Land, Labour and Production Process in Early and Early Medieval Kerala K.S. Madhavan “Primary producing groups in early and early medieval Kerala: Production process and historical roots of transition to castes (300-1300 CE)” Thesis. Department of History , University of Calicut, 2012
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Land, Labour and Production Process in Early and Early Medieval Kerala
K.S. Madhavan “Primary producing groups in early and early medieval Kerala: Production process and historical roots of transition to castes (300-1300 CE)” Thesis. Department of History , University of Calicut, 2012
64
Chapter One
Land, Labour and Production Process in Early and Early Medieval Kerala
Production of material and ideological resources was important for the
sustenance of multiple economies in early and early medieval Kerala. The
multiple economies were charcterised by hunting gathering and punam
cultivation in the Mullai- Kurinchi region, the wetland agriculture in alluvial
soil, mixed crop cultivation in parambu in laterie area and fishing and salt
manufacturing in the littoral tracts. The kinship and clan relations determined
the livelihood forms of people who settled as kutis in particular spatialities
called micro-eco zones. Production of surplus and developement of
redistributive economy evolved social stratification in which chiefs dominated
the society and economy. Expansion of wetland cultivation and the multi crop
production in parambus developed exchange and trade as well as number of
overlords. The basic unit of economic production was the kuti and people who
provided the labour services became the primary producers and surplus
generation and appropriation developed on the labour of the producing
groups.
The proliferation of settlements and the formation of households was
pivatol in the case of institutional control over the kutis and the primary
producrs called Āl/ Atiyār/ Pulayar. The institutional realisation of labour and
resources was materialised with the emergence of the overlords like
Nāttutayavar, temples and the Chēra Perumāl. The household srtructure and
the collective form of material possession determined the socio-economic
structure. The forms of matrial possession that developed within the structure
of households, the corporate form of possession under the temples and the
collective form of wealth in the Brahman ūrs and the households determined
65
the nature of social stratification and the structure of agrarian hierarchy. It
also determined the nature of the political structure developed under the
Nāttutayavar and the Chēra Perumāls. Forms of labour and the productive
land spaces in the multiple economies were crucial in the production
operations and labour activities which determined the production process. The
above mentioned points are explained in detail in this chapter.
Geography and Ecology
The geographical area that lies between the Western Ghats and the Western /
Arabian Sea was part of the Tamizhakam in early historical period. The
understanding of the geographical diversity of this region would help us to
know how the human habitation and production operations were made
possible in this region. However, geographical notions and categories
prevalent in modern Kerala are used here to conceptualize this part of the
geographical region of ancient Tamizhakam. This region can be divided into
three area, highland, midland and low land.1 Arabian Sea and a long range of
mountains called Sahyadris [a part of Western Ghats] bound this region in the
west and east respectively. A major part of this range is dissected by
numerous west flowing rivers resulting in varied landforms.2The mountains
are essentially plateau remnants of two or three altitudinal ranges,
approximately around 1,800 m, 1,200 m, and 600 m called planation
surfaces.3 The coastal plain has a few scattered hillocks with rocky cliffs. In
1 Resource Atlas of Kerala: Explanatory Notes, Center for Earth Science Studies,
[Trivandrum, 1984], p.4. 2 The vegetation types vary from tropical rain forest to dry deciduous. Temperate shola is
prevalent in the valleys. The soil is forest loam with higher proportion of humus. 3 Waynad plateau, Kunda hills, Nelliampathi Plateau, Periyar plateau and Agasthya malai
are all parts of this range at different elevations. Several peaks in this range exceeds 2000m in height, Anamudi [2695m] being the highest peak3.Palaghat gape [with a width of about 30 k m] , is a major break in western Ghats within this region, ibid.p.4.
66
this coastal area: there are 34 kāyals [lagoon or estuary]; the Vēmbanādu lake
is the largest [205 sq km], followed by Ashtamudi kāyal.4
The eastern highlands zone occurs in two patches, separated by Palghat
Gapes, this region is dominated by plateau surfaces bounded by steep scarp
slops.5 Flat foothill zone is marked in two narrow strips flanking the high land
zone. It bears a close resemblance to the hilly upland zone, except the rainfall
here is very high and slopes are mostly concave.6 Hilly uplands zone is
located in three separate patches within the midland region. Semi-evergreen
and moist deciduous types of vegetation dominate the area.7 The region is
dominated by lateritic outwash, alluvium and black soils.8 Undulating plain9,
less undulating plain10 and Western low lying plain extending along the
coast11 and central part of this micro region, popularly known as Kuttanādu
region.
The drainage network of this region consists of 44 short and swift
flowing rivers. Out of these, 41 rivers flow westward and three flow eastward.
The four major rivers – Periyār, Bhārathapuzha, and Pamba and Chāliyār 4 Ibid.,p.4. 5 Ibid.,p.36 .Palghat gap is an important physiographic feature of Western Ghats. Flood
plains, alluvial fans, residual hills and gently undulating plains dominate topography. 6 Ibid.p.36, the northern part surrounding the Waynadu plateau is characterized by near to
vertical scarp slopes more than 600 height. Tropical rain forest is the major natural vegetation. The soil is mainly lateritic with patches of brown hydromorphic type in the enclosed valleys.
7 Ibid., pp.36-37. 8 Ibid.,p.37 9 Ernakulum – Trivandrum Rolling plain, the topography is undulating with an average
height of about 40 m. The alluvial valleys cutting across the lateritic soil support paddy cultivation, Ibid .,p37.
10 Cannanore – Thrissur plain is the northern counterpart of the Ernakulam –Trivandrum plain. However, it is less undulating and includes low-lying kole lands of Thrissur. The rainfall is comparatively less in the northern part of this zone, ibid.p.,37.
11 Western low-lying plains is extending along the coast, has an elevation of 10 m with hillocks and rock cliffs reaching a height of 50 m at places .The climate is almost uniform, ibid., p.37.
67
together drain about 35 percent of the region.12 There are 34 river basins
drained by these 44 rivers. River length varies from 16 km for Manjesvar
River to 244 km for the Periyār. The Bhārathapuzha River has the largest
catchment area, at 6,186 sq km, with 1786 sq km being located in Tamil
Nadu. The Periyār River drains a catchment area of 5,398 sq km of which
5,284 are in Kerala. Rivers of more than 100 km length are: the
Chandragiri[105 km],Valapattanam [110 km], Chāliyār [169 km], Kadalundi
[130 km], Bhārathapuzha [209 km], Chālakudi[ 130 km], Periyār [244 km],
Muvātupuzha [121 km] , Pamba [176 km], Achankōil [129 km ] and Kallada
[121 km ] . The combined length of all the rivers is around 3,200 km, which
gives a figure of 12 sq km of catchment for every kilometer of the major
rivers. In other words, 1 km of main river is fed by 12 sq km of catchment
area. This indicates higher capacity of land to sustain a river and high water
yield.13
At present, the forest area is confined to parts of high land and midland
zones falling within the Western Ghats and its foothills.14 Isolated patches of
evergreen forests are marked in rugged slopes of Western Ghats. Large and
very tall trees characterize the tropical evergreen forests.15 There is a dense
second storey and under growth of many ferns and tall herbs. Moist deciduous
type is less diverse compared to the evergreen forests but contains several
valuable species.16
12 Ibid. , p.5. 13 Srikumar Chattopadhyaya and Richard W.Franke, Striving for Sustainability:
Environmental Stress and Democratic Initiatives in Kerala. [Concept Publishing Company, New Delhi, 2006], p.41.
14 Resource Atlas of Kerala: op.cit., p.14. 15 Ibid. 16 Ibid.,p.15. The major feature of this forest is that the trees remain leafless during the
period of December to June. Evergreen, semi-evergreen and moist deciduous forest types are located in the rainfall zone of 200 -300 cm with temperature more than 20 degree Celsius. These areas fall above an elevation of 300 m. The sub –tropical
68
Lateritic soils and forest loams dominate the soils.17 Forest loam soil is
developed in the eastern part of the region within forest area on the weathered
crystalline rocks. The soil is quiet fertile under forest cover and promotes
prolific undergrowth.18 Lateritic soil is a typical weathering product under
humid tropical conditions, occurs throughout the region.19 Red loam occurs
mainly as colluvial deposits in isolated patches in foothills and hillocks being
associated with latetrites.20
Riverine alluvium is developed along river valleys occur throughout
the region cutting across the extensive laterite soils. The soil is very deep with
surface texture ranging from sandy loam to clay. It is very fertile having high
water holding capacity and plant nutrients which are regularly replenished
during floods.21Other soil types are brown hydromorphic soil22, greyish
Onattukara23, acid saline soil24, coastal alluvium25, hydromorphic saline group
of soil26 and black soil.27
evergreen forest commonly known as temperate shola, occurs in the valleys of the high ranges. Grasslands are marked in a few isolated patches. The physiographic, climatic and vegetation diversities support a range of habitats suitable for a variety of fauna. Important wild life species are elephant, gaur, sambar, and spotted deer, barking deer, wild boar, tiger, panther and bear, ibid., p.16.
17 Ibid .,p.10. 18 Ibid.,p.15. 19 Ibid.,p.10. 20 Ibid.,p.10. 21 ibid.,p.7. 22 Brown hydromorphic soil is commonly found in areas in wetlands. They are moderately
rich in organic matter, ibid., p.11. 23 Greyish Onattukara is a grey colour soil occurs in the modern Alappuzha and Kollam
districts. It is generally coarse grained, highly porous with limited capacity for retaining water and fertilizer,ibid., p.10.
24 Acid saline soilation type is found mainly in Kuttanadu region. Developed under hydro-morphic conditions, these include the kari soil [soil in reclaimed areas with high clay content] and karapādam soil [soil along river courses with high silt content. Salinity and water logging have put limitations to crop culture but with careful management, these soils can sustain good crop production, ibid.,p11.
69
Corroboration of Archaeological and Literary Sources
In order to understand the relation of human beings with the landscape
ecology of the region from early historic period ownwards, considering the
above geographical factors, a corroborative study of archaeological findings
and literary sources is required.28 The urn urials extensively found in Kerala
megaliths must be a continuation of the practice in Neolithic – Chalcolithic
settlements of the Karnataka / Tamilnadu regions.29 The different types of
burials are clustered in different localities in this region. The rock cut tombs
are confined to the midland laterite zones, mainly in northern and central part
of this region.30 The kodakkals and toppikkals are also concentrated to the
mid-land laterite zone in northern and central parts of this region.31 Dolmens
are mostly found in upland region where granite is abundant. Urn burials are
concentrated in the deltaic and coastal regions; they are also noticed in
midland and upland regions too.32 The high concentration of urn burials in
25 Coastal alluvium is predominantly marine with some fluvial sediment along the coastal
line. The soil is immature with high sand content and low water holding capacity, ibid., p.10.
26 Hydromorphic saline group of soil is observed along the coastal strip where inundation by sea causes salinity. The problem of acidity is also observed within this soil group in some areas.
27 Black soil is found in the northeastern part of modern Palghat district. This soil is dark in colour, low in organic matter, calcareous, moderately alkaline and high in clay content. The higher proportion of clay makes it sticky and plastic in character. The shrinking- swelling capacity is also high. As this soil promotes cotton cultivation, it is often referred to as black cotton soil. Due to low organic matter and high clay percentage, it is found suitable for a limited variety of crops, ibid.,p.11.
28 R Champakalakshmi, Archaeology and Litarary Tradition, Puratattva, No.8.pp.110-122. 29 Rajan Gurukkal and M R Raghava Varrier [Eds], Cultural History of Kerala, p.124, S
Darsana , ‘History of Archaeology in Kerala’ in Gautham Sen Gupta and Kaushik Gangopadhyay [ Eds], Archaeology in India, [Munshiram Manoharlal Publisers , New Delhi,2009],pp.163-196.
30 Rajan Gurukkal and M R Raghava Varrier [Eds], Cultural History of Kerala, op.cit., p.122.
31 Ibid. 32 Ibid.
70
the mid land and coastal region suggests that there were megalithic
settlements in these regions in addition to the uplands. The burial sites also
presuppose the habitation sites nearby. The megalithic urns sites and its
settlements must have been contemporaneous to the settlements and society
represented in the Ettuthokai texts. The objective structure of the material
culture and lived experiences of people in both megalithic period and society
represented in Sangam texts can be delineated33.
Kerala in the Period of Classical Tamil Texts
Attempts have been made to study the people who inhabited in the region
between the western part of the Western Ghats and the western sea during a
couple of centuries before and after the Common Era34 which is generally
assigned to the period of Classsical Tamil Texts. Mountains and sea are
represented as the two geographical boundaries of this region.35 Sometimes,
there is reference to the mountainous forest and sea as the centers of
resources36to denote the nature of the geographical terrain.The conception of
landscape is represented with regard to earth in vivid manner.37 Seasons also
33 K N Ganesh, Lived Spaces in History: A Study in Human Geography in the Context of
Sangam Texts, Studies in History, 25, 2, n.s. [2009] pp.151-195. 34 Rajan Gurukkal, ‘Semiotics of Ancient Tamil Poetics: A Historiographic Consideration’
in Irfan Habib [Ed] ,Papers from the Aligarh Historians Society , [Aligarh, 2008],p.93, Rajan Gurukkal, ‘Forms of Production and Forces of Change in Ancient Tamil Society’, Studies in History Vol.5:2,pp.159-175, Rajan Gurukkal and Raghava Varier,[eds] ,Cultural History of Kerala Vol.1, [Thiruvanandapuram,1999,], Raghava Varier and Rajan Gurukkal, Kēralacharithram [Sukapuram,1991],K N Ganesh , Kēralathinte Innalakal, [Revised Edition, Department of Cultural Publications, Thiruvananthapuram,1997].
35 Purananuru.343.7-8, hereafter PN, Patittupattu.3.10.31 kadalavum kāttavum hereafter PP, PP.5.10.1. The region of presente day Kerala [Lat 8017’E and 12047’N Long 74000’E and 77024’E] is situated in the south western part of India , flanked by the Arabian Sea on the west and the states of Tamilnatu and Karnataka respectively on the eastern and northern parts .
36 PP.3.2.6 kadalum kānamum palapayam uthava, PP.5.8.13.PN.343.7-8 malaipadu porulum kadal padu porulum.
37 PP.2.3.22 njālam.PP.2.4.1 nila nīr vali vijimpu [earth, water, air and sky].
71
represented 38and landscapes are mentioned in poetic conventions.39
Patittupattu refers to the names of a number of hills, turais, ūrs or villages40in
this region.
Landscape Ecology
As our geographical area of discussion lies, from east to west, in between the
western part of the Western Ghats and the West coast, mountains, hills and
hill slopes are important geographical terrains. Thick and dense forest is on
mountains, hills, hill slopes, hillocks, and valleys in the high ranges in the
Ghats. Many of the perennial rivers and streams are originating from the
mountains and hills, flowing through the hill slopes, connecting different
settlements, reach either into backwaters or sea. Elevated terrains and hills are
also located in the midlands as well. Hence, our first attention is given to the
mountains and hills in the high ranges.
During the Sangam period, mountains were known by the terms malai,
porai and varai. Patittupattu refers to ayiramalai, cheruppumalai, nanra,
ēzhimalai and parambumalai.41 Hills were known as kuntru and hill slopes
are characteristic to the Kurinchi region and chāral42 is the term used to
denote hill slopes and hilly backwoods region. Sometimes, the hill slopes
were also known as mēval.43 Adjoining hills are termed chilampu.44 There are
38 PP.3.3.2 peruvaram kurnthu PP.5.10.2 kal mayanku urai 39 PP.8.5.8, PP.8.8.7, PP.3.10.26, PP.5.6.8, PP.2.3.23, PP.3.10.21, PP.3.10.25,
PP.3.10.26, PP.3.10.31, PP8.5.8, PP.8.8.7.,PN.187.1-4 40 K N Ganesh, Historical Geography of Malabar from Early Settlement to the Emergence
of Nadus – A Preliminary Note, SAP, Department of History University of Calicut, 2006], P.18.
41 Ibid. 42 AN.2.2-3[Jackfruits are ripped in the hill slops of kurinchi region] AN.52.1 valli
valantha maran ōngu chāral , PN.90.2. 43 PP.5.3.2 44 AN.152.13 ēzil neduvarai pāzhichchilambu.
72
also references to perumalai, perunkunru and netumperumkunru. Kurumporai
is to indicate small hills in the elevated region.45
The poetic notion of five-fold divisions of the landscape [tinai] is
Kurunchi, Mullai, Palai, Marutham and Neythal.46 It represents the material,
cultural and political spatialities47 of the Sangam society. Kurinchi as forested
hills and vegetated slopes was predominantly in the mountainous hilly region.
Mullai and Marutham were comparatively less in the region under discussion.
What existed as Mullai in this region was predominantly in the northern part
of this region [north Malabar in modern Kerala] and proper marutham is less
in this region as well. Kurinchi was not a hunting-gathering space alone but it
is a region where slash and burn / shifting cultivation practiced.48 It would be
appropriate to identify mullai49 as forest [kādu] around or peripheral to the
wetland / marutham, along with pastures, meadows, and scrubland, especially
those on the cultivable lower slopes.50 Mullai is the region where cattle
rearing and agriculture was conducted.51 There was kurinchi- mullai blending
zone also.52 Mullai region was predominantly populated by pastoral
communities.53 Though marutham was comparatively less, wet land
45 K N Ganesh, Representation of Natu in Early Tamil Songs, Perspectives,
Vol.2.No.2.p.2. 46 AN.210.6 ,PP.2.5.16-17, PP.6.5.6, PP.3.10.25, PP.8.5.8, PP.9.1.4-5, AN.233.3,
AN.22.1, PN.386. 47 K N Ganesh, Representations of Natu in Early Tamil Songs, Perspectives.op. cit., p.2. 48 PP.3.10.22’ēnal uzhavar’AN.222.1 49 PN.328.1-2 pullenadaimuthar puravu chērththiruntha punpula chirūr. 50 R Chambakalakshmi, ‘From Pastoralism to Agriculture: Tondai Nadu : A Tamil Sub –
Region in the Early Historical and Early Medieval Periods’ ,in Rudolf C Heredia and Shereen Ratnagar [Eds], Mobile and Marginalized Peoples : Perspectives from the Past, [Manohar, Delhi, 2003],p.206.
51 PP.2.3.20 puravu[mullai kollakal].AN..34.2[puravu], PN.386.12. 52 PP.3.10.21 punpulam thazhiiya puravanivaippum 53 R Chambakalakshmi., op cit, p207.
73
agriculture was predominantly practiced on Mullai-Marutham54blending zone.
This region was more located in the silt – biomass deposited areas on the river
valleys, riparian and estuarine areas. Palai was not a specific zone. Palai was
an ephemeral eco – situation contingent upon seasonal changes55 and,
therefore, Palai could be anywhere else56 as trans- tinai phenomena.
Agriculture can also be seen in Neythal region57in addition to fishing and salt
manufacturing58.
People and Life Activities in the Tina – Varaku Zone
Hills and hill slopes were characteristic to the Mullai-Kurinchi region and
chāral59 was the term used to denote hill slopes and hilly backwoods region.
Sometimes the hill slopes were also known as mēval.60 Agricultural
operations were originated in Kurinchi region where the slash and burn form
of shifting agriculture began to be developed.61 Ēnal was the place in the
kurunchi region where tina was cultivated.62 Therefore, the kurinchi-mullai
region can also is termed as tina- varaku zone.
In the hilly back wood Kurinchi region, cultivable land was called
punam. Punam is a fertile land space used for tinai cultivation in this region.63
Variety of millets and cereal were cultivated in this region.64Varaku also was
54 PP.8.3. marutham chānta, PP.8.8.7. 55 Rajan Gurukkal, Semiotics of Ancient Tamil Poetics…., op.ci., t p.94. 56 AN.31.7,AN.297.16 57 AN.40.1 kānal mālai kazhi , PN.209.2, PP.6.5.3-6. 58 AN.30.1, AN.70.1, AN.230.1, AN.310.14. 59 AN.2.2-3[Jackfruits are ripped in the hill slops of kurinchi region] AN.52.1 valli
valantha maran ōngu chāral, PN.90.2. 60 PP.5.3.2 61 PP.3.10.22[ēnal uzhavar],AN.32.1,AN.12.6,AN.178, 62 AN.12.6, AN.32.1, AN.234.15. 63 AN.89. kollai irupunam, AN. 102.1-2 tinaiperumpunam 64 AN.88.1-2, AN.148.6.PN.168.5-6.
74
cultivated in the vanpulam in the mullai track.65 Varaku and tinai cultivated in
the puravu land and puravu is identified with the Mulla zone.66 Mountain
paddy and garden produces were cultivated in the Mulla zone as well.67
Shifting agriculturists as Kuravar conducted the tinai cultivation in Mullai
region.68Both Kurinchi and Mullai had cultivable slopes, punam or ēnal
which enabled the Vētar to take to shifting agriculture as the Kuravar.69
Therefore, the cultivable area in the kurinchi- mullai region is predominantly
a tina- varaku zone. The place where multi- crops were cultivated in Mullai
and Kurunchi zones was known as padappai.70 One of the songs in
Purananuru in favour of Āy Andiran of Pothiyil hill mentions the ‘garden’
land, padappai, in the hill slope, varayanipadappai.71 There is also reference
to fenced garden land. The produce from land is termed as payam.72
Sometimes, this is also termed as vila.73 Aval is used to denote the land lies
below the hill slops used for wet agriculture in the mullai zone.74 Multi crop
area in the Mullai region was lying adjacent to wet land zone75 indicating the
proximity of the wetland spaces mostly in the riverine areas and the
possibility of the migrarion of people from Mullai- Kurinchi region to riverine
areas.
65 PN.384.4. vanpālānkarunkāl varakin 66 PN.328.1-2, AN.34 .1 padumazhai pozhintha payanmikupuravin. 67 AN.204.12 kāynelpadappai vānan chirukud. 68 PN.168.5-6.AN.154.1[Payam miku puravin] 69 Rajan Gurukkal, ‘Aspect of Early Iron Age Economy: Problems of Agrarian Expansion
in Tamil Nadu’ in B P Sahu [ed] Iron and Social Change in Early India, [OUP, Delhi, 2004], p.222.
70 AN54.14[Chirukudi padappai], AN.158.7[nam padappai] 71 PN.375.9-10 varayai padappai nannāttuporuna. 72 AN.154.1,PP.7.9.3 nilam payam pozhiya, AN.70.3 valaipayam 73 PP.6.10.8 marā ā vilaiyul. 74 AN.54.2 Neduaval nīrppakuvāyththēre, PN.187.2 avalā kontrō, AN.23.5. 75 PP.8.7 palpayan nilai iya kadarudai vaippin
75
Kutis and Life Activities
In order to understand the meaning of labour in Sangam Kerala, we have to
historicise the formation of kutis as it appears to mean family, clan and
settlement.76 It is suggested that in a society in which kin groups and
labouring groups are not differentiated, the term for the kin groups would
mean the term for labouring people.77 Labour and livelihood practices were
important in each eco – cultural zone [tinai] in the Sangam period. Different
modes of subsistence and labour forms were evolved in the different eco-
zones. Vētar, Vēttuvar, Kuravar78 from kurinchi, Āyar or Itayar from
Mullai79, Paratavar from Neytal80, Thozhuvar and Uzhavar81 from Marutham
and Maravar from palai82were the people who adapted to the respective eco-
cultural zones. There emerged an assemblage of coexistence and interaction
of various groups who followed the particular means of subsistence specific
to the landscape ecosystem [tinai] they inhabited.83
Hunting, gathering and shifting agriculture were the main livelihood
forms of the people in the kurinchi - mullai zone. Vēttuvar resorted to hunting
76 K Sivathampy, ‘Early South Indian Society and Economy: the Tini Concept’, in Studies
in Ancient Tamil Society: Economy, Society and State Formation,[New Century Book House, Chennai] p.15.
77 K N Ganesh, Perception of Labour in Pre-Modern South India- A Historiographical Analysis, unpublished paper, Department of History ,University of Calicut, 2010,p.2
78 PN.231.1-2 eripunakkuravan , AN.232.9 viyal araivarikkum muntril kuravar . PP.3.10.9-11.
79 AN.54.10 kōlkaikōvalar, PP.3.1.20. 80 AN.70.1 kodunthimil parathavar 81 PP.6.8.16, PP.8.6.11 82 AN.105.13.AN.129.1O,PP.3.10.4 83 Rajan Gurukkal, ‘Tribes, Forest, and Social Formation in Early South India’, in B B
Chaudhari and Arun Bandopadhyaya [Eds], Tribes, Forest, and Social Formation in Indian History,[Manohar,2004], p.66. Rajan Gurukkal, Forms of Production and Forcess of Change in Ancient Tamil Society, Studies in History, 5, 2 n s [1989] pp.159-175.
76
84 for livelihood.85 Hunting was an important form of subsistence that
sustained the people of hilly backwoods region in addition to gathering and
shifting agriculture. Hunting, gathering and shifting agriculture were being
practiced side by side in the region under discussion. Let us first look into to
the hunting practices in the Kurinchi area. However, hunting cannot be
confined to the Kurinchi zone alone.
Hunting and Gathering
Our textual evidences suggest that the people resorted to hunting and
gathering practices are known as kānavan 86 comprised the Vēdar87 ,
Vēttuvar88 and Kuravar89clans. There is also reference to the Maravar
conducting hunting.90 Hunting dogs were important animals of the hunter
clans whose companionship while resorting to hunting is repeatedly
mentioned in the songs. They are known as vayanāy 91 kathanāy92, etc. The
hunting groups conducting hunting practices are represented in the songs93,
which suggest that the forested landscape was the object of their labour. There
is a reference in the text, which could productively be read as hunters were
84 PP.3.10.9 kānthalankanni kolaivil vēttuvar. 85 PN.19.5 irumpulivēttuvan .AN.28.8 vēttuvan peralodu, PN.33.1 kathanāy vēttuvan,
PN.150.7 ōrval vilvēttuvan ,PN.205.9 chile vēttuva,PN.252.5 chol valevēttuvan, PP.324.3 velvāyvēttuvar.
86 PN28.10 kānaththōr, PP.3.10.24 kuntavar, AN.88.5 kadumkai kānavan, AN248.6-7 kānavan kurukinan, AN.102.2 kānavan.
87 PN.324.3.PN.333. thannūr vēttakudi thorunkūttam 88 PN.150.7 ōrval vilvēttuvan, PN205.9 chilai vēttuva, PN19.5-6 irumpuli vēttuvan,
AN28.8 vēttuvan peralodu 89 PN.3 kuravar mākkal, PN. 157.7 kuravar perumān, 90 AN.75.6-7. 91 AN.248.2 vayanāy 92 PN.33.1 kathanāy vēttuvan. 93 AN.38.3-4 vem chel kanaipalam therinthu,AN.48.12 varipunavillan
77
coming from faraway places with hunting dogs, especially from north with a
different language.94
These hunting clans lived as kutis95 , importantly chirukuti96 and the
hut settlements where they inhabited were called kurumpu.97 As far as
individual and collective labour practices are concerned there were two types
of hunting practices: firstly hunting as an individual endeavor; [a] hunting the
small animals, [b] hunting with bow and arrow, secondly hunting as a
complex and cooperative effort: [a] hunting / trapping large animals, [b]
hunting with nets.98 Women of the hunting tribes are also mentioned in the
songs99 but we do not know whether they did participate in hunting or not, but
they were mostly engaged in gathering. Sometimes, we have reference to the
chief of the hunting clan.100 Hunting is both individual and collective effort
and we have a number of references to the individual hunting and hunting as a
collective mode of labour. One song says that a hunter is going for hunting
wearing foot gear made of leather.101
The principal hunting clans were Kuravar, Vēdar and Vēttuvar and
they lived in the kurumpai102 in the chirukuti103 of the chirūr.104 They were 94 AN.107.11 kalla nī½mozhi kathanāy vadukar.½ 95 PN.324. 8 punpulam thazhiiya ānkudichirūr, PN.333. thannur vettakudi 96 AN.7 kalkezhu chirukudi kānavan AN.232. kuntravēli chirukudi. 97 AN.89.16 vilkezhu kurumpu .PN129.1 kuriyirai kurampai. 98 For an interesting example of hunting practices among West African Guro tribes,
Cloude Meillassoux’s works are important; see Emmanuel Terray, Marxism and Primitive Societies, [Monthly Review Press, London, 1972],pp.107-108.
99 AN.132.3 kānavar thankai AN58. kodichchiyar, AN7.22 kalkezhu chirukudi kānavan makale, AN348.8-9 kuravar muriththazhai makalir.
100 PN.157.7 kuravar perumān. PN.152.24 ‘ vēttuvarillai ninnoppōrana’. 101 AN.34.3 neduthōl kānavan, 102 PN.129.1. 103 AN.7.22 kalkezhu kānavan chirukudi 104 P.N.326 villor vazhkaichirur mathavali
78
kinship descent groups and the people belonged to Kuravar clan are called
kuravarmākkal.105 They were kin groups consisted senior and junior lines of
members. The junior members [ilaiyōr] did substantial part of the labour in
the hunting activities.106
Individual hunting was for small animals107 such as rabbits108, rats109,
varieties of birds110, and some times, wild pigs111 , wild cows112 deer 113etc. In
Purananuru, we have reference to vilvēttuvan114 , hunter with bow and arrow.
A hunter attacking the wild pig with bow and arrow is mentioned in the
song.115 Hunting for elephants116, cheetah117, bear, and pig require collective,
planned and cooperative efforts. We have reference to yānai vēttuvan or
kaimān vēttuvan118, those who hunt the wild elephants.119 Cheetahas were
also captured or killed by resorting to collective hunting practices.120 One of
the songs in Akananuru mentions some youngsters of the Vēdar communities
resorting to hunting a wild pig.121 For trapping the wild animals, certain
methods were adopted and the device was made of big stone [perunkalladār] 105 PN.129.1, PN.143.3. 106 PN.150, AN.248.2-4. 107 PP.3.1 kathanāy vēttuvan. 108 PN.34.11. 109 PN. 324. 3 velvāyvēttuvar 110 PN.214.5 kurumpūzhavēttuvan. 111 AN248.6-7 kānavan kurukinan thoduththa kūrvay pakazhi. AN.28.1-2. 112 PP.10.9-11. 113 AN.7.9-11. 114 PN.150.7 ōrval vilvēttuvan 115 AN.248.6-7 kānavan kurukinan thoduththa kūrvay pakazhi. 116 AN.21.24-25. 117 AN.27.1 irumpuli thayanka neduvarai .AN.52.7. 118 PN.214.4 yānai vēttuvan yānaiyum perume , PN.320.3 kaimān vēttuvan 119 AN.157.8. kānayānai. 120 PN.19- 5-6 irumpuli vēttuvan pori yarinthu māttiya. 121 AN.248.2-4.
79
and one song mentions a cheetah hunter hunting the cheetah with this stone
made trap.122 We have reference to the Vēdar who resorting to net hunting.123
We have a reference to hunting imagery in a song, cholvalaivēttuvan124,
[weaving out net out of words]. Elephants were hunted either for tusks or for
taming and we have picturesque representation of capturing elephants in the
songs.125 Capturing of elephant and the device used for it was the digging a
certain pit with a trapping technique.126 There is a vivid representation of
capturing elephants in the song.127
Woman the Gatherer
The earliest form of gendered division of labour occurred among the hunting
and gathering clans of early historic period in the region under discussion.
Though we have references to the men of certain clans who engaged in
collecting honey, our textual evidences suggest that it was the womenfolk of
almost all clans engaged in gathering activities. Gathering was also a
substitute to the hunting and shifting agriculture. The people who lived in the
chirukuti engaged in the activities of hunting, gathering and shifting
cultivation side by side. The women of the chirukuti settlers were known as
kānavan makal.128 They also have known as kānavar thankai.129
Kodichchiyar were also the wome folk among the Kuravar clan.130 The
122 PN.19.6-6 irumpuli vēttuvan poriyarintu māttiya perunkalladārum. 123 AN.7.8-11 valai kān inaththu inchilai ēru udai nāru uyir pinayir pōki. 124 PN.252.5 cholvalai vēttuvanāyinan munne. 125 AN. 21.24 venkōdu nayantha anpu il kānavar. PN.214.4 yānai vēttuvan yānaiyum perume, PN.320.3 kaimān vēttuvan. 126 AN.21.25 akazhntha kuzhi cheththu 127 AN.211.9-10 kuzhiyidai konda kantru udaipperu nirai pidippadu pūchalin . 128 AN.7.22 kalkezhu chirukudi kānavan makale. 129 AN.132. 130 AN.58.
80
women of the Vēttuva clan engaged in the gathering of fruits and roots.131
The women folk of the Kuravar, Vēdar and Vēttuvar engaged in the gathering
activities and substituted this to the hunting and shifting cultivation as a
livelihood form.132 The women of these clans engaged in gathering and lived
in number of chirukutis that constituted a small ūr.133 Honey gathering is
undertaken by the Kuravar clan.134
Therefore, ‘women were the gatherers’ in the hunting and shifting
agricultural economies of early historic period. The Kuravar, Vēdar and
Vēttuvar clans engaged in hunting and gathering forms of subsistence, they
turned to slash and burn cultivation called shifting cultivation. The
womenfolk of these clans turned to agriculture and became the harbingers of
agriculture practices in the tina – varaku zone. They did substantial part of
labour and thereby contributed to the origin and development of agriculture,
especially the slash and burn agriculture. The following explanation of
shifting cultivation would substantiate the role of women in labour process.
Shifting Cultivation
The shifting cultivation in addition to hunting and gathering was an important
subsistence form. The hill slopes where the land prepared by the way of slash
and burns the trees and shrubs and the land so prepared for cultivation was
called mutha.135 The cultivated tracks are ēnal136and in one of the songs in
Patittupattu we find reference to cultivators, ēnal uzhavar who cultivate the
131 AN.283.5 chil unāthantha chirūr pendir. 132 AN.331.6,AN.348.2,AN.1.20-23. 133 AN.283.5 chirūr pendir. 134 AN.321.12 arai urum thīm thēn kuravar, PN.348.3. 135 AN.88.1-2. 136 PP.3.10.22 [ēnal uzhavar], AN.32.1, AN.118.
81
Kurinchi tract.137 One of the songs in Patittupattu mentions the ēnal in the
Kurinchi zone cultivated by the Uzhavar138 indicating the development of hoe
cultivation employing animals like ox. There were fertile tracts where the tina
was grown.139 Kuravar of the Kurunchi zone engaged in tina cultivation.140
Trees were cut down and burned by the Kuravar for tina cultivation.141 Hill
slopes were to be brought under cultivation by the practice of burn and clear
the forest and the plot so prepared is also called mutha done by the Kuravar
[kadunkai kānavan].142 One of the songs in the Purananuru says that the
people of the kurinchi called Kānavar did slash and burn the forest plough the
plot and sow the seeds of hill paddy in the hill slopes.143 One of the songs in
the Akananuru speaks of the Kuravar protected the riped tina in the kurunchi
hill slope and back wood tracks.144 In the Mullai region, cultivation of paddy
and garden crops were concentrated around the chirukuti .145 In Patittupattu,
we have reference to the people of kurinchi who ploughed the ēnal tract to
cultivate the tinai and they lived in the huts thatched by hays of varaku146
[common millet].
