Abstract
The original tribal inhabitants of our country are called Adivasis who are so various in their culture and tradition and widely dispersed across the subcontinent. They had enjoyed their life in the forest and practised shifting cultivation unfettered for centuries. But their peaceful life was disturbed by the new colonial administration under the British. Generally, tribal discontent was more frequent in British directly administrated provinces than princely states in India. The hilly terrains of the Western Ghats in South India are the prominent habitation zone of the indigenous tribal people since many centuries. They were engaged in shifting cultivation and collected products and spices from the jungles to be exchanged with local traders. Tribal people like Kurichiyas, Kurumars, Uralikurumas Paniyas, Adiyas and Kattunaikkans were the main tribal inhabitants in the Wayanad region of Malabar in the south western coast of Madras Presidency. Among them the Kuruchiyas and Kurumars were agriculturists engaged not only in Punam cultivation ( shifting cultivation) but cultivated the land possessed by them. Their peaceful living was disturbed when British officers and revenue collectors started exploiting and oppressing them in Malabar after the introduction of the new revenue settlement by the Principal Collector William Macleod in 1802.
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References
2. Kathleen Gough, ‘Indian Peasant Uprisings’, Economic and Political Weekly ,Vol.9(32), 1974, p. 1392.
3. A. A. D. Luiz, Tribes of Kerala, New Delhi, 1962, p. 44
4. P.K. Misra and D. B. Sastry, ‘Claim of Higher Status sans Power- A Case Study of the Kurichian or The Malai Namboodiri of Wynad’, in The Eastern Anthropologist 30:4 (1977), p. 395
5. Punam cultivation was also known as shifting cultivation, where Kurichiyas cultivated paddy, Chama (Panicum sumatrense), Muthari (Eleusine coracana)and so on by clearing the forests. After one year of cultivation they leave that land vacant and shift the next year’s cultivation to another part of the forest.
6. Before ceremonial hunting they propitiated their god Malakkari to get the prey. Thulappathu (Malayalam month Thulam 10) was the most auspicious day of Kurichiyas for hunting.
7. Edgar Thurston, Castes and Tribes of South India Vol. IV, New Delhi, 1975, p. 125.
8. Though a married woman lives with her husband and children in husband’s house, she always retains her right to property in her Mittom. She will return to her natal Mittom on the death of the husband. The residents of the Mittom would consist of uterine brothers and their unmarried sisters of the matri-clan; the children, especially the male children and their mothers may live with their fathers/ husbands during the later’s life time. See P.R.G. Mathur, Encyclopaedia of Dravidian Tribes, Vol-II, The International School of Dravidian Tribes, Thiruvananthapuram, 1996. P.160
9. As the head of the Mittom, Karnavan is responsible for all religious and welfare activities of the members of the Mittom. He settled all the disputes and acted as the trustee of the ancestral shrines in the Mittom.
10. Thurston, opcit., p.128.
11. Information from Varayal Copper Plate inscription is cited in K. K. N. Kurup, Peasantry, Nationalism and Social Change in India, Allahabad, 1991, pp.86-87
12. C. Gopalan Nair, Wynad Its People and Traditions, New Delhi, 2000, p. 19 (First published in 1911)
13. K.K.N. Kurup, William Logan: A Study in the Agrarian Relations of Malabar, Calicut, 1981, p.7.
14. S. Ramachandran Nair, Freedom Struggle in Colonial Kerala, Trivandrum, 2004, p.23.
15. Malabar Collectorate Records (hereafter MCR) , Revenue, Kozhikode Regional Archives, Vol.2311, F. No. 77.
16. C. A. Innes and F. B. Evans Madras District Gazetteers-Malabar, Madras, 1951p. 328
17. MCR,Vol. 2311, F. No. 80.
18. A. P. Abdur Rahman,, ‘Macleod’s Paimash and the Malabar Rebellion of 1803’, Journal of Kerala Studies, 4, 1 (1977), p.662.
19. One English Pound(Ib)=0.454 kg., 1 English maund=40 seers (34.05 kg), 1 Madras Candy=222.205 kg. One Fanam is equal to 4 As. One Silver Fanam – 3 Annas and 2 paise,
20. Margret Franz, From Contact to Conquest: Transition to British Rule in Malabar 1790-1805, New Delhi, 2003, p.106
21. Major Macleod, The Jamabandy Report of the Province of Malabar in 1802, Government Press, Calicut, 1811, p. 5. (Calicut Regional Archives)
22. MCR, Vol. 2311, p. 82.
23. 80 Kaas= 1 Madras Fanam, 12 Madras Fanam= 1 Rupee and 3.5 Rupees= 1 Star Pagoda.
24. MCR. Vol.2313, F. No. 156
25. When Malabar collector Thomas Warden introduced new revenue settlement in Malabar in 1813, he specially considered the needs and situation of tribal people in Wayanad and even the geography and climate of Wayanad. See Thomas Warden, Revenue System in Malabar dated 16th June 1813, Collectorate Press, Calicut, 1916, p. 6.
26. V.K. Santhoshkumar, Edachana Kungan: Jeevithavum Porattavum,(Mal.) Wayanad, 2020, p. 51.
27. William Logan, Malabar Manual Vol.I, New Delhi, 2000, p. 539
28. Logan, Ibid, p. 540
29. W.J. Wilson, History of the Madras Army Vol.3, Madras, 1883, p.149
30. Pakkom near Pulpally is the main exclusive location of Kurumas in Wayanad since many centuries.
31. The reward in Pagodas (One Pagoda= A gold coin equal to 3 ½ rupees) for the apprehension of the rebels are as follows. 1.Kerala Varma Pazhassiraja-3000, 2. Vira Varma Raja-1000, 3. Ravi Varrma Raja-1000, 4. Pallur Emmen Nair-1000, 5. Edachena Kungan-1000, 6. Pallur Rayarappan-300, 7. Edachena Othenan-300, 8. Edachena Komappan-300, 9. Edachena Ammu-300, 10. Karverryallay Kannan-300, 11. Yogimula Machan-300, 12. Itty Combetta Kelappan Nambiar-833 (sic).
32. Logan, p. 549.
33. Logan, p. 549.
34. Logan, p. 545.
35. Logan, p. 546.
36. Logan termed the capture of Thalakkal Chandu as an important event in Pazhassi rebellion.
37. In 2021, Prime Minster of India Sri. Narendra Modi has announced 15 November of every year as Janjatiya Gaurav Divas to commemorate the role of tribal people in India’s struggle for freedom. This date is coincided with the date of the martyrdom of Thalakkal Chandu on 15 November 1805.
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