connected to my interest in the English colonial rule in

It is seen mentioned in a low-quality content website that he is a ‘Scottish

But the word-by-word working on the text gave me the opportunity to go

Since I have done a similar work on Travancore State Manual by V Nagam

I initiated my work on this book without having any idea as to what it

On checking the beginning part of the book, I found this writing:

QUOTE: In the year 1948, in view of the importance of the book,

So, that much admission from a government employee is there.