137 PP.3.10.22 ēnal uzhavar 138 PP.3.10.22 ēnal uzhavar 139 AN.28.3, AN.178. 140 PN.168.5-6 141 PN.231.1-2 eripunakuravan kuraiyal anna karipura virakinima vollazhar, Rajan Gurukkal, Aspect of Early Iron Age Economy, op.
cit., p.222. 142 AN.88.1-2. 143 PN.159.16-17. Kānavar kari punam mayakkiya akankan kollai , PN.159.18 ivanam
viththi. 144 A N .348.10 adukkal ēnal irumbunam maranthuzhi kuravar 145 AN.204.12 kāynel padappai vānan chirukudi 146 PP. 3.10.22-23 ēnal uzhavar varakumīthitta.
82
Chirukuti was the settlement of the people in the hill slopes circled by
hills.147 Cluster of these settlements constitute the chirūr. The ūr which was
situated in the hilly forested regions was also called chirur.148 Those who
conduct slash and burn the forest for cultivation in the punam was called
Punavan and he was identified with Kuravar clan. Kuravan is referred to as
kadunkai kānavan149, the forest dweller. Tinai [Italian millet, cereal]
cultivation practiced in this ēnal tract.150 It was in the chirukuti surrounded by
the waste or grazing land in the Kurunchi – Mullai zone that agriculture began
to be practiced.151In order to cultivate tinai or varaku152 in an area the land has
to be cleared by slash and burn method.153 The land set apart for this by the
process of slash and burn was called muthai154 and this was done by the
cultivators consisted of Kuravar, Vēttuvar and Vētar in the forested hilly
backwoods region and in some pastoral plots.155 As there is ash and other
fertile contents in the soil so burned, the tinai began to be grown fast.156 It
was from the streams that were flowing down nearby there that the water was
channelized to these tinai plots.157 One of the songs in Purananuru describes
147 AN.232.6 kuntravēli chirukudi ānkan, AN.315.18 kānkezhu vāzhner chirukudiyān,
AN.331.7-8 kuntruakachirukudi ,AN.192.12 peruvarai chirukudi . 148 AN.152.2 kuntruzhai nanniya chirūr, AN.171.8 mālvaraichirūr. AN.224. ānkudi
chirūr. 149 AN.88.5 kadunkai kānavan, AN.34.3. neduthōl kānavan,PN.33.1 kān udai vāzhkai. 150 AN.288.5-6. 151 AN. 284.7 punpulam thazhiyiya poraimuthal chirukudi. 152 PP. 8.5.11 velvaraku uzhuthakolludai karambai. 153 AN.140.11-12 ithai muyal punavan pukai nizhal kadukkum māmūthu allal , PN.231.1-2
eripuna kuravan kuraiyal anna. 154 AN.88.1-2 muthaichchuval kaliththamūri chenthinai. 155 AN.42.5-7 nāduvarankūra nānjil thunja…………….’ AN.141.5 nānjil thūnji, PN.20.11
nānjil allathu padaiyum ariyār. 156 AN.28.3. 157 AN.28.4 aruvi ānda painkāl. Kāl is used to denote, in later periods, the channel through
which the water is directed to the fields.
83
the process by which the varaku was cultivated in the Kurunchi region.158 In
one of the songs of the Purananuru there is reference to the Kuravar of the
kollai land doing the slash and burn cultivation.159 One song in the
Akananuru speaks of the cultivation of hill paddy and garden cultivation in
the hill slopes, which was part of chirukuti.160
We have also reference to the ploughing the kollai with ox.161
Purananuru speaks of the Vēdar doing the slash and burn for cultivation of
paddy in the kollai land.162 We also see references to the cultivation of kol or
horse gram163 and plot is furrowed for kol cultivation.164 Another song in
Purananuru also speaks of the cultivation of horse gram and payaru / green
gram.165 The cultivation of white millet and horse grams can also be seen in
the texts.166 One scholar suggests that varieties of crops cultivated during the
period under study.167
Labour Process in Shifting Cultivation
As far as the process of agriculture operation in the Kurinchi-Mullai
hilly forested back wood region is concerned, the land was understood here as
both the object and instrument of labour and human labour was seen as the
158 PN.120.1-13. 159 PN .231.1-2 eripunakuravan kuraiyal anna. 160 AN .204.12 kāynel padappai vānan chirukudi. 161 PN.322.1 uzhuthūr kālai yuzhukōdu. 162 PN.159.16-17 kānavar karipunam mayakkiya akankan kollai. 163 PN.297.4-5 chirūr puravu kol. 164 PN.105.5 kolluzhu viyanpulaththuzhi kālāka. 165 PN.297.3 pachchiya payattin payaru. 166 PN.392.10 vellai varakum kollum viththum. 167 N Subrahmanian, Pre- Pallavan Tamil Index, University of Madras, Madras, 1966.
84
principal source of available power.168 Firstly, the soil is furrowed 169 and
ploughed170 field is prepared repeatedly using a wooden device yoked to
oxen171 to prepare for the seed172 bed.173 The plough marks are known as
chāl.174 The dried millet and paddy seeds were used for sowing.175 Paddy
seeds were also sown in the same manner.176 Weeds are removed from the
millet crops177and green leaves, possibly cow dung are applied as fertilizing
[idumurai] agent.178 The productivity of the soil and especially the weather
condition determine the quality of tina produced.179 The varaku/ millet are
grown fast180 and the leaves of tina / varaku or paddy181 are grown to be
ripped182 as there is enough organic content in the soil so prepared.183 Tina is
grown to be harvested. A poem in Purananuru gives a vivid picture of the
different stages of the cultivation of tina.184 In Patittupattu, we have reference
168 The relation of labour to the land in primitive self sustaining societies are described in
anthropological works, Emmanuel Terray , Marxism and Primitive Societies , op.cit.,p. 105 and p.109.
169 PN.120.3 pūzhi mayanka ppala uzhuthu viththi, AN.262.2 pakadu pūnda uzhavu pala uru chenchey
170 AN.194.2-3 ēr idam paduththa ………… .. AN.194.4-5 nedunchāl vitti [plough marks]. 171 AN.262.2 pakadu pūnda uzhavu pala uru chenchey, AN.314.2- 4 kānam thazhappai inamthēr uzhavar. 172 AN.194.4-5 nedunjāl viththiya marunkin vithai pala nāri. 173 PN. 120.4 palli ādiya palkilaichevvi. 174 AN.194.4-5 nedunchāl viththiya marunkin vithai pala nāri 175 PN .333.12 kuralunangu vithaithinai. 176 PN.159.16-18 kānavar karipunam mayakkiya akankan kollai ……aivanam viththi . 177 AN.194.9 kalaikāl kazhi iya perumpuna varaku. AN.179.13-14, PN.120.5 kalai kāzh
kazhavin. 178 AN .262.3 pinneyum idumurai nirambi ākuvinaikkaliththu. 179 PN.159.18- 19 . 180 PN.120.5 thōdu olipu nanthi. 181 AN.269.22-23 vanangu kathir nellin yānar than panai pōthuvāy avizhantha. 182 AN.28.3 kuralvārpu tinai koyyāmun ukum. 183 PN.120.9 valithin vilaintha. 184 PN. 203. 1- 9.
85
to the cultivation of varaku.185 Then, we find reference to tinai koyya in the
text indicating the harvesting millets.186 We can also see the cultivation of
sesame [ellu]187, beans [avarai]188 and pease [payaru]189 in the same way
mentioned above.190 We have reference to the cultivation of pepper
[kari]191and plantain [vāzha]192in the Kurinchi back wood hill slopes. There
are indication of the cultivation of aromatics, ginger, cardamom and variety of
wild flora like teak and sandal.193
Kin Labour
A clan is consisted of the extended familial groups based on kin relations.
They are, including women, engaged in the process of life activities.
Therefore, familial kin labour is the principal form of labour. The familial kin
relations had important role in organizing the labour process. Kilai194 and kēl
are used to denote the kinsmen.195 The extended kin groups are divided on
senior and junior line, muthiyar and ilaiyar respectively, mentioned in the
text.196 The members of the junior line [ilaiyar] in the extended households
of the clan directly engaged in the agriculture operations. They lived in
185 PP.8.5.11 vel varaku uzhutha kolludaikarampai. 186 PN.120. 9 puthuvaraku ariya, PN .120.10‘tinai koyya. 187 PN.210. 10 kavvai karuppa. 188 PN.120.10-11 avarai kkozhunkodi vilarkkāy kōdpathamāka. 189 AN.262.3 pinneyum idumurai nirambi ākuvinaikaliththu. 190 PN.335.4-7 karunkāl varakēyirunkathir ththinaiyē chirukodikkollē porikilaravarayō tinnānkallathu½āvumillai. 191 AN.112, PP.251. 192 AN.302.9-10 chilampin pōkiya chemmuka vāzhai. 193 Rajan Gurukkal, ‘Historical Antecedents’ in P J Cherian [ed], Perspectives on Kerala
History, [KCHR, Thiruvananthapuram, 1999], p.32. 194 AN.172.1-2 kilayodu kaliciranthu 195 AN.93.1 196 AN.348.8-9 ilayarum muthiyarum kilaiyudan
86
chirukuti and identified as chirukutiyān. They provided the labour force for
the agriculture operations. We have ample examples to show that the
members of the junior line engaged in ploughing the soil.197 A carpenter who
gives the axe to the youngsters for cutting down the trees is also mentioned 198
and this alludes to the clearing of the vegetated shrub for tina cultivation by
the people of junior line in the clan.
Implements of Production
As regards the implements of production, weapons for hunting activities and
war as well as for agriculture operations, use of iron implements was
important and we have ample evidences in the text that the blacksmiths made
these implements.199 The workshop200 of a blacksmith where the weapons
were made is mentioned in one of the songs in Purananuru.201 Those
blacksmiths who made weapon for war were known as pōrkollan.202 A
blacksmith preparing axe 203 probably for the purpose of slash the tress and
arrow [vēl] for hunting or war are mentioned.204 The implements made by the
blacksmiths were important in an economy where the hunting –gathering,
shifting agriculture and predatory movements went hand in hand. Carpenters
who made chariots are also mentioned in the text.205 One song in the
197 AN.302.9-10 ennaiyar uzhutha 198 PN.206.11 maramkol thachchan mazhuvudai kaival chirā ar 199 PN.21.7 karunkai kollan, PN.170.16, AN.72.5 irum pū chey kol enaththōntrum. 200 AN.96.6 ūthulai 201 PN. 95.5 kotturai kuttila. 202 PN.353.1. 203 PN.36.6. 204 PN.312.3 205 PN.87.2-3 enthēr cheyyum thachchan.
87
Purananuru speaks of a potter makes pots in the chūlai [furnace] situated in
the old ūr 206and he also made urns for burying the dead.207
As the plots were located within the hilly forested region, crops were to
be protected from the interference of wild animals and from theft. In one of
the songs in the Akananuru there is a reference that a wild pig coming to the
tina plot to eat it.208 Yet another song in the Akananuru also mentions a wild
elephant coming to destroy the tinai plot.209 The term for protection is
kāval.210 In one song in praise of Chēral we find reference that a specific
strategy was applied to go off the birds from the tina plot.211 The hut which
had been constructed for protection of the agriculture fields in the Kurinchi
region was known as kazhuthu212and the male or female who were stationed
and engaged in this activity was termed as kāvalar.213 We have also reference
to the fact that the kāval was also made for the protection of the ūrs in the
Kurinchi region.214 The persons who engaged in protecting the tina were
called ēnal kāppōr.215 Certain devices [thattai] were used to go off the birds
from the tina plots.216
206 PN.228.1 chūlai nananthalai mūthūr kalamchey kōvai. PN.256.7 nananthalai mūthūr kalamchey kōvai. 207 PN.228.12 annōr kavikkum kannakan thāzhi. 208 AN.88.6-7. 209 348.11 yānai tinai vavvina ena nōnāthu. 210 AN.73.14 ēnalam chiru tinai chēnōn, AN.94.10-11 muthaippunamkāvalar, AN.102.1-2
kazhuthil kānavan, PN.28.8 ēnal kāppōr. 211 PN.49.4 Punavar thattai pudaippin. 212 AN.162. ōnku kazhuthil kānavan. 213 AN.12.6 ēnal am kāvalar, AN.162.12 kāvalar. 214 AN.12.6 thunjākkannar kāvalar kadukuvar. 215 PN.28.9. 216 PN.49.4 punavar thattai pudaippin.
88
Gendered Division of Labour
There appeared gendered division of labour in which the women did
substantial part of their labour in the gathering and shifting agriculture. The
origin of agriculture must have been largely related with women folk when a
society of hunters and gatherers, subsisted on hunting and gathering forms of
existence, turned to shifting agriculture mainly through the mediation of the
womenfolk. In the tina – varaku zone, different phases of agriculture
operations were done by the women who provided the labour from clearing
the tina / varaku plots ,the sowing the seeds, weeding, harvesting and sifting
the crops and so on. Many of origin myths of agriculture are related to
women. Hunting, shifting agriculture and war and heroism evolved a social
division of labour, which constituted the groups within the tribal structure of
social division in which clan endogamy was evolved. Clan endogamy along
with the kin labour played very important role to reproduce, socially and
biologically, the society and economy of early historical period. Hence , the
extended familial kin relations within the structure of clan endogamy and the
gendered division of labour in agrarian operations resulted in making women
as an instrument of social as well as biological reproduction of ‘tribal social
order’.
The Fishing and Salt Manufacturing – the Life World of the Coastal
People
Western sea and its coast are described in the Ettutokai texts.217 The littoral
tracts are referred to as Neytal in the texts. It also denotes landscapes around
natural water sources like lake, rivers and backwaters.218 There are
settlements on the western coastal region from the early historic period
217 PP.6.1.3 kudapula kadal,PP.9.10.28, PP6.1.7,PN 2.10 kudakadal, 218 Rajan Gurukkal and M R Raghava Varier [eds], Cultural History of Kerala, Vol.1. op.
cit., p.171.
89
onwards. Panthar219, Muciri220 and Thondi221 are referred as important ūr
settlements on the western coast. The resources from the sea were as
important as the resources from the mountain.222 These coastal settlements
were centers of exchanges also.223 The main inhabitants of the coastal region
are the Paratavar and Umanar, fishing and salt manufacturing are their
important livelihood forms.224 Old settlements or tolkutis located in the
neythal zone.225 Chirukuti can also be seen in the neythal zones.226 People
subsisted on fishing lived in the chirukuti on Neythal terrain.227 One of the
Neythal songs in Akananuru mentions the chirukuti228 settlement of the
Parathavar in the neythal region.229 Certain Vānavan who was living in the
chirukuti settlement in the coastal region is mentioned.230
The fishermen who lived in the chirukuti231 of the Neythal are also
mentioned and they lived in huts called kurumpu.232 It is also known as
il.233There is also reference to huts with small irai called kuriyirai
219 PP.7.7.2 Panther peyariya pērisai mūthūr PP.8.4.6, chirukudi 220 AN.57.15 221 PN.48.4 kalnārum kānalam thondi, AN.11.13 valankezhu thondiyanna 222 PP.3.2.6 kadalum kānavum palapayam uthava, PN.343.1. malaithāramum
kadalthāramum talaipeythu 223 PP.6.5.5. 224 Rajan Gurukkal and M R Raghava Varier [eds], Cultural History of Kerala,op.cit.,p.171 225 AN.290.8 chirupal tholkudi perunīr chērpan. 226 AN.330.15 chirukudiparathavar. 227 AN.140.1 perunkadal vēttaththu chirukudiparathavar, AN.270.2-3 pulā al marukin
chirukudi pākkaththu ī mīn vēttuvar 228 AN.270 pula al marukin chirukudi pākkaththu inamīn vēttuvar. 229 AN.20.11-12 a valai parathavar kānal am chirukudi. 230 AN.269.21-22 cherunīrkānal thazhiyiya irukkai vānavan chirukudi. 231 AN;330.3-4 chirukudi parathavar. 232 AN.210.1. kuriyirai kurampai. 233 AN. 360 kāyal vēyntha thēy anal il.
90
kurampai.234 The people subsisted on fishing were known as
parathamākkal.235 Sometimes, the fishing folk were termed as timilōn.236
These settlements of the Parathavar and Umanar were clustered in ūr.237
Poems refer to a good number of fishes that the settlers used to catch.238 They
included ayila239, ira, katumīn, kayal, kōzu240, cura, prumīn, varāl241 and
vālai.242 There are vivid descriptions of fishing.243 The country boats used to
catch the fish244 and they are variously known as thimil245, nedumthimil246and
kodumthimil.247 The nets they used to catch the fish are called valai and there
are descriptions of the making of these nets. The country boats248 and nets249
are used as the instruments of fishing. The labour activity resorted to the
fishing is denoted by the term vinai or thozhil250 in the texts.251 Hence, the
thimil and valai are the instruments of their labour activity for subsistence and
sea was the object of their labour. The fishing party was consisted of the
234 AN.210.1. 235 AN.30.3. 236 AN.320.2. 237 AN.340.24. 238 AN.30.2 kadalpādu aviya. 239 PP.9.4.5, 3.9.4. 240 PP.9.4.5. 241 PN.18.8-9. 242 Rajan Gurukkal and M R Raghava Varier [eds], Cultural History of Kerala,op.cit.,p.171. 243 AN.70.3, AN.270. 244 AN.70.1 vēttan vāythana, AN.70.3 valaipayam , AN.280. paduthanam. 245 AN.340.17-18. vānthimil parathavar, P N.60.1, PN.24.4 thinthimil vanparathavar. 246 AN.60.3. 247 AN.70.1. 248 AN.350.1 vānthimil paratavar. 249 AN.30.1 nedunkayiru valantha kurunkan avvalai ,AN10.4 puthuvalai parathavar and
AN.290.4. 250 AN.60.3 nedumthimil thozhil. 251 AN.340.18-19 tindimil elluzhil maduththa valvinaiparathvar.
91
youngsters and elders in the family and their kinsmen were called kilai.252
Fish was dried in the sun and salt is applied to preserve the surplus fish.253
The fish was exchanged254 on bargaining255 including for long distance
exchange.
Kazhi is the term used to denote the saltpan.256 It also points to the salt
manufacturing257 and its exchange.258 The bullock cart was a common vehicle
by which the salt was exchanged to faraway places.259 Bullock carts of salt
manufacturers loaded with salt going to the points of exchange in the
hinterlands.260 Sometimes donkeys were also used to load the salt.261 Salt
manufacturing was an important occupation of the people, in addition to the
fishing and cultivation of multi culture produces in certain areas in the neythal
areas.
The people engaged in salt manufacturing were known as Umanar.262
There are references to the settlements of the salt manufacturers near the
saltpans.263 There are allusions in the texts of the manufacturing of salt.264
The area where the salt was produced is known as kazhi or saltpan and the
252 AN.30.4 kilayudan thuvanty. 253 AN.80 panmīn unangal. 254 AN.340.14. 255 AN.30.10, AN.140.8 chērimāru vilaikūralin and AN.320.3-4. 256 PN.17.12 thenkazhi, PN 20.5 kodunkazhi, AN. 40.1kānalmalaikazhi AN.230.1 urukazhi.
PN.386.16, AN.350.1. 257 PN.313.5-6. 258 PN.60.7 kanal kazhiyuppu mukanthu kalnādu madukkum, PN, 116.7-8. 259 AN.30.5, PN.116.7-8, AN.390.2. 260 PN.102, 106, 307, 386. 261 AN.207.5 naraipura kazhuthai. 262 AN.30.5 uppu oy umanar. 263 PN.386.16 kazhi chārntha pukuthi. 264 AN.207.1-2, PN.313.5-6.
92
space where salt is manufactured is known as chiruthadi.265 The spread of
saltpans266 indicates the production of salt and rock salt267 facilitated the long
distance exchange268of salt. The manufactured salts were exchanged not only
in the coastal region but also in the hinter lands.269 Salt was exchanged for
paddy270 on bargaining terms is mentioned in the text271. The bullock carts272
and donkeys were also used to the exchange of salt.273 Movements of carts
and people resulted in the formation of pathways and steady movements of
people across long distances.274 These long distance pathways were used by
the salt/ dry fish exchangers who exchanged theses goods to the people settled
on the hill slops275and mountain tracts.276 Salt traders were proceded to the
hilly-forested nātu called kalnātu, nātu in the hilly region277, with salt loaded
carts. Fishing, salt manufacturing and its exchanges resulted in the gender
division of labour as the women of Umanar and Parathavar clans conducted
the exchange of salt and fish in the coastal settlements.278 This indicates that
there existed the settlements of the people who were not engaged in salt
manufacturing and fishing in the coastal region. The texts also suggest that
265 AN.366. 266 AN.20.5 kodunkazhi, AN.230.1 urukazhi 267 AN.140.3 velkal uppu. 268 AN.386.17. 269 AN.207.3. 270 PN.341.1. 271 AN.60.4-6. 272 AN.390.2. 273 PN.386.17. 274 K N Ganesh, Lived Spaces in History, op.cit.p.178. 275 PN.386.17 perunkal nannāttu uman olikkunnu. 276 PN.60.7 kānal kazhiyuppu mukanthu kalnādu madukkum, AN.30.5 uppu oy umanar.
arunthurai pōkkum. 277 PN.60.7 kānal kazhiyuppu mukanthu kalnādu madukkum. 278 AN.320.3-4
93
there were agriculture tracks279 in the coastal region where the paddy and
certain garden produces were cultivated. The shrubbed vegetation in the
littoral tracts is called kānal.280 Hence, pulam is also a productive space in the
coastal region too.281
Migaration and Occupation of River Valleys
The forested region in the high ranges in the western part of the Western
Ghats is conceptualised as Kurinchi –Mullai region, where we find diverse
livelihood forms like hunting, gathering and shifting cultivation in the early
historic period.282 Kādu was as important as agricultural tract - an
indispensible part of life activity of the people who subsisted on forested
space. The shifting cultivation in the tinai-varaku zone of the mountainous,
hilly-forested back wood region shows that the inhabitants of Kurinchi –
Mullai zone were the originators of both monocrops including mountain
paddy and multi crops. Kuravar, Vēdar and Vēttuvar clans resorted to hunting
and conducted shifting cultivation together in the mountain and hilly-forested
area.
The people who practiced the shifting cultivation in the mountains and
hills migrated to the river valleys and riparian region in the midlands and
estuarine areas. There had also been the movements of the people like bards,
movements of the people from the seashore to exchange the salt and
seafood.283 Movements of the people like hunters, gatherers and shifting
agriculturalists also opened up new routes for movements and
279 AN.40.1, pn.209.2, pp.6.5.3-6. 280 PP.6.5.5, AN.110.5 281 AN.10.4. 282 Rajan Gurukkal, ‘Tribes, Forest, and Social Formation in Early South India’, in Tribes,
Forest, and Social Formation in Indian History, op.cit.,p.71. 283 PN.60.7 kānal kazhiyuppu mukanthu kalnādu madukkum.
94
communication.284 Predatory marches were another kind of human
movement. The land routes and river routes were made use of for the human
movements as well as movement of goods. Movements of carts and people
resulted in the formation of pathways called aru. It went through cross roads
called kavalai. Peruvazhi285 and neri286 are also referred to as pathways.287
The people used the rocky pathways in the mountain-forested region called
churam288for their movements. The rivers were also used for human
movements.289 There are references to the movements of the people from
certain old settlement called muthukdi mūthur.290 People moving towards far
away places in search of new resources are mentioned in the texts.291 They
came down to the midland from the forested hilly region in search of new
resources.292 Migration of women from the hilly region is specifically
mentioned in the text.293 Text also reveals migrations due to disturbances of
wild animals294 and migrations from the kutis.295 They migrated through the
region where other dialects were spoken.296 There are also references for
284 PN.138.1-3 āninam kaliththa āthar pala kadanthu māninam kaliththa malai pinnozhiyz. 285 AN.17.15 chennila peruvazhi , PN.30.13. idapulaperuvazhi. 286 AN.168 chiruneri. 287 K N Ganesh, Lived Spaces in History: A Study in Human Geography in the Context of
Sangam Texts, Studies in History.25,2[2009].p.178, AN.344.6. 288 PP.2.9.2 kalludai neduneri pōzhnthu, PP.6 9.3 panichuram padarum AN.171.15,
PN.143.8. 289 PP.9.8.25 punalmali peryāru izhithanthānku, PN.42.19 malaiyil izhinthu mākkadal
nōkki nilavarai izhitharum palyāru pōla. 290 PN.391.9. 291 AN.21.5-6 chēynāttu chellal. 292 AN.25.22 kalmichai aruviya kādu iranthōr, AN .45. kāduiranthanar,
AN.1.19,AN.327.18 , AN.331.7-8. 293 AN.321.17, vēy uyar pirankal malai iranthōl. 294 AN.52.7. 295 AN.77.5-6 yānkanum kudipathi ppeyarntha chuttu udaimuthupāzh 296 AN.349.14 chel peyar thēyaththa churan iranthōr
95
desertions of settlements in the Kurinchi-Mullai zone due to such
migration.297 People were forced to migrate from their ūr298settlements due to
war299 or natuaral calamities. The chiefs who also conducted plunder raids
and burned the agriculture settlements and crops300.
The migration of people from the Kurinchi-Mullai zone to the river
valleys thus resulted in the production of operational and habitational spaces.
The migrant settlers began to clear and reclaim the biomass deposited and
silted areas in the river valleys and the estuarine plains. Hence, the formation
of river valley agriculture reveals the pattern of human movements and
developments of communication networks as well. Ūr settlements were also
the production localities in the riverine and wet land areas.
Mixed crops production spaces were also developed in the hinter lands
as well. The agriculture operations began to spread in the riparian terrains in
the midland. Wetland agrariculture operations began to be developed in the
river valleys and riparian areas. This development was on account of the
contact between the people who inhabited in the mountainous hilly-forested
back wood region on the one and the littoral coastal tracks on the other. The
proximity of these two terrains is somewhat so close in many part of the West
Coast. The relations that developed between the people of these two regions
through exchange of goods and human movements resulted in the
development of the midland as a region for cultivation and settlement.
The early migrants settled in the river valleys and water logging areas
were the people who inhabited in the chirukutis in the Kurinchi- Mullai region 297 AN.77.13-14. 298 AN.166.10 ūr ezhunthu ulriya. 299 PP.2.9.16,PP.6.4.12 300 Rajan Gurukkal, ‘Historical Antecedents’ in P J Cherian [ed], Perspectives on Kerala
History,op.cit.,p.35.
96
and subsisted on tina and varaku. The technologies of production and know
how of agrarian operations they possessed at the Kurinchi-Mullai region also
travelled along with the migrants to the midland.
Occupation and Settlements in the Midland
The movements of the people from the hilly mountainous region resulted in
two important developments in the midland region: settlements near water
sources and the formation of extensive cultivation area.301 These human
movements for appropriation of resources and lands across micro – eco
zones302 resulted in the formation of kutis and ūrs in the mid land. The
expansion of agriculture and the formation of settlements on the riversides in
the midlands and on the estuarine area point to the trans- tinai nature of
settlements and cultivation process.303 Expansion of agriculture practices from
mountains and hills to the mid lands and estuarine area was a process by
which the shifting cultivation spread to the elevated regions and the hill slopes
in the midland. Mountain paddy now began to be cultivated in the elevated
area in the midland.304
Rivers subjected to floods and water logging called punal or vellam.
Flood carried silt [ekkal] that was deposited in the riverbanks.305 Water laden,
swampy areas were brought under cultivation called tannadai or tanpanai.306
Silted areas and flood plains on the river valleys like Periyar307 , Bharatapuzha
301 K N Ganesh, Representations of Nadu in Early Tamil Songs, Perspectives.
Vol.2.No.2.p.5. 302 Ibid. 303 Ibd.,pp.4-5. 304 AN.397.Pul vilaivethirai nel vilai kātu. 305 K N Ganesh, Representations of Nadu,op.cit.,pp.2-3 306 Ibid. 307 PP.3.8.10 karai nivanthu izhi tharu nananthalai ppēriyāttu.
97
and Pampa308 etc began to be occupied and cultivated. Forested area on these
riverbanks, and the marshy and water logging plains in the estuarine region
[kāyal309] were to be brought under cultivation by way of slash and burn and
reclamation means. The biomass in the flood plains on these riversides and
silted areas310 in the estuarine tracks were also cleared and reclaimed for
cultivation as part of this process.311
Thus, new landscape was formed on the river valleys, water logged
areas, riparian plains and estuarine regions. The agricultural tracts so created
are called kazhani312 and vayal.313 Organized form of paddy cultivation in
these river valleys required the efficient water management and the systematic
preparation of land. Use of extensive water management devices and efficient
ground preparations made these lands conducive for production operations in
this region.314 The use of water spaces and systematic water management that
turned the wetland315 a congenial terrain for cultivation of paddy, sugarcane
and multicultural produces.
308 AN.246.6 pozhil akal yāru 309 AN.366.5. 310 PN.366.20 nīrnilaiperiththa vārmanaladaikkarai. 311 Ibid. 312 PP.2.3.13. viripūnkazhani, PP.5.10.3. Karumabamaikazhani, AN.326.6.Irunkathir
kazhani, AN.156.13,226.5 . PN.57.6 kathirkazhani, [kazhani form of land can also can be seen in the neythal region PN.209.2 neythalankazhani]. PN.266.6 niīthikazh kazhani, PN.387.35-36 pallūr chuttiya kazhani, PN.396.3 kazhichuttiya vilai kazhani, AN.96.8 kazhani ampaapai
313 PP.2.3.1 thoruththa vayal, PP.3.9.3. mudanthai nellin vilaivayal, PP.4.13.mudanthai nellin kazhayamal kazhani, PP.4.10.5. vilai vayal, AN.306.5 valavayal, PN.15.4 vilai vaya,PN.16.3-4.
314 K N Ganesh, Lived Spaces in History: A Study in Human Geography in the Context of Sangam Texts, Studies in History.25,2[2009].p.174.
315 Ibid.
98
Landscape and Production of Productive Spaces
The riverine areas316 were occupied and settled by the people who migrated
from the high land, i.e. the people who lived in the chirukuti called
chirukutimākkal like Vēdar, Āyar and Kuravar.317 Nīrthurai318 is the wetland
space in the riverside, which had been reclaimed for occupation and
settlemnts. These lands were reclaimed from the marshy and waterlogged
areas called pazhana poikay319 and nīrmuthir pazhanam.320 The flood areas in
the riversides are known as punal or puthupunal.321 The reclaimed land space
for cultivation was known as vaipu.322 Flood regions were also reclaimed.323
The flatlands in the river valleys and littoral tracts are called parappu. The
shrubbed vegetation called pothumbu in the wet lands was also made
cultivable tracts.324 An area laid in between two slightly elevated land spaces
was called kōdu.325 Settlements were made in the riversides.326
Settlements near water sources began to be spread.327These settlements
are known as ūr328, punal ūr329 or chirūr.330 We come across the terms like
Uzhavar, Thozhuvar and Vinainjar etc to denote the settlers. The major 316 AN.246.6 pozhil akal yāru. 317 K N Ganesh, Kēralathinte Innalakal,[ second edition] , op. cit., p.61 318 PP.3.7.6. 319 AN.96.3, AN.276.1 nīl irum poykai. 320 AN.46.4. 321 PP.9.8.25, AN.266.2 322 AN.255.10 ‘punalvaipu’,PN.341.19 menpula vaippin. 323 AN.266.2 puthupunal. 324 AN.256.1 . 325 AN.266.1. 326 PP.3.10.21 chezhumpalvaippin. 327 AN.336.10. 328 PN.285.14-15 329 AN.116.4. 330 PN.65.5.
99
challenge the settlers had to confront was to manage the flood water331 and set
the riparian space for agriculture operations. The efficient water management
made these spaces the fields of permanent agricultural operations.332 Hence,
much labour and attention was required to control as well as to manage the
waterscapes. These land spaces became more arable and fertile because of the
biomass deposited sedimentation and intervention of human labour for
cultivation.333 The garden land for sugarcane cultivation and paddy fields
created from these lands spaces334. There are vivid representation of land and
water335indicating the importance given to production operations.
Land, Water Management and Water Harvesting Structures
Many of water management devices were invented because of the efforts
made by the settlers. The river water was drawn away by making channel
called vāy.336 Chiray was also built to store water for irrigation purpose.337
Bunds were created for the management of water.338 Vāy and chiray are
important water management system by which excess water was drawn away
and water was stored in reservoirs. Thōdu was a small stream339 usually
located near productive spaces like paddy fields. New land spaces were
created as a result of the process of reclaiming the land called pulam, pulam is
the fertile arable agriculture tract.340 When the pulam was used for agriculture
331 PP.3.10.7 vendalai chembunal paranthu, PP.5.3.15 arunjelar pērāttinurunkarai. 332 AN.306.5 nīrchūzh valavayal. 333 AN.126.8. 334 AN.256.14-15 palpūnkazhani karumbu amalpadappai. 335 PN.18.21-22. 336 PP.3.7.9. poykai vāyil punalporu puthavin, AN.155.9 koduvāy pattal. 337 PP.3.10.1819 vellaththulchchirai kol, AN.76.11, AN.346.9 val vāy kodumchirai. 338 AN.346.9 valvāy kodumchirai, PN.18.28-29. 339 PN.9-10.vanthōtttupinanku kathirkazhani, PN.338.9-10 vanthōttu pinankukathir
kazhani. 340 PP.3.5.4 mā ādiya pulam nānchil āda.
100
operation, especially for paddy cultivation, this land space became nilam, ie,
cultivated field.341 Kazhani342 which denotes attract of land in water logging
region is also mentioned in texts.343
When new riverine and riparian areas were reclaimed, the space
becomes kazhani, ie, the wet land near water source in the ūr.344 These
kazhanis were used to cultivate the paddy345. This process began to spread
into the hinterlands and hence kazhani can be seen in the elevated paddy
cultivating areas in the midland.346 Vayal is also the wet land meant for paddy
cultivation347. Pallam348 is wet land located in between two elevated areas in
the midland region where paddy was cultivated. Other spaces of cultivation
were emerged in the form of padappai.349 Padappai often occurred adjacent
to vayal in the wetland.350
Kazhi is saltpan and there existed paddy field near saltpan in the
Neythal region.351 This shows agricultural space352 spread in the coastal
region.353 Pulam can be seen as a fertile agriculture space354, menpulam is wet
341 PP.2.9.17. Nilam kan vāda. 342 PP.2.3.13. viripūnkarumbinkazhani, PP.4.2.13. mudanthai nellin kzhaiyamal kazhani,
PP.5.10.3. karumbamal kazhaniye. 343 PN.385.9 nelvilaikazhani. 344 AN.387. pallur chuttiya kazhani. 345 AN.326.6 irunkathir kazhani. 346 AN.13.17-19 valavayal kazhaninel, AN.41.4-7. 347 AN.306.5 nīrchūzh valavayal. 348 PN.1871-4. 349 AN.146.4Padappai nanni.PN.197.10 350 AN.96.8 Kazhani am padappai. 351 AN .40.1 kānalmālaikazhi , PN.209.2 neythalankazhani nellari thozhuvar, AN .20.5
kodungazhi. 352 PN. 396.3 kazhichuttiya vilaikazhani. 353 PN.388.1-2 vilaivayal pallam. 354 PP.3.5.1, PP.3.3.3, PP.6.8.15.
101
land agricultural zone355 and vanpulam is multi-production zone.356
Punpulam is meant for the place where agriculture does not occur or waste
land.357 In the wetland region, water sources near paddy fields are known as
pazhanam358, poykai359, aruvi360 and kayam.361 Kuvam and kinar362 are other
sources of water. Chirai363 was a form of permanent water source and it was
constructed by making bund across the water channel.364 There developed
natural or man-made water harvesting structures, which were indispensible
part of the settlements and cultivation operations in both wetland and laterite
areas.
Uzhavar and the Cultivation Operations
The people who subsisted on cultivation in the lands so reclaimed / created
were called ērin vāzhnar or Uzhavar365, ie, people subsisted on plough
agriculture. They are also known as kazhani uzhavar.366 Hence, Uzhavar
become an important occupational group in the wet land region367 who
355 PN.384.1. 356 PN.146.4, PP.209.6 menpulavaippin nannāttupporuna,PN.42.17-18. PN.395.1-2 menpulaththu vayaluzhavar vanpulaththu pakadu viduka. 357 AN.284.7 punpulam thazhiyiya porai mutal chirukudi. 358 AN.46.4, 106.1, 136.4, nīrmuthir pazhanam, AN.96.3 pazhana poykai. AN.176.7
pazhanam,AN.226.5, AN.256.6 thīm perum pazhanam, AN.6.16. 359 AN.276. nīl irum poykai. 360 PN.229.14 Paraiyichai aruvi, PP.8.8.2 avellaruvi. 361 Ibid.p.174. AN.186.5 kayam, AN.25.1. 362 PN.331.1-2 kallaruththiyattiya valluvarkūval, PN.392.13 ūrunkēni, PN.371.1 kalarpadu
kūvai thōndi, AN.68.2 than ayam, AN.155.10 kūval thōndi, AN.321.8. 363 AN.76.11. 364 K N Ganesh, Lived Spaces in History: A Study in Human Geography in the Context of
Sangam Text, Studies in History,op.cit., p.169. 365 PN.33.2-3. 366 AN.216.9. 367 AN.35,6 er vāzhkai, AN.37.2 kalimakizh uzhavar.
102
managed the production operations. The land called kazhani or vayal was
prepared for paddy cultivation. As these land spaces were silted368 and
riparian, organic and fertile condition of the fields were so fit for paddy
cultivation.369 The field was divided into a number of marked plots370 and the
boundaries of the plots were marked by varambu.371 These plots ploughed
with iron ploughshare called nānchil.372 The plough marks were called
kozhuvazhi373 or chāl.374 Animals like oxen375 and sometimes donkeys376
were used to plough the lands.377 Buffaloes were used to plough the land in
waterlogged areas in the riverine and estuarine plains.378 Selection of good
quality of buffaloes was important for ploughing the waterlogged areas.379
The terms such as pūttu, uzhu 380and uzhupadai381were used to denote
ploughing.382
The muddy area was cleared by a devise called thalambu.383 There is
reference to the different aspects of ploughing384and sowing the seed.385 The
368 AN.25.5 ekkar,aral and viravumanal. 369 AN.156.3. 370 AN.336.17 kazhani karumgōdu. 371 PN.98.varambu anainthu iranku kathir alam varu kazhani, AN.13.20 cheruvin
varambu. 372 PN.120.3 pūzhi mayanka pala uzhuthu viththi, PN.20.11. 373 PP.6.8.17 nānjilādiya kozhuvazhi. 374 PN.35 uzhupadai yūntru chāl. 375 PP.3.7.11,PN.322.1 uzhuthūr kālai. 376 Pp.3.5.4,PN.15.2. 377 PP.6.8.16 chirudai palpakadu olippapūtti. 378 AN.146.1-4. 379 PN.289.1-2 palleruthullum nalleruthu nōkki viru vīrāyum uzhavan pōla. 380 AN.26.24-25 381 PN.35 uzhupadai yūntru chāl marunkin intrathan payan. 382 Ibid,PN.13.11-12. 383 PN.61.3 thalambu thadinthitta. 384 AN.41.4-7.
103
paddy seed was planted in the fields.386 The land produce and tree produce
were called payan387and the riped paddy was called kathirmuthal.388 Certain
people called kāvalar are appeared to have employed to protect the paddy
field.389 The harvesting of paddy is referred to in the texts.390 The harvested
paddy391was brought and put in a threshing ground called kalam392or nilai.393
The oxen were also used to separate the paddy [azhiththal] from its straws
[pōrppu] and sifting grains for shaft was another task394.This was usually
done by way of showering against wind was called kadunkātteriya.395The
grains sifted and processed thus were preserved in spaces called kalam. As
such kalam functioned as a centere of redistribution space.396 Women played
very important role in the process of agriculture operation from planting the
seedlings to the husking the paddy.397 The elders among the Uzhavar were
called naraimūthālar.398 It was the leadership of these elders that much of the
agricultural operations were conducted. Juniors [ilaiyar] must have been
employed to conduct the agriculture operations in addition to women in the
extended kin group.
385 PN.120.1-8. 386 PN.18.24. vittivanōkkum,PN.127.4-5 thuvantiya kayathitta vittum 387 AN.136.6. 388 AN.156.4. 389 AN.156.4 390 AN.40.12-13 kazhani vel nel arinar,AN236.4 vel nel arinar. 391 AN.156.3 chezhunjey nel. 392 PN.30.8-9 perumkalam thokuththa vuzhavar pōla,171.9 kalamali nellin 393 AN236.5. 394 AN.366 kadunkāttu eriya pōkiya. 395 AN.366.4. 396 AN.366.1-3 nīr chūzh viyan kalam poliya pōrpu azhiththu.PN.33.5 kalakkol vennel
mukanthanar koduppa. 397 PN.61,1 kondai kkūzhaithandazhai kadaichiyar. 398 AN.366.
104
Spread of cultivation in the vayal and kazhani399 in riverine and
riparian area also indicates the proliferation of settlements of the Uzhavar.
These settlements are called ūrs400 or pākkam401 and those who lived in ūrs
and managed the process of cultivation in the wet lands are called ūran.402
The appearance of ūran indicates proliferation of agrarian settlements403 and
the organization of agriculture activities in the ūr settlements.404 Hence, ūran
can be a person holding certain power over the ūr and its settlers from among
them chiefs must have emerged. Ūran and other dominant groups lived in the
structured houses like manai or later when chiefs grew themselves they lived
in nakar. The socio-economic status of the people of the ūr settlements were
determined on the basis of the structure of the houses in the ūr settlements.
Evidences show paddy cultivation spreading in these settlements.405
Paddy is differently termed as chennel406, pazhamchennnel407,
chezhumcheynel408 and pal pazhanel409 to show varieties of paddy cultivated.
The term yānar indicate the spread of these agrarian settlements and the
production of surplus in the ūr settlements in wetland region.410 This also
indicates the spread of cultivation of paddy, sugarcane and other multi culture
399 AN.226.5 pazhana painchay kezhuthi kazhani, 326.6 irunkathir kazhani. 400 AN.336.10 thīm perum poykai thurai kēzh ūran. 401 AN.245.13. 402 PN.49.1 ūran enkō, AN.236.4 akal vayal yānar ūra, AN.246.4 mali nīr akavayal yānar
ūra. 403 PN.346.11 paya kēzh ūra, AN.356,13 nedunkathir nellin vallam kizhavōn. 404 AN.S6.8 thanthurai ūran, AN.106.5 thurai kēzh ūran. 405 PN.387.35-36. pallūr chuttiya kazhani ellām vilaiyum nellinum. 406 AN.116.2 407 AN.126.10-11. 408 AN.156.3. 409 AN.166.4. 410 AN.226 yānar ūra.
105
produces411 in these settlements. The expansion of agriculture resulted in the
formation of certain concept regarding the extent of cultivated land as well as
a measurement of land called vēli.412 The term padappai points to the
development of multicultural garden413 and mixed crops cultivation
spaces.There is reference to the padappai near water logging area, indicating
the coexistence of paddy cultivation and the multi culture garden produces.414
Yet another produce cultivated as multi culture crop is kol [horse gram] which
is mentioned in the text.415 There is an agrarian imagery in the text in which
sugarcane is brought from the hilly-forested area to cultivate in the wetland
area in the midland.416 Paddy is also brought from the stock of mountain
paddy cultivated in the hill slopes.
The extension of cultivation in padappai indicates the development of
garden cultivation in the laterite area called parambu. The floral richness like
fruit bearing trees417 also indicates this development. Cultivation of mono
crops like paddy and sugarcane, multi culture operations in padappai and
parambu made possible the further spread of ūr settlements in the midland.
The spread of mono crops and multi culture cultivations resulted in the
development of auxiliary occupations like craft and metalwork and exchange
of produces including the spices and forest produces collected.
Kuti and the Qestion of Labour
The agrarian operations and settlements in the river valleys, estuarine lands
and in the laterite areas also reveal the nature of production process that 411 AN.256.14-1. 412 PN.391.21 nin vayal vēli āyiram vilaika. 413 AN.146.4 padappai nanni,PN.375.9-10 yānar varaiyani padappai. 414 PN.98.20 perumpunar padappai. 415 PN.105.5 kolluzhu viyan pulathu uzhaikōlaka. 416 PN.99.2 arumperal marapin karumpu ivan thanthum. 417 AN.166.1 kuzhi iya nal maram.
106
required the multiple co-operation of people engaged in the different phases
of agriculture operations. This evolved certain form of division of labour in
the agrarian settlements. Gendered labour also began to be appeared in the
production process in these settlements. The settlements of the people who
subsisted on cultivation are called ērin vāzhnar kuti.418 The term kuti is to
denote the settlements of the cultivators and other occupational groups and
their life activities. It is a habitation as well as operational category denoting
the spatiality of settlement and labour aspect of life activity. The people
engaged in the ploughing activities were called Kalamar.419 Harvesting was
done by the group called Thozhuvar420 or Arinar.421 There are people
engaged in separating the paddy from its hays.422 The people who conducted
the labour activities in agricultural operations thus came to be known as
vinainjar and Arinar.423 Vinai stands for labour.424 Thozhil and chey are used
to denote the labour activities. There are indications regarding the importance
given to the socially necessary labour.425 The term Thozhuvar also makes
sense of the people who engaged in the auxiliary activities to agriculture
production426 like craft and metal working. The persons working as a craft
men are also mentioned in the text.427
418 PN.375.5. 419 AN.366.3 kal ār kalamar. 420 PN.209.2 neythalamkazhani nellari thozhuvar. 421 PN.348.1 vennellarinar. 422 AN.AN.366.3. pakadu thalai mātti. 423 AN.236.4 vel nel arinar. 424 AN.116.2 kāl kuvitta vinainjar, PN.388.10-11 vinai pakadu ēttam ezhī ikkinai. 425 PN.366.10-13. 426 PN. 209.2. 427 AN.356.9 chirukarōdan.
107
Women in the Labour Process
Women who engaged in direct agriculture operation and fishing are also
mentioned. Women did planting the paddy, weeding, harvesting, husking428
and fishing in the inland water429 . Gradually, they were attributed low social
or economic status or generally the low born status. There were women who
engaged in domestic labour.430 There is a reference to the weaving woman in
the text. This indicates the cotton texture must have been done mainly by
women.431 Certain people who were employed to protect the paddy field
called Kāvalar. There is a term called pathan eliyōr indicating the low status
of the people432 including women, likely to be employed in the agricultural
operations and other auxiliary activities. They received grains as reward of
their labour.433 Subsistence on a low-grade paddy called chilpatham is
revealed in the text.434 The women of the Pānar clan in the midland region
subsisted on inland fishing.435
References to impoverished clans436 who engaged in the agricultural
operations and settled din kutis indicate growth of socio-economic
differentiation. Migrants originally settled themselves as uzhavar. They
created and extended the productive spaces. It is possible that predatory chiefs
raided and plundered their settlements with the result that the latter were
subordinated. The settlers thus subordinated ultimately turned themselves as
428 AN 286.1 velli vizhuththodi ulakkai, kuruthal, PN.399.2 thodiman pathu oū ulakkai
kuttarichi. 429 AN.216.1 mīnkol pānmakal 430 PN.399.1 adumakal mukantha alavā vennel. 431 PN.125.1 pariththi pendin panuval anna. 432 PN.35.15 pathan eliyōr. 433 PN.387.25 manaikkala marodukalam. 434 AN.316.13 chil patham kozhiththu thām attu undu . 435 AN.196.3 noduththundādi. 436 PN.230.13 vīzhkudi uzhavan.
108
permanent laboring groups in the ūr settlements.437 The term izhichinan438
was important in this context as it was used to denote the low social and
cultural status of such people and they were treated as izhipirappālan439, clans
of lowborn origin.440 They were denied to posses the productive lands and
remained landless441as many of their original settlements and productive lands
were lost in plunder raids of the war chiefs and their kinsmen. Those who
possessed the productive lands and other material resources came to be called
uyardōr/mēlōr, the high born442 and they lived in manai.443 Their residences
were rich in resources and termed valamanai, wealthy houses.444
Multiple Economies and its Uneven Development- the Ūrs and Nātus
The above analysis shows that the natural resource regions in the period of
classical Tamil texts are forest, pasture and sea.445 Forest was termed as kātu,
kānal and irumpu. Pasturelands were also known as itam. Kātu and irumpu
were associated with the mountainous hilly-forested region while the kānal
was with shrubbed vegetation in the coastal area. We also come across the
process that the different modes of resource use were developed that enabled
to appropriate the various resources in the multiple economies that existed
and developed unevenly. The productive landspaces, forest, pasture lands,
sea, flora and founa, and auqua – biotic marine spicies became the object of
the labour of the inhabitants in each eco- zone. The use of resources like the
437 PN.327.5 thannūr chirupullālan. 438 PN.82.3 kattil ninakkum izhichinan, PN.289. 439 PN.170.5. 440 PN.364.14 izhipirappinōn īyapettu. 441 Rajan Gurukkal, Aspects … , op. cit., p.223. 442 ibid. 443 PN.338.2 nel malintha manai. 444 PN.354.6. 445 K N Ganesh, Representations of Natu …, op.cit., p.3.
109
landscape and the floral wealth for organized production took place in the
hilly back wood region called tina – varaku zone where shifting cultivation
was practiced.
Human movements and communication networks towards the midland,
especially to the river valleys and estuarine areas were corresponded to the
expansion of floral wealth and cultivation process across micro- eco zones.
The ‘garden’ cultivation existed in the mullai- kurinchi region indicated by
the term padaippu was also expanding to the midlands and littoral tracks,
pointing to the trans - tinai nature of the human movements and floral
wealth.446 Migration of people and their settlements in the river valleys,
water-laden areas and laterite parambus in the midland also indicate the
transition of resource use from the tina - varaku cultivation to the wetland
paddy cultivation in the river valleys and water logging areas and to the hinter
lands where multi culture operations were also developed in parambus.
The agrarian operations in the lands set by siltation and flood in the
river valleys and riparian region involved the utilization of labour for water
management and the reclamatory activities. It led to the formation of wet land
agriculture with utilization of new labour force.447 Trans – tinai nature of use
of resource and landscape for production was corresponded to a settlement
pattern of specific kind spreading across micro – eco zones. Settlements and
habitats in the Kurinchi – Mullai zone involving hunting, punam cultivation
and cattle keeping was termed as chirukudi448 and kurampai449 respectively.
446 Ibid.,p.4. 447 Ibid. 448 The chirukuti was normally situated in the slopes of the hills in the Kurinchi –Mullai
zone [AN.218.22 thanperunchāral, AN.118.3-4 and AN 192.12 peruvare chirukuti]. The people who inhabited in the chirukuti were known as chirukutiyān [AN.228.13 perunkal yānar thamchirukutiyān. AN.315.18 kānkezhuvāzhnar chirukutiyān]
The chirukuti is a resource rich settlement having the new yielding including agriculture [AN.228.13 ‘…..yānar …….chirukuti…]
110
The settlements in the littoral tracts were also called chirukuti.450 The other
terms for house are manai451, illam 452or il453, chittil, [small house454], nal il
[good house]455 and chēri.456 A number of settlements or kuti formed part of
an ūr. Hence the most archaic and basic geographic unit in the Samgam age in
this region was ūr [village].457 An ūr consisted of number of kutis called
It was the people who lived in chirukuti in forested back wood region that they engaged
in hunting, gathering and agricultural practices side by side. There also existed the chirukuti surrounded by punpulam / waste land [AN.288.7 punpulam thazhiyiya poraimuthal chirukuti.
448 PP.6.9.7 iraval mākkal chirukuti] .There are chirukutis of lesser bards448too [PP.6.9.7 iraval mākkal chirukuti].
449 PN.332.2 kurambaikūrai, AN.63.14 cherukāl kurambai, AN.129.6 kalchērpu iruntha karuvāy kurambai, AN.129.6 pāzh ūr kurambai. AN.315.16, AN.210.1 kuriyirai kurampai.
thanperunchāral, AN.118.3-4 and AN 192.12 peruvare chirukuti]. [AN.228.13 perunkal yānar thamchirukutiyān. AN.315.18 kānkezhuvāzhnar chirukutiyān]
The chirukuti is a resource rich settlement having the new yielding including agriculture [AN.228.13 ‘…..yānar ….chirukuti…]
The people lived in chirukuti in forested back wood region that they engaged in hunting, gathering and agricultural practices side by side. There also existed the chirukuti surrounded by punpulam / wasteland [AN.288.7 punpulam thazhiyiya poraimuthal chirukudi.
449 PP.6.9.7 iraval mākkal chirukuti] .There are chirukutis of lesser bards449too [PP.6.9.7 iraval mākkal chirukuti].
450 AN.290.8 chirupal tholkuti perunīr chērpan, AN.20.11-12 ‘ a valai parathavar kānal am chirukuti, AN.269.21-22 ‘ cherunīrkānal thazhiyiya irukkai vānavan chirukuti, AN.270. pula al marukin chirukuti pākkaththu inamīn vēttuvar.
451 AN.224.11, AN.232.10, AN.254.5, 452 AN.141.3 punaivinai illam.PN.116.5, PN 329.1. 453 PP.331.5. 454 PN.85. em il, PN.86.1 ‘chittil nattūn. 455 PP.9.10.45 kūzhudai nal il. 456 AN.76.2, AN.91.1-2 pulālamchēri pulvē kurampai, AN.347.6. 457 PP.2.5.18 muzhavu imizh mūthur,PP2.9.16 ūr udan ezhunthu,PN.387.35-36 pallūr
chuttiya kazhani, PN.342.11, PN.110.3, PN.285.14-15, AN.96.8 kazhani am padappai kānchi ūra, AN.246.4 mali nīr akal vayal yānar ūra, AN .256. There is a vivid picture of the ūr called pontha of Neduvel Athan PN.338.4.PN.84.4 kallen pērūr, ‘sometimes there is reference to nallūr/ good ūr PN.343.17 nedunal ūr , PN.345.20 ippanai nallūr .
111
chirūr458 and a larger village was mūthūr.459 The ūr is a locality where
different lived spaces of various clans are embedded.460 Ūrs as localities of
lived spaces were trans - tinai in its location and identified with operational
[hunting and gathering, punam cultivation, fishing, salt manufacturing, and
wetland agriculture etc.] and habitational spaces [like kuti, chēri and pati]
exchange, cultural and ritual forms.461 Therefore ūr was subjected to
transition in accord with changes in production of subsistence and surplus and
its re /distribution in each eco zone.
Ūr, kuti and chirukuti are associated with nātu in the Kurinchi- Mullai
zone.462 A number of ūrs around hills constituted a nātu within the forest
[kādu]463 , but there was no clear distinction between nātu and kādu as the
former remained subsumed by the latter.464 However, the relation of kādu to
nātu indicates the difference between the food gathering and food production
in the kurinchi – mullai zone. Nātu became a resource region for food
production. Natu can also be seen in both menpulam and vanpulam and
vanpulam is a multi production zone, which includes forest, is also meant for
the food gathering and food production spaces.465 Hence, the formation of
nātu is related to the process of shifting cultivation and garden produces in the
kurinchi-mullai zone. It was also related to the settlements of inhabitants who
458 AN.63.13 kal en chīrūr, AN.104.10-1I , AN.129.11, PN.143.9-10, PN.170.2 ānkuti
chīrūr, PN.197.13 chīrūr mannan,PN.322.7, PN.314.4 vanpula chīīrūr,PN.328.2 punpula chīrūr.
459 PP.2.5.18 muzhavu imizh mūthur, PP.3.10.20, AN.218.19 ambal mūthur, AN.342.6 ā kol mūthūr kalvar perumakan, AN .122.1, PN.350.2 karuvāy mūthūr, PN.391.9-10 muthukudi nananthalai mūthūr.
460 K N Ganesh, Lived Spaces in History, op.cit., p.189. 461 ibid. 462 They are kuntru natu, kuntru kezhu natu, perumalai natu, perunkal natu, kurumporai
natu, etc, K N Ganesh, Representations of Natu …..op.cit.,p7.5. 463 PP.2.5.16-17,PP.4.8.3, PP.7.colophone.4, PP.9.5.1 464 AN.22.1-2,AN.128.10 465 K N Ganesh, Representations of Natu.. , op.cit., p.6.
112
involved in the production of tinai- varaku and garden produces and auxiliary
occupations in the Kurinchi Mullai region. The term nādan466 indicates the
emergence of chiefs in the tina- varaku region under nādu, a tendency that
developed to imaging a political territory in the kurinchi-mullai zone by
subsuming the category tinai467eco zone. The predatory marches of the chiefs
are vividly represented in the texts.
The movement of people to the river valleys, creation of wetlands and
production in kazhani and vayal, in addition to multicultural operations, made
possible the proliferation ūr settlements in the river valleys. Expansion of
agrarian settlements along the river valleys indicates the development of the
prosperious village settlements as operation cum habitation spaces as well as
surplus producing localities. This process evolved a social division of
gendered labour process in these localities. However, the familial kin relations
could not have been detached from the labour process. It was from these
surpluses producing ūr settlements that the dominant persons developed from
ūrans who made certain control over the cultivating kutis. Production and
distribution of agrarian resources in these ūr settlements made these
settlements to connect and interlock each other. This resulted in the
consolidation of these localities under a territory of resource region called
nātus in the midland.468
These agrarian localities became the base of the political territories of
the chiefs called Kizhār469, Vēlir [hill chieftains470] and Vēntar.471 The
466 AN.4.13 kurumporai nādan, AN.22.1-2 aruvikkan kezhu nādan, AN.128.10 kāna
nādan,AN.138.14 nanmalai nādan, AN.148.6 perumpunam vavvum nāda, AN.222 perumalai kāna nādan.
467 Ibid, p.6. 468 AN.236.17 nāttin nāttin ūrin ūrin. 469 Kizhar are the low land chiefs of small settlements, though hunter chiefs, sometimes,
they held sway over agrarian tracts and maintained predatory control over other
113
chiefdom of Āys in the south, Chēras in the middle region who centered on
the trade settlements like Thondi, Muziris and Nannan in the north on the ēzhi
hill472, are best example for the process of the domination of such chiefs over
the production localities and cultivating kutis in both wet land and parambu
areas. This process of political formation was corresponded to the
development various forms of resource appropriations in multiple economies.
Continuity and Change
The terms denoting land and labour are indicative of the agrarian production
in which the formation of different operational land spaces related to
agricultural activities in both alluvial and laterite area is produced by human
beings as part of their involvement in the labour process. Therefore, the
labour activity for agriculture production and the production of landscape for
cultivation is a complementary process where the production operations and
formation of settlements get converged. The terms signifying land and labour
appeared in the inscriptions from the first half of the ninth century C E
indicate the process of continuity of agrarian production and formation of
settlements from early historical period. These terms must have attached to
the lands long before the transactions of these lands or the produce from such
lands was made and as such the inscriptions pertaining to such transactions
were produced. Hence these terms have a long historical past and continuity
settlements, Rajan Gurukkal and Raghava Varier [Eds], Cultural History of Kerala, op. cit., p.201.
470 Katiramalai, kollimalai, mutiramalai, kutiramalai, parampumalai, pothiyil malai, payirumalai and nanchimalai are important millat rich hill chiefdoms. The structure of political power of these hill chiefs were based on kinship, Rajan Gurukkal and Raghava Varier [Eds], Cultural History of Kerala, op.cit., pp.200-201.
471 The Chēras held sway over the kurinchi dominated zone of the Western Ghats towards sea. They started their predatory marches from the mountain region, by subjugating other chiefs, to the West and established a system in which a simple hierarchy was formed on redistributive political economy based on plunder raids, Rajan Gurukkal and Raghava Varier [Eds], Cultural History of Kerala, op.cit., pp. 202-205.
472 K N Ganesh, Keralathinte Innalakal,op.cit., pp.345-348.
114
to the period to which the epigraphical documents belong. This anteriority of
the terms and categories appeared in inscriptions pertain to settlements and
cultivation helps us to delineate the continuous process of occupation of river
valleys, water laden areas, marshy plains and estuarine areas. It also
highlights the formation of settlements and the continuation of cultivation in
these regions followed by the early historical period. In the following section,
an attempt is made to understand the natural specificity of the region, nature
of the location and varying significations of land and labour related to
production and habitation, followed by an analysis of production process
Ūrs were considered as the nerve centers of agrarian production and
settlements in post Sangam period in the region under discussion and,
therefore, an understanding of the nature of geographical terrains, land use
forms in the midland, estuarine areas, and littoral tracts are important. There
are two categories of land terms in our source material. One is the terms
related to natural geographical terrains including the water spaces and water
harvesting structures which must have necessary connection to what had
existed in the early historical period. Second is the operational land terms
developed as part of the labour process in agricultural operations which also
continued to exist up to the period when the epigraphical materials appear.
Many of the perennial rivers and streams are originating in the
mountains and hills, flowing through the hill slopes, connecting different ūr
settlements, reached either into backwaters or sea. Elevated terrains and hills
are also located in the midland. The midland, coastal plains and estuarine
areas are important where agriculture began to spread. The development and
expansion of agriculture practices centered on midland and the estuarine lands
made them a vast surplus generating region. The epigraphical material from
ninth to fourteenth century C E are important sources to reconstruct the
historical process under discussion and many of the features of this process in
115
the immediate post Sangam period are embedded in this source material itself.
The following attempt is to provide the nature of the land, labour forms and
agrarian production process from the period followed by the classical Tamil
texts to fourteenth century C E.
Land and Labour Terms: Embeddness of Production Process
Natural Spaces - Hills and Forest
Kuntram and malai are appeared as general terms in inscriptions to denote the
mountains-hills and elevated landscapes in the midland and malaipuram473and
venpamalai474 can be cited as cases in points. Sometimes kunnu, mala and
kuntram475 are used to denote the elevated areas. There are certain
malaimēlpadakāram, the padakāram land situated on a hill476,
venpāyamkuntranjīvitham, jivitham form of land located on hill slopes477.
Thazhuvankuntram478, malaiyum karaiyum479 , malaiyilkīzh480 ,ālakkādu and
malai481 are terms indicate the hill, forest and hill slops. Pukazhamalai and
kuntram are also mentioned482to denote this. The small hills and elevated
region are landscape found in midland region where the thick and dense
forests located and shifting cultivation practiced. This was also a space for
473 Tirikkakara Inscription of Indukothavarman, TAS.Vol.3.pp-171-173. [M G S
Narayanan, Index to Cera Inscriptions, A Companion Volume to Thesis on ‘The Political and Social Conditions of Kerala under the Kulasekharan Empire’, University of Kerala, 1972, Index A-26. Hereafter M G S, A,B,C.
474 Trikkakara inscription, M G S,A-25. 475 They are perinkamala, marunkamala, venpāykuntram, mutharkuntram and
venpāyikunnu, Devidevisvaram Plates, M G S,B-15. 476 Ibid. 477 ibid 478 Trikkakara Inscription,TAS.Vol.3.pp.188-189.[M G S,B-19] 479 TAS.Vol.3.No.7 [L] pp.46-49. 480 M G S,A-80.L.626. 481 M G S,A-80.L.554. 482 Adharam, op.cit.,
116
foraging activities. The major part of midland region during the early
historical period was almost a forested area. Our epigraphical references
reveal the importance of small hills and elevated regions in the midland and
estuarine areas. Migration of people to the river valleys and waterlogged areas
and to the estuarine region from mountains and hills resulted in the
settlements and cultivation in these regions. We find, in forgoing discussion,
that forested hillslopes in the midlands and estuarine areas began to be cleared
and cultivated from the early historic period itself and the continuation of
these process is inscribed in the epigraphical materials.
Forested area in this region during the early historical period was
variously known and represented as kādu, kanal and irumpu. The forested
region in the mountains and hills are kādu and irumpu while coastal
vegetation is kānal. Pasturelands are known as itam. Kādu is a term appeared
in our epigraphical documents to denote the thick forest in high ranges of
Western Ghats, hill slope forests, forested landscape in the midlands and the
shrub vegetations in the coastal region. Kādu terms appear to indicate not
only the forested region and shrub vegetation but to represent the cultivation
in the forested lands and foraging activities. It also makes sense of expansion
of cultivation in the midland river valleys and estuarine areas where the
forested landscape was cleared for cultivation and settlement. Kādēru is a
land term used to denote this process483 and certain vayalkādu484 is to suggest
the process of clearing the forested area to set paddy field or such lands
located near forested space. Shrub vegetation in the coastal region can be seen
in Kollam inscription and that must have been cleared and cultivation was
started. Similarly, the term kādumkarayum kazhiyum indicates forested land
space, paddy field and cultivable land lying adjacent to saltpan. The epithet
483 Tiruvattuvay inscription of Sthanu Ravi, TAS.Vol.2.no.9 [3] pp-85-86. 484 Kollam Inscription, TAS.Vol. 2 .No. 9 [2] pp.80-85
117
kādumkarayum also indicates the arable lands near riparian area which were
spaces of to the multi culture operation. The location of this inscription in a
water-laden area also points to the coastal vegetation and its transformation
into agrarian tracts. This process had been started from the early historical
period onwards and continuation of that process is revealed in inscriptions485.
Land terms with prefix kādu also indicate the existence of productive
spaces near the forest or the formation of such spaces out of forested area
because of slash and burn and forest clearance. A few kādu terms such as
mārakādu, cherumarakkādu, kayyikkāttu, kākkaikādu and chevvakkādu486 can
be cited as cases in point. Certain puraiyidam situated to the north of a kulam
and kachchikādu, kakkaikādu and chevvakādu mentioned in Chokkur
inscription reveal that forested area was being increasingly used for
cultivation and settlements.
Forested land space, vegetated terrain and floral wealth near
settlements were considered as a protected ecological niche and
palāvunkalamili and viyaimili are to denote this protected vegetation. Certain
chirupalāvinkulamili [the well and the land space covered by jackfruit trees]
and valankālmili487, protected vegetation with water source are mentioned.
Mili is a protected vegetation area in the midlands including the wetland
vegetated space. Kaiyanaikalmili488 indicates certain form of small reservoir
near protected vegetation. Certain miliyapazhanvilankādu489, a cultivation
area covered by shrubbed vegetation is also mentioned. It also indicates the
485 Ayiranikkalam inscription of Kota Ravi, Puthussery Ramachandran, Kerala
Charithrathinte Adisthana Rekhakal, State Institute of Languages, Thiruvanantapuram, [2007]No.8, p.21.
486 Chokkur Inscription, SII.Vol.7.No.173.p.72.[M G S,A-8]. 487 Ibid. 488 Manipuram Inscription, M G S,A-20. 489 Trikkakara Plate, M G S,A-28.
118
antiquity of an arable land, probably to early historical period, located near
protected vegetated area. The epithet mannanchēri
purayidamumathinukīzhmiliyālum 490 is protected vegetation near a compound
site. This reveals the relation that had existed between the forested land space
and the settlement area which made the cultivation and settlement specific to
each locality.
Nedunkādu and perumankādu491 indicate the large and dense forest
landscape in the midland. Mukkālizhaikādu492reveals the relation of forest to
the cultivable land space. This indicates the way in which the forested and
vegetated land spaces related to the making of livelihood forms. This would
suggest that the floral wealth of forested landscape and the making of land
spaces had been increasingly used for cultivation as part of the expansion of
cultivation into the laterite areas493 and the formation of settlements.
Certain izhikādu494and vettikarikkāttupūmi495 indicate the process of
slash and burn the forest for cultivation and the lands so created. This must
have been started in long historical past and continued to exist during the later
Chēra period as indicated by the epigraphical evidences. Certain
kulakkādu496, the land comprised of well and forested landscape used for
cultivation also indicate the process by which the forested area became part of
cultivable land space. Certain forested landspaces, perumanankādu,
490 Tiruvalla plates, M G S,A-80.L.263. 491 Nedumpuram Tali inscription of Kota Ravi, TAS.Vol.8.pp.43-44 ,MGS,A-9,Puthussery
Ramachandran, Kerala Charithrathinte Adisthana Rekhakal,op.cit.,No.10.pp.28-30 492 Manipuram inscription of Indu Kotha,M G S,A-20 493 Manipuram Inscription, M G S,A-20. 494 Chembra inscription, M R Raghava Varier, Kēralīyatha: Charithramānangal,[Vallathol
Vidhyapitam,1990], pp.119-134 495 Trikkakara Copper Plate of Indukothavarman, TAS.Vol.3.pp.161-169. 496 Nedumpuram Tali inscription of Indukothavarman, TAS.Vol.8.pp.41-42
119
marunkāduand perumbulam497 were forested landscapes used for productive
purpose. Certain kuzhaikkādu, kurandimankādu, pirayamankādu and
kudamanaikādu are mentioned in Devidevisvaram plates498 also indicate the
same process.
Certain karikkādu499 indicates the process of slash and burn the
forested area for cultivation. Mērumanaikāttu500 might have been a forested
space and cultivation began to be started along with formation of settlements.
Manaikādu indicates the clearing of forest for cultivation as well as
settlement. Kōthaiyūr vayilkādu501 indicates the clearing of forested area and
appropriation of floral wealth for cultivation on laterite and wet land regions
and formation of settlements. Kādumkaraiyumkaraipuraiyidavum and
kādumkarai502 indicate the process which brought the forest under cultivation
and formation of a compound site. The term karaipuraiyidam also indicates
the spread of multi crop cultivation and proliferation of settlements in the
laterite areas in the hinterlands. Certain kāttunilaththupurayidam503,
puraiyidam situated near forested land indicates the spread of settlements in
the forested region. Mannanchēri purayidamumathinukīzhmiliyālum points to
the protected vegetations and a compound site.504
There developed a process in which lands were reclaimed from
forested land spaces, vegetation in water laden areas and from estuarine
region. Early migrant settlers and settler cultivators or those people who had
497 Nedumpuram Tali inscription of Bhaskararavi, TAS.Vol.8.p.40. 498 Devidevisvaram Plates, M G S,B-15. 499 Trikkkakara inscription of Bhaskararavivarman, M G S,A-30. 500 Trikkakarai inscription of Bhaskararavivarman, TAS.Vol.2.No.7 [M] pp.48-49. 501 Tirumuzhikkalam inscription of Bhaskaravarman, TAS.Vol.2.No.,7 [K] pp.45-46. 502 Mampalli Plate, TAS.Vol.4.pp.72-82. 503 Tiruvalla Copper Plates, M G S, A-80. 504 Ibid, L.263.
120
been brought by the settlers must have cleared such vegetated areas. Tiruvalla
Copper Plate mentions such forest areas that had been cleared for
cultivation.505It also mentions certain people associated with these forested
area. Neythattalaimēkkāttu, may be a forested land space with cultivation
located adjacent to riverbank or estuarine area.506 Certain punnukādu507
points to the wetland vegetation. Talaipulam, kānjirakkādu508and araikkādu509
suggest the historic past of the term pulam and arable lands near forest.
Nelvāthilkādu and karavayalkādu510indicate the forested area where paddy
was cultivated. The transition of paddy cultivation from the hilly and
mountain region to the elevated area in the midland can also be seen in this
document.
The spread of paddy cultivation from mountain and hilly region to the
midland is very significant. The epithet karayum vayalum kādum ulladanga,
the land consisted of vayal, kara and kādu 511 reveals this transition process.
The location of Kizhumalainādu was in the forested hilly region and the land
term nelvāthilkādu suggests that the cultivation of nel / paddy in the kādu
region, the mountain paddy was cultivated in the mountainous-forested region
/ hill slopes. This area was brought under the Kizhumalainādu and became
part of a chērikkal land when the natu formation in this high land region was
505 Tiruvalla Copper Plates, M G S,A-80. They are:
āththirayarkādu,arikkāduvēzhkkai,ālaikkalpālaththinarukevēzhaikkādu,irudiyārkādu,kārekalilakkaithaikādu,kuzhikkādu,kulakkādu,kurakkōţţuvanji,kaithaikkādu,kothaikannārkādu,kōthaichēnthanārkādu,chankarārkādu,chiriyakādāy,chēriudaiyārkādu,njāralkādu,nedunkālināţţukānjirakkādu,paruţţikkādu,paruţţikkādumulmunai,penangādu,manimuzhangādu,veliyanārkādu, valiyakāday,vāyappāţţukādu and karakkādu.
506 Trikkulasekharapuram inscription, M G S, C-32. 507 Chennamangalam Inscription, TAS.Vol.6.Part.2.pp.189-190. 508 Nedumpuram Tali Inscription .TAS.Vol.8,No.33.p.41. 509 Nedumpuram Tali Inscription, M G S,C-38]. 510 Trikkadithanam Inscription, MG S, B- 20. 511 Trikkadithanam Inscription, M G S,B-20.
121
consolidated under kīzhumalai nāttudayavar.512 The process of clearing forest
for cultivation was continued during the thirteenth and fourteenth century,
kadankādu513 palakkādu514 manankādu515 pāthirikkādu516, mayakkalkādu and
pūthiyarkādu517 are indicative of this process.
Pullēlpaduvana518and perumpullēl519indicate large grazing lands. The
term vēli is also meant for pastoral common lands for grazing. The term stand
for the people associated to it or lands lying near grazing lands. Tiruvalla
Copper Plate mentions a few such land spaces.520 These spaces were also
used for foraging activities and pastoral people might have used these spaces.
Grazing lands were also important for agro-pastoral communities and we have
kīzhkuzhipāzhchelli and mēlkuzhipāzhchelli521, indicating the pastoral
activities in the mid land region.
The Production and Land Spaces
The terms that we find in the inscriptions either suffix or prefix such as kādu,
kara and turuththu indicate the forest clearing, reclamation of estuarine lands
and water-laden areas. This process would be clearer when we study the terms
related to agricultural operations in the mid land and estuarine areas. These
512 Ibid. 513 Tiruvalur Inscription of Kulasekharaperumal, TAS.Vol.4.pp.145-146. 514 Kollam Inscription of Ramar Thiruvadi, TAS.Vol.5 part.1.pp.40-46. KE 278 .M G S,A-
71, 1102 C E. 515 Nedumpuram Tali inscription of Ramakulashekharan, TAS.Vol.8.p. 42. 516 Perunjellūr Inscription, ADHARAM, Vol.1.Sept.2006.pp.75-82. 517 Sattankulangara inscription, TAS.Vol.4.pp.160-161. 518 Tirunandikara Inscription of Vikramadithya Varaguna, TAS.Vol.1.p.42. 519 Devidevesvaram plate, M G S, B-15.
520 M G S,A-80, they are ayyanveli, alaveli, izhinjinattukadaveli, kalankalveli, kalveli, kumanveli, chembakaveli, thevarveli, chaiththiyanveli, thazhaimuthaiyilkuzhiveli, naluveli, neduveli,pattarveli, palaiveli,punaiveli, perunkalveli, vazhaipalli irayinkaththanveli and chāttankāmanveli.
521 Kuravakavu temple inscription, M G S,B- 24,
122
terms represent a process by which the forested areas, river valleys, marshy
lands, flood plains, silted area and biomass formation in the waterlogged areas
in the midlands and estuarine regions were being cleared, harnessed and
reclaimed for cultivation. The forest was cleared for permanent agriculture
operations for multi crop cultivation. The conjoining together of kādu to the
terms denoting lands in these areas and terms signifying the agriculture
practices in the flood plains, waterlogged areas and estuarine regions indicate
the expansion of agriculture practices. Agriculture expansion in the mid lands
and estuarine areas are attested in these terms. It indicates the process by
which the forested area and marshy waterlogged wetlands and estuarine
regions were increasingly being brought for cultivation.
Grazing lands were also located near the forested areas and was
important space for agro-pastoral communities. Lands adjacent to water
sources like rivers, streams bunds, canals and estuaries were mostly used for
paddy cultivation. However, multi crop cultivation was also practiced in these
areas. Water sources like kulam and chira were located near mono - crops
and multi -culture lands. Flood plains, riverine and riparian regions, reclaimed
lands, elevated areas, foretasted land spaces and shrub vegetations were
mostly located in midlands and coastal plains. The conglomeration of these
land types, both in natural terrains and operational spaces, formed the
settlement pattern and production operations specific to the midlands. This
spatial specificity in the natural geographical region in the midland influenced
the operational spaces for agricultural production in laterite and alluvial areas.
Water Sources and Irrigation
In Sangam period, mountain streams were the main water sources of the
people who inhabited on mountain slopes and hills. Chinai was also a water
source in rocky areas. Kuvam and kinar were other sources of water. Chirai
was a form of permanent water source and it was constructed by making bund
123
across the water channel.522 In the wetland region, the water sources were
known as palanam, poykai and kayam.523 Puzha, thōdu, ār and aruvi indicate
the natural water channels like river and streams in the documents from ninth
century C E onwards. This also indicates riverside and riparian fertile lands
for cultivation in the midlands. Kulam, kinar, and chirai are the most common
water storing spaces.
In cultivable land and settlement area, whether it is in laterite zone or
alluvial area, water sources must have played a central role to sustain the
cultivation and the vegetation. Hence the habitation and settlement area like
kuti, ūr, chēri, mangalam or palli must have been situated near natural water
channels or artificial water spaces like kulam, kinar and chirai or other
manmade water sources. Kulam and kinar were important water harvesting
structures. Chirais are located in the confluence of settlements and agriculture
lands. Kulams, kinar and chirai can also be seen near the purayidams, the
compound sites. Epigraphical materials give us the following description of
waterscapes and water sources.
Certain temple land is said to have located in between udarār, a small
river, and kuttankōlanchira, a tank.524 The land situated in between a river
and a tank also reveals its importance as a large cultivating area. This also
indicates that occupation of riparian area and large scale cultivation by the
first half of the ninth century C E. Kulamuruthai, kulamili525, a purayidam to
the north of kulam [tank]526are indicative of this process. Certain
mēlkāniyārkulam, kōvankulam, kālanērikulam and kadalumkulam are stated
522 K N Ganesh, Lived Spaces in History: A Study in Human Geography in the Context of
Sangam Text, op.cit., p.169. 523 Ibid.p.174. 524 Irinjalakuda inscription of Sthanu Ravi, RVRIB.Vol.9.1.p.43. 525 Chokkur inscription, SII.Vol.7.No.173.p.72.[M G S,A-8]. 526 Ibid.
124
to have been existed in the southern part of this region527. Lands also located
near water sources like kulams.528
Vāy is used to denote the sluice and puthuvāy indicates newly formed
water channel or sluices for cultivation purpose.529 Kannan Purayan, the
udaiyavar of Kālkkarainadu granted the land known as vettikkarikkāttu and
Pulaiyar attached to it. The same was located west to vāykālchirai and east to
idaichchirai530 Vāykālchirai indicates vāykāl, a term meant for water
channel, sluice, drawing water from tank to the field.531 This also reveals that
despite the abundance of natural water channels, certain forms of manmade
irrigation techniques were built to facilitate the expansion of agriculture.
Certain puzhaimānjāmannu, land near a river532 and chiraithalai, land to the
side of a tank are also mentioned. Certain karaikādinulla kulam [karai, kadu
and kulam] indicating the cultivation on an elevated area near forested
landscape where a water source called kulam is situated.533 Certain land
situated on a riverside, puzhakarai534 shows the riverine wetland agriculture
that was expanding along with the formation of new settlements.
Devidevisvaram plates mentions certain kulam called pūlaikulam.535
It also mentions pūmannikulanilam, chenkulam nilam, cultivated lands
527 Paliyam copper Palate of Varaguna, Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.,No.77.pp.129-
133. 528 Parthivapuram plates of Kokkarunnadakar mentions kānjirakulam, painkulam,
venjaikulam,nedumankulam,perumkulam,kīzhkulam,kadalumkulam,mīnachchichirukulam and ilanjakulam, TAS.Vol.1.pp.15-34.
529 Nedumpuram tali inscription,M G S,A-9. 530 TAS.Vol.3.pp-161-169. 531 Mampalli plate mentions certain uthikkāthudavai, M G S,B-12. Certain vāyināl are also
mentioned in Manipuram inscription, M G S,A-20. 532 Trikkakara Copper Plate of Kannan Kumaran ,M G S,A.20. 533 TAS.Vol.3.No.40.pp.176-177. 534 Chokkiram inscription,SII.No.772.[AR.No.207/1895],M G S,C-17. 535 Devidevisvaram plates,M G S,B-15.
125
situated near a kulam suitable for wet land agriculture. Kulangaraipurayidam
, a compound site adjacent to a kulam and kulamadikkunnavanjīvitham, the
land set apart for the well diggers indicate the importance given to the wet
land agriculture and making of water sources like kulam. This is also meant
for well diggers who developed themselves as particular laboring group.
Certain chiramēlpurayidam536, a compound site is located near a tank
deserves attention. Certain kīzhthōdu, chiraikīzh and chadikulam537 reveal the
process of agrarian expansion along with the creation of water sources.
Thōdu538was an important form of water channel and thōttōdu,
thōttyoduthōttidai539, indicating the importance of water channel like small
streams.
Irappuzhai and karppuzhai were small rivers and tributarie.540
Karppuzhaikari, karpuzhaippallam and karpuzhaippanal541 indicate the
riparian lands near the tributaries of rivers. Sirumattapuzha 542,āttōdu thōttodu
karaiyum543, mēlānjipuzha and thōttippu544 are indicative of water channels.
Puzha, thōdu, ār and karai are river and streams indicate the water bodies and
wet land spaces lying adjacent to water bodies.
Painkulam545, kulam on a land space, also indicates certain habitation
space near a field. Kāraikādudaiyārkulam546, karaikādu is an agricultural tract
536 Ibid. 537 Fragmentary odd Plate of Mampalli, M G S,B-12[974. CE]. 538Tirumuzhikklam inscription, M G S,A-37. 539 Tiruvalla Plates,M G S,A-80. 540 Ibid. 541 Ibid. 542Trikkakara inscription of Bhaskararavivarman, TAS.Vol.3.pp.179-182. 543 Irinjalakuda temple inscription of Bhaskararavivarman, BRVRI.Vol.9.Part.1.p.51. 544Tirumūzhikkalam inscription of Bhaskaravarman, TAS.Vol.2.No. 7.[K]pp.45-46. 545 Nedumpuram Tali inscription, M G S,C-38. 546 Tiruvalla Plates, M G S,A-80.
126
where multi crops were cultivated. Therefore, the well in a multi crop land
tends to the existence of settlement. Certain chiraimēlpuraiyidam and
chiraikumēl547 also indicates this.548 The compound site located near a tank
also makes the point that tank was an important water source in the midland
area. Tirunelli plate mentions kīzhkāttupozhaichērikkal, chērikkal land
adjacent to forest and river549 indicating cultivated land on a river mouth
located on hilly-forested area. Certain thōlanchirai 550is mentioned and chira
is important for both alluvial and laterite agricultural activities and for human
habitation. It also presupposes the existence of habitation sites near a chira or
tank. This area is very congenial to the formation of purayidams or compound
sites.
Certain puzhakkaraimattam551and puzhaimānjāmannu indicating the
land situated on a riverside. Aruvi [a small river] and kuzi [pit for storing
water] are other forms of water sources.552 Vattachirai, anjanachirai and
karpuzhai553 are water sources mentioned in the documents.
Vāzhaippallipōttai is a wet and fertile land space 554 and karpuzhaipallam,
land situated near a river and lying in between two elevated region555, are fit
for wet land agriculture. Certain vuthumarkuzhi556and thirunīlankuzhi557 are
important as kuzhi and pallam are low laying land spaces surrounded by 547Maniyur inscription, M G S,C-2 548 Devidevesvaram plate, M G S,B-15. 549 V R Paramesvaran Pillai, Prāchīna Likhithangal, op.cit., 550. Panniyankara inscription, M G S Narayanan, Kerala Charithrathinte Adisthanasilakal, [Calicut, 1972],[M G S,A-53] 551 Tiruvalla Plates, M G S, A-80. 552 Ibid.L.67. 553 Ibid.L.221 and L.442 554 Ibid.L.139. 555 Ibid.L.235. 556 Kollur Matham Plate, M G S, B-15. 557 Kuravakavu temple inscription, M G S,B-24.
127
elevated area adjacent to water source. Kādum karaiyum kulamum558 indicates
the agriculture operation on an elevated space watered by a kulam.
Kulavarai559is paddy field near a kulam. Thannīrmukkam is a term denoting to
the water source.560 Munainkadavu, kadavu is ford, lowest crossing point of a
stream or river is mentioned in a mid 14th century Kollam inscription.
Chirai is also mentioned in this document. Vanjippuzha is mentioned
in a 14th centuary Sattankulangara inscription also indicates cultivation on
riverside and riparian fertile lands, which was expanding in thirteenth and
fourteenth century. Water sources like puzha, ār, thōdu, aruvi chira, kulam,
kuzhi etc indicate the availability of water for human habitation and
agriculture operations. This water harvesting structures must have been
existed in the ūr settlements. This indicates cultivation and habitation in these
settlements.
The term kōdu is a natural landscape meant for land situated between
two elevated land spaces. Certain kodu terms are mentioned in chokkur
inscription.561 There are references to kodu such as kummankōdu562,
marakkōdu, chirukōdu’ mundaikkōdu563and kattattikarikkodu. 564 Kōdu is
denoted here for an elevated land space adjacent to water source. The term
kōdu also occures as vadukikōdu and uthiyankōdu.565 Kollur Matham Plate
mentions certain kōdu566, Kodu is thus a term which shows a land space and
558 Mampalli Plate .Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.No.103. 559 Tirunandikkarai inscription, TAS 3.No.55.pp.203-203. 560 Panthalāyini Kollam inscription, SII.Vol.7.p.69. 561 Idānkōdu, mānkōdu and pānkōdu, SII.Vol.7.No.173.p72.[MGS.A-8] 562 Indukothai inscription, TAS.Vol.3.pp-171-173. 563 Nedumpuram Tali inscription, TAS.Vol.8.pp.41-42. 564 Trikkakara inscription of Indukothavarman, MGS.A-25. 565 Tiruvanvandur inscription, M G S,C-41. 566 nedungōdu ,chengōdu, idaikkōdu , pirappamankōdu, vadakōdu ,īzhakkōdu,
kuththālangōdu,
128
extent of which is limited by water sources. This can also be applied to mūlai
such as pariyādimūlai and nariyādimulai.567 Certain kōnam can also be seen
in the same document.568
Pasture land and Punam Cultivation Spaces
The epithets atimāri569 and kādēru 570 indicate the existence of
shifting cultivation. Chirumuthaivēli571is also meant for pastoral common land
and the shifting cultivation spaces nearby. Chirupunaiyil thalai
chāththankūru572 gives us the sense that cultivation on a punam land and the
share [kūru] of the cultivator called Chāttan. Punam means high ground,
chiefly high land overrun with under wood and capable of irregular
cultivation.573 Punanellu [mountain paddy or hill paddy] punakrishi [shifting
cultivation], punakandam [marked field for punam cultivation] and
punamvāram [a share of the produce given to the overlord as dues out of
punam cultivation are cases in point in the practice of shifting cultivation.
Ālakkāl punam, kallūrpunam, kīzhpunam, cheriyapunam, puļivēlippunam,
agrashālappunam, mundayilagrashālappunam and nākanārpunam are
shifting cultivation tracts mentioned in the documents located in the midland
region.574
alirūrkkōdu,nedungōdukuthālangōdu,puliyangodu,kirayanangōdu,mulikkōdunilam,vellangōdu,karingilikkōttukōnam and veliyangōdu, M G S,B-15.
567 Kollur Matham Plate, M G S,B-15. 568 Ibid, ilavankōttukōnam, idanāttukōnam, kulapāttaththinumēlkōnam, pūlakkottukōnam,
kundāyaththukōnam, perurkkōttukōnam and maruthakachchērykōnam. 569 Chokkur inscription, M G S,A-8.L.9. Atimāri is also mentioned as the slash and burn
cultivation space in Kannapuram inscription, M G S, B-24.L.12. 570 Tiruvattuvay inscription of Sthanu Ravi, TAS.Vol.2.no.9 [3] pp-85-86. 571 Kandiyur inscription.Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit., No.154. L.16. 572 Kaviyur inscription ,M G S,B.5. 573 H Gundert, Malayalam -English Dictionary, Mangalore, [1892] AES [Reprint] Delhi,
1982, p.676. 574 Tiruvalla Copper Plates, M G S, A-80.
129
The epithet nākanārpunamum purayidamum is important as it indicates
the process of shifting cultivation practiced by tribal population in the
historical past and it had been transformed into a multiculture operation space
with compound site called purayitam in course of time. Certain nelvāthilkādu
and karavayalkādu are mentioned575to indicate the process that once these
lands were shifting cultivation tracts and had been transformed into
permanent agricultural areas. The term punamidaikuyavanvayal 576also reveal
the process that punam tract might have been transformed into paddy field.
Mutha means jungle ground brought for the first time under cultivation and
muthapunam is old jungle577where tina-varaku had been practiced in the
shifting cultivation mode and the term Chirumuthaimattamundakam is meant
forthe practice of shifting cultivation.578 Aranjanmuthai579chirumuthai580and
mummuthai581are indications to the practice of shifting cultivation.
Certain pulaiyanmuthai582 deserves attention as it indicates certain
Pulayar groups engaged in the practice of shifting cultivation and they might
have sustained this practice of punam cultivation in the midland region too,
the hill Pulayar who conducted slash and burn cultivation till the last century
also attest this. Elippunam and punanilam reveal that the shifting cultivation
practices that continued to remain in fourteenth century also.583 These
epithets denote a process that those shifting cultivators in the mountainous
slops and hill slopes who migrated and started cultivation on the river banks
575 Thrikkadithanam inscription,M G S,B- 20. 576 Kuravakavu temple inscription, M G S,B-24. 577 H Gundert , Malayalam English Dictionary,op.cit., p.676. 578 Tiruvalla Plates, M G S,A-80. 579 Ibid,L.327. 580 Ibid.L.506. 581 M G S,B-12. 582 M G S,A-80.L.507. 583 Sattankulangari inscription.
130
in the midlands and reclaimed lands on the estuarine areas . They attributed
their operational experiences of punam cultivation to the lands they newly
found, reclaimed and cultivated. They continued to practice the punam
cultivation in the elevated areas in the midland region as well. Certain tracts
of punam cultivation must have been transformed into permanent agriculture
areas in the midlands. It was because of this process that there remained
punam related epithets attached to the lands for permanent agriculture
operation and continuation of these terms thereafter. Certain nadukallu584,
kallarai nilam 585and perunkallarai586 are lands located near megalithic
monuments existed in different areas.
The terms like man, nilam, arai ,vayal, karai,pottai , odi and kari are
appeared in the epigraphical sources from the ninth century onwards
indicating the expansion of paddy cultivation area in marshy , estuarine and
wet land regions. These lands are located either in reverine riparian and
marshy plains or estuarine regions. We find these lands in the midland and
coastal / estuarine area in the region between Bharatapuzha and Aranmula
Rivers. The region north to Bharatapuzha where we also find paddy fields
called vayal and pādam.
Reclaimed Spaces
Turuttu /turutti as pantriturutti587and ilamthuruththi588 indicate the reclaimed
land spaces from a water-laden area also meant for the spread of wetland
agriculture. Tiruvalla Copper Plate mentions certain reclaimed turuttu
584 Paliyam plate, Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit., No.77.pp.129-133. 585 Devidevisvaram Plates, op.cit. 586 Tiruvalla Plates, M G S,A-80.L.624. 587 Trikkakara inscription of Yakkan Kuntrapozhan, TAS.vol.3.No.38.pp.173-174. 588 Trikkakarai inscription of Indukothavarman, TAS.Vol.3.pp.161-169.
131
lands.589 There are a number of kari lands in the inscriptions of the area,
µjāravēlikkari, vattakari590 kīrankadambanārkari591, siriyaparyankari,
padinjāyiruparayankari592 ,chēnnanchēnnanārkari593, ūrālachēnnankari,
ēttikkari, kumarakottakkari594 govinnanārkari, paravanārkari, indranīlankari 595,pattiarkari596, thirunālganaththārudayakari597and nedumkari.598 Tiruvalla
Copper Plate mentions a number of kari lands.599 The kari stands for the land
spaces reclaimed from the estuarine and water logging areas. It also points to
the expansion of agriculture to the estuarine areas and water-laden spaces.
The reclaiming process required the utilization of skilled laboures and the
invention of water management devices and techniques.
Multi Crops Lands
Parambu as mixed crop cultivation space began to be developed in the laterite
areas in the midland because of the proliferation of settlements and clearing of 589 Ammānaiyūrthurutti , āthanthuruttipīradikkōyil, injaithurutti, vadathalaithurutti,
ilanthurutti and nedunganthuruthi, M G S.A-80. 590 TAS.Vol.5.No.55.pp-172-176. 591 Inscription of Rajasekhara C. 830 C E, M G S,A-1. 592 Kandiyūr Inscription ,TAS.Vol.1.pp-414-417. 593 Tiruvāttuvāy inscription of Sthanu Ravi, TAS.Vol.2.no.9 [3] pp-85-86. 594 Revised text of Kaviyur Inscription, TAS.Vol.5.part 1 p.7.and TAS.Vol.5.part 1 p.6 [M
G S,B-6]. 595 Thiruvanmandur inscription, M G S,B-13. 596 Tiruvanmandur inscription, M G S, B-14. 597 Perunnayil inscription, TAS.Vol.5.part.1.pp.34-37. 598 Trikkakara inscription of Bhaskararavivarman, TAS.Vol.2.no.7. [D] pp.38-40. 599 idaikkari,idaikkaripuranthudai,idaichchērikkari,izhanjinattukattankari, ilanthuruthikkari
,ilavariyāykari,kavaļanjēnnanārkarikaļļakkari,kuttankadunkōļūsrkari,kumankari,kumbanārkari,kazhikkari,kurumāpallikkari,kuntankari,kokkōkari,kōthaikkari,kōilkari,chātttkari,chēnnanārkari,chēraikkari,thāmaranallūrkari,tekkināttinvazhigōvinnanārkari,thombūrkari,nāithikkari,nīranattukadambankari,nenmalikari,padinjāyittuchēraikkari,paruvaithittaiyāttuvazhiputhukkari,palliyārkari,pāttakkari,pātthāinaththukari,purangōlinattuchudukandalkari,punnaikuntrattumānnankari,perumāppelikkari,perumbāthuruttikkari,pothuvattukari,pottankalārkari,pothangumānārkari,manaludayānkari,mannintōttuvazhi pazhankari, mannamangalattukadambanakari, munjināttil thiruvōnakkari, yakkankari ,vadachchēri kari, vadachchērikari,vattakkari, M G S,A-80.
132
forest in this region. The laterite area in the midlands used for multi crop
cultivation is known as parambu. Parambu and purayidams or compound
sites in the laterate region also indicate the expansion of multi crops
cultivation and spread of settlements in this region. This process continued in
the period after the Sangam age and the epigraphical material pertain to the
ninth century C E indicate the development of this process. The terms
denoting to the mixed crop lands are parambu like pūyaththu parambu and
perumparambu.600 The appearance of parambus indicates multi crop
cultivation and the compound sites; it also presupposes the existence of ūr
settlements.
Āttūttiparambu and chethidanparambu601 also indicate the
development of mixed crop cultivation. Thottams are mono crop gardens and
we have references to thōranathōttam,āndilanthōttam,602idaithōttanilam and
punnaithōtam in the documents.603 There are other mono crop cultivation
spaces like chembakathōttam, pūnthōttam, perunthōttam, māvaliyālthōttam
mentioned in Tiruvalla plates.604 Arunkādan thōttamand and vayirāvanar
thōttam are mentoned in Tiruvannur605 and in Kollam inscriptions
respectively.606 Podikkāttuvilai 607 indicates the multi culture operation like
pepper. Existence of vayal [paddy field], thottam and vila [mono-crop garden]
lands point to the growth of multiple economies developed side by side.
600 Tirumuzhikkalam inscription of Bhaskara Ravivarman, M G S,A-37. 601 Tiruvalla Copper Plate, M G S,A-80. 602 Kollam inscription of Sthanu Ravi, M G S, A-6. 603 Kollur Matham plates,M G S,B-15. 604 M G S,A-80. 605 M G S,A-76. 606 TAS.Vol.5.part.1.pp.46-47. 607 Kollur Matham plate,M G S,B-15.
133
Settlers and their Identification to Land Spaces
Kīrankadambanārkari and iyyankāttumattam mentioned in Vāzhapalli
plate608 indicate the process of reclaim and lands so created for cultivation.
The lands mentioned in the document are located in ūr settlements of the
cultivators which was donated to the temple. The people like
Kīrankadambanār and Ayyan or their ancestors might have engaged in the
creation of these lands for production operation. It was because of this that
their names were attached to the lands and these land names continued to
appear even in the land deeds. There is reference to two purayidams
[compound sites] in the ūr settlement which indicate the existence of
settlements of cultivators. Certain Pakaithonkan, Thudavar,
Mīnachchichirukundurār and kurunthorai Kundirār mentioned in the
Parthivapuram plates of Kokkarunnadakar are identified with lands is
important in this context.609 Chemmaruthar kuti mentioned in
Tirunandikkarai inscription of Vikramadithya Varagunan is also a case in
point.610 This document also mentions the settlements of the Pulayar who
were transferred along with the lands.
Certain Karunantharuman who settled the land is mentioned in the
Paliyam plate.611 This document also mentions the settlement of the Pulayar
in the lands transferred to the temple. Certain Ittiyaikādar and Nārayanan
Chāththan mentioned in Nedumpuram Tali inscription612are associated with
purayidams613 also indicate the settlement of the cultivators who involved in
the production operations. Chāththankotti, Kuraichīkandan and Chāththan 608 M G S,A-1 609 Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit. No.75.p115. 610 Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit. No.76.p128. 611 Ibid, No.77.pp.129-133. 612 M G S, A-9 613 Ittiyekādar purayidam and nārāyanan chāttan purayidam.
134
Kandan mentioned in Chokkur inscription614 are names of the settlers who
created these pieces of land as productive spaces for cultivation as part of
their involvement in the labour process. It also makes sense of the existence
of settlements in and around of these lands. Kannakālaiyudaiyār and
Thachchanār mentioned in Trikkakara inscription615 are related to two plots
called pōttai, wet and fertile paddy lands616, indicating the people who
probably created these lands from the marshy area. Certain tank called
kāraikādudaiyārkulam mentioned in a Trikkakara plate indicates the
construction of a tank and the people associated with it.617 Kāraikkādudaiyar
seem to have identified with a group of people who might have engaged in the
activities of forest clearing and cultivation.
Certain Kollarchēriavarkal618 mentioned in Trikkakara plates619is also
related to a parambu, land for mixed crop cultivation, indicates the spread of
mixed crop production in the ūr settlements. Kōthaiyūr, nedunganpār and
pulaiveruvatti mentioned in a Muzhikkalam inscription 620 can be cited as
cases in points in this context. These lands were related to the original settlers
and later it was incorporated to the chērikkal lands of the Nāttutayavar. Even
after it had been incorporated to the chērikkal lands, the nomenclatures of the
settlers who created these land spaces were attached to the lands and
continued to mention when these lands were granted to the temple and deeds
614 Chokkur inscription mentions Chāththankotti, kuraichikandan puraiyidam, Chāththan
Kandan gives certain kalam land to the temple, kudiyirikka purayidam, M G S,A-8. 615 M G S,A-24, Kannakālaiyudaiyārpōttai and thachchanārpōttai . 616 Kannakkālaudaiyārpōttai and thachchanār pōttai. 617 M G S,B-10. 618 M G S,A-30, Kollarchēriyavarkaludayathediyanparambu. 619 . M G S,B-10 620 M G S, A-37.Kōthaiyūr vayilkādu, nedunganpār, and pulaiveruvatti are part of a
cherikkal lands.
135
were made on it. Kovinnanār, Paravanār, Pattiar621, tharappalil Unnathan,
Inthiran and Chāntār are mentioned in Tiruvanvandur plate. 622 It indicates the
people who were involved in the process of reclaim certain land spaces came
to be called kari lands and vaipu lands. These land terms came into existence
through the process in which the names of persons or groups who engaged in
the production of these lands were being attached to it and inscribed in the
document when the produce was transferred. Chēnnan Chēnnanār and
Kumarakottan mentioned in Kaviyur inscription623are also related to the land
terms in the same way.
Certain Iyyanār and vallōkkannār mentioned in Kandiyur plate are
associated to certain vayal and purayidam. Chāththan and Chēnnan mentioned
in Kaviyūr plate are related to certan kari lands.624 Certain kuravankōnam in
marayūr is mentioned in Kollur Matham Plates indicates the settlements of
the Kuravar. These people must have been the descendants of the Kuravar
clan of a long historical past. Kollur Matham Plates mention
dēvidēvisvaraththukudiyirikkintrapurayidam, the various compound sites
where different groups of people settled indicating the settlements of different
groups and expansion of mixed crop cultivation.625
Certain nariyādimūlai mentioned in the document indicates the
settlements of hunting communities626and pariyādimūlai is for the habitat of
the Parayar. Pullan kannan thudava, nāganārthudava and pulikkonur
thondanār thudavai are land terms associated with certain people indicate that 621 M G S,B-14. 622 M G S,B-13, kovinnanār kari, paravanār kari, indranīlan kari, tharappalil unnathan
vaippu 623 TAS.Vol.2.No.9, pp-85-86. 624 Revised text of Kaviyur inscription, M G S,B-5. 625 There are 11 purayidam [compound sites, kudiyirikkumpurayidangal] mentioned in the
document, Kollur Matham Plates, M G S,B-15. 626 Ibid.
136
these people might have been the original settlers and cultivators of these
lands. Mampalli plates mention certain people who seem to be the kārālar of
certain lands who gave certain quantity of paddy to the temple; they are
Kumaran Chēnnanār, Arankakuntapōzhanār and Kāmankuntapōzhanār.627
These people might have been settler cultivators of these lands before these
lands were donated to the Brahmans and they became the kārālar. They were
collectively known by their clan names or their generic terms related to their
settlements which were attached to the lands they occupied.
There are a number of individuals and groups who are identified and
attached to certain lands such as kari, odi , kadu628 , purayidam, mulangu,
kuzhi629, vēli , adichchili, , mattam, punam630, kuntram631, valāl ,purāy , thara
, kudi, pakarchchai, etc. in Tiruvalla plates. These terms relate to certain
individuals and groups , they are Irudiyār632, Nākanār633, Kōthaichēnnanār634,
Mānnāmangalathu kadamman635, Mettiyār636, Ērankannaiyār637,
Kadamman638, Chirukannar639, Kattankadungonār640, Poththankumanār641,
627 M G S,B-12. 628 Tiruvalla copper plates [M G S,A-80] mention land terms associated with kadu;
irudiyārkādu, kothaikannārkādu, kōthaichēnthanārkādu, chankarārkādu, chēriudaiyārkādu, and veliyanārkādu.
629 Ibid., L.67, chirukannarkuzhi. 630 MGS,A-80,Nākanārpunamum. 631 Ibid.,Ls.97-98,kuntramudaiyār who gives his idaiyiravam. 632 Ibid.,L.43,Irudiyārkādu. 633 Ibid., L.45,Nākanārpunamum purayidamum. 634 Ibid., L.46,Kōthaichēnnanārkādu. 635 Ibid., L.61,Mānnāmangalathu kadammankari. 636 Ibid., L.64,Mettiyār mulangu. 637 Ibid., L.66,Ērankannaiyārodi. 638 Ibid., L. 61,Kadammankari. 639 Ibid., L.67,Chirukannarkuzhi. 640 Ibid., L.75,Kattankadungonārkari. 641 Ibid., L.77,Poththankumanārkari.
137
Kavalanchēnnanār642, Chēnnanchēnnanār643, Mettanchāttanār644, Valavanār645,
Manaludaiyān646, Kuntramudaiyār647, Mārāyan648, Thirunilār649, Yakkan650,
njelinkāttu Pokkandanār651, Kannan652, Vettiyār653, Kottan654,
Kizhavanthāyanār655, Chāththankāman656, Kādanthaththanār657,
Pallamudaiyār658, Pokkandanār659, Parayan660, Paraiyanvalāl, Siriyaparayan [
kandiyur inscription], viriyūr Pokkandanār661, Kadamman Chēnnan662,
Kuttan663, Kāttūrudaiyār664, Kannanchēnnan665, Chāththankāman666,
Palliyār667, Poththankumaranār668, Munkavalaichēnnanār669, Chennan670,
642 Ibid., L.77,Kavalanchēnnanārkari. 643 Ibid., L.7,chēnnanchēnnanārkari. 644 Ibid., L.79, mettanchāttanārkari. 645 Ibid., L.93, Valavanār odi. 646 Ibid., L.94,Manaludaiyānkari. 647 Ibid., Ls.97-98,kuntramudaiyār who gives his idaiyiravam. 648 Ibid., L.105,Mārāyanadichchili. 649 Ibid., L.112,Thirunilārkari. 650 Ibid., L.181,Yakkankari. 651 Ibid., Ls.197-198,Njelinkāttu Pokkandanār purayidam. 652 Ibid., L.203,Kannankādu. 653 Ibid., L.224,Vettiyārmulangu. 654 Ibid., L.224,Kottankari. 655 Ibid., L.230,Kizhavanthāyanārodi. 656 Ibid., L.231,Chāththankāmanveli. 657 Ibid., L.237,Kādanthaththanārodi. 658 Ibid., L.242 Pallamudaiyār. 659 Ibid., L.244, pokkandanāramaichcha pāttakkari. 660 Ibid., L.249,Parayanpurāy. 661 Ibid., L.253,viriyūr pokkandanār. 662 Ibid., L.256,kadamman chēnnan kudi. 663 Ibid., L.258,Kuttankari. 664 Ibid., L.261,kāttūrudaiyārodi. 665 Ibid., L.271,Kannanchēnnankarithara. 666 Ibid., L.273,Chāththankāmanveli. 667 Ibid., L.277,Palliyārkariputhukari.
138
Njelingāttu Pokkantanār671, Kannan, Veliyanār672, kāranikādar673,
mūlaipaduvaththu Vārangādar674, Kōthai675, Kandan676, kōilpurathu
Chēnnankumaran677, Kōvinnan Achchuthan678, Poththanganār679,
Vayiravāvanan680, Parayan681, Kurukannār682 , Kamukudaiyān683and
Kāvathiyār.684 These names of individuals and groups indicate labour process
involved in the creation of these lands as operational spaces on the one hand
and, the creation of these spaces is embedded in the process of production for
subsistence and surplus on the other. Therefore, generation of any form of
agrarian wealth was involved the production and maintenance of operational
space as well. This also indicates the formation of habitation spaces of those
people who engaged in these processes and the earliest settlement space
created by the settler cultivators were thara and kuti. Tiruvalla plates
containslarge number of archaic terms related to settlement and settlers. It
mentions certain settlements where the settler cultivators were located in
668 Ibid., L.279,Poththankumaranārkari. 669 Ibid., L.280,munkavalaichēnnanārkari vāzhpakarchai. 670 Ibid., L.291,Chennankari. 671 Ibid., L.397,njelingāttu Pokkantanār purayidam. 672 Ibid., L.404,Veliyanārkāttupūmi. 673 Ibid., L.446,kāranikādar purayidam. 674 Ibid., L.455,mūlaipaduvaththu vārangādar purayidam. 675 Ibid., L.501,Kōthaikari. 676 Ibid., L.520,Kandankari. 677 Ibid., Ls.544-545,kōilpurathu Chennankumaran and his nephews held certain lands in
thēngavēlikōnam. 678 Ibid., L.552, Kovinnan achchuthan and his nephews granted one – fourth in
panichchaviruthi to the temple. 679 Ibid., L.573, Poththanganārkari. 680 Ibid., L.587,Vayiravāvananpuraiyidam. 681 Ibid., L.611,Paraiyanvalāl. 682 Ibid., L.581,Kurukannārmattam. 683 Ibid., L.610,Kamukudaiyānveli. 684 Ibid., L.619,Kāvathiyārpurāy.
139
addition to ūrs, they are thara685, nilamum tharayum686,valāl and thara687,
kattutharai688,kulakkāttilpadinjāyittu thara689, kochchāpurathuuthara690,
thaththaiyārtharai691 narangatharai692 and kōlankudimannattathara.693
Cetain settlements were also known as kutis they are kadamman chēnnan
kuti694, kōlakuti and kōlankuti.695
These land terms came into existence through the process in which the
names of persons or groups who were engaged in the production of these
lands were being attached to it and inscribed in the document when it was
transferred. Chēnnan Chēnnanār and kumarakottan mentioned in Kaviyur
inscription696are also related to the land terms in the same way. Certain
Iyyanār and Vallōkkannār mentioned in Kandiyur plate are associated to
certain vayal and purayidam. Chāththan and Chēnnan mentioned in Kaviyūr
plate are related to certan kari lands.697Kollur matham plates mention
dēvidēvisvaraththukudiyirikkintrapurayidam, the various compound sites
685 Ibid.,L.310, one of the Trikkadiththanam inscriptions mentions nilamum tharaiyum, M
G S,A-38,L.8. 686 Tiruvalla Plates, M G S,A-80,L.316. 687 Ibid.,L.458. 688 Ibid.,L.589. 689 Ibid.,L.598. 690 Ibid.,L.603. 691 Ibid.,L.613. 692 Ibid.,L.620. 693 Devidevesvaram plate, M G S, B-15. 694 Tiruvalla Plates,M G S,A-80,L.256. 695 Ibid. 696 TAS.Vol.2.no.9, pp.85-86. 697 Revised text of Kaviyur inscription, M G S,B-5.
140
where different groups of people settled indicating the settlements of different
groups of laboring population and expansion of multiculture operations.698
There are a number of individuals and groups who are identified and
attached to certain lands such as kari, odi , kadu699 , purayidam, mulangu,
kuzhi700, vēli , adichchili, , mattam, punam701,kuntram702, valāl ,purāy , thara ,
kudi ,pakarchchai, etc in Tiruvalla plates. The settlements of the cultivators
were archaic in its origin and non-brahman in existence. The spatiality of
these settlements in the midlands is small mountains, hills and hill slops and
other elevated regions on the one hand, and reverine and riparian regions,
kāyal [estuarine lands] ,water logged areas and coastal plains on the other.
Natural watercourses like rivers, rivulets and streams along with wells
and tanks also made the midland landscape for congenial to settlements. What
makes these regions important is the laterite and alluvial landscape. The
former is paramba lands for mixed crops where we also find compound site
called purayidams and the latter for paddy cultivation and mono crop garden
like coconut. This spatial specificity has influenced the agriculture production
and its modes of distribution, which again influenced the dispersed nature of
settlement localities called ūrs. Development of wet rice agriculture,
monoculture gardens [thōttams and vila] and multi crop lands [parambus]
along with foraging activities evolved diverse and uneven agriculture
practices that provided the expansion of dispersed settlements. Kutis as settler
698 There are 11 purayidam [house sites, kudiyirikkumpurayidangal] mentioned in the
document, Kollur Matham Plates,M G S,B-15. 699 Tiruvalla copper plates mention land terms associated with kadu; irudiyārkādu,
kothaikannārkādu, kōthaichēnthanārkādu, chankarārkādu, chēriudaiyārkādu, and veliyanārkādu.
700 M G S,A-80, L.67,chirukannarkuzhi. 701 M G S,A-80,Nākanārpunamum. 702 Ibid.,Ls.97-98 kuntramudaiyār who gives his idaiyiravam.
141
population as well as occupant categories and purayidams as compound sites
of the cultivating groups played important role in this development.
Cultivation and Produce
The terms uzhavu and Uzhavar meant for cultivation operations and
cultivators respectively in early historical period and this was continued to the
later phase of the historical period as well. The process of cultivation
undertaken by the cultivators can also be seen in one of the earliest
epigraphical documents, Parthivapuram inscription703, as uzhuthu and
āyuvikkathirētti to mean cultivation. In Chōkkūr plate, we have uzhuvārum704,
those who do cultivation. Tarisāpalli plate mentions the same process as
naduvana nattu iduvana ittu705 , sow and plant to indicate this process.
Uzhamum is also mentioned in Porangāttiri inscription for the cultivation in
the land706. Certain uzhavērchey is also used to denote the labour activities in
the cultivation process707. Uzhuthida708 is a term used in Tiruvalla plate to
indicate the cultivation. Cultivated land was called uzhaikkalam.709 Therefore,
the term uzhavu was to mean the cultivation process rather than mere
ploughing the soil.
Mixed crop cultivation was done in the laterite soil and paddy
cultivation in alluvial soil. The lands where paddy was cultivated were
variously known as nilam, vayal, pādam, arai and kari. The mixed crop lands
703 Puthussery Ramachandran, Kērala Charithrathinte Adisthāna Rēkhakal.op.cit., No.75,
p.119, Ls.23-24. 704 M G S,A-8 ,L.49. 705 M G S,A.6,Ls.2-3 706 M G S,A.14,Ls.29-30 707 Kandiyur plate, Puthussery Ramachandran, Kērala Charithrathinte Adisthāna Rēkhakal
op.cit., No.154.p.351.L.10. 708 M G S,A-80, L.464. 709 M G S,C-28,L.7
142
were parambu. Purayidam being compound sites where mixed crop
cultivation was also practiced. Mono crop lands are thōttam, vila and vilākam.
As far as the paddy cultivation was concerned double crops lands were
known as irupū lands710 or pūnilangal. In water laden areas, another type of
cultivation called punjai711 practiced in addition to irupu cultivation. The land
was classified according to its fertility and the extent of cultivable land was
measured in terms of the quantity of the paddy seeds used to be sown, called
vittupādu nilangal.712 Certain form of land measurement called thadi713or mā
was existed in some areas. In one of the Trikkakara inscriptions we have an
epithet payaram is to cultivate the land714 and hence payam is for land
produce. Kīzhvāyanum mēlvāyanum was used to denote the land produce and
the tree produce.715 Sometimes, it was also known as kīzhpayan and mēlpayan
respectively.
Cultivating Kutis
In early historic period, the settlements as well as those who practiced the
production operations were known as kutis. When the river valleys and water-
laden areas were occupied and agriculture began to be started in the midlands
the cultivators came to be known as uzhavar or uzhakuti. The shift from kutis
710 ichchērikkal irupū kārānmai is mentioned in a Mūzhikkalam temple inscription, M G
S,A-37,L.[2].4 711 Tiruvalla plates, M G S,A-80, L.599 iravinallur punjai, thalaiyāttupunjaivayal,
ibid,L.600. 712 The extent of land was measured in terms of the quantity of paddy seed used to sow
and kalam [one kalam is equal to 15 kuruni and 10 nazhi =1 kuruni] was the most common seed measurement used in the cultivable lands, Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, ‘janmisambrathāyam Kēralathil’ in N Sam [Ed], Elamkulam Kunjan Pillayude thiranjedutha Krithikal, p.594.f n.2. 12634 kalam seeding capacity of lands comprised of nilam [paddy fields ] and purayidam[ compound site] was set apart for Brahman feeding in Tiruvalla temple,ibid, p.596.fn.1.
713 Parthivapuram inscription, Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit., No.75, p.115-126. 714 M G S,A-25, L. [4]. 7 715 Ayiranikkalam inscription, Puthussery Ramachandran,op.cit.,No.8, p.21.L.4
143
of the mountainous and hilly regions to uzhakuti in the midland region was
significant when the process of food production in wetland region was based
on the labour of the occupant cultivators and those who associated with them
as laboring group. When the Nāttudayavar began to exert their power over
these cultivation localities, the occupant cultivators came under the
dominance of the Nāttudayavar and subsequently to the temples and
Brahmanas. It was due to these transformations that cultivators became the
tenant cultivators. Their condition of existence and the mode of agriculture
operations done by them are mentioned in number of inscriptions.
Tirukkadittanam inscription mentions pūmiyuzhumavar to mean those who
cultivate the lands.716 Perunneyil inscription mentions pūmiuzhuvumavar to
indicate the cultivators.717 Sometimes, we have reference to kankānichu, to
manage the cultivation.718 Certain chēnnan kari uzhavar719 mentioned in
Tiruvalla plate indicates the cultivators who cultivate the reclaimad lands. The
texts related to the agriculture operations in the Tamil country during this
period like ērezhupathu720 describes the various aspects of agriculture
operations. The texts like Krishigītha721 and krishi pāttukal, though much
later in compilation, allude to the different aspects of agriculture operations
and labour process including the names of seeds.
The settlements of the cultivating kutis were located in the agrarian
localities where the production operations took place and the control of these
localities was crucial in the making of political authority over these agrarian
localities.The lands in these agrarian localities were divided into three 716 M G S, A-42, L.[3].1. 717 TAS.2.No.7.[B]. 718 Trikkakara Plate,M G S,A-41L.[2].1 719 M G S,A-80, L.464. 720 A Appadorai, Economic Conditions of Southern India.Vol.1, [Madras University,
[1936]1990], pp.334-337. 721 K P Padmanabhamenon, Kochchirājyacharithram,[1914] [Calicut, 1989],pp.269-289.
144
catogories as far as the controls of the agrarian localities are concerned.
Firstly, ūr settlements of the settler cultivators where the cultivators held
lands, secondly the lands which were part of the ūr settlements of Brahmans
and the thirdly the lands controlled by the Nāttudayavar as chērikkal. These
three types of lands held by the cultivating kutis, Brahmans / temples and
Nāttudayavar. These areas became part of the nātus when nātus emerged as a
political territory under the Nāttudayavar. The lands controlled by the
cultivating kutis were settlements where they held lands collectively.
The cultivating kutis were kinship descent groups who organised the
production operations and the lifeworld of the kutis. The development of
agrarian process made these settlements surplus production localities that
paved the way for the emergence of dominant households of cultivating
groups.They might have been developed from the dominant kinship groups in
the settlements with certain form of kūru rights, resulted in the changes in the
internal structure of these settlements. Many of them cultivated the lands with
the help of labouring groups. The formation of this laboring population was a
concomitant development with the migration of people to the river valleys
and the growth of agrarian society in the river valleys and laterite areas in the
midland. The role of the land holding groups in the production localities was
importand as far as the expansion of cultivation and the formaton of number
of functionaries under the Nattutayavar and the donation of produces made to
the temples by them are concerned.
Development of Land Holding Groups
Certain Kāvathi Kannan Sankaran mentioned in Vāzhaipalli plate as a private
individual who held puraiyidam, compound site, is an earliest epigraphical
indication to this land holding group who developed from the settler
145
cultivators.722 The compound site called pīlikkōttupurayidam was a mixed
crop land attached to the habitat of the settler cultivator. Purayidam must
have been a space where the habitat of the settler cultivator and his mixed
crop cultivation space located. Certain punnaithalai Āndilan who held
thōttam lands in the coastal settlement at Kollam seems to be a dominant land
holder.723
Certain groups mentioned in Parthivapuram inscription such as
omayanāttār, chengazhunāttār, mudalānāttar, padappanāttar and
valluvanāttar were land holding groups724and their localities called nātus
must have been developed from early historic period as resource region of
tribal historical past, indicating the formation of such group from early
historic period as well. Certain karkkottupuraththu Kadampan Kumaran
seems to be a private individual who held land as a land holder of non-
brahman origin. He donated a share of the produce from a number of multi
crop lands [the land possessed by the extended household to which he
belonged, thannudaiya] to the temple of Kumaranārayanapuram.725 These
examples show the expansion of cultivation in multi crop and monocrop lands
and the development of ūr settlements and the households from the settler
cultivators and the latter held landed wealth collectively.
The produce from these lands or, sometimes, the lands itself donated to
the temples by land holding households who were located in the ūr
722 M G S,A-1,L.9. 723 M G S,A-6,L.14. 724 Puthussery Ramachandran, op .cit., no.75,pp.115-126.L.46. 725 Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit., No.9. [M G S.A-8]. The lands given are multi crop
lands including mili-4, kādu-5,purayidam-4, kōdu-3, man-2, odi-1, munda-1, kotti-1, kara-1, puram -2, pori-1, kundi-1 and kūra-1. .Kuraichīkandan who held certain puraiyidam and Chāttan Kandan held certain thūni extend of land, both of them were cultivators also donated lands to the temple in addition to the lands donate by Kadampan Kumaran.
146
settlements726 to meet the expenses of the offerings they made in the temples.
The lands held by dominant cultivating households in the ūr settlements who
donated lands or a share of the produces to the temples got an institutional
form by the end of the ninth century C E. When the expansion of nātu
territories was consolidated under the Nāttudayavar, these cultivating
settlements were brought under the overlordship of the political authority of
the udayavar. Hence, the cultivating kutis came under the dominant
landholding households and Nāttudayavars of the respective nātus. It was in
this context that labouring population settled in the cultivating localities like
Pulayar or Āl / Atiyār and other occupational groups began to be functioned
under the domination of landholding groups and the Nāttudayavar.
The political authority of the Nāttutayavar and the members of ruling
families also played very impotant role in strenghtening the temple authority,
as they were the principal donors of lands and other material resources to the
Brahmans and temples. Certain lands donated to Avittaththūr temple by
Chēramān Māthēvi indicates the way in which how a brahman ūr and its
temple did maintain a dependence relations for its own existence.727 The
relations that were established by the temples with the political authority that
changed the condition of cultivating kutis who settled in the lands, from
where the share of the produce was donated the temples. Kutis settled in such
lands became subservient to the temples. It was in this context that the
members of the ūr assembly of the brahman ūr and the members of the
assembly of the temple tried to effect control over the kutis settled in the lands
under the control of Brahman urs.728 The witnesses mentioned in the
726 Three ūrs mentioned in the document, vengāvanūr, ilayanūr and perumbuttūr, along
with a number of multi crop lands, M G S,A-9. 727 Avittattur Temple inscription,MGS,A-10 728 Ibid.
147
inscription seem to be non Brahman landholders of dominant stature729
indicate that these groups began to be integrated to relations established under
the temples.
There developed certain assembly of the non Brahman landholding
groups who must have developed in the ūr settlements. The term ūr which
originally stood for the settlement of the settler cultivators , in the wake of
emergence of powerful land holders , ūr began , in addition to , to connot the
assembly of the land holders. The logical postulation is that what existed
earlier as space of public gathering of the settler cultivators was reformulated
as the assembly of the landholding groups in the ūr settlements. It happened
due to the agrarian expansion in the production localities and development of
dominant landholding households from the settler culticators in such ūr
settlements. The members of the dominant landholding households happened
to be the members in this ūr assembly and they came to be known as ūrpattar
or ūr. The epithet thirupparangōttu pradaimārum ūrpattārum730 mentioned in
Triprangōdu inscription reveals the separate existence of Brahman ūr
assembly and non brahman ūr and its assembly. Certain Nārayanan Anki and
Thirakānthan are stated to be the non Brahman cultivators of dominant status
who donated the share of the produces from certain lands they held to meet
the expenses of the offerings they made in the temple of Tiruppangodu731is an
indication to the development of the landholding groups and their assemblies.
However, the Brahman urālars in the temples tried to misappropriate
the corporate property of the temples and it cerated a tendency to alienate the
temple property. The conflicting interest that developed between the temples
729 Ibid., the dominant cultivators are Kadamban Nārāyanan of mayilampally, kārimukkil
kōtha, vembazhamanan, malimangalathu Kandan Thāyan, Kanada Nārāyanan of kāyamattam,Kannan vaikundi Nārāyanan,and Chankara Nārāyanan of kāyamattam.
730 M G S,A-13. 731 M G S,A-13,Ls.32-33 and 71-72.
148
and its ūrālar called parudai or ūr on account of of the corporate property of
the temple had been resolved by the steps taken by the temple as a corporate
institutional structure with the suppot of the political authority. The
conflicting interest of the temple and its paradai revealed in a document of
the Tripunithara temple732 can be sited as a case in point. A private individual
called Iravi Ādichchan made certain offerings in the Trippunittura temple733
and he could be a member of the landholding households. The coexistence of
both Brahman and non Brahman ūr assemblies in the case of taking
descisions on the temple affairs are attested in the dated Chembra
inscription.734The formation of a non Brahman ūr and its assembly is revealed
in an undated chembra inscription anterior to the former one.735 Inscription at
Chembra in which the occupancy right of the cultivating kuti under
landholding groups of non Brahman origin was protected.736
Certain individuals mentioned in a Trikkakara plate are part of
landholding groups in the ūr settlemts and they donated their share of produce
732 TAS.6.No.52.pp.64-65.[M G S.A-16] 733 M G S,A-16,L.3. 734 M R Raghava Varier, Keraliyatha Charithramanangal,op.cit.,pp.98-118. 735 Ibid.,pp.113-117. 736 Ibid. The document reveals the decision taken by Abhirāman alias Thondathimūrkhan,
edanūr [non Brahman assembly], sabhai and pothuvāl. Almost 24 landed properties are mentioned in the document. Even though the ūr and sabhai were separate entities they together took decisions in the document. The document mentions a number of fields and house sites. Lands mentioned in the inscription; mayyilkarapurayidam, kunnaththupurayidam, vēngayāttpurayidam ,izhikattupurayidam, uthiyanpurampurayidam ?], thirumalēri, 300 nāzhi viththupādu in the kottāravēlikkakathtthu, kottiyār vēliyakam,mānaththunayār vēliyakavum and ¼ in the karumāra vēliyakam,pallippuram,vallakulapāttāl,uthiyanpuram,thirumangalam and karaippalam 400 nazhi, chundipādan 300 nazhi . These lands are cultivated by the following cultivators; Vāyilākumaran Iyakkan, his mother and chittamma [sister of mother?], Sankaran Sreedharan,Chiraththala Thariyanan ,Maniyan Kandan , Kuvēri Kadāthiran Kumaran ,Chālakkara Iyakkanār,Thavaththikkukuvēri Chanthira Chēkaranār and Nārāyanan Chankaran.
149
[kīzhpāti] to the temple to meet the expenses of their offerings.737 The
witnesses mentioned in the same document are also landholders. 738 Kēsavan
Sankaran and Kannan Kumaran of kārilam instituted certain offerings in the
Trikkakara temple are belonged to land holding households in the ūr
settlement.739 The witnesses mentioned in the document are also landed
group.740 Kōthai Kēralan of chirumattapuzhai was a dominant person who
donated certain quantity of gold to the Trikkakara temple.741 Certain persons
received this gold from the temple by pledging their collective landed
possession. They were also landholding groups.742 It shows that the dominant
households held land as collective form of possession. Certain Tuppa
Narayanan and Tuppan Krishnan mentioned in one of the Trikkakara
inscriptions were dominant land holders who were given certain quantity of
gold on mortgage of their lands.743 Witnesses mentioned in the document are
land holding groups.744 Trikkakara inscription refers to Nakkan Iravi and
Adichchan Iravi who cultivated land called kannamangalam in
737 M G S,A-25, they are Pōzhan Kumaran of mēlthali, Ūran Nakkan Kēralan, Ūran
Chēnnan, Kōtha Iravi of vantalachēri, Chinkapirān Kumaran of mēthali,Ūran kumaran Chāmi Kannan and Ekkan Pōzhan of venpamala.
738 M G S,A-25 , They are ; Thēvan Chāttan of attānikkōttam, Kēralan Nārāyanan of ilamthuruththi, Kanda Nārāyanan of perumthottam, parambudaiya Kumaran, Kanda Nārāyanan of kuppavāzhkai,Kēralan Srikumāran, Kumāra Nārāyanan of parambudaiya, chiraiyankōttu Iravi Vāsudēvan, kannan Pōzhan of pantrithuruththi, Kannan Kumaran of ventalamanal,Kottan Puraiyan of kīzhakam,Kandan Puraiyan of Kuntriyur, Ūran Kottan Kōthai , Ūran Unnichirukandan,Ūran Kumaran Chirukandan,Ūran Pōzha Nārāyanan,Pōzhan Chāttan of velliyāmpalli and Sankaran Kumaran of pullipalli.
739 M G S,A-26,Ls.[2].3 and [5].3. 740 M GS ,A-26, they are;Thēvan Thēvan of malapuram, Kēsavan Sankaran of per
umanaikōttam, Pōzhan Nārāyanan of Kulassēkhara Pattanam, Ūran Pōzhan Chirikandan, Pōzhan Chāttan of velliyanpallli, Kumaran of malaiyilmpalli.
741 M G S,A-28,L.[1]5. 742 M G S,A-28,L.[2]1-2, they are Thēva Nārayanan of ilamkulam and his brothers,
Thēvan Subramanyan, Thēvan Chuvākaran and Thēvan Chēnnan. 743 M G S,A-30,L.[3]1. 744 M G S,A-30, they are Chāttan Kumaran of Velliyānpalli and Kālan Gōvinnan of
nedumkollil.
150
chirumattapuzhai745and donated its produce to meet certain offerings in the
temple. Kōtha Nārayanan of Cherumattapuzha and Kanda Nārāyanan of
mākkannapalli mentioned in another Trikkakara inscription were
landholders.746 Lanholding group called ūridavakai Vellālar are mentioned in
a Tirunelli inscription747 and associated with the Nāttutayavar in the execution
of deed in the temple. Gōvinnan Kuntrapōzhan of kulavāyini mentioned in
one of the Trikkakara inscriptions was a landholder.748 Certain persons
mentioned in a Trikkakara inscription are appeared as members of
landholding households.749
The above examples reveal the expansion of the cultivation and
proliferation of settlements where landholding households developed. The ūrs
where the landholding households and the cultivating kutis developed were
the production localities and these ūrs were integrated to the nātus when the
Nāttudayavar established overlordship over the production localities. This
shows the fact that these production localities were integrated to nātu
territories and the political authority of the Nāttudayavars. The proliferation
of Brahman settlements and development of the temples became part of the
formation of nātus.
Ūrs - the Production Locality
In Perunna inscriptions, we find the separate existence of non-Brahman and
Brahman settlements and their assemblies called parudai and ūr
745 M G S,A-45. 746 M G S,A-44. 747 M G S,A-36,L.8. 748 M G S,A-35,Ls.3-4. 749 M G S,A-41, they are Kesavan of neythalmangalathu, Kesavan of perumanakkadu,
Narayanan of vandapadi , Chattan Chennan and Kannan Chennan.
151
respectively.750 This shows the process that the surplus produced in both
settlements by the cultivating kutis and the laboring groups. The Nattutayavar
and Perumāl received respective shares of the produce from the cultivating
kutis. Sometimes, the share received from the cultivating kutis [as annual due
called attaikōl and war tax called aranthai] was granted to the temple by the
Nāttutayavar or the Perumāl.751 There are also references to the way in which
the produce from the lands where the cultivating kutis settled and cultivated
was appropriated by the temple.752
Perunnai inscription mentions kutipathis [kāpālimangalathum
muttūttum olla kudipathikal] and they could have possessed the landed wealth
750 Peruneythal ūrum pothuvālum kīzhkulangaraiththapaiyum,M G S,A-33, Peruneythal
ūrum paradaiyārum pothuvālum,M G S,A-49, 751 An order is issued by a Kulashekhara koiladhikari who was staying at netiyatali. The
king was sitting in council with nalu thali and and Thirukkuntrappozhai at netiya tali ordered the cancellation of attaikkōl [annual dues] and aranthi [war tax] from perunnayil and granting annual income 40 kalam paddy and arandai to the Perunnayil temple for the feeding of brahmanas andmāpāratham. It was from the non Brahman settlements at Perunnai that the āttaikōl and arantha was collected by the Kōiladhikāri through kudipathies. It was by an order that this was granted to the Perunnayil temple as an attippēr.
The aranthai and āttakkōl which were taken from the kuties in the non Brahman settlements to king [presumably by the kudipathīs] is now given to the Perunnayil temple as attippēr for the purpose of namaskāram and māparatham. Perunnayil ūr and pothuvāl received these at the temple as attippēr. It is assumed that these attaikkol and aranthai were previously collected by the kudipathis, kāpalikamangalaththe kudipathikal and muththūtte kudipathikal [kāpālimangalaththum muththūttum olla kudipathikal] and after this order [ koiladhikarikal issued a royal order to both kudipathis ] they refrain from collecting these from the Perunneythal and given it to the koiladikari
752 Thirunālganaththār and pothuvāl meet in temple and unanimously accept land from a person on condition that he and his descendants are appointed as tenants in perpetuity. The land originally belonged to Ādichchankōthai, nattudayavar of Munjinādu, who mortgaged it to Ethirangavīran of njāvalkkādu as surety for a loan of paddy .This land is now given to the temple for Brahman feeding on ten festival days. Therefore a provision is incorporated to the effect that in case the original loan is repaid and the land taken back by Ādichchan kōthai, the ūrālar must invest that amount in another land and nominate Ethirangavīran and his descendants as their tenant again. If the tenant or his descendants withdrew from the commitments, the land is to be cultivated by kanattār and pothuvāl themselves, Thiruvanvandur inscription, M G S ,C-41.
152
in the ūr settlements of kāpālimangalam and muttūttu. 753 They were the
descend heads of the kutis settled in both ūr settlements. Kāpālikamangalam
might have been originated as a settlement of an individual Brahman
household and cultivating kutis also developed in this settlement. Muththūttu
is an ūr settlement that might have been developed from an old settlement of
the cultivating kutis. It also reveals the development of both Brahman and
non-Brahman settlement of cultivating kutis. Land holding groups and the
descent heads [kutipathis] developed in the respective settlements and they
were incorporated into the nātus and political structure of Nāttudayavar.
These kutipathis accepted the ritual authority of the temples and later Chēra
Perumāl superimposed the political authority upon the kutipathis. It shows
the way in which cultivating settlements and the labouring population were
integrated to the temples and the political authority in course of time.
Mampalli Plates754 mention certain cultivators who settled and cultivated lands located in ayirūr village. Adichchan Umayammai of Trikkalayapuram had been donated this land along with a temple by located in it by Venatu ruler Srivallabhan Kōthai. This land was again donated to the Tiruchchengannūr temple by Adichchan Umayammai as kīzhītu. Three ūr settlements such as murunkaiyūr, punalūr and kudakkōttūr are mentioned in the document in addition to Tiruchchengannur and ayirūr. The witnesses in the documents are belonged to the former villages. This document shows the fact that the cultivators had settled and cultivated the land before it was donated to Adichchan Umayammai. These cultivators became the kārālar of the Tiruchchengannūr temple when it was granted as a kizhidu755to the temple
753 M G S,A-68. 754 M G S,B-11 and B-12. 755 Ibid, Kuntran Kovinnan cultivates uthikkālthudavai and ambillam. He also cultivates
chadikulam, pulipalli and thānthōntrikkāl.Pichchakachēriyavan cultivates kuntraththūr and olithudavai. Arankan Kuntrappōzhanār cultivates on kārānmai basis and gives 35 para paddy.Kunnan Paranthavan cultivates on kārānmai and gives 40 para paddy. Gōvinnan Kōtha cultivates chāththamangalam and gives 23 para paddy. Kāman Kuntra
153
by Adichchan Umayammai. Even when it was transferred to the Tiruchchengannur temple as a kīzīdu and temple became the overlord of these lands, the cultivating kutis settled in such lands held the land as collective possession and maintained their identity as cultivating kutis in the ūrs settlements.
The Devidevesvaram plate mentions a number of ūrs756, some of them might have continued from early historical period.757 The original settlers and cultivators in this region were settler cultivators settled as cultivating kuti and cultivated lands. Tiruvalla Copper Plate758 mentions a number of non
Pōzhanār cultivates and gives 20 para. Ayyan Chēnnanār cultivates mummuthai and gives 10 para. Kunpūr Iravi Kuntrapōzhan cultivates on kārānmai and gives 20 para. Thōnnan Kēralan cultivates and gives 21 para. Thaniru Chengāttu Nārāyanan Gōvinnan cultivates on kārānmai and 25 para. Pichchagachēri Nārāyanan Dāmōdiran cultivates on Kārānmai and gives 33 para paddy .Ilayān Ayyan and Kōtha Ayyan cultivate kannanvaippu and give 50 para paddy. Pāththa Gōvinnan and Ilayān Perumān cultivate and give 40 para paddy.
756 Ūr settlements and lands used for different agriculture operations in it are ; nedunkōdu in madayūr;chenkōdu , kuzhakkādu and kuravankōnam in marayūr;navayanellūr; ponnūr;mulachchal,punnamuttam,poduthaara in thōnnakkalūr;kuzhiman,puththara and punnamankōdu in kuttaththūr;kōviyūr;āttaravam in pūvūr;punalur;mukuvattūr; kārānmai on perumpazhanji in nakarūr;panampala in madavūr; mavara in vanjayūr ;vāzhekandam in punalūr;kōttūr in mēvūrkkal;nedunkōttupurayidam in madayūr;konnara in arunallūr;oruvallyaram in peringalūr;kuttiyūr;thambur; chenkyayūr; vellallūr;chadayamangalam and cherukannanādu in ottiyūr;malaikkanellūr; iravinellūr; mannattathara in ottiyūr;ullūr;vallūr; thondanarthudava in pulikkōnūr;thonnakkal , pūvūr and mēlkōnam in njāralūr;kuthalamkōdu in koduvalanūr;ivvūr;palakkadu, palivila,vazhayila, muthalkunnamaraman in ollūr;kānūr in vellayūrnādu;idinjil in kudavūr; urakaththuvathilkarapurayidam in ūrakam;pērūrvattam , mēlmanalūr , muthuvellaiyūr, manmēlkandankal and kīzhnelli in manalūr;marūrthūrnilam in idapazhayanādu; kodumuttadiyūr;aruviyūr;thalathōttunilam in thānbanūr; Devideveshvaram Plate. M G S,B-15. 1189 C E.
757 There developed a number of warrior settlements in this area during the time of early Venadu rulers who made settlements of the warriors by giving them jīvitham lands. It was the ūr settlements of the cultivators that had been taken over and donated to these warriors by the chiefs.Before the brahmanas were made settled donating these lands as padakarams, cultivating kutis settled these lands and cultivated.
758 The contents evidently belongs to different periods and were collected, rearranged and edited at a later date .It is suggested to be belonged to middle of the 11th century. The document is in the form of temple committee resolutions, The donations made at different times by different persons for different types of offerings in the temple like thiruvilakku , thiruvamrithu, thiruvakkiram ,nīrāttupalli , akkarathali , snāpanam,
154
Brahman settlements759 and the agriculture productionin in these settlements.760 A vast area had come under the control of Tiruvalla temple.761 Mulaiyil Nambu Nāranan donated share of the produce from certain lands to meet the expenses of his offerings in the Tiruvalla temple.762 Nambi Raman of Komakattil, Pallamudaiyar763 and Ponni Yakka Nayan of kidanguparal instituted certain offerings and donated a share of produces from the lands they held. Kesavan Kandan, Pallamudaiyar, Kesavan Thayan, Kunnan Govinnan of pallam764, Thevan Chennan of madaman and Ayyan Godavarman of ponjikkara were land holding groups who donated a share of the produce from the lands they collectively held to the Tiruvalla temple to meet the expenses of the offerings they made in the temple. Kōilpurathu Chennankumaran and his nephews held certain lands in thēngavēlikōnam.765
panjamahāshabdam,dwādeshi celibration,āvani ōnam ,etc. are registered along with the details of lands or gold contributed or leased out , and the conditions of tenure and service. Mūzhikkalatthu kachcham and Sankaramangalathu Kachcham are quoted .Fine and other punishments are prescribed for violation of rules. Number of nattudayvar, merchants, and others are mentioned. Different measures like ennāzhippara, onpathinazhippara, and pathināzhippara are indicated .The prices of several articles are listed..It is a mine of information regarding temple rituals, deities’ festivals, caste profession, personal names, plot names, princes etc, in this period. It provides a contemporary record of the growth of socio economic formation, M G S, A-80.
759 Ayōkamannūr,Āmanthaiyūr,Īravinallūr,Kākkayūr,Kilimānūr,Kīzhvellūr, Kudavūr, Kundiyūr, Kuttūr,Kuntattūr,Parambūr,Pulikkōnūr,Puliyanūr, Peruvayalūr ,Peruvūr, viriyūr.
760 Ibid. 761 The boundaries of Thiruvalla village are; North kannamberur bridge in Changanasserry
taluk, South Chennithala river in Mavelikkara taluk, West is lower side of Pamba river and East is a small stream called Kaviyūr Kaithōdu.Upagrāmās of thiruvallagrāma are Ālanthuruthi,Vēngal,Kāvubhāgum,Peringara,Thiruvambādi,Mathilbhāgham Cherānallūr, Mīnthalakkara, Padappādu, Venpāla, Vāzhapalli, Niranam, Parumala, Mānnār, Perunna,Muttār and Thalayār.Main Sankētham of Thiruvalla Grama are; northis Ezhinjillam, South is Pulikkizh river, East is Kaviyūrkaithōdu Bridge and west is Chāthankari river.The old name of the place before the founding of the Thiruvalla temple was mallikavanam.Norhtern side of manimala river is vallapuzha and hence Tiruvalla settlement was ,sometimes, called as vallavāy.Pōttimār of thiruvalla pattillam are the traditional ūrālar of the Thiruvalla temple
762 M G S,A-80,L.106. 763 Ibid.,L.152 764 Ibid.,L.461. 765 Ibid., L.544-545.
155
Kovinnan Achchuthan and his nephews granted one – fourth of produce from land called panichchaviruthi to the temple.766
Narayanan Chandrasekharan of idanadu made certain offerings in the
Kandiyur temple and he donated the kārānmai share of certain lands to meet
its expenses.767 Yakkan Kothai of Iravimangalam is stated to be a dominant
landholder in one of the Trikkakara temple inscriptions.768 Sankaran
Kuntrapozhan of murukanattu also instituted certain offering in the Triprayar
temple.769 Certain Kothai Chandiran of kuppaiyarpulam and Kothai
Manavijayan seem to be members of landholding households instituted
certain offerings in the Pukkottur temple and they made arrangement to meet
the expenses from certain lands.770 All these examples suggest the formation
of non Brahman landholding families in the ūr settlements which were the
production localities. These landholding groups made offerings to temples
and meet the expenses of the offerings from the produce of the lands they
collectively held.
The above analysis of the inscriptional references to the cultivating
settlements and landholding households shows the fact that the settlements of
the cultivating kutis and landholding households played very important role in
the expansion of cultivation and the spread of the human habitation spaces.
Many of these settlements can be traced back to early historic period. These
settlements were production cum operational spaces and many of them were
existed from early historic period as settlements of the settler cultivators and
766 Ibid.,L.552, the donors mentioned in the Tiruvalla copper plates,in addition to
Nātttudayavar and Chōla king, were non Brahman cultivators having dominant stature , Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, ‘janmisambrathāyam Kēralathil’ in N Sam [Ed], ‘Elamkulam Kunjan Pillayude thiranjedutha Krithikal’op.cit., p.599.
767 Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit., No.154, pp.351-352. 768 M G S,B-10. 769 M G S,C-31. 770 M G S,C-23.
156
continued to exist in early medieval period. Hence these ūr settlements were
nerve centres of agrarian production. Some of the ūr settlements are taken
into account here to show the tendency of its growth and spread in spatio-
temporal development rather than to provide the exact number of the
settlements.771
771 Chimbūlaiyūr [Iranikkulam Inscription.RVRIB .9.2,P.135.[M G S,C.36], vengavanūr
[Siva temple at Nedumpuram Tali, Cochi [M G S, A-9,900.C E], kuntriyūr [Trikkakara Inscription of Indukothavarman.TAS.3.PP.161-169[M G S,A-25,959. C E], punalūr [Mampalli Plate [M G S,B- 11, 971 AD] kavayemanalūr [ Devideveshvaram Plate. M G S,B-15.Originally belongs to 973 C E and reissued in1189CE mentions certain urs such as mēūr, mēlmanalūr, mudavallūr, marudūr, perumbuliyūr, kālaiyūr,āvalūr,idaipērūr,nāralūr,madayūr,nāvayanallūr,kōviyūr,punayūr,vannanūr,ottiyūr,vellālūr,sengaiyūr,nallūr,pulamattelvāyiravinallūr,ullūr,vallūr,pullikkōnūr,puvvūr,ivvūr,kānūr,ālimānur, and paravūr. Fragmentary odd Plate of Mampalli mentions [M G S,B-12, 974. C E] kuntrattūr kumbūr, ayirūr. Mampalli Plate [M G S,B-11, 971 CE] mentions murunnayūr, kudagōttūr. Mudavallūr, kālaiyūr, idaipērūr, punayūr, kōtūr, kāvavayelmannamannūr, koduvalanūr, kuttiyūr, thāmbūr, pulamattelvāyiravinallūr, pullikkōnūr, vellakkottil tambannūr, pilaiyūr, perinūr. Nedumpuram Tali inscription mentions
Chēralūr, chāttanūar and chirumāttūr. Siva temple at Tali, Cochin [TAS. 8, P.40 [M G S, A.43, 996C E] refers to perumputtūr and pazhuvūr. Irinjalakuda inscription mentions [RVRIB.9.1,P.51[M G S,A-74] paraiyūrkādu. Similarly, Karikkadu inscription [MGS. C-7] refers to tachchiyūr. Muzhikkalam inscription [TAS.2.No.7 [k] pp.45-46] mentions thaiyūr, nedungundūrkōthaiyūr, Perūr, iravinallūr, seranallūr, sattanūr, sirumattūr, ilayannūr and kānūr. There are a number of ūr settlements mentioned in Tiruvala copper Plates such as ayōkamannūr, āmanthaiyūr, īravinallūr,kākkayūr,kilimānūr,kīzhvellūr,kudavūr,kundiyūr,kuttūr,kuntattūr,parambūr,pulikkōnūr,puliyanūr, peruvayalūr ,peruvūr, viriyūr and karanjanur [Tirunelli Plate No.2, V R Paramesvaran Pillai, Prachīna Likhithangal,op.cit., p.139-144. Karanjānūr sabha gave the land worth of 15 gold kāsu to theTirunelli temple for instituting three perpetual lamps. The first inscription in the same temple mentions certain kannannūr kannanūrirāmankunjiyum as witness].Sētupullūr [Inscription from Siva Temple at Tali. TAS.8 [MGS.A.69, 1089 .C E] .Nallūr [Nallur means prosperous ūr , situated south east of Calicut, SII. P. [MGS .A-66]. Vettiyūr, serinūr, kōmūr, kunavāyanallūr are also mentioned mudakkaraiyūr and tankur [ibd]. Tiruvangur inscription mentions [SII.Vol.7.No.175.No.15 of 1901.p.74 [Chelannur inscription,M G S, A-77] Certain mākalūr and rāyiranallūr. There are chēlannūr and pālaiyūr [M G S,A-76]. We have pulpattaiyūr [M G S,C-12.]. Paramban Tali inscription mentions tiruparambilūr, parappūr, perūr nilamaniyūr and irayiranallūr. There is also narayankannanūr [M G S Narayanan, Adisthana Silakal pp.93-113.This ūr was located at the foot of Ezhimala and around Narayan Kannur temple. This inscription speaks of ithumuttikkumūrārkal ,ie, those urārkal who make stop to this expenses to the temple, obviously reveals the existence of an ūr, and kodungallūr [Viraraghava Plate, Puthussery Ramachandran, Kērala Charithrathinte Adisthāna RēkhakalNo.133, p.319, Nedumpuram Tali inscription. TAS.8 [M G S,A-70,1090 C]P.41]
157
Many of these settlements are archaic in its origin and non Brahman in
its functioning. An important aspect in the development of the production
localities is landholding households that developed from settler cultivators. 772
These households made negotiation and mediation with political authority of
Nāttudayavar on the one hand and Brahmans settlements and the temples on
the other. Settlements were production localities from where donations were
made to the temples in the form of produce and, sometimes, productive lands
were also granted. The rights and previlages enjoyed by this land holding
groupds were to be accepted by the temple authorities when the produce or
productive lands were granted to the temples. It was because of the important
role played by the landholding groups in the production process in the
production localities that their rights and privilages were acknowledged by the
temples and the Brahmans.
The Brahman settlements and temples were surrounded by these
production localities and the Brahmans and temples felt certain insularity and
insecurity in their settlements as the former were a few in numbers and they
were not cultivators themselves. Temple authorities acknowledged the
customary rights and previlages that the non Brahman landholders enjoyed on
the lands they held or the privileges they had in their assemblies called ūr/
ūrpattār. The temples and Brahmans sought support of land holding groups
who were donors to temples. This was to ensure the resources that reached the
temples in the form of donations. It was in this context that the ūr assemblies
of the non brahman landholding groups were acknowledged by the temple
authorities and it was made incorporated to the temples. These assemblies
began to function as incorporated entities in the case of donations and
transactions made in the temples. The landholding groups also wanted to get
772 Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, ‘Janmisambrathāyam Kēralathil’ in N Sam [Ed], Elamkulam
Kunjan Pillayude Thiranjedutha Krithikal, [Thiruvananthapuram, 2005], p.592.
158
access to the Sanskritic and dharmasastric way of life and itihasa- purana
idioms percolated from the temple culture.
The Brahman Ūrs and its Relation to the Production Localities of the
Cultivating Kutis
The Brahman villages grew up along with the process of
transformation of tribal chiefs and lanholding households into Nāttudayavar.
Brahmans settled in the donated lands in the riverine areas which were
suitable for agriculture.773 The Brahmans also became an important group
who made influence over the Nāttudayavars. They also participated, along
with the Nāttudayavars, in the efforts to get control over the agrarian
localities of the cultivating kutis. The period from third century C E to seventh
century C E was a period of Brahman dominance and the formation of
nātus.774 When the agriculture communities proliferated and the settlements
increased, the territorial boundaries of nātus began to expand. Nāttudayavar
established their overlordship over the the production localities and
cultivating kutis accepted the overlordship of the Nāttutayavar by paying
customary dues in the form of kutima for settling in the production localities
and cultivating the lands. The areas adjacent to nātu territories and the people
settled in such areas including the tribal groups were gradualy integrated to
nātus.
For the protection of Brahman villages, it was necessary for Brahmans
to legitimize the political power of the Nāttudayavar. The overlordship of the
Nāttutayavar developed primarily because of the domination made by the
Nāttutayavar over the cultivating kutis and the laboring groups. The
expansion of the political power of the Nāttutayavar and domination of the
temple over the cultivating settlements were developed on account of the 773 M G S Narayanan, Perumals of Kerala,op.cit., p.141. 774 K N Ganesh, Kēralathinte innalakal, op.cit., pp .40-46.
159
process by which the Brahmans and Nāttudayavar helped each other to
establish their dominance over the agriculture communities.
The growth of Brahman villages was the result of a process in which
dominant landholding households became the negotiators and mediators. It
enabled Brahmans to develop certain tenurial control over the lands where the
cultivating kutis and the laboring groups settled. It was from these settlements
that the donations were made by the land holding families and the
Nāttutayavrs predominantly in the form of the share of the produce to the
temples. It developed certain tenurial control made by the temples which
came to be called kārānmai –mitātchi [kārānmai was cultivating right and
mitātchi was controlling right on the lands] upon a large extent of lands held
by the cultivating communities in the Ay territory. However, such kārānmai –
mitātchi system of tenurial dominance is not found to have developed in the
rest of the region where the temple committee called ūrālar sabha / parudai
became the predominant group who functioned as the managerial group to
control the cultivating kutis through the mediation of landed gentry called
kārālar in the production localities.
The development of the polity of Nāttutayavar and the ritual and
religious dominance of the temples made agrarian process an instituted
process. The production operations and surplus mobilization began to become
part of an exploitative relation in which the cultivating kutis and the laboring
groups became subservient groups. The resource requirements of the various
non producing groups resulted in the expantion of cultivation into the areas
hitherto uncultivated. There developed the expansion of cultivation and
proliferation of settlements to the hinter lands and estuarine areas to meet the
resource requirements of the various overlords. This was met by bringing a
number of new groups into the production process either by way of persuation
or by force that also made such people servile in the production localities.
160
The people engaged in various labour activities and production
operations such as cultivating kutis, kutis of artisanal and metal working
activities and the laboring groups were consolidated in the production
process. This developed complex form of gendered division of labour which
resulted in developing a stratified agrarian order. The base of this stratified
agrarian social order was the producing class consisted of cultivators, the
primary producers and the auxiliary occupant categories.775 The cultivating
kutis and kutis of occupational groups and the primary producers were
subjected to the domination of temples, Brahmanas, Nāttudayavar and their
functionaries and retinue. The following attempt is to analyse the way in
which the stratified agararian order was constituted and how the various
categories of people developed to evolve an agrarian hierarchy in the period
under discussion.
Kārālar and Production as Instituted Process
When temples became important institutional structures it developed certain
tenurial domination on the lands where the cultivating kutis and the primary
producing groups generated the agrarian resources. The landholding
households accepted the dominance of temples, donated a share of the
produce or the productive lands to the temples and Brahmanas. It was in the
form of offerings in the temples and meeting the expenses of such offerings
by way of donating a share of produces from the lands they collectively held
that the tenuarial dominance of the temples was established. Certain
Narayanan Chandra Sekharan of idanādu donated certain lands to the
Kandiyur temple. The kārālars were [kārānmai cheythu] nominated to
cultivate these lands776and provisions were made that if the kārālar failed to
775 Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, ‘Janmisambrathāyam Kēralathil’ in [ed] N Sam, Elamkulam
Kunjan Pillayude Thiranjedutha Krithikal,op.cit., p.593. 776 TAS.Vol.1,pp.414-417,the karalar are ; Damodaran Narayanan of nandāmanaichchēry,
Kumaran Maniyan of thāmarapalli , Kandan Thēvan of mallikachērry, Iyakkan
161
measure out the paddy in the temple at the stipulated time the lands would be
forfeited777 to the temple. This also shows how the cultivating groups became
a dependent group to the temples and Brahmans. Hence, institutional and the
ritual dominance of the temples were used to ensure the perpetuation of
surplus production and meeting the expenses of the temples by the share of
the produce from the cultivating kutis.
The cultivation of paddy and garden produces like coconut was
produced in the agrarian localities in the Western coast from early historical
period and certain coastal settlements got prominence as these settlements
located near ports of trade. As these settlements were centers of trade and
agrarian localities, the chiefs tried to control these settlements. When the
agrarian localities began to become a cluster of production localities and
surplus producing areas these localities became part of resource regions called
nātus and Nāttudayavar began to establish their sway over these settlements.
Many of the coastal settlements, as trade centers as well as agrarian localities,
became part of the incorporative political territory of the Nāttutayavar called
nātus. It was made possible because the extension of control that theses chief
were able to exert from hilly region or from midland to these coastal
settlements. Sometimes, these coastal agrarian settlements became part of the
chiefs’ ‘territory’ called chērikkal. The cultivators who lived and cultivated in
these agrarian localities came to accept the overlordship of the chiefs and they
became the kārālar to these lands under the chērikkalkāranmai.
Certain extent of land from a settlement at Kollam had been granted to
the Tarisapalli by the political authority [Nāttutayavar]. The epithet in the
document thēvarku naduvana nattu iduvana ittu or saw and cultivates the land
Paramēsvaran and Iyakkan Kēralan of punnaichēry, Agnisarman Narayanan and Narayanan Govinnan of vairamana , Iravi Ayyan of neypalila perungala and Kaman Sakthidaran of kuttikkattu.
777 ibid., muttukil viththinupōrum alavu pūmi vidakkadaviyar.
162
for the thēvar 778[church] indicates this process. The land was transferred
along with the cultivating kuits who had become the kārālar of land,
[pūmikku kārāzhar nālukudi Vellālarum], ie, four kudi Vellālar are the
kārālar of this land.779 It shows the way in which the cultivators became
kārālar to the lands under the church.
Certain Kolavāyan and his descendants were appointed as the kārālar
of some land which was donated by a non Brahman individual, Narayanan
Anki. This was to meet the expenses of his offerings to Trippangōdu
temple.780 It does not explicitly mention whether Kolavāyan had been
cultivating these lands before it was set apart to meet the temple expenses or
not. However, somebody might have been cultivating the lands before it came
under the temple dominance. Kārānmai lands are also mentioned in
Porangattiri inscription [kārānmaiyum kūduvittār].781 This inscription also
reveals the formation of rights over the landed wealth by the temples and
Brahmans called dēvasvam and brahmasvam.782 It also reveals the tendency
that private individuals and local gentries donated to the temples in the form
of lands, gold or the share of the produce from the lands they controlled, in
addition to that of Nāttudayavar and others. It was because of these donations
made by the landholding groups including the Nāttutayavar and the members
of the ruling households that temples and Brahmans were able to accumulate
landed property and to develop control over the lands. The process of the
consolidation of such rights enabled the temples and Brahmans to develop a
form of tenurial dominance without themselves being the actual owners of the
land.
778 Ibid. 779 M G S,A-6. 780 Tirupparangodu inscription, M G S,A-13. 781 M G S,A-14. 782 Ibid., the inscription mentions the brahmasvam and devasvam, ibid., Ls.13-14.
163
Definite norms and stipulations began to be framed to ensure the
production in the lands from where the share of the produce was channelized
to the temples and Brahmans. Norms were also framed to pevent the
misappropriation of the resources from such lands including attippēr lands.
This also aimed at protecting the corporate nature of the wealth accumulated
by the temples. The notable example in this regard is revealed in the
Trikakarai inscription of Kērala Kēsari783 in which a provision was made that
Kārālan should cultivate the vayal and kara lands and take 20 kalam paddy as
his share [irupathinkalamūrālankondu] and rest of the paddy should be
measured in the granary [kottakāram] of the temple after the grain was
separated and waste was removed [pōkkumullathu]. Akapothuvalmār could be
also the tenants of the temple.784 The same process can be seen in the Narayan
kannur temple document in which ten kalapādu lands called kaviyalpurathu
ayini which was a vayal placed under the supervision of [ithukkumēlāli]
Pukkala Kōpan of Valampurimangalam and Chāththan Kannan of thāyattu.785
In Kaviyur inscription we find certain private individuals, Narayanan Kesavan
and Narayanan Kirittan of Mangalam, donated certain odi and kari [marshy
and reclaimed lands] to the Kaviyur temple.786 Certain Mangalattavan and his
two elder sons were entrusted to cultivate these lands [ippūmiyellām uzhavu
mangalaththavakal thanthathiyil mūttōriruvarum787]. This also points to the
patrilineal line of rights over the lands.
Similarly, Chembra inscription reveals the cultivation of certain
purayidams and vēliyakam788 by the cultivators. Though this was a coastal
783 M G S, A-19. 784 Ibid. 785 Narayankannur inscriptions, M G S,B-3 and B-21. 786 M G S,B-6 787 M G S,B-6. 788 Chembra inscription, M R Raghava Varier, Kēraliyatha Charithramānagal,op.cit.,
pp.108-111,Kumaran Iyakkan of Vāyila, Sankaran Sridharan, Thariyanan of Chirathala
164
settlement, mixed crop cultivation was expanding under the kārānmai.
Kannan Puraiyan, udayavar of Kālkarainātu, received some quantity of gold
from Trikkakara temple and we see he granding the land called vettikarikkāttu
along with the Pulayar attached to it to the temple. Certain expenses in the
temple were met by the mērpāthi held by the udayavar and the pani [servants]
on this land.789 Kannan Puraiyan also granted certain lands to the temple
exempting the customary dues given to the Nātu, Vāzhkai and Pani.790 This is
turn was given on kārānmai to meet certain expenses in the temple and failure
of which led to lose of kārānmai right, [muttikkil kārānmai
vidakkadaviyar].791 Certain Puraiyan Kandan and Pōzhan Kōvinnan were
appointed as the kārālar of some lands. It also stipulates that kadamai [ the
obligatory payment given to the overlord / Nāttutayavar ] was to be added
with the kārānmai, [kadamakūdakārānmai kānpithu]792 i.e. the dues given to
the Nāttudayavar on this land as kadamai was now went to the temple by the
kārālan along with the kārānmai.
The formation of overlords above the cultivating kutis and the
development of the kārālar was an important transition in the nature of the
agrarian structure. The dues given to the Nāttudayavar as a political authority
in addition to the share given to the temples brought kutis under the subjection
of the temple and Nāttudayavar. This is clearly visible in one of the
Trikkakara inscriptions in which a few members of a household taking 120
kazhanju gold from the temple by pledging the vayal lands they held
collectively and they had to measure out 12 kalam paddy to the temple
,Maniyan Kandan , Iyakkanār of Chālakkara , Kadāthiran of Kuvēri, and Chandrasēkharanār of kuvēri are the cultivators.
789 M G S,A-25. 790 M G S,A-26. 791 Ibid. 792 M G S,B-10.
165
annually.793 Here also we find cultivators bounded to follow the stipulations
made by the temple pertaining to kārānmai. Similarly, Tiruvanvandur
inscription mentions uzhumavakalkku ippūmi vilakkilum, extending
punishment to evictors in case of cultivators being ejected from the land. Such
actions were borne out of the fact that it had to ensure cultivation in the lands
without which temple can exist.
The material interests of the temple as a corporate institutional
structure thus was in need of keeping the temple property intact and ensure
the surplus production in the lands on which the temple developed tenurial
control. Therefore, the cultivation in the temple lands was to be continued
without the disturbances or misappropriation likely to be made by the ūrālar
or Itaiyītar and others. It was in this context that certain regulations were
framed to safeguard the material interest of the temple as corporate
institutional structure. It was made in such a way as to make a pretention to
protect the cultivating kutis settled the lands over which the temples had
established overlordship.794 There are number of such provisions and
regulations in the form of kachchams and Mūzhikkalam kachcham was the
model for the region as a whole.
793 M G S,A-28, Thēvan Nārāyanan, Thēvan Subramanyan, Thēvan Chuvakaran and
Thēvan Chēnnan of ilamkulathu manai. 794 Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, ‘Janmisambrathāyam Kēralathil’ in [Ed] N Sam, Elamkulam
Kunjan Pillayude Thiranjedutha Krithikal, op.cit.,p.593, M G S Narayanan, ‘Oru Pazhaya Karshaka Niyamam’ in Kerala Charithrathinte Adisthana Silakal,op.cit.,pp.45-60.
166
The Devidevesvaram plate mentions a number of ūrs795 settlements,
many of them might have been continued from early historical period and it
had been developed as non Brahman settlements. Terms appeared as the
operational spaces and habitation localities in the documents suggest that the
original settlers and cultivators in this region796 can be trace to long historical
past. When the lands were granted to the Brahmas and they were made to
settle in padakāram lands, those who previously controlled the lands as
jivitham holders became the kārālar to the padakāram holders.797 The epithets
like kārālan, perumpazhanjimēlkārānmai and nālontru kankānichchu kolvithu
are indications to this transition. It seems that the earlier jīvitham holders of
these lands became the kārālar to the Brahman households and the original 795 Ūr settlements and lands used for different agriculture operations are ; nedunkōdu in
madayūr;chenkōdu , kuzhakkādu and kuravankōnam in marayūr; navayanellūr; ponnūr;mulachchal,punnamuttam,poduthaara in thōnnakkalūr;kuzhiman,puththara and punnamankōdu in kuttaththūr;kōviyūr;āttaravam in pūvūr;punalur;mukuvattūr; kārānmai on perumpazhanji in nakarūr;panampala in madavūr; mavara in vanjayūr ;vāzhekandam in punalūr;kōttūr in mēvūrkkal;nedunkōttupurayidam in madayūr;konnara in arunallūr;oruvallyaram in peringalūr; kuttiyūr; thambur; chenkyayūr; vellallūr;chadayamangalam and cherukannanādu in ottiyūr; malaikkanellūr; iravinellūr; mannattathara in ottiyūr;ullūr;vallūr;thondanarthudava in pulikkōnūr;thonnakkal , pūvūr and mēlkōnam in njāralūr;kuthalamkōdu in koduvalanūr;ivvūr;palakkadu, palivila,vazhayila,muthalkunnamaraman in ollūr;kānūr in vellayūrnādu;idinjil in kudavūr;urakaththuvathilkarapurayidam in ūrakam; pērūrvattam , mēlmanalūr , muthuvellaiyūr, manmēlkandankal and kīzhnelli in manalūr;marūrthūrnilam in idapazhayanādu; kodumuttadiyūr ;aruviyūr;thalathōttunilam in thānbanūr; Devideveshvaram Plate. M G S,B-15. 1189 CE.
796 The Vēlir chiefs controlled the area during the Sangam period as there are references to the Āy chiefs in the Ettuthokai literature and Pothiyilmalai was the centre of their activities during this time. There is a reference to the skirmishes between the warriors of Chēras and the Pāndyās over capturing of Vizhinjam, a port town in the peninsular area, Huzur office plate TAS, Vol.1, No.1, pp.15-19. Later the Cholas tried to subdue this area. The early Venadu rulers made settlements of the warriors and officials in jīvitham lands in this area. It was the ūr settlements of the cultivators which had been taken over and donated to the warriors and officials by the rulers.Then the officials and servants of the Venādu rulers like adhikārar, warriors and other functionaries became the dominant groups in this region and they continued to hold these lands as jīvithams. Later they granted these jīvitham lands to the Brahmans on a direction given by the royal authority to settle them and thereby these lands became the padakāram lands of the Brahmanas, M G S,B-15. 1189 C E.
797 M G S,B-15
167
settlers in the lands who cultivated the lands as cultivating kutis were
subjugated to the Brahmans who were settled with these lands as padakarams.
Similarly, Mampalli plates mention a number of lands798 and its
kārālars.799 We also find that certain lands were mortgaged to the Trikkakara
temple by Thuppan Narayanan and Thuppan Kirittanan to get some quantity
of gold.800 They had to measure out 100 nāzhi of rice to temple in lieu of
interest, [palakathalai alakkakadaviyar]. This also indicates the dominant
landholding groups becoming the kārālar to the temples. The gold deposit of
the temple was invested on land in the form of pledge is also attested
[pūmimēlidakadavar] in another document in the Trikkakara temple.801
Certain land, padinjāyittupōtta, a fertile wet land,was given to four
manikkirāmattār on kārānmai by Bhaskara Ravi, indicating the traders were
also settled to became the kārālar to the chērikkal land.802 It shows the trade
relations and the land tenurial practices converged and strengthened the land
relations of the period.
Certain Ethirangavīran and his descendants became the kārālar of the
Tiruvanvandur temple.803 Certain double crop land in the chērikkal was
cultivated on kārānmai by kārālar as revealed in Muzhikkalam inscription.804
Chālavēli Kēralan Pōzhan who was appointed as the kārālan of certain lands 798 M G S,B-12, uthikkālthudavai ,nambintrām , sathikulam , pulipalli , tanthrōntrikkāl,
kuntrattūr,ottitudavai,pichchagachchēry,vellimuttamthōttam,ilampallivayal,ayrūr, thiruchchengannūr,sittūrmudappalavinkāl,sāttamangalammummuthai,kumbūrtanirusengādu,kannanvaippāy,kundapuram.
799 Ibid ,Kuntan Gōvinnan , Kumāran Chēnnan , Arangan Kuntrapōzhanār , Kuntran Parantapan , Kōvindan Kōtai,Kāman Kuntrappōzhanār , Ayyan Chēndanār ,Nārayanan Dāmōdiran, Iravikuntrappōzhan, Nārāyanan Gōvindan , Tōnnan Kēralan, Ilayan Ayyan, Kōdai Ayyan, Pārthan Gōvindan and Ilayān Perumān.
800 M G S,A-30. 801 M G S,A-44. 802 Irinjalakuda Temple Inscription, M G S.A-74. 803 Tiruvanvandur inscription, M G S, C-41 804 Ichchērikkalirippū kārānmai cheyyumavanum, M G S.A-37.
168
[chālavēli kēralan pōzhan konda kārānmai] along with Pathavāramākkal and
Pothuvāls were to meet the jīvitham of the Mēlsānthi in the temple.805 The
functionaries like pathavāramākkal were important because they were
appointed to collect dues to the Nāttudayavar or to the Perumāl. There is a
provision in the Tiruvalla Plates that Kārālar should cultivate some lands and
meet the expenses for the offerings to temple.806 Iravi Chirikandan, udayavar
of Venpolinādu, granted [māvarakondu muthalamaya attikoduthān] his lands
called Muttāru [his own land or muthal, 3500 kalam nilam] to the Tiruvalla
temple and he and his descendants continued to manage the cultivation in
these lands on kārānmai.807 It indicates Nāttudayavar could be the Kārālar to
the temple by donating / alienating theirown lands to the temple. Lands called
kannankazhi, thōlanchirai, vayal and kara are cultivated on kārāmai is
attested in Panniyankara inscription.808 There are references to the donations
made by the dominant landholding households to the temples in the form of
share of the produce of the lands or land itself and thereby they became the
kārālar to the same lands.809
Chāttan Arukkati, Kuntran Chirunankai and Chāttan Chirukandan were
appointed as the Kārālar of certain chērikkal lands donated by Arappan
Kunji, Kurumbranāttu udayavar, to meet some of the expenses in the Jaina
shrine in Kinālūr.810 Trikulashēkharapuram plate says that those Kārālar who
used to quarrel with the kōilmānichcham [temple functionaries] and the
805 Kārālanumpathavāramākkalum īrandukudi pothuvālmārum kūdi kankānichchu,
Trikkkakara inscription, M G S, A-41. 806 ichchelavinollapūmi kārānmai cheythu cheluththumavar, M G S,A-80.Ls.34-35. 807 Ibid, Ls. 51-54. 808 M G S, A.53. 809 Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, ‘janmisambrathāyam Kēralathil’ in [Ed] N Sam, Elamkulam
Kunjan Pillayude Thiranjedutha Krithikal, op.cit., pp.615-616. 810 M G S,B-23.
169
Pothuvāls would lose their kārānmai right811. This also points to the tension
that developed between the temple authorities and the Kārālar groups.
Certain vayal land was cultivated on kārānmai is mentioned in another
Nedumpuram tali inscription.812 Kumaranallur plate also mentions the
Kāralar settled in a Brahman ūr.813 It also points to the relation that existed
between the kuti settled in the ūr and the Brahmas ūrālar. Palli [Jain temple]
lands were cultivated on uzhākārānmai is mentioned in Godapuram
inscription814. It shows that the kārānmai form of land relations were also
developed in the lands held by Jain and Budhist shrines. Some lands were
given to the Pothuvāl on kārānmai is mentioned in Maniyur inscription.815
This shows the temple functionaries were also became Kārālar to the lands
controlled by the temples. Kollam inscription of Rāmartiruvadi mentions that
certain chērikal land was given to the temple and certain persons were
appointed as Kārālar.816 Palakkāttu Kannan Thēvan and Chatti Piramman in
addition to Kumaran Udhayavarman of Vēnadu became the kārākars.817
Kilimanur plates say that idaman and āyiraman in Nāvāyikkulam and
nedumpuram parambu were given to the temple by Manikantan Mādhaviyāna
Pillayār Thiruvadi of Kīzhpērūr as kārānmai.818 It also reveals that Vīra
Udhaya Mārthāndavarma granted certain lands including kādu, karai,
karapurayidam, and Āl [men at the feet or bonded labourers] in it were
811 M G S,C-32. 812 M G S,C-38. 813 M G S,C-43. 814 M G S,C-28. 815 M G S,C-2, attipērkoduththān kārānmai āka pothuvālmār yithu. 816 M G S,A-71,chērikkal kārānmai. 817 Ibid, kārālarmūvarum. 818 TAS.Vol.5Part.1,pp.63-85.
170
transferred to the Trippālkadal temple.819 The temple gave away these lands
on kārānmai820. The Kārālar were appointed either by the donors at the time
when the land was donated or the the produce from the lands was set apart to
meet the expenses of the offerings or the temples appointed the Kārālar after
receiving the lands. Vellayani inscription mentions that the mērpāthi on
certain chērikkal land cultivated on kārānmai was transferred to
Tirukunakkara Vishnu temple along with the Āl attached to it.821 This
indicates that the mixed crop lands and the labourers [bonded labourers
attached to the land] attached to it along with the mēlpāthi rights of the
Nāttudayavar on such lands were donated to the temple. This can also be seen
in Velam inscription in which certain land was cultivated by a group of
people.822
One of the Haripadu inscriptions mentions that certain land was given
on kārānmai.823 Mili and purayidam lands over which the temple had
overlordship were also given on kārānmai by Manivannan Pāvanan of
thāzhaiyūr and what he got as cultivator’s share was kārānmaikūr824.
Simalarly, Subramanyan Nagasarman of Kalpakanallur was the Kārālan of
the same temple825. Kandan Nāgasarman and his eldest son gave with libation
of water certain lands they had taken on kārānmai to the temple.826
Kārānmaikūru on certain land was granted to the temple by Maniya
819 Ibid, ennilam,thottikkōdu nilam,mannadi
nilam,thadandōdunilam,vettikkōdunilam,vettiyattukandam,perumbaravūr nilam,shengūrunilam,cherumāveli nilam,mundakkal nilam, kīrthimangalam and anjal.
820 ibid, kāranmayāka adhikarichchukondu. 821 kārān nilaththilkollum mēlpāthiyum kādum karapurayidamum ālum, Puthussery
Ramachandran, op.cit., No.102.pp.210-211. 822 pūmiyum athanakku amaintha purushārararaiyum, M G S,C-4. 823 Niravāthittai kārānmai, TAS.Vol.6.Part.1, No.24. 824 Ibid, No.28, p.41. 825 Ibid, thēvaridaikāranma. 826 Ibid, No.30.p.42.
171
Narayanan of kalpalli.827 These examples suggest that though these
documents are of later period the kāranmai relations were consolidated under
the temple and the Brahmans which paved the way for the subjugation of the
cultivating groups including the laboring population who did substantial part
of labour in such lands.
Consolidation of Kārānmai
The Kārālar and kārānmai was important feature of the social form that came
into being, however, the kārānmai –mitatchi relation in the proper sense of
the term was existed only in the Āy territory. The rest of the areas in the
region witnessed a similar tenurial domination in which the Kārālar and
Ūrālar became the principal agencies of the tenurial domination controlled by
the temples. Temple established domination over the cultivating kutis with the
support of the Nāttutayavar. The most pertinent question is how the settler
cultivators and the landholding households did became the Kārālar to the
temples and how they came under the overlordship of the Nattutayavars. The
notable feature of agrarian development was wetland agriculture, mixed crop
cultivation in the laterite zone as well as expansion of cultivation to estuarine
lands and to hinterlands in which utilization of landscape ecology and labour
forms played very crucial role.
Those cultivators who settled and cultivated the lands in the river
valleys and estuarine areas were the original settlers and cultivators in the
midland and the coastal plains. These settlers created the original agrarian
settlements and generated agrarian surplus. The formation of settler
cultivators was important shift in the process of formation and expansion of
ūr settlements. The cultivating kutis and the laboring groups who did labour
for transforming the lands into cultivable tracts for both wetland and mixed
827 Ibid, No.31.p.42.
172
crop cultivation is also important developement. It was among the settler
cultivators in the ūr settlements that landholding households developed in the
midland. When the nātus began to develop as an ensemble of production
localities in the midlands [including the estuarine areas and coastal plains] as
resource region, the chiefs who could develop overlordship over the nātus and
on the ports of trade. They developed their overlordship over the respective
nātu territories that also brought the production localities and the cultivating
communities of the respective areas under their authority and the cultivators
including the cultivating kutis and the laboring groups who settled in these
regions accepted the dominance of the Nāttudayavar as overlord paying a
share of their produce as customary dues.
A few Brahman settlements developed from the early historical period
also got patronage from these Nāttudayavar along with the support of the
notable landholding households. It was because of the expansive efforts made
by the Nāttudayavars to enlarge their territorial boundaries and the efforts
made by the Brahmanas along with these Nāttudayavars to get more
productive lands in the production localities of the cultivating communities
that the cultivating kutis were brought under the dominance of the
Nāttudayavar, Brahman ūrs and temples. It also developed a tenurial relation
under the temples and the political dominance of the Nāttutayavar and their
retinue which developed a redistributive process in which the agrarian surplus
produced in the production localities was shared among the temples and its
functionarieds and Nāttutayavars and their retinue.
As we have mentioned above, the condition of cultivating kutis in the
agrarian system where the Nāttutayavar had established their sway over the
agrarian territories was simple in its tenurial form when the cultivating kutis
had only to give a share of their produce as katamai to the Nāttudayavar and
kīzhpāti was the cultivator’s share. It was from mēlpathi, share of the
173
Nāttudayavar, that Nāttudayavars donated to the temple, mostly to meet the
expenses of their offerings in the temples. There are also references to the
donation of kīzhpati, share of the cultivators, to the temples in addition to the
produces and productive lands donated by the private individuals of the land
holding households. However, when the temples were able to establish their
dominance over the lands from where the produce was donated to the temples
by the landholding households and the Nāttutayavars to meet the expenses of
their offerings in the temples that the communities who settled and cultivated
such lands were brought under the overlordship of the temples and the
Brahmans. This was materialized in such a way that thosehouseholds of the
landholding groups who donated the share of the produce of the lands they
collectively held to the temples had either become the Kāralar to the lands
they donated or they nominated certain other groups as Kāralar to the lands
whose produce was donated to the temples.Sometimes, temples itself
nominated the Kāralar to the lands which had been donated to the temples.
The Brahmans were made to settle donating productive lands by the
Nāttutayavar and Kārālar were also nominated to manage the cultivation in
such lands. Whoever might have been the Kāralar to the lands on which
temple had made the overlordship, the original settles and cultivators of such
lands who lived as cultivating kutis and cultivated the lands had become
subjugated to the dominance of the temples and the Kārālar. The lands
located in the Brahman ūrs and the lands donated as attipper grants where
also the the cultivating kutis and the laboring groups engaged in the
production of agrarianan surplus under the tenurial dominance of the
kārānmai.
The system of land tenure began to develop in the region which
determined the land relations and the position of the producing class. It forced
the cultivators to give the share of their produce to the temple and
Nāttudayavar as the latter developed overlordship over the former .The
174
consolidation of the dominance of temple and Brahman was established by
the support and patronage made by the Nāttudayavar and by the Chēra
Perumāl. There developed a dependent relation in which the temple sought
the political support of the Nāttudayavar and the Perumāl, and the latter were
in need of the ritual power of the temples and Brahmans to legitimize their
political authority. It developed multiple forms of power and overlordships
over the cultivating kutis and on the primary producers. The functionaries of
the temples and the polity of the Nāttutayavar and the Chēra Perumāl
evolved to give a definite shape to the system of polity and ritual and religious
authority of the temples. This process was developed corresponded to the
larger agrarian process leading to the consolidation of an agrarian hierarchy.
Temples, Nāttudayavars and the Chēra Perumāl remained as the principal
appropriators of the agrarian wealth generated by the cultivating kutis and the
labouring groups. This resulted in the subordination of cultivating kutis and
subjugation of the the primary producers which paved the way for the
emergence of number of intermediaries in the agrarian process and
Pāttamālar can be sited as an example to this development.
Pāttamālar and Formation of Intermediaries
In an inscription of Kota Ravi, certain Ukkiramangalam and
Miyanamangalam granted some lands to the Nedumpuram temple828 and the
temple leased these lands to meet the expense of feeding Brahmans in the
temple.829 There appeared certain provisions in the documents from the
beginning of the tenth century which emphasised the cultivation on pāttam
tenure. Lands that were donated by the members of ruling family also ensured
the cultivation in the donated lands on pāttam. This is evident when
828 M G S, A.9 ukkiramangalamu miyānamangalamu chennadaikkittithu. 829 Ibid, thāzhvārathu pāttamalakkakadaviyan.
175
Kizhānadikal granted certain lands to the temple.830 The epithet
ippūmipāttamāndu indicates cultivation was on lease to meet the expenses of
the offerings that Kizhānadikal made in the temple.831 The temples could
accumulate gold as donation. Such gold in turn invested either on land or
given to the dominant groups like Nāttudayavar on pledge of lands. This
resulted in increase in cultivation on pāttam. 832
Strict measures were stipulated to cultivate the lands on lease and to
remit a share of the produce in the form of ‘rent’ to the temples, failure of
which resulted in lose of pāttam right. The resource requirement of the
temples necessitated to cammute the ‘rent’ in kind into kānam833indicating the
development of a dominant group among the cultivators. Similarly, the
chērikkal lands donated to the temple was also subjected to the norms of lease
holding practice followed by temples. It also points to the fact that the
cultivating kutis who settled and cultivated the chērikkal lands became the
tenant cultivators and a dominant group emergrd as pāttamālar when these
lands had come under the tenurial control of the temples.834
830 Trikkakara Temple inscription,M G S,A-24. 831 Ibid. 832 Kannan Puraiyan, udayavar of Kalkarainatu, received some quantity of gold from the
Trikkakara temple and granted the land called vettikarikkāttu and the Pulayar attached to it to the temple .The document stipulates that these expenses should be met by the Pāttamālan who cultivate these lands, M G S,A-25.
833 A private individual, mentioned in Nedumpurayūr temple inscription, Ukkiramangalam who made arrangements to cultivate the temple lands on lease .It stipulates that if the Pāttamālvan fails to measure out the paddy in the temple pāttam could be converted to kānam by the Ukkiramangalam, ukkiramangalam pāttam āttaikānamkolvithu, M G S,A-27.
834 Tiruvanvandur inscription mentions certain pāttamālar seem to have cultivated the chērikkal lands which was given to the temple by Srivallabhan Kotha, M G S,B-13. Certain chērikkal lands given to the Nedumpuram temple as kīzhīdu by Chirithara Nangachchi were also cultivated on lease [pāttam] to meet certain expenses in the temple, M G S,A-43.
176
Thaviranūr pāttavālan cultivated some kīzhīdu lands under the
Chōkkiram temple 835also reveals the way in which the large extent of lands
was cultivated by the cultivating kutis under a dominant group called
pāttavālan and the norms of lease were formulated by the temple. There also
developed a tendency in which lands controlled by the temples began to be
held by the ūrālars on pāttam indicating the emergence of land holders
among the ūrālars. However, stipulation were framed to restricte such ūrālars
from misappropriating / alienating the temple property. The epithet
pāttamidavumperārūrālan shows the way in which the ūrālar had become the
pāttam holders and they were also restricted to hold such lands.836 Sometimes,
the pāttam was collected in gold also.837 Pāttam mode of cultivation was
increased by the first half of eleventh centuary838revealing the formation of a
number of intermediaries in the production and distribution process which
also shows the deteriating condition of the actual tillers and other laboring
population.839
The transition of the condition of the cultivators from settler cultivators
to the tenant cultivators under kāranmai and then to pāttam mode of
appropriation was a significant transformation in which the cultivating right
possessed by the actual tillers were considerably eroded. The share of the
produce that was given as customary dues called mēlvāram to the overlord
was transformed into a fixed rent and temples became the principal
835 M G S,C-17. 836 Certain lands were donated to Pukkottur temple to cultivate on lease, Pukkottur
inscription, M G S,C-23. 837 33 kazhanju of gold was received from asokamannur as pāttam is mentioned in
TiruvallaPlates, M G S, A-80.L.529. 838 Panniyankara inscription mentions that temple lands were cultivated on pāttam. M G
S,A-53. Certain piece of land was cultivated on pattam in Indianūr inscription, M G S, A-63. Certain land in Erālanādu was cultivated by pāttavālan is also mentioned, M G S, C-12.
839 M G S Narayanan, Perumals of Kerala, op.cit., p.174.
177
appropriators. Leaseholders and sub leaseholders were emerged which
resulted in the development of an intermediary class called Pāttamālar who
tried to possess large extentent of land under whom the cultivating kutis
became the subordinated tenant cultivators.
The hierarchy within the temple structure, the gradation of land rights
and the division of functionaries in the polity from Vāzhkai to Nāttudayavar
also reveal the nature of gradation of rights possessed by different groups.
This process was being formed due to the development of the production
process which structured the production and re/distribution of agrarian
surplus. This also indicates the consolidation of a tenurial relation based on an
agrarian hierarchy. The kārāinmai that existed earlier was transformed into
much more exploitative system in which a number of intermediaries
developed and the condition of cultivating kutis and the labouuring population
got deteriorated. Therefore, the establishment of a tenuarial and cultural
dominance of the temples and the Brahmanas subjugated the producing class.
The development of the political authority in the nātus and integration of the
political power of the Nāttudayavars to the the Chēra Perumāls were also part
of this process.
Cultivating Kutis and the Kutis of the Occupational Groups
The term kuti was meant for the settlements of the settler cultivators
and other occupational groups who inhabited the agrarian localities in the
midland. The settler cultivators, craft collectives and other auxiliary
occupational groups were also known as kutis. This would also mean that the
settler cultivators, craft groups and artisanal groups were important groups in
the production process and they retained certain rights over the land they
cultivated and and resources they made use for production operations. Kuti
was, thus, not only known for habitation site but for labour also, a habitational
and occupational space.
178
The origin of these kuti settlements could be traced back to the early
historic period when the entire production operations in the hilly backwoods
region were done by the kutis, predominantly the chirukutis whose life
activities were based on familial kin labour. There existed different types of
kuti settlements in the early historic period when their relations to the
production localities were determined by their involvement in the agrarian
operations and participation in labour process. The formation of agriculture
and creation of the land spaces in the river valleys, water laden areas and
estuarine region involved the production of occupational and habitation
spaces as well. It shows the involvement of settler cultivators and other
cultivating groups in the labour process, which also resulted in the production
of occupational and habitation spaces. These settlements of the settler
cultivators and occupational groups were variously clustered as kuti; a
location that meant for those who involved in particular occupations and their
habitation spaces. The development of kuti settlements along with the
formation of production localities like ūr settlements indicate the importance
of the cultivating groups and occupational collectives in the production of
agrarian surplus.
The transition from chirukuti settlements in the hilly-forested region to
the uzhakuti settlement in the river valleys and water-laden areas in the
midland was a significant transformation when the settler cultivators created
the land spaces and conducted agriculture operations in the river valleys and
water laden areas840 in the midland. It also reveals the process of transition of 840 Certain land called uzhakkudivilai is mentioned in the Parthivapuram inscription of
Kokkarunnadakkan. This land, held by the sabhai of Minchirai, was bought by King Kokkarunnadakkan, built a temple on it and renamed it as Parthivasekharapuram. The term uzhakkudivilai itself reveals that this must have been a kuti settlement before it had come under the minchirai Brahman sabha, later taken over by the king and he built a temple there. A provision is made in this document that forcible appropriation of resource from the kuti settlement had to be returned in ten-fold, indicating the importance of kuti settlement in the case of agrarian production, The Huzur Office Plates ,TAS, Vol.1.PP,15-34.
179
kuti settlements located in the mountain and hilly region in the early historic
period to uzhakuti settlements of cultivating groups841 and formation of
cultivating kutis in the midland region.842 Chemmaruthar kuti843 mentioned in
Huzur plate of Varaguna is a kuti of settler cultivators. Āykuti844 and
pērāyakuti845 have anteriority to early historic period. This suggests that
there must have connecting link of habitation cum operational spaces from
early historic to early medieval times. It also shows that the
institutionalization of the tenurial relation based on kārānmai-mitātchi in
which the settler cultivators and the laboring population became subject
groups to the temples and Brahman846in the southern part of the region,
especially in the Ay territory.
It was because of this instituted process of production dominated by
the temples and legitimated by the Nāttudayavar that the cultivation was
expanded to hitherto uncultivated areas and various strategies of labour
realization was materialised. This would mean that a system of land tenure
began to be developed in the agrarian order by the time of Āy king Varaguna
by which the agrarian process came to be consolidated on graded relations
and the primary producers of the labouring populations came to be known as
Adiyār or Pulayar.847 A notable feature of the agrarian system was the
formation of primary producers like Pulayar who had been transferred along
841 Raja Gurukkal and Raghava Varier, Cultuaral History of Kerala, op.cit., p.251. 842 Kutiye valiyakonda muthal ontukkupaththāka kkuduppathu, Huzur Office Plates, TAS,
Vol.1.PP,15-34. , Fifth Plate, L.4. 843 TAS.Vol. 1, No.2,p.42 , L.7. 844 Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit., No.77, p.129. 845 Ibid, No.123, p.306. 846 Raja Gurukkal and Raghava Varier, Cultuaral History of Kerala, op.cit., pp.252-254. 847 Ibid., p.254.
180
with lands.848 Sometimes, they were also given lands for their services849 as a
group of primordial settlers. It also indicates that the term Pulayar came to be
known to denote a generic labouring group of primary producers. Land
relations that were developed due to the establishment of land tenure which
required large mass of people for surplus production and various labour
realization strategies were evolved to make the people permanently employed
in the labour activities as primary producers like Pulayar or Atiyār/ Āl etc. The
consolidation of temples and expansion of nātu territories under the
Nāttudayavar also made impetus to this process.
Formation of kutis in the coastal settlements was part of a concomitant
process of agriculture production and the exchanges that developed from early
historic period. When the agriculture production and settlements began to be
developed in the midland region, the exchange process centered on the ports
of trade became crucial. As a strategic point of trade and resources as well as
agrarian operations of both mono crops and multi crops, trade settlements in
the coastal area began to become an integral part of the territorial area of the
Nāttudayavar. It is from this point of view that the settlement at Kollam and
the kutis who settled in this settlement get attention. It was the political
interest of the Chēra Perumāl to secure the support of the Christian group that
certain grant of land along with the kutis attached to it was granted to the
Tarsa Chuch. Kollam is found to have developed as a non Brahman
settlement where the mono crop garden cultivation and paddy cultivation had
been developing side by side. It indicates the involvement of Kārālar and
other kutis of occupational groups engaged in the cultivation operations in
848 Paliyam Plate mentions that certain lands were donated to Srimūlavāsam and the
Chellapulayar were also attached to these lands, Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.No.77, p.129.
849 In Parthivapuram inscription, we find reference to certain extend of land that was given to the Pulayar, kalam aduththu pulaiyerku koduththa īrandēr nilaththinun kizhakku, TAS, Vol.3.Part.1, No.16, L.2.
181
both mixed crop and wetland agriculture.850 Kuti settlements of Īzhavar,
Vannār located in the donated lands and the adimai [slave] mentioned in the
document also indicate this process. The epithets kutiyirukkapurayidam, the
purayidam or the compound site where kutis settled851 and
kutinilpathinthūnippādum, the tūni extent of lands where kutis
settled852indicate the expansion of cultivation in mixed crop and paddy
cultivation areas where the cultivating kutis,occupational groups and the
primary producers engaged in the production operations.
We find three areas where kutis settled as cultivating and occupational
groups: the settlements of the settler cultivators, the areas where the
Nāttudayavar had direct control like chērikkal lands and the settlements of the
Brahmans.
The expansion of multi crop and wetland cultivation that developed as
a result of the settlements of the people in the river valleys and water-laden
region signified the trans-tinai nature of the agriculture operations and
formation of production localities called ūr settlements. Formation and
proliferation of ūr settlements also give birth to a number of cultivating kutis
and the kutis of various occupational groups.
In addition to the cultivating kutis and the kutis of the occupational
groups, cluster of production localities where the settlements of the settler
cultivators and the land holding households developed. The various categories
of lands and the ūr settlements mentioned in number of documents pertain to
the transaction of either share of the produce or the productive lands to
850 Kollam inscription of Sthanu Ravi mentions kutis, ippūmiyil kudikalayum, like nālukudi
īzhavar,īzhakkayyar, orukudi vannār and adimai [ slaves?] who were transferred as Kāralar and adiyār along with the land donated to Tarsa church at Kollam,M G S,A-2 and A-6.
851 Chokkūr inscription, M G S,A-8. 852 Porangattiri inscription, M G S,A-14.
182
temples, Brahmanas and other groups indicate the nature and location of the
production localities of the settler cultivators and the landholding households.
Extended households based on descent groups were the base of the land
holding households who collectively held lands in production localities. The
locality kinship played important role in the control of lands and the
development of familial relations which regulated the production operations
and reproduction of the household units. The cultivating kutis settled in the
production localities and the occupational and artisanal group who clustered
as kutis conducted the production operations
Parambu and Compound Sites – Households and the non- Brahman Ūr
Assembly
A significant development was the formation of parambus and the compound
sites called purayidams. Purayidams were compound sites where we find the
mixed crop lands attached to the house sites.853 The developments of
compound sites were related to the expansion of mixed crop cultiation in the
laterite areas in the midland.854 Parambu and purayidam was expanded and 853 Rajasekhara inscription mentions pīlikkōttu purayidam and Kāvati Kannan Sankaran
purayidam [M G S,A-1.]. Chokkur inscription mentions certain kuraichīkandan purayidam, kulaththinukku vadakkin purayidam, padinjāyittu purayidam and kudiyirukkai purayidam [M G S,A-8.]. Nedumpuram tali inscription mentions irandaiyākkapurayidam, ittiyakkādar purayidam and Nārāyanan chāttan purayidam [M G S,A-9.]. Kandiyur inscription mentions manvelipurayidam, vadavaymanaivalālum purayidamum, punnaichchēripurayidam, and aiyanārkālapuraiyidam. Chembra inscription mentions certain purayidams such as mayyilkaraipuraiyidam, kunnaththupuraiyidam, vengayāttupuraiyidam īzhikkāttupuraiyidam, and uthiyanpurampuraiyidam,M R Raghava Varier, Kēraliyatha Charithramānangal, op.cit.,pp.99-102 .Trikkakara inscription mentions Chōzhasikhamani granted certain lands including thēvar kondapurayidam situated to the south of Kesavan Sankaran purayidam [M G S,A-26].Seven purayidams situated to the east of the palace was given to the temple as a kīzhīdu by Chirithara Nangachchi alias Chiripuvana Māthevi [M G S,A-43.
854 Kollur Matham plates mention certain purayidams, they are; Kulangaraipurayidam, Karaipurayidamumkādum, Idaichchēripurayidam, Nanthāvanapurayidam, Chiramēlpurayidam, Kalavāniyarpurayidam, Vāthikkalpurayidam, Dēvidēvisvaraththukudiyirikkintra purayidam, Purachcheipurayidam and chengazhunīrmangalaththupurayidam
183
developed primarily because of the development of exchanges that involved
the production and exchange of a number of mixed crops. It also widened the
cultivation spaces of spices and forest produces. The production localities of
the non Brahman cultivators were largely developed along with the
development of these compound sites and expansion of parambu cultivation
in laterite area.855 Tiruvalla inscription mentions as many as 55
purayidams856indicating the expansion of mixed crop cultivation. It also
reveals the fact that many of the landholding households were non Brahmans
who held the compound sites.857 The paddy cultivation areas in the alluvial
855 Tirukkadiththanam inscription mentions Thenchēri Chēnnen Thāyan who settled the
purayidam [kudiyirikkunna purayidam] [M G S, A-64.] .Certain edaiyin purayidam is mentioned in an undated Trikkadiththanam inscription [TAS.Vol.5.Part.2.No.58.There is a thēvakinadaipurayidam in Kinalur inscription [M G S,B-23.]. Panthalayini Kollam inscription mentions certain purayidams, pūttillaththtu purayidam, thannīrmukkaththu purayidam and alankārachettiyār purayidam. Kuravakavu temple inscription mentions tirukkōilkku thekkinpakkaththu mūntru purayidam ketti [M G S,B-24.], three puraiyidams to the south of the temple.
856 M G S,A-80, anjānnachchirayum purayidamum,Iravinallūr purayidam, Karanikādarpurayidam,Kūmānkariyumpurayidamum,Kūpakathupurayidam,Kāttūr
purayidam,Kunthakkāttu Puraiyidam,Kōthai Gōvindanār Puraiyidam,Kōirpurathu puraiyidam,Kōirpurathupōralākintra puraiyidam,Chālappuzhai Kōvinnanār puraiyidam,Chiruman puraiyidam, Chiraikkarai puraiyidam, Chempakachchērippuraiyidam, Njelinkkāttu Pokkandanār Puraiyidam,Njelinkkāttu Puraiyidam,Thuruttikkaraippuraiyidam,Pazhavirukkai Puraiyidam,Maniyirukkum Puraiyidam,Mandapattu Puraiyidam,Mandapamākintra Puraiyidam, Manninjērippuraiyidam,Mattathil Vayiravāvanan Puraidam, Munaimanaippuraiyidam, Mōlōrpaduvattu Vārankādar Puraiyidam,Īraippuraiyidam, Manimumuzhangādu nālupurayidam,Randarikumulla karappurayidam,Chittodiyum purayidavum,Purayidam to the south of the tank in kāpālisvaram,Thilakamangalaththu purayidam,Pōkkandanār purayidam,Kalpuzha kirittan purayidam,Mānnamangalaththu malaiyil purayidam,Nāgamangalākintra purayidam,Iruppallipurayidam,pūnthōttamākintra purayidam,thuruttikkaraipurayidam,karaipuraiyidam,kannaiyārazhiyamākintra purayidam,vāypāttukāttunilaththupurayidam,vayiravāvanan purayidam,mulamanaipurayidam,ennavāniyar purayidam,kuntrattūr kēsava nārāyanan kudiyirikkintra purayidam,four purayidams in manimuzhangāttu,nangayār manpurayidam,pūmi and purayidam in mīnaichchiyil and īrandarukumolla karaipurayidam.
857 Mampalli plates of Devadaran Keralavarman mention certain kādummkarayum karaipuraiyidavum in Cheruneduman, Thōnnakkal, Chiraiyinkīzhkatta, and the lands of Kesavan Damodiran. Neduvila purayidam of Iruriman Kesavan Damodiran, karapurayidam held by Maniyan Maniyan of Maruthakachchery, perungulathu Narayanan Narayanan held the karapurayidam, kizhakinkara kādu kara and
184
regions where compound sites are also located near the wetland and in the
laterite soil where mixed crop cultivation was prodominatly conducted and
compound sites usually appeared.858
The land holding households of non Brahman origin are found to have
developed in these production localities and certain ūr assemblies were
developed to protect their interest. The landholding households represented in
the ūr assemblies called ūr / ūrpattar. The ūr assembly of Edanūr settlement
mentioned in an undated Chembra inscription may be considered as a case in
point859. The non Brahman ūr assembly [Edanūr ūr] had taken decision to
transfer certain lands. The epithet kudithala pakukkaperāre860 , [the area
where the kutis settled should not be divided], indicating the importance of
karapurayidam and the karapurayidam of perumbulam Kesavan Narayanan are mentioned in the document [TAS.4.PP.72-82.]. Killiyur inscription mentions pūmiyum purēdamum athinupadum karēkādum [Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.No.98.pp.203-204.].Tiruvambadi inscription reveals pumi purayidam, Puthussery Ramachandran.no.99,pp.205-206.Tiruvallam inscription mentions certain aruviyūrpurayidam [Puthussery Ramachandran no.109.pp225-226.
858 Kilimanur inscription mentions Parappu nāttil chemme olla kādum karaippurayidamum, kādun karayum karaippurayidamum ālum kūda, kāriththumrai pūmi and purayidam and āl irupathum nīkki olla nilam eppēr pettathum kādun karayum karaippurayidamum ālum kūda. Mitranandapuram inscription mentions manalpazhanjinilamirukalamum purayidattālum, Karaippadal and Purayidam, Panaingāttur nilam araipangum athintupadum purayidamum, Agattikōdu [2 kalam] along with [its] karaipuraiyidam, Kummam Perunthanti [2 kalam] and its Purayidam and Kurugātti together with its purayidam. Another document in the same temple mentions three purayidams [ Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.No.101.pp.209-210.] .Perinchellur inscription mentions kuntramākintra puraiyidam, panapuraiyākunna puraiyidam, puthukudi puraiyidam, azhakaththupuraiyedam, thuluvathurapuraiyidam, pattukaththu puraiyidam [AdhAram, op.cit.].Karakandēsvaram temple document mentions certain chokuzhipurayidam and chenkuzhipurayidam [Puthussery Ramachandran, No.107.p.221]. Sāttankulangara inscription mentions kuvayūrkkale kandamum purēdamum and ambiyur purayidam. A fourteenth century document at Kollam reveals two purayidams, araikkal puraiyidam and vayalir purayidam [TAS.5.Part.1.pp.46-47.]. An undated Tiruparapu inscription mentions katturaipurayidam, ponnankalipurayidam and thalaipurayidam [TAS.Vol.6.Part.1.pp.76-77.] Haripadu inscription mentions certain manaththalaipurayidam [TAS.Vol.6.Part.1.No.26].
859 M R Raghava Varier, Keraliyatha Charithramanangal, op.cit., pp.113-117. 860 Ibid.p.113.
185
the cultivating kutis settled in the production localities of the non- brahman
settlements and the land holding households developed in such settlements
who must have been represented in the ūr assembly.
Chērikkal Lands - the Cultivating Kutis and Laboring Groups
Chērikkal lands are appeared to have donated to the temples by the
Nāttudayavar and his family members861 and the cultivating kutis and
laboring population like Pulayar settled in such lands. The formation of
chērikkal land is related to the process of integration of the production
localities of the settler cultivators to the nātus and the consolidation of
agrarian localities under Nāttudayavar. The location and structure of chērikal
lands suggest that it was strategic locations where Nāttudayavar and their
kins862settled as dominant houses holds 863 or groups. The chērikal area was
consisted of ara, vayal and kara lands.864 Ara and vayal are paddy fields and
kara is waterborne lands. Sometimes, it was also consisted of fertile wetland
called pōtta and large paddy land called peruvayal.865 The land created by
slash and burn method was formed part of the chērikkal lands.866 The
chērikal land near forest and river is located in hinter land.867 Both mono
861 M G S Narayanan, Perumals of Kerala, op. cit., p.174. 862 Nāduvāzhumavarkalāka avarkalku chārnavarkalāka, M G S,A-25. 863 Pantruturutti Yakkan Kuntrapōzhan, the Nāttudayavar of Kālkarainātu belonged to the
Pāntruturutti house, M G S,B-8 and M G S,B-7.Karilathu Kannan Kumaran, who is also the udayavar of Kalkarainatu,belonged to the karilathu house. M G S,B-10.Pantriturutti Pozhan Kumaran who also held sway over both Kalkarainatu and Nedumpurainatu,M G S,A-45. There might have existed the practice of seniority [kūru] in the extended family to become the Nāttudayavar, Kunjikutta Varman, the Nattudayavar of Kurumporainatu was the senior member or the mūttakūru .
864 The land donated by Kerala Kesari Perumal to theTrikkakara temple was consisted of ara, vayal and kara, M G S,A-19.
865 M G S,A-24,peruvayal pūmi, kannaikālaiyudaiyārpōttai,thachchanārpōttai,vattapōttai. 866 Vettikarikkāttukolla pūmi, M G S,A-25. 867 The land called kīzhkāttupozhachērikal is mentioned in Tirunelli inscription, V R
Paramesvaran Pillai , Prāchīnalikhithangal, op.cit.,p.140.
186
crops and multi crops cultivation were practiced in the chērikal lands.868
Compound site called purayidam869 were also located in cherikal lands, which
was also developed along with the mixed crop cultivation called parambu
cultivation. Sometimes, we have reference to forest, arable land; compound
site attached to cherikal land.870
The expansion of agriculture in mixed crop cultivation in laterite
regions and wet land cultivation in alluvial areas and proliferation of
settlements resulted in the formation of production localities which
constituted germination of a number of nātus in midlands871. Nāttudayavar
must have been originated from the tribal chiefs and the landholding
households 872in the nātus which consisted of number of production localities
of the settler cultivators. The settler cultivators and the cultivating kutis had to
give a part of their produce to the local chiefs as prestation called 868 M G S,A-25, the epithet kallum karidum kānjara kuttiyummullumuyirumaka
………………vettikkarikkāttinolla pūmi evvakai pattathumullodunka indicate the mixed crop nature of land.
869 M G S,A-58 attipēttu purayidam. 870 Kilimanur Plate,TAS.Vol.5 Part.1.pp.63-85,kilimānūr pūmiyum kādum karayum
karapurayidaththinide māniyam. 871 K N Ganesh, historical Geography of Natu in South India with special Reference to
Kerala, Indian Historical Review,36,1[2009]:p.9. The north most area where existed the Kolathunadu stretched on the banks of Kavvai, Koppam and Valapattanam rivers.Purakizhanatu and Kurumporainatu occupied the territory at the foothills of Western Ghats that included several rivers.Purakilanadu included the present Pazhassi, Kuttuparamba,Talasseri and Kuttiyadi region.Kurumporai natu was situated to the south of Kuttiyadi river and stretched up to the Tamarassery. Eralanadu was on the banks of the Chaliyar river .Valluvanatu, Nedumporaiyurnatu and Nedumkalaya natu were located the Bharatapuzha river basin. Valluvanatu was located on the both banks of Bharatapuzha, Nedumkalayanatu on Cheruppulassery and Nedumporaiyur natu in Pattambi area. Periyar and Pamba rivers and the Vembanadu Lake influenced the nature and location of natus in central Kerala, i.e., Kalkarainatu, Kizhumalainatu, Venpalanatu, Nantruzhainatu and Munjinatu. Kalkarainatu was in Trikkakara included Edapalli and stretched up to the Periyar river.Kizhumalai natu was on the banks of Periyar in the Todupuzha region.Venpalanatu included the present Vaikkom and Kottayam areas. Nantruzhainatu was between Trikkadittanam and Perunna and Pamba rivers, an area that included the Tiruvalla temple. Munjinatu was stretched to the east and south of Kottayam.Venatu was located in southern Kerala, ibid.
872 Ibid, p.8.
187
pakarcha873and this was the earlier form of dues given to the chiefs in the
form of a protection fee. Later when the chiefs were able to consolidate their
power over the nātus and assumed the power as Nāttudayavar the dues given
to the Nattutayavar got a fixed form and began to be called mēlpathi / mēlodi
and it was given as customary dues called katamai. The cultivator’s share was
kīzhpāti. The Nātudayavar and their family members donated the lands on
which they assumed overlordship or the share of the produce that they had
received from the cultivating kutis as mēlpāti to the temples. They donated the
share of the produce either from their personal holdings called chērikals or
from the cultivating settlements in the nātus where they had control over the
agrarian communities. .Sometimes, they granted lands in the form of kīzhīdu.
The dominant landholding households also donated lands located in the
production localities in the nātus to the temple and, in such cases, they could
retain certain rights over the donated lands.
It shows the tendency that the produce from a large extent of land in
the nātus was donated to the temples either by the land holding families or
Nāttudayavar and the lands from where the produce generated was being
brought under the control of the temples. These lands where the people settled
as cultivating kutis, occupational groups and laboring population who had
come under a tenurial domination called kārānmai. It should also be noted
that as and when more and more production localities were being come under
the temples on kārānmai, it also prevented the autonomous growth of the land
holding households in production localities in the nātus.874
873 Tiruvalla Copper Plates refer to certain pakarchai to indicate the share given to the
udayavar by the cultivator , araiyirai ulpakarcha [MGS,A-80,L.73], chēnnanchēnnanārkari vāzhpakarchai[ibid.,L.79],uzhpakarchai[ibid.,Ls.231-232], mūnnontrukarivāzhpakarchai[ibid., L.279], munkavalaichēnnanārkari vāzhpakarchai[ibid.,L.280], kānjirakāvilīrandaraiyodi vāzhpakarchai[ibid.,L280].
874 K N Ganesh, Historical Geography of Natu in South India, op. cit., pp.11-12 and f n.no.54.
188
The agrarian communities and their production localities were
integrated to the larger political territories of the Nāttudayavar and to the
Chērā Perumāl. The integration of these agrarian communities was mediated
by local power centers in which the kutipatis played important role.875 The
kutipatis seem to be the descent heads of the cultivating kutis. The patis or the
descent heads of the other kutis like occupational and artisanal cammunities
were also integrated to the polity of the respective overlords. Kutipathis were
also related to the dominant landholding households as many of the kutipatis
developed from the landholding households. It was through these kutipathis
that the Nāttudayavar and later Chērā Perumal able to extract the resources
from the agrarian localities and delegated their political power.
The subordination of cultivating kutis and the laboring population like
Pulayar was ensured when temple was donated with the chērikal lands and
such lands were leased to the cultivators on kārānmai.876 The land called
vettikarikkatu and Pulayar attached to it were transferred to Trikkakara
temple877and this land was cultivated on lease by the pāttamālan is also a case
in point. Certain vayal and kara lands in Kannamangalam and the Pulayar
attached to it were transferred to Trikkakara temple by Kannan Kumaran.878
It indicates that the development of kārānmai and later the pāttam which
developed the intermediaries in the agrarian process in which cultivation
875 M G S,A-6, Certain kutipthis are mentioned in the Tarsa church copper plate,
punnaithalaipathi and pōlakudipathi, in whose presence the attippēr grant deed was executed and given to the Tarsa Church.It also reveals pathippathavāram, the dues given to the kutipathis by the kutikal.
876 M G S,A-19, Trikkakara inscription reveals that the vayal and kara lands had to be cultivated and 194 kalam paddy should be measured in the temple by the kārālan. Mention is also made that certain peruvayal pūmi [land] and Pulayar attached to it were settled, TAS.3.PP.169-171.
877 M G S,A-25, Vettikarikkāttinolla pūmi, this land might have been occupied and cultivated by slash and burn method with the help of Pulayar and they must have been settled this land as laboring group thereafter.
878 M G S.B-10.
189
became an instituted process under the domination of the temple and the
Nattutayavar. It also shows that the development of the primary producers
like Pulayar was a complex process occurred in the chērikkal lands as well.
We find the process by which the reclaimed lands and the Āl attached to it had
become part of the chērikal of the Nāttutayavar. It is evident that certain
chērikal lands called injaithuruththi and kuzhikkādu where Āl were settled
was donated to Tiruvalla temple by Irāman Māthevi, the udayavar of
Munjinādu as a kīzhīdu.879
A notable aspect of the production localities was the location of the
cultivating kutis in the settlements itself, as we have an epithet ivvūr ulkudi,
the kutis settled inside the ūr.880 The location of kutis 881, unlike in the Tamil
country, was within the ūr settlements, a spatial specificity of settlement
which gave the dispersed character of settlements in this region. The lands
consisted of ūr and market place was part of the cherikal lands.882 Pūmiyum
kādum karayum karapurayidaththinide māniyam mentioned in Kilimanur
plate indicates the people who settled as cultivating population in the cherikal
land.
Kutis in the Brahman Ūrs
The location of the kutis in the Brahman villages is important as in the case of
the cherikkal lands and the lands controlled by the households of the non
Brahman groups. When the Brahmans were given the productive lands in the
river valleys, from early historical periods onwards, the cultivating kutis that
879 M G S,A-80.L.538,certain land called kadapanagadu and the āl attached to it seems to
be a part of cherikal land, ibid, L.499. 880 Trikkakara inscription,M G S,B-19. 881 Viraraghava Plate mentions Vāniyar and ayinkammālar settled as kutis and they had
been granted to the Manikirāmattār [traders] as adimai [slave?], Puthusseri Ramachandran, op.cit., No.133, p.319.
882 Tiruvalla Copper Plate M G S,A-80,Ls.331-32.
190
already settled in such settlements had become the dependent cultivating
groups to the Brahman ūrs. There also developed individual Brahman house
holds called mangalams outside the Brahman villages883and cultivating kutis
might have been attached to such settlements. Proliferation of Brahman
settlements and development of structural temples were also related to the
development of production localities outside the Brahman settlements where
cultivating kutis and the labouring population produced surplus. The growth
of landholding households in these production localities made possible the
donations to temples mostly in the form of the share of the produces from the
lands. The overlordship of the Nāttutayavar over such production localities
also helped to enlarge the resource base of the temple centered Brahman
settlements. This process made expansion of cultivation in the river valleys
and estuarine areas and also in the laterite parambu areas. The development
of nātus in the midland regions and consolidation of political authority of the
Nāttudayavar over such natus were also related to the development of temple
centered ūr settlements of the Brahmans. This also meant that settlements of
the cultivating kutis and kutis of artisanal and occupational groups and the
laboring population were proliferated and labour realization strategies were
developed which provided production process an instituted character.
The existence of Brahman villages was also based on the cultivation
and production operation made by the cultivating kutis and laboring groups
settled in the Brahman villages. The produces from the lands in the villages
other than the Brahman settlements was expropriated by way of imposing
tenurial domination. A share of the produce from such villages was donated to
the temples by the landholding households and the Nāttutayavars. It enabled
the temples and Brahmans to controll the cultivating communities by way of
structuring the production process through the kārālar and then through the
883 K N Ganesh, Historical Geography of Natu in South India, op cit., p.13.
191
mediation of intermediaries called pāttamalar. The appropriation of surplus
produce from the production localities was materialised in such a way as to
make the producing groups subservient to the corporate institutional structure
of the temples.884 It makes the point clear that the Brahman settlements and
the temple centered villges developed as an exploitative institutional and
spatial structures whose existence was ensured and perpetuated predominantly
by the resources genarated by the cultivating kutis, occupational collectives
and the primary producers in the production localities located outside the
Brahman settlements. It was in this context that production operations done
by the cultivating kutis and other labouring groups in both Brahman and non
Brahman villages were to be got ensured and surplus that was generated from
such settlements had to be chanalised to the temples, the Nāttutayavar and to
the Chēra Perumāls. The corporate interest of the temples made provisions to
restrict the temple committees like ūrālar, Potuvāls and Itaiyītar885 from
making disturbances in the cultivation operations done by the kutis in the
lands where temple had control.
This would be clear when we analyse the relation of kutis and
kutipathis located in two non Brahman ūrs settlements886 which had been
884 Avittaththūr inscription mentions the ivvūrkudikale, kutis who settled in a Brahman ūr
and their relation to the ūrudayavar of that ūr, M G S,A-10. 885 The intermediary tenure holders of the temple lands. The itaiyītar appear to have
originated from the dominant land holding households of the production localities. They were also probably members of the ūr assemblies of the non Brahman landholding group. It was through these itaiyītar that temple authorities were able to integrate the non Brahman cultivating localities to the temples and to esablish tenuarial control over the production localities. This was supported by the Nāttudayavars who wanted to legitimise their political authority through the temples and Brahmans.
886 Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.,No.8, It is in this context that certain lands donated to the Ayiranikkalam temple by Chēra queen and junior prince in the presence of Brahman and non Brahman ūr assemblies is to be considered. This inscription reveals the existence of the ūr assembly of the non brahman cultivators and the sabha of Brahaman ūr. Kutis and kutipathis were located in both ūrs. It was with the consent of the kutipathis in both ūrs that certain chērikkal lands were received as kīzhīdu grant by the temple authority. The important thing was that the existence of two ūr assemblies of non Brahmans with the kutis and kutipathis in it. The senior member of the kuti was the
192
donated to the Ayiranikkalam temple and the way in which these ūrs came
under the domination of temples and Brahman ūr. The relation of kutipathis
to the cultivating kutis and to the labouring population also important as the
former was made to mediate to control cultivating kutis setltled in the donated
ūrs. The instituted relations established by the temple by which the non-
Brahman settlenements of the cultivating kutis came under the domination of
the temple and to the Brahman village was crucial one as it ensured the
subjugation of kutis to Brahman ūr and temple. Sometimes, the consent of the
kutipatis in the ūrs was required to make the execution of land deeds pertain
to the transfer of the possession right of lands in which the kutis settled. The
senior male member of the kuti was the person who managed the cultivation
operations in the lands. The members of the assembly of the temple like
ūāralar were restricted to interfere in the cultivation operations and the right
possessed by the kutis who settled in the lands controlled by the temples.
It is important to note that Pulayar attached to the lands in these ūrs
settlements as primary producing group pointing to the fact that Pulayar must
have been developed in the ūr settlements before it was donated to the temple.
Suffice it to say that the overlordship of the Perumāl was developed over
these ūr settlements even before the donation was made. The cultivating kutis
could retain the right to cultivate the land they settled887 even when the ūrs
were donated to the temple and the absence of kutinīkkikārānmai in the
document as elsewhere in the region suggest that they could not have been
evicted from the land where they settled themselves and cultivated.
person who led the cultivation and ūāralar of the temple were restricted to interfere in the cultivation done by the kutis. It also reveals the Pulayar who were settled in the ūrs. The right of the kutis over the land they cultivated was attested by this document, Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.No.8.
887 ivvūr kudikalarkkattu karaipūmi, ibid.
193
As almost all the production localities in both Brahman and non
Brahman settlements where the cultivating kutis could retain their right to
settlement and cultivation, the complete Brahman hegemony in terms of
property right over the lands where the kutis settled could not have been
possible. What determined the location and the condition of existence of the
kutis of various producing groups was the right they could possess over the
land and other resources including the skill, knowledge and the technical
knowhow they possessed.The eviction of the kutis settled the lands on which
temple could develop overlordship, in fact, would affect the cultivation
operations and consequently the resources requirements of the temples.
Therefore, it was necessary for Brahmans and temples to see that kutis are
well settled in the lands which alone ensure the continuous resource pooling
by the temple so as to make the continuation of cultivation operations without
any external disturbances in these lands.888
When the temples became a dominant corporate institutional structure,
it adopted tenurial system, its legal codes and mobilized the resources from
the land which established dominance over the kutis. The assembly which
managed the affairs of the temples was variously known as parudai / sabha /
ūr which also managed the temple property and the every day affairs of the
temple. There developed a tendency to turn away the corporate nature of
temple property by the members of ūrālar sabha. There also developed a
group from the ūrālar and the non Brahman landholding households to
manage the cultivation of lands under the control of the temple called kīzhītu.
888 Most of the documents in the region seem to have been the kudinīnga kārānmai, transfer
of lands without the eviction of the kutikal settled it.There is a debate in historical scholarship regarding the actual nature of kutis settled the land on which temples could developoverlordship and the legal provision made in the form of kachchams, Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, ‘Janmisambrathāyam Kēralathil’ in [Ed] N Sam, Elamkulam Kunjan Pillayude Thiranjedutha Krithikal, op.cit., p.593. M G S Narayanan, ‘Oru Pazhaya Karshaka Niyamam’ in Kerala Charithrathinte Adisthana Silakal,op.cit.,pp.45-60.
194
They began to controll these lands by assuming intermediary tenure called
itiyītu. It was in this context that certain regulations called kachchams were
framed with the support of the political authority to safeguard the corporate
right of the temples over the lands. The temples had to ensure the cultivation
of the lands under its control and the protection of kutis settled there. This was
mainly to meet the resource requirements of the temples without any
disturbances from the ūrālars and Itaiyītar.889 The phrase
kutikalkkuvalaiyaicheyyavu pperār ūrālar which means that the ūrālar should
not disturb the settlers, was included in the transaction deeds.890 It intention
was to protect the corporate right of the temple over the landed property and
to ensure the cultivation in the lands without any hindrances from ūrālar and
Itaiyītar.891
The settlements mentioned in the Kollur Matham plates had very long
antiquity892. It explains how the settlements of the cultivating kutis had
become part of the settlements of Brahmans when the latter were made to
settle the area. It is also made clear from the document that this Brahman
settlement was earlier was the service tenure given to the officials of the
Vēnādu rulers as jīvitham. It may be noted that the kutis continued to live and
cultivate the lands even when the service tenure was changed to the
padakaram or the joint holding of the Brahmans. There settled four kutis of
Vellayālar in the lands to indicate cultivators were known as Vellalar in this
889 Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, ‘Janmisambrathāyam Kēralathil’ in N Sam[Ed], Elamkulam
Kunjan Pillayude thiranjedutha Krithikal, op.cit.., pp.605-606. The earliest record to mention theMuzhikkalam kachcham is Chokkur plate [M G S, A-8] and the latest one is Tirumittakodu [M G S, A, 36 and A-52]. The north most temple inscription that refers to Muzhikkalam kachcham is Narayan kannur [M G S,B-33]and the southern most one is Tirunandikkarai[M G S,C-45], M G S Narayanan , Perumals of Keala,op.cit., p.115.
890 M G S,C-17. 891 M G S Narayanan, Perumals of Kerala, op.cit., p.176. 892 Devideveshvaram plate, M G S, B-15.
195
region.893 There are also four kudi of Vāniyar and their settlements.
Kalavāniyar purayidam, ākkal vāniyar and vannārkandam are indications to
the settlements of Vāniyar and Vannār respectively. The salt makers in the
pozhikkaraithurai reveal that the salt makers and manufacturers settled the
coastal areas as kutis where the saltpans located. There were a number of kuti
settlements in the lands donated to the temple [kutiirukkumpurayidangalum
and kudi irikkinta purayidaththil kudiintiye irukki].894 There are references to
the jīvitham lands of tank diggers and bund makers895, they also settled as
kutis. The right to settle the land in an ūr was the right of the kutis896 who had
the right to retain a share of the produce for their subsistence, kudikūru.897
Kollur Matham plates also reveal that the structure of the ūr settlement and
the labouring population had developed a certain form of spatial hierarchy on
account of the production and distribution of material wealth as well as the
power structure developed in the agrarian social structure in this region.
The incorporation of the land holding households and their ūr
assembly into the land tenure system and the assimilation of the landed gentry
of non Brahmans into the corporate property relations were significant
processes. We have a number of examples where both non-brahman and
Brahman ūr assemblies came together to take decision on the transfer of lands
or produce to the temples or to give lands on kārānmai or pāttam. The 893 Ibid. 894 Devideveshvaram plate, MGS,B-15, innilamum ithinōdukūda mukkālvattamchuzhantum
kudiirukkumpurayidangalum vilakkavum vaikkavum adikodukkavum adhikarikkavum perār.
895 Ibid, kulamadikkunnavar jivitham and chirayadikkunnavar jivitham. 896 The laboring population like Parayar were also considered as kuti in the ūr settlements
can also be seen in the Kandiyur inscription which mentions certain lands called siriyaparayankari and padinjāyiru parayankari indicating the settlements of the Parayar. The Parayar must have created the estuarine landspace called kari lands for wet land agriculture, TAS.Vol.1.pp.407-413. Perunjellur inscription mentions āladiyār attached to certain nilam and puraiyidams and we are also told that they settled as laboring population, AdhAram, op.cit.
897 TAS.Vol.5.Part.1.p.7.
196
epithets in Ayiranikkalam inscription, ayiranikkalaththūrārkum
paradaiyārkum898 and ayirānikkalathu paradaiyārum ūrārum899 indicate that
ūr assemblies of both Brahmans and non Brahmans met together and
unanimously took decisions regarding the donation of chērkal lands to the
temple. Similarly, Trippangodu insciprton refers to tiripparangōttu
paradaimārum urpattārum'900 which means the joint activities of Brahman
and non-Brahman assemblies. Edanūrūrum thapaiyum901is mentioned in
Chembra inscription which reveals the joint decision taken by both ūr
assemblies in edanūr regarding the cultivation of certain lands given to the
temple. Similarly, the references to peruneythal ūrum parudaiyārum902in
Peruneythal inscription and those of ūrum paradaiyārum’903and
thirukkadithānathūrāraum paradaiyārum904 found in Trikkadithanam
inscriptions also reveal the presence of both Brahman and non-brahman ūr
assemblies in the areas and their joint venture in agrarian process including
the prevention of disturbences in these settlements from the hands of ūrālar
and the itaiyītar.
Another means adopted by the temples and Brahmans to establish
dominance over the production localities was the incorporation of the
kutipatis into the tenurial system and using them as the linkage between the
production localities on the one hand and the temples and the Nāttudayavar
on the other. The reference to īrandūr kudipathiyum mentioned in a
Perunnayil inscription indicates the rol of kutipatis there. Kutipatis are also
898 Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit., No.8. 899 M G S,C-36. 900 M G S,A-13. 901 Dated Chembra inscription, M R Raghavava Varier, Keraliyatha, op.cit., pp.99-102. 902 M G S,A-49. 903 M G S,A-42, Trikkadithanam inscription. 904 M G S,A-64, Trikkadithanam inscription.
197
mentioned in Ayiranikkalam inscription.905 There also developed the kuti
settlements and kutipatis in the Brahman and non Brahman settlements in
Perunnai.906 Kutipatis mediated the process of linking various kutis with the
temples and the Brahman settlements. Therefore, the cultivating settlements
and the kutis settled became part of the instituted relations under the
temples.907 It was an incorporative process which brought the production
localities into the tenurial relations of the temples with the support of the
Nāttutayavar and the Perumāl. This process seems to have made Brahmans
and temples the parasitic on production localities and kutis for their resource
requirements. The consolidation of this instituted process made the agrarian
order hierarchical in nature. It was materialised in such a way that the surplus
appropriated was also redistributed at different levels in the hierarchy so
developed.
The corporate property of the temples called dēvasvam was vested in
the assembly of Brahman ūrālar908 who were given jīvitham lands as
managers for their life time. The right of the Brahman family to be
represented as member in the ūrāla assembly was called ūrānmai. 909 When
this ūrānmai right became a hereditary, the jīvitham holdings of the ūrālar 905 Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.No.8,pp21-23. 906 M G S, A-49 mentions peruneythal ūrum paradaiyārum indicates the separate existence
of both non Brahman and Brahman ūr assemblies. 907 One of the Perunneyil inscriptions mention that aranthai and āttakkōl were collected by
kudipathīs from the kutis settled the Perunneyil ūrs for the king. It was granted to the Perunnayil temple by the instruction of the royal authority as attippēr for the purpose of namaskāram and māparatham. It seems that these āttaikkōl and aranthai were previously collected by the kudipathis, īrandūr kudipathiyum,[kāpālimangalaththum muththūttum olla kudipathikal] from the kutis settled the Brahman settlement and non Brahman settlement and after an order [kōiladhikārikal issued a royal order to both kudipathis] kudipathis refrained from collecting these from the perunneythal settlements. Kudipathi is a problematic term, being the head of the kuti settlements of the laboring population kudipatis were the integrating link between the political authority and the cultivating groups, Perunnayil inscription, M G S,A-68.
908 M G S Narayanan , Perumals of Kerala, op .cit., p.111. 909 Ibid, p.174.
198
also turned to be hereditary and it came to be known as janmam holdings of
individual households of the Brahman ūrālars. 910 This process seems to have
given birth to collective holding among the households of Brahman ūrālars.
Property Form and its Development
There are references to individuals or households who possessed landed
wealth indicating the nature and form of material possession developed within
the structure of extended households in the period under discussion. We have
references to the collective holding of the landed property and it was donated
to the temples or it had been pledged by receiving money or gold from the
temples. we find that the a number of private individuals both Brahmans and
non Brahmans, Nāttudayavar and the members of the extended households of
the Nāttudayavar including female members possessed lands either in their
individual capacity911 or they held lands as collective holding on behalf of
their extended households or individual households912. The extended family
members in the kizhpērūr households could develop the rights to sell their
holdings with individually capacity.913 Certain individuals appeared to have
donated holdings of their extended households or mortgage it to get gold or
achchu from temples also indicate the development of collective holdings.
910 Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, ‘janmisambrathāyam Kēralathil’ in N Sam [Ed], Elamkulam
Kunjan Pillayude Thiranjedutha Krithikal,op.cit., Pp.621-622. 911 jīvitham lands were held as collective holdings[TAS.Vol.1.pp.414-417].
Trikkadithanam inscription mention the collective form of landed wealth enjoyed by household of certain Thenchēri Chennan Thāyan [M G S, A-64].
912 Kandan Kumaran alias māluvakkōn, Kīzhmalai nāttudayavar [M G S,B-20] and udayavar of munjinādu held wealth as collective form of possession. Arappan Kunji, the nāttutayavar of Kurumbranātu called kurāumburai, donated with certain lands to the Kunavāyanallūr temple in Kinalur and the lands is refered to thankūru, his own share [M G S,B-23] indicating the kūru form of right held by the various lineage segments in the extended households of the ruling family.
913 Kilimanur plates reveal that Vira Adichchavarma Tiruvadi purchased certain lands from the members of the extended royal family and granted it to the temple to meet some of its expenses [TAS.5.Part.1.pp.63-85].
199
The collective form of material possession including landed wealth developed
among the non-Brahman landholding groups914.
Development of Otti and Panayam
Other significant developments in connection with the collective form of
property right were the development of the right to mortgage the property in
the form of otti and the formation of intermediaries called itaiyītar.
Devidevesvaram plate mentions that the 23 padakāram lands consisting of
1325 para lands had been granted to the Brahmans with the stipulation that
the purayidams around the temple where the kutis settled should not be
mortgaged in the form of otti. It reveals that the practice of mortgage of land
was prevalent during this period. Padakāram lands given to the Brahmans
were also prevented from the practice of otti 915 Service holding also appears
to have exempted from otti practice as it has been stated in the
Trikkadithanam temple inscription that the virutti holdings of the drummers
of the temple should not be taken and given away in otti.916
Other record states that itaiyītu properties possessed by some ūrālar of
Irijālakuda temple were similarly prevented from mortgage or otti.917 Certain
chērikkal land granted as kīzhīdu to the Irānikkalam temple by Kōil Kōpirātti
914 Yakkan Govinnan of Mulankadu donated 400 kalam lands consisting of thara and nilam
to the Trikkadithanam temple is also part of the collective form of wealth [MGS.A-38]. A private individual, Chankaran of murukanādu also held land as collectiv in form [M G S,A-9]. Perumānar Pāndan Chēnnan possessed as his own thvam [Nedumpuram Tali inscription, M G S,A-27]. Certain private individual, Karkottupuraththu Kadampan Kumaran, made land grant for the purpose of routine expenses in Kumaranārayanapuram temple and this landed property seems to be held by him on behalf of his extended household [Chokkur inscription, M G S,A-8]. Pukazhamalaichēri Chuvaran Thēvan mortgaged certain lands to the Perunchellur temple to get a sum of 707 ānaiachchu .These lands are also appeared to have held by him for his extended household[ADHARAM, op.cit].
915 Tiruvalla Plate, M G S,A-80,Ls. 382-383. 916 M G S,A-47 ūrālarum idaiyīdarum pothuvālum ottikollumaval … .. 917 M G S,A-3. idaiyīdullayidaththu ottivaykkavum kollavum …………. perār.
200
and Iravi Iravi were also brought under the similar restrictions918. It also
stipulates that the lands of the kutis in this ūr should not be mortgaged or sold
to others other than the settlers of this ūr.919 Ālaththūr Jain document
mentions that the palli lands [uzhaikkalam and the property attached to it]
should not be mortgaged, pledged, or transferred as ītu and fine. 920
Tirupparangodu temple inscription mentions that lands given to the temple
should not be mortgaged and such lands should not be received by the ūrālar
and Pothuvāl. 921 If they do so, they would lose their possessions.922 This
document also makes provision to prevent the misappropriation of income of
the temple.923
Certain nātus which had been developed from the tribal historical past
such as the Āy Vēlir924, Vēnātu925 , the vēlir chiefs of Ēzhimala [Kōlathunātu
]926 ,Kurumbranatu927 ,Purakizhanatu928, Erālnatu929 and Valluvanātu930
918 Ayiranikkalam inscription, Puthusseri Ramachandran, ipūmi vilkavum ottivaykkavum
manti ontrum cheyypperār ūrālar , op.cit.No.8, Ls.21-22. 919 ivvūrkudikala [rkka]ttu karaipūmi ivvūrkanayāthavaralālantri puramoruvar vilkavum
ottiveykavum perār, ibid. 920 ottiyum panaiyavum vaikkavum thandam āka kkodaikkavum īdukodukkavum perār,
Puthusseri Ramachandran,op.cit., No.127,pp.312-313. 921 M G S,A-14, chennadayā ullapūmikondu ottivaykavum ottikollavum perār. 922 koduththu muthal chimāvāvithu, ibid. 923 thēvarudaiya pathavāramazhippithāka pūmi ottivaypithāka cheyyavum perār,ibid. 924 Tiruvidaikodu inscriptions, Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.No.73-74, Parthivapuram
inscription describes the settlements and the formation of Brahman temple in the Ay territory, Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.No.no.75.Thirunandikara inscription and Paliyam plate of Vikramadithya Varaguna also mention the development nātu under the Ay chiefs, Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.No.76-77.
925 Kollam inscripton of Ayyanatikal [M G S,A-2], Tirunandikara inscription Vijayaraghava deva [M G S,A-7], Kollam inscription of Ramakulasekhara [MGS,A-71],Mampalli PlateS [M G S,B-11 and B-12], Devidevesvaram plate [M G S,B-15] and Tirunandikara inscription [M G S,C-45] deal with different aspect of the development of Venatu.
926 Pullur kodavalam inscription [M G S,A-39], Eramam Chalapuram inscription [M G S,A-40],Narayan Kannur inscription [M G S,B-3 and B-21]Tiruvattur Temple Inscription [Puthussery Ramachandran, op.cit.No126], Kuravakavu temple inscription
201
where original Brahman settlements were less in number and wetland paddy
area was limited.931 Brahmans and temples seem to have had no significant
influences over these natus.932 The expansion of laterite parambu cultivation
and the proliferation of large number of compound sites called purayidams
where mixed crop cultivation practiced, reveal the expansion of the
cultivation in laterite area and development of powerful non Brahman
landholders. It shows the fact that majority of population subsisted on the
mixed crops including paddy cultivated in the elevated areas in the laterite
region and in the hill slopes. It also reveals that mixed crop cultivation in
parambu and purayidam had descisive role in developing the subsistence
form of people. The variety of crops cultivatd and the volume of produce
generated in the mixed crop cultivation areas show that cultivation in laterite
region was as important as wet land agriculture.933 Interestingly, Brahman ūrs
and temples were lagely developed in the wetland region.
In wet land region too, the non-Brahman land holders like itaiyitars
developed as powerful cultivators and dominant land holders. The beginnings
of land mortgages seem to have given an opportunity for the powerful non
Brahman groups to intervene in the field of agriculture in an increasing
[M G S,B-24] and Perumchllur inscription describes the various aspects of the development of Kolathunatu ,in addition to Mushakavamsa.
927 Tirunelli inscription] M G S, A-36]. Kulathur inscription [M R Raghava Varier, Keraliyatha Charithra Manangal, op.cit., pp.119-134 and Kinalur inscription [M G S,B-23]mention the development of this nātu.
928 Tirunelli inscription deals with the Chankaran Kothavarman of Purakizhānātu [V R Paramesvaran Pillai, Parchīna Likhithangal,op.cit., p.145 and M G S,A-46.
929 Pulpatta inscription mention the erālanātu and arunnūttuvar [M G S,C-12]in addition to Jewish Copper Plate [ M G S,A-34]
930 Jewish Copper Plate [M G S,A-34] mentions Rayiran Chattan, the udayavar of Valluvanatu.Irinjalakuda inscription mention the arunnūttuvar of Valluvanatu [M G S,A-74].
931 K N Ganesh, State Formation in Kerala: A Critical Overview, op.cit., PP.25-26. 932 K N Ganesh, Keralathinte Innalakal,op.cit.,pp.351-352. 933 K N Ganesh, State Formation in Kerala, op .cit., PP.24-25.
202
manner. This might have increased the insecurity and insularity among
Brahman population and temples. The challenges possed by these non
Brahman groups to the brahmanical dominance and to the supremacy of the
temples also increased insecurity among the Brahman population. The
Brahman settlements that developed in the reverine areas were less in number
when compared with the cultivating settlements of the non Brahman people
and the lands controlled by the dominant landholding households. The
Brahman settlements and the temples could not have dominated the nātus
territories of the Nāttudayavar and Nāttudayavar do not seem to have
subordinated their political power to the temples and Brahmans. However, the
Nāttudayavar and their militia seem to have occassionaly intervened in the
affairs of temples and ūrārs934 which might have also added to the isolation of
the Brahman settlements and temple. Groups like Nūttuvar935, Adhikārar936 ,
Nizhal937, Prakriti938, Pani939, and Mēnāyan940 found in the inscriptions of the
934 K N Ganesh, Historical Geography of Natu in South India, op cit., p.18. 935 Vēnātu arunnūtttuvar[ Tarisapalli plate, M G S,A-6.L.9],nantuzhai nātu vāzhumavar
munnūttuvarum[M G S,B-13.L.10-13], nantruzhai nāttu munnūttuvarum [M G S,B-14,L.6] and nantruzhai nātu munnūttuvar [M G S,C-41.L.6], mūtta kūttil ezhunnūttuvarum’[Tirunelli Plate MGS,A-36], ichchērikkal valluvanādu arunnūttuvarkkunkāval [M G S,A,74.L.19], thirumannūr patārarudaiya thēvaththuvamum pirammaththuvamum arunnūttuvarkku kīzhītu[Tiruvannur plate , MGS,A-62] Tirukkadiththanam inscription mentions munnūttuvar [ M G S,A-64], Kīzhmalai arunnūttuvarum and nantruzhainātu munnūttuvaru [MGS,B-20] kurumporai natu munnuttuvar is mentioned in Kinalur plate, M G S,B-23.L.51].Also see K N Ganesh, Historical Geography of Natu in South India …….., op cit, pp.15-16.
936 Tarisapalli plate mentions athikārarum prakritiyum arunnūttuvarum, M G S,A-6, certain tali athikarar mentioned in Ayiranikkalam inscription, Puthussery Ramachandran, op cit, no.8, certain patārar athikārikal , [adhikarar of the Trikkakara temple] mentioned in a trikkakara plate, M G S,A-24.Tirunelli plate mentions ezhunnūttuvar, nizhal , pani, prakriti etc, V R Paramesvaran Pillai, Prachina Likhithangal, op.cit., No.2.p.145,Ls .7-9.Adhikarar were also relatd to the temple which is mentioned in a Nedumpuram Tali,M G S,A-43.L.3.
937 Nizhal are the personal guards of the Nāttudayavar and they might have belonged to the kin group or chārnavar of the udayavar. Nizhal are mentioned in a Tirunelli plate, V R Paramesvaran Pillai, Prachina Likhithangal………op cit., atikal puraikizhārum nizhalum paniyum mentioned in another Tirunelli plate, M G S, A-46.
203
period would reveal that they were an integral part of the political power
under Nāttudayavar. These functionaries seem to have played a very
significant role in integrating the production localities to the nātus which
developed as the political territory of the Nāttutayavars. In addition to the
tribal chiefs who evolved as Nāttudayavar, some nātu chiefs also emerged
from the households of the dominant land holding groups. The households
which retained the rights and succession in the form of kūru were also the
extended kins of the Nāttudayavar who were recruited to the militia of the
Nāttudayavar called Nūttuvar. The Nūttuvar probably indicated the number of
house holds that could be recruited to the militia of the Nāttudayavar. This
signifies the extent of the nātu territory as well941.
Hence the agrarian process that developed in the production localities
in which the households had considerable power was also linked to the the
resource base of the nātus. The development of the collective form of
property among the various lineage segments of the households of the
Nāttutayavar and the dominant landholding groups shows that individual
private property could not have been developed among the land holding
households and the ruling families. It was through these households of the
Nāttutayavars and the dominant land holding groups that the political power
of the Nāttudayavar percolated to the cultivating settlements so as to
938 Prakriti were non Brahman or Vellāla notables, K N Ganesh, Histoionical Geography of
Natu in South India …, op .cit., pp.14-15.Tirunelli Plate mentions certain ūridavakai vellālar, M G S, A-36.
939 Pani are the servants or labourer located in the chērikkal lands, ippūmi mērpāthiyum paniyum mentioned in a Trikakara Plate, M G S,A-25. Another Trikakara Plate mention vāzhkaikum panikum, MGS,A-26]the Nizhal and Pani of Nantruzhai nadu is mentioned in a Trikadithanam inscription,M G S,A-32 .Certain paniyudaiya Nāyan is mentioned in a Tirunelli Plate, M G S,A-36. Certain paniyudaiyavakal mentioned in a Trikkadiththanam plate, M G S, A-64.
940 K N Ganesh, Histoionical Geography of Natu in South India …, op. cit., pp.14-15. 941 Ibid, p.16.
204
appropriate the resources942 and to delegate the political power of the
Nāttutayavar. Vāzhkai943, the local power centeres, and Pathi944, who
developed from kutis, were integrated to the nātus and to the authority of the
Nāttudayavar, which began to function as the collectors of dues. The Vāzhkai
were those people who were assigned to collect the dues from the local
area.945 The āttaikōl, the annual dues to the Nātttudayavar and to the Perumāl,
were collected by the Vāzhkai946 and the Kutipathis947. Therefore, Nātu,
Vāzhkai and Pati functioned between Nāttutayavars and the kutis for the
appropriation of the surplus and in percolating the political power.
The nature and development of the Chēra political authority has been
discussed.948 The location of Mākōtai, the capital city of Chēras as a port
town helped the Chēras to engage in trade with other parts of the world. The
overland trade route also linked Tamizhakam with the West Coast.949 The
overseas merchants were incorporated to make them part of the indegeneous
trade corporations and to accept the indigenous system of social hierarchy and
942 Natus themselves were organization of groups of household units, rather than separate
villages, K N Ganesh, Historical Geography of Natu in South India …….., op. cit., p.19. 943 Nāttinum vāzhkaikum panikkum mentioned in a TrikakaraPlate, M G S,A-26.A few
Vazhkai terms appear in Tiruvalla Plates , M G S,A-80. 944 Punnaithalai Pati and Pōlaikudipati were present while Ayyanatikal, the udayavar of
Venatu, made the land transaction to Tarasa church at Kollam, M G S, A-2. 945 Trikkadittanam inscription says āttamkollum utampāttāl vāzhkai āka pāttam, M G S,A-
31.Collection of dues from various local areas were assigned as Vāzhkai, K N Ganesh , Historical Geography of Natu in South India …….., op cit, p.16.
946 Trikkadithanam inscription says āttaikolvār and the epithet attaikollum utambāttāl vāzhkai āka pita indicating the annual dues were collected by the Vāzhkai.
947 Perunneyil inscription mentions that āttakkōl were collected by Kudipathīs from the kutis settled in the Perunneyil ūrs for the king. It seems that these āttaikkōl were previously collected by the kudipathis, īrandūr kudipathiyum,[kāpālimangalaththum muththūttum olla kudipathikal] from the settlements of the cultivators where kutis also settled and after an order [kōiladhikārikal issued a royal order to both kudipathis] kudipathis refrained from collecting these from the perunneythal settlements, M G S,A-68.
948 K N Ganesh, State Formation in Kerala, A Critical Overview,op.cit., PP.1-20. 949 Ibid, p.22.
205
privilege.950 The control over the production localities of the cultivating kutis
and the occupational groups in the Perumāl area and the ports of trade helped
the Chēra Perumāls to expand his control over the political territories of the
Nāttutayavar by superimposing the political control over the institutional
structures of the polity of the Nāttutatayavar.
The institutional structure developed by the temples supported by the
ritual and cultural dominance of Brahman ūrs necessitated political support
from the Chēra Perumāls to protect the collective and corporate property
form that developed in the Brahman ūrs and under the temples. The
institutional structure of the temples closed the possibility of the emergence of
the individual form of property within the domains of temple over which the
temples extended its dominance as well as the Brahman ūrs.
Chēra Perumāls exteneded the political support to legitimize the
corporate form of property that developed under the temples and the
collective form of possession within the Brahman ūrs. The political authority
of the Perumāl did not transform the household structure that developed
among the propertied and producing classes and the collective forms of
material possession that developed under these households. This enabled the
Chēra Perumāls to superimpose certain cultural and symbolic power over the
functionaries of the existing political structure of the Nāttutayavars to claim
the over lordship.
We have seen in the above discussion the formation and developement
of multiple economies. The food producing surplus generating economy of
wetland agriculture in river valleys and water-laden areas, and the mixed
crops economy in laterite parambus got domiannace. The expansion of
agriculture and proliferation of settlements in wetland and laterite region also
950 Ibid,pp.22-23.
206
developed a number of groups and their settlements including Brahmans. The
expansion of the cultivation into hither to uncultivated areas in both parambus
including forested areas and the wetland and estuarine areas were made
possible because of the resource requirements of the Nāttutayavar, temples,
Brahman settlements and the land holding households. It developed the chiefs
who evolved from land holding households to the Nāttutayavars. Gradation of
rights over the lands and other material resources led to the formation of
agrarian hierarchy and corresponding social gradations. Formation and
consolidation of producing groups was important in the production process
which we will discuss in the next chapter.
Related Documents
